Let G be a finite permutation group acting on a finite set Ω. Then we denote by σk(G,Ω) the number of G-orbits on the set Ωk, consisting of all k-subsets of Ω. In this thesis we develop methods for calculating the values for σk(G,Ω) and produce formulae for the cases that G is a doubly-transitive simple rank one Lie type group. That is G ∼ = PSL(2,q),Sz(q),PSU(3,q) or R(q). We also give reduced functions for the calculation of the number of orbits of these groups when k = 3 and go on to consider the numbers of orbits, when G is a finite abelian group in its regular representation. We then consider orbit lengths and examine groups with “large” G-orbits on subsetsof size 3.

Estudamos o comportamento da familia aresta-triangulo de grafos aleatorios exponenciais (ERG) usando metodos de Monte Carlo baseados em Cadeias de Markov. Comparamos contagens de subgrafos e correlacoes entre arestas de ergs as de Grafos Aleatorios Binomiais (BRG, tambem chamados de Erdos-Renyi). E um resultado teorico conhecido que para algumas parametrizacoes os limites das contagens de subgrafos de ERGs convergem para os de BRGs, assintoticamente no numero de vertices [BBS11, CD11]. Observamos esse fenomeno em grafos com poucos (20) vertices em nossas simulacoes. / We study the behavior of the edge-triangle family of exponential random graphs (ERG) using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. We compare ERG subgraph counts and edge correlations to those of the classic Binomial Random Graph (BRG, also called Erdos-Renyi model). It is a known theoretical result that for some parameterizations the limit ERG subgraph counts converge to those of BRGs, as the number of vertices grows [BBS11, CD11]. We observe this phenomenon on graphs with few (20) vertices in our simulations.

Nesta tese estudamos dois problemas em digrafos: um problema de empacotamento e um problema de contagem. Estudamos o problema de empacotamento máximo de arborescências no digrafo aleatório D(n,p), onde cada possvel arco é inserido aleatoriamente ao acaso com probabilidade p = p(n). Denote por (D(n,p)) o maior inteiro possvel 0 tal que, para todo 0 l , temos ^(l-1)_i=0 (l-i)|{v in d^in(v) = i}| Provamos que a quantidade máxima de arborescências em D(n,p) é (D(n,p)) assintoticamente quase certamente. Nós também mostramos estimativas justas para (D(n, p)) para todo p [0, 1]. As principais ferramentas que utilizamos são relacionadas a propriedades de expansão do D(n, p), o comportamento do grau de entrada do digrafo aleatório e um resultado clássico de Frank que serve como ligação entre subpartições em digrafos e a quantidade de arborescências. Para o problema de contagem, estudamos a densidade de subtorneios fortemente conexos com 5 vértices em torneios grandes. Determinamos a densidade assintótica máxima para 5 torneios bem como as famlias assintóticas extremais de cada torneios. Como subproduto deste trabalho caracterizamos torneios que são blow-ups recursivos de um circuito orientado com 3 vértices como torneios que probem torneios especficos de tamanho 5. Como principal ferramenta para esse problema utilizados a teoria de álgebra de flags e configurações combinatórias obtidas através do método semidefinido. / In this thesis we study two problems dealing with digraphs: a packing problem and a counting problem. We study the problem of packing the maximum number of arborescences in the random digraph D(n,p), where each possible arc is included uniformly at random with probability p = p(n). Let (D(n,p)) denote the largest integer 0 such that, for all 0 l , we have ^(l-1)_i=0 (l-i)|{v in d^in(v) = i}|. We show that the maximum number of arc-disjoint arborescences in D(n, p) is (D(n, p)) asymptotically almost surely. We also give tight estimates for (D(n, p)) for every p [0, 1]. The main tools that we used were expansion properties of random digraphs, the behavior of in-degree of random digraphs and a classic result by Frank relating subpartitions and number of arborescences. For the counting problem, we study the density of fixed strongly connected subtournaments on 5 vertices in large tournaments. We determine the maximum density asymptotically for five tournaments as well as unique extremal sequences for each tournament. As a byproduct of this study we also characterize tournaments that are recursive blow-ups of a 3-cycle as tournaments that avoid three specific tournaments of size 5. We use the theory of flag algebras as a main tool for this problem and combinatorial settings obtained from semidefinite method.

