International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems

Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2010

Special Issue: Upgrading ideas about the concept of Soft Computing

Celebrating IJCIS as the official journal of the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technologies

Short Communication

2. Upgrading ideas about the concept of Soft Computing

Javier Montero, Luis Martinez
Pages: 144 - 147
This short note is devoted to introduce the discussion carried out along this special issue on the concept of Soft Computing by key researchers in the field. We shall stress some aspects of the conception and origins of Soft Computing, supported by the scientific relevance of its participants. The contributors...
Review Article

3. What is Soft Computing? Revisiting Possible Answers

Luis Magdalena
Pages: 148 - 159
The term Soft Computing was coined by L.A. Zadeh in the early 90's. Since that time many researchers have tried to define it considering different approaches: main constituents, properties, abilities, etc. In addition, the term Computational Intelligence has also gained popularity having a somehow quite...
Review Article

4. What is Soft Computing? Bridging Gaps for 21st Century Science!

Rudolf Seising
Pages: 160 - 175
This contribution serves historical and philosophical reflecting cognitions on the role of Soft Computing in the 21st century. Referring to Magdalena's article in this issue, this paper considers the aspects of mixtures of techniques, the opposite pair "Hard Computing" and "Soft Computing", and Computational...
Review Article

5. Does Soft Computing Classify Research in Spiking Neural Networks?

Liam Maguire
Pages: 176 - 189
The last fifty years has witnessed considerable activity in research that develops computational approaches inspired by nature. There are a number of umbrella terms used by researchers to classify their contributions. This can cause problems in disseminating and sharing results and potentially restricts...
Research Article

6. Soft Computing: Coping with Complexity

Enrique H. Ruspini
Pages: 190 - 196
While it has been correctly noted that the expression “soft computing” is employed in a variety of senses and characterizations to designate a wide array of technologies, we argue that the original motivation for the introduction of soft-computing methods was the need to cope with the complexity of existing...
Research Article

7. A (naïve) glance at Soft Computing

Enric Trillas, Claudio Moraga, Sergio Guadarrama
Pages: 197 - 201
This paper contains some naïve reflections on the currently large field of Soft Computing. After some general considerations, and of recalling some successful well known examples, it is posed the relationship between Soft Computing and Machine Intelligence. Finally, and with the aim of taking into account...
Research Article

8. Hierarchical Architectures of Fuzzy Models: From Type-1 fuzzy sets to Information Granules of Higher Type

Witold Pedrycz
Pages: 202 - 214
Complex phenomena are perceived from different perspectives, diversified conceptual points of view and at various levels of granularity. Symbolic and sub-symbolic processing becomes an inherently visible computing practice. Distributed nature of perception becomes reflected in topologies of multi-agent...
Research Article

9. Interval-valued Fuzzy Sets in Soft Computing

Humberto Bustince
Pages: 215 - 222
In this work, we explain the reasons for which, for some speci c problems, interval-valued fuzzy sets must be considered a basic component of Soft Computing.
Research Article

10. Computational intelligence and soft computing: some thoughts on already explored and not yet explored paths

Janusz Kacprzyk
Pages: 223 - 236
We comment upon the very essence, roots, potentials, and applicability of computational intelligence and soft computing. We followed a different path than those traditionally employed, and which are so well and in a deep and comprehensive way documented in other papers in this special issue. First, we...
Research Article

11. Soft Computing: A Continuously Evolving Concept

Piero P. Bonissone
Pages: 237 - 248
Soft Computing (SC) is a concept with constantly evolving semantics, as researchers have adopted its main philosophy while adding various interpretations and facets to this concept. Originally defined as a loose association or partnership of components, SC has gone through several transformational phases....
Research Article

12. Lessons Learned from Soft Computing Applications at SCK-CEN

Da Ruan
Pages: 249 - 255
By answering "what is soft computing?" we briefly examine four research projects of soft computing applications at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN) from the practical point of view. We draw lessons learned from the examined projects including reactor control, cost estimation, energy policy,...