Mathematics Commons^™

Distance-2 Domatic Numbers Of Graphs, Derek Kiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distance d(u, v) between two vertices u and v in a graph G equals the length of a shortest path from u to v. A set S of vertices is called a distance-2 dominating set if every vertex in V \S is within distance-2 of at least one vertex in S. The distance-2 domatic number is the maximum number of sets in a partition of the vertices of G into distance-2 dominating sets. We give bounds on the distance-2 domatic number of a graph and determine the distance-2 domatic number of selected classes of graphs.

The Apprentices' Tower Of Hanoi, Cory Bh Ball

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Apprentices' Tower of Hanoi is introduced in this thesis. Several bounds are found in regards to optimal algorithms which solve the puzzle. Graph theoretic properties of the associated state graphs are explored. A brief summary of other Tower of Hanoi variants is also presented.

A Hierarchical Graph For Nucleotide Binding Domain 2, Samuel Kakraba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the most prevalent inherited diseases is cystic fibrosis. This disease is caused by a mutation in a membrane protein, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). CFTR is known to function as a chloride channel that regulates the viscosity of mucus that lines the ducts of a number of organs. Generally, most of the prevalent mutations of CFTR are located in one of two nucleotide binding domains, namely, the nucleotide binding domain 1 (NBD1). However, some mutations in nucleotide binding domain 2 (NBD2) can equally cause cystic fibrosis. In this work, a hierarchical graph is built for NBD2. …

Labeled Trees And Spanning Trees: Computational Discrete Mathematics And Applications, Demet Yalman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we examine two topics. In the first part, we consider Leech tree which is a tree of order n with positive integer edge weights such that the weighted distances between pairs of vertices are exactly from 1 to n choose 2. Only five Leech trees are known and some non-existence results have been presented through the years. Variations of Leech trees such as the minimal distinct distance trees and modular Leech trees have been considered in recent years. In this thesis, such Leech-type questions on distances between leaves are studied as well as some other labeling questions …

Combinatorial Game Theory: An Introduction To Tree Topplers, John S. Ryals Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a new game, Tree Topplers, into the field of Combinatorial Game Theory. Before covering the actual material, a brief background of Combinatorial Game Theory is presented, including how to assign advantage values to combinatorial games, as well as information on another, related game known as Domineering. Please note that this document contains color images so please keep that in mind when printing.

Graphs Of Classroom Networks, Rebecca Holliday

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work, we use the Havel-Hakimi algorithm to visualize data collected from students to investigate classroom networks. The Havel-Hakimi algorithm uses a recursive method to create a simple graph from a graphical degree sequence. In this case, the degree sequence is a representation of the students in a classroom, and we use the number of peers with whom a student studied or collaborated to determine the degree of each. We expand upon the Havel-Hakimi algorithm by coding a program in MATLAB that generates random graphs with the same degree sequence. Then, we run another algorithm to find the isomorphism …

Very Cost Effective Domination In Graphs, Tony K. Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A set S of vertices in a graph G=(V,E) is a dominating set if every vertex in V\S is adjacent to at least one vertex in S, and the minimum cardinality of a dominating set of G is the domination number of G. A vertex v in a dominating set S is said to be very cost effective if it is adjacent to more vertices in V\S than to vertices in S. A dominating set S is very cost effective if every vertex in S is very cost effective. The minimum cardinality of a very cost effective dominating set of …

Permutation Groups And Puzzle Tile Configurations Of Instant Insanity Ii, Amanda N. Justus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The manufacturer claims that there is only one solution to the puzzle Instant Insanity II. However, a recent paper shows that there are two solutions. Our goal is to find ways in which we only have one solution. We examine the permutation groups of the puzzle and use modern algebra to attempt to fix the puzzle. First, we find the permutation group for the case when there is only one empty slot at the top. We then examine the scenario when we add an extra column or an extra row to make the game a 4 × 5 puzzle or …

Precise Partitions Of Large Graphs, Pouria Salehi Nowbandegani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First by using an easy application of the Regularity Lemma, we extend some known results about cycles of many lengths to include a specified edge on the cycles. The results in this chapter will help us in rest of this thesis. In 2000, Enomoto and Ota posed a conjecture on the existence of path decomposition of graphs with fixed start vertices and fixed lengths. We prove this conjecture when |G| is large. Our proof uses the Regularity Lemma along with several extremal lemmas, concluding with an absorbing argument to retrieve misbehaving vertices. Furthermore, sharp minimum degree and degree sum conditions …

Extremal Results For Peg Solitaire On Graphs, Aaron D. Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a 2011 paper by Beeler and Hoilman, the game of peg solitaire is generalized to arbitrary boards. These boards are treated as graphs in the combinatorial sense. An open problem from that paper is to determine the minimum number of edges necessary for a graph with a fixed number of vertices to be solvable. This thesis provides new bounds on this number. It also provides necessary and sufficient conditions for two families of graphs to be solvable, along with criticality results, and the maximum number of pegs that can be left in each of the two graph families.

