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When performing quality inspection of recycled paper one phenomenon of concern is the appearance of macroscopic undulations on the paper sheet surface that may emerge shortly or some time after its production. In this paper we explore the detection and measurement of this defect by means of computer vision and statistical pattern recognition techniques that may allow early detection at the production site. We propose features computed from Gabor Filter Banks (GFB) and Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) for the characterization of paper sheet surface bumpiness in recycled paper images. The lack of a precise definition of the defect and the great variability of the sheet deformation shapes and scales, both within each image and between images, introduce additional difficulties to the problem. We obtain, with both proposed modeling approaches (GFB and DWT), classification accuracies are comparable to the agreement between human observers. The best performance is obtained using DWT features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review two well-known citation methods to find relatedness between scientific papers: co-citation and bibliographic coupling. We propose a practical method to estimate the co-citation relatedness using the Google search engine. We call this method Web co-citation. We conducted experiments on a collection of scientific papers to compare the performances of different methods. The experimental results show that our approach, despite its simplicity, is efficient in discovering the relatedness between scientific papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The softened rolling contact of two paper machine rolls is considered. A regenerative excitation source can exists in the system due to the finite relaxation time of the roll cover polymer materials. The modeling of the rolls is described by multibody substructuring methodology and the polymer cover layer between the rolls in contact is modeled by contact spring reaction forces calculated according to the stiffness of the layer. The regenerative excitation is introduced to the system as a time delay term and it is calculated from the penetration history of the cover layer. The solution of the system equations is obtained by numerical time integration by utilizing the method of steps time delay equation solution procedure. Some numerical results are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study of the correlation between the humidity, density and matrix suction of non-plastic soil taken from a region located near the city of Rio de Janeiro. The study was conducted through laboratory tests, using minilysimeters and equipment that indirectly measured the humidity through soil suction: in effect, an automated tensiometer, an equivalence tensiometer (EQ2), a TDR and a specially adapted system, which measures the suction in situ, using filter paper. The electronic instruments were connected to a data logger and placed in three mini-lysimeters. Cycles of wetting and drying of the confined material were simulated. The soil was characterised. This characterisation enabled the determination of physical indexes, density, plasticity, grain size, porosity, and the characteristic curve of water retention, using the Richards pressure pan (cooker) test. The results obtained by the instruments, humidity and matrix suction, were compared with the characteristic curve. Overall, the equipment was satisfactory. The low presence of clay in this soil, around 7%, and its associated high porosity, were factors in limiting water retention. The equilibrium time of the soil humidity and the filter paper, obtained at intervals of fifteen days, presented better results than the weekly intervals (seven days). The equivalence tensiometer EQ2 compared to the filter paper presented quite efficient results for high suction values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dilip Madan and I worked on stochastic process models with stationary independent increments for the movement of log-prices at the University of Sydney in the period 1980-1990, and completed the 1990 paper [21] while respectively at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. The (symmetric) Variance- Gamma (VG) distribution for log-price increments and the VG stochastic process first appear in an Econometrics Discussion Paper in 1985 and two journal papers of 1987. The theme of the pre-1990 papers is estimation of parameters of log-price increment distributions that have real simple closed-form characteristic function, using this characteristic function directly on simulated data and Sydney Stock Exchange data. The present paper reviews the evolution of this theme, leading to the definitive theoretical study of the symmetric VG process in the 1990 paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the coupled vehicle-pedestrian delay problem, taking into account the interactions between vehicles and pedestrians. In a previous paper, we found that for a large pedestrian arrival probability, coupled inefficient oscillations of pedestrian and vehicle flows emerge when pedestrians cross the street with a small time gap to approaching cars (aggressive pedestrians), while both pedestrians and vehicles benefit, when they keep some overcritical time gap (careful pedestrians). In this paper, we take into account the fact that the crossing time of a pedestrian group increases with its size. Our simulations show that when the crossing time of the pedestrian group is considered, the situation of careful pedestrians