Integer ambiguity resolution at a single receiver can be implemented by applying improved satellite products where the fractional-cycle biases (FCBs) have been separated from the integer ambiguities ...in a network solution. One method to achieve these products is to estimate the FCBs by averaging the fractional parts of the float ambiguity estimates, and the other is to estimate the integer-recovery clocks by fixing the undifferenced ambiguities to integers in advance. In this paper, we theoretically prove the equivalence of the ambiguity-fixed position estimates derived from these two methods by assuming that the FCBs are hardware-dependent and only they are assimilated into the clocks and ambiguities. To verify this equivalence, we implement both methods in the Position and Navigation Data Analyst software to process 1 year of GPS data from a global network of about 350 stations. The mean biases between all daily position estimates derived from these two methods are only 0.2, 0.1 and 0.0 mm, whereas the standard deviations of all position differences are only 1.3, 0.8 and 2.0 mm for the East, North and Up components, respectively. Moreover, the differences of the position repeatabilities are below 0.2 mm on average for all three components. The RMS of the position estimates minus those from the International GNSS Service weekly solutions for the former method differs by below 0.1 mm on average for each component from that for the latter method. Therefore, considering the recognized millimeter-level precision of current GPS-derived daily positions, these statistics empirically demonstrate the theoretical equivalence of the ambiguity-fixed position estimates derived from these two methods. In practice, we note that the former method is compatible with current official clock-generation methods, whereas the latter method is not, but can potentially lead to slightly better positioning quality.
Ambiguity resolution dedicated to a single global positioning system (GPS) station can improve the accuracy of precise point positioning. In this process, the estimation accuracy of the narrow-lane ...fractional-cycle biases (FCBs), which destroy the integer nature of undifferenced ambiguities, is crucial to the ambiguity-fixed positioning accuracy. In this study, we hence propose the improved narrow-lane FCBs derived from an ambiguity-fixed GPS network solution, rather than the original (i.e. previously proposed) FCBs derived from an ambiguity-float network solution. The improved FCBs outperform the original FCBs by ensuring that the resulting ambiguity-fixed daily positions coincide in nature with the state-of-the-art positions generated by the International GNSS Service (IGS). To verify this improvement, 1 year of GPS measurements from about 350 globally distributed stations were processed. We find that the original FCBs differ more from the improved FCBs when fewer stations are involved in the FCB estimation, especially when the number of stations is less than 20. Moreover, when comparing the ambiguity-fixed daily positions with the IGS weekly positions for 248 stations through a Helmert transformation, for the East component, we find that on 359 days of the year the daily RMS of the transformed residuals based on the improved FCBs is smaller by up to 0.8 mm than those based on the original FCBs, and the mean RMS over the year falls evidently from 2.6 to 2.2 mm. Meanwhile, when using the improved rather than the original FCBs, the RMS of the transformed residuals for the East component of 239 stations (i.e. 96.4% of all 248 stations) is clearly reduced by up to 1.6 mm, especially for stations located within a sparse GPS network. Therefore, we suggest that narrow-lane FCBs should be determined with ambiguity-fixed, rather than ambiguity-float, GPS network solutions.
Integer ambiguity resolution at a single receiver can be achieved if the fractional-cycle biases are separated from the ambiguity estimates in precise point positioning (PPP). Despite the improved ...positioning accuracy by such integer resolution, the convergence to an ambiguity-fixed solution normally requires a few tens of minutes. Even worse, these convergences can repeatedly occur on the occasion of loss of tracking locks for many satellites if an open sky-view is not constantly available, consequently totally destroying the practicability of real-time PPP. In this study, in case of such re-convergences, we develop a method in which ionospheric delays are precisely predicted to significantly accelerate the integer ambiguity resolution. The effectiveness of this method consists in two aspects: first, wide-lane ambiguities can be rapidly resolved using the ionosphere-corrected wide-lane measurements, instead of the noisy Melbourne–Wübbena combination measurements; second, narrow-lane ambiguity resolution can be accelerated under the tight constraints derived from the ionosphere-corrected unambiguous wide-lane measurements. In the test at 90 static stations suffering from simulated total loss of tracking locks, 93.3 and 95.0% of re-convergences to wide-lane and narrow-lane ambiguity resolutions can be achieved within five epochs of 1-Hz measurements, respectively, even though the time latency for the predicted ionospheric delays is up to 180 s. In the test at a mobile van moving in a GPS-adverse environment where satellite number significantly decreases and cycle slips frequently occur, only when the predicted ionospheric delays are applied can the rate of ambiguity-fixed epochs be dramatically improved from 7.7 to 93.6% of all epochs. Therefore, this method can potentially relieve the unrealistic requirement of a continuous open sky-view by most PPP applications and improve the practicability of real-time PPP.
