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Research and Innovation Forum 2022 and my own panel on data security

Anastasija Nikiforova 1 Comment
Research and Innovation Forum 2022, Soruce: https://rii-forum.org/

This year I have been invited to organize my own panel session to take place during the Research and Innovation Forum (Rii Forum). This invitation was a follow-up to several articles I recently published (***see below) and Chapter I was developing at that time, and I was very glad to accept this invitation. So, what is this panel about? It is dedicated to data(base) security and is entitled “Security of data storage facilities: is your database sufficiently protected?” and is a part of the track called “ICT, safety, and security in the digital age: bringing the human factor back into the analysis“.

Another question to be asked is “why?” The answer is as follows – today, billions of interconnected devices form an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. With an increasing number of devices and systems in use, the risk of security breaches increases. This even more the case in times of COVID-19 pandemics, when pandemics affected not only human beings’ health and lives but also lifestyle of the society, i.e. digital environment substituted the physical one. This led to an increase of cyber-security threats of different nature. At the same time, while security breaches and security protection mechanisms have been widely addressed in the literature, the notion of “primitive” artifact, such as database seems to have not been paid same attention of researchers and practitioners. But are databases always secure and protected by default, i.e. do databases follow the “security by design” principle? Previous research and regular updates on data leakages suggest that the number and nature of vulnerabilities of databases is very high. Several factors contribute to that and a variety of different measures can be employed to address the issue. Their complexity varies significantly. The aim of the panel is to examine both, the current research on data security, threats posed by weak security of databases, especially NoSQL databases, as well as the approaches to inspect and identify this issue with regards to the question of who owns data storage facilities, security by data storage facility type and country – whether this is country-specific or rather data storage facility-specific question?

In addition, this event and track to which my panel belongs to expects to cover broader security- and safety- related issue. To get a brief overview, let me provide an abstract of this track, which is as follows:

“The inroads of ICT in the fields of safety and security are overwhelming. While several opportunities have thus been created to foster the capacity of our security and defense systems, ICT is also the source of new risks and threats, e.g. cybersecurity issues and cyberwarfare. Amidst the debate on the added value that ICT may bring to the fields of public order (safety issues) and defending society from (mostly) external threats (security issues), ICT, and especially artificial intelligence (AI), has been hailed as the golden means to increased military capacity. The objective of this track is to map and explore recent advances in the field and to dwell on the question of the role of the human factor in contemporary defense systems, including the notions of leadership, administration, human-to-human interaction, and human-computer interaction. This track will be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners engaged with topics and issues relating to the military, policing, security, safety, and others” (source: Rii Forum)

In case you are interested in either my panel, or the track or the event in general, book the date – the event is scheduled to run on April 20-22, 2022 and will take place in hybrid mode, i.e. both online and offline modes will be acceptable. For those who prefer on-site events, it would be beneficial to know that it will be in Athens, Greece.

*** just in case you are interested in those articles I have referred to at the beginning of this post:

A8: Artificial Intelligence and Smart Energy

First paper in my Special Issue “Hybrid Data-Driven and Physical Modelling for Energy-Related Problems: Towards Smarter Energy Management”

Anastasija Nikiforova Leave a comment

As an academic editor of the Special Issue “Hybrid Data-Driven and Physical Modelling for Energy-Related Problems: Towards Smarter Energy Management” (Energies MDPI, Impact Factor:3.004 (2020); 5-Year Impact Factor: 3.085 (2020)), I am glad to announce that the first article has been published!

This very special for me issue belongs to the section “A8: Artificial Intelligence and Smart Energy” and it seeking for the latest research on advances in the field covering both data-related topics and next-generation power electronic techniques and their applications. All papers accepted for their publishing are published in an Open Access, thereby significantly contributing to the visibility of these papers, and are submitted for their indexation in both Scopus and Web of Science in addition to other databases. The journal also falls in Q1 (Cite Score, Control and Optimization).

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  • energy management systems
  • data-driven approaches to energy-related issues
  • advances in energy analytic, including open data on energy, its benefits, re-uses and impact
  • Big Data management in the context of energy data
  • machine learning (ML) techniques
  • physical modelling for energy-related problems
  • disruptive technology of renewable energy
  • blockchain for Internet of energy management
  • the role of the “energy” within the context of Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Goals
  • energy data management in the context of the internet of things (IoT)
  • energy data management via distributed systems
  • smart grid and microgrid
  • sustainable electrical energy systems
  • hybrid and electric vehicle.

