Lower bounds for the cardinality of minimal blocking sets in projective spaces

In this paper new lower bounds for the cardinality of minimal m-blocking sets are determined. Let r₂(q) be the number such that q+r₂(q)+1 is the cardinality of the smallest non-trivial line-blocking set in a plane of order q. If B is a minimal m-blocking set in PG(n,q) that contains at most q^m+q^m−1+…+q+1+r₂(q)·(∑_i=2m−n′^m−1qⁱ) points for an integer n′ satisfying mn′2m, then the dimension of B is at most n′. If the dimension of B is n′, then the following holds. The cardinality of B equals q^m+q^m−1+…+q+1+r₂(q)(∑_i=2m−n′^m−1qⁱ). For n′=m the set B is an m-dimensional subspace and for n′=m+1 the set B is a cone with an (m−2)-dimensional vertex over a non-trivial line-blocking set of cardinality q+r₂(q)+1 in a plane skew to the vertex. This result is due to Heim (Mitt. Math. Semin. Giessen 226 (1996), 4–82). For n′>m+1 and q not a prime the number q is a square and for q16 the set B is a Baer cone. If q is odd and |B|<q^m+q^m−1+…+q+1+r₂(q)(q^m−1+q^m−2), it follows from this result that the subspace generated by B has dimension at most m+1. Furthermore we prove that in this case, if , then B is an m-dimensional subspace or a cone with an (m−2)-dimensional vertex over a non-trivial line-blocking set of cardinality q+r₂(q)+1 in a plane skew to the vertex. For q=p^3h, p7 and q not a square we show this assertion for |B|q^m+q^m−1+…+q+1+q^2/3·(q^m−1+…+1).     

Rook-by-rook rook theory: Bijective proofs of rook and hit equivalences

Suppose μ and ν are integer partitions of n, and N>n. It is well known that the Ferrers boards associated to μ and ν are rook-equivalent iff the multisets [μ_i+i:1iN] and [ν_i+i:1iN] are equal. We use the Garsia–Milne involution principle to produce a bijective proof of this theorem in which non-attacking rook placements for μ are explicitly matched with corresponding placements for ν. One byproduct is a direct combinatorial proof that the matrix of Stirling numbers of the first kind is the inverse of the matrix of Stirling numbers of the second kind. We also prove q-analogues and p,q-analogues of these results. We also use the Garsia–Milne involution principle to show that for any two rook boards B and B^′, if B and B^′ are bijectively rook-equivalent, then B and B^′ are bijectively hit-equivalent.     

A sufficient condition for pairing problem of generators in symmetrizable Kac–Moody algebras

In a symmetrizable Kac–Moody algebra g(A), let α=∑_i=1ⁿk_iα_i be an imaginary root satisfying k_i>0 and α,α_i<0 for i=1,2,…,n. In this paper, it is proved that for any x_αg_α{0}, satisfying [x_α,f_n]≠0 and [x_α,f_i]=0 for i=1,2,…,n−1, there exists a vector y such that the subalgebra generated by x_α and y contains g′(A), the derived subalgebra of g(A).     

An Asymptotic Property of Schachermayer's Space under Renorming

Let X be a Banach space with closed unit ball B. Given k , X is said to be k-β, respectively, (k + 1)-nearly uniformly convex ((k + 1)-NUC), if for every ε > 0 there exists δ, 0 < δ < 1, so that for every x B and every ε-separated sequence (x_n) B there are indices (n_i)^k_{i = 1}, respectively, (n_i)^{k + 1}_{i = 1}, such that (1/(k + 1))||x + ∑^k_{i = 1} x_ni|| ≤ 1 − δ, respectively, (1/(k + 1))||∑^{k + 1}_{i = 1} x_ni|| ≤ 1 − δ. It is shown that a Banach space constructed by Schachermayer is 2-β, but is not isomorphic to any 2-NUC Banach space. Modifying this example, we also show that there is a 2-NUC Banach space which cannot be equivalently renormed to be 1-β.     

