3,902 research outputs found
Online Bin Covering: Expectations vs. Guarantees
Bin covering is a dual version of classic bin packing. Thus, the goal is to
cover as many bins as possible, where covering a bin means packing items of
total size at least one in the bin.
For online bin covering, competitive analysis fails to distinguish between
most algorithms of interest; all "reasonable" algorithms have a competitive
ratio of 1/2. Thus, in order to get a better understanding of the combinatorial
difficulties in solving this problem, we turn to other performance measures,
namely relative worst order, random order, and max/max analysis, as well as
analyzing input with restricted or uniformly distributed item sizes. In this
way, our study also supplements the ongoing systematic studies of the relative
strengths of various performance measures.
Two classic algorithms for online bin packing that have natural dual versions
are Harmonic and Next-Fit. Even though the algorithms are quite different in
nature, the dual versions are not separated by competitive analysis. We make
the case that when guarantees are needed, even under restricted input
sequences, dual Harmonic is preferable. In addition, we establish quite robust
theoretical results showing that if items come from a uniform distribution or
even if just the ordering of items is uniformly random, then dual Next-Fit is
the right choice.Comment: IMADA-preprint-c
Online Bin Packing with Advice
We consider the online bin packing problem under the advice complexity model
where the 'online constraint' is relaxed and an algorithm receives partial
information about the future requests. We provide tight upper and lower bounds
for the amount of advice an algorithm needs to achieve an optimal packing. We
also introduce an algorithm that, when provided with log n + o(log n) bits of
advice, achieves a competitive ratio of 3/2 for the general problem. This
algorithm is simple and is expected to find real-world applications. We
introduce another algorithm that receives 2n + o(n) bits of advice and achieves
a competitive ratio of 4/3 + {\epsilon}. Finally, we provide a lower bound
argument that implies that advice of linear size is required for an algorithm
to achieve a competitive ratio better than 9/8.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure (2 subfigures
On the List Update Problem with Advice
We study the online list update problem under the advice model of
computation. Under this model, an online algorithm receives partial information
about the unknown parts of the input in the form of some bits of advice
generated by a benevolent offline oracle. We show that advice of linear size is
required and sufficient for a deterministic algorithm to achieve an optimal
solution or even a competitive ratio better than . On the other hand, we
show that surprisingly two bits of advice are sufficient to break the lower
bound of on the competitive ratio of deterministic online algorithms and
achieve a deterministic algorithm with a competitive ratio of . In this
upper-bound argument, the bits of advice determine the algorithm with smaller
cost among three classical online algorithms, TIMESTAMP and two members of the
MTF2 family of algorithms. We also show that MTF2 algorithms are
-competitive
Weighted Modal Transition Systems
Specification theories as a tool in model-driven development processes of
component-based software systems have recently attracted a considerable
attention. Current specification theories are however qualitative in nature,
and therefore fragile in the sense that the inevitable approximation of systems
by models, combined with the fundamental unpredictability of hardware
platforms, makes it difficult to transfer conclusions about the behavior, based
on models, to the actual system. Hence this approach is arguably unsuited for
modern software systems. We propose here the first specification theory which
allows to capture quantitative aspects during the refinement and implementation
process, thus leveraging the problems of the qualitative setting.
Our proposed quantitative specification framework uses weighted modal
transition systems as a formal model of specifications. These are labeled
transition systems with the additional feature that they can model optional
behavior which may or may not be implemented by the system. Satisfaction and
refinement is lifted from the well-known qualitative to our quantitative
setting, by introducing a notion of distances between weighted modal transition
systems. We show that quantitative versions of parallel composition as well as
quotient (the dual to parallel composition) inherit the properties from the
Boolean setting.Comment: Submitted to Formal Methods in System Desig
Online Bin Packing with Advice
We consider the online bin packing problem under the advice complexity model where the "online constraint" is relaxed and an algorithm receives partial information about the future requests. We provide tight upper and lower bounds for the amount of advice an algorithm needs to achieve an optimal packing. We also introduce an algorithm that, when provided with log(n)+o(log(n)) bits of advice, achieves a competitive ratio of 3/2 for the general problem. This algorithm is simple and is expected to find real-world applications. We introduce another algorithm that receives 2n+o(n) bits of advice and achieves a competitive ratio of 4/3+e. Finally, we provide a lower bound argument that implies that advice of linear size is required for an algorithm to achieve a competitive ratio better than 9/8
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