Events

Mar 15 - Mar 21, 2020

• 

  On Studying Computer Science - 2020-03-16

  Peter Wonka, Professor, Computer Science

  Mar 16, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Computer science

  In this talk, I will discuss a wide range of ideas on studying computer science and doing research in computer science. Peter Wonka is the program chair of the computer science program. His research interests are deep learning, computer graphics, computer vision, and remote sensing.
• 

  Part 2 - Introduction to backstepping control

  Prof. Johann Reger, Computer Science and Automation Faculty, TU Ilmenau, Germany.

  Mar 16, 09:00 - 11:30

  KAUST

  Backstepping TU Ilmenau Lyapunov Theory

  Backstepping is a widely applicable control technique based on Lyapunov theory that under rather mild assumptions leads to families of control laws for a large class of nonlinear systems. Focusing on systems of ordinary differential equations, we introduce the basic concept (integrator backstepping), generalize it, among others, to systems in strict feedback form and pure feedback form, which all enjoy an inherent controllability property, captured in the system structure. The course ends with extending the setting to the adaptive backstepping case, resorting to the certainty equivalence principle and Barbalat's lemma. The course is furnished by a series of exercises to let the students gather experience on tailored examples.
• 

  Light management in non-Hermitian media

  Dr. Waqas Ahmed, Electrical Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

  Mar 15, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Non-Hermitian Optics nanophotonics Artificial Structured Materials laser physics metamaterials

  Structured media provide the momentum compensation for the scattering of waves. It is well-known that nano-scale modulations of the refractive index may lead to a temporal and spatial control over light propagation. Yet, also engineering the gain and loss profile uncovers analogous shaping effects. However, only the interplay between both the refractive index and gain and loss modulations introduces unidirectionality in light management. Thus, non-Hermitian optics has become one of the most fertile grounds in optics. A generalized Hilbert transform allows tailoring the two quadratures of the complex permittivity to design periodic or disordered non-Hermitian media, holding either global or local unidirectionality following arbitrary vector fields to tailor the flow of light. The method allows restricting the permittivity within realistic values rendering it suitable for applications.

Mar 8 - Mar 14, 2020

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  Sensing, Localization, and Communications to Enable Future IoT Systems

  Tareq Al-Naffouri, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Mar 12, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  IoT Sensor array processing

  In this talk, Tareq will present his research contributions and future directions to advance some critical IoT-enabling technologies: sensing, localization, and communications. He will demonstrate how we take advantage of structure in sensed-data and sensor arrays. This structure can help mitigate sensing uncertainties, improve localization accuracy, and enhance the performance of communication systems, all while reducing the computational overhead. The Internet of Things (IoT) has ushered a new era in many fields including retail, medicine, agriculture, and the automotive industry. In fact, it is projected that by 2025, one trillion IoT devices will be deployed worldwide: the equivalent of 1000 devices per person. To reach such a scale, major advancements are needed in various IoT-enabling technologies.
• 

  Functional data depth and its application in the visualization of spatio-temporal covariance structures

  Mar 12, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  functional data analysis spatio-temporal statistics

  Functional data analysis is a very active research area due to the overwhelming existence of functional data. In the first part of this talk, I will introduce how functional data depth is used to carry out exploratory data analysis and explain recently-developed depth techniques. In the second part, I will discuss spatio-temporal statistical modeling. It is challenging to build realistic space-time models and assess the validity of the model, especially when datasets are large. I will present a set of visualization tools we developed using functional data analysis techniques for visualizing covariance structures of univariate and multivariate spatio-temporal processes. I will illustrate the performance of the proposed methods in the exploratory data analysis of spatio-temporal data.
• 

  Part 1 - Introduction to backstepping control

  Prof. Johann Reger, Computer Science and Automation Faculty, TU Ilmenau, Germany.

  Mar 12, 09:00 - 11:30

  KAUST

  Backstepping TU Ilmenau

  Backstepping is a widely applicable control technique based on Lyapunov theory that under rather mild assumptions leads to families of control laws for a large class of nonlinear systems. Focusing on systems of ordinary differential equations, we introduce the basic concept (integrator backstepping), generalize it, among others, to systems in strict feedback form and pure feedback form, which all enjoy an inherent controllability property, captured in the system structure. The course ends with extending the setting to the adaptive backstepping case, resorting to the certainty equivalence principle and Barbalat's lemma. The course is furnished by a series of exercises to let the students gather experience on tailored examples.
• 

  Radio Frequency Sensing in Healthcare: Detection of Falls, Gait Abnormality and Vital Signs

  Moeness Amin, Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Communications, Villanova University, USA

  Mar 8, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  Radio frequency devices sensor healthcare

