Precise and low-complexity method for underwater Doppler estimation based on acoustic frequency comb waveforms

Ocean observation has advanced rapidly in recent decades due to its crucial role in resource exploration and scientific research, with the Doppler factor being widely utilized. However, the precision of Doppler estimation is frequently constrained by frequency resolution. Traditional frequency estimation methods using single-tone signals face considerable challenges with low accuracy and poor robustness. In response, this paper introduces a novel Doppler-sensitive Acoustic Frequency Comb (AFC) for estimating the Doppler factor, enabling multiple measurements with a single transmission and reception of the signal. The proposed Combined Uneven Uncertainty (CUU) method based on AFC achieves a bias of less than 1.1×10-5, significantly surpassing the optimal result of 3.2×10-5 attained by other frequency estimation methods in the absence of noise. Compared to traditional single-tone methods, the AFC approach improves spectral leakage performance and enhances estimation accuracy without increasing computational complexity. Experimental results demonstrate that the CUU method realizes a difference performance of less than 3.4×10-6, notably lower than that of 3.2×10-5 induced by coherent spectral leakage in fast Fourier Transform (FFT)

VommaNet: an End-to-End Network for Disparity Estimation from Reflective and Texture-less Light Field Images

The precise combination of image sensor and micro-lens array enables lenslet light field cameras to record both angular and spatial information of incoming light, therefore, one can calculate disparity and depth from light field images. In turn, 3D models of the recorded objects can be recovered, which is a great advantage over other imaging system. However, reflective and texture-less areas in light field images have complicated conditions, making it hard to correctly calculate disparity with existing algorithms. To tackle this problem, we introduce a novel end-to-end network VommaNet to retrieve multi-scale features from reflective and texture-less regions for accurate disparity estimation. Meanwhile, our network has achieved similar or better performance in other regions for both synthetic light field images and real-world data compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms. Currently, we achieve the best score for mean squared error (MSE) on HCI 4D Light Field Benchmark

A novel recombinant pseudorabies virus expressing parvovirus VP2 gene: Immunogenicity and protective efficacy in swine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Porcine parvovirus (PPV) VP2 gene has been successfully expressed in many expression systems resulting in self-assembly of virus-like particles (VLPs) with similar morphology to the native capsid. Here, a pseudorabies virus (PRV) system was adopted to express the PPV VP2 gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A recombinant PRV SA215/VP2 was obtained by homologous recombination between the vector PRV viral DNA and a transfer plasmid. Then recombinant virus was purified with plaque purification, and its identity confirmed by PCR amplification, Western blot and indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) analyses. Electronic microscopy of PRV SA215/VP2 confirmed self-assembly of both pseudorabies virus and VLPs from VP2 protein.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Immunization of piglets with recombinant virus elicited PRV-specific and PPV-specific humoral immune responses and provided complete protection against a lethal dose of PRV challenges. Gilts immunized with recombinant viruses induced PPV-specific antibodies, and significantly reduced the mortality rate of (1 of 28) following virulent PPV challenge compared with the control (7 of 31). Furthermore, PPV virus DNA was not detected in the fetuses of recombinant virus immunized gilts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this study, a recombinant PRV SA215/VP2 virus expressing PPV VP2 protein was constructed using PRV SA215 vector. The safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy of the recombinant virus were demonstrated in piglets and primiparous gilts. This recombinant PRV SA215/VP2 represents a suitable candidate for the development of a bivalent vaccine against both PRV and PPV infection.</p

Radix Astragali

A previous study conducted by our group demonstrated that Radix Astragali compounded with Codonopsis pilosula and Plastrum testudinis was effective in treating pediatric β-thalassemia in a randomized, controlled clinical trial. However, the mechanism of action that underpins this treatment remains to be elucidated. Blood was collected from patients participating in this clinical trial and nucleated red blood cell-enriched mononuclear cells were isolated to facilitate the extraction of RNA and protein. RT-PCR was used to monitor the expression of globin genes and p38 MAPK, and total and phosphorylated p38 MAPK expression was assessed using Western blot analysis. Expression of α-, β-, and Aγ-globin mRNAs was not significantly affected following treatment with R. Astragali or the compounded formulation. However, Gγ-globin mRNA levels increased significantly in both treatment groups (when compared with pretreatment levels) following 12 weeks of treatment. Moreover, posttreatment Gγ-globin expression was significantly higher in both treatment groups compared with the control group. Although neither p38 MAPK mRNA nor protein levels were affected by the treatments, posttreatment phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was significantly increased in the R. Astragali and compounded formulation groups compared with the control group. These data suggest that the molecular mechanisms that underpin the efficacious use of R. Astragali (and its compounded formulation) in pediatric β-thalassemia treatment facilitate the induction of Gγ-globin expression following activation of p38 MAPK

