In this study we examine how a firm’s corporate philanthropic behavior may affect its subsequent acquisitions. Drawing upon stakeholder theory, we argue that firms may strategically use philanthropic donations to obtain support or approval from stakeholders so as to advance subsequent acquisitions, suggesting a positive relationship between corporate giving and corporate acquisitions in terms of both acquisition number and value. We further contend that stakeholders’ support for acquisitions would be even more critical for firms with negative or conservative attitudes to (...) external stakeholders. Therefore, it is expected that both negative media coverage and controversial industry sectors will strengthen the positive relationship between corporate giving and subsequent corporate acquisitions. Analyses of publicly listed manufacturing firms in China during 2004–2015 largely support our predictions. This study deepens our understanding about the drivers of corporate giving and highlights its role in corporate acquisitions. (shrink)

Articulated arm coordinate measuring machine is a specific robotic structural instrument, which uses D-H method for the purpose of kinematic modeling and error compensation. However, it is difficult for the existing error compensation models to describe various factors, which affects the accuracy of AACMM. In this paper, a modeling and error compensation method for AACMM is proposed based on BP Neural Networks. According to the available measurements, the poses of the AACMM are used as the input, and the coordinates of (...) the probe are used as the output of neural network. To avoid tedious training and improve the training efficiency and prediction accuracy, a data acquisition strategy is developed according to the actual measurement behavior in the joint space. A neural network model is proposed and analyzed by using the data generated via Monte-Carlo method in simulations. The structure and parameter settings of neural network are optimized to improve the prediction accuracy and training speed. Experimental studies have been conducted to verify the proposed algorithm with neural network compensation, which shows that 97% error of the AACMM can be eliminated after compensation. These experimental results have revealed the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and compensation method for AACMM. (shrink)

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities have implemented network teaching. E-learning engagement is the most important concern of educators and parents because this will directly affect student academic performance. Hence, this study focuses on students’ perceived family support and their e-learning engagement and analyses the effects of e-learning normative consciousness and behaviours and self-efficacy on the relationship between family support and e-learning engagement in college students. Prior to this study, the relationship between these variables was unknown. Four (...) structural equation models revealed the multiple mediating roles of e-learning normative consciousness and behaviours and self-efficacy in the relationship between family support and e-learning engagement. A total of 1317 college students (mean age = 19.51; 52.2% freshman) voluntarily participated in our study. The results showed that e-learning normative consciousness and behaviours and self-efficacy played significant and mediating roles between students’ perceived family support and their e-learning engagement. Specifically, these two individual variables fully mediated the relationship between students’ perceived family support and their e-learning engagement. The multiple mediation model showed that family members can increase family support of their children by creating a household environment conducive to learning, displaying positive emotions, demonstrating the capability to assist their children, advocating the significance of learning normative consciousness and behaviours and encouraging dedicated and efficient learning. The findings complement and extend the understanding of factors influencing student e-learning engagement. (shrink)

Previous behavioral studies have identified the significant role of subliminal cues in creative problem solving. However, neural mechanisms of such unconscious processing remain poorly understood. Here we utilized an event-related potential approach and sandwich mask technique to investigate cerebral activities underlying the unconscious processing of cues in creative problem solving. College students were instructed to solve divergent problems under three different conditions . Our data showed that creative problem solving can benefit from unconscious cues, although not as much as from (...) conscious cues. More importantly, we found that there are crucial ERP components associated with unconscious processing of cues in solving divergent problems. Similar to the processing of conscious cues, processing unconscious cues in problem solving involves the semantic activation of unconscious cues in the right inferior parietal lobule , new association formation in the right parahippocampal gyrus , and mental representation transformation in the right superior temporal gyrus . The present results suggest that creative problem solving can be modulated by unconscious processing of enlightening information that is weakly diffused in the semantic network beyond our conscious awareness. (shrink)

Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This research investigates how industry misconduct affects consumers’ trust in the industry, by incorporating insights from a micro-level psychological aspect of institutions. The conceptual framework proposes that consumer legitimacy judgement lies at the core of industry trust, following an industry-wide crisis. The results demonstrate that perception of normalisation of misconduct affects industry trust through consumer legitimacy judgement. Moreover, the PNM-CLJ-industry trust relationship is stronger during industry-wide crises compared with crises that (...) involve only one firm, and this relationship is not dependent on the frequency of crises. This research contributes to the knowledge of product-harm crisis by deepening understanding of the trust erosion mechanism during industry-wide crises, with a focus on legitimacy judgement. The findings have implications for prevention of industry-wide crises and for boosting ethically desirable business activities. (shrink)