This Special Issue is of articular importance, given that energy-related issues are becoming more and more relevant today, including the topic of disruptive technologies, where renewable energy is referred to as one of the 12 most significant disruptive technologies. The topic is no longer limited to energy production/generation and storage and supply as a source of energy; it is becoming broader, including the close links with the electrification of transport, including electric vehicles (smart and green transportation), industrial automation, energy storage systems, data storage and data management systems. With both being very common, and at the same time disruptive and new, energy-related issues relate to both the adaptation of well-known foundations for recent trends and the optimization of the methods and techniques already used, as well as introducing completely new methods and developing new applications, thereby promoting open innovation and smarter living.

Special Issue “Hybrid Data-Driven and Physical Modelling for Energy-Related Problems: Towards Smarter Energy Management”


The first paper accepted for its publishing in the SI is entitled “Machine Learning Schemes for Anomaly Detection in Solar Power Plants” and is authored by Mariam Ibrahim (German Jordanian University), Ahmad Alsheikh (Deggendorf Institute of Technology), Feras M. Awaysheh (University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science) and Mohammad Dahman Alshehri (Taif University). The paper deals with the anomaly detection in photovoltaic (PV) systems by evaluating the performance of different machine learning schemes – AutoEncoder Long Short-Term Memory (AE-LSTM), Facebook-Prophet, and Isolation Forest – and applying them to detect anomalies on photovoltaic components. These models allow the authors to identify the PV system’s healthy and abnormal actual behaviors. The results provide clear insights to make an informed decision, especially with experimental trade-offs for such a complex solution space. The issue explored is all the more topical considering the rapid industrial growth in solar energy, which gains an increasing interest in renewable power from smart grids and plants.

I am very glad and honored to be an academic editor of both this issue (together with my colleagues from Germany and Greece) and this paper in particular.

Special Issue, Academic Editor

Looking forward further submissions (particular focus on advances in the field covering both data-related topics and next-generation power electronic techniques and their applications)!!!

First International Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies Conference

First International Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies Conference (EGETC)

Anastasija Nikiforova Leave a comment

As the general co-chair of the First International Conference in Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies (EGETC-2022), I sincerely invite you to consider your participation as authors and presenters or the attendees in this event.

First International Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies Conference
First International Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies Conference

Over the last decade, the importance of emerging technologies in government and public administrations has grown significantly. The growing demand for services that better meet changing user expectations for responsiveness and personalization, coupled with higher expectations of the role of government in the digital age, calls for a technologically mature public sector. There are many new emerging technologies serving as enablers to new forms of governance and novel applications in traditional governance functions, which role has been witnessed across various domains, including healthcare, medicine, education, tourism, and industry etc.. 

The aim of the First International Conference in Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies (EGETC-2022) is to provide a forum for academics, scholars, and practitioners from academia and industry to share and exchange the recent developments in the domain of eGovernment and governance of digital organizations to shed light on the emerging research trends and their applications. 

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

  • Intelligent systems for coordination in crisis emergency management
  • Distributed ledgers and Blockchains: governance, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO)
  • Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data management for Public Sector
  • Privacy, security and legal Informatics – AI and Law
  • Open Data, Open Government Data: transparency, trust, public participation, co-creation and Open Innovation
  • Digital transformation and Society 5.0
  • Linked Data, Linked Open Data (LOD)
  • Semantic E-government applications
  • Public Sector Knowledge Representation
  • Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Digital Governance
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Cloud Computing
  • Bots, Automation agents, Self-learning systems 
  • Cryptocurrencies and incentive mechanism design
  • Multimedia and multilingual systems

It is particularly important that, in order to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, despite the availability of funding, the conference does not foresee any charges. I.e. both authors and presenters, and attendees/ listeners are welcome without registration fees.

First International Electronic Governance with Emerging Technologies  Conference (author: Anastasija Nikiforova)

In addition to the great team of organizers and members of the program committee, which has a rich list of outstanding experts, participants of this event will have an opportunity to enjoy the keynote speeches by Prof. Marijn Janssen – Full Professor in ICT & Governance at TU Delft, Netherlands, Dr. B K Murthy, CEO – Innovation and Technology Foundation, IIT Bhilai, Prof. Luis Martinez – Full Professor, University of Jaén, Jaén Spain. More information on their talk will follow…

Accepted papers presented at the EGETC2022 will be published in the proceeding published by Springer in Lecture Notes in Computer Science series (approval pending…). A short list of best papers will be invited for a post-conference publication in Government Information Quarterly (GIQ), Elsevier, Q1, Cite Score: 11.6, Impact Factor: 7.279 and Technological Forecasting and Social Change, An International Journal, Elsevier, Q1, Cite Score: 12.1, Impact Factor: 8.593.

If you are interested in submitting your paper, add to your calendar the submission date – May 30, while the event will take place during September 12-14, 2022.

