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A Tribute to Prof. Dr. Da Ruan PDF

253 Pages·2013·24.544 MB·English
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A Tribute to Prof. Dr. Da Ruan Jie Lu and Etienne Kerre (Eds.) A Tribute to Prof. Dr. Da Ruan ABC Editors JieLu EtienneKerre UniversityofTechnologySydney GhentUniversity Australia Belgium ISBN978-3-642-30306-7 e-ISBN978-3-642-30307-4 DOI10.1007/978-3-642-30307-4 SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012938135 (cid:2)c Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2013 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof thematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerptsinconnection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’slocation,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer. PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter.Violations areliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Whiletheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpub- lication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityforany errorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,withrespect tothematerialcontainedherein. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) This book is a present to Da who did not know he still had so many sweet friends who thought well of and miss him. This book is dedicated to Da’s family. --Jie and Etienne Foreword Da Ruan's sudden passing away on July 31, 2011, at the age of 50, was a terrible shock to all who knew him. At the age of 50, Da Ruan was at the peak of his distinguished career. The author or co-author of over 270 papers and 36 books, Da Ruan was a highly visible figure on the international scene as a researcher, educator, an organizer of conferences, editor, lecturer, guest professor and, very importantly, as a bridge between Asian countries, especially China, and the West. But Da Ruan was much more than a prominent member of fuzzy logic and computational intelligence communities. He was a man of vision, initiative, great personal warmth and unbounded energy. His passing away is an irreparable loss— a loss which will be keenly felt in coming years. In 1985, Da Ruan was one of two students selected by the Chinese government to study in Belgium toward a Ph.D. degree. He joined Professor Etienne Kerre's group on fuzziness and uncertainty modeling, and received his Ph.D. degree in l990. After receiving his Ph.D. degree, Da Ruan became a postdoc at the Center for Nuclear Research in Mol. This was the beginning of his illustrious career and his lifelong association with Etienne. This volume, “A Tribute to Professor Doctor Da Ruan,” edited by Jie Lu and Etienne Kerre is a collection of eloquent tributes to Da Ruan's life and work. In most of my forewords, I spotlight a development in fuzzy logic and its applications which I deem to be of importance. In the instance of this foreword, I should like to comment briefly on what I consider to be an important trend—a trend toward a fusion of probability theory and fuzzy logic. Underlying this trend is the realization that, in large measure, uncertainty involves a mixture of fuzziness and probability. In this mixture, probabilities and events are commonly described in a natural language. I have long advocated the view that standard probability theory cannot deal with problems in which probabilities and events are described in a natural language. To deal with such problems, probability theory must be generalized through addition of concepts and techniques drawn from fuzzy logic and, more particularly, the formalism of Computing With Words (CWW). An important concept which is the child of the marriage between probability theory and fuzzy logic is what I call a Z-number. I introduced this concept in my lecture at the World Conference on Soft Computing in San Francisco, in May 2011. After my lecture, I was approached by Da Ruan. His feeling was that the concept of a Z-number has the potential for many practical applications, and that he intended to explore what he felt was a new direction. It is a source of deep regret for me that his intention did not materialize. VIII Foreword Briefly, a Z-number is an ordered pair of fuzzy numbers, (A, B), in which A is a fuzzy value of a variable, X, and B is the fuzzy probability that X is A. Typically, A and B are described in a natural language. As a simple illustration, (usually, small) is a Z-number. An interesting question is: What is the square root of (usually, small)? Problems of this kind fall within the province of computation with Z-numbers. The importance of the concept of a Z-number derives from the fact that in many realistic settings our knowledge of the value of a variable is uncertain. Computation with Z-numbers opens the door to construction of models in which the values of variables are certainty-qualified, e.g., usually, very likely, surely, etc. Clearly, in most realistic settings such models would be a better approximation to reality than models in which the values of variables are not qualified. An intriguing application of the concept of a Z-number is an if-then rule in which the consequent is usuality-qualified. A simple example is: If unemployment increases then usually stock market declines. What would Da Ruan do with the concept of a Z-number? It is a question that can be raised but not answered. It is a painful realization that Da Ruan is not with us. He was a truly unique individual. Lotfi A. Zadeh Berkeley, California, USA Prof. Da Ruan and Prof. Lotfi A. Zadeh in FLINS2008, Madrid Preface On 1 August, 2011, very sad news reached our scientific research community, we didn’t believe it and we don’t want to believe it, but it is true: ‘Our dear friend, Prof. Da Ruan, suddenly passed away yesterday’. Only 50 years old, Da Ruan was in the prime of life, as a scientist, in the prime of career; no chance to prepare, and no time to say good-bye, suddenly left us for his heavenly abode, far away from his family and friends. Our hearts were broken, we were full of sorrow, and tears streamed down our faces. How desperately we hoped that it was not true! The whole fuzzy logic research community was shocked and saddened by the loss of Da Ruan. At first, people questioned if it was indeed true. It seemed impossible – the loss of such a great man was truly shocking and caused heartfelt pain throughout the community. “Providence is always hard to ask for”—an incurable pain for us, for our hearts. People found various ways to channel their grief for their close friend. Hundreds of emails quickly spread the tragic news throughout the world, in memory of Da. The large number of emails was testimonial to the high respect in which he was held, and how widely he was liked, both personally and professionally. Some emails recalled fortunate meetings with Da and how he impressed people with his sunny smile and friendly personality. Others talked of their long-time research collaboration with Da. Some expressed appreciation to Da for helping to build their careers and achieve their goals. Some reflected on their first visit to Da at SCK•CEN and how he took care of them. There were expressions of appreciation for assistance with difficulties, and panegyrics about Da's brilliant speeches. All emails were full of accolades, admiration, high praise and honour for Da Ruan. Indeed, this huge outpouring of