Internal Accuracy Research Articles

Precipitable water vapor fusion method based on artificial neural network

Precipitable water vapor (PWV) can be retrieved using various techniques, such as global navigation satellite system (GNSS), remote sensing, and numerical prediction model. However, the existing techniques cannot simultaneously obtain water vapor information with high precision and high spatial and temporal resolutions. This study proposes a multisource PWV fusion method based on back propagation artificial neutral network (BP-ANN) called BP-PF model. The global pressure and temperature 3 (GPT3) model is introduced to calculate the initial PWV value, and BP-ANN is applied to establish the model of the PWV difference derived from the GPT3 model and ERA-Interim/GNSS/radiosonde. The key parameters of BP-ANN, namely, learning rate, number of hidden layers, and the number of neurons in each layer, are determined through empirical and experimental methods, and the proposed BP-PF model is validated using the data of four seasons of the Loess Plateau (LP) area in 2014. Results reveal that (1) the proposed model has a good internal accuracy, with respective average root mean squares (RMSs) of 1.31, 1.95, 1.27, and 0.54 mm and biases of 0.02, −0.10, −0.01, 0.01 mm in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively; (2) the external validations in specific stations with long-term time series and in the entire LP verify the superiority of the proposed method, and the average RMS and bias are 1.45 and −0.23 mm, respectively; and (3) the proposed BP-PF model exhibits a good performance under rainy conditions in the four seasons, which verifies its potential application in extreme weather.

The Role of Agile Women Leadership in Achieving Team Effectiveness through Interpersonal Trust for Business Agility

The need for organizations to adapt to constant change means the challenges of implementing an agile strategy. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to analyze the role of agile women leadership and team effectiveness by looking into the mediating effect of interpersonal trust based on a cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample of 269 employees from Poland and Turkey. Questionnaires were distributed to individuals in companies having women leaders or managers. The three questionnaires required the respondents to answer questions regarding the perception of agile leadership, trust and team effectiveness. By using SPSS, demographics, descriptive statistics and tests of normality were determined. Smart PLS version 3.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis, internal accuracy and validity estimates, hypothesis checking and mediation testing. Results of PLS-SEM indicated interpersonal trust has a full mediation role between agile women leadership in shaping team effectiveness. The population of this study are working for organizations of just two countries; hence, the generalizability of the findings to other settings is unknown. Our findings contribute to the literature on women agile leadership and team effectiveness by demonstrating how the growth in trust to managers contributes to the emergence of team effectiveness and the agile leadership trend over time. This study will therefore contribute to the understanding of organized teams’ effectiveness in the perspective of agile women leadership and trust of supervisors.

Data Processing of Gravity Base Network in Plateau Area: The Case of Qinghai Province, China

The latest gravity survey of the gravity base network in Qinghai Province, China, was conducted with six Scintrex CG gravimeters and this gravity survey was tied to existed gravity reference stations. In this gravity network with long segments and very rugged topography, the calibration of scale factors is a time-consuming progress and its accuracy may be affected by many uncertainties, and the change in drift rates of the relative gravimeters are complex over time in this long-term survey. The reasonable calculation of scale factors and drift rates plays an important role in improving the gravity estimation accuracy. In this paper, based on the least squares, robust least squares, and Bayesian methods, various parameter calculation methods were employed to process this gravity network. The performance and practicality of each method were analyzed in terms of internal and external accuracy. The results indicated that the scale factors calibrated in the baseline field had poor applicability due to insufficient gravity difference, in this case, the scale factors estimated by the adjustment models were more accurate, which weakened the correlation between gravity differences and mutual differences. The drift rates estimated by the Bayesian method were relatively smooth over time, while drift rates estimated using symmetric observations were more practical for the gravimeter with highly variable drift. The weight constraints of observations can be optimized by the robust least squares method, the gravity values obtained by it were more consistent with absolute gravity values than those obtained by the least squares method, and the robust least squares method was recommended to process gravity data in plateau areas.

