Select a calendar:
Filter August Events by Event Type:
SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for August
-
Lean Green Belt
Thu, Aug 01, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA,
Talk Title: Lean Green Belt
Abstract: Course Overview
This three-day course provides an in-depth understanding of lean enterprise principles and how to apply them within your organization. Your lean journey begins with a series of interactive simulations that demonstrate how each lean concept is applied and its impact on the process. Mapping the process flow and identifying the activities that add value from the customer's perspective is the cornerstone of this class. The class is then given a scenario and the students simulate the conversion from traditional to lean in a practical hands-on environment. The course also provides a structure for how to manage a lean process for continuous improvement. Participants will learn how to structure their organizations to support and continuously improve a lean process. Participants will also fully understand how to implement 5S within their plants and how to begin reducing setup time using the SMED process.
Course Topics
5S and muda
Point of use
Pull
SMED
Value-added
Value stream mapping
SMED
7 Wastes
Visual Workplace
Benefits
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
Create and improve a lean process
Implement 5S to develop a safe, clean working environment
Map the process flow and identify activities that add value
Reduce setup time using the SMED process
Who Should Attend
Engineers new to a managerial position
Engineers preparing to make the transition to managerial roles
Current managers wanting to hone leadership skills
Program Fees
On-Campus Participant: $1,545
Includes continental breakfasts, lunch and all course materials. The fee does not include hotel accommodations or transportation.
Online Participant with Live Session Interactivity: $1,200
Includes attendee access codes for live call-in or chat capabilities during class sessions. Also includes all course and lecture materials available for live stream or download.
Reduced Pricing:
Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE): Reduced pricing is available for members of IIE. Please contact professional@gapp.usc.edu for further information.
Trojan Family: USC alumni, faculty, and staff receive a 10% discount on registration.
Location [back to top]
Two course delivery options are available for participants: on campus and online with interactivity:
On-Campus: Course is held in state-of-the-art facilities on the University of Southern California campus, located in downtown Los Angeles. Participants attending on campus will have the option to commute to the course or stay at one of the many hotels located in the area.
Overview of on-campus option:
The ability to interact with faculty and peers in person.
Access to hard copy course materials.
Ability to logon and view archived course information - up to 7 days after the course has been offered. This includes course documents and streaming video of the lectures.
If there is a conflict during any on-campus course dates, on-campus participants can elect to be an online/interactive student.
Parking, refreshments and lunch are provided for on-campus participants â⬓ unless otherwise specified.
Online with Interactivity: Course delivery is completely online and real-time, enabling interaction with the instructor and fellow participants. Participants have the flexibility of completing the course from a distance utilizing USC's Distance Education Network technology. Students are required to be online for the entirety of each day's session.
Overview of online (interactive):
Virtually participate in the course live â⬓ with the ability to either ask questions by phone or type questions via the ââ¬Åchatââ¬Â function to the entire class.
WebEx technologies provide the option to call into the class and view the entire lecture/materials on a personal computer, or to participate on a computer without having to utilize a phone line.
Ability to logon and view archived course information up to 7 days after the course has been offered. This includes course documents and streaming video of the lectures.
Continuing Education Units
CEUs: 2.1 (CEUs provided by request only)
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Certificate of Participation is awarded to all participants upon successful completion of the course.
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Certificate of Completion and the Institute of Industrial Engineering certification in Lean Green Belt will be awarded to those participants that pass the assessment on the final day of the course.
Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/lean-green-belt
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) -
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/lean-green-belt
-
Environmental Engineering Oral Dissertation Defense
Thu, Aug 01, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nancy Daher, Ph.D. Candidate, USC Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Students
Talk Title: Size-Resolved Particulate Matter (PM) in Urban Areas: Toxico-Chemical Characteristics, Sources, Trends and Health Implications
Abstract:
Compelling epidemiological and toxicological evidence indicates consistent associations between exposure to particulate matter (PM) and increased risk of adverse health outcomes. Many of these health effects may result, at least in part, from cellular oxidative stress. However, although an association between PM and health endpoints has been observed, the contribution of specific particle components to aerosol toxicity remains unknown. Most of the evidence is based on mass measures of PM albeit aerosol mass is probably only a surrogate for the real causative particle components. An accurate identification of specific agents of aerosol toxicity, with subsequent targeted emission controls, necessitates an improved characterization of PM composition (chemical and physical), variability (temporal and spatial), sources and their relation to particle oxidative potential.
