Exploiting structure in quantified formulas

We study the computational problem “find the value of the quantified formula obtained by quantifying the variables in a sum of terms.” The “sum” can be based on any commutative monoid, the “quantifiers” need only satisfy two simple conditions, and the variables can have any finite domain. This problem is a generalization of the problem “given a sum-of-products of terms, find the value of the sum” studied in [R.E. Stearns and H.B. Hunt III, SIAM J. Comput. 25 (1996) 448–476]. A data structure called a “structure tree” is defined which displays information about “subproblems” that can be solved independently during the process of evaluating the formula. Some formulas have “good” structure trees which enable certain generic algorithms to evaluate the formulas in significantly less time than by brute force evaluation. By “generic algorithm,” we mean an algorithm constructed from uninterpreted function symbols, quantifier symbols, and monoid operations. The algebraic nature of the model facilitates a formal treatment of “local reductions” based on the “local replacement” of terms. Such local reductions “preserve formula structure” in the sense that structure trees with nice properties transform into structure trees with similar properties. These local reductions can also be used to transform hierarchical specified problems with useful structure into hierarchically specified problems having similar structure.     

How to draw a clustered tree

The visualization of clustered graphs is a classical algorithmic topic that has several practical applications and is attracting increasing research interest. In this paper we deal with the visualization of clustered trees, a problem that is somehow foundational with respect to the one of visualizing a general clustered graph. We show many, in our opinion, surprising results that put in evidence how drawing clustered trees has many sharp differences with respect to drawing “plain” trees. We study a wide class of drawing standards, giving both negative and positive results. Namely, we show that there are clustered trees that do not have any drawing in certain standards and others that require exponential area. On the contrary, for many drawing conventions there are efficient algorithms that allow to draw clustered trees with polynomial asymptotically-optimal area.     

The inverse problem for certain tree parameters

Let p be a graph parameter that assigns a positive integer value to every graph. The inverse problem for p asks for a graph within a prescribed class (here, we will only be concerned with trees), given the value of p. In this context, it is of interest to know whether such a graph can be found for all or at least almost all integer values of p. We will provide a very general setting for this type of problem over the set of all trees, describe some simple examples and finally consider the interesting parameter “number of subtrees”, where the problem can be reduced to some number-theoretic considerations. Specifically, we will prove that every positive integer, with only 34 exceptions, is the number of subtrees of some tree.     

Red-blue covering problems and the consecutive ones property

Set Cover problems are of core importance in many applications. In recent research, the “red-blue variants” where blue elements all need to be covered whereas red elements add further constraints on the optimality of a covering have received considerable interest. Application scenarios range from data mining to interference reduction in cellular networks. As a rule, these problem variants are computationally at least as hard as the original set cover problem. In this work we investigate whether and how the well-known consecutive ones property, restricting the structure of the input sets, makes the red-blue covering problems feasible. We explore a sharp border between polynomial-time solvability and NP-hardness for these problems.     

The rotation graph of binary trees is Hamiltonian

In this paper we study the rotation transformation on binary trees and consider the properties of binary trees under this operation. The rotation is the universal primitive used to rebalance dynamic binary search trees. New binary search tree algorithms have recently been introduced by Sleator and Tarjan. It has been conjectured that these algorithms are as efficient as any algorithm that dynamically restructures the tree using rotations. We hope that by studying rotations in binary trees we shall gain a better understanding of the nature of binary search trees, which in turn will lead to a proof of this “dynamic optimality conjecture”. We define a graph, RG(n), whose vertex set consists of all binary trees containing n nodes, and which has an edge between two trees if they differ by only one rotation. We shall introduce a new characterization of the structure of RG(n) and use it to demonstrate the existence of a Hamiltonian cycle in the graph. The proof is constructive and can be used to enumerate all binary trees with n nodes in constant time per tree.     

Geometric separation and exact solutions for the parameterized independent set problem on disk graphs

We consider the parameterized problem, whether for a given set  of n disks (of bounded radius ratio) in the Euclidean plane there exists a set of k non-intersecting disks. For this problem, we expose an algorithm running in time that is—to our knowledge—the first algorithm with running time bounded by an exponential with a sublinear exponent. For λ-precision disk graphs of bounded radius ratio, we show that the problem is fixed parameter tractable with a running time  . The results are based on problem kernelization and a new “geometric ( -separator) theorem” which holds for all disk graphs of bounded radius ratio. The presented algorithm then performs, in a first step, a “geometric problem kernelization” and, in a second step, uses divide-and-conquer based on our new “geometric separator theorem.”     

