Matter-element Extension Research Articles

Effect of distance information and number of warning signs on driving safety of young adults near road work zones in China

The continuous growth of automobile ownership and road mileage in China has brought a lot of road maintenance work. The work zone shall be set for road maintenance work. Due to the road characteristics near the work zone, more accidents and a higher accident risk exist. Traffic signs are one of the essential means to ensure traffic safety. The location and number of road work signs (sign level) play a crucial role in driver safety near the work zone. The repeated road work signs can form a warning system to regulate driver behavior. This paper evaluates the effect of the number of warning signs with and without distance information on driver behavior (psychological load and physiological characteristics) near the work zone. The matter-element extension model is used for comprehensive evaluation. The study resulted in several findings. First, adding distance information improves the difficulty and time of visual recognition and enhances driver alertness. On the other hand, too many road signs are not conducive to maintaining driver alertness. Second, distance information on the work signs and the repeated setting of road warning signs add extra burden on the driver and increase driver fatigue. Third, driver's response to the repeated road work signs will gradually become stable; The speed transition under the warning signs Levels 2 and 3 are more stable than that under the warning sign Levels 1 and 4. Finally, the warning sign level shall not be more than 3. If the advanced warning area is short, it is recommended to select a warning sign Level 1. If the advanced warning area is relatively long, it is recommended to choose a warning sign Level 2. Finally, adding distance information will improve the overall effect of the warning scheme. These findings can provide a valuable reference for setting the road work signs near the work zone in practice in China.

Evaluation of mine water inflow quality based on multiple methods

To reduce the negative impact of mine water gushing on the environment, it is necessary to evaluate the water quality. Taking the Pingdingshan coalfield as the research object, six components – namely, chroma, turbidity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, chloride (Cl−) and sulfate (SO4 2−) – were selected as index factors. The composite weight was calculated using the variable-weight theory, and the water quality of mine gushing water was evaluated using the matter-element extension model, fuzzy variable set model, Bayesian theory and Nemerow index method. The deviation of the four evaluation methods was calculated based on the specially constructed mathematical model. The research results show that the order of the deviation of the evaluation method from small to large is as follows: fuzzy variable set method (5.5) < matter-element extension method (8) < Bayesian statistical method (10) < Nemerow index method (17). The fuzzy variable set method is more suitable for Pingdingshan coalfield mine gushing water quality assessment. The authors hope that this research can provide a certain reference value for the evaluation of mine water quality in the future.

Suitability Evaluation of Old Industrial Buildings Transformed into Stadiums

The regeneration and utilization of idle, old industrial buildings in urban areas has become a focus of urban development, owing to urban renewal and industrial structural adjustment. At the same time, the increasing demand for sports space has highlighted the insufficient supply of sports facilities in cities. To solve this dilemma, the transformation of old industrial buildings into sports venues has become another mode of recycling and reuse in recent years. Due to the many specialties, complex contents, and numerous influencing factors involved in the transformation process, the suitability of these buildings is uncertain. To ensure the suitability of the transformation project, the theory of old industrial buildings recycling and sports building design specifications was used. An index system was established for the evaluating the suitability of transforming old industrial buildings into stadiums, which included five first-level and twenty second-level indices. Based on the matter–element extension theory, a suitability evaluation model was constructed to transform old industrial buildings into sports venues. The correlation function of each evaluation index was calculated, and the index weight was determined using the entropy weight method to obtain the suitability grade of the renovation project, which was verified by the renovation project case. The research shows that the suitability level of the renovation project is level II, which is consistent with the actual situation, indicating that the evaluation model—based on entropy weight method and matter–element extension method—for the transformation of old industrial buildings and stadiums has high reliability.

