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We complete the classification of the finite special linear groups $\SL_n(q)$ which are $(2,3)$-generated, i.e., which are generated by an involution and an element of order $3$. This also gives the classification of the finite simple groups $\PSL_n(q)$ which are $(2,3)$-generated., Comment: 5 pages

Replacing a portion of current light duty vehicles (LDV) with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) offers the possibility to reduce the dependence on petroleum fuels together with environmental and economic benefits. The charging activity of PHEVs will certainly introduce new load to the power grid. In the framework of the development of a smarter grid, the primary focus of the present study is to propose a model for the electrical daily demand in presence of PHEVs charging. Expected PHEV demand is modeled by the PHEV charging time and the starting time of charge according to real world data. A normal distribution for starting time of charge is assumed. Several distributions for charging time are considered: uniform distribution, Gaussian with positive support, Rician distribution and a non-uniform distribution coming from driving patterns in real-world data. We generate daily demand profiles by using real-world residential profiles throughout 2014 in the presence of different expected PHEV demand models. Support vector machines (SVMs), a set of supervised machine learning models, are employed in order to find the best model to fit the data. SVMs with radial basis function (RBF) and polynomial kernels were tested. Model performances are evaluated by means of mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Best results are obtained with RBF kernel: maximum (worst) values for MSE and MAPE were about 2.89 10-8 and 0.023, respectively.

The generalization of the Oberwolfach Problem, proposed by J. Liu in 2000, asks for a uniform $2$-factorization of the complete multipartite graph $K_{m\times n}$. Here we focus our attention on $2$-factorizations regular under the cyclic group $Z_{mn}$, whose $2$-factors are disjoint union of cycles all of even length $\ell$. In particular, we present a complete solution for the extremal cases $\ell=4$ and $\ell=mn$., Comment: 24 pages

A hamiltonian cycle system (HCS, for short) of a graph $\Gamma$ is a partition of the edges of $\Gamma$ into hamiltonian cycles. A HCS is cyclic when it is invariant under a cyclic permutation of all the vertices of $\Gamma$; the existence problem for a cyclic HCS has been completely solved by Buratti and Del Fra in 2004 when $\Gamma$ is the complete graph $K_v$, $v$ odd, and by Jordon and Morris in 2008 when $\Gamma$ is the complete graph minus a $1$-factor $K_v-I$, $v$ even. In this work we present a complete solution to the existence problem of a cyclic HCS for $\Gamma = K_{m\times n}$, the complete multipartite graph, when the number of parts $m$ is even. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a cyclic and symmetric HCS of $\Gamma$; the notion of a symmetric HCS of a graph $\Gamma$ has been introduced in 2004 by Akiyama, Kobayashi, and Nakamura for $\Gamma =K_v$, $v$ odd, in 2011 by Brualdi and Schroeder when $\Gamma = K_v-I$, $v$ even, and, very recently, by Schroeder when $\Gamma$ is the complete multipartite graph., Comment: 14 pages

In this paper we prove that the finite simple groups $PSp_6(q)$, $\Omega_7(q)$ and $PSU_7(q^2)$ are (2,3)-generated for all q. In particular, this result completes the classification of the (2,3)-generated finite classical simple groups up to dimension 7.

Mariusz Meszka has conjectured that given a prime p=2n+1 and a list L containing n positive integers not exceeding n there exists a near 1-factor in K_p whose list of edge-lengths is L. In this paper we propose a generalization of this problem to the case in which p is an odd integer not necessarily prime. In particular, we give a necessary condition for the existence of such a near 1-factor for any odd integer p. We show that this condition is also sufficient for any list L whose underlying set S has size 1, 2, or n. Then we prove that the conjecture is true if S={1,2,t} for any positive integer t not coprime with the order p of the complete graph. Also, we give partial results when t and p are coprime. Finally, we present a complete solution for t<12., Comment: 15 pages

We classify completely the intersections of the Hermitian curve with parabolas in the affine plane. To obtain our results we employ well-known algebraic methods for finite fields and geometric properties of the curve automorphisms. In particular, we provide explicit counting formulas that have also applications to some Hermitian codes., Comment: This article is contained in previous article "On the Hermitian curve, its intersections with some conics and their applications to affine-variety codes and Hermitian codes" (arXiv:1208.1627)

In this paper we investigate a problem proposed by Marco Buratti, Peter Horak and Alex Rosa (denoted by BHR-problem) concerning Hamiltonian paths in the complete graph with prescribed edge-lengths. In particular we solve BHR({1^a,2^b,t^c}) for any even integer t>=4, provided that a+b>=t-1. Furthermore, for t=4,6,8 we present a complete solution of BHR({1^a,2^b,t^c}) for any positive integer a,b,c., Comment: Previously submitted with the title "On BHR({1^a,2^b,t^c}) when t is even"

The conjecture of Peter Horak and Alex Rosa (generalizing that of Marco Buratti) states that a multiset L of v-1 positive integers not exceeding [v/2] is the list of edge-lengths of a suitable Hamiltonian path of the complete graph with vertex-set {0,1,...,v-1} if and only if the following condition (here reformulated in a slightly easier form) is satisfied: for every divisor d of v, the number of multiples of d appearing in L is at most v-d. In this paper we do some preliminary discussions on the conjecture, including its relationship with graph decompositions. Then we prove, as main result, that the conjecture is true whenever all the elements of L are in {1,2,3,5}.

Detecting and characterizing dense subgraphs (tight communities) in social and information networks is an important exploratory tool in social network analysis. Several approaches have been proposed that either (i) partition the whole network into clusters, even in low density region, or (ii) are aimed at finding a single densest community (and need to be iterated to find the next one). As social networks grow larger both approaches (i) and (ii) result in algorithms too slow to be practical, in particular when speed in analyzing the data is required. In this paper we propose an approach that aims at balancing efficiency of computation and expressiveness and manageability of the output community representation. We define the notion of a partial dense cover (PDC) of a graph. Intuitively a PDC of a graph is a collection of sets of nodes that (a) each set forms a disjoint dense induced subgraphs and (b) its removal leaves the residual graph without dense regions. Exact computation of PDC is an NP-complete problem, thus, we propose an efficient heuristic algorithms for computing a PDC which we christen Core and Peel. Moreover we propose a novel benchmarking technique that allows us to evaluate algorithms for computing PDC using the classical IR concepts of precision and recall even without a golden standard. Tests on 25 social and technological networks from the Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection confirm that Core and Peel is efficient and attains very high precison and recall.

We show that every element of PSL(2,q) is a commutator of elements of coprime orders. This is proved by showing first that in PSL(2,q) any two involutions are conjugate by an element of odd order.