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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for September
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 06, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title: LABOR DAY HOLIDAY--NO BME 533 SEMINAR
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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AME Seminar
Wed, Sep 08, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Claire Tomlin, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley
Talk Title: Verification and Control of Hybrid Systems with Application to Multiple Coordinating UAVs
Abstract: This talk will present reachability analysis as a tool for model checking and controller synthesis for hybrid systems. We consider the problem of guaranteeing reachability to a given desired subset of the state space, allowing for nonlinear dynamics in each discrete mode, and possibly non-convex state constraints. Techniques from hybrid system verification are presented and used to compute reachable sets, under bounded model disturbances that vary continuously, as well as under the effects of sampling and quantization. The resulting control policy is an explicit feedback law involving both a selection of continuous inputs and discrete switching commands at each time instant, based upon measurement of system state. We discuss real time implementations of this, and present several examples using our UAV testbeds as well as Boeing aircraft.
Host: Dr. G. Spedding
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/9-8-10-tomlin.shtmlLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/9-8-10-tomlin.shtml
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Lyman Handy Colloquium
Thu, Sep 09, 2010 @ 12:45 AM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Mohamed E.H. El-Sayed, Professor
Talk Title: âSmartâ Degradable Particles for Targeted Gene Silencing
Abstract: Recent advances in drug design have led to the development of several classes of novel therapeutic macromolecules including peptides, proteins, monoclonal antibodies, immunotoxins, lysozymes, plasmid DNA, antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, and short interfering RNA. Despite the established potential of these macromolecules, their development into stable and clinically-active drugs with defined dosage regimens remains a significant challenge. To transform these promising drug candidates into actual therapeutic agents, we have to develop effective strategies to improve drug stability, control spatial and temporal drug release in the body, increase drug absorption across epithelial and endothelial barriers, allow selective drug accumulation in diseased tissues, and achieve drug targeting at cellular and sub-cellular levels. In this seminar, I will discuss our research efforts to develop âintelligentâ pH-sensitive, membrane-destabilizing, and degradable polymeric carriers that can effectively deliver therapeutic nucleic acids past the endosomal membrane and into the cytoplasm of cancer cells to successfully suppress the expression of targeted genes.
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Distributed Interference Management and Scheduling in LTE-A Wireless Femto Networks
Thu, Sep 09, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ritesh Madan, Qualcomm, NJ
Talk Title: Distributed Interference Management and Scheduling in LTE-A Wireless Femto Networks
Abstract: Femto base stations deployed at homes and offices offer cell-splitting gains and better coverage, and can help improve the performance of mobile applications. However, Femto networks are unplanned; moreover, they may operate in closed subscriber group (CSG) mode where only a few specific mobiles are allowed to connect to a given Femto base station. Such a deployment can lead to high interference; thus distributed interference management techniques become essential. Moreover, since only a few (or just one) mobiles may be connected to a Femto base station, the aggregated load in each cell can vary quickly with time. Thus, the scheduling and resource allocation across cells needs to be at a fast time scale and coordinated. In addition, it is desirable to keep the control overhead and latency for this coordination to be low.
In this talk, we focus on the design of distributed scheduling and interference management algorithms with very low overhead. We describe a framework for distributed scheduling across multiple Femto cells where a limited amount of information is exchanged between interfering links. Specifically, each transmitter has a limited knowledge of the buffer and channel states in its neighborhood. In this framework, we design a scheduling heuristic to achieve rate fairness across cells for best effort applications (e.g., FTP), and at the same time obtain low latency for delay sensitive applications (e.g., voice, real time video). The heuristic is motivated by the maximum weight scheduling algorithm in wireless networks. We discuss the impact of coordination delay on the mechanism and algorithm design.
Biography: Ritesh Madan received a Ph.D. in 2006 and a M.S. in 2003 from Stanford University, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 2001, all in Electrical Engineering. At Stanford, he was a recipient of the Sequoia Capital Stanford Graduate Fellowship. He is currently at Corporate R&D in Qualcomm, NJ. His research interests include methods for resource allocation in wireless networks, stochastic control, and optimization.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Distinguished Speaker Series
Fri, Sep 10, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Supratik Guha - Director of Physical Sciences, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Talk Title: Photovoltaics Research at IBM
Abstract: In this talk I will describe research in three different areas in photovoltaics that are ongoing at IBM Research--concentrator photovoltaics, solar cells from earth abundant materials, and nanowire based solar cells. Â Concentrator photovoltaics, which can have the highest power conversion efficiencies at the system level, has suffered from the lack of the benefits of economies of scale, which is rapidly allowing flat panel systems to lower costs. Yet, provided the manufacturing of these systems can be highly automated, CPV stands a very good chance for cost reduction--the challenge here is one of simplicity of construction, weight reduction and optical and thermal system design. Â Earth abundant thin films, that can support manufacturing rates of >10-20 GW/yr is an important (and increasingly fashionable) topic of research. Â I will describe results that we have in this area with the copper-zinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS) system. Â Finally, I will describe some results of our work on silicon nanowire photovoltaics, where the benefits are one of enhanced light trapping and, possibly, the ability to effectively have devices that are small enough so that generated carriers can be collected without relying upon minority carrier diffusion. Â However, a big drawback here has been the detrimental role of surfaces and interfaces that has prevented nanowire solar cells (and other nanostructured solar cells) from demonstrating high efficiencies.
