Table of Contents

There are many practical decision-making problems in people’s lives, but the information given by decision makers (DMs) is often unclear and how to describe this information is of critical importance. Therefore, we introduce interval neutrosophic linguistic numbers (INLNs) to represent the less clear and uncertain information and give their operational rules and comparison methods. In addition, since the Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) operator has the special characteristic of capturing the interrelationships among multi-input arguments, we further propose an MSM operator for INLNs (INLMSM). Furthermore, considering the weights of attributes are the important parameters and they can influence the decision results, we also propose a weighted INLMSM (WINLMSM) operator. Based on the WINLMSM operator, we develop a multiple attribute decision making (MADM) method with INLNs and some examples are used to show the procedure and effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed method is more convenient to express the complex and unclear information. At the same time, it is more scientific and flexible in solving the MADM problems by considering the interrelationships among multi-attributes. Full article

In this paper, by utilizing the concept of a neutrosophic extended triplet (NET), we define the neutrosophic image, neutrosophic inverse-image, neutrosophic kernel, and the NET subgroup. The notion of the neutrosophic triplet coset and its relation with the classical coset are defined and the properties of the neutrosophic triplet cosets are given. Furthermore, the neutrosophic triplet normal subgroups, and neutrosophic triplet quotient groups are studied. Full article

This paper presents several new techniques for volumetric cloud rendering using efficient algorithms and data structures based on ray-tracing methods for cumulus generation, achieving an optimum balance between realism and performance. These techniques target applications such as flight simulations, computer games, and educational software, even with conventional graphics hardware. The contours of clouds are defined by implicit mathematical expressions or triangulated structures inside which volumetric rendering is performed. Novel techniques are used to reproduce the asymmetrical nature of clouds and the effects of light-scattering, with low computing costs. The work includes a new method to create randomized fractal clouds using a recursive grammar. The graphical results are comparable to those produced by state-of-the-art, hyper-realistic algorithms. These methods provide real-time performance, and are superior to particle-based systems. These outcomes suggest that our methods offer a good balance between realism and performance, and are suitable for use in the standard graphics industry. Full article

In order to be responsible stewards of other people’s data, cloud providers must be accountable for their data handling practices. The potential long provider chains in cloud computing introduce additional accountability challenges, with many stakeholders involved. Symmetry is very important in any requirements’ elicitation activity, since input from diverse stakeholders needs to be balanced. This article ventures to answer the question “How can one create an accountable cloud service?” by examining requirements which must be fulfilled to achieve an accountability-based approach, based on interaction with over 300 stakeholders. Full article

This review is devoted to search for Lie and Q-conditional (nonclassical) symmetries and exact solutions of a class of reaction-diffusion-convection equations with exponential nonlinearities. A complete Lie symmetry classification of the class is derived via two different algorithms in order to show that the result depends essentially on the type of equivalence transformations used for the classification. Moreover, a complete description of Q-conditional symmetries for PDEs from the class in question is also presented. It is shown that all the well-known results for reaction-diffusion equations with exponential nonlinearities follow as particular cases from the results derived for this class of reaction-diffusion-convection equations. The symmetries obtained for constructing exact solutions of the relevant equations are successfully applied. The exact solutions are compared with those found by means of different techniques. Finally, an application of the exact solutions for solving boundary-value problems arising in population dynamics is presented. Full article

Cosmetics pose challenges to the recognition performance of face and iris biometric systems due to its ability to alter natural facial and iris patterns. Facial makeup and iris contact lens are considered to be commonly applied cosmetics for the face and iris in this study. The present work aims to present a novel solution for the detection of cosmetics in both face and iris biometrics by the fusion of texture, shape and color descriptors of images. The proposed cosmetic detection scheme combines the microtexton information from the local primitives of texture descriptors with the color spaces achieved from overlapped blocks in order to achieve better detection of spots, flat areas, edges, edge ends, curves, appearance and colors. The proposed cosmetic detection scheme was applied to the YMU YouTube makeup database (YMD) facial makeup database and IIIT-Delhi Contact Lens iris database. The results demonstrate that the proposed cosmetic detection scheme is significantly improved compared to the other schemes implemented in this study. Full article

Motivated by dynamical models describing phase separation and the motion of interfaces separating phases, we study the stability of dynamical networks in planar domains formed by triple junctions. We take into account symmetry, angle-intersection conditions at the junctions and at the points at which the curves intersect with the boundary. Firstly, we focus on the case of a network where two triple junctions have all their branches unattached to the boundary and then on the case of a network of hexagons, with one of them having all its branches unattached to the boundary. For both type of networks, we introduce the evolution problem, identify the steady states and study their stability in terms of the geometry of the boundary. Full article