  In this talk, we represent recent advances of radio frequency (RF) sensing technology for healthcare, specifically in monitoring human activities inside homes, retirement facilities, and hospitals. Sensing technologies and data analytics are considered powerful tools in efficient indoor monitoring of human activities. Monitoring of activities of daily living (ADL) can identify falls, which are considered as the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for people aged 65 and over. It can also detect variants in activity patterns and changes in routines and lifestyle as well as the state of physical, cognitive, and psychological health of the person. In addition to monitoring ADL, RF-based gesture recognition using hands and arms is shown to be an important contactless technology for Man-Machine-Interface (MMI). Adding to the indoor applications, RF-based vital sign monitoring has vast medical use, as respiration and heartbeats are essential diagnostic barometers for many health problems. More recently, RF sensors have also been proposed for gait analysis for rehabilitation and timely diagnosis of many neurological, orthopedic and medical conditions. Changes in gait patterns can also be precursors of falls. In this talk, we present successful examples in each of the above application areas and discuss pertinent open problems worthy of investigations.

Mar 1 - Mar 7, 2020

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  Simulation of Neuronal Signal Processing - 2020-03-05

  Gabriel Wittum, Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences

  Mar 5, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322

  Neuronal ensembles Stochastiic Variability neuroscience

  In the lecture we present a three dimensional mdoel for the simulation of signal processing in neurons. To handle problems of this complexity, new mathematical methods and software tools are required. In recent years, new approaches such as parallel adaptive multigrid methods and corresponding software tools have been developed allowing to treat problems of huge complexity. Part of this approach is a method to reconstruct the geometric structure of neurons from data measured by 2-photon microscopy. Being able to reconstruct neural geometries and network connectivities from measured data is the basis of understanding coding of motoric perceptions and long term plasticity which is one of the main topics of neuroscience. Other issues are compartment models and upscaling.
• 

  Knowledge-based methods in life sciences

  Robert Hoehndorf, Associate Professor, Computer Science

  Mar 3, 10:00 - 11:30

  B9 L2 H2 R2325

  Computer science bioinformatics knowledge representation

  In my research I aim to understand how formalized knowledge bases can be used to systematically structure and integrate biological knowledge, and how to utilize these formalized knowledge bases as background knowledge to improve scientific discovery in biology and biomedicine. To achieve these aims, I develop methods for representing, integrating, and analyzing data and knowledge with the specific aim to make the combination of data and formalized knowledge accessible to data analytics and machine learning in bioinformatics. Biomedicine, and life sciences in general, are an ideal domain for knowledge-driven data analysis methods due to the large number of formal knowledge bases that have been developed to capture the broad, diverse, and heterogeneous data and knowledge.
• 

  Dual Function Radar Communication Systems: Towards RF Convergence

  Moeness Amin , Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Communications, Villanova University, USA

  Mar 2, 14:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  radar

  This tutorial establishes and promotes the area of dual system functionality, allowing the radar to house voice and data transmission, leading to technological advances in radar and communications systems. The tutorial develops novel signaling schemes for embedding information into the radar pulsed emissions which, in most cases, is blind to the primary radar operation and radar ambiguity function. It considers different antenna configurations, including multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars and shows how to achieve high data rate communications by combining amplitude-shift keying, phase-shift keying, and code shift keying modulations with waveform-diversity and spatial degrees of freedom.
• 

  Data-sparse Methods for Large-scale Applications on Emerging Architectures

  David Keyes, Senior Associate to the President, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

  Mar 2, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  hierarchical computations

  A traditional goal of algorithmic optimality, squeezing out operations, has been superseded because of evolution in architecture. Arithmetic operations no longer serve as a reasonable proxy for all aspects of complexity. Instead, algorithms must now squeeze memory, data transfers, and synchronizations, while extra operations on locally cached data represent only small costs in time and energy. Hierarchically low-rank matrices realize a rarely achieved combination of optimal storage complexity and high-computational intensity in approximating a wide class of formally dense operators that arise in applications for which exascale computers are being constructed. We describe modules of a KAUST-built software toolkit, Hierarchical Computations on Manycore Architectures (HiCMA), that illustrate these features and are building blocks of KAUST mission applications, such as matrix-free higher-order methods in optimization and large-scale spatial statistics. Early modules of this open-source project have undergone industrial-rigor testing are distributed in the software libraries of major vendors.
• 

  Engineering Organic Electronics for Biology - 2020-03-01

  Sahika Inal, Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, KAUST

  Mar 1, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  bioelectronics

  The field of bioelectronics combines the worlds of electronics and biology with the aim of developing new tools for biomedical research and healthcare. The majority of implantable devices are mechanically stiff and the mechanical properties mismatch with soft tissue causes an immune response which results in their rejection from the body. Another limitation is associated with the fact that most devices utilize metal electrodes to record from/stimulate tissue. These electrodes offer limited coupling with ion fluxes used by cells to communicate with each other, resulting in low efficiency. Such challenges can be overcome with the integration of soft, conducting polymers displaying mixed (ionic and electronic) conduction. In this talk, I will present approaches that leverage the properties of organic conducting materials in order to develop bioelectronic devices interfacing with the body. These devices include organic electrochemical transistors for measuring metabolites, neural activity and integrity of cellular layers.

