2/ Professor of Ecology and Assistant Professor of Ecology. Departamento de Ecología. Universidad Autónoma. C-XV. Madrid (34) Spain. Abstract: Analysis of landscape preferences allows the detection of major dimensions as:(1) the opposition between "natural and humanized", (comprising features like vegetation cover, cultivation, pattern of landscape elements, artifacts, excavations, etc.); (2) a...

Abstract: The Social Spider Optimization algorithm (SSO) is a novel metaheuristic optimization algorithm. To enhance the convergence speed and computational accuracy of the algorithm, in this paper, an elite opposition-based Social Spider Optimization algorithm (EOSSO) is proposed; we use an elite opposition-based learning strategy to enhance the convergence speed and computational accuracy of ...

The OQ(λ) algorithm benefits from an extension of eligibility traces introduced as opposition trace. This new technique is a combination of the idea of opposition and eligibility traces to deal with large state space problems in reinforcement learning applications. In our previous works the comparison of the results of OQ(λ) and conventional Watkins’ Q(λ) reflected a remarkable increase in perf...

In recognition of the environmental and economic threats posed by climate change; decisive steps are now being taken to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions. One sector receiving particular attention within the UK is that of electricity generation. As such, the government has introduced ambitious targets for increasing renewable generating capacity within the country. Wind turbines are expected t...

The impact of the opposition concept can be observed in many areas around us. This concept has sometimes been called by different names, such as, opposite particles in physics, complement of an event in probability, absolute or relative complement in set theory, and theses and antitheses in dialectic. Recently, opposition-based learning (OBL) was proposed and has been utilized in different soft...

We present new astrometry of Pluto’s three satellites from images taken of the Pluto system during 2002-3 with the High Resolution Camera (HRC) mode of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The observations were designed to produce an albedo map of Pluto but they also contain images of Charon and the two recently discovered satellites, S/2005 P1 and S/2...

This work investigates the performance of Differential Evolution (DE) and its opposition-based version (ODE) on large scale optimization problems. Opposition-based differential evolution (ODE) has been proposed based on DE; it employs opposition-based population initialization and generation jumping to accelerate convergence speed. ODE shows promising results in terms of convergence rate, robus...

Activists from civil society contributed signi!cantly to the strong performance of the opposition in Malaysia’s March 2008 elections, strategizing opposition collaboration, standing as candidates, informing debates, and expanding media options. These efforts boosted the excitement of the polls and the opposition’s odds, but they also pose new challenges for the future.

A survey of 43 cemented arthroplasties of the trapeziometacarpal joint with a la Caffinière prosthesis in 40 patients is presented. A 70% patient satisfaction rate was obtained, with a mean DASH score of 24.2. Good range of motion was preserved (opposition 9/10 on Kapandji's scale) and gripping force as well as key pinch force increased from 18 kg to 24 kg and from 5.3 to 6.0 kg respectively. H...