Symbolic Tools Research Articles

Language Proficiency, Second Language Educational Experience, and Psychological Well-being Among International Students at U.S. Universities

Study abroad comes with challenges, yet it is not clear how language proficiency may longitudinally predict students’ social engagement and well-being. Recent changes in international student demographics, including age decreases and increased international school backgrounds, may also affect students’ well-being. This study views language as a culturally specific symbolic tool that serves cognitive, social, and emotional interactions, both interpersonal and intrapersonal. By surveying 387 international students from 14 U.S. universities over 1.5 years, this study explored the role of English proficiency in facilitating students’ adaptability to psychosocial challenges and well-being. The findings suggested that both English proficiency and prior-to-admission second language educational experience predict well-being, while the latter may have afforded more nonacademic adjustment to international students’ continuous social engagement. In addition, the onset of social engagement and sense of belonging showed a likely importance which highlights the value of pre-study-abroad programming for facilitating international students’ continuous social engagement.

Integrating symbolic reasoning into neural generative models for design generation

Design generation requires tight integration of neural and symbolic reasoning, as good design must meet explicit user needs and honor implicit rules for aesthetics, utility, and convenience. Current automated design tools driven by neural networks produce appealing designs, but cannot satisfy user specifications and utility requirements. Symbolic reasoning tools, such as constraint programming, cannot perceive low-level visual information in images or capture subtle aspects such as aesthetics. We introduce the Spatial Reasoning Integrated Generator (SPRING) for design generation. SPRING embeds a neural and symbolic integrated spatial reasoning module inside the deep generative network. The spatial reasoning module samples the set of locations of objects to be generated from a backtrack-free distribution. This distribution modifies the implicit preference distribution, which is learned by a recurrent neural network to capture utility and aesthetics. The sampling from the backtrack-free distribution is accomplished by a symbolic reasoning approach, SampleSearch, which zeros out the probability of sampling spatial locations violating explicit user specifications. Embedding symbolic reasoning into neural generation guarantees that the output of SPRING satisfies user requirements. Furthermore, SPRING offers interpretability, allowing users to visualize and diagnose the generation process through the bounding boxes. SPRING is also adept at managing novel user specifications not encountered during its training, thanks to its proficiency in zero-shot constraint transfer. Quantitative evaluations and a human study reveal that SPRING outperforms baseline generative models, excelling in delivering high design quality and better meeting user specifications.

Symbolic execution of floating-point programs: How far are we?

Floating-point programs are challenging for symbolic execution due to the constraint solving problem. This paper empirically studies five existing symbolic execution methods for floating-point programs to evaluate their effectiveness and limitations. We have implemented the existing methods based on the state-of-the-art symbolic execution tool KLEE and constructed a real-world floating-point program benchmark for evaluation. We evaluate the existing methods with respect to statement coverage and the ability to detect floating-point exceptions. The results demonstrate that the existing methods complement each other. Based on the evaluation results, we propose a synergistic approach to improving the efficiency of the symbolic execution for floating-point programs. The experimental results indicate our synergistic method’s effectiveness in finding floating-point exceptions.

Data-driven modeling of low-frequency hydrodynamic loads

Abstract This paper presents a data-driven approach for estimating the linear and quadratic transfer functions relating incoming waves to hydrodynamic loads on floaters. The procedure relies on constructing a nonlinear auto-regressive (NARX) surrogate model for forecasting the hydrodynamic loads and a harmonic probing algorithm for extracting the transfer functions of the system. The implemented harmonic probing method is of numerical nature and avoids the use of computationally expensive symbolic coding tools. The method was verified against synthetic data generated from a potential-flow-based numerical model of the INO WINDMOOR 12 MW floater. The main advantage of NARX models is the fexibility of their structure, meaning that they do not presuppose that the nonlinearity of the hydrodynamic load is quadratic, as it is commonly done.

