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This study introduces a global land cover clustering using an unsupervised algorithm, incorporating the novel step of filtering data to retain only temporally stable pixels before applying K-means clustering. Unlike previous approaches that did not assess the pixel-level temporal stability, this method provides more reliable clustering results. The K-means identified 160 distinct clusters, with Cluster 13 Global Temporally Stable (Cluster 13-GTS) showing significant improvements in temporal stability. Compared to Cluster 13 Global (Cluster 13-G) from earlier research, Cluster 13-GTS reduced the coefficient of variation by up to 1% and increased the number of calibration locations from 23 to over 50. This study also validated these clusters using TOA reflectance from ground-truth measurements collected at the Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) Gobabeb (RCN-GONA) site, incorporating data from Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel-2A, and Sentinel-2B. The GONA Extended Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (EPICS) GONA-EPICS cluster used for the validation provided statistically comparable mean TOA reflectance to RCN-GONA, with a reduced chi-square test indicating minimal differences within the cluster's uncertainty range. Notably, the difference in reflectance between RCN-GONA and GONA-EPICS was less than 0.023 units across all the bands. Although GONA-EPICS exhibited slightly higher uncertainty (6.4% to 10.3%) compared to RCN-GONA site (<5%), it offered advantages such as 80 potential calibration points per Landsat cycle and reduced temporal instability, and it provided alternatives to reduce the reliance on single sites like traditional PICS or RCN-GONA, making it a valuable tool for calibration efforts. These findings highlight the potential of the newly developed EPICS for radiometric calibration and stability monitoring of optical satellite sensors. Distributed across diverse regions, these global targets increase the number of calibration points available for any sensor in any orbital cycle, reducing the reliance on traditional PICS and offering more robust targets for radiometric calibration efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify and compare the risk factors associated with motorcycle crash severity during both daytime and nighttime, for single and multivehicle incidents in Thailand using 2021–2024 data. The research employed the XGBoost (Extreme Gradient Boosting) method for statistical analysis and extensively examined the temporal instability of risk factors. The results highlight the importance of features impacting the injury severity of roadway collisions across various conditions. For single motorcycle crashes, the key risk factors included speeding, early morning incidents, off-road events, and long holidays. In multivehicle crashes, rear-end collisions, interactions with large vehicles, and collisions involving other motorcycles or passenger cars were linked to increased injury severity. The findings indicate that the important factors associated with motorcyclist injury severity in roadway crashes vary depending on the type of crash and time of day. These insights are valuable for policymakers and relevant authorities in developing targeted interventions to enhance road safety and mitigate the incidence of severe and fatal motorcycle crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the gut microbiome has been intensively investigated for more than twenty years already, its role in various disorders remains to be unraveled. At the same time, questions about what changes in the gut microbiota can be considered as normal or pathological and whether communities are able to recover after exposure to negative factors (diseases, medications, environmental factors) are still unclear. Here, we describe changes in the gut microbiota composition and the content of short-chain fatty acids in adult healthy volunteers (n = 15) over a 24 month-period. Intraindividual variability in gut microbial composition was 40%, whereas the short chain fatty acids profile remained relatively stable (2-year variability 20%, inter-individual 26%). The changes tend to accumulate over time. Nevertheless, both short-term and long-term changes in the gut microbiome composition were significantly smaller within individuals than interindividual differences (two-year interindividual variability was 75%). Seasonal changes in gut microbiota were found more often in autumn and spring involving the content of minor representatives (less than 1.5% of the community in average) in the phyla Actinobacteriota, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calibrating optical sensors has become a priority to maintain data quality and ensure consistency among sensors from different agencies. Achieving and monitoring radiometric calibration often involves the identification of temporally stable targets on the Earth's surface. Although some locations across North Africa have traditionally been used as primary targets for calibration purposes, it is crucial to explore alternative options to account for potential changes in these sites over time. This study conducted a global assessment of pixel-level temporal stability using Landsat 8 OLI data, with the primary goal of identifying regions suitable for global radiometric calibration efforts. This work followed a two-stage approach, including the testing and selection of an effective combination of statistical tests to differentiate between temporally stable and unstable pixels and the generation of a worldwide mosaic of temporally stable pixels through a per-pixel statistical analysis employing a combination of Spearman's rho and Pettitt's test for assessing long-term trends and detecting change points. Notably, comparing the temporal mean top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance before and after applying the generated temporal filter to a site with documented unstable pixels revealed a substantial reduction in mean variation, up to 6%. In addition, slopes observed in the pre-filter mean TOA reflectance, ranging between −0.002 and −0.005, became zero or near-zero and statistically insignificant after the temporal filter was applied, demonstrating a reduction in total uncertainties by 3 to 4%. These findings evidence the potential of this work, placing it as a potential foundation in the continuous search to identify additional targets for global radiometric calibration efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing technology is an essential tool for tracking human-induced alterations on the water cycle, among which irrigation prevails. The possibility of obtaining detailed and accurate information on the actual irrigation extent through remote-sensing-based approaches is of paramount importance for water resources management. In this study, an update of the TSIMAP (Temporal-Stability-derived Irrigation MAPping) method, originally developed with satellite soil moisture as an input, is proposed. To demonstrate that the flexibility of the approach does not affect its main strength point (i.e., good accuracy in the face of high simplicity for users), a dual analysis relying on 1 km NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) instead of soil moisture is carried out over the Ebro basin (Spain); data delivered by the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) are used. First, results of this work are compared with outcomes from the method's original implementation obtained over a focus area (denominated "Ebro_CATAR") through satellite soil moisture. In the proposed configuration relying on NDVI, an overall accuracy (OA) up to 93% is found. Results highlight an increase in OA ranging from +2% to +6% depending on the validation strategy with respect to the TSIMAP implementation relying on soil moisture. Then, a basin-scale application is performed, providing performances still satisfactory (OA = 75%) notwithstanding a higher degree of heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture is important for understanding climate, water resources, water storage, and land use management. This study used Sentinel-2 (S-2) satellite optical data to retrieve surface soil moisture at a 10 m scale