Compression of phase-only holograms with JPEG standard and deep learning

It is a critical issue to reduce the enormous amount of data in the processing, storage and transmission of a hologram in digital format. In photograph compression, the JPEG standard is commonly supported by almost every system and device. It will be favorable if JPEG standard is applicable to hologram compression, with advantages of universal compatibility. However, the reconstructed image from a JPEG compressed hologram suffers from severe quality degradation since some high frequency features in the hologram will be lost during the compression process. In this work, we employ a deep convolutional neural network to reduce the artifacts in a JPEG compressed hologram. Simulation and experimental results reveal that our proposed "JPEG + deep learning" hologram compression scheme can achieve satisfactory reconstruction results for a computer-generated phase-only hologram after compression

XVoxel-Based Parametric Design Optimization of Feature Models

Parametric optimization is an important product design technique, especially in the context of the modern parametric feature-based CAD paradigm. Realizing its full potential, however, requires a closed loop between CAD and CAE (i.e., CAD/CAE integration) with automatic design modifications and simulation updates. Conventionally the approach of model conversion is often employed to form the loop, but this way of working is hard to automate and requires manual inputs. As a result, the overall optimization process is too laborious to be acceptable. To address this issue, a new method for parametric optimization is introduced in this paper, based on a unified model representation scheme called eXtended Voxels (XVoxels). This scheme hybridizes feature models and voxel models into a new concept of semantic voxels, where the voxel part is responsible for FEM solving, and the semantic part is responsible for high-level information to capture both design and simulation intents. As such, it can establish a direct mapping between design models and analysis models, which in turn enables automatic updates on simulation results for design modifications, and vice versa -- effectively a closed loop between CAD and CAE. In addition, robust and efficient geometric algorithms for manipulating XVoxel models and efficient numerical methods (based on the recent finite cell method) for simulating XVoxel models are provided. The presented method has been validated by a series of case studies of increasing complexity to demonstrate its effectiveness. In particular, a computational efficiency improvement of up to 55.8 times the existing FCM method has been seen.Comment: 22 page

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

The Effect of Export Marketing Capabilities on Export Performance: An Investigation of Chinese Exporters

The primary purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of export marketing capabilities on export performance. Drawing on the resource-based view, the authors develop a model that links an exporter's product development capability, distribution capability, communication capability, and pricing capability with its positional advantages (low-cost advantage and branding advantage) and its performance in the export market. On the basis of a survey of Chinese export ventures, the authors find general support for their proposed model. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of their findings.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Zebrafish IGF genes: gene duplication, conservation and divergence, and novel roles in midline and notochord development.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are key regulators of development, growth, and longevity. In most vertebrate species including humans, there is one IGF-1 gene and one IGF-2 gene. Here we report the identification and functional characterization of 4 distinct IGF genes (termed as igf-1a, -1b, -2a, and -2b) in zebrafish. These genes encode 4 structurally distinct and functional IGF peptides. IGF-1a and IGF-2a mRNAs were detected in multiple tissues in adult fish. IGF-1b mRNA was detected only in the gonad and IGF-2b mRNA only in the liver. Functional analysis showed that all 4 IGFs caused similar developmental defects but with different potencies. Many of these embryos had fully or partially duplicated notochords, suggesting that an excess of IGF signaling causes defects in the midline formation and an expansion of the notochord. IGF-2a, the most potent IGF, was analyzed in depth. IGF-2a expression caused defects in the midline formation and expansion of the notochord but it did not alter the anterior neural patterning. These results not only provide new insights into the functional conservation and divergence of the multiple igf genes but also reveal a novel role of IGF signaling in midline formation and notochord development in a vertebrate model

Image steganography based on digital holography and saliency map

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Prokaryotic expression of goldfish Tgf2 transposase with optimal codons and its enzyme activity

Tgf2 transposase (Tgf2-TPase), a hAT transposase from goldfish, plays an important role in fish transgenic applications. Previously, the production of the recombinant Tgf2-TPase protein required rigorous fermentation at low temperatures (22 °C) and early log phase induction (OD600 = 0.3–0.4) in Rosetta 1 (DE3) Escherichia coli lines. In order to better express the Tgf2-TPase and detect its enzyme activity, 83 rare codons in Tgf2-TPase were optimized and designated Tgf2-TPase83. The expression results showed that the soluble recombinant Tgf2-TPase83 was highly expressed at 30 °C and was inducible at an OD600 of 0.5–0.6 in the same prokaryotic expression system. After purification by affinity chromatography, Tgf2-TPase83 with codon optimization had higher enzyme activity than the Tgf2-TPase control. Comparison of different preservation methods (freeze-drying at −80 °C, storage in 20%-glycerol, 8%-sucrose, 4%-mannitol), revealed storage of Tgf2-TPase83 in glycerol helped to preserve its DNase digestion activity. Furthermore, size exclusion chromatography suggested that the purified Tgf2-TPase83 could recognize and bind to DNA probes containing a terminal inverted repeat (TIR) and a subterminal repeat (STR) sequence of the Tgf2 transposon. Overall, the results showed that optimizing the 83 codons of Tgf2 transposase can simplify the fermentation process and improve the enzyme activity. We propose that the production of the Tgf2-Tpase83 protein in a soluble and active form could provide an alternative tool for genetic modification of fish. Keywords: Codon optimization, Enzyme activity, Prokaryotic expression, Tgf2 transposas

Ploidy level and performance in meiotic gynogenetic offsprings of grass carp using UV-irradiated blunt snout bream sperm

Diploid (2n) gynogens, triploid (3n) hybrids and 2n hybrids fish were produced in meiotic gynogenetic offsprings of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) eggs using UV-irradiated blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) sperm. Flow cytometry revealed that a total of 306 (54.2%) 2n gynogens, 157 (27.7%) 2n hybrids and 102 (18.1%) 3n hybrids were identified at one year old stage examined. Chromosome analysis showed that 2n gynogens and 2n hybrid individuals had the same chromosome number as their parents (2n = 48), while the chromosome number of 3n hybrids was 3n = 72. The morphological characters of 2n hybrids and 3n hybrids were intermediate between their parents, and the 2n gynogens were similar to grass carp. Microsatellite genetic analysis showed that the expected heterozygosity (He) of 2n gynogens, 2n hybrids, 3n hybrids and grass carp control were 0.3775, 0.6518, 0.6601, 0.6502, respectively, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.3791, 0.5749, 0.5907, 0.5738, respectively. Compared with 2n and 3n hybrids, the He and PIC of 2n gynogens were significantly decreased, indicating that high homozygous could be obtained by the gynogenetic method. The 3n hybrids grew faster than both 2n gynogens and 2n hybrid individuals, suggesting that 3n hybrids had an obvious growth advantage