11 research outputs found

    Periodical states and marching groups in a closed owari

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    AbstractOwari is an old African game that consists of cyclically ordered pits that are filled with pebbles. In a sowing move all the pebbles are taken out of one pit and distributed one by one in subsequent pits. Repeated sowing will give rise to recurrent states of the owari. Bouchet studied such periodical states in an idealised setup, where there are infinitely many pits. We characterise periodical states in owaris with finitely many pits. Our result implies Bouchet's result

    ÉlĂ©ments pour une ethnomathĂ©matique de l’awĂ©lĂ©

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    L’ethnomathĂ©matique Ă©tudie certaines activitĂ©s de sociĂ©tĂ©s de tradition orale, qui portent sur des nombres, des formes gĂ©omĂ©triques, ou des arrangements d’élĂ©ments, et s’apparentent Ă  des constructions mathĂ©matiques. Le plus souvent, ces activitĂ©s ne font l’objet d’aucune verbalisation, et il est difficile de savoir ce que « pensent » ceux qui les pratiquent. Les jeux de stratĂ©gie, comme le jeu africain awĂ©lĂ©, sont une exception, car les joueurs peuvent expliquer leurs stratĂ©gies. Le but de cet article est de comparer certaines propriĂ©tĂ©s mathĂ©matiques de l’awĂ©lĂ©, et le discours autochtone des experts, pour Ă©valuer la distance qui sĂ©pare ces deux points de vue.Ethnomathematics is a new domain focusing on activities of traditional societies based on mathematical concepts such as numbers, forms, arrangements. Generally speaking, these activities are not associated with spoken descriptions from people doing them. It is thus difficult to analyse the way they conceive the mathematical notions underlying them. A game such as the awele played in Africa is an exception, since players can explain their strategies. The purpose of this article is to compare some mathematical properties of awele, and some explanations given by players of this game, in order to evaluate the distance between these two points of view

    A Refinement-Based Heuristic Method for Decision Making in the Context of Ayo Game

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    Games of strategy, such as chess have served as a convenient test of skills at devising efficient search algorithms, formalizing knowledge, and bringing the power of computation to bear on “intractable” problems. Generally, minimax search has been the fundamental concept of obtaining solution to game problems. However, there are a number of limitations associated with using minimax search in order to offer solution to Ayo game. Among these limitations are: (i.) improper design of a suitable evaluator for moves before the moves are made, and (ii.) inability to select a correct move without assuming that players will play optimally. This study investigated the extent to which the knowledge of minimax search technique could be enhanced with a refinement-based heuristic method for playing Ayo game. This is complemented by the CDG (an end game strategy) for generating procedures such that only good moves are generated at any instance of playing Ayo game by taking cognizance of the opponent strategy of play. The study was motivated by the need to advance the African board game – Ayo – to see how it could be made to be played by humans across the globe, by creating both theoretical and product-oriented framework. This framework provides local Ayo game promotion initiatives in accordance with state-of-the-art practices in the global game playing domain. In order to accomplish this arduous task, both theoretical and empirical approaches were used. The theoretical approach reveals some mathematical properties of Ayo game with specific emphasis on the CDG as an end game strategy and means of obtaining the minimal and maximal CDG configurations. Similarly, a theoretical analysis of the minimax search was given and was enhanced with the Refinement-based heuristics. For the empirical approach, we simulated Ayo game playing on a digital viii computer and studied the behaviour of the various heuristic metrics used and compared the play strategies of the simulation with AWALE (the world known Ayo game playing standard software). Furthermore, empirical judgment was carried out on how experts play Ayo game as a means of evaluating the performance of the heuristics used to evolve the Ayo player in the simulation which gives room for statistical interpretation. This projects novel means of solving the problem of decision making in move selections in computer game playing of Ayo game. The study shows how an indigenous game like Ayo can generate integer sequence, and consequently obtain some self-replicating patterns that repeat themselves at different iterations. More importantly, the study gives an efficient and usable operation support tools in the prototype simulation of Ayo game playing that has improvement over Awal

    Daniele Lauro: Meanings and Functions of Rituals in the Politics of the Tokugawa Shogunate: a Study of the 1843 Shogunal Pilgrimage to Nikkƍ (Nikkƍ shasan).

