Past Coast to Coast Seminars - Abstracts

warning: mysql_get_server_info() [function.mysql-get-server-info]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) in /www.irmacs.sfu.ca/httpd/htdocs/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 43.
warning: mysql_get_server_info() [function.mysql-get-server-info]: A link to the server could not be established in /www.irmacs.sfu.ca/httpd/htdocs/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 43.

Coast to Coast: Seminar Series" "Visual Analytics as a Cognitive Science"

Brian Fisher

School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University

Date: Mar 26, 2013
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

This talk explores the larger implications of visual analytics-- "the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces"-- for cognitive science and informatics. I will argue that the methods that will advance this new science go beyond those of natural science and engineering, and will require researchers to create a new translational cognitive science of analytic systems. We will begin by building field study methods that characterize human and computational cognitive capabilities as they are used for decision-making in a range of situations. Because findings from field methods do not generalize well, we must then investigate these proposed capabilities in the laboratory. Finally we must build mathematical and computational theories that predict the impact of changes in technology on cognitive processes in technology-rich environments. These methods will only suffice until processing capacity reduces the lag between an analyst's query and a graphical response to a certain level. When the response is generated at the same pace as the sequence of cognitive operations that the analyst performs, human and computational processes become "close coupled". At this point the distinction between processes originating from the mind of the analyst (i.e. a mental representation) versus the computer (i.e. a visualization) become impossible to determine, and the subsystems we will study will seamlessly incorporate natural and artificial processes.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast: Seminar Series "Text Mining, Dreams and Elections"

Stan Matwin

Dalhousie University

Date: Mar 12, 2013
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

In this talk, we will review some of the recent applied text mining work at Dalhousie. We will argue the need for a text representation that would be more linguistically informed than the standard vector model. We will present one such proposal, in which a co-occurrence model takes into account the distribution of words throughout the corpus. We will then show how this representation is successfully applied in the task of categorizing dream descriptions by their emotional valuation (joint work with J. De Koninck and A. Razavi, Ottawa). We will round up the talk with our experience with some of the other text mining techniques used in the analysis of the twitter traffic in the 2012 presidential elections in France and in the US (joint work with LIRMM, France).

About the Speaker: Stan Matwin is a Professor and Canada Research Chair at Dalhousie University, and a Distinguished Professor at the University of Ottawa (on leave). Fellow of ECCAI and CAIAC and an Ontario Champion of Innovation. Internationally recognized for his work in text mining and in applications of Machine Learning, member of Editorial Boards of the leading journals in Machine Learning and Data Mining. Stan Matwin is one of the founders of Distil Interactive Inc. and Devera Logic Inc., and has significant experience and interest in innovation and technology transfer.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast: Seminar Series: "Data Driven Design: New Perspectives on Visual Analytics"

Sara Diamond

OCAD University

Date: Feb 26, 2013
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

This talk underscores the importance of design methods and practices in approaching challenges in the representation of big data. The talk will first reference debates regarding the role and nature of aesthetics and the importance of these to perception and insight, providing illustrations of different aesthetic approaches, at times to the same data set. It will further the discussion of insight by considering ways to work with users and data sets that draw from different practices within design. Fundamentally, design and designers need to be part of the visual analytics equation.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast: Seminar Series: "Towards Personal Visual Analytics"

Sheelagh Carpendale

Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary

Date: Jan 15, 2013
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Modern society demands that people manage, communicate, and interact with digital information at an ever-increasing pace. Even though most people want to be informed, all this information is frequently experienced as stress. It is not the information itself that is the problem, but the manner in which we are bombarded with information in forms that are often hard to interpret. How then can we produce interactive visualizations of digital data in a manner that enhances people's cognitive abilities? Ideally, these visualizations would not only present information visually and aesthetically, but provide people with capabilities for manipulating and exploring this information. A good visualization provokes interpretation, exploration and appreciation, inviting direct interaction that reveals the data.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Date: Oct 30, 2012
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The talk will commence with setting a background for science-based marine policy-making. The first background component is a review of the standard principles (platitudes?) about the role of science in policy-making generically. The review will consider both why each principle is considered important and the implications of each one for dynamics of science advisory processes and interactions between science advisors and policy makers. The other component of the context for this talk will be a review of the meaning of sustainable use/development in natural resource management and policy. These two components of the context for science - policy interface will be brought together with a brief discussion of what "integration" means in policy-making and the science advice which supports it.

