Staged Notational Definitions

Recent work proposed defining type-safe macros via interpretation into a multi-stage language. The utility of this approach was illustrated with a language called MacroML, in which all type checking is carried out before macro expansion. Building on this work, the goal of this paper is to develop a macro language that makes it easy for programmers to reason about terms locally. We show that defining the semantics of macros in this manner helps in developing and verifying not only type systems for macro languages but also equational reasoning principles. Because the MacroML calculus is sensitive to renaming of (what appear locally to be) bound variables, we present a calculus of staged notational definitions (SND) that eliminates the renaming problem but retains MacroML’s phase distinction. Additionally, SND incorporates the generality of Griffin’s account of notational definitions. We exhibit a formal equational theory for SND and prove its soundness

GSOS for non-deterministic processes with quantitative aspects

Recently, some general frameworks have been proposed as unifying theories for processes combining non-determinism with quantitative aspects (such as probabilistic or stochastically timed executions), aiming to provide general results and tools. This paper provides two contributions in this respect. First, we present a general GSOS specification format (and a corresponding notion of bisimulation) for non-deterministic processes with quantitative aspects. These specifications define labelled transition systems according to the ULTraS model, an extension of the usual LTSs where the transition relation associates any source state and transition label with state reachability weight functions (like, e.g., probability distributions). This format, hence called Weight Function SOS (WFSOS), covers many known systems and their bisimulations (e.g. PEPA, TIPP, PCSP) and GSOS formats (e.g. GSOS, Weighted GSOS, Segala-GSOS, among others). The second contribution is a characterization of these systems as coalgebras of a class of functors, parametric on the weight structure. This result allows us to prove soundness of the WFSOS specification format, and that bisimilarities induced by these specifications are always congruences.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2014, arXiv:1406.156

Fact, Fiction and Virtual Worlds

This paper considers the medium of videogames from a goodmanian standpoint. After some preliminary clarifications and definitions, I examine the ontological status of videogames. Against several existing accounts, I hold that what grounds their identity qua work types is code. The rest of the paper is dedicated to the epistemology of videogaming. Drawing on Nelson Goodman and Catherine Elgin's works, I suggest that the best model to defend videogame cognitivism appeals to the notion of understanding

Probabilistic Label Relation Graphs with Ising Models

We consider classification problems in which the label space has structure. A common example is hierarchical label spaces, corresponding to the case where one label subsumes another (e.g., animal subsumes dog). But labels can also be mutually exclusive (e.g., dog vs cat) or unrelated (e.g., furry, carnivore). To jointly model hierarchy and exclusion relations, the notion of a HEX (hierarchy and exclusion) graph was introduced in [7]. This combined a conditional random field (CRF) with a deep neural network (DNN), resulting in state of the art results when applied to visual object classification problems where the training labels were drawn from different levels of the ImageNet hierarchy (e.g., an image might be labeled with the basic level category "dog", rather than the more specific label "husky"). In this paper, we extend the HEX model to allow for soft or probabilistic relations between labels, which is useful when there is uncertainty about the relationship between two labels (e.g., an antelope is "sort of" furry, but not to the same degree as a grizzly bear). We call our new model pHEX, for probabilistic HEX. We show that the pHEX graph can be converted to an Ising model, which allows us to use existing off-the-shelf inference methods (in contrast to the HEX method, which needed specialized inference algorithms). Experimental results show significant improvements in a number of large-scale visual object classification tasks, outperforming the previous HEX model.Comment: International Conference on Computer Vision (2015

Polymorphic Context for Contextual Modality

Through the Curry-Howard isomorphism between logics and calculi, necessity modality in logic is interpreted as types representing program code. Particularly, \lamcirc, which was proposed in influential work by Davies, and its successors have been widely used as a logical foundation for syntactic meta-programming. However, it is less known how to extend calculi based on modal type theory to handle more practical operations including manipulation of variable binding structures. This paper constructs such a modal type theory in two steps. First, we reconstruct contextual modal type theory by Nanevski, et al.\ as a Fitch-style system, which introduces hypothetical judgment with hierarchical context. The resulting type theory, \multilayer contextual modal type theory \fcmtt, is generalized to accommodate not only S4 but also K, T, and K4 modalities, and proven to enjoy many desired properties. Second, we extend \fcmtt with polymorphic context, which is an internalization of contextual weakening, to obtain a novel modal type theory \envpoly. Despite the fact that it came from observation in logic, polymorphic context allows both binding manipulation and hygienic code generation. We claim this by showing a sound translation from \lamcirc to \envpoly

The First-Order Hypothetical Logic of Proofs

The Propositional Logic of Proofs (LP) is a modal logic in which the modality □A is revisited as [​[t]​]​A , t being an expression that bears witness to the validity of A . It enjoys arithmetical soundness and completeness, can realize all S4 theorems and is capable of reflecting its own proofs ( ⊢A implies ⊢[​[t]​]A , for some t ). A presentation of first-order LP has recently been proposed, FOLP, which enjoys arithmetical soundness and has an exact provability semantics. A key notion in this presentation is how free variables are dealt with in a formula of the form [​[t]​]​A(i) . We revisit this notion in the setting of a Natural Deduction presentation and propose a Curry–Howard correspondence for FOLP. A term assignment is provided and a proof of strong normalization is given.Fil: Steren, Gabriela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Computación; ArgentinaFil: Bonelli, Eduardo Augusto. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Obvious natural morphisms of sheaves are unique

We prove that a large class of natural transformations (consisting roughly of those constructed via composition from the "functorial" or "base change" transformations) between two functors of the form $\cdots f^* g_* \cdots$ actually has only one element, and thus that any diagram of such maps necessarily commutes. We identify the precise axioms defining what we call a "geofibered category" that ensure that such a coherence theorem exists. Our results apply to all the usual sheaf-theoretic contexts of algebraic geometry. The analogous result that would include any other of the six functors remains unknown.Comment: 52 pages. Final draft, version accepted to TA

Efficient Strategies for Transporting Mobile Forces

JORS, V. 52, No. 3, pp 310-31