It is shown that by exchanging any two independent edges in any shortest cycle of the n-cube (n>or=3), its diameter decreases by one unit. This leads to the definition of a new class of n-regular graphs, denoted TQ/sub n/, with 2/sup n/ vertices and diameter n-1, which has the (n-1)-cube as subgraph. Other properties of TQ/sub n/ such as connectivity and the lengths of the disjoints paths are also investigated. Moreover, it is shown that the complete binary tree on 2/sup n/-1 vertices, which is not a subgraph of the n-cube, is a subgraph of TQ/sub n/. How these results can be used to enhance hypercube multiprocessors is discussed.>

We give a simple graph-theoretical proof that the largest number of maximal independent vertex sets in a tree with n vertices is given by \[ m( T ) = \begin{cases} 2^{k - 1} + 1& {\text{if }} n = 2k, \\ 2^k & {\text{if }} n = 2k + 1, \end{cases}\] a result first proved by Wilf [SIAM J. Algebraic Discrete Methods, 7 (1986), pp. 125–130]. We also characterize those trees achieving this maximum value. Finally we investigate some related problems.