Fuzzy Recurrence Plots and Networks with Applications in Biomedicine

Book excerpt: This book presents an original combination of three well-known methodological approaches for nonlinear data analysis: recurrence, networks, and fuzzy logic. After basic concepts of these three approaches are introduced, this book presents recently developed methods known as fuzzy recurrence plots and fuzzy recurrence networks. Computer programs written in MATLAB, which implement the basic algorithms, are included to facilitate the understanding of the developed ideas. Several applications of these techniques to biomedical problems, ranging from cancer and neurodegenerative disease to depression, are illustrated to show the potential of fuzzy recurrence methods. This book opens a new door to theorists in complex systems science as well as specialists in medicine, biology, engineering, physics, computer science, geosciences, and social economics to address issues in experimental nonlinear signal and data processing.