Puzzle Solving Research Articles

Techniques for Strengthening 21st Century Learners' Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking, as opposed to technical or professional abilities, enhances intellectual capacities and promotes the development of multi perspective thinking. It promotes the growth of the mind's analytical and creative regions. Enhancing critical thinking abilities in higher education constructs an excellent platform for aspirant engineers. To analyze complex problems, investigate various techniques, and design solutions, critical thinking skills are required. The most vivid imaginations are born to artists and musicians. Teaching artists how to use software and graphics tools is relatively simple; however, transforming engineers into artists is far more difficult. Students who use visualization in their studies are encouraged to look at the world from various angles. Sports and academics complement each other well. There are also links between the arts, logic, and athletics. It is beneficial to understand the relationship between critical thinking and academics. This study covers some strategies related to puzzle solving, problem-based learning, design thinking, picture analysis, and experiential learning in order to develop critical thinking and practical problem-solving skills. Keywords— critical thinkers; Experiential Learning; Holistic edification; skills

Jigsaw-ViT: Learning jigsaw puzzles in vision transformer

The success of Vision Transformer (ViT) in various computer vision tasks has promoted the ever-increasing prevalence of this convolution-free network. The fact that ViT works on image patches makes it potentially relevant to the problem of jigsaw puzzle solving, which is a classical self-supervised task aiming at reordering shuffled sequential image patches back to their original form. Solving jigsaw puzzle has been demonstrated to be helpful for diverse tasks using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), such as feature representation learning, domain generalization and fine-grained classification. In this paper, we explore solving jigsaw puzzle as a self-supervised auxiliary loss in ViT for image classification, named Jigsaw-ViT. We show two modifications that can make Jigsaw-ViT superior to standard ViT: discarding positional embeddings and masking patches randomly. Yet simple, we find that the proposed Jigsaw-ViT is able to improve on both generalization and robustness over the standard ViT, which is usually rather a trade-off. Numerical experiments verify that adding the jigsaw puzzle branch provides better generalization to ViT on large-scale image classification on ImageNet. Moreover, such auxiliary loss also improves robustness against noisy labels on Animal-10N, Food-101N, and Clothing1M, as well as adversarial examples. Our implementation is available at https://yingyichen-cyy.github.io/Jigsaw-ViT.

DOES PERCEIVED EFFICACY OF COGNITIVE TRAINING BIAS OUTCOMES?

Abstract Cognitive training has the potential to help older adults maintain or improve their cognitive abilities, but there has been debate regarding how susceptible cognitive outcomes in these studies are to placebo effects. Some previous research has found that expectations can shape performance on study outcomes, although this is not always a consistent finding. The degree to which perceived intervention efficacy can lead to changes in the performance of objective outcome measures typically assessed in these studies is unclear. The aim of the current study is to explore the effects of perceived effectiveness of cognitive training on actual improvements in a large sample of older adults. The current study utilized data from the Intervention Comparative Effectiveness for Adult Cognitive Training (ICE-ACT, NCT03141281) Trial. Two hundred and thirty older adults (Mean age = 72) were randomized into one of four training conditions: (1) a web-based brain game suite, Brain HQ, (2) a strategy video game, Rise of Nations, (3) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) training, or (4) an active control condition of puzzle solving. Reasoning, memory, processing speed, and IADL performance were measured before and after the intervention. Perceived efficacy of training in those outcome domains were also measured. Bayesian ANOVA analysis showed strong evidence of group differences in perceived efficacy within all outcome domains across the training conditions whereas Bayesian regression showed moderate to strong evidence against influences of perceived efficacy on changes in performance. Discussion will focus on implications of those results on behavioral and cognitive intervention designs.

