Análisis del Potencial Energético Solar Basado en Mediciones in Situ en el Municipio de Acacías - Meta

This research presents the preliminary results of the research entitled Design and implementation of a fixed and mobile photovoltaic system to capture the solar power, determining the cost-benefit ratio for the Acacías CEAD, a study that will determine the solar power that affects the University National Open and Distance - UNAD of the municipality of Acacías and deliver a study to determine the solar radiation of the area, in order to verify the potentiality and feasibility of installing solar energy systems in the University and nearby areas; It has been possible to determine that solar power in the area per m² is close to 45% of that measured by IDEAM (Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies Institute in Colombia), with a potential absorption of 331W per day in an area of 1m², which makes feasible a possible implementation of a solar energy system. Keywords: Solar power, solar energy, solar panel, energy efficiency

Empowering citizens' cognition and decision making in smart sustainable cities

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Advances in Internet technologies have made it possible to gather, store, and process large quantities of data, often in real time. When considering smart and sustainable cities, this big data generates useful information and insights to citizens, service providers, and policy makers. Transforming this data into knowledge allows for empowering citizens' cognition as well as supporting decision-making routines. However, several operational and computing issues need to be taken into account: 1) efficient data description and visualization, 2) forecasting citizens behavior, and 3) supporting decision making with intelligent algorithms. This paper identifies several challenges associated with the use of data analytics in smart sustainable cities and proposes the use of hybrid simulation-optimization and machine learning algorithms as an effective approach to empower citizens' cognition and decision making in such ecosystemsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A survey on financial applications of metaheuristics

Modern heuristics or metaheuristics are optimization algorithms that have been increasingly used during the last decades to support complex decision-making in a number of fields, such as logistics and transportation, telecommunication networks, bioinformatics, finance, and the like. The continuous increase in computing power, together with advancements in metaheuristics frameworks and parallelization strategies, are empowering these types of algorithms as one of the best alternatives to solve rich and real-life combinatorial optimization problems that arise in a number of financial and banking activities. This article reviews some of the works related to the use of metaheuristics in solving both classical and emergent problems in the finance arena. A non-exhaustive list of examples includes rich portfolio optimization, index tracking, enhanced indexation, credit risk, stock investments, financial project scheduling, option pricing, feature selection, bankruptcy and financial distress prediction, and credit risk assessment. This article also discusses some open opportunities for researchers in the field, and forecast the evolution of metaheuristics to include real-life uncertainty conditions into the optimization problems being considered.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (TRA2013-48180-C3-P, TRA2015-71883-REDT), FEDER, and the Universitat Jaume I mobility program (E-2015-36)

A hybrid algorithm combining heuristics with Monte Carlo simulation for solving the Stochastic Flow Shop Problem

In this paper a hybrid simulation-based algorithm is proposed for the Stochastic Flow Shop Problem. The main idea of the methodology is to transform the stochastic problem into a deterministic problem and then apply simulation. To achieve this goal we use Monte Carlo simulation and a modified version of the well-known NEH heuristic. This approach aims to provide flexibility and simplicity due to the fact that it is not constrained by any previous assumption and relies in well-tested heuristics.Postprint (published version

Using specification and description language to represent users’ profiles in OMNET++ simulations

Omnet++ is a powerful and open-source simulation tool which is basically intended to model discrete-event systems. In particular, Omnet++ is extensively used to model and simulate computer networks. Typically, when a Wide Area Network needs to be modeled, different assumptions are made in order to simplify the complexity associated with human behavior. Nevertheless, human behavior can also be modeled, at least to some extent, by using Multi Agent Systems (MAS). This paper presents a methodology that allows connecting a MAS model –which accounts for human behavior–, with a standard Omnet++ model –which represents the behavior of a computer network. The approach presented here can be useful to obtain a better representation of the human behavior through a MAS model when using Omnet++. Furthermore, our approach simplifies the modeling process by splitting the complexity of a real system into two different parts. Therefore, on the one hand computer scientists can focus on the Omnet++ model while, on the other hand, specialists in human behavior can focus on the MAS model. Finally, our approach also facilitates the distribution of the models among different computers.Postprint (published version

The non-smooth and bi-objective team orienteering problem with soft constraints

In the classical team orienteering problem (TOP), a fixed fleet of vehicles is employed, each of them with a limited driving range. The manager has to decide about the subset of customers to visit, as well as the visiting order (routes). Each customer offers a different reward, which is gathered the first time that it is visited. The goal is then to maximize the total reward collected without exceeding the driving range constraint. This paper analyzes a more realistic version of the TOP in which the driving range limitation is considered as a soft constraint: every time that this range is exceeded, a penalty cost is triggered. This cost is modeled as a piece-wise function, which depends on factors such as the distance of the vehicle to the destination depot. As a result, the traditional reward-maximization objective becomes a non-smooth function. In addition, a second objective, regarding the design of balanced routing plans, is considered as well. A mathematical model for this non-smooth and bi-objective TOP is provided, and a biased-randomized algorithm is proposed as a solving approach. © 2020 by the authors.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness & FEDER (SEV-2015-0563), the Spanish Ministry of Science (PID2019-111100RB-C21, RED2018-102642-T), and the Erasmus+ Program (2019-I-ES01-KA103-062602)

