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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
31

A collection of problems in extremal combinatorics

Day, Alan Nicholas January 2018 (has links)
Extremal combinatorics is concerned with how large or small a combinatorial structure can be if we insist it satis es certain properties. In this thesis we investigate four different problems in extremal combinatorics, each with its own unique flavour. We begin by examining a graph saturation problem. We say a graph G is H-saturated if G contains no copy of H as a subgraph, but the addition of any new edge to G creates a copy of H. We look at how few edges a Kp- saturated graph can have when we place certain conditions on its minimum degree. We look at a problem in Ramsey Theory. The k-colour Ramsey number Rk(H) of a graph H is de ned as the least integer n such that every k- colouring of Kn contains a monochromatic copy of H. For an integer r > 3 let Cr denote the cycle on r vertices. By studying a problem related to colourings without short odd cycles, we prove new lower bounds for Rk(Cr) when r is odd. Bootstrap percolation is a process in graphs that can be used to model how infection spreads through a community. We say a set of vertices in a graph percolates if, when this set of vertices start off as infected, the whole graph ends up infected. We study minimal percolating sets, that is, percolating sets with no proper percolating subsets. In particular, we investigate if there is any relation between the smallest and the largest minimal percolating sets in bounded degree graph sequences. A tournament is a complete graph where every edge has been given an orientation. We look at the maximum number of directed k-cycles a tournament can have and investigate when there exist tournaments with many more k-cycles than expected in a random tournament.
32

Exponentially Dense Matroids

Nelson, Peter January 2011 (has links)
This thesis deals with questions relating to the maximum density of rank-n matroids in a minor-closed class. Consider a minor-closed class M of matroids that does not contain a given rank-2 uniform matroid. The growth rate function is defined by h_M(n) = max(|N| : N ∈ M simple, r(N) ≤ n). The Growth Rate Theorem, due to Geelen, Kabell, Kung, and Whittle, shows that the growth rate function is either linear, quadratic, or exponential in n. In the case of exponentially dense classes, we conjecture that, for sufficiently large n, h_M(n) = (q^(n+k) − 1)/(q-1) − c, where q is a prime power, and k and c are non-negative integers depending only on M. We show that this holds for several interesting classes, including the class of all matroids with no U_{2,t}-minor. We also consider more general minor-closed classes that exclude an arbitrary uniform matroid. Here the growth rate, as defined above, can be infinite. We define a more suitable notion of density, and prove a growth rate theorem for this more general notion, dividing minor-closed classes into those that are at most polynomially dense, and those that are exponentially dense.
33

Exponentially Dense Matroids

Nelson, Peter January 2011 (has links)
This thesis deals with questions relating to the maximum density of rank-n matroids in a minor-closed class. Consider a minor-closed class M of matroids that does not contain a given rank-2 uniform matroid. The growth rate function is defined by h_M(n) = max(|N| : N ∈ M simple, r(N) ≤ n). The Growth Rate Theorem, due to Geelen, Kabell, Kung, and Whittle, shows that the growth rate function is either linear, quadratic, or exponential in n. In the case of exponentially dense classes, we conjecture that, for sufficiently large n, h_M(n) = (q^(n+k) − 1)/(q-1) − c, where q is a prime power, and k and c are non-negative integers depending only on M. We show that this holds for several interesting classes, including the class of all matroids with no U_{2,t}-minor. We also consider more general minor-closed classes that exclude an arbitrary uniform matroid. Here the growth rate, as defined above, can be infinite. We define a more suitable notion of density, and prove a growth rate theorem for this more general notion, dividing minor-closed classes into those that are at most polynomially dense, and those that are exponentially dense.
34

Thresholds in probabilistic and extremal combinatorics

Falgas-Ravry, Victor January 2012 (has links)
This thesis lies in the field of probabilistic and extremal combinatorics: we study discrete structures, with a focus on thresholds, when the behaviour of a structure changes from one mode into another. From a probabilistic perspective, we consider models for a random structure depending on some parameter. The questions we study are then: When (i.e. for what values of the parameter) does the probability of a given property go from being almost 0 to being almost 1? How do the models behave as this transition occurs? From an extremal perspective, we study classes of structures depending on some parameter. We are then interested in the following questions: When (for what value of the parameter) does a particular property become unavoidable? What do the extremal structures look like? The topics covered in this thesis are random geometric graphs, dependent percolation, extremal hypergraph theory and combinatorics in the hypercube.
35

