Networking Course: Rules and Scedule
Prof. Giovanni Giambene
 Email: giambene@unisi.it
 Office hours: Monday, from 10:00 to 13:00 (but also in the afternoon,
but please book via email). Room n. 138, San Niccolò building.

Course
home
page
at
the
following
URL:
http://www.dii.unisi.it/~giambene/teaching.html [past classworks
are available with solutions; the exam exercises starting from AY 20122013 are in English]
 The list of Final Reports topics for this year are available at the
following
URL:
http://www.dii.unisi.it/~giambene/reti_di_telecomunicazioni_II/
Reports_Topics_Networking_2016.docx
 On the teacher Web site, a restricted-access (password) area is
available where the slides presented at the lessons will be made
available
during
the
course:
http://www.dii.unisi.it/~giambene/restricted/index.html
 Textbooks in order of importance:
 G. Giambene, “Queuing Theory and Telecommunications: Networks and
Applications”, Springer, N.Y., 2014 - 2nd edition (the 1st edition of this book of
2005 is still ok, but only for exercises).
 J. F. Kurose, K. W. Ross, “Computer Networking: a top-down approach
featuring the Internet”.
 A. S. Tanenbaum, “Computer Networks”, 2010.
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 Jeremiah F. Hayes, “Modeling and Analysis of Computer Communications
Networks”. Plenum Press.
 [N. B. Melazzi, “Architettura, Principali Protocolli e Linee Evolutive”, McGrawHill, 2005]
 I would like you to send me your email address in order to have the email
list of the participants to this course. This email list will only be used for
important notifications (e.g., change of the schedule of a lesson) related to
this course.
 As for the exam session dates (written test): please take a look to the Web
site of the Department.
 Exam rules (Academic Year 2014 – 2015):
Exams have always a written test an a oral part. The final outcome
takes both of them into account. The final outcome is determined on
the basis of the following cases.
....With classworks
Classwork is organized into two parts: on November 19, 2015 exercises will be
carried out in a 2h:30min written test based on 3 exercises; moreover, the students
will be requested to submit their reports (maximum 12 pages) by January 6, 2016.
The reports will be reviewed by the teacher. The students will be requested to do a
final 15-minute presentation of their topics on January 21, 2016 (10:00 - 13:00),
where the student is expected to answer the questions posed by the teacher on the
report. The topics available for the final report are provided on the course web site.
The students will have time up to October 29, 2015 to select their topic and notify it
to the teacher who will inform the student in case of overlapping selections made by
other students. The final report is an individual work so that students have to select a
different topic each other. The final report is needed only in case the first
classwork is positive (i.e., with score greater than or equal to 18). With both
classworks done and with mean greater than or equal to 18 (the average value is
rounded; 0.5 is rounded to 0) the student will be allowed to do directly the final oral
exam that is organized as follows:
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1. With a final classwork mean value up to 25, a single question (on the whole
course topics) is posed to the student and if the answer is correct, the final
classwork mean value is confirmed as final exam outcome; otherwise, in the case
the answer is unsatisfactory or incorrect, two additional questions (on the whole
course topics) are made and if their answers are satisfactory, the final exam
outcome may vary in the following range final classwork mean + {1, 0}. See
also the note at the end of page 3.
2. With a final classwork mean value greater than 25, two (classwork case) or four
questions (no classwork case) are made (on the whole course topics); the final
exam outcome may vary in the following range: final classwork mean + {1, 3}.
See also the note at the end of page 3.
... Without classworks or with insufficient classworks
 A written full test made of 4 exercises will be carried out in a 3 hour test. Then,
an oral part of the exam has to be carried out by applying the rules as explained at
previous points 1) and 2).
If the student who has made classworks participates to a written full test and submit
its exercises, the result of classworks is automatically cancelled: only the last attempt
is considered.
If the student has done just one classwork, it is not enough for his/her evaluation: a
full final exam (written and oral parts) is needed in order to achieve the final
evaluation.
Note that seminars are integral part of the course. At the oral exam, some
questions can also be provided on the topics of the seminars.
Important Note: If the answers to the oral questions are totally unsatisfactory, it
is impossible to apply the above ranges for the final results. Then, the students
will be requested to redo the oral exam (maintaining the marks of the written
text) at a next session.
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