This dissertation focused on determining the chemical and oxidative properties of size-resolved PM (PM10-2.5, PM2.5, PM2.5-0.25, PM0.25) in distinct urban and roadway environments. Target sites ranged from highly-polluted metropolitans to desert-like locations in the Greater Beirut area, Milan and the Los Angeles basin. PM chemical composition was determined by conducting a chemical mass closure. Specific emphasis was given to the organic and elemental aerosol fractions. PM oxidative potential was quantified using a macrophage-based in vitro reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay. Its association with size-fractionated and chemically-speciated particle components was determined using univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses. The role of water-soluble metals in PM-induced redox activity was particularly investigated. At near-freeway and urban settings in the Greater Beirut area, Mn, Cu, Co, V, Ni and Zn, many of which are air toxics, were mostly distributed in PM2.5-0.25 and PM0.25, with high water-solubility in these modes (> 60%). These physico-chemical characteristics may lead to increased adverse biological effects. Of particular concern were water-soluble metals which strongly correlated with ROS formation. In PM10-2.5, Mn and Co, which are road dust components, were highly associated with ROS-activity. Cu -a tracer of vehicular abrasion-and Co -a road dust element- were potential mediators of PM2.5-0.25-based ROS-activity. In PM0.25, V and Ni, both originating from fuel oil combustion, were strongly correlated with ROS formation. Water-soluble organic carbon was also implicated in PM2.5-induced ROS generation. Moreover, intrinsic (i.e. PM-mass normalized) ROS-activity displayed a particle size-dependency, with lowest activity associated with PM10-2.5. The intrinsic ROS-activity of PM collected from a variety of worldwide urban settings, including Milan, Beirut and Los Angeles, was also quantitatively assessed and compared across areas. Additionally, monthly variation in primary and secondary PM2.5 sources was quantified using the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) model and fixed tracer-to-OC ratios applied to fine PM collected at a centrally-located urban site in Milan for a year-long period. Spatial variability in quasi-ultrafine PM (PM0.25) in the Los Angeles basin was examined using coefficients of divergence analysis. While PM0.25 mass is relatively spatially homogeneous in the basin, some of its components, mainly elemental carbon, nitrate and several toxic metals, were unevenly distributed, suggesting that population exposure to quasi-ultrafine particles can vary substantially over short spatial scales.
Findings from this work provide additional insight on PM composition, variability, sources and their relation to particle oxidative potential. Advancing our knowledge of PM characteristics that are mostly influential in particle toxicity is essential for establishing more cost-effective and source-specific regulatory strategies for mitigating PM toxicity. Furthermore, an improved understanding of the spatial and temporal complexities of hazardous particle components provides guidance for more carefully-targeted epidemiological studies for personal exposure assessment.
Advisor: Prof. Costas Sioutas
Host: Nancy Daher
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 Conference Room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Lean Green Belt
Fri, Aug 02, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA,
Talk Title: Lean Green Belt
Abstract: Course Overview
This three-day course provides an in-depth understanding of lean enterprise principles and how to apply them within your organization. Your lean journey begins with a series of interactive simulations that demonstrate how each lean concept is applied and its impact on the process. Mapping the process flow and identifying the activities that add value from the customer's perspective is the cornerstone of this class. The class is then given a scenario and the students simulate the conversion from traditional to lean in a practical hands-on environment. The course also provides a structure for how to manage a lean process for continuous improvement. Participants will learn how to structure their organizations to support and continuously improve a lean process. Participants will also fully understand how to implement 5S within their plants and how to begin reducing setup time using the SMED process.
Course Topics
5S and muda
Point of use
Pull
SMED
Value-added
Value stream mapping
SMED
7 Wastes
Visual Workplace
Benefits
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
Create and improve a lean process
Implement 5S to develop a safe, clean working environment
Map the process flow and identify activities that add value
Reduce setup time using the SMED process
Who Should Attend
Engineers new to a managerial position
Engineers preparing to make the transition to managerial roles
Current managers wanting to hone leadership skills
Program Fees
On-Campus Participant: $1,545
Includes continental breakfasts, lunch and all course materials. The fee does not include hotel accommodations or transportation.
Online Participant with Live Session Interactivity: $1,200
Includes attendee access codes for live call-in or chat capabilities during class sessions. Also includes all course and lecture materials available for live stream or download.
