An Optimal Algorithm for Large Frequency Moments Using O(n^(1-2/k)) Bits

Recently, there has been a growing focus in solving approximate pattern matching problems in the streaming model. Of particular interest are the pattern matching with k-mismatches (KMM) problem and the pattern matching with w-wildcards (PMWC) problem. Motivated by reductions from these problems in the streaming model to the dictionary matching problem, this paper focuses on designing algorithms for the dictionary matching problem in the multi-stream model where there are several independent streams of data (as opposed to just one in the streaming model), and the memory complexity of an algorithm is expressed using two quantities: (1) a read-only shared memory storage area which is shared among all the streams, and (2) local stream memory that each stream stores separately. In the dictionary matching problem in the multi-stream model the goal is to preprocess a dictionary D={P_1,P_2,...,P_d} of d=|D| patterns (strings with maximum length m over alphabet Sigma) into a data structure stored in shared memory, so that given multiple independent streaming texts (where characters arrive one at a time) the algorithm reports occurrences of patterns from D in each one of the texts as soon as they appear. We design two efficient algorithms for the dictionary matching problem in the multi-stream model. The first algorithm works when all the patterns in D have the same length m and costs O(d log m) words in shared memory, O(log m log d) words in stream memory, and O(log m) time per character. The second algorithm works for general D, but the time cost per character becomes O(log m+log d log log d). We also demonstrate the usefulness of our first algorithm in solving both the KMM problem and PMWC problem in the streaming model. In particular, we obtain the first almost optimal (up to poly-log factors) algorithm for the PMWC problem in the streaming model. We also design a new algorithm for the KMM problem in the streaming model that, up to poly-log factors, has the same bounds as the most recent results that use different techniques. Moreover, for most inputs, our algorithm for KMM is significantly faster on average.

Estimating the size of the maximum matching is a canonical problem in graph analysis, and one that has attracted extensive study over a range of different computational models. We present improved streaming algorithms for approximating the size of maximum matching with sparse (bounded arboricity) graphs. 
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\n* (Insert-Only Streams) We present a one-pass algorithm that takes O(alpha log n) space and approximates the size of the maximum matching in graphs with arboricity alpha within a factor of O(alpha). This improves significantly upon the state-of-the-art tilde{O}(alpha n^{2/3})-space streaming algorithms, and is the first poly-logarithmic space algorithm for this problem. 
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\n* (Dynamic Streams) Given a dynamic graph stream (i.e., inserts and deletes) of edges of an underlying alpha-bounded arboricity graph, we present an one-pass algorithm that uses space tilde{O}(alpha^{10/3}n^{2/3}) and returns an O(alpha)-estimator for the size of the maximum matching on the condition that the number edge deletions in the stream is bounded by O(alpha n). For this class of inputs, our algorithm improves the state-of-the-art tilde{O}(\\alpha n^{4/5})-space algorithms, where the \\tilde{O}(.) notation hides logarithmic in n dependencies.
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\nIn contrast to prior work, our results take more advantage of the streaming access to the input and characterize the matching size based on the ordering of the edges in the stream in addition to the degree distributions and structural properties of the sparse graphs.

We consider the problem of testing bipartiteness in the adjacency matrix model. The best known algorithm, due to Alon and Krivelevich, distinguishes between bipartite graphs and graphs that are /spl epsi/-far from bipartite using 0(1//spl epsi//sup 2/) queries. We show that this is optimal for non-adaptive algorithms, up to polylogarithmic factors. We also show a lower bound of /spl Omega/(1//spl epsi//sup 3/2/) for adaptive algorithms.

