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Events for February 28, 2011
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Helicopter Accident Investigation
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
This course examines helicopter rotor systems, controls, performance variables, flight hazards and material characteristics involved in helicopter operations and accidents.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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Hazard Effects and Control Strategues (HAZSS)
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
System Safety Analysis requires a clear understanding of sources of harm (hazards) inherent to a system. System safety analysis should identify the energy sources within the system, target the attack and the barriers that reduce the risk. The purpose of this course is to understand hazard effects and control strategy methodologies.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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Signal Recovery from Randomized Measurements Using Structured Sparsity Models
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Marco F. Duarte, IPAM Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Computer Science, Duke University
Talk Title: Signal Recovery from Randomized Measurements Using Structured Sparsity Models
Abstract: We are in the midst of a digital revolution spawned by the proliferation of sensing devices with ever increasing fidelity and resolution. The resulting data deluge has motivated compression schemes that rely on transform coding, where a suitable transformation of the data provides a sparse representation that compacts the signal energy into a few transform coefficients. This standard approach, however, still requires signal acquisition at the full Nyquist rate, which cannot be achieved in many emerging applications using current sensing technology. The emerging acquisition paradigm of compressive sensing (CS) leverages signal sparsity for recovery from a small set of randomized measurements. The standard CS theory dictates that robust recovery of a K-sparse, N-length signal is possible from M=O(K log(N/K)) measurements. New sensing devices that implement this measurement process have been developed for applications including optical and seismic imaging, communications, and biosensing.
In this talk, we show that it is possible to substantially decrease the number of measurements M without sacrificing robustness by leveraging more concise signal models that go beyond simple sparsity and compressibility. We present a modified CS theory for structured sparse signals that exploits the dependencies between values and locations of the significant signal coefficients; we provide concrete guidelines on how to create new recovery algorithms for structured sparse signals with provable performance guarantees that require as few as M=O(K) measurements. We also review example applications of structured sparsity for natural images, signal ensembles, and multiuser detection.
Biography: Marco F. Duarte received the B.Sc. degree in computer engineering (with distinction) and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Rice University, Houston, TX, in 2009. During 2009-2010, he was a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Program of Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton University. He is currently the NSF/IPAM Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at Duke University, where he works on applications of deterministic matrix constructions in compressive sensing devices.
Dr. Duarte received the Rice University Presidential Fellowship and the Texas Instruments Distinguished Fellowship in 2004, and the Hershel M. Rich Invention Award in 2007 for his work on the single pixel camera. He was a coauthor on a paper with Chinmay Hegde and Volkan Cevher that won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2009 International Workshop on Signal Processing with Adaptive Sparse Structured Representations (SPARS). His research interests include compressive sensing, low-dimensional signal models, dimensionality reduction, and distributed signal processing.
Host: Prof. Shrikanth Narayanan
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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Computer Engineering Seminar
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Weikang Qian, University of Minnesota
Talk Title: Digital yet Deliberately Random: Synthesizing Logical Computation on Stochastic Bit Streams
Abstract: Most digital circuits process information deterministically as zeros and ones. For example, the arithmetic unit of a modern computer performs calculations on deterministic integer or floating-point values represented in binary radix. However, digital computation need not be deterministic. In my research, I consider an alternative paradigm: digital circuits that compute on stochastic sequences of zeros and ones. Such circuits can implement complex arithmetic operations with very simple hardware. Also they are highly tolerant of soft errors (i.e., bit flips). In the first part of my talk, I will present a general method for synthesizing combinational circuits that compute on stochastic bit streams. The method can be used to synthesize arbitrary polynomial functions. Through polynomial approximations, it can also be used to synthesize non-polynomial functions.
