Abstract: Basic properties of rewriting systems can be stated in the framework of abstract reduction systems (ARS). Properties like confluence (or Church-Rosser, CR) and weak confluence (or weak Church-Rosser, WCR) and their relationships can be studied in this setting: as a matter of fact, well-known counterexamples to the implication WCR CR have been formulated as ARS. In this paper, starting from the observation that such counterexamples are structurally similar, we set out a graph-theoretic characterization of WCR ARS that is not CR in terms of a suitable class of reduction graphs, such that in every WCR not CR ARS, we can embed at least one element of this class. Moreover, we give a tighter characterization for a restricted class of ARS enjoying a suitable regularity condition. Finally, as a consequence of our approach, we prove some interesting results about ARS using the mathematical tools developed. In particular, we prove an extension of the Newman’s lemma and we find out conditions that, once assumed together with WCR property, ensure the unique normal form property. The Appendix treats two interesting examples, both generated by graph-rewriting rules, with specific combinatorial properties.

Abstract: In the type frame originating from the flat domain of boolean values, we single out elements which are hereditarily total. We show that these elements can be defined, up to total equivalence, by sequential programs. The elements of an equivalence class of the totality equivalence relation (totality class) can be seen as different algorithms for computing a given set-theoretic boolean function. We show that the bottom element of a totality class, which is sequential, corresponds to the most eager algorithm, and the top to the laziest one. Finally we suggest a link between size of totality classes and a well known measure of complexity of boolean functions, namely their sensitivity.

Abstract: We present an ambient-like calculus in which the open capability is dropped, and a new form of “lightweight� process mobility is introduced. The calculus comes equipped with a type system that allows the kind of values exchanged in communications and the access and mobility properties of processes to be controlled. A type inference procedure determines the “minimal� requirements to accept a system or a component as well typed. This gives a kind of principal typing. As an expressiveness test, we show that some well known calculi of concurrency and mobility can be encoded in our calculus in a natural way.

Abstract: Many Embedded Systems are indeed Software Based Control Systems (SBCSs), that is control systems whose controller consists of control software running on a microcontroller device. This motivates investigation on Formal Model Based Design approaches for control software. Given the formal model of a plant as a Discrete Time Linear Hybrid System and the implementation specifications (that is, number of bits in the Analog-to-Digital (AD) conversion) correct-by-construction control software can be automatically generated from System Level Formal Specifications of the closed loop system (that is, safety and liveness requirements), by computing a suitable finite abstraction of the plant.
With respect to given implementation specifications, the automatically generated code implements a time optimal control strategy (in terms of set-up time), has a Worst Case Execution Time linear in the number of AD bits $b$, but unfortunately, its size grows exponentially with respect to $b$. In many embedded systems, there are severe restrictions on the computational resources (such as memory or computational power) available to microcontroller devices.
This paper addresses model based synthesis of control software by trading system level non-functional requirements (such us optimal set-up time, ripple) with software non-functional requirements (its footprint). Our experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach: for the inverted pendulum benchmark, by using a quantization schema with 12 bits, the size of the small controller is less than 6% of the size of the time optimal one.

Abstract: Many software as well digital hardware automatic
synthesis methods define the set of
implementations meeting the given system
specifications with a boolean relation K. In
such a context a fundamental step in the software
(hardware) synthesis process is finding effective
solutions to the functional equation defined by
K. This entails finding a (set of) boolean
function(s) F (typically represented using
OBDDs, Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams)
such that: 1) for all x for which K is
satisfiable, K(x, F(x)) = 1 holds; 2) the
implementation of F is efficient with respect
to given implementation parameters such as code
size or execution time. While this problem has
been widely studied in digital hardware synthesis,
little has been done in a software synthesis
context. Unfortunately, the approaches developed
for hardware synthesis cannot be directly used in
a software context. This motivates investigation
of effective methods to solve the above problem
when F has to be implemented with software. In
this paper, we present an algorithm that, from an
OBDD representation for K, generates a C code
implementation for F that has the same size as
the OBDD for F and a worst case execution time
linear in nr, being n = |x| the number of
input arguments for functions in F and r the
number of functions in F. Moreover, a formal
proof of the proposed algorithm correctness is
also shown. Finally, we present experimental
results showing effectiveness of the proposed
algorithm.