We present a methodology of an agile formal method named eXtreme Formal Modeling (XFM) recently developed by us, based on Extreme Programming concepts to construct abstract models from a natural language specification of a complex system. In particular, we focus on Prescriptive Formal Models (PFMs) that capture the specification of the system under design in a mathematically precise manner. Such models can be used as golden reference models for formal verification, test generation, etc. This methodology for incrementally building PFMs work by adding user stories (expressed as LTL formulae) gleaned from the natural language specifications, one by one, into the model. XFM builds the models, retaining correctness with respect to incrementally added properties by regressively model checking all the LTL properties captured theretofore in the model. We illustrate XFM with a graded set of examples including a traffic light controller, a DLX pipeline and a Smart Building control system. To make the regressive model checking steps feasible with current model checking tools, we need to keep the model size increments under control. We therefore analyze the effects of ordering LTL properties in XFM. We compare three different property-ordering methodologies: 'arbitrary ordering', 'property based ordering' and 'predicate based ordering'. We experiment on the models of the ISA bus monitor and the arbitration phase of the Pentium Pro bus. We experimentally show and mathematically reason that predicate based ordering is the best among these orderings. Finally, we present a GUI based toolbox for users to build PFMs using XFM. / Master of Science

<p dir="ltr">A novel computational electromagnetic (CEM) solver using potential-based formulations and discrete exterior calculus (DEC) is proposed. The proposed solver consists of two parts: the DEC A-Phi solver and the DEC F-Psi solver. A and Phi are the magnetic vector potential and electric scalar potential of the electromagnetic (EM) field, respectively; F and Psi are the electric vector potential and magnetic scalar potential, respectively. The two solvers are dual to each other, and most research is carried out with respect to the DEC A-Phi solver.</p><p dir="ltr">Systematical approach for constructing the DEC A-Phi matrix equations is provided in this thesis, including the construction of incidence matrices, Hodge star operators and different boundary conditions. The DEC A-Phi solver is proved to be broadband stable from DC to optics, while classical CEM solvers suffer from stability issues at low frequencies (also known as the low-frequency breakdown). The proposed solver is ideal for broadband and multi-scale analysis, which is of great importance in modern industry.</p><p dir="ltr">To empower the proposed solver with the ability to solve industry problems with large number of unknowns, iterative solvers are preferred. The error-minimization mechanism buried in iterative solvers allows user to control the effect of numerical error accumulation to the solution vector. Proper preconditioners are almost always needed to accelerate the convergence of iterative solvers in large scale problems. In this thesis, preconditioning schemes for the proposed solver are studied.</p><p dir="ltr">In the DEC A-Phi solver, current sources can be applied easily, but it is difficult to implement voltage sources. To incorporate voltage sources in the potential-based solver, the DEC F-Psi solver is proposed. The DEC A-Phi and F-Psi solvers are dual formulations to each other, and the construction of the F-Psi solver can be generalized from the A-Phi solver straightforward.</p>

Η παρούσα διατριβή εκπονήθηκε με σκοπό να γενικεύσει το πρόβλημα του ελέγχου υποθέσεων που εμπεριέχουν στοχαστική διάταξη στα πλαίσια της Μη Παραμετρικής Στατιστικής. Για τον σκοπό αυτό μελετήθηκε η σχετική βιβλιογραφία, εξετάσθηκε η ορολογία, οι ήδη υπάρχοντες ορισμοί και οι σχετικές προταθείσες μέθοδοι και ακολούθως έγινε προσπάθεια γενίκευσης του προαναφερθέντος προβλήματος. Η έρευνα αυτή απέδωσε δύο ομάδες αποτελεσμάτων. Στην πρώτη, ορίσθηκε μια νέα ολική διάταξη (XFO) σε κάθε σύνολο ασαφών αριθμών που έχουν διαφορετικές κορυφές οι οποίες σχηματίζουν συμπαγές υποσύνολο του ℝ. Η ασαφής αυτή διάταξη αποδίδει την σύγκριση των ασαφών αριθμών με ένα ασαφές μέτρο αναγκαιότητας και με το δυϊκό του μέτρο δυνατότητας. Η σύγκριση αυτής της μεθόδου με την πλέον αναγνωρισμένη αντίστοιχη μέθοδο διάταξης ασαφών αριθμών απέδειξε ότι η εισαχθείσα μέθοδος XFO είναι πιο κοντά στην αρχική μας εκτίμηση για την διάταξη και ανταποκρίνεται πιο αισιόδοξα. Στην δεύτερη ομάδα