Recruitment for RA for Computer Vision and Image Processing project

Dear all,

Prof Maylor Leong has a vacancy for research assistant (RA) for 12 months to work in the area of computer vision and image processing.
Please contact Prof Maylor Leong at leungkh@utar.edu.my for further details.

Topic: Object recognition employing shape based indexing
Abstract:
The aims of this proposal are two-folds: to research on an object finder for the visually impaired (VI) and to guide the VI to reach such an object, making use of the Computer Vision technique.
For a few decades, computer scientists and engineers have attached cameras to a computer and attempt to teach a machine to see. Great success has been achieved in controlled environment when the lighting and background can be controlled. The problem remains unsolved in uncontrolled places, in particular, when objects are placed in arbitrary poses in cluttered and occluded environment. In general, object recognition is a difficult process since it needs to recognize object category. For example, a car can come with different makes and shapes. To make the matter worse, a car can also come with particular painting or pattern on its body. The recognition of a particular car is not very interesting while the recognition of the car category is more meaningful and can find more useful applications. Researchers have employed learning technique to train a classifier to tackle this category recognition problem in controlled environment. However, few have tackled this problem in cluttered environment. So far, no effective solution has yet been found.
According to our aims, we propose to research on an object finder trained to recognize at least 20 common types of objects found in cluttered environment. The proposed guidance for the VI to reach an object should investigate the matching process from object physical space to the mental space of the VI. An intelligent HCI (human computer interface) employing multi-media processing is needed. For the recognition part, there are many good approaches for single object recognition in controlled environment but there is no working technique for multiple objects recognition in cluttered environment. Here, the proposed approach is based on the idea that human can identify and recognize an occluded object from a cluttered environment, provided that enough locally perceived clues and/or distinguishable portion of the object can be observed. This observation forms the core idea for this work to test and research on. The proposed work is relevant to world emphasis on assistive technology for the elderly and less fortunate. Furthermore the researched techniques can be readily employed on a robot to support work on service robot for elder care and domestic task. This is relevant and significant to industry in Malaysia.

Recruitment for RA in the study of 3D Protein Structure

For those who is interested, please contact Dr Ng Yen Kaow at ykng@utar.edu.my

Talk on Experience in Wall Street and Silicon Valley

Dear All,

You are welcome to attend the following talk:

Title: Experience in Wall Street and Silicon Valley
Speaker: Mr. Ooi Chok Leang
Date & time: 27/12/2011 (Tuesday), 10.30 a.m.
Venue: 6th floor, SA block, FES, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

Abstract of talk: Mr. Ooi will focus talk on his experience both on Wall Street as
well as Silicon Valley, describing how he landed a position in finance after
college, his experience thru the Credit Crisis of 2008, his move to Silicon Valley
after the financial crash, and his eventual return to New York.

Background of speaker: Ooi Chok Leang is currently Principal and Senior Project
Manager at Lab49, a technology consulting firm that builds advanced solutions for
the major investment banks and hedge funds on Wall Street. He is also Managing
Director at Agility IO, a consulting and outsourcing firm working with Silicon
Valley startups. Prior to the current roles, Chok Leang was Senior Development
Analyst at Goldman Sachs, and Assistant Vice President at Bank of America in New
York. Chok Leang also worked at a Silicon Valley startup called Loopt, where he
was a Server Development Manager. He also had the role as Chief Technology Officer
at Azap Mobile in San Francisco. Chok Leang graduated with a degree in Computer
Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