grief, along with the email accolades and expressions of admiration, high praise and honour for this man, was the motivation and driving force behind this book. Producing and editing this book – to the memory of Da, dedicated to his family, for his colleagues, friends and students – has been a great honour and we hope that it will inspire future generations in the fuzzy logic community. We hope that it reflects Da's noble- minded and distinguished values and that it will have long-term significance in the research community. Da Ruan was born in Shanghai where he spent a happy youth in the international metropolis. Full of vigour and dynamism, he completed his studies at Changzhi High School in 1979 with distinctive results, which earned him X Preface admission to Fudan University, a top Chinese university. After four years, he graduated with Honours and became an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Fudan University. In 1986, he was selected as an 'excellent youth scholar' to study at Ghent University, and in 1990, his PhD degree was conferred there. Since 1991, Da worked at SCK•CEN, starting as a post-doctoral researcher and progressing to a leading scientist position. Da Ruan's short life was colourful and creative. He was a motivated and very productive scientist, publishing 36 books and 270 papers in journals and conferences. He led several very important fuzzy logic research projects in nuclear science, decision systems and risk analysis. His extraordinary contribution made him an undisputed leader and figure of authority in his fields of research. He was a quick thinker and surpassed many others with his energy and indefatigability. He was an excellent leader. In 1994, at only 34 years, he took the initiative to establish the FLINS (Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent technologies in Nuclear Science) conference series, which grew to become the world's leading conference in the fuzzy information processing field. He continued to play a leading role, establishing the ISKE (Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering) international conference series in 2006 – this has become a very popular conference in the area of intelligent systems. He also founded the International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems (IJCIS), which, in the few years since its introduction, has acquired a very good reputation and international standing. He made outstanding contributions in the research fields of fuzzy logic, fuzzy decision making, computational intelligence, risk management and, in particular, the application of these advanced techniques in real-world nuclear science and nuclear industry. He was a very influential man throughout the world. Da was very committed to his work and career, and was adept at handling complicated and challenging issues. He was confident, honest and open, his work was thorough, and pressure always excited him. His success can be attributed to a combination of his brilliance, expert knowledge of his scientific research, and his willingness to work hard and always push himself just that little bit further. He was therefore great fun to work with and people loved to contribute to the books he edited and attend the conferences he organised. As the undisputed leader of his community, Da's absence at the recent ISKE2011 conference held in Shanghai was consequently intensely felt. Da was a charming and personable man with a cheerful and friendly personality and scholarly bearing. He had a playful sense of humour and liked to tell jokes and funny stories. He enjoyed fine food, particularly seafood, and he delighted in cooking delicious Chinese meals. He loved his hometown, Shanghai, and his mother country, China. Over the last 20 years, he was a Visiting Professor at many universities in China and he Preface XI supervised, trained and helped many Chinese scholars to become world-class researchers. He promoted effective communication between Chinese and Western cultures in our research community, benefiting both Chinese and Western scholars. Da was a warm-hearted person who cared deeply about people and those he met all wanted to be his friend. He had an extensive community of friends and colleagues, and was very well-connected. People sought Da out for collaboration, so that he had over 100 published papers with researchers from other countries such as Australia, China, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, UK and the US, all of whom are all proud of their collaborative experience with Da. The authors of this book are all Da’s friends; 88 academics from 47 institutes in 17 countries. They are respected senior, and junior, scholars; they are also Da’s colleagues, classmates and peers; they are world-class researchers, and distinctive academics. The “father of fuzzy theory”, Professor Lotfi Zadeh, 90 years old, has written the foreword of this book. Professor Yager, the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Intelligent Systems, Professor Wang, ex-Editor-in-Chief and Professor Pedrycz, current Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Information Sciences, Professor Kacprzyk, Editor-in-Chief of Studies in Computational Intelligence by Springer, and Professor Zimmermann, the founder of the international journal Fuzzy Sets and Systems, all write of their particular experience with Da. The majority of these authors knew Da well, becoming his friend through FLINS conferences. Although their expertise is in programming and mathematics, they have written touching stories of their experience with Da, expressing their grief at losing their dear friend. Reading these stories, we were deeply touched – and surprised – to find out that our scientists have become great writers. Editing this book has not been easy. Emotions were constantly stirred throughout the process. Photos of Da are constant reminders of his loss; stories about him, his life, his work, re-awaken the grief. We have encouraged and supported each other throughout the editing process, and the book is a sincere tribute by all authors to Da Ruan. Da's friends and colleagues have contributed over 60 chapters and more than 70 pictures, and we have been deeply moved by the articles. This has also been a gift to us, enabling us to better understand Da's contributions to the research community and come to know more about his life and his work. We more clearly appreciate his humanity and love of life, and his zeal, commitment and ambition in his academic life. Most importantly, editing this book about Da has taught us that, although knowledge and talent are important, it is sincerity, honesty and kindness that are the true indicators of the greatness of a person. We wish to thank our all wonderful authors and the cover page designer, Mr. Chen. Our grateful thanks go to Tom and other Springer staff for their support in publishing this book. XII Preface Da has gone, but we are lucky to have been his friend. We are lucky to have worked with him. It is up to us to continue his work by providing a friendly, compassionate community and fun environment within a vibrant, exciting and motivated research community – to live up to Da's memory. Da will remain in our hearts forever. 15 March 2012 Jie Lu University of Technology Sydney Australia Etienne Kerre Ghent University Belgium

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.