Harmonizing the RR Lyrae and clump distance scales – stretching the short distance scale to intermediate ranges?

I explore the consequences of making the RR Lyrae and clump giant distance scales consistent in the solar neighbourhood, Galactic bulge and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). I employ two major assumptions: (i) that the absolute magnitude–metallicity, M _V (RR)–[Fe/H], relation for RR Lyrae stars is universal, and (ii) that absolute I magnitudes of clump giants, M _I (RC), in Baade's Window are known (e.g. can be inferred from the local Hipparcos -based calibration or theoretical modelling). A comparison between the solar neighbourhood and Baade's Window sets M _V (RR) at [Fe/H]=−1.6 in the range (0.59±0.05, 0.70±0.05), somewhat brighter than the statistical parallax solution. More luminous RR Lyrae stars imply younger globular clusters, which would be in better agreement with the conclusions from the currently favoured stellar evolution and cosmological models. A comparison between Baade's Window and the LMC sets M ^LMC(RC) _I in the range (−0.33±0.09,−0.53±0.09). The distance modulus to the LMC is μ ^LMC∈(18.24±0.08,18.44±0.07). Unlike M ^LMC(RC) _I , this range in μ ^LMC does not depend on the adopted value of the dereddened LMC clump magnitude, I ^LMC(RC)₀. I argue that the currently available information is insufficient to select the correct distance scale with high confidence.     

WARPED SPACE: A GEOGRAPHY OF DISTANCE DECAY*

Distance decay is one of geography's core concepts, yet its own spatial properties have been largely neglected. We illustrate the use of the expansion method in assessing the spatial variation of distance-decay parameters within the general context of gravity models. The approach enables the portrayal of “space warping,” said to occur when equivalent distances have spatially uneven effects on interaction. The concepts are examined empirically through the estimation of a competing destination model for out-migration from five State Economic Areas over the 1965–70 period. Four of the five origins are found to have spatially unstable frictions of distance. We conclude by suggesting that distance decay is a contextual, rather than a universal, effect.     

山东省线状中尺度对流系统与多单体风暴的合并特征

利用济南多普勒天气雷达产品和华北区域雷达拼图等资料,普查了2012—2016年影响山东的线状中尺度对流系统(linear mesoscale convective system,LMCS),分析了LMCS与多单体风暴的合并方式以及合并后的演变趋势等特征,得到如下几条结论：1)LMCS(A)与多单体风暴(B)有A追B,A扩展,A、B相向和B追A四种合并方式;2)LMCS与多单体风暴合并的临界距离为30 km;3)LMCS与多单体风暴合并后,强度增强或维持,尺度增大,生命史延长,长轴将可能转向;4)LMCS与多单体风暴合并时,其本身合并部分将减弱,多单体风暴合并进入LMCS,成为LMCS的一部分;5)合并是雷暴的传播运动造成的;6)63.3%的合并案例会产生雷暴大风、冰雹或强降水灾害,雷暴大风灾害出现的概率最大。     

三维完全欧氏距离变换的改进算法

三维欧氏距离变换是对由黑白像素构成的三维二值图像中所有像素找出其到最近黑色像素的欧氏距离。在对现有三维欧氏距离变换算法进行深入研究的基础上,充分利用二维欧氏距离变换的结果,进一步减少参与距离计算和比较的黑点个数,进而提出了三维完全欧氏距离变换的改进算法。整个算法的时间复杂度为O((n3log n)/φ(n))。并将该改进算法应用于海底污染源的扩散分析,取得了较好的效果。     

Stochastic analysis of beams on reinforced earth beds

The present study comprises Monte-Carlo simulation assisted analysis of foundations resting on reinforced earth beds using the concept of beams on an elastic foundation, treating the modulus of subgrade reaction (MSR) as a stationary stochastic field characterised by mean, variance, autocorrelation function (ACF) and the autocorrelation distance (ACD). Realisations of the MSR, generated by solving a stochastic differential equation, are fed to a deterministic distributed parameter model to generate realisations of two dependent stochastic fields, namely deflection and bending moment in the foundation beam, and two random variables, namely the location of occurrence of maximum deflection and the bending moment. Subsequently these realisations are analysed to evolve probability distribution functions, variance and ACF of the dependent stochastic fields and the random variables. It is revealed that the ACF of these fields is independent of the ACF of the MSR. Further, variance of deflection is found to increase as the ACD of the MSR increases, implying requirement of a larger factor of safety when random soils display low frequency (macro level) variations. On the other hand, variance of the bending moment is larger at smaller ACDs of the MSR, indicating that for bending moments a larger factor of safety is required when the random soils display high frequency (micro level) variations.     

