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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
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Peridynamics for multiscale materials modeling
Thu, Oct 01, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Richard B. Lehoucq, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, NM Abstract:
My presentation provides an overview of peridynamics, a continuum theory that employs a nonlocal model of force interaction. Specifically, the internal force density is given by an integral operator that sums forces separated by a finite distance. This integral operator is not a function of the deformation gradient, allowing for a more general notion of deformation than in classical elasticity that is well aligned with the kinematic assumptions of molecular dynamics. I also demonstrate that the peridynamic internal force density represents the statisical coarse-graining of molecular force as an ensemble average in phase space. This provides a statistical mechanical basis for peridynamics. Peridynamics effectiveness has been demonstrated in several applications, including fracture and failure of composites, nanofiber networks, and polycrystal fracture. These suggest that peridynamics is a viable multiscale material model for length scales ranging from molecular dynamics to those of classical elasticity.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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All Academy Lecture Series
Thu, Oct 01, 2009 @ 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Join us for the second speaker of the Freshmen Academy Lecture Series!Featured Speaker: Dr. Henry PetroskiDr. Petroski is a distinguished engineer, recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers among others. In addition to being the Alexsandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering, he is a professor of history at Duke University. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, Fellow for the National Endowment of the Humanities, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Academy for Arts & Sciences. He has authored fifteen books on topics of design, success and failure, history of engineering and technology,and everyday items. He also is a frequent columnist for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, American Scientist, and ASEE Prism. To read more about Dr. Petroski, visit the Freshman Academy website http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/fye/academies/lecture-series.htm
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 123
Audiences: Freshmen Students
Contact: Freshmen Academies
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SWE/ASBME Meet and Mingle - Edwards Lifesciences
Thu, Oct 01, 2009 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 352
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Society of Women Engineers
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; From Concept to Reality, a behind the scenes look ...
Fri, Oct 02, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Mark W. Sumner, Senior Technical Director for Ride Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering, will present "From Concept to Reality, a behind the scenes look at Soarin' Over California and Grizzly River Run" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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Aircraft Accident Investigation - Oct.5-6, 2009
Mon, Oct 05, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
AAI 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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BME 533 (Seminar in Biomedical Engineering)
Mon, Oct 05, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
BME Faculty Research Overview Presentations:MacKay, Meng, ShungAndrew Mackay, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical SciencesEllis Meng, PhD,
Assistant Professor of Biomedical EngineeringKirk Shung, PhD,
Professor of Biomedical EngineeringTansu Celikel, PhD,
Asst Professor of Neurobiology and Biomedical EngineeringLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate Students/Faculty
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloq. Prof. Van Vu
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk title: The condition number of a random matrix Speaker:Prof. Van Vu from Rutgers University Host: Prof. Shang-Hua Teng Abstract: The condition number plays a crucial role in all computational problems involving a large matrix. The problem of determining the condition number of a random matrix (with independent entries) was first raised by von Neumann and Goldstine in the 1940s, in a series of papers which later has become the starting point of numerical analysis. von Neumann-Golstine problem was solved for the case when the entries of the matrix have gaussian distribution by Edelman in 1980s. Edelman computed the limiting distribution of the condition number, using special feature of gaussian matrices. This computation does not extend to any other model of random matrices (such as Bernoulli). On the other hand, it has been conjectured, for quite sometime, that the same distribution should hold in these cases as well. Recently, Tao and Vu proved this conjecture, and thus solved von Neumann-Goldstine problem in the general case. As a corollary, we proved a conjeture of Spielman and Teng about the distribution of the least singular value. I will present a sketch of the proof, which starts with random sampling techniques. Bio: TBA
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 601
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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Seminar Series: Reinforcement Learning and Markov Chain Computations
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Vivek Borkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India This two part series shall cover an introduction to reinforcement learning and stochastic approximations, and its application to Markov Chain computations.Part I (Tuesday, Oct. 6) shall highlight the main strands in the reinforcement learning based approaches to approximate dynamic programming for Markov decision processes. In particular, connections to numerical methods for MDPs and convergence issues will be discussed.Speaker Bio:
Vivek Borkar is a Professor in the School of Technology and Computer Science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai where he has been for the last decade.
He was formerly Dean of the same school. Prior to TIFR, he was a Professor in the Computer Science and Automation department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in EECS in 1979. He is well-known for his work in many areas including stochastic processes, mathematical control, game theory and learning. He is the author of several books including a recent book on Stochastic approximations: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint.Host: Prof. Rahul Jain, 213-740-2246, rahul.jain@usc.edu. If you would like to meet the speaker during his weeklong visit from October 5-9, please contact the host.Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Stationkeeping and Collocation of Geostationary Satellites
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Astronautical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Topic 1: Stationkeeping Strategies for a Single GEO Satellite
The dynamics and perturbations of a geostationary orbit will be introduced. The longitude (East/West) and inclination (North/South) stationkeeping strategies will be discussed. The Sun-pointing strategy and its relation to solar radiation pressure effect on eccentricity will be understood. Topic 2: Strategies for Collocating Multiple Geostationary Satellites
The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) policies and the need for GEO collocation will be discussed. Some basic strategies for collocating 2 to 3 GEO satellites will be introduced. The concept of eccentricity and inclination vector separation will be understood with examples. The final portion of the talk will be devoted to the formation and control of a cluster of many GEO satellites in a special geometry called the "Halo" formation. The advanced method of formation-keeping using onboard GPS measurements will be discussed. Speaker: Dr. C. C. "George" Chao, Part Time Lecturer
Division of Astronautical Engineering
Has taught orbital mechanics at The Aerospace Corp. and UCLA Extension since 1982
Senior Engineer Specialist/Technical Manager in Astrodynamics department at The Aerospace Corp for 25 years before retiring in 2002, worked at JPL for 10 years prior to joining Aerospace, continued consulting work at Aerospace after retirement.
