8 research outputs found
Accepting grammars and systems
We investigate several kinds of regulated rewriting (programmed,
matrix, with regular control, ordered, and variants thereof) and
of parallel rewriting mechanisms (Lindenmayer systems, uniformly
limited Lindenmayer systems, limited Lindenmayer systems and
scattered context grammars) as accepting devices, in contrast
with the usual generating mode.
In some cases, accepting mode turns out to be just as powerful as
generating mode, e.g. within the grammars of the Chomsky
hierarchy, within random context, regular control, L systems,
uniformly limited L systems, scattered context. Most of these
equivalences can be proved using a metatheorem on so-called
context condition grammars. In case of matrix grammars and
programmed grammars without appearance checking, a straightforward
construction leads to the desired equivalence result.
Interestingly, accepting devices are (strictly) more powerful than
their generating counterparts in case of ordered grammars,
programmed and matrix grammars with appearance checking (even
programmed grammarsm with unconditional transfer), and 1lET0L
systems. More precisely, if we admit erasing productions, we
arrive at new characterizations of the recursivley enumerable
languages, and if we do not admit them, we get new
characterizations of the context-sensitive languages.
Moreover, we supplement the published literature showing:
- The emptiness and membership problems are recursivley solvable
for generating ordered grammars, even if we admit erasing
productions.
- Uniformly limited propagating systems can be simulated by
programmed grammars without erasing and without appearance
checking, hence the emptiness and membership problems are
recursively solvable for such systems.
- We briefly discuss the degree of nondeterminism and the
degree of synchronization for devices with limited parallelism
A tree grammar-based visual password scheme
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August 31, 2015.Visual password schemes can be considered as an alternative to alphanumeric
passwords. Studies have shown that alphanumeric passwords
can, amongst others, be eavesdropped, shoulder surfed, or
guessed, and are susceptible to brute force automated attacks. Visual
password schemes use images, in place of alphanumeric characters,
for authentication. For example, users of visual password schemes either
select images (Cognometric) or points on an image (Locimetric)
or attempt to redraw their password image (Drawmetric), in order
to gain authentication. Visual passwords are limited by the so-called
password space, i.e., by the size of the alphabet from which users can
draw to create a password and by susceptibility to stealing of passimages
by someone looking over your shoulders, referred to as shoulder
surfing in the literature. The use of automatically generated highly
similar abstract images defeats shoulder surfing and means that an almost
unlimited pool of images is available for use in a visual password
scheme, thus also overcoming the issue of limited potential password
space.
This research investigated visual password schemes. In particular,
this study looked at the possibility of using tree picture grammars to
generate abstract graphics for use in a visual password scheme. In this
work, we also took a look at how humans determine similarity of abstract
computer generated images, referred to as perceptual similarity
in the literature. We drew on the psychological idea of similarity and
matched that as closely as possible with a mathematical measure of
image similarity, using Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) and
tree edit distance measures. To this end, an online similarity survey
was conducted with respondents ordering answer images in order
of similarity to question images, involving 661 respondents and 50
images. The survey images were also compared with eight, state of
the art, computer based similarity measures to determine how closely
they model perceptual similarity. Since all the images were generated
with tree grammars, the most popular measure of tree similarity, the
tree edit distance, was also used to compare the images. Eight different
types of tree edit distance measures were used in order to cover
the broad range of tree edit distance and tree edit distance approximation
methods. All the computer based similarity methods were
then correlated with the online similarity survey results, to determine
which ones more closely model perceptual similarity. The results were
then analysed in the light of some modern psychological theories of
perceptual similarity.
This work represents a novel approach to the Passfaces type of visual
password schemes using dynamically generated pass-images and their
highly similar distractors, instead of static pictures stored in an online
database. The results of the online survey were then accurately
modelled using the most suitable tree edit distance measure, in order
to automate the determination of similarity of our generated distractor
images. The information gathered from our various experiments
was then used in the design of a prototype visual password scheme.
The generated images were similar, but not identical, in order to defeat
shoulder surfing. This approach overcomes the following problems
with this category of visual password schemes: shoulder surfing,
bias in image selection, selection of easy to guess pictures and infrastructural
limitations like large picture databases, network speed and
database security issues. The resulting prototype developed is highly
secure, resilient to shoulder surfing and easy for humans to use, and
overcomes the aforementioned limitations in this category of visual
password schemes
Petri net controlled grammars
Different types of regulated grammars have been introduced in order to supplement shortcomings of context-free grammars in applications preserving their elegant mathematical properties. However, the rapid developments in present day industry, biology, and other areas challenge to deal with various tasks which need suitable tools for their modelling and investigation. We propose Petri net controlled grammars as models for representing and analyzing of metabolic pathways in living cells where Petri nets are responsible for the structure and communication of the pathways, and grammars represent biochemical processes. On the other hand, the control by Petri nets has also theoretical interest: it extends possibilities to introduce and investigate concurrent control mechanisms in formal language theory. The thesis introduces various variants of Petri net controlled grammars using different types of Petri nets and investigates their mathematical properties such as computational power and closure properties.Los diferentes tipos de gramáticas con reescritura regulada han sido introducidas para complementar las deficiencias de las gramáticas libres del contexto en las aplicaciones, preservando sus propiedades matemáticas. Por otro lado, la rápida evolución la biología, y otras áreas actuales supone un reto para tratar de las tareas varias que necesitan las herramientas adecuadas para la elaboración de modelos e investigación. Proponemos gramáticas controladas por redes de Petri como modelos para representar y analizar los procesos bioquímicos en las células vivas donde redes de Petri son responsables de la estructura, y gramáticas representan los procesos generativos. Además, el control de redes de Petri también tiene interés teórico: amplía las posibilidades de investigar los mecanismos de control concurrente en la teoría de lenguajes formales. La tesis presenta distintas variantes de gramáticas controladas por redes de Petri e investiga sus propiedades matemáticas
Communication in membrana Systems with symbol Objects.
