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Documents authored by Singla, Sahil


Document
APPROX
Submodular Norms with Applications To Online Facility Location and Stochastic Probing

Authors: Kalen Patton, Matteo Russo, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 275, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023)


Abstract
Optimization problems often involve vector norms, which has led to extensive research on developing algorithms that can handle objectives beyond 𝓁_p norms. Our work introduces the concept of submodular norms, which are a versatile type of norms that possess marginal properties similar to submodular set functions. We show that submodular norms can either accurately represent or approximate well-known classes of norms, such as 𝓁_p norms, ordered norms, and symmetric norms. Furthermore, we establish that submodular norms can be applied to optimization problems such as online facility location and stochastic probing. This allows us to develop a logarithmic-competitive algorithm for online facility location with symmetric norms, and to prove logarithmic adaptivity gap for stochastic probing with symmetric norms.

Cite as

Kalen Patton, Matteo Russo, and Sahil Singla. Submodular Norms with Applications To Online Facility Location and Stochastic Probing. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 275, pp. 23:1-23:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)


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@InProceedings{patton_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.23,
  author =	{Patton, Kalen and Russo, Matteo and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Submodular Norms with Applications To Online Facility Location and Stochastic Probing}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-296-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{275},
  editor =	{Megow, Nicole and Smith, Adam},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-188484},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Submodularity, Monotone Norms, Online Facility Location, Stochastic Probing}
}
Document
APPROX
Submodular Dominance and Applications

Authors: Frederick Qiu and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 245, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022)


Abstract
In submodular optimization we often deal with the expected value of a submodular function f on a distribution 𝒟 over sets of elements. In this work we study such submodular expectations for negatively dependent distributions. We introduce a natural notion of negative dependence, which we call Weak Negative Regression (WNR), that generalizes both Negative Association and Negative Regression. We observe that WNR distributions satisfy Submodular Dominance, whereby the expected value of f under 𝒟 is at least the expected value of f under a product distribution with the same element-marginals. Next, we give several applications of Submodular Dominance to submodular optimization. In particular, we improve the best known submodular prophet inequalities, we develop new rounding techniques for polytopes of set systems that admit negatively dependent distributions, and we prove existence of contention resolution schemes for WNR distributions.

Cite as

Frederick Qiu and Sahil Singla. Submodular Dominance and Applications. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 245, pp. 44:1-44:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{qiu_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.44,
  author =	{Qiu, Frederick and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Submodular Dominance and Applications}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-249-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{245},
  editor =	{Chakrabarti, Amit and Swamy, Chaitanya},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-171666},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Submodular Optimization, Negative Dependence, Negative Association, Weak Negative Regression, Submodular Dominance, Submodular Prophet Inequality}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Smoothed Analysis of the Komlós Conjecture

Authors: Nikhil Bansal, Haotian Jiang, Raghu Meka, Sahil Singla, and Makrand Sinha

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 229, 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)


Abstract
The well-known Komlós conjecture states that given n vectors in ℝ^d with Euclidean norm at most one, there always exists a ± 1 coloring such that the 𝓁_∞ norm of the signed-sum vector is a constant independent of n and d. We prove this conjecture in a smoothed analysis setting where the vectors are perturbed by adding a small Gaussian noise and when the number of vectors n = ω(d log d). The dependence of n on d is the best possible even in a completely random setting. Our proof relies on a weighted second moment method, where instead of considering uniformly randomly colorings we apply the second moment method on an implicit distribution on colorings obtained by applying the Gram-Schmidt walk algorithm to a suitable set of vectors. The main technical idea is to use various properties of these colorings, including subgaussianity, to control the second moment.