Biography: Supratik Guha is the Director of the Physical Sciences Department at IBM Research and in this capacity is responsible for overseeing IBMâs worldwide research strategy in the physical sciences. His technical work, over the past dozen years, has been in the area of new materials for silicon microelectronics where he has been responsible for some of the key material advances that are now part of IBM's common platform high k metal gate technology, developed by IBM with its alliance partners, and representing major changes in the way that a silicon transistor is built.  More recently, his own research work has been on new materials for energy conversion devices.  As a manager, he has established many successful research programs at IBM including ones in silicon nanophotonics, thermal physics, photovoltaics, and nanowire based technologies.  Supratik  is also an adjunct professor of materials science at Columbia University.  Prior to joining IBM in 1995, he worked on semiconductor lasers at the 3M Corporate Research Labs from 1992-95  He received his Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Southern California in 1991, and a B. Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1985.  He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Host: Center for Energy Nanoscience and Technology
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Two Studies: Plasmon-Enhanced Absorption in Silicon Substrate and On the Universal Behavior of Electro-Optical Materials
Fri, Sep 10, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Uzi Efron , Professor/Ben-Gurion University, Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Talk Title: Two Studies: Plasmon-Enhanced Absorption in Silicon Substrate and On the Universal Behavior of Electro-Optical Materials
Abstract:
1. Computer simulation studies of absorption enhancement in a silicon substrate by nanoshell-related Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) based on a Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) analysis will be presented. The results of these studies show significant enhancement of over 4X in the near band gap spectral region of Si, using 30nm diameter, 2-Dimensional,cylindrical Ag nanoshell structure. The studies also indicate a clear advantage of the cylindrical nanoshell structure over that of a completely filled Ag-nano- cylinders. The enhancement was studied as a function of the metallic shell thickness. The results suggest that the main enhancement mechanism in this case of cylindrical nanoshells embedded in Si substrate, is that of field-enhanced absorption caused by the strongly LSPR-enhanced electric field, extending into the silicon substrate.
2. Electro-optical light modulators are key components for a number of optical systems including displays, optical interconnects, optical processing, optical beam steering and adaptive optics . The performance of these modulators can be characterized by three main physical parameters: The electro-optical coefficient, the RF frequency bandwidth and the optical spectral bandwidth. A recent study [1] has shown that the product of these three parameters, which we term âSusceptibility-Bandwidth Productâ (SBP), is remarkably constant within 1-2 orders of magnitude, across a wide range of different material systems, including Liquid Crystals (LC) , Solid State Electro-Optical Materials and Multiple Quantum Well structures. This, despite the fact that all three parameters vary over many orders of magnitude across this range of materials. The feasibility of the SBP constancy based on material stability considerations has already been proposed several years ago [2]. The main purpose of this study was to perform a detailed study of the SBP in Nematic Liquid Crystal (NLC) materials based on the electro-optics of the electrically controlled birefringence effect. The work includes the derivation of a theoretical expression for the SBP in NLC materials, as well as its comparison to experimental data. The results are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical prediction for this product.
References
1. U. Efron, in Handbook of Opto-Electronics, J.P. Dakin and R.G.W.Brown, Editors, Taylor and Francis, London, 2006, Vol. 2.
2. U. Efron âSpatial Light Modulators and Applications for Optical Information Processingâ, in âReal Time Signal Processing for Industrial Applicationsâ, Proc. SPIE, vol.960 (1988).
Biography: Uzi Efron (Mâ87) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1967, 1970, and 1976, respectively, all in physics. He was a Principal Scientist at Hughes Research Laboratories, Malibu, CA, where he conducted research on photo-activated and charge-coupled device (CCD)-addressed liquid crystal light valves as well as multiple-quantum-well spatial light modulators and their applications in projection/head-mounted displays, optical data processing, and adaptive optics. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Electro-Optics Engineering Department, Ben-Gurion University, Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. He also heads the OPTO-ULSI Laboratory at Holon Academic Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel. He is currently conducting research on liquid crystal devices, plasmonics, CMOS-ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI) technology, and image processing for applications in smart goggle/head-mounted display devices, low-vision aids, face recognition techniques, and beam-steering devices. Dr. Efron is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.
Host: Prof. B. Keith Jenkins
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Programming Materials to Self-Replicate and Assemble Into Adaptive Geometries
Mon, Sep 13, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Schulman,
Talk Title: Programming Materials to Self-Replicate and Assemble Into Adaptive Geometries
Abstract: It is a grand challenge to understand how to engineer molecular reaction systems whichhave the self-assembled, dynamic structure and directed information flow of even thesimplest biological cells. Synthetic DNA is a model material for this endeavor: DNAreaction rates and sequence-specific affinities are well-characterized, and we can predictand design the 2- and 3-dimensional structures of the products. I'll describe how we canuse synthetic DNA to design an autonomous, enzyme-free system for chemical sequencereplication in which the replicated information consists of stripes or arrays of different 14x3nanometers bricks within a 2D lattice. These replicatable lattice patterns are suitable forwaveguide or protein array templates. The cytoskeleton creates dynamic, adaptive structurein eukaryotic cells based on local rules. I'll also describe some work toward creating arationally engineered, cytoskeleton-like material made from DNA nanotube filaments. Onebasic construction primitive for this material is the assembly of filaments such that theybridge fixed start and destination points. I'll show how we can template the growth offilaments from a "start" chemical marker, how growing filaments can attach to a "finish"marker, and briefly discuss how we could use this system to create self-guiding wires.
Biography: Rebecca Schulman is a Miller Research Fellow in the physics department at the University ofCalifornia Berkeley. She received undergraduate degrees in computer science and mathematicsfrom MIT and a PhD in computation and neural systems at Caltech, where she studied underErik Winfree. Dr. Schulman applies ideas from chemical engineering, electrical engineering,material science and biophysics to the design of programmable soft materials.
Host: Sr. Assoc. Dean Timothy Pinkston
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jennifer Walters-Munoz
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 13, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: ANDREA ARMANI, BRENT LUI, BO HAN,
Talk Title: Faculty Research in Biomedical Engineering
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Sep 14, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Golovin , Cal Tech
Talk Title: Adaptive Submodularity: A New Approach to Active Learning and Stochastic Optimization
Abstract: Solving stochastic optimization problems under partial observability, where one needs to adaptively make decisions with uncertain outcomes, is a fundamental but notoriously difficult challenge. In this talk, I will introduce a new concept called adaptive submodularity, which generalizes submodular set functions to adaptive policies. In many respects adaptive submodularity plays the same role for adaptive problems as submodularity plays for nonadaptive problems. Specifically, just as many nonadaptive problems with submodular objectives have efficient algorithms with good approximation guarantees, so too do adaptive problems with adaptive submodular objectives. We use this fact to recover and generalize several previous results in adaptive optimization, including results for active learning and adaptive variants of maximum coverage and set cover. Applications include machine diagnosis, observation selection and sensor placement problems, and an adaptive version of a viral marketing problem studied by Kempe et al. Joint work with Andreas Krause.
