Counterintuitive Result Research Articles

Reliability-Related Interpretations of Algebraic Inequalities

New results related to maximizing the reliability of common systems with interchangeable redundancies at a component level have been obtained by using the method of algebraic inequalities. It is shown that for systems with independently working components with interchangeable redundancies, the system reliability corresponding to a symmetric arrangement of the redundant components is always inferior to the system reliability corresponding to an asymmetric arrangement of the redundant components, irrespective of the probabilities of failure of the different types of components. It is also shown that for series–parallel systems, the system reliability is maximized by arranging the main components in ascending order of their probabilities of failure, whereas the redundant components are arranged in descending order of their probabilities of failure. Finally, this article derives rigorously the highly counterintuitive result that if two components must be selected from <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> batches containing reliable and faulty components with unknown proportions, the likelihood that both components will be reliable is maximized by selecting both components from a randomly selected batch.

Higher Order Fractal Belief Rényi Divergence With Its Applications in Pattern Classification.

Information can be quantified and expressed by uncertainty, and improving the decision level of uncertain information is vital in modeling and processing uncertain information. Dempster-Shafer evidence theory can model and process uncertain information effectively. However, the Dempster combination rule may provide counter-intuitive results when dealing with highly conflicting information, leading to a decline in decision level. Thus, measuring conflict is significant in the improvement of decision level. Motivated by this issue, this paper proposes a novel method to measure the discrepancy between bodies of evidence. First, the model of dynamic fractal probability transformation is proposed to effectively obtain more information about the non-specificity of basic belief assignments (BBAs). Then, we propose the higher-order fractal belief Rényi divergence (HOFBReD). HOFBReD can effectively measure the discrepancy between BBAs. Moreover, it is the first belief Rényi divergence that can measure the discrepancy between BBAs with dynamic fractal probability transformation. HoFBReD has several properties in terms of probability transformation as well as measurement. When the dynamic fractal probability transformation ends, HoFBReD is equivalent to measuring the Rényi divergence between the pignistic probability transformations of BBAs. When the BBAs degenerate to the probability distributions, HoFBReD will also degenerate to or be related to several well-known divergences. In addition, based on HoFBReD, a novel multisource information fusion algorithm is proposed. A pattern classification experiment with real-world datasets is presented to compare the proposed algorithm with other methods. The experiment results indicate that the proposed algorithm has a higher average pattern recognition accuracy with all datasets than other methods. The proposed discrepancy measurement method and multisource information algorithm contribute to the improvement of decision level.

Understanding the temptation to cheat in online exams

Online proctored exams have become a common experience for a significant number of higher education students. The rationale behind employing online surveillance revolves around the belief that these measures are essential for upholding academic integrity. However, discussions on assessment integrity often focus on comparing the motivations, conditions, and values of cheaters and non-cheaters. This binary approach potentially oversimplifies the complex nature of human motivation and behavior (Henderson et al., 2023). Cheating is influenced by a multitude of factors and motivations that can either encourage or discourage such behaviors (Brimble, 2016; Jenkins et al., 2022; Noorbehbahani et al., 2022). Merely comparing the two groups may overlook the intricacies that push students from one category to another. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on an underexplored group: students who were tempted to cheat but chose not to. These students can be viewed in two ways. Firstly, they represent a group at risk of cheating, necessitating research to develop targeted strategies supporting their integrity decisions. Secondly, they exhibit integrity despite the temptation, potentially offering insights into the nuanced 'tipping points' that go beyond existing binary comparisons. This Pecha Kucha reports on a large-scale study conducted within a single institution that explores the implications of online exams and the integrity behaviours and motivations of three groups of students: those who did not cheat and were not tempted to do so, those who did not cheat but who were tempted to cheat, and those who cheated. The data draws on an anonymous and voluntary student survey conducted in both semester 1 and semester 2 of 2022. Institutional research ethics approval was granted. The data comprises 11,333 fully completed surveys and offers interesting, and sometimes counter-intuitive findings which can help guide institutional responses. Broad insights will be offered in the Pecha Kucha presentation. This abstract offers preliminary findings based on ongoing analysis regarding the 28 motivating factors identified by the students that encouraged or discouraged cheating behaviours. Factors that encouraged cheating: Both the tempted and cheated groups identified similar motivating factors, such as the fear of failure and the financial burden of repeating a course. Surprisingly, the students who cheated chose fewer encouraging factors than those who were tempted but did not cheat. The importance of these motivations was similar for both groups. Factors that discouraged cheating: Regarding factors that discouraged cheating, all three groups (not tempted, tempted, and cheated) were asked their opinions. The non-cheating group listed more reasons and considered them more significant compared to the other two groups. The tempted group selected fewer reasons than the non-tempted group but more than the cheated group. However, the tempted and cheated groups rated the importance of these factors similarly. The Pecha Kucha will expand on the above and comment on some of these somewhat counterintuitive results.

The strategic value of buy online and pick up from store service to the dual channel coordination

Buy online and pick up from store (BOPS) has been widely practiced in the business market. However, prior studies in literature have not addressed what is the strategic value of BOPS to supply chain performance, who should pay the cost of BOPS, and what is the optimal strategy to implement the BOPS to maximize channel coordination. To fill this gap, we first examine the effect of this newer type of service on supply chain performance. Further, we compare various scenarios to examine which channel member should pay the cost of the BOPS, and how BOPS impacts supply chain performance. Finally, we initiate a new coordination mechanism to solve the dilemma where the manufacturer likes to share the BOPS cost, but the physical reseller prefers to pay fully for it. Our paper provides novel findings: (1) using only the cost-sharing strategy of the BOPS or the reseller's full payment for the BOPS is not an optimal way to improve supply chain performance; (2) quantity discount cannot behave effectively to motivate the reseller to implement the cost sharing strategy of the BOPS; however, (3) profit sharing can perform as an valuable contract to stimulate the reseller to implement the cost-sharing strategy of the BOPS and create higher supply chain performance. Moreover, our research shows a counter-intuitive result: if profit sharing contract is not offered, the reseller's full payment for the BOPS is a better choice to achieve higher supply chain performance than the cost sharing strategy of the BOPS; however, if profit sharing contract is offered to complement the cost sharing strategy of the BOPS and the physical reseller's full payment for the BOPS cost respectively, the result is reversed.

Blockchain adoption in retail operations: Stablecoins and traceability

Retailers are embracing cryptocurrency payments to gain a competitive edge. However, the high volatility of traditional cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, deters risk-averse consumers from using them regularly. This issue is particularly salient in retail markets with high product return rates, as consumers may bear the volatility risk by directly holding cryptocurrencies after claiming a refund. In real-world operations, collateralized stablecoins are proposed as a solution for transaction settlements, yet they still exhibit short-term volatility, as shown by empirical evidence. In this context, retailers can reduce the likelihood of returns by leveraging blockchain traceability to disclose information. This study analytically investigates how the retailer effectively utilizes the two blockchain functions to enhance firm profitability and increase consumer surplus. Our analysis shows that the retailer may offer a stingy or generous refund policy with blockchain adoption, depending on the degrees of information disclosure and price volatility. Next, we find that blockchain adoption always benefits consumers, though it may decrease social welfare. Interestingly, the benefit brought by blockchain to consumers declines if information is oversupplied. Further, we discover that blockchain adoption is likely to increase retailer profit when the information disclosure level is polarized (i.e., very high or low). Finally, the analysis reveals that greater stability of stablecoins benefits the retailer but hurts consumers. The reason for this seemingly counterintuitive result is that having stablecoins with better stability allows the retailer to charge a high price.

Distributed status evaluation method based on evidence revision fusion

BackgroundComplex process industrial process is large in scale, with numerous variables and complex variable relationship. It is difficult to construct an overall status evaluation model to accurately evaluate the operation status. Compared with holistic modeling status evaluation, distributed status evaluation can make better use of potentially valuable local details. Besides, the integration of result from multiple status evaluation models using decision fusion method such as Dempster-Shafer (DS) evidence theory can make the model more robust. However, DS evidence theory produces counterintuitive result when dealing with high conflict evidence. MethodsIn this paper, a distributed status evaluation method based on evidence revision fusion is proposed. Firstly, a partition method combining qualitative and quantitative knowledge is proposed, which improves the ability to capture local effective information. Secondly, a new status fusion evaluation method is proposed. Feature fusion technique is used to process the original process data, and the evaluation results of multiple status evaluation models are fused by the decision fusion method. Finally, a conflict management strategy with parallel supervised and unsupervised revision is proposed to revise high-conflict evidence from different status evaluation models. FindingsThe proposed method shows good performance in Tennessee-Eastman process, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the method.

