Efficient parallel algorithms forr-dominating set andp-center problems on trees

We develop efficient parallel algorithms for ther-dominating set and thep-center problems on trees. On a concurrent-read exclusive-write PRAM, our algorithm for ther-dominating set problem runs inO(logn log logn) time withn processors. The algorithm for thep-center problem runs inO(log² n log logn) time withn processors.Xin He was supported in part by an Ohio State University Presidential Fellowship, and by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies of Ohio State University. Yaacov Yesha was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DCR-8606366.     

Expected parallel time and sequential space complexity of graph and digraph problems

This paper determines upper bounds on the expected time complexity for a variety of parallel algorithms for undirected and directed random graph problems. For connectivity, biconnectivity, transitive closure, minimum spanning trees, and all pairs minimum cost paths, we prove the expected time to beO(log logn) for the CRCW PRAM (this parallel RAM machine allows resolution of write conflicts) andO(logn · log logn) for the CREW PRAM (which allows simultaneous reads but not simultaneous writes). We also show that the problem of graph isomorphism has expected parallel timeO(log logn) for the CRCW PRAM andO(logn) for the CREW PRAM. Most of these results follow because of upper bounds on the mean depth of a graph, derived in this paper, for more general graphs than was known before.For undirected connectivity especially, we present a new probabilistic algorithm which runs on a randomized input and has an expected running time ofO(log logn) on the CRCW PRAM, withO(n) expected number of processors only.Our results also improve known upper bounds on the expected space required for sequential graph algorithms. For example, we show that the problems of finding connected components, transitive closure, minimum spanning trees, and minimum cost paths have expected sequential spaceO(logn · log logn) on a deterministic Turing Machine. We use a simulation of the CRCW PRAM to get these expected sequential space bounds.This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant DCR-85-03251 and Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-80-C-0647.This research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation Grants MCS-83-00630, DCR-8503497, by the Greek Ministry of Research and Technology, and by the ESPRIT Basic Research Actions Project ALCOM.     

Efficient parallel algorithms for breadth first spanning forests of general graphs

Ghosh and Bhattacharjee propose [2] (Intern. J. Computer Math., 1984, Vol. 15, pp. 255-268) an algorithm of determining breadth first spanning trees for graphs, which requires that the input graphs contain some vertices, from which every other vertex in the input graph can be reached. These vertices are called starting vertices. The complexity of the GB algorithm is O(log² n) using O{n ³) processors. In this paper an algorithm, named BREADTH, also computing breadth first spanning trees, is proposed. The complexity is O(log² n) using O{n ³/logn) processors. Then an efficient parallel algorithm, named- BREADTHFOREST, is proposed, which generalizes algorithm BREADTH. The output of applying BREADTHFOREST to a general graph, which may not contain any starting vertices, is a breadth first spanning forest of the input graph. The complexity of BREADTHFOREST is the same as BREADTH.     

A faster parallel algorithm for a matrix searching problem

We give an improved parallel algorithm for the problem of computing the tube minima of a totally monotonen ×n ×n matrix, an important matrix searching problem that was formalized by Aggarwal and Park and has many applications. Our algorithm runs inO(log logn) time withO(n²/log logn) processors in theCRCW-PRAM model, whereas the previous best ran inO((log logn)²) time withO(n²/(log logn)² processors, also in theCRCW-PRAM model. Thus we improve the speed without any deterioration in thetime ×processors product. Our improved bound immediately translates into improvedCRCW-PRAM bounds for the numerous applications of this problem, including string editing, construction of Huffmann codes and other coding trees, and many other combinatorial and geometric problems.This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grants N00014-84-K-0502 and N00014-86-K-0689, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Grant AFOSR-90-0107, the National Science Foundation under Grant DCR-8451393, and the National Library of Medicine under Grant R01-LM05118. Part of the research was done while the author was at Princeton University, visiting the DIMACS center.     

