Contraction obstructions for treewidth

We provide two parameterized graphs Γk, Πk with the following property: for every positive integer k, there is a constant ck such that every graph G with treewidth at least ck, contains one of Kk, Γk, Πk as a contraction, where Kk is a complete graph on k vertices. These three parameterized graphs can be seen as “obstruction patterns” for the treewidth with respect to the contraction partial ordering. We also present some refinements of this result along with their algorithmic consequences.     

The structure of obstructions to treewidth and pathwidth

It is known that the class of graphs with treewidth (resp. pathwidth) bounded by a constant w can be characterized by a finite obstruction set obs(TW(w)) (resp. obs(PW(w))). These obstruction sets are known for w3 so far. In this paper we give a structural characterization of graphs from obs(TW(w)) (resp. obs(PW(w))) with a fixed number of vertices in terms of subgraphs of the complement. Our approach also essentially simplifies known characterization of graphs from obs(TW(w)) (resp. obs(PW(w))) with (w+3) vertices.

Also for any w3 a graph from obs(TW(w))obs(PW(w)) is constructed, that solves an open problem.     

On distance -dominating and -independent sets in sparse graphs

Dvořák [European J. Combin. 34 (2013), pp. 833–840] gave a bound on the minimum size of a distance -dominating set in terms of the maximum size of a distance -independent set and generalized coloring numbers, thus obtaining a constant-factor approximation algorithm for the parameters in any class of graphs with bounded expansion. We improve and clarify this dependence using a linear programming (LP)-based argument inspired by the work of Bansal and Umboh [Inform. Process. Lett. 122 (2017), pp. 21–24].     

Forbidden sets and stability in some rational difference equations

In this paper, we solve open problem (5) submitted by Sedaghat in his paper, On third order rational difference equations with quadratic terms, J. Differ. Equ. Appl., 14(8) (2008), pp. 889–897. We also confirm conjecture (6) in the mentioned paper.     

Ultrafilters and non-Cantor minimal sets in linearly ordered dynamical systems

It is well known that infinite minimal sets for continuous functions on the interval are Cantor sets; that is, compact zero dimensional metrizable sets without isolated points. On the other hand, it was proved in Alcaraz and Sanchis (Bifurcat Chaos 13:1665–1671, 2003) that infinite minimal sets for continuous functions on connected linearly ordered spaces enjoy the same properties as Cantor sets except that they can fail to be metrizable. However, no examples of such subsets have been known. In this note we construct, in ZFC, non-metrizable infinite pairwise non-homeomorphic minimal sets on compact connected linearly ordered spaces.      

Projective covers and minimal sets of generators over local rings

We describe the structure of projective covers of modules over a local ring, when such covers exist, and modules with minimal sets of generators. The case of modules over valuation rings is studied in more detail.     

Algorithmic aspects of clique-transversal and clique-independent sets

A minimum clique-transversal set MCT(G) of a graph G=(V,E) is a set SV of minimum cardinality that meets all maximal cliques in G. A maximum clique-independent set MCI(G) of G is a set of maximum number of pairwise vertex-disjoint maximal cliques. We prove that the problem of finding an MCT(G) and an MCI(G) is NP-hard for cocomparability, planar, line and total graphs. As an interesting corollary we obtain that the problem of finding a minimum number of elements of a poset to meet all maximal antichains of the poset remains NP-hard even if the poset has height two, thereby generalizing a result of Duffas et al. (J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 58 (1991) 158–164). We present a polynomial algorithm for the above problems on Helly circular-arc graphs which is the first such algorithm for a class of graphs that is not clique-perfect. We also present polynomial algorithms for the weighted version of the clique-transversal problem on strongly chordal graphs, chordal graphs of bounded clique size, and cographs. The algorithms presented run in linear time for strongly chordal graphs and cographs. These mark the first attempts at the weighted version of the problem.     

Separator orders in interval, cocomparability, and AT-free graphs

We introduce a new type of order of sets of vertices. Using this concept, we describe the structure and the relationship between chordal, interval, cocomparability, and asteriodal triple-free graphs.     

Some formal relationships among soft sets,fuzzy sets,and their extensions

We prove that every hesitant fuzzy set on a set E can be considered either a soft set over the universe $[0,1]$ or a soft set over the universe E. Concerning converse relationships, for denumerable universes we prove that any soft set can be considered even a fuzzy set. Relatedly, we demonstrate that every hesitant fuzzy soft set can be identified with a soft set, thus a formal coincidence of both notions is brought to light. Coupled with known relationships, our results prove that interval type-2 fuzzy sets and interval-valued fuzzy sets can be considered as soft sets over the universe $[0,1]$. Altogether we contribute to a more complete understanding of the relationships among various theories that capture vagueness and imprecision.     

