On some properties of the series ∑k=0 kx and the Stirling numbers of the second kind

We partially characterize the rational numbers x and integers n 0 for which the sum ∑_k=0^∞ kⁿx^k assumes integers. We prove that if ∑_k=0^∞ kⁿx^k is an integer for x = 1 − a/b with a, b> 0 integers and gcd(a,b) = 1, then a = 1 or 2. Partial results and conjectures are given which indicate for which b and n it is an integer if a = 2. The proof is based on lower bounds on the multiplicities of factors of the Stirling number of the second kind, S(n,k). More specifically, we obtain for all integers k, 2 k n, and a 3, provided a is odd or divisible by 4, where v_a(m) denotes the exponent of the highest power of a which divides m, for m and a> 1 integers.

New identities are also derived for the Stirling numbers, e.g., we show that ∑_k=0²ⁿk! S(2n, k) , for all integers n 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.     

A note on minimum degree conditions for supereulerian graphs

A graph is called supereulerian if it has a spanning closed trail. Let G be a 2-edge-connected graph of order n such that each minimal edge cut SE(G) with |S|3 satisfies the property that each component of G−S has order at least (n−2)/5. We prove that either G is supereulerian or G belongs to one of two classes of exceptional graphs. Our results slightly improve earlier results of Catlin and Li. Furthermore, our main result implies the following strengthening of a theorem of Lai within the class of graphs with minimum degree δ4: If G is a 2-edge-connected graph of order n with δ(G)4 such that for every edge xyE(G) , we have max{d(x),d(y)}(n−2)/5−1, then either G is supereulerian or G belongs to one of two classes of exceptional graphs. We show that the condition δ(G)4 cannot be relaxed.     

Lower bounds for the size in four families of minimum broadcast graphs

In this paper, we give a lower bound for the size B(n) of a minimum broadcast graph of order n = 2^k − 4, 2^k − 6, 2^k − 5 or 2^k − 3 which is shown to be accurate in the cases when k = 5 and k = 6. This result provides, together with an upper bound obtained by a construction given in Bermond et al. (1992), an estimation of the value B(n) for n = 2^k − 4.     

Hamiltonian cycles in n-factor-critical graphs

A graph G is said to be n-factor-critical if G−S has a 1-factor for any SV(G) with |S|=n. In this paper, we prove that if G is a 2-connected n-factor-critical graph of order p with , then G is hamiltonian with some exceptions. To extend this theorem, we define a (k,n)-factor-critical graph to be a graph G such that G−S has a k-factor for any SV(G) with |S|=n. We conjecture that if G is a 2-connected (k,n)-factor-critical graph of order p with , then G is hamiltonian with some exceptions. In this paper, we characterize all such graphs that satisfy the assumption, but are not 1-tough. Using this, we verify the conjecture for k2.     

Some results on integral sum graphs

Let Z denote the set of all integers. The integral sum graph of a finite subset S of Z is the graph (S,E) with vertex set S and edge set E such that for u,vS, uvE if and only if u+vS. A graph G is called an integral sum graph if it is isomorphic to the integral sum graph of some finite subset S of Z. The integral sum number of a given graph G, denoted by ζ(G), is the smallest number of isolated vertices which when added to G result in an integral sum graph. Let x denote the least integer not less than the real x. In this paper, we (i) determine the value of ζ(K_n−E(K_r)) for r2n/3−1, (ii) obtain a lower bound for ζ(K_n−E(K_r)) when 2r<2n/3−1 and n5, showing by construction that the bound is sharp when r=2, and (iii) determine the value of ζ(K_r,r) for r2. These results provide partial solutions to two problems posed by Harary (Discrete Math. 124 (1994) 101–108). Finally, we furnish a counterexample to a result on the sum number of K_r,s given by Hartsfiedl and Smyth (Graphs and Matrices, R. Rees (Ed.), Marcel, Dekker, New York, 1992, pp. 205–211).     