We present a number of breakthroughs for coordinated motion planning, in which the objective is to reconfigure a swarm of labeled convex objects by a combination of parallel, continuous, collision-free translations into a given target arrangement. Problems of this type can be traced back to the classic work of Schwartz and Sharir (1983), who gave a method for deciding the existence of a coordinated motion for a set of disks between obstacles; their approach is polynomial in the complexity of the obstacles, but exponential in the number of disks. Despite a broad range of other non-trivial results for multi-object motion planning, previous work has largely focused on sequential schedules, in which one robot moves at a time, with objectives such as the number of moves; attempts to minimize the overall makespan of a coordinated parallel motion schedule (with many robots moving simultaneously) have defied all attempts at establishing the complexity in the absence of obstacles, as well as the existence of efficient approximation methods. We resolve these open problems by developing a framework that provides constant-factor approximation algorithms for minimizing the execution time of a coordinated, parallel motion plan for a swarm of robots in the absence of obstacles, provided their arrangement entails some amount of separability. In fact, our algorithm achieves constant stretch factor: If all robots want to move at most d units from their respective starting positions, then the total duration of the overall schedule (and hence the distance traveled by each robot) is O(d). Various extensions include unlabeled robots and different classes of robots. We also resolve the complexity of finding a reconfiguration plan with minimal execution time by proving that this is NP-hard, even for a grid arrangement without any stationary obstacles. On the other hand, we show that for densely packed disks that cannot be well separated, a stretch factor Omega(N^{1/4}) may be required. On the positive side, we establish a stretch factor of O(N^{1/2}) even in this case. The intricate difficulties of computing precise optimal solutions are demonstrated by the seemingly simple case of just two disks, which is shown to be excruciatingly difficult to solve to optimality.

The dominating set problem asks for a small subset D of nodes in a graph such that every node is either in D or adjacent to a node in D. This problem arises in a number of distributed network applications, where it is important to locate a small number of centers in the network such that every node is nearby at least one center. Finding a dominating set of minimum size is NP-complete, and the best known approximation is logarithmic in the maximum degree of the graph and is provided by the same simple greedy approach that gives the well-known logarithmic approximation result for the closely related set cover problem.We describe and analyze new randomized distributed algorithms for the dominating set problem that run in polylogarithmic time, independent of the diameter of the network, and that return a dominating set of size within a logarithmic factor from optimal, with high probability. In particular, our best algorithm runs in O(log n log Δ) rounds with high probability, where n is the number of nodes, Δ is one plus the maximum degree of any node, and each round involves a constant number of message exchanges among any two neighbors; the size of the dominating set obtained is within O (log Δ) of the optimal in expectation and within O(log n) of the optimal with high probability. We also describe generalizations to the weighted case and the case of multiple covering requirements.

Lokshtanov, Marx, and Saurabh SODA 2011 proved that there is no (k-epsilon)^pw(G)poly(n) time algorithm for deciding if an n-vertex graph G with pathwidth pw admits a proper vertex coloring with k colors unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH) is false, for any constant epsilon>0. We show here that nevertheless, when k>lfloor Delta/2 rfloor + 1, where Delta is the maximum degree in the graph G, there is a better algorithm, at least when there are few colorings. We present a Monte Carlo algorithm that given a graph G along with a path decomposition of G with pathwidth pw(G) runs in (lfloor Delta/2 rfloor + 1)^pw(G)poly(n)s time, that distinguishes between k-colorable graphs having at most s proper k-colorings and non-k-colorable graphs. We also show how to obtain a k-coloring in the same asymptotic running time. Our algorithm avoids violating SETH for one since high degree vertices still cost too much and the mentioned hardness construction uses a lot of them. We exploit a new variation of the famous Alon--Tarsi theorem that has an algorithmic advantage over the original form. The original theorem shows a graph has an orientation with outdegree less than k at every vertex, with a different number of odd and even Eulerian subgraphs only if the graph is k-colorable, but there is no known way of efficiently finding such an orientation. Our new form shows that if we instead count another difference of even and odd subgraphs meeting modular degree constraints at every vertex picked uniformly at random, we have a fair chance of getting a non-zero value if the graph has few k-colorings. Yet every non-k-colorable graph gives a zero difference, so a random set of constraints stands a good chance of being useful for separating the two cases.