A Global Conversion Factor Model for Mapping Zenith Total Delay onto Precipitable Water

The conversion factor is a key parameter for converting zenith wet delays (ZWD) into precipitable water vapour (PWV) with a mean value of 0.15, and the traditional method of calculating it is to model the weighted average temperature in the process of conversion factor calculation. Here, we overcome the dependence on high-precision atmospheric weighted average temperature for mapping ZWD onto PWV and build a global non-meteorological parametric model for conversion factor GΠ model by using the gridded data of global conversion factor time series from 2006 to 2013 provided by the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) Atmosphere. Internal and external accuracy tests were performed using data from four times (UTC 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00) per day throughout 2012 and 2014 as provided by the GGOS Atmosphere, and the statistical average root-mean-square (RMS) and mean absolute errors (MAE) on a global scale are 0.0031/0.0026 and 0.0030/0.0026, respectively, which only account for 1.5–2% of the conversion factor value. In addition, the observed GPS data are also used to validate the established GΠ model, and the RMS of the PWV differences between the established model and the observed meteorological data was less than 3.2 mm. The results show that the established GΠ model has a high accuracy, which can be used to calculate the PWV value where no observed meteorological parameters are available.

An In Vitro Evaluation of the Effect of 3D Printing Orientation on the Accuracy of Implant Surgical Templates Fabricated By Desktop Printer.

To evaluate the effect of different 3D printing orientations on internal and seating accuracy of implant surgical templates fabricated by a digital light processing (DLP) printer. A single maxillary model with a missing central incisor was used to design a surgical template for single implant placement. According to the printing orientation, three surgical template groups were included in the study: horizontal (H), angled (A) and vertical (V) (n = 10). For the H group, the templates were produced parallel to the printing platform, while for the V group, the templates were perpendicular to the platform. The A group templates had a 45° angle orientation to the platform. Each template was scanned at the fitting surface and after seating on the master model. The internal accuracy involved measuring the trueness and precision of the internal surface, while for the seating accuracy, the vertical discrepancy after seating the template was measured. To determine the difference among the groups, ANOVA test was applied followed by Tukey post hoc tests (α = 0.05). The H group had the lowest internal surface inaccuracy (trueness = 100.7 μm; precision = 69.1 μm) followed by A (trueness = 114.0 μm; precision = 77.3 μm) and V (trueness = 120.3 μm; precision = 82.4 μm) groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Similarly, the H group had the most superior seating accuracy (543.8 μm) followed by A group (1006.0 μm) and V group (1278.0 μm), respectively (p < 0.001). The orientation of 3D printing of implant surgical templates fabricated by the DLP desktop printer influenced the accuracy of the templates. The horizontally printed templates consistently exhibited superior accuracy. To reduce deviation of implant placement, it is recommended to print the surgical templates with their largest dimension parallel to the printing platform.

Young Children Allergic Rhinitis Questionnaire is a novel tool for allergy screening in children.

There are a limited number of validated questionnaires available for use in the clinical screening for allergic rhinitis (AR) in children ≤3years old. We developed a novel self-reported questionnaire and assessed its accuracy and reliability. After establishing a pool of items, which were screened by experts, the Young Children Allergic Rhinitis Questionnaire (YCAR-Q) was administered to a birth cohort in the Shunyi District (Beijing, China). The electronicversion of the YCAR-Q was distributed through the online community. Children were invited to visit a physician for examination. The diagnostic criteria included symptoms, physical examination findings, and specific serum immunoglobulin E tests. Each item on the questionnaire was evaluated, and the questionnaire's internal consistency, content validity, criterion-related validity, and diagnostic accuracy were assessed. The six-item YCAR-Q was distributed to 7423 parents, and 3037valid questionnaires were recovered. In total, 1521 children visited a physician for examination, of which 82 were found to have AR. In terms of internal consistency, Cronbach's coefficient was 0.777 and all six questionnaire items were retained. The average scale-level content validity index value was 1. The area under the curve was 0.759. Thetotalscoresranged from 0 to 6, and the cutoffvaluefor diagnosing AR was 3, with a sensitivity of 68.29% and a specificity of 76.58%. This cross-sectional study indicated that the YCAR-Q could detect AR in children ≤3years old. This brief and simple test may be used effectively in clinical practice.

