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Normal and sinkless Petri nets

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Fundamentals of Computation Theory (FCT 1989)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 380))

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Abstract

We examine both the modeling power of normal and sinkless Petri nets and the computational complexities of various classical decision problems with respect to these two classes. We argue that although neither normal nor sinkless Petri nets are strictly more powerful than persistent Petri nets, they nonetheless are both capable of modeling a more interesting class of problems. On the other hand, we give strong evidence that normal and sinkless Petri nets are easier to analyze than persistent Petri nets. In so doing, we apply techniques originally developed for conflict-free Petri nets — a class defined solely in terms of the structure of the net — to sinkless Petri nets — a class defined in terms of the behavior of the net. As a result, we give the first comprehensive complexity analysis of a class of potentially unbounded Petri nets defined in terms of their behavior.

This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant No. CCR-8711579.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Computing and Information Sciences, Kansas State University, 66506, Manhattan, KS

    Rodney R. Howell

  2. Dept. of Computer Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712, Austin, TX

    Louis E. Rosier

  3. Dept. of Computer Science, Iowa State University, 50011, Ames, IA

    Hsu-Chun Yen

Authors
  1. Rodney R. Howell
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  2. Louis E. Rosier
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  3. Hsu-Chun Yen
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Editor information

J. Csirik J. Demetrovics F. Gécseg

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Howell, R.R., Rosier, L.E., Yen, HC. (1989). Normal and sinkless Petri nets. In: Csirik, J., Demetrovics, J., Gécseg, F. (eds) Fundamentals of Computation Theory. FCT 1989. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 380. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-51498-8_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-51498-8_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-51498-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48180-5

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