changes qualitatively. While vehicle and pedestrian flows for a low vehicle flow rate and small pedestrian arrival probability are efficient, oscillations occur when the vehicle flow rate and/or the pedestrian arrival probability increase. We propose a variable speed limit implemented by a LED display to avoid the inefficiency of vehicle and pedestrian flows for careful pedestrians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by human's remarkable capability to perform a wide variety of physical and mental tasks without any measurements and computations and dissatisfied with classical logic as a tool for modeling human reasoning in an imprecise environment, Lotfi A. Zadeh developed the theory and foundation of fuzzy logic with his 1965 paper "Fuzzy Sets" [1] and extended his work with his 2005 paper "Toward a Generalized Theory of Uncertainty (GTU)—An Outline" [2]. Fuzzy logic has at least two main sources over the past century. The first of these sources was initiated by Peirce in the form what he called a logic of vagueness in 1900s, and the second source is Lotfi's A. Zadeh work, fuzzy sets and fuzzy Logic in the 1960s and 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows an agent based approach to solve the Tragedy of the Commons. This game is one of the well-known problems that involve sharing limited common resources. In this paper, to control the usage of common resources, we employ Levy Based Control Strategy and extend it with Autonomous Role Selection. In this approach, what levy plan of meta-agents should be used is very important to avoid the tragedy situation. Accordingly, we apply Genetic Algorithm (GA) to each agent to obtain evolutionally suitable levy plan. As a result, we show effectiveness of this approach and it depends on a fitness function of GA. Therefore, we examine the various fitness functions considered for a social balance and the importance of agents' role by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a comprehensive and updated survey on applications of Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM) to time series prediction (TSP). The main goal of the paper is to show that, despite being originally designed as an unsupervised learning algorithm, the SOM is flexible enough to give rise to a number of efficient supervised neural architectures devoted to TSP tasks. For each SOM-based architecture to be presented, we report its algorithm implementation in detail. Similarities and differences of such SOM-based TSP models with respect to standard linear and nonlinear TSP techniques are also highlighted. We conclude the paper with indications of possible directions for further research on this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzzy classification is one of the most important applications of fuzzy logic. Its goal is to find a set of fuzzy rules which describe classification problems. Most of the existing fuzzy rule induction methods (e.g., the fuzzy decision trees induction method) focus on searching rules consisting of t-norms (i.e., AND) only, but not t-conorms (OR) explicitly. This may lead to the omission of generating important rules which involve t-conorms explicitly. This paper proposes a type of tree termed pattern trees which make use of different aggregations including both t-norms and t-conorms. Like decision trees, pattern trees are an effective machine learning tool for classification applications. This paper discusses the difference between decision trees and pattern trees, and also shows that the subsethood based method (SBM) and the weighted subsethood based method (WSBM) are two specific cases of pattern trees, with each having a fixed pattern tree structure. A novel pattern tree induction method is proposed. The comparison to other classification methods including SBM, WSBM and fuzzy decision tree induction over datasets obtained from UCI dataset repository shows that pattern trees can obtain higher accuracy rates in classifications. In addition, pattern trees are capable of generating classifiers with good generality, while decision trees can easily fall into the trap of over-fitting. According to two different configurations, simple pattern trees and pattern trees have been distinguished. The former not only produce high prediction accuracy, but also preserve compact tree structures, while the latter can produce even better accuracy, but as a compromise produce more complex tree structures. Subject to the particular demands (comprehensibility or performance), simple pattern trees and pattern trees provide an effective methodology for real world applications. Weighted pattern trees have been proposed in which certain weights are assigned to different trees, to reflect the nature that different trees may have different confidences. The experiments on British Telecom (BT) customer satisfaction dataset show that weighted pattern trees can slightly outperform pattern trees, and both are slightly better than fuzzy decision trees in terms of prediction accuracy. In addition, the experiments show that both weighted and unweighted pattern trees are robust to over-fitting. Finally, a limitation of pattern trees as revealed via BT dataset analysis is discussed and the research direction is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a mathematical model of a hint as a body of imprecise and uncertain information. Hints are used to judge hypotheses: the degree to which a hint supports a hypothesis and the degree to which a hypothesis appears as plausible in the light of a hint are defined. This leads in turn to support- and plausibility functions. Those