A Parameter-free approach for solving combinatorial optimization problems through biased randomization of efficient heuristics

This paper discusses the use of probabilistic or randomized algorithms for solving combinatorial optimization problems. Our approach employs non-uniform probability distributions to add a biased random behavior to classical heuristics so a large set of alternative good solutions can be quickly obtained in a natural way and without complex conguration processes. This procedure is especially useful in problems where properties such as non-smoothness or non-convexity lead to a highly irregular solution space, for which the traditional optimization methods, both of exact and approximate nature, may fail to reach their full potential. The results obtained are promising enough to suggest that randomizing classical heuristics is a powerful method that can be successfully applied in a variety of casesPeer ReviewedPreprin

Expression of ghrelin and Its receptor mRNA in ovibne oocyte and cumulus cells

Energy balance is regulated by ghrelin which is a neuroendocrine modulator. Ghrelin is expressed in reproductive organs. However, the role of ghrelin during in vitro maturation (IVM) and bovine preimplantational development is limited. The purpose of this study was to measure the expression of ghrelin (GHRL) and its receptor growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1A (GHS-R1A) mRNA, and determine cumulus oocyte complex (COC) viability after IVM with 0, 20, 40 and 60 pM of ghrelin. Also, pronuclear formation was recorded after in vitro fertilization (IVF). GHRL and GHS-R1A mRNA expression in oocyte and cumulus cells (CCs) was assessed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Oocyte and CC viability were analyzed with the fluorescein diacetate fluorochrome-trypan blue technique. Pronuclear formation was determined 18 hours after IVF with Hoechst 33342. The results demonstrated that ghrelin mRNA is present in oocyte and CCs before and after 24 hours IVM with all treatments. Ghrelin receptor, GHS-R1A, was only detected in oocytes and CCs after 24 hours IVM with 20, 40 and 60 pM of ghrelin. Oocyte viability was not significantly different (P=0.77) among treatments. However, CC viability was significantly lower (P=0.04) when COCs were matured with ghrelin (77.65, 72.10, 66.32 and 46.86% for 0, 20, 40, and 60 pM of ghrelin, respectively). The chance of two pronuclei forming were higher (P=0.03) when ghrelin was not be added to the IVM medium. We found that ghrelin negatively impacts CC viability and pronuclear formation.Fil: Sirini, Matías Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Anchordoquy, Juan Patricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Quintana, Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología. Laboratorio de Artrópodos; ArgentinaFil: Furnus, Cecilia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Relling, Alejandro Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Anchordoquy, Juan Mateo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentin

A simulation-based approach for solving the flowshop problem

A simulation-based algorithm for the Permutation Flowshop Sequencing Problem (PFSP) is presented. The algorithm uses Monte Carlo Simulation and a discrete version of the triangular distribution to incorporate a randomness criterion in the classical Nawaz, Enscore, and Ham (NEH) heuristic and starts an iterative process in order to obtain a set of alternative solutions to the PFSP. Thus, a random but biased lo We can then consider several properties per solution other than the makespan, such as balanced idle times among machines, number of completed jobs at a given target time, etc. This allows the decision-maker to consider multiple solution characteristics apart from those defined by the aprioristic objective function. Therefore, our methodology provides flexibility during the sequence selection process, which may help to improve the scheduling process. Several tests have been performed to discuss the effectiveness of this approach. The results obtained so far are promising enough to encourage further developments and improvements on the algorithm and its applications in real-life scenarios. In particular, Multi-Agent Simulation is proposed as a promising technique to be explored in future works.Postprint (published version

Application Of Social Web Tools To The Internationalization Of Retail Companies

The emergence and development of what is called the Social Web or Web 2.0 is marked by the appearance and development of new communication tools and applications such as blogs, chats, forums, social networks, etc., and interaction between users. As well as giving consumers emotional and practical benefits, these applications represent great communication opportunities for companies in a globalized context. For this reason, businessmen are increasingly using Social Web tools as instruments to get information and market knowledge, as well as for communication in an internationalization context. Taking the opportunities the use of Social Web tools in a global context represent for retail business as its starting point, this study analyzes the possibilities offered by different tools in the context of the internationalization process of retail distribution businesses, and the uses retailers involved in internationalization processes are currently putting them to. In order to do this, a study is being made by direct observation of the applications and social contents on their web sites, and exploration and monitoring of their presence in other social spaces (blogs, social networks, microblogging, etc.)