Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Production of Silver Nanoparticles with Strong and Stable Antimicrobial Activity against Highly Pathogenic and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria

Aims. To synthesize, characterize, and analyze antimicrobial activity of AgNPs of Escherichia hermannii (SHE), Citrobacter sedlakii (S11P), and Pseudomonas putida (S5). Methods. The synthesized AgNPs were examined using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and, zeta potential, and the size and the morphology obtained from the three different isolates were also confirmed by TEM. Results. Among the three isolates tested, SHE showed the best antimicrobial activity due to the presence of small (4–12 nm) and stable (−22 mV) AgNPs. Stability of AgNPs was also investigated and found to be dependent on the nature of isolates. Conclusion. Produced AgNPs showed particle stability and antimicrobial efficacy up to 90 days of production. Our AgNPs exhibited greater antimicrobial activity compared with gentamicin against P. aeruginosa isolates and vancomycin against S. aureus and MRSA isolates at very low concentration (0.0002 mg per Microliters).
A Multiresolution Approximation Method for Fast Explicit Model Predictive Control

A model predictive control law is given by the solution to a parametric optimization problem that can be pre-computed offline and provides an explicit map from state to control input. In this paper, an algorithm is introduced based on wavelet multiresolution analysis that returns a low complexity explicit model predictive control law built on a hierarchy of second-order interpolets. The resulting interpolation is shown to be everywhere feasible and continuous. Further, tests to confirm stability and to compute a bound on the performance loss are introduced. Since the controller approximation is built on a grid hierarchy, convergence to a stabilizing control law is guaranteed and the evaluation of the control law in real-time systems is naturally fast and runs in a bounded logarithmic time. Two examples are provided; A two-dimensional example with an evaluation speed of 31 ns and a four-dimensional example with an evaluation speed of 119 ns.
Influence of Cremophor El on the bioavailability of intraperitoneal paclitaxel.

It has been hypothesized that the paclitaxel vehicle Cremophor EL (CrEL) is responsible for nonlinear drug disposition by micellar entrapment. To gain further insight into the role of CrEL in taxane pharmacology, we studied the pharmacokinetics of paclitaxel in the presence and absence of CrEL after i.p. and i.v. dosing. Patients received an i.p. tracer dose of [G-(3)H]paclitaxel in ethanol without CrEL (100 microCi diluted further in isotonic saline) on day 1, i.p. paclitaxel formulated in CrEL (Taxol; 125 mg/m(2)) on day 4, an i.v. tracer of [G-(3)H]paclitaxel on day 22, and i.v. Taxol (175 mg/m(2)) on day 24. Four patients (age range, 54-74 years) were studied, and serial plasma samples up to 72 h were obtained and analyzed for total radioactivity, paclitaxel, and CrEL. In the presence of CrEL, i.v. paclitaxel clearance was 10.2 +/- 3.76 liters/h/m(2) (mean +/- SD), consistent with previous findings. The terminal disposition half-life was substantially prolonged after i.p. dosing (17.0 +/- 11.3 versus 28.7 +/- 8.72 h), as was the mean residence time (7.28 +/- 2.76 versus 40.7 +/- 13.8 h). The bioavailability of paclitaxel was 31.4 +/- 5.18%, indicating insignificant systemic concentrations after i.p. treatment. CrEL levels were undetectable after i.p. dosing (<0.05 microl/ml), whereas after i.v. dosing, the mean clearance was 159 +/- 58.4 ml/h/m(2), in line with earlier observations. In the absence of CrEL, the bioavailability and systemic concentrations of i.p. paclitaxel were significantly increased. This finding is consistent with the postulated concept that CrEL is largely responsible for the pharmacokinetic advantage for peritoneal cavity exposure to total paclitaxel compared with systemic delivery.
A Limited Number of Transducible Hepatocytes Restricts a Wide-Range Linear Vector Dose Response in Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus-Mediated Liver Transduction