Blixens humor

One of the things I enjoy most about books by Ivan Z. Sørensen is that I always learn something, even though he is writing about a topic (Karen Blixen) that I imagine I know very well. Blixen's sense of humor is certainly distinctive and can function as an antidote to the dark angst that is something of an occupational hazard when dealing with Scandinavian literature. One of Blixen's earliest critics, Robert Langbaum, noted this quality in her tales and chose to title his monograph on her The Gayety of Vision (1964). A book about Blixen's humor is long overdue, and it seems likely that the topic is not yet exhausted.As is well known, Blixen wrote her tales both in English and in Danish, and the Danish texts are the clear focus of this book. Obviously, humor, especially puns, are closely connected to language, and so jokes that work in one language might not work in another. Thus, I had never noticed before that there was a fart joke embedded in the introduction of the prostitute Lise in “Samtale om Natten i København” (Converse at Night in Copenhagen) that does not exist at all in the English version (p. 8). Indeed, it is amusing to consider how very naughty many of Blixen's jokes are. In return, I can offer a joke (not nearly as naughty) from the English version of “Roads Round Pisa” that does not translate: “In Denmark everybody has thick ankles and wrists, and the higher up you go, the thicker they are” (Dinesen, Seven Gothic Tales, Vintage, 1991, 181). Perhaps it is just as well that this jab at her countrymen (they're a bit thick) does not translate into Danish.The purpose of Sørensen's book is not to provide an inventory of Blixen's jokes, though he certainly offers up quite a few. Rather, along with Harald Høffding, Sørensen considers the nature of humor, both “stor” (great) and “lille” (small), then with a nod to Kierkegaard, looks at how that relates to irony. A fair amount has been written on Kierkegaard and Blixen, but Sørensen's views in this context are well worth considering. On the way, Sørensen provides one of the best comparisons between Hans Christian Andersen and Blixen that I have seen. In addition, someone has finally been able to explain to me the Spinoza reference in “Heloise,” which I puzzled over unsuccessfully for my own book, Understanding Isak Dinesen (2002). Høffding, whose work Karen Blixen knew, sees Spinoza as an inspiration for viewing life from the perspective of eternity, thus transcending both tragedy and comedy (p. 71).About halfway through his book, Sørensen strays from the main topic of humor, but that does not make the book any less interesting. Sørensen's chapter on Blixen and Brandes is the most thorough treatment of that relationship yet. Sørensen then turns his attention to Blixen and Shakespeare and, among other things, performs a detailed reading of the tale “Alkmene” from The Winter's Tale. A bold statement is made: “Det er påfaldende at i næsten alle analyser of ‘Alkmene’ er Perdita-henvisningen enten overset, forbigået eller ubetydeliggjort!” (p. 104) [It is striking that in almost all the analyses of ‘Alkmene,’ the Perdita references are either overlooked, passed by, or made unimportant!]. This statement is a bit of an exaggeration, but that is perhaps because Sørensen has missed a few analyses of the tale, including my own. In the final chapter, Sørensen takes up where Lynn Wilkinson left off in her article on Hannah Arendt and Isak Dinesen (“Hannah Arendt on Isak Dinesen: Between Storytelling and Theory,” Comparative Literature 56, no. 1, 2004) and provides us with even more food for thought.In an Afterword, Sørensen tells the story of how Judith Thurman received an assignment to write her acclaimed biography of Isak Dinesen. This includes a letter from Michael Denneny to Sørensen describing what happened. This is a delight to Dinesen buffs like me.Ivan Sørensen knows Blixen's tales like the back of his hand, and he is extremely well-versed in the cultural figures to whom she responded. In addition to the solving of various interpretive puzzles, these comparisons are where the real value of this book lie.

The Effect of Task Performance and Partnership on Interpersonal Brain Synchrony during Cooperation.

Interpersonal brain synchrony (IBS) during cooperation has not been systematically investigated. To address this research gap, this study assessed neural synchrony during a cooperative jigsaw puzzle solving task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning. IBS was measured for successful and failed tasks in 31 dyads in which the partners were familiar or unknown to each other. No significant difference in IBS was observed between the different types of cooperative partnership; however, stronger IBS within regions of the pars triangularis Broca’s area, right frontopolar cortex, and right temporoparietal junction was observed during task success. These results highlight the effect of better task performance on cooperative IBS for the first time and further extend understanding of the neural basis of cooperation.

