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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220224T150800
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220224T160800
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T091941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T104857Z
UID:10002713-1645715280-1645718880@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Singular Set in Obstacle Problems
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: In this talk we describe a new method to study the singular set in the obstacle problem. This method does not depend on monotonicity formulae and works for fully nonlinear elliptic operators. The result we get matches the best-known result for the case of Laplacian.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2-24-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-2.24.2022-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220217T150500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220217T160500
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T092142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T105602Z
UID:10002714-1645110300-1645113900@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Sparse Markov Models for High-dimensional Inference
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Finite order Markov models are theoretically well-studied models for dependent data.  Despite their generality\, application in empirical work when the order is larger than one is quite rare.  Practitioners avoid using higher order Markov models because (1) the number of parameters grow exponentially with the order\, (2) the interpretation is often difficult. Mixture of transition distribution models (MTD)  were introduced to overcome both limitations. MTD represent higher order Markov models as a convex mixture of single step Markov chains\, reducing the number of parameters and increasing the interpretability. Nevertheless\, in practice\, estimation of MTD models with large orders are still limited because of curse of dimensionality and high algorithm complexity. Here\, we prove that if only few lags are relevant we can consistently and efficiently recover the lags and estimate the transition probabilities of high order MTD models. Furthermore\, we show that using the selected lags we can construct non-asymptotic confidence intervals for the transition probabilities of the model. The key innovation is a recursive procedure for the selection of the relevant lags of the model.  Our results are  based on (1) a new structural result of the MTD and (2) an improved martingale concentration inequality. Our theoretical results are illustrated through simulations.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2-17-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-2.17.2022-1-1583x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220210T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220210T160000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T092349Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T105720Z
UID:10002716-1644505200-1644508800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2/10/2022 – Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Metric Algebraic Geometry \nAbstract: A real algebraic variety is the set of points in real Euclidean space that satisfy a system of polynomial equations. Metric algebraic geometry is the study of properties of real algebraic varieties that depend on a distance metric. In this talk\, we introduce metric algebraic geometry through a discussion of Voronoi cells\, bottlenecks\, and the reach of an algebraic variety. We also show applications to the computational study of the geometry of data with nonlinear models.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2-10-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-2.10.2022-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220203T145700
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220203T165700
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T092602Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T105825Z
UID:10002717-1643900220-1643907420@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2/3/2022 – Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title:Quasiperiodic prints from triply periodic blocks \nAbstract: Slice a triply periodic wooden sculpture along an irrational plane. If you ink the cut surface and press it against a page\, the pattern you print will be quasiperiodic. Patterns like these help physicists see how metals conduct electricity in strong magnetic fields. I’ll show you some block prints that imitate the printing process described above\, and I’ll point out the visual features that reveal conductivity properties. \nInteractive slides:https://www.ihes.fr/~fenyes/seeing/slices/
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2-3-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-2.03.2022-1583x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220127T145400
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220127T165400
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T092855Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T092855Z
UID:10002718-1643295240-1643302440@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:1/27/2022 – Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Polynomials vanishing at lattice points in convex sets \nAbstract: Let P be a convex subset of R^2. For large d\, what is the smallest degree r_d of a polynomial vanishing at all lattice points in the dilate d*P? We show that r_d / d converges to some positive number\, which we compute for many (but maybe not all) triangles P.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-27-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-1.27.2022-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220120T145200
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220120T165200
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T093039Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093039Z
UID:10002719-1642690320-1642697520@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:1/20/2022 – Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Markov chains\, optimal control\, and reinforcement learning \nAbstract: Markov decision processes are a model for several artificial intelligence problems\, such as games (chess\, Go…) or robotics. At each timestep\, an agent has to choose an action\, then receives a reward\, and then the agent’s environment changes (deterministically or stochastically) in response to the agent’s action. The agent’s goal is to adjust its actions to maximize its total reward. In principle\, the optimal behavior can be obtained by dynamic programming or optimal control techniques\, although practice is another story. \nHere we consider a more complex problem: learn all optimal behaviors for all possible reward functions in a given environment. Ideally\, such a “controllable agent” could be given a description of a task (reward function\, such as “you get +10 for reaching here but -1 for going through there”) and immediately perform the optimal behavior for that task. This requires a good understanding of the mapping from a reward function to the associated optimal behavior. \nWe prove that there exists a particular “map” of a Markov decision process\, on which near-optimal behaviors for all reward functions can be read directly by an algebraic formula. Moreover\, this “map” is learnable by standard deep learning techniques from random interactions with the environment. We will present our recent theoretical and empirical results in this direction.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-20-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-01.20.22-1577x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220106T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220106T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T093525Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240529T175141Z
