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CSLI Calendar, 1 December 1999, vol. 15:11
C S L I C A L E N D A R O F P U B L I C E V E N T S
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1 December 1999 Stanford Vol. 15, No.11
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A weekly publication of the
Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI)
Stanford University, Ventura Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
____________
ACTIVITIES FROM 1 DECEMBER TO 10 DECEMBER 1999
WEDNESDAY, 1 DECEMBER
12:00pm Developmental Brownbag
Jordan Hall (Building 420:286)
Searching for Susceptibility Genes for Autism:
Where are We?
Donna Spiker
Stanford University
http://matia.stanford.edu/html/talks.html
2:45pm US-Japan Technology Management Center
EE Special Seminar
Skilling Auditorium
Bright Future of InGaN-based LEDs and Laser Diodes
Dr. Shuji Nakamura
Nichia Chemical
http://fuji.stanford.edu
Abstract below
4:15pm EE380: Computer Systems Laboratory Colloquium
NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building, B03
SPARC64 V: A High Performance and High Reliability
64-bit SPARC Processor
Michael C. Shebanow
HAL Computer Systems, Inc.
http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/991201.html
Abstract below
4:15pm Broad Area Colloquium
TCseq 201, Lecture Hall B
Bayesian Analysis of Image Sequences:
Detection and tracking of Motion Boundaries
David Fleet
Xerox PARC and Queen's University
http://robotics.stanford.edu/ba-colloquium
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 2 DECEMBER
12:15pm Stanford Networking Seminar
Gates 104
Internet Traffic Modeling and Characterization:
So Many Models, So Little Insight
Walter Willinger
AT&T Labs-Research
http://netseminar.stanford.edu/sessions/1999-12-02.html
Abstract below
3:15pm Stanford Learning Lab
Press Warehouse, B18-B19
CueVideo: Automated Video Indexing and
Browsing for Distributed Learning
Dragutin Petkovic
Manager, Visual Media Management
IBM Almaden
http://sll.stanford.edu/speakers/fall99/petkovic/
Abstract below
3:15pm Stanford University Department of Math Seminar:
Colloquium
Building 380,D
The Initial Value Problem for the Zakharov System
Jim Colliander
U.C. Berkeley
http://math.stanford.edu/html/seminars.html
4:00pm Institute for International Studies
The John H. Thomas Memorial Lecture:
Sequoia Hall, 201
Systematics, Tradition and Global Sustainability
Dr. Peter H. Raven
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthsci/calendar.htm
4:00pm Xerox PARC Forum
George Pake Auditorium at Xerox PARC
Miniature Long-Range Robotic Aircraft:
Experiences and Opportunities
Tad McGeer
The Insitu Group
http://www.parc.xerox.com/ops/projects/forum/
Abstract below
4:15pm US-Japan Technology Management Center
Skilling Engineering Auditorium
Stanford Panel Discussion:
Entrepreneurship and Innovation in East Asian
Software Industries, and University-Industry
Relations in East Asia
Avron Barr & Shirley Tessler,
Software Research Team, SCIP
Dr. Simon Wong, Professor of Electrical
Engineering
http://calendus.stanford.edu/CS/
Abstract below
7:30pm Stanford Phonology Workshop
Margaret Jacks Hall, 126
Phonetic Studies of Endangered Languages
Ian Maddeison
Department of Linguistics, UC Berkeley
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/pinterest/
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 3 DECEMBER
12:00pm Stanford University Department of Math Seminar:
Logic Lunch
Building 380, 383N
Godel's Program Revisited
Kai Hauser
Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Germany
http://www-logic.stanford.edu/seminars.html
Abstract below
12:30pm CS547:Human-Computer Interaction Seminar
Gates B003
Internet based Interactive Character Design:
From Agents to Avatars
Steve DiPaola
Director of Development, Communities.com
http://www-pcd.stanford.edu/cs547/
Abstract below
2:30pm Stanford University Department of Math Seminar
Informational Geometry and Topology Seminar
Building 380, 383-N
Contact Homology of Coverings
Klaus Mohnke
http://math.stanford.edu/html/seminars.html
3:00pm Stanford University Department of Math Seminar
Applied Math Seminar
Building 380, 380- C
Hysteresis, Phase Nucleation and Stick-slip Motion
of Interfaces in Dynamic Models of Phase Transitions
Anna Vainchtein
Division of Mechanics and Computation, Stanford
http://math.stanford.edu/programs/applied/seminar.html
Abstract below
3:15pm CS545: Infolab Seminar
201 tcSEQ (across from Gates)
Towards a Web of Knowledge
R.V. Guha
Epinions
http://www-db.stanford.edu/dbseminar/dbseminar.html
Abstract below
3:30pm Stanford Linguistics Colloquium
Margaret Jacks Hall (Building 460), 126
Verb-Initial Syntax and Notions of Subjecthood in
HPSG- The Case of Polynesian'
Michael Dukes
Stanford University/University of Canterbury
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/colloq/
4:00pm CS248: Introduction to Computer Graphics
SGI Lab, basement level, Sweet Hall
Fin de Millenium Video Game Competition
Abstract below
MONDAY, 6 DECEMBER
4:00pm Probability and Stochastic Processes Seminar Series
Sequoia Hall, 200
Risk and Valuation of Collateralized Debt
Obligations
Darrell Duffie
GSB, Stanford
http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~amir/prob-seminar/
Abstract below
8:00pm CCRMA Fall 1999 Concert
Campbell Recital Hall(Braun Music Center)
The Center for Computer Research in Music &
Acoustics presents a concert featuring music
by CCMRA composers. Admission is free.
