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Tech Report kmi-05-06 Abstract


A Complete Axiomatisation of Observation Congruence for Deterministic Time under Maximal Progress
Techreport ID: kmi-05-06
Date: 2005
Author(s): Barry Norton

This report presents a process calculus CaSE, derived from CCS by extension with transitions, labelled in multiple abstract clocks, that are both deterministic and governed by maximal progress. Two open problems in the literature have prevented a complete axiomatisation of the coarsest congruence within weak bisimulation in such a system. The main result contained here is the proof of soundness and completeness of an axiom system with respect to this congruence.
 
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Social Software is...


Social Software
Social Software can be thought of as "software which extends, or derives added value from, human social behaviour - message boards, musical taste-sharing, photo-sharing, instant messaging, mailing lists, social networking."

Interacting with other people not only forms the core of human social and psychological experience, but also lies at the centre of what makes the internet such a rich, powerful and exciting collection of knowledge media. We are especially interested in what happens when such interactions take place on a very large scale -- not only because we work regularly with tens of thousands of distance learners at the Open University, but also because it is evident that being part of a crowd in real life possesses a certain 'buzz' of its own, and poses a natural challenge. Different nuances emerge in different user contexts, so we choose to investigate the contexts of work, learning and play to better understand the trade-offs involved in designing effective large-scale social software for multiple purposes.