Small-scale Areas Research Articles

A 0.075 mm2 BJT-based temperature sensor with a one-point trimmed 3[formula omitted] inaccuracy of ±0.97 °C from −40 °C to 120 °C

This paper presents a bipolar junction transistor (BJT)-based CMOS temperature sensor for high accuracy, small-scale area, and low power consumption. A structure with a feedback amplifier biasing NPN transistors, combined with dynamic element matching (DEM), is proposed to avoid the effects of errors arising from the limited current gain of substrate PNP transistors in deep-submicron processes. Moreover, the switched capacitor (SC) integrators employ two single-stage cascode amplifiers for alternating cyclic sampling and integration, effectively simplifying the circuit design and reducing the operating voltage. The proposed sensor is fabricated with a standard 180 nm CMOS process, occupying an active chip area of 0.075 mm2. It consumes 39.1 μW of power at room temperature, operating with a supply voltage of 1.8 V. The measurements indicate that the sensor exhibits an inaccuracy of ±0.97 °C (3σ) across the temperature range from −40 °C to 120 °C following a single-point temperature calibration.

Redox-Responsive Nanopesticides Based on Natural Polymers for Environmentally Safe Delivery of Pesticides with Enhanced Foliar Dispersion and Washout Resistance.

Based on the modified cross-linking of the degradable natural polymers chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) and gelatin (GEL) via introduction of a functional bridge 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid, this study constructed an environmentally responsive dinotefuran (DNF) delivery system (DNF@COS-SS-GEL). The introduction of the disulfide bond (-S-S-) endowed DNF@COS-SS-GEL with redox-responsive properties, allowing for the rapid release of pesticides when stimulated by glutathione (GSH) in the simulated insect. Compared with commercial DNF suspension concentrate (DNF-SC), DNF@COS-SS-GEL showed superior wet spreading and retention performance on cabbage leaves with a reduced contact angle (57°) at 180 s and 4-fold increased retention capacity after rainfall washout. Nanoencapsulation effectively improved the UV-photostability with only a 31.4% decomposition rate of DNF@COS-SS-GEL at 96 h. The small scale and large specific surface area resulted in excellent uptake and transportation properties in plants as well as higher bioactivity against Plutella xylostella larvae. This study will help promote sustainable agricultural development by reducing environmental pollution through improved pesticide utilization.

The use of slime molds as a design guide in urban design, A case of Turkey/İzmir/Karabağlar

Urban design is a complex and challenging process that encompasses many disciplines, such as urban planning, architecture, and landscape. On the urban design scale, it’s important to consider short paths compatible with pedestrian behaviors, especially in public spaces, in terms of designing healthier and more accessible urban areas. But conventional design processes, which are mostly based on the designer’s observations or intuitions, fail to satisfy user behaviors in usage. Studies reveal that P. polycephalum slime molds have the potential to guide good urban planning. However, it is noteworthy that there are not enough studies yet in the disciplines of architecture and urban design on the design of pedestrian ways in small-scale areas, and there is a need for research. In this direction, this study is the first step of a method that is aimed at being developed for the disciplines of architecture and urban design in the long process. The main hypothesis is that a design template can be created as a result of graphical analysis of living slime mold experiments on the map, especially in undesigned empty urban areas, for architects and planners, and it can provide creative suggestions to the designer. In this direction, in this study, a graphic design template proposal was created based on live cell experiments at a site in Izmir, Turkey, which the local government aims to design as a pedestrianized zone and open for competition. Slime molds are used directly as a computer rather than as inspiration for a computer, and a pedestrian-oriented design template proposal develops with the behavioral models of slime molds. Compared to the award-winning designs developed for the same area, it has been shown that even within the framework of simple graphical measurements, it gives better results and creates more optimal routes on main and side roads. It is envisaged that this study can play a pioneering role for studies involving more detailed mathematical models that can begin in the field of architecture and urban design.