Feb 23 - Feb 29, 2020

• 

  Recent Advances in Sparse Array Design

  Moeness Amin , Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Communications, Villanova University, USA

  Feb 27, 14:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  sparse array

  In this tutorial, we review sparse arrays from the coarray perspective that strives for full augment ability, i.e., maximizing the number of spatial autocorrelation lags. In this respect, we discuss sparse array performance for direction finding and also address the passive and active arrays for stationary and moving platforms. We then contrast these configurations with sparse arrays that achieve MaxSINR for both narrowband and wideband sources operating in an interference-active environment. The tutorial also considers both single point source and multiple point sources. We cover the two important cases where the array aperture size is constrained and unconstrained and demonstrate optimum performance in both cases. For the former, and with a limited aperture, we introduce a hybrid design that seeks a full augmentable array which at the same time optimizes beamformer performance. The problem is formulated as a quadratically constraint quadratic program, with the cost function penalized with weighted l1-norm squared of the beamformer weight vector. The wideband problem is tackled by two different approaches, one includes a delay line filter implementation and the other one is the DFT approach.
• 

  Towards Collaboration of Multiple Intelligent Robots and Human Supervision

  Dr. Inmo Jang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Robotics for Extreme Environment Group at the University of Manchester

  Feb 27, 10:00 - 11:00

  B2 L5 R5209

  robotics game theory algorithms

  As autonomy in individual robots becomes advanced, one of the next challenges is to coordinate multiple of such intelligent robots, which are then expected to innovatively transform legacy industries (e.g., warehouse automation, connected-vehicle management, etc.). Towards collaboration of multiple robots, this talk will particularly introduce a game-theoretical framework for clustering a large number of multiple robots and assigning the robot teams to given tasks, where the network of the robots is strongly connected and the individuals are asynchronous. The proposed decentralised algorithm guarantees convergence of selfish agents having social inhibition towards a Nash stable partition (i.e., social agreement) within polynomial time.
• 

  Deterministic particle approximation for nonlinear transport equations

  Marco Di Francesco, Associate Professor, Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, University of L'Aquila (Italy)

  Feb 25, 14:00 - 15:00

  Building L3 R3119

  PDE numerical methods nonlinear models

  Approximating the solution to an evolutionary partial differential equation by a set of "moving particles" has several advantages. It validates the use of a continuity equation in an "individuals-based" modeling setting, it provides a link between Lagrangian and Eulerian description, and it defines a "natural" numerical approach to those equations. I will describe recent rigorous results in that context. The main one deals with one-dimensional scalar conservation laws with nonnegative initial data, for which we prove that the a suitably designed "follow-the-leader" particle scheme approximates entropy solutions in the sense of Kruzkov in the many particle limit. Said result represents a new way to solve scalar conservation laws with bounded and integrable initial data. The same method applies to second order traffic flow models, to nonlocal transport equations, and to the Hughes model for pedestrian movements.
• 

  Multi-layer Red Team vs. Blue Team Methods towards Secure Cyber-Physical Energy Systems

  Charalambos (Harrys) Konstantinou, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with Florida A&M University and Florida State University (FAMU-FSU) College of Engineering

  Feb 24, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  cybersecurity Cyber attacks and defenses

  Election hacking, power grid cyber-attacks, troll farms, fake news, ransomware, and other terms have entered our daily vocabularies and are here to stay. Cybersecurity touches nearly every part of our daily lives. Most importantly, national security and economic vitality rely on a safe, resilient, and stable cyber-space. We rely on cyber-physical systems with hardware devices, software platforms, and network systems to connect, travel, communicate, power our homes, provide health care, run our economy, etc. However, cyber-threats and attacks have grown exponentially over the past years, exposing both corporate and personal data, disrupting critical operations, causing a public health and safety impact, and imposing high costs on the economy. In this talk, we will focus on cyber-physical energy systems (CPES) as the backbone of critical infrastructure, and provide a research perspective and present red team security threats, challenges, and blue team countermeasures. We will discuss recent approaches on developing low-budget targeted cyberattacks against CPES, designing resilient methods against false data, and the need for an accurate assessment environment achieved through the inclusion of hardware-in-the-loop testbeds.
• 

  Manipulating Magnetization with Acoustic Waves

  Pallavi Dhagat, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, USA

  Feb 23, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  magnetization acoustic waves

  In this seminar, I will present our work on manipulating magnetization with acoustic waves. The temporally and spatially varying strain in acoustic waves produces a corresponding change in the local anisotropy of magnetostrictive materials through the Villari effect. This magneto-acoustic coupling may be used for patterning magnetic films and for nonlinear signal processing such as amplification and correlation of spin waves. I will discuss our experiments and results towards these application possibilities, and also present the techniques we have developed to characterize magnetostriction.