In this paper, the numerical solutions of von K $\acute{a}$ rm $\acute{a}$ n swirling viscous flow are obtained based on the effective combination of the symmetry method and the Runge-Kutta method. Firstly, the multi-parameter symmetry of von K $\acute{a}$ rm $\acute{a}$ n swirling viscous flow is determined based on the differential characteristic set algorithm. Secondly, we used the symmetry to reduce von K $\acute{a}$ rm $\acute{a}$ n swirling viscous flow to an initial value problem of the original differential equations. Finally, we numerically solve the initial value problem of the original differential equations by using the Runge-Kutta method. Full article

This paper proposes novel skin lesion detection based on neutrosophic clustering and adaptive region growing algorithms applied to dermoscopic images, called NCARG. First, the dermoscopic images are mapped into a neutrosophic set domain using the shearlet transform results for the images. The images are described via three memberships: true, indeterminate, and false memberships. An indeterminate filter is then defined in the neutrosophic set for reducing the indeterminacy of the images. A neutrosophic c-means clustering algorithm is applied to segment the dermoscopic images. With the clustering results, skin lesions are identified precisely using an adaptive region growing method. To evaluate the performance of this algorithm, a public data set (ISIC 2017) is employed to train and test the proposed method. Fifty images are randomly selected for training and 500 images for testing. Several metrics are measured for quantitatively evaluating the performance of NCARG. The results establish that the proposed approach has the ability to detect a lesion with high accuracy, 95.3% average value, compared to the obtained average accuracy, 80.6%, found when employing the neutrosophic similarity score and level set (NSSLS) segmentation approach. Full article

Many plant leaves exhibit bilateral symmetry, but such symmetry has rarely been measured because of the lack of practical methods. We propose a simple method for achieving the above objective. A leaf is divided into left and right sides, and several equally-sized strips are generated to intersect each side of that leaf to generate pairwise left and right sub-regions. A standardized index (SI) for measuring bilateral symmetry is built based on the left–right areal differences of those sub-regions. The leaves of 10 species of plants were sampled for testing the method’s validity. Based on the experimental data, we compared the root-mean-squared error (RMSE), SI, and areal ratio (AR) of the left side to the right side of the leaf. The SI measures the bilateral symmetry of plant leaves well, and it is better than the RMSE and AR for eliminating the effect of leaf size on the goodness of fit. The SI proposed here is the best indicator for evaluating the degree of bilateral symmetry and can be potentially used for comparing the difference in the bilateral symmetry of leaves of different plants. Full article

(1) Background: The link between behavioral lateralization and bodily asymmetry in humans is studied to investigate the reliability of fluctuating asymmetry as a measure of developmental instability; (2) Methods: Morphological asymmetries of arms and legs, obtained from 3D body scans, were correlated with different measures of behavioral lateralization; (3) Results: Observed associations were in the directions expected, showing that more asymmetric use of the body increases asymmetry, especially in the arms, and more symmetric body use appears to have a symmetrizing effect; and (4) Conclusions: The results presented here question the suitability of human bodily asymmetry in arms and legs—or at least part of them—as a measure of developmental instability. There is a need for future research that identifies regions of the body that are not affected by behavioral lateralization and can reliably reflect developmental instability. Full article

Every organization seeks to set strategies for its development and growth and to do this, it must take into account the factors that affect its success or failure. The most widely used technique in strategic planning is SWOT analysis. SWOT examines strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T), to select and implement the best strategy to achieve organizational goals. The chosen strategy should harness the advantages of strengths and opportunities, handle weaknesses, and avoid or mitigate threats. SWOT analysis does not quantify factors (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and it fails to rank available alternatives. To overcome this drawback, we integrated it with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP is able to determine both quantitative and the qualitative elements by weighting and ranking them via comparison matrices. Due to the vague and inconsistent information that exists in the real world, we applied the proposed model in a neutrosophic environment. A real case study of Starbucks Company was presented to validate our model. Full article

Interval neutrosophic fuzzy decision making is an important part of decision making under uncertainty, which is based on preference order. In this study, a new multi-valued interval neutrosophic fuzzy multiple attribute decision making method has been developed by integrating the DEMATEL (decision making trial and evaluation laboratory) method and the TOPSIS (the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution) method. Evaluation values are given in the form of multi-valued interval neutrosophic fuzzy values. By using DEMATEL, dependencies among attributes can be modeled, and attribute weights are determined. The normalized Euclidean distance and the normalized Hamming distance between multi-valued interval neutrosophic fuzzy values are defined. Alternatives are ranked by using the TOPSIS method based on the distance measures. The truck selection problem in the logistics industry is presented to illustrate the feasibility and practical advantages of the proposed method. Some comparisons of the new method with other methods are also made. Full article

