Preface: Volume 52, Issue 3

Abstract

A large class of systems can be specified and verified by abstracting away from the temporal aspects. This is the class of systems where time affects the performance but not the functional behaviour. In time-critical systems, instead, time issues become essential. Their correctness depends not only on which actions a system can perform but also on their execution time. Due to their importance, time-critical systems have attracted the attention of a considerable number of computer scientists from various research areas.This volume contains the Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Models for Time-Critical Systems (MTCS 2001); MTCS 2001 was held on 25 August 2001 as one of five satellite workshops co-located with the 12th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2001), held in Aalborg (Denmark) 21-24 August 2001.The first workshop, MTCS 2000, was held in State College (Pennsylvania, USA) on 26 August 2000, co-chaired by Flavio Corradini and Paola Inverardi. As for MTCS 2000, the objectives of MTCS 2001 were (i) to validate the more promising proposals on models for time-critical systems, ranging from theory to practice and (ii) to promote interaction between different research areas in the field of time-critical systems. Despite its focus on time-critical systems, MTCS 2001 was also open for more general time-related issues.The papers in this volume were selected for presentation by the Program Committee from submissions received in response to a Call for Papers. This volume will be published as volume 52 in the series Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS). This series is published electronically through the facilities of Elsevier Science B.V. and its auspices. The volumes in the ENTCS series can be accessed at the URL http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/entcsThe volume includes the contribution by the Invited Speaker Jos Baeten (Eindhoven University of Technology).We would like to thank Kim G. Larsen and Mogens Nielsen (CONCUR 2001 Conference Chairs) and Hans Huttel (Satellite Workshops Chair) for the opportunity they gave us to organize MTCS 2001 and for their support. Many thanks are due to Jos Baeten (Invited Speaker), and to the members of the Program Committee as well as their sub-referees for their accurate work. We would also like to thank Michael Mislove for his help during the proceedings editorial process and to BRICS for the publication of the preliminary proceedings.The papers in this volume were reviewed by the program committee consisting of Rajeev Alur(USA)Jos Baeten(NL)Frank de Boer(NL)Flavio Corradini(IT)Paola Inverardi(IT)Jeff Kramer(UK)Gerald Luettgen(UK)Jeff Magee(UK)Andrea Maggiolo-Schettini(IT)Bran Selic(CA)Joseph Sifakis(FR)Walter Vogler(DE)A printed version of the current volume is distributed to the participants at the workshop in Aalborg.May 7, 2002Flavio Corradini, Walter Vogler