Reference Series Research Articles

Construction of an Industry Cycle Indicator for Profitability Prediction Analysis of Aggregate Firms in Bangladesh

Purpose of this study: In the aggregate industrial sector, government intervention to influence demand within the economy is generally counterproductive, while the optimal policy is to concentrate on supply-side reforms that help the economy become efficient. The objective of this study was to construct a unique industry cycle indicator for Bangladeshi aggregate firms within this industrial sector. The specific objectives were to assemble a unique industry cycle indicator which recommends early signals of a firm’s industrial vulnerability, identify industry cycle indicator turning points and evaluate the predictive performance of the industry. The industry cycle indicator model demonstrates the macroeconomic fluctuations in the industrial sector. Methodology: The industry cycle indicator was constructed following the approach of the Conference Board (2000). The result wasthen tested for robustness with a macro-stress test. Lagged independent variables were used in this study to allow early predictions by the ICI for the year in which the financial crisis happened. Main Findings: The industry cycle indicator model underplays the role of aggregate industrial efficiency in influencing the economic cycle. By forecasting directional changes, this leading indicator allows policymakers to be made aware of revolutions in the financial industry and to undertake early precautionary steps to prevent vulnerability. Here, the constructed industry cycle indicator demonstrates a remarkable lead time of around 6 months for predictions and outperforms by the leading against the reference series. Research Limitations/Implications: The industry cycle indicator model rejects the Keynesian approach and also rejects monetarism. It tends to be associated with neo-classical economics. The ICI generally assumes that shocks to productivity lead to economic fluctuations. In other words, a temporary fall in output is an inevitable consequence of a drop in productivity within the industrial sector. It also leads to adjustments to this new equilibrium and enables resources to discover more productive uses. Novelty/Originality: This research demonstrates that enhanced knowledge of components of the macro-prudential policy framework combined with the existence of a certain degree of standardisation of the macro-prudential tools and indicators is essential. This can significantly develop the capability of the financial markets supervisory authorities to forecast systemic risk and to avoid or reduce the consequences of industrial crises. The present study reflects a situation for upcoming researchers who intend to study and develop their interests in this area.

An update of IPCC climate reference regions for subcontinental analysis of climate model data: definition and aggregated datasets

Abstract. Several sets of reference regions have been used in the literature for the regional synthesis of observed and modelled climate and climate change information. A popular example is the series of reference regions used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Adaptation (SREX). The SREX regions were slightly modified for the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and used for reporting subcontinental observed and projected changes over a reduced number (33) of climatologically consistent regions encompassing a representative number of grid boxes. These regions are intended to allow analysis of atmospheric data over broad land or ocean regions and have been used as the basis for several popular spatially aggregated datasets, such as the Seasonal Mean Temperature and Precipitation in IPCC Regions for CMIP5 dataset. We present an updated version of the reference regions for the analysis of new observed and simulated datasets (including CMIP6) which offer an opportunity for refinement due to the higher atmospheric model resolution. As a result, the number of land and ocean regions is increased to 46 and 15, respectively, better representing consistent regional climate features. The paper describes the rationale for the definition of the new regions and analyses their homogeneity. The regions are defined as polygons and are provided as coordinates and a shapefile together with companion R and Python notebooks to illustrate their use in practical problems (e.g. calculating regional averages). We also describe the generation of a new dataset with monthly temperature and precipitation, spatially aggregated in the new regions, currently for CMIP5 and CMIP6, to be extended to other datasets in the future (including observations). The use of these reference regions, dataset and code is illustrated through a worked example using scatter plots to offer guidance on the likely range of future climate change at the scale of the reference regions. The regions, datasets and code (R and Python notebooks) are freely available at the ATLAS GitHub repository: https://github.com/SantanderMetGroup/ATLAS (last access: 24 August 2020), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3998463 (Iturbide et al., 2020).

