QLS guest seminar (in person) by Matthieu Jonckheere - TODAY 11 May 2022 at 14h00 CET

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

Dear All,

Today, 11 May 2022 at 14h00 CET, Matthieu Jonckheere (CNRS, LAAS, 
Toulouse) will give a seminar titled

*Distance learning using Euclidean percolation: Following **Fermat**'s 
principle*

Abstract:
In unsupervised statistical learning tasks such as clustering, 
recommendation, or dimension reduction, a notion of distance or 
similarity between points is crucial but usually not directly available 
as an input. We proposed a new density-based estimator for weighted 
geodesic distances that takes into account the underlying density of the 
data, and that is suitable for nonuniform data lying on a manifold of 
lower dimension than the ambient space. The consistency of the estimator 
is proven using tools from first passage percolation.  We then 
illustrate its properties and implementation and evaluate its 
performance for clustering tasks on toy models. Finally, we discuss the 
choice of the (unique) critical parameter involved.

/Joint work with P. Groisman, University of Buenos Aires and F. 
Sapienza, UC Berkeley /

The seminar will be held in the Common Area, 2nd floor, ex SISSA 
Building, via Beirut, 2

You are all most cordially invited to attend!

Best regards,
Erica


Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
www.ictp.it/research/qls.aspx
e-mail:qls at ictp.it