HIDE AND SEEK! REALITY VS FICTION: CONSTRUCTION OF 3D VIDEO GAMES IN PAKISTAN

The research aims to design a game based on realistic abilities of all characters in a realistic scenario and also to explore the environment from the point of view of a child. Hide and Seek: Light in the darkness is based on a true story. This game’s story is based on true events that happened in my childhood while playing with my friends in streets of Karachi. Hide and Seek: Light in the darkness is a 3D isometric game about group of young friends aged from six to ten, who get kidnapped by a child kidnapping gang while playing hide and seek in the city of Karachi. The game is about a character who then struggles to rescue and save the kidnapped friend. None of the characters have any superpower. Its pure environment puzzle solving and stealth-based game. To present Pakistani culture, all the characters have been given local appearance, so that it is relatable. The key purpose of the game is to provide entertainment and reality of human abilities by modeling realistic characters and environment. This game is also conveying the significance of friendship to the players and target audience.

Implementation of Active Learning Tools in Modern Pedagogy

Now-a-days, it is important to integrate innovative tools in engineering education. It is need of hour that conventional teaching-learning techniques should be replaced by state-of-art tools that enable instructor to deliver the content in effective manner so that learners become proactive in teaching-learning process. Active learning tools play a vital role in modern day pedagogy. Today’s pedagogical tools in active learning give that opportunity to learners to exercise their problem-solving skills and allow them to work collaboratively in groups. A detailed analysis of tools such as Kahoot, Eclipse crossword and flipped class is discussed in this paper. Our analysis involved engineering learners from Electrical and Electronics and Communication streams from our college. Participation of learners in activities such as Kahoot and Eclipse crossword was more compared to flipped class which indicates learners are more inclined towards puzzle solving and quizzing technique. We examined how these techniques improved students’ approach towards learning. It is a prime duty of instructor to engage students in the activities which serves the purpose of learning by doing. Active learning tools play critical role in making students proactive in their learning phase. Keywords - Teaching-learning, pedagogical, social, Kahoot, Eclipse crossword, flipped class

Solving archaeological puzzles

This paper focuses on the re-assembly of an archaeological artifact, given images of its fragments. This problem can be considered as a special challenging case of puzzle solving. The restricted case of re-assembly of a natural image from square pieces has been investigated extensively and was shown to be a difficult problem in its own right. Likewise, the case of matching “clean” 2D polygons/splines based solely on their geometric properties has been studied. But what if these ideal conditions do not hold? This is the problem addressed in the paper. Three unique characteristics of archaeological fragments make puzzle solving extremely difficult: (1) The fragments are of general shape; (2) They are abraded, especially at the boundaries (where the strongest cues for matching should exist); and (3) The domain of valid transformations between the pieces is continuous. The key contribution of this paper is a fully-automatic and general algorithm that addresses puzzle solving in this intriguing domain. We show that our approach manages to correctly reassemble dozens of broken artifacts and frescoes.

Resource Pricing and Allocation in MEC Enabled Blockchain Systems: An A3C Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach

When using blockchain in mobile systems, computation intensive mining tasks pose great challenges to the processing capabilities of mobile miner equipment. Mobile edge computing (MEC) is an effective solution to alleviating the problem via task offloading. In the mining process, miners compete for rewards through puzzle solving, where only the miner that first completes the process will be rewarded. Thus, miners may wish to pay higher price and use more communication resources in task offloading and more computation resources in task processing for latency reduction. However, there are risks for the miners not profiting from consuming more resources or paying a higher price, so miners are rational in blockchain systems. In order to maximize the rational total profit of all miners, we use an asynchronous advantage actor-critic (A3C) deep reinforcement learning algorithm to obtain the resource pricing and allocation, considering the stochastic properties of wireless channels, and the prospect theory is employed to strike a good balance between risks and rewards. Numerical results show that our proposed A3C based joint optimization algorithm converges fast and outperforms the baseline algorithms in terms of the total reward.

