Discipline: Computer Science EMERGING COMPUTATIONAL ...sdemey/Visitatie/ResearchECT.pdf · tributed to the handbook project “Continued Fractions Handbook for Special Functions”,

Research EvaluationUniversity of Antwerp

Discipline:

Computer Science

Research group:

EMERGING COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES

Spokesperson:

PROFESSOR BRIGITTE VERDONK

Relevant webpages:

www.ect.ua.ac.bewww.ua.ac.be/brigitte.verdonkwww.win.ua.ac.be/∼verdonk

Contents

1 The research group 31.1 Research topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Scientific, social and/or technological relevance of the research . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.3 Strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.4 Future research activities, objectives and strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.5 Members of the research group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.6 Educational duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.7 Five key publications of the research group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.8 Quantitative Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Scientific activity 82.1 Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.1.1 Articles in peer reviewed journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.2 Articles in peer reviewed proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.1.3 Books and book chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.1.4 Research reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.1.5 Other publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.2 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.2.1 Supervision of PhDs completed at the University of Antwerp . . . . . . . . . 122.2.2 Supervision of PhDs at other universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.2.3 Membership of PhD committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.2.4 Invited lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.2.5 Conference presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142.2.6 Fellowships, prizes and distinctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.2.7 Membership of jury’s of scientific prizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.8 Membership of scientific committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.9 Membership of the editorial board of international journals . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.10 Leadership positions in scientific organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.11 Involvement in spin-off companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.2.12 External activities that contribute to the research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.2.13 National and international collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.2.14 Stays abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.2.15 Innovation related activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3 Research projects 21

2

Chapter 1

The research group

The data in this report relate to the period 1/1/1999 – 31/12/2007. However, some sections cover ashorter time interval because the official data for that period are unavailable in the Peoplesoft databaseof the University of Antwerp. As much as possible, a note has been made when this is the case.

1.1 Research topics

The research group Emerging Computational Techniques (ECT) started up in 2001 with as mainresearch objectives the development of new computational methods, in particular methods based uponinterval arithmetic and symbolical-numeric techniques.

Interval arithmetic is an essential tool in the process of validating scientific computations, since itautomatically computes an upper- and lower bound for the correct result, rather than giving a more orless accurate approximation of the exact result. In an age in which computer systems are increasinglyrelied on, the validation of those systems should increase accordingly. In addition to their importanceas a validation tool, interval techniques are an essential tool in the solution of certain optimisationproblems, specifically in problems where one is interested in global maxima (minima) as well as inconstraint satisfaction problems in combinatorical optimisation.

Symbolic-numeric techniques are playing an increasingly important role in applications wherecomputations with polynomials are essential, such as robotics, vision, computational biochemistry, ...In those applications the need is felt to revise existing symbolic algorithms, to be able to take errorsin coefficients into consideration. Those errors change the nature of the questions traditionally beingasked about polynomials, and as a consequence, also the algorithms needed to answer those questions.

As is clear from the publications and the research projects of the group, in the past 6 years theemphasis has mainly been on the first of these two research tracks. More precisely, several techniqueshave been developed to validate results of scientific computations or to solve specific numerical prob-lems in a validated way.

The activities of the research group are of theoretic nature as well as implemented in softwareand applied to practical problems. Among these applications one finds the reconstruction of 2- and3-dimensional shapes from moment information, the modelling of multi-parameter electromagneticphenomena, and the reliable evaluation of several special functions.

3

EMERGING COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES (ECT) 4

1.2 Scientific, social and/or technological relevance of the research

In an age in which computer systems are increasingly relied on, the validation of those systems shouldincrease accordingly. The importance of validation techniques at all levels of the implementation,from the computer arithmetic model to the stability of the numerical techniques that are used, cannot be overestimated. The contributions of the research group ECT fit precisely in this framework,which is evidence of the scientific and technological relevance of the obtained research results. In thisrespect we also refer to the software tool IeeeCC which is described in section 2.2.15.

Moreover, the research group has collaborated in several research projects in which a range ofchallenging technological applications have been tackled successfully. We are also proud to have con-tributed to the handbook project “Continued Fractions Handbook for Special Functions”, a referencework of approximately 450 pages to be published by Springer in April 2008. It covers powerful andvalidated continued fraction representations and techniques for the numerical evaluation of specialfunctions, which are pervasive in all fields of science and engineering. The scientific and techno-logical relevance of this work is reflected by Daniel Lozier, general editor of the Digital Library ofMathematical Functions at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in the following state-ment: “Algorithms with strict bounds on truncation and rounding errors are not generally available forspecial functions. These obstacles provide an opportunity for creative mathematicians and computerscientists.”

1.3 Strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats

The research group ECT is a relatively young research group which has been able to grow through anintensive collaboration with the research group CANT. The strength of the group lies in a broad areaof expertise covering computer arithmetic implementations, modelling techniques, especially rationalmodels for multidimensional discrete and/or continuous data, optimisation and machine learning.

Historically, the emphasis of the research has been on computer arithmetic implementations andmodelling techniques, with focus on validation. Recently, and in collaboration with other researchgroups, these modelling techniques have been successfully applied to solve practical problems. Amongthese applications one finds the reconstruction of 2- and 3-dimensional shapes from moment informa-tion, the modelling of multi-parameter electromagnetic phenomena, and the reliable evaluation ofseveral special functions.

