Effective intervals determined by information granules to improve forecasting in fuzzy time series

Partitioning the universe of discourse and determining effective intervals are critical for forecasting in fuzzy time series. Equal length intervals used in most existing literatures are convenient but subjective to partition the universe of discourse. In this paper, we study how to partition the universe of discourse into intervals with unequal length to improve forecasting quality. First, we calculate the prototypes of data using fuzzy clustering, then form some subsets according to the prototypes. An unequal length partitioning method is proposed. We show that these intervals carry well-defined semantics. To verify the suitability and effectiveness of the approach, we apply the proposed method to forecast enrollment of students of Alabama University and Germany’s DAX stock index monthly values. Empirical results show that the unequal length partitioning can greatly improve forecast accuracy. Further more, the proposed method is very robust and stable for forecasting in fuzzy time series.     

Fuzzy forecasting based on fuzzy time series

This article presents an improved method of fuzzy time series to forecast university enrollments. The historical enrollment data of the University of Alabama were first adopted by Song and Chissom (Song, Q. and Chissom, B. S. (1993). Forecasting enrollment with fuzzy time series-part I, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 54, 1–9; Song, Q. and Chissom, B. S. (1994). Forecasting enrollment with fuzzy time series-part II, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 54, 267–277) to illustrate the forecasting process of the fuzzy time series. Later, Chen proposed a simpler method. In this article, we show that our method is as simple as Chen's method but more accurate. In forecasting the enrollment of the University of Alabama, the root mean square percentage error (RMSPE) of our method is 3.1113% while the RMSPE of Chen's method is 4.0516%, which shows that our method is doing much better.     

The modeling of time series based on fuzzy information granules

A lot of research has resulted in many time series models with high precision forecasting realized at the numerical level. However, in the real world, higher numerical precision may not be necessary for the perception, reasoning and decision-making of human. Model of time series with an ability of humans to perceive and process abstract entities (rather than numeric entities) is more adaptable for some problems of decision-making. With this regard, information granules and granular computing play a primordial role. Fox example, if change range (intervals) of stock prices for a certain period in the future is regarded as information granule, constructing model that can forecast change ranges (intervals) of stock prices for a period in the future is better able to help stock investors make reasonable decisions in comparison with those based upon specific forecasting numerical value of stock price. In this paper, we propose a new modeling approach to realize interval prediction, in which the idea of information granules and granular computing is integrated with the classical Chen’s method. The proposed method is to segment an original numeric time series into a collection of time windows first, and then build fuzzy granules expressed as a certain fuzzy set over each time windows by exploiting the principle of justifiable granularity. Finally, fuzzy granular model can be constructed by mining fuzzy logical relationships of adjacent granules. The constructed model can carry out interval prediction by degranulation operation. Two benchmark time series are used to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. Besides, for modeling and prediction of large-scale time series, the proposed approach exhibit a clear advantage of reducing computation overhead of modeling and simplifying forecasting.     

An efficient time series forecasting model based on fuzzy time series

In this paper, we present a new model to handle four major issues of fuzzy time series forecasting, viz., determination of effective length of intervals, handling of fuzzy logical relationships (FLRs), determination of weight for each FLR, and defuzzification of fuzzified time series values. To resolve the problem associated with the determination of length of intervals, this study suggests a new time series data discretization technique. After generating the intervals, the historical time series data set is fuzzified based on fuzzy time series theory. Each fuzzified time series values are then used to create the FLRs. Most of the existing fuzzy time series models simply ignore the repeated FLRs without any proper justification. Since FLRs represent the patterns of historical events as well as reflect the possibility of appearances of these types of patterns in the future. If we simply discard the repeated FLRs, then there may be a chance of information lost. Therefore, in this model, it is recommended to consider the repeated FLRs during forecasting. It is also suggested to assign weights on the FLRs based on their severity rather than their patterns of occurrences. For this purpose, a new technique is incorporated in the model. This technique determines the weight for each FLR based on the index of the fuzzy set associated with the current state of the FLR. To handle these weighted FLRs and to obtain the forecasted results, this study proposes a new defuzzification technique. The proposed model is verified and validated with three different time series data sets. Empirical analyses signify that the proposed model have the robustness to handle one-factor time series data set very efficiently than the conventional fuzzy time series models. Experimental results show that the proposed model also outperforms over the conventional statistical models.     

