We introduce the interval set of a graph G which is a representation of the proper-path-decomposition of G, and show a linear time algorithm to construct an optimal interval set for any tree T. It is shown that a proper-path-decomposition of T with optimal width can be obtained from an optimal interval set of T in O(n log n) time.

It has been known that an N-vertex binary tree can be embedded into the path and grid with dilation O(N/logN) and O((N/logN)), respectively. This paper shows that an N-vertex binary tree with proper pathwidth at most k can be embedded into the path grid with dilation O(N/N1/k) and O((N/N1/2k)), respectively.

An orthogonal ray graph is an intersection graph of horizontal and vertical rays (closed half-lines) in the plane. Such a graph is 3-directional if every vertical ray has the same direction, and 2-directional if every vertical ray has the same direction and every horizontal ray has the same direction. We derive some structural properties of orthogonal ray graphs, and based on these properties, we introduce polynomial-time algorithms that solve the dominating set problem, the induced matching problem, and the strong edge coloring problem for these graphs. We show that for 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs, the dominating set problem can be solved in O(n2 log5 n) time, the weighted dominating set problem can be solved in O(n4 log n) time, and the number of dominating sets of a fixed size can be computed in O(n6 log n) time, where n is the number of vertices in the graph. We also show that for 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs, the weighted induced matching problem and the strong edge coloring problem can be solved in O(n2+m log n) time, where m is the number of edges in the graph. Moreover, we show that for 3-directional orthogonal ray graphs, the induced matching problem can be solved in O(m2) time, the weighted induced matching problem can be solved in O(m4) time, and the strong edge coloring problem can be solved in O(m3) time. We finally show that the weighted induced matching problem can be solved in O(m6) time for orthogonal ray graphs.

Irreversible k-conversion set is introduced in connection with the mathematical modeling of the spread of diseases or opinions. We show that the problem to find a minimum irreversible 2-conversion set can be solved in O(n2log 6n) time for graphs with maximum degree at most 3 (subcubic graphs) by reducing it to the graphic matroid parity problem, where n is the number of vertices in a graph. This affirmatively settles an open question posed by Kyncl et al. (2014).

For a given N-vertex graph H, a graph G obtained from H by adding t vertices and some edges is called a t-FT (t-fault-tolerant) graph for H if even after deleting any t vertices from G, the remaining graph contains H as a subgraph. For the n-dimensional cube Q(n) with N vertices, a t-FT graph with an optimal number O(tN+t2) of added edges and maximum degree of O(N+t), and a t-FT graph with O(tNlog N) added edges and maximum degree of O(tlog N) have been known. In this paper, we introduce some t-FT graphs for Q(n) with an optimal number O(tN+t2) of added edges and small maximum degree. In particular, we show a t-FT graph for Q(n) with 2ctN+ct2((logN)/C)C added edges and maximum degree of O(N/(logC/2N))+4ct.

It is a fundamental problem to construct a virtual path layout minimizing the hop number as a function of the congestion for a communication network. It is known that we can construct a virtual path layout with asymptotically optimal hop number for a mesh of trees network, butterfly network, cube-connected-cycles network, de Bruijn network, shuffle-exchange network, and complete binary tree network. The paper shows a virtual path layout with minimum hop number for a complete binary tree network. A generalization to complete k-ary tree networks is also mentioned.

Given a plane graph G, a trail of G is said to be dual if it is also a trail in the geometric dual of G. We show that the problem of partitioning the edges of G into the minimum number of dual trails is NP-hard.

The harmonious coloring of an undirected simple graph is a vertex coloring such that adjacent vertices are assigned different colors and each pair of colors appears together on at most one edge. The harmonious chromatic number of a graph is the least number of colors used in such a coloring. The harmonious chromatic number of a path is known, whereas the problem to find the harmonious chromatic number is NP-hard even for trees with pathwidth at most 2. Hence, we consider the harmonious coloring of trees with pathwidth 1, which are also known as caterpillars. This paper shows the harmonious chromatic number of a caterpillar with at most one vertex of degree more than 2. We also show the upper bound of the harmonious chromatic number of a 3-regular caterpillar.