Network Topology and Time Criticality Effects in the Modularised Fleet Mix Problem

In this paper, we explore the interplay between network topology and time criticality in a military logistics system. A general goal of this work (and previous work) is to evaluate land transportation requirements or, more specifically, how to design appropriate fleets of military general service vehicles that are tasked with the supply and re-supply of military units dispersed in an area of operation. The particular focus of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how the logistics environment changes when current Army vehicles with fixed transport characteristics are replaced by a new generation of modularised vehicles that can be configured task-specifically. The experimental work is conducted within a well developed strategic planning simulation environment which includes a scenario generation engine for automatically sampling supply and re-supply missions and a multi-objective meta-heuristic search algorithm (i.e. Evolutionary Algorithm) for solving the particular scheduling and routing problems. The results presented in this paper allow for a better understanding of how (and under what conditions) a modularised vehicle fleet can provide advantages over the currently implemented system

Role of rodents in transmission of Salmonella and Campylobacter

Salmonella and Campylobacter are generally regarded as the most important food-borne pathogens in the world. Reduction or elimination of these pathogens in the first part of the food chain (on the farm) is important to prevent disease among consumers of animal products. In organic farming, elimination becomes more difficult, as food animals are allowed outdoors and have easy access to potential sources of hazardous pathogens. Whilst rodents are often associated by organic farmers with infrastructural damage and eating or spoiling of stored feed and products, their zoonotic risks are frequently underestimated. They can amplify the number of pathogens in the environment and transfer them to food animals. Thus organic farmers should be aware of the need for rodent control from a food safety perspective. Preferably, rodent control should form an integral part of a total package of hygiene measures to prevent transfer of food-borne pathogens. These should also include e.g. control of wild birds and flies and obligatory disinfection of boots/clothes and equipment for farm workers and visitors

Evolution and fear-fainting

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Credit Assignment in Adaptive Evolutionary Algorithms

In this paper, a new method for assigning credit to search\ud operators is presented. Starting with the principle of optimizing\ud search bias, search operators are selected based on an ability to\ud create solutions that are historically linked to future generations.\ud Using a novel framework for defining performance\ud measurements, distributing credit for performance, and the\ud statistical interpretation of this credit, a new adaptive method is\ud developed and shown to outperform a variety of adaptive and\ud non-adaptive competitors

Combat and Warfare in the Early Paleolithic and Medically Unexplained Musculo-Facial Pain in the 21st Century War Veterns and Active-Duty Military Personnel

In a series of recent articles, we suggest that family dentists, military dentists and psychiatrists with expertise in posttraumatic stress disorder (especially in the Veterans Health Administration) are likely to see an increased number of patients with symptomatic jaw-clenching and early stages of tooth- grinding (Bracha et al., 2005). Returning warfighters and other returnees from military deployment may be especially at risk for high rates of clenching- induced masticatory muscle disorders at early stages of incisor grinding. The literature we have recently reviewed strongly supports the conclusion that clenching and grinding may primarily be a manifestation of experiencing extreme fear or severe chronic distress (respectively). We have recently reviewed the clinical and paleoanthropological literature and have noted that ancestral warfare and ancestral combat, in the early Paleolithic Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) may be a neglected factor explaining the conservation of the archaic trait of bite-muscle strengthening. We have hypothesized that among ancestral warriors, jaw clenching may have rapidly strengthened the two primary muscles involved in biting, the masseter muscles and the much larger temporalis muscles. The strengthening of these muscles may have served the purpose of enabling a stronger, deeper, and therefore more lethal, defensive bite for early Paleolithic humans. The neuroevolutionary perspective presented here may be novel to many dentists. However, it may be useful in patient education and in preventing progression from jaw-clenching to chronic facial pain

SUCCESSION PLANNING AND ORGANIZATIONAL SURVIVAL: EMPIRICAL STUDY ON NIGERIAN PRIVATE TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Organizational survival has been argued to be a primary goal or objective every organization should have. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of succession planning consisting of six variables (talent retention, turnover rate, career development, supervisor’ support, organizational conflicts and nepotism) and to explain the relationship among these variables regarding survival of organizations. The sample consists of three private tertiary institutions in Ogun-State, Southwest Nigeria. The results indicate that Talent retention, organizational conflict and nepotism positive and significantly correlated with organizational survival. On the other hand variables such as Turnover Rate, Career Development and Supervisor’ Supervision) are insignificantly correlated with organizational survival. The results are supposed to inform the leadership (management) team with essential insight into the relationship among the study variables (independent and dependent)

Making and breaking power laws in evolutionary algorithm population dynamics

Deepening our understanding of the characteristics and behaviors of population-based search algorithms remains an important ongoing challenge in Evolutionary Computation. To date however, most studies of Evolutionary Algorithms have only been able to take place within tightly restricted experimental conditions. For instance, many analytical methods can only be applied to canonical algorithmic forms or can only evaluate evolution over simple test functions. Analysis of EA behavior under more complex conditions is needed to broaden our understanding of this population-based search process. This paper presents an approach to analyzing EA behavior that can be applied to a diverse range of algorithm designs and environmental conditions. The approach is based on evaluating an individual’s impact on population dynamics using metrics derived from genealogical graphs.\ud From experiments conducted over a broad range of conditions, some important conclusions are drawn in this study. First, it is determined that very few individuals in an EA population have a significant influence on future population dynamics with the impact size fitting a power law distribution. The power law distribution indicates there is a non-negligible probability that single individuals will dominate the entire population, irrespective of population size. Two EA design features are however found to cause strong changes to this aspect of EA behavior: i) the population topology and ii) the introduction of completely new individuals. If the EA population topology has a long path length or if new (i.e. historically uncoupled) individuals are continually inserted into the population, then power law deviations are observed for large impact sizes. It is concluded that such EA designs can not be dominated by a small number of individuals and hence should theoretically be capable of exhibiting higher degrees of parallel search behavior

The Self-Organization of Interaction Networks for Nature-Inspired Optimization

Over the last decade, significant progress has been made in understanding complex biological systems, however there have been few attempts at incorporating this knowledge into nature inspired optimization algorithms. In this paper, we present a first attempt at incorporating some of the basic structural properties of complex biological systems which are believed to be necessary preconditions for system qualities such as robustness. In particular, we focus on two important conditions missing in Evolutionary Algorithm populations; a self-organized definition of locality and interaction epistasis. We demonstrate that these two features, when combined, provide algorithm behaviors not observed in the canonical Evolutionary Algorithm or in Evolutionary Algorithms with structured populations such as the Cellular Genetic Algorithm. The most noticeable change in algorithm behavior is an unprecedented capacity for sustainable coexistence of genetically distinct individuals within a single population. This capacity for sustained genetic diversity is not imposed on the population but instead emerges as a natural consequence of the dynamics of the system

SUSTAINABILITY OF POULTRY PRODUCTION USING THE EMERGY APPROACH: COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC REARING SYSTEMS

The organic production system is an important strategy, compatible with sustainable agriculture, avoiding the use of chemical compounds,limiting the intensity of production and providing controls along the entire chain of production. The aim of this study is to compare conventional and organic poultry production in terms of emergy analysis. The main differences in the two systems were the emergy cost for poultry feed and for cleaning/sanitization of the buildings between successive productive cycles. In both production systems the poultry feed represented more than 50% of the emergy flow. Regarding the agronomic phase, it was shown that almost all the organic crops, avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides, saved around 60% emergy. The emergetic costs for housing of the birds were very similar in both systems. Relating the emergy results with productive performance it is possible to show that, although the annual productive performance was much lower in organic than in conventional (206%), transformity of organic poultry was around 10% lower. Comparison of the organic poultry system with a conventional one from the viewpoint of sustainability showed that all the emergy-based indicators are in favour of the organic farming system with a higher efficiency in transforming the available inputs in the final product, a higher level of renewable inputs, a higher level of local inputs and a lower density of energy and matter flows