Adaptive timeliness of consensus in presence of crash and timing faults

The Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus is a stronger variant of the traditional consensus and it satisfies the following additional property: every correct process terminates its execution within a constant time Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$ (Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timeliness), and no two processes decide differently (uniformity). In this paper, we consider the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus problem in presence of _fc$f_{\mathrm{c}}$ crash processes and _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes, and propose a Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm. The proposed algorithm is adaptive in the following sense: it solves the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus when at least _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes exist in the system. If the system has less than _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes, the algorithm cannot solve the Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus. However, as long as _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ processes are non-crashed, the algorithm solves (non-timed) uniform consensus. We also investigate the maximum number of faulty processes that can be tolerated. We show that any Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm tolerating up to _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes requires that the system has at least _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ correct processes. This impossibility result implies that the proposed algorithm attains the maximum resilience about the number of faulty processes. We also show that any Δ$\mathrm{\Delta }$-timed uniform consensus algorithm tolerating up to _ft$f_{\mathrm{t}}$ timing-faulty processes cannot solve the (non-timed) uniform consensus when the system has less than _ft+1$f_{\mathrm{t}}+1$ non-crashed processes. This impossibility result implies that our algorithm attains the maximum adaptiveness.     

Degree-constrained decompositions of graphs: Bounded treewidth and planarity

We study the problem of decomposing the vertex set V$V$ of a graph into two nonempty parts _V1,_V2$V_1,V_2$ which induce subgraphs where each vertex v∈_V1$v\in V_1$ has degree at least a(v)$a(v)$ inside _V1$V_1$ and each v∈_V2$v\in V_2$ has degree at least b(v)$b(v)$ inside _V2$V_2$. We give a polynomial-time algorithm for graphs with bounded treewidth which decides if a graph admits a decomposition, and gives such a decomposition if it exists. This result and its variants are then applied to designing polynomial-time approximation schemes for planar graphs where a decomposition does not necessarily exist but the local degree conditions should be met for as many vertices as possible.     

Compatibility of unrooted phylogenetic trees is FPT

A collection of _T1,_T2,…,_Tk$T_1,T_2,\dots ,T_k$ of unrooted, leaf labelled (phylogenetic) trees, all with different leaf sets, is said to be compatible   if there exists a tree T$T$ such that each tree _Ti$T_i$ can be obtained from T$T$ by deleting leaves and contracting edges. Determining compatibility is NP-hard, and the fastest algorithm to date has worst case complexity of around Ω(n^k)$\mathrm{\Omega }(n^k)$ time, n$n$ being the number of leaves. Here, we present an O(nf(k))$\mathrm{O}(\mathit{nf}(k))$ algorithm, proving that compatibility of unrooted phylogenetic trees is fixed parameter tractable   (FPT) with respect to the number k$k$ of trees.     

Choosing starting values for certain Newton–Raphson iterations

We aim at finding the best possible seed values when computing a^1/p$a^{1/p}$ using the Newton–Raphson iteration in a given interval. A natural choice of the seed value would be the one that best approximates the expected result. It turns out that in most cases, the best seed value can be quite far from this natural choice. When we evaluate a monotone function f(a)$f(a)$ in the interval [_amin,_amax]$[a_{\min },a_{\max }]$, by building the sequence _xn$x_n$ defined by the Newton–Raphson iteration, the natural choice consists in choosing _x0$x_0$ equal to the arithmetic mean of the endpoint values. This minimizes the maximum possible distance between _x0$x_0$ and f(a)$f(a)$. And yet, if we perform n$n$ iterations, what matters is to minimize the maximum possible distance between _xn$x_n$ and f(a)$f(a)$. In several examples, the value of the best starting point varies rather significantly with the number of iterations.     

Divergence bounded computable real numbers

A real x$x$ is called h$h$-bounded computable  , for some function h:N→N$h:\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$, if there is a computable sequence (_xs)$(x_s)$ of rational numbers which converges to x$x$ such that, for any n∈N$n\in \mathbb{N}$, at most h(n)$h(n)$ non-overlapping pairs of its members are separated by a distance larger than 2^-n$2^{-n}$. In this paper we discuss properties of h$h$-bounded computable reals for various functions h$h$. We will show a simple sufficient condition for a class of functions h$h$ such that the corresponding h$h$-bounded computable reals form an algebraic field. A hierarchy theorem for h$h$-bounded computable reals is also shown. Besides we compare semi-computability and weak computability with the h$h$-bounded computability for special functions h$h$.     