UID:10002721-1641459600-1641463200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The smooth closing lemma for area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Boyu Zhang\, Princeton University \nTitle: The smooth closing lemma for area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms \nAbstract: In this talk\, I will introduce the smooth closing lemma for area-preserving diffeomorphisms on surfaces. The proof is based on a Weyl formula for PFH spectral invariants and a non-vanishing result of twisted Seiberg- Witten Floer homology. This is joint work with Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner and Rohil Prasad.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-6-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-01.06.22.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T144600
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T154600
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T093643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093643Z
UID:10002722-1639665960-1639669560@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:12/16/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Quadratic reciprocity from a family of adelic conformal field theories \nAbstract: We consider a deformation of the 2d free scalar field action by raising the Laplacian to a positive real power. It turns out that the resulting non-local generalized free action is invariant under two commuting actions of the global conformal symmetry algebra\, although it’s no longer invariant under the local conformal symmetry algebra. Furthermore\, there is an adelic version of this family of global conformal field theories\, parametrized by the choice of a number field\, together with a Hecke character. Tate’s thesis plays an important role here in calculating Green’s functions of these theories\, and in ensuring the adelic compatibility of these theories. In particular\, the local L-factors contribute to prefactors of these Green’s functions. We shall try to see quadratic reciprocity from this context\, as a consequence of an adelic version of holomorphic factorization of these theories. This is work in progress with B. Stoica and X. Zhong.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-16-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T142900
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T152900
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T093828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093828Z
UID:10002723-1639060140-1639063740@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:12/9/21 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Numerical Higher Dimensional Geometry \nAbstract: In 1977\, Yau proved that a Kahler manifold with zero first Chern class admits a Ricci flat metric\, which is uniquely determined by certain “moduli” data. These metrics have been very important in mathematics and in theoretical physics\, but despite much subsequent work we have no analytical expressions for them. But significant progress has been made on computing numerical approximations. We give an introduction (not assuming knowledge of complex geometry) to these problems and describe these methods.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-9-21-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-12.09.21-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211202T142800
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211202T152800
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240215T094151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T110349Z
UID:10002725-1638455280-1638458880@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:12/2/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Polyhomogeneous expansions and Z/2-harmonic spinors branching along graphs \nAbstract: In this talk\, we will first reformulate the linearization of the moduli space of Z/2-harmonic spinorsv branching along a knot. This formula tells us that the kernel and cokernel of the linearization are isomorphic to the kernel and cokernel of the Dirac equation with a polyhomogeneous boundary condition. In the second part of this talk\, I will describe the polyhomogenous expansions for the Z/2-harmonic spinors branching along graphs and formulate the Dirac equation with a suitable boundary condition that can describe the perturbation of graphs with some restrictions. This is joint work with Andriy Haydys and Rafe Mazzeo.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-2-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211118T142500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211118T152500
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T075510Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T103505Z
UID:10002572-1637245500-1637249100@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:11/18/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Amplituhedra\, Scattering Amplitudes and Triangulations \nAbstract: In this talk I will discuss about Amplituhedra – generalizations of polytopes inside the Grassmannian – recently introduced by physicists as new geometric constructions encoding interactions of elementary particles in certain Quantum Field Theories. In particular\, I will explain how the problem of finding triangulations of Amplituhedra is connected to computing scattering amplitudes of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. Triangulations of polygons are encoded in the associahedron studied by Stasheff in the sixties; in the case of polytopes\, triangulations are captured by secondary polytopes constructed by Gelfand et al. in the nineties. Whereas a “secondary” geometry describing triangulations of Amplituhedra is still not known\, and we pave the way for such studies. We will discuss how the combinatorics of triangulations interplays with T-duality from String Theory\, in connection with a dual object we define – the Momentum Amplituhedron. A generalization of T-duality led us to discover a striking duality between triangulations of Amplituhedra of “m=2” type and the ones of a seemingly unrelated object – the Hypersimplex. The latter is a polytope which has been central in many contexts\, such as matroid theory\, torus orbits in the Grassmannian\, and tropical geometry. Based on joint works with Lauren Williams\, Melissa Sherman-Bennett\, Tomasz Lukowski [arXiv:2104.08254\, arXiv:2002.06164].
