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Extensive use of pesticides in agricultural production has been causing serious health threats to humans and animals. Among them, phorate is a highly toxic organophosphorus insecticide that has been widely used in planting. Due to its harmful effects on human and animal health, it has been restricted for use in many countries. Analytical methods for the rapid and sensitive detection of phorate residues in agricultural products are urgently needed. In this study, a new method was developed by combining surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and immunochromatography assay (ICA). Hybrid magnetic Fe3O4@Au@DTNB-Ab nanoprobes were prepared by modifying and growing Au nanoseeds on an Fe3O4 core. SERS activity of the nanoprobe was optimized by adjusting the concentration of the Au precursor. A rapid and sensitive assay was established by replacing the traditional colloidal gold-based ICA with hybrid SERS nanoprobes for SERS-ICA. After optimizing parameters including coating antibody concentrations and the composition and pH of the buffer solution, the limit of detection (LOD) for phorate could reach 1 ng/mL, with a linear range of 5~100 ng/mL. This LOD is remarkably lower than the maximum residue limit in vegetables and fruits set by the Chinese government. The feasibility of this method was further examined by conducting a spiking test with celery as the real sample. The result demonstrated that this method could serve as a promising platform for rapid and sensitive detection of phorate in agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edible chrysanthemum is widely cultivated and used as an important ingredient of medicine, tea and multifunctional food. During the planting of chrysanthemum, pesticides are extensively used for preventing plant diseases and insect pests. To ensure the food safety of edible chrysanthemum, rapid detection methods are urgently needed for on-site inspection. In this study, a graphene oxide/Au nanoparticle (GO/Au NP) cellulose substrate was prepared through layer-by-layer assembly of GO and Au NPs on a mixed cellulose ester membrane. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection of four types of organophosphorus and organosulfur pesticides was achieved by filtering the extracting solution through the substrate and analysing SERS spectra. Qualitative and semi-quantitative detection of fenthion, phoxim, isocarbophos and thiram was accomplished with the detection limits of 38.01, 8.13, 48.97 and 8.74 ng mL−1, respectively. A spiking experiment further demonstrated the feasibility of this method for rapid and on-site detection of mixed pesticides in chrysanthemum. This study provides a new approach for rapid detection of multiple hazardous substances in flowering and herbal plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of Internet technologies, the shipping industry has also entered the Industry 4.0 era, which is the era of using information technology to promote industrial change. Group decision making (GDM), as one of the key methods in decision science, can be used to obtain optimal solutions by aggregating the opinions of experts on several alternatives, and it has been applied to many fields to optimize the decision-making process. This paper provides an overview and analysis of the specific applications of GDM methods in Shipping Industry 4.0, and discusses future developments and research directions. First, the existing relevant literature is analyzed using bibliometrics. Then, the general procedure of GDM is investigated: opinion/preference representation, consensus measure, feedback mechanism, and the selection of alternatives. Next, the specific applications of GDM methods in Shipping Industry 4.0 are summarized. Lastly, possible future directions are discussed to advance this area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a consensus-trust driven framework of bidirectional interaction for social network large-group decision making. Firstly, the concepts of interaction consensus threshold and interaction trust threshold are defined, which are used to discriminate the interaction modes between subgroups into four categories. Corresponding hybrid feedback strategies are designed in which the consensus level and trust level of subgroups are regarded as reliable resources to facilitate the achievement of group consensus. Secondly, a minimum adjustment bidirectional feedback model considering cohesion is developed to help the interacting subgroups reach mutual consensus with minimum opinion modification. Finally, the proposed consensus framework is applied to a blockchain platform selection problem in supply chain to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a large developing country, China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and its relationship to trade have always been subjects of extensive scrutiny in academic circles. With the continuous advancement of the "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI), the pace of overseas expansion by Chinese firms has accelerated. This paper theoretically constructs a firm heterogeneity model of China's OFDI and bilateral trade, and conducts research based on panel data of China's OFDI in countries along the BRI from 2003 to 2019. The results show that China's OFDI can substantially enhance the potential for bilateral trade, and this conclusion remains robust after overcoming endogeneity and economic fluctuations. In a heterogeneity test, China's OFDI in countries along the "Land Silk Road" is shown to have a greater effect on trade potential than in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road." In the controlled test, China's OFDI to BRI countries has a greater role in upgrading trade potential than investment in other trading powerhouses. China's OFDI can promote the economic development of host countries along the BRI by strengthening the potential for bilateral trade. The results of this study are not only conducive to the "going global" of Chinese enterprises but also of practical significance for host countries to achieve high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Suez Canal blockage (SCB) event, one of the world's major transportation