Retraction to: Neural Computing and Applications (2019) 31:1375–1389 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-018-3512-3


The Editor-in-Chief and the publisher have retracted this article. The article was submitted to be part of a guest-edited issue. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles, including this one, with a number of concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and peer review process, inappropriate or irrelevant references or not being in scope of the journal or guest-edited issue. Based on the investigation's findings the Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the results and conclusions of this article.

Authors Shu-xia Li, Shu-fang Li, Zheng-nan Lv and Jie-sheng Wang have not responded to correspondence regarding this retraction. The Publisher has not been able to obtain a current email address for author Hui-sheng Ma.