Preface: Swarm Intelligence, Focus on Ant and Particle Swarm Optimization

In the era globalisation the emerging technologies are governing engineering industries to a multifaceted state. The escalating complexity has demanded researchers to find the possible ways of easing the solution of the problems. This has motivated the researchers to grasp ideas from the nature and implant it in the engineering sciences. This way of thinking led to emergence of many biologically inspired algorithms that have proven to be efficient in handling the computationally complex problems with competence such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), etc. Motivated by the capability of the biologically inspired algorithms the present book on ""Swarm Intelligence: Focus on Ant and Particle Swarm Optimization"" aims to present recent developments and applications concerning optimization with swarm intelligence techniques. The papers selected for this book comprise a cross-section of topics that reflect a variety of perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds. In addition to the introduction of new concepts of swarm intelligence, this book also presented some selected representative case studies covering power plant maintenance scheduling; geotechnical engineering; design and machining tolerances; layout problems; manufacturing process plan; job-shop scheduling; structural design; environmental dispatching problems; wireless communication; water distribution systems; multi-plant supply chain; fault diagnosis of airplane engines; and process scheduling. I believe these 27 chapters presented in this book adequately reflect these topics

Design and Implementation of Cellular Automaton Simulating Domain Growth

Tato bakalářská práce se věnuje návrhu a implementaci grafického uživatelského rozhraní buněčného automatu simulující růst domén. Uživatelské rozhraní je implementováno v jazyce C++ s použitím frameworku Qt. Hlavním požadavkem je intuitivní ovládání a čistý kód, umožňující dalším úpravy programu. Apli\-kace nabízí možnost počátečního rozložení domén a jejich faktoru růstu. Během simulace lze provádět vybrané akce.This bachelor thesis is devoted to design and implementation of the graphical user interface of cellular automaton simulating domain growth. User interface is implemented in C++ with usage of framework Qt. Important elements are intuitive controls of the application and clean code, which allows another program modifications. Application allows user to set initial location of the domains and their growth factor. During simulation user can perform selected actions

Nutrient Cycling in the Amazon: A Comparison of Soil Characteristics, Insects, Root Types and Decomposition Rates between Varzea and Terra Firme habitats in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Decomposition and nutrient cycling form the basis of every ecosystem. Nutrient availability in the soil affects plant species composition, richness, and productivity. The Amazon rainforest is known for its unusually fast nutrient cycle, but many aspects lack detailed study and analysis. This comparative study carried out in the Ecuadorian Amazon had four primary objectives related to understanding the nutrient cycle in the Amazon; 1.) analyze soil characteristics, 2.) assess insect diversity in the leaf litter layer, 3.) examine root characteristics, and 4.) measure the decomposition rate between Varzea and Terra Firme habitats alongside the Rio Napo. Forty 0.25 x 0.25m quadrats were set up in each site to examine soil characteristics and insect diversity. The organic horizon, clay content, dry leaf litter weight, and soil moisture capacity were measured and hypothesis tests were then performed to analyze potential differences between sites. Varzea forest had a deeper organic horizon, less clay, and higher soil moisture capacity as compared to Terra Firme. There was no significant difference between the amount of leaf litter in each ecosystem. The leaf strata was also collected in both sites and insect diversity analyzed. Terra Firme had significantly more insects per unit area as well as more diversity within orders. Ten 25m transects were used to gather data on root types present in each ecosystem. Varzea had significantly more prop roots than Terra Firme forest. Lastly, an attempt was made to measure the decomposition rate using the tethered leaf method, but no significant difference was found. A better understanding of the nutrient cycle in the Amazon will both add to ecological theory and understanding as well as potentially help predict and mitigate human impacts on this ecosystem. The nutrient cycle is an incredibly important way of understanding an ecosystem and many parts of the nutrient cycle in the Amazon remain elusive and are in need of further study. Descomposición y el ciclo de nutrientes es el fundación de cada ecosistema. La disponibilidad de nutrientes en el suelo afecta la composición, riqueza, y productividad de plantas que afecta todo el ecosistema. La Amazonia es conocido por su ciclo de nutrientes rápido, pero mucho aspectos falta estudia detallado y análisis. Ese estudio comparativo hecho en la Amazonía Ecuatoriana tuve cuatros objetivos primarios relacionados con el ciclo de nutrientes en la Amazonia; 1.) analizar característicos de suelo, 2.) evaluar la diversidad de insectos en la hojarasca, 3.) examinar característicos de raíces, y 4.) medir la tasa de descomposición entre la Varzea y Terra Firme hábitats cerca del Rio Napo. Cuarenta 0.25x 0.25m cuadrados fueran colocados en los dos sitios para examinar características de suelo y la diversidad de insectos. El horizonte orgánico, contenido de arcilla, peso seco de hojarasca, y capacidad de humedad de suelo fueran medidos y exámenes de hipótesis hechos para analizar diferencias potenciales entre sitios. Los bosques de Varzea tienen un horizonte orgánico de más profundidad, menos arcilloso, y una capacidad de humedad más alto comparado con el Terra Firme. No había una diferencia significante entre el peso seco de la hojarasca en cada ecosistema. La hojarasca fuera colectada y analizada en los dos ecosistemas también. Terra Firme tuvo más insectos en cada cuadrado y también más diversidad de órdenes. Diez 25m transectos fueron usado para colectar data en tipos de raíces presentes en cada ecosistema. Varzea tuve significativamente más raíces de “prop” comparado con el Terra Firme. Finalmente, un intento fuera hecho para medir la tasa de descomposición usando el método de tethered leaf, pero no diferencia significante fuera encontrado. Un entendimiento mejor del ciclo de nutrientes en la Amazonia añadirá a teoría ecológico y además, potencialmente a ayudar a predecir y mitigar impactos humanos en ese ecosistema. Muchos partes del ciclo de nutrientes en la Amazonia ya están elusivo y necesitan más investigacione

Towards a multilevel ant colony optimization

Masteroppgave i Informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi IKT590 Universitetet i Agder 2014Ant colony optimization is a metaheuristic approach for solving combinatorial optimization problems which belongs to swarm intelligence techniques. Ant colony optimization algorithms are one of the most successful strands of swarm intelligence which has already shown very good performance in many combinatorial problems and for some real applications. This thesis introduces a new multilevel approach for ant colony optimization to solve the NP-hard problems shortest path and traveling salesman. We have reviewed different elements of multilevel algorithm which helped us in construction of our proposed multilevel ant colony optimization solution. We for comparison purposes implemented our own multi-threaded variant Dijkstra for solving shortest path to compare it with single level and multilevel ant colony optimization and reviewed different techniques such as genetic algorithms and Dijkstra’s algorithm. Our proposed multilevel ant colony optimization was developed based on the single level ant colony optimization which we both implemented. We have applied the novel multilevel ant colony optimization to solve the shortest path and traveling salesman problem. We show that the multilevel variant of ant colony optimization outperforms single level. The experimental results conducted demonstrate the overall performance of multilevel in comparison to the single level ant colony optimization, displaying a vast improvement when employing a multilevel approach in contrast to the classical single level approach. These results gave us a better understanding of the problems and provide indications for further research