János Fodor – författare

Soft computing, intelligent robotics and control are in the core interest of contemporary engineering. Essential characteristics of soft computing methods are the ability to handle vague information, to apply human-like reasoning, their learning capability and ease of application. Soft computing techniques are widely applied in the control of dynamic systems, including mobile robots. The present volume is a collection of 20 chapters written by respectable experts of the fields, addressing various theoretical and practical aspects in soft computing, intelligent robotics and control.

The first part of the book concerns with issues of intelligent robotics, including robust xed point transformation design, experimental verification of the input-output feedback linearization of differentially driven mobile robot and applying kinematic synthesis to micro electro-mechanical systems design.

The second part of the book is devoted to fundamental aspects of soft computing. This includes practical aspects of fuzzy rule interpolation, subjective weights based meta learning in multi criteria decision making, swarm-based heuristics for an area exploration and knowledge driven adaptive product representations.

The last part addresses different problems, issues and methods of applied mathematics. This includes perturbation estimates for invariant subspaces of Hessenberg matrices, uncertainty and nonlinearity modelling by probabilistic metric spaces and comparison and visualization of the DNA of six primates.

Soft computing, as a collection of techniques exploiting approximation and tolerance for imprecision and uncertainty in traditionally intractable problems, has become very effective and popular especially because of the synergy derived from its components. The integration of constituent technologies provides complementary methods that allow developing flexible computing tools and solving complex problems. A wide area of natural applications of soft computing techniques consists of the control of dynamic systems, including robots. Loosely speaking, control can be understood as driving a process to attain a desired goal. Intelligent control can be seen as an extension of this concept, to include autonomous human-like interactions of a machine with the environment. Intelligent robots can be characterized by the ability to operate in an uncertain, changing environment with the help of appropriate sensing. They have the power to autonomously plan and execute motion sequences to achieve a goal specified by a human user without detailed instructions. In this volume leading specialists address various theoretical and practical aspects in soft computing, intelligent robotics and control. The problems discussed are taken from fuzzy systems, neural networks, interactive evolutionary computation, intelligent mobile robotics, and intelligent control of linear and nonlinear dynamic systems.

Intelligent engineering systems try to replicate fundamental abilities of humans and nature in order to achieve sufficient progress in solving complex problems. In an ideal case multi-disciplinary applications of different modern engineering fields can result in synergistic effects. Information technology and computer modeling are the underlying tools that play a major role at any stages of developing intelligent systems. Chapters in the present volume have been written by eminent scientists from different parts of the world, dealing with challenging problems for efficient modeling of intelligent systems. The reader can find different characteristics and methodologies of computational intelligence with real life applications. Various facets of intelligent engineering and information technology are addressed. Starting with theoretical issues from pseudo-analysis to parametric classes of digital fuzzy conjunctions for hardware implementation of fuzzy systems, diverse aspects of control including quantum as well as fuzzy control and hybrid approaches, intelligent robotics dealing with mobile and autonomous robots and new trends, approaches and results on information technology, machines, materials and manufacturing, and issues of intelligent systems and complex processes are covered.

This volume is a collection of 19 chapters on intelligent engineering systems written by respectable experts of the fields. The book consists of three parts.

The first part is devoted to the foundational aspects of computational intelligence. It consists of 8 chapters that include studies in genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic connectives, enhanced intelligence in product models, nature-inspired optimization technologies, particle swarm optimization, evolution algorithms, model complexity of neural networks, and fitness landscape analysis.

The second part contains contributions to intelligent computation in networks, presented in 5 chapters. The covered subjects include the application of self-organizing maps for early detection of denial of service attacks, combating security threats via immunity and adaptability in cognitive radio networks, novel modifications in WSN network design for improved SNR and reliability, a conceptual framework for the design of audio based cognitive infocommunication channels, and a case study on the advantages of fuzzy and anytime signal- and image processing techniques.