Cite as

Nikhil Bansal, Haotian Jiang, Raghu Meka, Sahil Singla, and Makrand Sinha. Smoothed Analysis of the Komlós Conjecture. In 49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 229, pp. 14:1-14:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{bansal_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.14,
  author =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Jiang, Haotian and Meka, Raghu and Singla, Sahil and Sinha, Makrand},
  title =	{{Smoothed Analysis of the Koml\'{o}s Conjecture}},
  booktitle =	{49th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2022)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-235-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{229},
  editor =	{Boja\'{n}czyk, Miko{\l}aj and Merelli, Emanuela and Woodruff, David P.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-163556},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2022.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Koml\'{o}s conjecture, smoothed analysis, weighted second moment method, subgaussian coloring}
}
Document
Prefix Discrepancy, Smoothed Analysis, and Combinatorial Vector Balancing

Authors: Nikhil Bansal, Haotian Jiang, Raghu Meka, Sahil Singla, and Makrand Sinha

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 215, 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)


Abstract
A well-known result of Banaszczyk in discrepancy theory concerns the prefix discrepancy problem (also known as the signed series problem): given a sequence of T unit vectors in ℝ^d, find ± signs for each of them such that the signed sum vector along any prefix has a small 𝓁_∞-norm? This problem is central to proving upper bounds for the Steinitz problem, and the popular Komlós problem is a special case where one is only concerned with the final signed sum vector instead of all prefixes. Banaszczyk gave an O(√{log d+ log T}) bound for the prefix discrepancy problem. We investigate the tightness of Banaszczyk’s bound and consider natural generalizations of prefix discrepancy: - We first consider a smoothed analysis setting, where a small amount of additive noise perturbs the input vectors. We show an exponential improvement in T compared to Banaszczyk’s bound. Using a primal-dual approach and a careful chaining argument, we show that one can achieve a bound of O(√{log d+ log log T}) with high probability in the smoothed setting. Moreover, this smoothed analysis bound is the best possible without further improvement on Banaszczyk’s bound in the worst case. - We also introduce a generalization of the prefix discrepancy problem to arbitrary DAGs. Here, vertices correspond to unit vectors, and the discrepancy constraints correspond to paths on a DAG on T vertices - prefix discrepancy is precisely captured when the DAG is a simple path. We show that an analog of Banaszczyk’s O(√{log d+ log T}) bound continues to hold in this setting for adversarially given unit vectors and that the √{log T} factor is unavoidable for DAGs. We also show that unlike for prefix discrepancy, the dependence on T cannot be improved significantly in the smoothed case for DAGs. - We conclude by exploring a more general notion of vector balancing, which we call combinatorial vector balancing. In this problem, the discrepancy constraints are generalized from paths of a DAG to an arbitrary set system. We obtain near-optimal bounds in this setting, up to poly-logarithmic factors.

Cite as

Nikhil Bansal, Haotian Jiang, Raghu Meka, Sahil Singla, and Makrand Sinha. Prefix Discrepancy, Smoothed Analysis, and Combinatorial Vector Balancing. In 13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 215, pp. 13:1-13:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{bansal_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.13,
  author =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Jiang, Haotian and Meka, Raghu and Singla, Sahil and Sinha, Makrand},
  title =	{{Prefix Discrepancy, Smoothed Analysis, and Combinatorial Vector Balancing}},
  booktitle =	{13th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2022)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-217-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{215},
  editor =	{Braverman, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-156092},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2022.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Prefix discrepancy, smoothed analysis, combinatorial vector balancing}
}
Document
APPROX
Bag-Of-Tasks Scheduling on Related Machines

Authors: Anupam Gupta, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 207, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2021)


Abstract
We consider online scheduling to minimize weighted completion time on related machines, where each job consists of several tasks that can be concurrently executed. A job gets completed when all its component tasks finish. We obtain an O(K³ log² K)-competitive algorithm in the non-clairvoyant setting, where K denotes the number of distinct machine speeds. The analysis is based on dual-fitting on a precedence-constrained LP relaxation that may be of independent interest.

