All Seminars
| Title: Rank of matrices with few distinct entries |
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| Seminar: Combinatorics |
| Speaker: Boris Bukh of Carnegie Mellon University |
| Contact: Dwight Duffus, dwight@mathcs.emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-04-05 at 4:00PM |
| Venue: MSC W303 |
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| Abstract: Many applications of the linear algebra method to combinatorics rely on bounds on ranks of matrices with few distinct entries and constant diagonal. In this talk, I will explain some of these applications. I will also present a classification of sets \textit{L} for which no low-rank matrix with entries in \textit{L} exists. |
| Title: Generalized Cross Validation for Ill-Posed Inverse Problems |
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| Defense: Honors |
| Speaker: Hanyong Wu of Emory University |
| Contact: Hanyong Wu, |
| Date: 2017-04-05 at 5:00PM |
| Venue: W306 |
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| Abstract: In this thesis, we will introduce two popular regularization tools for ill- posed linear inverse problem, truncated singular value decomposition and Tikhonov regularization. After that we will implement them with the gener- alized cross validation (GCV) method to choose regularization parameters. We consider in particular problems that have noise in the measured data, noise in the matrix, and noise in both the measured data and the matrix. Numerical experiments are used to test the GCV method for each of these noise models. |
| Title: An Algorithm for Numerically Computing Preimages of the $j$-invariant |
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| Defense: Masters |
| Speaker: Ethan Alwaise of Emory University |
| Contact: Ethan Alwaise, ethan.alwaise@emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-04-05 at 5:30PM |
| Venue: MSC E408 |
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| Abstract: Here we explore the problem of numerically computing preimages of the $j$-invariant. We present an algorithm based on studying the asymptotics of the Fourier coefficients of the logarithmic derivative of $j(\tau)$. We use recent work of Bringmann et al., which gives asymptotics for the Fourier coefficients of divisor modular forms, to identify the real and imaginary parts of the preimage. |
| Title: Equivariant analogs of the arithmetic of del Pezzo surfaces |
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| Seminar: Algebra |
| Speaker: Alexander Duncan of University of South Carolina |
| Contact: David Zureick-Brown, dzb@mathcs.emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-04-04 at 5:00PM |
| Venue: W306 |
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| Abstract: Given an algebraic variety X over a non-closed field, one might ask if X is rational, is unirational, has a rational point, has a Zariski-dense set of rational points, or has a 0-cycle of degree 1. All of these properties have ``equivariant'' generalizations to the case where the variety has an action of algebraic group G. The corresponding properties are interesting even when the base field is algebraically closed. Moreover, one can exploit this connection to establish geometric facts using arithmetic methods and vice versa. I will outline this correspondence with an emphasis on del Pezzo surfaces. In particular, I will completely characterize the equivariant analogs of the above properties for del Pezzo surfaces of degree greater than or equal to 3 over the complex numbers. I will also discuss some partial results for degrees 1 and 2 that, despite being about complex surfaces, have arithmetic ramifications |
| Title: Zero-Cycles on Torsors under Linear Algebraic Groups |
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| Defense: Dissertation |
| Speaker: Reed Sarney of Emory University |
| Contact: Reed Sarney, rlgordo@emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-04-03 at 1:00PM |
| Venue: MSC W303 |
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| Abstract: Let $k$ be a field, let $G$ be a smooth connected linear algebraic group over $k$, and let $X$ be a $G$-torsor. Totaro asked: if $X$ admits a zero-cycle of degree $d$, does $X$ have a closed {\'e}tale point of degree dividing $d$? We give a positive answer in two cases: \begin{enumerate} \item $G$ is an algebraic torus of rank $\leq 2$ and $\textup{ch}(k)$ is arbitrary, and \item $G$ is an absolutely simple adjoint group of type $A_1$ or $A_{2n}$ and $\textup{ch}(k) \neq 2$. \end{enumerate} We also present the first known examples where Totaro's question has a negative answer. |
| Title: Rank-Favorable Bounds for Rational Points on Superelliptic Curves |
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| Defense: Master's |
| Speaker: Noam Kantor of Emory University |
| Contact: Noam Kantor, noam.kantor@emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-04-03 at 3:00PM |
| Venue: MSC: N304 |
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| Abstract: Let $C$ be a curve of genus at least two, and let $r$ be the rank of the rational points on its Jacobian. Under mild hypotheses on $r$, recent results by Katz, Rabinoff, Zureick-Brown, and Stoll bound the number of rational points on $C$ by a constant that depends only on its genus. Yet one expects an even stronger bound that depends favorably on $r$: when $r$ is small, there should be fewer points on $C$. In a 2013 paper, Stoll established such a ``rank-favorable" bound for hyperelliptic curves using Chabauty's method. In the present work we extend Stoll's results to superelliptic curves. We also discuss a possible strategy for proving a rank-favorable bound for arbitrary curves based on the metrized complexes of Amini and Baker. Our results have stark implications for bounding the number of rational points on a curve, since $r$ is expected to be small for ``most" curves. |
| Title: Scalable Computational pathology: From Interactive to Deep Learning |
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| Defense: Dissertation |
| Speaker: Michael Nalisnik of Emory University |
| Contact: Lee Cooper, lee.cooper@emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-03-30 at 10:00AM |
| Venue: W306 |
