The Generalized <Emphasis Type="Italic">M/G/k</Emphasis> Blocking System with Heterogeneous Servers

This paper studies the equilibrium behaviour of the generalized M/G/k blocking system with heterogeneous servers. Such a service system has k servers, each with a (possibly) different service time distribution, whose customers arrive in accordance with a Poisson process. They are served, unless all the servers are occupied. In this case they leave and they do not return later (i.e. they are ‘blocked’). Whenever there are n (n = 0, 1, 2,..., k) servers occupied, each arriving customer balks with probability 1 - f _{n +1}(f _{k +1} = 0) and each server works at a rate g _n . Among other things, a generalization of the Erlang B-formula is given and also it is shown that the equilibrium departure process from the system is Poisson.     

Simulation of a random fuzzy queuing system with multiple servers

The paper considers a queuing system that has k servers and its interarrival times and service times are random fuzzy variables.We obtain a theorem concerning the average chance of the event “r servers (r ≤ k) are busy at time t”, provided that all the servers work independently. We simulate the average chance using fuzzy simulation method and obtain some results on the number of servers that are busy. Some examples to illustrate the simulation procedure are also presented.     

Optimal Control of an <Emphasis Type="Italic">M/E</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis></Subscript>/1 Queueing System with a Removable Service Station

This paper studies the optimal operation of an M/E _k /1 queueing system with a removable service station under steady-state conditions. Analytic closed-form solutions of the controllable M/E _k /1 queueing system are derived. This is a generalization of the controllable M/M/1, the ordinary M/E _k /1, and the ordinary M/M/1 queueing systems in the literature. We prove that the probability that the service station is busy in the steady-state is equal to the traffic intensity. Following the construction of the expected cost function per unit time, we determine the optimal operating policy at minimum cost.     

Profit Analysis of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">M/M/R</Emphasis> Machine Repair Problem with Spares and Server Breakdowns

This paper studies the machine-repair problem consisting of M operating machines with S spares, and R servers which themselves are subject to breakdown under steady-state conditions. Spares are considered to be either cold-standby, or warm-standby or hot-standby. Failure and service times of the machines, and breakdown and repair times of the servers, are assumed to follow a negative exponential distribution. Each server is subject to breakdown even if no failed machines are in the system. A profit model is developed in order to determine the optimal values of the number of servers and spares. Numerical results are provided in which several system characteristics are evaluated for all cases under the optimal operating conditions.     

Heuristic algorithms for general <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-level facility location problems

In a general k-level uncapacitated facility location problem (k-GLUFLP), we are given a set of demand points, denoted by D, where clients are located. Facilities have to be located at a given set of potential sites, which is denoted by F in order to serve the clients. Each client needs to be served by a chain of k different facilities. The problem is to determine some sites of F to be set up and to find an assignment of each client to a chain of k facilities so that the sum of the setup costs and the shipping costs is minimized. In this paper, for a fixed k, an approximation algorithm within a factor of 3 of the optimum cost is presented for k-GLUFLP under the assumption that the shipping costs satisfy the properties of metric space. In addition, when no fixed cost is charged for setting up the facilities and k=2, we show that the problem is strong NP-complete and the constant approximation factor is further sharpen to be 3/2 by a simple algorithm. Furthermore, it is shown that this ratio analysis is tight.     

Interval <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Graphs and Orders

An interval k-graph is the intersection graph of a family of intervals of the real line partitioned into k classes with vertices adjacent if and only if their corresponding intervals intersect and belong to different classes. In this paper we study the cocomparability interval k-graphs; that is, the interval k-graphs whose complements have a transitive orientation and are therefore the incomparability graphs of strict partial orders. For brevity we call these orders interval k-orders. We characterize the kind of interval representations a cocomparability interval k-graph must have, and identify the structure that guarantees an order is an interval k-order. The case k =?2 is peculiar: cocomparability interval 2-graphs (equivalently proper- or unit-interval bigraphs, bipartite permutation graphs, and complements of proper circular-arc graphs to name a few) have been characterized in many ways, but we show that analogous characterizations do not hold if k >?2. We characterize the cocomparability interval 3-graphs via one forbidden subgraph and hence interval 3-orders via one forbidden suborder.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis></Superscript>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> Queue with catastrophes and state-dependent control at idle time

We consider an M ^X /M/c queue with catastrophes and state-dependent control at idle time. Properties of the queues which terminate when the servers become idle are first studied. Recurrence, equilibrium distribution, and equilibrium queue-size structure are studied for the case of resurrection and no catastrophes. All of these properties and the first effective catastrophe occurrence time are then investigated for the case of resurrection and catastrophes. In particular, we obtain the Laplace transform of the transition probability for the absorbing M ^X /M/c queue.     

