Possibilistic Fuzzy C-means Research Articles

A Hybrid Approach for the Sales Forecasting of Paracetamol Products

The pharmaceutical industry is facing challenges due to various factors such as supply chain disruptions, changing consumer behavior, and regulatory changes. Accurate demand forecasting is essential to ensure an adequate supply of drugs. The goal of this work is to forecast paracetamol product demand. For this purpose, we propose a hybrid forecasting model combining two effective forecasting techniques: SARIMA (Seasonal AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average) and ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System). This proposal consists of nonlinear components of time series by ANFIS and adjusting the result by the mean of the residuals of the SARIMA to improve the accuracy and performance of ANFIS predictions. Before the prediction phase, we preprocess our data and detect the anomalies in our dataset with Locally Selective Combination in Parallel Outlier Ensembles (LSCP). Then, by treating these anomalies as missing values, they are imputed using the combination of Fuzzy-Possibilistic c-means (FCM) with support vector regression (SVR) and a genetic algorithm (GA). Finally, we evaluate the performance of the model and some known models based on MAPE. We choose the hybrid model SARIMA-ANFIS that provides the most accurate and reliable forecasting.

Suppressed possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering based on shadow sets for noisy data with imbalanced sizes

Possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering (PFCM) algorithm generates fewer overlapping clustering centers than the possibilistic c-means clustering (PCM) algorithm and possesses better noise immunity than fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithm. However, with the increasing noise intensity and number of clusters, PFCM still faces the problem of getting partially overlapping clustering centers or mislocated centers in noise regions. Moreover, the sample-size imbalance increasingly intensifies the difficulty of positioning centers of small clusters. To solve the above problems, a suppressed possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm based on shadow sets (S-SPFCM) is proposed by introducing the shadow set theory and the "suppressed competitive learning" strategy. Firstly, KL divergence is introduced in the objective function of PFCM to increase the anti-noise robustness of fuzzy memberships against long-range noise and outliers. Secondly, to reduce the number of overlapping centers caused by possibilistic memberships, the shadow set theory is introduced to divide each class adaptively into three regions (core, shadow, and exclusion regions) by an uncertainty balance method. The suppressed competitive learning method is extended by modifying the memberships of points within the three regions, thus artificially guiding the iterative track of clustering centers. Meanwhile, to further reduce the influence of imbalanced sizes, a scheme to reset mislocated centers in the core and shadow regions is also designed. In addition, to improve the segmentation performance of S-SPFCM for noisy images, a suppressed possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm based on shadow sets and local information (SL-SPFCM) is also proposed. The SL-SPFCM first improves the Euclidean distance by a distance filtering scheme. Then SL-SPFCM introduces the local median membership of each pixel into the KL divergence of the objective function. Finally, experiments on synthetic datasets and color images which are characteristic of imbalanced sizes and noise injection demonstrate the proposed S-SPFCM and SL-SPFCM algorithms achieve smaller center deviations and higher clustering accuracy compared with several state-of-the-art clustering algorithms.

Interval Type-2 enhanced possibilistic fuzzy C-means noisy image segmentation algorithm amalgamating weighted local information

The fuzzy clustering algorithms based on interval type-2 are effective methods for data clustering and image segmentation with some potential advantages in dealing with higher-order uncertainty. However, the fuzzy clustering algorithms based on interval type-2 have limited accuracy in noisy image segmentation. Therefore, we propose a new noisy image segmentation algorithm based on weighted local information for interval type-2 enhanced possibilistic fuzzy C-means clustering. Firstly, a new possibilistic fuzzy weighted local information factor, which amalgamates the mutually guided image filtering, is devised to control the relationship between mutually guided image filtering and the original image utilizing the absolute difference image between the original image and mutually guided image filtering. Additionally, two weighted sum functions are also introduced into the new possibilistic fuzzy weighted local information factor to calculate the grayscale differences between the current pixel and its neighborhood pixels. Secondly, the distance of the objective function is corrected using mutually guided image filtering to obtain the local features and global information of the image. Finally, this paper introduces the new possibilistic fuzzy weighted local information factor into the interval type-2 possibilistic fuzzy C-means and proposes a new interval type-2 enhanced possibilistic fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm with local information and mutually guided image filtering constraints to improve noisy image segmentation results. Through extensive experiments on noisy synthetic images and noisy real images, the proposed algorithm can achieve higher performance and more accurate segmentation results compared with several existing algorithms.

