Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of Chitosan-Coated Silver Nanoparticle Bioconjugates and Their Antimicrobial Activity against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

The increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria represents a true challenge in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. For this reason, research on the development of new potential antibacterial strategies is essential. Here, we describe the development of a green system for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) bioconjugated with chitosan. We optimized a Prunus cerasus leaf extract as a source of silver and its conversion to chitosan–silver bioconjugates (CH-AgNPs). The AgNPs and CH-AgNPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), and zeta potential measurement (Z-potential). The cytotoxic activity of AgNPs and CH-AgNPs was assessed on Vero cells using the 3-[4.5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2.5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay. The antibacterial activity of AgNPs and CH-AgNPs synthesized using the green system was determined using the broth microdilution method. We evaluated the antimicrobial activity against standard ATCC and clinically isolated multisensitive (MS) and multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) Escherichia coli (E. coli), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumoniae), and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays and the broth dilution method. The results of the antibacterial studies demonstrate that the silver chitosan bioconjugates were able to inhibit the growth of MDR strains more effectively than silver nanoparticles alone, with reduced cellular toxicity. These nanoparticles were stable in solution and had wide-spectrum antibacterial activity. The synthesis of silver and silver chitosan bioconjugates from Prunus cerasus leaf extracts may therefore serve as a simple, ecofriendly, noncytotoxic, economical, reliable, and safe method to produce antimicrobial compounds with low cytotoxicity.
Moving from Theory to Action: NATO in the 1990s

Abstract : The United States trans-Atlantic tie is under stress. If not carefully tended to, the relationship could erode. As an example, if Europeans continue to reduce their armed forces' readiness levels, it becomes increasingly difficult for the United States to justify maintaining 100,000 troops in a high state of readiness. Divergences in perceptions and expectations abound not only among Allies, but also among PFP partners on the role of PFP and expanding the Alliance. As a result, Alliance machinery is being pulled in many directions. NATO faces challenges in coordinating command arrangements with the UN and Western European Union (WEU) as well as with partners in standing up Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF). Without effective coordination, out-of-area activities can prove less than effective. A great danger to NATO's legitimacy and relevance stems not only from perceptions of institutional competitiveness but also from NATO's participation in increasingly unpopular out-of-area activities. Hence, it may become more difficult to maintain public support for NATO's Article 5 function.
Drug-like Properties: Concepts, Structure Design and Methods: from ADME to Toxicity Optimization

Of the thousands of novel compounds that a drug discovery project team invents and that bind to the therapeutic target, typically only a fraction of these have sufficient ADME/Tox properties to become a drug product. Understanding ADME/Tox is critical for all drug researchers, owing to its increasing importance in advancing high quality candidates to clinical studies and the processes of drug discovery. If the properties are weak, the candidate will have a high risk of failure or be less desirable as a drug product. This book is a tool and resource for scientists engaged in, or preparing for, the selection and optimization process. The authors describe how properties affect in vivo pharmacological activity and impact in vitro assays. Individual drug-like properties are discussed from a practical point of view, such as solubility, permeability and metabolic stability, with regard to fundamental understanding, applications of property data in drug discovery and examples of structural modifications that have achieved improved property performance. The authors also review various methods for the screening (high throughput), diagnosis (medium throughput) and in-depth (low throughput) analysis of drug properties. * Serves as an essential working handbook aimed at scientists and students in medicinal chemistry * Provides practical, step-by-step guidance on property fundamentals, effects, structure-property relationships, and structure modification strategies * Discusses improvements in pharmacokinetics from a practical chemist's standpoint
Studies on Preparation and Evaluation of Albumin Nanoparticles

OBJECTIVE To optimize the preparation method of albumin nanoparticles by desolvation.METHODS Nanoparticles were prepared by desolvation and subsequent crosslinking of albumin.The effects of several factors such as albumin concentration,crosslinking time,the volume of non-solvent and crosslinking agent,the pH value of the buffer solution and the dripping rate of non-solvent on the nanoparticles yield,diameters and free amino group(FAG) content of the products were examined respectively.RESULTS Albumin(100 mg) was dissolved in 10 mL of NaHCO23/Na22CO23 buffer.Under constant stirring,desolvation was achieved by dropwise addition of 60 mL ethanol.After the desolvation process,50 μL of 2.5% glutaraldehyde solution was added to induce particle crosslinking.The crosslinking process was performed by stirring the suspension for 12 h.The ethanol was evaporated and albumin nanoparticle suspension was acquired.CONCLUSION The optimal preparation of albumin nanoparticle is established.
Learning from Experience: Volume II: Lessons from the U.S. Navy's Ohio, Seawolf, and Virginia Submarine Programs

Abstract : Recognizing the importance of past experiences for successful program management, the Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Submarines from the United States, the Director Submarines of the United Kingdom's Defence Equipment and Support organization, and the Director General Submarines from Australia's Department of Defence asked the RAND Corporation to develop a set of lessons learned from previous submarine programs that could help inform future program managers. The research examined the Ohio, Seawolf, and Virginia programs of the United States; the Astute program of the United Kingdom (UK), and the Collins program of Australia. We developed the lessons from those programs through an extensive review of the literature in addition to numerous interviews with government and private-sector personnel involved in the programs. We were particularly interested in the following: (1) how political, budget, and operational environments influenced decisions made during the program; (2) how operational requirements guided the design and related to the technologies available at the time; (3) the contracting and acquisition processes used during the program; (4) how the private-sector industrial base that designs, builds, and maintains submarines and their systems changed over time; (5) the interactions between the government and naval organizations and the shipbuilding industrial base; (6) how integrated logistics support (ILS) plans were developed during the design and construction of the submarines to support the new submarines after they entered service; and (7) how other issues, both internal to the program and external, influenced decisions and outcomes. The lessons we strive to identify are managerial in nature, not technical. This volume describes important lessons from the Ohio, Seawolf, and Virginia programs. Separate volumes in the series provide lessons from the United Kingdom and Australia and a summary of lessons learned from all three programs.
A Combined State Space Formulation/Equivalent Circuit and Neural Network Technique for Modeling of Embedded Passives in Multilayer Printed Circuits

Abstract : In this paper, we present a new approach for modeling the high-frequency effects of embedded passives in multilayer printed circuits, utilizing state space equations or equivalent circuit together with neural network techniques. In this approach, the neural network based model structure is trained using full wave electromagnetic (EM) data. The resulting embedded passive models are accurate and fast, can be used in both frequency/time domain simulators. Examples of embedded resistor and capacitor models demonstrate that the combined model can accurately represent EM behavior in microwave/RF circuit design. In high-level circuit design, we applied our combined EM based neural models for signal integrity analysis and design of multilayer circuit to illustrate that the geometrical parameters can be continuously adjusted by using neural network techniques. Optimization and Monte-Carlo analysis are performed showing that the combined models can be efficiently used in place of computationally intensive EM models of embedded passives to speed up circuit design.
Relighting the scene by finding the intrinsic images

In this project we will embed virtual objects in a real-life scene looking auto- matically for the most realistic approach. Previous works have demonstrated the lighting as the most important feature to achieve a better and more realistic results. Moreover other researches that focus their works in which is the best way to descompose or classify the lighting of any scene. In this project, we have taken most of these concepts to begin our proposal. As a first step we didn't wish to get the real lights features or even their locations, our first goal was to relight the whole scene with a virtual light and do it in real-time. Proposal. Therefore, our goal is to be able to taking a frame from an input device (mostly Kinect), erase the current light conditions of the image to lately add new ones that must be common with the virtual objects included as augmented reality (AR). Create the new conditions will be done by setting up the virtual lights into a 3D enviroment and then use a render to extract the lighting and add it to the original image taken by the Kinect, all of it in real-time. The whole process itself, presents many challenges that must be faced. A way to isolate the lighting information from any image has to be find, the geometry of the scene or at least some significant areas must be retrieved to interact as similar as possible with the virtual lights and finally, a framework has to be developed to achieve the real-time objective for the whole task.
Fitting Issues Survey for the AH-64 Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System

Abstract : The Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS), employed in the U.S. Army's AH-64 Apache helicopter, is used to present pilotage and targeting imagery and symbology. Therefore, in addition to the standard comfort and protection requirements of a helmet system, the IHADSS must provide a stable optical alignment. Fielded in the early 1950's, the IHADSS is still the Army's only integrated helmet-mounted display (HMD). In an attempt to perform both the standard protective role of a helmet and to serve as a mounting platform for an optical sight, the IHADSS had to make certain design compromises that have resulted in some user satisfaction issues. A joint survey of U.S. and U.K. AH-64 aviators was conducted to identify and quantify these issues. Survey findings indicated that while a majority of aviators found the quality comfort and satisfaction of fit to be acceptable, a significant proportion of aviators have encountered problems associated with obtaining proper helmet size, availability of replacement components, and substantial variation in fitting expertise. Results of this survey can assist in ongoing and future HMD helmet system designs.
An Empirical Study towards dealing with Noise and Class Imbalance issues in Software Defect Prediction

