Approximate Range Queries for Clustering

We study the approximate range searching for three variants of the clustering problem with a set P of n points in d-dimensional Euclidean space and axis-parallel rectangular range queries: the k-median, k-means, and k-center range-clustering query problems. We present data structures and query algorithms that compute (1+epsilon)-approximations to the optimal clusterings of P cap Q efficiently for a query consisting of an orthogonal range Q, an integer k, and a value epsilon>0

Linear-Space Data Structures for Range Mode Query in Arrays

A mode of a multiset $S$ is an element $a \in S$ of maximum multiplicity; that is, $a$ occurs at least as frequently as any other element in $S$. Given a list $A[1:n]$ of $n$ items, we consider the problem of constructing a data structure that efficiently answers range mode queries on $A$. Each query consists of an input pair of indices $(i, j)$ for which a mode of $A[i:j]$ must be returned. We present an $O(n^{2-2\epsilon})$-space static data structure that supports range mode queries in $O(n^\epsilon)$ time in the worst case, for any fixed $\epsilon \in [0,1/2]$. When $\epsilon = 1/2$, this corresponds to the first linear-space data structure to guarantee $O(\sqrt{n})$ query time. We then describe three additional linear-space data structures that provide $O(k)$, $O(m)$, and $O(|j-i|)$ query time, respectively, where $k$ denotes the number of distinct elements in $A$ and $m$ denotes the frequency of the mode of $A$. Finally, we examine generalizing our data structures to higher dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

In-Memory Storage for Labeled Tree-Structured Data

In this thesis, we design in-memory data structures for labeled and weights trees, so that various types of path queries or operations can be supported with efficient query time. We assume the word RAM model with word size w, which permits random accesses to w-bit memory cells. Our data structures are space-efficient and many of them are even succinct. These succinct data structures occupy space close to the information theoretic lower bounds of the input trees within lower order terms. First, we study the problems of supporting various path queries over weighted trees. A path counting query asks for the number of nodes on a query path whose weights lie within a query range, while a path reporting query requires to report these nodes. A path median query asks for the median weight on a path between two given nodes, and a path selection query returns the k-th smallest weight. We design succinct data structures to support path counting queries in O(lg σ/ lg lg n + 1) time, path reporting queries in O((occ + 1)(lg σ/ lg lg n + 1)) time, and path median and path selection queries in O(lg σ/ lg lg σ) time, where n is the size of the input tree, the weights of nodes are drawn from [1..σ] and occ is the size of the output. Our results not only greatly improve the best known data structures [31, 75, 65], but also match the lower bounds for path counting, median and selection queries [86, 87, 71] when σ = Ω(n/polylog(n)). Second, we study the problem of representing labeled ordinal trees succinctly. Our new representations support a much broader collection of operations than previous work. In our approach, labels of nodes are stored in a preorder label sequence, which can be compressed using any succinct representation of strings that supports access, rank and select operations. Thus, we present a framework for succinct representations of labeled ordinal trees that is able to handle large alphabets. This answers an open problem presented by Geary et al. [54], which asks for representations of labeled ordinal trees that remain space-efficient for large alphabets. We further extend our work and present the first succinct representations for dynamic labeled ordinal trees that support several label-based operations including finding the level ancestor with a given label. Third, we study the problems of supporting path minimum and semigroup path sum queries. In the path minimum problem, we preprocess a tree on n weighted nodes, such that given an arbitrary path, the node with the smallest weight along this path can be located. We design novel succinct indices for this problem under the indexing model, for which weights of nodes are read-only and can be accessed with ranks of nodes in the preorder traversal sequence of the input tree. One of our index structures supports queries in O(α(m,n)) time, and occupies O(m) bits of space in addition to the space required for the input tree, where m is an integer greater than or equal to n and α(m, n) is the inverse-Ackermann function. Following the same approach, we also develop succinct data structures for semigroup path sum queries, for which a query asks for the sum of weights along a given query path. Then, using the succinct indices for path minimum queries, we achieve three different time-space tradeoffs for path reporting queries. Finally, we study the problems of supporting various path queries in dynamic settings. We propose the first non-trivial linear-space solution that supports path reporting in O((lgn/lglgn)^2 +occlgn/lglgn)) query time, where n is the size of the input tree and occ is the output size, and the insertion and deletion of a node of an arbitrary degree in O(lg^{2+ε} n) amortized time, for any constant ε ∈ (0, 1). Obvious solutions based on directly dynamizing solutions to the static version of this problem all require Ω((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) time for each node reported. We also design data structures that support path counting and path reporting queries in O((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) time, and insertions and deletions in O((lg n/ lg lg n)^2) amortized time. This matches the best known results for dynamic two-dimensional range counting [62] and range selection [63], which can be viewed as special cases of path counting and path selection

Query-driven learning for predictive analytics of data subspace cardinality

Fundamental to many predictive analytics tasks is the ability to estimate the cardinality (number of data items) of multi-dimensional data subspaces, defined by query selections over datasets. This is crucial for data analysts dealing with, e.g., interactive data subspace explorations, data subspace visualizations, and in query processing optimization. However, in many modern data systems, predictive analytics may be (i) too costly money-wise, e.g., in clouds, (ii) unreliable, e.g., in modern Big Data query engines, where accurate statistics are difficult to obtain/maintain, or (iii) infeasible, e.g., for privacy issues. We contribute a novel, query-driven, function estimation model of analyst-defined data subspace cardinality. The proposed estimation model is highly accurate in terms of prediction and accommodating the well-known selection queries: multi-dimensional range and distance-nearest neighbors (radius) queries. Our function estimation model: (i) quantizes the vectorial query space, by learning the analysts’ access patterns over a data space, (ii) associates query vectors with their corresponding cardinalities of the analyst-defined data subspaces, (iii) abstracts and employs query vectorial similarity to predict the cardinality of an unseen/unexplored data subspace, and (iv) identifies and adapts to possible changes of the query subspaces based on the theory of optimal stopping. The proposed model is decentralized, facilitating the scaling-out of such predictive analytics queries. The research significance of the model lies in that (i) it is an attractive solution when data-driven statistical techniques are undesirable or infeasible, (ii) it offers a scale-out, decentralized training solution, (iii) it is applicable to different selection query types, and (iv) it offers a performance that is superior to that of data-driven approaches