Von Objekt- und Meta-Ebenen: Analyse der Softwareanforderungen computergestützter juristischer Entscheidungen

in Recht DIGITAL – 25 Jahre IRIS, Proceedings of the International Legal Informatics Symposium (IRIS 2022) (in press)

Die Interpretation und Anwendung von Gesetzestexten auf einem konkreten Lebenssachverhalt erfordert von menschlichen Experten ein hohes Maß an Wissen, Erfahrung und die Fähigkeit zahlreiche kontextuelle ... [more ▼]

Die Interpretation und Anwendung von Gesetzestexten auf einem konkreten Lebenssachverhalt erfordert von menschlichen Experten ein hohes Maß an Wissen, Erfahrung und die Fähigkeit zahlreiche kontextuelle Überlegungen anzustellen. Die Formalisierung und Automatisierung solch eines Prozesses in einem computergestützten Verfahren muss dies entsprechend reflektieren. Ausgehend von einer Fallstudie werden in dieser Arbeit erforderliche juridische Schritte der Rechtsanwendung identifiziert und verschiedenen Objekt- und Meta-Ebenen zugeordnet. Diese Zuordnung erlaubt eine abstrakte Analyse von Softwareanforderungen, die juristische Assistenzsysteme erfüllen müssen, um bei juristischen Fallentscheidungen unterstützen zu können. [less ▲]

Automated, Cost-effective, and Update-driven App Testing

in ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (in press)

Apps’ pervasive role in our society led to the definition of test automation approaches to ensure their dependability. However, state-of-the-art approaches tend to generate large numbers of test inputs ... [more ▼]

Apps’ pervasive role in our society led to the definition of test automation approaches to ensure their dependability. However, state-of-the-art approaches tend to generate large numbers of test inputs and are unlikely to achieve more than 50% method coverage. In this paper, we propose a strategy to achieve significantly higher coverage of the code affected by updates with a much smaller number of test inputs, thus alleviating the test oracle problem. More specifically, we present ATUA, a model-based approach that synthesizes App models with static analysis, integrates a dynamically-refined state abstraction function, and combines complementary testing strategies, including (1) coverage of the model structure, (2) coverage of the App code, (3) random exploration, and (4) coverage of dependencies identified through information retrieval. Its model-based strategy enables ATUA to generate a small set of inputs that exercise only the code affected by the updates. In turn, this makes common test oracle solutions more cost-effective as they tend to involve human effort. A large empirical evaluation, conducted with 72 App versions belonging to nine popular Android Apps, has shown that ATUA is more effective and less effort-intensive than state-of-the-art approaches when testingApp updates. [less ▲]

NIKE from Affine Determinant Programs

in Qiong, Huang; Yu, Yu (Eds.) Provable and Practical Security, 15th International Conference, ProvSec 2021, Guangzhou, November 5 – November 8, 2021, Proceedings (in press)

A multi-party non-interactive key-exchange (NIKE) scheme enables N users to securely exchange a secret key K in a non-interactive manner. It is well-known that NIKE schemes can be obtained assuming the ... [more ▼]

A multi-party non-interactive key-exchange (NIKE) scheme enables N users to securely exchange a secret key K in a non-interactive manner. It is well-known that NIKE schemes can be obtained assuming the existence of indistinguishability obfuscation (iO). In this work, we revisit the original, iO-based, provably-secure NIKE construction by Boneh and Zhandry, aiming to simplify it. The core idea behind our protocol is to replace the functionality of the obfuscator with the one of an affine determinant program (ADP). Although ADPs have been designed with the purpose of attaining indistinguishability obfuscation, such implication is left open for general circuits. The ingredients enabling to prove the security of our scheme stem into a more careful analysis of the branching programs needed to build ADPs. In particular, we show: 1) An intuitive indistinguishability notion defined for ADPs of puncturable pseudorandom functions (PRFs) is sufficient to prove security for NIKE. 2) A set of simple conditions based on ADP's branching program topology that are sufficient for proving indistinguishability of ADPs. We leave open the question of finding ADPs satisfying them. [less ▲]