Green finance plays a crucial bridge as an intermediary between finance and the environment, facilitating resource allocation. The disclosure of environmental information (EID) is vital for promoting sustainable economic development. This study utilizes panel data covering the period from 2012 to 2019, focusing on Chinese companies listed in high-polluting industries. The findings demonstrate that green finance policies have a significant positive impact on EID, while increased managerial power has a detrimental effect. However, green finance policies can mitigate the negative consequences (...) arising from moral hazard and adverse selection resulting from managerial power. They enhance the quality of EID by restricting long-term loan resources for polluting entities. The heterogeneity test reveals that the effectiveness of green finance policies in promoting EID varies across different regions of China. In non-state-owned companies, green finance policies are more effective in constraining managerial power. The moderating effect of green finance on managerial power is weakened by improvements in internal control. Green financing can offset the adverse impact of managerial power on EID when debt levels are high. Our research plays a crucial role in advancing micro-academic studies in the field of green finance. By strengthening internal controls for corporate managers and promoting EID policies, we provide essential support and guidance to decision-makers. (shrink)

BackgroundNurses working in the intensive care unit clung tenaciously to their job during the COVID-19 pandemic in spite of enduring stressed psychological and physical effects as a result of providing nursing care for the infected patients, which indicates that they possessed a high degree of professionalism and career calling. The aim of this study was to explain the associations between resilience, thriving at work, and ethical leadership influencing the calling of ICU nurses.MethodsFrom December 2020 to January 2021 during the COVID-19 (...) pandemic, a cross-sectional survey of 15 provinces in China was conducted using an online questionnaire. A total of 340 ICU nurses completed sufficient responses to be used in the study. Sociodemographic factors, job demographic factors, resilience, calling, thriving at work, and ethical leadership were assessed using the questionnaire. General linear modeling, hierarchical linear regression analysis, and generalized additive model were performed to examine all the considered research hypotheses.ResultsResilience was positively and significantly associated with calling. Moreover, thriving at work partially mediated the relationship between resilience and calling. The indirect effect of resilience on calling was 0.204, and the direct effect of resilience on calling through thriving at work was 0.215. The total effect of resilience on calling was 0.419. In addition, ethical leadership played a moderating role in the relationship between resilience and calling.ConclusionGreater resilience can positively predict increased calling among Chinese ICU nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, thriving at work is a mechanism that partly transmits the positive effects of resilience on calling. Overall, nurses possessing greater resilience tend to maintain thriving at work in the face of such adversity, further resulting in subsequently increased calling. Besides, findings suggest that there is stronger influence of resilience on calling among nurses working in an organization managed by an ethical leader. The current findings may offer two insights for nursing practitioners and policymakers in the postpandemic world. First, resilience training and intervention are necessary to foster nurses' sense of thriving at work in the nursing industry, further promoting career calling. Second, better training and effort on the development of ethical leadership for leaders in nursing practice are essential to encourage followers to engage in social learning of ethical behaviors and abiding by normatively appropriate conduct, further enacting prosocial values and expressing moral emotions. (shrink)

Some scholars concluded that mind-body theories had come to an impasse. Trying to include mental phenomenon addressed in Buddhism and other value-seeking philosophies in eastern cultures, this thesis provides a solution based on a recognition of a wider range of the mental phenomena and the differences of their qualities. Through a “census” of most types and constitutes of mental phenomena and their qualities, we claim that there are at least four kinds of mind-body relation: the relation between the mind and (...) the body as a whole, between the mind as a whole and constitutive parts of the body, between types of mental phenomena and constitutive parts of the body, and between types of mental phenomena and the body as a whole. (shrink)

