Using fractional order method to generalize strengthening generating operator buffer operator and weakening buffer operator

Traditional integer order buffer operator is extended to fractional order buffer operator, the corresponding relationship between the weakening buffer operator and the strengthening buffer operator is revealed. Fractional order buffer operator not only can generalize the weakening buffer operator and the strengthening buffer operator, but also realize tiny adjustment of buffer effect. The effectiveness of GM(1,1) with the fractional order buffer operator is validated by six cases

A commentary on some of the intrinsic differences between grey systems and fuzzy systems

The aim of this paper is to distinguish between some of the more intrinsic differences that exist between grey system theory (GST) and fuzzy system theory (FST). There are several aspects of both paradigms that are closely related, it is precisely these close relations that will often result in a misunderstanding or misinterpretation. The subtly of the differences in some cases are difficult to perceive, hence why a definitive explanation is needed. This paper discusses the divergences and similarities between the interval-valued fuzzy set and grey set, interval and grey number; for both the standard and the generalised interpretation. A preference based analysis example is also put forward to demonstrate the alternative in perspectives that each approach adopts. It is believed that a better understanding of the differences will ultimately allow for a greater understanding of the ideology and mantras that the concepts themselves are built upon. By proxy, describing the divergences will also put forward the similarities. We believe that by providing an overview of the facets that each approach employs where confusion may arise, a thorough and more detailed explanation is the result. This paper places particular emphasis on grey system theory, describing the more intrinsic differences that sets it apart from the more established paradigm of fuzzy system theory

Quantification of Perception Clusters Using R-Fuzzy Sets and Grey Analysis

This paper investigates the use of the R-fuzzy significance measure hybrid approach introduced by the authors in a previous work; used in conjunction with grey analysis to allow for further inferencing, providing a higher dimension of accuracy and understanding. As a single observation can have a multitude of different perspectives, choosing a single fuzzy value as a representative becomes problematic. The fundamental concept of an R-fuzzy set is that it allows for the collective perception of a populous, and also individualised perspectives to be encapsulated within its membership set. The introduction of the significance measure allowed for the quantification of any membership value contained within any generated R-fuzzy set. Such is the pairing of the significance measure and the R-fuzzy concept, it replicates in part, the higher order of complex uncertainty which can be garnered using a type-2 fuzzy approach, with the computational ease and objectiveness of a typical type-1 fuzzy set. This paper utilises the use of grey analysis, in particular, the use of the absolute degree of grey incidence for the inspection of the sequence generated when using the significance measure, when quantifying the degree of significance fore each contained fuzzy membership value. Using the absolute degree of grey incidence provides a means to measure the metric spaces between sequences. As the worked example will show, if the data contains perceptions from clusters of cohorts, these clusters can be compared and contrasted to allow for a more detailed understanding of the abstract concepts being modelled

Combination of dasatinib and curcumin eliminates chemo-resistant colon cancer cells

Metastatic colorectal cancer remains a serious health concern with poor patient survival. Although 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) or 5-FU plus oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) is the standard therapy for colorectal cancer, it has met with limited success. Recurrence of the tumor after chemotherapy could partly be explained by the enrichment of the chemo-resistant sub-population of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that possess the ability for self-renewal and differentiation into different lineages in the tumor. Therefore development of therapeutic strategies that target CSCs for successful treatment of this malignancy is warranted. The current investigation was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the combination therapy of dasatinib (a Src inhibitor) and curcumin (a dietary agent with pleiotropic effect) in inhibiting the growth and other properties of carcinogenesis of chemo-resistant colon cancer cells that are enriched in CSCs sub-population. Remnants of spontaneous adenomas from APCMin +/- mice treated with dasatinib and/or curcumin were analyzed for several cancer stem cell markers (ALDH, CD44, CD133 and CD166). Human colon cancer cells HCT-116 (p53 wild type; K-ras mutant) and HT-29 (p53 mutant; K-ras wild type) were used to generate FOLFOX resistant (referred to as CR) cells. The effectiveness of the combination therapy in inhibiting growth, invasive potential and stemness was examined in colon cancer CR cells. The residual tumors from APCMin +/- mice treated with dasatinib and/or curcumin showed 80-90% decrease in the expression of the CSC markers ALDH, CD44, CD133, CD166. The colon cancer CR cells showed a higher expression of CSCs markers, cell invasion potential and ability to form colonospheres, compared to the corresponding parental cells. The combination therapy of dasatinib and curcumin demonstrated synergistic interactions in CR HCT-116 and CR HT-29 cells, as determined by Calcusyn analysis. The combinatorial therapy inhibited cellular growth, invasion and colonosphere formation and also reduced CSC population as evidenced by the decreased expression of CSC specific markers: CD133, CD44, CD166 and ALDH. Our data suggest that the combination therapy of dasatinib and curcumin may be a therapeutic strategy for re-emergence of chemo-resistant colon cancer by targeting CSC sub-population

