Pre-aggregation functions: construction and an application

In this work we introduce the notion of preaggregation function. Such a function satisfies the same boundary conditions as an aggregation function, but, instead of requiring monotonicity, only monotonicity along some fixed direction (directional monotonicity) is required. We present some examples of such functions. We propose three different methods to build pre-aggregation functions. We experimentally show that in fuzzy rule-based classification systems, when we use one of these methods, namely, the one based on the use of the Choquet integral replacing the product by other aggregation functions, if we consider the minimum or the Hamacher product t-norms for such construction, we improve the results obtained when applying the fuzzy reasoning methods obtained using two classical averaging operators like the maximum and the Choquet integral.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under projects TIN2008-06681-C06-01, TIN2010- 15055, TIN2013-40765-P, TIN2011-29520

Enhancing multi-class classification in FARC-HD fuzzy classifier: on the synergy between n-dimensional overlap functions and decomposition strategies

There are many real-world classification problems involving multiple classes, e.g., in bioinformatics, computer vision or medicine. These problems are generally more difficult than their binary counterparts. In this scenario, decomposition strategies usually improve the performance of classifiers. Hence, in this paper we aim to improve the behaviour of FARC-HD fuzzy classifier in multi-class classification problems using decomposition strategies, and more specifically One-vs-One (OVO) and One-vs-All (OVA) strategies. However, when these strategies are applied on FARC-HD a problem emerges due to the low confidence values provided by the fuzzy reasoning method. This undesirable condition comes from the application of the product t-norm when computing the matching and association degrees, obtaining low values, which are also dependent on the number of antecedents of the fuzzy rules. As a result, robust aggregation strategies in OVO such as the weighted voting obtain poor results with this fuzzy classifier. In order to solve these problems, we propose to adapt the inference system of FARC-HD replacing the product t-norm with overlap functions. To do so, we define n-dimensional overlap functions. The usage of these new functions allows one to obtain more adequate outputs from the base classifiers for the subsequent aggregation in OVO and OVA schemes. Furthermore, we propose a new aggregation strategy for OVO to deal with the problem of the weighted voting derived from the inappropriate confidences provided by FARC-HD for this aggregation method. The quality of our new approach is analyzed using twenty datasets and the conclusions are supported by a proper statistical analysis. In order to check the usefulness of our proposal, we carry out a comparison against some of the state-of-the-art fuzzy classifiers. Experimental results show the competitiveness of our method.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under projects TIN2011-28488, TIN-2012-33856 and TIN-2013- 40765-P and the Andalusian Research Plan P10-TIC-6858 and P11-TIC-7765

Introducing Fuzzy Layers for Deep Learning

Many state-of-the-art technologies developed in recent years have been influenced by machine learning to some extent. Most popular at the time of this writing are artificial intelligence methodologies that fall under the umbrella of deep learning. Deep learning has been shown across many applications to be extremely powerful and capable of handling problems that possess great complexity and difficulty. In this work, we introduce a new layer to deep learning: the fuzzy layer. Traditionally, the network architecture of neural networks is composed of an input layer, some combination of hidden layers, and an output layer. We propose the introduction of fuzzy layers into the deep learning architecture to exploit the powerful aggregation properties expressed through fuzzy methodologies, such as the Choquet and Sugueno fuzzy integrals. To date, fuzzy approaches taken to deep learning have been through the application of various fusion strategies at the decision level to aggregate outputs from state-of-the-art pre-trained models, e.g., AlexNet, VGG16, GoogLeNet, Inception-v3, ResNet-18, etc. While these strategies have been shown to improve accuracy performance for image classification tasks, none have explored the use of fuzzified intermediate, or hidden, layers. Herein, we present a new deep learning strategy that incorporates fuzzy strategies into the deep learning architecture focused on the application of semantic segmentation using per-pixel classification. Experiments are conducted on a benchmark data set as well as a data set collected via an unmanned aerial system at a U.S. Army test site for the task of automatic road segmentation, and preliminary results are promising.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, published in 2019 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE

Land cover classification using fuzzy rules and aggregation of contextual information through evidence theory

