11631624
Polynomial-time approximation schemes for packing and piercing fat objects
We consider two problems: given a collection of n fat objects in a fixed dimension, (1) (packing) find the maximum subcollection of pairwise disjoint objects, and (2) (piercing) find the minimum point set that intersects every object. Recently, Erlebach, Jansen, and Seidel gave a polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS) for the packing problem, based on a shifted hierarchical subdivision method. Using shifted quadtrees, we describe a similar algorithm for packing but with a smaller time bound. Erlebach et al.'s algorithm requires polynomial space. We describe a different algorithm, based on geometric separators, that requires only linear space. This algorithm can also be applied to piercing, yielding the first PTAS for that problem.
18265362
Approximation Algorithms for Maximum Cliques in 3D Unit-Disk Graphs
15785799
Semi-online maintenance of geometric optima and measures
We give the first nontrivial worst-case results for dynamic versions of various basic geometric optimization and measure problems under the semi-online model, where during the insertion of an object we are told when the object is to be deleted. Problems that we can solve with sublinear update time include the Hausdorff distance of two point sets, discrete 1-center, largest empty circle, convex hull volume in three dimensions, volume of the union of axis-parallel cubes, and minimum enclosing rectangle. The decision versions of the Hausdorff distance and discrete 1-center problems can be solved fully dynamically. Some applications are mentioned.
15997426
On levels in arrangements of curves
Analyzing the worst-case complexity of the k-level in a planar arrangement of n curves is a fundamental problem in combinatorial geometry. We give the first subquadratic upper bound (roughly O(nk/sup 1-2/3/*)) for curves that are graphs of polynomial functions of an arbitrary fixed degree s. Previously, nontrivial results were known only for the case s=1 and s=2. We also improve the earlier bound for pseudo-parabolas (curves that pairwise intersect at most twice) to O(nk/sup 7/9/log/sup 2/3/ k). The proofs are simple and rely on a theorem of Tamaki and Tokuyama on cutting pseudo-parabolas into pseudo-segments, as well as a new observation for cutting pseudo-segments into pieces that can be extended to pseudo-lines. We mention applications to parametric and kinetic minimum spanning trees.
15654193
A dynamic data structure for 3-d convex hulls and 2-d nearest neighbor queries
We present a fully dynamic randomized data structure that can answer queries about the convex hull of a set of <i>n</i> points in three dimensions, where insertions take <i>O</i>(log<sup>3</sup> <i>n</i>) expected amortized time, deletions take <i>O</i>(log<sup>6</sup> <i>n</i>) expected amortized time, and extreme-point queries take <i>O</i>(log<sup>2</sup> <i>n</i>) worst-case time. This is the first method that guarantees polylogarithmic update and query cost for arbitrary sequences of insertions and deletions, and improves the previous <i>O</i>(<i>n</i><sup>ε</sup>)-time method by Agarwal and Matoušek a decade ago. As a consequence, we obtain similar results for nearest neighbor queries in two dimensions and improved results for numerous fundamental geometric problems (such as levels in three dimensions and dynamic Euclidean minimum spanning trees in the plane).
26929194
Balanced k-colorings
Abstract While discrepancy theory is normally only studied in the context of 2-colorings, we explore the problem of k -coloring, for k ⩾2, a set of vertices to minimize imbalance among a family of subsets of vertices. The imbalance is the maximum, over all subsets in the family, of the largest difference between the size of any two color classes in that subset. The discrepancy is the minimum possible imbalance. We show that the discrepancy is always at most 4 d −3, where d (the “dimension”) is the maximum number of subsets containing a common vertex. For 2-colorings, the bound on the discrepancy is atmost max{2 d −3,2}. Finally, we prove that several restricted versions of computing the discrepancy are NP-complete.
7832316
Cosine transform based preconditioners for total variation deblurring
In PDE image restoration problems, one has to invert operators which is a sum of a blurring operator and an elliptic operator with highly varying coefficient. We present a preconditioner for such operators, which can be used with the conjugate gradient (CG) method, and compare it with Vogel and Oman's product preconditioner.
