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View-centric reasoning about parallel and distributed computation
Title
View-centric reasoning about parallel and distributed computation.
Creator
Smith, Marc L., Parsons, Rebecca J.; Hughes, Charles E., Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract / Description
University of Central Florida College of Engineering Thesis; The development of distributed applications has not progressed as rapidly as its enabling technologies. In part, this is due to the difficulty of reasoning about such complex systems. In contrast to sequential systems, parallel systems give rise to parallel events, and the resulting uncertainty of the observed order of these events. Loosely coupled distributed systems complicate this even further by introducing the element of...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Engineering Thesis; The development of distributed applications has not progressed as rapidly as its enabling technologies. In part, this is due to the difficulty of reasoning about such complex systems. In contrast to sequential systems, parallel systems give rise to parallel events, and the resulting uncertainty of the observed order of these events. Loosely coupled distributed systems complicate this even further by introducing the element of multiple imperfect observers of these parallel events. The goal of this dissertation is to advance parallel and distributed systems development by producing a parameterized model that can be instantiated to reflect the computation and coordination properties of such systems. The result is a model called paraDOS that we show to be general enough to have instantiations of two very distinct distributed computation models, Actors and tuple space. We show how paraDOS allows us to use operational semantics to reason about computation when such reasoning must account for multiple, inconsistent and imperfect views. We then extend the paraDOS model with an abstraction to support composition of communicating computational systems. This extension gives us a tool to reason formally about heterogeneous systems, and about new distributed computing paradigms such as the multiple tuple spaces support seen in Sun's JavaSpaces and IBM's T Spaces.
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Date Issued
2000
Identifier
CFR0000189, ucf:53138
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000189
The Moral Oppression of the Teaching Profession: Learning to Transcend
Title
The Moral Oppression of the Teaching Profession: Learning to Transcend.
Creator
Smith, Rebecca, Hewitt, Randall, Carter, Shannon, Terzian, Sevan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis is both descriptive and philosophical, and at its core, it justifies the need for social foundations of education courses and programs in the university setting. It begins by analyzing the meaning of oppression and the part knowledge plays in confining the individual. The analysis then draws upon Patricia Hill Collins' theory of intersecting oppressions to get at the complexities and restrictions of working in the public schooling institution. It works through the ways in which...
Show moreThis thesis is both descriptive and philosophical, and at its core, it justifies the need for social foundations of education courses and programs in the university setting. It begins by analyzing the meaning of oppression and the part knowledge plays in confining the individual. The analysis then draws upon Patricia Hill Collins' theory of intersecting oppressions to get at the complexities and restrictions of working in the public schooling institution. It works through the ways in which sexist, classist, and racist practices afflict everyone in the institution through the bureaucratic mechanism and collateral oppression. The four components that make up the wires on the cage (gender, class, race, and bureaucracy) not only confine; they cause varying degrees of direct and indirect harms (psychological, emotional, moral, financial) to those on the inside. The concept of the institutional cage is then merged with Rodman Webb's work on schools as total institutions. Through an analysis on the characteristics of total institutions, it becomes apparent that standardization, technological developments, and the influence of venture philanthropy have brought schools more in-line with the total institution. The study then clarifies the ways in which corporatic, bureaucratic, and technocratic mentalities infect the institution, where they intersect, and how they restrict those within. The components coalesce into the conceptualization of moral oppression: the act of being coerced to ignore and suppress one's morality, moral impulses, and moral way of knowing. The remainder of the study explores the meaning of moral action and suggests some ways educators can let go of the ways of thinking and acting that may be keeping them from confidently doing what they know to be good and just.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004940, ucf:49621
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004940