136,144 research outputs found
Z2SAL: a translation-based model checker for Z
Despite being widely known and accepted in industry, the Z formal specification language has not so far been well supported by automated verification tools, mostly because of the challenges in handling the abstraction of the language. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to building a model-checker for Z, which involves implementing a translation from Z into SAL, the input language for the Symbolic Analysis Laboratory, a toolset which includes a number of model-checkers and a simulator. The Z2SAL translation deals with a number of important issues, including: mapping unbounded, abstract specifications into bounded, finite models amenable to a BDD-based symbolic checker; converting a non-constructive and piecemeal style of functional specification into a deterministic, automaton-based style of specification; and supporting the rich set-based vocabulary of the Z mathematical toolkit. This paper discusses progress made towards implementing as complete and faithful a translation as possible, while highlighting certain assumptions, respecting certain limitations and making use of available optimisations. The translation is illustrated throughout with examples; and a complete working example is presented, together with performance data
CLPGUI: a generic graphical user interface for constraint logic programming over finite domains
CLPGUI is a graphical user interface for visualizing and interacting with
constraint logic programs over finite domains. In CLPGUI, the user can control
the execution of a CLP program through several views of constraints, of finite
domain variables and of the search tree. CLPGUI is intended to be used both for
teaching purposes, and for debugging and improving complex programs of
realworld scale. It is based on a client-server architecture for connecting the
CLP process to a Java-based GUI process. Communication by message passing
provides an open architecture which facilitates the reuse of graphical
components and the porting to different constraint programming systems.
Arbitrary constraints and goals can be posted incrementally from the GUI. We
propose several dynamic 2D and 3D visualizations of the search tree and of the
evolution of finite domain variables. We argue that the 3D representation of
search trees proposed in this paper provides the most appropriate visualization
of large search trees. We describe the current implementation of the
annotations and of the interactive execution model in GNU-Prolog, and report
some evaluation results.Comment: 16 pages; Alexandre Tessier, editor; WLPE 2002,
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/cs.SE/020705
A planning approach to the automated synthesis of template-based process models
The design-time specification of flexible processes can be time-consuming and error-prone, due to the high number of tasks involved and their context-dependent nature. Such processes frequently suffer from potential interference among their constituents, since resources are usually shared by the process participants and it is difficult to foresee all the potential tasks interactions in advance. Concurrent tasks may not be independent from each other (e.g., they could operate on the same data at the same time), resulting in incorrect outcomes. To tackle these issues, we propose an approach for the automated synthesis of a library of template-based process models that achieve goals in dynamic and partially specified environments. The approach is based on a declarative problem definition and partial-order planning algorithms for template generation. The resulting templates guarantee sound concurrency in the execution of their activities and are reusable in a variety of partially specified contextual environments. As running example, a disaster response scenario is given. The approach is backed by a formal model and has been tested in experiment
Real-time Error Control for Surgical Simulation
Objective: To present the first real-time a posteriori error-driven adaptive
finite element approach for real-time simulation and to demonstrate the method
on a needle insertion problem. Methods: We use corotational elasticity and a
frictional needle/tissue interaction model. The problem is solved using finite
elements within SOFA. The refinement strategy relies upon a hexahedron-based
finite element method, combined with a posteriori error estimation driven local
-refinement, for simulating soft tissue deformation. Results: We control the
local and global error level in the mechanical fields (e.g. displacement or
stresses) during the simulation. We show the convergence of the algorithm on
academic examples, and demonstrate its practical usability on a percutaneous
procedure involving needle insertion in a liver. For the latter case, we
compare the force displacement curves obtained from the proposed adaptive
algorithm with that obtained from a uniform refinement approach. Conclusions:
Error control guarantees that a tolerable error level is not exceeded during
the simulations. Local mesh refinement accelerates simulations. Significance:
Our work provides a first step to discriminate between discretization error and
modeling error by providing a robust quantification of discretization error
during simulations.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, change of the title, submitted to IEEE TBM
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