In this paper, we design the first polynomial time approximation schemes for the Set Cover and Dominating Set problems when the underlying sets are non-piercing regions (which include pseudodisks). We show that the local search algorithm that yields PTASs when the regions are disks [Aschner/Katz/Morgenstern/Yuditsky, WALCOM 2013; Gibson/Pirwani, 2005; Mustafa/Raman/Ray, 2015] can be extended to work for non-piercing regions. While such an extension is intuitive and natural, attempts to settle this question have failed even for pseudodisks. The techniques used for analysis when the regions are disks rely heavily on the underlying geometry, and do not extend to topologically defined settings such as pseudodisks. In order to prove our results, we introduce novel techniques that we believe will find applications in other problems. We then consider the Capacitated Region Packing problem. Here, the input consists of a set of points with capacities, and a set of regions. The objective is to pick a maximum cardinality subset of regions so that no point is covered by more regions than its capacity. We show that this problem admits a PTAS when the regions are k-admissible regions (pseudodisks are 2-admissible), and the capacities are bounded. Our result settles a conjecture of Har-Peled (see Conclusion of [Har-Peled, SoCG 2014]) in the affirmative. The conjecture was for a weaker version of the problem, namely when the regions are pseudodisks, the capacities are uniform, and the point set consists of all points in the plane. Finally, we consider the Capacitated Point Packing problem. In this setting, the regions have capacities, and our objective is to find a maximum cardinality subset of points such that no region has more points than its capacity. We show that this problem admits a PTAS when the capacity is unity, extending one of the results of Ene et al. [Ene/Har-Peled/Raichel, SoCG 2012].

Given a set of points P ⊆ R2, a conflict-free coloring of P w.r.t. rectangle ranges is an assignment of colors to points of P, such that each non-empty axis-parallel rectangle T in the plane contains a point whose color is distinct from all other points in P ∩ T. This notion has been the subject of recent interest, and is motivated by frequency assignment in wireless cellular networks: one naturally would like to minimize the number of frequencies (colors) assigned to bases stations (points), such that within any range (for instance, rectangle), there is no interference. We show that any set of n points in R2 can be conflict-free colored with Õ(nβ+ε) colors in expected polynomial time, for any arbitrarily small ε > 0 and β = 3?√5 2 < 0.382. This improves upon the previously known bound of O(√nlog log n/ log n).

Models of forest ecosystems are needed to understand how climate and land-use change can impact biodiversity. In this paper we describe an individual-based, spatially-explicit forest simulator with full accounting of both landscape context and the fine-scale processes that influence forest dynamics. Unfortunately, performing realistic forest simulations of such models is computationally infeasible. We design efficient algorithms for computing seed dispersal and light, using a plethora of techniques. These include hierarchical spatial decomposition, monopole approximation and utilizing the graphics hardware for fast geometric computations. These algorithms allow us to simulate large landscapes for long periods of time.