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/11-18-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211111T142200
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211111T152200
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240301T103744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T103744Z
UID:10002893-1636640520-1636644120@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:11/11/21 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: The Kervaire conjecture and the minimal complexity of surfaces \nAbstract: We use topological methods to solve special cases of a fundamental problem in group theory\, the Kervaire conjecture.\nThe conjecture asserts that\, for any nontrivial group G and any element w in the free product G*Z\, the quotient (G*Z)/<<w>> is still nontrivial. We interpret this as a problem of estimating the minimal complexity (in terms of Euler characteristic) of surfaces in HNN extensions. This gives a conceptually simple proof of Klyachko’s theorem that confirms the Kervaire conjecture for any G torsion-free. I will also explain new results obtained using this approach.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/11-11-21-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-11.11.21.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211104T184600
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211104T204600
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T080650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T103919Z
UID:10002580-1636051560-1636058760@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:11/4/21 CMSA Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Exploring Invertibility in Image Processing and Restoration \nAbstract: Today’s smartphones have enabled numerous stunning visual effects from denoising to beautification\, and we can share high-quality JPEG images easily on the internet\, but it is still valuable for photographers and researchers to keep the original raw camera data for further post-processing (e.g.\, retouching) and analysis. However\, the huge size of raw data hinders its popularity in practice\, so can we almost perfectly restore the raw data from a compressed RGB image and thus avoid storing any raw data? This question leads us to design an invertible image signal processing pipeline. Then we further explore invertibility in other image processing and restoration tasks\, including image compression\, reversible image conversion (e.g.\, image-to-video conversion)\, and embedding novel views in a single JPEG image. We demonstrate that customized invertible neural networks are highly effective in these inherently non-invertible tasks.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/11-4-21-cmsa-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-11.04.21-1583x2048-1-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211028T184500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211028T204500
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240301T104157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240305T104709Z
UID:10002894-1635446700-1635453900@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:ARCH: Know What Your Machine Doesn’t Know
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jie Yang\, Delft University of Technology \nTitle: ARCH: Know What Your Machine Doesn’t Know \nAbstract: Despite their impressive performance\, machine learning systems remain prohibitively unreliable in safety-\, trust-\, and ethically sensitive domains. Recent discussions in different sub-fields of AI have reached the consensus of knowledge need in machine learning; few discussions have touched upon the diagnosis of what knowledge is needed. In this talk\, I will present our ongoing work on ARCH\, a knowledge-driven\, human-centered\, and reasoning-based tool\, for diagnosing the unknowns of a machine learning system. ARCH leverages human intelligence to create domain knowledge required for a given task and to describe the internal behavior of a machine learning system; it infers the missing or incorrect knowledge of the system with the built-in probabilistic\, abductive reasoning engine. ARCH is a generic tool that can be applied to machine learning in different contexts. In the talk\, I will present several applications in which ARCH is currently being developed and tested\, including health\, finance\, and smart buildings.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/10-28-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211021T184400
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211021T204400
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T082555Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T104328Z
UID:10002587-1634841840-1634849040@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:10/21/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Mathematical resolution of the Liouville conformal field theory. \nAbstract: The Liouville conformal field theory is a well-known beautiful quantum field theory in physics describing random surfaces. Only recently a mathematical approach based on a well-defined path integral to this theory has been proposed using probability by David\, Kupiainen\, Rhodes\, Vargas. \nMany works since the ’80s in theoretical physics (starting with Belavin-Polyakov-Zamolodchikov) tell us that conformal field theories in dimension 2 are in general « Integrable »\, the correlations functions are solutions of PDEs and can in principle be computed explicitely by using algebraic tools (vertex operator algebras\, representations of Virasoro algebras\, the theory of conformal blocks). However\, for Liouville Theory this was not done at the mathematical level by algebraic methods. \nI’ll explain how to combine probabilistic\, analytic and geometric tools to give explicit (although complicated) expressions for all the correlation functions on all Riemann surfaces in terms of certain holomorphic functions of the moduli parameters called conformal blocks\, and of the structure constant (3-point function on the sphere). This gives a concrete mathematical proof of the so-called conformal bootstrap and of Segal’s gluing axioms for this CFT. The idea is to break the path integral on a closed surface into path integrals on pairs of pants and reduce all correlation functions to the 3-point correlation function on the Riemann sphere $S^2$. This amounts in particular to prove a spectral resolution of a certain operator acting on $L^2(H^{-s}(S^1))$ where $H^{-s}(S^1)$ is the Sobolev space of order -s<0 equipped with a Gaussian measure\, which is viewed as the space of fields\, and to construct a certain representation of the Virasoro algebra into unbounded operators acting on this Hilbert space. \nThis is joint work with A. Kupiainen\, R. Rhodes and V. Vargas.