Biography: Daniel Golovin is a postdoctoral fellow in Caltech's Center for the Mathematics of Information. His current research mainly focuses on online and approximation algorithms for machine learning and optimization, with an eye towards creating principled solutions that work well in practice. Prior to joining Caltech, he obtained a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008, and spent an additional year there at the Center for Computational Thinking. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University.
Host: Dr. David Kempe
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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METRANS SEMINAR SERIES
Wed, Sep 15, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Peter Gordon , Professor, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
Talk Title: Peak â Load Pricing on L.A.âs Freeways: Modeling and Simulations
Abstract: Peak-load pricing has been seen as a way to internalize externalities and, at the same time, as a set of incentives to shift some peak-hour trips to off-peak periods. The policy has also been viewed as a mechanism to generate revenues. But it is an open question how travelers trade off time for money and respond to peak-off-peak pricing differentials. This generates some timely and related questions, including: 1) How can we model the activity location and traffic implications for multiple time-of-day periods in a major metropolitan area? 2) What are the network level-of-service and urban development effects of implementing peak-load pricing on selected routes? It is possible to conduct simulations on actual highway networks to treat these questions, but none of the many existing basic urban models are able to examine the issues of simultaneous route choice and time-of-day choice involving millions of travelers, thousands of traffic network zones, and hundreds of thousands of network links in an equilibrium system.
Lewis Hall(RGL) Room 209
12:00 Noon - Lunch / 12:20-1:30 PM - Seminar
Our research addresses these questions by extending the Southern California Planning Model (SCPM) so that it can be used to determine the time-of-day, trip distribution, and network traffic effects of various pricing plans for the greater L.A. (five-county) metropolitan area. The model estimates improvements in levels of services throughout the highway network for various toll charges. It examines how drivers trade off route-choice with time-of-day choice against the option of traveling less. Our approach estimates the implied revenues by local jurisdiction as well as possible land use effects in terms of altered development pressures throughout the region. The effects for two different toll scenarios are compared and policy implications are discussed.
RSVP* for lunch to Shawn Gong, TGong@usc.edu by Noon, Tues. Sept. 14
The seminar will start promptly at 12:20 pm.
Biography: Peter Gordon is a Professor in the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning, and Development. His research interests are in applied urban economics. Dr. Gordon and his colleagues have developed various economic impact models that they apply to study the effects of infrastructure investments, disruptions from natural events, or terrorist attacks.
In addition, he continues to be interested in urban structure and economic growth along with the associated policy implications. Peter Gordon has published in many of the major urban planning, urban transportation and regional science journals. His recent papers are available at www-rcf.usc.edu/~pgordon. He has consulted for local, state and federal agencies, the World Bank, the United Nations and many private groups. Gordon received the Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
Host: METRANS
Location: Ralph And Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Load & Resistance Factor Design and its Application in Highway Bridges Foundation Design
Wed, Sep 15, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sharid Amiri, Ph.D. , P.E., California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) Irvine, CA
Talk Title: Load & Resistance Factor Design and its Application in Highway Bridge Foundation Design
Abstract: The design of highway bridge foundation has been evolving and has gone through major changes especially in the recent years. All new highway bridges in California are being designed using the Load & Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methodology. An overview of the methodology is presented where advantages and disadvantages are also discussed. The geotechnical and structural aspects of deep foundation design along with its seismic response using the LRFD approach are presented.
Biography: Dr. Amiri is a senior transportation engineer with expertise in highway bridge foundation design and analysis. He has received his PhD in Civil Engineering from University of Southern California. His area of research was in earthquake response of bridge pile foundations.
Dr. Amiri has over 20 years of experience in transportation engineering with emphasis in design of highway bridge foundations. He has been involved with mega projects throughout Southern California in design and construction of major highway projects.
Dr. Amiri is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a registered civil engineer with State of California. He is also a member of Caltrans Deep Foundation Committee, an affiliate of Caltrans General Earthquake Committee and Caltrans Post Earthquake Investigation Team. He is also active with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) committees on Bridge Seismic Design and Bridge Foundation.
Host: Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Multi-Dimensional EXIT Analysis and Optimization for Multi-User Receivers
Wed, Sep 15, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bathiya Senanayake, Australian National University, Australia
Talk Title: Multi-Dimensional EXIT Analysis and Optimization for Multi-User Receivers
Abstract: For the first time we develop a multi-dimensional extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) analysis for a power allocated multi-user detectora s a tool to better understand the convergence behavior of iterative decoding schemes. We derive a K dimensional EXIT chart in order to analyze a system with K power levels. We state a theorem that predicts the convergence point of the system. The presented analysis is used to perform power optimization. We show through simulation our analysis closely matches the simulation results. The multi-dimensional EXIT analysis discussed here provides new insight in to receiver performance analysis and can be used to design near capacity achieving multi-user systems.
Biography: Mr. Bathiya Senanayake was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering/IT degree from the Australian National University in 2006 (with honours 1), and a Masters of ICT from the ANU in 2007. Now he is a PhD student in the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering, the Australian National University, Australia. His research interests are in the area of iterative receiver design, multiple-access communications, digital signal processing, DSP synthesis in hardware (HDL), with emphasis on CDMA/IDMA systems.
Host: Keith Chugg
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Presentation to ISE 508 Class
Wed, Sep 15, 2010 @ 06:40 PM - 08:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pete Delgado, Chief Executive, Los Angeles County LAC-USC Healthcare Network
Talk Title: Health Care Operations Improvement
Abstract: The Chief Executive, Los Angeles County LAC-USC Healthcare Network gives a presentation to the Epstein ISE 508 Class on Health Care Operations Improvement.
Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 9/15/10, Studio C, Olin Hall (DEN) 6:40 PM
Biography: Pete Delgado, a health care administrator with a broad range of experience in running medical centers in Texas and California, was selected as the chief executive officer of the LAC+USC
Healthcare Network in 2003. Previously, Delgado operated his own independent healthcare consulting firm that worked on the
development of affordable healthcare products for small employers.
He has also served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Christus Santa Rosa Hospital System in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to that, Delgado was the CEO of the
Columbia Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas.
