The application of a "committee of experts" or ensemble learning to artificial neural networks that apply unsupervised learning techniques is widely considered to enhance the effectiveness of such networks greatly. This book examines the potential of the ensemble meta-algorithm by describing and testing a technique based on the combination of ensembles and statistical PCA that is able to determine the presence of outliers in high-dimensional data sets and to minimize outlier effects in the final results. Its central contribution concerns an algorithm for the ensemble fusion of topology-preserving maps, referred to as Weighted Voting Superposition (WeVoS), which has been devised to improve data exploration by 2-D visualization over multi-dimensional data sets. This generic algorithm is applied in combination with several other models taken from the family of topology preserving maps, such as the SOM, ViSOM, SIM and Max-SIM. A range of quality measures for topology preserving maps that are proposed in the literature are used to validate and compare WeVoS with other algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that, in the majority of cases, the WeVoS algorithm outperforms earlier map-fusion methods and the simpler versions of the algorithm with which it is compared. All the algorithms are tested in different artificial data sets and in several of the most common machine-learning data sets in order to corroborate their theoretical properties. Moreover, a real-life case-study taken from the food industry demonstrates the practical benefits of their application to more complex problems.

This volume of Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing contains accepted papers presented at the 8th International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Security for Information Systems (CISIS 2015) and the 6th International Conference on European Transnational Education (ICEUTE 2015). These conferences were held in the beautiful and historic city of Burgos (Spain), in June 2015. The aim of the 8th CISIS conference is to offer a meeting opportunity for academic and industry-related researchers belonging to the various, vast communities of Computational Intelligence, Information Security, and Data Mining. The need for intelligent, flexible behaviour by large, complex systems, especially in mission-critical domains, is intended to be the catalyst and the aggregation stimulus for the overall event. After a through peer-review process, the CISIS 2015 International Program Committee selected 43 papers, written by authors from 16 different countries. In the case of 6th ICEUTE conference, the International Program Committee selected 12 papers (from 7 countries). These papers are published in present conference proceedings, achieving an acceptance rate of about 39%. The selection of papers was extremely rigorous in order to maintain the high quality of the conference and we would like to thank the members of the Program Committees for their hard work in the reviewing process. This is a crucial process to the creation of a high standard conference and the CISIS and ICEUTE conferences would not exist without their help.

This volume of Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing contains accepted papers presented at the 10th International Conference on Soft Computing Models in Industrial and Environmental Applications (SOCO 2015), held in the beautiful and historic city of Burgos (Spain), in June 2015. Soft computing represents a collection or set of computational techniques in machine learning, computer science and some engineering disciplines, which investigate, simulate and analyze very complex issues and phenomena. This Conference is mainly focused on its industrial and environmental applications. After a through peer-review process, the SOCO 2015 International Program Committee selected 41 papers, written by authors from 15 different countries. These papers are published in present conference proceedings, achieving an acceptance rate of 40%. The selection of papers was extremely rigorous in order to maintain the high quality of the conference and we would like to thank the members of the International Program Committees for their hard work during the review process. This is a crucial issue for creation of a high standard conference and the SOCO conference would not exist without their help.

The application of a "committee of experts" or ensemble learning to artificial neural networks that apply unsupervised learning techniques is widely considered to enhance the effectiveness of such networks greatly. This book examines the potential of the ensemble meta-algorithm by describing and testing a technique based on the combination of ensembles and statistical PCA that is able to determine the presence of outliers in high-dimensional data sets and to minimize outlier effects in the final results. Its central contribution concerns an algorithm for the ensemble fusion of topology-preserving maps, referred to as Weighted Voting Superposition (WeVoS), which has been devised to improve data exploration by 2-D visualization over multi-dimensional data sets. This generic algorithm is applied in combination with several other models taken from the family of topology preserving maps, such as the SOM, ViSOM, SIM and Max-SIM. A range of quality measures for topology preserving maps that are proposed in the literature are used to validate and compare WeVoS with other algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that, in the majority of cases, the WeVoS algorithm outperforms earlier map-fusion methods and the simpler versions of the algorithm with which it is compared. All the algorithms are tested in different artificial data sets and in several of the most common machine-learning data sets in order to corroborate their theoretical properties. Moreover, a real-life case-study taken from the food industry demonstrates the practical benefits of their application to more complex problems.

This volume of Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing contains accepted papers presented at SOCO 2014, CISIS 2014 and ICEUTE 2014, all conferences held in the beautiful and historic city of Bilbao (Spain), in June 2014. Soft computing represents a collection or set of computational techniques in machine learning, computer science and some engineering disciplines, which investigate, simulate, and analyze very complex issues and phenomena.

