In this short paper, we show that, with three exceptions, if the Wiener index of a connected graph of order $n$ is at most $(n+ 5)(n- 2)/ 2$, then it is traceable.

The definition of bent is redefined for any finite field. Our main result is a complete description of the relationship between bent polynomials and perfect non-linear functions over finite fields: we show they are equivalent. This result shows that bent polynomials can also be viewed as the generalisation to several variables of the class of polynomials known as planar polynomials. An explicit method for obtaining large sets of not necessarily distinct maximal orthogonal systems using bent polynomials is given and we end with a short discussion on the existence of bent polynomials over finite fields.

In linear viscoelasticity, the fundamental model is the Boltzmann caual integral equation which defines how the stress σ(t) at time t depends on the earlier history of the shear rate via the relaxation modulus (kernel) G (t). Physical reality is achieved by requiring that the form of the relaxation modulus G (t) gives the Boltzmann equation fading memory, so that changes in the distant past have less effect now than the same changes in the more recent past. A popular choice, though others have previously been proposed and investigated, is the assumption that G (t) be a completely monotone function. This assumption has much deeper ramifications than have been identified, discussed or exploited in the rheological literature. The purpose of this paper is to review the key mathematical properties of completely monotone functions, and to illustrate how these properties impact on the theory and application of linear viscoelasticity and polymer dynamics. A more general representation of a completely monotone function, known in the mathematical literature, but not the rheological, is formulated and discussed. This representation is used to derive new rheological relationships. In particular, explicit inversion formulas are derived for the relationships that are obtained when the relaxation spectrum model and a mixing rule are linked through a common relaxation modulus.

An α-distributive (respectively α-implicative) semilattice S is a lower semilattice (with greatest lower bound denoted by juxtaposition) in which the annihilator 〈x, a〉, that is {y ∈ S: xy ≤ α}, is an ideal (respectively a principal ideal) for the fixed element α and any x of S. These semilattices appear as natural links between general and distributive semi-lattices on the one hand, and between pseudo-complemented and implicative semilattices on the other hand. Prime and dense elements, as well as maximal and prime filters, are essential. Mandelker's result, a lattice L is distributive if and only if 〈x, y〉 is an ideal for any x, y ∈ L is extended to semi-lattices.

In this paper we present a simple (fixed point) method that yields various results concerning approximate solutions of some difference equations. The results are motivated by the notion of Ulam stability.

This paper is a sequel to one entitled “Varieties of topological groups”. The variety V of topological groups is said to be full if it contains every group which is algebraically isomorphic to a group in V For any Tychonoff space X, the free group F of V on X exists, is Hausdorff and disconnected, and has X as a closed subset. Any subgroup of F which is algebraically fully invariant is a closed subset of F. If X is a compact Hausdorff space, then F is normal. Let V be a full Schreier variety and X a Tychonoff space, then all finitely generated subgroups of F are free in V.

A β-variety V is one for which the free group of V on each compact Hausdorff space exists and is Hausdorff. For any β-variety V and Tychonoff space X, the free group of V exists, is Hausdorff and has X as a closed subset. A necessary and sufficient condition for V to be a β-variety is given.

The concept of a projective (topological) group of a variety V is introduced. The projective groups of V are shown to be precisely the summands of the free groups of V. A finitely generated Hausdorff projective group of a Schreier variety V is free in V.

Parabolic equations with forcing terms are studied and sufficient conditions are given that all solutions of boundary value problems are oscillatory in a cylindrical domain.

Let $B_{k,\ell }(n)$ denote the number of $(k,\ell )$-regular bipartitions of $n$. Employing both the theory of modular forms and some elementary methods, we systematically study the arithmetic properties of $B_{3,\ell }(n)$ and $B_{5,\ell }(n)$. In particular, we confirm all the conjectures proposed by Dou [‘Congruences for (3,11)-regular bipartitions modulo 11’, Ramanujan J.40, 535–540].

The role of convexity in the development of mathematical programming is reviewed. Many recent generalizations of convexity and their applications to optimization theory are discussed.

