A Robust Method to Suppress Jamming for GNSS Array Antenna Based on Reconstruction of Sample Covariance Matrix

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver is vulnerable to active jamming, which results in imprecise positioning. Therefore, antijamming performance of the receiver is always the key to studies of satellite navigation system. In antijamming application of satellite navigation system, if active jamming is received from array antenna main-lobe, main-lobe distortion happens when the adaptive filtering algorithm forms main-lobe nulling. A robust method to suppress jamming for satellite navigation by reconstructing sample covariance matrix without main-lobe nulling is proposed in this paper. No nulling is formed while suppressing the main-lobe jamming, which avoids main-lobe direction distortion. Meanwhile, along with adaptive pattern control (APC), the adaptive pattern of array antenna approaches the pattern without jamming so as to receive the matching navigation signal. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation prove that this method suppresses jamming without main-beam distortion. Furthermore, the output SINR will not decrease with the main-lobe distortion by this method, which improves the antijamming performance

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

Spatial Spectrum Estimation of Co-Channel Direct Signal in Passive Radar Based on Coprime Array

The received signal of passive radar based on mobile communication signals contains direct and multipath interference (DMI) signals from multiple co-channel base stations (CCBS). The direct signal spatial spectrum of each CCBS should be obtained first to eliminate the co-channel interference. The performance of the traditional spatial spectrum estimation algorithms based on uniform linear array (ULA) is related to the number of array elements. In the complex co-channel interference environment, the array requires an ultra-large number of array elements and the spatial spectrum estimation resolution is poor. This paper proposes a method for estimating the direct signal spatial spectrum of the CCBS by fusing coprime array and compressive sensing. Firstly, an augmented virtual array signal is constructed by using the second-order statistics of the received signals of the coprime array and then the compressive sensing algorithm is used to estimate the spatial spectrum of the direct signal of the CCBS. The proposed method can achieve higher resolution and higher-degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) performance than traditional ULA by using the same number of array elements. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulation analysis and experimental data

Spatial Spectrum Estimation of Co-Channel Direct Signal in Passive Radar Based on Coprime Array

The received signal of passive radar based on mobile communication signals contains direct and multipath interference (DMI) signals from multiple co-channel base stations (CCBS). The direct signal spatial spectrum of each CCBS should be obtained first to eliminate the co-channel interference. The performance of the traditional spatial spectrum estimation algorithms based on uniform linear array (ULA) is related to the number of array elements. In the complex co-channel interference environment, the array requires an ultra-large number of array elements and the spatial spectrum estimation resolution is poor. This paper proposes a method for estimating the direct signal spatial spectrum of the CCBS by fusing coprime array and compressive sensing. Firstly, an augmented virtual array signal is constructed by using the second-order statistics of the received signals of the coprime array and then the compressive sensing algorithm is used to estimate the spatial spectrum of the direct signal of the CCBS. The proposed method can achieve higher resolution and higher-degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) performance than traditional ULA by using the same number of array elements. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulation analysis and experimental data

Mattress-Based Non-Influencing Sleep Apnea Monitoring System

A mattress-type non-influencing sleep apnea monitoring system was designed to detect sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS). The pressure signals generated during sleep on the mattress were collected, and ballistocardiogram (BCG) and respiratory signals were extracted from the original signals. In the experiment, wavelet transform (WT) was used to reduce noise and decompose and reconstruct the signal to eliminate the influence of interference noise, which can directly and accurately separate the BCG signal and respiratory signal. In feature extraction, based on the five features commonly used in SAHS, an innovative respiratory waveform similarity feature was proposed in this work for the first time. In the SAHS detection, the binomial logistic regression was used to determine the sleep apnea symptoms in the signal segment. Simulation and experimental results showed that the device, algorithm, and system designed in this work were effective methods to detect, diagnose, and assist the diagnosis of SAHS