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| Abstract: Advances in microscopy imaging and genomics have created an explosion of patient data in the pathology domain. Whole-slide images of histologic sections contain rich information describing the diverse cellular elements of tissue microenvironments. These images capture, in high resolution, the visual cues that have been the basis of pathologic diagnosis for over a century. Each whole-slide image contains billions of pixels and up to a million or more microanatomic objects whose appearances hold important prognostic information. Combining this information with genomic and clinical data provides insight into disease biology and patient outcomes. Yet, due to the size and complexity of the data, the software tools needed to allow scientists and clinicians to extract insight from these resources are non-existent or limited. Additionally, current methods utilizing humans is highly subjective and not repeatable. This work aims to address these shortcomings with a set of open-source computational pathology tools which aim to provide scalable, objective and repeatable classification of histologic entities such as cell nuclei.\\ \\ We first present a comprehensive interactive machine learning framework for assembling training sets for the classification of histologic objects within whole-slide images. The system provides a complete infrastructure capable of managing the terabytes worth of images, object features, annotations and metadata in real-time. Active learning algorithms are employed to allow the user and system to work together in an intuitive manner, allowing the efficient selection of samples from unlabeled pools of objects numbering in the hundreds of millions. We demonstrate how the system can be used to phenotype microvascular structures in gliomas to predict survival, and to explore the molecular pathways associated with these phenotypes. Quantitative metrics are developed to describe these structures.\\ \\ We also present a scalable, high-throughput, deep convolutional learning framework for the classification of histologic objects is presented. Due to its use of representation learning, the framework does not require the images to be segmented, instead learning optimal task-specific features in an unbiased manner. Addressing scalability, the graph-based, parallel architecture of the framework allows for the processing of large whole-slide image archives consisting of hundreds of slides and hundreds of millions of histologic objects. We explore the efficacy of various deep convolutional network architectures and demonstrate the system's capabilities classifying cell nuclei in lower grade gliomas. |
| Title: The Artin-Schreier Theorem in Galois Theory |
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| Defense: Honors Thesis |
| Speaker: Yining Cheng of Emory University |
| Contact: TBA |
| Date: 2017-03-30 at 1:00PM |
| Venue: MSC W303 |
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| Abstract: We first list and state some basic definitions and theorems of the Galois theory of finite extensions, as well as state and prove the Kummer theory and the Artin-Schreier extensions as prerequisites. The main part of this thesis is the proof of the Artin-Schreier Theorem, which states that an algebraic closed field having finite extension with its subfield F has degree at most two and F must have characteristic 0. After the proof, we will discuss the applications for the Artin-Schreier Theorem. |
| Title: Theory for New Machine Learning Problems and Applications |
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| Seminar: N/A |
| Speaker: Yingyu Liang of Princeton University |
| Contact: James Lu, jlu@mathcs.emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-03-30 at 4:00PM |
| Venue: MSC W201 |
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| Abstract: Machine learning has recently achieved great empirical success. This comes along with new challenges, such as sophisticated models that lack rigorous analysis, simple algorithms with practical success on hard optimization problems, and handling large scale datasets under resource constraints. In this talk, I will present some of my work in addressing such challenges.\\ \\This first part of the talk focuses on learning semantic representations for text data. Recent advances in natural language processing build upon the approach of embedding words as low dimensional vectors. The fundamental observation that empirically justifies this approach is that these vectors can capture semantic relations. A probabilistic model for generating text is proposed to mathematically explain this observation and existing popular embedding algorithms. It also reveals surprising connections to classical notions such as Pointwise Mutual Information, and allows to design novel, simple, and practical algorithms for applications such as sentence embedding.\\ \\In the second part, I will describe my work on distributed unsupervised learning over large-scale data distributed over different locations. For the prototypical tasks clustering, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and kernel PCA, I will present algorithms that have provable guarantees on solution quality, communication cost nearly optimal in key parameters, and strong empirical performance. \\ \\Bio: Yingyu Liang is an associate research scholar in the Computer Science Department at Princeton University. His research interests are providing rigorous analysis for machine learning models and designing efficient algorithms for applications. He received a B.S. in 2008 and an M.S. in 2010 in Computer Science from Tsinghua University, and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014. He was a postdoctoral researcher in 2014-2016 in the Computer Science Department at Princeton University. |
| Title: Protecting Locations of Individual Movement under Temporal Correlations |
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| Defense: Dissertation |
| Speaker: Yonghui Xiao of Emory University |
| Contact: Yonghui Xiao, yonghui.xiao@emory.edu |
| Date: 2017-03-29 at 11:30AM |
| Venue: Chemistry 320 |
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| Abstract: Concerns on location privacy frequently arise with the rapid development of GPS enabled devices and location-based applications. In this dissertation, we study how to protect the locations of individual movement under temporal correlations. First, we propose three types of privacy notions, location privacy, customizable privacy, and the privacy for spatiotemporal events. Location privacy is used to protect the true location of a user at each timestamp; Customizable privacy means the user can configure personalized privacy notions depending different demand; Privacy for spatiotemporal events needs to be specially preserved because even if location privacy is guaranteed at each timestamp the spatiotemporal events can still be exposed. Second, we investigate how to preserve these privacy notions. We show that the traditional $\ell_{1}$-norm sensitivity in differential privacy exaggerates the real sensitivity, and thus leads to too much noise in the released data. Hence we study the real sensitivity, called sensitivity hull, for the data release mechanism. Then we design the optimal location release mechanism for location privacy. We show that the data release mechanism has to be dynamically updated for the customizable privacy to guarantee the privacy is protectable, which is measured by a notion of degree of protection. To protect the spatiotemporal events we study how to derive the probability of the spatiotemporal events for arbitrary initial probabilities of adversaries. Then we check whether to release the location at each timestamp to bound the risk of the spatiotemporal events. Third, we implement these algorithms on real-world datasets to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness. |