Drawing c-planar biconnected clustered graphs

In a graph, a cluster is a set of vertices, and two clusters are said to be non-intersecting if they are disjoint or one of them is contained in the other. A clustered graph C consists of a graph G and a set of non-intersecting clusters. In this paper, we assume that C has a compound planar drawing and each cluster induces a biconnected subgraph. Then we show that such a clustered graph admits a drawing in the plane such that (i) edges are drawn as straight-line segments with no edge crossing and (ii) the boundary of the biconnected subgraph induced by each cluster is a convex polygon.     

Partitioning series-parallel multigraphs into ν *-excluding edge covers

We prove that, for any given vertex ν* in a series-parallel graph G, its edge set can be partitioned into κ = min{κ′(G) + 1, δ(G)} subsets such that each subset covers all the vertices of G possibly except for ν*, where δ(G) is the minimum degree of G and κ′(G) is the edge-connectivity of G. In addition, we show that the results in this paper are best possible and a polynomial time algorithm can be obtained for actually finding such a partition by our proof.     

Sizes of Critical Graphs with Small Maximum Degrees

In this paper, we give new lower bounds for the size of Δ-critical graphs with Δ=8,9 which improve the partial results of Luo [6] and Y. Zhao [12].     

Enumeration of perfect matchings of a type of Cartesian products of graphs

Let G be a graph and let Pm(G) denote the number of perfect matchings of G.We denote the path with m vertices by P_m and the Cartesian product of graphs G and H by G×H. In this paper, as the continuance of our paper [W. Yan, F. Zhang, Enumeration of perfect matchings of graphs with reflective symmetry by Pfaffians, Adv. Appl. Math. 32 (2004) 175-188], we enumerate perfect matchings in a type of Cartesian products of graphs by the Pfaffian method, which was discovered by Kasteleyn. Here are some of our results:1. Let T be a tree and let C_n denote the cycle with n vertices. Then Pm(C₄×T)=∏(2+α²), where the product ranges over all eigenvalues α of T. Moreover, we prove that Pm(C₄×T) is always a square or double a square.2. Let T be a tree. Then Pm(P₄×T)=∏(1+3α²+α⁴), where the product ranges over all non-negative eigenvalues α of T.3. Let T be a tree with a perfect matching. Then Pm(P₃×T)=∏(2+α²), where the product ranges over all positive eigenvalues α of T. Moreover, we prove that Pm(C₄×T)=[Pm(P₃×T)]².     

Necessary conditions for multistationarity in discrete dynamical systems

R. Thomas conjectured, 20 years ago, that the presence of a positive circuit in the interaction graph of a dynamical system is a necessary condition for the presence of several stable states. Recently, E. Remy et al. stated and proved the conjecture for Boolean dynamical systems. Using a similar approach, we generalize the result to discrete dynamical systems, and by focusing on the asynchronous dynamics that R. Thomas used in the course of his analysis of genetic networks, we obtain a more general variant of R. Thomas’ conjecture. In this way, we get a necessary condition for genetic networks to lead to differentiation.     

Sets of permutations that generate the symmetric group pairwise

The paper contains proofs of the following results. For all sufficiently large odd integers n, there exists a set of ²n−1 permutations that pairwise generate the symmetric group Sn. There is no set of ²n−1+1 permutations having this property. For all sufficiently large integers n with n≡2mod4, there exists a set of ²n−2 even permutations that pairwise generate the alternating group An. There is no set of ²n−2+1 permutations having this property.     

Algorithmic and explicit determination of the Lovász number for certain circulant graphs

We consider the problem of computing the Lovász theta function for circulant graphs C_n,J of degree four with n vertices and chord length J, 2?J?n. We present an algorithm that takes O(J) operations if J is an odd number, and O(n/J) operations if J is even. On the considered class of graphs our algorithm strongly outperforms the known algorithms for theta function computation. We also provide explicit formulas for the important special cases J=2 and J=3.     

Estimates of covering numbers of convex sets with slowly decaying orthogonal subsets

Covering numbers of precompact symmetric convex subsets of Hilbert spaces are investigated. Lower bounds are derived for sets containing orthogonal subsets with norms of their elements converging to zero sufficiently slowly. When these sets are convex hulls of sets with power-type covering numbers, the bounds are tight. The arguments exploit properties of generalized Hadamard matrices. The results are illustrated by examples from machine learning, neurocomputing, and nonlinear approximation.     

Upper and lower bounds for the energy of bipartite graphs

Using Lagrange's multiplier rule, we find upper and lower bounds of the energy of a bipartite graph G, in terms of the number of vertices, edges and the spectral moment of fourth order. Moreover, the upper bound is attained in a graph G if and only if G is the graph of a symmetric balanced incomplete block design (BIBD). Also, we determine the graphs for which the lower bound is sharp.