In Fuzzy Traumas, Tyran Grillo critically examines the portrayal of companion animals in Japanese literature in the wake of the 1990s "pet boom." Blurring the binary between human and nonhuman, Grillo draws on Japanese science fiction, horror, guide-dog stories, and a notorious essay on euthanasia, treating each work as a case study of human-animal relationships gone somehow awry. He makes an unprecedented case for Japan's pet boom and how the country's sudden interest in companion animals points to watershed examples of "productive errors" that provide necessary catalysts for change. Examining symbiotic concepts of "humanity" and "animality," Grillo challenges negative views of anthropomorphism as something unethical, redefining it as a necessary rupture in, not a bandage on, the thick skin of the human ego. Fuzzy Traumas concludes by introducing the paradigm shift of "postanimalism" as a detour from the current traffic jam of animal-centered philosophies, arguing that humanity cannot move past anthropocentricism until we reflect honestly on what it means for the human condition.

An evaluation of the work of contemporary French authors through the lens of the fuzzy set theory of mathematics.

Zusammenfassung: This book starts with the rationale for creating an FCM by contrast to other techniques for participatory modeling, as this rationale is a key element to justify the adoption of techniques in a research paper. Fuzzy cognitive mapping is an active research field with over 20,000 publications devoted to externalizing the qualitative perspectives or "mental models" of individuals and groups. Since the emergence of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) back in the 80s, new algorithms have been developed to reduce bias, facilitate the externalization process, or efficiently utilize quantitative data via machine learning. It covers the development of an FCM with participants through a traditional in-person setting, drawing from the experience of practitioners and highlighting solutions to commonly encountered challenges. The book continues with introducing principles of simulations with FCMs as a tool to perform what-if scenario analysis, while extending those principles to more elaborated simulation scenarios where FCMs and agent-based modeling are combined. Once an FCM model is obtained, the book then details the analytical tools available for practitioners (e.g., to identify the most important factors) and provides examples to aid in the interpretation of results. The discussion concerning relevant extensions is equally pertinent, which are devoted to increasing the expressiveness of the FCM formalism in problems involving uncertainty. The last four chapters focus on building FCM models from historical data. These models are typically needed when facing multi-output prediction or pattern classification problems. In that regard, the book smoothly guides the reader from simple approaches to more elaborated algorithms, symbolizing the noticeable progress of this field in the last 35 years. Problems, recent references, and functional codes are included in each chapter to provide practice and support further learning from practitioners and researchers

The 26th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference was hosted by the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and the A. James Clark School of Engineering from April 30 – May 2 2010.. The conference program consisted of 168 oral presentations and 21 poster presentations with approximately 250 registered participants of which about half were students. The sessions were designed along topical lines with student papers mixed in randomly with more senior investigators. There was a Student Competition resulting in several Best Paper and Honorable Mention awards. There were 32 technical sessions occurring in 6-7 parallel sessions. This Proceedings is a subset of the papers submitted to the conference. It includes 147 papers organized in topical areas. Many thanks go out to the paper reviewers who significantly improved the clarity of the submitted papers.

This book covers at an advanced level the most fundamental ideas, concepts and methods in the field of applications of fuzzy logic to the study of neural cell behavior. Motivation and awareness are examined from a physiological and biochemical perspective illustrating fuzzy mechanisms of complex systems.

This book reports on advanced concepts in fuzzy graph theory, showing a set of tools that can be successfully applied to understanding and modeling illegal human trafficking. Building on the previous book on fuzzy graph by the same authors, which set the fundamentals for readers to understand this developing field of research, this second book gives a special emphasis to applications of the theory. For this, authors introduce new concepts, such as intuitionistic fuzzy graphs, the concept of independence and domination in fuzzy graphs, as well as directed fuzzy networks, incidence graphs and many more.

Operations Management and Data Analytics Modelling: Economic Crises Perspective addresses real operation management problems in thrust areas like the healthcare and energy management sectors and Industry 4.0. It discusses recent advances and trends in developing data-driven operation management-based methodologies, big data analysis, application of computers in industrial engineering, optimization techniques, development of decision support systems for industrial operation, the role of a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach in operation management, fuzzy set theory-based operation management modelling and Lean Six Sigma. Features Discusses the importance of data analytics in industrial operations to improve economy Provides step-by-step implementation of operation management models to identify best practices Covers in-depth analysis using data-based operation management tools and techniques Discusses mathematical modelling for novel operation management models to solve industrial problems This book is aimed at graduate students and professionals in the field of industrial and production engineering, mechanical engineering and materials science.

Covers applications of fuzzy technology, in sections on engineering and natural sciences, medicine, management, and behavioral, cognitive, and social sciences, with a final section on tools. Specific subjects include fuzzy control in the process industry, ecological modeling and data analysis, fuzzy logic and possibility theory in biomedical engineering, fuzzy sets methodologies in actuarial science, fuzzy set theory and applications in psychology, fuzzy sets in human factors and ergonomics, and software methodology and design tools. Further topics include strategic planning, image processing in medicine, and fuzzy and crisp approaches to production planning and scheduling.

A new edition of the bestselling industrial and systems engineering text, this book provides students, researchers, and practitioners with easy access to a wide range of industrial engineering tools and techniques in a concise format. It expands the breadth and depth of coverage, emphasizing new systems engineering tools, techniques, and models. New coverage includes control charts, engineering economy, health operational efficiency, healthcare systems, human systems integration, lean systems, logistics transportation, manufacturing systems, material handling systems, process view of work, queuing systems, reliability systems and tools, and six sigma techniques.