functions are characterized as set functions which are normalized and monotone or alternating of order ∞. This relates the present work to G. Shafer's mathematical theory of evidence. However, whereas Shafer starts out with an axiomatic definition of belief functions, the notion of a hint is considered here as the basic element of the theory. It is shown that a hint contains more information than is conveyed by its support function alone. Also hints allow for a straightforward and logical derivation of Dempster's rule for combining independent and dependent bodies of information. This paper presents the mathematical theory of evidence for general, infinite frames of discernment from the point of view of a theory of hints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using vehicle trajectories for a motorway collected from a helicopter, and a newly developed approach to parameter identification, this paper provides new empirical evidence of multi-anticipative car-following by estimating the driver-specific parameters of the different multi-anticipative car-following models. We investigate the nature of the multi-leader stimuli, providing insight into the number of vehicles ahead to which drivers react and the kind of stimuli drivers respond to. The paper also shows that there is large inter-driver variability in multi-leader driving behavior. The implications of our research findings for microscopic modeling are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insights into pedestrian behavior, and tools to predict this behavior, are essential in the planning and design of public pedestrian facilities, such as transfer stations, shopping malls, and airports. Both macroscopic features of pedestrian flows and microscopic walking behavior underlying these features are important. This paper discusses findings from an experiment with crossing pedestrian flows, and in particular the free speed distribution of the participating pedestrians. Available free speed estimation methods developed for car traffic appear to be not suited for pedestrian traffic. This paper presents a dedicated adaptation of a method used for car traffic, with satisfactory results in pedestrian crossing flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. With epistemological insight and artificial intelligence techniques, our aim is to reconstruct Claude Bernard's empirical investigations with a computational model. We suppose that Claude Bernard had in mind what we call "kernel models" that contain the basic physiological concepts upon which Claude Bernard builds his general physiological theory. The "kernel models" provide a simplified view of physiology, where the internal environment - the so-called "milieu int´erieur" -, mainly the blood, plays an essential role. According to this perspective, we assume that the "kernel models" allow Claude Bernard to make some hypotheses and to draw out their logical consequences. More precisely, the role of the "kernel models" is twofold: on the one hand, they help to generate and manage working hypotheses, for instance to enumerate the probable effects of a toxic substance, on the other hand, they derive, by simulation, the most plausible consequences of each of those hypotheses. We shall show how those "kernel models" can be specified using both description logics and multi-agent systems. Then, the paper will explain how it is possible to build, on these "kernel models", a virtual experiment laboratory, which lets us construct and conduct virtual experiments that play a role similar to the role of thought experiments. More generally, the paper constitutes an attempt to correlate Claude Bernard's experiments, achieved to corroborate or refute some of his working hypotheses, to virtual experiments emulated on "kernel models". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. Retaining functionality of a mobile robot in the presence of faults is of particular interest in autonomous robotics. From our experiences in robotics we know that hardware is one of the weak points in mobile robots. In this paper we present the foundations of a system that automatically monitors the driving device of a mobile robot. In case of a detected fault, e.g., a broken motor, the system automatically re-configures the robot in order to allow to reach a certain position. The described system is based on a generalized model of the motion hardware. The path-planner has only to change its behavior in case of a serious damage. The high-level control system remains the same. In the paper we present the model and the foundations of the diagnosis and re-configuration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Variance-Gamma (VG) process was introduced by Dilip B. Madan and Eugene Seneta as a model for asset returns in a paper that appeared in 1990, and subsequently used for option pricing in a 1991 paper by Dilip and Frank Milne. This paper serves as a tutorial overview of VG and Monte Carlo, including three methods for sequential simulation of the process, two bridge sampling methods, variance reduction via importance sampling, and estimation of the Greeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we suggest that Evolutionary Algorithms could be utilized in order to let the COMMONS GAME, one of the most popular environmental games, become much more exciting. In order to attain this objective, we utilize Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms to generate various skilled players. Further, we suggest that Evolutionary Programming could be utilized to find out an appropriate point of each card at the COMMONS GAME. Several game playings utilizing the new rule of the COMMONS GAME confirm the effectiveness of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to supply web contents for PC to various multi platform device as PDA or portable device. The conventional studies could not consider these devices, so it created mobile contents beforehand, and then transmitted to the limited mobile device. In this point, the critical problem is to generate mobile contents which are suitable for all kinds of mobile device from PC Web content. This paper propose a service system for transmitting wire web content to various portable device by using MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework. It does not create mobile contents for each device. It just uses DIDL of MEPG-21 as intermediate language to express the structure, resource and description of mobile contents. In DIDL, the multimedia resource is transcoded in off-line previously. The description part is converted in real time as soon as service is requested by end-user. Mobile contents integrate adapted resource with appropriate description and then are transmitted. In addition, this paper proposes the Multi-level caching for reusing mobile contents and describes the result in experiment system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at investigating suction induced by static compaction in clay specimens. To this end, kaolin powders prepared at target water contents were statically compacted in a shear box apparatus. Trento (TNT) high-suction tensiometers (0-1800 kPa) were in stalled through the loading pad to monitor suction changes during the loading-unloading paths. Specimens were compacted at water contents ranging from 0.22 to 0.30 and at vertical stresses of 300,600, and 1200 kPa. This made it possible to explore abroad spectrum of compaction conditions. Experimental results are presented and discussed in the paper. The most striking aspect of the results is that suction of unloaded specimens increased as degree of saturation increased. This can be explained by the dependency of the main wetting curve upon void ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the new challenges and the roles of metada and metainformation in the area of text/data mining in the area of statistics. In the first part, the paper is presenting some basic characteristics of the contemporary statistical information systems from the point of view of the needs for utilization of metadata and data/text mining. As it is well known, modern statistical systems are characterized by an enormous amounts of various statistical data what requires also specific methods and technologies for their processing. In the second part the mutual relations between metadata and metainformation are analysed and some conclusions and recommendations for the further research and development in that problem areas are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This chapter is based on, and expanded from, Chapters 11, 12 and 14 of [4] which is about using fuzzy probabilities and fuzzy sets in web site planning. So the queuing network considered in this chapter is within a web site. For other papers/chapters in books, on this topic of fuzzy queuing theory, we refer the reader to ([2],[3],[6],[7],[10]) and the references in these papers/books. In the next section we discuss the crisp queuing optimization problem and then we fuzzify the optimization problem in the third section. In the fourth section we present our fuzzy Monte Carlo method and how we will generate sequences of random fuzzy vectors. Our fuzzy Monte Carlo solution to the fuzzy queuing optimization problem is the fifth section and the last section has a summary and our conclusions. All the fuzzy numbers used in this chapter, except fuzzy profit starting in Section 16.3, will be non-negative. We will program our fuzzy Monte Carlo method in MATLAB [8]. This chapter is also based on [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Document Analysis and Recognition (DAR) aims at the automatic extraction of information presented on paper and initially addressed to human comprehension. The desired output of DAR systems is usually in a suitable symbolic representation that can subsequently be processed by computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of a team of weak learners to learn a dataset has been shown better than the use of one single strong learner. In fact, the idea is so successful that boosting, an algorithm combining several weak learners for supervised learning, has been considered to be one of the best off-the-shelf classifiers. However, some problems still remain, including determining the optimal number of weak learners and the overfitting of data. In an earlier work, we developed the RPHP algorithm which solves both these problems by using a combination of genetic algorithm, weak learner and pattern distributor. In this paper, we revise the global search component by replacing it with a cluster-based combinatorial optimization. Patterns are clustered according to the output space of the problem, i.e., natural clusters are formed based on patterns belonging to each class. A combinatorial optimization problem is therefore formed, which is solved using evolutionary algorithms. The evolutionary algorithms identify the "easy" and the "difficult" clusters in the system. The removal of the easy patterns then gives way to the focused learning of the more complicated patterns. The problem therefore becomes recursively simpler. Overfitting is overcome by using a set of validation patterns along with a pattern distributor. An algorithm is also proposed to use the pattern distributor to determine the optimal number of recursions and hence the optimal number of weak learners for the problem. Empirical studies show generally good performance when compared to other state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene expression data from microarray has very high dimensionality, resulting in extremely large sample covariance matrices. In this paper, we investigate the applicability of the block principal components analysis and a variable selection method based on principal components loadings for dimension reduction prior to performing discriminant analysis on the data. In such cases, because of high correlations among variables, the Mahalanobis distances between clusters becomes very large due to ill-conditioning. It is shown in this paper that the Mahalanobis distance is unreliable when the condition number of the covariance matrix exceeds 480,000 or the natural log of the determinant of the covariance matrix is less than −26.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A body of evidence in the sense of Shafer can be viewed as an extension of a probability measure, but as a generalized set as well. In this paper we adopt the second point of view and study the algebraic structure of bodies of evidence on a set, based on extended set union, intersection and complementation. Several notions of inclusion are exhibited and compared to each other. Inclusion is used to compare a body of evidence to the product of its projections. Lastly, approximations of a body of evidence under the form of fuzzy sets are derived, in order to squeeze plausibility values between two grades of possibility. Through all the paper, it is pointed out that a body of evidence can account for conjunctive as well as a disjunctive information, i.e. the focal elements can be viewed either as sets of actual values or as restrictions on the (unique) value of a variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group selection of one alternative from a set of feasible ones should be based on the preferences of individuals in the group. Decision making procedures are usually based on pair comparisons, in the sense that processes are linked to some degree of credibility of preference. The main advantage of pairwise comparison is that of focusing exclusively on two alternatives at a time and on how they are related. However, it generates more information that needed and therefore inconsistent information may be generated. This paper addresses both preference representation and consistency of preferences issues in group decision making. Different preference representation formats individuals can use to model or present their preferences on a set of alternatives in a group decision making situation are reviewed. The results regarding the relationships between these preference representation formats mean that the fuzzy preference relation "is preferred to" representing the strength of preference of one alternative over another in the scale [0,1] can be used as the base element to integrate these different preference representation formats in group decision making situations. Due to the complexity of most decision making problems, individuals' preferences may not satisfy formal properties that fuzzy preference relations are required to verify. Consistency is one of them, and it is associated with the transitivity property. Many properties have been suggested to model transitivity of fuzzy preference relations. As aforementioned, this paper provides an overview of the main results published in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses traffic flow data collected in the Lefortovo tunnel (Moscow) in 2004/05. First, it shows the presence of cooperative traffic dynamics in this tunnel and, second, studies the phase portrait of the vehicle ensemble in the velocity-density plane. In particular, the regions of regular and stochastic dynamics are found and the presence of dynamical traps is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-phase signal control method is one of the important measures to enhance intersection capacities and alleviate urban traffic problems. This paper employs the stopping-line-method to study the capacity model of cross multi-phase signalized intersections and analyses the relevant change of the intersection capacity and cycle length. It studies the intersection capacity in detail under two normal situations, one with one straight lane and one left-turn lane, and the other with two straight lanes and one left-turn lane. Finally, a practical intersection is chosen and its phase design is improved by the method proposed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection, identification and tracking of multiple moving targets have important applications in transportation and vehicle control areas. In this paper we present our approach to detect, recognize and track the vehicles within the detection region of a moving probe vehicle, based on the data collected by multiple sensors, including LIDAR and GPS. This paper develops a methodology to group the LIDAR measurements into targets, classify the targets as vehicles or fixed objects, and track the vehicular targets within lanes using a Kalman-filter. One important feature of this approach is that we track all of the observations in world coordinates, allowing us to average over many samples and ideally many runs to differentiate between the fixed objects (road boundaries) and moving objects (vehicles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that including the effects of lane-changing activity in kinematic wave theory reveals the physical mechanisms and reproduces the main empirical features that motivated Kerner's three-phase theory. This is shown using a hybrid representation of traffic flow where lane-changing vehicles are treated as discrete particles with realistic accelerations embedded in a continuous multilane kinematic wave stream. We show that this parsimonious four-parameter model reproduces the three phases identified by Kerner, including phase transitions and jam formation. We conclude that synchronized flow and wide-moving jams differ only in their lane-changing spatiotemporal patterns, but obey the same conservation laws and boundary conditions. Freeway segments with one, two and three junctions are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a fluidodynamic model for traffic flow. More precisely, we consider a single conservation law, deduced from the conservation of the number of cars, defined on a road network that is a collection of roads with junctions. The evolution problem is underdetermined at junctions, hence we choose to have some fixed rules for the distribution of traffic plus an optimization criteria for the flux. We prove existence of solutions to the Cauchy problem and we show that the Lipschitz continuous dependence by initial data does not hold. Our method is based on wave front tracking approach, see [4]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agent-based and cellular automata models have been widely used in an efficient and effective way for studying granular traffic, but rarely considering the combined effect and interactions of pedestrians and vehicles in urban networks. So from this point of view an attempt has been made to develop a virtual urban environment which considers both vehicular and pedestrian traffic and the interactions arising from their behavior. This paper presents details of the model we have developed. For vehicular traffic a cellular automata model, combining and appropriately modifying (e.g. to account for the pedestrian movement) BML, NaSch and ChSch models, is considered. Pedestrian traffic is simulated using simple behavioral rules combined with an agent-based approach. Different constraints affecting the mobility of the whole system are considered, which can be seen and even changed by the user in the simulated environment. The model belongs to the microscopic category where pedestrians/vehicles behave in their environment by making a sequence of decisions. The interactions among vehicles and pedestrians are also incorporated which signifies various effects, ranging from accident risk of pedestrians to the generation of traffic jams. NetLogo which is a multi-agent based modeling language is used as the programming platform for the simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the numerical approximation of the solutions of a macroscopic model for the description of the flow of pedestrians. Solutions of the associated Riemann problem are known to be possibly nonclassical in the sense that the underlying discontinuities may well violate Oleinik inequalities, which makes their numerical approximation very sensitive. This study proposes to apply the Transport-Equilibrium strategy proposed in [2] for computing nonclassical solutions of scalar conservation laws to this framework. Numerical evidences are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the validity of first-order traffic flow theory to describe two-dimensional pedestrian flow operations in case of an oversaturated bottleneck upstream of which a large high-density region has formed. Pedestrians passing the same cross-section inside of the congested region appear to encounter different flow conditions. In the lateral center, high densities and low speeds are observed. However, on the boundary of the congested region, pedestrians may walk in nearly free flow conditions. Visualising pedestrian flow data in the flow-density plane results in a large scatter of points having similar flows (bottleneck capacity), but different densities. Observations on congestion of pedestrian traffic over the total width of the cross-section are found to belong to a set of different fundamental diagrams instead of a single one. This has consequences for the estimation of the fundamental diagram describing pedestrian traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a new type of computation called ‘‘Morphic Computing''. Morphic Computing is based on Field Theory and more specifically Morphic Fields. We claim that Morphic Computing is a natural extension of Holographic Computation, Quantum Computation, Soft Computing, and DNA Computing. All natural computations bonded by the Turing Machine can be formalised and extended by our new type of computation model - Morphic Computing. In this paper, we introduce the basis for this new computing paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on two essential topics of the fuzzy area. The first is the reduction of fuzzy rule bases. The classical inference methods of fuzzy systems deal with dense rule bases where the universe of discourse is fully covered. By applying sparse or hierarchical rule bases the computational complexity can be decreased. The second subject of the paper is the introduction of some fuzzy rule base identification techniques. In some cases the fuzzy rule base might be given by a human expert, but usually there are only numerical patterns available and an automatic method has to be applied to determine the fuzzy rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human decision making procedures in problems related with analysis of time series data bases (TSDB) often use perceptions like "several days", "high price", "quickly increasing" etc. Computing with Words and Perceptions can be used to formalize perception based expert knowledge and inference mechanisms defined on numerical domains of TSDB. For extraction from TSDB perception based information relevant to decision making problems it is necessary to develop methods of perception based time series data mining (PTSDM). The paper considers different approaches used in analysis of time series databases for description of perception based patterns and discusses some methods of PTSDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution deals with developments in the history of philosophy, logic, and mathematics during the time before and up to the beginning of fuzzy logic. Even though the term "fuzzy" was introduced by Lotfi A. Zadeh in 1964/65, it should be noted that older concepts of "vagueness" and "haziness" had previously been discussed in philosophy, logic, mathematics, applied sciences, and medicine. This paper delineates some specific paths through the history of the use of these "loose concepts". Vagueness was avidly discussed in the fields of logic and philosophy during the first decades of the 20$th$ century - particularly in Vienna, at Cambridge and in Warsaw and Lvov. An interesting sequel to these developments can be seen in the work of the Polish physician and medical philosopher Ludwik Fleck. Haziness and fuzziness were concepts of interest in mathematics and engineering during the second half of the 1900s. The logico-philosophical history presented here covers the work of Bertrand Russell, Max Black, and others. The mathematical-technical history deals with the theories founded by Karl Menger and Lotfi Zadeh. Menger's concepts of probabilistic metrics, hazy sets (ensembles flous) and micro geometry as well as Zadeh's theory of fuzzy sets paved the way for the establishment of soft computing methods using vague concepts that connote the nonexistence of sharp boundaries. The intention of this chapter is to show that these developments (historical and philosophical) were preparatory work for the introduction of soft computing as an artificial intelligence approach in 20th century technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. In recent philosophical studies on technological artefacts, an idea of dual nature of artefacts has been emphasized. Although this idea of dual nature is not a novel one, recent studies have extensively developed ontological aspects of technological artefacts. According to various authors there are two constitutive elements of technological artefacts that can be described in terms of physical properties of objects and intentional action. In this paper, ontology of artefacts is connected to issues discussed by C.S. Peirce under topics of abductive reasoning and philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. This paper addresses the different models and their functions in cognitive science. First, this paper discusses the various uses and meanings of various models in science and two kinds of functions of each model such as idealizations and representations of the real world. In cognitive science, cognitive architectures were used as cognitive models. Second, this paper discusses Neil Stillings' global cognitive architecture as well as an example. In addition, this paper focuses on several forms of cognitive models including the von Neumann model, symbol system model and production system model. Further, it was argued that the connectionist model was a better approach to understanding the mechanisms of human cognition through the use of simulated networks of simple, neuron-like processing units. Finally, four models in neuroscience were addressed, being: different models of sensory processing, Marshall-Newcombe's symbolic model of reading, model of memory system, and Mishkin-Appenzeller's model of visual memory functions. These models are approaches to physical implementation, not a computational approach to cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. In this paper we critically analyze the use of multiagent systems for performing simulations of biological processes. From the one hand, the possibility of associating different elements of a biological process to independent computing entities, called agents, makes multiagent systems a powerful and flexible tool for simulation. From the other hand, the weak validation of the results obtained makes multiagent-based simulations hard to trust. We discuss these issues by referring to a specific example, the simulation of a signal transduction pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. In this paper we present a method to construct fuzzy-valued t-norms and t-conorms, i.e. operations which map pairs of lattice elements to fuzzy sets, and are commutative, associative and monotone. The fuzzy-valued t-norm and t-conorm are synthesized from their á-cuts which are obtained from families of multi-valued t-norms and t-conorms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. Recent discoveries in neuroscience imply that the basic computational elements are the dendrites that make up more than 50% of a cortical neuron's membrane. Neuroscientists now believe that the basic computation units are dendrites, capable of computing simple logic functions. This paper discusses two types of neural networks that take advantage of these new discoveries. The focus of this paper is on some learning algorithms in the two neural networks. Learning is in terms of lattice computations that take place in the dendritic structure as well as in the cell body of the neurons used in this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probabilistic graphical models, such as Bayesian networks, allow representing conditional independence information of random variables. These relations are graphically represented by the presence and absence of arcs and edges between vertices. Probabilistic graphical models are nonunique representations of the independence information of a joint probability distribution. However, the concept of Markov equivalence of probabilistic graphical models is able to offer unique representations, called essential graphs. In this survey paper the theory underlying these concepts is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of the paper are as follows: (i) review some qualitative properties of oil and gas prices in the last 15 years; (ii) propose some mathematical elements towards a definition of mean reversion that would not be reduced to the form of the drift in a stochastic differential equation; (iii) conduct econometric tests in order to conclude whether mean reversion still exists in the energy commodity price behavior. Regarding the third point, a clear "break" in the properties of oil and natural gas prices and volatility can be exhibited in the period 2000-2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews and extends the mathematical finance literature on bubbles in complete markets. We provide a new characterization theorem for bubbles under the standard no-arbitrage framework, showing that bubbles can be of three types. Type 1 bubbles are uniformly integrable martingales, and these can exist with an infinite lifetime. Type 2 bubbles are nonuniformly integrable martingales, and these can exist for a finite, but unbounded, lifetime. Last, Type 3 bubbles are strict local martingales, and these can exist for a finite lifetime only. When one adds a no-dominance assumption (from Merton [24]), only Type 1 bubbles remain. In addition, under Merton's no-dominance hypothesis, put-call parity holds and there are no bubbles in standard call and put options. Our analysis implies that if one believes asset price bubbles exist and are an important economic phenomena, then asset markets must be incomplete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most financial asset-pricing models assume frictionless competitive markets that imply the absence of arbitrage opportunities. Given the absence of ar-bitrage opportunities and complete asset markets, there exists a unique martingale measure that implies martingale pricing formulae and replicating asset portfolios. In incomplete markets, or markets with transaction costs, these results must be modified to admit nonunique measures and the possibility of imperfectly replicating portfolios. Similar di3culties arise in markets with taxation. Some theoretical research has argued that some taxation functions will imply arbitrage opportunities and the nonexistence of a competitive asset economy. In this paper we construct a multiperiod, discrete time/state general equilibrium model of asset markets with transaction costs and taxes. The transaction cost technology and the tax system are quite general, so that we can include most discrete time/state models with transaction costs and taxation. We show that a competitive equilibrium exists. Our results require careful modeling of the government budget constraints to rule out tax arbi-trage possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-organization techniques based on promoters and inhibitors has been intensively studied in biological systems. Promoters enable an on-demand amplification of reactions to a particular cause. This allows to react quickly with appropriate countermeasures. On the other hand, inhibitors are capable of regulating this uncontrolled amplification by suppressing the reaction. In this paper, we demonstrate the applicability of these mechanisms in a network security scenario consisting of network monitoring elements, attack detection, and firewall devices. Previous work identified most existing detection approaches as not suitable for high-speed networks. This problem can be alleviated by separating the methodologies for network monitoring and for subsequent data analysis. In this paper, we present an adaptation algorithm that allows to manage the individual configuration parameters in order to optimize the overall system. We show the advantages of self-regulating techniques based on promoters and inhibitors that lead to maximized security and that gracefully degradate in case of overload situations. We created a simulation model to verify the algorithms. The results of the conducted simulations encourage further studies in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper suggests design methods for reconfigurable hierarchical finite state machines (RHFSM), which possess two following important features: (1) they enable the control algorithms to be divided in modules providing direct support for "divide and conquer" strategy; (2) they allow for static and dynamic reconfiguration. Run-time reconfiguration permits virtual control systems to be constructed, including systems that are more complex than capabilities of available hardware. It is shown that RHFSM can be synthesised from specification in form of hierarchical graph-schemes with the aid of the considered in the paper VHDL templates. The results of experiments show correctness of the proposed methods and their applicability for the design of engineering systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]