State/event based versus purely Action or State based Logics

Although less studied than purely action or state based logics, state/event based logics are becoming increasingly important. Some systems are best studied using structures with information on both states and transitions, and it is these structures over which state/event based logics are defined. The logic UCTL and its variants are perhaps the most widely studied and implemented of these logics to date. As yet, however, no-one seems to have defined UCTL*, a trivial step but a worthwhile one. Here we do just that, but prove in the cases of both UCTL and UCTL* that these logics are no more expressive than their more commonplace fragments. Also, acknowledging the importance of modal transition systems, we define a state/event based logic over a modified modal transition system as a precursor to further work.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Proving Properties of Rich Internet Applications

We introduce application layer specifications, which allow us to reason about the state and transactions of rich Internet applications. We define variants of the state/event based logic UCTL* along with two example applications to demonstrate this approach, and then look at a distributed, rich Internet application, proving properties about the information it stores and disseminates. Our approach enables us to justify proofs about abstract properties that are preserved in the face of concurrent, networked inputs by proofs about concrete properties in an Internet setting. We conclude that our approach makes it possible to reason about the programs and protocols that comprise the Internet's application layer with reliability and generality.Comment: In Proceedings WWV 2013, arXiv:1308.026

The Jasper Framework: Towards a Platform Independent, Formal Treatment of Web Programming

This paper introduces Jasper, a web programming framework which allows web applications to be developed in an essentially platform indepedent manner and which is also suited to a formal treatment. It outlines Jasper conceptually and shows how Jasper is implemented on several commonplace platforms. It also introduces the Jasper Music Store, a web application powered by Jasper and implemented on each of these platforms. And it briefly describes a formal treatment and outlines the tools and languages planned that will allow this treatment to be automated.Comment: In Proceedings WWV 2012, arXiv:1210.5783. Added doi references where possibl

A Markov chain model for predicting Major League Baseball

In this report, we present a Markov chain model for predicting the scores and the winning team of Major League Baseball (MLB) games. We discuss how a baseball game can be viewed as an infinite horizon discrete-time Markov chain with finite state space. We demonstrate how standard Markov chain theory can be used to obtain analytical solutions for the expected runs and win probability in a given MLB matchup. We improve upon previous models by incorporating pitching and more complex baserunning, and then demonstrate the effect of these changes by comparing our model to historical data. We also discuss computational methods for solving the model. Finally, we test our model on games from the 2015 MLB season.Operations Research and Industrial Engineerin

Improving office users' workplace perceptions using plants

This paper explores the importance of user perceptions within an organisational context, and more specifically, aims to identify and demonstrate the benefits of plants in offices in contributing to employee wellbeing by influencing their perceptions of a working office. Via comprehensive literature reviews, the importance of user perceptions is determined as well as the importance of indoor plants in office environments in improving employee wellbeing through psychological benefits. It is argued that user perceptions can be analysed through their input and functionalities in the workplace and their consequent application of workplace productivity. In this study, a perception survey was completed, which demonstrated that occupants of planted offices feel more comfortable, more productive, healthier and more creative and feel less pressure than occupants of non-planted offices. The paper provides an insight into how plants can be incorporated within facilities management strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing and improve perceived productivity

Red Flour Beetle Response to Traps with Prior Captures

The red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) is a major pest of food facilities such as flour mills and is often monitored using pitfall type traps with a food oil and pheromone attractant. Previous research had indicated that prior captures of beetles could increase beetle behavior captures in a trap. Here we used a more realistic bioassay to evaluate how the number of beetles previously captured include beetle captures in traps. Results showed no significant impact of prior captures on the number of red flour beetles captured in a trap. There were some trends suggested in the results that warrant further study to investigate, perhaps by focusing on individual beetle behavior at traps rather then using groups of beetles

Deliberation and global civil society : agency, arena, affect

The article provides a critical analysis of the role and function of global civil society within deliberative approaches to global governance. It critiques a common view that global civil society can/should act as an agent for democratising global governance and seeks to explore the importance of global civil society as an arena of deliberation. This more reconstructive aim is supplemented by an empirically focused discussion of the affective dimensions of global civil society, in general, and the increasingly important use of film, in particular. Ultimately, this then yields an image of the deliberative politics of global civil society that is more reflective of the differences, ambiguities and contests that pervade its discourses about global governance. This is presented as a quality that debates about deliberative global governance might learn from as well as speak to