Minimum monopoly in regular and tree graphs

In this paper we consider a graph optimization problem called minimum monopoly problem, in which it is required to find a minimum cardinality set S⊆V, such that, for each u∈V, |N[u]∩S|?|N[u]|/2 in a given graph G=(V,E). We show that this optimization problem does not have a polynomial-time approximation scheme for k-regular graphs (k?5), unless P=NP. We show this by establishing two L-reductions (an approximation preserving reduction) from minimum dominating set problem for k-regular graphs to minimum monopoly problem for 2k-regular graphs and to minimum monopoly problem for (2k-1)-regular graphs, where k?3. We also show that, for tree graphs, a minimum monopoly set can be computed in linear time.     

Waiting times in queues with relative priorities

This paper determines the mean waiting times for a single server multi-class queueing model with Poisson arrivals and relative priorities. If the server becomes idle, the probability that the next job is from class-i is proportional to the product between the number of class-i jobs present and their priority parameter.     

Hardness of lazy packing and covering

We prove APX-hardness for the two problems maximum resource bin packing and lazy bin covering. Simple algorithms matching the best absolute bounds under the assumption P≠NP are also derived.     

On the complexity of the multicut problem in bounded tree-width graphs and digraphs

Given an edge- or vertex-weighted graph or digraph and a list of source-sink pairs, the minimum multicut problem consists in selecting a minimum weight set of edges or vertices whose removal leaves no path from each source to the corresponding sink. This is a classical NP-hard problem, and we show that the edge version becomes tractable in bounded tree-width graphs if the number of source-sink pairs is fixed, but remains NP-hard in directed acyclic graphs and APX-hard in bounded tree-width and bounded degree unweighted digraphs. The vertex version, although tractable in trees, is proved to be NP-hard in unweighted cacti of bounded degree and bounded path-width.     

Determining tension parameters in rational gamma-spline interpolation

Inspired by the classic γ-spline, we propose a method for constructing a G² rational γ-spline curve that interpolates a given set of distinct ordered data-points (planar or spatial). The only input of our method is just these data-points. We also present a procedure to solve the key problem of determining the tension parameters γ_i which are computed in terms of exponential functions that determine the eccentricities of the common conic osculants at the junction points while keeping in geometrical agreement with data-points. This allows the resulting curve to be modified in the close vicinity of each data-point.     

On constants in the Füredi-Hajnal and the Stanley-Wilf conjecture

For a given permutation matrix P, let fP(n) be the maximum number of 1-entries in an n×n(0,1)-matrix avoiding P and let SP(n) be the set of all n×n permutation matrices avoiding P. The Füredi-Hajnal conjecture asserts that cP:=limn→∞fP(n)/n is finite, while the Stanley-Wilf conjecture asserts that is finite.In 2004, Marcus and Tardos proved the Füredi-Hajnal conjecture, which together with the reduction introduced by Klazar in 2000 proves the Stanley-Wilf conjecture.We focus on the values of the Stanley-Wilf limit (sP) and the Füredi-Hajnal limit (cP). We improve the reduction and obtain which decreases the general upper bound on sP from sP?constconstO(klog(k)) to sP?constO(klog(k)) for any k×k permutation matrix P. In the opposite direction, we show .For a lower bound, we present for each k a k×k permutation matrix satisfying cP=Ω(k²).     

Bounding the size of square-free subgraphs of the hypercube

We investigate the maximum size of a subset of the edges of the n-cube that does not contain a square, or 4-cycle. The size of such a subset is trivially at most 3/4 of the total number of edges, but the proportion was conjectured by Erd?s to be asymptotically 1/2. Following a computer investigation of the 4-cube and the 5-cube, we improve the known upper bound from 0.62284… to 0.62256… in the limit.     

Maximum transversal in partial Latin squares and rainbow matchings

In a partial Latin square P a set of distinct entries, such that no two of which are in the same row or column is called a transversal. By the size of a transversal T, we mean the number of its entries. We define a duplex to be a partial Latin square of order n containing 2n entries such that exactly two entries lie in each row and column and each of n symbols occurs exactly twice. We show that determining the maximum size of a transversal in a given duplex is an NP-complete problem. This problem relates to independent sets in certain subfamilies of cubic graphs. Generalizing the concept of transversals in edge coloring of graphs we are led to introduce the concept of rainbow matching. We show that if each color appears at most twice then it is a polynomial time problem to know whether there exists a rainbow matching of size at least ⌊n/2⌋-t for each fixed t, where n is the order of the graph. As an application we show that for any fixed t, there is a polynomial time algorithm which decides whether α(G)?n-t, for any graph G on 2n vertices containing a perfect matching. At the end we mention some other applications of rainbow matching.     

