Planar graphs without chordal 5-cycles are 2-good

Let G be a connected graph with \(n\ge 2\) vertices. Suppose that a fire breaks out at a vertex v of G. A firefighter starts to protect vertices. At each step, the firefighter protects two vertices not yet on fire. At the end of each step, the fire spreads to all the unprotected vertices that have a neighbour on fire. Let sn\(_2(v)\) denote the maximum number of vertices in G that the firefighter can save when a fire breaks out at vertex v. The 2-surviving rate \(\rho _2(G)\) of G is defined to be the real number \(\frac{1}{n^2} \sum _{v\in V(G)} \mathrm{sn}_2(v)\). Then it is obvious that \(0<\rho _2(G)<1\). The graph G is called 2-good if there is a constant \(c>0\) such that \(\rho _2(G)>c\). In this paper, we prove that every planar graph with \(n\ge 2\) vertices and without chordal 5-cycles is 2-good.     

The 2-surviving rate of planar graphs without 5-cycles

Let \(G\) be a connected graph with \(n\ge 2\) vertices. Let \(k\ge 1\) be an integer. Suppose that a fire breaks out at a vertex \(v\) of \(G\). A firefighter starts to protect vertices. At each step, the firefighter protects \(k\)-vertices not yet on fire. At the end of each step, the fire spreads to all the unprotected vertices that have a neighbour on fire. Let \(\hbox {sn}_k(v)\) denote the maximum number of vertices in \(G\) that the firefighter can save when a fire breaks out at vertex \(v\). The \(k\)-surviving rate \(\rho _k(G)\) of \(G\) is defined to be \(\frac{1}{n^2}\sum _{v\in V(G)} {\hbox {sn}}_{k}(v)\), which is the average proportion of saved vertices. In this paper, we prove that if \(G\) is a planar graph with \(n\ge 2\) vertices and without 5-cycles, then \(\rho _2(G)>\frac{1}{363}\).     

An upper bound on the total restrained domination number of a tree

Let G=(V,E) be a graph. A set of vertices S?V is a total restrained dominating set if every vertex is adjacent to a vertex in S and every vertex of $V-\nobreak S$ is adjacent to a vertex in V?S. The total restrained domination number of G, denoted by γ _tr (G), is the smallest cardinality of a total restrained dominating set of G. A support vertex of a graph is a vertex of degree at least two which is adjacent to a leaf. We show that $\gamma_{\mathit{tr}}(T)\leq\lfloor\frac{n+2s+\ell-1}{2}\rfloor$ where T is a tree of order n≥3, and s and ? are, respectively, the number of support vertices and leaves of T. We also constructively characterize the trees attaining the aforementioned bound.     

Signed Roman domination in graphs

In this paper we continue the study of Roman dominating functions in graphs. A signed Roman dominating function (SRDF) on a graph G=(V,E) is a function f:V→{?1,1,2} satisfying the conditions that (i) the sum of its function values over any closed neighborhood is at least one and (ii) for every vertex u for which f(u)=?1 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v)=2. The weight of a SRDF is the sum of its function values over all vertices. The signed Roman domination number of G is the minimum weight of a SRDF in G. We present various lower and upper bounds on the signed Roman domination number of a graph. Let G be a graph of order n and size m with no isolated vertex. We show that $\gamma _{\mathrm{sR}}(G) \ge\frac{3}{\sqrt{2}} \sqrt{n} - n$ and that γ _sR(G)≥(3n?4m)/2. In both cases, we characterize the graphs achieving equality in these bounds. If G is a bipartite graph of order n, then we show that $\gamma_{\mathrm{sR}}(G) \ge3\sqrt{n+1} - n - 3$ , and we characterize the extremal graphs.     

The total domination subdivision number in graphs with no induced 3-cycle and 5-cycle

A set S of vertices of a graph G=(V,E) without isolated vertex is a total dominating set if every vertex of V(G) is adjacent to some vertex in S. The total domination number γ _t (G) is the minimum cardinality of a total dominating set of G. The total domination subdivision number $\mathrm{sd}_{\gamma_{t}}(G)$ is the minimum number of edges that must be subdivided (each edge in G can be subdivided at most once) in order to increase the total domination number. Favaron, Karami, Khoeilar and Sheikholeslami (J. Comb. Optim. 20:76–84, 2010a) conjectured that: For any connected graph G of order n≥3, $\mathrm{sd}_{\gamma_{t}}(G)\le \gamma_{t}(G)+1$ . In this paper we use matching to prove this conjecture for graphs with no 3-cycle and 5-cycle. In particular this proves the conjecture for bipartite graphs.     

