Performance of the walking trail making test in older adults with white matter hyperintensities

BACKGROUND Several studies have reported that the walking trail making test(WTMT)completion time is significantly higher in patients with developmental coordination disorders and mild cognitive impairments.We hypothesized that WTMT performance would be altered in older adults with white matter hyperintensities(WMH).AIM To explore the performance in the WTMT in older people with WMH.METHODS In this single-center,observational study,25 elderly WMH patients admitted to our hospital from June 2019 to June 2020 served as the WMH group and 20 participants matched for age,gender,and educational level who were undergoing physical examination in our hospital during the same period served as the control group.The participants completed the WTMT-A and WTMT-B to obtain their gait parameters,including WTMT-A completion time,WTMT-B completion time,speed,step length,cadence,and stance phase percent.White matter lesions were scored according to the Fazekas scale.Multiple neuropsychological assessments were carried out to assess cognitive function.The relationships between WTMT performance and cognition and motion in elderly patients with WMH were analyzed by partial Pearson correlation analysis.RESULTS Patients with WMH performed significantly worse on the choice reaction test(CRT)(0.51±0.09 s vs 0.44±0.06 s,P=0.007),verbal fluency test(VFT,14.2±2.75 vs 16.65±3.54,P=0.012),and digit symbol substitution test(16.00±2.75 vs 18.40±3.27,P=0.010)than participants in the control group.The WMH group also required significantly more time to complete the WTMT-A(93.00±10.76 s vs 70.55±11.28 s,P<0.001)and WTMT-B(109.72±12.26 s vs 82.85±7.90 s,P<0.001).WTMT-A completion time was positively correlated with CRT time(r=0.460,P=0.001),while WTMT-B completion time was negatively correlated with VFT(r=-0.391,P=0.008).On the WTMT-A,only speed was found to statistically differ between the WMH and control groups(0.803±0.096 vs 0.975±0.050 m/s,P<0.001),whereas on the WTMT-B,the WMH group exhibited a significantly lower speed(0.778±0.111 vs 0.970±0.053 m/s,P<0.001)and cadence(82.600±4.140 vs 85.500±5.020 steps/m,P=0.039),as well as a higher stance phase percentage(65.061±1.813%vs 63.513±2.465%,P=0.019)relative to controls.CONCLUSION Older adults with WMH showed obviously poorer WTMT performance.WTMT could be a potential indicator for cognitive and motor deficits in patients with WMH.

Two-Stage Interactive Multi-Objective Decision-Making Method Based on the Satisfactoriness Criterion

In this paper, for multi objective decision making, the defects on the commonly used interactive methods based on the satisfactoriness criterion is studied. Then a class of two stage interactive method based on the satisfactoriness criterion is proposed for improvement with the satisfactoriness criterion being determined through the collection of the decision makers preference information. An application example is presented for illustration of applicability of the method.

Multi-attribute Decision Making Method Based on the Attribute Difference Degree and Its Application in Rice Breeding

[Objective]The aim was to establish a multi-attribute decision making method and introduce its application in rice breeding.[Method]Based on the defined closeness degree among attributes,the difference degrees among attributes were discussed.Furthermore,the weights of attributes were determined based on the difference degrees among the attributes.[Result]A multi-attribute decision making method based on difference degrees among attributes was established,the feasibility of applying it in rice breeding was also analyzed.[Conclusion]This study enriched the methods to determine attribute weights in multi-attribute decision making and provided the necessary theoretical support for selecting rice varieties scientifically and rationally.

Novel combinatorial algorithm for the problems of fuzzy grey multi-attribute group decision making

To study the fuzzy and grey information in the problems of multi-attribute group decision making, the basic concepts of both fuzzy grey numbers and grey interval numbers are given firstly, then a new model of fuzzy grey multi-attribute group decision making based on the theories of fuzzy mathematics and grey system is presented. Furthermore, the grey interval relative degree and deviation degree is defined, and both the optimistic algorithm of the grey interval relational degree and the algorithm of deviation degree minimization for solving this new model are also given. Finally, a decision making example to demonstrate the feasibility and rationality of this new method is given, and the results by using these two algorithms are uniform.