On Parallel Selection and Searching in Partial Orders: Sorted Matrices

Parallel algorithms for the problems of selection and searching on sorted matrices are formulated. The selection algorithm takesO(lognlog lognlog*n) time withO(n/lognlog*n) processors on an EREW PRAM. This algorithm can be generalized to solve the selection problem on a set of sorted matrices. The searching algorithm takesO(log logn) time withO(n/log logn) processors on a Common CRCW PRAM, which is optimal. We show that no algorithm using at mostnlog^cnprocessors,c≥ 1, can solve the matrix search problem in time faster than Ω(log logn) and that Ω(logn) steps are needed to solve this problem on any model that does not allow concurrent writes.     

Systolic parsing of context-free languages

We report on a new systolic context-free language parsing algorithm. We present both single parse and multiple parse versions of the algorithm. For an input of lengthn the single parse version has a time complexity ofO(n) and a space complexity ofO(n) ². This equals the performance of the most effcient known single parse algorithm. The space complexity of the multiple parse version is also ofO(n) ² while its time complexity is ofO(mn) wherem is the number of differenti parses for the input. This equals the time complexity of the most efficient known multiple parse algorithms and brings an improvenment of a factor of logn over its space complexity.This work was supported by Université de Montréal, the Natural Science Engineering Resarch Council of Canada and the Communittee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom.     

Path-matching problems

The notion of matching in graphs is generalized in this paper to a set of paths rather than to a set of edges. The generalized problem, which we call thepath-matching problem, is to pair the vertices of an undirected weighted graph such that the paths connecting each pair are subject to certain objectives and/or constraints. This paper concentrates on the case where the paths are required to be edge-disjoint and the objective is to minimize the maximal cost of a path in the matching (i.e., the bottleneck version). Other variations of the problem are also mentioned. Two algorithms are presented to find the best matching under the constraints listed above for trees. Their worst-case running times areO(n logd logw), whered is the maximal degree of a vertex,w is the maximal cost of an edge, andn is the size of the tree, andO(n ²), respectively. The problem is shown to be NP-complete for general graphs. Applications of these problems are also discussed.Udi Manber was supported in part by an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (Grant DCR-8451397), with matching funds from AT&T.     

An efficient certifying algorithm for the Hamiltonian cycle problem on circular-arc graphs

A certifying algorithm for a problem is an algorithm that provides a certificate with each answer that it produces. The certificate is an evidence that can be used to authenticate the correctness of the answer. A Hamiltonian cycle in a graph is a simple cycle in which each vertex of the graph appears exactly once. The Hamiltonian cycle problem is to determine whether or not a graph contains a Hamiltonian cycle. The best result for the Hamiltonian cycle problem on circular-arc graphs is an O(n²logn)-time algorithm, where n is the number of vertices of the input graph. In fact, the O(n²logn)-time algorithm can be modified as a certifying algorithm although it was published before the term certifying algorithms appeared in the literature. However, whether there exists an algorithm whose time complexity is better than O(n²logn) for solving the Hamiltonian cycle problem on circular-arc graphs has been opened for two decades. In this paper, we present an O(Δn)-time certifying algorithm to solve this problem, where Δ represents the maximum degree of the input graph. The certificates provided by our algorithm can be authenticated in O(n) time.     

Parallel algorithms for minimal spanning trees of directed graphs

The main results of this paper are efficient parallel algorithms, MSP and LOCATE, for computing minimal spanning trees and locating minimal paths in directed graphs, respectively. Algorithm MSP has time complexityO(log³ n) usingO(n ³/logn) processors, while LOCATE has time complexityO(logn) usingO(n ²) processors. Algorithm MSP is derived from sequential algorithms, when the unbounded parallelism model is used.     

