Objective function "stretching" to alleviate convergence to local minima

This paper introduces a new technique for the alleviation of local minima i n minimization problems. The proposed "stretching" technique transforms the objective function by stretching upwards the neighborhood of a given point , and assists in eliminating local minima, while preserving the global ones . Experiments indicate that when a global search method converges to an und esired local minimum, the use of the new technique provides a way of escape and helps convergence to the global minimum.