727 research outputs found
Automatic Verification of Erlang-Style Concurrency
This paper presents an approach to verify safety properties of Erlang-style,
higher-order concurrent programs automatically. Inspired by Core Erlang, we
introduce Lambda-Actor, a prototypical functional language with
pattern-matching algebraic data types, augmented with process creation and
asynchronous message-passing primitives. We formalise an abstract model of
Lambda-Actor programs called Actor Communicating System (ACS) which has a
natural interpretation as a vector addition system, for which some verification
problems are decidable. We give a parametric abstract interpretation framework
for Lambda-Actor and use it to build a polytime computable, flow-based,
abstract semantics of Lambda-Actor programs, which we then use to bootstrap the
ACS construction, thus deriving a more accurate abstract model of the input
program. We have constructed Soter, a tool implementation of the verification
method, thereby obtaining the first fully-automatic, infinite-state model
checker for a core fragment of Erlang. We find that in practice our abstraction
technique is accurate enough to verify an interesting range of safety
properties. Though the ACS coverability problem is Expspace-complete, Soter can
analyse these verification problems surprisingly efficiently.Comment: 12 pages plus appendix, 4 figures, 1 table. The tool is available at
http://mjolnir.cs.ox.ac.uk/soter
Static Trace-Based Deadlock Analysis for Synchronous Mini-Go
We consider the problem of static deadlock detection for programs in the Go
programming language which make use of synchronous channel communications. In
our analysis, regular expressions extended with a fork operator capture the
communication behavior of a program. Starting from a simple criterion that
characterizes traces of deadlock-free programs, we develop automata-based
methods to check for deadlock-freedom. The approach is implemented and
evaluated with a series of examples
Dynamics of Locally Coupled Oscillators with Next-Nearest-Neighbor Interaction
A theoretical description of decentralized dynamics within linearly coupled, one-dimensional oscillators (agents) with up to next-nearest-neighbor interaction is given. Conditions for stability of such system are presented. Our results indicate that the stable systems have response that grow at least linearly in the system size. We give criteria when this is the case. The dynamics of these systems can be described with traveling waves with strong damping in the high frequencies. Depending on the system parameters, two types of solutions have been found: damped oscillations and reflectionless waves. The latter is a novel result and a feature of systems with at least next-nearest-neighbor interactions. Analytical predictions are tested in numerical simulations
Computational modelling with uncertainty of frequent users of e-commerce in Spain using an age-group dynamic nonlinear model with varying size population
[EN] Electronic commerce (EC) has numerous advantages. It allows saving time when we purchase an item, offers the possibility of review without depending on the schedules of traditional stores, access to a wider variety and quantity of articles, in many cases, with lower prices, etc. Based upon mathematical epidemiology tenets strongly related to social behavior able to describe the influence of peers, in this paper we propose an age-group dynamic model with population varying size based on a system of difference equations to study the evolution of the frequent users of EC over time in Spain. Using data from surveys retrieved from the Spanish National Statistics Institute, we use and design computational algorithms to perform a probabilistic estimation of the model parameters that allow the model output to capture the data uncertainty. Then, we will be able to perform a precise prediction with uncertainty.This work has been partially supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad grant MTM2017-89664-P and by the European Union through the Operational Program of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)/European Social Fund (ESF) of the Valencian Community 2014-2020, grants GJIDI/2018/A/009 and GJIDI/2018/A/010.Burgos-Simon, C.; Cortés, J.; Martínez-Rodríguez, D.; Villanueva Micó, RJ. (2019). Computational modelling with uncertainty of frequent users of e-commerce in Spain using an age-group dynamic nonlinear model with varying size population. Advances in Complex Systems. 22(4):1950009-1-1950009-17. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219525919500097S1950009-11950009-17224Bettencourt, L. (1997). Customer voluntary performance: Customers as partners in service delivery. Journal of Retailing, 73(3), 383-406. doi:10.1016/s0022-4359(97)90024-5Brauer, F., & Castillo-Chávez, C. (2001). Mathematical Models in Population Biology and Epidemiology. Texts in Applied Mathematics. doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-3516-1Cortés, J.-C., Lombana, I.-C., & Villanueva, R.-J. (2010). Age-structured mathematical modeling approach to short-term diffusion of electronic commerce in Spain. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 52(7-8), 1045-1051. doi:10.1016/j.mcm.2010.02.030Hethcote, H. W. (2000). The Mathematics of Infectious Diseases. SIAM Review, 42(4), 599-653. doi:10.1137/s0036144500371907Yanhui, L., & Siming, Z. (2007). Competitive dynamics of e-commerce web sites. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 31(5), 912-919. doi:10.1016/j.apm.2006.03.029Mahajan, V., Muller, E., & Bass, F. M. (1991). New Product Diffusion Models in Marketing: A Review and Directions for Research. Diffusion of Technologies and Social Behavior, 125-177. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-02700-4_6Turban, E., Outland, J., King, D., Lee, J. K., Liang, T.-P., & Turban, D. C. (2018). Electronic Commerce 2018. Springer Texts in Business and Economics. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58715-
Spreading paths in partially observed social networks
Understanding how and how far information, behaviors, or pathogens spread in
social networks is an important problem, having implications for both
predicting the size of epidemics, as well as for planning effective
interventions. There are, however, two main challenges for inferring spreading
paths in real-world networks. One is the practical difficulty of observing a
dynamic process on a network, and the other is the typical constraint of only
partially observing a network. Using a static, structurally realistic social
network as a platform for simulations, we juxtapose three distinct paths: (1)
the stochastic path taken by a simulated spreading process from source to
target; (2) the topologically shortest path in the fully observed network, and
hence the single most likely stochastic path, between the two nodes; and (3)
the topologically shortest path in a partially observed network. In a sampled
network, how closely does the partially observed shortest path (3) emulate the
unobserved spreading path (1)? Although partial observation inflates the length
of the shortest path, the stochastic nature of the spreading process also
frequently derails the dynamic path from the shortest path. We find that the
partially observed shortest path does not necessarily give an inflated estimate
of the length of the process path; in fact, partial observation may,
counterintuitively, make the path seem shorter than it actually is.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
Cooperative Behavior Cascades in Human Social Networks
Theoretical models suggest that social networks influence the evolution of
cooperation, but to date there have been few experimental studies.
Observational data suggest that a wide variety of behaviors may spread in human
social networks, but subjects in such studies can choose to befriend people
with similar behaviors, posing difficulty for causal inference. Here, we
exploit a seminal set of laboratory experiments that originally showed that
voluntary costly punishment can help sustain cooperation. In these experiments,
subjects were randomly assigned to a sequence of different groups in order to
play a series of single-shot public goods games with strangers; this feature
allowed us to draw networks of interactions to explore how cooperative and
uncooperative behavior spreads from person to person to person. We show that,
in both an ordinary public goods game and in a public goods game with
punishment, focal individuals are influenced by fellow group members'
contribution behavior in future interactions with other individuals who were
not a party to the initial interaction. Furthermore, this influence persists
for multiple periods and spreads up to three degrees of separation (from person
to person to person to person). The results suggest that each additional
contribution a subject makes to the public good in the first period is tripled
over the course of the experiment by other subjects who are directly or
indirectly influenced to contribute more as a consequence. These are the first
results to show experimentally that cooperative behavior cascades in human
social networks
From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis
Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better
understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as
financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without
large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible.
Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research
centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a
network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted
to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural
systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human
techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending
events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more
accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually
customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting
way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing
Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well.
As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the
public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data
available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic
societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems.
Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility
and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits,
where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient
justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good,
as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for
society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see
http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
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