A hybrid multi-order fuzzy time series for forecasting stock markets

This paper proposes a hybrid model based on multi-order fuzzy time series, which employs rough sets theory to mine fuzzy logical relationship from time series and an adaptive expectation model to adjust forecasting results, to improve forecasting accuracy. Two empirical stock markets (TAIEX and NASDAQ) are used as empirical databases to verify the forecasting performance of the proposed model, and two other methodologies, proposed earlier by Chen and Yu, are employed as comparison models. Besides, to compare with conventional statistic method, the partial autocorrelation function and autoregressive models are utilized to estimate the time lags periods within the databases. Based on comparison results, the proposed model can effectively improve the forecasting performance and outperforms the listing models. From the empirical study, the conventional statistic method and the proposed model both have revealed that the estimated time lags for the two empirical databases are one lagged period.     

A clustering based forecasting algorithm for multivariable fuzzy time series using linear combinations of independent variables

There are two popular types of forecasting algorithms for fuzzy time series (FTS). One is based on intervals of universal sets of independent variables and the other is based on fuzzy clustering algorithms. Clustering based FTS algorithms are preferred since role and optimal length of intervals are not clearly understood. Therefore data of each variable are individually clustered which requires higher computational time. Fuzzy Logical Relationships (FLRs) are used in existing FTS algorithms to relate input and output data. High number of clusters and FLRs are required to establish precise input/output relations which incur high computational time. This article presents a forecasting algorithm based on fuzzy clustering (CFTS) which clusters vectors of input data instead of clustering data of each variable separately and uses linear combinations of the input variables instead of the FLRs. The cluster centers handle fuzziness and ambiguity of the data and the linear parts allow the algorithm to learn more from the available information. It is shown that CFTS outperforms existing FTS algorithms with considerably lower testing error and running time.     

Linguistic time series forecasting using fuzzy recurrent neural network

It is known that one of the most spread forecasting methods is the time series analysis. A weakness of traditional crisp time series forecasting methods is that they process only measurement based numerical information and cannot deal with the perception-based historical data represented by linguistic values. Application of a new class of time series, a fuzzy time series whose values are linguistic values, can overcome the mentioned weakness of traditional forecasting methods. In this paper we propose a fuzzy recurrent neural network (FRNN) based time series forecasting method for solving forecasting problems in which the data can be presented as perceptions and described by fuzzy numbers. The FRNN allows effectively handle fuzzy time series to apply human expertise throughout the forecasting procedure and demonstrates more adequate forecasting results. Recurrent links in FRNN also allow for simplification of the overall network structure (size) and forecasting procedure. Genetic algorithm-based procedure is used for training the FRNN. The effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy time series forecasting method is tested on the benchmark examples.     

A distance-based fuzzy time series model for exchange rates forecasting

Fuzzy time series model has been successfully employed in predicting stock prices and foreign exchange rates. In this paper, we propose a new fuzzy time series model termed as distance-based fuzzy time series (DBFTS) to predict the exchange rate. Unlike the existing fuzzy time series models which require exact match of the fuzzy logic relationships (FLRs), the distance-based fuzzy time series model uses the distance between two FLRs in selecting prediction rules. To predict the exchange rate, a two factors distance-based fuzzy time series model is constructed. The first factor of the model is the exchange rate itself and the second factor comprises many candidate variables affecting the fluctuation of exchange rates. Using the exchange rate data released by the Central Bank of Taiwan, we conducted several experiments on exchange rate forecasting. The experiment results showed that the distance-based fuzzy time series outperformed the random walk model and the artificial neural network model in terms of mean square error.     

Deterministic fuzzy time series model for forecasting enrollments

The fuzzy time series has recently received increasing attention because of its capability of dealing with vague and incomplete data. There have been a variety of models developed to either improve forecasting accuracy or reduce computation overhead. However, the issues of controlling uncertainty in forecasting, effectively partitioning intervals, and consistently achieving forecasting accuracy with different interval lengths have been rarely investigated. This paper proposes a novel deterministic forecasting model to manage these crucial issues. In addition, an important parameter, the maximum length of subsequence in a fuzzy time series resulting in a certain state, is deterministically quantified. Experimental results using the University of Alabama’s enrollment data demonstrate that the proposed forecasting model outperforms the existing models in terms of accuracy, robustness, and reliability. Moreover, the forecasting model adheres to the consistency principle that a shorter interval length leads to more accurate results.     