An optimal speed-up parallel algorithm for triangulating simplicial point sets in space

Previous research on developing parallel triangulation algorithms concentrated on triangulating planar point sets.O(log³ n) running time algorithms usingO(n) processors have been developed in Refs. 1 and 2. Atallah and Goodrich⁽³⁾ presented a data structure that can be viewed as a parallel analogue of the sequential plane-sweeping paradigm, which can be used to triangulate a planar point set inO(logn loglogn) time usingO(n) processors. Recently Merks⁽⁴⁾ described an algorithm for triangulating point sets which runs inO(logn) time usingO(n) processors, and is thus optimal. In this paper we develop a parallel algorithm for triangulating simplicial point sets in arbitrary dimensions based on the idea of the sequential algorithm presented in Ref. 5. The algorithm runs inO(log² n) time usingO(n/logn) processors. The algorithm hasO(n logn) as the product of the running time and the number of processors; i.e., an optimal speed-up.     

Maintaining bridge-connected and biconnected components on-line

We consider the twin problems of maintaining the bridge-connected components and the biconnected components of a dynamic undirected graph. The allowed changes to the graph are vertex and edge insertions. We give an algorithm for each problem. With simple data structures, each algorithm runs inO(n logn +m) time, wheren is the number of vertices andm is the number of operations. We develop a modified version of the dynamic trees of Sleator and Tarjan that is suitable for efficient recursive algorithms, and use it to reduce the running time of the algorithms for both problems toO(m(m,n)), where is a functional inverse of Ackermann's function. This time bound is optimal. All of the algorithms useO(n) space.Research at Princeton University supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DCR-86-05962 and Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-91-J-1463.This work was partially done while the author was at the Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.     

Practical Algorithms for Generating a Random Ordering of the Elements of a Weighted Set

This paper discusses the problem of efficiently generating a random ordering of the elements of an n-element weighted set, where the elements’ weights are interpreted as relative probabilities. It is assumed that only the following randomness primitives are available: flipping a biased coin, and selecting a random non-negative integer smaller than n. We review the existing literature on this problem, focusing on several simple algorithms whose running times are O(n ²) and O(nlogn). Asymptotically faster algorithms do exist, but they are mostly either very complicated, or require a stronger computational model. The main contribution of this paper is a self-contained specification of and correctness proof for an O(nlogn) mergesort-like folklore algorithm that is often implemented incorrectly. The key piece of the correct algorithm can be viewed as the weighted generalization of the riffle merge operation which appears in mathematical models of card shuffling. Empirical results are also presented which suggest that this algorithm might be faster on a real computer than other simple algorithms which use the same randomness primitives, because its pattern of memory accesses results in fewer cache misses. Finally, three fancier but still implementable algorithms are described, analyzed, and simulated, which are asymptotically faster than O(nlogn), but require that the input weights to be partially sorted.     

Efficient parallel and sequential algorithms for 4-coloring perfect planar graphs

We present an efficient algorithm for 4-coloring perfect planar graphs. The best previously known algorithm for this problem takesO(n ^3/2) sequential time, orO(log⁴ n) parallel time withO(n³) processors. The sequential implementation of our algorithm takesO(n logn) time. The parallel implementation of our algorithm takesO(log³ n) time withO(n) processors on a PRAM.     

An NC algorithm for finding a minimum weighted completion time schedule on series parallel graphs

We present a parallel algorithm for solving the minimum weighted completion time scheduling problem for transitive series parallel graphs. The algorithm takesO(log² n) time withO(n ³) processors on a CREW PRAM, wheren is the number of vertices of the input graph. This is the first NC algorithm for solving the problem.Research supported in part by NSF Grants CCR-9011214 and CCR-9205982.     

PRAM和LARPBS模型上有向序列翻转距离并行算法

分别在两种重要并行计算模型中给出计算有向基因组排列的反转距离新的并行算法.基于Hannenhalli和Pevzner理论,分3个主要部分设计并行算法:构建断点图、计算断点图中圈数、计算断点图中障碍的数目.在CREW-PRAM模型上,算法使用O(n²)处理器,时间复杂度为O(log²n);在基于流水光总线的可重构线性阵列系统(linear array with a reconfigurable pipelined bus system, LARPBS)模型上,算法使用O(n³)处理器,计算时间复杂度为O(logn).     