Due to the unpredictability of the current situation in the light of pandemic, we expect to have a hybrid event, i.e. both online and on-site participation will be possible. For the later mode, we will be very glad to meet participants, who will be able to attend the event physically, in peaceful and spectacular city of Tamaulipas, Mexico in mid-September, 2022. Hope to meet you there!!!

2021 Summary

Anastasija Nikiforova Leave a comment

Here is the time to summarize the events, activities and achievements of 2021. Although there were some challenges and issues hat have been overcome, it was quite fruitful, and I am absolutely grateful for that. Therefore, in this post I would like to refer to positive events and their results.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/VVnVN58adiA

Perhaps the first achievement to be mentioned is the LATA award. More specifically, this year, for my research, public activity and other achievements, the LATA (Latvian Open Technologies Association) has recognized me as a person of the year and has awarded me for promoting open data and open technologies. I believe it gave me strength, forces and inspiration for future activities.

So, I have worked hard this year, both independently and with some very skilled and intelligent colleagues, and this gave some results. In short:

  • 16 papers, including one chapter (some of them will be officially published in 2022), 6 conference papers, 9 journal articles, including 6 articles in Q1 journals. Some of these articles have been recommended by international organizations, including the world’s largest and most significant open data portal data.europa.eu, the Open Data Daily (PSI Monitor), World Health Organization, Europe PMC and FreeMedArt etc.;
  • 7 international conferences attended as a speaker with 5 papers, 2 posters, 2 more talks on the results of ongoing projects and 1 invited talk. Thank you RCIS (International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science), ICEGOV (International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance “Smart Digital Governance for Global Sustainability“), IDSTA (International Conference on Intelligent Data Science Technologies and Applications), IoTSMS (International conference on Internet of Things, Systems, Management and Security), EBW (European Biobank week), International Conference and Expo on Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials – it was a really great experience, and it is great that, despite the pandemic, you have managed to organize such great events with such a nice audience and brilliant speakers (both participants and keynotes).

Some of these activities were the results of very independent non-funded studies (mostly relates to open (government) data-related studies), others were the results of projects in which I was involved in recent months and years:

Over the next months, I have joined several associations and teams with which we have worked on different topics. In particular:

  • joined the above mentioned European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Task Force “FAIR metrics and data quality”;
  • became a part of Quantum Humanities Network hosted by the university of Jena (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany), which is represented by researchers from Germany, Spain, Finland, Latvia and Romania. With the colleagues forming this network, the application for CHANSE funding has been submitted and has already successfully passed the first round of review.
  • became an expert of the Latvian Council of Sciences – (1) Natural Sciences – Computer Science and Informatics and (2) Engineering and Technology-Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT);
  • became a part of BBMRI-ERIC node, Quality Management Task Force;
  • and even took part (although in a tiny activity) in providing an input for proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC) – the study conducted by Deloitte and KU Leuven (Belgium) for the European Commission.

In addition, although I had some experience in reviewing papers for both journals and conferences, this year I took a step further and became part of the Editorial Board and / or Editor for several venues and even became the general chair of one international conference. More precisely:

Invited Talk, Nanotech2021

In addition, I have gained a new experience of delivering Invited Talks and Guest Lectures. The Invited Talk entitled “Open Data as a driver of Society 5.0: how you and your scientific outputs can contribute to the development of the Super Smart Society and transformation into Smart Living?“ was delivered during the International Conference and Expo on Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials, which organizers have invited me to speak about the open science and its role in current scientific community. For the Guest Lectures, they were two – (1) “Open data: ecosystem, current and future trends, success stories and barriers“, the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) (Norway, web-based), (2) “Open data potential“, LU Faculty of Social Sciences/ Institute for Social and Political Studies, Latvia. I am grateful to both, the colleagues who have invited me and the audience – I was very surprised by your passionate for the knowledge and lively discussion we had at the end of these lectures. Although here I should also refer to my own students and particularly Accenture students – you really are a dream audience. And thank you for your very positive feedback you left – it is my pleasure and I am so pleased that you really appreciate the efforts I have invested in my lectures and courses and feel my support.