Let Uq(G(1)) be a quantised non-twisted affine Lie algebra with Uq(G) the corresponding quantised simple Lie algebra. Using the previously obtained universal R-matrices for and , explicitly spectral-dependent universal R-matrices for Uq(A1) and Uq(A2) are determined. These spectral-dependent universal R-matrices are evaluated in some concrete representations; well-known results for the fundamental representations are reproduced, and an explicit formula for the spectral-dependent R-matrix associated with the V(3) ⊗ V(6) module is derived, where V(3) and V(6) carry the 3- and 6-dimensional representations of Uq(A2), respectively.

We study the distribution of the imaginary parts of zeros near the real axis of quadratic L-functions. More precisely, let K(s) be chosen so that |K(1/2 ± it)| is rapidly decreasing as t increases. We investigate the asymptotic behaviour of

as D → ∞. Here denotes the sum over the non-trivial zeros p = 1/2 + iγ of the Dirichlet L-function L(s, χd), and χd = () is the Kronecker symbol. The outer sum is over all fundamental discriminants d that are in absolute value ≤ D. Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, we show that for

We discuss a truncated identity of Euler and present a combinatorial proof of it. We also derive two finite identities as corollaries. As an application, we establish two related $q$-congruences for sums of $q$-Catalan numbers, one of which has been proved by Tauraso [‘$q$-Analogs of some congruences involving Catalan numbers’, Adv. Appl. Math. 48 (2012), 603–614] by a different method.

For a finite group G and a subset S of G which does not contain the identity of G, we use Cay(G, S) to denote the Cayley graph of G with respect to S. For a positive integer m, the group G is called a (connected) m-DCI-group if for any (connected) Cayley graphs Cay(G, S) and Cay(G, T) of out-valency at most m, Sσ = T for some σ ∈ Aut(G) whenever Cay(G, S) ≅ Cay(G, T). Let p(G) be the smallest prime divisor of |G|. It was previously shown that each finite group G is a connected m-DCI-group for m ≤ p(G) − 1 but this is not necessarily true for m = p(G). This leads to a natural question: which groups G are connected p(G)-DCI-groups? Here we conjecture that the answer of this question is positive for finite simple groups, that is, finite simple groups are all connected 2-DCI-groups. We verify this conjecture for the linear groups PSL(2, q). Then we prove that a nonabelian simple group G is a 2-DCI-group if and only if G = A5.

We investigate the topological and metric properties of attractors of an iterated function system (IFS) whose functions may not be contractive. We focus, in particular, on invertible IFSs of finitely many maps on a compact metric space. We rely on ideas of Kieninger [Iterated Function Systems on Compact Hausdorff Spaces (Shaker, Aachen, 2002)] and McGehee and Wiandt [‘Conley decomposition for closed relations’, Differ. Equ. Appl. 12 (2006), 1–47] restricted to what is, in many ways, a simpler setting, but focused on a special type of attractor, namely point-fibred invariant sets. This allows us to give short proofs of some of the key ideas.

We give an affirmative answer to one of the questions posed by Bourin regarding a special type of inequality referred to as subadditivity inequalities in the case of the Hilbert–Schmidt and the trace norms. We formulate the solution for arbitrary commuting positive operators, and we conjecture that it is true for all unitarily invariant norms and all commuting positive operators. New related trace inequalities are also presented.

This note presents a characterization of connected simple expansions of topologies in terms of conditions on subspaces, and gives corollaries improving and unifying known sufficient conditions. These results are applied to obtain information about maximally connected spaces, and it is shown that maximal connectedness is inherited by connected subspaces.

We obtain lower bounds on the degrees of polynomials representing the Diffie-Hellman mapping f (γx, γy) = γxy, where γ is a nonzero element of Fq of order d, x runs through a subset of [0,d – 1], and y runs through a set of consecutive integers.

In this paper, by using Ahlfors' theory of covering surfaces, we establish the existence of a new singular direction for a meromorphic functions f, namely a T direction for f, for which the Nevanlinna characteristic function T(r, f) is used as a comparison function.

We determine the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of a local finite commutative principal ring and a finite commutative principal ring with two maximal ideals. We also find bounds for the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of an arbitrary finite commutative principal ring.