Connectivity and related properties for graph classes

Weller, Kerstin B. January 2014 (has links)
There has been much recent interest in random graphs sampled uniformly from the set of (labelled) graphs on n vertices in a suitably structured class A. An important and well-studied example of such a suitable structure is bridge-addability, introduced in 2005 by McDiarmid et al. in the course of studying random planar graphs. A class A is bridge-addable when the following holds: if we take any graph G in A and any pair u,v of vertices that are in different components in G, then the graph G′ obtained by adding the edge uv to G is also in A. It was shown that for a random graph sampled from a bridge-addable class, the probability that it is connected is always bounded away from 0, and the number of components is bounded above by a Poisson law. What happens if ’bridge-addable’ is replaced by something weaker? In this thesis, this question is explored in several different directions. After an introductory chapter and a chapter on generating function methods presenting standard techniques as well as some new technical results needed later, we look at minor-closed, labelled classes of graphs. The excluded minors are always assumed to be connected, which is equivalent to the class A being decomposable - a graph is in A if and only if every component of the graph is in A. When A is minor-closed, decomposable and bridge-addable various properties are known (McDiarmid 2010), generalizing results for planar graphs. A minor-closed class is decomposable and bridge-addable if and only if all excluded minors are 2-connected. Chapter 3 presents a series of examples where the excluded minors are not 2-connected, analysed using generating functions as well as techniques from graph theory. This is a step towards a classification of connectivity behaviour for minor-closed classes of graphs. In contrast to the bridge-addable case, different types of behaviours are observed. Chapter 4 deals with a new, more general vari- ant of bridge-addability related to edge-expander graphs. We will see that as long as we are allowed to introduce ’sufficiently many’ edges between components, the number of components of a random graph can still be bounded above by a Pois- son law. In this context, random forests in Kn,n are studied in detail. Chapter 5 takes a different approach, and studies the class of labelled forests where some vertices belong to a specified stable set. A weighting parameter y for the vertices belonging to the stable set is introduced, and a graph is sampled with probability proportional to y*s where s is the size of its stable set. The behaviour of this class is studied for y tending to ∞. Chapters 6 concerns random graphs sampled from general decomposable classes. We investigate the minimum size of a component, in both the labelled and the unlabelled case.
36

Fibonomial Tilings and Other Up-Down Tilings

Bennett, Robert 01 January 2016 (has links)
The Fibonomial coefficients are a generalization of the binomial coefficients with a rather nice combinatorial interpretation. While the ordinary binomial coefficients count lattice paths in a grid, the Fibonomial coefficients count the number of ways to draw a lattice path in a grid and then Fibonacci-tile the regions above and below the path in a particular way. We may forgo a literal tiling interpretation and, instead of the Fibonacci numbers, use an arbitrary function to count the number of ways to "tile" the regions of the grid delineated by the lattice path. When the function is a combinatorial sequence such as the Lucas numbers or the q-numbers, the total number of "tilings" is some multiple of a generalized binomial coefficient corresponding to the sequence chosen.
37

Probabilistic Choice Models for Product Pricing Using Reservation Prices

Hui, Betsy January 2007 (has links)
The problem of pricing a product line to maximize profits is an important challenge faced by many companies. To address this problem, we discuss four different probabilistic choice models that are based on reservation prices: the Uniform Distribution Model, the Weighted Uniform Model, the Share-of-Surplus Model, and the Price Sensitive Model. They are formulated as convex mixed-integer mathematical programs. We explore the properties and additional valid inequalities of these formulations. We also compare their optimal solutions on a set of inputs. In general, the Uniform Distribution, Weighted Uniform, and Price Sensitive Models have the same optimal solution while the Share-of-Surplus Model gives a different solution in many cases. We develop a few heuristics for finding good feasible solutions. These simple and efficient heuristics perform well and help to improve the solution time. Computational results of solving problem instances of various sizes are shown.
38

