Message from the Coordinator

160 participants attended the DYSCO study day at KULeuven last Friday, organized in a very special place full of engineering history. I wish to thank Dirk Roose and his team for a perfect organization, as well as the speakers and the roughly 60 participants who presented their poster. I had to leave after lunch to attend an academic ceremony at the Senate celebrating the 50 years of scientific policy in Belgium, but the feedback I have received is that the poster sessions presented by the new PhD researchers were very well received. In addition, it was more than fitting, in this historical building devoted to thermodynamics and machines, to end the day with a lecture on the thermodynamics of control.

With this last Newsletter of the year, DYSCO has three good reasons to celebrate. Yurii Nesterov (UCL) has received the very prestigious John Neumann Theory Prize, awarded by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, for fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences. Previous recipients of this prize include people like George Dantzig, Richard Bellman, Harold Kuhn and Albert Tucker, Peter Whittle, Arkadi Nemirovski and others. Rodolphe Sepulchre (ULg) has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to nonlinear systems, and Alain Sarlette (also from ULg) has been awarded the "2009 European PhD award on embedded, networked or distributed control" for his PhD thesis entitled "Geometry and symmetries in coordination control". My warmest congratulations to all three.

And with this, I already wish you all a happy Christmas season.

Michel Gevers
DYSCO coordinator

Staff Movements and Visitors

UCL-INMA

• Sophie HAUTPHENNE, Post-Doc (ULB), joined the team of Vincent Blondel on November 20, 2009. She will work on the analysis of virus propagation.
• Manuel LOPEZ, Post-Doc (University of Seville), will work with Professor Vincent Blondel from December 1, 2009 until March 31, 2010 on the research topic "complex system control".

KUL 1

Pieter Van den Kerkhof has started a PhD thesis at KUL1/BioTeC since October 1st, 2009.

UGent-SYSTeMS

• Prof. Cesar DE PRADA from Universidad de Valladolid, Spain, Department of Systems and Automation, was a guest of Prof. De Keyser between 23-27 November 2009. His expertise is in advanced control, modeling and simulation, process optimisation from the point of view of plant wide control with economical implications and dynamic optimization methods, systems for supervision, real-time control and industrial applications, computer aided control systems design and educational systems.
• Prof. J. TENREIRO-MACHADO from Institute of Electrical Engineering, Porto, Portugal, will be a guest of Prof. De Keyser between 27 november - 2 december 2009. He is one of the leader names in Fractional Calculus and its applications in interdisciplinary sciences. His research covers the following fields: electronics, hydraulics, robotics, nonlinear dynamics, evolutionary computing, intelligent systems, control and fractional order systems.
• Prof. Viorel DUGAN from "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Romania, department of Automation and Computer Science, will be a guest of Prof. De Keyser between 29 november - 7 december 2009. His research covers: modelling, simulation and control, insular stability studies of thermal power plants, statistic-probabilistic methods, electromagnetic compatibility in power systems, active filters to cancel current harmonics.

Theses Defences

KUL 1

Paschalis Tsiaflakis, Resource Management and Optimization in Multi-User DSL Systems, November 3, 5:00 pm, ESAT Aud. B

ULB

Thomas Delwiche, Contribution to the design of control laws for bilateral teleoperation with a view to applications in minimally invasive surgery, December 9, 4:30 pm, building D, room DC2.223, Solbosch Campus of ULB, 50 av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels.

Seminars

UCL

• December 1, 2009 - 14:00 - Euler Building
  Damien ERNST (ULg), Learning about near-optimal policies from a sample of trajectories.
• December 4, 2009 - 11:00 - - Euler Building
  Thomas CASON (Large Graphs and Neworks, UCL), Similarity Measures in Graphs
• December 8, 2009 - 14:00 - Euler Building
  Charlotte BEAUTHIER (FUNDP), Modelling Competitive Coexistence in a Chemostat by LQ Type State Feedback.
• December 11, 2009 - 11:00 -Euler Building
  Katrijn FREDERIX (K.U.Leuven), Large eigenvalue problems and spectral clustering.
• December 15, 2009 - 14:00 - Euler Building
  Quentin RENTMEESTERS (CESAME), Filtering on manifolds.

