Stability in delay difference equations with nonuniform exponential behavior

We study the stability under perturbations for delay difference equations in Banach spaces. Namely, we establish the (nonuniform) stability of linear nonuniform exponential contractions under sufficiently small perturbations. We also obtain a stable manifold theorem for perturbations of linear delay difference equations admitting a nonuniform exponential dichotomy, and show that the stable manifolds are Lipschitz in the perturbation.     

A hybrid genetic algorithm for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem

In this paper we propose a Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA) for the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). HGA introduces several changes in the GA paradigm: a crossover operator specific for the RCPSP; a local improvement operator that is applied to all generated schedules; a new way to select the parents to be combined; and a two-phase strategy by which the second phase re-starts the evolution from a neighbour’s population of the best schedule found in the first phase. The computational results show that HGA is a fast and high quality algorithm that outperforms all state-of-the-art algorithms for the RCPSP known by the authors of this paper for the instance sets j60 and j120. And that it is competitive with other state-of-the-art heuristics for the instance set j30.     

A tabu thresholding algorithm for arc crossing minimization in bipartite graphs

Acyclic directed graphs are commonly used to model complex systems. The most important criterion to obtain a readable map of an acyclic graph is that of minimizing the number of arc crossings. In this paper, we present a heuristic for solving the problem of minimizing the number of arc crossings in a bipartite graph. It consists of a novel and easier implementation of fundamental tabu search ideas without explicit use of memory structures (a tabu thresholding approach). Computational results are reported on a set of 250 randomly generated test problems. Our algorithm has been compared with the two best heuristics published in the literature and with the optimal solutions for the test problems, size permitting.This research was partially supported by the C.I.C.Y.T. with code tap92-0639.     

Center manifolds for nonuniformly partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms

We establish the existence of smooth invariant center manifolds for the nonuniformly partially hyperbolic trajectories of a diffeomorphism in a Banach space. This means that the differentials of the diffeomorphism along the trajectory admit a nonuniform exponential trichotomy. We also consider the more general case of sequences of diffeomorphisms, which corresponds to a nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time. In addition, we obtain an optimal regularity for the center manifolds: if the diffeomorphisms are of class C^k then the manifolds are also of class C^k. As a byproduct of our approach we obtain an exponential control not only for the trajectories on the center manifolds, but also for their derivatives up to order k.     

The role of dimensionality in the kinetic Ising model of spinodal decomposition: Evidence from zero-temperature quenches

We study a three-dimensional Ising lattice gas model with spin-exchange dynamics quenched from infinite to zero temperature. We consider a wide range of values of the binary composition (i.e., magnetization) and annealed vacancy concentration. We find that, as in two dimensions, the system freezes in a configuration very far from equilibrium, and that the interface energy per bond in the frozen state, which is very large, in all cases takes very nearly the same values as in two dimensions. We discuss the implications of these results regarding the irrelevance of dimensionality in this problem.     

Analytic invariant manifolds for sequences of diffeomorphisms

We obtain real analytic invariant manifolds for trajectories of maps assuming only the existence of a nonuniform exponential behavior. We also consider the more general case of sequences of maps, which corresponds to a nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time. We emphasize that the maps that we consider are defined in a real Euclidean space, and thus, one is not able to obtain the invariant manifolds from a corresponding procedure to that in the nonuniform hyperbolicity theory in the context of holomorphic dynamics. We establish the existence both of stable (and unstable) manifolds and of center manifolds. As a byproduct of our approach we obtain an exponential control not only for the trajectories on the invariant manifolds, but also for all their derivatives.     

Synthesis of β-chloro α-amino acids: (2S,3R)- and (2S,3S)-3-chloroleucine

The first syntheses of (2S,3R)- and (2S,3S)-3-chloroleucine (3-chloro-d-leucines 1 and 2) have been achieved from d-3-hydroxyleucine and allo-d-3-hydroxyleucine, respectively, through the formation of the corresponding N-Cbz β-lactones, followed by a ring opening promoted by lithium chloride and a debenzylation process.     

Lyapunov Functions for General Nonuniform Dichotomies

For nonautonomous linear equations x′ = A(t)x, we give a complete characterization of the existence of exponential behavior in terms of Lyapunov functions. In particular, we obtain an inverse theorem giving explicitly Lyapunov functions for each exponential dichotomy. The main novelty of our work is that we consider a very general type of nonuniform exponential dichotomy. This includes for example uniform exponential dichotomies, nonuniform exponential dichotomies and polynomial dichotomies. We also consider the case of different growth rates for the uniform and the nonuniform parts of the dichotomy. As an application of our work, we establish in a very direct manner the robustness of nonuniform exponential dichotomies under sufficiently small linear perturbations.     

Robustness of general dichotomies

For a linear equation v^′=A(t)v we consider general dichotomies that may exhibit stable and unstable behaviors with respect to arbitrary asymptotic rates ecρ(t) for some function ρ(t). This includes as a special case the usual exponential behavior when ρ(t)=t. We also consider the general case of nonuniform exponential dichotomies. We establish the robustness of the exponential dichotomies in Banach spaces, in the sense that the existence of an exponential dichotomy for a given linear equation persists under sufficiently small linear perturbations. We also establish the continuous dependence with the perturbation of the constants in the notion of dichotomy.     

Lyapunov sequences for exponential dichotomies

For a linear nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time, we study the relation between nonuniform exponential dichotomies and strict Lyapunov sequences. Given such a sequence, we obtain the stable and unstable subspaces from the intersection of the images and preimages of the cones defined by each element of the sequence. The main difficulty is to extract some information about the angles between the stable and unstable subspaces (or some appropriate notion in the case of Banach spaces) from the Lyapunov sequence. In particular, for a large class of nonuniform exponential dichotomies we give a complete characterization in terms of strict quadratic Lyapunov sequences, that is, strict Lyapunov sequences defined by quadratic forms. We also construct explicitly families of strict Lyapunov sequences for each nonuniform exponential dichotomy, in terms of Lyapunov norms.