The benefits of a recently proposed method to approximate hard optimization problems are demonstrated on the graph partitioning problem. The performance of this new method, called Extremal Optimization, is compared to Simulated Annealing in extensive numerical simulations. While generally a...

Let k be a natural number and let G be a graph with at least k vertices. A.E. Brouwer conjectured that the sum of the k largest Laplacian eigenvalues of G is at most e(G) (k choose 2), where e(G) is the number of edges of G. We prove this conjecture for k = 2. We also show that if G is a tree,...

We consider k-regular graphs with loops, and study the Lovasz O-numbers and Schrijver O-numbers of the graphs that result when the loop edges are removed. We show that the O-number dominates a recent eigenvalue upper bound on the stability number due to Godsil and Newman [C.D. Godsil and M.W....

This paper defines isomorphism for network formation that is not mathematically isomorphic. Once the pattern of network formation is characterized, one can test for (i) location fixed effects, (ii) heterogeneity, (iii) private information allowing for long-term contracts. The paper provides...

In this article, we present an automated test procedure for examining the filter structure and instructions implemented in electronic questionnaires, and for checking the fit of a questionnaire to the targeted sample. With our approach, we can represent and describe questionnaires using...