An extension of the Erdős–Ginzburg–Ziv Theorem to hypergraphs

An n-set partition of a sequence S is a collection of n nonempty subsequences of S, pairwise disjoint as sequences, such that every term of S belongs to exactly one of the subsequences, and the terms in each subsequence are all distinct with the result that they can be considered as sets. For a sequence S, subsequence S^′, and set T, |T∩S| denotes the number of terms x of S with xT, and |S| denotes the length of S, and SS^′ denotes the subsequence of S obtained by deleting all terms in S^′. We first prove the following two additive number theory results.(1) Let S be a finite sequence of elements from an abelian group G. If S has an n-set partition, A=A₁,…,A_n, such that

then there exists a subsequence S^′ of S, with length |S^′|≤max{|S|−n+1,2n}, and with an n-set partition, , such that . Furthermore, if ||A_i|−|A_j||≤1 for all i and j, or if |A_i|≥3 for all i, then .(2) Let S be a sequence of elements from a finite abelian group G of order m, and suppose there exist a,bG such that . If |S|≥2m−1, then there exists an m-term zero-sum subsequence S^′ of S with or .Let be a connected, finite m-uniform hypergraph, and be the least integer n such that for every 2-coloring (coloring with the elements of the cyclic group ) of the vertices of the complete m-uniform hypergraph , there exists a subhypergraph isomorphic to such that every edge in is monochromatic (such that for every edge e in the sum of the colors on e is zero). As a corollary to the above theorems, we show that if every subhypergraph of contains an edge with at least half of its vertices monovalent in , or if consists of two intersecting edges, then . This extends the Erdős–Ginzburg–Ziv Theorem, which is the case when is a single edge.     

Asymptotic distributions of regression and autoregression coefficients with martingale difference disturbances

In this paper a form of the Lindeberg condition appropriate for martingale differences is used to obtain asymptotic normality of statistics for regression and autoregression. The regression model is y_t = Bz_t + v_t. The unobserved error sequence {v_t} is a sequence of martingale differences with conditional covariance matrices {Σ_t} and satisfying sup_{t=1,…, n} {v′_tv_tI(v′_tv_t>a) |z_t, v_t−1, z_t−1, …} 0 as a → ∞. The sample covariance of the independent variables z₁, …, z_n, is assumed to have a probability limit M, constant and nonsingular; max_t=1,…,nz′_tz_t/n 0. If (1/n)Σ_t=1ⁿΣ_t Σ, constant, then √nvec( _n−B) N(0,M⁻¹Σ) and _n Σ. The autoregression model is x_t = Bx_{t − 1} + v_t with the maximum absolute value of the characteristic roots of B less than one, the above conditions on {v_t}, and (1/n)Σ_t=max(r,s)+1(Σ_tv_t−1−rv′_t−1−s) δ_rs(ΣΣ), where δ_rs is the Kronecker delta. Then √nvec( _n−B) N(0,Γ⁻¹Σ), where Γ = Σ_{s = 0}^∞B^sΣ(B′)^s.     

Wythoff''s sequence and -Heap Wythoff''s conjectures

Define a Wythoff's sequence as a sequence of pairs of integers (A_n,B_n) _n>n0 such that there exists a finite set of integers T, A_n=mex( A_i,B_i:i<n T), B_n-A_n=n, and B_n ∩T=. Structural properties and behaviors of Wythoff's sequence are investigated. The main result is that for such a sequence, there always exists an integer α such that when n is large enough, |A_n-nφ-α|1, where , the golden section. The value of α can also be easily determined by a relatively small number of pairs in the sequence. As a corollary, the two conjectures on the N-heap Wythoff's game by Fraenkel [Complexity, appeal and challenges of combinatorial Games, Theoret. Comput. Sci. 313 (2004) 393–415] on the N-heaped Wythoff's game are proved to be equivalent.     

