Digital Commons Network^™

"Onward!" For Orchestra, Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my original composition by the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras, conducted by Benjamin Loeb. Piece was commission as part of activities as EPSYOs Composer-in-Residence.

"A Winter Pastorale" For Violin And Piano (Cambridge, Ma), Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my original composition by Vanessa Cedillos (violin, Master's degree recital) and Naoko Sugiyama (piano)

Fast Algorithms For Computing Statistics Under Interval And Fuzzy Uncertainty, And Their Applications, Gang Xiang, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many engineering applications, we have to combine probabilistic, interval, and fuzzy uncertainty. For example, in environmental analysis, we observe a pollution level x(t) in a lake at different moments of time t, and we would like to estimate standard statistical characteristics such as mean, variance, autocorrelation, correlation with other measurements. In environmental measurements, we often only measure the values with interval uncertainty. We must therefore modify the existing statistical algorithms to process such interval data.

In this paper, we provide a brief survey of algorithms for computing various statistics under interval (and fuzzy) uncertainty and of their applications, including …

Estimating Variance Under Interval And Fuzzy Uncertainty: Case Of Hierarchical Estimation, Gang Xiang, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

For Piecewise Smooth Signals, L1 Method Is The Best Among Lp: An Interval-Based Justification Of An Empirical Fact, Vladik Kreinovich, Arnold Neumaier

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditional engineering techniques use the Least Squares method (i.e., in mathematical terms, the l2-norm) to process data. It is known that in many practical situations, lp-methods with p=/=2 lead to better results. In different practical situations, different values of p are optimal. It is known that in several situations when we need to reconstruct a piecewise smooth signal, the empirically optimal value of p is close to 1. In this paper, we provide a new interval-based theoretical explanation for this empirical fact.

Holiday Spectacular, Elisa Fraser Wilson

Elisa Fraser Wilson

The university choirs performed an evening of holiday choral music.

"Songs Of Sea And Life" For Tenor/Baritone Voice And Piano, Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my original composition Jose Dominguez (tenor, student senior recital presenter) and Dominic Dousa (piano).

Faculty Recital, Elisa Fraser Wilson

Elisa Fraser Wilson

Dr. Wilson joined composer-in-residence Dr. Dominic Dousa in a recital of his music for voice and instruments.

Solo Composition Recital (November 9, 2006), Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

Faculty Compositon Recital, presented by Elisa Wilson (mezzo soprano, UTEP), Lesley Chen (violin), and Dominic Dousa (piano). Performances of the following original compositions:

"Winter in the Country"

"Dream Land"

"Views from the Hills and Valleys"

Characterizing Students’ Thinking: Algebraic Inequalities And Equations, Kien H. Lim

Kien H Lim

This paper presents the findings of a study that explores the viability of using students’ act of anticipating as a means to characterize the way students think while solving problems in algebra. Two types of anticipating acts were identified: predicting a result and foreseeing an action. These acts were characterized using Harel’s framework, which involves the concepts of mental act, way of understanding, and way of thinking. Categories for characterizing acts of predicting and foreseeing were identified and developed based on thirteen 11th graders’ responses to problems involving algebraic inequalities and equations. The quality of students’ acts of predicting and …

How To Take Into Account Dependence Between The Inputs: From Interval Computations To Constraint-Related Set Computations, With Potential Applications To Nuclear Safety, Bio- And Geosciences, Martine Ceberio, Scott Ferson, Vladik Kreinovich, Sanjeev Chopra, Gang Xiang, Adrian Murguia, Jorge Santillan

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many real-life situations, in addition to knowing the intervals Xi of possible values of each variable xi, we also know additional restrictions on the possible combinations of xi; in this case, the set X of possible values of x=(x1,..,xn) is a proper subset of the original box X1 x ... x Xn. In this paper, we show how to take into account this dependence between the inputs when computing the range of a function f(x1,...,xn).

Interview No. 1185, Simón Acosta

Combined Interviews

Mr. Acosta remembers how he heard about the bracero program in Sinaloa, México, and how he traveled to Sonora to get contracted; he relates how he had to pick cotton to earn his card for contracting and how the process was conducted in Empalme, Sonora, México; moreover, he states how the processing center at El Centro, California worked, how he was fumigated with a spray, and that he had blood drawn when crossing the border into the United States; he recalls working in California picking beets, oranges and cutting lettuce; furthermore, he goes on to discuss how daily life was …

What Users Say They Want In Documentation, David G. Novick, Karen Ward

Departmental Papers (CS)

While earlier work provided a partial view of users’ preferences about manuals, for most users in most work contexts the important question remains open: What do users want in documentation? This paper presents the results of a study in which a diverse cross-section of 25 users was interviewed in depth about their needs and preferences with respect to software help systems, whether printed or on-line, that they use at work. The study’s participants indicated that they preferred documentation, whether online or printed, that is easy to navigate, provides explanations at an appropriate level of technical detail, enables finding as well …

Why Don't People Read The Manual?, David G. Novick, Karen Ward

Departmental Papers (CS)

Few users of computer applications seek help from the documentation. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of why this is so and examines how, in real work, users solve their usability problems. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 subjects representing a varied cross-section of users, we find that users do avoid using both paper and online help systems. Few users have paper manuals for the most heavily used applications, but none complained about their lack. Online help is more likely to be consulted than paper manuals, but users are equally likely to report that they solve their …

University Choirs Concert, Elisa Fraser Wilson

Elisa Fraser Wilson

The university choirs joined forces with the orchestra to perform Haydn's Paukenmesse. Other works performed included the music of Hindemith, Reger and Bennet.

