191 research outputs found
A Linear-Time Branching-Time Spectrum for Behavioral Specification Theories
We propose behavioral specification theories for most equivalences in the
linear-time--branching-time spectrum. Almost all previous work on specification
theories focuses on bisimilarity, but there is a clear interest in
specification theories for other preorders and equivalences. We show that
specification theories for preorders cannot exist and develop a general scheme
which allows us to define behavioral specification theories, based on
disjunctive modal transition systems, for most equivalences in the
linear-time--branching-time spectrum
Refinement for Transition Systems with Responses
Motivated by the response pattern for property specifications and
applications within flexible workflow management systems, we report upon an
initial study of modal and mixed transition systems in which the must
transitions are interpreted as must eventually, and in which implementations
can contain may behaviors that are resolved at run-time. We propose Transition
Systems with Responses (TSRs) as a suitable model for this study. We prove that
TSRs correspond to a restricted class of mixed transition systems, which we
refer to as the action-deterministic mixed transition systems. We show that
TSRs allow for a natural definition of deadlocked and accepting states. We then
transfer the standard definition of refinement for mixed transition systems to
TSRs and prove that refinement does not preserve deadlock freedom. This leads
to the proposal of safe refinements, which are those that preserve deadlock
freedom. We exemplify the use of TSRs and (safe) refinements on a small
medication workflow.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2012, arXiv:1207.348
Modal Interface Automata
De Alfaro and Henzinger's Interface Automata (IA) and Nyman et al.'s recent
combination IOMTS of IA and Larsen's Modal Transition Systems (MTS) are
established frameworks for specifying interfaces of system components. However,
neither IA nor IOMTS consider conjunction that is needed in practice when a
component shall satisfy multiple interfaces, while Larsen's MTS-conjunction is
not closed and Bene\v{s} et al.'s conjunction on disjunctive MTS does not treat
internal transitions. In addition, IOMTS-parallel composition exhibits a
compositionality defect. This article defines conjunction (and also
disjunction) on IA and disjunctive MTS and proves the operators to be
'correct', i.e., the greatest lower bounds (least upper bounds) wrt. IA- and
resp. MTS-refinement. As its main contribution, a novel interface theory called
Modal Interface Automata (MIA) is introduced: MIA is a rich subset of IOMTS
featuring explicit output-must-transitions while input-transitions are always
allowed implicitly, is equipped with compositional parallel, conjunction and
disjunction operators, and allows a simpler embedding of IA than Nyman's. Thus,
it fixes the shortcomings of related work, without restricting designers to
deterministic interfaces as Raclet et al.'s modal interface theory does.Comment: 28 page
Refinement Modal Logic
In this paper we present {\em refinement modal logic}. A refinement is like a
bisimulation, except that from the three relational requirements only `atoms'
and `back' need to be satisfied. Our logic contains a new operator 'all' in
addition to the standard modalities 'box' for each agent. The operator 'all'
acts as a quantifier over the set of all refinements of a given model. As a
variation on a bisimulation quantifier, this refinement operator or refinement
quantifier 'all' can be seen as quantifying over a variable not occurring in
the formula bound by it. The logic combines the simplicity of multi-agent modal
logic with some powers of monadic second-order quantification. We present a
sound and complete axiomatization of multi-agent refinement modal logic. We
also present an extension of the logic to the modal mu-calculus, and an
axiomatization for the single-agent version of this logic. Examples and
applications are also discussed: to software verification and design (the set
of agents can also be seen as a set of actions), and to dynamic epistemic
logic. We further give detailed results on the complexity of satisfiability,
and on succinctness
Mixed Nondeterministic-Probabilistic Automata: Blending graphical probabilistic models with nondeterminism
Graphical models in probability and statistics are a core concept in the area of probabilistic reasoning and probabilistic programming—graphical models include Bayesian networks and factor graphs. In this paper we develop a new model of mixed (nondeterministic/probabilistic) automata that subsumes both nondeterministic automata and graphical probabilistic models. Mixed Automata are equipped with parallel composition, simulation relation, and support message passing algorithms inherited from graphical probabilistic models. Segala’s Probabilistic Automatacan be mapped to Mixed Automata
A Few Considerations on Structural and Logical Composition in Specification Theories
Over the last 20 years a large number of automata-based specification
theories have been proposed for modeling of discrete,real-time and
probabilistic systems. We have observed a lot of shared algebraic structure
between these formalisms. In this short abstract, we collect results of our
work in progress on describing and systematizing the algebraic assumptions in
specification theories.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2010, arXiv:1101.426
HuR involvement in mitotic clonal expansion during acquisition of the adipocyte phenotype
In the nucleus HuR binds to mRNAs containing adenylate-uridylate rich elements in the 3?- untranslated region. HuR may influence expression of its ligand mRNA through regulation of polyadenylation, translocation of the message to the cytosol, stabilization of the mRNA and/or altering its translational efficiency. Suppression of HuR using siRNA resulted in an attenuation of the 3T3-L1 differentiation program, consistent with HuR control of the expression of mRNA ligand (s) critical to the differentiation process. In the current study we begin to identify mRNA ligands of HuR whose regulated expression is necessary for adipogenesis. Originally published in Biochemical and Biophysiological Research Communications Vol. 383, No. 2 2009
Structural Refinement for the Modal nu-Calculus
We introduce a new notion of structural refinement, a sound abstraction of
logical implication, for the modal nu-calculus. Using new translations between
the modal nu-calculus and disjunctive modal transition systems, we show that
these two specification formalisms are structurally equivalent.
Using our translations, we also transfer the structural operations of
composition and quotient from disjunctive modal transition systems to the modal
nu-calculus. This shows that the modal nu-calculus supports composition and
decomposition of specifications.Comment: Accepted at ICTAC 201
Hennessy-Milner Logic with Greatest Fixed Points as a Complete Behavioural Specification Theory
There are two fundamentally different approaches to specifying and verifying
properties of systems. The logical approach makes use of specifications given
as formulae of temporal or modal logics and relies on efficient model checking
algorithms; the behavioural approach exploits various equivalence or refinement
checking methods, provided the specifications are given in the same formalism
as implementations.
In this paper we provide translations between the logical formalism of
Hennessy-Milner logic with greatest fixed points and the behavioural formalism
of disjunctive modal transition systems. We also introduce a new operation of
quotient for the above equivalent formalisms, which is adjoint to structural
composition and allows synthesis of missing specifications from partial
implementations. This is a substantial generalisation of the quotient for
deterministic modal transition systems defined in earlier papers
Contracts for Systems Design: Theory
Aircrafts, trains, cars, plants, distributed telecommunication military or health care systems,and more, involve systems design as a critical step. Complexity has caused system design times and coststo go severely over budget so as to threaten the health of entire industrial sectors. Heuristic methods andstandard practices do not seem to scale with complexity so that novel design methods and tools based on astrong theoretical foundation are sorely needed. Model-based design as well as other methodologies suchas layered and compositional design have been used recently but a unified intellectual framework with acomplete design flow supported by formal tools is still lacking.Recently an “orthogonal” approach has been proposed that can be applied to all methodologies introducedthus far to provide a rigorous scaffolding for verification, analysis and abstraction/refinement: contractbaseddesign. Several results have been obtained in this domain but a unified treatment of the topic that canhelp in putting contract-based design in perspective is missing. This paper intends to provide such treatmentwhere contracts are precisely defined and characterized so that they can be used in design methodologiessuch as the ones mentioned above with no ambiguity. In addition, the paper provides an important linkbetween interface and contract theories to show similarities and correspondences.This paper is complemented by a companion paper where contract based design is illustrated throughuse cases
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