arXiv subjects

Vincent Moreau

Publications and source records attributed to Vincent Moreau.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A cartesian closed fibration of higher-order regular languages

We explain how to construct in two different ways a cartesian closed fibration of higher-order regular languages in the sense of Salvati. In the first construction, we use fibrational techniques to derive the cartesian closed fibration from the various categories of regular languages of $\lambda$-terms associated to finite sets of ground states. In the second construction, we take advantage of the recent notion of profinite $\lambda$-calculus to define the cartesian closed fibration by a change-of-base from the fibration of clopen subsets over the category of Stone spaces, using an elegant idea coming from Hermida. We illustrate the expressive power of the cartesian closed fibration by generalizing the notion of Brzozowski derivative to higher-order regular languages, using an Isbell-like adjunction in the sense of Melli\`es and Zeilberger.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2025

Carrot, stick, or both? Price incentives for sustainable food choice in competitive environments

Meat consumption is a major driver of global greenhouse gas emissions. While pricing interventions have shown potential to reduce meat intake, previous studies have focused on highly constrained environments with limited consumer choice. Here, we present the first large-scale field experiment to evaluate multiple pricing interventions in a real-world, competitive setting. Using a sequential crossover design with matched menus in a Swiss university campus, we systematically compared vegetarian-meal discounts (-2.5 CHF), meat surcharges (+2.5 CHF), and a combined scheme (-1.2 CHF=+1.2 CHF) across four campus cafeterias. Only the surcharge and combined interventions led to significant increases in vegetarian meal uptake--by 26.4% and 16.6%, respectively--and reduced CO2 emissions per meal by 7.4% and 11.3%, respectively. The surcharge, while effective, triggered a 12.3% drop in sales at intervention sites and a corresponding 14.9% increase in non-treated locations, hence causing a spillover effect that completely offset environmental gains. In contrast, the combined approach achieved meaningful emission reductions without significant effects on overall sales or revenue, making it both effective and economically viable. Notably, pricing interventions were equally effective for both vegetarian-leaning customers and habitual meat-eaters, stimulating change even within entrenched dietary habits. Our results show that balanced pricing strategies can reduce the carbon footprint of realistic food environments, but require coordinated implementation to maximize climate benefits and avoid unintended spillover effects.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2025

Meat-Free Day Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions but Poses Challenges for Customer Retention and Adherence to Dietary Guidelines

Reducing meat consumption is crucial for achieving global environmental and nutritional targets. Meat-Free Day (MFD) is a widely adopted strategy to address this challenge by encouraging plant-based diets through the removal of animal-based meals. We assessed the environmental, behavioral, and nutritional impacts of MFD by implementing 67 MFDs over 18 months (once a week on a randomly chosen day) across 12 cafeterias on a large university campus, analyzing over 400,000 food purchases. MFD reduced on-campus food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on treated days by 52.9% and contributed to improved fiber (+26.9%) and cholesterol (-4.5%) consumption without altering caloric intake. These nutritional benefits were, however, accompanied by a 27.6% decrease in protein intake and a 34.2% increase in sugar consumption. Moreover, the increase in plant-based meals did not carry over to subsequent days, as evidenced by a 3.5% rebound in animal-based meal consumption on days immediately following treated days. MFD also led to a 16.8% drop in on-campus meal sales on treated days.Monte Carlo simulations suggest that if 8.7% of diners were to eat burgers off-campus on treated days, MFD's GHG savings would be fully negated. As our analysis identifies on-campus customer retention as the main challenge to MFD effectiveness, we recommend combining MFD with customer retention interventions to ensure environmental and nutritional benefits.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2024

Profinite trees, through Lawvere theories and the lambda-calculus

The starting point of algebraic language theory is that regular languages of finite words are exactly those recognized by finite monoids. This finiteness condition gives rise to a topological space whose points, called profinite words, encode the limiting behavior of words with respect to finite monoids. In this work, we move from words and monoids to trees and clones, the algebraic structures underlying deterministic bottom-up tree automata. Using the categorical notion of codensity monad, we introduce a profinite completion for clones. We prove that this construction on clones simultaneously generalizes the ultrafilter monad on sets and the profinite completion of monoids. When applied to free clones on a ranked alphabet, the profinite completion of clones yields a notion of profinite tree, providing a topological approach to regular languages of finite trees. We prove that these profinite trees coincide with a well-identified fragment of the profinite lambda-calculus.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2024

Syntactically and semantically regular languages of lambda-terms coincide through logical relations

A fundamental theme in automata theory is regular languages of words and trees, and their many equivalent definitions. Salvati has proposed a generalization to regular languages of simply typed $λ$-terms, defined using denotational semantics in finite sets. We provide here some evidence for its robustness. First, we give an equivalent syntactic characterization that naturally extends the seminal work of Hillebrand and Kanellakis connecting regular languages of words and syntactic $λ$-definability. Second, we show that any finitary extensional model of the simply typed $λ$-calculus, when used in Salvati's definition, recognizes exactly the same class of languages of $λ$-terms as the category of finite sets does. The proofs of these two results rely on logical relations and can be seen as instances of a more general construction of a categorical nature, inspired by previous categorical accounts of logical relations using the gluing construction.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Profinite lambda-terms and parametricity

Combining ideas coming from Stone duality and Reynolds parametricity, we formulate in a clean and principled way a notion of profinite lambda-term which, we show, generalizes at every type the traditional notion of profinite word coming from automata theory. We start by defining the Stone space of profinite lambda-terms as a projective limit of finite sets of usual lambda-terms, considered modulo a notion of equivalence based on the finite standard model. One main contribution of the paper is to establish that, somewhat surprisingly, the resulting notion of profinite lambda-term coming from Stone duality lives in perfect harmony with the principles of Reynolds parametricity. In addition, we show that the notion of profinite lambda-term is compositional by constructing a cartesian closed category of profinite lambda-terms, and we establish that the embedding from lambda-terms modulo beta-eta-conversion to profinite lambda-terms is faithful using Statman's finite completeness theorem. Finally, we prove that the traditional Church encoding of finite words into lambda-terms can be extended to profinite words, and leads to a homeomorphism between the space of profinite words and the space of profinite lambda-terms of the corresponding Church type.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2012

Design Differences between the Pan-STARRS PS1 and PS2 Telescopes

The PS2 telescope is the second in an array of wide-field telescopes that is being built for the Panoramic-Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on Haleakala. The PS2 design has evolved incrementally based on lessons learned from PS1, but these changes should result in significant improvements in image quality, tracking performance in windy conditions, and reductions in scattered light. The optics for this telescope are finished save for their coatings and the fabrication for the telescope structure itself is well on the way towards completion and installation on-site late this year (2012). The most significant differences between the two telescopes include the following: secondary mirror support changes, improvements in the optical polishing, changes in the optical coatings to improve throughput and decrease ghosting, removal of heat sources inside the mirror cell, expansion of the primary mirror figure control system, changes in the baffle designs, and an improved cable wrap design. This paper gives a description of each of these design changes and discusses the motivations for making them.

astro-ph.IM↗