Has MS and AeE degrees in aeronautics from Caltech and Ph.D. in Engineering (Astrodynamics) from UCLA, AIAA Associate Fellow and author/coauthor of two books in astrodynamics (Applied Orbit Perturbation and Maintenance, Orbital Mechanics).Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Dan Erwin
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Water Resources Workshop
Thu, Oct 08, 2009 @ 08:30 AM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Workshop GoalWater issues have been and will continue to exert challenges to communities and business in the West and in particular Southern California. By engaging in a discussion of these water challenges researchers from USC and Veolia believe that a common research-oriented collaboration can be developed. The action items that are identified through these focused discussion will provide the backbone of further work collaborations.Workshop Themes1. Water distribution systems including bio-films and sensors.2. Desalination including pre-treatment, post-treatment (brine management), and Red Tide.3.Water reuse of municipal and industrial wastewaters including technology and policy aspects.4.Construction management, including asset management, PPP and design, build, and operate.5.Robotics for inspection of collection systems.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: By Invitation Only
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Separating Gases with Ionic Liquids
Thu, Oct 08, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lyman Handy Colloquium SeriesPresentsJoan F. BrenneckeUniversity of Notre DameAbstract: Ionic liquids (ILs) are non-volatile organic salts that have low melting points, frequently below room temperature. Typical compounds are comprised of a quaternary ammonium, quaternary phosphonium, imidazolium or pyridinium cation with a wide variety of common anions. Since they cannot evaporate and cause air pollution, they are being vigorously investigated as promising alternatives to volatile organic solvents. Here we report on their use as absorption solvents for gas separations. Many important gas separations are highly energy intensive, especially those involving cryogenic distillation or desorption of chemically-complexed gases. We show that many ILs show good selectivity for CO2 and SO2 over gases such as N2, O2 and H2. We measure pure and mixed gas solubilities using gravimetric microbalances, as well as any of a variety of volumetric systems, with and without gas sampling. We show that some gas separations, especially when the partial pressure of the target gas is relatively high, can be achieved by physical absorption into ionic liquids.Engineering ionic liquids for gas separations involving gases with low partial pressures may be best achieved by including functional groups on the ionic liquid that can chemically react with the target gas. We show results of CO2 uptake as a function of pressure and temperature for a variety of ionic liquids, containing primary and secondary amine functionality on either the cation or the anion. Using FTIR we are able to differentiate between physically dissolved CO2 and CO2 that has reacted with the amine moiety. We show how the capacity and the enthalpy for the reaction can be tailored by the inclusion of additional functionality in the ionic liquid. The physical solubility of N2 and O2 in these same ILs remains low so that the selectivity for CO2 removal is extremely high. Preliminary process design calculations indicate that the functionalized ionic liquids require significantly less energy for CO2 capture from post-combustion flue gas than the commercially available aqueous amine technology.
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Seminar Series: Reinforcement Learning and Markov Chain Computations
Thu, Oct 08, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Vivek Borkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India This two part series shall cover an introduction to reinforcement learning and stochastic approximations, and its application to Markov Chain computations.Part II (Thursday, Oct. 8) will present a novel potential application of reinforcement learning algorithms, viz., for certain matrix computations. It will be argued that these present a hybrid scheme situated between pure Monte Carlo and pure numerical iterative schemes. Various trade-offs and acceleration techniques will be discussed.Speaker Bio:
Vivek Borkar is a Professor in the School of Technology and Computer Science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai where he has been for the last decade.
He was formerly Dean of the same school. Prior to TIFR, he was a Professor in the Computer Science and Automation department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in EECS in 1979. He is well-known for his work in many areas including stochastic processes, mathematical control, game theory and learning. He is the author of several books including a recent book on Stochastic approximations: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint.Host: Prof. Rahul Jain, 213-740-2246, rahul.jain@usc.edu. If you would like to meet the speaker during his weeklong visit from October 5-9, please contact the host.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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RANDOM FIELD MODELS FOR POLYCRYSTALS AND TWO-PHASE MICROSTRUCTURES
Thu, Oct 08, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mircea Grigoriu, Ph.D., Cornell UniversityAbstract:The presentation has two parts. In the first part, we use examples to illustrate the need for representing material microstructures by random fields and illustrate potential difficulties related to the estimation of the parameters of these felds. Common techniques for reconstructing microstructures are presented and critically examined. In the second part, we present (1) a Markov random field for aluminum polycrystals, calibrate the model to measurements of Euler angles giving the atomic lattice orientation, and generate virtual aluminum polycrystals, (2) an inhomogeneous non-Gaussian random field for inclusions of arbitrary geometry, calibrate the model to measurements, and generate virtual concrete aggregates, and (3) homogeneous/inhomogeneous level-cut filtered Poisson fields for two-phase microstructures. Filtered Poisson fields are sums of kernels with specied functional form and random amplitude/orientation that are located at Poisson points. The cuts of these fields above a level define the inclusions of two-phase microstructures.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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NSF-ERC Workshop
Fri, Oct 09, 2009 @ 08:30 AM - 06:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: By Invitation Only
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Monitoring California Earthquakes
Fri, Oct 09, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Egill Hauksson, Executive Director of Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN)and California Integrated Seismic Monitoring System Network (CISN), will present "Monitoring California's Earthquakes" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program Colloquium.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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BME 533 (Seminar in Biomedical Engineering)
Mon, Oct 12, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Terence Sanger, MD, PhD, Provost Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neurology
and Biokinesiology, USC:
"Dissecting Dystonia" and
BME Faculty Research Overview Presentation (Tzung Hsiai, M.D, Ph.D.)Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate Students/Faculty
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Science Education for the 21st Century
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Carl Wieman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics with a passion for science education will deliver a lecture at USC on Tuesday, October 13th. Prof. Wieman received the Oersted Medal in 2007, the highest honor given by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Given previously to science luminaries that include Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, and Hans Bethe, the award recognizes "notable contributions to the teaching of physics." He is leading the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, an innovative program to reshape science education at the University of British Columbia. He received the Carnegie Foundation's U.S. University Professor of the Year Award in 2004.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tracy Charles
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Characterization of EnvironmentalVariability in Identified Dynamic Properties of a Soil-Foundation-S
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Ali Asghari, Ph.D. Student, Oral Defense
Abstract:
For more than thirty years, researchers have attempted to establish effective local and global methods for monitoring civil, aerospace and mechanical structures. The unpredictable nature of soil and the nonlinear behavior of civil structures, however, make monitoring rather complex. In fact, the combined soil-structure system can be influenced by environmental factors on daily to annual time scales. Identification of structural damage using vibration-based methodologies in the presence of such influences requires some data normalization to reduce uncertainties and variations introduced by environmental factors.
To better understand the correlation between environmental variations and the dynamics of soil-structure interaction, semi-continuous monitoring of a large-scale field test structure has been conducted. The analysis uses data from sensors placed at several locations on the NEES Soil Foundation Structure Interaction (SFSI) Test Structure, which is located on very well-characterized soil in southern California, as well as sensor arrays monitoring the soil response under the foundation. A network of sensors was designed and positioned to record temperature at various locations on the structure; some pertinent soil properties are also monitored.
The observations of measured environmental data and the identified structural system parameters demonstrated strong correlation between variations in the environmental features and in the dynamic properties of the structure; for example daily shifts in the structure's fundamental frequencies are as much as10% due to temperature change or seasonal shifts due to ground water table variation under the foundation. An example is given, based on novelty detection, of how "unusual" dynamic behavior can be indicated for the SFSI test structure in the presence of environmental variations.
To explain the effect of the soil saturation on the rocking frequency of SFSI systems, a predictive model based on Wolf's Cone Model approach was developed. The results from parametric study validated the observations from both the SFSI test structure and the scaled model of decreased natural frequency for dry soil. Further, the study shows that the opposite effect—that is, higher natural frequency with soil saturation—occurs for structures with different characteristics relative to the soil.
A 1/14 scale model of the SFSI test structure was constructed to validate the observed effect of the water level under the foundation on the rocking frequency of SFSI systems in a controlled laboratory environment. These experiments showed a similar correlation between the identified rocking frequency of the scaled prototype and the rise and fall of the water level under the foundation.
This work shows that understanding the environmental variability of an identified model is critical to developing methodologies for cleansing data and reducing uncertainty to allow more robust health monitoring in real civil structures.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Turbidity Currents Interacting with the Seafloor
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Eckart Meiburg Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of California at Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CA 93106 We will present high-resolution, Navier-Stokes based simulations and linear stability investigations of turbidity currents, and their two- way interaction with the seafloor. The turbidity currents we consider are driven by particles with negligible inertia that are much smaller than the smallest length scales of the buoyancy-induced fluid motion. For the mathematical description of the particulate phase an Eulerian approach is employed, with a transport equation for the particle-number density.
We will discuss some effects due to complex topography. Furthermore, we will analyze the linear stability problem of channel and sediment wave generation by turbidity currents. A novel linear instability mechanism is identified that can potentially create both of these topographical features. Its relation vis-a-vis the classical lee wave mechanism is discussed. In addition, results will be shown regarding the unsteady interaction of a gravity current with a submarine structure, such as a pipeline.
Location: Stauffer Lecture Hall, (SLH) Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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PREDICTING DEBRIS YIELD USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MODELS
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Zhiqing Kou, Ph.D. Candidate
Astani Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering Abstract:
Artificial Neural Network is a very powerful computational tool for modeling very complicated and highly nonlinear problems in various fields. In this study, it is first applied to estimate accumulated debris yield in 14 debris basins within Los Angeles County, California from 1984 to 2003 as a result of a series of storm events from watersheds partially or totally burned by wildfires. ANN models achieve very satisfactory modeling results when compared to a statistical model. The ANN technique is then applied to forecast unit debris yield resulting from a significant storm event collected from 36 small debris basins from 1938 to 1983 within the county. The same unit debris yield data is simulated by another two artificial intelligence models, Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Generalized Dynamic Fuzzy Neural Network (GD-FNN) model. In addition to four basic input parameters: drainage area, watershed relief ratio, maximum one-hour rainfall intensity, and fire factor, six watershed morphological parameters including elongation ratio, drainage density, hypsometric index, total stream length, mean bifurcation ratio, and transport efficiency factor are included as input parameters and their relative importance are determined through sensitivity analysis. ANN models are also developed for modeling unit debris yield at 80 small debris basins which are classified into five groups based on the slopes of their upstream collection watersheds: mild slope, steep slope, steeper slope, extreme steep slope, and the steepest slope. In addition to four aforementioned basic input parameters, three soil properties such as soil erodibility factor, permeability rate, and liquid limit are included as input parameter one by one to study their impact on the simulation. Unit debris yield collected from large watersheds with area between 10 and 25 mi2, between 25 and 50 mi2, and between 50 and 200 mi2 are also simulated by neural networks. The modeling results show ANN models are able to reproduce most unit debris yield very close to their measured values and the accuracy of unit debris yield estimated by ANN models is significantly higher than those obtained from ANFIS, GD-FNN model, and empirical equations developed by US Army Corps of Engineers.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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SWE Afternoon with Industry
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
After the Fall Career Fair, SWE hosts an annual Afternoon with Industry to provide members and corporate representatives a relaxing and informal environment to mingle and network. The event provides members a unique opportunity to interact with industry representatives while enjoying food and refreshments.
Location: TBA
Audiences: SWE Members Only
Contact: Society of Women Engineers
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CS Colloq: Dr. Alex Slivkins
Fri, Oct 16, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Title:
"Learning in a Pay-per-Click Auction:
Characterizing Truthful Multi-Armed Bandit Mechanisms"Speaker: Dr. Alex Slivkins (Microsoft Research SVC)Host: Prof. David KempeABSTRACT: We consider a multi-round auction setting motivated by pay-per-click auctions for Internet advertising. In each round the auctioneer selects an advertiser and shows her ad, which is then either clicked or not. An advertiser derives value from clicks; the value of a click is her private information. Initially, neither the auctioneer nor the advertisers have any information about the likelihood of clicks on the advertisements. The auctioneer's goal is to design a (dominant strategies) truthful mechanism that
(approximately) maximizes the social welfare.If the advertisers bid their true private values, our problem is equivalent to the "multi-armed bandit problem", and thus can be viewed as a strategic version of the latter. In particular, for both problems the quality of an algorithm can be characterized by "regret", the difference in social welfare between the algorithm and the benchmark which always selects the same "best" advertisement. We investigate how the design of multi-armed bandit algorithms is affected by the restriction that the resulting mechanism must be truthful. We find that truthful mechanisms have certain strong structural properties -- essentially, they must separate exploration from exploitation -- *and* they incur much higher regret than the optimal multi-armed bandit algorithms. Moreover, we provide a truthful mechanism which
(essentially) matches our lower bound on regret.Joint work with Moshe Babaioff (Microsoft Research SVC) and Yogi Sharma (Cornell), published in ACM EC, 2009.BIO:
Dr. Alex Slivkins is a researcher at Microsoft Research, Silicon Valley Center. He received his PhD from Cornell University's CS department, advised by Jon Kleinberg, and then was a Postdoc at Brown University, working with Eli Upfal.
His research area is the design and analysis of algorithms. Specific topics of interest include large networks, metric embeddings, online learning, and mechanism design.
Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 333
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Using Light in Biology
Fri, Oct 16, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Andrea M. Armani, Assistant Professor in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California, will present "Using Light in Biology" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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H-1B Informational Workshop
Fri, Oct 16, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Interested in learning more about the H-1B employment visa? Immigration attorney Adam Green from the Law Offices of Adam Green will be presenting on the topic and address student concerns after the presentation.