How to Tell Easy from Hard: Complexities of Conjunctive Query Entailment in Extensions of ALC

It is commonly known that the conjunctive query entailment problem for certain extensions of (the well-known ontology language) ALC is computationally harder than their knowledge base satisfiability problem while for others the complexities coincide, both under the standard and the finite-model semantics. We expose a uniform principle behind this divide by identifying a wide class of (finitely) locally-forward description logics, for which we prove that (finite) query entailment problem can be solved by a reduction to exponentially many calls of the (finite) knowledge base satisfiability problem. Consequently, our algorithm yields tight ExpTime upper bounds for locally-forward logics with ExpTime-complete knowledge base satisfiability problem, including logics between ALC and µALCHbregQ (and more), as well as ALCSCC with global cardinality constraints, for which the complexity of querying remained open. Moreover, to make our technique applicable in future research, we provide easy-to-check sufficient conditions for a logic to be locally-forward based several versions of the on model-theoretic notion of unravellings. Together with existing results, this provides a nearly complete classification of the “benign” vs. “malign” primitive modelling features extending ALC, missing out only the Self operator. We then show a rather counter-intuitive result, namely that the conjunctive entailment problem for ALCSelf is exponentially harder than for ALC. This places the seemingly innocuous Self operator among the “malign” modelling features, like inverses, transitivity or nominals.

The influence of the built environment on active school travel in the Netherlands: A mode choice analysis

Studies indicate that the amount of active travel among children is decreasing worldwide. The circumstances around travel modes and routes of children and young adolescents are less known if compared to adults’ walking or cycling. There is a growing interest in mobility patterns of children to school, especially. Active School Travel (AST) is decreasing in developed nations. This study explored which structural elements in the built environment of home and school locations influence AST of Dutch students. We used multinomial logistic regressions to study the effects of built environments on walking and cycling by students in the Netherlands. Findings about the design of environments around homes and schools suggest that variations in personal characteristics, temperature, destination proximity, traffic safety conditions, and urban form can influence AST. Safety conditions seem to play a spurious role in the relationship between built environments and AST, reflecting counterintuitive results if compared to adult travel research. Findings were mixed regarding directionality and significance levels between transport modes and variables, which highlights the importance of considering target groups, modes and locations of students and schools when planning for effective interventions. The findings can be valuable for both academia and policymakers, supporting strategies that could be adopted by municipalities and encouraged by parents or schools.

Model misspecification of Log-Normal and Birnbaum-Saunders distributions

Model misspecification can be a serious issue in any lifetime data analysis. Assumption of the correct model is very important particularly in prediction for future observations and for estimating the tail probabilities of any lifetime distribution. In this paper we have considered the model misspecification of the log-normal and Birnbaum-Saunders distributions. These two distributions have striking similarities both in terms of the probability density functions and hazard functions, in certain range of parameter values, which makes it extremely difficult to detect the correct model. Hence, to identify the correct model, first the conventional method of ratio of maximized likelihood approach has been tried. The necessary theoretical results have been derived. Based on extensive simulations it has been observed that for certain range of parameter values the model misspecification can be quite high even for very large sample sizes. Some of the other methods like the ratio of maximized product of spacings and minimized Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance, have also been explored. But none of the method performs uniformly better than the other over the entire range of the parameter space. Some counter intuitive results have also been obtained. Hence, we finally conclude that it is extremely difficult to choose the correct model in case of log-normal and Birnbaum-Saunders distribution for certain range of parameter values. Finally, we have suggested a modified ratio of maximized likelihood approach, and the performances are quite satisfactory.

Conjunctive and disjunctive combination rules in random permutation set theory: A layer-2 belief structure perspective

In uncertainty reasoning, conjunctive and disjunctive combination rules are the core tools for information updates. As an extension of evidential reasoning, random permutation set reasoning models uncertain information based on ordered focal sets. Existing combination rules in random permutation set theory, orthogonal sums, do not satisfy the commutativity of one of the original distributions and overly obey its order information. In this paper, the random permutation set theory is interpreted as an refined extension of Dempster–Shafer theory, and a layer-2 belief structure is proposed to describe the permutation event space. Compared with the traditional belief structure, the proposed structure can model both symbolic and numerical uncertainty. Based on the above, the conjunctive and disjunctive combination rules in Dempster–Shafer theory are extended to random permutation set theory. Through properties analysis and simulation demonstration, we demonstrate that the proposed methods can not only resolve the counter-intuitive results of orthogonal sums, but make full use of order information in distributions as well. In addition, we also extend the product space operations and discounting methods based on the proposed methods, and give a general framework of multi-source information fusion under the random permutation set theory.