Evaluation of Water Network Construction Effect Based on Game-Weighting Matter-Element Cloud Model

Water network construction is one of the important ways to solve complex water problems at present. It is crucial for the optimal allocation of water resources, flood control, disaster reduction, protection of water ecology, water security, and sustainable urban development. Accordingly, this study formulates an index system for assessing the efficacy of water network construction based on the Driving Force–Pressure–State–Influence–Response (DPSIR) model, taking into account the four dimensions of optimal allocation of water resources, flood control and disaster reduction in river basins, protection of water ecosystems, and intelligent water network management. The proposed index system comprises four key aspects, which are utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of water network construction efforts. Then, the game-weighting method and the matter-element extension method improved by the cloud theory established an evaluation model to evaluate and compare the water network construction effects of the two cities in Henan Province. Finally, the GM (1,1) model was used to evaluate the water network construction effects, and future trends were predicted. The results show the following: (1) On the whole, the effect of water network construction in the two cities is constantly improving; (2) There has been a significant improvement in the intelligent management of water networks. The main reason for this result is that the “Internet +” has promoted the intelligent construction of water networks; (3) The water ecological environment, flood control, and drainage capabilities continued to improve, which has largely guaranteed the basic security bottom line of urban development space; (4) The advancement and utilization of water resources has undergone gradual improvements over time, with key impact metrics centered on water supply safety factors and the development and utilization of water resources. As water supply sources continue to diversify, it is expected that the aforementioned situation will be ameliorated in the future; (5) The predicted value shows that the water network construction of the two cities can basically meet the planned value of each index when the water network construction reaches the planning level. This paper provides help to promote the sustainable use of water resources and ensure the sustainable development of cities.

Evaluation of Hidden Cost Risk of Prefabricated Construction Based on SEM-MEECM

Prefabricated construction offers numerous advantages, such as high efficiency and energy efficiency. However, its promotion is impeded by the significant associated costs. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to investigate the overall life-cycle costs of prefabricated construction, with a specific focus on hidden costs. To achieve this objective, the study establishes a comprehensive evaluation index system comprising 31 factors that facilitate the assessment of hidden cost risks at each stage of the construction’s life cycle. In order to effectively evaluate these risks, the study proposes a novel evaluation method that combines the structural equation model (SEM) with the matter–element extension cloud model (MEECM). Subsequently, the proposed model is applied to an actual case of prefabricated construction projects. The findings prove valuable in managing the hidden cost risks associated with prefabricated construction and offer effective means for evaluating such risks. The stage considered in this paper is more comprehensive than that of previous studies, and a quantitative analysis of the hidden cost risk index is constructed and a SEM–MEECM evaluation model is established. Based on the model presented in this paper, future research can further enhance the hidden cost risk index and explore suitable quantitative indicators to facilitate cost risk control in prefabricated construction projects, thus promoting the widespread adoption of prefabricated construction in developing countries.

Research on Drainage Rights Allocation Based on Game Combination Weight-Improved Matter-Element Extension Model

The frequent occurrence of floods poses a serious threat to various aspects such as socio-economic development, ecological stability, and safety of people’s lives and properties. In order to reduce flood losses and improve the overall regional flood control efficiency, the DPSIR model is used to construct an index system affecting the allocation of drainage rights considering the characteristics and allocation principles of drainage rights. The objective and subjective weights determined by the hierarchical analysis and entropy method are optimally combined according to the game theory idea, and finally, the drainage rights allocation model of the game combination weight-improved matter-element extension model is constructed. In addition, this paper conducts a case study with data from 2017–2021 in the south Jiangsu canal region, and the results show that the drainage rights allocation is influenced by social, economic, and ecological aspects, among which the most influential are ecological and economic aspects; the drainage rights quota size from 2017–2021 is in the order of Wuxi, Suzhou, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang.

A web-based system to determine risk of investment in international rail construction projects

Manual evaluation of investment risk make results and solutions are not timely. The objective of the study is to explore intelligent risk data collecting and risk early warning of international rail construction. First, this study has identified risk variables by content mining. Second, risk thresholds are calculated by the quantile method based on data from 2010 to A.D. 2019. Third, this study has developed risk early warning system by the gray system theory model, the matter-element extension method and the entropy weight method. Fourth, the risk early warning system is verified using Nigeria coastal railway project in Abuja. This study found that: (1) the framework of the developed risk warning system contains a software and hardware infrastructure layer, a data collection layer, an application support layer, and an application layer. (2) 37 investment risk variables are recognized; (3) 12 risk variables thresholds intervals are not equally divided between 0 and 1, the others are evenly distributed; (4) based on the application of Nigeria coastal railway project in Abuja, the system verification results are consistent with real situations, which is shown that risk early warning system is reasonable and feasible. These findings offer a good reference for intelligent risk management.

