The past fifteen years has witnessed an explosive growth in the fundamental research and applications of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and fuzzy logic (FL). The main impetus behind this growth has been the ability of such methods to offer solutions not amenable to conventional techniques, particularly in application domains involving pattern recognition, prediction and control. Although the origins of ANNs and FL may be traced back to the 1940s and 1960s, respectively, the most rapid progress has only been achieved in the last fifteen years. This has been due to significant theoretical advances in our understanding of ANNs and FL, complemented by major technological developments in high-speed computing. In geophysics, ANNs and FL have enjoyed significant success and are now employed routinely in the following areas (amongst others): 1. Exploration Seismology. (a) Seismic data processing (trace editing; first break picking; deconvolution and multiple suppression; wavelet estimation; velocity analysis; noise identification/reduction; statics analysis; dataset matching/prediction, attenuation), (b) AVO analysis, (c) Chimneys, (d) Compression I dimensionality reduction, (e) Shear-wave analysis, (f) Interpretation (event tracking; lithology prediction and well-log analysis; prospect appraisal; hydrocarbon prediction; inversion; reservoir characterisation; quality assessment; tomography). 2. Earthquake Seismology and Subterranean Nuclear Explosions. 3. Mineral Exploration. 4. Electromagnetic I Potential Field Exploration. (a) Electromagnetic methods, (b) Potential field methods, (c) Ground penetrating radar, (d) Remote sensing, (e) inversion.

This book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date account on recent applications of fuzzy sets and possibility theory in reliability and safety analysis. Various aspects of system's reliability, quality control, reliability and safety of man-machine systems fault analysis, risk assessment and analysis, structural, seismic, safety, etc. are discussed. The book provides new tools for handling non-probabilistic aspects of uncertainty in these problems. It is the first in this field in the world literature.

Although the use of fuzzy control methods has grown nearly to the level of classical control, the true understanding of fuzzy control lags seriously behind. Moreover, most engineers are well versed in either traditional control or in fuzzy control-rarely both. Each has applications for which it is better suited, but without a good understanding of both, engineers cannot make a sound determination of which technique to use for a given situation.

A First Course in Fuzzy and Neural Control is designed to build the foundation needed to make those decisions. It begins with an introduction to standard control theory, then makes a smooth transition to complex problems that require innovative fuzzy, neural, and fuzzy-neural techniques. For each method, the authors clearly answer the questions: What is this new control method? Why is it needed? How is it implemented? Real-world examples, exercises, and ideas for student projects reinforce the concepts presented.

Developed from lecture notes for a highly successful course titled The Fundamentals of Soft Computing, the text is written in the same reader-friendly style as the authors' popular A First Course in Fuzzy Logic text. A First Course in Fuzzy and Neural Control requires only a basic background in mathematics and engineering and does not overwhelm students with unnecessary material but serves to motivate them toward more advanced studies.

Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets covers the basic elements of fuzzy set theory. Its four-part organization provides easy referencing of recent as well as older results in the field. The first part discusses the historical emergence of fuzzy sets, and delves into fuzzy set connectives, and the representation and measurement of membership functions. The second part covers fuzzy relations, including orderings, similarity, and relational equations. The third part, devoted to uncertainty modelling, introduces possibility theory, contrasting and relating it with probabilities, and reviews information measures of specificity and fuzziness. The last part concerns fuzzy sets on the real line - computation with fuzzy intervals, metric topology of fuzzy numbers, and the calculus of fuzzy-valued functions. Each chapter is written by one or more recognized specialists and offers a tutorial introduction to the topics, together with an extensive bibliography.

Aggregation plays a central role in many of the technological tasks we are faced with. The importance of this process will become even greater as we move more and more toward becoming an information-cent.ered society, us is happening with the rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wirle Weh. Here we shall be faced with many issues related to the fusion of information. One very pressing issue here is the development of mechanisms to help search for information, a problem that clearly has a strong aggregation-related component. More generally, in order to model the sophisticated ways in which human beings process information, as well as going beyond the human capa bilities, we need provide a basket of aggregation tools. The centrality of aggregation in human thought can be be very clearly seen by looking at neural networks, a technology motivated by modeling the human brain. One can see that the basic operations involved in these networks are learning and aggregation. The Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) operators provide a parameter ized family of aggregation operators which include many of the well-known operators such as the maximum, minimum and the simple average."

