The research group "Reliable Machine Learning" studies the properties of machine learning algorithms. In view of the recent success of deep learningmethods in applications like image recognition, speech recognition, and automatic translation, the group especially focuses on properties of deep neural networks.
Although a neural network trained e.g. for an image classification task might work well on "real inputs", it has been repeatedly shown empirically that such networks are vulnerable to adversarial examples: a minimal perturbation (impercetible to a human) of the input data can cause the network to misclassify the input. Thus, an important research area of the group is to mathematically understand the reasons for the existence of such adversarial examples (i.e., the instability of trained neural networks), and - building on that understanding - to develop improved methods that yield provably robust neural networks.
In the beginning of September, the bi-annual meeting of the DBG (Deutsche Bodenkundliche Gesellschaft) took place in Halle (Saale). The DBG conference takes place every two years. This years motto was "Böden - divers und multifunktional". Nadja Ray presented her research on "Pore scale modeling of the influence of roots on soil aggregation in the rhizosphere" in the session "Modellierung von Boden-Pflanze-Interaktionen II".In addition to the scientific program, a soil profile cake contestand an exibition of artworks related to soils were organized.