Group decision making is an essential activity in various fields of operations research and management science. This paper focuses on the intuitionistic fuzzy group decision making problem in which ...all the experts use the intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs) to express their preferences. To start our discussion, we first propose the novel framework of intuitionistic fuzzy group decision making and clarify the difficulties in deriving the final result which is accepted by all individuals in the group. Next, a consistency checking method, which is based on the multiplicative consistency, is developed to check the consistency of each IFPR furnished by the group of experts. For those IFPRs that do not have the acceptable consistency, an iterative procedure is proposed to improve the consistency. Furthermore, after introducing a novel consensus measure, an interesting consensus-reaching procedure is developed to help the group to find a solution which is accepted by most members in the group. Finally, in order to make our approaches more applicable, a step-by-step algorithm is given. A numerical example concerning the selection of outstanding Ph.D. students for the China Scholarship Council is given to illustrate and validate the proposed approaches.
Abstract
A regioselective fluoromethylation by ring‐opening of cyclic sulfamidates and sulfates with α‐fluorocarbanions and subsequent reductive desulfonylation is developed. ...Fluorobis(phenylsulfonyl)methane (FBSM) was explored as fluoromethide equivalent and the reaction was extended to the α‐fluorocarbanion of ethyl 2‐fluoroacetoacetate. This approach allows access to γ‐ and δ‐fluoroamines as well as γ‐ and δ‐fluoroalcohols in high yields.
Strengthening existing steel beams with externally bonded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plate has attracted many interests in the research community. Debonding of the CFRP plate is the ...dominant failure mode in a flexurally strengthened steel beam, and the debonding failure is controlled by the interfacial responses between the CFRP plate and the substrate steel beam. Although some experimental investigations have been conducted on CFRP-strengthened steel beams, limited test results on the interfacial stress and strain responses especially in full-scale steel beams, are available to verify the numerical modeling. This paper presents an experimental study on the flexural behavior of full-scale CFRP-strengthened H-section steel beams. The effects of different bond lengths of CFRP plates and the presence of steel stiffeners are investigated. The test results in terms of the failure modes, load-deflection responses, CFRP strains, interfacial shear stress distributions are reported in detail. A three-dimensional finite element model is proposed to predict the flexural performance of full-scale CFRP-strengthened steel beams, and it is then validated extensively by the test results.
Phenylsulfone difluorodiazoethane (PhSO2CF2CHN2), an easy-to-prepare and bench-stable masked CF2-building block, has been developed. The synthetic utility of this reagent is demonstrated by a direct ...regioselective 3 + 2 cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkynes and alkenes. This protocol enables facile construction of an array of difluoromethyl-substituted pyrazoles in good to high yields under mild reaction conditions.
•Raw material, characteristic and applications of ECCs and UHPFRCCs are reviewed.•Comprehensive reviews on structural members strengthened with ECCs/UHPFRCCs are presented.•Behavior and applications ...of FRP-reinforced ECC/UHPFRCC composites are reviewed.•Existing data and theoretical models for FRP-ECC/UHPFRCC strengthened structures are summarized.•Future research needs on ECC/UHPFRCC with and without FRP reinforcement are identified.
High-performance cementitious composites, such as engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) with strong tensile strain-hardening behavior or ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (UHPFRCCs) with excellent compressive behavior, have been widely used in civil engineering. In cases that UHPFRCC strengthening layer without internal reinforcement has an inferior average ultimate tensile stress to UHPFRCC strengthening layer with internal reinforcement, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bar/grid can be adopted as internal tension reinforcement. This paper presents a state-of-the-art comprehensive review on the characteristics and application of high-performance cementitious composites with and without FRP grid reinforcement. This review discusses the feasibility of application of ECC/UHPFRCC to structural strengthening/repairing, and concludes that FRP grid-reinforced ECC/UHPFRCC exhibits better potential than ECC/UHPFRCC in improving mechanical performance of composite structures. Finally, the application prospect and future research on FRP grid-reinforced ECC/UHPFRCC are identified.
•Typical three-segment axial stress-strain curves of FRP-confined UHPC are defined.•Stress reduction and the actual confinement ratio threshold reduce with the content of steel fibers.•Addition of ...steel fibers compromises effects of specimen size.•Performances of existing axial stress-strain models for FRP-confined concrete are verified.
Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) usually exhibits a weak ductility under axial compression. However, the ductility can be enhanced by implementing confining devices such as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) wraps. In order to gain in-depth understandings on the compressive behavior of FRP-confined UHPC, axial compression tests on 52 FRP-confined and 12 unconfined UHPC cylinders were carried out in this study. The failure modes, stress-strain behaviors, confinement efficiency, and the influences of crucial variables (steel fiber contents, specimen sizes, FRP fiber types, and FRP thickness) on the compressive behavior of FRP-confined UHPC were investigated and discussed. Results show that the increase in steel fiber content could increase the first peak stress and its corresponding strain, hoop strain efficiency, avoid the abrupt stress reduction after the first peak stress, as well as alleviating the effect of specimen sizes. Addition of steel fibers also alters the actual confinement ratio threshold for sufficient confinement. Comparisons suggest that FRP confinement fiber types have limited influence on the normalized stress-strain behavior of specimens with similar level of actual confinement ratio. Additionally, performances of four existing axial stress-strain models for FRP-confined concrete are verified and the results reveal that Teng et al.’s model performs the best although this model is incapable in capturing the strain softening behavior after the first peak stress.
Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs)-based payment is an important tool for containment of inpatient expenditure rise in many countries. As a major developing country, China has introduced DRGs in the ...health reform. Beijing, the capital of China, developed a local DRGs version (BJ-DRGs) whose performance needs to be evaluated before universal utilization. The objective of this study was to survey the effect of BJ-DRGs-based payment on a pilot hospital.
We surveyed the profit and loss situation of 47 148 cases of hospital discharged patients in 107 groups of pilot BJ-DRGs-based payment from December 2011 to July 2018 in certain top tertiary hospital in Beijing.
In pilot 107 groups of DRGs, there were 77 groups (71.96%) in profit and 30 groups (28.04%) in loss; average length of inpatient stay was 7.47 days, average inpatient expenditure ¥17 821.19, average DRGs standard unit price ¥15 896.83, average self-pay expenditure ¥1 117.04, and average profit ¥1 849.65; logistic regression showed that whether the pilot hospital of BJ-DRGs-based payment was in profit or loss was correlated negatively with inpatient expenditure, length of inpatient stay, drug expenditure, expenditure of medical consumables, and pilot years, and positively with DRGs standard unit price, self-pay expenditure, and age and gender (P < .0001).
BJ-DRGs-based payment is the first implemented DRGs-based prospective payment system in China. The current DRGs pilot model made the pilot hospital appear profitable as a whole and its length of inpatient stay decline.
The study of Chinese questions in Western literary theories in the twentieth century gets under way with the problem awareness to overcome the anxiety of the Westernization of Chinese questions, and ...then further uncovers the complex relationships between Western literary theories and Chinese questions. To this end, it is a must to comprehensively update the research methods of dialogism in Chinese and Western literary theories: transcend the "The western impact, China's response" mode, adopt the "China's demand, China's option" mode; transcend the unidirectional "The western influence, China's reception" mode, adopt the bidirectional "detour-access East-West" mode; and transcend the "comparison-opposition East-West" mode, adopt the "dialogue-consensus East-West" mode. Based upon the understanding of "vision dislocation" and "unequal dialogic relationship", I intend to help carry out joint discussions between Chinese and Western literary theories on the platform of Chinese questions, and establish a dialogue mechanism between Chinese and Western literary theories by "make the (research) objects voice themselves". "Studying China via the world" is the whole point of Chinese questions in Western literary theories in the twentieth century.
AIM To compare the expression levels of interleukin(IL)-6 in colorectal cancer(CRC) tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues, and analyse the correlation of IL-6 expression with the ...clinicopathological parameters of CRC. METHODS Fifty CRC tissue specimens and 50 matched adjacent mucosa specimens were collected. The expression of IL-6 in these clinical samples was examined by immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between IL-6 expression and clinicopathological parameters was assessed by statistical analysis.RESULTS IL-6 expression was significantly elevated in CRC tissues compared with noncancerous tissues(P < 0.001). IL-6 expression was positively correlated with tumour TNM stage(P < 0.001), but a negative correlation was detected between IL-6 expression and tumor histological differentiation in CRC(P < 0.05). Furthermore, IL-6 expression was associated with invasion depth and lymph node metastasis in CRC. CONCLUSION IL-6 might be a useful marker for predicting a poor prognosis in patients with CRC and might be used as a potential therapeutic target in CRC.
•Compressive behavior of DSTCs with high-strength steel tube and ultra-high strength concrete is studied and presented.•The axial load-axial strain curves exhibit an ...ascending-descending-ascending-failure behavior.•The stiffeners are beneficial in enhancing the performance of DSTCs.•The existing model is inaccurate in predicting the ultimate axial stress and the ultimate axial strain of high/ultra-high strength concrete in DSTCs.
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-concrete-steel double skin tubular columns (DSTCs), which possess an outer FRP tube, an inner steel tube and sandwiched concrete between both tubes, are a kind of hybrid column with a particular merit of lightweight. It is expected that using high-strength materials (i.e., ultra-high strength concrete (UHSC) and high-strength steel (HSS) tubes) in DSTCs magnifies the merit of DSTCs. This paper presents an experimental study on axial compression behavior of DSTCs with ultra-high strength concrete and a rib-stiffened Q690 steel tube. The rib-stiffened steel tubes, which are less susceptible to local buckling compared with those without stiffeners, were used in the present study. The parameters including the quantity of stiffeners, the length of stiffeners, the FRP tube thickness, the steel tube diameter and the concrete strength were carefully designed and investigated through the experimental study. The test results demonstrate that DSTCs with UHSC and HSS tubes exhibit a ductile behavior and the axial load-axial strain curves exhibit an ascending-descending-ascending-failure behavior. Additionally, the stiffeners are beneficial in enhancing the performance of DSTCs. The comparisons between the test results and theoretical results show that the existing model of Yu et al. is inaccurate in predicting the ultimate axial stress and the ultimate axial strain of HSC and UHSC in DSTCs.
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