Recently and towards the future, opportunities are and will be drawn from the breadth of expertisethat is available in the group and which leads to cross fertilisation of ideas with other research groupsat the University of Antwerp and abroad where related yet complementary expertise is available. Anumber of examples of such current fruitful collaborations are listed in section 2.2.13.

1.4 Future research activities, objectives and strategy

An overview of the future research activities, as financially supported by the research projects in whichECT takes part, is listed below.

• Analysis of high-throughput data by means of support vector machines and kernel-based tech-niques: feature selection and adaptive model building

In this project we develop learning algorithms (Support Vector Machines and kernel-based tech-niques) that can cope with on the one hand an abundance of information (feature/variable selec-


tion) and on the other hand constantly changing information (adaptive model building), to solve(single-class) classification problems, like the ones occurring in language technology.

• Design and analysis methods for expensive simulation experiments: Kriging versus rationalmetamodeling

In this project we study (the combination of) different techniques for the analysis and modellingof a complex system. In its basic form, each technique consists of the following three essentialsteps:

I) In a first step, a (possibly huge) number of variables which have an impact on the complexsystem, are screened and the parameter space is reduced. Only the important variablesremain.

II) Afterwards a global model is constructed that, if possible, covers the whole parameterspace.

III) Finally, the optimal values of the parameters are determined using an optimization method.

The contribution of the ECT research group in this project is mainly situated in steps (II) and(III). There is an intensive cooperation with partners from the University of Tilburg for step (I).

• High-precision reliable floating-point arithmetic and nanotechnology

It is the aim of the project to contribute to the solution of a number of open problems in com-putational physics, in particular nanotechnology, by offering theoretical models and togetherwith a practical implementation of them in efficient code, by which the high-precision, reliableevaluation of certain special functions will become possible.

• Rational modelling : optimal conditioning and stable algorithms

In this project, teams from Antwerp and Leuven will investigate how a rational modelling prob-lem can be formulated such that it is optimally conditioned, especially in the context of mul-tidimensionality. The relevant expertise of the research group ECT is in techniques for thecomputation of multivariate rational approximants, and it will build on this expertise to tacklethe conditioning problem.

1.5 Members of the research group

Please note that all members of the research group are supported by external funding. The ECTresearch group is an exception in this respect, in that in all other research groups one doctoral studentis appointed as assistant and financed by the budget of the university.


Members Academic year2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008

Lecturers:Verdonk Brigitte 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00Doctoral Students:Fontaine Bertrand – – 0,92 1,00 1,00Huysmans Toon 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00Salazar Celis Oliver – 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00Smets Koen – – – 1,00 1,00Vervloet Johan A G 1,00 0,25 – – –Number of people 3 4 4 5 5Total FTE 3,00 3,25 3,92 5,00 5,00Total research FTE 2,25 2,50 3,17 4,25 4,25

1.6 Educational duties

Ba Inf Sc: Bachelor of Information ScienceBa Math: Bachelor of MathematicsBa Chem: Bachelor of ChemistryMa Inf Sc: Master of Information ScienceMa Math: Master of Mathematics

Courses Programmes ECTS credits hrsB. Verdonk Numerical Linear Algebra Ba Inf Sc 9 90

Artificial Intelligence Ba Inf Sc 3 30Optimisation Techniques Ma Inf Sc 6 45Advanced AI-techniques Ma Inf Sc 3 25Capita Selecta Computational Science Ma Inf 3 25(with A. Cuyt, K. In ’t Hout, W. Vanroose)Scientific Computing Environments Ba Chem 3 20Numerical Methods (with A. Cuyt) Ba Math 6 60Advanced Numerical Methods (with A. Cuyt) Ma Math 6 60Computational Mathematics Ma Math 6 60(with A. Cuyt, K. In ’t Hout, W. Vanroose)Total 45 415

Total number of ECTS credits : 45

1.7 Five key publications of the research group

Of the five publications listed, the first two discuss the theoretical background of the softwaretoolIeeeCC754 that is used world wide for the verification of floating-point implementations (see 2.2.15).

A precision- and range-independent tool for testing floating-point arithmetic: 1: basic operations,square root and reminder

Verdonk Brigitte, Cuyt Annie, Verschaeren Dennis


ACM transactions on mathematical software, 27:1(2001), p. 92-118(SCI 0.807 / Google Scholar Citations: 5, Scopus Citations: 4)

A precision- and range-independent tool for testing floating-point arithmetic: 2: conversionsVerdonk Brigitte, Cuyt Annie, Verschaeren DennisACM transactions on mathematical software, 27:1(2001), p. 119-140(SCI 0.807 / Google Scholar Citations: 5, Scopus Citations: 4)

The next three publications reflect both the theoretical and the applied aspects of the research.

Multidimensional integral inversion, with applications in shape reconstructionCuyt Annie, Golub Gene, Milanfar Peyman, Verdonk BrigitteSIAM journal on scientific computing, 27:3(2005), p. 1058-1070(SCI 1.509)

Efficient and reliable multiprecision implementation of elementary and special functionsCuyt Annie, Verdonk Brigitte, Waadeland HaakonSIAM journal on scientific computing, 28:4(2006), p. 1437-1462

Continued Fractions Handbook for Special FunctionsA. Cuyt, V. Brevik-Petersen, B. Verdonk, H. Waadeland, W.B. JonesSpringer, April 2008, 450 pages, to appear.