Sartorial Strategies of Female Punks in Malaysia’s Socio-Religious Landscape

This study explores the sartorial strategies employed by female punks in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, to navigate the complex interplay of subcultural identity, local socio-cultural norms, and religious expectations. Utilizing an ethnographic approach, the research reveals how these women selectively adapt their appearance across various social settings, balancing their allegiance to the punk subculture with the pressures of local societal norms. By using clothing as a symbolic tool, they maintain a coherent sense of self while negotiating different social landscapes. Drawing on symbolic interactionism, this study portrays punk identity as a dynamic and interpretive process, challenging the notion that subcultural styles are purely about resistance. Instead, it suggests that these practices can facilitate integration and acceptance, enabling individuals to bridge multiple social worlds. By advancing the conceptual framework of localization of subculture the research not only examines the formation and expression of subcultural identities through style but also how these identities are continuously adapted to personal and social changes. This study underscores the importance of local context in shaping subcultural practices and highlights the adaptive responses of these women, thereby repoliticizing punk subculture styles in a Malaysian setting.

Foundational Engineering of Artificial Blood Vessels' Biomechanics: The Impact of Wavy Geometric Designs.

The design of wavy structures and their mechanical implications on artificial blood vessels (ABVs) have been insufficiently studied in the existing literature. This research aims to explore the influence of various wavy geometric designs on the mechanical properties of ABVs and to establish a foundational framework for advancing and applying these designs. Computer-aided design (CAD) and finite element method (FEM) simulations, in conjunction with physical sample testing, were utilized. A geometric model incorporating concave and convex curves was developed and analyzed with a symbolic mathematical tool. Subsequently, a total of ten CAD models were subjected to increasing internal pressures using a FEM simulation to evaluate the expansion of internal areas. Additionally, physical experiments were conducted further to investigate the expansion of ABV samples under pressure. The results demonstrated that increased wave numbers significantly enhance the flexibility of ABVs. Samples with 22 waves exhibited a 45% larger area under 24 kPa pressure than those with simple circles. However, the increased number of waves also led to undesirable high-pressure gradients at elevated pressures. Furthermore, a strong correlation was observed between the experimental outcomes and the simulation results, with a notably low error margin, ranging from 19.88% to 3.84%. Incorporating wavy designs into ABVs can effectively increase both vessel flexibility and the internal area under pressure. Finally, it was found that expansion depending on the wave number can be efficiently modeled with a simple linear equation, which could be utilized in future designs.

Classifying analogical thinking for mathematical problem-solving

Analogical thinking is a crucial strategy for mathematical problem-solving, enabling the discovery of solutions by identifying similarities between different problems. However, existing research needs a comprehensive classification of students' use of analogical thinking in this context. This study aims to develop a new classification framework for analogical thinking in mathematical problem-solving, emphasizing the identification and utilization of analogous methods between source and target problems. The research adopts a descriptive qualitative approach involving a purposive sample of 15 high school students from Surakarta, Central Java, who demonstrated analogical thinking in solving both source and target problems. Data collection was conducted through tests, observations, and interviews, with analysis performed using the constant comparative procedure (CCP). The findings reveal three distinct classifications of analogical thinking: pattern recognition (identifying common patterns to solve both source and target problems), variable utilization (using variables as symbolic tools for problem-solving), and visualization (applying graphical representations to address the issues). This study offers significant theoretical insights for future research and practical implications for applying analogical thinking in enhancing mathematical problem-solving.

SmartExecutor: Coverage-Driven Symbolic Execution Guided via State Prioritization and Function Selection

Symbolic execution of smart contracts suffers from sequence explosion. Some existing tools limit the sequence length, thus being unable to adequately evaluate some functions. In this paper, we propose a symbolic execution approach without limiting the sequence length. In our approach, the symbolic execution process is a two-phase model that maximizes code coverage while reducing the number of sequences to be executed. The first phase executes all sequences up to a length limit to identify the not-fully covered functions while the second attempts to cover these functions according to state evaluation and a function graph structure. We have developed a tool called SmartExecutor and conducted an experimental evaluation on the SGUARD dataset. The experimental results indicate that compared with state-of-the-art tools, SmartExecutor achieves higher code coverage with less time. It also detects more vulnerabilities than Mythril, a state-of-the-art symbolic execution tool.

