a) Source mass function of the G163.82-8.44 field for several values of the simulated distance. b) Number of sources (red circles) and average of the logarithm of source masses (orange squares) as functions of the simulated distance. The vertical bars show the standard deviation of the logarithm of source masses. The solid grey line shows a power law with exponent 2 on the right y-axis. Dotted and dashed lines are plotted to guide the eye. c) Histogram of dust colour temperature T_dust of G163.82-8.44 sources for several values of the simulated distance. In the inset, orange squares show the average values of T_dust and the vertical bars show the standard deviation of T_dust as functions of the simulated distance.