KNOWLEDGE EXTRACTION AND INTEGRATION BY MEANS OF FUZZY LOGIC PARADIGM IN PROCESS CONTROL

Fuzzy Logic inherits its origins from the ancient philosophy and the philosopher's reflection of possibility of existence of the law that would be able to overcome the dualistic truth-lie principle. Lotfi E. Zadeh published his basic work on the theory of the fuzzy sets in 1965 and opened up a new area of research, activities and thinking. The first proven practical applications of the fuzzy logic followed in the 1970s. Zadeh, and others later, have prepared a fuzzy mathematical apparatus that allows the use of vague expressions and formulations (such as "Little Slow", "Usually Wrong", "Very Cold" or "Seldom Red"), which in strictly mathematical defined rules map the domain of imprecision of human thought and expression in the codomain of real solutions. Concisely, fuzzy logic mathematically emulates human thinking. Fuzzy logic is a tool that releases the possibility of exploiting subjective knowledge in the integration of knowledge, which is discussed in the paper through an overview of the simpler and complex problems we face in the process control. Although fuzzy logic is often associated with controllers and tackling with technical problems characterized by nonlinearity, it shows its flexibility and suitability in solving process management problems as well as in other areas of human interest. The paper proposes potent directions of application of fuzzy logic in process management, especially for tackling with decision-making problems. Appropriate lay out of fuzzy variables and fuzzy functions and formation a set of fuzzy rules enables decisions based on a smaller amount of information, than it is the case with conventional methods. In a business environment, the paradigm of fuzzy logic brings human subjectivity into objectivity of science and business processes, and as a method by which we can use subjective human knowledge and to use it as it is, without complex abstractions which indeed cause quality deterioration of the final solution.