A FCM-based deterministic forecasting model for fuzzy time series

The study of fuzzy time series has increasingly attracted much attention due to its salient capabilities of tackling uncertainty and vagueness inherent in the data collected. A variety of forecasting models including high-order models have been devoted to improving forecasting accuracy. However, the high-order forecasting approach is accompanied by the crucial problem of determining an appropriate order number. Consequently, such a deficiency was recently solved by Li and Cheng [S.-T. Li, Y.-C. Cheng, Deterministic Fuzzy time series model for forecasting enrollments, Computers and Mathematics with Applications 53 (2007) 1904–1920] using a deterministic forecasting method. In this paper, we propose a novel forecasting model to enhance forecasting functionality and allow processing of two-factor forecasting problems. In addition, this model applies fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering to deal with interval partitioning, which takes the nature of data points into account and produces unequal-sized intervals. Furthermore, in order to cope with the randomness of initially assigned membership degrees of FCM clustering, Monte Carlo simulations are used to justify the reliability of the proposed model. The superior accuracy of the proposed model is demonstrated by experiments comparing it to other existing models using real-world empirical data.     

A computational method of forecasting based on fuzzy time series

In this paper, a computational method of forecasting based on fuzzy time series have been developed to provide improved forecasting results to cope up the situation containing higher uncertainty due to large fluctuations in consecutive year's values in the time series data and having no visualization of trend or periodicity. The proposed model is of order three and uses a time variant difference parameter on current state to forecast the next state. The developed model has been tested on the historical student enrollments, University of Alabama to have comparison with the existing methods and has been implemented for forecasting of a crop production system of lahi crop, containing higher uncertainty. The suitability of the developed model has been examined in comparison with the other models to show its superiority.     

Handling forecasting problems based on fuzzy time series model and model error learning

Classical fuzzy time series forecasts are comprised of three steps: fuzzification, identification of fuzzy relation, and defuzzification. In this paper, we propose a new approach and add an error learning step to improve forecasts. In the fuzzification step, a hybrid method, based on the fuzzy c-means clustering and the fuzzy Silhouette criterion, is employed to determine the optimal number of intervals, which avoids time-consuming iterations of the whole algorithm. In the defuzzification step, an optimization model is set up to explain the rule of defuzzification. In the model structure, an error term is assembled into the traditional model to express model error, which is predicted by linear fitting and abnormal errors processing. Learning of model errors and considering of data characteristics guarantee good interpretability and accuracy. The numerical results show that the proposed approach has superior forecast performance to existing methods.     

An adaptive fuzzy information retrieval model to improve response time perceived by e-commerce clients

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy logic-based information retrieval model is presented to enable users retrieve exact and specific information they sort after. The proposed IR model takes into consideration the limited bandwidth between ISP and its users; and the characteristics (processor speed, memory size, resolution, availability of anti-virus, etc.) of clients’ devices in ensuring that a customer has a fruitful and eventful session while conducting business online. The model was designed using unified modelling language and implemented using Borland JBuilder. A performance evaluation of the proposed information retrieval system using two evaluation measures was conducted. The experimental result indicated that the model has an acceptable performance.     

A high-order fuzzy time series forecasting model for internet stock trading

Recently, many fuzzy time series models have already been used to solve nonlinear and complexity issues. However, first-order fuzzy time series models have proven to be insufficient for solving these problems. For this reason, many researchers proposed high-order fuzzy time series models and focused on three main issues: fuzzification, fuzzy logical relationships, and defuzzification. This paper presents a novel high-order fuzzy time series model which overcomes the drawback mentioned above. First, it uses entropy-based partitioning to more accurately define the linguistic intervals in the fuzzification procedure. Second, it applies an artificial neural network to compute the complicated fuzzy logical relationships. Third, it uses the adaptive expectation model to adjust the forecasting during the defuzzification procedure. To evaluate the proposed model, we used datasets from both the Taiwanese stock index from 2000 to 2003 and from the student enrollment records of the University of Alabama. The results of our study show that the proposed model is able to obtain an accurate forecast without encountering conventional fuzzy time series issues.     

Prediction of uncertain structural responses using fuzzy time series

Numerical methods for the prediction of uncertain structural responses with the aid of fuzzy time series are presented. Uncertain data, uncertain measured actions, and uncertain structural responses over time are considered as time series comprised of fuzzy data. Uncertain data are described by means of a new incremental fuzzy representation, which permits a complete and accurate estimation of uncertainty. The fuzzy time series are regarded as realizations of a fuzzy random process. Methods for identification and quantification of the underlying fuzzy random process are developed. The concepts of model-free and of model-based forecasting are addressed. These concepts enable the prediction of data in the form of optimal forecasts, fuzzy forecast intervals, and fuzzy random forecasts. The algorithms are demonstrated by way of practical examples.     

