USC - Viterbi School of Engineering

Apr
04

Viterbi Early Career Chair Lecture Series
Tue, Apr 04, 2006
Integrated Media Systems Center
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Gérard Assayag - Apr4 Demo (OMax+DennisThurmond),
Apr5 Lecture (ComputerAssistedComposition@IRCAM),
Apr6 Workshop (OpenMusic).* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Gérard AssayagHead, Music Representations Research GroupInstitut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM)Directeur de Recherches associé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)More details at: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/200604-assayagPoster: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/200604-assayag/assayag-poster3.pdf* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *TUE, APRIL 4, 12:30PM-1:30PM, MacDonald Recital Hall (formerly MUS106)DEMONSTRATION Improvising with the Computer using OMax, a Statistical Learning EnvironmentFeaturing Dennis Thurmond (+keyboard) & Gérard Assayag (+OMax)OMax, the machine improvization system by Assayag and Chemillier, plays a concert with Dennis Thurmond, director of keyboard pedagogy at the Thornton School. As the digital partner "listens" to, and learns from, the music master, a sort of clone emerges that recombines material extracted from the past, while maintaining stylistic consistency. The performer essentially plays with a distorted self in a "stylistic feed-back" loop.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *WED, APRIL 5, 2:30PM-4:00PM, GER 309GENERAL LECTUREComputer Assisted Composition at IRCAM: the OpenMusic environmentThis lecture provides a general introduction to computer assisted composition at IRCAM, with a special focus on the OpenMusic (OM) project. OM, a visual programming environment created by Assayag and Agon, was designed at IRCAM to help composers set up programs needed to prepare complex music material structured by rules of their own construction. OM provides the means to describe music processes in a formal, algorithmic, or purely graphical way, allowing composers to model music material both in- and out-of-time, and leading to a renewed concept of a "score" as a dynamic network of interrelated musical components, thus facilitating the generating and testing of new musical ideas. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *THU, APRIL 6, 2:30PM-4:00PM, GER 309WORKSHOPOpenMusic and OMax under the coverThis workshop will provide a practical introduction to OpenMusic (OM). OM may be used as a general purpose functional/object/visual programming language. At a more specialized level, a set of classes and libraries make it a very convenient environment for music composition. Objects are symbolized by icons, and most operations are performed by drag-and-drop. Numerous examples of classes implementing musical data/behaviour will be provided. These classes are associated with graphical editors, and can be readily extended by the user to meet specific needs. High-level in-time organization of the music material is proposed through the maquette concept. The session concludes with a description of OMax, the machine improvisation system built on OM and Max.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *GERARD ASSAYAG is currently head of the Music Representation Research
Group at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et de Coordination
Acoustique/Musique) in Paris, and Directeur de Recherches associC) for
the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Born in 1960, he studied computer science, music and linguistics. In 1980, while still a student, he won research awards in "Art and the Computer", a national software contest launched in 1980 by the French Ministry of Research, and another one in the "Concours Micro", a contest in computing in the arts using early micro-computers. In the mid-eighties, he wrote the first IRCAM environment for
score-oriented Computer Assisted Composition. In the mid-nineties he
created, with Carlos Agon, the OpenMusic environment which is
currently used by numerous composers and musicologists around the
world, including at universities and institutions such as
Columbia, Harvard, IRCAM, Conservatoire de Paris, Technischen
Universitat Berlin, University of Wisconsin, University of Cincinnati,
and the Sibelius Academy in Finland. Gérard Assayag is currently in charge of ATIAM, an MS/PhD program in Acoustics, Signal Processing, and Computer Science Applied to Music. ATIAM is co-organized by IRCAM , Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, and Telecom Paris. His research interests center on music representation issues, and include computer language paradigms, machine learning, constraint and visual programming, computational musicology, music modeling, and computer-assisted composition. Gérard Assayag is a founding member of the AFIM (Association
Francaise d'Informatique Musicale), and member of the FWO Society on
Foundations of Music Research. He has organized the "Forum Diderot, Mathématique et Musique" for the European Mathematical Society in 1999 (published as a book by Springer Verlag 2001) as well as several
international computer music conferences, including the Sound and
Music Computing 2004 conference, which included a preceding
international workshop/concert on improvisation with the computer.
Recently, he has participated in the founding of The Journal of
Mathematics and Music project, whose affiliates come from institutions
such as IRCAM, Yale University, and the Eastman School of Music. In recent years, Gerard Assayag has carried out research and
developed software in style modeling and computer improvisation. His
recent papers with his co-authors include "Using Factor Oracles for
Machine Improvisation" in Soft Computing, "Using Machine-Learning
Methods for Musical Style Modeling" in IEEE Computer, and "Computer
Assisted Composition at IRCAM : PatchWork & OpenMusic" in the
Computer Music Journal, and "Mathematics and Music, A Diderot
Mathematical Forum" published by Springer-Verlag, Berlin.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Organizer: Elaine Chew, Viterbi Early Career, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems EngineeringSupported in part by the Viterbi Early Career Chair Funds, the Integrated Media Systems Center, and the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.For other lectures in the series, please see http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/vecc0506.html

