A New Similarity Measure between Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets and Its Application to Pattern Recognition

As a generation of ordinary fuzzy set, the concept of intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS), characterized both by a membership degree and by a nonmembership degree, is a more flexible way to cope with the uncertainty. Similarity measures of intuitionistic fuzzy sets are used to indicate the similarity degree between intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Although many similarity measures for intuitionistic fuzzy sets have been proposed in previous studies, some of those cannot satisfy the axioms of similarity or provide counterintuitive cases. In this paper, a new similarity measure and weighted similarity measure between IFSs are proposed. It proves that the proposed similarity measures satisfy the properties of the axiomatic definition for similarity measures. Comparison between the previous similarity measures and the proposed similarity measure indicates that the proposed similarity measure does not provide any counterintuitive cases. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the proposed similarity measure is capable of discriminating difference between patterns

Sparse Representation Based Binary Hypothesis Model for Hyperspectral Image Classification

The sparse representation based classifier (SRC) and its kernel version (KSRC) have been employed for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. However, the state-of-the-art SRC often aims at extended surface objects with linear mixture in smooth scene and assumes that the number of classes is given. Considering the small target with complex background, a sparse representation based binary hypothesis (SRBBH) model is established in this paper. In this model, a query pixel is represented in two ways, which are, respectively, by background dictionary and by union dictionary. The background dictionary is composed of samples selected from the local dual concentric window centered at the query pixel. Thus, for each pixel the classification issue becomes an adaptive multiclass classification problem, where only the number of desired classes is required. Furthermore, the kernel method is employed to improve the interclass separability. In kernel space, the coding vector is obtained by using kernel-based orthogonal matching pursuit (KOMP) algorithm. Then the query pixel can be labeled by the characteristics of the coding vectors. Instead of directly using the reconstruction residuals, the different impacts the background dictionary and union dictionary have on reconstruction are used for validation and classification. It enhances the discrimination and hence improves the performance

Characterization of Shewanella sp. Isolated from Cultured Loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus

Shewanella infection of fish has become a significant problem in aquaculture. In September 2014, a disease was seen in cultured loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) in Xuzhou, central China. A gram-negative bacillus was isolated from the diseased loaches and was tentatively named strain MS1, which was then identified as Shewanella sp. by physiological and biochemical characteristics analysis. The strain MS1 showed highest 16S rRNA sequence identities (98.93%, 98.87%) with the latest two species listed (Shewanella sp. MR7, Shewanella sp. MR4). The phylogenetic tree constructed on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences strongly indicated that the strain MS1 is most closely related to the new Shewanella strains MR7 and MR4. The isolate MS1 was confirmed as the pathogen of the infected loaches by experimental reinoculation. The strain was susceptible to most antimicrobial agents tested, but resistant to glycopeptides (vancomycin, teicoplanin) and lincosamide (lincomycin, clindamycin). This is the second report on Shewanella sp. isolated from the diseased loach

On the use of an explicit chemical mechanism to dissect peroxy acetyl nitrate formation.

Peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN) is a key component of photochemical smog and plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. Though it has been known that PAN is produced via reactions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) with some volatile organic compounds (VOCs), it is difficult to quantify the contributions of individual precursor species. Here we use an explicit photochemical model--Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) model--to dissect PAN formation and identify principal precursors, by analyzing measurements made in Beijing in summer 2008. PAN production was sensitive to both NOx and VOCs. Isoprene was the predominant VOC precursor at suburb with biogenic impact, whilst anthropogenic hydrocarbons dominated at downtown. PAN production was attributable to a relatively small class of compounds including NOx, xylenes, trimethylbenzenes, trans/cis-2-butenes, toluene, and propene. MCM can advance understanding of PAN photochemistry to a species level, and provide more relevant recommendations for mitigating photochemical pollution in large cities

Photoinduced Production of Chlorine Molecules from Titanium Dioxide Surfaces Containing Chloride

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is extensively used with the process of urbanization and potentially influences atmospheric chemistry, which is yet unclear. In this work, we demonstrated strong production of Cl-2 from illuminated KCl-coated TiO2 membranes and suggested an important daytime source of chlorine radicals. We found that water and oxygen were required for the reactions to proceed, and Cl-2 production increased linearly with the amount of coated KCl, humidity of the carrier gas, and light intensity. These results suggested that water promotes the reactivity of coated KCl via interaction with the crystal lattice to release free chloride ions (Cl-). The free Cl- transfer charges to O-2 via photoactivated TiO2 to form Cl-2 and probably the O-2(-) radical. In addition to Cl-2, ClO and HOCl were also observed via the complex reactions between Cl/Cl-2 and HOx. An intensive campaign was conducted in Shanghai, during which evident daytime peaks of Cl-2 were observed. Estimated Cl-2 production from TiO2 photocatalysis can be up to 0.2 ppb/h when the TiO2-containing surface reaches 20% of the urban surface, and highly correlated to the observed Cl-2. Our results suggest a non-negligible role of TiO2 in atmospheric photochemistry via altering the radical budget.Peer reviewe

Ethnic discordance in serum anti-Müllerian hormone in healthy women: a population study from China and Europe

Research question: Chinese women are known to have an earlier age of natural menopause than their European counterparts, but whether they also have a lower functional ovarian reserve is unknown. This study was designed to assess whether there are ethnic differences in anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentrations in women of reproductive age. Design: Women in China and Europe with regular menstrual cycles, not on hormonal contraception and with no medical history of note, were recruited to provide a day 2–5 early follicular phase sample. AMH concentration was determined using the Roche Elecsys assay. Decline in AMH was modelled with linear, quadratic and quadratic with interaction on age equations to assess the impact of ethnicity. Results: A total of 887 European and 461 Chinese women participated in the study. Despite the Chinese population being slightly younger (34.1 ± 8.4 years) than their European counterparts (34.8±8.9 years), their median AMH was lower, at 1.87 ng/ml (interquartile range [IQR] 0.28–3.64) compared with 2.11 ng/ml (IQR 0.73–3.96), with evidence of increasing discordance from age 25 years. In all regression models of the age-related decline in AMH, there was evidence of a difference between Chinese and European women. Although AMH was 28.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 18.2–36.7%) lower in the Chinese population at age 30, this decline increased to 79.4% (95% CI 75.4– 82.9%) at age 45. Conclusions: There were independent effects of age and ethnicity on serum AMH concentrations, with Chinese women having a substantially lower AMH in adult life than their European counterparts from age 25 onwards

Polluted dust promotes new particle formation and growth

Peer reviewe

Collaborative Product Design for Tasks Sorting Based on Shortest Delivery

The “people’s innovation” can promote development in enterprises in urgent need of innovative product design. Collaborative product design can be a powerful tool for enterprises wishing to improve their market competitiveness and customer satisfaction. To reduce decision costs, improve efficiency, and solve other issues, promoting “people’s innovation” can play a vital role. With this focus, this paper examines products produced through “people’s innovation.” A collaborative design task scheduling problem is presented. The design tasks are sorted based on a minimum delivery cost principle, which is determined using weighted shortest processing time (WSPT) rules and the shortest delivery time. The results show that distributed collaborative innovation can result in a reasonable arrangement for collaborative design tasks