| Paul.Boca@googlemail.com 2007-11-13, 10:08 pm |
| BCS-FACS Evening Seminar Series -- Joint Event with BCS Women
Process Algebra for Collective Dynamics
Professor Jane Hillston
University of Edinburgh
10 December 2007
5.45pm
BCS London Offices
First Floor, The Davidson Building
5 Southampton Street
London WC2E 7HA
Process algebra have had considerable success over the last
two decades as a formal modelling technique. They have been
used to develop both qualitative and quantitative understanding
of a wide variety of systems. For example, in the context of
performance analysis, stochastic process algebras such as
PEPA have been used to describe both software and hardware
systems and have helped to incorporate early performance
prediction into the design process.
By modelling systems as collections of individual agents, the
process algebra approach allows the modeller to capture the
exact form of interactions and constraints between components.
However, there are situations where although we model the
behaviour of individuals we aim to analyse the behaviour of the
populations to which they belong. Examples range from
representing the biochemical signalling that underlies many
cellular processes to studying the scalability of software
systems under increasing numbers of clients.
In this talk I will discuss recent work on such population-oriented
models described in the process algebra PEPA. Individual-oriented
PEPA models have been mapped to discrete state space,
continuous time Markov chains. The new approach uses an
alternative mathematical framework based on sets of ordinary
differential equations. I will discuss the relationship between these
alternative forms of representation and show that the new approach
becomes feasible in many cases when the previous discrete approach
becomes impossible due to problems of state space explosion.
The talk will aim to give the intuition and examples, rather than
detailed technical exposition.
Refreshments will be served from 5.15pm.
The seminar is free of charge and open to everyone. If you would like
to attend, please email Paul Boca [Paul.Boca@googlemail.com] by[color=darkred]
at the BCS Offices is tight.
BCS-FACS Website: http://www.bcs-facs.org
BCS-FACS Evening Seminars: http://www.bcs-facs.org/events/EveningSeminars
BCSWomen website: http://www.bcs.org/bcswomen
Location of venue: http://www.epsg.org.uk/locations/bcsss-guide.html
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