Empirical Convergence Theory of Harmony Search Algorithm for Box-Constrained Discrete Optimization of Convex Function

The harmony search (HS) algorithm is an evolutionary computation technique, which was inspired by music improvisation. So far, it has been applied to various scientific and engineering optimization problems including project scheduling, structural design, energy system operation, car lane detection, ecological conservation, model parameter calibration, portfolio management, banking fraud detection, law enforcement, disease spread modeling, cancer detection, astronomical observation, music composition, fine art appreciation, and sudoku puzzle solving. While there are many application-oriented papers, only few papers exist on how HS performs for finding optimal solutions. Thus, this preliminary study proposes a new approach to show how HS converges on an optimal solution under specific conditions. Here, we introduce a distance concept and prove the convergence based on the empirical probability. Moreover, a numerical example is provided to easily explain the theorem.

Hybrid Blockchain for IoT—Energy Analysis and Reward Plan

Blockchain technology has brought significant advantages for security and trustworthiness, in particular for Internet of Things (IoT) applications where there are multiple organisations that need to verify data and ensure security of shared smart contracts. Blockchain technology offers security features by means of consensus mechanisms; two key consensus mechanisms are, Proof of Work (PoW) and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT). While the PoW based mechanism is computationally intensive, due to the puzzle solving, the PBFT consensus mechanism is communication intensive due to the all-to-all messages; thereby, both may result in high energy consumption and, hence, there is a trade-off between the computation and the communication energy costs. In this paper, we propose a hybrid-blockchain (H-chain) framework appropriate for scenarios where multiple organizations exist and where the framework enables private transaction verification and public transaction sharing and audit, according to application needs. In particular, we study the energy consumption of the hybrid consensus mechanisms in H-chain. Moreover, this paper proposes a reward plan to incentivize the blockchain agents so that they make contributions to the H-chain while also considering the energy consumption. While the work is generally applicable to IoT applications, the paper illustrates the framework in a scenario which secures an IoT application connected using a software defined network (SDN). The evaluation results first provide a method to balance the public and private parts of the H-chain deployment according to network conditions, computation capability, verification complexity, among other parameters. The simulation results demonstrate that the reward plan can incentivize the blockchain agents to contribute to the H-chain considering the energy consumption of the hybrid consensus mechanism, this enables the proposed H-chain to achieve optimal social welfare.

정책사상의 이론적 기초로서 인간의 이해

정책(학)의 본질에 관한 철학적 사고를 정책이론으로 체계화하는 정책사상에서 인간의 이해는 아직까지 초보적인 수준이다. 따라서 비교적 짧은 정책학의 학문적 역사뿐만 아니라 행태과학 중심의 정책학이 발전되면서 정책사상과 그의 기초이론인 인간의 이해 등이 소홀히 취급된 것은 사실이다. 그러나 21세기에 오면서 정책사상에서 인간을 설명하는 연구들이 진행되기 시작했다. 이와 같은 하나의 연구로서 본 논문은 정책사상에서 인간을 정책인으로 이해하기 위해서 우선적으로 인간을 개념적으로 정의한 것부터 검토해 보았다. 그리고 인간을 이해하는 대표적인 인류학적 인간학에서 인간을 생물학적 인간과 철학적 인간으로 구분해서 설명하는 것을 비판적 입장에서 정리하였다. 마지막으로 인간과 비인간과의 상호관계에서 설명하는 인간의 이해의 논쟁도 찾아보았다. 이에 따라서 정책사상에서 정책인의 존재는 정책세계에서 중심자의 역할을 하면서 정책의 세계를 독점적으로 지배하고 운영하는 인간이지만, 만물의 영장으로서 사물을 착취하거나 지배하는 인간이 아니라 정책의 주재자로서 독점적으로 정책을 결정하고 실천하는 인간이라고 가정해 보았다. 동시에 독점적으로 정책을 지배하고 관리할 수 있는 수월적 정책능력을 소유하면서 정책대상자나 사물의 존재의 가치를 높이기 위해서 그들의 결정과 판단에 개입하고 간섭하는 정책인으로 그의 존재를 이해해 보았다.

