An approximation algorithm for K-best enumeration of minimal connected edge dominating sets with cardinality constraints

In the subgraph counting problem, we are given a (large) input graph G(V, E) and a (small) target graph H (e.g., a triangle); the goal is to estimate the number of occurrences of H in G. Our focus here is on designing sublinear-time algorithms for approximately computing number of occurrences of H in G in the setting where the algorithm is given query access to G. This problem has been studied in several recent papers which primarily focused on specific families of graphs H such as triangles, cliques, and stars. However, not much is known about approximate counting of arbitrary graphs H in the literature. This is in sharp contrast to the closely related subgraph enumeration problem that has received significant attention in the database community as the database join problem. The AGM bound shows that the maximum number of occurrences of any arbitrary subgraph H in a graph G with m edges is O(m^{rho(H)}), where rho(H) is the fractional edge-cover of H, and enumeration algorithms with matching runtime are known for any H. We bridge this gap between subgraph counting and subgraph enumeration by designing a simple sublinear-time algorithm that can estimate the number of occurrences of any arbitrary graph H in G, denoted by #H, to within a (1 +/- epsilon)-approximation with high probability in O(m^{rho(H)}/#H) * poly(log(n),1/epsilon) time. Our algorithm is allowed the standard set of queries for general graphs, namely degree queries, pair queries and neighbor queries, plus an additional edge-sample query that returns an edge chosen uniformly at random. The performance of our algorithm matches those of Eden et al. [FOCS 2015, STOC 2018] for counting triangles and cliques and extend them to all choices of subgraph H under the additional assumption of edge-sample queries.

The maximum cut (MAX-CUT) problem is to find a bipartition of the vertices in a given graph such that the number of edges with ends in different sets reaches the largest. Though, several experimental investigations have shown that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are efficient for this NP-complete problem, there is little theoretical work about EAs on the problem. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the performance of EAs on the MAX-CUT problem. We find that both the (1+1) EA and the (1+1) EA*, two simple EAs, efficiently achieve approximation solutions of (m/2)+(1/4)s(G) and (m/2)+(1/2)(√{8m+1}-1), where m and s(G) are respectively the number of edges and the number of odd degree vertices in the input graph. We also reveal that for a given integer k the (1+1) EA* finds a cut of size at least k in expected runtime O(nm+1/δ(4k)) and a cut of size at least (m/2)+k in expected runtime O(n(2)m+1/δ((64/3)k(2))), where δ is a constant mutation probability and n is the number of vertices in the input graph. Finally, we show that the (1+1) EA and the (1+1) EA* are better than some local search algorithms in one instance, and we also show that these two simple EAs may not be efficient in another instance.

Subgraph enumeration is a fundamental problem in graph analytics, which aims to find all instances of a given query graph on a large data graph. In this paper, we propose a system called HUGE to efficiently process subgraph enumeration at scale in the distributed context. HUGE features 1) an optimiser to compute an advanced execution plan without the constraints of existing works; 2) a hybrid communication layer that supports both pushing and pulling communication; 3) a novel two-stage execution mode with a lock-free and zero-copy cache design; 4) a BFS/DFS-adaptive scheduler to bound memory consumption; and 5) two-layer intra- and inter-machine load balancing. HUGE is generic such that all existing distributed subgraph enumeration algorithms can be plugged in to enjoy automatic speed up and bounded-memory execution.

