Local Maximum Stable Sets Greedoids Stemmed from Very Well-Covered Graphs

A maximum stable set in a graph G is a stable set of maximum cardinality. S is called a local maximum stable set of G if S is a maximum stable set of the subgraph induced by the closed neighborhood of S. A greedoid (V,F) is called a local maximum stable set greedoid if there exists a graph G=(V,E) such that its family of local maximum stable sets coinsides with (V,F). It has been shown that the family local maximum stable sets of a forest T forms a greedoid on its vertex set. In this paper we demonstrate that if G is a very well-covered graph, then its family of local maximum stable sets is a greedoid if and only if G has a unique perfect matching.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Computing Unique Maximum Matchings in O(m) time for Konig-Egervary Graphs and Unicyclic Graphs

Let alpha(G) denote the maximum size of an independent set of vertices and mu(G) be the cardinality of a maximum matching in a graph G. A matching saturating all the vertices is perfect. If alpha(G) + mu(G) equals the number of vertices of G, then it is called a Konig-Egervary graph. A graph is unicyclic if it has a unique cycle. In 2010, Bartha conjectured that a unique perfect matching, if it exists, can be found in O(m) time, where m is the number of edges. In this paper we validate this conjecture for Konig-Egervary graphs and unicylic graphs. We propose a variation of Karp-Sipser leaf-removal algorithm (Karp and Spiser, 1981), which ends with an empty graph if and only if the original graph is a Konig-Egervary graph with a unique perfect matching obtained as an output as well. We also show that a unicyclic non-bipartite graph G may have at most one perfect matching, and this is the case where G is a Konig-Egervary graph.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Greedy and dynamic programming by calculation

Dissertação mestrado integrado em Informatics EngineeringThe mathematical study of the greedy algorithm provides a blueprint for the study of Dynamic Programming (DP), whose body of knowledge is largely unorganized, remaining obscure to a large part of the software engineering community. This study aims to structure this body of knowledge, narrowing the gap between a purely examplebased approach to DP and its scientific foundations. To that effect, matroid theory is leveraged through a pointfree relation algebra, which is applied to greedy and DP problems. A catalogue of such problems is compiled, and a broad characterization of DP algorithms is given. Alongside, the theory underlying the thinning relational operator is explored.O estudo matemático do algoritmo ganancioso («greedy») serve como guia para o estudo da programação dinâmica, cujo corpo de conhecimento permanece desorganizado e obscuro a uma grande parte da comunidade de engenharia de software. Este estudo visa estruturar esse corpo de conhecimento, fazendo a ponte entre a abordagem popular baseada em exemplos e os métodos mais teóricos da literatura científica. Para esse efeito, a teoria dos matroides é explorada pelo uso de uma álgebra de relações pointfree, e aplicada a problemas «greedy» e de programação dinâmica. Um catálogo de tais problemas é compilado, e é feita uma caraterização geral de algoritmos de programação dinâmica. Em paralelo, é explorada a teoria do combinador relacional de «thinning».This work is financed by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project UIDB/50014/202

A system-theoretic approach to multi-agent models

A system-theoretic model for cooperative settings is presented that unifies and ex- tends the models of classical cooperative games and coalition formation processes and their generalizations. The model is based on the notions of system, state and transi- tion graph. The latter describes changes of a system over time in terms of actions governed by individuals or groups of individuals. Contrary to classic models, the pre- sented model is not restricted to acyclic settings and allows the transition graph to have cycles. Time-dependent solutions to allocation problems are proposed and discussed. In par- ticular, Weber’s theory of randomized values is generalized as well as the notion of semi-values. Convergence assertions are made in some cases, and the concept of the Cesàro value of an allocation mechanism is introduced in order to achieve convergence for a wide range of allocation mechanisms. Quantum allocation mechanisms are de- fined, which are induced by quantum random walks on the transition graph and it is shown that they satisfy certain fairness criteria. A concept for Weber sets and two dif- ferent concepts of cores are proposed in the acyclic case, and it is shown under some mild assumptions that both cores are subsets of the Weber set. Moreover, the model of non-cooperative games in extensive form is generalized such that the presented model achieves a mutual framework for cooperative and non-co- operative games. A coherency to welfare economics is made and to each allocation mechanism a social welfare function is proposed