12,577 research outputs found
A Bicriteria Approximation for the Reordering Buffer Problem
In the reordering buffer problem (RBP), a server is asked to process a
sequence of requests lying in a metric space. To process a request the server
must move to the corresponding point in the metric. The requests can be
processed slightly out of order; in particular, the server has a buffer of
capacity k which can store up to k requests as it reads in the sequence. The
goal is to reorder the requests in such a manner that the buffer constraint is
satisfied and the total travel cost of the server is minimized. The RBP arises
in many applications that require scheduling with a limited buffer capacity,
such as scheduling a disk arm in storage systems, switching colors in paint
shops of a car manufacturing plant, and rendering 3D images in computer
graphics.
We study the offline version of RBP and develop bicriteria approximations.
When the underlying metric is a tree, we obtain a solution of cost no more than
9OPT using a buffer of capacity 4k + 1 where OPT is the cost of an optimal
solution with buffer capacity k. Constant factor approximations were known
previously only for the uniform metric (Avigdor-Elgrabli et al., 2012). Via
randomized tree embeddings, this implies an O(log n) approximation to cost and
O(1) approximation to buffer size for general metrics. Previously the best
known algorithm for arbitrary metrics by Englert et al. (2007) provided an
O(log^2 k log n) approximation without violating the buffer constraint.Comment: 13 page
Affine arithmetic-based methodology for energy hub operation-scheduling in the presence of data uncertainty
In this study, the role of self-validated computing for solving the energy hub-scheduling problem in the presence of multiple and heterogeneous sources of data uncertainties is explored and a new solution paradigm based on affine arithmetic is conceptualised. The benefits deriving from the application of this methodology are analysed in details, and several numerical results are presented and discussed
The Geometry of Scheduling
We consider the following general scheduling problem: The input consists of n
jobs, each with an arbitrary release time, size, and a monotone function
specifying the cost incurred when the job is completed at a particular time.
The objective is to find a preemptive schedule of minimum aggregate cost. This
problem formulation is general enough to include many natural scheduling
objectives, such as weighted flow, weighted tardiness, and sum of flow squared.
Our main result is a randomized polynomial-time algorithm with an approximation
ratio O(log log nP), where P is the maximum job size. We also give an O(1)
approximation in the special case when all jobs have identical release times.
The main idea is to reduce this scheduling problem to a particular geometric
set-cover problem which is then solved using the local ratio technique and
Varadarajan's quasi-uniform sampling technique. This general algorithmic
approach improves the best known approximation ratios by at least an
exponential factor (and much more in some cases) for essentially all of the
nontrivial common special cases of this problem. Our geometric interpretation
of scheduling may be of independent interest.Comment: Conference version in FOCS 201
A Survey on Delay-Aware Resource Control for Wireless Systems --- Large Deviation Theory, Stochastic Lyapunov Drift and Distributed Stochastic Learning
In this tutorial paper, a comprehensive survey is given on several major
systematic approaches in dealing with delay-aware control problems, namely the
equivalent rate constraint approach, the Lyapunov stability drift approach and
the approximate Markov Decision Process (MDP) approach using stochastic
learning. These approaches essentially embrace most of the existing literature
regarding delay-aware resource control in wireless systems. They have their
relative pros and cons in terms of performance, complexity and implementation
issues. For each of the approaches, the problem setup, the general solution and
the design methodology are discussed. Applications of these approaches to
delay-aware resource allocation are illustrated with examples in single-hop
wireless networks. Furthermore, recent results regarding delay-aware multi-hop
routing designs in general multi-hop networks are elaborated. Finally, the
delay performance of the various approaches are compared through simulations
using an example of the uplink OFDMA systems.Comment: 58 pages, 8 figures; IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 201
Correction. Brownian models of open processing networks: canonical representation of workload
Due to a printing error the above mentioned article [Annals of Applied
Probability 10 (2000) 75--103, doi:10.1214/aoap/1019737665] had numerous
equations appearing incorrectly in the print version of this paper. The entire
article follows as it should have appeared. IMS apologizes to the author and
the readers for this error. A recent paper by Harrison and Van Mieghem
explained in general mathematical terms how one forms an ``equivalent workload
formulation'' of a Brownian network model. Denoting by the state vector
of the original Brownian network, one has a lower dimensional state descriptor
in the equivalent workload formulation, where can be chosen as
any basis matrix for a particular linear space. This paper considers Brownian
models for a very general class of open processing networks, and in that
context develops a more extensive interpretation of the equivalent workload
formulation, thus extending earlier work by Laws on alternate routing problems.
A linear program called the static planning problem is introduced to articulate
the notion of ``heavy traffic'' for a general open network, and the dual of
that linear program is used to define a canonical choice of the basis matrix
. To be specific, rows of the canonical are alternative basic optimal
solutions of the dual linear program. If the network data satisfy a natural
monotonicity condition, the canonical matrix is shown to be nonnegative,
and another natural condition is identified which ensures that admits a
factorization related to the notion of resource pooling.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051606000000583 in the
Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute
of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
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