LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
COLLABORATIVE E-MAIL EXCHANGE FOR TEACHING SECONDARY ESL: A CASE STUDY IN HONG KONG

This article presents data from a qualitative case study examining secondary ESL students' attitudes toward and perceptions of a collaborative e-mail exchange between a Form 4 (10 grade) ESL class in Hong Kong and an 11 grade English class in Iowa. The exchange was based on a researcher-designed instructional model, utilizing widely accepted theories and methods for modern second language instruction: cooperative learning, communicative language learning, process writing, project-based learning, and an integrated approach. After exposure to the exchange, Hong Kong students were questioned about (a) changes in attitude towards computers and language learning; (b) effect of computer background on attitude, interest, and motivation; (c) perception of their acquired reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills; and (d) attitude towards cooperative learning. Data was collected primarily from preand post-model surveys and personal interviews. The majority of Hong Kong participants said they enjoyed the exchange, gained general confidence in English and computer skills, and felt that they made significant progress in writing, thinking, and speaking. They were, however, ambivalent as to whether it improved standardized exam-related skills such as grammar usage and discrete language functions. As the project progressed, students with strong computer skills indicated less satisfaction than those with weak computer skills.
Chronic atrophic antral gastritis and risk of metaplasia and dysplasia in an area with low prevalence of Helicobacter pylori.

INTRODUCTION
The Northeastern region of Peninsular Malaysia is an area with exceptionally low prevalence for Helicobacter pylori infection. The risk of intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) and its association with Helicobacter pylori is unknown in this region.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study on gastric biopsies from 234 consecutive patients (mean age 53.5 [14.8] years) who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy between January 2006 and December 2006.


RESULTS
There were 137 (59%) men and 185 (79%) Malay patients. Among 234 biopsies, CAG was found in 99 and non-atrophic gastritis in 135. Intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia were detected in 8 and 6 atrophic gastritis biopsies, respectively, and in 10 and 3 of non-atrophic gastritis biopsies, respectively. H. pylori were detected in 16 (9 Malays, 7 non- Malays) biopsies (p=0.024); intestinal metaplasia was detected in 4 biopsies (p=0.3) and dysplasia in 5 biopsies (p=0.3). Of the 218 biopsies negative for H. pylori, intestinal metaplasia was found in 14 and dysplasia in 4. The risk of intestinal metaplasia as well as dysplasia was associated with presence of H. pylori infection (p=0.029 and p<0.001 respectively).


CONCLUSION
Even in a setting of low prevalence of H. pylori, intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia were significantly associated with H. pylori infection. The frequency of intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia was similar different between biopsies with atrophic gastritis and non-atrophic gastritis.
Point: Should AI technology be regulated?: yes, and here's how

Considering the difficult technical and sociological issues affecting the regulation of artificial intelligence research and applications.
Stem cells in the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury: evaluation of somatosensitive evoked potentials in 39 patients

Study design:A prospective, non-randomized clinical series trial.Objective:To evaluate the effect of autogenous undifferentiated stem cell infusion for the treatment of patients with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) on somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs).Setting:A public tertiary hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.Methods:Thirty-nine consecutive patients with diagnosed complete cervical and thoracic SCI for at least 2 years and with no cortical response in the SSEP study of the lower limbs were included in the trial. The trial patients underwent peripheral blood stem cell mobilization and collection. The stem cell concentrate was cryopreserved and reinfused through arteriography into the donor patient. The patients were followed up for 2.5 years and submitted to SSEP studies to evaluate the improvement in SSEPs after undifferentiated cell infusion.Results:Twenty-six (66.7%) patients showed recovery of somatosensory evoked response to peripheral stimuli after 2.5 years of follow-up.Conclusion:The 2.5-year trial protocol proved to be safe and improved SSEPs in patients with complete SCI.Sponsorship:None.
Morton Filters: Faster, Space-Efficient Cuckoo Filters via Biasing, Compression, and Decoupled Logical Sparsity

Approximate set membership data structures (ASMDSs) are ubiquitous in computing. They trade a tunable, often small, error rate ( ) for large space savings. The canonical ASMDS is the Bloom filter, which supports lookups and insertions but not deletions in its simplest form. Cuckoo filters (CFs), a recently proposed class of ASMDSs, add deletion support and often use fewer bits per item for equal . This work introduces the Morton filter (MF), a novel ASMDS that introduces several key improvements to CFs. Like CFs, MFs support lookups, insertions, and deletions, but improve their respective throughputs by 1.3× to 2.5×, 0.9× to 15.5×, and 1.3× to 1.6×. MFs achieve these improvements by (1) introducing a compressed format that permits a logically sparse filter to be stored compactly in memory, (2) leveraging succinct embedded metadata to prune unnecessary memory accesses, and (3) heavily biasing insertions to use a single hash function. With these optimizations, lookups, insertions, and deletions often only require accessing a single hardware cache line from the filter. These improvements are not at a loss in space efficiency, as MFs typically use comparable to slightly less space than CFs for the same . PVLDB Reference Format: Alex D. Breslow and Nuwan S. Jayasena. Morton Filters: Faster, Space-Efficient Cuckoo Filters via Biasing, Compression, and Decoupled Logical Sparsity. PVLDB, 11(9): 1041-1055, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14778/3213880.3213884
Significance of group delay functions in signal reconstruction from spectral magnitude or phase