La présente étude s’intéresse à la terminologie médicale wolof, envisagée dans le cadre de la sémantique lexicale. Nous y abordons des unités terminologiques de type collocation. Ce choix a un lien direct avec notre cadre théorique d’analyse, la Théorie Sens-Texte (TST), qui, à l’heure actuelle, propose l’un des meilleurs outils de description de la collocation avec les Fonctions Lexicales (FL). Les collocations constituent des indices de spécialisation en plus d’avoir un comportement lexicosyntaxique singulier. Nous les analysons, sur la base d’un corpus scientifique compilé, afin d’avoir une perception holistique de la cooccurrence lexicale. Les langues, en Afrique, sont souvent peu dotées du point de vue terminologique. Il s’agit dans cette recherche de s’appuyer sur le modèle d’analyse du lexique qui prend en compte trois paramètres clés : le sens, la forme et la combinatoire, afin de faire une description du lexique wolof qui, à terme, permet d’établir des principes de terminologisation. La portée traductive du travail réside dans l’approche interlinguistique que nous adoptons pour élaborer notre liste de termes. Le versant opératoire de l’étude est la constitution d’un début de corpus médical trilingue (anglais-français-wolof). Le caractère multilingue n’est pas une fin en soi, mais au vu de la richesse terminologique de l’anglais et du français, il nous a paru opportun de partir des travaux en ces langues. La perspective traductive de la terminologie a permis de relever différents procédés de création et de restitutions de termes médicaux (anglais et français) en wolof. Elle n’a par ailleurs pas manqué de poser en filigrane une problématique d’ordre socioterminologique pour laquelle nous donnons des éléments de réponses. / This study focuses on Wolof medical terminology under the lexical semantics context. We talk about terminology units, particularly collocations. This choice has a direct link with our theoretical framework of analysis, the Meaning-Text Theory (MTT), which currently offers one of the best tools for describing collocation through Lexical Functions. Collocations constitute indices of specialization and have a singular lexico-syntactic functioning. We analyze them, on the basis of compiled scientific corpus, in order to have a holistic perception of lexical co-occurrence. Languages in Africa are often poorly endowed from a terminology view. This research is based on the lexical analysis model which takes into account three key parameters : meaning, form and combinatorics, to make a description of the Wolof lexicon which, in the long run, gives principles of terminology. The translational scope of the work lies in the interlinguistic approach we adopt to develop our list of terms. The operative side of the study is the constitution of a beginning of trilingual medical corpus (English-French-Wolof). The multilingual character is not an end in itself, but considering the richness of English and French terminology studies, it seemed appropriate to start work in these languages. The translation perspective of the terminology has revealed different processes to create and restitute medical terms (English and French) into Wolof. Moreover, it focuses on a socioterminological problem for which we give some answers.

Symmetric functions arise in many areas of mathematics including combinatorics, topology and algebraic geometry. Using ideals of symmetric functions, we tie these three branches together. This thesis generalizes work of Garsia and Procesi in 1992 that gave a quotient ring presentation for the cohomology ring of Springer varieties. Let R be the polynomial ring Ζ[x1,…,xn]. We present two different ideals in R. Both are parametrized by a Hessenberg function h, namely a nondecreasing function that satisfies h(i) ≥ i for all i. The first ideal, which we call Ih, is generated by modified elementary symmetric functions. The ideal I_h generalizes the work of Tanisaki who gave a combinatorial description of the ideal used in Garsia and Procesi's quotient ring. Like the Tanisaki ideal, the generating set for Ih is redundant. We give a minimal generating set for this ideal. The second ideal, which we call Jh, is generated by modified complete symmetric functions. The generators of this ideal form a Gröbner basis, which is a useful property. Using the Gröbner basis for Jh, we identify a basis for the quotient R/Jh. We introduce a partial ordering on the Hessenberg functions, and in turn we discover nice nesting properties in both families of ideals. When h>h', we have Ih ⊂ Ih' and Jh ⊂ Jh'. We prove that Ih equals Jh when h is maximal. Since Ih is the ideal generated by the elementary symmetric functions when h is maximal, the generating set for Jh forms a Gröbner basis for the elementary symmetric functions. Moreover, the quotient R/Jh gives another description of the cohomology ring of the full flag variety. The generators of the ring R/Jh are in bijective correspondence with the Betti numbers of certain Hessenberg varieties. These varieties are a two-parameter generalization of Springer varieties, parametrized by a nilpotent operator X and a Hessenberg function h. These varieties were introduced in 1992 by De Mari, Procesi and Shayman. We provide evidence that as h varies, the quotient R/Jh may be a presentation for the cohomology ring of a subclass of Hessenberg varieties called regular nilpotent varieties.

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions des problèmes différents de coloration maximale dans les graphes sommet-colorés. Nous nous concentrons sur la recherche des structures avec le nombre maximal possible de couleurs par des algorithmes en temps polynomial, nous donnons aussi la preuve des problèmes NP-difficiles pour des graphes spécifiques. En particulier, nous étudions d’abord le problème de l’appariement coloré maximum. Nous montrons que ce problème peut être résolu efficacement en temps polynomial. En plus, nous considérons également une version spécifique de ce problème, à savoir l’appariement tropical, qui consiste à trouver un appariement contenant toutes les couleurs du graphe original. De même, un algorithme de temps polynomial est également fourni pour le problème de l’appariement tropical avec la cardinalité minimale et le problème de l’appariement tropical maximum avec la cardinalité minimale. Ensuite, nous étudions le problème des chemins colorés maximum. Il existe deux versions pour ce problème: le problème de plus court chemin tropical, c’est-à-dire de trouver un chemin tropical avec le poids total minimum et le problème de plus longue chemin coloré, à savoir, trouver un chemin avec un nombre maximum possible de couleurs. Nous montrons que les deux versions de ce problème sont NP-difficile pour un graphe orienté acyclique, graphes de cactus et graphes d'intervalles où le problème de plus long chemin est facile. De plus, nous fournissons également un algorithme de paramètre fixe pour le premier dans les graphes généraux et plusieurs algorithmes de temps polynomiaux pour le second dans les graphes spécifiques, y compris les graphes des chaîne bipartites, graphes de seuil, arborescences, graphes des blocs et graphes d'intervalles appropriés. Ensuite, nous considérons le problème des cycles colorés maximum. Nous montrons d'abord que le problème est NP-difficile même pour des graphes simples tels que des graphes divisés, des graphes bi-connecteurs et des graphes d'intervalles. Nous fournissons ensuite des algorithmes de temps polynomial pour les classes de graphes de seuil et graphes des chaîne bipartites et graphes d'intervalles appropriés. Plus tard, nous étudions le problème des cliques colorées maximum. Nous montrons tout d’abord que le problème est NP-difficile même pour plusieurs cas où le problème de clique maximum est facile, comme des graphes complémentaires des graphes de permutation bipartite, des graphes complémentaires de graphes convexes bipartites et des graphes de disques unitaires, et aussi pour des graphes sommet-colorées appropriés. Ensuite, nous proposons un algorithme paramétré XP et des algorithmes de temps polynomial pour les classes de graphes complémentaires de graphes en chaîne bipartites, des graphes multipartites complets et des graphes complémentaires de graphes cycles. Enfin, nous nous concentrons sur le problème des stables (ensembles indépendants) colorés maximum. Nous montrons d’abord que le problème est NP-difficile même dans certains cas où le problème de stable maximum est facile, tels que les co-graphes et les graphes des P₅-gratuit. Ensuite, nous fournissons des algorithmes de temps polynomial pour les graphes de grappes, et les arbres. / In this thesis, we study different maximum colorful problems in vertex-colored graphs. We focus on finding structures with the possible maximum number of colors by efficient polynomial-time algorithms, or prove these problems as NP-hard for specific graphs. In particular, we first study the maximum colorful matching problem. We show that this problem can be efficiently solved in polynomial time. Moreover, we also consider a specific version of this problem, namely tropical matching, that is to find a matching containing all colors of the original graph, if any. Similarly, a polynomial time algorithm is also provided for the problem of tropical matching with the minimum cardinality and the problem of maximal tropical matching with the minimum cardinality. Then, we study the maximum colorful paths problem. There are two versions for this problem: the shortest tropical path problem, i.e., finding a tropical path with the minimum total weight, and the maximum colorful path problem, i.e., finding a path with the maximum number of colors possible. We show that both versions of this problem are NP-hard for directed acyclic graphs, cactus graphs and interval graphs where the longest path problem is easy. Moreover, we also provide a fixed parameter algorithm for the former in general graphs and several polynomial time algorithms for the latter in specific graphs, including bipartite chain graphs, threshold graphs, trees, block graphs, and proper interval graphs. Next we consider the maximum colorful cycles problem. We first show that the problem is NP-hard even for simple graphs such as split graphs, biconnected graphs, interval graphs. Then we provide polynomial-time algorithms for classes of threshold graphs and bipartite chain graphs and proper interval graphs. Later, we study the maximum colorful cliques problem. We first show that the problem is NP-hard even for several cases where the maximum clique problem is easy, such as complement graphs of bipartite permutation graphs, complement graphs of bipartite convex graphs, and unit disk graphs, and also for properly vertex-colored graphs. Next, we propose a XP parameterized algorithm and polynomial-time algorithms for classes of complement graphs of bipartite chain graphs, complete multipartite graphs and complement graphs of cycle graphs. Finally, we focus on the maximum colorful independent set problem. We first prove that the problem is NP-hard even for some cases where the maximum independent set problem is easy, such as cographs and P₅-free graphs. Next, we provide polynomial time algorithms for cluster graphs and trees.

