Implementation of a Modelica compiler using JastAdd attribute grammars

We have implemented a compiler for key parts of Modelica, an object-oriented language supporting equation-based modeling and simulation of complex physical systems. The compiler is extensible, to support experiments with emerging tools for physical models. To achieve extensibility, the implementation is done declaratively in JastAdd, a metacompilation system supporting modern attribute grammar mechanisms such as reference attributes and nonterminal attributes.This paper reports on experiences from this implementation. For name and type analyses, we illustrate how declarative design strategies, originally developed for a Java compiler, could be reused to support Modelica’s advanced features of multiple inheritance and structural subtyping. Furthermore, we present new general design strategies for declarative generation of target ASTs from source ASTs. We illustrate how these strategies are used to resolve a generics-like feature of Modelica called modifications, and to support flattening, a fundamental part of Modelica compilation. To validate that the approach is practical, we have compared the execution speed of our compiler to two existing Modelica compilers.     

SPC: Fast and Efficient Scalable Predictive Coding of Animated Meshes

Animated meshes are often represented by a sequence of static meshes with constant connectivity. Due to their frame-based representation they usually occupy a vast amount of bandwidth or disk space. We present a fast and efficient scalable predictive coding (SPC) scheme for frame-based representations of animated meshes. SPC decomposes animated meshes in spatial and temporal layers which are efficiently encoded in one pass through the animation. Coding is performed in a streamable and scalable fashion. Dependencies between neighbouring spatial and temporal layers are predictively exploited using the already encoded spatio-temporal neighbourhood. Prediction is performed in the space of rotation-invariant coordinates compensating local rigid motion. SPC supports spatial and temporal scalability, and it enables efficient compression as well as fast encoding and decoding. Parts of SPC were adopted in the MPEG-4 FAMC standard. However, SPC significantly outperforms the streaming mode of FAMC with coding gains of over 33%, while in comparison to the scalable FAMC, SPC achieves coding gains of up to 15%. SPC has the additional advantage over FAMC of achieving real-time encoding and decoding rates while having only low memory requirements. Compared to some other non-scalable state-of-the-art approaches, SPC shows superior compression performance with gains of over 16% in bit-rate.     

Local ISS of large-scale interconnections and estimates for stability regions

We consider interconnections of locally input-to-state stable (LISS) systems. The class of LISS systems is quite large, in particular it contains input-to-state stable (ISS) and integral input-to-state stable (iISS) systems.Local small-gain conditions both for LISS trajectory and Lyapunov formulations guaranteeing LISS of the composite system are provided in this paper. Notably, estimates for the resulting stability region of the composite system are also given. This in particular provides an advantage over the linearization approach, as will be discussed.     

On notions of regularity for data languages

With motivation from considerations in XML database theory and model checking, data strings have been introduced as an extension of finite alphabet strings which carry, at each position, a symbol and a data value from an infinite domain. Previous work has shown that it is difficult to come up with an expressive yet decidable automaton model for data languages. Recently, such a model, data automata, was introduced. This paper introduces a simpler but equivalent model and investigates its expressive power, algorithmic and closure properties, and some extensions.     

Domain science and engineering from computer science to the sciences of informatics. Part I: Engineering

In this paper, we wish to advocate that departments of computer science put emphasis on teaching programming and software engineering based on formal methods; and more emphasis on research into formal methods for the trustworthy development of software. We also wish to advocate that the concepts of domain science and domain engineering become an indispensable part of the science of informatics and of software engineering.     

A visual digital library approach for time-oriented scientific primary data

Digital Library support for textual and certain types of non-textual documents has significantly advanced over the last years. While Digital Library support implies many aspects along the whole library workflow model, interactive and visual retrieval allowing effective query formulation and result presentation are important functions. Recently, new kinds of non-textual documents which merit Digital Library support, but yet cannot be fully accommodated by existing Digital Library technology, have come into focus. Scientific data, as produced for example, by scientific experimentation, simulation or observation, is such a document type. In this article we report on a concept and first implementation of Digital Library functionality for supporting visual retrieval and exploration in a specific important class of scientific primary data, namely, time-oriented research data. The approach is developed in an interdisciplinary effort by experts from the library, natural sciences, and visual analytics communities. In addition to presenting the concept and to discussing relevant challenges, we present results from a first implementation of our approach as applied on a real-world scientific primary data set. We also report from initial user feedback obtained during discussions with domain experts from the earth observation sciences, indicating the usefulness of our approach.     

Control strategies used by experienced marine navigators: observation of verbal conversations during navigation training

This article investigates the relationship between the control situation framework, as presented by Bjørkli et al. (Cogn Technol Work 9:67–80, 2007), and observed operator action and communication in high-speed craft operation in the Norwegian Royal Navy. The reported data include two series of events during sailing in the Norwegian archipelago where uncertainty of ship position, challenges of manoeuvring and navigation strategies are addressed. The results indicate that the navigators perform actions and communicate in accordance with the key features of the control situation framework, and thus adapt to the interrelation between control possibilities and control requirements. The navigators were guided by explicit knowledge of the functional characteristics of psychical and temporal dynamics, which were actualized in manoeuvring. It indicates that the control situation framework can be used to describe the models the operators use.     

Incremental Linear Discriminant Analysis Using Sufficient Spanning Sets and Its Applications

This paper presents an incremental learning solution for Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and its applications to object recognition problems. We apply the sufficient spanning set approximation in three steps i.e. update for the total scatter matrix, between-class scatter matrix and the projected data matrix, which leads an online solution which closely agrees with the batch solution in accuracy while significantly reducing the computational complexity. The algorithm yields an efficient solution to incremental LDA even when the number of classes as well as the set size is large. The incremental LDA method has been also shown useful for semi-supervised online learning. Label propagation is done by integrating the incremental LDA into an EM framework. The method has been demonstrated in the task of merging large datasets which were collected during MPEG standardization for face image retrieval, face authentication using the BANCA dataset, and object categorisation using the Caltech101 dataset.     

Defining syntax-directed translations by tree bimorphisms

We introduce a class of tree bimorphisms that define exactly the translations performed by syntax-directed translation schemata. We also show that these “quasi-alphabetic” tree bimorphisms preserve recognizability, and that their class is closed under composition and inverses.