Location: Leavy Library Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tracy Charles
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Damage Assesment For System Safety - Oct.18-20, 2009
Sun, Oct 18, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
DASS 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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Successes and Challenges of the American Electric Utility System
Sun, Oct 18, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
This talk, which also serves as an introductory lecture for EE-444, will provide a broad perspective on the history and possible future of the American Electric Utility System.Lecturer: Doctor Richard Hirsch is a professor of History and Technology and Science & Technology Studies at Virginia Tech.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100C
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tracy Charles
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Accident/Incident Response Preparedness - Oct.19-21, 2009
Mon, Oct 19, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
AIP 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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System Safety - Oct.19-30, 2009
Mon, Oct 19, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SSC 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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BME 533 (Seminar in Biomedical Engineering)
Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Parag Mallick, PhD, Director of Clinical Proteomics, USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine,
and Assistant Professor of Research Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine:
"Technological Advancements for Improving Proteomic Discovery of Disease Markers and Mechanisms"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Gra
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Combining Large-Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition and Spoken Term Detection for Robust Speech
Tue, Oct 20, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Guest Speaker:
Douglas W. Oard
University of MarylandAbstract: Well tuned Large-Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR) has been shown to generally be more effective than vocabulary-independent techniques as a basis for topic-based ranked retrieval of spoken content. Tuning LVCSR systems to a topic domain can be costly, however, and Out-Of-Vocabulary (OOV) query terms can adversely affect retrieval effectiveness when that tuning is not performed. I will show, however, that retrieval effectiveness for queries with OOV terms can be substantially improved by combining evidence from LVCSR with additional evidence from utterance-scale Spoken Term Detection (STD). The combination is performed by using relevance judgments from held-out topics to learn generic (i.e., topic-independent), smooth, non-decreasing transformations from LVCSR and STD system scores to relevance probabilities. I'll describe an evaluation using a test collection that includes, conversational speech audio from an oral history collection, topics based on actual requests for information in that collection, and relevance judgments made by trained experts. For short queries, our combined system recovers 57% of the mean average precision that could have been obtained through LVCSR domain tuning. This is joint work with Scott Olsson, using a test collection built in collaboration with Sam Gustman of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.About the speaker: Douglas Oard is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, with joint appointments in the College of Information Studies and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies; he is on sabbatical at Berkeley's iSchool for the Fall 2009 semester. Dr. Oard earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. His research interests center around the use of emerging technologies to support information seeking by end users, with recent work on interactive techniques for cross-language information retrieval and techniques for search and sense-making in conversational media. Additional information is available at http://www.glue.umd.edu/~oard/.Hosted by Shrikanth NarayananLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Boeing AUV Echo Ranger
Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Please Join us for a Special Seminar and Discussion - Wednesday October
21 at 1 PM in Torrey Web Room of the Allan Hancock Foundation Building (AHF)*Ross Peterson, Boeing Lead Team Engineer for the Boeing Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) - Echo Ranger
**Boeing & USC Collaboration on Undersea Science.- Overview Boeing AUV "Echo Ranger" capabilities and at-sea operations.
- Discuss viability of Echo Ranger AUV shore based testing from WMSC facilities and waterfront.
- Discuss potential Echo Ranger operations as a survey platform for oceanographic and environmental sensors.
- Discuss Echo Ranger as a technology demonstrator used to test and evaluate high fidelity underwater sensors.Ross and his team will be available for further discussions after the seminar.
Please let me know if you are interested in meeting with them(duguay@usc.edu).Regards, Linda Duguay, Director of Research Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Director USC Sea Grant Program*
Location: Torrey Web Room of the Allan Hancock Foundation Building (AHF)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Modeling and Simulation of Multiphysical Processes in Particulate Media
Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Tarek I. Zohdi,
Professor and Vice Chair for Instruction, The University of California, Berkeley Department of
Mechanical EngineeringABSTRACT: Ideally, in an attempt to reduce laboratory costs, one would like to make predictions of complex solid and fluid particulate material behavior by numerical simulations, with the primary goal being to minimize time-consuming trial and error experiments. A central objective of this presentation is to provide basic models and efficient numerical solution strategies for the direct simulation of complex particulate media that can be achieved within a relatively standard computing environment. Key corresponding laboratory experiments are also discussed. The topics to be touched upon are:(1) Electromagnetic Composites,
(2) Computational Bio-electromagnetics,
(3) Environmental Degradation of Composite Materials,
(4) Structural Fabric,
(5) Complex Particulate Flows and
(6) Generalizations to Modeling and Design of Collective Behavior.CONTEXT: Recently, several applications, primarily driven by micro-technology,have emerged where the use of solid, fluid and fabric materials with tailored mechanical, thermal and electromagnetic properties are necessary for a successful overall design. The "tailored" properties are achieved by combining an easily moldable base matrix with particles having material properties that are chosen to deliver overall macroscale (desired) effective properties. In many cases, the analysis of such materials requires the simulation of the strongly coupled, macroscopic and microscopic, mechanical, thermal and electromagnetic response,in order to identify possible failure at``hot spots'' within the microstructure. One of the key components in such composite systems are the microscale particulates, and their processing.External electromagnetic fields can be utilized to manipulate and control particulate flows during processing in order to achieve results that are not possible by purely mechanical means alone. Generally, industrial applications where this is important include electrostatic copiers, inkjet printers, powder coating machines, aerosol design, etc. For example, several industrial processes, such as Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP), involve using small-scale chemically-reacting particulates to ablate rough small-scale surfaces flat.These processes have become important for the success of many micro- and
nano- technologies. It is estimated that over 50 percent (by weight) of the materials used in high-end technology start out as particles or granulated material. Below a certain particle length-scale, approximately one millimeter, the dynamics of particles can be strongly affected inter-particle near-field forces, as well as external electromagnetic fields. During processing, whether intended or not, particulate agglomeration can occur.The dynamics of those clusters in the presence of an electromagnetic field are of high interest because they may lead to poor spray quality and inconsistent fabrication results, for example, of composite materials. Therefore, neglecting such near-field effects in an analysis can lead to a significant miscalculation of the characteristics of such flows. Thus, an issue of overriding importance to the successful characterization of such complex materials is the development of models and reliable computational techniques to simulate the response of composite particulate continua, as well as the dynamics and multiphysics of multibody particulate systems involving near-field interaction and contact simultaneously.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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CS: Colloq: Dr. Michal Pechoucek
Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Dr. Michal Pechoucek, Czech Technical UniversityTitle:
AGENTFLY: Multi-agent UAV collision avoidanceAbstract:
Free-flight concept is a modern approach to flexible collision free air traffic control investigated mainly in the context of unmanned aerial assets. Agent Technology Center (ATG) at the Czech Technical University designed and developed AGENTFLY, a multi-agent simulation environment used for a variety of coordinated UAA scenarios. Several collision avoidance methods (e.g. based on visual flight rules, based on peer-to-peer negotiation, based on multi-party interaction or prediction) and a specific
A* based planning algorithm were successfully tested and demonstrated in AGENTFLY system. During my talk I will share with the audience experience collected during the AGENTFLY system development, will present several demos and will comment on industrial take up of the system.Bio:
Dr. Michal Pechoucek is a head of Agent Technology Center and Deputy head of the Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU).