Cite as

Anupam Gupta, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla. Bag-Of-Tasks Scheduling on Related Machines. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 207, pp. 3:1-3:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{gupta_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2021.3,
  author =	{Gupta, Anupam and Kumar, Amit and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Bag-Of-Tasks Scheduling on Related Machines}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2021)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-207-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{207},
  editor =	{Wootters, Mary and Sanit\`{a}, Laura},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2021.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-146967},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2021.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximation algorithms, scheduling, bag-of-tasks, related machines}
}
Document
Online Carpooling Using Expander Decompositions

Authors: Anupam Gupta, Ravishankar Krishnaswamy, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 182, 40th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2020)


Abstract
We consider the online carpooling problem: given n vertices, a sequence of edges arrive over time. When an edge e_t = (u_t, v_t) arrives at time step t, the algorithm must orient the edge either as v_t → u_t or u_t → v_t, with the objective of minimizing the maximum discrepancy of any vertex, i.e., the absolute difference between its in-degree and out-degree. Edges correspond to pairs of persons wanting to ride together, and orienting denotes designating the driver. The discrepancy objective then corresponds to every person driving close to their fair share of rides they participate in. In this paper, we design efficient algorithms which can maintain polylog(n,T) maximum discrepancy (w.h.p) over any sequence of T arrivals, when the arriving edges are sampled independently and uniformly from any given graph G. This provides the first polylogarithmic bounds for the online (stochastic) carpooling problem. Prior to this work, the best known bounds were O(√{n log n})-discrepancy for any adversarial sequence of arrivals, or O(log log n)-discrepancy bounds for the stochastic arrivals when G is the complete graph. The technical crux of our paper is in showing that the simple greedy algorithm, which has provably good discrepancy bounds when the arriving edges are drawn uniformly at random from the complete graph, also has polylog discrepancy when G is an expander graph. We then combine this with known expander-decomposition results to design our overall algorithm.

Cite as

Anupam Gupta, Ravishankar Krishnaswamy, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla. Online Carpooling Using Expander Decompositions. In 40th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 182, pp. 23:1-23:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{gupta_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2020.23,
  author =	{Gupta, Anupam and Krishnaswamy, Ravishankar and Kumar, Amit and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Online Carpooling Using Expander Decompositions}},
  booktitle =	{40th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2020)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-174-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{182},
  editor =	{Saxena, Nitin and Simon, Sunil},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2020.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-132647},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2020.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithms, Discrepancy Minimization, Carpooling}
}
Document
Robust Algorithms for the Secretary Problem

Authors: Domagoj Bradac, Anupam Gupta, Sahil Singla, and Goran Zuzic

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 151, 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)


Abstract
In classical secretary problems, a sequence of n elements arrive in a uniformly random order, and we want to choose a single item, or a set of size K. The random order model allows us to escape from the strong lower bounds for the adversarial order setting, and excellent algorithms are known in this setting. However, one worrying aspect of these results is that the algorithms overfit to the model: they are not very robust. Indeed, if a few "outlier" arrivals are adversarially placed in the arrival sequence, the algorithms perform poorly. E.g., Dynkin’s popular 1/e-secretary algorithm is sensitive to even a single adversarial arrival: if the adversary gives one large bid at the beginning of the stream, the algorithm does not select any element at all. We investigate a robust version of the secretary problem. In the Byzantine Secretary model, we have two kinds of elements: green (good) and red (rogue). The values of all elements are chosen by the adversary. The green elements arrive at times uniformly randomly drawn from [0,1]. The red elements, however, arrive at adversarially chosen times. Naturally, the algorithm does not see these colors: how well can it solve secretary problems? We show that selecting the highest value red set, or the single largest green element is not possible with even a small fraction of red items. However, on the positive side, we show that these are the only bad cases, by giving algorithms which get value comparable to the value of the optimal green set minus the largest green item. (This benchmark reminds us of regret minimization and digital auctions, where we subtract an additive term depending on the "scale" of the problem.) Specifically, we give an algorithm to pick K elements, which gets within (1-ε) factor of the above benchmark, as long as K ≥ poly(ε^{-1} log n). We extend this to the knapsack secretary problem, for large knapsack size K. For the single-item case, an analogous benchmark is the value of the second-largest green item. For value-maximization, we give a poly log^* n-competitive algorithm, using a multi-layered bucketing scheme that adaptively refines our estimates of second-max over time. For probability-maximization, we show the existence of a good randomized algorithm, using the minimax principle. We hope that this work will spur further research on robust algorithms for the secretary problem, and for other problems in sequential decision-making, where the existing algorithms are not robust and often tend to overfit to the model.

