Some methods are given for constructing regular r-valent r-connected non-hamiltonian graphs; often the graphs are also non-r-edge-colorable. The extent of the class of such graphs constructible from these methods and previous methods is discussed.

In this paper, we construct several new permutation polynomials over finite fields. First, using the linearised polynomials, we construct the permutation polynomial of the form ${ \mathop{\sum }\nolimits}_{i= 1}^{k} ({L}_{i} (x)+ {\gamma }_{i} ){h}_{i} (B(x))$ over ${\mathbf{F} }_{{q}^{m} } $, where ${L}_{i} (x)$ and $B(x)$ are linearised polynomials. This extends a theorem of Coulter, Henderson and Matthews. Consequently, we generalise a result of Marcos by constructing permutation polynomials of the forms $xh({\lambda }_{j} (x))$ and $xh({\mu }_{j} (x))$, where ${\lambda }_{j} (x)$ is the $j$th elementary symmetric polynomial of $x, {x}^{q} , \ldots , {x}^{{q}^{m- 1} } $ and ${\mu }_{j} (x)= {\mathrm{Tr} }_{{\mathbf{F} }_{{q}^{m} } / {\mathbf{F} }_{q} } ({x}^{j} )$. This answers an open problem raised by Zieve in 2010. Finally, by using the linear translator, we construct the permutation polynomial of the form ${L}_{1} (x)+ {L}_{2} (\gamma )h(f(x))$ over ${\mathbf{F} }_{{q}^{m} } $, which extends a result of Kyureghyan.

The natural character π of a finite transitive permutation group G has the form 1G + θ where θ is a character which affords a rational representation of G. We call G a QI-group if this representation is irreducible over ℚ. Every 2-transitive group is a QI-group, but the latter class of groups is larger. It is shown that every QI-group is ¾-transitive and primitive, and that it is either almost simple or of affine type. QI-groups of affine type are completely determined relative to the 2-transitive affine groups, and partial information is obtained about the socles of simply transitive almost simple QI-groups. The only known simply transitive almost simple QI-groups are of degree 2k−1(2k − 1) with 2k − 1 prime and socle isomorphic to PSL(2, 2k).

We exhibit a closure operation which serves to define saturated formations of finite soluble groups.

We propose a new derivative-free conjugate gradient method for large-scale nonlinear systems of equations. The method combines the Rivaie–Mustafa–Ismail–Leong conjugate gradient method for unconstrained optimisation problems and a new nonmonotone line-search method. The global convergence of the proposed method is established under some mild assumptions. Numerical results using 104 test problems from the CUTEst test problem library show that the proposed method is promising.

We establish necessary conditions for quadratic forms corresponding to strongly elliptic systems in divergence form to have various coercivity properties in a smooth domain in ℝ2. We prove that if the quadratic form has some coercivity property, then certain types of BMO seminorms of the coefficients of the system cannot be very large. We use the connection between Jacobians and Hardy spaces and the special structures of elliptic quadratic forms defined on 2 X 2 matrices.

We give a proof based on an integral equation for an explicit prediction formula for fractional Brownian motion with Hurst index less than 1/2.

We study some sub-Riemannian objects (such as horizontal connectivity, horizontal connection, horizontal tangent plane, horizontal mean curvature) in hypersurfaces of sub-Riemannian manifolds. We prove that if a connected hypersurface in a contact manifold of dimension more than three is noncharacteristic or with isolated characteristic points, then there exists at least a piecewise smooth horizontal curve in this hypersurface connecting any two given points in it. In any sub-Riemannian manifold, we obtain the sub-Riemannian version of the fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry: there exists a unique nonholonomic connection which is completely determined by the sub-Riemannian structure and is “symmetric” and compatible with the sub-Riemannian metric. We use this nonholonomic connection to study horizontal mean curvature of hypersurfaces.

The least upper bound for the nilpotent lengths of soluble linear groups of degree n is calculated. For each n it is , where r(n) = [log3 (2n–1)/4] and [x] is the integral part of x.

In this paper several common fixed point theorems for four continuous mappings in Menger and metric spaces are proved. These mappings are assumed to satisfy some generalizations of the contraction condition.

