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Nonlinear grey Bernoulli model, abbreviated as NGBM model, has been validly used in real applications due to its high accuracy in nonlinear time series forecasting. However, there remain technical challenges to explain the mechanism of the accumulative sum operator in nonlinear grey modelling process and estimate structural parameters independent from the initial values. This paper aims to reconstruct the modelling process of the NGBM model so as to explain the modelling mechanism better by utilizing the integral matching approach, which consists of an integral formula and the numerical discretization-based least squares. First, the integral formula is employed to investigate the accumulative sum operator and further reconstruct the NGBM model to a generalized form, referred as to INGBM model. Then, a novel parameter estimation strategy, estimating structure parameters and initial values simultaneously, is developed by utilizing the numerical discretization-based least squares approach. Next, Monte Carlo simulation studies are designed to evaluate the finite sample performance of both models. Comparisons show that the INGBM model outperforms to the original one in terms of parameter estimation accuracy, forecasting accuracy and robustness to noise. Finally, we apply the INGBM model at a coal consumption in China study to further illustrate the usefulness of this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reflect both fuzziness and hesitation in the evaluation of interactivity between attributes in the identification process of 2-order additive fuzzy measure, this work uses the hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) to describe and depict the interactivity between attributes. Firstly, the interactivity between attributes is defined by the supermodular game theory. According to this definition, a linguistic term set is established to characterize the interactivity between attributes. Under the linguistic term set, the experts employ linguistic expressions generated by context-free grammar to qualitatively describe the interactivity between attributes. Secondly, through the conversion function, the linguistic expressions are transformed into the hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs). The individual evaluation results of all experts were further aggregated with the defined hesitant fuzzy linguistic weighted power average operator (HFLWPA). Thirdly, based on the standard Euclidean distance formula of the hesitant fuzzy linguistic elements (HFLEs), the hesitant fuzzy linguistic interaction degree (HFLID) between attributes is defined and calculated by constructing a piecewise function. As a result, a 2-order additive fuzzy measure identification method based on HFLID is proposed. Based on the proposed method, using the Choquet fuzzy integral as nonlinear integration operator, a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) process is then presented. Taking the credit assessment of the big data listed companies in China as an application example, the analysis results of application example prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. This work successfully reflects both the fuzziness and hesitation in evaluating the interactivity between attributes in the identification process of 2-order additive fuzzy measure, enriches the theoretical framework of 2-order additive fuzzy measure, and expands the applicability and methodology of 2-order additive fuzzy measure in multi-attribute decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the problem that it is difficult to quantitatively assess the interactivity between attributes in the identification process of 2-order additive fuzzy measure, this work uses the intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) to describe and deal with the interactivity between attributes. Firstly, the interactivity between attributes is defined by the supermodular game theory. On this basis, the experts employ the intuitionistic fuzzy number (IFN) to assess the interactivity between attributes, Secondly, the opinions of all experts are aggregated by using the intuitionistic fuzzy weighted average operator (IFWA). Finally, based on the aggregated results, the intuitionistic fuzzy interaction degree between attributes is defined and calculated by the score function of IFN. Thus, a 2-order additive fuzzy measure identification method based on IFSs is further proposed. Based on the proposed method, using the Choquet fuzzy integral as nonlinear integration operator, a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) process is presented. Taking the credit evaluation of the big data listed companies in China as an application example, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the analysis results of application example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]