Application of Time Dependent Green’s Function Method to Scattering of Elastic Waves in Anisotropic Solids

The propagation and scattering of elastic waves provides a valuable tool for the QNDE of composite materials. Since, in general, the composite materials are highly anisotropic, it is important to develop theoretical methods for calculation of wave propagation characteristics in anisotropic media. A lot of work has been done on transient wave propagation in isotropic media but not much in anisotropic media (see, for example [1,2] and other references given there)

A simplified approach for removal of suspended coal fines from black water discharge of mining and its allied industries

Suspended fine particulate matters generated from different mining activities such as washing and crushing of coal affect large volume of natural waster. The present paper highlights a simple method to improve the settlement rate of dispersed coal fine particles by incorporating them into a coarser particulate matrix. The process mentioned herein consists of three steps viz. activation of coal fine in aqueous medium, tether of activated particles to the anchor particles and pass them into straight flow stream. The activation of coal fines suspended in the effluent water may be an amine group of polymer which can link to a particle surface of metal oxide to complete the interaction for sedimentation of coal fines. The coagulated cal fine is further separated by gravitation an filtration process

Role of Histone Variant H2A.J in Fine-Tuning Chromatin Organization for the Establishment of Ionizing Radiation-Induced Senescence

Purpose: Radiation-induced senescence is characterized by profound changes in chromatin organization with the formation of Senescence-Associated-Heterochromatin-Foci (SAHF) and DNASegments-with-Chromatin-Alterations-Reinforcing-Senescence (DNA-SCARS). Importantly, senescent cells also secrete complex combinations of pro-inflammatory factors, referred as Senescence-AssociatedSecretory-Phenotype (SASP). Here, we analyzed the epigenetic mechanism of histone variant H2A.J in establishing radiation-induced senescence. Experimental Design: Primary and genetically-modified lung fibroblasts with down- or up-regulated H2A.J expression were exposed to ionizing radiation and were analyzed for the formation of SAHF and DNA-SCARS by immunofluorescence microscopy. Dynamic changes in chromatin organization and accessibility, transcription factor recruitment, and transcriptome signatures were mapped by ATAC-seq and RNA-seq analysis. The secretion of SASP factors and potential bystander effects were analyzed by ELISA and RT-PCR. Lung tissue of mice exposed to different doses were analyzed by the digital image analysis of H2A.J-immunohistochemistry. Results: Differential incorporation of H2A.J has profound effects on higher-order chromatin organization and on establishing the epigenetic state of senescence. Integrative analyses of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq datasets indicate that H2A.J-associated changes in chromatin accessibility of regulatory regions decisively modulates transcription factor recruitment and inflammatory gene expression, resulting in an altered SASP secretome. In lung parenchyma, pneumocytes show dose-dependent H2A.J expression in response to radiation-induced DNA damage, therefore contributing to proinflammatory tissue reactions. Conclusions: The fine-tuned incorporation of H2A.J defines the epigenetic landscape for driving the senescence programme in response to radiation-induced DNA damage. Deregulated H2A.J deposition affects chromatin remodeling, transcription factor recruitment, and the pro-inflammatory secretome. Our findings provide new mechanistic insights into DNA-damage triggered epigenetic mechanisms governing the biological processes of radiationinduced injury

A Study of Air Pollution load assessment around opencast coal project in India

Opencast mining technology results in the release of a huge amount of air borne dust. The air borne dust peculiarly below 100 micron in size, are environmentally nuisance and cause health hazards. Total suspended particulate matter (TSPM) and respiratory particulate mater (PM10) are the major pollutants in the air environment of opencast coal mines. Therefore, dust generation, its dispersion, and pollution load assessment have been found to be major concer4ns in air quality modeling of opencast coal mines. The present paper focuses on the quantification of sourcewise emission inventory for different point, area and line sources considering the background dust concentration at one of opencast coal project (OCP), nakmely Hindustan Lalpet of Western Coalfields Limited (WCL). The 24 hr average concentrations of TSPM and PM10 were monitored at three monitoring stations during winter season. On an average the PM10 concentration in the ambient air constituted 17.00 to 60.3% of TSPM concentration. TSPM concentration ranged from 313.11 to 565.57 µg/m3 and 79.48 to 270.61 µg/m3

Neutron scattering study of the effects of dopant disorder on the superconductivity and magnetic order in stage-4 La_2CuO_{4+y}

We report neutron scattering measurements of the structure and magnetism of stage-4 La_2CuO_{4+y} with T_c ~42 K. Our diffraction results on a single crystal sample demonstrate that the excess oxygen dopants form a three-dimensional ordered superlattice within the interstitial regions of the crystal. The oxygen superlattice becomes disordered above T ~ 330 K, and a fast rate of cooling can freeze-in the disordered-oxygen state. Hence, by controlling the cooling rate, the degree of dopant disorder in our La_2CuO_{4+y} crystal can be varied. We find that a higher degree of quenched disorder reduces T_c by ~ 5 K relative to the ordered-oxygen state. At the same time, the quenched disorder enhances the spin density wave order in a manner analogous to the effects of an applied magnetic field.Comment: 4 figures included in text; submitted to PR

Biostabilization of Mandaman dump slope, India

An integrated study of the biological stabilization of a coal-mine overburden dump slope has been carried out at Mandaman, 35 km from Dhanbad in eastern India native grasses-bamboo (Dendrocalmus strictus) and kashi (Saccharum spontaneoum)-are important species that can stabilize the dump slopes. The grasses have good soil binding capacity and help to control soil erosion and improve dump stability. Field observation of their growth performance has indicated that the mean grass height and root depth are 232(±74) cm and 46 (±5) cm, respectively, after there years and the below-ground root biomass is 474 (±69) g m-2. The mechanical and hydrogeological actions of the grass roots have improved the shear strength properties of the dump material. Numerical modeling has shown that the roots of these grasses increase the factor of safety of the dump slope from 1.2 to 1.4 and thus play a substantial role in the maintenance of long-term stability

Histone Variant H2A.J Is Enriched in Luminal Epithelial Gland Cells

H2A.J is a poorly studied mammalian-specific variant of histone H2A. We used immuno histochemistry to study its localization in various human and mouse tissues. H2A.J showed cell-type specific expression with a striking enrichment in luminal epithelial cells of multiple glands including those of breast, prostate, pancreas, thyroid, stomach, and salivary glands. H2A.J was also highly ex pressed in many carcinoma cell lines and in particular, those derived from luminal breast and prostate cancer. H2A.J thus appears to be a novel marker for luminal epithelial cancers. Knocking-out the H2AFJ gene in T47D luminal breast cancer cells reduced the expression of several estrogen-responsive genes which may explain its putative tumorigenic role in luminal-B breast cancer

Characterization of a robust Co-II fluorescent complex deposited intact on HOPG

The new diimine fluorescent ligand ACRI-1 based on a central acridine yellow core is reported along with its coordination complex [Co-2(ACRI-1)(2)] (1), a fluorescent weak ferromagnet. Due to the strong fluorescence of the acridine yellow fluorophore, it is not completely quenched when the ligand is coordinated to Co-II. The magnetic properties of bulk complex 1 and its stability in solution have been studied. Complex 1 has been deposited on highly ordered pyrolitic graphite (HOGP) from solution. The thin films prepared have been characterized by AFM, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and theoretical calculations. The data show that the complex is robust and remains intact on the surface of graphite