Below is a list of past department seminars since September 2011. Seminars for 2010-2011 can be found here.
-
Dr. Yoshifumi Kitamura
When: May 14, 2012 @ 11:30am
Where: EITC E2-304, University of ManitobaSpeaker: Dr. Yoshifumi Kitamura, Tohoku University.
Title: 3D User Interface Techniques for Interactive Content
Abstract:
Good media content has the power to enrich our lives. The effectiveness of content delivery is becoming more and more important in a wide variety of fields, such as industry, education, culture, entertainment, and so on. Expectations of its use in the general public are also increasing. We focus on non-traditional contents other than movies, music and games, conducting comprehensive research on a variety of interactive content which creates new value through interactions with humans. In this talk I will introduce some of the recent and ongoing projects on 3D user interface techniques for designing future interactive content.
Bio:
Yoshifumi Kitamura is a Professor at Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD. degrees in Engineering from Osaka University in 1985, 1987 and 1996, respectively. Prior to Tohoku University, he was an Associate Professor at Graduate School of Engineering and Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University (1997-2010), and before that he was a researcher at ATR Communication Systems Research Laboratories (1992-1996) and Canon Inc. (1987-1992). -
Dr. Fabian Kuhn
When: April 12, 2012 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304, University of ManitobaDepartment of Computer Science Distinguished Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Fabian Kuhn, Faculty of Informatics, University of Lugano (USI), Switzerland
Title: Data Aggregation in Directed and Dynamic Networks
Abstract:
We consider basic data aggregation problems such as computing the minimum, the sum, or the average of a bunch of values distributed over a network. In standard, undirected networks, these tasks are well studied and can be solved by simple distributed algorithms in time proportional to the diameter of the network. In my talk, I will discuss the complexity of such fundamental aggregation problems in networks with unidirectional links and in networks with dynamic topology. In the absence of stable, bidirectional links, also the distributed computation of simple functions becomes a challenging task. We show that even in static, directed networks of diameter 2, computing any of the above functions requires at least Omega(sqrt(n/B)) rounds if B bits can be transmitted in a single message. Up to logarithmic factors, this bound is tight. I will also discuss recent bounds on the complexity of performing basic computations in dynamic networks.
This is joint work with Rotem Oshman -
Dr. David Hill
When: April 03, 2012 @ 6:00pmPlanning and Control of Massive Networks
E2-528 EITC
-
Mohammad Khalad Hasan
When: March 29, 2012 @ 2:00pmMSc Thesis Defense
E2-461 EITC
A - Coord Input: Augmented Pen-Based Interactions by Combining Auxiliary Input Channels
-
Yaroslav Hayduk
When: March 26, 2012 @ 3:00pm -
Fan Jiang
When: March 22, 2012 @ 9:00am -
Dr. Bojan Mohar
When: March 06, 2012 @ 1:30pm
Where: E2-568 EITCSpeaker: Dr. Bojan Mohar, Canada Research Chair in Graph Theory, Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University
Title: Five-Colour Theorem and Beyond
Abstract: In 1994, Carsten Thomassen published a beautiful simple proof confirming that every planar graph is 5-list-colourable. Another beautiful proof on a similar topic was given a few years later by Mike Albertson who proved that every precolouring of a set of vertices in a planar graph that are far apart from each other can be extended to a 5-colouring of the whole graph. After presenting these enlightening contributions, the speaker will discuss possible common generalizations of these results and report on some recent progress.
-
Daniel Page
When: March 06, 2012 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-165Title: Generalized Methods for Restricted Weak Composition Enumeration
Speaker: Daniel Page, Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, researchers have been trying to seek more generalized algorithms for generating mathematical objects such as finite formal languages, and combinatorial objects. In this talk I will present a new algorithm that arrives at a generalized solution for the enumeration (generation) of restricted weak compositions of n-parts. In particular, this generalized algorithm covers many commonly sought compositions such as bounded compositions, restricted compositions, weak compositions, and restricted part compositions. This algorithm is for enumerating generalized types of restricted weak compositions called First-Order, and Second-Order Restricted Weak Compositions. I will also be discussing current developments in the field of Enumeration of Compositions in relation to Theory of Computation.
Related Topics: Computational Number Theory, Automata Theory, Combinatorics, Algorithms, Enumeration
-
Dr. Hironori Egi
When: February 23, 2012 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304Title: Designing Interactive Systems toward Improvement of Teaching and Learning
Speaker: Hironori Egi, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Abstract
The primary purpose in this talk is to contribute to improving educational activities, both teaching and learning. Since the early studies in computer science were conducted mainly at universities, various educational systems have been developed as the application of their achievements. With the spread of utilizing such systems, the style of teaching and learning is being diversified these days. I will introduce several interactive systems designed to support teaching and learning as follows: an annotation tool for peer-reviewing videos of lectures, a pen with an accelerometer sensor to detect behavior of students while studying in a large classroom, and a tangible chemistry experiment supporting system that helps safety training. Through reviewing these researches, how the latest technologies can affect the ways of teaching and learning will be discussed.
