NTCCRT: A concurrent constraint framework for real-time interaction (extended version)

Writing multimedia interaction systems is not easy. Their concurrent processes usually access shared resources in a non-deterministic order, often leading to unpredictable behavior. Using Pure Data (Pd) and Max/MSP is possible to program concurrency, however, it is difficult to synchronize processes based on multiple criteria. Process calculi such as the Non-deterministic Timed Concurrent Constraint (ntcc) calculus, overcome that problem by representing multiple criteria as constraints. We propose using our framework Ntccrt to manage concurrency in Pd and Max. Ntccrt is a real-time capable inter- preter for ntcc. Using Ntccrt externals (binary plugins) in Pd we ran models for machine improvisation and signal processing.Comment: 12 pages, short version published in the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), 200

Using Probability to Reason about Soft Deadlines

Soft deadlines are significant in systems in which a bound on the response time is important, but the failure to meet the response time is not a disaster. Soft deadlines occur, for example, in telephony and switching networks. We investigate how to put probabilistic bounds on the time-complexity of a concurrent logic program by combining (on-line) profiling with an (off-line) probabilistic complexity analysis. The profiling collects information on the likelihood of case selection and the analysis uses this information to infer the probability of an agent terminating within k steps. Although the approach does not reason about synchronization, we believe that its simplicity and good (essentially quadratic) complexity mean that it is a promising first step in reasoning about soft deadlines

A General Overview of Formal Languages for Individual-Based Modelling of Ecosystems

Various formal languages have been proposed in the literature for the individual-based modelling of ecological systems. These languages differ in their treatment of time and space. Each modelling language offers a distinct view and techniques for analyzing systems. Most of the languages are based on process calculi or P systems. In this article, we present a general overview of the existing modelling languages based on process calculi. We also discuss, briefly, other approaches such as P systems, cellular automata and Petri nets. Finally, we show advantages and disadvantages of these modelling languages and we propose some future research directions.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1610.08171 by other author

Concurrent Constraint Conditional-Branching Timed Interactive Scores

Multimedia scenarios have multimedia content and interactive events associated with computer programs. Interactive Scores (IS) is a formalism to represent such scenarios by temporal objects, temporal relations (TRs) and interactive events. IS describe TRs, but IS cannot represent TRs together with conditional branching. We propose a model for conditional branching timed IS in the Non-deterministic Timed Concurrent Constraint (ntcc) calculus. We ran a prototype of our model in Ntccrt (a real-time capable interpreter for ntcc) and the response time was acceptable for real-time interaction. An advantage of ntcc over Max/MSP or Petri Nets is that conditions and global constraints are represented declaratively.Comment: Extended version of paper accepted in the Sound and Music Conference 201

AppLP: A Dialogue on Applications of Logic Programming

This document describes the contributions of the 2016 Applications of Logic Programming Workshop (AppLP), which was held on October 17 and associated with the International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP) in Flushing, New York City.Comment: David S. Warren and Yanhong A. Liu (Editors). 33 pages. Including summaries by Christopher Kane and abstracts or position papers by M. Aref, J. Rosenwald, I. Cervesato, E.S.L. Lam, M. Balduccini, J. Lobo, A. Russo, E. Lupu, N. Leone, F. Ricca, G. Gupta, K. Marple, E. Salazar, Z. Chen, A. Sobhi, S. Srirangapalli, C.R. Ramakrishnan, N. Bj{\o}rner, N.P. Lopes, A. Rybalchenko, and P. Tara

Current Trends and Future Research Directions for Interactive Music

In this review, it is explained and compared different software and formalisms used in music interaction: sequencers, computer-assisted improvisation, meta- instruments, score-following, asynchronous dataflow languages, synchronous dataflow languages, process calculi, temporal constraints and interactive scores. Formal approaches have the advantage of providing rigorous semantics of the behavior of the model and proving correctness during execution. The main disadvantage of formal approaches is lack of commercial tools

Gelisp: A Library to Represent Musical CSPs and Search Strategies

In this paper we present Gelisp, a new library to represent musical Constraint Satisfaction Problems and search strategies intuitively. Gelisp has two interfaces, a command-line one for Common Lisp and a graphical one for OpenMusic. Using Gelisp, we solved a problem of automatic music generation proposed by composer Michael Jarrell and we found solutions for the All-interval series.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, not publishe

A Model for Interactive Scores with Temporal Constraints and Conditional Branching

Interactive Scores (IS) are a formalism for the design and performance of interactive multimedia scenarios. IS provide temporal relations (TR), but they cannot represent conditional branching and TRs simultaneously. We propose an extension to Allombert et al.'s IS model by including a condition on the TRs. We found out that in order to have a coherent model in all possible scenarios, durations must be flexible; however, sometimes it is possible to have fixed durations. To show the relevance of our model, we modeled an existing multimedia installation called Mariona. In Mariona there is choice, random durations and loops. Whether we can represent all the TRs available in Allombert et al.'s model into ours, or we have to choose between a timed conditional branching model and a pure temporal model before writing a scenario, still remains as an open question.Comment: 14 pages, extended version of conference paper on Journ\'ees de INformatique Musicale 201

Introduction to the 28th International Conference on Logic Programming Special Issue

We are proud to introduce this special issue of the Journal of Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP), dedicated to the full papers accepted for the 28th International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP). The ICLP meetings started in Marseille in 1982 and since then constitute the main venue for presenting and discussing work in the area of logic programming

Planning under Continuous Time and Resource Uncertainty: A Challenge for AI

We outline a class of problems, typical of Mars rover operations, that are problematic for current methods of planning under uncertainty. The existing methods fail because they suffer from one or more of the following limitations: 1) they rely on very simple models of actions and time, 2) they assume that uncertainty is manifested in discrete action outcomes, 3) they are only practical for very small problems. For many real world problems, these assumptions fail to hold. In particular, when planning the activities for a Mars rover, none of the above assumptions is valid: 1) actions can be concurrent and have differing durations, 2) there is uncertainty concerning action durations and consumption of continuous resources like power, and 3) typical daily plans involve on the order of a hundred actions. This class of problems may be of particular interest to the UAI community because both classical and decision-theoretic planning techniques may be useful in solving it. We describe the rover problem, discuss previous work on planning under uncertainty, and present a detailed, but very small, example illustrating some of the difficulties of finding good plans.Comment: Appears in Proceedings of the Eighteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI2002