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Implicit in the k-means algorithm is a way to assign a value, or utility, to a cluster of points. It works by taking the centroid of the points and the value of the cluster is the sum of distances from the centroid to each point in the cluster. The aim in this paper is to introduce an alternative way to assign a value to a cluster. Motivation is provided. Moreover, whereas the k-means algorithm does not have a natural way to determine k if it is unknown, we can use our method of evaluating a cluster to find good clusters in a sequential manner. The idea uses optimizations over permutations and clusters are set by the cyclic groups; generated by the Hungarian algorithm., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This paper describes an automatic mechanism for drawing metro maps. We apply multicriteria optimization to find effective placement of stations with a good line layout and to label the map unambiguously. A number of metrics are defined, which are used in a weighted sum to find a fitness value for a layout of the map. A hill climbing optimizer is used to reduce the fitness value, and find improved map layouts. To avoid local minima, we apply clustering techniques to the map-the hill climber moves both stations and clusters when finding improved layouts. We show the method applied to a number of metro maps, and describe an empirical study that provides some quantitative evidence that automatically-drawn metro maps can help users to find routes more efficiently than either published maps or undistorted maps. Moreover, we have found that, in these cases, study subjects indicate a preference for automatically-drawn maps over the alternatives., (© 2011 IEEE Published by the IEEE Computer Society)

We propose a novel iterative algorithm for solving a large sparse linear system. The method is based on the EM algorithm. If the system has a unique solution, the algorithm guarantees convergence with a geometric rate. Otherwise, convergence to a minimal Kullback–Leibler divergence point is guaranteed. The algorithm is easy to code and competitive with other iterative algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the fundamental problem of modeling the frequency of frequencies (FoF) distribution, this article introduces the concept of a cluster structure to define a probability function that governs the joint distribution of a random count and its exchangeable random partitions. A cluster structure, naturally arising from a completely random measure mixed Poisson process, allows the probability distribution of the random partitions of a subset of a population to be dependent on the population size, a distinct and motivated feature that makes it more flexible than a partition structure. This allows it to model an entire FoF distribution whose structural properties change as the population size varies. An FoF vector can be simulated by drawing an infinite number of Poisson random variables, or by a stick-breaking construction with a finite random number of steps. A generalized negative binomial processmodel is proposed to generate a cluster structure, where in the prior the number of clusters is finite and Poisson distributed, and the cluster sizes followa truncated negative binomial distribution. We propose a simpleGibbs sampling algorithm to extrapolate the FoF vector of a population given the FoF vector of a sample taken without replacement from the population. We illustrate our results and demonstrate the advantages of the proposedmodels through the analysis of real text, genomic, and survey data. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with Bayesian mixture models and identifiability issues. There are two sources of unidentifiability: the well-known likelihood invariance under label switching and the perhaps less well-known parameter identifiability problem. When using latent allocation variables determined by the mixture model, these sources of unidentifiability create arbitrary labeling that renders estimation of the model very difficult. We endeavor to tackle these problems by proposing a prior distribution on the allocations, which provides an explicit interpretation for the labeling by removing gaps with high probability. We propose a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation method and present supporting illustrations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses a novel approach to sampling truncated densities via a `black-box' algorithm, based on the latent variable idea. Description of a method for sampling truncated multivariate normal variables; Information on truncated beta and gamma densities; Conclusion.