‘Strong’-‘weak’ precedence in scheduling: Extensions to series-parallel orders

We examine computational complexity implications for scheduling problems with job precedence relations with respect to strong precedence versus weak precedence. We propose a consistent definition of strong precedence for chains, trees, and series-parallel orders. Using modular decomposition for partially ordered sets (posets), we restate and extend past complexity results for chains and trees as summarized in Dror (1997) [5]. Moreover, for series-parallel posets we establish new computational complexity results for strong precedence constraints for single- and multi-machine problems.     

A Non-Messing-Up Phenomenon for Posets

We classify finite posets with a particular sorting property, generalizing a result for rectangular arrays. Each poset is covered by two sets of disjoint saturated chains such that, for any original labeling, after sorting the labels along both sets of chains, the labels of the chains in the first set remain sorted. We also characterize posets with more restrictive sorting properties. Received October 19, 2005     

On Operators on Polynomials Preserving Real-Rootedness and the Neggers-Stanley Conjecture

We refine a technique used in a paper by Schur on real-rooted polynomials. This amounts to an extension of a theorem of Wagner on Hadamard products of Pólya frequency sequences. We also apply our results to polynomials for which the Neggers-Stanley Conjecture is known to hold. More precisely, we settle interlacing properties for E-polynomials of series-parallel posets and column-strict labelled Ferrers posets.     

Peak quasisymmetric functions and Eulerian enumeration

Via duality of Hopf algebras, there is a direct association between peak quasisymmetric functions and enumeration of chains in Eulerian posets. We study this association explicitly, showing that the notion of cd-index, long studied in the context of convex polytopes and Eulerian posets, arises as the dual basis to a natural basis of peak quasisymmetric functions introduced by Stembridge. Thus Eulerian posets having a nonnegative cd-index (for example, face lattices of convex polytopes) correspond to peak quasisymmetric functions having a nonnegative representation in terms of this basis. We diagonalize the operator that associates the basis of descent sets for all quasisymmetric functions to that of peak sets for the algebra of peak functions, and study the g-polynomial for Eulerian posets as an algebra homomorphism.     

A note on essentially convex orders

In this note, we determine precisely which partially ordered sets (posets) have the property that, whenever they occur as subposets of a larger poset, they occur there convexly, i.e., as convex subposets. As a corollary, we also determine which lattices have the property that, if they occur as sublattices of a finite distributive lattice L, then they also occur as closed intervals in L. Throughout, all sets will be finite.Dedicated to the memory of Ivan RivalReceived May 5, 2003; accepted in final form October 3, 2004.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Z-Continuous Posets and Their Topological Manifestation

A subset selection Z assigns to each partially ordered set P a certain collection Z P of subsets. The theory of topological and of algebraic (i.e. finitary) closure spaces extends to the general Z-level, by replacing finite or directed sets, respectively, with arbitrary Z-sets. This leads to a theory of Z-union completeness, Z-arity, Z-soberness etc. Order-theoretical notions such as complete distributivity and continuity of lattices or posets extend to the general Z-setting as well. For example, we characterize Z-distributive posets and Z-continuous posets by certain homomorphism properties and adjunctions. It turns out that for arbitrary subset selections Z, a poset P is strongly Z-continuous iff its Z-join ideal completion Z P is Z-ary and completely distributive. Using that characterization, we show that the category of strongly Z-continuous posets (with interpolation) is concretely isomorphic to the category of Z-ary Z-complete core spaces. For suitable subset selections Y and Z, these are precisely the Y-sober core spaces.     

Graphes et ordonnés démontables, propriété de la clique fixe

This work extends to dismantable graphs many properties of dismantable posets dealing with products, exponentiation, existence of paths in a graph of all homomorphisms, fixed clique property, etc. We show that a poset is dismantlable in the sense of Rival if and only if its comparability graph is dismantlable, thus proving that, for posets, dismantlability is a comparability invariant. We establish the analogues for graphs of results of Duffus, Poguntke and Rival about fixed point sets and cores in posets.     

