458 research outputs found

    Modelling Implicit Communication in Multi-Agent Systems with Hybrid Input/Output Automata

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    We propose an extension of Hybrid I/O Automata (HIOAs) to model agent systems and their implicit communication through perturbation of the environment, like localization of objects or radio signals diffusion and detection. To this end we decided to specialize some variables of the HIOAs whose values are functions both of time and space. We call them world variables. Basically they are treated similarly to the other variables of HIOAs, but they have the function of representing the interaction of each automaton with the surrounding environment, hence they can be output, input or internal variables. Since these special variables have the role of simulating implicit communication, their dynamics are specified both in time and space, because they model the perturbations induced by the agent to the environment, and the perturbations of the environment as perceived by the agent. Parallel composition of world variables is slightly different from parallel composition of the other variables, since their signals are summed. The theory is illustrated through a simple example of agents systems

    World Automata: a compositional approach to model implicit communication in hierarchical Hybrid Systems

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    We propose an extension of Hybrid I/O Automata (HIOAs) to model agent systems and their implicit communication through perturbation of the environment, like localization of objects or radio signals diffusion and detection. The new object, called World Automaton (WA), is built in such a way to preserve as much as possible of the compositional properties of HIOAs and its underlying theory. From the formal point of view we enrich classical HIOAs with a set of world variables whose values are functions both of time and space. World variables are treated similarly to local variables of HIOAs, except in parallel composition, where the perturbations produced by world variables are summed. In such way, we obtain a structure able to model both agents and environments, thus inducing a hierarchy in the model and leading to the introduction of a new operator. Indeed this operator, called inplacement, is needed to represent the possibility of an object (WA) of living inside another object/environment (WA)

    Modeling and verification of randomized distributed real-time systems

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-274) and index.by Roberto Segala.Ph.D

    Structure of a Semideciduous Seasonal Forest in the National Forest of Ipanema, Brazil: Contributing to the Floristic Knowledge of a Poorly Studied Protected Area

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    Studies on composition and structure generate crucial information for characterizing plant communities and planning conservation actions. There are still substantial knowledge gaps in Brazilian protected areas, preventing design programs to mitigate biodiversity loss. This is the case of the National Forest of Ipanema (Ipanema NAFO) in São Paulo state, Brazil, where plant diversity remains uncalculated. To help fill this gap, in 1-ha of a seasonal semideciduous forest (SSF) stand on the Araçoiaba hill, the authors sampled all woody stems with dbh ≥ 5 cm in a total of 103 dead and 1,301 living plants representing 65 species, 57 genera, and 31 families. The number of species and families was lower than old-growth SSF and, together with the land-use history, which suggests the community is a secondary stand. The initial species Guazuma ulmifolia, Machaerium stipitatum, Croton floribundus, and Aloysia virgata totalized 50% of the living stems, whereas 37% of the other species summed up only 1.8%. The high abundance of these initial species and the presence of the climax species Cariniana legalis, Holocayx balansae, Myroxylon peruiferum, Zanthoxylum caribaeum and others indicate that the community is in an intermediate to advanced successional stage. Three species are considered vulnerable to extinction and 27 of least concern. Ipanema NAFO is an important conservation unit, sheltering some plants vulnerable to extinction and others locally rare. This study adds to other few studies about the flora of Ipanema NAFO, helping to estimate its biodiversity and planning conservation actions. Additionally, it is a source for defining reference values for ecological restoration in the Atlantic forest

    Liveness in Timed and Untimed Systems

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    AbstractWhen proving the correctness of algorithms in distributed systems, one generally considerssafetyconditions andlivenessconditions. The Input/Output (I/O) automaton model and its timed version have been used successfully, but have focused on safety conditions and on a restricted form of liveness called fairness. In this paper we develop a new I/O automaton model, and a new timed I/O automaton model, that permit the verification of general liveness properties on the basis of existing verification techniques. Our models include a notion ofreceptivenesswhich extends the idea ofreceptivenessof other existing formalisms, and enables the use of compositional verification techniques. The presentation includes anembeddingof the untimed model into the timed model which preserves all the interesting attributes of the untimed model. Thus, our models constitute acoordinated frameworkfor the description of concurrent and distributed systems satisfying general liveness properties

