Current Graduate Course Descriptions (Spring 2009)
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CSE 4/563: Knowledge Representation
TOPIC: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Stuart C. Shapiro
DAY & TIME: MWF, 11:00 - 11:50
DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to the issues and techniques of representing knowledge and belief in a computer system. Of course, a representation is useless unless it can be used for some purpose. The main purpose of items of knowledge and belief is reasoning about and with them. Thus, the field is often called "Knowledge Representation and Reasoning", or "KRR". It is our belief that formal logic provides the basic foundation to KRR. So this course may be considered a course in computational logic. However, there are many systems of logic. The most well-known logics were designed to form the foundations of mathematics, rather than the foundations of human-like representation and reasoning. So this course examines several systems of logic, how they are defined, how reasoning procedures can be implemented for them, and how they can be used for human-like reasoning problems. This course provides a basic grounding in KRR for people interested in: Artificial Intelligence; Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Database Systems; Logic Programming; Philosophy of Mind and of Language; and applications areas that employ formal representations of ontologies.
PREREQUISITES: None
WEB PAGE: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~shapiro/Courses/CSE563/2009/
CSE 4/586: Distributed Systems
TOPIC: Distributed Systems
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Murat Demirbas
DAY & TIME: T R, 1400-1520
DESCRIPTION: This course will introduce concepts and mechanisms in the design and analysis of distributed systems, including: programming logics for distributed programs, global time and global state, distributed data structures, systems design, and representative distributed computing environments.
PREREQUISITES: CSE505/CSE305 or equivalent
CSE 664: Applied Cryptography and Computer Security
TOPIC: private communications (DES, AES, ECB, CBC, RSA, Rabin), identification and authentication techniques (passwords, certificates, SSH, Kerberos), secure protocols (digital cash, Internet auction, electronic voting).
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Sheng Zhong
DAY & TIME: T R 5:00-6:20pm
DESCRIPTION: As a crucial part of computer security, cryptography has become increasingly important. However, due to the mathematically complex nature of cryptography, misunderstandings, misuses, and abuses of cryptographic techniques are very common. There is a huge gap between the theory of cryptography and its application. In this course, we study cryptography in a rigorous manner. Our focus is correct application of cryptographic techniques in practical scenarios, rather than the mathematical foundations of these techniques. We stress careful design and analysis of secure systems using existing building blocks. Topics to be covered include private communications (DES, AES, ECB, CBC, RSA, Rabin), identification and authentication techniques (passwords, certificates, SSH, Kerberos), secure protocols (digital cash, Internet auction, electronic voting).
PREREQUISITES: None
WEB PAGE: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~szhong/courses/664CSE 696: Computational Complexity
TOPIC: Computational Complexity
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Alan Selman
DAY & Time: T R 12:30 PM-1:50 PM
DESCRIPTION: Nonuniform classes: Circuit classes and relations to uniform classes; parallel complexity: Alternating Turing machines, uniformity conditions, NC; Probabilistic classes; Toda's Theorem, interactive protocols.
PREREQUISITES: CSE 596
CSE 702: Rich Data and Queries
TOPIC: Current research issues in data models, query languages, and foundations of databases.
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Jan Chomicki
DAY & TIME: TBD
DESCRIPTION: The seminar will focus on new research problems and results in data models, query languages, and foundations of databases. Topics to be discussed include some of the following: preference queries, ranking, annotated databases, provenance, probabilistic databases, dataspaces, data integration and consistency, conditional dependencies and data cleaning, foundations of the Semantic Web. Each student will give a class presentation based on one or more current research papers, and prepare a report based on the class discussion. There will also be presentations by the instructor and invited speakers.
PREREQUISITES:A solid background in database management systems and some knowledge of logic.
WEB PAGE: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~chomicki/cse702-s09.htmlCSE 734: Cyber Physical Spaces: Concepts and Technologies
TOPIC: Cyber Physical Spaces: Concepts and Technologies
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Bharat Jayaraman
DAY & TIME: Once a week, TBD
DESCRIPTION: This seminar will explore underlying concepts and technologies in the creation of 'cyber physical environments'. A cyber physical environment is one that is embedded with sensors, actuators, computers, and communication devices that are interfaced gracefully with humans via natural interfaces such as speech, gestures, etc. This is an exciting new field that has a wide range of applications that can enhance quality of life, productivity at the workplace, alert systems for natural disasters, as well as public safety and homeland security.Broadly speaking, we may distinguish two types of cyber physical environments: indoor and outdoor. We will focus on indoor environments, a topic that is of particular interest for our department as we plan the 'smart room' of the new building, which is expected to be ready for occupancy by 2011. Indoor environments do not incur some of the challenges in power-supply and bandwidth that confront outdoor environments.
We are interested in biometric-based cyber physical systems, in which occupants are identified and tracked using biometric capture devices such as cameras, microphones, etc. We are also interested in answering spatio-temporal queries about the whereabouts of occupants. Such systems can be used in homes for the elderly or disabled, department stores, and eventually in larger arenas such as airports.
In this seminar we will explore the role of declarative knowledge and reasoning as a means of enhancing the recognition capabilities of biometric-based cyber physical systems. Towards this end, we will explore how to characterize the performance of the environment in terms of the information-theoretic concepts of precision and recall. Some preliminary approaches are described in papers 2008-1 and 2008-12 in CSE Technical Report Archive. We are interested in exploring how recognition and reasoning can be augmented with user interaction via speech and gestures, and actions that effect changes in the environment; as well as environments that improve their performance by learning from past behaviors. Other topics can be included depending upon student interest.
Students taking the seminar will be expected to make one or two class presentations and contribute towards an implementation or work on a research paper, with the approval of the seminar instructor. Students can participate in ongoing research projects in this area, and engage in experimental as well as conceptual/theoretical research.
+ Course Requirements: Class Presentation and Course Project
+ Grading Scheme: S/U, as per Department policy
Please email Dr. Jayaraman (bharat@cse.buffalo.edu) if you are interested in taking the seminar for credit.
PREREQUISITES:Graduate Standing, Interest in Artificial Intelligence
WEB PAGE: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/LRG/CSE734/-
CSE 736: Seminar on Cognitive Robotics
TOPIC: Cognitive Robotics
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Stuart C. Shapiro
DAY & TIME: To Be Arranged
DESCRIPTION: The seminar will be a cooperative project in which each participant will implement at least one, hardware or software, cognitive robot over the course of the semester, while sharing techniques with the group, and discussing theoretical background as we go. We will have a planning meeting before the end of the Fall semester to discuss possible hardware and software platforms.
PREREQUISITES: Permission of Instructor
WEB PAGE: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~shapiro/Courses/CSE736/