Urban form and socioeconomic deprivation in Isfahan: An Urban MorphoMetric approach

Studies on urban deprivation date back to the 19th Century but remain important today due to rising levels of inequality and social segregation. However, while social causes of deprivation have been investigated, the role of the built environment remains neglected. Existing studies either provide broad coverage at the expense of detailed morphological descriptions or offer meticulous accounts of small-scale areas without capturing the broader context. This paper addresses such a gap by investigating the relationship between urban form, measured at the building level, and deprivation across the entire city of Isfahan, Iran. By doing so, we position this study in the tradition of urban morphology. Operationally, we, first, identify urban types (UTs), that is, distinctive patterns of urban form, by clustering 200+ morphological characters; second, we explore the relationship between proportion of buildings belonging to each UT, in each neighbourhood, and deprivation; third, we offer detailed descriptions of the UTs most strongly associated with deprivation, discuss possible drivers for the observed correlations, and link findings to relevant literature in the field. Twelve UTs are identified, with four showing the strongest impacts on predicting deprivation. This study brings novel insights on the morphology of deprivation of Isfahan, while contextualising them with respect to domain-specific studies, which have predominantly focused on Western cities. The proposed methodology can be replicated to explore morphologies of deprivation in different contexts, further our understanding of the topic, and potentially inform planning and policy making.

Estimation of the Ecosystem Service Value of the Yellow River Delta-Laizhou Bay Coastal Zone Considering Regional Differences and Social Development.

With economic and societal development, the ecological environment of the Yellow River Delta-Laizhou Bay coastal zone has been seriously damaged. Exploring the changes in land use and ecosystem service value (ESV) is essential to ecological construction of the region. The random forest classification method was used for land cover interpretation of the four periods of remote sensing images in the study area from 1990 to 2020. Newly calculated regional difference coefficients and social development coefficients were used to construct a dynamic ESV assessment model and to study its changes from overall and sea‒land gradient perspectives. The results showed that construction land, salt pans, aquaculture ponds, and inland water masses expanded rapidly, while cropland, tidal flats, and shallow waters shrank sharply over the past 30 years. The ESV in the study area has continued to decrease from 34.47 billion yuan in 1990 to 25.23 billion yuan in 2020, a total decrease of 9.23 billion yuan. This is mostly due to the encroachment of construction land, salt pans, and aquaculture ponds, and the flow of ecosystem services from high-value land cover types (tidal flats, herbaceous wetlands, and cropland) to medium- and low-value land cover types. Moreover, the land cover transfer and ESVs exhibited a decreasing trend from sea to land, with significant sea-land gradient differences. Land conversion is most common in the 0-15 km coastal zone, mainly from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands, where the ESV also decreases rapidly. Considering the regional differences and social development in this paper, the ESV of small-scale areas can be reasonably evaluated to explore the characteristics and causes of changes in land use and ESVs, which can provide an important reference for ecological protection and land use management in the region.

Vehicle Tracking System for Small Scale Areas Using Wireless Sensor Network

A real-time vehicle tracking system is designed for specific covering zones based on wireless sensor network (WSN) technology. In this designed WSN infrastructure the location of the vehicles is tracked using a Neo-6MV2 UBLOX GPS module which is placed on the vehicles. Furthermore, the Enhanced ShockBurst protocol is employed to transmit wirelessly acquired location data to a master/center (destination) node using the NRF24101+PA LNA modules. The location information of the vehicle is graphically represented for a security center using an ADO.net-based desktop application. It is used to record the vehicle location information at certain time intervals (minutes) in the MSSQL database. This system intimates the system administrator about the long ques/waiting time of vehicles outside the premeditated area. After the successful deployment of the proposed WSN system, it has been substantiated that the proposed system can be used as an alternative to other wireless network infrastructures like WIFI or GSM for the small-scale areas vehicle tracking.