The talk will move on to the special challenges of policy-making in marine environments, considering both areas within national jurisdictions and areas beyond national jurisdiction. It will develop the thesis that drivers of marine policy making have a strong top-down nature. Broad commitments regarding conservation and sustainable use and development are made in very high-level fora such as Rio (1992), Johannesburg (2002), and Rio+20 (2012). These become translated into paragraphs of greater specificity in a pair of annual UN General Assembly Resolutions on Sustainable Fisheries and on Ocean and Law of the Sea. Once commitments are adopted at the UN level, the major UN intergovernmental agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity, take over developing implementation frameworks for use by Parties and sectors. These frameworks are finally taken up at the national level within national jurisdictions, and in complex governance arrangements in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and implemented with policies, regulations, and occasionally even legislation.

At every stage in this top-down process science advice is needed. However, the nature of the science advice changes at each stage, as do the dynamics of the science-policy interface. The fact that below the very highest level, the conversion of broad commitments to specific policies and practices occurs in two parallel streams - a fisheries sectoral governance stream and a biodiversity conservation governance stream, poses more challenges than just duplication of effort. Many of the warts hiding in the principles and platitudes of how the science-policy interface works, and the nature of science advice itself, become revealed in how these two streams play out in parallel, each striving for implementation of common commitments, but each with different histories and different features. The talk will illustrate those "challenges" in the science-policy interface with specific examples such as "ecologically and biologically significant areas" and "vulnerable marine ecosystems". The wrap-up of the talk will consider whether the marine science-policy process is just a flawed divergence from the idealized science-policy interface, or if the imperfections in the marine science-policy process are in fact ways that the real world differs from an abstract and imaginary ideal.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Disease, Aquaculture, and Pacific Salmon Management" Live from SFU

Rick Routledge

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Date: Oct 16, 2012
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The speaker will present his perspective on the tumultuous events that followed his receipt last fall of a report of positive test results for the infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAv) in Rivers Inlet sockeye salmon. The account will include the immediate reaction, subsequent revelations, and results from follow-up sampling. The story will highlight instances of what the speaker views as a serious disregard for the role of scientific evidence in the development of governmental policy - and consequent, unacceptable risks to wild Pacific salmon. The presentation will conclude with a proposal for organizational reform aimed at promoting the role of scientific research in the protection of wild Pacific salmon.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Climate Delusions" Live from SFU

Mark Jaccard

School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University

Date: Oct 02, 2012
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

From the research of natural scientists, Al Gore talks of an inconvenient truth: that human's are heating the planet, especially by burning fossil fuels to emit carbon pollution. But from the research of social scientists, we know of a second inconvenient truth: that human's are prone to delude themselves and others about real-world evidence because of self-interest, convenience and preference, and this is preventing us from effective action to minimize climate change.

The effort to stop global warming is frustrated by an array of delusions in which evidence is ignored or fabricated. Even worse, it is not just climate science skeptics who do this. Even people who want action on climate change ignore evidence and sustain delusions that prevent effective action. This includes people who believe that peak oil is imminent, that energy efficiency is cheap and easy, that behavioral change is necessary and effective, that renewables can soon outcompete fossil fuels, that carbon offsets lead to carbon neutrality, and that a global agreement can be reached by voluntary consensus.

This talk explains why leading social science researchers know that these are delusions, and more importantly what to do in order to act in time to prevent massive species extinctions and major human costs.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast: Seminar Series: "Global change impacts on biodiversity: the view from Canada"

Jeremy Kerr

Conservation Biology and Macroecology, University of Ottawa

Date: Sep 18, 2012
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The combined effects of habitat loss and proliferation of introduced species present serious conservation challenges. These aspects of global change have created a black hole for species in Canada and globally, pulling many toward extinction. Human activities have added climate change to this dangerous mix. Recent research improves capacity to predict species impacts of such effects.

Species losses can erode the robust provision of economically and ecologically indispensable ecosystem services, like pollination. In the past 25 years, several wild pollinator species have nearly totally collapsed in North America. Although habitat loss, introduced diseases, and pesticide use have not helped, we present new evidence that climate change alone could explain some bumblebee losses.