Reduced Pricing:
Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE): Reduced pricing is available for members of IIE. Please contact professional@gapp.usc.edu for further information.
Trojan Family: USC alumni, faculty, and staff receive a 10% discount on registration.
Location [back to top]
Two course delivery options are available for participants: on campus and online with interactivity:
On-Campus: Course is held in state-of-the-art facilities on the University of Southern California campus, located in downtown Los Angeles. Participants attending on campus will have the option to commute to the course or stay at one of the many hotels located in the area.
Overview of on-campus option:
The ability to interact with faculty and peers in person.
Access to hard copy course materials.
Ability to logon and view archived course information - up to 7 days after the course has been offered. This includes course documents and streaming video of the lectures.
If there is a conflict during any on-campus course dates, on-campus participants can elect to be an online/interactive student.
Parking, refreshments and lunch are provided for on-campus participants â⬓ unless otherwise specified.
Online with Interactivity: Course delivery is completely online and real-time, enabling interaction with the instructor and fellow participants. Participants have the flexibility of completing the course from a distance utilizing USC's Distance Education Network technology. Students are required to be online for the entirety of each day's session.
Overview of online (interactive):
Virtually participate in the course live â⬓ with the ability to either ask questions by phone or type questions via the ââ¬Åchatââ¬Â function to the entire class.
WebEx technologies provide the option to call into the class and view the entire lecture/materials on a personal computer, or to participate on a computer without having to utilize a phone line.
Ability to logon and view archived course information up to 7 days after the course has been offered. This includes course documents and streaming video of the lectures.
Continuing Education Units
CEUs: 2.1 (CEUs provided by request only)
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Certificate of Participation is awarded to all participants upon successful completion of the course.
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Certificate of Completion and the Institute of Industrial Engineering certification in Lean Green Belt will be awarded to those participants that pass the assessment on the final day of the course.
Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/lean-green-belt
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) -
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/lean-green-belt
-
Quantum Bayesian Route to Quantum State Space
Tue, Aug 06, 2013 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Rüediger Schack, Royal Holloway, University of London
Talk Title: Quantum Bayesian Route to Quantum State Space
Abstract: This talk explores the question of deriving the structure of quantum-state space from a set of assumptions in the spirit of quantum Bayesianism. The starting point is the representation of quantum states induced by a symmetric informationally complete measurement or SIC. In this representation, the Born rule takes the form of a particularly simple modification of the law of total probability. The talk shows how to derive key features of quantum-state space in this framework.
Biography: Ruediger Schack is a Professor of Mathematics at Royal Holloway, University of London. He obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich in 1991 and held postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, the University of Southern California and the University of New Mexico before joining Royal Holloway in 1995. His research interests are quantum information theory, quantum cryptography and quantum Bayesianism.
Host: Todd Brun, tbrun@usc.edu, EEB 502, x03503
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
-
Communications with Limited and Delayed Feedback: Towards the Fundamental Performance-vs-Feedback Tradeoff
Wed, Aug 07, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jinyuan Chen, University of California, Irvine
Talk Title: Communications with Limited and Delayed Feedback: Towards the Fundamental Performance-vs-Feedback Tradeoff
Abstract: In many multiuser wireless communications scenarios, good feedback is a crucial ingredient that facilitates improved performance. While being useful, perfect feedback is also hard and time-consuming to obtain. With this challenge as a starting point, the work seeks to address the simple yet elusive and fundamental question of ``HOW MUCH QUALITY of feedback, AND WHEN, must one send to achieve a certain degrees-of-freedom (DoF) performance in specific settings of multiuser communications''. The work manages to concisely describe the DoF region in a very broad setting corresponding to a general feedback process that, at any point in time, may or may not provide channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) - of some arbitrary quality - for any past, current or future channel (fading) realization. Under standard assumptions, and under the assumption of sufficiently good delayed CSIT, the work concisely captures the effect of the quality of CSIT offered at any time, about any channel. The generality allows for consideration of many channel models (block and non-block fading models), as well as incorporation of many previously considered settings. This was achieved for the two user MISO-BC, and was then immediately extended to the MIMO BC and MIMO IC settings.
