Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Refractory to Proton Pump Inhibitors and the Effects of Switching to 20 mg Esomeprazole on Reflux Symptoms and Quality of Life

Background Refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) may deteriorate patient quality of life (QOL) despite proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy. Material/Methods Nineteen Japanese institutions were surveyed to determine the clinical characteristics and QOL of patients with refractory GERD. Those patients treated with a conventional PPI were switched to 20 mg esomeprazole for 4 weeks. Symptoms and QOL were assessed using Global Overall Symptom and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) questionnaires at baseline and at 2 and/or 4 weeks of esomeprazole treatment. Results Of 120 patients who completed the survey, 58 (48.3%) had refractory GERD. Of these, 69.0% were aged ≥65 years, 79.3% were prescribed a PPI at a standard or high dose, and 22.4% were prescribed a PPI together with another drug. After switching to esomeprazole, patients reported significant improvements in heartburn, acid regurgitation, and excessive belching at 2 weeks using a symptom diary, as well as the total score, reflux, abdominal pain, and indigestion, which were assessed using the GSRS at 4 weeks. Conclusions About half of Japanese patients with GERD may be refractory to conventional PPIs. Their reflux-related symptoms are often severe and may impair QOL. Switching to esomeprazole could be used to improve their symptoms and QOL.
Local Configuration of SIFT-like Features by a Shape Context

The representation of information plays the key role in searching a document. While for text documents it is simple to extract keywords to find a document, for images this task is more challenging. In this paper we discuss different representations of images, point out their advantages and disadvantages and present our proposed method for stable and reliable information extraction to address the difficulties in object recognition.
RPFP: IP fast reroute with providing complete protection and without using tunnels

In today's IP network, if a link or router fails, packets that traverse the failed link or router will be lost until the network re-converges even if there exists another path bypassing the failure. We call such a single failure a valid single failure. Therefore the IETF published a framework called IP Fast ReRoute (IPFRR) which aims to provide protection against such valid single failures before the network re-converges. Based on the IPFRR framework, a lot of methods have been proposed. One category of IPFRR methods is IP-tunnel-based. The IP-tunnel-based IPFRR methods impose extra cost such as the encapsulation cost, on the traffic delivery. In this paper we focus on the otber category of IPFRR methods, no-tunnel-based IPFRR methods, which do not impose any extra cost on the traffic delivery. However, the existing no-tunnel-based IPFRR methods cannot provide complete protection against all the valid single failures. Therefore in this paper we propose a new kind of no-tunnel-based IPERR method named with RPFP which can provide complete protection against all the valid single failures.
A novel statistical automaton for network cloud traffic classification

Traffic classification is crucial in many network and cloud applications, they are from QoS enforcement, network monitoring to security and firewalls. In recent years, all the classification with deep packet inspection (DPI) are using the exact matching with the existing policy semantics. However, if the policy semantics is changed, then the DPI classifier is no longer able to be a workable traffic classification. We proposed a new statistical automaton for the traffic classification. The applications are marked by many multiple signatures during a flow training process, and then it classifies the applications when their statistical results are reached. In the experiment, we evaluate the proposed method with 5 applications which proves our idea is feasible for the network and cloud traffic classification.
Leveraging di(cid:27)erent meronym discovery methods for bridging resolution in French

This paper presents a statistical system for resolving bridging descriptions in French, a language for which current lexical resources have a very low coverage. The system is similar to that developed for English by [20], but it was enriched to integrate meronymic information extracted automatically from both web queries and raw text using syntactic patterns. Through various experiments on the DEDE corpus [8], we show that although still mediocre the performance of our system compare favorably to those obtained by [20] for English. In addition, our evaluation indicates that the di(cid:27)erent meronym extraction methods have a cumulative e(cid:27)ect, but that the text pattern-based extraction method is more robust and leads to higher accuracy than the Web-based approach.
Towards incident handling in the cloud: challenges and approaches

Security incident handling, an integral part of security management, treats detection and analysis of security incidents as well as the subsequent response (i.e., containment, eradication, and recovery.) Existing processes and methods for incident handling are geared towards infrastructures and operational models that will be increasingly outdated by cloud computing. This paper examines, how the changes introduced by cloud computing influence the incident handling process. It identifies problems that cloud customers encounter in each of the incident handling steps and provides possible approaches and corresponding challenges. The identified approaches provide guidance for cloud customers and cloud service providers towards effective incident handling in the cloud; the identified challenges may serve as basis for a research agenda in cloud incident handling.
Health and Quality of Life

