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CSC 482/582 Fall 2012

Dr. Wendy Myrvold, ECS 552, wendym@cs.uvic.ca

http://xkcd.com/

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Announcements

• Powerpoint slides will be posted on the class web pages.

• The web pages are at:

http://webhome.cs.uvic.ca/~wendym/582.html

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Outline for Lecture 1

• Who is the instructor?

• My research interests.

• Logistics for CSC 482/582- the critical points are included on the course outline and class web pages. An unofficial copy of the course outline is on our class web pages.

• Don’t worry about taking notes today

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About me:

M.Sc. : Computer Science, McGill University, 1983

M.Math. : Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo, 1984

Ph.D. in Computer Science: Waterloo, 1988

University of Victoria: started in 1988, currently a full professor

by Mark A. Hicks, illustrator.

From: Gurl Guide to programming.

Currently have 64 CPU’s that can be used for long computations (provided by NSERC).

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Bring your parents to work day at Google.

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My Research: Large Combinatorial Searches

Independent Set:

Set of vertices which are pairwise non-adjacent

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Graphite

Diamond

Applications of Graph theory

to chemistry Working with Patrick Fowler (chemist)

Benzenoids

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996 was awarded

jointly to Robert F. Curl Jr., Sir Harold W. Kroto and

Richard E. Smalley "for their discovery of fullerenes".

Harry Kroto

Fullerenes are all-carbon molecules that correspond to 3-regular planar graphs with all face sizes equal to 5 or 6.

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Topological Graph Theory:

Algorithms and Obstructions

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Latin Squares Please come talk to me if you are looking for Honours project research topics or for an NSERC undergraduate research project.

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COMBINATORIAL ALGORITHMS GROUP

University of Victoria

http://www.cs.uvic.ca/~wendym/cag

Our research interests include: Graph Theory and Graph Algorithms Combinatorics Combinatorial Algorithms Computational Geometry Randomized Algorithms Computational Complexity Network Reliability Topological Graph Theory Computational Biology Cryptography Design Theory

Join our listserv to get information about conferences and research talks.

Undergrads are welcome to all events.

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CSC 482A/522 Logistics Course Website: http://www.cs.uvic.ca/~wendym/582.html

Instructor: Dr. Wendy Myrvold Email: wendym@csc.uvic.ca

I answer all student e-mails. If you do not get a response in a reasonable time frame please find out why the e-mail did not work. Office: ECS 552 Phone Number: 472-5783 (use e-mail for a faster response) Office Hours: See course web page. Please tell me if you plan to come by.

Lecture Schedule: MWR 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. Ell 162.

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Students with a disability

Please let me know as soon as possible how I can accommodate your disability.

It’s often possible to go beyond what is first offered by the disability center.

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•To provide a solid foundation in graph theory and algorithms.

•To teach some useful algorithms and algorithm design tactics.

•To develop research skills which include:

•Background literature search,

•Formal writing for graph theory topics (as required for theses, conference or journal papers), and

•Formal presentations (as per a thesis defense or conference talk).

•To intrigue and excite students about graph theory research topics.

•To take students to the leading edge of graph theory research.

Course objectives:

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Course description: This course provides an introduction to graph theory and graph algorithms. We will start with basic definitions in order to make the class accessible to all. The algorithms studied range from classical polynomial time algorithms for problems such as network flows to those geared towards dealing with intractible problems such as finding a maximum independent set in a graph. The material also includes cutting edge research tactics for solving real world problems. The class is especially valuable for students requiring graph theory and combinatorics as a tool for research in areas such as networks, database, computer graphics, and software engineering.

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Grading scheme:

Component CSC 482 CSC 582

Assignments 50% 40%

Project 50% 60%

This course has NO exams. Assignments may be handed in up to 5 business days after the official due date with a 2% penalty for each business day that the assignment is overdue.

3 equally weighted assignments.

Attendance:

Students with more than 3 unexcused absences

will be given an N in the course.

Excused absences will be granted for students

having a concurrent COOP interview, conference

attendance, or valid medical reasons, accident, or

disability (for yourself or an immediate family

member who requires your care) or other reason

covered by the university guidelines. Appropriate

documentation is required (e.g. a note from the

COOP coordinator, a physician, health services,

counselling services, ...). Provisions for absence

due to religious holidays should be requested by

Sept. 17.

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Component Weight Due Date

Project proposal 4% Thurs. Sept. 27.

Overhead slides for

project proposal 4% Thurs. Oct. 4.

Research proposal 4% Thurs. Oct. 18.

Overhead slides for

research proposal 4% Thurs. Oct. 25.

Oral report on project 8%

Written report on project 36% Thurs. Dec. 13 19

The oral presentations will scheduled at the

end of term:

• in one of the last few classes,

• or Dec. 5, 8am to noon,

• or in a final exam slot.

The final written report on the project is due

Thurs. Dec. 13 at 1:00 p.m.

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Text: Graphs, Algorithms, and Optimization by William Kocay, and Donald L. Kreher Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, 2004.

Other references will be provided if we deviate from the text.

