We study the decidability and complexity of verification problems for infinite-state systems. A fundamental question in formal verification is if the behaviour of one process is reproducible by another. This inclusion problem can be studied for various models of computation and behavioural preorders. It is generally intractable or even undecidable already for very limited computational models. The aim of this work is to clarify the status of the decidability and complexity of some well-known inclusion problems for suitably restricted computational models. In particular, we address the problems of checking strong and weak simulation and trace inclusion for processes definable by one-counter automata (OCA), that consist of a finite control and a single counter ranging over the non-negative integers. We take special interest of the subclass of one-counter nets (OCNs), that cannot fully test the counter for zero and which is subsumed both by pushdown automata and Petri nets / vector addition systems. Our new results include the PSPACE-completeness of strong and weak simulation, and the undecidability of trace inclusion for OCNs. Moreover, we consider semantic preorders between OCA/OCN and finite systems and close some gaps regarding their complexity. Finally, we study deterministic processes, for which simulation and trace inclusion coincide.

Transubstantiation and the cult of Corpus Christi became crucial Counter-Reformation symbols which were assigned an even more significant role during the process of Catholic renewal from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. Practices outside Mass, such as pilgrimages, processions, and prayers in front of the consecrated host flourished, in particular, in early modern Bavaria. The former Duchy of Bavaria has generally been regarded as the archetypal ‘confessional' state, as the Bavarian dukes from the House of Wittelsbach took the lead in propagating the cult of the Eucharist. They acted as patrons of Baroque Catholicism which was presented to the public as an obvious visual marker of Catholic identity. This study therefore investigates how the Eucharist was popularised in the Catholic duchy between 1550 and 1750, focusing on three major themes: pilgrimages, confraternities, and the Corpus Christi procession. This study does not, however, approach the renewal of Catholicism in terms of a top-down process implemented by the Wittelsbach dukes as a method of stately power and control. Rather than arguing in favour of a state-sponsored piety imposed from above, this work explores the formation of Catholic confessional identity as a two-way-process of binding together elite and popular piety, and emphasizes the active role of the populace in constituting this identity. This is why this investigation draws primarily on research from local archives, using a rich body of both textual and visual evidence. Focusing especially on the visual aspects of Catholic piety, this project works towards an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand the ways in which Eucharistic devotion outside Mass was presented to and received by local communities within particular visual environments.

Amitav Ghosh's novel The Calcutta Chromosome is a science-fiction which deals with subalter voice. In this paper I have discussed that how Ghosh has written an alternative hisory for the suabltern and how he establishes a connection between subaltern and the science-fictional term, the posthuman. I also argue that through such representation Ghosh proposes a open ended way to think about the subaltern future as well.

For over two decades, mathematicians and cryptologists have evaluated and presented the theoretical performance of Elliptic-curve scalar point-multiplication in projective geometry. Because computation in projective domain is composed of a wide array of formulations and computing optimizations, there is not a comprehensive performance comparison of point-multiplication using projective transformation available to verify its realistic efficiency in 64-bit x86 computing platforms. Today, research on explicit mathematical formulations in projective domain continues to excel by seeking higher computational efficiency and ease of realization. An explicit performance evaluation will help implementers choose better implementation methods and improve Elliptic-curve scalar point-multiplication. This paper was founded on the practical solution that obtaining realistic performance figures should be based on more precise computational cost metrics and specific computing platforms. As part of that solution, an empirical performance benchmark comparison between two approaches implementing projective Elliptic-curve scalar point-multiplication will be presented to provide the selection of, and subsequently ways to improve scalar point-multiplication technology executing in a 64-bit x86 runtime environment.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / As renewal interest in building vehicles based on hypersonic technologies begin to emerge again, test ranges anticipating in supporting flight research of these vehicles will face a set of engineering problems. Most fundamentals of these will be to track and gather error free telemetry from the vehicles in flight. The first series of vehicles will likely be reduced-scale models that restrict the locations and geometric shapes of the telemetry antennas. High kinetic heating will further limit antenna design and construction. Consequently, antennas radiation patterns will be sub-optimal, showing lower gains and detrimental nulls. A mobile system designed to address the technical issues above will be described. The use of antenna arrays, spatial diversity and a hybrid tracking system using optical and electronic techniques to obtain error free telemetry in the present of multipath will be presented. System tests results will also be presented.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 21, 2002 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / For faster acquisition in bursted environments for SMS (Short Messaging Service) and other lower-bit rate applications, non-coherent detection techniques are proposed. Non-Coherent detection demodulators are proposed because faster acquisition capability in bursted environments can result in a reduced amount of preamble bits in the messaging frame, i.e. less overhead, resulting in an effective increase in spectral efficiency. Reducing the preamble can also provide performance enhancement opportunities for Feher Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (FQPSK) [1] and for other systems. The preamble can also be varied to provide for better Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. The lower bit rate environment also gives the opportunity to employ simpler architectures in lieu of preamble modification. Several non-coherent detection alternatives are described.