The quality of the defect datasets is a critical issue in the domain of software defect prediction (SDP). These datasets are obtained through the mining of software repositories. Resent studies claims over the quality of the defect dataset. It is because of inconsistency between bug/clean fix keyword in fault reports and the corresponding link in the change management logs. Class Imbalance (CI) problem is also a big challenging issue in SDP models. The defect prediction method trained using noisy and imbalanced data leads to inconsistent and unsatisfactory results. Combined analysis over noisy instances and CI problem needs to be required. To the best of our knowledge, there are insufficient studies that have been done over such aspects. In this paper, we deal with the impact of noise and CI problem on five baseline SDP models; we manually added the various noise level (0 to 80%) and identified its impact on the performance of those SDP models. Moreover, we further provide guidelines for the possible range of tolerable noise for baseline models. We have also suggested the SDP model, which has the highest noise tolerable ability and outperforms over other classical methods. The True Positive Rate (TPR) and False Positive Rate (FPR) values of the baseline models reduce between 20\% to 30\% after adding 10% to 40% noisy instances. Similarly, the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristics) values of SDP models reduces to 40% to 50%. The suggested model leads to avoid noise between 40% to 60% as compared to other traditional models.
Particle Impact Erosion. Volume 4. User's Manual Erosion Prediction Procedure for Rocket Nozzle Expansion Region

Abstract : An experimental and analytical program was conducted to develop a methodology to predict total recession, including the contribution by particulate impact erosion, in solid propellant rocket nozzles. Under Phase 1, a methodology was developed for predicting recession due to particle impact erosion in the expansion (exit cone) region of nozzles. Under Phase 2, a methodology was developed for predicting recession due to erosion coupled with ablation in the entrance and throat regions of nozzles.
Distribution fault-current analysis. Final report

A four-year project was undertaken to provide an accurate description of the magnitude and characteristics of fault currents experienced on electric utility distribution systems. To obtain information on these characteristics, extensive system measurements and analyses were performed on fifty distribution feeders belonging to thirteen different utility systems. Actual fault data was recorded on cassette tape by digital fault recorders specifically developed for utility fault applications, and was then analyzed by a series of computer programs. Various fault parameters such as number of faulted cycles, fault current dc offset, fault resistance, and cold load pickup characteristics were calculated. Comparisons were made between actual and calculated fault current magnitudes. Harmonic analysis of fault waveforms was performed to determine harmonic content up to 10 kHz. Plots of the statistical distributions of all observed and calculated fault parameters are presented, along with plots of all recorded voltage and current waveforms.
Development of a Methodology for Customizing Insider Threat Auditing on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System

Abstract : Most organizations are aware that threats from trusted insiders pose a great risk to their organization and are very difficult to protect against. Auditing is recognized as an effective technique to detect malicious insider activities. However, current auditing methods are typically applied with a one-size-fits-all approach and may not be an appropriate mitigation strategy, especially towards insider threats. This research develops a 4-step methodology for designing a customized auditing template for a Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Two tailoring methods are presented which evaluate both by category and by configuration. Also developed are various metrics and weighting factors as a mechanism to evaluate auditing effectiveness for the purpose of optimizing the template according to organizational security requirements. Various industry standard auditing templates are evaluated against a custom designed template. Results indicate that a customized auditing template tailored for an insider threat scenario is more effective at detecting insider malicious activities.
Neighborhood Localization Method for Locating Construction Resources Based on RFID and BIM

Construction sites are changing every day, which brings some difficulties for different contractors to do their tasks properly. One of the key points for all entities who work on the same site is the location of resources including materials, tools, and equipment. Therefore, the lack of an integrated localization system leads to increase the time wasted on searching for resources. In this research, a localization method which does not need infrastructure is proposed to overcome this problem. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as a localization technology is integrated with Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a method of creating, sharing, exchanging and managing the building information throughout the lifecycle among all stakeholders. In the first stage, a requirements’ gathering and conceptual design are performed to add new entities, data types, and properties to the BIM, and relationships between RFID tags and building assets are identified. Secondly, it is proposed to distribute fixed tags with known positions as reference tags for the RFID localization approach. Then, a clustering method chooses the appropriate reference tags to provide them to an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for further computations. Additionally, Virtual Reference Tags (VRTs) are added to the system to increase the resolution of localization while limiting the cost of the system deployment. Finally, different case studies and simulations are implemented and tested to explore the technical feasibility of the proposed approach.
Le recul de l'accession sociale

