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.
Fuzzy sets were introduced in 1965 by Lotfi Zadeh with a view to reconcile mathematical modeling and human knowledge in the engineering sciences. Since then, a considerable body of literature has blossomed around the concept of fuzzy sets in an incredibly wide range of areas, from mathematics and logic to traditional and advanced engineering methodologies (from civil engineering to computational intelligence). Applications are found in many contexts, from medicine to finance, from human factors to consumer products, from vehicle control to computational linguistics, and so on.... Fuzzy logic is now used in the industrial practice of advanced information technology.
As a consequence of this trend, the number of conferences and publications on fuzzy logic has grown exponentially, and it becomes very difficult for students, newcomers, and even scientists already familiar with some aspects of fuzzy sets, to find their way in the maze of fuzzy papers. Notwithstanding circumstantial edited volumes, numerous fuzzy books have appeared, but, if we except very few comprehensive balanced textbooks, they are either very specialized monographs, or remain at a rather superficial level. Some are even misleading, conveying more ideology and unsustained claims than actual scientific contents.