A comprehensive evaluation of the security of the water-energy-food systems in China

Water-energy-food (WEF) are the indispensable resources for achieving sustainable social-economic development, poverty reduction, and human well-being. An appropriate WEF security evaluation may help inform China's sustainable resource production and consumption. This study selects 27 indicators representing pressure-state-response (PSR) dimensions to evaluate the WEF security of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2010 to 2019 using the entropy weight method and matter-element extension (MEE) model. The results indicate that the security of the water subsystem is mostly under high risk, and is relative severe in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanghai, Shandong, and Ningxia. Meanwhile, energy subsystem indicators like carbon emission and energy intensities have significantly improved. All food subsystem indicators have improved by varying degrees. Regionally, food security is high in the east, and low in the central and western regions. In terms of the performance of PSR dimensions, “Pressure” is the most optimistic, followed by “Response” and “State”. The “Response” in most provinces is getting better, which has promoted the overall improvement of WEF systems. Thus, while maintaining the subsystem with high security, the integrated system's security can be enhanced by addressing the shortcoming of other subsystems. This can help realise synergistic resource use and enhance their security.

Correction: Li et al. Cooperative Efficiency Evaluation System for Intelligent Transportation Facilities Based on the Variable Weight Matter Element Extension. Sustainability 2023, 15, 2411

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [...]

Risk Assessment for Water Disaster of Karst Tunnel Based on the Weighting of Reliability Measurement and Improved Extension Cloud Model

Risk assessment of water disaster in karst tunnels is a nonlinear, complex, and uncertain system problem. Based on the reliability measurement method and extension cloud theory, the reliability measurement weighting and improved extension cloud model are established for the risk assessment of water disaster in karst tunnels. Firstly, on the basis of fully considering the relevance of evaluation indicators, a dynamic weighting theory for reliability measurement of indicators based on Jousselme distance is proposed. Secondly, according to the two different entropy algorithms of the extension cloud model, an improved extension cloud model is proposed based on the entropy algorithm fusion of game theory. The comprehensive cloud correlation degree obtained by the improved extension cloud model is combined with the indicator reliability measure weight. Then, the dangerous state of the water disaster in karst tunnels is judged, and the visualization of the water disaster level judgment is realized. And the model is tested with sample data from six typical karst tunnels. Finally, the model is applied to the Yangpeng Karst Tunnel on the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway. The results show that the water disaster level of the tunnel is I, and the evaluation results are consistent with the actual situation. Compared with the matter element extension model and the extension cloud model, the calculation results are more accurate. The corresponding treatment measures have been taken, and the good effect of water disaster treatment has been achieved. The practical value of the model is further proved, and a new reference method is provided for the prediction and prevention of water disaster in karst tunnels.

Fuzzy Evaluation of Inland Ship Lock Service Condition Based on Combination Weighting and Matter-Element Extension Cloud Model

Ship lock as a typical hydraulic structure has become an important node in waterway transportation. Due to the long operating life and high demand of throughput, many locks are under the overloaded operation situation. However, the service condition assessment of ship locks has rarely been directly studied, and there is a lack of an efficient and standardized method owing to the complex structure of the ship lock system. In this paper, a multi-level hierarchical system including 36 indexes was constructed based on the engineering breakdown structure theory. The synthetic weights of indexes were determined by the order relation method and entropy weight method combining subjectivity and objectivity. The extension cloud model combining the extension theory and cloud model was put forward, aiming to deal with the uncertainty of fuzziness and randomness in the evaluation process. Then, two typical locks were investigated, and the numerical scores indicated that their states belong to Level III and Level IV, respectively. The proposed method reveals the structural condition and provides theoretical reference for the maintenance of ship locks, which can be applied with generalizability and operability.

