297 research outputs found

    Webcrow: A web-based system for crossword solving

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    Language games represent one of the most fascinating challenges of research in artificial intelligence. In this paper we give an overview of WebCrow, a system that tackles crosswords using the Web as a knowledge base. This appears to be a novel approach with respect to the available literature. It is also the first solver for non-English crosswords and it has been designed to be potentially multilingual. Although WebCrow has been implemented only in a preliminary version, it already displays very interesting results reaching the performance of a human beginner: crosswords that are “easy ” for expert humans are solved, within competition time limits, with 80 % of correct words and over 90 % of correct letters

    Mood and Creativity: The Mediating Role of Attention

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    Within literature there are two opposing views regarding the role of emotions in the creative process. The most commonly held view contends that positive emotions enhance creativity, while negative emotions stifle it; yet, some studies show an opposite trend. To help resolve this conundrum, this research examined the mediating effect of attention on the relationship between mood and creativity. The results showed that positive deactivating and negative activating emotions led to broader attention, while positive activating and negative deactivating emotions caused narrowing of attention. Furthermore, the creative process is not uniform in its requirements of attentional breadth; some creative tasks require broad and others narrow attention for their completion. When differential requirements for global versus local attentional focus at the differing stages of creativity were taken into consideration, the influence of emotions become more straightforward; different attentional breadth requirements corresponded to differential stages of creative performance

    Extensible graphical game generator

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    Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-167).An ontology of games was developed, and the similarities between games were analyzed and codified into reusable software components in a system called EGGG, the Extensible Graphical Game Generator. By exploiting the similarities between games, EGGG makes it possible for someone to create a fully functional computer game with a minimum of programming effort. The thesis behind the dissertation is that there exist sufficient commonalities between games that such a software system can be constructed. In plain English, the thesis is that games are really a lot more alike than most people imagine, and that these similarities can be used to create a generic game engine: you tell it the rules of your game, and the engine renders it into an actual computer game that everyone can play.by Jon Orwant.Ph.D

    Institutional Analysis of a Natural History Museum: Formation and dissemination of scientific knowledge

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    When the canonization of scientific knowledge is considered as a point of sociological inquiry the interrelations of popular culture, commerce, and enterprise become crucial elements to understanding how forms of knowledge are produced and reproduced. Scientific knowledge is an integral part of our social world. We use it to better understand the natural processes behind global climates, health issues, ecology and biology. And yet most individuals outside the field of production are unaware of the processes behind obtaining this knowledge. Museums with research and collections are an arena for this topic. Their operations persist in influencing the selection of knowledge forming fields of study in both direct and indirect ways. In this study, The Field Museum of Natural History is used as a focal point to analyze ways in which the operation of an institution coincides and/or conflicts with scientific research. Data was collected through direct personal observation, interviews and published financial and historical records. Results from this analysis show that institutional operations within a museum persist in influencing the selection of knowledge forming fields of study in both direct and indirect ways and add to the literature on scientific knowledge

    Mediating the Immediate – Endogenous meanings and simulated narratives in ludic spaces

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    The thesis discusses games and the gaming experience. It is divided into two main sections; the first examines games in general, while the second concentrates exclusively on electronic games. The text approaches games from two distinct directions by looking at both their spatiality and their narrativity at the same time. These two points of view are combined right from the beginning of the text as they are used in conceptualising the nature of the gaming experience. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate two closely related issues concerning both the field of game studies and the nature of games. In regard to studying games, the focus is placed on the juxtaposition of ludology and narratology, which acts as a framework for looking at gaming. In addition to aiming to find out whether or not it is possible to undermine the said state of affairs through the spatiality of games, the text looks at the interrelationships of games and their spaces as well as the role of narratives in those spaces. The thesis is characterised by discussing alternative points of view and its hypothetical nature. During the text, it becomes apparent that the relationship between games and narratives is strongly twofold: on one hand, the player continuously narrativizes the states the game is in while playing, while the narratives residing within the game space form their own partially separate narrative spaces, on the other. These spaces affect the conception the player has of the game states and the events taking place in the game space itself.Tutkielma käsittelee pelejä ja pelikokemusta. Se on jaettu kahteen pääosioon, joista ensimmäisessä tutkitaan kaikenlaisia pelejä ja toisessa ainoastaan elektronisia pelejä. Teksti lähestyy kaikkia pelejä yhtä aikaa sekä tilallisuuden että kerronnallisuuden suunnista. Näkökulmat yhdistetään heti tutkielman alussa niiden toimiessa apuna pelikokemusta käsitteellistettäessä. Tutkielman tarkoitus on käsitellä kahta toisiinsa läheisesti liittyvää kysymystä, joista toinen kytkeytyy pelitutkimukseen ja toinen itse peleihin. Pelitutkimuksellisesti tutkimuksen keskiössä on ludologian ja narratologian välisen vastakkaisasettelun mielekkyys, joka toimii viitekehyksenä pelien luonteeseen pureutuvassa ongelmassa. Sen lisäksi, että tavoitteena on ottaa selville, onko edellä mainittua asetelmaa mahdollista purkaa pelien tilallisuuden kautta, tekstissä keskitytään myös pelien ja niiden luomien tilojen suhteisiin sekä narratiivien rooleihin kyseisissä tiloissa. Tutkimukselle ominaista on uusien näkökantojen kehitteleminen ja tietty hypoteettinen luonne. Tutkimuksen myötä käy selväksi, että pelien ja narratiivien suhde on vahvasti kaksitahoinen: toisaalta pelaaja kerronnallistaa pelitilanteita jatkuvasti pelikokemuksen aikana, kun taas toisaalta pelien sisältämät narratiivit luovat pelitilaan omia osittain pelitilasta irrallisia kerronnallisia tilojaan. Nämä tilat vaikuttavat osaltaan pelaajan käsitykseen pelitilanteista ja pelitilan sisältämistä tapahtumista.Siirretty Doriast

    Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 45 Number 3, Winter 2003

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    10 - ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AT SCU By Paul Locatelli, S.J. ln an adaptation of his convocation address, SCU \u27s president describes the University\u27s goal to educate the whole person. 12 - \u27BECKHAM\u27 BOOSTS SCU SOCCER By Victoria Hendel De La O. References to SCU in the hit movie have brought international attention to the women\u27s soccer program. 14 - SEEKING SOLUTIONS Experts vi sit campus to discuss the issue of clergy abuse and work on a book about the topic. 18 - UNEARTHING THE PAST By Connie Skipitares. SCU archaeologists, anthropologists, and students probe a site near campus to learn about the area\u27s history.https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/sc_mag/1108/thumbnail.jp

    ACMS 18th Biennial Conference Proceedings

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    Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences 18th Biennial Conference Proceedings, June 1-4, 2011, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA

    Trends on Educational Gamification: Challenges and Learning Opportunities

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    Games are a natural activity—we all know how to play. Perhaps this is the key feature that explains the increase in the use of game-based learning (GBL) strategies: Applying games to education converts education into a universal activity. Over the last ten years, the way in which education and training is delivered has considerably changed, not only due to a new technologic environment—plenty of social networks, MOOCs, etc.—but also because of the appearance of new methodologies. Such new methodologies are shifting the center of gravity: from the teacher to the student, with the aim of awakening relational aspects, as well as promoting imagination and divergent thinking. One new approach that holds considerable promise for helping to engage learners is, indeed, game-based learning (GBL). However, while a growing number of institutions are beginning to see the validity of GBL, there are still many challenges to overcome before this type of learning can become widespread.In this Special Issue, we want to gather several studies and experiences in GBL to be shared with other teachers and researchers

    Central Florida Future, Vol. 41 No. 83, October 26, 2009

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    Walking barefoot for poverty; Festival of lights; Man vs. Wild host comes to Florida; Theatre students alternate two sold-out productions; First green complex at UCF.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/centralfloridafuture/3261/thumbnail.jp
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