Evidence that Attitudinal Self-Justification (not Self-Refutation) Enhances Intellectual Humility

Previous research has shown that the dispositional trait of intellectual humility (IH) predicts increased tolerance to opposing perspectives and beliefs. In the current study, we reasoned that the relationship might also work in the reverse direction, i.e., that critiquing one’s position on a contentious issue might enhance IH. To evaluate this hypothesis, we prompted participants to declare their position on a potentially divisive social issue (specifically, whether to allocate scarce medical resources to nonvaccinated COVID-19 patients) and then randomly assigned them to either contradict their position, justify their position, or engage in an unrelated writing exercise. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that participants who justified their belief reported higher levels of IH than participants who contradicted it. In light of this unexpected and somewhat counterintuitive result, we argue that the intellectually humble mindset is fortified under conditions of minimal self-threat as opposed to threatening forms of self-examination.

A novel multi-parameter similarity measure of interval neutrosophic sets for medical diagnosis

The use of similarity measures in interval-valued neutrosophic sets (IVNSs) theory is essential for comparing and assessing the degree of IVNSs difference. However, existing similarity measures for IVNSs suffer from several issues such as lacking precise axiomatic definitions, counterintuitive results, division by zero errors, inability to distinguish between positive and negative differences, and failure to satisfy the ranking definition. To address these limitations, we propose a novel multi-parameter similarity measure for IVNSs based on the tangent function. We demonstrate that our measure satisfies the axiomatic definition and apply it to medical diagnosis, achieving accurate diagnostic results. Additionally, we consider the interactions between symptoms, adjust the proposed similarity measure using Choquet integrals, and provide analytical comparisons to demonstrate the advantages of our improved similarity measure, highlighting its stability and high confidence in the field of medical diagnosis.This study contributes to the advancement of similarity measures in IVNSs theory and provides valuable insights for the field of medical diagnosis.

Treatment of Mantle and Inverted Y Fields in Modern Era: A VMAT Approach.

Hodgkin's lymphoma has been treated with combined modality therapy (chemotherapy and radiation) with a very high degree of success. Total Nodal Irradiation (TNI) performed with large AP/PA mantle fields for treatment of axillary, cervical, and mediastinal lymphatics, provide adequate coverage to the mediastinum and bilateral axillae and hila, while blocking lungs. The para-aortic and pelvic lymph nodes are treated with the so called inverted-Y AP/PA fields, which often includes the spleen in cases of TNI. Multileaf Collimators (MLC) have been tried, but due to the irregular shape of the fields and necessity of island blocking in 3D treatment, they have not been successful in full elimination of Cerrobend blocks. We hypothesize that using two or three matched Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) fields will not only eliminate a need for Cerrobend blocks or island blocks, but will also provide better target coverage and better organs at risk (OAR) sparing. Under IRB study, 10 patients were retrospectively planned using two or three matched VMAT technique for mantle and inverted-Y treatments of TNI that had been previously treated using MLC and Cerrobend block combination. Pinnacle treatment planning system version 16.2.1 was used to generate plans using mantle/inverted-Y technique and corresponding VMAT plans using 2-3 arcs per isocenter (2 isocenters per plan). Optimization was performed to cover targets with the prescribed dose of 1500 cGy in 10 fractions per institutional protocol. The VMAT plans were compared with traditional 3D plans. VMAT consistently provided better or similar results to traditional field arrangements. Target coverage: V15Gy - 95.45% vs 77.99% (p = 0.00017), OAR coverage: total lung V5Gy 63.7% vs 68.8% (p = 0.016), bone marrow mean dose 539.1 cGy vs 727.8 cGy (p = 0.00047), Integral Dose 464.1 mJ vs 573.9 mJ (p = 0.0026). Low isodose lines- mean volume of 5 Gy isodose line was not significantly different - 24036 cc vs 25091 cc (p = 0.271). Cord maximum dose was 40% lower for VMAT plans (p = 0.00006). Mean bladder dose was similar in VMAT plans compared to 3D plan - 821.7 cGy vs 804.9 cGy (p = 0.454). One counter-intuitive result is that the mean integral dose for 10 patients was 24% lower for VMAT plans. VMAT based mantle fields for TNI eliminates Cerrobend blocks and improve dosimetry significantly for target volumes and all OARs; including bone marrow, which plays important role in patient's recovery after chemotherapy, radiation and often stem cell transplantation in recurrent disease. Lower integral dose for VMAT plans is explained by the large irradiated in-fields and small out-of-field volumes. The VMAT process requires minimal effort for optimization and is economical compared to the traditional planning, while improving the target coverage and decreasing dose to OARs.