arteries, has attracted significant public attention. This article proposes a new leader–follower public-opinion evolution model on the SCB under online social media, which considers two aspects: (1) obtaining public opinion and attitudes about the SCB; and (2) grasping the evolutionary trend in public opinion on the SCB. To identify the sentiment tendency contained in the collected data, a hybrid sentiment analysis algorithm is presented to analyze Chinese and English data, which captures and analyzes public attitudes on the SCB. In addition, then, the opinion leader-identification mechanism algorithm is proposed, which divides leaders into three categories: positive, neutral and negative leaders. Moreover, the Hegselmann–Krause-based opinion leaders–followers opinion evolution model for the SCB event is established, which not only reflects the interaction of opinions among the online public, but also updates the opinions of the online public until it reaches a stable state. Finally, results and analysis for the SCB are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malathion, phoxim, and thiram are organophosphates and organosulfur pesticides widely used in agricultural products. The residues of these pesticides present a direct threat to human health. Rapid and on-site detection is critical for minimizing such risks. In this work, a simple approach was introduced using a flexible surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate. The prepared Ag nanoparticles-polydimethylsiloxane (AgNPs-PDMS) substrate showed high SERS activity, good precision (relative standard deviation = 5.33%), and stability (30 days) after optimization. For target pesticides, the linear relationship between characteristic SERS bands and concentrations were achieved in the range of 10~1000, 100~5000, and 50~5000 μg L−1 with LODs down to 3.62, 41.46, and 15.69 μg L−1 for thiram, malathion, and phoxim, respectively. Moreover, SERS spectra of mixed samples indicated that three pesticides can be identified simultaneously, with recovery rates between 96.5 ± 3.3% and 118.9 ± 2.4%, thus providing an ideal platform for detecting more than one target. Pesticide residues on orange surfaces can be simply determined through swabbing with the flexible substrate before acquiring the SERS signal. This study demonstrated that the prepared substrate can be used for the rapid detection of pesticides on real samples. Overall, this method greatly simplified the pre-treatment procedure, thus serving as a promising analytical tool for rapid and nondestructive screening of malathion, phoxim, and thiram on various agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a calibrated individual semantic (CIS)-based failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) to deal with the risk evaluation of industrial internet platforms (IIP) from four perspectives: network security, data processing capability, equipment performance, and openness. The novelty of the CIS model is based on the deviation between linguistic terms and numerical values to calibrate linguistic scales of decision-makers (DMs). Not only can it handle situations in which different DMs have different understandings of the same term, but it is also suitable for multiple attributes decision-making with uncertainty. In addition, this new FMEA framework considers the consensus-reaching process as a way to eliminate the disagreement among DMs from different departments. Finally, a comparison between the proposed and traditional method is presented to illustrate the advantages of new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a comprehensive star rating approach for cruise ships by the combination of subject and objective evaluation. To do that, it firstly established a index system of star rating for cruise ships. Then, the modified TOPSIS is adopted to tackle objective data for obtaining star ratings for basic cruise indicators and service capabilities of cruise ships. Thus, the concept of distributed linguistic star rating function (DLSRF) is defined to analyze the subjective evaluation from experts and users. Hence, a novel weight calculation method with interactive group decision making is presented to assign the importance of the main indicators. Particularly, in order to enable decision makers to effectively deal with the uncertainty in this star rating process, it adopts the personalized individual semantics (PIS) model. Finally, data of nine cruise ships is collected to obtain their final star rating results and some suggestions for improving cruise service capabilities and star indicators were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable supplier selection (SSS) plays an increasingly critical role in the stability and development of the organization with increasing environmental awareness. This article proposes a linguistic multiple attribute group decision-making method to select the appropriate sustainable supplier by combing Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory(DEMATEL) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). To do that, a distribution linguistic based DEMATEL technique is developed to deal with the complexity in criteria of SSS. To eliminate the inconsistency among multiple decision-makers providing the preference information of evaluation criteria, a minimum adjusting cost feedback mechanism is utilized to reach group consensus. Therefore, the proposed weights obtaining method can not only deal with the subjectivity of evaluation criterion but also satisfy group decision-makers with different profits and backgrounds. Then, based on the evaluation matrices of supplier performance, it calculates the ranking of alternative suppliers by the VIKOR method. Hence, it can deal with the ambiguity of decision makers' evaluation and provide the best solution for decision-makers, as a consequence, it makes the final evaluation result more feasible and operable. Finally, the effectiveness and efficiency of this method are verified based on the actual situation of ABC Company. This study proposed a linguistic multiple attribute group decision-making method to select the appropriate sustainable supplier by combing Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory(DEMATEL) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). What's