Gated Spiking Neural P Systems for Time Series Forecasting.

Spiking neural P (SNP) systems are a class of neural-like computing models, abstracted by the mechanism of spiking neurons. This article proposes a new variant of SNP systems, called gated spiking neural P (GSNP) systems, which are composed of gated neurons. Two gated mechanisms are introduced in the nonlinear spiking mechanism of GSNP systems, consisting of a reset gate and a consumption gate. The two gates are used to control the updating of states in neurons. Based on gated neurons, a prediction model for time series is developed, known as the GSNP model. Several benchmark univariate and multivariate time series are used to evaluate the proposed GSNP model and to compare several state-of-the-art prediction models. The comparison results demonstrate the availability and effectiveness of GSNP for time series forecasting.

Dendrite P Systems Toolbox: Representation, Algorithms and Simulators.

Dendrite P systems (DeP systems) are a recently introduced neural-like model of computation. They provide an alternative to the more classical spiking neural (SN) P systems. In this paper, we present the first software simulator for DeP systems, and we investigate the key features of the representation of the syntax and semantics of such systems. First, the conceptual design of a simulation algorithm is discussed. This is helpful in order to shade a light on the differences with simulators for SN P systems, and also to identify potential parallelizable parts. Second, a novel simulator implemented within the P-Lingua simulation framework is presented. Moreover, MeCoSim, a GUI tool for abstract representation of problems based on P system models has been extended to support this model. An experimental validation of this simulator is also covered.

Medical Image Fusion Method Based on Coupled Neural P Systems in Nonsubsampled Shearlet Transform Domain.

Coupled neural P (CNP) systems are a recently developed Turing-universal, distributed and parallel computing model, combining the spiking and coupled mechanisms of neurons. This paper focuses on how to apply CNP systems to handle the fusion of multi-modality medical images and proposes a novel image fusion method. Based on two CNP systems with local topology, an image fusion framework in nonsubsampled shearlet transform (NSST) domain is designed, where the two CNP systems are used to control the fusion of low-frequency NSST coefficients. The proposed fusion method is evaluated on 20 pairs of multi-modality medical images and compared with seven previous fusion methods and two deep-learning-based fusion methods. Quantitative and qualitative experimental results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed fusion method in terms of visual quality and fusion performance.

Spiking Neural P Systems with Extended Channel Rules.

This paper discusses a new variant of spiking neural P systems (in short, SNP systems), spiking neural P systems with extended channel rules (in short, SNP-ECR systems). SNP-ECR systems are a class of distributed parallel computing models. In SNP-ECR systems, a new type of spiking rule is introduced, called ECR. With an ECR, a neuron can send the different numbers of spikes to its subsequent neurons. Therefore, SNP-ECR systems can provide a stronger firing control mechanism compared with SNP systems and the variant with multiple channels. We discuss the Turing universality of SNP-ECR systems. It is proven that SNP-ECR systems as number generating/accepting devices are Turing universal. Moreover, we provide a small universal SNP-ECR system as function computing devices.

Dendrite P systems.

It was recently found that dendrites are not just a passive channel. They can perform mixed computation of analog and digital signals, and therefore can be abstracted as information processors. Moreover, dendrites possess a feedback mechanism. Motivated by these computational and feedback characteristics, this article proposes a new variant of neural-like P systems, dendrite P (DeP) systems, where neurons simulate the computational function of dendrites and perform a firing-storing process instead of the storing-firing process in spiking neural P (SNP) systems. Moreover, the behavior of the neurons is characterized by dendrite rules that are abstracted by two characteristics of dendrites. Different from the usual firing rules in SNP systems, the firing of a dendrite rule is controlled by the states of the corresponding source neurons. Therefore, DeP systems can provide a collaborative control capability for neurons. We discuss the computational power of DeP systems. In particular, it is proven that DeP systems are Turing-universal number generating/accepting devices. Moreover, we construct a small universal DeP system consisting of 115 neurons for computing functions.

Nonlinear Spiking Neural P Systems.

This paper proposes a new variant of spiking neural P systems (in short, SNP systems), nonlinear spiking neural P systems (in short, NSNP systems). In NSNP systems, the state of each neuron is denoted by a real number, and a real configuration vector is used to characterize the state of the whole system. A new type of spiking rules, nonlinear spiking rules, is introduced to handle the neuron's firing, where the consumed and generated amounts of spikes are often expressed by the nonlinear functions of the state of the neuron. NSNP systems are a class of distributed parallel and nondeterministic computing systems. The computational power of NSNP systems is discussed. Specifically, it is proved that NSNP systems as number-generating/accepting devices are Turing-universal. Moreover, we establish two small universal NSNP systems for function computing and number generator, containing 117 neurons and 164 neurons, respectively.

An Extended Membrane System with Active Membranes to Solve Automatic Fuzzy Clustering Problems.

This paper focuses on automatic fuzzy clustering problem and proposes a novel automatic fuzzy clustering method that employs an extended membrane system with active membranes that has been designed as its computing framework. The extended membrane system has a dynamic membrane structure; since membranes can evolve, it is particularly suitable for processing the automatic fuzzy clustering problem. A modification of a differential evolution (DE) mechanism was developed as evolution rules for objects according to membrane structure and object communication mechanisms. Under the control of both the object's evolution-communication mechanism and the membrane evolution mechanism, the extended membrane system can effectively determine the most appropriate number of clusters as well as the corresponding optimal cluster centers. The proposed method was evaluated over 13 benchmark problems and was compared with four state-of-the-art automatic clustering methods, two recently developed clustering methods and six classification techniques. The comparison results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in terms of effectiveness and robustness.