Fast, Interactive Worst-Case Execution Time Analysis With Back-Annotation

Abstract—For hard real-time systems, static code analysis is needed to derive a safe bound on the worst-case execution time (WCET). Virtually all prior work has focused on the accuracy of WCET analysis without regard to the speed of analysis. The resulting algorithms are often too slow to be integrated into the development cycle, requiring WCET analysis to be postponed until a final verification phase. In this paper we propose interactive WCET analysis as a new method to provide near-instantaneous WCET feedback to the developer during software programming. We show that interactive WCET analysis is feasible using tree-based WCET calculation. The feedback is realized with a plugin for the Java editor jEdit, where the WCET values are back-annotated to the Java source at the statement level. Comparison of this treebased approach with the implicit path enumeration technique (IPET) shows that tree-based analysis scales better with respect to program size and gives similar WCET values. Index Terms—Real time systems, performance analysis, software performance, software reliability, software algorithms, safety I

Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper

The presentation of Mrs. Brook in The Awkward Age is problematic. James seems to have intended to portray her sympathetically. Yet he will not allow the reader to feel sympathy for her. I suggest that James undermines the very sympathy he wants to evoke, because Mrs. Brook would otherwise have too much power. Combined in her are two character types which appear frequently in James\u27s novels, and which I call the confidence woman and the mother usurper. Occasionally, a mother usurper may show some of the confidence woman\u27s traits, or vice versa. But the two types always (with the exception of Mrs. Brook) serve discrete functions and exercise discrete powers. As a result of their combination in her, Mrs. Brook shows the tendency to become a much more significant character than James wants either confidence women or mother usurpers to be. It is necessary, therefore, to undo her in some way, and James undoes her by undermining the sympathy we would otherwise have for her

The Curse of Shared Knowledge: Recursive Belief Reasoning in a Coordination Game with Imperfect Information

Common knowledge is a necessary condition for safe group coordination. When common knowledge can not be obtained, humans routinely use their ability to attribute beliefs and intentions in order to infer what is known. But such shared knowledge attributions are limited in depth and therefore prone to coordination failures, because any finite-order knowledge attribution allows for an even higher order attribution that may change what is known by whom. In three separate experiments we investigate to which degree human participants (N=802) are able to recognize the difference between common knowledge and nth-order shared knowledge. We use a new two-person coordination game with imperfect information that is able to cast the recursive game structure and higher-order uncertainties into a simple, everyday-like setting. Our results show that participants have a very hard time accepting the fact that common knowledge is not reducible to shared knowledge. Instead, participants try to coordinate even at the shallowest depths of shared knowledge and in spite of huge payoff penalties

Legal Consciousness and Contractual Obligations

The Article on “Legal Consciousness and Contractual Obligations” will explore and offer an explanation of the origins of the moral foundations for contractual obligations beyond conventional analysis. Building on themes and threads across many disciplines and theories, it seeks to identify and locate certain unities and common elements that explain human consciousness in exchange relations across cultures. The term contract is used in its non-technical and most inclusive sense to cover agreements, promises, undertakings and other forms of consensus whether or not supported by consideration. Viewed within this broad conceptual framework, where do human beings get the idea that they must keep their word or perform their promises? Is it, as utilitarian theorists might suggest, simply a matter of careful calculation of individual benefits and burdens for breach? Or, might our consciousness in contractual obligations have deep roots in some normative system derived from our group or collectivity? On the other hand, is our legal consciousness in contractual obligations located in our deepest interior which allows us to make commitments for events yet to unfold based on our faith and trust? But commitments based on faith speak to the phenomenon of human spirituality. In this sense legal consciousness in contractual obligations might have its roots in spirituality, religion, theology or the centrality of the supernatural in the ordering of human social organizations. In the specific case of Judeo-Christian religions, might the sources of contractual obligation be located in the “Covenant with God”? But the origins of contractual obligations might be less a question of religion but more a question of evolved species-typical social instincts and norms of reciprocity, collaboration and cooperation. In a world of “efficient breach” and shifting moods in international relations, the investigation of this question is both timely and important

The Ethics of Occultic Communication: An Invocation of Joshua Gunn and Sissela Bok

Occultic rhetoric, according to Joshua Gunn, is a genre of discourse concerned with the study and practice of secret communications. The strategic sharing of secret messages involves a host of methods and conventions designed for the selective disclosure of hidden knowledge, thus controlling the boundaries of (and accessibility to power between) insider and outsider groups. Occultic rhetoric has its uses in everyday encounters, but the abuse of such manipulative strategies, especially by those in the academy and other positions of power and trust, calls for an ethical response. This dissertation submits occultic rhetoric to moral investigation by incorporating the works of Sissela Bok who examined the ethics of both secrecy and lying. By applying her principles to case studies of deliberately disguised or distorted messages in academic settings, this project suggests an approach for the moral exercise of secret communications, otherwise known as an ethics of occultic rhetoric

Narrative Storytelling In VR Through Gaming

Gaming has consistently been acknowledged as a storytelling medium for its signature ability to provide user interaction. As virtual reality becomes a more prominent gaming environment, it will be expected to carry on the tradition of storytelling. Currently, virtual reality is in a state of infancy, where products offer little sophistication and serve as amusements rather than storytellers. As this changeover takes effect, there are certain discrepancies which will hinder a transition from flat screen gaming to virtual reality gaming. In order to create a successful narrative driven virtual reality game, these discrepancies must be addressed in a meaningful way. This thesis will also experiment with the aforementioned differences by developing a virtual reality game in Unreal Engine 4