ABSTRACT Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are promising vehicles for achieving stable liver transduction in vivo. However, the mechanisms of liver transduction are not fully understood, and furthermore, the relationships between rAAV dose and levels of transgene expression, total number of hepatocytes transduced, and proportion of integrated vector genomes have not been well established. To begin to elucidate the liver transduction dose response with rAAV vectors, we injected mice with two different human factor IX or Escherichia coli lacZ-expressing AAV serotype 2-based vectors at doses ranging between 4.0 × 108 and 1.1 × 1013 vector genomes (vg)/mouse, in three- to sixfold increments. A 2-log-range linear dose-response curve of transgene expression was obtained from 3.7 × 109 to 3.0 × 1011 vg/mouse. Vector doses above 3.0 × 1011 vg/mouse resulted in disproportionately smaller increases in both the number of transduced hepatocytes and levels of transgene expression, followed by saturation at doses above 1.8 × 1012 vg/mouse. In contrast, a linear increase in the number of vector genomes per hepatocyte was observed up to 1.8 × 1012 vg/mouse concomitantly with enhanced vector genome concatemerization, while the proportion of integrated vector genomes was independent of the vector dose. Thus, the mechanisms that restrict a wide-range linear dose response at high doses likely involve decreased functionality of vector genomes and restriction of transduction to fewer than 10% of total hepatocytes. Such information may be useful to determine appropriate vector doses for in vivo administration and provides further insights into the mechanisms of rAAV transduction in the liver.
Parallel Training of CRFs: A Practical Approach to Build Large-Scale Prediction Models for Sequence Data

Conditional random ﬁelds (CRFs) have been successfully applied to various applications of predicting and labeling structured data, such as natural language tagging & parsing, image segmentation & object recognition, and protein secondary structure prediction. The key advantages of CRFs are the ability to encode a variety of overlapping, non-independent features from empirical data as well as the capability of reaching the global normalization and optimization. However, estimating parameters for CRFs is very time-consuming due to an intensive forward-backward computation needed to estimate the likelihood function and its gradient during training. This paper presents a high-performance training of CRFs on massively parallel processing systems that allows us to handle huge datasets with hundreds of thousand data sequences and millions of features. We performed the experiments on an important natural language processing task (phrase chunking) on large-scale corpora and achieved signiﬁcant results in terms of both the reduction of computational time and the improvement of prediction accuracy.
A Multiband Pifa with Slotted Ground Plane For Personal Communication Handheld Devices

In mobile phones and several other wireless communication devices, antenna is an important element which decides the quality & performance of the device over various communication standards. In this paper, a compact internal Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) with a ground plane having two open ended slots is proposed which is very thin compared to conventional PIFA structure. By using the ground plane as a radiator element along with top plate of PIFA structure, the height of PIFA can be reduced to a great extent, which further results in reducing thickness of mobile phones. In this paper the proposed antenna has volume as 25 x 15 x 3.8 mm 3 and it is simulated & analyzed using HFSS software. The antenna is designed to operate at GPS, GLONASS, DCS (1800 MHz), PCS (1900 MHz), UMTS (2100 MHz), Bluetooth (2400 MHz), 4G LTE (2300 MHz & 2600 MHz), WLAN (5.2 GHz) standards. The simulation results show that the performance parameters of the antenna are satisfying the requirements of advance wireless communication devices.
Free Trade and Long-Run Growth

What is the impact of movement towards free trade on output? Can this impact permanently affect output levels, and more importantly, will it have an impact on steady-state growth rates? This paper provides empirical evidence showing how countries have exhibited substantial increases in their growth rates over the past century while concurrently increasing the extent of their trade. The model developed here emphasizes the role that knowledge spillovers emanating from heightened trade can have on long-run growth rates. Among the results of the model, unilateral liberalization by one country will generate a positive impact on the steady-state growth of all its partners while at the same time inducing a level effect on the liberalizing country that reduces the income gap between it and other, wealthier, countries. In some cases, the liberalizing country may even leapfrog over initially wealthier countries.
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: a cosmic catastrophe

