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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April

  • Dialocalization: Acoustic Speaker Diarization and Visual Localization as Joint Optimization Proble

    Thu, Apr 01, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Abstract:
    Research in cognitive psychology suggests that the human brain is able to integrate different sensory modalities, such as sight, sound, and touch, into a perceptual experience that is coherent and unified. Experiments show that by considering input from multiple sensors, perceptual problems can be solved more robustly and even more efficiently. In computer science, however, synergistic use of data encoded for different human sensors has not yet lived up to its promise.In the talk, I present a novel multimodal approach for unsupervised speaker localization in both time and space. Using recordings from a single, low-resolution room overview camera and a single far-field microphone, a state-of-the-art audio only speaker diarization system (speaker localization in time) is extended so that both acoustic and visual models are estimated as part of a joint unsupervised optimization problem. The speaker diarization system first automatically determines the speech regions and estimates "who spoke when", then, in a second step, the visual models are used to infer the location of the speakers in the video. We call this process "dialocalization". The proposed system is able to exploit audio-visual integration to not only improve the accuracy of a state-of-the-art (audio-only) speaker diarization, but also adds visual speaker localization at little incremental engineering and computation costs. The combined algorithm has different properties, such as increased robustness, that cannot be observed in algorithms based on single modalities. The talk describes the algorithm, presents benchmarking results, explains its properties, and systematically discusses the contributions of each modality.Bio:
    Dr. Gerald Friedland is a research scientist at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), a private research lab affiliated with the University of California Berkeley, where he leads the speaker diarization research projects. He is also the Co-PI on an NGA-funded project on Multimodal Location Detection and a member of the Executive Advisory Board of UC Berkeley's Opencast project.Until recently, he was ICSI's site manager in the EU-funded project AMIDA and the Swiss-funded IM2 project, and former co-PI on the DTO-VACE-funded project ROADMAP, all of which explore multimodal signal analysis to interpret people's behavior in meetings and videoconferences. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles in conferences, journals, and books and is currently authoring a new textbook on multimedia computing together with Dr. Ramesh Jain. Dr. Friedland was program co-chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia 2008 and 2009. He co-founded the IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing and is a proud founder and program director of the International Summer School on Semantic Computing at UC Berkeley. He is the recipient of several research and industry recognitions, among them the European Academic Software Award and the Multimedia Entrepreneur Award by the German Federal Department of Economics. Most recently, he led the team that won the ACM Multimedia Grand Challenge 2009. Dr. Friedland received his doctorate (summa cum laude) and master's degree in computer science from Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany, in 2006 and 2002, respectively.Hosts: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan and Dr. Kyu Han

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mary Francis

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  • Design, Analysis, and Test of Logic Circuits under Uncertainty

    Thu, Apr 01, 2010 @ 02:15 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Dr. Smita Krishnaswamy,
    IBM, TJ Watson Research CenterAbstract:
    Logic circuits are becoming increasingly susceptible to probabilistic behavior caused by external radiation and noise. In addition, inherently probabilistic quantum- and nano-technologies are on the horizon as we approach the limits of CMOS scaling. Ensuring the reliability of such circuits despite the probabilistic behavior is a key challenge in IC design---one that necessitates a fundamental, probabilistic reformulation of synthesis and testing techniques.In this talk, I will present techniques for analyzing, designing, and testing logic circuits with probabilistic behavior. First, I will present a mathematical formulation of reliability analysis using our probabilistic transfer matrix (PTM) algebra for representing probabilistic behavior in gates and circuits. Reliability analysis is a computationally-complex task, and scalability is particularly challenging. To this end, I present two scalable heuristics for approximate analysis in the contexts of testing and reliable design.The first heuristic, involving partial PTM computation, is used to generate tests for probabilistic faults. The second heuristic, known as AnSER, runs in linear time of the size of the circuit, and uses functional-simulation signatures and observability to determine the circuit's soft error rate (SER) accurately. The scalability of AnSER allows us to derive subtle, low-overhead design techniques that improve reliability. These techniques include partial-redundancy identification, guided rewriting, gate relocation, and observability-based retiming. I conclude by briefly covering ongoing research and future directions.Biography:
    Smita Krishnaswamy is currently a research staff member in the design automation group at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center, where she works on techniques for incremental design, logic synthesis, and physical synthesis. Her incremental design research has been extensively utilized in production of the P and Z series microprocessor chips.Smita obtained her Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2008. She has received a 2009 EDAA Outstanding Dissertation Award, and a Best Paper Award at DATE 2005 for her doctoral work. Smita's research interests include fault tolerance, reliability, testing, logic synthesis, and CAD for emerging technologiesHosted by Prof. Sandeep Gupta

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - -222

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Estela Lopez

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  • CS Colloq: Aruna Balasubramania

    Thu, Apr 01, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title:
    Architecting Protocols to Improve Connectivity in Diverse Mobile NetworksSpeaker: Dr. Aruna BalasubramanianHost: Prof. Ramesh GovindanAbstract: Today, mobile networks and mobile devices enable applications for millions of users in diverse network environments. However, the potential of mobile networks has not not yet been fully realized because such networks are often unreliable and prone to disconnection. Mobile network environments, ranging from well-connected mesh networks to extremely sparse Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), face a variety of connectivity challenges due to unpredictable links, coverage holes, and losses in the wireless medium.In this talk, I will present a suite of protocols that overcome unreliability and improve connectivity in diverse mobile networks. At one end of the connectivity spectrum are sparsely connected DTNs, where the lack of an end-to-end path causes traditional routing protocols to break down. I will present RAPID, a DTN routing protocol that uses opportunistic replication coupled with a utility-driven algorithm to significantly improve a given routing metric. At the other end of the spectrum are well-connected mesh networks, where factors such as multipath fading lead to short disruptions that affect performance of interactive applications such as Voice over IP. I will present ViFi, a mesh network protocol that reduces disruptions using a probabilistic relaying algorithm that leverages overheard packets. Using RAPID and ViFi as examples, I will show how utility-driven and probabilistic algorithms can be used to implement protocols in a decentralized and highly uncertain wireless environment. Our deployment and experimental evaluation of these protocols in outdoor mobile testbeds demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.I will briefly describe some of my more recent works on improving energy efficiency in mobile devices. Finally, I will conclude by outlining future research challenges in designing self-adapting protocols to allow seamless operation and in improving the usability of next generation mobile devices.Bio: Aruna Balasubramanian is a fifth year PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Computer Science. Her research interests are broadly in systems and networking. She is specifically interested in mobile and sensor systems, delay tolerant networks, and energy efficiency. Her current research focus is on building robust wireless protocols that allow mobile access in diverse network environments. Her work has appeared in such conferences as ACM Sigcomm and ACM Mobicom. She is a Program Committee Co-chair for the Ph.D Forum held in conjunction with ACM MobiSys 2010, and was the General Co-Chair for the 2009 PhD Forum. She was a Program Committee Member of ACM CHANTS 2009. She is the recipient of a Microsoft Graduate Research Fellowship.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; The BMW Mini-E

    Fri, Apr 02, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Dr. Anton Lesnicar, Chief Engineer for the BMW Mini-E Program, will present "The BMW Mini-E" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.

    Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

    Audiences: Undergrad

    Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs

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  • BME 533 Seminar

    Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Alison Marsden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UCSD: "Optimization and uncertainty quantification for cardiovascular surgery design"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Graduate//Department Only

    Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

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  • Multiscale Computational Simulation of Progressive ....

    Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    ... Building Collapse and Other Collapse-Related Stuff Speaker: Sherif El-Tawil,Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department,University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MIAbstract:
    Simulating the response of a steel building to extreme loading, especially all the way up to collapse, is complicated by the need to account for a number of interlinked processes that take place along widely disparate length scales. At the micro-scale, micrometer sized voids in the steel matrix can nucleate and coalesce leading to the formation of a crack. At the macro-scale, the crack can grow forming a discontinuity (centimeters in length) that leads to a rapid change in member structural properties. At the structural-scale, i.e. in regions measured in meters, the damaged member can trigger instability in subassemblage response potentially leading to a chain of other interlinked micro-, macro- and structural-scale processes that ultimately stop when the building system reaches equilibrium or collapses into a debris pile. My talk will start off by describing my general research interest in multi-scale collapse modeling then focus on simulating progressive structural collapse and some of the engineering aspects that influence the collapse-resistance of steel buildings. Digressing from the main topic of the presentation, I will describe some tools that we have developed to visualize our simulation results in virtual and augmented reality environments with the purpose of assisting and training first response teams. The talk will conclude with a short discussion of emergency occupant egress from distressed buildings and our ongoing efforts to address this area.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • CS DLS: Prof. John Hopcroft

    Tue, Apr 06, 2010 @ 04:15 PM - 05:50 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    DLS - Bekey KeynoteTalk Title: "Computer science theory to support research in the information age"Speaker: Prof. John Hopcroft - Cornell UniversityHosts: Prof. Shang-Hua Teng / Prof. Michael Arbib Abstract:The last forty years have seen computer science evolve as a major academic discipline. Today the field is undergoing a fundamental change. Some of the drivers of this change are the internet, the World Wide Web, large quantities of information in digital form and wide spread use of computers for accessing information. The change is requiring universities to revise the content of computer science programs. This talk will cover the changes in the theoretical foundations of computer science needed to support the information age.Bio:John Hopcroft is the IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. He started his career on the Faculty at Princeton in 1964 and moved to Cornell in 1967. In 1987 he became the chair of the Department of Computer Science. In 1993 he became Associate Dean for College Affairs, and in 1994 he became Dean of the College of Engineering in which job he served until 2001 when he returned to the Department of Computer Science.He earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Seattle University in 1961 and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1964. He has honorary degrees from Seattle University, the National College of Ireland, the University of Sydney, St Petersburg State University. He is an honorary professor of the Beijing Institute of Technology and an Einstein Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.. His current research interests are in the area of information capture and access.Hopcroft has served on numerous advisory boards including the Air Force Science Advisory Board, NASA's Space Sciences Board and National Research Council's Board on Computer Science and Telecommunications. In 1986 he was awarded the Turing Award by the Association for Computing Machinery and in 1992, President H. W. Bush appointed him to the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He serves on the Packard Foundation's Science Advisory Board, Microsoft's Technical Advisory Board for Research Asia and the advisory boards of IIIT Delhi and the College of Engineering at Seattle University.

