The problem of reconfiguring power distribution system to reduce power losses has been extensively studied because of its significant economic impact. A variety of approximation computational models have recently been proposed. We describe a constraint programming model for this problem, using the MOzArt system. To handle real world reconfiguration systems we implemented and integrated into MOz...

I’m sorry to report that we’re all about to become obsolete. For proof, one need look no farther than the story that swept the globe 2 September. Here’s how the Toronto Star informed its readers: “Scientists have genetically engineered smarter mice, pointing the way to a brave new world in which parents could — in theory, at least — create baby Einsteins.” The news graced the front page of pape...

OBJECTIVE The study investigated the influence Mozart's music has on brain activity in the process of learning. A second objective was to test priming explanation of the Mozart effect. METHODS In Experiment 1 individuals were first trained in how to solve spatial rotation tasks, and then solved similar tasks. Fifty-six students were divided into 4 groups: a control one--CG who prior to and af...

Instances (“Mozart”) are ontologically distinct from concepts or classes (“composer”). Natural language encompasses both, but instances have received comparatively little attention in distributional semantics. Our results show that instances and concepts differ in their distributional properties. We also establish that instantiation detection (“Mozart – composer”) is generally easier than hyper...

Theories of the diffusion of ideas in social psychology converge on the assumption that shared beliefs (e.g., social representations, rumours and legends) propagate because they address the needs or concerns of social groups. But little empirical research exists demonstrating this link. We report three media studies of the diffusion of a scientific legend as a particular kind of shared belief. ...

Although Constraint Programming (CP) is considered a useful tool for tackling combinatorial problems, its lack of flexibility when dealing with uncertainties and preferences is still a matter of research. Several formal frameworks for soft constraints have been proposed within the CP community: all of them seem to be theoretically solid, but few practical implementations exist. In this paper we...

The most famous members of the Mozart family were musicians - not physicians. In spite of that, the family correspondence of the Mozarts contains much noteworthy information on 18th century medicine. It comes mainly from Leopold, the famous composer's father, which is why the vast majority of the medical data presented in the letters cannot be found in the popular editions of the correspondence...

This study investigated the effect of music listening for performance on a 25-question portion of the analytical section of the Graduate Record Exam by 72 undergraduate students (M age 21.9 yr.). Five levels of an auditory condition were based on Mozart Piano Sonata No. 3 (K. 281), Movement I (Allegro); a rhythm excerpt; a melody excerpt; traffic sounds; and silence. Participants were randomly ...

Musical fit, the congruence between music and product leading to improved response, is presented as an explanation of differences in recall of food items from two cultures. Musical fit predicts that, in this case, more Indian food items would be recalled when Indian music was playing, and more Malay food items would be recalled when Malay music was played. The underlining premise of this predic...