Let c denote a non-negative constant. Suppose that we are given an edge-weighted bipartite graph G=(V,E) with its 2-layered drawing and a family X of intersecting edge pairs. We consider the problem of finding a maximum weighted matching M* such that each edge in M* intersects with at most c other edges in M*, and that all edge crossings in M* are contained in X. In the present paper, we propose polynomial-time algorithms for the problem for c=1 and 2. The time complexities of the algorithms are O((k+m)log n) for c=1 and O(m^4log n+k^3+n(k^2+log n)) for c=2, respectively, where n=|V|, m=|E| and k=|X|.
The conflict pair constraint (or negative disjunctive constraint ) is a generalization of the non-crossing constraint. Represented by a conflict graph @math , this constraint prohibits a solution from including two edges @math such that @math . The minimum cost perfect matching problem with conflict pair constraints is strong NP-hard for a general graph @math even if the conflict graph @math is a collection of single edges @cite_6 and is NP-hard even for @math that consists of 4-cycles @cite_24 ; it turns out that the problem is NP-hard for a bipartite graph. For this type of constraint, there are also studies on the transportation problem @cite_14 @cite_8 , the minimum spanning tree problem @cite_20 @cite_11 @cite_13 , and the max-flow problem @cite_19 .
@cite_14 @cite_8 @cite_6 @cite_24 @cite_19 @cite_13 @cite_20 @cite_11
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For the classical minimum spanning tree problem we introduce disjunctive constraints for pairs of edges which can not be both included in the spanning tree at the same time. These constraints are represented by a conflict graph whose vertices correspond to the edges of the original graph. Edges in the conflict graph connect conflicting edges of the original graph. It is shown that the problem becomes strongly @math -hard even if the connected components of the conflict graph consist only of paths of length two. On the other hand, for conflict graphs consisting of disjoint edges (i.e. paths of length one) the problem remains polynomially solvable. We study the maximum flow problem subject to binary disjunctive constraints in a directed graph: A negative disjunctive constraint states that a certain pair of arcs in a digraph cannot be simultaneously used for sending flow in a feasible solution. In contrast to this, positive disjunctive constraints force that for certain pairs of arcs at least one arc has to carry flow in a feasible solution. It is convenient to represent the negative disjunctive constraints in terms of a so-called conflict graph whose vertices correspond to the arcs of the underlying graph, and whose edges encode the constraints. Analogously we represent the positive disjunctive constraints by a so-called forcing graph. For conflict graphs we prove that the maximum flow problem is strongly @math -hard, even if the conflict graph consists only of unconnected edges. This result still holds if the network consists only of disjoint paths of length three. For forcing graphs we also provide a sharp line between polynomially solvable and strongly @math -hard instances for the case where the flow values are required to be integral. Moreover, our hardness results imply that no polynomial time approximation algorithm can exist for both problems. In contrast to this we show that the maximum flow problem with a forcing graph can be solved efficiently if fractional flow values are allowed. We study approaches for the exact solution of the NP-hard minimum spanning tree problem under conflict constraints. Given a graph (G(V,E) ) and a set (C E E ) of conflicting edge pairs, the problem consists of finding a conflict-free minimum spanning tree, i.e. feasible solutions are allowed to include at most one of the edges from each pair in (C ). The problem was introduced recently in the literature, with several results on its complexity and approximability. Some formulations and both exact and heuristic algorithms were also discussed, but computational results indicate considerably large duality gaps and a lack of optimality certificates for benchmark instances. In this paper, we build on the representation of conflict constraints using an auxiliary conflict graph ( G (E,C) ), where stable sets correspond to conflict-free subsets of (E ). We introduce a general preprocessing method and a branch and cut algorithm using an IP formulation with exponentially sized classes of valid inequalities for both the spanning tree and the stable set polytopes. Encouraging computational results indicate that the dual bounds of our approach are significantly stronger than those previously available, already in the initial LP relaxation, and we are able to provide new feasibility and optimality certificates. In this paper we address the minimum cost perfect matching problem with conflict pair constraints (MCPMPC). Given an undirected graph G with a cost associated with each edge and a conflict set of pairs of edges, the MCPMPC is to find a perfect matching with the lowest total cost such that no more than one edge is selected from each pair in the conflict set. MCPMPC is known to be strongly NP-hard. We present additional complexity results and