1.8 Quantitative Summary

Scientific publications

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Articles in peer reviewed 2 0 3 1 0 1 4 2 2journalsArticles in peer reviewed 0 1 1 0 1 4 3 2 5proceedingsBooks and book chapters 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1PhD theses defended at 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0University of Antwerp

Research funding

2004 2005 2006 2007University research fund 2.741 228 6.662 19.988Research foundation - Flanders 79.497 114.808 173.800 182.880International funding 0 0 0 0Government funding 31.317 31.317 33.942 33.942Private funding 0 0 0 0Total 144.871 177.670 248.346 270.750

Chapter 2

Scientific activity

2.1 Publications

2.1.1 Articles in peer reviewed journals

2007Rational approximation of vertical segments

Salazar Celis Oliver, Cuyt Annie, Verdonk BrigitteNumerical algorithms, 45(2007), p. 375-388

Tuning Bat LSO Neurons to Interaural Intensity Differences through Spike-Timing DependentPlasticity

B. Fontaine, H. PeremansBiological Cybernetics, 97:261-267 (2007)

2006Adaptive multivariate rational data fitting with applications in electromagnetics

Cuyt A., Lenin R.B., Becuwe S., Verdonk B.IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques, 54:5(2006), p. 2265-2274

Efficient and reliable multiprecision implementation of elementary and special functionsCuyt Annie, Verdonk Brigitte, Waadeland HaakonSIAM journal on scientific computing, 28:4(2006), p. 1437-1462

2005Blending interval and set arithmetic for maximal reliability

Verdonk Brigitte, Vervloet Johan, Cuyt AnnieComputing, 75(2005), p. 41-65

Generalizations of orthogonal polynomialsBultheel A., Cuyt A., van Assche W., van Barel M., Verdonk B.Journal of computational and applied mathematics, 179:1/2(2005), p. 57-95

Multidimensional integral inversion, with applications in shape reconstructionCuyt Annie, Golub Gene, Milanfar Peyman, Verdonk BrigitteSIAM journal on scientific computing, 27:3(2005), p. 1058-1070

Parameterization of tubular surfaces on the cylinderHuysmans Toon, Sijbers Jan, Verdonk BrigitteThe journal of WSCG, 13:3(2005), p. 97-104

8


2004Region and contour identification of physical objects

Cuyt Annie, Sijbers Jan, Verdonk Brigitte, van Dyck DirkAppl. Numer. Anal. Comp. Math., 1:3(2004), p. 343-352

2002Underflow revisited

Cuyt Annie, Kuterna Peter, Verdonk Brigitte, Verschaeren DennisCalcolo, 39:3(2002), p. 169-179

2001A precision- and range-independent tool for testing floating-point arithmetic: 1: basic operations,square root and reminder

Verdonk Brigitte, Cuyt Annie, Verschaeren DennisACM transactions on mathematical software, 27:1(2001), p. 92-118

A precision- and range-independent tool for testing floating-point arithmetic: 2: conversionsVerdonk Brigitte, Cuyt Annie, Verschaeren DennisACM transactions on mathematical software, 27:1(2001), p. 119-140

A remarkable example of catastrophic cancellation unraveledCuyt Annie, Verdonk Brigitte, Becuwe Stefan, Kuterna PeterComputing, 66(2001), p. 309-320

1999A finite sum representation of the Appell series F1(a,b,b’,c,x,y)

Cuyt Annie, Driver Kathy, Tan Jieqing, Verdonk BrigitteJournal of computational and applied mathematics, 105:1/2(1999), p. 213-219

Exploring multivariate Pad approximants for multiple hypergeometric seriesCuyt Annie, Driver Kathy, Tan Jieqing, Verdonk BrigitteAdvances in computational mathematics, 10(1999), p. 29-49

2.1.2 Articles in peer reviewed proceedings

2008Orthogonality measures and applications in systems theory in one and more variables

A. Bultheel, A. Cuyt, M. Van Barel, B. VerdonkLNCS 4818, 2008, to appear

2007Evaluation of performance measures for SVR hyperparameter selection

Smets Koen, Verdonk Brigitte, Jordaan Elsa M.Conference Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks(IJCNN2007), s.l., IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, 2007

Bat echolocation modelling using spike kernels with Support Vector RegressionB. Fontaine, H. Peremans and B. SchrauwenProceedings of the 15th European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, p. 367-372 (2007)


Tuning Neurons to Interaural Intensity Differences Using Spike Timing-Dependent PlasticityB. Fontaine and H. PeremansProceedings of world academy of science, engineering and technology, 20(2007), p. 18-21.

2006Statistical shape models for tubular objects

Huysmans Toon, Sijbers Jan, Verdonk BrigitteProceedings of SPS-DARTS 2006, the second annual IEEE BENELUX/DSP Valley SignalProcessing Symposium, Antwerp, Belgium, March 2006, p. 155-158

Sonar target recognition based on spike coded spectrogramB. Fontaine and H. PeremansThe Annals of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, (Electrotechnics, Electronics, AutomaticControl, Informatics), Fascicle III, p. 5-10 (2006)

Improved shape modeling of tubular objects using cylindrical parametrizationHuysmans T., Sijbers J., Vanpoucke F., Verdonk B.Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Medical Imaging and Augmented Reality.