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Probabilistic seismic risk assessment of infrastructure systems ...

    Wed, Apr 07, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    .. Using efficient sampling and data reduction techniquesNirmal Jayaram, Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford UniversityAbstract:Risk assessment of spatially-distributed building portfolios or infrastructure systems requires quantification of the joint occurrence of ground-motion intensities at several sites, during the same earthquake. This talk will present an overview of techniques to quantify the needed joint distributions using observations from past earthquakes, and describe how these distributions can be used in probabilistic seismic risk assessments of spatially-distributed lifelines. Lifeline risk assessment presents challenges related to describing ground-motion intensity over a region, and related to the computationally expensive task of repeatedly analyzing performance of a lifeline system under many damage scenarios. A simulation-based framework will be presented that develops a small but stochastically-representative catalog of earthquake ground-motion intensity maps that can be used for lifeline risk assessment. The approach dramatically reduces required computational expense, while also maintaining a set of simulations that is consistent with all conventional probabilistic seismic hazard analysis calculations. The feasibility of the proposed approach is illustrated by using it to assess the seismic risk of a simplified model of the San Francisco Bay Area transportation network. A catalog of only 150 intensity maps is generated to represent hazard at 1,038 sites from ten regional fault segments causing earthquakes with magnitudes between five and eight.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 ( Webex is available upon request)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Microchannel Acoustophoresis in Biochips

    Wed, Apr 07, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Henrik Bruus Professor Department of Micro- and NanotechnologyTechnical University of DenmarkDTU Bldg. 345east DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby Denmark ABSTRACT:Within the past five years there has been a significant increase in the number of novel applications of ultrasound standing waves for particle handling in microfluidic biochips. In spite of this growing interest, detailed measurements of the resonance line shapes are lacking. We present such measure­ments, published recently in Lab Chip 10, 563 (2010), based on tracking of individual polystyrene microbeads during acoustophoretic motion in straight water-filled microchannels in silicon/glass chips subject to piezo-induced ultrasonic pressure fields. From the measured line shapes we extract the corresponding Q-values and thus gain insight in the nature of the acoustic energy dissipation in such systems. The talk will end with examples of on-chip in vivo acoustophoresis of cells.

    Location: Seaver Science Library, SSL Rm 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

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  • Multi-Functional Catalytic Reactors For Cleaner Air and Energy

    Thu, Apr 08, 2010 @ 12:45 PM

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Lyman Handy Colloquium SeriesPresentsMike HaroldUniversity of HoustonAbstract:The U.S. faces the challenge of reducing its energy appetite and cleaning its air while sustaining economic growth. With fossil fuels serving as the primary energy source for the foreseeable future, it is critical that the efficiency of power generation be increased while reducing emissions. In this talk short- and long-term technology solutions are described that require the development of new types of multi-functional catalytic reactors. The short-term solution exploits the improved fuel efficiency offered by diesel-power vehicles compared to their gasoline-powered counterparts. Diesel-powered vehicles require significant reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulates. We are investigating NOx storage and reduction (NSR) as a viable diesel emission abatement technology, which involves the application of a catalytic adsorptive reactor. Exhaust NOx is reactively adsorbed into a nitrate, which is then reduced by exhaust species, achieved by periodic operation. Our experimental and modeling results reveal that pulse injection of various reductants is effective in achieving a high time-averaged NOx conversion on Pt/Ba catalysts. Storage and reduction cycles are identified that maximize the NOx conversion and minimize reductant requirements. The results of mechanistic and modeling studies reveal a complex coupling between the catalytic chemistry and transport processes. A longer-term solution involves the use of fuel cells for distributed power generation. This approach requires efficient production of high purity hydrogen from fuels. We are investigating the use of a Pd alloy membrane reactor that integrates fuel reforming and hydrogen purification. The synthesis of novel encapsulated Pd membranes supported by porous ceramic fibers exhibit very good hydrogen flux and permselectivity. Experiments and modeling identify the membrane reactor design and operating conditions that maximize the reactor productivity and hydrogen utilization.

    Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - -159

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir

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  • CS Colloq: Dr. Yan Liu

    Thu, Apr 08, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Learning from Structured Data: Models and ApplicationsSpeaker: Dr. Yan LiuHost: Prof. Gaurav SukhatmeAbstract: Structured-input/output data emerge rapidly in a large number of applications, such as computational biology, social network analysis and climate modeling. In this talk, I will examine two tasks under this topic: one is given the data with underlying structures, how we can recover the graph structures automatically. Specifically, we develop Granger temporal models, an emerging collection of graphical model techniques that allow us to model causal relationships from time series data by appealing Granger causality with success in biology and climate application; the other tasks is given the data with structured-input, how we can make use of the structure information for better modeling. Specifically, we develop Topic-Link LDA model, a Bayesian hierarchical model for topic modeling and social network analysis from blog data.Bio: Yan Liu is a Research Staff Member at IBM TJ Watson Research. She received her M.Sc and Ph.D. degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and 2006. Her research interest includes machine learning and data mining algorithms for business analytics, social network analysis, computational biology and climate modeling. She has received several awards, including 2007 ACM Dissertation Award Honorable Mention, best application paper award in SDM 2007, winner of KDD Cup 2007, 2008, 2009 and INFORMS data mining competition 2008. She has published over 30 referred articles and served as a program committee of SIGKDD, CIKM, SIGIR, ICDM and several workshops in NIPS and ICDM.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Distinguished Lecture Series: Lars Samuelson

    Fri, Apr 09, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:45 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Nanowires: From Materials Science to Physics and Device ApplicationsDr. Samuelson has published nearly 500 papers in refereed journals and given more than 200 invited/plenary talks at international conferences. He is Fellow of the Institute of Physics, FinstP, in the UK, a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, KVA (Physics) and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, IVA. In 2008, he was entitled "Einstein Professor" by the Chinese Acad. of Sciences.

    Location: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Gregory Reinhard

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  • W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Unmanned Air Systems

    Fri, Apr 09, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Mr. Frank Flores, Vice President of Engineering at Northrup Grumman, will present "Unmanned Air Systems" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.

    Audiences: Undergrad

    Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs

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  • Sparse Representation Methods for Speech and Language Processing

    Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Abstract:
    Sparse representation techniques, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs), k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and Bayesian Compressive Sensing (BCS), can be used to characterize a test sample from a few support training samples in a dictionary set. Traditional Compressing Sensing based methods have been used for signal reconstruction and compression. They have also been successfully applied to the classification of fMRI images. This talk presents our recent work on sparse representations for phonetic classification, speech recognition and text classification in general. The importance of a prior, the sparseness constraint, and choice of the dictionary to this framework will be discussed. Representing a test example as a linear combination of features from the training set allows for a PER on the well-studied TIMIT phone recognition task of 19.0%, which is the best number reported in the literature to-date. Motivated by this result, we also propose a set of features that are a function of the phonetic labels of the original dictionary can be used to create a new representation of the test sample, where the test sample is better linked to the actual units/labels to be recognized.
    (Joint work with Tara Sainath, Dimitri Kanevsky and David Nahamoo.)Bio:
    Dr. Bhuvana Ramabhadran is the Manager of the Speech Transcription and Synthesis Research Group at the IBM T.J. Watson Center. Upon joining IBM in 1995, she made significant contributions to the ViaVoice line of products focusing on acoustic modeling. She has served as the Principal Investigator of two major international projects: the NSF-sponsored MALACH project, developing algorithms for transcription of elderly, accented speech from Holocaust survivors, and the EUsponsored TC-STAR project, developing algorithms for recognition of EU parliamentary speeches. She has served as the technical chair on conferences, organized workshops, and currently serves on the Speech and Language Technical Committee of the IEEE SPS society. Her research interests include speech recognition algorithms, statistical signal processing, pattern recognition and biomedical engineering.Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mary Francis

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  • Recent Development in Simultaneous Recognition of 2 or More Speakers Recorded on a Single Microphone

    Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Abstract:
    Human listeners are able to selectively tune out all but the speaker of interest when multiple speakers are talking, as in a cocktail-party scenario. We describe a new computational method which, for the first time, can accurately transcribe overlapping speakers better than humans can. This is a breakthrough: it is almost unprecedented for computers to outperform people in any field of perception, audio or visual.Bio:
    Peder is currently a manager for the speech engines and algorithms group at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center. He is also serving as a chair of the User Interface Technology Professional Interest Community at IBM. Peder has been doing speech recognition at IBM since 1996 and has published over 50 papers in the area. His work in speech has been very mathematical in nature, as is reflected by an Erdos number (http://www.oakland.edu/enp/) of 3 earned while at IBM. Prior to joining IBM, Peder received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. There he proved that the existence of our universe is reasonable by showing that the Schrodinger equation is well posed and has a unique solution. Presently Peder lives in Westchester, New York, where he is trying to dissuade 6 foot long snakes from taking up residence under his porch.Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mary Francis

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  • BME 533 Seminar

    Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Helga van Herle, M.D., and David Cesario, M.D., Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, USC: Seminar Title: Biomedical Engineering in Cardiology

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Graduate//Department Only

    Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

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  • Exploiting Collective Behavior in Datacenter Storage

    Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    CENG SeminarMithuna Thottethodi, Assistant Professor, Purdue UniversityMonday, April 12, 2010
    2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
    (RTH -306)Hosted by Prof. Timothy M. PinkstonAbstract:
    The storage layer is a significant factor in the capital cost, energy cost and performance of servers and data-centers. Emerging high-performance, low-energy, non-volatile, solid-state storage media show enormous promise to solve two of the three problems (storage performance and energy). However, the high cost-per-byte of solid-state media has hindered wide-spread adoption in servers.
    SieveStore is a cost-effective, ensemble-level disk-cache architecture which enables the use of solid-state media to significantly filter access to storage ensembles via two key innovations. First, Sievestore leverages the typical collective behavior of storage ensembles which is quite distinct from the behavior of individual servers in the ensemble.
    Second, we show that selective cache allocation – sieving – is fundamental to enable efficient ensemble-level disk-caching. We find that the two components (sieving and ensemble-level caching) each contribute to SieveStore's cost-effectiveness. SieveStore is effective in achieving significantly higher hit ratios than unsieved ensemble-level disk-caching (35%-50% more, on average) while using only 1/7th the number of SSD drives as unsieved, ensemble-level disk-caches.
    Further, ensemble-level caching is a strictly superior cost-performance point compared to per-server caching.Biography:
    Mithuna Thottethodi is an assistant professor with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. His research interests include multicore memory hierarchies and interconnection networks, microarchitecture, datacenters and large storage systems, and programmable microfluidics. He was awarded the National Science Foundation's CAREER award in 2007. He received the Eta Kappa Nu (HKN Beta Chapter) Outstanding Professor award in Fall 2004 and the Ruth And Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher award in 2006. He received his Ph.D. in 2002 from Duke University.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - -306

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Janice Thompson

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  • Service Orientation: Software Engineering issues beyond Architecture

    Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Dr. Srinivas Padmanabhuni, Principal Research Scientist, Infosys SETLabsMonday, April 12
    2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (HED-116)Hosted by Prof. Viktor K. Prasanna Abstract: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an emergent software architectural trend predicated upon the notion of "service", as a first class software unit for software construction. In this talk, we shall explore the upcoming area of Service Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE), covering software engineering research issues for the different life cycle stages of SOSE based software construction: Service identification, Service based design, Service Contract based Development, Service Based Testing, Service Evolution and Change Management. We shall cover a overview of the diverse Software Engineering issues therein, we shall present our research on the following areas in depth:
    1. SOSE process: We present briefly the common approaches of top-down, middle out and bottom up approaches
    to SOSE, our focus shall be to present the commonly prevalent business process driven approach to service lifecycle. The key advantage of such an approach is the right sizing and business facing services we shall be able to derive and work with as part of the SOSE approach.
    2. Service Identification: A key aspect of service orientation in our approach as above is its close relation to
    Business Process Architectures, and we present a homegrown approach to harvesting services from Business processes.
    3. Composite Applications: While SOA advocates service based design and reuse at design level, a key practical
    requirement in building real SOA based systems is in being able to efficiently combine reuasable services, with custom software, giving rise to new software application trend termed as Composite Applications.
    4. Service Evolution and Change Management: We present a plethora of challenges in Service governance and
    maintenance, and cover some typical and proprietary approaches for service change management.
    5. Service Mining: A key aspect of SOA is the possibilities it offers for legacy systems extension. Key challenges there involve mining of services from legacy portfoliosBiography: Dr. Srinivas Padmanabhuni is a Principal Researcher at Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SETLabs), the R and D arm of Infosys Technologies Limited, Bangalore, India. He supervises the Software Engineering and Distributed Computing research labs in SETLabs at Infosys. Dr. Srinivas specializes in Web services, Service Oriented Architecture, Business Process Management, and Grid technologies alongside pursuing interests in semantic web, autonomic computing, intelligent agents, and enterprise architecture. He has been selected for Who's Who in Asia 2007 first edition, in addition to being nominated for Who is Who in the World and Americas 2009 editions. He serves on editorial board of journals and program committees for international conferences in area of web services, SOA, and Software Engineering. He has authored several papers in international conferences including AAAI, ICWS, SCC, GITMA,APSEC,ISEC, and others. He is currently the chairperson of ACM bangalore chapter. He has served on program committees for several international conferences and workshops including ICWS (International Conference of Web Services), PricAI (Pacific Rim International Conference on AI), NWeSP (International Conference on Next Generation Web Services Practices), Indian Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) etc. He has given numerous invited speeches at varied industry and academic forums including IEEE and ACM forums, industry CIO seminars like MINDEF CIO Summit, conferences including APSEC, ICWA etc. and architect forums like IASA. He has also authored books and book chapters and articles in some leading professional journals. Prior to Infosys, Dr. Srinivas has worked in multiple capacities in startups out of Canada and USA. Dr. Srinivas holds a doctorate degree in computing science from University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Prior to Ph.D he secured his B.Tech and M.Tech in computer science from Indian Institutes of Technology at Kanpur and Mumbai respectively.

    Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Janice Thompson

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  • Multi-Model Unfalsified Adaptive Switching Supervisory Control

    Tue, Apr 13, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Dr. Simone Baldi
    Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence)
    Abstract:
    In recent years, adaptive switching supervisory control (ASSC) has emerged as an alternative to conventional
    continuous adaptation for dealing with control of uncertain plants. The proposed approach consists of
    embedding, in the so-called unfalsified adaptive switching supervisory control (UASSC) schemes, a family of
    nominal models pairwise associated with the given candidate controllers, and allow to deal with the problem of
    inferring on-line stability of a potential control-loop consisting of an uncertain plant interconnected in feedback
    with a candidate controller, using plant I/O pairs recorded while the plant is possibly driven by a different
    controller.
    The result is that the supervised switching mechanism can moderate the chance that destabilizing controllers be
    switched-on and, hence, reduce both the magnitude and time durations of "learning" transients after start-up,
    while, in contrast with pre-existing multi-model based methods, stability in-the-large is guaranteed under the
    minimal conceivable assumption that a stabilizing candidate controller exist.
    Bio:
    Simone Baldi received the B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering in 2005 and the M.S. degree in Automatic
    Systems Control Engineering in 2007, both from the University of Florence. Thereafter, he has been with the
    Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica, University of Florence, where he is currently a Ph.D. student. His
    research interests are in

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Shane Goodoff

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  • CS Colloq: Fernando De la Torre

    Wed, Apr 14, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Learning Components for Human SensingSpeaker: Prof. Fernando De la Torre - Carnegie Mellon UniversityHost: Prof. Gerard MedioniAbstract:Providing computers with the ability to understand human behavior from sensory data (e.g. video, audio, or wearable sensors) is an essential part of many applications that can benefit society such as clinical diagnosis, human computer interaction, and social robotics. A critical element in the design of any behavioral sensing system is to find a good representation of the data for encoding, segmenting, classifying and predicting subtle human behavior. In this talk I will propose several extensions of Component Analysis (CA) techniques (e.g. kernel principal component analysis, support vector machines, and spectral clustering) that are able to learn spatio-temporal representations or components useful in many human sensing tasks.In the first part of the talk I will give an overview of several ongoing projects in the CMU Human Sensing Laboratory, including our current work on depression assessment from video, as well as hot-flash detection from wearable sensors. In the second part of the talk I will show how several extensions of the CA methods outperform state-of-the-art algorithms in problems such as temporal alignment of human behavior, temporal segmentation/clustering of human activities, joint segmentation and classification of human behavior, and facial feature detection in images. The talk will be adaptive, and I will discuss the topics of major interest to the audience.Biography:Fernando De la Torre received his B.Sc. degree in Telecommunications (1994), M.Sc. (1996), and Ph. D. (2002) degrees in Electronic Engineering from La Salle School of Engineering in Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. In 1997 and 2000 he was an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Communications and Signal Theory in Enginyeria La Salle. Since 2005 he has been a Research Assistant Professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. De la Torre's research interests include computer vision and machine learning, in particular face analysis, optimization and component analysis methods, and its applications to human sensing. Dr. De la Torre co-organized the first workshop on component analysis methods for modeling, classification and clustering problems in computer vision in conjunction with CVPR'07, and the workshop on human sensing from video jointly with CVPR'06. He has also given several tutorials at international conferences (ECCV'06, CVPR'06, ICME'07, ICPR'08) on the use and extensions of component analysis methods. Currently he leads the Component Analysis Laboratory (http://ca.cs.cmu.edu ) and the Human Sensing Laboratory (http://humansensing.cs.cmu.edu ).

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Design, Technology, and Process;Team California, 2009 Solar Decathlon

    Wed, Apr 14, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars



    Speaker: Timothy Hight, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Santa Clara UniversityAbstract:Santa Clara University and California College of the Arts joined forces to compete in the 2009 DOE Solar Decathlon competition, resulting in an overall third place finish. An SCU student team led the engineering effort, and CCA students led the architectural design, while both schools collaborated on these and many other aspects, such as communications and interior design. This talk will discuss some of the technologies chosen for the Refract House (including an integrated all PV roof, radiant heating and cooling, and whole home control system), as well as the tradeoffs and compromises inherent in the bold architectural design, and the process used for design and project management for this student-led team

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 (

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Physical constraints of small-scale motility in fluids

    Wed, Apr 14, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Eric LaugaAssistant ProfessorMechanical/Aerospace EngineeringUniversity of California, San DiegoABSTRACT:
    Hydrodynamics plays a crucial role in many cellular processes. One example is the locomotion of cells such as bacteria, spermatozoa, and essentially half of the microorganisms on earth. These organisms typically possess flagella, slender whiplike appendages which are actuated in a periodic fashion in a fluid environment, thereby giving rise to propulsion. Motivated by recent experimental data, we consider in this talk three problems on the nonlinear hydrodynamics of swimming cells. We first address the observed flagellar synchronization between eukaryotic cells swimming in close proximity. We then discuss the locomotion of cells in complex (polymeric) fluids. We finally explain why cells swimming in confined environments are attracted to nearby boundaries.