Apache Flink is an open-source system for scalable processing of batch and streaming data. Flink does not natively support efficient processing of spatial data streams, which is a requirement of many applications dealing with spatial data. Besides Flink, other scalable spatial data processing platforms including GeoSpark, Spatial Hadoop, etc. do not support streaming workloads and can only handle static/batch workloads. To fill this gap, we present GeoFlink, which extends Apache Flink to support spatial data types, indexes and continuous queries over spatial data streams. To enable efficient processing of spatial continuous queries and for the effective data distribution across Flink cluster nodes, a gird-based index is introduced. GeoFlink currently supports spatial range, spatial kNN and spatial join queries on point data type. An experimental study on real spatial data streams shows that GeoFlink achieves significantly higher query throughput than ordinary Flink processing.

Although Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) synthesis methods have been in existence for forty years, several issues still need to be resolved in order to obtain more realistic networks. Moreover, the complexity of the problem further increases when Heat Integration is performed at the Total Site level rather than at the process level. The usual approach is first to perform Heat Integration within the processes, and later to consider the non-integrated parts for Total Site Heat Integration. This sequential approach can omit some promising solutions and thus generally leads to worse results compared to the approach where the entire Total Site is synthesized simultaneously (Nemet et al., 2014). In order to obtain more realistic results, several practical constraints should be accounted for, such as transport between processes, optimal intermediate utility temperature level(s), pipeline design, heat losses and pressure drop (Nemet et al., 2015).In this work a synthesis of the Total Site is performed, which simultaneously considers integration within and between plants (at the plant and at the Total Site levels). For this purpose, the superstructure optimization approach is used. The superstructure contains all the possible matches for heat exchange within and between processes. Heat exchange between processes can be performed in the following ways: i) directly, by exchanging heat between the hot stream of one process and the cold stream of another process, or ii) indirectly, by utilizing an intermediate utility at optimal temperature levels (these are optimization variables). In both cases the transport of the heat carrier, either the process stream or the intermediate utility stream, is considered. Because there are severe nonlinearities and numerous options for heat recovery, the model is difficult to implement even for small-scale problems. However, when evaluating potential matches, it usually happens that most matches are either infeasible given heat transfer limitations, or unviable for economic reasons. A two-step approach is therefore proposed, where in the first step match alternatives are pre- screened with respect to infeasibility and unviability, and in the second step, a more detailed design is synthesized, taking into consideration the reduced superstructure obtained in the first step. The proposed two- step procedure yields results simultaneously at both the process and the Total Site levels, while also accounting for important properties such as heat losses, pipeline design and cost, temperature/pressure drop during transport between processes, and different types of heat exchangers.

In this paper, we study streaming and online algorithms in the context of randomness in the input. For several problems, a random order of the input sequence - as opposed to the worst-case order - appears to be a necessary evil in order to prove satisfying guarantees. However, algorithmic techniques that work under this assumption tend to be vulnerable to even small changes in the distribution. For this reason, we propose a new adversarial injections model, in which the input is ordered randomly, but an adversary may inject misleading elements at arbitrary positions. We believe that studying algorithms under this much weaker assumption can lead to new insights and, in particular, more robust algorithms. We investigate two classical combinatorial-optimization problems in this model: Maximum matching and cardinality constrained monotone submodular function maximization. Our main technical contribution is a novel streaming algorithm for the latter that computes a 0.55-approximation. While the algorithm itself is clean and simple, an involved analysis shows that it emulates a subdivision of the input stream which can be used to greatly limit the power of the adversary.

We initiate the study of the computational complexity of the covering radius problem for point lattices, and approximation versions of the problem for both lattices and linear codes. We also investigate the computational complexity of the shortest linearly independent vectors problem, and its relation to the covering radius problem for lattices. For the covering radius on n-dimensional lattices, we show that the problem can be approximated within any constant factor /spl gamma/(n) > 1 in random exponential time 2/sup O(n)/, it is in AM for /spl gamma/(n) = 2, in coAM for /spl gamma/(n) = /spl radic/(n log n), and in NP /spl cap/ coNP for /spl gamma/(n) = /spl radic/n. For the covering radius on n-dimensional linear codes, we show that the problem can be solved in deterministic polynomial time for approximation factor /spl gamma/(n) = log n, but cannot be solved in polynomial time for some /spl gamma/(n) = /spl Omega/(log log n) unless NP can be simulated in deterministic n/sup O(log log log n)/ time. Moreover, we prove that the problem is NP-hard for every constant approximation factor, it is /spl Pi//sub 2/-hard for some constant approximation factor, and it is in AM for approximation factor 2. So, it is unlikely to be /spl Pi//sub 2/-hard for approximation factors larger than 2. This is a natural hardness of approximation result in the polynomial hierarchy. For the shortest independent vectors problem, we give a coAM protocol achieving approximation factor /spl gamma/(n) = /spl radic/(n/log n), solving an open problem of Blomer and Seifert (1999), and prove that the problem is also in coNP for /spl gamma/(n) = /spl radic/n. Both results are obtained by giving a gap-preserving nondeterministic polynomial time reduction to the closest vector problem.

