On the complexity of sandpile critical avalanches

In this work, we study The Abelian Sandpile Model from the point of view of computational complexity. We begin by studying the length distribution of sandpile avalanches triggered by the addition of two critical configurations: we prove that those avalanches are long on average, their length is bounded below by a constant fraction of the length of the longest critical avalanche which is, in most of the cases, superlinear. At the end of the paper we take the point of view of computational complexity, we analyze the algorithmic hardness of the problem consisting in computing the addition of two critical configurations, we prove that this problem is P complete, and we prove that most algorithmic problems related to The Abelian Sandpile Model are NC reducible to it.     

On cool congruence formats for weak bisimulations

In TCS 146, Bard Bloom presented rule formats for four main notions of bisimulation with silent moves. He proved that weak bisimulation equivalence is a congruence for any process algebra defined by WB cool rules, and established similar results for rooted weak bisimulation (Milner’s “observational congruence”), branching bisimulation and rooted branching bisimulation. This study reformulates Bloom’s results in a more accessible form and contributes analogues for (rooted) η-bisimulation and (rooted) delay bisimulation. Moreover, finite equational axiomatisations of rooted weak bisimulation equivalence are provided that are sound and complete for finite processes in any RWB cool process algebra. These require the introduction of auxiliary operators with lookahead, and an extension of Bloom’s formats for this type of operator with lookahead. Finally, a challenge is presented for which Bloom’s formats fall short and further improvement is called for.     

Vague soft hemirings

Xu et al. introduced the concept of vague soft sets, which is an extension to the soft set and the vague set. In this paper, we apply the concept of vague soft sets to hemiring theory. The notion of (∈,∈∨q)-vague (soft) left h-ideals of a hemiring is introduced and some related properties are investigated.     

Relationship between the eccentric connectivity index and Zagreb indices

For a (molecular) graph, the first Zagreb index M₁ is equal to the sum of the squares of the degrees of the vertices, and the second Zagreb index M₂ is equal to the sum of the products of the degrees of pairs of adjacent vertices. If G is a connected graph with vertex set V(G), then the eccentric connectivity index of G, ξ^C(G), is defined as, ∑_vi∈V(G)d_ie_i, where d_i is the degree of a vertex v_i and e_i is its eccentricity. In this report we compare the eccentric connectivity index (ξ^C) and the Zagreb indices (M₁ and M₂) for chemical trees. Moreover, we compare the eccentric connectivity index (ξ^C) and the first Zagreb index (M₁) for molecular graphs.     

Sample-weighted clustering methods

Although there have been many researches on cluster analysis considering feature (or variable) weights, little effort has been made regarding sample weights in clustering. In practice, not every sample in a data set has the same importance in cluster analysis. Therefore, it is interesting to obtain the proper sample weights for clustering a data set. In this paper, we consider a probability distribution over a data set to represent its sample weights. We then apply the maximum entropy principle to automatically compute these sample weights for clustering. Such method can generate the sample-weighted versions of most clustering algorithms, such as k-means, fuzzy c-means (FCM) and expectation & maximization (EM), etc. The proposed sample-weighted clustering algorithms will be robust for data sets with noise and outliers. Furthermore, we also analyze the convergence properties of the proposed algorithms. This study also uses some numerical data and real data sets for demonstration and comparison. Experimental results and comparisons actually demonstrate that the proposed sample-weighted clustering algorithms are effective and robust clustering methods.     

The radical of a perfect residuated structure

In this paper we extend some properties of the radical of an MTL-algebra to the non-commutative case of a more general residuated structure, namely the FL_w-algebra. For the particular case of pseudo-MTL algebras, some specific results are presented. We introduce the notion of a local additive measure on a perfect pseudo-MTL algebra and we prove that, with some additional conditions, every local additive measure can be extended to a Rie?an state; a necessary and sufficient condition is given for such an extension to be a Bosbach state.     

Three-dimensional beta shapes

The Voronoi diagram of a point set has been extensively used in various disciplines ever since it was first proposed. Its application realms have been even further extended to estimate the shape of point clouds when Edelsbrunner and Mücke introduced the concept of α-shape based on the Delaunay triangulation of a point set.In this paper, we present the theory of β-shape for a set of three-dimensional spheres as the generalization of the well-known α-shape for a set of points. The proposed β-shape fully accounts for the size differences among spheres and therefore it is more appropriate for the efficient and correct solution for applications in biological systems such as proteins.Once the Voronoi diagram of spheres is given, the corresponding β-shape can be efficiently constructed and various geometric computations on the sphere complex can be efficiently and correctly performed. It turns out that many important problems in biological systems such as proteins can be easily solved via the Voronoi diagram of atoms in proteins and β-shapes transformed from the Voronoi diagram.     