The code reviewer assignment problem affects the reviewing time of a source code change. To effectively perform the code review process of a software project, the code reviewer assignment problem must be dealt with. Reviewer recommendation can reduce the time required for finding appropriate reviewers for a given source code change. In this paper, we propose a reviewer recommendation approach based on latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). The proposed reviewer recommendation approach consists of a review expertise generation phase and a reviewer recommendation phase. The review expertise generation phase generates the review expertise of developers for topics of source code changes from the review history of a software project. The reviewer recommendation phase computes the review scores of the developers according to the topic distribution of a given source code change and the review expertise of the developers. In an empirical evaluation of five open source projects, we confirm that the proposed reviewer recommendation approach obtains better average top-10 accuracy than existing reviewer recommendation approaches. Full article

Since data stream anomaly detection algorithms based on sliding windows are sensitive to the abnormal deviation of individual interference data, this paper presents a sliding nest window chart anomaly detection based on the data stream (SNWCAD-DS) by employing the concept of the sliding window and control chart. By nesting a small sliding window in a large sliding window and analyzing the deviation distance between the small window and the large sliding window, the algorithm increases the out-of-bounds detection ratio and classifies the conceptual drift data stream online. The designed algorithm is simulated on the industrial data stream of drilling engineering. The proposed algorithm SNWCAD is compared with Automatic Outlier Detection for Data Streams (A-ODDS) and Distance-Based Outline Detection for Data Stream (DBOD-DS). The experimental results show that the new algorithm can obtain higher detection accuracy than the compared algorithms. Furthermore, it can shield the influence of individual interference data and satisfy actual engineering needs. Full article

The compatibility method is used for a generalized variable-coefficient Gardner equation (GVGE) with a forcing term. By the compatibility of the considered equation and a non-classical symmetry of a given form, four types of symmetry are obtained. Then, by solving the characteristic equations of symmetry, the GVGE is reduced to variable coefficients ordinary differential equations, and rich varieties of new similarity solutions are presented. Our results show that the compatibility method can be employed for variable coefficients nonlinear evolution equations with forcing terms. Full article

The cycloid is one of the most intriguing objects in the classical physics world, at once solving the brachistochrone and isochronous curve problems. Historically, the cycloid shape has been employed to great success in many physical contexts. We discuss one such case, presenting the longitude problem as a pathway into an in-depth discussion of the analytical solution of a point mass motion along a cycloid. The classical solution is presented, and the modifications needed for a rolling ball along a cycloid rail are made. A comparison is then made between the two cases, and we show that the difference in most physical cases between the point mass and the rolling ball is at most ~7%. Next, an experiment is presented in which the isochronous nature of the cycloid path is tested, to different degrees of success. The results are discussed and several possible origins of the discrepancy between the theory and the experimental results are identified. We conclude with a discussion of skidding and slipless rolling. Full article

The rapid transfer of massive data in the cloud environment is required to prepare for unexpected situations like disaster recovery. With regard to this requirement, we propose a new approach to transferring cloud virtual machine images rapidly in the cloud environment utilizing dedicated Data Transfer Nodes (DTNs). The overall procedure is composed of local/remote copy processes and a DTN-to-DTN transfer process. These processes are coordinated and executed based on a fork system call in the proposed algorithm. In addition, we especially focus on the local copy process between a cloud controller and DTNs and improve data transfer performance through the well-tuned mount techniques in Network File System (NFS)-based connections. Several experiments have been performed considering the combination of synchronous/asynchronous modes and the network buffer size. We show the results of throughput in all the experiment cases and compare them. Consequently, the best throughput in write operations has been obtained in the case of an NFS server in a DTN and an NFS client in a cloud controller running entirely in the asynchronous mode. Full article

This study proposes the interaction of third-person virtual reality (TPVR) to provide users with a new presence and experience during immersive virtual reality (VR). The proposed TPVR interaction consists of the ability to directly control the virtual environment and objects by utilizing the hands. For this purpose, this study defines the interaction of TPVR from three types: moving inside the virtual environment, selecting virtual objects and using a menu interface that includes a variety of functions and behaviors. Then, it designs its own experimental application that is able to systematically compare and analyze the proposed interaction against traditional first-person perspective VR. Finally, it examines whether the proposed interaction provides new presence and experience to users by conducting survey experiments. Through this process, this study was able to confirm not only that TPVR interaction can provide a sufficient presence, even in comparison with the first-person viewpoint, but also that it causes less VR sickness and offers a differentiated VR experience, suggesting that the proposed interaction can provide an alternative method for utilizing VR technology in a greater variety of fields. Full article