Keywords: Interactive Systems, Software for Teaching and Learning, Educational Technologies, Higher Education -
Hong Zhang
When: February 15, 2012 @ 9:00am
Where: E2-223 EITC -
Tyler Gunn
When: February 14, 2012 @ 1:00pm
Where: E2-304 EITCMSc. Thesis Defense
Dynamic Heterogeneous Team Formation for Robotic Urban Search and Rescue -
Mohammad Shorfuzzaman
When: February 14, 2012 @ 8:30am
Where: E3-262 EITC
PhD Oral Examination
Placement of Replicas in Large-Scale Data Grid Environments
-
Cary Williams
When: February 08, 2012 @ 2:30pm
Where: E2-461MSc Thesis Defense
TZee: A Tangible Devise for 3D Interactions on Tabletop Computers -
Dr. Maxwell Young
When: February 03, 2012 @ 9:30am -
Dr. Khuzaima Daudjee
When: January 30, 2012 @ 9:30am -
Dr. Junaed Sattar
When: January 26, 2012 @ 10:00am -
Dr. Caroline Ziemkiewicz
When: January 20, 2012 @ 9:30am -
Dr. Yang Wang
When: January 16, 2012 @ 9:30am -
Dr. Majid Khabbazian
When: January 13, 2012 @ 9:30am -
Dr. Neil Bruce
When: January 10, 2012 @ 10:00am
Where: 418 Machray Hall -
Dr. Roland Memisevic
When: January 06, 2012 @ 9:30am
Where: E2-365 -
Craig Tataryn
When: December 06, 2011 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-165Title: The Scala Language Tour
Speaker: Craig Tataryn, University of Manitoba alumnus
ABSTRACT
A guided tour through the many language features and paradigms Scala offers, this presentation is meant to serve as a "look before you leap" guide for developers who may have been been discouraged when they first tried to jump into programming with Scala. The Tour starts off with an overview of the Object Oriented features of Scala and then eases into the Functional aspects of the language. Scala runs on the JVM and thus has access to the entire Java standard class library as well as the broad range of open source projects which have accumulated over the past two decades.
-
Dr. Daniel Wigdor
When: November 18, 2011 @ 1:30pm
Where: EITC-E2-445Title: Architecting an Interface for the Natural User
Speaker: Daniel Wigdor, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
ABSTRACT
Emerging technologies provide platforms for new devices, applications, and user interfaces. These technologies have shown potential in early research, but their true utility and measures of success lie in their ability to reflect and enhance the capabilities of the people who use them. My research seeks to address this problem by thoroughly examining and understanding humans, hardware, and software to create tools that enable users in new ways and meet real needs. In this talk, I will discuss both sides of the coin: the potential, and the limitations of emerging input technologies that require fundamentally different user interface designs to realize their full utility. With particular focus on the area of multi-touch and surface computing, I will describe how leveraging and mirroring human motor, cognitive, and social abilities and needs can produce interfaces that are both learnable and enabling of high bandwidth communication between the user and the computer. Further, such leverage and reflection also ensures that the resulting tools solve real problems and enable their users in ways that a traditional mouse-based user interface do not.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Wigdor is an assistant professor of computer science and co-director of the Dynamic Graphics Project at the University of Toronto, and is also an affiliate of the School of Applied Science and Engineering at Harvard University. Before joining the faculty at U of T in 2011, Daniel was a researcher at Microsoft Research, the user experience architect of the Microsoft Surface, and a company-wide expert in Natural User Interfaces. Simultaneously, he served as an affiliate assistant professor in both the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and the Information School at the University of Washington. Prior to 2008, he was a fellow at the Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard University, and conducted research as part of the DiamondSpace project at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs. He is also the co-founder of Iota Wireless, a startup dedicated to the commercialization of his research in mobile-phone gestural interaction.
Daniel is the co-author of Brave NUI World | Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture, the first practical book for the design of touch and gesture interfaces. He has also published dozens of other works as invited book chapters and papers in leading international publications and conferences, and is an author of over two dozen patents and pending patent applications. Further information, including publications and videos demonstrating some of his research, can be obtained from www.dgp.toronto.edu/~dwigdor
-
Dr. Ekram Hossian
When: October 20, 2011 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304Title: Interference Modeling in Random Carrier-Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) Wireless Networks: A Stochastic Geometry Approach
Speaker: Ekram Hossain, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba
ABSTRACT
In random networks, point processes are used to statistically describe the spatial distribution of the network nodes. A common and analytically tractable assumption is that the nodes are distributed in the space according to a homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP). Then the aggregate interference is obtained using the shot noise theory. However, a PPP cannot be directly used to model the spatial distribution of interference sources when modeling aggregate interference in random networks using carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). This is because using PPP forbids any two points of the process to coexist within a distance less than a certain value. This distance reflects the sensing range of the CSMA/CA protocol and defines an exclusion region around a receiver. Hard core point process (HCPP), introduced by Matern in 1960, is one form of the point processes that has been used to model the spatial distribution of interferers in CSMA/CA networks. However, HCPP suffers from two major drawbacks. First, it highly underestimates the number of the interferers existing in the network, hence, underestimates the resultant aggregate interference. Secondly, HCPP is no longer a PPP; hence, the well-known formulas available in the literature for the PPP do not apply to it.
