Variety and diversity of population are essential for convergence to global optimal in genetic algorithm. In this study, the concepts of fitness distribution, expected and cumulative fitness distribution, reproduction rate and loss of diversity are defined for a sexual selection mechanism, and their performance of this type of selection mechanism is studied theoretically. Then a genetic algorit...

It is believed that computer-supported collaboration at a distance can stimulate learning. In this paper an innovative environment that permits real-time collaborative problem solving is described. In particular we study the effect of two alternative coordination mechanisms on the problem solving activity of pairs of students engaged in concept map building. The first mechanism imposes locking ...

This study examined the association among three conceptualizations of work-related rumination (affective rumination, problem-solving pondering, and detachment) with sleep quality and work-related fatigue. It was hypothesized that affective rumination and poor sleep quality would be associated with increased fatigue and that problem-solving pondering and detachment would be associated with decre...

In this paper, we present examples from the literature of successful problem solving systems that have been heavily influenced directly from biological studies of insect societies. Included among these systems are a few of our own. These examples are presented in light of manufacturing applications and only the tip of the iceberg is touched upon. It is our hope that the reader will find a new s...

Many scientists have been inspired by problem solving methods ooered by nature. Natural systems exhibit many interesting examples of complex behaviours with powerful capabilities for organization, coordination, labour division, collective regulation, etc. We propose in this paper a framework of mobile agents based on a indirect chemical-like communication medium for distributed problem solving ...

The Diagnostic Pathfinder was designed to help students learn diagnostic problem solving by supporting them in explaining relationships among history and physical examination findings, data abnormalities, and the underlying mechanisms of disease. The Pathfinder has been used to teach diagnostic problem solving to veterinary students since 2001 and is currently in use at 10 colleges of veterinar...

Soar is an architecture for intelligence that integrates learning into all of its problem-solving behavior. The learning mechanism, chunking, has been studied experimentally in a broad range of tasks and situations. This paper summarizes the research on chunking in Soar, covering the effects of chunking in different tasks, task-independent applications of chunking and our theoretical analyses o...

Current technologies for group decision support only rarely account for the qualitative mechanisms underlying problem solving processes of multiple persons, i.e. on-going task negotiations, debates of contradictory issues, alterations of commitment-based contracts, e.g., redefining tasks due to resource allocation constraints or dynamic changes in the project environment. The CoNeX system* (COo...

Behavioral and neuroimaging findings indicate that distinct cognitive and neural processes underlie solving problems with sudden insight. Moreover, people with less focused attention sometimes perform better on tests of insight and creative problem solving. However, it remains unclear whether different states of attention, within individuals, influence the likelihood of solving problems with in...

Generating structural query language (SQL) queries from natural language is a long-standing open problem and has been attracting considerable interest recently, driven by the explosive development of deep learning techniques. Toward solving the problem, we leverage the structure of SQL queries and present a sketch-based approach or synthesizing way to solve this problem, which turns the solving...