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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Towards A Model Of The Mapping Between English And Spanish Prosody, Jonathan Avila Dec 2023

Towards A Model Of The Mapping Between English And Spanish Prosody, Jonathan Avila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Current speech-to-speech translation systems face challenges in effectively translating the nuances of prosody, which plays a pivotal role in conveying speaker intent and stance in dialog. This limitation restricts cross-lingual communication, especially in situations demanding deeper interpersonal understanding. To address this, this research delves into the relationships between prosody and its pragmatic functions, in English and Spanish. First, I discuss a data collection protocol in which bilingual speakers re-enact utterances from an earlier conversation in their other language, then describe an English-Spanish corpus, consisting of 3816 matched utterance pairs. Second, I describe a prosodic dissimilarity metric based on Euclidean distance …


Upcyclying Of Polyethylene Terephtalate By Addition Of Thermoplastic Elastomer, Diego Francisco Bermudez Dec 2023

Upcyclying Of Polyethylene Terephtalate By Addition Of Thermoplastic Elastomer, Diego Francisco Bermudez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Continual overconsumption of single-use plastics has generated challenges of solid waste management across the United States. Common plastic waste management solutions, such as landfill, have caused the migration of contaminants into the environment consequently affecting not only the health of wildlife, but also that of human beings. Alternative strategies for the handling of single-use plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used in the food packaging industry, can ultimately help mitigate the noxious consequences of single-use plastics affecting entire ecosystems. This study demonstrates a potential avenue of materials upcycling by studying the effects of coupling PET with the thermoplastic elastomer styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene …


Deep-Learning Frameworks For The Classification And Segmentation Of Alzheimer's Disease Cell Types, Md Easin Hasan Dec 2023

Deep-Learning Frameworks For The Classification And Segmentation Of Alzheimer's Disease Cell Types, Md Easin Hasan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Neuroimaging experts in biotech industries can benefit from using cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques for Alzheimerâ??s disease (AD) and dementia stage prediction, despite the fact that it may be difficult to anticipate the precise stage of AD. AD is one cause of dementia with very limited to no treatment available. Cell-type classification studies are essential for developing novel drugs for this lethal and common disease. Neuronal cell segmentation is the process of identifying and separating individual neurons in an image, typically in order to study their properties or analyze their organization in the nervous system. This is significant because neurological problems …


A Noninvasive Urine-Based Method For Kidney Cancer Early Detection, Kiana Holbrook Dec 2023

A Noninvasive Urine-Based Method For Kidney Cancer Early Detection, Kiana Holbrook

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Based on the traditional serological uses to obtain diagnoses of cancer and biopsy techniques, common cancer detection could be not only invasive but expensive and some tests are also unreliable. Currently, urine is one of the most frequently used and collected specimens in the clinical diagnoses. While the areas of urinalysis and metabolomic profiling has received interest in the top clinical research, there are limited components to the validity, specificity, as well as sensitivity of endogenous urine substrates to detect early stages of cancers. Although there is research showcasing that urine is impacted by age, cancer type, geographical location, and …


Southern Rio Grande Rift Kinematics And Geochronology, Big Bend Fold Geometry, And The Use Of Real Data In Geoscience Education: Contributions To The Understanding Of Big Bend Geology And To Public Geoscientific Literacy, Jessica Kelsch Dec 2023

Southern Rio Grande Rift Kinematics And Geochronology, Big Bend Fold Geometry, And The Use Of Real Data In Geoscience Education: Contributions To The Understanding Of Big Bend Geology And To Public Geoscientific Literacy, Jessica Kelsch

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Big Bend region of Trans-Pecos Texas preserves a rich record of Rio Grande rifting and Laramide-age contraction that provide intrigue to national and state park visitors and field trips for undergraduate geology students. Despite its well-exposed geologic record, the Big Bend region remains an underutilized natural laboratory for studying these two tectonic events. This dissertation combines structural studies of Rio Grande rift and Laramide structures with public outreach and geoscience education studies focused on the Big Bend region. In Chapter 2, existing extensional-kinematic studies from parts of this region are compiled with new fault kinematic and U-Pb geochronologic data …


Leveraging Agile Software Methodologies Within Software Development To Introduce A Novel Educational Software Methodology, Montserrat Guadalupe Molina Dec 2023

Leveraging Agile Software Methodologies Within Software Development To Introduce A Novel Educational Software Methodology, Montserrat Guadalupe Molina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Agile Software Development has been growing increasingly popular in the software engineering industry as a way to produce working software in a quick and people-centered manner. Agile methodologies require practitioners to have strong technical and non-technical skills, such as teamwork, project management, and communication skills. Students graduating from the software engineering discipline have been found to be lacking in these areas, leading to many difficulties faced by recent graduates as they begin their professional careers. Given that Agile Software Development is the most popular software development lifecycle currently used by practitioners in industry, it is important to expose students to …


Sterically Encumbering Ligands For The Synthesis And Stabilization Of Iron Nitride And Iron Oxo Compounds, Asiel Mena Dec 2023

Sterically Encumbering Ligands For The Synthesis And Stabilization Of Iron Nitride And Iron Oxo Compounds, Asiel Mena

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The study of iron-nitrides has been found to be very attractive due to their potential role in processes like Haber-Bosch and nitrogen fixation by nitrogenase. The role of iron-nitrides in these processes is yet not well understood, and the fact that only handful of terminal iron-nitrides have been isolated or spectroscopically detected motivates us to study this type of systems, since much remains to be learned about the electronic and structural factors that affect the chemistry of the Feâ?¡N bond. Recently in our group, by using a super-bulky guanidinate ligand (LAr*), the obtention of an iron-nitride ([LAr*]FeN(py) (LAr* = (Ar*N)2C(NCtBu2), …


Integrating Machine Learning Methods For Medical Diagnosis, Jazmin Quezada Dec 2023

Integrating Machine Learning Methods For Medical Diagnosis, Jazmin Quezada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract:The rapid advancement of machine learning techniques has revolutionized the field of medical diagnosis by offering powerful tools to analyze complex data sets and make accurate predictions. In this proposed method, we present a novel approach that integrates machine learning and optimization models to enhance the accuracy of medical diagnoses. Our method focuses on fine-tuning and optimizing the parameters of machine learning algorithms commonly used in medical diagnosis, such as logistic regression, support vector machines, and neural networks. By employing optimization techniques, we systematically explore the parameter space of these algorithms to discover the most optimal configurations. Moreover, by representing …


Using Shallow Electromagnetic And Magnetic Techniques To Map Soil Texture And Characterize Salinity And Water Dynamics Below Pecan Orchards, El Paso County, Texas, Kristina Sasser Dec 2023

Using Shallow Electromagnetic And Magnetic Techniques To Map Soil Texture And Characterize Salinity And Water Dynamics Below Pecan Orchards, El Paso County, Texas, Kristina Sasser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Non-invasive, near surface geophysical tools provide a time efficient and cost-effective approach to study the shallow subsurface. Electromagnetic induction (EMI) instruments are a category of these near surface methods that provide spatial and temporal information (2-D to 4-D) about shallow (<6 m) subsurface properties, from which soil salinity, clay content, and water content can be estimated. However, deconstructing soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) from EMI methods into its component parts remains a challenge. This research uses EMI and magnetic geophysical techniques to: (1) compare and contrast the distribution and behavior of ECa, both spatially and temporally, at two flood irrigated agricultural sites (pecan orchards) with different soil layers, properties, and controls on electrical conductivities that lie within the same floodplain in far west Texas; and (2) develop a one-dimensional inversion model using ECa and soil texture data at specified layers from established sites of known high and low ECa to determine soil layer resistivities at various dates during the irrigation season. Data are compared to soil sensor bulk EC and volumetric water content data at corresponding depths to validate results. Soils at both sites exhibit large ECa contributions from textural controls, and irrigation frequency. The combination of these two controls dictate where and how quickly secondary minerals precipitate, clog soil pores, reduce infiltration, and salinize the groundwater. Insight from this research aids in ongoing efforts to characterize vadose zone hydrology in dryland critical zones with high infiltration and serves as a guide for locations where future soil sampling will occur.


Bitcoin's Technical Foundation And Its Potential For A Decentralized And Environmentally Friendly Future, Iqtiar Md Siddique Dec 2023

Bitcoin's Technical Foundation And Its Potential For A Decentralized And Environmentally Friendly Future, Iqtiar Md Siddique

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research examines a systematic analysis of Bitcoin, employing a Coefficient of Variation (CV) approach to gauge its degree of decentralization. Bitcoin, an innovative decentralized digital currency, has received much attention for its potential to revolutionize traditional financial systems. This study employs the Coefficient of Variation (CV) to acquire insights into the wealth distribution and concentration among Bitcoin users. This research demonstrates how decentralized the network of Bitcoin is. The methodology uses real data on Bitcoin addresses and their holdings to compute the Coefficient of Variation (CV). This approach provides valuable insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding Bitcoin's decentralization, offering …


Diverse Impacts Of Commercial Ev Charging Load Infrastructure On Electric Power Grid, Antonio Avila Dec 2023

Diverse Impacts Of Commercial Ev Charging Load Infrastructure On Electric Power Grid, Antonio Avila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the rising prominence of electric vehicles (EVs) in the transportation sector, this thesis delves into the critical nexus between commercial EVs, charging infrastructure, and their consequential impacts on the power grid. As commercial EVs, particularly medium and heavy-duty variants, gain traction as viable alternatives in the commercial transportation landscape, understanding the intricacies of their charging requirements becomes paramount. This thesis critically examines the technological and logistical dimensions of the charging infrastructure for supporting commercial EVs, evaluating the consequential implications on the power grid and proposing strategies for mitigation through the utilization of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). In tandem with …


Alteration And Mineralization Of The Deep Extension Of The Giant Chuquicamata Porphyry Copper Deposit, Northern Chile, Claudio Andres Araya Torres Dec 2023

Alteration And Mineralization Of The Deep Extension Of The Giant Chuquicamata Porphyry Copper Deposit, Northern Chile, Claudio Andres Araya Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Porphyry copper deposits are the major source of copper and molybdenum in the world. The deposits consist of large volumes of rock altered by hydrothermal fluids released by shallow, intermediate composition magma chambers, with metallic mineralization present in veins, breccias, and disseminations; ore grades are typically 0.3-1.0 wt.% Cu. The subject of this study, the Chuquicamata porphyry copper deposit in northern Chile, is one of the most productive such deposits in the world, with over 45 million tons of Cu produced since large scale, open pit mining started early in the XXth century. Current production at Chuquicamata is from an …


Study Of Human Circadian Protein (Hrory) And Lipid-Protein Interaction In Giant Virus (Pbcv-1), Laila Noor Dec 2023

Study Of Human Circadian Protein (Hrory) And Lipid-Protein Interaction In Giant Virus (Pbcv-1), Laila Noor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Project 1: Circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that regulates physical and behavioral changes such as sleep-wake patterns in humans, tailoring the daily light and dark changes. Long-term disruption in circadian rhythms can cause sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, insomnia, et al. Limited research has been done on potential drugs to treat against circadian related sleep disorders. Inside the cell at molecular level, the circadian rhythm is regulated by interlocked time-delayed feedback loops, which involve positive and negative transcriptional regulators. Experimental results showed transcriptional factors Retinoic Acid Receptor-Related Orphan Receptors (RORs) improve the stability and functionality of the circadian …


Viability Of Magnetic Nanoparticles For Magnetic Hyperthermia Cancer Therapy, Marcos Adrian Garcia Dec 2023

Viability Of Magnetic Nanoparticles For Magnetic Hyperthermia Cancer Therapy, Marcos Adrian Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the last few decades magnetic nanoparticles have gained an extraordinary amount of attention in the science community. Their versatile use in many different research areas such as medicine, engineering and technology and many other areas has made them a popular subject. In this thesis, the synthesis of different systems of magnetic nanoparticles will be explored along with the potential use of the MNP's as viable candidates for Magnetic Hyperthermia Cancer Therapy. With values of over 200 emu/g for Iron-Silver magnetic nanoparticles with particle sizes ranging from 30-70nm and their heating properties under an AC magnetic field. As well of …


From Type-2 Fuzzy To Type-2 Intervals And Type-2 Probabilities, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Luc Longpré Nov 2023

From Type-2 Fuzzy To Type-2 Intervals And Type-2 Probabilities, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Luc Longpré

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Our knowledge comes from observations, measurements, and expert opinions. Measurements and observations are never 100% accurate, there is always a difference between the measurement result and the actual value of the corresponding quantity. We gauge the resulting uncertainty either by an interval of possible values, or by a probability distribution on the set of possible values, or by a membership function that describes to what extent different values are possible. The information about uncertainty also comes either from measurements or from expert estimates and is, therefore, also uncertain. It is important to take such "type-2" uncertainty into account. This is …


Giant Footprints Of Buddha And Generalized Limits, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich Nov 2023

Giant Footprints Of Buddha And Generalized Limits, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many places in Asia, there are footprints claimed to be left by Buddha. Many of them are much larger than the usual size of human feet, up to 150 cm and more in length. In this paper, we provide a possible mathematical explanation for such unusual sizes.


How To Efficiently Propagate P-Box Uncertainty, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich Nov 2023

How To Efficiently Propagate P-Box Uncertainty, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, to get the desired estimate or prediction, we need to process existing data. This data usually comes from measurements, and measurements are never 100% accurate. Because we only know the input values with uncertainty, the results of processing this data also comes with uncertainty. To make an appropriate decision, we need to know how accurate is the resulting estimate, i.e., how the input uncertainty "propagates" through the data processing algorithm. In the ideal case, when we know the probability distribution of each measurement error, we can, in principle, use Monte-Carlo simulations to describe the uncertainty of …


Uncertainty Quantification For Results Of Ai-Based Data Processing: Towards More Feasible Algorithms, Christoph Q. Lauter, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva Nov 2023

Uncertainty Quantification For Results Of Ai-Based Data Processing: Towards More Feasible Algorithms, Christoph Q. Lauter, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

AI techniques have been actively and successfully used in data processing. This tendency started with fuzzy techniques, now neural network techniques are actively used. With each new technique comes the need for the corresponding uncertainty quantification (UQ). In principle, for both fuzzy and neural techniques, we can use the usual UQ methods -- however, these techniques often require an unrealistic amount of computation time. In this paper, we show that in both cases, we can use specific features of the corresponding techniques to drastically speed up the corresponding computations.


Usually, Either Left And Right Brains Are Equally Active Or Only One Of Them Is Active: First-Principles Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich Nov 2023

Usually, Either Left And Right Brains Are Equally Active Or Only One Of Them Is Active: First-Principles Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that in most practical situations, either both left and right brains are equally active, or only one of them is active. A recent paper showed that this empirical phenomenon can be explained by a realistic model of the brain effectiveness. In this paper, we show that this conclusion can be made without any specific assumptions about the brain, based on first principles.


Which Random-Set Representation Of A Fuzzy Set Is The Simplest?, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Hung T. Nguyen Nov 2023

Which Random-Set Representation Of A Fuzzy Set Is The Simplest?, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Hung T. Nguyen

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

One of the ways to elicit membership degrees is by polling. For example, we ask a group of people how many believe that 30 C is hot. If 8 out of ten say that it is hot, we assign the degree 8/10 to the statement "30 C is hot". In precise mathematical terms, polling can be described via so-called random sets. It is known that every fuzzy set can be obtained this way, i.e., that every fuzzy set can be represented by an appropriate random set. Moreover, it is known that for many fuzzy sets, there are several different random-set …


Why Micro-Funding? Why Small Businesses Are Important? Analysis Based On First Principles, Hein D. Tran, Edwin Tomy George, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

Why Micro-Funding? Why Small Businesses Are Important? Analysis Based On First Principles, Hein D. Tran, Edwin Tomy George, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

On the one hand, in economics, there is a well-known and well-studied economy of scale: when two smaller companies merge, it lowers their costs and thus, makes them more effective and therefore more competitive. At first glance, this advantage of big size would make economy dominated by big companies -- but in reality, small business remain a significant and important economic sector. Similarly, it is well known and well studied that research collaboration enhances researchers' productivity -- but still a significant portion of important results come from individual efforts. In several applications areas, there are area-specific explanations for this seemingly …


Local-Global Support For Earth Sciences: Economic Analysis, Uyen Hoang Pham, Aaron Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

Local-Global Support For Earth Sciences: Economic Analysis, Uyen Hoang Pham, Aaron Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Most funding for science comes from taxpayers. So, it is very important to be able to convince taxpayers that this funding is potentially beneficial for them. This task is easier in Earth sciences, e.g., in meteorology, where there are clear local benefits. The problem is that while many people support local studies focused on their region, they do not always have a good understanding of the fact that effective local benefits require also studying surrounding areas -- and what should be the optimal balance between local and (more) global studies. In this paper, on a (somewhat) simplified model of the …


Approximate Stochastic Dominance Revisited, Chon Van Le, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

Approximate Stochastic Dominance Revisited, Chon Van Le, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

According to decision theory, in general, to recommend the best of possible actions, we need to know, for each possible action, the probabilities of different outcomes, and we also need to know the decision maker's utility function -- that describes his/her preferences. For some pairs of probability distributions, however, we can make such a recommendation without knowing the exact form of the utility function -- e.g., in financial applications, we only need to know that a larger amount is preferable to a smaller one. Such situations, when we can make decisions based only on the information about probabilities, are known …


Just-In-Accuracy: Mobile Approach To Uncertainty, Martine Ceberio, Christoph Q. Lauter, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

Just-In-Accuracy: Mobile Approach To Uncertainty, Martine Ceberio, Christoph Q. Lauter, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To make a mobile device last longer, we need to limit computations to a bare minimum. One way to do that, in complex control and decision making problems, is to limit precision with which we do computations, i.e., limit the number of bits in the numbers' representation. A problem is that often, we do not know with what precision should we do computations to get the desired accuracy of the result. What we propose is to first do computations with very low precision, then, based on these computations, estimate what precision is needed to achieve the given accuracy, and then …


How To Deal With Inconsistent Intervals: Utility-Based Approach Can Overcome The Limitations Of The Purely Probability-Based Approach, Kittawit Autchariyapanitkul, Tomoe Entani, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

How To Deal With Inconsistent Intervals: Utility-Based Approach Can Overcome The Limitations Of The Purely Probability-Based Approach, Kittawit Autchariyapanitkul, Tomoe Entani, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many application areas, we rely on experts to estimate the numerical values of some quantities. Experts can provide not only the estimates themselves, they can also estimate the accuracies of their estimates -- i.e., in effect, they provide an interval of possible values of the quantity of interest. To get a more accurate estimate, it is reasonable to ask several experts -- and to take the intersection of the resulting intervals. In some cases, however, experts overestimate the accuracy of their estimates, their intervals are too narrow -- so narrow that they are inconsistent: their intersection is empty. In …


How To Make Machine Learning Financial Recommendations More Fair: Theoretical Explanation, Tho M. Nguyen, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Vladik Kreinovich Oct 2023

How To Make Machine Learning Financial Recommendations More Fair: Theoretical Explanation, Tho M. Nguyen, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Machine learning has been actively and successfully used to make financial decisions. In general, these systems work reasonably well. However, in some cases, these systems show unexpected bias towards minority groups -- the bias that is sometime much larger than the bias in the data on which they were trained. A recent paper analyzed whether a proper selection of hyperparameters can decrease this bias. It turned out that while the selection of hyperparameters indeed affect the system's fairness, only a few of the hyperparameters lead to consistent improvement of fairness: the number of features used for training and the number …


Linear Regression Under Partial Information, Tho M. Nguyen, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Vladik Kreinovich Sep 2023

Linear Regression Under Partial Information, Tho M. Nguyen, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Often, we need to know how to estimate the value of a difficult-to-directly estimate quantity y -- e.g., tomorrow's temperature -- based on the known values of several quantities x1, ..., xn. In many practical situations, we know that the relation between y and xi can be accurately described by a linear function. So, to find this dependence, we need to estimate the coefficients of this linear dependence based on the known cases in which we know both y and xi; this is known as linear regression. In the ideal situation, when in each case, we know all the inputs …


When Is It Beneficial To Merge Two Companies? When Is It Beneficial To Start A Research Collaboration?, Miroslav Svitek, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich Sep 2023

When Is It Beneficial To Merge Two Companies? When Is It Beneficial To Start A Research Collaboration?, Miroslav Svitek, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Merging two companies or splitting a company into two, teaming of two researchers or two research groups -- or splitting a research group into two -- these are frequent occurrences. Sometimes these actions lead to increased effectiveness, but sometimes, contrary to the optimistic expectations, the overall effectiveness decreases. To minimize the possibility of such failures, it is desirable to replace the current semi-intuitive way of making the corresponding decisions with a more objective approach. In this paper, we propose such an approach.


Algebraic Product Is The Only "And-Like"-Operation For Which Normalized Intersection Is Associative: A Proof, Thierry Denœx, Vladik Kreinovich Aug 2023

Algebraic Product Is The Only "And-Like"-Operation For Which Normalized Intersection Is Associative: A Proof, Thierry Denœx, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

For normalized fuzzy sets, intersection is, in general, not normalized. So, if we want to limit ourselves to normalized fuzzy sets, we need to normalize the intersection. It is known that for algebraic product, the normalized intersection is associative, and that for many other "and"-operations (t-norms), normalized intersection is not associative. In this paper, we prove that algebraic product is the only "and"-operation (even the only "and-like" operation) for which normalized intersection is associative.


Why Unit Two-Variable-Per-Inequality (Utvpi) Constraints Are So Efficient To Handle: Intuitive Explanation, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Martine Ceberio, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich Aug 2023

Why Unit Two-Variable-Per-Inequality (Utvpi) Constraints Are So Efficient To Handle: Intuitive Explanation, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Martine Ceberio, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In general, integer linear programming is NP-hard. However, there exists a class of integer linear programming problems for which an efficient algorithm is possible: the class of so-called unit two-variable-per-inequality (UTVPI) constraints. In this paper, we provide an intuitive explanation for why an efficient algorithm turned out to be possible for this class. Namely, the smaller the class, the more probable it is that a feasible algorithm is possible for this class, and the UTVPI class is indeed the smallest -- in some reasonable sense described in this paper.