On Deciding Readiness and Failure Equivalences for Processes

In this paper, we study the complexity of deciding readiness and failure equivalences for finite state processes and recursively defined processes specified by normed context-free grammars (CFGs) in Greibach normal form (GNF). The results are as follows: (1) Readiness and failure equivalences for processes specified by normed GNF CFGs are both undecidable. For this class of processes, the regularity problem with respect to failure or readiness equivalence is also undecidable. Moreover, all these undecidability results hold even for locally unary processes. In the unary case, these problems become decidable. In fact, they are Π^p₂-complete, We also show that with respect to bisimulation equivalence, the regularity for processes specified by normed GNF CFGs is NL-complete. (2) Readiness and failure equivalences for finite state processes are PSPACE-complete. This holds even for locally unary finite state processes. These two equivalences are co-NP-complete for unary finite state processes. Further, for acyclic finite state processes, readiness and failure equivalences are co-NP-complete and they are NL-complete in the unary case. (3) For finite tree processes, we show that finite trace, readiness, and failure equivalences are all L-complete. Further, the results remain true for the unary case. Our results provide a complete characterization of the computational complexity of deciding readiness and failure equivalences for several important classes of processes.     

On the finite and general implication problems of independence atoms and keys

We investigate implication problems for keys and independence atoms in relational databases. For keys and unary independence atoms we show that finite implication is not finitely axiomatizable, and establish a finite axiomatization for general implication. The same axiomatization is also sound and complete for finite and general implication of unary keys and independence atoms, which coincide. We show that the general implication of keys and unary independence atoms and of unary keys and general independence atoms is decidable in polynomial time. For these two classes we also show how to construct Armstrong relations. Finally, we establish tractable conditions that are sufficient for certain classes of keys and independence atoms not to interact.     

Two-way unary automata versus logarithmic space

We show that if L=NL (the classical logarithmic space classes), then each unary 2nfa (a two-way nondeterministic finite automaton) can be converted into an equivalent 2dfa (a deterministic two-way automaton), keeping the number of states polynomial. (Unlike other results of this kind, here the deterministic simulation is valid for inputs of all lengths, not only polynomially long ones.) This shows a connection between the standard logarithmic space complexity and the state complexity of two-way unary automata: it indicates that L could be separated from NL by proving a superpolynomial gap, in the number of states, for the conversion from unary 2nfas to 2dfa. Moreover, without any unproven assumptions, we show that each n-state unary 2nfa can be simulated by an equivalent 2ufa (an unambiguous 2nfa) with a polynomial number of states.     

Finite Presentations of Infinite Structures: Automata and Interpretations

We study definability problems and algorithmic issues for infinite structures that are finitely presented. After a brief overview over different classes of finitely presentable structures, we focus on structures presented by automata or by model-theoretic interpretations. These two ways of presenting a structure are related. Indeed, a structure is automatic if, and only if, it is first-order interpretable in an appropriate expansion of Presburger arithmetic or, equivalently, in the infinite binary tree with prefix order and equal length predicate. Similar results hold for -automatic structures and appropriate expansions of the real ordered group. We also discuss the relationship to automatic groups. The model checking problem for FO(), first-order logic extended by the quantifier there are infinitely many, is proved to be decidable for automatic and -automatic structures. Further, the complexity for various fragments of first-order logic is determined. On the other hand, several important properties not expressible in FO, such as isomorphism or connectedness, turn out to be undecidable for automatic structures. Finally, we investigate methods for proving that a structure does not admit an automatic presentation, and we establish that the class of automatic structures is closed under Feferman–Vaught-like products.     

Extensions of MSO and the monadic counting hierarchy

In this paper, we study the expressive power of the extension of first-order logic by the unary second-order majority quantifier Most¹. In 1 it was shown that the extension of FO by second-order majority quantifiers of all arities describes exactly the problems in the counting hierarchy. We consider first certain sublogics of FO(Most¹) over unary vocabularies. We show that over unary vocabularies the logic MSO(R), where MSO is monadic second-order logic and R is the first-order Rescher quantifier, can be characterized by Presburger arithmetic, whereas the logic MSO(Rⁿ)_n∈Z+, where Rⁿ is the nth vectorization of R, corresponds to the Δ₀-fragment of arithmetic. Then we show that FO(Most¹)?MSO(Rⁿ)_n∈Z+ and that, on unary vocabularies, FO(Most¹) collapses to uniform-TC⁰. Using this collapse, we show that first-order logic with the binary second-order majority quantifier is strictly more expressive than FO(Most¹) over the empty vocabulary. On the other hand, over strings, FO(Most¹) is shown to capture the linear fragment of the counting hierarchy. Finally we show that, over non-unary vocabularies, FO(Most¹) can express problems complete via first-order reductions for each level of the counting hierarchy.     

