Illuminating Disjoint Line Segments in the Plane

It is shown that a set of $n$ disjoint line segments in the plane can always be illuminated by $\lfloor (n+1)/2\rfloor$ light sources, improving an earlier bound of $\lfloor 2n/3\rfloor$ due to Czyzowicz et al. It is also shown that $\lfloor 4(n+1)/5 \rfloor$ light sources are always sufficient and sometimes necessary to illuminate the free space and both sides of $n$ disjoint line segments for every $n\geq 2$.     

Coloring abelian groups

A sufficient (and necessary, if n=2) condition for the existence of a particular kind of n-coloring of an abelian group is given, and applied to show that (a) the real line is colorable with two colors so that the distance 1 is forbidden for one color, and the distance s>0 for the other, or so that both 1 and s are forbidden for both colors, if and only if s is not the ratio of an odd and an even integer; (b) the chromatic number of Q² and Q³ is 2, but that of Qⁿ is greater than 2 for n>3.     

Embeddings of the base and bundle isomorphisms

Let π_i :E_i→M, i=1,2, be oriented, smooth vector bundles of rank k over a closed, oriented n-manifold with zero sections s_i :M→E_i. Suppose that U is an open neighborhood of s₁(M) in E₁ and F :U→E₂ a smooth embedding so that π₂Fs₁ :M→M is homotopic to a diffeomorphism f. We show that if k>[(n+1)/2]+1 then E₁ and the induced bundle f^*E₂ are isomorphic as oriented bundles provided that f have degree +1; the same conclusion holds if f has degree −1 except in the case where k is even and one of the bundles does not have a nowhere-zero cross-section. For n≡0(4) and [(n+1)/2]+1<kn we give examples of nonisomorphic oriented bundles E₁ and E₂ of rank k over a homotopy n-sphere with total spaces diffeomorphic with orientation preserved, but such that E₁ and f^*E₂ are not isomorphic oriented bundles. We obtain similar results and counterexamples in the more difficult limiting case where k=[(n+1)/2]+1 and M is a homotopy n-sphere.     

Union and split operations on dynamic trapezoidal maps

We propose algorithms to perform two new operations on an arrangement of line segments in the plane, represented by a trapezoidal map: the split of the map along a given vertical line D, and the union of two trapezoidal maps computed in two vertical slabs of the plane that are adjacent through a vertical line D. The data structure we use is a modified Influence Graph, still allowing dynamic insertions and deletions of line segments in the map. The algorithms for both operations run in O(s_D logn+log²n) time, where n is the number of line segments in the map, and s_D is the number of line segments intersected by D.     

Embedding of circulant graphs and generalized Petersen graphs on projective plane

Both the circulant graph and the generalized Petersen graph are important types of graphs in graph theory. In this paper, the structures of embeddings of circulant graph C(2n + 1; {1, n}) on the projective plane are described, the number of embeddings of C(2n + 1; {1, n}) on the projective plane follows, then the number of embeddings of the generalized Petersen graph P(2n +1, n) on the projective plane is deduced from that of C(2n +1; {1, n}), because C(2n + 1;{1, n}) is a minor of P(2n + 1, n), their structures of embeddings have relations. In the same way, the number of embeddings of the generalized Petersen graph P(2n, 2) on the projective plane is also obtained.     

Maximum number of edges in a critically k-connected graph

A k-connected graph G is said to be critically k-connected if G−v is not k-connected for any vV(G). We show that if n,k are integers with k4 and nk+2, and G is a critically k-connected graph of order n, then |E(G)|n(n−1)/2−p(n−k)+p²/2, where p=(n/k)+1 if n/k is an odd integer and p=n/k otherwise. We also characterize extremal graphs.     

Planar segment visibility graphs

Given a set of n disjoint line segments in the plane, the segment visibility graph is the graph whose 2n vertices correspond to the endpoints of the line segments and whose edges connect every pair of vertices whose corresponding endpoints can see each other. In this paper we characterize and provide a polynomial time recognition algorithm for planar segment visibility graphs. Actually, we characterize segment visibility graphs that do not contain the complete graph K₅ as a minor, and show that this class is the same as the class of planar segment visibility graphs. We use and prove the fact that every segment visibility graph contains K₄ as a subgraph. In fact, we prove a stronger result: every set of n line segments determines at least n−3 empty convex quadrilaterals.     

Homogenization of Elliptic Problems with Neumann Boundary Conditions in Non-smooth Domains

We consider a family of second-order elliptic operators {L_ε} in divergence form with rapidly oscillating and periodic coefficients in Lipschitz and convex domains in R~n. We are able to show that the uniform W~(1,p) estimate of second order elliptic systems holds for 2n/(n+1)-δ p 2n/(n-1)+ δ where δ 0 is independent of ε and the ranges are sharp for n = 2, 3. And for elliptic equations in Lipschitz domains, the W~(1,p) estimate is true for 3/2-δ p 3 + δ if n ≥ 4, similar estimate was extended to convex domains for 1 p ∞.     

Label placement by maximum independent set in rectangles

Motivated by the problem of labeling maps, we investigate the problem of computing a large non-intersecting subset in a set of n rectangles in the plane. Our results are as follows. In O(n log n) time, we can find an O(log n)-factor approximation of the maximum subset in a set of n arbitrary axis-parallel rectangles in the plane. If all rectangles have unit height, we can find a 2-approximation in O(n log n) time. Extending this result, we obtain a (1 + 1/k)-approximation in time O(n log n + n^2k−1) time, for any integer k ≥ 1.     

