Image segmentation using fuzzy LVQ clustering networks

In this note we formulate image segmentation as a clustering problem. Feature vectors extracted from a raw image are clustered into subregions, thereby segmenting the image. A fuzzy generalization of a Kohonen learning vector quantization (LVQ) which integrates the Fuzzy c-Means (FCM) model with the learning rate and updating strategies of the LVQ is used for this task. This network, which segments images in an unsupervised manner, is thus related to the FCM optimization problem. Numerical examples on photographic and magnetic resonance images are given to illustrate this approach to image segmentation

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

Approximating a similarity matrix by a latent class model: A reappraisal of additive fuzzy clustering

Let Q be a given n×n square symmetric matrix of nonnegative elements between 0 and 1, similarities. Fuzzy clustering results in fuzzy assignment of individuals to K clusters. In additive fuzzy clustering, the n×K fuzzy memberships matrix P is found by least-squares approximation of the off-diagonal elements of Q by inner products of rows of P. By contrast, kernelized fuzzy c-means is not least-squares and requires an additional fuzziness parameter. The aim is to popularize additive fuzzy clustering by interpreting it as a latent class model, whereby the elements of Q are modeled as the probability that two individuals share the same class on the basis of the assignment probability matrix P. Two new algorithms are provided, a brute force genetic algorithm (differential evolution) and an iterative row-wise quadratic programming algorithm of which the latter is the more effective. Simulations showed that (1) the method usually has a unique solution, except in special cases, (2) both algorithms reached this solution from random restarts and (3) the number of clusters can be well estimated by AIC. Additive fuzzy clustering is computationally efficient and combines attractive features of both the vector model and the cluster mode

Twitter gender classification using user unstructured information

This paper describes an approach to automatically detect the gender of Twitter users, based only on clues provided by their profile information in an unstructured form. A number of features that capture phenomena specific of Twitter users is proposed and evaluated on a dataset of about 242K English language users. Different supervised and unsupervised approaches are used to assess the performance of the proposed features, including Naive Bayes variants, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machines, Fuzzy c-Means clustering, and K-means. An unsupervised approach based on Fuzzy c-Means proved to be very suitable for this task, returning the correct gender for about 96% of the users.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Using unstructured profile information for gender classification of Portuguese and English

This paper reports experiments on automatically detecting the gender of Twitter users, based on unstructured information found on their Twitter profile. A set of features previously proposed is evaluated on two datasets of English and Portuguese users, and their performance is assessed using several supervised and unsupervised approaches, including Naive Bayes variants, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machines, Fuzzy c-Means clustering, and k-means. Results show that features perform well in both languages separately, but even best results were achieved when combining both languages. Supervised approaches reached 97.9 % accuracy, but Fuzzy c-Means also proved suitable for this task achieving 96.4 % accuracy.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Clustering using Vector Membership: An Extension of the Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm

Clustering is an important facet of explorative data mining and finds extensive use in several fields. In this paper, we propose an extension of the classical Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm. The proposed algorithm, abbreviated as VFC, adopts a multi-dimensional membership vector for each data point instead of the traditional, scalar membership value defined in the original algorithm. The membership vector for each point is obtained by considering each feature of that point separately and obtaining individual membership values for the same. We also propose an algorithm to efficiently allocate the initial cluster centers close to the actual centers, so as to facilitate rapid convergence. Further, we propose a scheme to achieve crisp clustering using the VFC algorithm. The proposed, novel clustering scheme has been tested on two standard data sets in order to analyze its performance. We also examine the efficacy of the proposed scheme by analyzing its performance on image segmentation examples and comparing it with the classical Fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures and 1 table (Conference Paper

Hyperspectral images segmentation: a proposal

Hyper-Spectral Imaging (HIS) also known as chemical or spectroscopic imaging is an emerging technique that combines imaging and spectroscopy to capture both spectral and spatial information from an object. Hyperspectral images are made up of contiguous wavebands in a given spectral band. These images provide information on the chemical make-up profile of objects, thus allowing the differentiation of objects of the same colour but which possess make-up profile. Yet, whatever the application field, most of the methods devoted to HIS processing conduct data analysis without taking into account spatial information.Pixels are processed individually, as an array of spectral data without any spatial structure. Standard classification approaches are thus widely used (k-means, fuzzy-c-means hierarchical classification...). Linear modelling methods such as Partial Least Square analysis (PLS) or non linear approaches like support vector machine (SVM) are also used at different scales (remote sensing or laboratory applications). However, with the development of high resolution sensors, coupled exploitation of spectral and spatial information to process complex images, would appear to be a very relevant approach. However, few methods are proposed in the litterature. The most recent approaches can be broadly classified in two main categories. The first ones are related to a direct extension of individual pixel classification methods using just the spectral dimension (k-means, fuzzy-c-means or FCM, Support Vector Machine or SVM). Spatial dimension is integrated as an additionnal classification parameter (Markov fields with local homogeneity constrainst [5], Support Vector Machine or SVM with spectral and spatial kernels combination [2], geometrically guided fuzzy C-means [3]...). The second ones combine the two fields related to each dimension (spectral and spatial), namely chemometric and image analysis. Various strategies have been attempted. The first one is to rely on chemometrics methods (Principal Component Analysis or PCA, Independant Component Analysis or ICA, Curvilinear Component Analysis...) to reduce the spectral dimension and then to apply standard images processing technics on the resulting score images i.e. data projection on a subspace. Another approach is to extend the definition of basic image processing operators to this new dimensionality (morphological operators for example [1, 4]). However, the approaches mentioned above tend to favour only one description either directly or indirectly (spectral or spatial). The purpose of this paper is to propose a hyperspectral processing approach that strikes a better balance in the treatment of both kinds of information....Cet article présente une stratégie de segmentation d’images hyperspectrales liant de façon symétrique et conjointe les aspects spectraux et spatiaux. Pour cela, nous proposons de construire des variables latentes permettant de définir un sous-espace représentant au mieux la topologie de l’image. Dans cet article, nous limiterons cette notion de topologie à la seule appartenance aux régions. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons d’une part les notions de l’analyse discriminante (variance intra, inter) et les propriétés des algorithmes de segmentation en région liées à celles-ci. Le principe générique théorique est exposé puis décliné sous la forme d’un exemple d’implémentation optimisé utilisant un algorithme de segmentation en région type split and merge. Les résultats obtenus sur une image de synthèse puis réelle sont exposés et commentés