Cite as

Domagoj Bradac, Anupam Gupta, Sahil Singla, and Goran Zuzic. Robust Algorithms for the Secretary Problem. In 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 151, pp. 32:1-32:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{bradac_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.32,
  author =	{Bradac, Domagoj and Gupta, Anupam and Singla, Sahil and Zuzic, Goran},
  title =	{{Robust Algorithms for the Secretary Problem}},
  booktitle =	{11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-134-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{151},
  editor =	{Vidick, Thomas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-117171},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: stochastic optimization, robust optimization, secretary problem, matroid secretary, robust secretary}
}
Document
Algorithms and Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic k-TSP

Authors: Haotian Jiang, Jian Li, Daogao Liu, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 151, 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)


Abstract
Given a metric (V,d) and a root ∈ V, the classic k-TSP problem is to find a tour originating at the root of minimum length that visits at least k nodes in V. In this work, motivated by applications where the input to an optimization problem is uncertain, we study two stochastic versions of k-TSP. In Stoch-Reward k-TSP, originally defined by Ene-Nagarajan-Saket [Ene et al., 2018], each vertex v in the given metric (V,d) contains a stochastic reward R_v. The goal is to adaptively find a tour of minimum expected length that collects at least reward k; here "adaptively" means our next decision may depend on previous outcomes. Ene et al. give an O(log k)-approximation adaptive algorithm for this problem, and left open if there is an O(1)-approximation algorithm. We totally resolve their open question, and even give an O(1)-approximation non-adaptive algorithm for Stoch-Reward k-TSP. We also introduce and obtain similar results for the Stoch-Cost k-TSP problem. In this problem each vertex v has a stochastic cost C_v, and the goal is to visit and select at least k vertices to minimize the expected sum of tour length and cost of selected vertices. Besides being a natural stochastic generalization of k-TSP, this problem is also interesting because it generalizes the Price of Information framework [Singla, 2018] from deterministic probing costs to metric probing costs. Our techniques are based on two crucial ideas: "repetitions" and "critical scaling". In general, replacing a random variable with its expectation leads to very poor results. We show that for our problems, if we truncate the random variables at an ideal threshold, then their expected values form a good surrogate. Here, we rely on running several repetitions of our algorithm with the same threshold, and then argue concentration using Freedman’s and Jogdeo-Samuels' inequalities. Unfortunately, this ideal threshold depends on how far we are from achieving our target k, which a non-adaptive algorithm does not know. To overcome this barrier, we truncate the random variables at various different scales and identify a "critical" scale.

Cite as

Haotian Jiang, Jian Li, Daogao Liu, and Sahil Singla. Algorithms and Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic k-TSP. In 11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 151, pp. 45:1-45:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{jiang_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.45,
  author =	{Jiang, Haotian and Li, Jian and Liu, Daogao and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Algorithms and Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic k-TSP}},
  booktitle =	{11th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2020)},
  pages =	{45:1--45:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-134-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{151},
  editor =	{Vidick, Thomas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.45},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-117308},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2020.45},
  annote =	{Keywords: approximation algorithms, stochastic optimization, travelling salesman problem}
}
Document
APPROX
Prepare for the Expected Worst: Algorithms for Reconfigurable Resources Under Uncertainty