Massive increases in weather extremes can precipitate species collapses, even among widespread, abundant insect pollinators. These effects, known from the paleoecological record, have not previously been linked to a modern extinction.

Further losses of species and ecosystem service degradation are not inevitable. Informed by concerted scientific action and an involved public, elected leaders sometimes take landmark steps to conserve wilderness areas and strengthen legal frameworks protecting species at risk.

Video Archive

Video Archive

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "A Framework for Modeling Network Risk"

Ramazan Gencay and Daniele Signori

Department of Economics, SFU

Date: Mar 29, 2011
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The complexity of the financial system is increasing at an accelerating pace. This evolution is driven not only by technology but also by business practices. For example, as risk managers reach out for different exposures in the pursuit of diversification, the financial network becomes more tangled. The ensuing uncertainty has been indicated as one of the causes that aggravated the global financial crises.

In this talk, we will cover some recent results on the econometrics of networks and describe an empirical framework for quantifying network risk. These tools can be used to analyze liquidity in a decentralized market, to understand the trade off between diversification gains and increased network complexity, and to evaluate policies that can mitigate the uncertainty faced by the market participants about the network structure.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Bankers, Bonuses and Busts"

Peter Forsyth

Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo

Date: Mar 15, 2011
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10908
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

It is commonly believed that the current problems in the capital markets are a result of the financial models developed by academic mathematicians and industry practitioners. In fact, many of us have been pointingout for years that banks were involved in very risky activities, which produced illusory short term profits.

In this talk, I will give a short introduction to the theory behind pricing and hedging derivative contracts (options). A derivative contract is based on an underlying asset. The standard model for the underlying asset price movement assumes that prices evolve according to a random walk with a drift. It is possible for an option seller to set up a hedging portfolio, which is then dynamically rebalanced in response to changes in the underlying asset price. Then, regardless of the random movement of the asset price, the seller of the option is able to pay out the value of the this contract at expiry.

There is strong evidence that the normal market behavior assumed by standard models is punctuated by occasional large jumps or drops in prices (e.g. subprime mortgages). These processes are called "jump diffusion" models.

A simulation of a trading strategy which exploits these market characteristics shows that bankers can produce apparent profits for many years, followed by enormous losses. The compensation system widely used in the financial sector encourages these sorts of activities.

In essence, this bonus system allows executives and traders to be rewarded for apparent short term profits, and to walk away unscathed after producing staggering losses.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Analysis of Contingent Capital Bonds in Merton-type Structural Models"

Adam Metzler

Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario

Date: Mar 01, 2011
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

ontingent capital bonds (CCB) are securities which "begin life" as subordinated debt, and convert to equity if the issuing firm becomes financially distressed. CCB have recently begun to attract attention as a means to shift the cost of supporting distressed financial institutions from taxpayers to shareholders, thereby enforcing "market-based" discipline. At the present time, however, the discussion surrounding CCB has been largely heuristic. In this talk we attempt, via Merton-type structural models, to shed theoretical light on two fundamental issues regarding CCB. The first is their cost (i.e. par yield), which we find to be surprisingly cheap. Indeed overall debt costs are reduced when CCB are introduced to the capital structure. The second issue we investigate is how CCB respond to changes in fundamental parameters such as leverage and volatility. We find that the answer to this question depends critically on the conversion price, and different prices (for example fixed versus market-based) lead to radically different behaviour.

Joint work with R. Mark Reesor, Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario

Coast To Coast: "Global Financial Crisis: A Corporate Governance Problem"

Vijay Vishwakarma

Department of Business Administration, Gerald Schwartz School of Business, St. Francis Xavier University

Date: Feb 15, 2011
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis of year 2007 which turned into Global financial crisis in year 2008 has brought corporate governance practices back under the spotlight. Global financial crisis was a mix of macro-economic policy, financial regulations, politics and corporate governance weaknesses. Various studies point to governance problems in banks as the key factor (Kashayp, 2010). Out of the many corporate governance variables like board, compensation, shareholder rights, risk management etc researchers have identified board issues as an object warranting immediate attention (Kirkpatrick, 2008). Causes and symptoms of the global financial crisis are very similar to Asian Financial Crisis of 1997; many researchers blamed weak corporate governance as one of the causes of crisis (Stiglitz, 1998, Harvey and Roper, 1999 and Greenspan, 1999). Canada which has performed much better in the global financial crisis as compared to any other industrialized economy can become a real-time lesson for rest of the world, the lesson, that prudence and good regulations work in long run.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Central Banks Shore up their Arsenals"