PSA-based prostate cancer screening： the role of active surveillance and informed and shared decision making

Since the first publication describing the identification of prostate-specific antigen （PSA） in the 1960s, much progress has been made. The PSA test changed from being initially a monitoring tool to being also used as a diagnostic tool. Over time, the test has been heavily debated due to its lack of sensitivity and specificity. However, up to now the PSA test is still the only biomarker for the detection and monitoring of prostate cancer. PSA-based screening for prostate cancer is associated with a high proportion of unnecessary testing and overdiagnosis with subsequent overtreatment. In the early years of screening for prostate cancer, high rates of uptake were very important. However, over time the opinion on PSA-based screening has shifted towards the notion of informed choice. Nowadays, it is thought to be unethical to screen men without them being aware of the pros and cons of PSA testing, as well as the fact that an informed choice is related to better patient outcomes. Now, as the results of three major screening studies have been presented and the downsides of screening are becoming better understood, informed choice is becoming more relevant.

Generalization of the linguistic aggregation operator and its application in decision making

A generalization of the linguistic aggregation functions （or operators） is presented by using generalized and quasiarithmetic means. Firstly, the linguistic weighted generalized mean （LWGM） and the linguistic generalized ordered weighted averaging （LGOWA） operator are introduced. These aggregation functions use linguistic information and generalized means in the weighted average （WA） and in the ordered weighted averaging （OWA） function. They are very useful for uncertain situations where the available information cannot be assessed with numerical values but it is possible to use linguistic assessments. These aggregation operators generalize a wide range of aggregation operators that use linguistic information such as the linguistic generalized mean （LGM）, the linguistic OWA （LOWA） operator and the linguistic or- dered weighted quadratic averaging （LOWQA） operator. We also introduce a further generalization by using quasi-arithmetic means instead of generalized means obtaining the quasi-LWA and the quasi-LOWA operator. Finally, we develop an application of the new approach where we analyze a decision making problem regarding the selection of strategies.

Shared decision-making in the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The rapid progress of research into inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)has resulted in increasingly more treatment options.Different options have different advantages and disadvantages,and the preferences of patients may also differ.If patients can be invited to the formulation of medical decision-making,their compliance and satisfaction would be improved,thus possibly achieving better therapeutic results.The present review aims to summarize the current literature on shared decision-making(SDM)in the management of IBD,with the goal of promoting the application of SDM.

Some Aspects in the Development of High Performance Refractories for Iron and Steel Making in China

In the past 25 years in China, to meet with the rapid increase in steel production accompanied by adoption of advanced metallurgical technologies, there has been fast development of China＇ s refractories industry in production capacity, in quality improvement and in development of new products. Sophisticated high performance refractory materials mainly based on our rich reserves of magncsite, bauxite and flake graphite have been developed, such as carbon-bonded products, high purity oxide products, bauxite-based low creep and high strength high alumina bricks and LC, ULC and ZC castables. They have been used in blast furnaces, BOFs, EAFs, secondary refining and continuous casting with considerable improvement in service pecformance.

Power Aggregation Operators of Simplified Neutrosophic Sets and Their Use in Multi-attribute Group Decision Making

The simplified neutrosophic set(SNS) is a useful generalization of the fuzzy set that is designed for some practical situations in which each element has different truth membership function, indeterminacy membership function and falsity membership function. In this paper, we develop a series of power aggregation operators called simplified neutrosophic number power weighted averaging(SNNPWA) operator, simplified neutrosophic number power weighted geometric(SNNPWG) operator, simplified neutrosophic number power ordered weighted averaging(SNNPOWA) operator and simplified neutrosophic number power ordered weighted geometric(SNNPOWG) operator. We present some useful properties of the operators and discuss the relationships among them. Moreover, an approach to multiattribute group decision making(MAGDM) within the framework of SNSs is developed by the above aggregation operators.Finally, a practical application of the developed approach to deal with the problem of investment is given, and the result shows that our approach is reasonable and effective in dealing with uncertain decision making problems.

Multi-criteria group decision making with fuzzy data:an extension of the VIKOR method

The VIKOR method is a multi-criteria decision making aid, which employs linear normalization to offer compromise solu- tions and has been successfully applied to various group decision making problems. However, the conventional VIKOR techniques used to integrate group judgments and the information loss arising from defuzzification are problematic and distort final outcomes. An improved integration method, which is optimization-based, is proposed. And it can handle fuzzy criteria values and weights. The precondition for accurately defuzzifying triangular fuzzy num- bers is identified. Several effective defuzzification procedures are proposed to improve the extant VIKOR, and a comprehensive evaluation framework is offered to aid multi-criteria group decision making. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the practicability of the proposed method.

