On the Duality of Semiantichains and Unichain Coverings

We study a min-max relation conjectured by Saks and West: For any two posets $P$ and $Q$ the size of a maximum semiantichain and the size of a minimum unichain covering in the product $P\times Q$ are equal. For positive we state conditions on $P$ and $Q$ that imply the min-max relation. Based on these conditions we identify some new families of posets where the conjecture holds and get easy proofs for several instances where the conjecture had been verified before. However, we also have examples showing that in general the min-max relation is false, i.e., we disprove the Saks-West conjecture.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Structure Analysis of Some Generalizations of Matchings and Matroids under Algorithmic Aspects of Matchings and Matroids Under Algorithmic Aspects

Combinatorial optimization problems whose underlying structures are matchings or matroids are well-known to be solvable with efficient algorithms. Matroids can even be characterized by a simple greedy algorithm. In the first part of this thesis, some generalizations of matroids which allow the ground set to be partially ordered are considered. In particular, it will be shown that a special type of lattice polyhedra, for which Dietrich and Hoffman recently established a dual greedy algorithm, can be reduced to ordinary polymatroids. Moreover, strong exchange structures, Gauss greedoids and Delta-matroids will be extended from Boolean lattices to general distributive lattices, and the resulting structures will be characterized by certain greedy-type algorithms. While a matching of maximal size can be determined by a polynomial algorithm, the dual problem of finding a vertex cover of minimal size in general graphs is one of the hardest problems in combinatorial optimization. However, in case the graph belongs to the class of K\"onig-Egerv\'ary graphs, a maximum matching can be used to construct a minimum vertex cover. Lovasz and Korach characterized König-Egervary graphs by the exclusion of forbidden subgraphs. In the second part of this dissertation, the structure of König-Egervary graphs and the more general Red/Blue-split graphs will be analyzed. Red/Blue-split graphs have red and blue colored edges and the vertices of which can be split into two stable sets with respect to the red and blue edges, respectively. An algorithm that either determines a feasible partition of the vertices, or returns a red-blue colored subgraph (called ``flower'') characterizing non-Red/Blue-split graphs will be presented. This characterization allows the deduction of Lovasz and Korach's characterizations of König-Egerv\'ary graphs in case the red edges of the flower form a maximum matching. Furthermore, weighted Red/Blue-split graphs which model integrally solvable simple systems are introduced. A simple system is an inequality system where the sum of absolute values in each row of the integral matrix does not exceed the value two. A shortest-path algorithm and the presented Red/Blue-split algorithm will be used to find an integral solution of a simple system. These two algorithms lead to a characterization of weighted Red/Blue-split graphs by forbidden weighted subgraphs

Data mining and knowledge discovery: a guided approach base on monotone boolean functions

This dissertation deals with an important problem in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (DM & KD), and Information Technology (IT) in general. It addresses the problem of efficiently learning monotone Boolean functions via membership queries to oracles. The monotone Boolean function can be thought of as a phenomenon, such as breast cancer or a computer crash, together with a set of predictor variables. The oracle can be thought of as an entity that knows the underlying monotone Boolean function, and provides a Boolean response to each query. In practice, it may take the shape of a human expert, or it may be the outcome of performing tasks such as running experiments or searching large databases. Monotone Boolean functions have a general knowledge representation power and are inherently frequent in applications. A key goal of this dissertation is to demonstrate the wide spectrum of important real-life applications that can be analyzed by using the new proposed computational approaches. The applications of breast cancer diagnosis, computer crashing, college acceptance policies, and record linkage in databases are here used to demonstrate this point and illustrate the algorithmic details. Monotone Boolean functions have the added benefit of being intuitive. This property is perhaps the most important in learning environments, especially when human interaction is involved, since people tend to make better use of knowledge they can easily interpret, understand, validate, and remember. The main goal of this dissertation is to design new algorithms that can minimize the average number of queries used to completely reconstruct monotone Boolean functions defined on a finite set of vectors V = {0,1}^n. The optimal query selections are found via a recursive algorithm in exponential time (in the size of V). The optimality conditions are then summarized in the simple form of evaluative criteria, which are near optimal and only take polynomial time to compute. Extensive unbiased empirical results show that the evaluative criterion approach is far superior to any of the existing methods. In fact, the reduction in average number of queries increases exponentially with the number of variables n, and faster than exponentially with the oracle\u27s error rate