To determine the function of a protein, we must know its 3-dimensional structure, which can be difficult to ascertain. Currently, predictive models are used to determine the structure of a protein from its sequence, but these models do not always predict the correct structure. To this end we use a nested graph model along with weighted invariants to minimize the errors and improve the accuracy of a predictive model to determine if we have the correct structure for a protein.

Cette thèse traite de problèmes liés à la théorie des limitesd'objets combinatoires, une récente théorie qui a permis de tisserdes liens entre différents domaines tels que la combinatoire,l'analyse, la géométrie ou la théorie de la probabilité.Cette thèse applique des méthode venant de cette théorie à des problèmesde combinatoire extrémale.Dans un premier chapitre, je développe une théorie des limites d'objetsappelés emph{types d'ordre}, un objets qui encode des configurationsd'ensembles de points du plan. Le type d'ordre d'un ensemble de pointssuffit à caractériser de nombreuses propriétés essentielles de cet ensemblede point comme, par exemple, son enveloppe convexe.Je montre qu'une limite de type d'ordre peut être représentée par un objetanalogue à un graphon à valeurs O ou 1.Je fais ensuite le lien entre limites de type d'ordre et la distributionnaturelle de limite de type d'ordre obtenue par l’échantillonnage de pointsdu plan suivant une certaine probabilité.De cette manière, toute probabilité sur le plan engendre une limite de typed'ordre. Je montre d'une part que cette correspondance n'est pas surjective-c'est à dire qu'il existe des limites de type d'ordre ne venant pas de probabilitédu plan- et j'étudie d'autre part son injectivité.Je montre que si le support d'une mesure de probabilité est assez gros, par exemple siil contient une boule ouvert, alors la limite que cette mesure engendre suffit à caractériser cette mesure à une transformation projective près.Un second chapitre traite de test de propriété.Un testeur de propriété est un algorithme aléatoire permettant de séparerles objets ayant une certaine propriété des objet à distance au moins εde l'avoir, au sens de la distance d'édition.Ce domaine donne des algorithmes extrêmement rapides, et en particulierdes algorithmes dont la complexité ne dépends pas de la taille de l'entréemais seulement du paramètre de précision ε.Un résultat fondamental de cet domaine pour les graphes montré par Alonet Shapira est le suivant : toute classe de graphe héréditaire possède un teltesteur.Cette thèse contribue à la question suivante :Quelles classes de graphes possède un testeur dont la complexité est unpolynôme en 1/ε ?Je montre qu'en particulier la classe des graphes d'intervales possède un teltesteur.La théorie des algèbres de drapeaux est un outil étroitement lié aux limites degraphes denses qui donne une méthode pour démontrer des bornes sur certainsparamètres combinatoires à l'aide d'un ordinateur.Dans un troisième chapitre, je présente un programme écrit durant ma thèsequi implémente cette méthode.Ce programme fonctionne comme une bibliothèque pour calculer dans les algèbresde drapeaux, manipuler des inégalités sur les drapeaux ou encoder des problèmesd'optimisations par une instance de programme semi-défini positif qui peutensuite être résolu par un solveur externe.Ce programme est en particulier utilisé pour obtenir un nouvelle borne pour le cas triangulaire de la conjecture de Caccetta-Häggkvist. / This thesis is focused on problems related to the theory of combinatorial limits.This theory opened links between different fields such asanalysis, combinatorics, geometry and probability theory.In this thesis, we apply ideas coming from this framework toproblems in extremal combinatorics.In a first chapter we develop a theory of limits for emph{order types},a geometrical object that encodes configuration of a set of points in theplane by the mean of the orientations of their triangles.The order type of a point set suffices to determine many of its properties,such as for instance the boundary of its convex hull.We show that the limit of a converging sequence of order typescan be represented by random-free object analogous to a graphon.Further, we link this notion to the natural distributions of order typesarising from the sampling of random points from some probability measureof the plane.We observe that in this mean, every probability measure gives rise to a limitof order types.We show that this map from probability measure on the plane to limit oforder type is not surjective.Concerning its injectivity,we prove that if a measure has large enough support, for instance if its supportcontains an open ball, the limit of order types the measure generatessuffices to essentially determine this measure.A second chapter is focused on property testing.A tester is a randomized algorithm for distinguishing between objects satisfyinga property from those that are at some distance at least εfrom having itby means of the edition distance.This gives very efficient algorithms, and in particular algorithms whosecomplexity does not depend on the size of the input but only on the parameter ε.For graphs, it has been shown by Alon and Shapira that every hereditary propertyhas such a tester.We contribute to the following question :which classes of graphs have a one-sided property tester with a number of queries that is a polynomial in 1/ε ?We give a proof that the class of interval graphs has such a tester.The theory of flag algebras is a framework introduced by Razborovclosely related to dense limit of graphs, that gives a way to systematicallyderive bounds for parameters in extremal combinatorics.In a third chapter we present a program developed during my Phd.that implements this method.This program works as a library that can compute flag algebras,manipulate inequalities on densities and encode the optimization of some parameterin a semi-definite positive instance that can be given to a dedicated solverto obtain a bound on this parameter.This program is in particular used to obtain a new bound forthe triangle case of the Caccetta-Häggkvist conjecture.

