Proviola: A Tool for Proof Re-animation

To improve on existing models of interaction with a proof assistant (PA), in particular for storage and replay of proofs, we in- troduce three related concepts, those of: a proof movie, consisting of frames which record both user input and the corresponding PA response; a camera, which films a user's interactive session with a PA as a movie; and a proviola, which replays a movie frame-by-frame to a third party. In this paper we describe the movie data structure and we discuss a proto- type implementation of the camera and proviola based on the ProofWeb system. ProofWeb uncouples the interaction with a PA via a web- interface (the client) from the actual PA that resides on the server. Our camera films a movie by "listening" to the ProofWeb communication. The first reason for developing movies is to uncouple the reviewing of a formal proof from the PA used to develop it: the movie concept enables users to discuss small code fragments without the need to install the PA or to load a whole library into it. Other advantages include the possibility to develop a separate com- mentary track to discuss or explain the PA interaction. We assert that a combined camera+proviola provides a generic layer between a client (user) and a server (PA). Finally we claim that movies are the right type of data to be stored in an encyclopedia of formalized mathematics, based on our experience in filming the Coq standard library.Comment: Accepted for the 9th International Conference on Mathematical Knowledge Management (MKM 2010), 15 page

Unravelling the spirits’ message: a study of help-seeking steps and explanatory models among patients suffering from spirit possession in Uganda

As in many cultures, also in Uganda spirit possession is a common idiom of distress associated with traumatic experiences. In the DSM-IV and -5, possession trance disorders can be classified as dissociative disorders. Dissociation in Western countries is associated with complicated, time-consuming and costly therapies. Patients with spirit possession in SW Uganda, however, often report partial or full recovery after treatment by traditional healers. The aim of this study is to explore how the development of symptoms concomitant help-seeking steps, and explanatory models (EM) eventually contributed to healing of patients with spirit possession in SW Uganda. Illness narratives of 119 patients with spirit possession referred by traditional healers were analysed using a mixed-method approach. Treatments of two-thirds of the patients were unsuccessful when first seeking help in the medical sector. Their initially physical symptoms subsequently developed into dissociative possession symptoms. After an average of two help-seeking steps, patients reached a healing place where 99% of them found satisfactory EM and effective healing. During healing sessions, possessing agents were summoned to identify themselves and underlying problems were addressed. Often-mentioned explanations were the following: neglect of rituals and of responsibilities towards relatives and inheritance, the call to become a healer, witchcraft, grief, and land conflicts. The results demonstrate that traditional healing processes of spirit possession can play a role in restoring connections with the supra-, inter-, intra-, and extra-human worlds. It does not always seem necessary to address individual traumatic experiences per se, which is in line with other research in this field. The study leads to additional perspectives on treatment of trauma-related dissociation in Western countries and on developing effective mental health services in low -and middle-income countries

Dynamic Proof Pages

Contains fulltext : 91738.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)ITP 2011 Workshop on Mathematical Wikis Nijmegen, Netherlands, August 27th, 201

Narrating formal proof (Work in Progress)

Contains fulltext : 84205.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)UITP'10 : 9th International workshop on User Interfaces for Theorem Provers, FLOC'10 Satellite workshop 15th July 2010, Edinburgh, Scotlan

Documentation and formal mathematics : web technology meets theorem proving

Contains fulltext : 119001.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 17 december 2013Promotor : Geuvers, J.H. Co-promotor : McKinna, J.H.109 p

Communicating formal proof : the case of Flyspeck

Contains fulltext : 117354.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)Interactive Theorem Proving 2013 : 4th conference on Interactive Theorem Proving, July 22-26, 2013, Rennes, Franc

Improving an interactive visualization of transition systems

A transition system can be used to model the behaviour of a software system. A popular way of analysing this behaviour is by studying the corresponding transition system. An interactive visualization technique for showing the global structure of a transition system has been proposed by Van Ham et al. This technique clusters states and forms these clusters into a 3D structure similar to a cone tree, with the emphasis on symmetry. The technique has been used by analysts to study real-world systems. In this paper we solve a number of problems related to the symmetry of the visual representation and the misrepresentation of cluster sizes. This results in more effective and less misleading visualizations. In addition, we also extend the original technique by providing simulation facilities and a more effective state and cluster marking technique. These enhance the way in which a user can interact with the visualization

Learning to Parse on Aligned Corpora (Rough Diamond)

Contains fulltext : 143744.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access

Narrating formal proof (work in progress)

Building on existing work in proxying interaction with proof assistants, we have previously developed a proof movie. We have now considered the problem of how to augment this movie data structure to support commentary on formal proof development. In this setting, we have studied extracting commentary from an online text by Pierce et al. [Pierce, B. C., C. Casinghino and M. Greenberg, Software foundations, Course notes, online at http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/sf/ (2010).]. Keywords: Coursebooks; Proof Assistants; Proof Communicatio