552 research outputs found
Rounding Algorithms for a Geometric Embedding of Minimum Multiway Cut
The multiway-cut problem is, given a weighted graph and k >= 2 terminal
nodes, to find a minimum-weight set of edges whose removal separates all the
terminals. The problem is NP-hard, and even NP-hard to approximate within
1+delta for some small delta > 0.
Calinescu, Karloff, and Rabani (1998) gave an algorithm with performance
guarantee 3/2-1/k, based on a geometric relaxation of the problem. In this
paper, we give improved randomized rounding schemes for their relaxation,
yielding a 12/11-approximation algorithm for k=3 and a 1.3438-approximation
algorithm in general.
Our approach hinges on the observation that the problem of designing a
randomized rounding scheme for a geometric relaxation is itself a linear
programming problem. The paper explores computational solutions to this
problem, and gives a proof that for a general class of geometric relaxations,
there are always randomized rounding schemes that match the integrality gap.Comment: Conference version in ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (1999). To
appear in Mathematics of Operations Researc
Catch Crops in Organic Farming Systems without Livestock Husbandry - Model Simulations
During the last years, an increasing number of stockless farms in Europe converted to organic farming practice without re-establishing a livestock. Due to the lack of animal manure as a nutrient input, the relocation and the external input of nutrients is limited in those organic cropping systems. The introduction of a one-year green manure fallow in a 4-year crop rotation, including clover-grass mixtures as a green manure crop is the classical strategy to solve at least some of the problems related to the missing livestock. The development of new crop rotations, including an extended use of catch crops and annual green manure (legumes) may be another possibility avoiding the economical loss during the fallow year.
Modelling of the C and N turnover in the soil-plant-atmosphere system using the soil-plant-atmosphere model DAISY is one of the tools used for the development of new organic crop rotations. In this paper, we will present simulations based on a field experiment with incorporation of different catch crops.
An important factor for the development of new crop rotations for stockless organic farming systems is the expected N mineralisation and immobilisation after incorporation of the plant materials. Therefore, special emphasise will be put on the simulation of N-mineralisation/-immobilisation and of soil microbial biomass N. Furthermore, particulate organic matter C and N as an indicator of remaining plant material under decomposition will be investigated
Distance Oracles for Time-Dependent Networks
We present the first approximate distance oracle for sparse directed networks
with time-dependent arc-travel-times determined by continuous, piecewise
linear, positive functions possessing the FIFO property.
Our approach precomputes approximate distance summaries from
selected landmark vertices to all other vertices in the network. Our oracle
uses subquadratic space and time preprocessing, and provides two sublinear-time
query algorithms that deliver constant and approximate
shortest-travel-times, respectively, for arbitrary origin-destination pairs in
the network, for any constant . Our oracle is based only on
the sparsity of the network, along with two quite natural assumptions about
travel-time functions which allow the smooth transition towards asymmetric and
time-dependent distance metrics.Comment: A preliminary version appeared as Technical Report ECOMPASS-TR-025 of
EU funded research project eCOMPASS (http://www.ecompass-project.eu/). An
extended abstract also appeared in the 41st International Colloquium on
Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2014, track-A
Path-Fault-Tolerant Approximate Shortest-Path Trees
Let be an -nodes non-negatively real-weighted undirected graph.
In this paper we show how to enrich a {\em single-source shortest-path tree}
(SPT) of with a \emph{sparse} set of \emph{auxiliary} edges selected from
, in order to create a structure which tolerates effectively a \emph{path
failure} in the SPT. This consists of a simultaneous fault of a set of at
most adjacent edges along a shortest path emanating from the source, and it
is recognized as one of the most frequent disruption in an SPT. We show that,
for any integer parameter , it is possible to provide a very sparse
(i.e., of size ) auxiliary structure that carefully
approximates (i.e., within a stretch factor of ) the true
shortest paths from the source during the lifetime of the failure. Moreover, we
show that our construction can be further refined to get a stretch factor of
and a size of for the special case , and that it can be
converted into a very efficient \emph{approximate-distance sensitivity oracle},
that allows to quickly (even in optimal time, if ) reconstruct the
shortest paths (w.r.t. our structure) from the source after a path failure,
thus permitting to perform promptly the needed rerouting operations. Our
structure compares favorably with previous known solutions, as we discuss in
the paper, and moreover it is also very effective in practice, as we assess
through a large set of experiments.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, SIROCCO 201
Multiple fragmented habitat-patch use in an urban breeding passerine, the Short-toed Treecreeper
Individual responses of wild birds to fragmented habitat have rarely been studied, despite large-scale habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss resulting from widespread urbanisation. We investigated the spatial ecology of the Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla, a tiny, resident, woodland passerine that has recently colonised city parks at the northern extent of its range. High resolution spatiotemporal movements of this obligate tree-living species were determined using radio telemetry within the urbanized matrix of city parks in Copenhagen, Denmark. We identified regular edge crossing behaviour, novel in woodland birds. While low numbers of individuals precluded a comprehensive characterisation of home range for this population, we were able to describe a consistent behaviour which has consequences for our understanding of animal movement in urban ecosystems. We report that treecreepers move freely, and apparently do so regularly, between isolated habitat patches. This behaviour is a possible driver of the range expansion in this species and may contribute to rapid dispersal capabilities in certain avian species, including Short-toed Treecreepers, into northern Europe. Alternatively, these behaviours might be common and/or provide an adaptive advantage for birds utilising matrix habitats, for example within urban ecosystems
Reduction of hydraulic losses in a piston pump
The hydraulic losses are the decrease in energy of the fluid due to vortex formation, friction between the fluid and the pipe, changing the flow of fluid. The decrease in energy of the fluid, in turn, leads to the following consequences: decrease efficiency, increase energy consumption and decrease cavitation stock pump. The main danger in a piston pump is to reduce cavitation stock. This leads to boiling of water by pressure reduction and rapid destruction the flow part of the pump
Juvenile Songbirds Compensate for Displacement to Oceanic Islands during Autumn Migration
To what degree juvenile migrant birds are able to correct for orientation errors
or wind drift is still largely unknown. We studied the orientation of passerines
on the Faroe Islands far off the normal migration routes of European migrants.
The ability to compensate for displacement was tested in naturally occurring
vagrants presumably displaced by wind and in birds experimentally displaced 1100
km from Denmark to the Faroes. The orientation was studied in orientation cages
as well as in the free-flying birds after release by tracking departures using
small radio transmitters. Both the naturally displaced and the experimentally
displaced birds oriented in more easterly directions on the Faroes than was
observed in Denmark prior to displacement. This pattern was even more pronounced
in departure directions, perhaps because of wind influence. The clear
directional compensation found even in experimentally displaced birds indicates
that first-year birds can also possess the ability to correct for displacement
in some circumstances, possibly involving either some primitive form of true
navigation, or ‘sign posts’, but the cues used for this are highly
speculative. We also found some indications of differences between species in
the reaction to displacement. Such differences might be involved in the
diversity of results reported in displacement studies so far
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