Trees as Brelot spaces

A Brelot space is a connected, locally compact, noncompact Hausdorff space together with the choice of a sheaf of functions on this space which are called harmonic. We prove that by considering functions on a tree to be functions on the edges as well as on the vertices (instead of just on the vertices), a tree becomes a Brelot space. This leads to many results on the potential theory of trees. By restricting the functions just to the vertices, we obtain several new results on the potential theory of trees considered in the usual sense. We study trees whose nearest-neighbor transition probabilities are defined by both transient and recurrent random walks. Besides the usual case of harmonic functions on trees (the kernel of the Laplace operator), we also consider as “harmonic” the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian relative to a positive eigenvalue showing that these also yield a Brelot structure and creating new classes of functions for the study of potential theory on trees.     

The “progressive mixture” estimator for regression trees

We present a version of O. Catoni's “progressive mixture estimator” (1999) suited for a general regression framework. Following basically Catoni's steps, we derive strong non-asymptotic upper bounds for the Kullback–Leibler risk in this framework. We give a more explicit form for this bound when the models considered are regression trees, present a modified version of the estimator in an extended framework and propose an approximate computation using a Metropolis algorithm.     

A comparison of procedures for estimating the parent probability distribution from a given set of fractiles

On one hand, eliciting subjective probabilities (fractiles) is a well-established procedure. On the other hand, knowledge of a subjective variable's central moments or distribution function is often assumed. However, the problem of converting elicited fractiles into the required moments or distribution function has been largely ignored. We show that this conversion problem is far from trivial, and that the most commonly used conversion procedures often produce huge errors. Alternative procedures are proposed; the “Tocher's curve” and “linear function of fractiles” methods are shown to be much more accurate than the commonly used procedures.     

An approach to a consistent qualification of decision procedures in probabilistic information processing

Pattern recognition seems to be a rather unique field of interwoven logical inference and decision theory applications. The existence of hundreds of theoretical and real pattern recognition devices forms an ideal basis for research on the structures of various approaches and their comparison. The task of pattern recognition is to select a hypotheses out of a set (e.g.: figures 0, …, 9) on the basis of given data (e.g. the black and white points of a digitized picture). There exists an ideal classifier to solve this problem as the theorem of Bayes provides a logically perfect connection between the input data and the result. But as the so called Bayes-machine proves completely unpractical for real purposesit is “approximated” by more or less complex “real” decision procedures.Thus the theorem of Bayes provides a starting point for the application of statistical considerations and information theory to the analysis of the structures of real decision procedures. The results allow a rather consistent and simple comparison of most decision procedures and provide a tool to estimate the performance of a given procedure in a given environment. The results apply not only to pattern recognition but also to many other fields such as imminence analysis and medical diagnosis.     

The rate of convergence for the cyclic projections algorithm III: Regularity of convex sets

The cyclic projections algorithm is an important method for determining a point in the intersection of a finite number of closed convex sets in a Hilbert space. That is, for determining a solution to the “convex feasibility” problem. This is the third paper in a series on a study of the rate of convergence for the cyclic projections algorithm. In the first of these papers, we showed that the rate could be described in terms of the “angles” between the convex sets involved. In the second, we showed that these angles often had a more tractable formulation in terms of the “norm” of the product of the (nonlinear) metric projections onto related convex sets.In this paper, we show that the rate of convergence of the cyclic projections algorithm is also intimately related to the “linear regularity property” of Bauschke and Borwein, the “normal property” of Jameson (as well as Bakan, Deutsch, and Li’s generalization of Jameson’s normal property), the “strong conical hull intersection property” of Deutsch, Li, and Ward, and the rate of convergence of iterated parallel projections. Such properties have already been shown to be important in various other contexts as well.     

Parameterized graph cleaning problems

We investigate the Induced Subgraph Isomorphism problem with non-standard parameterization, where the parameter is the difference |V(G)|−|V(H)| with H and G being the smaller and the larger input graph, respectively. Intuitively, we can interpret this problem as “cleaning” the graph G, regarded as a pattern containing extra vertices indicating errors, in order to obtain the graph H representing the original pattern. We show fixed-parameter tractability of the cases where both H and G are planar and H is 3-connected, or H is a tree and G is arbitrary. We also prove that the problem when H and G are both 3-connected planar graphs is NP-complete without parameterization.     

Approximating the Minimum-Degree Steiner Tree to within One of Optimal

The problem of constructing a spanning tree for a graph G = (V, E) with n vertices whose maximal degree is the smallest among all spanning trees of G is considered. This problem is easily shown to be NP-hard. In the Steiner version of this problem, along with the input graph, a set of distinguished vertices D V is given. A minimum-degree Steiner tree is a tree of minimum degree which spans at least the set D. Iterative polynomial time approximation algorithms for the problems are given. The algorithms compute trees whose maximal degree is at most Δ* + 1, where Δ* is the degree of some optimal tree for the respective problems. Unless P = NP, this is the best bound achievable in polynomial time.     