http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/
WEDNESDAY, 8 DECEMBER
10:30am The International Computer Science Institute
ICSI, 607
An Efficient Public Key Traitor Tracing Scheme
Matt Franklin
Xerox PARC
http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/talks/Franklin.html
Abstract below
4:00pm Geometric Analysis Seminar
Building 380, 381T
Linear and nonlinear aspects of Ginzburg-Landau
Vortices
Frank Pacard
http://math.stanford.edu/~moore/ga-sem.html
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 9 DECEMBER
4:00pm Xerox PARC Forum
George Pake Auditorium at Xerox PARC
An Analog Peasant Confronts the Computer Age
Jim Williams
Linear Technology Corp.
http://www.parc.xerox.com/ops/projects/forum/
4:15pm Seminar on Computational Learning and Adaptation
(SCLA)
Cordura 100
To be Announced
Christopher J. Merz
Computational Science Division
NASA Ames Research Center
FRIDAY, 10 DECEMBER
3:15pm Philosophy Colloquium
Building 90, Room 92Q
Skepticism and Naturalism in Hume's Epistemology
Graciela de Pierris
Philosophy, Indiana University
http://www-philosophy.stanford.edu/ce.html#coll
3:30pm Semantics Workshop
Margaret Jacks Hall 126
Fillmore and Levin on Lexical Semantics
Charles Fillmore (UC Berkeley)
Beth Levin (Stanford University)
http://campus-calendar.stanford.edu/semantics/
____________
US-JAPAN TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT CENTER:
EE SPECIAL SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 1 December 1999, 2:45pm
Skilling Auditorium
http://fuji.stanford.edu
Bright Future of InGaN-based LEDs and Laser Diodes
Dr. Shuji Nakamura
Nichia Chemical
Major developments in wide-gap III-V nitride semiconductors have
recently led to the commercial production of high-brightness
white/UV/blue/green/yellow light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and violet
laser diodes (LDs) with an output power of 5 mW and an emission
wavelength of 405 nm. These LEDs are now used for the application of
various lighting sources in stead of conventional incandescent bulb
lamps because of the high efficiency and high reliability of the
LEDs. The violet LDs have been tested by many companies for next
generation high-density DVDs, laser printers and others. All of the
results are demonstrating a promising future of those violet
LDs. Considering about a market of these LEDs and LDs, wide-gap III-V
nitride semiconductors could have the highest revenues among
conventional semiconductors in the near future. Here, current status
of InGaN-based LEDs and LDs are described.
Dr. Shuji Nakamura is head of Research and Development at Nichia
Chemical Ind. In 1993, he dramatically changed the display,
infographics, storage and lighting fields with his announcement of
high brightness blue GaN based LEDs. He has been responsible for all
aspects of the III-V nitride research for blue LEDs and LDs. More
recently, he succeeded in developing high-brightness blue and green
InGaN SQW LEDs with luminous intensities of 2 cd and 10 cd,
respectively. These luminous intensities are 100 times higher than
those of previous SiC and GaP LEDs. At the end of 1995, he reported
the first violet LD from III-V nitride materials and they have now
succeeded in room-temperature CW operation of InGaN MQW structure LDs
with a lifetime of more than 10,000 hours under RT-CW operation.
