We present a distributed 2-approximation algorithm for the minimum vertex cover problem. The algorithm is deterministic, and it runs in (∆+ 1) synchronous communication rounds, where ∆ is the maximum degree of the graph. For ∆ = 3, we give a 2-approximation algorithm also for the weighted version of the problem.

Intellectual property portfolios that include unique inventions and discoveries are potentially inimitable resources that provide strategic leverage to Information Technology (IT) firms. The increasing patent related litigations in the IT industry, and the high costs associated with litigations make this an economically significant activity. Taking a market oriented view to this issue we invest...

In this paper we define the class of near-ideal clutters following a similar concept due to Shepherd [Near perfect matrices, Math. Programming 64 (1994) 295–323] for near-perfect graphs. We prove that near-ideal clutters give a polyhedral characterization for minimally nonideal clutters as near-perfect graphs did for minimally imperfect graphs. We characterize near-ideal blockers of graphs as b...

Solutions of the nonlinear water wave equations under an ice sheet are computed using a boundary integral equation method. The ice sheet is modelled as a thin elastic plate and the fluid equations are nonlinear. Depending on the velocity of the moving disturbance generating the flow, different types of responses of the floating ice sheet are discussed.

This paper describes the research plan to use ALOS / PALSAR data for Antarctic ice sheet analysis. The final goal of our study is to extract the precise ice sheet elevation and estimate accurate position of grounding line using ALOS / PALSAR data. The authors have been studying the grounding line and ice sheet topography from InSAR data, which mainly used ERS-1/2 tandem data. We plan to adopt t...

The anomalously warm winter of 2005 follows similarly warm winters of 2003 and 2004. Although surface air temperature in the winter of 2002 was colder than 1961-2000 average, the depth-integrated temperatures at Mooring 2 indicate that the shift to warmer conditions in the Bering Sea began in the spring of 2000. This warming becomes comparable in its scale with major warm episodes in the late 1...

Starting with Einstein’s famous papers of 1905, we review some of the ensuing developments and their impact on present-day physics. We attempt to cover topics that are of interest to historians and philosophers of science as well as to physicists.

In this paper, we study a class of set cover problems that satisfy a special property which we call the small neighborhood cover property. This class encompasses several well-studied problems including vertex cover, interval cover, bag interval cover and tree cover. We design unified distributed and parallel algorithms that can handle any set cover problem falling under the above framework and ...

A new method for solving the hitting set problem is proposed. This method is based on the mapping of the problem onto an integer programming optimization problem. This new approach provides an algorithm with much better performance compare to the algorithms for the bitting set problem that currently are used for solving the diagnosis problem. The relation of this approach with the satisfiabilit...