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/10-21-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211014T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211014T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T082843Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240529T180858Z
UID:10002588-1634202000-1634205600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:D3C: Reducing the Price of Anarchy in Multi-Agent Learning
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ian Gemp\, DeepMind \nTitle: D3C: Reducing the Price of Anarchy in Multi-Agent Learning \nAbstract: In multi-agent systems the complex interaction of fixed incentives can lead agents to outcomes that are poor (inefficient) not only for the group but also for each individual agent. Price of anarchy is a technical game theoretic definition introduced to quantify the inefficiency arising in these scenarios– it compares the welfare that can be achieved through perfect coordination against that achieved by self-interested agents at a Nash equilibrium. We derive a differentiable upper bound on a price of anarchy that agents can cheaply estimate during learning. Equipped with this estimator agents can adjust their incentives in a way that improves the efficiency incurred at a Nash equilibrium. Agents adjust their incentives by learning to mix their reward (equiv. negative loss) with that of other agents by following the gradient of our derived upper bound. We refer to this approach as D3C. In the case where agent incentives are differentiable D3C resembles the celebrated Win-Stay Lose-Shift strategy from behavioral game theory thereby establishing a connection between the global goal of maximum welfare and an established agent-centric learning rule. In the non-differentiable setting as is common in multiagent reinforcement learning we show the upper bound can be reduced via evolutionary strategies until a compromise is reached in a distributed fashion. We demonstrate that D3C improves outcomes for each agent and the group as a whole on several social dilemmas including a traffic network exhibiting Braess’s paradox a prisoner’s dilemma and several reinforcement learning domains.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/10-14-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-10.14.21.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211007T184100
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211007T184100
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T083403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240214T083403Z
UID:10002590-1633632060-1633632060@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:10/7/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: SiRNA Targeting TCRb: A Proposed Therapy for the Treatment of Autoimmunity \nAbstract: As of 2018\, the United States National Institutes of Health estimate that over half a billion people worldwide are affected by autoimmune disorders. Though these conditions are prevalent\, treatment options remain relatively poor\, relying primarily on various forms of immunosuppression which carry potentially severe side effects and often lose effectiveness over time. Given this\, new forms of therapy are needed. To this end\, we have developed methods for the creation of small-interfering RNA (siRNA) for hypervariable regions of the T-cell receptor β-chain gene (TCRb) as a highly targeted\, novel means of therapy for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. \nThis talk will review the general mechanism by which autoimmune diseases occur and discuss the pros and cons of conventional pharmaceutical therapies as they pertain to autoimmune disease treatment. I will then examine the rational and design methodology for the proposed siRNA therapy and how it contrasts with contemporary methods for the treatment of these conditions. Additionally\, the talk will compare the efficacy of multiple design strategies for such molecules by comparison over several metrics and discuss how this will be guiding future research.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/10-7-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T184000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T204000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240214T083814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T104847Z
UID:10002591-1632422400-1632429600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:9/23/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: The number of n-queens configurations \nAbstract: The n-queens problem is to determine Q(n)\, the number of ways to place n mutually non-threatening queens on an n x n board. The problem has a storied history and was studied by such eminent mathematicians as Gauss and Polya. The problem has also found applications in fields such as algorithm design and circuit development. \nDespite much study\, until recently very little was known regarding the asymptotics of Q(n). We apply modern methods from probabilistic combinatorics to reduce understanding Q(n) to the study of a particular infinite-dimensional convex optimization problem. The chief implication is that (in an appropriate sense) for a~1.94\, Q(n) is approximately (ne^(-a))^n. Furthermore\, our methods allow us to study the typical “shape” of n-queens configurations.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/9-23-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240212T111100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240222T072551Z
