The Application of Artificial Intelligence to Solve a Physical Puzzle

Thesis (M.A.) -- Indiana University South Bend, 2007.This thesis presents the design, development, and implementation of an intelligent agent capable of solving a physical puzzle. The puzzle is a three dimensional maze in which a marble must be moved from its starting point to a target cell in the opposite corner. The movement of the marble is strictly the result of movement of the maze itself, the marble's response to gravity, and collisions with the walls of the maze. The physical nature of the puzzle provides an interesting challenge for the intelligent agent attempting to solve it, since it does not have complete control over the effects of its actions, and is not able to predict with certainty what those effects will be. A software framework is developed to integrate the artificial intelligence, physics simulation, and computer graphics required to solve the puzzle. A control scheme is designed to enable the agent to perform the physical moves to be simulated. Several solution algorithms are developed and implemented, incorporating varying levels of knowledge of the maze's geometry and the physics involved. In general, it is shown that by increasing the 'intelligence' of the agent, the performance was significantly improved. This thesis is a unique integration of artificial intelligence, physics simulation, and computer graphics. The result is the graphical animation of the solution to a physical puzzle that could not be solved without each of the three technologies.Indiana University South Bend Department of Computer and Information Sciences and the Department of Mathematical Science

An instrumental perspective on apologizing in bargaining: the importance of forgiveness to apologize

Although very little research in bargaining has addressed how perpetrators should deal with the aftermath of unfair allocations, it has been proposed that an apology may help the reconciliation process. Prior research, however, only focused on whether apologies can reveal positive effects on the reconciliation process but did not focus yet on whether perpetrators are actually willing to apologize. In this paper we investigate perpetrator’s willingness to apologize for a trust violation in a bargaining setting. We hypothesized that perpetrators willingness to apologize would be a function of the extent to which the victim of the trust violation is willing to forgive. This effect, however, was expected to emerge only among those perpetrators who are low in dispositional trust. The results from a laboratory study with actual transgressions and actual apologetic behavior supported our predictions and thus emphasize an instrumental view on apologizing in bargaining situations

N-Methacryloyl-4-(piperidin-1-yl)-1,8-naphthalimide

In the title compound, C21H20N2O3, the naphthalimide unit is almost planar (r.m.s. deviation for the 15 non-H atoms = 0.059 Å). The carboximide N atom and the five C atoms of the 2-methyl­prop-2-enoyl substituent also lie in a plane (r.m.s. deviation = 0.009 Å), which subtends an angle of 84.34 (7)° to the naphthalamide plane. This orients the =CH2 group of the vinyl fragment towards the naphthalimide rings, giving the mol­ecule an extended configuration. The piperidine ring adopts a chair conformation and there is evidence for some delocalization between the naphthalene and piperidine units, the C—Npip bond length being 1.404 (4) Å. In the crystal structure, π–π contacts with centroid–centroid distances of 3.5351 (18) and 3.7794 (18) Å supported by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link adjacent mol­ecules in a head-to-tail fashion, forming dimers. These are further stabilized by other C—H⋯O contacts of varying strength, which stack the mol­ecules down the b axis

Food Intake Recruits Orosensory and Post-ingestive Dopaminergic Circuits to Affect Eating Desire in Humans

Pleasant taste and nutritional value guide food selection behavior. Here, orosensory features of food may be secondary to its nutritional value in underlying reinforcement, but it is unclear how the brain encodes the reward value of food. Orosensory and peripheral physiological signals may act together on dopaminergic circuits to drive food intake. We combined fMRI and a novel [11C]raclopride PET method to assess systems-level activation and dopamine release in response to palatable food intake in humans. We identified immediate orosensory and delayed post-ingestive dopamine release. Both responses recruit segregated brain regions: specialized integrative pathways and higher cognitive centers. Furthermore, we identified brain areas where dopamine release reflected the subjective desire to eat. Immediate dopamine release in these wanting-related regions was inversely correlated with, and presumably inhibited, post-ingestive release in the dorsal striatum. Our results highlight the role of brain and periphery in interacting to reinforce food intake in humans