Partial Geometric Difference Families

We introduce the notion of a partial geometric difference family as a variation on the classical difference family and a generalization of partial geometric difference sets. We study the relationship between partial geometric difference families and both partial geometric designs and difference families, and show that partial geometric difference families give rise to partial geometric designs. We construct several infinite families of partial geometric difference families using Galois rings and the cyclotomy of Galois fields. From these partial geometric difference families, we generate a list of infinite families of partial geometric designs and directed strongly regular graphs.     

Cobordism invariance of the family index

We give a K‐theory proof of the invariance under cobordism of the family index. We consider elliptic pseudodifferential families on a continuous fibre bundle with smooth fibres $M\hookrightarrow \mbox{$\cal M$}\rightarrow B$, and define a notion of cobordant families using K¹‐groups on fibrations with boundary. We show that the index of two such families is the same using properties of the push‐forward map in K‐theory to reduce it to families on $B\times \mathbb {R}^n$.     

DJKM algebras and non-classical orthogonal polynomials

We describe families of polynomials arising in the study of the universal central extensions of Lie algebras introduced by Date, Jimbo, Kashiwara, and Miwa (1983) [6] in their work on the Landau–Lifshitz equations. We show these two families of polynomials satisfy certain fourth order linear differential equations by direct computation and one of the families is a particular collection of associated ultraspherical polynomials.     

Further Investigations Involving Rook Polynomials With Only Real Zeros

We study the zeros of two families of polynomials related to rook theory and matchings in graphs. One of these families is based on the cover polynomial of a digraph introduced by Chung and Graham . Another involves a version of the ‘hit polynomial’ of rook theory, but which applies to weighted matchings in (non-bipartite) graphs. For both of these families we prove a result which is analogous to a theorem of the author, K. Ono, and D. G. Wagner, namely that for Ferrers boards the hit polynomial has only real zeros. We also show that for each of these families there is a general conjecture involving arrays of numbers satisfying inequalities which contains these theorems as special cases. We provide evidence for the truth of these conjectures by proving other special cases and discussing computational experiments.     

Second eigenvalue of transition matrix associated to iterated maps

We study the properties of the second eigenvalue of the transition matrix in unimodal and bimodal map’s families. We use in particular the relation with the mixing rate and apply this to classify families of isentropic bimodal maps. We present also a study which show the convergence of this quantity in those families.     

Shedding vertices of vertex decomposable well-covered graphs

We focus our attention on well-covered graphs that are vertex decomposable. We show that for many known families of these vertex decomposable graphs, the set of shedding vertices forms a dominating set. We then construct three new infinite families of well-covered graphs, none of which have this property. We use these results to provide a minimal counterexample to a conjecture of Villarreal regarding Cohen–Macaulay graphs.     

The Jordan normal form of Osserman algebraic curvature tensors

Let V be a vector space of signature (p,q). We construct two families of algebraic curvature tensors which generate the space of algebraic curvature tensors on V. We use these families to show that there exist Jordan Osserman algebraic curvature tensors with arbitrary Jordan normal form.     

Pairwise products of moduli of families of curves on a Riemannian Möbius strip

We investigate pairwise products of moduli of families of curves on a Riemannian Möbius strip and obtain estimates for these products. As one of the factors, we consider the modulus of a family of arcs from a broad class of families of this sort (for each of these families, we determine the modulus and extremal metric).     

A mono-implicit Runge-Kutta-Nyström modification of the Numerov method

We present two two-parameter families of fourth-order mono-implicit Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods. Each member of these families can be considered as a modification of the Numerov method. We analyze the stability and periodicity properties of these methods. It is shown that (i) within one of these families there exist A-stable (even L-stable) and P-stable methods, and (ii) in both families there exist methods with a phase lag of order six.     

The tame dimension vectors for stars

We consider representations of stars over an algebraically closed field K. We classify those dimension vectors of stars admitting a one parameter family of indecomposable representations and for which, in addition, all families of (not necessarily indecomposable) representations depend on a single parameter. Furthermore, we show how it is possible to construct the corresponding one parameter families of indecomposable representations.     

