TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13
- 345 Altgeld Hall, 11:00 a.m.
- MAX NEWMAN TOPOLOGY
- Marco Schlichting, Department of Mathematics, UIUC
- Does higher K-theory for triangulated categories exist?
- Abstract: I'll give an example of two closed model categories having
equivalent homotopy categories but different Waldhausen
K-theories. I will also show that there cannot exist a functor from
small triangulated categories to spaces which recovers Quillen's
K-theory for exact categories and which satisfies localization.
- 3269 Beckman Institute, 11:00 a.m.
- THEORETICAL BIOPHYSICS SEMINAR
- Professor Reink van Grondelle, Department of Biophysics and Physics of Complex Systems, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Ultrafast Excitation Energy Transfer in the LH1 and LH2 Rings of Photosynthetic Bacteria
- Abstract: In photosynthetic bacteria solar photons are absorbed by a pigments
(carotenoids, bacteriochlorophyll) bound to light-harvesting proteins
LH1 and LH2 and transferred to a photosynthetic reaction center
(RC), where the energy is used to drive a charge separation. Both
LH1 and LH2 are composed of a tightly coupled ring of
bacteriochlorophylls and energy transfer in these rings occurs on a
timescale of a few hundred femtoseconds. One of the major questions
that we have tried to answer concerns the nature of the excited state
in LH1 and LH2: localized vs. delocalized. In this talk I will
describe femtosecond laser experiments that measure the excited state
dynamics in these systems and I will discuss their interpretation in
terms of a disordered exciton model.
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 12:00 p.m.
- SEVERAL COMPLEX VARIABLES SEMINAR
- Professor Norm Levenberg, Auckland
- title to be announced
- 241 Altgeld Hall, 1:00 p.m.
- ANALYTIC NUMBER THEORY
- Ten minute talks!
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 1:00 p.m.
- LOGIC SEMINAR
- Professor John Baldwin
- Model Companions of Ts for stable T
- Abstract: Let T be a complete first order theory in a countable relational
language L. Adjoin a new unary function symbol s to obtain the
language Ls; Ts is obtained by adding axioms asserting that s is an L-automorphism. We provide necessary and sufficient
conditions for Ts to have a model companion when T is stable.
The first condition is that T not have the finite cover property; the
second is introduced in this paper- T does not admit obstructions. It
will be defined in the talk. This is joint work with Saharon
Shelah.
- 345 Altgeld Hall, 2:00 p.m.
- SPACES OF NON-POSITIVE CURVATURE RAP
- Richard Bishop, Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics, UIUC
- Introduction to spaces of bounded curvature (continued)
- 241 Altgeld Hall, 2:00 p.m.
- STOCHASTIC AND NONLINEAR ANALYSIS
- Ms. Katarina Jegdic
- An Application of Probability to Insurance - Loss Development
- Abstract:Actuaries use different development techniques to estimate future
losses, since the real data isn't smooth and is subject to both random
fluctuations and distortions. I'll present the method that responds more
gracefully than those that are traditional to situations in which the data
is thin and random fluctuations are severe.
- 159 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- COMMUTATIVE RING THEORY RAP
- Andrew Richardson
- The Frobenius Map, continued
- 241 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- GEOMETRIC POTPOURRI SEMINAR
- Daniel Lichtblau, Wolfram Research, Inc.
- Finding cylinders through five points in space
- Abstract: Two years ago I spoke in Geometric Potpourri about various
computational (and some theoretical) aspects to the problem of finding
right circular cylinders containing a given set of five points in 3-space.
In this talk I will discuss how this problem intersects computational
geometry, enumerative geometry, computational algebraic geometry,
and integral geometry. No prior familiarity with the topic will be assumed,
and the talk will be accessible to a general audience (modulo the clarity
of the speaker).
- 345 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- GRAPH THEORY AND COMBINATORICS
- Attending the special lecture in the Computer Science
Department. See today's listing below at 4:00 p.m.