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - Studio C
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Ashwin Ram, Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Real-Time Case-Based Reasoning for Interactive Digital Entertainment
Abstract: User-generated content is everywhere: photos, videos, news, blogs, art, music, and every other type of digital media on the Social Web. Games are no exception. From strategy games to immersive virtual worlds, game players are increasingly engaged in creating and sharing nearly all aspects of the gaming experience: maps, quests, artifacts, avatars, clothing, even games themselves. Yet, there is one aspect of computer games that is not created and shared by game players: the AI. Building sophisticated personalities, behaviors, and strategies requires expertise in both AI and programming, and remains outside the purview of the end user.
To understand why authoring Game AI is hard, we need to understand how Game AI works. AI can take digital entertainment beyond scripted interactions into the arena of truly interactive systems that are responsive, adaptive, and intelligent. I will discuss examples of AI techniques for character-level AI (in embedded NPCs, for example) and game-level AI (in the drama manager, for example). These types of AI enhance the player experience in different ways. The techniques are complicated and are usually implemented by expert game designers.
I propose an alternative approach to designing Game AI: Real-Time CBR (Case-Based Reasoning). This approach extends CBR to real-time systems that operate asynchronously during game play, planning, adapting, and learning in an online manner. Originally developed for robotic control, Real-Time CBR can be used for interactive games ranging from multiplayer strategy games to interactive believable avatars in virtual worlds.
As with any CBR technique, Real-Time CBR integrates problem solving with learning. This property can be used to address the authoring problem. I will show the first Web 2.0 application that allows average users to create AIs and challenge their friends to play them without programming. I conclude with some thoughts about the future of AI-based Interactive Digital Entertainment.
Biography: Dr. Ashwin Ram is an Associate Professor and Director of the Cognitive Computing Lab in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, and an Adjunct Professor in Psychology at Georgia Tech and in MathCS at Emory University. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1989, his MS from University of Illinois in 1984, and his BTech from IIT Delhi in 1982. He has published 2 books and over 100 scientific articles in international forums. He is a founder of Enkia Corporation which develops AI software for social media applications, and OpenStudy.com which is an online social learning network for students and faculty.
Host: Dr. Milind Tambe
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Low Cost – Highly Accurate Timer for Embedded and Networked Systems
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Young Cho, USC-Information Sciences Institute
Talk Title: Low Cost â Highly Accurate Timer for Embedded and Networked Systems
Abstract: Time synchronization is an important service for networked and embedded systems.  High quality timing information allows embedded network nodes to provide accurate time-stamps, fast localization, efficient duty cycling schedules, and other essential functions. In this presentation, I will present a new type of local clock source called Crystal Compensated Crystal based Timer (XCXT) and the novel algorithms that use the timer to (1) obtain highly stable concept of time, (2) retain low-power operation, and (3) automatically calibrate the nodes in a network.  The XCXT has timing stabilities similar to the timers based on temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXO) but has a lower implementation cost and requires less power. I will present the initial 8MHz prototype XCXT unit made with Tmote. Using the simplest algorithm, the XCXT achieves an effective frequency stability of ±1ppm and consumes only 1.27mW. On the other hand, commercially available TCXOs with similar stability can cost over 10 times as much and consume over 20mW. I will also describe an enhanced algorithm that improves the XCXT's power consumption up to 50% depending on the target application and environmental conditions. Then, I will describe an algorithm that will allow XCXT equipped network nodes to quickly, automatically, and adaptively calibrate the timer.  This algorithm not only ensures high timing accuracies for all the nodes, it provides resilience to other common problem seen in other types of oscillators, such as crystal aging.  Finally, I will discuss some of the recent work that seeks to apply the concept to CMOS based oscillators.  Successful transition may have significant impact on the way CMOS devices are clocked. Preliminary findings indicate promising results.
Biography: Young Cho is a research scientist at Division 7 of University of Southern California - Information Sciences Institute. Â He is also research assistant professor at CS department of USC. Â Given his academic and industrial experience in high performance computer architecture and networking, he is currently leading a number several research efforts that surrounding field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) applications and wireless sensor network; especially that of underwater sensing. Â He has three patents and over 30 conference and journal publications in computer network security, FPGA based applications, and wireless sensor networks. Prior to joining USC-ISI in September of 2008, he conducted research as a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis from 2005-2007 where he led a high performance data clustering project and as a post-doctoral scholar at UCLA where he led a research in high stability timers for wireless sensor network in 2007-2008. Â He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, MS in Computer Engineering from UT Austin, and BA in Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley. Â Between his BA and MS, he worked as an engineer for a start-up company, Myricom Inc., for three years to design high performance networking products as well as automatic target recognition system funded by Department of Defense.
Host: Dr. Alexander A. Sawchuk
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 @ 11:30 AM - 01:15 AM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jonathan Widom, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry, Northwestern Univ
Talk Title: Nucleosome positioning and chromosome structure from archaebacteria to man
Abstract: Eukaryotic genomes are packaged into nucleosome particles that occlude the DNA from interacting with most DNA binding proteins. We have discovered that genomes care where their nucleosomes are located on average, and that genomes manifest this care by encoding an additional layer of genetic information, superimposed on top of other kinds of regulatory and coding information that were previously recognized. The physical basis of the nucleosome DNA sequences preferences lies in the sequence-dependent mechanics of DNA itself. We have an increasingly good ability to read this nucleosome positioning information and predict the in vivo locations of nucleosomes. Our results suggest that genomes utilize this nucleosome positioning code to facilitate specific chromosome functions, including to define the next higher level of chromosome structure. Comparisons across diverse organisms suggests that basic aspects of this nucleosome positioning code may be conserved from archaebacteria to man. While we now have a good theoretical and experimental understanding of the approximate locations of nucleosomes in vivo, many aspects of chromosome structure and function hinge on knowing nucleosome locations to basepair resolution; but current experiments do not come close to this resolution. I will discuss a new experimental approach to obtaining nucleosome maps at high resolution.
Location: Aresty Auditorium, LG Level, Research Tower.
For additional information contact: 323-442-2596 or 323-442-3849.
Biography: Jonathan Widom, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology; and Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University.