To say that Fuzzy Logic in Medicine, or FLM for short, is an important addi tion to the literature of fuzzy logic and its applications, is an understatement. Edited by two prominent informaticians, Professors S. Barro and R. Marin, it is one of the first books in its field. Between its covers, FLM presents authoritative expositions of a wide spectrum of medical and biological ap plications of fuzzy logic, ranging from image classification and diagnostics to anaesthesia control and risk assessment of heart diseases. As the editors note in the preface, recognition of the relevance of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic to biological and medical systems has a long history. In this context, particularly worthy of note is the pioneering work of Profes sor Klaus Peter Adlassnig of the University of Vienna School of Medicine. However, it is only within the past decade that we began to see an accelerat ing growth in the visibility and importance of publications falling under the rubric of fuzzy logic in medicine and biology -a leading example of which is the Journal of the Biomedical Fuzzy Systems Association in Japan. Why did it take so long for this to happen? First, a bit of history."

Many decision-making tasks are too complex to be understood quantitatively, however, humans succeed by using knowledge that is imprecise rather than precise. Fuzzy logic resembles human reasoning in its use of imprecise informa tion to generate decisions. Unlike classical logic which requires a deep under standing of a system, exact equations, and precise numeric values, fuzzy logic incorporates an alternative way of thinking, which allows modeling complex systems using a higher level of abstraction originating from our knowledge and experience. Fuzzy logic allows expressing this knowledge with subjective concepts such as very big and a long time which are mapped into exact numeric ranges. Since knowledge can be expressed in a more natural by using fuzzy sets, many decision (and engineering) problems can be greatly simplified. Fuzzy logic provides an inference morphology that enables approximate human reasoning capabilities to be applied to knowledge-based systems. The theory of fuzzy logic provides a mathematical strength to capture the un certainties associated with human cognitive processes, such as thinking and reasoning. The conventional approaches to knowledge representation lack the means for representating the meaning of fuzzy concepts. As a consequence, the approaches based on first order logic do not provide an appropriate con ceptual framework for dealing with the representation of commonsense knowl edge, since such knowledge is by its nature both lexically imprecise and non categorical."

This book offers a comprehensive reference guide to fuzzy statistics and fuzzy decision-making techniques. It provides readers with all the necessary tools for making statistical inference in the case of incomplete information or insufficient data, where classical statistics cannot be applied. The respective chapters, written by prominent researchers, explain a wealth of both basic and advanced concepts including: fuzzy probability distributions, fuzzy frequency distributions, fuzzy Bayesian inference, fuzzy mean, mode and median, fuzzy dispersion, fuzzy p-value, and many others. To foster a better understanding, all the chapters include relevant numerical examples or case studies. Taken together, they form an excellent reference guide for researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students pursuing research on fuzzy statistics. Moreover, by extending all the main aspects of classical statistical decision-making to its fuzzy counterpart, the book presents a dynamic snapshot of the field that is expected to stimulate new directions, ideas and developments.

In the beginning of 1983, I came across A. Kaufmann's book "Introduction to the theory of fuzzy sets" (Academic Press, New York, 1975). This was my first acquaintance with the fuzzy set theory. Then I tried to introduce a new component (which determines the degree of non-membership) in the definition of these sets and to study the properties of the new objects so defined. I defined ordinary operations as "n," "U," "+" and ."" over the new sets, but I had began to look more seriously at them since April 1983, when I defined operators analogous to the modal operators of "necessity" and "possibility." The late George Gargov (7 April 1947 - 9 November 1996) is the "god father" of the sets I introduced - in fact, he has invented the name "intu itionistic fuzzy," motivated by the fact that the law of the excluded middle does not hold for them. Presently, intuitionistic fuzzy sets are an object of intensive research by scholars and scientists from over ten countries. This book is the first attempt for a more comprehensive and complete report on the intuitionistic fuzzy set theory and its more relevant applications in a variety of diverse fields. In this sense, it has also a referential character."

Initially conceived as a methodology for the representation and manipulation of imprecise and vague information, fuzzy computation has found wide use in problems that fall well beyond its originally intended scope of application. Many scientists and engineers now use the paradigms of fuzzy computation to tackle problems that are either intractable or unrealistically time consuming. The extraordinary growth of fuzzy computation in recent years has led to the development of numerous systems of major practical importance in fields ranging from medical diagnosis and automated learning to image understanding and systems control.
The Handbook of Fuzzy Computation provides information about fundamental aspects of the field and explores the myriad applications of fuzzy logic techniques and methods. Divided into several parts, the handbook presents basic conceptual considerations and case studies of applications of fuzzy computation. It covers the fundamental concepts and techniques for system modeling, information processing, intelligent system design, decision analysis, statistical analysis, pattern recognition, automated learning, and system control and identification. The book also discusses the combination of fuzzy computation techniques with other computational intelligence approaches such as neural and evolutionary computation.
By focusing on the application of fuzzy computation methods to solve problems, this all-encompassing reference work enables scientists and engineers to understand the central aspects of this important computational methodology.

Since the late 1980s, a large number of very user-friendly tools for fuzzy control, fuzzy expert systems, and fuzzy data analysis have emerged. This has changed the character of this area and started the area of `fuzzy technology'. The next large step in the development occurred in 1992 when almost independently in Europe, Japan and the USA, the three areas of fuzzy technology, artificial neural nets and genetic algorithms joined forces under the title of `computational intelligence' or `soft computing'. The synergies which were possible between these three areas have been exploited very successfully. Practical Applications of Fuzzy Sets focuses on model and real applications of fuzzy sets, and is structured into four major parts: engineering and natural sciences; medicine; management; and behavioral, cognitive and social sciences. This book will be useful for practitioners of fuzzy technology, scientists and students who are looking for applications of their models and methods, for topics of their theses, and even for venture capitalists who look for attractive possibilities for investments.

Fuzzy hardware developments have been a major force driving the applications of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic in both science and engineering. This volume provides the reader with a comprehensive up-to-date look at recent works describing new innovative developments of fuzzy hardware. An important research trend is the design of improved fuzzy hardware. There is an increasing interest in both analog and digital implementations of fuzzy controllers in particular and fuzzy systems in general. Specialized analog and digital VLSI implementations of fuzzy systems, in the form of dedicated architectures, aim at the highest implementation efficiency. This particular efficiency is asserted in terms of processing speed and silicon utilization. Processing speed in particular has caught the attention of developers of fuzzy hardware and researchers in the field. The volume includes detailed material on a variety of fuzzy hardware related topics such as: Historical review of fuzzy hardware research Fuzzy hardware based on encoded trapezoids Pulse stream techniques for fuzzy hardware Hardware realization of fuzzy neural networks Design of analog neuro-fuzzy systems in CMOS digital technologies Fuzzy controller synthesis method Automatic design of digital and analog neuro-fuzzy controllers Electronic implementation of complex controllers Silicon compilation of fuzzy hardware systems Digital fuzzy hardware processing Parallel processor architecture for real-time fuzzy applications Fuzzy cellular systems Fuzzy Hardware: Architectures and Applications is a technical reference book for researchers, engineers and scientists interested in fuzzy systems in general and in building fuzzy systems in particular.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Second Joint IFSA-EC and EURO-WGFS Workshop on Progress in Fuzzy Sets in Europe held on April 6 -8, 1989 in Vienna, Austria. The workshop was organized by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Janko from the University of Economics in Vienna under the auspices of IFSA-EC, the European chapter of the International Fuzzy Systems Association, and EURO-WGFS, the working group on Fuzzy Sets of the Association of Eu ropean Operational Research Societies. The workshop gathered more than 30 participants coming from Western European countries (Austria, Bel gium, England, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Scotland and Spain) Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, the German Federal Repu blic, Hungary and Poland) and non-European countries such as China and Japan. The 15 selected and refereed papers included in the volume are in prin ciple the author's own versions, with limited editorial changes and small corrections. They are arranged in alphabetical order. I wish to thank all the contributors for their valuable papers and an outstan ding cooperation in the editorial project. I also would like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Dr. H. J. Zimmermann for the cooperation in the refereeing procedure."

Fuzzy Set Theory - And Its Applications, Third Edition is a textbook for courses in fuzzy set theory. It can also be used as an introduction to the subject. The character of a textbook is balanced with the dynamic nature of the research in the field by including many useful references to develop a deeper understanding among interested readers.
The book updates the research agenda (which has witnessed profound and startling advances since its inception some 30 years ago) with chapters on possibility theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, expert systems, fuzzy control, fuzzy data analysis, decision making and fuzzy set models in operations research. All chapters have been updated. Exercises are included.