Graphs of interval count two with a given partition

We describe a polynomial time algorithm to decide for a given connected graph G and a given partition of its vertex set into two sets A and B  , whether it is possible to assign a closed interval I(u)$I(u)$ to each vertex u of G such that two distinct vertices u and v of G   are adjacent if and only if I(u)$I(u)$ and I(v)$I(v)$ intersect, all intervals assigned to vertices in A   have some length _LA$L_A$, and all intervals assigned to vertices in B   have some length _LB$L_B$ where _LA<_LB$L_A<L_B$. Our result is motivated by the interval count problem whose complexity status is open.     

A palindromization map for the free group

We define a self-map Pal:_F2→_F2$Pal:F_2\to F_2$ of the free group on two generators a,b$a,b$, using automorphisms of _F2$F_2$ that form a group isomorphic to the braid group _B3$B_3$. The map Pal$Pal$ restricts to de Luca’s right iterated palindromic closure on the submonoid generated by a,b$a,b$. We show that Pal$Pal$ is continuous for the profinite topology on _F2$F_2$; it is the unique continuous extension of de Luca’s right iterated palindromic closure to _F2$F_2$. The values of Pal$Pal$ are palindromes and coincide with the elements g∈_F2$g\in F_2$ such that abg$abg$ and bag$bag$ are conjugate.     

Optimal fault-tolerant embedding of paths in twisted cubes

The twisted cube is an important variation of the hypercube. It possesses many desirable properties for interconnection networks. In this paper, we study fault-tolerant embedding of paths in twisted cubes. Let _TQn(V,E)${\mathit{TQ}}_n(V,E)$ denote the n-dimensional twisted cube. We prove that a path of length l   can be embedded between any two distinct nodes with dilation 1 for any faulty set F⊂V(_TQn)∪E(_TQn)$F\subset V({\mathit{TQ}}_n)\cup E({\mathit{TQ}}_n)$ with |F|?n-3$\left|F\right|?n-3$ and any integer l   with 2^n-1-1?l?|V(_TQn-F)|-1$2^{n-1}-1?l?|V({\mathit{TQ}}_n-F)|-1$ (n?3$n?3$). This result is optimal in the sense that the embedding has the smallest dilation 1. The result is also complete in the sense that the two bounds on path length l   and faulty set size |F|$\left|F\right|$ for a successful embedding are tight. That is, the result does not hold if l?2^n-1-2$l?2^{n-1}-2$ or |F|?n-2$\left|F\right|?n-2$. We also extend the result on (n-3)$(n-3)$-Hamiltonian connectivity of _TQn${\mathit{TQ}}_n$ in the literature.     

Minimum cost source location problem with local 3-vertex-connectivity requirements

Let G=(V,E)$G=(V,E)$ be a simple undirected graph with a set V$V$ of vertices and a set E$E$ of edges. Each vertex v∈V$v\in V$ has a demand d(v)∈_Z+$d\left(v\right)\in Z_{+}$ and a cost c(v)∈_R+$c\left(v\right)\in R_{+}$, where _Z+$Z_{+}$ and _R+$R_{+}$ denote the set of nonnegative integers and the set of nonnegative reals, respectively. The source location problem with vertex-connectivity requirements in a given graph G$G$ requires finding a set S$S$ of vertices minimizing _∑v∈Sc(v)${\sum }_{v\in S}c\left(v\right)$ such that there are at least d(v)$d\left(v\right)$ pairwise vertex-disjoint paths from S$S$ to v$v$ for each vertex v∈V−S$v\in V-S$. It is known that if there exists a vertex v∈V$v\in V$ with d(v)≥4$d\left(v\right)\ge 4$, then the problem is NP-hard even in the case where every vertex has a uniform cost. In this paper, we show that the problem can be solved in O(|V|⁴log²|V|)$O\left({\left|V\right|}^4{log}^2\left|V\right|\right)$ time if d(v)≤3$d\left(v\right)\le 3$ holds for each vertex v∈V$v\in V$.     

Large independent sets in random regular graphs

We present algorithmic lower bounds on the size _sd$s_d$ of the largest independent sets of vertices in random d$d$-regular graphs, for each fixed d≥3$d\ge 3$. For instance, for d=3$d=3$ we prove that, for graphs on n$n$ vertices, _sd≥0.43475n$s_d\ge 0.43475n$ with probability approaching one as n$n$ tends to infinity.     

