Arrows for knowledge-based circuits

Knowledge-based programs (KBPs) are a formalism for directly relating agents' knowledge and behaviour in a way that has proven useful for specifying distributed systems. Here we present a scheme for compiling KBPs to executable automata in finite environments with a proof of correctness in Isabelle/HOL. We use Arrows, a functional programming abstraction, to structure a prototype domain-specific synchronous language embedded in Haskell. By adapting our compilation scheme to use symbolic representations we can apply it to several examples of reasonable size

A MuDDy Experience-ML Bindings To A BDD Library

Abstract. Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) are a data structure used to efficiently represent boolean expressions on canonical form. BDDs are often the core data structure in model checkers. MuDDy is an ML interface (both for Standard ML and Objective Caml) to the BDD package BuDDy that is written in C. This combination of an ML interface to a high-performance C library is surprisingly fruitful. ML allows you to quickly experiment with high-level symbolic algorithms before handing over the grunt work to the C library. I show how, with a relatively little effort, you can make a domain specific language for concurrent finite state-machines embedded in Standard ML and then write various custom model-checking algorithms for this domain specific embedded language (DSEL)

Closing the gap between guidance and practice, an investigation of the relevance of design guidance to practitioners using object-oriented technologies

This thesis investigates if object oriented guidance is relevant in practice, and how this affects software that is produced. This is achieved by surveying practitioners and studying how constructs such as interfaces and inheritance are used in open-source systems. Surveyed practitioners framed 'good design' in terms of impact on development and maintenance. Recognition of quality requires practitioner judgement (individually and as a group), and principles are valued over rules. Time constraints heighten sensitivity to the rework cost of poor design decisions. Examination of open source systems highlights the use of interface and inheritance. There is some evidence of 'textbook' use of these structures, and much use is simple. Outliers are widespread indicating a pragmatic approach. Design is found to reflect the pressures of practice - high-level decisions justify 'designed' structures and architecture, while uncertainty leads to deferred design decisions - simpler structures, repetition, and unconsolidated design. Sub-populations of structures can be identified which may represent common trade-offs. Useful insights are gained into practitioner attitude to design guidance. Patterns of use and structure are identified which may aid in assessment and comprehension of object oriented systems.This thesis investigates if object oriented guidance is relevant in practice, and how this affects software that is produced. This is achieved by surveying practitioners and studying how constructs such as interfaces and inheritance are used in open-source systems. Surveyed practitioners framed 'good design' in terms of impact on development and maintenance. Recognition of quality requires practitioner judgement (individually and as a group), and principles are valued over rules. Time constraints heighten sensitivity to the rework cost of poor design decisions. Examination of open source systems highlights the use of interface and inheritance. There is some evidence of 'textbook' use of these structures, and much use is simple. Outliers are widespread indicating a pragmatic approach. Design is found to reflect the pressures of practice - high-level decisions justify 'designed' structures and architecture, while uncertainty leads to deferred design decisions - simpler structures, repetition, and unconsolidated design. Sub-populations of structures can be identified which may represent common trade-offs. Useful insights are gained into practitioner attitude to design guidance. Patterns of use and structure are identified which may aid in assessment and comprehension of object oriented systems

The Whitworthian 1965-1966

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 1965-May 1966.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1049/thumbnail.jp

The Whitworthian 1950-1951

The Whitworthian student newspaper, July 1950-Summer Edition 1951.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1034/thumbnail.jp

The Doppelgänger in Wilhelmine cinema (1895-1914) : modernity, audiences and identity in turn-of-the-century Germany

The Doppelganger is a celebrated motif of German silent cinema that has been seen by art and literary historians as a filmic descendant of German Romanticism, and by psychoanalysts as a concretisation of human beings' fears regarding their own potentially fragmentary nature and mortality. This research builds on such interpretations by suggesting that - in the case of German cinema before World War One, at least - the Doppelganger can be read as a signifier of modernity as it was experienced by members of various social groupings. Returning to primary sources, some 203 films are identified that featured a Doppelganger and were released in Germany between 1895 and 1914. This corpus is broken down both by genre (into detective films, comedies and art films), and in terms of the polarities of identity about which the figure of the Doppelganger is constructed (high yersus low class, female versus male, and black versus white). From here, individual chapters address the Doppelganger as a fantastic representation of shifting class, gender, sexual and ethnic identities in Wilhelmine society. Each chapter draws in particular on contemporary sources relating to the various frames of identity under discussion, and suggests possible readings available to Wilhelmine spectators of the Doppelganger in individual films and genres. In this way, meaning is located at the intersection of the filmic text and contemporary discourse, and the 'Doppelganger film' can be regarded as a conduit for exploring issues of shifting identity within modernity, with particular regard to perceived new identities constructed 'between' supposedly stable binary oppositions of class, gender, and so on. These include the 'new woman' (perceived as a female incursion into the male sphere), the nouveau riche (moving between low and high class identity), the 'sexual intermediate' (constructed between male and female sexuality), and so forth

The drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in the supply chain. A case study.

Purpose: The paper studies the way in which a SME integrates CSR into its corporate strategy, the practices it puts in place and how its CSR strategies reflect on its suppliers and customers relations. Methodology/Research limitations: A qualitative case study methodology is used. The use of a single case study limits the generalizing capacity of these findings. Findings: The entrepreneur’s ethical beliefs and value system play a fundamental role in shaping sustainable corporate strategy. Furthermore, the type of competitive strategy selected based on innovation, quality and responsibility clearly emerges both in terms of well defined management procedures and supply chain relations as a whole aimed at involving partners in the process of sustainable innovation. Originality/value: The paper presents a SME that has devised an original innovative business model. The study pivots on the issues of innovation and eco-sustainability in a context of drivers for CRS and business ethics. These values are considered fundamental at International level; the United Nations has declared 2011 the “International Year of Forestry”

Proceedings of the 11th Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning

These are the proceedings of the 11th Nonmonotonic Reasoning Workshop. The aim of this series is to bring together active researchers in the broad area of nonmonotonic reasoning, including belief revision, reasoning about actions, planning, logic programming, argumentation, causality, probabilistic and possibilistic approaches to KR, and other related topics. As part of the program of the 11th workshop, we have assessed the status of the field and discussed issues such as: Significant recent achievements in the theory and automation of NMR; Critical short and long term goals for NMR; Emerging new research directions in NMR; Practical applications of NMR; Significance of NMR to knowledge representation and AI in general