Neurocomputing 70 (2007) 623624 www.elsevier.

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Guest editorial

Advanced Neurocomputing Theory and Methodology

The concept of neural networks has been around since the early 1950s, but was mostly dormant until the mid1980s. The earliest model of neural networks developed was the perceptron created by a psychologist named Frank Rosenblatt in 1958. The perceptron model was a very simple system used to analyze data and visual patterns, which generated a great deal of interest in articial intelligence community. These early success were abruptly brought to an end in 1969 due to a book authored by MITs Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert, which showed that the perceptron could never solve a class of problems and pointed out some of the fundamental aws in the model. In 1985, the American Institute of Physics commenced an annual conference, which has become an annual meeting of Neural Networks for Computing. In 1987, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) rst International Conference on Neural Networks attracted more than 1800 attendees signaling tide of Neural Networking research. Neural networks might yield high classication accuracy, but not 100%, as one would want. Unfortunately, not all applications can tolerate that level of error, however, they can be used in conjunction with traditional methods to substantially reduce the search time. Neural networks require lot of data for training purpose. It may have been an obstacle few years ago, but as the computer processing technology advances, this would not be a problem any more. We are moving to an age where many of our activities are digitally recorded from bank transactions to phone conversations and from medical history to lab results. In summary, Neural Network is not the perfect solution for every problem, but also there are more applications that can benet from articial Neural Network characteristics than we see today. The articles appearing in this special issue on Advanced Neurocomputing Theory and Methodology are extended versions of the papers published at the International Conference on Intelligent Computing 2005 (ICIC2005) held in Hefei, Anhui, China with great patronage of the Chinese academy of Sciences and various other international organizations including EEE Computational Intelligence Society and the IEEE Hong Kong Computational Intelligence Chapter. All the papers presented here have
0925-2312/$ - see front matter r 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.neucom.2006.10.052

been thoroughly reviewed and revised with the kind support of many reviewers and the authors according to the journals standard procedure. Face and ngerprint classication This issue starts with the face and ngerprint authentication technique by Zhou et al. using multi-route detection. This is followed by an interesting article by Jia et al. using weighting method and Support Vector Machines (SVM) on ngerprint matching. There are six more papers on face detection and classication using Neural Networks. These applications herald that Neural Networking is fast catching up with scientists to solve the previously unfeasible problems with a new vigor. Neural network-based modeling This issue also contains interesting articles on chemical and stock index modeled by Yang et al. and Chen et al. and a descriptive article on selection of Neural inputs by Li et al. The depth and breadth of the Neural Network-related applications today extend far beyond than anyone could have guessed a couple of decades ago. The articles on recognition of bluegreen algae in lakes by Yao et al. and target intercept problems in gun re control to control of pendulum balancing by Ding et al. undoubtedly demonstrate its ever-expanding growth. Neuro-fuzzy systems Fuzzy logic inference has generated a new wave of reasoning to enhance our knowledge of articial intelligence. A limitation of Neural Networks that prevents a thorough insight of how a problem being solved known as black box type inference can be circumvented using Fuzzy reasoning. As the articles suggest, Neural Networking and Fuzzy-logic can go hand in hand to solve a multitude of problems. A Neuro-Fuzzy system to mange risk in foreign currency dealings by Lee et al. and a Neuro-Fuzzy control system to automate truck backing up to a loading bay by Li et al. add a different dimension to combined problem solving capability offered by Neural Networks.

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Guest editorial / Neurocomputing 70 (2007) 623624

Image/video processing application This special issue also contains six video and imagerelated applications using neural networks. The research presented by Fu et al. describes a fuzzy bidirectional ow framework based on generalized fuzzy sets to sharpen images by reducing its edge width. Han et al. present an interesting article on image segmentation using Ant Colony Algorithm (ACA)-based fuzzy clustering approach. They also propose improvements to accelerate the searching process. A very promising method to detect abnormalities in images captured by camera-pill endoscpic images is presented by Kodogiannis et al. Nian et al. described a scheme to recognize 3D objects from 2D view sequences based on similarity. There is another shape recognition method based on neural networks trained by differential evolution algorithm that offers a new method for the recognition of 2D-occluded shapes written by Du et al. Cho et al. described an intelligent video tracking based on fuzzy reasoning segmentation that achieves superior results to conventional methods. The depth and breadth of neural networking applications are expanding as never before. This edition also contains a number of other topics that do not fall into any specic category. Dou et al. described a Cohens kappa statistic-based assessment method of agreement between fuzzy sets and a neural network learning algorithm that uses tabu search to escape the local minima and obtain some superior global solutions presented by Ye et al. Some of the other interesting articles appearing in this special issue are briey introduced below: Yu et al. presented an automated iris diagnosis system based on two-phase greedy optimization approach extracting the edge of Autonomic Nerve Wreath (ANW). Tian et al. introduced anomaly detection system based on sequence-similarity kernels in support of vector machines. Zheng et al. addressed improved hysteresis model for magnetostrictive actuators. Liu et al. discussed centre particle swarm optimization algorithm, where a center particle is incorporated into a linearly decreasing weight

particle swarm optimization. Wang et al. presented a novel quantum swarm evolutionary algorithm, which was applied to update quantum angles automatically. Chen et al. introduced dimensionality reduction using locality preserving projections that would be important in classication. Zhang et al. addressed optimal fault tolerant control scheme using output probability density function, which is studied for the general stochastic continuous time systems. Feng et al. theoretically analyzed the idea of adopting data parallelism when designing a parallel clustering algorithm for PCs cluster systems. This also includes analysis of speedup and selection of communication schemes. Dong et al. discussed stack lters design using a modied immune memory clonal selection algorithm. The new algorithm has the advantage of preventing from prematurity and fast convergence speed. Ding et al. proposed a new on-line adaptive control scheme based on feedback-error-learning and applied it to inverted pendulum balancing. The proposed adaptive controller for balancing consists of a Conventional Feedback Controller (CFC) and a Neural Network Feedforward Controller (NNFC), etc. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors for their contributions to this special issue, the reviewers for their valuable input, insight, and expert comments. Particularly, we also thank the Editor-in-Chief of Neurocomputing, Professor T. Heskes, for making this special edition possible. Guest Editors De-Shuang Huang Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1130, Hefei Anhui 230031, China E-mail address: dshuang@iim.ac.cn Prashan Premaratne School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia