Converting DAE models to ODE models: application to reactive Rayleigh distillation

This paper illustrates the application of an index reduction method to some differential algebraic equations (DAE) modelling the reactive Rayleigh distillation. After two deflation steps, this DAE is converted to an equivalent first-order explicit ordinary differential equation (ODE). This ODE involves a reduced number of dependent variables, and some evaluations of implicit functions defined, either from the original algebraic constraints, or from the hidden ones. Consistent initial conditions are no longer to be computed; at the opposite of some other index reduction methods, which generate a drift-off effect, the algebraic constraints remain satisfied at any time; and, finally, the computational effort to solve the ODE may be less than the one associated to the original DAE

Reasoning on transition from manipulative strategies to general procedures in solving counting problems

We describe the procedures used by 11- to 12-year-old students for solving basic counting problems in order to analyse the transition from manipulative strategies involving direct counting to the use of the multiplication principle as a general procedure in combinatorial problems. In this transition, the students sometimes spontaneously use tree diagrams and sometimes use numerical thinking strategies. We relate the findings of our research to recent research on the representational formats on the learning of combinatorics, and reflect on the didactic implications of these investigations

Generating and Solving Symbolic Parity Games

We present a new tool for verification of modal mu-calculus formulae for process specifications, based on symbolic parity games. It enhances an existing method, that first encodes the problem to a Parameterised Boolean Equation System (PBES) and then instantiates the PBES to a parity game. We improved the translation from specification to PBES to preserve the structure of the specification in the PBES, we extended LTSmin to instantiate PBESs to symbolic parity games, and implemented the recursive parity game solving algorithm by Zielonka for symbolic parity games. We use Multi-valued Decision Diagrams (MDDs) to represent sets and relations, thus enabling the tools to deal with very large systems. The transition relation is partitioned based on the structure of the specification, which allows for efficient manipulation of the MDDs. We performed two case studies on modular specifications, that demonstrate that the new method has better time and memory performance than existing PBES based tools and can be faster (but slightly less memory efficient) than the symbolic model checker NuSMV.Comment: In Proceedings GRAPHITE 2014, arXiv:1407.767