αποτελεσμάτων εισάγεται η έννοια της στοχαστικής διάταξης ασαφών τυχαίων μεταβλητών, με σύντηξη των ακολούθων εννοιών: α) της στοχαστικής διάταξης, β) της ανωτέρω ασαφούς διάταξης και γ) της εισαγόμενης έννοιας της ασαφούς συνάρτησης κατανομής. Ο ορισμός της στοχαστικής διάταξης δίδεται σε αρμονία με την μέθοδο XFO, αφού και οι δύο έχουν τις ρίζες τους στην ίδια διάταξη κλειστών διαστημάτων που εισάγεται αρχικά στην εργασία, μπορεί δε να θεωρηθεί η ασαφής στοχαστική διάταξη ως επέκταση της XFO. Η δεύτερη αυτή ομάδα περιλαμβάνει ένα εισαγόμενο για πρώτη φορά τρόπο ορισμού Ασαφών Υποθέσεων που περιέχουν στοχαστική διάταξη ασαφών τυχαίων μεταβλητών. Αυτό έχει αποτέλεσμα να βαθμολογείται θετικά μόνο η μία εκ των δύο ασαφών υποθέσεων, ασαφούς μηδενικής και ασαφούς εναλλακτικής, διευκολύνοντας έτσι την λήψη αποφάσεων. Προτείνεται διαδικασία ασαφούς ελέγχου που πιστοποιεί οποιαδήποτε ενυπάρχουσα στοχαστική διάταξη δύο ασαφών τυχαίων δειγμάτων, συμβατή με τον ορισμό, η οποία αντιστοιχεί θετικές τιμές αλήθειας μόνον στην αποδεκτή υπόθεση και μηδέν στην απορριπτόμενη. Τα αποτελέσματα του ελέγχου εκφράζονται με την βοήθεια δύο μέτρων αναγκαιότητας. Η μείζων συνεισφορά της προτεινόμενης ασαφούς διαδικασίας ελέγχου ασαφών υποθέσεων, που αναφέρονται σε στοχαστική διάταξη ασαφών τυχαίων μεταβλητών, είναι ότι παρέχει εργαλείο μετασχηματισμού του προβλήματος σε ένα περιορισμένο αριθμό ελέγχων κλασσικών υποθέσεων της μη Παραμετρικής Στατιστικής. Με τον τρόπο αυτό μπορούμε να συμβάλουμε στην επίλυση τέτοιων προβλημάτων ασαφών ελέγχων τόσο θεωρητικών ζητημάτων στοχαστικής διάταξης ασαφών τυχαίων μεταβλητών όσο και ενός αριθμού πρακτικών προβλημάτων, όπως της ασαφούς αξιολόγησης εξεταζομένων. / This dissertation has been carried out in order to extend the problem of testing hypotheses on stochastic orderings, with methods based on ranks. This study provides two sets of related results. In the first set of results we introduce a novel linear order, the “extended fuzzy order” (XFO), on every subset of F(ℝ), the members of which must have their modal values all different and form a compact subset of ℝ. A distinct new feature is that our linear determined procedure employs the corresponding order of a class interval associated with a confidence measure which assigns a necessity measure value on every comparison . This new XFO method measures the ordering of any two fuzzy numbers with a possibility and a necessity measure, a feature that makes the method relevant for processing of fuzzy statistical data. These fuzzy measures are compared with the widely accepted PD and NSD indices of D. Dubois and H. Prade. The comparison proves that our possibility and necessity measures are more optimistic and comply better with our intuition. In the second set of results it is investigated the fuzzy extension of hypotheses testing using non parametric methods based on ranks. To achieve this, the notion of fuzzy distribution function is introduced in a practical manner, which is proved to be equivalent to the known notion of Kruse and Mayer. The stochastic ordering of two fuzzy random samples is defined in a fusion of the notion of stochastic ordering, fuzzy distribution function and XFO method. A novel definition of fuzzy hypotheses related to a potential fuzzy stochastic order between two fuzzy random samples is given in a new manner so that the null and its alternative hypotheses do not overlap. Consequently, the method assigns positive possibility grades either to the null fuzzy hypothesis or to the its fuzzy alternative. This simplifies the fuzzy decision making, and moreover there is no need to defuzzify the results if a clear cut decision is required. A fuzzy statistical inference procedure of fuzzy hypotheses is proposed and it is carried out at a fuzzy significance level. The definition of a fuzzy critical value is required, which is carried out in a practical manner. The proposed method certifies any underlying stochastic fuzzy order between two fuzzy random samples giving grades of confidence to that. Two necessity measures are assigned to the rejection of the fuzzy null hypothesis in favor of its alternative. The first measures the necessity of the existence of any fuzzy stochastic ordering between the fuzzy random samples under examination. The second necessity measure expresses the confidence of the fuzzy null hypothesis rejection uniformly for all relevant α-cut levels. The main contribution of this thesis, as far as the second set of results is concerned, is that a problem of testing fuzzy hypotheses on stochastic orderings of fuzzy random variables at a fuzzy significance level, is transferred to a limited number of tests of classic hypotheses. These tests are carried out at a fuzzy significance level, and are processed with the application of the linear fuzzy ordering procedure XFO.