Given a quasi-symmetric self-homeomorphism h of the unit circle Sl, let Q(h) be the set of all quasiconformal mappings with the boundary correspondence h. In this paper, it is shown that there exists certain quasi-symmetric homeomorphism h, such that Q(h) satisfies either of the conditions,

(1) Q(h) admits a quasiconformal mapping that is both uniquely locally-extremal and uniquely extremal-non-decreasable instead of being uniquely extremal;

(2) Q(h) contains infinitely many quasiconformal mappings each of which has an extremal non-decreasable dilatation.

An infinitesimal version of this result is also obtained.

It is well known that the complete norm topology on a Banach algebra is not unique in general, though semisimplicity is sufficient (but not necessary) for uniqueness. In this note we consider a class of topological algebras of formal power series which have unique Fréchet space topology. The structure of these algebras in the Banach algebra case will be considered in a later paper.

The first property occurred in the investigation of directly representable varieties, and was named C2 by R. McKenzie, the second one is new. Our analysis is independent of injectivity. However, in the forthcoming second part of this paper we are going to prove that varieties with enough injectives satisfy both properties, and shall use intensively the results proved here.

We extend some results known for FC-groups to the class FC* of generalized FC-groups introduced in de Giovanni et al. [‘Groups with restricted conjugacy classes’, Serdica Math. J.28(3) (2002), 241–254]. The main theorems pertain to the join of pronormal subgroups. The relevant role that the Wielandt subgroup plays in an FC*-group is pointed out.

We estimate double sums

$$\begin{eqnarray}S_{{\it\chi}}(a,{\mathcal{I}},{\mathcal{G}})=\mathop{\sum }\limits_{x\in {\mathcal{I}}}\mathop{\sum }\limits_{{\it\lambda}\in {\mathcal{G}}}{\it\chi}(x+a{\it\lambda}),\quad 1\leq a<p-1,\end{eqnarray}$$

${\it\chi}$

$p$

${\mathcal{I}}=\{1,\dots ,H\}$

${\mathcal{G}}$

$T$

$p$

$S_{{\it\chi}}(a,{\mathcal{I}},{\mathcal{G}})$

$H\geq p^{1/4+{\it\varepsilon}}$

$T\geq p^{1/2+{\it\varepsilon}}$

${\it\varepsilon}>0$

$H$

$T$

$$\begin{eqnarray}T_{{\it\chi}}(a,{\mathcal{G}})=\mathop{\sum }\limits_{{\it\lambda},{\it\mu}\in {\mathcal{G}}}{\it\chi}(a+{\it\lambda}+{\it\mu}),\quad 1\leq a<p-1,\end{eqnarray}$$

$p$

Let $X$ be a nonempty subset of a normed space such that $0\notin X$ and $X$ is symmetric with respect to $0$ and let $Y$ be a Banach space. We study the generalised hyperstability of the Drygas functional equation

$$\begin{eqnarray}f(x+y)+f(x-y)=2f(x)+f(y)+f(-y),\end{eqnarray}$$

$f$

$X$

$Y$

$x,y\in X$

$x+y,x-y\in X$

In this paper Lp stability and convergence properties of discrete orthogonal projections on the finite element space Sh of continuous polynomial splines of order r are proved. The discrete inner products are defined by composite quadrature rules with positive weights on a sequence of nonuniform grids. It is assumed that the basic quadrature rule Q has at least r quadrature points in order to resolve Sh, but no accuracy is required. The main results are derived under minimal further assumptions, for example the rule Q is allowed to be non-symmetric, and no quasi-uniformity of the mesh is required. The corresponding stability of the orthogonal L2-projections has been studied by de Boor [1] and by Crouzeix and Thomee [2]. Stability of the first derivative of the projection is also proved, under an assumption (unless p = 1) of local quasi-uniformity of the mesh.

The rôle of the conjugacy relation is certainly important in the structure theory of groups. Here we study this relation in a considerably more general setting, namely in the theory of loops. We first recall some basic facts about quasigroups, their multiplication groups, their inner mapping groups and the conjugacy relation. After this we estimate the size and the number of the conjugacy classes and we study the structure of loops having only two conjugacy classes. Finally, the values of the centraliser function are discussed.

Based on the metrisation of $b$-metric spaces of Paluszyński and Stempak [‘On quasi-metric and metric spaces’, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.137(12) (2009), 4307–4312], we prove that every $b$-metric space has a completion. Our approach resolves the limitation in using the quotient space of equivalence classes of Cauchy sequences to obtain a completion of a $b$-metric space.