Dr. Nakamura holds 300 patents and has published over 150 papers. He
has received a number of awards, including: the Nikkei BP Engineering
Award (1994, 1996), the Sakurai Award (1995), Phosphor Award (1995,
1996), the Best Paper Award of Japanese Applied Physics Society (1994,
1997), the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Engineering
Achievement Award (1996), the Nishina Memorial Award, the Okochi
Memorial Award, Materials Research Society (MRS) Medal Award (1997),
the 1998 IEEE Jack A. Morton Award, the 1998 British Rank Prize, the
C&C Award (1998), the Innovation in Real Materials Award (1998) and
the Julius-Springer Prize for Applied Physics (1999).
____________
EE380: COMPUTER SYSTEMS LABORATORY COLLOQUIUM
on Wednesday, 1 December 1999, 4:15pm
NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building, B03
SPARC64 V:
A High Performance and High Reliability 64-bit SPARC Processor
Michael C. Shebanow
HAL Computer Systems, Inc.
http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/991201.html
About the talk: SPARC64 V is HAL's Microprocessor Division's latest
generation high performance/reliability processor aimed at the
high-end commercial and technical UNIX server market.
The key design goals of SPARC64 V include high expected performance
relative to its competition (Ultrasparc 3/4, Itanium, HP8700, Compaq
21364, IBM Gigaprocessor), very high reliability (processor's ability
to detect and recover from soft errors and other failures), and
ability to perform in large-scale SMP UNIX servers (8-128 processors)
with either commercial (e.g. TPC-C/D) or technical (SPEC, scientific)
application workloads. With SPARC64 V, both HAL and Fujitsu have the
specific goal of establishing Fujitsu as a world-wide key player in
the UNIX server market.
SPARC64 V is an eight-issue superscalar, dynamically-scheduled
processor employing super-speculation as a means to reduce internal
execution latencies. SPARC64 V also employs a 1024-entry trace cache
as a means of reducing the average pipeline length to only seven
stages. For high execution performance, SPARC64 V integrates 4 integer
execution units, 2 load units, 2 store units, and dual floating-point
add-multiply units along with on-board 32KB and 256KB instruction
caches and 8KB and 512KB data caches.
A high performance external third level cache is also supported
(4MB-64MB, 16MB nominal, up to 16 GB/sec data rates), and a high speed
modified UPA bus interfaces to the system (up to 8 GB/sec data
rates). SPARC64 V also includes many reliability features, such as ECC
on all write-back caches (internal or external), parity on internal
buses, function-unit redundancy,parity/remainder checking on
arithmetic operations, etc. SPARC64 V is implemented in a 0.12
micron, 6 layer copper CMOS process, and is expected to operate at 1
GHz.
About the speaker: Michael C. Shebanow is Vice President and Chief
Technical Officer at HAL Computer Systems' Microprocessor Division. He
is also co-architect of the SPARC64 V processor. Michael received his
Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 1994.
Michael's background includes 2 1/2 years at Motorola (1989-1991)
where he worked on the 88120 processor architecture, and was a member
of the PowerPC architecture committee. From 1991 through 1994, he
worked at HAL Computer Systems where he architected the SPARC64 I
processor and managed its development. From 1994 through 1997, he
worked at Cyrix Corporation on the M3 processor, both as co-architect
and project manager. Michael returned to HAL in 1997.
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BROAD AREA COLLOQUIUM FOR
AI-GEOMETRY-GRAPHICS-ROBOTICS-VISION
on Wednesday, 1 December 1999, 4:15pm to 5:30pm
TCseq 201 (across from Gates) Lecture Hall B
http://robotics.stanford.edu/ba-colloquium
Bayesian Analysis of Image Sequences:
Detection and tracking of Motion Boundaries
David Fleet
Xerox PARC and Queen's University
Motion analysis concerns the estimation and recognition of motion from
image sequences. It is useful for scene segmentation, estimating 3D
surface structure and camera motion, and for the detection and
tracking of objects, such as people. A long-standing problem in motion
analysis has been the detection and estimation of motion in the
neighborhoods of surface boundaries, where motion in the image is
discontinuous and occlusions cause image structure to appear or
disappear from one image to the next. Although these "motion
boundaries" are often viewed as a source of noise for current motion
estimation techniques, we can also view them as a rich source of
information about the location of surface boundaries and the depth
ordering of surfaces at these locations.
We propose a Bayesian framework for representing and estimating image
motion in terms of multiple motion models, including both smooth
motion and local motion discontinuity models. We compute the posterior
probability distribution over models and model parameters, given the
image data, using discrete samples and a particle filter for
propagating beliefs through time. In this talk I will introduce the
problem then describe our Bayesian framework, including the generative
models, the likelihood computation, the particle filter, and a mixture
model prior from which samples are drawn. I will also present some
recent experimental results.