In this paper, we study the uniform capacitated k-median problem. In the problem, we are given a set F of potential facility locations, a set C of clients, a metric d over F ∪ C, an upper bound k on the number of facilities we can open and an upper bound u on the number of clients each facility can serve. We need to open a subset S ⊆ F of k facilities and connect clients in C to facilities in S so that each facility is connected by at most u clients. The goal is to minimize the total connection cost over all clients. Obtaining a constant approximation algorithm for this problem is a notorious open problem; most previous works gave constant approximations by either violating the capacity constraints or the cardinality constraint. Notably, all these algorithms are based on the natural LP-relaxation for the problem. The LP-relaxation has unbounded integrality gap, even when we are allowed to violate the capacity constraints or the cardinality constraint by a factor of 2 − e.Our result is an exp(O(1/e2))-approximation algorithm for the problem that violates the cardinality constraint by a factor of 1 + e. That is, we find a solution that opens at most (1 + e)k facilities whose cost is at most exp(O(1/e2)) times the optimum solution when at most k facilities can be open. This is already beyond the capability of the natural LP relaxation, as it has unbounded integrality gap even if we are allowed to open (2 − e)k facilities. Indeed, our result is based on a novel LP for this problem. We hope that this LP is the first step towards a constant approximation for capacitated k-median.The version as we described is the hard-capacitated version of the problem, as we can only open one facility at each location. This is as opposed to the soft-capacitated version, in which we are allowed to open more than one facilities at each location. The hard-capacitated version is more general, since one can convert a soft-capacitated instance to a hard-capacitated instance by making enough copies of each facility location. We give a simple proof that in the uniform capacitated case, the soft-capacitated version and the hard-capacitated version are actually equivalent, up to a small constant loss in the approximation ratio. Moreover, we show that the given potential facility locations do not matter: we can assume F = C.

This thesis delves into critical challenges associated with subgraph analysis in large-scale graphs. The proliferation of data in domains such as social networks, Internet applications, and biological networks necessitates a deep understanding of relationships modeled as graphs. The complexity and scale of these graphs pose challenges for efficient extraction of meaningful information. The thesis focuses on three interconnected research problems: subgraph counting in fully-dynamic graph streams, k-clique listing in large general graphs, and maximal clique enumeration in large general graphs. The first research problem addresses subgraph counting in fully-dynamic graph streams, where graphs evolve dynamically with edge insertions and deletions. Traditional ap- proaches sample edges uniformly, overlooking the varying importance of edges. The thesis introduces a novel weighted sampling framework, WSD, for fully-dynamic graph streams, which samples the edges based on their weights that indicate their importance and reflect their properties. It determines the weights of edges in a data-driven fashion, using a novel method based on reinforcement learning. We conduct extensive experi- ments to verify that our technique can produce estimates with smaller errors while often running faster compared with existing algorithms. The second research problem focuses on k-clique listing in large general graphs, a critical task for applications such as community detection and network analysis. The state-of-the-art algorithms all adopt a branch-and-bound (BB) framework with a vertex-oriented branching strategy (called VBBkC), which forms a sub-branch by expanding a partial k-clique with a vertex. These algorithms have the time complexity of O(km(\delta/2)^(k-2)), where m is the number of edges in the graph and \delta is the degeneracy of the graph. In this thesis, we propose a BB framework with a new edge-oriented branching (called EBBkC), which forms a sub-branch by expanding a partial k-clique with two vertices that connect each other (which correspond to an edge). We explore various edge orderings for EBBkC such that it achieves a time complexity of O(m\delta + km(\tau/2)^(k-2), where \tau is an integer related to the maximum truss number of the graph and we have \tau<\delta. The time complexity of EBBkC is better than that of VBBkC algorithms for k>3 since both O(m\delta) and O(km(\tau/2)^(k-2) are bounded by O(km(\delta/2)^(k-2)). Furthermore, we develop specialized algorithms for sub-branches on dense graphs so that we can early-terminate them and apply the specialized algorithms. We conduct extensive experiments on 19 real graphs, and the results show that our newly developed EBBkC based algorithms with the early termination technique consistently and largely outperform the state-of-the- art (VBBkC based) algorithms. The third research problem centers on maximal clique enumeration (MCE) in large general graphs, crucial for tasks like community detection and biological network analysis. Existing algorithms typically adopt the branch-and-bound framework with the vertex-oriented Bron-Kerbosch (BK) branching strategy, which forms the sub-branches by expanding the partial clique with a vertex. The state-of-the-arts have a time complexity no better than O(n\delta 3^(\delta/3)), where n is the number of vertices in the graph and \delta is the degeneracy of the graph. We introduce a novel approach, HBBMC, a hybrid framework combining vertex-oriented and edge-oriented BK branching, where the latter adopts a new branch-and-bound framework which forms the sub-branches by expanding the partial clique with a edge. This hybrid strategy enables more efficient pruning of sub-branches, resulting in a worst-case time complexity of O(m\delta + m\tau 3^(\tau/3)), where \tau is related to the maximum truss number. This theoretical result is better than that of the state-of-the-arts when \delta > \tau + (3/ln3) \rho, a condition satisfied by many real-world graphs, where \rho is the edge density of the graph defined as \rho = m/n. To further enhance efficiency, we introduce an early termination technique applicable to all branch-and-bound frameworks, which leverages the topological information of the graphs within the branches. This technique accelerates the enumeration process without affecting worst-case time complexity. Extensive experiments on real and synthetic graphs demonstrate the superior performance of our approach. The proposed HBBMC algorithm with the early termination technique consistently outperforms existing vertex-oriented algorithms. In summary, this thesis makes significant contributions by introducing novel algo- rithms, frameworks, and methodologies to address subgraph-related problems. The pro- posed approaches show superior performance across various real-world and synthetic datasets, providing efficient solutions for graph analysis in large-scale, dynamic, and complex scenarios.