New Cases of the Polynomial Solvability of the Independent Set Problem for Graphs with Forbidden Paths

The independent set problem is solvable in polynomial time for the graphs not containing the path P _k for any fixed k. If the induced path P _k is forbidden then the complexity of this problem is unknown for k > 6. We consider the intermediate cases that the induced path P _k and some of its spanning supergraphs are forbidden. We prove the solvability of the independent set problem in polynomial time for the following cases: (1) the supergraphs whose minimal degree is less than k/2 are forbidden; (2) the supergraphs whose complementary graph has more than k/2 edges are forbidden; (3) the supergraphs from which we can obtain P _k by means of graph intersection are forbidden.     

Mappings of preserving <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-distance one in <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-normed spaces

We give a positive answer to the Aleksandrov problem in n-normed spaces under the surjectivity assumption. Namely, we show that every surjective mapping preserving n-distance one is affine, and thus is an n-isometry. This is the first time the Aleksandrov problem is solved in n-normed spaces with only the surjectivity assumption even in the usual case \(n=2\). Finally, when the target space is n-strictly convex, we prove that every mapping preserving two n-distances with an integer ratio is an affine n-isometry.     

Maximal <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Intersecting Families of Subsets and Boolean Functions

A family of subsets of an n-element set is k-intersecting if the intersection of every k subsets in the family is nonempty. A family is maximalk-intersecting if no subset can be added to the family without violating the k-intersection property. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the families of subsets and Boolean functions defined as follows: To each family of subsets, assign the Boolean function whose unit tuples are the characteristic vectors of the subsets.We show that a family of subsets is maximal 2-intersecting if and only if the corresponding Boolean function is monotone and selfdual. Asymptotics for the number of such families is obtained. Some properties of Boolean functions corresponding to k-intersecting families are established fork > 2.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>- critical 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>- connected graphs

A graph G is called an (n,k)-graph if κ(G-S)=n-|S| for any S ? V(G) with |S| ≤ k, where ?(G) denotes the connectivity of G. Mader conjectured that for k ≥ 3 the graph K_2k+2?(1-factor) is the unique (2k, k)-graph. Kriesell has settled two special cases for k = 3,4. We prove the conjecture for the general case k ≥ 5.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Adic order of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Fibonacci and <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Lucas numbers

Let (F _k,n ) _n and (L _k,n )n be the k-Fibonacci and k-Lucas sequence, respectively, which satisfies the same recursive relation a _n+1 = ka _n + a _n?1 with initial values F _k,0 = 0, F _k,1 = 1, L _k,0 = 2 and L _k,1 = k. In this paper, we characterize the p-adic orders ν _p (F _k,n ) and ν _p (L _k,n ) for all primes p and all positive integers k.     

The Number of Labeled Outerplanar <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Cyclic Graphs

A k-cyclic graph is a graph with cyclomatic number k. An explicit formula for the number of labeled connected outerplanar k-cyclic graphs with a given number of vertices is obtained. In addition, such graphs with fixed cyclomatic number k and a large number of vertices are asymptotically enumerated. As a consequence, it is found that, for fixed k, almost all labeled connected outerplanar k-cyclic graphs with a large number of vertices are cacti.     

A dimension gap for continued fractions with independent digits—the non stationary case

We show there exists a constant 0 < c₀ < 1 such that the dimension of every measure on [0, 1], which makes the digits in the continued fraction expansion independent, is at most 1 ? c₀. This extends a result of Kifer, Peres and Weiss from 2001, which established this under the additional assumption of stationarity. For k ≥ 1 we prove an analogous statement for measures under which the digits form a *-mixing k-step Markov chain. This is also generalized to the case of f-expansions. In addition, we construct for each k a measure, which makes the continued fraction digits a stationary and *-mixing k-step Markov chain, with dimension at least 1 ? 2^3?k.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Trails: recognition,complexity, and approximations

The notion of degree-constrained spanning hierarchies, also called k-trails, was recently introduced in the context of network routing problems. They describe graphs that are homomorphic images of connected graphs of degree at most k. First results highlight several interesting advantages of k-trails compared to previous routing approaches. However, so far, only little is known regarding computational aspects of k-trails. In this work we aim to fill this gap by presenting how k-trails can be analyzed using techniques from algorithmic matroid theory. Exploiting this connection, we resolve several open questions about k-trails. In particular, we show that one can recognize efficiently whether a graph is a k-trail, and every graph containing a k-trail is a \((k+1)\)-trail. Moreover, further leveraging the connection to matroids, we consider the problem of finding a minimum weight k-trail contained in a graph G. We show that one can efficiently find a \((2k-1)\)-trail contained in G whose weight is no more than the cheapest k-trail contained in G, even when allowing negative weights. The above results settle several open questions raised by Molnár, Newman, and Seb?.     