A Novel Distributed Fault Diagnosis Scheme Toward Open-Set Scenarios Based on Extreme Value Theory

Under closed-set scenarios (CSS), distributed modeling performs well in fault diagnosis of plant-wide industrial processes due to its flexibility and robustness. However, a more realistic scenario is often open, where unseen situations may arise unexpectedly, rendering existing methods infeasible. The advent of open-set recognition algorithms that can effectively distinguish known samples and reject unknown ones bridges this gap. Nevertheless, the poor scalability of these algorithms prevents them from being elegantly embedded in popular distributed modeling schemes, which hinders the implementation of plant-wide industrial process fault diagnosis toward open-set scenarios (OSS). In this work, we formulate a novel distributed fault diagnosis scheme toward OSS to solve this problem. Firstly, a mutual information-based local module decomposition and expansion strategy is proposed to minimize the loss of inter-module relevant information. Secondly, a novel generalized basic probability assignments generation technique based on extreme value theory is developed for modeling unknown information. It enables any classifier capable of probabilistic prediction to be applied to OSS and easily embedded in distributed modeling schemes. Finally, a conflict management scheme combining supervised and unsupervised is devised to address the vulnerability of the modified generalized combination rule to counter-intuitive results from fusing conflicting evidence. Experimental results on two plant-wide industrial process datasets demonstrate the proposed approach's feasibility and superiority.

Conflicting evidence fusion using a correlation coefficient-based approach in complex network

Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D–S theory) can effectively deal with uncertain information and it is one of the effective data fusion methods. However, Dempster’s combination rule of D–S theory often produces counter-intuitive fusion results when the handled body of evidence (BOE) is highly conflicting with each other. Therefore, many new methods have been gradually proposed to optimize BOE to avoid the counter-intuitive fusion results. In this work, inspired by the complex network, a body of evidence is compared to a node, therefore multiple nodes composed of the BOEs constitute a complex network structure, and a correlation coefficient is adopted to measure the degree of correlation between two BOEs. The direct and indirect interaction weights of each node are determined through the direct and indirect interactions among the nodes to reflect their importance in the complex network. After that, the total weight of each BOE is calculated through using the direct and indirect weights. Finally, after modifying the original BOE with weight factor, the final result is obtained after information fusion by using Dempster’s combination rule. This work analyses a practical application case based on the proposed evidential-weighting complex networks in D–S theory. The experiment result shows that the complex network optimization algorithm proposed in this work possesses a good convergence and has significantly improved the counter-intuitive fusion results brought about by the highly conflicting evidence with Dempster’s combination rule.

Association of Tear Cytokine Ratios with Symptoms and Signs of Dry Eye Disease: Biomarker Data from the Dry Eye Assessment and Management Study

Purpose To assess the relationship between tear inflammatory cytokine ratios (CRs) and signs and symptoms of dry eye disease (DED) to investigate the possible use of tear CRs, which may better address the complexity of cytokine interactions than absolute cytokine levels, as a DED biomarker. Methods Tear concentrations of IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, IFN-g, and TNF-a were measured using standardized procedures, as were DED signs (corneal and conjunctival staining scores, tear break-up time, Schirmer test, Meibomian gland plugging, tear osmolarity, composite sign severity score) and symptoms [Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI)]. Ratios between pro-inflammatory (IL-1b, IL-8, IL-17A, IFN-g, and TNF-a) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines were calculated. Given its opposing roles in inflammation, IL-6 was tested as both a pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine. Correlations between CR and DED symptoms and signs were calculated using Spearman correlation coefficients (rho). Results At baseline, 131 patients, 80.2% female and mean age 54.2 years (SD 14.1, range 20–82), from 10 sites of the Dry Eye Assessment and Management study had sufficient tear volumes ≥4 μL for analysis. IL-6:IL-10, IL-8:IL-10, and TNF-a:IL-10 had some significant correlations, mostly with conjunctival or corneal staining or the composite sign severity score (IL-8:IL-10 and conjunctival staining: rho = 0.19, p = 0.03; IL-6:IL-10 and corneal staining: rho = 0.31, p < 0.001; IL-8:IL-10 and corneal staining: rho = 0.21, p = 0.01; IL-6:IL-10 and composite sign severity score: rho = 0.26, p = 0.003; IL-8:IL-10 and composite sign severity score: rho = 0.26, p = 0.003; TNF-a:IL-10 and corneal staining: rho = 0.29, p < 0.001; TNF-a:IL-10 and Schirmer test: rho = −0.23, p = 0.009). CRs had no significant correlation with DED symptoms. All significant correlations using IL-6 in the denominator (anti-inflammatory) produced counterintuitive results based on clinical understanding of the disease. Conclusions Pro- to anti-inflammatory CR was weakly correlated with some DED signs and not with symptoms, as measured by OSDI. Future studies in different dry eye populations are needed and should address sampling biases and tear collection techniques.

