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Public-private partnership (PPP) is regarded as an innovative way to the procurement of public projects. Models vary with PPP projects due to their differences. The evaluation criteria are usually complex and the judgments offered by decision makers (DMs) show the characteristics of fuzziness and uncertainty. Considering these cases, this paper first analyses the risk factors for PPP models and then proposes a new method for selecting them in the setting of single-valued neutrosophic hesitant fuzzy environment. To achieve these purposes, two single-valued neutrosophic hesitant fuzzy correlation coefficients are defined to measure evaluated PPP models. Considering the weights of the risk factors and their interactions, two single-valued neutrosophic hesitant fuzzy 2-additive Shapley weighted correlation coefficients are defined. When the 2-additive measure on the risk factor set is not exactly known, several distance measure-based programming models are constructed to determine it. Based on these results, an algorithm for evaluating PPP models with single-valued neutrosophic hesitant fuzzy information is developed. Finally, a practical numerical example is provided to verify the validity and feasibility of the new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consistency analysis is a crucial topic for preference relations. This paper studies the consistency of interval linguistic fuzzy preference relations (ILFPRs) using the constrained interval linguistic arithmetic and introduces a new consistency definition. Then, several properties of this definition are researched. Meanwhile, the connection between this concept and a previous one is discussed. Following this concept, programming models for judging the consistency and for deriving consistent ILFPRs are constructed, respectively. Considering the case that incomplete ILFPRs may be obtained, a programming model for obtaining missing judgments following the consistency discussion is built. Afterwards, the consensus for group decision making (GDM) is studied and a model for adjusting individual ILFPRs to reach the consensus threshold is established. Consequently, an interactive procedure for GDM with ILFPRs is presented. A practical problem is provided to illustrate the utilization of the new algorithm and comparative discussion is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables (IULVs) are useful to express the qualitative and quantitative recognitions of decision makers. However, after reviewing the previous operational laws on IULVs, we find there are some limitations. To address these issues, we define several new operations on IULVs and give a new ranking method. To improve the utilization of IULVs, this paper defines two Choquet operators: the intuitionistic uncertain linguistic symmetrical Choquet averaging (IULSCA) operator and the intuitionistic uncertain linguistic symmetrical Choquet geometric mean (IULSCGM) operator, which can address the internal correlations among elements. To globally reflect the interactive characteristics of the importance of elements, two generalized Shapley intuitionistic uncertain linguistic symmetrical Choquet operators are presented. Subsequently, a new distance measure is defined, which is then used to build models to ascertain fuzzy measures on decision maker and criteria sets to address the case where the weighting information is partly known. After that, a new procedure to intuitionistic uncertain linguistic group decision making is developed. Finally, a specific example is offered to illustrate the practicality of the new procedure, and the comparison analysis is also made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the fact that the players may have different risk attitudes for the approximate values of strategies, this paper uses the possibility and necessity measures to denote the risk attitudes of the players, which are useful tools to address this issue. To do this, the concepts of possibility and necessity expectations of fuzzy variables are introduced, and several desirable properties are studied. Then, two vectors to denote the players' risk attitudes for their strategies are presented. Furthermore, the concept of possibility and necessity (PN) equilibrium strategy is defined, and the associated models are constructed, by which the optimal possibility and necessity equilibrium strategy is obtained. Meanwhile, a special case is briefly considered. Finally, a numerical example is offered to show the equilibrium strategy of the players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2-tuple linguistic computational model is an important tool to deal with linguistic information. To extend the application of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and avoid information loss, this paper introduces hesitant fuzzy 2-tuple linguistic term sets that are expressed by using several symbolic numbers in [0, 1]. Considering the order relationship between hesitant fuzzy 2-tuple linguistic term sets, measures of expected value and variance are defined. Meanwhile, several induced generalized hesitant fuzzy 2-tuple linguistic aggregation operators are defined, by which the comprehensive attribute values of alternatives can be obtained. Then, models for the optimal weight vector on a decision maker set, on an attribute set and on their ordered sets are constructed, respectively. Furthermore, an approach to multi-granularity group decision making with hesitant fuzzy linguistic information is developed. Finally, an example is selected to illustrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With respect to multi-attribute decision making under uncertain linguistic environment, a new interval-valued 