on grassland sites with low hydraulic conductivity soil in a climate dominated by heavy rainfall. Soil moisture was estimated after modifying the Optical Trapezoidal Model to account for mixed land cover in such conditions. The method uses data from a short-wave infra-red band, which is sensitive to soil moisture, and four vegetation indices from optical bands, which are sensitive to overlying vegetation. Scatter plots of these data from multiple, infrequent satellite passes are used to define the range of surface moisture conditions. The saturated and dry edges are clearly non-linear, regardless of the choice of vegetation index. Land cover masks are used to generate scatter plots from data only over grassland sites. The Enhanced Vegetation Index demonstrated advantages over other vegetation indices for surface moisture estimation over the entire range of grassland conditions. In poorly drained soils, the time lag between satellite surface moisture retrievals and in situ sensor soil moisture at depth must be part of the validation process. This was achieved by combining an approximate solution to the Richards' Equation, along with measurements of saturated and residual moisture from soil samples, to optimise the correlations between measurements from satellites and sensors at a 15 cm depth. Time lags of 2–4 days resulted in a reduction of the root mean square errors between volumetric soil moisture predicted from S-2 data and that measured by in situ sensors, from ~0.1 m3/m3 to <0.06 m3/m3. The surface moisture results for two grassland sites were analysed using statistical concepts based upon the temporal stability of soil water content, an ideal framework for the intermittent Sentinel-2 data in conditions of persistent cloud cover. The analysis could discriminate between different natural drainages and surface soil textures in grassland areas and could identify sub-surface artificial drainage channels. The techniques are transferable for land-use and agricultural management in diverse environmental conditions without the need for extensive and expensive in situ sensor networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roundabout crashes are common worldwide but have received little attention. In particular, the investigation remains relatively understudied in distinct collision modes of roundabout crashes, including angle and non-angle crashes. This study investigates differences in factors affecting injury severity between angle and non-angle crashes and how these differences change over time. Random parameter logit models with heterogeneity in mean and variance were estimated using 2012–2019 Florida crash data. Variables considered for the modeling include temporal characteristics, environmental characteristics, road characteristics, spatial characteristics, vehicle characteristics, crash characteristics, and human characteristics. In addition, likelihood ratio tests were used to investigate the temporal instabilities of the models and differences in collision modes. The results showed that only a few variables demonstrated temporally stable effects for angle collisions (weekend and dark-lighted) and non-angle collisions (paved shoulders and cyclists), respectively. Unique influencing factors of injury severity were identified for different collision modes, such as dark-lighted, straight alignment, merge, lane departure, the disabled driver for angle collisions, and clear, fog, commercial vehicles, and aggressive driving for non-angle collisions. The results of the out-of-sample prediction simulations further demonstrate the difference in injury severity over time for angle and non-angle collisions. Overall results suggest that countermeasures can be implemented to reduce the injury severity of angle crashes/non-angle crashes based on the significant variables identified. This study may be used to improve roundabout safety by considering different collision modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Loess Plateau has undertaken a large-scale "Grain for Green" project since 1999. Understanding how reforestation affects soil moisture is crucial for ecological construction and the region's revegetation. In this study, soil sensors were installed to monitor the soil moisture content (SMC) and soil desiccation intensity in a 0–200 cm soil profile online during the growing season, with farmland as a control and Robinia (R.) pseudoacacia L., Pinus (P.) tabulaeformis Carr., Populus (P.) alba L., and Ulmus (U.) pumila L. were selected. The results showed that the SMC increased with soil depth, and the soil moisture storage (SMS) in the 0–200 cm soil profile was ranked as R. pseudoacacia L. (424.3 mm) < farmland (479.8 mm) < U. pumila L. (569.8 mm) < P. alba L. (583.9 mm) < P. tabulaeformis Carr. (589.8 mm). Secondly, the percentages of inefficient water and gravimetric water in soil moisture were ranked as R. pseudoacacia L. (63%) > farmland (49%) > U. pumila L. (43%) > P. alba L. (17%) > P. tabulaeformis Carr. (11%). The soil desiccation intensity of artificial forests was heavy in June, light in April and July, and no desiccation in the other months. Moderate desiccation was discovered in the 0–40 cm soil layer and mild desiccation occurred in the 40–60 cm soil layer. Additionally, the representative soil layer for SMS in farmland for P. tabulaeformis Carr., U. pumila L., and R. pseudoacacia L. was the 90 cm soil layer, and the SMS representative soil layer for P. alba L. was the 70 cm soil layer. In brief, an SMS deficit occurred after the conversion of the farmland to R. pseudoacacia L., but there was an SMS surplus after the conversion of the farmland to P. alba L., U. pumila L., and P. tabulaeformis Carr. This suggests that the artificial forest species could be optimized by introducing P. tabulaeformis Carr. instead of R. pseudoacacia L., and the degradation of R. pseudoacacia L. could be suppressed by the application of a nitrogen fertilizer. Our research demonstrated that soil moisture depletion patterns were closely related to artificial forest species, and attention should be paid to the vegetation restoration and maintenance of afforestation achievements in water-constrained arid regions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most crucial aspects of 3D facial models is facial reconstruction. However, it is unclear if face shape distortion is caused by identity or expression when the 3D morphable model (3DMM) is fitted into largely expressive faces. In order to overcome the problem, we introduce neural networks to reconstruct stable and precise faces in time. The reconstruction network extracts the 3DMM parameters from video sequences to represent 3D faces in time. Meanwhile, our displacement networks learn the changes in facial landmarks. In particular, the networks learn changes caused by facial identity, facial expression, and temporal cues, respectively. The proposed facial alignment network exhibits reliable and precise performance in reconstructing static and dynamic faces by leveraging these displacement networks. The 300 Videos in the Wild (300VW) dataset is utilized for qualitative and quantitative evaluations to confirm the effectiveness of our method. The results demonstrate the considerable advantages of our method in reconstructing 3D faces from video sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance food security and promote sustainable agricultural development, there is extensive utilization of sloping land in China. However, soil and water loss are severe in sloping lands. Understanding the spatiotemporal variability of soil water content (θ) is therefore important for determining suitable soil and water conservation strategies. Nevertheless, there exists a dearth of current research that focuses on the spatiotemporal variability of θ in microscale sloping lands. This study used statistical and temporal stability (TS) analyses to explore the characteristics of the spatiotemporal variability of θ on slopes. Furthermore, this study aimed to quantify the impacts of soil depth, slope position, air temperature, and hydrological conditions on the TS of θ. The average θ increases with depth, and it follows a logarithmic increase above 1.3 m and a linear increase below 1.3 m. The spatial variability of θ is higher in shallow soils