UMBC CSEE Colloquium

Local Thresholding for Structured and Unstructured Graphs

Dr. Ran Wolff, Haifa University, Israel

2:00pm Friday, 28 September 2012, ITE 325B
note unusual time and room

Local thresholding algorithms were first offered a decade ago as a communication thrifty alternative for computation in large distributed environments. Their disadvantage, however, has always been in their brittleness. A single cycle in the communication graph could mean the algorithm converges to the wrong value. This talk describes two advances in local thresholding algorithms which overcome the demand for cycle freedom. The first is a local tree induction protocol for structured peer-to-peer networks which seamlessly integrates with the local thresholding algorithm. The second are new local stopping and update rules which permit execution of the local thresholding algorithm on general graphs. The first solution vastly outperforms a gossip based algorithm on simple computation tasks in a Chord-like peer-to-peer network. The second may transform the way data is processed in wireless sensor networks, where gossip is mostly considered impermissibly costly.

UMBC Host: Hillol Kargupta, Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address.

More information and directions

On Thursday, September 27, the Humanities Forum will present the annual Robert K. Webb History Department Lecture with Judith Walkowitz of Johns Hopkins University.

Walkowitz will speak on “Schleppers and Shoppers: Jews, Street Markets, and the Selling of Ready-to-Wear Fashion in London in the 1920′s and 1930′s” at 5 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.

The lecture will spotlight a Jewish street market that emerged as the cutting edge retail space for mass market fashion in the West End. Whereas journalists described the smartly-dressed, fast-talking shop assistants locally known as “schleppers,” and the working-class female patrons they pulled into gown shops as straying from the class codes and styles of established English culture, Jewish Sohoites told hilarious tales of the “schlepper” as a Jewish street character, alternately resembling a red hot mama and a flashily dressed fellow emulating the dress of celluloid gangsters. Their memories recall a safe and modern space of ethnic settlement, simultaneously tied to Soho’s irregular world of sex, crime, and entertainment.

More information can be found here.

The Pitch Across Maryland Tour rolled into UMBC yesterday and the Daily Record was on hand to cover it.

“The statewide Pitch Across Maryland tour targets dozens of hopeful entrepreneurs from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. At each stop, participants meet and receive feedback from top business leaders and have the opportunity to record a four- to six-minute business pitch inside the bus studio,” wrote Daily Record reporter, Alissa Gulin in her story, Startup Maryland and its studio bus rolls into UMBC. “A panel of business professionals will judge the entries and choose several to advance to the next round. The winners will fine-tune their pitches for showcase at the Entrepreneur Expo, an event on Nov. 13 sponsored by the Maryland Technology Development Corp., or TEDCO.”

• Kelly Cyr, a UMBC graduate student and alumna (class of 2012), describes building a volunteer force to help animals at the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) 
• Jen Treger, Community Health and Safety Specialist in the Division of Student Affairs, invites students to learn how to be advocates for safety and justice through the Green Dot program.  The initiative's kickoff event will take place this Friday, September 21st.
• Communications Manager Dinah Winnick shares Governor O'Malley's call for a day of service on Saturday, September 29th, and provides links to UMBC initiatives through which students can dig more deeply into the issues the event will address.
• Political Science professor Carolyn Forestiere, recipient of a BreakingGround course development grant, describes modifications to her research methods course that will position students to connect with community members and provide them with information about themselves.
• Craig Berger, my Co-Create UMBC writing partner and Coordinator of Student Life for Campus and Civic Agency, reflects on BreakingGround themes emerging at the annual Student Government Association retreat.

--David Hoffman

Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.

New York City Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 8:00am

All Guests = $30

Ticket #: SOLD OUT!

King's Dominion Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 11:00am

All Guests = $35

Ticket #: SOLD OUT!

Renaissance Festival Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 10:30am 

All Guests = $20

Ticket #: 6 of 49

Homecoming Comedy Show: BJ Novak

(seb)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

8:00pm

RAC

All Guests = $10

Ticket #: 190 of 2000

Ira Glass Lecture

Saturday, October 13, 2012

10:30am

University Center, Ballroom

UMBC ID = $5.00 (limit 1/ID)

Ticket #: 25 of 70

Midnight Premiere: Paranormal Activity 4

(seb)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 11:00pm

All Guests = $5

Ticket #: 1 of 260

Hershey Park Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 12:00pm

All Guests = $35

Ticket #: 6 of 48