Approximation, Randomization and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques 11th International Workshop, APPROX 2008 and 12th International Workshop, RANDOM 2008, Boston, MA, USA, August 25-27, 2008

This volume contains the papers presented at the 11th International Wo- shop on Approximation Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems (APPROX 2008) and the 12th International Workshop on Randomization and Computation (RANDOM 2008), which took place concurrently at the MIT (M- sachusetts Institute of Technology) in Boston, USA, during August 25–27, 2008. APPROX focuses on algorithmic and complexity issues surrounding the development of e?cient approximate solutions to computationally di?cult problems, and was the 11th in the series after Aalborg (1998), Berkeley (1999), Saarbru ¨cken (2000), Berkeley (2001), Rome (2002), Princeton (2003), Cambridge (2004), Berkeley (2005), Barcelona (2006), and Princeton (2007). RANDOM is concerned with applications of randomness to computational and combinatorial problems, and was the 12th workshop in the series following Bologna (1997), Barcelona (1998), Berkeley (1999), Geneva (2000), Berkeley (2001), Harvard (2002), Princeton (2003), Cambridge (2004), Berkeley (2005), Barcelona (2006), and Princeton (2007). Topics of interest for APPROX and RANDOM are: design and analysis of - proximation algorithms, hardness of approximation, small space, sub-linear time, streaming, algorithms, embeddings and metric space methods, mathematical programming methods, combinatorial problems in graphs and networks, game t- ory, markets, economic applications, geometric problems, packing, covering, scheduling, approximate learning, design and analysis of randomized algorithms, randomized complexity theory, pseudorandomness and derandomization, random combinatorial structures, random walks/Markov chains, expander graphs and randomness extractors, probabilistic proof systems, random projections and - beddings, error-correcting codes, average-case analysis, property testing, com- tational learning theory, and other applications of approximation and randomness.

Contributed Talks of APPROX.- Approximating Optimal Binary Decision Trees.- Santa Claus Meets Hypergraph Matchings.- Ordinal Embedding: Approximation Algorithms and Dimensionality Reduction.- Connected Vertex Covers in Dense Graphs.- Improved Approximation Guarantees through Higher Levels of SDP Hierarchies.- Sweeping Points.- Constraint Satisfaction over a Non-Boolean Domain: Approximation Algorithms and Unique-Games Hardness.- Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Schemes for Time-Cost Tradeoff Problems in Series-Parallel Project Networks.- Efficient Algorithms for Fixed-Precision Instances of Bin Packing and Euclidean TSP.- Approximating Maximum Subgraphs without Short Cycles.- Deterministic 7/8-Approximation for the Metric Maximum TSP.- Inapproximability of Survivable Networks.- Approximating Single Machine Scheduling with Scenarios.- Streaming Algorithms for k-Center Clustering with Outliers and with Anonymity.- A General Framework for Designing Approximation Schemes for Combinatorial Optimization Problems with Many Objectives Combined into One.- The Directed Minimum Latency Problem.- A Simple LP Relaxation for the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem.- Approximating Directed Weighted-Degree Constrained Networks.- A Constant Factor Approximation for Minimum ?-Edge-Connected k-Subgraph with Metric Costs.- Budgeted Allocations in the Full-Information Setting.- Contributed Talks of RANDOM.- Optimal Random Matchings on Trees and Applications.- Small Sample Spaces Cannot Fool Low Degree Polynomials.- Derandomizing the Isolation Lemma and Lower Bounds for Circuit Size.- Tensor Products of Weakly Smooth Codes Are Robust.- On the Degree Sequences of Random Outerplanar and Series-Parallel Graphs.- Improved Bounds for Testing Juntas.- The Complexity of Distinguishing Markov Random Fields.- Reconstruction of Markov Random Fields from Samples: Some Observations and Algorithms.- Tight Bounds for Hashing Block Sources.- Improved Separations between Nondeterministic and Randomized Multiparty Communication.- Quantum and Randomized Lower Bounds for Local Search on Vertex-Transitive Graphs.- On the Query Complexity of Testing Orientations for Being Eulerian.- Approximately Counting Embeddings into Random Graphs.- Increasing the Output Length of Zero-Error Dispersers.- Euclidean Sections of with Sublinear Randomness and Error-Correction over the Reals.- The Complexity of Local List Decoding.- Limitations of Hardness vs. Randomness under Uniform Reductions.- Learning Random Monotone DNF.- Breaking the ?-Soundness Bound of the Linearity Test over GF(2).- Dense Fast Random Projections and Lean Walsh Transforms.- Near Optimal Dimensionality Reductions That Preserve Volumes.- Sampling Hypersurfaces through Diffusion.- A 2-Source Almost-Extractor for Linear Entropy.- Extractors for Three Uneven-Length Sources.- The Power of Choice in a Generalized Pólya Urn Model.- Corruption and Recovery-Efficient Locally Decodable Codes.- Quasi-randomness Is Determined by the Distribution of Copies of a Fixed Graph in Equicardinal Large Sets.