Many-valued logics were developed as an attempt to handle philosophical doubts about the "law of excluded middle" in classical logic. The first many-valued formal systems were developed by J. Lukasiewicz in Poland and E.Post in the U.S.A. in the 1920s, and since then the field has expanded dramatically as the applicability of the systems to other philosophical and semantic problems was recognized. Intuitionisticlogic, for example, arose from deep problems in the foundations of mathematics. Fuzzy logics, approximation logics, and probability logics all address questions that classical logic alone cannot answer. All these interpretations of many-valued calculi motivate specific formal systems thatallow detailed mathematical treatment. In this volume, the authors are concerned with finite-valued logics, and especially with three-valued logical calculi. Matrix constructions, axiomatizations of propositional and predicate calculi, syntax, semantic structures, and methodology are discussed. Separate chapters deal with intuitionistic logic, fuzzy logics, approximation logics, and probability logics. These systems all find application in practice, in automatic inference processes, which have been decisive for the intensive development of these logics. This volume acquaints the reader with theoretical fundamentals of many-valued logics. It is intended to be the first of a two-volume work. The second volume will deal with practical applications and methods of automated reasoning using many-valued logics.

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.

In the mid-1960's I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Lotfi Zadeh at which he presented some of his basic (and at the time, recent) work on fuzzy sets. Lotfi's algebra of fuzzy subsets of a set struck me as very nice; in fact, as a graduate student in the mid-1950's, I had suggested similar ideas about continuous-truth-valued propositional calculus (inffor "and," sup for "or") to my advisor, but he didn't go for it (and in fact, confused it with the foundations of probability theory), so I ended up writing a thesis in a more conventional area of mathematics (differential algebra). I especially enjoyed Lotfi's discussion of fuzzy convexity; I remember talking to him about possible ways of extending this work, but I didn't pursue this at the time. I have elsewhere told the story of how, when I saw C. L. Chang's 1968 paper on fuzzy topological spaces, I was impelled to try my hand at fuzzi fying algebra. This led to my 1971 paper "Fuzzy groups," which became the starting point of an entire literature on fuzzy algebraic structures. In 1974 King-Sun Fu invited me to speak at a U. S. -Japan seminar on Fuzzy Sets and their Applications, which was to be held that summer in Berkeley."

After the pioneering works by Robbins {1944, 1945) and Choquet (1955), the notation of a set-valued random variable (called a random closed set in literatures) was systematically introduced by Kendall {1974) and Matheron {1975). It is well known that the theory of set-valued random variables is a natural extension of that of general real-valued random variables or random vectors. However, owing to the topological structure of the space of closed sets and special features of set-theoretic operations ( cf. Beer [27]), set-valued random variables have many special properties. This gives new meanings for the classical probability theory. As a result of the development in this area in the past more than 30 years, the theory of set-valued random variables with many applications has become one of new and active branches in probability theory. In practice also, we are often faced with random experiments whose outcomes are not numbers but are expressed in inexact linguistic terms.

During the last three decades, interest has increased significantly in the representation and manipulation of imprecision and uncertainty. Perhaps the most important technique in this area concerns fuzzy logic or the logic of fuzziness initiated by L. A. Zadeh in 1965. Since then, fuzzy logic has been incorporated into many areas of fundamental science and into the applied sciences. More importantly, it has been successful in the areas of expert systems and fuzzy control. The main body of this book consists of so-called IF-THEN rules, on which experts express their knowledge with respect to a certain domain of expertise. Fuzzy IF-THEN Rules in Computational Intelligence: Theory and Applications brings together contributions from leading global specialists who work in the domain of representation and processing of IF-THEN rules. This work gives special attention to fuzzy IF-THEN rules as they are being applied in computational intelligence. Included are theoretical developments and applications related to IF-THEN problems of propositional calculus, fuzzy predicate calculus, implementations of the generalized Modus Ponens, approximate reasoning, data mining and data transformation, techniques for complexity reduction, fuzzy linguistic modeling, large-scale application of fuzzy control, intelligent robotic control, and numerous other systems and practical applications. This book is an essential resource for engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists working in fuzzy sets, soft computing, and of course, computational intelligence.