STopTox: An in Silico Alternative to Animal Testing for Acute Systemic and Topical Toxicity.

Background:Modern chemical toxicology is facing a growing need to Reduce, Refine, and Replace animal tests (Russell 1959) for hazard identification. The most common type of animal assays for acute toxicity assessment of chemicals used as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, or in cosmetic products is known as a “6-pack” battery of tests, including three topical (skin sensitization, skin irritation and corrosion, and eye irritation and corrosion) and three systemic (acute oral toxicity, acute inhalation toxicity, and acute dermal toxicity) end points.Methods:We compiled, curated, and integrated, to the best of our knowledge, the largest publicly available data sets and developed an ensemble of quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) models for all six end points. All models were validated according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) QSAR principles, using data on compounds not included in the training sets.Results:In addition to high internal accuracy assessed by cross-validation, all models demonstrated an external correct classification rate ranging from 70% to 77%. We established a publicly accessible Systemic and Topical chemical Toxicity (STopTox) web portal (https://stoptox.mml.unc.edu/) integrating all developed models for 6-pack assays.Conclusions:We developed STopTox, a comprehensive collection of computational models that can be used as an alternative to in vivo 6-pack tests for predicting the toxicity hazard of small organic molecules. Models were established following the best practices for the development and validation of QSAR models. Scientists and regulators can use the STopTox portal to identify putative toxicants or nontoxicants in chemical libraries of interest. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9341

CT-based radiomics to predict muscle invasion in bladder cancer

This study investigated the feasibility of a computed tomography (CT)-based radiomics prediction model to evaluate muscle invasive status in bladder cancer. Patients who underwent CT urography at two medical centers from October 2014 to May 2020 and had bladder urothelial carcinoma confirmed by postoperative histopathology were retrospectively enrolled. In total, 441 cases were collected and randomized into a training cohort (n= 293), an internal testing cohort (n= 73), and an external testing cohort (n= 75). The images were first filtered, and then, 1218 features were extracted. The best features related to muscle invasiveness of bladder cancer were identified by ANOVA. A prediction model was built by using the logistic regression method. Statistical analysis was performed by plotting the receiver operating characteristic curve. Indicators of the diagnostic performance of the prediction model, including sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under curve (AUC), were evaluated. In the training, internal testing, and external testing cohorts, the prediction model diagnosed muscle-invasive bladder cancer with AUCs of 0.885 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.841-0.929), 0.820 (95% CI 0.698-0.941), and 0.784 (95% CI 0.674-0.893), respectively. In the internal testing cohort, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the model were 0.667 (95% CI 0.387-0.870), 0.845 (95% CI 0.721-0.922), and 0.782 (95% CI 0.729-0.827), respectively. In the external testing cohort, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the model were 0.742 (95% CI 0.551-0.873), 0.750 (95% CI 0.594-0.863), and 0.782 (95% CI 0.729-0.827), respectively. CT-based radiomics prediction model can evaluate muscle invasiveness of bladder cancer before surgery with a good diagnostic performance. • CT-based radiomics model can evaluate muscle invasive status in bladder cancer. • The radiomics model shows good diagnostic performance to differentiate muscle-invasive bladder cancer from non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. • This preoperative CT-based prediction method might complement MR evaluation of bladder cancer and supplement biopsy.