An efficient finite-difference method for solving Helmholtz equation depends on two points: one is discrete scheme, the other is efficient algorithm. In this paper, we adopt the average-derivative scheme, which owns three advantages : Firstly, it can be applied to unequal directional sampling intervals for Helmholtz equation. Secondly, the scheme is pointwise consistent with Helmholtz equation in a perfect matched layer. And thirdly, it requires less than 4 grid points sampling per wavelength. To solve the discrete Helmholtz equation, which is extremely large and indefinite, direct methods cannot resolve well, and the Krylov subspace iterative methods, such as Bi-CGSTAB and GMRES combining a multigrid-based preconditioner, are good choices. However, the standard multigrid algorithm fails to converge when it encounters unequal directional sampling intervals, which is called anisotropy in multigrid. We analyze the most important three parts of standard multigrid : full weighting restriction operator, point relaxation methods and bilinear interpolation operator, and then we replace them with semi-coarsening, line relaxation and operator-dependent interpolation to make it convergent in anisotropic problems. Consequently, we obtain a satisfactory convergence speed for low and moderate frequency iterative problems in heterogeneous media.

This thesis proposes a new parallel computing network--a binary relation inference network. The network topology is set up to match conventional optimization procedures. The network transforms some optimization problems (shortest path, transitive closure, assignment, etc.) into network convergence problems and divides the work load evenly among all processors. Link weights are known. It can operate in synchronous discrete-time, asynchronous discrete-time, and continuous-time domains. Inference network algorithms are derived directly from problem formulation, and are effective for a large range of problem sizes. The inference network consists of interconnected components; each component is composed of a unit, a number of sites attached to the unit, and links from the unit to sites on other units. Each unit is a simple computational engine. The topology of the inference network matches naturally to many optimization problems, since its deduction sites produce candidates to compete for the optimum and its decision-making units select the optimum from the site values. Either directly or through a transformation mapping to a systolic structure, discrete inference network algorithms can be implemented on a commercially available parallel processing facility, such as the Connection Machine. Analog inference network can be built using integrated circuits which solve problems efficiently in the continuous-time domain. In this thesis, mathematical analysis and numerical simulation were conducted for the synchronous, asynchronous, and analog inference network. Various applications has been discussed. The inference network has shown to solve the all-pair shortest path problem efficiently in various updating schemes. The inference network algorithm for the transitive closure problem parts derived straightforwardly from the formulation of the problem and the topology of the inference network. Efficient continuous-time solution was obtained from a non-synchronized logical circuit. The convergence of the network for the shortest path or transitive closure problems was shown to be independent of the problem size. It was demonstrated that the inference network can solve the assignment problem in a way similar to the Hopfield net's solution to the traveling salesman problem. However, the former was shown to converge for all test cases with problem size up to 128. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

We resolve a number of long-standing open problems in online graph coloring. More specifically, we develop tight lower bounds on the performance of online algorithms for fundamental graph classes. An important contribution is that our bounds also hold for randomized online algorithms, for which hardly any results were known. Technically, we construct lower bounds for chordal graphs. The constructions then allow us to derive results on the performance of randomized online algorithms for the following further graph classes: trees, planar, bipartite, inductive, bounded-treewidth and disk graphs. It shows that the best competitive ratio of both deterministic and randomized online algorithms is Theta(log n), where n is the number of vertices of a graph. Furthermore, we prove that this guarantee cannot be improved if an online algorithm has a lookahead of size O(n/log n) or access to a reordering buffer of size n^(1-epsilon), for any 0 < epsilon <= 1. A consequence of our results is that, for all of the above mentioned graph classes except bipartite graphs, the natural First Fit coloring algorithm achieves an optimal performance, up to constant factors, among deterministic and randomized online algorithms.

