An Optimal Algorithm for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Fixed-Endpoint Path Cover on Proper Interval Graphs

In this paper we consider the k-fixed-endpoint path cover problem on proper interval graphs, which is a generalization of the path cover problem. Given a graph G and a set T of k vertices, a k-fixed-endpoint path cover of G with respect to T is a set of vertex-disjoint simple paths that covers the vertices of G, such that the vertices of T are all endpoints of these paths. The goal is to compute a k-fixed-endpoint path cover of G with minimum cardinality. We propose an optimal algorithm for this problem with runtime O(n), where n is the number of intervals in G. This algorithm is based on the Stair Normal Interval Representation (SNIR) matrix that characterizes proper interval graphs. In this characterization, every maximal clique of the graph is represented by one matrix element; the proposed algorithm uses this structural property, in order to determine directly the paths in an optimal solution.     

On the asymptotic optimality of a solution of the euclidean problem of covering a graph by <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis> nonadjacent cycles of maximum total weight

In the problem of covering an n-vertex graph by m cycles of maximum total weight, it is required to find a family of m vertex-nonadjacent cycles such that it covers all vertices of the graph and the total weight of edges in the cover is maximum. The paper presents an algorithm for approximately solving the problem of covering a graph in Euclidean d-space R^d by m nonadjacent cycles of maximum total weight. The algorithm has time complexity O(n³). An estimate of the accuracy of the algorithm depending on the parameters d, m, and n is substantiated; it is shown that if the dimension d of the space is fixed and the number of covering cycles is m = o(n), then the algorithm is asymptotically exact.     

All Colors Shortest Path problem on trees

Given an edge weighted tree T(V, E), rooted at a designated base vertex \(r \in V\), and a color from a set of colors \(C=\{1,\ldots ,k\}\) assigned to every vertex \(v \in V\), All Colors Shortest Path problem on trees (ACSP-t) seeks the shortest, possibly non-simple, path starting from r in T such that at least one node from every distinct color in C is visited. We show that ACSP-t is NP-hard, and also prove that it does not have a constant factor approximation. We give an integer linear programming formulation of ACSP-t. Based on a linear programming relaxation of this formulation, an iterative rounding heuristic is proposed. The paper also explores genetic algorithm and tabu search to develop alternative heuristic solutions for ACSP-t. The performance of all the proposed heuristics are evaluated experimentally for a wide range of trees that are generated parametrically.     

Finding K shortest looping paths with waiting time in a time–window network

A time-constrained shortest path problem is a shortest path problem including time constraints that are commonly modeled by the form of time windows. Finding K shortest paths are suitable for the problem associated with constraints that are difficult to define or optimize simultaneously. Depending on the types of constraints, these K paths are generally classified into either simple paths or looping paths. In the presence of time–window constraints, waiting time occurs but is largely ignored. Given a network with such constraints, the contribution of this paper is to develop a polynomial time algorithm that finds the first K shortest looping paths including waiting time. The time complexity of the algorithm is O(rK²|V₁|³), where r is the number of different windows of a node and |V₁| is the number of nodes in the original network.     

The number of edge covers of bipartite graphs or of shortest paths with fixed endpoints in the space of compact sets in <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis> <Superscript> <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> </Superscript>

The possible number of shortest paths joining points in the metric space of compact sets in Euclidean space endowed with the Hausdorff metric is studied. For all n ≤ 1000, except eight values, it is checked whether n can equal the number of such shortest paths. In particular, new lacunas are found, namely 41, 59, and 67 (previously, only two such lacunas, 19 and 37, were known).     

Erratum: A tight formulation for uncapacitated lot-sizing with stock upper bounds

For an n-period uncapacitated lot-sizing problem with stock upper bounds, stock fixed costs, stock overload and backlogging, we present a tight extended shortest path formulation of the convex hull of solutions with O\((n^2)\) variables and constraints, also giving an O\((n^2)\) algorithm for the problem. This corrects and extends a formulation in Section 4.4 of our article “Lot-sizing with production and delivery time windows”, Mathematical Programming A, 107:471–489, 2006, for the problem with just stock upper bounds.     

