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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for January
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Aviation Safety Management Systems - Jan.05-16, 2008
Mon, Jan 05, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
ASMS 09-2
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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Manifold Learning in Human-Robot Teams
Mon, Jan 05, 2009 @ 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Chad Jenkins, Brown University
Host: Prof. Maja MataricAbstract:
A principal goal of robotics is to realize embodied systems that are effective collaborators in human endeavors pursued in the physical world. Human-robot collaborations can occur in a variety of forms, including autonomous robotic assistants, mixed-initiative robot explorers, and augmentations of the human body. For these collaborations to be effective, human users must have the ability to realize their intended behavior into actual robot control policies. At run-time, robots should be able to manipulate an environment and engage in two-way communication in a manner suitable to their human users. Further, the tools for programming, communicating with, and manipulating using robots should be accessible to the diverse sets of technical abilities present in society. Towards the goal of effective human-robot collaboration, learning from demonstration (LfD) has emerged as a central theme of our work for the natural instruction of autonomous robots by human users. In robot LfD, desired cognitive functions for a robot (perception, decision making, or motion control) are implicit in human demonstration rather than explicitly coded in a computer program.In this talk, I will present our work into learning priors from human demonstration for robot perception and control using manifold-based dimension reduction. My specific focus will be the development and application of manifold learning algorithms to estimate subspace priors for spatial and time-series data generated by humans. I will discuss our approach to spatio-temporal dimension reduction in the context of manifold learning. Using manifold learning, results will be presented from learning priors for: 1) classifying tactile signatures to recognize successful grasps on the NASA Robonaut, 2) providing low-dimensional control spaces for neural prosthetics, 3) learning motion primitives from human movement data, and 4) extracting kinematic models and poses from multi-view video. Our approach to learning priors will be cast in our broader context for policy learning and computational models for communication in multi-robot multi-human systems.Biography:
Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. Prof. Jenkins earned his B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics at Alma College (1996), M.S. in Computer Science at Georgia Tech (1998), and Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Southern California (2003). He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his work in physics-based human tracking. He has also received Young Investigator awards from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for his research in learning dynamical primitives from human motion and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for his work in manifold learning and multi-robot coordination. His research addresses problems in robot learning and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on robot learning from demonstration, as well as topics in computer vision, machine learning, and computer animation.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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SMART BUILDINGS: SYNERGY IN STRUCTURAL CONTROL, HEALTH MONITORING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
Thu, Jan 08, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Oral Defense By: Tat S. FuSonny AstaniDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringAbstract:
Smart buildings are different from traditional buildings in their ability to react to external and internal building conditions and provide building functions that concern safety, comfort and energy efficiency. The capability to monitor and control different building systems makes a building smart. Efficient cooperation among various building systems is also crucial because of the increasing complexity in buildings. This dissertation focuses on structural control and health monitoring as well as integrating the structural system with an environmental system to create safe, energy efficient and smart buildings.
Structural health monitoring (SHM) aims to assess the health of structures in a systematic and automatic manner. Cost and reliability are the biggest challenges for SHM. A SHM system with a wireless sensor network is studied to reduce cost by avoiding expensive wiring in installation. To reduce radio communication and, thus, battery power usage on the wireless sensors, a distributed algorithm is used to process the data at the sensor nodes for estimating modal parameters. Optimization of a sensor placement is then studied for SHM purposes and wireless sensor networks. Reliability in damage detection is also examined for both global and local excitations. With the measured responses from exciting the structure globally, an SHM algorithm is expanded to conduct multi-directional analysis, providing more information and accuracy on damage detection. By exciting a structural member locally and studying the wave propagation within this member, damage is successfully detected and the effect of sensor placements on damage detection accuracy is analyzed.