Bregman distances without coercive condition: suns,Chebyshev sets and Klee sets

ABSTRACT

In a real Banach space X, we introduce for a non-empty set C in X the notion of suns in the sense of Bregman distances and show that C is such a sun if and only if C is convex. Also, we give some necessary and sufficient conditions for a compact set to be the Klee set, extending corresponding results on the Euclidean space.     

Four matroidal structures of covering and their relationships with rough sets

Covering is a common form of data representation, and covering-based rough sets serve as an efficient technique to process this type of data. However, many important problems such as covering reduction in covering-based rough sets are NP-hard so that most algorithms to solve them are greedy. Matroids provide well-established platforms for greedy algorithm foundation and implementation. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate covering-based rough set with matroid. In this paper, we propose four matroidal structures of coverings and establish their relationships with rough sets. First, four different viewpoints are presented to construct these four matroidal structures of coverings, including 1-rank matroids, bigraphs, upper approximation numbers and transversals. The respective advantages of these four matroidal structures to rough sets are explored. Second, the connections among these four matroidal structures are studied. It is interesting to find that they coincide with each other. Third, a converse view is provided to induce a covering by a matroid. We study the relationship between this induction and the one from a covering to a matroid. Finally, some important concepts of covering-based rough sets, such as approximation operators, are equivalently formulated by these matroidal structures. These interesting results demonstrate the potential to combine covering-based rough sets with matroids.     

Improvement sets and vector optimization

In this paper we focus on minimal points in linear spaces and minimal solutions of vector optimization problems, where the preference relation is defined via an improvement set E. To be precise, we extend the notion of E-optimal point due to Chicco et al. in [4] to a general (non-necessarily Pareto) quasi ordered linear space and we study its properties. In particular, we relate the notion of improvement set with other similar concepts of the literature and we characterize it by means of sublevel sets of scalar functions. Moreover, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for E-optimal solutions of vector optimization problems through scalarization processes by assuming convexity assumptions and also in the general (nonconvex) case. By applying the obtained results to certain improvement sets we generalize well-known results of the literature referred to efficient, weak efficient and approximate efficient solutions of vector optimization problems.     

Partitionable sets,almost partitionable sets,and their applications

This paper introduces almost partitionable sets (APSs) to generalize the known concept of partitionable sets. These notions provide a unified frame to construct $\mathbb{Z}$‐cyclic patterned starter whist tournaments and cyclic balanced sampling plans excluding contiguous units. The existences of partitionable sets and APSs are investigated. As an application, a large number of optical orthogonal codes achieving the Johnson bound or the Johnson bound minus one are constructed.     

On the number of pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets in PG(2, q)

In this paper we examine whether the number of pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets in PG(2, q) of a certain size is larger than polynomial. Our main result is that there are more than polynomial pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets for any size in the intervals [2q−1, 3q−4] for q odd and for q square. We can also prove a similar result for certain values of the intervals and .      

Polish group actions,nice topologies,and admissible sets

Let G be a closed subgroup of S_∞ and X be a Polish G ‐space. To every x ∈ X we associate an admissible set A _x and show how questions about X which involve Baire category can be formalized in A _x . (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Liouville numbers, Rajchman measures, and small Cantor sets

We show that the set of Liouville numbers carries a positive measure whose Fourier transform vanishes at infinity. The proof is based on a new construction of a Cantor set of Hausdorff dimension zero supporting such a measure.

     

Pairs,sets and sequences in first-order theories

In this paper we study the idea of theories with containers, like sets, pairs, sequences. We provide a modest framework to study such theories. We prove two concrete results. First, we show that first-order theories of finite signature that have functional non-surjective ordered pairing are definitionally equivalent to extensions in the same language of the basic theory of non-surjective ordered pairing. Second, we show that a first-order theory of finite signature is sequential (is a theory of sequences) iff it is definitionally equivalent to an extension in the same language of a system of weak set theory called WS.      

Bases,spanning sets,and the axiom of choice

Two theorems are proved: First that the statement “there exists a field F such that for every vector space over F, every generating set contains a basis” implies the axiom of choice. This generalizes theorems of Halpern, Blass, and Keremedis. Secondly, we prove that the assertion that every vector space over ?₂ has a basis implies that every well‐ordered collection of two‐element sets has a choice function. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)