Approach your problems from the right end It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is and begin with the answers. Then one day, that they can't see the problem. perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' in R. Brown 'The point of a Pin'. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as "experimental mathematics," "CFD," "completely integrable systems," "chaos, synergetics and large-scale order," which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classification schemes. They draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.

The papers on rough set theory and its applications placed in this volume present a wide spectrum of problems representative to the present. stage of this theory. Researchers from many countries reveal their rec.ent results on various aspects of rough sets. The papers are not confined only to mathematical theory but also include algorithmic aspects, applications and information about software designed for data analysis based on this theory. The volume contains also list of selected publications on rough sets which can be very useful to every one engaged in research or applications in this domain and sometimes perhaps unaware of results of other authors. The book shows that rough set theory is a vivid and vigorous domain with serious results to its credit and bright perspective for future developments. It lays on the crossroads of fuzzy sets, theory of evidence, neural networks, Petri nets and many other branches of AI, logic and mathematics. These diverse connec tions seem to be a very fertile feature of rough set theory and have essentially contributed to its wide and rapid expansion. It is worth mentioning that its philosophical roots stretch down from Leibniz, Frege and Russell up to Popper. Therefore many concepts dwelled on in rough set theory are not entirely new, nevertheless the theory can be viewed as an independent discipline on its own rights. Rough set theory has found many interesting real life applications in medicine, banking, industry and others."

The book is a collection of contributions by leading experts, developed around traditional themes discussed at the annual Linz Seminars on Fuzzy Set Theory. The different chapters have been written by former PhD students, colleagues, co-authors and friends of Peter Klement, a leading researcher and the organizer of the Linz Seminars on Fuzzy Set Theory. The book also includes advanced findings on topics inspired by Klement's research activities, concerning copulas, measures and integrals, as well as aggregation problems. Some of the chapters reflect personal views and controversial aspects of traditional topics, while others deal with deep mathematical theories, such as the algebraic and logical foundations of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic. Originally thought as an homage to Peter Klement, the book also represents an advanced reference guide to the mathematical theories related to fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory with the potential to stimulate important discussions on new research directions in the field.

This volume summarizes recent developments in the topological and algebraic structures in fuzzy sets and may be rightly viewed as a continuation of the stan dardization of the mathematics of fuzzy sets established in the "Handbook," namely the Mathematics of Fuzzy Sets: Logic, Topology, and Measure Theory, Volume 3 of The Handbooks of Fuzzy Sets Series (Kluwer Academic Publish ers, 1999). Many of the topological chapters of the present work are not only based upon the foundations and notation for topology laid down in the Hand book, but also upon Handbook developments in convergence, uniform spaces, compactness, separation axioms, and canonical examples; and thus this work is, with respect to topology, a continuation of the standardization of the Hand book. At the same time, this work significantly complements the Handbook in regard to algebraic structures. Thus the present volume is an extension of the content and role of the Handbook as a reference work. On the other hand, this volume, even as the Handbook, is a culmination of mathematical developments motivated by the renowned International Sem inar on Fuzzy Set Theory, also known as the Linz Seminar, held annually in Linz, Austria. Much of the material of this volume is related to the Twenti eth Seminar held in February 1999, material for which the Seminar played a crucial and stimulating role, especially in providing feedback, connections, and the necessary screening of ideas."

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."

Fuzzy Sets in Decision Analysis, Operations Research and Statistics includes chapters on fuzzy preference modeling, multiple criteria analysis, ranking and sorting methods, group decision-making and fuzzy game theory. It also presents optimization techniques such as fuzzy linear and non-linear programming, applications to graph problems and fuzzy combinatorial methods such as fuzzy dynamic programming. In addition, the book also accounts for advances in fuzzy data analysis, fuzzy statistics, and applications to reliability analysis. These topics are covered within four parts: Decision Making, Mathematical Programming, Statistics and Data Analysis, and Reliability, Maintenance and Replacement. The scope and content of the book has resulted from multiple interactions between the editor of the volume, the series editors, the series advisory board, and experts in each chapter area. Each chapter was written by a well-known researcher on the topic and reviewed by other experts in the area. These expert reviewers sometimes became co-authors because of the extent of their contribution to the chapter. As a result, twenty-five authors from twelve countries and four continents were involved in the creation of the 13 chapters, which enhances the international character of the project and gives an idea of how carefully the Handbook has been developed.