On improved estimators of the generalized variance

Treated in this paper is the problem of estimating with squared error loss the generalized variance | Σ | from a Wishart random matrix S: p × p W_p(n, Σ) and an independent normal random matrix X: p × k N(ξ, Σ I_k) with ξ(p × k) unknown. Denote the columns of X by X₍₁₎ ,…, X_(k) and set ψ⁽⁰⁾(S, X) = {(n − p + 2)!/(n + 2)!} | S |, ψ⁽ⁱ⁾(X, X) = min[ψ⁽ⁱ⁻¹⁾(S, X), {(n − p + i + 2)!/(n + i + 2)!} | S + X₍₁₎ X′₍₁₎ + + X_(i) X′_(i) |] and Ψ⁽ⁱ⁾(S, X) = min[ψ⁽⁰⁾(S, X), {(n − p + i + 2)!/(n + i + 2)!}| S + X₍₁₎ X′₍₁₎ + + X_(i) X′_(i) |], i = 1,…,k. Our result is that the minimax, best affine equivariant estimator ψ⁽⁰⁾(S, X) is dominated by each of Ψ⁽ⁱ⁾(S, X), i = 1,…,k and for every i, ψ⁽ⁱ⁾(S, X) is better than ψ⁽ⁱ⁻¹⁾(S, X). In particular, ψ^(k)(S, X) = min[{(n − p + 2)!/(n + 2)!} | S |, {(n − p + 2)!/(n + 2)!} | S + X₍₁₎X′₍₁₎|,…,| {(n − p + k + 2)!/(n + k + 2)!} | S + X₍₁₎X′₍₁₎ + + X_(k)X′_(k)|] dominates all other ψ's. It is obtained by considering a multivariate extension of Stein's result (Ann. Inst. Statist. Math. 16, 155–160 (1964)) on the estimation of the normal variance.     

On the evaluation of the Eigenvalues of a banded toeplitz block matrix

Let A = (a_ij) be an n × n Toeplitz matrix with bandwidth k + 1, K = r + s, that is, a_ij = a_j−i, i, J = 1,… ,n, a_i = 0 if i > s and if i < -r. We compute p(λ)= det(A - λI), as well as p(λ)/p′(λ), where p′(λ) is the first derivative of p(λ), by using O(k log k log n) arithmetic operations. Moreover, if a_i are m × m matrices, so that A is a banded Toeplitz block matrix, then we compute p(λ), as well as p(λ)/p′(λ), by using O(m³k(log² k + log n) + m²k log k log n) arithmetic operations. The algorithms can be extended to the computation of det(A − λB) and of its first derivative, where both A and B are banded Toeplitz matrices. The algorithms may be used as a basis for iterative solution of the eigenvalue problem for the matrix A and of the generalized eigenvalue problem for A and B.     

On the law of the iterated logarithm for weighted sums of independent random variables in a Banach space

Assume that (X _n) are independent random variables in a Banach space, (b _n) is a sequence of real numbers, S_n= ₁ ⁿ b_iX_i, and B_n= ₁ ⁿ b _i ² . Under certain moment restrictions imposed on the variablesX _n, the conditions for the growth of the sequence (b_n) are established, which are sufficient for the almost sure boundedness and precompactness of the sequence (S_n/B _n ln ln B_n)^1/2).Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 45, No. 9, pp. 1225–1231, September, 1993.     

The set of values of b for which there exist block designs with b blocks

Let B denote the set of values of b for which there exists a block design with b blocks and for k3, let B_k denote the subset of B determined by the designs with block size k. We present some information about B and the sets B_k. In particular, we discuss, for certain integers h, the question as to whether there exist integers k and k^′ such that the equation b^′=b+h has infinitely many solutions b,b^′ satisfying bB_k and b^′B_k^′. The study is restricted to the case λ=1.     

