45,020 research outputs found
Bounded Concurrent Timestamp Systems Using Vector Clocks
Shared registers are basic objects used as communication mediums in
asynchronous concurrent computation. A concurrent timestamp system is a higher
typed communication object, and has been shown to be a powerful tool to solve
many concurrency control problems. It has turned out to be possible to
construct such higher typed objects from primitive lower typed ones. The next
step is to find efficient constructions. We propose a very efficient wait-free
construction of bounded concurrent timestamp systems from 1-writer multireader
registers. This finalizes, corrects, and extends, a preliminary bounded
multiwriter construction proposed by the second author in 1986. That work
partially initiated the current interest in wait-free concurrent objects, and
introduced a notion of discrete vector clocks in distributed algorithms.Comment: LaTeX source, 35 pages; To apper in: J. Assoc. Comp. Mac
Efficient Symmetry Reduction and the Use of State Symmetries for Symbolic Model Checking
One technique to reduce the state-space explosion problem in temporal logic
model checking is symmetry reduction. The combination of symmetry reduction and
symbolic model checking by using BDDs suffered a long time from the
prohibitively large BDD for the orbit relation. Dynamic symmetry reduction
calculates representatives of equivalence classes of states dynamically and
thus avoids the construction of the orbit relation. In this paper, we present a
new efficient model checking algorithm based on dynamic symmetry reduction. Our
experiments show that the algorithm is very fast and allows the verification of
larger systems. We additionally implemented the use of state symmetries for
symbolic symmetry reduction. To our knowledge we are the first who investigated
state symmetries in combination with BDD based symbolic model checking
Randomized Two-Process Wait-Free Test-and-Set
We present the first explicit, and currently simplest, randomized algorithm
for 2-process wait-free test-and-set. It is implemented with two 4-valued
single writer single reader atomic variables. A test-and-set takes at most 11
expected elementary steps, while a reset takes exactly 1 elementary step. Based
on a finite-state analysis, the proofs of correctness and expected length are
compressed into one table.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX source; Submitte
Life of occam-Pi
This paper considers some questions prompted by a brief review of the history of computing. Why is programming so hard? Why is concurrency considered an “advanced” subject? What’s the matter with Objects? Where did all the Maths go? In searching for answers, the paper looks at some concerns over fundamental ideas within object orientation (as represented by modern programming languages), before focussing on the concurrency model of communicating processes and its particular expression in the occam family of languages. In that focus, it looks at the history of occam, its underlying philosophy (Ockham’s Razor), its semantic foundation on Hoare’s CSP, its principles of process oriented design and its development over almost three decades into occam-? (which blends in the concurrency dynamics of Milner’s ?-calculus). Also presented will be an urgent need for rationalisation – occam-? is an experiment that has demonstrated significant results, but now needs time to be spent on careful review and implementing the conclusions of that review. Finally, the future is considered. In particular, is there a future
Extending snBench to Support Hierarchical and Configurable Scheduling
It is useful in systems that must support multiple applications with various temporal requirements to allow application-specific policies to manage resources accordingly. However, there is a tension between this goal and the desire to control and police possibly malicious programs. The Java-based Sensor Execution Environment (SXE) in snBench presents a situation where such considerations add value to the system. Multiple applications can be run by multiple users with varied temporal requirements, some Real-Time and others best effort. This paper outlines and documents an implementation of a hierarchical and configurable scheduling system with which different applications can be executed using application-specific scheduling policies. Concurrently the system administrator can define fairness policies between applications that are imposed upon the system. Additionally, to ensure forward progress of system execution in the face of malicious or malformed user programs, an infrastructure for execution using multiple threads is described
Can I Have Your Attention? Implications of the Research on Distractions and Multitasking for Reference Librarians
The media have identified the last decade as “the age of distraction.” People today find it harder to work on long, sustained tasks because distractions are eroding their attention span, fostering a culture of discontinuity. Fields as diverse as psychology, business, education, human-computer interaction, and communication studies have produced a wealth of studies on interruptions, distractions, and multitasking–research that has important implications for reference librarians. The nature of our jobs invites interruptions by the public, requires familiarity with the latest technology, stimulates curiosity about a broad range of subjects, and demands adeptness at multitasking–all factors which can atomize attention
Towards Practical Oblivious RAM
We take an important step forward in making Oblivious RAM (O-RAM) practical.
We propose an O-RAM construction achieving an amortized overhead of 20X-35X
(for an O-RAM roughly 1 terabyte in size), about 63 times faster than the best
existing scheme. On the theoretic front, we propose a fundamentally novel
technique for constructing Oblivious RAMs: specifically, we partition a bigger
O-RAM into smaller O-RAMs, and employ a background eviction technique to
obliviously evict blocks from the client-side cache into a randomly assigned
server-side partition. This novel technique is the key to achieving the gains
in practical performance
- …