USC - Viterbi School of Engineering

Dec
01

Human Factors in Aviation Safety - Dec. 1-5, 2008
Mon, Dec 01, 2008
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

HFH 09-2
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.
Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Dec
01

Meet USC
Mon, Dec 01, 2008
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions

This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process; a student led walking tour of campus and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process and financial aid.Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 9:00 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. Please visit http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/visit/meet_usc.html to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!

Location: USC Admission Center
Audiences: Prospective Freshmen and Family Members - RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Contact: VSoE Undergraduate Admission
Dec
01

New Models and Methodologies for Group Decision Making, Rank Aggregation, Clustering and Data Mining
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University Calendar

DANIEL J. EPSTEIN DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SEMINARTitle: "New Models and Methodologies for Group Decision Making, Rank Aggregation,
Clustering and Data Mining"Guest Speaker: Dr. Dorit S. HochbaumHaas School of Business and Department of IE&OR, University of California, BerkeleyABSTRACT: We introduce models for problems of group decision making, aggregate ranking and clustering techniques for data mining. The problems are modeled as graph problems. One of these problems we call the equal paths problem. This problem as well as all problems studied here have convex objective function representing penalties for deviating from specified a-priori comparison/ranking beliefs. These problems are shown to be solvable in polynomial time using network flow techniques such as parametric cut and fractional multicommodity linear programming.One application of the aggregate ranking problem is to determine the ranking of sports teams based on the outcomes of games played. Current techniques are based on finding a maximum eigenvector. Our alternative model has a number of advantages including the ability to differentiate between games based on some measure of significance. Further, the problem is stated as a combinatorial graph problem. This problem is shown to be solved in polynomial time even with a convex objective function, using flow techniques.A closely related area that addresses various forms of rankings is data mining with applications to customer segmentation, patient diagnosis and assessment of bankruptcy risk. We demonstrate new models for these problems and how to solve them with flow techniques. Similarly, the models and solution methodology are applicable to multi-criteria decision making.MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008, ANDRUS GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 10:00–11:00 AM
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Georgia Lum
Dec
01

Fall Study Day
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions

Come join other Viterbi undergrads and get ready for finals.Fall Study Day will be held on Tuesday, Dec 8th in Ronald Tutor Hall.
•10am-1pm: Study sessions will be held for:
AME 201, BME 101, EE 150, Math 125, 126, 226, and Phys 151, 152.
Upper class study partners will be on hand to answer questions. •1pm-5pm: Study space available throughout second floor of RTH•Snacks and care packages will be provided to participants. Just come to the lobby of RTH with your books, notes, and a desire to study for finals.Stop by VARC, CED, or the WIE office for more information!
Audiences: Undergrad

Contact: VARC
Dec
01

Fall Study Day
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions

Come join other Viterbi undergrads and get ready for finals.Fall Study Day will be held on Tuesday, Dec 8th in Ronald Tutor Hall.
•10am-1pm: Study sessions will be held for:
AME 201, BME 101, EE 150, Math 125, 126, 226, and Phys 151, 152.Upper class study partners will be on hand to answer questions. •1pm-5pm: Study space available throughout second floor of RTH•Snacks and care packages will be provided to participants. Just come to the lobby of RTH with your books, notes, and a desire to study for finals.Stop by VARC, CED, or the WIE office for more information!
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: VARC
Dec
01

BME 533 Seminar Series: Thomas Coates, MD, & Herbert Meiselman, PhD
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Thomas Coates, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and Herbert Meiselman, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Keck School of Medicine, USC, "Impact of blood viscosity on oxygenation in sickle cell disease"

Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate/Department/Sponsors only

Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
Dec
01

Novel Liquid Crystal Networks
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 01:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Mork Family Department of Cheical Engineering & Material Science Presents:Rafael Verduzco
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN"Novel Liquid Crystal Networks"AbstractThe combination of liquid crystals and polymers results in fascinating materials in which the elasticity of polymers is coupled to the liquid crystal (LC) order. In this work, we present three qualitatively different types of LC gels and elastomers and explore their electro-optical response, mechanical actuation, and flexoelectric behavior. Using block copolymer self-assembly, we prepare LC physical gels that exhibit fascinating texture transitions with temperature and multiple director relaxation modes, in contrast to covalent gels which show a single relaxation mode. Next, covalent networks with a controlled molecular weight between cross-links were prepared by "click" cross-linking of telechelic polymers produced by ring-opening metathesis polymerization. These networks swell readily in a small molecular LC solvent, 5CB, to form LC gels with high swelling ratios that exhibit a fast, reversible, and low-threshold electro-optic response. Finally, a series of bent-core liquid crystals were synthesized and used to swell calamitic monodomain liquid crystal elastomers (LCE). Nematic bent-core liquid crystals show enhanced flexoelectricity, and bent-core elastomers represent a potential method for incorporating flexoelectricity into a robust polymeric device. These LC networks and gels provide insight into the connection between physical properties and network structure and also demonstrate the broad range of materials accessible with different synthetic approaches.

Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
Dec
01

MULTISCALE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FRACTURE LENGTH...
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

... APERTURE, DENSITY AND PERMEABILITYby:Dr. Shlomo P. NeumanDepartment of Hydrology and Water ResourcesUniversity of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721ABSTRACT:Fractured rocks exhibit a hierarchical structure which renders their attributes scale-dependent. In particular available data indicate a tendency for fracture length scales to be distributed according to a power law, average fracture aperture to be given by a power of the fracture length scale, and fracture density as well as log permeability to behave as random fractals. To date, no consistent theoretical relationship has been developed between fracture type (as categorized, for example, by length scale and/or aperture) and corresponding fractal attributes (such as density and log permeability). We explore multiscale relationships between these fracture categories and attributes on the basis of a theory recently proposed by Neuman (2003), which allows linking them in a formal way. Analyzing the available data in light of this theory allows us to demonstrate that, for fractures having length scale L, (a) the variance of any fractal attribute grows as a positive power of L, (b) the same variance decreases as a negative power of the smallest length scale sampled, (c) for nominal parameters that are most representative of values inferred from field data, the variance of fracture densities increases quadratically with L, rendering their standard deviation linearly proportional to L, (d) for such nominal parameters log permeability variance increases as , (e) for a given L the variance of log permeability is proportional to that of fracture density, the constant of proportionality being a (positive, zero or negative) power of L, and (f) the standard deviation of log permeability is proportional to a positive power of the average aperture, where . The underlying theory contains explicit expressions for the mean, variance, variogram and integral (spatial correlation) scale of a statistically anisotropic fractal attribute truncated by upper and lower length scale cutoffs and/or internal lacunae. The attribute may have a Gaussian distribution, in which case it forms fractional Brownian motion (fBm), or a zero-mean symmetric Levy stable distribution, in which case it forms fractional Levy motion (fBm), the latter distribution exhibiting heavier tails than does the former. Our expression for the mean attribute of a truncated hierarchy of fracture length scales, in terms of the mean attributes associated with individual scales, may yield meaningful representations of the overall density or porosity of a truncated fracture hierarchy. However, it generally does not yield equivalent or effective values of permeability. Instead, the latter are defined on the basis of equivalent or effective forms of Darcy's law the derivation of which typically requires simulating fluid flow through the hierarchy. We mention briefly the effective permeability of a box embedded in a hierarchical medium, and associated measures of uncertainty, develop by Di Federico et al. (1999) on the basis of the scaling theory on which this talk is partly based. Based on Neuman, S.P., Multiscale relationships between fracture length, aperture, density and permeability, Geophys. Res. Lett., L22402, doi:10.1029/2008GL035622, 2008.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes
Dec
01

Errors in Moodys Subprime Mortgage CDO Model
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 @ 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University Calendar

Colloquium in Mathematical FinanceWhere: KAP 249When: Monday, December 1, 2:15--3:15 Title: "Errors in Moody's Subprime Mortgage CDO Model"Speaker: Dr. Bin HongSenior Vice President, Director of Quantitative Research and Development, Union Bank of CaliforniaAbstract: We begin with a brief introduction of the concepts of CDO and Moody's rating methodology (Binomial Expansion Technique-BET). We will then present an in-depth study on errors in applying BET for subprime mortgages (e.g., expected loss, loss distribution, and default correlation). Finally, we give a business behavior analysis of rating agencies in Subprime Mortgage CDOs and web of distribution channels of these CDOs. We will leave an open question to future modelers on how to prevent such costly error happening again.

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 249
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Georgia Lum