more, the proposed method considered the group consensus reaching processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the help of the massive online information, non-expert decision-making problems (such as travel destination selection) can be solved. Online reviews provide decision-making opinions and weight information for tourists who have never been to the alternative travel destinations. To deal with the increasing tourism products and group tourists, this study proposes a novel group consensus-based travel destination evaluation method with online reviews, which considers the missing preference estimating and group consensus reaching process. Firstly, decision opinions are represented through the sentiment matrix with the percentage distribution. Secondly, to obtain the weight vector of attributes, the incomplete complementary matrices with the preference of attributes are given by group users. Subsequently, the missing preference values in the matrix are estimated. Thirdly, all users are required to reach group consensus based on the minimum adjustment cost feedback mechanism. Finally, the sentiment matrix with the percentage distribution can be aggregated by the weight vectors. So that the ranking of alternatives can be obtained. In this study, an example of travel destination evaluation based on the online reviews of Dazhong.com and Ctrip.com is given to illustrate the use of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a framework of personalized feedback mechanism to help multiple inconsistent experts to reach consensus in group decision making by allowing to select different feedback parameters according to individual consensus degree. The general harmony degree (GHD) is defined to determine the before/after feedback difference between the original and revised opinions. It is proved that the GHD index is monotonically decreasing with respect to the feedback parameter, which means that higher parameter values will result in higher changes of opinions. An optimization model is built with the GHD as the objective function and the consensus thresholds as constraints, with the solution being personalized feedback advices to the inconsistent experts that keep a balance between consensus (group aim) and independence (individual aim). This approach is, therefore, more reasonable than the unpersonalized feedback mechanisms in which the inconsistent experts are forced to adopt feedback generated with only consensus target without considering the extent of the changes acceptable by individual experts. Furthermore, the following interesting theoretical results are also proved: 1) the personalized feedback mechanism guarantees that the increase of consensus level after feedback advices are implemented; 2) the GHD by the personalized feedback mechanism is higher than that of the unpersonalized one; and 3) the personalized feedback mechanism generalizes the unpersonalized one as it is proved the latter is a particular type of the former. Finally, a numerical example is provided to model the feedback process and to corroborates these results when comparing both feedback mechanism approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel framework to prevent manipulation behavior in consensus reaching process under social network group decision making is proposed, which is based on a theoretically sound optimal feedback model. The manipulation behavior classification is twofold: first, “individual manipulation” where each expert manipulates his/her own behavior to achieve higher importance degree (weight); and second, “group manipulation” where a group of experts force inconsistent experts to adopt specific recommendation advices obtained via the use of a fixed feedback parameter. To counteract “individual manipulation,” a behavioral weights assignment method modeling sequential attitude ranging from “dictatorship” to “democracy” is developed, and then a reasonable policy for group minimum adjustment cost is established to assign appropriate weights to experts. To prevent “group manipulation,” an optimal feedback model is investigated where objective function is the individual adjustments cost and constraints related to the group threshold of consensus. This approach allows the inconsistent experts to balance group consensus and adjustment cost, which enhances their willingness to adopt the recommendation advices and consequently the group reaching consensus on the decision-making problem at hand. A numerical example is presented to illustrate and verify the proposed optimal feedback model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a novel multi-criteria group decision making (MCGDM) approach with multi-granularity hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS). It consists three aspects: (1) The processing algorithms for multi-granularity HFLTS; (2) G-DEMATEL model based on HFLTS; (3) A consensus model with the feedback mechanism. To do that, the relative projection model for multi-granular hesitant fuzzy language information is presented and the similarity degree between individual decision matrices based on relative projection is defined. On the basis, the similarity degree is used to determine the expert's weight vectors, and the SD-MGHIOWA operator is defined to aggregate the experts opinions. The traditional G-DEMATEL model is improved by the multi-granular hesitant fuzzy language and a new model is built to analyze the correlation between criterion and weight vector. Furthermore, consensus degree is defined from three levels to identify the inconsistent experts, and a feedback mechanism is activated to generate recommendation advice for the inconsistent experts to increase consensus degree. After that, a comprehensive score mechanism of alternatives is designed to select the most appropriate alternative after the consensus is reached. The main characteristics of the proposed MCGDM is that it not only considers the correlation between criterions but also provides the consensus model with the feedback mechanism in the context of hesitant fuzzy language. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the developed method, which are then compared to the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]