From 2-sequents and Linear Nested Sequents to Natural Deduction for Normal Modal Logics

We extend to natural deduction the approach of Linear Nested Sequents and 2-sequents. Formulas are decorated with a spatial coordinate, which allows a formulation of formal systems in the original spirit of natural deduction---only one introduction and one elimination rule per connective, no additional (structural) rule, no explicit reference to the accessibility relation of the intended Kripke models. We give systems for the normal modal logics from K to S4. For the intuitionistic versions of the systems, we define proof reduction, and prove proof normalisation, thus obtaining a syntactical proof of consistency. For logics K and K4 we use existence predicates (following Scott) for formulating sound deduction rules

A History of Until

Until is a notoriously difficult temporal operator as it is both existential and universal at the same time: A until B holds at the current time instant w iff either B holds at w or there exists a time instant w' in the future at which B holds and such that A holds in all the time instants between the current one and w'. This "ambivalent" nature poses a significant challenge when attempting to give deduction rules for until. In this paper, in contrast, we make explicit this duality of until to provide well-behaved natural deduction rules for linear-time logics by introducing a new temporal operator that allows us to formalize the "history" of until, i.e., the "internal" universal quantification over the time instants between the current one and w'. This approach provides the basis for formalizing deduction systems for temporal logics endowed with the until operator. For concreteness, we give here a labeled natural deduction system for a linear-time logic endowed with the new operator and show that, via a proper translation, such a system is also sound and complete with respect to the linear temporal logic LTL with until.Comment: 24 pages, full version of paper at Methods for Modalities 2009 (M4M-6

Labeled natural deduction for temporal logics

Nonostante la notevole rilevanza delle logiche temporali in molti campi dell'informatica, la loro analisi teorica non è certo da ritenersi conclusa. In particolare, molti sono i punti ancora aperti nell'ambito della teoria della dimostrazione, specialmente se consideriamo le logiche temporali di tipo branching. Il principale contributo di questa tesi consiste nella presentazione di un approccio modulare per la definizione di sistemi di deduzione naturale etichettata per un'ampia gamma di logiche temporali. Viene innanzitutto proposto un sistema per la logica temporale minimale di Prior; si mostra quindi come estenderlo in maniera modulare allo scopo di trattare logiche più complesse, quali ad esempio LTL. Viene infine proposta un'estensione al caso delle logiche branching, concentrando l'attenzione sulle logiche con semantica di tipo Ockhamist e bundled. Per i sistemi proposti, viene condotta una dettagliata analisi dal punto di vista della teoria della dimostrazione. In particolare, nel caso delle logiche del tempo discreto, per le quali si richiedono regole che modellino un principio di induzione, viene definita una procedura di normalizzazione ispirata da quelle dei sistemi per l'Aritmetica di Heyting. Come conseguenza, si ottiene una dimostrazione puramente sintattica della consistenza dei sistemi.Despite the great relevance of temporal logics in many applications of computer science, their theoretical analysis is far from being concluded. In particular, we still lack a satisfactory proof theory for temporal logics and this is especially true in the case of branching-time logics. The main contribution of this thesis consists in presenting a modular approach to the definition of labeled (natural) deduction systems for a large class of temporal logics. We start by proposing a system for the basic Priorean tense logic and show how to modularly enrich it in order to deal with more complex logics, like LTL. We also consider the extension to the branching case, focusing on the Ockhamist branching-time logics with a bundled semantics. A detailed proof-theoretical analysis of the systems is performed. In particular, in the case of discrete-time logics, for which rules modeling an induction principle are required, we define a procedure of normalization inspired to those of systems for Heyting Arithmetic. As a consequence of normalization, we obtain a purely syntactical proof of the consistency of the systems

Ockhamist Propositional Dynamic Logic: a natural link between PDL and CTL

International audienceWe present a new logic called Ockhamist Propositional Dynamic Logic, OPDL, which provides a natural link between PDL and CTL*. We show that both PDL and CTL* can be polynomially embedded into OPDL in a rather simple and direct way. More generally, the semantics on which OPDL is based provides a unifying framework for making the dynamic logic family and the temporal logic family converge in a single logical framework. Decidability of the satisfiability problem for OPDL is studied in the paper

Sublogics of a Branching Time Logic of Robustness

In this paper we study sublogics of RoCTL*, a recently proposed logic for specifying robustness. RoCTL* allows specifying robustness in terms of properties that are robust to a certain number of failures. RoCTL* is an extension of the branching time logic CTL* which in turn extends CTL by removing the requirement that temporal operators be paired with path quantifiers. In this paper we consider three sublogics of RoCTL*. We present a tableau for RoBCTL*, a bundled variant of RoCTL* that allows fairness constraints to be placed on allowable paths. We then examine two CTL-like restrictions of CTL*. Pair-RoCTL* requires a temporal operator to be paired with a path quantifier; we show that Pair-RoCTL* is as hard to reason about as the full CTL*. State-RoCTL* is restricted to State formulas, and we show that there is a linear truth preserving translation of State-RoCTL into CTL, allowing State-RoCTL to be reasoned about as efficiently as CTL

Certificates for decision problems in temporal logic using context-based tableaux and sequent calculi.

