Puzzle Assembly Research Articles

An image processing approach for jigsaw puzzle assembly

PurposeTo develop an image processing approach for jigsaw puzzle assembly.Design/methodology/approachFirst, pixels are extracted from the jigsaw puzzle blocks to calculate their rotation angles and centre coordinates. Second, a template matching method is employed to recognise each block and its orientation.FindingsA robot‐based jigsaw puzzle system is established; and an effective image processing approach for assembly is developed.Practical implicationsAutomatic assembly lines that assemble parts with the same shape, but random position and angle, can employ the jigsaw puzzle assembly method.Originality/valueAn effective image processing method for jigsaw puzzle assembly is presented in this paper. The validity of the method is proved by analysis and experiment.

Maternal Distancing Strategies Toward Twin Sons, One With Mild Hearing Loss: A Case Study

The authors apply descriptive and sequential analyses to a mother's distancing strategies toward her 3-year-old twin sons in puzzle assembly and book reading tasks. One boy had normal hearing and the other a mild hearing loss (threshold: 30 dB). The results show that the mother used more distancing behaviors with the son with a hearing loss, and thus gave greater encouragement to this son's cognitive development. These results differ from those of previous studies of deaf or hard of hearing children, whose participants generally had severe or profound hearing loss. In those studies, parents of deaf children used more low-level distancing than parents of normally hearing children. The results of the present study are discussed in terms of their implications for the parenting of twins and of children with mild hearing loss.

Robot Manipulations: A Synergy of Visualization, Computation and Action for Spatial Instruction

This article considers the use of a learning environment, RoboCell, where manipulations of objects are performed by robot operations specified through the learner's application of mathematical and spatial reasoning. A curriculum is proposed relating to robot kinematics and point-to-point motion, rotation of objects, and robotic assembly of spatial puzzles. Various instructional methods are supported by the RoboCell robot system, such as interactive demonstrations, modeling, computer simulations and robot operations, providing diverse activities in spatial perception, mental rotation and visualization. Pre-course and post-course tests in two middle schools and a high school indicated significant student progress in the tasks related to the categories of spatial ability which were practiced in the course.

Phonological and Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Alterations in Dyslexic Children

Background Working memory allows the retention of a limited amount of information for a brief period of time and the manipulation of that information. This study was undertaken to compare possible differences in working memory between dyslexic and control children. Methods To test the executive central process that controls attention, subjects were requested to assemble a 100-piece puzzle. To test the phonological loop, subjects were requested to repeat orally a 10-item list with the following characteristics: digits spanning two numbers; phonologically similar words, and unfamiliar pseudowords. The visuo-spatial sketchpad was tested by means of assembling a 25-piece puzzle. Results Forty dyslexic and and forty control children were studied. Dyslexic children recall a lesser number of similar words in the phonological loop and spend a longer time in puzzle assembly in the visuo-spatial sketchpad. No statistical difference in the central executive process was found. Conclusions Present results suggest the importance of visuo-spatial and phonological loop alterations in dyslexic children that may result in difficulties with similar words and spatial information.

Teaching Computerized Integrated Manufacturing in Engineering Departments

SUMMARY This paper deals with the experience gained by the authors when teaching the basics of computerized integrated manufacturing (CIM) in laboratory classes of the Faculty of Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. The essential aspects of this instruction are presented in terms of the production process of a puzzle as an example of CIM. This process includes the main stages of production in general. The accent is placed on the puzzle's assembly stage as the more time-consuming, less-automated stage in industry (about 50%), which is of greatest interest to the students in terms of the technical pitfalls and brain power required for overcoming them. This paper describes both the design of hardware devices and the software used for programming the equipment.

