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Elevation dependency of precipitation and temperature over northeast India
No full textThe study inspects the elevation dependency of temperature and precipitation across northeast India. Various gridded observations and outputs from high-resolution Regional Climate Models under the CORDEX-CORE framework have been employed. The better representation of the topography leads to higher orographic precipitation in the model environment. Positive vorticity led to strong convergence of the moisture-laden air resulting in high precipitation along the slopes of the mountains, which is more intense above 1800 m. The variance in the magnitude of precipitation at different elevations indicates the role of other factors, such as the difference in the convection processes. The latitudinal and longitudinal analysis reflects that the precipitation follows the topography leading to higher orographic precipitation along the slopes of the Meghalaya Plateau and the mountains. The change of temperature with elevation is very shallow till 3000 m, particularly during monsoon and pre-monsoon, which can be attributed to the release of a huge amount of latent heat due to the condensation of water vapour during the convection process. Interestingly, all the model experiments indicate towards a higher warming signal between the elevation range 4000–5000 m. The temperature also shows a strong association with the elevation, with a decline in temperature over the Meghalaya plateau and higher elevations. The variability among model experiments as well as the decline of temperature with elevation is highest above 5000 m. Precipitation and temperature changes are found to be higher for fast-changing elevation profiles, while precipitation distribution is also dependent upon the local processes influencing the convection processes such as the vorticity, CAPE etc
Strong Climate Control on the Millennial‐Scale Dust Variability and Sediment Provenances in the Equatorial Indian Ocean Inferred From Sr‐Nd Isotopes
No full textHigh-resolution Sr and Nd isotope compositions along with major and trace element abundances have been analyzed in silicate fraction of sediments core, SSD004-GC03, from the Equatorial Indian Ocean (7.2°N and 77.9°E) at 1,540 m water depth with a depositional history of ∼38 ka to determine source variabilities and their controlling factors. 87Sr/86Sr (0.71978–0.72491), ƐNd (−14.8 to −21.9), and a couple of source diagnostic elements display profound variability over the depositional time scale and point toward major sediment contribution from the Peninsular Gneissic Complex (PGC) and the Deccan Basalts along with aeolian dust flux, their relative proportions being determined by climate variability. The cold/arid periods are characterized by an enhanced proportion of aeolian dust and the Deccan Basalts, whereas the sediment contribution from the PGC is augmented during the warm/humid periods. The sediment provenance variations at the Equatorial Indian Ocean coincide very well with known cold/arid (Heinrich Stadial events: HS 1–4, LGM, Younger Dryas, 8.2 ka, 5.2 ka, and 1.1 ka) and warm/humid (Early Deglacial, Holocene Intensified Monsoon) climatic events reported in the tropical region and sea-level change which are strongly captured by the Sr-Nd isotope and elemental composition of sediments. The present investigation underscores the significant role of climate, mainly the aridity, in modulating the dust fluxes and erosion intensity and the strong coupling between Indian monsoon and North Atlantic climatic oscillations and further demonstrates minimal time delay between the production and transport of sediment from source to sink
Chiral monomer template for designing Low-Driving-Field blue phase liquid crystals
No full textBlue phase liquid crystals (BPLC) are known to be useful for various non-trivial applications due to their nanoscale self-assembled cubic crystalline structures. Even though the BPLC exhibits an efficient optically isotropic phase due to the double helical confinement of liquid crystal (LC) molecules within a few hundred-nanometer range, this hinders the orientation of LC molecules along the applied field direction. Consequently, the BPLC demands larger driving fields to operate, degrading the device’s performance in real-world applications. In this context, we provide a chiral monomer template for BPLC that decreases the driving field by 52 % while the electro-optical responses remain unaffected. Furthermore, our approach provides higher thermal stability, with a broader BPLC phase range (42 °C), including near ambient temperature. As this approach potentially overcomes the fundamental challenges of BPLC, the proposed system could be useful for next-generation display devices
Clinical utility of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in diffuse gliomas for the detection of IDH1 R132H mutation
No full textLiquid biopsy for CNS tumors is in its nascent phase, hindered by the low levels of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Overcoming this challenge requires highly sensitive molecular techniques. DD-PCR emerges as a standout technique due to its ability to identify rare mutations, copy number variations, and circulating nucleic acids, making it one of the best methods for identifying somatic mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA). Despite promising results from various studies demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining informative ctDNA profiles from liquid biopsy samples, challenges persist, including the need to standardize sample collection, storage, and processing methods, define clear assay positivity thresholds, and address the overall low assay sensitivity. Our two-phase study began by assessing DD-PCR efficacy in FFPE tissues, revealing robust concordance with immunohistochemistry. In Phase 1 (85 cases), DD-PCR on FFPE tissues demonstrated 100 % sensitivity and specificity for IDH1 R132H mutations. In Phase 2 (100 cases), analysis extended to cfDNA, maintaining high specificity (100 %) with moderate sensitivity (44.2 %). Overall concordance with immunohistochemistry was 61 %, highlighting liquid biopsy's potential in glioma management. The findings emphasized DD-PCR's clinical utility in both tissue and liquid biopsy, underscoring its role in early detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic monitoring of diffuse gliomas
Integrated truck drone delivery services with an optimal charging stations
No full textBattery-powered drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), present significant market potential for faster, economical, and eco-friendly urban delivery solutions. Many firms are investing in drone logistics ventures to capitalize on their capabilities. However, the limited range of drone deliveries, dictated by battery capacity, poses a significant challenge. Hybrid delivery systems combining trucks and drones have gained attention to overcome this challenge. Traditional models assume trucks park at customer sites while drones handle additional deliveries, yet this approach may hinder drone efficiency due to constraints in parking availability. Alternative approaches like battery swapping and mobile charging stations on trucks have been explored but exhibit limitations such as blind spots and substantial battery reserves. We propose establishing dedicated drone charging stations and optimizing drone routing for efficient deliveries to address these issues We present a MINLP (Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming) model aimed at identifying the most cost-effective solution that optimizes both transportation efficiency and charging infrastructure investment. Quantitative experiments demonstrate the efficacy of this approach, alongside sensitivity analysis aiding economic decision-making across various operational scenarios. Notably, our experiments show a 15% reduction in total costs when extending the operational lifespan of charging stations from 2 to 4 years
Second impact factor for indian geotechnical journal.
No full textIndian Geotechnical Journal (IGTJ) [1] is happy to receive the second consecutive Impact Factor 1.4 in 2023, which is same as last year, and continued being listed under Emerging Sources Citation Index (E-SCI) for the category Engineering, Geological as per Clarivate data [2] published on June 20, 2024 [3]. Starting in 1971, during the journey of last 54 years, this old prestigious journal in the domain of Geotechnical Engineering, which is published by Springer, in association with Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS), New Delhi, India, has continued with same impact factor for the consecutive second time as 1.4, with 5-year impact factor recorded as 1.5. Further improvement is only possible with collective support from all stakeholders like readers, authors, reviewers, editors and Springer officials of IGTJ.
Indian Geotechnical Journal published by Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS) started in January 1971 [4]. It is getting published by Springer in association with IGS January 2012. Details of history of this journal are available at various editorials by Latha (2017) [5] and Choudhury (2023a,b) [6, 7].Kindly check and confirm edit made in the article titleChecked and confirm that it is fine.
Worldwide researchers, practitioners in the domain of Geotechnical Engineering are free to submit their first-hand best quality technical paper/note/state-of-the-art/case study to Indian Geotechnical Journal. The number of manuscript submissions are increasing significantly for IGTJ. To further improve the technical quality of the publications, the editorial board members (EBM) and several competent expert reviewers are working together, which has made the acceptance rate of about 25% for IGTJ in present time. As per Springer journal policy and the decision by EBM, for authors to publish their original research findings, it is expected that the system identified similarity index should be as per global standard, and, the maximum similarity index should be less than 3% with any individual source. Exceptions to these numbers for the state-of-the-art or review papers may be allowed by the handling editors. This is to encourage more original research works and to reduce chances of plagiarism for the published works in the peer reviewed old society journal like IGTJ. Manuscripts need to follow the submission guidelines and format of IGTJ, which is available at: https://link.springer.com/journal/40098/submission-guidelines [8], otherwise the manuscript is returned back to the authors without reviewing/processing. This journal follows ethics and disclosures which are available at: https://link.springer.com/journal/40098/ethics-and-disclosures [9].
As per the data available from Clarivate [2], the impact factor of this journal for 2022 and 2023 are same (1.4) as shown in Fig. 1. Figure 2 shows the improvement of Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) from 2022 to 2023. Total citations for this journal are found to increase steadily over the JCR years from 2020 to 2023 as depicted in Fig. 3. Further from Clarivate [2] data for this journal, it is interesting to note the number of contributions coming from various countries in 2023 as shown in Fig. 4. Also Fig. 5 provides the details of various major organizations from where the IGTJ manuscripts originated in 2023
Hemophagocytic Histiocytosis in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Prospective Study Integrating Clinico-Laboratory and Flow Cytometry Findings
No full textIntroduction:
Hemophagocytic Histiocytosis (HLH), an acute immune activated state described as cytokine storm, diagnosed by both clinical and laboratory parameters in haematological diseases and as complications in cellular therapies and is uniformly related to inferior outcome in the early- as well as late-period. The incidence of HLH in patients of AML is not explored comprehensively in past. In countries with poor health care facilities, the AML-patients, present late and the overall outcome is poor despite younger age. We hypothesized HLH could be contributing to the inferior outcome. In this study, we prospectively looked for HLH in AML patients both clinically as well as by flow cytometry.
Methods:
We evaluated 34 AML patients prospectively in our institute, with the baseline symptoms (fever) with or without organomegaly, serum ferritin levels and flow cytometry (T-cell profiling) in AML patients (n=34). Clinical HLH in our study was defined as, high-grade unremitting fever with elevated ferritin (> 1000 ng/ml). We performed flow cytometry on peripheral blood for the enumeration of T-lymphocytes and their subtypes and correlated with the clinical HLH.
Results:
Median age 35.5 years (range 15-66) with 70% male population. 58% were newly diagnosed and the rest were relapsed/refractory AML patients. Average baseline blast count of 56%, Hb of 8.9 g/dl, TLC of 18,214 /microlitre and serum ferritin of 1301 ng/ml. More commonly seen with NPM1(23%), RUNX1-RUNX1T1(23%) and IDH2R140Q (20%) mutated were in the group. Out of 34 patients, 27 developed clinical HLH during induction chemotherapy. Induction therapy used were 2+5+Ven (two days of daunorubicin, 5 days of ARA-C and 5 days of venetoclax) under a clinical study. Out of 34 patients, 29 exhibited enhanced expression of CD38 along with HLA-DR (70.22%; range: 33.51%-91.46%) on cytotoxic T-cells. In contrast 5 patients did not show a significant proportion of CD38 with HLA-DR (10.26%; range: 5.43%-14.61%). These findings suggest a potential correlation with HLH, as elevated CD38 expression on cytotoxic T cells has been associated with the hyperactivation and proliferative responses seen in HLH, reflecting a state of heightened immune activation and dysregulation. Notably, 1 patient displayed a dim expression of CD38 (98.83%) without HLA-DR. Clinical data with serum ferritin and fever were correlated with the flow cytometric analysis (correlation co-efficient 0.59, p<0.01). In that out of 34 patients, 20 (58%) showed evidence of HLH by flow cytometry as well as clinical HLH.
Conclusion:
Flow cytometry could be useful in identifying HLH at baseline in patients of AML. Further data regarding early mortality, relapse, and survival will be presented in the conferenc
Aml-757 venetoclax with chemotherapy for remission induction in aml patients: the phase ib/ii (rapid ven) study
No full textIntroduction
Venetoclax decreases the apoptotic threshold and has synergistic activity with cytotoxic drugs, making it ideal for combination induction therapy (IC) in AML patients. However, optimum chemotherapy dose and schedule for this combination in the Indian population is not known. This study evaluates maximum tolerated dose of IC (daunorubicin + cytarabine) with venetoclax and early outcomes following IC.
Methods
Both newly diagnosed (ND) and relapsed/refractory (R/R) AML patients (FLT3/ITD excluded) with ECOG PS 0-2 are included in this single center phase Ib/II study (2023-2024). Baseline characteristics, bone marrow or peripheral blood flow cytometry, cytogenetics, and NGS reports are recorded. In phase 1b, 5 levels from -1 to 3 with varying doses of daunorubicin (45 or 60 mg/m2 for 2 or 3 days), cytarabine (100 mg/m2 SC BD for 5 or 7days), and venetoclax 100 mg (5 or 7 days with antifungal). 3 + 3 design used for dose escalation and de-escalation. Simon's 2-stage design in phase II with 2 arms (Arm A-ND [n=28] and Arm B-R/R [n=26]) will be conducted.
Results
Ten patients were enrolled in phase I study with first cohort at level 1 (3 patients); 2 had dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and deescalated to second cohort at level 0 with 3 patients (1 DLT). By adding second and third cohort, 1 of 6 patients had DLT. The recommended phase II dose was 2 days daunorubicin + 5 days cytarabine + 5 days venetoclax. The study proceeded to phase II with 2 arms. A total of 24 patients enrolled in phase II to date. Baseline characteristics: median age 35 (range: 16-66); male predominance (n=26). Median blast count, 45% (range: 21-95%). ELN risk is favorable, 25%; intermediate, 38%; adverse, 32%. Most common mutations are RUNX1-RUNX1T1 (24%), NPM1 (24%), and IDH2 (17%). Induction mortality (IM) is 23% (n=8/34); 5 of 34 patients are currently on induction therapy; 19 of 21 (90.4%) patients are in complete remission (CR), and 18 of 21 (85%) patients are MRD-. The study is in progress.
Conclusions
Adding venetoclax to standard therapy has commendable CR rates without increasing IM. Venetoclax not more than 5 days with 2 + 5 (daunorubicin and cytarabine) will be the suitable regimen
Bootstrapping high-energy observables
No full textIn this paper, we set up the numerical S-matrix bootstrap by using the crossing symmetric dispersion relation (CSDR) to write down Roy equations for the partial waves. As a motivation behind examining the local version of the CSDR, we derive a new crossing symmetric, 3-channels-plus-contact-terms representation of the Virasoro-Shapiro amplitude in string theory that converges everywhere except at the poles. We then focus on gapped theories and give novel analytic and semi-analytic derivations of several bounds on low-energy data. We examine the high-energy behaviour of the experimentally measurable rho-parameter, introduced by Khuri and Kinoshita and defined as the ratio of the real to the imaginary part of the amplitude in the forward limit. Contrary to expectations, we find numerical evidence that there could be multiple changes in the sign of this ratio before it asymptotes at high energies. We compare our approach with other existing numerical methods and find agreement, with improvement in convergence
Ortho–Para Conversion for H<sup>+</sup> + H<sub>2</sub> Collision in Low Temperature: A Fully Close-Coupled Time-Dependent Wave Packet Study
No full textThe collision-induced rate coefficients of ortho–para conversion for the H+ + H2 reaction provide accurate information to probe the lifetime of cold environments in interstellar media. Rotationally resolved reaction probabilities are calculated at the low collision energy regime (0 < Ecol ≤ 0.3 eV) by employing the coupled three-dimensional (3D) time-dependent wave packet (TDWP) formalism in hyperspherical coordinates on a recently constructed ab initio ground adiabatic potential energy surface of H3+ for the process H+ + H2 (v = 0, j = 0–5) → H+ + H2 (v' = 0, j'). Cross-sections are then computed from the converged reaction probabilities as a function of total angular momentum (J) over the same energy regime and subsequently employed to obtain the rate constants for the ortho-to-para (O–P) and para-to-ortho (P–O) conversions and their ratio. The ratio of ortho–para conversion shows (a) appropriate convergence with the inclusion of a higher number of initial rotational states as well as a reasonable agreement with the results from a quantum statistical method and (b) a peak at lower temperature that could be due to the available collision energy for transitions involving lower rotational states (j = 0 → j' = 1)