Biography: Jinyuan Chen is currently a visiting scholar at University of California, Irvine. He received the PhD degree from EURECOM/Telecom Paris Tech in June 2013, the M.Sc. degree from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2010, and the B.Sc. degree from Tianjin University in 2007. His industry experience includes doing internship at Ericsson, Beijing, in 2009. He was a recipient of Outstanding Graduate award and of Tsang Hin Chi scholarship. His research interests include network information theory, communication theory, interference management and limited feedback.
Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu, x04683, EEB 540
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
-
AI SEMINAR-Decoherence and Measurement Properties of Phase Qubits
Fri, Aug 09, 2013 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Emily Pritchett, Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany
Talk Title: Decoherence and Measurement Properties of Phase Qubits
Series: AISeminar
Abstract: Over the past five years, the coherence times of phase qubits have increased an order of magnitude to ~1üs, but are now multiple orders of magnitude shorter than leading superconducting qubits. The saturation of coherence times in phase qubits has spurred a large experimental initiative in the superconducting community to understand and engineer cleaner materials. I present numerical evidence that many of these spurious resonances are intrinsic to the phase qubit itself and not the environment as was previously assumed.
While identifying this problem could lead to longer coherence times through better control techniques, I instead will focus on applications of the phase qubit as a controllably 'dirty' quantum device, immediately useful for practical quantum measurement problems. Phase qubits can be used as a novel photon counter (JPM). I discuss many practical applications of such a measurement scheme, including the creation of interesting nonclassical states.
Biography: Bio: Emily Pritchett is a postdoctoral researcher in theoretical physics at the Saarland University. She received a PhD in Physics from the University of Georgia in 2010.
Host: Kristina Lerman
Webcast: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=d521c832254c4618931fa7f55fa1e0ad1dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) -
WebCast Link: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=d521c832254c4618931fa7f55fa1e0ad1d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alma Nava / Information Sciences Institute
-
CEE Oral Dissertation Defense
Wed, Aug 14, 2013 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ziyi Huang, Ph.D. Candidate, Astani Departmentof Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC
Talk Title: OPEN CHANNEL FLOW INSTABILITIES: MODELING THE SPATIAL EVOLUTION OF ROLL WAVES
Abstract:
This study is concerned with "roll waves", which are a series of intermittent shock-like waves occurring in turbulent water flows down a wide, rectangular open channel due to the natural instability. Most literatures on the subject of roll waves have concentrated on theoretical investigations. Only two of them made efforts on computationally simulating real roll-wave flows, but no validation tests were implemented.
A computational model capable of simulating the spatial evolution of roll waves is constructed in the present work. The equations of motion are the one-dimensional viscous Saint Venant equations, incorporating the turbulently viscous force to describe the momentum diffusion resulting from tremendous gradient and curvature of roll waves. The equations are solved by a high-resolution, shock-capturing numerical scheme. The scheme is based on the conservative finite volume formulation and adopts the second-order TVD Lax-Wendroff Riemann solver. The computational model, written in FORTRAN 95, is named as "Shallow Water Analyzed by a TVD Scheme at University of Southern California'' with an acronym "USC SWAT''. It can be applied to analyze a wide range of shallow water flows.
The numerical scheme is tested through comparisons with both transient linear and quasi-steady nonlinear theories. The numerical solutions of maximum amplitude of progressing roll waves match the linear theory at time levels in which the wave amplitude is small. The numerical solution of converged progressing roll waves match a mathematical solution of roll waves deduced from the governing equations in a progressing coordinate.
The constructed computational model is utilized to simulate real roll-wave flows in a constant-slope channel. In the validation test, the spatial development curves of time-averaged wave crest and trough depths achieved from the simulation are compared with those from experimental data. It is shown that the value of the turbulent viscosity needs to be appropriately selected so as to agree with the experimental data. The comparison results manifest the simulation satisfactorily predicts the spatial evolution of wave crest and trough depths.
Some of important roll-wave properties are investigated. The simulation discovers three types of wave-wave interactions, which impact characteristics of the roll-wave evolution. The spatial evolution of roll waves obeys a generality despite different hydraulic conditions. The nonperiodicity of roll waves increases from upstream to downstream channel locations.
The extent of the flow instability is weakened in channels with rough bottom. A concept of the breaking-slope open channel is tested through a computational experiment. This concept is found to be useful in suppressing growth of the roll-wave amplitude.
This computational study covering the comparison with experimental data enriches the knowledge of computational mechanics regarding free-surface water flows, and provides a complete insight on simulating the spatial evolution of roll waves using the Saint Venant equations. Findings from the computational experiments on mitigating the roll-wave evolution could help overcome difficulties caused by open channel flow instabilities.
