The MYCIN certainty factor handling function as uninorm operator and its use as a threshold function in artificial neurons

The uninorm operator class as defined by Yager, unifies the t-norm and t-conorm operator classes and allows special kind of aggregation that depends on the identity element. In the paper, the MYCIN certainty factor handling function f(M) is proved to belong to the uninorm operator class. The shape of function f(M) is studied and its resemblance to artificial neuron's threshold functions is established. The two variable function f(M) can be seen as an extension of typical neuron threshold functions to the three-dimensional space. The use of one of the two variables as a parameter gives the neuron tuning capabilities. A specific class of Artificial Neural Networks that cope with uncertainty and can use f(M) as threshold function is also proposed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.