4403 Cure Quest: Team Science of Game Design for Medical Education

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: “Cure Quest” is an adventure quest game about the process of new drug discovery and development. The player explores a magical island in search of a cure for a mysterious illness, traveling through different lands based on the stages of the drug discovery pipeline. Along the way, they must solve puzzles, decipher clues, and enlist the help of a ‘team science’ group of collaborators. The game uses a fantastical setting and engaging story to communicate the topic through metaphorical representations, instilling a sense of wonderment in the learning process. Real-world science is embedded into fictionalized lands such as the Labyrinth of Target Identification, the Forest of Small Molecule Discovery, the Tree of Biostatistics, the Mountains of FDA Approval and the Desert of Funding. The project represents a novel application of game-based learning to a complex topic not typically addressed through games. The process of designing and developing the game itself uncovers strong parallels between the interdisciplinary game design process and the interdisciplinary team science process. The objective of the game is to communicate high-level concepts of the drug discovery and development process, starting with the principles of ethical research and the motivations behind medical discovery, through the development of a new drug and finally to FDA approval. The goal is to improve understanding of clinical translational science among the different disciplines involved, and to raise overall awareness of the drug discovery process. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The game is being developed through a collaboration between faculty and students at ISMMS and the Games and Simulation Arts and Science Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The first target audience is 2nd-3rd year medical students, with the future goal of adapting the game to a broader population. The game design is informed by specific learning outcomes, input from players in the target population and an ongoing iterative design process. The game is designed for mobile devices (iOS and Android), with an emphasis on narrative, exploration, and puzzle solving. Future evaluation will be performed through a quasi-experimental design comparing standard lectures with the game on a drug discovery. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The game is currently in development, but the project has yielded insight into the design process for serious games in medicine. We found that for a game of this type it is essential not just to have both designers and subject matter experts, but to enable cross-pollination of modes of thinking. Through multiple design iterations and focus groups, we found that a game design approach rooted in narrative and allegorical abstraction would have a better ability to engage the target audience than one focused only on realistic simulation. When complete, we anticipate that the game will improve understanding of the core concepts in drug discovery. CureQuest is designed as an episodic game, following the sequence of stages in the drug discovery and development process. In this version of the game, we demonstrate five of the initial episodes: The City of Discovery of Unmet Medical Need; The Labyrinth of Target Identification; the Aquarium of Transgenic Phenotype Expression; the Rival Researcher Gang Quiz Battle; and the Desert of Funding. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: If successful, the game-based learning approach can help fill key gaps in current formal medical and scientific training, as well as gaps in understanding among the general public. The design process serves as an informative model of evolving collaborative team science.

