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)

Recently many researchers are working on cluster analysis as a main tool for exploratory data analysis and data mining. A notable feature is that specialists in di?erent ?elds of sciences are considering the tool of data clustering to be useful. A major reason is that clustering algorithms and software are ?exible in thesensethatdi?erentmathematicalframeworksareemployedinthealgorithms and a user can select a suitable method according to his application. Moreover clusteringalgorithmshavedi?erentoutputsrangingfromtheolddendrogramsof agglomerativeclustering to more recent self-organizingmaps. Thus, a researcher or user can choose an appropriate output suited to his purpose,which is another ?exibility of the methods of clustering. An old and still most popular method is the K-means which use K cluster centers. A group of data is gathered around a cluster center and thus forms a cluster. The main subject of this book is the fuzzy c-means proposed by Dunn and Bezdek and their variations including recent studies. A main reasonwhy we concentrate on fuzzy c-means is that most methodology and application studies infuzzy clusteringusefuzzy c-means,andfuzzy c-meansshouldbe consideredto beamajortechniqueofclusteringingeneral,regardlesswhetheroneisinterested in fuzzy methods or not. Moreover recent advances in clustering techniques are rapid and we requirea new textbook that includes recent algorithms.We should also note that several books have recently been published but the contents do not include some methods studied herein.

The present monograph intends to establish a solid link among three fields: fuzzy set theory, information retrieval, and cluster analysis. Fuzzy set theory supplies new concepts and methods for the other two fields, and provides a common frame work within which they can be reorganized. Four principal groups of readers are assumed: researchers or students who are interested in (a) application of fuzzy sets, (b) theory of information retrieval or bibliographic databases, (c) hierarchical clustering, and (d) application of methods in systems science. Readers in group (a) may notice that the fuzzy set theory used here is very simple, since only finite sets are dealt with. This simplification enables the max min algebra to deal with fuzzy relations and matrices as equivalent entities. Fuzzy graphs are also used for describing theoretical properties of fuzzy relations. This assumption of finite sets is sufficient for applying fuzzy sets to information retrieval and cluster analysis. This means that little theory, beyond the basic theory of fuzzy sets, is required. Although readers in group (b) with little background in the theory of fuzzy sets may have difficulty with a few sections, they will also find enough in this monograph to support an intuitive grasp of this new concept of fuzzy information retrieval. Chapter 4 provides fuzzy retrieval without the use of mathematical symbols. Also, fuzzy graphs will serve as an aid to the intuitive understanding of fuzzy relations.

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.

This book presents our most recent research on fuzzy clustering models and applications. These models represent new methods in the field of cluster analysis which are based on common properties between objects to be clustered. We present asymmetric aggregation operators as a new concept for representing asymmetric relationship between objects. Asymmetric aggregation operators are proposed in order to obtain clusters in which objects are not only similar to each other but are also asymetrically related. Implementation of clustering model by using neural networks is also presented. A number of examples are presented to demonstrate the proposed new techniques. This book will prove useful to the researchers, scientists, engineers and postgraduate students in all the areas including science, engineering and business.

A comprehensive, coherent, and in depth presentation of the state of the art in fuzzy clustering. Fuzzy clustering is now a mature and vibrant area of research with highly innovative advanced applications. Encapsulating this through presenting a careful selection of research contributions, this book addresses timely and relevant concepts and methods, whilst identifying major challenges and recent developments in the area. Split into five clear sections, Fundamentals, Visualization, Algorithms and Computational Aspects, Real-Time and Dynamic Clustering, and Applications and Case Studies, the book covers a wealth of novel, original and fully updated material, and in particular offers: a focus on the algorithmic and computational augmentations of fuzzy clustering and its effectiveness in handling high dimensional problems, distributed problem solving and uncertainty management. presentations of the important and relevant phases of cluster design, including the role of information granules, fuzzy sets in the realization of human-centricity facet of data analysis, as well as system modelling demonstrations of how the results facilitate further detailed development of models, and enhance interpretation aspects a carefully organized illustrative series of applications and case studies in which fuzzy clustering plays a pivotal role This book will be of key interest to engineers associated with fuzzy control, bioinformatics, data mining, image processing, and pattern recognition, while computer engineers, students and researchers, in most engineering disciplines, will find this an invaluable resource and research tool.

The aim of this book is to illustrate that advanced fuzzy clustering algorithms can be used not only for partitioning of the data. It can also be used for visualization, regression, classification and time-series analysis, hence fuzzy cluster analysis is a good approach to solve complex data mining and system identification problems. This book is oriented to undergraduate and postgraduate and is well suited for teaching purposes.