An extension theorem for t-designs

In 1994, van Trung (Discrete Math. 128 (1994) 337–348) [9] proved that if, for some positive integers d and h, there exists an S_λ(t,k,v) such that

then there exists an S_λ(v−t+1)(t,k,v+1) having v+1 pairwise disjoint subdesigns S_λ(t,k,v). Moreover, if B_i and B_j are any two blocks belonging to two distinct such subdesigns, then d|B_i∩B_j|<k−h. In 1999, Baudelet and Sebille (J. Combin. Des. 7 (1999) 107–112) proved that if, for some positive integers, there exists an S_λ(t,k,v) such that

where m=min{s,v−k} and n=min{i,t}, then there exists an

having pairwise disjoint subdesigns S_λ(t,k,v). The purpose of this paper is to generalize these two constructions in order to produce a new recursive construction of t-designs and a new extension theorem of t-designs.     

Some Ore-type Results for Matching and Perfect Matching in <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-uniform Hypergraphs

Let S₁ and S₂ be two (k-1)-subsets in a k-uniform hypergraph H. We call S₁ and S₂ strongly or middle or weakly independent if H does not contain an edge e ∈ E(H) such that S₁ ∩ e ≠∅ and S₂ ∩ e ≠∅ or e ⊆ S₁ ∪ S₂ or e ⊇ S₁ ∪ S₂, respectively. In this paper, we obtain the following results concerning these three independence. (1) For any n ≥ 2k²-k and k ≥ 3, there exists an n-vertex k-uniform hypergraph, which has degree sum of any two strongly independent (k-1)-sets equal to 2n-4(k-1), contains no perfect matching; (2) Let d ≥ 1 be an integer and H be a k-uniform hypergraph of order n ≥ kd+(k-2)k. If the degree sum of any two middle independent (k-1)-subsets is larger than 2(d-1), then H contains a d-matching; (3) For all k ≥ 3 and sufficiently large n divisible by k, we completely determine the minimum degree sum of two weakly independent (k-1)-subsets that ensures a perfect matching in a k-uniform hypergraph H of order n.     

Triangular range counting query in 2D and its application in finding k nearest neighbors of a line segment

We present an efficient algorithm for finding k nearest neighbors of a query line segment among a set of points distributed arbitrarily on a two dimensional plane. Along the way to finding this algorithm, we have obtained an improved triangular range searching technique in 2D. Given a set of n points, we preprocess them to create a data structure using O(n²) time and space, such that given a triangular query region Δ, the number of points inside Δ can be reported in O(logn) time. Finally, this triangular range counting technique is used for finding k nearest neighbors of a query straight line segment in O(log²n+k) time.     

Sperner systems containing at most k sets of every cardinality

We prove using a direct construction that one can choose n − 2 subsets of an n-element set with different cardinality such that none of them contains any other. As a generalization, we prove that if for any j we can have at most k subsets containing exactly j elements (k> 1), then for n 5 we can choose at most k(n − 3) subsets from an n-element set such that they form a Sperner system. Moreover, we prove that this can be achieved if n is large enough, and give a construction for n 8k − 4.     

On neighborhood condition for graphs to have [a,b]-factors

Let G be a graph of order n, and let a and b be integers such that 1a<b. Let δ(G) be the minimum degree of G. Then we prove that if δ(G)(k−1)a, n(a+b)(k(a+b)−2)/b, and |N_G(x₁)N_G(x₂)N_G(x_k)|an/(a+b) for any independent subset {x₁,x₂,…,x_k} of V(G), where k2, then G has an [a,b]-factor. This result is best possible in some sense.     

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.     

On the bounded domination number of tournaments

In a simple digraph, a star of degree t is a union of t edges with a common tail. The k-domination number γ_k(G) of digraph G is the minimum number of stars of degree at most k needed to cover the vertex set. We prove that γ_k(T)=n/(k+1) when T is a tournament with n14k lg k vertices. This improves a result of Chen, Lu and West. We also give a short direct proof of the result of E. Szekeres and G. Szekeres that every n-vertex tournament is dominated by at most lg n−lglg n+2 vertices.     

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.     

Harary's conjectures on integral sum graphs

Let N denote the set of positive integers and Z denote all integers. The (integral) sum graph of a finite subset S N(Z) is the graph (S, E) with uv ε E if and only if u + v ε S. A graph G is said to be an (integral) sum graph if it is isomorphic to the (integral) sum graph of some S N(Z). The (integral) sum number of a given graph G is the smallest number of isolated nodes which when added to G result in an (integral) sum graph.

