Exploring algorithms to score control points in metrogaine events

Metrogaining is an urban outdoor navigational sport that uses a street map to which scored control points have been added. The objective is to collect maximum score points within a set time by visiting a subset of the scored control points. There is currently no metrogaining scoring standard, only guidelines on how to allocate scores. Accordingly, scoring approaches were explored to create new score sets by using scoring algorithms based on a simple relationship between the score of, and the number of visits to a control point. A spread model, which was developed to evaluate the score sets, generated a range of routes by solving a range of orienteering problems, which belongs to the class of NP-hard combinatorial optimisation problems. From these generated routes, the control point visit frequencies of each control point were determined. Using the visit frequencies, test statistics were subsequently adapted to test the goodness of scoring for each score set. The ndings indicate that the score-visits relationship is not a simple one, as the number of visits to a control point is not only dependent on its score, but also on the scores of the surrounding control points. As a result, the scoring algorithms explored were unable to cope with the complex scoring process uncovered.Decision SciencesM. Sc. (Operations Research

Towards understanding the alcoholic

No Abstrac

Macro-invertébrés du Cénomanien du Djebel Metrassi (Batna, NE Algérie): Systématique et biostratigraphie

A rich paleontological assemblage was collected in the Cenomanian deposits of the Djebel Metrassi (Batna, NE Algeria). It consists of 327 specimens assigned respectively to a single coral, 24 bivalve, 14 gastropod, 3 ammonite, and 7 echinoid species. This macrofaunal association leads us to establish an original taxonomical reference list along with several species new for the Cenomanian of this area, and supports the lithostratigraphic framework herein proposed.[fr] Un assemblage paléontologique a été récolté dans le Cénomanien du Djebel Metrassi (Batna, NE Algérie). Constitué de 327 spécimens, il comporte un corail, 24 espèces de bivalves, 14 espèces de gastéropodes, 3 espèces d’ammonites et 7 espèces d’échinides. Cet assemblage permet d’établir une liste systématique originale, avec des espèces inédites, pour le Cénomanien de ce Djebel et vient soutenir le découpage lithostratigraphique proposé

Evolution and extinction of Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) cephalopods from the López de Bertodano Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica

One of the most expanded records to contain the final fortunes of ammonoid cephalopods is within the López de Bertodano Formation of Seymour Island, James Ross Basin, Antarctica. Located at 65° South now, and during the Cretaceous, this sequence is the highest southern latitude onshore outcrop containing the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) transition. We present comprehensive new biostratigraphic range data for 14 ammonite and one nautiloid species based on the collection of >. 700 macrofossils from high-resolution sampling of parallel sedimentary sections, dated Maastrichtian to earliest Danian in age, across southern Seymour Island. We find evidence for only a single, abrupt pulse of cephalopod extinction at the end of the Cretaceous when the final seven ammonite species disappeared, consistent with most evidence globally. In the lead up to the K-Pg extinction in the James Ross Basin, starting during the Campanian, ammonite diversity decreased overall, but the number of endemic taxa belonging to the family Kossmaticeratidae actually increased. This pattern continued into the Maastrichtian and may be facies controlled, linked to changes in sea level and seawater temperature. During the early Maastrichtian, ammonite diversity dropped significantly with only two species recorded from the basal López de Bertodano Formation on Seymour Island. The subsequent diversification of endemic taxa and reappearance of long-ranging, widespread species into the basin resulted in an increase in ammonite diversity and abundance during the mid-Maastrichtian. This was coincident with an apparent period of warming temperatures and sea level rise interpreted from palynology and sedimentology, perhaps reflecting a high latitude expression of the Mid-Maastrichtian Event. Late Maastrichtian diversity levels remained stable despite reported climatic and environmental variation. Ammonite diversity patterns during the Maastrichtian parallel those of microfossil species such as nannofossil and planktonic foraminifera, suggesting that dynamic climatic and environmental changes affected many planktonic and nektonic organisms during the latest Cretaceous. However, we suggest that these perturbations had a minimal effect on overall diversity prior to the catastrophic extinction event at the K-Pg boundary

Boers at Spionkop

These photos originally belonged to General Piet Cronjé who collected them for his planned ‘circus’ collection (which would have been like the Wild Bill rodeo show). Richard Wade married one of his great-grand daughters (Sumarie Cronjé). The photos were scanned by Louis Barendse and Richard Wade around about 1998