A cable health assessment method based on multi-agent and matter-element extension model

It is of great significance for the stable operation of the power system to accurately evaluate the health status of the cable, and then provide a reference for the implementation of condition maintenance. Based on the matter-element extension model, this paper divides different cable health levels, selects the important state quantity of the cable as the evaluation index, assigns different weights to it, and finally obtains the health level of the cable evaluation. The multi-agent plays its role to make the cable health assessment system run well. The calculation example results show that the health assessment model in this paper can effectively assess the health status of cables in different stages of operation, and the assessment results can be used as a reference for the formulation of on-site maintenance strategies. Compared with other assessment methods, the assessment results are more comprehensive and more reliable.

A Hybrid Evaluation Method of Ecological Environment Quality Based on Entropy and Matter-Element Extension Model

The ecological environment of China is facing much more pressure with the continuous growth of population and energy usage. China pays more attention to improving the ecological environment quality with the ecological civilization development in the situation. The key problem is to construct a scientific and reasonable comprehensive evaluation index system guiding the ecological environment quality improvement. This paper creates a comprehensive evaluation index system of ecological environment quality based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework and uses a hybrid model with the entropy weight method and matter-element extension to evaluate China’s ecological environment quality from 2016 to 2020. The results show the overall ecological environment quality evaluation level in China is continuously improved. The results also show that China should pay much attention to the four main factors, which are population density, carbon emissions, per capita energy consumption, and per capita arable land, it should take some policies to improve the four factors. The case study has proven the effectiveness and practicality of the hybrid method and the comprehensive evaluation index system.

Structure bionic topology design method based on biological unit cell

The mechanical structure topology design based on substructure always adopts the traditional substructure design method, which often comes from the experience and is limited by the inherent or stereotyped design thinking. A substructure design method based on biological unit cell (UC) is proposed, which draws inspiration from the biological efficient load-bearing topology structure. Especially, the thought of the formalized problem-solving of extension matter-element is introduced. Through the matter-element definition of UC substructure, the process model for the structure bionic topology design method based on biological UC is formed, which avoids the random or wild mental stimulation of the structure topology design method based on traditional substructure. In particular, in this proposed method, aiming at the problem about how to achieve the integration of high-efficiency load-bearing advantage of different organisms, furthermore, a biological UC hybridization method based on the principle of inventive problem solving theory (TRIZ) is proposed. The typical case is used to illustrate the process of this method in detail. The results from simulations and experiments both show that: the load-bearing capacity of structure design based on biology UC is improved than the initial design; on this basis, the load-bearing capacity of structure design is improved further through UC hybridization. All these show the feasibility and correctness of the proposed method.

Cooperative Efficiency Evaluation System for Intelligent Transportation Facilities Based on the Variable Weight Matter Element Extension

In order to effectively evaluate the cooperative efficiency of intelligent transportation facilities, a structural model of four cooperative development elements, including functional cooperative, operational cooperative, information cooperative, and operation cooperative, is constructed with the guidance of system coordination and a cooperative efficiency evaluation system is established based on it. Then, a dynamic efficiency evaluation model based on variable weight and matter-element extension method was constructed to describe the cooperative efficiency of intelligent transportation facilities and analyze the cooperative efficiency of key road sections in the Jinan area as an example. The results show that of the ten sections, two are in poor performance status, three are in good performance status, and five are in excellent performance status. The four indexes of vertical cooperative construction, functional scheduling level, information element completeness, and multi-departmental information integration level have the most significant impact on facility cooperative efficiency and are the most sensitive; the three indexes of plan executability, functional ease of upgrading, and space–time alignment rate have the most negligible impact on facility cooperative efficiency and are the least sensitive.

