This book is a collection of several contributions which show the state of the art in specific areas of Computational Intelligence. This carefully edited book honors the 65th birthday of Rudolf Kruse. The main focus of these contributions lies on treating vague data as well as uncertain and imprecise information with automated procedures, which use techniques from statistics, control theory, clustering, neural networks etc. to extract useful and employable knowledge.

Soft computing, as an engineering science, and statistics, as a classical branch of mathematics, emphasize different aspects of data analysis.
Soft computing focuses on obtaining working solutions quickly, accepting approximations and unconventional approaches. Its strength lies in its flexibility to create models that suit the needs arising in applications. In addition, it emphasizes the need for intuitive and interpretable models, which are tolerant to imprecision and uncertainty.
Statistics is more rigorous and focuses on establishing objective conclusions based on experimental data by analyzing the possible situations and their (relative) likelihood. It emphasizes the need for mathematical methods and tools to assess solutions and guarantee performance.
Combining the two fields enhances the robustness and generalizability of data analysis methods, while preserving the flexibility to solve real-world problems efficiently and intuitively.

Making use of data is not anymore a niche project but central to almost every project. With access to massive compute resources and vast amounts of data, it seems at least in principle possible to solve any problem. However, successful data science projects result from the intelligent application of: human intuition in combination with computational power; sound background knowledge with computer-aided modelling; and critical reflection of the obtained insights and results. Substantially updating the previous edition, then entitled Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis, this core textbook continues to provide a hands-on instructional approach to many data science techniques, and explains how these are used to solve real world problems. The work balances the practical aspects of applying and using data science techniques with the theoretical and algorithmic underpinnings from mathematics and statistics. Major updates on techniques and subject coverage (including deep learning) are included. Topics and features: guides the reader through the process of data science, following the interdependent steps of project understanding, data understanding, data blending and transformation, modeling, as well as deployment and monitoring; includes numerous examples using the open source KNIME Analytics Platform, together with an introductory appendix; provides a review of the basics of classical statistics that support and justify many data analysis methods, and a glossary of statistical terms; integrates illustrations and case-study-style examples to support pedagogical exposition; supplies further tools and information at an associated website. This practical and systematic textbook/reference is a "need-to-have" tool for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and essential reading for all professionals who face data science problems. Moreover, it is a "need to use, need to keep" resource following one's exploration of the subject.

This textbook provides a clear and logical introduction to the field, covering the fundamental concepts, algorithms and practical implementations behind efforts to develop systems that exhibit intelligent behavior in complex environments. This enhanced third edition has been fully revised and expanded with new content on deep learning, scalarization methods, large-scale optimization algorithms, and collective decision-making algorithms. Features: provides supplementary material at an associated website; contains numerous classroom-tested examples and definitions throughout the text; presents useful insights into all that is necessary for the successful application of computational intelligence methods; explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems; discusses in great detail the classical areas of artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary algorithms; reviews the latest developments in the field, covering such topics as ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models.

Soft computing, as an engineering science, and statistics, as a classical branch of mathematics, emphasize different aspects of data analysis. Soft computing focuses on obtaining working solutions quickly, accepting approximations and unconventional approaches. Its strength lies in its flexibility to create models that suit the needs arising in applications. In addition, it emphasizes the need for intuitive and interpretable models, which are tolerant to imprecision and uncertainty. Statistics is more rigorous and focuses on establishing objective conclusions based on experimental data by analyzing the possible situations and their (relative) likelihood. It emphasizes the need for mathematical methods and tools to assess solutions and guarantee performance. Combining the two fields enhances the robustness and generalizability of data analysis methods, while preserving the flexibility to solve real-world problems efficiently and intuitively.

This clearly-structured, classroom-tested textbook/reference presents a methodical introduction to the field of CI. Providing an authoritative insight into all that is necessary for the successful application of CI methods, the book describes fundamental concepts and their practical implementations, and explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems. Only a basic knowledge of mathematics is required. Features: provides electronic supplementary material at an associated website, including module descriptions, lecture slides, exercises with solutions, and software tools; contains numerous examples and definitions throughout the text; presents self-contained discussions on artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy systems and Bayesian networks; covers the latest approaches, including ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models; written by a team of highly-regarded experts in CI, with extensive experience in both academia and industry.