Host: Dr. Parag Mallick, Center for Applied Molecular Medicine
Speaker: Jonathan Widom, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry, Northwestern Univ
Talk Title: Nucleosome positioning and chromosome structure from archaebacteria to man
Abstract: Eukaryotic genomes are packaged into nucleosome particles that occlude the DNA from interacting with most DNA binding proteins. We have discovered that genomes care where their nucleosomes are located on average, and that genomes manifest this care by encoding an additional layer of genetic information, superimposed on top of other kinds of regulatory and coding information that were previously recognized. The physical basis of the nucleosome DNA sequences preferences lies in the sequence-dependent mechanics of DNA itself. We have an increasingly good ability to read this nucleosome positioning information and predict the in vivo locations of nucleosomes. Our results suggest that genomes utilize this nucleosome positioning code to facilitate specific chromosome functions, including to define the next higher level of chromosome structure. Comparisons across diverse organisms suggests that basic aspects of this nucleosome positioning code may be conserved from archaebacteria to man. While we now have a good theoretical and experimental understanding of the approximate locations of nucleosomes in vivo, many aspects of chromosome structure and function hinge on knowing nucleosome locations to basepair resolution; but current experiments do not come close to this resolution. I will discuss a new experimental approach to obtaining nucleosome maps at high resolution.
Location: Aresty Auditorium, LG Level, Research Tower.
For additional information contact: 323-442-2596 or 323-442-3849.
Biography: Jonathan Widom, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology; and Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University.
Location: Harlyne J. Norris Research Tower (NRT) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yvonne Suarez
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CS Colloquium
Mon, Sep 20, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Norman Sadeh, Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: User-Controllable Security and Privacy: Lessons from the Design and Deployment of a Family of Location Sharing Applications
Abstract: Increasingly users are expected to configure a variety of security and privacy policies on their own, whether it is the firewall on their home computer, their privacy preferences on Facebook, or access control policies at work. In practice, research shows that users often have great difficulty specifying such policies. This in turn can result in significant vulnerabilities. This presentation will provide an overview of novel user-controllable security and privacy technologies and interfaces developed to empower users to more effectively and efficiently specify security and privacy policies. In particular, it will outline a new methodology to design expressive privacy and security policies that derives from new work in mechanism design and usability. Results from this research shed some light on why despite all the hoopla, most location sharing applications available in the market place today have failed to gain much traction.
Biography: Norman Sadeh is a Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His broad research interests include Web Security,
Privacy and Commerce. He is co-Director of the School of Computer Science PhD Program in Computation, Organizations and Society and of the School's Mobile Commerce Lab. Norman has been on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon since 1991. In the late nineties, he also served as Chief Scientist of the European Union's $800M e-Work and e-Commerce program, which at the time included all European-level cyber security and online privacy research. He has authored over 160 scientific publications, including several books and has also co-founded two companies to commercialize his technologies: Wombat Security Technologies and Zipano Technologies. Among other awards and honors, Norman was a co-recipient of IBM's 2004 Best Academic Privacy Faculty award. Norman received his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, an MSc, also in computer science, from the University of Southern California, and a BS/MSc in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Brussels Free University.
Host: Dr. Milind Tambe
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 20, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: KWANG-JIN KIM, NOAH MALMSTADT, SHULIANG JIAO, JAMES WEILAND,
Talk Title: Faculty Research in Biomedical Engineering
Abstract:
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Sep 21, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Gert Lankriet, UCSD
Talk Title: Multimodal Music Search and Discovery
Abstract: The revolution in production and distribution of music, which has made millions of audio clips instantly available to millions of people, has created the need for novel music search and discovery technologies.
While successful technologies with great societal impact exist for text-based document search (e.g., Yahoo!, Google, etc.), a Google for Music has yet to stand up: there is no easy way to find a mellow Beatles song on a nostalgic night, scary Halloween music on October 31st, or address a sudden desire for romantic jazz with saxophone and deep male vocals without knowing an appropriate artist or song title.
The non-text-based, multimodal character of Internet-wide information about music (audio clips, lyrics, web documents, artist networks, band images, etc.) poses a new and difficult challenge to existing database technology, due to its dependence on unimodal, text-based data structures. Two fundamental research questions are at the core of addressing this challenge: 1) The automated indexing of non-text based music content and 2) the automated integration of the heterogeneous content of multimodal music databases, to retrieve the most relevant information, given a query.
In this talk, I will outline some of my recent research in machine learning, statistics and optimization, inspired and driven by the previous two research questions in the emerging field of computer audition and music information retrieval. This will cover a spectrum from sparse generalized eigenvalue problems to human computation games, and from clustering graphical models to multiple-kernel partial order embeddings.
Biography: Gert Lanckriet received a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, in 2000 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 respectively 2005. In 2005, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where he heads the Computer Audition Laboratory. He was awarded the SIAM Optimization Prize in 2008 and is the recipient of a Hellman Fellowship and an IBM Faculty Award. His research focuses on the interplay of convex optimization, machine learning and applied statistics, with applications in computer audition and music information retrieval.
Host: Prof. Fei Sha
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Sep 21, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Gert Lankriet , UCSD
Talk Title: Multimodal Music Search and Discovery
Abstract: The revolution in production and distribution of music, which has made millions of audio clips instantly available to millions of people, has created the need for novel music search and discovery technologies.
While successful technologies with great societal impact exist for text-based document search (e.g., Yahoo!, Google, etc.), a Google for Music has yet to stand up: there is no easy way to find a mellow Beatles song on a nostalgic night, scary Halloween music on October 31st, or address a sudden desire for romantic jazz with saxophone and deep male vocals without knowing an appropriate artist or song title.
The non-text-based, multimodal character of Internet-wide information about music (audio clips, lyrics, web documents, artist networks, band images, etc.) poses a new and difficult challenge to existing database technology, due to its dependence on unimodal, text-based data structures. Two fundamental research questions are at the core of addressing this challenge: 1) The automated indexing of non-text based music content and 2) the automated integration of the heterogeneous content of multimodal music databases, to retrieve the most relevant information, given a query.
