A Positioning Scheme Combining Location Tracking with Vision Assisting for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents the performance of an adaptive location-estimation technique combining Kalman filtering (KF)with vision assisting for wireless sensor networks. For improving the accuracy of a location estimator, a KF procedureis employed at a mobile terminal to filter variations of the location estimate. Furthermore, using a vision-assistedcalibration technique, the proposed approach based on the normalized cross-correlation scheme is an accuracyenhancement procedure that effectively removes system errors causing uncertainty in real dynamic environments.Namely, according to the vision-assisted approach to extract the locations of the reference nodes as landmarks, a KFbasedapproach with the landmark information can calibrate the location estimation and reduce the corner effect of alocation-estimation system. In terms of the location accuracy estimated from the proposed approach, the experimentalresults demonstrate that more than 60 percent of the location estimates have error distances less than 1.4 meters in aZigBee positioning platform. As compared with the non-tracking algorithm and non-vision-assisted approach, theproposed algorithm can achieve reasonably good performance

Applications of simulation technique on debris-flow hazard zone delineation: a case study in Hualien County, Taiwan

Debris flows pose severe hazards to communities in mountainous areas, often resulting in the loss of life and property. Helping debris-flow-prone communities delineate potential hazard zones provides local authorities with useful information for developing emergency plans and disaster management policies. In 2003, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of Taiwan proposed an empirical model to delineate hazard zones for all creeks (1420 in total) with potential of debris flows and utilized the model to help establish a hazard prevention system. However, the model does not fully consider hydrologic and physiographical conditions for a given creek in simulation. The objective of this study is to propose new approaches that can improve hazard zone delineation accuracy and simulate hazard zones in response to different rainfall intensity. In this study, a two-dimensional commercial model FLO-2D, physically based and taking into account the momentum and energy conservation of flow, was used to simulate debris-flow inundated areas. <br><br> Sensitivity analysis with the model was conducted to determine the main influence parameters which affect debris flow simulation. Results indicate that the roughness coefficient, yield stress and volumetric sediment concentration dominate the computed results. To improve accuracy of the model, the study examined the performance of the rainfall-runoff model of FLO-2D as compared with that of the HSPF (Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran) model, and then the proper values of the significant parameters were evaluated through the calibration process. Results reveal that the HSPF model has a better performance than the FLO-2D model at peak flow and flow recession period, and the volumetric sediment concentration and yield stress can be estimated by the channel slope. The validation of the model for simulating debris-flow hazard zones has been confirmed by a comparison of field evidence from historical debris-flow disaster data. The model can successfully replicate the influence zone of the debris-flow disaster event with an acceptable error and demonstrate a better result than the empirical model adopted by the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of Taiwan

The Supersonic Project: SIGOs, A Proposed Progenitor to Globular Clusters, and Their Connections to Gravitational-wave Anisotropies

Supersonically induced gas objects (SIGOs), are structures with little to no dark-matter component predicted to exist in regions of the universe with large relative velocities between baryons and dark matter at the time of recombination. They have been suggested to be the progenitors of present-day globular clusters. Using simulations, SIGOs have been studied on small scales (around 2 Mpc) where these relative velocities are coherent. However, it is challenging to study SIGOs using simulations on large scales due to the varying relative velocities at scales larger than a few Mpc. Here, we study SIGO abundances semi-analytically: using perturbation theory, we predict the number density of SIGOs analytically, and compare these results to small-box numerical simulations. We use the agreement between the numerical and analytic calculations to extrapolate the large-scale variation of SIGO abundances over different stream velocities. As a result, we predict similar large-scale variations of objects with high gas densities before reionization that could possibly be observed by JWST. If indeed SIGOs are progenitors of globular clusters, then we expect a similar variation of globular cluster abundances over large scales. Significantly, we find that the expected number density of SIGOs is consistent with observed globular cluster number densities. As a proof-of-concept, and because globular clusters were proposed to be natural formation sites for gravitational wave sources from binary black-hole mergers, we show that SIGOs should imprint an anisotropy on the gravitational wave signal on the sky, consistent with their distribution

The effect of local lattice distortion on physical properties of hexagonal rubidium tungsten bronze Rb0.23WOy

[[abstract]]Superconducting transition temperature Tc and normal-state resistivity as a function of oxygen content for hexagonal tungsten bronze Rb0.23WOy with 2.90 < y < 3.05 were obtained from transport measurements. It is remarkably interesting that Tc enhances about 50% and room-temperature resistivity increases about three orders of magnitude as oxygen content varies from 2.90 to 3.05. The low-temperature specific heat data indicate that the Einstein-like mode associated with Rb vibration has a dimensionality crossover from 3D to quasi-2D as oxygen content increases from 2.90 to 3.05. W L3-edge x-ray absorption spectra further show that W-O bond intensity gradually weakens as oxygen content increases, indicative of more oxygen disorder present in the oxygen-rich samples. The observed results strongly suggest that the local lattice distortion induced by oxygen disorder not only modulates Rb vibration, possibly coupled to electron-phonon interaction responsible for superconductivity, and also reduces the charge transfer between O 2p and W 5d orbital in the vicinity of y = 3.00. This scenario can possibly account for significant increases of Tc and normal-state resistivity of Rb0.23WOy as oxygen content slightly changes from 2.90 to 3.05.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子

Demonstration of a stimulatory protein for virus-specified DNA polymerase in phorbol ester-treated Epstein-Barr virus-carrying cells.

A heat-labile Epstein-Barr virus-specific DNA polymerase stimulatory protein having a molecular mass of 45 kDa was purified from phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-treated P3HR-1 cells by column chromatography. The virus DNA polymerase stimulatory protein was precipitated by sera from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma but not by sera from healthy donors. The interaction of the stimulatory protein with DNA polymerase was stoichiometric. Furthermore, this protein stimulated Epstein-Barr virus DNA polymerase but not herpes simplex virus type 1 or type 2 or human DNA polymerase alpha. The stimulatory protein did not alter the Km value of dTTP or DNA but did increase the Vmax of DNA polymerase. Salt concentrations between 100 mM and 150 mM KCl were optimal for this protein-induced stimulation of Epstein-Barr virus DNA polymerase activity. The presence of the stimulatory protein in the reaction mixture enhanced the sensitivity of virus DNA polymerase to phosphonoformate

The Supersonic Project: The Early Evolutionary Path of Supersonically Induced Gas Objects

Supersonically induced gas objects (SIGOs) are a class of early universe objects that have gained attention as a potential formation route for globular clusters. SIGOs have recently begun to be studied in the context of molecular hydrogen cooling, which is key to characterizing their structure and evolution. Studying the population-level properties of SIGOs with molecular cooling is important for understanding their potential for collapse and star formation, and for addressing whether SIGOs can survive to the present epoch. Here, we investigate the evolution of SIGOs before they form stars, using a combination of numerical and analytical analysis. We study timescales important to the evolution of SIGOs at a population level in the presence of molecular cooling. Revising the previous formulation for the critical density of collapse for SIGOs allows us to show that their prolateness tends to act as an inhibiting factor to collapse. We find that simulated SIGOs are limited by artificial two-body relaxation effects that tend to disperse them. We expect that SIGOs in nature will be longer lived compared to our simulations. Further, the fall-back timescale on which SIGOs fall into nearby dark matter halos, potentially producing a globular-cluster-like system, is frequently longer than their cooling timescale and the collapse timescale on which they shrink through gravity. Therefore, some SIGOs have time to cool and collapse outside of halos despite initially failing to exceed the critical density. From this analysis we conclude that SIGOs should form stars outside of halos in nonnegligible stream velocity patches in the universe