@article{3917, abstract = {Male dimorphism is not genetically determined, but is induced by environmental conditions particularly decreasing temperature and density.}, author = {Cremer, Sylvia and Heinze, Jürgen}, journal = {Blick in die Wissenschaft}, number = {15}, pages = {32 -- 36}, publisher = {Schnell und Steiner}, title = {{Zwischen Hochzeitsflug und Brudermord: reproduktive Taktiken bei Ameisenmännchen}}, volume = {12}, year = {2003}, } @phdthesis{4416, abstract = {Methods for the formal specification and verification of systems are indispensible for the development of complex yet correct systems. In formal verification, the designer describes the system in a modeling language with a well-defined semantics, and this system description is analyzed against a set of correctness requirements. Model checking is an algorithmic technique to check that a system description indeed satisfies correctness requirements given as logical specifications. While successful in hardware verification, the potential for model checking for software and embedded systems has not yet been realized. This is because traditional model checking focuses on systems modeled as finite state-transition graphs. While a natural model for hardware (especially synchronous hardware), state-transition graphs often do not capture software and embedded systems at an appropriate level of granularity. This dissertation considers two orthogonal extensions to finite state-transition graphs making model checking techniques applicable to both a wider class of systems and a wider class of properties. The first direction is an extension to infinite-state structures finitely represented using constraints and operations on constraints. Infinite state arises when we wish to model variables with unbounded range (e.g., integers), or data structures, or real time. We provide a uniform framework of symbolic region algebras to study model checking of infinite-state systems. We also provide sufficient language-independent termination conditions for symbolic model checking algorithms on infinite state systems. The second direction supplements verification with game theoretic reasoning. Games are natural models for interactions between components. We study game theoretic behavior with winning conditions given by temporal logic objectives both in the deterministic and in the probabilistic context. For deterministic games, we provide an extremal model characterization of fixpoint algorithms that link solutions of verification problems to solutions for games. For probabilistic games we study fixpoint characterization of winning probabilities for games with omega-regular winning objectives, and construct (epsilon-)optimal winning strategies.}, author = {Majumdar, Ritankar}, pages = {1 -- 201}, publisher = {University of California, Berkeley}, title = {{Symbolic algorithms for verification and control}}, year = {2003}, } @phdthesis{4425, abstract = {Giotto provides a time-triggered programmer’s model for the implementation of embedded control systems with hard real-time constraints. Giotto’s precise semantics and predictabil- ity make it suitable for safety-critical applications. Giotto is based around the idea that time-triggered task invocation together with time-triggered mode switching can form a useful programming model for real-time systems. To substantiate this claim, we describe the use of Giotto to refactor the software of a small, autonomous helicopter. The ease with which Giotto expresses the existing software provides evidence that Giotto is an appropriate programming language for control systems. Since Giotto is a real-time programming language, ensuring that Giotto programs meet their deadlines is crucial. To study precedence-constrained Giotto scheduling, we first examine single-mode, single-processor scheduling. We extend to an infinite, periodic setting the classical problem of meeting deadlines for a set of tasks with release times, deadlines, precedence constraints, and preemption. We then develop an algorithm for scheduling Giotto programs on a single processor by representing Giotto programs as instances of the extended scheduling problem. Next, we study multi-mode, single-processor Giotto scheduling. This problem is different from classical scheduling problems, since in our precedence-constrained approach, the deadlines of tasks may vary depending on the mode switching behavior of the program. We present conditional scheduling models which capture this varying-deadline behavior. We develop polynomial-time algorithms for some conditional scheduling models, and prove oth- ers to be computationally hard. We show how to represent multi-mode Giotto programs as instances of the model, resulting in an algorithm for scheduling multi-mode Giotto programs on a single processor. Finally, we show that the problem of scheduling Giotto programs for multiple net- worked processors is strongly NP-hard.}, author = {Horowitz, Benjamin}, pages = {1 -- 237}, publisher = {University of California, Berkeley}, title = {{Giotto: A time-triggered language for embedded programming}}, year = {2003}, } @article{576, abstract = {We study the free expansion of a pancake-shaped Bose-condensed gas, which is initially trapped under harmonic confinement and containing a vortex at its centre. In the case of a radial expansion holding the axial confinement fixed we consider various models for the interactions, depending on the thickness of the condensate relative to the value of the scattering length. We are thus able to evaluate different scattering regimes ranging from quasi-three-dimensional (Q3D) to strictly two-dimensional (2D). We find that as the system goes from Q3D to 2D the expansion rate of the condensate increases whereas that of the vortex core decreases. In the Q3D scattering regime we also examine a fully free expansion in 3D and find oscillatory behaviour for the vortex core radius: an initial fast expansion of the vortex core is followed by a slowing down. Such a nonuniform expansion rate of the vortex core implies that the timing of its observation should be chosen appropriately.}, author = {Onur Hosten and Vignolo, Patrizia and Minguzzi, Anna and Tanatar, Bilal and Tosi, Mario P}, journal = {Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics}, number = {12}, pages = {2455 -- 2463}, publisher = {IOP Publishing Ltd.}, title = {{Free expansion of two-dimensional condensates with a vortex}}, doi = {10.1088/0953-4075/36/12/306}, volume = {36}, year = {2003}, } @article{6156, abstract = {Social and solitary feeding in natural Caenorhabditis elegans isolates are associated with two alleles of the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) NPR-1: social feeders contain NPR-1 215F, whereas solitary feeders contain NPR-1 215V. Here we identify FMRFamide-related neuropeptides (FaRPs) encoded by the flp-18 and flp-21 genes as NPR-1 ligands and show that these peptides can differentially activate the NPR-1 215F and NPR-1 215V receptors. Multicopy overexpression of flp-21 transformed wild social animals into solitary feeders. Conversely, a flp-21 deletion partially phenocopied the npr-1(null) phenotype, which is consistent with NPR-1 activation by FLP-21 in vivo but also implicates other ligands for NPR-1. Phylogenetic studies indicate that the dominant npr-1 215V allele likely arose from an ancestral npr-1 215F gene in C. elegans. Our data suggest a model in which solitary feeding evolved in an ancestral social strain of C. elegans by a gain-of-function mutation that modified the response of NPR-1 to FLP-18 and FLP-21 ligands.}, author = {Rogers, Candida and Reale, Vincenzina and Kim, Kyuhyung and Chatwin, Heather and Li, Chris and Evans, Peter and de Bono, Mario}, issn = {1097-6256}, journal = {Nature Neuroscience}, number = {11}, pages = {1178--1185}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans social feeding by FMRFamide-related peptide activation of NPR-1}}, doi = {10.1038/nn1140}, volume = {6}, year = {2003}, }