Direct Georeferencing UAV-SfM in High-Relief Topography: Accuracy Assessment and Alternative Ground Control Strategies along Steep Inaccessible Rock Slopes

Steep rock slopes present key opportunities and challenges within Earth science applications. Due to partial or complete inaccessibility, high-precision surveys of these high-relief landscapes remain a challenge. Direct georeferencing (DG) of unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) with advanced onboard GNSS receivers presents opportunities to generate high-resolution 3D datasets without ground-based access to the study area. However, recent research has revealed large vertical errors using DG that may prove problematic in near-vertical terrain. To address these concerns, we examined more than 75 photogrammetric UAV-datasets with various imaging angles (nadir, oblique, and combinations) and ground control scenarios, including DG, along a steep slope exposure. Results demonstrate that mean errors in DG scenarios are up to 0.12 m higher than datasets using integrated georeferencing with well-distributed GCPs. Inclusion of GCPs greatly reduced mean error values but had limited influence on precision (&lt;0.01 m) for any given imaging strategy. Use of multiple image angles resulted in the highest precisions, regardless of georeferencing strategy. These findings have implications for applications requiring the highest precision and accuracy (e.g., geotechnical engineering, hazard mitigation and mapping, and geomorphic change detection), which should consider using ground control whenever possible. However, for applications less concerned with absolute accuracy, our results show that DG datasets provide strong internal consistency and relative accuracy that may be suitable for high precision measurements within a model, without use of ground control.

Original vs compatible stock abutment- implant connection: An in vitro analysis of the internal accuracy and mechanical fatigue behaviour.

To assess the internal accuracy and mechanical behaviour under cyclic loading after artificial aging of implant-supported crowns restored with original stock abutments and two compatible non-original stock abutments. Forty-eight original internal hexagon connection implants were connected to different stock abutments. The samples were divided into three groups depending on the manufacturer of the abutment components (one original, two non-originals).Firstly, samples were cross-sectioned and observed by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to evaluate the internal accuracy in three different implant-abutment interface locations (platform, internal and screw).Further, cyclic fatigue loading was carried out according to the ISO Norm 14801 using dynamic testing machine under sinusoidal loads for 2,000,000 cycles at test frequencies of 2 Hz in air after thermocycling with 10,000 cycles at 5 °C and 55 °C in artificial saliva for aging simulation. Original abutment components presented the highest percentage of surface with tight contact with the implant in the three implant-abutment interfaces studied. Additionally, original configuration showed highest fatigue limit value and fatigue strength exponent (280 N and -0.054) than non-original 1 (225 N and -0.109) and non-original 2 (200 N and -0.101). Original abutment components provide better fit and mechanical results under cyclic loading than non-original configurations. The results obtained in this study seem to suggest that the use of the original stock abutments to implants leads to a more homogeneous load distribution between the components that can influence the long-term success of the restorations.

Ship-borne dynamic absolute gravity measurement based on cold atom gravimeter

Cold atom gravimeter is gradually developing towards miniaturization, dynamics and practicality. It is of great significance to apply it to deep and far sea absolute gravity measurement and underwater long navigation time and high-precision navigation. At present, most cold atom gravimeters are still in the state of laboratory static base or quasi-static base measurement, which is difficult to meet the gravity measurement needs in dynamic application scenarios. Therefore, the research on "static to dynamic" of cold atom interferometric gravity measurement is very urgent and key. In this paper, the basic principle of dynamic measurement is analyzed, the basic method of combined measurement of cold atom gravimeter and accelerometer is given, a set of absolute dynamic gravity measurement system based on cold atom gravimeter and inertial stabilization platform is built, and the ship-borne dynamic measurement experiment is carried out by using the combined measurement method of cold atom gravimeter and traditional accelerometer. Firstly, the continuous absolute gravity measurement for about 40 h is carried out in the laboratory static environment to preliminarily evaluate the performance of the cold atom gravimeter. The sensitivity is 447 µGal/&lt;inline-formula&gt;&lt;tex-math id="M2"&gt;\begin{document}$\sqrt {{\text{Hz}}} $\end{document}&lt;/tex-math&gt;&lt;alternatives&gt;&lt;graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="11-20220113_M2.jpg"/&gt;&lt;graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="11-20220113_M2.png"/&gt;&lt;/alternatives&gt;&lt;/inline-formula&gt;, and the long-term stability can reach 2.7 µgal. On this basis, the ship-borne experiment is conducted, the survey ship sails on the lake at a speed of about 4.6 kn, and the ship-borne absolute dynamic gravity measurement is carried out by means of repeated survey lines. After evaluation, the internal coincidence accuracy of the four repeated survey lines is 2.272 mGal, and the external coincidence accuracy values of the four voyages are 2.331, 1.837, 3.988 and 2.589 mGal respectively. Finally, according to the experimental results, the possible problems are further analyzed and summarized. This experimental study provides preliminary verification and technical scheme reference for marine absolute dynamic gravity measurement.