Advisor: Prof. J.J. Lee
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 Conference Room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
NL Seminar- Gully Burns: "Bridging Between Bioinformatics and Natural Language Processing"
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Gully Burns, USC/ISI
Talk Title: Bridging Between Bioinformatics and Natural Language Processing
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Abstract: The Mouse Genome Informatics database (MGI) has participated extensively in shared NLP challenges focused on developing infrastructure for their use. This collaboration has advanced the field of applying NLP to biomedical text but has not yet generated workable technology for use in the lab. In advance of a workshop (Monday August 19, 2013 at ISI) dedicated to this subject, I will describe the SciKnowMine project to introduce the domain of biomedical NLP and to showcase how we can collaboratively accelerate the process of biocuration, making these important databases far more effective.
Students, colleagues! You are very welcome to the workshop: http://www.isi.edu/projects/sciknowmine/sciknowmine_release_workshop_-_bridging_bionlp_and_biocuration
Biography: Home Page:
http://www.isi.edu/people/burns/homepage
Host: Yang Gao
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
-
Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, Viterbi School of Engineering
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
*A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
*A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
*A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
*Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
*A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
*A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%2526systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) -
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
-
Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Wed, Aug 21, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, Viterbi School of Engineering
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
*A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
*A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
*A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
*Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
*A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
*A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%2526systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) -
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
-
Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Thu, Aug 22, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, Viterbi School of Engineering
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
*A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
*A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
*A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
*Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
*A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
*A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%2526systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) -
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
-
AI SEMINAR
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Xiaoran Yan, University of New Mexico
Talk Title: Variational Inference of Community Models: A Unifying Learning Framework
Series: AISeminar
Abstract: Community detection is an important part of network modelling, as community structure offers clues to the processes which generated the networks. We propose a general variational framework for learning community based network models, which offers a range of approximation options. In particular, a message passing algorithm under this framework achieves a good balance between accuracy and scalability. The framework is closely related to many other popular algorithms for community detection, including random walk and spectral clustering. To showcase an application, we will study the model selection problem for stochastic block models, in which the framework is adapted to learn information theoretic measures for comparing candidate models.
Biography: Xiaoran Yan is a computer science Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Mexico. He also works as a graduate fellow at the Santa Fe Institute under the advisement of Cris Moore. His work focus on community detection on complex networks, including building statistical models and developing scalable learning algorithms. He has recently defended his dissertation on model selection for stochastic block models. He got his bachelor's degree at the Zhejiang University in China.
Host: Kristina Lerman
Webcast: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=8013c24dbbde4b42ba0f10da844fe2621dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) -
WebCast Link: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=8013c24dbbde4b42ba0f10da844fe2621d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alma Nava / Information Sciences Institute
-
USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center Monthly Seminar Series
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 @ 11:45 AM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shay Soker, PhD., Professor, Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University
Talk Title: Progress and Prospects for Organ Regeneration
Abstract: Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering aim at repairing and/or replacing human tissues and organs in order to restore or establish normal function. Only in the last two decades regenerative medicine showed the potential for "bench-to-bedside" translational research in specific clinical settings. The process of regeneration may occur in vivo and/or ex vivo, and employs different technologies and methods where cells, natural or artificial scaffolds (namely, biomaterial-based constructs able to mimic the functions of the innate extracellular matrix [ECM] in order to induce three-dimensional tissue formation), growth factors, or combinations of all three elements are joined together. Tissue engineering, is mostly refers to the process of manufacturing cells, tissues and organs exclusively ex vivo.
Bioengineering solid organs destined to clinical transplantation is more complex and challenging. These organs organized in functioning units referred to as modules and requiring the reconstruction of the vascular supply. Recent attempts to translate solid organ engineering into the clinical arena indicate that it holds the promise of providing a formidable therapeutic tool for a myriad of diseases. Creation of custom-made bioengineered organs, where the cellular component is exquisitely autologous and have an internal vascular network, will theoretically overcome the two major hurdles in transplantation, namely the shortage of organs and the toxicity deriving from lifelong immunosuppression.