High‐rate sampling data of Global Navigation Satellite Systems ionospheric scintillation acquired by a network of GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor receivers located in the Svalbard ...Islands, in Norway and in Antarctica have been analyzed. The aim is to describe the “scintillation climatology” of the high‐latitude ionosphere over both the poles under quiet conditions of the near‐Earth environment. For climatology we mean to assess the general recurrent features of the ionospheric irregularities dynamics and temporal evolution on long data series, trying to catch eventual correspondences with scintillation occurrence. In spite of the fact that the sites are not geomagnetically conjugate, long series of data recorded by the same kind of receivers provide a rare opportunity to draw a picture of the ionospheric features characterizing the scintillation conditions over high latitudes. The method adopted is the Ground Based Scintillation Climatology, which produces maps of scintillation occurrence and of total electron content relative variation to investigate ionospheric scintillations scenario in terms of geomagnetic and geographic coordinates, interplanetary magnetic field conditions and seasonal variability. By means of such a novel and original description of the ionospheric irregularities, our work provides insights to speculate on the cause‐effect mechanisms producing scintillations, suggesting the roles of the high‐latitude ionospheric trough, of the auroral boundaries and of the polar cap ionosphere in hosting those irregularities causing scintillations over both the hemispheres at high latitude. The method can constitute a first step toward the development of new algorithms to forecast the scintillations during space weather events.
Key Points
Ionospheric irregularities
Ionospheric scintillation climatology
High latitude ionosphere
The RV144 vaccine trial in Thailand demonstrated that an HIV vaccine could prevent infection in humans and highlights the importance of understanding protective immunity against HIV. We used a ...nonhuman primate model to define immune and genetic mechanisms of protection against mucosal infection by the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). A plasmid DNA prime/recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) boost vaccine regimen was evaluated for its ability to protect monkeys from infection by SIVmac251 or SIVsmE660 isolates after repeat intrarectal challenges. Although this prime-boost vaccine regimen failed to protect against SIVmac251 infection, 50% of vaccinated monkeys were protected from infection with SIVsmE660. Among SIVsmE660-infected animals, there was about a one-log reduction in peak plasma virus RNA in monkeys expressing the major histocompatibility complex class I allele Mamu-A*01, implicating cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the control of SIV replication once infection is established. Among Mamu-A*01-negative monkeys challenged with SIVsmE660, no CD8(+) T cell response or innate immune response was associated with protection against virus acquisition. However, low levels of neutralizing antibodies and an envelope-specific CD4(+) T cell response were associated with vaccine protection in these monkeys. Moreover, monkeys that expressed two TRIM5 alleles that restrict SIV replication were more likely to be protected from infection than monkeys that expressed at least one permissive TRIM5 allele. This study begins to elucidate the mechanisms of vaccine protection against immunodeficiency viruses and highlights the need to analyze these immune and genetic correlates of protection in future trials of HIV vaccine strategies.