and wet seasons compared with deep soils and dry seasons. The temporal stability of θ is higher on the upper and lower slopes compared with the middle slope. Day-MRD is more effective at capturing the temporal stability of θ than all-MRD. The diurnal variation of the TS of θ on slopes is primarily influenced by soil depth, slope position, air temperature, and hydrological conditions. We found that soil depth had a greater impact on the TS of θ than the slope position and that air temperature has a greater influence than the hydrological conditions. This study accurately describes the spatiotemporal variability of θ at the microscale slope, which helps solve the problems of soil and water conservation and water resource management on slopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental change is a crucial driver shaping grassland biodiversity and stability. Both environmental change and stability contain multiple dimensions. Nonetheless, few studies examined multiple dimensions of stability in response to environmental change, especially under the combined effects of climatic variability and grazing intensity. Here, we conducted a 7-year field sheep grazing experiment, and we evaluated the impacts of grazing intensity (GI) and climate variability (temperature and precipitation variability) on plant community diversity and productivity and multi-dimensional stability using linear and structural equation models. Our results show that increasing grazing intensity significantly decreased temporal stability but did not affect resistance stability. Compared with the non-grazing (NG) treatment, grazing reduced temporal stability by 35.78%. The decline is primarily attributed to the grazing-induced reduction in evenness and weakening of species asynchrony, which in turn impairs insurance effects. The insignificant change in resistance stability was attributed to a trade-off between reduced interspecific competition and direct negative effects. Furthermore, temperature variability and precipitation variability exacerbate and mitigate the effects of grazing on temporal stability (negative) and resistance stability (positive), respectively. Overall, temporal stability is mainly influenced by temperature variability and GI, while resistance stability is mainly affected by GI. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the dimensions of stability and disturbance. Different dimensions of stability may respond differently to disturbance. Multiple disturbances may also interact synergistically or antagonistically on plant community stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture has a great influence on vegetation growth and survival in arid and semiarid regions. Information about deep soil moisture dynamics is vital for restoring vegetation and improving land management on the water-limited Loess Plateau. The spatiotemporal dynamics and temporal stability of deep soil moisture (at a soil depth of 600 cm) were observed in situ under Caragana korshinskii shrubs that had various stand ages (named CK-10yr, CK-20yr and CK-35yr) in the Loess hilly region of China. The results showed that under C. korshinskii, soil moisture generally decreased as the stand age rose. Meanwhile, its moisture was consistent with precipitation variation, and an obvious time lag in soil moisture was found compared to that in precipitation during the entire growing season. Along the soil profile, a transition belt linking the shallow with deep soil moisture occurred at a 200 cm soil depth in different slope positions and aspects. At the slope scale, both the slope aspect and slope position significantly affected soil moisture variation in the areas with planted C. korshinskii shrubs, experiencing a decreasing trend from semi-shady slopes to sunny ones and from lower positions to upper ones. However, the variance in soil moisture between different positions and slope aspects was small. For the slope aspect, except for CK-20yr, the different-aged C. korshinskii shrubs had higher soil moisture content on sunny slopes than on semi-shady slopes at the upper 0–200 cm soil depth, while the opposite was true at the 200–600 cm soil depths. For slope positions, the soil moisture variation was small between the 0 and 200 cm soil depths and larger between the 200 and 600 cm soil depths. Within the whole profiles, the representative depth under the C. korshinskii shrubs for the soil moisture content was mainly concentrated between the 400–500 cm soil depths, on average, showing a gradual deepening trend with increasing restoration age. In summary, the findings indicate that natural recovery with low-water consumption grasslands and manual management measures, such as thinning and mowing, should be strengthened to minimize the high soil moisture consumption rates that occur in a healthy soil moisture environment and maintain sustainable vegetation restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens' attitudes towards and their perceptions of climate change are widely believed to influence citizens' actions related to climate change. Knowledge of these attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental improvement can be useful in designing an environmental policy. Although citizens' attitudes and perceptions are likely to affect their WTP, they are rarely included in the non-market valuation. Furthermore, over time, attitudes and perceptions of environmental issues are likely to change. An understanding of temporal stability of attitudes towards climate change could shed the light on changes in citizens' WTP for environmental quality over time. This study examined changes in perceptions, attitudes, and actions towards climate change using two surveys in Queensland, Australia. The surveys were administered 10 years apart (2009 and 2018). The effect of attitudes over time on WTP was analysed using a contingent valuation (CV) method. The results confirmed that attitudes and perceptions of climate change were important factors affecting actions of respondents. Furthermore, over time, some attitudes and perceptions changed significantly. However, only some attitudes and perceptions were significant predictors of consumers' WTP for a change in environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of trucks on road traffic safety has been extensively studied, but the factors influencing truck crash injury severity have not yet been examined from the quarterly perspective. Crash data for Shandong Province in China for 10 years (2012–2021) were reviewed to investigate the transferability of the determinants of the severity of truck crash injuries in four quarters. Three injury severity levels were considered and a random parameters logit model (RPL) considering the heterogeneity of means and variances was constructed to assess the factors affecting the severity of crash injury. The significant variables were explored from the influencing factors of driver, vehicle, crash type, road, environment, and temporal characteristics. A likelihood ratio test was employed to assess the transferability of the crash model over four quarters, and we used marginal effects to analyze the stability of the influencing factors. The results indicated that there was instability among the four quarterly variables that had to be modeled separately. There were also some variables, such as heavy vehicle and multiple-vehicle crashes, that simultaneously affected the severity of truck crash injuries across the four quarters, but the degree of impact was different. The results could enable engineers and policy makers to better formulate management rules and propose appropriate measures according to quarterly changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different lighting conditions can result in accidents of different levels of severity. However, current studies lack the consideration of the heterogeneity and temporal stability of accident data under various lighting conditions. Therefore, three years' worth of data were used to investigate the critical factors of accident severity. The random parameters logit model was employed to investigate the influence of different lighting conditions on temporal stability and heterogeneity. The critical factors affecting injury severity were also identified. The temporal stability and transferability of the models were investigated by a series of likelihood ratio tests. Based on different lighting conditions (daylight conditions, and night-time conditions with street lighting on), six models were established. Three kinds of accident injury severity levels were classified: property damage only (PDO), severe injury (SI), and fatal injury (FI). The estimation results showed contributing factors of accident severity were significantly different between the two kinds of lighting conditions. Additionally, accidents showed temporal instability. The proposed method can provide a guide for infrastructure construction, operation, and maintenance in traffic-safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Pediatric Outcome Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) is among the most described scales developed to evaluate the physical status of children and adolescents with various musculoskeletal disorders. We aimed to translate PODCI from English to Serbian, culturally adopt items and domains, evaluate the temporal stability, internal consistency and the test–retest reliability of PODCISR in children with obstetrical brachial plexus lesion (OBPL), and finally, to test the construct validity of PODCISR against muscular manual test (MMT) Materials and Methods: The study included 48 eligible participants aged between 2 and 10 years with OBPL. The MMT was used to test the construct validity. Results: There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between test and retest for all PODCISR domains. Correlations for all tested domains with MMT were statistically significant except for biceps muscle and domains II and IV. Cronbach's alpha value of the Global Functioning Scale was good and equaled 0.838 for test and 0.832 for retest session. Cronbach's α was more than 0.600 for all PODCISR domains except for Domain II and for Domain IV. The observed Test–Retest ICC for all PODCISR domains scores ranged from 0.899 to 0.996. Conclusion: The Serbian version of PODCI (PODCISR) was successfully translated and transculturally adopted. It has satisfactory temporal stability, construct validity and test–retest reliability as well as relevant internal consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The storage of time-stable holographic gratings in hydrogel matrices when the material is immersed in aqueous media is a real challenge at present. The optimization of the storage stages of the holograms must be properly investigated to identify the most suitable development processes. For this reason, this work is focused on the study of the optimization of the washing stages of the hydrogels based on acrylamide and N,N'-methylenebis(acrylamide) once unslanted transmission holograms have been stored. High-performance liquid chromatography and UV-visible measurements have been employed in our system to analyze the composition of the washing solutions. PBST and DMSO:H2O are used as solvents in the washing stages. The diffraction efficiencies are measured during the washing stages and after the storing of the holograms during several days in PBST. Maximum diffraction efficiencies of 38 and 27.6% are reached when PBST and DMSO:H2O are employed, respectively, for the washing process. Holograms show temporal stability after being stored immersed in PBST at 4 °C for 4 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the Blasius flow with Cu-Al2O3 hybrid nanoparticles over a moving plate. Additionally, the effects of viscous dissipation and radiation are considered. Similarity transformation is employed to convert the respective model into similarity equations. The results are generated by using bvp4c in MATLAB. Findings reveal that two solutions are attained when both the free stream and the plate move in opposite directions. Moreover, the domains of the velocity ratio parameter are extended when suction is available. Besides, the upsurge of radiation and hybrid nanoparticles lead to the heat transfer enhancement. The rise in radiation heat energy incorporated in radiation parameter leads to the development of fluid temperature as well as the thermal boundary layer. Meanwhile, hybrid nanoparticles offer good thermal characteristics because of synergistic effects. However, the effects reduce with the rise in Eckert number. The first solution is stable and acceptable based on the temporal stability analysis. Furthermore, the critical/separation values of the physical parameters are also reported. With these findings, the optimized productivity will be achieved as well as the processes on certain products can be planned according to the desire output. This significant preliminary study provides future insight to the engineers and scientist on the real applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aimed to analyze the reliability, consistency, and temporal stability of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) in Serbian infants. Additionally, we aimed to present a percentile distribution of AIMS in the tested population. The prospective study included 60 infants that were divided into three age groups: 0-3 months, 4-7 months, and 8-14 months. The Serbian version of AIMS was tested by two raters on two different occasions (test/retest) with a five day period between tests. The observed inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)) was more than 0.75 for all AIMS scores, except for standing (ICC 0.655 = moderate) in the age group of 4-7 months on retest between raters. The observed intra-rater reliability (ICC) was more than 0.75 for all AIMS scores except standing (ICC 0.655 = moderate) in the age group 4-7 months in test-retest for Rater One, and for sitting (ICC 0.671 = moderate) and standing (ICC 0.725 = moderate) in the age group between 0-3 months on test-retest for Rater Two. The Serbian version of AIMS was shown to have high consistency and high reliability with good to high temporal stability. Thus, it can be used in the evaluation of infants' motor development in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we develop a comprehensive Vector Autoregression Model consisting of five variables; the stock market and price indices of pairs of countries, as well as their bilateral nominal exchange rate. Then, we show that under certain long-run restrictions, our approach encompasses a large number of specifications encountered in the voluminous literature on testing for capital integration with cointegration techniques. This approach minimizes the risk of accepting the null of no cointegration between the equity price indices because of the introduction of additional stochastic trends through the transformation of those indices on a "real or nominal US dollar" basis. Furthermore, other interesting long run specifications emerge either with I(1) only stochastic shocks or with the presence of some I(2) disturbances characterizing the system. We apply the testing methodology on monthly data for the US, UK, Germany, and Japan for the period January 1980-May 2019. The main findings provide partial support in favor of cointegration, and therefore for capital markets integration, among stock market indices when proper attention is given to issues like the identification and temporal stability of the cointegration vectors as well as the choice of units that the stock indices are expressed in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture plays a decisive role for tree growth and forest ecosystems services supply in dryland regions. Hence, it is necessary to clarify the spatio-temporal variation of soil moisture under field conditions. This study selected a hillslope in the Liupan Mountains covered by the plantation of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr (larch), a main afforestation tree species in north and northwest China. The volumetric soil moisture (VSM) in root zone layers was monitored with a time interval of about 15 days during the growing season (from May to October) in 2016 at 48 points on this hillslope. The aim was to evaluate the spatial pattern and temporal stability of soil moisture at slope scale. The results showed a moderate spatial variability of VSM in each soil layer, with the variation coefficients range of 17.12-22.63%. The spatial variability of VSM showed a dependence