Magnetic ordering of dopants in diamond holds the prospect of exploiting diamond’s unique properties in the emerging field of spintronics. Several transition metal defects have been reported to order ferromagnetically in various semiconductors, however, low Curie temperatures and lack of other fundamental material properties have hindered practical implementation in room temperature spintronic applications. In this Thesis, we consider the energetic stability of 3d transition metal doped-diamond and its magnetic ordering properties at various lattice sites and charge states using ab initio Density Functional Theory methods. We find the majority of 3d transition metal impurities in diamond at any charge state to be energetically most stable at the divacancy site compared to substitutional or interstitial lattice sites, with the interstitial site being highly unstable (by ~8 - 10 eV compared to the divacancy site). At each lattice site and charge state, we find the formation energies of transition metals in the middle of the 3d series (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) to be considerably lower compared to those early or late in the series. The energetic stability of transition metal impurities across the 3d series is shown to be strongly dependent on the position of the Fermi level in the diamond band gap, with the formation energies at any lattice site being lower in p-type or ntype diamond compared to intrinsic diamond. Further, we show that incorporation of isolated transition metal impurities into diamond introduces spin polarised impurity bands into the diamond band gap, while maintaining its semiconducting nature, with band gaps in both the spin-up and spin-down channels. These impurity bands are shown to originate mainly from s, p-d hybridization between carbon sp 3 orbitals with the 3d orbitals of the transition metal. In addition, the 4p orbitals contribute significantly to hybridization for transition metal atoms at the substitutional site, but not at the divacancy site. In both cases, the spin polarisation and magnetic stabilization energies are critically dependent on the lattice site and charge state of the transition metal impurity. By allowing magnetic interactions between transition metal atoms, we find that ferromagnetic ordering is likely to be achieved in divacancy Cr+2, Mn+2, Mn+1 and Co0 as well as in substitutional Fe+2 and Fe+1, indicating that transition metal-doped diamond is likely to form a diluted magnetic semiconductor which may successfully be considered for room temperature spintronic applications. In addition, these charge states correspond to p-type diamond, except for divacancy Co0, suggesting that co-doping with shallow acceptors such as B ( will result in an increase of charge concentration, which is likely to enhance mediation of ferromagnetic spin coupling. The highest magnetic stabilization energy occurs in substitutional Fe+1 (33.3 meV), which, also exhibits half metallic ferromagnetic ordering at the Fermi level, with an induced magnetic moment of 1.0 μB per ion, thus suggesting that 100 % spin polarisation may be achieved in Fe-doped diamond. / Physics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Physics)

This thesis is concerned with acknowledging farm animals and their co-presence in the more-than-human space of the livestock farm, and with accounting for them responsibly in sustainability debates. The enrolment of farm animals as actors in political agendas for environmental sustainability, and farm animal welfare suggests that there are new ways of seeing and being with farm animals that permit their relational presence and recognise their subjectivity. Indeed geographers have in recent years acknowledged animals and their relations with humans, and they have begun to recognise the nature of animal subjectivies. However, within the fundamental rethinking of animals that has been provoked by these discussions, I suggest that farm animals have remained relatively invisible. Occupying ethically confusing terrain, farm animals have nonetheless been visible in a set of philosophical positions regarding their moral status, yet these debates present a rather confusing picture in which the farm animal as an individual is conspicuous by its absence. In seeking to redress the invisibility of farm animals within these debates, and recast them in relation to humans and the broader farm ecology, this thesis attempts to set out an epistemological and methodological framework through which farm animals might become visible as individual fleshy beings. Drawing on the concept of agricultural stewardship and new agendas in farm animal welfare science, it makes use of new methodological tools that have emerged in the social sciences to conduct a relational study of the livestock farm; a study in which farm animals themselves participate. It also considers how the divisions that have been constructed between humans, farm animals and the environment can be reconfigured as a more unified political science of the livestock farm.