2-tuple linguistic representation model is introduced. To deal with the situation where the elements in a set are interdependent, several generalized interval-valued 2-tuple linguistic correlated aggregation operators are defined. It is worth pointing out that some intervalvalued 2-tuple linguistic operators based on additive measures are special cases of our operators. Meanwhile, several special cases and desirable properties are discussed. Furthermore, models based on the correlation coefficient are constructed, by which the optimal weight vector can be obtained. Moreover, an approach to multi-attribute group decision making with uncertain linguistic information is developed. Finally, an example is selected to show the effectivity and feasibility of the developed procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies some uncertain generalized aggregation operators based on the Shapley function, two of which are named the uncertain induced generalized Shapley averaging (UIGSA) operator and the uncertain induced generalized hybrid Shapley averaging (UIGHSA) operator. These two operators consider the interactive characteristics between elements and that of their ordered positions. Meanwhile, some important cases and desirable properties are studied. To simplify the complexity of solving a fuzzy measure, the uncertain induced generalized λ-Shapley averaging (UIGλSA) operator and the uncertain induced generalized hybrid λ-Shapley averaging (UIGHλSA) operator based on λ-fuzzy measures are presented. Finally, two new approaches to uncertain multi-attribute group decision making are developed, and a numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we shall study another coalitional value for fuzzy games with a coalition structure, which is named the proportional coalitional Shapley value. A generalized form of the proportional coalitional Shapley value for fuzzy games with a coalition structure is considered, which can be regarded as a generalization of crisp case. The axiomatic systems of this value are researched. When the original fuzzy game is fuzzy convex, the relationship between the proportional coalitional Shapley value, the fuzzy quotient core and the fuzzy quotient population monotonic allocation scheme (FQPMAS) is researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute lung injury (ALI) and the more severe acute respiratory distress syndrome are common responses to a variety of infectious and noninfectious insults. We used a mouse model of ALI induced by intratracheal administration of sterile bacterial wall lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to investigate the changes in innate lung microbiota and study microbial community reaction to lung inflammation and barrier dysfunction induced by endotoxin insult. One group of C57BL/6J mice received LPS via intratracheal injection (n = 6), and another received sterile water (n = 7). Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed at 72 h after treatment. Bacterial DNA was extracted and used for qPCR and 16S rRNA gene-tag (V3-V4) sequencing (Illumina). The bacterial load in BAL from ALI mice was increased fivefold (P = 0.03). The community complexity remained unchanged (Simpson index, P = 0.7); the Shannon diversity index indicated the increase of community evenness in response to ALI (P = 0.07). Principal coordinate analysis and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) test (P = 0.005) revealed a significant difference between microbiota of control and ALI groups. Bacteria from families Xanthomonadaceae and Brucellaceae increased their abundance in the ALI group as determined by Metastats test (P 0.02). In concordance with the 16s-tag data, Stenotrohomonas maltophilia (Xanthomonadaceae) and Ochrobactrum anthropi (Brucellaceae) were isolated from lungs of mice from both groups. Metabolic profiling of BAL detected the presence of bacterial substrates suitable for both isolates. Additionally, microbiota from LPS-treated mice intensified IL-6-induced lung inflammation in naive mice. We conclude that the morbid transformation of ALI microbiota was attributed to the set of inborn opportunistic pathogens thriving in the environment of inflamed lung, rather than the external infectious agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased endothelial cell (EC) permeability and vascular inflammation along with alveolar epithelial damage are key features of acute lung injury (ALI). Products of 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine oxidation (OxPAPC) showed protective effects against inflammatory signaling and vascular EC barrier dysfunction induced by gram-negative bacterial wall lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We explored the more general protective effects of OxPAPC and investigated whether delayed posttreatment with OxPAPC boosts the recovery of lung inflammatory injury and EC barrier dysfunction triggered by intratracheal injection of heat-killed gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (HKSA) bacteria. HKSA-induced pulmonary EC permeability, activation of p38 MAP kinase and NF-κB inflammatory cascades, secretion of IL-8 and soluble ICAM1, fibronectin deposition, and expression of adhesion molecules ICAM1 and VCAM1 by activated EC were significantly attenuated by cotreatment as well as posttreatment with OxPAPC up to 16 h after HKSA addition. Remarkably, posttreatment with OxPAPC up to 24 h post-HKSA challenge dramatically accelerated lung recovery by restoring lung barrier properties monitored by Evans blue extravasation and protein content in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and reducing inflammation reflected by decreased MIP-1, KC, TNF-α, IL-13 levels and neutro-phil count in BAL samples. These