A note on the hardness of Skolem-type sequences

The purpose of this note is to give upper bounds (assuming different from ) on how far the generalizations of Skolem sequences can be taken while still hoping to resolve the existence question. We prove that the existence questions for both multi-Skolem sequences and generalized Skolem sequences are strongly -complete. These results are significant strengthenings and simplifications of the recent -completeness result for generalized multi-Skolem sequences.     

Facet-inducing web and antiweb inequalities for the graph coloring polytope

For a graph G and its complement , we define the graph coloring polytope P(G) to be the convex hull of the incidence vectors of star partitions of . We examine inequalities whose support graphs are webs and antiwebs appearing as induced subgraphs in G. We show that for an antiweb in G the corresponding inequality is facet-inducing for P(G) if and only if is critical with respect to vertex colorings. An analogous result is also proved for the web inequalities.     

On mean distance and girth

We bound the mean distance in a connected graph which is not a tree in terms of its order n and its girth g. On one hand, we show that the mean distance is at most if g is even and at most if g is odd. On the other hand, we prove that the mean distance is at least unless G is an odd cycle. This resolves two conjectures of AutoGraphiX.     

Covering line graphs with equivalence relations

An equivalence graph is a disjoint union of cliques, and the equivalence number of a graph G is the minimum number of equivalence subgraphs needed to cover the edges of G. We consider the equivalence number of a line graph, giving improved upper and lower bounds: . This disproves a recent conjecture that is at most three for triangle-free G; indeed it can be arbitrarily large.To bound we bound the closely related invariant σ(G), which is the minimum number of orientations of G such that for any two edges e,f incident to some vertex v, both e and f are oriented out of v in some orientation. When G is triangle-free, . We prove that even when G is triangle-free, it is NP-complete to decide whether or not σ(G)≤3.     

On strong unimodality of multivariate discrete distributions

A discrete function f defined on Zⁿ is said to be logconcave if for , , . A more restrictive notion is strong unimodality. Following Barndorff-Nielsen [O. Barndorff-Nielsen, Unimodality and exponential families, Commun. Statist. 1 (1973) 189-216] a discrete function is called strongly unimodal if there exists a convex function such that  if . In this paper sufficient conditions that ensure the strong unimodality of a multivariate discrete distribution, are given. Examples of strongly unimodal multivariate discrete distributions are presented.     

Tighter bounds of the First Fit algorithm for the bin-packing problem

In this paper, we present improved bounds for the First Fit algorithm for the bin-packing problem. We prove for all lists L, and the absolute performance ratio of FF is at most .     

The coarse shape groups

The (pointed) coarse shape category Sh^* (), having (pointed) topological spaces as objects and having the (pointed) shape category as a subcategory, was recently constructed. Its isomorphisms classify (pointed) topological spaces strictly coarser than the (pointed) shape type classification. In this paper we introduce a new algebraic coarse shape invariant which is an invariant of shape and homotopy, as well. For every pointed space (X,?) and for every k∈N₀, the coarse shape group , having the standard shape group for its subgroup, is defined. Furthermore, a functor is constructed. The coarse shape and shape groups already differ on the class of polyhedra. An explicit formula for computing coarse shape groups of polyhedra is given. The coarse shape groups give us more information than the shape groups. Generally, does not imply (e.g. for solenoids), but from pro-πk(X,?)=0 follows . Moreover, for pointed metric compacta (X,?), the n-shape connectedness is characterized by , for every k?n.     

Improved induced matchings in sparse graphs

An induced matching in a graph G=(V,E) is a matching M such that (V,M) is an induced subgraph of G. Clearly, among two vertices with the same neighbourhood (called twins) at most one is matched in any induced matching, and if one of them is matched then there is another matching of the same size that matches the other vertex. Motivated by this, Kanj et al. [10] studied induced matchings in twinless graphs. They showed that any twinless planar graph contains an induced matching of size at least and that there are twinless planar graphs that do not contain an induced matching of size greater than . We improve both these bounds to , which is tight up to an additive constant. This implies that the problem of deciding whether a planar graph has an induced matching of size k has a kernel of size at most 28k. We also show for the first time that this problem is fixed parameter tractable for graphs of bounded arboricity.Kanj et al. also presented an algorithm which decides in -time whether an n-vertex planar graph contains an induced matching of size k. Our results improve the time complexity analysis of their algorithm. However, we also show a more efficient -time algorithm. Its main ingredient is a new, O^∗(4^l)-time algorithm for finding a maximum induced matching in a graph of branch width at most l.     

Forwarding and optical indices of a graph

Motivated by wavelength-assignment problems for all-to-all traffic in optical networks, we study graph parameters related to sets of paths connecting all pairs of vertices. We consider sets of both undirected and directed paths, under minimisation criteria known as edge congestion and wavelength count; this gives rise to four parameters of a graph G: its edge forwarding index π(G), arc forwarding index , undirected optical index , and directed optical index .In the paper we address two long-standing open problems: whether the equality holds for all graphs, and whether indices π(G) and are hard to compute. For the first problem, we give an example of a family of planar graphs {G_k} such that . For the second problem, we show that determining either π(G) or is NP-hard.     

How to play the Majority game with a liar

The Majority game is played by a questioner () and an answerer (). holds n elements, each of which can be labeled as 0 or 1. is trying to identify some element holds as having the Majority label or, in the case of a tie, claim there is none. To do this asks questions comparing whether two elements have the same or different label. ’s goal is to ask as few questions as possible while ’s goal is to delay as much as possible. Let q^∗ denote the minimal number of questions needed for to identify a Majority element regardless of ’s answers.In this paper we investigate upper and lower bounds for q^∗ in a variation of the Majority game, where is allowed to lie up to t times. We consider two versions of the game, the adaptive (where questions are asked sequentially) and the oblivious (where questions are asked in one batch).     

Solution of a nonsymmetric algebraic Riccati equation from a two-dimensional transport model

For the steady-state solution of an integral-differential equation from a two-dimensional model in transport theory, we shall derive and study a nonsymmetric algebraic Riccati equation B^--XF^--F⁺X+XB⁺X=0, where , and with a nonnegative matrix P, positive diagonal matrices D^±, and nonnegative parameters f, and . We prove the existence of the minimal nonnegative solution X^∗ under the physically reasonable assumption , and study its numerical computation by fixed-point iteration, Newton’s method and doubling. We shall also study several special cases; e.g. when and P is low-ranked, then is low-ranked and can be computed using more efficient iterative processes in U and V. Numerical examples will be given to illustrate our theoretical results.     

Two classes of edge domination in graphs

Let (, resp.) be the number of (local) signed edge domination of a graph G [B. Xu, On signed edge domination numbers of graphs, Discrete Math. 239 (2001) 179-189]. In this paper, we prove mainly that and hold for any graph G of order n(n?4), and pose several open problems and conjectures.     

Exact rates in log law for positively associated random variables

Let be a strictly stationary sequence of positively associated random variables with mean zero and finite variance. Set , Mn=maxk?n|Sk|, n?1. Suppose . In this paper, we study the exact convergence rates of a kind of weighted infinite series of , and as ε↘0, respectively.