1,390 research outputs found
A Deontic Logic Analysis of Autonomous Systems' Safety
We consider the pressing question of how to model, verify, and ensure that
autonomous systems meet certain \textit{obligations} (like the obligation to
respect traffic laws), and refrain from impermissible behavior (like recklessly
changing lanes). Temporal logics are heavily used in autonomous system design;
however, as we illustrate here, temporal (alethic) logics alone are
inappropriate for reasoning about obligations of autonomous systems. This paper
proposes the use of Dominance Act Utilitarianism (DAU), a deontic logic of
agency, to encode and reason about obligations of autonomous systems. We use
DAU to analyze Intel's Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) proposal as a
real-world case study. We demonstrate that DAU can express well-posed RSS
rules, formally derive undesirable consequences of these rules, illustrate how
DAU could help design systems that have specific obligations, and how to
model-check DAU obligations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, In 23rd ACM International Conference on Hybrid
Systems: Computation and Contro
Harnessing Higher-Order (Meta-)Logic to Represent and Reason with Complex Ethical Theories
The computer-mechanization of an ambitious explicit ethical theory, Gewirth's
Principle of Generic Consistency, is used to showcase an approach for
representing and reasoning with ethical theories exhibiting complex logical
features like alethic and deontic modalities, indexicals, higher-order
quantification, among others. Harnessing the high expressive power of Church's
type theory as a meta-logic to semantically embed a combination of quantified
non-classical logics, our work pushes existing boundaries in knowledge
representation and reasoning. We demonstrate that intuitive encodings of
complex ethical theories and their automation on the computer are no longer
antipodes.Comment: 14 page
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A normative approach to multi-agent systems for intelligent buildings
Building Management Systems (BMS) are widely adopted in modern buildings around the world in order to
provide high-quality building services, and reduce the running cost of the building. However, most BMS are
functionality-oriented and do not consider user personalization. The aim of this research is to capture and
represent building management rules using organizational semiotics methods. We implement Semantic
Analysis, which determines semantic units in building management and their relationship patterns of
behaviour, and Norm Analysis, which extracts and specifies the norms that establish how and when these
management actions occur. Finally, we propose a multi-agent framework for norm based building
management. This framework contributes to the design domain of intelligent building management system
by defining a set of behaviour patterns, and the norms that govern the real-time behaviour in a building
Formalising responsibility modelling for automatic analysis
Modelling the structure of social-technical systems as a basis for informing software system design is a difficult compromise. Formal methods struggle to capture the scale and complexity of the heterogeneous organisations that use technical systems. Conversely, informal approaches lack the rigour needed to inform the software design and
construction process or enable automated analysis.
We revisit the concept of responsibility modelling, which models social technical systems as a collection of actors who discharge their responsibilities, whilst using and producing resources in the process. Responsibility modelling is formalised as a structured approach for socio-technical system requirements specification and modelling, with well-defined semantics and support for automated structure and validity analysis. The
effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by two case studies of software engineering methodologies
Constraint rule-based programming of norms for electronic institutions
Peer reviewedPostprin
OWL-POLAR : A Framework for Semantic Policy Representation and Reasoning
Peer reviewedPreprin
Comparing BDD and SAT based techniques for model checking Chaum's Dining Cryptographers Protocol
We analyse different versions of the Dining Cryptographers protocol by means of automatic verification via model checking. Specifically we model the protocol in terms of a network of communicating automata and verify that the protocol meets the anonymity requirements specified. Two different model checking techniques (ordered binary decision diagrams and SAT-based bounded model checking) are evaluated and compared to verify the protocols
Logic-Based Specification Languages for Intelligent Software Agents
The research field of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) aims to find
abstractions, languages, methodologies and toolkits for modeling, verifying,
validating and prototyping complex applications conceptualized as Multiagent
Systems (MASs). A very lively research sub-field studies how formal methods can
be used for AOSE. This paper presents a detailed survey of six logic-based
executable agent specification languages that have been chosen for their
potential to be integrated in our ARPEGGIO project, an open framework for
specifying and prototyping a MAS. The six languages are ConGoLog, Agent-0, the
IMPACT agent programming language, DyLog, Concurrent METATEM and Ehhf. For each
executable language, the logic foundations are described and an example of use
is shown. A comparison of the six languages and a survey of similar approaches
complete the paper, together with considerations of the advantages of using
logic-based languages in MAS modeling and prototyping.Comment: 67 pages, 1 table, 1 figure. Accepted for publication by the Journal
"Theory and Practice of Logic Programming", volume 4, Maurice Bruynooghe
Editor-in-Chie
A Formal Specification and Proof of System Safety Using the Schematic Protection Model
This research formally specifies the Schematic Protection Model (SPM) and provides a sound, flexible tool for reasoning formally about systems that implement a security model like SPM, to prove its ability to provide security services such as confidentiality and integrity. The theory described by the resultant model was logically proved in the Prototype Verification System (PVS), an automated prover. Each component of SPM was tested, as were several anomalous conditions, and each test produced results consistent with the model. The model is internally modular, and therefore easily extensible, yet cohesive since the theory to be proved encompasses the entire specification. This approach ensures the specification is flexible enough to incorporate any extensions that can be expressed algorithmically, such as the deontic logic properties of obligation, permission, possibility and necessity. Furthermore, the modularity enhances the robustness of the model to ensure that previously-proved fundamental properties are not lost in the process of adding functionality
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