Graph clustering by flow simulation

Dit proefschrift heeft als onderwerp het clusteren van grafen door middel van simulatie van stroming, een probleem dat in zijn algemeenheid behoort tot het gebied der clusteranalyse. In deze tak van wetenschap ontwerpt en onderzoekt men methoden die gegeven bepaalde data een onderverdeling in groepen genereren, waarbij het oogmerk is een onderverdeling in groepen te vinden die natuurlijk is. Dat wil zeggen dat verschillende data-elementen in dezelfde groep idealiter veel op elkaar lijken, en dat data-elementen uit verschillende groepen idealiter veel van elkaar verschillen. Soms ontbreken zulke groepjes helemaal; dan is er weinig patroon te herkennen in de data. Het idee is dat de aanwezigheid van natuurlijke groepjes het mogelijk maakt de data te categoriseren. Een voorbeeld is het clusteren van gegevens (over symptomen of lichaamskarakteristieken) van patienten die aan dezelfde ziekte lijden. Als er duidelijke groepjes bestaan in die gegevens, kan dit tot extra inzicht leiden in de ziekte. Clusteranalyse kan aldus gebruikt worden voor exploratief onderzoek. Verdere voorbeelden komen uit de scheikunde, taxonomie, psychiatrie, archeologie, marktonderzoek en nog vele andere disicplines. Taxonomie, de studie van de classificatie van organismen, heeft een rijke geschiedenis beginnend bij Aristoteles en culminerend in de werken van Linnaeus. In feite kan de clusteranalyse gezien worden als het resultaat van een steeds meer systematische en abstracte studie van de diverse methoden ontworpen in verschillende toepassingsgebieden, waarbij methode zowel wordt gescheiden van data en toepassingsgebied als van berekeningswijze. In de cluster analyse kunnen grofweg twee richtingen onderscheiden worden, naar gelang het type data dat geclassificeerd moet worden. De data-elementen in het voorbeeld hierboven worden beschreven door vectoren (lijstjes van scores of metingen), en het verschil tussen twee elementen wordt bepaald door het verschil van de vectoren. Deze dissertatie betreft cluster analyse toegepast op data van het type `graaf'. Voorbeelden komen uit de patroonherkenning, het computer ondersteund ontwerpen, databases voorzien van hyperlinks en het World Wide Web. In al deze gevallen is er sprake van `punten' die verbonden zijn of niet. Een stelsel van punten samen met hun verbindingen heet een graaf. Een goede clustering van een graaf deelt de punten op in groepjes zodanig dat er weinig verbindingen lopen tussen (punten uit) verschillende groepjes en er veel verbindingen zijn in elk groepje afzonderlijk

Atomic-scale and three-dimensional transmission electron microscopy of nanoparticle morphology

The burgeoning field of nanotechnology motivates comprehensive elucidation of nanoscale materials. This thesis addresses transmission electron microscope characterisation of nanoparticle morphology, concerning specifically the crystal- lographic status of novel intermetallic GaPd2 nanocatalysts and advancement of electron tomographic methods for high-fidelity three-dimensional analysis. Going beyond preceding analyses, high-resolution annular dark-field imaging is used to verify successful nano-sizing of the intermetallic compound GaPd2. It also reveals catalytically significant and crystallographically intriguing deviations from the bulk crystal structure. So-called ‘non-crystallographic’ five-fold twinned nanoparticles are observed, adding a new perspective in the long standing debate over how such morphologies may be achieved. The morphological complexity of the GaPd2 nanocatalysts, and many cognate nanoparticle systems, demands fully three-dimensional analysis. It is illustrated how image processing techniques applied to electron tomography reconstructions can facilitate more facile and objective quantitative analysis (‘nano-metrology’). However, the fidelity of the analysis is limited ultimately by artefacts in the tomographic reconstruction. Compressed sensing, a new sampling theory, asserts that many signals can be recovered from far fewer measurements than traditional theories dictate are necessary. Compressed sensing is applied here to electron tomographic reconstruction, and is shown to yield far higher fidelity reconstructions than conventional algorithms. Reconstruction from extremely limited data, more robust quantitative analysis and novel three-dimensional imaging are demon- strated, including the first three-dimensional imaging of localised surface plasmon resonances. Many aspects of transmission electron microscopy characterisation may be enhanced using a compressed sensing approach

Bregman proximal minimization algorithms, analysis and applications

In this thesis, we tackle the optimization of several non-smooth and non-convex objectives that arise in practice. The classical results in context of Proximal Gradient algorithms rely on the so-called Lipschitz continuous gradient property. Such conditions do not hold for many objectives in practice, including the objectives arising in matrix factorization, deep neural networks, phase retrieval, image denoising and many others. Recent development, namely, the L-smad property allows us to deal with such objectives via the so-called Bregman distances, which generalize the Euclidean distance. Based on the L-smad property, Bregman Proximal Gradient (BPG) algorithm is already well-known. In our work, we propose an inertial variant of BPG, namely, CoCaIn BPG which incorporates adaptive inertia based on the function’s local behavior. Moreover, we prove the global convergence of the sequence generated by CoCaIn BPG to a critical point of the function. CoCaIn BPG outperforms BPG with a significant margin, which is attributed to the proposed non-standard double backtracking technique. A major challenge in working with BPG based methods is designing the Bregman distance that is suitable for the objective. In this regard, we propose Bregman distances that are suitable to three applications, matrix factorization, deep matrix factorization and deep neural networks. We start with the matrix factorization setting and propose the relevant Bregman distances, then we tackle the deep matrix factorization and deep neural network settings. In all these settings, we also propose the closed form update steps for BPG based methods, which is crucial for practical application. We also propose the closed form inertia that is suitable for efficient application of CoCaIn BPG. However, until here the setting is restricted to additive composite problems and generic composite problems such as the objectives that arise in robust phase retrieval are out of the scope. In order to tackle generic composite problems, the L-smad property needs to be generalized even further. In this regard, we propose MAP property and based on which we propose Model BPG algorithm. The classical techniques of the convergence analysis based on the function value proved to be restrictive. Thus, we propose a novel Lyapunov function that is suitable for the global convergence analysis. We later unify Model BPG and CoCaIn BPG, to propose Model CoCaIn BPG for which we provide the global convergence results. We supplement all our theoretical results with relevant empirical observations to show the competitive performance of our methods compared to existing state of the art optimization methods

Technology for large space systems: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 20)

This bibliography lists 694 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System between July, 1988 and December, 1988. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to the researcher or manager engaged in the development of technologies related to large space systems. Subject areas include mission and program definition, design techniques, structural and thermal analysis, structural dynamics and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, and propulsion

Large space structures and systems in the space station era: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 05)

Bibliographies and abstracts are listed for 1363 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between January 1, 1991 and July 31, 1992. Topics covered include technology development and mission design according to system, interactive analysis and design, structural and thermal analysis and design, structural concepts and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion and solar power satellite systems