- 141 CSRL, 3:30 p.m.
- TOPICS IN SYSTEMS SEMINAR
- Professor Karl J. Astrom, Department of Automatic Control, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden
- Using Bicycles to Illustrate Limitations in Control System Design
- Abstract: Fundamental limitations have always been at the center in
communications but not in control. This is surprising because limitations are important
and the fundamental work was done almost simultaneously in both fields by
Shannon and Bode. Fundamental limitations are rarely dealt with in
introductory courses in control and they have not had a prominent role in
conferences, journals, books and graduate courses. Some notable exceptions
are the books by Freudenberg and Looze (1988) and Seron, Braslavsky and
Goodwin (1995). This lecture presents experiences from attempts to teach
fundamental limitations in introductory courses in control. The rear
steered bicycle developed by Richard Klein is an excellent vehicle to
demonstrate the ideas. A useful side effect is that it is possible to
discuss co-design of processes and controllers in an elementary manner.
Apart from giving teaching experiences the lecture also gives elementary
derivations of the key results on fundamental limitations for minimum phase
and non-minimum phase systems. The results explain clearly why the rear
steered bicycle is difficult to ride. They also give a perspective on the
recent debate on fragile control. The lecture ends with a design challenge.
- 2240 DCL, 4:00 p.m.
- COMPUTER SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM
- Professor Joel Friedman, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
- Abstract:The topics of ``expanders" and ``graph eigenvalues" attract computer
scientists, mathematicians, and physicists; these topics, while
intrinsically interesting, also provide surprising and compelling
connections between The diverse fields.
An ``expander" is a type of graph with good connectivity properties. We
shall explain what ``expanders" are and how the eigenvalues of a graph's
adjacency matrix relate to ``expansion."
The study of ``expanders" and ``graph eigenvalues" includes connections to
many related topics. We shall explain a connection to obtaining upper
bounds on error-correcting codes.
Our discussion will be quite non-technical and will not assume prior
knowledge about expanders, eigenvalues, or error-correcting codes.
Prof. Friedman, a well-known researcher in combinatorial and
computational applications of linear algebra, is a candidate for a
position in Computer Science. There is a informal gathering for
graduate students to meet with him Tuesday 2/13 from 1pm to 2pm
in 2222 DCL. Faculty interested in speaking with him can arrange a
meeting by contacting Molly Flesner (mflesner@cs.uiuc.edu).
Refreshments at 3:30 p.m. in the DCL Lounge, 3310 DCL.
- 245 Altgeld Hall, 4:00 p.m.
- MATHEMATICS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
- Provost Richard Herman, UIUC
- A View from Inside the Beltway
- Abstract:Provost Herman, a mathematician, will speak on mathematics
and science funding and the political process.
Refreshments at 3:15 p.m. in Room 321 Altgeld Hall
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
- 3269 Beckman Institute, 2:30 p.m.
- THEORETICAL BIOPHYSICS SEMINAR
- Professor Nir Ben-Tal, Department of Biochemistry, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
- ConSurf: An Algorithmic Tool for the Identification of
Functional Regions in Proteins by Surface-Mapping of Phylogenetic Information
- Abstract:Experimental approaches for the identification of functionally
important regions on the surface of a protein involve mutagenesis, in
which exposed residues are replaced one after another while the
change in binding to other proteins or changes in activity are
recorded. However, practical considerations limit the use of these
methods to small-scale studies, precluding a full mapping of all the
functionally important residues on the surface of a protein. We
present here an alternative approach involving the use of
evolutionary data in the form of multiple-sequence alignment for a
protein family to identify hot spots and surface patches that are
likely to be in contact with other proteins, domains, peptides, DNA,
RNA or ligands. The underlying assumption in this approach is that
key residues that are important for binding should be conserved
throughout evolution, just like residues that are crucial for
maintaining the protein fold are, i.e., buried residues.
