9 Search Results for "Shi, Weidong"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48
FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters

Authors: Arnold Filtser and Ameet Gadekar

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract
The Capacitated Sum of Radii problem involves partitioning a set of points P, where each point p ∈ P has capacity U_p, into k clusters that minimize the sum of cluster radii, such that the number of points in the cluster centered at point p is at most U_p. We begin by showing that the problem is APX-hard, and that under gap-ETH there is no parameterized approximation scheme (FPT-AS). We then construct a ≈5.83-approximation algorithm in FPT time (improving a previous ≈7.61 approximation in FPT time). Our results also hold when the objective is a general monotone symmetric norm of radii. We also improve the approximation factors for the uniform capacity case, and for the closely related problem of Capacitated Sum of Diameters.
Cite as

Arnold Filtser and Ameet Gadekar. FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 48:1-48:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{filtser_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48,
  author =	{Filtser, Arnold and Gadekar, Ameet},
  title =	{{FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258545},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: clustering, sum of radii, sum of diameter, capacitated clustering, fpt}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18
An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies

Authors: Yike Chen, Ke Shi, and Chao Xu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract
The Stacker Crane Problem (SCP) is a variant of the Traveling Salesman Problem. In SCP, pairs of pickup and delivery points are designated on a graph, and a crane must visit these points to move objects from each pickup location to its respective delivery point. The goal is to minimize the total distance traveled. SCP is known to be NP-hard, even on trees. The only positive results, in terms of polynomial-time solvability, apply to graphs that are topologically equivalent to a path or a cycle. We propose an algorithm that is optimal for each fixed topology, running in near-linear time. This is achieved by demonstrating that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) when parameterized by both the cycle rank and the number of branch vertices.
Cite as

Yike Chen, Ke Shi, and Chao Xu. An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 18:1-18:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18,
  author =	{Chen, Yike and Shi, Ke and Xu, Chao},
  title =	{{An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249269},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Stacker Crane Problem, Fixed-Parameter Tractable, Min-Cost Circulation}
}
Document
Survey
DOI: 10.4230/TGDK.3.2.1
Resilience in Knowledge Graph Embeddings

Authors: Arnab Sharma, N'Dah Jean Kouagou, and Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo

Published in: TGDK, Volume 3, Issue 2 (2025). Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 2

Abstract
In recent years, knowledge graphs have gained interest and witnessed widespread applications in various domains, such as information retrieval, question-answering, recommendation systems, amongst others. Large-scale knowledge graphs to this end have demonstrated their utility in effectively representing structured knowledge. To further facilitate the application of machine learning techniques, knowledge graph embedding models have been developed. Such models can transform entities and relationships within knowledge graphs into vectors. However, these embedding models often face challenges related to noise, missing information, distribution shift, adversarial attacks, etc. This can lead to sub-optimal embeddings and incorrect inferences, thereby negatively impacting downstream applications. While the existing literature has focused so far on adversarial attacks on KGE models, the challenges related to the other critical aspects remain unexplored. In this paper, we, first of all, give a unified definition of resilience, encompassing several factors such as generalisation, in-distribution generalization, distribution adaption, and robustness. After formalizing these concepts for machine learning in general, we define them in the context of knowledge graphs. To find the gap in the existing works on resilience in the context of knowledge graphs, we perform a systematic survey, taking into account all these aspects mentioned previously. Our survey results show that most of the existing works focus on a specific aspect of resilience, namely robustness. After categorizing such works based on their respective aspects of resilience, we discuss the challenges and future research directions.
Cite as

Arnab Sharma, N'Dah Jean Kouagou, and Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo. Resilience in Knowledge Graph Embeddings. In Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge (TGDK), Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 1:1-1:38, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@Article{sharma_et_al:TGDK.3.2.1,
  author =	{Sharma, Arnab and Kouagou, N'Dah Jean and Ngomo, Axel-Cyrille Ngonga},
  title =	{{Resilience in Knowledge Graph Embeddings}},
  journal =	{Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge},
  pages =	{1:1--1:38},
  ISSN =	{2942-7517},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{3},
  number =	{2},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/TGDK.3.2.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248117},
  doi =		{10.4230/TGDK.3.2.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Knowledge graphs, Resilience, Robustness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.35
On-Chain Decentralized Learning and Cost-Effective Inference for DeFi Attack Mitigation

Authors: Abdulrahman Alhaidari, Balaji Palanisamy, and Prashant Krishnamurthy

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 354, 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)