on the soil wetness and a threshold effect, it increased with rising VSM until the VSM reached a threshold of about 15%, but thereafter decreased. The mean relative difference (MRD) among the 48 points ranged from -30.56% to 27.20%, -29.89% to 39.58%, and -28.13% to 33.71% for the soil layers of 0-20, 20-40, and 40-60 cm, respectively. The associated standard deviation (SDRD) (and range) was 11.38% (5.20-26.06%), 8.28% (4.64-15.63%), and 6.51% (2.00-14.16%) for the soil layers of 0-20, 20-40, and 40-60 cm, respectively. The high Spearman's rank coefficients (p < 0.05) among the measuring dates at each soil layer indicated that the spatial distribution of VSM in the root zone had strong temporal stability. The decrease of Spearman' rank correlation coefficient and mean SDRD with rising soil depth indicated an increasing temporal stability of VSM with rising soil depth. The mean VSM of the three soil layers on the entire hillslope can be estimated by the direct method (using representative points determined by the index of temporal stability (ITS)) successfully, and these representative points determined by ITS were mainly located at the points with a ratio of field capacity to leaf area index (LAI) close to the slope mean. Moreover, the mean VSM of the three soil layers on the entire hillslope can also be estimated by indirect method (using the time-stable points determined by mean absolute bias error (MABE) and considering the offset between slope mean VSM and observed VSM at time-stable points), and the prediction accuracy of the indirect method was better than the direct method. Significant correlation between MRD and soil bulk density, field capacity, capillary porosity, and LAI were observed for all soil layers, indicating that both the water-retention ability in root zone soil (expressed mainly by field capacity) and water-consumption ability of trees (expressed mainly by canopy LAI) are the main factors controlling the spatial pattern of root-zone VSM on the larch plantation hillslope studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a central issue in ecology. The insurance hypothesis suggests that biodiversity could improve community productivity and reduce the temporal variability of main ecosystem processes. In the present study, we used a plankton community that was investigated from 2011 to 2014 in Lake Nansihu to test this hypothesis and explore the mechanisms involved. As a result, 138 phytoplankton and 76 zooplankton species were identified in the lake, and their biomasses showed apparent seasonal variations. The average temporal stability index of zooplankton taxa was significantly higher than that of phytoplankton. Complex relationships were observed between the species richness and temporal stability of different phytoplankton taxa: a unimodal relationship for both Cyanophyta and Bacillariophyta; a strong concave relationship for Euglenophyta; and no apparent relationship for both Chlorophyta and total phytoplankton. These relationships were primarily controlled by the portfolio effect; while the effects of overyielding and species asynchrony were relatively weak. Phytoplankton species richness had a significant positive influence on the temporal stability indices of protozoa, Rotifera and total zooplankton, while its influence on Cladocera and copepods was not significant. The dominant mechanisms were found to be 'trophic overyielding' and a weak 'trophic portfolio effect'; however, 'trophic species asynchrony' played a minor role. These results demonstrated that the effects of diversity on community stability can be complex in natural ecosystems. In addition, the diversity of phytoplankton not only influenced its own temporal stability, but also affected the stability of zooplankton through trophic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motorcycle accidents can impede sustainable development due to the high fatality rate associated with motorcycle riders, particularly in developing countries. Although there has been extensive research conducted on motorcycle accidents on highways, there is a limited understanding of the factors contributing to accidents involving the most commonly used motorcycles on local roads. This study aimed to identify the root causes of fatal motorcycle accidents on local roads. The contributing factors consist of four groups: rider characteristics, maneuvers prior to the crash, temporal and environmental characteristics, and road characteristics. The study employed random parameters logit models with unobserved heterogeneity in means and variances while also incorporating the temporal instability principle. The results revealed that the data related to motorcycle accidents on local roads between 2018 and 2020 exhibited temporal variation. Numerous variables were discovered to influence the means and variances of the unobserved factors that were identified as random parameters. Male riders, riders over 50 years old, foreign riders, and accidents that occurred at night with inadequate lighting were identified as the primary factors that increased the risk of fatalities. This paper presents a clear policy recommendation aimed at organizations and identifies the relevant stakeholders, including the Department of Land Transport, traffic police, local government organizations, and academic groups.

The Velodyne LiDAR series is one of the most popular spinning beam LiDAR systems currently available on the market. In this paper, the temporal stability of the range measurements of the Velodyne HDL-32E LiDAR system is first investigated as motivation for the development of a new automatic calibration method that allows quick and frequent recovery of the inherent time-varying errors. The basic principle of the method is that the LiDAR's internal systematic error parameters are estimated by constraining point clouds of some known and automatically detected cylindrical features such as lamp poles to fit to the 3D cylinder models. This is analogous to the plumb-line calibration method in which the lens distortion parameters are estimated by constraining the image points of straight lines to fit to the 2D line model. The calibration can be performed at every measurement epoch in both static and kinematic modes. Four real datasets were used to verify the method, two of which were captured in static mode and the other two in kinematic mode. The overall results indicate that up to approximately 72% and 41% accuracy improvement were realized as a result of the calibration for the static and kinematic datasets, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional soil moisture distributions and changes are critical for agricultural production and environmental modeling. Currently, hundreds of satellite sensors exist with different soil moisture observation capabilities. However, multi-sensor collaborative observation mechanisms for improving regional soil moisture monitoring capabilities are lacking. In this study, a Spatial pattern and Temporal variation law-based Multi-sensor Collaboration (STMC) method is proposed to solve this problem. The first component of the STMC method deduces the regional soil moisture distribution and variation patterns based on time stability theory and long-term statistical analyses. The second component of the STMC method detects potential anomalous soil moisture events and immediately triggers the high spatial resolution sensor with the soonest pass-over time. In the detection phase, an anomalous soil moisture judgment (ASMJ) algorithm and high temporal resolution sensors (the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2)) were utilized. Experiments conducted in Hubei province, China, demonstrated that the proposed STMC method was capable of accurately identifying of anomalous soil moisture conditions caused by waterlogging and drought events. Additionally, we observed that the STMC method combined the advantages of different long-term observation, high temporal, and high spatial resolution sensors synergistically for monitoring purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates if the temporal stability concept is applicable to a time series of satellite soil moisture images so to extend the common procedure of satellite image validation. The area of study is the Maqu area, which is