Feb 16 - Feb 22, 2020

• 

  Statistical models for long-range dependent climate data

  Sigrunn Sorbye, Associate Professor, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

  Feb 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322

  statistical models climate data

  In this talk I will discuss statistical models which incorporate temperature response to the radiative forcing components. The models can be used to estimate important climate sensitivity measures and give temperature forecasts. Bayesian inference is obtained using the methodology of integrated nested Laplace approximation and Monte Carlo simulations. The resulting approach will be demonstrated in analyzing instrumental data and Earth system model ensembles.
• 

  Machine Learning Scan of Complete Genome Sequences of 4,500 Rice Varieties reveals Secrets in the Domestication Process of Crops

  Takashi Gojobori, Distinguished Professor, Bioscience

  Feb 19, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H2 R2325

  artificial intelligence machine learning

  In the history of humankind, domestication was invented as anthropogenic evolution that fulfills mankind’s critical food demand. The domestication is simply based on mating processes and subsequent selection processes to pick up better hybrid offspring that have advantageous combinations of genomes. Taking advantage of machine learning classifier, we discovered a number of sub-genomic regions that have been incorporated in the rice genomes through production of hybrid offspring during domestication. This so-called “introgression” event is disclosed as an essential key of domestication process. This eventually leads to construction of the AI-aided Smart Breeding Platform to accumulate all the breeding histories of crop species into an Integrated Breeding Knowledgebase.
• 

  Towards Accurate Biomedical Genomics Anywhere Anytime - Graduate Seminar

  Xin Gao, Program Chair, Computer Science

  Feb 17, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  biomedicine DNA sequencing

  Abstract Current genetic diagnosis by next-generation sequencing requires a large investment of resources and offers little point-of-care portability. Furthermore, it is unable to detect many types of genetic variations - including large deletions, duplications, and balanced translocations - that are relevant to human diseases and health. Comparing to other sequencing technologies, Nanopore sequencing owns the advantages of point-of-care (i.e., sequencing anywhere anytime), long reads (i.e., assembly-free to detect various genetic variations), and PCR free (i.e., sample preparation is easy)
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  Novel computational methods for promoter identification and analysis

  Ramzan Umarov, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science

  Feb 16, 16:00 - 18:00

  B2 L5 R5209

  machine learning promoters protein coding RNA genes TSS prediction tools

  In this dissertation, I present the methods I have developed for prediction of promoters for different organisms. Instead of focusing on the classification accuracy of the discrimination between promoter and non-promoter sequences, I predict the exact positions of the TSS inside the genomic sequences, testing every possible location. The developed methods significantly outperform the previous promoter prediction programs by considerably reducing the number of false positive predictions. Specifically, to reduce the false positive rate, the models are adaptively and iteratively trained by changing the distribution of samples in the training set based on the false positive errors made in the previous iteration. The new methods are used to gain insights into the design principles of the core promoters. Using model analysis, I have identified the most important core promoter elements and their effect on the promoter activity. I have developed a novel general approach to detect long range interactions in the input of a deep learning model, which was used to find related positions inside the promoter region. The final model was applied to the genomes of different species without a significant drop in the performance, demonstrating a high generality of the developed method.
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  Distributed Multi-parameter Sensing Using a Multimode Fiber

  Islam Ashry, Senior Research Scientist, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 16, 12:30 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  Graduate Seminar Part 2. Fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and distributed temperature sensor (DTS) are considered important for many applications. It is challenging to design a hybrid DAS-DTS system using the same optical fiber because the operation principles of the two sensors are different. In this talk, we summarize the concept of using the widespread standard multimode fiber (MMF) for simultaneous distributed acoustic and temperature sensing. In particular, we operate the MMF in a quasi-single-mode (QSM) state to simultaneously fulfill the functional requirements of the DAS and DTS. This technique is significant for many industrial applications because it efficiently tackles a long-standing issue in practical implementation.
• 

  Energy and Entropy in Numerical Methods

  Hendrik Ranocha, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences

  Feb 16, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H2

  numerical methods

  Secondary quantities such as energy and entropy can be very important for numerical methods. Firstly, preserving these quantities can ensure that non-physical behavior is excluded. Secondly, preserving such quantities can result in stability estimates. Finally, preserving the correct energy/entropy evolution in time can result in additional desirable properties such as lower numerical errors. In this talk, a brief overview of some recent advances concerning energy and entropy preserving numerical methods for ordinary and partial differential equations will be given, together with an outlook on future research directions and applications.
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  Epitaxial growth of group-III nitride semiconductors on amorphous fused silica glass and its heterogeneous integration for optoelectronic devices

