Garnet mineral chemistry as a provenance indicator for the modern beach sediments of north-eastern Andhra Pradesh, east coast of India

917-924The provenance of garnets from coastal sediments between the Nagavali and Vamsadhara river mouths, east coast of India were studied using garnet molecular proportions. This mineral chemical electron micro probe analytical data have been correlated with published garnet chemistry from various litho units of the eastern ghats granulite belt to understand provenance. The present study reveals that the garnets with molecular proportions of almandine (Alm. 50-56%), pyrope (Py. 33-43%) and traces of grossular (Gr. 5%) were derived from charnockite suite of rocks. The major portion (83%) of the studied garnets is derived from khondalite (metapelitic) suite of rocks susceptible for physical weathering due to large areal exposure and minor proportion (17%) is derived from charnockite suite of rocks which due to less coverage in drainage basis is not susceptible for mechanical weathering

Efficient Allocation of Power Resource in OFDMA Systems with Diverse Modulation Techniques

ABSTRACT: Of late there is an utmost need for providing higher data rate and better Quality of Service(QoS) for ever increasing number of users in wireless communication systems. The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is one of the leading candidates for future wireless communication systems. This paper gives a brief introduction about OFDMA and discusses in depth about allocation of power resource to all the active users present in a cellular network in an optimum way using the Load Matrix approach. Load Matrix approach is used to calculate the average interference within the cells based on RoT (Rise over Thermal noise) and distribute minimum required SINR to each user thereby enhancing the Quality of Service (QoS) of the network. The approach is first experimented on a single carrier communication system and then it is extended to multi-carrier systems. This paper also deals with the performance of a communication link in terms of BER for various digital modulation techniques. From simulations it is observed that performance of QAM is better than QPSK in systems implementing OFDMA

Persistence of tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells is tumor-dependent but antigen-independent

How tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that are tumor-specific but functionally tolerant persist in the antigen-expressing tumor tissue is largely unknown. We have previously developed a modified TRansgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) model where prostate cancer cells express the T-cell epitope SIYRYYGL (SIY) recognized by CD8 T cells expressing the 2C T-cell receptor (TCR) (referred to as TRP-SIY mice). In TRP-SIY mice, activated 2C T cells rapidly become tolerant following infiltration into the prostate tumor. In this study, we show that tolerant 2C T cells persist in the prostate tumor of TRP-SIY mice by proliferating slowly in a tumor-dependent, but antigen-, interleukin (IL)-7- and IL-15-independent manner. We also show that disappearance of 2C T cells from the lymphoid organs of TRP-SIY mice are due to antigen-induced T-cell contraction rather than altered trafficking or generalized T-cell depletion in the mice. Finally, we show that clonal T cells unreactive to SIY are equally capable of persisting in the prostate tumor. These findings suggest that while functional tolerance of TILs is induced by antigen, persistence of tolerant TILs in the tumor tissue is mediated by a novel mechanism: slow proliferation independent of antigen and homeostatic cytokines. These results also allow CD8 T-cell survival in the tumor environment to be compared with T-cell survival in chronic infection

S-2-hydroxyglutarate regulates CD8+ T-lymphocyte fate.

R-2-hydroxyglutarate accumulates to millimolar levels in cancer cells with gain-of-function isocitrate dehydrogenase 1/2 mutations. These levels of R-2-hydroxyglutarate affect 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases. Both metabolite enantiomers, R- and S-2-hydroxyglutarate, are detectible in healthy individuals, yet their physiological function remains elusive. Here we show that 2-hydroxyglutarate accumulates in mouse CD8+ T cells in response to T-cell receptor triggering, and accumulates to millimolar levels in physiological oxygen conditions through a hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α)-dependent mechanism. S-2-hydroxyglutarate predominates over R-2-hydroxyglutarate in activated T cells, and we demonstrate alterations in markers of CD8+ T-cell differentiation in response to this metabolite. Modulation of histone and DNA demethylation, as well as HIF-1α stability, mediate these effects. S-2-hydroxyglutarate treatment greatly enhances the in vivo proliferation, persistence and anti-tumour capacity of adoptively transferred CD8+ T cells. Thus, S-2-hydroxyglutarate acts as an immunometabolite that links environmental context, through a metabolic-epigenetic axis, to immune fate and function

Graphene loaded 1 x 3 MIMO Terahertz Wideband Antenna with High Isolation for Medical and Short Indoor Applications

In this paper, novel approach tri – element Multiple – Input Multiple – Output (MIMO) terahertz (THz) antenna is designed to cover wide band characteristics from 2.44 – 3.09THz for medical, short – indoor and THz applications. The proposed MIMO antenna is designed on quartz glass dielectric material within compact size of 120µm x 60µm, offers of wide impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 0.65THz, isolation less than -25dB, peak gain 6.82dB and high radiation efficiency of 92 – 98%. The MIMO antenna parameters are envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), total active reflection coefficient (TARC), channel capacity loss (CCL) and mean effective gain (MEG) are within acceptable limit

Graphene loaded 1 x 3 MIMO Terahertz Wideband Antenna with High Isolation for Medical and Short Indoor Applications

In this paper, novel approach tri – element Multiple – Input Multiple – Output (MIMO) terahertz (THz) antenna is designed to cover wide band characteristics from 2.44 – 3.09THz for medical, short – indoor and THz applications. The proposed MIMO antenna is designed on quartz glass dielectric material within compact size of 120µm x 60µm, offers of wide impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 0.65THz, isolation less than -20dB, peak gain 6.82dB and high radiation efficiency of 92 – 98%. Furthermore, in order to meet the high date transmission rate and channel capacity performance of MIMO antenna, MIMO antenna parameters envelope correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.07), diversity gain (DG ~ 10dB), total active reflection coefficient (TARC < 0.65), channel capacity loss (CCL < 0.75bits/sec/Hz) and mean effective gain (-4dB < MEG < -12dB) are investigated and which are within acceptable limits

Spectroscopic properties and dielectric dispersion of K₂O-BaO-B₂O₃glasses doped with Fe₂O₃

315-322Alkali borate glasses doped with different concentrations of ferric oxide in the range 0-1 mol % in steps of 0.2 mol % have been prepared. The dielectric properties, especially dielectric constant e¢, loss tand a c conductivity sac over a wide range frequency (1-100 kHz) and temperature (30-300°C), ESR and IR spectra of Fe2O3 containing K2O-BaO-B2O3 glasses have been studied. The dielectric study reveals that the glasses have high insulating strength when Fe2O3 concentration is 0.8 mol % in the glass matrix. The results have been analyzed in the light of different oxidation states of iron ions with the help of IR and ESR spectra data. The analysis indicates that when the concentration of iron ions is up to 0.8 mol %, these ions exist in Fe3+ state that takes modifier as well as network former position, beyond this concentration some of the iron ions switch over from Fe3+ to Fe2+ state that takes network modifier positions and weakens the insulating strength of the glass

Studies on exhaust emissions in semi-adiabatic compression ignition engine with alternate fuels

249-255Alcohols (ethanol and methanol) and a few non-edible vegetable oils are showing a great potential for replacing conventional diesel fuels quite effectively. The low heat rejection semi-adiabatic compression ignition (C.I.) engines are gaining prominence for adopting these alternate fuels. The major pollutants of the exhaust emissions of  C.I. engines are oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and black smoke. When alcohols are used as alternate fuels, the pollutants have to be checked specifically for aldehydes which are carcinogenic in nature. The pollution levels of black smoke, NOx and aldehydes emitted through exhaust of engine are reported here on both conventional and insulated versions of C. I. engines with different proportions of ethanol-diesel and methanol-diesel mixtures. The non-edible vegetable oils crude, and esterified jatropha and pongamia oils are used for total replacement of diesel fuel on both configurations of the engine. The NOx and smoke levels have been found to be lower with both ethanol and methanol induction with both conventional and insulated versions of the engine in comparison to pure diesel operation. Also, production of aldehydes in the form of formaldehyde has been found to increase with both ethanol and methanol operations. However, the insulated version of the engine with ethanol operation helps in reducing formaldehyde emissions of the engine. With the non-edible vegetable oils, generation of smoke is drastically increased in comparison to pure diesel operation. However, with preheating of vegetable oil and increased injection pressure, the smoke levels get reduced and NOx levels increase marginally