Each passing year bears witness to the development of ever more powerful computers, increasingly fast and cheap storage media, and even higher bandwidth data connections. This makes it easy to believe that we can now - at least in principle - solve any problem we are faced with so long as we only have enough data. Yet this is not the case. Although large databases allow us to retrieve many different single pieces of information and to compute simple aggregations, general patterns and regularities often go undetected. Furthermore, it is exactly these patterns, regularities and trends that are often most valuable. To avoid the danger of "drowning in information, but starving for knowledge" the branch of research known as data analysis has emerged, and a considerable number of methods and software tools have been developed. However, it is not these tools alone but the intelligent application of human intuition in combination with computational power, of sound background knowledge with computer-aided modeling, and of critical reflection with convenient automatic model construction, that results in successful intelligent data analysis projects. Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis provides a hands-on instructional approach to many basic data analysis techniques, and explains how these are used to solve data analysis problems. Topics and features: guides the reader through the process of data analysis, following the interdependent steps of project understanding, data understanding, data preparation, modeling, and deployment and monitoring; equips the reader with the necessary information in order to obtain hands-on experience of the topics under discussion; provides a review of the basics of classical statistics that support and justify many data analysis methods, and a glossary of statistical terms; includes numerous examples using R and KNIME, together with appendices introducing the open source software; integrates illustrations and case-study-style examples to support pedagogical exposition. This practical and systematic textbook/reference for graduate and advanced undergraduate students is also essential reading for all professionals who face data analysis problems. Moreover, it is a book to be used following one's exploration of it. Dr. Michael R. Berthold is Nycomed-Professor of Bioinformatics and Information Mining at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Dr. Christian Borgelt is Principal Researcher at the Intelligent Data Analysis and Graphical Models Research Unit of the European Centre for Soft Computing, Spain. Dr. Frank Hoeppner is Professor of Information Systems at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Dr. Frank Klawonn is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Head of the Data Analysis and Pattern Recognition Laboratory at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He is also Head of the Bioinformatics and Statistics group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Data Analysis, IDA 2003, held in Berlin, Germany in August 2003. The 56 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 180 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on machine learning, probability and topology, classification and pattern recognition, clustering, applications, modeling, and data processing.

Making use of data is not anymore a niche project but central to almost every project. With access to massive compute resources and vast amounts of data, it seems at least in principle possible to solve any problem. However, successful data science projects result from the intelligent application of: human intuition in combination with computational power; sound background knowledge with computer-aided modelling; and critical reflection of the obtained insights and results. Substantially updating the previous edition, then entitled Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis, this core textbook continues to provide a hands-on instructional approach to many data science techniques, and explains how these are used to solve real world problems. The work balances the practical aspects of applying and using data science techniques with the theoretical and algorithmic underpinnings from mathematics and statistics. Major updates on techniques and subject coverage (including deep learning) are included. Topics and features: guides the reader through the process of data science, following the interdependent steps of project understanding, data understanding, data blending and transformation, modeling, as well as deployment and monitoring; includes numerous examples using the open source KNIME Analytics Platform, together with an introductory appendix; provides a review of the basics of classical statistics that support and justify many data analysis methods, and a glossary of statistical terms; integrates illustrations and case-study-style examples to support pedagogical exposition; supplies further tools and information at an associated website. This practical and systematic textbook/reference is a "need-to-have" tool for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and essential reading for all professionals who face data science problems. Moreover, it is a "need to use, need to keep" resource following one's exploration of the subject.

This textbook provides a clear and logical introduction to the field, covering the fundamental concepts, algorithms and practical implementations behind efforts to develop systems that exhibit intelligent behavior in complex environments. This enhanced third edition has been fully revised and expanded with new content on deep learning, scalarization methods, large-scale optimization algorithms, and collective decision-making algorithms.  Features: provides supplementary material at an associated website; contains numerous classroom-tested examples and definitions throughout the text; presents useful insights into all that is necessary for the successful application of computational intelligence methods; explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems; discusses in great detail the classical areas of artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary algorithms; reviews the latest developments in the field, covering such topics as ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models.

This textbook provides a clear and logical introduction to the field, covering the fundamental concepts, algorithms and practical implementations behind efforts to develop systems that exhibit intelligent behavior in complex environments. This enhanced second edition has been fully revised and expanded with new content on swarm intelligence, deep learning, fuzzy data analysis, and discrete decision graphs. Features: provides supplementary material at an associated website; contains numerous classroom-tested examples and definitions throughout the text; presents useful insights into all that is necessary for the successful application of computational intelligence methods; explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems; discusses in great detail the classical areas of artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary algorithms; reviews the latest developments in the field, covering such topics as ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models.