The Weak Convergence for Functions of Negatively Associated Random Variables

Let {X_n, n1} be a sequence of stationary negatively associated random variables, S_j(l)=∑^l_i=1 X_j+i, S_n=∑ⁿ_i=1 X_i. Suppose that f(x) is a real function. Under some suitable conditions, the central limit theorem and the weak convergence for sums are investigated. Applications to limiting distributions of estimators of Var S_n are also discussed.     

Nonnegative Minimum Biased Quadratic Estimation in Mixed Linear Models

The problem of nonnegative quadratic estimation of a parametric function γ(β, σ)=β′Fβ+∑^r_i=1 f_iσ²_i in a general mixed linear model {y, Xβ, V(σ)=∑^r_i=1 σ²_iV_i} is discussed. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for y′A₀y to be a minimum biased estimator for γ. It is shown how to formulate the problem of finding a nonnegative minimium biased estimator of γ as a conic optimization problem, which can be efficiently solved using convex optimization techniques. Models with two variance components are considered in detail. Some applications to one-way classification mixed models are given. For these models minimum biased estimators with minimum norms for square of expectation β² and for σ²₁ are presented in explicit forms.     

Stochastic comparisons of order statistics from heterogeneous populations, with applications in reliability

The basic result of the paper states: Let F₁, …, F_n, F₁^′,…, F_n^′ have proportional hazard functions with λ₁ ,…, λ_n , λ₁^′ ,…, λ_n^′ as the constants of proportionality. Let X₍₁₎ ≤ … ≤ X_(n) (X₍₁₎^′ ≤ … ≤ X_(n)^′) be the order statistics in a sample of size n from the heterogeneous populations {F₁ ,…, F_n}({F₁^′ ,…, F_n^′}). Then (λ₁ ,…, λ_n) majorizes (λ₁^′ ,…, λ_n^′) implies that (X₍₁₎ ,…, X_(n)) is stochastically larger than (X₍₁₎^′ ,…, X_(n)^′). Earlier results stochastically comparing individual order statistics are shown to be special cases. Applications of the main result are made in the study of the robustness of standard estimates of the failure rate of the exponential distribution, when observations actually come from a set of heterogeneous exponential distributions. Further applications are made to the comparisons of linear combinations of Weibull random variables and of binomial random variables.     

Almost Kenmotsu manifolds with a condition of η-parallelism

We consider almost Kenmotsu manifolds (M²ⁿ⁺¹,φ,ξ,η,g) with η-parallel tensor h^′=h○φ, 2h being the Lie derivative of the structure tensor φ with respect to the Reeb vector field ξ. We describe the Riemannian geometry of an integral submanifold of the distribution orthogonal to ξ, characterizing the CR-integrability of the structure. Under the additional condition _ξh^′=0, the almost Kenmotsu manifold is locally a warped product. Finally, some lightlike structures on M²ⁿ⁺¹ are introduced and studied.     

Asymptotic properties of Cramér-Smirnov statistics—A new approach

Let Y₁,…, Y_n be independent identically distributed random variables with distribution function F(x, θ), θ = (θ′₁, θ′₂), where θ_i (i = 1, 2) is a vector of p_i components, p = p₁ + p₂ and for θI, an open interval in ^p, F(x, θ) is continuous. In the present paper the author shows that the asymptotic distribution of modified Cramér-Smirnov statistic under H_n: θ₁ = θ₁₀ + n^−1/2γ, θ₂ unspecified, where γ is a given vector independent of n, is the distribution of a sum of weighted noncentral χ₁² variables whose weights are eigenvalues of a covariance function of a Gaussian process and noncentrality parameters are Fourier coefficients of the mean function of the Gaussian process. Further, the author exploits the special form of the covariance function by using perturbation theory to obtain the noncentrality parameters and the weights. The technique is applicable to other goodness-of-fit statistics such as U² [G. S. Watson, Biometrika 48 (1961), 109–114].     

