Computing and Information Systems - Research Publications
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ItemLightweight Nontermination Inference with CHCs(SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG, 2021)Non-termination is an unwanted program property (considered a bug) for some software systems, and a safety property for other systems. In either case, automated discovery of preconditions for non-termination is of interest. We introduce NtHorn, a fast lightweight non-termination analyser, able to deduce non-trivial sufficient conditions for non-termination. Using Constrained Horn Clauses (CHCs) as a vehicle, we show how established techniques for CHC program transformation and abstract interpretation can be exploited for the purpose of non-termination analysis. NtHorn is comparable in power to the state-of-the-art non-termination analysis tools, as measured on standard competition benchmark suites (consisting of integer manipulating programs), while typically solving problems an order of magnitude faster.
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ItemDisjunctive Interval Analysis(SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG, 2021)We revisit disjunctive interval analysis based on the Boxes abstract domain. We propose the use of what we call range decision diagrams (RDDs) to implement Boxes, and we provide algorithms for the necessary RDD operations. RDDs tend to be more compact than the linear decision diagrams (LDDs) that have traditionally been used for Boxes. Representing information more directly, RDDs also allow for the implementation of more accurate abstract operations. This comes at no cost in terms of analysis efficiency, whether LDDs utilise dynamic variable ordering or not. RDD and LDD implementations are available in the Crab analyzer, and our experiments confirm that RDDs are well suited for disjunctive interval analysis.
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ItemAutomating Digital Afterlives(Oxford University Press, 2021-08-26)The question of how the dead “live on” by maintaining a presence and connecting to the living within social networks has garnered the attention of users, entrepreneurs, platforms, and researchers alike. In this chapter we investigate the increasingly ambiguous terrain of posthumous connection and disconnection by focusing on a diverse set of practices implemented by users and offered by commercial services to plan for and manage social media communication, connection, and presence after life. Drawing on theories of self-presentation (Goffman) and technological forms of life (Lash), we argue that moderated and automated performances of posthumous digital presence cannot be understood as a continuation of personal identity or self-presentation. Rather, as forms of mediated human (after)life, posthumous social media presence materializes ambiguities of connection/disconnection and self/identity.
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ItemNo Preview Available6. Silenced by Power: Repression, Isolation & Persecution(transcript Verlag, 2021-12-03)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableModelling the Economic Impacts of Epidemics in Developing Countries Under Alternative Intervention Strategies(Springer, 2020)Modern levels of global travel have intensified the risk of new infectious diseases becoming pandemics. Particularly at risk are developing countries whose health systems may be less well equipped to detect quickly and respond effectively to the importation of new infectious diseases. This chapter examines what might have been the economic consequences if the 2014 West African Ebola epidemic had been imported to a small Asia-Pacific country. Hypothetical outbreaks in two countries were modelled. The post-importation estimations were carried out with two linked models: a stochastic disease transmission (SEIR) model and a quarterly version of the multi-country GTAP model, GTAP-Q. The SEIR model provided daily estimates of the number of persons in various disease states. For each intervention strategy the stochastic disease model was run 500 times to obtain the probability distribution of disease outcomes. Typical daily country outcomes for both controlled and uncontrolled outbreaks under five alternative intervention strategies were converted to quarterly disease-state results, which in turn were used in the estimation of GTAP-Q shocks to country-specific health costs and labour productivity during the outbreak, and permanent reductions in each country’s population and labour force due to mortality. Estimated behavioural consequences (severe reductions in international tourism and crowd avoidance) formed further shocks. The GTAP-Q simulations revealed very large economic costs for each country if they experienced an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak, and considerable economic costs for controlled outbreaks in Fiji due to the importance of the tourism sector to its economy. A major finding was that purely reactive strategies had virtually no effect on preventing uncontrolled outbreaks, but pre-emptive strategies substantially reduced the proportion of uncontrolled outbreaks, and in turn the economic and social costs.
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ItemBring-your-own-device usage trends in australian hospitals a national survey(IOS Press, 2021-04-19)Background: Healthcare is among the leading industries which drives the use of personal devices for work purposes (BYOD). However, allowing BYOD for healthcare workers comes at a cost, as it puts sensitive information assets such as patient data residing on personal devices at risk of potential data breaches. Objective: Previous review of the literature has highlighted the dearth of empirical studies in hospital settings regarding BYOD usage. As such, this paper aims to report BYOD usage trends in Australian hospitals through a national survey, first of its kind in Australia. Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted online among health IT personnel, asking them about their experiences about BYOD usage in their hospitals. 28 responses were collected based on public Australian hospitals, which included 21 hospital groups and 7 standalone hospitals, likely to represent more than 100 hospitals in total. Survey responses were quantitatively analysed through descriptive statistical analysis and cross tabulation. Results: BYOD is allowed in majority of the hospitals, and among all major staff groups, with doctors being the leading group. Participants ranked reasons for allowing BYOD, and most of them were related to improvement in clinical productivity, efficiency and mobility for clinical staff. Challenges were generally related to data security such as patient data breaches and compliance with data security laws, according to them. More than two thirds of hospitals had a cybersecurity officer employed, and CIOs were the most dominant group who held responsibility for managing BYOD within the hospital. Conclusion: This paper provides a starting point for better understanding of BYOD usage in a complex healthcare environment based on empirical evidence, one which highlights the security-usability conundrum, confirming previous literature themes.
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ItemAbstract interpretation, symbolic execution and constraints(Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, 2020)Abstract interpretation is a static analysis framework for sound over-approximation of all possible runtime states of a program. Symbolic execution is a framework for reachability analysis which tries to explore all possible execution paths of a program. A shared feature between abstract interpretation and symbolic execution is that each – implicitly or explicitly – maintains constraints during execution, in the form of invariants or path conditions. We investigate the relations between the worlds of abstract interpretation, symbolic execution and constraint solving, to expose potential synergies.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableScicurious as method: Learning from GLAM Young People Living in a Pandemic about Cultivating Digital Co-Research-Creation Spaces that Ignite Curiosity and Creativity(Policy Press, 2020)Could COVID-19, this unexpected crisis, act as a comma 6 in a co-research-creation project to become a breathing space and not a full stop? Maybe this pause is a colon: the two different periods of the project (and life in general) on either side of the pandemic, equally important and dependent on each other for full meaning. In this chapter, we tell the story of how a co-research-creation event (the Sci Curious Project) unfolded before and during the COVID-19 pandemic 7 ; the lead-up to its irruption (St. Pierre, 1997) and then what came after. ‘Scicurious as method’ emerged out of the unexpected pause and recalibration of the project; a method that emphasizes the creation of research spaces that activate scicuriosity in situated practice. We understand scicuriosity as emerging from collaborative research-creation events that ignite curiosity and creativity. Scicurious as method is presented through an encounter with speculative fiction and scicurious zine travels. Scicurious as method has significant ethical implications, these reify the potential of co-designed speculative inquiries with creativity and curiosity at their heart. This is, in part, due to its contingency on cultivating digital co-research-creation spaces that enfold rather than eschew the analogue and highlight the joyous potential of a deeply situated, co-designed speculative inquiry; an inquiry with galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) young people living in a pandemic.
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ItemTransfer Learning to Enhance Amenorrhea Status Prediction in Cancer and Fertility Data with Missing Values(Productivity Press (Taylor & Francis), 2020)