Analysis Of The Mangrove Structure In The Dong Rui Commune Based On Multispectral Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Image Data

Mangroves are one of the most important types of wetlands in coastal areas and perform many different functions. Assessing the structure and function of mangroves is a premise for the management, monitoring and development of this most diverse and vulnerable ecosystem. In this study, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Phantom 4 Multispectral was used to analyse the structure of a mangrove forest area of approximately 50 hectares in Dong Rui commune, Tien Yen district, Quang Ninh Province – one of the most diverse wetland ecosystems in northern Vietnam. Based on the visual classification method combined with the results of field taxonomic sampling, a mangrove tree classification map was established for UAV with three species, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Rhizophora stylosa, and Kandelia obovata, achieving an overall accuracy = 86.28%, corresponding to a Kappa coefficient =0.84. From the images obtained from the UAV, we estimated and developed maps and assessed the difference in tree height and four vegetation indices, including the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and green chlorophyll index (GCI), for three mangrove plant species in the flying area. Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Rhizophora stylosa reach an average height of 4 to 5 m and are distributed mainly in high tide areas. Meanwhile, Kandelia obovata has a lower height (ranging from 2 to 4 m), distributed in low-tide areas, near frequent flows. This study confirms the superiority of UAV with red edge and near-infrared wave bands in classifying and studying mangrove structures in small-scale areas.

Ultrahigh energy density BeN monolayer: A nodal-line semimetal anode for Li-ion batteries

Topological quantum materials have significant potential for application as anode materials due to their intrinsically high electronic conductivity against perturbation from defects or impurities. In this work, we utilize a combination of a swarm-intelligence structure search method and first-principles calculations to predict the global minimum of a BeN monolayer, suggesting it as a promising nodal-line semimetal anode for Li-ion batteries. BeN anode demonstrates a substantial specific capacity of 3489 mAh/g and a low average open-circuit voltage of 0.15 V, resulting in an ultrahigh energy density of 9681 mWh/g (referenced to the standard hydrogen electrode potential). This energy density represents the highest among all two-dimensional (2D) topological quantum anodes and surpasses that of most currently known 2D anode materials for Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, the formation of a vacancy in the BeN monolayer induces a unique “self-doping” effect that promotes high electronic conductivity. Additionally, the BeN monolayer exhibits a diffusion energy barrier of 0.30 eV for Li-ion migration, a small-scale area expansion of 0.96% during the process of lithiation, and excellent wettability with the contacted electrolytes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Spatiotemporal flow force model of source/sink human mobilities within city

Human mobility is of importance in supporting smart cities, urban planning and constructions of resilient environments. Previous studies on dominant mobility models (i.e., gravity and radiation models) rarely describe the refined spatiotemporal process of human mobility flow forces especially within city. To address this gap, this paper proposes a spatiotemporal flow force model (FFM) of sink/source human mobilities within city, which is derived from Navier-Stokes equation in the field of fluid mechanics. The FFM model outperforms the gravity and radiation models in modeling the refined spatiotemporal flow force process of source/sink human mobilities, in the aspect of intensity and direction of mobility flow force. Comparison results show that the gravity and radiation models in the source mobility scenario can give a rough force estimation about the total outflow from source mobility areas while without the capability of explaining the specific directions of mobility flow from source mobility areas. Pearson correlation coefficient between the intensity results of the two models and those of FFM range from 0.65 to 0.90 and direction differences between the results of the two models and FFM respectively show no clear regularity. In the sink mobility scenario, the direction of mobility flows can be estimated well by the gravity and radiation models while the intensity of mobility flow between small-scale areas within cities is susceptible to inaccuracies. Pearson correlation coefficient ranges from 0.13 to 0.59 and direction differences follow a stepped distribution from high to low within the range of 0° to 180°. In addition, the potential field of human mobility flow force provides a powerful tool for visually analyzing mobility flows within cities. This proposed model enriches human mobility models and is generalizable in supporting smart cities, urban planning, and constructions of resilient environments in terms of the refined spatiotemporal process of mobility flow force.

Diagnostic Assessment in the Wet and Dry Seasons of Simple Weirs Constructed by Small-Scale Farmers in the Northern Region Provinces of Zambia

An intervention recently made in Zambia is the promotion of small-scale irrigation using simple weirs, which aims to encourage small-scale farmers in the country’s rural areas to engage in irrigated food production throughout the dry season. This irrigation method relies on conventional weirs to divert the river’s flow. This study was carried out in three northern region provinces of Zambia between November 2022 and January 2023 to conduct a functional diagnostic assessment of simple weirs during the dry and rainy seasons. In this study, 15 simple weirs were chosen for investigation. The goal of this study was to determine their physical status, identify their problems and scope, and evaluate simple weirs’ potential for river water diversion. According to this study, 26% of the weirs had broken sections and 67% were in excellent condition (being recently maintained and restored). Despite the challenges mentioned earlier, farmers have continued to construct them because they cannot afford to purchase stone or concrete irrigation structures due to the location and/or small-scale area available for irrigation development. Simple weirs may act as a beneficial supplement to irrigation technologies. The use of local building materials and the use of traditional skills is encouraged by this technology.