Binary relations and reduced hypergroups

Different partial hypergroupoids are associated with binary relations defined on a set H. In this paper we find sufficient and necessary conditions for these hypergroupoids in order to be reduced hypergroups. Given two binary relations ρ and σ on H we investigate when the hypergroups associated with the relations ρ∩σ, ρ∪σ and ρσ are reduced. We also determine when the cartesian product of two hypergroupoids associated with a binary relation is a reduced hypergroup.     

Independence polynomials of k-tree related graphs

An independent set of a graph G is a set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices. Let α(G) denote the cardinality of a maximum independent set and f_s(G) for 0≤s≤α(G) denote the number of independent sets of s vertices. The independence polynomial defined first by Gutman and Harary has been the focus of considerable research recently. Wingard bounded the coefficients f_s(T) for trees T with n vertices: for s≥2. We generalize this result to bounds for a very large class of graphs, maximal k-degenerate graphs, a class which includes all k-trees. Additionally, we characterize all instances where our bounds are achieved, and determine exactly the independence polynomials of several classes of k-tree related graphs. Our main theorems generalize several related results known before.     

Partitioning graphs into complete and empty graphs

Given integers j and k and a graph G, we consider partitions of the vertex set of G into j+k parts where j of these parts induce empty graphs and the remaining k induce cliques. If such a partition exists, we say G is a (j,k)-graph. For a fixed j and k we consider the maximum order n where every graph of order n is a (j,k)-graph. The split-chromatic number of G is the minimum j where G is a (j,j)-graph. Further, the cochromatic number is the minimum j+k where G is a (j,k)-graph. We examine some relations between cochromatic, split-chromatic and chromatic numbers. We also consider some computational questions related to chordal graphs and cographs.     

Variations on a theme of Boole and Stein-Weiss

We give an alternative proof of a theorem of Stein and Weiss: The distribution function of the Hilbert transform of a characteristic function of a set E only depends on the Lebesgue measure |E| of such a set. We exploit a rational change of variable of the type used by George Boole in his paper “On the comparison of transcendents, with certain applications to the theory of definite integrals” together with the observation that if two functions f and g have the same Lp norm in a range of exponents p₁<p<p₂ then their distribution functions coincide.     

Comparison of two randomized policy M/G/1 queues with second optional service, server breakdown and startup

The problem addressed in this paper is to compare the minimum cost of the two randomized control policies in the M/G/1 queueing system with an unreliable server, a second optional service, and general startup times. All arrived customers demand the first required service, and only some of the arrived customers demand a second optional service. The server needs a startup time before providing the first required service until the system becomes empty. After all customers are served in the queue, the server immediately takes a vacation and the system operates the (T, p)-policy or (p, N)-policy. For those two policies, the expected cost functions are established to determine the joint optimal threshold values of (T, p) and (p, N), respectively. In addition, we obtain the explicit closed form of the joint optimal solutions for those two policies. Based on the minimal cost, we show that the optimal (p, N)-policy indeed outperforms the optimal (T, p)-policy. Numerical examples are also presented for illustrative purposes.     

More on “Connected (n, m)-graphs with minimum and maximum zeroth-order general Randi? index”

Let G be a graph and d(u) denote the degree of a vertex u in G. The zeroth-order general Randi? index ⁰R_α(G) of the graph G is defined as ∑_u∈V(G)d(u)^α, where the summation goes over all vertices of G and α is an arbitrary real number. In this paper we correct the proof of the main Theorem 3.5 of the paper by Hu et al. [Y. Hu, X. Li, Y. Shi, T. Xu, Connected (n,m)-graphs with minimum and maximum zeroth-order general Randi? index, Discrete Appl. Math. 155 (8) (2007) 1044-1054] and give a more general Theorem. We finally characterize ¹ for α<0 the connected G(n,m)-graphs with maximum value ⁰R_α(G(n,m)), where G(n,m) is a simple connected graph with n vertices and m edges.     