An approximation algorithm to the k-Steiner Forest problem

Given a graph G$G$, an integer k$k$, and a demand set D={(_s1,_t1),…,(_sl,_tl)}$D=\{(s_1,t_1),\dots ,(s_l,t_l)\}$, the k$k$-Steiner Forest problem finds a forest in graph G$G$ to connect at least k$k$ demands in D$D$ such that the cost of the forest is minimized. This problem was proposed by Hajiaghayi and Jain in SODA’06. Thereafter, using a Lagrangian relaxation technique, Segev et al. gave the first approximation algorithm to this problem in ESA’06, with performance ratio O(n^2/3logl)$O(n^{2/3}logl)$. We give a simpler and faster approximation algorithm to this problem with performance ratio O(n^2/3logk)$O(n^{2/3}logk)$ via greedy approach, improving the previously best known ratio in the literature.     

Computing phylogenetic roots with bounded degrees and errors is NP-complete

In this paper we study the computational complexity of the following optimization problem: given a graph G=(V,E)$G=(V,E)$, we wish to find a tree T such that (1) the degree of each internal node of T   is at least 3 and at most Δ$\Delta$, (2) the leaves of T are exactly the elements of V, and (3) the number of errors, that is, the symmetric difference between E   and {{u,v}:u,v$\{\{u,v\}:u,v$ are leaves of T   and _dT(u,v)≤k}$d_T(u,v)\le k\}$, is as small as possible, where _dT(u,v)$d_T(u,v)$ denotes the distance between u$u$ and v$v$ in tree T  . We show that this problem is NP-hard for all fixed constants Δ,k≥3$\Delta ,k\ge 3$.     

A note on scaling the Linpack benchmark

Dimensional analysis yields a new scaling formula for the Linpack benchmark. The computational power r(_p0,_q0)$r(p_0,q_0)$ on a set of processors decomposed into a (_p0,_q0)$(p_0,q_0)$ grid determines the computational power r(p,q)$r(p,q)$ on a set of processors decomposed into a (p,q)$(p,q)$ grid by the formula r(p,q)=(p/_p0)^α(q/_q0)^βr(_p0,_q0)$r(p,q)=(p/p_0{)}^{\alpha }(q/q_0{)}^{\beta }r(p_0,q_0)$. The two scaling parameters α$\alpha$ and β$\beta$ measure interprocessor communication overhead required by the algorithm. A machine that scales perfectly corresponds to α=β=1$\alpha =\beta =1$; a machine that scales not at all corresponds to α=β=0$\alpha =\beta =0$. We have determined the two scaling parameters by imposing a fixed-time constraint on the problem size such that the execution time remains constant as the number of processors changes. Results for a collection of machines confirm that the formula suggested by dimensional analysis is correct. Machines with the same values for these parameters are self-similar. They scale the same way even though the details of their specific hardware and software may be quite different.     

On some special solutions to periodic Benjamin-Ono equation with discrete Laplacian

We investigate a periodic version of the Benjamin-Ono (BO) equation associated with a discrete Laplacian. We find some special solutions to this equation, and calculate the values of the first two integrals of motion _I1$I_1$ and _I2$I_2$ corresponding to these solutions. It is found that there exists a strong resemblance between them and the spectra for the Macdonald q$q$-difference operators. To better understand the connection between these classical and quantum integrable systems, we consider the special degenerate case corresponding to q=0$q=0$ in more detail. Namely, we give general solutions to this degenerate periodic BO, obtain explicit formulas representing all the integrals of motions _In$I_n$ (n=1,2,…$n=1\text{,}2\text{,}\dots$), and successfully identify it with the eigenvalues of Macdonald operators in the limit q→0$q\to 0$, i.e. the limit where Macdonald polynomials tend to the Hall–Littlewood polynomials.     

Topological additive numbering of directed acyclic graphs

We propose to study a problem that arises naturally from both Topological Numbering of Directed Acyclic Graphs, and Additive Coloring (also known as Lucky Labeling). Let D be a digraph and f   a labeling of its vertices with positive integers; denote by S(v)$S(v)$ the sum of labels over all neighbors of each vertex v. The labeling f is called topological additive numbering   if S(u)<S(v)$S(u)<S(v)$ for each arc (u,v)$(u,v)$ of the digraph. The problem asks to find the minimum number k for which D   has a topological additive numbering with labels belonging to {1,…,k}$\{1,\dots ,k\}$, denoted by _ηt(D)${\eta }_t(D)$.