Agora University Editing House: Journals
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Random Permutation Set
Full text linkFor exploring the meaning of the power set in evidence theory, a possible explanation of power set is proposed from the view of Pascal’s triangle and combinatorial number. Here comes the question: what would happen if the combinatorial number is replaced by permutation number? To address this issue, a new kind of set, named as random permutation set (RPS), is proposed in this paper, which consists of permutation event space (PES) and permutation mass function (PMF). The PES of a certain set considers all the permutation of that set. The elements of PES are called the permutation events. PMF describes the chance of a certain permutation event that would happen. Based on PES and PMF, RPS can be viewed as a permutation-based generalization of random finite set. Besides, the right intersection (RI) and left intersection (LI) of permutation events are presented. Based on RI and LI, the right orthogonal sum (ROS) and left orthogonal sum (LOS) of PMFs are proposed. In addition, numerical examples are shown to illustrate the proposed conceptions. The comparisons of probability theory, evidence theory, and RPS are discussed and summarized. Moreover, an RPS-based data fusion algorithm is proposed and applied in threat assessment. The experimental results show that the proposed RPS-based algorithm can reasonably and efficiently deal with uncertainty in threat assessment with respect to threat ranking and reliability ranking
Collaborative Decision-Making: Concepts and Supporting Information and Communication Technology Tools and Systems
Full text linkCollaboration means in substance that several entities such as humans, computers, robots, enterprises and so on jointly perform a certain task instead of working individually so that a better result could be obtained. Decision-making is a specific form of activity, commonly carried out by human agents, which is meant to eventually select a certain course of action which is expected to result in attaining a desired result. The chapter is meant to present a concise and balanced view of the basic concepts and main classes of supporting information and communication tools and systems regarding decision-making processes carried out by several collaborating human agents called participants. The reasons for collaboration are briefly explained followed by an exposure of collaboration application in the multi-participant decision-making settings. Having presented the classification of decision problems and decision-making units, the main phases of a specific multi-participant form of Herbert Simon’s decision process model are described followed by the presentation of two main forms of close and soft collaboration, namely consensus building and crowdsourcing, respectively. The need for technology support offered to collaborating participants is justified and two main classes of decision supporting systems, namely Decision support systems and the ever more largely used platforms, are addressed. A practical example of an open ended and evolving platform is presented. Open questions about the further role the information and communication tools in multi-participant decision-making processes are eventually formulated from two perspectives, digital humanism and dataism, respectively
The role of E-Learning generated by the COVID-19 epidemic in higher education
Full text linkAs key players in our society, universities have a special responsibility for sustainable development. As institutions of education, research, and services, universities are key players in the sustainable development of society and the economy. With the health crisis caused by Covid-19, it was necessary to introduce digitalized teaching. We could even say that Covid-19 is an accelerator for students’ and teachers’ acceptance of digital technologies in teaching. In many universities, there is still some impotence on how distance or short-term university teaching can take place. In the European higher education area, there has long been a commitment to greater digitalization of teaching under the keyword e-learning, so we set out to analyze these issues in the Romanian university environment. The results show that substantial efforts have been made, but these efforts must be continued to be successful and to reach a sustainable university
Romanian Language Technology — a view from an academic perspective
Full text linkThe article reports on research and developments pursued by the Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence "Mihai Draganescu" of the Romanian Academy in order to narrow the gaps identified by the deep analysis on the European languages made by Meta-Net white papers and published by Springer in 2012. Except English, all the European languages needed significant research and development in order to reach an adequate technological level, in line with the expectations and requirements of the knowledge society
Improve the design and testing of fuzzy systems with a set of (almost) simple rules
Full text linkProf. Dzitac used to say, ‘The mathematics of fuzzy systems is not fuzzy’. We discuss several limits and potential errors in the design of fuzzy logic systems and how they can be corrected or avoided. Examples from the literature are presented
In Memoriam: Prof. Ioan Dzitac - Editorial
Full text linkIn 2021, the International Journal for Computers, Communications and Control (IJCCC) entered its 16th year of existence. The first issue of the sixteenth volume of IJCCC was planned to be a special one dedicated to pay a tribute to the exceptional work and results of Lotfi Zadech, a great scientist born in 1921, who in uenced an immense number of the scholars all over the world. That special issue was thought and organized by Ioan Dzitac who wrote the Editorial. Several outstanding scholars were invited and accepted to publish in the intended special issue. It was Ioan Dzitac's last paper. Unfortunately, on 6th February, when the special issue was almost ready to be published, the heart of Ioan Dzitac suddenly stopped beating.
