Transponder-Aided Joint Calibration and Synchronization Compensation for Distributed Radar Systems

High-precision radiometric calibration and synchronization compensation must be provided for distributed radar system due to separate transmitters and receivers. This paper proposes a transponder-aided joint radiometric calibration, motion compensation and synchronization for distributed radar remote sensing. As the transponder signal can be separated from the normal radar returns, it is used to calibrate the distributed radar for radiometry. Meanwhile, the distributed radar motion compensation and synchronization compensation algorithms are presented by utilizing the transponder signals. This method requires no hardware modifications to both the normal radar transmitter and receiver and no change to the operating pulse repetition frequency (PRF). The distributed radar radiometric calibration and synchronization compensation require only one transponder, but the motion compensation requires six transponders because there are six independent variables in the distributed radar geometry. Furthermore, a maximum likelihood method is used to estimate the transponder signal parameters. The proposed methods are verified by simulation results.     

Individualized closed-loop control of propofol anesthesia: A preliminary study

This paper proposes an individualized approach to closed-loop control of depth of hypnosis during propofol anesthesia. The novelty of the paper lies in the individualization of the controller at the end of the induction phase of anesthesia, based on a patient model identified from the dose–response relationship during induction of anesthesia. The proposed approach is shown to be superior to administration of propofol based on population-based infusion schemes tailored to individual patients. This approach has the potential to outperform fully adaptive approaches in regards to controller robustness against measurement variability due to surgical stimulation. To streamline controller synthesis, two output filters were introduced (inverting the Hill dose–response model and the linear time-invariant sensor model), which yield a close-to-linear representation of the system dynamics when used with a compartmental patient model. These filters are especially useful during the induction phase of anesthesia in which a nonlinear dose–response relationship complicates the design of an appropriate controller. The proposed approach was evaluated in simulation on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models of 44 patients identified from real clinical data. A model of the NeuroSense, a hypnotic depth monitor based on wavelet analysis of EEG, was also included. This monitor is similar to the well-known BIS, but has linear time-invariant dynamics and does not introduce a delay. The proposed scheme was compared with a population-based controller, i.e. a controller only utilizing models based on demographic covariates for its tuning. On average, the proposed approach offered 25% improvement in disturbance attenuation, measured as the integrated absolute error following a step disturbance. The corresponding standard deviation from the reference was also decreased by 25%. Results are discussed and possible directions of future work are proposed.     

Study on the ecological compensation standard for river basin water environment based on total pollutants control

The method used to calculate ecological compensation remains an important but difficult issue in current studies of ecological compensation. In this study, we used the ecological compensation method to examine the natural, social, and economic interactions between ecological and economic systems at the administrative level and between upstream and downstream areas in a river basin, with the aim of capacity control in the total amount of pollutants discharged. We used the information entropy method to build the total pollutant allocation model, in which we included a range of indexes that reflected regional heterogeneity in factors such as population, economic structure, production level, pollution control, and the water environment. The relationship between the capital invested and the quantity of pollutants discharged was used to calculate the unit value of the pollutants, from which we constructed a quantitative model of ecological compensation standard for river basin water environment based on total pollutants control. We used the Xiao Honghe River Basin, China, as a case study, and calculated the ecological compensation values of the water environment from 2008 to 2012 with chemical oxygen demand (COD) as the main pollution evaluation index. From the upper to lower reaches, the compensation value gradually decreased while it gradually increased in terms of time scale. This study provides a valid approach that can be applied to develop a long-term effective mechanism for protecting river basin ecology and improving the system of ecological compensation in river basins.     

Peak and averaged bicoherence for different EEG patterns during general anaesthesia

Background  

Changes in nonlinear neuronal mechanisms of EEG generation in the course of general anaesthesia have been extensively investigated in research literature. A number of EEG signal properties capable of tracking these changes have been reported and employed in anaesthetic depth monitors. The degree of phase coupling between different spectral components is a marker of nonlinear EEG generators and is claimed to be an important aspect of BIS. While bicoherence is the most direct measure of phase coupling, according to published research it is not directly used in the calculation of BIS, and only limited studies of its association with anaesthetic depth and level of consciousness have been published. This paper investigates bicoherence parameters across equal band and unequal band bifrequency regions, during different states of anaesthetic depth relating to routine clinical anaesthesia, as determined by visual inspection of EEG.     

Compensation for resistance in series with excitable membranes.

Extracellular resistance in series (Rs) with excitable membranes can give rise to significant voltage errors that distort the current records in voltage-clamped membranes. Electrical methods for measurement of and compensation for such resistances are described and evaluated. Measurement of Rs by the conventional voltage jump in response to a current step is accurate but the measurement of sine-wave admittance under voltage-clamp conditions is better, having about a fivefold improvement in resolution (+/- 0.1 omega cm2) over the conventional method. Conventional feedback of the membrane current signal to correct the Rs error signal leads to instability of the voltage clamp when approximately two-thirds of the error is corrected. We describe an active electronic bridge circuit that subtracts membrane capacitance from the total membrane current and allows full, yet stable, compensation for the voltage error due to ionic currents. Furthermore, this method provides not only fast and accurate control of the membrane potential in response to a command step, but also fast recovery following an abrupt change in the membrane conductance. Marked changes in the kinetics and amplitude of ionic currents resulting from full compensation for Rs are shown for several typical potential patterns.     

Empirical mode decomposition based filtering techniques for power line interference reduction in electrocardiogram using various adaptive structures and subtraction methods

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a vital sign monitoring measurement of the cardiac activity. One of the main problems in biomedical signals like electrocardiogram is the separation of the desired signal from noises caused by power line interference, muscle artifacts, baseline wandering and electrode artifacts. Different types of digital filters are used to separate signal components from unwanted frequency ranges. Adaptive filter is one of the primary methods to filter, because it does not need the signal statistic characteristics. In contrast with Fourier analysis and wavelet methods, a new technique called EMD, a fully data-driven technique is used. It is an adaptive method well suited to analyze biomedical signals. This paper foregrounds an empirical mode decomposition based two-weight adaptive filter structure to eliminate the power line interference in ECG signals. This paper proposes four possible methods and each have less computational complexity compared to other methods. These methods of filtering are fully a signal-dependent approach with adaptive nature, and hence it is best suited for denoising applications. Compared to other proposed methods, EMD based direct subtraction method gives better SNR irrespective of the level of noises.     

Human hydrometry: comparison of multifrequency bioelectrical impedance with 2H2O and bromine dilution

The traditionalmethod of assessing total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW),and intracellular water (ICW) has been the use of isotopes, on thebasis of the dilution principle. Although the development ofbioelectrical impedance techniques has eliminated many of themeasurement constraints associated with the dilution methods, thedegree of interchangeability between the two methods remains uncertain.We used multifrequency bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS),²H₂Odilution, and bromine dilution to assess TBW, ECW, and ICW in 469 healthy subjects (248 males, 221 females) aged 3-29 yr. We foundthat the TBW, ECW, and ICW estimates for the BIS and dilution methodswere significantly correlated(r² = 0.80-0.96, P < 0.0001, SE ofthe estimate = 2.3-2.7 liters). On the basis of population, theconstants used in the BIS analysis could be adjusted so that the meandifferences with the dilution methods would become zero. The SD valuesfor the mean differences between the dilution and BIS methods, however,remained significant for both males and females: TBW (±2.1-2.8liters), ECW (±1.4-1.6 liters), and ICW (2.0-3.1 liters).To improve the accuracy of the BIS measurement for an individual withinthe age range we have examined, further refinement of the constantsused in the BIS analysis is needed.

     

中国矿产资源开发区生态补偿研究进展

矿产资源开发区生态补偿是调整利益相关者因资源开采引发的环境利益和经济利益分配不均,并对矿产资源开发造成的外部成本内部化的制度安排。从矿产资源开发区生态补偿的理论研究、生态补偿机制、生态补偿标准,以及多学科交叉研究四方面对我国生态补偿相关研究进行了总结分析。从中发现:我国矿产资源开发区生态补偿仍以政府主导;矿产资源开发区生态补偿机制有待完善,在补偿主体、客体、途径、期限、内容等研究结论仍不明晰;现有补偿主要以经济补偿为主,补偿模式单一、补偿资金不足;生态补偿标准评估方法各有侧重点,尚未形成系统完善的矿产资源开发区生态补偿标准评估方法。今后应加强以下研究:强化生态补偿的理论研究,从市场产权交易和政府监督出发,构建科学生态补偿机制,结合区域自然、社会、经济特征,确定生态补偿标准;科学合理评估矿产资源开发造成的生态服务价值损益;结合生态补偿理论研究,采用多学科交叉分析,根据矿产资源开发阶段,构建矿产资源开发区生态补偿框架体系,明确生态补偿主客体、标准、方式、期限等;提炼矿产资源开发区生态补偿类型与模式,并构建矿产资源开发区生态补偿长效机制。     

X chromosome dosage compensation and its relationship to sex determination in C. elegans

A genetic regulatory hierarchy controls all aspects of Caenorhabditis elegans sex determination and X chromosome dosage compensation in response to the primary sex-determining signal, the X/A ratio. Initially, these two processes are coordinately regulated by a group of genes that transmit this primary signal to downstream genes that preferentially control either sex determination or dosage compensation. The relationship between these two processes is complex: not only are they coordinately controlled, a feedback mechanism operates to allow a disruption in dosage compensation to affect sexual fate. We describe our genetic and molecular understanding of the regulatory hierarchy, the feedback control and the dosage compensation process itself.     

Eye tracking using artificial neural networks for human computer interaction

This paper describes an ongoing project that has the aim to develop a low cost application to replace a computer mouse for people with physical impairment. The application is based on an eye tracking algorithm and assumes that the camera and the head position are fixed. Color tracking and template matching methods are used for pupil detection. Calibration is provided by neural networks as well as by parametric interpolation methods. Neural networks use back-propagation for learning and bipolar sigmoid function is chosen as the activation function. The user's eye is scanned with a simple web camera with backlight compensation which is attached to a head fixation device. Neural networks significantly outperform parametric interpolation techniques: 1) the calibration procedure is faster as they require less calibration marks and 2) cursor control is more precise. The system in its current stage of development is able to distinguish regions at least on the level of desktop icons. The main limitation of the proposed method is the lack of head-pose invariance and its relative sensitivity to illumination (especially to incidental pupil reflections).     

Analysis of bilateral inverse symmetry in whole bacterial chromosomes

The positions of the 64 DNA tri-nucleotides (triplets) along the Borrelia burgdorferi chromosome were determined and cumulative position plots (CPP) were obtained. Analysis of CPP for complementary triplets revealed close correlations in complementary triplet frequencies (CTF) between opposing leading and lagging strands. Such bilateral inverse symmetry (BIS) applied also to complementary mono- and di-nucleotides and to some >3 n-tuples. At the level of individual bases BIS explains Chargaff's second parity rule for whole bacterial chromosomes. Using shuffled control sequences we show that single-base BIS was not the source of higher-order BIS. Analysis of CTF in 45 other chromosomes suggests that BIS is a general property of eubacteria. BIS at the various levels may be due to the very similar numbers of codons used in chromosomal halves. Evolutionarily, BIS could have resulted from asymmetric substitution of bases combined with genetic rearrangements. However, the provocative theoretical alternative of whole-genome inverse duplication is here considered.     

Monitoring depth of anesthesia using combination of EEG measure and hemodynamic variables

Monitoring depth of anesthesia (DOA) via vital signs is a major ongoing challenge for anesthetists. A number of electroencephalogram (EEG)-based monitors such as the Bispectral (BIS) index have been proposed. However, anesthesia is related to central and autonomic nervous system functions whereas the EEG signal originates only from the central nervous system. This paper proposes an automated DOA detection system which consists of three steps. Initially, we introduce multiscale modified permutation entropy index which is robust in the characterization of the burst suppression pattern and combine multiscale information. This index quantifies the amount of complexity in EEG data and is computationally efficient, conceptually simple and artifact resistant. Then, autonomic nervous system activity is quantified with heart rate and mean arterial pressure which are easily acquired using routine monitoring machine. Finally, the extracted features are used as input to a linear discriminate analyzer (LDA). The method is validated with data obtained from 25 patients during the cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. The experimental results indicate that an overall accuracy of 89.4 % can be obtained using combination of EEG measure and hemodynamic variables, together with LDA to classify the vital sign into awake, light, surgical and deep anesthetised states. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can estimate DOA more effectively than the commercial BIS index with a stronger artifact-resistance.     

Human brain activity during illusory visual jitter as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

One central problem in vision is how to compensate for retinal slip. A novel illusion (visual jitter) suggests the compensation mechanism is based solely on retinal motion. Adaptation to visual noise attenuates the motion signals used by the compensation stage, producing illusory jitter due to the undercompensation of retinal slip. Here, we investigated the neural substrate of retinal slip compensation during this illusion using high-field fMRI and retinotopic mapping in flattened cortical format. When jitter perception occurred, MR signal decreased in lower stages of the visual system but increased prominently in area MT+. In conclusion, visual areas as early as V1 are responsible for the adaptation stage, and MT+ is involved in the compensation stage. The present finding suggests the pathway from V1 to MT+ has an important role in stabilizing the visual world.     

Automated Digitization of the Cardiotocography Signals from Real Scene Image of Binary Clinic Report

ObjectiveCardiotocography (CTG) is a popular clinical tool to assess foetal health status. Automatic CTG analysis can remove the judgement differences of inter- and intra- doctors. However, absence of CTG database has hindered the development of automatic CTG analysis based on deep learning. Therefore, digitization of CTG signal from clinic report is an important way to enrich CTG database, and in turn promote the automatic CTG analysis.MethodThe proposed digitization method extracts digital signal from the commonly used binary CTG paper reports. An adaptive region positioning algorithm based on statistical calculation is used to locate signal regions. Then, by deducing the dynamic minimal weight sum in theory, methods based on statistical calculation and on the weight sum are designed to remove grid lines. Next, according to different breakpoint types and signal line trends, different signal reconstruction methods are formulated. This realize extracting the signal line from binary background grid lines. Finally, a calibration method based on segmented sampling is designed to reduce calibration error due to smartphone lens distortion.ResultsThe experimental results show that the correlation coefficients of FHR and UC of proposed method both reached 0.98. After three expert gynaecologists's evaluations, there are no clinically relevant differences were identified between the extracted signals and the reference ones.     

Evaluation of bioimpedance spectroscopy for measurements of body water distribution in healthy women before, during, and after pregnancy.

Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) is a technique of interest in the study of human pregnancy because it can assess extracellular (ECW), intracellular (ICW), and total body water (TBW) as ECW plus ICW. The technique requires appropriate resistivity coefficients and has not been sufficiently evaluated during the reproductive cycle. Therefore, in a methodological study, we estimated ECW, ICW, and TBW, by means of BIS, and compared the results with the corresponding estimates obtained by using reference methods. Furthermore, results obtained by means of population-specific resistivity coefficients were compared with results obtained by means of general resistivity coefficients. These comparisons were made before pregnancy, in gestational weeks 14 and 32, as well as 2 wk postpartum in 21 healthy women. The reference methods were isotope and bromide dilution. Average ICW, ECW, and TBW, estimated by means of BIS, were in agreement with reference data before pregnancy, in gestational week 14, and postpartum. The corresponding comparison in gestational week 32 showed good agreement for ICW, whereas estimates by means of BIS were significantly (P < 0.001) lower than the corresponding reference values for ECW and TBW. Thus the BIS technique, which was based on a model developed for the nonpregnant body, estimated increases in ICW accurately, whereas increases in ECW and TBW tended to be underestimated. Estimates obtained by using population-specific and general resistivity coefficients were very similar. In conclusion, the results indicated that BIS is potentially useful for studies during pregnancy but that further work is needed before it can be generally applied in such studies.     

心音信号噪声消除的小波变换方法

心音信号幅值小,干扰多,采用常规的时、频域滤波方法往往不能收到良好的效果,本文根据信号和干扰在小波变换下的不同变化特性,利用二进小波变换的模极大值识别出心音信号中的干扰噪声的位置,剔除其相应的小波变换系数后,再通过小波逆变换重构出心音信号,并根据心音信号的特点选取了适当的母小波和分解尺度,给出了利用小波方法去噪前后的实际结果,结果表明,小波变换方法可有效地消除心音信号中的噪声干扰。     

Modelling selection for resistance to methods of insect pest control in combination

The development of resistance to insecticides is now widespread among insects. Other methods of pest control are also potentially at risk of encountering resistance. A modelling approach is presented here to evaluate the effects of combining methods of insect pest control on the selection for resistance to the control methods. This analysis is based on partitioning the total mortality acting on a population into its constituent components from all known sources, and these are related to selection for resistance. When two control methods are used in combination, selection for resistance against the two is a linear function if the two don't interact, otherwise it may be sublinear or supralinear. A specific example is presented using a model of the Olive fruit fly (Dacus oleae Gmel.) and employing food-baited and pheromone-baited traps for control. The control methods that appear least likely to encounter resistance are natural enemies and the use of pheromone traps for male annihilation. These should be integrated into a control program where possible to minimize the development of resistance to other control methods being used.     

Application of singular spectrum analysis to the smoothing of raw kinematic signals

Motion capture systems currently used in biomechanical analysis introduce systematic measurement errors that appear in the form of noise in recorded displacement signals. The noise is unacceptably amplified when differentiating displacements to obtain velocities and accelerations. To avoid this phenomenon, it is necessary to smooth the displacement signal prior to differentiation in order to eliminate the noise introduced by the experimental system. The use of singular spectrum analysis (SSA) is presented in this paper as an alternative to traditional digital filtering methods. SSA is a novel non-parametric technique based on principles of multivariate statistics. The original time series is decomposed into a number of additive time series, each of which can be easily identified as being part of the modulated signal, or as being part of the random noise. Several examples that demonstrate the superiority of this technique over other methods used in biomechanical analysis are presented in this paper.