This is the first professional academic work in China to discuss artificial intelligence and blockchain together. Artificial intelligence is a productivity revolution, and its development has a significant and profound impact on global changes. However, at the same time, its development also brings a series of challenges to human society, such as privacy, security, and fairness issues. Therefore, the significance of blockchain is even more prominent. Blockchain is a revolution in production relations, which will propose important solutions to the challenges (...) of privacy, security, and fairness that arise after the development of artificial intelligence. The book not only discusses the problems currently faced by the development of artificial intelligence, as well as the new opportunities and challenges that artificial intelligence brings to future global governance, but also explains the further development direction of the intelligent revolution from the perspective of blockchain. (shrink)

The brain-computer interface of steady-state visual evoked potential is one of the fundamental ways of human-computer communication. The main challenge is that there may be a nonlinear relationship between different SSVEP in other states. For improving the performance of SSVEP BCI, a novel CNN algorithm model is proposed in this study. Based on the discrete Fourier transform to calculate the signal's power spectral density, we perform zero-padding in the signal's time domain to improve its performance on the PSD and make (...) it more refined. In this way, the frequency point interval in the PSD of the SSVEP is consistent with the minimum gap between the stimulation frequency. Combining the nonlinear transformation capabilities of CNN in deep learning, a zero-padding frequency domain convolutional neural network model is proposed. Extensive experiments based on the SSVEP dataset validate the effectiveness of our method. The study verifies that the proposed ZPFDCNN method can improve the effectiveness of the SSVEP-based high-speed BCI ITR. It has massive potential in the application of BCI. (shrink)

Background: In China, celebrities, represented by entertainment and sports personalities, are often involved in charitable activities to assist the party-state in solving social problems. Although previous research has addressed the manifestation of prosocial behavior by Chinese celebrities, altruistic engagements have rarely been theorized from the perspective of impression management.Methods: Based on the perspective of impression management, we use the discourse analysis approach to analyze the interview manuscripts of Chinese celebrities in media reports and then summarize the charitable motives and impression (...) management strategies adopted by Chinese celebrities in their self-presentation.Results: Chinese celebrities’ self-presentation of philanthropic motives in the media can be roughly divided into five categories: motivation for empathy-altruism, motivation for social responsibility, motivation to gain prestige, and pursue fame, motivation to reduce negative emotions, and motivation to achieve fulfillment and satisfaction. The philanthropic motives presented in media reports include the impression management processes of celebrities. They adopt a variety of image management strategies to self-present their philanthropic motives, and sometimes several strategies coexist.Conclusion: Our paper helps to expand the existing understanding of the relationship between impression management and philanthropy. The presentation of Chinese celebrities’ philanthropic motivations in the media reflects the uniqueness of China’s political, institutional, and social environment in influencing celebrity philanthropy. As a philanthropic phenomenon with Chinese characteristics, this study could provide some insights into the understanding of celebrities and philanthropy in other cultural contexts. (shrink)

Most scholars believe that western philosophy of mind is endowed with the truth-seeking goal in its investigation of the nature of the mind, whereas Chinese philosophy of mind aims at the value-seeking objective through its endeavors to the interpretation of the mind’s function to human being’s becoming saints. However, we insist that, besides the value-seeking tendency, the Chinese philosophy of mind also demonstrates its truth-seeking objective. This thesis reveals and reconstructs the focus questions, content and features of the truth-seeking Chinese (...) philosophy of mind by means of looking into the soul concept, mind-body theory, psychological phenomenology and psychosemantics in Chinese philosophy. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is related to a variety of cognitive impairments that may even progress to dementia. Studies have found the angular gyrus is a cross-modal integration hub that is involved in a variety of cognitive processes. However, few studies have focused on the patterns of resting-state functional connections of the AG in patients with T2DM. This study explored the functional connection between the AG and the whole brain and the relationship between the FC and clinical/cognitive variables in patients (...) with T2DM. 44 patients with T2DM and 43 sex-, age-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI and received neuropsychological assessments. Compared with the control group, the T2DM group showed abnormal rsFCs between the AG and multiple brain regions. The FC between the left AG and the left medial temporal lobe in the T2DM group was positively correlated with scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, after a Bonferroni correction. Collectively, patients with T2DM have abnormal FCs between the AG and extensive brain regions that may be related to various cognitive processes. (shrink)