UGent - SYSTeMS

SYSTeMS dialogues

December 1, 2009, from 2 pm
Technologiepark 913, 9052 Zwijnaarde
Prof. Jose TENREIRO MACHADO, Application of Fractional Calculus in Engineering Sciences.

Papers produced by the IAP Network

UCL

Devolder O., Glineur F., Nesterov Y., Solving Infinite-dimensional Optimization Problems by Polynomial Approximation, submitted, 2009

Denies J., Dehez B., Glineur F. and Ben Ahmed H., Impact of the material distribution formalism on the efficiency of evolutionary methods for topology optimization, submitted, 2009

Helleputte T., Dupont P., Glineur F., Ben-David S., A principled approach to feature selection from multiple datasets, accepted for oral presentation to the "Transfer Learning for Structured Data" workshop, in conjunction with NIPS 2009.

Qi C., Gallivan K. A., Absil P.-A., Riemannian BFGS algorithm with applications, submitted, 2009

Rentmeesters Q., Absil P.-A., Van Dooren P., Gallivan K. A., Srivastava A., ''An efficient particle filtering technique on the Grassmann manifold'', submitted to ICASSP, 2009

Rentmeesters Q., Absil P.-A., Van Dooren P., Identification method for time-varying ARX models, submitted to the 14th Belgian-French-German conference on optimization (BFG09), 2009

André T., Lefèvre P., Thonnard JL, Fingertip moisture is optimally modulated during object manipulation, Journal of Neurophysiology, in press, 2009

Daye P., Blohm G., Lefèvre P., Saccadic compensation for smooth eye and head movements during head-unrestrained 2D tracking, Journal of Neurophysiology, in press, 2009

KUL 1

Deburchgraeve W., Cherian P.J., De Vos M., Swarte R.M., Blok J.H., Visser G.H., Govaert P., Van Huffel S., Time varying neonatal seizure localization, Internal Report 09-219, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 248310

Yazbek J., Ameye L., Testa A.C., Valentin L., Timmerman D., Holland T.K., Van Holsbeke C., Jurkovic D., Confidence of expert ultrasound operators in making a diagnosis of adnexal tumor: effect on diagnostic accuracy and interobserver agreement, Internal Report 09-220, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Accepted for publication in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lirias number: 249544

Yazbek J., Ameye L., Timmerman D., Testa A.C., Valentin L., Holland T.K., Van Holsbeke C., Jurkovic D., Use of ultrasound pattern recognition by expert operators to identify borderline ovarian tumors: a study of diagnostic performance and interobserver agreement, Internal Report 09-221, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Accepted for publication in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lirias number: 249545

Alzate C., Janssens F., Glanzel W., Suykens J.A.K., De Moor B., Kernel Spectral Clustering of Scientific Journals Using a Data Integration Scheme, Internal Report 09-222, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009

De Moor B., Evolutie, complexiteit en creativiteit, in Chapter 12 Nieuwigheid Denken, (Van Belle H., and Vanderveken J., eds.), ACCO (Leuven, Belgium), 2008, Lirias number: 249546

De Brabanter K., De Brabanter J., Suykens J.A.K., De Moor B., Kernel Regression with Correlated Errors, Internal Report 09-228, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009

Agudelo M., The application of proper orthogonal decomposition to the control of tubular reactors, PhD thesis, Faculty of Engineering, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), Nov. 2009, 190 p., Lirias number: 246238

De Lathauwer L., Comon P., Mastronardi N. (eds.), Special Issue: Tensor Decompositions and Applications, vol. 30 of SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (Philadelphia, Pennssylvania), 2008, 430 p., Lirias number: 251175

Vandeput S., Taelman J., Spaepen A., Van Huffel S., Distinction between Physical and Mental Stress in a Laboratory Environment using Heart Rate Variability Characteristics, Internal Report 09-231, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 251175

De Brabanter K., Sahhaf S., Karsmakers P., De Brabanter J., Suykens J.A.K., De Moor B., Nonparametric Comparison of Densities Based on Statistical Bootstrap, Internal Report 09-233, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 251175

Van Belle V., Pelckmans K., Suykens J.A.K., Van Huffel S., Support vector methods for survival analysis in clinical applications, Internal Report 09-235, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 251175

