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We present a new perspective on graph-based methods for collaborative ranking for recommender systems. Unlike user-based or itembased methods that compute a weighted average of ratings given by the nearest neighbors, or lowrank approximation methods using convex optimization and the nuclear norm, we formulate matrix completion as a series of semi-supervised learning problems, and propagate the known ratings to the missing ones on the user-user or itemitem graph globally. The semi-supervised learning problems are expressed as Laplace-Beltrami equations on a manifold, or namely, harmonic extension, and can be discretized by a point integral method. We show that our approach does not impose a low-rank Euclidean subspace on the data points, but instead minimizes the dimension of the underlying manifold. Our method, named LDM (low dimensional manifold), turns out to be particularly effective in generating rankings of items, showing decent computational efficiency and robust ranking quality compared to state-ofthe- art methods.

Numerical simulations of waves in highly heterogeneous media have important applications, but direct computations are prohibitively expensive. In this paper, we develop a new generalized multiscale finite element method with the aim of simulating waves at a much lower cost. Our method is based on a mixed Galerkin type method with carefully designed basis functions that can capture various scales in the solution. The basis functions are constructed based on some local snapshot spaces and local spectral problems defined on them. The spectral problems give a natural ordering of the basis functions in the snapshot space and allow systematically enrichment of basis functions. In addition, by using a staggered coarse mesh, our method is energy conserving and has block diagonal mass matrix, which are desirable properties for wave propagation. We will prove that our method has spectral convergence, and

Thetransmissioneigenvalueproblem,besidesitscriticalroleininversescattering problems, deserves special interest of its own due to the fact that the corresponding differen- tial operator is neither elliptic nor self-adjoint. In this paper, we provide a spectral analysis and propose a novel iterative algorithm for the computation of a few positive real eigen- values and the corresponding eigenfunctions of the transmission eigenvalue problem. Based on approximation using continuous finite elements, we first derive an associated symmetric quadratic eigenvalue problem (QEP) for the transmission eigenvalue problem to eliminate the nonphysical zero eigenvalues while preserve all nonzero ones. In addition, the derived QEP enables us to consider more refined discretization to overcome the limitation on the number of degrees of freedom. We then transform the QEP to a parameterized symmet- ric definite generalized eigenvalue problem (GEP) and develop a secant-type iteration for solving the resulting GEPs. Moreover, we carry out spectral analysis for various existence intervals of desired positive real eigenvalues, since a few lowest positive real transmission eigenvalues are of practical interest in the estimation and the reconstruction of the index of refraction. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method can find those desired smallest positive real transmission eigenvalues accurately, efficiently, and robustly.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the stability and error estimates of the local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) methods coupled with implicit-explicit (IMEX) time discretization schemes, for solving one-dimensional convection-diffusion equations with a nonlinear convection. Both Runge-Kutta and multi-step IMEX methods are considered. By the aid of the energy method, we show that the IMEX LDG schemes are unconditionally stable for the nonlinear problems, in the sense that the time-step $\dt$ is only required to be upper-bounded by a positive constant which depends on the flow velocity and the diffusion coefficient, but is independent of the mesh size $h$. We also give optimal error estimates for the IMEX LDG schemes, under the same temporal condition, if a monotone numerical flux is adopted for the convection. Numerical experiments are given to verify our main results.