The thesis describes the problem of TNC administrative ordering, tax performance from the point of financial efficiency, administrative burdens and taxation. The research will be focused on the background development of TNC and its internal organizational structure. The research will involve analysis of TNC, strategies and goals aiming to lower tax burdens, to avoid overregulation and to focus on the most efficient administrative ordering. Several case studies of major world's transnational corporations will be considered in order to analyze the practical aspects of TNCs' activities related to tax optimization methods. The practical analysis will be based on the theoretical findings drawn from bibliographic sources available in public access.

Les processeurs multi-cœurs sont considérés de nos jours comme l'avenir des calculateurs et auront un impact important dans le calcul scientifique. Cette thèse présente une nouvelle approche de résolution des grands systèmes linéaires creux et denses, qui soit adaptée à l'exécution sur les futurs machines pétaflopiques et en particulier celles ayant un nombre important de cœurs. Compte tenu du coût croissant des communications comparé au temps dont les processeurs mettent pour effectuer les opérations arithmétiques, notre approche adopte le principe de minimisation des communications au prix de quelques calculs redondants et utilise plusieurs adaptations pour atteindre de meilleures performances sur les machines multi-cœurs. Nous décomposons le problème à résoudre en plusieurs phases qui sont ensuite mises en œuvre séparément. Dans la première partie, nous présentons un algorithme basé sur le partitionnement d'hypergraphe qui réduit considérablement le remplissage ("fill-in") induit lors de la factorisation LU des matrices creuses non symétriques. Dans la deuxième partie, nous présentons deux algorithmes de réduction de communication pour les factorisations LU et QR qui sont adaptés aux environnements multi-cœurs. La principale contribution de cette partie est de réorganiser les opérations de la factorisation de manière à réduire la sollicitation du bus tout en utilisant de façon optimale les ressources. Nous étendons ensuite ce travail aux clusters de processeurs multi-cœurs. Dans la troisième partie, nous présentons une nouvelle approche d'ordonnancement et d'optimisation. La localité des données et l'équilibrage des charges représentent un sérieux compromis pour le choix des méthodes d'ordonnancement. Sur les machines NUMA par exemple où la localité des données n'est pas une option, nous avons observé qu'en présence de perturbations systèmes (" OS noise"), les performances pouvaient rapidement se dégrader et devenir difficiles à prédire. Pour cela, nous présentons une approche combinant un ordonnancement statique et dynamique pour ordonnancer les tâches de nos algorithmes. Nos résultats obtenues sur plusieurs architectures montrent que tous nos algorithmes sont efficaces et conduisent à des gains de performances significatifs. Nous pouvons atteindre des améliorations de l'ordre de 30 à 110% par rapport aux correspondants de nos algorithmes dans les bibliothèques numériques bien connues de la littérature. / Multicore processors are considered to be nowadays the future of computing, and they will have an important impact in scientific computing. In this thesis, we study methods and algorithms for solving efficiently sparse and dense large linear systems on future petascale machines and in particular these having a significant number of cores. Due to the increasing communication cost compared to the time the processors take to perform arithmetic operations, our approach embrace the communication avoiding algorithm principle by doing some redundant computations and uses several adaptations to achieve better performance on multicore machines.We decompose the problem to solve into several phases that would be then designed or optimized separately. In the first