We propose an effective framework for multi-phase image segmentation and semi-supervised data clustering by introducing a novel region force term into the Potts model. Assume the probability that a pixel or a data point belongs to each class is known a priori. We show that the corresponding indicator function obeys the Bernoulli distribution and the new region force function can be computed as the negative log-likelihood function under the Bernoulli distribution. We solve the Potts model by the primal-dual hybrid gradient method and the augmented Lagrangian method, which are based on two different dual problems of the same primal problem. Empirical evaluations of the Potts model with the new region force function on benchmark problems show that it is competitive with existing variational methods in both image segmentation and semi- supervised data clustering.

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In this paper, we focus on the stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem of reconstructing a stochastic matrix from the prescribed spectrum. We directly reformulate the stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem as a constrained optimization problem over several matrix manifolds to minimize the distance between isospectral matrices and stochastic matrices. Then we propose a geometric Polak–Ribi`ere–Polyak-based nonlinear conjugate gradient method for solving the constrained optimization problem. The global convergence of the proposed method is established. Our method can also be extended to the stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem with prescribed entries. An extra advantage is that our models yield new isospectral flow methods. Finally, we report some numerical tests to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method for solving the stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem and the case of prescribed entries.

We show an example of a non-archimedean version of the existence part of the Calabi-Yau theorem in complex geometry. Precisely, we study totally degenerate abelian varieties and certain probability measures on their associated analytic spaces in the sense of Berkovich.