Rich specifications for Ethereum smart contract verification

Smart contracts are programs that execute in blockchains such as Ethereum to manipulate digital assets. Since bugs in smart contracts may lead to substantial financial losses, there is considerable interest in formally proving their correctness. However, the specification and verification of smart contracts faces challenges that rarely arise in other application domains. Smart contracts frequently interact with unverified, potentially adversarial outside code, which substantially weakens the assumptions that formal analyses can (soundly) make. Moreover, the core functionality of smart contracts is to manipulate and transfer resources; describing this functionality concisely requires dedicated specification support. Current reasoning techniques do not fully address these challenges, being restricted in their scope or expressiveness (in particular, in the presence of re-entrant calls), and offering limited means of expressing the resource transfers a contract performs. In this paper, we present a novel specification methodology tailored to the domain of smart contracts. Our specifications and associated reasoning technique are the first to enable: (1) sound and precise reasoning in the presence of unverified code and arbitrary re-entrancy, (2) modular reasoning about collaborating smart contracts, and (3) domain-specific specifications for resources and resource transfers, expressing a contract's behaviour in intuitive and concise ways and excluding typical errors by default. We have implemented our approach in 2vyper, an SMT-based automated verification tool for Ethereum smart contracts written in Vyper, and demonstrated its effectiveness for verifying strong correctness guarantees for real-world contracts.

APPLICATION OF ETYMOLOGY-VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES TO TEACHING FINANCIAL ENGLISH VOCABULARY: A KOREAN EXPERIENCE

It is a common belief that English for Specific Purposes students (herein ESP students) in general, and Financial English students (herein FE students) find it harder than Basic/General English (GE) for a number of reasons, one of which is differences between FE and GE. The paper first identifies the most important factors in teaching FE by clarifying such differences between FE and GE and pointing out peculiarities of FE vocabulary. Then, we share our experience in seeking effective FE vocabulary teaching techniques to overcome our Korean students’ difficulties in the ESP course compared with their GE course. In our efforts, we piloted different techniques which combine etymology and visualization for teaching FE vocabulary, including derivative reasoning technique, monolingual reasoning technique, multilingual reasoning technique, semantic contrast technique, word decomposition technique, and definition grouping technique. We also checked our students’ retention of some FE vocabulary items taught through both traditional and piloted techniques, and initial results manifest that these etymology-visualization techniques promise to be effective. Above all, the paper presents a glimpse of ESP teaching/learning in our country in the hope that what works in our case in Korea can also be effectively applied elsewhere.

Collaborative Reasoning Technique in Developing Moral Comprehension

This study aims to find out about the collaborative reasoning technique to develop students' Moral Comprehension in class X of State High School 1 Gegesik. The research approach used was the quasi-experimental method and non-equivalent control group research design. Research instruments using the Defining Issue Test (Rest's DIT-1). The results of the research are: (1) the Moral Comprehension of students is generally in stage 4; (2) the results of the dissemination of DIT-1 instruments; and (3) guidance and counseling programs with collaborative reasoning proven effective in developing students' Moral Comprehension with changes in the stages of Moral Comprehension of students. Success criteria due to more than 50% of students are in steps 4, 5 and 6.

Solving Electrical Engineering Puzzles Using Spatial Reasoning

<p><em>The precursor of any problem-solving strategy is the visualization of the problem at hand. When dealing with problems pertaining to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) areas, visualization plays a very significant role in addressing the same. Several initiatives are being taken to improve the visualization skills of the students and spatial reasoning techniques have proved to be one of the most widely accepted tools for addressing the problems in the STEM field. In this paper, we specifically address the use of spatial reasoning to solve problems in the form of puzzles taken from electrical engineering and analyze the fruitfulness of employing such a strategy. The puzzles are hosted in an online interactive framework called UNTANGLED and classified into different categories on the basis of the nature of the puzzles and their difficulties. The results indicate that spatial reasoning technique indeed helped the players to successfully complete the puzzles. The interpretation of the data led to the conclusion that spatial reasoning techniques are imperative when it comes to discerning and resolving a problem, especially in the STEM domain.</em></p>

A New MapReduce Approach with Dynamic Fuzzy Inference for Big Data Classification Problems

Currently, big data and its applications have become one of the emergent topics. In practice, MapReduce framework and its different extensions are the most popular approaches for big data. Fuzzy system based models stand out for many applications. However, when a given observation has no overlap with antecedent values, no rule can be invoked in classical fuzzy inference can also appear in big data environment, and therefore no consequence can be derived. Fortunately, fuzzy rule interpolation techniques can support inference in such cases. Combining traditional fuzzy reasoning technique and fuzzy interpolation method may promote the accuracy of inference conclusion. Therefore, in this article, an initial investigation into the framework of MapReduce with dynamic fuzzy inference/interpolation for big data applications (BigData-DFRI) is reported. The results of an experimental investigation of this method are represented, demonstrating the potential and efficacy of the proposed approach.

A Fuzzy-Based Calorie Burn Calculator for a Gamified Walking Activity Using Treadmill

Gamification can be viewed as a process design which encapsulates competition, achievements, status and self-expression. Gamification is used as a tool for improving physical fitness. In this chapter the physical activity using treadmill walking is considered. Calorie burn calculation plays a vital role in the gamification design. In treadmill calorie burn calculation, traditional and fuzzy based methods are compared for effective gamification. In the traditional calorie burn calculation method different equations are used for different incline levels. In the fuzzy logic method fuzzy reasoning technique is applied to calculate the calorie burn for different incline levels. It is identified that fuzzy based calorie calculation enhances physical activity and supports Gamification. Fuzzy based calorie burn calculation methods produces approximate values and supports the players to choose higher incline levels instead of lower incline levels and thereby burning more calories.