Optimization and Simulation of Mountain City Land Use Based on MOP-PLUS Model: A Case Study of Caijia Cluster, Chongqing

Mountainous cities face various land use challenges, including complex topography, low land use efficiency, and the insufficient control of land use in small-scale areas at the urban fringe. Considering population changes, environmental conservation, and urban planning, this study first established three scenarios: economic priority (Econ. Prior.), ecological priority (Ecol. Prior.), and balanced development (BD), and then used the Multi-Objective Planning (MOP) model to calculate the optimal land use structure. Finally, it carried out land use spatial layout optimization based on the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model in 2035, Caijia Cluster, Chongqing, China. This approach, known as MOP-PLUS modeling, aimed to optimize land use. Meanwhile, the applicability of the PLUS model in simulating land use changes was discussed in small-scale mountainous areas. The results show the following: (1) The “quantity + space” approach in the MOP-PLUS model demonstrated the feasibility of the PLUS model in simulating land use change in small-scale mountainous areas. The overall accuracy (OA) of land use change simulation reached 81.60%, with a Kappa value of 0.73 and a Figure of Merit (FoM) coefficient of 0.263. (2) Land use optimization: Under the Econ. Prior. scenario, economic benefits peaked at 4.06 × 1010 CNY. Urban expansion was the largest, leading to increased patch fragmentation. The Ecol. Prior. scenario yielded the highest ecological benefits, reaching 7.46 × 107 CNY. The urban development pattern exhibited inward contraction, accompanied by urban retrogression. In the BD scenario, economic benefits totaled 3.89 × 1010 CNY, and ecological benefits amounted to 7.16 × 107 CNY. Construction land tended to concentrate spatially, leading to relatively optimal land use efficiency. Therefore, based on a comprehensive consideration of the regional land use constraint policies and spatial layout, we believe that a balance point for land use demands can be found in the BD scenario. It can ensure economic growth without compromising the ecological environment.

Source Analysis and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil of County Scale Based on PMF Model

This study explores the pollution characteristics, risks, and sources of heavy metals in small-scale areas. Rongcheng District, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province was considered as the study area and enrichment factor (EF), pollution load index (PLI), potential ecological risk index (RI), and US EPA health risk assessment model were used to evaluate its environmental risk. Moreover, the source apportionment of heavy metals was analyzed through correlation analysis, the characteristic of spatial distribution, and a PMF model. The results showed that the mean concentrations of ω(Cr), ω(Hg), ω(As), ω(Pb), ω(Ni), ω(Cd), ω(Cu), and ω(Zn) were 54.87, 0.25, 8.35, 56.00, 15.38, 0.35, 30.56, and 124.23 mg·kg-1, respectively. The mean concentrations of all elements exceeded the local soil background value. In terms of EF level, Cr, As, Pb, and Ni showed negligible accumulation; Zn and Cu showed minor accumulation; and Hg and Cd showed moderate accumulation. The mean value of the pollution load index was 2.37, with a severe pollution level, and the eight elements were in different pollution levels. In total, the study region suffered severe ecological risk, Hg and Cd presented strong ecological risk, and other elements presented slight ecological risk. The non-carcinogenic risks under the three exposure paths were within the acceptable level. The carcinogenic risks (CR) of adults and children were 9.81E-05 and 5.59E-04, respectively, and Cr and As were the main contributors of CR. The results showed that the four sources of heavy metals were transportation sources (37.02%), parent material sources (18.53%), atmospheric deposition sources (26.49%), and industrial sources (17.96%).