BackgroundChildhood experiences can exert a huge impact on adult psychological conditions. Previous studies have confirmed the effects of adverse childhood experiences and benevolent childhood experiences on psychological distress separately, but few studies explored a combined effect of ACEs and BCEs on psychological distress. The aim of this study was to explore a combined effect of ACEs and BCEs on psychological distress among Chinese undergraduates.MethodsParticipants were undergraduates aged 17–24 years and completed a self-reported questionnaire. A series of regression analyses were conducted (...) to examine the association between childhood experiences and psychological distress.ResultsA total of 65.7% of undergraduates had BCEs, 27.1% of undergraduates had ACEs, and 12.9% of undergraduates had ACEs and BCEs simultaneously. Logistic regression analysis indicated that undergraduates who experienced high ACEs were more likely to have a high risk of psychological distress [odds ratio = 1.46, 1.84, and 3.15 for uncertainty stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation, respectively], while undergraduates who experienced High BCEs were less likely to have psychological distress compared with Low-Both group. The combined effect of ACEs and BCEs could also play as a protective factor in uncertainty stress and depressive symptoms.ConclusionOur findings suggested that ACEs and BCEs could not only predict the psychological distress independently, but also BCEs could counteract the negative effect of ACEs in psychological problems. There is an even greater need to identify and support the victims of ACEs and to increase BCEs in early childhood. (shrink)

This study chooses Chinese athletes as the research object and constructs the overall network of its social support network and discussion network. From the micro-, meso-, and macrolevels of the social network structure, the structure and characteristics of the athlete’s overall social network are analyzed. Through research, we found that there is embeddedness, that is, the relevance, between society support networks, between society discussion networks, and between society support networks and society discussion networks. At the same time, in the athletes’ (...) social support network and social discussion network, some athletes have no contact with other players; they have no “power” in the group as well, so it is difficult to obtain network resources. We also found that there are small-world characteristics in the social network of Chinese professional athletes. The above findings will provide a deeper understanding of the peculiarities of athlete groups and have certain practical significance for improving athletes’ daily training and life management conditions. (shrink)

ObjectivesSeveral studies have examined the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on associative memory (AM) but findings were inconsistent. Here, we aimed to test whether twice-daily rTMS could significantly improve AM.MethodsIn this single-blind, sham-controlled experiment, 40 participants were randomized to receive twice-daily sham or real rTMS sessions for five consecutive days (a total of 16,000 pulses). The stimulation target in left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) exhibiting peak functional connectivity to the left hippocampus was individually defined for each participant. Participants (...) completed both a picture-cued word association task and Stroop test at baseline and 1 day after the final real or sham rTMS session. Effects of twice-daily rTMS on AM and Stroop test performance were compared using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with main factors Group (real vs. sham) and Time (baseline vs. post-rTMS).ResultsThere was a significant Group × Time interaction effect. AM score was significantly enhanced in the twice-daily real group after rTMS, but this difference could not survive the post hoc analysis after multiple comparison correction. Further, AM improvement in the twice-daily real group was not superior to a previously reported once-daily rTMS group receiving 8,000 pulses. Then, we combined the twice- and once-daily real groups, and found a significant Group × Time interaction effect. Post hoc analysis indicated that the AM score was significantly enhanced in the real group after multiple comparisons correction.ConclusionOur prospective experiment did not show significant rTMS effect on AM, but this effect may become significant if more participants could be recruited as revealed by our retrospective analysis. (shrink)

ObjectiveThere is little literature on the validity of kurtosis-adjusted noise energy metrics in human studies. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the application of cumulative noise exposure adjusted by kurtosis in evaluating occupational hearing loss associated with non-Gaussian noise among manufacturing workers.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1,558 manufacturing workers exposed to noise from five industries to collect noise exposure and hearing loss data. Both CNE and kurtosis-adjusted CNE were collapsed into 2-dB∙year bins, and the mean noise-induced permanent threshold shifts (...) at 3, 4, and 6 kHz in each bin were calculated. The contributions of CNE and CNE′ to noise-induced hearing loss were compared using the multiple linear regression. The degree of overlap of two linear regression equations was used to evaluate the validity of the CNE′ using a stratified analysis based on age and sex.ResultsMultiple linear regression models showed that after kurtosis adjustment, the standardized regression coefficient of CNE increased from 0.230 to 0.255, and R2 increased from 0.147 to 0.153. The linear relationship between NIPTS346 and CNE′ or CNE showed that the regression line of non-Gaussian noise was closer to that of Gaussian noise when using CNE′ than using CNE. The mean difference in NIPTS346 between the equations of non-Gaussian noise and Gaussian noise was significantly reduced from 4.32 to 1.63 dB HL after kurtosis adjustment. Through a stratified analysis, these significant decreases were observed in male and female workers, and workers aged ≥30 years old.ConclusionAs a noise exposure metric combining noise energy and temporal characteristics, the kurtosis-adjusted-CNE metric was more effective than CNE alone in assessing occupational hearing loss among manufacturing workers in non-Gaussian noise environment. However, more studies are needed to verify the validity of the kurtosis-adjusted-CNE metric. (shrink)

