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Seminars, Training Programs and Conferences @ AIT

15 Jan 2002
AIT

Seminars, Training Programs and
Conferences @ AIT

1. AN INVITATION TO COMPUTATIONAL TOPOLOGY AND CURVE RECONSTRUCTION

The Computer Science and Information Management (CSIM) Program, School of Advanced Technologies, will be holding a seminar on Wednesday, 16 January 2002, 9:00 a.m. in room 209, CSIM Building.

The seminar, ‘AN INVITATION TO COMPUTATIONAL TOPOLOGY AND CURVE RECONSTRUCTION’ will be conducted by Dr. Sumanta Guha, Associate Professor Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Dept., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA

CSIM students are requested to attend. Others are most welcome.

Abstract:

This is a two-part talk. In the first part I will present results of work done in the emerging field of computational topology. We will analyze the structure of complexes (objects that have a triangulation) in the real world R^3 and give algorithms to determine certain properties of these objects that remain invariant under ‘homotopic’ transformation. A homotopy is essentially a ‘plastic’ transformation. Eg., the letter ‘a’ is homotopic
to the letter ‘o’ – one can be ‘squeezed’ into the other. The topological property that their shapes share is having one ‘tunnel’ through them. Similarly, ‘B’ is homotopic to ‘8’. We give algorithms to compute the number of tunnels through and voids inside a 3D-complex – quantities, called Betti numbers, that remain unchanged by plastic transformation. The talk, including many visual examples, is intended to convey to a general CS audience the flavor of an interesting new discipline that studies shape and geometry.

The second part of the talk is of a more applied nature and based upon on-going work. The problem we will deal with is the following: given a sample of points from some unknown curve, we will attempt to reconstruct the original
curve. This problem, as well as its twin problem of surface reconstruction (reconstruct an unknown surface from a sample of points), has many practical applications – in domains such as medical imaging and terrain analysis where sample data are obtained from a digitized scanner. Both the curve and surface reconstruction problems have been of great recent interest in the computational geometry community and a set of algorithms has developed, all based on Delaunay triangulation. We propose a new paradigm to reconstruct curves based on bounding curvature and detecting monotone pieces. Our method is computationally more efficient than Delaunay-based methods and preliminary implementations indicate comparable output. The paradigm potentially extends to surface reconstruction. In the talk, I will try to show the main underlying ideas and implementation methodology.

2. BENEFICIAL REUSES OF SELECTED WASTE MATERIALS IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

A special seminar on ‘Beneficial Reuses of Selected Waste Materials in Road Construction’ will be held on Friday, 18 January 2002 at 10:00 a.m. in Room N238, SCE Building.

The seminar will be conducted by Dr. Ramzi Taha, the prospective candidate for faculty position in the Transportation Engineering field of study, Transportation and Infrastructure Engineering Program, School of Civil Engineering. He obtained his doctoral, masters and bachelor degrees from Texas A&M; University, USA in 1989, 1986 and 1984, respectively.

Abstract

This presentation will address the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) aggregate in road bases and sub-bases and the utilization of cement by-pass dust (CBPD) in soil stabilization.

In many countries, RAP aggregate is generally recycled into new asphalt paving mixtures. However, large quantities of RAP aggregate remain unutilized and further uses should be explored. A laboratory evaluation of RAP and RAP-virgin aggregate mixtures as road base and sub-base materials is described here. Physical, compaction, and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were conducted on the following RAP/virgin aggregate blends: 100/0, 80/20, 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, and 0/100 percent. Initial results indicate that RAP could be expected to replace virgin aggregate in the pavement sub-base structure with satisfactory results if the RAP material were mixed with virgin aggregate. Best results were obtained for the 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, and 0/100 percent RAP/virgin aggregate blends. Higher dry density and CBR values are obtained as virgin aggregate content is increased. However, only minimal use of RAP (about 10 percent) can be expected in road bases.

CBPD or cement kiln dust (CKD) is a by-product of the manufacture of Portland cement. It is generated during the calcining process in the kiln. Lime constitutes more than 60 percent of CBPD composition. Oman Cement Company generates about 25,000 to 30,000 tons of CBPD every year. Some CBPD is used as a filler for road asphalting. The remainder of CBPD is disposed of on-site without any further reuse or reclamation. As such, research was carried out to investigate the beneficial reuse of CBPD in the stabilization of a high plasticity silty (MH) soil. The soil was stabilized with 0, 3, 6, and 9 percent CBPD. Mixtures were subjected to the following tests: (1) Atterberg limits, (2) pH, (3) compaction, (4) California Bearing Ratio (CBR), (5) swell percent, and (6) swell pressure. Results indicate that as CBPD content increases, the swell percent and maximum dry density decrease while the pH and CBR values tend to increase. Thus, CBPD could potentially act similar to lime or cement in improving the properties of silty soils.

Interested persons are most welcome. TE students are expected to attend. For further details, please contact Mr. Djoen San Santoso at extension 6423.

3. MAP INFO TRAINING

Map Info Thailand will conduct a training on Map Info GIS Software
as per following schedule. STAR students and students registered for
AT00.01 will be given preference.

January 23, 10:00 a.m. – 12 noontime
January 26, 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
February 6, 10:00 a.m. – 12 noontime

The seminar will be held in room E233, Institute Wide GIS Lab, Academic Building South
Limited number of 30 trainees only are allowed in the training. Students will be registered on first-come-first serve basis. For those who would like to join the training, please e-mail Dr. Tripathi at: [email protected]

4. ITSERV USER TRAINING

In order to familiarize new users with the Institute’s Internet services, ITServ will conduct series of user training as follows:

28 Jan. – Email and other Internet applications
30 Jan. – Remote dial-up services
31 Jan and 1 Feb. – HTML and Web Publishing

The training will be held at Milton E. Bender, Jr. Auditorium from 12 noontime to 1:00 p.m.
Interested persons are invited to attend and no prior registration is required.