Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypertension Subtypes among Thai Hypertensives: An Analysis of Telehealth-Assisted Instrument in Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Nationwide Pilot Project

Background White-coat hypertension (HT), masked HT, HT with white-coat effect, and masked uncontrolled HT are well-recognized problems of over- and undertreatment of high blood pressure in real-life practice. However, little is known about the true prevalence in Thailand. Objectives To examine the prevalence and characteristics of each HT subtype defined by mean home blood pressure (HBP) and clinic blood pressure (CBP) using telemonitoring technology in Thai hypertensives. Methods A multicenter, observational study included adult hypertensives who had been diagnosed for at least 3 months based on CBP without the adoption of HBP monitoring. All patients were instructed to manually measure their HBP twice a day for the duration of at least one week using the same validated automated, oscillometric telemonitoring devices (Uright model TD-3128, TaiDoc Corporation, Taiwan). The HBP, CBP, and baseline demographic data were recorded on the web-based system. HT subtypes were classified according to the treatment status, CBP (≥or <140/90 mmHg), and mean HBP (≥or <135/85 mmHg) into the following eight subtypes: in nonmedicated hypertensives, there are four subtypes that are normotension, white-coat HT, masked HT, and sustained HT; in treated hypertensives, there are four subtypes that are well-controlled HT, HT with white-coat effect, masked uncontrolled HT, and sustained HT. Results Of the 1,184 patients (mean age 58 ± 12.7 years, 59% women) from 46 hospitals, 1,040 (87.8%) were taking antihypertensive agents. The majority of them were enrolled from primary care hospitals (81%). In the nonmedicated group, the prevalence of white-coat and masked HT was 25.7% and 7.0%, respectively. Among the treated patients, the HT with white-coat effect was found in 23.3% while 46.7% had uncontrolled HBP (a combination of the masked uncontrolled HT (9.6%) and sustained HT (37.1%)). In the medicated older subgroup (n = 487), uncontrolled HBP was more prevalent in male than in female (53.6% vs. 42.4%, p=0.013). Conclusions This is the first nationwide study in Thailand to examine the prevalence of HT subtypes. Almost one-fourth had white-coat HT or HT with white-coat effect. Approximately half of the treated patients especially in the older males had uncontrolled HBP requiring more intensive interventions. These results emphasize the role of HBP monitoring for appropriate HT diagnosis and management. The cost-effectiveness of utilizing THAI HBPM in routine practice needs to be examined in the future study.
ISOLATION OF BIOSURFACTANT PRODUCING BACTERIA FROM ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced extracellularly by microorganisms on cell surfaces, or excreted extracellularly. They contain hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that reduce surface and interfacial tension between molecules at the surface and interface respectively. The present study was focused on isolation of biosurfactant producing bacteria from environmental samples (contaminated soil and uncontaminated water) and assessing the potential of these isolates by various standard method. Oil displacement and emulsification index methods were used to screen the capability of isolates for producing biosurfactant. Studies were also carried out using diesel and engine oil as hydrocarbon source. The identified bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus which were isolated from water and soil respectively were found to possess biosurfactant producing capabilities. The biosurfactants produced by B. subtilis had an emulsification capacity (E24) of 20% and 15%, and that by B. cereus was 30% and 20% for diesel and engine oil respectively. Results of the present study suggested that these isolates have potential to use in oil degradation studies.
Exploring bilingualism in a monolingual school system: insights from Turkish and native students from Belgian schools

A growing body of empirical studies indicates the educational benefits of bilingualism. Despite this tendency, bilingual minority students are being pressured by school authorities to shed their mother tongues. We conducted qualitative interviews with Turkish‐bilingual and native‐monolingual students in Flemish (Belgium) secondary schools to investigate how students evaluate their languages, how Dutch monolingualism is imposed, and how students respond to the dominance of monolingualism. Our results indicate that the mother tongues of bilingual students are mainly perceived as a barrier to educational and occupational success, while the benefits of bilingualism are unknown. Thus, both Turkish‐bilingual and native‐monolingual students approved of speaking one language. We also found that monolingualism was strongly imposed on students by explicit encouragement, formal punishment when bilinguals speak their mother tongue, and exclusion of foreign languages from the cultural repertoire of the school. These results are discussed as they relate to policy‐makers, scholars of bilingualism and institutional racism.
Voluntary Disclosure in UK Higher Education

Following adoption of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) by the British government, awards of Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings to UK universities that satisfied TEF criteria were announced in June 2017. We categorize UK universities in five buckets on the basis of their ranking and investigate whether top ranked schools are least likely to disclose their rankings on their websites. Furthermore, we test whether Guardian university rankings are consistent and informative about the TEF medals awarded. Our finding that the higher the ranking of the university the less the likelihood to disclose the TEF result on the university’s website is consistent with prior literature. We assert that universities that have a higher rank use nondisclosure as a countersignal, while universities that have a middle rank use disclosure to stand out from the other middle rank universities. Moreover, we find that the probability of UK universities to get a TEF Gold is significantly lower than that of the top-10 and that probability falls substantially in lower ranking buckets. Finally, even though Guardian rankings appear to be generally consistent with and supportive of TEF ratings, only 35% of the top-ranked universities by The Guardian are rated TEF Gold, indicating discrepancy between Guardian rankings and public national TEF classifications, thereby rendering further investigation of the Guardian ranking TEF rating relationship necessary, in order to enhance the usefulness of rankings for student consumers.
Semi-Markov-Modulated Infinite-Server Queues: Approximations by Time-Scaling

This article studies an infinite-server queue in a semi-Markov environment: the queue's input rate is modulated by a semi-Markovian background process, and the service times are assumed to be exponentially distributed. The primary objective of this article is to propose approximations for the queue-length distribution, based on time-scaling arguments. The analysis starts with an explicit analysis of the cases in which the transition times of the modulating semi-Markov process are either all deterministic or all exponential. We use these results to obtain approximations under time-scalings; both a quasi-stationary regime (in which time is slowed down) and a fluid-scaling regime (in which time is sped up) are considered. Notably, in the latter regime, the limiting distribution of the number of customers present is Poisson, irrespective of the distribution of the transition times. The accuracy of the resulting approximations is illustrated by several numerical experiments, that moreover give an indication of the speed of convergence in both regimes, for various distributions of the transition times. The last section derives conditions under which the distribution of the number of customers present is Poisson (in an exact sense, i.e., not in a limiting regime).
Diminished Returns of Educational Attainment on Heart Disease among Black Americans.