Lecture notes in computer science, 4091(2006), p. 84-91

2005How much can a continued fraction tail estimate influence its evaluation?

Cuyt A., Petersen V., Verdonk B., Waadeland H.Proceedings of the International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics,2005, p. 686-688

Univariate rational interpolation in practical applicationsSalazar Celis O., Cuyt A., Lenin R.B., Verdonk B.Proceedings of the International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics,2005, p. 689-692

On the impact of a continued fraction tail estimate on its truncation error boundsCuyt A., Petersen V., Verdonk B., Waadeland H.Proceedings of the International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics,2005, p. 699-701

2004Multivariate rational interpolation of scattered data

Becuwe Stefan, Cuyt Annie, Verdonk BrigitteProceedings of the 4th International Conference on Large-Scale Scientific Computing (LSSC

2002), Lecture notes in computer science, 2907(2004), p. 204-213Spherical orthogonal polynomials and truly Gaussian cubature formulas

Cuyt Annie, Benouahmane Brahim, Verdonk BrigitteProceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2004), Lecture

notes in computer science, 3037(2004), p. 557-560Combining the Radon, Markov and Stieltjes transforms for object reconstruction

Cuyt Annie, Verdonk BrigitteProceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2004), Lecture

notes in computer science, 3036(2004), p. 695-698Inverting a multidimensional shape from moments

Cuyt A., Golub G., Milanfar P., Verdonk B.


Proceedings of the International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics,Weinheim, Wiley, 2004, p. 436-439

2003Towards a verified library for special functions

Cuyt Annie, Verdonk Brigitte, Waadeland Haakon, Vervloet JohanProceedings of the International Conference on Numerical Analysis and ComputationalMathematics, Weinheim, Wiley, 2003, p. 46-49

2001Symbolic algorithms for the estimation of parameterized eigenvalues and multidimensional integrals

Benouahmane Brahim, Cuyt Annie, Verdonk BrigitteApplications of Computer Algebra (ISACA’2000), Allied Publishers, 2001, p. 130-151

2000The class library for exact rational arithmetic in Arithmos

Cuyt Annie, Kuterna Peter, Verdonk Brigitte, Vervloet JohanProceedings Real Numbers and Computers RNC4, 2000, p. 141-160

2.1.3 Books and book chapters

2008Continued Fractions Handbook for Special Functions

A. Cuyt, V. Brevik-Petersen, B. Verdonk, H. Waadeland, W.B. JonesSpringer, April 2008, to appear.

This is a reference work of approximately 450 pages covering powerful and validated continued frac-tion representations and techniques for the numerical evaluation of special functions in science andengineering.

2000Reliable methods in rational approximation theory

Verdonk Brigitte [edit.]Special issue of Reliable computing, 6:4(2000)

Proceedings of the International Conference on Rational Approximation ICRA99Cuyt Annie [edit.], Verdonk Brigitte [edit.]Special issue of Acta applicandae mathematicae, 61:1-3(2000)

2.1.4 Research reports

Discovering Novelty in Spatio/Temporal Data Using One-Class Support Vector MachinesSmets Koen, Verdonk Brigitte, Jordaan ElsaIEEE Trans. on Neural Networks, submitted

Magnitude Vector Fitting of Interval DataHendrickx W., Salazar Celis O., Dhaene T., Verdonk B.,IEE Electronics Letters, in preparation, to be submitted


Automatic Construction of Correspondences for Tubular SurfacesHuysmans, T. and Sijbers, J. and Verdonk, B.IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, in preparation, to be submitted

Universal semantics for computer arithmetic implementationsVerdonk Brigitte, Vervloet Johan, Cuyt AnnieAntwerp : UA, 2004, 17 pages

On the support of special values in computer arithmetic implementationsCuyt Annie, Verdonk Brigitte, Vervloet Johan, Backeljauw FrankyAntwerp : UIA, 2001, 16 pages

2.1.5 Other publications

A long list of published abstracts is available but not given here. We only list those abstracts for whichthe full paper is not (yet) published.Multi-scale registration of spherical parametrizations of the human cortex

Bertels J., Huysmans T., Sijbers J., Verdonk B., Parizel P.23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine andBiology, Warsaw, Poland, 2006

Software for multiprecision floating-point arithmetic revisitedBrigitte VerdonkIMACS2000 Abstract Book, p. 361, published on CD-Rom.