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Submissions for the Project For me to have enough room for feedback, it is critical that all written project submissions should be in at least a 12 point font with 1.5 spacing. Overheads should be printed with one slide per page (not 2-4). All project components are cumulative. This means that your written project proposal forms a starting point for the written research proposal which is then used to make the final project report. Similarly, your oral project proposal forms a starting point for the oral research proposal which is then used to create the final project report. You will be given feedback at every stage and can incorporate these suggestions to improve your next submission.

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Project Proposal (1-2 pages) The student should have chosen a project topic by this point. A short report should be turned in describing the problem the student has chosen to study. I want you to define ALL relevant terminology for your project starting from the definitions of a graph, a vertex and an edge. You do not need to include any literature review or progress on the research at this stage- just the problem defintion.

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Oral Project Proposal (1-3 slides) The student should prepare slides which describe the problem chosen, perhaps with an appropriate example. Again, include even the elementary definitions. Pictures speak louder than words- make sure you illustrate the relevant concepts using approriate pictures. If you want to use a computer to present your final talk, please print the slides onto paper (one slide per page) to hand them in. If you plan to use celluloid, you may design your slides on paper to hand in, then copy them to celluloid later (after getting feedback from me).

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Research Proposal (3-5 more pages) The student at this point should have collected references related to the problem chosen. This report should describe briefly what has been done on the problem, what the student hopes to accomplish, and should suggest some possible techniques for achieving these goals. Please also read the detailed suggestions for writing a good research proposal.

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Oral Research Proposal (3-5 more slides) These slides are for a short talk on the material in the written research proposal. Please hand them in on paper again.

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Project (10-20 pages which includes previous components) A written report summarizing the outcome of the research proposal. If the research has not been fruitful, then the student should try to explain why the techniques used did not work. The report must include a description of what has not yet been done and a list of related questions for future research. If appropriate, computer code should also be submitted. A detailed grading scheme is available.

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Oral Report on Project (15 minutes, about 15 slides) The student should prepare an oral presentation of the project. Be sure to include suggestions of interesting problems for future research. You will be graded only on the quality of the talk at this stage- you may not have completed all of your research before these presentations are given. The project is intended to be independent work. Students however are encouraged to consult with the instructor whenever desired.

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Grading scheme for the projects: 1. Motivation- 3 marks.

Did you explain why the problem is interesting? Did you explain why your contributions to the problem are important?

2. Literature- 3 marks.

Did you explain the background for your problem? Did you justify the importance of your problem by comparing it to previous research? Did you explain to the reader how your work fits in to the overall knowledge for the problem with appropriate literature references?

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3. Content- 9 marks. Were terms defined? Did you explain things at an appropriate level of detail? Did you include examples when they were helpful? Could your mathematical writing be improved?

4. Future Research- 3 marks.

Did you clearly explain the work that still needs to be done? Did you think of any new avenues to investigate which might lead to interesting results? The suggestions for future research are a very valuable part of any technical paper. Leaving it off could mean that somebody might have to reproduce the work you already did to get a clear picture of what needs to be done next.

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5. Original Contributions- 8 marks for CSC 482, 18 for CSC 582. What have you done that is different from previous work? Credit was given for original research, but could also be obtained in other ways. Other original contributions include implementation of an algorithm, simplifying a complicated result, surveying many different results and tying them all together, examination of small cases, and the formulation of interesting new conjectures. Extra credit may be awarded for research contributions which go beyond the normal expectations for the course.

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The components for a good research proposal are taken directly from the NSERC guidelines:

1. The Problem: Clearly define the problem. Make sure

you are precise and technically accurate with your definitions.

2. Previous Work: Describe how this research fits

within the context of what is currently happening in the field. Summarize relevant prior work in the field. Find the 10 most relevant papers on the topic. Some of these should be in journals.

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3. Goals: What are the goals of this research?. Include both short term goals (those which you could easily accomplish as part of the course project) and also long term goals (which may be too difficult to accomplish within the short term).

4. Research Plan: Decribe your research plan. Make sure

you also describe your methodology- that is, what steps will you follow to make progress on this problem. In particular, what will you do to get started? You should have some idea as to how to proceed beyond the first steps, but it is fine if this is not as concrete as your plan for starting the research.

5. Importance: How will the planned research make a

novel contribution to the field? How is this work useful and important?

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Some examples of potential original contributions:

1. Develop computer code. 2. Understand a complex algorithm. Describe it clearly

in your own words. 3. Develop an algorithm for a new problem. 4. Either develop an algorithm that is either simpler or

faster than what is currently available. Or after attempting to do this, discuss strategies that you have tried which were unsuccessful, and suggest avenues for future research.

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Some examples of potential original contributions:

5. Survey algorithms for a problem and compare them

(time/space complexity, simplicity,...). 6. Try various backtracking approaches or heuristics

for an NP-complete problem to see which work best.

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Some project ideas will be described in the first few classes. Some represent work that could be publishable.

Graduate students may with permission select a topic which is more closely related to their future research.

Students working on related topics are encouraged to collaborate to obtain further results. However, each person must be working on an original component of the project. Please feel free to consult with me regarding your project selection. Papers and more information are available for many of these topics.