An application of MODIS data to snow cover monitoring in a pastoral area: A case study in Northern Xinjiang, China

Snow is an important land cover on the earth's surface. It is characterized by its changing nature. Monitoring snow cover extent plays a significant role in dynamic studies and prevention of snow-caused disasters in pastoral areas. Using NASA EOS Terra/MODIS snow cover products and in situ observation data during the four snow seasons from November 1 to March 31 of year 2001 to 2005 in northern Xinjiang area, the accuracy of MODIS snow cover mapping algorithm under varied snow depth and land cover types was analyzed. The overall accuracy of MODIS daily snow cover mapping algorithm in clear sky condition is high at 98.5%; snow agreement reaches 98.2%, and ranges from 77.8% to 100% over the 4-year period for individual sites. Snow depth (SD) is one of the major factors affecting the accuracy of MODIS snow cover maps. MODIS does not identify any snow for SD less than 0.5 cm. The overall accuracy increases with snow depth if SD is equal to or greater than 3 cm, and decreases for SD below 3 cm. Land cover has an important influence in the accuracy of MODIS snow cover maps. The use of MOD10A1 snow cover products is severely affected by cloud cover. The 8-day composite products of MOD10A2 can effectively minimize the effect of cloud cover in most cases. Cloud cover in excess of 10% occurs on 99% of the MOD10A1 products and 14.7% of the MOD10A2 products analyzed during the four snow seasons. User-defined multiple day composite images based on MOD10A1, with flexibilities of selecting composite period, starting and ending date and composite sequence of MOD10A1 products, have an advantage in effectively monitoring snow cover extent for regional snow-caused disasters in pastoral areas.     

Small sample improvements in the threshold cointegration test using residual-based moving block bootstrap

A residual-based moving block bootstrap procedure for testing the null hypothesis of linear cointegration versus cointegration with threshold effects is proposed. When the regressors and errors of the models are serially and contemporaneously correlated, our test compares favourably with the Sup LM test proposed by Gonzalo and Pitarakis. Indeed, shortcomings of the former motivated the development of our test. The small sample performance of the bootstrap test is investigated by Monte Carlo simulations, and the results show that the test performs better than the Sup LM test.     

Strategic advantages of interoperability for global manufacturing using CNC technology

In the domain of manufacturing, computer numerically controllers (CNC) technology is a major contributor to the production capacity of the enterprises. The advances in CNC technology coupled with enhancements in computing systems have provided the basis to re-examine the way in which computer-aided systems (CAx) can be used to enable global manufacturing. Interoperability of the various components of the CAx chain is therefore a major prerequisite for manufacturing enterprises for becoming strategically agile and consequently globally competitive. Being interoperable, resources can be utilized interchangeably in a plug-and-produce manner. Over the last 8 years the eminence of a STEP standard for machining entitled STEP-NC (numerical control) has become a well-known vehicle for research to improve the level of information availability at the CNC machine tool. In this paper, the authors introduce the background to the evolution of CNC manufacturing over the last 50 years and the current standards available for programming. A review of the literature in interoperable CNC manufacturing is then provided relating to milling, turn–mill and other NC processes. The major part of the paper provides a strategic view of how interoperability can be implemented across the CAx chain with a range of standards used to regulate the flow of information. Finally, the paper outlines the advantages and major issues for future developments in interoperability, identifying future key requirements and limiting factors.     

Cracking the walnut: Using a computer game to impact cognition,emotion, and behavior of highly aggressive fifth grade students

Three fifth grade highly aggressive students participated in a study examining effects of an aggression intervention game. Using single-subject multiple baseline research design, the effect of the game was measured across three domains: attribution of peer intent (cognitive), emotional response (affective) and behavior response (behavioral). The results indicate that, while there were observable individual differences, the game had an immediate impact on attribution of peer behavior across all participants, had a less predictable impact on reported behavioral reactions, and had no discernable impact on reported emotional response. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Minicore3.0操作系统上的Linux二进制兼容运行环境

首先介绍基于服务体/执行流模型的操作系统Minicore的基本特征,进而详细讨论了如何利用内核态功能实现二进制Linux应用代码的高效兼容运行方法,以及Minicore中Linux运行环境服务体设计的关键技术和解决方案,并给出了实验测试数据以说明所提出技术的有效性.     

Web挖掘在电子商务货源搜索中的应用

在电子商务环境下,货源信息的质量将直接影响企业业务经营水平。该文对电子商务环境下的货源信息搜索问题进行分析,提出以万维网为信息源,采用Web挖掘和信息检索技术设计实现货源搜索机器人的方法。该机器人内置元搜索引擎,可以扩大搜索范围,通过对搜索信息进行分析处理,从中发现有价值的货源相关信息。     

面向一般应用的动态加载机制

为了实现系统在线扩展过程中的实用性和稳定性,在软件升级过程中采用动态加载思想,引入超级调用指令,使用符号解析和弱绑定概念,为系统中的符号建立树状索引集。该方案解决了名字空间污染问题,提高了符号绑定的准确性和系统安全性,极大降低了在线扩展过程中更新外部引用的性能开销。     

基于退火策略的分布式资源负载均衡算法

针对分布式资源导致的访问热点等一系列问题,建立了一个用于分布式资源退火的处理模型.根据该模型,提出了基于退火策略的分布式资源负载均衡算法;该算法通过访问分类、定向扩散等方法提高了系统性能.性能及试验分析表明,该算法能够减少系统内部通信量,抑制资源扩散的抖动现象等.