    Location: Seaver Science Library, Rm 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

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  • Planning and Learning in Information Space

    Thu, Apr 15, 2010

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Time: 12:00 PMRoom: EEB 248Talk Title: Planning and Learning in Information SpaceSpeaker: Professor Nicholas Roy Host: Professor Gaurav SukhatmeAbstract:Decision making with imperfect knowledge is an essential capability for unmanned vehicles operating in populated, dynamic domains. For example, a UAV flying autonomously indoors will not be able to rely on GPS for position estimation, but instead use on-board sensors to track its position and map the obstacles in its environment. The planned trajectories for such a vehicle must therefore incorporate sensor limitations to avoid collisions and to ensure accurate state estimation for stable flight -- that is, the planner must be be able to predict and avoid uncertainty in the state, in the dynamics and in the model of the world. Incorporating uncertainty requires planning in information space, which leads to substantial computational cost but allows our unmanned vehicles to plan deliberate sensing actions that can not only improve the state estimate, but even improve the vehicle's model of the world and how people interact with the vehicle.I will discuss recent results from my group in planning in information space; our algorithms allow robots to generate plans that are robust to state and model uncertainty, while planning to learn more about the world. I will describe the navigation system for a quadrotor helicopter flying autonomously without GPS using laser range-finding, and will show how these results extend to autonomous mapping, general tasks with imperfect information, and human-robot interaction.Bio:Nicholas Roy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. He received his Ph. D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003. His research interests include autonomous systems, mobile robotics, human-computer interaction, decision-making under uncertainty and machine learning.

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • [Photonics Seminar] Plasmonic Super Resolution Imaging

    Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Prof. Zhaowei Liu, UCSDAbstract:
    The imaging resolution of conventional optical lens system is limited by the diffraction to a few hundreds of nanometers. Emerging artificially engineered plasmonic metamaterials offer a new possibility to build superlenses that overcome such a limit. In this talk I will review some of our work on the far-field superlens (FSL) and optical hyperlens that are able to transfer super resolution image to the far field. Other plasmonic based techniques such as plasmonic structured illumination microscopy (PSIM), plasmonic dark field (PDF) microscopy will also be discussed.Bio:
    Zhaowei Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCSD. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MEMS/Nanotechnology) from UCLA in 2006, and was subsequently a postdoctoral researcher in NSF Nanoscale Science & Engineering Center (NSEC) and Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. In 2008 he joined the faculty at UCSD. His research is primarily in the fields of nanophotonics, super-resolution imaging and sensing, metamaterials, plasmonics, and micro/nanofabrication. He is a recipient of the 2010 SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.Host: Prof. Michelle Povinelli

    Location: EE 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Jing Ma

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  • The Hydrogeochemistry of Pond and Rice Field Recharge:

    Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    ..Implications for the Arsenic Contaminated Aquifers in Bangladesh Speakers: Rebecca B. Neumann, Ph.D., NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University Abstract: Researchers have puzzled over the origin of dissolved arsenic in the aquifers of the
    Ganges Delta since widespread arsenic poisoning from groundwater was publicized two
    decades ago. Previous work has concluded that biological oxidation of organic carbon
    drives geochemical transformations that mobilize arsenic from sediments; however, the
    source of the organic carbon that fuels these processes remains controversial. A
    combined hydrologic and biogeochemical analysis of a typical site in Bangladesh, where
    constructed ponds and groundwater-irrigated rice fields are the main sources of recharge,
    shows that only recharge through pond sediments provides the biologically degradable
    organic carbon that can drive arsenic mobilization. Chemical and isotopic indicators
    suggest that contaminated groundwater originates from excavated ponds and that water
    originating from rice fields is low in arsenic. In fact, rice fields act as an arsenic sink.
    Irrigation moves arsenic-rich groundwater from the aquifers and deposits it on the rice
    fields. Most of the deposited arsenic does not return to the aquifers; it is sorbed by the
    field's surface soil and bunds, and is swept away in the monsoon floods. The findings
    indicate that patterns of arsenic contamination in the shallow aquifer are due to rechargesource
    variation and complex three-dimensional flow.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 (Available by Webex upon request)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • CS Colloq: Niv Buchbinder - CANCELLED

    Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Randomized k-Server Conjecture (Online Algorithms meet Linear Programming)
    Speaker: Dr. Niv Buchbinder
    Host: Prof. David KempeTALK CANCELLEDAbstract:
    The k-server problem is one of the most central and well studied problems in competitive analysis and is considered by many to be the "holy grail" problem in the field. In the k-server problem, there is a distance function d defined over an n-point metric space and k servers located at the points of the metric space. At each time step, an online algorithm is given a request at one of the points of the metric space, and it is served by moving a server to the requested point. The goal of an online algorithm is to minimize the total sum of the distances traveled by the servers so as to serve a given sequence of requests. The k-server problem captures many online scenarios, and in particular the widely studied paging problem.A twenty year old conjecture states that there exists a k-competitive online algorithm for any metric space. The randomized k-server conjecture states that there exists a randomized O(log k)-competitive algorithm for any metric space. While major progress was made in the past 20 years on the deterministic conjecture, only little is known about the randomized conjecture.We present a very promising primal-dual approach for the design and analysis of online algorithms. We survey recent progress towards settling the k-server conjecture achieved using this new framework.Bio:
    Niv Buchbinder is a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft Research, New England at Cambridge, MA.
    Previously, he was a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof Seffi Naor.
    His main research interests are algorithms for combinatorial problems in offline and online settings. He is also interested in algorithmic game theory problems.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • CS Colloq: Jesse Davis

    Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Predicate Invention and Transfer LearningSpeaker: Jesse DavisHost: Prof. Gaurav Sukhatme and Prof. Craig KnoblockAbstract: Machine learning has become an essential tool for analyzing biological and clinical data, but significant technical hurdles prevent it from fulfilling its promise. Standard algorithms make three key assumptions: the training data consist of independent examples, each example is described by a pre-defined set of attributes, and the training and test instances come from the same distribution. Biomedical domains consist of complex, inter-related, structured data, such as patient clinical histories, molecular structures and protein-protein interaction information. The representation chosen to store the data often does not explicitly encode all the necessary features and relations for building an accurate model. For example, when analyzing a mammogram, a radiologist records many properties of each abnormality, but does not explicitly encode how quickly a mass grows, which is a crucial indicator of malignancy. In the first part of this talk, I will focus on the concrete task of predicting whether an abnormality on a mammogram is malignant. I will describe an approach I developed for automatically discovering unseen features and relations from data, which has advanced the state-of-the-art for machine classification of abnormalities on a mammogram. It achieves superior performance compared to both previous machine learning approaches and radiologists.In the second part of this talk, I will address the problem of generalizing across different domains. Unlike machines, humans are able take knowledge learned in one domain and apply it to an entirely different one. Computationally, the missing link is the ability to discover structural regularities that apply to many different domains, irrespective of their superficial descriptions. This is arguably the biggest gap between current learning systems and humans. I will describe an approach based on a form of second-order Markov logic, which discovers structural regularities in the source domain in the form of Markov logic formulas with predicate variables, and instantiates these formulas with predicates from the target domain. This approach has successfully transferred learned knowledge between a molecular biology domain and a Web one. The discovered patterns include broadly useful properties of predicates, like symmetry and transitivity, and relations among predicates, like various forms of homophily.Bio: Jesse Davis is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D in computer science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2007 and a B.A. in computer science from Williams College in 2002. His research interests include machine learning, statistical relational learning, transfer learning, inductive logic programming and data mining for biomedical domains.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Tour

    Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Mr. David Bentley, Project Manager and Construction Consultant for the Bentley Management Group, will lead a tour of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.

    Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

    Audiences: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Students, Faculty, and Staff

    Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs

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  • Multiparameter Computational Modeling of Tumor Invasion

    Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    The USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine, as part of the Physical Sciences Oncology Center, is proud to present Dr. Vittorio Cristini, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Center for Computational Biomedicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. ABSTRACT: Clinical outcome prognostication in oncology is a guiding principle in therapeutic choice. A wealth of qualitative empirical evidence links disease progression with tumor morphology, histopathology, invasion, and associated molecular phenomena. However, the quantitative contribution of each of the known parameters in this progression remains elusive. Mathematical modeling can provide the capability to quantify the connection between variables governing growth, prognosis, and treatment outcome. By quantifying the link between the tumor boundary morphology and the invasive phenotype, this work provides a quantitative tool for the study of tumor progression and diagnostic/prognostic applications. This establishes a framework for monitoring system perturbation towards development of therapeutic strategies and correlation to clinical outcome for prognosis.

    Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - -106 (UPC)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Yvonne Suarez

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  • BME 533 Seminar

    Mon, Apr 19, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Kam Leung, Ph.D., RAC, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering: "Biomedical Industry R&D, from an FDA perspective"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Graduate//Department Only

    Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

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  • USC- AGC Symposium 16

    Tue, Apr 20, 2010 @ 05:30 PM - 09:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    The Symposium will hightlight the new risks and opportunities of sustainability in the AEC industry from the perspective of the owner, architect, general contractor, and subcontractor. Each role views the industry from different aspects, giving this year's program a unique, in-depth look at sustainability as it relates to the design and construction industry.Agenda:Opening Remarks by John A. Perez, Speaker of the AssemblySpeakers:Thomas Smith, NBC UniversalMark Rios, FASLA, FAIA, Rios Clementi Hale StudiosMichael Deane, Turner ConstructionSteve Watts, CSI Electrical Contractors

    Location: Galen Center

    Audiences: By Invitation Only

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • CS Colloq: Barak Fishbain

    Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Network flow algorithms for sensor networks and visual data analysisSpeaker: Barak FishbainHost: Prof. Cyrus ShahabiAbstract:As digital environments become increasingly complex, and the tools for managing information become increasingly advanced, it is essential to assist users in selecting their short term and long term attentional focus. In this talk a novel graph-cut based approaches for multi-dimensional data analysis are presented. These methods are highly robust and most efficient which allows for the analysis of significantly large data sets. Air quality control and video segmentation are presented as representative applications.
    Air quality control is addressed by the use of sensors network, where each sensor is mounted on a moving vehicle, for the purpose of detecting various threats. An example scenario is that of multiple taxi cabs each carrying a detector. The detectors' positions are continuously reported from GPS data. The level of detected risk is then reported from each detector at each position. The problem is to delineate the presence of a potentially dangerous source and its approximate location by identifying a small area that has an elevated concentration of reported risk. This problem of using spatially deployed mobile
    detector networks to identify and locate risks is modeled and formulated. Then it is shown to be solvable in polynomial time and with a combinatorial network flow algorithm. The efficiency of the algorithm enables its use in real time, and in areas containing a large number of deployed detectors.
    In video segmentation a typical goal is to group together similar objects, or pixels in the case of image processing. At the same time another goal is to have each group distinctly dissimilar from the rest and possibly to have the group size fairly large. These goals are often combined as a ratio optimization problem. State-of-the-art methods address these ratio problems by employing nonlinear continuous approaches, such as spectral techniques.
    These spectral techniques deliver solutions in real numbers which are not feasible to the discrete partitioning problem. Furthermore, these continuous approaches are relatively computationally expensive. In this talk a novel graph-cut based approaches for optimally solving a set of segmentation ratio problems are presented. These algorithms guarantee optimal solution to the respective problem and consistent output between different runs.
    These methods are most efficient which allows for the segmentation of significantly large video data sets.
    The work was done with Prof. Dorit S. Hochbaum, University of California at Berkeley.Bio:Barak Fishbain received his Ph.D in EE from Tel-Aviv University, Israel in 2008. His research interests are Computer Vision, Image Processing, Video Surveillance and Medical Imaging. Currently he is a postdoctoral fellow in the Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research in the University of California at Berkeley, USA

    Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 333

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Architectural and Circuit-Level Design Techniques for Power and Temperature Optimizations in On-Chip

    Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Hosted by Prof Timothy M. PinkstonSpeaker: Houman Homayoun, University of California, IrvineAbstract:
    In order to reduce register file's peak temperature in an embedded processor, we propose RELOCATE: an architectural solution which redistributes the access pattern to physical registers through a novel register allocation mechanism. The goal is to keep some partitions unused (idle) and cooling down. The temperature of idle partitions is further reduced by power gating them into destructive sleep mode to reduce their leakage power. The redistribution mechanism changes the active region periodically to modulate the activity within the register file and prevent the active region from heating up excessively. Our approach resulted in an average reduction of 8.3°C in the register file's peak temperature for standard benchmarks.Also, recent studies have shown that peripheral circuits, including decoders, wordline drivers, input and output drivers, contribute a large fraction of the overall cache leakage. In addition, as technology migrates to smaller geometries, leakage contribution to total power consumption increases faster than dynamic power, indicating that leakage will be a major contributor to overall power consumption. This work also proposes a combination of circuit and architectural techniques to maximize leakage power reduction in embedded processor's on-chip caches by targeting leakage in cache peripheral circuits. Experimental results indicate that the proposed techniques can keep the L1 cache peripherals in one of the low-power modes for more than 85% of total execution time, on average. This translates to an average leakage power reduction of 50% for 65nm technology. The DL1 cache energy-delay product is reduced, on average, by 20%. The overall processor power is reduced by up to 8.7% (an average of 5.3%). Biography:
    Houman Homayoun is a PhD student in the department of computer science at the University of California, Irvine. His research is on power-temperature and reliability-aware memory and processor design optimizations and spans the areas of computer architecture and circuit design. From 2006 to 2007 he was working in Novelics, a leading provider of system-on-chip (SoC) embedded memory, where he was the principle architect of a parametrizable BIST microprocessor. The chip was successfully taped-out and delivered in 130, 90 and 65nm. Homayoun received his BS degree in electrical engineering in 2003 from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He received his MS degree in computer engineering in 2005 from University of Victoria, Canada.

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Janice Thompson

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  • Multidisciplinary Performance-Based Design Processes

    Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: John Haymaker, AIA, PhD, LEED ap, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford UniversityAbstract:Modern design challenges require multidisciplinary stakeholders and designers to systematically generate and analyze large spaces of alternatives for multiple criteria. This is a complex social and technical process that requires clear and rapid communication. I present case studies that illustrate how and why current practice is unable to do this efficiently and effectively. A fundamental social and technical shift to new performance-based design methods is needed. I describe an industrial scale platform of methods that my research team is developing to address this need: • The Process Integration Platform (PIP) helps teams communicate and manage multidisciplinary processes;
    Design Scenarios helps them transform requirements into parametric design spaces; • Process Integration and Design Optimization (PIDO) automates the analysis of these spaces for daylight, energy, structure, cost and other criteria; • Multi-Attribute, Collaborative Design, Analysis, and Decision Integration (MACDADI), facilitates fast, formal, collaborative decision making;• The Design Exploration Assessment Method (DEAM) measures design challenges, strategies, and explorations to assist in new process development and selection.
    These methods enable design teams to more efficiently and effectively execute multidisciplinary performance-based design processes.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 (Avaiable on Webex upon request)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • On the Limiting Behavior of Regularizations of the Euler Equations with Vortex Sheet Initial Data

    Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Monika Nitsche Associate Professor Department of Mathematics University of New Mexico, Albuquerque ABSTRACT:
    The vortex sheet is a mathematical model for a shear layer in which the layer is approximated by a surface. Vortex sheet evolution has been shown to approximate the motion of shear layers well, both in the case of free layers and of separated flows at sharp edges. Generally, the evolving sheets develop singularities in finite time. To approximate the fluid past this time, the motion is regularized and the sheet defined as the limit of zero regularization. However, besides weak existence results in special cases, very little is known about this limit. In particular, it is not known whether the limit is unique or whether it depends on the regularization. I will discuss several regularizing mechanisms, including physical ones such as fluid viscosity, and purely numerical ones such as the vortex blob and the Euler-alpha methods. I will show results for a model problem and discuss some of the unanswered questions of interest. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Professor Nitsche received her PhD degree in 1992 from University of Michigan Ann Arbor under the guidance of Prof. Robert Krasny. She held various postdoctoral position (UC Boulder, IMA, OSU, Tufts) until she joined the faculty of the department of Mathematics at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1999. Her research interests lie in the numerical study of vortex flows and the development of numerical methods for such flows. She has also done some work on internal waves in density stratified flows.

    Location: Seaver Science Library, Rm 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

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  • CS Colloq: Chun-Nan Hsu - CANCELLED

    Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    CANCELLEDTalk Title: Accelerating Machine Learning by Aggressive ExtrapolationSpeaker: Chun-Nan HsuHost: Prof. Dennis McLeodAbstract:This talk presents how to accelerate statistical machine learning algorithms for large scale applications by aggressive extrapolation. Extrapolation methods, such as Aitken's acceleration, have the advantage that they can achieve quadratic convergence with an overhead linear to the dimension of the training data. However, they can be numerically unstable and their convergence is only locally guaranteed. We show that this can be fixed by a double extrapolation method. There are two options for the extrapolation, global or component-wise. Previously, it was not clear which option is more effective. We show a general condition to determine which option will be more effective and show how to apply the condition to the training of Bayesian networks and conditional random fields (CRF). Then we show that extrapolation can accelerate on-line learning with a method called Periodic Step-size Adaptation (PSA). We show that PSA is an approximation of a theoretic "single-pass" on-line learning method, which can converge to an empirical optimum in a single pass through the training examples. With a single-pass on-line learning method, disk I/O can be minimized when a training set is too large to fit in memory. Experimental results for a wide variety of models, including CRF, linear SVM, and convolutional neural networks, show that single-pass performance of PSA is always very close to empirical optimum. Finally, an application to gene mention tagging for biological text mining will be presented, which achieved the top score in BioCreative 2 challenge.Bio:Dr. Chun-Nan Hsu is a computer scientist at Information Sciences Institute (ISI). Prior to joining ISI, he is Research Fellow and Leader of the Adaptive Internet Intelligent Agents (AIIA) Lab at the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. His research interests include machine learning, data mining, databases and bioinformatics. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, in 1992 and 1996, respectively. In 1996, before he passed his doctoral oral exam, he had been offered a position as Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. He taught there for two years before he returned to Taiwan in 1998. Since 2005, he has been the principal investigator of the Advanced Bioinformatics Core, National Research Program in Genomic Medicine, Taiwan, and leading one of the largest research efforts in computerized drug design and discovery in Taiwan. In 2006, the first drug candidate due to the use of the software his team developed was commercialized. In 2007, his teams achieved the best scores in the BioCreative 2 text mining challenge. Dr. Hsu has published 78 scientific articles since 1993. Some of the articles have been cited more than 300 times. Currently, Dr. Hsu has been working on applying artificial intelligence to computational biology and bioinformatics.

    Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 114

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • A Bayesian Network Framework for Seismic Infrastructure Risk Assessment & Decision Support

    Thu, Apr 22, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Title: Speaker: Michelle T. Bensi, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, BerkeleyAbstract:A Bayesian network (BN) is a probabilistic graphical model that represents a set of random variables and their probabilistic dependencies. The variables may represent demand or capacity values, or the states of components and systems. BNs are graphical and intuitive, facilitate information updating, can be used for identification of critical components within a system, and can be extended by decision and utility nodes to solve decision problems. In particular, the facility for information updating renders the BN an ideal tool for infrastructure risk assessment and decision support. Evidence on one or more variables (e.g. observed component capacities, demands, or states) can be entered into the BN and this information propagates throughout the network to provide an up-to-date probabilistic characterization of the performance of an infrastructure system under an evolving state of information.This presentation will begin with a brief introduction to BNs. Next, a broad overview of a BN framework for infrastructure seismic risk assessment and decision support will be presented. Components of the framework include: (1) a seismic demand model of ground motion intensity as a spatially distributed Gaussian random field accounting for finite fault rupture and directivity effects, (2) models of component performance, (3) models of system performance, and (4) the extension of the BN to include decision and utility nodes to aid post-earthquake decision-making. Like all computational methods, BNs have limitations. In particular, calculations in BNs can be highly demanding of computer memory. A discussion of work done to address this limitation will be presented. An illustrative example will demonstrate the main ideas and approach. The presentation will conclude with a broader discussion of the use of BNs for modeling hazards, processing information, and aiding decision making with the goal of improving infrastructure system performance and reliability

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Nanoelectronics in Retrospect, Prospect, and Principle

    Thu, Apr 22, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Dr. James D. Meindl - Professor of Microelectronics, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThe information revolution has been the paramount economic development of the past five decades. Its principal driver has been silicon microchip technology, which has advanced in productivity by a factor of approximately one billion and in performance, for example of a microprocessor chip, by a factor of nearly one million. These concurrent advances have been implemented by a synergistic fusion of top-down directed assembly microtechnology (or scaling currently to the 25-50 nm range) and bottom-up self assembly nanotechnology producing 300 mm diameter single crystal ingots of silicon. CMOS dynamic power-delay product is projected to continue to benefit from scaling but static gate tunneling current and subthreshold channel leakage current, device parameter manufacturing tolerances and interconnect latency, severely aggravated by resistivity increases due to size effects in copper, progressively degrade from scaling. Consequently, novel ancillary technologies including: 1) increased chip input/output (I/O) interconnect density providing improved electrical and optical I/O bandwidth; 2) enhanced heat removal, for example through microchannel fluidic cooling; and 3) 3D chip stacking with through silicon vias to reduce multi-core microprocessor to off-chip cache memory interconnect lengths are now projected as critical means of prolonging the exponential rate of advance of silicon microchip technology. Following anticipated saturation of this advance early in the 2020 decade, a new genre of nanoelectronics is a coveted goal and one leading candidate appears to be graphene, particularly due to its ballistic carrier transport, adjustable energy band gap of nanoribbons, susceptibility to fusion of top-down and bottom-up nanotechnology and potential for 3D monolithic integration. However, we have not yet witnessed in graphene the 21st century equivalents of two Nobel Prize winning inventions, the transistor and the integrated circuit. Dr. Meindl is the founding Director of the Marcus Nanotechnolgy Research Center, Director of the Pettit Microelectronics Research Center and Pettit Chair Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2007 Meindl was awarded Eminent Member of Eta Kappa Nu. He is a Life-Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Meindl received the 2006 IEEE Medal of Honor, the 2004 SRC Aristotle Award, first place on the 2003 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference 50-Year Anniversary Author Honor Roll, and the 1999 SIA University Research Award. He received his bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees in electrical engineering, from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie Mellon University).

    Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • CS Colloq: Augustin Chaintreau

    Thu, Apr 22, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Addressing the Mobile Social Data DelugeSpeaker: Dr. Augustin ChaintreauHost: Prof. Ramesh GovindanAbstract: Extracting the full economic and scientific value of the "data deluge", which follows from the information produced and consumed online by individuals, is redefining the frontier of computer science.
    Five years after one of the first experiments on mobile social dynamics, the size and scope of data collected or accessed through mobile devices have increased dramatically. In this talk, it is argued that understanding and releasing the potential of mobile social networks is possible provided that three key challenges are addressed: the lack of a guiding theory, the need to design algorithms exploiting social properties, and the presence of entities with competing goals.
    Although these broad challenges are likely to exist for some time, this talk presents three examples in which these issues are addressed, using new analytical and algorithmic tools, to improve the efficiency of information dissemination.Bio: A. Chaintreau graduated in 2006 from Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. He joined Technicolor (previously known as Thomson) to contribute to the creation of a new research lab on advanced communication platforms, where his research deals with mobile and social dynamics in information systems. Prior to that, he worked at Intel Research Cambridge where he was involved in conducting the first measurement campaign of opportunistic mobile dissemination. During his Ph.D, made under the supervision of Francois Baccelli, he worked with Alcatel Bell, and the IBM Watson T.J. Research Center, on characterizing scalable resource sharing systems in the presence of fairness and reliability constraints.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • CS Colloq: Jan Vondrak

    Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 10:00 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Randomized rounding in the matroid polytopeSpeaker: : Dr. Jan Vondrak, IBM AlmadenAbstract:The question how to round a fractional solution in a matroid polytope has emerged recently in various settings, ranging from welfare maximization and max-min allocation problems, to degree-bounded spanning trees and the asymmetric traveling salesman problem. In all these applications, it is useful to have a randomized rounding procedure which in expectation preserves the fractional solution, and satisfies strong concentration bounds for certain functions of the rounded solution. We propose a simple rounding procedure which has the above properties for any matroid and satisfies Chernoff-type concentration bounds for linear functions as well as monotone submodular functions. I will illustrate the usefulness of this technique on various examples.Joint work with Chandra Chekuri (UI Urbana-Champaign) and Rico Zenklusen (ETH Zurich).Bio:Jan Vondrak got his PhD from MIT in 2005, under the supervision of Michel Goemans. He spent 1 year as a postdoc at Microsoft Research and 3 years in the department of mathematics at Princeton University. Since 2009, he has been a research staff member at IBM Almaden.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement

    Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Laksen Sirimanne, Vice President of Research & Development in Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement at Edwards Lifesciences LLC, will present "Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.

    Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

    Audiences: Undergrad

    Contact: Amanda Atkinson

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  • Is the Current Dominant Aircraft Configuration Optimal

    Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    By RJ HuyssenNorth West University,Pretoria, South AfricaDiomedes Inc.ABSTRACT:
    Given that flight efficiency is governed by the laws of nature it is reasonable to expect that a dominance would emerge in the way that aircraft designers configure aircraft for various flight objectives. Such dominance has already established itself from the early years of human aviation and indeed prevails today. One might conclude that this configuration represents the optimal configuration for the majority of design objectives. Yet, this does not seem to be the case. Is there perhaps another aircraft configuration which could offer better flight efficiency to the majority of flight objectives? In the light of the adverse environmental impact of aviation we are obliged to meet our flight objectives in the most efficient way and should therefore consider this question very seriously.In this talk, we shall place the Exploitation of flight into the general context of Possibility, Opportunity and Discovery to explain the existence of the current dominate aircraft configuration. A careful rethinking of the engineering process of Design in relation to the natural process of Evolution then allows us to analyse the observed differences in the evolved dominant configuration and that engineered today. We may then answer the question as whether this difference should exist at all.

    Location: Stauffer Lecture Hall, Room 100

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

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  • Sending a Photon Backwards in Time

    Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 02:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Distinguished Lecturer SeriesDr.Seth Lloyd -Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAbstract:
    Ever since Einstein, physicists have argued about whether time travel is consistent with the laws of physics, and, if so, how it might be accomplished. This talk presents a new theory of time travel based on quantum teleportation. Unlike previous theories, the theory can be tested experimentally. I report on an experimental realization of the "grandfather paradox:" we send a photon a few billionths of a second backwards in time and have it try to "kill" its previous self.Biography:
    Seth Lloyd was the first person to develop a realizable model for quantum computation and is currently working with a variety of groups to construct and operate quantum computers and quantum communication systems. Dr. Lloyd is the author of over one hundred scientific papers, and of Programming the Universe, (Knopf, 2004). He is currently the director of the W.M. Keck Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory (xQIT) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - vatori Auditorium (SAL-101)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Estela Lopez

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  • MESA MPTI Follow-up

    Sat, Apr 24, 2010 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering K-12 STEM Center

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Follow-up seminar to MESA Math Physics Technology Institue.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: MESA Teachers

    Contact: Larry Lim

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  • BME 533 Seminar

    Mon, Apr 26, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Merryn Tawhai, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand: Seminar Title: Emerging function from multi-scale models of the lung

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Graduate//Department Only

    Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

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  • Spectroscopic insights to the Fe(II)-Fe(III) redox system at mineral surfaces:

    Tue, Apr 27, 2010 @ 02:00 AM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    ... Implications for iron mineral formation and contaminant reduction.Speaker: Dr. Philip Larese-Casanova, Geology and Geophysics Department, Yale UniversityAbstract: The attenuation of groundwater contaminants has been closely linked with the chemical reactivity of native iron minerals. Dissolved Fe(II) can provide electrons that reduce contaminants to less toxic products, and this electron transfer process is catalyzed by reactive surface sites on Fe(III) minerals. However, the Fe(II)-Fe(III) redox reactions occurring at mineral surfaces are not fully understood because it is difficult to target and directly observe the physical and chemical activity of surficial iron atoms. Over the past few years, our observations of iron surfaces have become more sensitive by using 57Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy with selective use of 57Fe and 56Fe isotopes. The process of dissolved 57Fe(II) sorption onto 56Fe(III) oxide surface sites (56hematite) was revealed instead to be a combined process of 57Fe(II) sorption and electron transfer to the bulk oxide, forming a new 57Fe(III) surface layer. 56Hematite has a capacity for this 57Fe(III) layer growth beyond which stable sorbed 57Fe(II) atoms reside on its surface. The transferred electrons within hematite rapidly hop among Fe atoms, a process others predicted to occur using computational methods. These spectroscopic observations are the first of their kind and highlight the need for new metal sorption models to account for redox-active sorbents. Contaminant reduction by dissolved 57Fe(II) and 56Fe(III) oxides results in further 57Fe(III) surface layer growth and the formation of new surface iron minerals, such as nano-sized 57goethite on 56hematite or 57lepidocrocite on 56magnetite, and these surface precipitates can alter the rate of contaminant reduction. Fe surface precipitates can also form via microbial Fe(II)-oxidation, and we have quantified iron phases formed (57lepidocrocite and 57goethite) during microbial oxidation of 57Fe(II) by the Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium Acidovorax sp. BoFeN1 and have examined their dependence on geochemical solution conditions. Overall, contaminant reduction by the Fe(II)-Fe(III) redox couple is highly dependant on the supporting mineral substrate, and subtle changes to mineral surfaces or geochemical conditions can have profound effects on contaminant reduction rates or Fe(III) mineralogy.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 )

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Secure Collision-Free Frequency Hopping for STC-OFDM Based Wireless Networks

