Engineering Commons^™

On Decision Making Under Interval Uncertainty: A New Justification Of Hurwicz Optimism-Pessimism Approach And Its Use In Group Decision Making, Van Nam Huynh, Chenyi Hu, Yoshiteru Nakamori, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

If we know the exact consequences of each action, then we can select an action with the largest value of the objective function. In practice, we often only know these values with interval uncertainty. If two intervals intersect, then some people may prefer the alternative corresponding to the first interval, and some prefer the alternative corresponding to the second interval. How can we describe the portion of people who select the first alternative? In this paper, we provide a new theoretical justification for Hurwicz optimism-pessimism approach, and we show how this approach can be used in group decision making.

Russian Peasant Multiplication Algorithm, Rsa Cryptosystem, And A New Explanation Of Half-Orders Of Magnitude, J. Ivan Vargas, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In his papers, J. Hobbs has observed that when people make crude estimates, they usually feel reasonably comfortable choosing between alternatives which differ by a half order of magnitude (HOM). He also provided an explanation for this level of granularity based on the need for the resulting crude estimates to represent both the original data and the result of processing this data. According to this explanation, HOM are optimal -- when we limit ourselves to these first crude estimates.

In many practical situations, we do not stop with the original estimate, we refine it one or more times by using …

Use Of Deterministic Traffic Assignment Algorithms In Stochastic Networks: Analysis Of Equivalent Link Disutility Functions, Ruey L. Cheu, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

At present, in practice, most traffic assignment tasks are performed by using deterministic network (DN) models, which assume that the link travel time is uniquely determined by the link volume and link capacity. In reality, for the same link volume and link capacity, a link may have different travel times. However, the corresponding stochastic network (SN) models are not widely used because they are much more computationally complex than the DN models. In the past research, it was shown that in the important particular case, when the link travel time follows Gamma distribution, the traffic assignment problem for SN can …

Logit Discrete Choice Model: A New Distribution-Free Justification, Ruey L. Cheu, Hung T. Nguyen, Tanja Magoc, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

According to decision making theory, if we know the user's utility Ui=U(si) of all possible alternatives si, then we can uniquely predict the user's preferences. In practice, we often only know approximate values Vi~Ui of the user's utilities. Based on these approximate values, we can only make probabilistic predictions of the user's preferences. It is empirically known that in many real-life situations, the corresponding probabilities are described by a logit model, in which the probability pi of selecting the alternative si is equal to pi=exp(b*Vi)/(exp(b*V1)+...+exp(b*Vn)). There exist many theoretical explanations of this empirical formula, some of these explanations led to …

Towards A General Description Of Physical Invariance In Category Theory, John Symons, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Invariance is one of the most important notions in applications of mathematics. It is one of the key concepts in modern physics, is a computational tool that helps in solving complex equations, etc. In view of its importance, it is desirable to come up with a definition of invariance which is as general as possible. In this paper, we describe how to formulate a general notion of invariance in categorial terms.

Baby-Steps Towards Building A Spanglish Language Model, Juan C. Franco, Thamar Solorio

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Abstract. Spanglish is the simultaneous use, or alternating of both, traditional Spanish and English within the same conversational event. This interlanguage is commonly used in U.S. populations with large percentages of Spanish speakers. Despite the popularity of this dialect, and the wide spread of automated voice systems, currently there are no spoken dialog applications that can process Spanglish. In this paper we present the first attempt towards creating a Spanglish language model.

Exponential Disutility Functions In Transportation Problems: A New Theoretical Justification, Ruey L. Cheu, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In modeling drivers' route choice in stochastic networks, several researchers have successfully used exponential disutility functions. A usual justification for these functions is that they are consistent with common sense and that they lead to simpler computations than several other alternative disutility functions. In principle, such a justification leaves open a possibility that there is some other (yet un-tried) disutility function which is also consistent with common sense and for which the computations are even simpler than for the exponential function. In this paper, we prove that exponential disutility functions are the only ones that are consistent with the (appropriately …

2006 Survey Results For Cs1310: Introduction To Programming Using Media Computation, Aida Gandara

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In Spring of 2006, the Computer Science Department at the The University of Texas at El Paso began an initiative to offer a course named CS 1310 Introduction to Computing, focused on media computation. The course was directed toward Liberal Arts or non-CS students with the main goal of exposing these students to fundamental concepts of computer science using a highly abstract language called Python. The course was structured similar to that of the CS 1315 Introduction to Media Computation course offered at Georgia Institute of Technology, designed by Associate Professor, Mark Guzdial.