Abstract
Billions of dollars are lost every year in DeFi platforms by transactions exploiting business logic or accounting vulnerabilities. Existing defenses focus on static code analysis, public mempool screening, attacker contract detection, or trusted off-chain monitors, none of which prevents exploits submitted through private relays or malicious contracts that execute within the same block. We present the first decentralized, fully on-chain learning framework that: (i) performs gas-prohibitive computation on Layer-2 to reduce cost, (ii) propagates verified model updates to Layer-1, and (iii) enables gas-bounded, low-latency inference inside smart contracts. A novel Proof-of-Improvement (PoIm) protocol governs the training process and verifies each decentralized micro update as a self-verifying training transaction. Updates are accepted by PoIm only if they demonstrably improve at least one core metric (e.g., accuracy, F1-score, precision, or recall) on a public benchmark without degrading any of the other core metrics, while adversarial proposals get financially penalized through an adaptable test set for evolving threats. We develop quantization and loop-unrolling techniques that enable inference for logistic regression, SVM, MLPs, CNNs, and gated RNNs (with support for formally verified decision tree inference) within the Ethereum block gas limit, while remaining bit-exact to their off-chain counterparts, formally proven in Z3. We curate 298 unique real-world exploits (2020 - 2025) with 402 exploit transactions across eight EVM chains, collectively responsible for $3.74 B in losses. We demonstrate that on-chain ML governed by PoIm detects previously unseen attacks with over 97% attack detection accuracy and 82.0% F1. A single inference, such as one made via an external call, typically incurs zero cost. Fully on-chain inference consumes 57,603 gas (≈ $0.18) for linear models, 143,647 gas (≈ $0.49) for CNN(F2, K1), and 506,397 gas (≈ $1.77) for CNN(F8, K4) on L1 (e.g., Ethereum). Our results show that practical and continually evolving DeFi defenses can be embedded directly in protocol logic without trusted guardians, and our solution achieves highly cost-effective protection while filling a critical gap between vulnerability scanners and real-time transaction screening.
Cite as

Abdulrahman Alhaidari, Balaji Palanisamy, and Prashant Krishnamurthy. On-Chain Decentralized Learning and Cost-Effective Inference for DeFi Attack Mitigation. In 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 354, pp. 35:1-35:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{alhaidari_et_al:LIPIcs.AFT.2025.35,
  author =	{Alhaidari, Abdulrahman and Palanisamy, Balaji and Krishnamurthy, Prashant},
  title =	{{On-Chain Decentralized Learning and Cost-Effective Inference for DeFi Attack Mitigation}},
  booktitle =	{7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:27},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-400-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{354},
  editor =	{Avarikioti, Zeta and Christin, Nicolas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247548},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: DeFi attacks, on-chain machine learning, decentralized learning, real-time defense}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2025.13
FuzzFlesh: Randomised Testing of Decompilers via Control Flow Graph-Based Program Generation

Authors: Amber Gorzynski and Alastair F. Donaldson

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 333, 39th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2025)

Abstract
Decompilation is the process of translating compiled code into high-level code. Control flow recovery is a challenging part of the process. "Misdecompilations" can occur, whereby the decompiled code does not accurately represent the semantics of the compiled code, despite it being syntactically valid. This is problematic because it can mislead users who are trying to reason about the program. We present CFG-based program generation: a novel approach to randomised testing that aims to improve the control flow recovery of decompilers. CFG-based program generation involves randomly generating control flow graphs (CFGs) and paths through each graph. Inspired by prior work in the domain of GPU computing, (CFG, path) pairs are "fleshed" into test programs. Each program is decompiled and recompiled. The test oracle verifies whether the actual runtime path through the graph matches the expected path. Any difference in the execution paths after recompilation indicates a possible misdecompilation. A key benefit of this approach is that it is largely independent of the source and target languages in question because it is focused on control flow. The approach is therefore applicable to numerous decompilation settings. The trade-off resulting from the focus on control flow is that misdecompilation bugs that do not relate to control flow (e.g. bugs that involve specific arithmetic operations) are out of scope. We have implemented this approach in FuzzFlesh, an open-source randomised testing tool. FuzzFlesh can be easily configured to target a variety of low-level languages and decompiler toolchains because most of the CFG and path generation process is language-independent. At present, FuzzFlesh supports testing decompilation of Java bytecode, .NET assembly and x86 machine code. In addition to program generation, FuzzFlesh also includes an automated test-case reducer that operates on the CFG rather than the low-level program, which means that it can be applied to any of the target languages. We present a large experimental campaign applying FuzzFlesh to a variety of decompilers, leading to the discovery of 12 previously-unknown bugs across two language formats, six of which have been fixed. We present experiments comparing our generic FuzzFlesh tool to two state-of-the-art decompiler testing tools targeted at specific languages. As expected, the coverage our generic FuzzFlesh tool achieves on a given decompiler is lower than the coverage achieved by a tool specifically designed for the input format of that decompiler. However, due to its focus on control flow, FuzzFlesh is able to cover sections of control flow recovery code that the targeted tools cannot reach, and identify control flow related bugs that the targeted tools miss.
Cite as

