Int. J. Man-Machine Studies (1983) 19, 1-3

Guest editorial and conference report

Although the Guest Editor in an issue such as this usually spends a few minutes summarizing each of the papers included, I think the manuscripts below speak admirably for themselves. Consequently, my few moments will be spent advertising the source of this issue--namely, the North American Fuzzy Information Processing (NAFIP) Society. Our society, having been formed only last year, is relatively small compared with the vigorous and well-organized activities of our European and Japanese colleagues. The nine papers and one note in this issue represent a sizeable portion of the program at our first NAFIP Society Workshop. The Workshop was held at Utah State University, Logan, Utah, on 19-21 May 1982. Twenty-two contributed and three invited talks were presented to 42 registered attendees. There were in all six plenary sessions, whose titles and chairmen were:

Applications in Civil Engineering: J. T. P. Yao Foundations and Possibility Theory: R. M. Tong Inverse Problems: E. Sanchez Linguistics and Evidence: E. Ruspini Expert Systems and Decision Theory: E. Mamdani Cluster Analysis: M. P. Windham.

Highlights of the sessions were the keynote addresses of Professors L. A. Zadeh, Elie Sanchez, and E. H. Mamdani; the banquet speech of Brian Gaines; the plenary discussion of fuzzy logic and its relation to undergraduate programs; and the general interest accorded to all aspects of the field exhibited by members of the various engineering disciplines (in particular, civil and chemical engineering).

The following papers were presented and discussed at the Workshop.

A computation theory of fuzzy quantifiers within the framework of test score semantics. L. A. ZADEH

Fuzzy assessments. COLIN B. BROWN *Potential applications of fuzzy sets in Civil Engineering. J. L. A. CHAMEAU,

A. ALTSCI-tAEFFL, H. L. MICHAEL & J. T. P. YAO *Comments relating to Civil Engineering education and the use of fuzzy logic in

structural design. T. V. GALAMBOS Foundations for a theory of possibility. ROBIN GILES Fuzzy duality and decision theory under uncertainty. KOFI KIssI DOMPERE *Querying linguistic knowledge bases for expert systems. RONALD L. YAGER Not all fuzzy set operations have weak homomorphic random set counterparts.

I. R. GOODMAN Resolution of equations of fuzzy sets extended operations. ELIE SANCHEZ A method to solve the fuzzy inverse problem. MASAKI TOGAI &PAUI. P. WANG Non standard fuzzy arithmetics. ELIE SANCHEZ Assisted diagnosis using fuzzy information: a comparative analysis of several

methods for the research of solutions of the max-min inverse composition. 1

0020-7373/83/070001 + 03503.00/0 O 1983 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

2 EDITORIAL

P. MANGIN, A. ASSE, D. WIART & D. WILLAEYS Fuzzy databases. BILLY P. BUCKLES • FREDERICK E. PETRY Utilizing fuzziness: toward a model of language dynamics. SYLVIA CANDELARIA

DE RAM *Issues in fuzzy production systems. THOMAS WHALEN & BRIAN SCHOTr An expert system for troubleshooting. PIERO P. BONISSONE *Expert systems using fuzzy rules. LORENZA SA~awA Feasible function clustering algorithms. MICHAEL P. WlNDHAM & LADAWN HAWS *An adaptive FCV clustering algorithm. ROBERT W. GUNDERSON *Application of the fuzzy c-varieties clustering algorithm to trace element distribu-

tion in brewery yeast and wort samples. TOVE JACOBSEN & ROBERT W. GUNDERSON Fuzzy clustering algorithms and their cluster validity. G. LmERT & M. ROUBENS *Fuzzy sets and generalized Boolean retrieval systems. DONALD H. KRAFr &

DUNCAN A. BUELL *Information content of an evidence. PHILIPPE SMETS A fuzzy model of consensus behavior in small groups. RICHARD SPILLMAN &

BONNIE SPILLMAN Logic and automated reasoning or the PRUF of the pudding.. . ? E. H. MAMDANI *Precise pastmfuzzy future. BRIAN GAINES

Papers asterisked in the above list are those published in this issue of the Journal. These papers fall into four categories as follows: civil engineering (Yao, Chameau et al.); evidence (Saitta, Smets); decision theory (Kraft & Buell, Whalen & Schott, Yager); and clustering (Gunderson, Jacobsen & Gunderson). The banquet address by Brian Gaines appears--as it did in Logan--as both an historical summary and specula- tion on the future for investigators in our field. Readers interested in future activities of NAFIP should contact our membership chairman:

Dr Enrique Ruspini Hewlett-Packard Laboratories 1501 Page Mill Road Bldg 28-b Palo Alto, California 94304, U.S.A.

NAFIP-3 will be held in Kauai (15-19 July, 1984), and will be jointly sponsored by NAFIP and its European and Japanese counterparts. Inquiries about FIP'84 may be addressed to any of its regional chairmen:

Dr Christer Carlsson (EUFIP) Department of Business Adminstration Abo Academy Henriksg 7 SF 20500, Abo, 50 Finland

Dr James C. Bezdek (NAFIP) Computer Science Department University of South Carolina Commbia, South Carolina 29208 U.S.A.

EDITORIAL 3

Dr T. Terano (JAFIP) Department of Information and Control Engineering College of Engineering Hosei University Kajinocho, Koganei Tokyo 184, Japan.

Other business or general inquiries about NAFIP should be directed to its current president:

Dr K. S. Fu Department of Electrical Engineering Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 U.S.A.

Finally, let me thank those of you who helped make NAFIP-1 a success. These notes submitted, please pass on to the point of this special issuemthe papers themselves.

JAMES C. BEZDEK Chairman, NAFZP-1