A spatially constrained fuzzy hyper-prototype clustering algorithm

We present in this paper a fuzzy clustering algorithm which can handle spatially constraint problems often encountered in pattern recognition. The proposed method is based on the notions of hyperplanes, the fuzzy c-means, and spatial constraints. By adding a spatial regularizer into the fuzzy hyperplane-based objective function, the proposed method can take into account additionally important information of inherently spatial data. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed algorithm achieves superior results to some other popular fuzzy clustering models, and has potential for cluster analysis in spatial domain.     

Robust spatially constrained fuzzy c-means algorithm for brain MR image segmentation

Objective

Accurate brain tissue segmentation from magnetic resonance (MR) images is an essential step in quantitative brain image analysis, and hence has attracted extensive research attention. However, due to the existence of noise and intensity inhomogeneity in brain MR images, many segmentation algorithms suffer from limited robustness to outliers, over-smoothness for segmentations and limited segmentation accuracy for image details. To further improve the accuracy for brain MR image segmentation, a robust spatially constrained fuzzy c-means (RSCFCM) algorithm is proposed in this paper.

Method

Firstly, a novel spatial factor is proposed to overcome the impact of noise in the images. By incorporating the spatial information amongst neighborhood pixels, the proposed spatial factor is constructed based on the posterior probabilities and prior probabilities, and takes the spatial direction into account. It plays a role as linear filters for smoothing and restoring images corrupted by noise. Therefore, the proposed spatial factor is fast and easy to implement, and can preserve more details. Secondly, the negative log-posterior is utilized as dissimilarity function by taking the prior probabilities into account, which can further improve the ability to identify the class for each pixel. Finally, to overcome the impact of intensity inhomogeneity, we approximate the bias field at the pixel-by-pixel level by using a linear combination of orthogonal polynomials. The fuzzy objective function is then integrated with the bias field estimation model to overcome the intensity inhomogeneity in the image and segment the brain MR images simultaneously.

Results

To demonstrate the performances of the proposed algorithm for the images with/without skull stripping, the first group of experiments is carried out in clinical 3T-weighted brain MR images which contain quite serious intensity inhomogeneity and noise. Then we quantitatively compare our algorithm to state-of-the-art segmentation approaches by using Jaccard similarity on benchmark images obtained from IBSR and BrainWeb with different level of noise and intensity inhomogeneity. The comparison results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can produce higher accuracy segmentation and has stronger ability of denoising, especially in the area with abundant textures and details.

Conclusion

In this paper, the RSCFCM algorithm is proposed by utilizing the negative log-posterior as the dissimilarity function, introducing a novel factor and integrating the bias field estimation model into the fuzzy objective function. This algorithm successfully overcomes the drawbacks of existing FCM-type clustering schemes and EM-type mixture models. Our statistical results (mean and standard deviation of Jaccard similarity for each tissue) on both synthetic and clinical images show that the proposed algorithm can overcome the difficulties caused by noise and bias fields, and is capable of improving over 5% segmentation accuracy comparing with several state-of-the-art algorithms.     

The application of the coalescence clustering algorithm to remotely sensed multispectral data

The coalescence clustering concept of Watanabe has been implemented for the purpose of unsupervised classification of remotely sensed multispectral data. Modifications on the original algorithm were made to enable clustering of limited range discrete data. Application to simulated overlapping Gaussian distributions show that optimal separation of boundaries is achieved at almost every point. Clustering of real data from LANDSAT satellites also yields very meaningful results. Significance of the range parameter and computer requirements are also discussed.     

Suppressed fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm

Based on the defect of rival checked fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm, a new algorithm: suppressed fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm is proposed. The new algorithm overcomes the shortcomings of the original algorithm, establishes more natural and more reasonable relationships between hard c-means clustering algorithm and fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm.     

Restoration of clouded pixels in multispectral remotely sensed imagery with cokriging

The presence of clouds and their shadows in remotely sensed images limits their potential uses for extracting information. The commonly used methods for replacing clouded pixels by land cover reflection estimates usually yield poor results if the images being combined exhibit radical differences in target radiance due, for example, to large date separation and high temporal variability. This study focuses on introducing geostatistical techniques for interpolating the DN values of clouded pixels in multispectral remotely sensed images using traditional ordinary cokriging and standardized ordinary cokriging. Two case studies were conducted in this study. The first case study shows that the methods work well for the small clouds in a heterogeneous landscape even when the images being combined show high temporal variability. Although the basic spatial structure in large size clouds can be captured, image interpolation‐related artefacts such as smoothing effects are visually apparent in a heterogeneous landscape. The second case study indicates that the cokriging methods work better in homogenous regions such as the dominantly agricultural areas in United States Midwest. Various statistics including both global statistics and local statistics are employed to confirm the reliability of the methods.     

创意FCM算法

针对现有模糊聚类方法仅仅是对已有数据点的聚类的不足,提出了在已有数据集的基础上找到新的一类集群的聚类方法 CFCM。该算法在FCM算法的基础上,通过引入观测点P作为聚类的先验知识,来大致确定未知集群的聚类中心,定义了权重系数λ来限定观测点对新的一类聚类中心形成的影响程度。人造数据集和UCI真实数据集的实验结果表明,该算法不仅对已知数据点有较好的聚类效果,并且可以在观测点P的作用下在特定区域创造出新的一类无已知数据点的集群中心点的大致位置,因而在实际中有潜在应用价值。     

Soil clustering by fuzzy c-means algorithm

In this study, hard k-means and fuzzy c-means algorithms are utilized for the classification of fine grained soils in terms of shear strength and plasticity index parameters. In order to collect data, several laboratory tests are performed on 120 undisturbed soil samples, which are obtained from Antalya region. Additionally, for the evaluation of the generalization ability of clustering analysis, 20 fine grained soil samples collected from the other regions of Turkey are also classified using the same clustering algorithms. Fuzzy c-means algorithm exhibited better clustering performance over hard k-means classifier. As expected, clustering analysis produced worse outcomes for soils collected from different regions than those of obtained from a specific region. In addition to its precise classification ability, fuzzy c-means approach is also capable of handling the uncertainty existing in soil parameters. As a result, fuzzy c-means clustering can be successfully applied to classify regional fine grained soils on the basis of shear strength and plasticity index parameters.     

An interval number distance- and ranking-based method for remotely sensed image fuzzy clustering

ABSTRACT

Fuzzy c-means clustering is an important non-supervised classification method for remote-sensing images and is based on type-1 fuzzy set theory. Type-1 fuzzy sets use singleton values to express the membership grade; therefore, such sets cannot describe the uncertainty of the membership grade. Interval type-2 fuzzy c-means (IT2FCM) clustering and relevant methods are based on interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Real vectors are used to describe the clustering centres, and the average values of the upper and lower membership grades are used to determine the classification of each pixel. Thus, the width information for interval clustering centres and interval membership grades are ignored. The main contribution of this article is to propose an improved IT2FCM* algorithm by adopting interval number distance (IND) and ranking methods, which use the width information of interval clustering centres and interval membership grades, thus distinguishing this method from existing fuzzy clustering methods. Three different IND definitions are tested, and the distance definition proposed by Li shows the best performance. The second contribution of this work is that two fuzzy cluster validity indices, FS- and XB-, are improved using the IND. Three types of multi/hyperspectral remote-sensing data sets are used to test this algorithm, and the experimental results show that the IT2FCM* algorithm based on the IND proposed by Li performs better than the IT2FCM algorithm using four cluster validity indices, the confusion matrix, and the kappa coefficient (κ). Additionally, the improved FS- index has more indicative ability than the original FS- index.     

An optimized SVM based possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm for tumor segmentation

Multimedia Tools and Applications - To design an efficient partial differential equation-based total variation method for denoising and possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm for...     

