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An ordered clustering algorithm based on fuzzy c-means and PROMETHEE

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Abstract

The ordered clustering problem in the context of multicriteria decision aid has been increasingly examined in management science and operational research during the past few years. However, the existing clustering algorithms may not provide an exact suggestion for a partition number for decision makers by using the diagram method. In addition, these methods may be not appropriate for real-life problems under big data environments due to their high computational complexities. Therefore, we propose a new clustering algorithm called the ordered fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm (OFCM) to overcome the abovementioned deficiencies. Different from the classical fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm, we use the net outranking flow of PROMETHEE and validity measures for clustering to establish a new objective function, whose properties are mathematically justified as well. Finally, we employ OFCM to solve a practical ordered clustering problem concerning the human development indexes. A comparison analysis with existing approaches is also conducted to validate the efficiency of OFCM.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51609254) and the Specific Fund (CQZ-2014001) for the Industrial Site in the City of Tangshan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Ocean Environment Numerical Simulation, College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense and Technology, Shuanglong Road, Nanjing, 211101, China

    Chengzu Bai, Ren Zhang & Longxia Qian

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast Meteorological Disaster Warning and Assessment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Chengzu Bai, Ren Zhang & Longxia Qian

  3. Meteorologic Bureau of Air Force Staff, Beijing, China

    Lijun Liu

  4. Research Center of Software Engineering, Institute of Information System, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Yaning Wu

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  1. Chengzu Bai
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  2. Ren Zhang
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  3. Longxia Qian
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  4. Lijun Liu
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  5. Yaning Wu
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Correspondence to Ren Zhang.

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Bai, C., Zhang, R., Qian, L. et al. An ordered clustering algorithm based on fuzzy c-means and PROMETHEE. Int. J. Mach. Learn. & Cyber. 10, 1423–1436 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13042-018-0824-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13042-018-0824-7

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