Site occupation and energy transfer in full color emitting phosphor Ba2Ca(BO3)2:Ce3+(K+),Eu2+,Mn2+

White light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) fabricated by single-phase full color emitting phosphor are an emerging solution for health lighting. The crystallographic site occupation of activators in a proper host lattice is crucial for sophisticated design of such phosphor. Here, we report a high quality white light-emitting phosphor Ba₂Ca(BO₃)₂:Ce³⁺(K⁺),Eu²⁺,Mn²⁺ with spectral distribution covering whole visible region. Blue light emission originates from Ce³⁺ ions occupying preferentially Ba²⁺ site by controlling synthesis conditions. Green and red lights are obtained from Eu²⁺ occupying Ba²⁺ (and Ca²⁺) site and Mn²⁺ occupying Ca²⁺ site, respectively. In this triple-doped phosphor, strong red emission with a low concentration of Mn²⁺ is realized by the efficient energy transfer from Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ to Mn²⁺. Furthermore, high quality white light is accomplished by properly tuning the relative doping amount of Ce³⁺(K⁺)/Eu²⁺/Mn²⁺ based on efficient simultaneous energy transfer. The results indicate that Ba₂Ca(BO₃)₂:Ce³⁺(K⁺),Eu²⁺,Mn²⁺ is a promising white light-emitting phosphor in WLEDs application.     

考虑决策者时序偏好的时域证据融合方法

针对时域不确定信息的融合难题，为充分体现时域信息融合的动态性特点和时间因素对融合的影响，在证据理论的基础上，提出一种考虑决策者时序偏好的时域证据融合方法。首先将决策者对时序的偏好融入时域证据融合，通过分析时域证据序列的特点，在定义时序记忆因子的基础上，对决策者的时序偏好进行度量；然后通过构建优化模型求解时序权重，再结合证据信任度的概念，对证据源进行修正；最后利用Dempster组合规则对修正后的证据进行融合。数值算例表明，与没有考虑时间因素的融合方法相比，考虑决策者时序偏好的证据融合方法可以有效处理时域信息序列中的冲突信息，得到合理的融合结果；同时，所提方法充分考虑了时域证据序列的信任度和决策者的主观偏好，可以反映决策者主观因素对时域证据融合的影响，较好地体现了时域证据融合的动态性特点。     

犹豫模糊环境下准则具有偏好关系的TODIM方法

针对智慧制造评估时专家的决策信息具有犹豫模糊不确定性问题，提出了一种关于准则具有犹豫模糊偏好关系的改进交互式多准则决策（TODIM）方法。首先提出了准则间的犹豫模糊偏好关系概念，并证明了其基本性质。在TODIM方法优势度的计算过程中，将准则权重犹豫模糊偏好关系替代原有的精确值权重，使信息的准确性最大化。将该方法用于智能制造的评估上，实例分析结果表明所提方法是可行和有效的。     

Integrated rough VIKOR for customer-involved design concept evaluation combining with customers’ preferences and designers’ perceptions

Customer-involved design concept evaluation (DCE) allows customers to take part in evaluating the design alternatives to get more popular design concept. Traditional customer-involved DCE methods still focus on the collection of customer responses and only consider cost and benefit characteristics of design criteria in multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) based evaluation process. Few studies have customized the decision-making algorithms specifically aimed at customers’ preferences. This paper further explores the customers’ influences in the early stages of the product design development, and proposes a new rough number based MCDM model (i.e., VIKOR) incorporating customers’ preferences for design specifications along with designers’ perceptions for the characteristics of design criteria (cost and benefit) to perform concept evaluation under subjective environment, and this proposed method is named as integrated rough VIKOR (IR-VIKOR). The objective of this study is to identify the best design concept which maximizes the satisfactions of expectations from most customers as well as conforms to the characteristics of design criteria. Firstly, Shannon entropy is used to obtain the weightings and relative importance ratings of design criteria from the customers’ preferences. Secondly, the customers’ preferences for design attribute values, the importance ratings of design criteria and the characteristics of design criteria are combined together to define the ideal solutions to calculate the rough evaluation index of each design alternative in IR-VIKOR, and finally the ranking result is provided by IR-VIKOR to determine the best design concept. A practical design example is introduced to illustrate the evaluation process of this proposed method, and the empirical comparisons are further carried out to validate its superiority for DCE. Through the sensitivity analysis experiments including i) inside IR-VIKOR, and ii) between IR-VIKOR and other classical MCDM methods, the proposed method is proved to be a reliable and feasible customer-involved DCE approach.     

