Anti-apoptotic proteins of the Bcl-2 family are known to confer resistance against a variety of therapeutic agents. Among them is myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein (Mcl-1), a highly regulated protein at both transcriptional and post-translational levels by a number of signaling pathways. Overexpression of Mcl-1 has been reported in biopsies of prostate cancer patients with high Gleason grades. Currently, novel anti-cancer approaches that aim to inhibit Mcl-1 are being developed. In this study we have analyzed the influence of androgens and androgen receptor (AR) signaling on Mcl-1 protein expression. Western Blot experiments with androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and VCaP showed a consistent upregulation of Mcl-1 protein expression levels under androgen-depleted conditions, i.e. in steroid-free medium. Addition of 0.1-10 nM of the synthetic androgen R1881 decreased Mcl-1 expression in a concentration-dependent manner in LNCaP and VCaP cells. This effect could also be observed in the castration-resistant LNCaP-abl cell line, but not in AR-negative PC3 cells. Further analysis showed that regulation of Mcl-1 was dependent on the presence of functional AR since it could not be observed in cells co-treated with R1881 and antiandrogens bicalutamide or hydroxyflutamide or after AR downregulation by siRNA. Quantitative PCR on mRNA levels revealed that Mcl-1 regulation by androgens is at a transcriptional level, while downregulation of the three known Mcl-1 E3 ligases APC/C(CDC20), SCF(FBW7), and HUWE1 (MULE) by siRNA did not influence androgenic regulation of Mcl-1 at the post-translational level. To evaluate a possible role of Mcl-1 as a resistance mechanism in cancer stem cells, its expression in basal cells isolated from patient9s biopsies was assessed. The highest expression of Mcl-1 mRNA was observed in tumors isolated from castration therapy resistant patients, followed by therapy naive samples and was the lowest in prostatic cell lines. Interestingly, after isolation of stem cells (SC), transit amplifying (TA) and committed basal (CB) cells, the highest expression of Mcl-1 mRNA could be detected in SC. Our findings indicate that androgenic signaling leads to decreased Mcl-1 expression levels in prostate cancer cell lines, which could be mediated by E2F1 transcription factor known to inhibit Mcl-1 transcription. Vice versa, absent AR signaling leads to upregulated Mcl-1 expression levels. The finding of high Mcl-1 mRNA expression in prostate cancer stem cells that do not express AR supports the hypothesis that Mcl-1 could be involved in resistance mechanisms against first- and second-line therapies. Therefore, anti-Mcl-1 therapies might be considered to improve the efficacy of androgen ablation and could furthermore target prostate cancer stem cells. Citation Format: Frederic R. Santer, Holger H. Erb, Birgit Luef, Florian Handle, Su Jung Oh, Susanne Lobenwein, Christian Ploner, Jayant Rane, Anne T. Collins, Norman J. Maitland, Zoran Culig. Androgenic regulation of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member Mcl-1 in prostate cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1726. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1726


Physicists are often expected to have a solid grounding in experimental design and statistical analysis, sometimes filling in when biostatisticians or other experts are not available for consultation. Unfortunately, graduate education on these topics is seldom emphasized and few opportunities for continuing education exist. Clinical physicists incorporate new technology and methods into their practice based on published literature. A poor understanding of experimental design and analysis could Result in inappropriate use of new techniques. Clinical physicists also improve current practice through quality initiatives that require sound experimental design and analysis. Academic physicists with a poor understanding of design and analysis may produce ambiguous (or misleading) results. This can Result in unnecessary rewrites, publication rejection, and experimental redesign (wasting time, money, and effort).
This symposium will provide a practical review of error and uncertainty, common study designs, and statistical tests. Instruction will primarily focus on practical implementation through examples and answer questions such as: where would you typically apply the test/design and where is the test/design typically misapplied (i.e., common pitfalls)? An analysis of error and uncertainty will also be explored using biological studies and associated modeling as a specific use case.
Learning Objectives:
1.
Understand common experimental testing and clinical trial designs, what questions they can answer, and how to interpret the results
2.
Determine where specific statistical tests are appropriate and identify common pitfalls
3.
Understand the how uncertainty and error are addressed in biological testing and associated biological modeling.


Recently, MaxSAT reasoning is shown very effective in computing a tight upper bound for a Maximum Clique (MC) of a (unweighted) graph. In this paper, we apply MaxSAT reasoning to compute a tight upper bound for a Maximum Weight Clique (MWC) of a wighted graph. We first study three usual encodings of MWC into weighted partial MaxSAT dealing with hard clauses, which must be satisfied in all solutions, and soft clauses, which are weighted and can be falsified. The drawbacks of these encodings motivate us to propose an encoding of MWC into a special weighted partial MaxSAT formalism, called LW (Literal-Weighted) encoding and dedicated for upper bounding an MWC, in which both soft clauses and literals in soft clauses are weighted. An optimal solution of the LW MaxSAT instance gives an upper bound for an MWC, instead of an optimal solution for MWC. We then introduce two notions called the Top-k literal failed clause and the Top-k empty clause to extend classical MaxSAT reasoning techniques, as well as two sound transformation rules to transform an LW MaxSAT instance. Successive transformations of an LW MaxSAT instance driven by MaxSAT reasoning give a tight upper bound for the encoded MWC. The approach is implemented in a branch-and-bound algorithm called MWCLQ. Experimental evaluations on the broadly used DIMACS benchmark, BHOSLIB benchmark, random graphs and the benchmark from the winner determination problem show that our approach allows MWCLQ to reduce the search space significantly and to solve MWC instances effectively. Consequently, MWCLQ outperforms state-of-the-art exact algorithms on the vast majority of instances. Moreover, it is surprisingly effective in solving hard and dense instances.


This paper proposes the control design and implementation of an intelligent vehicle combined with robotic manipulator and computer vision. It can be roughly divided into three main directions for the design of intelligent vehicle, including path planning of mobile vehicle, position control of robot arm system and appropriate applications of image recognition. For the consideration of path planning of vehicle system and position control of robot arm, the CCD camera installed on the clip of robot arm is applied to capture target images with appropriate analysis and application. That is to say, the utilization of image processing is applied for vehicle moving, object grabbing and destination placing. In addition, with various shapes and colors of object bricks, the practical implementation of intelligent vehicle design is given to illustrate the successful achievement of pick-and-place control purpose.


ABSTRACT The determination of the form of grain size distribution functions in clastic sedimentary rocks involves a certain amount of subjective interpretation. The subjectivity can be minimized, though not eliminated, by various analytical and interpretive methods. If the object of studying a size distribution is the interpretation of sedimentary history, probably the best method consists of making approximate analyses of a large number of samples and comparing theoretical distributions with whatever data are capable of being tested.


At the genomic level several differences between the Mucor mucedo mating types (-) and (+) are visible (Abb. 4.54). At the protein level, however, only few differences are measurable (Abb. 4.1 – 4.3). Protein sequences found by MALDI-TOF analysis are an indication that especially in the (-)- mating type many membrane – associated proteins are activated. The activation of the citric acid cycle and the fatty acid s-oxidation in the (+)- mating type are evidence to suggest that there is an elevated energy demand. DNA sequences results of the cloned fragments of Mucor mucedo show in comparison to gene sequences of basidiomycetes, ascomycetes and other zygomycetes (Abb. 4.48-4.53) that Mucor mucedo differs considerably from other fungi. A sequence comparison with the zygomycetes Mucor circinelloides, Phycomyces blakesleeanus and Rhizopus oryzae shows that they have significant differences which make it conceivable that there are considerable differences in the amino acid sequences at the protein level as well. This shows that it is difficult to receive reliable results in the MALDI-TOF analysis. Nevertheless this only seems to concern the cell wall associated proteins which very often have posttranslational modifications. These impede the MALDI-TOF method. Within the cytoplasmatic proteins four sequences were unambiguously identifiable since these amino acid sequences are highly conserved. The chitosan staining results indicate that chitosan is necessary for the fusion of both mating partners. It has to be evaluated how many and which chitin deacetylases are present in Mucor mucedo. Subsequently double- or multiple knock-outs should be constructed to describe the phenotype. It is possible that the respective mating partners will then not be able to form zygospores.


Predicting pseudo CT images from MRI data has received increasing attention for use in MRI-only radiation therapy planning and PET-MRI attenuation correction, eliminating the need for harmful CT scanning. Current approaches focus on voxelwise mean absolute error (MAE) and peak signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) for optimization and evaluation. Contextual losses such as structural similarity (SSIM) are known to promote perceptual image quality. We investigate the use of these contextual losses for optimization. Patch-based 3D fully convolutional neural networks (FCN) were optimized for prediction of pseudo CT images from 3D gradient echo pelvic MRI data and compared to ground truth CT data of 26 patients. CT data was non-rigidly registered to MRI for training and evaluation. We compared voxelwise L1 and L2 loss functions, with contextual multi-scale L1 and L2 (MSL1 and MSL2), and SSIM. Performance was evaluated using MAE, PSNR, SSIM and the overlap of segmented cortical bone in the reconstructions, by the dice similarity metric. Evaluation was carried out in cross-validation. All optimizations successfully converged well with PSNR between 25 and 30 HU, except for one of the folds of SSIM optimizations. MSL1 and MSL2 are at least on par with their single-scale counterparts. MSL1 overcomes some of the instabilities of the L1 optimized prediction models. MSL2 optimization is stable, and on average, outperforms all the other losses, although quantitative evaluations based on MAE, PSNR and SSIM only show minor differences. Direct optimization using SSIM visually excelled in terms subjective perceptual image quality at the expense of a voxelwise quantitative performance drop. Contextual loss functions can improve prediction performance of FCNs without change of the network architecture. The suggested subjective superiority of contextual losses in reconstructing local structures merits further investigations.


Androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSi) are a mainstay for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). However, patient response is heterogeneous and the molecular underpinnings of ARSi resistance are not well elucidated. Here we performed transcriptome analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in the context of a prospective clinical trial of men with mCRPC treated with abiraterone (Abi) or enzalutamide (Enza). CTC RNA-sequencing identified that RB loss and enhanced E2F signaling along with BRCA loss transcriptional networks were associated with intrinsic ARSi resistance, while an inflammatory response signature was significantly associated with acquired resistance. Transcriptomic analysis of matching PBMCs identified enrichment of inflammasome gene signatures indicative of activated innate immunity at progression, with concurrent downregulation of T and NK cells. Importantly, CTC gene signatures had a significant positive association with circulating immune macroenvironment (CIME) signatures. Taken together, these data demonstrate that liquid biopsy transcriptomics can identify molecular pathways associated with clinical ARSi resistance paving the way for treatment optimization in patients with mCRPC.


The connection of distributed power sources with the utility grid generally needs an electronic power converter for processing the locally generated power and injecting current into the system. If the source provides a dc voltage, the converter must be able to produce a low-distortion high-power-factor ac current. The same aspects related with the voltage and current distortion produced by nonlinear loads can be considered for the injection of power into the grid. In the absence of a specific standard, this paper takes as a reference the limits for current harmonics given by international standards. The justification for this approach is that, from the resulting line voltage degradation, there is no difference between injected and absorbed currents. This paper presents a three-phase inverter using low-frequency commutation. An auxiliary circuit is added to the inverter topology to reduce the output voltage distortion, thus improving the current waveform. The main advantages of this approach are the minimization of the switching losses and the elimination of the electromagnetic interference, which avoids high-frequency filters necessary in high-frequency commutation inverters


To the Editor. —I read with great interest the article of Zarling and Thompson on nonpersimmon gastric phytobezoar in theArchives.1The fact that nonpersimmon gastric phytobezoars have been shown to differ clinically, and in their evolution, from the persimmon bezoars is an interesting finding and may reflect partially a different pathophysiology. Indeed, the formation of the persimmon phytobezoars necessitates gastric secretions for the agglutination of phlobatannin, whereas no such involvement has been described in the nonpersimmon bezoars. It remains, however, that regardless of clinical differences and severity of complications, gastroparesis, whether surgically induced, metabolically related, or idiopathic, represents a key element in the accrual and progression if not in the recurrence of the bezoar and should be addressed in that perspective. In our article "Metoclopramide in the Treatment of Gastric Bezoars",2we have shown that properly documented by radioisotope gastric emptying test and endoscopy, gastroparesis and its


OBJECTIVE
Primary pulmonary lymphomas (PPL) are rarely taken into consideration in the differential diagnosis of lung lesions. The aim of this report is to characterize the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of primary MALT lymphoma of the lung.

CASE REPORT
We present the case of a 48-year-old man who was admitted to hospital with a history of coughing, fever, fatigue and non-specific lesions on his chest X-ray.

RESULTS
The patient was treated for pneumonia, but showed no improvement. A computer tomography revealed atypical lesions. After an initial examination and tests, no diagnosis could be established. A thoracotomy with an open lung biopsy was performed and MALT lymphoma was finally diagnosed. The patient underwent chemotherapy and showed a significant improvement.

CONCLUSIONS
Primary MALT lymphoma is a rare disease and its diagnosis is difficult. There is no non-invasive test that is specific enough, so a proper diagnosis can only be established by a histopathological examination. The disease has a slow and mild course and the response to treatment is satisfactory.


We analyze data from a survey we administered during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate the relationship between people's subjective risk beliefs and their protective behaviors. We report three main findings. First, on average, people substantially overestimate the absolute level of risk associated with economic activity, but have correct signals about their relative risk. Second, people who believe that they face a higher risk of infection are more likely to report avoiding economic activities. Third, government mandates restricting economic behavior attenuate the relationship between subjective risk beliefs and protective behaviors.


The solution of the nonaxisymmetric stationary problem of the heat conductivity for profiled polar-orthotropic annular plates considering the heat exchange with external environment through the bases is presented. Thermophysical characteristics of the material of the plate are assumed to be temperature-independent. A constant temperature T [1] ∗ is maintained on the inner contour of the ring plate and on the outer contour N equidistant point sources of heat with the same tempe rature T [2] ∗ each are applied. Plate temperature is higher than ambient temperature T [0] ( T [0] < T [1] ∗ < T [2] ∗ ). It is assumed that the temperature does not vary in thickness of a thin ring plate. The temperature values on the contours of the annular plate are given. There are no internal heat sources in the plate. The temperature distribution in such plates will be nonaxisymmetric. Analytical solutions of the stationary heat conductivity problem for the following anisotropic annular plates are presented: the plate of constant thickness, the back conical and the conical plate. The Volterra integral equation of the second kind corresponding to the given differential equation of the stationary heat conductivity for profiled anisotropic annular plates is written to obtain the solution in the general case. The kernels of the integral equation for anisotropic annular plates of power and exponential profiles are given explicitly. The solution of the integral equation is written by using the resolvent. It is indicated that due to the presence of irrational functions in the kernels of the integral equation it is necessary to apply numerical methods in the calculation of iterated kernels or numerically solve the Volterra integral equation of the second kind. A formula for the calculation of temperatures in anisotropic annular plates of an arbitrary profile is given.


A historical perspective of the major developments in grazing research for the humid Eastern USA was addressed. Consideration was given to the emergence of the area of grazing research relative to the initial structure of agricultural institutions, the orientation of scientist within the constraints of the institutional boundaries (departments) and the carry-through noted today. Early grazing research was constrained to the informal literature and discussed as informational, demonstrational, and experimental. The milestones that have been achieved, including statistical application, conceptual assessment, description of grazing management, methods of computing pasture yields, the origin and use of put-and-take stocking, pasture and animal biomass relationships, choice of stocking method, flexible grazing, and measurements in recent grazing research are presented and discussed relative to their origin and application. Furthermore, consideration was given to a number of important innovations with origin in the humid East that have contributed to the advancement of grazing research. Finally, brief consideration is given to future priority areas of grazing research and associated constraints.


A simple non-dimensional model to describe the flutter onset of two-fin straight labyrinth seals [1] is extended to account for non-isentropic flow perturbations. The isentropic relationship is replaced by the more general integral energy equation of the inter-fin cavity. A new expression for the Corral & Vega stability criterion is derived which is very consistent with the previous model in the whole design space of the seal but for torsion centers located in the high-pressure side close to the seal. The new model formally depends on more dimensionless parameters since the existing parameter grouping of the previous model does not hold anymore, but this dependency is weak in relative terms. The model blends the limit where the discharge time of the inter-fin cavity is much longer than the vibration period, and the flow is nearly isentropic, and the opposite limit, where the perturbations are isothermic, gracefully. A few numerical examples obtained using a three-dimensional linearized frequency domain solver are included to support the model and show that the trends are correct but the body of the numerical work will be presented in a separated article. The matching between the work-per-cycle obtained with the model and frequency domain solver is good. It is shown that some weird trends obtained using linearized unsteady simulations are qualitatively consistent with the current model but not with the previous one [1]. The largest differences between the new and the previous model are seen when the seal is supported at the high-pressure side.


Plasmonic nanomaterials have emerged in the last years as a very interesting option for many photocatalytic processes. Their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) brings in some unique properties that overcome some of the drawbacks associated with traditional photocatalysis based on semiconductors. Even when in its infancy, many advances have been made in the field, mainly related to the synthesis of new structures with the capabilities of light absorption in the whole solar spectrum. A great number of reactions have been attempted using nanoplasmonic materials. In this chapter, we present the most recent advances made in the field of plasmonic photocatalysis comprising an introductory section to define the main types of plasmonic nanomaterials available, including the most recently labeled alternatives. Following with the major areas of catalytic application, a second section of the chapter has been devoted to liquid-phase reactions for the treatment of pollutants and a selection of organic reactions to render added-value to chemicals under mild conditions. The third part of the chapter addresses two specific applications of nanoplasmonic photocatalysts in gas-phase reactions involving the remediation of volatile organic compounds and the transformation of carbon dioxide into valuable energy-related chemicals. Finally, a fourth section of the chapter introduces the most recent applications of plasmonics in biochemical processes involving the regulation of cofactor molecules and their mimetic behavior as potential enzyme-like surrogates.


