Compositional game theory

We introduce open games as a compositional foundation of economic game theory. A compositional approach potentially allows methods of game theory and theoretical computer science to be applied to large-scale economic models for which standard economic tools are not practical. An open game represents a game played relative to an arbitrary environment and to this end we introduce the concept of coutility, which is the utility generated by an open game and returned to its environment. Open games are the morphisms of a symmetric monoidal category and can therefore be composed by categorical composition into sequential move games and by monoidal products into simultaneous move games. Open games can be represented by string diagrams which provide an intuitive but formal visualisation of the information flows. We show that a variety of games can be faithfully represented as open games in the sense of having the same Nash equilibria and off-equilibrium best responses.Comment: This version submitted to LiCS 201

Scaling up mental health services for internally displaced and vulnerable host populations in the Central African Republic

ABSTRACT: The Central African Republic has been experiencing socio-political conflicts for decades, and political change has mainly come about through violence, leaving millions in immediate need of refuge and humanitarian assistance. Violence and displacement expose vulnerable groups and the community at large to a number of threats and stressors. In disaster situations, WHO estimates an increase in severe mental disorders from a projected baseline of 2–3% to an estimated 3–4% and an increase in mild or moderate mental disorders from a projected baseline of 10% to an estimated 15–20%. This programme aims to integrate mental health care in nonspecialized health settings. The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) initiative incorporates evidence-based guidelines on managing mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders in primary care settings by nonspecialist health-care workers. The mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG), introduced in 2015, is a valuable manual that can be used as a resource in training nonspecialists in providing primary mental health care. Based on the “Mental Health Gap Action Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit”, as of June 2017: - 48 nonspecialist health-care providers, including nine medical doctors, 28 certified nurses and 11 other health-care providers have been trained; - 24 health-care facilities are using mhGAP-HIG to assess and manage persons with MNS disorders (4 hospitals, 20 health centres); and - 380 people with MNS disorders have been seen in those facilities (184 for acute stress, 55 for post-traumatic stress disorder, 20 for depression, 21 for psychosis, 25 for epilepsy and 75 for harmful use of alcohol and drugs).RESUMO: A República Centro-Africana vem enfrentando conflitos sócio-políticos há décadas e a mudança política ocorreu principalmente através da violência, deixando milhões em necessidade imediata de refúgio e assistência humanitária. A violência e o deslocamento dos grupos vulneráveis os expõem a uma série de ameaças e estressores. Em situações de desastre, a OMS estima um aumento na taixa de graves transtornos mentais, 2-3% a uma estimativa de 3-4% e um aumento de leves ou moderados transtornos mentais de 10% a 15-20%. Este programa integra cuidados de saúde mental em ambientes de saúde não especializadas. A iniciativa do Plano Global de Ação de Saúde Mental (mhGAP) incorpora diretrizes baseadas em evidências sobre o gerenciamento de transtornos mentais, neurológicos e do abuso de substâncias (MNS) nas áreas de atenção primária por profissionais de saúde não especializados. O Guia de Intervenção Humanitária mhGAP (mhGAP-HIG), introduzido em 2015, é um valioso manual que pode ser usado como um recurso na formação de não especialistas em cuidados primários de saúde mental. Em junho de 2017, usando como base o "Kit de Ferramentas de Monitoramento e Avaliação do Programa de Ação do Gap de Saúde Mental": - foram treinados 48 prestadores de cuidados de saúde não especializados, incluindo 9 médicos de clínica geral, 28 enfermeiros gerais e outros 11 prestadores de cuidados de saúde, - 24 unidades de saúde estão usando mhGAP-HIG para avaliar e gerenciar pessoas com distúrbios MNS (4 Hospitais, 20 Centros de Saúde), - 380 pessoas com distúrbios MNS foram observadas nessas instalações (184 Estresse agudo, 55 Doenças pós-traumáticas, 20 Depressão, 21 Psicose, 25 Epilepsia, 75 Uso nocivo de Álcool e Drogas)

Distribution d’Antoid : un moteur de jeu expérimental massivement multijoueurs au monde permanent

Le projet de maîtrise présenté dans ce mémoire, constitue le prolongement d’un projet initié en 2014 à L’UQÀC, dans le cadre de notre baccalauréat en conception de jeu vidéo. Notre objectif était alors de développer les fondations d’une version multijoueurs du jeu « Moria ». Notre jeu comprend une partie client et une partie serveur, cette dernière comprenant le moteur du jeu (Antoid) et l’interface avec la partie client. Notre objectif, en maîtrise, était de distribuer Antoid sur une grappe d’ordinateurs. L’enjeu étant d’obtenir une version massivement multijoueurs. Quand un événement se produit, il n’affecte pas toutes les entités du jeu, mais seulement celles qui se situent dans sa zone d’effet. Partant de cette observation, nous avons élaboré une stratégie consistant (en passant au paradigme Acteur de C. Hewitt) à doter chaque entité du jeu de sa propre boucle d’événements, à transformer le monde virtuel du jeu en un maillage de cases extensible et enfin à développer divers algorithmes de traitement et de diffusion de l’information événementielle, capables d’opérer dans ce nouvel environnement sans nécessiter de supervision. Notre hypothèse était qu’avec cette nouvelle version d’Antoid, il serait possible d’accroître massivement le nombre d’entités en interaction (donc d’événements) en ajoutant simplement de nouveaux noeuds à la grappe d’ordinateurs, sans effondrement des performances. Pour tester notre hypothèse, nous avons mesuré l’évolution des délais de traitement liés au déplacement des personnages (non-joueurs) dans le monde virtuel du jeu, quand on augmente progressivement le nombre de personnages et de cases d’une part, puis le nombre de noeuds de la grappe d’ordinateurs d’autre part. L’expérience, comprenant 60 itérations et impliquant jusqu’à 279936 cases, 7776 personnages et 4 noeuds, a montré une grande stabilité, en moyenne, de ces délais, ainsi qu’un accroissement linéaire du nombre d’entités additionnelles par noeud additionnel

Fully Dynamic Maximum Independent Sets of Disks in Polylogarithmic Update Time

A fundamental question in computational geometry is for a dynamic collection of geometric objects in Euclidean space, whether it is possible to maintain a maximum independent set in polylogarithmic update time. Already, for a set of intervals, it is known that no dynamic algorithm can maintain an exact maximum independent set with sublinear update time. Therefore, the typical objective is to explore the trade-off between update time and solution size. Substantial efforts have been made in recent years to understand this question for various families of geometric objects, such as intervals, hypercubes, hyperrectangles, and fat objects. We present the first fully dynamic approximation algorithm for disks of arbitrary radii in the plane that maintains a constant-factor approximate maximum independent set in polylogarithmic update time. First, we show that for a fully dynamic set of $n$ unit disks in the plane, a $12$-approximate maximum independent set can be maintained with worst-case update time $O(\log^2 n)$, and optimal output-sensitive reporting. Moreover, this result generalizes to fat objects of comparable sizes in any fixed dimension $d$, where the approximation ratio depends on the dimension and the fatness parameter. Our main result is that for a fully dynamic set of disks of arbitrary radii in the plane, an $O(1)$-approximate maximum independent set can be maintained in polylogarithmic expected amortized update time.Comment: Abstract is shortened to meet Arxiv's requirement on the number of character

Soft x-ray properties of the binary millisecond pulsar J0437-4715

We obtained a light curve for the 5.75 ms pulsar J0437-4715 in the 65-120 A range with 0.5 ms time resolution using the Deep Survey instrument on the EUVE satellite. The single-peaked profile has a pulsed fraction of 0. 27 +/- 0.05, similar to the ROSAT data in the overlapping energy band. A combined analysis of the EUVE and ROSAT data is consistent with a power-law spectrum of energy index alpha = 1.2-1.5, intervening column density NH = (5-8) x 10(exp 19)/sq cm, and luminosity 5.0 x 10(exp 30) ergs/s in the 0.1-2. 4 keV band. We also use a bright EUVE/ROSAT source only 4.3 deg from the pulsar, the Seyfert galaxy RX J0437.4-4711 (= EUVE J0437-471 = lES 0435-472), to obtain an independent upper limit on the intervening absorption to the pulsar, NH less than 1.2 x 10(exp 20)/sq cm. Although a blackbody spectrum fails to fit the ROSAT data, two-component spectral fits to the combined EUVE/ROSAT data are used to limit the temperatures and surface areas of thermal emission that might make partial contributions to the flux. A hot polar cap of radius 50-600 m and temperature (1.0-3.3) x 10(exp 6) K could be present. Alternatively, a larger region with T = (4-12) x 10(exp 5) K and area less than 200 sq km, might contribute most of the EUVE and soft X-ray flux, but only if a hotter component were present as well. Any of these temperatures would require some mechanism(s) of surface reheating to be operating in this old pulsar, the most plausible being the impact of accelerated electrons and positrons onto the polar caps. The kinematically corrected spin-down power of PSR J0437-4715 is only 4 x 10(exp 33) ergs/s, which is an order of magnitude less than that of the lowest-luminosity gamma-ray pulsars Geminga and PSR B1055-52. The absence of high-energy gamma-rays from PSR J0437-4715 might signify an inefficient or dead outer gap accelerator, which in turn accounts for the lack of a more luminous reheated surface such as those intermediate-age gamma-ray pulsars may have