  Jung-Wook Min, Research Scientist, Photonics Laboratory

  Feb 16, 12:00 - 12:30

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  Graduate Seminar Part 1. In this talk, catalyst- and mask-free GaN nanowires ensemble were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) under nitrogen-rich condition. Prior to optoelectronic device realization, we conducted fundamental studies including diffusion-induced growth mechanisms on various substrates. On bare fused silica substrate, without any buffer layer, hundreds-of-nanometer scale grains of GaN nanowires were examined by SEM and interfaces were investigated by TEM. Despite the poly-crystalline properties of the coalescent columnar GaN layer, each grain showed the preferential orientation along the c-axis growth direction. To provide conductivity and transparency on amorphous fused silica as a thermally durable substrate, transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering method on a fused silica glass substrate. Next, for the heterogeneous integration toward solar cell application, we introduced n-GaN nanowires as an electron transport layer (ETL) for methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite solar cells (PSCs). n-GaN nanowires showed high electron mobility and UV blocking characteristics with MAPbI3. Moreover, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation confirmed that the roughened interfaces of GaN nanowire arrays are helpful for photon recycling. These achievements can open a new pathway for the heterogeneous integration of group-III nitride and perovskite semiconductors and substrate-independent epitaxy.

Feb 9 - Feb 15, 2020

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  Unveiling the potential of energy/entropy stable numerical methods for hyperbolic/mixed hyperbolic-parabolic PDEs

  Matteo Parsani, Associate Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences

  Feb 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  algorithm Hyperbolic PDEs PDE parabolic-hyperbolic PDE SBP numerical methods for PDE's

  Abstract The demand for increasingly multidisciplinary reliable simulations, for both analysis and design optimization purposes, requires transformational advances in individual components of future PDEs solvers. At the algorithmic level, hardware compatibility and efficiency are of paramount importance in determining viability on future hardware. However, equally important (if not more so) is provable algorithmic robustness which becomes progressively more challenging to achieve as problem size and physics complexity increase. We show that rigorously designed adaptive semi- and fully-discrete
• 

  KAUST-MBSC Invitational Healthcare Analytics and Data Science Workshop

  Feb 13, 08:30 - 18:00

  B3 L5 R5220

  artificial intelligence digital health data science

  The amount of collected medical data and computational power are growing rapidly, which creates new opportunities to impact and improve healthcare by advanced analytics and data science. We aim to bring together practitioners and researchers from across the Kingdom to exchange knowledge and explore possible collaborations. To register, please, fill form here.
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  A robust HOSM control method for robotic systems

  Fatma Abdelhedi, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering department, at the College of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University

  Feb 12, 14:00 - 15:00

  B3 L5 R5209

  Robotics is set to play an ever increasingly important role in society, due to its influence in every aspect of life, including medicine and healthcare, manufacturing, services..etc
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  Weak solutions of the 2D Euler equations

  Stefano Spirito, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of L’Aquila, Italy

  Feb 11, 15:00 - 16:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  Cauchy problem Euler equations

  In this talk we consider the Cauchy problem for the 2D Euler equations for incompressible inviscid fluids. It is well-known that given a smooth initial datum, the Cauchy problem is well-posed and in particular the energy is conserved and the vorticity is transported by the flow of the velocity. When we consider weak solutions this might not be the case anymore. We will review some recent results obtained in collaboration with Gianluca Crippa and Gennaro Ciampa where we extend those properties to the case of irregular vorticities. In particular, under low integrability assumptions on the vorticity we show that certain approximations important from a physical and a numerical point of view converge to solutions satisfying those properties.
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  Optimal Reference Frames, Scaling and Features in Visualization

  Prof. Holger Theisel, Visual Computing, Magdeburg University

  Feb 10, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  visual computing visualization

  In Visualization, the success or failure of an analysis often depends on the choice of some subtle parameters or design choices. While simple heuristics are often sufficient, in some cases they make the analysis miserably fail. We present three approaches in visualization where a careful choice of optimal parameters results in completely new algorithms: 1) the choice of a reference frame for finding objective vortices in flow visualization, 2) the choice of a scaling of high-dimensional data sets for finding linear projections to 2D in information visualization, and 3) the choice of a feature definition along with numerical extraction methods for visualizing recirculation phenomena in flows.
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  Toward Satellite-Air-Ground-Ocean Optical Wireless Communication for Internet of Things

  Meiwei Kong, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Photonics Laboratory

  Feb 9, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  Satellite-Air-Ground-Ocean Optical Wireless Communication for Internet

  With the advent of Internet-of-Things (IoT), the conventional radio frequency (RF) communication technology with a congested spectrum of 300 GHz cannot meet the ever-increasing demand for broadband transmission. By exploiting an unlicensed spectrum of ~ 30 PHz, optical wireless communication (OWC) technology is supposed to significantly relieve the load of RF spectrum to support the massive connectivity of IoT devices in the era of fifth-generation networks and beyond. Up to now, continuous breakthroughs in the field of free-space optical communication, visible light communication, and underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) are laying a solid foundation for the realization of OWC across satellite-air-ground-ocean (SAGO) boundaries, which is expected to considerably accelerate the pace of realizing globally-connected IoT. In this talk, we will briefly introduce the current progress of UWOC research and development toward applications in SAGO OWC.

