Resolvable group divisible designs with block size four and index three

In this paper, we investigate the existence of resolvable group divisible designs (RGDDs) with block size four, group-type hⁿ and index three. The necessary conditions for the existence of such a design are n?4 and hn≡0. These necessary conditions are shown to be sufficient except for (h,n)∈{(2,4),(2,6)} and possibly excepting (h,n)=(2,54).     

Constructions of optimal quaternary constant weight codes via group divisible designs

Generalized Steiner systems were first introduced by Etzion and used to construct optimal constant weight codes over an alphabet of size g+1 with minimum Hamming distance 2k−3, in which each codeword has length v and weight k. As to the existence of a , a lot of work has been done for k=3, while not so much is known for k=4. The notion k-^∗GDD was first introduced by Chen et al. and used to construct . The necessary condition for the existence of a is v≥14. In this paper, it is proved that there exists a for any prime power and v≥19. By using this result, the known results on the existence of optimal quaternary constant weight codes are then extended.     

Super-simple, pan-orientable and pan-decomposable GDDs with block size 4

In this paper we study (4,2μ)-GDDs of type gⁿ possessing both the pan-decomposable property introduced by Granville, Moisiadis, Rees, On complementary decompositions of the complete graph, Graphs and Combinatorics 5 (1989) 57-61 and the pan-orientable property introduced by Grüttmüller, Hartmann, Pan-orientable block designs, Australas. J. Combin. 40 (2008) 57-68. We show that the necessary condition for a (4,2μ)-GDD satisfying both of these properties, namely (1) n≥4, μg(n−1)≡0 (mod 3), and (2) g−1,n are not both even if μ is odd are sufficient. When λ=2, our designs are super-simple.We also determine the spectrum of (4,2)-GDDs which are super-simple and possess some of the decomposable/orientable conditions, but are not pan-decomposable or pan-orientable. In particular, we show that the necessary conditions for a super-simple directable (4,2)-GDD of type gⁿ are sufficient.     

Incomplete group divisible designs with block size four and general index

In this paper, we investigate the existence of incomplete group divisible designs (IGDDs) with block size four, group-type (g, h) u and general index λ. The necessary conditions for the existence of such a design are that u ≥ 4, g ≥ 3h, λg(u 1) ≡ 0 (mod 3), λ(g h)(u 1) ≡ 0 (mod 3), and λu(u 1)(g 2 h 2 ) ≡ 0 (mod 12). These necessary conditions are shown to be sufficient for all λ≥ 2. The known existence result for λ = 1 is also improved.     

Graph designs for the eight-edge five-vertex graphs

The existence of graph designs for the two nonisomorphic graphs on five vertices and eight edges is determined in the case of index one, with three possible exceptions in total. It is established that for the unique graph with vertex sequence (3, 3, 3, 3, 4), a graph design of order n exists exactly when and n≠16, with the possible exception of n=48. For the unique graph with vertex sequence (2,3,3,4,4), a graph design of order n exists exactly when , with the possible exceptions of n∈{32,48}.     

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.     

Degree conditions for group connectivity

Let G be a 2-edge-connected simple graph on n≥13 vertices and A an (additive) abelian group with |A|≥4. In this paper, we prove that if for every uv∉E(G), max{d(u),d(v)}≥n/4, then either G is A-connected or G can be reduced to one of K_2,3,C₄ and C₅ by repeatedly contracting proper A-connected subgraphs, where C_k is a cycle of length k. We also show that the bound n≥13 is the best possible.     

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.     

On a generalization of the Evans Conjecture

The Evans Conjecture states that a partial Latin square of order n with at most n-1 entries can be completed. In this paper we generalize the Evans Conjecture by showing that a partial r-multi Latin square of order n with at most n-1 entries can be completed. Using this generalization, we confirm a case of a conjecture of Häggkvist.     

Counting general and self-dual interval orders

In this paper, we present a new method to derive formulas for the generating functions of interval orders, counted with respect to their size, magnitude, and number of minimal and maximal elements. Our method allows us not only to generalize previous results on refined enumeration of general interval orders, but also to enumerate self-dual interval orders with respect to analogous statistics.Using the newly derived generating function formulas, we are able to prove a bijective relationship between self-dual interval orders and upper-triangular matrices with no zero rows. Previously, a similar bijective relationship has been established between general interval orders and upper-triangular matrices with no zero rows and columns.     