A New Approach to Homogenize Global Subdaily Radiosonde Temperature Data from 1958 to 2018

AbstractThis study develops an innovative approach to homogenize discontinuities in both mean and variance in global subdaily radiosonde temperature data from 1958 to 2018. First, temperature natural variations and changes are estimated using reanalyses and removed from the radiosonde data to construct monthly and daily difference series. A penalized maximal F test and an improved Kolmogorov–Smirnov test are then applied to the monthly and daily difference series to detect spurious shifts in the mean and variance, respectively. About 60% (40%) of the changepoints appear in the mean (variance), and ~56% of them are confirmed by available metadata. The changepoints display a country-dependent pattern likely due to changes in national radiosonde networks. Mean segment length is 7.2 (14.6) years for the mean (variance)-based detection. A mean (quantile)-matching method using up to 5 years of data from two adjacent mean (variance)-based segments is used to adjust the earlier segments relative to the latest segment. The homogenized series is obtained by adding the two homogenized difference series back to the subtracted reference series. The homogenized data exhibit more spatially coherent trends and temporally consistent variations than the raw data, and lack the spurious tropospheric cooling over North China and Mongolia seen in several reanalyses and raw datasets. The homogenized data clearly show a warming maximum around 300 hPa over 30°S–30°N, consistent with model simulations, in contrast to the raw data. The results suggest that spurious changes are numerous and significant in the radiosonde records and our method can greatly improve their homogeneity.

Cine cleptómano: Shame (2011) de Steve McQueen y la intertextualidad

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar, según la metodología del semiólogo Gérard Genette, las relaciones transtextuales localizables en Shame (2011), película dirigida por el director británico Steve McQueen. Se identifican y analizan una serie de casos de alusiones intertextuales que conectarían el filme de McQueen no solo con otros de la historia del cine, sino también con las más grandes firmas del arte moderno. La superposición de diferentes láminas textuales y artísticas convierte a Shame en un valioso palimpsesto transtextual que proyecta su propio significado a partir de la suma de las significaciones de todos sus referentes subyacentes: en otras palabras, convierte a Shame en un buen testimonio de «cine cleptómano».

Analysing the Return on Asset to Construct Foretelling Indicator for Bangladeshi Banking Sector

Financial institutions and banks are required to follow mechanisms to monitor the positions and create stimulas for sensible risk-taking by divisions a well as individuals. Risk measurement comprises of the quantification of risk exposures, whereas risk management demonstrates to the overall procedures by which managers fulfill these needs to identify the risks and recognise the category of the risks it faces. This research targerts on the economic instability faced by banks in financial arena in terms of the crises affairs in regard of economic distress. Here, the methodology followed is based on the CAMELS framework variables. CAMELS is a short form stands for: capital adequacy (C), asset (A), management (M), earnings (E), liquidity (L) and sensitivity to market risk (S). Based on these nomenclature, a couple of variables should be selected, such as capital asset ratio, cost income ratio, non-performing loan, non-interest income as component series and return on asset (ROA) as the reference series to identify turning points of economic volatility in banking sector of Bangladesh. Thus, by forecasting the directional deviations it could make financial policymakers aware of the changes at early stage in financial markets and banking industry and privilege them to undertake precautionary steps for preventive purposes. The constructed MPI should have a incredible lead time of about 5 to 7 months on an average in case of prediction against leading for the reference series. By renovating financial efficacy of venture banks, Bangladesh also should recover their subsequent banking system to execute these suggestions.

The POA Application in the Teaching of Chinese Writing as a Foreign Language

The old style of traditional teaching mode is to take “text as the core”. A whole new teaching approach was put forward by a famous professor and the approach is named as production oriented approach (POA), which is pulling people’s attention on both “input” and “production”. From the essence of these two elements, we know that it is for sure the innovation and development of traditional teaching mode is great. Also, there is also a disjointed situation between learning and using during the teaching. Based on the POA, this paper selects lesson 25 “developing Chinese intermediate Writing II” as an example, expects to explore the effective way of production so as to provide a series of reference for the subsequent writing teaching design from three aspects including driving, facilitating and evaluating.

Fine Granularity Access in Interactive Compression of 360-Degree Images Based on Rate-adaptive Channel Codes

In this paper, we propose a new interactive compression scheme for omnidirectional images. This requires two characteristics: efficient compression of data, to lower the storage cost, and random access ability to extract part of the compressed stream requested by the user (for reducing the transmission rate). For efficient compression, data needs to be predicted by a series of references that have been pre-defined and compressed. This contrasts with the spirit of random accessibility. We propose a solution for this problem based on incremental codes implemented by rate-adaptive channel codes. This scheme encodes the image while adapting to any user request and leads to an efficient coding that is flexible in extracting data depending on the available information at the decoder. Therefore, only the information that is needed to be displayed at the user's side is transmitted during the user's request, as if the request was already known at the encoder. The experimental results demonstrate that our coder obtains a better transmission rate than the state-of-the-art tile-based methods at a small cost in storage. Moreover, the transmission rate grows gradually with the size of the request and avoids a staircase effect, which shows the perfect suitability of our coder for interactive transmission.

Historical trends of rain and air temperature in the Dominican Republic

AbstractThe present work aims to characterize trends in air temperature and precipitation from the late 1930s to 2007 in the Dominican Republic, establishing whether some climate change patterns can be identified in the distribution of climate types of this country. The time series to be analysed present many quality issues and challenges, essentially due to abundance of missing data and inhomogeneous measurements. A number of statistical corrections have hence been applied: time series have been first filtered, then homogenized with respect to purposely built reference series, then completed through multiple imputation. Trend estimation has finally been performed on the annual and monthly scale. The analysis of homogenized and imputed series shows that significant trends occurred since 1930s, both in rain and air temperature. A pattern in the distribution of rain trends is evident in the country during the period 1939–2007, which reflects the influence of the orographic structure of the country on the atmospheric dynamics that dominate in the Caribbean region: significant negative annual trends are detectable in leeward areas, behind the main mountainous chains, while positive trends are generally evident in windward regions, exposed to trade winds. All the analysed series demonstrate an increase in air temperature: in Santo Domingo, minimum air temperature increased 3.0 ± 0.5°C since 1936, while the maximum air temperature increased 1.8 ± 0.4°C in the same period. Furthermore, an increase of rain erosivity can be detected on the South coast of the country, in some areas of the Cordillera Central and in the Northeast. Another important result is the increase of potential evapotranspiration, while significant uniform trends cannot be identified for extreme events.

Building Vulnerability Predictive Indicator for the Banking Sector

Abstract
 For risk and capital measurement, banks and other financial institutions need to meet forthcoming regulatory requirements. However, it is a serious issue to think that meeting regulatory requirements is the sole or even the most important reason for establishing a scientific, sound risk management system. To direct capital to activities with the best risk/reward ratios, managers need reliable risk measures. To stay within the limits imposed by readily available liquidity, by creditors, customers, and regulators, they need estimates of the size of potential losses. They need mechanisms to monitor positions and create incentives for prudent risk-taking by divisions and individuals. Risk measurement deals with the quantification of risk exposures, whereas risk management refers to the overall process by which managers satisfy these needs and follows to define a business strategy, to detect the risks to which are visible, quantifying those risks, and to control and understand the nature of the risks it faces. This research focuses on the economic vulnerability faced by banks in the financial sector in terms of the crises issues perspective of economic distress. Here, the methodology followed is based on the CAMELS framework variables. CAMELS is an abbreviation for: capital adequacy (C), asset (A), management (M), earnings (E), liquidity (L) and sensitivity to market risk (S). Based on these terminologies, a couple of variables should be selected, such as capital asset ratio, non-performing loan, cost income ratio, industry production index, non-interest income, reserve of gold, inflation, stock turnover ratio, real interest rate as component series and return on equity (RoE) as reference series to identify the turning points of economic vulnerability in the banking sector in Bangladesh. Thus, by forecasting the directional changes it could make policymakers aware of changes in the financial markets and banking economy and allow them to undertake preventive steps for remedial purposes. The constructed MPI should have a remarkable lead time of about not less than 6 months on average in case of prediction against the leading for reference Series.By mending the financial efficacy of investment banks. Bangladesh also should improve their corresponding banking system to implement these suggestions.

Bibliometric evaluation of 2000–2019 publications on functional near-infrared spectroscopy

This study aimed to explore and analyze research trends and frontiers on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in the past 20 years and identify collaboration networks. fNIRS-related publications from 2000 to 2019 were retrieved from the Web of Science database. A total of 1727 publications satisfied the search criteria. Bibliometric visualization analysis of active authors, journals, institutions, countries, references, and keywords were conducted. The number of annual related publications remarkably increased over the years. Fallgatter published the largest number of fNIRS-related papers (83). Neuroimage not only had the largest number of papers published in the first 10 journals (157 articles) but also had the highest impact factor (IF, 2018 ​= ​5.812). The University of Tubingen had the highest number of fNIRS-related publications in the past 20 years. The United States ranked first in terms of comprehensive influence in this field. In recent years, burst keywords (e.g., infant, social interaction, and older adult) and a series of references with citation burst provided clues on research frontiers.

