Comparison of Various Improved-Partition Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Algorithms in Fast Color Reduction

This paper provides a comparative study of sev- eral enhanced versions of the fuzzy c -means clustering al- gorithm in an application of histogram-based image color reduction. A common preprocessing is performed before clus- tering, consisting of a preliminary color quantization, histogram extraction and selection of frequently occurring colors of the image. These selected colors will be clustered by tested c -means algorithms. Clustering is followed by another common step, which creates the output image. Besides conventional hard (HCM) and fuzzy c -means (FCM) clustering, the so-called generalized improved partition FCM algorithm, and several versions of the suppressed FCM (s-FCM) in its conventional and generalized form, are included in this study. Accuracy is measured as the average color difference between pixels of the input and output image, while efficiency is mostly characterized by the total runtime of the performed color reduction. Nu- merical evaluation found all enhanced FCM algorithms more accurate, and four out of seven enhanced algorithms faster than FCM. All tested algorithms can create reduced color images of acceptable quality

Two generalizations of Kohonen clustering

The relationship between the sequential hard c-means (SHCM), learning vector quantization (LVQ), and fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithms is discussed. LVQ and SHCM suffer from several major problems. For example, they depend heavily on initialization. If the initial values of the cluster centers are outside the convex hull of the input data, such algorithms, even if they terminate, may not produce meaningful results in terms of prototypes for cluster representation. This is due in part to the fact that they update only the winning prototype for every input vector. The impact and interaction of these two families with Kohonen's self-organizing feature mapping (SOFM), which is not a clustering method, but which often leads ideas to clustering algorithms is discussed. Then two generalizations of LVQ that are explicitly designed as clustering algorithms are presented; these algorithms are referred to as generalized LVQ = GLVQ; and fuzzy LVQ = FLVQ. Learning rules are derived to optimize an objective function whose goal is to produce 'good clusters'. GLVQ/FLVQ (may) update every node in the clustering net for each input vector. Neither GLVQ nor FLVQ depends upon a choice for the update neighborhood or learning rate distribution - these are taken care of automatically. Segmentation of a gray tone image is used as a typical application of these algorithms to illustrate the performance of GLVQ/FLVQ

Clustering algorithms for fuzzy rules decomposition

This paper presents the development, testing and evaluation of generalized Possibilistic fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithms applied to fuzzy sets. Clustering is formulated as a constrained minimization problem, whose solution depends on the constraints imposed on the membership function of the cluster and on the relevance measure of the fuzzy rules. This fuzzy clustering of fuzzy rules leads to a fuzzy partition of the fuzzy rules, one for each cluster, which corresponds to a new set of fuzzy sub-systems. When applied to the clustering of a flat fuzzy system results a set of decomposed sub-systems that will be conveniently linked into a Hierarchical Prioritized Structures

Robust fuzzyclustering for object recognition and classification of relational data

Prototype based fuzzy clustering algorithms have unique ability to partition the data while detecting multiple clusters simultaneously. However since real data is often contaminated with noise, the clustering methods need to be made robust to be useful in practice. This dissertation focuses on robust detection of multiple clusters from noisy range images for object recognition. Dave\u27s noise clustering (NC) method has been shown to make prototype-based fuzzy clustering techniques robust. In this work, NC is generalized and the new NC membership is shown to be a product of fuzzy c-means (FCM) membership and robust M-estimator weight (or possibilistic membership). Thus the generalized NC approach is shown to have the partitioning ability of FCM and robustness of M-estimators. Since the NC (or FCM) algorithms are based on fixed-point iteration technique, they suffer from the problem of initializations. To overcome this problem, the sampling based robust LMS algorithm is considered by extending it to fuzzy c-LMS algorithm for detecting multiple clusters. The concept of repeated evidence has been incorporated to increase the speed of the new approach. The main problem with the LMS approach is the need for ordering the distance data. To eliminate this problem, a novel sampling based robust algorithm is proposed following the NC principle, called the NLS method, that directly searches for clusters in the maximum density region of the range data without requiring the specification of number of clusters. The NC concept is also introduced to several fuzzy methods for robust classification of relational data for pattern recognition. This is also extended to non-Euclidean relational data. The resulting algorithms are used for object recognition from range images as well as for identification of bottleneck parts while creating desegregated cells of machine/ components in cellular manufacturing and group technology (GT) applications

Fuzzy set methods for object recognition in space applications

Progress on the following tasks is reported: (1) fuzzy set-based decision making methodologies; (2) feature calculation; (3) clustering for curve and surface fitting; and (4) acquisition of images. The general structure for networks based on fuzzy set connectives which are being used for information fusion and decision making in space applications is described. The structure and training techniques for such networks consisting of generalized means and gamma-operators are described. The use of other hybrid operators in multicriteria decision making is currently being examined. Numerous classical features on image regions such as gray level statistics, edge and curve primitives, texture measures from cooccurrance matrix, and size and shape parameters were implemented. Several fractal geometric features which may have a considerable impact on characterizing cluttered background, such as clouds, dense star patterns, or some planetary surfaces, were used. A new approach to a fuzzy C-shell algorithm is addressed. NASA personnel are in the process of acquiring suitable simulation data and hopefully videotaped actual shuttle imagery. Photographs have been digitized to use in the algorithms. Also, a model of the shuttle was assembled and a mechanism to orient this model in 3-D to digitize for experiments on pose estimation is being constructed

Designing Software Architectures As a Composition of Specializations of Knowledge Domains

This paper summarizes our experimental research and software development activities in designing robust, adaptable and reusable software architectures. Several years ago, based on our previous experiences in object-oriented software development, we made the following assumption: ‘A software architecture should be a composition of specializations of knowledge domains’. To verify this assumption we carried out three pilot projects. In addition to the application of some popular domain analysis techniques such as use cases, we identified the invariant compositional structures of the software architectures and the related knowledge domains. Knowledge domains define the boundaries of the adaptability and reusability capabilities of software systems. Next, knowledge domains were mapped to object-oriented concepts. We experienced that some aspects of knowledge could not be directly modeled in terms of object-oriented concepts. In this paper we describe our approach, the pilot projects, the experienced problems and the adopted solutions for realizing the software architectures. We conclude the paper with the lessons that we learned from this experience