Revisiting Possibilistic Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Using the Majorization-Minimization Method.

Possibilistic fuzzy c-means (PFCM) clustering is a kind of hybrid clustering method based on fuzzy c-means (FCM) and possibilistic c-means (PCM), which not only has the stability of FCM but also partly inherits the robustness of PCM. However, as an extension of FCM on the objective function, PFCM tends to find a suboptimal local minimum, which affects its performance. In this paper, we rederive PFCM using the majorization-minimization (MM) method, which is a new derivation approach not seen in other studies. In addition, we propose an effective optimization method to solve the above problem, called MMPFCM. Firstly, by eliminating the variable V∈Rp×c, the original optimization problem is transformed into a simplified model with fewer variables but a proportional term. Therefore, we introduce a new intermediate variable s∈Rc to convert the model with the proportional term into an easily solvable equivalent form. Subsequently, we design an iterative sub-problem using the MM method. The complexity analysis indicates that MMPFCM and PFCM share the same computational complexity. However, MMPFCM requires less memory per iteration. Extensive experiments, including objective function value comparison and clustering performance comparison, demonstrate that MMPFCM converges to a better local minimum compared to PFCM.

Exploitation of Bio-Inspired Classifiers for Performance Enhancement in Liver Cirrhosis Detection from Ultrasonic Images.

In the current scenario, liver abnormalities are one of the most serious public health concerns. Cirrhosis of the liver is one of the foremost causes of demise from liver diseases. To accurately predict the status of liver cirrhosis, physicians frequently use automated computer-aided approaches. In this paper, through clustering techniques like fuzzy c-means (FCM), possibilistic fuzzy c-means (PFCM), and possibilistic c means (PCM) and sample entropy features are extracted from normal and cirrhotic liver ultrasonic images. The extracted features are classified as normal and cirrhotic through the Gaussian mixture model (GMM), Softmax discriminant classifier (SDC), harmonic search algorithm (HSA), SVM (linear), SVM (RBF), SVM (polynomial), artificial algae optimization (AAO), and hybrid classifier artificial algae optimization (AAO) with Gaussian mixture mode (GMM). The classifiers' performances are compared based on accuracy, F1 Score, MCC, F measure, error rate, and Jaccard metric (JM). The hybrid classifier AAO-GMM, with the PFCM feature, outperforms the other classifiers and attained an accuracy of 99.03% with an MCC of 0.90.

Application of self-learning interval type-2 fuzzy neural network in PM2.5 concentration prediction

Abstract The change of PM2.5 concentration in air quality is nonlinear and difficult to predict. Therefore, a self-learning interval type-2 fuzzy neural network (SLIT2FNN) is proposed. SLIT2FNN has two parts: online structure learning and parameter learning. In structure learning, to improve the training accuracy and speed of the model, the Possibilistic Fuzzy C-Means (PFCM) algorithm is used to process the input data and obtain the number of initial rules before model training. The PFCM algorithm introduces the concept of possibility P to Fuzzy C-Means (FCM), allowing PFCM to overcome the shortcomings of FCM that cannot accurately cluster a large number of nonlinear problems. SLIT2FNN can establish an appropriate number of rules in the preparation stage, and then use the firing strength of the antecedents of the rules to judge whether to generate fuzzy rules for online self-learning, thereby optimizing its network structure. Then, the improved Levenberg–Marquardt (ILM) algorithm is used to modify the relevant parameters of SLIT2FNN. The ILM algorithm can address the challenge of numerous parameters in the Jacobian matrix and complex calculations and improve the calculation speed and adaptive ability of SLIT2FNN parameter learning. Finally, SLIT2FNN is applied to the prediction of air quality PM2.5 concentration, and the performance is compared with other models. The experiment proves that SLIT2FNN has a high prediction accuracy and fast convergence.

Performance Comparison of Dimensional Reduction using Principal Component Analysis with Alternating Least Squares in Modified Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means and Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means

The clustering method is said to be good if it has resistance to outlier data. One cluster method resistant to outlier data is Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means (FPCM). FPCM performance on outlier data still has the potential for overlap between cluster members in different clusters, resulting in decreased cluster quality. The Modified Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means (MFPCM) method is used to modify FPCM in its objective function by inserting updated weight values to increase FPCM performance. In this research, improving the quality of FPCM and MFPCM clusters was carried out by reducing data dimensions through Principal Component Analysis using Alternating Least Squares (PRINCALS) so that members of each cluster do not overlap in the right cluster. The PRINCALS results of the FPCM method have better performance with silhouette values and BSS/TSS ratios of 0.4108 and 60% compared to values without PRINCALS of 0.355 and 43%. The MFPCM method with PRINCALS also performs better, namely 0.4299 and 61%, compared to 0.368 and 42% without PRINCALS. In this study, the performance of MFPCM with PRINCALS or without PRINCALS was better than that of the FPCM method. Overall, PRINCALS can improve the performance of the MFPCM and FPCM methods, resulting in better clusters. PRINCALS in this cluster produce an average silhouette value greater than 0.3 and an average BSS/TSS ratio greater than 50% so that each cluster member is in the right cluster and does not overlap.

