Preferences Single-Peaked on a Tree: Multiwinner Elections and Structural Results

A preference profile is single-peaked on a tree if the candidate set can be equipped with a tree structure so that the preferences of each voter are decreasing from their top candidate along all paths in the tree. This notion was introduced by Demange (1982), and subsequently Trick (1989b) described an efficient algorithm for deciding if a given profile is single-peaked on a tree. We study the complexity of multiwinner elections under several variants of the Chamberlin–Courant rule for preferences single-peaked on trees. We show that in this setting the egalitarian version of this rule admits a polynomial-time winner determination algorithm. For the utilitarian version, we prove that winner determination remains NP-hard for the Borda scoring function; indeed, this hardness results extends to a large family of scoring functions. However, a winning committee can be found in polynomial time if either the number of leaves or the number of internal vertices of the underlying tree is bounded by a constant. To benefit from these positive results, we need a procedure that can determine whether a given profile is single-peaked on a tree that has additional desirable properties (such as, e.g., a small number of leaves). To address this challenge, we develop a structural approach that enables us to compactly represent all trees with respect to which a given profile is single-peaked. We show how to use this representation to efficiently find the best tree for a given profile for use with our winner determination algorithms: Given a profile, we can efficiently find a tree with the minimum number of leaves, or a tree with the minimum number of internal vertices among trees on which the profile is single-peaked. We then explore the power and limitations of this framework: we develop polynomial-time algorithms to find trees with the smallest maximum degree, diameter, or pathwidth, but show that it is NP-hard to check whether a given profile is single-peaked on a tree that is isomorphic to a given tree, or on a regular tree.

M-Convex Function Minimization Under L1-Distance Constraint and Its Application to Dock Reallocation in Bike-Sharing System

In this paper, we consider a problem of minimizing an M-convex function under an L1-distance constraint (MML1); the constraint is given by an upper bound for L1-distance between a feasible solution and a given “center.” This is motivated by a nonlinear integer programming problem for reallocation of dock capacity in a bike-sharing system discussed by Freund et al. (2017). The main aim of this paper is to better understand the combinatorial structure of the dock reallocation problem through the connection with M-convexity and show its polynomial-time solvability using this connection. For this, we first show that the dock reallocation problem and its generalizations can be reformulated in the form of (MML1). We then present a pseudo-polynomial-time algorithm for (MML1) based on the steepest descent approach. We also propose two polynomial-time algorithms for (MML1) by replacing the L1-distance constraint with a simple linear constraint. Finally, we apply the results for (MML1) to the dock reallocation problem to obtain a pseudo-polynomial-time steepest descent algorithm and also polynomial-time algorithms for this problem. For this purpose, we develop a polynomial-time algorithm for a relaxation of the dock reallocation problem by using a proximity-scaling approach, which is of interest in its own right.

On matroids that are transversal and cotransversal

<p>There are distinct differences between classes of matroids that are closed under principal extensions and those that are not Finite-field-representable matroids are not closed under principal extensions and they exhibit attractive properties like well-quasi-ordering and decidable theories (at least for subclasses with bounded branch-width). Infinite-field-representable matroids, on the other hand, are closed under principal extensions and exhibit none of these behaviours. For example, the class of rank-3 real representable matroids is not well-quasi-ordered and has an undecidable theory. The class of matroids that are transversal and cotransversal is not closed under principal extensions or coprincipal coextentions, so we expect it to behave more like the class of finite-field-representable matroids. This thesis is invested in exploring properties in the aforementioned class. A major idea that has inspired the thesis is the investigation of well-quasi-ordered classes in the world of matroids that are transversal and cotransversal. We conjecture that any minor-closed class with bounded branch-width containing matroids that are transversal and cotransversal is well-quasi-ordered. In Chapter 8 of the thesis, we prove this is true for lattice-path matroids, a well-behaved class that falls in this intersection. The general class of lattice-path matroids is not well-quasi-ordered as it contains an infinite antichain of so-called ‘notch matroids’. The interesting phenomenon that we observe is that this is essentially the only antichain in this class, that is, any minor-closed family of lattice-path matroids that contains only finitely many notch matroids is well-quasi-ordered. This answers a question posed by Jim Geelen. Another question that drove the research was recognising fundamental transversal matroids, since these matroids are also cotransversal. We prove that this problem in general is in NP and conjecture that it is NP-complete. We later explore this question for the classes of lattice-path and bicircular matroids. We are successful in finding polynomial-time algorithms in both classes that identify fundamental transversal matroids. We end this part by investigating the intersection of bicircular and cobicircular matroids. We define a specific class - whirly-swirls - and conjecture that eventually any matroid in the above mentioned intersection belongs to this class.</p>

