Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for January
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AI Seminar: General Methods for Causal Discovery
Wed, Jan 14, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Frederick Eberhardt, Caltech, Professor of Philosophy at Caltech
Talk Title: General Methods for Causal Discovery
Series: AISeminar
Abstract: This talk will consist of two parts, both concerned with causal discovery. In the first part I will describe some methods we have developed to perform causal inference with very weak background assumptions. The problem of causal discovery is converted into a constraint optimization problem that is then solved using maxSAT solvers. This general framework allows for the inclusion of very general background knowledge and only requires extremely weak model space assumptions. We show in simulations that for the restricted domains in which an exact Bayesian computation can be performed, our methods achieve an accuracy very close to that of the exact Bayesian computation. For more general domains, no competing method exists. In the second part, I will describe some very recent research we have done on extracting causes of behavior from images. This research addresses the more general question of how causal macro-variables can be constructed from micro-variables (pixel data, in our case). We hope that our account can lay the groundwork for a more general approach to automated causal analysis of images and video data.
Here are the relevant papers:
First part: http://people.hss.caltech.edu/~fde/papers/HEJ_UAI2014.pdf
Second part: http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.2309
Biography: Frederick Eberhardt is Professor of Philosophy at Caltech. He is primarily interested in methods for causal discovery from statistical data, the use of experiments in causal discovery, the integration of causal inferences from different data sets and the philosophical issues at the foundations of causality and probability. His research focuses both on how methods of causal discovery can be constructed and on how humans and animals in fact learn about causal relations. Before joining Caltech in 2013, he was assistant professor in the philosophy-neuroscience-psychology program at Washington University in St Louis. He got his PhD from Carnegie Mellon in 2007 and was a postdoc in psychology at UC Berkeley until 2009.
Host: Kun Zhang
Webcast: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=44b5327011024c03bc46967a538adc9d1dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 1135
WebCast Link: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=44b5327011024c03bc46967a538adc9d1d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alma Nava / Information Sciences Institute
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
NL Seminar-Towards the Interpretation of Metaphoric Language
Fri, Jan 16, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jonathan Gordon, USC/ISI
Talk Title: Towards the Interpretation of Metaphoric Language
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Understanding what people mean when they use metaphoric language is a central problem in natural language understanding. Metaphors give a partial understanding of one kind of experience in terms of another, highlighting similarities and hiding differences. In this talk, I give an overview of the problems posed by metaphoric language. I then describe ongoing crosslinguistic work on the knowledge-based interpretation of metaphors by abductive inference. This work moves us toward a better understanding not only of what people are saying with metaphors but also how the metaphors used by groups of people (e.g., the supporters and opponents of gun control) expose their different world views.
Biography: Jonathan Gordon is a postdoctoral researcher at the USC Information Sciences Institute, where he is advised by Jerry Hobbs. His 2014 doctoral dissertation, 'Inferential Commonsense Knowledge from Text', was supervised by Lenhart Schubert at the University of Rochester. Jonathan's research interests include natural language understanding, semantics, and knowledge extraction
Host: Aliya Deri and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
NL Seminar- Understanding Analogies: Theory and Method
Fri, Jan 23, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Devin Griffiths , USC/Dornsife
Talk Title: Understanding Analogies: Theory and Method
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Analogies allow us to make connections between different domains of knowledge and to apply what we already know to new situations. For this reason, they're important to developing new theories and new understandings of the social and natural world, and have often been seen as an important task for machine learning. In my talk, I'll explore how different theories of how analogy works shape the different approaches that research teams take when modeling analogical thinking. Specifically, I'll contrast what I term "formal" or "top-down" theories of analogy with a "serial" or "bottom-up" approach. Finally, I'll describe a syntactic and semantic method for searching out analogies within corpora. I'm convinced that understanding analogies better, and being able to find locate new analogies in historical documents, can help us understand where new ideas come from.
Biography: Devin Griffiths is an assistant professor in the English Department at USC, where he studies nineteenth-century British literature and scientific history. His current book project, titled "Between the Darwins," explores how analogies were used in the nineteenth century to create new theories of evolution and social progress. His areas of research include science and literature, poetics, book history, and the digital humanities.
Host: Aliya Deri and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Webcast: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=56439af4a5cb41f49a2c5faef5683cd11dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Conference Room # 689, Marina del Rey
WebCast Link: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=56439af4a5cb41f49a2c5faef5683cd11d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
NL Seminar- Neuroimaging Genetics in the ENIGMA Consortium
Fri, Jan 30, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Derrek Hibar, USC / Keck
Talk Title: Neuroimaging Genetics in the ENIGMA Consortium
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences. Subcortical brain regions act jointly with cortical areas to coordinate movement, memory, motivation, reinforcement and learning. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and intracranial volume, derived from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of 30,717 individuals. By identifying genetic influences on brain structure, we can begin to map the genetic architecture underlying variability in human brain development and function, a process that will help elucidate the dysfunctions that lie at the core of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Biography: Derrek Hibar is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology in the Keck School of Medicine of USC where he studies common genetic influences on brain structure and susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. He is currently coordinating one of the largest studies of brain structure to date as part of the ENIGMA Consortium (http://enigma.ini.usc.edu).
Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 6th Flr Conf Rm # 689, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
