Sheaves of Cherednik Algebras from the Point of View of Formal Geometry

In this note we realize the sheaf of Cherednik algebras $H_{1, c, X, G}$ on a general good complex orbifold $X/G$, originally introduced by Etingof for smooth complex varieties with an action by a finite group, by gluing sheaves of flat sections of flat holomorphic vector bundles on orbit type strata in $X$ which result from a localization procedure. In the case, when $c$ is formal, this construction can be interpreted as a formal deformation of $D_X\rtimes\mathbb CG$ via Gel'fand-Kazhdan formal geometry. Contrary to the original definition of $H_{1, c, X, G}$ the presented construction permits the computation of trace densities, Hochschild homologies and an algebraic index theorem for formal deformations of $D_X\rtimes\mathbb CG$. We also hope that the methods developed here will contribute towards a full proof of Dolgushev-Etingof's conjecture.Comment: 54 page

Distributed event graphs: Formalizing component-based modelling and simulation

Proceedings of the Workshop on Visual Languages and Formal Methods (VLFM 2004), Visual Languages and Formal Methods 2004In this work an extension to the classical Event Graphs formalism for discrete-event simulation is presented. The extensions are oriented towards the specification of component-based models. The abstract syntax has been defined through meta-modelling. Several methodological issues are discussed, concerning the use of two different meta-modelling levels or collapsing the language into a single one, where “instance-of” relationships are used between processes and their classes. The operational semantics have been defined through graph transformation. This formal definition enables analysis before code is generated from the model. The syntax and semantics of the visual language have been implemented in the multi-paradigm tool AToM3, together with a code generator that produces stand-alone applications able to run the analysed models in real-time.I’d like to thank the three anonymous referees for their comments, and the sponsors of this work: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (TIC2002- 01948) and the Santander Central Hispano Bank

SONEX: An Evaluation Exchange Framework for Reproducible Sonification

Degara N, Nagel F, Hermann T. SONEX: An Evaluation Exchange Framework for Reproducible Sonification. In: Strumiłło P, Bujacz M, Popielata M, eds. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Auditory Displays. Lodz, Poland: Lodz University of Technology Press; 2013: 167-174.After 18 ICAD conferences, Auditory Display has become a mature research community. However, a robust evaluation and scientific comparison of sonification methods is often neglected by auditory display researchers. In the last ICAD 2012 conference, only one paper out of 53 makes a statistical comparison of several sonification methods and still no comparison with other state-of-the-art algorithms is provided. In this paper, we review profitable standards in other communities and transfer them to derive recommendations and best practices for auditory display research. We describe SonEX (Sonification Evaluation eXchange), a community-based framework for the formal evaluation of sonification methods. The goals, challenges and architecture of this evaluation platform are discussed. In addition, a simple example of a task definition according to the guidelines of SonEX is also introduced. This paper aims at starting a vivid discussion towards the establishment of thorough scientific methodologies for auditory display research and the definition of standardized sonification tasks

Formalizing markup languages for user interface

Dissertação de mestrado em InformáticaThis document presents a Dissertation theme, as integral part of Masters Degree in Distributed Systems, Computers Architecture and Computers Communication. The work has as primary objective the application of formal methods in the specification of presentation layer. Even reaching several relevance HCI concerns, the scope focus essentially on the way how formal methods can be explored to specify user interfaces described using markup languages.The state-of-the-art analysis of user interface markup languages and UIML-User Interface Markup Language formal specification are main contributions.Therefore the tabular graphical object OLAP main features are formally specified inVDM-SL and animated using UIML.This research should be considered as a contribution towards a definition of a visual component library,with user interfaces components composition and reuse.Dissertação desenvolvida no âmbito do Projecto EUREKA IKF (E!2235

Differentiating Art Curriculum for Students With Learning and Emotional Disabilities

Participation in the visual arts should be a pleasurable, vital learning experience for students with special needs. Art teachers without formal training are challenged by differentiating curricula for these special education students due to current teacher certification requirements. Art teachers of special education students strive to provide the most creative atmosphere possible while struggling to balance the demands of behavior management these children require. To understand this dilemma, this paper begins with an exploration of disability\u27s integration into our education system and the impact of federal legislation on society\u27s desire to teach everyone equally. It presents theories of creativity that will contribute towards a definition of the creative process that can be applied in a classroom environment. This paper concludes by offering instruction methods and strategies, with an emphasis on creativity, that have proved successful in teaching art to children with disabilities

