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The constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) on a relational structure B is to decide, given a set of constraints on variables where the relations come from B, whether or not there is a assignment to the variables satisfying all of the…
In a valued constraint satisfaction problem (VCSP), the goal is to find an assignment of labels to variables that minimizes a given sum of functions. Each function in the sum depends on a subset of variables, takes values which are rational…
Let $\delta(p)$ tend to zero arbitrarily slowly as $p\to\infty$. We exhibit an explicit set $\mathcal{S}$ of primes $p$, defined in terms of simple functions of the prime factors of $p-1$, for which the least primitive root of $p$ is $\le…
Valued constraint satisfaction problems with ordered variables (VCSPO) are a special case of Valued CSPs in which variables are totally ordered and soft constraints are imposed on tuples of variables that do not violate the order. We study…
Many real world problems naturally appear as constraints satisfaction problems (CSP), for which very efficient algorithms are known. Most of these involve the combination of two techniques: some direct propagation of constraints between…
Incorporating constraints is a major concern in probabilistic machine learning. A wide variety of problems require predictions to be integrated with reasoning about constraints, from modelling routes on maps to approving loan predictions.…
Reasoning under uncertainty is a fundamental challenge in Artificial Intelligence. As with most of these challenges, there is a harsh dilemma between the expressive power of the language used, and the tractability of the computational…
We study the complexity of the Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problem (DCSP) on a synchronous, anonymous network from a theoretical standpoint. In this setting, variables and constraints are controlled by agents which communicate with…
One measure of the complexity of a first-order theory, and similarly a type, is the complexity of the formulas required to axiomatize it. We say a theory is bounded if there is an axiomatization involving only $\forall_n$-formulas for some…
Let $p$ be a prime. If an integer $g$ generates a subgroup of index $t$ in $(\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z)^*,$ then we say that $g$ is a $t$-near primitive root modulo $p$. We point out the easy result that each primitive residue class contains a…
A nonnegative matrix $A$ is called primitive if $A^k$ is positive for some integer $k>0$. A generalization of this concept to finite sets of matrices is as follows: a set of matrices $\mathcal M = \{A_1, A_2, \ldots, A_m \}$ is primitive if…
We study the parameterized problem of satisfying ``almost all'' constraints of a given formula $F$ over a fixed, finite Boolean constraint language $\Gamma$, with or without weights. More precisely, for each finite Boolean constraint…
Partially ordered automata are automata where the transition relation induces a partial order on states. The expressive power of partially ordered automata is closely related to the expressivity of fragments of first-order logic on finite…
We present a definition of the class NP in combinatorial context as the set of languages of structures defined by finitely many forbidden lifted substructures. We apply this to special syntactically defined subclasses and show how they…
Every finite group $G$ has a normal series each of whose factors either is soluble or is a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. We define the nonsoluble length $\lambda (G)$ as the minimum number of nonsoluble factors in a series of…
Today's propositional satisfiability (SAT) solvers are extremely powerful and can be used as an efficient back-end for solving NP-complete problems. However, many fundamental problems in knowledge representation and reasoning are located at…
It is well known that the set of values of a lower central word in a group $G$ need not be a subgroup. For a fixed lower central word $\gamma_r$ and for $p\ge 5$, Guralnick showed that if $G$ is a finite $p$-group such that the verbal…
Marginalization -- summing a function over all assignments to a subset of its inputs -- is a fundamental computational problem with applications from probabilistic inference to formal verification. Despite its computational hardness in…
We study constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) where the constraint languages are defined by finite automata, giving rise to automata-based CSPs. The key notion is the concept of Automatic Constraint Satisfaction Problem ($AutCSP$), where…
We introduce a concept of efficiency for which we can prove that it applies to all paddable languages, but still does not conflict with potential worst case intractability. Note that the family of paddable languages apparently includes all…