Van Belle V., Pelckmans K., Suykens J.A.K., Van Huffel S., On the use of a clinical kernel in survival analysis, Internal Report 09-236, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 251175

Signoretto M., Daemen A., Savorgnan C., Suykens J. A. K., Variable Selection and Grouping with Multiple Graph Priors, Internal Report 09-237, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, OPT 2009: 2nd NIPS Workshop on Optimization for Machine Learning, Lirias number: 251772

Zhang J., Moonen M., A robust and computationally efficient subspace-based fundamental frequency estimator, Internal Report 09-238, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009. IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language Processing, Lirias number: 251772

Alzate C., Suykens J.A.K., Highly Sparse Kernel Spectral Clustering with Predictive Out-of-Sample Extensions, Internal Report 09-239, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Lirias number: 251772

Diehl M., Amrit R., Rawlings J.B., A lyapunov function for economic optimizing model predictive control, Internal Report 09-240, ESAT-SISTA, K.U.Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 2009, Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Lirias number: 251773

Bonilla J., Diehl M., Logist F., De Moor B., Van Impe J., An automatic initialization procedure in parameter estimation problems with parameter-affine dynamic models, accepter for publication in Computer & Chemical Engineering, 2009

Mertens L., Geeraerd A.H., Dang T.D.T., Vermeulen A., Serneels K., Van Derlinden E., Cappuyns A.M., Moldenaers P., Debevere J., Devlieghere F., Van Impe J.F., Design of an experimental viscoelastic food model system for studying Zygosaccharomyces bailii spoilage in acidic sauces, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75 (22): 7060-7069, 2009

UGent - SYSTeMS

Vyncke T.J., Boel R.K. and Melkebeek J.A.A., On Extended Kalman Filters with Augmented State Vectors for the Stator Flux Estimation in SPMSMs, APEC2010 conference

De Mulder W., Kuiper M., Boel R., Validating Clusterings of Gene Expression Data, 2nd International Conference on Computer and Automation, Singapore, 26 - 28 februari 2010

VUB-ELEC

Li Z., Bruyndonckx P., Wedrowski M., Vandersteen G., 3D Nonlinear Least Squares Position Estimation in a Monolithic Scintillator Block, Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, 25-31 October 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA

Bronckers S., Scheir K., Van der Plas G., Vandersteen G., A Methodology to Predict the Impact of Substrate Noise in Analog/RF Systems, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Vol. 28, No. 11, November 2009, pp. 1613-1626

KUL 2

Huybrechs D., Iserles A., Norsett S., From high oscillation to rapid convergence - IV: Accelerating convergence, IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis, 2009

Huybrechs D., On the Fourier extension of non-periodic functions, SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, 2009

Bultheel A., Lasarow A., On the existence of para-orthogonal rational functions on the unit circle, Analysis, 2009

Bultheel A., Cruz Barroso R., Van Barel M., ''On Gauss-type quadrature formulas with prescribed nodes anywhere on the real line, Calcolo, accepted, 2009

Huybrechs D., Stable high-order quadrature rules with equidistant points, Journal of computational and applied mathematics, 231(2), 933-947, 2009

Honnor M., Trevelyan J., Huybrechs D., Numerical evaluation of 2D partition of unity boundary integrals for Helmholtz problems, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 2009

Ghysels P., Samaey G., Tijskens E., Van Liedekerke P., Ramon H., Roose D., Multi-scale simulation of plant tissue deformation using a model for individual cell mechanics, Physical Biology, 6(1), 2009

Vanherpe L., Wendler F., Nestler B., Vandewalle S., A multigrid solver for phase field simulation of microstructure evolution, Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 2009

Huybrechs D., Iserles A., Norsett S., From high oscillation to rapid convergence - V: The equilateral triangle, IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis, 2009

Asheim A., Huybrechs D., Asymptotic analysis of numerical steepest descent with path approximations, Foundations of Computational Mathematics, 2009

Frederix Y., Samaey G., Roose D., An analysis of noise propagation in the multiscale simulation of coarse Fokker-Planck equations, RAIRO, Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis, 2009

Mziou S., Scheerlinck N., Nicolai B., Study and modelling of two apple quality attributes: the soluble solids content and the firmness, Mathematical and computer modelling of dynamical systems, 15(4), 317-336, 2009