A New Method for Determining the Gravity Disturbance Vector in Strapdown Airborne Gravimetry

A two-step method for determining the gravity disturbance vector based on strapdown airborne gravimeter (SAG) and Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is proposed. First, a strapdown navigation algorithm and a Kalman filter are used to estimate and compensate for the biases of the accelerometers by the maneuvering flight of SAG. Second, the gravity disturbance vector equations of SAG are established, and the forward and smoothing Kalman filter tuned by the formula of the gravity parameter in the Markov stochastic process are used to estimate the gravity disturbance vector, the model of which is described by the second-order Markov stochastic process to separated it from the biases of the accelerometers. The validity of the above method is verified by processing the data of the repeated line flight test of SAG in the South China Sea, and the results reveal that the internal coincidence accuracy of gravity anomaly is better than 0.4 mGal, and that of the horizontal gravity disturbance is better than 2 mGal.

Marketing mix Quality of Service Influencing Customer Satisfaction in Spa Businesses in Bangkok, Thailand

In this marketing mix research, a quantitative study was conducted on the Quality of Service Influencing Customer Satisfaction in Spa Businesses in Bangkok, Thailand. This study aimed to investigate the marketing mix factors, the quality of service that influenced satisfaction, and the consistency of marketing mix factors with empirical data, service quality influences the satisfaction of spa business customers in Bangkok. A 5- level scale was used as a questionnaire instrument, consisting of three parts, with a sample of 430 spa business users. The internal accuracy of the IOC was in the 0.60-1.00 range. The Statistical Confidence (Marketing mix = 0.840, Service Quality = 0.823, and Service Satisfaction = 0.720). Model descriptive statistics using Mean and standard deviation, and SEM ( Structural Equation Model ). The results indicated that Service Quality positively influenced customer satisfaction with β=.576 and Marketing Mix positively influenced satisfaction with β=.297, accounting for 66% of the difference at a significant level of 0.0001. In the structural equation model with Chi-Square = 138.314, CMIN/df. =1.192, GFI =.964, AGFI =.952, NFI =.952, IFI =.992, CFI =.992, RMR =.024, and RMSEA =.021, RMR =.024, and RMSEA =.021, respectively. Results show a high level of consistency with empirical data.

The internal consistency and accuracy of automatically scored written receptive meaning-recall data: A preliminary study

Vocableveltest.org is a testing platform on which users can create online self-marking meaning-recall (reading or listening) and form-recall (typing) tests that address a number of limitations of the existing vocabulary level tests and vocabulary size tests. A major limitation of many existing vocabulary tests is the written receptive meaning-recognition (multiple-choice or matching) format which is associated with increased error due to guessing and decreased power to measure the type of vocabulary knowledge suitable for reading practice (McLean et al., 2020, Stewart et al., 2021a, Stoeckel et al., 2021), despite being designed for this purpose (Nation, 2012, Schmitt et al., 2020, Webb et al., 2017). Conversely, scoring meaning-recall tests by hand is labour-intensive, and the internal consistency and accuracy of automatically marked data are unknown. Thus, this study investigated the internal consistency and accuracy of automatically marked responses of 98 words from the fifth 100 most frequent words of English. This study tested for knowledge of high-frequency words as a more robust test of the marking system, as these words possess multiple-meaning senses, making their automatic marking problematic. Furthermore, the predicted limited range of learners’ knowledge of these 98 words was expected to result in data of a low internal consistency. However, the automatically marked data had a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.868) and was 98% similar to human marked meaning-recall responses.