Feb 2 - Feb 8, 2020

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  Influence of urban architecture features on the attenuation of a field strength levels of mobile communication

  Prof. Alisher Shakhobiddinvos, Dean, TV and Broadcasting System Department, Tashkent University of Information Technologies

  Feb 6, 13:30 - 14:30

  B1 L4 R4214

  Tashkent University effective conductivity base stations urban architecture

  In this speech, In this speech, Okumura-Hata expressions will be presented for calculating the attenuation of the field strength of mobile communication stations in the megapolis on the example of the capital of Uzbekistan - Tashkent in the frequency bands 900 and 1800 MHz. Expressions allow to take into account factors that affect the signal attenuation in detail. Knowing the levels of the distribution patterns of the field strength in urban environments can correctly determine the number of base stations required to provide high-quality mobile communication. High quality of mobile communications, in turn, creates the best conditions for a quick payback on the development of a mobile network.
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  Mathematical modeling of the stochastic climate system

  Georgiy L. Stenchikov, Professor (former), Earth Science and Engineering

  Feb 6, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  weather climate projections

  ​Author of more than 290 journal and conference publications, Professor Stenchikov's research interests are in multi-scale modeling of environmental processes and numerical methods; global climate change, climate downscaling, atmospheric convection; assessment of anthropogenic impacts and geoengineering; air-sea interaction, evaluating environmental consequences of catastrophic events like volcanic eruptions, nuclear explosions, forest and urban fires; and air pollution, transport of aerosols, chemically and optically active atmospheric tracers, their radiative forcing and effect on climate.
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  Rate-splitting and Multi-Cloud Signal Processing in Cloud-Enabled Communication Networks

  Dr. Allaa Alameer Ahmad, Resarch Assistant, Institute of Digital Communication Systems, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

  Feb 6, 11:00 - 12:30

  B1 L4 R4214

  Ruhr-University Bochum Germany

  Our talk will consider a cloud-enabled system, and will investigate ways of managing its performance through two particular interference mitigation techniques. In the first part of the talk, inspired by the classical information theoretical results on characterizing the interference channel achievable rate region, we will consider rate-splitting (RS) and common message decoding (CMD) schemes. The talk will shed light on ways of tackling two of the underlying optimization problems in this realm.
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  A regularized shallow-water waves system with slip-wall boundary conditions: Theory and numerical analysis

  Dimitrios Mitsotakis, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Statistic Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

  Feb 5, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  In this talk we present the derivation of a new Boussinesq-type system to describe the propagation of long waves of small amplitude in a basin with mildly varying bottom topography. We prove the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions for maximal times that do not depend on the amplitude of the waves. We then present the numerical solution of the new system using Galerkin finite element methods and prove the convergence of the semidiscrete solution to the exact solution. The system appears to describe well water waves even in benchmark experiments that involve also general bathymetries.
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  Optimization and Learning in Computational Imaging

  Wolfgang Heidrich, Professor, Computer Science

  Feb 5, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 H1 R2322

  computational imaging

  The Machine Learning Hub Seminar Series presents “Optimization and Learning in Computational Imaging” by Dr. Wolfgang Heidrich, Professor in Computer Science at KAUST. He leads the AI Initiative and is the Director of the KAUST Visual Computing Center. Computational imaging systems are based on the joint design of optics and associated image reconstruction algorithms. Historically, many such systems have employed simple transform-based reconstruction methods. Modern optimization methods and priors can drastically improve the reconstruction quality in computational imaging systems. Furthermore, learning-based methods can be used to design the optics along with the reconstruction method, yielding truly end-to-end learned imaging systems, blurring the boundary between imaging hardware and software.
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  Geospatial Data Science for Public Health Surveillance - Seminar

  Paula Moraga, Lecturer, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, UK

  Feb 5, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H2

  Geospatial Data Public Health

  In this talk, I will give an overview of my research which focuses on the development of innovative statistical methods and interactive visualization applications for geospatial data analysis and health surveillance. I will illustrate some of my projects in the following areas: 1. Development of new statistical methodology; 2. Development of open-source statistical software such as the R packages; 3. Health surveillance projects. Finally, I will describe my future research on innovation in data acquisition and visualization, precision disease mapping, and digital health surveillance, and how it can inform policymaking and improve population health globally.
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  Algebraic flux correction for finite element discretizations of hyperbolic conservation laws