Synergy of integrating structural and environmental systems is explored with a proposed Shading Fin Mass Damper (SFMD) system. Traditionally static shading fins are made movable and heavier to function as mass dampers. The added mobility allows the fins to change positions for greater sunlight control, thus minimizing energy consumption on cooling and heating loads. Since the shading fins are placed along the height of the building, the dampers are distributed rather than concentrated in a few locations as in typical tuned mass damper systems. Passive, active and semiactive control strategies are analyzed for the distributed mass damper (DMD) system; results show that the DMD system can reduce structural vibration significantly. Additionally, the actuators controlling the movements of the SFMDs are studied to excite the structure for SHM. It is observed that by using combinations of the multiple actuators, damaged detection can be greatly improved for the DMD system.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Mon, Jan 12, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Stefan Lee, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of
Neurological Surgery
Title: "Opportunities for clinical and translational research at the new
LAC+USC Medical Center"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Exposure Assessment and Source Apportionment of Size Fractions of Airborne Particulate Matter
Tue, Jan 13, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Oral Defense by:Mohammad ArhamiSonny AstaniDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringAdvisor: Prof. Constantinos SioutasAbstract
The aim of this thesis is to enhance the knowledge on exposure to size fractions of airborne particulate matter and their components and to find more intensive information on sources of indoor and outdoor size fractionated particles. In the first part of the study, the physical and chemical characteristics of indoor, outdoor, and personal quasi-ultrafine (In the following, we characterized the physicochemical properties and sources of size fractionated PM and their spatial and seasonal variability at the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor community, which is the busiest harbor in the US and the fifth in the world. The major mass contributions in the quasi-UF fraction were particulate organic matter, non-sea salt sulfate and elemental carbon; in the accumulation mode fraction were non-sea salt sulfate, sea salt, particulate organic matter and nitrate; and in the coarse fraction were sea salt and insoluble soil. In general, PM and its components in accumulation mode showed relatively lower spatial variability compare to the quasi-UF and the coarse modes. The vehicular sources accounted for almost all of quasi-ultrafine PM and more than 50% fine PM, whereas ship contribution was lower than 5% of total PM mass. Our results clearly indicate that, although ship emissions can be significant, PM emissions in the area of the largest US harbor are dominated by vehicular sources. The results obtained in this study have been/will be used to examine the relationships between outdoor (or ambient), indoor and personal measurements of atmospheric particulate air pollution and health outcomes and to link health effects to certain sources of particulate matter. Such information would be highly valuable for targeting control strategies that protect human health and life.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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A Comprehensive Approach to Macroprogramming
Tue, Jan 13, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Kamin Whitehouse, University of Virginia
Host: Prof. Ramesh GovindanAbstract:
Networks of wireless, embedded devices are increasingly useful for interfacing with the physical world, and promise to revolutionize many areas of science and engineering. However, these systems are very complex and difficult to manage; building even a simple application entails several interacting tasks like distributed programming, resource management, and wireless networking. We are simplifying this process with a system called MacroLab that provides a Matlab-like interface that is natural for both sensing and control. With MacroLab, the developer writes a single, sequential program and the compiler automatically breaks it into smaller parts and distributes it throughout the network. MacroLab programs execute efficiently and are easy for most scientists and engineers to write. The key to MacroLab is the ability to perform whole-system optimization based on the program, the network topology, and resource availability. In current work, we are taking this approach to the next level by exploiting the holistic view offered by MacroLab to support macro-level testing, debugging, and analysis.Biography:
Prof. Whitehouse is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia whose research focuses on new technologies that bridge the gap between the virtual and physical worlds. Whitehouse received his MS and PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering and his BA in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from Rutgers University.Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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Simulation and Control of Three-Dimensional Separated Flows around Low-Aspect-Ratio Wings