Der Ruckgang des sozialen Aufstiegs ; Der Erwerb eines Eigenheims stagniert in Frankreich, was seit einem halben Jahrhundert nicht mehr der Fall gewesen ist. Zahlreiche Faktoren haben auf dem Markt der Erstwohnungen zwischen 1988 und 1992 Verânderungen bewirkt: Ruckgang der Transaktionen, groBerer Stellenwert von Altbauwohnungen, Hohenflug der Preise auf den am meisten angespannten Markten, bescheidenere Erhohungen auf den anderen Mârkten. Die Zunahme der Kaufkraft der Haushalte reichte nicht aus, damit aile Personen, die ein Eigenheim zu erwerben wunschten, ihr Vorhaben verwirklichen konnten. Zum Anstieg der Wohnungspreise kamen noch ungunstigere Finanzierungsbedingungen als in der Vergangenheit hinzu. Der Wille der offentlichen Hand, die Hilfen aus den offentlichen Haushalten unter Kontrolle zu bringen und bei der Wohnungsfinanzierung die Marktmechanismen zu starken, sowie die zunehmende Vorsicht der Kreditgeber, die durch die Konkurse in den vorausgegangenen Jahren miBtrauisch geworden sind, fuhrten dazu, daf3 die Kredite fur den Erwerb eines Eigenheims, die zinsgunstigen Darlehen und die personlichen Hilfen immer seltener wurden und die Tilgungen eine geringere Progression aufwiesen. ; Vor dem Hintergrund sehr hoher Effektivzinsen haben viele Haushalte, insbesondere unter den am wenigsten zahlungsfâhigen, eher auf den Erwerb eines Eigenheims verzichtet als bei ihrem Vorhaben Abstriche zu machen. Die Selektion erfolgte auf Kosten derjenigen, deren Finanzierungsmoglichkeiten am geringsten waren, und zwar entweder aufgrund ihrer bescheidenen Einkunfte, einer unzureichenden Unterstutzung durch die Familie oder vor allem eines Vermogens, das fur die Bildung eines ausreichenden Eigenkapitals zu begrenzt war. Die Arbeiter, die kinderreichen Familien, die jungen Haushalte und die Mieter von Sozialwohnungen waren von diesem Ruckgang des sozialen Aufstiegs am meisten betroffen. ; In den letzten Jahren sind weniger Haushalte Eigentumer geworden; es gab auch weniger, die in naher Zukunft ein solches Vorhaben in Betracht zogen. Zuruckzufuhren ist dies weniger auf ein nachlassendes Interesse am Besitz eines Eigenheims, das durch soziologische Erwagungen oder durch eine Analyse der Rentabilitat der Immobilien- investition begrundet ware, sondern vielmehr auf den depressiven Effekt der wirtschaftlichen und finanziellen Faktoren sowie auf die Auswirkungen der Arbeitslosigkeit, da deren Realitât oder die Angst davor fur die Einkommen und die kunftige Zahlungsfahigkeit eine ernsthafte Bedrohung darstellt. ; Das Wunsch, "Herr seiner eigenen vier Wanden zu werden" und durch den Erwerb eines Eigenheims, insbesondere eines Einfamilienhauses, eine soziale Aufwertung zu erfahren, ist jedoch nach wie vor sehr stark. Langerfristig werden die Entwicklung der Familienstrukturen, die Uberalterung der Bevolkerung und die groBere berufliche Mobilitat allerdings eher dazu beitragen, daf3 verstârkt Wohnungen, insbesondere stâdtische Wohnungen, gemietet werden, die in unmittelbarer Nahe zu den verschiedenen beruflichen und sozialen Einrichtungen liegen.
SUBSONIC FLUTTER OF PANELS ON CONTINUOUS ELASTIC FOUNDATIONS - EXPERIMENT AND THEORY

Abstract : The subsonic aeroelastic stability of a two-dimensional panel resting on a continuous elastic foundation was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, tests were conducted on a 104 x 24 x 0.018 in. rectangular aluminum panel in a low-speed wind tunnel. Definite flutter of a travelling wave type was observed. Films and oscillograph records were taken. Theoretically, a finite panel, two mode, standing-wave analysis was shown to give essentially the same behavior as the infinite panel, travelling-wave analysis of Miles (Jnl. Aeron. Sci. Vol. 23, No. 8, 771-791, 1956) for this panel on an elastic foundation. Although a mild, divergence-type instability exists for these panels, the dominant instability was shown to be of a travelling wave, flutter type. The role of additional internal damping was investigated and found to have an interesting destabilizing effect between the divergence and flutter speeds. Comparison of experiment and theory showed good agreement in the prediction of the flutter speed and wavelength, but rather poor agreement in the wave speed and frequency at flutter. (Author)