Adaptive timeliness of consensus in presence of crash and timing faults

The Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus is a stronger variant of the traditional consensus and it satisfies the following additional property: every correct process terminates its execution within a constant time Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$ (Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timeliness), and no two processes decide differently (uniformity). In this paper, we consider the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus problem in presence of _fc$f_{\mathrm{c}}$ crash processes and _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes, and propose a Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm. The proposed algorithm is adaptive in the following sense: it solves the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus when at least _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes exist in the system. If the system has less than _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes, the algorithm cannot solve the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus. However, as long as _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ processes are non-crashed, the algorithm solves (non-timed) uniform consensus. We also investigate the maximum number of faulty processes that can be tolerated. We show that any Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm tolerating up to _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes requires that the system has at least _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes. This impossibility result implies that the proposed algorithm attains the maximum resilience about the number of faulty processes. We also show that any Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm tolerating up to _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes cannot solve the (non-timed) uniform consensus when the system has less than _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ non-crashed processes. This impossibility result implies that our algorithm attains the maximum adaptiveness.     

Divergence bounded computable real numbers

A real x$x$ is called h$h$-bounded computable  , for some function h:N→N$h:\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$, if there is a computable sequence (_xs)$(x_s)$ of rational numbers which converges to x$x$ such that, for any n∈N$n\in \mathbb{N}$, at most h(n)$h(n)$ non-overlapping pairs of its members are separated by a distance larger than 2^-n$2^{-n}$. In this paper we discuss properties of h$h$-bounded computable reals for various functions h$h$. We will show a simple sufficient condition for a class of functions h$h$ such that the corresponding h$h$-bounded computable reals form an algebraic field. A hierarchy theorem for h$h$-bounded computable reals is also shown. Besides we compare semi-computability and weak computability with the h$h$-bounded computability for special functions h$h$.     

Rational two-parameter families of spheres and rational offset surfaces

The present paper investigates two-parameter families of spheres in R³${\mathbb{R}}^3$ and their corresponding two-dimensional surfaces Φ$\Phi$ in R⁴${\mathbb{R}}^4$. Considering a rational surface Φ$\Phi$ in R⁴${\mathbb{R}}^4$, the envelope surface Ψ$\Psi$ of the corresponding family of spheres in R³${\mathbb{R}}^3$ is typically non-rational. Using a classical sphere-geometric approach, we prove that the envelope surface Ψ$\Psi$ and its offset surfaces admit rational parameterizations if and only if Φ$\Phi$ is a rational sub-variety of a rational isotropic hyper-surface in R⁴${\mathbb{R}}^4$. The close relation between the envelope surfaces Ψ$\Psi$ and rational offset surfaces in R³${\mathbb{R}}^3$ is elaborated in detail. This connection leads to explicit rational parameterizations for all rational surfaces Φ$\Phi$ in R⁴${\mathbb{R}}^4$ whose corresponding two-parameter families of spheres possess envelope surfaces admitting rational parameterizations. Finally we discuss several classes of surfaces sharing this property.     

Algorithms for a class of infinite permutation groups

Motivated by the famous 3n+1$3n+1$ conjecture, we call a mapping from Z$\mathbb{Z}$ to Z$\mathbb{Z}$residue-class-wise affine   if there is a positive integer m$m$ such that it is affine on residue classes (mod m$m$). This article describes a collection of algorithms and methods for computation in permutation groups and monoids formed by residue-class-wise affine mappings.