S181. ANALYSIS OF THE AMELIORATING EFFECT OF D-SERINE ON GLUN2D DEFICIENT MICE

BackgroundThe glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia postulates NMDA receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction as a major pathophysiological mechanism based on clinical observations and preclinical evidence. Mice with globally reduced NMDAR expression display hyperlocomotion, sensorimotor gating deficits, cognitive deficits and social withdrawal. NMDARs are tetramers composed of 2 obligatory GluN1 (NR1) and 2 variable GluN2A-D (NR2A-D) subunits. GluN2A and GluN2B are the main cortical NMDAR subunits, but genetic models provided evidence that psychosis-like effects of NMDAR antagonists are mediated by GluN2C/GluN2D subunits. Previous data suggest a role also of the GluN2D subunit in schizophrenia-associated abnormalities [1].MethodsWe aimed to assess a comprehensive behavioural phenotyping of GluN2D deficient mice, including locomotion, affective behaviours and general welfare, but drew special focus on cognitive functions, including spatial learning, short-term and long-term memory, as well as puzzle solving. We further investigated the effect of D-Serine on the GluN2D KO mice. D-Serine is a NMDAR modulator and acts as an agonist at the glycine site. Previous work in clinical trials suggests significant therapeutic effects of D-serine on negative and positive symptoms, cognitive deficits and motor symptoms. We used the chronic application of D-Serin by supplementing it into the drinking water of the subjects.ResultsPreliminary data indicate no effect on locomotor alterations of the GluN2D mice, however a potential improvement in short-term memory and wellbeing-associated parameters. They indicate a role of the GluN2D subunit and a beneficial effect of D-serine on schizophrenia-induced parameters, including physiological, welfare-associated burrowing and cognitive performance in the short term task of the puzzle box test.DiscussionOur preliminary data indicate a role of the GluN2D subunit in the emergence of cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia and a potential therapeutic effect of D-serine in alleviating these deficits. Further investigations are planned to further validate these findings.ReferenceInta et. al, Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 34(3): 285–94, 2010

Nuevas narrativas periodísticas entre la información y la simulación lúdica: los docuwebs y los newsgames

Este artículo tiene por objetivo analizar cómo cooperan el periodismo digital y la cultura del videojuego moderno en dos formas de simulación lúdica e inmersión periodística: los docuwebs y los newsgames. Para ello, se ha establecido una metodología de análisis cualitativo con una doble perspectiva: el nivel del discurso informativo-periodístico (es decir, los contenidos y sus formas de proyección) y a nivel de retórica procedural (esto es, a través de las mecánicas de juego) que se aplica a dos casos de estudio de RTVE Lab: el newsgame MonteLab y el docuweb Guerra a la mentira. Los principales resultados muestran cómo el diseño de MonteLab establece un diálogo entre un rico sistema de fuentes periodísticas y unas mecánicas de juego que habilitan la toma de decisiones ante los problemas sociales de la actualidad. En una línea similar, el docuweb Guerra a la mentira establece un conjunto de casos reales y usa la verificación de la información y las fake news como motor periodístico sobre el que construir una propuesta lúdica de resolución de puzles e impulso narrativo. Por todo ello, y a modo de conclusiones, podemos comprobar que el newsgame contemporáneo busca empoderar al jugador como un ciudadano informado que explota las dinámicas lúdicas para proveer soluciones sociales basadas en informaciones periodísticas. Por otro lado, el docuweb supera el estaticismo hipertextual para adentrarse en dinámicas más complejas y diseños lúdicos más inmersivos gracias a la superación de la mera descripción periodística de la realidad.

Crossword puzzle: An effective self-learning modality for dental undergraduates

Purpose of the Study: Teaching/learning modalities modified with certain interactive and innovative learning modalities can make dental education interesting and fun-loving. Dental graduates are taught too many concepts/subjects in a very limited time period. This makes remembering and recollecting things difficult by the conventional monotonous methods of teaching. The purpose of conducting the study was to see the practicality and efficiency of using crossword puzzle as an alternative learning methodology for undergraduates and to assess the practicality and use of crossword puzzle solving as an alternative way to remember essential concepts and promote self-learning among dental undergraduates. Materials and Methods: Crossword puzzles were created online and content was validated by subject experts by compiling the clues and answers to essential objectives of the topic and the students were instructed to complete the puzzle solving in a specified time period. The students completed it in collaborative groups of 3–4. The first group who successfully complete the puzzle was reward. 30 min was allotted for 25–30 clues of crossword puzzle. Student perceptions toward crosswords for their learning were assessed with a survey questionnaire using 10 questions on a 5-point Likert scale and informal feedback. Results: Most students agreed that crossword puzzle solving was very effective and useful teaching/learning modality and it immensely contributed to active learning and improved remembering the topics and concepts better than the conventional teaching modalities. Conclusions: Exceptionally good response was obtained from undergraduates students to crossword puzzle technique as an effective teaching–learning modality in dental curriculum.