Design Parameters for the Early Development Phase of Battery Electric Vehicles

The derivation of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) architecture represents a challenging task for car manufacturers. For the early development of combustion engine architectures, the required design parameters can be derived from the analysis of previously-built model series. Regarding BEV architectures, the manufacturers do not yet have a reference series of vehicles on the basis of which they can derive the essential design parameters. Therefore, these parameters are mainly estimated at high cost in the early development phase. To avoid cost-intensive changes in the further course of development it is crucial to choose the right set of design parameters. For this reason, the aim of this paper is the identification of a minimum set of design parameters, derived from the current state-of-the-art of vehicle development by a structured literature comparison. We group the results according to our definition of vehicle architecture and discuss each identified parameter to explain its relevance. The sum of all parameters presented in this paper builds a minimum set of design parameters, which can be employed as a guideline for the definition of BEV architectures in the early development stage.

Neuromuscular diseases and Covid-19: Advices from scientific societies and early observations in Italy

The risk of a severe course of COVID-19 is increased in patients suffering with Neuromuscular disorders (NMD) due to the following comorbidities: muscular weakness of the chest and diaphragm, use of ventilator supports and/or presence of tracheostoma, weak airway clearance, cardiac involvement, rhabdomyolysis, comoribities, steroid and immunosuppressant treatments. NMD display varying levels of disability in people with the same diagnosis, thus it is difficult to give COVID-19 related general recommendations. Present advicess were designed for patients, caregivers, general neurologists and non-specialist medical providers. They address frequently asked questions and basic service requirements and are supported by a series of in-depth references. In this truly unprecedented situation, the clinical management of neuromuscular patients during the COVID-19 epidemics - taking into account the related difficulties (patients who have suspended ERT, difficulty in contacting the doctors, etc.) - we propose to use a telemedicine device, i.e. the AIGkit application (AIGkit app), promoted and developed in 2018 by Fabrizio Seidita on behalf of the Italian Glycogenosis Association (AIG). The app was born to allow patients with Pompe disease to receive as far as possible continuous monitoring of their health. The support of all colleagues of the Italian Association for Myology (AIM) should extend its use to all NMD patients and beyond.

Neuromuscular diseases and Covid-19: Advices from scientific societies and early observations in Italy.

The risk of a severe course of COVID-19 is increased in patients suffering with Neuromuscular disorders (NMD) due to the following comorbidities: muscular weakness of the chest and diaphragm, use of ventilator supports and/or presence of tracheostoma, weak airway clearance, cardiac involvement, rhabdomyolysis, comoribities, steroid and immunosuppressant treatments. NMD display varying levels of disability in people with the same diagnosis, thus it is difficult to give COVID-19 related general recommendations. Present advicess were designed for patients, caregivers, general neurologists and non-specialist medical providers. They address frequently asked questions and basic service requirements and are supported by a series of in-depth references. In this truly unprecedented situation, the clinical management of neuromuscular patients during the COVID-19 epidemics - taking into account the related difficulties (patients who have suspended ERT, difficulty in contacting the doctors, etc.) - we propose to use a telemedicine device, i.e. the AIGkit application (AIGkit app), promoted and developed in 2018 by Fabrizio Seidita on behalf of the Italian Glycogenosis Association (AIG). The app was born to allow patients with Pompe disease to receive as far as possible continuous monitoring of their health. The support of all colleagues of the Italian Association for Myology (AIM) should extend its use to all NMD patients and beyond.