Expected parallel time and sequential space complexity of graph and digraph problems

This paper determines upper bounds on the expected time complexity for a variety of parallel algorithms for undirected and directed random graph problems. For connectivity, biconnectivity, transitive closure, minimum spanning trees, and all pairs minimum cost paths, we prove the expected time to beO(log logn) for the CRCW PRAM (this parallel RAM machine allows resolution of write conflicts) andO(logn · log logn) for the CREW PRAM (which allows simultaneous reads but not simultaneous writes). We also show that the problem of graph isomorphism has expected parallel timeO(log logn) for the CRCW PRAM andO(logn) for the CREW PRAM. Most of these results follow because of upper bounds on the mean depth of a graph, derived in this paper, for more general graphs than was known before. For undirected connectivity especially, we present a new probabilistic algorithm which runs on a randomized input and has an expected running time ofO(log logn) on the CRCW PRAM, withO(n) expected number of processors only. Our results also improve known upper bounds on the expected space required for sequential graph algorithms. For example, we show that the problems of finding connected components, transitive closure, minimum spanning trees, and minimum cost paths have expected sequential spaceO(logn · log logn) on a deterministic Turing Machine. We use a simulation of the CRCW PRAM to get these expected sequential space bounds.     

Efficient parallel and sequential algorithms for 4-coloring perfect planar graphs

We present an efficient algorithm for 4-coloring perfect planar graphs. The best previously known algorithm for this problem takesO(n ^3/2) sequential time, orO(log⁴ n) parallel time withO(n³) processors. The sequential implementation of our algorithm takesO(n logn) time. The parallel implementation of our algorithm takesO(log³ n) time withO(n) processors on a PRAM.

     

On heuristics for minimum length rectilinear partitions

The problem of partitioning a rectilinear figure into rectangles with minimum length is NP-hard and has bounded heuristics. In this paper we study a related problem,Elimination Problem (EP), in which a rectilinear figure is partitioned into a set of rectilinear figures containing no concave vertices of a fixed direction with minimum length. We show that a heuristic for EP within a factor of 4 from optimal can be computed in timeO(n ²), wheren is the number of vertices of the input figure, and a variant of this heuristic, within a factor of 6 from optimal, can be computed in timeO(n logn). As an application, we give a bounded heuristic for the problem of partitioning a rectilinear figure into histograms of a fixed direction with minimum length.An auxiliary result is that an optimal rectangular partition of a monotonic histogram can be computed in timeO(n ²), using a known speed-up technique in dynamic programming.Part of this work was done when the first author was a postdoctor fellow in MSRI, Berkeley, and supported in part by NSF Grant No. 8120790. The second author was supported in part by NSF Grant No. DCR-8411945.     

Efficient parallel algorithms forr-dominating set andp-center problems on trees

We develop efficient parallel algorithms for ther-dominating set and thep-center problems on trees. On a concurrent-read exclusive-write PRAM, our algorithm for ther-dominating set problem runs inO(logn log logn) time withn processors. The algorithm for thep-center problem runs inO(log² n log logn) time withn processors.     

Spin-the-Bottle Sort and Annealing Sort: Oblivious Sorting via Round-Robin Random Comparisons

We study sorting algorithms based on randomized round-robin comparisons. Specifically, we study Spin-the-bottle sort, where comparisons are unrestricted, and Annealing sort, where comparisons are restricted to a distance bounded by a temperature parameter. Both algorithms are simple, randomized, data-oblivious sorting algorithms, which are useful in privacy-preserving computations, but, as we show, Annealing sort is much more efficient. We show that there is an input permutation that causes Spin-the-bottle sort to require Ω(n ²logn) expected time in order to succeed, and that in O(n ²logn) time this algorithm succeeds with high probability for any input. We also show there is a specification of Annealing sort that runs in O(nlogn) time and succeeds with very high probability.