Fuzzy Evolutionary Algorithm in Construction Project for Valuation

Clustering algorithms has emerged as an important data mining technique for pattern recognition, data analysis and dimensionality reduction. Clustering is usually used in all fields to merge the same feature objects into a single group. The clustering method is incorporated with search algorithms to search the dataset from the databases. For large databases, there is a need of good clustering algorithm with high accuracy. Despite its high performance, the existing methods show some limitations. This paper focused on optimize the clustering method with a search structure for large multidimensional databases with dynamic indexes for the effective validation of construction projects. In the construction project validation to improve the clustering methods using Evolutionary Constrained Differential Optimization (ECDO) and Distributed Weighted Fuzzy C-Means algorithm to improve clustering performance than the centralized clustering approaches. The proposed methodology includes ECDO which presents new cluster tree indexing approach with cluster speed improvement in the validation of the construction projects. Distributed Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means algorithm is proposed in improvement of cluster centre to overcome coincidence cluster problems. The comparative analysis stated that proposed ECDO model exhibits ~6% reduced memory utilization ~11% reduced scalability and ~8% minimized selectivity than the conventional WPCM model.

Kernel possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm based on morphological reconstruction and membership filtering

A lot of research has been conducted on many variants of the Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm incorporating local spatial neighborhood information to improve segmentation accuracy and robustness to noise. Among these variants, a fast and robust FCM (FRFCM) clustering algorithm performs fast and robustly to noise for both grayscale and color images. Though, FRFCM is fast but segmentation performance needs improvement. This work presents an improved variant of the FRFCM algorithm, based on the kernel metric and possibilistic fuzzy c-means approach. The proposed method named Kernel Possibilistic Fast-Robust Fuzzy c-means (KPFRFCM) algorithm overcomes the disadvantages of FRFCM i.e. the poor segmentation performance and less robustness to noise, for both grayscale and color images. Experiments performed on various types of images without noise and images degraded by different types of noises with different degrees, prove that proposed KPFRFCM is more efficient and more robust to noise when compared with existing state-of-the-art algorithms for image segmentation.

A feature-weighted suppressed possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm and its application on color image segmentation

The possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering (PFCM) algorithm is a hybridization of possibilistic c-means clustering (PCM) and fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithms. However, there are two main problems in PFCM. One is that the Euclidean distance employed in PFCM always disregards the imbalance among sample features because it treats all features of data equally, which easily causes misclassification for feature-imbalanced multidimensional data. The other is that PFCM always produces significant center deviations and overlapping centers for multiclass datasets with strong noise injection, due to the difficulty of PFCM in the membership-weight parameter setting and the lack of between-class relationships in possibilistic memberships. Therefore, a feature-weighted suppressed possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering (FW-S-PFCM) algorithm is presented by introducing a feature-weighted method and “suppressed competitive learning” strategy into the PFCM algorithm in this paper. First, the FW-S-PFCM algorithm introduces a feature-weight matrix into the objective function that can automatically assign feature-weight values to different features and different clusters according to the distribution of samples, thus overcoming the influence of feature imbalance and improving clustering effects for noisy multidimensional datasets. Second, combined with the feature-weight matrix, a “suppressed competitive learning” strategy is designed to resolve the center-overlapping problem in noisy multiclass dataset clustering. Specifically, partial crucial points of each class near the center are selected according to a cluster core generated by a cross-section of a threshold on the possibilistic membership surface. Third, their possibilistic memberships participate in the suppressed learning process to overcome the lack of between-class relationships. Last, a segmentation algorithm for noisy color images based on FW-S-PFCM is proposed combined with the feature-weight method and noise-identification ability of possibilistic memberships. Experiments on synthetic data, UCI data and color image segmentation demonstrate that the proposed FW-S-PFCM algorithm can overcome the partial center-overlapping problem and improve clustering performance on complex datasets with feature imbalance and strong noise injection. The proposed algorithm can also reduce the iteration number, sensitivity to membership weights, and initializations of PFCM.