  Prof. Dmitri Kuzmin, Applied Mathematics, TU Dortmund University

  Feb 3, 14:00 - 15:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  algebraic flux correction hyperbolic problems stabilization techniques flux-corrected transport

  In this talk, we review some recent advances in the analysis and design of algebraic flux correction (AFC) schemes for hyperbolic problems. In contrast to most variational stabilization techniques, AFC approaches modify the standard Galerkin discretization in a way which provably guarantees the validity of discrete maximum principles for scalar conservation laws and invariant domain preservation for hyperbolic systems. The corresponding inequality constraints are enforced by adding diffusive fluxes, and bound-preserving antidiffusive corrections are performed to obtain nonlinear high-order approximations. After introducing the AFC methodology and the underlying theoretical framework in the context of continuous piecewise-linear finite element discretizations, we present some of the limiting techniques that we use in high-resolution AFC schemes. This presentation is based on joint work with Dr. Manuel Quezada de Luna (KAUST) and other collaborators.
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  Paving the Way for Next Generation Wireless Networks

  Basem Shihada, Professor, Computer Science

  Feb 3, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1 R2322

  networking IoT

  In this talk, I will introduce several ongoing projects at the networking lab in KAUST. I will start by highlighting our research profile along with our mission. Then, I will walk you through our projects and contributions in the domains of the internet of things, visible light communication, underwater communication, and future 6G networks. I will focus on the challenges facing each project, highlight our solution methodology, and discuss some performance evaluation results. I will focus on our work on Aqua-Fi, which aims at bringing the Internet into the underwater environment. I will also focus on our recent project on the communication via breath.
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  Architectural Defenses against Indirect Threats

  Yasser Shalabi, Graduate Student, Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Feb 2, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H2

  Computer architecture

  The potential of indirect execution attacks – e.g. Return-Oriented-Programming and Transient-Execution based Side-channels – threaten all modern computing platforms. Standard security policies are unable to eliminate these threats. What is the role of hardware in mitigating these threats? Why are the latest processor designs no longer proactively eliminating threats? In this talk, we will explore these questions and reconsider the role of hardware in securing systems. I will present Record-and-Replay as a fundamental solution that can enable a hardware-software co-design that can strengthen the security of modern computing platforms.
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  Nanomaterials and Nanostructure Based Energy Efficient Edge and Fluidic Computing for Internet of Things Applications

  Nazek El-Atab, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 2, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  nanomaterials Nanostructure Based Energy Efficient Edge Fluidic Computing KAUST IoT

  In this talk, I will address these questions with a focus on smart and multifunctional nanomaterial-based memory devices than can sense different physical qualities of the environment (Memsors) in addition to pressure-driven microfluidic logic gates which can process and analyze non-electronic media in an attempt to explore, enable and empower a wider range of IoT applications.

Jan 26 - Feb 1, 2020

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  An Egocentric Computer Vision-based Robotic Wheelchair

  Mohammed Kutbi, Assistant Professor at the department of Computer Science and a member of the Artificial Intelligence Unit at Saudi Electronic University (SEU)

  Jan 30, 11:00 - 12:00

  B3 L5 R5209

  robotics Computer Vision

  The emerging need to improve the quality of life for elderly and disabled individuals who rely on wheelchairs for mobility is our motivation for this work. Research on robotics wheelchair covers broad range from motion control, how to control the wheelchair movement, to complete autonomy.
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  Dynamics and Convergence of Weight Normalization for Training Neural Networks

  Guido Montufar, Assistant Professor, Departments of Mathematics and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

  Jan 29, 13:00 - 14:30

  B1 L3 R3119

  machine learning neural network optimization ReLUs

  We present a result on the convergence of weight normalized training of artificial neural networks. In the analysis, we consider over-parameterized 2-layer networks with rectified linear units (ReLUs) initialized at random and trained with batch gradient descent and a fixed step size. The proof builds on recent theoretical works that bound the trajectory of parameters from their initialization and monitor the network predictions via the evolution of a ''neural tangent kernel'' (Jacot et al. 2018). We discover that training with weight normalization decomposes such a kernel via the so called ''length-direction decoupling''. This in turn leads to two convergence regimes. From the modified convergence we make a few curious observations including a natural form of ''lazy training'' where the direction of each weight vector remains stationary.
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  Account Sharing and Protection

  Prof. Zhongmin Cai, Automation Department, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

  Jan 29, 12:00 - 13:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  account sharing account protection Xi'an Jiaotong University