identify new polynomially solvable cases for the general MCPMPC. Several heuristic algorithms and lower bounding schemes are presented. The proposed algorithms are tested on randomly generated instances. Encouraging experimental results are also reported. We consider the minimum spanning tree problem with conflict constraints (MSTC). The problem is known to be strongly NP-hard and computing even a feasible solution is NP-hard. When the underlying graph is a cactus, we show that the feasibility problem is polynomially bounded whereas the optimization version is still NP-hard. When the conflict graph is a collection of disjoint cliques, (equivalently, when the conflict relation is transitive) we observe that MSTC can be solved in polynomial time. We also identify other special cases of MSTC that can be solved in polynomial time. Exploiting these polynomially solvable special cases we derive strong lower bounds. Also, various heuristic algorithms and feasibility tests are discussed along with preliminary experimental results. As a byproduct of this investigation, we show that if an @e-optimal solution to the maximum clique problem can be obtained in polynomial time, then a ([email protected])-optimal solution to the maximum edge clique partitioning (Max-ECP) problem can be obtained in polynomial time. As a consequence, we have a polynomial time approximation algorithm for the Max-ECP with performance ratio O(n(loglogn)^2log^3n), improving the best previously known bound of O(n). A natural way to deal with multiple, partially conflicting objectives is turning all the objectives but one into budget constraints. Many classical optimization problems, such as maximum spanning tree and forest, shortest path, maximum weight (perfect) matching, maximum weight independent set (basis) in a matroid or in the intersection of two matroids, become NP-hard even with one budget constraint. Still, for most of these problems efficient deterministic and randomized approximation schemes are known. Not much is known however about the case of two or more budgets: filling this gap, at least partially, is the main goal of this paper. In more detail, we obtain the following main results: Using iterative rounding for the first time in multi-objective optimization, we obtain multi-criteria PTASs (which slightly violate the budget constraints) for spanning tree, matroid basis, and bipartite matching with @math k = O ( 1 ) budget constraints. We present a simple mechanism to transform multi-criteria approximation schemes into pure approximation schemes for problems whose feasible solutions define an independence system. This gives improved algorithms for several problems. In particular, this mechanism can be applied to the above bipartite matching algorithm, hence obtaining a pure PTAS. We show that points in low-dimensional faces of any matroid polytope are almost integral, an interesting result on its own. This gives a deterministic approximation scheme for @math k -budgeted matroid independent set. We present a deterministic approximation scheme for @math k -budgeted matching (in general graphs), where @math k = O ( 1 ) . Interestingly, to show that our procedure works, we rely on a non-constructive result by Stromquist and Woodall, which is based on the Ham Sandwich Theorem. We present algorithmic and hardness results for network design problems with degree or order constraints. The first problem we consider is the Survivable Network Design problem with degree constraints on vertices. The objective is to find a minimum cost subgraph which satisfies connectivity requirements between vertices and also degree upper bounds @math on the vertices. This includes the well-studied Minimum Bounded Degree Spanning Tree problem as a special case. Our main result is a @math -approximation algorithm for the edge-connectivity Survivable Network Design problem with degree constraints, where the cost of the returned solution is at most twice the cost of an optimum solution (satisfying the degree bounds) and the degree of each vertex @math is at most @math . This implies the first constant factor (bicriteria) approximation algorithms for many degree constrained network design problems, including the Minimum Bounded Degree Steiner Forest problem. Our results also extend to directed graphs and provide the first constant factor (bicriteria) approximation algorithms for the Minimum Bounded Degree Arborescence problem and the Minimum Bounded Degree Strongly @math -Edge-Connected Subgraph problem. In contrast, we show that the vertex-connectivity Survivable Network Design problem with degree constraints is hard to approximate, even when the cost of every edge is zero. A striking aspect of our algorithmic result is its simplicity. It is based on the iterative relaxation method, which is an extension of Jain's iterative rounding method. This provides an elegant and unifying algorithmic framework for a broad range of network design problems. We also study the problem of finding a minimum cost @math -edge-connected subgraph with at least @math vertices, which we call the @math -subgraph problem. This generalizes some well-studied classical problems such as the @math -MST and the minimum cost @math -edge-connected subgraph problems. We give a