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Events for April 25, 2012
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Speech Coding and the BroadVoice Speech Codec
Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Juin-Hwey (Raymond) Chen, Ph.D., Broadcom Corporation
Talk Title: Speech Coding and the BroadVoice Speech Codec
Abstract: This talk consists of two parts: Part 1 gives a brief introduction to speech coding in preparation for Part 2, which describes the BroadVoice® speech codec that was developed by Broadcom and was included in multiple standards for Voice over IP (VoIP) in cable telephony as standardized by CableLabs, SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers), ANSI, and ITU-T. Speech coding is the science and art of reducing the bit-rate needed to represent speech signals while maintaining a certain level of speech quality under given constraints on coding delay and complexity. Previous medium- to low-bit-rate speech coding standards typically have medium to high coding delay and complexity, and are usually encumbered by royalties. In contrast, the BroadVoice speech codec was designed from the outset to be low-delay, low-complexity, high-quality, and most importantly, free of third-party intellectual properties so it can be freely used by anyone without royalty payments. This talk gives a brief historical overview of the development of BroadVoice and also provides a high-level description of the BroadVoice speech coding algorithm. The BroadVoice family of codecs includes a 16 kb/s BroadVoice16⢠(BV16) narrowband codec and a 32 kb/s BroadVoice32⢠(BV32) wideband codec. Based on a novel two-stage noise feedback coding structure with vector quantization of excitation, BroadVoice achieves a low algorithmic buffering delay of merely 5 ms and codec complexity of only 12 and 17 MIPS for BV16 and BV32, respectively. The speech quality of BV16 is better than that of the ITU-T G.728, G.729, and 32 kb/s G.726 standards, and the speech quality of BV32 is better than that of the 64 kb/s G.722 standard. Audio demonstrations will be played in this talk. Both BV16 and BV32 are not only royalty-free but also open source with both floating-point and fixed-point C source code freely downloadable (www.broadcom.com/broadvoice).
Biography: Juin-Hwey (Raymond) Chen received his B.S.E.E. degree from National Taiwan University in 1980 and his Master and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1983 and 1987, respectively. He joined Broadcom Corporation in 2000 and is now a Senior Technical Director there. Prior to joining Broadcom, Raymond spent 8 1/2 years at AT&T Bell Labs and AT&T Labs, three years at Voxware, Inc., and one year at Lucent Technologies. His research focus is on compression and quality enhancement of speech and audio signals. He has more than 50 technical publications and is an inventor of 57 issued United States patents and 35 pending U.S. Patents. He is the primary inventor of the ITU-T G.728 speech coding standard and the BV16 and BV32 speech codecs in the PacketCable, SCTE, ANSI, and ITU-T J.161 and J.361 standards. He is also well-known for inventing a postfiltering speech enhancement technique that is used in most international speech coding standards established since 1987. Throughout his career he has invented numerous speech codecs, many of which are widely used commercially. Raymond was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1995. He was also elected a Broadcom Fellow in 2006.
Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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EE Distinguished Lecturer Series
Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jelena Kovačević, Director, Center for Bioimage Informatics, Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: âProblems in Biological Imaging: Opportunities for Signal Processingâ
Abstract: In recent years, the focus in biological sciences has shifted from understanding single parts of larger systems, a sort of vertical approach, to understanding complex systems at the cellular and molecular levels, a horizontal approach. Thus the revolution of "omics" projects such as genomics and now proteomics. Understanding complexity of biological systems is a task that requires acquisition, analysis and sharing of huge databases, and in particular, high-dimensional databases. Processing such a huge amount of bioimages visually by biologists is inefficient, time-consuming and error-prone. Therefore, we would like to move toward automated, efficient and robust processing of such bioimage data sets. Moreover, some information hidden in the images may not be readily visually available. Thus, we do not only help humans by using sophisticated algorithms for faster and more efficient processing, but also because new knowledge is generated through use of such algorithms.
The ultimate dream is to have distributed yet integrated large bioimage databases which would allow researchers to upload their data, have it processed, share the data, download data as well as platform-optimized code, etc, and all this in a common format. To achieve this goal, we must draw upon a whole host of sophisticated tools from signal processing, machine learning and scientific computing. I will address some of these issues in this presentation, especially those where signal processing expertise can play a significant role.
Biography: Jelena Kovačević received a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. She then joined Bell Labs, followed by Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, where she is currently a Professor in the Departments of BME and ECE and the Director of the Center for Bioimage Informatics. She received the Belgrade October Prize and the E.I. Jury Award at Columbia University.
