Randomization and Approximation Techniques in Computer Science : Second International Workshop, Random'98, Barcelona, Spain, October 8-10, 1998

TheWorkshoponRandomizationandApproximationTechniquesinComputer Science, Random'98, focuses on algorithmic and complexity aspects arising inthedevelopmentofe cientrandomizedsolutionstocomputationallydi cult problems. Itaims,inparticular,atfosteringthecooperationamongpractitioners andtheoreticiansandamongalgorithmicandcomplexityresearchersinthe eld. RANDOM'98,heldattheUniversityofBarcelona(UPC),October8{10,1998, isthesecondintheseries,afterBologna. This volume contains all contributed papers accepted for presentation at theworkshop,togetherwithinvitedlecturesbyJosepD az(UPCBarcelona), AlanM. Frieze(CarnegieMellonU. ),MichaelLuby(ICSIBerkeley),andEmo Welzl(ETHZuric ¨ h). Thecontributedpaperswereselectedoutofseveraldozen submissions received in response to the call for papers. All papers published intheworkshopproceedingswereselectedbytheprogramcommitteeonthe basisofrefereereports. Considerablee ortwasdevotedtotheevaluationofthe submissionsbytheprogramcommitteeandanumberofotherreferees. Extensive feedbackwasprovidedtoauthorsasaresult,whichwehopehasprovenhelpful tothem. Wewouldliketothankalloftheauthorswhorespondedtothecallforpapers, ourinvitedspeakers,thereferees,andthemembersoftheprogramcommittee: MichaelLuby,Chair,ICSIBerkeley AndreiBroder,DigitalSystemsResearchCenter BernardChazelle,PrincetonU. AndreaClementi,U. ofRome AnnaKarlin,U. ofWashington RichardKarp,U. ofWashington ClaireKenyon,U. ofParisSud MichaelMitzenmacher,DigitalSystemsResearchCenter RajeevMotwani,StanfordU. PrabhakarRaghavan,IBM MariaSerna,UPCBarcelona AlistairSinclair,U. ofCalifornia,Berkeley MadhuSudan,MIT AviWigderson,HebrewU. PeterWinkler,BellLabs WegratefullyacknowledgesupportfromtheEuropeanAssociationINTAS, theComissionatperaUniversitatsiRecerca{GeneralitatdeCatalunya,and Universitat Polit ecnica de Catalunya. Finally, we would like to thank Helena Martinez,CarmeAlvarez,ConradoMartinez,andJordiPetitiSilvestrefortheir helpinthepreparationofthemeeting. August1998 MichaelLuby,Jos eD. P. Rolim,MariaJ. Serna Contents Invited Paper Disjoint Paths in Expander Graphs via Random Walks: A Short Survey 1 AlanM. Frieze RegularPapers A Derandomization Using Min-Wise Independent Permutations 15 AndreiZ. Broder,MosesCharikarandMichaelMitzenmacher An Algorithmic Embedding of Graphs via Perfect Matchings 25 VojtechR¨ odl,AndrzejRucin ´skiandMichelleWagner Deterministic Hypergraph Coloring and Its Applications 35 Chi-JenLu On the De-randomization of Space-Bounded Computations 47 RoyArmoni Talagrand's Inequality and Locality in Distributed Computing 60 DevdattP. Dubhashi On-Line Bin-Stretching 71 YossiAzarandOdedRegev Combinatorial Linear Programming: Geometry Can Help 82 BerndGar ¨ tner A Note on Bounding the Mixing Time by Linear Programming 97 AbrahamSharell Robotic Exploration, Brownian Motion and Electrical Resistance 116 IsraelA. Wagner,MichaelLindenbaumandAlfredM. Bruckstein Fringe Analysis of Synchronized Parallel Algorithms on 2-3 Trees 131 RicardoBaeza-Yates,JoaquimGabarro ´andXavierMesseguer On Balls and Bins with Deletions 145 RichardCole,AlanFrieze,BruceM. Maggs,MichaelMitzenmacher Andr´eaW. Richa,RameshK.