An FPTAS for minimizing the product of two non-negative linear cost functions

We consider a quadratic programming (QP) problem (Π) of the form min x ^T C x subject to Ax ≥ b, x ≥ 0 where \({C\in {\mathbb R}^{n \times n}_+, {\rm rank}(C)=1}\) and \({A\in {\mathbb R}^{m \times n}, b\in {\mathbb R}^m}\) . We present an fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) for this problem by reformulating the QP (Π) as a parameterized LP and “rounding” the optimal solution. Furthermore, our algorithm returns an extreme point solution of the polytope. Therefore, our results apply directly to 0–1 problems for which the convex hull of feasible integer solutions is known such as spanning tree, matchings and sub-modular flows. They also apply to problems for which the convex hull of the dominant of the feasible integer solutions is known such as s, t-shortest paths and s, t-min-cuts. For the above discrete problems, the quadratic program Π models the problem of obtaining an integer solution that minimizes the product of two linear non-negative cost functions.     

A new algorithm for minimizing makespan, <Emphasis Type="Italic">C</Emphasis><Subscript>max</Subscript>, in blocking flow-shop problem through slowing down the operations

In this paper, a new algorithm with complexity O(nm²) is presented, which finds the optimal makespan, C_max, for a blocking flow-shop problem by slowing down the operations of a no-wait flow-shop problem, F _m ∣no-wait∣C_max, for a given sequence where restriction on the slowing down is committed. However, the problem with performance measure makespan, C_max, in a non-cyclic environment, is a special case of cyclic problem with cycle time, C _t , as its performance measure. This new algorithm is much faster than the previously developed algorithms for cyclical scheduling problems.     

Strict <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-monotonicity and <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-order continuity in symmetric spaces

This paper is devoted to strict K-monotonicity and K-order continuity in symmetric spaces. Using a local approach to the geometric structure in a symmetric space E we investigate a connection between strict K-monotonicity and global convergence in measure of a sequence of the maximal functions. Next, we solve an essential problem whether an existence of a point of K-order continuity in a symmetric space E on \([0,\infty )\) implies that the embedding \(E\hookrightarrow {L^1}[0,\infty )\) does not hold. We present a complete characterization of an equivalent condition to K-order continuity in a symmetric space E using a notion of order continuity and the fundamental function of E. We also investigate a relationship between strict K-monotonicity and K-order continuity in symmetric spaces and show some examples of Lorentz spaces and Marcinkiewicz spaces having these properties or not. Finally, we discuss a local version of a crucial correspondence between order continuity and the Kadec–Klee property for global convergence in measure in a symmetric space E.     

Minimum genus embeddings of the complete graph

In this paper,the problem of construction of exponentially many minimum genus embeddings of complete graphs in surfaces are studied.There are three approaches to solve this problem.The first approach is to construct exponentially many graphs by the theory of graceful labeling of paths;the second approach is to find a current assignment of the current graph by the theory of current graph;the third approach is to find exponentially many embedding(or rotation) schemes of complete graph by finding exponentially many distinct maximum genus embeddings of the current graph.According to this three approaches,we can construct exponentially many minimum genus embeddings of complete graph K_(12s+8) in orientable surfaces,which show that there are at least 10/3×(200/9)~s distinct minimum genus embeddings for K_(12s+8) in orientable surfaces.We have also proved that K_(12s+8) has at least 10/3×(200/9)~s distinct minimum genus embeddings in non-orientable surfaces.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis></Subscript>-factorization of complete bipartite multigraphs

Let λK _m,n be a complete bipartite multigraph with two partite sets having m and n vertices, respectively. A K _p,q -factorization of λK _m,n is a set of edge-disjoint K _p,q -factors of λK _m,n which partition the set of edges of λK _m,n . When p = 1 and q is a prime number, Wang, in his paper [On K _1,q -factorization of complete bipartite graph, Discrete Math., 126: (1994), 359-364], investigated the K _1,q -factorization of K _m,n and gave a sufficient condition for such a factorization to exist. In papers [K _1,k -factorization of complete bipartite graphs, Discrete Math., 259: 301-306 (2002),; K _p,q -factorization of complete bipartite graphs, Sci. China Ser. A-Math., 47: (2004), 473-479], Du and Wang extended Wang’s result to the case that p and q are any positive integers. In this paper, we give a sufficient condition for λK _m,n to have a K _p,q -factorization. As a special case, it is shown that the necessary condition for the K _p,q -factorization of λK _m,n is always sufficient when p : q = k : (k + 1) for any positive integer k.     