Now, it is our sad duty of honour to propose to collaborators and readers of our journal a special issue meant to commemorate and pay a tribute to Ioan Dzitac, an honest and generous person, a talented and hardworking scientist and professor, an effective and empathic manager, a close and dear colleague and friend
Data Processing by Fuzzy Methods in Social Sciences Researches. Example in Hospitality Industry
Full text linkLikert-type scales are a common technique used in social science. Plus, the Likert scale is among the most frequently used psychometric tools in social sciences and educational research. Despite its frequently used, the Likert scale raises up many questions mark. We can say that the use of the Likert scale in its classical form is too rigid and loses valuable information. Li (2013, p. 1613) calls on previous studies that "have claimed that fuzzy scales are more accurate than traditional scales due to the continuous nature of fuzzy sets". The aim of this research is to reduce the inaccuracy caused by the use of the Likert scale, by proposing a method of more appropriate processing of data collected in this way. As shown in this paper, fuzzy methods can be a good alternative. The research methodology consists of using the usual technique on the set of fuzzy numbers by considering the input data as linguistic variables, subsequently identified by triangular fuzzy numbers. The obtained scale is more elastic with respect to the input data, therefore it better captures the reality. The newly proposed method is applied in the concrete example of the competitors in the hotel field. The Importance-Performance Competitor Analysis is utilized. A weakness of the method is due to the use in its application of data collection with the Likert scale. The results conclude on the situation of the competitors regarding each attribute considered as in the crisp version of the method, but the identification and processing of data correspond better to the aspects of subjectivity and uncertainty specific to human thinking. A novelty is also the obtaining of a hierarchy within each category of attributes from the quadrants proposed by the Important-Performance Analysis in relation to the competition
A Parallel FP-Growth Mining Algorithm with Load Balancing Constraints for Traffic Crash Data
Full text linkTraffic safety is an important part of the roadway in sustainable development. Freeway traffic crashes typically cause serious casualties and property losses, being a serious threat to public safety. Figuring out the potential correlation between various risk factors and revealing their coupling mechanisms are of effective ways to explore and identity freeway crash causes. However, the existing association rule mining algorithms still have some limitations in both efficiency and accuracy. Based on this consideration, using the freeway traffic crash data obtained from WDOT (Washington Department of Transportation), this research constructed a multi-dimensional multilevel system for traffic crash analysis. Considering the load balancing, the FP-Growth (Frequent Pattern- Growth) algorithm was optimized parallelly based on Hadoop platform, to achieve an efficient and accurate association rule mining calculation for massive amounts of traffic crash data; then, according to the results of the coupling mechanism among the crash precursors, the causes of freeway traffic crashes were identified and revealed. The results show that the parallel FPgrowth algorithm with load balancing constraints has a better operating speed than both the conventional FP-growth algorithm and parallel FP-growth algorithm towards processing big data. This improved algorithm makes full use of Hadoop cluster resources and is more suitable for large traffic crash data sets mining while retaining the original advantages of conventional association rule mining algorithm. In addition, the mining association rules model with the improvement of multi-dimensional interaction proposed in this research can catch the occurrence mechanism of freeway traffic crash with serious consequences (lower support degree probably) accurately and efficiently
Approximating the Level Curves on Pascal’s Surface
Full text linkIt is well-known that in general the algorithms for determining the reliability polynomial associated to a two-terminal network are computationally demanding, and even just bounding the coefficients can be taxing. Obviously, reliability polynomials can be expressed in Bernstein form, hence all the coefficients of such polynomials are fractions of the binomial coefficients. That is why we have very recently envisaged using an extension of the classical discrete Pascal’s triangle (which comprises all the binomial coefficients) to a continuous version/surface. The fact that this continuous Pascal’s surface has real values in between the binomial coefficients makes it appealing as being a mathematical concept encompassing all the coefficients of all the reliability polynomials (which are integers, as resulting from counting processes) and more. This means that, the coefficients of any reliability polynomial can be represented as discrete steps (on level curves of integer values) on Pascal’s surface. The equation of this surface was formulated by means of the gamma function, for which quite a few approximation formulas are known. Therefore, we have started by reviewing many of those results, and have used a selection of those approximations for the level curves problem on Pascal’s surface. Towards the end, we present fresh simulations supporting the claim that some of these could be quite useful, as being both (reasonably) easy to calculate as well as fairly accurate
A Novel Self-organizing Fuzzy Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller Based Overlapping Gaussian Membership Function for Controlling Robotic System
Full text linkThis paper introduces an effective intelligent controller for robotic systems with uncertainties. The proposed method is a novel self-organizing fuzzy cerebellar model articulation controller (NSOFC) which is a combination of a cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) and sliding mode control (SMC). We also present a new Gaussian membership function (GMF) that is designed by the combination of the prior and current GMF for each layer of CMAC. In addition, the relevant data of the prior GMF is used to check tracking errors more accurately. The inputs of the proposed controller can be mixed simultaneously between the prior and current states according to the corresponding errors. Moreover, the controller uses a self-organizing approach which can increase or decrease the number of layers, therefore the structures of NSOFC can be adjusted automatically. The proposed method consists of a NSOFC controller and a compensation controller. The NSOFC controller is used to estimate the ideal controller, and the compensation controller is used to eliminate the approximated error. The online parameters tuning law of NSOFC is designed based on Lyapunov’s theory to ensure stability of the system. Finally, the experimental results of a 2 DOF robot arm are used to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed controller