17905406
On the Markovian Randomized Strategy of Controller for Markov Decision Processes
This paper focuses on the so called controller synthesis problem, which addresses the question of how to limit the internal behavior of a given system implementation to meet its specification, regardless of the behavior enforced by the environment. We consider this problem in the probabilistic setting, where the underlying model has both probabilism and nondeterminism and the nondeterministic choices in some states are assumed to be controllable while the others are under the control of an unpredictable environment. As for the specification, it is defined by probabilistic computation tree logic. We show that under the restriction that the controller exploits only Markovian randomized strategy, the existence of such a controller is decidable, which is done by a reduction to the decidability of first-order theory for reals. This also gives rise to an algorithm which can synthesize the controller if it does exist.
15877902
Tree logic with recursion and model checking algorithm
Semi-structured data plays an increasingly important role in the exchange of information between globally distributed applications, which invokes renewed interests in typed programming languages that can manipulate tree-like data structures. Tree logic, inherited from ambient logic, is introduced as the formal foundation of related programming language and type systems. In this paper, we introduce recursion into such logic system, which can describe the tree data more clearly and concisely. By making a distinction between proposition and predicate, a concise semantics interpretation for our modal logic is given. We also develop a model checking algorithm for the logic without . operator. The correctness of the algorithm is shown. Such work can be seen as the basis of the semi-structured data processing language and more flexible type system.
8665982
Structure analysis for dynamic software architecture based on spatial logic
The requirement for modifying system structure during system execution is specified by dynamic software architectures. The system architecture style should remain one style or transform within a scope so that some constraints need to be imposed on during the system execution. Our work expands such an idea along two directions in the setting of formalism. The first direction is to model the system by a graph-based calculus stressing the structure. The other direction lies in that we tailor spatial logic to be a suitable logic as the system specification for structure. The model and specification are basis for the model checking algorithm that is to verify whether the system evolution satisfies some structure constraints. We invite a master-slave architecture style as a running example from the beginning and throughout the paper to demonstrate our approach. Such work can be seen as the basis of the structure analysis for architectures.
5876317
Framework of performance evaluation for mobile process based on mobile ambient
Formal methodology for distributed and concurrent system, especially computation system with mobility, is increasingly important both in the theory and the practice. Based on the calculus of mobile ambient (MA), a widely studied formal mechanism for mobile computation, this paper focuses on the quantitative analysis of mobile computation system and provides a framework of performance evaluation for it. In details, this paper introduces an enhanced labelled transition system as the system model, and assigns rate to each label through so-called cost function. Based on it, the labelled transition system can be mapped to continuous time Markov chains and thus performance evaluation can be carried out by standard numerical techniques and tools. In some sense the main work of this paper can be regarded as integrating behavior and performance analysis in a compositional formal framework, which provides some basis of unified formal methodology for the development of mobile system.
34739655
On the Bisimulation Congruence in chi-Calculus
In this paper, we study weak bisimulation congruences for the χ-calculus, a symmetric variant of the π-calculus. We distinguish two styles of such bisimulation definitions, i.e. “open” and “closed” bisimulation, the difference between which lies in that in open style the equivalence is closed under context in every bisimulation step whereas in closed style the equivalence is closed under context only at the very beginning. As a result, we show that both in labelled and barbed congruence, the open and closed style definitions coincide. Thus all bisimulation congruences collapse into two equivalences, that is, the well-known open congruence and open barbed congruence, which are the same in the strong case, while in the weak case their difference can be reflected by one axiom. The results of this paper close some conjectures in the literatures and shed light on the algebraic theory of a large class of mobile process calculi.
17432425
Structure analysis for dynamic software architecture
The open and dynamic Internet environment greatly urges software entities that are distributed on different locations to coordinate with each other to accomplish a computing task. Software architecture is applied to abstract the software entities to be components and the coordination between them to be connectors and then a model is extracted as the architecture on which the design, analysis and verification are based. Currently, the notion of dynamic software architectures that can modify their architecture and enact modifications during the system execution has become one of the most active research areas. In this paper, we focus on the dynamic evolution of system structure other than coordination mechanisms (e.g. communication protocols). It is widely recognized that some restrictions should be imposed on the system evolution to ensure that the system structure may remain one style or transform within a scope. These conditions, to a large extent, make the system execute under control as expected.