In this paper we review the evidence for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH), which proposes that at ∼12.9k cal a BP North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East were subjected to some sort of extraterrestrial event. This purported event is proposed as a catastrophic process responsible for: terminal Pleistocene environmental changes (onset of YD cooling, continent‐scale wildfires); extinction of late Pleistocene mammals; and demise of the Clovis ‘culture’ in North America, the earliest well‐documented, continent‐scale settlement of the region. The basic physics in the YDIH is not in accord with the physics of impacts nor the basic laws of physics. No YD boundary (YDB) crater, craters or other direct indicators of an impact are known. Age control is weak to non‐existent at 26 of the 29 localities claimed to have evidence for the YDIH. Attempts to reproduce the results of physical and geochemical analyses used to support the YDIH have failed or show that many indicators are not unique to an impact nor to ∼12.9k cal a BP. The depositional environments of purported indicators at most sites tend to concentrate particulate matter and probably created many ‘YDB zones’. Geomorphic, stratigraphic and fire records show no evidence of any sort of catastrophic changes in the environment at or immediately following the YDB. Late Pleistocene extinctions varied in time and across space. Archeological data provide no indication of population decline, demographic collapse or major adaptive shifts at or just after ∼12.9 ka. The data and the hypotheses generated by YDIH proponents are contradictory, inconsistent and incoherent.
The Impact of Socialist Imprinting and Search for Knowledge on Resource Change : An Empirical Study of Firms in Transitional Economies

In this paper we examine how firms change their resources in response to exogenous shocks in their business environment. Building on core ideas from the literatures on organizational imprinting and firm resources, we suggest that founding conditions differentially imprint firm resources. These initial imprinting differentials in turn influence the search for knowledge required to adapt or change firm resources in the face of external change in their business environment. We also suggest that the level of imprinting and the location of search independently and jointly influence the success with which firms are able to change their resources. We use survey-based data from a set of firms in Central Europe that experienced an exogenous shock in 1989-1991 to test our arguments. We develop a measure of pre-shock imprinting (called socialist imprinting) on resources and use it to predict where firms will search for knowledge to undertake change in the post-shock period and how successful that change will be. We find that the level of socialist imprinting influences the search location for knowledge to change key resources and activities following the shock. In terms of the success of change undertaken, we see that distant search for knowledge is positively linked to it. We also observe that the level of imprinting and search location jointly impact the success of change; for resources with higher socialist imprinting, distant search was more effective than local search. This research makes three important contributions in the context of existing research on organizational imprinting and firm level change. One, it focuses on firm-level resources to examine the impact of imprinting. Two, we examine how differences in resource level imprinting influence the search for new knowledge required to transform these resources. Three, we demonstrate that the interaction between the level of imprinting and the nature of search has important influences on firm performance. Our findings also provide insights to practitioners and policy makers who deal with firms in transitional economies. Practitioners can better understand how to undertake firm level change more effectively in the context of sudden exogenous shock. For policy makers, both of domestic and international institutions, understanding the change process can help formulate assistance programs more effectively.
When and Why the Background Contrast Effect Emerges: Thought Engenders Meaning by Influencing the Perception of Applicability

The Background Contrast Effect occurs when the trade-off value between attributes in a first choice influences subsequent choice. We explore the role of decision-making thoughtfulness in seeking to understand when and why this effect occurs. Experiments 1 and 2 provide evidence that the Background Contrast Effect emerges more under thoughtful than under nonthoughtful conditions. Experiment 3 reveals that thought influences perceptions of applicability of the trade-off values in the first choice to the second. Experiment 4 demonstrates that when the information from the first choice is manipulated to appear inapplicable, the Background Contrast Effect is reversed under thoughtful conditions. This research highlights the role of thought on perception of applicability as a process underlying when and why context is used to generate meaning in choice situations.
Qualitative versus Quantitative Notions of Speaker and Hearer Belief: Implementation and Theoretical Extensions

