(2/2/3)(2/2/3)-SAT problem and its applications in dominating set problems

The satisfiability problem is known to be $\mathbf{NP}$-complete in general and for many restricted cases. One way to restrict instances of $k$-SAT is to limit the number of times a variable can be occurred. It was shown that for an instance of 4-SAT with the property that every variable appears in exactly 4 clauses (2 times negated and 2 times not negated), determining whether there is an assignment for variables such that every clause contains exactly two true variables and two false variables is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete. In this work, we show that deciding the satisfiability of 3-SAT with the property that every variable appears in exactly four clauses (two times negated and two times not negated), and each clause contains at least two distinct variables is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete. We call this problem $(2/2/3)$-SAT. For an $r$-regular graph $G = (V,E)$ with $r\geq 3$, it was asked in [Discrete Appl. Math., 160(15):2142--2146, 2012] to determine whether for a given independent set $T$ there is an independent dominating set $D$ that dominates $T$ such that $T \cap D =\varnothing$? As an application of $(2/2/3)$-SAT problem we show that for every $r\geq 3$, this problem is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete. Among other results, we study the relationship between 1-perfect codes and the incidence coloring of graphs and as another application of our complexity results, we prove that for a given cubic graph $G$ deciding whether $G$ is 4-incidence colorable is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete

Motioning connected subgraphs into a graph

In this paper we study connected subgraphs and how to motion them inside a connected graph preserving the connectivity. We determine completely the group of movements.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figure

Push-Pull Block Puzzles are Hard

This paper proves that push-pull block puzzles in 3D are PSPACE-complete to solve, and push-pull block puzzles in 2D with thin walls are NP-hard to solve, settling an open question by Zubaran and Ritt. Push-pull block puzzles are a type of recreational motion planning problem, similar to Sokoban, that involve moving a `robot' on a square grid with $1 \times 1$ obstacles. The obstacles cannot be traversed by the robot, but some can be pushed and pulled by the robot into adjacent squares. Thin walls prevent movement between two adjacent squares. This work follows in a long line of algorithms and complexity work on similar problems. The 2D push-pull block puzzle shows up in the video games Pukoban as well as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, giving another proof of hardness for the latter. This variant of block-pushing puzzles is of particular interest because of its connections to reversibility, since any action (e.g., push or pull) can be inverted by another valid action (e.g., pull or push).Comment: Full version of CIAC 2017 paper. 17 page

Shortest Reconfiguration of Sliding Tokens on a Caterpillar

Suppose that we are given two independent sets I_b and I_r of a graph such that |I_b|=|I_r|, and imagine that a token is placed on each vertex in |I_b|. Then, the sliding token problem is to determine whether there exists a sequence of independent sets which transforms I_b into I_r so that each independent set in the sequence results from the previous one by sliding exactly one token along an edge in the graph. The sliding token problem is one of the reconfiguration problems that attract the attention from the viewpoint of theoretical computer science. The reconfiguration problems tend to be PSPACE-complete in general, and some polynomial time algorithms are shown in restricted cases. Recently, the problems that aim at finding a shortest reconfiguration sequence are investigated. For the 3SAT problem, a trichotomy for the complexity of finding the shortest sequence has been shown, that is, it is in P, NP-complete, or PSPACE-complete in certain conditions. In general, even if it is polynomial time solvable to decide whether two instances are reconfigured with each other, it can be NP-complete to find a shortest sequence between them. Namely, finding a shortest sequence between two independent sets can be more difficult than the decision problem of reconfigurability between them. In this paper, we show that the problem for finding a shortest sequence between two independent sets is polynomial time solvable for some graph classes which are subclasses of the class of interval graphs. More precisely, we can find a shortest sequence between two independent sets on a graph G in polynomial time if either G is a proper interval graph, a trivially perfect graph, or a caterpillar. As far as the authors know, this is the first polynomial time algorithm for the shortest sliding token problem for a graph class that requires detours

BHFFA*: Un nuevo algoritmo admisible de búsqueda bidireccional

A pesar de que inicialmente hubo un gran interés en los algoritmos de búsqueda bidireccionales, muy pronto se pensó que garantizar la optimalidad de las soluciones encontradas de este modo era muy complicado, y por ello se desestimó esta línea de investigación. En este artículo se muestra, sin embargo, que es posible superar los principales inconvenientes de la búsqueda bidireccional y desarrollar un nuevo algoritmo admisible, con una heurística consistente, y en términos muy sencillos. Además, a diferencia de otras implementaciones bidireccionales, la que se muestra aquí puede resultar en reducciones del tiempo necesario y de la memoria consumida de hasta el 99%, y siempre superior a su implementación unidireccional. Para constatarlo, se han estudiado dos dominios radicalmente diferentes: el grafo del Metro de Madrid y el juego del N-‘Puzle’

Explanation Generation for Multi-Modal Multi-Agent Path Finding with Optimal Resource Utilization using Answer Set Programming

The multi-agent path finding (MAPF) problem is a combinatorial search problem that aims at finding paths for multiple agents (e.g., robots) in an environment (e.g., an autonomous warehouse) such that no two agents collide with each other, and subject to some constraints on the lengths of paths. We consider a general version of MAPF, called mMAPF, that involves multi-modal transportation modes (e.g., due to velocity constraints) and consumption of different types of resources (e.g., batteries). The real-world applications of mMAPF require flexibility (e.g., solving variations of mMAPF) as well as explainability. Our earlier studies on mMAPF have focused on the former challenge of flexibility. In this study, we focus on the latter challenge of explainability, and introduce a method for generating explanations for queries regarding the feasibility and optimality of solutions, the nonexistence of solutions, and the observations about solutions. Our method is based on answer set programming. This paper is under consideration for acceptance in TPLP.Comment: Paper presented at the 36th International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP 2020), University Of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy, September 2020, 16 pages, 6 figure