The City of Albuquerque Public Works Department, Water Resources Management (City), is interested in quantifying aquifer hydraulic properties in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area to better understand and manage water resources in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. In 1998, the City and the U.S. Geological Survey entered into a cooperative program to determine hydraulic properties of aquifer material adjacent to screened intervals of piezometers in the Albuquerque area. Investigators conducted slug tests from March 8 through April 8, 1999, to estimate hydraulic conductivity of aquifer material adjacent to the screened intervals of 25 piezometers from 11 nested-piezometer sites in the Albuquerque area. At 20 of the piezometers, slug-test responses were typical; at 2 piezometers, tests were prematurely terminated because the tests were taking too long to complete; and at 3 piezometers, test responses were oscillatory. Methods used to estimate hydraulic conductivity were the Bouwer and Rice method or the Cooper, Bredehoeft, and Papadopulos method for most tests; the Shapiro and Greene method for prematurely terminated tests; and the van der Kamp method for oscillatory tests. Hydraulic-conductivity estimates ranged from about 0.15 to 92 feet per day. In general, the smaller estimated values are associated with finegrained aquifer materials and the larger estimated hydraulic-conductivity values are associated with coarse-grained aquifer materials adjacent to the screened intervals of the piezometers. Hydraulicconductivity estimates ranged from 0.15 to 8.2 feet per day for aquifer materials adjacent to the screened intervals at 12 piezometers and from 12 to 41 feet per day for aquifer materials adjacent to the screened intervals at 10 piezometers. Hydraulic-conductivity estimates at four piezometers were greater than 41 feet per day.


The depth images from RGB-D cameras contain a substantial amount of artifacts such as holes and flickering. Moreover, for fast moving objects in successive frames, we perceive ghosting artifacts on the depth images. Hence, the poor quality of the depth images limits them to be used in various applications. Here, we propose a gradient based spatial and temporal method of depth enhancement (gSMOOTH) using least median of squares, which deals with these artifacts. For each depth pixel over a sequence of frames, we look for invalid or unstable or drastically changed depth values and use our approach to replace those values with stable and more feasible depth values. Our approach removes the ghosting artifacts and flickering, and attenuates the amount of temporal noise significantly in real time. We conduct experiments with our own- and reference datasets and evaluate our method against reference methods. Experimental results show improvements for both static and dynamic scenes.


This study evaluated the occurrence and density of associative diazotrophic bacteria in the rhizosphere, collar, roots and leaves of Syngonanthus elegans (Bong) Ruhland (Goldenfoot) and Syngonanthus aciphyllus (Mini-skirt). These species are able to grow in poor soils. Five samples, with 25 plants both of S. elegans and S. aciphyllus, each were collected in Soberbo stream, Diamantina-MG, Brazil . The occurrence and the density of diazotrophic bacteria were evaluated by the most probable number (MPN) method in semi-selective N-free media NFb, LGI, JNFb, and JMV. In general, for both species, a high density of diazotrophic bacteria was observed in all of the microenvironments evaluated. The density was greater in S. elegans than in S. aciphyllus. The associative occurrence of diazotrophic bacteria in S. elegans and S. aciphyllus can contribute to plant adaptation to low fertility soils.


Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker is available in print, and now also online as part of the online reference work Jacoby Online. Please click here for more details.


Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is used to a limited extent in most developed countries for haemodialysis (HD). However, the survival using PD does not differ from that using HD and may even to some extent favour the use of PD. In patients who are expected to stay for many years in a chronic renal replacement therapy programme an important reason for starting with PD is to save the vascular access for later use. Other favourable issues are also discussed. This paper will also cover various aspects of how to reduce the risk of problems in a PD programme. In addition the concept of early start or acute start of peritoneal dialysis will be covered.


The paper starts with a discussion of a conceptual model of location factors in U.S. manufacturing investment at the state level. The purpose of the paper is to test the relative importance of growth factors influencing investment and whether or not they have changed in importance over time. These factors include agglomeration, market structure, labor, infrastructure, and fiscal policy. A better understanding of investment flows in the manufacturing sector will help determine how growth factors have changed over time and which economic development policies may be most appropriate at targeting the sector. The analysis covers the time period 1994 to 2006 for the 48 contiguous states, with data taken from the Annual Survey of Manufactures, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Panel methods are used to test for fixed effects due to heterogeneity across states. Spatial panel methods with time effects are used for determination and specification of spatial and temporal effects. Empirical results are consistent across the empirical models put forth. Results suggest that market demand remains one of the most important location factors of manufacturing investment. Investment also goes to states with more productive labor and localized agglomeration of manufacturing activity.


Aims and background To evaluate the effect of bcl-2 expression on the local control and overall survival of patients with early stage laryngeal cancer treated with radiotherapy alone. Methods and study design We included 53 patients with stage Tis, T1, and T2 laryngeal cancer who were irradiated in our department. Paraffin blocks of all biopsy specimens were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis with a bcl-2 oncoprotein mouse clone 124 Scytek kit. Results The mean follow-up time was 61 months (range, 7–166). Local-regional recurrence was observed in 10 (19%) patients. Forty-three patients (81%) had negative bcl-2 staining, 5 patients (9%) had + staining, 3 patients (6%) ++ staining, and 2 patients (4%) +++ staining. No relationship was detected between bcl-2 expression and local control or overall survival. The emergence of a recurrence and a younger age (<50 years) were significantly related to poor overall survival (P = 0.000 and P = 0.021, respectively). Patients with hemoglobin levels in the middle of radiotherapy and at the end of radiotherapy higher than 13 g/dl had improved overall survival in multivariate analyses (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001, respectively). Regarding local control, the following were poor prognostic factors: smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day (P = 0.001) and being younger than 50 years of age (P = 0.001). Conclusions No correlation was observed between bcl-2 expression and local control or overall survival. Whereas hemoglobin level, age and existence of a recurrence had a prognostic impact on overall survival, patient age and smoking status influenced local control rates.


In the shadow of China's and India's inroads into the African continent, South America's emerging power, Brazil, has been increasing its presence in Africa. However, its role in Africa has remained relatively unnoticed by international media and academia thus far. Brazil's low visibility in Africa cannot be explained exclusively by the fact that its financial engagement is still limited in comparison to that of China or India. An explanation would also need to include the unique way the South American power has interacted with Africa. Brazil has presented itself as a partner for Africa's development challenges rather than as a business partner. Although Brazil primarly imports oil and other natural resources from Africa, Brazil's cooperation with African countries, in contrast to that of China or India, has not been tied to contracts for oil-drilling or mining concessions. In fact, Brazil's expanding engagement in Africa serves other motives than resource-seeking. Brazil is trying to gain status as a global player by acting as a provider of development assistance and demonstrating global leadership on pressing international issues such as poverty alleviation, the fight against AIDS, or the provision of energy security. Gaining a Foothold in Africa Being a late-corner in terms of its diplomatic presence in Africa, Brazil has expanded the number of its embassies on the continent significantly in recent years. Whereas existing Brazilian embassies on the African continent closed down in the 1980s and 1990s due to economic problems, Brazil increased the number of its embassies in Africa from 17 to 37 in the first decade of the new millennium. This increase has, of course, been linked to the South American country's economic rise, but also reflects a new direction in Brazil's foreign policy. Especially under the leadership of former Brazilian President Lula da Silva (2003-2010), the country undertook major efforts to expand its presence on its neighboring continent. Brazil has also actively forged relations with African nations through intensive travel diplomacy, with a record of 13 presidential visits to 29 African countries in the last ten years. No other head of government has visited Africa as often as Lula. Current President Dilma Rousseff, who has limited her visits to Brazil's most important partners, has already paid a visit to Africa in her first year in office. In addition to the intensification of bilateral ties with African countries, Brazil has also established stronger links with the continent at an institutional level. Cooperation agreements linking Brazil with African institutions include partnerships with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) as well as the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries). In line with the enhancement of its diplomatic footprint, Brazil has also expanded its economic engagement in Africa. Between 2000 and 2011, trade has increased more than sixfold from US$4.2 billion to US$27.6 billion, making Brazil the BRIC-country with the second highest rate of increase in trade with Africa, after China. As an export destination for Africa, Brazil currently holds the 10th rank; among Africa's so called emerging trade partners Brazil is in fourth place behind China, India, and South Korea. Due to historic ties and linguistic similarities, Brazil's presence is especially strong in Portuguese-speaking Lusophone Africa. In Angola, for instance, Brazil is already among the three most important investor countries and the biggest private employer in the West African country. A Resource-Driven Rapprochement? Looking beyond the impressive growth rates, trade statistics suggest that Brazil's trade relationship with Africa is not balanced. Brazilian imports from Africa at US$15.43 billion clearly surpass the US$12. …


Introduction Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumour in adults. Among all gliomas, it is the most aggressive type, with a high fatality rate, and according to the WHO classification, it is a grade IV tumour. As this tumour is well-known for its poor survival, an understanding of clinical and treatment-related prognostic factors can help in tailored treatment. The aim of this study was to know the impact of prognostic factors on survival in these cases. Materials and methods All glioblastoma patients treated in our hospital during 2010–2015 were included in the analysis. Cases were divided into different groups based on prognostic factors. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were calculated and compared among the different groups. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS software v20. Results One-year OS was 36.9% and 2-year OS was 10.8%. One-year DFS was 13.04%. On univariate analysis, age at presentation ≤45 years and adjuvant chemotherapy with six cycles or more temozolomide improved OS and DFS. Multivariate analysis retained the statistically significant positive impact of usage of adjuvant temozolomide chemotherapy of ≥six cycles on OS and DFS. The use of the anti-epileptic drug Levetiracetam had a statistically significant improvement of DFS. Conclusion Among various clinical and treatment-related prognostic factors evaluated in our study, younger age at presentation and addition of temozolomide chemotherapy to radiation showed improvement in OS and DFS. The use of the anti-epileptic drug Levetiracetam had an impact on DFS in glioblastoma patients.


Genistein (Gen), is commonly consumed phytoestrogen among Asian and known to exert weak estrogenic effects. To account for potential reproductive effects in male rats, Control, Gen1, Gen10, Gen100 mg/kg body weight and Estradiol were administered to gestational day 10 (GD10) female Sprague Dawley for 5 weeks. At postnatal day, P50, the rats were sacrificed. Blood was taken and reproductive tissues were processed. At birth, body weight (BW) and anogenital distance (AGD) in Gen10 and Gen100 decreased significantly from Control. Throughout experiment, BW and AGD of Gen10 decreased significantly. Preputial separation (PPS) was significantly longer in Gen100 and one rat from Gen10 exhibited unilateral testis descent at P50. Testicular weight and serum testosterone level were reduced in a dose-dependent manner. Histopathological analysis of the seminiferous tubules in Gen1 group is comparable to the Control group. However, the seminiferous tubules of the Gen10 and Gen100 groups showed evidence of overstimulated spermatogenesis. From the immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis, there was higher staining intensity indicating increased expression of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) and Connexin43 (Cx43) in Gen10 and Gen100 groups compared to Control. Thus, administration of genistein during the critical period of early development could cause antiestrogenic or/and estrogenic influence on the development and functions of the male reproductive system.


Inspired by recent demonstrations of metasurfaces in achieving reduced versions of electromagnetic cloaks, we propose and experimentally demonstrate source illusion devices to manipulate flexural waves using metasurfaces. The approach is particularly useful for elastic waves due to the lack of form invariance in usual transformation methods. We demonstrate compact and simple-to-implement metasurfaces for shifting, transforming, and splitting a point source. The effects are measured to be broadband and robust against a change of source positions, with agreement from numerical simulations and the Huygens-Fresnel theory. The proposed method is potentially useful for applications such as nondestructive testing, high-resolution ultrasonography, and advanced signal modulation.


Production of biogas from energy crops, agricultural residues, and municipal waste is becoming increasingly important in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhance the security of global energy supply. The environmental performance of biogas production from agricultural residues and its utilization as an alternative to fossil natural gas was evaluated and quantified in this study using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The 'cradle-to-grave' LCA of a biogas production system was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14044 standards, using GaBi 4 computer software and life cycle inventory (LCI) data from the ecoinvent v2.0 database using the CML2001 method. The functional unit was the anaerobic digestion of 1 ton of agricultural residue mixture to produce biogas with the digestate as a process co-product. The environmental profile was analysed in terms of abiotic depletion potential (ADP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), global warming potential (GWP), ozone layer depletion potential (ODP), human toxicity potential (HTP), photochemical ozone creation (POCP), freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP). Results showed that using biogas as a replacement for natural gas can directly help in offsetting the environmental impacts associated with the production and use of fossil natural gas – ADP (-44.93 kg Sb-Equiv.); AP (-16.99 kg SO2-Equiv.); EP (-1.93 kg Phosphate-Equiv.); GWP (10329.4 kg CO2-Equiv.); ODP (-0.0007 kg R11-Equiv.); HTP (2695.38 kg DCB-Equiv.); POCP (-1.44 kg Ethene-Equiv.); FAETP (-73.0778 kg DCB-Equiv.); and TETP (-55.58 kg DCBEquiv.). Using biogas obtained through anaerobic digestion of agricultural crops such as corn stover and rice straw can be very beneficial when compared to fossil natural gas derived energy.


Explicit high-order feature interactions efficiently capture essential structural knowledge about the data of interest and have been used for constructing generative models. We present a supervised discriminative High-Order Parametric Embedding (HOPE) approach to data visualization and compression. Compared to deep embedding models with complicated deep architectures, HOPE generates more effective high-order feature mapping through an embarrassingly simple shallow model. Furthermore, two approaches to generating a small number of exemplars conveying high-order interactions to represent large-scale data sets are proposed. These exemplars in combination with the feature mapping learned by HOPE effectively capture essential data variations. Moreover, through HOPE, these exemplars are employed to increase the computational efficiency of kNN classification for fast information retrieval by thousands of times. For classification in two-dimensional embedding space on MNIST and USPS datasets, our shallow method HOPE with simple Sigmoid transformations significantly outperforms state-of-the-art supervised deep embedding models based on deep neural networks, and even achieved historically low test error rate of 0.65% in two-dimensional space on MNIST, which demonstrates the representational efficiency and power of supervised shallow models with high-order feature interactions.


Images captured by digital cameras are vulnerable to quality degradations due to non-ideal illumination conditions such as dominated lighting source colors, where images so obtained may not faithfully reproduce the scene chromatics accurately. While it is a complicated process to control the scene illumination, color correction used as a post-processing procedure, is becoming an attractive solution. This research has developed an approach for color correction based on a modified implementation of the gray world assumption. The image color is adjusted by employing a gamma correction to satisfy the gray world assumption and avoid color saturation as encountered in the conventional approach. In order to further improve the image visual quality, an intensity preservation criterion is adopted as an additional means to produce the resultant image. With the normalization of intensity in accordance with the original image, an enhanced image both in color and intensity, is finally obtained. A collection of color images are used in an experiment to verify the proposed algorithm. Results have indicated that the proposed method is effective in producing enhanced images in the context of color enhancements.


Conventional dynamic voltage and frequency scaling techniques use high CPU utilization as a predictor for user dissatisfaction, to which they react by increasing CPU frequency. In this paper, we demonstrate that for many interactive applications, perceived performance is highly dependent upon the particular user and application, and is not linearly related to CPU utilization. This observation reveals an opportunity for reducing power consumption. We propose Human and Application driven frequency scaling for Processor Power Efficiency (HAPPE), an adaptive user-and-application-aware dynamic CPU frequency scaling technique. HAPPE continuously adapts processor frequency and voltage to the learned performance requirement of the current user and application. Adaptation to user requirements is quick and requires minimal effort from the user (typically a handful of key strokes). Once the system has adapted to the user's performance requirements, the user is not required to provide continued feedback but is permitted to provide additional feedback to adjust the control policy to changes in preferences. HAPPE was implemented on a Linux-based laptop and evaluated in 22 hours of controlled user studies. Compared to the default Linux CPU frequency controller, HAPPE reduces the measured system-wide power consumption of CPU-intensive interactive applications by 25 percent on average while maintaining user satisfaction.


Derivatives Implementation Group (DIG) Implementation Issue G20, Assessing and Measuring the Effectiveness of a Purchased Option Used in a Cash Flow Hedge, eliminates FAS 1339s bias against option hedging. Prior to G20, changes in the time value of option hedges were reported in earnings. The result was not only unpredictable earnings volatility but also additional reporting complexity and confusion. With G20, the true economic gain or loss from the option, net of the premium, is recognized in earnings only at the maturity of the underlying forecasted exposure. This article explores the advantages of options vs. forward contracts; how to apply G20 to cash flow option hedges, including techniques for managing imperfect option PL situations where using the time value exclusion may be better than applying G20; and how corporate foreign exchange benchmarking data supports the conclusion that an active option hedging strategy is not only a mainstream FX hedging practice, but also is more conservative and economically superior than a "buy and hold" option hedging strategy.


Analysis of gunshot residues (GSR) is a vital point of interest in forensic chemistry. GSR analysis is very well established, but there is still a lack of methodology to identify GSR obtained from lead-free or 'non-toxic ammunition' (NTA). To identify GSR from NTA, we have proposed the incorporation of luminescent markers to provide an optical and chemical signature to GSR. Furthermore, the luminescent markers can open up prospectives for ammunition encoding by adjusting their composition. Herein, we report the distinction among GSR particles containing different MOF-based markers by analyzing their organic fractions using near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) together with multivariate analysis (MCR-ALS). The method has been proven to be effective, non-destructive and fast in distinguishing marked GSR. It is possible to detect and correctly identify 72.2% of the samples, and all cases of misclassification are related to slight amount of material collected (8.3%) or confusion caused by one of the markers (19.4%). The study is developed in a forensic context of GSR analysis; however, the methodology described here is excellent and can be extrapolated to other applications that require distinguishing MOFs with different ligands.


In this paper, we study the equal gain combining (EGC) scheme in free space optical (FSO) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems over the Gamma-Gamma fading channel with pointing errors. The probability density function (PDF) of the Gamma-Gamma fading with pointing errors contains the Meijer-G function, which makes the error analysis of the considered system very difficult (almost undoable). We propose a new power series based representation for the PDF of the Gamma-Gamma fading with pointing errors. The average bit error rate (BER) for the EGC scheme is derived by using the proposed series based expression of the PDF. We also derive the asymptotic BER for the EGC scheme. The effect of pointing errors over the performance of the scheme is analyzed under different scenarios and it is observed that the pointing errors significantly degrade the diversity of the FSO MIMO system; but under strong atmospheric turbulence pointing errors can be neglected.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the role of demographic, illness-related, workplace support, workplace activity limitations, arthritis-related work changes, and psychosocial factors in predicting subsequent depressive symptoms among employed people with arthritis.

METHODS
In a prospective study, 366 employed individuals with arthritis were recruited from Toronto, Canada. Respondents completed a structured questionnaire assessing demographic, disease-related factors, workplace support, and employment-related transitions, as well as psychosocial variables at 2 timepoints 18 months apart. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression was used for analyses.

RESULTS
Individuals with greater education reported significantly less depression. Lower workplace support and greater workplace activity limitations were significantly associated with future depressive symptoms. No relationship was found between work transitions and later depression, but more work changes were strongly associated with concurrent depressive symptoms. An association was also found between greater pain catastrophizing and future depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION
Our results highlight the need to assess the influence of work-related changes, workplace support, and psychosocial variables on depressive symptoms among people with arthritis. These findings suggest that workplace interventions should address not only ways to reduce workplace activity limitations, but also ways to better manage emotional distress related to working with arthritis.


In this paper we present new techniques to reduce the power consumption of a static CMOS circuit by enlarging transistors in high fan-out gates and reordering inputs to the gates. The techniques are developed based on observations from results of hspice simulations. These methods are incorporated into a performance and power constrained module generator, PowerSizer. Experimental results from the module generator on several real circuits show that as much as 15% saving in power consumption can be obtained on arithmetic circuits with almost no tradeoff in area or delay.


To enhance global bioenergy production, the Brazilian industry's interest in using sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) straw as a feedstock for electricity and cellulosic ethanol production has increased recently. However, indiscriminate straw removal may negatively affect key soil functions related to water infiltration, retention, and availability to plants. Therefore, a microlysimeter system with a 0.2 m soil column was built to evaluate the effects of straw removal rates on water drainage and water storage in a sandy clay loam soil from a commercial sugarcane field in southeastern Brazil. The experiment was conducted in an open area where the lysimeter system was subjected to rainfall. After assembly, the treatments consisting of four straw amounts of 0, 3, 6, and 12 Mg ha−1 were applied, representing straw removal rates of 100% (bare soil), 75%, 50%, and 0%, respectively. The water drainage was quantified and collected for 17 months, and the soil water storage was measured over a two-month period. The soil water holding capacity was calibrated by an inverse modeling approach minimizing the differences between soil water storage measured in the field and simulated by a water balance model. Our results reveal that the amount of water drained from bare soil was 30% lower than no removal treatment. Bare soil had the lowest water storage for most of the days, indicating a greater susceptibility to losing water through evaporation and drying. The long-term simulation for early, mid, and late sugarcane harvest seasons suggests longer periods of water restriction to crop growth under higher straw removal rates (i.e., 100% and 75%), potentially impairing sugarcane growth and thus yield. Also, the findings suggest that partial residue maintenance, up to 6 Mg ha−1 of straw (50% removal) on the soil surface, seems to be sufficient to prevent excessive water losses and daily variations of soil water content, sustaining soil water storage rates above the critical point for sugarcane growth.


Cancer is one of the most challenging health problems in the entire world today. It is a complex disease to treat. Conventional cancer therapies evoke severe side effects and in many cases, patients recover from cancer and die due to organ failure and immunosuppression. To redress these anomalies recourse to phytochemicals is advocated. The induction of apoptosis in a neoplastic cell line without affecting normal cells of the body is a key to the use of phytochemicals (chemopreventive agents) which perform a vital function in the battle against cancer. These chemopreventive agents inhibit, retard or reverse multi-stages of carcinogenesis via their anticarcinogenic and antimutagenic properties and also suppress cancer proliferation through induction and stimulation of cell growth. Research has shown that they exert these abilities by counteracting certain signals that cause genotoxic damage and reduction-oxidation imbalance in cells. This discourse reviews the role of phytochemical chemopreventive agents, benefits and limitations associated with their use in cancer prevention.


Introduction: The five-year survival rates for young adult cancers continue to increase. Nonetheless, these young adult survivors may experience health complications or physical late effects that contribute to negative lifestyle behaviors potentiating the use of gateway drugs (e.g. alcohol and cigarettes). Examination of these negative behaviors during emerging adulthood (i.e., ages 18–24) may be particularly critical, as this developmental period is characterized by significant change, instability, identity exploration, and experimentation. In the present study, we examine the use of cigarettes and risky alcohol consumption among U.S. young adult cancer survivors. Methods: We analyzed data on 39,433 U.S. young adults age 18–24 participating in the 1997–2009 National Health Interview Survey, who reported on their cigarette use and alcohol consumption, and socio-demographic characteristics. Results: Among all youth, youth workers are almost twice as likely to smoke cigarettes when compared to their unemployed peers and Whites were more likely to engage in these negative behaviors when compared to their Black peers. There was no significant difference in alcohol or cigarette use by cancer history among young people. Approximately 35% of young cancer survivors were smokers and 70% current drinkers. Analyses did not reveal any significant reports of risky drinking. Conclusions: Periodic clinical assessments for substance use among cancer survivors is important, particularly during the transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood when baseline rates are relatively high compared to other ages. Research on processes involved in a young cancer survivors' decisions to use substances will provide better insight regarding how best to intervene and who to include in educational interventions. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A7.


In this electron microscopic study, erythropoiesis in mice was completely suppressed by repeated hypertransfusion for up to 6 wk. We describe a sequence of ultrastructural changes in the marrow's stromal cells that accompany the resulting shift from erythropoietic to granulopoietic tissue. These include the destruction of medullary macrophages, the accelerated development of marrow adipocytes and reticular cells, and a reduction in the amount of vascular space in the marrow. The absence of macrophages was highlighted by the complete lack of erythrophagocytosis in the marrows of hypertransfused mice that were injected with the hemolysing agent, phenylhydrazine. The changes in the marrow stroma probably underlie the shift in the marrow's hematopoietic microenvironment. Repeated phlebotomy of mice that had been hypertransfused for 2 wk evoked the appearance of unique stromal cells in the marrow, similar to cells that have been associated with accelerated erythropoiesis. The newly anemic mice were otherwise unable to mount an erythropoietic response to repeated bleeding, showing that the decline in the erythropoietic microenvironment brought on by sustained hypertransfusion was a lasting one.


The thesis covers three parts. The first part is aimed at testing a specific component in a treatment protocol; the 'Positive Closure' procedure in the Dutch EMDR protocol. In this procedure, the activation of a positive verbal statement was combined with the making of eye movements, although it had never been investigated whether these eye movements actually had a positive effect on those verbal statements. In three studies, set out in the thesis, no positive nor a negative effect of the eye movements in the procedure was found. The second part of the thesis concerns research into EMDR's working mechanisms and the use of modality-specific taxation in EMDR treatment. EMDR usually aims at making visual aversive memories less emotional by recalling a visual memory and simultaneously perform a dual task. The two tasks - recall and the other dual task (most commonly making horizontal eye movements) - compete for working memory capacity and the aversive memory is affected by this. A recalled memory becomes labile and when dual tasking is performed during recall of an aversive memory this memory generally becomes less emotional. In two studies Suzy and colleagues show that not only visual but the emotionality of auditory aversive memories can also be made less aversive. This was investigated in PTSD patients, and also in psychotic patients in whom an aversive auditory hallucination memory was processed. A modality-specific effect (i.e., a greater effect on emotionality decrease of the memory by using taxation in the same modality [auditory/visual] as the content of the memory [auditory/visual]) was not found. However, experimental research with healthy participants shows that an auditory dual task during the retrieval of auditory memories and a visual dual task during retrieval of a visual memory is more taxing than performing these two tasks cross-modal (i.e., the opposite modality). Since larger dual task loads are more effective in degrading emotionality of memories it is therefore potentially more effective to use a dual task matched in modality than taxing in the opposite modality during recall. A cautious conclusion is that in addition to a large effect of general taxation during memory recall, there is a smaller modality-specific effect. The third part of the thesis investigated a new form of trauma treatment, Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT). This form of treatment was tested in two analogue studies in which VSDT was compared to an abbreviated EMDR protocol and a control condition. In both studies VSDT and EMDR were superior to the control condition in reducing emotional disturbance, and VSDT was superior to EMDR. Results were maintained at follow up. VSDT and EMDR outperformed the control condition in terms of reducing vividness.


Within the practice of Graphic Design there are specific processes that make up the completion of a project. The aim of this pilot study is two fold, firstly; to develop a new teaching methodology making these processes clear to tertiary level graphic design students, and secondly; to serve as a source of reflection for design practitioners. To this end one process was investigated; client and graphic designer interaction. In order to document and comment on significant designer/client interaction, the observation was carried out via video tape and the data analysed for verbal and non verbal behaviour; meeting sequencing and the comparison between how designers think they interact and how they actually interact. The video taped case studies, tried analysis and the results gained will be integrated into the design curriculum and serve as powerful learning tools, firstly at campus level and secondly into a Distance Education module. This is a multi levelled investigation revealing insights into client satisfaction and dissatisfaction; a learning tool for students and a source of reflection for practising designers. This presentation will be supported by video clips and stills.


Video games make extensive use of image and sound, as well as player interactivity to communicate narrative and gameplay information. While scholars (e.g., Kaae, 2008 and Collins, 2013) have made significant contributions to understanding these forms of communication, there are still fruitful directions to explore. This thesis adds Chion's (1994) concept of points of synchronization to the discussion by addressing how they might be used as a tool to create emphasis and to provide an auditory and visual setting around a video game's narrative and gameplay elements. I will argue that it is useful to divide synch points into three types (narrative, gameplay, and serendipitous), and will explore how Chion's concept, originally developed for cinematic sound, can be expanded to include the complexities afforded by interactive gameplay. I will use Bioshock Infinite (2K Games, 2013) as a case study to demonstrate the utility of this typological approach to synch points.


In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the relationship between brain tropism, neuroinflammation and host immune response has not been well characterized. We analyzed 68,557 single-nucleus transcriptomes from three brain regions (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medulla oblongata and choroid plexus) and identified an increased proportion of stromal cells and monocytes in the choroid plexus of COVID-19 patients. Differential gene expression, pseudo-temporal trajectory and gene regulatory network analyses revealed microglial transcriptome perturbations, mediating a range of biological processes, including cellular activation, mobility and phagocytosis. Quantification of viral spike S1 protein and SARS-CoV-2 transcripts did not support the notion of brain tropism. Overall, our findings suggest extensive neuroinflammation in patients with acute COVID-19. One Sentence Summary Single-nucleus transcriptome analysis suggests extensive neuroinflammation in human brain tissue of patients with acute coronavirus disease 2019.


Most studies on verticality's embodiment showed that up positions were related to positive emotions whereas down positions were related to negative ones (Meier & Robinson, 2004). Research on motion perception found that a parabolic motion both induced animation attribution (Tremoulet & Feldman, 2000) and implied negative feelings (Chafi, Schiaratura, & Rusinek, 2012; Podevin, 2009; Podevin, Chafi, Rusinek, & Békaert, 2012). We hypothesized that seeing a parabolic downward motion will increase both the memorization for words and the execution's speed of a serial subtraction compared to a parabolic upward motion. Results showed that the downward motion had enhancing effects both on the serial subtraction and on the number of recalled words, independently of their valence. These findings are interpreted as marking processes related to an adaptive behavior in response to a negative stimulus.


This paper describes the operation of a heavy duty six-cylinder engine in a dual fuel, Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) mode with very low engine-out NOx und soot emissions according to the US EPA Tier IV final emission limits in the corresponding C1 test cycle. This operation mode makes use of a short pilot injection of diesel fuel, which is injected directly into the cylinder, to ignite a highly diluted, premixed gasoline air mixture. Multicylinder engine operation could be demonstrated over the entire engine operating map with loads of up to 2 MPa BMEP. Expensive aftertreatment systems for NOx and soot emissions are not required.This paper also discusses the challenges involved with the implementation of this combustion system on a multicylinder engine. When transferring the dual fuel LTC from a single cylinder research engine to a multicylinder engine, the design of some engine components, e.g. the camshaft and the piston, were changed. The intake manifold is modified with port fuel injectors for ideal gasoline mixture preparation and equal distribution to all cylinders. To avoid cylinder imbalances, it is possible to control the injected masses of gasoline and diesel fuel for the pilot injection on a per-cylinder basis. Achieving high dilution for ignition delay via EGR and boosted intake pressure to avoid high pressure rise rates and knocking presents challenges for the two-stage turbocharger design. Additionally, high EGR rates and EGR cooling for increased loads are addressed. Finally, experiments to determine the significant control parameters for the combustion process are performed on the engine.In the course of these investigations, dual fuel LTC could be transferred from a single cylinder research engine to a multicylinder engine; previously obtained single-cylinder operating conditions could be achieved even at high loads.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis is developing a computer model which can be used by decision makers to evaluate policies for controlling the impact of acid rain in Europe. As part of this task, a simple dynamic model has been developed for describing the processes leading to acidification of surface waters. The simulation model is constructed of several modules, each of them providing an overview of a particular aspect of lake acidification. The meteorologic module calculates the amount of water and deposition entering the soil or the lake directly each month. The IIASA soil acidity submodel accounts for the soil solution chemistry. A simple hydrologic method is applied for simulating the routing of internal flows so that the convective flow of ions can be estimated. The lake response is calculated according to the equilibrium reactions of inorganic carbon species. These modules are described in this paper. In part 2 the application of the model on a large regional scale will be described. Monte Carlo techniques will be used to determine those ranges and combinations of input values that produce an acceptable present day lake acidity distribution, when the model is driven by a specified deposition.


The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Citrus aurantifolia extract (CAE), coconut shell liquid smoke (CSLS) and the combination of CAE and CSLS (CACS) on se'i characteristics. A completely randomized design was assigned in this experiment. Treatments used were: se'i treated with  5% (v/v) CAE, CSLS 5% (v/v), (CAE : CSL 1:1) )/ (CACS) and untreated se'i as a control (C). Parameters measured were: aroma, color, taste, pH, residual nitrite, total bacterial count, Coliform, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella . The data of aroma, color, and taste were analyzed by using Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Mann-Whitney test. The pH, residual nitrite, and bacterial data were analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by least significant differences test. Results showed that CAE caused the highest score at both aroma and taste (P<0.05). CSLS caused the lowest residual nitrite (27 ppm) (P<0.05). Application of CAE and CACS could reduce total bacteria (P<0.05) at least 1 log. Color, pH, and Coliform number were not significantly different. S. aureus, E. coli, and Salmonella were negative in all se'i samples. CAE gives the best organoleptics and bacteriological characteristics while CSLS is more effective in reducing nitrite. Key words: Citrus aurantifolia extract, coconut shell liquid smoke, se'i , smoked beef


Sleep consolidates procedural memory for motor skills, and this process is associated with strengthened functional connectivity in hippocampal-striatal-cortical areas. It is unknown whether similar processes occur for procedural memory that requires cognitive strategies needed for problem-solving. It is also unclear whether a full night of sleep is indeed necessary for consolidation to occur, compared with a daytime nap. We examined how resting-state functional connectivity within the hippocampal-striatal-cortical network differs after offline consolidation intervals of sleep, nap, or wake. Resting-state fMRI data were acquired immediately before and after training on a procedural problem-solving task that requires the acquisition of a novel cognitive strategy and immediately prior to the retest period (i.e., following the consolidation interval). ROI to ROI and seed to whole-brain functional connectivity analyses both specifically and consistently demonstrated strengthened hippocampal-prefrontal functional connectivity following a period of sleep versus wake. These results were associated with task-related gains in behavioral performance. Changes in functional communication were also observed between groups using the striatum as a seed. Here, we demonstrate that at the behavioral level, procedural strategies benefit from both a nap and a night of sleep. However, a full night of sleep is associated with enhanced functional communication between regions that support problem-solving skills.


The telecom sector in Sri Lanka is one of the country's most dynamic sectors, contributing significantly both directly and indirectly to investment, employment, productivity, innovation, and overall economic growth. The expansion of information and communications technology (ICT) is a major objective under Sri Lanka's development vision of becoming the 'Emerging Wonder of Asia' as outlined in the Mahinda Chintana – Vision for the Future: the development plan set forth by the government in 2010. As set out in the international literature and evidenced in the reform process in countries around the world, regulatory governance plays a significant role in policy outcomes and sector performance. The objective of this report is to evaluate regulatory efficacy as it pertains to Sri Lanka's telecom sector; to understand the dynamics between regulatory governance and sector performance; and, to reach informed and relevant conclusions targeting policy makers, operators, and the regulator. The 2010/11 Telecom Regulatory Environment survey (TRE) is a perception assessment where informed stakeholders assess telecom regulatory efficacy, with respect to seven dimensions in the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors: market entry, access to scarce resources, interconnection, tariff regulation, anti-competitive practices, Universal Service Obligations (USOs) and Quality of Service (QoS). Key regulatory and policy events from the latter part of 2009 to the beginning of 2011 provide the contextual background for the survey questionnaire. This report also compares the TRE scores for 2010/11 with that of 2006 and 2008, capturing perception trends over three periods and providing a more comprehensive analysis of regulatory governance and sector performance over time. The results of the 2010/11 TRE survey indicate a below average score across all seven dimensions, with two of the seven dimensions demonstrating significantly lower scores: allocation of scarce resources and regulation of anti-competitive practices. When comparing the survey results with that of 2006 and 2008, allocation of scarce resources and market entry in the mobile sector show a declining trend.


This research was carried out to determine the genetic effects of divergent selection under two different selection under two different selection pressure for 4 week body weight over 3 generations on 4 week body weight and related characters such as slaughter weight, carcass weight, breast weight and leg weight in Japanese quail. Birds were weighted individuay. Individual selection for body weight was carried out at 4 weeks, separately for each sex. The proportion kept was 10% for males and 30 % for females in H1 and H2 lines, and H4 lines were selected for low body weight, H5 was a control line. Total gains obtained for 4 weeks body weight of 3 rd generation H1, H2, H3, H4 lines males were 19.76 g, -47.92 g, 17.42g, -45.85g, respectively. Similar total gains for females were 26.49 g, -12.37 g, 19.18 g, -23.56 g, respectively. At the end of three generations, total genetic improvement obtained for 4 weeks body weight in H1, H2, H3 and H4 lines were 23.28 g, -8.52 g, 20.22 g, 14.12 g for males and 25.06 g, -12.83 g, 19.88 g, 14.79 g for females, respectively. Changes in 4 weeks body weight in H1, H2, H3, H4 lines were resulted with similar changes in slaughter weight, carcass weight, breast weight, leg weight, especially under high selection pressure in both direction. It was concluded that genetic improvement under high selection pressure for four week body weight will be more effective in both directions.


OBJECTIVES
Are there any differences (organic, psychosocial, psychopathological, cognitive or educational, respectively differences in the motor or neurological development) between infants who later on at the age of 8 years suffer from a hyperactive disorder and those who later on at the same age are undisturbed? Are there specific harbingers for hyperactive disorders in the group concerned?

METHODS
With regard to their developmental risk load at the age of 3 months, 26 primary school children with hyperactive disorders were compared with 241 healthy children, 25 children with emotional disturbances, and 30 children with socially disruptive behaviour, all of the same age.

RESULTS
Identified as the most important predictors for the onset of hyperactive disorders were a reduced birth weight, the mother's origin from a shattered family, early contact impairments on the part of the child, and the mother's neglect of the infant.

CONCLUSIONS
Altogether, however, the prediction of later hyperactivity in primary school children on the basis of salient features in the infant children remains unsatisfactory and unspecific.


The generator circuit-breaker (gen.c.b.) located between the generator and the step-up transformer, is now being applied world-wide. It has become a recognized electrical component of power stations which is largely due to economical advantages and increased power station availability. Technical protection considerations for power stations have always been the reason for discussion and the object of improvement. With the use of a gen.c.b., some points of view need to be considered anew. Not only the protection system in case of fault conditions will be influenced, but also the insulation co-ordination philosophy. The results of some calculations concerning expected overvoltages are presented. These calculations are based on a transformer rated 264/15.5 kV, 220 MVA, but the results are transferable to other power plants. Some measurements carried out on a transformer of the same rating complement the calculations. The findings may contribute to an improvement in insulation co-ordination and protection of the electrical system generator/step-up transformer. >


The advantages of altmetrics — the diversity of dissemination channels analysed, the speed of getting data, the openness of methods, and the ability to measure impact beyond the 'scholarly realm'— could be seen as especially promising for fields that currently are difficult to study using established bibliometric methods and data sources. This paper reviews the benefits of using altmetric methods to analyse the impact of research in the humanities and tests some of the most common altmetric tools on a small sample of publications and authors. The findings indicate that many of the problems identified in research on the use of bibliometrics on the humanities are also relevant for altmetric approaches. The importance of non-journal publications, the reliance on print as well the limited availability of open access publishers are characteristics that hinder altmetric analysis. However, this study provides only a few examples and further studies are needed in order to examine the possibilities that altmetric methods offer.


Multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN), an immune neuromuscular condition causing progressive weakness, usually responds to immune-mediated treatments, including intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Fifteen patients with MMN receiving IVIG were enrolled in an open-label, single-center trial and switched to 20% subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIG) using a smooth transition protocol (ie, changing the therapy without interruption or impact on the intended outcome of the therapy). Patients received individualized training and support based on motivation and ability to learn, follow directions, and maintain compliance. Although some patients required assistance during the training phase, most managed self-infusion and reported satisfaction in managing therapy autonomously. Educating patients with neuropathies to self-infuse high-dose SCIG at home and with flexibility in dosing schedules was successfully demonstrated in this patient group.


This volume follows similarly themed ones such as those on the Brent Group (Morton et al. 1992), and on the Central Graben and the Moray Firth (Hurst et al. 1996). It is a natural consequence that a conference on the southern North Sea complements this group of North Sea volumes that are concerned with linking knowledge growth with technical advances so that hydrocarbon resources can be exploited with increasing facility. As the southern North Sea is one of the oldest hydrocarbon provinces in Europe where exploration for hydrocarbons began as early as 1918 (see Glennie, this volume), it is timely that this important region is examined by its students who consider what the future may bring. The early exploration of the petroleum potential of the southern North Sea concentrated mainly on the Lower Permian Rotliegendes aeolian dune sandstones. Whilst in the 1970s focus was on the sedimentological and environmental aspects, in the 1980s on diagenesis, and in the early 1990s on reservoir geochemistry, interest has now proceeded to stratigraphic re-assessment using correlation concepts such as sequence stratigraphy, climatic cyclicity (e.g. Howell & Aitken 1996) and chemo-stratigraphy. Exploration now aims for subtle traps (ten years from now authors will still be making the same statement) and satellite structures. Explorers are re-evaluating the economic value of marginal and existing fields, and they are continually searching for and applying new techniques and technologies (e.g. Turner & Turner 1995; De Haan 1995) for enhanced productivity. Detailed and advanced techniques in diagenesis also play an


Introduction: Intracranial atherosclerosis has been well studied in the aging population, much less is known about atherosclerotic stenosis in the young. Clinicians seek to control traditional vascular risk factors in this population, but differences in patterns of stenosis may call for varied treatment approaches. This study sought to compare age to the distribution of vessel involvement in patients with moderate-severe intracranial stenosis. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with intracranial stenosis seen in the stroke clinic of a tertiary center from 2008-2013. Inclusion criteria were moderate-severe intracranial stenosis clinically felt to be due to atherosclerosis with ≥3 traditional vascular risk factors. Patients with other mechanisms of intracranial stenosis were excluded. Stenosis location and severity were based on cerebral angiography, CTA, or MRA. Patients were divided into young ( 65 yr). All 69 patients ≤50 yr were included; a random sample of 69 patients > 50 were selected for this analysis. Results: There were similar rates of vascular risk factors except HTN, which was less common in the young group (81.2% young, 100% middle, 96.8% older, p=0.0006). The location of stenoses varied by age category. Older patients had more posterior circulation involvement compared to the younger groups (p = 0.046), with more frequent involvement of vertebral and basilar arteries (p = 0.012) (Table). The occurrence of stenosis in the distal ICA and MCA vessels were similar among age groups. The frequency of ACA stenosis was highest in the young category (p = 0.026). Conclusion: There are differences in anatomic locations of presumed intracranial atherosclerosis across age groups with older patients (> 65 yrs) having a higher rate of posterior circulation disease. This suggests potential differences in pathophysiological mechanisms. These findings warrant further investigation.


We enhance the Syer & Tremaine made-to-measure (M2M) particle method of stellar dynamical modelling to model simultaneously both kinematic data and absorption line strength data, thus creating a 'chemo-M2M' modelling scheme. We apply the enhanced method to four galaxies (NGC 1248, NGC 3838, NGC 4452, NGC 4551) observed using the SAURON integral-field spectrograph as part of the ATLAS3D programme. We are able to reproduce successfully the 2D line strength data achieving mean χ2 per bin values of ≈ 1 with > 95% of particles having converged weights. Because M2M uses a 3D particle system, we are also able to examine the underlying 3D line strength distributions. The extent to which these distributions are plausible representations of real galaxies requires further consideration. Overall, we consider the modelling exercise to be a promising first step in developing a 'chemo-M2M' modelling system and in understanding some of the issues to be addressed. While the made-to-measure techniques developed have been applied to absorption line strength data, they are in fact general and may be of value in modelling other aspects of galaxies.


We present numerical simulations of two horizontal axis wind turbines, one operating under the wake of the other, under an incoming sheared velocity profile. We use a moving mesh technique to represent the rotation of the turbine blades and solve the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a shear stress transport k ! turbulence model. Temporal evolution of the lift and drag coefficients of the front turbine show a phase shift in the periodic cycle due to the non-uniform incoming free stream velocity. Comparisons of the lift and drag coefficients for the back turbine with the unperturbed behaviour of the front demonstrate the complex non-linear interactions of the blades with the wake, with a significant decrease in overall performance and two peaks at specific points in the cycle associated with local angle of attack modification in the wake. The vorticity field in the near wake shows tilting of the vortex lines in the wake due to the shear and a faster diffusion of the tip vortical signature compared with the uniform free stream velocity case. Observations of the wake–wake interaction show good agreement with recent studies that use different methodologies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


High velocity flow past the junction of a side branch with a pipe can result in the excitation of depth-mode standing waves in the branch. The shear layer separating the main stream flow and the cavity provides coupling between the driving and the driven fl ow. Photographi c evi dence i ndi cates that 1arge scale vortex structures develop at the shear layer. The vortex formation process involves stronglY non-linear instability of the shear layer and may be characterized as a non-linear fluid mechanical oscill ator. The standi ng wave system formed in the cavity is essenti ally an acousti c wave system of nearl y li near character. The principl e interacti on takes place through the excitation of a quarter wavelength standing wave in the cavity. Apparently, the shear layer oscillator drives the acoustic oscillator which, in turn, has the ability to drive the shear layer through a presently unknown feedback mechanism. The system exhibits bandwidth synchroni zation in that the shear layer frequency is captured by the depth-mode resonance of the cavity.


Inverse problems often involve matching observational data using a physical model that takes a large number of parameters as input. These problems tend to be under-constrained and require regularization to impose additional structure on the solution in parameter space. A central difficulty in regularization is turning a complex conceptual model of this additional structure into a functional mathematical form to be used in the inverse analysis. In this work we propose a method of regularization involving a machine learning technique known as a variational autoencoder (VAE). The VAE is trained to map a low-dimensional set of latent variables with a simple structure to the high-dimensional parameter space that has a complex structure. We train a VAE on unconditioned realizations of the parameters for a hydrological inverse problem. These unconditioned realizations neither rely on the observational data used to perform the inverse analysis nor require any forward runs of the physical model, thus making the computational cost of generating the training data minimal. The central benefit of this approach is that regularization is then performed on the latent variables from the VAE, which can be regularized simply. A second benefit of this approach is that the VAE reduces the number of variables in the optimization problem, thus making gradient-based optimization more computationally efficient when adjoint methods are unavailable. After performing regularization and optimization on the latent variables, the VAE then decodes the problem back to the original parameter space. Our approach constitutes a novel framework for regularization and optimization, readily applicable to a wide range of inverse problems. We call the approach RegAE.


Guy Maddin is a contemporary Canadian director who has been often lauded for the national distinctiveness of his work. Maddin's Careful (1992), however, poses as an unrestored German Bergfilm (mountain film) from the early 1930s. This article offers a close reading of Careful and a critical dialogue with commentaries on both the mountain film and discussions of Maddin's oeuvre. Putting to use transnational perspectives, this analysis of a Canadian director's appropriation of a hallmark German genre problematizes previous constructions of national identity and national cinema as well as the periodization of film history.


Adopted on September 8 of 2000, the United Nations Millennium Declaration stated as its first goal that countries "…[further] resolve to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger…" Each country committed to achieve the stated goal, regardless of their initial conditions in terms of poverty and inequality levels. This paper presents a framework to quantify how much initial conditions affect poverty reduction, given a level of "effort" (growth). The framework used in the analysis allows for the growth elasticity of poverty to vary according to changes in the income distribution along the dynamic path of growth and redistribution, unlike previous examples in the literature where this is assumed to be constant. While wealthier countries did perform better in reducing poverty in the last decade and the half (1995-2008), assuming equal initial conditions, the situation reverses: we find a statistically significant negative relation between initial average income and poverty reduction performance, with the poorest countries in the sample going from the worse to the best performers in poverty reduction. The analysis also quantifies how much poorer countries would have scored better, had they had the same level of initial average income as wealthier countries. The results suggest a remarkable change in poverty reduction performance, in addition to the reversal of ranks from worse to best performers. The application of this framework goes beyond poverty targets and the Millennium Development Goals. Given the widespread use of targets to determine resource allocation, in education, health, or decentralized social expenditures, it constitutes a helpful tool to measure policy performance towards all kinds of goals. The proposed framework can be useful to evaluate the importance of initial conditions on outcomes, for a wide array of policies.


Previous research indicates that the disproportionate distribution of income within society is associated with aggression and violence. Although research has been conducted identifying the relationship between income inequality and bullying victimization and perpetration, little is known about possible mediators. We investigated the association between income inequality and bullying perpetration and victimization among adolescents participating in the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking, and Sedentary behavior (COMPASS) study. We identified whether school connectedness and psychosocial well-being mediated the relationship between income inequality and bullying behavior. This study used pooled cross-sectional data from 147,748 adolescents aged 13 to 18 from three waves (2015–2016, 2016–2017, 2017–2018) of the COMPASS study from 157 secondary schools in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec (Canada). The Gini coefficient was calculated based on the school Census Divisions (CD) using the Canada 2016 Census and linked with student data. We used multilevel modeling to investigate the relationship between income inequality and self-reported bullying victimization and perpetration, while controlling for individual-, school-, and CD-level characteristics. A standard deviation increase in Gini coefficient was associated with increased odds for bullying victimization and perpetration. Findings were observed among girls; however, inequality was only associated with perpetration among boys. We identified social cohesion and psychosocial well-being as potential mediators. To counter the adverse effects of income inequality, school-based interventions designed to increase school connectedness and student psychosocial well-being should be implemented to protect against bullying.


This study introduces the design of an integrated assistive real-time system developed as an alternate input device to computers that can be used by individuals with severe motor disabilities. An assistive technology device as defined by the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 is "any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities". The proposed real-time system design utilizes electromyographic (EMG) biosignals from cranial muscles and electroencephalographic (EEG) biosignals from the cerebrum's occipital lobe, which are transformed into controls for two-dimensional (2-D) cursor movement, the Left-Click (Enter) command, and an ON/OFF switch for the cursor-control functions. This HCI system classifies biosignals into "mouse" functions by applying amplitude thresholds and performing power spectral density (PSD) estimations on discrete windows of data, Spectral power summations are aggregated over several frequency bands between 8 and 500 Hz and then compared to produce the correct classification. The result is an affordable DSP-based system that, when combined with an on-screen keyboard, enables the user to fully operate a computer without using any extremities.


Bent-shaped molecules with a central pyridine core flanked with substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole and thiadiazole derivatives with a variation in the number and length of terminal tails were synthesized. Thiadiazole based compounds exhibited a wider mesophase range in comparison to oxadiazole derivatives, while the oxadiazole derivatives exhibited a higher gelation tendency. All hexacatenars exhibited supergelation in hydrocarbon solvents along with an ability to form self-standing, moldable gel at higher concentration. Thiadiazole based compounds exhibited bathochromic absorption and emission in comparison to oxadiazole derivatives but a lower quantum yield. Two of the gelators investigated exhibited aggregation induced enhanced emission in gel and thin film state. This study shows that in addition to π–π interactions, nanosegregation of incompatible molecular subunits like flexible tails plays a major role in gelation and liquid crystalline self-assembly. Microscopic studies and X-ray diffraction studies revealed a fibrillar network of several micrometers in length with long range molecular self-assembly. They showed the ability to sense acids with an emission quenching/shifting mechanism, which makes it possible to detect the acids by naked eye. Considering the dearth of solid-state organic blue light emitters that are pivotal to realize the white light emission, these polycatenars are promising due to their wide-range Col phase and aggregation induced blue emission. Further the introduction of the pyridine central unit enhanced the mesophase stability and the acid sensing functionality in comparison to simple benzene-based bent-shaped polycatenars.


BACKGROUND
Obesity rates continue to rise along with the number of obese patients undergoing elective spinal fusion.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the impact of obesity on resource utilization and early complications in patients undergoing surgery for degenerative spine disease.

METHODS
A single-institution retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with degenerative spine disease requiring instrumentation between 2008 and 2012. The 801 identified patients were grouped based on a body mass index (BMI) of <30 (nonobese, n = 478), ≥30 and <40 (obese, n = 283), and alternatively BMIs of ≥40 (morbidly obese, n = 40). Baseline characteristics, surgical outcomes and requirements, complications, and cost were compared. Logistic and linear regression analyses were used to determine the strength of association between obesity and outcomes for categorical and continuous data, respectively.

RESULTS
Significant differences were found in comorbidities between cohorts. Multivariate analysis revealed significant associations between obesity and longer anesthesia times (30 minutes, P = .008), and surgical times (24 minutes, P = .02). Additionally, there was a 2.8 times higher rate of wound complications in obese patients (4.2% vs 1.5, P = .03), and 2.5 times higher rate of major medical complications (7.8% vs 3.1, P = .01). Morbid obesity resulted in a 10 times higher rate of wound complications (P < .001). Morbid obesity resulted in a $9078 (P = .005) increase in overall cost of care.

CONCLUSION
Increased BMI is associated with longer operative times, increased complication rates, and increased cost independent of comorbidities. These effects are more pronounced with morbidly obese patients, further supporting a role for preoperative weight loss.


Clindamycin hydrochloride (CLH) is a clinically important oral antibiotic with wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity that includes gram-positive aerobes (staphylococci, streptococci etc.), most anaerobic bacteria, Chlamydia and certain protozoa. The current study was focused to develop a stabilised clindamycin encapsulated poly lactic acid (PLA)/poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nano-formulation with better drug bioavailability at molecular level. Various nanoparticle (NPs) formulations of PLA and PLGA loaded with CLH were prepared by solvent evaporation method varying drug: polymer concentration (1:20, 1:10 and 1:5) and characterised (size, encapsulation efficiency, drug loading, scanning electron microscope, differential scanning calorimetry [DSC] and Fourier transform infrared [FTIR] studies). The ratio 1:10 was found to be optimal for a monodispersed and stable nano formulation for both the polymers. NP formulations demonstrated a significant controlled release profile extended up to 144 h (both CLH-PLA and CLH-PLGA). The thermal behaviour (DSC) studies confirmed the molecular dispersion of the drug within the system. The FTIR studies revealed the intactness as well as unaltered structure of drug. The CLH-PLA NPs showed enhanced antimicrobial activity against two pathogenic bacteria Streptococcus faecalis and Bacillus cereus. The results notably suggest that encapsulation of CLH into PLA/PLGA significantly increases the bioavailability of the drug and due to this enhanced drug activity; it can be widely applied for number of therapies.