BackgroundCoronary heart disease is closely associated with cognitive impairment, especially in severe cases of heart failure. However, it is unclear whether cardiac systolic function plays a role in the relationship between pre-existing CHD and cognitive impairment in subjects without clinical heart failure.MethodsIn total, 208 subjects from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University were recruited from June 2014 to January 2015, and were divided into CHD and non-CHD groups according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The global cognitive function (...) of all subjects was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination and cognitive impairment was defined as the score lower than the cutoff value. Left ventricular ejection fraction was measured using transthoracic echocardiograms. The relationship among pre-existing CHD, LVEF, and cognitive impairment was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.ResultsIn total, 34 subjects met the criteria of cognitive impairment. Univariate analysis showed that the cognitive impairment prevalence in the CHD group was significantly higher than that in the non-CHD group. Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that CHD was significantly associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment after adjusting for confounds except for LVEF. However, the OR of CHD decreased when LVEF was further corrected as a continuous variable, and LVEF was negatively associated with the risk of cognitive impairment.ConclusionPre-existing CHD is associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment, and such an association can be considerably explained by reduced LVEF. An impaired cardiac systolic function may play a key role in the relationship between CHD and cognitive impairment among patients with pre-heart failure conditions. (shrink)

BackgroundPrevious studies have focused on the opposite relation between muscle strength, obesity, and depression in adults. Moreover, the evidence has indicated that obesity and depression in adults might be significantly decreased with Muscle Strength Exercise albeit it might be insufficient. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the association between MSE, adiposity, and depression among United States adolescents.Materials and methodsThis cross-sectional study used the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey data. In YRBS, a cluster sample was used, and the investigation was divided (...) into three stages. The study surveyed 13,677 high school students and conducted self-reported questionnaires on sex, grade, race/ethnicity, MSE days, overweight, obesity, and depressive symptoms. The study got the nationally representative population of American students in Grade 9 to 12.ResultsA total of 13,677 participants were included in the final analysis. The participants meeting the guidelines’ requirements seemed more likely to be obese than those not meeting. There was no statistical significance in the relations between the MSE guidelines and overweight and depression. For all the participants, the prevalence of those conforming to MSE was 30.1%. One-fifth of the participants reported no MSE per week, 7.8% reported 3 days of MSE per week, and 7.7% reported 7 days.ConclusionThe main finding of this study indicated a positive relationship between the normative MSE required in guidelines and low-level obesity. Beyond that, the evidence was insufficient to confirm the positive links between MSE and depression among American adolescents. Our study could offer evidence for future MSE interventions in adolescents. (shrink)

With the aggravation of population aging, home health care services are paid more and more attention by the elderly. Previous studies aim at improving service quality and reducing cost, ignoring the coordinated and sustainable development of the economy and environment. From the perspective of sustainable development, this paper first establishes a linear optimization model considering transportation, time, and carbon emission costs. However, the uncertainty of service demand is a very difficult problem for HHC research. Most of the previous studies only (...) consider the deterministic model, which has difficulty dealing with the uncertain situation. Therefore, a robust optimization model is proposed to resist uncertain disturbances by introducing a robust uncertain set response. The experimental results show that the increase of low-carbon transition cost only increases the total cost of the LO model but has a significant positive impact on the RO model. With the increase of uncertainty, the robust model will pay the cost of robustness, but it can obtain a higher service level. In addition, when the carbon tax increases, the total transportation cost does not increase but decreases, thus obtaining environmental benefits. When the carbon tax increases by 25%, the average total cost of using the RO model is reduced by 8.274%. The research results of this paper can provide enlightenment and reference for the low-carbon transformation of HHC enterprises. (shrink)

