Solving Zero-Sum Games Using Best-Response Oracles with Applications to Search Games

How to Choose Between Exponentially Many Strategies In “Solving Zero-Sum Games Using Best-Response Oracles with Applications to Search Games,” L. Hellerstein, T. Lidbetter, and D. Pirutinsky consider zero-sum games between a minimizer and a maximizer, where the number of pure strategies of the minimizer is exponential in the number of pure strategies of the maximizer. Such games are frequent in the search-games literature. Solving them with standard algorithms typically takes exponential time. The authors show how to compute (approximate) solutions in polynomial time, provided that there is a polynomial time (approximate) algorithm solving the best-response problem: given a mixed (randomized) strategy of the maximizer, what is a best response of the minimizer? The paper presents both a learning approach using weight updates and an approach of solely theoretical interest based on the ellipsoid algorithm. The learning approach performs well experimentally compared with approaches in the literature. The results are applied to obtain new algorithms for solving specific search games. </jats:p

Do Medical Models of Mental Illness Relate to Increased or Decreased Stigmatization of Mental Illness Among Orthodox Jews?

Research suggests that attributing mental illness to moral causes and perceiving it as dangerous relates to greater stigma, whereas belief in biomedical factors is associated with less. Within the family-centric Orthodox Jewish community, mental illness is perceived as a risk to family functioning and future generations, and is therefore stigmatizing of the individual and their family. Since biomedical models may exacerbate these concerns, we hypothesized that unlike within the general population, biological causal attributions would relate to increased stigma among Orthodox Jews. Consequently, we also examined the attitudinal correlates of stigmatization of obsessive-compulsive disorder within the Orthodox community, as measured by both social distance and family/marriage concerns. Results indicated that, unlike previous research, biological models were associated with greater marriage/family stigma, and did not predict less social distance. This suggests that biomedical approaches may increase salient aspects of stigma within the Orthodox community, and clinical practice should be sensitive to these concerns

Religiousness and Social Support: A Study in Secular Norway

Previous research has shown that religiousness is related to social support, but most studies on this subject have been conducted in highly religious contexts. In the secular culture of Norway, we investigated the level of perceived social support among religious and non-religious individuals using the scale from the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey. Of the 3,000 randomly selected persons aged 18–75 years, 653 (22 %) participated in this cross-sectional postal questionnaire study in 2009. The results showed that the association between religiousness and social support differed by age, and was moderated by gender and by one’s view of life enrichment. Among older adults (60–75 years), non-religious people reported higher levels on all five dimensions of social support compared to religious people, and for affectionate support, positive social interaction and tangible support this relationship depended on high view of life enrichment. In contrast, no differences in social support were seen among middle aged adults (40–59 years). Gender differences in social support were found in the younger adults (18–39 years), as religious men reported more tangible and emotional support compared to non-religious men, while the opposite was found for women. Results are discussed based on previous empirical findings on religiousness and social support, as well as the role of religiousness in society