This paper presents a new single-parameter local search heuristic named Step Counting Hill Climbing algorithm (SCHC). It is a very simple technique, where the current cost serves as an acceptance bound for a number of consequent steps. This number is a sole algorithmic parameter, which should be...

Maintenance planning aims to ensure a high operating performance of industrial assets by the effective use of financial and human resources, and spare parts. Although, methods for industrial maintenance management have advanced in the last decades, the technical complexity of involved human...

This paper provides the most fully comprehensive evidence to date on whether or not monetary aggregates are valuable for forecasting US inflation in the early to mid 2000s. We explore a wide range of different definitions of money, including different methods of aggregation and different...

The performance of a "capital certain" Divisia index constructed using the same components included in the Bank of England"s MSI plus national savings; a "risky" Divisia index constructed by adding bonds, shares and unit trusts to the list of assets included in the first index; and a capital...

This paper provides the most fully comprehensive evidence to date on whether or not monetary aggregates are valuable for forecasting US inflation in the early to mid 2000s. We explore a wide range of different definitions of money, including different methods of aggregation and different...

This paper proposes a new memetic evolutionary algorithm to achieve explicit learning in rule-based nurse rostering, which involves applying a set of heuristic rules for each nurse's assignment. The main framework of the algorithm is an estimation of distribution algorithm, in which an ant-miner...

This paper proposes a new memetic evolutionary algorithm to achieve explicit learning in rule-based nurse rostering, which involves applying a set of heuristic rules for each nurse's assignment. The main framework of the algorithm is an estimation of distribution algorithm, in which an ant-miner...

This essay argues that the Middle Eastern environment, with its legacy of squandered water resources, deforestation and pollution of all kinds, reveals a distilled essence of the coming environmental crisis of the planet. This is so because of the evident vulnerability of Middle Eastern...