Related papers: Probabilistic Verification in Mechanism Design
This paper discusses how model checking, a technique used for the verification of behavioural requirements of dynamic systems, can be usefully deployed for the verification of contracts. A process view of agreements between parties is…
We present a simple theoretical framework, and corresponding practical procedures, for comparing probabilistic models on real data in a traditional machine learning setting. This framework is based on the theory of proper scoring rules, but…
We study the design of mechanisms -- e.g., auctions -- when the designer does not control information flows between mechanism participants. A mechanism equilibrium is leakage-proof if no player conditions their actions on leaked…
Attempts to replicate probabilistic reasoning in expert systems have typically overlooked a critical ingredient of that process. Probabilistic analysis typically requires extensive judgments regarding interdependencies among hypotheses and…
We study the classic principal-agent model when the signal observed by the principal is chosen by the agent. We fully characterize the optimal information structure from an agent's perspective in a general moral hazard setting with limited…
This work develops a measurement-driven and model-based formal verification approach, applicable to systems with partly unknown dynamics. We provide a principled method, grounded on reachability analysis and on Bayesian inference, to…
This article examines two approaches to verification, one based on using a logic for expressing properties of a system, and one based on showing the system equivalent to a simpler system that obviously has whatever property is of interest.…
Formal verification of intelligent agents is often computationally infeasible due to state-space explosion. We present a tool for reducing the impact of the explosion by means of state abstraction that is (a) easy to use and understand by…
In mechanism design theory, agents' types are described as their private information, and the designer may reveal some public information to affect agents' types in order to obtain more payoffs. Traditionally, each agent's private type and…
System development is not a linear, one-shot process. It proceeds through refinements and revisions. To support assurance that the system satisfies its requirements, it is desirable that continuous verification can be performed after each…
We investigate the possibility of an incentive-compatible (IC, a.k.a. strategy-proof) mechanism for the classification of agents in a network according to their reviews of each other. In the $ \alpha $-classification problem we are…
In combinatorics, the probabilistic method is a very powerful tool to prove the existence of combinatorial objects with interesting and useful properties. Explicit constructions of objects with such properties are often very difficult, or…
The well-known quote from George Box states that: "All models are wrong, but some are useful." To develop more useful models, we quantify the inaccuracy with which a given model represents a system of interest, so that we may leverage this…
We consider the model checking problem for probabilistic pushdown automata (pPDA) and properties expressible in various probabilistic logics. We start with properties that can be formulated as instances of a generalized random walk problem.…
Dynamic languages are praised for their flexibility and expressiveness, but static analysis often yields many false positives and verification is cumbersome for lack of structure. Hence, unit testing is the prevalent incomplete method for…
In constructing an econometric or statistical model, we pick relevant features or variables from many candidates. A coalitional game is set up to study the selection problem where the players are the candidates and the payoff function is a…
I study a principal-agent model in which a principal hires an agent to collect information about an unknown continuous state. The agent acquires a signal whose distribution is centered around the state, controlling the signal's precision at…
Software Engineering and the implementation of software has become a challenging task as many tools, frameworks and languages must be orchestrated into one functioning piece. This complexity increases the need for testing and analysis…
We introduce a protocol addressing the conformance test problem, which consists in determining whether a process under test conforms to a reference one. We consider a process to be characterized by the set of end-product it produces, which…
We introduce estimation and test procedures through divergence optimization for discrete or continuous parametric models. This approach is based on a new dual representation for divergences. We treat point estimation and tests for simple…