Wed, Jan 14, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Kunihiko (Sam) Taira Postdoctoral Research AssociateDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringPrinceton UniversityPrinceton, NJ Micro air vehicles often fly with flow separation on their low-aspect-ratio wings due to the unique design and operational environment. However, three-dimensional flows around such vehicles have not been well understood compared to the classical high-Reynolds-number flows around conventional aircraft. To offer fundamental understanding of the flow field around small-scaled vehicles, a new formulation of the immersed boundary method is developed and used to perform three-dimensional flow simulations around low-aspect-ratio wings at low Reynolds numbers. The study highlights the unsteady nature of separated flows for various aspect ratios, angles of attack, and planform geometries. Following an impulsive start, the short and long time behavior of the wake and the corresponding forces exerted on the wing are examined. At high angles of attack, the leading-edge vortices are observed to detach in many cases, resulting in reduced lift. Inspired by how insects benefit from the added lift due to the leading-edge vortices, actuation is introduced to increase lift by modifying the three-dimensional dynamics of the wake vortices behind translating wings. Successful control setups that achieve lift enhancement by a factor of two in post-stall flows for low-aspect-ratio wings will be presented.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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A topic in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering to be announced
Thu, Jan 15, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lyman Handy Colloquium SeriesPresentsLarry LakeProfessor, Dept. of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712Abstract: TBA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Animating Interactive Characters using Motion Capture and Simulation
Thu, Jan 15, 2009 @ 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Victor Zordan, University of Callifornia, Riverside
Host: Prof. Gerard MedioniAbstract:
Automatically creating humanlike animation for characters is difficult, especially in interactive applications such as video games and online environments where the characters must move realistically and respond to unpredicted events while also remaining controllable at a high level by the users of such virtual worlds. In this talk, I describe several techniques for generating realistic character motion using examples recorded from humans and physically based models, focusing primarily on controllable, responsive characters that combine dynamic simulation and recorded data. My research relies on human examples to dictate movement style and on simulation to create physically plausible motion that includes believable interactions with the environment and other simulated characters. Emphasis is placed on generating believable anticipated and unpredicted responses within a unified animation system that employs both motion capture and simulation as mechanisms for generating interactive humanlike motion.Biography:
Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at UC Riverside, Dr. Victor Zordan received his Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Zordan's research interests fall in several areas of computer animation including human motion, physically based modeling, interactive virtual environments, behavior control, and game interfaces. He has published numerous papers on control for human and humanlike characters, as well as on several other topics including anatomical modeling, procedural approaches, and video-based animation.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Geospatial Information Management
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Prof. Cyrus Shahabi, Dept. of Computer Science, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs
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Three Applications of the Reciprocal Theorem in Soil-Structure Interaction
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Oral Defense by:Kirsten McKaySonny AstaniDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringABSTRACT: Using the Reciprocal Theorem and the principle of superposition, this dissertation examines three procedures for obtaining the impedance functions and driving force vectors necessary for a soil-structure interaction analysis. The first procedure employs a volume integral of body forces and the displacement Green's Functions to obtain the frequency dependent force-displacement relationship (impedance functions) for a rigid embedded foundation and the generalized force vector required to hold the rigid foundation fixed while subjected to incident waves (driving force). Although a formulation based on a volume integral requires more computation than the others based on surface integrals, this procedure proves to be numerically stable and is an excellent tool for linear soil- structure interaction analyses. The second procedure is based on integrating the surface displacements with the traction Green's Functions and surface tractions with the displacement Green's Function, over the surface of a rigid foundation. This well-known formulation has numerical instability problems at the resonant frequencies of the medium interior to the foundation surface.
This dissertation explains the reason behind the instability using an analytical solution of the Hilbert-Schmidt method and recommends an algorithm which uses the l'Hospitale Rule to obtain the solution at those critical frequencies. The development herein for this method is not meant to be a practical solution, but an academic exercise to explain a long-standing, puzzling problem. The third and final procedure is to design a radiation boundary for a three-dimensional finite element grid using the surface displacements and surface tractions at the discrete artificial boundary, along with the Green's Functions, to calculate outgoing wave motion at nodes immediately outside of the artificial boundary, thereby eliminating unwanted reflection of the outgoing waves. A procedure is recommended to obtain required data from a commercially available software program. A modal method can be employed to maximize the efficiency of the analysis.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Sat, Jan 17, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Sun, Jan 18, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Mon, Jan 19, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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BME 533 Seminar Series: NO CLASS, MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY
Mon, Jan 19, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Legal Aspects of Aviation Safety - Jan.20-21, 2008