Pattern Matching with Swaps

Let a text string T of n symbols and a pattern string P of m symbols from alphabet Σ be given. A swapped version T′ of T is a length n string derived from T by a series of local swaps (i.e., t′_ℓ ← t_ℓ + 1 and t′_ℓ + 1 ← t_ℓ), where each element can participate in no more than one swap. The pattern matching with swaps problem is that of finding all locations i for which there exists a swapped version T′ of T with an exact matching of P in location i of T′. It has been an open problem whether swapped matching can be done in less than O(nm) time. In this paper we show the first algorithm that solves the pattern matching with swaps problem in time o(nm). We present an algorithm whose time complexity is O(nm^1/3 log m log σ) for a general alphabet Σ, where σ = min(m,Σ).     

Theorems of large deviations in the multivariate invariance principle

Let B be a real separable Banach space with norm |ß|_B, X, X₁, X₂, … be a sequence of centered independent identically distributed random variables taking values in B. Let s_n = s_n(t), 0 ≤ t ≤ 1 be the random broken line such that s_n(0) = 0, s_n(k/n) = n^−1/2 Σ_i=1^k X_i for n = 1, 2, … and k = 1, …, n. Denote |s_n|_B = sup_{0 ≤ t ≤ 1} |s_n(t)|_B and assume that w(t), 0 ≤ t ≤ 1 is the Wiener process such that covariances of w(1) and X are equal. We show that under appropriate conditions P(|s_n|_B > r) = P(|w|_B > r)(1 + o(1)) and give estimates of the remainder term. The results are new already in the case of B having finite dimension.     

On subspace arrangements of type

Let denote the subspace arrangement formed by all linear subspaces in given by equations of the form

₁x_i1=₂x_i2==_kx_ik,

where 1i₁<<i_kn and (₁,…,_k){+1,−1}^k.Some important topological properties of such a subspace arrangement depend on the topology of its intersection lattice. In a previous work on a larger class of subspace arrangements by Björner and Sagan (J. Algebraic Combin. 5 (1996) 291–314) the topology of the intersection lattice turned out to be a particularly interesting and difficult case.We prove in this paper that Pure(Π_n,k^±) is shellable, hence that Π_n,k^± is shellable for k>n/2. Moreover, we prove that unless i≡n−2 (mod k−2) or i≡n−3 (mod k−2), and that is free abelian for i≡n−2 (mod k−2). In the special case of Π_2k,k^± we determine homology completely. Our tools are generalized lexicographic shellability, as introduced in Kozlov (Ann. Combin. 1 (1997) 67–90), and a spectral sequence method for the computation of poset homology first used in Hanlon (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 325 (1991) 1–37).We state implications of our results on the cohomology of the complements of the considered arrangements.     

Two New Classes of Difference Families

A Z-cyclic triplewhist tournament for 4n+1 players, or briefly a TWh(4n+1), is equivalent to a n-set {(a_i, b_i, c_i, d_i) | i=1, …, n} of quadruples partitioning Z_4n+1−{0} with the property that ⁿ_i=1 {±(a_i−c_i), ±(b_i−d_i)}=ⁿ_i=1 {±(a_i−b_i), ±(c_i−d_i)}=ⁿ_i=1 {±(a_i−d_i), ±(b_i−c_i)}=Z_4n+1−{0}. The existence problem for Z-cyclic TWh(p)'s with p a prime has been solved for p1 (mod 16). I. Anderson et al. (1995, Discrete Math.138, 31–41) treated the case of p≡5 (mod 8) while Y. S. Liaw (1996, J. Combin. Des.4, 219–233) and G. McNay (1996, Utilitas Math.49, 191–201) treated the case of p≡9 (mod 16). In this paper, besides giving easier proofs of these authors' results, we solve the problem also for primes p≡1 (mod 16). The final result is the existence of a Z-cyclic TWh(v) for any v whose prime factors are all≡1 (mod 4) and distinct from 5, 13, and 17.