Automatic generation of fuzzy classification rules using granulation-based adaptive clustering

A central problem of fuzzy modelling is the generation of fuzzy rules that fit the data to the highest possible extent. In this study, we present a method for automatic generation of fuzzy rules from data. The main advantage of the proposed method is its ability to perform data clustering without the requirement of predefining any parameters including number of clusters. The proposed method creates data clusters at different levels of granulation and selects the best clustering results based on some measures. The proposed method involves merging clusters into new clusters that have a coarser granulation. To evaluate performance of the proposed method, three different datasets are used to compare performance of the proposed method to other classifiers: SVM classifier, FCM fuzzy classifier, subtractive clustering fuzzy classifier. Results show that the proposed method has better classification results than other classifiers for all the datasets used

Uncertainty and Interpretability Studies in Soft Computing with an Application to Complex Manufacturing Systems

In systems modelling and control theory, the benefits of applying neural networks have been extensively studied. Particularly in manufacturing processes, such as the prediction of mechanical properties of heat treated steels. However, modern industrial processes usually involve large amounts of data and a range of non-linear effects and interactions that might hinder their model interpretation. For example, in steel manufacturing the understanding of complex mechanisms that lead to the mechanical properties which are generated by the heat treatment process is vital. This knowledge is not available via numerical models, therefore an experienced metallurgist estimates the model parameters to obtain the required properties. This human knowledge and perception sometimes can be imprecise leading to a kind of cognitive uncertainty such as vagueness and ambiguity when making decisions. In system classification, this may be translated into a system deficiency - for example, small input changes in system attributes may result in a sudden and inappropriate change for class assignation. In order to address this issue, practitioners and researches have developed systems that are functional equivalent to fuzzy systems and neural networks. Such systems provide a morphology that mimics the human ability of reasoning via the qualitative aspects of fuzzy information rather by its quantitative analysis. Furthermore, these models are able to learn from data sets and to describe the associated interactions and non-linearities in the data. However, in a like-manner to neural networks, a neural fuzzy system may suffer from a lost of interpretability and transparency when making decisions. This is mainly due to the application of adaptive approaches for its parameter identification. Since the RBF-NN can be treated as a fuzzy inference engine, this thesis presents several methodologies that quantify different types of uncertainty and its influence on the model interpretability and transparency of the RBF-NN during its parameter identification. Particularly, three kind of uncertainty sources in relation to the RBF-NN are studied, namely: entropy, fuzziness and ambiguity. First, a methodology based on Granular Computing (GrC), neutrosophic sets and the RBF-NN is presented. The objective of this methodology is to quantify the hesitation produced during the granular compression at the low level of interpretability of the RBF-NN via the use of neutrosophic sets. This study also aims to enhance the disitnguishability and hence the transparency of the initial fuzzy partition. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is tested against a real case study for the prediction of the properties of heat-treated steels. Secondly, a new Interval Type-2 Radial Basis Function Neural Network (IT2-RBF-NN) is introduced as a new modelling framework. The IT2-RBF-NN takes advantage of the functional equivalence between FLSs of type-1 and the RBF-NN so as to construct an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (IT2-FLS) that is able to deal with linguistic uncertainty and perceptions in the RBF-NN rule base. This gave raise to different combinations when optimising the IT2-RBF-NN parameters. Finally, a twofold study for uncertainty assessment at the high-level of interpretability of the RBF-NN is provided. On the one hand, the first study proposes a new methodology to quantify the a) fuzziness and the b) ambiguity at each RU, and during the formation of the rule base via the use of neutrosophic sets theory. The aim of this methodology is to calculate the associated fuzziness of each rule and then the ambiguity related to each normalised consequence of the fuzzy rules that result from the overlapping and to the choice with one-to-many decisions respectively. On the other hand, a second study proposes a new methodology to quantify the entropy and the fuzziness that come out from the redundancy phenomenon during the parameter identification. To conclude this work, the experimental results obtained through the application of the proposed methodologies for modelling two well-known benchmark data sets and for the prediction of mechanical properties of heat-treated steels conducted to publication of three articles in two peer-reviewed journals and one international conference

Predictive modelling of the granulation process using a systems-engineering approach

