Diagonal Peg Solitaire

We study the classical game of peg solitaire when diagonal jumps are allowed. We prove that on many boards, one can begin from a full board with one peg missing, and finish with one peg anywhere on the board. We then consider the problem of finding solutions that minimize the number of moves (where a move is one or more jumps by the same peg), and find the shortest solution to the "central game", which begins and ends at the center. In some cases we can prove analytically that our solutions are the shortest possible, in other cases we apply A* or bidirectional search heuristics.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Solving Triangular Peg Solitaire

We consider the one-person game of peg solitaire on a triangular board of arbitrary size. The basic game begins from a full board with one peg missing and finishes with one peg at a specified board location. We develop necessary and sufficient conditions for this game to be solvable. For all solvable problems, we give an explicit solution algorithm. On the 15-hole board, we compare three simple solution strategies. We then consider the problem of finding solutions that minimize the number of moves (where a move is one or more consecutive jumps by the same peg), and find the shortest solution to the basic game on all triangular boards with up to 55 holes (10 holes on a side).Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures; published version including comments by John Beasle

Universities in Arab countries

Half the Arab universitiies in existence today were established after 1970. Enrolment has increased rapidly, leading to overcrowding, unqualified faculty, and insufficient equipment and facilities. Several Arab nations have moved to control (in some cases, to reduce) enrolment. They have done this partly because of the fall in oil revenues, and partly in recognition of the problems related to the rapid growth of the university systems. As student enrolment expanded rapidly, the quality of education suffered and many universities became less attractive to highly trained faculty. This pattern has contributed to the national and regional brain drain. The cost of underwriting university education at a time of slow economic expansion raises the issue of whether it is better to have unemployed high school graduates or unemployed university graduates.Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Tertiary Education,Girls Education,Curriculum&Instruction