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Mirela Damian

Publications and source records attributed to Mirela Damian.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Partitioning Regular Polygons into Circular Pieces I: Convex Partitions

We explore an instance of the question of partitioning a polygon into pieces, each of which is as ``circular'' as possible, in the sense of having an aspect ratio close to 1. The aspect ratio of a polygon is the ratio of the diameters of the smallest circumscribing circle to the largest inscribed disk. The problem is rich even for partitioning regular polygons into convex pieces, the focus of this paper. We show that the optimal (most circular) partition for an equilateral triangle has an infinite number of pieces, with the lower bound approachable to any accuracy desired by a particular finite partition. For pentagons and all regular k-gons, k > 5, the unpartitioned polygon is already optimal. The square presents an interesting intermediate case. Here the one-piece partition is not optimal, but nor is the trivial lower bound approachable. We narrow the optimal ratio to an aspect-ratio gap of 0.01082 with several somewhat intricate partitions.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2025

Unfolding Polycubes with Orthogonally Convex Layers

A polycube is an orthogonal polyhedron composed of unit cubes glued together along entire faces, and homeomorphic to a sphere. A layer of a polycube refers to the portion lying between two horizontal cross-sections spaced one unit apart. We present an unfolding algorithm that flattens any polycube with orthogonally convex layers into a single, non-overlapping planar piece. The algorithm makes cuts only along cube edges-that is, it is an edge unfolding.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2022

Reconfiguration of Non-crossing Spanning Trees

For a set $P$ of $n$ points in the plane in general position, a non-crossing spanning tree is a spanning tree of the points where every edge is a straight-line segment between a pair of points and no two edges intersect except at a common endpoint. We study the problem of reconfiguring one non-crossing spanning tree of $P$ to another using a sequence of flips where each flip removes one edge and adds one new edge so that the result is again a non-crossing spanning tree of $P$. There is a known upper bound of $2n-4$ flips [Avis and Fukuda, 1996] and a lower bound of $1.5n - 5$ flips. We give a reconfiguration algorithm that uses at most $2n-3$ flips but reduces that to $1.5n-2$ flips when one tree is a path and either: the points are in convex position; or the path is monotone in some direction. For points in convex position, we prove an upper bound of $2d - Ω(\log d)$ where $d$ is half the size of the symmetric difference between the trees. We also examine whether the happy edges (those common to the initial and final trees) need to flip, and we find exact minimum flip distances for small point sets using exhaustive search.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2021

Unfolding Polycube Trees with Constant Refinement

We show that every polycube tree can be unfolded with a 4x4 refinement of the grid faces. This is the first constant refinement unfolding result for polycube trees that are not required to be well-separated.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2019

Universal Reconfiguration of Facet-Connected Modular Robots by Pivots: The $O(1)$ Musketeers

We present the first universal reconfiguration algorithm for transforming a modular robot between any two facet-connected square-grid configurations using pivot moves. More precisely, we show that five extra "helper" modules ("musketeers") suffice to reconfigure the remaining $n$ modules between any two given configurations. Our algorithm uses $O(n^2)$ pivot moves, which is worst-case optimal. Previous reconfiguration algorithms either require less restrictive "sliding" moves, do not preserve facet-connectivity, or for the setting we consider, could only handle a small subset of configurations defined by a local forbidden pattern. Configurations with the forbidden pattern do have disconnected reconfiguration graphs (discrete configuration spaces), and indeed we show that they can have an exponential number of connected components. But forbidding the local pattern throughout the configuration is far from necessary, as we show that just a constant number of added modules (placed to be freely reconfigurable) suffice for universal reconfigurability. We also classify three different models of natural pivot moves that preserve facet-connectivity, and show separations between these models.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2019

