Penggunaan Fungsi Heuristik Sederhana Pada Non-Player Character Permainan Ludo

Ludo merupakan salah satu permainan papan sederhana yang dimainkan oleh dua atau empat pemain. Di awal permainan, setiap pemain memiliki empat bidak yang diletakkan pada area rumah.Pemenang permainan adalah pemain pertama yang berhasil memindahkan seluruh bidaknya ke kotak finish.Saat ini permainan komputer dikembangkan dengan memanfaatkan kecerdasan tiruan (artificial intelligence). Dengan kecerdasan tiruan pemain (dalam hal ini manusia) dapat bermain sendiri melawan komputer. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah merancang kemampuan berpikir Non-Palyer Character (NPC) pada permainan Ludo yang akan bertindak sebagai lawan pemain. NPC yang dirancang dengan menggunakan fungsi heuristik sederhana, akan merepresentasikan tiga karakter, yakni: karakter agresif, karakter defensif dan karakter plin-plan.Analisis dan desain perangkat lunak Ludo didasarkan pada model sekuensial linier, dan dibangun dengan menggunakan bahasa pemrograman Visual basic.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa fungsi-fungsi aplikasi dapat berjalan dengan baik. Pengujian terhadap NPC menunjukkan bahwa kemengan NPC dengan karakter defensif mencapai 70%, sedangkan NPC dengan karakter agresif dapat mencapai tingkat kemenangan sebesar 60%

Is there a difference in cortical representation between dominant and non-dominant arm muscles of elite badminton players?

Training for sport involves the development of skill and coordination. The physiological changes associated with skill acquisition are complex and at present poorly understood. One of the areas in the central nervous system thought to be involved with skill acquisition is the cerebral motor cortex where localised areas are responsible for controlling specific muscle groups. Learning or improving a motor skill may require reorganisation of the cortical areas controlling relevant muscles to accommodate the new skill. To test this idea we studied a group of elite badminton players that were highly skilled in their dominant playing arm. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to stimulate the motor cortex, and surface electrodes recorded the evoked muscle response. A forearm wrist flexor muscle was examined in this study and a comparison was made between the representation of this muscle on the motor cortex, with that of the contralateral untrained muscle. The experiments were repeated in a control group of normal subjects to assess if any interhemispheric differences occur under normal conditions. In order to quantify the results, topographic maps were produced illustrating the area of representation of each muscle on the cortex, and the centre of the map. The maps showed the representation taken from the amplitude of the evoked response, and the silent period following this response. Comparison of the maps revealed no significant differences between the trained and untrained muscles, in the size of the representation, or the excitability of the area. The location of the maps was slightly posterior for the athlete group, particularly in the dominant hemisphere, which also showed a non-significant more lateral placement compared to the control group. Skill differences between the dominant and non-dominant arm in badminton players is not reflected in the representation of the muscles on the motor cortex

Spartan Daily, September 8, 1988

Volume 91, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7733/thumbnail.jp

Strategic leadership process in business schools : a political perspective

This study focuses on the political perspective of the process and context of strategic leadership, in three top international Business Schools, IMD, INSEAD and London Business School. It remedies three inadequacies in the current literature. These are: first, the scarcity of empirical studies on strategic leadership with a processual perspective, despite the interest demonstrated in theoretical studies on leadership in the last decades, second, the lack of links between the leadership and strategy fields; third, scholars' call for studies on leadership from a political perspective. Longitudinal and comparative case studies were conducted with the purpose of describing the Strategic Leadership Process (SLP) in each and across the three Business Schools, over the period 1990-2004, through strategic agenda-building and -executing, in relation to a specific strategic initiative: Becoming a top international Business School. Findings show firstly, that among the three key actors (Board, Dean and Faculty), the Dean is the main key actor in the SLP because of his critical role of building and executing the School's strategic agenda. Secondly, for the Dean to succeed, it is crucial to deliver an inclusive approach with regard to the other key actors' (Board and Faculty) interests and priorities. Thirdly, Performance represents a precondition for the Dean to be credible and receive support from Faculty and Board. Fourthly, for an effective direction-setting, the Dean's capacity to scan and understand the external voice, signals and trends and raise them to the School's strategic agenda is fundamental. Fifthly, the ability to articulate and communicate vision through coalition-building combined with adequate delegation, represent critical competences to raise and execute breakthrough initiatives for the School

Spartan Daily, September 26, 1996

Volume 107, Issue 20https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8876/thumbnail.jp

Enhancing automatic level generation for platform videogames

This dissertation addresses the challenge of improving automatic level generation processes for plat-form videogames. As Procedural Content Generation (PCG) techniques evolved from the creation of simple elements to the construction of complete levels and scenarios, the principles behind the generation algorithms became more ambitious and complex, representing features that beforehand were only possible with human design. PCG goes beyond the search for valid geometries that can be used as levels, where multiple challenges are represented in an adequate way. It is also a search for user-centred design content and the creativity sparks of humanly created content. In order to improve the creativity capabilities of such generation algorithms, we conducted part of our research directed to the creation of new techniques using more ambitious design patterns. For this purpose, we have implemented two overall structure generation algorithms and created an addi-tional adaptation algorithm. The later can transform simple branched paths into more compelling game challenges by adding items and other elements in specific places, such as gates and levers for their activation. Such approach is suitable to avoid excessive level linearity and to represent certain design patterns with additional content richness. Moreover, content adaptation was transposed from general design domain to user-centred principles. In this particular case, we analysed success and failure patterns in action videogames and proposed a set of metrics to estimate difficulty, taking into account that each user has a different perception of that concept. This type of information serves the generation algorithms to make them more directed to the creation of personalised experiences. Furthermore, the conducted research also aimed to the integration of different techniques into a common ground. For this purpose, we have developed a general framework to represent content of platform videogames, compatible with several titles within the genre. Our algorithms run over this framework, whereby they are generic and game independent. We defined a modular architecture for the generation process, using this framework to normalise the content that is shared by multiple modules. A level editor tool was also created, which allows human level design and the testing of automatic generation algorithms. An adapted version of the editor was implemented for the semi-automatic creation of levels, in which the designer may simply define the type of content that he/she desires, in the form of quests and missions, and the system creates a corresponding level structure. This materialises our idea of bridging human high-level design patterns with lower level automated generation algorithms. Finally, we integrated the different contributions into a game prototype. This implementation allowed testing the different proposed approaches altogether, reinforcing the validity of the proposed archi-tecture and framework. It also allowed performing a more complete gameplay data retrieval in order to strengthen and validate the proposed metrics regarding difficulty perceptions