We present a novel theorem of Borel Combinatorics that sheds light on the types of continuous functions that can be defined on the Cantor space. We specifically consider the part X=F(2ᴳ) from the Cantor space, where the group G is the additive group of integer pairs ℤ². That is, X is the set of aperiodic {0,1} labelings of the two-dimensional infinite lattice graph. We give X the Bernoulli shift action, and this action induces a graph on X in which each connected component is again a two-dimensional lattice graph. It is folklore that no continuous (indeed, Borel) function provides a two-coloring of the graph on X, despite the fact that any finite subgraph of X is bipartite. Our main result offers a much more complete analysis of continuous functions on this space. We construct a countable collection of finite graphs, each consisting of twelve "tiles", such that for any property P (such as "two-coloring") that is locally recognizable in the proper sense, a continuous function with property P exists on X if and only if a function with a corresponding property P' exists on one of the graphs in the collection. We present the theorem, and give several applications.

Spreading models have become fundamental to the study of asymptotic geometry in Banach spaces. The existence of spreading models in every Banach space, and the so-called good sequences which generate them, was one of the first applications of Ramsey theory in Banach space theory. We use Ramsey theory and other techniques from infinitary combinatorics to examine some old and new questions concerning spreading models and good sequences. First, we consider the lp spreading model problem which asks whether a Banach space contains lp provided that every spreading model of a normalized block basic sequence of the basis is isometrically equivalent to lp. Next, using the Hindman-Milliken-Taylor theorem, we prove a new stabilization theorem for spreading models which produces a basic sequence all of whose normalized constant coefficient block basic sequences are good. When the resulting basic sequence is semi-normalized, all the spreading models generated by the above good sequences must be uniformly equivalent to lp or c0. Finally, we investigate the assumption that every normalized block tree on a Banach space has a good branch. This turns out to be a very strong assumption and is equivalent to the space being 1-asymptotic lp. We also show that the stronger assumption that every block basic sequence is good is equivalent to the space being stabilized 1-asymptotic lp.