He is an Associate professor in Artificial Intelligence at CTU. He graduated the University of Edinburgh and completed his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and Biocybernetics at CTU. Michal Pechoucek has acted as a principal investigator on more than 20 research projects funded by AFRL/EOARD, ONR, ARL, CERDEC and FAA. Besides, Michal Pechoucek has collaborated with international industries such as Rockwell Automation, BAE Systems, Cadence Design Systems, TSystems, Denzo and NASA. Michal Pechoucek is a visiting/honorary member of Artificial Intelligence Application Institute, University of Edinburgh, is member of the Advisory board of Center of Advanced Information Technologies at State University of New York, University of Bingahmton where he was a visiting professor, visiting postdoctoral researcher at the University of Calgary and he was a member of the AgentLinkIII European Coordinating Action management committee. Michal Pechoucek is an author or co-author of SCI cited publications in proceedings of international conferences and journal papers, PC member and a co-chair of relevant conferences and workshops. Michal Pechoucek was a chair and is a member of EUMAS advisory board and member of CEEMAS steering committee.
Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - 154
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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Photography For Aircraft Accident Investigation - Oct.22-23, 2009
Thu, Oct 22, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
PHOTO 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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SIZE MATTERS: Mechanical properties of materials at nano-scale
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Distinguished Lecture SeriesPresentsJulia GreerCaltechAbstract:While "super-sizing" seems to be the driving force of our food industry, the direction of materials research has been quite the opposite: the dimensions of most technological devices are getting ever smaller. These advances in nanotechnology have a tremendous impact on parts of the economy as diverse as information, energy, health, agriculture, security, and transportation. Some of the examples include data storage at densities greater than one terabit per square inch, high-efficiency solid-state engines, single-cell diagnostics of complex diseases (e.g. cancer), and the development of ultra light yet super-strong materials for vehicles, with the component sizes comprising these technological devices reduced to the sub-micron scale. The functionality of these devices directly depends on their structural integrity and mechanical stability, driving the necessity to understand and to predict mechanical properties of materials at reduced dimensions. Yield and fracture strengths, for example, have been found to deviate from classical mechanics laws and therefore can no longer be inferred from the bulk response or from the literature. Unfortunately, the few existing experimental techniques for assessing mechanical properties at that scale are insufficient, not easily accessible, and are generally limited to thin films. In order to design reliable devices, a fundamental understanding of mechanical properties as a function of feature size is desperately needed; with the key remaining question whether materials really are stronger when the instrumental artifacts are removed, and if so then why and how. A key focus in Professor J.R.Greer's research is the development of innovative experimental approaches to assess mechanical properties of materials whose dimensions have been reduced to nano-scale not only vertically but also laterally. One such approach involves the fabrication of nanopillars with different initial microstructures (single crystalline, nano-crystalline, amorphous, etc.) ranging in diameter from 100 nm to 800nm by using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and micro-fabrication approaches. Their strengths in uniaxial compression and tension are subsequently measured in a one-of-a kind in-situ mechanical deformation instrument developed in the Greer lab. This instrument is called SEMentor, as it is comprised of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Nanoindenter, which allow for precise control of displacement and loading rates, as well as for simultaneous video capture. Some representative images of various nano-sized mechanical testing specimen are shown in Figure 1. In this seminar we will discuss the differences observed between mechanical behavior in two fundamental types of crystals: face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc), as well as of nano-crystalline Nickel and amorphous metallic glasses with nano-scale dimensions. In a striking deviation from classical mechanics, we observe a SMALLER IS STRONGER phenomenon in single crystals manifested by the significant (~50x) increase in strength of as material size is reduced to 100nm. To the contrary, nano-crystalline materials tend to exhibit the opposite trend: SMALLER is SOFTER. Finally, metallic glasses, whose Achilles; heel has always been the occurrence of catastrophic failure at very small strains, exhibit non-trivial ductility when reduced to nano-scale. Furhtermore, unlike in bulk where plasticity commences in a smooth fashion, all of these materials exhibit numerous discrete strain bursts during plastic deformation. These remarkable differences in the mechanical response of nano-scale solids subjected to uniaxial compression and tension challenge the applicability of conventional plasticity models at the nano-scale. We postulate that they arise from the effects of free surfaces, leading to the significant differences in dislocation behavior for the case of crystals, grain-boundary activity for the case of nano-crystalline solids, and shear transformation zones in metallic glasses. and serve as the fundamental reason for the observed differences in their plastic deformation. These mechanisms and their effect on the evolved microstructure and the overall mechanical properties will be discussed.