After a through peer-review process, the 9th SOCO 2014 International Program Committee selected 31 papers which are published in these conference proceedings. In this relevant edition a special emphasis was put on the organization of special sessions. One special session was organized related to relevant topics as: Soft Computing Methods in Manufacturing and Management Systems.

The aim of the 7th CISIS 2014 conference is to offer a meeting opportunity for academic and industry-related researchers belonging to the various, vast communities of Computational Intelligence, Information Security, and Data Mining. The need for intelligent, flexible behaviour by large, complex systems, especially in mission-critical domains, is intended to be the catalyst and the aggregation stimulus for the overall event.

After a through peer-review process, the CISIS 2014 International Program Committee selected 23 papers and the 5th ICEUTE 2014 International Program Committee selected 2 papers which are published in these conference proceedings as well."

This volume of Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing contains accepted papers presented at SOCO 2013, CISIS 2013 and ICEUTE 2013, all conferences held in the beautiful and historic city of Salamanca (Spain), in September 2013. Soft computing represents a collection or set of computational techniques in machine learning, computer science and some engineering disciplines, which investigate, simulate, and analyze very complex issues and phenomena. After a through peer-review process, the 8th SOCO 2013 International Program Committee selected 40 papers which are published in these conference proceedings, and represents an acceptance rate of 41%. In this relevant edition a special emphasis was put on the organization of special sessions. Four special sessions were organized related to relevant topics as: Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Data Mining for Industrial and Environmental Applications, Soft Computing Methods in Bioinformatics, and Soft Computing Methods, Modelling and Simulation in Electrical Engineer. The aim of the 6th CISIS 2013 conference is to offer a meeting opportunity for academic and industry-related researchers belonging to the various, vast communities of Computational Intelligence, Information Security, and Data Mining. The need for intelligent, flexible behaviour by large, complex systems, especially in mission-critical domains, is intended to be the catalyst and the aggregation stimulus for the overall event. After a through peer-review process, the CISIS 2013 International Program Committee selected 23 papers which are published in these conference proceedings achieving an acceptance rate of 39%. In the case of 4th ICEUTE 2013, the International Program Committee selected 11 papers which are published in these conference proceedings. The selection of papers was extremely rigorous in order to maintain the high quality of the conference and we would like to thank the members of the Program Committees for their hard work in the reviewing process. This is a crucial process to the creation of a high standard conference and the SOCO, CISIS and ICEUTE conferences would not exist without their help.

This volume of Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing contains accepted papers presented at CISIS 2012 and ICEUTE 2012, both conferences held in the beautiful and historic city of Ostrava (Czech Republic), in September 2012. CISIS aims to offer a meeting opportunity for academic and industry-related researchers belonging to the various, vast communities of Computational Intelligence, Information Security, and Data Mining. The need for intelligent, flexible behaviour by large, complex systems, especially in mission-critical domains, is intended to be the catalyst and the aggregation stimulus for the overall event. After a through peer-review process, the CISIS 2012 International Program Committee selected 30 papers which are published in these conference proceedings achieving an acceptance rate of 40%. In the case of ICEUTE 2012, the International Program Committee selected 4 papers which are published in these conference proceedings. The selection of papers was extremely rigorous in order to maintain the high quality of the conference and we would like to thank the members of the Program Committees for their hard work in the reviewing process. This is a crucial process to the creation of a high standard conference and the CISIS and ICEUTE conferences would not exist without their help.

The 4th International Conference on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems (HAIS 2009), as the name suggests, attracted researchers who are involved in developing and applying symbolic and sub-symbolic techniques aimed at the construction of highly robust and reliable problem-solving techniques, and bringing the most relevant achievements in this field. Hybrid intelligent systems have become increasingly po- lar given their capabilities to handle a broad spectrum of real-world complex problems which come with inherent imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, hi- dimensionality, and nonstationarity. These systems provide us with the opportunity to exploit existing domain knowledge as well as raw data to come up with promising solutions in an effective manner. Being truly multidisciplinary, the series of HAIS conferences offers an interesting research forum to present and discuss the latest th- retical advances and real-world applications in this exciting research field. This volume of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) includes accepted papers presented at HAIS 2009 held at the University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, June 2009. Since its inception, the main aim of the HAIS conferences has been to establish a broad and interdisciplinary forum for hybrid artificial intelligence systems and asso- ated learning paradigms, which are playing increasingly important roles in a large number of application areas.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th Conference of the Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence, CAEPIA 2015, held in Albacete, Spain, in November 2015. The 31 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 175 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on Bayesian networks and uncertainty modeling; fuzzy logic and soft computing; knowledge representation, reasoning, and logic; intelligent systems and environment; intelligent Web and recommender systems; machine learning and data mining; metaheuristics and evolutionary computation; and social robotics.