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A path or a polygonal domain is C-oriented if the orientations of its edges belong to a set of C given orientations; this is a generalization of the notable rectilinear case (C = 2). We study exact and approximation algorithms for minimum-link C-oriented paths and paths with unrestricted orientations, both in C-oriented and in general domains. Our two main algorithms are as follows: A subquadratic-time algorithm with a non-trivial approximation guarantee for general (unrestricted-orientation) minimum-link paths in general domains. An algorithm to find a minimum-link C-oriented path in a C-oriented domain. Our algorithm is simpler and more time-space efficient than the prior algorithm. We also obtain several related results: - 3SUM-hardness of determining the link distance with unrestricted orientations (even in a rectilinear domain). - An optimal algorithm for finding a minimum-link rectilinear path in a rectilinear domain. The algorithm and its analysis are simpler than the existing ones. - An extension of our methods to find a C-oriented minimum-link path in a general (not necessarily C-oriented) domain. - A more efficient algorithm to compute a 2-approximate C-oriented minimum-link path. - A notion of robust paths. We show how minimum-link C-oriented paths approximate the robust paths with unrestricted orientations to within an additive error of 1.
We consider the problem of finding minimum-link rectilinear paths in rectilinear polygonal domains in the plane. A path or a polygon is rectilinear if all its edges are axis-parallel. Given a set $mathcal{P}$ of $h$ pairwise-disjoint rectilinear polygonal obstacles with a total of $n$ vertices in the plane, a minimum-link rectilinear path between two points is a rectilinear path that avoids all obstacles with the minimum number of edges. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for finding minimum-link rectilinear paths among $mathcal{P}$. After the plane is triangulated, with respect to any source point $s$, our algorithm builds an $O(n)$-size data structure in $O(n+hlog h)$ time, such that given any query point $t$, the number of edges of a minimum-link rectilinear path from $s$ to $t$ can be computed in $O(log n)$ time and the actual path can be output in additional time linear in the number of the edges of the path. The previously best algorithm computes such a data structure in $O(nlog n)$ time.
Given a set of pairwise disjoint polygonal obstacles in the plane, finding an obstacle-avoiding Euclidean shortest path between two points is a classical problem in computational geometry and has been studied extensively. The previous best algorithm was given by Hershberger and Suri [FOCS 1993, SIAM J. Comput. 1999] and the algorithm runs in $O(nlog n)$ time and $O(nlog n)$ space, where $n$ is the total number of vertices of all obstacles. The algorithm is time-optimal because $Omega(nlog n)$ is a lower bound. It has been an open problem for over two decades whether the space can be reduced to $O(n)$. In this paper, we settle it by solving the problem in $O(nlog n)$ time and $O(n)$ space, which is optimal in both time and space; we achieve this by modifying the algorithm of Hershberger and Suri. Like their original algorithm, our new algorithm can build a shortest path map for a source point $s$ in $O(nlog n)$ time and $O(n)$ space, such that given any query point $t$, the length of a shortest path from $s$ to $t$ can be computed in $O(log n)$ time and a shortest path can be produced in additional time linear in the number of edges of the path.
Let $P$ be a set of $2n$ points in convex position, such that $n$ points are colored red and $n$ points are colored blue. A non-crossing alternating path on $P$ of length $ell$ is a sequence $p_1, dots, p_ell$ of $ell$ points from $P$ so that (i) all points are pairwise distinct; (ii) any two consecutive points $p_i$, $p_{i+1}$ have different colors; and (iii) any two segments $p_i p_{i+1}$ and $p_j p_{j+1}$ have disjoint relative interiors, for $i eq j$. We show that there is an absolute constant $varepsilon > 0$, independent of $n$ and of the coloring, such that $P$ always admits a non-crossing alternating path of length at least $(1 + varepsilon)n$. The result is obtained through a slightly stronger statement: there always exists a non-crossing bichromatic separated matching on at least $(1 + varepsilon)n$ points of $P$. This is a properly colored matching whose segments are pairwise disjoint and intersected by common line. For bo
This is an up-to-date introduction to and overview of the Minimum Description Length (MDL) Principle, a theory of inductive inference that can be applied to general problems in statistics, machine learning and pattern recognition. While MDL was originally based on data compression ideas, this introduction can be read without any knowledge thereof. It takes into account all major developments since 2007, the last time an extensive overview was written. These include new methods for model selection and averaging and hypothesis testing, as well as the first completely general definition of {em MDL estimators}. Incorporating these developments, MDL can be seen as a powerful extension of both penalized likelihood and Bayesian approaches, in which penalization functions and prior distributions are replaced by more general luckiness functions, average-case methodology is replaced by a more robust worst-case approach, and in which methods classically viewed as highly distinct, such as AIC vs BIC and cross-validation vs Bayes can, to a large extent, be viewed from a unified perspective.
We study the problem of finding a minimum homology basis, that is, a shortest set of cycles that generates the $1$-dimensional homology classes with $mathbb{Z}_2$ coefficients in a given simplicial complex $K$. This problem has been extensively studied in the last few years. For general complexes, the current best deterministic algorithm, by Dey et al., runs in $O(N^omega + N^2 g)$ time, where $N$ denotes the number of simplices in $K$, $g$ denotes the rank of the $1$-homology group of $K$, and $omega$ denotes the exponent of matrix multiplication. In this paper, we present two conceptually simple randomized algorithms that compute a minimum homology basis of a general simplicial complex $K$. The first algorithm runs in $tilde{O}(m^omega)$ time, where $m$ denotes the number of edges in $K$, whereas the second algorithm runs in $O(m^omega + N m^{omega-1})$ time. We also study the problem of finding a minimum cycle basis in an undirected graph $G$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges. The best known algorithm for this problem runs in $O(m^omega)$ time. Our algorithm, which has a simpler high-level description, but is slightly more expensive, runs in $tilde{O}(m^omega)$ time.