Remarks on pp-monotone operators

In this paper, we deal with three aspects of $p$-monotone operators. First we study $p$-monotone operators with a unique maximal extension (called pre-maximal), and with convex graph. We then deal with linear operators, and provide characterizations of $p$-monotonicity and maximal $p$-monotonicity. Finally we show that the Brezis-Browder theorem preserves $p$-monotonicity in reflexive Banach spaces.Comment: 15 page

Label-connected graphs and the gossip problem

A graph with m edges is called label-connected if the edges can be labeled with real numbers in such a way that, for every pair (u, v) of vertices, there is a (u, v)-path with ascending labels. The minimum number of edges of a label-connected graph on n vertices equals the minimum number of calls in the gossip problem for n persons, which is known to be 2n − 4 for n ≥ 4. A polynomial characterization of label-connected graphs with n vertices and 2n − 4 edges is obtained. For a graph G, let θ(G) denote the minimum number of edges that have to be added to E(G) in order to create a graph with two edge-disjoint spanning trees. It is shown that for a graph G to be label-connected, θ(G) ≤ 2 is necessary and θ(G) ≤ 1 is sufficient. For i = 1, 2, the condition θ(G) ≤ i can be checked in polynomial time. Yet recognizing label-connected graphs is an NP-complete problem. This is established by first showing that the following problem is NP-complete: Given a graph G and two vertices u and v of G, does there exist a (u, v)-path P in G such that G−E(P) is connected

Service scheduling in garden maintenance

Neoturf is a Portuguese company working in the area of project, building and garden’s maintenance. Neoturf would like to have a procedure for scheduling and routing efficiently the clients from garden maintenance services. The company has two teams available during the whole year and an additional team during summer to handle all the maintenance jobs. Each team consists of two or three employees with a vehicle fully equipped with the tools that allow to carry out every kind of maintenance service. In the beginning of each year, the number and frequency of maintenance interventions to conduct during the year, on each client, are accorded. Each client is assigned to the same team and, usually, time windows are established so that visits to the client should occur only within these periods. As the Neoturf costumers’ are geographically spread over a wide region, the total distance on visiting clients is a factor that has a heavy weight on the costs of the company. Neoturf is concerned with reducing these costs, while satisfying the agreements with the clients