New and Improved Spanning Ratios for Yao Graphs

For a set of points in the plane and a fixed integer $k > 0$, the Yao graph $Y_k$ partitions the space around each point into $k$ equiangular cones of angle $θ=2π/k$, and connects each point to a nearest neighbor in each cone. It is known for all Yao graphs, with the sole exception of $Y_5$, whether or not they are geometric spanners. In this paper we close this gap by showing that for odd $k \geq 5$, the spanning ratio of $Y_k$ is at most $1/(1-2\sin(3θ/8))$, which gives the first constant upper bound for $Y_5$, and is an improvement over the previous bound of $1/(1-2\sin(θ/2))$ for odd $k \geq 7$. We further reduce the upper bound on the spanning ratio for $Y_5$ from $10.9$ to $2+\sqrt{3} \approx 3.74$, which falls slightly below the lower bound of $3.79$ established for the spanning ratio of $Θ_5$ ($Θ$-graphs differ from Yao graphs only in the way they select the closest neighbor in each cone). This is the first such separation between a Yao and $Θ$-graph with the same number of cones. We also give a lower bound of $2.87$ on the spanning ratio of $Y_5$. Finally, we revisit the $Y_6$ graph, which plays a particularly important role as the transition between the graphs ($k > 6$) for which simple inductive proofs are known, and the graphs ($k \le 6$) whose best spanning ratios have been established by complex arguments. Here we reduce the known spanning ratio of $Y_6$ from $17.6$ to $5.8$, getting closer to the spanning ratio of 2 established for $Θ_6$.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2018

Spanning Properties of Theta-Theta-6

We show that, unlike the Yao-Yao graph $YY_6$, the Theta-Theta graph $ΘΘ_6$ defined by six cones is a spanner for sets of points in convex position. We also show that, for sets of points in non-convex position, the spanning ratio of $ΘΘ_6$ is unbounded.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2017

Minimal forcing sets for 1D origami

This paper addresses the problem of finding minimum forcing sets in origami. The origami material folds flat along straight lines called creases that can be labeled as mountains or valleys. A forcing set is a subset of creases that force all the other creases to fold according to their labels. The result is a flat folding of the origami material. In this paper we develop a linear time algorithm that finds minimum forcing sets in one dimensional origami.

cs.DM↗
arXiv2016

Unfolding Genus-2 Orthogonal Polyhedra with Linear Refinement

We show that every orthogonal polyhedron of genus at most 2 can be unfolded without overlap while using only a linear number of orthogonal cuts (parallel to the polyhedron edges). This is the first result on unfolding general orthogonal polyhedra beyond genus-0. Our unfolding algorithm relies on the existence of at most 2 special leaves in what we call the "unfolding tree" (which ties back to the genus), so unfolding polyhedra of genus 3 and beyond requires new techniques.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2016

On the Stretch Factor of Convex Polyhedra whose Vertices are (Almost) on a Sphere

Let $P$ be a convex polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$. The skeleton of $P$ is the graph whose vertices and edges are the vertices and edges of $P$, respectively. We prove that, if these vertices are on the unit-sphere, the skeleton is a $(0.999 \cdot π)$-spanner. If the vertices are very close to this sphere, then the skeleton is not necessarily a spanner. For the case when the boundary of $P$ is between two concentric spheres of radii $1$ and $R>1$, and the angles in all faces are at least $θ$, we prove that the skeleton is a $t$-spanner, where $t$ depends only on $R$ and $θ$. One of the ingredients in the proof is a tight upper bound on the geometric dilation of a convex cycle that is contained in an annulus.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2016

Improved Bounds on the Stretch Factor of $Y_4$

We establish an upper bound of 4.94 on the stretch factor of the Yao graph $Y_4^\infty$ defined in the $L_\infty$-metric, improving upon the best previously known upper bound of 6.31. We also establish an upper bound of 54.62 on the stretch factor of the Yao graph $Y_4$ defined in the Euclidean metric, improving upon the best previously known upper bound of 662.16.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2014

Minimum Forcing Sets for Miura Folding Patterns

We introduce the study of forcing sets in mathematical origami. The origami material folds flat along straight line segments called creases, each of which is assigned a folding direction of mountain or valley. A subset $F$ of creases is forcing if the global folding mountain/valley assignment can be deduced from its restriction to $F$. In this paper we focus on one particular class of foldable patterns called Miura-ori, which divide the plane into congruent parallelograms using horizontal lines and zig-zag vertical lines. We develop efficient algorithms for constructing a minimum forcing set of a Miura-ori map, and for deciding whether a given set of creases is forcing or not. We also provide tight bounds on the size of a forcing set, establishing that the standard mountain-valley assignment for the Miura-ori is the one that requires the most creases in its forcing sets. Additionally, given a partial mountain/valley assignment to a subset of creases of a Miura-ori map, we determine whether the assignment domain can be extended to a locally flat-foldable pattern on all the creases. At the heart of our results is a novel correspondence between flat-foldable Miura-ori maps and $3$-colorings of grid graphs.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2014