POLYCHROMATIC PARADIGMS: THE SEMIOTICS OF COLOUR IN TAMIL CINEMATIC NARRATIVES

Colour plays an essential role in the visual narrative of Tamil cinema, not only enhancing the aesthetic appeal but also acting as a symbolic tool that conveys deeper emotional, cultural, and thematic meanings. Rooted in Tamil Nadu’s rich cultural traditions, the colours used in Tamil films often carry symbolic meanings derived from religion, folklore, and socio-political themes. This research paper explores the application of colour theory in Tamil cinema, examining how directors employ colour to evoke emotions, highlight socio-political contexts, and reflect cultural values unique to Tamil audiences. By studying specific colours and their repeated motifs across films, this paper investigates how Tamil cinema translates cultural symbolism into visual narratives that resonate deeply with audiences.Through case studies of iconic Tamil films such as Alaipayuthey, Paruthiveeran, Super Deluxe, Kaaka Muttai, Vada Chennai and Asuran, this paper decodes the language of colour in Tamil cinema, highlighting how directors like Mani Ratnam, Ameer Sultan, Thiagarajan Kumararaja and Vetrimaaran use colour palettes not only to define characters but also to convey underlying social commentary. The paper further explores the impact of digital technology in transforming colour grading and its effect on the stylistic choices available to filmmakers. By analyzing these films and colour usage, this study provides insights into how Tamil cinema integrates traditional cultural cues with modern filmmaking techniques, offering a visual language that enhances narrative depth and audience engagement.

Multispecies Entanglements in the Gulf: Reflections on Phenomenology, Object-Oriented Ontology, and the Nature of Cognition

ABSTRACT This paper is a product of qualitative, ethnographic fieldwork which looked at interactions between Emirati people and camels. Both in traditional Bedu contexts and among contemporary breeders/riders/racers in the Arabian Gulf, camels have been useful to people as an economic resource or symbolic tool, but they have also been agents creating paths for human cultural activity. They are the lens through which people observe their society, yet they are also perceived as beings with lifeworlds of their own. In a humanizing effort they can represent what is inherently cultural, but they can also be seen as separate beings that inform people’s worldviews. Recognizing animals’ agency, observing the obliteration of subject–object boundaries in animal-centric cultures requires fundamental ontological revisions. This paper aims to propose a paradigm useful for multispecies ethnography studies, rooted in exploring entanglements between anthropological phenomenology and object-oriented ontology. Appreciating the central roles of experience, embodiment, and senses in human connections with animals make phenomenology a potent analytical framework for such studies. Ontologically speaking, the essence of interactions between camels and their Emirati aficionados can represent the nature of people’s being-in-the-world, shaping their mental universe and cognitive processes. The main contributions of the research include using empirical evidence to address some of the recurring criticisms of object-oriented ontology and positioning these analyses within the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council countries) context, which has rarely been done before.

A secure authentication protocol for remote patient monitoring in an internet‐of‐medical‐things environment

AbstractInternet of Medical Things (IoMT) enable users to avail healthcare services remotely. In IoMT, sensor nodes (SNs), like blood pressure sensors and temperature sensors, collect health data from patients and communicate it to Health Workers (HWs) such as doctors, nurses, and so on. The HWs cater to the patients remotely, known as remote patient monitoring (RPM), by using data obtained from SNs. The communicated health data between SNs and HWs are sensitive in nature. Leakage and modification of such data leads to huge consequences, particularly patient death during medical emergencies. Hence, ensuring mutual authentication along with data integrity and privacy is of utmost important in the healthcare domain. In the literature, many authentication protocols are presented for healthcare applications specific to IoMT‐RPM. But, most of the existing approaches fail to provide adequate security against well‐known attacks includes impersonation and man‐in‐the‐middle attacks. In this paper, we propose a privacy preserving authentication protocol for IoMT‐RPM which is secure against various known attacks. We present a rigorous formal security analysis of our protocol under the extended Canetti‐Krawczyk (eCK) adversary model. In addition, we also perform formal verification using Tamarin Prover, a symbolic formal analysis tool. The results show that the proposed protocol is secure under eCK‐adversary model. We then present the comparative performance analysis to show the efficiency of the proposed protocol over the existing protocols. As a result, the proposed protocol provides high security without compromising the performance over the existing protocols, and therefore, our protocol is very much suitable for real‐time applications.