    Tue, Apr 27, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Leonard E. Lightfoot,
    Michigan State University,
    Department of Electrical & Computer EngineeringAbstract: With the majority of today's transactions and communications relying heavily on wireless networks, the security threats of malicious jamming, detection, and interception are no longer limited to military applications. In fact, security is the key enabler for present and future high speed wireless networks. Patching or add-on security maybe effective in short term, but is far from adequate for addressing the needs on wireless security and can greatly complicate the communication systems. In our research, we focus on the fundamental study of developing a spectrally efficient and inherently secure wireless system by exploiting multiple diversity techniques.We propose an innovative spectrally efficient, jamming-resilient wireless scheme by exploiting the joint space-time and frequency diversity. Existing anti-jamming systems such as frequency hopping (FH) rely heavily on rich time-frequency diversity over large spread spectrums. Mainly limited by multiuser interference, the spectral efficiency of existing jamming resistant systems are very low due to inefficient use of the large bandwidth. While these systems work reasonably well for voice centric communications which only requires relatively narrow bandwidth, their low spectral efficiency can no longer provide sufficient capacity for today's high speed multimedia wireless services. In this research, (i) we develop a collision-free frequency hopping (CFFH) system based on the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) framework and the secure subcarrier assignment algorithm. The proposed subcarrier assignment algorithm is designed to ensure that malicious users cannot predict or repeat the hopping pattern of the authorized users and hence cannot launch follower jamming attacks; (ii) We improve the performance of the CFFH system under random jamming, by enhancing the system diversity through space-time coding, and introduce the space-time coded collision-free frequency hopping (STC-CFFH) system. Our analysis indicates that the proposed scheme is both highly efficient and very robust under various jamming scenarios. The proposed approach breaks new ground in the design and development of secure high speed wireless communication systems. Biography: Dr. Leonard Lightfoot received his B.S degree in Computer Engineering from Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA in May 2004. Upon completing his B.S. degree in 2004, he began his graduate studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, where he received his M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in December 2006 and March 2010, respectively. In July 2010, Leonard will join the research team in the Sensors Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory located in Dayton, Ohio. Leonard's current research interest includes developing and designing highly efficient and reliable wireless communications, and network security.Host: Michael Neely, neely@usc.edu, EEB 520, 213-740-3505

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos

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  • Performance of Tall Buildings during the 2/27/2010 Chile M8.8 Earthquake

    Tue, Apr 27, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    The Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council presents a city-by-city discussion of the recent supertemblorINTRODUCTION
    Farzad Naeim, John A. Martin & AssociatesSEISMICITY AND GEOTECTONICS
    Marshall Lew, MACTEC EngineeringSTANDARD OF PRACTICE FOR TALL BUILDINGS IN CHILE
    Fabian Rojas, USCPERFORMANCE OF TALL BUILDINGS IN SANTIAGO
    Farzad Naeim, John A. Martin & AssociatesPERFORMANCE OF TALL BUILDINGS IN VIÑA DEL MAR
    Lauren Carpenter, WHL InternationalPERFORMANCE OF TALL BUILDINGS IN CONCEPCIÓN
    Fabian Rojas, USCPERFORMANCE OF TALL BUILDINGS IN SAN PEDRO
    Nabih Youssef, NYACONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS/ANSWERS
    Farzad Naeim (moderator)Co-sponsored by:
    USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
    EERI Southern California Chapter
    USC EERI/SCEC Student Chapter
    Structural Engineers Association of Southern California

    Location: Troyland Apartments (TAP) - er Hall Room 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Eric Mankin

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  • CS Colloq: Amarjeet Singh

    Tue, Apr 27, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk Title: Application driven research in sensing and mobile computingSpeaker: Prof. Amarjeet SinghHost: Prof. Gaurav SukhatmeAbstract: Recent advancements in sensing technologies and mobile proliferation have significantly impacted several applied domains including environmental sensing and rural technology respectively. In sensing domain, applications that exhibit complex dynamics across both space and time and that can only be partially observed are of particular interest. In rural technology, primary focus is on applications that are user friendly even for an illiterate person. For both environmental sensing and rural technology, there exists a problem of constrained resources. Further, lack of prior use of advanced technology in both the domains necessitates that for high fidelity understanding of such environments an iterative approach wherein real world deployment experiences in application domain should guide both the advancements in systems as well as deployment methodology.In this talk, I will first present our real world deployment experiences (using Networked Info Mechanical System – NIMS, developed at UCLA) in several critical environmental sensing applications including monitoring pollution in rivers and algae growth in lakes.
    Large spatial expanse of such applications, together with limited available resources (sensing time or battery capacity) for mobile agents motivated our further research in performing efficient path planning for these mobile agents. I will present novel approximation algorithms for solving this NP-hard problem of path planning for mobile agents in such complex environments. In particular, we used Gaussian Process modeling to accurately represent the dynamics we observed in our real world deployments. We exploit several machine learning concepts to provide strong theoretical guarantees for the proposed algorithms. Several field experiments were performed, in addition to using multiple real world sensing datasets, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for real world sensing applications.I will then move from mobile sensing for environmental applications to application driven research using mobile computing for addressing several challenges in socially responsive applications, particularly in the context of developing countries. I will first present the contextual difference between challenges in developing and developed countries for applications in mobile computing. Motivated by India specific contexts, I will then present some early stage work in two specific application areas of mobile computing – healthcare and GPS-less localization.Bio:Amarjeet Singh is currently an Asst. Professor in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing group at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. He completed his MS and Phd in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 2007 and 2009 respectively. He was awarded
    2009 Chorafas Foundation Award for applied research with long range implications. He was also a recipient of 2007 Edward K. Rice outstanding MS student in School of Engineering at UCLA. From 2002 – 2004, he worked as Senior Research and Development Engineer at Tejas Networks, Bangalore, India. His undergraduate education was in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2002.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Aerodynamics of Nano-Flyers

    Wed, Apr 28, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Daniel WeihsDistinguished ProfessorFaculty of Aerospace Engineering and Autonomous Systems
    ProgramTechnion—Israel Institute of TechnologyHaifa, 32000, IsraelABSTRACT:Some of the smallest flying insects have unique comb-like wings, with non-continuous surfaces. These have span lengths of mm size. In this talk, I will analyze the aerodynamics of such surfaces, showing how they can produce lift at Reynolds numbers of o(1). These findings are then used to build and test artificial nano-flyers of mm size wingspan and several generations of such nano-gliders and nano-flyers will be shown and future developments discussed.Distinguished Professor Daniel Weihs of the Technion Faculty of Aerospace Engineering holds the Richmond Chair in Life Sciences at the Technion and is Chairman of the Israel National Committee for Space Research and head of the Technion Autonomous Systems Program. He is a a foreign member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the American Physical Society.Prof. Weihs received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at Technion from 1964 to 1971. Prof. Weihs worked at the University of Cambridge, England 1971-1973, returned to the Technion as a senior lecturer in 1973; he was appointed full professor in 1983 and distinguished professor (one of only 5 at the Technion) in 2002. Part of the Technion leadership for many years, Prof. Weihs has served as Provost, Dean of the Graduate School and of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Director of the Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology and Director of the Asher Space Research Institute.Throughout his career, Prof. Weihs has consulted for the Israeli ministries of Defense, Internal Security, Commerce & Industry, Science, and for public and private organizations in Europe, the United States and Canada, including NASA, NOAA, IBM and Atlas-Copco. He has been on the board of firms such as Israel Aircraft Industries, Beth Shemesh Engines, Israel Limnological and Oceanographic Research Corp, and Teuza-Fairchild VC fund, and of Ben Gurion University and Holon Institute of Technology. He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Israel Space Agency for 20 years and head of its Scientific Satellite Sub-Committee. He has published more than 140 scientific papers and one book, and has lectured throughout the world on subjects of biofluid dynamics, aerospace engineering and life sciences.

    Location: Seaver Science Library, Room 150 (SSL 150)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

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  • An Analytically Enriched Finite Element Method for Cohesive Crack Modeling

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. James V. Cox, Soild Mechanics Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0346jvcox@sandia.govAbstract:Meaningful computational investigations of many solid mechanics problems require accurate characterization of material behavior through failure. A recent approach to fracture modeling has combined the partition of unity finite element method (PUFEM) with cohesive zone models. Extension of the PUFEM to address crack propagation is often referred to as the extended finite element method (XFEM). In the PUFEM, the displacement field is enriched to improve the local approximation. Most XFEM studies have used simplified enrichment functions (e.g., generalized Heaviside functions) to represent the strong discontinuity but have lacked an analytical basis to represent the displacement gradients in the vicinity of the cohesive crack. As such, the mesh had to be sufficiently fine for the FEM basis functions to capture these gradients.In this study enrichment functions based upon two analytical investigations of the cohesive crack problem are examined. These functions have the potential of representing displacement gradients in the vicinity of the cohesive crack with a relatively coarse mesh and allow the crack to incrementally advance across each element. Key aspects of the corresponding numerical formulation are summarized. Analysis results for simple model problems are presented to evaluate if quasi-static crack propagation can be accurately followed with the proposed formulation. A standard finite element solution with interface elements is used to provide the accurate reference solution, so the model problems are limited to a straight, mode I crack in plane stress. Except for the cohesive zone, the material model for the problems is homogenous, isotropic linear elasticity. The effects of mesh refinement, mesh orientation, and enrichment schemes that enrich a larger region around the cohesive crack are considered in the study. Propagation of the cohesive zone tip and crack tip, time variation of the cohesive zone length, and crack profiles are presented. The analysis results indicate that the enrichment functions based upon the asymptotic solutions can accurately track the cohesive crack propagation independent of mesh orientation. Example problems incorporating enrichment functions for mode II kinematics are also presented. The results yield acceptable crack paths compared with experimental studies. The applicability of the enrichment functions to problems with anisotropy, large strains, and inelasticity is the subject of ongoing studies. Preliminary results for a contrived orthotropic elastic material reflect a decrease in accuracy with increased orthotropy but do not preclude their application to this class of problems

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Investment in Technology Development and Technology Transfer in the Arab world: Opportunities & chal

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Hosted by Prof. Cauligi RaghavendraSpeaker: Alaya Bettaieb, Director Arab Academic Tech Transfer project at the Arab Science & Technology Foundation; Manager of MENA Technology Fund (raising); Former Chairman, Tunisia Venture Capital AssociationAbstract:
    Last June, President Obama visited Cairo and delivered a landmark speech to the Muslim and Arab world, meant to launch a new era of US engagement for the development of better political cultural and business relations. A crucial part of his strategy was the announcement of multi-million dollars technology fund, centers of excellence, and technology transfer assistance for Muslim-majority countries, designed to jumpstart a new knowledge economy and forge business ties that can bridge cultures. Indeed, the Arabic-speaking world represents a vast untapped customer base of more than 320 million people, with a global market size of hundreds billion dollars and a high forecasted growth rate. Biography:
    Mr. Bettaieb, former chairman of the Tunisian Venture Capital Association, and director of the Arab Academic Technology Transfer project within the Arab Science & Technology Foundation, will present Thursday 29 April, in a lecture entitled: "Investment in Technology development and technology transfer in the Arab world : Opportunities & challenges", the state of Technology development, investment and transfer in the Middle East & Northern Africa "MENA" region, with both identified opportunities and emerging challenges facing such development.