2.2 Activities

2.2.1 Supervision of PhDs completed at the University of Antwerp

• Dennis Verschaeren“A contribution to reliable numeric computing”, 24 mei 2000(Advisor together with Annie Cuyt)

• Toon Huysmans“Global shape characterisation of 3D-surfaces”final stage, defense planned in first half of 2008(Advisor together with Jan Sijbers, Visielab)

• Oliver Salazar-Celis“Rational approximation techniques and new technological applications”final stage, defense planned in september 2008

2.2.2 Supervision of PhDs at other universities

2.2.3 Membership of PhD committees

• Brahim BenouahmaneMember of the jury for the These d’Etat


Universite Moulay Ismail, Meknes, Morocco, 2001

• Luk SchoofsMember doctoral jury, 19 december 2002

• Clarissa Van HoyweghenChairman doctoral jury, 22 januari 2003

• Stefan BecuweChairman doctoral jury, 30 mei 2003

• Alex SiemMember doctoral juryUniversiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands, 25 januari 2008

2.2.4 Invited lectures

18/5/’99 “Techniques d’interpolation: theorie et calcul”Universite de Mons–Hainaut, Mons (Belgium)

1/6/’99 “L’algorithme QD en une et plusieurs variables”Universite de Mons–Hainaut, Mons (Belgium)

15/11/’00 “On the development of a reliable integrated computational environment”Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, Lyon (France)

28/3/’01 “Reliable multiprecision floating-point arithmetic: the need for testing”Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley (U.S.A.)

6/4/’01 “Recent results on computer arithmetic and numerical techniques from rational approximationtheory”Universite de Liege, Liege (Belgium)

21/11/’01 “Contribution to a digital library of special functions”National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)Gaithersburg, Maryland (U.S.A.)

6/4/’04 “Shape reconstruction: an identification problem”Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Siences, Banff (Canada)

27/10/’04 “Reliable floating-point arithmetic: the need for testing”University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal (Germany)

6/3/’07 “Rational approximation of vertical segments”Tilburg University (The Netherlands)

8/3/’07 “Reconstructing objects from moment information”Universite des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Lille (France)

6/7/’07 “Reconstructing shapes from moments”Jubilee International Conference, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia (Bulgaria)


2.2.5 Conference presentations

Note: only conference presentations not included in section 2.1.2 (Articles in peer reviewed proceed-ings) are listed.

23/9/’99 “Rational approximants for the Appell series”International Symposium on Orthogonal Polynomials, Special Functions and their Applications(OPSFA99)Patras (Greece)

18/4/’00 “ARITHMOS: A tool for Scientific Computing”Real Numbers and Computers (RNC4)Dagstuhl (Germany)

29/5/’00 “Applications of Homogeneous Pade Approximants in Approximation Theory and Linear Al-gebra”Special Functions 2000: Current Perspective and Future DirectionsTempe, Arizona (U.S.A.)

25/7/’00 “On the solution of parameterized (smallest) eigenvalue problems”World Congress of Nonlinear Analysts (WCNA’2000)Catania (Italy)

25/8/’00 “Software for multiprecision floating-point arithmetic revisited”16th IMACS World Congress on Scientific ComputationLausanne (Switzerland)

7/8/’01 “Fast and reliable multiprecision elementary function evaluation”2001: A Mathematics OdysseyConference in honour of W.B. JonesGrand Junction, Colorado (U.S.A.)

14/9/’01 “On the symbolic-numeric qd-algorithm”Woudschoten conferentie van Numeriek WiskundigenWoudschoten, Nederland

5/10/’01 “Fast and reliable multiprecision elementary function evaluation”International Conference on Numerical AlgorithmsConference in honour of C. BrezinskiMarrakesh, Morocco

23/5/’02 “Computer algebra style multiprecision interval and complex arithmetic”2002 SIAM Workshop on Validated ComputingToronto, Canada

7/6/’03 “Blending interval and set arithmetic for maximal reliability”International conference on “Large scale scientific computations”Sozopol, Bulgaria


12/11/’03 “Multidimensional integral inversion with applications to shape reconstruction”SIAM Conference on “Geometric Design and Computing”Seattle, Washington (U.S.A.)

24/3/’05 “Solving structured linear systems in the context of adaptive modelling”Workshop on “Mathematical models in Electronic Engineering”University of Stellenbosch, South-Africa

31/3/’05 “Multidimensional Pade techniques at work in shape reconstruction”South-African Conference on Numerical Mathematics (SANUM 2005)Stellenbosch, South-Africa

15/6/’05 “Homogeneous Pade techniques at work in shape reconstruction”International Conference on “Computational methods and function theory” (CMFT 2005)Joensuu, Finland

16/8/’05 “Homogeneous Pade techniques at work in shape reconstruction”International symposium on Computing and its Applications in Information ScienceHefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

17/9/’05 “Sharp truncation error bounds for modified continued fraction approximants”International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics (ICNAAM 2005)Rhodos, Greece

20/10/’05 “Tools for reliable scientific computing”Symposium “CalcUA HPC applications”University of Antwerp

8/9/’06 “Reliable multiprecision implementation of a class of special functions”First Dolomites workshop on Constructive Approximation and ApplicationsConference in honour of Walter GautschiAlba di Canazei (Italy)

7/6/’07 “Rational approximation of vertical segments with applications in IIR filter design”Large Scale Scientific ComputationsSozopol (Bulgaria) and Applications

2.2.6 Fellowships, prizes and distinctions

• May 1983: Fellowship of The Commission for Educational Exchange between the UnitedStates, Belgium and Luxemburga) Fulbright/Hays awardb) American Women’s Club awardfor study at Stanford University

• July 1983: Fellowship of The Foundation for Scientific Research and Education Exchange forstudy at Stanford University

• November 1997: UGCSA award for the course “Computer Arithmetic and Numerical Tech-niques” 1 for its innovative approach.

