[hpc-announce] QEST 2021: Call for Papers

[Marco Paolieri]

QEST 2021
International Conference on Quantitative Evaluation of SysTems
https://www.qest.org/qest2021/

Co-located at QONFEST (Paris) with CONCUR, FORMATS, FMICS
https://qonfest2021.lacl.fr

**************************************
Important Dates

Abstract Submission:  April  8th, 2021
Paper Submission:     April 15th, 2021
Artifact Submission:  April 22nd, 2021
Notifications:         June  7th, 2021
Conference:     August 23rd-27th, 2021
**************************************


================
Scope and Topics
================

The International Conference on Quantitative Evaluation of SysTems (QEST)
is the leading forum on quantitative evaluation and verification of
computer systems and networks. QEST 2021 is the 18th conference in the
series.

Scientific areas of interest include:
- quantitative specification methods.
- stochastic and non-deterministic models and metrics for performance,
reliability, safety, correctness, and security.
- new algorithms for the analysis or simulation of stochastic,
probabilistic and non-deterministic models.
- (as a recent emphasis) application of data-driven, machine learning
techniques for the quantitative evaluation and verification of systems, in
particular for safety-critical applications (learning for safety, as well
as safe learning).
- case studies that highlight the role of quantitative specification,
modelling and evaluation in the design of systems. Systems of interest
include computer hardware and software architectures, communication
systems, cyber-physical systems, infrastructural systems, security systems
and biological systems.
- papers that describe novel tools to support the practical application of
research results in all of the above areas are also welcome.

QEST 2021 will set up a repeatability evaluation process (details below).

QEST 2021 is open to both theoretical, experimental and applicative
research. The conference welcomes a diversity of modelling formalisms,
programming languages and methodologies that incorporate quantitative
aspects such as probabilities, temporal properties, rewards and forms of
non-determinism. Papers may advance empirical, simulation and analytic
methods, and industrially-relevant case studies.

In QEST 2021, we plan to organize a special session under the topic
"modelling and analysis in biology", comprising topics such as
epidemiological systems, systems biology, biological networks, and
computational biology. Contributions in this area are particularly welcome.


===========
Submissions
===========

QEST 2021 considers three types of papers (authors will be able to specify
the type of the contribution at the submission):
 - THEORETICAL/METHODOLOGICAL: to advance the understanding on a topic or
issue, or to describe the development and proposal of new analysis
processes and techniques.
 - APPLICATION: to describe a novel application and compare it with
previous results.
 - TOOL: to develop new tools and the formalisms they support, with a focus
on the software architecture and practical implementation and use.  Tool
papers must be accompanied by an artifact in the Repeatability/Artifact
Evaluation.

Paper submission can be REGULAR and SHORT: regular papers must not exceed
16 pages, excluding references, plus 4 pages for the appendix containing
supporting material. Short papers should preferably be limited to 8 pages,
also excluding references. Regarding TOOL papers, the conference will
include the possibility of a demo session for interaction with the authors.

All submitted papers must be unpublished and not be submitted for
publication elsewhere. Papers should be submitted electronically using
EasyChair [2]. Springer encourages authors to include their ORCIDs in their
papers. Authors should consult Springer's authors' guidelines [0] and use
Springer's LaTeX templates [1] for the preparation of their papers.


============
Publications
============

All accepted papers will be presented and discussed at the conference by
one of the authors. The QEST 2021 proceedings will be published in the
Springer LNCS series and indexed by ISI Web of Science, Scopus, ACM Digital
Library, dblp, Google Scholar. All submitted papers will be evaluated by at
least three reviewers on the basis of their originality, technical quality,
scientific or practical contribution to the state of the art, methodology,
clarity, and adequacy of references.


=================================
Repeatability/Artifact Evaluation
=================================

Reproducibility of experimental results is crucial to foster an atmosphere
of trustworthy, open, and reusable research. To improve and reward
reproducibility, QEST 2021 for the first time includes a dedicated
Repeatability/Artifact Evaluation (RAE). Submission of an artifact is
mandatory for tool papers (both regular and short), and optional but
encouraged for theoretical/methodological and application papers where it
can support the results presented in the paper. Artifacts will be reviewed
concurrently with the paper review process, and accepted papers with a
successfully evaluated artifact will receive a badge to be shown on the
published paper's title page.

Detailed guidelines for preparation and submission of artifacts can be
found on the QEST 2021 RAE web page at [3]. Exceptions to the submission
guidelines may be granted by the PC chairs in cases where the tool cannot
in any reasonable way be run by the RAE committee.


=============
Special Issue
=============

A selection of the best full papers will be invited to submit an extended
version of their work to a special issue in the ACM Transactions on
Modelling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS).
(Further details will be provided on the website.)


=============

[0]
ftp://ftp.springernature.com/cs-proceeding/svproc/guidelines/Springer_Guidelines_for_Authors_of_Proceedings.pdf
[1] ftp://ftp.springernature.com/cs-proceeding/llncs/llncs2e.zip
[2] https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=qest2021
[3] TBA in January 2021


==========
Committees
==========

General Chair (QONFEST):
Benoît Barbot (Université Paris-Est Créteil, FR)

Program Chairs:
Alessandro Abate (Oxford University, UK)
Andrea Marin (University Ca’ Foscari Venice, IT)

Repeatability Evaluation Chairs:
Arnd Hartmanns (University of Twente, NL)
David Safranek (Masaryk University, CZ),

Publicity Chair:
Marco Paolieri (University of Southern California, US)

Program Committee:
Ebru Aydin Gol (Middle East Technical University, TR)
Luca Bortolussi (University of Trieste, IT)
Davide Bresolin (University of Padova, IT)
Peter Buchholz (TU Dortmund, DE)
Laura Carnevali (University of Florence, IT)
Giuliano Casale (Imperial College London, UK)
Pedro D'Argenio (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, AR)
Susanna Donatelli (University of Turin, IT)
Maryam Elahi (Mount Royal University, CA)
Marco Gribaudo (Politecnico of Milan, IT)
Ichiro Hasuo (National Institute of Informatics, JP)
András Horváth (University of Turin, IT)
David N. Jansen (Chinese Academy of Sciences, CN)
Nils Jansen (Radboud University, NL)
Peter Kemper (William & Mary College, US)
William Knottenbelt (Imperial College London, UK)
Jan Křetínský (Technical University of Munich, DE)
Gethin Norman (University of Glasgow, UK)
Meeko Oishi (University of New Mexico, US)
Marco Paolieri (University of Southern California, US)
David Parker (University of Birmingham, UK)
Tuan Phung-Duc (University of Tsukuba, JP)
Elizabeth Polgreen (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Sylvie Putot (LIX Ecole Polytechnique, FR)
Anne Remke (University of Muenster, DE)
Sabina Rossi (University Ca’ Foscari Venice, IT)
Miklós Telek (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, HU)
Ufuk Topcu (University of Texas at Austin, US)
Mirco Tribastone (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, IT)
Benny Van Houdt (University of Antwerp, BE)
Verena Wolf (Saarland University, DE)
Katinka Wolter (FU Berlin, DE)
Lijung Zhang (Chinese Academy of Science, CN)
Paolo Zuliani (Newcastle University, UK)