Tue, Jan 20, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
LEGAL 09-2
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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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Tue, Jan 20, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Wed, Jan 21, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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Fujita & Ogawa Revisited: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Wed, Jan 21, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Eric J. Heikkila, Professor and Director of International Initiatives; School of Policy, Planning, and Development; Ralph & Goldy Lewis Hall; RGL 301D, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0626The presentation is based on a paper by the same title, co-authored with Yiming Wang, forthcoming in Environment and Planning B. Absract:
This paper builds on and extends a classic paper (hereafter referred to as "F-O") published by Masahisa Fujita and Hideaki Ogawa in 1982. Their paper models the emergence of urban centers brought about by household and firm location decisions in the context of spatially differentiated labor and land market interactions. Their approach is an analytical one that seeks to characterize the equilibrium values of the system. In contrast, we employ an agent based modeling approach that seeks to replicate the individual household and firm behaviors that lead to equilibrium or non-equilibrium outcomes. The F-O model has little to say about what happens outside of equilibrium, while the ABM approach is pre-occupied with this question and is particularly well suited to address questions of path dependency and bounded rationality that lie well beyond the scope of the F-O original. We demonstrate that the urban outcomes that emerge depend critically upon the bidding behavior of agents and the institutional context within which their decisions are made.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Toward Numerical Simulations of Compressible Multiphase Flows with Applications to Shockwave Lithotr
Wed, Jan 21, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Eric Johnsen Postdoctoral FellowCenter for Turbulence ResearchStanford UniversityStanford, CA Multiphase flows are ubiquitous in nature and in engineering applications, and encompass a range of phenomena as diverse as the dynamics of bubble clouds, the ablation of human tissue by focused ultrasound, and the impact of ocean waves onto naval structures. Though numerical simulations have become common design and analysis tools in fluid dynamics, current multiphase flow algorithms are still in developmental stages, particularly when the flow is compressible. In the present talk, a compressible multicomponent flow method is presented and applied to study the non-spherical collapse of gas bubbles in the context of shockwave lithotripsy, a medical procedure in which focused shockwaves are used to pulverize kidney stones. The dynamics of non-spherical bubble collapse are characterized, and the damage potential of the shockwaves emitted upon collapse is evaluated by tabulating the wall pressure. In addition, various properties are compared to available experiments and theory, showing good agreement. Furthermore, by using the present results as boundary conditions for simulations of elastic wave propagation within a kidney stone, a new stone comminution mechanism is proposed. Finally, the application of the current method is discussed for simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, in which a shock interacts with a perturbed interface.
Location: Staufer Science Library Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Role Of The Technical Witness In Litigation - Jan.22-23, 2008
Thu, Jan 22, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
TWW 09-2
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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Some Recent Progress in Spatial Information Applications in Beijing Key Laboratory
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - -116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Janice Thompson
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Unlocking Heavy Oil and Unconventional Resources with Heat
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Distinguished Lecture SeriesPresentsProfessor Anthony KovscekDepartment of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305Abstract : TBA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Torsional Effects on the Inelastic Seismic Response of Structures
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Oral Defense by:Mehran Mansuri, Graduate Student, Civil and Environmental EngineeringAbstract:To evaluate inelastic torsional response of buildings due to different parameters such as unsymmetrical distribution of mass or lateral load resisting elements in the plan of the structure or yielding and inelastic behavior of resisting elements and loss of the resistance of such an element during an earthquake, a full three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic analysis is a powerful tool to evaluate such a nonlinear response.
The results of nonlinear dynamic analyses of two actual steel moment frame buildings that were damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake subjected to couple of different recorded ground motions from Northridge and Loma Prieta earthquakes are presented and the importance of different parameters such as discontinuity of lateral resisting elements, unsymmetrical distribution of mass or resistance in the plan of structure, intensity and frequency content of earthquake ground motions, accidental eccentricity as prescribed by code and the effect of geometric nonlinearity (P-Delta) on the inelastic lateral-torsional response of structures is discussed. Response parameters considered include lateral story displacement, Interstory drift index, plastic hinge rotation demand and torsional rotation of each floor.
The analysis procedures use three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic analytical models developed for the PERFORM 3-D computer program.