A new linguistic out-sample approach of fuzzy time series for daily forecasting of Malaysian electricity load demand

The fuzzy logical relationships and the midpoints of interval have been used to determine the numerical in-out-samples forecast in the fuzzy time series modeling. However, the absolute percentage error is still yet significantly improved. This can be done where the linguistics time series values should be forecasted in the beginning before the numerical forecasted values obtained. This paper introduces the new approach in determining the linguistic out-sample forecast by using the index numbers of linguistics approach. Moreover, the weights of fuzzy logical relationships are also suggested to compensate the presence of bias in the forecasting. The daily load data from National Electricity Board (TNB) of Malaysia is used as an empirical study and the reliability of the proposed approach is compared with the approach proposed by Yu. The result indicates that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the proposed approach is smaller than that as proposed by Yu. By using this approach the linguistics time series forecasting and the numerical time series forecasting can be resolved.     

A fast and efficient clustering based fuzzy time series algorithm (FEFTS) for regression and classification

Forecasting fuzzy time series (FTS) methods are generally divided into two categories, one is based on intervals of universal set and the other is based on clustering algorithms. Since there are some challenging problems with the interval based algorithms such as the ideal interval length, clustering based FTS algorithms are preferred. Fuzzy Logical Relationships (FLRs) are usually used to establish relationships between input and output data in both interval based and clustering based FTS algorithms. Modeling complicated systems demands high number of FLRs that incurs high runtime to train FTS algorithms. In this study, a fast and efficient clustering based fuzzy time series algorithm (FEFTS) is introduced to handle the regression, and classification problems. Superiority of FEFTS algorithm over other FTS algorithms in terms of runtime and training and testing errors is confirmed by applying the algorithm to various benchmark datasets available on the web. It is shown that FEFTS reduces testing RMSE for regression data up to 40% with the least runtime. Also, FEFTS with the same accuracy as compared to Fuzzy-Firefly classification method, diminishes runtime moderately from 324.33 s to 0.0055 s.     

A new time invariant fuzzy time series forecasting method based on particle swarm optimization

In the analysis of time invariant fuzzy time series, fuzzy logic group relationships tables have been generally preferred for determination of fuzzy logic relationships. The reason of this is that it is not need to perform complex matrix operations when these tables are used. On the other hand, when fuzzy logic group relationships tables are exploited, membership values of fuzzy sets are ignored. Thus, in defiance of fuzzy set theory, fuzzy sets’ elements with the highest membership value are only considered. This situation causes information loss and decrease in the explanation power of the model. To deal with these problems, a novel time invariant fuzzy time series forecasting approach is proposed in this study. In the proposed method, membership values in the fuzzy relationship matrix are computed by using particle swarm optimization technique. The method suggested in this study is the first method proposed in the literature in which particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to determine fuzzy relations. In addition, in order to increase forecasting accuracy and make the proposed approach more systematic, the fuzzy c-means clustering method is used for fuzzification of time series in the proposed method. The proposed method is applied to well-known time series to show the forecasting performance of the method. These time series are also analyzed by using some other forecasting methods available in the literature. Then, the results obtained from the proposed method are compared to those produced by the other methods. It is observed that the proposed method gives the most accurate forecasts.     

A high order fuzzy time series forecasting model based on adaptive expectation and artificial neural networks

Many fuzzy time series approaches have been proposed in recent years. These methods include three main phases such as fuzzification, defining fuzzy relationships and, defuzzification. Aladag et al. [2] improved the forecasting accuracy by utilizing feed forward neural networks to determine fuzzy relationships in high order fuzzy time series. Another study for increasing forecasting accuracy was made by Cheng et al. [6]. In their study, they employ adaptive expectation model to adopt forecasts obtained from first order fuzzy time series forecasting model. In this study, we propose a novel high order fuzzy time series method in order to obtain more accurate forecasts. In the proposed method, fuzzy relationships are defined by feed forward neural networks and adaptive expectation model is used for adjusting forecasted values. Unlike the papers of Cheng et al. [6] and Liu et al. [14], forecast adjusting is done by using constraint optimization for weighted parameter. The proposed method is applied to the enrollments of the University of Alabama and the obtained forecasting results compared to those obtained from other approaches are available in the literature. As a result of comparison, it is clearly seen that the proposed method significantly increases the forecasting accuracy.     

Data reconstruction with information granules: An augmented method of fuzzy clustering

Information granules form an abstract and efficient characterization of large volumes of numeric data. Fuzzy clustering is a commonly encountered information granulation approach. A reconstruction (degranulation) is about decoding information granules into numeric data. In this study, to enhance quality of reconstruction, we augment the generic data reconstruction approach by introducing a transformation mapping of the originally produced partition matrix and setting up an adjustment mechanism modifying a localization of the prototypes. We engage several population-based search algorithms to optimize interaction matrices and prototypes. A series of experimental results dealing with both synthetic and publicly available data sets are reported to show the enhancement of the data reconstruction performance provided by the proposed method.