String rewriting for Double Coset Systems

In this paper we show how string rewriting methods can be applied to give a new method of computing double cosets. Previous methods for double cosets were enumerative and thus restricted to finite examples. Our rewriting methods do not suffer this restriction and we present some examples of infinite double coset systems which can now easily be solved using our approach. Even when both enumerative and rewriting techniques are present, our rewriting methods will be competitive because they i) do not require the preliminary calculation of cosets; and ii) as with single coset problems, there are many examples for which rewriting is more effective than enumeration. Automata provide the means for identifying expressions for normal forms in infinite situations and we show how they may be constructed in this setting. Further, related results on logged string rewriting for monoid presentations are exploited to show how witnesses for the computations can be provided and how information about the subgroups and the relations between them can be extracted. Finally, we discuss how the double coset problem is a special case of the problem of computing induced actions of categories which demonstrates that our rewriting methods are applicable to a much wider class of problems than just the double coset problem.Comment: accepted for publication by the Journal of Symbolic Computatio

Weighted automata define a hierarchy of terminating string rewriting systems

The "matrix method" (Hofbauer and Waldmann 2006) proves termination of string rewriting via linear monotone interpretation into the domain of vectors over suitable semirings. Equivalently, such an interpretation is given by a weighted finite automaton. This is a general method that has as parameters the choice of the semiring and the dimension of the matrices (equivalently, the number of states of the automaton). We consider the semirings of nonnegative integers, rationals, algebraic numbers, and reals; with the standard operations and ordering. Monotone interpretations also allow to prove relative termination, which can be used for termination proofs that consist of several steps. The number of steps gives another hierarchy parameter. We formally define the hierarchy and we prove that it is infinite in both directions (dimension and steps)

The Economic Consequences of the Klassical Caricature

This essay is part of a wider investigation into the macroeconomic creation myth; and this introductory section provides only a very brief summary of Pigou\u27s work. The reader\u27s indulgence is therefore requested: full justification for my assertions will be provided in a forthcoming book. Limitations of space prohibit me from doing justice to my thesis about Pigou at the same time as addressing my allocated topic. ISBN: 978-0-7923-8149-

Representing and Querying Incomplete Information: a Data Interoperability Perspective

This habilitation thesis presents some of my most recent work, which has been done in collaboration with several other people. In particular this thesis concentrates on our contributions to the study of incomplete information in the context of data interoperability. In this scenario data is heterogenous and decentralized, needs to be integrated from several sources and exchanged between different applications. Incompleteness, i.e. the presence of “missing” or “unknown” portions of data, is naturally generated in data exchange and integration, due to data heterogeneity. The management of incomplete information poses new challenges in this context.The focus of our study is the development of models of incomplete information suitable to data interoperability tasks, and the study of techniques for efficiently querying several forms of incompleteness

Workshop on Formal Languages, Automata and Petri Nets

This report contains abstracts of the lectures presented at the workshop 'Formal Languages, Automata and Petri-Nets' held at the University of Stuttgart on January 16-17, 1998. The workshop brought together partners of the German-Hungarian project No. 233.6, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany, and No. D/102, TeT Foundation, Budapest, Hungary. It provided an opportunity to present work supported by this project as well as related topics