Related papers: Red Blue Set Cover Problem on Axis-Parallel Hyperp…
Given a matching between n red points and n blue points by line segments in the plane, we consider the problem of obtaining a crossing-free matching through flip operations that replace two crossing segments by two non-crossing ones. We…
A total dominating set of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a subset $D \subseteq V$ such that every vertex in $V$ is adjacent to some vertex in $D$. Finding a total dominating set of minimum size is NP-hard on planar graphs and W[2]-complete on general…
We consider the problem of discovering overlapping communities in networks which we model as generalizations of Graph Packing problems with overlap. We seek a collection $\mathcal{S}' \subseteq \mathcal{S}$ consisting of at least $k$ sets…
Geometric hitting set problems, in which we seek a smallest set of points that collectively hit a given set of ranges, are ubiquitous in computational geometry. Most often, the set is discrete and is given explicitly. We propose new…
The Minimum Consistent Subset (MCS) problem arises naturally in the context of supervised clustering and instance selection. In supervised clustering, one aims to infer a meaningful partitioning of data using a small labeled subset.…
Given a set of $n$ points $P$ in the plane, each colored with one of the $t$ given colors, a color-spanning set $S\subset P$ is a subset of $t$ points with distinct colors. The minimum diameter color-spanning set (MDCS) is a color-spanning…
Let $V$ be a degree $d$, reduced hypersurface in $\mathbb{CP}^{n+1}$, $n \geq 1$, and fix a generic hyperplane, $H$. Denote by $\mathcal{U}$ the (affine) hypersurface complement, $\mathbb{CP}^{n+1}- V \cup H$, and let $\mathcal{U}^c$ be the…
How can a stack of identical blocks be arranged to extend beyond the edge of a table as far as possible? We consider a generalization of this classic puzzle to blocks that differ in width and mass. Despite the seemingly simple premise, we…
The 3-\textsc{Hitting Set} problem is also called the \textsc{Vertex Cover} problem on 3-uniform hypergraphs. In this paper, we address kernelizations of the \textsc{Vertex Cover} problem on 3-uniform hypergraphs. We show that this problem…
A topological hyperplane is a subspace of R^n (or a homeomorph of it) that is topologically equivalent to an ordinary straight hyperplane. An arrangement of topological hyperplanes in R^n is a finite set H such that k topological…
Following the seminal work of Erlebach and van Leeuwen in SODA 2008, we introduce the minimum ply covering problem. Given a set $P$ of points and a set $S$ of geometric objects, both in the plane, our goal is to find a subset $S'$ of $S$…
Let $S$ be a semigroup, let $n\in\mathbb{N}$ be a positive natural number, let $A,B\subseteq S$, let $\mathcal{U},\mathcal{V}\in\beta S$ and let let $\mathcal{F}\subseteq\{f:S^{n}\rightarrow S\}$. We say that $A$ is $\mathcal{F}$-finitely…
A variant of the well-known Set Covering Problem is studied in this paper, where subsets of a collection have to be selected, and pairwise conflicts among subsets of items exist. The selection of each subset has a cost, and the inclusion of…
An almost cover of a finite set in the affine space is a collection of hyperplanes that together cover all points of the set except one. Using the polynomial method, we determine the minimum size of an almost cover of the vertex set of the…
The convexity number of a set $X \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ is the minimum number of convex subsets required to cover it. We study the following question: what is the largest possible convexity number $f(n)$ of $\mathbb{R}^2 \setminus S$, where…
The paper addresses the problem of locating sensors with a circular field of view so that a given line segment is under full surveillance, which is termed as the Disc Covering Problem on a Line. The cost of each sensor includes a fixed…
The Set Packing problem is, given a collection of sets $\mathcal{S}$ over a ground set $\mathcal{U}$, to find a maximum collection of sets that are pairwise disjoint. The problem is among the most fundamental NP-hard optimization problems…
The problem of finding an optimal vertex cover in a graph is a classic NP-complete problem, and is a special case of the hitting set question. On the other hand, the hitting set problem, when asked in the context of induced geometric…
We study extensions of the classic \emph{Line Cover} problem, which asks whether a set of $n$ points in the plane can be covered using $k$ lines. Line Cover is known to be NP-hard, and we focus on two natural generalizations. The first is…
For a finite set $X$, we say that a set $H\subseteq X$ crosses a partition ${\cal P}=(X_1,\dots,X_k)$ of $X$ if $H$ intersects $\min (|H|,k)$ partition classes. If $|H|\geq k$, this means that $H$ meets all classes $X_i$, whilst for…