polylogarithmic approximation for the @math -subgraph problem. However, by relating it to the Densest @math -Subgraph problem, we provide evidence that the @math -subgraph problem might be hard to approximate for arbitrary @math . We investigate the minimization of Newton's functional for the problem of the body of minimal resistance with maximal height @math cite butt in the class of convex developable functions defined in a disc. This class is a natural candidate to find a (non-radial) minimizer in accordance with the results of cite lrp2. We prove that the minimizer in this class has a minimal set in the form of a regular polygon with @math sides centered in the disc, and numerical experiments indicate that the natural number @math is a non-decreasing function of @math . The corresponding functions all achieve a lower value of the functional than the optimal radially symmetric function with the same height @math . In the survivable network design problem (SNDP), the goal is to find a minimum-cost spanning subgraph satisfying certain connectivity requirements. We study the vertex-connectivity variant of SNDP in which the input specifies, for each pair of vertices, a required number of vertex-disjoint paths connecting them. We give the first strong lower bound on the approximability of SNDP, showing that the problem admits no efficient @math ratio approximation for any fixed @math , unless @math . We show hardness of approximation results for some important special cases of SNDP, and we exhibit the first lower bound on the approximability of the related classical NP-hard problem of augmenting the connectivity of a graph using edges from a given set. Given an undirected graph G = (V ,E ), the density of a subgraph on vertex set S is defined as @math , where E (S ) is the set of edges in the subgraph induced by nodes in S . Finding subgraphs of maximum density is a very well studied problem. One can also generalize this notion to directed graphs. For a directed graph one notion of density given by Kannan and Vinay [12] is as follows: given subsets S and T of vertices, the density of the subgraph is @math , where E (S ,T ) is the set of edges going from S to T . Without any size constraints, a subgraph of maximum density can be found in polynomial time. When we require the subgraph to have a specified size, the problem of finding a maximum density subgraph becomes NP -hard. In this paper we focus on developing fast polynomial time algorithms for several variations of dense subgraph problems for both directed and undirected graphs. When there is no size bound, we extend the flow based technique for obtaining a densest subgraph in directed graphs and also give a linear time 2-approximation algorithm for it. When a size lower bound is specified for both directed and undirected cases, we show that the problem is NP-complete and give fast algorithms to find subgraphs within a factor 2 of the optimum density. We also show that solving the densest subgraph problem with an upper bound on size is as hard as solving the problem with an exact size constraint, within a constant factor. Given a connected geometric graph G, we consider the problem of constructing a t-spanner of G having the minimum number of edges. We prove that for every t with @math , there exists a connected geometric graph G with n vertices, such that every t-spanner of G contains Ω( n1+1 t ) edges. This bound almost matches the known upper bound, which states that every connected weighted graph with n vertices contains a t-spanner with O(tn1+2 (t+1)) edges. We also prove that the problem of deciding whether a given geometric graph contains a t-spanner with at most K edges is NP-hard. Previously, this NP-hardness result was only known for non-geometric graphs We present a general approximation technique for a large class of graph problems. Our technique mostly applies to problems of covering, at minimum cost, the vertices of a graph with trees, cycles or paths satisfying certain requirements. In particular, many basic combinatorial optimization problems fit in this framework, including the shortest path, minimum-cost spanning tree, minimum-weight perfect matching, traveling salesman and Steiner tree problems. Our technique produces approximation algorithms that run in @math time and come within a factor of 2 of optimal for most of these problems. For instance, we obtain a 2-approximation algorithm for the minimum-weight perfect matching problem under the triangle inequality. Our running time of @math time compares favorably with the best strongly polynomial exact algorithms running in @math time for dense graphs. A similar result is obtained for the 2-matching problem and its variants. We also derive the first approximation algorithms for many NP-complete problems, including the non-fixed point-to-point connection problem, the exact path partitioning problem and complex location-design problems. Moreover, for the prize-collecting traveling salesman or Steiner tree problems, we obtain 2-approximation algorithms, therefore improving the previously best-known performance guarantees of 2.5 and 3, respectively [Math. Programming, 59 (1993), pp. 413--420]. We study the complexity of motivating time-inconsistent agents to complete long term projects in a graph-based planning model as proposed by Kleinberg and Oreni¾?