Authors: David Ellis Hershkowitz, R. Ravi, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 145, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019)


Abstract
In this paper we study how to optimally balance cheap inflexible resources with more expensive, reconfigurable resources despite uncertainty in the input problem. Specifically, we introduce the MinEMax model to study "build versus rent" problems. In our model different scenarios appear independently. Before knowing which scenarios appear, we may build rigid resources that cannot be changed for different scenarios. Once we know which scenarios appear, we are allowed to rent reconfigurable but expensive resources to use across scenarios. Although computing the objective in our model might seem to require enumerating exponentially-many possibilities, we show it is well estimated by a surrogate objective which is representable by a polynomial-size LP. In this surrogate objective we pay for each scenario only to the extent that it exceeds a certain threshold. Using this objective we design algorithms that approximately-optimally balance inflexible and reconfigurable resources for several NP-hard covering problems. For example, we study variants of minimum spanning and Steiner trees, minimum cuts, and facility location. Up to constants, our approximation guarantees match those of previously-studied algorithms for demand-robust and stochastic two-stage models. Lastly, we demonstrate that our problem is sufficiently general to smoothly interpolate between previous demand-robust and stochastic two-stage problems.

Cite as

David Ellis Hershkowitz, R. Ravi, and Sahil Singla. Prepare for the Expected Worst: Algorithms for Reconfigurable Resources Under Uncertainty. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 145, pp. 4:1-4:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{hershkowitz_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.4,
  author =	{Hershkowitz, David Ellis and Ravi, R. and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Prepare for the Expected Worst: Algorithms for Reconfigurable Resources Under Uncertainty}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-125-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{145},
  editor =	{Achlioptas, Dimitris and V\'{e}gh, L\'{a}szl\'{o} A.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-112196},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Optimization Under Uncertainty, Two-Stage Optimization, Expected Max}
}
Document
RANDOM
(Near) Optimal Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic Multi-Value Probing

Authors: Domagoj Bradac, Sahil Singla, and Goran Zuzic

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 145, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019)


Abstract
Consider a kidney-exchange application where we want to find a max-matching in a random graph. To find whether an edge e exists, we need to perform an expensive test, in which case the edge e appears independently with a known probability p_e. Given a budget on the total cost of the tests, our goal is to find a testing strategy that maximizes the expected maximum matching size. The above application is an example of the stochastic probing problem. In general the optimal stochastic probing strategy is difficult to find because it is adaptive - decides on the next edge to probe based on the outcomes of the probed edges. An alternate approach is to show the adaptivity gap is small, i.e., the best non-adaptive strategy always has a value close to the best adaptive strategy. This allows us to focus on designing non-adaptive strategies that are much simpler. Previous works, however, have focused on Bernoulli random variables that can only capture whether an edge appears or not. In this work we introduce a multi-value stochastic probing problem, which can also model situations where the weight of an edge has a probability distribution over multiple values. Our main technical contribution is to obtain (near) optimal bounds for the (worst-case) adaptivity gaps for multi-value stochastic probing over prefix-closed constraints. For a monotone submodular function, we show the adaptivity gap is at most 2 and provide a matching lower bound. For a weighted rank function of a k-extendible system (a generalization of intersection of k matroids), we show the adaptivity gap is between O(k log k) and k. None of these results were known even in the Bernoulli case where both our upper and lower bounds also apply, thereby resolving an open question of Gupta et al. [Gupta et al., 2017].