We consider optimization problems on weighted graphs where vertex and edge weights are polynomial functions of a parameter λ. We show that, if a problem satisfies certain regularity properties and the underlying graph has bounded tree-width, the number of changes in the optimum solution is polynomially bounded. We also show that the description of the sequence of optimum solutions can be constructed in polynomial time and that certain parametric search problems can be solved in O(n log n) time, where n is the number of vertices in the graph.KeywordsComposition OperatorSteiner TreeParse TreeLower EnvelopeOuterplanar GraphThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

We consider the problem of maximizing monotone submodular function over the bounded integer lattice with a cardinality constraint. Function [Formula: see text] is submodular over integer lattice if [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], where ∨ and ∧ represent elementwise maximum and minimum, respectively. Let [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text], we study the problem of maximizing submodular function [Formula: see text] with constraints [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. A random greedy [Formula: see text]-approximation algorithm and a deterministic [Formula: see text]-approximation algorithm are proposed in this paper. Both algorithms work in value oracle model. In the random greedy algorithm, we assume the monotone submodular function satisfies diminishing return property, which is not an equivalent definition of submodularity on integer lattice. Additionally, our random greedy algorithm makes [Formula: see text] value oracle queries and deterministic algorithm makes [Formula: see text] value oracle queries.

Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT) is an optimization variant of the Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) problem. In general, MaxSAT algorithms perform a succession of SAT solver calls to reach an optimum solution making extensive use of cardinality constraints. Many of these algorithms are non-incremental in nature, i.e. at each iteration the formula is rebuilt and no knowledge is reused from one iteration to another. In this paper, we exploit the knowledge acquired across iterations using novel schemes to use cardinality constraints in an incremental fashion. We integrate these schemes with several MaxSAT algorithms. Our experimental results show a significant performance boost for these algorithms as compared to their non-incremental counterparts. These results suggest that incremental cardinality constraints could be beneficial for other constraint solving domains.

This article studies how to identify strategies for mitigating cyber-infrastructure vulnerabilities. We propose an optimization framework that prioritizes the investment in security mitigations to maximize the coverage of vulnerabilities. We use multiple coverage to reflect the implementation of a layered defense, and we consider the possibility of coverage failure to address the uncertainty in the effectiveness of some mitigations. Budgeted Maximum Multiple Coverage (BMMC) problems are formulated, and we demonstrate that the problems are submodular maximization problems subject to a knapsack constraint. Other variants of the problem are formulated given different possible requirements for selecting mitigations, including unit cost cardinality constraints and group cardinality constraints. We design greedy approximation algorithms for identifying near-optimal solutions to the models. We demonstrate an optimal (1–1/e)-approximation ratio for BMMC and a variation of BMMC that considers the possibility of coverage failure, and a 1/2-approximation ratio for a variation of BMMC that uses a cardinality constraint and group cardinality constraints. The computational study suggests that our models yield robust solutions that use a layered defense and provide an effective mechanism to hedge against the risk of possible coverage failure. We also find that the approximation algorithms efficiently identify near-optimal solutions, and that a Benders branch-and-cut algorithm we propose can find provably optimal solutions to the vast majority of our test instances within an hour for the variations of the proposed models that consider coverage failures.