studies demonstrate potent in vivo and in vitro protective effects of posttreatment with anti-inflammatory oxidized phospholipids in the model of ALI caused by HKSA. These results warrant further investigations into the potential use of OxPAPC compounds combined with antibiotic therapies as a treatment of sepsis and ALI induced by gram-positive bacterial pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased vascular endothelial permeability and inflammation are major pathological mechanisms of pulmonary edema and its life-threatening complication, the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We have previously described potent protective effects of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) against thrombin-induced hyperpermeability and identified the Rac pathway as a key mechanism of HGF-mediated endothelial barrier protection. However, anti-inflammatory effects of HGF are less understood. This study examined effects of HGF on the pulmonary endothelial cell (EC) inflammatory activation and barrier dysfunction caused by the gram-negative bacterial pathogen lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We tested involvement of the novel Rac-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor Asef in the HGF anti-inflammatory effects. HGF protected the pulmonary EC monolayer against LPS-induced hyperpermeability, disruption of monolayer integrity, activation of NF-kB signaling, expression of adhesion molecules intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and production of IL-8. These effects were critically dependent on Asef. Small-interfering RNA-induced downregulation of Asef attenuated HGF protective effects against LPS-induced EC barrier failure. Protective effects of HGF against LPS-induced lung inflammation and vascular leak were also diminished in Asef knockout mice. Taken together, these results demonstrate potent anti-inflammatory effects by HGF and delineate a key role of Asef in the mediation of the HGF barrier protective and anti-inflammatory effects. Modulation of Asef activity may have important implications in therapeutic strategies aimed at the treatment of sepsis and acute lung injury/ARDS-induced gram-negative bacterial pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the problem of choosing the appropriate cloud computing vendors in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this paper boils it down to a group decision making (GDM) problem. To facilitate the judgment, this paper uses preference relation as the decision making technology. Considering the situation where uncertain positive and negative judgments exist simultaneously, interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations (IVIFPRs) are employed to express the decision makers' judgments. In view of the multiplicative consistency and consensus analysis, a new GDM algorithm with IVIFPRs is offered. To accomplish this goal, a new multiplicative consistency is first defined, which can avoid the limitations of the previous ones. Then, a programming model is built to check the consistency of IVIFPRs. To deal with incomplete IVIFPRs, two programming models are constructed to determine the missing values with the goal of maximizing the level of multiplicative consistency and minimizing the total uncertainty. To achieve the minimum adjustment of original preference information, a programming model is established to repair inconsistent IVIFPRs. In addition, programming models for getting the decision makers (DMs)' weights and improving the consensus degree are offered. Finally, a practical decision making example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and to compare it with previous methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in-line optical fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometric (MZI) sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for magnetic field measurement. The fabrication mechanism of the optical fiber microstructures by CO2 laser is described in detail. The sensor with symmetrical structure is fabricated by splicing a 7-mm length of seven-core fiber and two fiber peanuts, which is encapsulated with magnetic fluid in the capillary. The transmission spectrum of the MZI is modulated by the refractive index of the magnetic fluid, which is affected by the magnetic field. The experimental results indicate that the mode interference is sensitive to the magnetic field and different dips of the interference spectrum have different sensitivities. Hence, simultaneous measurement of the temperature and magnetic field can be achieved by simultaneously monitoring two different dips. The sensitivities of the magnetic field and temperature can reach up to 0.062 nm∕Gs and 0.081 nm∕°C, respectively. The proposed Mach–Zehnder interference sensor has a more compact structure, simple manufacturing process, and high reliability, which would find potential applications in weak magnetic sensing fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy sets (IVIHFSs) are useful to denote the decision makers' interval preferred, interval non-preferred and hesitant opinions simultaneously. Considering the application of IVIHFSs, this paper introduces a new decision-making method with interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy information that extends the application scopes. To do this, the interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy hybrid Shapley weighted averaging (IVIHFHSWA) operator and the interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy hybrid Shapley weighted geometric (IVIHFHSWG) operator are defined to aggregate the collective attribute values of alternatives. To reflect the interactions and reduce the complexity of calculating the weights, the 