A systematic review of instruments to measure health literacy of patients in emergency departments.

ObjectivesKnowledge of patient's health literacy (HL) in the emergency department (ED) can facilitate care delivery and reduce poor health outcomes. This systematic review investigates HL measurement instruments used in the ED and their psychometric properties, accuracy in detecting limited HL, and feasibility.MethodsWe searched in five biomedical databases for studies published between 1990 and January 2021, evaluating HL measurement instruments tested in the ED on internal consistency, criterion validity, diagnostic accuracy, or feasibility. Reviewers screened studies for relevance and assessed methodologic quality with published criteria. Data were synthesized around study and instrument characteristics and outcomes of interest.ResultsOf the 2,376 references screened, seven met our inclusion criteria. Studied instruments varied in objective (n = 5) and subjective (n = 6) measurement of HL skills, and in HL constructs measured. The Brief Health Literacy Screen (BHLS) and the Subjective Numeracy Scale demonstrate acceptable and good internal consistency across studies. None of the instruments perform consistently well on criterion validity. The Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine–Revised and the Newest Vital Sign, both objective tests with short administration times, demonstrate good accuracy in one study with high risk of bias. The BHLS, a short subjective measure, shows moderate accuracy across studies including one with low risk of bias.ConclusionsSeveral short instruments seem valid in measuring HL and accurate in detecting limited HL among ED patients, each with its practical advantages and disadvantages and specific measurement of HL. Additional research is necessary to develop a robust evidence base supporting these instruments.

Tier 4 maps of soil pH at 25 m resolution for the Netherlands

Accurate and high resolution spatial soil information is essential for efficient and sustainable land use, management and conservation. Since the establishment of digital soil mapping (DSM) and the goals set by the GlobalSoilMap (GSM) working group, great advances have been made to attain spatial soil information worldwide. Highly populated areas such as the Netherlands demand multi-functional land use, for which information of key soil properties such as pH is essential to make decisions. We a) provide soil pH prediction maps at six standard depth layers between 0 m to 2 m for the Netherlands at 25 m resolution, whereby the calibrated Quantile Regression Forest (QRF) model allows for prediction at any desired depth, and b) determine map accuracy using various statistical validation strategies and evaluation of prediction uncertainty. This study is unique among GSM products by including design-based inference of a probability sample as an external accuracy assessment and providing Tier 4 maps with spatially explicit accuracy thresholds for end-users based on GSM specifications.QRF models were tuned and calibrated using 15338 soil observations between 0 m and 2 m depth from 4230 locations and 195 covariates representing the soil-forming factors. The following statistical validation strategies were used for external accuracy assessment of map quality: out-of-bag, location-grouped 10-fold cross-validation, an independent validation set (5677 observations, 1367 locations) and a stratified random sample of the independent validation set separated by depth layer. Mean error (ME), root mean squared error (RMSE), model efficiency coefficient (MEC) and the prediction interval coverage probability (PICP) were calculated in all four strategies. In addition, the 90th prediction intervals were used to categorize each 25 m pixel into “none”, A, AA or AAA quality as a measure of the internal accuracy assessment.We obtained large differences depending on the four external accuracy assessment strategies and depth layer (ME = −0.08–0.20, RMSE = 0.41–0.83, MEC = 0.64–0.90, PICP of PI90 = 0.80–0.94). Design-based inference (LSK-SRS) was most indicative of map accuracy based on sampling theory (ME = 0.09–0.17, RMSE = 0.7–0.79, MEC = 0.73–0.82). QRF prediction uncertainty was slightly overestimated. Less than 10% of pixels were designated with AA and AAA and therefore we recommend future studies to also test the achievability of high quality thresholds for Tier 4 GSM maps. We believe these 3D soil pH maps at 25 m resolution are useful for a variety of end users and that our workflow can be applied elsewhere and for other soil properties to further diminish the gap of missing spatial soil information.