Cite as

Domagoj Bradac, Sahil Singla, and Goran Zuzic. (Near) Optimal Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic Multi-Value Probing. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 145, pp. 49:1-49:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{bradac_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.49,
  author =	{Bradac, Domagoj and Singla, Sahil and Zuzic, Goran},
  title =	{{(Near) Optimal Adaptivity Gaps for Stochastic Multi-Value Probing}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2019)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-125-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{145},
  editor =	{Achlioptas, Dimitris and V\'{e}gh, L\'{a}szl\'{o} A.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-112641},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX-RANDOM.2019.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: stochastic programming, adaptivity gaps, stochastic multi-value probing, submodular functions, k-extendible systems, adaptive strategy, matroid intersection}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
Non-Clairvoyant Precedence Constrained Scheduling

Authors: Naveen Garg, Anupam Gupta, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 132, 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)


Abstract
We consider the online problem of scheduling jobs on identical machines, where jobs have precedence constraints. We are interested in the demanding setting where the jobs sizes are not known up-front, but are revealed only upon completion (the non-clairvoyant setting). Such precedence-constrained scheduling problems routinely arise in map-reduce and large-scale optimization. For minimizing the total weighted completion time, we give a constant-competitive algorithm. And for total weighted flow-time, we give an O(1/epsilon^2)-competitive algorithm under (1+epsilon)-speed augmentation and a natural "no-surprises" assumption on release dates of jobs (which we show is necessary in this context). Our algorithm proceeds by assigning virtual rates to all waiting jobs, including the ones which are dependent on other uncompleted jobs. We then use these virtual rates to decide on the actual rates of minimal jobs (i.e., jobs which do not have dependencies and hence are eligible to run). Interestingly, the virtual rates are obtained by allocating time in a fair manner, using a Eisenberg-Gale-type convex program (which we can solve optimally using a primal-dual scheme). The optimality condition of this convex program allows us to show dual-fitting proofs more easily, without having to guess and hand-craft the duals. This idea of using fair virtual rates may have broader applicability in scheduling problems.

Cite as

Naveen Garg, Anupam Gupta, Amit Kumar, and Sahil Singla. Non-Clairvoyant Precedence Constrained Scheduling. In 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 132, pp. 63:1-63:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{garg_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.63,
  author =	{Garg, Naveen and Gupta, Anupam and Kumar, Amit and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Non-Clairvoyant Precedence Constrained Scheduling}},
  booktitle =	{46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)},
  pages =	{63:1--63:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-109-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Baier, Christel and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Flocchini, Paola and Leonardi, Stefano},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.63},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-106394},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.63},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithms, Scheduling, Primal-Dual analysis, Nash welfare}
}
Document
Optimal Online Contention Resolution Schemes via Ex-Ante Prophet Inequalities

Authors: Euiwoong Lee and Sahil Singla

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 112, 26th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2018)


Abstract
Online contention resolution schemes (OCRSs) were proposed by Feldman, Svensson, and Zenklusen [Moran Feldman et al., 2016] as a generic technique to round a fractional solution in the matroid polytope in an online fashion. It has found applications in several stochastic combinatorial problems where there is a commitment constraint: on seeing the value of a stochastic element, the algorithm has to immediately and irrevocably decide whether to select it while always maintaining an independent set in the matroid. Although OCRSs immediately lead to prophet inequalities, these prophet inequalities are not optimal. Can we instead use prophet inequalities to design optimal OCRSs? We design the first optimal 1/2-OCRS for matroids by reducing the problem to designing a matroid prophet inequality where we compare to the stronger benchmark of an ex-ante relaxation. We also introduce and design optimal (1-1/e)-random order CRSs for matroids, which are similar to OCRSs but the arrival order is chosen uniformly at random.

Cite as

Euiwoong Lee and Sahil Singla. Optimal Online Contention Resolution Schemes via Ex-Ante Prophet Inequalities. In 26th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 112, pp. 57:1-57:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)


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@InProceedings{lee_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2018.57,
  author =	{Lee, Euiwoong and Singla, Sahil},
  title =	{{Optimal Online Contention Resolution Schemes via Ex-Ante Prophet Inequalities}},
  booktitle =	{26th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2018)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-081-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{112},
  editor =	{Azar, Yossi and Bast, Hannah and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2018.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-95208},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2018.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: Prophets, Contention Resolution, Stochastic Optimization, Matroids}
}
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