Some of the most important open problems for linear layouts of graphs ask for the relation between a graph’s queue number and its stack number or mixed number. In such, we seek a vertex order and edge partition of G into parts with pairwise non-crossing edges (a stack) or with pairwise non-nesting edges (a queue). Allowing only stacks, only queues, or both, the minimum number of required parts is the graph’s stack number sn(G), queue number qn(G), and mixed number mn(G), respectively. Already in 1992, Heath and Rosenberg asked whether qn(G) is bounded in terms of sn(G), that is, whether stacks "can be transformed into" queues. This is equivalent to bipartite 3-stack graphs having bounded queue number (Dujmović and Wood, 2005). Recently, Alam et al. asked whether qn(G) is bounded in terms of mn(G), which we show to also be equivalent to the previous questions. We approach the problem by considering separated linear layouts of bipartite graphs. In this natural setting all vertices of one part must precede all vertices of the other part. Separated stack and queue numbers coincide, and for fixed vertex orders, graphs with bounded separated stack/queue number can be characterized and efficiently recognized, whereas the separated mixed layouts are more challenging. In this work, we thoroughly investigate the relationship between separated and non-separated, mixed and pure linear layouts.

We introduce the $k$-Plane Insertion into Plane drawing ($k$-PIP) problem: given a plane drawing of a planar graph $G$ and a set $F$ of edges, insert the edges in $F$ into the drawing such that the resulting drawing is $k$-plane. In this paper, we show that the problem is NP-complete for every $k\ge 1$, even when $G$ is biconnected and the set $F$ of edges forms a matching or a path. On the positive side, we present a linear-time algorithm for the case that $k=1$ and $G$ is a triangulation.

A RAC graph is one admitting a RAC drawing, that is, a polyline drawing in which each crossing occurs at a right angle. Originally motivated by psychological studies on readability of graph layouts, RAC graphs form one of the most prominent graph classes in beyond planarity. In this work, we study a subclass of RAC graphs, called axis-parallel RAC (or apRAC, for short), that restricts the crossings to pairs of axis-parallel edge-segments. apRAC drawings combine the readability of planar drawings with the clarity of (non-planar) orthogonal drawings. We consider these graphs both with and without bends. Our contribution is as follows: (i) We study inclusion relationships between apRAC and traditional RAC graphs. (ii) We establish bounds on the edge density of apRAC graphs. (iii) We show that every graph with maximum degree 8 is 2-bend apRAC and give a linear time drawing algorithm. Some of our results on apRAC graphs also improve the state of the art for general RAC graphs. We conclude our work with a list of open questions and a discussion of a natural generalization of the apRAC model.

Motivated by cognitive experiments providing evidence that large crossing-angles do not impair the readability of a graph drawing, RAC (Right Angle Crossing) drawings were introduced to address the problem of producing readable representations of non-planar graphs by supporting the optimal case in which all crossings form 90° angles. In this work, we make progress on the problem of finding RAC drawings of graphs of low degree. In this context, a long-standing open question asks whether all degree-3 graphs admit straight-line RAC drawings. This question has been positively answered for the Hamiltonian degree-3 graphs. We improve on this result by extending to the class of 3-edge-colorable degree-3 graphs. When each edge is allowed to have one bend, we prove that degree-4 graphs admit such RAC drawings, a result which was previously known only for degree-3 graphs. Finally, we show that 7-edge-colorable degree-7 graphs admit RAC drawings with two bends per edge. This improves over the previous result on degree-6 graphs.