This paper proposes a physical-layer cell identity (PCID) detection method that employs joint estimation of a frequency offset and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS) sequence for the 5G new ...radio (NR) initial access with beamforming transmission at a base station. Computer simulation results show that by using the PCID detection method with the proposed joint estimation, an almost identical PCID detection probability to the primary synchronization signal (PSS) detection probability is achieved for an average received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of higher than approximately -5 dB. The results suggest that the residual frequency offset is compensated to a sufficiently low level leading to accurate SSS sequence estimation. The results also show that by using the PCID detection method, high PCID detection probabilities of greater than 90% and 50% are achieved at the carrier frequencies of 30 GHz and 50 GHz, respectively, at the average received SNR of 0 dB at the frequency stability for a local oscillator in a set of user equipment of 3 ppm.
Removal of selenate in saline wastewater by activated sludge was examined. Sequencing batch reactor was operated under alternating anoxic/oxic conditions. Above 97% removal of soluble selenium (Se) ...was achieved continuously. Major Se removal mechanism varied depending on the length of aeration period. Various Se-reducing bacteria likely contributed to coordinately to Se removal.
Selenium (Se)-containing industrial wastewater is often coupled with notable salinity. However, limited studies have examined biological treatment of Se-containing wastewater under high salinity conditions. In this study, a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) inoculated with activated sludge was applied to treat selenate in synthetic saline wastewater (3% w/v NaCl) supplemented with lactate as the carbon source. Start-up of the SBR was performed with addition of 1-5 mM of selenate under oxygen-limiting conditions, which succeeded in removing more than 99% of the soluble Se. Then, the treatment of 1 mM Se with cycle duration of 3 days was carried out under alternating anoxic/oxic conditions by adding aeration period after oxygen-limiting period. Although the SBR maintained soluble Se removal of above 97%, considerable amount of solid Se remained in the effluent as suspended solids and total Se removal fluctuated between about 40 and 80%. Surprisingly, the mass balance calculation found a considerable decrease of Se accumulated in the SBR when the aeration period was prolonged to 7 h, indicating very efficient Se biovolatilization. Furthermore, microbial community analysis suggested that various Se-reducing bacteria coordinately contributed to the removal of Se in the SBR and main contributors varied depending on the operational conditions. This study will offer implications for practical biological treatment of selenium in saline wastewater.
Exploiting vulnerabilities of remote systems is one of the fundamental behaviors of malware that determines their potential hazards. Understanding what kind of propagation tactics each malware uses ...is essential in incident response because such information directly links with countermeasures such as writing a signature for IDS. Although recently malware sandbox analysis has been studied intensively, little work is done on securely observing the vulnerability exploitation by malware. In this paper, we propose a novel sandbox analysis method for securely observing malware's vulnerability exploitation in a totally isolated environment. In our sandbox, we prepare two victim hosts. We first execute the sample malware on one of these hosts and then let it attack the other host which is running multiple vulnerable services. As a simple realization of the proposed method, we have implemented a sandbox using Nepenthes, a low-interaction honeypot, as the second victim. Because Nepenthes can emulate a variety of vulnerable services, we can efficiently observe the propagation of sample malware. In the experiments, among 382 samples whose scan capabilities are confirmed, 381 samples successfully started exploiting vulnerabilities of the second victim. This indicates the certain level of feasibility of the proposed method.
Retinoic acid (RA) receptors (RARs) are nuclear receptors whose specific natural ligands are all-trans RA (atRA) and 9-cis RA. RARs control aspects of vision, cell differentiation, immune response, ...and embryonic development in vertebrates. However excess RAR signaling can cause various teratogenic effects on developing vertebrates. In our previous studies, we have revealed that municipal wastewater generally contains RAR agonists, and identified that the major causative compounds are RAs atRA and 13-cis RA (13cRA) and 4-oxo-RAs (4-oxo-atRA and 4-oxo-13cRA), which are oxidative metabolites of RAs. In this study, to elucidate the fates of RAs and 4-oxo-RAs during wastewater treatment, we investigated the variations in their concentrations and the overall RAR agonistic activity in municipal wastewater treatment plants in Osaka, Japan. Results of this study suggested that RAs and 4-oxo-RAs in wastewater can be readily removed by activated sludge treatment, regardless of season and treatment type, and that unidentified RAR agonists are produced during the treatment and persist in the final effluent under certain conditions. However, the current RAR agonist level in the final effluent is unlikely to cause deleterious biological effects.
Although rachitic/osteomalacic myopathy caused by impaired vitamin D actions has long been described, the molecular pathogenesis remains elusive. To determine physiological roles of vitamin D actions ...through vitamin D receptor (VDR) in skeletal muscle development, we examined skeletal muscle in VDR gene deleted (VDR −/−) mice, an animal model of vitamin D-dependent rickets type II, for morphological changes and expression of myoregulatory transcription factors and myosin heavy chain isoforms. We found that each muscle fiber was small and variable in size in hindlimb skeletal muscle from VDR −/− mice, although overall myocyte differentiation occurred normally. These abnormalities were independent of secondary metabolic changes such as hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia, and were accompanied by aberrantly high and persistent expression of myf5, myogenin, E2A, and early myosin heavy chain isoforms, which are normally down-regulated at earlier stages. Moreover, treatment of VDR-positive myoblastic cells with 1,25(OH)2D3 in vitro caused down-regulation of these factors. These results suggest that VDR plays a physiological role in skeletal muscle development, participating in temporally strict down-regulation of myoregulatory transcription factors. The present study can form a molecular basis of VDR actions on muscle and should help further establish the physiological roles of VDR in muscle development as well as pharmacological effects of vitamin D on muscle functions.
Iron-based adsorbents are attractive agents for remediation of arsenic contaminated water. This study characterized biogenic iron oxides (BIO) samples, which were obtained from a biological water ...treatment plant, from the physicochemical and biological aspects, and examined their As(V) and As(III) adsorption capability in comparison to that of chemogenic iron oxides (CIO). The BIO samples contained large amounts of Fe, Mn and PO43- and were dominated with Leptothrix spp., a typical iron-oxidizing bacteria, suggesting the formation of Fe and Mn oxides precipitation with large surface area on Leptothrix cell surface. Batch adsorption experiments of As(V) and As(III) (100 to 1500 μg/L each) with BIO and CIO (5 mg-Fe/L), and the regression of the experimental data by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms revealed that BIO is more effective than CIO regarding the aqueous arsenic removal, irrespective of the species and concentrations of arsenic. The maximum arsenic adsorption capacities of BIO were 34.25 μg-As(V)/mg-Fe and 28.99 μg-As(III)/mg-Fe, respectively, which were 2.7 times larger than those of CIO. Because BIO can be generated continuously by biological oxidation of Fe coexisting in arsenic contaminated water, it can be concluded that BIO-based adsorption would be a promising arsenic remediation technology for Asian developing countries where drinking water source is heavily contaminated with arsenic and contains a high concentration of iron.
Among various pleiotropic actions of vitamin D, its immunomodulatory role has been well recognized for more than 30 years. However, despite the presence of vitamin D receptors in immune cells ...including lymphocytes and monocytes/macrorphages, the impact of vitamin D system on immune regulation remained unclear. Recently, two key functions of vitamin D : induction of antimicrobial peptides and autophagy in cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage, have been described, revealing a much clearer picture of the role of vitamin D as an immunomodulator, particularly in innate immunity against pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This review summarizes recent advances in research of vitamin D as a regulator of innate immunity, and clinical trials of vitamin D as a potential anti-infectious agent.
PDF
