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Events for the 5th week of May
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A Rate-Distortion Perspective on Multiple Decoding Attempts for Reed-Solomon Codes
Mon, May 24, 2010 @ 02:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Henry Pfister,
School of Engineering, Texas A&M*Monday*, May 24th, 2010
2:00pm-3:00pm
HED 116Abstract: Recently, a number of authors have proposed decoding schemes for Reed-Solomon (RS) codes based on multiple trials of a simple RS decoding algorithm. In this paper, we design and analyze these multiple-decoding algorithms using tools from rate-distortion (RD) theory. By defining an appropriate distortion measure between (generalized) error patterns and (generalized) erasure patterns, one finds that errors-and-erasures RS decoding succeeds if and only if the distortion is less than a fixed threshold.Finding the best set of (generalized) erasure patterns turns out to be a covering problem which is solved asymptotically by RD theory. The Blahut-Arimoto algorithm is extended to handle independent non-identical sources and used to find the optimal distribution for the erasure-pattern codebook. Simulation results show that this approach outperforms previous approaches for a fixed number of decoding trials.Since this approach is asymptotic in the block length, it does not lead to precise theoretical statements for any particular RS code. An extension, based on the rate-distortion exponent (RDE), allows one to directly minimize the exponential decay rate of the error probability. The RDE method enables rigorous bounds on the error probability for finite-length RS codes and modest performance gains are observed via simulation. In this case, the Arimoto algorithm is modified to handle independent non-identical sources and used to find the optimal codebook distribution.This is joint work with Phong S. Nguyen and Krishna R. Narayanan.Biography: Henry was born in Redondo Beach, CA and enjoyed an unproductive California youth playing volleyball and surfing.He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UCSD in 2003 and he joined the faculty of the School of Engineering at Texas A&M University in 2006. Prior to that he spent two years in R&D at Qualcomm, Inc. and one year as a post-doc at EPFL.He received the NSF Career Award in 2008 and was a coauthor of the 2007 IEEE COMSOC best paper in Signal Processing and Coding for Data Storage.His current research interests include information theory, channel coding, and iterative decoding with applications in wireless communications and data storage.Host: Alex Dimakis, dimakis [at] usc.eduLocation: Hedco Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Working Multimedia on the Web: A Yahoo Perspective
Wed, May 26, 2010 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract:
Without a doubt the Internet has changed the way people consume multimedia data. But it also brings a wealth of data and new opportunities for multimedia-information retrieval services. Our goal is to connect users with their entertainment and information needs.The data is both plentiful and noisy. We have billions of ratings by users about their interests. On one hand, the large amount of data means we can build robust models. On the other hand, the data does come from people, with all their idiosyncratic behaviors and opinions. This wealth of personal data---we have to assume it is all correct---sometimes means what we think it means and other times represents personal behaviors unrelated to anybody else's opinion. Separating out the signal from the noise is the new frontier for web sciences.I will illustrate my talk with several kinds of technologies we find interesting, drawing from successes we have had from all types of multimedia. These approaches impact recommendations, tagging, and search. Our approaches draw heavily from the world of machine learning, often taking novel directions because of the size of our datasets. The frontiers of web science are wonderful.Bio:
Malcolm Slaney is a principal scientist at Yahoo! Research Laboratory. He received his PhD from Purdue University for his work on computed imaging. He is a coauthor, with A. C. Kak, of the IEEE book Principles of Computerized Tomographic Imaging. This book was recently republished by SIAM in their Classics in Applied Mathematics Series. He is coeditor, with Steven Greenberg, of the book Computational Models of Auditory Function. Before Yahoo!, he has worked at Bell Laboratory, Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, Apple Computer, Interval Research, and IBMs Almaden Research Center. He is also a (consulting) Professor at Stanfords CCRMA where he organizes and teaches the Hearing Seminar. His research interests include auditory modeling and perception, multimedia analysis and synthesis, music similarity and audio search, and machine learning. For the last several years he has led the auditory group at the Telluride Neuromorphic Workshop.Malcolm is a Fellow of the IEEE.Hosts: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan, Dr. Kyu Han, and Samuel Kim
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
USC Graduate Engineering Lunch & Learn
Thu, May 27, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join us for lunch to learn more about the engineering programs available for working professionals at USC! We will give a short presentation, followed by Q&A, while you enjoy a free hosted lunch with other industry professionals.
Register at:
http://mapp.usc.edu/lunchandlearnLocation: USC Orange County Center- Classroom A: 2300 Michelson Drive, Irvine, CA 92612
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Graduate Engineering
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Inequality and Network Structure
Fri, May 28, 2010 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University Calendar
DANIEL J. EPSTEIN DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SEMINARTitle: "Inequality and Network Structure"Speaker: Professor Garud Iyengar, Department of Industrial Engineering and Operation Research Columbia UniversityAbstract: In this talk we will explore the manner in which the structure of a social network constrains the level of inequality that can be sustained in the network. We assume that any distribution of value across the network must be stable with respect to coalitional deviations, and that a set of players (nodes) form a deviating coalition only if the set is a clique in the network.We characterize the set of extreme income distributions when only cliques of size 2 or 3 are allowed to deviate. We obtain a complete ordering for networks where only edges are allowed to deviate and show that networks with larger maximum independent sets can sustain greater levels of inequality. We show that such networks have a unique stable payoff distribution that is maximally unequal in that it does not Lorenz dominate any other stable distribution. The intuition behind this result is that networks with larger maximum independent sets are more sparse and hence offer fewer opportunities for coalition formation. We also demonstrate that standard centrality measures do not consistently predict inequality.Date: May 28, 2010Time: 10:30-11:30 AMRoom: GER 309BIO: Garud Iyengar received a B. Tech. in Electrical Engg. from IIT Kanpur in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1998. Since then he has been with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operation Research Department at Columbia University where he is currently an Associate Professor.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
