A Representation of the Virasoro Algebra via Wigner-Heisenberg Algebraic Technique to Bosonic Systems

Using the Wigner-Heisenberg algebra for bosonic systems in connection with oscillators we find a new representation for the Virasoro algebra.Comment: Revised version. Revtex, 7 pages, no figures. This work was presented in the XXII Brazilian National Meeting on Particles and Fields (October/2001), to appear in Braz. J. of Phys., 33, 1 (2003

Protology and Eschatology in the Writings of John C. Polkinghorne: a Study of Contrastive Roles of Scripture

Problem The focus of this thesis is to address the problem of the contrastive roles of Scripture in protology and eschatology in the writings of John C. Polkinghorne. On the one hand, Polkinghorne rejects a univocal understanding of Gen 1-2, by invoking symbolic/analogical language for Gen 1-2, so that he can accept scientific protology. On the other hand, Polkinghorne introduces an apparent, relative univocity of biblical language in order to obtain his eschatology, contrary to the claims of pure scientific eschatology. This seems to suggest a dimension of internal methodological and theological incoherence in his system. Methodology This thesis provides a descriptive systematic and evaluative analysis of the contrastive usage of Scripture in Polkinghorne’s protology and eschatology. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction, outlines the objective and describes the research methodology and delimitations of the study. In chapter 2, Polkinghorne’s scientific and theological methodology is analytically described. Chapters 3 and 4 present two case studies: protology and eschatology. Chapter 5 critically compares and contrasts the two case studies and presents the conclusion to this thesis and recommendations for further study. Conclusions The thesis concludes that Polkinghorne’s symbolic interpretation of biblical protology and his relatively univocal interpretation of biblical eschatology suggests a problem in his hermeneutics, which affects his theological understanding of protology and eschatology. Polkinghorne does not clearly state his criteria for maintaining this distinction between his theological understanding of protology and eschatology. If theological language in protology is interpreted as symbolical rather than univocal, then eschatological language could be interpreted as symbolic as well in order to maintain consistency

Fault Localization in Multi-Threaded C Programs using Bounded Model Checking (extended version)

Software debugging is a very time-consuming process, which is even worse for multi-threaded programs, due to the non-deterministic behavior of thread-scheduling algorithms. However, the debugging time may be greatly reduced, if automatic methods are used for localizing faults. In this study, a new method for fault localization, in multi-threaded C programs, is proposed. It transforms a multi-threaded program into a corresponding sequential one and then uses a fault-diagnosis method suitable for this type of program, in order to localize faults. The code transformation is implemented with rules and context switch information from counterexamples, which are typically generated by bounded model checkers. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective, in such a way that sequential fault-localization methods can be extended to multi-threaded programs.Comment: extended version of paper published at SBESC'1