Quantum Black Holes in Conformal Dilaton–Higgs Gravity on Warped Spacetimes

A promising method for understanding the geometric properties of a spacetime in the vicinity of the horizon of a Kerr-like black hole can be developed by applying the antipodal boundary condition on the two opposite regions in the extended Penrose diagram. By considering a conformally invariant Lagrangian on a Randall–Sundrum warped five-dimensional spacetime, an exact vacuum solution is found, which can be interpreted as an instanton solution on the Riemannian counterpart spacetime, R+2×R1×S1, where R+2 is conformally flat. The antipodal identification, which comes with a CPT inversion, is par excellence, suitable when quantum mechanical effects, such as the evaporation of a black hole by Hawking radiation, are studied. Moreover, the black hole paradoxes could be solved. By applying the non-orientable Klein surface, embedded in R4, there is no need for instantaneous transport of information. Further, the gravitons become “hard” in the bulk, which means that the gravitational backreaction on the brane can be treated without the need for a firewall. By splitting the metric in a product ω2g˜μν, where ω represents a dilaton field and g˜μν the conformally flat “un-physical” spacetime, one can better construct an effective Lagrangian in a quantum mechanical setting when one approaches the small-scale area. When a scalar field is included in the Lagrangian, a numerical solution is presented, where the interaction between ω and Φ is manifest. An estimate of the extra dimension could be obtained by measuring the elapsed traversal time of the Hawking particles on the Klein surface in the extra dimension. Close to the Planck scale, both ω and Φ can be treated as ordinary quantum fields. From the dilaton field equation, we obtain a mass term for the potential term in the Lagrangian, dependent on the size of the extra dimension.

Spatiotemporal evolution law and driving mechanism of production–living–ecological space from 2000 to 2020 in Xinjiang, China

Xinjiang is located in the northwest of China, with a vast territory and abundant resources, which holds an important strategic position for China. However, the climate in the region is arid and the ecological environment is fragile. In recent years, with the growth of population and the improvement of economic development level, construction and agricultural land in Xinjiang have gradually expanded, and ecological land has been extensively occupied. The competition between land resources is becoming increasingly fierce, leading to some ecological and environmental problems in the region. In this context, understanding the spatiotemporal changes and driving factors of Xinjiang's production space, living space and ecological space (PLES) is of great practical significance for promoting sustainable development in the region, and can also provide reference for the research of PLES in other arid areas at home and abroad. At present, most of the research on PLES is focused on small-scale areas such as urban agglomerations, rural areas, and watersheds, or non arid areas with relatively superior natural conditions, with less research on large-scale arid areas. In this study, the transfer matrix, the center of gravity movement trajectory, Moran's I and the spatial conflict measurement model were used to illustrate the spatial–temporal evolution of PLES in Xinjiang, and the correlation coefficient was used to determine the main factors affecting the change of PLES. Results show that (1) Xinjiang is dominated by ecological space, which accounts for more than 90% of the total area of Xinjiang and has significant continuity. They are mainly distributed in Tarim, Turpan, and the northern Junggar Basin. The production space area accounts for about 5% of the total area of Xinjiang and is distributed in the vicinity of the Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains. Living space accounts for about 1% of Xinjiang's total area and is scattered around cities. (2) From 2000 to 2020, the change degree of PLES in Xinjiang in the last decade is higher than that in the first decade, most of which is the transformation from ecological space to production space. The three types of spaces influence and restrict each other in the development process. (3) Population, crop sown area, natural conditions, policy and the development level of agricultural science and technology are the main factors affecting the spatial distribution of production. Environmental factors such as altitude, soil erosion and temperature have a great influence on ecological space. Population, the output value of various industries and total retail sales of consumer goods are the main factors affecting residential space. The evolution of Xinjiang PLES is the result of multiple factors. (4) The medium spatial conflict dominates, mainly distributed in Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin. The weak and strong space conflicts are concentrated in the oases in the north of the Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains, and the number is small. From 2000 to 2020, the increasing degree of spatial conflicts in Xinjiang is due to land desertification.