Multi-variable weakening buffer operator and its application

To weaken the disturbances of multi-variable and reveal the real situation, it is proved that the essence of the weakening buffer operator (abbreviated as WBO) can weaken the disturbance of one variable. According to this, the multi-variable weakening buffer operator is put forward. The multi-variable weakening buffer operator can satisfy the desire to use the freshest data and its buffer effect is obvious when the sample size is small. Four real cases show that the proposed multi-variable weakening buffer operator has higher forecasting performances

An R-fuzzy and Grey Analysis Framework

This paper puts forward the notion of an R-fuzzy and grey analysis framework. This is based on our previous works which involved enhancing the R-fuzzy set and the research undertaken on grey analysis, we believe that this newly proposed framework - the R-fuzzy grey analysis framework (RfGAf), to be a viable methodology to adopt when considering uncertainty modelling. It will be shown that the framework is very well suited in application areas involving perception modelling, where group consensus and subjectivity are prevalent. In such domains a single observation can have a multitude of different perspectives, choosing a single fuzzy value as a representative becomes problematic. The fundamental concept of an R-fuzzy set is that it allows for the collective perception of a populous, and also individualised perspectives to be encapsulated within its membership set. The introduction of a significance measure allowed for the quantification of any membership value contained within any generated R-fuzzy set. This in addition provided one the means to infer from the conditional probability of each contained fuzzy membership value. Such is the pairing of the significance measure and the R-fuzzy concept, it replicates in part, the higher order of complex uncertainty which can be garnered using a type-2 fuzzy approach, with the computational ease and objectiveness of a typical type-1 fuzzy set. This paper utilises the use of grey analysis, in particular, the use of the absolute degree of grey incidence for the inspection of the sequence generated when using the significance measure, when quantifying the degree of significance for each contained fuzzy membership value. Using the absolute degree of grey incidence provides a means to measure the metric spaces between sequences, so that perception divergence can be quantified

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway regulates growth and maintenance of colonospheres

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent evidence suggests that epithelial cancers, including colorectal cancer are driven by a small sub-population of self-renewing, multi-potent cells termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) which are thought to be responsible for recurrence of cancer. One of the characteristics of CSCs is their ability to form floating spheroids under anchorage-independent conditions in a serum-free defined media. The current investigation was undertaken to examine the role of Wnt/β-catenin pathway in regulating the growth and maintenance of colonospheres. Human colon cancer cells HCT-116 (p53 wild type; <it>K-ras </it>mutant), HCT-116 (p53 null; <it>K-ras </it>mutant) and HT-29 (p53 mutant) were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Colonospheres formed <it>in vitro </it>exhibited higher expression of colon CSCs markers LGR5, CD44, CD166 and Musashi-1 along with putative CSC marker EpCAM, compared to the corresponding parental cancer cells and also exhibit the ability to form spheroids under extreme limiting dilution, indicating the predominance of CSCs in colonospheres. Colonospheres formed by HCT-116 cells show over 80% of the cells to be CD44 positive, compared to ≤ 1% in the corresponding parental cells. Additionally, colonospheres showed reduced membrane bound β-catenin but had increased levels of total β-catenin, cyclin-D1 and c-myc and down regulation of axin-1 and phosphorylated β-catenin. Increased expression of β-catenin was associated with a marked transcriptional activation of TCF/LEF. The latter was greatly decreased following down regulation of β-catenin by the corresponding siRNA, leading to a marked reduction in CD44 positive cells as well as colonospheres formation. In contrast, upregulation of c-myc, a down-stream effector of TCF/LEF greatly augmented the formation of colonospheres.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data suggest that colonospheres formed by colon cancer cell lines are highly enriched in CSCs and that Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays a critical role in growth and maintenance of colonospheres.</p

Grey Strategies Interaction Model

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose - This paper aims to implement the strategies selection process in a proposed formulated mathematical framework to prioritize selected strategies with the interaction of other groups of strategies, known as the strategies interaction model (SIM). Design/methodology/approach - SWOT analysis is a popular useful strategic planning tool, which analyzes organizations internal and external factors. The traditional SWOT procedure lists internal and external factors and derives four groups of strategies based on the organization’s strategic position. SWOT is easy to use as a business analyzing tool, while it is not competent enough for strategic formulation. With the emergence of the economy's vicissitudes, undulations in the markets and multiple changes, and various variables in the industrial competitive environment, selection of the organization strategies confront uncertainty in decision-making. The SIM framework presents a solution to select alternative strategies for organizations in unpredictable situations. Findings – The findings show that SIM is a reliable approach to evaluate, select and rank organization’ strategies. SIM proposes alternative strategies due to the uncertainty of the organization’ environment with respect to the four strategic positions. The SIM’ proposed ranking process is in accordance with the highest impact of each strategy on each other. Furthermore, it possesses advantages of AHP, ANP and other applied MCDM techniques in SWOT analysis. Practical implications - In this paper SIM is applied within a dairy company located in the north of Iran. Originality/value - SIM has the advantages of the classic SWOT and fills the gaps of MCDM methods application in the SWOT analysis. Moreover, it provides a formulated algorithm for the organizations to face the uncertainty of the environment. SIM philosophy can be widely used in the decision and managerial implications