The difference in a problem of rations from the Rhind mathematical papyrus

In an ancient Egyptian problem of bread distribution from the Rhind mathematical papyrus (dated between 1794 and 1550 B.C.), a procedure of “false position” is used in the calculation of a series of five rations. The algorithm is only partially illustrated in the problem text, and last century's prevailing interpretations suggested a determination of the series by trial and error. The missing part of the computational procedure is reconstructed in this article as an application of the algorithm, exemplified in the preceding section of the papyrus, to calculate an unknown quantity by means of the method of “false position.”     

Exponentially many supertrees

The amalgamation of leaf-labelled trees into a single supertree that displays each of the input trees is an important problem in classification. Clearly, there can be more than one (super) tree for a given set of input trees, in particular if a highly unresolved supertree exists. Here, we show (by explicit construction) that even if every supertree of a given collection of input trees is binary, there can still be exponentially many such supertrees.     

Solution of a problem of Ulam

In this paper we solve the following Ulam problem: “Give conditions in order for a linear mapping near an approximately linear mapping to exist” and establish results involving a product of powers of norms [[5.]; [5.]; [5.]]. There has been much activity on a similar “ -isometry” problem of Ulam [ [1.], 633–636; [2.], 263–277; [4.]]. This work represents an improvement and generalization of the work of [3.], 222–224].     

Bijections for ternary trees and non-crossing trees

The number N_n of non-crossing trees of size n satisfies N_n+1=T_n where T_n enumerates ternary trees of size n. We construct a new bijection to establish that fact. Since , it follows that 3(3n−1)(3n−2)T_n−1=2n(2n+1)T_n. We construct two bijections “explaining” this recursion; one of them easily extends to the case of t-ary trees.     

Analytical solution for Van der Pol–Duffing oscillators

In this paper, the problem of single-well, double-well and double-hump Van der Pol–Duffing oscillator is studied. Governing equation is solved analytically using a new kind of analytic technique for nonlinear problems namely the “Homotopy Analysis Method” (HAM), for the first time. Present solution gives an expression which can be used in wide range of time for all domain of response. Comparisons of the obtained solutions with numerical results show that this method is effective and convenient for solving this problem. This method is a capable tool for solving this kind of nonlinear problems.     

Induced disjoint paths problem in a planar digraph

As an extension of the disjoint paths problem, we introduce a new problem which we call the induced disjoint paths problem. In this problem we are given a graph G and a collection of vertex pairs {(s₁,t₁),…,(s_k,t_k)}. The objective is to find k paths P₁,…,P_k such that P_i is a path from s_i to t_i and P_i and P_j have neither common vertices nor adjacent vertices for any distinct i,j.The induced disjoint paths problem has several variants depending on whether k is a fixed constant or a part of the input, whether the graph is directed or undirected, and whether the graph is planar or not. We investigate the computational complexity of several variants of the induced disjoint paths problem. We show that the induced disjoint paths problem is (i) solvable in polynomial time when k is fixed and G is a directed (or undirected) planar graph, (ii) NP-hard when k=2 and G is an acyclic directed graph, (iii) NP-hard when k=2 and G is an undirected general graph.As an application of our first result, we show that we can find in polynomial time certain structures called a “hole” and a “theta” in a planar graph.     

Dense trees: a new look at degenerate graphs

Dense trees are undirected graphs defined as natural extensions of trees. They are already known in the realm of graph coloring under the name of k-degenerate graphs. For a given integer k1, a k-dense cycle is a connected graph, where the degree of each vertex is greater than k. A k-dense forest F=(V,E) is a graph without k-dense cycles as subgraphs. If F is connected, then is a k-dense tree. 1-dense trees are standard trees. We have |E|k|V|−k(k+1)/2. If equality holds F is connected and is called a maximal k-dense tree. k-trees (a subfamily of triangulated graphs) are special cases of maximal k-dense trees.We review the basic theory of dense trees in the family of graphs and show their relation with k-trees. Vertex and edge connectivity is thoroughly investigated, and the role of maximal k-dense trees as “reinforced” spanning trees of arbitrary graphs is presented. Then it is shown how a k-dense forest or tree can be decomposed into a set of standard spanning trees connected through a common “root” of k vertices. All sections include efficient construction algorithms. Applications of k-dense trees in the fields of distributed systems and data structures are finally indicated.