Marina Adshade

Department of Economics, Dalhousie University

Date: Feb 01, 2011
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10908
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Effective monetary policy in hard economic times depends on the ability of the central bank to influence consumer behaviour through adjustments to interest rates and exchange rates. When the Bank of Canada dropped its overnight bank rate to one quarter of a percent in April 2009, observers began to worry that the bank was out of bullets. In an extraordinary move the bank issued a conditional commitment; they would keep the bank rates at that low level for at least a year. This new approach had the stimulus effect they had hopped for. Central banks in other countries, particularly in the US and the UK have not been so lucky. The financial crisis has inspired macro economists to rethink how we conduct monetary policy at the effective lower bound of interest rates. Central banks have had to shore up their arsenals, if for no other reason but to instill some public confidence in their ability to influence the economy.

About the speaker: Marina Adshade is an assistant professor in the department of economics at Dalhousie University. She has a Ph.D. in in economics from Queen's University and came to Dalhousie after a completing postdoctoral research with Team for Advanced Research in Globalization, Education and Technology (TARGET) the University of British Columbia. Her areas of specialization are macroeconomics and economic history with a particular interest in female labour markets. She is a regular contributor with the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab, a columnist with New York Magazine and writes blog for the website Big Think. http://bigthink.com/blogs/dollars-and-sex )

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Climate Impacts of Freshwater Forcing of the Ocean General Circulation"

Richard Peltier

Centre For Global Change Science, University of Toronto

Date: Nov 30, 2010
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

During the past million years of Earth history, climate variability has been dominated by a 100 kyr cycle of continental scale glaciation and deglaciation. Each of these quasi-periodic events owed its existence to the minute variations in the distribution of solar radiation caused by gravitational n-body effects in the solar system. In each cycle of this process continental glaciation was accompanied by a fall of mean sea level of approximately 120 m. The glaciation phase of each cycle persisted for approximately 90,000 years whereas the deglaciation phase was much more rapid, lasting approximately 10,000 years. During deglaciation, the return of freshwater to the ocean basins was responsible for highly significant disruptions of climate, foremost among which was the so-called "Younger-Dryas" climate reversal during which northern hemisphere surface temperatures were forced to return to near full-glacial cold conditions even as the system was in the process of returning to a state of modern warmth. This phenomenon provides a target for testing the transient response of the global climate models that are employed to make predictions of the influence of global warming due to increasing concentrations of the atmospheric greenhouse gases. This test will be described in detail.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "How will Marine Ecosystems Adapt to a Future Ocean that will be Warmer, More Stratified, More Acidic and Less Oxygenated?"

Ken Denman

DFO Institute of Ocean Sciences, and EC Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, University of Victoria

Date: Nov 16, 2010
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Primarily from burning fossil fuels, humans are adding increasing amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. More than a third of this new carbon dioxide ends up in the ocean, and more than 90% of the additional heat from the greenhouse effect is entering the oceans. As a result the oceans are becoming warmer and more stratified, which reduces the mixing of nutrients from below up into the surface ocean and of oxygen from the surface layer down into the subsurface ocean. In addition the extra carbon dioxide is causing the oceans to become more acidic. Can we predict how whole marine ecosystems will adapt, when we do not yet know how much capacity individual species have to adapt to these expected changes to their environment. I will outline a modelling framework to explore the capacity of species to adapt to a changing environment based on existing 'phenotypic' diversity and potential 'plasticity'.

Bio

Ken Denman is a Senior Scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), since 2000 working at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis of Environment Canada, located at the University of Victoria where he is an Adjunct Professor. His research involves the interactions between marine ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles and climate change. His current research interests centre on forecasting the responses of marine ecosystems to the acidification of the oceans and to other aspects of climate change including possible geoengineering measures. He was Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 7 of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) WG1 AR4 titled "Couplings between changes in the climate system and biogeochemistry"; and Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 10 in the Second Assessment Report (1995) of IPCC WG1, titled "Marine biotic responses to environmental change and feedbacks to climate". The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for its work on climate change. Ken Denman is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has received the President�s Prize of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the T.R. Parsons Medal for excellence in ocean science, and the Wooster Award of the North Pacific Marine Sciences Organization (PICES) for research excellence in the North Pacific. He has served on the Steering Committees of the Joint Global Ocean Fluxes Study (JGOFS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and the Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS). He recently completed 6 years as a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme. He received a PhD in ocean physics from the University of British Columbia.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "A Sea of Change"

