Color Filtering Localization for Three-Dimensional Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

Accurate localization for mobile nodes has been an important and fundamental problem in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs). The detection information returned from a mobile node is meaningful only if its location is known. In this paper, we propose two localization algorithms based on color filtering technology called PCFL and ACFL. PCFL and ACFL aim at collaboratively accomplishing accurate localization of underwater mobile nodes with minimum energy expenditure. They both adopt the overlapping signal region of task anchors which can communicate with the mobile node directly as the current sampling area. PCFL employs the projected distances between each of the task projections and the mobile node, while ACFL adopts the direct distance between each of the task anchors and the mobile node. Also the proportion factor of distance is proposed to weight the RGB values. By comparing the nearness degrees of the RGB sequences between the samples and the mobile node, samples can be filtered out. And the normalized nearness degrees are considered as the weighted standards to calculate coordinates of the mobile nodes. The simulation results show that the proposed methods have excellent localization performance and can timely localize the mobile node. The average localization error of PCFL can decline by about 30.4% than the AFLA method.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 2 table

Deposition and Characterization of Magnetron Sputtered Beta-Tungsten Thin Films

β-W is an A15 structured phase commonly found in tungsten thin films together with the bcc structured W, and it has been found that β-W has the strongest spin Hall effect among all metal thin films. Therefore, it is promising for application in spintronics as the source of spin-polarized current that can be easily manipulated by electric field. However, the deposition conditions and the formation mechanism of β-W in thin films are not fully understood. The existing deposition conditions for β-W make use of low deposition rate, high inert gas pressure, substrate bias, or oxygen impurity to stabilize the β-W over α-W, and these parameters are unfavorable for producing β-W films with high quality at reasonable yield. In order to optimize the deposition process and gain insight into the formation mechanism of β-W, a novel technique using nitrogen impurity in the pressure range of 10-5 to 10-6 torr in the deposition chamber is introduced. This techniques allows the deposition of pure β-W thin films with only incorporation of 0.4 at% nitrogen and 3.2 at% oxygen, and β-W films as thick as 1μm have been obtained. The dependence of the volume fraction of β-W on the deposition parameters, including nitrogen pressure, substrate temperature, and deposition rate, has been investigated. The relationship can be modeled by the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm, which indicates that the formation of β-W requires the adsorption of strongly interacting nitrogen molecules on the substrate. The dependence of β-W formation on the choice of underlayer materials has also been investigated. The β-W phase can only be obtained on the underlayer materials containing non-metallic elements. The dependence is explained by the existence of strong covalent bonds in β-W compared with that in α-W. The nickel and permalloy underlayers are the only exception to the above rule, and β-W has been successfully deposited on permalloy underlayer using very low deposition rate for spin-diffusion length measurement of β-W. The permalloy thin films usually take the (111) texture, since its (111) planes have the lowest surface energy. However, permalloy thin films deposited on β-W underlayer can achieve (002) texture using amorphous glass substrates. Therefore, the permalloy/β-W bilayer system can work as a seed layer for the formation of (002) textured films with fcc or bcc structure. The mechanism of the (002) texture formation cannot be explained by the existing models. The β-W to α-W phase transition was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry. The enthalpy of transformation is measured to be 8.3±0.4 kJ/mol, consistent with the value calculated using density functional theory. The activation energy for the β-W to α-W phase transformation kinetics is 2.2 eV, which is extremely low compared with that of lattice and grain boundary diffusion in tungsten. The low activation energy might be attributed to a diffusionless shuffle transformation process

Measures to prevent nosocomial transmissions of COVID-19 based on interpersonal contact data

BACKGROUND: With the global spreading of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many primary care medical workers have been infected, particularly in the early stages of this pandemic. Although extensive studies have explored the COVID-19 transmission patterns and (non-) pharmaceutical intervention to protect the general public, limited research has analysed the measures to prevent nosocomial transmission based upon detailed interpersonal contacts between medical staff and patients. AIM: This paper aims to develop and evaluate proactive prevention measures to contain the nosocomial transmission of COVID-19. The specific objectives are (1) to understand the virus transmission via interpersonal contacts among medical staff and patients; (2) to define proactive measures to reduce the risk of infection of medical staff and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of these measures to control the COVID-19 epidemic in hospitals. METHODS: We observed the operation of a typical primary hospital in China to understand the interpersonal contacts among medical staff and patients. We defined effective distance as the indicator for risk of transmission. Then three proactive measures were proposed based upon the observations, including a medical staff rotation system, the establishment of a separate fever clinic and medical staff working alone. Finally, the impacts of these measures are evaluated with a modified Susceptible-Exposure-Infected-Removed model accommodating the situation of hospitals and asymptomatic and latent infection of COVID-19. The case study was conducted with the hospital observed in December 2019 and February 2020. FINDINGS: The implementation of the medical staff rotation system has the most significant impact on containing the epidemic. The establishment of a separate fever clinic and medical staff working alone also benefits from inhibiting the epidemic outbreak. The simulation finds that if effective prevention and control measures are not taken in time, it will lead to a surge of infection cases in all asymptomatic probabilities and incubation periods

The Validity of CET-6 among Chinese Students Studying Overseas

This paper focuses on the validity of College English Test Band 6 (CET-6) in oversea life among Chinese students to find out whether the scores of CET-6 can truly reflect students’ English language ability and whether it is possible to use the scores of CET-6 as a proof for English language proficiency. To do the survey, we conducted the survey by quantitative research methods with 50 samples in Universiti Putra Malaysia(UPM). After the collection and analysis of data, some current issues about the assessment standards of CET-6 are found, and suggestions are also given to improve the validity of CET-6