2-additive measures are used to define these two hybrid Shapley weighted operators. To derive the exact weight information of attributes and ordered positions, the associated programming models for determining the optimal 2-additive measures are constructed that are based on the defined Hamming distance measure. To show the feasibility and efficiency of the new method, a practical decision-making problem is offered, which is also used to compare with the previous methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic hesitant fuzzy sets (LHFSs) permit the decision maker to apply several linguistic terms with each having several membership degrees to denote his/her preference of one thing. This type of fuzzy sets can well address the qualitative and quantitative cognitions of the decision maker as well as reflect his/her hesitancy, uncertainty and inconsistency. This paper introduces a distance measure between any two LHFSs and then defines a correlation coefficient of LHFSs. Considering the application of LHFSs, the weighted distance measure and the weighted correlation coefficient of LHFSs are defined. To address the interactions between elements in a set, the Shapley weighted distance measure and the Shapley weighted correlation coefficient are presented. It is worth noting that when the elements are independent, they degenerate to the associated weighted distance measure and the weighted correlation coefficient, respectively. After that, their application to pattern recognition is studied. Furthermore, an approach to multi-attribute decision making under linguistic hesitant fuzzy environment is developed. Meanwhile, numerical examples are offered to show the concrete application of the developed procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thymus contains a population of B cells that colocalize with dendritic cells and medullary thymic epithelial cells in the thymic medulla. The development and functional significance of these cells are largely unknown. Using recombination-activating gene 2 GFP reporter mice along with parabiosis experiments, we demonstrate that the vast majority of thymic B cells develop from progenitors within the thymus. Thymic B cells express unique phenotypic markers compared with peripheral B cells; particularly they express high levels of MHC class II, suggesting that they are poised to present self-antigens efficiently. Using Ig knock-in and T-cell receptor transgenic mice specific for the self-antigen glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, we show that autoreactive thymic B cells serve as efficient antigen-presenting cells for T cell negative selection even when they are present at low frequencies. Furthermore, the endogenous thymic B-cell repertoire also functions in this capacity. These results suggest that developing thymic B cells could efficiently capture a broad array of autoantigens through their B-cell receptors, presenting peptides derived from those autoantigens to developing thymocytes and eliminating cognate T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On their entry into the thymus, developing lymphocyte progenitors depend on signaling from the pre-T cell receptor (pre-TCR), which orchestrates differentiation, cell proliferation, and survival. The exact mechanism of pre-TCR-mediated suppression of T cell death remains unclear and controversial. Here, we identify Bim and Bid, 2 members of the BH3-only group of the BCL2 family, as important regulators of pre-T cell death. Both factors are highly expressed in proapoptotic thymocytes and their expression is suppressed on signaling through the pre-TCR. Their expression is directly regulated by the transcription factors FoxO3a and p53. Bid expression and p53 activity are related to the ongoing rearrangement of the TCR loci and induced DNA damage responses. Bim expression and FoxO3a nuclear translocation are directly controlled by the pre-TCR by means of its downstream kinase Akt/PKB. Interestingly, deletion of either gene on a pre-TCR-/- background rescues survival, but fails to induce further progenitor differentiation uncoupling the 2 processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 80 × 10 mm size varied-period grating was fabricated by electron beam lithography. • The varied-period grating groove density was varied from 950 to 590 L/mm. • The proposed EDFL angle sensing system shows a flexible tuning ability. • The system has potential applications in various fields such as in optical sensing. A single-wavelength tunable erbium-doped fiber laser based on varied-period plane diffraction grating for angle sensing measurement was proposed and experimentally demonstrated; the designed grating was fabricated through line-by-line electron beam lithography (EBL) and reactive ion etching. The proposed grating was used as fiber laser wavelength selector, and its line density was varied from 950 to 590 L/mm over the device, according to the designed linear density function, and the device was coated with an aluminized surface. Two ports of 3 dB fiber coupler were used to connect the grating and an optical spectrum analyzer respectively. The inscribed grating length and width were 80 × 10 mm. For the proposed fiber laser, the working threshold was 130 mW, as the incident light angle was increased from 20 to 22.5° in 0.5°, the single-wavelength laser shifted from 1529.47 to 1532.99 nm, and angle sensitivity to be 1.42 nm/° with linearity of 0.998. The laser 3 dB linewidth was less than 0.05 nm and SNR was more than 16.28 dB. During 10 min of monitoring, the laser power fluctuation was less than 0.928 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commitment of hematopoietic progenitors to the T cell lineage requires the integration of multiple