Fuzzy Election based Optimization Algorithm (FEBOA) And Energy Harvesting Possibilistic FUZZYC-Means (EHFPCM) Clustering for EH-WSN

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) includes of many nodes by restricted energy resources. Energy efficiency and harvested energy are major important issues in the WSN. Studies recently conducted have demonstrated that clustering is an effective way to increase energy efficiency. Energy Harvesting- Wireless Sensor Network (EH-WSN) is a flexible strategy for even clustering and Cluster Head (CH) selection is helpful to maximize network constancy and energy efficiency. In this paper, Energy Harvesting Possibilistic Fuzzy C-Means (EHFPCM) clustering is introduced to improve harvested energy usage by maintaining the consistency, connectivity, and balancing of harvested energy consumption in EH-WSN. It is based on Data Transmission (DT) and Cluster Establishment (CE). During CE, PFCM clustering is introduced for cluster formation. PFCM clustering divides the network into clusters. Each area forms a group and chooses one or more CH based on the multi-criteria like energy, distance to neighbors, distance to the Base Station (BS), and network load. In a cluster, the Fuzzy Election Based Optimization Algorithm (FEBOA) selects the CH according to the multi-criteria. It desires to receive packets from Cluster Member (CM), aggregate the received packets, and subsequently forward it to DT. DT, every CM wakes up during its designated working time and transmits the data it has gathered to the CH in the cluster. Lastly, measures such as Residual Energy (RE), Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), energy consumption, and average delay for transmission are used to measure the results of routing protocols.

Genetic based density peak possibilistic fuzzy c-means algorithms to cluster analysis- a case study on customer segmentation

Finding the target consumers for a business depends heavily on its market segmentation approach. Applying clustering analysis to consumer segmentation is one of the most common methods. However, most clustering algorithms can easily fall into the local optimum solution. Besides, it can be challenging to handle noise and outliers and determine the optimal parameters. The initial cluster centers can also affect the clustering result. Thus, this study proposes a clustering algorithm that first employs density peak clustering to obtain the initial cluster centers. Then, the proposed method integrates genetic algorithm (GA) with possibilistic fuzzy c-means (PFCM) algorithm, where GA is used to optimize the cluster centers and the parameters of the PFCM algorithm to overcome the problems above. Using eleven benchmark datasets, the computational results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can provide better and more robust results in terms of accuracy, adjusted rand index (ARI), and normalized mutual information (NMI) compared to previous clustering algorithms. Additionally, the proposed algorithm is used to segment customers of a retail company in a dataset containing recency, frequency, and monetary (RFM) variables. The clustering result for customer segmentation is also very promising.

Comparison of Industrial Business Grouping Using Fuzzy C-Means and Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means Methods

The industrial business sector plays a role in the development of the economic sector in developing countries such as Indonesia. In this case, many industrial businesses are growing, but the data has not been processed or analyzed to produce important information that can be processed into knowledge using data mining. One of the data mining techniques used in this research is data grouping, or clustering. This research was conducted to determine the comparison results of the Cluster Validity Index on Fuzzy C-Means and Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means methods for clustering industrial businesses in Tanah Bumbu Regency. In each process, 5 trials were conducted with the number of clusters, namely 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and for the attributes used: Male Labor, Female Labor, Investment Value, Production Value, and BW/BP Value. Furthermore, this study will evaluate the Cluster Validity Index, namely the Partition Entropy Index, Partition Coefficient index, and Modified Partition Coefficient Index. This research provides the best performance results in the Fuzzy C-Means method with the results of the Cluster Validity Index on the Partition Entropy Index of 0.21566, Partition Coefficient Index of 0.88078, and Modified Partition Coefficient Index of 0.82117, and the best number of clusters is 3 with the labels of low competitive industry clusters, medium competitive industry clusters, and highly competitive industry clusters.