Some results on the target set selection problem

In this paper we consider a fundamental problem in the area of viral marketing, called Target Set Selection problem. We study the problem when the underlying graph is a block-cactus graph, a chordal graph or a Hamming graph. We show that if G is a block-cactus graph, then the Target Set Selection problem can be solved in linear time, which generalizes Chen’s result (Discrete Math. 23:1400–1415, 2009) for trees, and the time complexity is much better than the algorithm in Ben-Zwi et al. (Discrete Optim., 2010) (for bounded treewidth graphs) when restricted to block-cactus graphs. We show that if the underlying graph G is a chordal graph with thresholds θ(v)≤2 for each vertex v in G, then the problem can be solved in linear time. For a Hamming graph G having thresholds θ(v)=2 for each vertex v of G, we precisely determine an optimal target set S for (G,θ). These results partially answer an open problem raised by Dreyer and Roberts (Discrete Appl. Math. 157:1615–1627, 2009).     

On the mod sum number of H m,n

Let N denote the set of all positive integers. The sum graph G ⁺(S) of a finite subset S?N is the graph (S,E) with uv∈E if and only if u+v∈S. A graph G is said to be an mod sum graph if it is isomorphic to the sum graph of some S?Z _M \{0} and all arithmetic performed modulo M where M≥|S|+1. The mod sum number ρ(G) of G is the smallest number of isolated vertices which when added to G result in a mod sum graph. It is known that the graphs H _m,n (n>m≥3) are not mod sum graphs. In this paper we show that H _m,n are not mod sum graphs for m≥3 and n≥3. Additionally, we prove that ρ(H _m,3)=m for m≥3, H _m,n ∪ρK ₁ is exclusive for m≥3 and n≥4 and $m(n-1) \leq \rho(H_{m,n})\leq \frac{1}{2} mn(n-1)$ for m≥3 and n≥4.     

The adjacent vertex distinguishing total coloring of planar graphs

An adjacent vertex distinguishing total coloring of a graph G is a proper total coloring of G such that any pair of adjacent vertices have distinct sets of colors. The minimum number of colors needed for an adjacent vertex distinguishing total coloring of G is denoted by $\chi''_{a}(G)$ . In this paper, we characterize completely the adjacent vertex distinguishing total chromatic number of planar graphs G with large maximum degree Δ by showing that if Δ≥14, then $\varDelta+1\leq \chi''_{a}(G)\leq \varDelta+2$ , and $\chi''_{a}(G)=\varDelta+2$ if and only if G contains two adjacent vertices of maximum degree.     

L(d,1)-labelings of the edge-path-replacement of a graph

For two positive integers j and k with j≥k, an L(j,k)-labeling of a graph G is an assignment of nonnegative integers to V(G) such that the difference between labels of adjacent vertices is at least j, and the difference between labels of vertices that are distance two apart is at least k. The span of an L(j,k)-labeling of a graph G is the difference between the maximum and minimum integers used by it. The L(j,k)-labelings-number of G is the minimum span over all L(j,k)-labelings of G. This paper focuses on L(d,1)-labelings-number of the edge-path-replacement G(P _k ) of a graph G. Note that G(P ₃) is the incidence graph of G. L(d,1)-labelings of the edge-path-replacement G(P _k ) of a graph, called (d,1)-total labeling of G, was introduced in 2002 by Havet and Yu (Workshop graphs and algorithms, 2003; Discrete Math 308:493–513, 2008). Havet and Yu (Discrete Math 308:498–513, 2008) obtained the bound $\Delta+ d-1\leq\lambda^{T}_{d}(G)\leq2\Delta+ d-1$ and conjectured $\lambda^{T}_{d}(G)\leq\Delta+2d-1$ . In (Lü in J Comb Optim, to appear; Zhejiang University, submitted), we worked on L(2,1)-labelings-number and L(1,1)-labelings-number of the edge-path-replacement G(P _k ) of a graph G, and obtained that λ(G(P _k ))≤Δ+2 for k≥5, and conjecture λ(G(P ₄))≤Δ+2 for any graph G with maximum degree Δ. In this paper, we will study L(d,1)-labelings-number of the edge-path-replacement G(P _k ) of a graph G for d≥3 and k≥4.     

