4,800 research outputs found
Finding a Feasible Solution for a Simple LP Problem using Agents
In this paper we will describe a Multi-Agent System which is capable of finding a feasible solution of a specially structured linear programming problem. Emphasis is given to correctness issues and termination detection.multi-agent systems;linear programming
A Review of Indigenous Food Crops in Africa and the Implications for more Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems
Indigenous and traditional foods crops (ITFCs) have multiple uses within society, and most notably have an important role to play in the attempt to diversify the food in order to enhance food and nutrition security. However, research suggests that the benefits and value of indigenous foods within the South African and the African context have not been fully understood and synthesized. Their potential value to the African food system could be enhanced if their benefits were explored more comprehensively. This synthesis presents a literature review relating to underutilized indigenous crop species and foods in Africa. It organizes the findings into four main contributions, nutritional, environmental, economic, and social-cultural, in line with key themes of a sustainable food system framework. It also goes on to unpack the benefits and challenges associated with ITFCs under these themes. A major obstacle is that people are not valuing indigenous foods and the potential benefit that can be derived from using them is thus neglected. Furthermore, knowledge is being lost from one generation to the next, with potentially dire implications for long-term sustainable food security. The results show the need to recognize and enable indigenous foods as a key resource in ensuring healthy food systems in the African continent
Natural equilibrium states for multimodal maps
This paper is devoted to the study of the thermodynamic formalism for a class
of real multimodal maps. This class contains, but it is larger than,
Collet-Eckmann. For a map in this class, we prove existence and uniqueness of
equilibrium states for the geometric potentials , for the largest
possible interval of parameters . We also study the regularity and convexity
properties of the pressure function, completely characterising the first order
phase transitions. Results concerning the existence of absolutely continuous
invariant measures with respect to the Lebesgue measure are also obtained
Using the Delphi Technique to Identify BPM Capability Areas
Organizations increasingly recognize the need to adopt a process orientation as a means of approaching challenges such as globalization, Enterprise Systems implementations or alternative improvement perspectives. A comprehensive understanding of the operational capacity to support and extend BPM strategies is critical to this endeavour. To this end, organizations require appropriate frameworks, which assist in identifying and evaluating their BPM capabilities. The development of maturity models has long been recognized as a means of assessing capabilities within a given domain. However, due to the idiosyncratic structure of many of the more than 150 available maturity models they can not be translated into tools that are embraced and applied by practitioners. To address this issue, the Delphi technique has been adopted during the development of a maturity model for Business Process Management. This paper presents the design and conduct of the Delphi Study series including the major outcomes being definitions of the six factors critical to BPM (i.e. Strategic Alignment, Governance, Methods, Information Technology, People and Culture) and the identification of capability areas whose measurement is seen to be necessary for assessing the maturity of these factors
Equilibrium states for potentials with \sup\phi - \inf\phi < \htop(f)
In the context of smooth interval maps, we study an inducing scheme approach
to prove existence and uniqueness of equilibrium states for potentials
with he `bounded range' condition \sup \phi - \inf \phi < \htop, first used
by Hofbauer and Keller. We compare our results to Hofbauer and Keller's use of
Perron-Frobenius operators. We demonstrate that this `bounded range' condition
on the potential is important even if the potential is H\"older continuous. We
also prove analyticity of the pressure in this context.Comment: Added Lemma 6 to deal with the disparity between leading eigenvalues
and operator norms. Added extra references and corrected some typo
On the Lebesgue measure of Li-Yorke pairs for interval maps
We investigate the prevalence of Li-Yorke pairs for and
multimodal maps with non-flat critical points. We show that every
measurable scrambled set has zero Lebesgue measure and that all strongly
wandering sets have zero Lebesgue measure, as does the set of pairs of
asymptotic (but not asymptotically periodic) points.
If is topologically mixing and has no Cantor attractor, then typical
(w.r.t. two-dimensional Lebesgue measure) pairs are Li-Yorke; if additionally
admits an absolutely continuous invariant probability measure (acip), then
typical pairs have a dense orbit for . These results make use of
so-called nice neighborhoods of the critical set of general multimodal maps,
and hence uniformly expanding Markov induced maps, the existence of either is
proved in this paper as well.
For the setting where has a Cantor attractor, we present a trichotomy
explaining when the set of Li-Yorke pairs and distal pairs have positive
two-dimensional Lebesgue measure.Comment: 41 pages, 3 figure
Creating space for biodiversity by planning swath patterns and field marging using accurate geometry
Potential benefits of field margins or boundary strips include promotion of biodiversity and farm wildlife, maintaining landscape diversity, exploiting pest predators and parasites and enhancing crop pollinator populations. In this paper we propose and demonstrate a method to relocate areas of sub-efficient machine manoeuvring to boundary strips so as to optimise the use of available space. Accordingly, the boundary strips will have variable rather than fixed widths. The method is being tested in co-operation with seven farmers in the Hoeksche Waard within the province of Zuid Holland, The Netherlands. In a preliminary stage of the project, tests were performed to determine the required accuracy of field geometry. The results confirmed that additional data acquisition using accurate measuring devices is required. In response, a local contracting firm equipped a small all-terrain vehicle (quad) with an RTK-GPS receiver and set up a service for field measurement. Protocols were developed for requesting a field measurement and for the measurement procedure itself. Co-ordinate transformation to a metric system and brute force optimization of swath patterns are achieved using an open source geospatial library (osgeo.ogr) and Python scripting. The optimizer basically tests all orientations and relevant intermediate angles of input field boundaries and tries incremental positional shifts until the most efficient swath pattern is found. Inefficient swaths intersecting boundary areas are deleted to create space for field margins. The optimised pattern can be forwarded to an agricultural navigation system. At the time of the conference, the approach will have been tested on several farm fields
New Applications of Hermetic Storage for Grain Storage and Transport
Recent evolution of pesticide-free post harvest hermetic storage for dry commodities as now used in 38 countries is described, and its current application in the storage of grain and other commodities is discussed and illustrated. Results of studies carried out on the protection of seeds, rice, maize, wheat, pulses, cocoa and coffee are presented. Plastic structures suitable for long-term storage systems have been developed and applied. The growing number of types of flexible hermetic containers for various needs, especially in tropical conditions, is documented. Types of hermetic containers include: 1) Portable containers of 60-kg to 2-tonne, called SuperGrainbagsTM which are suitable for seed storage in bulk; 2) Bulk storage for household or farm use and daily withdrawal of grain of 1-tonne called Grainsafe IITM; 3) Flexible enclosures of 5- to 1000-tonne capacity termed storage cubes or CocoonsTM, designed for storage at the farmer-cooperative and small trader level or larger commercial and strategic storage facilities; 4) Hermetic Bunker storage for longterm storage in bulk of 10,000- to 20,000-tonnes; 5) TranSafelinerTM provide quality preservation, insect control, and prevention of condensation during shipment of bagged commodities in containers across intercontinental distances. Recent applications for wheat storage in bunkers in Jordan, and cocoa storage in West Africa, and the growing use of hermetic liners for intercontinental shipments of a variety of commodities, are described. Key performance parameters for safe storage in the face of elevated humidity and temperature in preventing growth of molds and the survival of insects for dry and wet commodities are discussed. Economic analysis is provided for representative applications, including rice, maize and cocoa. Keywords: Hermetic storage, Modified atmospheres, Quality preservation, Storage insect control, Flexible storage structure
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