1,681 research outputs found
Extending and Relating Semantic Models of Compensating CSP
Business transactions involve multiple partners coordinating and interacting with each other. These transactions have hierarchies of activities which need to be orchestrated. Usual database approaches (e.g.,checkpoint, rollback) are not applicable to handle faults in a long running transaction due to interaction with multiple partners. The compensation mechanism handles faults that can arise in a long running transaction. Based on the framework of Hoare's CSP process algebra, Butler et al introduced Compensating CSP (cCSP), a language to model long-running transactions. The language introduces a method to declare a transaction as a process and it has constructs for orchestration of compensation. Butler et al also defines a trace semantics for cCSP. In this thesis, the semantic models of compensating CSP are extended by defining an operational semantics, describing how the state of a program changes during its execution. The semantics is encoded into Prolog to animate the specification. The semantic models are further extended to define the synchronisation of processes. The notion of partial behaviour is defined to model the behaviour of deadlock that arises during process synchronisation. A correspondence relationship is then defined between the semantic models and proved by using structural induction. Proving the correspondence means that any of the presentation can be accepted as a primary definition of the meaning of the language and each definition can be used correctly at different times, and for different purposes. The semantic models and their relationships are mechanised by using the theorem prover PVS. The semantic models are embedded in PVS by using Shallow embedding. The relationships between semantic models are proved by mutual structural induction. The mechanisation overcomes the problems in hand proofs and improves the scalability of the approach
A Graph Rewriting Approach for Transformational Design of Digital Systems
Transformational design integrates design and verification. It combines “correctness by construction” and design creativity by the use of pre-proven behaviour preserving transformations as design steps. The formal aspects of this methodology are hidden in the transformations. A constraint is the availability of a design representation with a compositional formal semantics. Graph representations are useful design representations because of their visualisation of design information. In this paper graph rewriting theory, as developed in the last twenty years in mathematics, is shown to be a useful basis for a formal framework for transformational design. The semantic aspects of graphs which are no part of graph rewriting theory are included by the use of attributed graphs. The used attribute algebra, table algebra, is a relation algebra derived from database theory. The combination of graph rewriting, table algebra and transformational design is new
Identifying Quantum Structures in the Ellsberg Paradox
Empirical evidence has confirmed that quantum effects occur frequently also
outside the microscopic domain, while quantum structures satisfactorily model
various situations in several areas of science, including biological, cognitive
and social processes. In this paper, we elaborate a quantum mechanical model
which faithfully describes the 'Ellsberg paradox' in economics, showing that
the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is capable to represent the
'ambiguity' present in this kind of situations, because of the presence of
'contextuality'. Then, we analyze the data collected in a concrete experiment
we performed on the Ellsberg paradox and work out a complete representation of
them in complex Hilbert space. We prove that the presence of quantum structure
is genuine, that is, 'interference' and 'superposition' in a complex Hilbert
space are really necessary to describe the conceptual situation presented by
Ellsberg. Moreover, our approach sheds light on 'ambiguity laden' decision
processes in economics and decision theory, and allows to deal with different
Ellsberg-type generalizations, e.g., the 'Machina paradox'.Comment: 16 pages, no figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1208.235
A Hybrid Analysis for Security Protocols with State
Cryptographic protocols rely on message-passing to coordinate activity among
principals. Each principal maintains local state in individual local sessions
only as needed to complete that session. However, in some protocols a principal
also uses state to coordinate its different local sessions. Sometimes the
non-local, mutable state is used as a means, for example with smart cards or
Trusted Platform Modules. Sometimes it is the purpose of running the protocol,
for example in commercial transactions.
Many richly developed tools and techniques, based on well-understood
foundations, are available for design and analysis of pure message-passing
protocols. But the presence of cross-session state poses difficulties for these
techniques.
In this paper we provide a framework for modeling stateful protocols. We
define a hybrid analysis method. It leverages theorem-proving---in this
instance, the PVS prover---for reasoning about computations over state. It
combines that with an "enrich-by-need" approach---embodied by CPSA---that
focuses on the message-passing part. As a case study we give a full analysis of
the Envelope Protocol, due to Mark Ryan
Workshop on Verification and Theorem Proving for Continuous Systems (NetCA Workshop 2005)
Oxford, UK, 26 August 200
A Formalization of the Theorem of Existence of First-Order Most General Unifiers
This work presents a formalization of the theorem of existence of most
general unifiers in first-order signatures in the higher-order proof assistant
PVS. The distinguishing feature of this formalization is that it remains close
to the textbook proofs that are based on proving the correctness of the
well-known Robinson's first-order unification algorithm. The formalization was
applied inside a PVS development for term rewriting systems that provides a
complete formalization of the Knuth-Bendix Critical Pair theorem, among other
relevant theorems of the theory of rewriting. In addition, the formalization
methodology has been proved of practical use in order to verify the correctness
of unification algorithms in the style of the original Robinson's unification
algorithm.Comment: In Proceedings LSFA 2011, arXiv:1203.542
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