Mechanical verification of the IEEE 1394a root contention protocol using Uppaal2k

This paper reports on the mechanical verification of the IEEE 1394 root contention protocol. This is an industrial leader election protocol, in which timing parameters play an essential role. A manual verification of this protocol using I/O automata has been published in [24]. We improve the communication model presented in that paper. Using the Uppaal2k tool, we investigate the timing constraints on the parameters which are necessary and sufficient for correct protocol operation: by analyzing large numbers of protocol instances with different parameter values, we derive the required timing constraints. We explore the use of model checking in combination with stepwise abstraction. That is, we show that the implementation automaton correctly implements the specification via several intermediate automata, using Uppaal to prove the trace inclusion in each step. Published online: 18 July 2001     

Rain-Dancing with Pseudo-Science

In this polemical essay the authors ask whether computerisation has become the neurosis of our age. By comparing the application of IT methodologies with ritual behaviour within human social institutions, they propose that the so-called rationality of management science, with its tidy benchmarking, auditing, categorisation and performance measurements etc., is actually a pseudo-science. They show that from the position of Nietzschean epistemology, this rationality is merely a false claim to the instrumental efficacy of data modelling, that is indistinguishable from the rain-dancing of primitive tribes.     

Integrating E-Commerce and Games

This paper investigates how many users of commercial interactive systems are not properly agents within the interactive narrative, largely due to the dynamics of branding in cyberspace. Parallels are drawn between the dynamic personalization of e-CRM engines and context aware computing systems. Several seminal games are discussed as examples of systems in which very different relationships exist between users and the system. Arguments are made for designing e-commerce interactive systems that install into games, inside the game narrative. Correspondence to: Ms N. Cummins, Preject Brand Communications Consultancy, Unit P, Carlton Works Studios, Asylum Road, London SE15 2SB, UK. Email: nizami@preject.com     

Knowledge Networking in Cross-Cultural Settings

Knowledge networking in the cross-cultural setting here focuses on promoting a culture of shared communication, values and knowledge, seeking cooperation through valorisation of diversity. The process is seen here in terms of creating new alliances of creators, users, mediators and facilitators of knowledge. At the global level, knowledge networking is seen as a symbiotic relationship between local and global knowledge resources. This focus is informed by the human-centred vision of the information society, which seeks a symbiotic relationship between technology and society. It explores the nature of the knowledge in transition, raising issues of technology and knowledge transfer in the local–global context. The notions of human–machine symbiosis and of diversity and coherence provide a handle to explore the role of technology for sustainable development. The centrality of knowledge in stimulating knowledge networking for cross-cultural collaboration is illustrated through an exemplar of an EU–India Cross-Cultural Innovation Network project, a collaboration between European and Indian universities and institutes.     

Taxonomy of interpolation constraints on recursive subdivision surfaces

Published online: 14 May 2002