Esta tesis está dedicada a los sistemas de membranas con objetos-símbolo como marco teórico de los sistemas paralelos y distribuidos de procesamiento de multiconjuntos.Una computación de parada puede aceptar, generar o procesar un número, un vector o una palabra; por tanto el sistema define globalmente (a través de los resultados de todas sus computaciones) un conjunto de números, de vectores, de palabras (es decir, un lenguaje), o bien una función. En esta tesis estudiamos la capacidad de estos sistemas para resolver problemas particulares, así como su potencia computacional. Por ejemplo, las familias de lenguajes definidas por diversas clases de estos sistemas se comparan con las familias clásicas, esto es, lenguajes regulares, independientes del contexto, generados por sistemas 0L tabulados extendidos, generados por gramáticas matriciales sin chequeo de apariciones, recursivamente enumerables, etc. Se prestará especial atención a la comunicación de objetos entre regiones y a las distintas formas de cooperación entre ellos.Se pretende (Sección 3.4) realizar una formalización los sistemas de membranas y construir una herramienta tipo software para la variante que usa cooperación no distribuida, el navegador de configuraciones, es decir, un simulador, en el cual el usuario selecciona la siguiente configuración entre todas las posibles, estando permitido volver hacia atrás. Se considerarán diversos modelos distribuidos. En el modelo de evolución y comunicación (Capítulo 4) separamos las reglas tipo-reescritura y las reglas de transporte (llamadas symport y antiport). Los sistemas de bombeo de protones (proton pumping, Secciones 4.8, 4.9) constituyen una variante de los sistemas de evolución y comunicación con un modo restrictivo de cooperación. Un modelo especial de computación con membranas es el modelo puramente comunicativo, en el cual los objetos traspasan juntos una membrana. Estudiamos la potencia computacional de las sistemas de membranas con symport/antiport de 2 o 3 objetos (Capítulo 5) y la potencia computacional de las sistemas de membranas con alfabeto limitado (Capítulo 6).El determinismo (Secciones 4.7, 5.5, etc.) es una característica especial (restrictiva) de los sistemas computacionales. Se pondrá especial énfasis en analizar si esta restricción reduce o no la potencia computacional de los mismos. Los resultados obtenidos para sistemas de bombeo del protones están transferidos (Sección 7.3) a sistemas con catalizadores bistabiles. Unos ejemplos de aplicación concreta de los sistemas de membranas (Secciones 7.1, 7.2) son la resolución de problemas NP-completos en tiempo polinomial y la resolución de problemas de ordenación.This thesis deals with membrane systems with symbol objects as a theoretical framework of distributed parallel multiset processing systems.A halting computation can accept, generate or process a number, a vector or a word, so the system globally defines (by the results of all its computations) a set of numbers or a set of vectors or a set of words, (i.e., a language), or a function. The ability of these systems to solve particular problems is investigated, as well as their computational power, e.g., the language families defined by different classes of these systems are compared to the classical ones, i.e., regular, context-free, languages generated by extended tabled 0L systems, languages generated by matrix grammars without appearance checking, recursively enumerable languages, etc. Special attention is paid to communication of objects between the regions and to the ways of cooperation between the objects.An attempt to formalize the membrane systems is made (Section 3.4), and a software tool is constructed for the non-distributed cooperative variant, the configuration browser, i.e., a simulator, where the user chooses the next configuration among the possible ones and can go back. Different distributed models are considered. In the evolution-communication model (Chapter 4) rewriting-like rules are separated from transport rules. Proton pumping systems (Sections 4.8, 4.9) are a variant of the evolution-communication systems with a restricted way of cooperation. A special membrane computing model is a purely communicative one: the objects are moved together through a membrane. We study the computational power of membrane systems with symport/antiport of 2 or 3 objects (Chapter 5) and the computational power of membrane systems with a limited alphabet (Chapter 6).Determinism (Sections 4.7, 5.5, etc.) is a special property of computational systems; the question of whether this restriction reduces the computational power is addressed. The results on proton pumping systems can be carried over (Section 7.3) to the systems with bi-stable catalysts. Some particular examples of membrane systems applications are solving NP-complete problems in polynomial time, and solving the sorting problem