The remainder of this document serves to …

Automated Random Testing To Detect Specification-Code Inconsistencies, Yoonsik Cheon

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

An interface specification language such as JML provides a means to document precisely the behavior of program modules such as Java classes, and it is being adopted by industry. However, few practical tools exist for programmers to assure the correctness of their interface specifications. Nonetheless, the correctness of an interface specification is a prerequisite for the use of the specification, both as a precise API documentation and as a foundation for formal verification of and reasoning about the implementation. We propose automated random testing as a practical tool to assure the correctness of interface specifications. The key idea of our …

Towards Adding Probabilities And Correlations To Interval Computations, Daniel Berleant, Martine Ceberio, Gang Xiang, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The paper is a continuation of our previous work towards the use of probability information in interval computations. While in the previous work, bounds on the first order moments are taken into account, the contribution of this article is to deal with correlations. Specifically, in this paper, we develop a new method that takes into account both correlation among measured parameters and bounds on their expected values when doing interval computation.

Benjamin In Paris: Weak Messianism And Memories Of The Oppressed, Jules Simon

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

The Mathematical Analysis Of T-Norms Is Logically Non-Trivial, Sandor Jenei, Vladik Kreinovich, David Ponevac, Yaffa Al Bayyari

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is well-known that t-norms are widely applicable in certain models, which describe human reasoning about uncertainty, and that for different applications, different t-norms fit better. Thus, given a practical problem, it is important to be able to find a t-norm which is the most suitable for that particular problem. To solve such optimization problems, it would be desirable to know the structure of the class of all possible t-norms. Toward this -- probably unreachable -- goal there are many interesting open problems. If the corresponding mathematical problems are expressed in terms of quantifiers and logical connectives, then we get …

Building A Seismology Workflow-Driven Ontology: A Case Study, Leonardo Salayandia, Aaron Velazco

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

Meso-Machining Of Miniature Space System Components, Carlos Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many industries in engineering and science are focusing more on producing mechanisms and system components of magnitudes smaller than existing products. One of the major technologies associated with these demands is the development of meso scale precision manufacturing systems. Meso scale fabrication involves the scaling down of conventional machining to incorporate the use of familiar materials, such as aluminum, steel, and even titanium for machining miniature components. New techniques in meso scale fabrication allow for the machining of miniature space system components in an efficient manner to meet certain specifications. A description of the processes used to accurately machine a …

A Pda Based Recording System To Investgate Heart Rate, Marcos Efren Bolanos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Diabetes is one of most afflicting diseases in society which is caused by the inability of the body to appropriately use insulin to balance sugar levels. Type 1 diabetics require monitoring of their glucose levels to ensure a normal glucose level is maintained between 90 and 130 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). Unfortunately, current methods of monitoring are based on invasive and painful sampling of the blood. It was imperative that noninvasive and painless methods of monitoring glucose should be explored. A proven noninvasive technique utilizing infrared light to detect the fluctuations in the heart rate was used to determine if …

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 …

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.

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

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

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).

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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, …

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 …

A Model-Based Workflow Approach For Scientific Applications, Leonardo Salayandia, Paulo Pinheiro Da Silva, Ann Q. Gates, Alvaro Rebellon

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Productive design of scientific workflows often depends on the effectiveness of the communication between the discipline domain experts and computer scientists, including their ability to share their specific needs in the design of the workflow. Discipline domain experts and computer scientists, however, tend to have distinct needs for designing workflows including terminology, level of abstraction, workflow aspects that should be included in the design. This paper discusses the use of a Model-Based Workflow (MBW) approach as an abstract way to specify workflows that conciliate the needs of domain and computer scientists. Within the context of GEON, an NSF cyberinfrastructure for …

Workflow-Driven Ontologies: An Earth Sciences Case Study, Leonardo Salayandia, Paulo Pinheiro Da Silva, Ann Q. Gates, Flor Salcedo

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

A goal of the Geosciences Network (GEON) is to develop cyber-infrastructure that will allow earth scientists to discover access, integrate and disseminate knowledge in distributed environments such as the Web, changing the way in which research is conducted. The earth sciences community has begun the complex task of creating ontologies to support this effort. A challenge is to coalesce the needs of the earth scientists, who wish to capture knowledge in a particular discipline through the ontology, with the need to leverage the knowledge to support technology that will facilitate computation, for example, by helping the composition of services. This …

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 …

Wavesurfer: A Tool For Sound Analysis, Ernesto Medina, Thamar Solorio

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Researchers in the Interactive Systems Group at UTEP have been using a research tool called Didi for some time now. It was originally designed to be easily adaptable. This tool has proven to be adaptable as it has been changed by different researchers to suit particular needs. As a result, multiple versions of the program exist. In addition to this, the tool only works in Linux and has grown quite a bit. To solve these problems, the different versions could have been consolidated into one program and modified to produce a version that worked on other platforms, or another program …