Search results for "hill"
showing 10 items of 369 documents
Viscoelastic properties of the Achilles tendon in vivo
2013
It has been postulated that human tendons are viscoelastic and their mechanical properties time-dependent. Although Achilles tendon (AT) mechanics are widely reported, there is no consensus about AT viscoelastic properties such as loading rate dependency or hysteresis, in vivo. AT force-elongation characteristics were determined from 14 subjects in an ankle dynamometer at different loading rates using motion capture assisted ultrasonography. AT stiffness and elongation were determined between 10 – 80% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) force at fast and slow loading rates. As subjects were unable to consistently match the target unloading rate in the slow condition, AT hysteresis was on…
Tabu search for the Max–Mean Dispersion Problem
2015
In this paper, we address a variant of a classical optimization model in the context of maximizing the diversity of a set of elements. In particular, we propose heuristics to maximize the mean dispersion of the selected elements in a given set. This NP-hard problem was recently introduced as the maximum mean dispersion problem (MaxMeanDP), and it models several real problems, from pollution control to ranking of web pages. In this paper, we first review the previous methods for the MaxMeanDP, and then explore different tabu search approaches, and their influence on the quality of the solutions obtained. As a result, we propose a dynamic tabu search algorithm, based on three different neighb…
Reducing the bandwidth of a sparse matrix with tabu search
2001
The bandwidth of a matrix { } ij a A = is defined as the maximum absolute difference between i and j for which 0 ≠ ij a . The problem of reducing the bandwidth of a matrix consists of finding a permutation of the rows and columns that keeps the nonzero elements in a band that is as close as possible to the main diagonal of the matrix. This NP-complete problem can also be formulated as a labeling of vertices on a graph, where edges are the nonzero elements of the corresponding symmetrical matrix. Many bandwidth reduction algorithms have been developed since the 1960s and applied to structural engineering, fluid dynamics and network analysis. For the most part, these procedures do not incorpo…
Tabu search and GRASP for the maximum diversity problem
2007
In this paper, we develop new heuristic procedures for the maximum diversity problem (MDP). This NP-hard problem has a significant number of practical applications such as environmental balance, telecommunication services or genetic engineering. The proposed algorithm is based on the tabu search methodology and incorporates memory structures for both construction and improvement. Although proposed in seminal tabu search papers, memory-based constructions have often been implemented in naive ways that disregard important elements of the fundamental tabu search proposals. We will compare our tabu search construction with a memory-less design and with previous algorithms recently developed for…
Hydropower Optimization Using Split-Window, Meta-Heuristic and Genetic Algorithms
2019
In this paper, we try to find the most efficient optimization algorithm that can be used to resolve the hydropower optimization problem. We propose a novel optimization technique is called the Split-window method. The method is relatively simple and reduces the complexity of the optimization problem by split-ting the planning horizon (and datasets) into equal windows and assigning the same values to policies(actions) within each part. After splitting, a meta-heuristic technique is used to optimize the actions, and the dataset is split again until a split contains only one instance (timestep). The unique values to be optimized during each iteration is equal to the number of splits which make…
Context-Independent Scatter and Tabu Search for Permutation Problems
2005
In this paper, we develop a general-purpose heuristic for permutations problems. The procedure is based on the scatter-search and tabu-search methodologies and treats the objective-function evaluation as a black box, making the search algorithm context-independent. Therefore, our main contribution consists of the development and testing of a procedure that uses no knowledge from the problem context to search for the optimal solution. We perform computational experiments with four well-known permutation problems to study the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method. These experiments include a comparison with two commercially available software packages that are also based on met…
Emerging contaminants related to the occurrence of forest fires in the Spanish Mediterranean
2017
Forest fires can be a source of contamination because, among others, of the use of chemicals to their extinction (flame retardants, FRs), or by the production of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) derived from high temperature alteration of organic matter. Up to our knowledge, this study is the first to assess the direct (PAHs 16 on the USA EPA's priority list), and indirect [tri- to hepta- brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organophosphorus flame retardants (PFRs) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)] contamination related to forest fires. The abundance and distribution of these contaminants were monitored on two Mediterranean hillslopes, one burned and one unburned, near Azuébar (S…
New selections of Prunus persica for low chill Mediterranean climate areas
2016
In the late 1990s, CREA and the University of Palermo initiated a peach-breeding program in order to select new genotypes suitable for the fruit growing areas of southern Italy. These regions are generally characterized by short, mild winters and long, hot, dry summers. International cultivars grown in continental environments often have problems related to climatic limitations, such as the failure to satisfy the winter chill requirements. About 40 different peach and nectarine cultivars with different fruit characteristics (size, skin over colour, flesh firmness, sugar content, titratable acidity, absence of split-pit) were used as parents in a breeding program by CREA. The best selections…
Origin of impulse initiation in the slowly adapting stretch receptor of the crayfish
1974
Characteristic for the crayfish stretch receptor is a gradual decrease in axon diameter up to a stretch of axon about 350 μm away from the soma-axon border. In response to depolarizing currents applied at different positions along the axon this stretch of axon can be localized as the most excitable membrane region. When depolarizing current steps of 10–25 nA intensity are injected into the soma the first impulse is always triggered in the soma (due to sudden rise in the membrane potential) while the second impulse originates at the axon region of highest escitability. As the intensity of the stimulus is increased the site of impulse initiation along the axon shifts nearer to the receptor so…
Wage Drift: Phillips Curve vs Bargaining Models
1994
: The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the debate on market- versus bargaining-determined total earnings by examining whether models of wage drift based on wage-bargaining considerations empirically outperform models based on simple ad hoc formulations relating wage drift to excess demand for labour. The task is carried out by investigating the empirical performance of two bargaining models and two Phillips curve models in the context of data on the Finnish metal industry. The results suggest that the former perform better than the latter, thus providing support for the hypothesis that total earnings are bargaining-determined. Furthermore, the results are in line with the view that…