Directed complete poset congruences

The study of algebraic properties of ordered structures has shown that their behavior in many cases is different from algebraic structures. For example, the analogues of the fundamental mapping theorem for sets which characterizes surjective maps as quotient sets modulo their kernel relations, is not true for order-preserving maps between posets (partially ordered sets). The main objective of this paper is to study the quotients of dcpos (directed complete partially ordered sets), and their relations with surjective dcpo maps (directed join preserving maps). The motivation of studying such infinitary ordered structures is their importance in domain theory, a theory on the borderline of mathematics and theoretical computer science.In this paper, introducing the notion of a pre-congruence on dcpos (directed complete partially ordered sets), we give a characterization of dcpo congruences. Also, it is proved that unlike natural dcpo congruences, the dcpo congruences are precisely kernels of surjective dcpo maps. Also, while it is known that the image of a dcpo map is not necessarily a subdcpo of its codomain, we find equivalent conditions on a dcpo map to satisfy this property. Moreover, we prove the Decomposition Theorem and its consequences for dcpo maps.     

On some new types of greedy chains and greedy linear extensions of partially ordered sets

Two new types of greedy chains, strongly and semi-strongly greedy, in posets are defined and their role in solving the jump number problem is discussed in this paper. If a poset P contains a strongly greedy chain C then C may be taken as the first chain in an optimal linear extension of P. If a poset P has no strongly greedy chains then it contains an optimal linear extension which starts with a semi-strongly greedy chain. Hence, every poset has an optimal linear extension which consists of strongly and semi-strongly greedy chains. Algorithmic issues of finding such linear extensions are discussed elsewhere (Syslo, 1987, 1988), where we provide a very efficient method for solving the jump number problem which is polynomial in the class of posets whose arc representations contain a bounded number of dummy arcs. In another work, the author has recently demonstrated that this method restricted to interval orders gives rise to 3/2-approximation algorithm for such posets.     

The rank-generating functions of upho posets

Upper homogeneous finite type (upho) posets are a large class of partially ordered sets with the property that the principal order filter at every vertex is isomorphic to the whole poset. Well-known examples include k-ary trees, the grid graphs, and the Stern poset. Very little is known about upho posets in general. In this paper, we construct upho posets with Schur-positive Ehrenborg quasisymmetric functions, whose rank-generating functions have rational poles and zeros. We also categorize the rank-generating functions of all planar upho posets. Finally, we prove the existence of an upho poset with an uncomputable rank-generating function.     

Discrete time Markov chains with interval probabilities

The parameters of Markov chain models are often not known precisely. Instead of ignoring this problem, a better way to cope with it is to incorporate the imprecision into the models. This has become possible with the development of models of imprecise probabilities, such as the interval probability model. In this paper we discuss some modelling approaches which range from simple probability intervals to the general interval probability models and further to the models allowing completely general convex sets of probabilities. The basic idea is that precisely known initial distributions and transition matrices are replaced by imprecise ones, which effectively means that sets of possible candidates are considered. Consequently, sets of possible results are obtained and represented using similar imprecise probability models.We first set up the model and then show how to perform calculations of the distributions corresponding to the consecutive steps of a Markov chain. We present several approaches to such calculations and compare them with respect to the accuracy of the results. Next we consider a generalisation of the concept of regularity and study the convergence of regular imprecise Markov chains. We also give some numerical examples to compare different approaches to calculations of the sets of probabilities.     

A Spectral-style Duality for Distributive Posets

In this paper, we present a topological duality for a category of partially ordered sets that satisfy a distributivity condition studied by David and Erné. We call these posets mo-distributive. Our duality extends a duality given by David and Erné because our category of spaces has the same objects as theirs but the class of morphisms that we consider strictly includes their morphisms. As a consequence of our duality, the duality of David and Erné easily follows. Using the dual spaces of the mo-distributive posets we prove the existence of a particular Δ₁-completion for mo-distributive posets that might be different from the canonical extension. This allows us to show that the canonical extension of a distributive meet-semilattice is a completely distributive algebraic lattice.     

Stable representations of posets

The purpose of this paper is to study stable representations of partially ordered sets (posets) and compare it to the well known theory for quivers. In particular, we prove that every indecomposable representation of a poset of finite type is stable with respect to some weight and construct that weight explicitly in terms of the dimension vector. We show that if a poset is primitive then Coxeter transformations preserve stable representations. When the base field is the field of complex numbers we establish the connection between the polystable representations and the unitary χ-representations of posets. This connection explains the similarity of the results obtained in the series of papers.     