Marlon Lewis

Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University

Date: Nov 02, 2010
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Bio

William Hsieh obtained from the University of British Columbia his B.S. degree in combined honours mathematics and physics (1976), an M.S. in physics (1978), and a Ph.D. degree in oceanography and physics (1981). He did postdoctoral work at Cambridge University and at the University of New South Wales, before returning to the University of British Columbia, where he eventually became Professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, as well as the Chair of the Atmospheric Science Programme. He is currently professor emeritus, with an active research group. Best known for his pioneering work in developing and applying machine learning methods in the environmental sciences, he has over 90 peer-reviewed publications covering areas of climate variability and prediction, machine learning, oceanography, atmospheric science and hydrology. His graduate-level book "Machine Learning Methods in the Environmental Sciences -- Neural Networks and Kernels" (2009) was published by Cambridge University Press.

Video Archive

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Experimental Techniques in Particle Physics or 'What are they really doing in Geneva?!'"

Michel Vetterli

Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University / TRIUMF

Date: Feb 02, 2010
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

With the recent startup of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, there has been renewed interest in particle physics, which has led to a plethora of articles and presentations for the public on what is being done at the new experiments. This colloquium will present not the what, but the how. How do physicists study Nature at incredibly small distance scales? It is perhaps paradoxical that viewing the world at very small scale requires the largest machines ever built. This talk will present the basic physics concepts involved in experimental subatomic physics. This includes a description of the gigantic accelerators (the probes), and detectors (the eyes) used. Particle physics experiments produce an enormous amount of data. This talk will also discuss the large-scale computing necessary to mine these data, as well as the advanced analysis techniques required to extract very rare events from the preponderance of well-understood background processes.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "A Tour of Particle Physics"

Pierre Savard

Department of Physics, University of Toronto / TRIUMF

Date: Jan 19, 2010
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Particle physics is entering a new era with the startup of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. This revolutionary new instrument will open the door to many new discoveries that will shed light on the structure of the Universe at the highest energy scales ever studied. This talk is a survey of the important open questions in particle physics, many of which will be addressed at the LHC. It will also serve as an introduction to the subsequent colloquia in the Coast-to-Coast series for winter/spring 2010.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Real Intelligence: The Anticipating Brain"

Thomas Trappenberg

Dalhousie University

Date: Dec 01, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The area of AI was always inspired by the human mind. I will try to give some perspective of new directions in AI from new hypothesis about cognitive processes and neuroscience. Huge progress has been made in the scientific areas of neuroscience on one side and machine learning on the other, but it seems that these areas developed largely independently since the exciting days of the perceptron half a century ago. However, there is now some exciting new convergence of these areas of research. In particular, generative systems have made a strong impact on machine learning, and probabilistic reasoning replaced most of traditional expert-system approaches. This seminar will explore related new developments in computational neuroscience, specifically systems with a large top-down component that are capable of learning to anticipate the world. We further discuss representations of uncertainties in the brain and how synaptic mechanisms may contribute in such systems.

Bio

Dr. Thomas Trappenberg is professor of computer science at Dalhousie University. After graduating with a PhD in particle physics from Aachen University, Germany, he held research positions at Dalhousie University, the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, and at Oxford University. He is the author of more than 60 scientific publications and author of the textbook `Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience', published by Oxford University Press, of which the second edition is about to be released.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "World-Mediated Robot Intelligence"

Richard Vaughan

Simon Fraser University

Date: Nov 17, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Unlike disembodied AI programs, robots are embedded in the same physical world as humans and other animals. Like animals, they must act appropriately - we say "with intelligence" - to achieve their goals. The real world presents problems of uncertainty and the danger of running out of energy. Yet the world presents resources that can help the robot, such as other agents. This talk discusses robot systems that sense and exploit regularities in the behaviour of other robots and animals to obtain energy and work. The recharging problem is fundamental and under-explored, yet solved in some way by all intelligent creatures. It can serve as a useful focus for AI and Artificial Life research, and is the central purpose of my Autonomy Laboratory.

Video Archive

Bio

Dr Odesski's research interests include Integrable Systems, Mathematical Physics, Computer Algebra, High Performance Computing, Representation Theory, Non-commutative Geometry, Algebraic Geometry. His main research interests are in Mathematical Physics in the sense of Mathematics inspired by ideas that come from Theoretical Physics. More precisely, he is interested in algebraic and geometric structures which come from quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and the theory of integrable systems. Currently he is Brock SharcNet Research Chair. Dr. Wolf's research interests include differential equations and integrability, computer algebra, General Relativity and special aspects of optimization and artificial intelligence. Dr. Wolf does work with computer algebra concerns algorithms to simplify and solve overdetermined systems of equations (linear/non-linear), (algebraic/ordinary differential (ODEs)/partial differential (PDEs)). These basic algorithms are applied in higher level programs for the determination of symmetries, conservation laws or other properties of differential equations. Applications include the classification of integrable systems of evolutionary scalar PDEs, vector PDEs, single and systems of supersymmetric evolutionary PDEs and recently integrable quadratic Hamiltonians with higher degree first integrals but also discrete integrable system from Discrete Differential Geometry.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Pattern Formation in Reaction-Diffusion Systems"

David Iron

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University

Date: Mar 03, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10908
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

In this talk I will discuss the behaviour of two component reaction-diffusion systems. Typically the diffusion of one of the components will be much larger than the other. The difference in the diffusion coefficients can result in the formation of localized structures. I will consider the types of structures which can be formed and the wide variety of bifurcations these structures may undergo.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Calculating, modelling and understanding turbulence using adaptive wavelets"

Nicholas Kevlahan

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University

Date: Feb 17, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Turbulence remains an outstanding challenge, both theoretically and computationally. In this talk I will explain why a theory of turbulence has proved elusive, and why it is difficult to accurately simulate realistic turbulent flows. Scientific computation based on the adaptive wavelet transform may dramatically reduce the complexity of accurate turbulence simulations. I will give examples of adaptive wavelet numerical simulations of turbulence which take advantage of turbulence intermittency. Finally, I will argue that effective and accurate simulations of turbulence will help advance our understanding of the mathematical structure of the Navier-Stokes equations in the limit of large Reynolds numbers.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Differential Equation Models of Infectious Disease Dynamics"

James Watmough

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Brunswick

Date: Feb 03, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

The early disease transmission model of Kermack and McKendrick established two main results that are still at the core of most disease transmission models today: the basic reproduction number, Ro, as a threshold for disease spread in a population; and the final size of an epidemic. This early model consisted of a single integral equation for the incidence of infection over time. As models become more complex, the relationships between disease spread, final size and Ro are not as clear; yet Ro remains the main object of study when comparing control measures. This talk will formulate Ro for more complex models and outline results for the final size and bifurcations from the disease-free solution.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Fourier Spectral Computing on the Sphere"

David Muraki, Andrea Blazenko, and Kevin Mitchell

Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University

Date: Jan 20, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900
WebSite: Click Here

Abstract

Although spherical coordinates arise naturally in many applications, numerical routines for computing PDEs on a spherical surface are not yet commonplace tools for the relatively uninitiated. While spherical harmonics and finite-element methods are well-developed approaches, neither possesses the essential simplicity of computing on the 2D periodic domain with FFT-based spectral methods. It is little appreciated that fast Fourier transforms for the spherical surface have been implemented using the fact that longitude-latitude coordinates can be double-mapped to the torus. Combining this idea with a choice of Fourier basis for which the Laplacian is a sparse matrix operation, implicit time-stepping for diffusion is implemented in a spectrally-fast manner. In this Coast-to-Coast presentation, the elementary ideas behind this simple FFT-based approach to PDE computations on the sphere will be illustrated with a series of MATLAB demo codes. The codes will be made available prior to the seminar, and participants are highly encouraged to run their own tests during the session. The fast algorithms will allow reasonably resolved computations to execute in minutes on even a basic laptop computer (with the MATLAB software installed). This spectral method is applied to several examples of diffusion-driven dynamics in models of pattern formation.

