Semantics-Space-Time Cube. A Conceptual Framework for Systematic Analysis of Texts in Space and Time

We propose an approach to analyzing data in which texts are associated with spatial and temporal references with the aim to understand how the text semantics vary over space and time. To represent the semantics, we apply probabilistic topic modeling. After extracting a set of topics and representing the texts by vectors of topic weights, we aggregate the data into a data cube with the dimensions corresponding to the set of topics, the set of spatial locations (e.g., regions), and the time divided into suitable intervals according to the scale of the planned analysis. Each cube cell corresponds to a combination (topic, location, time interval) and contains aggregate measures characterizing the subset of the texts concerning this topic and having the spatial and temporal references within these location and interval. Based on this structure, we systematically describe the space of analysis tasks on exploring the interrelationships among the three heterogeneous information facets, semantics, space, and time. We introduce the operations of projecting and slicing the cube, which are used to decompose complex tasks into simpler subtasks. We then present a design of a visual analytics system intended to support these subtasks. To reduce the complexity of the user interface, we apply the principles of structural, visual, and operational uniformity while respecting the specific properties of each facet. The aggregated data are represented in three parallel views corresponding to the three facets and providing different complementary perspectives on the data. The views have similar look-and-feel to the extent allowed by the facet specifics. Uniform interactive operations applicable to any view support establishing links between the facets. The uniformity principle is also applied in supporting the projecting and slicing operations on the data cube. We evaluate the feasibility and utility of the approach by applying it in two analysis scenarios using geolocated social media data for studying people's reactions to social and natural events of different spatial and temporal scales

Exploring the Boundaries of Monad Tensorability on Set

We study a composition operation on monads, equivalently presented as large equational theories. Specifically, we discuss the existence of tensors, which are combinations of theories that impose mutual commutation of the operations from the component theories. As such, they extend the sum of two theories, which is just their unrestrained combination. Tensors of theories arise in several contexts; in particular, in the semantics of programming languages, the monad transformer for global state is given by a tensor. We present two main results: we show that the tensor of two monads need not in general exist by presenting two counterexamples, one of them involving finite powerset (i.e. the theory of join semilattices); this solves a somewhat long-standing open problem, and contrasts with recent results that had ruled out previously expected counterexamples. On the other hand, we show that tensors with bounded powerset monads do exist from countable powerset upwards

Data generator for evaluating ETL process quality

Obtaining the right set of data for evaluating the fulfillment of different quality factors in the extract-transform-load (ETL) process design is rather challenging. First, the real data might be out of reach due to different privacy constraints, while manually providing a synthetic set of data is known as a labor-intensive task that needs to take various combinations of process parameters into account. More importantly, having a single dataset usually does not represent the evolution of data throughout the complete process lifespan, hence missing the plethora of possible test cases. To facilitate such demanding task, in this paper we propose an automatic data generator (i.e., Bijoux). Starting from a given ETL process model, Bijoux extracts the semantics of data transformations, analyzes the constraints they imply over input data, and automatically generates testing datasets. Bijoux is highly modular and configurable to enable end-users to generate datasets for a variety of interesting test scenarios (e.g., evaluating specific parts of an input ETL process design, with different input dataset sizes, different distributions of data, and different operation selectivities). We have developed a running prototype that implements the functionality of our data generation framework and here we report our experimental findings showing the effectiveness and scalability of our approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A general theory of action languages

We present a general theory of action-based languages as a paradigm, for the description, of those computational systems which include elements of concurrency and networking, and extend this approach to describe dist.ributed systems and also t,o describe the interaction of a system, with an environment. As part of this approach we introduce the Action Language as a common model for the class of nondeterministic concurrent programming languages and define its intensional and interaction semantics in terrors of continuous transformation of environment behavior. This semantics i.s specialized for programs with stores, and extended to describe distributed computations

Refinement and verification of concurrent systems specified in Object-Z and CSP

The formal development of large or complex systems can often be facilitated by the use of more than one formal specification language. Such a combination of languages is particularly suited to the specification of concurrent or distributed systems, where both the modelling of processes and state is necessary. This paper presents an approach to refinement and verification of specifications written using a combination of Object-Z and CSP. A common semantic basis for the two languages enables a unified method of refinement to be used, based upon CSP refinement. To enable state-based techniques to be used for the Object-Z components of a specification we develop state-based refinement relations which are sound and complete with respect to CSP refinement. In addition, a verification method for static and dynamic properties is presented. The method allows us to verify properties of the CSP system specification in terms of its component Object-Z classes by using the laws of the CSP operators together with the logic for Object-Z