Computational intelligence represents a widely spread interdisciplinary research area with many applications in various disciplines including engineering, medicine, technology, environment, among others. Therefore, third part of this book consists of 6 chapters on applications. This is a very important part of the volume because the reader can find in it a wide range of fields where computational intelligence plays a significant role.

This carefully edited book comprises the papers from EUROFUSE 2011 Workshop on Fuzzy Methods for Knowledge-based Systems. EUROFUSE was established in 1998 as the EURO (the Association of European Operational Research Societies) Working Group on Fuzzy Sets, as a successor of the former European Chapter of IFSA (the International Fuzzy Systems Association). The present EUROFUSE 2011 workshop is held at Régua, Portugal, 21-23 September, in the World Heritage Site of the Douro Wine Region and is organised by Pedro Melo-Pinto and Pedro Couto. The workshop is devoted to Fuzzy Methods for Knowledge-based Systems. And has the goal to bring together researchers and practitioners developing and applying fuzzy techniques in preference modelling and decision making in an informal atmosphere.

EUROFUSE 2011 has three distinguished invited speakers: Francisco Herrera (Granada, Spain), Radko Mesiar (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Jose Luis Garcia Lapresta (Valladolid, Spain). Next to the invited speakers, the three day program consists of 37 lectures. In total, there are 70 participants from 10 countries. This edited volume contains the final revised manuscripts on the basis of which the program was put together.

            The book provides a sample of research on the innovative theory and applications of soft computing paradigms.

            The idea of Soft Computing was initiated in 1981 when Professor Zadeh published his first paper on soft data analysis and constantly evolved ever since. Professor Zadeh defined Soft Computing as the fusion of the fields of fuzzy logic (FL), neural network theory (NN) and probabilistic reasoning (PR), with the latter subsuming belief networks, evolutionary computing including DNA computing, chaos theory and parts of learning theory into one multidisciplinary system. As Zadeh said the essence of soft computing is that unlike the traditional, hard computing, soft computing is aimed at an accommodation with the pervasive imprecision of the real world. Thus, the guiding principle of soft computing is to exploit the tolerance for imprecision, uncertainty and partial truth to achieve tractability, robustness, low solution cost and better rapport with reality. In the final analysis, the role model for soft computing is the human mind.

            We hope that the reader will share our excitement and find our volume both useful and inspiring.

                This volume contains the Proceedings of the 5thInternational Workshop on Soft Computing Applications (SOFA 2012).

                               The book covers a broad spectrum of soft computing techniques, theoretical and practical applications employing knowledge and intelligence to find solutions for world industrial, economic and medical problems. The combination of such intelligent systems tools and a large number of applications introduce a need for a synergy of scientific and technological disciplines in order to show the great potential of Soft Computing in all domains.

                The conference papers included in these proceedings, published post conference, were grouped into the following area of research:

·         Soft Computing and Fusion Algorithms in Biometrics,

·         Fuzzy Theory, Control andApplications,

·         Modelling and Control Applications,

·         Steps towards Intelligent Circuits,

·         Computational Intelligence for Biomedical Applications,

·         Neural Networks and Applications,

·         Intelligent Systems for Image Processing,

·         Knowledge Management for Business Process and Enterprise Modelling.

                The combination of intelligent systems tools and a large number of applications introduce a need for a synergy of scientific and technological disciplines in order to show the great potential of Soft Computing in all domains.

High levels of uncertainty are a trademark of geological investigations, such as the search for oil, diamonds, and uranium. So business ventures related to geology, such as mineral exploration and mining, are naturally associated with higher risks than more traditional entrepreneurial ventures in industry and economy. There are also a number of dangerous natural hazards, e.g. earthquakes, volcanic activities, and inundations, that are the direct result of geological processes. It is of paramount interest to study them all, to describe them, to understand their origin and - if possible - to predict them. While uncertainties, geological risks and natural hazards are often mentioned in geological textbooks, conferences papers, and articles, no comprehensive and systematic evaluation has so far been attempted. This book, written at an appropriately sophisticated level to deal with complexity of these problems, presents a detailed evaluation of the entire problem, discussing it from both, the geological and the mathematical aspects.