Location: See event details
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Elaine Chew
Apr
04

Apply now for VSC funding Board!
Tue, Apr 04, 2006
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity

Apply now for VSC Funding Board. You can find more information online at:http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/vsc/
Audiences: Undergraduate

Contact: Viterbi Student Council
Apr
04

Agilent Technologies Demonstration Truck
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Receptions & Special Events

Step onboard Agilent Technology's custom 18-wheeler and join Agilent experts in test driving over $1 Million worth of leading-edge equipment. For a detailed listing of demonstrations, please visit RTH 218. Don't miss this one of a kind event!
Location: Pardee Plaza (Outside of Mudd Hall of Philosophy)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
Apr
04

Digital Image Correlation to Evaluate Particle-Scale Deformation in Sand
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Speaker:Roshanak VarjavandUSC, CE Graduate Student
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes
Apr
04

FPGAs: Democratizing System-on-chip Design, Re-defining Digital Systems Design
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:20 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

CENG SEMINAR SERIES"FPGAs: Democratizing system-on-chip design, re-defining digital systems design"Prof. Patrick LysaghtSenior DirectorXilinx Research LabAbstract:FPGAs have established themselves as the third programmable platform after CPUs and DSPs. Originally, they were perceived as low capacity, "glue logic" devices especially well suited for prototyping and low-volume applications. However as FPGA capacities and capabilities have expanded, they are now the preferred platform for most companies who are embarking on system-on-chip (SoC) design. This talk begins with a concise introduction to the capabilities of modern FPGAs and the dynamics of the new industry that they have created. This is followed by an examination of some new directions in research into dynamic reconfiguration, the unique capability of certain FPGA architectures to be partially reconfigured while operational. The representation of FPGA configuration information within the context of a host computer's virtual file system will be introduced and the capabilities and potential of this new metaphor will be discussed.Bio:Patrick Lysaght is a Senior Director in Xilinx Research Labs, whose research interests include reconfigurable computing (especially dynamically reconfigurable systems), embedded systems, system-level modeling and emerging design technologies for FPGAs. Patrick also leads Xilinx's University Program worldwide.Before joining Xilinx, Patrick was a senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) and at the Institute for System Level Integration (Livingston, Scotland). He started his career in research and development with Hewlett Packard (Edinburgh) and held a number of technical and marketing positions before joining academia. Patrick holds a BSc (Electronic Systems) from the University of Limerick, Ireland and an MSc degree (Digital Techniques) from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has co-authored more than forty technical papers and co-edited two books on programmable logic. He is chairman of the steering committee for FPL, the world's largest conference dedicated to field programmable logic.Host: Prof. Viktor Prasanna, Ext. 04483
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - -136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Rosine Sarafian
Apr
04

