AKDC: Ambiguous Kernel Distance Clustering Algorithm for COVID-19 CT Scans Analysis

Conventional soft clustering algorithms perform well on linearly distributed features, but their performance degrades on nonlinearly distributed features in high-dimensional space. In this study, a novel soft clustering algorithm, the ambiguous kernel distance clustering (AKDC) algorithm, is presented. This algorithm is developed by applying ambiguous set theory and the Gaussian kernel function. The ambiguous set theory defines the ambiguities inherent in each feature with four membership values: 1) true; 2) false; 3) true-ambiguous; and 4) false-ambiguous. The degree of membership values here forms a low-dimensional feature space that is not linearly distributed. Therefore, these nonlinearly distributed membership values are mapped into a high-dimensional feature space using the Gaussian kernel function. This study focuses on performing cluster analysis of computerized tomography scans of COVID-19 (CTSC-19) cases using AKDC. COVID-19, recognized as one of the most life-threatening diseases of this century, is highly contagious, and early diagnosis may prevent one-to-one transmission. Extensive empirical studies have been conducted with different types of CTSC-19 to demonstrate its effectiveness against existing kernel-based clustering and nonkernel-based clustering algorithms, namely mercer kernel fuzzy c-mean (MKFCM), kernel generalized FCM (KGFCM), kernel intuitionistic fuzzy entropy c-means (KIFECMs), morphological reconstruction and membership filtering clustering (FRFCM), and intuitionistic FCM based on membership information transferring and similarity measurements (IFCM-MS). The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm compared to the existing algorithms is evaluated using standard statistical metrics, such as dice index (DI), Jaccard index (JI), structural similarity index (SI), and correlation coefficient (CC). The empirical results show that AKDC is more effective than existing algorithms based on DI, JI, SI, and CC.