7346212
Skewed Data Partition and Alignment Techniques for Compiling Programs on Distributed Memory Multicomputers
Minimizing data communication over processors is the key to compile programs for distributed memory multicomputers. In this paper, we propose new data partition and alignment techniques for partitioning and aligning data arrays with a program in a way of minimizing communication over processors. We use skewed alignment instead of the dimension-ordered alignment techniques to align data arrays. By developing the skewed scheme, we can solve more complex programs with minimized data communication than that of the dimension-ordered scheme. Finally, we compare the proposed scheme with the dimension-ordered alignment one by experimental results. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme has more opportunities to align data arrays such that data communications over processors can be minimized.
8821639
Realistic video avatar
We present a system for the implementation of a photorealistic avatar using video captured from a user. This is achieved by constructing the dynamic video texture map and combining it with the 3D mesh model of the user to render the photorealistic avatar. The dynamic video texture map reflects the user's facial expressions and is generated by composing the cylindrical texture map of the user with constant updates either directly from the input video or derived from a temporal and spatial interpolation scheme. To derive the 3D mesh model for the user, we define feature points on a generic model and use the feature points identified on the video sequence to deform and obtain the avatar model. The goal of this realistic video avatar project is to provide a vivid representation of participants with a more realistic quality avatar, as compared to using only the facial animation parameters defined in MPEG-4 without the corresponding image updates. This scheme is suitable for conferencing applications because it requires much lower bandwidth than live video, and yet provides a 3D avatar representation for any virtual environment.
11068219
An approximation algorithm for haplotype inference by maximum parsimony
This paper studies haplotype inference by maximum parsimony using population data. We define the optimal haplotype inference (OHI) problem as given a set of genotypes and a set of related haplotypes, find a minimum subset of haplotypes that can resolve all the genotypes. We prove that OHI is NP-hard and can be formulated as an integer quadratic programming (IQP) problem. To solve the IQP problem, we propose an iterative semi-definite programming based approximation algorithm, (called SDPHapInfer). We show that this algorithm finds a solution within a factor of O(logn) of the optimal solution, where n is the number of genotypes. This algorithm has been implemented and tested on a variety of simulated and biological data. In comparison with three other methods: HAPAR, HAPLOTYPER, and PHASE, the experimental results indicate that SDPHapInfer and HAPLOTYPER have similar error rates. In addition, the results generated by PHASE have lower error rates on some data but higher error rates on others. The error rates of HAPAR are higher than the others on biological data. In terms of efficiency, SDPHapInfer, HAPLOTYPER, and PHASE output a solution in a stable and consistent way, and they run much faster than HAPAR when the number of genotypes becomes large.
45055182
Mining frequent tree-like patterns in large datasets
Sequential pattern mining is crucial to data mining domains. This paper proposes a novel data mining approach for exploring hierarchical tree structures, named tree-like patterns, representing the relationships for a pair of items in a sequence. Using tree-like patterns, the relationships for a pair of items can be identified in terms of the cause and effect. A novel technique that efficiently counts support values for tree-like patterns using a queue structure is proposed. In addition, this paper addresses an efficient scheme for determining the frequency of a tree-like pattern in a sequence using a dynamic programming approach. Each tree-like pattern embedded in a sequence is considered to have a certain valuable meaning or the degree of importance used in different applications. Two addressed formulas are applied to determine the degree of significance for a specific sequence, which denotes the degree of consecutive items in a tree-like pattern for a sequence. The larger the degree of significance a tree-like pattern has, the more the tree-like pattern is compacted in the sequence. The characteristics differentiating the explored patterns from those obtained with other schemes are discussed. A simulation analysis of the proposed data mining approach is utilized to demonstrate its efficacy. Finally, the proposed approach is designed and implemented in a data mining system integrated into a novel e-learning platform.
2301190
On the Informational Asymmetry between Upper and Lower Bounds for Ultrametric Evolutionary Trees
This paper addresses the informational asymmetry for constructing an ultrametric evolutionary tree from upper and lower bounds on pairwise distances between n given species. We show that the tallest ultrametric tree exists and can be constructed in O(n2) time, while the existence of the shortest ultrametric tree depends on whether the lower bounds are ultrametric. The tallest tree construction algorithm gives a very simple solution to the construction of an ultrametric tree. We also provide an efficient O(n2)-time algorithm for checking the uniqueness of an ultrametric tree, and study a query problem for testing whether an ultrametric tree satisfies both upper and lower bounds.