  Abstract Our lives and society are digitized from every perspective by computers, smart devices and various information systems. A large amount of accounts are appearing and becoming essential tools to access resources and services in this digital age. Besides the power and convenience, people are also experiencing new challenges and difficulties in their use and protection of various accounts. The first part of this talk will present a recent study on account sharing practices in the workplace. Across two surveys, we will examine the sharing process at work, probing what accounts people share
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  RF Inductors Incorporated with Domain Controlled Magnetic Material

  Dr. Syed Azeemuddin, Associate Professor, International Institute of Information Technology

  Jan 28, 12:00 - 13:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  In this talk we will see patterned ferromagnetic films control of film aspect ratio which changing film demagnetizing fields increasing the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) frequencies, Physical separation of two domain dynamics viz. domain wall motion and magnetization rotation incorporated with spiral inductors. Measurement results achieved showing 70% boost in inductance at frequencies between 2 GHz - 6 GHz.
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  Space-Time Tomographic Reconstruction of Deforming Objects

  Guangming Zang, Research Engineer, Computer Science

  Jan 27, 17:00 - 18:30

  B1 L2 R2202

  inverse problems computational imaging Deep learning optimization computed tomography space-time tomography

  In this thesis, a variety of applications in computer vision and graphics of inverse problems using tomographic imaging modalities will be presented: (i) The first application focuses on the CT reconstruction with a specific emphasis on recovering thin 1D and 2D manifolds embedded in 3D volumes. (ii) The second application is about space-time tomography (iii) Base on the second application, the third one is aiming to improve the tomographic reconstruction of time-varying geometries undergoing faster, non-periodic deformations, by a warp-and-project strategy. Finally, with a physically plausible divergence-free prior for motion estimation, as well as a novel view synthesis technique, we present applications to dynamic fluid imaging which further demonstrates the flexibility of our optimization frameworks
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  Seeing is Believing? Media Integrity in a Post-Truth World

  Prof. Nasir Memon, Vice Dean for Academics and Student Affairs and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

  Jan 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  media integrity machine learning deepfake digital media

  The emergence of “fake news” along with sophisticated techniques using machine learning to create realistic looking media such as deepfakes, has led to a renewed interest in digital media forensics. In this talk, Professor Nasir Memon will broadly discuss how media is generated and manipulations have been traditionally detected. He will then look at new approaches using machine learning for creating media that are leading us to a world where images and video cannot be believed any more as they can evade traditional detection techniques. Professor Memon will end by discussing approaches that are being developed to return integrity and trust in digital media.
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  Amazon Web Services (AWS) ML Immersion Day

  Mohib Khan, Hesham Abouelmagd, Shijaz Abdulla (AWS)

  Jan 27, 08:30 - 16:15

  B19 H1

  machine learning artificial intelligence

  The ML Hub with the support of the AI Initiative, is excited to be hosting the AWS ML Immersion Day! Join us for a full-day immersion tutorial and hands-on lab on Amazon’s ML tools. The program includes an introduction to AWS AI and machine learning services and hands-on module on Amazon Lex and SageMaker.
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  Dictionary Attacks on Biometrics

  Prof. Nasir Memon, Vice Dean for Academics and Student Affairs and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

  Jan 26, 16:00 - 17:00

  B9 L2 H2

  biometrics dictionary attacks user authentication payment authorization

  Contrary to the prevailing belief, we show that user authentication based on biometrics is vulnerable to dictionary attacks. We show the problem is particularly significant for partial prints used in smartphones and increasingly adopted for authentication tasks ranging from unlocking the devices screen up to payment authorization. We also show that speaker verification systems are also vulnerable to dictionary attacks. We then discuss ways to mitigate such attacks.
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  Low power approaches to communication and computing system design

  Ahmed Eltawil, Associate Dean for Research, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering

  Jan 26, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322

  low power communication computing system

  In this talk we discuss approaches to low power design for advanced communication and computing platforms. Specifically, we present the concept of cognitive power management, where contrary to common approaches that assume a 100% error free hardware, the algorithm is made aware of the statistical error performance of the underlying hardware platform. By accounting for hardware errors at the system level, the explorable power management design space is significantly expanded, leading to novel power saving schemes that deliver expected application performance at much lower power consumption. Sample case studies including LTE system design and in-memory computing platforms will be presented and discussed.

Jan 19 - Jan 25, 2020

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  Bridging the Digital Divide in Africa

  Dr. Mitchell Arij Cox, Lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

  Jan 22, 14:00 - 15:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  The University of the Witwatersrand

  Africa has one of the highest inequality factors in the world, reflecting its developed and developing nature. As such it suffers from the traditional “digital divide”, with low internet connectivity reach in rural areas, which is both economic and geographic in nature. In this talk we will summarize recent proposals to bridge the digital divide and offer a South African perspective on the problem. We will cover active research in South Africa on the topic and speculate what the network future in Africa might be.