Land cover classification using multispectral satellite image is a very challenging task with numerous practical applications. We propose a multi-stage classifier that involves fuzzy rule extraction from the training data and then generation of a possibilistic label vector for each pixel using the fuzzy rule base. To exploit the spatial correlation of land cover types we propose four different information aggregation methods which use the possibilistic class label of a pixel and those of its eight spatial neighbors for making the final classification decision. Three of the aggregation methods use Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence while the remaining one is modeled after the fuzzy k-NN rule. The proposed methods are tested with two benchmark seven channel satellite images and the results are found to be quite satisfactory. They are also compared with a Markov random field (MRF) model-based contextual classification method and found to perform consistently better.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

An objective based classification of aggregation techniques for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks have gained immense popularity in recent years due to their ever increasing capabilities and wide range of critical applications. A huge body of research efforts has been dedicated to find ways to utilize limited resources of these sensor nodes in an efficient manner. One of the common ways to minimize energy consumption has been aggregation of input data. We note that every aggregation technique has an improvement objective to achieve with respect to the output it produces. Each technique is designed to achieve some target e.g. reduce data size, minimize transmission energy, enhance accuracy etc. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of aggregation techniques that can be used in distributed manner to improve lifetime and energy conservation of wireless sensor networks. Main contribution of this work is proposal of a novel classification of such techniques based on the type of improvement they offer when applied to WSNs. Due to the existence of a myriad of definitions of aggregation, we first review the meaning of term aggregation that can be applied to WSN. The concept is then associated with the proposed classes. Each class of techniques is divided into a number of subclasses and a brief literature review of related work in WSN for each of these is also presented

Toward a multilevel representation of protein molecules: comparative approaches to the aggregation/folding propensity problem

This paper builds upon the fundamental work of Niwa et al. [34], which provides the unique possibility to analyze the relative aggregation/folding propensity of the elements of the entire Escherichia coli (E. coli) proteome in a cell-free standardized microenvironment. The hardness of the problem comes from the superposition between the driving forces of intra- and inter-molecule interactions and it is mirrored by the evidences of shift from folding to aggregation phenotypes by single-point mutations [10]. Here we apply several state-of-the-art classification methods coming from the field of structural pattern recognition, with the aim to compare different representations of the same proteins gathered from the Niwa et al. data base; such representations include sequences and labeled (contact) graphs enriched with chemico-physical attributes. By this comparison, we are able to identify also some interesting general properties of proteins. Notably, (i) we suggest a threshold around 250 residues discriminating "easily foldable" from "hardly foldable" molecules consistent with other independent experiments, and (ii) we highlight the relevance of contact graph spectra for folding behavior discrimination and characterization of the E. coli solubility data. The soundness of the experimental results presented in this paper is proved by the statistically relevant relationships discovered among the chemico-physical description of proteins and the developed cost matrix of substitution used in the various discrimination systems.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 46 reference

Enabling Explainable Fusion in Deep Learning with Fuzzy Integral Neural Networks

Information fusion is an essential part of numerous engineering systems and biological functions, e.g., human cognition. Fusion occurs at many levels, ranging from the low-level combination of signals to the high-level aggregation of heterogeneous decision-making processes. While the last decade has witnessed an explosion of research in deep learning, fusion in neural networks has not observed the same revolution. Specifically, most neural fusion approaches are ad hoc, are not understood, are distributed versus localized, and/or explainability is low (if present at all). Herein, we prove that the fuzzy Choquet integral (ChI), a powerful nonlinear aggregation function, can be represented as a multi-layer network, referred to hereafter as ChIMP. We also put forth an improved ChIMP (iChIMP) that leads to a stochastic gradient descent-based optimization in light of the exponential number of ChI inequality constraints. An additional benefit of ChIMP/iChIMP is that it enables eXplainable AI (XAI). Synthetic validation experiments are provided and iChIMP is applied to the fusion of a set of heterogeneous architecture deep models in remote sensing. We show an improvement in model accuracy and our previously established XAI indices shed light on the quality of our data, model, and its decisions.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy System