Self-stabilizing uncoupled dynamics

Dynamics in a distributed system are self-stabilizing if they are guaranteed to reach a stable state regardless of how the system is initialized. Game dynamics are uncoupled if each player's behavior is independent of the other players' preferences. Recognizing an equilibrium in this setting is a distributed computational task. Self-stabilizing uncoupled dynamics, then, have both resilience to arbitrary initial states and distribution of knowledge. We study these dynamics by analyzing their behavior in a bounded-recall synchronous environment. We determine, for every "size" of game, the minimum number of periods of play that stochastic (randomized) players must recall in order for uncoupled dynamics to be self-stabilizing. We also do this for the special case when the game is guaranteed to have unique best replies. For deterministic players, we demonstrate two self-stabilizing uncoupled protocols. One applies to all games and uses three steps of recall. The other uses two steps of recall and applies to games where each player has at least four available actions. For uncoupled deterministic players, we prove that a single step of recall is insufficient to achieve self-stabilization, regardless of the number of available actions

Building Campaign Update

Three alums have spearheaded the new building effort and the law school community has happily followed their lead. Although groundbreaking is slated for October and $7.5 million has been pledged, there is still much to be done. You can help

“Always Ready for any Sticky Job”: The Canadian Corps of (Civilian) Firefighters in the Second World War

The Canadian Corps of (Civilian) Firefighters was created. In 1942 to assist the British National Fire Service (NFS) in fighting fires caused by German bombings. Some 400 specially-recruited Corps members served in Britain from 1942 to 1944 under often very hazardous conditions. Its story remains one of the forgotten and more unique Canadian contributions to the war effort

Raising Standards, Praising Tradition

While holding tight to our heritage through the traditional architectural design of the new building, we\u27re moving toward a new paradigm in the way lawyers are educated. The new School of Law will continue to embrace the Socratic Method, yet house computerized casebooks and dedicated networks and spaces devoted to today\u27s legal practices