Weighted Branching Automata: Combining Concurrency and Weights

Eine der stärksten Erweiterungen der klassischen Theorie formaler Sprachen und Automaten ist die Einbeziehung von Gewichten oder Vielfachheiten aus einem Halbring. Diese Dissertation untersucht gewichtete Automaten über Strukturen mit Nebenläufigkeit. Wir erweitern die Arbeit von Lodaya und Weil und erhalten so ein Modell gewichteter verzweigender Automaten, in dem die Berechnung des Gewichts einer parallelen Komposition anders als die einer sequentiellen Komposition gehandhabt wird. Die von Lodaya und Weil eingeführten Automaten modellieren Nebenläufigkeit durch Verzweigen. Ein verzweigender Automat ist ein endlicher Automat mit drei verschiedenen Typen von Transitionen. Sequentielle Transitionen überführen durch Ausführen eines Ereignisses einen Zustand in einen anderen. Dagegen sind Gabel- und Binde-Transitionen für das Verzweigen verantwortlich. Läufe dieser Automaten werden beschrieben durch sequentiell-parallele posets, kurz sp-posets. Alle Transitionen des Automaten werden in unserem Modell mit Gewichten versehen. Neben dem Nichtdeterminismus und der sequentiellen Komposition wollen wir nun auch die parallele Komposition quantitativ behandeln. Dafür benötigen wir eine Gewichtsstruktur mit einer Addition, einer sequentiellen und einer parallelen Multiplikation. Solch eine Struktur, genannt Bihalbring, besteht damit de facto aus zwei Halbringen mit derselben additiven Struktur. Weiterhin muss die parallele Multiplikation kommutativ sein. Das Verhalten eines gewichteten verzweigenden Automaten ist dann eine Funktion, die jeder sp-poset ein Element eines Bihalbrings zuordnet. Das Hauptresultat charakterisiert das Verhalten dieser Automaten im Sinne von Kleenes und Schützenbergers Sätzen über das Zusammenfallen der Klassen der erkennbaren und der rationalen Sprachen bzw. formalen Potenzreihen. Darüber hinaus untersuchen wir den Abschluss dieser Verhalten unter allen rationalen Operationen und unter dem Hadamard-Produkt. Letztlich diskutieren wir Zusammenhänge zwischen Reihen und Sprachen im Rahmen verzweigender Automaten.One of the most powerful extensions of classical formal language and automata theory is the consideration of weights or multiplicities from a semiring. This thesis investigates weighted automata over structures incorporating concurrency. Extending work by Lodaya and Weil, we propose a model of weighted branching automata in which the calculation of the weight of a parallel composition is handled differently from the calculation of the weight of a sequential composition. The automata as proposed by Lodaya and Weil model concurrency by branching. A branching automaton is a finite-state device with three different types of transitions. Sequential transitions transform a state into another one by executing an action. In contrast, fork and join transitions are responsible for branching. Executions of such systems can be described by sequential-parallel posets, or sp-posets for short. In the model considered here all kinds of transitions are equipped with weights. Beside non-determinism and sequential composition we would like to deal with the parallel composition in a quantitative way. Therefore, we are in need of a weight structure equipped with addition, a sequential, and, moreover, a parallel multiplication. Such a structure, called a bisemiring, is actually composed of two semirings with the same additive structure. Moreover, the parallel multiplication has to be commutative. Now, the behavior of a weighted branching automaton is a function that associates with every sp-poset an element from the bisemiring. The main result characterizes the behavior of these automata in the spirit of Kleene's and Schützenberger's theorems about the coincidence of recognizable and rational languages, and formal power series, respectively. Moreover, we investigate the closure of behaviors under all rational operations and under Hadamard-product. Finally, we discuss connections between series and languages within our setting

Delaunay Bifiltrations of Functions on Point Clouds

The Delaunay filtration $\mathcal{D}_{\bullet}(X)$ of a point cloud $X\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ is a central tool of computational topology. Its use is justified by the topological equivalence of $\mathcal{D}_{\bullet}(X)$ and the offset (i.e., union-of-balls) filtration of $X$. Given a function $\gamma: X \to \mathbb{R}$, we introduce a Delaunay bifiltration $\mathcal{DC}_{\bullet}(\gamma)$ that satisfies an analogous topological equivalence, ensuring that $\mathcal{DC}_{\bullet}(\gamma)$ topologically encodes the offset filtrations of all sublevel sets of $\gamma$, as well as the topological relations between them. $\mathcal{DC}_{\bullet}(\gamma)$ is of size $O(|X|^{\lceil\frac{d+1}{2}\rceil})$, which for $d$ odd matches the worst-case size of $\mathcal{D}_{\bullet}(X)$. Adapting the Bowyer-Watson algorithm for computing Delaunay triangulations, we give a simple, practical algorithm to compute $\mathcal{DC}_{\bullet}(\gamma)$ in time $O(|X|^{\lceil \frac{d}{2}\rceil +1})$. Our implementation, based on CGAL, computes $\mathcal{DC}_{\bullet}(\gamma)$ with modest overhead compared to computing $\mathcal{D}_{\bullet}(X)$, and handles tens of thousands of points in $\mathbb{R}^3$ within seconds.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 8 tables. To appear in the proceedings of SODA2

Hardness and Approximation of Submodular Minimum Linear Ordering Problems

The minimum linear ordering problem (MLOP) generalizes well-known combinatorial optimization problems such as minimum linear arrangement and minimum sum set cover. MLOP seeks to minimize an aggregated cost $f(\cdot)$ due to an ordering $\sigma$ of the items (say $[n]$), i.e., $\min_{\sigma} \sum_{i\in [n]} f(E_{i,\sigma})$, where $E_{i,\sigma}$ is the set of items mapped by $\sigma$ to indices $[i]$. Despite an extensive literature on MLOP variants and approximations for these, it was unclear whether the graphic matroid MLOP was NP-hard. We settle this question through non-trivial reductions from mininimum latency vertex cover and minimum sum vertex cover problems. We further propose a new combinatorial algorithm for approximating monotone submodular MLOP, using the theory of principal partitions. This is in contrast to the rounding algorithm by Iwata, Tetali, and Tripathi [ITT2012], using Lov\'asz extension of submodular functions. We show a $(2-\frac{1+\ell_{f}}{1+|E|})$-approximation for monotone submodular MLOP where $\ell_{f}=\frac{f(E)}{\max_{x\in E}f(\{x\})}$ satisfies $1 \leq \ell_f \leq |E|$. Our theory provides new approximation bounds for special cases of the problem, in particular a $(2-\frac{1+r(E)}{1+|E|})$-approximation for the matroid MLOP, where $f = r$ is the rank function of a matroid. We further show that minimum latency vertex cover (MLVC) is $\frac{4}{3}$-approximable, by which we also lower bound the integrality gap of its natural LP relaxation, which might be of independent interest