Bultheel A., Cools R. (Eds.), The birth of numerical analysis, Singapore: World Scientific, 2009

Huybrechs D., Olver S., Highly oscillatory quadrature, In: Engquist B., Fokas T., Hairer E., Iserles A. (Eds.), Highly Oscillatory Problems (pp. 25-50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Huybrechs D., Olver S., Rapid function approximation by modified Fourier series, In: Engquist B., Fokas T., Hairer E., Iserles A. (Eds.), Highly Oscillatory Problems (pp. 51-71). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Van Genechten B., Santana Quintero M., Demeyere T., Herinckx S., Schueremans L., Roose D., Terrestrial laser scanning in architectural heritage – deformation analysis and the automatic genereation of 2D crossing sections, In : Proceedings of the CIPA XXII International Symposium: Digital Documentation, Interpretation & Presentation of Cultural Heritage, (Takase, Y. (Eds.)). CIPA International Symposium. Kyoto, Japan, 11-15 October 2009 Kyoto, Japan: Ritsumeikan University

Vandereycken B., Vandewalle S., Local Fourier analysis for tensor-product multigrid, In : AIP Conference Proceedings, 1168. International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics. Rethymno, Crete, Greece, 18-22 September 2009 (pp. 354-356). Springer New York LLC

De Vlieger J., Meerbergen K., Analysis and Computation of Eigenvalues of Symmetric Fuzzy Matrices, In : AIP Conference Proceedings, 1168(1), (Psihoyios, G., Tsitouras, C., Simos, T. (Eds.)). International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics. Rethymno, Crete, Greece, 18-22 September 2009 (pp. 278-281). Springer New York LLC.

Abbeloos D., Diehl M., Vandewalle S., One-shot multigrid for the optimal Neumann boundary control of time-periodic partial differential equations, In : AIP Conference Proceedings, 1168(329-332), (Simos, T., Psihoyios, G., Tsitouras, C. (Eds.)). International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics. Rethymno, Crete, Greece, 18-22 September 2009. Springer New York LLC.

Rama Rao M., Vandewalle S., De Munck M., Moens D., Dynamic analysis of a cable-stayed bridge with uncertain structural parameters, In : Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability ICOSSAR 2009. International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability ICOSSAR. Osaka, Japan, 14-18 September 2009 (pp. 1367-1375). IASSAR.

Asheim A., Huybrechs D., The computation of local solutions to high frequency scattering problems, In : Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Mathematical and Numerical Aspects of Waves, (Barucq, H. (Eds.)). International Conference on the Mathematical and Numerical Aspects of Waves Propagation. Pau, France, 15-19 June 2009, (pp. 216-217)

Corveleyn S., Vandewalle S., Component reuse in iterative solvers for the solution of fuzzy partial differential equations, International Conference of Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Greece, 18-22 September 2009.

Frederix Y., Samaey G., Roose D., An analysis of noise propagation in the multiscale simulation of coarse Fokker-Planck equations, TW Reports, TW549, 24 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Matton M., Van Compernolle D., Cools R., Minimum classification error training in example based speech and pattern recognition using sparse weight matrices, TW Reports, TW548, 12 pp., Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Hickernell F., Kritzer P., Kuo F., Nuyens D., Weighted compound integration rules with higher order convergence for all N, Applied Mathematics Reports, AMR09/19, 21 pp. Sydney, Australia: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, 2009.

Lasarow A., On maximal weight solutions in a truncated trigonometric matrix moment problem, TW Reports, TW547, 9 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Cools R., Nuyens D., Extensions of Fibonacci lattice rules, TW Reports, TW545, 12 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Speleers H., A normalized basis for reduced Clough-Tocher splines, TW Reports, TW546, 15 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Huybrechs D., Iserles A., Norsett S., From high oscillation to rapid approximation - V: The equilateral triangle, Cambridge NA Reports, nr. NA2009/04, 2009