Crowded places have been the target of terrorist attacks for many years. Their inherent nature has resulted in a vulnerability to a range of attacks, most notably the threat of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). Government agendas have been seeking to reduce the extent of this vulnerability, by encouraging those who are responsible for the design, construction and operation of such places to incorporate counter-terrorism measures (CTMs) into their designs, and where necessary, retro-fit them into existing places. However, little is known about what measures can be used, as well as their performance and consequences. The aim of the research is therefore to identify the aforementioned range of measures through the development of a typology that also examines their relative performance and consequences for a range of scenarios, in order to inform key decision makers who are responsible for the protection of crowded places. Through the use of a qualitative research strategy and respective research methods, interviews, site visits and document analysis were carried out in both the UK and in the USA. A total of 47 participants were recruited for the research, with the collection of data spanning 16 months. A preliminary study was undertaken that determined a range of influences on whether crowded places are protected, as well as influences on the value of CTMs themselves. A theoretical framework was developed to capture and understand those influences. Conventional data analysis methods and internal validation techniques were used to subject the data to methodological rigour, ensuring the validity and reliability of the research. While the negative consequences of incorporating CTMs can be profound, every CTM that can be used has additional benefits; measures can be incorporated at no cost and can even generate revenue; and designing-in CTMs has a number of advantages over retro-fitting them. This research s contribution to knowledge in relation to methodology, empiricism, theory, industry, and policy has resulted in the creation of a significant amount of guidance for key decision makers who are responsible for the design, construction and operation of crowded places, as well as providing data on the benefits that can be gained from incorporating mitigative measures that is of interest to those who have a role to play in the design, construction and operation of the built environment more broadly. Recommendations for further research posit that greater understanding is needed in relation to the specific monetary costs of CTMs themselves, the experience of users of protected places, the implications of invisible CTMs, and the need for research into the assessment and incorporation of proportionality into the built environment. Practical recommendations put forward the need for clarification of legislation in relation to duties of care, the dissemination of the incentives to protect, and benefits of protecting, crowded places, the need for further debate and transparency regarding proportionality and what constitutes proportionate design, and the need to encourage greater engagement between stakeholders and the means through which this can occur. The research posits that legislative requirements encompassing the mitigation of terrorist attacks are apparent, and that therefore, organisations should incorporate CTMs into vulnerable places, yet as previously indicated, such CTMs do not have to cost anything.

This thesis analyses the United States Marine Corps’ counterinsurgency strategy in Vietnam between March 1965 and November 1968, filling a major gap in the existing literature by forensically examining the primary source records maintained by the United States Marines to produce an assessment of the effectiveness of the strategy. It provides a useful corollary to the diplomatic and military histories of the war because not only does it examine operational-level thinking about the war but it analyses the intellectual antecedents of the Marines’ counterinsurgency strategy to answer the important questions about why the Marines chose to emphasis pacification and the ‘ink blot’ strategy rather than conducting a more conventional campaign that focused upon the destruction of enemy forces. The Marines’ own experience of counterinsurgency in the early part of the 20th Century, as well as the work of counterinsurgency theorists of the 1950s and 1960s, had a considerable impact upon their approach to the Vietnam War. The decision of the senior Marine commanders to adopt a pacification strategy along the lines of the ‘ink blot’ approach promulgated by these French and British counterinsurgency experts was partly the result of their view of the political nature of the war and partly the result of the reality they faced on the ground. At the time the Marines deployed to Vietnam their mission was to protect three bases on the coast in the northern provinces of South Vietnam and the Marines realised that the security of these establishments could be greatly improved if the population supported the Marines (and, by extension the South Vietnamese government) rather than the insurgents. Therefore, the ‘spreading ink blot’ of pacification was a product of the need to improve security as well as an attempt to challenge the political nature of communist revolutionary warfare. The metrics used to measure progress in the war were flawed, but there are other indicators within the Marines’ records that show they were conducting an effective and appropriate counterinsurgency campaign, within the limitations imposed by lack of resources and general inability to influence the war as a whole. When the Tet Offensive was launched in early 1968, the Marines use of pacification as ‘defence in depth’ allowed them to successfully defend the coastal enclaves by countering both the political and military efforts of the North Vietnamese in those areas.