Enhancing automated defect detection through sequential clustering and classification: An industrial case study using the Sine-Cosine Algorithm, Possibilistic Fuzzy c-means, and Artificial Neural Network

Most existing inspection models solely classify defects as either good or bad, focusing primarily on separating flaws from perfect ones. The sequential clustering and classification technique (SCC) is used in this work to not only identify and categorize the defects but also investigate their root causes. Conventional clustering techniques like k-means, fuzzy c-means, and self-organizing map are employed in the first stage to find the defects in the finished products. Then, a novel clustering method, that combines a sine-cosine algorithm and possibilistic fuzzy c-means (SCA-PFCM), is proposed to classify the detected defects into multiple groups to identify the defect categories and analyze the root causes of failures. In the second stage, the ground truth labels taken from the clustering technique are used to construct an automated inspection system using back propagation neural networks (BPNN). The proposed approach is applicable for detecting and identifying the causes of errors in manufacturing industry. This study applies a case study in nipper manufacture. The SCA-PFCM algorithm can detect 97 % of defects and classify them into four types while BPNN shows a predicted accuracy of up to 96 %. Additionally, an automated inspection system is developed to reduce the time and cost of the inspection process.

Double-suppressed possibilistic fuzzy Gustafson–Kessel clustering algorithm

Possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering (PFCM) is an unsupervised hybrid clustering algorithm, which can partly inherit the stability of fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithm and the noise robustness of possibilistic c-means clustering (PCM) algorithm. However, there are still several limitations in the PFCM when clustering complex data with multiple characteristics: sensitivity to strong noise, coincident clustering problem in multi-class clustering, and disability to deal with strong correlations of feature components. Therefore, a double-suppressed possibilistic fuzzy Gustafson–Kessel​ clustering algorithm (DS-PFGK) is presented. Firstly, we design a new objective function with a modified Mahalanobis distance and an improved weight parameter setting method based on the stability of fuzzy memberships and the anti-noise ability of possibilistic memberships. Moreover, combined with the absolute attribute of possibilistic memberships and the covariance matrix in the modified Mahalanobis distance, an ellipsoidal cluster core which can depict the distribution of sample data is generated to divide each cluster into different regions for selecting appropriate learning objects and identifying noisy data adaptively. Then, a “double-suppressed competitive learning” strategy is designed for the selected learning objects to solve the coincident clustering problem in multi-class clustering by suppressing the nonwinner possibilistic memberships, and to reduce the iteration number by suppressing nonwinner fuzzy memberships and rewarding winner fuzzy memberships. Finally, a segmentation algorithm on noisy color images based on the DS-PFGK is proposed based on the generated cluster cores. Experiments on synthetic datasets, real datasets, and color images show the good performance of the proposed methods compared with several classical and state-of-the-art clustering algorithms.

APPLICATION OF MULTISTAGE CLUSTERING FOR MAPPING ECONOMIC POTENTIAL IN EAST JAVA PROVINCE

This study aims to map the economic potential in East Java Province based on GRDP according to business field category. Multistage clustering is a method developed for outlier data and datasets with large variance. Multistage clustering is a combination of Ordering Points to Identify the Clustering Structure (OPTICS) and K-Means. The first stage was grouped using OPTICS. The outlier data resulting from the clustering stage is used as a dataset in the second stage using K-Means. The performance of this method is compared with several other methods, namely: K-Means, DBSCAN – K-Means, Agglomerative, Fuzzy C-Means (FCM), Possibilistic C-Means (PCM), and Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means (FPCM) based on the characteristics of the Silhouette score and Davies-Bouldin score. Multistage clustering was chosen as the best method with a Silhouette score of 0.442 and Davies-Bouldin score of 0.388. With the Elbow method and the two metrics, the optimum number of clusters is 8 clusters. The results of this mapping method, the City of Surabaya forms a separate cluster which has the highest economic potential in 15 categories of business fields. Next Gresik, Pasuruan, Sidoarjo, and Probolinggo have the second highest economic potential with 10 categories of business fields ranking in the top 3.

An improved fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm using Euclidean distance function

The fuzzy c-mean (FCM) clustering algorithm is a typical algorithm using Euclidean distance for data clustering and it is also one of the most popular fuzzy clustering algorithms. However, FCM does not perform well in noisy environments due to its possible constraints. To improve the clustering accuracy of item varieties, an improved fuzzy c-mean (IFCM) clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper. IFCM uses the Euclidean distance function as a new distance measure which can give small weights to noisy data and large weights to compact data. FCM, possibilistic C-means (PCM) clustering, possibilistic fuzzy C-means (PFCM) clustering and IFCM are run to compare their clustering effects on several data samples. The clustering accuracies of IFCM in five datasets IRIS, IRIS3D, IRIS2D, Wine, Meat and Apple achieve 92.7%, 92.0%, 90.7%, 81.5%, 94.2% and 88.0% respectively, which are the highest among the four algorithms. The final simulation results show that IFCM has better robustness, higher clustering accuracy and better clustering centers, and it can successfully cluster item varieties.

