Customer engagement through gamification marketing in China: a focus on the luxury market.

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On the Use of an Ultra-Tight Integration for Robust Navigation in Jammed Scenarios

Peer reviewe

On the Adaptivity of Unscented Particle Filter for GNSS/INS Tightly-Integrated Navigation Unit in Urban Environment

Tight integration algorithms fusing Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) have become popular in many high-accuracy positioning and navigation applications. Despite their reliability, common integration architectures can still run into accuracy drops under challenging navigation settings. The growing computational power of low-cost, embedded systems has allowed for the exploitation of several advanced Bayesian state estimation algorithms, such as the Particle Filter (PF) and its hybrid variants, e.g. Unscented Particle Filter (UPF). Although sophisticated, these architectures are not immune from multipath scattering and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) signal receptions, which frequently corrupt satellite measurements and jeopardise GNSS/INS solutions. Hence, a certain level of modelling adaptivity should be granted to avoid severe drifts in the estimated states. Given these premises, the paper presents a novel Adaptive Unscented Particle Filter (AUPF) architecture leveraging two cascading stages to cope with disruptive, biased GNSS input observables in harsh conditions. A INS-based signal processing block is implemented upstream of a Redundant Measurement Noise Covariance Estimation (RMNCE) stage to strengthen the adaptation of observables’ statistics and improve the state estimation. An experimental assessment is provided for the proposed robust AUPF that demonstrates a 10 % average reduction of the horizontal position error above the 75-th percentile. In addition, a comparative analysis both with previous adaptive architectures and a plain UPF is carried out to highlight the improved performance of the proposed methodology

Positioning Based on Tightly Coupled Multiple Sensors: A Practical Implementation and Experimental Assessment

During the last decade, the number of applications for land transportation that depend on systems for accurate positioning has significantly increased. Unfortunately, systems based on low-cost global navigation satellite system (GNSS) components harshly suffer signal impairments due to the environment surrounding the antenna, but new designs based on deeper data fusion and on the combination of different signal processing techniques can overcome limitations without the introduction of expensive components. Supported by a complete mathematical model, this paper presents the design of a real-time positioning system that is based on the tight integration of extremely low-cost sensors and a consumer-grade global positioning system receiver. The design has been validated experimentally through a series of tests carried out in real scenarios. The performance of the new system is compared against a standalone GNSS receiver and survey-grade professional equipment. The results show that a carefully designed and constrained integration of low-cost sensors can have performance comparable to that of an expensive professional equipment

Performance Analysis of Constrained Loosely Coupled GPS/INS Integration Solutions

The paper investigates approaches for loosely coupled GPS/INS integration. Error performance is calculated using a reference trajectory. A performance improvement can be obtained by exploiting additional map information (for example, a road boundary). A constrained solution has been developed and its performance compared with an unconstrained one. The case of GPS outages is also investigated showing how a Kalman filter that operates on the last received GPS position and velocity measurements provides a performance benefit. Results are obtained by means of simulation studies and real dat

A rare case of omental extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumor showing two coexisting mutations on exon 14 of the PDGFRA gene

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are neoplasms arising from mesenchymal cells localized into the muscularis propria of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract [1]; 5% of GISTs are extra-GISTs (EGISTs), as they differently originate from adipose tissue adjacent to the GI tract (omentum and mesentery) or from the pancreas [2]. So far, both GISTs and EGISTs have been managed indistinctively by combining surgery, histopathological distinctive features, imaging, and molecular analysis. Moreover, despite the contribution of defined genetic backgrounds whose influence is acknowledged in this type of tumor (i.e. Carney’s triad or familiar form of GIST), the pathobiology of both GISTs and EGISTs is not yet fully understood. We describe an interesting case of an extensively diffuse EGIST involving only omentum and mesocolon with multinodular growth and peculiar histological features, and for which a deeper histopathological/ molecular analysis is reported. Case presentation A 74-year-old female with a historical diagnosis of multiple myeloma was referred for anemia, alvus disorders (diarrhea and constipation), weight loss (15 kg in 6 months), and palpable mass of the right flank that had appeared 8 weeks before. On medication for multiple myeloma since 2016 (melphalan combined with prednisone and bortezomib9; carfilzomib/lenalidomide/ desametasone6 until complete remission), she also had type II diabetes, treated with oral medications and open cholecystectomy in the 1980s. Physical examination revealed the presence of a large mobile non-painful mass in the right flank apparently from the right colon, without signs of occlusion or intestinal bleeding. Blood analysis showed: hemoglobin 7.9 g/dL, white blood cells 2.3103/lL, glycemia 191 mg/dL, and a low potassium level of 2.8 mEq/L. We first treated the glycemia by insulin infusion and, second, we investigated the signs of anemia. By lower GI Submitted: 14 May 2020; Revised: 20 July 2020; Accepted: 28 July 202

Advanced CT imaging features reflect distinct tissue immune profiles and exhibit high prognostic impact on NSCLC

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Role of DNA repair machinery and p53 in the testicular germ cell cancer: a review

Notwithstanding the peculiar sensitivity to cisplatin-based treatment, resulting in a very high percentage of cures even in advanced stages of the disease, still we do not know the biological mechanisms that make Testicular Germ Cell Tumor (TGCT) "unique" in the oncology scene. p53 and MDM2 seem to play a pivotal role, according to several in vitro observations, but no correlation has been found between their mutational or expression status in tissue samples and patients clinical outcome. Furthermore, other players seem to be on stage: DNA Damage Repair Machinery (DDR) , especially Homologous Recombination (HR) proteins, above all Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM), cooperates with p53 in response to DNA damage, activating apoptotic cascade and contributing to cell "fate". Homologous Recombination deficiency has been assumed to be a Germ Cell Tumor characteristic underlying platinum-sensitivity, whereby Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), an enzyme involved in HR DNA repair, is an intriguing target: PARP inhibitors have already entered in clinical practice of other malignancies and trials are recruiting TGCT patients in order to validate their role in this disease. This paper aims to summarize evidence, trying to outline an overview of DDR implications not only in TGCT curability, but also in resistance to chemotherapy