Infection with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, results in pneumonia and other respiratory symptoms as well as pathologies at diverse anatomical sites. An outstanding question is whether these ...diverse pathologies are due to replication of the virus in these anatomical compartments and how and when the virus reaches those sites. To answer these outstanding questions and study the spatiotemporal dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection a method for tracking viral spread
is needed. We developed a novel, fluorescently labeled, antibody-based
probe system using the anti-spike monoclonal antibody CR3022 and demonstrated that it could successfully identify sites of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a rhesus macaque model of COVID-19. Our results showed that the fluorescent signal from our antibody-based probe could differentiate whole lungs of macaques infected for 9 days from those infected for 2 or 3 days. Additionally, the probe signal corroborated the frequency and density of infected cells in individual tissue blocks from infected macaques. These results provide proof of concept for the use of
antibody-based probes to study SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics in rhesus macaques.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has had a dramatic global impact on public health and social and economic infrastructures. Here, we assess the immunogenicity and ...anamnestic protective efficacy in rhesus macaques of an intradermal (i.d.)-delivered SARS-CoV-2 spike DNA vaccine, INO-4800, currently being evaluated in clinical trials. Vaccination with INO-4800 induced T cell responses and induced spike antigen and RBD binding antibodies with ADCP and ADCD activity. Sera from the animals neutralized both the D614 and G614 SARS-CoV-2 pseudotype viruses. Several months after vaccination, animals were challenged with SARS-CoV-2 resulting in rapid recall of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein T cell and neutralizing antibody responses. These responses were associated with lower viral loads in the lung. These studies support the immune impact of INO-4800 for inducing both humoral and cellular arms of the adaptive immune system, which are likely important for providing durable protection against COVID-19 disease.
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•INO-4800 induces cellular and humoral immune responses in macaques•Vaccinated animals respond rapidly to SARS-CoV-2 exposure 17 weeks post-immunization•This study employs a clinically relevant intradermal vaccine dose and regimen
Patel et al. demonstrate that immunization with a DNA vaccine encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen, INO-4800, induces durable immune responses in rhesus macaques and is associated with reduced viral loads after challenge.
Observations from a network of specially equipped GPS scintillation receivers in Northern Europe are used to investigate the dynamics of ionospheric plasma during the storm events of 30 October and ...20 November 2003. The total electron content (TEC) and scintillation data, combined with ionospheric tomography produced by the multi-instrument data analysis system (MIDAS), reveal strong enhancements and steep gradients in TEC during nighttime under a prevailing negative
B
z
component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Amplitude and phase scintillation maxima are often co-located with the TEC gradients at the edge of plasma patches, revealing the presence of small-scale irregularities and suggesting association with a tongue of ionization (TOI) convecting in an anti-sunward direction from the American sector across the polar cap. Similarities and differences between the ionospheric response to the two storms are investigated. The 30 October event reveals a quite complex scenario showing two phases of plasma dynamics: the former reflects the expected convection pattern for IMF
B
z
southward and the latter possibly indicates a sort of TEC plasma stagnation signature of the more complex convection patterns during several positive/negative excursions of IMF
B
z
.
Vaccines to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are urgently needed. The effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines on viral replication in both upper and ...lower airways is important to evaluate in nonhuman primates.
Nonhuman primates received 10 or 100 μg of mRNA-1273, a vaccine encoding the prefusion-stabilized spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, or no vaccine. Antibody and T-cell responses were assessed before upper- and lower-airway challenge with SARS-CoV-2. Active viral replication and viral genomes in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) fluid and nasal swab specimens were assessed by polymerase chain reaction, and histopathological analysis and viral quantification were performed on lung-tissue specimens.
The mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate induced antibody levels exceeding those in human convalescent-phase serum, with live-virus reciprocal 50% inhibitory dilution (ID
) geometric mean titers of 501 in the 10-μg dose group and 3481 in the 100-μg dose group. Vaccination induced type 1 helper T-cell (Th1)-biased CD4 T-cell responses and low or undetectable Th2 or CD8 T-cell responses. Viral replication was not detectable in BAL fluid by day 2 after challenge in seven of eight animals in both vaccinated groups. No viral replication was detectable in the nose of any of the eight animals in the 100-μg dose group by day 2 after challenge, and limited inflammation or detectable viral genome or antigen was noted in lungs of animals in either vaccine group.
Vaccination of nonhuman primates with mRNA-1273 induced robust SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity, rapid protection in the upper and lower airways, and no pathologic changes in the lung. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.).
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