In this note, we strengthen the inapproximation bound of O(logn) for the labeled perfect matching problem established in J. Monnot, The Labeled perfect matching in bipartite graphs, Information Processing Letters96 (2005) 81–88, using a self improving operation in some hard instances. It is interesting to note that this self improving operation does not work for all instances. Moreover, based on this approach we deduce that the problem does not admit constant approximation algorithms for connected...

We show that one-way Π2-alternating Turing machines cannot accept unary nonregular languages in o(log n) space. This holds for an accept mode of space complexity measure, defined as the worst cost of any accepting computation. This lower bound should be compared with the corresponding bound for one-way Σ2-alternating machines, that are able to accept unary nonregular languages in space O(log log n). Thus, Σ2-alternation is more powerful than Π2-alternation for space bounded one-way machines with...

This survey presents major results and issues related to the study of NPO problems in dynamic environments, that is, in settings where instances are allowed to undergo some modifications over time. In particular, the survey focuses on two complementary frameworks. The first one is the reoptimization framework, where an instance I that is already solved undergoes some local perturbation. The goal is then to make use of the information provided by the initial solution to compute a new solution. The...

This survey presents major results and issues related to the study of NPO problems in dynamic environments, that is, in settings where instances are allowed to undergo some modifications over time. In particular, the survey focuses on two complementary frameworks. The first one is the reoptimization framework, where an instance I that is already solved undergoes some local perturbation. The goal is then to make use of the information provided by the initial solution to compute a new solution. The...

The well-known 1-2-3 Conjecture addressed by Karoński, Luczak and Thomason asks whether the edges of every undirected graph G with no isolated edge can be assigned weights from {1, 2, 3} so that the sum of incident weights at each vertex yields a proper vertex-colouring of G. In this work, we consider a similar problem for oriented graphs. We show that the arcs of every oriented graph −G⃗ can be assigned weights from {1, 2, 3} so that every two adjacent vertices of −G⃗ receive distinct sums of outgoing...

The main objective of the polynomial approximation is the development of polynomial time algorithms for NP-hard problems, these algorithms guaranteeing feasible solutions lying “as near as possible” to the optimal ones. This work is the fist part of a couple of papers where we introduce the key-concepts of the polynomial approximation and present the main lines of a new formalism. Our purposes are, on the one hand, to present this theory and its objectives and, on the other hand, to discuss the...

Cet article est la suite de l’article «Autour de nouvelles notions pour l’analyse des algorithmes d’approximation : formalisme unifié et classes d’approximation» où nous avons présenté et discuté, dans le cadre d’un nouveau formalisme pour l’approximation polynomiale (algorithmique polynomiale à garanties de performances pour des problèmes NP-difficiles), des outils permettant d’évaluer, dans l’absolu, les proporiétés d’approximation de problèmes difficiles. Afin de répondre pleinement à l’objectif...

This paper is the continuation of the paper “Autour de nouvelles notions pour l'analyse des algorithmes d'approximation: Formalisme unifié et classes d'approximation” where a new formalism for polynomial approximation and its basic tools allowing an “absolute” (individual) evaluation the approximability properties of NP-hard problems have been presented and discussed. In order to be used for exhibiting a structure for the class NPO (the optimization problems of NP), these tools must be enriched...

Cet article est le premier d'une série de deux articles où nous présentons les principales caractéristiques d'un nouveau formalisme pour l'approximation polynomiale (algorithmique polynomiale à garanties de performances pour les problèmes NP-difficiles). Ce travail est l'occasion d'un regard critique sur ce domaine et de discussions sur la pertinence des notions usuelles. Il est aussi l'occasion de se familiariser avec l'approximation polynomiale, de comprendre ses enjeux et ses méthodes. Ces deux...

Suppose a graph G = (V,E) with edge weights w(e) and edges partitioned into disjoint categories S₁,...,Sₚ is given. We consider optimization problems on G defined by a family of feasible sets (G) and the following objective function: $L₅\left(D\right)=ma{x}_{1\le i\le p}(ma{x}_{e\in S_i\cap D}w\left(e\right)-mi{n}_{e\in S_i\cap D}w\left(e\right))$ For an arbitrary number of categories we show that the L₅-perfect matching, L₅-a-b path, L₅-spanning tree problems and L₅-Hamilton cycle (on a Halin graph) problem are NP-complete. We also summarize polynomiality results concerning above objective functions for arbitrary...

In this paper, we develop a divide-and-conquer approach, called block decomposition, to solve the minimum geodetic set problem. This provides us with a unified approach for all graphs admitting blocks for which the problem of finding a minimum geodetic set containing a given set of vertices (g-extension problem) can be efficiently solved. Our method allows us to derive linear time algorithms for the minimum geodetic set problem in (a proper superclass of) block-cacti and monopolar chordal graphs....

A key element of microscopic traffic flow simulation is the so-called car-following model, describing the way in which a typical driver interacts with other vehicles on the road. This model is typically continuous and traffic micro-simulator updates its vehicle positions by a numerical integration scheme. While increasing the order of the scheme should lead to more accurate results, most micro-simulators employ the simplest Euler rule. In our contribution, inspired by [1], we will provide some additional...

We study the succinctness of monadic second-order logic and a variety of monadic fixed point logics on trees. All these languages are known to have the same expressive power on trees, but some can express the same queries much more succinctly than others. For example, we show that, under some complexity theoretic assumption, monadic second-order logic is non-elementarily more succinct than monadic least fixed point logic, which in turn is non-elementarily more succinct than monadic datalog. Succinctness...

We study the succinctness of monadic second-order logic and a variety of monadic fixed point logics on trees. All these languages are known to have the same expressive power on trees, but some can express the same queries much more succinctly than others. For example, we show that, under some complexity theoretic assumption, monadic second-order logic is non-elementarily more succinct than monadic least fixed point logic, which in turn is non-elementarily more succinct than monadic datalog.
Succinctness...

For a given partial solution, the partial inverse problem is to modify the coefficients such that there is a full solution containing the partial solution, while the full solution becomes optimal under new coefficients, and the total modification is minimum. In this paper, we show that the partial inverse assignment problem and the partial inverse minimum cut problem are NP-hard if there are bound constraints on the changes of coefficients.

For a given partial solution, the partial inverse problem is to modify the coefficients such that there is a full solution containing the partial solution, while the full solution becomes optimal under new coefficients, and the total modification is minimum. In this paper, we show that the partial inverse assignment problem and the partial inverse minimum cut problem are NP-hard if there are bound constraints on the changes of coefficients.