Faculty Candidate Lecture
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Modeling and Simulation of Complex Software Processes Ray Madachy
Research Scientist
Computer Science
USCAbstract:Quantitative modeling and simulation can be used to assess and optimize strategies for software development. With today's increasingly dynamic software projects and numerous methodologies to choose from, the ability to understand and reason about complex software processes is even more important. There are many important factors at play requiring a balance of technology, business and people considerations. Through modeling and simulation, the interrelated process factors and feedback effects can be better understood before project implementation. The tradeoffs between cost, schedule, quality and risk can be quantified as well as the conditional effects of combined strategies. In this research, system dynamics is frequently used for modeling software processes in this research. It has complemented existing techniques and opened up new areas of study. System dynamics is a continuous systems modeling approach that provides a rich and integrative framework for capturing myriad process phenomena and their relationships over time. Traditional static modeling cannot capture dynamic feedback loops and complex interacting phenomena such as process methods, resource contention, volatility, schedule pressure, slippages, communication overhead, improvement initiatives, hiring, training, etc. Simulation provides an experimental testbed for project planning, process improvement, corporate strategy and investment analysis, or business case development to improve decision making at all levels. It helps reduce risk and fosters organizational learning by making models explicit in a group setting. It can also be used for training in "flight simulation" mode, since participants can interact with executing models in real-time to see the effects of their decisions. This talk will demonstrate some executable models and summarize example research. One simple illustrative model quantifies the interrelated phenomena in Brooks's Law, demonstrating the conditions under which the law is valid, to what extent, and the essential process tradeoffs. A dynamic model of formal software reviews will also be highlighted, where data from several hundred inspections was used for model formulation and validation. It demonstrates the effects of inspections, management decision policies and can be used to optimize reviews.Business value should be considered when making software process and product decisions, but it is usually difficult to integrate the perspectives quantitatively A fielded simulation model will be described that relates the dynamics between product specifications, investment costs, schedule, software quality practices, market factors and revenue generation. It can be used to determine the appropriate balance of process activities to meet business goals and product criteria. Examples from currently funded research will also be shown. For the U.S. Army, a system dynamics model is being used to assess incremental hybrid processes and support decision-making for a very large system-of-systems. It considers changes due to external volatility and feedback from user-driven change requests, and dynamically re-estimates and allocates resources in response to the volatility. Change deferral policies and team sizes can be experimented with.A simulation tradeoff tool for NASA will be shown that models the dynamic generation and detection of defects. It also estimates effort and efficiency tradeoffs for different defect removal practices per type of defect. It enables different timings and combinations of strategies to be experimented with to optimize V&V processes.Biography:Dr. Ray Madachy is a Research Scientist with the USC Center for Software Engineering and was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Dept. Previously he was the Chief Technology Officer at Cost Xpert Group, leading the development of new software cost/schedule models and measurement tools. Before that he was Chief Scientist at C-bridge Institute, where he led consulting and training in software methodologies and economic analysis. Earlier he was Manager of the Software Engineering Process Group at Litton Systems, where he directed efforts to achieve SEI CMM Level 4. He has written over 60 publications in software process modeling, simulation and improvement; cost estimation and software metrics; value-based software engineering; and risk management. He is a co-author of the book Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II and is completing the book Software Process Dynamics. He has developed several widely-used software engineering tools, including Expert COCOMO (a knowledge-based risk assessment tool in heavy usage on the Internet), several software process dynamics analysis tools, the Litton Process Asset Library used on a daily basis, the web-based C-bridge Cost Calculator and major portions of the Cost Xpert toolset.He has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC, an M.S. in Systems Science from UCSD and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton. He is a senior member of IEEE and in INCOSE, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma. He is a reviewer for several refereed journals, served on conference committees including program chair, and currently serves on the program committees for the International Forum on COCOMO and Software Cost Modeling and the Software Process Workshop.
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 107
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Nancy Levien
Apr
04