An improved information volume of mass function based on plausibility transformation method

The information volume of mass function (IVMF) is an effective tool for measuring the uncertainty of basic probability assignments in power sets. However, the current IVMF will yield counterintuitive results when applied to an inconsistent frame of discernment (FOD). To address this issue, an improved IVMF based on plausibility transformation method (PTM) is proposed in this paper. Compared to existing methods, the proposed method yields a more reasonable result in cases where the FOD is inconsistent. Additionally, the proposed IVMF can be viewed as a geometric mean of first-order information volume and higher-order information volume, which can degenerate into Shannon Entropy in a probability distribution. The efficacy and rationality of the proposed IVMF are demonstrated through a series of numerical examples and an application in threat assessment.

Impact of phase lag on synchronization in frustrated Kuramoto model with higher-order interactions.

The study of first order transition (explosive synchronization) in an ensemble (network) of coupled oscillators has been the topic of paramount interest among the researchers for more than one decade. Several frameworks have been proposed to induce explosive synchronization in a network and it has been reported that phase frustration in a network usually suppresses first order transition in the presence of pairwise interactions among the oscillators. However, on the contrary, by considering networks of phase frustrated coupled oscillators in the presence of higher-order interactions (up to 2-simplexes) we show here, under certain conditions, phase frustration can promote explosive synchronization in a network. A low-dimensional model of the network in the thermodynamic limit is derived using the Ott-Antonsen ansatz to explain this surprising result. Analytical treatment of the low-dimensional model, including bifurcation analysis, explains the apparent counter intuitive result quite clearly.

Construction of similarity measure for intuitionistic fuzzy sets and its application in face recognition and software quality evaluation

As a generalization of fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) are more capable of representing and addressing uncertainty in real-world problems. As a result, IFSs have been utilized in various areas of application. However, the distance and similarity measures between the two IFSs are still an open issue that has drawn much attention over the past few decades. Even though several intuitionistic fuzzy similarity measures (IFSMs) have been developed, a number of issues still exist, including counter-intuitive results, ‘the zero divisor problem,’ violation of similarity measure axioms, and being incompetent to detect minor changes in membership or non-membership. To overcome these shortcomings, a novel intuitionistic fuzzy similarity measure (IFSM) has been introduced in this study. Unlike existing measures, this method considered the global maximum and minimum of differences in memberships and differences in non-memberships, along with their individual differences, to construct an IFSM. Moreover, it has been shown that a convex combination of two similarity measures is also a similarity measure. Some numerical examples are employed to emphasize the advantages and strengths of the proposed method over existing ones. The suggested IFSM has been implemented on a few pattern classification issues to demonstrate its efficacy and a new face recognition method is also presented. Moreover, an entropy measure is introduced using the proposed IFSM, which is further used to construct the weights of attributes in the MADM method. Furthermore, the MADM technique, IF-E-TOPSIS, is constructed using the suggested IFSM and entropy measure. The effectiveness of this method is shown by utilizing it for software quality assessment, and the results are compared with existing ones to highlight the superiority of the proposed method.

The Irony in the Lineage of Modern Chinese Constitutions and Constitutionalism

Abstract This article juxtaposes modern Chinese constitutions and constitutionalism with constitutionalism chiefly developed in the West for clarity on the former’s lineage. As constitution is a concept foreign to China, there is no need for the country to enact any constitution unless it genuinely intends to embrace the true spirit of constitutionalism. A comparison of three signal Chinese constitutions yields an ironic, counterintuitive result, for the Constitution of the Republic of China is a refutation of the Nationalist Basic Law of the Political Tutelage Period (enacted in 1931), whereas the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, though enacted by the Communists, bears the legacy of the Nationalist Basic Law of the Political Tutelage.