Current methods of chaos-based action recognition in videos are limited to the artificial feature causing the low recognition accuracy. In this paper, we improve ChaosNet to the deep neural network and apply it to action recognition. First, we extend ChaosNet to deep ChaosNet for extracting action features. Then, we send the features to the low-level LSTM encoder and high-level LSTM encoder for obtaining low-level coding output and high-level coding results, respectively. The agent is a behavior recognizer for producing recognition results. (...) The manager is a hidden layer, responsible for giving behavioral segmentation targets at the high level. Our experiments are executed on two standard action datasets: UCF101 and HMDB51. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state of the art. (shrink)

The construal of the self is related to individuals' cognition, emotion and behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate shame in the context of interdependent-self and independent-self culture. 163 Chinese and 196 American college undergraduates completed a questionnaire about their reaction to 3 different scenarios about shameful events involving 5 different persons including self, mother, boy/girl friend, best friend and classmate. The participants reported the intensity of shame they felt in each of the situation and how close they (...) were related to other people in the scenarios. The results demonstrated that there is a significant difference between Chinese and American participants on the levels of shame across all the scenarios, as well as for the persons involved in the scenario. It was also found that the intensity of shame was reduced as the relationship between the participants and the persons involved in the shameful events becomes remote in social distance. A significant correlation was found between closeness of relationship and intensity of shame felt. Implications for understanding cultural differences to emotions and future studies are discussed. (shrink)

Stress is prevalent in our daily life, and people often make moral decision-making in a stressful state. Several studies have indicated the influence of acute stress on moral decision-making and behavior. The present study extended the investigation to chronic stress, and employed a new approach, the CNI model, to add new insights regarding the mechanism underlying the association between chronic stress and moral decision-making. A total of 197 undergraduates completed the Perceived Stress Scale and made moral decision-making on a series (...) of deliberately designed moral dilemmas. The results indicated that the high-stress group (one standard deviation above the mean) preferred more deontological options than the low-stress group (one standard deviation below the mean). Process-dissociation analysis revealed that the two groups had differences on deontological inclinations but not on utilitarian inclinations. And CNI model analyses suggested that the high-stress group showed a stronger general preference for inaction than the low-stress group did, but there were no significant differences in sensitivity to consequences or sensitivity to moral norms between the two groups. Finally, the implications of our findings were discussed. (shrink)

For each continuous t-norm &, a class of fuzzy topological spaces, called &-topological spaces, is introduced. The motivation stems from the idea that to each many-valued logic there may correspond a theory of many-valued topology, in particular, each continuous t-norm may lead to a theory of fuzzy topology. It is shown that for each continuous t-norm &, the subcategory consisting of &-topological spaces is simultaneously reflective and coreflective in the category of fuzzy topological spaces, hence gives rise to an autonomous (...) theory of fuzzy topology. Topologizing a fuzzy pre-ordered set with the fuzzy Scott topology yields a functor from the category of fuzzy pre-ordered sets and maps that preserve suprema of flat ideals to the category of &-topological spaces. It is proved that this functor is a full one if and only if the t-norm & is Archimedean. (shrink)

The objective of this study is to propose a new operation method based on the universal grey number to overcome the shortcomings of typical interval operation in solving system fault trees. First, the failure probability ranges of the bottom events are described according to the conversion rules between the interval number and universal grey number. A more accurate system reliability calculation is then obtained based on the logical relationship between the AND gates and OR gates of a fault tree and (...) universal grey number arithmetic. Then, considering an aircraft landing gear retraction system as an example, the failure probability range of the top event is obtained through universal grey operation. Next, the reliability of the aircraft landing gear retraction system is evaluated despite insufficient statistical information describing failures. The example demonstrates that the proposed method provides many advantages in resolving the system reliability problem despite poor information, yielding benefits for the function of the interval operation, and overcoming the drawback of solution interval enlargement under different orders of interval operation. (shrink)

The target article (Nelson et al. 2023) offers a valuable contribution to the “paradox of experience,” which was illustrated by using examples about access to unproven medical products and disabili...