Video Archive

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: Live from Fredricton, New Brunswick "Halfspace depth: motivation, computation, optimization"

Dr. David Bremner

University of New Brunswick

Date: Mar 27, 2007
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10901

Abstract

The halfspace depth of a point p with respect to a set of points S is the minimum of over all closed halfspaces h with boundary through p, of |h n P |. In this talk I will discuss a motivating example from computational statistics due to Ivan Mizera, and briefly review a method of computing halfspace depth (due to myself, Komei Fukuda, and Vera Rosta) based on discretization of the space of all hyperplanes through P . I will finish by discussing faster, but more memory intensive methods based on branch-and-cut. Several authors have worked on similar methods; the latest being myself and Dan Chen. Compared with some of the earlier formulations we take advantage of more of the geometry of the problem. Unfortunately the transition from integer program to mixed integer program introduces some numerical complications; in particular it introduces "arbitrarily large" and "arbitrarily small" constants into the formulation. Eliminating this numerical unpleasantness is an interesting open (as far as I know) problem.

Coast to Coast Seminar Series: Live From Burnaby, British Columbia "List Homomorphisms, Minimum Cost Homomorphisms, Interval and Circular Arc Graphs"

Pavol Hell

Simon Fraser University

Date: Mar 13, 2007
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Room: ASB10900

Abstract

In this introductory talk, I will discuss a connection between structural characterizations of some natural and traditional graph classes (such as those mentioned in the title), and certain complexity questions arising in the study of graph homomorphisms, or more generally constraint satisfaction problems. In particular, I will relate dichotomy classifications of such homomorphism problems to structural characterizations of the corresponding graph classes.

Video Archive

John McHugh

Dalhousie University

Date: Oct 11, 2005
Time: 11:30 -
Room: ASB10900

Abstract

Data mining and machine learning techniques have been proposed as a mechanism for detecting malicious activity by examing a number of data streams representing computer and network activity. Although some encouraging results have been obtained, most systems do not deliver in the field what they promised in the lab. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most likely one is the failure of the developers of such systems to understand what the systems have learned and to relate it to the activity they are seeking to detect. - Put simply, there are too many seredipitous directions, or - The distinguishing behaviour is insufficient to establish either necessary or sufficient conditions for maliciousness. This talk will explore a number of examples that help to illustrate the problem and is intended to serve as a cautionary tail for workers in the field John McHugh is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Privacy and Security at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS where he also directs the Privacy and Security Laboratory. Before joining the faculty at Dalhousie, he was a senior member of the technical staff at the CERT Coordination Centre, part of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University where he did research in suvivability, network security, and intrusion detection. He was also affiliated with CyLab and the Center for Wireless and Broadband Research, both part of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at CMU. Prior to joining CERT, Dr. McHugh was a professor and chairman of the Computer Science Department at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon where he held a Tektronix Professorship. He has been a member of the research faculty at the University of North Carolina and has taught at UNC and at Duke University. For a number of years, Dr. McHugh was a Vice President of Computational Logic, Inc., a contract research company formed to further the application of formal methods of software design and analysis in support of security and safety critical systems. While at CLI, he developed tools for the analysis of covert channels in multilevel secure systems and worked on the problems associated with the efficient implementation of formally specified systems. He has also worked for the Research Triangle Institute , the Naval Research Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Patent Office. Dr. McHugh received his PhD degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. He has an MS degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, and a BS degree in physics from Duke University. He is the author of numerous technical papers and reports. He has served as the chair of the IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee on Security and Privacy and is a member of the advisory board for the International Journal of Information Security He serves on the program or advisory committees of many of the major conferences and workshops in the computer security field.

Coast to Coast Seminar "The Riemann Hypothesis"

Peter Borwein

Mathematics

Date: Sep 27, 2005
Time: 11:30 -
Room: ASB10900

Abstract

Arguably the most important unsolved problem in mathematics. The Clay Mathematics Institute has initiated seven one million dollar prizes for what it considers the most outstanding mathematical challenges for the new millennium. One of them is for the the Riemann Hypothesis, the nature of the problem and its effect on mathematics is the focus of this lecture.

Video Archive

Coast to Coast Seminar "Mathematical Visualization and Other Learning Tools"

Jonathan Borwein

Dalhousie University

Date: Sep 13, 2005
Time: 11:30 -
Room: ASB10900

Abstract

Current and expected advances in mathematical computation and visualization make it possible to display mathematics in many varied and flexible ways. I'll explore some of the present opportunties to integrate graphic and other tools into the curriculum --- for pedagogic and aesthetics reasons.