Volume 18, 1999, No. 5


Exdasy - a user friendly and extendable data distribution system

R.Ch. Koppler, G. Kurka, J.J. Volkert

Abstract. This paper introduces Exdasy - a user friendly and extendable software tool for partitioning unstructured meshes and mapping mesh partitions to parallel computers. Exdasy was designed to meet the increasing demands to today's  data distribution systems, which are posed by the variety of mesh computations, the ongoing development of distribution algorithms, and rapid changes in parallel hardware technology. For this, Exdasy offers third-party state-of-the-art distribution algorithms augmented with graphical user interfaces and powerful graphical evaluation displays. Evaluation of distributions is based on various quality metrics and static machine parameters.  Exdasy provides a modular architecture by means of replaceable distribution algorithms, machine models and evaluation facilities. Hereby it is attractive to both users and developers.

 

context in artificial intelligence II. key elements of contexts

P. Brézillon

Abstract. Context is the challenge for the coming years in artificial intelligence. In the companion paper [6], we present a view of how context is considered through the literature in various domains. In this paper, we present the main results of discussions at some workshops and the first conference focusing on the notion of context.  We point out the opposition between two viewpoints on context, namely the engineering and the cognitive ones. We show that this opposition is only superficial because they do not consider context at the same level, one is at the level of the knowledge representation, the other at the level of the interaction between two agents.

 

Epistasis and unitation

M.T. Iglesias, C. Vidal, D. Suys, A. Verschoren

Abstract. Normalized epistasis measures links between separate bits in binary strings, used to represent data to be optimized with respect to a given fitness function. In this note, we explicitly  calculate the epistasis of unitation function, i.e., fitness functions f whose value only depends upon the number of ones or zeroes in the string on which f acts.

 

A VDM approach to continuation-based semantics of Prolog

T.K. Shih, H.-C. Keh, Y.-C. Lin

Abstract. VDM is short for Vienna Development Method which was developed in the early 1960's in the IBM Vienna Laboratory.  VDM was used in language definition and compiler design. It was then extended to include aspects of large project designs. We use VDM as a semantic tool to discuss the continuation semantics of Prolog. A continuation represents the dynamic effect of the remainder of a program. Based on the semantic functions, a metalevel interpreter is constructed showing the result of our work.

 

Exploiting type analysis for unification in a distributed environment

E. Lamma, P. Mello, C. Stefanelli, P. van Hentenryck

Abstract. Unification, in distributed implementations of logic programming, involves sending and receiving messages to access data structures spread among different nodes.  In traditional implementations, processes access remote data structures by exchanging messages which carry either the overall data structures or only remote references to them. Intermediate but fixed solutions are also possible.  These fixed policies can be far from optimal on various classes of programs and may induce substantial overhead. This paper presents an implementation scheme for distributed logic programming which consists of tailoring the copying level for each procedure argument. The scheme is based on a consumption specification which describes the way each procedure "consumes" its arguments locally. Consumption specification avoids unnecessary copying and allows to request data structures globally. The consumption specification (or an approximation of it) can be obtained through a static analysis inspired by traditional type analyses. The paper presents two implementations which exploit the consumption specification. The low-level implementation extends the Warren Abstract Machine with instructions and data structures for exploiting the consumption specification during code compilation. The high-level implementation is based on attributed variables in order to capture and implement, at a higher-level, distributed unification. Experimental results of the high-level implementation on a network of workstations show the potential of the approach.


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