Recently, real-time human age estimation based on facial images has been applied in various areas. Underneath this phenomenon lies an awareness that age estimation plays an important role in applying big data to target marketing for age groups, product demand surveys, consumer trend analysis, etc. However, in a real-world environment, various optical and motion blurring effects can occur. Such effects usually cause a problem in fully capturing facial features such as wrinkles, which are essential to age estimation, thereby degrading accuracy. Most of the previous studies on age estimation were conducted for input images almost free from blurring effect. To overcome this limitation, we propose the use of a deep ResNet-152 convolutional neural network for age estimation, which is robust to various optical and motion blurring effects of visible light camera sensors. We performed experiments with various optical and motion blurred images created from the park aging mind laboratory (PAL) and craniofacial longitudinal morphological face database (MORPH) databases, which are publicly available. According to the results, the proposed method exhibited better age estimation performance than the previous methods. Full article

Quantitative analysis through image processing is a key step to gain information regarding the microstructure of materials. In this paper, we develop a deep learning-based method to address the task of image segmentation for microscopic images using an Al–La alloy. Our work makes three key contributions. (1) We train a deep convolutional neural network based on DeepLab to achieve image segmentation and have significant results. (2) We adopt a local processing method based on symmetric overlap-tile strategy which makes it possible to analyze the microscopic images with high resolution. Additionally, it achieves seamless segmentation. (3) We apply symmetric rectification to enhance the accuracy of results with 3D information. Experimental results showed that our method outperforms existing segmentation methods. Full article

Big Data is a large-sized and complex dataset, which cannot be managed using traditional data processing tools. Mining process of big data is the ability to extract valuable information from these large datasets. Association rule mining is a type of data mining process, which is indented to determine interesting associations between items and to establish a set of association rules whose support is greater than a specific threshold. The classical association rules can only be extracted from binary data where an item exists in a transaction, but it fails to deal effectively with quantitative attributes, through decreasing the quality of generated association rules due to sharp boundary problems. In order to overcome the drawbacks of classical association rule mining, we propose in this research a new neutrosophic association rule algorithm. The algorithm uses a new approach for generating association rules by dealing with membership, indeterminacy, and non-membership functions of items, conducting to an efficient decision-making system by considering all vague association rules. To prove the validity of the method, we compare the fuzzy mining and the neutrosophic mining. The results show that the proposed approach increases the number of generated association rules. Full article

The aim of the study is to develop an original, methodical, and practical approach to the early stages of parametric design of roof shells formed by repetitive modules of Catalan surfaces. It is presented on the example of designing the roof shells compound of four concrete elements. The designing process proposed by us consists in linking geometric shaping of roofs’ models with their structural analysis and optimization. Contrary to other methods, which use optimization process in order to find free roof forms, we apply it in order to explore and improve design alternatives. It is realized with the application of designing tools working in Rhinoceros 3D software. The flexible scripts elaborated by us, in order to achieve roofs’ models of regular and symmetrical shapes, are converted into simulation models to perform structural analysis. It is mainly focused on how the roof shells perform dependently on their geometric characteristics. The simulation enables one to evaluate various roof shells’ shapes, as well as to select an optimal design solution. The proposed approach to the conceptual design process may drive the designing to achieve geometric and structural forms which not only follow the design intentions but also target better results. Full article

The ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm has the characteristics of positive feedback, essential parallelism, and global convergence, but it has the shortcomings of premature convergence and slow convergence speed. The co-evolutionary algorithm (CEA) emphasizes the existing interaction among different sub-populations, but it is overly formal, and does not form a very strict and unified definition. Therefore, a new adaptive co-evolutionary ant colony optimization (SCEACO) algorithm based on the complementary advantages and hybrid mechanism is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the pheromone update formula is improved and the pheromone range of the ACO algorithm is limited in order to achieve the adaptive update of the pheromone. The elitist strategy and co-evolutionary idea are used for reference, the symbiotic mechanism and hybrid mechanism are introduced to better utilize the advantages of the CEA and ACO. Then the multi-objective optimization problem is divided into several sub-problems, each sub-problem corresponds to one population. Each ant colony is divided into multiple sub-populations in a common search space, and each sub-population performs the search activity and pheromone updating strategy. The elitist strategy is used to retain the elitist individuals within the population and the min-max ant strategy is used to set pheromone concentration for each path. Next, the selection, crossover, and mutation operations of individuals are introduced to adaptively adjust the parameters and implement the information sharing of the population and the co-evolution. Finally, the gate assignment problem of a hub airport is selected to verify the optimization performance of the SCEACO algorithm. The experiment results show that the SCEACO algorithm can effectively solve the gate assignment problem of a hub airport and obtain the effective assignment result. The SCEACO algorithm improves the convergence speed, and enhances the local search ability and global search capability. Full article

