Parallel algorithms based on stochastic hill-climbing and parallel algorithms based on simple elements of a genetic algorithm for the one-sided bipartite crossing number problem, used in row-based vlsi layout, were investigated. These algorithms were run on a pvm cluster. The experiments show that the parallel approach does not bring faster computation but it does, however, much more importantl...

M. Buehler, R. Battaglia, A. Cocosco, G. Hawker, J. Sarkis, K. Yamazaki. Centre for Intelligent Machines, McGill University, Montr eal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada Abstract A simple mechanical design for quadrupedal locomotion, termed SCOUT, is proposed, featuring only one degree of freedom per leg. This paper demonstrates experimentally that our rst prototype SCOUT-1 is capable of walking, turning, and...

A common approach for learning Bayesian networks (BNs) from data is based on the use of a scoring metric to evaluate the fitness of any given candidate network to the data and a method to explore the search space, which usually is the set of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). The most efficient search methods used in this context are greedy hill climbing, either deterministic or stochastic. One of...

This paper deenes a class of spaces which are easy for genetic algorithms and hard for stochastic hill{climbers. These spaces require genetic recombination for successful search and are partially deceptive. Problems where tradeoos need to be made subsume spaces with these properties. Preliminary results comparing a genetic algorithm without crossover against one with two{point crossover support...

This paper deals with completion of partial latin squares L = (lij) of order n with k cyclically generated diagonals (li+t,j+t = lij + t if lij is not empty; with calculations modulo n). There is special emphasis on cyclic completion. Here, we present results for k = 2, . . . , 7 and odd n ≤ 21, and we describe the computational method used (hill-climbing). Noncyclic completion is investigated ...

Computer-chess programs achieve outstanding results at playing chess. However, no existing program can compose adequate chess problems. In this paper, we present a model that is capable of improving the quality of some of the existing chess problems. We have formalized a major part of the knowledge needed for evaluating the quality of chess problems. In the model, we attempt to improve a given ...

Search is one of the most frequently used problem solving methods in artificial intelligence (AI) [1], and search methods are gaining interest with the increase in activities related to modeling complex systems [2, 3]. Since most practical applications involve objective functions which cannot be expressed in explicit mathematical forms and their derivatives cannot be easily computed, a better c...

This paper provides guidelines to design climbers considering a landscape shape under study. In particular, we aim at competing best improvement and first improvement strategies, as well as evaluating the behavior of different neutral move policies. Some conclusions are assessed by an empirical analysis on non-neutral (NK-) and neutral (quantized NK-) landscapes. Experiments show the ability of...