A Survey on Soft Subspace Clustering

Subspace clustering (SC) is a promising clustering technology to identify clusters based on their associations with subspaces in high dimensional spaces. SC can be classified into hard subspace clustering (HSC) and soft subspace clustering (SSC). While HSC algorithms have been extensively studied and well accepted by the scientific community, SSC algorithms are relatively new but gaining more attention in recent years due to better adaptability. In the paper, a comprehensive survey on existing SSC algorithms and the recent development are presented. The SSC algorithms are classified systematically into three main categories, namely, conventional SSC (CSSC), independent SSC (ISSC) and extended SSC (XSSC). The characteristics of these algorithms are highlighted and the potential future development of SSC is also discussed.Comment: This paper has been published in Information Sciences Journal in 201

A hierarchical Mamdani-type fuzzy modelling approach with new training data selection and multi-objective optimisation mechanisms: A special application for the prediction of mechanical properties of alloy steels

In this paper, a systematic data-driven fuzzy modelling methodology is proposed, which allows to construct Mamdani fuzzy models considering both accuracy (precision) and transparency (interpretability) of fuzzy systems. The new methodology employs a fast hierarchical clustering algorithm to generate an initial fuzzy model efficiently; a training data selection mechanism is developed to identify appropriate and efficient data as learning samples; a high-performance Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) based multi-objective optimisation mechanism is developed to further improve the fuzzy model in terms of both the structure and the parameters; and a new tolerance analysis method is proposed to derive the confidence bands relating to the final elicited models. This proposed modelling approach is evaluated using two benchmark problems and is shown to outperform other modelling approaches. Furthermore, the proposed approach is successfully applied to complex high-dimensional modelling problems for manufacturing of alloy steels, using ‘real’ industrial data. These problems concern the prediction of the mechanical properties of alloy steels by correlating them with the heat treatment process conditions as well as the weight percentages of the chemical compositions

Modeling and Optimal Design of Machining-Induced Residual Stresses in Aluminium Alloys Using a Fast Hierarchical Multiobjective Optimization Algorithm

The residual stresses induced during shaping and machining play an important role in determining the integrity and durability of metal components. An important issue of producing safety critical components is to find the machining parameters that create compressive surface stresses or minimise tensile surface stresses. In this paper, a systematic data-driven fuzzy modelling methodology is proposed, which allows constructing transparent fuzzy models considering both accuracy and interpretability attributes of fuzzy systems. The new method employs a hierarchical optimisation structure to improve the modelling efficiency, where two learning mechanisms cooperate together: NSGA-II is used to improve the model’s structure while the gradient descent method is used to optimise the numerical parameters. This hybrid approach is then successfully applied to the problem that concerns the prediction of machining induced residual stresses in aerospace aluminium alloys. Based on the developed reliable prediction models, NSGA-II is further applied to the multi-objective optimal design of aluminium alloys in a ‘reverse-engineering’ fashion. It is revealed that the optimal machining regimes to minimise the residual stress and the machining cost simultaneously can be successfully located

Planning as Optimization: Dynamically Discovering Optimal Configurations for Runtime Situations

The large number of possible configurations of modern software-based systems, combined with the large number of possible environmental situations of such systems, prohibits enumerating all adaptation options at design time and necessitates planning at run time to dynamically identify an appropriate configuration for a situation. While numerous planning techniques exist, they typically assume a detailed state-based model of the system and that the situations that warrant adaptations are known. Both of these assumptions can be violated in complex, real-world systems. As a result, adaptation planning must rely on simple models that capture what can be changed (input parameters) and observed in the system and environment (output and context parameters). We therefore propose planning as optimization: the use of optimization strategies to discover optimal system configurations at runtime for each distinct situation that is also dynamically identified at runtime. We apply our approach to CrowdNav, an open-source traffic routing system with the characteristics of a real-world system. We identify situations via clustering and conduct an empirical study that compares Bayesian optimization and two types of evolutionary optimization (NSGA-II and novelty search) in CrowdNav

An artificial immune systems based predictive modelling approach for the multi-objective elicitation of Mamdani fuzzy rules: a special application to modelling alloys

In this paper, a systematic multi-objective Mamdani fuzzy modeling approach is proposed, which can be viewed as an extended version of the previously proposed Singleton fuzzy modeling paradigm. A set of new back-error propagation (BEP) updating formulas are derived so that they can replace the old set developed in the singleton version. With the substitution, the extension to the multi-objective Mamdani Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems (FRBS) is almost endemic. Due to the carefully chosen output membership functions, the inference and the defuzzification methods, a closed form integral can be deducted for the defuzzification method, which ensures the efficiency of the developed Mamdani FRBS. Some important factors, such as the variable length coding scheme and the rule alignment, are also discussed. Experimental results for a real data set from the steel industry suggest that the proposed approach is capable of eliciting not only accurate but also transparent FRBS with good generalization ability

Knowledge discovery for friction stir welding via data driven approaches: Part 2 – multiobjective modelling using fuzzy rule based systems

In this final part of this extensive study, a new systematic data-driven fuzzy modelling approach has been developed, taking into account both the modelling accuracy and its interpretability (transparency) as attributes. For the first time, a data-driven modelling framework has been proposed designed and implemented in order to model the intricate FSW behaviours relating to AA5083 aluminium alloy, consisting of the grain size, mechanical properties, as well as internal process properties. As a result, ‘Pareto-optimal’ predictive models have been successfully elicited which, through validations on real data for the aluminium alloy AA5083, have been shown to be accurate, transparent and generic despite the conservative number of data points used for model training and testing. Compared with analytically based methods, the proposed data-driven modelling approach provides a more effective way to construct prediction models for FSW when there is an apparent lack of fundamental process knowledge