The first ant colony optimization (ACO) called ant system was inspired through studying of the behavior of ants in 1991 by Macro Dorigo and co-workers [1]. An ant colony is highly organized, in which one interacting with others through pheromone in perfect harmony. Optimization problems can be solved through simulating ant’s behaviors. Since the first ant system algorithm was proposed, there is...

Caesarean section rates are rising. Caesarean section confers an increase in maternal mortality and morbidity as well as having considerable financial implications. Caesarean section is usually justified by the assumed benefit for the fetus. These benefits are often unquantified and based on scanty evidence. The changing trends in the rates of caesarean section for various indications may be ex...

Conventional methods of solving nonconvex separable programming (NSP) problems by mixed integer programming methods requires adding numerous 0±1 variables. In this work, we present a new method of deriving the global optimum of a NSP program using less number of 0±1 variables. A separable function is initially expressed by a piecewise linear function with summation of absolute terms. Linearizin...