Modular posets and semigroups

Posets and poset homomorphisms (preserving both order and parallelism) have been shown to form a category which is equivalent to the category of pogroupoids and their homomorphisms. Among the posets those posets whose associated pogroupoids are semigroups are identified as being precisely those posets which are (C ₂+1)-free. In the case of lattices this condition means that the lattice is alsoN ₅-free and hence modular. Using the standard connection: semigroup to poset to pogroupoid, it is observed that in many cases the image pogroupoid obtained is a semigroup even if quite different from the original one. The nature of this mapping appears intriguing in the poset setting and may well be so seen from the semigroup theory viewpoint.     

Quasicontinuity of Posets via Scott Topology and Sobrification

In this paper, posets which may not be dcpos are considered. In terms of the Scott topology on posets, the new concept of quasicontinuous posets is introduced. Some properties and characterizations of quasicontinuous posets are examined. The main results are: (1) a poset is quasicontinuous iff the lattice of all Scott open sets is a hypercontinuous lattice; (2) the directed completions of quasicontinuous posets are quasicontinuous domains; (3) A poset is continuous iff it is quasicontinuous and meet continuous, generalizing the relevant result for dcpos. Supported by the NSF of China (10371106, 10410638) and by the Fund (S0667-082) from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.     

Width and f-vectors of Cutsets in the Truncated Boolean Lattice

In this paper we will survey a collection of recent results about chains and cutsets in the Boolean lattice and some other posets. In particular, we consider the possibilities for the width (i.e., the size of the largest anti-chain) and the f-vectors (i.e., the number of subsets of various sizes) of cutsets. Given k chains in the Boolean lattice, we will also consider the possible number of pair-wise disjoint maximal chains that do not intersect the given k chains.     

Algebraic properties of classes of path ideals of posets

We consider path ideals associated to special classes of posets such as tree posets and cycles. We express their property of being sequentially Cohen–Macaulay in terms of the underlying poset. Moreover, monomial ideals, which arise in algebraic statistics from the Luce-decomposable model and the ascending model, can be viewed as path ideals of certain posets. We study invariants of these so-called Luce-decomposable monomial ideals and ascending ideals for diamond posets and products of chains. In particular, for these classes of posets, we explicitly compute their Krull dimension, their projective dimension, their Castelnuovo–Mumford regularity and their Betti numbers.     

On forbidden configurations for strong posets

The concept of strong elements in posets is introduced. Several properties of strong elements in different types of posets are studied. Strong posets are characterized in terms of forbidden structures. It is shown that many of the classical results of lattice theory can be extended to posets. In particular, we give several characterizations of strongness for upper semimodular (USM) posets of finite length. We characterize modular pairs in USM posets of finite length and we investigate the interrelationships between consistence, strongness, and the property of being balanced in USM posets of finite length. In contrast to the situation in upper semimodular lattices, we show that these three concepts do not coincide in USM posets.     

A self paired Hopf algebra on double posets and a Littlewood-Richardson rule

Let D be the set of isomorphism types of finite double partially ordered sets, that is sets endowed with two partial orders. On ZD we define a product and a coproduct, together with an internal product, that is, degree-preserving. With these operations ZD is a Hopf algebra. We define a symmetric bilinear form on this Hopf algebra: it counts the number of pictures (in the sense of Zelevinsky) between two double posets. This form is a Hopf pairing, which means that product and coproduct are adjoint each to another. The product and coproduct correspond respectively to disjoint union of posets and to a natural decomposition of a poset into order ideals. Restricting to special double posets (meaning that the second order is total), we obtain a notion equivalent to Stanley's labelled posets, and a Hopf subalgebra already considered by Blessenohl and Schocker. The mapping which maps each double poset onto the sum of the linear extensions of its first order, identified via its second (total) order with permutations, is a Hopf algebra homomorphism, which is isometric and preserves the internal product, onto the Hopf algebra of permutations, previously considered by the two authors. Finally, the scalar product between any special double poset and double posets naturally associated to integer partitions is described by an extension of the Littlewood-Richardson rule.