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Aspect-Oriented Linearizability Proofs
Get PDFLinearizability of concurrent data structures is usually proved by monolithic simulation arguments relying on identifying the so-called linearization points. Regrettably, such proofs, whether manual or automatic, are often complicated and scale poorly to advanced non-blocking concurrency patterns, such as helping and optimistic updates.
In response, we propose a more modular way of checking linearizability of concurrent queue algorithms that does not involve identifying linearization points. We reduce the task of proving linearizability with respect to the queue specification to establishing four basic properties, each of which can be proved independently by simpler arguments. As a demonstration of our approach, we verify the Herlihy and Wing queue, an algorithm that is challenging to verify by a simulation proof
Strategy improvement for concurrent reachability and turn based stochastic safety games
No full textWe consider concurrent games played on graphs. At every round of a game, each player simultaneously and independently selects a move; the moves jointly determine the transition to a successor state. Two basic objectives are the safety objective to stay forever in a given set of states, and its dual, the reachability objective to reach a given set of states. First, we present a simple proof of the fact that in concurrent reachability games, for all ε>0, memoryless ε-optimal strategies exist. A memoryless strategy is independent of the history of plays, and an ε-optimal strategy achieves the objective with probability within ε of the value of the game. In contrast to previous proofs of this fact, our proof is more elementary and more combinatorial. Second, we present a strategy-improvement (a.k.a. policy-iteration) algorithm for concurrent games with reachability objectives. Finally, we present a strategy-improvement algorithm for turn-based stochastic games (where each player selects moves in turns) with safety objectives. Our algorithms yield sequences of player-1 strategies which ensure probabilities of winning that converge monotonically (from below) to the value of the game. © 2012 Elsevier Inc
Linked (Open) Data - Bibliographische Daten im Semantic Web
Get PDFLinked (Open) Data - bibliographic data on the Semantic Web. Report of the Working Group on Linked Data to the plenary assembly of the Austrian Library Network (translation of the title). Linked Data stands for a certain approach to publishing data on the Web. The underlying idea is to harmonise heterogeneous data sources of different origin in order to improve their accessibility and interoperability, effectively making them queryable as a big distributed database. This report summarises relevant developments in Europe as well as the Linked Data Working Group's strategic and technical considerations regarding the publishing of the Austrian Library Network's (OBV's) bibliographic datasets. It concludes with the mutual agreement that the implementation of Linked Data principles within the OBV can only be taken into consideration accompanied by a discussion about the provision of the datasets under a free license
Stimulus-dependent maximum entropy models of neural population codes
Get PDFNeural populations encode information about their stimulus in a collective fashion, by joint activity patterns of spiking and silence. A full account of this mapping from stimulus to neural activity is given by the conditional probability distribution over neural codewords given the sensory input. For large populations, direct sampling of these distributions is impossible, and so we must rely on constructing appropriate models. We show here that in a population of 100 retinal ganglion cells in the salamander retina responding to temporal white-noise stimuli, dependencies between cells play an important encoding role. We introduce the stimulus-dependent maximum entropy (SDME) model—a minimal extension of the canonical linear-nonlinear model of a single neuron, to a pairwise-coupled neural population. We find that the SDME model gives a more accurate account of single cell responses and in particular significantly outperforms uncoupled models in reproducing the distributions of population codewords emitted in response to a stimulus. We show how the SDME model, in conjunction with static maximum entropy models of population vocabulary, can be used to estimate information-theoretic quantities like average surprise and information transmission in a neural population
Perfect-Information Stochastic Mean-Payoff Parity Games
Get PDFThe theory of graph games is the foundation for modeling and synthesizing reactive processes. In the synthesis of stochastic processes, we use 2-1/2-player games where some transitions of the game graph are controlled by two adversarial players, the System and the Environment, and the other transitions are determined probabilistically. We consider 2-1/2-player games where the objective of the System is the conjunction of a qualitative objective (specified as a parity condition) and a quantitative objective (specified as a mean-payoff condition). We establish that the problem of deciding whether the System can ensure that the probability to satisfy the mean-payoff parity objective is at least a given threshold is in NP ∩ coNP, matching the best known bound in the special case of 2-player games (where all transitions are deterministic) with only parity objectives, or with only mean-payoff objectives. We present an algorithm running
in time O(d · n^{2d}·MeanGame) to compute the set of almost-sure winning states from which the objective
can be ensured with probability 1, where n is the number of states of the game, d the number of priorities
of the parity objective, and MeanGame is the complexity to compute the set of almost-sure winning states
in 2-1/2-player mean-payoff games. Our results are useful in the synthesis of stochastic reactive systems
with both functional requirement (given as a qualitative objective) and performance requirement (given
as a quantitative objective)
Elementary Modal Logics over Transitive Structures
Get PDFWe show that modal logic over universally first-order definable classes of transitive frames is decidable.
