Formal Methods Specification and Analysis Guidebook for the Verification of Software and Computer Systems

This guidebook, the second of a two-volume series, is intended to facilitate the transfer of formal methods to the avionics and aerospace community. The 1st volume concentrates on administrative and planning issues [NASA-95a], and the second volume focuses on the technical issues involved in applying formal methods to avionics and aerospace software systems. Hereafter, the term "guidebook" refers exclusively to the second volume of the series. The title of this second volume, A Practitioner's Companion, conveys its intent. The guidebook is written primarily for the nonexpert and requires little or no prior experience with formal methods techniques and tools. However, it does attempt to distill some of the more subtle ingredients in the productive application of formal methods. To the extent that it succeeds, those conversant with formal methods will also nd the guidebook useful. The discussion is illustrated through the development of a realistic example, relevant fragments of which appear in each chapter. The guidebook focuses primarily on the use of formal methods for analysis of requirements and high-level design, the stages at which formal methods have been most productively applied. Although much of the discussion applies to low-level design and implementation, the guidebook does not discuss issues involved in the later life cycle application of formal methods

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference, TPHOLs’98 Canberra, Australia, September–October 1998. Supplementary Proceedings

Mechanical theorem provers for higher order logics have been successfully applied in many areas including hardware verification and synthesis; verification of security and communications protocols; software verification, transformation and refinement; compiler construction; and concurrency. The higher order logics used to reason about these problems and the underlying theorem prover technology that support them are also active areas of research. The International Conference on Theorem Proving in Higher Order Logics (TPHOLs) brings together people working in these and related areas for the discussion and dissemination of new ideas in the field. TPHOLs'98 continues the conference tradition of having both a completed work and work-in-progress stream. The Papers from the first stream were formally refereed, and published as volume 1479 of LNCS. This, supplementary, proceedings records work accepted under the work-in-progress category, and is intended to document emerging trends in higher-order logic research. Papers in the work-in-progress stream are vetted for relevance and contribution before acceptance. The work-in-progress stream is regarded as an important feature of the conference as it provides a venue for the presentation of ongoing research projects, where researchers invite discussion of preliminary results. Although the TPHOLs conferences have their genesis in meetings of the users of the HOL theorem proving system, each successive year has seen a higher rate of contribution from the other groups with similar goals, particularly the user communities of Coq, Isabelle, Lambda, Lego, NuPrl, and PVS. Since 1993 the proceedings have been published by Springer as volumes in Lecture Notes in Computer Science series. Bibliographic details of these publications can be found at the back of this book; more history of TPHOLs can be found with further information about the 1998 event at http://cs.anu.edu.au/TPHOLs98/.Conference Papers: Integrating TPS with Omega By Christoph Benzmuller and Volker Sorge Some Theorem Proving Aids By Paul E. Black and Phillip J. Windley Verification of the MDG Components Library in HOL By Paul Curzon, Sofiene Tahar, and Otmane Ait Mohamed Simulating Term-Rewriting in LPF and in Display Logic By Jeremy E. Dawson A Prototype Generic Tool Supporting the Embedding of Formal Notations By Andrew M. Gravell and Chris H. Pratten Embedding a Formal Notation: Experiences of Automating the Embedding of Z in the Higher Order Logics of PVS and HOL By Andrew M. Gravell and Chris H. Pratten Building HOL90 Everywhere Easily (Well Almost) By Elsa L. Gunter Program Composition in COQ-UNITY : By Francois Marques Formally Analysed Dynamic Synthesis of Hardware By Kong Woei Susanto and Tom Melham Requirements for a Simple Proof Checker By Geoffrey Watson Integrating HOL and RAISE: a practitioner's approach By Wai Wong and Karl R. P. H. Leung Effective Support for Mutually Recursive Types By Peter V. Homeie

Formal methods and digital systems validation for airborne systems

This report has been prepared to supplement a forthcoming chapter on formal methods in the FAA Digital Systems Validation Handbook. Its purpose is as follows: to outline the technical basis for formal methods in computer science; to explain the use of formal methods in the specification and verification of software and hardware requirements, designs, and implementations; to identify the benefits, weaknesses, and difficulties in applying these methods to digital systems used on board aircraft; and to suggest factors for consideration when formal methods are offered in support of certification. These latter factors assume the context for software development and assurance described in RTCA document DO-178B, 'Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification,' Dec. 1992

Appreciating metaphor for participatory practice: constructivist inquiries in a children and young people's justice organisation

This thesis is framed as a first person action inquiry into participatory inquiry and practice. The context of the inquiry is a national voluntary organisation working for social justice for children and young people. The thesis is developed in four connected Inquiry Strands: 1) the implications of researching within a constructivist epistemology; 2) the implications of self- aware research through inquiry into the history and traditions of the researcher; 3) how appreciating metaphor can help in researching understandings of participation;4) how appreciating metaphor can enhance participatory practising. In connection with the first two Inquiry Strands the thesis identifies implications for epistemic and ethical practice. In connection with the third Inquiry Strand, the thesis first develops a theory of metaphor as relational and participative. This is then incorporated in a participatory methodology that can be applied in research with children, young people and adults and that embodies the output from the first two Inquiry Strands. . The methodology includes elicitation of stories and pictures in conversations and activities, exploration of the contexts of the inquiry, the identification and exploration of metaphors in the stories and pictures, and the development of criteria for judging these metaphors for the enhancement of practice. In developing the methodology the researcher draws on her experiencing of the fourth Inquiry Strand within the social justice organisation. The methodology is then used as a framework for explicating the fourth Inquiry Strand. This inquiry leads to the proposal of a set of metaphorical conditions for participatory practice: ‘purposeful activity’, ‘space for change’, ‘a safe place to learn’ and ‘reciprocal recognition’. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the four Inquiry Strands to identify learning concerning participatory inquiry in conditions of complexity and uncertainty and issues of power. Invitations are offered concerning changes in practices within the organisation, and for further research

Shifting powers in Spivey's bell number formula

In this paper, we consider extensions of Spivey's Bell number formula wherein the argument of the polynomial factor is translated by an arbitrary amount. This idea is applied more generally to the r-Whitney numbers of the second kind, denoted by W(n; k), where some new identities are found by means of algebraic and combinatorial arguments. The former makes use of innite series manipulations and Dobinski-like formulas satised by W(n; k), whereas the latter considers distributionsof certain statistics on the underlying enumerated class of set partitions. Further- more, these two  approaches provide new ways in which to deduce the Spivey formula for W(n; k). Finally, we establish an analogous result involving the r-Lah  numbers  wherein the order matters in which the elements are written within the blocks of the aforementioned set partitions