In this talk, I will outline some of my recent research in machine learning, statistics and optimization, inspired and driven by the previous two research questions in the emerging field of computer audition and music information retrieval. This will cover a spectrum from sparse generalized eigenvalue problems to human computation games, and from clustering graphical models to multiple-kernel partial order embeddings.
Biography: Gert Lanckriet received a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, in 2000 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 respectively 2005. In 2005, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where he heads the Computer Audition Laboratory. He was awarded the SIAM Optimization Prize in 2008 and is the recipient of a Hellman Fellowship and an IBM Faculty Award. His research focuses on the interplay of convex optimization, machine learning and applied statistics, with applications in computer audition and music information retrieval.
Host: Prof. Fei Sha
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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The Effect of Soil-Structure Interaction on Seismic Response of Buildings
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Ali Ghannad, Associate Professor, Dept. of Cvil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Talk Title: The Effect of Soil-Structure Interaction on Seismic Response of Buildings
Abstract: Abstract:
It is well known that the flexibility of soil beneath the structure affects its seismic response due to SoilâStructure Interaction (SSI). SSI not only affects the elastic response of structures, but also their inelastic behavior during earthquakes. This subject has been studied by numerous researchers and a wealth of knowledge is currently available in the literature.
In this presentation, a brief summary of recent research done on the subject at Department of Civil Engineering of Sharif University of Technology is presented. The main focus is the parametric study on SSI effect on global inelastic response of structures. This is done by employing a rather simple model for the soil and structure to study the effect on structural strength and ductility demands. Some aspects of current US provisions for introducing SSI in practical design of structures are also discussed.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AME Seminar
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Suneel Kodambaka, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles
Talk Title: In situ Microscopy and Spectroscopy Studies of Epitaxial Graphene on Metal Surfaces
Abstract:
The recent discovery of two-dimensional (2D) graphene crystals has generated a lot of attention owing to its potential for applications in high-performance, low-power, electronics and as transparent conductors. Recent efforts focused on, and succeeded in, the fabrication of large-area graphene on a variety of substrates, an encouraging step toward realization of graphene-based devices. Yet, relatively little is known concerning the mechanisms underlying the growth of graphene and the role of substrate-graphene interactions on its electronic properties. As a first step, we focused on the development of an atomic-scale understanding of the growth and electronic structure of graphene on model metals such as Pd and Ni.
Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM and STS), in combination with density functional theory (DFT), we investigated the morphology and electronic structure of monolayer graphene grown on Pd(111) and on 3D facetted Ni islands. On Pd(111), we observe the formation of monolayer graphene islands, 200-2000 à in size, bounded by Pd surface steps. Surprisingly, we found that graphene islands, as large as 2000 à , are semiconducting with a bandgap of 0.3 eV. For graphene on Ni, we observed hexagonal and stripe moiré patterns with periodicities of 22 à and 12 à , respectively, on (111) and (110) facets of the islands. Graphene domains are also observed to grow, as single crystals, across adjacent facets and over facet boundaries. STS data indicate that the graphene layers are metallic on both Ni(111) and Ni(110). DFT calculations support all of our observations and indicate the presence of strong interactions between carbon and metal atoms. Our results suggest that electronic properties of epitaxial graphene can be tailored by the appropriate choice of substrate and the possibility of preparing large-area epitaxial graphene layers even on polycrystalline surfaces.
Host: Dr. A. Hodge
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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10x10: A New Paradigm for Computer Architecture (Meeting the Challenges of the New Technology Scaling Landscape)
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Andrew A. Chien, Adjunct Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego
Talk Title: 10x10: A New Paradigm for Computer Architecture (Meeting the Challenges of the New Technology Scaling Landscape)
Abstract: Two decades of microprocessor architecture enabled by transistor scaling in density, speed, and energy delivered 1000-fold performance improvement, enabling computing as we know it today â tiny, powerful, inexpensive, and therefore ubiquitous. Recent semiconductor process generations and technology projections suggest future scaling in density, but only decreasing improvements in transistor speed and energy. In this era of energy-constrained performance, the industry has undertaken a shift to rapidly increasing parallelism (multicore). This shift is broad based, including essentially all computers â smart phones, laptops, cloud data centers, and supercomputers.
In the new technology scaling landscape, more narrowly specialized designs (heterogeneity) become more attractive and have attracted much study, but computer architects have lacked a paradigm to deal with it systematically. We believe it is time to move beyond the general purpose architecture paradigm and 90/10 optimization which has served us well for 25 years, and replace it with a new paradigm, â10x10â, which divides workloads into clusters, enabling systematic exploitation of specialization in the architecture, implementation, and software. We believe such 10x10 can enable 10x improvement in energy efficiency and performance compared to conventional approaches. We call this new paradigm â10x10â because it divides the workloads and optimizes for 10 different 10% cases, not a monolithic 90/10. We will outline the critical challenges to this approach and implications for future computing systems.
Biography: Dr. Andrew A. Chien is former Vice President of Research of Intel Corporation. He served as a Vice President of Intel Labs and Intel Research / Future Technologies Research where he led a âbold, edgyâ research agenda in disruptive technologies. Chien has launched imaginative new efforts in robotics, wireless power, sensing and perception, nucleic acid sequencing, networking, cloud, and ethnography. Working with external partners, Chien was instrumental in creation of the Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers (UPCRC) focused on parallel software and Open Cirrus Consortium focused on Cloud computing.
For more than 20 years, Chien has been a global leader in research and education. Chienâs previous positions include the Science Applications International Corporation Endowed Chair Professor in the department of computer science and engineering, and created the Center for Networked Systems at the University of California at San Diego. While at UCSD, he also founded Entropia, a widely-known Internet Grid computing startup. From 1990 to 1998, Chien was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with joint appointments at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) where he was a research leader for parallel computing software and hardware, and developed the well-known Fast Messages, HPVM, and Windows NT Supercluster systems.