Properties of random graphs

Kemkes, Graeme January 2008 (has links)
The thesis describes new results for several problems in random graph theory. The first problem relates to the uniform random graph model in the supercritical phase; i.e. a graph, uniformly distributed, on $n$ vertices and $M=n/2+s$ edges for $s=s(n)$ satisfying $n^{2/3}=o(s)$ and $s=o(n)$. The property studied is the length of the longest cycle in the graph. We give a new upper bound, which holds asymptotically almost surely, on this length. As part of our proof we establish a result about the heaviest cycle in a certain randomly-edge-weighted nearly-3-regular graph, which may be of independent interest. Our second result is a new contiguity result for a random $d$-regular graph. Let $j=j(n)$ be a function that is linear in $n$. A $(d,d-1)$-irregular graph is a graph which is $d$-regular except for $2j$ vertices of degree $d-1$. A $j$-edge matching in a graph is a set of $j$ independent edges. In this thesis we prove the new result that a random $(d,d-1)$-irregular graph plus a random $j$-edge matching is contiguous to a random $d$-regular graph, in the sense that in the two spaces, the same events have probability approaching 1 as $n\to\infty$. This allows one to deduce properties, such as colourability, of the random irregular graph from the corresponding properties of the random regular one. The proof applies the small subgraph conditioning method to the number of $j$-edge matchings in a random $d$-regular graph. The third problem is about the 3-colourability of a random 5-regular graph. Call a colouring balanced if the number of vertices of each colour is equal, and locally rainbow if every vertex is adjacent to vertices of all the other colours. Using the small subgraph conditioning method, we give a condition on the variance of the number of locally rainbow balanced 3-colourings which, if satisfied, establishes that the chromatic number of the random 5-regular graph is asymptotically almost surely equal to 3. We also describe related work which provides evidence that the condition is likely to be true. The fourth problem is about the chromatic number of a random $d$-regular graph for fixed $d$. Achlioptas and Moore recently announced a proof that a random $d$-regular graph asymptotically almost surely has chromatic number $k-1$, $k$, or $k+1$, where $k$ is the smallest integer satisfying $d < 2(k-1)\log(k-1)$. In this thesis we prove that, asymptotically almost surely, it is not $k+1$, provided a certain second moment condition holds. The proof applies the small subgraph conditioning method to the number of balanced $k$-colourings, where a colouring is balanced if the number of vertices of each colour is equal. We also give evidence that suggests that the required second moment condition is true.
39

Probabilistic Choice Models for Product Pricing Using Reservation Prices

Hui, Betsy January 2007 (has links)
The problem of pricing a product line to maximize profits is an important challenge faced by many companies. To address this problem, we discuss four different probabilistic choice models that are based on reservation prices: the Uniform Distribution Model, the Weighted Uniform Model, the Share-of-Surplus Model, and the Price Sensitive Model. They are formulated as convex mixed-integer mathematical programs. We explore the properties and additional valid inequalities of these formulations. We also compare their optimal solutions on a set of inputs. In general, the Uniform Distribution, Weighted Uniform, and Price Sensitive Models have the same optimal solution while the Share-of-Surplus Model gives a different solution in many cases. We develop a few heuristics for finding good feasible solutions. These simple and efficient heuristics perform well and help to improve the solution time. Computational results of solving problem instances of various sizes are shown.
40

Properties of random graphs

Kemkes, Graeme January 2008 (has links)
The thesis describes new results for several problems in random graph theory. The first problem relates to the uniform random graph model in the supercritical phase; i.e. a graph, uniformly distributed, on $n$ vertices and $M=n/2+s$ edges for $s=s(n)$ satisfying $n^{2/3}=o(s)$ and $s=o(n)$. The property studied is the length of the longest cycle in the graph. We give a new upper bound, which holds asymptotically almost surely, on this length. As part of our proof we establish a result about the heaviest cycle in a certain randomly-edge-weighted nearly-3-regular graph, which may be of independent interest. Our second result is a new contiguity result for a random $d$-regular graph. Let $j=j(n)$ be a function that is linear in $n$. A $(d,d-1)$-irregular graph is a graph which is $d$-regular except for $2j$ vertices of degree $d-1$. A $j$-edge matching in a graph is a set of $j$ independent edges. In this thesis we prove the new result that a random $(d,d-1)$-irregular graph plus a random $j$-edge matching is contiguous to a random $d$-regular graph, in the sense that in the two spaces, the same events have probability approaching 1 as $n\to\infty$. This allows one to deduce properties, such as colourability, of the random irregular graph from the corresponding properties of the random regular one. The proof applies the small subgraph conditioning method to the number of $j$-edge matchings in a random $d$-regular graph. The third problem is about the 3-colourability of a random 5-regular graph. Call a colouring balanced if the number of vertices of each colour is equal, and locally rainbow if every vertex is adjacent to vertices of all the other colours. Using the small subgraph conditioning method, we give a condition on the variance of the number of locally rainbow balanced 3-colourings which, if satisfied, establishes that the chromatic number of the random 5-regular graph is asymptotically almost surely equal to 3. We also describe related work which provides evidence that the condition is likely to be true. The fourth problem is about the chromatic number of a random $d$-regular graph for fixed $d$. Achlioptas and Moore recently announced a proof that a random $d$-regular graph asymptotically almost surely has chromatic number $k-1$, $k$, or $k+1$, where $k$ is the smallest integer satisfying $d < 2(k-1)\log(k-1)$. In this thesis we prove that, asymptotically almost surely, it is not $k+1$, provided a certain second moment condition holds. The proof applies the small subgraph conditioning method to the number of balanced $k$-colourings, where a colouring is balanced if the number of vertices of each colour is equal. We also give evidence that suggests that the required second moment condition is true.

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