Biography: USC was selected to establish a $16 million cancer research center as part of a new strategy against the disease by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and its National Cancer Institute. The new center is one of 12 in the nation to receive the designation. During the five-year initiative, the Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers will take new, nontraditional approaches to cancer research by studying the physical laws and principles of cancer; evolution and the evolutionary theory of cancer; information coding, decoding, transfer and translation in cancer; and ways to de-convolute cancer's complexity. As part of the outreach component of this grant, the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine is hosting a monthly seminar series.
Host: USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center
More Information: USC-PSOC_MonthlySeminar Soker.pdf
Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - Harkness Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: kristina gerber
-
NL Seminar-Jonathan May: "Models of Translation Competitions"
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jonathan May, SDL- Language Weaver
Talk Title: "Models of Translation Competitions (long paper at ACL2013)"
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: What do we want to learn from a translation competition and how do we learn it with confidence? We argue that a disproportionate focus on ranking competition participants has led to lots of different rankings, but little insight about which rankings we should trust. In response, we provide the first framework that allows an empirical comparison of different analyses of competition results. We then use this framework to compare several analytical models on data from the Workshop on Machine Translation (WMT).
Biography: http://www.jonmay.net/
Host: Yang Gao
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
-
Seminars in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Norberto Grzywacz, Chair of Biomedical Engineering department
Talk Title: Welcome & Introduction to the BME program
Host: Michael Khoo
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
-
From Pontryagin Maximum Principle to Time-Optimal Control of Quantum Gates
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Xiaoting Wang, U Mass Boston
Talk Title: From Pontryagin Maximum Principle to Time-Optimal Control of Quantum Gates
Abstract: Pontryagin maximum principle is the most fundamental tool to discuss time-optimal control problems. For quantum systems decoupled from the environment, the time-optimal solution for gate generation can be either a smooth trajectory or a bang-bang type of trajectory, depending on the physical assumption on the Hamiltonian. I will present a uniformed picture and show that both solutions can be derived from Pontryagin maximum principle. Moreover, for the smooth case, the time-optimal solutions coincide with the geodesics on the unitary space under some metric. These interpretations in principle will help us find more efficient time-optimal control algorithms than standard brute-force optimization routine.
Host: Todd Brun, tbrun@usc.edu, EEB 502, x03503
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
-
New Frontiers in Electromagnet Design
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Chad Harris, University of Western Ontario
Talk Title: New Frontiers in Electromagnet Design
Series: Medical Imaging Seminar Series
Abstract: Is it possible to design a gradient coil over an arbitrary surface geometry with explicit control over its performance? Can an electromagnet adaptively alter its wire pattern to maintain optimal performance? Five years ago the answer to these questions was undoubtedly no; however, with the recent advances in the boundary element method for coil design, the situation is different.
In this talk, an introduction to this cutting-edge electromagnet design platform is given along with recent advances of the method including: control over the electromagnet’s wire spacing; simulation of induced eddy currents on thin conducting surfaces; fast and simple active shield design; and lastly, adaptive wire pattern manipulation.
Biography: Chad Harris received his Bachelors Ph.D. in physics from the University of Western Ontario in early August of 2013, specializing in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hardware development, with a specific focus on electromagnet design, in Dr. Blaine Chronik's research group.
An avid rugby player, Chad played for Western's varsity team during his undergraduate and graduate studies from 2005 - 2011. During this time period the team won seven Ontario University Athletics (OUA) medals, with Chad being awarded the Terry White men's rugby team award for leadership twice and receiving the OUA academic all-Canadian award each year.
Throughout his Ph.D. studies Chad has presented and published many original works for a total of 24 conference abstracts and 7 journal articles. One of his most recent publications "A new approach to shimming: The dynamically controlled adaptive current network" won the prestigious I.I. Rabi Young Investigator award for original basic research in magnetic resonance imaging given by the international society for magnetic resonance in medicine (ISMRM).
Host: Professor Krishna Nayak
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
-
CS Colloquium: Nils Thuerey (TU Munich)
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nils Thuerey, TU Munich
Talk Title: Turbulent Flow Simulations for Special Effects
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Physics simulations are widely recognized to be crucial tools for complex special effects in feature films, and real-time simulations are often central game-play elements in modern computer games. However, we are still very far from being able to accurately simulate the complexity of nature around us, and the numerical methods that are commonly used are often difficult to fine-tune and control.