On matroids that are transversal and cotransversal

<p>There are distinct differences between classes of matroids that are closed under principal extensions and those that are not Finite-field-representable matroids are not closed under principal extensions and they exhibit attractive properties like well-quasi-ordering and decidable theories (at least for subclasses with bounded branch-width). Infinite-field-representable matroids, on the other hand, are closed under principal extensions and exhibit none of these behaviours. For example, the class of rank-3 real representable matroids is not well-quasi-ordered and has an undecidable theory. The class of matroids that are transversal and cotransversal is not closed under principal extensions or coprincipal coextentions, so we expect it to behave more like the class of finite-field-representable matroids. This thesis is invested in exploring properties in the aforementioned class. A major idea that has inspired the thesis is the investigation of well-quasi-ordered classes in the world of matroids that are transversal and cotransversal. We conjecture that any minor-closed class with bounded branch-width containing matroids that are transversal and cotransversal is well-quasi-ordered. In Chapter 8 of the thesis, we prove this is true for lattice-path matroids, a well-behaved class that falls in this intersection. The general class of lattice-path matroids is not well-quasi-ordered as it contains an infinite antichain of so-called ‘notch matroids’. The interesting phenomenon that we observe is that this is essentially the only antichain in this class, that is, any minor-closed family of lattice-path matroids that contains only finitely many notch matroids is well-quasi-ordered. This answers a question posed by Jim Geelen. Another question that drove the research was recognising fundamental transversal matroids, since these matroids are also cotransversal. We prove that this problem in general is in NP and conjecture that it is NP-complete. We later explore this question for the classes of lattice-path and bicircular matroids. We are successful in finding polynomial-time algorithms in both classes that identify fundamental transversal matroids. We end this part by investigating the intersection of bicircular and cobicircular matroids. We define a specific class - whirly-swirls - and conjecture that eventually any matroid in the above mentioned intersection belongs to this class.</p>

Hamiltonian Cycle in K1,r-Free Split Graphs — A Dichotomy

For an optimization problem known to be NP-Hard, the dichotomy study investigates the reduction instances to determine the line separating polynomial-time solvable vs NP-Hard instances (easy vs hard instances). In this paper, we investigate the well-studied Hamiltonian cycle problem (HCYCLE), and present an interesting dichotomy result on split graphs. T. Akiyama et al. (1980) have shown that HCYCLE is NP-complete on planar bipartite graphs with maximum degree [Formula: see text]. We use this result to show that HCYCLE is NP-complete for [Formula: see text]-free split graphs. Further, we present polynomial-time algorithms for Hamiltonian cycle in [Formula: see text]-free and [Formula: see text]-free split graphs. We believe that the structural results presented in this paper can be used to show similar dichotomy result for Hamiltonian path problem and other variants of Hamiltonian cycle (path) problems.

What Is the Sublinear Computation Paradigm?

This chapter introduces the “sublinear computation paradigm.” A sublinear-time algorithm is an algorithm that runs in time sublinear in the size of the instance (input data). In other words, the running time is o(n), where n is the size of the instance. This century marks the start of the era of big data. In order to manage big data, polynomial-time algorithms, which are considered to be efficient, may sometimes be inadequate because they may require too much time or computational resources. In such cases, sublinear-time algorithms are expected to work well. We call this idea the “sublinear computation paradigm.” A research project named “Foundations on Innovative Algorithms for Big Data (ABD),” in which this paradigm is the central concept, was started under the CREST program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in October 2014 and concluded in September 2021. This book mainly introduces the results of this project.