From studies on the effects of “high dilutions” on organisms, it was found that their administration induces a delicate physiological (molecular and cellular) response. Occasionally, physiological reactions can become atypical (pathological) individual reactions. To resolve this paradox, the spatial homeostasis hypothesis has been proposed. It considers pathological processes as tools used by living systems, in order to retain their spatial integrity (symmetry), allowing them to properly reflect the geometry of the surrounding world and thus, to be a part of the evolutionary process. This article addresses an interdisciplinary subject and is aimed at natural scientists (physicists, chemists, and biologists) as well as philosophers. Full article

This paper presents a new algorithm for the resolution of over-constrained lumped process systems, where partial differential equations of a continuous time and space model of the system are reduced into ordinary differential equations with a finite number of parameters and where the model equations outnumber the unknown model variables. Our proposal is aimed at the study and improvement of the algorithm proposed by Hangos-Szerkenyi-Tuza. This new algorithm improves the computational cost and solves some of the internal problems of the aforementioned algorithm in its original formulation. The proposed algorithm is based on parameter relaxation that can be modified easily. It retains the necessary information of the lumped process system to reduce the time cost after introducing changes during the system formulation. It also allows adjustment of the system formulations that change its differential index between simulations. Full article

In this paper, we will construct a new multilevel system in the Fourier domain using the harmonic wavelet. The main advantages of harmonic wavelet are that its frequency spectrum is confined exactly to an octave band, and its simple definition just as Haar wavelet. The constructed multilevel system has the circular shape, which forms a partition of the frequency domain by shifting and scaling the basic wavelet functions. To possess the circular shape, a new type of sampling grid, the circular-polar grid (CPG), is defined and also the corresponding modified Fourier transform. The CPG consists of equal space along rays, where different rays are equally angled. The main difference between the classic polar grid and CPG is the even sampling on polar coordinates. Another obvious difference is that the modified Fourier transform has a circular shape in the frequency domain while the polar transform has a square shape. The proposed sampling grid and the new defined Fourier transform constitute a completely Fourier transform system, more importantly, the harmonic wavelet based multilevel system defined on the proposed sampling grid is more suitable for the distribution of general images in the Fourier domain. Full article

Today, data availability has gone from scarce to superabundant. Technologies like IoT, trends in social media and the capabilities of smart-phones are producing and digitizing lots of data that was previously unavailable. This massive increase of data creates opportunities to gain new business models, but also demands new techniques and methods of data quality in knowledge discovery, especially when the data comes from different sources (e.g., sensors, social networks, cameras, etc.). The data quality process of the data set proposes conclusions about the information they contain. This is increasingly done with the aid of data cleaning approaches. Therefore, guaranteeing a high data quality is considered as the primary goal of the data scientist. In this paper, we propose a process for data cleaning in regression models (DC-RM). The proposed data cleaning process is evaluated through a real datasets coming from the UCI Repository of Machine Learning Databases. With the aim of assessing the data cleaning process, the dataset that is cleaned by DC-RM was used to train the same regression models proposed by the authors of UCI datasets. The results achieved by the trained models with the dataset produced by DC-RM are better than or equal to that presented by the datasets’ authors. Full article

It is generally known that classical point and potential Lie symmetries of differential equations can be different. In a recent paper, we were able to show for a class of nonlinear diffusion equation that the nonclassical potential symmetries possess all nonclassical symmetries of the original equation. We question whether this is true for the power law Harry Dym equation. In this paper, we show that the nonclassical symmetries of the power law Harry Dym equation and an equivalent system still possess special separate symmetries. However, we will show that we can extend the nonclassical method so that all nonclassical symmetries of the original power law Harry Dym equation can be obtained through the equivalent system. Full article

Cucurbituril-type hosts are highly symmetric, but there are means to break their symmetry. This review will present examples from three directions of induction of chirality in or by cucurbituril-type hosts: first, through the incorporation of stereogenic elements into host molecules; second, through complexation with achiral guests, which leads to axial supramolecular chirality and helical structures; third, through the formation of complexes with chiral guests in multi-molecule complexes and induction of supramolecular chirality. In addition, a list of chiral guests used in binding studies with cucurbiturils is collected. We would envision that encouraged by the outlined examples of outstanding applications of chiral cucurbituril-supramolecular systems, the boundaries of chiral applications of cucurbiturils would be widened. Full article