Related papers: Approximating submodular $k$-partition via princip…
Submodular continuous functions are a category of (generally) non-convex/non-concave functions with a wide spectrum of applications. We characterize these functions and demonstrate that they can be maximized efficiently with approximation…
We design new approximation algorithms for the problems of optimizing submodular and supermodular functions subject to a single matroid constraint. Specifically, we consider the case in which we wish to maximize a nondecreasing submodular…
We study the Minimum Submodular-Cost Allocation problem (MSCA). In this problem we are given a finite ground set $V$ and $k$ non-negative submodular set functions $f_1 ,..., f_k$ on $V$. The objective is to partition $V$ into $k$ (possibly…
We extend the work of Narasimhan and Bilmes [30] for minimizing set functions representable as a difference between submodular functions. Similar to [30], our new algorithms are guaranteed to monotonically reduce the objective function at…
In Maximum $k$-Vertex Cover (Max $k$-VC), the input is an edge-weighted graph $G$ and an integer $k$, and the goal is to find a subset $S$ of $k$ vertices that maximizes the total weight of edges covered by $S$. Here we say that an edge is…
We consider semidefinite programs (SDPs) of size n with equality constraints. In order to overcome scalability issues, Burer and Monteiro proposed a factorized approach based on optimizing over a matrix Y of size $n$ by $k$ such that $X =…
Recently, Musco and Woodruff (FOCS, 2017) showed that given an $n \times n$ positive semidefinite (PSD) matrix $A$, it is possible to compute a $(1+\epsilon)$-approximate relative-error low-rank approximation to $A$ by querying…
Nonnegative matrix factorization is the following problem: given a nonnegative input matrix $V$ and a factorization rank $K$, compute two nonnegative matrices, $W$ with $K$ columns and $H$ with $K$ rows, such that $WH$ approximates $V$ as…
We consider the minimal k-grouping problem: given a graph G=(V,E) and a constant k, partition G into subgraphs of diameter no greater than k, such that the union of any two subgraphs has diameter greater than k. We give a silent…
We introduce the problem of maximizing approximately $k$-submodular functions subject to size constraints. In this problem, one seeks to select $k$-disjoint subsets of a ground set with bounded total size or individual sizes, and maximum…
We consider a monotone submodular maximization problem whose constraint is described by a logic formula on a graph. Formally, we prove the following three `algorithmic metatheorems.' (1) If the constraint is specified by a monadic…
In this work we present the first practical $\left(\frac{1}{e}-\epsilon\right)$-approximation algorithm to maximise a general non-negative submodular function subject to a matroid constraint. Our algorithm is based on combining the…
Monotone submodular maximization with a knapsack constraint is NP-hard. Various approximation algorithms have been devised to address this optimization problem. In this paper, we revisit the widely known modified greedy algorithm. First, we…
Hard-capacitated $k$-means (HCKM) is one of the fundamental problems remaining open in combinatorial optimization and data mining areas. In this problem, one is required to partition a given $n$-point set into $k$ disjoint clusters with…
We present an optimal, combinatorial 1-1/e approximation algorithm for monotone submodular optimization over a matroid constraint. Compared to the continuous greedy algorithm (Calinescu, Chekuri, Pal and Vondrak, 2008), our algorithm is…
The clustering problem, in its many variants, has numerous applications in operations research and computer science (e.g., in applications in bioinformatics, image processing, social network analysis, etc.). As sizes of data sets have grown…
Submodular functions are a broad class of set functions, which naturally arise in diverse areas. Many algorithms have been suggested for the maximization of these functions. Unfortunately, once the function deviates from submodularity, the…
Sequential testing problems involve a complex system with several components, each of which is "working" with some independent probability. The outcome of each component can be determined by performing a test, which incurs some cost. The…
Many problems are NP-hard and, unless P = NP, do not admit polynomial-time exact algorithms. The fastest known exact algorithms exactly usually take time exponential in the input size. Much research effort has gone into obtaining faster…
Submodular function optimization has numerous applications in machine learning and data analysis, including data summarization which aims to identify a concise and diverse set of data points from a large dataset. It is important to…