Why Don't People Read The Manual?, David G. Novick, Karen Ward

David G. Novick

Few users of computer applications seek help from the documentation. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of why this is so and examines how, in real work, users solve their usability problems. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 subjects representing a varied cross-section of users, we find that users do avoid using both paper and online help systems. Few users have paper manuals for the most heavily used applications, but none complained about their lack. Online help is more likely to be consulted than paper manuals, but users are equally likely to report that they solve their …

How To Efficiently Process Uncertainty Within A Cyberinfrastructure Without Sacrificing Privacy And Confidentiality, Luc Longpre, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In this paper, we propose a simple solution to the problem of estimating uncertainty of the results of applying a black-box algorithm -- without sacrificing privacy and confidentiality of the algorithm.

Entropy Conserving Probability Transforms And The Entailment Principle, Ronald R. Yager, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Our main result here is the development of a general procedure for transforming some initial probability distribution into a new probability distribution in a way that the resulting distribution has entropy at least as great as the original distribution. A significant aspect of our approach is that it makes use of the Zadeh's entailment principle which is itself a general procedure for going from an initial possibility distribution to a new possibility distribution so that the resulting possibility has an uncertainty at least as great of the original.

Nova Quarterly: The University Of Texas At El Paso, The University Of Texas At El Paso University Communications

NOVA

Fall 2006, Vol. 44, No. 3; No. 167

Ready to Launch

Mujeres Y Trabajo: La Participación De La Mujer En La Fuerza Laboral De La Frontera Texas-México, Irasema Coronado, Christine Thurlow Brenner

Irasema Coronado

No abstract provided.

Borderplex Economic Outlook: 2006-2008, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr.

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Two Etudes On Combining Probabilistic And Interval Uncertainty: Processing Correlations And Measuring Loss Of Privacy, Martine Ceberio, Gang Xiang, Luc Longpre, Vladik Kreinovich, Hung T. Nguyen, Daniel Berleant

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, there is a need to combine interval and probabilistic uncertainty. The need for such a combination leads to two types of problems: (1) how to process the given combined uncertainty, and (2) how to gauge the amount of uncertainty and -- a related question -- how to best decrease this uncertainty. In our research, we concentrate on these two types of problems. In this paper, we present two examples that illustrate how the corresponding problems can be solved.

Interview No. 1053, Alberto Mendoza Torres

Combined Interviews

Mr. Mendoza recalls his childhood in Tizapotla, Morelos, México, and memories of his father, a soldier in Emiliano Zapata’s army during the Mexican Revolution; he remembers the hardships he suffered while working the land his father left him, and the impact bad weather had on his farming; additionally, he details how he worked in factories, and his decision to join the Bracero Program; he enlisted in 1959, and relates the process he went through to get hired in Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, as well as the fumigation performed on him at the United States border; he describes working in Arizona, California, …

"Westward Journey" For Trombone Quartet (Original Composition), Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my composition by the Continental Trombone Quartet. Presented at Concert I of Works by CMS Composers.

"The Winds Of A Summer Night" For Viola And Piano, Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my original composition by Stephanie Schweigart (viola) and Dominic Dousa (piano).

Comppknots: A Framework For Parallel Prediction And Comparison Of Rna Secondary Structures With Pseudoknots, Trilce Estrada, Abel Licon, Michela Taufer

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Codes for RNA structure prediction based on energy minimization are usually very time and resource intensive. For this reason several codes have been significantly simplified: in some cases they are unable to predict complex secondary structures such as pseudoknots, while at other times they are able to predict structures with reduced lengths, or they are only able to predict some elementary and simple pseudoknots. Each of the existing codes has its strengths and weaknesses. Providing scientists with tools that are able to combine the strengths of the several codes is a worthwhile objective.

To address this need, we present compPknots, …

'Iii. The Sky's The Limit' From "High Vistas" For Piano 4-Hands, Dominic Dousa

Dominic Dousa

A performance of my original composition by Dena Kay Jones (piano) and Dominic Dousa (piano) at the annual beginning-of-year Faculty Departmental Recital.

Guide To Ms508 Fannie Zlabovsky-National Council Of Jewish Women Case Files, Susan Goodman Novick

Finding Aids

Fannie Hutman Zlabovsky worked for the El Paso section of the National Council of Jewish Women from 1920 until the early 1940s, and kept the case files on those immigrants on whose cases she worked. The Fannie Zlabovsky-National Council of Jewish Women Case Files include 239 case files that include correspondence in English and Yiddish with immigrants and their families as well as with officials at the national office of the NCJW, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and other national and international organizations that assisted immigrants in the 1920s to 1940s. In addition to these case files, there are other …

Canica: An Ide For The Java Modeling Language, Angelica B. Perez, Yoonsik Cheon, Ann Q. Gates

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Canica is an integrated development environment for the Java Modeling Language (JML), a formal behavioral interface specification language for Java. The JML distribution includes several support tools, such as a syntax checker, a compiler, and a document generator, and there are several third-party tools available for JML. However, most of these tools are command-line-based and work in isolation. Canica glues and streamlines these tools to provide a GUI-based, integrated environment for JML; for example, it automates unit testing completely from test data generation to test execution and test result determination. In this paper, we describe the key features of Canica …

Finding Least Expensive Tolerance Solutions And Least Expensive Tolerance Revisions: Algorithms And Computational Complexity, Inna Pivkina, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

For an engineering design, tolerances in design parameters are selected so that within these tolerances, we guarantee the desired functionality. Feasible algorithms are known for solving the corresponding computational problems: the problem of finding tolerances that guarantee the given functionality, and the problem of checking whether given tolerances guarantee this functionality.

In this paper, we show that in many practical problems, the problem of choosing the optimal tolerances can also be solved by a feasible algorithm. We prove that a slightly different problem of finding the optimal tolerance revision is, in contrast, computationally difficult (namely, NP-hard). We also show that …