Computer Scrabble programs have achieved a level of performance that exceeds that of the strongest human players. MAVEN was the first program to demonstrate this against human opposition. Scrabble is a game of imperfect information with a large branching factor. The techniques successfully applied

An effective program created to play the worldwide famous crossword game SCRABBLE. It uses an efficient data structure that allows fast moves searching possible words trough the lexicon, while an heuristic function determinates the best word to be played, by means of probabilities and sensible

In this paper I describe a human-like natural language parser called Plink. It works by parsing left-to-right through a sentence and keeping a complete representation of the partially read sentence. It does this by combining a sophisticated unification-based grammar and grammar rule selection

Over the last 50 years a wide variety of automatic network layout algorithms have been developed. Some are fast heuristic techniques suitable for networks with hundreds of thousands of nodes while others are multi-stage frameworks for higher-quality layout of smaller networks. However, despite

In recent years, heuristic search methods for classical planning have achieved remarkable results. Their most successful representative, the FF algorithm, performs well over a wide spectrum of planning domains and still sets the state of the art for STRIPS planning. However, there are some planning

Abstract. Heterogeneous, “aggregated ” patterns in the spatial distributions of individuals are almost universal across living organisms, from bacteria to higher vertebrates. Whereas specific features of aggregations are often visually striking to human eyes, a heuristic analysis based on human

Abstract. We present a metaheuristic algorithm for creating heuristic functions for CSP, especially SAT, with as low human interaction as possible. We use the concept of genetic programming to evolve local search heuristic functions encoded as a list of RAM model-like computer instructions. However

1 Two quotes about prime numbers Mathematicians have tried in vain to this day to discover some order in the sequence of prime numbers, and we have reason to believe that it is a mystery into which the human mind will never penetrate. L. Euler (1751) Although the prime numbers are rigidly

though times between the last word and the switch decision (“giving-up times”) were higher in the less productive task. These findings were reliable across 2 experiments using Scrabble tasks and 1 experiment using word-search puzzles. Switch decisions appeared relatively unaffected by the ease

The modern world, with its vast nation states peopled with millions of strangers, has little in common with the social world in which humans evolved—a world of tiny bands peopled with a few dozen friends, relatives, and competitors. To negotiate that intimate social world, evolution equipped our