The fuzzy set was conceived as a result of an attempt to come to grips with the problem of pattern recognition in the context of imprecisely defined categories. In such cases, the belonging of an object to a class is a matter of degree, as is the question of whether or not a group of objects form a cluster. A pioneering application of the theory of fuzzy sets to cluster analysis was made in 1969 by Ruspini. It was not until 1973, however, when the appearance of the work by Dunn and Bezdek on the Fuzzy ISODATA (or fuzzy c-means) algorithms became a landmark in the theory of cluster analysis, that the relevance of the theory of fuzzy sets to cluster analysis and pattern recognition became clearly established. Since then, the theory of fuzzy clustering has developed rapidly and fruitfully, with the author of the present monograph contributing a major share of what we know today. In their seminal work, Bezdek and Dunn have introduced the basic idea of determining the fuzzy clusters by minimizing an appropriately defined functional, and have derived iterative algorithms for computing the membership functions for the clusters in question. The important issue of convergence of such algorithms has become much better understood as a result of recent work which is described in the monograph.

The papers presented at the Symposium focused mainly on two fields of interest. First, there were papers dealing with the theoretical background of fuzzy logic and with applications of fuzzy reasoning to the problems of artificial intelligence, robotics and expert systems. Second, quite a large number of papers were devoted to fuzzy approaches to modelling of decision-making situations under uncertainty and vagueness and their applications to the evaluation of alternatives, system control and optimization. Apart from that, there were also some interesting contributions from other areas, like fuzzy classifications and the use of fuzzy approaches in quantum physics. This volume contains the most valuable and interesting papers presented at the Symposium and will be of use to all those researchers interested in fuzzy set theory and its applications.

Fuzzy Models and Algorithms for Pattern Recognition and Image Processing presents a comprehensive introduction of the use of fuzzy models in pattern recognition and selected topics in image processing and computer vision. Unique to this volume in the Kluwer Handbooks of Fuzzy Sets Series is the fact that this book was written in its entirety by its four authors. A single notation, presentation style, and purpose are used throughout. The result is an extensive unified treatment of many fuzzy models for pattern recognition. The main topics are clustering and classifier design, with extensive material on feature analysis relational clustering, image processing and computer vision. Also included are numerous figures, images and numerical examples that illustrate the use of various models involving applications in medicine, character and word recognition, remote sensing, military image analysis, and industrial engineering.

There are many books on neural networks, some of which cover computational intelligence, but none that incorporate both feature extraction and computational intelligence, as Supervised and Unsupervised Pattern Recognition does. This volume describes the application of a novel, unsupervised pattern recognition scheme to the classification of various types of waveforms and images. This substantial collection of recent research begins with an introduction to Neural Networks, classifiers, and feature extraction methods. It then addresses unsupervised and fuzzy neural networks and their applications to handwritten character recognition and recognition of normal and abnormal visual evoked potentials. The third section deals with advanced neural network architectures-including modular design-and their applications to medicine and three-dimensional NN architecture simulating brain functions. The final section discusses general applications and simulations, such as the establishment of a brain-computer link, speaker identification, and face recognition. In the quickly changing field of computational intelligence, every discovery is significant. Supervised and Unsupervised Pattern Recognition gives you access to many notable findings in one convenient volume.

Dieser Band konzentriert sich auf Konzepte, Algorithmen und Anwendungen des Fuzzy Clustering. In sich geschlossen werden Techniken wie das Fuzzy-c-Mittel und die Gustafson-Kessel- und Gath- und Gava-Algorithmen behandelt, wobei vom Leser keine Vorkenntnisse auf dem Gebiet von Fuzzy-Systemen erwartet werden. Durch anschauliche Anwendungsbeispiele eignet sich das Buch als Einführung für Praktiker der Datenanalyse, der Bilderkennung und der angewandten Mathematik. (05/99)