About the Speaker: David Fleet is a research scientist at the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and an Associate Professor in the
Department of Computer Science at Queen's University, Kingston,
Canada. After receiving a PhD in Computer Science from the University
of Toronto in 1991, Dr. Fleet joined the Department of Computer
Science at Queen's University, with cross-appointments to the
Departments of Psychology, and Electrical Engineering. In 1999 he
joined the Digital Video Analysis Group at Xerox PARC, where his
research is focused on motion analysis in computer vision. Dr. Fleet
was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship for his research on
biological vision. In 1999 his paper with Michael Black on
probabilistic detection and tracking of motion discontinuities
received Honorable Mention for the Marr Prize at the International
Conference on Computer Vision. His research interests include computer
vision, image processing, visual perception, and visual neuroscience.
He has published research articles and one book on various topics
including the estimation of optical flow and stereoscopic disparity,
probabilistic methods in motion analysis, modeling appearance changes
in image sequences, non-Fourier motion and stereo perception, and the
neural basis of stereo vision.
____________
STANFORD NETWORKING SEMINAR
on Thursday, 2 December 1999, 12:45pm
Room 104, Gates Computer Science Building
Internet Traffic Modeling and Characterization:
So Many Models, So Little Insight!
Walter Willinger
AT&T Labs-Research
The main purpose of this talk is to provide a critical assessment of
the current state of Internet traffic modeling and characterization.
In particular, I will argue that to succeed in our attempts to model,
simulate and analyze large-scale complex systems such as the Internet,
relying on traditional approaches will get us nowhere.
About the speaker: Walter Willinger received the Diplom (Dipl. Math.)
from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
the School of ORIE, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and is currently a
member of the Information Sciences Research Center at AT&T Labs -
Research, Florham Park, NJ. Before that, he was a Member of Technical
Staff at Bellcore (1986-1996).
------------
STANFORD LEARNING LAB
on Thursday, 2 December 1999, 3:15pm to 4:30pm
Press Warehouse, rmB18-B19
http://sll.stanford.edu/speakers/fall99/petkovic/
CueVideo: Automated Video Indexing and
Browsing for Distributed Learning
Dragutin Petkovic
Manager, Visual Media Management
IBM Almaden
We believe that the key problems in making widespread use of video
libraries, especially in training, education and corporate
communication are:
a) costly process of manual video indexing and content preparation
from raw data in order to produce easy to search and browse media
presentations;
b) ability of users to quickly find sections of videos
they want. CueVideo project attempts to solve these problems by
automating the process of indexing and summarization of the video
content for typical education/training by providing:
a) easy to browse video summaries;
b) automated indexing using speech reco and audio/video analysis;
c) automated hypelinking of video to related material such as foils
and text.
d) extraction of basic phrases
CueVideo combines video, audio and speech reco (IBM's ViaVoice) with
advanced IR. Our work includes close collaborating with T. J. Watson
(speech reco and IR) and Haifa (fast audio).
Biography: Dragutin Petkovic received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.Sc. degrees
from the University of Belgrade in 1976 and 1979, respectively, and
his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of
California, Irvine in 1983. His thesis work was in automated detection
of lung nodules from chest radiographs.
=46rom 1978 to 1981 he worked as a research engineer in Institute "Boris
Kidric", Vinca, Yugoslavia. In 1983 he joined IBM Almaden Research
Center, San Jose, CA, where he currently manages the Visual Media
Management Department.
QBIC (Query by Image Content) is one project Dragutin initiated and is
still involved in. Dragutin become IEEE Fellow 1998 for his work on
content based retrieval. His research interests include image analysis
and pattern recognition applied to content based search and retrieval
of images and video, large multimedia databases for education and
training, and advanced perceptual user interfaces. He is also
associate editor of International Journal of Machine Vision and
Applications (Springer-Verlag), IEEE Multimedia Magazine, and Kluwer's
Multimedia Tools and Applications Magazine.
____________
XEROX PARC FORUM
on Thursday, 2 December 1999, 4:00pm to 5:00pm
George Pake Auditorium at Xerox PARC
http://www.parc.xerox.com/ops/projects/forum/
Miniature Long-Range Robotic Aircraft:
Experiences and Opportunities
Tad McGeer
The Insitu Group
On 20 August 1998 a little robot named Laima took off from Bell
Island, Newfoundland, headed east through a stormy night, and landed
the next afternoon on South Uist in Scotland's Western Isles. She
became the first unmanned aircraft to have crossed the Atlantic, and,
at 13 kg gross weight, the smallest aircraft by far ever to have made
such a flight.
Laima crossed the Atlantic to demonstrate in dramatic style new
opportunities for economical long-range deployment of lightweight
instruments. "Aerosondes" like her have been designed especially for
offshore weather reconnaissance, in which they have flown hundred of
hours of field trials in various venues around the world. Air-traffic
and regulatory policy is moving to accommodate these operations, and
engineering development continues toward fielding of much more
capable, but equally small, aircraft on a wide scale. Thus robotic
weather reconnaissance, and other applications involving lightweight
payloads, are poised to become routine within the next few years.
Biography: Tad McGeer (Ph.D. Stanford) trained as an aeronautical
engineer at Princeton and Stanford, and then moved into research on
walking robots in the 1980s on the faculty of Simon Fraser University
in his native British Columbia. In 1990 he merged his robotic and
aeronautical interests for initial studies of the Perseus and Theseus
UAVs at Aurora Flight Sciences. He proposed the Aerosonde miniature
aircraft in 1991 and formed The Insitu Group to develop the
concept. Tad was responsible especially for aircraft layout, flight
control, flight and ground software.
____________
US-JAPAN TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT CENTER
on Thursday, 2 December 1999, 4:15pm to 5:30pm
Skilling Engineering Auditorium
http://calendus.stanford.edu/CS/
Stanford Panel Discussion:
"Entrepreneurship and Innovation In East Asian
Software Industries, and University-Industry
Relations in East Asia"
Avron Barr & Shirley Tessler,
Co-Directors, Software Research team,
Stanford Computer Industry Project
(SCIP)
Dr. Simon Wong,
Professor of Electrical Engineering. Specialty:
Integrated Circuit Technologies, and Devices
Avron Barr and Shirley Tessler are Co-directors of SCIP=92s Software
Industry Study, with Professor William Miller. Ms. Tessler has degrees
from Wharton and Stanford in Finance and Computer Science. Much of her
career has been in commercial banking and corporate finance. Mr. Barr
studied Computer Science at Stanford, edited the four-volume Handbook
of Artificial Intelligence, and co-founded a Silicon Valley software
start-up in 1981. Mr. Barr and Ms. Tessler are also the principals of
Aldo Ventures, Inc., a management consulting firm focused on software
and its strategic use in business.
Since it started in 1994, the SCIP Software Industry Study has
systematically identified and analyzed the issues that will shape the
commercial use of software, including piracy, patents, antitrust,
project management, the Internet, globalization, litigation, software
quality and project failures. Since the fall of 1996, their study has
focused on the ramifications of the worldwide shortage of talented
software people. A new initiative will be presented at this year=92s
Forum, investigating the dramatic changes anticipated during the next
decade in corporate software development and procurement practices.
Prof. S. Simon Wong studies the fabrication and design of high
performance integrated systems. His group focuses on developing new
device and interconnection technologies, as well as understanding
their impact on circuit and system performance.
Dr. Wong received the BEE and BME degrees from the University of
Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1975 and 1976 respectively, and MS and PhD
degrees from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and 1983
respectively. From 1978 to 1980, he was with National Semiconductor
Corporation designing MOS dynamic memories. From 1980 to 1985, he was
with Hewlett Packard Laboratories working on advanced MOS
technologies. From 1985 to 1988, he was an Assistant Professor in the
School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University. In 1988, he
joined Stanford University where he is now Professor of Electrical
Engineering.
He has been visiting the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology since 1994. His research interests include high performance
device structures, advanced interconnection technologies and
multi-chip modules. Current research concentrates on interconnect
technologies and high frequency modeling of interconnect network. He
is a fellow of IEEE.
____________
STANFORD PHONOLOGY WORKSHOP
on Thursday, 2 December 1999, 7:30pm
Margaret Jacks Hall (Building 460)
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/Linguistics/pinterest
Phonetic Studies of Endangered Languages
Ian Maddieson
U.C. Berkeley
The world is going through a period of rapidly diminishing language
diversity, leading many linguists to a new appreciation of the urgency
of descriptive field work on endangered languages. Strengthening the
empirical data base on which generalizations can be founded and
hypotheses tested requires better documentation of these languages
while speakers can still be found. However, much descriptive
fieldwork pays relatively little attention to phonetics, and in
particular to quantitative data, so the cross-linguistic database on
phonetic issues is especially impoverished. This talk will describe
an ongoing project to enrich the phonetic documentation on at least
some of the world's endangered languages. Some issues of choice of
targets and methods will be discussed, and several 'case studies'
presented. The cases discussed contribute not only to improved
description of the individual languages discussed (Tlingit, Yapese,
Archi, etc) but also to broader issues concerning co-occurrence of
phonetic properties, and aspects of phonological representation.
____________
LOGIC LUNCH
on Friday, 3 December 1999, 12:00pm
Building 380, 383N
http://www-logic.stanford.edu/seminars.html
Godel's Program Revisited
Kai Hauser
Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Germany
I will give an overview of a project whose starting point was the
realization that the modern development of higher set theory
necessitates an evaluation of the feasibility of of Godel's program as
described in his articles on Cantor's Continuum Problem and related
philosophical writings. Godel suggested that a clarification of
meaning of the basic notions of set theory may lead to new axioms
which are "implied" by the concept of set and strong enough to decide
questions that are unsolvable with the standard axioms. I will examine
some candidates for axiomhood that have been proposed recently under
this aspect.
The most controversial aspect of Godels philosophy of mathematics has
been the epistemic weight he attaches to mathematical intuition as a
form of perception of concepts. However, many of his cryptic remarks
receive a natural interpretation when considered in the light of
Husserl's phenomenology. In addition, I will mention another approach
which is compatible with a realistic attitude towards mathematical
discourse without making a commitment to the objective existence of
mathematical objects or attributing perceptual character to
mathematical intuition.
Finally, I will briefly describe some alternative scenarios to Godel's
views of the continuum problem.
____________
SEMINAR ON PEOPLE, COMPUTERS, AND DESIGN
on Friday, 3 December 1999, 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Gates B003
http:www-pcd.stanford.edu/cs547/
Internet Based Interactive Character Design:
From Agents to Avatars
Steve DiPaola
Director of Development, Communities.com
The windows-based desktop metaphor ... Text and graphical user
interfaces ... Multimedia displays of moving images and audio
=2E.. These three concepts constitute the majority of methods we use to
communicate, to educate, to entertain with our computers and the
Internet. And yet in our daily lives we communicate and engage in a
totally different way. We talk with our friends and relatives -- we
watch their facial expressions, read into their pauses, vocal
inflections and hand gestures. This is the language, the syntax, that
we are all truly experts in: communicating and engaging interactively
with people -- with characters that emotionally engage and entertain
us through films, plays and cartoons; characters that inform and try
to influence us, such as teachers, sales people and business
colleagues; characters that have personality and spirit. There is a
real schism between the metaphors and interfaces we use with our
interactive systems and those we use in our ubiquitous life. The high
end computer animation industry now has the knowledge and techniques
to create computer animated characters that can engage an
audience. Some of this knowledge and experience has been successfully
transferred over to Internet-based characters. But with few
exceptions, character animation is still mimetic to the linear style
associated with film. We are now at a seminal point in time, where it
is becoming possible to combine the emotive and communicative
qualities of characters with the interactive, programmatic and
alternative narrative technologies of the Internet. Characters we can
talk/listen to with speech recognition/synthesis; characters who
exhibit the illusion of life and cognition via artificial
life/intelligence algorithms, information retrieval capabilities and
behavioral models. These technologies can be combined with emerging
communication and narrative metaphors such as multi-user worlds, and
interactive or participatory performances. I will discuss the
implications of these issues, as well as give a presentation of
projects that I have developed for both web-based hosts and multi-user
avatar communities.
Steve DiPaola has been involved with computer based character design
for many years starting back in 1984 when he was a senior member of
the computer animation research group at the New York Institute of
Technology. He specialized in 3D character animation R&D as well as
producing animation for film, TV and his Fine Art work. His main area
of expertise at NYIT was 3D Facial Animation and has published several
papers and book excerpts on the subject.
He is currently Developement Director of Development at
Communities.com's OnLive Group, where he leads a team of artists,
architects, UI designers and musicians in designing and developing 3D
avatars and virtual spaces. OnLive's Internet-based Virtual World
software and communities allow groups of people to socialize with each
other by navigating through 3D spaces, meeting others and talking with
their own voices through emotive, lip-syncing 3D head avatars.
He co-headed the San Francisco office of Saatchi and Saatchi's
innovation arm called Darwin Digital as Creative Director. Darwin
Digital was mandated to explore state of the art new media and
interactive projects including several Internet based characters
projects.
___________
STANFORD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF MATH SEMINAR:
APPLIED MATH SEMINAR
on Friday, 3 December 1999, 3:00pm
Building 380, 380-C
http://math.stanford.edu/programs/applied/seminar.html
Hysteresis, Phase Nucleation and Stick-slip Motion
of Interfaces in Dynamic Models of Phase Transitions
Anna Vainchtein
Division of Mechanics and Computation, Stanford
Materials undergoing stress-induced martensitic phase transformations
(in particular, shape memory alloys) exhibit a markedly hysteretic
behavior. The hysteresis loops on the load-elongation diagrams are
often serrated. The serrations are accompanied by a nonsmooth, jerky
motion of the phase boundaries.
In the first part of this talk, we consider two dynamic continuum
mechanics models of martensitic phase transitions. In both models, a
bar with a nonconvex two-well elastic energy density is subjected to
time-dependent displacement boundary conditions. The wells in the
elastic energy density represent two different material phases,
austenite and martensite. Viscous stresses, linearly proportional to
the strain rate, provide the energy dissipation. Inertia term is also
taken into account. The first model also includes the interfacial
energy, modeled by a strain-gradient term. In the second model, this
term is omitted. Both models predict hysteresis which is caused
primarily by metastability of equilibria and phase nucleation. The
hysteresis loops persist even when the loading rate is very slow, and
viscosity effects are minor. We find that in the model without the
interfacial energy term, the hysteresis loops are serrated, and a
stick-slip interface motion is observed. We show that for a given
loading this solution behavior is a singular limit of the model with
interfacial energy term as this term tends to zero. On the other hand,
at fixed strain-gradient coefficient and slow enough (quasistatic)
loading the model including the interfacial energy results in a smooth
interface motion and smaller, non-serrated hysteresis loops.
In the second part of the talk, we consider placing the viscoelastic
bar on an elastic foundation, to mimic interaction of phases in higher
dimensions. This model results in tilted hystereis loops with multiple
serrations and reveals an interesting interplay between the
foundation-favored step-by-step phase nucleation process and the
inertia-favored interface slip and phase annihilation.
____________
CS545: INFOLAB SEMINAR
on Friday, 3 Decmber 1999, 3:15pm to 4:30pm
201 tcSEQ (across from Gates)
http://www-db.stanford.edu/dbseminar/dbseminar.html
Towards a Web of Knowledge
R.V. Guha
Epinions
The web today is a large document repository. Very little of the
information on the web is machine understandable. It is gradually
moving towards becoming a repository of data. The real challenge is
to take if from being a repository of data to a Web of Knowledge. In
this talk, I will describe some of the infrastructure that is being
build, such as RDF and the Open Directory, that might enable us to
reach this goal.
Guha is a founder and the CTO at Epinions.com. Before that, he was a
Principal Scientist at Netscape where he helped create the Resource
Description Framework. He has a PhD from Stanford in Computer Science
and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Berkeley.
____________
STANFORD LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 3 December 1999, 3:30pm
Building 460, 126
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/colloq
Verb-Initial Syntax and Notions of Subjecthood in HPSG -
The Case of Polynesian
Michael Dukes
Stanford University/University of Canterbury
Recent developments in syntactic theory have seen a rapidly
diversifying range of approaches to the treatment of verb-initial
syntax. While VSO languages were viewed for a considerable period of
time as a coherent typological class (derived via verb-raising or some
equivalent), this appears to no longer be the case. Furthermore, VOS
languages have generally been considered a rare residue fitting rather
uncomfortably into the typologist's view of the world. In this talk I
examine the analysis within HPSG of grammatical relations and
constituency in Tongan, a well-known verb-initial language of the
Polynesian family, while also drawing on comparative data from related
languages.
Starting from some proposals made by Bob Borsley for dealing with
verb-initial structures in Welsh and Syrian Arabic, it is shown that
the categories needed to account for some basic properties of Tongan
morphosyntax involve something of an amalgam of the two types used by
Borsley. Furthermore, as has now become familiar from work on numerous
Austronesian languages, it is convenient to appeal to multiple
conceptions of subjecthood to account for key structural properties of
these languages. Grammatical variation associated with these notions
of subjecthood within Polynesian suggests that even in such a
homogeneous family, the 'verb-initial type' is only characterizable in
surprisingly superficial structural terms and the (sometimes
difficult) choice of what counts as subject determines whether a
language is considered VSO or VOS.
____________
CS248: FIN DE MILLENIUM VIDEO COMPETITION
on Friday, 3 December 1999, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
SGI Lab, basement level, Sweet Hall
All members of the Stanford community are invited
At 4:00pm on Friday, December 3, a judging will be held to select the
best 3D video game produced by a current student (or team of students)
in CS 248 - Introduction to Computer Graphics.
The jury will consist of:
ROBERT HUEBNER, Vice-President, Director of Technology, and Lead
Programmer at Nihilistic Software. Game credits include Interplay's
"Descent" series, LucasArts' "Jedi Night" series, and Blizzard
Entertainment's "Starcraft." Rob serves on the Game Developer's
Conference Advisory Board, writes for Game Developer Magazine, and
teaches a course on game programming through the University of
California Berkeley Extension campus in San Francisco.