This paper investigates the notion of the Stalnakerean acceptance in relation to common ground, exploring alternative contexts where the Stalnakerean view of acceptance is insufficient (2002). Thus, this paper extends the Stalnakerean notion of acceptance through the introduction of qualitative as well as quantitative notions of beliefs into Discourse Representation Theory (DRT), corresponding to a weaker degree of belief than contexts requiring a stronger commitment beliefwise on the hearer’s part. In addition, emphasis is placed on viewing presuppositions through agents’ beliefs instead of the vague notion of common ground. These qualitative and quantitative notions of beliefs are then implemented as part of a speaker/ hearer model of dialogue.
Effects of pertussis toxin on intraocular pressure and adenylate cyclase activity of ciliary processes in rabbits.

The effects of pertussis toxin on the intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering effect of clonidine and isoproterenol as well as on the inhibitory effects of clonidine and neuropeptide Y on adenylate cyclase activity of ciliary processes were studied in albino rabbits. I.v. administered pertussis toxin elicited transient changes in IOP which, however, returned to control values during 2-3 days. In the following days the IOP lowering effect of the alpha 2-adrenergic agonist clonidine was abolished and that of the nonselective beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol was attenuated. At the same time, the inhibitory effects of clonidine and neuropeptide Y on basal as well as stimulated adenylate cyclase activities in homogenates of ciliary processes were grossly diminished. The effects of pertussis toxin on the IOP lowering action of adrenergic agonists and on the inhibitory action of clonidine and neuropeptide Y on adenylate cyclase activity were ascribed to an impairment of the function of a G protein in ciliary processes, probably G(i) protein. It is suggested that the decrease of IOP induced by clonidine is due to inhibition of adenylate cyclase.
Budgeted Multi-Armed Bandit Models for Sample-Based Grasp Planning in the Presence of Uncertainty

Sampling perturbations in shape, state, and control can facilitate grasp planning in the presence of uncertainty arising from noise, occlusions, and surface properties such as transparency and specularities. Monte-Carlo sampling is computationally demanding, even for planar models. We consider an alternative based on the multi-armed bandit (MAB) model for making sequential decisions, which can apply to a variety of uncertainty models. We formulate grasp planning as a “budgeted multi-armed bandit model” (BMAB) with finite stopping time to minimize “simple regret”, the difference between the expected quality of the best grasp and the expected quality of the grasp evaluated at the stopping time. To evaluate MABbased sampling, we compare it with Monte-Carlo sampling for grasping an uncertain planar object defined by a Gaussian process implicit surface (GPIS), but the method is applicable to other models of uncertainty. We derive distributions on contact points, surface normal, and center of mass and use these solve the associated MAB model, finding that it computes grasps of similar quality and can reduce computation time by an order of magnitude. This suggests a number of new research questions about how MAB can be applied to other models of uncertainty and how different MAB solution techniques can be applied to further reduce computation.
Asymptotic Distribution Free Interval Estimation

Abstract. Confidence intervals for the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) have been proposed under the assumption of multivariate normality. We propose confidence intervals which do not require distributional assumptions. We performed a simulation study to assess the coverage rates of normal theory (NT) and asymptotically distribution free (ADF) intervals. We found that the ADF intervals performed better than the NT intervals when kurtosis was greater than 4. When violations of distributional assumptions were not too severe, both the intervals performed about the same. The point estimate of the ICC was robust to distributional violations. We provide R code for computing the ADF confidence intervals for the ICC.
Monitoring Training Load and Fatigue in Rugby Sevens Players

Purpose Trainers and physical fitness coaches’ need a useful tool to assess training loads to avoid overtraining. However, perceived scales or questionnaires were required. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess whether a short 8-item questionnaire of fatigue could be a useful tool for monitoring changes in perceived training load and strain among elite rugby Sevens (7s) players during preparation for a major competition. Methods Sixteen elite rugby 7s players completed an 8-week training program composed of 6-week intense training (IT) and 2-week reduced training (RT). They were tested before (T0), after the IT (T1) and after the RT (T2). The quantification of the perceived training load and strain were performed by the session-RPE (rating of perceived exertion) method and concomitantly the 8-item questionnaire of fatigue was administered. Results Training load (TL) and strain (TS) and total score of fatigue (TSF from the 8-item questionnaire) increased during IT and decreased during RT. Simultaneously, physical performances decreased during IT and were improved after LT. The changes in TL, TS and TSF correlated significantly over the training period (r=0.63-0.83). Conclusions These findings suggest that the short questionnaire of fatigue could be a practical and a sensitive tool for monitoring changes in training load and strain in team-sport athletes. Accordingly, the simultaneous use of the short questionnaire of fatigue along with the session-RPE method for perceived changes in training load and strain during training could provide additional information on the athletes’ status, allowing coaches to prevent eventual states of overreaching or overtraining.
Investment Profit Folio Decisions based on CII Algorithm for Indian Stock Market

The globalization in market, foreign investment and effect of current news issues makes difficult for investor to take better decisions. This paper introduces a new algorithm CII and describes the process of finding best association rules which is promising one to forecast the market. This experimental work reduces the time required for processing huge stock data and extract best rules with minimum window size to proper investment in stock market.
Modelling electropherogram data for DNA sequencing using variable dimension MCMC

DNA sequencing may be considered as a two stage process: the generation of noisy data indicative of DNA sequence by using advanced chemical techniques; and the interpretation of that data. We present an algorithm for interpretation, or "base calling", which accurately models the underlying process, and is able to incorporate most of the prior information we possess in a mathematically tractable and minimally ad-hoc manner. Our algorithm is framed within a fully Bayesian probabilistic framework, thereby allowing representation of the random nature of the generative process, using a Reversible Jump Metropolis Hastings algorithm (1970) and the Gibbs sampler to traverse the variable dimension parameter space. The techniques used to construct our algorithm are feasible for use in such applications, due to their inherent computational requirements.
Joint linear transceiver design in amplify-and-forward mimo relay system using an MMSE criterion

This paper address the problem of designing jointly the linear transmitters and receiver in a non-regenerative MIMO relay system, where linear processing is applied at the source, relay and destination node, using minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. Under the average power constraints at both the source and relay node, the iterative optimization method is presented and a low-complexity block optimization method is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed methods perform better than other existing relaying schemes, and the performance gain is very significant when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is high.
PGMS: A Case Study of Collecting PDA-Based Geo-Tagged Malaria-Related Survey Data

Using mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablet computers, etc., to electronically collect malaria-related field data is the way for the field questionnaires in the future. This case study seeks to design a generic survey framework PDA-based geo-tagged malaria-related data collection tool (PGMS) that can be used not only for large-scale community-level geo-tagged electronic malaria-related surveys, but also for a wide variety of electronic data collections of other infectious diseases. The framework includes two parts: the database designed for subsequent cross-sectional data analysis and the customized programs for the six study sites (two in Kenya, three in Indonesia, and one in Tanzania). In addition to the framework development, we also present our methods used when configuring and deploying the PDAs to 1) reduce data entry errors, 2) conserve battery power, 3) field install the programs onto dozens of handheld devices, 4) translate electronic questionnaires into local languages, 5) prevent data loss, and 6) transfer data from PDAs to computers for future analysis and storage. Since 2008, PGMS has successfully accomplished quite a few surveys that recorded 10,871 compounds and households, 52,126 persons, and 17,100 bed nets from the six sites. These numbers are still growing.