IRMACS Days - 5th Anniversary
On Friday, April 9th, 2010, the IRMACS Centre will celebrate its 5th anniversary.
Program:
10:30 - 11:00 - MC'd by Ms. Pam Borghardt, Introductions and opening remarks by Dr. Mario Pinto, Dr. Peter Borwein, and Dr. Uwe Glaesser
11:00 - 11:45 - Presentation by Dr. Warren Hare, Department of Mathematics, UBCO, "The Book that IRMACS built''
Abstract: Healthcare systems worldwide face the challenge of delivering quality care while maintaining control over escalating costs. Conventional approaches to the organization of healthcare systems are failing, and policy-makers are turning to mathematical modelling in order to understand the healthcare system, and determine novel solutions to increase the quality of care. The result has been a newly opened field of research that explores how classical mathematical models can be adapted to work in the highly variable field of healthcare. Forecasting, Queueing Theory, Optimization, and Game Theory have all played a role in helping modern researchers understand the healthcare system. After a large survey, and numerous practical consultations with healthcare Authorities, the Complex Systems Modelling has recently completed a new textbook entitled "Modelling in Healthcare".
This is the story of how IRMACS made this book possible.
11:45 - 12:15 - Premiere of the documentary, "The IRMACS Centre: The First Five Years". Directed by Mr. Andy Gavel, the IRMACS Centre
The movie tells the chronicle of the Centre through a series of testimonials. The message is about the IRMACS Centre’s contribution to the scientific community as told by the IRMACS members, visitors, users, staff, and collaborators, past and present, through stories about their personal experiences. The outcome is a mosaic of stories, memories, facts and anecdotes, connected by photos and movie clips of people and events. Mr. Andy Gavel, is an alumni of the "Program in Film at the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts" working currently as a member of the AV Tech Support Team at the IRMACS Centre.
12:15 - 2:00 - IRMACS Researchers Poster Session: The list with the titles and the names of the authors of all posters is available at http://www.sfu.ca/irmacs-archive/irmacs/sites/default/files/Posters2010.pdf.
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch Reception
2:30 - 3:30 - 2010 CSC/PIMS Distinguished Speaker Series in Applied and Computational Mathematics: Dr. Micheal Unser, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, "Ten Good Reasons for using Splines for Signal/Image Processing"
Abstract: "Think analog, act digital" is a motto that is relevant to scientific computing and algorithm design in a variety of disciplines, including numerical analysis, image/signal processing, and computer graphics. Here, we will argue that cardinal splines constitute a theoretical and computational framework that is ideally matched to this philosophy, especially when the data is available on a uniform grid. We show that multidimensional spline interpolation or approximation can be performed most efficiently using recursive digital filtering techniques. We highlight a number of "optimal" aspects of splines (in particular, polynomial ones) and discuss fundamental relations with: (1) Shannon's sampling theory, (2) linear system theory, (3) wavelet theory, (4) regularization theory, (5) estimation theory, and (6) stochastic processes (in particular, fractals).
The practicality of the spline framework is illustrated with concrete image processing examples; these include derivative-based feature extraction, high-quality rotation and scaling, and (rigid body or elastic) image registration.