located in the northeastern part of the Tibetan plateau. The network serves validation purposes of coarse scale (25-50 km) satellite soil moisture products and comprises 20 stations with probes installed at depths of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 cm. The study period is 2009. The temporal stability concept is applied to all five depths of the soil moisture measuring network and to a time series of satellite-based moisture products from the Advance Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E). The in-situ network is also assessed by Pearsons's correlation analysis. Assessments by the temporal stability concept proved to be useful and results suggest that probe measurements at 10 cm depth best match to the satellite observations. The Mean Relative Difference plot for satellite pixels shows that a RMSM pixel can be identified but in our case this pixel does not overlay any in-situ station. Also, the RMSM pixel does not overlay any of the Representative Mean Soil Moisture (RMSM) stations of the five probe depths. Pearson's correlation analysis on in-situ measurements suggests that moisture patterns over time are more persistent than over space. Since this study presents first results on the application of the temporal stability concept to a series of satellite images, we recommend further tests to become more conclusive on effectiveness to broaden the procedure of satellite validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal stability and static calibration and analysis of the Velodyne HDL-64E S2 scanning LiDAR system is discussed and analyzed. The mathematical model for measurements for the HDL-64E S2 scanner is updated to include misalignments between the angular encoder and scanner axis of rotation, which are found to be a marginally significant source of error. It is reported that the horizontal and vertical laser offsets cannot reliably be obtained with the current calibration model due to their high correlation with the horizontal and vertical offsets. By analyzing observations from two separate HDL-64E S2 scanners it was found that the temporal stability of the horizontal angle offset is near the quantization level of the encoder, but the vertical angular offset, distance offset and distance scale are slightly larger than expected. This is felt to be due to long term variations in the scanner range, whose root cause is as of yet unidentified. Nevertheless, a temporally averaged calibration dataset for each of the scanners resulted in a 25% improvement in the 3D planar misclosure residual RMSE over the standard factory calibration model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of land surface albedo dynamics is important for the understanding of observed climate trends. Recently developed multidecadal surface albedo data products, derived from a series of geostationary satellite data, provide the opportunity to study long term surface albedo dynamics at the regional to global scale. Reliable estimates of temporal trends in surface albedo require carefully calibrated and homogenized long term satellite data records and derived products. The present paper investigates the long term consistency of a new surface albedo product derived from Meteosat First Generation (MFG) geostationary satellites for the time period 1982-2006. The temporal consistency of the data set is characterized. The analysis of the long term homogeneity reveals some discrepancies in the time series related to uncertainties in the characterization of the sensor spectral response of some of the MFG satellites. A method to compensate for uncertainties in the current data product is proposed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an approach denominated Group Inversion Approach (GIA) which aims at detecting soil moisture temporal invariants, i.e., the stable temporal soil moisture locations, by using mainly remotely sensed data. The soil moisture temporal invariants are those locations where independently of the absolute value changes, the relative spatial distribution of soil moisture remains almost constant. In this procedure, the soil moisture values estimated from different inversion approaches and sensor configurations are compared among themselves and with the ground data. The procedure has been tested in a watershed of around 7,000 km2 with data collected during the SMEX'02 experiment in Iowa (USA). The results indicate that fields with inversion errors lower than five times the soil moisture variability detected with ground measurements represent well the mean watershed soil moisture values. The GIA technique has been also found in good agreement with the classical technique used to detect the stable soil moisture features, based exclusively on ground measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical agrarian landforms (AL) represent man-made features that alter the hydrological process on cultivated hillslopes. Soil water content (SWC) and its spatial and temporal variability represent an important state indicator for understanding of these processes. In order to assess the differences between individual AL in terms of SWC stability, continuous soil moisture measurements at five different monitoring localities characterized by a specific combination of AL and environmental factors were performed. Temporal SWC stability was evaluated using mean relative difference (MRD) and its standard deviation (SDRD). Differences in mean SWC and MRD values demonstrated the difference between saturated inner part of the AL and external parts such as terraced slopes and mounds, soil depths, and slope positions. In order to analyze the relationship between SWC and environmental variables, the methods of constrained ordination were applied. The most influential factors that regulate SWC variability during the periods of rain were identified as: stone content, sand fraction content, slope orientation, type of agrarian landform, and its orientation against the contour lines. Results also pointed to the fact that different factors predominate among individual localities and, therefore, SWC variability reflects the effect of combination of various environmental factors rather than effect of single parameter. Besides the improved understanding of SWC variability, our results also highlight the importance of AL in regulating the hydrological processes at historical agricultural landscape of the West Carpathian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) can convert mechanical energy into electricity and exhibit unique advantages in the field of low-frequency and discrete energy harvesting. However, the interfacial state and stability between the triboelectric layer and electrode layer influence the output and applications of TENG. Herein, an in situ sputtering Ag process for fabricating induction electrodes is proposed to match with TENG. The sputtering Ag process is optimized by a variety of parameters, such as sputtering power, single-cycle time, number of cycles, cycle interval, and vacuum degree. In addition, the chemical state of Ag as a function of air placement is investigated, showing the sputtered Ag has excellent conductivity and stability. Moreover, four kinds of polymers are selected for fabricating TENGs based on the sputtered Ag induction electrodes, i.e., nylon 66, polyimide (PI), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which shows great applicability. Considering the demand of flexible power suppliers, the sputtered Ag is integrated with a PDMS substrate, and shows good adhesion, flexibility, and ductility after severe deformation of the PDMS. Finally, the developed induction electrode processing technology is used in flexible TENG and shows great prospects in self-powered electronics for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts can affect the physiological activity of trees, damage tissues, and even trigger mortality, yet the response of different forest types to drought at the decadal time scale remains uncertain. In this study, we used two remote sensing-based vegetation products, the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and MODIS gross primary productivity (GPP), to explore the temporal stability of deciduous needleleaf forests (DNFs) and deciduous broadleaf forests (DBFs) in droughts and