1. Introduction
The study of non-additive set functions and nonlinear integrals has received a wide recognition because of its applications in many domains such as: potential theory, subjective evaluation, optimization, economics, decision-making, data mining, artificial intelligence, and accident rate estimations (e.g., [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14]). In the literature, there are several methods of integration for (multi)functions based on extensions of the Riemann and Lebesgue integrals. In this context, Kadets and Tseytlin [
15] introduced the absolute Riemann–Lebesgue (RL)and unconditional Riemann–Lebesgue RL integrability, for Banach-valued functions with respect to countably additive measures. According to [
15], in the finite measure space, the Bochner integrability implies RLintegrability, which is stronger than RL integrability, which implies Pettis integrability. Contributions in this area were given in [
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23].
Interval analysis, as particular case of set-valued analysis, was introduced by Moore [
24], motivated by its applications in computational mathematics (i.e., numerical analysis). The interval-valued multifunctions and multimeasures are involved in various applied sciences, for example in signal and image processing, since the discretization of a continuous signal causes different sources of uncertainty and ambiguity. As we can see in [
25,
26,
27,
28,
29,
30,
31], the discretization of an analogue signal usually produces quantization errors, such as the round-off one. Following the case of real functions (see, e.g., [
32,
33]), this numerical discretization can be viewed as an approximation of a suitable sequence of interval-valued multifunctions 
, which converges to a (multi)signal 
G corresponding to the original analogue one. The lack of continuity of interval-valued multifunctions 
 must be replaced by the notion of convergence under a suitable definition of integrals of interval-valued multifunctions.
We highlight that some convergence theorems of the RL integral for a sequence of interval-valued multifunctions 
 with respect to an interval-valued multisubmeasure 
M were established in [
34,
35]. Furthermore, in [
35], a generalized version of the monotone convergence theorem [
36,
37] was proven for a pair of sequences 
 of interval-valued multifunctions and multisubmeasures.
In this paper, we prove new results regarding limit theorems for sequences of Riemann–Lebesgue integrable functions and interval-valued multifunctions. The paper is organized as follows: In 
Section 2, some basic concepts are introduced. In 
Section 3, we provide different properties for the RL integral of a real function with respect to a non-additive set function. Lebesgue-type convergence theorems and a Fatou-type theorem are established in 
Section 4. Finally, in 
Section 5, we obtain some convergence theorems for sequences of RL integrals in the interval-valued case.
  2. Preliminaries
For every nonempty set A, let  be the family of all subsets of A. Suppose S is a nonempty set and  a -algebra of subsets of S. Denote  and . For every , as usual, let , and let  be the characteristic function of E.
Let 
 be a set function, such that 
 As in [
22] (Definition 2.2) and in [
34] (Definition 2), we introduce the definitions of monotonicity, subadditivity, countable additivity, and countable subadditivity and the definition of a submeasure in the sense of Drewnowski, which are usual in measure theory.
A set  is said to be an atom of a set function  if  and for every , with , we have  or  Moreover, we recall the following:
Definition 1. A set function  satisfies the property  and the condition (E) if:
- ()
- If for every  with  for every , we have  
- (E) 
- If for every double sequence , such that: - -
- For every ,  and ; 
- -
- There exist two increasing sequences  such that  
 
