This paper presents a new lower bound for the recursive algorithm for solving parity games which is induced by the constructive proof of memoryless determinacy by Zielonka. We outline a family of games of linear size on which the algorithm requires exponential time.

Quantum annealing, or quantum stochastic optimization, is a classical randomized algorithm which provides good heuristics for the solution of hard optimization problems. The algorithm, suggested by the behaviour of quantum systems, is an example of proficuous cross contamination between classical and quantum computer science. In this survey paper we illustrate how hard combinatorial problems are tackled by quantum computation and present some examples of the heuristics provided by quantum annealing. We also present preliminary results about the application of quantum dissipation (as an alternative to imaginary time evolution) to the task of driving a quantum system toward its state of lowest energy.

We add sequential operations to the categorical algebra of weighted andMarkov automata introduced in [L. de Francesco Albasini, N. Sabadini and R.F.C. Walters, 
arXiv:0909.4136]. The extra expressiveness of the algebra permits the description of hierarchical systems, and ones withevolving geometry. We make a comparison with the probabilistic automata of Lynch et al. [SIAM J. Comput.37 (2007) 977–1013].

Two deterministic finite automata are almost equivalent if they disagree in acceptance only for finitely many inputs. An automaton A is hyper-minimized if no automaton with fewer states is almost equivalent to A. A regular language L is canonical if the minimal automaton accepting L is hyper-minimized. The asymptotic state complexity s∗(L) of a regular language L is the number of states of a hyper-minimized automaton for a language finitely different from L. In this paper we show that: (1) the class of canonical regular languages is not closed under: intersection, union, concatenation, Kleene closure, difference, symmetric difference, reversal, homomorphism, and inverse homomorphism; (2) for any regular languages L1 and L2 the asymptotic state complexity of their sum L1 ∪ L2, intersection L1 ∩ L2, difference L1 − L2, and symmetric difference L1 ⊕ L2 can be bounded by s∗(L1)·s∗(L2). This bound is tight in binary case and in unary case can be met in infinitely many cases. (3) For any regular language L the asymptotic state complexity of its reversal LR can be bounded by 2s∗(L). This bound is tight in binary case. (4) The asymptotic state complexity of Kleene closure and concatenation cannot be bounded. Namely, for every k ≥ 3, there exist languages K, L, and M such that s∗(K) = s∗(L) = s∗(M) = 1 and s∗(K∗) = s∗(L·M) = k. These are answers to open problems formulated by Badr et al. [RAIRO-Theor. Inf. Appl.43 (2009) 69–94].

An algorithm is corrected here that was presented as Theorem 2 in [Š. Holub, RAIRO-Theor. Inf. Appl. 40 (2006) 583–591]. It is designed to calculate the maximum length of a nontrivial word with a given set of periods.

We extend the simply typedλ-calculus with unbind and rebind primitiveconstructs. That is, a value can be a fragment of open code,which in order to be used should be explicitly rebound. Thismechanism nicely coexists with standard static binding. Themotivation is to provide an unifying foundation for mechanisms ofdynamic scoping, where the meaning of a name isdetermined at runtime, rebinding, such as dynamic updatingof resources and exchange of mobile code, and delegation,where an alternative action is taken if a binding is missing.Depending on the application scenario, we consider twoextensions which differ in the way type safety is guaranteed. Theformer relies on a combination of static and dynamic type checking.That is, rebind raises a dynamic error if for some variablethere is no replacing term or it has the wrong type. In the latter,this error is prevented by a purely static type system, at the priceof more sophisticated types.

Wang automata are devices for picture language recognition recently introduced by us, which characterize the class REC of recognizable picture languages. Thus, Wang automata are equivalent to tiling systems or online tessellation acceptors, and are based like Wang systems on labeled Wang tiles. The present work focus on scanning strategies, to prove that the ones Wang automata are based on are those following four kinds of movements: boustrophedonic, “L-like”, “U-like”, and spirals.