title: Dissident thought: Systems of repression, networks of hope

authors: Peters, Michael A.

abstract: In this essay I examine the figure of dissident thought in the contexts of philosophical, jurisprudential and political thought. I connect dissidence to the concept of dissent and its linguistic cognates including "disagreement" and "opposition," but also the logic of negation in order to examine dissent as a condition of discourse. In the second and third sections I argue for dissent as a philosophy of non-agreement and review a theory of dissent in law. Finally, I speculate on the history of dissent and dissidence from local contexts to its first wave of global protest with the development of new social movements and the counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s in order to postulate the changed conditions of dissent in a global, digital, mediatized world. In a postscript I ask whether there are a set of counter-conducts (Davidson, 2011) or counter-practices that can encourage a second wave of global protest, new forms of civic engagement and disobedience.

text: Dissident thought: Systems of repression, networks of hope In this essay I examine the figure of dissident thought in the contexts of philosophical, jurisprudential and political thought. I connect dissidence to the concept of dissent and its linguistic cognates including "disagreement" and "opposition," but also the logic of negation in order to examine dissent as a condition of discourse. In the second and third sections I argue for dissent as a philosophy of non-agreement and review a theory of dissent in law. Finally, I speculate on the history of dissent and dissidence from local contexts to its first wave of global protest with the development of new social movements and the counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s in order to postulate the changed conditions of dissent in a global, digital, mediatized world. In a postscript I ask whether there are a set of counter-conducts (Davidson, 2011) or counter-practices that can encourage a second wave of global protest, new forms of civic engagement and disobedience.

year: 2016

title: Building trustworthy smart contracts using interactive theorem proving

authors: Britten, Daniel

subjects: formal methods

abstract: There are varying approaches to the verification of smart contracts using formal methods. This thesis advocates for the use of high-level specifications coupled with a verified compiler to low-level bytecode, such as for the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Taking this approach allows for specifications to more closely match natural language, while ensuring that the specifications apply to the real bytecode executed on-chain.

Interactive theorem proving can provide the foundation for developing provably correct smart contracts. Due to the immutable nature of smart contracts and their potential to manage highly valuable assets and tokens representing power, techniques to ensure their correctness are of paramount importance.

This thesis extends the DeepSEA (Deep Simulation of Executable Abstractions) smart contract language targeting the Ethereum Virtual Machine by mitigating the issues associated with reentrancy and introducing a model of relevant aspects of a blockchain. This enables the specification and verification of two case studies which exemplify the approach of developing provably correct smart contracts.

The specifications for the case studies are written in the language of the Coq Proof Assistant, making arbitrary mathematical statements expressible. The blockchain model enables stating and proving temporal properties relating to the execution of smart contract over time.

While smart contracts are an ideal application area for formal methods in general and interactive theorem proving in particular, the techniques exemplified in this thesis could be applied throughout software engineering. The relatively young age of smart contract languages and typically small size of smart contract programs makes the application of interactive theorem proving more tractable. Future work could involve demonstrating the applicability to many interrelated smart contracts and to larger software projects in different domains.

The first three chapters of this thesis cover introductory and background material. This is followed by the contributions to the DeepSEA system. The two case studies and the proof themes arising from them are then presented. Finally, concluding remarks and future work are discussed.

text: Building trustworthy smart contracts using interactive theorem proving There are varying approaches to the verification of smart contracts using formal methods. This thesis advocates for the use of high-level specifications coupled with a verified compiler to low-level bytecode, such as for the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Taking this approach allows for specifications to more closely match natural language, while ensuring that the specifications apply to the real bytecode executed on-chain.

Interactive theorem proving can provide the foundation for developing provably correct smart contracts. Due to the immutable nature of smart contracts and their potential to manage highly valuable assets and tokens representing power, techniques to ensure their correctness are of paramount importance.

This thesis extends the DeepSEA (Deep Simulation of Executable Abstractions) smart contract language targeting the Ethereum Virtual Machine by mitigating the issues associated with reentrancy and introducing a model of relevant aspects of a blockchain. This enables the specification and verification of two case studies which exemplify the approach of developing provably correct smart contracts.

The specifications for the case studies are written in the language of the Coq Proof Assistant, making arbitrary mathematical statements expressible. The blockchain model enables stating and proving temporal properties relating to the execution of smart contract over time.

While smart contracts are an ideal application area for formal methods in general and interactive theorem proving in particular, the techniques exemplified in this thesis could be applied throughout software engineering. The relatively young age of smart contract languages and typically small size of smart contract programs makes the application of interactive theorem proving more tractable. Future work could involve demonstrating the applicability to many interrelated smart contracts and to larger software projects in different domains.

The first three chapters of this thesis cover introductory and background material. This is followed by the contributions to the DeepSEA system. The two case studies and the proof themes arising from them are then presented. Finally, concluding remarks and future work are discussed.

year: 2024

title: Understanding ‘higher’ Māori fertility in a ‘low’ fertility context: Does cultural identity make a difference?

authors: Rarere, Moana

subjects: Maori fertility

abstract: The Māori fertility transition brought an end to decades of very high fertility rates, and a convergence towards long-term fertility levels similar to Pākehā/New Zealand European women. However, important differences endure. The Māori total fertility rate (TFR) remains above replacement level, and Māori women have children earlier and over a longer period. All of this has and still is occurring in a society that facilitates and favours low fertility and small family sizes. Using births data and cultural identity markers in the New Zealand Census, this paper explores the influence of culture as a contributing factor to higher fertility outcomes amongst Māori women in a low-fertility society.

text: Understanding ‘higher’ Māori fertility in a ‘low’ fertility context: Does cultural identity make a difference? The Māori fertility transition brought an end to decades of very high fertility rates, and a convergence towards long-term fertility levels similar to Pākehā/New Zealand European women. However, important differences endure. The Māori total fertility rate (TFR) remains above replacement level, and Māori women have children earlier and over a longer period. All of this has and still is occurring in a society that facilitates and favours low fertility and small family sizes. Using births data and cultural identity markers in the New Zealand Census, this paper explores the influence of culture as a contributing factor to higher fertility outcomes amongst Māori women in a low-fertility society.

year: 2018