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.     

Twisted first homology groups of the automorphism group of a free group

The automorphism group and outer automorphism group of a free group F_n of rank n act on the abelianized group H of F_n and the dual group H^* of H. The twisted first homology groups of and with coefficients in H and H^* are calculated.     

Scattering matrices of regular coverings of graphs

We give a decomposition formula for the determinant on the bond scattering matrix of a regular covering of G. Furthermore, we define an L-function of G, and give a determinant expression of it. As a corollary, we express the determinant on the bond scattering matrix of a regular covering of G by means of its L-functions.     

Endomorphisms of the shift dynamical system, discrete derivatives, and applications

All continuous endomorphisms f_∞ of the shift dynamical system S on the 2-adic integers Z₂ are induced by some , where n is a positive integer, B_n is the set of n-blocks over {0, 1}, and f_∞(x)=y₀y₁y₂… where for all i∈N, y_i=f(x_ix_i+1…x_i+n−1). Define D:Z₂→Z₂ to be the endomorphism of S induced by the map {(00,0),(01,1),(10,1),(11,0)} and V:Z₂→Z₂ by V(x)=−1−x. We prove that D, V°D, S, and V°S are conjugate to S and are the only continuous endomorphisms of S whose parity vector function is solenoidal. We investigate the properties of D as a dynamical system, and use D to construct a conjugacy from the 3x+1 function T:Z₂→Z₂ to a parity-neutral dynamical system. We also construct a conjugacy R from D to T. We apply these results to establish that, in order to prove the 3x+1 conjecture, it suffices to show that for any m∈Z⁺, there exists some n∈N such that R⁻¹(m) has binary representation of the form or .     

On symmetric graphs of valency five

A graph X, with a subgroup G of the automorphism group of X, is said to be (G,s)-transitive, for some s≥1, if G is transitive on s-arcs but not on (s+1)-arcs, and s-transitive if it is -transitive. Let X be a connected (G,s)-transitive graph, and G_v the stabilizer of a vertex v∈V(X) in G. If X has valency 5 and G_v is solvable, Weiss [R.M. Weiss, An application of p-factorization methods to symmetric graphs, Math. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 85 (1979) 43-48] proved that s≤3, and in this paper we prove that G_v is isomorphic to the cyclic group Z₅, the dihedral group D₁₀ or the dihedral group D₂₀ for s=1, the Frobenius group F₂₀ or F₂₀×Z₂ for s=2, or F₂₀×Z₄ for s=3. Furthermore, it is shown that for a connected 1-transitive Cayley graph of valency 5 on a non-abelian simple group G, the automorphism group of is the semidirect product , where R(G) is the right regular representation of G and .     

Scalar conservation laws with general boundary condition and continuous flux function

We introduce a notion of entropy solution for a scalar conservation law on a bounded domain with nonhomogeneous boundary condition: ut+divΦ(u)=f on Q=(0,T)×Ω, u(0,⋅)=u₀ on Ω and “u=a on some part of the boundary (0,T)×∂Ω.” Existence and uniqueness of the entropy solution is established for any Φ∈C(R;RN), u₀∈L^∞(Ω), f∈L^∞(Q), a∈L^∞((0,T)×∂Ω). In the L¹-setting, a corresponding result is proved for the more general notion of renormalised entropy solution.     

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.     

A general two-sided matching market with discrete concave utility functions

In the theory of two-sided matching markets there are two standard models: (i) the marriage model due to Gale and Shapley and (ii) the assignment model due to Shapley and Shubik. Recently, Eriksson and Karlander introduced a hybrid model, which was further generalized by Sotomayor. In this paper, we propose a common generalization of these models by utilizing the framework of discrete convex analysis introduced by Murota, and verify the existence of a pairwise-stable outcome in our general model.     

A short note on the overpartition function

In this brief note, we give a combinatorial proof of a variation of Gauss’s q-binomial theorem, and we determine arithmetic properties of the overpartition function modulo 8.