Unfolding-based Diagnosis of Systems with an Evolving Topology

We propose a framework for model-based diagnosis of systems with mobility and variable topologies, modelled as graph transformation systems. Generally speaking, model-based diagnosis is aimed at constructing explanations of observed faulty behaviours on the basis of a given model of the system. Since the number of possible explanations may be huge, we exploit the unfolding as a compact data structure to store them, along the lines of previous work dealing with Petri net models. Given a model of a system and an observation, the explanations can be constructed by unfolding the model constrained by the observation, and then removing incomplete explanations in a pruning phase. The theory is formalised in a general categorical setting: constraining the system by the observation corresponds to taking a product in the chosen category of graph grammars, so that the correctness of the procedure can be proved by using the fact that the unfolding is a right adjoint and thus it preserves products. The theory should hence be easily applicable to a wide class of system models, including graph grammars and Petri nets

Encoding Synchronous Interactions Using Labelled Petri Nets

International audienceWe present an encoding of (bound) CSP processes with replication into Petri nets with labelled transitions. Through the encoding, the firing semantics of Petri nets models the standard operational semantics of CSP processes, which is both preserved and reflected. This correspondence allows for describing by net semantics the standard CSP observational equivalences. Since the encoding is modular with respect to process syntax, the paper puts on a firm ground the technology transfer between the two formalisms, e.g. recasting into the CSP framework well-established results like decidability of coverability for nets. This work complements previous results concerning the encoding of asynchronous interactions, thus witnessing the expressiveness of (open) labelled nets in modelling process calculi with alternative communication patterns

Representing Dependencies in Event Structures

Event structures where the causality may explicitly change during a computation have recently gained the stage. In this kind of event structures the changes in the set of the causes of an event are triggered by modifiers that may add or remove dependencies, thus making the happening of an event contextual. Still the focus is always on the dependencies of the event. In this paper we promote the idea that the context determined by the modifiers plays a major role, and the context itself determines not only the causes but also what causality should be. Modifiers are then used to understand when an event (or a set of events) can be added to a configuration, together with a set of events modeling dependencies, which will play a less important role. We show that most of the notions of Event Structure presented in literature can be translated into this new kind of event structure, preserving the main notion, namely the one of configuration

Optimizing Feature Interaction Detection

© 2017, Springer International Publishing AG. The feature interaction problem has been recognized as a general problem of software engineering. The problem appears when a combination of features interacts generating a conflict, exhibiting a behaviour that is unexpected for the features considered in isolation, possibly resulting in some critical safety violation. Verification of absence of critical feature interactions has been the subject of several studies. In this paper, we focus on functional interactions and we address the problem of the 3-way feature interactions, i.e. interactions that occur only when three features are all included in the system, but not when only two of them are. In this setting, we define a widely applicable definition framework, within which we show that a 3 (or greater)-way interaction is always caused by a 2-way interaction, i.e. that pairwise sampling is complete, hence reducing to quadratic the complexity of automatic detection of incorrect interaction

Dependencies and Simultaneity in Membrane Systems

Membrane system computations proceed in a synchronous fashion: at each step all the applicable rules are actually applied. Hence each step depends on the previous one. This coarse view can be refined by looking at the dependencies among rule occurrences, by recording, for an object, which was the a rule that produced it and subsequently (in a later step), which was the a rule that consumed it. In this paper we propose a way to look also at the other main ingredient in membrane system computations, namely the simultaneity in the rule applications. This is achieved using zero-safe nets that allows to synchronize transitions, i.e., rule occurrences. Zero-safe nets can be unfolded into occurrence nets in a classical way, and to this unfolding an event structure can be associated. The capability of capturing simultaneity of zero-safe nets is transferred on the level of event structure by adding a way to express which events occur simultaneously

Automata for true concurrency properties

We present an automata-theoretic framework for the model checking of true concurrency properties. These are specified in a fixpoint logic, corresponding to history-preserving bisimilarity, capable of describing events in computations and their dependencies. The models of the logic are event structures or any formalism which can be given a causal semantics, like Petri nets. Given a formula and an event structure satisfying suitable regularity conditions we show how to construct a parity tree automaton whose language is non-empty if and only if the event structure satisfies the formula. The automaton, due to the nature of event structure models, is usually infinite. We discuss how it can be quotiented to an equivalent finite automaton, where emptiness can be checked effectively. In order to show the applicability of the approach, we discuss how it instantiates to finite safe Petri nets. As a proof of concept we provide a model checking tool implementing the technique

A lattice gas model of II-VI(001) semiconductor surfaces

We introduce an anisotropic two-dimensional lattice gas model of metal terminated II-IV(001) seminconductor surfaces. Important properties of this class of materials are represented by effective NN and NNN interactions, which result in the competition of two vacancy structures on the surface. We demonstrate that the experimentally observed c(2x2)-(2x1) transition of the CdTe(001) surface can be understood as a phase transition in thermal equilbrium. The model is studied by means of transfer matrix and Monte Carlo techniques. The analysis shows that the small energy difference of the competing reconstructions determines to a large extent the nature of the different phases. Possible implications for further experimental research are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Dynamics near the Surface Reconstruction of W(100)

Using Brownian molecular dynamics simulation, we study the surface dynamics near the reconstruction transition of W(100) via a model Hamiltonian. Results for the softening and broadening of the surface phonon spectrum near the transition are compared with previous calculations and with He atom scattering data. From the critical behavior of the central peak in the dynamical structure factor, we also estimate the exponent of the power law anomaly for adatom diffusion near the transition temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.