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) who reside within the community relative to the general population is largely unknown. Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 1.1 (CCHS 1.1) were used to compare HRQL of persons with MS and the general population. Methods: A representative sample of adults (18 years or older) from the cross sectional population health survey, CCHS 1.1, was examined to compare scores on the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3), a generic preference-based HRQL measure, of respondents with (n = 302) and without (n = 109,741) MS. Selected sociodemographic covariates were adjusted for in ANCOVA models. Normalized sampling weights and bootstrap variance estimates were used in the analysis. Results: The mean difference in overall HUI3 scores between respondents with and without MS was 0.25 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.31); eight times greater than the clinically important difference. The largest differences in scores were seen with the ambulation (0.26; 95% CI: 0.20, 0.32) and pain attributes (0.14; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.19). Clinically important differences with dexterity and cognition were also observed. Conclusion: While the proportion of the Canadian population with MS is relatively small in comparison to other diseases, the magnitude of the burden is severe relative to the general population. Background The diverse symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) adversely impact health-related quality of life (HRQL) which, in turn, is manifested in extensive physical, psychosocial and economic burden [1-3]. Although the assessment of HRQL in MS is well recognized as an important clinical assessment tool [4], burden of morbidity of persons with MS in comparison with the general population is largely unknown. The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is the primary disease specific health measure for MS [5], but it is heavily weighted toward ambulation and is unable to provide a broader comparison of HRQL attributes among different conditions and the general population. The use of a generic health measure to complement the disease specific health measure is typically advocated for the appraisal of the overall impact of MS. Published: 7 January 2008 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2008, 6:1 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-6-1 Received: 25 July 2007 Accepted: 7 January 2008 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo. com/content/6/1/1 © 2008 Jones et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Effect of the leakage between elements on the measured capacity of indoor multiple-input multiple-output channels

RF switches are often used to measure individual path profiles in a multiple-antenna system. Leakage and other coupling between the antenna elements can cause deterioration of the channel capacity estimation accuracy. The analysis is performed to give a measure of the maximum tolerance for the leakage level of RF channel measurement systems. Leakage causes an underestimate of channel capacity that increases with the number of elements. The underestimate is negligible if leakage is less than -15 dB in a 4/spl times/4 antenna system The more correlated the channels are, the less the effect of leakage. The result can also be used to indicate the design isolation requirements between receivers of a real system.
eComment. The impact of blood conservation on outcomes in adult cardiac surgery.

We read with great interest the study by Vandewiele and associates [1]. Many studies have shown the benefits of retrograde autologous priming (RAP) on preserving the patient's haematocrit to levels that do not require transfusion. Only a study by Murphy et al. failed to reproduce similar results in a large cohort of 545 patients [2]. Since our publication in 1998 on retrograde autologous priming [3], we have developed further strategies for blood conservation that have resulted in improved outcomes. Our strategy is three-fold: retrograde autologous priming, low prime volume in the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit, and autologous blood donation immediately in the operating room immediately after incision is made. Our preliminary data in the first 300 patients showed a dramatic reduction in the post-operative blood transfusion requirement, with 70% of our patients requiring no blood transfusion at all. In the same time period, our 30-day mortality for all open heart procedures had decreased in an all-time low of 1.38%, and the respiratory complications had dropped from 7% in 2007, to 3% in the end of 2012. This proves that the above three techniques of blood conservation are safe and desirable, leading to reduced morbidity and hospital cost. Conflict of interest: none declared.
Traffic demand-based cooperation strategy in cognitive radio networks

Cognitive radio networks (CRNs) enable spectrum channels to be used by secondary users (SUs) without interfering with the transmission of primary users (PUs). Cooperation among SUs in CRNs not only improves sensing performance but also increases spectrum efficiency. In this work, we study a cooperation strategy in multi-channel CRNs, which allows an energy-constrained SU to selectively participate in cooperative sensing. We consider CRNs where SUs can make distributed decisions on cooperative sensing based on traffic demand. We formulate this problem as a non-transferable utility (NTU) coalition formation game problem, where each SU in a coalition has a coalition value that takes into account traffic demand and energy efficiency. We also propose a sequential coalition formation (SCF) algorithm to find the coalition structure. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm achieves higher throughput and energy efficiency with a lower computational complexity compared to previously proposed coalition formation algorithm in [1].
CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ADI SELF RATING SCALE, THE HAMILTON RATING SCALE AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT OF DEPRESSION

In all clinical and research work, it is important not only to have uniform diagnostic criteria but also some means of objectively quantifying the presence and severity of the illness being studied. For this purpose, a number of ra t ing scales have been devised for depressive disorders, probably the single most commonly used one being the Hamilton Ra t ing Scale (Hamil ton, 1960). The total score on this scale thus reflects the severity of depression— the maximum possible score is 52 but in practice, few patients score above 35.
Consistency of Goalaviour-Based Control Systems

The consistency of automatic control systems deployed into smart environments is crucial for their acceptance. Extensive testing of a dynamically changing group of devices is not possible. Therefore, formal approaches are necessary to validate the consistency of a control system. In this paper, we discuss consistency of a decentralised and dynamic control system based on goal-emitting simple behaviours. We define different types of consistency and show how to verify them automatically.
Migrant teachers and classroom encounters: Processes of intercultural learning

Recent migration combined with strategies to diversify the teacher workforce has led to complexities in teacher diversity identified by the term 'superdiversity' (Vertovec, 2006). This article builds on recent work on the processes of convergence and superdiversity (Wessendorf, 2011) by focusing on meaningful encounters in the mathematics classroom. A sociolinguistics approach is used to discuss the performance of teacher identity, focusing on accent. An analysis of power shows tensions between Standard English and local vernaculars, involving microaggressions and opportunities for intercultural learning. The article concludes by discussing coping with microaggressions and the systemic implications for school policies and initial teacher training. It shows how microaggressions offer opportunities for intercultural learning and how classroom spaces can be developed that promote both this and the dispositions of an intercultural habitus.
Pupil responses during discrete goal-directed movements

Pupil size is known to correlate with the changes of cognitive task workloads, but how the pupil responds to requirements of basic goal-directed motor tasks involved in human-machine interactions is not yet clear. This work conducted a user study to investigate the pupil dilations during aiming in a tele-operation setting, with the purpose of better understanding how the changes in task requirements are reflected by the changes of pupil size. The task requirements, managed by Fitts' index of difficulty (ID), i.e. the size and distance apart of the targets, were varied between tasks, and pupil responses to different task IDs were recorded. The results showed that pupil diameter can be employed as an indicator of task requirements in goal-directed movements-higher task difficulty evoked higher valley to peak pupil dilation, and the peak pupil dilation occurred after a longer delay. These findings contribute to the foundation for developing methods to objectively evaluate interactive task requirements using pupil parameters during goal-directed movements in HCI.
Some new constructions for simplex codes

Three constructions for n-dimensional regular simplex codes /spl alpha//sub i/, 0/spl les/i/spl les/n, are proposed, two of which have the property that /spl alpha//sub i/ for 1/spl les/i/spl les/n is a cyclic shift of /spl alpha//sub 1/. The first method is shown to work for all the positive integers n=1,2,. using only three real values. It turns out that these values are rational whenever n+1 is a square of some integer. Whenever a (v,k,/spl lambda/) cyclic (or Abelian) difference set exists, this method is generalized so that a similar method is shown to work with /spl nu/=n (the number of dimensions). >
Reconstructing the state through ICTs?: a case of state-level computerization in the Indian public distribution system

This study focuses on the role of public sector ICTs in reconstructing the image of the state, as conceived by developing country citizens. Drawing on contemporary readings of the Gramscian politics of the governed, I look at the Indian Public Distribution System (PDS), a food security net based on subsidization of foodgrains to the poor, as it is locally computerized in the state of Kerala. My results, derived through an in-depth case study, confirm and dismiss theory at the same time: on the one hand, the state uses new technologies for reshaping its image, and indeed the very nature of its service provision. On the other hand, though, the loci of image formation that are found in citizens (direct experience, social networks, and political circuits) systematically escape control by governmental action, and seem to be only marginally touched by the ICT-induced reinvention of government. It seems, therefore, that the capacity of the state to reconstruct its image, through the usage of new technologies, is limited by the nature of the spaces of image formation which citizens experience in their daily lives.
Multimorbidity and Its Patterns according to Immigrant Origin. A Nationwide Register-Based Study in Norway

Introduction As the flows of immigrant populations increase worldwide, their heterogeneity becomes apparent with respect to the differences in the prevalence of chronic physical and mental disease. Multimorbidity provides a new framework in understanding chronic diseases holistically as the consequence of environmental, social, and personal risks that contribute to increased vulnerability to a wide variety of illnesses. There is a lack of studies on multimorbidity among immigrants compared to native-born populations. Methodology This nationwide multi-register study in Norway enabled us i) to study the associations between multimorbidity and immigrant origin, accounting for other known risk factors for multimorbidity such as gender, age and socioeconomic levels using logistic regression analyses, and ii) to identify patterns of multimorbidity in Norway for immigrants and Norwegian-born by means of exploratory factor analysis technique. Results Multimorbidity rates were lower for immigrants compared to Norwegian-born individuals, with unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals 0.38 (0.37–0.39) for Eastern Europe, 0.58 (0.57–0.59) for Asia, Africa and Latin America, and 0.67 (0.66–0.68) for Western Europe and North America. Results remained significant after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. Similar multimorbidity disease patterns were observed among Norwegian-born and immigrants, in particular between Norwegian-born and those from Western European and North American countries. However, the complexity of patterns that emerged for the other immigrant groups was greater. Despite differences observed in the development of patterns with age, such as ischemic heart disease among immigrant women, we were unable to detect the systematic development of the multimorbidity patterns among immigrants at younger ages. Conclusions Our study confirms that migrants have lower multimorbidity levels compared to Norwegian-born. The greater complexity of multimorbidity patterns for some immigrant groups requires further investigation. Health care policies and practice will require a holistic approach for specific population groups in order to meet their health needs and to curb and prevent diseases.
Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques to Improve Academic Achievement in Student-Athletes

Improving academic grades within the core areas of English, Science and Mathematics has had a lot of previous research interest, but research has tended to mostly focus on students who are failing, non-athletically talented students or student athletes at collegiate level. The particular needs of athletically talented secondary school students who are academically underperforming have so far been neglected. This study addressed this issue by measuring the outcome of academic grades in these three core areas. Method: During a six week intervention programme, ninety four students were separated into 4 groups: control, heart rate variability biofeedback, performance psychology skills training and a combination of these two interventions. Changes in self-efficacy and self-regulation for all students were also measured. Results: Significant pre–post intervention differences in all academic subjects and generalised self-efficacy were found when compared to the control group. Results also showed that a combination of interventions with medium–large effect size was more effective in improving academic results than the single interventions on their own. All interventions improved self-efficacy, but were not significantly different from each other. Self-efficacy was found not to have any interaction effects. Conclusion: Sport psychological skills training can help student-athletes achieve higher scholastic grades and aid mindfulness intervention. Mindfulness on its own was not found to be the most effective intervention, and as such should be used as an adjunct to other psychological methods. Psychological skills training (PST) may help students generalize approaches used in sport to the academic arena.
Dynamic LVQ Models for Classification of Spatiotemporal Patterns

This paper proposes the combination of three short-term memory (STM) mechanisms with the Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) model for classifying spatiotemporal patterns. The goal is to investigate the ability of these dynamic models to acquire neural representations of faces that are invariant to changes in images caused by the movement of the subjects. The proposed models are evaluated by their ability to recognize faces in sequences of images, as well as by their sensitivity to memory parameters and image noise. A simple theoretical analysis for understanding the discriminative power of the proposed spatiotemporal classifiers is also provided. Through simulations, it is shown that the dynamic variants of LVQ perform considerably better than the static LVQ model, achieving classification rates similar to those obtained by a dynamic MLP network.
DE TREBALL XREAP 2015-05 YOUR LANGUAGE OR MINE ?

Do languages matter beyond their communicative bene ts? We explore the potential role of preferences over the language of use, theoretically and empirically. We focus on Catalonia, a bilingual society where everyone is fully pro cient in Spanish, to isolate linguistic preferences from communicative bene ts. Moreover, we exploit the language-in-education reform of 1983 to identify the causal e¤ects of language skills. Results indicate that the policy change has improved the Catalan pro ciency of native Spanish speakers, which in turn increased their propensity to nd Catalan-speaking partners. Hence, the acquisition of apparently redundant language skills has expanded cooperation across speech communities. JEL Classi cations: C26, C78, I28, J12, J15. Keywords: partnership formation, preferences, segregation, language skills, language use, language policy. We thank Lorenzo Cappellari, Ana Rute Cardoso, Lidia Farré, Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, and Louis-Philippe Morin and for their helpful comments, Frederic Udina (IDESCATs director) for facilitating the access to the dataset, Josep Maria Martínez and other IDESCAT sta¤ for their assistance, and the Spanish Ministry of Education (grants ECO2013-41022-R and ECO2014-59959-P) and Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR 2014-2017) for their nancial support. The usual disclaimers apply. yInstitut dAnàlisi Econòmica (CSIC) and Barcelona GSE: ramon.caminal(at)iae.csic. es zAQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona: antonio.dipaolo(at)ub.edu