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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CS DLS: Dr. Tony Derose
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Time: 4 PM - 5:30 PMLocation: SSL 150Talk title: Math in the MoviesSpeaker: Dr. Tony DeRose (Pixar Animation Studios)Host: Prof. Jernej BarbicAbstract:Film making is undergoing a digital revolution brought on by advances in areas such as computer technology, computational physics, geometry, and approximation theory. Using numerous examples drawn from Pixar's feature films, this talk will provide a behind the scenes look at the role that math plays in the revolution.Bio:
Tony DeRose is currently a Senior Scientist and lead of the Research
Group at Pixar Animation Studios. He received a BS in Physics in from
the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science
from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 Dr.
DeRose was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the
University of Washington. In 1998, he was a major contributor to the
Oscar (c) winning short film "Geri's game", in 1999 he received the
ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in
2006 he received a Scientific and Technical Academy Award (c) for his
work on surface representations.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; How to Drive a Robot
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Andrew Howard, Senior Member of Computer Vision Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will present "How to Drive a Robot" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series : Prof. Peter Siegel, Caltech
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Title: THz in Biology and Medicine: Towards Quantifying and Understanding the Interaction of Millimeter Waves with Cells and Cell Processes Abstract
Careful evaluation of the impact of millimeter and submillimeter wavelength radiation on biological systems is becoming more relevant as high frequency communications, radar and imaging begin to make their way into commercial applications. Especially apropos is the high power density, pulsed millimeter-wave crowd-control system known as active-denial. Methods to identify and quantify the impact of this radiation on a microscopic scale are just beginning to emerge. In this talk we will review traditional THz applications being pursued in the Submillimeter Wave Advanced Technology (SWAT) group at JPL and then turn to this new application area in he life sciences: submillimeter wave interactions with cells. A simple setup is demonstrated for remote temperature monitoring of water, water-based media, and cells exposed to millimeter wave energy. The technique relies on recording changes in the shape of a stretching band of the hydroxyl group in liquid water at 3100 to 3700 cm-1. Temperature changes of 1°C are readily distinguished over a range consistent with cellular processes (25-45°C) using integration times below 10 seconds. The instrument was used to successfully determine the temperature rise of a cluster of H1299 derived human lung cells adhered to polystyrene and immersed in PBS under exposure of RF millimeter wave radiation (60 GHz, 1.3, 2.6 and 5.2 mW/mm2). Following this, our first measurements of low levels of RF power on cell function were performed using a FRET (Forster resonance energy transfer) technique on cells tagged with GFP (green fluorescent protein) to look at the formation of membrane nanopores.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Incident Investigation/Analysis - Oct.26-29, 2009
Mon, Oct 26, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
IIA 10-1
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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The Importance of Research in Protecting the Homeland
Mon, Oct 26, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mr. Arif Alikhan (Assistant Secretary for Policy Development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security)Host: Prof. Milind Tambe
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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BME 533 (Seminar in Biomedical Engineering)
Mon, Oct 26, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Scott Simon, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, UC-Davis:
"Recruitment of Leukocytes: Studies of acute and chronic inflammation"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate Students/Faculty
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloq: Dr. David Lomet
Tue, Oct 27, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:50 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Title: Deuteronomy - Rethinking Database Kernel ArchitecturesHost: Prof. Shahram GhandeharizadehAbstract: Traditionally, a DBMS kernel has recovery, concurrency control and access method
code tightly bound together. In the Deuteronomy project we factor the kernel into a transactional component (TC) that knows about transactions and their "logical" concurrency control and undo/redo recovery, and a data component (DC) that knows about the access methods and supports a record-oriented interface with atomic operations.
The interaction of the resulting components is governed by a contract or covenant. This talk will describe the Deuteronomy kernel architecture as well as how logical locking works when a DBMS kernel is split in this manner.Bio:
David Lomet has been a principal researcher managing the Microsoft Research Database Group at Microsoft Research since 1995. Earlier, he spent seven and a half years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has been at IBM Research in Yorktown and a Professor at Wang Institute. Dr. Lomet spent a sabbatical at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne working with Brian Randell. He has a Computer Science Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania.Dr. Lomet has done research and product development in architecture, programming languages, and distributed systems. His primary interest is database systems, focusing on access methods, concurrency control, and recovery. He is one of the inventors of the transaction concept and is an author of over 90 papers and 40 patents. Two papers won SIGMOD "best paper" awards. Dr. Lomet has served on program committees, including SIGMOD, PODS, VLDB, and ICDE. He was ICDE'2000 PC co-chair and VLDB 2006 PC core chair. He is a member of the ICDE Steering Committee and VLDB Board. He is editor-in-chief of the Data Engineering Bulletin since 1992 and past editor of ACM TODS and the VLDB Journal. Dr. Lomet is IEEE Golden Core Member and received IEEE Outstanding Contribution and Meritorious Service Awards. Dr. Lomet is both ACM Fellow and IEEE Fellow.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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Spatial correlation of earthquake ground motion intensities: ...
Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
...measurement and implications for regional infrastructure risk.Speaker: Dr. Jack W. Baker, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford UniversityAbstract:Risk assessment of spatially distributed building portfolios or infrastructure systems requires quantification of the joint occurrence of ground-motion intensities at several sites, during the same earthquake. This talk will present an overview of techniques to quantify the needed joint distributions using observations from past earthquakes, and describe how these distributions can be used in probabilistic seismic risk assessments of spatially-distributed lifelines. Lifeline risk assessment presents challenges related to describing ground-motion intensity over a region, and related to the computationally expensive task of repeatedly analyzing performance of a lifeline system under many damage scenarios. A simulation-based framework will be presented that develops a small but stochastically-representative catalog of earthquake ground-motion intensity maps that can be used for lifeline risk assessment. The approach dramatically reduces required computational expense, while also maintaining a set of simulations that is consistent with all conventional probabilistic seismic hazard analysis calculations. The feasibility of the proposed approach is illustrated by using it to assess the seismic risk of a simplified model of the San Francisco Bay Area transportation network. A catalog of only 150 intensity maps is generated to represent hazard at 1,038 sites from ten regional fault segments causing earthquakes with magnitudes between five and eight.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Effect of Plasma Discharges on Spacecraft: An Experimental View
Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Timothy P. Graves Electric Propulsion and Plasma Science SectionThe Aerospace Corporation2310 E. El Segundo Blvd.El Segundo, CA 90245-4609 Abstract:Successful satellite design and operation requires proper understanding of the many plasma phenomena associated with spaceflight. Various types of plasma discharges affect satellite components on-orbit, and in some cases, they can lead to critical failures in susceptible hardware. Some key examples of these phenomena are electrostatic discharge (ESD), plasma propulsion effects, and RF/microwave plasma discharges. The Aerospace Corporation's Electric Propulsion and Plasma Science Section continues to experimentally research these areas to improve current understanding and provide necessary data to avoid potential satellite failures. In this talk, the plasma physics and mitigation strategies associated with the aforementioned plasma discharges will be discussed. Additionally, the unique experimental capabilities and techniques developed in Aerospace laboratories will be described with specific emphasis on how the data are used to improve satellite design and operation. Recent experiments include laboratory ESD formation and measurement on solar panel coupons, NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) plume measurements, satellite communication and plasma thruster electromagnetic interference, and the effect of surface contamination on multipactor discharge.
Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH), Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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SWE 4th General Meeting - Pumpkin Carving!
Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 06:30 PM - 07:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: TBA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Society of Women Engineers
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CS DLS: Prof. Fan Chung Graham
Thu, Oct 29, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Time: 4 PM - 5:30 PMLocation: SSL 150Talk title: Graph theory in the information ageSpeaker: Prof. Fan Chung Graham (UCSD)Host: Prof. David KempeAbstract:
Nowadays we are surrounded by numerous large information networks, such as the WWW graph, the telephone graph and various social networks. Many new questions arise. How are these graphs formed? What are basic structures of such large networks? How do they evolve? What are the underlying principles that dicatate their behavior? How are subgraphs related to the large host graph? What are the main graph invariants that capture the myriad properties of such large sparse graphs and subgraphs.
In this talk, we discuss some recent developments in the study of large sparse graphs and speculate about future directions in graph theory.Bio:
Fan Chung Graham received a B.S. degree in mathematics from National Taiwan University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974, after which she joined the technical staff of AT&T Bell Laboratories. From 1983 to 1991, she headed the Mathematics, Information Sciences and Operations Research Division at Bellcore. In 1991 she became a Bellcore Fellow. In 1993, she was the Class of 1965 Professor of Mathematics at the the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1998, she has been a Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Computer Science and Enginering at the University of California, San Diego. She is also the Akamai Professor in Internet Mathematics.
Her research interests are primarily in graph theory, combinatorics, and algorithmic design, in particular in spectral graph theory, extremal graphs, graph labeling, graph decompositions, random graphs, graph algorithms, parallel structures and various applications of graph theory in Internet computing, communication networks, software reliability, chemistry, engineering, and various areas of mathematics. She was awarded the Allendoerfer Award by Mathematical Association of America in 1990. Since 1998, she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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CS Colloq: Dr. Alan Levin
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title : Organization and OrderSpeaker: Dr. Alan LevinHost: Prof. Barry BoehmAbstract:Organization is a startling and spontaneous macroscopic characteristic. We observe it in nature, and we participate in it socially, economically, culturally, and linguistically. Unfortunately, there appears to be no sound theoretical foundation for organization in nature and organization is often confused with order. By examining modeling assumptions and using system engineering methods, we can clarify the difference between functional and structural models and appreciate how to use them jointly to solve otherwise intractable problems. In doing so we also gain insight into the proper use of the terms organization, order, and emergence.Bio:Alan Levin is currently conducting original research into organization in natural systems. This interdisciplinary program extends traditional physical chemical methods with functional modeling techniques from system engineering. In 2008 Dr. Levin retired after a distinguished career working for TRW and Northrop Grumman Corporation. He joined TRW in 1979, and served in increasingly responsible positions as member of the technical staff, project manager, director of engineering, chief scientist, director of business development, and director of strategy and technology planning for a division with over $1B annual sales. He routinely worked with government, defense industry, commercial, and academic professionals projecting advanced technology needs for future critical missions. Before joining TRW, Dr.
Levin taught physical chemistry at Carleton College and conducted original research in nucleic acid chemistry. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from UC Berkeley.
Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 333
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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SWE Halloween Fun Fair
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Want a chance to celebrate Halloween with 130 local 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders? We will be hosting 10 booths including Bobbing for Apples, field games, face painting, gingerbread haunted house making, etc and we need volunteers to man them and lead the girls!
Location: TBA
Audiences: Volunteers Needed!
Contact: Society of Women Engineers
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Composite Materials for Air Vehicles
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Anna Yen of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems will present "Composite Materials for Air Vehicles" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