Listing, generating or enumerating objects of specified type is one of the principal tasks in algorithmics. In graph algorithms one often enumerates vertex subsets satisfying a certain property. We study the enumeration of all minimal connected dominating sets of an input graph from various graph classes of bounded chordality. We establish enumeration algorithms as well as lower and upper bounds for the maximum number of minimal connected dominating sets in such graphs. In particular, we present algorithms to enumerate all minimal connected dominating sets of chordal graphs in time O(1.7159^n), of split graphs in time O(1.3803^n), and of AT-free, strongly chordal, and distance-hereditary graphs in time O^*(3^{n/3}), where n is the number of vertices of the input graph. Our algorithms imply corresponding upper bounds for the number of minimal connected dominating sets for these graph classes.

Optimization of Pearl's method of conditioning and greedy-like approximation algorithms for the vertex feedback set problem

Maximal biclique (also known as complete bipartite) subgraphs can model many applications in Web mining, business, and bioinformatics. Enumerating maximal biclique subgraphs from a graph is a computationally challenging problem, as the size of the output can become exponentially large with respect to the vertex number when the graph grows. In this paper, we efficiently enumerate them through the use of closed patterns of the adjacency matrix of the graph. For an undirected graph G without self-loops, we prove that 1) the number of closed patterns in the adjacency matrix of G is even, 2) the number of the closed patterns is precisely double the number of maximal biclique subgraphs of G, and 3) for every maximal biclique subgraph, there always exists a unique pair of closed patterns that matches the two vertex sets of the subgraph. Therefore, the problem of enumerating maximal bicliques can be solved by using efficient algorithms for mining closed patterns, which are algorithms extensively studied in the data mining field. However, this direct use of existing algorithms causes a duplicated enumeration. To achieve high efficiency, we propose an O(mn) time delay algorithm for a nonduplicated enumeration, in particular, for enumerating those maximal bicliques with a large size, where m and n. are the number of edges and vertices of the graph, respectively. We evaluate the high efficiency of our algorithm by comparing it to state- of-the-art algorithms on three categories of graphs: randomly generated graphs, benchmarks, and a real-life protein interaction network. In this paper, we also prove that if self-loops are allowed in a graph, then the number of closed patterns in the adjacency matrix is not necessarily even, but the maximal bicliques are exactly the same as those of the graph after removing all the self-loops.

We present a polynomial-space algorithm that computes the number of independent sets of any input graph in time O(1.1389^n) for graphs with maximum degree 3 and in time O(1.2356^n) for general graphs, where n is the number of vertices in the input graph. Together with the inclusion-exclusion approach of Björklund, Husfeldt, and Koivisto [SIAM J. Comput. 2009], this leads to a faster polynomial-space algorithm for the graph coloring problem with running time O(2.2356^n) as well as an exponential-space O(1.2330^n) time algorithm for counting independent sets. Our main algorithm counts independent sets in graphs with maximum degree at most 3 and no vertex with three neighbors of degree 3. This polynomial-space algorithm is designed and analyzed using the recently introduced Separate, Measure and Conquer approach [Gaspers & Sorkin, ICALP 2015]. Using Wahlström’s compound measure approach, this improvement in running time for small degree graphs is then bootstrapped to larger degrees, giving the improvement for general graphs. Combining both approaches leads to some inflexibility in choosing vertices to branch on for the small-degree cases, which we counter by structural graph properties.

The tight asymptotic approximation ratio of First Fit for bin packing with cardinality constraints

In this paper, we present an adaptive algorithm for maximizing a monotone nonsubmodular function with a cardinality constraint. Based on the relationship between OPT and the maximum marginal gain of the elements in the ground set, the algorithm first calculates all possible values of OPT, then computes in parallel a family of sets each of which corresponding to each value of OPT, and lastly selects the set with maximum value as the desired solution. For the first, we divide the value range of OPT into finite parts and take the lower bound of each part as a possible value of OPT. As the main ingredient for the parallel computation, we use the Bernoulli distribution to independently sample elements so as to ensure further parallelism. Provided the generic submodularity ratio \(\gamma \) of the monotone set function, we prove the algorithm deserves an approximation ratio \(1-e^{-\gamma ^2}-\varepsilon \), consumes \(O(log(n/\eta )/\varepsilon ^2)\) adaptive rounds, and needs \(O(nlog(k)/\varepsilon ^3)\) oracle queries in expectation. Moreover, if the set function is submodular (i. e. \(\gamma =1\)), our algorithm can achieve an approximation guarantee \(1-1/e-\varepsilon \) coinciding with the state-of-art result.