- B02 CSRL, 3:00 p.m.
- DECISION, CONTROL, AND OPTIMIZATION SEMINAR
- Richard D. Braatz, Department of Chemical Engineering, UIUC
- Challenges, Theory, and Applications in Process Control
- Abstract: Drivers for continued world economic growth, such as the
production of microelectronic devices and pharmaceuticals, are dependent on improving the
control of complex chemical processes. High performance feedback control
will be needed to achieve the small length scales required for the
resultant microelectronic devices to provide high computational speed.
Without smaller device sizes, Moore's Law cannot be followed, which would
limit the expansion of the information-based economy. In the
pharmaceutical industry, the primary bottleneck to the design and operation
of production-scale drug manufacturing facilities is associated with
difficulties in controlling the size and shape distribution of crystals
produced by complex crystallization processes. Poor control of this
crystal size distribution can completely halt the production of
pharmaceuticals, certainly a serious concern for the patients needing the
therapeutic benefit of the drug. The challenges in controlling these
processes are significant, and include model uncertainties, complex
nonlinear dynamics, limited information from measurements, and high
dimensionality. The lecture will describe control theoretic problems
motivated by these technologically important processes. While these
problems are ignored by most control theoreticians, we have the right set
of skills for solving them. Recent advances in controlling specific
processes from the pharmaceutical and microelectronics industry will be
discussed.
NOTE: Coffee and cookies at 2:40 p.m. before the seminar in Room 154 CSRL.
- 114 CSRL, 4:30 p.m.
- INFORMATION PROTECTION SEMINAR
- See Special Communications Seminar on Monday at 4:00 p.m.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15
- ESB 6.110, 12:00 p.m.
- MATH - PHYSICS (BCDE) LUNCH SEMINAR
- Dr. David Berenstein, Department of Physics, UIUC
- Branes on orbifolds, equivariant K-theory and non-commutative algebras
- 241 Altgeld Hall, 1:00 p.m.
- ANALYTIC NUMBER THEORY
- Professor Bruce Berndt, Department of Mathematics, UIUC
- Reciprocity theorems and explicit evaluations for finite
trigonometric sums
- 347 Altgeld Hall, 1:00 p.m.
- GROUP THEORY SEMINAR
- Ms. Donghi Lee
- Primitivity preserving endomorphisms of free groups, continued
- Abstract: We will continue to prove that every primitivity preserving
endomorphism of a free group of finite rank n ³ 3 is an
automorphism.
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 1:00 p.m.
- NONSTANDARD ANALYSIS
- Professor Yevgeniy Gordon
- Kachurovskii's proof of ergodic theorem based on nonstandard analysis
- Abstract: We continue to discuss the Thesis of Kachurovskii, where a
new proof of ergodic theorem based on Rokhlin - Halmos Lemma and nonstandard analysis was introduced. It will take four sessions.
- 241 Altgeld Hall, 2:00 p.m.
- ALGEBRAIC GROUPS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIONS
- name, Department of
- Organizational meeting
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 2:00 p.m.
- ALGEBRAIC NUMBER THEORY
- Professor Nigel Boston, Department of Mathematics, UIUC
- An Introduction to Abelian Varieties
- 145 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- COLORING THEORY RESEARCH GROUP
- Discussion of open problems
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- COMMUTATIVE RING THEORY RAP
- Andrew Richardson
- The Frobenius Map, continued
- 347 Altgeld Hall, 3:00 p.m.
- GALOIS MODULES
- Professor Marcin Mazur, Department of Mathematics, UIUC
- Application of trees and Euler systems to the lifted root number
conjecture, continued
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
- 243 Altgeld Hall, 4:00 p.m.
- MODEL THEORY SEMINAR
- Mr. Matthias Aschenbrenner
- Expansions of algebraically closed fields in o-minimal structures
- Abstract: We continue to study the paper of Peterzil and Starchenko
with the same title.