Amber Gorzynski and Alastair F. Donaldson. FuzzFlesh: Randomised Testing of Decompilers via Control Flow Graph-Based Program Generation. In 39th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 333, pp. 13:1-13:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{gorzynski_et_al:LIPIcs.ECOOP.2025.13,
  author =	{Gorzynski, Amber and Donaldson, Alastair F.},
  title =	{{FuzzFlesh: Randomised Testing of Decompilers via Control Flow Graph-Based Program Generation}},
  booktitle =	{39th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-373-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{333},
  editor =	{Aldrich, Jonathan and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233062},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Decompiler, Reverse Engineering, Control Flow, Software Testing, Fuzzing}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.19
A General Class of Reductions and Extension-Based Proofs

Authors: Yusong Shi and Weidong Liu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)

Abstract
The concept of extension-based proofs models the idea of a valency argument which is widely used in distributed computing. Extension-based proofs have been shown to be limited in power: there is no extension-based proof of the impossibility of a wait-free protocol for (n,k)-set agreement among n > k ≥ 2 processes. Previous work used a restricted class of reductions to show that there are no extension-based proofs of the impossibility of wait-free protocols for some other distributed computing problems. It is known that for a restricted class of reductions, if a task 𝒯 reduces to 𝒮 and 𝒯 has an augmented extension-based proof that it is impossible to solve in the NIS model, then so does 𝒮. We introduce multiple-instance extension-based proofs and show that, if 𝒯 reduces to multiple instances of 𝒮, instead of just one instance and 𝒯 has an augmented extension-based proof, then 𝒮 has a multiple-instance extension-based proof that it is impossible to solve in the NIIS model. We introduce a new version of extension-based proofs that can further our understanding of extension-based proofs and their limitations.
Cite as

Yusong Shi and Weidong Liu. A General Class of Reductions and Extension-Based Proofs. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 19:1-19:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{shi_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.19,
  author =	{Shi, Yusong and Liu, Weidong},
  title =	{{A General Class of Reductions and Extension-Based Proofs}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225559},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Reductions, Impossibility proofs, Extension-based proof}
}
Document
Brief Announcement
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2024.54
Brief Announcement: Colorless Tasks and Extension-Based Proofs

Authors: Yusong Shi and Weidong Liu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 319, 38th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2024)

Abstract
The concept of extension-based proofs models the idea of a valency argument, which is widely used in distributed computing. Extension-based proofs are limited in power: it has been shown that there is no extension-based proof of the impossibility of a wait-free protocol for (n,k)-set agreement among n > k ≥ 2 processes. There are only a few tasks that have been proven to have no extension-based proof of the impossibility, since the techniques in these works are closely related to the specific task. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for colorless tasks to have no extension-based proofs of the impossibility of wait-free protocols in the NIIS model. We introduce a general adversarial strategy decoupled from any concrete task specification. In this strategy, some properties of the chromatic subdivision that is widely used in distributed computing are proved.
Cite as

Yusong Shi and Weidong Liu. Brief Announcement: Colorless Tasks and Extension-Based Proofs. In 38th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 319, pp. 54:1-54:6, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{shi_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2024.54,
  author =	{Shi, Yusong and Liu, Weidong},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Colorless Tasks and Extension-Based Proofs}},
  booktitle =	{38th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2024)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:6},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-352-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{319},
  editor =	{Alistarh, Dan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2024.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-212821},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2024.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: Colorless tasks, Impossibility proofs, Extension-based proof}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2020.33
New Bounds on Augmenting Steps of Block-Structured Integer Programs

Authors: Lin Chen, Martin Koutecký, Lei Xu, and Weidong Shi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 173, 28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020)