1With Annie Cuyt


This international award is granted by the Krell Institute (U.S.A.), a “non-profit organizationspecializing in the application of modern computing, communication and information tech-nologies to national priorities”

2.2.7 Membership of jury’s of scientific prizes

Not applicable

2.2.8 Membership of scientific committees

• 1/10/’06 – 30/9/’09Member of the Computer Science and Knowledge Technology Commission of the ResearchFoundation Flanders (FWO Vlaanderen)

• 1/4/’02 –Member of evaluation commissions for doctoral fellowships granted by the Institute for Scienceand Technology (IWT)

• 1/1/’02 – 31/12/’03Member of the users group of the HOBU-project “LineMB: scaling of Linux to an RTOS forembedded systems”

• Member of the FWO scientific research community “Advanced numerical methods for mathe-matical modelling”

2.2.9 Membership of the editorial board of international journals

Not applicable

2.2.10 Leadership positions in scientific organizations

• Organisation of workshop “Behavioral modelling and approximation” on August 21, 2006 inthe framework of the Bilateral Scientific Cooperation Project with South-Africa “Passivity-enforced broadband macromodels for general microwave and RF structures”.2

• Organisation of mini-symposium on “On the computation of special functions” at the Interna-tional Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics (ICNAAM 2005), Rhodos(Greece) on September 17, 2005.3

• Organisation of one-day workshop on “Metamodelling and related topics” on December 4,2003, in the framework of the FWO-WOG “Advanced Numerical Techniques for MathematicalModelling”.2

• Organisation of mini-symposium on “Adaptive modelling and applications” at the Interna-tional Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics (ICNAAM 2004), Halkida(Greece) on September 13, 2004.2

2With Annie Cuyt and Tom Dhaene3With Annie Cuyt


• Organisation of the “International Conference on Rational Approximation” (ICRA99) togetherwith Annie Cuyt from June 6–11, 1999, in which 110 scientists from 27 different countriesparticipated. The focus of the conference was on rational approximation theory in the broad-est sense, including all computational aspects and applications. The topics of the conferenceinclude Pade Approximation, Continued Fractions, Orthogonal Polynomials and Rational Ap-proximation in general. More than in the past attention was paid to the development of reliablealgorithms and the use of symbolic techniques. Several one-hour survey lectures were givenby specialists in the field. The invited speakers were (in alphabetical order): G. Baker Jr. (LosAlamos), P. Borwein (Burnaby), P. Graves–Morris (Bradford), W. B. Jones (Boulder), G. Labahn(Waterloo), L. Lorentzen (Trondheim), D. S. Lubinsky (Johannesburg), H. J. Stetter (Wien).

2.2.11 Involvement in spin-off companies

Not applicable

2.2.12 External activities that contribute to the research

Not applicable

2.2.13 National and international collaboration

The research group Emerging Computational Techniques collaborates with both academic and indus-trial research groups, national and international. Below we list (as completely as possible) the differentcollaborations in the period 2003 till now. We mention the number of publications that have resultedfrom these collaborations and/or the research projects in the framework of which these collaborationstake place.

• intensive collaboration with research group CANT, University of Antwerp (Annie Cuyt)

– several joint research projects

– # publications: 24

• collaboration with Dow Chemical (Elsa Jordaan)

– Analysis of high-througput data by means of support vector machines and kernel-basedtechniques: feature selection and adaptive model building (01/10/2006 - 30/09/2009)


• collaboration with KULeuven (Adhemar Bultheel, Marc Van Barel)

– Rational modelling : optimal conditioning and stable algorithms (01/01/2005 - 31/12/2008)


• collaboration with Dow Chemical (Guido Smits, Katya Vladislavleva)

– Rational modelling : optimal conditioning and stable algorithms (01/01/2005 - 31/12/2008)


• collaboration with Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway (HaakonWaadeland, Vigdis Brevik Petersen)

– Publication: Continued Fractions Handbook for Special Functions

A. Cuyt, V. Brevik-Petersen, B. Verdonk, H. Waadeland, W.B. Jones

Springer, April 2008, to appear

This is a reference work of approximately 450 pages covering powerful and validatedcontinued fraction representations and techniques for the numerical evaluation of specialfunctions in science and engineering

• collaboration with Visielab, University of Antwerp (Jan Sijbers, Dirk Van Dyck)

– Characterization of 3D-surfaces (01/01/2004 - 31/12/2007)

– Shape reconstruction and characterization (01/01/2004 - 31/12/2007 FWO)


• collaboration with Stanford University (Gene Golub) and University of California, Santa Cruz(Peyman Milanfar)

– Shape reconstruction and characterization (01/01/2004 - 31/12/2007)


• collaboration with research group COMS, University of Antwerp (Tom Dhaene, as of 01/10/2007affiliated with the University of Gent)

– Adaptive identification of compact scalable rational models for complex linear dynamicsystems (01/01/2004 - 31/12/2007)

– Design and analysis methods for expensive simulation experiments: Kriging versus ratio-nal metamodeling (01/01/2006 - 31/12/2009)


• collaboration with PSA HNN (Hesse Noord Natie) and Cosmos (Jan Tijmen Udding) and theInstitute of Transport and Maritime Management Antwerp (Wout Dullaert)

