Validity-Guided Synthesis of Reactive Systems from Assume-Guarantee Contracts

Automated synthesis of reactive systems from specifications has been a topic of research for decades. Recently, a variety of approaches have been proposed to extend synthesis of reactive systems from proposi- tional specifications towards specifications over rich theories. We propose a novel, completely automated approach to program synthesis which reduces the problem to deciding the validity of a set of forall-exists formulas. In spirit of IC3 / PDR, our problem space is recursively refined by blocking out regions of unsafe states, aiming to discover a fixpoint that describes safe reactions. If such a fixpoint is found, we construct a witness that is directly translated into an implementation. We implemented the algorithm on top of the JKind model checker, and exercised it against contracts written using the Lustre specification language. Experimental results show how the new algorithm outperforms JKinds already existing synthesis procedure based on k-induction and addresses soundness issues in the k-inductive approach with respect to unrealizable results.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Sharing Traditional and Contemporary Literature with Deaf Children

published or submitted for publicatio

From Once Upon a Time to Happily Ever After: Grimms’ Fairy Tales and Early Childhood Development

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies and The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

‘A princess strives for perfection’. Modelization of women in Disney movies from The Little Mermaid to Brave

The modelization of women in what is known as Disney “Princesses” movies has changed notably since the creation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 until nowadays. While at the beginning the role of female characters was linked to housework and marriage, this stereotype changed gradually ending up with the production of Disney “Princesses” movies in which the heroines are depicted as active women who take control of their lives without the need of a man for a happy ending. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the changes in the modelization of women in Disney “Princess” movies through the analysis of gender archetypes and, specifically, through the analysis of the The Little Mermaid (1989) and Brave (2012). These two movies represent a change in the portrayal of women since they break with the tradition depicted in previous movies and introduce a renewed image far from the typical “Princess” gender archetypes.La modelización de la mujer en las películas de “Princesas” Disney ha cambiado notablemente desde la creación de Blancanieves y los Siete Enanitos en 1937 hasta nuestros días. Mientras que al principio el rol de la mujer estaba unido al trabajo doméstico y al matrimonio, este ha ido cambiando gradualmente hasta la producción de películas de Disney “Princesas” en las que las heroínas se presentan de manera activa, tomando el control sobre sus vidas y sin la necesidad de un hombre para sus finales felices. El objetivo de esta disertación es investigar los cambios en los arquetipos de género en las películas de “Princesas” Disney y, específicamente, en el análisis de La Sirenita (1989) y Brave: Indomable (2012). Ambas simbolizan un cambio en la representación de la mujer ya que rompen con la tradición de las películas anteriores presentando una imagen renovada lejos de los tradicionales arquetipos de género de las “Princesas.”Departamento de Filología InglesaGrado en Estudios Inglese

En undersøkelse av stereotypier av mødre i Fleabag (2016) av Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The basis of this thesis is a close reading of the 2016 TV-series Fleabag written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, exploring and investigating the maternal stereotypes that are presented. Waller-Bridge reuses the fairytale narrative in telling the story, which is showcased through tropes and conventions that are typical for the fairytale genre. The thesis revolves mainly around three characters and which stereotype they are given, and how it is displayed, reviewing one character at a time. Starting off with the absent mother, and the effects of her absence on the narrative and surrounding characters. Followed by the “wicked stepmother” or Godmother in this case, and then a duality of stereotypes with both stepmother and biological mother. In order to put the maternal stereotypes into perspective, a short discussion of the title character is also included, and how she is presented as neither maternal nor stereotypical. Female relationships and mothers are discussed through close readings of dialogue and stage directions

Learning-Based Synthesis of Safety Controllers

We propose a machine learning framework to synthesize reactive controllers for systems whose interactions with their adversarial environment are modeled by infinite-duration, two-player games over (potentially) infinite graphs. Our framework targets safety games with infinitely many vertices, but it is also applicable to safety games over finite graphs whose size is too prohibitive for conventional synthesis techniques. The learning takes place in a feedback loop between a teacher component, which can reason symbolically about the safety game, and a learning algorithm, which successively learns an overapproximation of the winning region from various kinds of examples provided by the teacher. We develop a novel decision tree learning algorithm for this setting and show that our algorithm is guaranteed to converge to a reactive safety controller if a suitable overapproximation of the winning region can be expressed as a decision tree. Finally, we empirically compare the performance of a prototype implementation to existing approaches, which are based on constraint solving and automata learning, respectively

Happily Ever After: Construction of Family in Disney Princess Collection Films

This thesis examined the role and characterization of family members in Disney princess films. The purpose of this study was to fill gaps in previous research on the Disney princess films by analyzing the themes and collection as a whole, including the newest film in the collection, The Princess and the Frog. Using content analysis, this study identified three variables that were present in every Disney princess film in the collection - nuclear family, love, and appearance. The researcher found little family diversity in terms of types of households, parenting roles, and characterization of family members. Siblings were especially underrepresented. Only two of the nine princesses had siblings, and very little screen time was devoted to them. Diversity in the appearance of princesses and suitors was also lacking, even in more recent films. Newer films included non-Caucasian princesses, and more of the princesses were shown wearing revealing clothing. No significant differences were found in the characterizations of the princesses. The age, ethnicity, and economic status of the suitors became more diverse in recent films, but the suitors were characterized in similar ways. Although there were few changes in the appearance and characterizations of family members and significant others, princesses in newer films became more goal-driven and showed less romanticization of love and escapism

Once Upon the Bench: Rule Under the Fairy Tale

The idea that the fairy tale is worthy of study by legal scholars may seem uncomfortable to many. Even the strongest supporters of the law and literature movement may be given pause by this contention. It may be one thing for Kafka to give lessons in law, but the Brothers Grimm? After all, it was not until relatively recently that the fairy tale was even accepted as a legitimate subject of study by literature departments, and it is still disdained by many in the university. How could the childish world of fantasy stories have anything to do with the sophisticated study of law? This Note seeks to answer this question by investigating the unexplored relationship between the fairy-tale genre and law

The Gendered World of Disney: A Content Analysis of Gender Themes in Full-length Animated Disney Feature Films

Research has focused on the gender messages portrayed in television programs, cartoons, advertisements, literature, picture books, and fairy tales. One venue that has not received as much attention in the research is the Disney 1 full-length animated feature films. This is a qualitative study of the gender themes and portrayal of gender roles in full-length animated feature films by The Walt Disney Company. The findings in this research indicate there has been little change in the stereotyped portrayals of Disney characters from the release of the first full-length animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 to the release of Toy Story in 1995. Male characters continue to outnumber female characters. Women are portrayed as performing more in-home labor, less out-of-home employment, and hold little familial or societal power. Small changes are noted in the presentation of character traits for both male and female characters. Perspectives from the sociology of knowledge and the social construction of reality serve as a theoretical framework to explain Disney\u27s continual stereotyped portrayal of gender roles. Within this framework this study demonstrates how the abstract processes of objectification and legitimation occur in the production of gender typifications in the Disney films. The study concludes with a discussion of emerging gender themes and suggestions for future research concerning Disney films. Disney and The Walt Disney Company are registered trademarks of The Walt Disney Company