A multi-paradigm language for reactive synthesis

This paper proposes a language for describing reactive synthesis problems that integrates imperative and declarative elements. The semantics is defined in terms of two-player turn-based infinite games with full information. Currently, synthesis tools accept linear temporal logic (LTL) as input, but this description is less structured and does not facilitate the expression of sequential constraints. This motivates the use of a structured programming language to specify synthesis problems. Transition systems and guarded commands serve as imperative constructs, expressed in a syntax based on that of the modeling language Promela. The syntax allows defining which player controls data and control flow, and separating a program into assumptions and guarantees. These notions are necessary for input to game solvers. The integration of imperative and declarative paradigms allows using the paradigm that is most appropriate for expressing each requirement. The declarative part is expressed in the LTL fragment of generalized reactivity(1), which admits efficient synthesis algorithms, extended with past LTL. The implementation translates Promela to input for the Slugs synthesizer and is written in Python. The AMBA AHB bus case study is revisited and synthesized efficiently, identifying the need to reorder binary decision diagrams during strategy construction, in order to prevent the exponential blowup observed in previous work.Comment: In Proceedings SYNT 2015, arXiv:1602.0078

Hybrid laws: constitutionalizing private governance networks

s.a.: Das Recht hybrider Netzwerke. Zeitschrift für das gesamte Handelsrecht und Wirtschaftsrecht 165, 2001, 550-575.. Italienische Fassung: Diritti ibridi: la costituzionalizzazione delle reti private di governance. In: Gunther Teubner, Costituzionalismo societario. Armando, Roma 2004 (im Erscheinen)

Painting in the light of digital reproduction

"The proliferation of digital photographs on the Internet is incomprehensibly vast. These images owe much to the categories and styles of traditional photography, yet often it is their unmediated low quality, in terms of selection, composition, and compression, which is particularly elevated to prominence by the new medium. The Internet represents a near infinite expansion of the mail-order catalogue, amateur snapshot or analogue video; a way of collecting visual information where the aesthetics of simple functionality or mediocrity is observed, as there is virtually no material cost involved. Photographers, filmmakers and painters have already trawled the found-image archive extensively. Gerhard Richter's encyclopaedic Atlas project or the photographic collections of Fischli and Weiss are clear examples of the artistic imperative to gather, filter and categorise pictures. Trying to develop taxonomies of images is like assembling a Thesaurus, where it is possible to cross-reference through every definition. Now it would seem that found images are all we have thanks to the Internet's primary function as consumer and diffuser of information, a generator of simulacra. Paradoxically, this infinite source seems to have more veracity due

HOLON APPROACH IN NEED OF COMPANY RESTRUCTURING

Holon concept of systems theory and systems developed in after 80s of last century. The term holon (Greek: Hales = whole, derived from parts) was taken over by specialists in the field of systems, from the American Professor A. Koestler , who first used in the context of the systems division, talking about systems that operate in other systems. The holon is essentially an operating system under which one or more autonomous systems, integration. The holon is integrative role that optimizes operation and results of embedded systems, limiting excessive generalization of the classical notion of system. This approach assumes that there are quite a few companies in the state of \"vitality\" or less and those who remain in a state of alert and that in most cases, even a viable business, reservations, or to increase the effectiveness of that maintaining this state requires some effort, area businesses in \"difficulty\" or \"vulnerable\" under these conditions is expanding.holon system, restructuring, analysis diagnosis, risk analysis, risk of bankruptcy, stakeholders

Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors

P4 is a high-level language for programming protocol-independent packet processors. P4 works in conjunction with SDN control protocols like OpenFlow. In its current form, OpenFlow explicitly specifies protocol headers on which it operates. This set has grown from 12 to 41 fields in a few years, increasing the complexity of the specification while still not providing the flexibility to add new headers. In this paper we propose P4 as a strawman proposal for how OpenFlow should evolve in the future. We have three goals: (1) Reconfigurability in the field: Programmers should be able to change the way switches process packets once they are deployed. (2) Protocol independence: Switches should not be tied to any specific network protocols. (3) Target independence: Programmers should be able to describe packet-processing functionality independently of the specifics of the underlying hardware. As an example, we describe how to use P4 to configure a switch to add a new hierarchical label

The regional variation of new technology based firms in Austria

During the last two decades the role of new business start-ups has gained a growing interest both from regional economics as well as from (regional) economic policy. It was recognized that not only the large Galbraithian enterprise is the driving force in processes like employment growth or structural economic change, but also small and often new or young firms are playing an active role. In the 1980s so called new technology based firms (NTBFs) gained considerable attention. It has been argued that the Schumpeterian entrepreneur is an important force for the implementation of new ideas into the market place, often via the formation of NTBFs. In our paper we analyse the structure and the regional variation of new business formation in the high technology sector in Austria. Using a definition based upon the OECD we differentiate the high tech sector in (i) top technology, (ii) higher technologies and (iii) technology orientated services. We demonstrate the relative importance of these groups for the total population of new business start-ups in Austria in the time period ot 1990-1994 as well as for certain sub-populations like manufacturing and services. The main part of our paper discusses the regional variation of NTBFs using the framework of the well known urban incubator hypothesis. It is expected that metropolitan and urban regions have a higher orientation towards high tech (what means the proportion of NTBFs) than the rural or hinterland regions. An additional part of our paper deals with the question wether NTBFs play an important role in the process of structural change of regional economies as has been postulated by various authors during the last couple of years.

Integrating Genomic Knowledge Sources through an Anatomy Ontology

Modern genomic research has access to a plethora of knowledge sources. Often, it is imperative that researchers combine and integrate knowledge from multiple perspectives. Although some technology exists for connecting data and knowledge bases, these methods are only just begin-ning to be successfully applied to research in modern cell biology. In this paper, we argue that one way to integrate multiple knowledge sources is through anatomy—both generic cellular anatomy, as well as anatomic knowledge about the tissues and organs that may be studied via microarray gene expression experiments. We present two examples where we have combined a large ontology of human anatomy (the FMA) with other genomic knowledge sources: the gene ontology (GO) and the mouse genomic databases (MGD) of the Jackson Labs. These two initial examples of knowledge integration provide a proof of concept that anatomy can act as a hub through which we can usefully combine a variety of genomic knowledge and data