Over the last forty years there has been a growing interest to extend probability theory and statistics and to allow for more flexible modelling of imprecision, uncertainty, vagueness and ignorance. The fact that in many real-life situations data uncertainty is not only present in the form of randomness (stochastic uncertainty) but also in the form of imprecision/fuzziness is but one point underlining the need for a widening of statistical tools. Most such extensions originate in a "softening" of classical methods, allowing, in particular, to work with imprecise or vague data, considering imprecise or generalized probabilities and fuzzy events, etc. About ten years ago the idea of establishing a recurrent forum for discussing new trends in the before-mentioned context was born and resulted in the first International Conference on Soft Methods in Probability and Statistics (SMPS) that was held in Warsaw in 2002. In the following years the conference took place in Oviedo (2004), in Bristol (2006) and in Toulouse (2008). In the current edition the conference returns to Oviedo. This edited volume is a collection of papers presented at the SMPS 2010 conference held in Mieres and Oviedo. It gives a comprehensive overview of current research into the fusion of soft methods with probability and statistics.

Eines der spannendsten Themen im Bereich intelligenter Systeme - von namhaften Autoren geschrieben - zum Lernen und Nachschlagen. Das Buch fuhrt in das Thema der Neuronalen Netze ein und weist daruber hinaus den Weg bis zum vollen Verstandnis modernster Fuzzy-Systeme. Neuronale Netze sind ein wichtiges Werkzeug in den Bereichen der Datenanalyse und Mustererkennung. Ursprunglich durch das biologische Vorbild inspiriert, wurde eine Vielfalt neuronaler Netze fur verschiedenste Anwendungen entwickelt. Ihre Kopplung mit Fuzzy-Systemen fuhrt zu den sogenannten Neuro-Fuzzy-Systemen. Diese weisen die Lernfahigkeit Neuronaler Netze auf und bieten gleichzeitig den Vorteil einer transparenten regelbasierten Struktur. Sie sind daher besonders vorteilhaft fur Anwendungsbereiche, in denen verstandliche Loesungen aus Daten erzeugt werden mussen.

Die Autoren behandeln umfassend zentrale Themen der Informatik von Kunstlichen Neuronalen Netzen, uber Evolutionare Algorithmen bis hin zu Fuzzy-Systemen und Bayes-Netzen. Denn: Der Anwendungsbereich "Computational Intelligence" erlangt durch viele erfolgreiche industrielle Produkte immer mehr an Bedeutung. Dieses Buch behandelt die zentralen Techniken dieses Gebiets und bettet sie in ein didaktisches Konzept ein, welches sich gezielt an Studierende und Lehrende der Informatik wendet. Fur die vorliegende 2. Auflage des Buches wurden alle Themenbereiche uberarbeitet, aktualisiert und zum Teil erweitert. Zusatzmaterialen wie Aufgaben, Loesungen und Foliensatze fur Vorlesungen sowie Beispiele aus der industriellen Anwendung betonen den praktischen Charakter des Buches.

Each passing year bears witness to the development of ever more powerful computers, increasingly fast and cheap storage media, and even higher bandwidth data connections. This makes it easy to believe that we can now - at least in principle - solve any problem we are faced with so long as we only have enough data. Yet this is not the case. Although large databases allow us to retrieve many different single pieces of information and to compute simple aggregations, general patterns and regularities often go undetected. Furthermore, it is exactly these patterns, regularities and trends that are often most valuable. To avoid the danger of "drowning in information, but starving for knowledge" the branch of research known as data analysis has emerged, and a considerable number of methods and software tools have been developed. However, it is not these tools alone but the intelligent application of human intuition in combination with computational power, of sound background knowledge with computer-aided modeling, and of critical reflection with convenient automatic model construction, that results in successful intelligent data analysis projects. Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis provides a hands-on instructional approach to many basic data analysis techniques, and explains how these are used to solve data analysis problems. Topics and features: guides the reader through the process of data analysis, following the interdependent steps of project understanding, data understanding, data preparation, modeling, and deployment and monitoring; equips the reader with the necessary information in order to obtain hands-on experience of the topics under discussion; provides a review of the basics of classical statistics that support and justify many data analysis methods, and a glossary of statistical terms; includes numerous examples using R and KNIME, together with appendices introducing the open source software; integrates illustrations and case-study-style examples to support pedagogical exposition. This practical and systematic textbook/reference for graduate and advanced undergraduate students is also essential reading for all professionals who face data analysis problems. Moreover, it is a book to be used following one's exploration of it. Dr. Michael R. Berthold is Nycomed-Professor of Bioinformatics and Information Mining at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Dr. Christian Borgelt is Principal Researcher at the Intelligent Data Analysis and Graphical Models Research Unit of the European Centre for Soft Computing, Spain. Dr. Frank Hoeppner is Professor of Information Systems at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Dr. Frank Klawonn is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Head of the Data Analysis and Pattern Recognition Laboratory at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He is also Head of the Bioinformatics and Statistics group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.