Related papers: Extending the primal-dual 2-approximation algorith…

Given a real dataset and a computation family, we wish to encode and store the dataset in a distributed system so that any computation from the family can be performed by accessing a small number of nodes. In this work, we focus on the…

Finding a maximum independent set (MIS) of a given fam- ily of axis-parallel rectangles is a basic problem in computational geom- etry and combinatorics. This problem has attracted significant atten- tion since the sixties, when Wegner…

Two families $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ are called cross-intersecting if for every $F\in \mathcal{F}$ and $G\in \mathcal{G}$, the intersection $F\cap G$ is non-empty. It is significant to determine the maximum sum of sizes of…

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of subsets of a ground set $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ with $|\mathcal{F}|=m$, and let $\mathcal{F}^{\updownarrow}$ denote the family of all subsets of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ that are subsets or supersets of sets in…

Submodular functions have found a wealth of new applications in data science and machine learning models in recent years. This has been coupled with many algorithmic advances in the area of submodular optimization: (SO) $\min/\max~f(S): S…

Two families $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$ of sets are said to be cross-$t$-intersecting if each set in $\mathcal{A}$ intersects each set in $\mathcal{B}$ in at least $t$ elements. An active problem in extremal set theory is to determine…

Constrained forest problems form a class of graph problems where specific connectivity requirements for certain cuts within the graph must be satisfied by selecting the minimum-cost set of edges. The prize-collecting version of these…

We consider a large family of problems in which an ordering (or, more precisely, a chain of subsets) of a finite set must be chosen to minimize some weighted sum of costs. This family includes variations of Min Sum Set Cover (MSSC), several…

The primal-dual scheme has been used to provide approximation algorithms for many problems. Goemans and Williamson gave a (2-1/(n-1))-approximation for the Prize-Collecting Steiner Tree Problem that runs in O(n^3 log n) time. it applies the…

A set family ${\cal F}$ is called intersecting if every two members of ${\cal F}$ intersect, and it is called uniform if all members of ${\cal F}$ share a common size. A uniform family ${\cal F} \subseteq \binom{[n]}{k}$ of $k$-subsets of…

Let $S$ be a set of $n$ points in the plane in general position. Two line segments connecting pairs of points of $S$ cross if they have an interior point in common. Two vertex disjoint geometric graphs with vertices in $S$ cross if there…

Let $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ be two $t$-uniform families of subsets over $[k] = \{1,2,...,k\}$, where $|\mathcal{F}| = |\mathcal{G}|$, and let $C$ be the adjacency matrix of the bipartite graph whose vertices are the subsets in…

We develop a new approach to approximate families of sets, complementing the existing `$\Delta$-system method' and `junta approximations method'. The approach, which we refer to as `spread approximations method', is based on the notion of…

We introduce a definition for \emph{Families of Optimal Binary Non-MDS Erasure Codes} for $[n, k]$ codes over $GF(2)$, and propose an algorithm for finding those families by using hill climbing techniques over Balanced XOR codes. Due to the…

In the Priority Steiner Tree (PST) problem, we are given an undirected graph $G=(V,E)$ with a source $s \in V$ and terminals $T \subseteq V \setminus \{s\}$, where each terminal $v \in T$ requires a nonnegative priority $P(v)$. The goal is…

Let $(\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})$ be a pair of families of $[n]$, where $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$. If $A\not\subset B$ and $B\not\subset A$ hold for all $A\in\mathcal{F}$ and $B\in\mathcal{G}$, then $(\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})$ is called a…

Let $n > k > 1$ be integers, $[n] = \{1, \ldots, n\}$. Let $\mathcal F$ be a family of $k$-subsets of~$[n]$. The family $\mathcal F$ is called intersecting if $F \cap F' \neq \emptyset$ for all $F, F' \in \mathcal F$. It is called almost…

We design and analyse approximation algorithms for the minimum-cost connected T-join problem: given an undirected graph G = (V;E) with nonnegative costs on the edges, and a subset of nodes T, find (if it exists) a spanning connected…

Two families $\mathcal A\subseteq\binom{[n]}{k}$ and $\mathcal B\subseteq\binom{[n]}{\ell}$ are called cross-$t$-intersecting if $|A\cap B|\geq t$ for all $A\in\mathcal A$, $B\in\mathcal B$. Let $n$, $k$ and $\ell$ be positive integers such…

Given a dominating set, how much smaller a dominating set can we find through elementary operations? Here, we proceed by iterative vertex addition and removal while maintaining the property that the set forms a dominating set of bounded…