Boundary-Aware Geometric Encoding for Semantic Segmentation of Point Clouds

Boundary information plays a significant role in 2D image segmentation, while usually being ignored in 3D point cloud segmentation where ambiguous features might be generated in feature extraction, leading to misclassification in the transition area between two objects. In this paper, firstly, we propose a Boundary Prediction Module (BPM) to predict boundary points. Based on the predicted boundary, a boundary-aware Geometric Encoding Module (GEM) is designed to encode geometric information and aggregate features with discrimination in a neighborhood, so that the local features belonging to different categories will not be polluted by each other. To provide extra geometric information for boundary-aware GEM, we also propose a light-weight Geometric Convolution Operation (GCO), making the extracted features more distinguishing. Built upon the boundary-aware GEM, we build our network and test it on benchmarks like ScanNet v2, S3DIS. Results show our methods can significantly improve the baseline and achieve state-of-the-art performance. Code is available at https://github.com/JchenXu/BoundaryAwareGEM.Comment: Accepted by AAAI202

The transcriptome expression levels related to ovulation induction and acupuncture protection therapy in rats through gene microarray

This study aimed to explore the potential molecular mechanisms of acupuncture in the adjuvant treatment of infertility. A rat model of ovulation induction was constructed using horse serum gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin, and then acupuncture was used to treat the model rats at Guanyuan and Sanyinjiao points. Hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining, the endometrial thickness, and enlargement of uterine cavity were determined to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on the uterus of ovulation induction rats. Meanwhile, the uterus tissues were sent for gene microarray analyses. Acupuncture enhanced the endometrial receptivity of ovulation induction rats. Gene microarray showed that 189 overlapped differential expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and these overlapped DEGs were divided into four clusters by Mfuzz algorithm. Afterwards, interaction networks containing 842 interaction pairs were established, and the DEGs in the interaction networks were significantly enriched in 20 BP and 10 KEGG pathways, including wound healing, response to glucocorticoid, TNF signaling pathway, terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, and glutathione metabolism. By calculating topological parameters, Anxa5, Casp8, Tgm2, Frk, Mmp7, Timp1, Hmgcr, Cth, Serpinal, and Abcbla were the important hub genes of the interaction networks. Our findings revealed the changes at transcriptome levels related to ovulation induction and acupuncture protection therapy

Responses of <i>Phragmites australis</i> to Nitrogen Addition along Salinity Gradients in Coastal Saline–Alkali Soil

Soil salinization and nitrogen (N) enrichment in saline–alkali soils resulting from human activities cause potential environmental pressure on Phragmites australis. However, the response of P. australis to N addition under different salt conditions remains unknown. This study examined the changes in soil properties and growth indices as well as their relationship to N addition through an in situ field experiment using three soil salinity levels with P. australis in the Yellow River Delta. The study showed that soil salinity levels significantly affected the effects of N addition on soil pH and water contents. N addition increased the soil NO3– contents and decreased soil available phosphorus (Avail. P) contents; however, soil salinity levels did not impact the effects of N addition on soil NO3− and Avail. P contents. N addition decreased the biomass of P. australis, since the decrease in the competitiveness for N sources changed the vegetation diversity. The results suggest that the biomass, plant height, and leaf soil plant analysis development (SPAD) values of P. australis increased with increasing soil Avail. P contents rather than soil NO3– contents. Therefore, we suggest the important role of Avail. P addition in N enrichment conditions in saline–alkali wasteland and estuarine wetland ecosystems

Spectral Characteristics and Functional Responses of Phospholipid Bilayers in the Terahertz Band

Understanding the vibrational information encoded within the terahertz (THz) spectrum of biomolecules is critical for guiding the exploration of its functional responses to specific THz radiation wavelengths. This study investigated several important phospholipid components of biological membranes—distearoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DSPE), dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), sphingosine phosphorylcholine (SPH), and lecithin bilayer—using THz time-domain spectroscopy. We observed similar spectral patterns for DPPC, SPH, and the lecithin bilayer, all of which contain the choline group as the hydrophilic head. Notably, the spectrum of DSPE, which has an ethanolamine head group, was different. Interestingly, density functional theory calculations confirmed that the absorption peak common to DSPE and DPPC at approximately 3.0 THz originated from a collective vibration of their similar hydrophobic tails. Accordingly, the cell membrane fluidity of RAW264.7 macrophages with irradiation at 3.1 THz was significantly enhanced, leading to improved phagocytosis. Our results highlight the importance of the spectral characteristics of the phospholipid bilayers when studying their functional responses in the THz band and suggest that irradiation at 3.1 THz is a potential non-invasive strategy to increase the fluidity of phospholipid bilayers for biomedical applications such as immune activation or drug administration