Computing New Optimized Routes for GPS Navigators Using Evolutionary Algorithms

GPS navigators are now present in most vehicles and smartphones. The usual goal of these navigators is to take the user in less time or distance to a destination. However, the global use of navigators in a given city could lead to traffic jams as they have a highly biased preference for some streets. From a general point of view, spreading the traffic throughout the city could be a way of preventing jams and making a better use of public resources. We propose a way of calculating alternative routes to be assigned by these devices in order to foster a better use of the streets. Our experimentation involves maps from OpenStreetMap, real road traffic, and the microsimulator SUMO. We contribute to reducing travel times, greenhouse gas emissions, and fuel consumption. To analyze the sociological aspect of any innovation, we analyze the penetration (acceptance) rate which shows that our proposal is competitive even when just 10% of the drivers are using it.Spanish MINECO project TIN2014-57341-R (http://moveon.lcc.uma.es). FPU grant (FPU13/00954) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. University of Malaga. International Campus of Excellence Andalucia TECH

Red Swarm: Smart Mobility in Cities with EAs

This work presents an original approach to regulate traffic by using an on-line system controlled by an EA. Our proposal uses computational spots with WiFi connectivity located at traffic lights (the Red Swarm), which are used to suggest alternative individual routes to vehicles. An evolutionary algorithm is also proposed in order to find a configuration for the Red Swarm spots which reduces the travel time of the vehicles and also prevents traffic jams. We solve real scenarios in the city of Malaga (Spain), thus enriching the OpenStreetMap info by adding traffic lights, sensors, routes and vehicle flows. The result is then imported into the SUMO traffic simulator to be used as a method for calculating the fitness of solutions. Our results are competitive compared to the common solutions from experts in terms of travel and stop time, and also with respect to other similar proposals but with the added value of solving a real, big instance.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y FEDER (TIN2011-28194

Refracted Truths: Mediating Constructions of Identity through the Illness and Healing Experience of Homeless Native American Men along the Wasatch Front, Utah.

The thesis investigates how homeless Native American men in Salt Lake City, Utah navigate their experience of homelessness, as well as the social suffering it gives rise to, in order to affirm a sense of personhood and personal identity. It examines how this experience is constructed, presented, and mediated through a series of ambivalent spatial and agentic practices that contribute to shaping a contemporary and localized expression of Native American masculine identity. The thesis argues that, for Native Americans, the notions of personhood and identity are deeply rooted in a culturally and spiritually embodied sense of place. When this bond with place is ruptured, it not only complicates our understanding of indigenous homelessness, but the possibility for homeless Native American individuals of living fulfilling lives is fundamentally compromised and can lead to severe and debilitating forms of suffering that are difficult for us to comprehend. Their experience of homelessness also underlines the difficulties many of these individuals encounter in trying to reclaim a meaningful sense of self in order to lead ‘good’ lives. Unfortunately, it also reminds us in many cases of their failure to do so. The thesis presents these themes as multiple representations and suggests that Native American homelessness constitutes a neglected narrative within the Native American identity and healthcare discourse. It also includes an investigation of the efforts to address this complex and problematic reality on the part of the independent agencies that work with homelessness in Salt Lake City and considers possible implications for future research, practice, and advocacy

Separation-Sensitive Collision Detection for Convex Objects

We develop a class of new kinetic data structures for collision detection between moving convex polytopes; the performance of these structures is sensitive to the separation of the polytopes during their motion. For two convex polygons in the plane, let $D$ be the maximum diameter of the polygons, and let $s$ be the minimum distance between them during their motion. Our separation certificate changes $O(\log(D/s))$ times when the relative motion of the two polygons is a translation along a straight line or convex curve, $O(\sqrt{D/s})$ for translation along an algebraic trajectory, and $O(D/s)$ for algebraic rigid motion (translation and rotation). Each certificate update is performed in $O(\log(D/s))$ time. Variants of these data structures are also shown that exhibit \emph{hysteresis}---after a separation certificate fails, the new certificate cannot fail again until the objects have moved by some constant fraction of their current separation. We can then bound the number of events by the combinatorial size of a certain cover of the motion path by balls.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; to appear in Proc. 10th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, 1999; see also http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/jeffe/pubs/kollide.html ; v2 replaces submission with camera-ready versio

Why Illinois Should Abandon \u3cem\u3eFrye\u3c/em\u3e\u27s General Acceptance Standard for the Admission of Novel Scientific Evidence

This Note examines the standard for the admission of novel scientific evidence at trial in Illinois. After tracing the nationwide emergence, dominance, and current departure from Frye v. United State\u27s general acceptance standard, the Note focuses on the inherent problems and ambiguities involved in Frye\u27s application, and the problematic results that arise from using Frye. The future of Frye\u27s use in Illinois is examined in light of the conflict between Frye and the United States Supreme Court\u27s decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc. Stolfi concludes that Frye has outlived its usefulness in our high-speed, technologically advanced nation and that only through adoption of a Federal Rule of Evidence 702 or Daubert-based approach will Illinois ensure that the jury\u27s fact-finding role is protected

Why Illinois Should Abandon \u3cem\u3eFrye\u3c/em\u3e\u27s General Acceptance Standard for the Admission of Novel Scientific Evidence

This Note examines the standard for the admission of novel scientific evidence at trial in Illinois. After tracing the nationwide emergence, dominance, and current departure from Frye v. United State\u27s general acceptance standard, the Note focuses on the inherent problems and ambiguities involved in Frye\u27s application, and the problematic results that arise from using Frye. The future of Frye\u27s use in Illinois is examined in light of the conflict between Frye and the United States Supreme Court\u27s decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc. Stolfi concludes that Frye has outlived its usefulness in our high-speed, technologically advanced nation and that only through adoption of a Federal Rule of Evidence 702 or Daubert-based approach will Illinois ensure that the jury\u27s fact-finding role is protected