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.The granulation process is considered to be a crucial operation in many industrial applications. The modelling of the granulation process is, therefore, an important step towards controlling and optimizing the downstream processes, and ensuring optimal product quality. In this research paper, a new integrated network based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is proposed to model a high shear granulation (HSG) process. Such a network consists of two phases: in the first phase the inputs and the target outputs are used to train a number of models, where the predicted outputs from this phase and the target are used to train another model in the second phase to lead to the final predicted output. Because of the complex nature of the granulation process, the error residual is exploited further in order to improve the model performance using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The overall proposed network successfully predicts the properties of the granules produced by HSG, and outperforms also other modelling frameworks in terms of modelling performance and generalization capability. In addition, the error modelling using the GMM leads to a significant improvement in prediction

Perpetual Learning Framework based on Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System for a Complex Manufacturing Process

This paper introduces a perpetual type-2 Neuro-Fuzzy modelling structure for continuous learning and its application to the complex thermo-mechanical metal process of steel Friction Stir Welding (FSW). The ‘perpetual’ property refers to the capability of the proposed system to continuously learn from new process data, in an incremental learning fashion. This is particularly important in industrial/manufacturing processes, as it eliminates the need to retrain the model in the presence of new data, or in the case of any process drift. The proposed structure evolves through incremental, hybrid (supervised/unsupervised) learning, and accommodates new sample data in a continuous fashion. The human-like information capture paradigm of granular computing is used along with an interval type-2 neural-fuzzy system to develop a modelling structure that is tolerant to the uncertainty in the manufacturing data (common challenge in industrial/manufacturing data). The proposed method relies on the creation of new fuzzy rules which are updated and optimised during the incremental learning process. An iterative pruning strategy in the model is then employed to remove any redundant rules, as a result of the incremental learning process. The rule growing/pruning strategy is used to guarantee that the proposed structure can be used in a perpetual learning mode. It is demonstrated that the proposed structure can effectively learn complex dynamics of input-output data in an adaptive way and maintain good predictive performance in the metal processing case study of steel FSW using real manufacturing dat

Agricultural Commodity Price Forecasting using PSO-RBF Neural Network for Farmers Exchange Rate Improvement in Indonesia

Agricultural commodity price forecasting becomes important for farmers since the knowledge of agriculture commodity price fluctuation can help the farmers to identify the right selling time. Recently, the absence of such the forecasting system makes the farmers decide to sell their commodities to middlemen which in turn, reduces their exchange rate as the length of distribution flow is complicated. The length of distribution flow is started from farmers, middlemen, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. To address this problem, a forecasting system based on radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is proposed. To optimize the network’s learning process, particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based learning technique is applied. The RBFNN is chosen because of its ability to generally track irregular signal changing, good speed in learning process and robustness. Meanwhile, the implementation of PSO aims to improve weight values towards global optimum in RBFNN model

Forecasting of financial data: a novel fuzzy logic neural network based on error-correction concept and statistics

First, this paper investigates the effect of good and bad news on volatility in the BUX return time series using asymmetric ARCH models. Then, the accuracy of forecasting models based on statistical (stochastic), machine learning methods, and soft/granular RBF network is investigated. To forecast the high-frequency financial data, we apply statistical ARMA and asymmetric GARCH-class models. A novel RBF network architecture is proposed based on incorporation of an error-correction mechanism, which improves forecasting ability of feed-forward neural networks. These proposed modelling approaches and SVM models are applied to predict the high-frequency time series of the BUX stock index. We found that it is possible to enhance forecast accuracy and achieve significant risk reduction in managerial decision making by applying intelligent forecasting models based on latest information technologies. On the other hand, we showed that statistical GARCH-class models can identify the presence of leverage effects, and react to the good and bad news.Web of Science421049

Granular computing approach for the design of medical data classification systems

Granular computing is a computation theory that imitates human thinking and reasoning by dealing with information at different levels of abstraction/precision. The adoption of granular computing approach in the design of data classification systems improves their performance in dealing with data uncertainty and facilitates handling large volumes of data. In this paper, a new approach for the design of medical data classification systems is proposed. The proposed approach makes use of data granulation in training the classifier. Training data is granulated at different levels and data from each level is used for constructing the classification system. To evaluate performance of the proposed approach, a classification system based on neural network is implemented. Four medical datasets are used to compare performance of the proposed approach to other classifiers: neural network classifier, ANFIS classifier and SVM classifier. Results show that the proposed approach improves classification performance of neural network classifier and produces better accuracy and area under curve than other classifiers for most of the datasets used