part, we present an algorithm based on hypergraph partitioning and which considerably reduces the fill-in incurred in the LU factorization of sparse unsymmetric matrices. In the second part, we present two communication avoiding algorithms that are adapted to multicore environments. The main contribution of this part is to reorganize the computations such as to reduce bus contention and using efficiently resources. Then, we extend this work for clusters of multi-core processors. In the third part, we present a new scheduling and optimization approach. Data locality and load balancing are a serious trade-off in the choice of the scheduling strategy. On NUMA machines for example, where the data locality is not an option, we have observed that in the presence of noise, performance could quickly deteriorate and become difficult to predict. To overcome this bottleneck, we present an approach that combines a static and a dynamic scheduling approach to schedule the tasks of our algorithms.Our results obtained on several architectures show that all our algorithms are efficient and lead to significant performance gains. We can achieve from 30 up to 110% improvement over the corresponding routines of our algorithms in well known libraries.

Devido ao grande número de otimizações fornecidas pelos compiladores modernos e à ampla possibilidade de ordenação dessas transformações, uma eficiente Exploração do Espaço de Projeto (DSE) se faz necessária para procurar a melhor sequência de otimização de uma determinada função ou fragmento de código. Como esta exploração é uma tarefa complexa e dispendiosa, apresentamos uma nova abordagem de DSE capaz de reduzir esse tempo de exploração e selecionar sequências de otimização que melhoraram o desempenho dos códigos transformados. Nossa abordagem utiliza um conjunto de funções de referência, para as quais uma representação simbólica do código (DNA) e a melhor sequência de otimização são conhecidas. O DSE de novas funções é baseado em uma abordagem de agrupamento aplicado sobre o código DNA que identifica similaridades entre funções. O agrupamento utiliza três técnicas para a mineração de dados: distância de compressão normalizada, algoritmo de reconstrução de árvores filogenéticas (Neighbor Joining) e identificação de grupos por ambiguidade. As otimizações das funções de referência identificadas como similares formam o espaço que é explorado para encontrar a melhor sequência para a nova função. O DSE pode utilizar o conjunto reduzido de otimizações de duas formas: como o espaço de projeto ou como a configuração inicial do algoritmo. Em ambos os casos, a adoção de uma pré-seleção baseada no agrupamento permite o uso de algoritmos de busca simples e rápidos. Os resultados experimentais revelam que a nova abordagem resulta numa redução significativa no tempo total de exploração, ao mesmo tempo que alcança um desempenho próximo ao obtido através de uma busca mais extensa e dispendiosa baseada em algoritmos genéticos. / Due to the large number of optimizations provided in modern compilers and to compiler optimization specific opportunities, a Design Space Exploration (DSE) is necessary to search for the best sequence of compiler optimizations for a given code fragment (e.g., function). As this exploration is a complex and time consuming task, we present new DSE strategies to reduce the exploration time and still select optimization sequences able to improve the performance of each function. The DSE is based on a clustering approach which groups functions with similarities and then explore the reduced search space provided by the optimizations previously suggested for the functions in each group. The identification of similarities between functions uses a data mining method which is applied to a symbolic representation of the source code. The DSE strategies uses the reduced optimizations set identified by clustering in two ways: as the design space or as the initial configuration of the algorithm. In both ways, the adoption of a pre-selection based on clustering allows the use of simple and fast DSE algorithms. Several experiments for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed approach address the exploration of compiler optimization sequences. Besides, we investigate the impact of each technique or component employed in the selection process. Experimental results reveal that the use of our new clustering-based DSE approach achieved a significant reduction on the total exploration time of the search space at the same time that obtained performance speedups close to a traditional genetic algorithmbased approach.