Studies on Three-Dimensional (3D) Accuracy Optimization and Repeatability of UAV in Complex Pit-Rim Landforms As Assisted by Oblique Imaging and RTK Positioning.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a novel technology for landform investigations, monitoring, as well as evolution analyses of long−term repeated observation. However, impacted by the sophisticated topographic environment, fluctuating terrain and incomplete field observations, significant differences have been found between 3D measurement accuracy and the Digital Surface Model (DSM). In this study, the DJI Phantom 4 RTK UAV was adopted to capture images of complex pit-rim landforms with significant elevation undulations. A repeated observation data acquisition scheme was proposed for a small amount of oblique-view imaging, while an ortho-view observation was conducted. Subsequently, the 3D scenes and DSMs were formed by employing Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) algorithms. Moreover, a comparison and 3D measurement accuracy analysis were conducted based on the internal and external precision by exploiting checkpoint and DSM of Difference (DoD) error analysis methods. As indicated by the results, the 3D scene plane for two imaging types could reach an accuracy of centimeters, whereas the elevation accuracy of the orthophoto dataset alone could only reach the decimeters (0.3049 m). However, only 6.30% of the total image number of oblique images was required to improve the elevation accuracy by one order of magnitude (0.0942 m). (2) An insignificant variation in internal accuracy was reported in oblique imaging-assisted datasets. In particular, SfM-MVS technology exhibited high reproducibility for repeated observations. By changing the number and position of oblique images, the external precision was able to increase effectively, the elevation error distribution was improved to become more concentrated and stable. Accordingly, a repeated observation method only including a few oblique images has been proposed and demonstrated in this study, which could optimize the elevation and improve the accuracy. The research results could provide practical and effective technology reference strategies for geomorphological surveys and repeated observation analyses in sophisticated mountain environments.

FON DUSHANBE CATALOGUE. RESULTS OF PROCESSING IN THE TYCHO-2 SYSTEM

In the Tycho-2 catalogue system the processing of 1529 photographic plates of the FON Dushanbe project from the collection of the Institute of Astrophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan was completed. The photographic plates with the size of 8º×8º (30x30 cm) were exposed in the zones from -8º to + 84º in the period of 1985-1992 years. In years 2017 – 2020 the plates were digitized using a Microtek ScanMaker 1000XL Plus scanner with the resolution of 1200 dpi, so the size of the digitized images is near 13000x13000 px. Based on the results of the processing of digitized images a catalogue of equatorial coordinates α, δ and B-magnitudes of stars for the northern hemisphere of the sky was created. The catalog contains about 30 million stars and galaxies for the epoch 1988.74. The average internal accuracy of the catalogue for all objects is σαδ = ±0.32" and σB = ± 0.11 m (for stars in the range of B = 8 m -14 m the errors are σαδ = ±0.19" and σB =±0.07 m ) for equatorial coordinates and B-magnitudes respectively. The convergence between calculated and reference positions from the Tycho-2 catalogue is σαδ = ±0.07" and the convergence with photoelectric B-magnitudes is σB = ±0.16 m . Five astronomical institutions took part in the processing of the photographic plates and in the creating of the FON-Dushanbe catalogue: Institute of Astrophysics of NAS of Tajikistan; Walter Hohmann Observatory, Essen, Germany; Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute UAS, Uzbekistan; Research Institute “Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory”, Ukraine and Main Astronomical Observatory NASU, Ukraine.

Extending the Cultivation Area of Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) Toward the South in Southeastern Subtropical China May Cause Increased Cold Damage.

