Information Sciences

Editor-in-Chief: W. Pedrycz Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Electrical & Comp Engineering Research Facility, Edmonton, T6G 2V4, Canada, Fax: 780 492 1811, Special Issue Editor: P.P. Wang Dept. of Electrical Engin., Duke University, P.O. Box 90291, Durham, NC 27708-0291, USA, Fax: +1 919 660-5293, Associate Editors: R. Aliev Azerbaijan State Oil Academy, Baku, Azerbaijan, A. Bargiela University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, B. Bede DigiPen Institute of Technology, Redmond, WA, USA, A. Bretto Université de Caen Basse Normandie, Caen Cedex, France, G. Castellano Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy, O. Castillo Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Mexico, S.-M. Chen National Taichung University of Education, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC, Y.-P. Chen National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, ROC, T.-M. Choi The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom (Kowloon), Hong Kong, D. Ciucci Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy, P. D'Urso Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy, S. Das Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, M. Droste Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, P. Ekel Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, P. Guo Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, P.H. Guzzi Università degli studi Magna Graecia di Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy, L. Hernandez-Encinas Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain, F. Herrera Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain, E. Herrera-Viedma Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain, W. Homenda Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, E.R. Hruschka Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil, H. R. Karimi Universitetet i Agder, Grimstad, Norway, S. T.-W. Kwong City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, F. Marcelloni Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy, R. Mesiar FCE STU Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia, Y. Nojima Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan, Y.-S. Ong Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, P. Shi University of Glamorgan, Pontipridd, UK, P. Siarry Université Paris 12 Val de Marne, Creteil, France, A. Skowron University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland, D. Slezak Infobright Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada, P.N. Suganthan Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, D. Tao Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, Y. Tian Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, V. Torra Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain, D.-H. Wang La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, L. Wang Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, M. Wang National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, Singapore, W. Wang Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, X.-Z Wang Hebei University, Baoding City, China, L. Wu Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, Y.Y. Yao University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada, A.R. Yildiz Bursa Technical University, Turkey, S. Zhong State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA, Editorial Board: H. Adeli Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, H.J. Caulfield Alabama A & M University, Normal, USA, G. Chen Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, H.D. Cheng Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA, F. Crestani Università della Svizzera Italiana Lugano (USI), Lugano, Switzerland, D. Dubois Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse), Toulouse, France, K. Elmagarmid Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, T. Fukuda Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan, D.E. Goldberg University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, S. Gottwald Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, S. Grossberg Boston University, Boston, MA, USA, K. Hirota Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan, Y.C. Ho Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, J. Kacprzyk Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, N. Kasabov Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, E.E. Kerre Universiteit Gent, Gent, Belgium, B. Kosko University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, USA, D. Manivannan University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, S.K. Pal Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India, H. Prade Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse), Toulouse, France, G. Succi Libera Università di Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, A.V. Vasilakos Univers