signaling pathways. Evidence has suggested involvement of hedgehog (Hh) signaling in T cell differentiation through its signal transducer smoothened (Smo). However, the precise function of the Hh pathway remains controversial, mainly because T cell–specific in vivo genetic models have not been used. Using pre–T cell–specific, mature T cell–specific and poly(I)·poly(C)-inducible deletions of Smo and antagonists of Smo signaling, we report here that Hh is an essential positive regulator of T cell progenitor differentiation. Furthermore, we localize Hh function to a stage preceding pre–T cell receptor signaling, connect Smo signaling to the activity of the Gli1 and Gli2 transcription factors and demonstrate that Hh affects regulators of thymocyte survival and proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel technology for the simultaneous and independent measurement of dual parameters is proposed and experimented. By using a single fiber Bragg grating half-pasted by 1C-LV epoxy under different curing conditions, the sensor structure is designed such that the reflective single-peak spectrum splits into a twin-peak spectrum, which makes the FBG spectrum form a natural spectral peak splitting bias. A measurement limitation exists in the FBG sensor packaging at room temperature, which can be solved by the high-temperature cured packaging method. To verify the validity of the theory and methodology, the experimental system is used. In the range from -1000 to +1000 με and from 35 to 75°C, the Bragg wavelength change is relative linear to the strain and temperature. The temperature and strain variations can be independently and simultaneously measured using the split peak, and the deviations of the FBG sensor are ±1°C and ±5 με, respectively. This single FBG sensor can realize dual-parameter measurement, which is valuable for narrow-space health monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a core-and-cladding-integrated fibre Bragg grating (FBG) using an 800-nm infrared-radiation femtosecond pulsed laser via line-by-line inscription focused through polyimide fibre coating is developed. For the proposed FBG, each inscription line is 10 µm and the grating length is 2000 µm, realising first-order 1559.8- and 1565-nm dual-wavelength FBG simultaneously, with an inscription period of 541 nm. In the experiment, an 800-nm femtosecond laser with 1-kHz repeat frequency is used as the inscription laser, focused by a 63× oil lens. The grating area covers both the fibre core and the cladding through the polyimide coating, and the reflectivity of core and cladding FBG are 96.3% and 78.5%, respectively. The FBG stretching upload and unload characteristics are measured for a 0–35 µm stretching length. The wavelength shifts of the two peaks are obvious with sensitivities of 1.8 pm/µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Center of rotation (COR) is one of the most important factors that affect the image quality of CT system. In this paper we propose a new method that is based on image cross correlation to accurately measure the shift of COR in 2D-CT (Two Dimensional Computed Tomography) system. In this method, we firstly rebin the fan-beam sinogram to parallel beam sinogram. Based on the symmetry characteristic of two projections that are 180° opposed to one another in the parallel beam sinogram, we then divide the rebinned sinogram equally into two sub-sinograms along rotating angle direction. After that we flip the second sub-sinogram in right direction, and apply the cross correlation operation to the first sub-sinogram and the flipped sub-sinogram to get the shift of COR. This method does not need the calibration sample, and just uses the sinogram of the scanned slice to calculate the shift of COR directly. The experimental results prove that this method is of high accuracy and anti-noise ability and is easy to implement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current models of autoimmunity suggest that delayed clearance of apoptotic cells leads to the presentation of apoptotic antigens in the context of inflammatory signals, with resultant autoimmunity. These models implicitly assume that, in contrast to early apoptotic cells (that retain membrane integrity), late apoptotic cells (with compromised membranes) act like necrotic cells (which also lack intact membranes), possibly because of the release of proinflammatory intracellular contents. We showed previously that early apoptotic and necrotic cells induce distinct mitogen-activated protein kinase modules in macrophages with which they interact. Exposure to apoptotic cells led to nearly complete inhibition of both basal and macrophage colony-stimulating factor-induced ERK1/2 by macrophages. In contrast, necrotic cells induced ERK1/2. We show here that apoptotic cells also strongly induced both c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38, whereas necrotic cells had no detectable effect on c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38. We also compared the signaling events induced in macrophages by exposure to early apoptotic cells, late apoptotic cells, and necrotic cells. The signaling events induced by late apoptotic cells were identical to and just as potent as those induced by early apoptotic cells. Thus, apoptotic cells are functionally equivalent throughout the cell death process, irrespective of membrane integrity. Moreover, the effects of both early and late apoptotic cells on signaling were dominant over those of necrotic cells. These data show that apoptotic cells do not become proinflammatory upon the loss of membrane integrity and are inconsistent with the notion that delayed clearance alone can lead to autoimmunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]