Vertex Coloring of a Graph for Memory Constrained Scenarios

Given an undirected graph $$G=(V,E)$$, where V is a set of n vertices and E is a set of m edges, the vertex coloring problem consists in assigning colors to the graph vertices such that no two adjacent vertices share the same color. The vertex coloring problem has several practical applications, for instance, resource scheduling, compiler register allocation, pattern matching, puzzle solving, exam timetabling, among others. It is known that the problem of vertex k-coloring of a graph, for any $$k \ge 3$$, is NP-complete. In this work, we focus on an approximate solution that can be implemented on simple electronic equipments that do not require a complete set of operations present in common microprocessors. The solution is suitable for sensors and other devices present in several applications for collecting and measuring data.

Detecting Sybil nodes in stationary wireless sensor networks using learning automaton and client puzzles

A well-known harmful attack against wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is the Sybil attack. In a Sybil attack, WSN is destabilised by a malicious node which forges a large number of fake identities to disrupt network protocols such as routing, data aggregation, and fair resource allocation. In this study, the authors suggest a new algorithm based on a composition of learning automaton (LA) model and client puzzles theory to identify Sybil nodes in stationary WSNs. In the proposed algorithm, each node sends puzzles to its neighbours periodically during the network lifetime and tries to identify Sybil nodes among them, considering their response time (puzzle solving time). In this algorithm, each node equipped with a LA to reduce the communication and computation overhead of sending and solving puzzles. The proposed algorithm has been simulated using J-SIM simulator and simulation results have shown that the proposed algorithm can detect 100% of Sybil nodes and the false detection rate is about 5% on average. Also, the performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared to a wellknown neighbour-based algorithm through experiments and the results have shown that the proposed algorithm is significantly better than this algorithm in terms of detection and false detection rates.

Exploring effects of fully probing sequence on solving nonogram puzzles

This paper presents our experimental studies on improving the speed of solving nonogram puzzles. Our approach is based on the algorithm developed by Wu et al. A puzzle solving program, named LalaFrogKK, implementing the algorithm has won several nonogram tournaments since 2011. The algorithm consists of three major parts: propagation based on line solving, fully probing, and backtracking. Fully probing, running before backtracking, contributes to solving a nonogram puzzle in two ways. The first is to paint more pixels after propagation. The second is testing each unpainted pixel for providing backtracking with more accurate guidance when choosing pixels to guess. However, we found that different probing sequences can lead to significant differences in the numbers of painted pixels after fully probing. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate into the effects of different fully probing sequences, and propose several new fully probing mechanisms. Experimental results show that the new mechanisms can significantly outperform the original fully probing method. One of the new fully probing mechanisms achieves a speedup of more than two times in solving nonogram puzzles.

Intervention Comparative Effectiveness for Adult Cognitive Training (ICE-ACT) Trial: Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics

Age-related perceptual and cognitive declines are associated with difficulties performing everyday tasks required to remain independent. Encouraging improvements in cognitive abilities have been shown for various short-term interventions but there is little evidence for direct impact on independence. This project compares the effect of broad and directed (narrow) technology-based training on basic perceptual and cognitive abilities in older adults and on the performance of simulated tasks of daily living including driving and fraud avoidance. Participants (N = 230, Mean age = 72) were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions: broad training using either (1) a web-based brain game suite, Brain HQ, or (2) a strategy video game, Rise of Nations, or to directed training for (3) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) training using web-based programs for both driving and fraud avoidance training, or (4) to an active control condition of puzzle solving. Training took approximately 15–20 h for each intervention condition across four weeks. Before training began, participants received baseline ability tests of perception, attention, memory, cognition, and IADL, including a driving simulator test for hazard perception, and a financial fraud recognition test. They were tested again on these measures following training completion (post-test). A one-year follow-up from training completion is also scheduled. The baseline results support that randomization was successful across the intervention conditions. We discuss challenges and potential solutions for using technology-based interventions with older adults. We also discuss how the current trial addressed methodological limitations of previous intervention studies. Trial registration numberNCT03141281