Holomorphic injective extensions of functions in <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>) and algebra generators

We present necessary and sufficient conditions on planar compacta K and continuous functions f on K in order that f generate the algebras P(K), R(K), A(K) or C(K). We also unveil quite surprisingly simple examples of non-polynomial convex compacta K ? C and f ∈ P(K) with the property that f ∈ P(K) is a homeomorphism of K onto its image, but for which f ^?1 ? P(f(K)). As a consequence, such functions do not admit injective holomorphic extensions to the interior of the polynomial convex hull \(\widehat K\). On the other hand, it is shown that the restriction f*|_G of the Gelfand-transform f* of an injective function f ∈ P(K) is injective on every regular, bounded complementary component G of K. A necessary and sufficient condition in terms of the behaviour of f on the outer boundary of K is given in order that f admit a holomorphic injective extension to \(\widehat K\). We also include some results on the existence of continuous logarithms on punctured compacta containing the origin in their boundary.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis>-Vertex Pancyclic Index

A graph G is vertex pancyclic if for each vertex \({v \in V(G)}\) , and for each integer k with 3 ≤ k ≤ |V(G)|, G has a k-cycle C _k such that \({v \in V(C_k)}\) . Let s ≥ 0 be an integer. If the removal of at most s vertices in G results in a vertex pancyclic graph, we say G is an s-vertex pancyclic graph. Let G be a simple connected graph that is not a path, cycle or K _1,3. Let l(G) = max{m : G has a divalent path of length m that is not both of length 2 and in a K ₃}, where a divalent path in G is a path whose interval vertices have degree two in G. The s-vertex pancyclic index of G, written vp _s (G), is the least nonnegative integer m such that L ^m (G) is s-vertex pancyclic. We show that for a given integer s ≥ 0,

$vp_s(G)\le \left\{\begin{array}{l@{\quad}l}\qquad\quad\quad\,\,\,\,\,\,\, l(G)+s+1: \quad {\rm if} \,\, 0 \le s \le 4 \\ l(G)+\lceil {\rm log}_2(s-2) \rceil+4: \quad {\rm if} \,\, s \ge 5 \end{array}\right.$

And we improve the bound for essentially 3-edge-connected graphs. The lower bound and whether the upper bound is sharp are also discussed.

     

Note edge-colourings of <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n,n</Emphasis></Subscript> with no long two-coloured cycles

Consider the set of all proper edge-colourings of a graph G with n colours. Among all such colourings, the minimum length of a longest two-coloured cycle is denoted L(n, G). The problem of understanding L(n, G) was posed by Häggkvist in 1978 and, specifically, L(n, K _n,n ) has received recent attention. Here we construct, for each prime power q ≥ 8, an edge-colouring of K _n,n with n colours having all two-coloured cycles of length ≤ 2q ², for integers n in a set of density 1 ? 3/(q ? 1). One consequence is that L(n, K _n,n ) is bounded above by a polylogarithmic function of n, whereas the best known general upper bound was previously 2n ? 4.     

Operations policy for a supply chain system with fixed-interval delivery and linear demand

This research addresses a production-supply problem for a supply-chain system with fixed-interval delivery. A strategy that determines the optimal batch sizes, cycle times, numbers of orders of raw materials, and production start times is prescribed to minimize the total costs for a given finite planning horizon. The external demands are time-dependent following a life-cycle pattern and the shipment quantities follow the demand pattern. The shipment quantities to buyers follow various phases of the demand pattern in the planning horizon where demand is represented by piecewise linear model. The problem is formulated as an integer, non-linear programming problem. The model also incorporates the constraint of inventory capacity. The problem is represented using the network model where an optimal characteristic has been analysed. To obtain an optimal solution with N shipments in a planning horizon, an algorithm is proposed that runs with the complexity of Θ(N²) for problems with a single-phase demand and O(N³) for problems with multi-phase demand.     