A escolha por fazer ou por comprar é um problema clássico enfrentado pelas empresas. Essa decisão diz respeito à opção de fazer internamente, optar por uma gestão hibrida (interna e externa ao mesmo tempo) ou terceirizar uma atividade. Por envolver diversos critérios, muitos responsáveis por ela utilizam métodos de decisão multicritério para que se obtenha melhores resultados. O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em desenvolver uma estrutura para a tomada de decisão de fazer ou comprar e utilizar métodos de decisão multicritério para conferir maior confiabilidade à essa decisão. Para isso, os objetivos específicos são: (1) realizar uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre o tema (decisão de fazer ou comprar auxiliada por métodos de decisão multicritério), (2) propor um processo estruturado de decisão para o problema de fazer ou comprar, (3) propor métodos adequados aos propósitos de categorização ou ordenação nas diferentes etapas do processo, incluindo métodos que contemplem a possibilidade de decisão em grupo e (4) realizar um estudo comparativo de métodos de decisão multicritério para a decisão sobre Fazer ou Comprar. Os objetivos desse trabalho foram plenamente alcançados trazendo contribuições como: uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática sobre métodos de decisão multicritério para o problema de fazer ou comprar; uma estrutura de decisão para dar suporte à decisão de fazer ou comprar; a aplicação de métodos ainda não utilizados para o problema de fazer ou comprar; aplicação de métodos que suportem a problemática da decisão em grupo e; a comparação entre dois métodos para o propósito de categorização e duas para o propósito de ordenação. / The make or buy decision is a classical decision problem in operations management and it is difficult to make because of its very nature (multiple criteria). To better contend with these challenges, many decision makers choose Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques to support their decisions. The aim of this work is to develop a methodology to support the make or buy decision and the use of the multi-criteria decision methods in this context. The specific objectives are: (1) to conduct a literature research about multi-criteria decision making techniques to support the make or buy decision; (2) to propose a structured decision framework to the make or buy problem; (3) to propose appropriate methods for categorization or ordering at different stages of the process, including methods that support group decisions and; (4) to perform a comparative study of multi-criteria decision-making methods for the make or buy problem. The objectives of this work were fully achieved by bringing contributions such as: a systematic literature review on multi-criteria decision-making methods for the make or buy problem; A decision framework to support the make or buy decision; The application of methods that were not found in the systematic literature review for the problem of make or buy problem; Application of methods that support the group decision problem and; The comparison between two techniques for categorization purposes and two for ordering purposes.

Le thème central à cette thèse est l'étude des propriétés des classes de graphes définies par sous-structures interdites et leurs applications.La première direction que nous suivons a trait aux beaux ordres. À l'aide de théorèmes de décomposition dans les classes de graphes interdisant une sous-structure, nous identifions celles qui sont bellement-ordonnées. Les ordres et sous-structures considérés sont ceux associés aux notions de contraction et mineur induit. Ensuite, toujours en considérant des classes de graphes définies par sous-structures interdites, nous obtenons des bornes sur des invariants comme le degré, la largeur arborescente, la tree-cut width et un nouvel invariant généralisant la maille.La troisième direction est l'étude des relations entre les invariants combinatoires liés aux problèmes de packing et de couverture de graphes. Dans cette direction, nous établissons de nouvelles relations entre ces invariants pour certaines classes de graphes. Nous présentons également des applications algorithmiques de ces résultats. / The central theme of this thesis is the study of the properties of the classes of graphs defined by forbidden substructures and their applications.The first direction that we follow concerns well-quasi-orders. Using decomposition theorems on graph classes forbidding one substructure, we identify those that are well-quasi-ordered. The orders and substructures that we consider are those related to the notions of contraction and induced minor.Then, still considering classes of graphs defined by forbidden substructures, we obtain bounds on invariants such as degree, treewidth, tree-cut width, and a new invariant generalizing the girth.The third direction is the study of the links between the combinatorial invariants related to problems of packing and covering of graphs. In this direction, we establish new connections between these invariants for some classes of graphs. We also present algorithmic applications of the results.