Dr. Chien is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and has published over 130 technical papers. Chien currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Computing Research Association (CRA), Advisory Board of the National Science Foundationâs Computing and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate, and Editorial Board of the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery (CACM). Chien received his Bachelor's in electrical engineering, Master's and Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Host: Sr Assoc Dean Timothy Pinkston
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lynden A. Archer,
Talk Title: Nanoscale Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs)
Series: Distinguished Lectures Series
Host: Professor Tsotsis
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Oral Defense Dissertation
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yuan-Hung "Paul" Tan, Ph.D. Candidate
Talk Title: Oscillations of Semi-Enclosed Water Body Induced by Hurricanes
Abstract:
A numerical study is conducted to simulate the oscillations (storm surges) of semi-enclosed water body induced by hurricanes. For application using the numerical model developed in the present study, Lake Pontchartrain (located in southeastern Louisiana) is chosen as the semi-enclosed water body and Hurricane Katrina (the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States) is chosen as the hurricane. There are three (3) reasons to choose Lake Pontcharrain and Hurricane Katrina: 1. Storm surge built up in Lake Pontchartrain during Hurricane Katrina, 2. Wind drove water into Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Katrina approached from the Gulf of Mexico, and 3. The extensive field data, gathered by the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), is available to provide the needed comparison of numerical result and prototype data on the oscillations at Lake Pontchartrain induced by Hurricane Katrina.
The depth-average, non-linear shallow-water equations (NLSW) are use as the governing equations. The finite-volume method (FVM) is employed to solve the governing shallow-water equations. In order to validate the present model, the hydrographs due to Hurricane Katrina obtained from the present model are compared with the field data reported by IPET at eight (8) sites along the shores and the center of Lake Pontchartrain. These eight (8) sites are: the 17th street Canal, the Orleans Avenue Canal, the London Avenue Canal, the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC)-Lakefront Airport, Midlake, Bayou Labranch, Pass Manchac, and Little Irish Bayou.
The time at which the maximum water surface elevation (WSE) occurs as predicted by the present model is almost identical to the time at which the maximum water level is observed at the 17th Street Canal, the Orleans Avenue Canal, the London Avenue Canal, and the IHNC-Lakefront Airport sites. Furthermore, the present model accurately predicts the general trend of the water level when the hydrographs due to Hurricane Katrina are compared with the observed hydrographs at the 17th Street Canal, the Orleans Avenue Canal, the London Avenue Canal, the IHNC-Lakefront Airport, and the Midlake sites. However, the present model only reasonably predicts the general trend of the water level when the hydrographs due to Hurricane Katrina are compared with the observed hydrographs at the Bayou La Branche (named Bayou Labranch by IPET), the Pass Manchac, and the Little Irish Bayou sites.
The present model is further applied to investigate the oscillations at Lake Pontchartrain induced by four (4) synthetic hurricanes within the time-span of 00:00 UTC August 29, 2005 to 00:00 UTC August 30, 2005: Case 1. Hurricane Katrina tracks on its original route, Case 2. Hurricane Katrina tracks 36 km west of its original route, Case 3. Hurricane Katrina tracks 72 km west of its original route, and Case 4. Hurricane Katrina tracks on its original route with forward speeds reduced by 16% ~ 45% (or altered from 15 km/h ~ 36 km/h to 15 km/h ~ 22 km/h). These are done to assess the impact of hurricanes under different risk conditions. It is found that much more severe catastrophes in metro New Orleans and neighboring parishes can be expected under the scenarios of: Case 2. Hurricane Katrina passes through the east part of New Orleans, Louisiana and both the east and central parts of Lake Pontchartrain and Case 4. Hurricane Katrina passes through the regions nearby the east shore of Lake Pontchartrain with reduced forward speeds.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Sep 24, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Sarah K. Yeomans, Professor of Archaeology, West Virginia University
Talk Title: Propulsion Laboratory 24 Medicine in Antiquity: What We Have Learned from Archaeology
Host: W.V.T Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Three Fundamental Measures of Geometry and Their Role in Model Selection and Sparse Inverse Problems
Fri, Sep 24, 2010 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Waheed Bajwa , Duke University
Talk Title: Three Fundamental Measures of Geometry and Their Role in Model Selection and Sparse Inverse Problems
Abstract: In this talk, I discuss three measures of matrix geometry, namely, worst-case coherence, average coherence, and spectral norm, in the context of model selection and sparse inverse problems. These geometric measures are a better alternative to related measures such as the oft-studied restricted isometry property, since they can be explicitly computed in polynomial time. In this talk, I introduce a simple algorithm, termed one-step thresholding (OST) algorithm, and utilize the introduced geometric measures to provide an in-depth analysis of OST for both model selection and recovery of sparse signals. In particular, I show that OST has the ability to perform near-optimally for a number of generic (random or deterministic) matrices. In addition, I also talk about explicitly designing matrices with small average coherence, which is the key to guaranteeing that algorithms such as OST succeed.
Biography: Waheed U. Bajwa received BE (with Honors) degree in electrical engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan in 2001, and MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI in 2005 and 2009, respectively. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ from 2009 to 2010. He is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, Durham, NC. His research interests include high-dimensional inference and inverse problems, statistical signal processing, wireless communications, and applications in biological sciences, networked systems, and radar & image processing. Dr. Bajwa was affiliated with Communications Enabling Technologies, Islamabad, Pakistan - the research arm of Avaz Networks Inc., Irvine, CA (now Quartics LLC) - from 2000-2003, with the Center for Advanced Research in Engineering, Islamabad, Pakistan during 2003, and with the RF and Photonics Lab of GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY during the summer of 2006. He received the Best in Academics Gold Medal and President's Gold Medal in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in 2001, and the Morgridge Distinguished Graduate Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003. He was Junior NUST Student of the Year (2000), Wisconsin Union Poker Series Champion (Spring 2008), and President of the University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of Golden Key International Honor Society (2009). He currently serves as a Guest Associate Editor for Elsevier Physical Communication Journal and is a member of the IEEE, Pakistan Engineering Council, and Golden Key International Honor Society.
Host: Urbashi Mitra
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: KIRK KOPING SHUNG, MICHAEL KHOO, ANDREW MACKAY, JEAN-MICHEL MAAREK,
Talk Title: Faculty Research in Biomedical Engineering
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Sep 28, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Irfan Essa, Georgia Tech/ School of Interactive Computing
Talk Title: Two Short Talks on Video Analysis (1) Segmentation of Video and (2) Prediction of Actions in Video
Abstract: My research group is focused on a variety of approaches for video analysis and synthesis. In this talk, I will concentrate on two of our recent efforts. One effort aimed at robust spatio-temporal segmentation of video and another on using motion and flow to predict actions from video.