Analysis of the risk-sharing ratio in PPP projects based on government minimum revenue guarantees

Public-private partnership (PPP) projects have been widely applied in infrastructure construction. A suitable risk distribution strategy is crucial for promoting negotiations between the government and investors. The government usually provides guarantees to investors to distribute risk. However, an excessive guarantee increases the government's financial burden, whereas an insufficient guarantee reduces the confidence of the investors participating in the project. In a minimum revenue guarantee (MRG), the government subsidizes the investors the difference between the actual revenue and the government guarantee line if there is a loss. In PPP power plant and highway projects, investors' revenues come from two sources: government guarantees and the project company's self-sale. To support project companies and to optimize the projects' benefits, the government should set a reasonable benchmark for purchase amounts. Based on the traditional principal-agent model, this paper introduces the reciprocal preference theory to analyze the risk-sharing ratio most suitable for the government. Then, an optimal incentive mechanism is established to guarantee the project's income. The results indicate that by setting a different guarantee strategy for different participants, the government can utilize reciprocal preference to incentivize investors to exert more effort during a partnership and avoid moral hazard.     

Colored apparel and its potential influence on heterosexual attraction

The objective of this study is to determine if men would follow the “red effect” when choosing colors for women to wear on a date, and also to determine if the colors that men would wear when going on a date would be the same as the colors that females (their date) would wish them to wear. A set of psychophysical data was generated from this experiment, where participants were asked to rank a set of 10 colored samples based on preference for each question asked. There were three different sets of colored samples. The set of colored samples given to the participant depended on the question. A total of five questions were asked. Scaling analysis was done on the data to organize a set of items according to preferences providing values, an interval scale (Z values), that correspond to the relative perceptual differences among the stimuli. The Z values were graphed to show the general preference of colors for women to wear, and the preference of colors for men to wear. A Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient (SRCC) was calculated comparing each individual's rank order with the mean rank order for that specific question. An average Spearman's rank order was calculated for each question and each gender in order to determine the variability in answers. Scaling results indicate that men follow the “red effect,” but women preferred to wear other colors such as turquoise, blue, or yellow depending on the outfit. Males and females agreed that no matter the colored bottoms (denim or black), blue was the preferred color top for men to wear. SRCC results showed a lot of variability between individual answers and the mean answer indicating that participants' rankings did not necessarily agree with general color preferences presented in the scaling analysis. While scaling analysis might suggest certain color preferences such as men following the “red effect” and women preferring to wear blue, the poor correlation found using SRCC between the individual answers and the mean rank orders suggests that color preferences for each individual are inherently unique.     

German consumer evaluations of milk in blind and nonblind tests

Greater differentiation is being made between types of milk according to product and process characteristics. This study investigated consumer preferences for 4 different types of milk in packaging-blind and nonblind experiments. The taste of long-life milk, conventional fresh whole milk, pasture-based milk, and organic milk was assessed by 138 randomly selected respondents. The average taste of packaging-blind versus nonblind milk types was statistically significantly different for each of the 4 milk types. Consumers appeared to be influenced by the milk's packaging and related credence-good attributes. It is noteworthy that the taste of organic milk during the blind tasting was given a lower rating, and the taste of long-life milk or UHT milk a higher rating, than when respondents were aware of the respective milk types. The study estimated multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models with the response variable buying decision. Of all the factors studied in the blind and nonblind tasting of almost all milk types, buying decisions were influenced most by taste, overall assessment and income.     

Gender difference in color preference across cultures: An archetypal pattern modulated by a female cultural stereotype

A gender difference in color preference among British participants has been repeatedly reported, in which both males and females show a preference for blue‐green colors, while females express an additional preference for pink‐purple colors. To investigate the robustness of gender difference in color preference in a different culture, we tested 81 young adult Indians from a school of design and compared them to 80 young British students in Psychology. The 35‐item International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) questionnaires were also administered to explore possible links between personality traits, gender schemata, and color preferences. Results confirmed a gender difference in both cultures; participants collectively expressed a preference for cool over warm colors, while in addition females showed a preference for pink colors, with a warm bias for Indian females and a cool bias for British females. While these results extend gender difference to Indian culture and support the universality of an underlying pattern they also reveal a culture‐specific contribution essentially observed in females. In British participants, color preference was correlated exclusively with BSRI scores in females and overwhelmingly with IPIP scores in males; this gender‐specific pattern of correlation was not replicated in the Indian sample. Results point to an archetypal pattern of gender difference in color preference with a remarkable cross‐cultural similarity in men and a subtle but significant cultural difference in women whose origin is yet to be explained.