Study on the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Urban Vegetation Phenology by Local Climate Zone and Urban–Rural Gradient Approach

Understanding variations in the temporal and spatial distribution of vegetation phenology is essential for adapting to and mitigating future climate change and urbanization. However, there have been limited vegetation phenology studies within small-scale areas such as urban environments over the past decades. Therefore, the present study focuses on Jinan city, Shandong Province, China as the study area and employs a more refined local climate zone (LCZ) approach to investigate spatial and temporal variations in vegetation phenology. The three phenological indicators used in this study from 2007 to 2018, namely, the start of growing season (SOS), the end of growing season (EOS), and the length of growing season (LOS), were provided by MODIS satellite data. The SOS, EOS, and LOS were superimposed on the LCZ and urban–rural gradient to analyze the changes in vegetation phenology, and the applicability of these two analysis methods in the study of urban vegetation phenology was compared by the honest significant difference test. We found that the SOS, EOS, and LOS of vegetation in the study area generally showed an advance, delay, and extension trend, respectively. The means of the SOS and EOS along different LCZ types varied noticeably more than those along urban–rural gradients. In 2016, 77.5%, 80.0%, and 75.8% of LCZ pairs indicated statistically significant differences for SOS, EOS, and LOS, respectively. This study provides a new perspective for the study of urban vegetation phenology which can help in management of urban-scale environments, identification of areas rich in biodiversity, and conservation and restoration of biodiversity in urban areas.

Study on the Impact of the Coastline Changes on Hydrodynamics in Xiangshan Bay

Coastline changes have significant impacts on coastal hydrodynamics. Xiangshan Bay is a semi-closed and long-narrow bay located in Zhejiang Province, China. Its coastline has changed dramatically in recent decades; however, the variations in the small-scale hydrodynamics in the changed coastline areas have not been carefully studied. This study uses the Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) to design a set of control experiments and five sets of compared experiments targeting the areas with significant coastline changes in Xiangshan Bay over the past 21 years. It was found that the coastline changes at the mouth of the bay, such as areas near Meishan Island and Dasong, have a significant impact on both residual currents and tidal currents, changing the amplitudes and phase distributions of the tides. Coastline changes in the inner bay have lesser impacts on hydrodynamics, mainly affecting the small-scale areas in the vicinity.

Spatio-temporal dynamic change mechanism analysis of traffic conflict risk based on trajectory data

Analyzing risk dynamic change mechanism under spatio-temporal effects can provide a better understanding of traffic risk, which helps reinforce the safety improvement. Traditionally, spatio-temporal studies based on crash data were mostly conducted to explore crash risk evolution mechanism from a macroscopic perspective. Dynamic change mechanism of short-term risk within a small-scale area deserves exploration, which cannot be captured in macroscopic crash-based studies. It is practical to analyze traffic conflict risk as a surrogate safety measure, which can preferably overcome the limitations of crash-based studies. This study aims to explore the spatio-temporal dynamic change mechanism of conflict risk based on trajectory data. Both conflict frequency and severity are integrated and assessed by applying fuzzy logic theory to develop the whole risk indicator. Trajectories on U.S. Highway101 from NGSIM dataset are utilized and aggregated. A two-step framework is proposed to analyze the risk dynamic change mechanism. The spatial Markov model is firstly applied to explore the transition probability of risk level, and then the panel regression approach is employed to quantify the relationship between spatio-temporal risk and traffic characteristics. Modeling results show that (1) the dynamic change trend of safety states differs under different spatial lag conditions, and it can be well depicted by the spatial Markov model; (2) dynamic spatial panel data modeling method performs better than the model that only considers temporal or spatial dependency. The novel proposed framework promotes a systematic exploration of conflict risk from a mesoscopic perspective, which contributes to assess the real-time road safety more comprehensively.

An Inversion Method for Geoacoustic Parameters in Shallow Water Based on Bottom Reflection Signals

