Guaranteed Inertia Functions in Dynamical Games.

This paper deals with inertia functions in control theory introduced in Aubin, Bernardo and Saint-Pierre (2004, 2005) and their adaptation to dynamical games. The inertia function associates with any initial state-control pair the smallest of the worst norms over time of the velocities of the controls regulating viable evolutions. For tychastic systems (parameterized systems where the parameters are tyches, disturbances, perturbations, etc.), the palicinesia of a tyche measure the worst norm over time of the velocities of the tyches. The palicinesia function is the largest palicinesia threshold c such that all evolutions with palicinesia smaller than or equal to c are viable. For dynamical games where one parameter is the control and the other one is a tyche (games against nature or robust control), we define the guaranteed inertia function associated with any initial state-control-tyche triple the best of the worst of the norms of the velocities of the controls and of the tyches and study their properties. Viability Characterizations and Hamilton-Jacobi equations of which these inertia and palicinesia functions are solutions are provided.Viability; dynamical games; inertia function; Tychastic systems; palicinesia;

Dynamic Management of Portfolios with Transaction Costs under Tychastic Uncertainty.

We use in this chapter the viability/capturability approach for studying the problem of dynamic valuation and management of a portfolio with transaction costs in the framework of tychastic control systems (or dynamical games against nature) instead of stochastic control systems. Indeed, the very definition of the guaranteed valuation set can be formulated directly in terms of guaranteed viable-capture basin of a dynamical game. Hence, we shall “compute” the guaranteed viable-capture basin and find a formula for the valuation function involving an underlying criterion, use the tangential properties of such basins for proving that the valuation function is a solution to Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs partial differential equations. We then derive a dynamical feedback providing an adjustment law regulating the evolution of the portfolios obeying viability constraints until it achieves the given objective in finite time. We shall show that the Pujal—Saint-Pierre viability/capturability algorithm applied to this specific case provides both the valuation function and the associated portfolios.dynamic games; dynamic valuation; tychastic control systems; management of portfolio;

Viabilist and Tychastic Approaches to Guaranteed ALM Problem.

This study reconsiders the problem of hedging a liability by a portfolio made of a riskless asset and an underlying (underlying).Asset and Liability Management; Viability theory;

Représentations à long terme et rappel sériel immédiat : une hypothèse de récupération

Cette thèse traite de la contribution des connaissances à long terme sur le rappel de l'ordre et des items dans un paradigme de rappel sériel immédiat. L'influence des trois facteurs de mémoire à long terme typiquement étudiés dans ce contexte (lexicalité, fréquence et similarité sémantique) est examinée conjointement avec celle d'un facteur typique de court terme: la similarité phonologique ou la suppression articulatoire. Les résultats montrent un effet de tous les facteurs de mémoire à long terme sur les items et de la lexicalité sur l'ordre. Par ailleurs, la suppression articulatoire affecte l'ordre et les items, alors que la similarité phonologique n'affecte que l'ordre. Ces résultats refléteraient la contribution des représentations à long terme à l'interprétation des représentations phonologiques dégradées. Les facteurs de mémoire à long terme influenceraient la qualité et la disponibilité des représentations à long terme, alors que les facteurs de mémoire à court terme influenceraient les représentations phonologiques

Constructing and exploring wells of energy landscapes

Landscape paradigm is ubiquitous in physics and other natural sciences, but it has to be supplemented with both quantitative and qualitatively meaningful tools for analyzing the topography of a given landscape. We here consider dynamic explorations of the relief and introduce as basic topographic features ``wells of duration $T$ and altitude $y$''. We determine an intrinsic exploration mechanism governing the evolutions from an initial state in the well up to its rim in a prescribed time, whose finite-difference approximations on finite grids yield a constructive algorithm for determining the wells. Our main results are thus (i) a quantitative characterization of landscape topography rooted in a dynamic exploration of the landscape, (ii) an alternative to stochastic gradient dynamics for performing such an exploration, (iii) a constructive access to the wells and (iv) the determination of some bare dynamic features inherent to the landscape. The mathematical tools used here are not familiar in physics: They come from set-valued analysis (differential calculus of set-valued maps and differential inclusions) and viability theory (capture basins of targets under evolutionary systems) which have been developed during the last two decades; we therefore propose a minimal appendix exposing them at the end of this paper to bridge the possible gap.Comment: 28 pages, submitted to J. Math. Phys -

SOURCES DE MATÉRIEL EN FRANÇAIS POUR L’ÉLABORATION D’ÉPREUVES DE COMPÉTENCES EN LECTURE ET EN ÉCRITURE

L’élaboration d’une épreuve de competences en lecture ou en écriture présente de nombreux défis. On doit assurer la représentativité des items par rapport au concept ciblé et prendre en compte les variables linguistiques susceptibles d’influencer le comportement mesuré. Les informations afferents à ces variables linguistiques proviennent typiquement des dictionnaires spécialises ou des etudes normatives sur la langue. Le but du present article est de rapporter les résultats d’une recension systématique des sources de materiel en français pouvant server à l’élaboration d’épreuves de competences en lecture et en écriture. Ce compte rendu est organize selon une taxinomie hiérarchique dans laquelle nous opérons une différenciation progressive entre les unites segmentales de la langue, des unites supralexicales aux unites infralexicales. Les variables pertinentes sont définies et les sources de matériels ou de données normatives sont présentées. Mots clés : évaluation des compétences en lecture et en écriture, ressources pour la construction des épreuves en français, données normatives sur le lexique du français The development of tests for the assessment of reading or writing skills always is a challenging task. A representative sample of items for the theoretical construct of interest must be selected and the linguistic variables likely to influence the behavior being measured must be taken into account. The most useful information for this purpose is found in specialized dictionaries and normative data studies. The goal of the present article is to systematically review the sources of material in French that can serve in the assessment of reading and writing skills. This review is broken down into the segmental units of the French language, from supra‐lexical to sub‐lexical units. The relevant variables are defined and the sources of material and normative data are presented.Key words: assessment of reading and writing skills, resources for test construction in French, normative data on the French lexicon

The resilience of verbal sequence learning:Evidence from the Hebb repetition effect

In a single large-scale study, we demonstrate that verbal sequence learning as studied using the classic Hebb repetition effect (Hebb, 1961)—the improvement in the serial recall of a repeating sequence compared to non-repeated sequences—is resilient to both wide and irregular spacing between sequence repetitions. Learning of a repeated sequence of letters was evident to a comparable degree with three, five, and eight intervening non-repeated sequences and regardless of whether the spacing between repetitions was regular or irregular. Importantly, this resilience of verbal sequence learning was observed despite the fact that there was complete item-set overlap between repeated and non-repeated sequences. The findings are consistent with the conceptualization of the Hebb repetition effect as a laboratory analogue of natural phonological word-form learning. The results also have implications for the two leading models of Hebb sequence learning: Whereas the results are incompatible with the model of Page and Norris (2009), they can be handled readily by the model of Burgess and Hitch (2006) through the abandonment of its assumption of long-term (across-trial level) decay

Grouping effects in immediate reconstruction of order and the preconditions for long-term learning

One commonly acknowledged role of working memory is to set up conditions for new learning. Yet, it has long been understood that there is not a perfect correspondence between conditions leading to good immediate recall from working memory and conditions leading to good delayed recall from long-term memory. Here, in six experiments, we investigated the relation between grouping effects in immediate and delayed reconstruction of order for word lists. There has been a striking absence of tests of grouping effects in long-term memory. In the first four experiments, items within groups are presented concurrently, which encourages associations between items in a group. Despite that presumably favourable situation for group learning, in Experiments 1 and 2 we found effects of grouping only in immediate order reconstruction and not in delayed reconstruction. When more processing time was allowed (Experiments 3 and 4), grouping effects in both immediate and delayed order reconstruction were obtained. Experiment 5 showed that, with items presented one at a time, but with roughly the same amount of processing time and spatial separation as the previous two experiments, grouping effects were obtained neither in immediate order reconstruction nor in delayed reconstruction. However, in Experiment 6 with a more salient manipulation of grouping, effects of grouping were obtained in immediate order reconstruction, but not in delayed reconstruction. In sum, we demonstrated for the first time that there are mechanisms of temporal grouping that assist working memory but are relatively ineffective for long-term learning, in contrast to more effective, concurrent presentation

Arousal affects short-term serial recall

Arousal affects our lives in a variety of ways; it can direct our attention to what is important in our environment and help us remember it more clearly. However, it remains unclear how arousal impacts short-term memory. Here we addressed this gap in our knowledge by contrasting four hypotheses: the Arousal Hypothesis, the Priority-Binding Hypothesis, the Rehearsal Hypothesis, and the Rapid-Processing Hypothesis. To distinguish between these competing accounts, we conducted two immediate serial recall experiments in which we manipulated arousal (low-arousal words vs. high-arousal words), list composition (pure vs. mixed), and presentation rate (200 ms vs. 1,000 ms). Overall, participants were better at recalling arousing information, regardless of list type or presentation rate. Our results provide clear evidence in favor of the arousal hypothesis which suggests that arousing information benefits from biologically induced enhancements at encoding

The production effect interacts with serial positions: further evidence from a between-subjects manipulation

Abstract: Reading some words aloud during presentation, that is, producing them, and reading other words silently generate a large memory advantage for words that are produced. This robust within-list production effect is in contrast with the between-lists condition in which all words are read aloud or silently. In a between-lists condition, produced items are better recognized, but not better recalled. The lack of a between-lists production effect with recall tasks has often been presented as one of its defining characteristics and as a benchmark for evaluating models. Recently, Cyr et al. (2021) showed that this occurs because item production interacts with serial positions: Produced items are less well recalled on the first serial positions than silently read items, while the reverse pattern is observed for the recency portion of the curve. However, this pattern was observed with a repeated-measures design, and it may be a by-product of compensatory processes under the control of participants. Here, using a between-participants design, we observed the predicted interaction between production and serial positions. The results further support the Revised Feature Model (RFM) suggesting that produced items are encoded with more modality-dependent distinctive features, therefore benefiting recall. However, the production of the additional distinctive features would disrupt rehearsal