Abstract
Iterative augmentation has recently emerged as an overarching method for solving Integer Programs (IP) in variable dimension, in stark contrast with the volume and flatness techniques of IP in fixed dimension. Here we consider 4-block n-fold integer programs, which are the most general class considered so far. A 4-block n-fold IP has a constraint matrix which consists of n copies of small matrices A, B, and D, and one copy of C, in a specific block structure. Iterative augmentation methods rely on the so-called Graver basis of the constraint matrix, which constitutes a set of fundamental augmenting steps. All existing algorithms rely on bounding the 𝓁₁- or 𝓁_∞-norm of elements of the Graver basis. Hemmecke et al. [Math. Prog. 2014] showed that 4-block n-fold IP has Graver elements of 𝓁_∞-norm at most 𝒪_FPT(n^{2^{s_D}}), leading to an algorithm with a similar runtime; here, s_D is the number of rows of matrix D and 𝒪_FPT hides a multiplicative factor that is only dependent on the small matrices A,B,C,D, However, it remained open whether their bounds are tight, in particular, whether they could be improved to 𝒪_FPT(1), perhaps at least in some restricted cases. We prove that the 𝓁_∞-norm of the Graver elements of 4-block n-fold IP is upper bounded by 𝒪_FPT(n^{s_D}), improving significantly over the previous bound 𝒪_FPT(n^{2^{s_D}}). We also provide a matching lower bound of Ω(n^{s_D}) which even holds for arbitrary non-zero lattice elements, ruling out augmenting algorithm relying on even more restricted notions of augmentation than the Graver basis. We then consider a special case of 4-block n-fold in which C is a zero matrix, called 3-block n-fold IP. We show that while the 𝓁_∞-norm of its Graver elements is Ω(n^{s_D}), there exists a different decomposition into lattice elements whose 𝓁_∞-norm is bounded by 𝒪_FPT(1), which allows us to provide improved upper bounds on the 𝓁_∞-norm of Graver elements for 3-block n-fold IP. The key difference between the respective decompositions is that a Graver basis guarantees a sign-compatible decomposition; this property is critical in applications because it guarantees each step of the decomposition to be feasible. Consequently, our improved upper bounds let us establish faster algorithms for 3-block n-fold IP and 4-block IP, and our lower bounds strongly hint at parameterized hardness of 4-block and even 3-block n-fold IP. Furthermore, we show that 3-block n-fold IP is without loss of generality in the sense that 4-block n-fold IP can be solved in FPT oracle time by taking an algorithm for 3-block n-fold IP as an oracle.
Cite as

Lin Chen, Martin Koutecký, Lei Xu, and Weidong Shi. New Bounds on Augmenting Steps of Block-Structured Integer Programs. In 28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 173, pp. 33:1-33:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2020.33,
  author =	{Chen, Lin and Kouteck\'{y}, Martin and Xu, Lei and Shi, Weidong},
  title =	{{New Bounds on Augmenting Steps of Block-Structured Integer Programs}},
  booktitle =	{28th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2020)},
  pages =	{33:1--33:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-162-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{173},
  editor =	{Grandoni, Fabrizio and Herman, Grzegorz and Sanders, Peter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2020.33},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-128994},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2020.33},
  annote =	{Keywords: Integer Programming, Graver basis, Fixed parameter tractable}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2017.21
Smart Contract Execution - the (+-)-Biased Ballot Problem

Authors: Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Nolan Shah, Yang Lu, and Weidong Shi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 92, 28th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2017)

Abstract
Transaction system build on top of blockchain, especially smart contract, is becoming an important part of world economy. However, there is a lack of formal study on the behavior of users in these systems, which leaves the correctness and security of such system without a solid foundation. Unlike mining, in which the reward for mining a block is fixed, different execution results of a smart contract may lead to significantly different payoffs of users, which gives more incentives for some user to follow a branch that contains a wrong result, even if the branch is shorter. It is thus important to understand the exact probability that a branch is being selected by the system. We formulate this problem as the (+-)-Biased Ballot Problem as follows: there are n voters one by one voting for either of the two candidates A and B. The probability of a user voting for A or B depends on whether the difference between the current votes of A and B is positive or negative. Our model takes into account the behavior of three different kinds of users when a branch occurs in the system -- users having preference over a certain branch based on the history of their transactions, and users being indifferent and simply follow the longest chain. We study two important probabilities that are closely related with a blockchain based system - the probability that A wins at last, and the probability that A receives d votes first. We show how to recursively calculate the two probabilities for any fixed n and d, and also discuss their asymptotic values when n and d are sufficiently large.
Cite as

Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Nolan Shah, Yang Lu, and Weidong Shi. Smart Contract Execution - the (+-)-Biased Ballot Problem. In 28th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2017). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 92, pp. 21:1-21:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2017.21,
  author =	{Chen, Lin and Xu, Lei and Gao, Zhimin and Shah, Nolan and Lu, Yang and Shi, Weidong},
  title =	{{Smart Contract Execution - the (+-)-Biased Ballot Problem}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2017)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-054-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{92},
  editor =	{Okamoto, Yoshio and Tokuyama, Takeshi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2017.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-82388},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2017.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Blockchain, Probability, Random Walk, Smart Contract}
}
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