Study of the results for different models with different eccentricities clearly shows the effect of inelastic torsion in comparison with elastic torsion on the response of structures. The torsional rotation of floors considered as a main parameter of torsional response of the building has an average increase of 30 to 60 percent for material nonlinearity. By adding geometric nonlinearity (P-Delta), this increases 70 to 100 percent of elastic torsional rotation. This clearly shows the inelastic torsional response of structures may be significantly underestimated by a linear dynamic analysis, especially for large value of mass or stiffness eccentricity and intensity of the ground motion.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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The Laminar Flame to Turbulent Flame to Detonation Transition: Studies of Non-Kolmogorov Turbulence
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Elaine S. Oran Senior Research Scientist
Naval Research Laboratory Lecture Abstract "The transition from a propagating subsonic Laminar flame to a high-speed Turbulent flame and then to supersonic Detonation wave (the LTD transition) involves a series of often dramatic events involving changes in the nature of the reaction wave. Some of the events develop continuously whereas others appear suddenly and with little apparent warning. The LTD transition occurs in highly exothermic energetic materials, for example in hydrogen-air mixtures resulting from gas leaks at hydrogen production and storage facilities as well as in carbon-oxygen mixtures in white-dwarf stars which, after ignition, become thermonuclear supernovae. This presentation describes the properties of the LTD transition using videos made from numerical solutions of the multidimensional, unsteady, chemically reacting, Navier-Stokes equations. The discussion focuses on selected features of the flow, including: formation of a turbulent flame and the nature of the turbulence, creation of hot spots as the origins of detonations, effects of stochastic processes on our ability to make predictions, and comparisons between simulations and experimental data." Professor Oran, Gas Dynamics Laboratories, designs numerical methods for simulating complex fluid dynamic processes, and then uses these methods to solve complex fluid dynamic processes and a wide variety of other scientific and engineering problems. Her recent research interests include combustion and propulsion, rarefied gases and microfluidics, fluid turbulance, materials engineering, high-proformance computing and parallel architectures, computational science and numerical analysis, biophysical fluid dynamics, wave equations, and astrophysical phenomena such as supernova explosions and jets. Oran has authored over 200 refereed journal articles as well as many conference papers and presentatoins. She is also the co-author of the book Numerical Simulation of Reactive Flow (2nd edition, Cambridge Press, 2001).Location: Davidson Conference Center -Club Room 2nd Floor
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Geospatial Information Technology and Robotic Vision
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 @ 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Bingcai Zhang, BAE Systems, Engineering Fellow
Host: Prof. Cyrus ShahabiAbstract:
Geospatial information technology or 3D mapping is the technology that extracts most 3D geospatial data such as elevations and vector maps from digital images. In the last two decades, BAE Systems has developed advanced computer algorithms to automate 3D geospatial data extraction from digital images. These algorithms may be applicable to navigate a robot in urban environment and complex terrain. There are significant similarities between robot vision and 3D mapping, between human vision process and 3D image matching process. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges of this technology for both 3D mapping and robot navigation.I will show some practical examples in 3D images. I will also talk about opportunities of this technology in a world of global recession and aging population. I will bring in 3D glasses such that everyone has a chance to experience 3D imaging.Biography:
Dr. Zhang is an engineering fellow at BAE Systems, the premier global defense and aerospace company. He joined BAE Systems in September 1995 right out of University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned his Ph.D. in engineering college and MS in computer science. His research interests are: (1)geospatial information technology and 3D mapping; (2)robot vision and unmanned systems; and (3)3D geoweb search. He has held positions as chief architect, chief photogrammetrist, R&D manager, and engineering fellow with BAE Systems.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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Swimming and Flying Somewhere Between the Microscale and Macroscale: Curious Adaptations in Parasito
Fri, Jan 23, 2009 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Laura Miller Assistant ProfessorDept. of Mathematics U. North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC Biologists, engineers, physicists, and mathematicians have long studied the fluid dynamics of animal swimming and flying. In most cases, methods of locomotion are divided neatly into high Reynolds number mechanisms (flapping wings and fins, gliding, jet propulsion) and low Reynolds number mechanisms (cilia and flagella). For the most part, mechanisms of locomotion for Reynolds numbers between 0.1 and 10 have not been explored. In these flows, both inertial and viscous effects are significant, and a number of interesting biological adaptations appear. For example, the wings of the smallest insects have a bristled structure. Similar structures are also observed on the appendages of aquatic invertebrates such as copepods and beetles. Some fairyflies use bristled wings to fly in the air and also to swim in the water. In this presentation, the fluid dynamics of locomotion at these Reynolds number is explored. We use computational fluid dynamics and particle image velocimetry (PIV) to characterize the flow around simplified models of flapping wings and fins. The immersed boundary method is used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations around a moving, flexible wing or fin. We then describe thrust and lift generation in air and water over a range of Reynolds numbers and relate the magnitude of these forces to the behavior of the wake behind the flapping appendages. The role of bristled wings in locomotion is also examined. Finally, we describe similar problems in moving and pumping fluids over the same Reynolds number range.