Rosseel E., De Gersem H., Vandewalle S., Nonlinear stochastic Galerkin and collocation methods: application to a ferromagnetic cylinder rotating at high speed, TW Reports, TW541, 21 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Schumaker L., Speleers H., Nonnegativity preserving macro-element interpolation of scattered data, TW Reports, TW543, 24 pp., Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Vandereycken B., Vandewalle S., A Riemannian optimization approach for computing low-rank solutions of Lyapunov equations, TW Reports, TW544, 26 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Vanherpe L., Wendler F., Nestler B., Vandewalle S., A multigrid solver for phase field simulation of microstructure evolution, TW Reports, TW542, 18 pp. Leuven, Belgium: Department of Computer Science, K.U.Leuven, 2009

Matton M., Cools R. (adv.), Van Compernolle D. (adv.), Distance Measures for Template Based Speech and Pattern Recognition (Afstandsmaten voor voorbeeldgebaseerde spraak- en patroonherkenning), 218 pp., 2009

ULB

van der Gulik P., Massar S., Gilis D., Buhrman H., Rooman M., ''The first peptides: the evolutionary transition between prebiotic amino acids and early proteins'', J Theor Biol. 26, pp 531-539, 2009.

Verspecht J., Delwiche T., Buttafuoco A., Catoire L., Torfs S., Kinnaert M., Modelling of the interaction force between the instrument and the trocar in minimally invasive surgery, submitted to the Workshop on Advanced Motion Control, Nagaoka, 2010.

Graduate School in Systems, Optimization, Control and Network.

To read this year's programme, please visit the Graduate School web site.

Next course will take place at UCL in February 2010 : Complex networks : structure and dynamics by S. Fortunato (ISI Foundation, Torino, Italy).

You can register electronically by filling in this form.

Study Days, Workshops and Summer Schools

• 4th IFAC Symposium on System, Structure and Control
  Ancona, Italy
  September 15 - 17, 2010
  The conference website contains all the relevant information and deadlines. Communications can be submitted until 31 January 2010.
• 8th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems
  University of Bologna – Italy, September 1-3, 2010
  Deadline for paper submission: January 15, 2010.
• 19th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems - MTNS 2010
  Budapest, Hungary
  5-9 July 2010
  Deadline for extended abstract submission: December 15, 2009.

Awards

UCL-INMA

• Yurii Nesterov has obtained the John von Neumann Theory Prize. This prize of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences is awarded annually to an individual (or sometimes a group) who has made fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences.

ULg-SYST

• Alain Sarlette has been awarded the "2009 European PhD award on embedded, networked or distributed control" for his PhD thesis entitled "Geometry and symmetries in coordination control". He will receive the award at the next CDC in Shangai.
• Rodolphe Sepulchre has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to nonlinear systems.

Vacancies

Faculty position in Control Engineering at “Université libre de Bruxelles” (Brussels, Belgium)

Faculty of Applied Sciences/ Ecole polytechnique

Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) invites applications for a faculty position in control engineering, including control theory and applications, mathematical modelling of dynamical systems and system identification. The applicant should have a doctoral degree, a postdoctoral experience and a list of publications in recognized scientific journals and conferences. A teaching experience, as well as an experience in the preparation and management of research projects, are considered as advantages. The successful applicant is expected to develop an independent and internationally recognized research programme, and to collaborate with other research groups within ULB, the other Belgian Universities and international academic institutions. The applicant should be able to teach in English, and also in French, possibly after a transition period of one or two years. The « Ecole Polyechnique » of Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) is located in the Solbosch Campus of ULB, in the South of Brussels. It has close ties with other major Engineering Faculties in Europe, notably through the TIME network. With more than 21000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, ULB is intrinsically an international institution open to both Europe and to the whole world.

How to apply will appear soon on the web site of “Université libre de Bruxelles”: http://www.ulb.ac.be/ulb/vacances/academiques/index.html. The closing date for the applications is February 28, 2010. The appointment will start in October 2010.

Interested applicants can obtain further details from Professor Michel Kinnaert : Michel.Kinnaert@ulb.ac.be

IAP Contact Persons

UCL-INMA	Isabelle Hisette
KUL 1	Ida Tassens, Kristel Bernaerts
UGent-SYSTeMS	Margot Roels
VUB-ELEC	Ann Pintelon
KUL 2	Wim Michiels, Jan Swevers
ULg-SYST	Rodolphe Sepulchre
ULB	Michel Kinnaert
FPMs	Alain Vande Wouwer

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