DOMINIC MALLINSON, Research and Development chief for the Sony
PlayStation at Sony Computer Entertainment America. Previously, he
served as Technical Director of Psygnosis, Europe's leading video game
software developer and publisher.
DANA TOM, a Stanford alumnus, currently a Vice-President at Electronic
Arts. Game credits include "PGA Golf".
KEKOA PROUDFOOT, senior PhD student in computer graphics (under Pat
Hanrahan) and an expert on video game engines.
DAVID KOLLER, PhD student in computer graphics (under Marc Levoy), a
veteran of the video game industry, and most recently stalwart
teaching assistant in CS 248.
While grades for the assignments are based mainly on "technical
merit", entries in the competition will be judged on technical merit,
compelling game play, and originality. Students are not required to
participate in this competition.
Here is the schedule of events:
Friday, December 3:
9:00 - 3:15 Grading of video games (course students only)
3:30 - 4:00 Professor and TAs meet to choose 7-8 finalist teams
4:00 Public part of video game competition begins
4:00 - 5:15 Finalists present their games to the jury
5:15 - 5:30 Jury retires to consider their decision
5:30 Announcement of winners
5:30 - 6:00 Continued heavy partying
There will be one grand prize - an all-expenses-paid trip to Siggraph
2000 in New Orleans next summer and one second-place prize - dinner
for two at Il Fornaio, rated the best Italian restaurant in Palo Alto.
If the grand prize is won by a team, it must be split among the team
members. The second prize will be duplicated as necessary to cover
all team members. In addition, every member of a finalist team will
receive a current video game title for the PC platform, generously
donated by Electronic Arts.
Refreshments will be served beginning at 4:00pm. Finalists' entries
will be "hung" on the SGI workstations (and a few PCs and Macs brought
in for the occasion) and will be available for viewing throughout the
judging and party.
____________
PROBABILITY AND STOCHASTIC PROCESSES SEMINAR SERIES
on Monday, 6 December 1999, 4:00pm
Sequoia Hall, 200
http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~amir/prob-seminar/
Risk and Valuation of Collateralized Debt Obligations
Darrell Duffie
GSB, Stanford
This work, joint with Nicolae Garleanu, exploits the properties of
continuous multi-type branching processes as a model for the
intensities of arrivals of the correlated default times of bond
issuers. The seminar will begin with an overview of collateralized
debt obligations (CDOs), financial securities whose cash flows depend
on the default times of numerous borrowers. Then we turn to the
advantages of continuous branching processes with immigration, a class
of jump-diffusions with special analytical structure, as a
probabilistic framework for risk measurement and market valuation.
Some computational and statistical issues will be considered, and some
illustrative numerical examples will be presented.
____________
THE INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE
on Wednesday, 8 December 1999, 10:30am to 12:00pm
ICSI, 607 (Main Lecture Hall)
http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/talks/Franklin.html
An Efficient Public Key Traitor Tracing Scheme
Matt Franklin
Xerox PARC
We construct a public key encryption scheme in which there is one
public encryption key, but many private decryption keys. If some
digital content (e.g., a music clip) is encrypted using the public key
and distributed through a broadcast channel, then each legitimate user
can decrypt using its own private key. Furthermore, if a coalition of
users collude to create a new decryption key then there is an
efficient algorithm to trace the new key to its creators.
____________
GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 8 December 1999, 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Building 380, 381T
http://math.stanford.edu/~moore/ga-sem.html
Linear and nonlinear aspects of
Ginzburg-Landau Vortices
Frank Pacard
We present a joint work with Tristan Riviere concerning existence and
uniqueness questions for Ginzburg-Landau vortices. More precisely, we
describe precisely some branches of critical points of the
Ginzburg-Landau functional [ E(u) = \int |\nabla u|^2 + \frac{1}{2
\e^2} \int (1 - |u|^2)^2, ] as the parameter $\e$ tends to 0, here u
is a complex valued function defined in some bounded domain of R^2. In
particular we prove that, provided $\e$ is small enough, all solutions
of [ \Delta u + \frac{u}{\e^2} (1- |u|^2) =0, ] which are defined in
the unit ball and have boundary data given by $u = e^{i \theta}$ are "
radialy symmetric", which means that they are of the form $u = S (r)
e^{i \theta}$. Applications to the gauge invariant Ginzburg-Landau
functional are also given.
Dinner: We will be taking the speaker out to dinner at a nearby
restaurant after the seminar.
____________
END MATERIAL
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