一种自适应的模糊C均值聚类图像分割方法

针对传统的模糊C均值聚类算法(FCM)在图像分割中对噪声十分敏感这一局限性,提出一种自适应的FCM图像分割方法。该方法充分考虑图像像素的灰度信息和空间信息,根据像素的空间位置自适应地计算一个合适的相似度距离来进行聚类分割图像。实验结果表明,与传统的FCM相比,该方法能显著提高分割质量,尤其是能提高对于图像噪声的鲁棒性和分割图像区域边缘的准确性。     

一种加权的空间模糊动态聚类算法

一般空间模糊聚类算法没有区分各属性之间的不平衡性和讨论分类数何时为最佳,针对这一问题,提出了一种加权空间模糊动态聚类算法。该算法首先利用层次分析法得到各属性的权值;然后将权值与空间模糊动态聚类法相结合;最后利用概率统计中的F-分布来确定最佳分类,以提高空间模糊聚类算法的智能性。将文中算法与基于模糊等价关系的传递闭包方法进行比较,试验表明,该算法聚类准确率要明显高于未加权的模糊聚类算法。     

基于减法聚类改进的模糊c-均值算法的模糊聚类研究

针对模糊c-均值(FCM)聚类算法受初始聚类中心影响,易陷入局部最优,以及算法对孤立点数据敏感的问题,提出了解决方案:采用快速减法聚类算法初始化聚类中心,为每个样本点赋予一个定量的权值,用来区分不同的样本点对最终的聚类结果的不同作用,为提高聚类速度采用修正隶属度矩阵的方法,并将算法与传统的FCM相比.实验结果表明,该算法较好地解决了初值问题,与随机初始化方法相比,迭代次数少、收敛速度快、具有较好的聚类结果.     

An adaptive spatial information-theoretic fuzzy clustering algorithm for image segmentation

This paper presents an adaptive spatial information-theoretic fuzzy clustering algorithm to improve the robustness of the conventional fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithms for image segmentation. This is achieved through the incorporation of information-theoretic framework into the FCM-type algorithms. By combining these two concepts and modifying the objective function of the FCM algorithm, we are able to solve the problems of sensitivity to noisy data and the lack of spatial information, and improve the image segmentation results. The experimental results have shown that this robust clustering algorithm is useful for MRI brain image segmentation and it yields better segmentation results when compared to the conventional FCM approach.     

基于模糊核c-means 算法的位置指纹聚类

提出一种针对位置指纹的模糊核c-means聚类算法.将位置指纹归结为一种服从正态分布的区间值数据以反映接入点信号强度采样值的不确定性,通过区间中值和大小确定的正态分布函数将位置指纹映射为特征空间中的一点,并在该特征空间中采用基于核方法的模糊c-means算法对其进行聚类.通过ZigBee定位实验表明,该方法对于位置指纹的分类效果明显好于基于信号强度平均值的c-means聚类,可在保证定位精度的前提下有效降低定位的计算量.     

Video segmentation using a histogram-based fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm

The purpose of video segmentation is to segment video sequence into shots where each shot represents a sequence of frames having the same contents, and then select key frames from each shot for indexing. Existing video segmentation methods can be classified into two groups: the shot change detection (SCD) approach for which thresholds have to be pre-assigned, and the clustering approach for which a prior knowledge of the number of clusters is required. In this paper, we propose a video segmentation method using a histogram-based fuzzy c-means (HBFCM) clustering algorithm. This algorithm is a hybrid of the two approaches aforementioned, and is designed to overcome the drawbacks of both approaches. The HBFCM clustering algorithm is composed of three phases: the feature extraction phase, the clustering phase, and the key-frame selection phase. In the first phase, differences between color histogram are extracted as features. In the second phase, the fuzzy c-means (FCM) is used to group features into three clusters: the shot change (SC) cluster, the suspected shot change (SSC) cluster, and the no shot change (NSC) cluster. In the last phase, shot change frames are identified from the SC and the SSC, and then used to segment video sequences into shots. Finally, key frames are selected from each shot. Simulation results indicate that the HBFCM clustering algorithm is robust and applicable to various types of video sequences.     

