Banach spaces without minimal subspaces

We prove three new dichotomies for Banach spaces a la W.T. Gowers` dichotomies. The three dichotomies characterise respectively the spaces having no minimal subspaces, having no subsequentially minimal basic sequences, and having no subspaces crudely finitely representable in all of their subspaces. We subsequently use these results to make progress on Gowers` program of classifying Banach spaces by finding characteristic spaces present in every space. Also, the results are used to embed any partial order of size K I into the subspaces of any space without a minimal subspace ordered by isomorphic embeddability. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All fights reserved.

Extração e Representação de Conhecimento de Séries Temporais de Demanda de Energia Elétrica Usando TSKR

The opening of the Brazilian market of electricity and competitiveness between companies in the energy sector make the search for useful information and tools that will assist in decision making activities, increase by the concessionaires. An important source of knowledge for these utilities is the time series of energy demand. The identification of behavior patterns and description of events become important for the planning execution, seeking improvements in service quality and financial benefits. This dissertation presents a methodology based on mining and representation tools of time series, in order to extract knowledge that relate series of electricity demand in various substations connected of a electric utility. The method exploits the relationship of duration, coincidence and partial order of events in multi-dimensionals time series. To represent the knowledge is used the language proposed by Mörchen (2005) called Time Series Knowledge Representation (TSKR). We conducted a case study using time series of energy demand of 8 substations interconnected by a ring system, which feeds the metropolitan area of Goiânia-GO, provided by CELG (Companhia Energética de Goiás), responsible for the service of power distribution in the state of Goiás (Brazil). Using the proposed methodology were extracted three levels of knowledge that describe the behavior of the system studied, representing clearly the system dynamics, becoming a tool to assist planning activities

Especificação do tipo intervalar parametrizado em CASL

The interval datatype applications in several areas is important to construct a interval type reusable, i.e., a interval constructor can be applied to any datatype and get intervals this datatype. Since the interval is, of certain form, a set of elements limited for two bounds, left and right, with a order notions, then it s reasonable that interval constructor enclose datatypes with partial order. On the order hand, what we want is work with interval of any datatype like this we work with this datatype then. it s important to guarantee the properties of the datatype when maps to interval of this datatype. Thus, the interval constructor get a theory to parametrized interval type, i.e., a interval with generics parameters (for example rational, real, complex). Sometimes, the interval application in some algebras doesn t guarantee the mainutenance of their properties, for example, when we use interval of real, that satisfies the field properties, it doesn t guarantee the distributivity propertie. A form to surpass this problem Santiago introduced the local equality theory that weakened the notion of strong equality, and thus, allowing some properties are local keeped, what can be discard before. The interval arithmetic generalization aim to apply the interval constructor on ordered algebras weakened for local equality with the purpose of the keep their properties. How the intervals are important in applications with continuous data, it s interesting specify that theory using a specification language that supply a system development using intervals of form disciplined, trustworth and safe. Currently, the algebraic specification language, based in math models, have been use to that intention often. We choose CASL (Common Algebraic Specification Language) among others languages because CASL has several characteristics excellent to parametrized interval type, such as, provide parcialiy and parametrization

A Mathematical Model for Simplifying Representations of Objects in a Geographic Information System

The study of operations on representations of objects is well documented in the realm of spatial engineering. However, the mathematical structure and formal proof of these operational phenomena are not thoroughly explored. Other works have often focused on query-based models that seek to order classes and instances of objects in the form of semantic hierarchies or graphs. In some models, nodes of graphs represent objects and are connected by edges that represent different types of coarsening operators. This work, however, studies how the coarsening operator "simplification" can manipulate partitions of finite sets, independent from objects and their attributes. Partitions that are "simplified first have a collection of elements filtered (removed), and then the remaining partition is amalgamated (some sub-collections are unified). Simplification has many interesting mathematical properties. A finite composition of simplifications can also be accomplished with some single simplification. Also, if one partition is a simplification of the other, the simplified partition is defined to be less than the other partition according to the simp relation. This relation is shown to be a partial-order relation based on simplification. Collections of partitions can not only be proven to have a partial- order structure, but also have a lattice structure and are complete. In regard to a geographic information system (GIs), partitions related to subsets of attribute domains for objects are called views. Objects belong to different views based whether or not their attribute values lie in the underlying view domain. Given a particular view, objects with their attribute n-tuple codings contained in the view are part of the actualization set on views, and objects are labeled according to the particular subset of the view in which their coding lies. Though the scope of the work does not mainly focus on queries related directly to geographic objects, it provides verification for the existence of particular views in a system with this underlying structure. Given a finite attribute domain, one can say with mathematical certainty that different views of objects are partially ordered by simplification, and every collection of views has a greatest lower bound and least upper bound, which provides the validity for exploring queries in this regard.