 The condition 
 is a consequence of the countable subadditivity, and it will be needed in some of our results in 
Section 5. Instead, in Corollary 1.c) and Theorems 2–4, we need countable subadditivity, which cannot be replaced by the condition 
.
Observe that condition (E) was given, for example, in [
38], in order to give sufficient and necessary conditions to obtain Egoroff’s theorem for suitable non-additive measures. See also [
39] for null additive set functions and related questions. An example of a set function that satisfies the condition 
 can be found in [
38] (Example 3.3). In some of our results, we need [
38] (Theorem 4.1-(1)), where the condition 
 ensures the fact that the convergence almost everywhere (ae) implies the convergence almost uniformly (au).
Non-additive set functions have applications in many areas, such as: subjective evaluation, decision-making, fuzzy logic, computer science, and data mining. That is why we were motivated to work with non-additivity.
Example 1. - If  is the Borel σ-algebra of S and m is the Lebesgue measure on , then  and  are not additive (in fact,  is superadditive and  is subadditive); 
- Monotone set functions are used in decision-making. Thus, for , let  be a finite set of criteria, , and let  be monotone such that  and  For every set of criteria  represents the power of A to make the decision without the other criteria or the degree of importance of the criteria in A. If we consider another criterion to a set of , its importance increases, that is μ is monotone [40]. 
 Definition 2. Given a set function , we consider the following:
- (2.i) 
- The variation of μ is the set function  defined by: - If , then μ is said to be of finite variation; 
- (2.ii) 
- The semivariation of μ is the set function  defined by: - Moreover if , then  
 Suppose S is a locally compact Hausdorff topological space. We denote by  the lattice of all compact subsets of S,  the Borel -algebra (i.e., the smallest -algebra containing ) and  the class of all open sets.  is called regular if for every set  and every , there exist  and  such that  and 
 denotes the family of all nonempty convex compact subsets of 
 endowed with the Minkowski addition, the standard multiplication by scalars, and the Hausdorff–Pompeiu distance. It is a complete metric space [
22,
41]. By convention, 
. If 
, then 
. Moreover:
In , we consider the following operations: multiplication (·), inclusion (⊆), an order relation (⪯ weak interval order), and the suprema and infima , defined in the following way:
- (i) 
- ; 
- (ii) 
- ; 
- (iii) 
-  and ;    (weak interval order); 
- (iv) 
- ; 
- (v) 
- . 
There is no relation between the inclusion and the weak interval order on , but they coincide on . Moreover, if  are two sequences of real numbers such that , for every , we define:
- (vi) 
- (vii) 
- (viii) 
Definition 3. Given two set functions  with  and  for every , we call  an interval-valued set multifunction if it is defined by: Let . It is said that Γ is an interval-valued multisubmeasure if:
- (3.i) 
- (3.ii) 
-  for every  with     (monotonicity assumption); 
- (3.iii) 
-  for every disjoint sets    (subadditivity assumption). 
A set  is said to be an atom of an interval-valued set multifunction  if  and for every , with , we have  or  Observe that  is an atom of  if and only if A is an atom of  and .
We give now an example of an interval-valued set multifunction that arises in the theory of evidence.
 Example 2. Assume that  is a probability space. In Dempster–Shafer’s [42] mathematical theory of evidence, the belief () and plausibility () functions are defined by a probability distribution  with  and  For every ,  and   and  are non-additive set functions, which are the lower and upper bounds, respectively, for the family of all probability distributions  ( ). The belief interval of B is the range defined by the minimum and maximum values, which could be assigned to B:  This interval probability representation contains the precise probability of a set of interest (in the classical sense). The probability is uniquely determined if  We observe that in this case, which corresponds to the classical probability, all the probabilities P are uniquely determined for all subsets of S.
Let  be an interval-valued set multifunction. As in the single-valued case, the variation of Γ is the set function  defined by:and analogously, Γ is said to be of finite variation 
if . In the same line, the semivariation of Γ is defined by , for every .
 Remark 1. By [43] (Remark 3.6) the set measure given in Formula (1) is an interval-valued multisubmeasure if and only if  are submeasures in the sense of Drewnowski. Moreover, according to [44] (Proposition 2.5 and Remark 3.3) Γ is monotone, countable subadditive, respectively, if and only if the set functions  and  are the same. Finally, Γ satisfies the property (σ) if and only if  and  have the same property. The semivariation  is a monotone set function with  and , and it verifies  for every 
 We consider in the sequel an example of an interval-valued multifunction used in decision-making problems.
Example 3. Let  be a set of criteria, and let  be sets (alternatives) of criteria. Then, the following multicriteria decision-making matrix is obtained:where  represents the degree to which the alternative  satisfies the criterion . Each of the intervals ,  provides the membership value of criteria  to the interval-valued fuzzy set  (see, for example, [45,46]).  Definition 4. Let  be a set function with  and  be scalar functions for every . We say that:
 Definition 5. Let S be at least a countable set:
- (5.i) 
- A measurable countable partition of S is a countable family of nonvoid sets  such that  with  when . -  will be the set of all countable partitions of S, and  will be the set of countable partitions of ; 
- (5.ii) 
- For every Π and , it is said that  is finer than Π, (denoted by   or   ) if every set of  is included in some set of Π; 
- (5.iii) 
- For every Π and ,  ,   the common refinement of Π and  is the countable partition . 
   3.  Properties of the Riemann–Lebesgue Integral
In this section, we present some properties of the Riemann–Lebesgue integral. In the sequel, S is at least a countable set,  is a Banach space with its norm, and  is a set function such that 
Definition 6 ([
15])
.A vector function  is called absolutely (unconditionally, respectively) Riemann–Lebesgue integrable (on S) with respect to m, denoted  (, respectively) if there exists  such that for every , there exists , such that for every , , : With the symbol 
, we denote the vector 
. We call 
 the Riemann–Lebesgue integral of 
g (on 
S) with respect to 
m. We denote by 
 (
, respectively) the set of all absolutely (unconditionally respectively) Riemann–Lebesgue integrable functions on 
S. Obviously, if 
x exists, then it is unique. According to the properties of [
22], 
 and 
 are linear spaces.
Remark 2. As said before, Kadets and Tseytlin [15] introduced the -integral and the -integral for functions with values in a Banach space relative to a measure. They proved that if  is a finite measure space, then the following implications hold: while in a separable Banach space X, the -integrability coincides with the Bochner integrability and the -integrability coincides with the Pettis one. If X is finite-dimensional, then the -integrability is equivalent to the -integrability. In this case, it is denoted by . In general, if g is -integrable, then g is -integrable (see, for example, [15]). If  is a σ-finite measure space, then the Birkhoff integrability coincides with the -integrability [18]. The notion of the -integrability for scalar functions is weaker than the notion of the Riemann integrability; in [18], the direct implication was proven together with an example showing that the opposite relation does not hold in general. Finally, if m is monotone, countable subadditive, and of finite variation, then the Gould integrability and the -one are equivalent in the class of bounded and scalar functions (see, for example, [22] (Theorem 10)).  Theorem 1. Let  be fixed. Let , for every , be such that  if . Let ,  a finite family of - integrable functions on . Then,  is -integrable on S and  The same is true for the -integrability.
 Proof.  Suppose 
 is arbitrary. According to Definition 6 applied to 
, for every 
, there are 
 such that for every 
, 
,
        