On the (M)iNTRU assumption in the integer case

in Provable and Practical Security, 15th International Conference, ProvSec 2021, Guangzhou, November 5 – November 8, 2021, Proceedings (in press)

In AsiaCrypt 2019, Genise, Gentry, Halevi, Li and Micciancio put forth two novel and intriguing computational hardness hypotheses: The inhomogeneous NTRU (iNTRU) assumption and its matrix version MiNTRU ... [more ▼]

In AsiaCrypt 2019, Genise, Gentry, Halevi, Li and Micciancio put forth two novel and intriguing computational hardness hypotheses: The inhomogeneous NTRU (iNTRU) assumption and its matrix version MiNTRU. In this work, we break the integer case of the iNTRU assumption through elementary lattice reduction, and we describe how the attack might be generalized to polynomial rings and to the low dimensional MiNTRU assumption with small noise. [less ▲]

Perceptual approaches to the study of German

in Bousquette, Joshua; Pickl, Simon (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the German Language (in press)

Life Satisfaction and the Human Development Index Across the World

in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (in press)

We use annual data on over 150 countries between 2005 and 2018 to look at the relationship between subjective well-being (both cognitive and affective) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI ... [more ▼]

We use annual data on over 150 countries between 2005 and 2018 to look at the relationship between subjective well-being (both cognitive and affective) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI appears to be more closely related to cognitive than affective well-being. We also consider the relationships between the three HDI components (the Income, Health and Education Indices) and well-being, and find that, on average, the Income Index has the strongest predictive power. Importantly, we find that the three HDI components only matter equally in Western and rich countries. Our analysis contributes to the discussion about cultural sensitivity in paradigms of societal development in two ways. We first show that differences in preferences towards development aims exist. Second, we propose a weighting procedure for a culturally-sensitive version of the HDI. [less ▲]

Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is associated with altered DNA methylation in cord blood

in Epigenetics (in press)

Modeling Data Protection and Privacy: Application and Experience with GDPR

in Software and Systems Modeling (in press)

In Europe and indeed worldwide, the Gen- eral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides pro- tection to individuals regarding their personal data in the face of new technological developments. GDPR is ... [more ▼]

In Europe and indeed worldwide, the Gen- eral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides pro- tection to individuals regarding their personal data in the face of new technological developments. GDPR is widely viewed as the benchmark for data protection and privacy regulations that harmonizes data privacy laws across Europe. Although the GDPR is highly ben- e cial to individuals, it presents signi cant challenges for organizations monitoring or storing personal infor- mation. Since there is currently no automated solution with broad industrial applicability, organizations have no choice but to carry out expensive manual audits to ensure GDPR compliance. In this paper, we present a complete GDPR UML model as a rst step towards de- signing automated methods for checking GDPR compli- ance. Given that the practical application of the GDPR is infuenced by national laws of the EU Member States,we suggest a two-tiered description of the GDPR, generic and specialized. In this paper, we provide (1) the GDPR conceptual model we developed with complete trace- ability from its classes to the GDPR, (2) a glossary to help understand the model, (3) the plain-English de- scription of 35 compliance rules derived from GDPR along with their encoding in OCL, and (4) the set of 20 variations points derived from GDPR to specialize the generic model. We further present the challenges we faced in our modeling endeavor, the lessons we learned from it, and future directions for research. [less ▲]

Status and Enforceability of EU International Agreements within the Domestic Legal Systems of the Member States: Kupferberg

in Wessel, Ramses; Butler, Graham (Eds.) EU External Relations Law: The Cases in Context (in press)

Comparative administrative law in the EU: the integration function and its limits

in Bartl, Marija; Lawrence, Jessica (Eds.) The Politics of European Legal Research. Behind the Method (in press)