– The assignment of containers to straddle carriers at a container terminal

Master thesis in preparation by Tom Marechal from the Technical University Eindhoven,Advisors: Brigitte Verdonk, Jan Tijmen Udding

• collaboration with University of Tilburg, The Netherlands (Dick den Hertog, Jack Kleijnen)

– Design and analysis methods for expensive simulation experiments: Kriging versus ratio-nal metamodeling (01/01/2006 - 31/12/2009)

• collaboration with Condensed Matter Theory group, University of Antwerp (Francois Peeters,Bart Partoens)

– High-precision reliable floating-point arithmetic and nanotechnology (01/01/2006 - 31/12/2009)


• collaboration with Center for Dutch Language and Speech (Walter Daelemans, ComputationalLinguistics and Artificial Intelligence)

– Guidance of several Master’s theses in collaboration with the research group CNTS. Inthese theses techniques such as Hidden Markov models, Kohonen networks, rule-basedsystems, Support Vector Machines, etc are studied and applied to language technologyproblems such as information extraction, named entity recognition, document classifica-tion etc.

• collaboration with the Active Perception Lab (Herbert Peremans)

– Biosonar echolocation of bat using spectrogram cues and spikes trains: modeling andimplementation

• collaboration with University of Stellenbosch (Petrie Meyer)

– Passivity-enforced broadband macromodels for general microwave and RF structures (01/01/2005- 31/12/2006)

– Univariate and multivariate adaptive sampling and modeling of linear dynamic systems(01/01/2003 - 31/12/2004)

• collaboration with Universite Hassan II, Mohammedia, Morocco (Brahim Benouahmane)

– Shape reconstruction and characterization (01/01/2004 - 31/12/2007)


• collaboration with Hogeschool Antwerpen, Department of Product Development

– LINEMB - Scaling of Linux to an RTOS for embedded systems (1/1/2002 - 31/12/2003)

• contacts with Aktor Technology

2.2.14 Stays abroad

• 4/2–1/4/’01Visiting FellowDepartment of Computer Science, Stanford University (U.S.A.)

• 19/11–24/12/’01Visiting FellowDepartment of Mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder (U.S.A.)

• 11/11–10/12/’05Research StayDepartment of Applied Mathematics, University of Stellenbosch, South-Africa


2.2.15 Innovation related activities

Brigitte Verdonk is main author and developer of the software tool IeeeCC754 that is used worldwideto verify floating-point implementations. The Applied Computer Science group of the University ofWuppertal has taken up IeeeCC754 and it is now a building block for the European project “Ensuringquality and optimizing resources in Grid Computing”. Other users of IeeeCC754 are, among oth-ers, Mechanical Engineering Dept, Trinity College (Ireland), Qualcomm Processor Solutions (USA),ccc.gnu.org, MIPS (Denmark), . . . . See http://www.cant.ua.ac.be/ieeecc754.html for more informa-tion.

Chapter 3

Research projects

Over the period 1/10/2003 – 29/2/2008, the research funding of the research group totals C959.810.A detailed list of the research projects is attached herewith.

Members of the research group have also been involved as co-principle investigator in C573.290of research funding attracted by collegues acting as principle investigator. A detailed list of theseresearch projects too is attached herewith.

21

07/03/2008 1

Faculteit WetenschappenFaculty :

Dept. Wiskunde-informaticaDepartment :

Team : Emerging computational techniques (ECT)

Id : 4397A validated software library for special functions.Project title :

01/10/2003 10/01/2005 Research projectDuration : from until Project type :

Principal investigator : 01/10/2003 10/01/2005Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/10/2003 10/01/2005Cuyt Annie untilfrom Fellow : 01/10/2003 10/01/2005Vervloet Johan A G untilfrom

541200018 BOF: Rugzak FWO 01/10/2003 10/01/2005

700300002 FWO tijdelijke mandaten: aspirant 1ste

hernieuwing

01/10/2003 10/01/2005

Funding :

Budget : € 31.204,88

Id : 23Shape reconstruction and characterization.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2007Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2007Van Dyck Dirk untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2007Sijbers Jan untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2007Cuyt Annie untilfrom

7010 FWO Groepsprojecten 01/01/2004 31/12/2004




Funding :

Budget : € 220.400,00

Id : 4624Characterization of 3D-form.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2005Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2005Sijbers Jan untilfrom Fellow : 01/01/2004 31/12/2005Huysmans Toon untilfrom

550200001 IWT specialisatiebeurs : eerste termijn 01/01/2004 31/12/2005

Funding :

Budget : € 62.633,00

Id : 4673Rational modelling : optimal conditioning and stable algorithms.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/01/2005 31/12/2008Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2005 31/12/2008Cuyt Annie untilfrom





Funding :

Budget : € 235.200,00

07/03/2008 2

Faculteit WetenschappenFaculty :

Dept. Wiskunde-informaticaDepartment :

Team : Emerging computational techniques (ECT)

Id : 20469High-precision reliable floating-point arithmetic and nanotechnology.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Peeters Francois untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Cuyt Annie untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Partoens Bart untilfrom





Funding :

Budget : € 243.200,00

Id : 20740Characterization of 3D-form.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2007Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2007Sijbers Jan untilfrom Fellow : 01/01/2006 31/12/2007Huysmans Toon untilfrom

