The remainder of this thesis is organized as follows. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce the specification formalisms that are used in this thesis. In Chapter 2 we present the computation language. We show... Show moreThe remainder of this thesis is organized as follows. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce the specification formalisms that are used in this thesis. In Chapter 2 we present the computation language. We show that it facilitates the description of specifications that are not partial to a particular mode of execution. Furthermore, we present a semantics and a logic for reasoning about correctness of programs. In Chapter 3 we present the coordination language. We define its semantics and show how it connects to the computation language. In Chapters 4 and 5 we develop a theory of refinement. This theory provides a number of proof techniques that enable us to incrementally refine the behavioural aspects of a program. These chapters form the most theoretical part of this thesis. It should be possible to get an understanding of the methods derived in these chapters without going through all these proofs. In Chapter 7 we illustrate the method of design by considering some case studies. Comparisons with related work and conclusions are described in Chapters 8 and 9. Show less
As a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical... Show moreAs a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical conditions of a particular region. Taking a fresh look at colonialism in Mediterranean archaeology from a so-called postcolonial point of view, it examined the archaeologically relevant features of this perspective in conjunction with other current ideas about society, human agency and material culture in order to sketch the contours of a postcolonial archaeology of colonialism. These ideas are subsequently elaborated and practically applied in a detailed study of rural settlement in west central Sardinia. The archaeological evidence for this is provided by the (preliminary) results of the Riu Mannu survey carried out in west central Sardinia since 1992 as well as by a wealth of existing published and archived data. Considering themes such as the (re)creation of identities and cultural resistance, this study especially looks into the ways in which people deployed material culture and inhabited the landscape in order to cope with the colonial situations. Comparing these specific instances of colonialism finally leads to a consideration of historical contingency and structure in colonial situations and to an assertion of the centrality of identity in colonial situations. Show less
Artificial intelligence is an integrated part of our daily life and of many fields in research. In archaeology, however, it does not (yet) play an important role. In the past twenty years... Show moreArtificial intelligence is an integrated part of our daily life and of many fields in research. In archaeology, however, it does not (yet) play an important role. In the past twenty years archaeologists have discussed the potentials of, in particular, expert systems. They have developed some valuable systems, but the general impression is that archaeology is not a suitable host discipline for knowledge-based approaches. In Archaeology and the Application of Artificial Intelligence: case studies on use-wear analysis of prehistoric flint tools, dr.M.H. van den Dries sets out to validate this negative conclusion. She states that since most archaeological applications were mere prototypes and have never been subjected to objective tests, there is hardly any ground for this rather radical inference. In order to ground her conclusion objectively, Van den Dries has built two applications, an expert system and a neural network. She used use-wear analysis of prehistoric tools as the application area. The main objective of the project was to develop a practical training tool for students. As Van den Dries' aim was to demonstrate the practical applicability of both applications, they were exposed to two objective tests in which replicated stone tools as well as prehistoric artefacts were involved. In one test both experience use-wear analysts and students participated. The outcome of this trail has been compared with the results of all other blind tests that human use-wear analysts have carried out hitherto. An important conclusion of Van den Dries' study is that both applications perform well, but that the expert system is better equipped for educational tasks, while the neural network approach mainly suits research purposes. Therefore, the expert system application, called WAVES, has been made operational. It already supports students of several archaeology departments around the world in learning use-wear analysis. Based on her findings Van den en Dries subsequently advises archaeologists to exploit better the merits that artificial intelligence offers them, because it is a means to record unique and valuable expert knowledge, to obtain objective analysis results and to democratize archaeological knowledge. Show less
The study was aimed at the positional cloning of disease genes in Xp22.1-p22.2. To this end a YAC contig covering this region was constructed. To identify candidate genes for the diseases localised... Show moreThe study was aimed at the positional cloning of disease genes in Xp22.1-p22.2. To this end a YAC contig covering this region was constructed. To identify candidate genes for the diseases localised in this region exon trapping was applied. Several novel transcripts were isolated from the region, of which one was analysed in detail. Show less