The Coordinated Use of Tandem Mass Spectrometry and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry for the Structure Identification of the Kedarcidin Chromophore

Structure identification strategies for kedarcidin chromophore are described using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and high-resolution MS techniques. The strategy involves dividing a large, complex natural product molecule into several smaller molecules (substructures) to simplify identification. Substructures are generated using the full-scan MS and MS/MS product ion scan modes. The relationship between substructures, or mass spectral connectivity, is subsequently established using the MS/MS precursor scan mode. Similar to the assembly of a picture puzzle, the structural borders are defined using accurate mass measurements providing molecular formulas of the various substructure molecules. An iterative application of this substructure analysis scheme provides greater substructural detail facilitating identification.

A test of the "jigsaw puzzle" model for protein folding by multiple methionine substitutions within the core of T4 lysozyme.

To test whether the structure of a protein is determined in a manner akin to the assembly of a jigsaw puzzle, up to 10 adjacent residues within the core of T4 lysozyme were replaced by methionine. Such variants are active and fold cooperatively with progressively reduced stability. The structure of a seven-methionine variant has been shown, crystallographically, to be similar to wild type and to maintain a well ordered core. The interaction between the core residues is, therefore, not strictly comparable with the precise spatial complementarity of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Rather, a certain amount of give and take in forming the core structure is permitted. A simplified hydrophobic core sequence, imposed without genetic selection or computer-based design, is sufficient to retain native properties in a globular protein.

Implicit Memory in Parkinsonian Patients: Evidence for Deficient Skill Learning

The aim of this study was to investigate procedural learning in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. For this purpose, 18 nondemented PD patients and 20 age-matched healthy subjects were trained to learn a visuoperceptual skill (mirror reading) and a cognitive skill with a motor demand (puzzle assembly task). In 3-day sessions, the patients were requested to perform with repeated and unrepeated stimuli, in order to distinguish between pure procedural learning and skill learning at least partially supported by explicit memory retrieval. In the mirror reading task, the PD patients showed normal improvement in reading times for repeated words but no improvement at all for unrepeated stimuli. In the puzzle assembly task, PD patients did not show any significant learning either for repeated or unrepeated stimuli. These results, which document deficient learning of procedures in parkinsonians, are discussed in the light of conflicting data reported regarding implicit memory in PD.

The triple origin of skull in higher vertebrates: a study in quail-chick chimeras

We have used the quail-chick chimera technique to study the origin of the bones of the skull in the avian embryo. Although the contribution of the neural crest to the facial and visceral skeleton had been established previously, the origin of the vault of the skull (i.e. frontal and parietal bones) remained uncertain. Moreover formation of the occipito-otic region from either the somitic or the cephalic paraxial mesoderm had not been experimentally investigated. The data obtained in the present and previous works now allow us to assign a precise embryonic origin from either the mesectoderm, the paraxial cephalic mesoderm or the five first somites, to all the bones forming the avian skull. We distinguish a skull located in front of the extreme tip of the notochord which reaches the sella turcica and a skull located caudally to this boundary. The former ('prechordal skull') is derived entirely from the neural crest, the latter from the mesoderm (cephalic or somitic) in its ventromedial part ('chordal skull') and from the crest for the parietal bone and for part of the otic region. An important point enlighten in this work concerns the double origin of the corpus of the sphenoid in which basipresphenoid is of neural crest origin and the basipostsphenoid is formed by the cephalic mesoderm. Formation of the occipito-otic region of the skeleton is particularly complex and involves the cooperation of the five first somites and the paraxial mesoderm at the hind-brain level. The morphogenetic movements leading to the initial puzzle assembly could be visualized in a reproducible way by means of small grafts of quail mesodermal areas into chick embryos. The data reported here are discussed in the evolutionary context of the 'New Head' hypothesis of Gans and Northcutt (1983, Science, 220, 268-274).