Influences of damping, perturbation and variable coefficient on an extended nonlinear Gardner model

Describing the nonlinear wave propagation in fluids has posed a challenging task. The nonlinear Gardner equation stands as a crucial model in fluid dynamics. An extended Gardner model incorporates variable coefficients, damping, and perturbation terms, offering a more comprehensive approach to understanding complex wave dynamics in fluids. In our study, we employ the symbolic computation tool, specifically the Darboux transformation, to derive new analytic solutions up to the Nth order for this extended Gardner equation. By assigning the spectrum parameters in these solutions into real values, we are able to obtain line-like solitons. Moreover, when N⩾2 and pairs of complex conjugate values are assigned to two of the spectrum parameters, breathers emerge. This enables a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics involving solitons, breathers, and their hybrid forms, shedding light on their interactions. Furthermore, our work introduces several noteworthy insights by investigating the influences of three key factors: the damping, perturbation, and variable coefficient. Through a few of specific examples, we can confirm the following facts: (i) The damping factor plays a crucial role in rendering solitons and breathers unstable, causing them to undergo exponential changes in both amplitudes and directions during propagation. (ii) The perturbation function creates non-zero background waves along the time axis, which interact with solitons and breathers. (iii) The variable coefficient can introduce disturbances to solitons and breathers. Our findings disclose that this equation exhibits a wealth of intricate propagation patterns. Various factors can exert varying degrees of influence on solitons and their dynamics. This observation just underscores the complexity inherent in the real world and should be useful in applications.

Problem solving in mathematics education: tracing its foundations and current research-practice trends

In tracing recent research trends and directions in mathematical problem-solving, it is argued that advances in mathematics practices occur and take place around two intertwined activities, mathematics problem formulation and ways to approach and solve those problems. In this context, a problematizing principle emerges as central activity to organize mathematics curriculum proposals and ways to structure problem-solving learning environments. Subjects’ use of concrete, abstract, symbolic, or digital tools not only influences the ways to pose and pursue mathematical problems; but also shapes the type of representation, exploration, and reasoning they engage to work and solve problems. Problem-solving foundations that privilege learners’ development of habits of mathematical practices that involve an inquiry method to formulate conjectures, to look for different ways to represent and approach problems, and to support and communicate results shed light on directions of current research trends and the relevance of rethinking curriculum proposals and extending problem-solving environments in terms of teachers/students’ consistent use of digital tools and online developments.

ParDiff: Practical Static Differential Analysis of Network Protocol Parsers

Countless devices all over the world are connected by networks and communicated via network protocols. Just like common software, protocol implementations suffer from bugs, many of which only cause silent data corruption instead of crashes. Hence, existing automated bug-finding techniques focused on memory safety, such as fuzzing, can hardly detect them. In this work, we propose a static differential analysis called ParDiff to find protocol implementation bugs, especially silent ones hidden in message parsers. Our key observation is that a network protocol often has multiple implementations and any semantic discrepancy between them may indicate bugs. However, different implementations are often written in disparate styles, e.g., using different data structures or written with different control structures, making it challenging to directly compare two implementations of even the same protocol. To exploit this observation and effectively compare multiple protocol implementations, ParDiff (1) automatically extracts finite state machines from programs to represent protocol format specifications, and (2) then leverages bisimulation and SMT solvers to find fine-grained and semantic inconsistencies between them. We have extensively evaluated ParDiff using 14 network protocols. The results show that ParDiff outperforms both differential symbolic execution and differential fuzzing tools. To date, we have detected 41 bugs with 25 confirmed by developers.

The Sustainability committee and environmental disclosure: International evidence

This paper contributes to the growing debate about the role of board-level sustainability committees, focusing on whether they leverage sustainability expertise for impactful environmental initiatives or purely serve as symbolic actions aimed at greenwashing. Using a large set of firms from 35 countries over the 2010–2017 period, we find that the presence of a sustainability committee is positively associated with higher-quality GHG emissions disclosure. This finding is robust to endogeneity and sample selection bias concerns. The sustainability committee effect is more pronounced when external environmental institutions are too weak to properly monitor corporate environmental disclosure. Our findings suggest that sustainability committees are not a symbolic management tool, but play a crucial role in enhancing corporate environmental disclosure.

