Evolutionary algorithms for dynamic optimization problems: workshop preface

Copyright @ 2005 AC

Sub-structural Niching in Estimation of Distribution Algorithms

We propose a sub-structural niching method that fully exploits the problem decomposition capability of linkage-learning methods such as the estimation of distribution algorithms and concentrate on maintaining diversity at the sub-structural level. The proposed method consists of three key components: (1) Problem decomposition and sub-structure identification, (2) sub-structure fitness estimation, and (3) sub-structural niche preservation. The sub-structural niching method is compared to restricted tournament selection (RTS)--a niching method used in hierarchical Bayesian optimization algorithm--with special emphasis on sustained preservation of multiple global solutions of a class of boundedly-difficult, additively-separable multimodal problems. The results show that sub-structural niching successfully maintains multiple global optima over large number of generations and does so with significantly less population than RTS. Additionally, the market share of each of the niche is much closer to the expected level in sub-structural niching when compared to RTS

Cooperative co-evolution of GA-based classifiers based on input increments

Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been widely used as soft computing techniques in various applications, while cooperative co-evolution algorithms were proposed in the literature to improve the performance of basic GAs. In this paper, a new cooperative co-evolution algorithm, namely ECCGA, is proposed in the application domain of pattern classification. Concurrent local and global evolution and conclusive global evolution are proposed to improve further the classification performance. Different approaches of ECCGA are evaluated on benchmark classification data sets, and the results show that ECCGA can achieve better performance than the cooperative co-evolution genetic algorithm and normal GA. Some analysis and discussions on ECCGA and possible improvement are also presented

Reframing technical change: Livestock Fodder Scarcity Revisited as Innovation Capacity Scarcity: Part 3. Tools for Diagnosis and Institutional Change in Innovation Systems

The exploration of fodder innovation capacity requires tools to undertake the following tasks: (i) Diagnosis of fodder innovation capacity to identify project starting points, including micro and macro elements (ii) Socio-economic benchmarking, and follow-up studies (iii) Pilot innovation cloud process learning/ process-driven intervention correction (iv) Comparative analysis of institutional change processes (iv) Project team process learning And (iv) Project evaluation. There is a wide range of existing tools available to investigate institutional change. This paper reviews these and recommends that an eclectic approach of mixing and matching tools to the emerging circumstances of the research is the best way forward.Technological Change, Agricultural Technology, Livestock, Poverty Reduction, Evaluation, Benchmarking

How thick is a fault? Fault displacement-thickness scaling revisited

No abstract available

The educational research-practice interface revisited

The question of how the realms of research and practice might successfully relate to one another is a persisting one, and especially so in education. The article takes a fresh look at this issue by using the terminology of collaboration scripts to reflect upon various forms of this relationship. Under this perspective, several approaches towards bridging the research/ practice gap are being described with regard to the type and closeness of interaction between the two realms. As different focuses and blind spots become discernible, the issue is raised concerning which 'script' might be appropriate depending upon the starting conditions of research interacting with practice

The management of academic workloads: improving practice in the sector

Final report of HEFCE projec

The P3 platform: an approach and software system for developing diagrammatic model-based methods in design research

Many issues in design and design management have been explored by building models which capture the relationships between different aspects of the problem at hand. These models require computer support to construct and analyse. However, appropriate modelling tools can be time-consuming to develop in a research environment. Reflecting upon five design research projects, this paper proposes that such projects can be facilitated by recognising the iterative and tightly-coupled nature of research and tool development, and by attempting to minimise the effort of solution prototyping within this process. Our approach is enabled by a software platform which can be rapidly configured to implement many conceivable modelling approaches. This configurability is complemented by an emerging library of modelling and analysis approaches tailored to explore design process systems. The platform-based approach enables any mix of modelling concepts to be easily created. We propose it could thus help researchers to explore a wide range of questions without being constrained to existing conventions for modelling – or for model integration

A Conceptual Overview to Understand Commodities, Linkages and Industrial Development in Africa

Sub-Sahara African commodity exporting economies have benefitted greatly from the commodities boom of the past decade. The conventional wisdom argues that resource extraction is corrosive of industrial development due to a combination of the macroeconomic consequences of resource exploitation and the assumed enclave nature of mineral and energy extraction. The paper challenges this pessimistic ‘resource curse’ argument, arguing that there are unexploited opportunities for promoting industrial development through the development of linkages from the commodities sector. In particular, these opportunities may be greater for backward than for forward linkages, particularly in the minerals and energy sectors. In making this case, this Discussion Paper draws on the experience of high-income countries which have resource-intensive economic structures, the geographical specificity of many resources and the growing interest of large resource-extracting firms in outsourcing the production of inputs which are outside of their core competences, It sets out a general model of linkages between industry and services and the commodities sector which distinguishes between win-win and win-lose outcomes. The paper concludes with a brief review of the reasons why Governments might wish to intervene to support linkages between the commodities and the industrial and service sectors

Poverty and Environmental Degradation: Searching for Theoretical Linkages

Existing literature about poverty and environmental degradation suggests that poverty is the victim of environmental degradation, but could not conclude whether poverty is also the cause of environmental problems. However, most of those studies are empirical i.e. analyze case studies in certain locations and very specific to certain types of environmental problem, not theoretical or analytical studies which are based on behavioral economic model. Some relevant analytical economic models which are based on standard assumption of optimizing economic agents are surveyed. Those models confirm, among others, the significant role of property right and the way population growth may interact in the nexus. In addition to that, they may introduce some additional insights such as how environmental degradation could be seen as rational decision of the poor to disinvest in base-resource and the way that institutional failure may also be endogenously caused by poverty. The discussion of some limitation of both empirical and theoretical literature suggest that more economically-relevant definition of environmental degradation, and more emphasis on proper valuation of natural resources are necessary.Poverty, Environmental degradation