Complexity of projected images of convex subdivisions

Let S be a subdivision of ^d into n convex regions. We consider the combinatorial complexity of the image of the (k - 1)-skeleton of S orthogonally projected into a k-dimensional subspace. We give an upper bound of the complexity of the projected image by reducing it to the complexity of an arrangement of polytopes. If k = d − 1, we construct a subdivision whose projected image has Ω(n^(3d−2)/2) complexity, which is tight when d 4. We also investigate the number of topological changes of the projected image when a three-dimensional subdivision is rotated about a line parallel to the projection plane.     

Maps of manifolds into the plane which lift to standard embeddings in codimension two

Let be a smooth map of a closed n-dimensional manifold (n2) into the plane and let be an orthogonal projection. We say that f has the standard lifting property, if every embedding with is standard in a certain sense. In this paper we give some sufficient conditions for a generic smooth map f to have the standard lifting property when M is a closed surface or an n-dimensional homotopy sphere.     

Maximal partial spreads and the modular n-queen problem

We prove that for any integer n in the interval there is a maximal partial spread of size n in PG (3, q) where q is odd and q7. We also prove that there are maximal partial spreads of size (q²+3)/2 when gcd(q+1,24)=2 or 4 and of size (q²+5)/2 when gcd(q+1,24)=4.     

On the generalized Erdös-Szekeres Conjecture — a new upper bound

We prove the following result: For every two natural numbers n and q, n q + 2, there is a natural number E(n, q) satisfying the following:

1. (1) Let S be any set of points in the plane, no three on a line. If |S| E(n, q), then there exists a convex n-gon whose points belong to S, for which the number of points of S in its interior is 0 (mod q).

2. (2) For fixed q, E(n,q) 2^c(q)·n, c(q) is a constant depends on q only.

Part (1) was proved by Bialostocki et al. [2] and our proof is aimed to simplify the original proof. The proof of Part (2) is completely new and reduces the huge upper bound of [2] (a super-exponential bound) to an exponential upper bound.     

Some recent results on drazin monotonicty of property n martices

If a square matrix has a nonnegarive power it is called a property-n matrix. In a recent paper [12] Werner derived some interesting necessary and sufficient conditions for a property n property-n matrix to be Drazin-montone. In particular, it was shown that a property -n matrix with ind(A) = k is Drazin-monotone if and only if A^2k+1 is weak-r-monotone. Our principal aim here is to show how this result can he strengthened considerably. To tackle this problem we also present several further results on the structure of Drazin-monotone (property-n) matrices.     

Extending matchings in planar graphs V

A graph G on at least 2n + 2 vertices in n-extendable if every set of n independent edges extends to (i.e., is a subset of) a perfect matching in G. It is known that no planar graph is 3-extendable. In the present paper we continue to study 2-extendability in the plane. Suppose independent edges e₁ and e₂ are such that the removal of their endvertices leaves at least one odd component C_o. The subgraph G[V(C_o) V(e₁) V(e₂)] is called a generalized butterfly (or gbutterfly). Clearly, a 2-extendable graph can contain no gbutterfly. The converse, however, is false.

We improve upon a previous result by proving that if G is 4-connected, locally connected and planar with an even number of vertices and has no gbutterfly, it is 2-extendable. Sharpness with respect to the various hypotheses of this result is discussed.     

Small embeddings for partial cycle systems of odd length

We prove that if m is odd then a partial m-cycle system on n vertices can be embedded in an m-cycle system on at most m((m − 2)n(n − 1) + 2n + 1) vertices and that a partial weak Steiner m-cycle system on n vertices can be embedded in an m-cycle system on m(2n + 1) vertices.     

On convex segments in a triangulation

A segment (=1-cell) of a planar triangulation σ is convex if it is common to two triangles (2-cells) whose union is a convex set. We determine the maximal number of convex segments of a triangulation over all triangulations σ having n boundary vertices and m inner vertices (n3,m0).     

Rectangular drawings of plane graphs without designated corners

This paper addresses the problem of finding rectangular drawings of plane graphs, in which each vertex is drawn as a point, each edge is drawn as a horizontal or a vertical line segment, and the contour of each face is drawn as a rectangle. A graph is a 2–3 plane graph if it is a plane graph and each vertex has degree 3 except the vertices on the outer face which have degree 2 or 3. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a rectangular drawing has been known only for the case where exactly four vertices of degree 2 on the outer face are designated as corners in a 2–3 plane graph G. In this paper we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a rectangular drawing of G for the general case in which no vertices are designated as corners. We also give a linear-time algorithm to find a rectangular drawing of G if it exists.     

A reversal index for tournament matrices

Given a tournament matrix T, its reversal indexi_R(T), is the minimum k such that the reversal of the orientation of k arcs in the directed graph associated with T results in a reducible matrix. We give a formula for i_R(T) in terms of the score vector of T which generalizes a simple criterion for a tournament matrix to be irreducible. We show that i_R(T)≤[(n-1)/2] for any tournament matrix T of order n, with equality holding if and only if T is regular or almost regular, according as n is odd or even. We construct, for each k between 1 and [(n-1)/2], a tournament matrix of order n whose reversal index is k. Finally, we suggest a few problems.     

Reporting curve segment intersections using restricted predicates

We investigate how to report all k intersecting pairs among a collection of n x-monotone curve segments in the plane, using only predicates of the following forms: is an endpoint to the left of another? is an endpoint above a segment? do two segments intersect? By studying the intersection problem in an abstract setting that assumes the availability of certain “detection oracles”, we obtain a near-optimal randomized algorithm that runs in expected time. In the bichromatic case (where segments are colored red or blue with no red/red or blue/blue intersections), we find a better algorithm that runs in O((n+k)log_2+k/nn) worst-case time, by modifying a known segment-tree method. Two questions of Boissonnat and Snoeyink are thus answered to within logarithmic factors.