The Geminga Pulsar: Soft X-Ray Variability and an EUVE Observation

We observed the Geminga pulsar with the EUVE satellite, detecting pulsed emission in the Deep Survey imager. Joint spectral fits of the EUVE flux with ROSAT PSPC data are consistent with thermal plus power-law models in which the thermal component makes the dominant contribution to the soft X-ray flux seen by EUVE and ROSAT. The data are consistent with blackbody emission of T = (4-6) x 10(exp 5) K over most of the surface of the star at the measured parallax distance of 160 pc. Although model atmospheres are more realistic, and can fit the data with effective temperatures a factor of 2 lower, current data would not discriminate between these and blackbody models. We also find evidence for variability of Geminga's soft X-ray pulse shape. Narrow dips in the light curve that were present in 1991 had largely disappeared in 1993/1994, causing the pulsed fraction to decline from 32% to 18%. If the dips are attributed to cyclotron resonance scattering by an e(+/-) plasma on closed magnetic field lines, then the process that resupplies that plasma must be variable

Strategies to achieve adequate vitamin A intake for young children: options for Cameroon.

Meeting children's vitamin A (VA) needs remains a policy priority. Doing so efficiently is a fiscal imperative and protecting at-risk children during policy transitions is a moral imperative. Using the Micronutrient Intervention Modeling tool and data for Cameroon, we predict the impacts and costs of alternative VA intervention programs, identify the least-cost strategy for meeting targets nationally, and compare it to a business-as-usual (BAU) strategy over 10 years. BAU programs effectively cover ∼12.8 million (m) child-years (CY) and cost ∼$30.1 m; ∼US$2.34 per CY effectively covered. Improving the VA-fortified oil program, implementing a VA-fortified bouillon cube program, and periodic VA supplements (VAS) in the North macroregion for 3 years effectively cover ∼13.1 m CY at a cost of ∼US$9.5 m, or ∼US$0.71 per CY effectively covered. The tool then identifies a sequence of subnational policy choices leading from the BAU toward the more efficient strategy, while addressing VA-attributable mortality concerns. By year 4, fortification programs are predicted to eliminate inadequate VA intake in the South and Cities macroregions, but not the North, where VAS should continue until additional delivery platforms are implemented. This modeling approach offers a concrete example of the strategic use of data to follow the Global Alliance for VA framework and do so efficiently

Developmental trajectories of part-based and configural object recognition in adolescence.

Three experiments assessed the development of children's part and configural (part-relational) processing in object recognition during adolescence. In total, 312 school children aged 7-16 years and 80 adults were tested in 3-alternative forced choice (3-AFC) tasks. They judged the correct appearance of upright and inverted presented familiar animals, artifacts, and newly learned multipart objects, which had been manipulated either in terms of individual parts or part relations. Manipulation of part relations was constrained to either metric (animals, artifacts, and multipart objects) or categorical (multipart objects only) changes. For animals and artifacts, even the youngest children were close to adult levels for the correct recognition of an individual part change. By contrast, it was not until 11-12 years of age that they achieved similar levels of performance with regard to altered metric part relations. For the newly learned multipart objects, performance was equivalent throughout the tested age range for upright presented stimuli in the case of categorical part-specific and part-relational changes. In the case of metric manipulations, the results confirmed the data pattern observed for animals and artifacts. Together, the results provide converging evidence, with studies of face recognition, for a surprisingly late consolidation of configural-metric relative to part-based object recognition