Measuring software usability

In recent years the increasingly competitive nature of the software industry has led to greater emphasis on software quality, causing software developing organizations to shift their attention towards usability, which is recognized as one of the key characteristics of software quality. The growing importance attached to software usability has resulted in a plethora of different usability conceptualisations that have led to considerable variation in testing methods throughout industry. These organizations, however, are struggling with usability testing due to the difficulties they face in choosing appropriate usability evaluation methods. This is in part due to the diversity of these testing methods and the increasingly distinctive types of software and software development life cycles. This paper will critically explore the commonly used standardized survey-based usability evaluation methods: SUMI (Software Usability Measurement Inventory), WAMMI (Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory) and TAM (Technology Acceptance Model). Additionally, a contrasting usability evaluation method ‘Think Aloud’ will be discussed, which is a laboratory based rather than field based usability test. The paper will then outline a possible route to ensuring organisations apply the right evaluation process for their individual development context. Finally, the paper will provide recommendations for future research areas, including the formal definition of usability concepts, existing usability evaluation methods and application to common software development lifecycles

Medical Education in Italy: challenges and opportunities

Italy is a country of 60 million citizens with a high life expectancy, an increasing prevalence of chronic multi-morbidity and a public healthcare system. There are 61 medical schools and more than one thousand postgraduate programs for 50 different specialisations. In this article, we describe the Italian medical educational system and its most recent evolution towards a process of internationalization, alongside pedagogical and cultural changes. The main challenges are in the process of students’ selection, which is still only based on the assessment of basic knowledge, and in the reform of the post-graduate education, which lacks an official, formal definition of the learning outcomes and the aligned methods of assessment. The opportunities come from the increasing awareness of the importance of faculty development programs. The pandemic itself acted as a catalyst of innovation, pushing toward more student-centered teaching-learning activities. Finally, an increase in international collaborations in medical education research could be effective to foster the development of medical education in the country

Establishing the Foundations to Measure Organizational Agility for Military Organizations

There is an ongoing demand for organizations to become more agile in order to prosper amongst their competitors. Many military organizations have declared a renewed focus towards organizational agility. The goal of this research is to isolate the variables needed to measure organizational agility (OA) in military organizations, allowing for the future development of a suitable method to measure OA without the need to interact with outside organizations. This article begins by providing a suitable and formal definition of organizational agility by exploring and analyzing relevant scholarly literature on the subject. Related terms, such as organizational resiliency, flexibility, robustness, versatility, and adaptability are also explored to examine their definition boundaries and any overlapping areas. Existing methods to measure organizational agility are examined and summarized, and the current limitations to their application are highlighted. Previous studies to find characteristics associated with organizational agility were also examined, and an initial set of 88 organizational agility characteristics was built. Since these included possible redundant or overlapping characteristics, the Q-sort method was employed to discover, analyze, and eliminate redundant items from the dataset, ultimately resulting in 64 unique characteristics. The result is a suitable definition for organization agility applicable to military organizations and a list of potential associated characteristics that summarizes related research to date. This groundwork establishes the foundation to conduct a multi-organization study to further refine the characteristic list and ultimately develop a method to measure organizational agility

Model-Based Framework for On-Board-Software

Satellites carry different payloads, but the basic design in hard- and software is generally similar for small satellites. For example, they all receive telecommands, distribute them and generate telemetry packets. Reusing existing components is desirable, especially with limited time and financial budgets. This is where the Corfu comes in, which we present in this work. Corfu is a software framework for safety-critical on-board software. It follows a model-based approach. Developers formally define the structure of the software. The software design is app-centric, i.e. on-board software in Corfu is a composition of apps. Apps define a clear communication interface using a publish/-subscribe principle. This allows on-board software to connect apps among each other. Developers can use and connect apps in different on-board software and even on different missions. This encourages reusability. Based on the information of software definition, Corfu applies two tasks: formal verification of the software structure and generation of source code. In the verification step, Corfu examines the timing properties across all apps that are included into the software. Having a formal definition that is used for both static analysis and code generation, makes in possible to identify structural problems early. The generation process creates code that it can derive from the software specification. This includes communication handling, such as subscribing to topics, distributing telecommands and collecting telemetry. In addition, the generated code also covers thread handling. The result of the generation process is a collection of classes. Most of those classes are abstract, which include abstract methods that the developer fills with mission-specific code. Developers do this by inheriting from those abstract classes and overriding all the abstract methods by carrying out the desired behavior. Developers can focus on implementing the mission relevant code. The software specification defines the communication interface between space and ground as well; therefore, it is sensible to use the same definition for the ground software. Corfu comes with a library for ground software, which parses the configuration file and makes it available to the developer. It also comes with a link interface towards the space segment. Based on the library, Corfu provides a ready-to-use generic ground software with a graphical user interface printing telemetry data and for sending telemetry — according to the software definition. Beyond formal verification of the software definition, Corfu comes with an elaborated testing framework, which provides unit and integration tests to the developers. By generating test-specific classes, Corfu gives developers access to internal software parts to allow more accurate unit testing. By automatically sending telecommands and evaluating telemetry data, developers accomplish integration tests of the full on-board software stack. Corfu already comes with applications and concepts that are common to general on-board software, such as publish/subscribe communication between applications, anomaly and event handling, telecommand distribution among applications, telemetry collection, housekeeper, etc