A multi-dimensional framework for improving flood risk assessment: Application in the Han River Basin, China

Study regionThe Han River Basin, China Study focusAs the water source of the Middle Route Project of the South to North Water Transfer Project, water security in the Han River Basin deeply impacts national water resource allocation. This study constructed a Multi-Dimensional Flood Risk Assessment (MDFRA) framework combining a comprehensive index system, an integrated weight method, and a clustering algorithm to assess flood risk in the Han River Basin. We first constructed a comprehensive index system including eight hazard indexes, four exposure indexes, and eight vulnerability indexes in demographic, economic, ecological, and infrastructural categories to assess flood risk. The index weights were determined by the integrated weight method, which integrated the Shapley value and the Analytic Hierarchy Process method (SAHP). Finally, the possibilistic fuzzy C-means algorithm was employed to identify flood risk levels. New hydrological insights for the regionThe MDFRA framework presents flood risk in the Han River Basin realistically and comprehensively, revealing flood risk composition and providing more detailed risk information. Results show that high-risk regions accounted for 34.51% of the basin area and were mainly concentrated in the mid-lower reaches, while middle-risk (19.13%) and middle-high-risk (23.35%) regions were mainly distributed in the upstream. 4.52%, 5.12%, and 13.37% of the basin area were assigned as very-low, low, and middle-low risk regions respectively, and were mainly adjacent to the Danjiangkou reservoir. Flood-prone natural conditions and dense population and assets were the causes of high flood risk, while reservoir regulation and storage capacity had significantly alleviated flood risk.

Delineation and optimization of cotton farmland management zone based on time series of soil-crop properties at landscape scale in south Xinjiang, China

Traditional farmland management approaches treat farmland as a homogeneous unit, leading to uneven distribution and waste of resources, which is contrary to precision agriculture. Management zones (MZ) delineation is an essential method of site-specific management (SSM) for accomplishing variable rate input of resources in subregions by recognizing the heterogeneity of farmland soils. Aimed at the soil salinization problem in Xinjiang, this study estimates the salt content of soil profiles and essential nutrient content using time series Sentinel-2 images and machine learning methods, and describes crop growth conditions through dynamic time warping. Subsequently, geographically weighted principal component analysis and possibilistic fuzzy C-means algorithm were employed to outline MZ based on soil-crop characteristics. Three scales (10 m, 100 m, and field scales divided by ridges) were examined to obtain the optimal scale of delineation. Soil-crop properties were estimated at a spatial resolution of 10 m using machine learning methods with R2 > 0.65. In the zoning process, the field scale was selected with accuracy and practicality in agricultural practices, with comparatively higher homogeneity within zones and variation between zones. The soils in the study area were categorized into three zones at field scale with a fuzzy performance index of 0.68, a normalized classification entropy of 0.71, and fuzzy class of 0.30. Soil function is primarily restricted by salinity and fertility. Fertilizer recommendation strategies were given for the three zones. This study uses time-series remote sensing images to obtain a high-precision estimation of soil-crop characteristics at 10 m, and optimize the scale of farmland management zoning, which provides a valuable technology and scale selection for SSM for cotton management zone delineation in saline farmland in arid and semi-arid regions.

Interval type-2 possibilistic fuzzy clustering noisy image segmentation algorithm with adaptive spatial constraints and local feature weighting & clustering weighting

The interval type-2 possibilistic fuzzy C-means (IT2PFCM) algorithm is a popular data clustering and image segmentation method. However, the algorithm fails to consider the spatial information of the image and has limited accuracy for noisy images. The other problem of the IT2PFCM algorithm assumes that all features are equally important in the segmentation process and perform less well as it segments color images. In addition, the IT2PFCM algorithm produces overlapping clusters and even misses some clusters if the groups contained in the data are relatively close to each other. We propose an improved IT2PFCM algorithm for noisy image segmentation to solve the problems. Firstly, an adaptive spatial constraint method is proposed to decrease the algorithm's sensitivity to noise. Secondly, we utilize an automatic local feature weighting and clustering weighting scheme to better segment color images and eliminate overlapping clusters. Finally, an objective function with adaptive spatial constraint, local feature weighting, and clustering weighting is constructed for image segmentation. Extensive experiments on synthetic and natural images show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms. The convergence proof of the proposed algorithm is also provided.