More precisely, let K be an arbitrary class of transitive Kripke frames definable by a universal first-order sentence. We show that the global and finite global satisfiability problems of modal logic over K are decidable in NP, regardless of choice of K. We also show that the local satisfiability and the finite local satisfiability problems of modal logic over K are decidable in NEXPTIME
The complexity of partial-observation stochastic parity games with finite-memory strategies
Get PDFWe consider two-player partial-observation stochastic games where player 1 has partial observation and player 2 has perfect observation. The winning condition we study are -regular conditions specified as parity objectives. The qualitative analysis problem given a partial-observation stochastic game and a parity objective asks whether there is a strategy to ensure that the objective is satisfied with probability 1 (resp. positive probability). While the qualitative analysis problems are known to be undecidable even for very special cases of parity objectives, they were shown to be decidable in 2EXPTIME under finite-memory strategies. We improve the complexity and show that the qualitative analysis problems for partial-observation stochastic parity games under finite-memory strategies are
EXPTIME-complete; and also establish optimal (exponential) memory bounds for finite-memory strategies required for qualitative analysis
Probabilistic models for CRISPR spacer content evolution
No full textBackground: The CRISPR/Cas system is known to act as an adaptive and heritable immune system in Eubacteria and Archaea. Immunity is encoded in an array of spacer sequences. Each spacer can provide specific immunity to invasive elements that carry the same or a similar sequence. Even in closely related strains, spacer content is very dynamic and evolves quickly. Standard models of nucleotide evolutioncannot be applied to quantify its rate of change since processes other than single nucleotide changes determine its evolution.Methods We present probabilistic models that are specific for spacer content evolution. They account for the different processes of insertion and deletion. Insertions can be constrained to occur on one end only or are allowed to occur throughout the array. One deletion event can affect one spacer or a whole fragment of adjacent spacers. Parameters of the underlying models are estimated for a pair of arrays by maximum likelihood using explicit ancestor enumeration.Results Simulations show that parameters are well estimated on average under the models presented here. There is a bias in the rate estimation when including fragment deletions. The models also estimate times between pairs of strains. But with increasing time, spacer overlap goes to zero, and thus there is an upper bound on the distance that can be estimated. Spacer content similarities are displayed in a distance based phylogeny using the estimated times.We use the presented models to analyze different Yersinia pestis data sets and find that the results among them are largely congruent. The models also capture the variation in diversity of spacers among the data sets. A comparison of spacer-based phylogenies and Cas gene phylogenies shows that they resolve very different time scales for this data set.Conclusions The simulations and data analyses show that the presented models are useful for quantifying spacer content evolution and for displaying spacer content similarities of closely related strains in a phylogeny. This allows for comparisons of different CRISPR arrays or for comparisons between CRISPR arrays and nucleotide substitution rates
Density games
Get PDFThe basic idea of evolutionary game theory is that payoff determines reproductive rate. Successful individuals have a higher payoff and produce more offspring. But in evolutionary and ecological situations there is not only reproductive rate but also carrying capacity. Individuals may differ in their exposure to density limiting effects. Here we explore an alternative approach to evolutionary game theory by assuming that the payoff from the game determines the carrying capacity of individual phenotypes. Successful strategies are less affected by density limitation (crowding) and reach higher equilibrium abundance. We demonstrate similarities and differences between our framework and the standard replicator equation. Our equation is defined on the positive orthant, instead of the simplex, but has the same equilibrium points as the replicator equation. Linear stability analysis produces the classical conditions for asymptotic stability of pure strategies, but the stability properties of internal equilibria can differ in the two frameworks. For example, in a two-strategy game with an internal equilibrium that is always stable under the replicator equation, the corresponding equilibrium can be unstable in the new framework resulting in a limit cycle
Synthesis of AMBA AHB from formal specifications: A case study
Get PDFThe standard hardware design flow involves: (a) design of an integrated circuit using a hardware description language, (b) extensive functional and formal verification, and (c) logical synthesis. However, the above-mentioned processes consume significant effort and time. An alternative approach is to use a formal specification language as a high-level hardware description language and synthesize hardware from formal specifications. Our work is a case study of the synthesis of the widely and industrially used AMBA AHB protocol from formal specifications. Bloem et al. presented the first formal specifications for the AMBA AHB Arbiter and synthesized the AHB Arbiter circuit. However, in the first formal specification some important assumptions were missing. Our contributions are as follows: (a) We present detailed formal specifications for the AHB Arbiter incorporating the missing details, and obtain significant improvements in the synthesis results (both with respect to the number of gates in the synthesized circuit and with respect to the time taken to synthesize the circuit), and (b) we present formal specifications to generate compact circuits for the remaining two main components of AMBA AHB, namely, AHB Master and AHB Slave. Thus with systematic description we are able to automatically and completely synthesize an important and widely used industrial protocol