[5]. Given a task graph G with n nodes, our objective is to guide an agent towards a target node t under certain budget constraints. The crux is that the agent may change its strategy over time due to its present-bias. We consider two strategies to guide the agent. First, a single reward is placed at t and arbitrary edges can be removed from G. Secondly, rewards can be placed at arbitrary nodes of G but no edges must be deleted. In both cases we show that it is NP-complete to decide if a given budget is sufficient to guide the agent. For the first setting, we give complementing upper and lower bounds on the approximability of the minimum required budget. In particular, we devise a @math 1+n-approximation algorithm and prove NP-hardness for ratios greater than @math n 3. Finally, we argue that the second setting does not permit any efficient approximation unless @math P=NP. Statistical physics models with hard constraints, such as the discrete hard-core gas model (random independent sets in a graph), are inherently combinatorial and present the discrete mathematician with a relatively comfortable setting for the study of phase transition. In this paper we survey recent work (concentrating on joint work of the authors) in which hard-constraint systems are modeled by the space @math of homomorphisms from an infinite graph @math to a fixed finite constraint graph @math . These spaces become sufficiently tractable when @math is a regular tree (often called a Cayley tree or Bethe lattice) to permit characterization of the constraint graphs @math which admit multiple invariant Gibbs measures. Applications to a physics problem (multiple critical points for symmetry-breaking) and a combinatorics problem (random coloring), as well as some new combinatorial notions, will be presented. We study a multi-player one-round game termed Stackelberg Network Pricing Game, in which a leader can set prices for a subset of m priceable edges in a graph. The other edges have a fixed cost. Based on the leader’s decision one or more followers optimize a polynomial-time solvable combinatorial minimization problem and choose a minimum cost solution satisfying their requirements based on the fixed costs and the leader’s prices. The leader receives as revenue the total amount of prices paid by the followers for priceable edges in their solutions. Our model extends several known pricing problems, including single-minded and unit-demand pricing, as well as Stackelberg pricing for certain follower problems like shortest path or minimum spanning tree. Our first main result is a tight analysis of a single-price algorithm for the single follower game, which provides a (1+e)log m-approximation. This can be extended to provide a (1+e)(log k+log m)-approximation for the general problem and k followers. The problem is also shown to be hard to approximate within @math for some e>0. If followers have demands, the single-price algorithm provides an @math -approximation, and the problem is hard to approximate within @math for some e>0. Our second main result is a polynomial time algorithm for revenue maximization in the special case of Stackelberg bipartite vertex-cover, which is based on non-trivial max-flow and LP-duality techniques. This approach can be extended to provide constant-factor approximations for any constant number of followers. In this paper, we address the scheduling problem in wireless ad hoc networks by exploiting the computational advantage that comes when such scheduling problems can be represented by claw-free conflict graphs where we consider a wireless broadcast medium. It is possible to formulate a scheduling problem of network coded flows as finding maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) in the conflict graph of the network. Finding MWIS of a general graph is NP-hard leading to an NP-hard complexity of scheduling. In a claw-free conflict graph, MWIS can be found in polynomial time leading to a throughput-optimal scheduling. We show that the conflict graph of certain wireless ad hoc networks are claw-free. In order to obtain claw-free conflict graphs in general networks, we suggest introducing additional conflicts (edges) while keeping the decrease in MWIS size minimal. To this end, we introduce an iterative optimization problem to decide where to introduce edges and investigate its efficient implementation. Besides, we exemplify some physical modifications to manipulate the conflict graph of a network and also propose a mixed scheduling strategy for specific networks. We conclude that claw breaking method by adding extra edges can perform nearly optimal under the necessary assumptions. We consider a class of optimization problems where the input is an undirected graph with two weight functions defined for each node, namely the node's profit and its cost. The goal is to find a connected set of nodes of low cost and high profit. We present approximation algorithms for three natural optimization criteria that arise in this context, all of which are NP-hard. The budget problem asks for maximizing the profit of the set subject to a budget constraint on its cost. The quota problem requires minimizing the cost of the set subject to a quota constraint on its profit. Finally, the prize collecting problem calls for minimizing the cost of the set plus the profit (here interpreted as a penalty) of the complement set. For all three problems, our algorithms give an approximation guarantee of @math , where @math is the number of nodes. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first approximation results for the quota problem and for the prize collecting problem, both of which are at least as hard to approximate as the set cover. For the budget problem, our results improve on a previous @math result of Our methods involve new theorems relating tree packings to (node) cut conditions. We also show similar theorems (with better bounds) using edge cut conditions. These imply bounds for the analogous budget and quota problems with edge costs which are comparable to known (constant factor) bounds. We investigate nonparametric multiproduct pricing problems, in which we want to find revenue maximizing prices for products @math based on a set of customer samples @math . We mostly focus on the unit-demand case, in which products constitute strict substitutes and each customer aims to purchase a single product. In this setting a customer sample consists of a number of nonzero values for different products and possibly an additional product ranking. Once prices are fixed, each customer chooses to buy one of the products she can afford based on some predefined selection rule. We distinguish between the min-buying, max-buying, and rank-buying models. Some of our results also extend to single-minded pricing, in which case products are strict complements and every customer seeks to buy a single set of products, which she purchases if the sum of prices is below her valuation for that set. For the min-buying model we show that the revenue maximization problem is not approximable within factor @math for some constant @math , unless @math , thereby almost closing the gap between the known algorithmic results and previous lower bounds. We also prove inapproximability within @math , @math being an upper bound on the number of nonzero values per customer, and @math under slightly stronger assumptions and provide matching upper bounds. Surprisingly, these hardness results hold even if a price ladder constraint, i.e., a predefined order on the prices of all products, is given. Without the price ladder constraint we obtain similar hardness results for the special case of uniform valuations, i.e., the case that every customer has identical values for all the products she is interested in, assuming specific hardness of the balanced bipartite independent set problem in constant degree graphs or hardness of refuting random 3CNF formulas. Introducing a slightly more general problem definition in which customers are given as an explicit probability distribution, we obtain inapproximability within @math assuming @math . These results apply to single-minded pricing as well. For the max-buying model a polynomial-time approximation scheme exists if a price ladder is given. We give a matching lower bound by proving strong NP-hardness. Assuming limited product supply, we analyze a generic local search algorithm and prove that it is 2-approximate. Finally, we discuss implications for the rank-buying model. The NP-hard Subset Interconnection Design problem, also known as Minimum Topic-Connected Overlay, is motivated by numerous applications including the design of scalable overlay networks and vacuum systems. It has as input a finite set @math and a collection of subsets @math , and asks for a minimum-cardinality edge set @math such that for the graph @math all induced subgraphs @math are connected. We study Subset Interconnection Design in the context of polynomial-time data reduction rules that preserve the possibility of constructing optimal solutions. Our contribution is threefold: First, we show the incorrectness of earlier polynomial-time data reduction rules. Second, we show linear-time solvability in case of a constant number @math of subsets, implying fixed-parameter tractability for the parameter @math . Third, we provide a fixed-parameter tractability result for small subset sizes and tree-like output graphs. To achieve our results, we elaborate o... In this paper the shortest path and the minimum spanning tree problems in a graph with @math nodes and @math cost scenarios (objectives) are discussed. In order to choose a solution the min-max criterion is applied. The minmax versions of both problems are hard to approximate within @math for any @math . The best approximation algorithm for the min-max shortest path problem, known to date, has approximation ratio of @math . On the other hand, for the min-max spanning tree, there is a randomized algorithm with approximation ratio of @math . In this paper a deterministic @math -approximation algorithm for min-max shortest path is constructed. For min-max spanning tree a deterministic @math -approximation algorithm is proposed, which works for a large class of graphs and a randomized @math -approximation algorithm, which can be applied to all graphs, is constructed. It is also shown that the approximation ratios obtained are close to the integrality gaps of the corresponding LP relaxations.