Fast Spectral Clustering Using Autoencoders and Landmarks

In this paper, we introduce an algorithm for performing spectral clustering efficiently. Spectral clustering is a powerful clustering algorithm that suffers from high computational complexity, due to eigen decomposition. In this work, we first build the adjacency matrix of the corresponding graph of the dataset. To build this matrix, we only consider a limited number of points, called landmarks, and compute the similarity of all data points with the landmarks. Then, we present a definition of the Laplacian matrix of the graph that enable us to perform eigen decomposition efficiently, using a deep autoencoder. The overall complexity of the algorithm for eigen decomposition is $O(np)$, where $n$ is the number of data points and $p$ is the number of landmarks. At last, we evaluate the performance of the algorithm in different experiments.Comment: 8 Pages- Accepted in 14th International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognitio

Optimal Design of a Hybrid Membrane System Combining Reverse and Forward Osmosis for Seawater Desalination

In this work we study Forward Osmosis (FO) as an emerging desalination technology, and its capability to replace totally or partially Reverse Osmosis (RO) in order to reduce the great amount of energy required in the current desalination plants. For this purpose, we propose a superstructure that includes both membrane based desalination technologies, allowing the selection of only one of the technologies or a combination of both of them seeking for the optimal configuration of the network. The optimization problem is solved for a seawater desalination plant with a given fresh water production. The results obtained show that the optimal solution combines both desalination technologies to reduce not only the energy consumption but also the total cost of the desalination process in comparison with the same plant but operating only with RO.The authors wish to acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CTQ2012-37039-C02-02) and the University of Alicante (GRE11-19)

Hydroacid complexes: a new class of draw solutes to promote forward osmosis (FO) processes

10.1039/C3CC43951HChemical Communications49768471-847

Rewiring cell signalling pathways in pathogenic mtDNA mutations

Mitochondria generate the energy to sustain cell viability and serve as a hub for cell signalling. Their own genome (mtDNA) encodes genes critical for oxidative phosphorylation. Mutations of mtDNA cause major disease and disability with a wide range of presentations and severity. We review here an emerging body of data suggesting that changes in cell metabolism and signalling pathways in response to the presence of mtDNA mutations play a key role in shaping disease presentation and progression. Understanding the impact of mtDNA mutations on cellular energy homeostasis and signalling pathways seems fundamental to identify novel therapeutic interventions with the potential to improve the prognosis for patients with primary mitochondrial disease

Ensuring and Improving Information Quality for Earth Science Data and Products: Role of the ESIP Information Quality Cluster

Quality of products is always of concern to users regardless of the type of products. The focus of this paper is on the quality of Earth science data products. There are four different aspects of quality - scientific, product, stewardship and service. All these aspects taken together constitute Information Quality. With increasing requirement on ensuring and improving information quality, there has been considerable work related to information quality during the last several years. Given this rich background of prior work, the Information Quality Cluster (IQC), established within the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) has been active with membership from multiple organizations. Its objectives and activities, aimed at ensuring and improving information quality for Earth science data and products, are discussed briefly

Comparison of Wide and Compact Fourth Order Formulations of the Navier-Stokes Equations

In this study the numerical performances of wide and compact fourth order formulation of the steady 2-D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations will be investigated and compared with each other. The benchmark driven cavity flow problem will be solved using both wide and compact fourth order formulations and the numerical performances of both formulations will be presented and also the advantages and disadvantages of both formulations will be discussed

Liquid Crystal Display

A display includes pixel circuits, each pixel circuit including a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, and a liquid crystal layer doped with a chiral material. The first electric is electrically coupled to a first reference voltage. The second electrode receives a pixel voltage corresponding to a gray scale level, the second electrode including a conducting layer having openings. The third electrode is electrically coupled to a second reference voltage. The second electrode is between the first and third electrodes, and the liquid crystal layer is between the first and second electrodes

Wide Viewing Angle Transflective Liquid Crystal Display.

Apparatus, methods and systems for a transmissive liquid crystal display including a plurality of pixel circuits, each pixel circuit including a reflective region and a transmissive region. The reflective region includes a polarization dependent reflector for reflecting ambient light. The reflective and transmissive regions include an initially homogeneously aligned liquid crystal layer sandwiched between a first and a second substrate. Each pixel further includes at lease one first transparent electrode as the common electrode and at least one second transparent electrode as the pixel electrode both formed on one of the same first and second substrates, wherein substantial fringe fields with rich horizontal electric fields are generated in the liquid crystal layer when voltage is applied to the pixel electrode, making the liquid crystal molecules rotate mainly in the horizontal direction to achieve wide viewing angle

Chk1 inhibits replication factory activation but allows dormant origin firing in existing factories

Replication origins are licensed by loading MCM2-7 hexamers before entry into S phase. However, only ∼10% of licensed origins are normally used in S phase, with the others remaining dormant. When fork progression is inhibited, dormant origins initiate nearby to ensure that all of the DNA is eventually replicated. In apparent contrast, replicative stress activates ataxia telangiectasia and rad-3–related (ATR) and Chk1 checkpoint kinases that inhibit origin firing. In this study, we show that at low levels of replication stress, ATR/Chk1 predominantly suppresses origin initiation by inhibiting the activation of new replication factories, thereby reducing the number of active factories. At the same time, inhibition of replication fork progression allows dormant origins to initiate within existing replication factories. The inhibition of new factory activation by ATR/Chk1 therefore redirects replication toward active factories where forks are inhibited and away from regions that have yet to start replication. This minimizes the deleterious consequences of fork stalling and prevents similar problems from arising in unreplicated regions of the genome