UID:10002042-1632387600-1632391200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The number of n-queens configurations
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Michael Simkin\, Harvard CMSA \nTitle: The number of n-queens configurations \nAbstract: The n-queens problem is to determine Q(n)\, the number of ways to place n mutually non-threatening queens on an n x n board. The problem has a storied history and was studied by such eminent mathematicians as Gauss and Polya. The problem has also found applications in fields such as algorithm design and circuit development. \nDespite much study\, until recently very little was known regarding the asymptotics of Q(n). We apply modern methods from probabilistic combinatorics to reduce understanding Q(n) to the study of a particular infinite-dimensional convex optimization problem. The chief implication is that (in an appropriate sense) for a~1.94\, Q(n) is approximately (ne^(-a))^n. Furthermore\, our methods allow us to study the typical “shape” of n-queens configurations.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210722T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210722T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240213T085509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240227T090807Z
UID:10002271-1626944400-1626948000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Moduli spaces of stable pairs on algebraic surfaces
DESCRIPTION:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar \nSpeaker: Yinbang Lin (Tongji University) \nTitle: Moduli spaces of stable pairs on algebraic surfaces \nAbstract: As a variant of Grothendieck’s Quot schemes\, we introduce the moduli space of limit stable pairs. We show an example over a smooth projective algebraic surface where there is a virtual fundamental class. We are able to describe this class explicitly. We will also show an application towards moduli of sheaves.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/7-22-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210708T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210708T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240213T084942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240213T084942Z
UID:10002260-1625734800-1625738400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:7/8/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/7-8-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210701T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210701T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240125T165332Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240125T165332Z
UID:10001342-1625130000-1625133600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:7/1/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/7-1-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210624T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210624T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240125T165458Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240125T165458Z
UID:10001343-1624525200-1624528800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:6/24/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/6-24-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210608T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210608T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240125T165918Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240125T165918Z
UID:10001346-1623142800-1623146400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:6/10/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/6-10-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210603T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210603T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240125T170637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240125T170637Z
UID:10001352-1622710800-1622714400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:6/3/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/6-3-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210527T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210527T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240125T170757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240125T170757Z
UID:10001353-1622106000-1622109600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:5/27/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-27-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210514T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210514T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240126T054816Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240126T054816Z
UID:10001365-1620982800-1620986400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:5/20/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-20-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210513T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210513T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240126T055111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240126T055111Z
UID:10001367-1620896400-1620900000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:5/13/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-13-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210506T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210506T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240126T055711Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240126T055711Z
UID:10001371-1620291600-1620295200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:5/6/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-6-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210429T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210429T100000
DTSTAMP:20260508T160640
CREATED:20240126T055535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240126T055535Z
UID:10001370-1619686800-1619690400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:4/29/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/4-29-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR