A Rough Set-Based Fuzzy Clustering

This paper presents a clustering method for nominal and numerical data based on rough set theory. We represent relative similarity between objects as a weighted sum of two types of distances: the Hamming distance for nominal data and the Mahalanobis distance for numerical data. On assigning initial equivalence relations to every object, modification of slightly different equivalence relations is performed to suppress excessive generation of categories. The optimal clustering result can be obtained by evaluating the cluster validity over all clusters generated with various values of similarity thresholds. After classification has been performed, features of each class are extracted based on the concept of value reduct. Experimental results on artificial data and amino acid data show that this method can deal well with both types of attributes.

Theories of fuzzy sets and rough sets are powerful mathematical tools for modelling various types of uncertainty. Molodtsov (Comput Math Appl 37:19–31, 1999 [6]) initiated a novel concept called soft sets, a new mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainties. It has been found that fuzzy sets, rough sets, and soft sets are closely related concepts (Aktas and Cagman in Inf Sci 1(77):2726–2735, 2007 [1]). Research works on soft sets are very active and progressing rapidly in these years. In 2001, Maji et al. (J Fuzzy Math 9(3):589–602, 2001 [5]) proposed the idea of intuitionistic fuzzy soft set theory and established some results on them. Based on an equivalence relation on the universe of discourse, Dubois and Prade (Int J Gen Syst 17:191–209, 1990 [3]) introduced the lower and upper approximation of fuzzy sets in a Pawlak approximation space and obtained a new notion called rough fuzzy sets. Feng et al. (Soft Compt 14:899–911, 2009 [4]) introduced lower and upper soft rough approximation of fuzzy sets in a soft approximation space and obtained a new hybrid model called soft rough fuzzy sets which is the extension of Dubois and Prade’s rough fuzzy sets. The aim of this chapter is to consider lower and upper soft rough intuitionistic fuzzy approximation of intuitionistic fuzzy sets in intuitionistic fuzzy soft approximation space (IF soft approximation space) and obtain a new hybrid model called soft rough intuitionistic fuzzy sets which can be seen as extension of both the previous work by Dubois and Prade and Feng et al.

The definition of basic rough sets [3] depends upon either a single equivalence relation defined on a universe or several equivalence relations defined over the universe, taken one each taken at a time. In the view of granular computing, classical rough set theory is based upon single granulation. Extending this notion, a rough set model based on multi-granulations (MGRS) was introduced in [5]. In this approach, approximations of sets were defined through multiple equivalence relations on the universe and their properties were investigated. Using hybridization of fuzzy set [13] with rough set the concept of rough fuzzy set was introduced by Dubois and Prade [1]. Recently, a Rough Fuzzy Set Model was introduced and studied by Wu and Kou [12], which is based on Multiple Granulation. Topological properties of rough sets introduced by Pawlak in terms of their types were recently studied by Tripathy and Mitra [10]. These were extended to the context of incomplete multi granulation by Tripathy and Raghavan [11]. In this paper we introduce incomplete multigranulation on rough fuzzy sets, study their basic properties and extend the topological properties in [11] to this context. Our findings are true for both complete and incomplete fuzzy rough set models based upon multi granulation.KeywordsRough SetsFuzzy rough setsequivalence relationstolerance relationstype of rough setsmulti granular fuzzy rough sets

The aim of this paper is to introduce nine types of rough Pythagorean fuzzy sets in UP-algebras and nine types of rough sets in UP-algebras. Then we study relation of these rough Pythagorean fuzzy sets and new types of Pythagorean fuzzy UP-filter under equivalence (congruence) relation. Moreover, we will also discuss \(t\)-level subsets of rough Pythagorean fuzzy sets in UP-algebras to study the relationships between rough Pythagorean fuzzy sets and rough sets in UP-algebras which we defined them above. Finally, we discuss the concept of homomorphisms between IUP-algebras and also study the direct and inverse images of four special subsets.

Theories of fuzzy sets and rough sets are powerful mathematical tools for modelling various types of uncertainty. Dubois and Prade investigated the problem of combining fuzzy sets with rough sets. Soft set theory was proposed by Molodtsov as a general framework for reasoning about vague concepts. The present paper is devoted to a possible fusion of these distinct but closely related soft computing approaches. Based on a Pawlak approximation space, the approximation of a soft set is proposed to obtain a hybrid model called rough soft sets. Alternatively, a soft set instead of an equivalence relation can be used to granulate the universe. This leads to a deviation of Pawlak approximation space called a soft approximation space, in which soft rough approximations and soft rough sets can be introduced accordingly. Furthermore, we also consider approximation of a fuzzy set in a soft approximation space, and initiate a concept called soft---rough fuzzy sets, which extends Dubois and Prade's rough fuzzy sets. Further research will be needed to establish whether the notions put forth in this paper may lead to a fruitful theory.

The further investigation of covering-based rough sets: Uncertainty characterization, similarity measure and generalized models

In this paper we argue that fuzzy sets and rough sets aim to different purposes and that it is more natural to try to combine the two models of uncertainty (vagueness for fuzzy sets and coarseness for rough sets) in order to get a more accurate account of imperfect information. First, the upper and lower approximations of a fuzzy set are defined, when the universe of discourse of a fuzzy sets is coarsened by means of an equivalence relation. We then come close to Caianiello’s C-calculus. Shafer’s concept of coarsened belief functions also belongs to the same line of thought and is reviewed here. Another idea is to turn the equivalence relation relation into a fuzzy similarity relation, for a more expressive modeling of coarseness. New results on the representation of similarity relations by means of a fuzzy partition of fuzzy clusters of more or less indiscernible points are surveyed. The properties of upper and lower approximations of fuzzy sets by similarity relations are thoroughly studied. Lastly the potential usefulness of the fuzzy rough set notions for logical inference in the presence of both fuzzy predicates and graded indiscernibility is indicated. Especially fuzzy rough sets may provide a nice semantic background for modal logic involving fuzzy modalities and/or fuzzy sentences.

Researchers in science and engineering face various obstacles due to a lack of specific and full data. Many different approaches have been devised to deal with these restrictive requirements, but two notable schools of thought are the fuzzy set (FS) theory and the rough set (RS) theory, both of which have spawned many extensions and hybridizations. Although RS theory originated from an indiscernibility relation (also known as an equivalence relation in mathematics), emphasis rapidly shifted to similarity or coverings (and their fuzzy analogues). Many other hybrid schemes were suggested with this goal in mind. The gap between those concepts shrank because to this thorough analysis. Fuzzy set theory is a legitimate way to convey the ambiguity of assessment data, yet it is still inadequate for dealing with certain intricate problems in the actual world. In reality, decision makers will undoubtedly provide different kinds of ambiguous and nuanced assessments. Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy set theory broadened the application of fuzzy set theory by imbuing it with an element of uncertainty. Sometimes in real life, you have to deal with a neutral element on top of the indeterminate one. Picture fuzzy sets were developed specifically for this purpose. Membership roles may be positive, neutral, or negative/refusal. In contrast, hesitant fuzzy sets and its hybrid models are useful when decision makers are on the fence about which option to choose. As a binary relation on a set, a graph is symmetric. It is a staple in mathematical modelling and is used in almost every scientific and technological discipline. Graph theory has been essential in the mathematical modelling and subsequent resolution of several real-world situations. Information about connections between things is often best represented using graph theory, which uses vertices to stand in for the items and edges for the relationships between them. The suggested dynamic algorithm is better to the static approach in dealing with the multidimensional dynamic changes of the hybrid incomplete decision system, according to a series of experiments carried out on nine UCI datasets.

Recently, many methods based on fuzzy rough sets are proposed to reduce fuzzy attributes. The common characteristic of these methods is that all of them are based on fuzzy equivalence relation. In other words, the underlying concept of rough sets, indispensability relation, is generalized to fuzzy equivalence relation. Here fuzzy equivalence relation is the binary relation, which is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. This paper tries to generalize the fuzzy equivalence relation to fuzzy similarity relation, which is more helpful to keeping the fuzzy information of initial data than fuzzy equivalence relation. Based on the fuzzy similarity relation, fuzzy matrix computation for information system is proposed which can be used to reduce fuzzy attributes. Firstly, fuzzy similarity relation who is isomorphic with the fuzzy similarity matrix is given as fuzzy indispensability relation. Then all the information of initial data, such as the similarity among objects and fuzzy inconsistence degree between two objects, can be represented by fuzzy similarity matrix. Secondly, by considering that the small perturbation of the fuzzy similarity matrix can be ignorable, we propose some basic concepts of knowledge reduction such as fuzzy attributes reduct, core and fuzzy significance of attributes etc in this paper. Thirdly, a heuristic algorithm based on the fuzzy significance of attributes is proposed to find close-to-minimal fuzzy attributes reduct. Finally, experimental comparisons with other methods of attributes reduction are given. The experimental results show that our method is feasible and effective

Rough sets were introduced by Pawlak as a model to capture impreciseness in data and several techniques in different directions have been developed to perform operations on such data through the model. But the basic model of rough set introduced is unigranular from the granular computing point of view. So, attempts have been made to introduce multigranulation using rough sets. Two models called optimistic multigranular rough sets and pessimistic multigranular rough sets were introduce by Qian et al in 2006 and 2010 respectively. However, like the basic case, the information granules generated were introduced by equivalence relations and as a result the granules are members of partitions induced on the universe. However, such concepts have limited applications due to the rarity of equivalence relations or equivalently partitions of universes. The notion of cover is more general than partition and covers are available in abundance in real life situations. So, even in the case of basic rough sets the definition has been extended to develop covering based rough sets. Recently, the concept of multigranularity has been extended by Liu et al to introduce four types of covering based optimistic multigranular rough sets (CBOMGRS). In this paper we introduce the notion of Covering Based Pessimistic Multigranular Rough Sets (CBPMGRS) and proved some properties. The important observation is that some of the properties of basic rough sets, which were not true for CBOMGRS, are true for CBPMGRS. So, CBPMGRS seems to be more natural extensions of the basic concepts than CBOMGRS.

Traditional clustering algorithm can't deal with non-linear fuzzy and boundary problem. This paper provides a rough fuzzy kernel clustering algorithm. The algorithm firstly using kernel function map input space to high-dimensional space, make the space can be partitioned linearly. Then it using rough and fuzzy theory computes the membership grade difference between sample data and cluster center. It compares the difference and γ threshold, judges the sample data belonging to lower or upper approximation. At last, it computes the center of rough clusters again. Through these iterative computations, it can get the clustering result. This algorithm combines kernel method and rough fuzzy theory, the experiment results show this method is effective.

Image segmentation with the traditional Fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm only uses each pixel's gray value, when the image is corrupted by noises, the accuracy of segmentation will be greatly reduced. So, this paper proposed an image segmentation method which based on rough sets theory and fuzzy c-mean clustering. The test result shows that the method has a good segmentation performance.

Rough set model introduced by Pawlak in 1982 was dependent upon equivalence relations (equivalently on partitions), which had restricted its application due to its stringent requirements. The notion of covering is an extension of that of a partition and is generated by relations much less restricted than equivalence relations. Several covering based rough sets are found in literature. As the notion of rough sets, basic or otherwise are unigranular from the granular computing point of view, in order to handle more than one granular structures on a universe simultaneously, optimistic and pessimistic multigranular computing were introduced by Qian et al in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Combining the two concepts of covering and multigranulation, covering based multigranular models were introduced by Liu et al in 2012. The notion of mathematical equality of concepts is too stringent and less applicable in real life situations. In order to incorporate human knowledge into it, four types of approximate equalities basing upon rough sets were introduced by Novotny and Pawlak in 1985 and by Tripathy in 2011. In this paper, we study the covering based pessimistic multigranular approximate rough equalities and establish several of their properties and provide suitable examples for illustration and in constructing counter examples in the proofs. This is an attempt to generalize the notion of approximate equalities by one more level in order to extend their applicability.

Rough sets and matroids from a lattice-theoretic viewpoint

A neighborhood rough set model with nominal metric embedding