Two novel evolutionary formulations of the graph coloring problem

We introduce two novel evolutionary formulations of the problem of coloring the nodes of a graph. The first formulation is based on the relationship that exists between a graph's chromatic number and its acyclic orientations. It views such orientations as individuals and evolves them with the aid of evolutionary operators that are very heavily based on the structure of the graph and its acyclic orientations. The second formulation, unlike the first one, does not tackle one graph at a time, but rather aims at evolving a `program' to color all graphs belonging to a class whose members all have the same number of nodes and other common attributes. The heuristics that result from these formulations have been tested on some of the Second DIMACS Implementation Challenge benchmark graphs, and have been found to be competitive when compared to the several other heuristics that have also been tested on those graphs.Comment: To appear in Journal of Combinatorial Optimizatio

Mass Generation from Lie Algebra Extensions

Applied to the electroweak interactions, the theory of Lie algebra extensions suggests a mechanism by which the boson masses are generated without resource to spontaneous symmetry breaking. It starts from a gauge theory without any additional scalar field. All the couplings predicted by the Weinberg-Salam theory are present, and a few others which are nevertheless consistent within the model.Comment: 11 pages; revtex; title and PACS have been changed; comments included in the manuscrip

Confronting cold dark matter cosmologies with strong clustering of Lyman break galaxies at z∼3z\sim3

We perform a detailed analysis of the statistical significance of a concentration of Lyman break galaxies at $z \sim 3$ recently discovered by Steidel et al. (1997), using a series of N-body simulations with $N=256^3$ particles in a (100\himpc)^3 comoving box. While the observed number density of Lyman break galaxies at $z\sim3$ implies that they correspond to systems with dark matter halos of \simlt 10^{12}M_\odot, the resulting clustering of such objects on average is not strong enough to be reconciled with the concentration if it is fairly common; we predict one similar concentration approximately per ($6\sim 10$) fields in three representative cold dark matter models. Considering the current observational uncertainty of the frequency of such clustering at $z\sim3$, it would be premature to rule out the models, but the future spectroscopic surveys in a dozen fields could definitely challenge all the existing cosmological models a posteriori fitted to the $z=0$ universe.Comment: the final version which matchs that published in ApJ Letters (Feb 1998); compared with the previous versions, the predictions for the SCDM model are slightly changed; Latex, 11 pages, including 3 ps figure

Antibiotic susceptibility of enterococci isolated from traditional fermented meat products

Antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated for 182 Enterococcus spp. isolated from Alheira, Chouriça de Vinhais and Salpica˜o de Vinhais, fermented meat products produced in the North of Portugal. Previously, a choice was made from a group of 1060 isolates, using phenotypic and genotypic tests. From these, 76 were previously identified as Enterococcus faecalis, 44 as Enterococcus faecium, one as Enterococcus casseliflavus and 61 as Enteroccocus spp. In order to encompass several of the known chemical and functional classes of antibiotics, resistance to ampicillin, penicillin G, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, nitrofurantoin, rifampicin, tetracycline and vancomycin was evaluated. All the isolates were sensitive to antibiotics of clinical importance, such as penicillins and vancomycin. Some differences in Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of antibiotics, could be associated with the enterococcal species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Analyses of shocked quartz at the global K-P boundary indicate an origin from a single, high-angle, oblique impact at Chicxulub

Accepted versio

Deficiências minerais em pastagens do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

bitstream/item/65349/1/CTAA-DOCUMENTOS-8-DEFICIENCIAS-MINERAIS-EM-PASTAGENS-DO-ESTADO-DO-RIO-DE-JANEIRO-FL-02171.pd

Bioremediation of trace organic compounds found in precious metals refineries wastewaters: A review of potential options

Platinum group metal (PGM) refining processes produce large quantities of wastewater, which is contaminated with the compounds that make up the solvents/extractants mixtures used in the process. These compounds often include solvesso, β-hydroxyxime, amines, amides and methyl isobutyl ketone. A process to clean up PGM refinery wastewaters so that they could be re-used in the refining process would greatly contribute to continual water storage problems and to cost reduction for the industry. Based on the concept that organic compounds that are produced biologically can be destroyed biologically, the use of biological processes for the treatment of organic compounds in other types of waste stream has been favoured in recent years, owing to their low cost and environmental acceptability. This review examines the available biotechnologies and their effectiveness for treating compounds likely to be contained in precious metal extraction process wastewaters. The processes examined include: biofilters, fluidized bed reactors, trickle-bed bioreactors, bioscrubbers, two-phase partitioning bioreactors, membrane bioreactors and activated sludge. Although all processes examined showed adequate to excellent removal of organic compounds from various gaseous and fewer liquid waste streams, there was a variation in their effectiveness. Variations in performance of laboratory-scale biological processes are probably due to the inherent change in the microbial population composition due to selection pressure, environmental conditions and the time allowed for adaptation to the organic compounds. However, if these factors are disregarded, it can be established that activated sludge and membrane bioreactors are the most promising processes for use in the treatment of PGM refinery wastewaters