Solving jigsaw puzzles by a robot

An integrated vision-manipulation algorithm for assembly of apictorial jigsaw puzzles is presented. A discussion is presented of the solution of large jigsaw puzzles using vision, combinatorial optimization, and fine assembly techniques. The implementations of a vision algorithm for assembly of large jigsaw puzzles and a fully integrated robotic-vision algorithm for assembly of small puzzles are presented. The problem of assembling pieces with unpredictable shape is discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Solving jigsaw puzzles by computer

An algorithm to assemble large jigsaw puzzles using curve matching and combinatorial optimization techniques is presented. The pieces are photographed one by one and then the assembly algorithm, which uses only the puzzle piece shape information, is applied. The algorithm was experimented successfully in the assembly of 104-piece puzzles with many almost similar pieces. It was also extended to solve an intermixed puzzle assembly problem and has successfully solved a 208-piece puzzle consisting of two intermixed 104-piece puzzles. Previous results solved puzzles with about 10 pieces, which were substantially different in shape.

Active learning for budgeting concepts

Abstract This note provides an activity for bringing behavioral issues to the attention of students in a practical and interesting way that requires active student involvement in the learning process. First, students assemble a seven-piece geometric puzzle while subject to a very tight performance standard. Then, before a second trial at puzzle assembly, the students participate in setting their own standards for performance. Instructions are included for the preparation and presentation of the activity in a classroom setting.

Partial contour processing using curvature function‐assembly of jigsaw puzzle and recognition of moving figures

AbstractThis paper proposes a method of partial contour processing by a curvature function and an adaptive integral filter. The filter parameter is determined by the length of the zero‐crossing segment of the curvature function both to enhance the concavo‐convex parts of the contour and to eliminate the quantization noise of the raw curvature function. Partial matching of contours is performed precisely and efficiently using the filtered curvature function. Three tasks were accomplished by the abovementioned method: assembly of a jigsaw puzzle, discrimination of overlapping and rotating figures, and tracking of a moving object which overlaps the background figures.

A New Way to Look at an Old Map

Erwin Raisz's Landform Map of the United States has been a popular teaching aid in geology and geography departments for decades. Most often it supplements text or lab-exercise materials as an illustration of physiographic features. Its intrinsic value has recently been increased by making it the subject of a jigsaw puzzle. As a jigsaw puzzle, Raisz's map capitalizes on the three-fold puzzle assembly procedure of 1) scrutinizing, 2) searching, and 3) matching. Both large-scale province characteristics and small-scale landform details are helpful clues, as individual puzzle pieces are placed at the focus of attention. The names of physiographic features, their locations and relative scale are all reinforced. Puzzle assembly, therefore, represents a unique way to expose students to the details of Raisz's map, without the need for written exercise material.

What can amnesic patients learn?

Long term learning abilities of amnesic patients were investigated on a number of tasks ranging from verbal paired-associate learning and free recall, to pursuit rotor performance. On verbal long-term memory, amnesics, as expected, showed a severe deficit, but on perceptual-motor learning (Porteus Maze, jig-saw puzzle assembly and pursuit rotor) the deficit was considerably less severe, with a completely normal performance on pursuit rotor and only a mild deficit on Porteus Maze time and error scores. The results suggest not only that the deficits in amnesia may be less global than we suspected hitherto, but also that tests measured on an error criterion may show impairment in amnesic patients, while those measured in terms of time may not.

Apictorial Jigsaw Puzzles: The Computer Solution of a Problem in Pattern Recognition

This paper describes the development of a procedure that enables a digital computer to solve ``apictorial'' jigsaw puzzles, i.e., puzzles in which all pieces are uniformly gray and the only available information is the shape of the pieces. The problem was selected because it provided an excellent vehicle to develop computer techniques for manipulation of arbitrary geometric patterns, for pattern identification, and for game solving. The kinds of puzzles and their properties are discussed in detail. Methods are described for characterizing and classifying piece contours, for selecting and ordering pieces that are ``most likely'' to mate with a given piece, for determining likelihood of fit, for overcoming ambiguities, and for evaluation of the progressive puzzle assembly. An illustration of an actual computer solution of a puzzle is given.