Independent dominating sets in regular graphs

Let G be a simple, regular graph of order n and degree δ. The independent domination number i(G) is defined to be the minimum cardinality among all maximal independent sets of vertices of G. We establish new upper bounds, as functions of n and δ, for the independent domination number of regular graphs with $n/6<\delta< (3-\sqrt{5})n/2$ . Our two main theorems complement recent results of Goddard et al. (Ann. Comb., 2011) for larger values of δ.     

L(2,1)-labelings of the edge-path-replacement of a graph

For two positive integers j and k with j≥k, an L(j,k)-labeling of a graph G is an assignment of nonnegative integers to V(G) such that the difference between labels of adjacent vertices is at least j, and the difference between labels of vertices that are distance two apart is at least k. The span of an L(j,k)-labeling of a graph G is the difference between the maximum and minimum integers used by it. The L(j,k)-labelings-number of G is the minimum span over all L(j,k)-labelings of G. This paper focuses on L(2,1)-labelings-number of the edge-path-replacement G(P _k ) of a graph G. Note that G(P ₃) is the incidence graph of G. L(2,1)-labelings of the edge-path-replacement G(P ₃) of a graph, called (2,1)-total labeling of G, was introduced by Havet and Yu in 2002 (Workshop graphs and algorithms, Dijon, France, 2003; Discrete Math. 308:498–513, 2008). They (Havet and Yu, Discrete Math. 308:498–513, 2008) obtain the bound $\Delta+1\leq\lambda^{T}_{2}(G)\leq2\Delta+1$ and conjectured $\lambda^{T}_{2}(G)\leq\Delta+3$ . In this paper, we obtain that λ(G(P _k ))≤Δ+2 for k≥5, and conjecture λ(G(P ₄))≤Δ+2 for any graph G with maximum degree Δ.     

The total {k}-domatic number of wheels and complete graphs

Let k be a positive integer and let G be a graph with vertex set V(G). The total {k}-dominating function (T{k}DF) of a graph G is a function f from V(G) to the set {0,1,2,??,k}, such that for each vertex v??V(G), the sum of the values of all its neighbors assigned by f is at least k. A set {f ₁,f ₂,??,f _d } of pairwise different T{k}DFs of G with the property that $\sum_{i=1}^{d}f_{i}(v)\leq k$ for each v??V(G), is called a total {k}-dominating family (T{k}D family) of G. The total {k}-domatic number of a graph G, denoted by $d_{t}^{\{k\}}(G)$ , is the maximum number of functions in a T{k}D family. In this paper, we determine the exact values of the total {k}-domatic numbers of wheels and complete graphs, which answers an open problem of Sheikholeslami and Volkmann (J. Comb. Optim., 2010) and completes a result in the same paper.     

On the total outer-connected domination in graphs

A set S of vertices of a graph G is a total outer-connected dominating set if every vertex in V(G) is adjacent to some vertex in S and the subgraph induced by V?S is connected. The total outer-connected domination number γ _toc (G) is the minimum size of such a set. We give some properties and bounds for γ _toc in general graphs and in trees. For graphs of order n, diameter 2 and minimum degree at least 3, we show that $\gamma_{toc}(G)\le \frac{2n-2}{3}$ and we determine the extremal graphs.     

The broadcast median problem in heterogeneous postal model

We propose the problem of finding broadcast medians in heterogeneous networks. A heterogeneous network is represented by a graph G=(V,E), in which each edge has a weight that denotes the communication time between its two end vertices. The overall delay of a vertex v∈V(G), denoted as b(v,G), is the minimum sum of the communication time required to send a message from v to all vertices in G. The broadcast median problem consists of finding the set of vertices v∈V(G) with minimum overall delay b(v,G) and determining the value of b(v,G). In this paper, we consider the broadcast median problem following the heterogeneous postal model. Assuming that the underlying graph G is a general graph, we show that computing b(v,G) for an arbitrary vertex v∈V(G) is NP-hard. On the other hand, assuming that G is a tree, we propose a linear time algorithm for the broadcast median problem in heterogeneous postal model.     

Hardness results and approximation algorithm for total liar’s domination in graphs

In this paper, we initiate the study of total liar’s domination of a graph. A subset L?V of a graph G=(V,E) is called a total liar’s dominating set of G if (i) for all v∈V, |N _G (v)∩L|≥2 and (ii) for every pair u,v∈V of distinct vertices, |(N _G (u)∪N _G (v))∩L|≥3. The total liar’s domination number of a graph G is the cardinality of a minimum total liar’s dominating set of G and is denoted by γ _TLR (G). The Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem is to find a total liar’s dominating set of minimum cardinality of the input graph G. Given a graph G and a positive integer k, the Total Liar’s Domination Decision Problem is to check whether G has a total liar’s dominating set of cardinality at most k. In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a total liar’s dominating set in a graph. We show that the Total Liar’s Domination Decision Problem is NP-complete for general graphs and is NP-complete even for split graphs and hence for chordal graphs. We also propose a 2(lnΔ(G)+1)-approximation algorithm for the Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem, where Δ(G) is the maximum degree of the input graph G. We show that Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem cannot be approximated within a factor of $(\frac{1}{8}-\epsilon)\ln(|V|)$ for any ?>0, unless NP?DTIME(|V|^loglog|V|). Finally, we show that Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem is APX-complete for graphs with bounded degree 4.     

Profile minimization on compositions of graphs

The profile minimization problem arose from the study of sparse matrix technique. In terms of graphs, the problem is to determine the profile of a graph G which is defined as $$P(G)=\min\limits_{f}\sum\limits_{v\in V(G)}\max\limits_{x\in N[v]}(f(v)-f(x)),$$ where f runs over all bijections from V(G) to {1,2,…,|V(G)|} and N[v]={v}∪{x∈V(G):xv∈E(G)}. This is equivalent to the interval graph completion problem, which is to find a super-graph of a graph G with as few number of edges as possible. The purpose of this paper is to study the profiles of compositions of two graphs.     

Improved upper bound for acyclic chromatic index of planar graphs without 4-cycles

Let $\chi'_{a}(G)$ and Δ(G) denote the acyclic chromatic index and the maximum degree of a graph G, respectively. Fiam?ík conjectured that $\chi'_{a}(G)\leq \varDelta (G)+2$ . Even for planar graphs, this conjecture remains open with large gap. Let G be a planar graph without 4-cycles. Fiedorowicz et al. showed that $\chi'_{a}(G)\leq \varDelta (G)+15$ . Recently Hou et al. improved the upper bound to Δ(G)+4. In this paper, we further improve the upper bound to Δ(G)+3.     

Paired versus double domination in K 1,r -free graphs

A vertex in G is said to dominate itself and its neighbors. A subset S of vertices is a dominating set if S dominates every vertex of G. A paired-dominating set is a dominating set whose induced subgraph contains a perfect matching. The paired-domination number of a graph G, denoted by γ _pr(G), is the minimum cardinality of a paired-dominating set in G. A subset S?V(G) is a double dominating set of G if S dominates every vertex of G at least twice. The minimum cardinality of a double dominating set of G is the double domination number γ _×2(G). A claw-free graph is a graph that does not contain K _1,3 as an induced subgraph. Chellali and Haynes (Util. Math. 67:161–171, 2005) showed that for every claw-free graph G, we have γ _pr(G)≤γ _×2(G). In this paper we extend this result by showing that for r≥2, if G is a connected graph that does not contain K _1,r as an induced subgraph, then $\gamma_{\mathrm{pr}}(G)\le ( \frac{2r^{2}-6r+6}{r(r-1)} )\gamma_{\times2}(G)$ .     

Minimum degree, edge-connectivity and radius

Let G be a connected graph on n≥4 vertices with minimum degree δ and radius r. Then $\delta r\leq4\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor-4$ , with equality if and only if one of the following holds:

1. G is K ₅,
2. G?K _n ?M, where M is a perfect matching, if n is even,
3. δ=n?3 and Δ≤n?2, if n is odd.

This solves a conjecture on the product of the edge-connectivity and radius of a graph, which was posed by Sedlar, Vuki?evi?, Aouchice, and Hansen.     

Star list chromatic number of planar subcubic graphs

A proper coloring of the vertices of a graph G is called a star-coloring if the union of every two color classes induces a star forest. The graph G is L-star-colorable if for a given list assignment L there is a star-coloring π such that π(v)∈L(v). If G is L-star-colorable for any list assignment L with |L(v)|≥k for all v∈V(G), then G is called k-star-choosable. The star list chromatic number of G, denoted by $\chi_{s}^{l}(G)$ , is the smallest integer k such that G is k-star-choosable. In this paper, we prove that every planar subcubic graph is 6-star-choosable.