The inversion method based on the reflection loss-grazing angle curve is an effective tool to obtain local underwater acoustic parameters. Because geoacoustic parameters vary in sensitivity to grazing angle, it is difficult to get accurate results in geoacoustic parameter inversion based on small-grazing-angle data in shallow water. In addition, the normal-mode model commonly used in geoacoustic parameter inversion fails to meet the needs of accurate local sound field simulation as the influence of the secant integral is ignored. To solve these problems, an acoustic data acquisition scheme was rationally designed based on a sparker source, a fixed vertical array, and ship drifting with the swell, which could balance the trade-off among signal transmission efficiency and signal stability, and the actual local acoustic data at low-to-mid frequencies were acquired at wide grazing angles in the South Yellow Sea area. Furthermore, the bottom reflection coefficients (bottom reflection losses) corresponding to different grazing angles were calculated based on the wavenumber integration method. The local seafloor sediment parameters were then estimated using the genetic algorithm and the bottom reflection loss curve with wide grazing angles, obtaining more accurate local acoustic information. The seafloor acoustic velocity inverted is cp=1659 m/s and the sound attenuation is αp=0.656 dB/λ in the South Yellow Sea. Relevant experimental results indicate that the method described in this study is feasible for local inversion of geoacoustic parameters for seafloor sediments. Compared with conventional large-scale inversion methods, in areas where there are significant changes in the seabed sediment level, this method can obtain more accurate local acoustic features within small-scale areas.

Merging precipitation scheme design for improving the accuracy of regional precipitation products by machine learning and geographical deviation correction

Global satellite precipitation products (SPPs) effectively obtain spatial precipitation information but frequently fail to meet application requirements in small-scale areas due to low accuracy. This study aims to design a merging precipitation scheme based on remote sensing and surface parameters to address the inaccuracy of regional precipitation. The scheme data are based on daily IMERG-FR, CHIRPS, and PDIR-Now satellite precipitation products from 2011 to 2018, combined with WorldClim model climate data and 39 rain gauge observations. The scheme generates merged precipitation with high-accuracy and high-resolution (0.04°) through the streamlined operation of multiple methods in the Songhua River basin in northeast China. First, the stacking algorithm was employed to perform preliminary merging of SPPs and decrease data noise errors (mean absolute error and standard deviation were reduced by 13.80% and 14.44%, respectively). Second, the correlation of merged and observed precipitation was improved by 1.18%–4.46% in different seasons after geographically weighted regression. Finally, the merged data were subjected to local intensity scaling, which reduced the precipitation error by an average of 3.14%. When compared to the original SPPs, the final merged precipitation (FMP) improved the correlation (increased by 0.19) and reduced the errors (root mean square error and relative error decreased by 1.71 mm and 0.08 mm, respectively). FMP performed well under precipitation event cases, with an average difference of 0.24 mm from observed precipitation. The study realized the merging analysis of remote sensing precipitation data with varying precision and spatial resolution. Furthermore, a systematic merging precipitation scheme coupled with multiple algorithms of machine learning, geographic regression, and mathematical statistics was formed. This study provides a reference for merging precipitation at a regional scale, which can be applied to other study areas as a process-oriented scheme.

A review of methodology for grassland restoration and management with practical examples

Currently, the majority of high nature value Slovenian grasslands have an unfavourable conservation status. Based on the available data from habitat type mappings, the surface of high nature value grasslands (6210(*) – semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates, 6410 – Molinia meadows, and 6510 – lowland hay meadows) at Natura 2000 sites is decreasing. The existing agri-environment measures have been only partly effective in promoting grassland biodiversity. The main threats to biodiversity are driven by various anthropogenic activities, which result in a continuous change in landscape identity, habitat fragmentation, and ecosystem degradation. Therefore, biodiversity restoration became an urgent step in conservation of high nature value grasslands. Multiple pathways may lead to the ecological restoration of grasslands with an altered, uncharacteristic floristic composition, or grasslands with an unfavourable conservation status. In this paper, we present an overview of the methods used in the restoration of grasslands from different parts of Europe. In an adapted form, these methods could also be used for the restoration of Slovenian grasslands. Grasslands may be left to spontaneous succession, which is mainly suitable for small-scale areas, located in the proximity of grasslands with well-preserved biodiversity. However, to re-establish plant communities with specialist species, a more proactive approach is usually required, such as sowing of regional or commercial seed preservation mixtures, transfer of mature plant material, or topsoil transfer from donor sites with appropriate botanical composition. Grassland restoration methods should be carefully thought-out and carried out before the habitat or species is endangered. We conclude that optimally chosen post-restoration management may have an impact that is comparable or even greater than the impact of a suitable restoration method. Nevertheless, maintenance of well-preserved grasslands is still much more cost-effective than restoration of degraded grasslands.