Modeling spatial layout for scene image understanding via a novel multiscale sum-product network

Semantic image segmentation is challenging due to the large intra-class variations and the complex spatial layouts inside natural scenes. This paper investigates this problem by designing a new deep architecture, called multiscale sum-product network (MSPN), which utilizes multiscale unary potentials as the inputs and models the spatial layouts of image content in a hierarchical manner. That is, the proposed MSPN models the joint distribution of multiscale unary potentials and object classes instead of single unary potentials in popular settings. Besides, MSPN characterizes scene spatial layouts in a fine-to-coarse manner to enforce the consistency in labeling. Multiscale unary potentials at different scales can thus help overcome semantic ambiguities caused by only evaluating single local regions, while long-range spatial correlations can further refine image labeling. In addition, higher orders are able to pose the constraints among labels. By this way, multi-scale unary potentials, long-range spatial correlations, higher-order priors are well modeled under the uniform framework in MSPN. We conduct experiments on two challenging benchmarks consisting of the MSRC-21 dataset and the SIFT FLOW dataset. The results demonstrate the superior performance of our method comparing with the previous graphical models for understanding scene images.     

Magic numbers in the state hierarchy of finite automata

A number d is magic for n, if there is no regular language for which an optimal nondeterministic finite state automaton (nfa) uses exactly n states and, at the same time, the optimal deterministic finite state automaton (dfa) uses exactly d states. We show that, in the case of unary regular languages, the state hierarchy of dfa’s, for the family of languages accepted by n-state nfa’s, is not contiguous. There are some “holes” in the hierarchy, i.e., magic numbers in between values that are not magic. This solves, for automata with a single letter input alphabet, an open problem of existence of magic numbers. Actually, most of the numbers is magic in the unary case. As an additional bonus, we also get a new universal lower bound for the conversion of unary d-state dfa’s into equivalent nfa’s: nondeterminism does not reduce the number of states below log² d, not even in the best case.     

On subsumption and semiunification in feature algebras

We consider a generalization of term subsumption, or matching, to a class of mathematical structures which we call feature algebras. We show how these generalize both first-order terms and the feature structures used in computational linguistics. The notion of term subsumption generalizes to a natural notion of algebra homomorphism. In the setting of feature algebras, unification, corresponds naturally to solving constraints involving equalities between strings of unary function symbols, and semiunification also allows inequalities representing subsumption constraints. Our generalization allows us to show that the semiunification problem for finite feature algebras is undecidable. This implies that the corresponding problem for rational trees (cyclic terms) is also undecidable.     

Complementing two-way finite automata

We study the relationship between the sizes of two-way finite automata accepting a language and its complement. In the deterministic case, for a given automaton (2dfa) with n states, we build an automaton accepting the complement with at most 4n states, independently of the size of the input alphabet. Actually, we show a stronger result, by presenting an equivalent 4n-state 2dfa that always halts. For the nondeterministic case, using a variant of inductive counting, we show that the complement of a unary language, accepted by an n-state two-way automaton (2nfa), can be accepted by an O(n⁸)-state 2nfa. Here we also make 2nfa’s halting. This allows the simulation of unary 2nfa’s by probabilistic Las Vegas two-way automata with O(n⁸) states.     

Extension of <Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> log <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>) Filtering Algorithms for the Unary Resource Constraint to Optional Activities

Scheduling is one of the most successful application areas of constraint programming mainly thanks to special global constraints designed to model resource restrictions. Among these global constraints, edge-finding and not-first/not-last are the most popular filtering algorithms for unary resources. In this paper we introduce new O(n log n) versions of these two filtering algorithms and one more O(n log n) filtering algorithm called detectable precedences. These algorithms use a special data structures Θ-tree and Θ-Λ-tree. These data structures are especially designed for “what-if” reasoning about a set of activities so we also propose to use them for handling so called optional activities, i.e. activities which may or may not appear on the resource. In particular, we propose new O(n log n) variants of filtering algorithms which are able to handle optional activities: overload checking, detectable precedences and not-first/not-last.     

The verification and synthesis of data structures

Summary The concept of machine extension is a commonly used technique for implementing complex software: sets of object classes and operations on these objects are defined and used, often in a layered fashion, to construct the system. This paper addresses the adaptation of this technique to automatic programming. It discusses how such sets of data structures may be precisely specified, presents an axiomatization of a programming language suitable for machine verification, and shows how programs which realize these data structures may be proved correct. A range of data type classes is treated—including arrays, records, and pointers. Some new verification rules are presented to handle programs which use assignments and structured objects.     

Two-way automata and length-preserving homomorphisms

Closure underlength-preserving homomorphisms is interesting because of its similarity tonondeterminism. We give a characterization of NP in terms of length-preserving homomorphisms and present related complexity results. However, we mostly study the case of two-way finite automata: Let l.p.hom[n state 2DFA] denote the class of languages that are length-preserving homomorphic images of languages recognized byn-state 2DFAs. We give a machine characterization of this class. We show that any language accepted by ann-state two-wayalternating finite automaton (2AFA), or by a l-pebble 2NFA, belongs to l.p.hom[O(n ²) state 2DFA]. Moreover, there are languages in l.p.hom[n state 2DFA] whose smallest accepting 2NFA has at leastc ⁿ states (for some constantc > 1). So for two-way finite automata, the closure under length-preserving homomorphisms is much more powerful than nondeterminism. We disprove two conjectures (of Meyer and Fischer, and of Chrobak) about the state-complexity of unary languages. Finally, we show that the equivalence problems for 2AFAs (resp. 1-pebble 2NFAs) are in PSPACE, and that the equivalence problem for 1-pebble 2AFAs is in ExpSPACE (thus answering a question of Jiang and Ravikumar); it was known that these problems are hard in these two classes. We also give a new proof that alternating 1-pebble machines recognize only regular languages (which was first proved by Goralčíket al.). This research was supported in part by N.S.F. Grant DMS 8702019.     