A multi-objective genetic algorithm with fuzzy c-means for automatic data clustering

This article presents a multi-objective genetic algorithm which considers the problem of data clustering. A given dataset is automatically assigned into a number of groups in appropriate fuzzy partitions through the fuzzy c-means method. This work has tried to exploit the advantage of fuzzy properties which provide capability to handle overlapping clusters. However, most fuzzy methods are based on compactness and/or separation measures which use only centroid information. The calculation from centroid information only may not be sufficient to differentiate the geometric structures of clusters. The overlap-separation measure using an aggregation operation of fuzzy membership degrees is better equipped to handle this drawback. For another key consideration, we need a mechanism to identify appropriate fuzzy clusters without prior knowledge on the number of clusters. From this requirement, an optimization with single criterion may not be feasible for different cluster shapes. A multi-objective genetic algorithm is therefore appropriate to search for fuzzy partitions in this situation. Apart from the overlap-separation measure, the well-known fuzzy J_m index is also optimized through genetic operations. The algorithm simultaneously optimizes the two criteria to search for optimal clustering solutions. A string of real-coded values is encoded to represent cluster centers. A number of strings with different lengths varied over a range correspond to variable numbers of clusters. These real-coded values are optimized and the Pareto solutions corresponding to a tradeoff between the two objectives are finally produced. As shown in the experiments, the approach provides promising solutions in well-separated, hyperspherical and overlapping clusters from synthetic and real-life data sets. This is demonstrated by the comparison with existing single-objective and multi-objective clustering techniques.     

An automatic fuzzy c-means algorithm for image segmentation

Fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm is one of the most popular methods for image segmentation. However, the standard FCM algorithm must be estimated by expertise users to determine the cluster number. So, we propose an automatic fuzzy clustering algorithm (AFCM) for automatically grouping the pixels of an image into different homogeneous regions when the number of clusters is not known beforehand. In order to get better segmentation quality, this paper presents an algorithm based on AFCM algorithm, called automatic modified fuzzy c-means cluster segmentation algorithm (AMFCM). AMFCM algorithm incorporates spatial information into the membership function for clustering. The spatial function is the weighted summation of the membership function in the neighborhood of each pixel under consideration. Experimental results show that AMFCM algorithm not only can spontaneously estimate the appropriate number of clusters but also can get better segmentation quality.     

Adaptive fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm for a radial basis function network

This paper presents a new recursive hybrid algorithm for training a radial basis function (RBF) network. The algorithm consists of a proposed clustering algorithm to position the RBF centres and the Givens least-squares algorithm to estimate the weights. This paper begins with a discussion about the problems of clustering in positioning RBF centres. Then a new clustering algorithm called adaptive fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm is proposed to reduce the problems. The capability of the proposed algorithm was tested to model three data sets: one simulated and two real data sets. It was found that the algorithm provided good performance. The performance of the algorithm was then compared with adaptive k-means, non-adaptive k-means and non-adaptive fuzzy cmeans clustering algorithms. Overall performance of the RBF network that used the proposed clustering algorithm was found to be much better than those that used other clustering algorithms. Simulation results also revealed that the algorithm was not sensitive to initial centres.     

An efficient texture image segmentation algorithm based on the GMRF model for classification of remotely sensed imagery

Texture analysis of remote sensing images based on classification of area units represented in image segments is usually more accurate than operating on an individual pixel basis. In this paper we suggest a two-step procedure to segment texture patterns in remotely sensed data. An image is first classified based on texture analysis using a multi-parameter and multi-scale technique. The intermediate results are then treated as initial segments for subsequent segmentation based on the Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) model. The segmentation procedure seeks to merge pairs of segments with the minimum variance difference. Experiments using real data prove that the two-step procedure improves both computational efficiency and accuracy of texture classification.     

模糊c-均值算法和万有引力算法求解模糊聚类问题

针对单纯使用模糊c-均值算法(FCM)求解模糊聚类问题的不足,首先,提出一种改进的万有引力搜索算法,通过一定概率按照不同方式对速度进行更新,有效增大了种群的搜索域.其次,提出了模糊万有引力搜索算法(FG-SA).最后,在模糊万有引力搜索算法(FGSA)和模糊c-均值算法(FCM)的基础上,提出了一种新算法(FGSAFCM)来求解模糊聚类问题,有效避免了单纯使用模糊c-均值算法时对初始值敏感且易于陷入局部最优的缺点.采用目标函数和有效性评价函数作为评价标准,选取10个经典数据集作为测试数据,实验结果表明,新算法比单一的模糊c-均值算法有更高的准确性和鲁棒性.