In this paper, we address the problem of QoS (Quality of Service) provisioning for multi-user video streaming over multiple heterogeneous wireless networks based on the distributed, cross-layer design framework. By jointly considering the rate allocation and the Joint Source-Channel Coding (JSCC), our proposal aims at maximizing the QoS provisioning under the given resource constraint. At first, we develop and evaluate a framework for optimal video rate allocation over multiple networks based on the observed Available Bit Rate (ABR) and the Round Trip Time (RTT) over each access network, as well as the video rate-distortion characteristics. The rate allocation is formulated as a convex optimization problem that minimizes the sum of all video streams expected distortion. Then, we propose an analytical JSCC scheme for error-resilient scalable encoded video, and integrate the JSCC with the specific rate allocation algorithm to improve the constructed video quality by optimally applying the appropriate channel coding rate given the constraints imposed by the transmission rate and the prevailing channel conditions. Objective and subjective simulation results are provided which demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed joint scheme.

We have developed a new derivative-free algorithm based on Radial Basis Functions (RBFs). Derivative-free optimization is an active field of research and several algorithms have been proposed recently. Problems of this nature in the industrial setting are quite frequent. The reason is that in a number of applications the optimization process contains simulation packages which are treated as black boxes. The development of our own algorithm was originally motivated by an application in biomedical imaging: the medical image registration problem. The particular characteristics of this problem have incited us to develop a new optimization algorithm based on trust-region methods. However it has been designed to be generic and to be applied to a wide range of problems. The main originality of our approach is the use of RBFs to build the models. In particular we have adapted the existing theory based on quadratic models to our own models and developed new procedures especially designed for models based on RBFs. We have tested our algorithm called BOOSTERS against state-of-the-art methods (UOBYQA, NEWUOA, DFO). On the medical image registration problem, BOOSTERS appears to be the method of choice. The tests on problems from the CUTEr collection show that BOOSTERS is comparable to, but not better than other methods on small problems (size 2-20). It is performing very well for medium size problems (20-80). Moreover, it is able to solve problems of dimension 200, which is considered very large in derivative-free optimization. We have also developed a new class of algorithms combining the robustness of derivative-free algorithms with the faster rate of convergence characterizing Newtonlike-methods. In fact, they define a new class of algorithms lying between derivative-free optimization and quasi-Newton methods. These algorithms are built on the skeleton of our derivative-free algorithm but they can incorporate the gradient when it is available. They can be interpreted as a way of doping derivative-free algorithms with derivatives. If the derivatives are available at each iteration, then our method can be seen as an alternative to quasi-Newton methods. At the opposite, if the derivatives are never evaluated, then the algorithm is totally similar to BOOSTERS. It is a very interesting alternative to existing methods for problems whose objective function is expensive to evaluate and when the derivatives are not available. In this situation, the gradient can be approximated by finite differences and its costs corresponds to n additional function evaluations assuming that Rn is the domain of definition of the objective function. We have compared our method with CFSQP and BTRA, two gradient-based algorithms, and the results show that our doped method performs best. We have also a theoretical analysis of the medical image registration problem based on maximization of mutual information. Most of the current research in this field is concentrated on registration based on nonlinear image transformation. However, little attention has been paid to the theoretical properties of the optimization problem. In our analysis, we focus on the continuity and the differentiability of the objective function. We show in particular that performing a registration without extension of the reference image may lead to discontinuities in the objective function. But we demonstrate that, under some mild assumptions, the function is differentiable almost everywhere. Our analysis is important from an optimization point of view and conditions the choice of a solver. The usual practice is to use generic optimization packages without worrying about the differentiability of the objective function. But the use of gradient-based methods when the objective function is not differentiable may result in poor performance or even in absence of convergence. One of our objectives with this analysis is also that practitioners become aware of these problems and to propose them new algorithms having a potential interest for their applications.