Soft hyperstructure

In this paper, we study soft hypergroupoids. Firstly, we introduce the notion of soft hypergroupoids, and some examples are given. Also, we show that soft hypergroupoids are closely related to L-subhypergroupoid. Secondly, using the notion of soft hypergroupoid, some new properties of soft hypergroupoids are obtained. Lastly, we investigate some properties of soft subhypergroupoids.     

On the hardness of finding near-optimal multicuts in directed acyclic graphs

Given an edge-weighted (di)graph and a list of source-sink pairs of vertices of this graph, the minimum multicut problem consists in selecting a minimum-weight set of edges (or arcs), whose removal leaves no path from each source to the corresponding sink. This is a well-known NP-hard problem, and improving several previous results, we show that it remains APX-hard in unweighted directed acyclic graphs (DAG), even with only two source-sink pairs. This is also true if we remove vertices instead of arcs.     

A class of aggregation functions encompassing two-dimensional OWA operators

In this paper we prove that, under suitable conditions, Atanassov’s K_α operators, which act on intervals, provide the same numerical results as OWA operators of dimension two. On one hand, this allows us to recover OWA operators from K_α operators. On the other hand, by analyzing the properties of Atanassov’s operators, we can generalize them. In this way, we introduce a class of aggregation functions - the generalized Atanassov operators - that, in particular, include two-dimensional OWA operators. We investigate under which conditions these generalized Atanassov operators satisfy some properties usually required for aggregation functions, such as bisymmetry, strictness, monotonicity, etc. We also show that if we apply these aggregation functions to interval-valued fuzzy sets, we obtain an ordered family of fuzzy sets.     

Equivalence of rational representations of behaviors

This article deals with the equivalence of representations of behaviors of linear differential systems. In general, the behavior of a given linear differential system has many different representations. In this paper we restrict ourselves to kernel and image representations. Two kernel representations are called equivalent if they represent one and the same behavior. For kernel representations defined by polynomial matrices, necessary and sufficient conditions for equivalence are well known. In this paper, we deal with the equivalence of rational representations, i. e. kernel and image representations that are defined in terms of rational matrices. As the first main result of this paper, we will derive a new condition for the equivalence of rational kernel representations of possibly noncontrollable behaviors. Secondly we will derive conditions for the equivalence of rational representations of a given behavior in terms of the polynomial modules generated by the rows of the rational matrices. We will also establish conditions for the equivalence of rational image representations. Finally, we will derive conditions under which a given rational kernel representation is equivalent to a given rational image representation.     

Some new sequence spaces derived by the domain of the triple band matrix

Let λ denote any of the classical spaces ?_∞,c,c₀, and ?_p of bounded, convergent, null, and absolutely p-summable sequences, respectively, and let λ(B) also be the domain of the triple band matrix B(r,s,t) in the sequence space λ, where 1<p<∞. The present paper is devoted to studying the sequence space λ(B). Furthermore, the β- and γ-duals of the space λ(B) are determined, the Schauder bases for the spaces c(B), c₀(B), and ?_p(B) are given, and some topological properties of the spaces c₀(B), ?₁(B), and ?_p(B) are examined. Finally, the classes (λ₁(B):λ₂) and (λ₁(B):λ₂(B)) of infinite matrices are characterized, where λ₁∈{?_∞,c,c₀,?_p,?₁} and λ₂∈{?_∞,c,c₀,?₁}.     

Verification of reactive systems via instantiation of Parameterised Boolean Equation Systems

Verification problems for finite- and infinite-state processes, like model checking and equivalence checking, can effectively be encoded in Parameterised Boolean Equation Systems (PBESs). Solving the PBES then solves the encoded problem. The decidability of solving a PBES depends on the data sorts that occur in the PBES. We describe a pragmatic methodology for solving PBESs, viz., by attempting to instantiate them to the sub-fragment of Boolean Equation Systems (BESs). Unlike solving PBESs, solving BESs is a decidable problem. Based on instantiation, verification using PBESs can effectively be done fully automatically in most practical cases. We demonstrate this by solving several complex verification problems using a prototype implementation of our instantiation technique. In addition, practical issues concerning this implementation are addressed. Furthermore, we illustrate the effectiveness of instantiation as a transformation on PBESs when solving verification problems involving systems of infinite size.     

Online computation with advice

We consider a model for online computation in which the online algorithm receives, together with each request, some information regarding the future, referred to as advice. The advice is a function, defined by the online algorithm, of the whole request sequence. The advice provided to the online algorithm may allow an improvement in its performance, compared to the classical model of complete lack of information regarding the future. We are interested in the impact of such advice on the competitive ratio, and in particular, in the relation between the size b of the advice, measured in terms of bits of information per request, and the (improved) competitive ratio. Since b=0 corresponds to the classical online model, and b=⌈log∣A∣⌉, where A is the algorithm’s action space, corresponds to the optimal (offline) one, our model spans a spectrum of settings ranging from classical online algorithms to offline ones.In this paper we propose the above model and illustrate its applicability by considering two of the most extensively studied online problems, namely, metrical task systems (MTS) and the k-server problem. For MTS we establish tight (up to constant factors) upper and lower bounds on the competitive ratio of deterministic and randomized online algorithms with advice for any choice of 1≤b≤Θ(logn), where n is the number of states in the system: we prove that any randomized online algorithm for MTS has competitive ratio Ω(log(n)/b) and we present a deterministic online algorithm for MTS with competitive ratio O(log(n)/b). For the k-server problem we construct a deterministic online algorithm for general metric spaces with competitive ratio k^O(1/b) for any choice of Θ(1)≤b≤logk.     

Improved deterministic algorithms for weighted matching and packing problems

Based on the method of (n,k)-universal sets, we present a deterministic parameterized algorithm for the weighted rd-matching problem with time complexity O^∗(4^{(r−1)k+o(k)}), improving the previous best upper bound O^∗(4^rk+o(k)). In particular, the algorithm applied to the unweighted 3d-matching problem results in a deterministic algorithm with time O^∗(16^k+o(k)), improving the previous best result O^∗(21.26^k). For the weighted r-set packing problem, we present a deterministic parameterized algorithm with time complexity O^∗(2^{(2r−1)k+o(k)}), improving the previous best result O^∗(2^2rk+o(k)). The algorithm, when applied to the unweighted 3-set packing problem, has running time O^∗(32^k+o(k)), improving the previous best result O^∗(43.62^k+o(k)). Moreover, for the weighted r-set packing and weighted rd-matching problems, we give a kernel of size O(k^r), which is the first kernelization algorithm for the problems on weighted versions.     

Guaranteed robustness bounds for matched-disturbance nonlinear systems

This paper considers input affine nonlinear systems with matched disturbances and shows how to compute an a priori upper bound of the H_∞ attenuation level achieved by the optimal L₂ controller and the suboptimal H_∞ central controller. The case where the disturbance contains a constant term is also discussed. These bounds are shown to depend only on the function mapping the control input to the performance variable. This result is used to derive a robust control design for a special, but practically important, class of non-input affine nonlinear systems consisting of the series connection of a nonlinear state and input dependent map and of a nonlinear input affine dynamical system. Approximate inversion of the nonlinear static map leads to a robust control problem which fits into the framework. The effectiveness of the theoretical results is shown by its use for the robust control design of a diesel engine test bench.     

Noncausal linear periodically time-varying scaling for robust stability analysis of discrete-time systems: Frequency-dependent scaling induced by static separators

This article is concerned with robust stability analysis of discrete-time systems and introduces a novel and powerful technique that we call noncausal linear periodically time-varying (LPTV) scaling. Based on the discrete-time lifting together with the conventional but general scaling approach, we are led to the notion of noncausal LPTV scaling for LPTV systems, and its effectiveness is demonstrated with a numerical example. To separate the effect of noncausal and LPTV characteristics of noncausal LPTV scaling to see which is a more important source leading to the effectiveness, we then consider the case of LTI systems as a special case. Then, we show that even static noncausal LPTV scaling has an ability of inducing frequency-dependent scaling when viewed in the context of the conventional LTI scaling, while causal LPTV scaling fails to do so. It is further discussed that the effectiveness of noncausal characteristics leading to the frequency-domain interpretation can be exploited even for LPTV systems by considering the νN-lifted transfer matrices of N-periodic systems.     

Linguistic truth-valued lattice-valued propositional logic system ?P(X) based on linguistic truth-valued lattice implication algebra

In the semantics of natural language, quantification may have received more attention than any other subject, and syllogistic reasoning is one of the main topics in many-valued logic studies on inference. Particularly, lattice-valued logic, a kind of important non-classical logic, can be applied to describe and treat incomparability by the incomparable elements in its truth-valued set. In this paper, we first focus on some properties of linguistic truth-valued lattice implication algebra. Secondly, we introduce some concepts of linguistic truth-valued lattice-valued propositional logic system ?P(X), whose truth-valued domain is a linguistic truth-valued lattice implication algebra. Then we investigate the semantic problem of ?P(X). Finally, we further probe into the syntax of linguistic truth-valued lattice-valued propositional logic system ?P(X), and prove the soundness theorem, deduction theorem and consistency theorem.