Location: Robert Glen Rapp Engineering Research Building (RRB) - 208 Laufer Library
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Product Liability
Fri, Jan 23, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Prof. Dagmar Halamka, Attorney at Law, USC Marshall School of Business.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs
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Integrated Sys Seminar: Frontiers in Radio Astronomy - Scientific & Technical (Dr. Weinreb, Caltech)
Fri, Jan 23, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker - Prof. Sander Weinreb (Caltech)Abstract:This seminar will provide an introduction to radio astronomy, starting with current hot scienific topics and leading to technological developments at Caltech and the international arena. An outline follows:Selected Scientific Frontiers- Cosmic background microwave radiation
- Nanosecond pulses and other transients
- Search for extraterrestrial civilizationsGlobal View of Radio Astronomy- Current large projects
- Square-Km ArrayTechnical Frontiers at CaltechThe Goldstone 34m science and educational telescope, GAVRT- Wideband feeds
- Low Noise Amplfiers
- Future DreamLocation: EE248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Multistage Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Systems
Fri, Jan 23, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Charlie Rohrs
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBased on the PhD work of
Melanie B. RudoyAbstract: Certain combinations of security prices reveal small amounts of intertemporal predictability when modeled as Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Systems (CVAR). Such predictability can be exploited using tools from dynamic programming and optimal control theory to produce profitable portfolio optimization schemes. Here we use a standard Markowitz optimal mean variance approach on such systems. Certain CVAR systems display converging variance with increasing time horizon and we show how to appropriate exploit this phenomena when a single portfolio with no rebalancing throughout time is required. When rebalancing is allowed, the mean reversion properties of certain CVAR systems allow extra leveraging in intermediate stages to create higher profits. The extra leveraging produces excess profits while the variance trend is reversed by the terminal time to meet the overall variance constraint. The terminal time mean-variance problem does not quite fit with the CVAR models and an approximate solution is proposed.Biography: Charlie Rohrs received his BS degree from Notre Dame in 1976 and his Masters and PhD from MIT in 1978 and 1982 respectively. He served on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame from 1982 until 1997 and a Visiting Professor at MIT from 1997 until 2000. Charlie spent much of his career at The Tellabs Research Center, the research arm of Tellabs Operations, Inc., a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment for public service network providers. From 1985 until 1995, Dr. Rohrs was Director of the Research for Tellabs as the company grew from sales in the tens of millions to over a billion dollars annually. In 1995, he became the first Tellabs Fellow. Since 2001, Charlie has worked at MIT, first as a Principal Research Scientist in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and then in his current position in the DSP group in RLE. While Dr. Rohrs is best known for his early contributions to the study of robustness in adaptive control, he has also contributed work in adaptive control, adaptive signal processing, communication theory, and communication networks and switching systems. He has recently become interested in the problems of financial engineering.Host: Michael Neely, mjneely@usc.edu, EEB 520, x03505
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Human Factors In Aviation Safety - Jan.26-30, 2008
Mon, Jan 26, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
HFH 09-3
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 Science and Technology of a Virtual Tutor: How Baldi Came to Be
Mon, Jan 26, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract:
Speech and language science and technology evolved under the assumption that speech was a solely auditory event. However, a burgeoning record of research findings reveals that our perception and understanding are
influenced by a speaker's face and accompanying gestures, as well as the actual sound of the speech. Perceivers expertly use these multiple sources of information to identify and interpret the language input. This behavior is
accurately described by our Fuzzy Logical Model of Perception. Extant issues in the processing of auditory and visual speech will be addressed. Given the value of face-to-face interaction and theoretical framework, our persistent goal has been to develop, evaluate, and apply animated agents to produce realistic and accurate speech. Baldi is an accurate three-dimensional animated talking head appropriately aligned with either synthesized or natural speech. Baldi has a realistic tongue and palate, which can be displayed by making his skin transparent.Based on this research and technology, we have implemented computer-assisted speech and language tutors for children with language challenges and persons learning a second language. Our language-training program utilizes Baldi as the conversational agent, who guides students through a variety of exercises designed to teach vocabulary and grammar, to improve speech articulation, and to develop linguistic and phonological awareness. Some of the advantages of the Baldi pedagogy and technology include the popularity and effectiveness of computers and embodied conversational agents, the perpetual availability of the program, and individualized instruction. The science and technology of Baldi holds great promise in language learning, dialog, human-machine interaction, education, and edutainment.Bio:
Dominic W. Massaro is Professor of Psychology and Computer Engineering, director of the Perceptual Science Laboratory, and founding Chair of Digital Arts and New Media M.F.A. program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a University of Wisconsin Romnes Fellow, a James McKeen Cat tell Fellow, and an NIMH Fellow. He is a past president of the Society for Computers in Psychology, and is currently the book review editor of the American Journal of Psychology and founding co-editor of the journal Interpret ing. He has published numerous academic journal articles, writ ten and edited several books (including Perceiving talking faces: from speech perception to a behavioral principle, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press; The Science of the Mind: 2001 and Beyond, New York: Oxford University Press; and Experimental Psychology: An information processing approach, Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.). His research uses a formal experimental and theoretical approach to the study of speech perception, reading, psycholinguistics, memory, cognition, learning, and decision-making. One focus of his current research is on the development and theoretical and applied use of a completely synthetic and animated head for speech synthesis, language tutoring, and edutainment.Host: Professor Shrikanth NarayananLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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BME 533 Seminar Series--Advances in Neural Engineering: Neurogenesis and Neurocontrol
Mon, Jan 26, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
METIN AKAY, Fulton School of Engineering,
Harrington Dept. of Bioengineering, Arizona State University Seminar title: Advances in Neural Engineering:Neurogenesis and Neurocontrol BIO: Prof. Akay received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul Turkey in 1981 and 1984, respectively and a Ph.D. degree from Rutgers University in 1990. He has played a key role in promoting the biomedical education in the world by writing several prestigious books and editing the Biomedical Engineering Book Series published by the Wiley and IEEE press. Prof. Akay is a recipient of the IEE EMBS Service Award, a IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Early Career Achievement Award in 1997, the Young Investigator Award of Sigma Xi Society, Northeast Region in 1998 and 2000, is a fellow of Institute of Physics and IEEE, and serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards of several international journals
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate/Department Only
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Vortex Induced Vibrations
Wed, Jan 28, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
A. Leonard Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics,
EmeritusGraduate Aeronautical LaboratoriesCalifornia Institute of TechnologyPasadena, CA Vortex shedding from a bluff body can impose significant, time-dependent forces on the body. If the body is freely oscillating, the amplitude of the resulting vibration can lead to disastrous consequences in some instances or, on the plus side, can be the essence of a proposed power generation scheme. The amplitude and frequency of the motion depends on the shape of the body and on four parameters: nondimensional mass, damping coefficient, spring constant or stiffness, and Reynolds number. In some cases, the expected resonant behavior occurs when the vortex shedding frequency is close to the natural vibration frequency of the mechanical system and the damping is low. But there are important ranges of these parameters that yield contrary results. Laboratory and computational experiments of flow past a freely oscillating circular cylinder will be discussed along with a new theoretical approach that requires only three parameters: effective stiffness, damping, and Reynolds number, and takes the mystery out of some of the mysterious results reported in the literature.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Computational analysis of droplet- and particle-laden, turbulent and separated high-speed flows
Thu, Jan 29, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Gustaaf B. JacobsDepartment of Aerospace Engineering & Engineering MechanicsSan Diego State UniversityThe optimization of fuel droplet/particle and fuel-air mixing improves performance of scramjets and pulse detonation engines and reduces environmental pollution. Understanding the impact of debris in explosions can save lives. The flows in dust explosions and in high-speed combustors are characterized by the intricate interaction between droplets, particles, separated shear layers, turbulence and/or shocks. The tremendous complexity of this interaction has left many questions unanswered. I will discuss our efforts to computationally analyze the droplet- and particle-laden flows. I will first discuss high-fidelity Eulerian-Lagrangian computational methods that model the gas flow equations in the Eulerian frame with high-order methods, while particles are traced along there path in the Lagrangian frame. I will discuss high-order coupling between the two frames and illustrate the performance of the method. I will secondly discuss flow separation, compressibility effects and the droplet dispersion of flows with relevance to the high-speed separated flows in simplified combustor geometries.
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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What should we learn from 25 years of the Internet: A DNS case study (CS Distinguished Lecture)
Thu, Jan 29, 2009 @ 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Paul Mockapetris, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Nominum Inc.