115 p.Esta tesis trata de resolver problemas de Satisfactibilidad y Model Checking, aportando certificados del resultado. En ella, se trabaja con tres lógicas temporales: Propositional Linear Temporal Logic (PLTL), Computation Tree Logic (CTL) y Extended Computation Tree Logic (ECTL). Primero se presenta el trabajo realizado sobre Certified Satisfiability. Ahí se muestra una adaptación del ya existente método dual de tableaux y secuentes basados en contexto para satisfactibilidad de fórmulas PLTL en Negation Normal Form. Se ha trabajado la generación de certificados en el caso en el que las fórmulas son insactisfactibles. Por último, se aporta una prueba de soundness del método. Segundo, se ha optimizado con Sat Solvers el método de Certified Satisfiability para el contexto de Certified Model Checking. Se aportan varios ejemplos de sistemas y propiedades. Tercero, se ha creado un nuevo método dual de tableaux y secuentes basados en contexto para realizar Certified Satisfiability para fórmulas CTL yECTL. Se presenta el método y un algoritmo que genera tanto el modelo en el caso de que las fórmulas son satisfactibles como la prueba en el caso en que no lo sean. Por último, se presenta una implementación del método para CTL y una experimentación comparando el método propuesto con otro método de similares características

A Process Modelling Framework Based on Point Interval Temporal Logic with an Application to Modelling Patient Flows

This thesis considers an application of a temporal theory to describe and model the patient journey in the hospital accident and emergency (A&E) department. The aim is to introduce a generic but dynamic method applied to any setting, including healthcare. Constructing a consistent process model can be instrumental in streamlining healthcare issues. Current process modelling techniques used in healthcare such as flowcharts, unified modelling language activity diagram (UML AD), and business process modelling notation (BPMN) are intuitive and imprecise. They cannot fully capture the complexities of the types of activities and the full extent of temporal constraints to an extent where one could reason about the flows. Formal approaches such as Petri have also been reviewed to investigate their applicability to the healthcare domain to model processes. Additionally, to schedule patient flows, current modelling standards do not offer any formal mechanism, so healthcare relies on critical path method (CPM) and program evaluation review technique (PERT), that also have limitations, i.e. finish-start barrier. It is imperative to specify the temporal constraints between the start and/or end of a process, e.g., the beginning of a process A precedes the start (or end) of a process B. However, these approaches failed to provide us with a mechanism for handling these temporal situations. If provided, a formal representation can assist in effective knowledge representation and quality enhancement concerning a process. Also, it would help in uncovering complexities of a system and assist in modelling it in a consistent way which is not possible with the existing modelling techniques. The above issues are addressed in this thesis by proposing a framework that would provide a knowledge base to model patient flows for accurate representation based on point interval temporal logic (PITL) that treats point and interval as primitives. These objects would constitute the knowledge base for the formal description of a system. With the aid of the inference mechanism of the temporal theory presented here, exhaustive temporal constraints derived from the proposed axiomatic system’ components serves as a knowledge base. The proposed methodological framework would adopt a model-theoretic approach in which a theory is developed and considered as a model while the corresponding instance is considered as its application. Using this approach would assist in identifying core components of the system and their precise operation representing a real-life domain deemed suitable to the process modelling issues specified in this thesis. Thus, I have evaluated the modelling standards for their most-used terminologies and constructs to identify their key components. It will also assist in the generalisation of the critical terms (of process modelling standards) based on their ontology. A set of generalised terms proposed would serve as an enumeration of the theory and subsume the core modelling elements of the process modelling standards. The catalogue presents a knowledge base for the business and healthcare domains, and its components are formally defined (semantics). Furthermore, a resolution theorem-proof is used to show the structural features of the theory (model) to establish it is sound and complete. After establishing that the theory is sound and complete, the next step is to provide the instantiation of the theory. This is achieved by mapping the core components of the theory to their corresponding instances. Additionally, a formal graphical tool termed as point graph (PG) is used to visualise the cases of the proposed axiomatic system. PG facilitates in modelling, and scheduling patient flows and enables analysing existing models for possible inaccuracies and inconsistencies supported by a reasoning mechanism based on PITL. Following that, a transformation is developed to map the core modelling components of the standards into the extended PG (PG*) based on the semantics presented by the axiomatic system. A real-life case (from the King’s College hospital accident and emergency (A&E) department’s trauma patient pathway) is considered to validate the framework. It is divided into three patient flows to depict the journey of a patient with significant trauma, arriving at A&E, undergoing a procedure and subsequently discharged. Their staff relied upon the UML-AD and BPMN to model the patient flows. An evaluation of their representation is presented to show the shortfalls of the modelling standards to model patient flows. The last step is to model these patient flows using the developed approach, which is supported by enhanced reasoning and scheduling

A Reduced Semantics for Deciding Trace Equivalence

Many privacy-type properties of security protocols can be modelled using trace equivalence properties in suitable process algebras. It has been shown that such properties can be decided for interesting classes of finite processes (i.e., without replication) by means of symbolic execution and constraint solving. However, this does not suffice to obtain practical tools. Current prototypes suffer from a classical combinatorial explosion problem caused by the exploration of many interleavings in the behaviour of processes. M\"odersheim et al. have tackled this problem for reachability properties using partial order reduction techniques. We revisit their work, generalize it and adapt it for equivalence checking. We obtain an optimisation in the form of a reduced symbolic semantics that eliminates redundant interleavings on the fly. The obtained partial order reduction technique has been integrated in a tool called APTE. We conducted complete benchmarks showing dramatic improvements.Comment: Accepted for publication in LMC

Keeping Fairness Alive : Design and formal verification of optimistic fair exchange protocols

Fokkink, W.J. [Promotor]Pol, J.C. van de [Promotor