Posted to comp.theory March 18, 1996:



Advance Program
The Second International Computing and Combinatorics Conference
COCOON '96 
Hong Kong, June 17--19 1996


In cooperation with the 
Hong Kong Chapter of the ACM and the IEEE
Computer Chapter, Hong Kong Section.


Keynote Address
Chair: C. K. Wong 9:00 am -- 10:00 am 

Algorithmic Aspects of  Computer Aided Design of VLSI Circuits

Professor C. L. Liu 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 


Break: 10 am -- 10:20 am



Session 1 Chair: C. K. Wong  10:20 am -- 12:00 noon

10:20
Matthew Andrews, Michel X. Goemans, Lisa Zhang
Improved Bounds for On-line Load Balancing


10:45
Guo-Liang Xue, Ding-Zhu Du
An O(n log n)-average-time algorithm for
shortest networks under given topology


11:10
Tsan-Sheng Hsu, D. T. Lee, Kuo-Hui Tsai, Da-Wei Wang
Steiner problems on directed acyclic graphs


11:35
Efstratios Karaivazoglou, Paul Spirakis, Vassilis Triantafilou
Wormhole versus deflection routing: A case study on the mesh



Lunch: 12:00 noon -- 1:30 pm



Session 2 Chair: J.-Y. Cai  1:30 pm -- 3:10 pm

1:30
Hanno Lefmann, Pavel Pudlak, Petr Savicky
On Sparse Parity Check Matrices


1:55
Zhixiang Chen, Steven Homer, Carlos Cunha
Finding a Hidden Code by Asking Questions


2:20
H. K. Dai, K. E. Flannery
Improved Length Lower Bounds for Reflecting Sequences


2:45
Hiroshi Imai, Satoru Iwata, Kyoko Sekine, Kensyu Yoshida
Combinatorial and Geometric Approaches to Counting Problems on
Linear Matroids, Graphic Arrangements and Partial Orders



Break: 3:10 pm  -- 3:30 pm



Session 3: Chair: D. T. Lee  3:30 pm -- 5:10 pm


3:30
Giuseppe Di Battista, Roberto Tamassia, Luca Vismara
Output-Sensitive Reporting of Disjoint Paths


3:55
Md. Saidur Rahman, Shin-ichi Nakano, Takao Nishizeki
Rectangular Grid Drawings of Plane Graphs


4:20
Chan-Su Shin, Sung Kwon Kim, Kyung-Yong Chwa
Area-Efficient Algorithms for Upward Straight-Line Tree Drawings


4:45
Oswin Aichholzer, Franz Aurenhammer
A Straight Skeleton for General Polygonal Figures in the Plane


Reception: 5:30 pm -- 6:30 pm



Day 2 (18 June 1996)



Session 4 Chair: S. Toda  8:45 am -- 10:00 am


8:45
Eric Allender
A note on uniform circuit lower bounds for the counting hierarchy


9:10
Thomas Hofmeister
A note on the simulation of exponential threshold weights


9:35
Vince Grolmusz
Harmonic analysis, real approximation, and the communication complexity
of Boolean functions




Break: 10 am -- 10:20 am



Session 5 Chair: T. Nishizeki  10:20 am -- 12:00 noon

10:20
Gruia Calinescu, Cristina G. Fernandes
Finding Large Planar Subgraphs and Large Subgraphs of a Given Genus


10:45
Farhad Shahrokhi, Weiping Shi
A Deterministic Algorithm for Embedding Bipartite Graphs on
O(sqrt(|E|)) Pages


11:10
Tsan-sheng Hsu, Ming-Yang Kao
Optimal Bi-Level Augmentation for selectivity enhancing graph connectivity
with applications

11:35
Carlos Domingo
Exact Learning of Subclasses of CDNF formulas with Membership queries


Lunch: 12:00 noon -- 1:30 pm


Session 6 Chair: H. Edelsbrunner  1:30 pm -- 3:10 pm

1:30
Shang-Hua Teng
Fast Separator-Decomposition for Finite-Element Meshes and Sparse
Symbolic-Factroization


1:55
Hans L. Bodlaender, Babette de Fluiter
Reduction Algorithms for Constructing Solutions in Graphs with
Small Treewidth


2:20
Zhi-Zhong Chen, Ryuhei Uehara, Xin He
Fast RNC and NC algorithms for finding a maximal set of paths with
an application


2:45
Juha Karkkainen, Esko Ukkonen
Sparse suffix trees




Break: 3:10 pm -- 3:30 pm



Session 7 Chair: C. Yap  3:30 pm -- 5:35 pm

3:30
Chi-Hsiang Yeh, Emmanouel A. Varvarigos
Depth-efficient threshold circuits for  multiplication and
symmetric function computation


3:55
V. Arvind
On the self-witnessing property of computational problems


4:20
Dimitris Kavvadias, Martha Sideri
The Inverse Satifiability Problem


4:45
Lane A. Hemaspaandra, Zhigen Jiang, Joerg Rothe, Osamu Watanabe
The Join Can Lower Complexity


5:10
Xuerong Yong
On the distribution of eigenvalues of graphs



Banquet: 7:00 pm -- 10:00 pm


Day 3 (19 June 1996)



Session 8 Chair: A. Goldberg  8:45 am -- 10:00 am

8:45
Mic Grigni, Christos Papadimitriou
On the difficulty of designing good classifiers


9:10
S. Ravi Kumar, Alexander Russell, Ravi Sundaram
Approximating Latin Square Extensions


9:35
Tatsuya Akutsu, Feng Bao
Approximating minimum keys and optimal substructure screens



Break: 10 am -- 10:20 am



Session 9 Chair: C. Papadimitriou  10:20 am -- 12:00 noon


10:20
Jay Belanger, Jie Wang
Reductions and covergence rates of average time


10:45
Akio Yanbe, Kouichi Sakurai
The Complexity of Computational Problems Associated with
Simple Stochastic Games


11:10
Oscar Ibarra, Pedro Diniz, Martin Rinard
On the complexity of commutativity analysis


11:35
A.E.F. Clementi, L. Trevisan
Improved Non-approximability Results for Vertex Cover Problems with
Density Constraints


Lunch:  12:00 noon -- 1:30 pm



Session 10 Chair: O. Ibarra  1:30 pm -- 3:10 pm


1:30
Ming Li, John Tromp, Louxin Zhang
Some notes on the Nearest Neighbour Interchange distance measure


1:55
Vasant Shanbhogue, Moti Yung
Distributed computing in asynchronous networks with byzantine edges


2:20
S. Cho, S. Sahni
Weighted biased leftist trees and modified skip lists


2:45
Hoong Chuin Lau
Probabilistic Analysis of Local Search on Random Instances of
Constraint Satisfaction



Break: 3:10 pm -- 3:30 pm



Session 11 Chair: M. Y. Kao  3:30 pm -- 5:35 pm


3:30
Naixun Pei, Sue Whitesides
On the reconfiguration of chains


3:55
Xuehou Tan, Binhai Zhu
Two-guarding a rectilinear polygon


4:20
R. Safavi-Naini
Three Systems for Shared Generation of Authenticators


4:45
Kwok-Yan Lam, San Ling, Lucas C-K Hui
Efficient Generation of Elliptic curve cryptosystems


5:10
Jixiang Meng
Superconnectivity for Minimal Multi-Loop Networks


---------------------------------------------------------------------
REGISTRATION FOR COCOON'96

The registration fees for COCOON'96 are listed below.  
To qualify for the early registration fees, your registration 
application must be received by May 4, 1996.  The non-student 
registration fee includes the reception, the banquet, coffee breaks 
and lunches, and a copy of the proceedings.  The student fee does 
not include the reception, banquet or lunches.

Please fill out the form below and send it, along with a 
money order or bank draft (in US or HK) made payable to  
COCOON'96, to:


Dr. H.F. Ting
Department of Computer Science
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong



Last Name:_______________________First Name:________________________

Affiliation:________________________________________________________

Address:____________________________________________________________

E-mail:_____________________________________________________________

Phone:___________________________Fax:_______________________________


Please circle one category below. 


Category        Fee Before May 4            After May 4 

Regular         $350US/$2730HK              $420US/$3275HK  

Student         $250US/1950HK               $300US/2340HK 





---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotel Reservations for COCOON'96

The conference will be held from June 17 to  June 19, 1996
at the  University of Hong Kong on Hong Kong Island.
While accomodations are not available on campus the hotels
listed below provide special conference rates.

For those of you not familiar with Hong Kong note that taxis
are very cheap and easy to catch at hotels.  A taxi from
the Furama hotel to the conference site would cost  approximately 3US
and take 15-20 minutes;  from the Wharney or South Pacific, 4US and
20-25 minutes. 

Tsimshatsui, the location of the New World Hotel  is in the tourist 
district across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island.  It therefore 
requires much more travelling time  to get from there to the conference;  
first a 10 minute walk to the Star Ferry,  then a  ferry crossing 
of the harbour and, finally, a taxi to the university.  The ferry + 
taxi should cost approximately 3US and take 30-35 minutes total.

To make your reservations,
fill out the form below and
send it, along with a deposit
for at least one night's stay, to:

	Morning Star Travel Service Limited
	(fax (+852) 2723 8033)
	B19-23 Tsimshatsui Centre
	66 Mody Road
	Tsimshatsui East
	Kowloon, Hong Kong


Reservations should be received by May 1, 1993.
Deposit should be made
in the form of a bank draft or money order (in US, or HK)
payable to the Morning Star Travel Service Limited.
Credit cards are not accepted.


Last Name:_________________________ First Name:______________________

Affiliation:_________________________________________________________

Address:_____________________________________________________________

Nationality/Citizenship:_______________________Passport:_____________

Phone:______________________________ Fax:____________________________

Arrival flight #:_____________________________________________________




Hotel rates shown below include
service charge and tax.
Single and double rooms have  the same rates.
Please circle one of the following hotels:

  Furama Hotel
	1 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
	HK 1,420 (US 185) per night

  Wharney Hotel
	57-73 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
	HK 1,010 (US 131) per night

  South Pacific Hotel
	23 Morrision Hill Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
	HK 870 (US 113) per night

  New World Hotel
	22 Salisbury Road, New World Centre, Tsimshatsui, KOWLOON
	HK 1,120 (US 146) per night


Please circle one of the following categories:

Single

Double: sharing room with___________________________________________


~Date: from _______ to _______ (No.  of nights: )


If falling outside the conference date, reservation
will be accepted subject to space availability.



I enclose a check/money order of 
		US/HK (delete applicable entry)$_______________
payable to the Morning Star Travel Service Limited as deposit, 
and understand that the balance will be settled after arrival with 
the Morning  Star Travel Service Limited at the conference site (instead of 
the hotel) using cash, credit card, or traveler's check."