    Sistematização das informações oriundas dos usuários de habitação social

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    Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Florianópolis, 2016.Quando se trata da habitação social no Brasil, um tema abordado é a qualidade dos espaços de uso privativo contemplados nos projetos de arquitetura. A qualidade da habitação relaciona-se à qualidade da solução do projeto e este, por sua vez, à qualidade das informações oriundas dos usuários finais da habitação. A quase inexistência do contato direto do projetista com os usuários do chamado ?segmento econômico?, renda até 10 salários mínimos, resulta na baixa qualidade das informações que devem subsidiar as decisões de projeto. O Programa Habitacional Minha Casa Minha Vida ? PMCMV através dos procedimentos operacionais adotados pela Caixa Econômica Federal, apresenta lacuna neste processo, caracterizada por não considerar as informações oriundas dos usuários finais de forma adequada. A hipótese aqui posta considera que não há instrumento adequado à busca de informações acerca das preferências dos potenciais usuários finais sobre os espaços da habitação voltada ao segmento econômico, que subsidiem a tomada de decisão do projetista. Buscou-se no referencial teórico entendimento sobre os conceitos de habitação, qualidade habitacional e de projeto, sistemas de avaliação habitacional, percepção e preferência dos usuários. Com o objetivo de resolver esta lacuna, propõe-se demonstrar a sistematização e tratamento das informações oriundas dos usuários de habitação social, para atender a um formato de requisito para projeto. Identificou-se a relevância dos critérios a serem considerados nesta tese para a referida sistematização: Categoria I ? relativa à história habitacional dos usuários. Destaca-se o perfil do responsável pela família, a origem e procedência da família, o tempo de permanência em moradias anteriores, a composição e ciclo de vida familiar. Categoria II ? relativa às ambições e demandas vinculadas aos atributos dos espaços de uso privativo da habitação. Destaca-se a disponibilidade de cômodos e tipologia, o conforto ambiental, a flexibilidade e funcionalidade, a conservação dos materiais e acabamentos, a usabilidade do espaço exterior privado e a expectativa futura da família. Após estudo exploratório na região metropolitana de Florianópolis, atendendo à delimitação prescrita no PMCMV, obteve-se como resultado um banco de informações sistematizadas utilizando-se o software Excel. Isto permite o cruzamento das informações, o que viabiliza novos requisitos de projeto a partir da livre análise do projetista. A contribuição se dá através do avanço do conhecimento na sistematização das informações, na melhoria dos requisitos de projeto, na redução do distanciamento entre projetista e usuário final de habitação social.Abstract : When approaching social housing in Brazil, quality of private spaces embrasses architectural designs. Housing quality relates to the design solution and, in turn, to the incoming quality information from their prospective end users. The almost inexistence direct contact between the designer and the so-called users \"economic segment\", whose income are up to 10 minimum wages, results in the poor information quality that should subsidize the design decisions. The Housing Program Minha Casa Minha Vida ? PMCMV through the operational procedures adopted by Caixa Econômica Federal, presents a shortcoming in this process, characterized by not considering the information coming from the end users in an appropriate way. Here, the hypothesis considers the inadequate instrument searching for information about the potential end users preferences on the dwelling spaces looking for the economic segment, that enable the designer decision making. The theoretical concepts of housing understanding, housing and design quality, housing evaluation systems, perception, and preference of users were sought in the Literature Revue. The proposed Method is to appease this gap by demonstrating social housing users from the systematization and treatment information that lead to meet a design requirement. In doing so, the profile of the person in charge of the family, the family origin and from where they come, the length of stay in previous dwellings, the composition and family life cycle are highlighted. usystematization it was identified the criteria relevance to be considered in this research: Category I: relative to the users housing history. In doing so, the profile of the person in charge of the family, the family origin and from where they come, the length of stay in previous dwellings, the composition and family life cycle are highlighted. Category II ? related to the ambitions and demands related to the attributes of the dwelling spaces of private use. The availability of rooms and typology, environmental comfort, flexibility, and functionality, the materials and finishes shape, the usability of private outdoor space and the family's future expectations. After an exploratory study in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis (State of Santa Catarina), taking into account the delimitation prescribed in the PMCMV, a systematized information users? data bank was obtained, using Excel software. This allows the information crossing, which makes possible new design requirements based on the designer free analysis. The contribution is made through the advancement of systematization information knowledge, in the improvement of the design requirements, in the reduction of the distance between designer and end user of social housing

    Task-Structured Probabilistic I/O Automata

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    "May 28, 2009."Modeling frameworks such as Probabilistic I/O Automata (PIOA) and Markov Decision Processes permit both probabilistic and nondeterministic choices. In order to use these frameworks to express claims about probabilities of events, one needs mechanisms for resolving nondeterministic choices. For PIOAs, nondeterministic choices have traditionally been resolved by schedulers that have perfect information about the past execution. However, these schedulers are too powerful for certain settings, such as cryptographic protocol analysis, where information must sometimes be hidden. Here, we propose a new, less powerful nondeterminism-resolution mechanism for PIOAs, consisting of tasks and local schedulers. Tasks are equivalence classes of system actions that are scheduled by oblivious, global task sequences. Local schedulers resolve nondeterminism within system components, based on local information only. The resulting task-PIOA framework yields simple notions of external behavior and implementation, and supports simple compositionality results. We also define a new kind of simulation relation, and show it to be sound for proving implementation. We illustrate the potential of the task-PIOAframework by outlining its use in verifying an Oblivious Transfer protocol

    Task-Structured Probabilistic I/O Automata

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    Modeling frameworks such as Probabilistic I/O Automata (PIOA) andMarkov Decision Processes permit both probabilistic andnondeterministic choices. In order to use such frameworks to express claims about probabilities of events, one needs mechanisms for resolving nondeterministic choices. For PIOAs, nondeterministic choices have traditionally been resolved by schedulers that have perfect information about the past execution. However, such schedulers are too powerful for certain settings, such as cryptographic protocol analysis, where information must sometimes be hidden. Here, we propose a new, less powerful nondeterminism-resolutionmechanism for PIOAs, consisting of tasks and local schedulers.Tasks are equivalence classes of system actions that are scheduled byoblivious, global task sequences. Local schedulers resolve nondeterminism within system components, based on local information only. The resulting task-PIOA framework yields simple notions of external behavior and implementation, and supports simple compositionality results.We also define a new kind of simulation relation, and show it to besound for proving implementation. We illustrate the potential of the task-PIOA framework by outlining its use in verifying an Oblivious Transfer protocol

    Multidrug Resistant Bacterial Co-Infections in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19: A Review after Three Years of Pandemic

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    Secondary bacterial infections and co-infections frequently affect COVID-19 patients. However, bacterial coinfection rates increase in patients admitted in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs), and those diseases can be due to superinfections by Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) bacteria. Most of these infections are related to high-risk carbapenemase-producing clones and occasionally with resistance to new β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. This highlights the urgency to revise frequent and empiric prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics in COVID-19 patients, with more attention to evidence-based studies and the need to maintain antimicrobial stewardship and infection control programs in pandemic crises. Additionally, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the challenge that an emerging pathogen provides in adapting prevention measures regarding both the risk of exposure to caregivers and the need to maintain quality of care
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