On tape bounds for single letter alphabet language processing

In this paper we show that the tape bounded complexity classes of languages over single letter alphabets (sla) are closed under complementation. We then use this results to show by means of diagonalization that there exists an infinite hierarchy of tape bounded complexity classes of sla languages between log log n and log n tape bounds. On the other hand, we show that the power of diagonalization over sla inputs with less than log n tape is very limited by proving that every infinite sla language accepted using less than log n tape contains infinite regular subsets. From this result it immediately follows that the set of primes in unary notation, P, requires exactly log n tape for its recognition and every infinite subset of P requires at least log n tape.     

Learnability of automatic classes

The present work initiates the study of the learnability of automatic indexable classes which are classes of regular languages of a certain form. Angluin?s tell-tale condition characterises when these classes are explanatorily learnable. Therefore, the more interesting question is when learnability holds for learners with complexity bounds, formulated in the automata–theoretic setting. The learners in question work iteratively, in some cases with an additional long-term memory, where the update function of the learner mapping old hypothesis, old memory and current datum to new hypothesis and new memory is automatic. Furthermore, the dependence of the learnability on the indexing is also investigated. This work brings together the fields of inductive inference and automatic structures.     

Random parallel algorithms for finding exact branchings,perfect matchings,and cycles

In this paper we devise randomized parallel algorithms which given a unary weighted (di)graphG=(V, E)construct in time O(log²¦ V¦) branchings, perfect matchings, and disjoint cycles of weightexactly k belonging toG. These problems have been studied by Papadimitriou and Yannakakis [PY1], by Barahona and Pulleyblank [BP], by Cameriniet al [CGM], and by Mulmuleyet al. [MVV]. Our algorithms improve previous solutions. Moreover, we give an NC² algorithm for computing the absolute value of the pfaffian of a skew-symmetric matrix.Supported in part by MURST 40%.     

Notes on Sum-Tests and Independence Tests

We study statistical sum-tests and independence tests, in particular for computably enumerable semimeasures on a discrete domain. Among other things, we prove that for universal semimeasures every S⁰₁\Sigma ^{0}_{1} -sum-test is bounded, but unbounded P⁰₁\Pi ^{0}_{1} -sum-tests exist, and we study to what extent the latter can be universal. For universal semimeasures, in the unary case of sum-test we leave open whether universal P⁰₁\Pi ^{0}_{1} -sum-tests exist, whereas in the binary case of independence tests we prove that they do not exist.     

Hybrid tractability of valued constraint problems

The constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is a central generic problem in computer science and artificial intelligence: it provides a common framework for many theoretical problems as well as for many real-life applications. Valued constraint problems are a generalisation of the CSP which allow the user to model optimisation problems. Considerable effort has been made in identifying properties which ensure tractability in such problems. In this work, we initiate the study of hybrid tractability of valued constraint problems; that is, properties which guarantee tractability of the given valued constraint problem, but which do not depend only on the underlying structure of the instance (such as being tree-structured) or only on the types of valued constraints in the instance (such as submodularity). We present several novel hybrid classes of valued constraint problems in which all unary constraints are allowed, which include a machine scheduling problem, constraint problems of arbitrary arities with no overlapping nogoods, and the SoftAllDiff constraint with arbitrary unary valued constraints. An important tool in our investigation will be the notion of forbidden substructures.     

Resource Bounds and Subproblem Independence

There are several reasons why some NP-hard problems can be solved deterministically in 2^{O(n^a)} time for some a, 0 < a < 1. One reason is that the problem can be solved with a nondeterministic procedure which uses only O(n^a) space. A second reason is that each instance of the problem exhibits a high degree of "subproblem independence" (specifically O(n^a) line channelwidth or treewidth). A third is that each instance of the problem can be solved using nondeterministic straight-line programs where the number of variables is only O(n^a). In this paper we show that, after imposing q-linear bounds on the computation time and obliviousness constraints on the nondeterminism, these three reasons are essentially equivalent. (q-Linear functions are similar to functions of the form n (log n)^k.) Specifically, the problem classes associated with these reasons are interchangeable using reductions which are simultaneously polynomial time and q-linear size-bounded. We call these PQ-reductions. The classes of problems solvable by these methods we call NQn^a. Because these classes are defined in a very general way, they include a rich variety of problems. We take this as evidence that these classes have "power index" a (i.e., that 2^{O(n^a)} is also a lower time bound). On the other hand, the easiness of all these problems can be derived from "subproblem independence" considerations, and thus the techniques associated with subproblem independence are seen to be more widely applicable than one might expect.