T-generable indistinguishability operators and their use for feature selection and classification.

Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A finder and representation system for knowledge carriers based on granular computing

In one of his publications Aristotle states ”All human beings by their nature desire to know” [Kraut 1991]. This desire is initiated the day we are born and accompanies us for the rest of our life. While at a young age our parents serve as one of the principle sources for knowledge, this changes over the course of time. Technological advances and particularly the introduction of the Internet, have given us new possibilities to share and access knowledge from almost anywhere at any given time. Being able to access and share large collections of written down knowledge is only one part of the equation. Just as important is the internalization of it, which in many cases can prove to be difficult to accomplish. Hence, being able to request assistance from someone who holds the necessary knowledge is of great importance, as it can positively stimulate the internalization procedure. However, digitalization does not only provide a larger pool of knowledge sources to choose from but also more people that can be potentially activated, in a bid to receive personalized assistance with a given problem statement or question. While this is beneficial, it imposes the issue that it is hard to keep track of who knows what. For this task so-called Expert Finder Systems have been introduced, which are designed to identify and suggest the most suited candidates to provide assistance. Throughout this Ph.D. thesis a novel type of Expert Finder System will be introduced that is capable of capturing the knowledge users within a community hold, from explicit and implicit data sources. This is accomplished with the use of granular computing, natural language processing and a set of metrics that have been introduced to measure and compare the suitability of candidates. Furthermore, are the knowledge requirements of a problem statement or question being assessed, in order to ensure that only the most suited candidates are being recommended to provide assistance

Fifty years of similarity relations: a survey of foundations and applications

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Zadeh's significant paper Similarity Relations and Fuzzy Orderings, an account of the development of similarity relations during this time will be given. Moreover, the main topics related to these fuzzy relations will be reviewed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Application of fuzzy techniques to biomedical images

The main goal of this work is to bring together Fuzzy Logic techniques and Biomedical images analysis, linking this two fields through an image segmentation problem approached by a Fuzzy c-Means algorithm. This work has two main cores. The first one is a formal structural analysis of some Fuzzy Logic concepts within the theory of Indistinguishabilitty Operators. The main actors of this part will be indistinguishability operators, sets of extensional fuzzy subsets, upper approximation operators and lower approximation operators. All these concepts will be explained in depth further in this work. The second core is a practical application of the Fuzzy c-Means algorithm to segmentate biomedical images of mammographies and bone marrow microscopical captures

Building a class of fuzzy equivalence relations

International audienceIn this paper, we propose a practical method, given a strict triangular norm with a convex additive generator, for deriving a fuzzy equivalence relation whose reflexivity condition generalizes Ruspini's definition of fuzzy partitions. The properties of the relations, their comparison, their transitivity, the construction of fuzzy equivalence relations on cartesian products are presented. A large part of the paper is devoted to applications with fuzzy partitions defined on the real line. Several examples, including the fairy-tale problem from De Cock and Kerre [On (un)suitable fuzzy relations to model approximate equality, Fuzzy Sets and Systems 133 (2) (2003) 137-153], the comparison of colored objects and comfort situations are proposed

On the Suitability of the Bandler–Kohout Subproduct as an Inference Mechanism

Fuzzy relational inference (FRI) systems form an important part of approximate reasoning schemes using fuzzy sets. The compositional rule of inference (CRI), which was introduced by Zadeh, has attracted the most attention so far. In this paper, we show that the FRI scheme that is based on the Bandler-Kohout (BK) subproduct, along with a suitable realization of the fuzzy rules, possesses all the important properties that are cited in favor of using CRI, viz., equivalent and reasonable conditions for their solvability, their interpolative properties, and the preservation of the indistinguishability that may be inherent in the input fuzzy sets. Moreover, we show that under certain conditions, the equivalence of first-infer-then-aggregate (FITA) and first-aggregate-then-infer (FATI) inference strategies can be shown for the BK subproduct, much like in the case of CRI. Finally, by addressing the computational complexity that may exist in the BK subproduct, we suggest a hierarchical inferencing scheme. Thus, this paper shows that the BK-subproduct-based FRI is as effective and efficient as the CRI itself

Metrics and T-Equalities

AbstractThe relationship between metrics and T-equalities is investigated; the latter are a special case of T-equivalences, a natural generalization of the classical concept of an equivalence relation. It is shown that in the construction of metrics from T-equalities triangular norms with an additive generator play a key role. Conversely, in the construction of T-equalities from metrics this role is played by triangular norms with a continuous additive generator or, equivalently, by continuous Archimedean triangular norms. These results are then applied to the biresidual operator ET of a triangular norm T. It is shown that ET is a T-equality on [0, 1] if and only if T is left-continuous. Furthermore, it is shown that to any left-continuous triangular norm T there correspond two particular T-equalities on F(X), the class of fuzzy sets in a given universe X; one of these T-equalities is obtained from the biresidual operator ETT by means of a natural extension procedure. These T-equalities then give rise to interesting metrics on F(X)

Reichenbach Fuzzy Set of Transitivity

Fuzzy implicators are the basic ingredients of many applications. So it becomes essential to study the various features of an implicator before implementing it in any practical application. This paper discusses the properties of transitivity of a fuzzy relation on a given universe and measure of fuzzy transitivity defined in terms of the Reichenbach fuzzy implicator which is an s-implicator

Model granularity and related concepts

Models are integral to engineering design and basis for many decisions. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehend how a model’s properties might influence its behaviour. Model granularity is an important property but has so far only received limited attention. The terminology used to describe granularity and related phenomena varies and pertinent concepts are distributed across communities. This article positions granularity in the theoretical background of models, collects formal definitions for relevant terms from a range of communities and discusses the implications for engineering design