Let M be an n × m matrix of independent Rademacher (±1) random variables. It is well known that if $n \leq m$, then M is of full rank with high probability. We show that this property is resilient to adversarial changes to M. More precisely, if $m \ge n + {n^{1 - \varepsilon /6}}$, then even after changing the sign of (1 – ε)m/2 entries, M is still of full rank with high probability. Note that this is asymptotically best possible as one can easily make any two rows proportional with at most m/2 changes. Moreover, this theorem gives an asymptotic solution to a slightly weakened version of a conjecture made by Van Vu in [17].

Monotonic surfaces spanning finite regions of ℤd arise in many contexts, including DNA-based self-assembly, card-shuffling and lozenge tilings. One method that has been used to uniformly generate these surfaces is a Markov chain that iteratively adds or removes a single cube below the surface during a step. We consider a biased version of the chain, where we are more likely to add a cube than to remove it, thereby favouring surfaces that are ‘higher’ or have more cubes below it. We prove that the chain is rapidly mixing for any uniform bias in ℤ2 and for bias λ > d in ℤd when d > 2. In ℤ2 we match the optimal mixing time achieved by Benjamini, Berger, Hoffman and Mossel in the context of biased card shuffling [2], but using much simpler arguments. The proofs use a geometric distance function and a variant of path coupling in order to handle distances that can be exponentially large. We also provide the first results in the case of fluctuating bias, where the bias can vary depending on the location of the tile. We show that the chain continues to be rapidly mixing if the biases are close to uniform, but that the chain can converge exponentially slowly in the general setting.

We classify all 3 letter patterns that are avoidable in the abelian sense. A short list of four letter patterns for which abelian avoidance is undecided is given. Using a generalization of Zimin words we deduce some properties of $\omega$-words avoiding these patterns.

In this paper, we solve the isomorphism problem for metacirculant graphs of order $pq$ that are not circulant. To solve this problem, we first extend Babai’s characterization of the $\text{CI}$-property to non-Cayley vertex-transitive hypergraphs. Additionally, we find a simple characterization of metacirculant Cayley graphs of order $pq$, and exactly determine the full isomorphism classes of circulant graphs of order $pq$.

If G is a connected cubic graph with ρ vertices, ρ > 4, then G has a vertex-induced forest containing at least (5ρ - 2)/8 vertices. In case G is triangle-free, the lower bound is improved to (2ρ — l)/3. Examples are given to show that no such lower bound is possible for vertex-induced trees.

Lower bounds are given for the independence ratio in graphs satisfying certain girth and maximum degree requirements. In particular, the independence ratio of a graph with maximum degree Δ and girth at least six is at least (2Δ − 1)/(Δ2 + 2Δ − 1). Sharper bounds are given for cubic graphs.