Let 
 and 
, 
. We may write 
, where 
  and for every 
 Let 
, for every 
, 
 denoted by 
 Then, by (
2) it holds that:
        
        which shows that 
 and 
    □
 If  is a measure and , then  and  Moreover, easy consequences of Theorem 1 are the following:
Corollary 1. - (1.a) 
- If  are measurable -integrable functions on S, then the same holds for , and . Moreover:where  
- (1.b) 
- If  is a measurable -integrable function on S, then  
- (1.c) 
- If  is countable subadditive and , with  then  Moreover, if m is countable additive, then  
 Proof.  (1.a) We write:
        
        and then, we apply Theorem 1.
(1.b) It holds that , where . By Theorem 1, 
(1.c) For arbitrary 
, there is 
 such that for every 
 , 
, and every 
 the series 
 is absolutely convergent and:
        
Let 
, 
 such that 
 and 
. Since 
m is countable subadditive, by (
3), it follows that:
        
By the arbitrariness of , the conclusion follows.    □
 In the sequel, we present some considerations regarding the integral function of m.
Remark 3. Let  be a non-negative set function, with  such that, for all , and denote  The following properties are satisfied:
- (3.i) 
-  is finitely additive; 
- (3.ii) 
- If , then m is finitely additive. The set function  is called the integral function of m. 
 According to [
47] (Definition 1.1) and [
48] (Definition 3.2) the next concept is introduced:
Definition 7. A set function  is called RL-integrable if for all  and 
 Example 4. The following set functions satisfy the Definition 7:
- Every measure  is RL-integrable; 
- If m is not countable additive, then m may not be RL-integrable, as we can see in the following examples: Suppose ,  for every  and  (m is not countable additive). - If , then , while if , then , but  
 By [
22,
48] the following result holds, making possible the approach of the non-additive frame via the additive one.
Theorem 2. Suppose  is RL-integrable, monotone, countable subadditive, and of finite variation and  is bounded. Then,  if and only if . In this case, 
 Theorem 3. Let  be a countable subadditive RL-integrable non-negative set function. If  is a measurable -integrable function and , then m-ae.
 Proof.  For every 
, denote 
. Then, for every 
,  
 and according to Corollary 1.c) and [
22] (Theorems 3 and 6) it holds that:
        