Few would refute the didactic nature of stained glass windows, paintings, and sculptures used in Spanish cathedrals during the Counter-Reformation. For hundreds of years the artistic renderings of biblical narratives and of Catholic dogmata had aided both the literate and illiterate alike to internalize the teachings of the Church. In contrast, the seemingly complex web of semiotic signs that form part of the aural and visual spectacle of the auto sacramental has understandably led some to question if such productions could have truly held much meaning for commoners with little formal education. However, as a theatrical genre, the auto sacramental does not deviate much from the literal meaning and allegorical symbolism of the more static art forms that adorn cathedral walls and altarpieces. The usage of ships, highwaymen, and courtroom trials represent some of the most prominent symbols utilized by playwrights to create a Counter-Reformatory drama that facilitated the audiences' ability to decode the plays' allegorical meaning. The repeated use of these semiotic signs allowed the culturally literate public in urban centers across Spain to draw upon their intertextual knowledge of such symbols to appreciate and understand these Corpus Christi performances. Modern readers less familiar with these semiotic signs and their meaning experience an additional handicap because of their inability to see the visual spectacle designed, if not as the primary didactic tool of the genre, then at least as an effective complement to the instructive dialogue that takes place between the different characters of the auto. In spite of these additional challenges that the modern reader faces, the auto sacramental offers some insight into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain that cannot be found in the more secular genres of the time. The added effort to investigate and understand the missing links of intertextual knowledge open a window that offers a panorama of a largely unexplored landscape of early-modern, Spanish society.

本篇論文以探討「美、伊」第二次波斯灣戰爭，雙方的情報與反情報活動為主軸，依序針對美國情報界何以誤判伊拉克發展「大規模毀滅性武器」之原委，以及美國情報界有關「人員情報」與「科技情報」的相關得失，及其何以發生「當勝而未勝、當斷而未斷」的謬誤予之陳述，以期進一步就伊拉克未來情勢預為論述。整個論文研究的時間以2002年9月至2003年5月中旬為主；另視情況包括海珊在2003年12月中旬被捕，以及2006年處死為止，以呼應戰前情報資料所呈現的連貫性。 全篇內容，從「美、伊」第二次波斯灣戰爭為起點，延續軍事作戰的脈絡，就其情報組織及其情報、安全運作機制為主，針對「美、伊」雙方在「情報政策、情報組織、編制體制、情報作為（含人員、科技情報）、員額預算、教育訓練與反情報作為」為其探討的各個面向。以伊拉克為例，本研究論述依序包括「革命指導委員會」（Revolutionary Command Council, RCC）所管轄之「情報總局（GID）、安全總局（GSS）、軍事情報局」（MI）三大情報機構，外加「共和國衛隊」（Republican Guard, RG）、「特別共和衛隊」（Special Republican Guard, SRG）相關之軍事情報作為，以及「軍事安全局」(Military Security Service，MSS)有關反情報作為，探究其在兩次波斯灣戰爭之運作效能。 至於美國情報界，啟自美國「國家安全會議」（NSC）安全體系，就其「中央情報局」（CIA）、「國防情報局」（DIA）、「國家安全局」（NSA）、「國家影像暨製圖局」（NIMA）、「國家偵察室」（NRO）等各級情報機關的組織、功能，及其如何運用「特種作戰、空中偵察、衛星監控與電訊監聽」，以廣泛探究其情報作為為重點，進而結合軍事作戰行動，探究其成敗得失。其中，針對美國情報界誤判伊拉克發展「大規模毀滅性武器」（Weapons of mass Destruction, WMD）之原委，以及美國情報界在「人員情報」與「科技情報」的相關工作，何以發生「當勝而未勝、當斷而未斷」的謬誤予之陳述，以期進一步為當前的伊拉克情勢預為論述。 全篇研究架構乃是依據派森斯（T. Parson）所提倡的《社會系統論》，同時針對黎特（J. Litterer）論述的《透析組織》（The Analysis of Organization），作為解析各方情報組織之特質與差異。論文寫作期間，個人亦視需要透過《文獻探討法》、《歷史研究法》與《個案研究法》等方法妥當論述。另；本篇論文區分為7章、33節，約17餘萬字。其中；針對「情報對軍事作戰之影響是否發生革命性的變化」，「情報政策與情報組織之間關聯性應如何取捨」，以及「戰略環境改變與情報作業程序之關聯性」等三個環節，就其緒論（第一章）、「美、伊」第二次波斯灣戰爭緣起暨作戰概況（第二章）、二次波斯灣戰爭期間伊拉克情報體系及其作為（第三章）、二次波斯灣戰爭期間美國情報體系及其情報作為（第四章），以及「美、伊」雙方在情報政策與機制（第五章）與「美、伊」二次波灣戰爭之情報實務與作為（第六章），進而導引出第七章、研究心得與研究發現，並據此完成論文寫作。 由於伊拉克的情報文件多受戰火摧殘，加之伊拉克情報、反情報體系在戰後瓦解後，僅存的文件檔案又多遭俄羅斯帶走，致使伊拉克原始資料舉證不易。此外美國國會在2007年完成調查報告後，固然有助於部分真相的還原，但限於美國單方面的論點，仍不足以呈現其原貌。故亟需參考第三者或其他國家的出版品、網路資訊，輔以個人多方研究所得增益其所不足，此一論述諒必有所洞悉。總之，本篇論文乃是針對「美、伊」二次波斯灣戰之情報作為為其論述，有其針對性、專屬性與深入之探討，惟受美國行政機構資料保密之侷限性，部份內容猶待日後解密方能進一步論述，因此不周之後尚祈指導教授、各位老師及研究此一課題的同學們有所見諒。