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Janice Thompson

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  • Strategic Research and Innovation: An Excited-State Lifetime of 40 Years at AT&T Bell Labs

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Tingye Li,
    Formerly of AT&T LabsRefreshments will be providedAbstract: Strategic research may be regarded as work that is focused on producing viable advances and innovations in a particular field. It can be fundamental or applied, but always involves having realistic goals in mind, an understanding of physics and limitations, and an appreciation for application issues. It is often associated with a vision that could launch a new technical direction and lead to innovations that engender significant industrial and societal impact. Innovation, on the other hand, is a process by which ideas or concepts are translated into viable applications. The innovative process can initially be a one-person or small-group effort, but later will involve usually a large-scale, institutionally-supported, team endeavor, driven by significant and measurable operational and economical gains. In this talk, I shall relate my experiences and observations of world-class strategic research and innovation in the field of optical fiber communications at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a participant over an excited-professional-state lifetime of 40 years.Biography: Tingye Li retired from AT&T in 1998. Until then, he was a Division Manager in the Communications Infrastructure Research Laboratory of AT&T Laboratories in New Jersey. Since joining AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1957, he has worked in the areas of antennas, microwave propagation, lasers and optical communications, in which he has contributed more than 100 journal papers, patents, books and book chapters. His early work on laser resonator modes established the basis for the understanding of laser operation and is considered a classic. Since the late 1960s, he and his groups have been engaged in pioneering research on lightwave technologies and systems, which are now ubiquitously deployed in telecommunications infrastructures worldwide. His work with his colleagues on amplified wavelength-division-multiplexed transmission systems has revolutionized lightwave communications.He holds a Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University. He is a Fellow of the OSA, IEEE, AAAS, Photonic Society of Chinese-Americans, and International Engineering Consortium. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has received the IEEE Baker Prize, IEEE David Sarnoff Award, OSA/IEEE John Tyndall Award, OSA Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus Quinn Endowment, AT&T Science and Technology Medal, IEEE Photonics Award, and IEEE Edison Medal. He was named an honorary professor at many prestigious universities in China and Taiwan. He has been active in various professional societies, and was President of the Optical Society of America in 1995.Host: Prof. Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu

    Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 223

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos

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  • [Photonics Seminar] Photonics based Telemedicine Technologies toward Smart Global Health Systems

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Prof. Aydogan Ozcan, UCLAAbstract:
    Most of these existing cellphones are already equipped with advanced digital imaging and sensing platforms that can be utilized for various health monitoring applications. This impressive advancement is one of the central building blocks of the emerging fields of ¡°Telemedicine¡± and ¡°Wireless Health¡±. I will introduce new imaging and detection architectures that can compensate in the digital domain for the lack of complexity of optical components by use of novel theories and numerical algorithms to address the immediate needs and requirements of Telemedicine for Global Health Problems. Specifically, I will present an on-chip cytometry and microscopy platform that utilizes cost-effective and compact components to enable digital recognition and 3D microscopic imaging of cells with sub-cellular resolution over a large field of view without the need for any lenses, bulky optical components or coherent sources such as lasers. This incoherent holographic imaging and diagnostic modality has orders of magnitude improved light collection efficiency and is robust to misalignments which eliminates potential imaging artifacts or the need for realignment, making it highly suitable for field use.Bio:
    Dr. Aydogan Ozcan received his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University Electrical Engineering Department in 2005. After a short post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University, he is appointed as a Research Faculty Member at Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine in 2006. Dr. Ozcan joined UCLA in the summer of 2007 as an Assistant Professor, where he is currently leading the Bio-Photonics Laboratory at the Electrical Engineering Department. In 2009, Dr. Ozcan received the NIH Director¡¯s New Innovator Award, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, the IEEE Photonics Society (LEOS) Young Investigator Award and the MIT¡¯s TR35 Award for his seminal contributions to near-field and on-chip imaging, and telemedicine based diagnostics. Prof. Ozcan is also the recipient of the 2010 Netexplorateur Award given by the Netexplorateur Observatory and Forum in France, and the 2009 Wireless Innovation Award organized by the Vodafone Americas Foundation as well as the 2008 Okawa Foundation Award, given by the Okawa Foundation in Japan.Host:
    Prof. Michelle Povinelli

    Location: EE 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Jing Ma

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  • Preliminary Reconnaissance Report: 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Eduardo A. Fierro1), and Cynthia L. Perry2)1) President of BFP Engineers, Inc., Berkeley, California USA2) Vice-President of BFP Engineers, Inc., Berkeley, California USAAbstract: After 240 years, the Enriquillo Plantain Garden Fault ruptured on 12 January 2010 at 4:53PM, resulting in a 7.0 Magnitude (USGS) earthquake in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The epicenter was located at 18.457°N and 72.533°W and 25 km (15miles) WSW of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake has been a disaster for Haiti; at the time of this writing there are 170,000 confirmed deaths with estimates over 200,000 deaths. The National Palace, Palace of Justice, National Assembly, Supreme Court, Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince, and buildings housing the ministries of finance, education, public works, communication and culture have all been damaged. Power, water, and communications have been disrupted. This report is based on field reconnaissance by Eduardo Fierro. Mr. Fierro was on the ground in Port-au-Prince on Thursday January 14. His photos and observations were made from January 14 to 20, 2010. The primary objective of this initial trip was to observe the performance of building structures, industrial facilities, and infrastructure from a structural engineering perspective. This report documents places and structures that Mr. Fierro personally observed during his visits including Port-au-Prince, Cite Soleil, Petion Ville, Carrefour and other towns en route to Leogane

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Program - Second Annual Research and Creative Project Symposium

    Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 01:30 PM - 05:30 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Program
    The Second Annual Research and Creative Project SymposiumThursday, April 29, 2010, 1:30 – 5:30 PM
    Town and GownPresentations from 1:30 to 3:30 PM
    2007, 2008 and 2009 Annenberg FellowsReception from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PMRemarks at 4:00 PMThe USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Program cordially invites you to its second Annual Research and Creative Project Symposium on Thursday, April 29, 2010 from 1:30-5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to all graduate students and faculty, and will feature multimedia presentations by Annenberg Fellows from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the School of Cinematic Arts, and the Viterbi School of Engineering. Presenters will exhibit original and exceptional scholarly work and/or creative projects that investigate questions in communication and digital media. The Symposium will take place at Town and Gown on the University Park Campus. Authors will be at their presentation stations for questions and dialogue from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., followed by an informal dialogue and reception from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. Please stop by any time during the hours of the event. Questions regarding the Symposium should be directed to: anbrgfel@usc.edu. For a list of presenters, please visit: http://www.usc.edu/schools/GraduateSchool/documents/Annenberg/AnnenbergSymposium.pdf We look forward to your attendance!

    Location: Tower Hall (TOW) - n and Gown

    Audiences: All Students

    Contact: USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Program

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  • Optimizing Sensing from Water to the Web

    Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 10:30 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Talk to take place at USC-ISI in Marina del Rey
    4676 Admiralty Way
    Marina del Rey, CA 90292Title: "Optimizing Sensing from Water to the Web"Speaker: Andreas Krause, California Institute of TechnologyLocation: 11th floor Large Conference Room @ USC/ISIAbstract: Where should we place sensors to quickly detect contamination in drinking water distribution networks? Which blogs should we read to learn about the biggest stories on the web? These problems share a fundamental challenge: How can we obtain the most useful information about the state of the world, at minimum cost?Such sensing problems are typically NP-hard, and were commonly addressed using heuristics without theoretical guarantees about the solution quality. In this talk, I will present algorithms which efficiently find provably near-optimal solutions to large, complex sensing problems. Our algorithms exploit submodularity, an intuitive notion of diminishing returns, common to many sensing problems; the more sensors we have already deployed, the less we learn by placing another sensor. To quantify the uncertainty in our predictions, we use probabilistic models, such as Gaussian Processes. In addition to identifying the most informative sensing locations, our algorithms can handle more challenging settings, where sensors need to be able to reliably communicate over lossy links, where mobile robots are used for collecting data or where solutions need to be robust against adversaries, sensor failures and dynamic environments.I will also present results applying our algorithms to several real-world sensing tasks, including environmental monitoring using robotic sensors, activity recognition using a built sensing chair, deciding which blogs to read on the web, and a sensor placement competition.Bio: Andreas Krause is an assistant professor of Computer Science at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Krause is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award and the Okawa Foundation Research Grant recognizing top young researchers in telecommunications. His research on sensor placement and optimized information gathering received awards at several premier conferences, as well as the best research paper award of the ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.

    Location: 11th floor Large Conference Room @ USC/ISI

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Front Desk

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  • Integrated Systems Seminar Series

    Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Prof. Luke Theogarajan, UCSBTopic: CMOS for Biomedical Application

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Hossein Hashemi

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  • The Gap Bootstrap

    Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speakers: Dr. Clifford H. Spiegelman (TAMU), Soumendra Lahiri (TAMU), Justice Appiah (UNL), and Laurence Rilett (UNL)Abstract:In many areas of application, multivariate data are collected routinely over long time periods. Examples include hydrocarbon pollution monitoring, and automated highway volume traffic monitoring. The dominant part or the dependence for these types of data is short term. The gap bootstrap uses a divide, estimate, assess and combine strategy to provide asymptotically optimal or near optimal estimators. In spirit, it is similar in approach to kernel regression estimation, except that the joined pieces are not contiguous in time. We will show that for smooth enough estimators, and some useful dependence models that the resulting estimators are asymptotically efficient and have uncertainties that are accurately assessed using a case bootstrapping approach. Examples will use Origin-Destination (OD) modeling in transportation.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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