In this talk I will explain approaches to tackle these problems. The underlying idea is to increase the apparent detail in flow simulations without changing their behavior, while adhering to the physics as much as possible. This is not only faster than running a full simulation, but also gives artists the possibility to more easily control the outcome of a simulation. Additionally, similar ideas can be used to realize detailed flow simulations that run with very high frame rates, and include anisotropic effects more accurately. This makes it possible to use turbulent smoke effects in interactive environments such as games.
In general terms, the research in this area strives to realize interactive, controllable solvers for a broad range of material behaviors. The talk will be concluded by discussing the requirements of the visual effects industry, and by giving an outlook of future challenges in the field.
Biography: Nils Thuerey will take up a position as Assistant Professor at TU Munich in October. He has previously worked as research & development lead at ScanlineVFX, where he was busy with the design and implementation of large-scale physics simulators for feature films. His research focuses on physically-based animation, with a particular emphasis on detailed fluids and turbulence. Some of his algorithms are now widely used in industry, e.g., as part of animation packages such as Houdini and Blender. In 2013 he received a technical achievement award ("tech-oscar") from the AMPAS for his work on the wavelet turbulence algorithm. He did his Ph.D in 2007 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (with honours), and until 2010 worked as a post-doctoral researcher with Ageia/Nvidia and the Computer Graphics Laboratory of ETH Zurich.
Host: Jernej Barbic'
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
Sensor Node Localization Based on Two-Way Time-of-Arrival Ranging with Imperfect Clocks
Wed, Aug 28, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Erik Strom, Chalmers University of Technology
Talk Title: Sensor Node Localization Based on Two-Way Time-of-Arrival Ranging with Imperfect Clocks
Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss the positioning of sensors nodes based on two-way time-of-arrival (TW-TOA) measurements when the nodes have imperfect clocks. More precisely, the problem is to localize a single target node using distance measurements to a number of nodes at a priori known positions (anchor nodes). The target node clock is assumed to follow an affine relationship with the anchor node clocks. That is, the target node clock will, in general, run too quick or too slow and will be offset compared with the anchor node clocks. The clock rate is sometimes called clock skew and is ideally equal to one, indicating that the clock runs at the same rate as the global reference time. The anchor nodes are assumed to have perfect clock skews, but unknown and different offsets. The TW-TOA measurement process will remove the clock offsets, but the clock skew difference will affect the distance measurements and, therefore, also the position estimate, if not properly accounted for. We model the target node clock skew as a nuisance parameter and show that the resulting maximum likelihood (ML) estimator is difficult to compute. To find more tractable estimators, we apply a nonlinear pre-processing step to convert the ML problem into a linear least squares problem under a quadratic constraint. The latter problem is shown to be a special case of the so-called generalized trust region problem, which we can solve exactly under mild conditions. We develop two suboptimal positioning methods and compare the performance and complexity with the ML estimator and the Cramer-Rao bound. The developed methods are numerically shown to offer good performance, but with less complexity (and accuracy) compared with the ML estimator.
This presented research is joint work with Mohammad Gholami, Chalmers University, and Sinan Gezici, Bilkent University.
Biography: Erik G. Strom (https://sites.google.com/site/erikgstrom/) received the M.S. degree from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1994, both in electrical engineering. He accepted a postdoctoral position at the Department of Signals, Sensors, and Systems at KTH in 1995. In February 1996, he was appointed Assistant Professor at KTH, and in June 1996 he joined Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, where he is now a Professor in Communication Systems since June 2003. Dr. Strom currently heads the Division for Communications Systems, Information Theory, and Antennas at the Department of Signals and Systems at Chalmers and leads the competence area Sensors and Communications at the traffic safety center SAFER, which is hosted by Chalmers. His research interests include signal processing and communication theory in general, and constellation labelings, channel estimation, synchronization, multiple access, medium access, multiuser detection, wireless positioning, and vehicular communications in particular. Since 1990, he has acted as a consultant for the Educational Group for Individual Development, Stockholm, Sweden. He is a contributing author and associate editor for Roy. Admiralty Publishers FesGas-series, and was a co-guest editor for the Proceedings of the IEEE special issue on Vehicular Communications (2011) and the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications special issues on Signal Synchronization in Digital Transmission Systems (2001) and on Multiuser Detection for Advanced Communication Systems and Networks (2008). Dr. Strom was a member of the board of the IEEE VT/COM Swedish Chapter 2000--2006. He received the Chalmers Pedagogical Prize in 1998 and the Chalmers Ph.D. Supervisor of the Year award in 2009.
