Minimum-weight partitioning of a set with associated subsets

Abstract: The paper presents complexity results and performance guaranties for a family of approximation algorithms for an optimisation problem arising in software testing and manufacturing. The problem is formulated as a partitioning of a set where each element has an associated subset in another set, but can also be viewed as a scheduling problem with infinitely large communication delay, precedence constraints in the form of a bipartite graph, and duplication.