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Events for January 16, 2008

  • USC Transfer Day

    Wed, Jan 16, 2008 @ 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    The program includes a campus tour and special presentations for transfer students about admission, financial aid, transfer credit, and engineering programs. Reservations are required. To make the most of the visit, students are encouraged to bring copies of their college transcripts. Please call (213) 740-6616 for more information and to make a reservation.

    Location: USC University Park Campus

    Audiences: Prospective transfer students and families

    Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs Division

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  • Representation of Signal Sets for the Analysis of Pathogen Variability

    Wed, Jan 16, 2008 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Professor Paul Dan Cristea
    Biomedical Engineering Center,
    University "Politehnica" of BucharestAbstract: It is often desirable to analyze sets of related signals in a way that separates the joint variation of the set, from the individual features of each component signal. The specific case that prompted our research is the genomic signal analysis of taxon variability, but the problem is general and the methods presented in the paper can be used to improve the description of many other types of signal sets. To better express variations of related signals in a given set , where the individual signals are , with xi – the sampling points and yi – the corresponding signal values, it is advantageous to describe the signal set by using two types of components:
    (1) a reference sequence that gives the central tendency of the set, i.e., the common variation
    of the signals;
    (2) the individual offsets of the signals with respect to the chosen reference:
    .
    The central tendency that is used as reference must extract optimally the common variation of the signals in the considered set, so that the individual offset of each signal expresses only the features specific to that signal, with minimum crosstalk. Various estimates of the central trend have been used as reference: average sequence of the signals (or other linear combination of the signals), median sequence , mode step sequence , and maximum flat sequence .The method has been used to analyze pathogen variability resulting in treatment resistance. Mutations occurring at specific sites along a segment comprising codons 509-595 of the rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT), which encodes thesub-unit of RNA polymerase, can be put in direct correspondence to Rifampin (RMP) resistance. Similarly, the variability of polymerase and reverse transcriptase genes of HIV-1, Clade F, has also been monitored this way to detect resistance to the antiretroviral treatment of AIDS.Biography: Professor Paul Cristea graduated from the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications (UPB - University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Romania, 1962), the Faculty of Physics (University of Bucharest, 1969), and has a Ph.D. in Technical Physics (UPB, 1970). Since then his research and teaching activities covered an large area of Electrical Engineering and related domains including topics like Digital Signal and Image Processing, Genomic Signals, Neural and Evolutionary Systems, Computerized Medical Equipment, Evolutionary Intelligent Agents, Intelligent e-Learning Environments. He is the author or co-author of more then 130 published papers, 11 patents and contributed to more then 20 books in these fields. He is currently affiliated with UPB, the Biomedical Engineering Center (general director) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, the ETRO Department. He is a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy and director of the Romanian Bioinformatics Society.Host: Prof. Sanjit Mitra

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia Veal

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  • One Dimensional Nanostructures and their Applications - Dr. M. Meyyappan

    Wed, Jan 16, 2008 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Nanotechnology SeminarOne Dimensional Nanostructures and their ApplicationsDr. M. MeyyappanNASA Ames Research CenterHost: Professor Chongwu Zhou, Electrical EngineeringAbstract: The ability to grow a variety of semiconductor, oxide and other inorganic
    materials in the form of nanowires with controlled properties and vertical orientation
    provides a competitive avenue for applications in logic, memory, data storage, sensors
    and others. Growth of these nanowires using a vapor-liquid-solid approach, material
    characterization and application development will be discussed in detail. In addition, an
    overview of carbon nanotube based chemical and biosensors will be presented covering
    CNT preparation, sensor fabrication and sensor performance. The author acknowledges
    contributions from Bin Yu, Jeff Sun, Jing Li, Y. Lu and Jun Li.
    Biography: Dr. Meyya Meyyappan is Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology at the
    Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. Until
    June 2006, he served as the Director of the Center for Nanotechnology as well as Senior
    Scientist. He holds an Adjunct Professor position at the Arizona State University. He is a
    founding member of the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN)
    established by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The IWGN is
    responsible for putting together the National Nanotechnology Initiative.
    For his contributions and leadership in nanotechnology, he has received numerous awards
    including: a Presidential Meritorius Award; NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal;
    Arthur Flemming Award given by the Arthur Flemming Foundation and the George
    Washington University; 2008 IEEE Judith Resnick Award; IEEE-USA Harry Diamond
    Award. For his educational contributions, he has received: Outstanding Recognition
    Award from the NASA Office of Education; the Engineer of the Year Award (2004) by
    the San Francisco Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
    Astronautics(AIAA); IEEE-EDS Education Award. Dr. Meyyappan has authored or coauthored
    over 175 articles in peer reviewed publications and made over 200
    Invited/Keynote/Plenary Talks in nanotechnology subjects across the world.

    Location: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 319

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht

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  • There and Back Again: Linking Regional and Global Air Quality and Climate

    Wed, Jan 16, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Kevin Bowman Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA Recent advances in observational capabilities, global chemistry transport models, and data assimilation techniques have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of global and regional air quality. This progress has been enabled in part by the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), a high-resolution Fourier Transform spectrometer aboard the NASA Aura spacecraft that provides the global distribution of vertical ozone and carbon monoxide profiles. These observations can characterize how pollutants such as ozone can be transformed and transported on global scales with important implications for both regional air quality and climate. In particular, I will discuss research in understanding the contribution of surface emissions to tropical tropospheric ozone and the impact of summertime ozone over North America on chemistry climate coupling. In addition, we will explore a new effort to develop "sensor webs" that can combine ground, aircraft, and satellite observations with adjoint modeling techniques to design optimal sampling strategies that maximize the information available in these observations. I will show how sensor webs could be used in intensive air quality campaigns and their potential role for global environmental monitoring.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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