A Study on the Design for Object-Oriented Adaptive Decision-Making Teams

The modern war features a highly distributed coordination. In the face of great time constrains, it is important to change command organizations to adapt to the real environment. Therefore it's a key step to set up adaptive C2 teams. In this paper, the relational problems about distributed C2 organizational structure adaptation are discussed, and the methodology for team decision making design based on the object oriented technique is studied.

An Interactive Expert System Based Decision Making Model for the Management of Transit System Alternate Fuel Vehicle Assets

Traditionally, the process used by public transportation entities to determine the acquisition strategy for new vehicle asset is based upon a broad range of criteria. Vehicle cost has been cited as one of the more critical factors which decision makers consider. It is currently a common practice to consider other factors (life-cycle cost, fuel efficiency, vehicle reliability, environmental effects, etc.) that contribute to a more comprehensive approach. This study investigates the next generation of advancements in decision making tools in the area of the application of methods to quantify and manage uncertainty. In particular, the uncertainty comes from the public policy arena where future policy and regulations are not always based upon logical and predictable processes. The fleet decision making process in most governmental agencies is a very complex and interdependent activity. There are always competing forces and agendas within the view of the decision maker. Rarely is the decision maker a single person although, within the transit environment, there is often one person charged with the responsibility of fleet management. The focus of this research examines the decision making of the general transit agency community via the development of an expert systems prototype tool. A computer-based prototype system is developed which provide an expert knowledge-based recommendation, based upon variable user inputs. The results shown in this study show that a decision making tool for the management of transit system alternate fuel vehicle assets can be modeled and tested. The direct users of this research are the transit agency administrations. The results can be used by the management teams as a reliable input to inform their urban transit buses expansion decision making process.

Algorithm for solving the bi-level decision making problem with continuous variables in the upper level based on genetic algorithm

Based on genetic algorithms, a solution algorithm is presented for the bi-level decision making problem with continuous variables in the upper level in accordance with the bi-level decision making principle. The algorithm is compared with Monte Carlo simulated annealing algorithm, and its feasibility and effectiveness are verified with two calculating examples.

Power Aggregation Operators and Similarity Measures Based on Improved Intuitionistic Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and their Applications to Multiple Attribute Decision Making

Intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy set(IHFS)is amixture of two separated notions called intuitionistic fuzzy set(IFS)and hesitant fuzzy set(HFS),as an important technique to cope with uncertain and awkward information in realistic decision issues.IHFS contains the grades of truth and falsity in the formof the subset of the unit interval.The notion of IHFS was defined by many scholars with different conditions,which contain several weaknesses.Here,keeping in view the problems of already defined IHFSs,we will define IHFS in another way so that it becomes compatible with other existing notions.To examine the interrelationship between any numbers of IHFSs,we combined the notions of power averaging(PA)operators and power geometric(PG)operators with IHFSs to present the idea of intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy PA(IHFPA)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy PG(IHFPG)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy power weighted average(IHFPWA)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy power ordered weighted average(IHFPOWA)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy power ordered weighted geometric(IHFPOWG)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy power hybrid average(IHFPHA)operators,intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy power hybrid geometric(IHFPHG)operators and examined as well their fundamental properties.Some special cases of the explored work are also discovered.Additionally,the similarity measures based on IHFSs are presented and their advantages are discussed along examples.Furthermore,we initiated a new approach to multiple attribute decision making(MADM)problem applying suggested operators and a mathematical model is solved to develop an approach and to establish its common sense and adequacy.Advantages,comparative analysis,and graphical representation of the presented work are elaborated to show the reliability and effectiveness of the presented works.

