The Largest Left Quotient Ring of a Ring

The left quotient ring (i.e., the left classical ring of fractions) Q_cl(R) of a ring R does not always exist and still, in general, there is no good understanding of the reason why this happens. In this article, existence of the largest left quotient ring Q_l(R) of an arbitrary ring R is proved, i.e., Q_l(R) = S₀(R)^?1R where S₀(R) is the largest left regular denominator set of R. It is proved that Q_l(Q_l(R)) = Q_l(R); the ring Q_l(R) is semisimple iff Q_cl(R) exists and is semisimple; moreover, if the ring Q_l(R) is left Artinian, then Q_cl(R) exists and Q_l(R) = Q_cl(R). The group of units Q_l(R)* of Q_l(R) is equal to the set {s^?1t | s, t ∈ S₀(R)} and S₀(R) = R ∩ Q_l(R)*. If there exists a finitely generated flat left R-module which is not projective, then Q_l(R) is not a semisimple ring. We extend slightly Ore's method of localization to localizable left Ore sets, give a criterion of when a left Ore set is localizable, and prove that all left and right Ore sets of an arbitrary ring are localizable (not just denominator sets as in Ore's method of localization). Applications are given for certain classes of rings (semiprime Goldie rings, Noetherian commutative rings, the algebra of polynomial integro-differential operators).     

Accuracy and complexity evaluation of defuzzification strategies for the discretised interval type-2 fuzzy set

The work reported in this paper addresses the challenge of the efficient and accurate defuzzification of discretised interval type-2 fuzzy sets. The exhaustive method of defuzzification for type-2 fuzzy sets is extremely slow, owing to its enormous computational complexity. Several approximate methods have been devised in response to this bottleneck. In this paper we survey four alternative strategies for defuzzifying an interval type-2 fuzzy set: (1) The Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure, (2) the Wu–Mendel Approximation, (3) the Greenfield–Chiclana Collapsing Defuzzifier, and (4) the Nie–Tan Method.We evaluated the different methods experimentally for accuracy, by means of a comparative study using six representative test sets with varied characteristics, using the exhaustive method as the standard. A preliminary ranking of the methods was achieved using a multi-criteria decision making methodology based on the assignment of weights according to performance. The ranking produced, in order of decreasing accuracy, is (1) the Collapsing Defuzzifier, (2) the Nie–Tan Method, (3) the Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure, and (4) the Wu–Mendel Approximation.Following that, a more rigorous analysis was undertaken by means of the Wilcoxon Nonparametric Test, in order to validate the preliminary test conclusions. It was found that there was no evidence of a significant difference between the accuracy of the Collapsing and Nie–Tan Methods, and between that of the Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure and the Wu–Mendel Approximation. However, there was evidence to suggest that the collapsing and Nie–Tan Methods are more accurate than the Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure and the Wu–Mendel Approximation.In relation to efficiency, each method’s computational complexity was analysed, resulting in a ranking (from least computationally complex to most computationally complex) as follows: (1) the Nie–Tan Method, (2) the Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure (lowest complexity possible), (3) the Greenfield–Chiclana Collapsing Defuzzifier, (4) the Karnik–Mendel Iterative Procedure (highest complexity possible), and (5) the Wu–Mendel Approximation.     

Residual Julia set for functions with the Ahlfors' Property

We consider two classes of functions studied by Epstein [A.L. Epstein, Towers of finite type complex analytic maps, Ph.D. thesis, City University of New York, 1993] and by Herring [M.E. Herring, An extension of the Julia–Fatou theory of iteration, Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, 1994], which have the Ahlfors' Property. We prove under some conditions on the Fatou and Julia sets that the singleton buried components are dense in the Julia set for these classes of functions.     

Exclusion sets in eigenvalue localization sets for tensors

ABSTRACT

By excluding some proper subsets, which do not include any eigenvalues of tensors, from an existing eigenvalue localization set provided by Zhao and Sang, a new eigenvalue localization set for tensors is given. As an application, a sufficient condition such that the determinant of a tensor is not zero is provided.     

Maximizing the distance between center,centroid and characteristic set of a tree

Consider a tree P_n-g,g , n≥ 2, 1≤ g≤ n-1 on n vertices which is obtained from a path on [1,2,?…?,n-g] vertices by adding g pendant vertices to the pendant vertex n-g. We prove that over all trees on n?≥?5 vertices, the distance between center and characteristic set, centroid and characteristic set, and center and centroid is maximized by trees of the form P_n-g,g , 2?≤?g?≤?n-3. For n≥ 5, we also supply the precise location of the characteristic set of the tree P_n-g,g , 2?≤?g?≤?n-3.     

Assessment and Prediction of Water Resources Vulnerability Based on a NRS-RF Model: A Case Study of the Song-Liao River Basin,China

The vulnerability of water resources is an important criterion for evaluating the carrying capacity of water resources systems under the influence of climate change and human activities. Moreover, assessment and prediction of river basins’ water resources vulnerability are important means to assess the water resources security state of river basins and identify possible problems in future water resources systems. Based on the constructed indicator system of water resources vulnerability assessment in Song-Liao River Basin, this paper uses the neighborhood rough set (abbreviated as NRS) method to reduce the dimensionality of the original indicator system to remove redundant attributes. Then, assessment indicators’ standard values after dimensionality reduction are taken as the evaluation sample, and the random forest regression (abbreviated as RF) model is used to assess the water resources vulnerability of the river basin. Finally, based on data under three different future climate and socio-economic scenarios, scenario predictions are made on the vulnerability of future water resources. The results show that the overall water resources vulnerability of the Song-Liao River Basin has not improved significantly in the past 18 years, and the overall vulnerability of the Song-Liao River Basin is in the level V of moderate to high vulnerability. In the future scenario 1, the overall water resources vulnerability of the river basin will improve, and it is expected to achieve an improvement to the level III of moderate to low vulnerability. At the same time, the natural vulnerability and vulnerability of carrying capacity will increase significantly in the future, and the man-made vulnerability will increase slowly, which will deteriorate to the level V of moderate to high vulnerability under Scenario 3. Therefore, taking active measures can significantly reduce the vulnerability of nature and carrying capacity, but man-made vulnerability will become a bottleneck restricting the fragility of the overall water resources of the river basin in the future.     

The extended QUALIFLEX method for multiple criteria decision analysis based on interval type-2 fuzzy sets and applications to medical decision making

QUALIFLEX, a generalization of Jacquet-Lagreze’s permutation method, is a useful outranking method in decision analysis because of its flexibility with respect to cardinal and ordinal information. This paper develops an extended QUALIFLEX method for handling multiple criteria decision-making problems in the context of interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Interval type-2 fuzzy sets contain membership values that are crisp intervals, which are the most widely used of the higher order fuzzy sets because of their relative simplicity. Using the linguistic rating system converted into interval type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, the extended QUALIFLEX method investigates all possible permutations of the alternatives with respect to the level of concordance of the complete preference order. Based on a signed distance-based approach, this paper proposes the concordance/discordance index, the weighted concordance/discordance index, and the comprehensive concordance/discordance index as evaluative criteria of the chosen hypothesis for ranking the alternatives. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed methods are illustrated by a medical decision-making problem concerning acute inflammatory demyelinating disease, and a comparative analysis with another outranking approach is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

On Boundary Conditions for Wedge Operators on Radial Sets

We present a theorem about calculation of fixed point index for k-ψ-contractive operators with 0 ≤ k < 1 defined on a radial set of a wedge of an infinite-dimensional Banach space. Then, results on the existence of eigenvectors and nonzero fixed points are obtained.