their legacy effects in North China from 2001 to 2018. The results of both products showed that the temporal stability of DBFs was consistently much higher than that of DNFs, even though the DBFs experienced extreme droughts and the DNFs did not. The DBFs also exhibited similar patterns in their legacy effects from droughts, with these effects extending up to 4 years after the droughts. These results indicate that DBFs have been better acclimated to drought events in North China. Furthermore, the results suggest that the GPP was more sensitive to water variability than EVI. These findings will be helpful for forest modeling, management, and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many papers estimate the price elasticity of water demand. However, heterogeneity and temporal variation of price elasticity of residential water use are still unclear. We analyze these issues by applying the latent class analysis and t-test using disaggregated data of approximately 30,000 households recorded over five years: Two years before and three years after a tariff revision. As a result, the households are divided into three (heterogeneous) groups: About 5% of them responded to the price change sensitively, 40–60% slightly, and 35–55% not at all. Households with high water use prior to the revision had higher price elasticity. In addition, the price elasticity in the first and third years after the revision was the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of testing temperature and storage period on the polarization fatigue properties of poly (vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF–TrFE)) ultrathin film devices were investigated. The experimental results show that, even after stored in air for 150 days, the relative remanent polarization ( P r / P r (0) ) of P(VDF–TrFE) of ultrathin films can keep at a relatively high level of 0.80 at 25 °C and 0.70 at 60 °C. To account for this result, a hydrogen fluoride (HF) formation inhibition mechanism was proposed, which correlated the testing temperature and the storage period with the microstructure of P(VDF–TrFE) molecular chain. Moreover, a theoretical model was constructed to describe the polarization fatigue evolution of P(VDF–TrFE) samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larix gmelinii forest is one of the dominant forest types in boreal forest and plays a unique eco-hydrological role in the terrestrial ecosystem. However, the throughfall variability in boreal forest ecosystems, which plays a crucial role in regulating hydrology, remains unclear. Here, we investigated the spatial variability and temporal stability of throughfall within a Larix gmelinii forest in the full leaf stage in Great Kingan Mountain, Northeast China, and the effects of rainfall properties and canopy structure on throughfall variability were systematically evaluated. The results indicate that throughfall represented 81.26% of the gross rainfall in the forest. The throughfall CV (coefficient of variation of throughfall) had a significant and negative correlation with the rainfall amount, rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, and distance from the nearest trunk, whereas it increased with increasing canopy thickness and LAI (leaf area index). The correlation analysis suggested that the throughfall variability was mainly affected by the rainfall amount (R2 = 0.7714) and canopy thickness (R2 = 0.7087). The temporal stability analysis indicated that the spatial distribution of the throughfall was temporally stable. Our findings will facilitate a better understanding of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of throughfall and help the accurate assessment of throughfall and soil water within boreal forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pd/B4C multilayers with 2.5 nm of d-spacing and thick Si and B4C capping layers were fabricated to study temporal stability under storage in different environments with relative humidity of 10% and 50%. The two stored samples were investigated using grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GIXR), X-ray scattering (XRS), an optical microscope, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The GIXR results showed that the reflectivity of the samples under 10% humidity and 50% humidity dropped by 3% and 8%, respectively, after 13 months. The optical microscope showed that the surface of the 10% humidity sample was smooth and undamaged, whereas the surface of the 50% humidity sample significantly eroded. TEM showed that the internal multilayer structure of the sample stored in 10% humidity was well protected by the capping layers. For the sample stored in 50% humidity, a major part of the Si and B4C capping layers were wrinkled and delaminated, and some surface layers of the multilayer structure were degraded with severe diffusion of boron. The XPS results showed a relatively large amount of oxygen in the B4C capping layer of the 50% humidity sample, and an obvious oxidation of the boron was found in the B4C capping layer and the surface of the multilayer. The severe oxidation and diffusion of boron and the delamination of the capping layers caused the degradation of the Pd/B4C multilayers stored in 50% humidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern agricultural systems rely on reduced crop genetic diversity, due in particular to the use of homogeneous elite varieties grown in large areas. However, genetic diversity within fields is a lever for a more sustainable production, allowing greater stability and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In France, a Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) project on bread wheat, involving farmers, facilitators and researchers, has led to the development of heterogeneous populations whose within-variety genetic diversity is expected to confer the ability to adapt to farmers' practices and environments. We studied the stability and local adaptation of ten of these farmers' populations as well as two commercial varieties in relation to their within-variety genetic diversity. Although no clear evidence of local adaptation was detected, we found that populations' grain yield and protein content were more stable over space and time respectively than those of commercial varieties. Moreover, the varieties' stability over time in terms of protein content was positively correlated with within-variety genetic diversity with no significant drawback on protein yield. These results demonstrate the wide adaptive potential of PPB populations, highlighting the importance of seed exchange networks for agrobiodiversity management and use. They emphasize the benefits of genetic diversity for stability over time, which is of great interest to farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the self-centeredness and selflessness model, a new instrument assessing two distinct dimensions of happiness, fluctuating and authentic-durable, was developed. The current research aimed at examining the factor structure of the Italian version of the instrument, its psychometric properties and construct validity. To this end, two studies were carried out. Study 1 (N = 544) examined different measurement models, from unidimensional to multidimensional, from a fully symmetrical bifactor solution to a bifactor (S-1) solution. Findings indicated better and adequate fit indices for the last model. Using various samples (n = 1274) Study 2 confirmed the bifactor (S-1) structure and analysed psychometric properties, convergent and divergent validity and temporal stability of the instrument. Findings generally gave evidence of the multidimensional conceptualization of the construct, good levels of reliability values and adequate convergent validity of both scales. Discriminant validity showed mixed results from no association of age with authentic-durable happiness to weak and negative association with fluctuating happiness. Test-retest reliability displayed an adequate value of correlation coefficient for the two set scores of the authentic dimension and a value below the recommended cut-off criteria for the fluctuating dimension, where significant differences in the mean scores emerged. Future studies should aim to replicate the results of this research and attempt to overcome its limitations.

