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In the reordering buffer problem (RBP), a server is asked to process a sequence of requests lying in a metric space. To process a request the server must move to the corresponding point in the metric. The requests can be processed slightly…

We explore a multiple-stage variant of the min-max robust selection problem with budgeted uncertainty that includes queries. First, one queries a subset of items and gets the exact values of their uncertain parameters. Given this…

We study systems of String Equations where block variables need to be assigned strings so that their concatenation gives a specified target string. We investigate this problem under a multivariate complexity framework, searching for…

In this work we investigate the min-max-min robust optimization problem and the k-adaptability robust optimization problem for binary problems with uncertain costs. The idea of the first approach is to calculate a set of k feasible…

We consider a robust variant of the classical $k$-median problem, introduced by Anthony et al. \cite{AnthonyGGN10}. In the \emph{Robust $k$-Median problem}, we are given an $n$-vertex metric space $(V,d)$ and $m$ client sets $\set{S_i…

In the Maximum Duo-Preservation String Mapping problem we are given two strings and wish to map the letters of the former to the letters of the latter so as to maximise the number of duos. A duo is a pair of consecutive letters that is…

Obtaining lower bounds for NP-hard problems has for a long time been an active area of research. Recent algebraic techniques introduced by Jonsson et al. (SODA 2013) show that the time complexity of the parameterized SAT($\cdot$) problem…

In the Upper Degree-Constrained Partial Orientation problem we are given an undirected graph $G=(V,E)$, together with two degree constraint functions $d^-,d^+ : V \to \mathbb{N}$. The goal is to orient as many edges as possible, in such a…

We address the problem of testing weak optimality of a given solution of a given interval linear program. The problem was recently wrongly stated to be polynomially solvable. We disprove it. We show that the problem is NP-hard in general.…

Symmetries occur naturally in CSP or SAT problems and are not very difficult to discover, but using them to prune the search space tends to be very challenging. Indeed, this usually requires finding specific elements in a group of…

This paper considers an optimization problem for a dynamical system whose evolution depends on a collection of binary decision variables. We develop scalable approximation algorithms with provable suboptimality bounds to provide…

We consider the Demand Strip Packing problem (DSP), in which we are given a set of jobs, each specified by a processing time and a demand. The task is to schedule all jobs such that they are finished before some deadline $D$ while…

An NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem $\Pi$ is said to have an {\em approximation threshold} if there is some $t$ such that the optimal value of $\Pi$ can be approximated in polynomial time within a ratio of $t$, and it is NP-hard…

We show that any submodular minimization (SM) problem defined on a linear constraint set with constraints having up to two variables per inequality, are 2-approximable in polynomial time. If the constraints are monotone (the two variables…

In the field of algorithmic self-assembly, a long-standing unproven conjecture has been that of the NP-hardness of binary pattern tile set synthesis (2-PATS). The $k$-PATS problem is that of designing a tile assembly system with the…

In the Demand Strip Packing problem (DSP), we are given a time interval and a collection of tasks, each characterized by a processing time and a demand for a given resource (such as electricity, computational power, etc.). A feasible…

The classical work of (Arora et al., 1999) provides a scheme that gives, for any $\epsilon>0$, a polynomial time $1-\epsilon$ approximation algorithm for dense instances of a family of $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problems, such as Max-CUT and…

We consider worst case time bounds for NP-complete problems including 3-SAT, 3-coloring, 3-edge-coloring, and 3-list-coloring. Our algorithms are based on a constraint satisfaction (CSP) formulation of these problems; 3-SAT is equivalent to…

We study a combinatorial problem arising from microarrays synthesis. The synthesis is done by a light-directed chemical process. The objective is to minimize unintended illumination that may contaminate the quality of experiments.…

Here we study the NP-complete $K$-SAT problem. Although the worst-case complexity of NP-complete problems is conjectured to be exponential, there exist parametrized random ensembles of problems where solutions can typically be found in…