The H-covariant strong Picard groupoid

The notion of H-covariant strong Morita equivalence is introduced for ^*-algebras over C=R(i) with an ordered ring R which are equipped with a ^*-action of a Hopf ^*-algebra H. This defines a corresponding H-covariant strong Picard groupoid which encodes the entire Morita theory. Dropping the positivity conditions one obtains H-covariant ^*-Morita equivalence with its H-covariant ^*-Picard groupoid. We discuss various groupoid morphisms between the corresponding notions of the Picard groupoids. Moreover, we realize several Morita invariants in this context as arising from actions of the H-covariant strong Picard groupoid. Crossed products and their Morita theory are investigated using a groupoid morphism from the H-covariant strong Picard groupoid into the strong Picard groupoid of the crossed products.     

Finding monotone paths in edge-ordered graphs

An edge-ordering of a graph G=(V,E) is a one-to-one function f from E to a subset of the set of positive integers. A path P in G is called an f-ascent if f increases along the edge sequence of P. The heighth(f) of f is the maximum length of an f-ascent in G.In this paper we deal with computational problems concerning finding ascents in graphs. We prove that for a given edge-ordering f of a graph G the problem of determining the value of h(f) is NP-hard. In particular, the problem of deciding whether there is an f-ascent containing all the vertices of G is NP-complete. We also study several variants of this problem, discuss randomized and deterministic approaches and provide an algorithm for the finding of ascents of order at least k in graphs of order n in running time O(4^kn^O(1)).     

Simultaneous singular value decomposition

We consider the following problem: Given a set of m×n real (or complex) matrices A₁,…,A_N, find an m×m orthogonal (or unitary) matrix P and an n×n orthogonal (or unitary) matrix Q such that P^*A₁Q,…,P^*A_NQ are in a common block-diagonal form with possibly rectangular diagonal blocks. We call this the simultaneous singular value decomposition (simultaneous SVD). The name is motivated by the fact that the special case with N=1, where a single matrix is given, reduces to the ordinary SVD. With the aid of the theory of *-algebra and bimodule it is shown that a finest simultaneous SVD is uniquely determined. An algorithm is proposed for finding the finest simultaneous SVD on the basis of recent algorithms of Murota-Kanno-Kojima-Kojima and Maehara-Murota for simultaneous block-diagonalization of square matrices under orthogonal (or unitary) similarity.     

Covering graphs with matchings of fixed size

Let m be a positive integer and let G be a graph. We consider the question: can the edge set E(G) of G be expressed as the union of a set M of matchings of G each of which has size exactly m? If this happens, we say that G is [m]-coverable and we call M an [m]-covering of G. It is interesting to consider minimum[m]-coverings, i.e. [m]-coverings containing as few matchings as possible. Such [m]-coverings will be called excessive[m]-factorizations. The number of matchings in an excessive [m]-factorization is a graph parameter which will be called the excessive[m]-index and denoted by . In this paper we begin the study of this new parameter as well as of a number of other related graph parameters.     

Weighted geometric discrepancies and numerical integration on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces

We extend the notion of L₂-B-discrepancy introduced in [E. Novak, H. Wo?niakowski, L₂ discrepancy and multivariate integration, in: W.W.L. Chen, W.T. Gowers, H. Halberstam, W.M. Schmidt, and R.C. Vaughan (Eds.), Analytic Number Theory. Essays in Honour of Klaus Roth, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009, pp. 359-388] to what we shall call weighted geometric L₂-discrepancy. This extension enables us to consider weights in order to moderate the importance of different groups of variables, as well as to consider volume measures different from the Lebesgue measure and classes of test sets different from measurable subsets of Euclidean spaces.We relate the weighted geometric L₂-discrepancy to numerical integration defined over weighted reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and settle in this way an open problem posed by Novak and Wo?niakowski.Furthermore, we prove an upper bound for the numerical integration error for cubature formulas that use admissible sample points. The set of admissible sample points may actually be a subset of the integration domain of measure zero. We illustrate that particularly in infinite-dimensional numerical integration it is crucial to distinguish between the whole integration domain and the set of those sample points that actually can be used by the algorithms.     

Dynamic inventory and pricing policy in a capacitated stochastic inventory system with fixed ordering cost

We study a dynamic inventory and pricing optimization problem in a periodic review inventory system with setup cost and finite ordering capacity in each period. We show that the optimal inventory control is characterized by an (s,s^′,p) policy in four regions of the starting inventory level.