Largest <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-eigenvalue of uniform <Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis>-hypertrees

The k-uniform s-hypertree G = (V,E) is an s-hypergraph, where 1 ≤ s ≤ k - 1; and there exists a host tree T with vertex set V such that each edge of G induces a connected subtree of T. In this paper, some properties of uniform s-hypertrees are establised, as well as the upper and lower bounds on the largest H-eigenvalue of the adjacency tensor of k-uniform s-hypertrees in terms of the maximal degree Δ. Moreover, we also show that the gap between the maximum and the minimum values of the largest H-eigenvalue of k-uniform s-hypertrees is just Θ(Δ ^s/k ).     

Radar placement along banks of river

In this paper, we consider the Radar Placement and Power Assignment problem (RPPA) along a river. In this problem, a set of crucial points in the river are required to be monitored by a set of radars which are placed along the two banks. The goal is to choose the locations for the radars and assign powers to them such that all the crucial points are monitored and the total power is minimized. If each crucial point is required to be monitored by at least k radars, the problem is a k-Coverage RPPA problem (k-CRPPA). Under the assumption that the river is sufficiently smooth, one may focus on the RPPA problem along a strip (RPPAS). In this paper, we present an O(n ⁹) dynamic programming algorithm for the RPPAS, where n is the number of crucial points to be monitored. In the special case where radars are placed only along the upper bank, we present an O(kn ⁵) dynamic programming algorithm for the k-CRPPAS. For the special case that the power is linearly dependent on the radius, we present an O(n log n)-time \({2\sqrt 2}\)-approximation algorithm for the RPPAS.     

On the phase transitions of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>)-SAT

Call a sequence of k Boolean variables or their negations a k-tuple. For a set V of n Boolean variables, let T _k (V) denote the set of all 2 ^k n ^k possible k-tuples on V. Randomly generate a set C of k-tuples by including every k-tuple in T _k (V) independently with probability p, and let Q be a given set of q “bad” tuple assignments. An instance I = (C,Q) is called satisfiable if there exists an assignment that does not set any of the k-tuples in C to a bad tuple assignment in Q. Suppose that θ, q > 0 are fixed and ε = ε(n) > 0 be such that εlnn/lnlnn→∞. Let k ≥ (1 + θ) log₂ n and let \({p_0} = \frac{{\ln 2}}{{q{n^{k - 1}}}}\). We prove that

$$\mathop {\lim }\limits_{n \to \infty } P\left[ {I is satisfiable} \right] = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {1,} & {p \leqslant (1 - \varepsilon )p_0 ,} \\ {0,} & {p \geqslant (1 + \varepsilon )p_0 .} \\ \end{array} } \right.$$

     

Possible isolation number of a matrix over nonnegative integers

Let ?₊ be the semiring of all nonnegative integers and A an m × n matrix over ?₊. The rank of A is the smallest k such that A can be factored as an m × k matrix times a k×n matrix. The isolation number of A is the maximum number of nonzero entries in A such that no two are in any row or any column, and no two are in a 2 × 2 submatrix of all nonzero entries. We have that the isolation number of A is a lower bound of the rank of A. For A with isolation number k, we investigate the possible values of the rank of A and the Boolean rank of the support of A. So we obtain that the isolation number and the Boolean rank of the support of a given matrix are the same if and only if the isolation number is 1 or 2 only. We also determine a special type of m×n matrices whose isolation number is m. That is, those matrices are permutationally equivalent to a matrix A whose support contains a submatrix of a sum of the identity matrix and a tournament matrix.     

Monochromatic Sinks in <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Arc Colored Tournaments

Let T be a tournament on n vertices whose arcs are colored with k colors. A 3-cycle whose arcs are colored with three distinct colors is called a rainbow triangle. A rainbow triangle dominated by any nonempty set of vertices is called a dominated rainbow triangle. We prove that when \(n\ge 5\), if T does not contain a dominated rainbow triangle and all 4- and 5-cycles of T are near-monochromatic, then T has a monochromatic sink. We also prove that when \(n\ge 4\), if T does not contain a dominated rainbow triangle and all 4-cycles are monochromatic, then T has a monochromatic sink. A semi-cycle is a digraph C that either is a cycle or contains an arc xy such that \(C-xy+yx\) is a cycle. We prove that if \(n\ge 4\) and all 4-semi-cycles of T are near-monochromatic, then T has a monochromatic sink. We also show if \(n\ge 5\) and all 5-semi-cycles of T are near-monochromatic, then T has a monochromatic sink.