基于单应矩阵约束的黑白棋盘格角点提取

针对Harris算子提取棋盘格角点存在的问题,提出基于单应矩阵的黑白棋盘格角点提取方法.方法首先通过人机交互确定角点提取范围以及计算单应矩阵;然后根据单应矩阵将物方平面上其他点映射到影像上以确定初始的角点位置;最后以初始点位为基准,根据最小距离法确定最终Harris算子角点提取结果.实验结果表明,文中提出算法能有效提取黑白棋盘格角点.     

Characteristics of grassland degradation and driving forces in the source region of the Yellow River from 1985 to 2000*

The source region of the Yellow River is located in the middle east of the Tibetan Plateau in northwest China. The total area is about 51,700 km2, mainly covered by grassland (79%), unused land (16%) and water (4%). The increasing land utilization in this area has increased the risk of environmental degradation. The land use/cover data (1985 and 2000) provided by the Data Center of Resources and Environment in the Chinese Academy of Sciences were used to analyze the land cover change in the source region of the Yellow River. DEM (1:250,000) data, roads and settlement data were used to analyze the spatial characteristics of grasslands degradation. The ArcGIS 9 software was used to convert data types and do the overlay, reclassification and zonal statistic analysis. Results show that grassland degradation is the most important land cover change in the study area, which occupied 8.24% of the region’s total area. Human activities are the main causes of the grassland degradation in the source region of the Yellow River: 1) the degradation rate is higher on the sunny slope than on the shady slope; 2) the grassland degradation rate decreases with an increase in the elevation, and it has a correlation coefficient of -0.93; 3) the nearer to the settlements the grassland is, the higher the degradation rate. Especially within a distance range of 12 km to the settlements, the grassland degradation rate is highly related with the distance, with a coefficient of -0.99; and 4) in the range of 4 km, the degradation rate decreases with the increase of distance to the roads, with a correlation coefficient of -0.98. Besides some physical factors, human activities have been the most important driving forces of the grassland degradation in the source region of the Yellow River since 1985. To resolve the degradation problems, population control is essential, and therefore, it can reduce the social demand of livestock products from the grassland. To achieve sustainable development, it needs to improve the management of grassland ecosystem.     

不同扫描方式对平面标靶拟合精度的影响

由于地面三维激光扫描仪扫描精度对扫描距离、扫描分辨率及扫描方向具有很强的依赖性,因此研究其与扫描距离、扫描分辨率及扫描方向的关系对实验分析及工程应用具有很重要的意义。本文利用Faro Focus 3 D激光扫描仪从不同距离、扫描分辨率、扫描方向对不同形状的平面标靶进行实验,研究不同的扫描方式对平面标靶拟合精度的影响,并进一步判断扫描仪是否存在较大的轴系误差,为后期的自检校提供依据。     

断层相关褶皱解释之平衡剖面技术

从实际问题出发,扼要阐述了平衡剖面技术的基本概念,并结合实例着重探讨了其应用研究.在介绍了与平衡剖面有关的基本概念的基础上,总结平衡剖面技术的研究流程和平衡剖面结果的评价标准,结合缅甸区块实际资料深入探讨其在断层相关褶皱构造模式建立和检验调整地震解释以及在恢复挤压构造发育史方面的应用情况,显示了其在缅甸区块叠瓦状断层转折褶皱的良好应用效果,并获得剖面的水平延展量,同时也认识到许多潜在的客观问题,有待进一步探索.     

The effect of spatial distance on the discriminability of colors in maps

ABSTRACT

The spatial distance (gap) between map symbols can have a great impact on their discriminability, however, there is little empirical evidence to establish spatial and attribute thresholds. In this paper, we examine the effect of the spatial gap in discriminability of color hue and value, that is, we conducted an online study to obtain performance metrics; then an eye-tracking study to understand participants’ strategies and cognitive processes. Participants completed two experimental tasks (compare two areas and decide if their color is the same; and compare three areas and rank them from the lightest to the darkest). The color distances and the spatial distances were strictly controlled for the compared areas. Our analyses confirmed that, overall, increasing the gap between colors has a consistent negative impact on the ability to differentiate them with both sequential and qualitative schemes. Furthermore, we observed that sequential schemes require larger color distances than qualitative schemes for discriminability. Finally, our results suggested that for qualitative colors, the largest tested color distance ?E₀₀ = 10 yields considerably higher levels of accuracy in color discrimination (even when the spatial gap between the two colors is large), thus we recommend ?E₀₀ = 10 to practicing cartographers and other information visualization designers.