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    This project explores the political use and significance of rituals performed by the Tokugawa shoguns, the military chieftains that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. I argue that, far from being empty performances detached from the real business of governing, rituals were potent political tools used by those in power to establish and maintain authority, as well as to preserve social harmony. Specifically, I consider the case of the shogun’s pilgrimage in 1843 to the tomb of the regime’s founder in Nikkƍ, a majestic event that mobilized military and financial resources nationwide and involved all strata of society. Drawing on a diverse array of sources including written documents, visual materials, and artifacts, this dissertation reconstructs the various stages of the shogun’s pilgrimage and examines the numerous ways in which this ritual allowed the Tokugawa regime to wield authority over its subjects. By showing that rituals were an essential component of Tokugawa politics, this study - the first of its kind outside of Japan - provides a fresh and more nuanced understanding of the early modern Japanese state, illuminating the mechanisms that regulated it and revealing the reasons for its resilience and longevity.Doctor of Philosoph

    Multicultural Women\u27s Literature

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    Openly licensed anthology focused on the theme of the Multicultural Women\u27s Literature. Contains: American Indian Stories by Zikala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin); Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan by Izumi Shikibu et al.; The Diwan of Zeb-un-Nissa by Zeb-un-Nissa; Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, Liliuokalani; Kamala: a story of Hindu life by Krupabai Satthianadhan; Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins; Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Harriet Beecher Stowe; Memoirs of an Arabian Princess by Emily Ruete (Salamah bint SaĂŻd; Sayyida Salme, Princess of Zanzibar and Oman); Nightmare Tales by H.P. Blavatsky; Ratanbai: a sketch of a Bombay high cast Hindu young wife, by ShĂšvantibāi M. NikambĂ©.; Two Years in the Forbidden City by the Princess Der Ling; The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

    Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995)

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    The files on this record represent the various databases that originally composed the CD-ROM issue of "Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding" database, which is now part of the Dudley Knox Library's Abstracts and Selected Full Text Documents on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995) Collection. (See Calhoun record https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/57364 for further information on this collection and the bibliography). Due to issues of technological obsolescence preventing current and future audiences from accessing the bibliography, DKL exported and converted into the three files on this record the various databases contained in the CD-ROM. The contents of these files are: 1) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_xls.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.xls: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format; RDFA_Glossary.xls: Glossary of terms, in Excel 97-2003 Workbookformat; RDFA_Biographies.xls: Biographies of leading figures, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format]; 2) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_csv.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.TXT: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in CSV format; RDFA_Glossary.TXT: Glossary of terms, in CSV format; RDFA_Biographies.TXT: Biographies of leading figures, in CSV format]; 3) RDFA_CompleteBibliography.pdf: A human readable display of the bibliographic data, as a means of double-checking any possible deviations due to conversion

    Catalogue of the public documents of the Fifty-fifth Congress and of other departments of the Government of the United States for the period from July I, 1897, to June 30, 1899.

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    Document Catalogue. (no date) HD 317, 55-3, v96, 1069p. [3838] For the 55th Congress

    Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media

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    The Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade and the Society for Aesthetics of Architecture and Visual Arts of Serbia (DEAVUS) are proud to be able to organize the 21st ICA Congress on “Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics: Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media”. We are proud to announce that we received over 500 submissions from 56 countries, which makes this Congress the greatest gathering of aestheticians in this region in the last 40 years. The ICA 2019 Belgrade aims to map out contemporary aesthetics practices in a vivid dialogue of aestheticians, philosophers, art theorists, architecture theorists, culture theorists, media theorists, artists, media entrepreneurs, architects, cultural activists and researchers in the fields of humanities and social sciences. More precisely, the goal is to map the possible worlds of contemporary aesthetics in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. The idea is to show, interpret and map the unity and diverseness in aesthetic thought, expression, research, and philosophies on our shared planet. Our goal is to promote a dialogue concerning aesthetics in those parts of the world that have not been involved with the work of the International Association for Aesthetics to this day. Global dialogue, understanding and cooperation are what we aim to achieve. That said, the 21st ICA is the first Congress to highlight the aesthetic issues of marginalised regions that have not been fully involved in the work of the IAA. This will be accomplished, among others, via thematic round tables discussing contemporary aesthetics in East Africa and South America. Today, aesthetics is recognized as an important philosophical, theoretical and even scientific discipline that aims at interpreting the complexity of phenomena in our contemporary world. People rather talk about possible worlds or possible aesthetic regimes rather than a unique and consistent philosophical, scientific or theoretical discipline
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