In addition, there were some local activities and achievements, such as:

  • developed and successfully launched a course for master and doctoral students (Faculty of Computer Science), entitled “Open government data in a data-driven world” (3 ECTS),
  • served as an expert / mentor for Latvian open geospatial data hackathon for pupils 2021 organized by the National Centre for Education Republic of Latvia – the team I have mentored, won!
  • served as an expert for the “Idea Laboratory 2021” in scope of the Emerging Technologies and Innovations Days of University of Latvia – here the same, the team I have mentored, won!
  • supervised 15 thesis, successfully defended by my students. For two of them conference papers have been developed and already published, thus doing my best to find new talents and engage them in the scientific community;
  • delivered lecture “Open data: ecosystem, use-case, potential advantages and open questions” to participants of the School of Excellence (in collaboration with the youth Foundation “Vertical” (“Vertikāle”)) in addition to invited lectures I mentioned above;
  • served as an advisor for the Faculty of Social Sciences/Institute for Social and Political Studies;
  • delivered a talk during the 14th conference of Latvian Association of Open Technologies “How to Stay Open in the New Era” entitled “Timeliness of open pandemic related data in national open data portals: a long way from the data publisher to the data user“
  • participated in the 79th International Conference of the University of Latvia and presented two talks – (1) “User-centered analysis of the usability of Open Government Data (OGD) portals“ and (2) “DQMBT or data quality model-based testing of information systems”.
Open Geosaptial Data hackathon, mentor

This is just a short list of the activities conducted and the achievements achieved, for which I would like to thank both 2021 and all those who have supported me. Thank you 2021 and bye! Welcome 2022!

IDSTA2021

International conference on the Intelligent Data Science (IDSTA2021): one conference – a ton of impressions

Anastasija Nikiforova Leave a comment

This November I had another great experience – participation in one of my favorite conferences – International conference on the Intelligent Data Science (IDSTA2021) collocated with Blockchain Computing and Applications (BCCA). Unfortunately, due to the pandemics we were not able to meet each other in person in Tartu, Estonia – a local organizer of this edition. But the organization was still perfect from their side. I was super delighted to serve a publicity chair for this conference for the second time (I mean IDSTA2020 and IDSTA2021).

IDSTA2021
Source: IDSTA2021

In short – 2 days (November 15-16), 50+ talks delivered by very skilled, experienced and knowledgeable researchers ready to establish and develop discussions around their topics during 13 sessions, 4 incredible keynotes delivered by Tarik Taleb, Omer Rana, Helen (Eleni) Karatza, Srijith Rajamohan, Ph.D.. Very lively discussions, insightful presentations and great environment!

Apart of serving as a publicity chair, I act as a reviewer, so I am a part of Program Committee, the session chair (for 2 sessions) and the (co-)author and presenter of two papers. One conference – 5 roles 😀 And what is even cooler is that my efforts have been also noticed by organisers and listed in Message from the General Chairs – it is always pleasant to notice you have been mentioned as a person, who contributed and whose contribution and efforts have been really highly evaluated.

Very briefly on my talks :

  • “ShoBeVODSDT: Shodan and Binary Edge based vulnerable open data sources detection tool or what Internet of Things Search Engines know about you” (authored by Artjoms Daskevics and Anastasija Nikiforova) devoted to the study, which proposes a tool for non-intrusive testing of open data sources for detecting their vulnerabilities, called ShoBeVODSDT. It supports the identification of vulnerabilities at early security assessment stages and does not require the implementation of active and possibly disruptive techniques. ShoBeVODSDT uses two IoTSE (Internet of Things Search Engines) – Shodan and Binary Edge – by extending their features with the advanced capabilities built in it. It allows inspecting 8 predefined data sources, representing both rational databases, NoSQL databases and data stores – MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, CouchDB, Cassandra and Memcached – on their vulnerabilities and their extent. Our observation shows that security features built into the database allow to protect against unauthorized access, but there are databases with low security features, where it is possible to connect to nearly all IP addresses by retrieving information from them. Even more, in some cases the databases, which do not use security mechanisms, have been already compromised.
  • “Stakeholder-centred Identification of Data Quality Issues: Knowledge that Can Save Your Business” (authored by Anastasija Nikiforova and Natalija Kozmina), in scope of which (1) we perform a literature analysis to compile a list of the most commonly occurring data quality issues, (2) considering the diversity and quantity of different data quality requirements and/or dimensions, we reduce the list of defects after running a brainstorming session followed by DELPHI analysis involving 12 experts, (3) the resulting list of defects is validated by 30 users with advanced data quality knowledge by means of applying the data quality analysis to real-world data that are freely accessible to all stakeholders (specifically, a pool of 30 open data sets). This leads us to the list of key data quality issues, which may be of advantage to the data holder and the data user giving both a higher level of confidence that the data are error-free and can be used without causing financial losses for business. These requirements, however, are expected to be used as input of the specification for the web-based data quality analysis tool to be developed.
IDSTA2021, Session chair
IDSTA, session 2
ShoBeVODSDT: Shodan and Binary Edge based vulnerable open data sources detection tool or what Internet of Things Search Engines know about you

Great event, great people, great emotions and impressions! Thank you, IDSTA2021 and your supportive and super-friendly team!