Homogenizing GPS Integrated Water Vapor Time Series: Benchmarking Break Detection Methods on Synthetic Data Sets

AbstractWe assess the performance of different break detection methods on three sets of benchmark data sets, each consisting of 120 daily time series of integrated water vapor differences. These differences are generated from the Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements at 120 sites worldwide, and the numerical weather prediction reanalysis (ERA‐Interim) integrated water vapor output, which serves as the reference series here. The benchmark includes homogeneous and inhomogeneous sections with added nonclimatic shifts (breaks) in the latter. Three different variants of the benchmark time series are produced, with increasing complexity, by adding autoregressive noise of the first order to the white noise model and the periodic behavior and consecutively by adding gaps and allowing nonclimatic trends. The purpose of this “complex experiment” is to examine the performance of break detection methods in a more realistic case when the reference series are not homogeneous. We evaluate the performance of break detection methods with skill scores, centered root mean square errors (CRMSE), and trend differences relative to the trends of the homogeneous series. We found that most methods underestimate the number of breaks and have a significant number of false detections. Despite this, the degree of CRMSE reduction is significant (roughly between 40% and 80%) in the easy to moderate experiments, with the ratio of trend bias reduction is even exceeding the 90% of the raw data error. For the complex experiment, the improvement ranges between 15% and 35% with respect to the raw data, both in terms of RMSE and trend estimations.

Creep Assessment of the Cement Matrix of Self-Compacting Concrete Modified with the Addition of Nanoparticles Using the Indentation Method

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the modification of cement composites with finer materials, including nanoparticles. Multi-scale studies are needed to fully assess the effect of nanoparticles and provide a complete overview of their impact on both the structure of an obtained material and its important mechanical parameters, such as creep. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill the knowledge gap in the literature concerning the assessment of the creep of a cement matrix of self-compacting concrete modified with the addition of SiO2, TiO2, and Al2O3 nanoparticles using the indentation method. Depending on the type of used nanoparticles, we found an increase or decrease of the creep coefficient CIT in comparison to the reference series. The obtained results were scrupulously analyzed in terms of statistics, which enabled the conclusion that the addition of nanoparticles does not significantly affect the creep of the cement matrix of self-compacting concrete. The methodology used in this paper allowed us to shorten the time needed to assess the creep phenomenon compared to traditional methods and fill the corresponding knowledge gap in the literature.

Unworking community: cultural imaginaries, common life, and the politics of division

ABSTRACT The theorisation of community as a central aspect of culture remains one of Raymond Williams’ most notable contributions. This article revisits some of its central points and critical contexts with the aim of interrogating the continuing relevance of community to any cultural project committed to the political critique of capitalism. The principal focus of the article rests on the notion, already advanced by Williams in the fifties, that any radical project of social transformation must necessarily target the dynamics of division without which capitalism itself is inconceivable. In its attempt to reconstruct the political significance of community, the article examines Williams’ debate with fellow British New Leftist E.P. Thompson and his own modified understanding of the concept in later years across the critical contexts that shaped it. The article ultimately argues (via a series of literary and historical references, including a discussion of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe) that the social project of capitalism is inseparable from a strategy of ‘unworking’ or disarticulation of common life.

Research on a multi-attribute comprehensive evaluation system for unmanned ground vehicles

To promote the development of unmanned ground vehicles, it is very necessary to establish a scientific and reasonable evaluation system for unmanned ground vehicles. This paper analyses the structure and operation of unmanned ground vehicles, and also proposes a multi-attribute comprehensive evaluation system for unmanned ground vehicles. Based on six aspects including environment perception, communication command, behavioural decision-making, human-computer interaction, weapon system and mobile platform, a new evaluation indicator system is established. In the quantitative process of qualitative indicators, Z-number theory is introduced to better describe the uncertainty degree of judgment and reasoning in human’s understanding of complex things. In order to make the indicator weights more scientific, the combined weighting model with analytic hierarchy process and information entropy is adopted for weight analysis, which not only takes into account the influence of evaluation experts on weights, but also reduces the subjective arbitrariness of weights. The least-squares grey relational analysis method is used to analyse the correlation between the comparison series and the reference series, and a comprehensive quantitative evaluation result of the unmanned ground vehicles is obtained. The evaluation examples of unmanned ground vehicles show that the proposed evaluation system can quantitatively evaluate the overall technical performance of unmanned ground vehicles. This evaluation system has high reference value for the evaluation of other complex weapons.