Quantitative kurtosis phantoms are sought by multicenter clinical trials to establish accuracy and precision of quantitative imaging biomarkers on the basis of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) parameters. We designed and evaluated precision, reproducibility, and long-term stability of a novel isotropic (i)DKI phantom fabricated using four families of chemicals based on vesicular and lamellar mesophases of liquid crystal materials. The constructed iDKI phantoms included negative control monoexponential diffusion materials to independently characterize noise and model-induced bias in quantitative kurtosis parameters. Ten test-retest DKI studies were performed on four scanners at three imaging centers over a six-month period. The tested prototype phantoms exhibited physiologically relevant apparent diffusion, D app , and kurtosis, K app , parameters ranging between 0.4 and 1.1 (×10 -3 mm 2 /s) and 0.8 and 1.7 (unitless), respectively. Measured kurtosis phantom K app exceeded maximum fit model bias (0.1) detected for negative control (zero kurtosis) materials. The material-specific parameter precision [95% CI for D app : 0.013-0.022(×10 -3 mm 2 /s) and for K app : 0.009-0.076] derived from the test-retest analysis was sufficient to characterize thermal and temporal stability of the prototype DKI phantom through correlation analysis of inter-scan variability. The present study confirms a promising chemical design for stable quantitative DKI phantom based on vesicular mesophase of liquid crystal materials. Improvements to phantom preparation and temperature monitoring procedures have potential to enhance precision and reproducibility for future multicenter iDKI phantom studies.

Soil erosion seriously affects vineyards. In this study, the influence of two vegetation covers on topsoil moisture and the effect of different physiographic conditions on runoff and sediment yields were evaluated in a rainfed vineyard formed by four fields (NE Spain) during 15 months. One field had spontaneous vegetation in the inter-row areas, and three fields had a cover crop of common sainfoin. Moisture conditions were dry and stable in the vineyards’ rows, wet and very variable in the inter-row areas and wet and very stable in the corridors. Topsoil moisture in the areas with common sainfoin was much higher than in the rows (62–70%), whereas this difference was lower with spontaneous vegetation (40%). Two runoff and sediment traps (STs) were installed in two ephemeral gullies, and 26 time-integrated surveys (TIS) were done. The mean runoff yields were 9.8 and 13.5 L TIS−1 in ST2 and ST3. Rainfall depth (12 mm) and erosivity (5.2 MJ mm ha−1 h−1) thresholds for runoff initiation were assessed. The mean turbidity was 333 (ST2) and 19 (ST3) g L−1. Changes in the canopy covers (grapevines and vegetation covers), topography and rainfall parameters explained the runoff and sediment dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development calls for the wise use of groundwater resources. Of particular concern is saline intrusion into productive agricultural land, which is contiguous with densely populated coastal settlements. To reverse saline intrusion in such coastal regions, information about the groundwater depth in terms of its spatio-temporal variability is essential. Using survey data from 2004 to 2007, the research revealed the temporal variation characteristics of groundwater depth in the Contemporary Yellow River Delta. It explored the temporal stability characteristics of groundwater depth by using the coefficient of variation, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and average relative deviation and standard deviation, and confirmed that the representative point reflected the average groundwater depth of the study area. Results showed that spatial variation of the groundwater depth in the study area was medium, but the variation coefficient of groundwater depth showed the seasonal changes. The spatial variation coefficient was largest in the dry season; the other months were relatively stable. The groundwater depth in the study area had strong temporal stability. The correlation between the Spearman rank correlation coefficient and the time lags showed that the spatial pattern of groundwater depth in the study area was similar across two or three years but the similarity weakened beyond this period. The representative points of the whole area showed a good linear correlation, and were spatially concentrated. In different years or time periods, the representative points were not the same but belonged to the medium groundwater depth grade in the area. The study provides useful guidance for Yellow River irrigation, preventing saline intrusion and the restoration of saline-alkali soils. It offers a theoretical basis for identifying regional satellite groundwater depth monitoring points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to validate the epidemiological significance and temporal stability of Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) typing in a genetically and geographically diverse set of clinical isolates from patients diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in China. Between 2010 and 2013, a total of 982 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were collected from four population-based investigations in China. Apart from the currently applied 24-locus MIRU-VNTR, six additional hypervariable loci were analyzed in order to validate the MIRU-VNTR combinations in terms of their epidemiological links, clustering time span, and paired geographic distance. In vitro temporal stability was analyzed for both individual MIRU-VNTR loci, and for several combinations of loci. In the present study, four MIRU-VNTR combinations, including the hypervariable loci 3820, 3232, 2163a, and 4120, were evaluated. All of these combinations obtained a Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index (HGDI) value over 0.9900 with a reduced clustering proportion (from 32.0% to 25.6%). By comparing epidemiological links, clustering time span, and paired geographic distance, we found that the performances of the four MIRU-VNTR combinations were comparable to the insertion sequence 6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (IS 6110 -RFLP), and significantly better than that of 24-locus MIRU-VNTR genotyping alone. The proportion of temporally stable loci ranged from 90.5% to 92.5% within the combined MIRU-VNTR genotyping, which is higher than IS 6110 -RFLP (85.4%). By adding four hypervariable loci to the standard 24-locus MIRU-VNTR genotyping, we obtained a high discriminatory power, stability and epidemiological significance. This algorithm could therefore be used to improve tuberculosis transmission surveillance and outbreak investigation in China.

The high spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture is the result of atmosphericforcing and redistribution processes related to terrain, soil, and vegetation characteristics.Despite this high variability, many field studies have shown that in the temporal domainsoil moisture measured at specific locations is correlated to the mean soil moisture contentover an area. Since the measurements taken by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)instruments are very sensitive to soil moisture it is hypothesized that the temporally stablesoil moisture patterns are reflected in the radar backscatter measurements. To verify this hypothesis 73 Wide Swath (WS) images have been acquired by the ENVISAT AdvancedSynthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) over the REMEDHUS soil moisture network located inthe Duero basin, Spain. It is found that a time-invariant linear relationship is well suited forrelating local scale (pixel) and regional scale (50 km) backscatter. The observed linearmodel coefficients can be estimated by considering the scattering properties of the terrainand vegetation and the soil moisture scaling properties. For both linear model coefficients,the relative error between observed and modelled values is less than 5 % and thecoefficient of determination (R²) is 86 %. The results are of relevance for interpreting anddownscaling coarse resolution soil moisture data retrieved from active (METOP ASCAT)and passive (SMOS, AMSR-E) instruments.