Continuous Yao Graphs

In this paper, we introduce a variation of the well-studied Yao graphs. Given a set of points $S\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ and an angle $0 < θ\leq 2π$, we define the continuous Yao graph $cY(θ)$ with vertex set $S$ and angle $θ$ as follows. For each $p,q\in S$, we add an edge from $p$ to $q$ in $cY(θ)$ if there exists a cone with apex $p$ and aperture $θ$ such that $q$ is the closest point to $p$ inside this cone. We study the spanning ratio of $cY(θ)$ for different values of $θ$. Using a new algebraic technique, we show that $cY(θ)$ is a spanner when $θ\leq 2π/3$. We believe that this technique may be of independent interest. We also show that $cY(π)$ is not a spanner, and that $cY(θ)$ may be disconnected for $θ> π$.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2014

Spanning Properties of Theta-Theta Graphs

We study the spanning properties of Theta-Theta graphs. Similar in spirit with the Yao-Yao graphs, Theta-Theta graphs partition the space around each vertex into a set of k cones, for some fixed integer k > 1, and select at most one edge per cone. The difference is in the way edges are selected. Yao-Yao graphs select an edge of minimum length, whereas Theta-Theta graphs select an edge of minimum orthogonal projection onto the cone bisector. It has been established that the Yao-Yao graphs with parameter k = 6k' have spanning ratio 11.67, for k' >= 6. In this paper we establish a first spanning ratio of $7.82$ for Theta-Theta graphs, for the same values of $k$. We also extend the class of Theta-Theta spanners with parameter 6k', and establish a spanning ratio of $16.76$ for k' >= 5. We surmise that these stronger results are mainly due to a tighter analysis in this paper, rather than Theta-Theta being superior to Yao-Yao as a spanner. We also show that the spanning ratio of Theta-Theta graphs decreases to 4.64 as k' increases to 8. These are the first results on the spanning properties of Theta-Theta graphs.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2012

An Infinite Class of Sparse-Yao Spanners

We show that, for any integer k > 5, the Sparse-Yao graph YY_{6k} (also known as Yao-Yao) is a spanner with stretch factor 11.67. The stretch factor drops down to 4.75 for k > 7.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2011

Unfolding Orthogonal Polyhedra with Quadratic Refinement: The Delta-Unfolding Algorithm

We show that every orthogonal polyhedron homeomorphic to a sphere can be unfolded without overlap while using only polynomially many (orthogonal) cuts. By contrast, the best previous such result used exponentially many cuts. More precisely, given an orthogonal polyhedron with n vertices, the algorithm cuts the polyhedron only where it is met by the grid of coordinate planes passing through the vertices, together with Theta(n^2) additional coordinate planes between every two such grid planes.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2011

Undirected Connectivity of Sparse Yao Graphs

Given a finite set S of points in the plane and a real value d > 0, the d-radius disk graph G^d contains all edges connecting pairs of points in S that are within distance d of each other. For a given graph G with vertex set S, the Yao subgraph Y_k[G] with integer parameter k > 0 contains, for each point p in S, a shortest edge pq from G (if any) in each of the k sectors defined by k equally-spaced rays with origin p. Motivated by communication issues in mobile networks with directional antennas, we study the connectivity properties of Y_k[G^d], for small values of k and d. In particular, we derive lower and upper bounds on the minimum radius d that renders Y_k[G^d] connected, relative to the unit radius assumed to render G^d connected. We show that d=sqrt(2) is necessary and sufficient for the connectivity of Y_4[G^d]. We also show that, for d <= ~1.056, the graph Y_3[G^d] can be disconnected, but for d >= 2/sqrt(3), Y_3[G^d] is always connected. Finally, we show that Y_2[G^d] can be disconnected, for any d >= 1.

cs.CG↗