The local lifting problem for <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript>

For a prime p, a cyclic-by-p group G and a G-extension L|K of complete discrete valuation fields of characteristic p with algebraically closed residue field, the local lifting problem asks whether the extension L|K lifts to characteristic zero. In this paper, we characterize D₄-extensions of fields of characteristic two, determine the ramification breaks of (suitable) D₄- extensions of complete discrete valuation fields of characteristic two, and solve the local lifting problem in the affirmative for every D₄-extension of complete discrete valuation fields of characteristic two with algebraically closed residue field; that is, we show that D₄ is a local Oort group for the prime 2.     

A note on scheduling jobs with equal processing times and inclusive processing set restrictions

We consider the problem of scheduling n jobs on m parallel machines with inclusive processing set restrictions. Each job has a given release date, and all jobs have equal processing times. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. Li and Li (2015) have developed an O(n²+mn log?n) time algorithm for this problem. In this note, we present a modified algorithm with an improved time complexity of O(min{m, log?n} ? n log?n).     

Locating Active Sensors on Traffic Networks

Sensors are used to monitor traffic in networks. For example, in transportation networks, they may be used to measure traffic volumes on given arcs and paths of the network. This paper refers to an active sensor when it reads identifications of vehicles, including their routes in the network, that the vehicles actively provide when they use the network. On the other hand, the conventional inductance loop detectors are passive sensors that mostly count vehicles at points in a network to obtain traffic volumes (e.g., vehicles per hour) on a lane or road of the network.This paper introduces a new set of network location problems that determine where to locate active sensors in order to monitor or manage particular classes of identified traffic streams. In particular, it focuses on the development of two generic locational decision models for active sensors, which seek to answer these questions: (1) “How many and where should such sensors be located to obtain sufficient information on flow volumes on specified paths?”, and (2) “Given that the traffic management planners have already located count detectors on some network arcs, how many and where should active sensors be located to get the maximum information on flow volumes on specified paths?”The problem is formulated and analyzed for three different scenarios depending on whether there are already count detectors on arcs and if so, whether all the arcs or a fraction of them have them. Location of an active sensor results in a set of linear equations in path flow variables, whose solution provide the path flows. The general problem, which is related to the set-covering problem, is shown to be NP-Hard, but special cases are devised, where an arc may carry only two routes, that are shown to be polynomially solvable. New graph theoretic models and theorems are obtained for the latter cases, including the introduction of the generalized edge-covering by nodes problem on the path intersection graph for these special cases. An exact algorithm for the special cases and an approximate one for the general case are presented.     

An approximation algorithm for finding a <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-regular spanning connected subgraph of maximum weight in a complete graph with random weights of edges

An approximation algorithm is suggested for the problem of finding a d-regular spanning connected subgraph of maximum weight in a complete undirected weighted n-vertex graph. Probabilistic analysis of the algorithm is carried out for the problem with random input data (some weights of edges) in the case of a uniform distribution of the weights of edges and in the case of a minorized type distribution. It is shown that the algorithm finds an asymptotically optimal solution with time complexity O(n ²) when d = o(n). For the minimization version of the problem, an additional restriction on the dispersion of weights of the graph edges is added to the condition of the asymptotical optimality of the modified algorithm.     

Approximation algorithms for constructing spanning K-trees using stock pieces of bounded length

Given a weighted graph G on \(n + 1\) vertices, a spanning K-tree \(T_K\) of G is defined to be a spanning tree T of G together with K distinct edges of G that are not edges of T. The objective of the minimum-cost spanning K-tree problem is to choose a subset of edges to form a spanning K-tree with the minimum weight. In this paper, we consider the constructing spanning K-tree problem that is a generalization of the minimum-cost spanning K-tree problem. We are required to construct a spanning K-tree \(T_K\) whose \(n+K\) edges are assembled from some stock pieces of bounded length L. Let \(c_0\) be the sale price of each stock piece of length L and \(k(T_K)\) the number of minimum stock pieces to construct the \(n+K\) edges in \(T_K\). For each edge e in G, let c(e) be the construction cost of that edge e. Our new objective is to minimize the total cost of constructing a spanning K-tree \(T_K\), i.e., \(\min _{T_K}\{\sum _{e\in T_K} c(e)+ k(T_K)\cdot c_0\}\). The main results obtained in this paper are as follows. (1) A 2-approximation algorithm to solve the constructing spanning K-tree problem. (2) A \(\frac{3}{2}\)-approximation algorithm to solve the special case for constant construction cost of edges. (3) An APTAS for this special case.