In the first part of the talk, I will present an efficient and scalable technique for spatio-temporal segmentation of long video sequences using a hierarchical graph-based algorithm. In this work, we begin by over egmenting a volumetric video graph into space-time regions grouped by appearance. We then construct a "region graph" over the obtained segmentation and iteratively repeat this process over multiple levels to
create a tree of spatio-temporal segmentations. This hierarchical approach generates high quality segmentations, which are temporally coherent with stable region boundaries, and allows subsequent applications to choose from varying levels of granularity. We further improve segmentation quality by using dense optical flow to guide temporal connections in the initial graph. I will demonstrate a variety of examples of how this robust segmentation works, and will show additional examples of video-retargeting that use spatio-temporal saliency derived from this segmentation approach. (Matthias Grundmann, Vivek Kwatra, Mei Han, Irfan Essa, CVPR 2010, in collaboration with Google Research).
In the second part of this talk, I will show that constrained multi-agent events can be analyzed and even predicted from video. Such analysis requires estimating the global movements of all players in the scene at any time, and is needed for modeling and predicting how the multi-agent play evolves over time on the playing field. To this end, we propose a novel approach to detect the locations of where the play evolution will proceed, e.g. where interesting events will occur, by tracking player positions and movements over time. To achieve this, we extract the ground level sparse movement of players in each time-step, and then generate a dense motion field. Using this field we detect locations where the motion converges, implying positions towards which the play is evolving. I will show examples of how we have tested this approach for soccer, basketball and hockey. (Kihwan Kim, Matthias Grundmann, Ariel Shamir, Iain Matthews, Jessica Hodgins, Irfan Essa, CVPR 2010, in collaboration with Disney Research). Time permitting, I will show some more videos of our recent work on video analysis and synthesis. For more information, papers, and videos, see my website at http://prof.irfanessa.com/
Biography: Irfan Essa is a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing(iC) of the College of Computing (CoC), and Adjunct Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology(GA Tech), in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Irfan Essa works in the areas of Computer Vision, Computer Graphics, Computational Perception, Robotics and Computer Animation, with potential impact on Video Analysis and Production (e.g., Computational Photography & Video, Image-based Modeling and Rendering, etc.) Human Computer Interaction, and Artificial Intelligence research. Specifically, he is interested in the analysis, interpretation, authoring, and synthesis (of video), with the goals of building aware environments, recognizing, modeling human activities, and behaviors, and developing dynamic and generative representations of time-varying streams. He has published over a 150 scholarly articles in leading journals and conference venues on these topics and has awards for his research and teaching. He joined Georgia Tech Faculty in 1996 after his earning his MS (1990), Ph.D. (1994), and holding research faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Media Lab) [1988-1996]. His Doctoral Research was in the area of Facial Recognition, Analysis, and Synthesis.
Host: Prof. Gerard Medioni
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Air Quality Issues and General Aviation Airports
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Rod Merl, Airport Administrator, Santa Monica Airport, CA
Talk Title: Air Qualilty Issues and General Aviation Airports
Abstract:
Aviation and Emissions:
Types of emissions and environmental concerns associated
with airports and adjacent community
Character of General Aviation Airports
Differences of general aviation airports from commercial
ones and the associated changes in the context of emissions
and environmental issues
Regulatory/Jurisdictional Environment
A description of how aviation and general airports in
particular are regulated regarding environmental matters.
What are the relationships of the various levels of
governmental from international to local? The key âplayersâ,
the essential legislation, court cases and how the system
operates. Including:
ICAO
FAA/EPA
State/Regional/Local
Clean Air Act
Conformity
ANCA
MASS. V. EPA
Local and Global Air Quality Aviation Concerns â impacts and concerns above and below the 3,000 ft mixing height
A discussion of two recent governmental studies at Santa Monica Airport
AQMD General Aviation Study
EPA Lead Study
Airport/Aviation Responses/Programs
Sustainability Plans
Air and Water Quality efforts
Noise Management
Alternative fuels
Airport layout plans, traffic mgmt,
Air Navigation (NEXTGEN)
Aircraft/engine design (NAASA)- Challenge of
tradeoffs bts noise, Nox and other pollutants,
Source Apportionment studies
Host: Dr. Ronald C. Henry
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AME Seminar
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. David Cesario, Assoc. Prof. of Medicine, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Keck School of Medicine, USC
Talk Title: Engineering in Cardiac Electrophysiology
Abstract: Cardiac electrophysiology is a field with tremendous interaction between engineering and medicine. On a daily basis we use tools such as implantable pacemakers to improve patient's lives by increasing their heart rates. We also place implantable cardioverter defibrillators that have the potential to rescue patients from life threatening arrhythmias. Additionally, we use tools to map abnormal heart rhythms to their exact location within the heart and then to ablate the abnormal cardiac arrhythmias, potentially curing these arrhythmias. The goal of this talk is to expose students to some of the engineering technology that is used in cardiac electrophysiology to better patients lives and improve their health.
Host: Dr. F. Browand
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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CS Talk
Thu, Sep 30, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Xifeng Yan , UCSB
Talk Title: Graph Pattern Mining
Abstract: Graphs and networks are ubiquitous, encoding complex relationships ranging from chemical bonds to social interactions. Hidden in these networks are the answers to many important questions in biology, business, and sociology. We are developing a general graph information system to address the needs of searching and mining complex networks in these domains. In this talk, I will introduce the basic concept of graph pattern mining, its algorithms and applications including graph classification and graph search. I will also briefly discuss my recent work on business workflow analysis, malware detection, etc.
Biography: Xifeng Yan is an assistant professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and holds the Venkatesh Narayanamurti Chair in Computer Science. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006. He was a research staff member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center between 2006 and 2008. He has been working on modeling, managing, and mining large-scale graphs in bioinformatics, social networks, the Web, and computer systems. His works were extensively referenced, with over 3,000 citations per Google Scholar. For more information, please visit www.cs.ucsb.edu/~xyan.
Host: Prof. Yan Liu
Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
