Analyse des caractéristiques du canal MIMO dans mine souterraine

Short-range wireless communications technology has been embraced by the underground mining community in the last few years as a critical part of their method for enhancing the security and productiveness of their operations. In this work, we will demonstrate how the deployment of modern wireless communication systems, primarily based on MIMO antenna array technology will be affected in unique environments like underground gold mines. This work first explores the relation between the number of modes in a lossy waveguide environment and a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output antenna array size. Besides, knowing that beamforming for Massive MIMO is not suitable for deployment in underground mines. We demonstrated that applying beamforming in waveguide-like structures can enhance the performance and that by choosing the appropriate precoding techniques at the transmitter and receiver. Then, in order to achieve more reliability to the MIMO channel, a theoretical study obtained in mine comparing the capacity and power for different antenna configurations. Finally, we estimated the number of propagating modes in a rectangular cross-sectional mine environment and express it as a closed-form function of excitation frequency and waveguide cross-sectional dimensions and length. The presented formulas can be used to estimate the number of modes in the given shape quickly. By applying those previous methods before deploying the wireless communication system in mine, engineers can save time and cost. Besides, they can achieve the highest capacity within the implemented environment by building a wireless channel which is suitable for their desired frequency band

Ciblage Tissu-Spécifique des Cascades Enzymatiques de l’Angiotensinogène dans l’Athérome Humain

Atherosclerosis remains and continues to be the leading cause of death and disability in the world. The implication of Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) in the development of the disease is well experimentally and clinically documented. However, due to the complexity of the system, these studies remain dispersed and give no clear global view of the association between the system and the disease. In this regard, we studied the functional organization of a set of 37 genes encoding classical and newly discovered RAAS participants, including substrate, enzymes and receptors. This set was called extended RAAS (extRAAS). Using statistical analysis of human carotid atheroma transcriptome involving gene clustering, we revealed special features of extRAAS expression associated with atheromatous remodeling. An important feature of this pattern was the coordination of 2 clusters of genes that are known to favor atheroma formation. The first cluster constitutes genes that encode for angiotensin peptidases, including ACE, CTSG, CTSD and RNPEP. Whereas the second encode for receptors (AGTR1, MR, GR and LNPEP). We hypothesized that the local pattern of extRAAS gene expression plays a key role in the development of atherosclerosis by orienting the metabolism of active peptidesL'Athérosclérose est la principale cause de décès et d'invalidité dans le monde. L'implication du système rénine-angiotensine-aldostérone (RAAS) dans le développement de la maladie est expérimentalement et cliniquement bien documentée. Toutefois, en raison de la complexité du système, ces études ne donnent pas de vision claire sur l'association entre le système et la maladie. À cet égard, nous avons étudié l'organisation fonctionnelle d'un ensemble de 37 gènes codant pour les composants classiques et nouvellement découverts du RAAS, y compris les substrats, les enzymes et les récepteurs. Cet ensemble a été appelé RAAS étendu (extRAAS). En utilisant une analyse statistique des données du transcriptome de l'athérome carotidien humain, nous avons révélé des caractéristiques spéciales de l'expression de l'extRAAS associées au remodelage athéromateux. Une caractéristique importante de ce modèle est la coordination de 2 groupes de gènes qui sont connus pour favoriser la formation de l'athérome. Le premier groupe est constitué de gènes codant pour les peptidases de l'angiotensine, y compris ACE, CTSG, CTSD et RNPEP. Le deuxième groupe est constitué des gènes codant pour les récepteurs AGTR1, MR, GR et LNPE

Fine-Grained Access Control for Microservices

Microservices-based applications are considered to be a promising paradigm for building large-scale digital systems due to its flexibility, scalability, and agility of development. To achieve the adoption of digital services, applica-tions holding personal data must be secure while giving end-users as much control as possible. On the other hand, for software developers, adoption of a security solution for microservices requires it to be easily adaptable to the application context and requirements while fully exploiting reusability of se-curity components. This paper proposes a solution that targets key security challenges of microservice-based applications. Our approach relies on a co-ordination of security components, and offers a fine-grained access control in order to minimise the risks of token theft, session manipulation, and a ma-licious insider; it also renders the system resilient against confused deputy at-tacks. This solution is based on a combination of OAuth 2 and XACML open standards, and achieved through reusable security components integrat-ed with microservices

THC: Practical and Cost-Effective Verification of Delegated Computation

Homomorphic cryptography is used when computations are delegated to an untrusted third-party. However, there is a discrepancy between the untrustworthiness of the third-party and the silent assumption that it will perform the expected computations on the encrypted data. This may raise serious privacy concerns, for example when homomorphic cryptography is used to outsource resource-greedy computations on personal data (e.g., from an IoT device to the cloud). In this paper we show how to cost-effectively verify that the delegated computation corresponds to the expected sequence of operations, thus drastically reducing the necessary level of trust in the third-party. Our approach is based on the well-known modular extension scheme: it is transparent for the third-party and it is not tied to a particular homomorphic cryptosystem nor depends on newly introduced (and thus less-studied) cryptographic constructions. We provide a proof-of-concept implementation, THC (for trustable homomorphic computation ), which we use to perform security and performance analyses. We then demonstrate its practical usability, in the case of a toy electronic voting system

The Effects of Increasing Antenna Arrays for MIMO in Mine Tunnels

The aim of this paper is to prove theoretically by using waveguide and geometrical optical models that increasing MIMO array elements at the transmitter and receiver will have a limit on capacity where the equivalent spatial subchannels can be limited by the number of allowable modes

Acriflavine targets oncogenic STAT5 signaling in myeloid leukemia cells

International audienc

Securing Microservices

Microservices has drawn significant interest in recent years and is now successfully finding its way into different areas, from Enterprise IT to Internet-of-Things to even Critical Applications. This article discusses how Microservices can be secured at different levels and stages considering a common software development lifecycle

Physiochemical and Microbial Assessment of Water Quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, Lebanon

Water resources in Lebanon are witnessing serious challenges and reached depletion. One of the major challenges is the quality deterioration, which is accompanied with uncontrolled resources management, and thus the increasing demand. There are several consumption aspects, mainly the domestic, industrial and irrigation. Yet, exploitation of water resources in Lebanon implies both the surface and groundwater. However, surface water resources are most used due to the ease of exploitation processes, and more certainly water from rivers. Typically, the Litani River is the largest one in Lebanon. The river has been lately subjected to several aspects of deterioration in its quality. This includes the major physiochemical characteristics. This study aims to assess the seasonal variations in water quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, including the Qaraaoun Lake. Samples were collected from particular sites along the river, and at several dates during the years of 2010 and 2011. The carried analysis implies the physical (pH, T°, TDS, Ec), chemicals (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl?, SO42?, NH3+, NO3?, PO42?, K+, BOD5 and COD, Heavy metals (Fe, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr, Al, Ba, Pb, Mn) and microbiological parameters. This resulted numeric data are being compared with WHO guidelines. In addition, PCA was applied to evaluate the data accuracy. We can conclude that the variables used are very efficient and the dry season shows the worst water quality with nitrate, metal and microbial enrichments. Keywords: Water Contamination, Human Interference, Litani River, Principal Component Analysis

AudiWFlow: Confidential, Collusion-resistant Auditing of Distributed Workflows

We discuss the problem of accountability when multiple parties cooperate towards an end result such as multiple companies in a supply chain or departments of a government service under different authorities. In cases where a full trusted central point does not exist, it is difficult to obtain a trusted audit trail of a workflow when each individual participant is unaccountable to all others. We propose AudiWFlow, an auditing architecture which makes participants accountable for its contributions in a distributed workflow. Our scheme provides confidentiality in most cases, collusion detection and availability of evidence after the workflow terminates. AudiWFlow is based on verifiable secret sharing and real-time peer-to-peer verification of records; it further supports multiple levels of assurance to meet a desired trade-off between the availability of evidence and the overhead resulting from the auditing approach. We propose and evaluate two implementation approaches for AudiWFlow. The first one is fully distributed except for a central auxiliary point that, nevertheless, needs only a low level of trust. The second one is based on smart-contracts running on a public blockchain which is able to remove the need of any central point but requires the integration with a blockchain

Exploring serum glycome patterns after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: A prospective pilot study

BACKGROUND: Glycans play essential functional roles in the nervous system and their pathobiological relevance has become increasingly recognized in numerous brain disorders, but not fully explored in traumatic brain injury (TBI). We investigated longitudinal glycome patterns in patients with moderate to severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score ≤12) to characterize glyco-biomarker signatures and their relation to clinical features and long-term outcome. METHODS: This prospective single-center observational study included 51 adult patients with TBI (GCS ≤12) admitted to the neurosurgical unit of the University Hospital of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary, between June 2018 and April 2019. We used a high-throughput liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry platform to assess serum levels of N-glycans up to 3 days after injury. Outcome was assessed using the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOS-E) at 12 months post-injury. Multivariate statistical techniques, including principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, were used to analyze glycomics data and define highly influential structures driving class distinction. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to determine prognostic accuracy. FINDINGS: We identified 94 N-glycans encompassing all typical structural types, including oligomannose, hybrid, and complex-type entities. Levels of high mannose, hybrid and sialylated structures were temporally altered (p<0·05). Four influential glycans were identified. Two brain-specific structures, HexNAc5Hex3DeoxyHex0NeuAc0 and HexNAc5Hex4DeoxyHex0NeuAc1, were substantially increased early after injury in patients with unfavorable outcome (GOS-E≤4) (area under the curve [AUC]=0·75 [95%CI 0·59-0·90] and AUC=0·71 [0·52-0·89], respectively). Serum levels of HexNAc7Hex7DeoxyHex1NeuAc2 and HexNAc8Hex6DeoxyHex0NeuAc0 were persistently increased in patients with favorable outcome, but undetectable in those with unfavorable outcome. Levels of HexNAc5Hex4DeoxyHex0NeuAc1 were acutely elevated in patients with mass lesions and in those requiring decompressive craniectomy. INTERPRETATION: In spite of the exploratory nature of the study and the relatively small number of patients, our results provide to the best of our knowledge initial evidence supporting the utility of glycomics approaches for biomarker discovery and patient phenotyping in TBI. Further larger multicenter studies will be required to validate our findings and to determine their pathobiological value and potential applications in practice. FUNDING: This work was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (grant number GR-2013-02354960), and also partially supported by a NIH grant (1R01GM112490-08)