Safety Verification of Fault Tolerant Goal-based Control Programs with Estimation Uncertainty

Fault tolerance and safety verification of control systems that have state variable estimation uncertainty are essential for the success of autonomous robotic systems. A software control architecture called mission data system, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, uses goal networks as the control program for autonomous systems. Certain types of goal networks can be converted into linear hybrid systems and verified for safety using existing symbolic model checking software. A process for calculating the probability of failure of certain classes of verifiable goal networks due to state estimation uncertainty is presented. A verifiable example task is presented and the failure probability of the control program based on estimation uncertainty is found

Conversion and verification procedure for goal-based control programs

Fault tolerance and safety verification of control systems are essential for the success of autonomous robotic systems. A control architecture called Mission Data System, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, takes a goal-based control approach. In this paper, a method for converting goal network control programs into linear hybrid systems is developed. The linear hybrid system can then be verified for safety in the presence of failures using existing symbolic model checkers. An example task is developed and successfully verified using HyTech, a symbolic model checking software for linear hybrid systems

Families and the Moral Economy of Incarceration

This chapter examines the moral economy of incarceration from the perspective of one family. Derrick and Londa\u27s story, neither one of flagrant injustice nor triumph against the odds, shows a family facing addiction, the criminal justice system\u27s response to it, and the mixture of hardship and relief that incarceration brings to many families of drug offenders. Stories like theirs are almost entirely absent from current debates over incarceration rates and accountability. Indeed, the historical lack of the familial and community perspective of those most affected by incarceration can help to explain the willingness of states to accept mass-incarceration as a default response to social disorder. Once we begin attending to the accounts of people directly affected by criminal sanctions, however, we can begin to understand how our policies have exacerbated the very social problems they were intended to remedy. By holding offenders unaccountable to their families and communities, incarceration, at least as it is currently practiced, frustrates the fundamental norms of reciprocity that form the basis of social order itself

The Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS)

During the week of January 26-30, 2015, I had the honor and great pleasure of representing you and the International System Safety Society at the 61st Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS) in Palm Harbor, Florida. I was there not only to attend the various paper presentations and tutorials, but to market our Society

Punishment and Accountability: Understanding and Reforming Criminal Sanctions in America

The vast majority of Americans favor sanctions that require offenders to engage in responsible behavior - to work, pay restitution, or support dependents; to participate in a mandatory job training, literacy, or drug treatment program; or to meet some other prosocial obligation. While this intuitive preference crosses political and ideological divides, nothing in our classical theories of punishment properly accounts for or develops this intuition. In this Article, Donald Braman explores the popular preference for and the benefits that attach to these accountability-reinforcing sanctions. Reviewing existing and original ethnographic, interview, and survey data, he describes why these sanctions have such broad appeal, and he advances a theory that suggests a number of benefits that are generally ignored when evaluating sanctions in terms of deterrence and rehabilitation. He concludes by reviewing and suggesting ways to reform existing punishment practices in light of accountability concerns

Criminal Law and the Pursuit of Equality

This Article argues that, to make their vision of justice a reality, egalitarians need to change both their focus and their tactics with respect to criminal law. The tragedy of contemporary criminal justice is not that individual rights are too narrowly construed, but that those living in disadvantaged communities are injured both by crime and counter-productive law enforcement. The remedies that egalitarians have historically looked to - remedies articulated within the framework of individual rights - are poorly suited to address the systematic reproduction of inequality that results. First, egalitarians will need to shift their focus from the racially motivated harms directed at individual criminal offenders and defendants to the collateral and often unintentional harms borne by non-criminals in their communities. Second, as a matter of pragmatic reform, egalitarians should shift their focus from the doctrine of individual liberties to more modest policy reforms aimed at increasing the influence that citizens in disadvantaged communities exercise over the form of justice itself. For too long, these communities have been asked to choose between expansive readings of criminal rights or oppressively harsh criminal sanctions - either choice making them a party to their own subordination. As a remedy, I argue for an approach coordinated across the political branches, an approach that seeks to make both criminals and the criminal justice system more responsive to the practical concerns of the citizenry. I review empirical data indicating that the public is eager for reforms that do both, and I outline a modest reform to leverage this popular preference, a form of jury polling that elicits greater information about the popular preferences as a regular part of criminal jury trials. This kind of reform, I argue systematically (and respectfully) elicits greater information about and draws attention to the complex needs of those living in our nation\u27s most vulnerable neighborhoods

Families and the Moral Economy of Incarceration

This chapter examines the moral economy of incarceration from the perspective of one family. Derrick and Londa\u27s story, neither one of flagrant injustice nor triumph against the odds, shows a family facing addiction, the criminal justice system\u27s response to it, and the mixture of hardship and relief that incarceration brings to many families of drug offenders. Stories like theirs are almost entirely absent from current debates over incarceration rates and accountability. Indeed, the historical lack of the familial and community perspective of those most affected by incarceration can help to explain the willingness of states to accept mass-incarceration as a default response to social disorder. Once we begin attending to the accounts of people directly affected by criminal sanctions, however, we can begin to understand how our policies have exacerbated the very social problems they were intended to remedy. By holding offenders unaccountable to their families and communities, incarceration, at least as it is currently practiced, frustrates the fundamental norms of reciprocity that form the basis of social order itself