Faculty Candidate Lecture
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Modeling and Simulation of Complex Software Processes Ray MadachyResearch ScientistComputer ScienceUSCAbstract:Quantitative modeling and simulation can be used to assess and optimize strategies for software development. With today's increasingly dynamic software projects and numerous methodologies to choose from, the ability to understand and reason about complex software processes is even more important. There are many important factors at play requiring a balance of technology, business and people considerations. Through modeling and simulation, the interrelated process factors and feedback effects can be better understood before project implementation. The tradeoffs between cost, schedule, quality and risk can be quantified as well as the conditional effects of combined strategies. In this research, system dynamics is frequently used for modeling software processes in this research. It has complemented existing techniques and opened up new areas of study. System dynamics is a continuous systems modeling approach that provides a rich and integrative framework for capturing myriad process phenomena and their relationships over time. Traditional static modeling cannot capture dynamic feedback loops and complex interacting phenomena such as process methods, resource contention, volatility, schedule pressure, slippages, communication overhead, improvement initiatives, hiring, training, etc. Simulation provides an experimental testbed for project planning, process improvement, corporate strategy and investment analysis, or business case development to improve decision making at all levels. It helps reduce risk and fosters organizational learning by making models explicit in a group setting. It can also be used for training in "flight simulation" mode, since participants can interact with executing models in real-time to see the effects of their decisions. This talk will demonstrate some executable models and summarize example research. One simple illustrative model quantifies the interrelated phenomena in Brooks's Law, demonstrating the conditions under which the law is valid, to what extent, and the essential process tradeoffs. A dynamic model of formal software reviews will also be highlighted, where data from several hundred inspections was used for model formulation and validation. It demonstrates the effects of inspections, management decision policies and can be used to optimize reviews.Business value should be considered when making software process and product decisions, but it is usually difficult to integrate the perspectives quantitatively A fielded simulation model will be described that relates the dynamics between product specifications, investment costs, schedule, software quality practices, market factors and revenue generation. It can be used to determine the appropriate balance of process activities to meet business goals and product criteria. Examples from currently funded research will also be shown. For the U.S. Army, a system dynamics model is being used to assess incremental hybrid processes and support decision-making for a very large system-of-systems. It considers changes due to external volatility and feedback from user-driven change requests, and dynamically re-estimates and allocates resources in response to the volatility. Change deferral policies and team sizes can be experimented with.A simulation tradeoff tool for NASA will be shown that models the dynamic generation and detection of defects. It also estimates effort and efficiency tradeoffs for different defect removal practices per type of defect. It enables different timings and combinations of strategies to be experimented with to optimize V&V processes.Biography:Dr. Ray Madachy is a Research Scientist with the USC Center for Software Engineering and was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Dept. Previously he was the Chief Technology Officer at Cost Xpert Group, leading the development of new software cost/schedule models and measurement tools. Before that he was Chief Scientist at C-bridge Institute, where he led consulting and training in software methodologies and economic analysis. Earlier he was Manager of the Software Engineering Process Group at Litton Systems, where he directed efforts to achieve SEI CMM Level 4. He has written over 60 publications in software process modeling, simulation and improvement; cost estimation and software metrics; value-based software engineering; and risk management. He is a co-author of the book Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II and is completing the book Software Process Dynamics. He has developed several widely-used software engineering tools, including Expert COCOMO (a knowledge-based risk assessment tool in heavy usage on the Internet), several software process dynamics analysis tools, the Litton Process Asset Library used on a daily basis, the web-based C-bridge Cost Calculator and major portions of the Cost Xpert toolset.He has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC, an M.S. in Systems Science from UCSD and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton. He is a senior member of IEEE and in INCOSE, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma. He is a reviewer for several refereed journals, served on conference committees including program chair, and currently serves on the program committees for the International Forum on COCOMO and Software Cost Modeling and the Software Process Workshop.
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 107
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Nancy Levien
Apr
04

How do I transfer summer courses
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions

Workshop
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Undergraduate Students

Contact: Monica De Los Santos