Novel Intuitionistic Based Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Similarity Measures with Application to Clustering

Similarity measures have been widely used in applications dealing with reasoning, classification and information retrieval. In this paper, we first propose three new Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Similarity measures (IT-2 FSMs) as a dual concept of some semi-metric distances between Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFSs). We also prove that the extended IT-2 FSMs satisfy many common properties (i.e. reflexivity, transivity, symmetry and overlapping). Experiments are carried out on a variety of datasets including UCI Learning Machine and real data. Comparative studies between the proposed IT-2 FSMs and the other well-known existing similarity measures (Gorzalczany, Bustince, Mitchell, Zeng and Li as well as VSM and Jaccard) are performed. Obviously, the best results are obtained with the IT-2 FSMs being resilient to the high levels of uncertainty noise. We also prove that our IT-2 FSMs can overcome the drawbacks of some existing similarity measures based on the accuracy rate measure. In addition, the proposed IT-2 FSMs are joined with Fuzzy cmeans algorithm as a clustering method and the proposed system is compared against the existing clustering algorithms (Type- 1 Fuzzy k-means, Type-1 and Type-2 Fuzzy c-means, Cluster Forest, Bagged Clustering, Evidence Accumulation and Random Projection). Relying on the clustering quality parameters R and C (equivalent to the standard classification accuracy), the advanced IT-2FSMs show higher classification accuracy of about 86% which outperforms nearly the other classifiers

Interval Type-2 Beta Fuzzy Near Sets Approach to Content-Based Image Retrieval

In computer-based search systems, similarity plays a key role in replicating the human search process. Indeed, the human search process underlies many natural abilities such as image recovery, language comprehension, decision making, or pattern recognition. The search for images consists of establishing a correspondence between the available image and that sought by the user, by measuring the similarity between the images. Image search by content is generaly based on the similarity of the visual characteristics of the images. The distance function used to evaluate the similarity between images depends notonly on the criteria of the search but also on the representation of the characteristics of the image. This is the main idea of a content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system. In this article, first, we constructed type-2 beta fuzzy membership of descriptor vectors to help manage inaccuracy and uncertainty of characteristics extracted the feature of images. Subsequently, the retrieved images are ranked according to the novel similarity measure, noted type-2 fuzzy nearness measure (IT2FNM). By analogy to Type-2 Fuzzy Logic and motivated by near sets theory, we advanced a new fuzzy similarity measure (FSM) noted interval type-2 fuzzy nearness measure (IT-2 FNM). Then, we proposed three new IT-2 FSMs and we have provided mathematical justification to demonstrate that the proposed FSMs satisfy proximity properties (i.e. reflexivity, transitivity, symmetry, and overlapping). Experimental results generated using three image databases showing consistent and significant results

Multi-model genome-wide association and genomic prediction analysis of 16 agronomic, physiological and quality related traits in ICARDA spring wheat

Identification and exploration of the genetic architecture of traits related to yield, quality, and drought and heat tolerance is important for yield and quality improvement of wheat through marker-assisted selection. One hundred and ninety-two spring wheat genotypes were tested at two heat-stress locations in Sudan (Wad Medani and Dongula), a drought stress site in Morocco (Marchouch) and a site with high yield potential in Egypt (Sids) in replicated trials during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 cropping seasons. A total of 10,577 single nucleotide polymorphism markers identified from the 15 K wheat SNP assay were used in a genome-wide association (GWA) study and genomic prediction for 16 phenotypic traits related to yield, quality and drought and heat tolerance. Significant marker-trait associations were detected across GWAS models for all traits. Most detected marker-trait associations (MTAs) were environment-specific, signifying the presence of high quantitative trait loci-by-environment (QTL x E) interaction. Chromosome arm 5AL had significant multi-model MTAs for grain yield and yield-related traits at the heat-stress locations. Highly significant QTLs were detected on chromosome 2D for waxiness. Homoeologous group 2 and 6 chromosomes were with significant MTAs for grain protein content, gluten content, alveograph strength and Zeleny sedimentation test while chromosome arm 3BL was significant for both Z and W traits. Genomic prediction analysis with ridge regression-best linear unbiased prediction model estimated the breeding values of the studied traits with prediction accuracies ranging from 0.16 for leaf rolling to 0.72 for peduncle length. The identified QTLs could be targeted for marker-assisted selection or further studies aimed at fine mapping and cloning the causative genes and detecting favorable haplotypes with positive effects for agronomic, physiological or quality-related traits

Investigating the Antibacterial Activity of Biphenylthiazoles against Methicillin- and Vancomycin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA and VRSA)

Phenylthiazoles were reported previously as a new scaffold with antibacterial activity against an array of multidrug-resistant staphylococci. However, their promising antibacterial activity was hampered in large part by their short half-life due to excessive hepatic clearance. Close inspection of the structure–activity-relationships (SARs) of the phenylthiazoles revealed two important structural features necessary for antibacterial activity (a nitrogenous and a lipophilic component). Incorporating the nitrogenous part within a pyrimidine ring resulted in analogues with a prolonged half-life, while the biphenyl moiety revealed the most potent analogue <b>1b</b>. In this study, advantageous moieties have been combined to generate a new hybrid scaffold of 5-pyrimidinyl­biphenyl­thiazole with the objective of enhancing both anti-MRSA activity and drug-like properties. Among the 37 tested biphenylthiazoles, piperazinyl-containing derivatives <b>10</b>, <b>30</b>, and <b>36</b> were the most potent analogues with MIC values as low as 0.39 μg/mL. Additionally, <b>36</b> exhibited significant improvement in stability to hepatic metabolism