Packings And Coverings Of Complete Graphs With A Hole With The 4-Cycle With A Pendant Edge, Yan Xia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we consider packings and coverings of various complete graphs with the 4-cycle with a pendant edge. We consider both restricted and unrestricted coverings. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for such structures for (1) complete graphs K_v, (2) complete bipartite graphs K_m,n, and (3) complete graphs with a hole K(v,w).

Peg Solitaire On Trees With Diameter Four, Clayton A. Walvoort

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a paper by Beeler and Hoilman, the traditional game of peg solitaire is generalized to graphs in the combinatorial sense. One of the important open problems in this paper was to classify solvable trees. In this thesis, we will give necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability for all trees with diameter four. We also give the maximum number of pegs that can be left on such a graph under the restriction that we jump whenever possible.

Very Cost Effective Partitions In Graphs, Inna Vasylieva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a graph G=(V,E) and a set of vertices S, a vertex v in S is said to be very cost effective if it is adjacent to more vertices in V -S than in S.

A bipartition pi={S, V- S} is called very cost effective if both S and V- S are very cost effective sets. Not all graphs have a very cost effective bipartition, for example, the complete graphs of odd order do not. We consider several families of graphs G, including Cartesian products and cacti graphs, to determine whether G has a very cost effective bipartition.

Restricted And Unrestricted Coverings Of Complete Bipartite Graphs With Hexagons, Wesley M. Surber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A minimal covering of a graph G with isomorphic copies of graph H is a set {H₁, H₂, H₃, ... , H_n} where H_i is isomorphic to H, the vertex set of H_i is a subset of G, the edge set of G is a subset of the union of H_i's, and the cardinality of the union of H_i's minus G is minimum. Some studies have been made of covering the complete graph in which case an added condition of the edge set of H_{i …}

Cost Effective Domination In Graphs, Tabitha Lynn Mccoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A set S of vertices in a graph G = (V,E) is a dominating set if every vertex in V \ S is adjacent to at least one vertex in S. A vertex v in a dominating set S is said to be it cost effective if it is adjacent to at least as many vertices in V \ S as it is in S. A dominating set S is cost effective if every vertex in S is cost effective. The minimum cardinality of a cost effective dominating set of G is the cost …

Nested (2,R)-Regular Graphs And Their Network Properties., Josh Daniel Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A graph G is a (t, r)-regular graph if every collection of t independent vertices is collectively adjacent to exactly r vertices. If a graph G is (2, r)-regular where p, s, and m are positive integers, and m ≥ 2, then when n is sufficiently large, then G is isomorphic to G = K_s+mK_p, where 2(p-1)+s = r. A nested (2,r)-regular graph is constructed by replacing selected cliques with a (2,r)-regular graph and joining the vertices of the peripheral cliques. For …

Global Domination Stable Graphs, Elizabeth Marie Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A set of vertices S in a graph G is a global dominating set (GDS) of G if S is a dominating set for both G and its complement G. The minimum cardinality of a global dominating set of G is the global domination number of G. We explore the effects of graph modifications on the global domination number. In particular, we explore edge removal, edge addition, and vertex removal.

Liar's Domination In Grid Graphs, Christopher Kent Sterling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As introduced by Slater in 2008, liar's domination provides a way of modeling protection devices where one may be faulty. Assume each vertex of a graph G is the possible location for an intruder such as a thief. A protection device at a vertex v is assumed to be able to detect the intruder at any vertex in its closed neighborhood N[v] and identify at which vertex in N[v] the intruder is located. A dominating set is required to identify any intruder's location in the graph G, and if any one device can fail to …

Preferential Arrangement Containment In Strict Superpatterns, Martha Louise Liendo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most results on pattern containment deal more directly with pattern avoidance, or the enumeration and characterization of strings which avoid a given set of patterns. Little research has been conducted regarding the word size required for a word to contain all patterns of a given set of patterns. The set of patterns for which containment is sought in this thesis is the set of preferential arrangements of a given length. The term preferential arrangement denotes strings of characters in which repeated characters are allowed, but not necessary. Cardinalities for sets of all preferential arrangements of given lengths and alphabet sizes …

Omnisculptures., Cihan Eroglu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we will study conditions for the existence of minimal sized omnipatterns in higher dimensions. We will introduce recent work conducted on one dimensional and two dimensional patterns known as omnisequences and omnimosaics, respectively. These have been studied by Abraham et al [3] and Banks et al [2]. The three dimensional patterns we study are called omnisculptures, and will be the focus of this thesis. A (K,a) omnisequence of length n is a string of letters that contains each of the a^k words of length k over [A]={1,2,...a} as a substring. …

Universal Hypergraphs., Michael Deren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we study universal hypergraphs. What are these? Let us start with defining a universal graph as a graph on n vertices that contains each of the many possible graphs of a smaller size k < n as an induced subgraph. A hypergraph is a discrete structure on n vertices in which edges can be of any size, unlike graphs, where the edge size is always two. If all edges are of size three, then the hypergraph is said to be 3-uniform. If a 3-uniform hypergraph can have edges colored one of a colors, then it is called a …

A Predictive Model Which Uses Descriptors Of Rna Secondary Structures Derived From Graph Theory., Alissa Ann Rockney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The secondary structures of ribonucleic acid (RNA) have been successfully modeled with graph-theoretic structures. Often, simple graphs are used to represent secondary RNA structures; however, in this research, a multigraph representation of RNA is used, in which vertices represent stems and edges represent the internal motifs. Any type of RNA secondary structure may be represented by a graph in this manner. We define novel graphical invariants to quantify the multigraphs and obtain characteristic descriptors of the secondary structures. These descriptors are used to train an artificial neural network (ANN) to recognize the characteristics of secondary RNA structure. Using the ANN, …

Total Domination Dot Critical And Dot Stable Graphs., Stephanie Anne Marie Mcmahon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two vertices are said to be identifed if they are combined to form one vertex whose neighborhood is the union of their neighborhoods. A graph is total domination dot-critical if identifying any pair of adjacent vertices decreases the total domination number. On the other hand, a graph is total domination dot-stable if identifying any pair of adjacent vertices leaves the total domination number unchanged. Identifying any pair of vertices cannot increase the total domination number. Further we show it can decrease the total domination number by at most two. Among other results, we characterize total domination dot-critical trees with total …

A Predictive Model For Secondary Rna Structure Using Graph Theory And A Neural Network., Denise Renee Koessler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work we use a graph-theoretic representation of secondary RNA structure found in the database RAG: RNA-As-Graphs. We model the bonding of two RNA secondary structures to form a larger structure with a graph operation called merge. The resulting data from each tree merge operation is summarized and represented by a vector. We use these vectors as input values for a neural network and train the network to recognize a tree as RNA-like or not based on the merge data vector.

The network correctly assigned a high probability of RNA-likeness to trees identified as RNA-like in the RAG database, …

Independent Domination In Complementary Prisms., Joel Agustin Gongora

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Let G be a graph and G̅ be the complement of G. The complementary prism GG̅ of G is the graph formed from the disjoint union of G and G̅ by adding the edges of a perfect matching between the corresponding vertices of G and G̅. For example, if G is a 5-cycle, then GG̅ is the Petersen graph. In this paper we investigate independent domination in complementary prisms.

The Last Of The Mixed Triple Systems., Ernest Jum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we consider the decomposition of the complete mixed graph on v vertices denoted M_v, into every possible mixed graph on three vertices which has (like M_v) twice as many arcs as edges. Direct constructions are given in most cases. Decompositions of theλ-fold complete mixed graph λM_v, are also studied.

Decompositions Of Mixed Graphs With Partial Orientations Of The P4., Adam M. Meadows

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A decomposition D of a graph H by a graph G is a partition of the edge set of H such that the subgraph induced by the edges in each part of the partition is isomorphic to G. A mixed graph on V vertices is an ordered pair (V,C), where V is a set of vertices, |V| = v, and C is a set of ordered and unordered pairs, denoted (x, y) and [x, y] respectively, of elements of V [8]. An ordered pair (x …

Locating-Domination In Complementary Prisms., Kristin Renee Stone Holmes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Let G = (V (G), E(G)) be a graph and G̅ be the complement of G. The complementary prism of G, denoted GG̅, is the graph formed from the disjoint union of G and G̅ by adding the edges of a perfect matching between the corresponding vertices of G and G̅. A set D ⊆ V (G) is a locating-dominating set of G if for every u ∈ V (G)D, its neighborhood N(u)⋂D is nonempty and distinct from N( …

Cyclic, F-Cyclic, And Bicyclic Decompositions Of The Complete Graph Into The 4-Cycle With A Pendant Edge., Daniel Shelton Cantrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we consider decompositions of the complete graph on v vertices into 4-cycles with a pendant edge. In part, we will consider decompositions which admit automorphisms consisting of:

(1) a single cycle of length v,

(2) f fixed points and a cycle of length v − f, or

(3) two disjoint cycles.

The purpose of this thesis is to give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of cyclic, f-cyclic, and bicyclic Q-decompositions of K_v.

Restrained And Other Domination Parameters In Complementary Prisms., Wyatt Jules Desormeaux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we will study several domination parameters of a family of graphs known as complementary prisms. We will first present the basic terminology and definitions necessary to understand the topic. Then, we will examine the known results addressing the domination number and the total domination number of complementary prisms. After this, we will present our main results, namely, results on the restrained domination number of complementary prisms. Subsequently results on the distance - k domination number, 2-step domination number and stratification of complementary prisms will be presented. Then, we will characterize when a complementary prism is Eulerian or …