In this talk, I will present a modified HCPP model to eliminate the underestimation problem and obtain the intensity of the modified HCPP (MHCPP). Subsequently, closed-form approximate expressions for the moment generating function, mean and variance of the associated aggregate interference will be
obtained. The accuracy of the MHCPP modeling and the aggregate interference approximation will be validated. Extension of the model for the generalized fading environments will be also discussed.SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Ekram Hossain is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Victoria, Canada, in 2001. Dr. Hossain's main research interest lies in resource allocation and multiple-access in wireless/mobile communications networks and cognitive radio systems. The books Dynamic Spectrum Access and Management in Cognitive Radio Networks (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Cognitive Wireless Communication Networks (Springer, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-387-68830-5) are two of his important contributions in these areas. Currently he serves as the Area Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications in the area of "Resource Management and Multiple Access", an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, and IEEE Wireless Communications. He has been appointed the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials for the term 2012-2013. Dr. Hossain has several research awards to his credit, which
include the University of Manitoba Merit Award in 2010 (for Research and Scholarly Activities) and the 2011 IEEE Communications Society Fred Ellersick Prize Paper Award. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Manitoba, Canada -
Dr. Daisuke Sakamoto
When: September 29, 2011 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304Title: Designing Interaction with Robots
Speaker: Daisuke Sakamoto, Department of Computer Science, University of Tokyo
ABSTRACT
My research career started with the design and cognitive analysis of social robots. However, as the field of HRI widens, I am working on applying techniques learned from social robots, including my work with humanoids, mobile robots, and environmental robots, to the wider HCI and Ubiquitous Computing areas. In my talk, I will focus on my past research with humanoid robots and my current work on designing interaction and interfaces for domestic robots.
BRIEF BIO
Dr. Daisuke Sakamoto is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo. Dr. Sakamoto received his B.A.Media Architecture, M.Systems Information Science, and Ph.D. in Systems Information Science from Future University-Hakodate in 2004, 2006, and 2008, respectively. His research interests include human-robot interaction, human-computer interaction, and interaction design for robots. He received the best paper award from ACM/IEEE conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) in 2007, the first prize at Kobe Biennale 2007, the best paper award from IPSJ interaction symposium in 2007, Best of Emerging technology award (SIGGRAPH 2009), and Grand Prix du Jury from Laval Virtual 2010
-
Dr. Chris Bowman
When: September 20, 2011 @ 1:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304Title: Introduction to MITACS Programmes
Speaker: Christopher Bowman, MITACS
ABSTRACT
I will present opportunities for faculty and graduate students to learn more about Mitacs' programmes, in particular the Mitacs Accelerate programme, and how it can benefit researchers and students.
MITACS (www.mitacs.ca) is a national research network which, amongst its various goals, supports high quality university-based research and the training of highly qualified personnel (graduate students and Post-docs).
MITACS Accelerate sees graduate students or Post-Doctoral Fellows undertaking research internships (under their professor's guidance) with companies within Canada to develop new tools and techniques to address high-level industry issues. The intern balances their time on the project between the company and their university, and gains valuable industrial experience and an opportunity
to apply their research to address novel issues.MITACS has a proven track record of supporting leading research, while connecting Canadian businesses and organizations to the next generation of highly skilled knowledge workers. We help businesses and organizations easily access advanced university expertise so that they can develop and commercialize the products of tomorrow today
-
Kenshi Takayama
When: September 02, 2011 @ 4:00pm
Where: EITC E2-304Title: Volumetric Modeling of Internal Textures and Structures
Speaker: Kenshi Takayama, Department of Computer Science, University of Tokyo
Abstract:
Volumetric modeling is important for various CG applications. For example, a volumetric model would allow users to cut virtual objects and see their cross-sections, which would be useful for entertainment and educational purposes. Volumetric information is also essential for realistic rendering of natural 3D objects that are highly translucent, especially food materials. Despite its importance, volumetric modeling remains still a challenge, mainly because it is difficult to measure the real-world volume data, and also because it is difficult to create and edit volume data manually. In this talk, I present two techniques that make volumetric modeling easier. The first one allows to model objects with relatively simple repetitive internal textures, such as carrots, by placing patches of anisotropic solid textures along user-defined orientation field. The second one allows to model objects with more global and distinct structures, such as tomatoes, by representing such structures as a set of colored 3D surfaces explicitly. Finally, I'd like to briefly mention the future research direction and my ongoing work.