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We investigate the proof complexity of systems based on positive branching programs, i.e. non-deterministic branching programs (NBPs) where, for any 0-transition between two nodes, there is also a 1-transition. Positive NBPs compute monotone Boolean functions, just like negation-free circuits or formulas, but constitute a positive version of (non-uniform) NL, rather than P or NC1, respectively. The proof complexity of NBPs was investigated in previous work by Buss, Das and Knop, using extension variables to represent the dag-structure, over a language of (non-deterministic) decision trees, yielding the system eLNDT. Our system eLNDT+ is obtained by restricting their systems to a positive syntax, similarly to how the 'monotone sequent calculus' MLK is obtained from the usual sequent calculus LK by restricting to negation-free formulas. Our main result is that eLNDT+ polynomially simulates eLNDT over positive sequents. Our proof method is inspired by a similar result for MLK by Atserias, Galesi and Pudl\'ak, that was recently improved to a bona fide polynomial simulation via works of Je\v{r}\'abek and Buss, Kabanets, Kolokolova and Kouck\'y. Along the way we formalise several properties of counting functions within eLNDT+ by polynomial-size proofs and, as a case study, give explicit polynomial-size poofs of the propositional pigeonhole principle.

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Adhesive and quasiadhesive categories provide a general framework for the study of algebraic graph rewriting systems. In a quasiadhesive category any two regular subobjects have a join which is again a regular subobject. Vice versa, if regular monos are adhesive, then the existence of a regular join for any pair of regular subobjects entails quasiadhesivity. It is also known (quasi)adhesive categories can be embedded in a Grothendieck topos via a functor preserving pullbacks and pushouts along (regular) monomorphisms. In this paper we extend these results to $\mathcal{M}, \mathcal{N}$-adhesive categories, a concept recently introduced to generalize the notion of (quasi)adhesivity. We introduce the notion of $\mathcal{N}$-adhesive morphism, which allows us to express $\mathcal{M}, \mathcal{N}$-adhesivity as a condition on the subobjects' posets. Moreover, $\mathcal{N}$-adhesive morphisms allows us to show how an $\mathcal{M},\mathcal{N}$-adhesive category can be embedded into a Grothendieck topos, preserving pullbacks and $\mathcal{M}, \mathcal{N}$-pushouts.

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We show that the problem of whether a query is equivalent to a query of tree-width $k$ is decidable, for the class of Unions of Conjunctive Regular Path Queries with two-way navigation (UC2RPQs). A previous result by Barcel\'o, Romero, and Vardi [SIAM Journal on Computing, 2016] has shown decidability for the case $k=1$, and here we extend this result showing that decidability in fact holds for any arbitrary $k\geq 1$. The algorithm is in 2ExpSpace, but for the restricted but practically relevant case where all regular expressions of the query are of the form $a^*$ or $(a_1 + \dotsb + a_n)$ we show that the complexity of the problem drops to $\Pi^P_2$. We also investigate the related problem of approximating a UC2RPQ by queries of small tree-width. We exhibit an algorithm which, for any fixed number $k$, builds the maximal under-approximation of tree-width $k$ of a UC2RPQ. The maximal under-approximation of tree-width $k$ of a query $q$ is a query $q'$ of tree-width $k$ which is contained in $q$ in a maximal and unique way, that is, such that for every query $q''$ of tree-width $k$, if $q''$ is contained in $q$ then $q''$ is also contained in $q'$. Our approach is shown to be robust, in the sense that it allows also to test equivalence with queries of a given path-width, it also covers the previously known result for $k=1$, and it allows to test for equivalence of whether a (one-way) UCRPQ is equivalent to a UCRPQ of a given tree-width (or path-width).

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This paper presents a new framework for constructing congruence closure of a finite set of ground equations over uninterpreted symbols and interpreted symbols for the group axioms. In this framework, ground equations are flattened into certain forms by introducing new constants, and a completion procedure is performed on ground flat equations. The proposed completion procedure uses equational inference rules and constructs a ground convergent rewrite system for congruence closure with such interpreted symbols. If the completion procedure terminates, then it yields a decision procedure for the word problem for a finite set of ground equations with respect to the group axioms. This paper also provides a sufficient terminating condition of the completion procedure for constructing a ground convergent rewrite system from ground flat equations containing interpreted symbols for the group axioms. In addition, this paper presents a new method for constructing congruence closure of a finite set of ground equations containing interpreted symbols for the semigroup, monoid, and the multiple disjoint sets of group axioms, respectively, using the proposed framework.

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Weighted timed games are two-player zero-sum games played in a timed automaton equipped with integer weights. We consider optimal reachability objectives, in which one of the players, that we call Min, wants to reach a target location while minimising the cumulated weight. While knowing if Min has a strategy to guarantee a value lower than a given threshold is known to be undecidable (with two or more clocks), several conditions, one of them being divergence, have been given to recover decidability. In such weighted timed games (like in untimed weighted games in the presence of negative weights), Min may need finite memory to play (close to) optimally. This is thus tempting to try to emulate this finite memory with other strategic capabilities. In this work, we allow the players to use stochastic decisions, both in the choice of transitions and of timing delays. We give a definition of the expected value in weighted timed games. We then show that, in divergent weighted timed games as well as in (untimed) weighted games (that we call shortest-path games in the following), the stochastic value is indeed equal to the classical (deterministic) value, thus proving that Min can guarantee the same value while only using stochastic choices, and no memory.

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