She is a coauthor on an SP Society award-winning paper and is a coauthor of the book "Wavelets and Subband Coding." Dr. Kovacevic is the Fellow of the IEEE and was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. She was a keynote speaker at several meetings and has been involved in organizing numerous conferences. Her research interests include multiresolution techniques and biomedical applications
Host: Dr. Antonio Ortega
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mitchell D. Smooke, Strathcona Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science & Applied Physics. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Yale University. New Haven, CT 06520-8284.
Talk Title: Computational and Experimental Study of Laminar Flames
Abstract: As emissions legislation becomes more restrictive, a detailed understanding of pollutant formation in flames has become even more critical for the design of pollutant abatement strategies and for the preservation of the competitiveness of combustion related industries. It is clear that there will be continuing pressure to lower both NOx emission indices and soot volume fractions in practical combustion devices. This is in response to the toxicological effects of small particles and to the impact, for example, that soot can have on thermal radiation loads in combustors and on turbine blades. Moreover, soot emissions can enhance contrail formation and such "man made" clouds may have an impact ultimately on the Earth's climate. In this talk we discuss our research related to the effects of complex chemistry and detailed transport on the structure and extinction of hydrocarbon flames in coflowing axisymmetric configurations. We have pursued both computational and experimental aspects of the research in parallel on both steady-state and time-dependent systems. The computational work has focused on the application of accurate and efficient numerical methods for the solution of the steady-state and time-dependent boundary value problems describing the various reacting systems. Detailed experimental measurements were performed using two-dimensional imaging techniques. Our goal has been to obtain a more fundamental understanding of the important fluid dynamic and chemical interactions in these flames so that this information can be used effectively in combustion modeling.
Host: Prof. Paul Ronney
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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ASBME: Mobile Apps For Medicine
Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Professor Trina Gregory from the USC ITP department will be talking about how smartphone apps are being used in the healthcare industry, and what exciting things we can expect moving forward! Professor Gregory currently teaches ITP499 - Mobile Apps For Medicine.
Location: TCC 227
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering
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From Poem to Stage
THE FACE by Donald Crockett and David St. John
Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 07:30 PM - 09:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Admission is free. Reservations required. To RSVP, click on the links below beginning Thursday, March 29, at 9 a.m.
USC Students, Staff and Faculty: To RSVP, click here http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/visionsandvoices/RSVP/reserve.php?RSVPEvtCode=206
General Public: To RSVP, click here http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/visionsandvoices/RSVP/reserveGeneral_Multi.php?RSVPEvtCode=206
THE FACE is a multidisciplinary chamber opera featuring music, film and choreography created by USC composer Donald Crockett and USC poet David St. John. Set in Venice Beach, THE FACE tells a deeply compelling story about the price of fame, desire and creativity. The central character, a poet named Raphael, struggles with the recent loss of his lover/muse while juggling the demands of a movie being made about his life and his increasing notoriety. The narrative is both passionate and raw in its candor, offering an insightful view of the human condition.
The artistic team for the production includes the innovative Parisian stage director/filmmaker Paul Desveaux and renowned European choreographer Yano Iatrides. An exceptional international cast includes acclaimed British tenor Daniel Norman as Raphael; American lyric baritone Thomas Meglioranza as the movie producer, Memphis; American mezzo-soprano Janna Baty as the director, Infanta; and young Australian soprano Jane Sheldon as the actress, Cybele.
The event will include an introduction by composer Donald Crockett followed by a semi-staged performance of selected scenes accompanied by the USC Thornton Contemporary Music Ensemble. Short readings from the original novella in verse by eminent poet and USC professor David St. John will be interspersed between scenes. A Q&A with members of the creative team and the cast will follow.
Related Events:
From Poem to Stage: THE FACE is a multi-event residency that will offer a rare behind-the-scenes look into the process of transforming an idea (in this case a novella in verse) into a 21st-century multidisciplinary chamber opera.
Monday, April 23, 6 p.m.
Lloyd Sound Stage
Open musical rehearsal with an introduction by composer Donald Crockett.
Tuesday, April 24, 5 p.m.
Bovard Auditorium
Open dance/movement rehearsal with an introduction by choreographer Yano Iatrides.
Tuesday, April 24, 6:15 p.m.
Bovard Auditorium
Open stage rehearsal with an introduction by stage director Paul Desveaux.
Thursday, April 26, 11 a.m.
Location TBA
A panel discussion will explore a variety of aspects related to the development of this multidisciplinary production. Panelists will include poet/librettist David St. John, composer Donald Crockett, director Paul Desveaux, choreographer Yano Iatrides, producer Kate Vincent, USC Thornton faculty Chris Sampson and Brian Head and USC theatre faculty Sharon Carnicke.
Organized by the USC Thornton School of Music.
Photo: Katherine Vincent
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.eduLocation: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) - Bovard Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