A theory for execution-time derivation in real-time programs

We provide an abstract command language for real-time programs and outline how a partial correctness semantics can be used to compute execution times. The notions of a timed command, refinement of a timed command, the command traversal condition, and the worst-case and best-case execution time of a command are formally introduced and investigated with the help of an underlying weakest liberal precondition semantics. The central result is a theory for the computation of worst-case and best-case execution times from the underlying semantics based on supremum and infimum calculations. The framework is applied to the analysis of a message transmitter program and its implementation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental and nature conservation : a facet study of concern for the quality of the natural environment

A multi-variate descriptive model of environmental and nature conservation attitudes and values is proposed and empirically supported. A mapping sentence is developed out of analysis of data from a series of Repertory Grid interviews addressing conservation employees' attitudes towards their profession's activities. The research is carried out within the meta-theoretical framework of Facet Theory. A mapping sentence is developed consisting of 9 facets. From the mapping sentence 3 questionnaires were constructed viewing the selective orientations towards environmental concern. A mapping sentence and facet model is developed for each study. Once the internal structure of this model had been established using Similarity Structure Analysis, the elements of the facets are subjected to Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with base coordinates. A questionnaire was statistically analysed to assess the relationship between facet elements and 4 measures of attitudes towards, and involvement with, conservation. This enabled the comparison of the relative strengths of attitudes associated with each facet element and each measure of conservation attitude. In general, the relationship between the social value of conservation and involvement pledges to conservation were monotonic; perceived importance of a conservation issue appearing predictive of personal involvement. Furthermore, the elements of the life area and scale facets were differentially related to attitude measures. The multi-variate descriptive model of environmental conservation values and attitudes is discussed in relation to its implications for psychological research into environmental concern and for environmental and nature conservation.

On Nilpotent Subsemigroups in some Matrix Semigroups

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 20M20, 20M10.

Methods for modeling and analyzing concurrent software

Concurrent software executes multiple threads or processes to achieve high performance. However, concurrency results in a huge number of different system behaviors that are difficult to test and verify. The aim of this dissertation is to develop new methods and tools for modeling and analyzing concurrent software systems at design and code levels. This dissertation consists of several related results. First, a formal model of Mondex, an electronic purse system, is built using Petri nets from user requirements, which is formally verified using model checking. Second, Petri nets models are automatically mined from the event traces generated from scientific workflows. Third, partial order models are automatically extracted from some instrumented concurrent program execution, and potential atomicity violation bugs are automatically verified based on the partial order models using model checking. Our formal specification and verification of Mondex have contributed to the world wide effort in developing a verified software repository. Our method to mine Petri net models automatically from provenance offers a new approach to build scientific workflows. Our dynamic prediction tool, named McPatom, can predict several known bugs in real world systems including one that evades several other existing tools. McPatom is efficient and scalable as it takes advantage of the nature of atomicity violations and considers only a pair of threads and accesses to a single shared variable at one time. However, predictive tools need to consider the tradeoffs between precision and coverage. Based on McPatom, this dissertation presents two methods for improving the coverage and precision of atomicity violation predictions: 1) a post-prediction analysis method to increase coverage while ensuring precision; 2) a follow-up replaying method to further increase coverage. Both methods are implemented in a completely automatic tool.

Data-Aware Scheduling in Datacenters

Datacenters have emerged as the dominant form of computing infrastructure over the last two decades. The tremendous increase in the requirements of data analysis has led to a proportional increase in power consumption and datacenters are now one of the fastest growing electricity consumers in the United States. Another rising concern is the loss of throughput due to network congestion. Scheduling models that do not explicitly account for data placement may lead to a transfer of large amounts of data over the network causing unacceptable delays. In this dissertation, we study different scheduling models that are inspired by the dual objectives of minimizing energy costs and network congestion in a datacenter. As datacenters are equipped to handle peak workloads, the average server utilization in most datacenters is very low. As a result, one can achieve huge energy savings by selectively shutting down machines when demand is low. In this dissertation, we introduce the network-aware machine activation problem to find a schedule that simultaneously minimizes the number of machines necessary and the congestion incurred in the network. Our model significantly generalizes well-studied combinatorial optimization problems such as hard-capacitated hypergraph covering and is thus strongly NP-hard. As a result, we focus on finding good approximation algorithms. Data-parallel computation frameworks such as MapReduce have popularized the design of applications that require a large amount of communication between different machines. Efficient scheduling of these communication demands is essential to guarantee efficient execution of the different applications. In the second part of the thesis, we study the approximability of the co-flow scheduling problem that has been recently introduced to capture these application-level demands. Finally, we also study the question, "In what order should one process jobs?'' Often, precedence constraints specify a partial order over the set of jobs and the objective is to find suitable schedules that satisfy the partial order. However, in the presence of hard deadline constraints, it may be impossible to find a schedule that satisfies all precedence constraints. In this thesis we formalize different variants of job scheduling with soft precedence constraints and conduct the first systematic study of these problems.

Methods for Modeling and Analyzing Concurrent Software

Concurrent software executes multiple threads or processes to achieve high performance. However, concurrency results in a huge number of different system behaviors that are difficult to test and verify. The aim of this dissertation is to develop new methods and tools for modeling and analyzing concurrent software systems at design and code levels. This dissertation consists of several related results. First, a formal model of Mondex, an electronic purse system, is built using Petri nets from user requirements, which is formally verified using model checking. Second, Petri nets models are automatically mined from the event traces generated from scientific workflows. Third, partial order models are automatically extracted from some instrumented concurrent program execution, and potential atomicity violation bugs are automatically verified based on the partial order models using model checking. Our formal specification and verification of Mondex have contributed to the world wide effort in developing a verified software repository. Our method to mine Petri net models automatically from provenance offers a new approach to build scientific workflows. Our dynamic prediction tool, named McPatom, can predict several known bugs in real world systems including one that evades several other existing tools. McPatom is efficient and scalable as it takes advantage of the nature of atomicity violations and considers only a pair of threads and accesses to a single shared variable at one time. However, predictive tools need to consider the tradeoffs between precision and coverage. Based on McPatom, this dissertation presents two methods for improving the coverage and precision of atomicity violation predictions: 1) a post-prediction analysis method to increase coverage while ensuring precision; 2) a follow-up replaying method to further increase coverage. Both methods are implemented in a completely automatic tool.

Existence of solutions for second order partial neutral functional differential equations

We establish existence of mild solutions for a class of abstract second-order partial neutral functional differential equations with unbounded delay in a Banach space.

Use of DNA profiles for investigation using a simulated national DNA database: Part I. Partial SGM Plus profiles.

In traditional criminal investigation, uncertainties are often dealt with using a combination of common sense, practical considerations and experience, but rarely with tailored statistical models. For example, in some countries, in order to search for a given profile in the national DNA database, it must have allelic information for six or more of the ten SGM Plus loci for a simple trace. If the profile does not have this amount of information then it cannot be searched in the national DNA database (NDNAD). This requirement (of a result at six or more loci) is not based on a statistical approach, but rather on the feeling that six or more would be sufficient. A statistical approach, however, could be more rigorous and objective and would take into consideration factors such as the probability of adventitious matches relative to the actual database size and/or investigator's requirements in a sensible way. Therefore, this research was undertaken to establish scientific foundations pertaining to the use of partial SGM Plus loci profiles (or similar) for investigation.

Maximal Physiological Parameters during Partial Body-Weight Support Treadmill Testing.

PURPOSE: This study investigated maximal cardiometabolic response while running in a lower body positive pressure treadmill (antigravity treadmill (AG)), which reduces body weight (BW) and impact. The AG is used in rehabilitation of injuries but could have potential for high-speed running, if workload is maximally elevated. METHODS: Fourteen trained (nine male) runners (age 27 ± 5 yr; 10-km personal best, 38.1 ± 1.1 min) completed a treadmill incremental test (CON) to measure aerobic capacity and heart rate (V˙O2max and HRmax). They completed four identical tests (48 h apart, randomized order) on the AG at BW of 100%, 95%, 90%, and 85% (AG100 to AG85). Stride length and rate were measured at peak velocities (Vpeak). RESULTS: V˙O2max (mL·kg·min) was similar across all conditions (men: CON = 66.6 (3.0), AG100 = 65.6 (3.8), AG95 = 65.0 (5.4), AG90 = 65.6 (4.5), and AG85 = 65.0 (4.8); women: CON = 63.0 (4.6), AG100 = 61.4 (4.3), AG95 = 60.7 (4.8), AG90 = 61.4 (3.3), and AG85 = 62.8 (3.9)). Similar results were found for HRmax, except for AG85 in men and AG100 and AG90 in women, which were lower than CON. Vpeak (km·h) in men was 19.7 (0.9) in CON, which was lower than every other condition: AG100 = 21.0 (1.9) (P < 0.05), AG95 = 21.4 (1.8) (P < 0.01), AG90 = 22.3 (2.1) (P < 0.01), and AG85 = 22.6 (1.6) (P < 0.001). In women, Vpeak (km·h) was similar between CON (17.8 (1.1) ) and AG100 (19.3 (1.0)) but higher at AG95 = 19.5 (0.4) (P < 0.05), AG90 = 19.5 (0.8) (P < 0.05), and AG85 = 21.2 (0.9) (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The AG can be used at maximal exercise intensities at BW of 85% to 95%, reaching faster running speeds than normally feasible. The AG could be used for overspeed running programs at the highest metabolic response levels.

Interpretation of partial fingermarks using an automated fingerprint identification system

Abstract : In the subject of fingerprints, the rise of computers tools made it possible to create powerful automated search algorithms. These algorithms allow, inter alia, to compare a fingermark to a fingerprint database and therefore to establish a link between the mark and a known source. With the growth of the capacities of these systems and of data storage, as well as increasing collaboration between police services on the international level, the size of these databases increases. The current challenge for the field of fingerprint identification consists of the growth of these databases, which makes it possible to find impressions that are very similar but coming from distinct fingers. However and simultaneously, this data and these systems allow a description of the variability between different impressions from a same finger and between impressions from different fingers. This statistical description of the withinand between-finger variabilities computed on the basis of minutiae and their relative positions can then be utilized in a statistical approach to interpretation. The computation of a likelihood ratio, employing simultaneously the comparison between the mark and the print of the case, the within-variability of the suspects' finger and the between-variability of the mark with respect to a database, can then be based on representative data. Thus, these data allow an evaluation which may be more detailed than that obtained by the application of rules established long before the advent of these large databases or by the specialists experience. The goal of the present thesis is to evaluate likelihood ratios, computed based on the scores of an automated fingerprint identification system when the source of the tested and compared marks is known. These ratios must support the hypothesis which it is known to be true. Moreover, they should support this hypothesis more and more strongly with the addition of information in the form of additional minutiae. For the modeling of within- and between-variability, the necessary data were defined, and acquired for one finger of a first donor, and two fingers of a second donor. The database used for between-variability includes approximately 600000 inked prints. The minimal number of observations necessary for a robust estimation was determined for the two distributions used. Factors which influence these distributions were also analyzed: the number of minutiae included in the configuration and the configuration as such for both distributions, as well as the finger number and the general pattern for between-variability, and the orientation of the minutiae for within-variability. In the present study, the only factor for which no influence has been shown is the orientation of minutiae The results show that the likelihood ratios resulting from the use of the scores of an AFIS can be used for evaluation. Relatively low rates of likelihood ratios supporting the hypothesis known to be false have been obtained. The maximum rate of likelihood ratios supporting the hypothesis that the two impressions were left by the same finger when the impressions came from different fingers obtained is of 5.2 %, for a configuration of 6 minutiae. When a 7th then an 8th minutia are added, this rate lowers to 3.2 %, then to 0.8 %. In parallel, for these same configurations, the likelihood ratios obtained are on average of the order of 100,1000, and 10000 for 6,7 and 8 minutiae when the two impressions come from the same finger. These likelihood ratios can therefore be an important aid for decision making. Both positive evolutions linked to the addition of minutiae (a drop in the rates of likelihood ratios which can lead to an erroneous decision and an increase in the value of the likelihood ratio) were observed in a systematic way within the framework of the study. Approximations based on 3 scores for within-variability and on 10 scores for between-variability were found, and showed satisfactory results. Résumé : Dans le domaine des empreintes digitales, l'essor des outils informatisés a permis de créer de puissants algorithmes de recherche automatique. Ces algorithmes permettent, entre autres, de comparer une trace à une banque de données d'empreintes digitales de source connue. Ainsi, le lien entre la trace et l'une de ces sources peut être établi. Avec la croissance des capacités de ces systèmes, des potentiels de stockage de données, ainsi qu'avec une collaboration accrue au niveau international entre les services de police, la taille des banques de données augmente. Le défi actuel pour le domaine de l'identification par empreintes digitales consiste en la croissance de ces banques de données, qui peut permettre de trouver des impressions très similaires mais provenant de doigts distincts. Toutefois et simultanément, ces données et ces systèmes permettent une description des variabilités entre différentes appositions d'un même doigt, et entre les appositions de différents doigts, basées sur des larges quantités de données. Cette description statistique de l'intra- et de l'intervariabilité calculée à partir des minuties et de leurs positions relatives va s'insérer dans une approche d'interprétation probabiliste. Le calcul d'un rapport de vraisemblance, qui fait intervenir simultanément la comparaison entre la trace et l'empreinte du cas, ainsi que l'intravariabilité du doigt du suspect et l'intervariabilité de la trace par rapport à une banque de données, peut alors se baser sur des jeux de données représentatifs. Ainsi, ces données permettent d'aboutir à une évaluation beaucoup plus fine que celle obtenue par l'application de règles établies bien avant l'avènement de ces grandes banques ou par la seule expérience du spécialiste. L'objectif de la présente thèse est d'évaluer des rapports de vraisemblance calcul és à partir des scores d'un système automatique lorsqu'on connaît la source des traces testées et comparées. Ces rapports doivent soutenir l'hypothèse dont il est connu qu'elle est vraie. De plus, ils devraient soutenir de plus en plus fortement cette hypothèse avec l'ajout d'information sous la forme de minuties additionnelles. Pour la modélisation de l'intra- et l'intervariabilité, les données nécessaires ont été définies, et acquises pour un doigt d'un premier donneur, et deux doigts d'un second donneur. La banque de données utilisée pour l'intervariabilité inclut environ 600000 empreintes encrées. Le nombre minimal d'observations nécessaire pour une estimation robuste a été déterminé pour les deux distributions utilisées. Des facteurs qui influencent ces distributions ont, par la suite, été analysés: le nombre de minuties inclus dans la configuration et la configuration en tant que telle pour les deux distributions, ainsi que le numéro du doigt et le dessin général pour l'intervariabilité, et la orientation des minuties pour l'intravariabilité. Parmi tous ces facteurs, l'orientation des minuties est le seul dont une influence n'a pas été démontrée dans la présente étude. Les résultats montrent que les rapports de vraisemblance issus de l'utilisation des scores de l'AFIS peuvent être utilisés à des fins évaluatifs. Des taux de rapports de vraisemblance relativement bas soutiennent l'hypothèse que l'on sait fausse. Le taux maximal de rapports de vraisemblance soutenant l'hypothèse que les deux impressions aient été laissées par le même doigt alors qu'en réalité les impressions viennent de doigts différents obtenu est de 5.2%, pour une configuration de 6 minuties. Lorsqu'une 7ème puis une 8ème minutie sont ajoutées, ce taux baisse d'abord à 3.2%, puis à 0.8%. Parallèlement, pour ces mêmes configurations, les rapports de vraisemblance sont en moyenne de l'ordre de 100, 1000, et 10000 pour 6, 7 et 8 minuties lorsque les deux impressions proviennent du même doigt. Ces rapports de vraisemblance peuvent donc apporter un soutien important à la prise de décision. Les deux évolutions positives liées à l'ajout de minuties (baisse des taux qui peuvent amener à une décision erronée et augmentation de la valeur du rapport de vraisemblance) ont été observées de façon systématique dans le cadre de l'étude. Des approximations basées sur 3 scores pour l'intravariabilité et sur 10 scores pour l'intervariabilité ont été trouvées, et ont montré des résultats satisfaisants.

Partial disjoint path for multi-layer protection in GMPLS networks

In this paper, different recovery methods applied at different network layers and time scales are used in order to enhance the network reliability. Each layer deploys its own fault management methods. However, current recovery methods are applied to only a specific layer. New protection schemes, based on the proposed partial disjoint path algorithm, are defined in order to avoid protection duplications in a multi-layer scenario. The new protection schemes also encompass shared segment backup computation and shared risk link group identification. A complete set of experiments proves the efficiency of the proposed methods in relation with previous ones, in terms of resources used to protect the network, the failure recovery time and the request rejection ratio