We show that the integral sum number of a complete graph with n 4 nodes equals 2n − 3, which proves a conjecture of Harary. And we disprove another conjecture of Harary by showing that there are infinitely many trees which are not caterpillars but are integral sum graphs.     

The space localization of unbounded boundary perturbations in nonlinear heat conduction with transfer

We consider the nonlinear parabolic equation u_t = (k(u)u_x)_x + b(u)_x, where u = u(x, t, x ε R¹, t > 0; k(u) ≥ 0, b(u) ≥ 0 are continuous functions as u ≥ 0, b (0) = 0; k, b > 0 as u > 0. At t = 0 nonnegative, continuous and bounded initial value is prescribed. The boundary condition u(0, t) = Ψ(t) is supposed to be unbounded as t → +∞. In this paper, sufficient conditions for space localization of unbounded boundary perturbations are found. For instance, we show that nonlinear equation u_t = (uⁿu_x)_x + (u^β)_x, n ≥ 0, β >; n + 1, exhibits the phenomenon of “inner boundedness,” for arbitrary unbounded boundary perturbations.     

Efficient text fingerprinting via Parikh mapping

We consider the problem of fingerprinting text by sets of symbols. Specifically, if S is a string, of length n, over a finite, ordered alphabet Σ, and S′ is a substring of S, then the fingerprint of S′ is the subset φ of Σ of precisely the symbols appearing in S′. In this paper we show efficient methods of answering various queries on fingerprint statistics. Our preprocessing is done in time O(n|Σ|lognlog|Σ|) and enables answering the following queries:

(1)Given an integer k, compute the number of distinct fingerprints of size k in time O(1).

(2)Given a set φΣ, compute the total number of distinct occurrences in S of substrings with fingerprint φ in time O(|Σ|logn).

     

A doubly cyclic channel assignment problem

A standard model for radio channel assignment involves a set V of sites, the set {0,1,2,…} of channels, and a constraint matrix (w(u, v)) specifying minimum channel separations. An assignment f:V→{0,1,2,…} is feasible if the distance f(u) − f(v)w(u, v) for each pair of sites u and v. The aim is to find the least k such that there is a feasible assignment using only the k channels 0, 1, …, k − 1, and to find a corresponding optimal assignment.

We consider here a related problem involving also two cycles. There is a given cyclic order τ on the sites, and feasible assignments f must also satisfy f(τv) f(v) for all except one site v. Further, the channels are taken to be evenly spaced around a circle, so that if the k channels 0, 1, …, k − 1 are available then the distance between channels i and j is the minimum of ¦i − j¦ and k − ¦i − j¦. We show how to find a corresponding optimal channel assignment in O(¦V¦³) steps.     

k-Lucas numbers and associated bipartite graphs

For a positive integer k2, the k-Fibonacci sequence {g_n^(k)} is defined as: g₁^(k)==g_k−2^(k)=0, g_k−1^(k)=g_k^(k)=1 and for n>k2, g_n^(k)=g_n−1^(k)+g_n−2^(k)++g_n−k^(k). Moreover, the k-Lucas sequence {l_n^(k)} is defined as l_n^(k)=g_n−1^(k)+g_n+k−1^(k) for n1. In this paper, we consider the relationship between g_n^(k) and l_n^(k) and 1-factors of a bipartite graph.     

Approximating geometric bottleneck shortest paths

In a geometric bottleneck shortest path problem, we are given a set S of n points in the plane, and want to answer queries of the following type: given two points p and q of S and a real number L, compute (or approximate) a shortest path between p and q in the subgraph of the complete graph on S consisting of all edges whose lengths are less than or equal to L. We present efficient algorithms for answering several query problems of this type. Our solutions are based on Euclidean minimum spanning trees, spanners, and the Delaunay triangulation. A result of independent interest is the following. For any two points p and q of S, there is a path between p and q in the Delaunay triangulation, whose length is less than or equal to 2π/(3cos(π/6)) times the Euclidean distance |pq| between p and q, and all of whose edges have length at most |pq|.