Therefore, , for every . Let  Then,  and  which concludes the proof.    □
 Let  be a non-negative set function, with 
If 
 and 
, with 
, we denote:
Theorem 4. Let  be a countable subadditive RL-integrable set function, and let  be measurable functions:
- (4.a) 
- Let , with  If   , then: 
- (4.b) 
- Let . If , and  are -integrable, then: 
 Proof  (4.a) If 
 or 
, then according to Theorem 3, it follows 
 In this case, the inequality of integrals is satisfied.
        Consider 
 and 
. Applying [
22] (Theorems 3 and 6) in the inequality
        
        the conclusion is obtained;
(4.b) For 
, it follows easily by the triangular inequality of the modulus and applying again [
22] (Theorems 3 and 6).
Suppose 
. By (4.a), it holds that:
        
If , then the conclusion is obvious.
If , then dividing the above inequality by , we obtain the Minkowski inequality.    □
 Remark 4. Let m and let  and g be measurable}. Then, the function  is a seminorm on the linear space 
   4. Sequences of Riemann–Lebesgue Integrable Functions
In this section, we present different results regarding convergent sequences of Riemann–Lebesgue integrable functions. In the sequel, suppose  is a non-negative set function, with  We assumed also that  is finite, unless otherwise specified.
Theorem 5. Let  such that  for every  and  is uniformly convergent to g. Then, 
 Proof.  According to [
22] (Theorems 3 and 5) we may write:
        
        whence the conclusion is obtained.    □
 Theorem 6. Let  be a bounded function, and for every , let  be such that  is uniformly bounded and . Then, 
 Proof.  According to [
22] (Proposition 1) 
, for every 
. Let 
 such that:
        
Let 
 By hypothesis, there is 
 such that 
, for every 
, where 
, for every 
 Then, there is 
 such that 
 and 
 Using [
22] (Theorem 3 and Corollary 1), for every 
, it holds that:
        
        which shows that 
    □
 In the following theorem, we do not ask that m is of bounded variation.
Theorem 7. Suppose  is countable subadditive. Let , , and for every , let  such that , for every  and  Then, 
 Proof.  Let 
, for every 
, 
, and let 
 be a family of pairwise disjoint sets such that 
 According to [
22] (Corollary 1 and Theorem 6) and Corollary 1.c), we have:
        
This implies , and since , the conclusion is obtained.    □
 Theorem 8. Let  be a monotone set function such that  satisfies the condition (E). Let  be a bounded function, and for every , let  be such that  is uniformly bounded and  Then, 
 Proof.  The following implications hold: 
⟹
, which implies by [
38] (Theorem 4.1-(1)) 
⟹
The condition 
 is needed in order to apply [
38] (Theorem 4.1-(1)). The conclusion now results from Theorem 6.    □
 Theorem 9. Let  be a monotone set function such that  satisfies the condition (E). For every , let  be such that  is uniformly bounded. Then:  Proof.  Let 
, and 
. Then, 
, and according to Theorem 8, it holds that 
 By [
22] (Theorem 6) it is 
 for every 
, whence the conclusion is obtained.    □
 In the following theorem, the following inequality is used. For every , , for every 
Theorem 10. Let  and  be a monotone set function such that  satisfies the condition (E). Let  be a bounded function, for every ; let  such that  is pointwise convergent to g; let , such that  is uniformly bounded, , for every  and  Then, 
 Proof.  By the previous formula and Theorem 9, we obtain:
        
        which concludes the proof.    □
   5. Convergence Theorems for RL-Integrable Interval-Valued Multifunctions
In this section, we point out some limit theorems for sequences of Riemann–Lebesgue integrable interval-valued multifunctions. We recall from [
34] the definition of the Riemann–Lebesgue integral of an interval-valued multifunction with respect to an interval-valued multifunction.
Definition 8. Let , , where  and  for every  and the interval-valued set multifunction Γ, given in Formula (1). We say that  is Riemann–Lebesgue integrable with respect to Γ (on S) (-integrable) if there exists  such that for every , there exists a countable partition  of S, so that for every partition  of S with , the series  is convergent and: Here, we denote 
We call  the Riemann–Lebesgue integral of H relative to Γ (-integral), and we denote:  Remark 5. As for the single-valued case, if it exists, the Riemann–Lebesgue integral is unique. We point out the form of the -integral in the following cases:
- (5.i) 
- Suppose , where  is an arbitrary set function and H is as in Definition 8. Then: 
- (5.ii) 
- If  is given in (1) and , where , then: 
- (5.iii) 
- Suppose  and  are as in Definition 8. Then, H is -integrable on S if and only if u is -integrable and v is  and: 
 Example 5. Let  be a countable set, with  for every ; let Γ be as in (1); let ,  be such that the series ,  are convergent in . Then, H is -integrable and:  In the following, we provide some results regarding convergent sequences of Riemann–Lebesgue integrable interval-valued multifunctions. Firstly, we recall definition of convergence almost everywhere and convergence in the measure for interval-valued multimeasures.
Definition 9. Let  be a set function with ,  and a sequence of interval-valued multifunctions .It is said that:
- (9.i) 
-  converges μ-almost everywhere to H on S (denoted by ) if there exists  with  and  
- (9.ii) 
-  μ-converges to H on S (denoted by ) if for every , , where  
 Theorem 11. Let  be as in (1),  so that  is of finite variation. Let  be such that v is bounded, and for every , let  be such that  is uniformly bounded and . Then:  Proof.  By the properties of the semivariation, from 
, it follows that 
 and 
. Since 
 is uniformly bounded, it results that 
 is uniformly bounded as well. According to Remark 5, it holds that:
        