15821497
An Examination Of Barriers To Benefits-realisation From Enterprise Systems In The Public Service
Examination of barriers to benefits-realisation from Enterprise Systems (ES) has potential to provide an innovative perspective on strategic management of large-scale packaged software, and on the extended virtual enterprise explicitly or implicitly deployed across the ES life-cycle. Private sector experience has revealed distinctive conditions applying to ES that create barriers to benefit-realisation. For public service organisations, ES have the potential to enable the provision of end-to-end integrated services, consistent with the demands of public accountability, but are encumbered by a poor track record in large systems implementation and associated process-reengineering. This research analyses the Australian Public Service ES experience, with the aim of dismantling barriers to public sector exploitation of ES. Early results reflect conventional perceptions of implementation issues, but application of the distinctive Dephi-based methodology designed for this study is expected to yield a basis for shared action on the part of government administration, vendors and consultants.
17608669
Measuring enterprise systems success: the importance of a multiple stakeholder perspective
Organisations invest enormous amount of resources in acquiring Enterprise Systems (ES), presumably expecting positive impacts to the organisation and its functions. Despite the optimistic motives, some ES projects have reported nil or detrimental impacts. This paper studies the proposition that the perspective of the stakeholders of an organisation may have contributed to the differences in receiving benefits reported in prior studies in this domain. An Enterprise System, unlike a traditional Information System (IS), entails many stakeholders ranging from top executives to data entry operators. These stakeholders (a.k.a employment cohorts) typically have multiple and often conflicting objectives and priorities and rarely agree on a set of common aims. The importance of gathering perceptions of success at multiple levels in organizations has been discussed among academics for several decades. However, there is no universal agreement on what employment cohorts should be canvassed (i.e. which are the distinctive employment cohorts?). This paper seeks to illustrate the importance of multiple stakeholder perspective in assessing ES success by analysing 456 responses gathered from 27 public sector organizations. The alleged differences in perceptions of organisational performance are empirically measured using a prior validated model, employing four constructs and thirty-seven measures. The paper identifies three key stakeholder groups in the context of ES and highlights the importance of measuring ES success from a multiple stakeholder view point.
45840953
Dynamic Cluster Formation Using Level Set Methods
Density-based clustering has the advantages for (i) allowing arbitrary shape of cluster and (ii) not requiring the number of clusters as input. However, when clusters touch each other, both the cluster centers and cluster boundaries (as the peaks and valleys of the density distribution) become fuzzy and difficult to determine. In higher dimension, the boundaries become wiggly and over-fitting often occurs. We introduce the notion of cluster intensity function (CIF) which captures the important characteristics of clusters. When clusters are well-separated, CIFs are similar to density functions. But as clusters touch each other, CIFs still clearly reveal cluster centers, cluster boundaries, and, degree of membership of each data point to the cluster that it belongs. Clustering through bump hunting and valley seeking based on these functions are more robust than that based on kernel density functions which are often oscillatory or over-smoothed. These problems of kernel density estimation are resolved using Level Set Methods and related techniques. Comparisons with two existing density-based methods, valley seeking and DBSCAN, are presented to illustrate the advantages of our approach.
13840611
Dynamic cluster formation using level set methods
Density-based clustering has the advantages for: 1) allowing arbitrary shape of cluster and 2) not requiring the number of clusters as input. However, when clusters touch each other, both the cluster centers and cluster boundaries (as the peaks and valleys of the density distribution) become fuzzy and difficult to determine. We introduce the notion of cluster intensity function (CIF) which captures the important characteristics of clusters. When clusters are well-separated, CIFs are similar to density functions. But, when clusters become closed to each other, CIFs still clearly reveal cluster centers, cluster boundaries, and degree of membership of each data point to the cluster that it belongs. Clustering through bump hunting and valley seeking based on these functions are more robust than that based on density functions obtained by kernel density estimation, which are often oscillatory or oversmoothed. These problems of kernel density estimation are resolved using level set methods and related techniques. Comparisons with two existing density-based methods, valley seeking and DBSCAN, are presented which illustrate the advantages of our approach.