Group technology in production management: The short horizon planning level

We consider a set of parts divided into subsets called part types, determined in such a way that the parts belonging to the same part type are manufactured using the same sequence of tasks (i.e. the same working process). We are looking for a partition of the set of part types into subsets called part families, and for a partition of the set of tasks into subsets called production subsystems defined as follows: (1) the number of part families and the number of production subsystems are equal, (2) one (one only one) production subsystem corresponds to each part family, (3) one (and only one) part family corresponds to each production subsystem, (4) the previous partitions minimize the number of tasks performed in a production subsystem different from that which corresponds to the part family containing the part involved. We give a fast algorithm which leads to a good solution depending on the initial set of part families. We also propose an algorithm to find a ‘good’ initial set of part families.     

Noncommutative symmetric functions with matrix parameters

We define new families of noncommutative symmetric functions and quasi-symmetric functions depending on two matrices of parameters, and more generally on parameters associated with paths in a binary tree. Appropriate specializations of both matrices then give back the two-vector families of Hivert, Lascoux, and Thibon and the noncommutative Macdonald functions of Bergeron and Zabrocki.     

On a Degree Property of Cross-Intersecting Families

Motivated by some applications in computational complexity, Razborov and Vereshchagin proved a degree bound for cross-intersecting families in [1]. We sharpen this result and show that our bound is best possible by constructing appropriate families. We also consider the case of cross-t-intersecting families. Received October 28, 1999     

Bounds on the cardinalities of families of nearly neighborly quadrilaterals

We show nearly neighborly families of nine quadrilaterals and conjecture that this is the maximum. Using techniques developed by J. Zaks for nearly neighborly tetrahedra, we show that a nearly neighborly family of quadrilaterals has at most 14 members. A nearly neighborly family of quadrilaterals is said to share a base line if all nearly neighborly quadrilaterals lie on the same side of the line and the line contains a side of each. These families form an important special case. We show that there are 35 inequivalent examples of nearly neighborly families of four quadrilaterals on a base line, but that it is impossible to have a family of five nearly neighborly quadrilaterals on a base line.This work was supported in part by the University of Illinois Research Board, UIUC, Urbana, IL.     

Heun equations coming from geometry

We give a list of Heun equations which are Picard-Fuchs associated to families of algebraic varieties. Our list is based on the classification of families of elliptic curves with four singular fibers done by Herfurtner. We also show that pull-backs of hypergeometric functions by rational Belyi functions with restricted ramification data give rise to Heun equations.     

Local analytic reduction of families of diffeomorphisms

We study local analytic simplification of families of analytic maps near a hyperbolic fixed point. A particularly important application of the main result concerns families of hyperbolic saddles, where Siegel's theorem is too fragile, at least in the analytic category. By relaxing on the formal normal form we obtain analytic conjugacies. Since we consider families, it is more convenient to state some results for analytic maps on a Banach space; this gives no extra complications. As an example we treat a family passing through a 1:−1 resonant saddle.     

Conformal Families of Measures for Fibred Systems

In this paper, we give sufficient conditions for the existence of (pseudo) weakly conformal and conformal families of measures for fibred systems. We describe a general construction principle for these families, modelled on the one developed by Denker and Urbanski for conformal measures. For those systems that are fibrewise local homeomorphisms, the constructed families are (pseudo) conformal. If a system is, moreover, weakly topologically exact along fibres, then each measure in the associated family is supported on the whole fibre where it is naturally defined.     

Shift graphs on precompact families of finite sets of natural numbers

We study graphs defined on families of finite sets of natural numbers and their chromatic properties. Of particular interest are graphs for which the edge relation is given by the shift. We show that when considering shift graphs with infinite chromatic number, one can center attention on graphs defined on precompact thin families. We define a quasi-order relation on the collection of uniform families defined in terms of homomorphisms between their corresponding shift graphs, and show that there are descending ${\omega }_1$-sequences. Specker graphs are also considered and their relation with shift graphs is established. We characterize the family of Specker graphs which contain a homomorphic image of a shift graph.     

Generic constructions for partitioned difference families with applications: a unified combinatorial approach

Partitioned difference families are an interesting class of discrete structures which can be used to derive optimal constant composition codes. There have been intensive researches on the construction of partitioned difference families. In this paper, we consider the combinatorial approach. We introduce a new combinatorial configuration named partitioned relative difference family, which proves to be very powerful in the construction of partitioned difference families. In particular, we present two general recursive constructions, which not only include some existing constructions as special cases, but also generate many new series of partitioned difference families. As an application, we use these partitioned difference families to construct several new classes of optimal constant composition codes.