Seminar: Using semantic tables in XML query processing

Date: 20 Dec 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 1pm - 2pm
Venue: 6th Floor Meeting Room, SA Block, FES, UTAR KL Campus, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Ling Tok Wang, NUS, Singapore.
Title: Using semantic tables in XML query processing
Abstract: Processing a twig pattern query in XML document includes structural search and content search. Most existing algorithms only focus on structural search. They treat content nodes the same as element nodes during query processing with structural joins. Due to the high variety of contents, to mix content search and structural search suffers from management problem of contents and low performance. Another disadvantage is to find the actual values asked by a query, they have to rely on the original document. In this talk, we propose a novel algorithm Value Extraction with Relational Table (VERT) to overcome these limitations. The main technique of VERT is introducing relational tables to store document contents instead of treating them as nodes and labeling them. Tables in our algorithm are created based on semantic information of documents. As more semantics is captured, we can further optimize tables and queries to significantly enhance efficiency. Last, we show by experiments that besides solving different content problems, VERT also has superiority in performance of twig pattern query processing compared with existing algorithms.  We also extend VERT to process queries involving ID references or general queries with multiple join-linked twig patterns and queries involving grouping and aggregations.

CCIS Seminar: Image Super Resolution: Its Techniques and Applications

Dear all,

You are welcome to attend the following talk:

Date: 14 December 2011 (Wednesday)
Time: 11am - 12pm
Venue: MIMOS Lab, Ground Floor, SB Block, UTAR KL Campus, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaker: Chua Kah Keong
Title: Image Super-Resolution: Its Techinques & Applications

Abstract:
Super-resolution (SR) image reconstruction is the process of combining several low resolution (LR) images to form a High Resolution (HR) image. In this presentation, the principle of image SR and several techniques are introduced. In addition, the image SR applications and enhancement using Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) will be covered as well.

DMAS & CMS Seminar Series, 9/12/2011, Friday 11am-12pm, Level 6, West Room, SA block, Setapak Campus

==============================================================================
Department of Mathematical and Actuarial Sciences & Centre of Mathematical
Sciences Seminar Series

Date: 9 December 2011 (Friday)
Time: 11am - 12 pm
Venue: Level 6, West Room, SA block, UTAR Setapak Campus, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaker: Prof. Jeremy Levesley
Title: Radial Basis Function Approximation
===============================================================================

Dear all,

This week's DMAS & CMS talk will be on Friday, 11am-12pm. The speaker is Prof.
Jeremy Levesley from Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester, UK.


Abstract:
Radial basis functions have become an important tool for scattered data approximation, and theoretically can be used for approximation in
high dimensions. There is a very beautiful abstract theory of approximation involving so called native space (which I will not talk about). There is some interest in the finance industry in RBFs because of the possibility of high dimensional approximation and solution of partial differential equations. In this talk I will discuss some of the problems which arise with approximation with such functions, such as ill-conditioning and computation of full linear systems. I will offer some hope for the solution of these problems.

All are welcome.

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Event Committee.

Research Assistant Wanted

Research Assistant Wanted

The Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), is currently looking for suitable candidates to assist in the Transportation research projects. The research projects are "Microscopic Modeling of Drivers' Merging Behavior at Roundabouts under Oversaturated Condition" by UTAR Research Fund (UTARRF) and "The Novel Development of A Dynamic In-vehicle Guidance and Navigation System in Malaysia" by Exploratory Research Grant Scheme (ERGS). The duration of the appointment is one year. We are looking for highly motivated and dedicated candidates to join us in the research work. The candidates should also keen to register with us as a postgraduate student. The monthly stipend paid to the candidates is RM 2000 (UTARRF) or RM1500 (ERGS). The expected work commencement date is 1^st Jan 2012.

 

Job Description:

·         Traffic data collection

·         Process and analyse the collected data.

·         Develop mathematical models to describe drivers' behavior or willing to pay for travel information.

·         Develop an intelligent route searching algorithm or traffic simulation model for driver's behavior.

Requirements:

1.       Candidate with Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechtronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics with Computing are welcome to apply.

2.       Candidates should have at least a 3.0 CGPA (4-point system) for their Bachelor Degree study.

3.       Candidates with computer programming knowledge are an added advantage.

4.       Candidates should register as postgraduate students (Master by Research) with UTAR.

Interested candidates, please contact me via email for the interview arrangement:

 

Dr. Khoo Hooi Ling

Assistant Professor/Head

Department of Civil Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Science

Email: khoohl@utar.edu.my

No. Telephone: 03-41079802, Ext. 151