Now, using Theorem 6 for  and , the conclusion follows.    □
 Theorem 12. Let  be monotone and of finite variation, with , and  satisfy the condition (E). Let  be bounded, and for every ,  such that  is uniformly bounded and , then:  Proof.  Since , it results that  and . Then, the conclusion follows by Theorem 8 and Remark 5.    □
 Theorem 13. Let  be as in Formula (1), , with ,  monotone set functions satisfying (E) and  of finite variation. Let  be such that v is bounded, and for every ,  such that  is uniformly bounded and , then:  Proof.  According to Remark 1, the set function 
 is monotone and 
 Since 
, it follows that 
 and 
. By Theorem 8, it results that 
 and 
 Then:
        
□
 According to Theorem 9 and Remark 5, a Fatou-type theorem for sequences of RL-integrable interval- valued multifunctions holds.
Theorem 14. Let  be monotone and of finite variation, with  and  satisfy the condition (E). For every , let  such that  is uniformly bounded. Then:  In the following, our aim was to establish convergence results on atoms. Suppose S is a locally compact Hausdorff topological space. We denote by  the lattice of all compact subsets of S,  the Borel -algebra (i.e., the smallest -algebra containing ), and  the class of all open sets.
Definition 10.  is said to be regular if for every set  and every , there exist  and  such that  and 
 We note that  is regular if and only if  is regular.
Theorem 15. Let  be an interval-valued multisubmeasure as in Formula (1), regular, of finite variation, and satisfying property (σ), and let  be bounded. If  is an atom of Γ, then H is -integrable on B and , where  is the single point resulting from [49] (Corollary 4.7).  Proof.  Firstly, we prove that the point 
 resulting from [
49] (Corollary 4.7), is unique for 
. Because 
 is an interval-valued multisubmeasure, then the set functions 
 and 
 is null-additive. Furthermore, by the regularity of 
, it follows that 
 and 
 are regular as well.
Suppose 
 is an atom of 
. Then, 
B is an atom of 
 and 
. According to [
49] (Corollary 4.7), for 
 there exists a unique point 
 such that 
 and 
, for 
. We prove that 
. Let us suppose that 
. Since 
, then 
. The monotonicity of 
 implies 
. The inequality 
 leads us to 
, but 
, and in this way, we obtain a contradiction. Therefore, there is only one point 
 such that 
 and 
, for 
.
Since 
H is 
-integrable, then 
u is 
-integrable and 
v is 
-integrable. According to [
22] (Theorem 11), 
 are Gould integrable in the sense of [
50], and moreover:
        
        where 
, 
 are the Gould integrals of 
u, 
v, respectively.  Applying now [
20] (Theorem 3) and Remark 5, we have 
□
 Theorem 16. Let  be an interval-valued multisubmeasure as in (1), regular of finite variation, and satisfying the property (σ). Let  be bounded, and for every  let  be such that  is uniformly bounded. If  is an atom of Γ and , where  is the single point resulting from Theorem 15, then:  Proof.  By Theorem 15, there exists a unique point 
 such that:
        
Similarly, for every 
, there is a unique 
 such that:
        
If there exists 
 such that 
, this means that 
, and by the monotonicity of 
, it follows that:
        
        however, this is not possible since 
 Therefore, for every 
, 
 Then:
        
□