Host: Prof. Ramesh GovindanAbstract:
There are several "definitive" Internet histories, and there will be more. While there are many reasons to study history, this talk concentrates solely on finding lessons that will have value looking forward, and uses several examples from naming and DNS as its case study. While many argue that a clean slate is the best way forward, we beg to differ. We begin by looking at the general problem of extracting useful ideas from Internet history.The DNS case study has three foci. The first is the long and flexible "food chain" that comprises today's DNS industry and dataflow. The second is the roots and implications of securing the DNS infrastructure. Lastly we look at what it will take to vastly expand the role of naming in the Internet, either by DNS evolution or replacement.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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Active CROW Slow-Light Structures: New Directions and Applications
Fri, Jan 30, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jacob (Koby) Scheuer
School of EE, Tel-Aviv University, IsraelAbstract: In recent years, much attention has been focused on the behavior of light propagation in coupled resonator optical waveguides (CROWs). Substantial decrease of the group velocity can be attained in such chip-size structures, leading to numerous potential applications such as optical delay lines, optical filters wavelength converters and optical rotation sensors. However, the performance of CROW based systems is largely limited by the quality factor (Q) of the resonators composing it. Noticeable slowing of light necessitates small coupling between the micro-resonators, which, in turn, induces high optical losses, making the structure impractical for any real-life application. While the fabrication of high Q structures has been demonstrated, the complexity, high costs and low yields of such methods make them unsuitable for large – scale, commercial endeavors. In this talk, I will present new approach for overcoming the cavity loss problem based on incorporating optical gain in the cavities. New schemes for manipulating optical information by trapping and releasing optical pulses propagating in an array of coupled semiconductor lasers will be presented and analyzed. The incorporation of gain will be also shown to provide an efficient tool for dynamically controlling the propagation of light pulses, paving the road for realizable packet switching, routing and optical memory applications.Biography: Jacob (Koby) Scheuer received Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2001. He was a Chief Designer with Lambda Crossing—an optical component startup specializing in microring resonators for two years. Then, he joined the Center for the Physics of Information and the Department of Applied Physics, the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, as a Research Associate. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Electrical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. His research interests include nanophotonics, polymer optics, slow light, and secure communications.Host: Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu, EEB 538, x04664
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Integrated Sys Seminar-Traveling Wave Si ICs for High-Speed Comm. (Prof. Jim Buckwalter, UCSD)
Fri, Jan 30, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker - Prof. James Buckwalter (UCSD)Abstract:Traveling wave structures are appealing for high-speed (>40Gbs) and high-frequency (>60GHz) communication circuits implemented with highly-scaled CMOS/BiCMOS processes because of the reduced passive area required for broadband matching. Broadband millimeter traveling wave approaches are discussed in this talk and novel schemes for improving the performance of traveling wave structures are presented. First, trade-offs between traveling wave and lumped circuits are described and loss-compensation for equalized frequency response is presented. Second, a 30dB, W-Band cascaded constructive wave amplifier is discussed that sets new records for the achievable gain in a silicon technology. Finally, a 10dB, 102GHz amplifier is presented for broadband circuit applications.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Radiation Effects Challenges in Commercial-Density SRAMS
Fri, Jan 30, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract: The space electronics industry is at an interesting crossroads. The space electronics demand is not sufficient to continue to justify the costs of building radiation-hardened IC fabrication foundries, which have risen to the multi-billion dollar range for deep-submicron technologies. The main thrust of the Radiation-Hardened-by-Design (RHBD) research area is to use architecture, circuit design, and layout techniques to build chips that are radiation-tolerant by using commodity commercial foundry lines. Under the sponsorship of the DARPA RHBD program, our research group has fabricated two 64Kbit SRAM devices in IBM 90nm technology using such techniques. The test results show that our resulting designs perform well in radiation environments with regard to single-event effects (SEE) with little area and speed penalties. The results also show that increased leakage power induced by high total ionizing dose (TID) is negligible below TID levels of 300 KRads. Bio: Dr. Jeff Draper holds joint appointments at USC as a Research Assistant Professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering and Project Leader at Information Sciences Institute. In addition to the RHBD work described above, his group contributed to the architecture and VLSI implementation of the MONARCH chip in IBM 90nm technology, a 100M-gate chip containing 6 RISC processors, 12 MB of embedded DRAM, a polymorphic streaming computing fabric, and several external ports. This combination of elements offers over 64 GFLOPS of computing throughput with 60 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Prior to this work, Dr. Draper's group completed the development of a 56-million transistor processing-in-memory (PIM) chip using TSMC 0.18-micron technology for the DIVA project. Dr. Draper received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A & M University and an MSE and PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has published over 70 papers on many aspects of computer architecture and VLSI. His research interests are resilient computing, radiation hardening by design, PIM architectures, networks-on-chip, and multi-core architectures.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