Schemes for probabilistic computation can exploit physical sources to generate random bit streams. Generally, each source has a fixed bias and so provides bits that have a specific probability of being one versus zero. If many different probability values are required, it can be difficult or expensive to generate all of these directly from physical sources. In the second half of my talk, I will describe techniques for synthesizing circuits that transform source probabilities into target probabilities, entirely through combinational logic. I will conclude my talk by discussing potential applications of the design methodology for emerging nanoscale technologies, such as nanowire crossbar arrays and carbon nanotubes.
Biography: Weikang Qian is a final-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Automation from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2006. He has research interests in diverse fields such as computer-aided design of integrated circuits, circuit design for emerging technologies, and fault-tolerant computing. In recognition of his doctoral research, he received the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. One of his papers was nominated for the William J. McCalla Best Paper Award at the 2009 International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD), a top conference in the field of electronic design automation.
Host: Sandeep Gupta
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Buddy Ratner, University of Washington
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Graduate Seminar
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Hong Shen, Department of Chemical Engineering University of Washington
Talk Title: Biomaterial-engineering the Immune System
Series: Graduate Seminar
Abstract: Our research interfaces biomaterials, the immune system and engineering design. We use materials with defined properties to probe how the immune system interacts with biomaterials at both cellular and molecular levels. Built upon our understanding, we design biomaterials to exploit intracellular pathways of immune cells for safe and effective therapeutics, such as tissue implants, non-viral gene delivery systems and vaccines. These biomaterials also provide an excellent tool for us to further dissect the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which immune responses are triggered and sustained. A challenge of current vaccines is to achieve a spectrum of immune responses in a single construct. In this talk, I will mainly discuss how we bring together the aforementioned research interests to address this challenge.
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/g-02-28-11.htmLocation: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/g-02-28-11.htm
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CS Colloquium
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sasha Alexander Sherstov, Microsoft Research
Talk Title: Limits of Communication
Abstract: Consider a function f whose arguments are distributed among several parties, making it impossible for any one party to compute f in isolation. Initiated in 1979, communication complexity theory studies how many bits of communication are needed to evaluate f. I will prove that:
1. some natural and practical problems require high communication to achieve any advantage at all over random guessing;
2. solving n instances of any known communication problem on a quantum computer incurs Omega(n) times the cost of a single instance, even to achieve exponentially small correctness probability.
The proofs work by recasting the communication problem geometrically and looking at the dual problem in a novel way. Our results resolve open problems dating back to 1986.
Biography: Alexander Sherstov earned his Ph.D. in computer science in August 2009 at the University of Texas at Austin, under the direction of Prof. Adam Klivans, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research. He has broad research interests in theoretical computer science, including complexity theory, computational learning theory, and quantum computing.
Host: Prof. Ming-Deh Huang
Location: SAL 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Poetry in Conversation: Billy Collins and Carol Muske-Dukes
Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Admission is free.
Reception and book signing to follow.
Billy Collins, U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003 and author of nine collections of poetry, is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. Following a reading of his work, Collins will engage in conversation with USC professor and California poet laureate Carol Muske-Dukes on the art, craft and foibles of writing poetry.
Billy Collinsâs work has appeared in a variety of periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The American Scholar. He has published nine collections of poetry: Questions About Angels, The Art of Drowning, Picnic, Lightning, Taking Off Emily Dickinsonâs Clothes, Sailing Alone Around the Room, Nine Horses, The Trouble with Poetry and Ballistics. His numerous honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He was appointed United States poet laureate from 2001 to 2003 and was named New York poet laureate from 2004 to 2006. Billy Collins is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York.
Carol Muske-Dukes is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently Sparrow, a National Book Award finalist. She has written three novels, Life After Death, Saving St. Germ and Dear Digby, and a collection of essays entitled Married to the Icepick Killer: A Poet in Hollywood. She is a professor of English and creative writing and founding director of the PhD program in literature and creative writing at USC. She has received many awards and honors, including a Guggenheim fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and several Pushcart Prizes. In 2008, she was appointed California poet laureate by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Organized by the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Photo of Billy Collins: Steven Kovich
For further information on this eventLocation: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