The Future of Cognitive Strategy-enhanced Persuasive Dialogue Agents: New Perspectives and Trends

Persuasion, as one of the crucial abilities in human communication, has garnered extensive attention from researchers within the field of intelligent dialogue systems. We humans tend to persuade others to change their viewpoints, attitudes or behaviors through conversations in various scenarios (e.g., persuasion for social good, arguing in online platforms). Developing dialogue agents that can persuade others to accept certain standpoints is essential to achieving truly intelligent and anthropomorphic dialogue system. Benefiting from the substantial progress of Large Language Models (LLMs), dialogue agents have acquired an exceptional capability in context understanding and response generation. However, as a typical and complicated cognitive psychological system, persuasive dialogue agents also require knowledge from the domain of cognitive psychology to attain a level of human-like persuasion. Consequently, the cognitive strategy-enhanced persuasive dialogue agent (defined as CogAgent), which incorporates cognitive strategies to achieve persuasive targets through conversation, has become a predominant research paradigm. To depict the research trends of CogAgent, in this paper, we first present several fundamental cognitive psychology theories and give the formalized definition of three typical cognitive strategies, including the persuasion strategy, the topic path planning strategy, and the argument structure prediction strategy. Then we propose a new system architecture by incorporating the formalized definition to lay the foundation of CogAgent. Representative works are detailed and investigated according to the combined cognitive strategy, followed by the summary of authoritative benchmarks and evaluation metrics. Finally, we summarize our insights on open issues and future directions of CogAgent for upcoming researchers.Comment: 36 pages, 6 figure

Chemisorption Induced Formation of Biphenylene Dimer on Surfaces

We report an example that demonstrates the clear interdependence between surface-supported reactions and molecular adsorption configurations. Two biphenyl-based molecules with two and four bromine substituents, i.e. 2,2-dibromo-biphenyl (DBBP) and 2,2,6,6-tetrabromo-1,1-biphenyl (TBBP), show completely different reaction pathways on a Ag(111) surface, leading to the selective formation of dibenzo[e,l]pyrene and biphenylene dimer, respectively. By combining low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations, we unravel the underlying reaction mechanism. After debromination, a bi-radical biphenyl can be stabilized by surface Ag adatoms, while a four-radical biphenyl undergoes spontaneous intramolecular annulation due to its extreme instability on Ag(111). Such different chemisorption-induced precursor states between DBBP and TBBP consequently lead to different reaction pathways after further annealing. In addition, using bond-resolving scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we determine the bond length alternation of biphenylene dimer product with atomic precision, which contains four-, six-, and eight-membered rings. The four-membered ring units turn out to be radialene structures

Application of molecular simulation in mobile phase development of HPLC

The selection of mobile phase is significant for the separation result of HPLC, for it may have influence on the quantitative analysis. During HPLC analysis, engineers usually use (water-acetonitrile) mobile phase system to separate aldehydes and ketones, however, the existence of acetone will affect the separation effect of other substances. The paper researches one new (water-acetonitrile-tetrahydrofuran) mobile phase system to separate aldehydes and ketones. By analyzing the standard curves and test results of unknown samples, the new mobile phase can meet the analyzing needs, also it can eliminate the influence of acetone in the analysis process. What’s more, the paper uses molecular simulation[1–3] (MS) to calculate the interactions between the mobile phase and the aldehydes and ketones, mean square displacement value (MSD) and radial distribution function value (RDF), and the separation phenomenon can be well explained. In this paper, MS technology is first proposed for the development of new mobile phase, which can predict new unknown mobile phase, improve the efficiency of method development, also it can benefit the accurate qualitative analysis and prediction of peak out behavior of unknown substances