Equipment Development Scheme Decision Based on IFS‐Choquet Integral Improved Matter Element Model

An optimized matter element decision method is proposed based on intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) and Choquet integral to solve the problems of equipment development scheme decision (e.g., the correlation of scheme attributes and the low decision reliability of evaluation results). First, the nonlinear programming problem of expert intuition fuzzy subjective and objective decision information difference is constructed using the Choquet integral method, and the measure values and related factors of decision attributes are solved using the optimization algorithm. Second, given the comprehensive contribution of attributes, the fuzzy measure Shapley value is employed to represent the attribute weight. Last, the matter element extension model is optimized using the attribute weight information and intuitionistic fuzzy score value, and a two‐level evaluation strategy is formulated to determine the ranking and grade. On that basis, scientific decisions are made for several different schemes to be selected.

Resilience assessment for the emergency supplies security system based on a matter-element extension method

Resilience assessment for the emergency supplies security system based on a matter-element extension method

A new quantitative digital twin maturity model for high-end equipment

Digital twins (DTs) have shown great potential in both academia and industry due to their ability to interconnect and integrate physical and virtual worlds. A DT maturity model for high-end equipment is important to accurately evaluate the maturity level of DT and further develop an advanced DT. This paper is one of the early endeavours, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to provide a new DT maturity model for high-end equipment combining qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis of the DT maturity model includes a comparison and assessment of 3 dimensions and 27 rubrics for different DTs of high-end equipment. In addition, 6 maturity levels and their definitions for each rubric are proposed for maturity scoring. The quantitative analysis of the DT maturity model is conducted based on an analytic hierarchy process and a matter-element extension method, which can be used to provide improvement advice according to the rubric importance and its improvement difficulties. The proposed DT maturity model is applied to evaluate the maturity of DTs of three high-end equipment, including underground engineering equipment, a large-scale wind turbine, and an industrial shop-floor. The evaluated maturity results could be used to elevate the maturity of DT by improving rubrics with high significance, low level, and low improvement difficulty.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Food Security in China and Its Obstacle Factors.

China's food security has attracted global attention as the various drivers of its instability and uncertainty have intensified. This study developed a new framework for food security evaluation in China by analyzing its availability, distribution, utilization, vulnerability, sustainability, and regulation. The entropy weight method (EWM) and the matter-element extension model (MEEM) were combined to examine China's food security status between 2001 and 2020. Additionally, an obstacle degree model (ODM) was used to investigate the key factors functioning as obstacles to food security. The results show that China's overall food security improved greatly but experienced a slight downward trend in 2003. The main obstacles initially entailed grain distribution but then spread to vulnerability- and sustainability-related issues. Ultimately, the key factors restricting China's food security were the amount of fertilizer application per unit sown area (AFA) and the grain self-sufficiency rate (GSR). The next 40 years could be the most critical period for ensuring China's food security, which incorporates demographic, climate change, and resource shortage factors. China appears to be implementing its national strategies through sustainable farmland use and agricultural technology innovation to facilitate the high-quality development of its grain industries and strengthen its food security. This study provides an overall picture of China's food security and can serve as a reference for those concerned with China's future national security.

Haze Risk Assessment Based on Improved PCA-MEE and ISPO-LightGBM Model

With the economic development in China, haze risks are frequent. It is important to study the urban haze risk assessment to manage the haze disaster. The haze risk assessment indexes of 11 cities in Fenwei Plain were selected from three aspects: the sensitivity of disaster-inducing environments, haze component hazards and the vulnerability of disaster-bearing bodies, combined with regional disaster system theory. The haze hazard risk levels of 11 cities in Fenwei Plain were evaluated using the matter-element extension (MEE) model, and the indicator weights were determined by improving the principal component analysis (PCA) method using the entropy weight method, and finally, five haze hazard risk assessment models were established by improving the particle swarm optimization (IPSO) light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) algorithm. It is used to assess the risk of affected populations, transportation damage risk, crop damage area risk, direct economic loss risk and comprehensive disaster risk before a disaster event occurs. The experimental comparison shows that the haze risk index of Xi’an city is the highest, and the full index can improve the evaluation accuracy by 4–16% compared with only the causative factor index, which indicates that the proposed PCA-MEE-ISPO-LightGBM model evaluation results are more realistic and reliable.