Host: Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, EEB 536, x04667
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
-
Monte Carlo Non-Local Means: Random Sampling for Large-scale Denoising
Thu, Aug 29, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Stanley H. Chan, Ph.D., Harvard University
Talk Title: Monte Carlo Non-Local Means: Random Sampling for Large-scale Denoising
Abstract: Non-local means (NLM) is a well-known and influential image denoising algorithm. Since its publication in 2005, the NLM algorithm has been widely cited and compared against many more advanced algorithms in the denoising literature. However, NLM’s high computational complexity remains an open issue to the image processing community.
In this talk, I will present a scalable NLM algorithm, called the Monte-Carlo Non-local Means (MCNLM). Different from the classical NLM which computes the distances between every pair of pixel patches in the image, MCNLM computes only a subset of randomly selected pairs of patches. Two major analytical questions of MCNLM will be discussed. First, using the statistical large deviation theory, I will provide theoretical guarantees of MCNLM for any random sampling strategy. Second, I will discuss the optimal sampling pattern which maximizes the rate of convergence. MCNLM has marginal memory and programming costs compared to the original NLM algorithm, yet it is scalable to large-scale problems. In our experiment, apart from the denoising images using the noisy image itself, we also applied MCNLM to denoise image patches using external databases. On a database containing 10 billion patches, we demonstrate 3 orders of magnitudes in speed up.
(Joint work with Todd Zickler and Yue Lu)
Biography: Stanley H. Chan is a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Department of Statistics of Harvard University. He received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2007, the M.A. degree in Applied Mathematics from University of California, San Diego in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of California, San Diego in 2011. His current research interests are statistical signal processing and exchangeable random graph theory. Dr. Chan is a recipient of the Croucher Foundation Fellowship for Post-doctoral Research 2012-2013 and the Croucher Foundation Scholarship for Full-time Overseas PhD Studies 2008-2010, one of the most prestigious scholarships for outstanding Hong Kong students studying overseas.
Host: Hosted by Prof. C.-C. Jay Kuo
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
-
CS Colloquium: Matthew E. Taylor (Washington State University)
Thu, Aug 29, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Matthew E. Taylor, Washington State University
Talk Title: Agents as Teachers and Learners
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Physical (robotic) agents and virtual (software) agents are becoming increasingly common in industry, education, and domestic environments. Recent research advances allow these agents can learn to complete tasks without human intervention. However, little is known about how humans should best teach such agents, nor how an agent could teach other agents. This unduly limits the rate at which the agents learn and reduces the potential benefits of leveraging existing human or agent knowledge. This talk discusses some recent progress in enabling one agent to teach another reinforcement learning agent, even if the they have different learning methods and/or representations.
Biography: Matthew E. Taylor graduated magna cum laude with a double major in computer science and physics from Amherst College in 2001. After working for two years as a software developer, he began his Ph.D. work at the University of Texas at Austin with an MCD fellowship from the College of Natural Sciences. He received his doctorate from the Department of Computer Sciences in the summer of 2008, supervised by Peter Stone. Matt then completed a two year postdoctoral research position at the University of Southern California with Milind Tambe and spent 2.5 years as an assistant professor at Lafayette College in the computer science department. He is currently an assistant professor at Washington State University in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award. Current research interests include intelligent agents, multi-agent systems, reinforcement learning, and transfer learning.
Host: Milind Tambe
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
NL Seminar- Tomer Levinboim: "MKL and Low Rank
Fri, Aug 30, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Tomer Levinboim, USC/ISI
Talk Title: "MKL and Low Rank Multiplicative Shaping
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) has been a subject of intensive research over the past decade. Instead of searching for a good kernel function (implicitly, feature transformation of our data), the idea is to learn a combination of kernels that optimizes our objective. This formulation has found usage in feature selection and interpretability as well as (sometimes) leading to increased classification accuracy. In the talk, I will provide an introduction to MKL as well as present and compare a few MKL formulations for SVM classification. Given time, I will present our own non-linear (yet still convex) MKL formulation that linearly combines kernels that are first multiplied by low-rank matrices.
Biography: Home Page:
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~levinboi/
Host: Yang Gao
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: 11th Flr Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
-
Seminars in Biomedical EngineeringSat, Aug 31, 2013 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Norberto Grzywacz, Chair of Biomedical Engineering department
Talk Title: Welcome & Introduction to the BME program
Host: Michael Khoo
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