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is an important nut tree species in its native areas in temperate and subtropical North America, and as an introduced crop in subtropical southeastern China as well. We used process-based modeling to assess the effects of climatic warming in southeastern China on the leaf-out phenology of pecan seedlings and the subsequent risk of “false springs,” i.e., damage caused by low temperatures occurring as a result of prematurely leafing out. In order to maximize the biological realism of the model used in scenario simulations, we developed the model on the basis of experiments explicitly designed for determining the responses modeled. The model showed reasonable internal accuracy when calibrated against leaf-out observations in a whole-tree chamber (WTC) experiment with nine different natural-like fluctuating temperature treatments. The model was used to project the timing of leaf-out in the period 2022–2099 under the warming scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 in southeastern China. Two locations in the main pecan cultivation area in the northern subtropical zone and one location south of the main cultivation area were addressed. Generally, an advancing trend of leaf-out was projected for all the three locations under both warming scenarios, but in the southern location, a delay was projected under RCP8.5 in many years during the first decades of the 21st century. In the two northern locations, cold damage caused by false springs was projected to occur once in 15–26 years at most, suggesting that pecan cultivation can be continued relatively safely in these two locations. Paradoxically, more frequent cold damage was projected for the southern location than for the two northern locations. The results for the southern location also differed from those for the northern locations in that more frequent cold damage was projected under the RCP4.5 warming scenario (once in 6 years) than under the RCP8.5 scenario (once in 11 years) in the southern location. Due to the uncertainties of the model applied, our conclusions need to be re-examined in an additional experimental study and further model development based on it; but on the basis of our present results, we do not recommend starting large-scale pecan cultivation in locations south of the present main pecan cultivation area in southeastern subtropical China.

Evaluation of Marginal and Internal Fit of a CAD/CAM Monolithic Zirconia-Reinforced Lithium Silicate Porcelain Laminate Veneer System.

To evaluate the marginal and internal fit of monolithic computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) ZLS (Vita Suprinity) glass ceramic porcelain laminate veneers (PLVs), in terms of marginal and internal gap widths, in comparison to monolithic lithium disilicate (LDS) [IPS e.max CAD] CAD/CAM veneers, and, also, to analyze the effect of incisal preparation designs (butt joint and chamfer), on the marginal and internal fit accuracy. Forty dental stone dies poured from impressions made of two master metal dies with different incisal preparation designs were scanned to produce digital models. Forty ceramic veneers were designed and milled using the virtual models-10 ZLS butt joint, 10 ZLS chamfer, 10 LDS butt joint, and 10 LDS chamfer. The monolithic ceramic veneers produced were then subjected to marginal and internal gap width evaluation using X-ray nano-computed tomography and computerized digital analysis (n = 10). Descriptive analyses of data were performed and the influence of "material" and "preparation design" on the marginal and internal fit of veneers was assessed using 2-way ANOVA (α = 0.05). Bonferroni post-hoc multiple comparison tests were used to further analyze the interactions between the material and preparation design after adjusting the α value by Holm-Bonferroni method (α = 0.01). Mean marginal and internal gaps for ZLS PLVs were 65 ±11 μm and 112 ±14 μm for butt joint, and 100 ±24 μm and 100 ±21 μm for chamfer, respectively. Corresponding values for LDS PLVs were 78 ±25 μm and 114 ±17 μm for butt joint, and 104 ±18 μm and 106 ±7 μm for chamfer. Marginal gap and internal gap differences between ZLS and LDS PLVs were not significant (marginal gap: F = 1.786, p = 0.190; internal gap: F = 0.807, p = 0.375). However, the preparation designs (butt joint and chamfer) differed significantly in terms of marginal gaps (F = 23.797, p = 0.000), but not internal gaps (F = 3.703; p = 0.059). Butt joint margins produced better marginal accuracy in terms of marginal gap, compared to chamfers, for ZLS CAD/CAM laminate veneers.