550200002 IWT specialisatiebeurs : tweede termijn 01/01/2006 31/12/2007

Funding :

Budget : € 67.883,00

Id : 21180Analysis of high-througput data by means of support vector machines and kernel-based

techniques: feature selection and adaptive model building.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/10/2006 30/09/2007Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Fellow : 01/10/2006 30/09/2007Smets Koen untilfrom

541200003 BOF: Opvangmandaten FWO 01/10/2006 30/09/2007

Funding :

Budget : € 26.650,00

Id : 22027Analysis of high-throughput data by means of support vector machines and kernel-based

techniques: feature selection and adaptive model building.Project title :


Principal investigator : 01/10/2007 30/09/2009Verdonk Brigitte untilfrom Fellow : 01/10/2007 30/09/2009Smets Koen untilfrom

700300001 FWO tijdelijke mandaten: aspirant 01/10/2007 30/09/2009

700300007 FWO bench fee: aspirant 01/10/2007 30/09/2009

Funding :

Budget : € 72.638,00

959.808,88

8Emerging computational techniques (ECT) number of projects :

Total budget : €

Co-principal investigator 07/03/2008 1Verdonk Brigitte

Team : Computational Modelling and Programming

5880Id :Univariate and multivariate adaptive sampling and modeling of linear dynamic systems.Project title :

01/01/2003 31/12/2004 Collaboration

Research projectfrom untilDuration : Project type :

Principal investigator : 01/01/2003 31/12/2004Dhaene Tom from until

Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2003 31/12/2004Verdonk Brigitte from until

Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2003 31/12/2004Cuyt Annie from until

5414 BOF - Bilaterale wetenschappelijke samenwerking

(vanaf oproep 2002).

01/01/2003 31/12/2004

Funding :

Budget : € 36.520,05

20127Id :Passivity-enforced broadband macromodels for general microwave and RF structures.Project title :

01/01/2005 31/12/2006 Collaboration


Principal investigator : 01/01/2005 31/12/2006Dhaene Tom from until

Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2005 31/12/2006Broeckhove Jan from until


Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2005 31/12/2006Cuyt Annie from until

5414 BOF - Bilaterale wetenschappelijke samenwerking

(vanaf oproep 2002).

01/01/2005 31/12/2006

Funding :

Budget : € 32.150,00

Team : Computer arithmetic and numerical techniques

4337Id :Adaptive identification of compact scalable rational models for complex linear dynamic

systems.Project title :

01/01/2004 31/12/2007 Research projectfrom untilDuration : Project type :

Principal investigator : 01/01/2004 31/12/2007Cuyt Annie from until






Funding :

Budget : € 216.000,00

20591Id :Design and analysis methods for expensive simulation experiments: Kriging versus

rational metamodeling.Project title :

01/01/2006 31/12/2009 Collaboration


Principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Cuyt Annie from until


Co-principal investigator : 01/01/2006 31/12/2009Dhaene Tom from until





Funding :

Budget : € 269.600,00

Team : Vision lab

Co-principal investigator 07/03/2008 2Verdonk Brigitte

Team : Vision lab

21206Id :Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship FWO. (Kees Batenburg)Project title :

01/10/2006 30/09/2007 Collaboration


Principal investigator : 01/10/2006 30/09/2007Van Dyck Dirk from until


7007 FWO Post-doctorale fellowship 01/10/2006 30/09/2007

Funding :

Budget : € 19.020,00

Co-principal investigator 5

573.290,05

number of projects

total budget : €

Verdonk Brigitte

Short CV of Brigitte Verdonk

Brigitte Verdonk received a Licentiaat’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Gent in1982 and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1984. She obtained her Doctor’sDegree in Mathematics from the University of Antwerp in 1988 with a thesis entitled “Different tech-niques for multivariate rational interpolation and Pade approximation”. After a few years in industryin the framework of a European project on advanced knowledge base environments, she returned toacademic life in 1991 as a postdoctoral researcher and was appointed a professor in 2001.

• Teaching Assistant, Dept of mathematics, physics and physiology, Limburgs Universitair Cen-trum (LUC), 13/10-31/12/’82

• Teaching and Research Assistant, Dept of mathematics and computer science, UniversiteitAntwerpen (UIA), 1/1-30/9/’83 and 1/9/’84-31/12/’88

• Appointments in the framework of the ESPRIT-II Project KIWIS: research on and design of“Advanced Knowledge Base Environments for Large Database Systems”, Universiteit Antwer-pen (UIA) en Alcatel-Bell Research Center, 1/1/’89-30/9/’90 en 1/10/’90-30/11/’91

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Universiteit Antwerpen on the project “Scientific Expert Systems”,16/12/’91-30/9/’92

• Postdoctoral Fellow of the FWO–Vlaanderen at the Universiteit Antwerpen with as researchprojects: “Intelligent Object-Oriented Scientific Programming” (’92-’95), “Object-OrientedScientific Programming: Hybrid Techniques” (’95-’98), “Reliable Hybrid Scientific Comput-ing” (’98-’01)

• Professor, Universiteit Antwerpen, 1/10/’01 –

Discipline: Computer Science EMERGING COMPUTATIONAL ...sdemey/Visitatie/ResearchECT.pdf · tributed to the handbook project “Continued Fractions Handbook for Special Functions”,

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