Regional estimation of daily to annual regional evapotranspiration with MODIS data in the Yellow River Delta wetland

Evapotranspiration (ET) from the wetland of the Yellow River Delta (YRD) is one of the important components in the water cycle, which represents the water consumption by the plants and evaporation from the water and the non-vegetated surfaces. Reliable estimates of the total evapotranspiration from the wetland is useful information both for understanding the hydrological process and for water management to protect this natural environment. Due to the heterogeneity of the vegetation types and canopy density and of soil water content over the wetland (specifically over the natural reserve areas), it is difficult to estimate the regional evapotranspiration extrapolating measurements or calculations usually done locally for a specific land cover type. Remote sensing can provide observations of land surface conditions with high spatial and temporal resolution and coverage. In this study, a model based on the Energy Balance method was used to calculate daily evapotranspiration (ET) using instantaneous observations of land surface reflectance and temperature from MODIS when the data were available on clouds-free days. A time series analysis algorithm was then applied to generate a time series of daily ET over a year period by filling the gaps in the observation series due to clouds. A detailed vegetation classification map was used to help identifying areas of various wetland vegetation types in the YRD wetland. Such information was also used to improve the parameterizations in the energy balance model to improve the accuracy of ET estimates. This study showed that spatial variation of ET was significant over the same vegetation class at a given time and over different vegetation types in different seasons in the YRD wetlan

Analysis of excited quark propagator effects on neutron charge form factor

The charge form factor and charge radius of neutron are investigated in the perturbative chiral quark model (PCQM) with considering both the ground and excited states in the quark propagator. A Cornell-like potential is extracted in accordance with the predetermined ground state quark wavefunction, and the excited quark states are derived by solving the Dirac equation with the extracted PCQM potential numerically. The study reveals that the contributions of the excited quark states are considerably influential in the charge form factor and charge radius of neutron as expected, and the total results are significantly improved and increased by nearly four times by including the excited states in the quark propagator. The theoretical PCQM results are found, including the ground and excited quark propagators, in good agreement with the recent lattice QCD values at pion mass of about 130 MeV.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

A Comparative Study of the Vibro-Impact Capsule Systems with One-Sided and Two-Sided Constraints

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.This paper studies the dynamics of the vibro-impact capsule systems with one-sided and two-sided soft constraints under variations of various system and control parameters, including mass ratio, stiffness ratio, gap of contact, and amplitude and frequency of external excitation. The aim of this study is to optimise the progression speed and energy consumption of the capsule, and minimize the required cabin length for prototype design used for engineering pipeline inspection. Our studies focus on three systems: the capsule with a right constraint, the capsule with a right and a weak left constraints, and the capsule with a right and a strong left constraints. Bifurcation analyses show that the behaviour of the capsule with one-sided constraint is mainly periodic, and the dynamic responses of the other two capsules with two-sided constraints become complex when the stiffness of the left constraint increases. Based on our extensive comparisons, the following optimisation strategies are recommended. When the capsule speed is paramount, one can employ the two-sided capsule with a weak left constraint under large amplitude of excitation. When energy consumption is taken into account, the one-sided capsule is preferable. When a miniaturized prototype is needed, the two-sided capsule with a strong left constraint is the best choice.Dr. Yang Liu would like to acknowledge the financial support from EPSRC for his First Grant (Grant No. EP/P023983/1). Dr. Yao Yan was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11572224 and 11502048) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. ZYGX2015KYQD033)

A method for direct calculation of quadratic turning points

For a given one-parameter nonlinear system, the simplest bifurcation is the quadratic turning bifurcation where the Jacobian matrix becomes singular due to rank deficiency 1. To overcome the difficulty in solving the quadratic turning point caused by the singularity of the Jacobian matrix, the conventional Newton method can be applied to the so-called Moore-Spence determination system to solve for the quadratic turning point. However, the Moore-Spence system has much higher dimensions and causes much more complexity in factorisation of the extended Jacobian matrix. In the paper, by introducing an auxiliary variable and an auxiliary linear equation into Newton iterations in solving the Moore-Spence determination system, a matrix reduction technique can be worked out to solve the Moore-Spence extended equations much more efficiently. The high dimensions of the matrix can thus be reduced and the complexity involved in matrix factorisation can be reduced noticeably. The technique is proposed for general nonlinear systems. Formulation is derived for applying this technique to solving quadratic turning points, or say nose points, on load-flow solution curves of power systems. Computer tests on the IEEE 30-busbar system and a 2416-busbar East China power system are reported to show the effectiveness of the suggested technique.published_or_final_versio

Modelling of a Vibro-Impact Self-Propelled Capsule in the Small Intestine

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.This paper studies the modelling of a vibro-impact self-propelled capsule system in the small intestinal tract. Our studies focus on understanding the dynamic characteristics of the capsule and its performance in terms of the average speed and energy efficiency under various system and control parameters, such as capsule’s radius and length, and the frequency and magnitude of sinusoidal excitation. We find that the resistance from the small intestine will be larger once capsule’s size or instantaneous velocity increases. From our extensive numerical calculations, optimum system and control parameters are obtained for prototype design and fabrication. It is suggested that increasing forcing magnitude or choosing forcing frequency greater than the natural frequency of its inner mass can benefit the average speed of the capsule, and the radius of the capsule should be slightly larger than the radius of the small intestine in order to generate a reasonable resistance for capsule progression. Finally, the locomotion of the capsule along an inclined intestinal tract is tested, and the best radius and forcing magnitude of the capsule are also determined.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaInternational S&T Cooperation and Exchanges of Sichuan provinceFundamental Research Funds for the Central Universitie