Architectures of modern intelligent systems: synergy of cybernetics and symbolic artificial intelligence, tools and technologies for the developmentof intelligent systems

Architectures of modern intelligent systems: synergy of cybernetics and symbolic artificial intelligence, tools and technologies for the developmentof intelligent systems

Making Sense of Dementia: Older Adults' Subjective Representations of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

This research explores how the representations and meanings of living with dementia are constructed by older adults. Focus groups (N = 19) and in-depth interviews (N = 29) were conducted with older adults aged 65+ living in the Czech Republic, representing different levels of personal familiarity with care for an individual experiencing dementia. We identified 2 different discourses: (1) Tragedy discourse with two distinctive repertoires "dementia as a thief of personality" and "dementia as a thief of humanity." Within such discourse, dementia transcends mere medical terminology, serving as a symbolic representation of existential anxieties linked to aging and the perceived loss of control. (2) The discourse of Dementia as a specific way in which people approach the world was articulated mainly by caregivers, providing them with a coping mechanism and a means to reconstruct the agency of the person experiencing dementia. In older adults' representations, references to suffering among family members emerged as a primary association with dementia. Dementia was portrayed as "contagious" in its effect on the family members who were, in a sense, depicted as the primary sufferers of the disease. Dementia often serves as a symbolic tool for older adults to articulate concerns about advanced old age, extending beyond its clinical definition to convey deep-seated fears associated with aging. The experience of people surrounding those diagnosed with dementia and the permeability of the impacts of this disease between bodies represented crucial frameworks for conceptualizing dementia in the narratives of older adults.

Sustainability Reporting on Financial Performance, the Role of CSR Committee, Evidence from Indonesia

Companies in running their business compete to improve their respective performance reporting. ESG issues have gained considerable attention as companies increasingly focus on disclosing both financial and non-financial information. This research aims to assess the partial and simultaneous impact of ESG performance on Return on Assets (ROA) and Tobin's Q, with moderation by the CSR committee. Disclosure information and financial data for companies in the energy sector in Indonesia were sourced from financial reports and sustainability reports. encompassing a total of 78 companies period the years 2013 to 2022. After applying criteria for companies disclosing ESG information, a subset of 43 companies was identified. Using Chow test, Lagrange, and Hausman tests before moderation, followed by tests after moderation by the CSR committee using STATA. The research finding, before moderation by the CSR committee, revealed that ESG performance had a positive and significant impact on ROA, while its effect on Tobin's Q was negative and insignificant. Then moderation by the CSR committee, indicated that the presence of a CSR committee positively moderated the impact of ESG performance on ROA and Tobin’ Q, albeit insignificantly. Further examinations post-moderation revealed that the presence of a CSR committee does not exert a significant moderating effect. Consequently, within energy sector companies, the CSR committee seems to serve as a symbolic tool, implying the company's adherence to proper operational practices without significantly altering the impact of ESG performance.

INTEGRAÇÃO DAS TDIC NA FORMAÇÃO DE PROFESSORES: APROXIMAÇÕES ENTRE O MODELO TPACK E A ABORDAGEM SOCIOCULTURAL

ABSTRACT: We aimed to conduct a theoretical discussion of the elements that enable reading of the Pedagogical and Content Technological Knowledge (TPACK) model from the perspective of the sociocultural approach. To this end, we present the conceptual structures of the TPACK model and introduce information and communication technologies (ICT) as cultural and symbolic tools to mediate the teacher's pedagogical action. By assuming the concepts of mediation, mastery, and appropriation, arising from the sociocultural approach, we establish a dialogue with the TPACK model to highlight the possible contributions of this reinterpretation to teacher training today. Finally, we discuss the implications of this approach for initial teacher education for and with digital technologies. We hope we will contribute to the discussions underlying teacher research and training, supporting conceptualization that is useful for the research into the modes of interaction mediated by ICT, as well as to the discussion about the factors involved in the ways teachers access, capture, and build professional knowledge in the interface with digital technologies.

Typing beyond tradition: Women’s writing practices and the challenge to heteronormative domesticity in socialist Poland

This article delves into the nuanced interplay between the domestication of women’s labor and writing practices in 1970s Poland, focusing on the literary community of Obory near Warsaw and the typewriter as a symbolic tool. Set against the backdrop of patriarchal norms, communist promises of emancipation, and late socialist consumption aspirations, Obory’s house of creative work melds women’s writing with both waged and unwaged feminized roles. Drawing on Alva Gotby’s notion of emotional reproduction, this investigation highlights enduring societal frameworks, particularly the structures of the heterosexual family, domestic roles, and genderspecific labor. Using oral histories, interviews with 1960s-70s translators, and 1978-1979 applications to the Polish Writers’ Union, the study incorporates Diana Taylor’s concepts of archive and repertoire. This approach captures the distinct practices of Obory’s women writers while reviving the embodied memory of their typing and the venue’s unique legacy.