Archive - 2008 Fall
From CS Colloquium
Friday, 21 November, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Modeling Spoken Dialog as a Process in Time
- Nigel Ward
- Much of this 40 minute research presentation will be accessible to lower-division students
Speaking is a cognitive process in time and also a communicative process in time, but models of language and language use seldom have a place for this. Based on analysis of a large corpus of spontaneous English telephone conversations, we find that certain types of words are characteristic at different times relative to the start of an utterance, and that this cannot be explained as a purely grammatical effect. We show how this information can be used to improve a state-of-the-art language model, which may support more accurate speech recognition and other improvements to spoken dialog systems. We also discuss ideas on how to make our model more comprehensive, more accurate, and more concise.
Joint work with Alejandro Vega.
Friday, 14 November, 1-5PM, Software Development Release Management
- Sponsored by IBM, CAHSI, and UTEP's CS Department
- Attendees must register with Steve Roach.
- Location: UGLC 106
Friday, 7 November, 1:30PM, Psychology 115, Language as a Window to the Psyche, James Pennebaker
Joint Psychology/Computer Science Colloquium
Abstract: The words people use in everyday life can reflect their social and psychological states. Of particular interest are the more forgettable function words (e.g., pronouns, prepositions, articles) which can signal the age, sex, social status, thinking style, emotional state, and social connections of the speaker. Findings from several projects will be summarized that point to the rich links between breakthroughs in computational linguistics and their promise for psychology and the social sciences.
Bio: James W. Pennebaker is Bush Professor of Liberal Arts and the Departmental Chair in the Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Ph.D. in 1977. He has been on the faculty at the University of Virginia, Southern Methodist University, and, since 1997, The University of Texas. He and his students are exploring the links between traumatic experiences, expressive writing, natural language use, and physical and mental health. His most recent research focuses on the nature of language and emotion in the real world. The words people use serve as powerful reflections of their personality and social worlds, and his LIWC program is widely used in uncovering these connections. Author or editor of 8 books and over 200 articles, Pennebaker has received numerous awards and honors.
Friday, 31 October, 12:30PM, Business 308: Brown Bag Information Session about the Economy
- Does the Economy Frighten You? – Dr. Tim Roth, Economics Professor
- Are You Spooked About Your Financial Future? – Dr. Oscar Varela, Finance Professor
Friday, 31 October, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Joint Meeting of Robust, Constraints and TRACS Research Groups
In this meeting, students involved in robust-systems, constraints- and theory-related research will briefly describe their research projects. While visitors are welcome, the primary focus of this meeting will be to facilitate collaboration within these research groups.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact faculty:
- Robust Networked Systems: Eric Freudenthal, Virgilio Gonzalez, & Luc Longpre
- Constraints: Martine Ceberio
- TRACS (Theoretical Research and its Applications to Computer Science)
- Vladik Kreinovich, Luc Longpre, Martine Ceberio, Francois Modave, and Eric Freudenthal
Friday, 17 October, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Trust Maps
- Paulo Pinheiro, Research presentation: Trust Maps
Friday, 10 October, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Juan Vargas from Google
Puzzle: (question presented last week) Majority Item. Send solutions to Dr. Luc Longpre.
Presentation: (should be accessible to most students)
ABSTRACT
We created a technological infrastructure that has transformed our lives. Immense volumes of data are being captured by instruments, satellites, and sensors, 24/7. Huge data sets are available to scientists, engineers, governments, and the private sector. Areas such as bioinformatics, drug discovery, e-commerce, etc., require unprecedented levels of cooperation and new analytic methods in order to make sense of all these data. At the new frontiers of engineering, science and technology, the new generation of scientists and engineers needs to understand fundamental data mining algorithms in order to go beyond and above and design the new technologies that can truly benefit our communities. Computing is the driving force, at the center of this fundamental change. To celebrate the 2008 UTEP's Gold Nugget Awards, during this talk I will discuss my favorite data mining algorithms and will try to connect data mining with gold mining. Stay tuned, Miners ! ;-)
BIO
Dr. Vargas is the Manager of University Relations for Google since October 2007. He was a Sr. Academic Relations Manager for Microsoft from May 2004 to September 2007. He was a professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of South Carolina from 1988 to 2004, teaching data mining, Bayesian networks, embedded and distributed systems, data structures & algorithms, programming languages, and operating systems. Dr. Vargas research interests include data mining, embedded systems, sensor networks, distributed systems and biomedical engineering. His research is published in more than 60 articles, several book chapters, and many conferences.
PhD from Vanderbilt University, MS from CINVESTAV-IPN, BSEE from UTEP
Friday, 3 October, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Help Based Tutorials
- Puzzle (announced last week): Banana Split (contact Dr. Luc Longpre if you believe that you know a solution.)
- David Novick, Help Based Tutorials
- Much of this 40-minute research presentation will be accessible to lower-division students
Monday, 29 Sept, 10:30AM, Tomas Rivera Conference Center, Union, Guest Speaker: R. Baker Kearfott
R. Baker Kearfott from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
will present a talk
"Mainstream Contributions of Interval Computations in Engineering and Scientific Computing"
Abstract: Interval arithmetic, visible in its present form in the scientific computing literature for at least 46 years, has had a consistent strong following among experts in the field. Giving mathematical rigor to machine computations based on rounded approximations to real numbers, interval arithmetic has held enticing promise. Here is an outline:
1. We first present the basic mathematical questions that interval arithmetic can possibly answer.
2. We then briefly review the elements of interval arithmetic.
3. We point out pitfalls in the naive use of interval arithmetic.
4. We mention subjects in which interval arithmetic has already had a significant impact in commercial software and applications.
5. We briefly outline current research and promising areas for future impact.
The talk is intended for the general audience; all engineers and scientists and all engineering and science students are welcome
This general-audience talk starts the 13th GAMM - IMACS International Symposium on Scientific Computing, Computer Arithmetic, and Verified Numerical Computations SCAN'2008 that will take place in El Paso, Texas, on September 29 - October 3, 2008
Friday, 26 September, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Community Discussion: What Should Students Entering College Know About Computation?
Dr. Freudenthal will be hosting a lunch discussion at an upcoming academic conference on this topic. To prepare for this event, he requests both student and faculty input. Please bring your ideas related to these or other questions:
- What should students know about CS that is important to choosing a college major?
- What should students entering CS know to ensure success?
- Are there common misconceptions (that cause trouble or confusion)?
- What should entering students not intending to study CS know about computation?
Friday, 19 September, 1:30PM, COMP 308, Speaker: Vladik Kreinovich
Vladik Kreinovich, UTEP Department of Computer Science
will present a 40 minute talk suitable for students at all levels
From Unexpectedly Fast and Unexpectedly Secure Quantum Computers to Unexpectedly Accurate and Unexpectedly Secure Quantum Sensors
Synopsis
Since the 1980s, it is known that quantum computers can solve many practical problems much faster than the fastest non-quantum ones. For example, a quantum computer can find a record in an unsorted database in time proportional to the square root of the number n of records (Grover's algorithm), while the fastest possible non-quantum computer requires, in the worst case, at least n steps. Another known example is Shor's algorithm that factors large integers in polynomial time and thus, makes the existing RSA encryptions insecure. This does not mean that quantum computers are themselves insecure: there are alternative secure cryptoschemes using quantum computers, schemes which are even better than the best non-quantum schemes because they provide the detection of eavesdropping.
In his recent paper in Science, Seth Lloyd, an MIT specialist in quantum computing, shows that similar quantum constructions can be applied not only to quantum computing but also to sensors. As a result, we get quantum sensors which are more accurate than the best possible non-quantum ones, with the additional benefit -- important, e.g., for military applications -- that we will know if the sensing (such as a radar ping) was detected by the target. This new technique will be described in the talk.
