UKC ANSAware Survival Guide (for Modula-3)

The ANSAware platform is a suite of libraries and tools which facilitate the building of distributed applications. The documentation with the release forms little more that a reference manual to the language and does not aid the first time user. This document provides a simple introduction to distributed systems concepts and, through the use of an example, demonstrates how to build applications with ANSAware

The communication processor of TUMULT-64

Tumult (Twente University MULTi-processor system) is a modular extendible multi-processor system designed and implemented at the Twente University of Technology in co-operation with Oce Nederland B.V. and the Dr. Neher Laboratories (Dutch PTT). Characteristics of the hardware are: MIMD type, distributed memory, message passing, high performance, real-time and fault tolerant. A distributed real-time operating system has been realized, consisting of a multi-tasking kernel per node, inter process communication via typed messages and a distributed file system. In this paper first a brief description of the system is given, after that the architecture of the communication processor will be discussed. Reduction of the communication overhead due to message passing will be emphasized.\ud \u

GPERF : a perfect hash function generator

gperf is a widely available perfect hash function generator written in C++. It automates a common system software operation: keyword recognition. gperf translates an n element user-specified keyword list keyfile into source code containing a k element lookup table and a pair of functions, phash and in_word_set. phash uniquely maps keywords in keyfile onto the range 0 .. k - 1, where k >/= n. If k = n, then phash is considered a minimal perfect hash function. in_word_set uses phash to determine whether a particular string of characters str occurs in the keyfile, using at most one string comparison.This paper describes the user-interface, options, features, algorithm design and implementation strategies incorporated in gperf. It also presents the results from an empirical comparison between gperf-generated recognizers and other popular techniques for reserved word lookup

Numerical modeling of two-dimensional temperature dynamics across ice-wedge polygons

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017The ice wedges on the North Slope of Alaska have been forming for many millennia, when the ground cracked and the cracks were filled with snowmelt water. The infiltrated water then became frozen and turned into ice. When the annual and summer air temperatures become higher, the depth of the active layer increases. A deeper seasonal thawing may cause melting of ice wedges from their tops. Consequently, the ground starts to settle and a trough begins to form above the ice wedge. The forming trough creates a local temperature anomaly in the surrounding ground, and the permafrost located immediately under the trough starts degrading further. Once the trough is formed, the winter snow cover becomes deeper at the trough area further degrading the permafrost. In this thesis we present a computational approach to study the seasonal temperature dynamics of the ground surrounding an ice wedge and ground subsidence associated with ice wedge degradation. A thermo-mechanical model of the ice wedge based on principles of macroscopic thermodynamics and continuum mechanics was developed and will be presented. The model includes heat conduction and quasi-static mechanical equilibrium equations, a visco-elastic rheology for ground deformation, and an empirical formula which relates unfrozen water content to temperature. The complete system is reduced to a computationally convenient set of coupled equations for temperature, ground displacement and ground porosity in a two-dimensional domain. A finite element method and an implicit scheme in time were utilized to construct a non-linear system of equations, which was solved iteratively. The model employs temperature and moisture content data collected from a field experiment at the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) sites in Barrow, Alaska. The model describes seasonal dynamics of temperature and the long-term ground motion near the ice wedges and helps to explain destabilization of the ice wedges north of Alaska's Brooks Range.Introduction -- Chapter 1. Simulation of temperature dynamics around a stable ice wedge -- Chapter 2. Simulation of ice wedge degradation -- Conclusion -- References

New Bounds for Permutation Codes in Ulam Metric

New bounds on the cardinality of permutation codes equipped with the Ulam distance are presented. First, an integer-programming upper bound is derived, which improves on the Singleton-type upper bound in the literature for some lengths. Second, several probabilistic lower bounds are developed, which improve on the known lower bounds for large minimum distances. The results of a computer search for permutation codes are also presented.Comment: To be presented at ISIT 2015, 5 page

On the engineering of crucial software

The various aspects of the conventional software development cycle are examined. This cycle was the basis of the augmented approach contained in the original grant proposal. This cycle was found inadequate for crucial software development, and the justification for this opinion is presented. Several possible enhancements to the conventional software cycle are discussed. Software fault tolerance, a possible enhancement of major importance, is discussed separately. Formal verification using mathematical proof is considered. Automatic programming is a radical alternative to the conventional cycle and is discussed. Recommendations for a comprehensive approach are presented, and various experiments which could be conducted in AIRLAB are described

On debugging in a parallel system

In this paper a description is given of a partly implemented parallel debugger for the Twente University Multicomputer (TUMULT). The system's basic method for exchange of data is message passing. Experience has learned that most programming errors in application software are made in calls to the kernel and the interprocess communication. The debugger is intended to be used for locating bugs at this level in the application software. It is assumed that basic blocks of the debuggee can be debugged using a traditional sequential sourcelevel debugger