In this paper we discuss the problem of signal reconstruction from spectral magnitude or phase using group delay functions. We define two separate group delay functions for a signal, one is derived from the magnitude and the other from the phase of the Fourier transform of the signal. The group delay functions offer insight into the problem of signal reconstruction and suggest methods for reconstructing signals from partial information such as spectral magnitude or phase. We examine the problem of signal reconstruction from spectral magnitude or phase o n the basis of these two group delay functions and derive the conditions for signal reconstruction. Based on existing iterative and nonilerative algorithms for signal reconstruction, we propose new algorithms for some special classes of signals. The algorithms are illustrated with several examples. Our study shows that the relative importance of spectral magnitude and phase depends on the nature of signals. Speech signals are used to illustrate the importance of spectral magnitude and picture signals are used to illustrate the importance of phase in signal reconstruction problems. Using the group delay functions, we explain the convergence behavior of the existing iterative algorithms for signal reconstruction.
The Twins, the Mesons, and the Paradox

Einstein’s special theory of relativity has left us with an enduring topic of concern in its prediction of time dilation. This prediction appears well validated in the apparently slow decay of rapidly moving unstable particles. But the prediction also apparently leads to the well-known “Twin Paradox”, which confounds ordinary logic. The present paper attempts to shed new light on this subject.
The search for an ideal method of abdominal fascial closure: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
The ideal suture for abdominal fascial closure has yet to be determined. Surgical practice continues to rely largely on tradition rather than high-quality level I evidence. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to determine which suture material and technique reduces the odds of incisional hernia.


METHODS
MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases were searched for articles in English published from 1966 to 1998 using the keywords "suture", "abdomen/surgery", and "randomized controlled trials". Randomized controlled trials, trials of adult patients, and trials with a Jadad Quality Score of more than 3, comparing suture materials, technique, or both, were included. Two independent reviewers critically appraised study quality and extracted data. The reviewers were masked to the study site, authors, journal, and date to minimize bias. The primary outcome was postoperative incisional hernia. Secondary outcomes included wound dehiscence, infection, wound pain, and suture sinus formation.


RESULTS
The occurrence of incisional hernia was significantly lower when nonabsorbable sutures were used. Suture technique favored nonabsorbable continuous closure. Suture sinuses and wound pain were significantly lower when absorbable sutures were used. There were no differences in the incidence of wound dehiscence or wound infection with respect to suture material or method of closure. Subgroup analyses of individual sutures showed no significant difference in incisional hernia rates between polydioxanone and polypropylene. Polyglactin showed an increased wound failure rate.


CONCLUSIONS
Abdominal fascial closure with a continuous nonabsorbable suture had a significantly lower rate of incisional hernia. The ideal suture is nonabsorbable, and the ideal technique is continuous.
Interpolation for Polygon Texture Mapping and Shading

A simple, fast method is presented for the interpolation of texture coordinates and shading parameters for polygons viewed in perspective. The method has application in scan conversion algorithms like z-bu er and painter's algorithms that perform screen space interpolation of shading parameters such as texture coordinates, colors, and normal vectors. Some previous methods perform linear interpolation in screen space, but this is rotationally variant, and in the case of texture mapping, causes a disturbing \rubber sheet" e ect. To correctly compute the nonlinear, projective transformation between screen space and parameter space, we use rational linear interpolation across the polygon, performing several divisions at each pixel. We present simpler formulas for setting up these interpolation computations, reducing the setup cost per polygon to nil and reducing the cost per vertex to a handful of divisions. Additional keywords: incremental, perspective, projective, a ne.
An adaptive hysteresis band current controller for shunt active power filter

In this paper, an adaptive hysteresis band current controller is proposed for active power filter to eliminate harmonics and to compensate the reactive power of three-phase rectifier. The adaptive hysteresis band current controller, proposed by Bose [An adaptive hysteresis band current control technique of a voltage feed PWM inverter for machine drive system, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 37 (5) (1990) 402–406] for electrical machine drives, is adapted to active power filter (APF). The adaptive hysteresis band current controller changes the hysteresis bandwidth according to modulation frequency, supply voltage, dc capacitor voltage and slope of the ic reference compensator current wave. The hysteresis band current controller determines the switching signals of the APF, and the algorithm based on an extension of synchronous r PF control t urrent. All o The APF i ©
The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) – towards a new communication channel for online control in gaming applications

The investigation of innovative Human-Computer Interfaces (HCI) provides a challenge for future multimedia research and development. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) exploit the ability of human communication and control bypassing the classical neuromuscular communication channels. In general, BCIs offer a possibility of communication for people with severe neuromuscular disorders, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. Beyond medical applications, a BCI conjunction with exciting multimedia applications, e.g., a dexterity game, could define a new level of control possibilities also for healthy customers decoding information directly from the user’s brain, as reflected in electroencephalographic (EEG) signals which are recorded non-invasively from user’s scalp. This contribution introduces the Berlin Brain–Computer Interface (BBCI) and presents setups where the user is provided with intuitive control strategies in plausible gaming applications that use biofeedback. Yet at its beginning, BBCI thus adds a new dimension in multimedia research by offering the user an additional and independent communication channel based on brain activity only. First successful experiments already yielded inspiring proofs-of-concept. A diversity of multimedia application models, say computer games, and their specific intuitive control strategies, as well as various Virtual Reality (VR) scenarios are now open for BCI research aiming at a further speed up of user adaptation and increase of learning success and transfer bit rates.
An Investigation on Organisation Cyber Resilience

Abstract—Cyber exercises used to assess the preparedness of a community against cyber crises, technology failures and Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) incidents. The cyber exercises also called cyber crisis exercise or cyber drill, involved partnerships or collaboration of public and private agencies from several sectors. This study investigates Organisation Cyber Resilience (OCR) of participation sectors in cyber exercise called X Maya in Malaysia. This study used a principal based cyber resilience survey called CSuite Executive checklist developed by World Economic Forum in 2012. To ensure suitability of the survey to investigate the OCR, the reliability test was conducted on C-Suite Executive checklist items. The research further investigates the differences of OCR in ten Critical National Infrastructure Information (CNII) sectors participated in the cyber exercise. The One Way ANOVA test result showed a statistically significant difference of OCR among ten CNII sectors participated in the cyber exercise.
Effects of a traditional Chinese herbal preparation on osteoblasts and osteoclasts.

BACKGROUND
Bone formation and resorption is a balanced and continuous process. When osteoclastic bone resorption exceeds osteoblastic bone formation, bone density decreases, which can lead to osteoporosis. Er-Zhi-Wan (EZW), a famous traditional Chinese formulation, has been developed as a restorative formula for hundreds of years, which contains two herbs viz. Herba Ecliptae and Fructus Ligustri Lucidi. EZW is widely used to prevent and treat various kidney diseases for its actions of nourishing the kidney yin and strengthening tendon and bone. The objective of current study was to investigate the effects of EZW on proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in vitro using a serum pharmacological method.


METHODS
The rats were orally administered EZW (0.45, 1.8 and 7.2gkg(-1)) for total seven doses and twice a day, and then the different concentrations of EZW-containing serum were prepared. The proliferation of primary cultural osteoblasts, UMR106 and RAW264.7 cells and differentiation of osteoclasts were determined after these cells were treated with different concentrations of EZW-containing serum for a period of time.


RESULTS
The serum from rats treated with EZW for 4 days did not facilitate proliferation of primary cultural osteoblasts and UMR106 cells, but evidently inhibited both proliferation of RAW264.7 cells and differentiation of osteoclasts from RAW264.7 cells induced by receptor activator of nuclear factor kappaB ligand (RANK-L) and macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF).


CONCLUSION
Antiosteoporotic activity of EZW is carried out mainly via restraint of osteoclastic bone resorption, which is in accordance with the traditional Chinese medicine theory on nourishing the kidney yin. Therefore EZW has favorable potency to develop a new anti-osteoporotic agent in clinic.
A Biologically Inspired System for Action Recognition

We present a biologically-motivated system for the recognition of actions from video sequences. The approach builds on recent work on object recognition based on hierarchical feedforward architectures [25, 16, 20] and extends a neurobiological model of motion processing in the visual cortex [10]. The system consists of a hierarchy of spatio-temporal feature detectors of increasing complexity: an input sequence is first analyzed by an array of motion- direction sensitive units which, through a hierarchy of processing stages, lead to position-invariant spatio-temporal feature detectors. We experiment with different types of motion-direction sensitive units as well as different system architectures. As in [16], we find that sparse features in intermediate stages outperform dense ones and that using a simple feature selection approach leads to an efficient system that performs better with far fewer features. We test the approach on different publicly available action datasets, in all cases achieving the highest results reported to date.
Health service utilization in the Nordic countries in 1996: Influence of socio-economic factors among children with and without chronic health conditions.

BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown social, economic and psychological factors that influence consulting behaviour, but the health service use of children is seldom studied.


METHOD
Data from a cross-sectional study conducted in 1996 including approximately 10,000 children aged 2-17 years in the Nordic countries were analysed according to health service use, measured as consulting a general practitioner (GP) or a specialist during the last three months prior to the survey.


RESULTS
Approximately one-fifth of the children in the survey had visited a GP and about one-seventh had visited a specialist. Highest consulting behaviour was found among children with chronic health conditions. Visiting a GP or a specialist varied across the Nordic countries, the pattern depending on disease status. Specialist utilization was higher in towns than in rural areas. Social inequality in the use of specialist, but not GP health services, was present, mainly among children with chronic health conditions. And further, compared to white-collar parents, a higher proportion of working class parents judged specialist health services as important when consulting a doctor because of the child's health problem.


CONCLUSION
In all the Nordic countries GP use did not depend on social class, and utilization of specialist health services was mainly unrelated to social class among children without chronic health conditions. Specialist use was associated with high socio-economic status among children with chronic health conditions, despite the observation that a higher proportion of parents in the lower social classes judged specialist health services as important when consulting a doctor.
Context-Aware Mobile Cloud Computing and Its Challenges

Cloud computing is gaining popularity due to virtually unlimited resources, low capital cost, ease of adoption, flexible resource provisioning, and high scalability. Considering these benefits, researchers envision the usage of cloud computing for mobile devices to overcome the ever-increasing computational and energy demands of smartphone applications. However, this requires specialized context-ware application development models that can facilitate the development of cloud-enabled applications capable of making context-aware computation offloading decisions. This article provides an overview of mobile cloud computing technology, focusing on its context-awareness aspects and challenges.
Safety and durability in a cohort of HIV-1 positive patients treated with once and twice daily darunavir-based therapy (SCOLTA Project).

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate safety and durability of once-daily and twice-daily darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r)-based treatment in HIV patients in clinical practice.


METHODS
The Surveillance Cohort Long-Term Toxicity Antiretrovirals (SCOLTA) project is a prospective, observational, multicenter cohort created to assess the incidence of adverse events in patients receiving new antiretroviral drugs. Twenty-five Italian infectious diseases centers enroll patients and collect their data through this on-line system. Periodical evaluations of these patients, including physical examination and laboratory tests, were performed at baseline and every 6 months.


RESULTS
Four hundred and twenty-nine patients were enrolled since May 2006. Eighty-five patients (19.8%) were prescribed once-daily DRV/r; 31 of them were treatment-naïve (36.5%). Among 54 (63.5%) treatment-experienced patients, 21 (38.9%) had undetectable viral load and started once-daily DRV/r as a simplification regimen. Patients on twice-daily regimen were older, more frequently lipodystrophic, HCV-coinfected, and in CDC stage C. In the following 24 months of follow-up, the viral load steadily decreased as well as the CD4 cell count rose. The reason for discontinuation did not significantly differ between groups. Mean blood glucose (BG) change from baseline did not show significant difference between groups, as well as high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TGL) and alanine transaminase (ALT). The survival curve shows that patients in the once-daily regimen withdrew treatment more frequently than those on twice-daily regimen (Log Rank Chi(2)P=0.009).


CONCLUSION
Our study showed that DRV/r administrated both once daily or twice daily was safe and well tolerated with few discontinuations due to adverse events.
Efficacy of convective-controlled double high-flux hemodiafiltration versus on-line hemodiafiltration: 1-year prospective study.

BACKGROUND
A recent cross-sectional study demonstrated that convective-controlled double high-flux hemodiafiltration (CC-HDF) could yield equivalent removal of small and middle molecule uremic toxins to on-line hemodiafiltration (OL-HDF).


METHODS
The present study was conducted to compare the 1-year efficacy between CC-HDF (n = 10) and OL-HDF (n = 16) in chronic hemodialysis patients undergoing thrice weekly high-flux hemodialysis for at least 6 months.


RESULTS
When compared with baseline (high-flux hemodialysis), 1-year treatment with both HDF modes had comparable efficacy in significantly lowering serum pre-dialysis beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)m) levels (p < 0.05) and significantly enhancing greater urea reduction ratio (p < 0.05). Both HDF modes could comparably maintain the hematology profile, calcium-phosphorus metabolism, and nutritional status according to the K-DOQI guidelines.


CONCLUSION
CC-HDF can provide equivalent 1-year efficacy to OL-HDF and would be an effective alternative mode to OL-HDF.