Economic Development and Cyclical Sentiment of Russian Entrepreneurs After the Recession in 2014-2016

The core objective of the study, results of which are summarized in this article, is to determine the effectiveness of using assessments of economic agents in the analysis of sectoral and macroeconomic development. The paper tests the hypothesis of the cross impact of economic growth and entrepreneurial behavior. It is assumed that economical cyclicity is produced not only by macroeconomic shocks, but also by the impulses generated in the business environment. The sentiment and expectations of entrepreneurs are considered in this case both as a consequence of the ongoing economic events, and as a warning factor affecting the economic decision-making.To test the hypothesis, the authors used results of all sectoral business tendency monitoring of the HSE and Rosstat, which reflect the aggregate sentiment and expectations of about 24 thousand entrepreneurs and 5 thousand consumers. The monitoring results are combined into the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), which calculation algorithm is based on the generally accepted international methodology and is updated taking into account the specifics of the Russian economy.The joint decomposition of the time series of the ESI and the reference series of GDP growth with extracting growth cycles and the dating turning points confirms the cyclical correspondence of the dynamics of the analyzed indicators. An empirical consistency of ESI and GDP time series is revealed based on cross-correlations, a long-term linear regression and through a two-dimensional vector autoregression model. This model is used for short-term forecasting; the forecasting results indicate an unstable and slow acceleration of GDP growth in 2020.Given the ESI calculation efficiency and a noticeable advance in its publication compared to publication of official data on GDP growth, as well as ESI statistical effectiveness, it can be concluded that the aggregate estimates of entrepreneurial and consumer sentiment accumulated over a 20-year period are acceptable and reliable as leading information on economic growth in the country.

Impact of Temperature Changes and Freeze—Thaw Cycles on the Behaviour of Asphalt Concrete Submerged in Water with Sodium Chloride

One of the main applications of salt in civil engineering is its use as a de-icing agent on roads in cold areas. The purpose of this research is to find out the mechanical behaviour of an asphalt concrete when it is subjected to temperature changes and freeze–thaw cycles. These temperature interactions have been carried out for dry specimens, specimens submerged in distilled water and specimens submerged in salt water (5% of sodium chloride, NaCl). An AC16 Surf D bituminous mixture was evaluated under three types of temperature interaction: three reference series remained at a controlled temperature of 20 °C, another three series were subjected to five freeze–thaw cycles and the last three series have been subjected to one year outside in Santander (Spain). The mechanical behaviour of the mixture was determined by Indirect Tensile Strength Test (ITS), Water Sensitivity Test (ITSR) and Wheel Tracking Test, Dynamic Modulus Test and Fatigue Tests. The results of the tests show that, although the temperature changes have a negative effect on the mechanical properties, salt water protects the aggregate-binder adhesive, maintains the mechanical strength, increases the number of load cycles for any strain range and reduces the time that the mixture is in contact with frozen water.

Investigating the impact of the temporal resolution of MODIS data on measured phenology in the prairie grasslands

ABSTRACT The temporal resolution of vegetation indices (VIs) determines the details of seasonal variation in vegetation dynamics observed by remote sensing, but little has been known about how the temporal resolution of VIs affects the retrieval of land surface phenology (LSP) of grasslands. This study evaluated the impact of temporal resolution of MODIS NDVI, EVI, and per-pixel green chromatic coordinate (GCCpp) on the quality and accuracy of the estimated LSP metrics of prairie grasslands. The near-surface PheonoCam phenology data for grasslands centered over Lethbridge PhenoCam grassland site were used as the validation datasets due to the lack of in situ observations for grasslands in the Prairie Ecozone. MODIS Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) data from 2001 to 2017 were used to compute the time series of daily reference and to simulate 2–32 day MODIS VIs. The daily reference and simulated multi-day time series were fitted with the double logistic model, and the LSP metrics were then retrieved from the modeled daily time series separately. Comparison within satellite-based estimates showed no significant difference in the phenological metrics derived from daily reference and multi-day VIs resampled at a time step less than 18 days. Moreover, a significant decline in the ability of multi-day VIs to predict detailed temporal dynamics of daily reference VIs was revealed as the temporal resolution increased. Besides, there were a variety of trends for the onset of phenological transitions as the temporal resolution of VIs changed from 1 to 32 days. Comparison with PhenoCam phenology data presented small and insignificant differences in the mean bias error (MBE) and the mean absolute error (MAE) of grassland phenological metrics derived from daily, 8-, 10-, 14-, and 16-day MODIS VIs. Overall, this study suggested that the MODIS VIs resampled at a time step less than 18 days are favorable for the detection of grassland phenological transitions and detailed seasonal dynamics in the Prairie Ecozone.