Weighted Parameterized Correlation Coefficients of Indeterminacy Fuzzy Multisets and Their Multicriteria Group Decision Making Method with Different Decision Risks

Real-life data introduce noise,uncertainty,and imprecision to statistical projects;it is advantageous to consider strategies to overcome these information expressions and processing problems.Neutrosophic(indeterminate)numbers can flexibly and conveniently represent the hybrid information of the partial determinacy and partial indeterminacy in an indeterminate setting,while a fuzzy multiset is a vital mathematical tool in the expression and processing of multi-valued fuzzy information with different and/or same fuzzy values.If neutrosophic numbers are introduced into fuzzy sequences in a fuzzy multiset,the introduced neutrosophic number sequences can be constructed as the neutrosophic number multiset or indeterminate fuzzy multiset.Motivated based on the idea,this study first proposes an indeterminate fuzzy multiset,where each element in a universe set can be repeated more than once with the different and/or identical indeterminate membership values.Then,we propose the parameterized correlation coefficients of indeterminate fuzzy multisets based on the de-neutrosophication of transforming indeterminate fuzzy multisets into the parameterized fuzzy multisets by a parameter(the parameterized de-neutrosophication method).Since indeterminate decision-making issues need to be handled by an indeterminate decision-making method,a group decision-making method using the weighted parameterized correlation coefficients of indeterminate fuzzy multisets is developed along with decision makers’different decision risks(small,moderate,and large risks)so as to handle multicriteria group decision-making problems in indeterminate fuzzy multiset setting.Finally,the developed group decision-making approach is used in an example on a selection problem of slope design schemes for an open-pit mine to demonstrate its usability and flexibility in the indeterminate group decision-making problem with indeterminate fuzzy multisets.

The Neural Mechanisms of Utility and Ethic in the Management Moral Decision Making

The study aimed at investigating the neural mechanism of business moral decision-making. 15 participants were presented with a set of 96 dilemmas in business situation. Participants were required to decide between option 1 (more utilitarian decision for self benefit) and 2 (ethical decision for fairness or institution). ERPs were recorded to a slide displaying the letter 1 and 2 when subjects were deciding between options. The selection rate was calculated after the experiment as the behavior data. The business moral dilemmas prompted more ethical option. A larger P260 component was elicited in the left frontal lobe area when participants were deciding to act ethically. On the other hand, decisions on utilitarian aroused weaker emotional experience, as supported by the shorter LPC and smaller P260 amplitude.

The Trail Making Test in Morocco: Normative Data Stratified by Age and Level of Education

The purpose of this study is to design a Moroccan Trail Making Test B;explore the effects of age, education and gender on the performance of the Trail Making Test (TMT);and provide normative information in Moroccan subjects. Our normalization study was conducted on 348 subjects (156 female and 192 male). The subjects were classified into four groups based on age (18 - 39 years, 40 - 59 years, 60 - 69 years and ≥70 years), and three groups based on educational level (3 - 6 years, 7 - 10 years and ≥11 years). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS. The results displayed that increasing age and decreasing levels of education significantly result in a decreased performance on the Trail A, Moroccan Trail B and English Trail B. Only 229 bilingual subjects among the 348 initial subjects completed both versions of Trail B. There was no significant difference on performance between Moroccan Trail B and English Trail B for these subjects.

Linguistic Single-Valued Neutrosophic Power Aggregation Operators and Their Applications to Group Decision-Making Problems

Linguistic single-valued neutrosophic set(LSVNS)is a more reliable tool,which is designed to handle the uncertainties of the situations involving the qualitative data.In the present manuscript,we introduce some power aggregation operators(AOs)for the LSVNSs,whose purpose is to diminish the influence of inevitable arguments about the decision-making process.For it,first we develop some averaging power operators,namely,linguistic single-valued neutrosophic(LSVN)power averaging,weighted average,ordered weighted average,and hybrid averaging AOs along with their desirable properties.Further,we extend it to the geometric power AOs for LSVNSs.Based on the proposed work;an approach to solve the group decision-making problems is given along with the numerical example.Finally,a comparative study and the validity tests are present to discuss the reliability of the proposed operators.

Design of a Control Device for Synthetic Making Test Based on Pre-Arcing Current Detection and Phase Control

The synthetic making test has been widely used in evaluating the break ability of high-voltage circuit breaker. However, the test research and application are still inadequate, especially in the condition of rated voltage. According to the realistic conditions of test stations in China, a control device based on pre-arcing current detection and phase control is proposed in this paper. A sample of the control device made up of DSP TMS320LF2407A is fabricated, in which the CPLD MAX7064 is used to transmit signals for EMC design. It can be applied in full voltage synthetic making test at a level of 126kV/63kA. The test results show that, it is accurate to control the making phase of the applied voltage, whether the closing is demanded at voltage peak or zero.