Arithmetic completely regular codes

In this paper, we explore completely regular codes in the Hamming graphs and related graphs. Experimental evidence suggests that many completely regular codes have the property that the eigenvalues of the code are in arithmetic progression. In order to better understand these "arithmetic completely regular codes", we focus on cartesian products of completely regular codes and products of their corresponding coset graphs in the additive case. Employing earlier results, we are then able to prove a theorem which nearly classifies these codes in the case where the graph admits a completely regular partition into such codes (e.g, the cosets of some additive completely regular code). Connections to the theory of distance-regular graphs are explored and several open questions are posed.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur

Eigenvalue interlacing and weight parameters of graphs

Eigenvalue interlacing is a versatile technique for deriving results in algebraic combinatorics. In particular, it has been successfully used for proving a number of results about the relation between the (adjacency matrix or Laplacian) spectrum of a graph and some of its properties. For instance, some characterizations of regular partitions, and bounds for some parameters, such as the independence and chromatic numbers, the diameter, the bandwidth, etc., have been obtained. For each parameter of a graph involving the cardinality of some vertex sets, we can define its corresponding weight parameter by giving some "weights" (that is, the entries of the positive eigenvector) to the vertices and replacing cardinalities by square norms. The key point is that such weights "regularize" the graph, and hence allow us to define a kind of regular partition, called "pseudo-regular," intended for general graphs. Here we show how to use interlacing for proving results about some weight parameters and pseudo-regular partitions of a graph. For instance, generalizing a well-known result of Lov\'asz, it is shown that the weight Shannon capacity $\Theta^*$ of a connected graph \G, with $n$ vertices and (adjacency matrix) eigenvalues $\lambda_1>\lambda_2\ge\...\ge \lambda_n$, satisfies \Theta\le \Theta^* \le \frac{\|\vecnu\|^2}{1-\frac{\lambda_1}{\lambda_n}} where $\Theta$ is the (standard) Shannon capacity and \vecnu is the positive eigenvector normalized to have smallest entry 1. In the special case of regular graphs, the results obtained have some interesting corollaries, such as an upper bound for some of the multiplicities of the eigenvalues of a distance-regular graph. Finally, some results involving the Laplacian spectrum are derived. spectrum are derived

European Journal of Combinatorics Index, Volume 27

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is an inflammatory condition associated with iron abnormalities and increased oxidative damage. We aimed to investigate how diabetes affects the interrelationships between these pathogenic mechanisms. METHODS: Glycaemic control, serum iron, proteins involved in iron homeostasis, global antioxidant capacity and levels of antioxidants and peroxidation products were measured in 39 type 1 and 67 type 2 diabetic patients and 100 control subjects. RESULTS: Although serum iron was lower in diabetes, serum ferritin was elevated in type 2 diabetes (p = 0.02). This increase was not related to inflammation (C-reactive protein) but inversely correlated with soluble transferrin receptors (r = - 0.38, p = 0.002). Haptoglobin was higher in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (p &lt; 0.001) and haemopexin was higher in type 2 diabetes (p &lt; 0.001). The relation between C-reactive protein and haemopexin was lost in type 2 diabetes (r = 0.15, p = 0.27 vs r = 0.63, p &lt; 0.001 in type 1 diabetes and r = 0.36, p = 0.001 in controls). Haemopexin levels were independently determined by triacylglycerol (R(2) = 0.43) and the diabetic state (R(2) = 0.13). Regarding oxidative stress status, lower antioxidant concentrations were found for retinol and uric acid in type 1 diabetes, alpha-tocopherol and ascorbate in type 2 diabetes and protein thiols in both types. These decreases were partially explained by metabolic-, inflammatory- and iron alterations. An additional independent effect of the diabetic state on the oxidative stress status could be identified (R(2) = 0.5-0.14). CONCLUSIONS: Circulating proteins, body iron stores, inflammation, oxidative stress and their interrelationships are abnormal in patients with diabetes and differ between type 1 and type 2 diabetes</p