Background Socioeconomic Status (SES) indicators, such as educational attainment, are social determinants of heart disease. Marginalization related Diminished Returns (MDRs) refer to smaller health benefits of high SES for racial and ethnic minorities compared to the majority group. It is still unknown, however, if MDRs also apply to the effects of education on heart disease. Purpose Using a nationally representative sample, we explored racial/ethnic variation in the link between educational attainment and heart disease among American adults. Methods We analyzed data (n=25,659) from a nationally representative survey of American adults in 2013. The first wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health - Adult (PATH-Adult) study was used. The independent variable was education (college graduate, high school graduate, less than a high school diploma). The dependent variable was any heart disease. Age and gender were the covariates. Race, as well as ethnicity, were the moderators. Logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. Results Individuals with higher educational attainment had lower odds of heart disease. Race and ethnicity showed statistically significant interactions with education, suggesting that the protective effect of higher education on reducing odds of heart disease was smaller for Hispanic and Black people than for non-Hispanic and White individuals. Conclusion Education reduces the risk of heart disease better among non-Hispanic Whites than for Hispanics and Blacks. Therefore, we may expect a disproportionately higher than expected risk of heart disease in Hispanics and Blacks with high educational attainment. Future research should test if the presence of high levels of environmental and behavioral risk factors contribute to the high risk of heart disease in highly educated Black and Hispanic Americans. Policymakers should not reduce health inequalities to just gaps in SES because disparities are present across SES levels, with high SES Blacks and Hispanics remaining at risk of health problems.
A Context-based Measure for Discovering Approximate Semantic Matching between Schema Elements

The possibility to query heterogeneous and semantically linked data sources depends on the ability to find correspondences between their structure and/or their content. Unfortunately, most of the tools used nowadays to discover those mappings are either manual or semi-automatic. In this article we present an automatic method to calculate the similarity measure between two schema elements. Furthermore, a tool has been implemented, Approxivect, based on the approximation of terminological methods and on the cosine measure between context vectors. Another important feature of our tool is that our method does not use any dictionary or language-based knowledge and works in specialized domain areas. Finally, we have performed experiments showing that our tool provides good results regarding those provided by COMA++. More precisely, it appears that Approxivect, when its parameters are tuned in optimum configurations, discovers most of the relevant couples in the top ranking while COMA++ only finds half of the mappings.
Effect of Maternal Drug Abuse on Retinopathy of Prematurity

Objective: To assess the effects of maternal drug abuse on the incidence, prevalence and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Introduction: ROP is a leading cause of neonatal blindness worldwide. Failure to reach mature retinal vascularization milestones in utero leads to rapid neovascularization, hemorrhage, retinal detachment, and vision loss. Substance use reported among pregnant women include smoking cigarettes, using alcohol, and the use of illicit substances. This has been linked to significant fetal morbidity and mortality. West Virginia stands at the forefront of this endemic, with opiate use during pregnancy having quadrupled between 1999 and 2014. The effect of maternal perinatal drug misuse on ROP has not yet been established. Methods: This is a retrospective chart review assessing 422 premature newborns that met screening criteria between 2015 2018. The charts were assessed for ROP status, birth weight, maternal age, treatment type, gestational age, incidence of ROP by year, zone, stage, and evidence of “plus” disease. Of these, 282 newborn charts that included maternal drug data and urine drug screens were analyzed for maternal illicit substance abuse. Results: The prevalence of treatable Type 1 ROP was stable between 2015-2018 with mean of 9.95±1.9%. 33% of mothers in our study population had a positive urine drug screen. The most prevalent was tetrahydrocannabinol in 18.4% followed by opiates in 17.0%. Gestational age (p < 0.01) and birth weight (p < 0.01) differ among “type 1 (T1)”, “type 2 (T2)”, and “no ROP” classes. Multiple gestation pregnancy (p = 0.21), maternal age (p = 0.43), gravida (p = 0.43), para (p = 0.08) and maternal illicit substance use (p = 0.99) were found to be independent of ROP class. Conclusion: This study supports previous findings that gestational age and birth weight are significant factors in ROP pathogenesis. There was an exceptionally higher (33%) percentage of positive urine drug screens in our sample population and nearly 6x higher prevalence of gestational opiate use when compared to prior studies, however there was no association between maternal gestational drug abuse and the presence of ROP.
Spanish-Language Version of the Science Identity Survey (SISE): Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Evaluation.

Multiple worldwide efforts, including research experiences and internships for students, have been developed to increase diversity in STEM. In order to understand the outcomes of these research experiences, instruments have become available, but surprisingly, Spanish instruments for these purposes are scarce. The evaluation of diverse scientific experiences and their influence on science identity is imperative. For this reason, we aimed to translate, and evaluate a Science Identity Survey for Puerto Rican high school students. A committee of experts evaluated the original survey of Science Identity and it was translated to Spanish using back-translation. Think-aloud results revealed that students’ perception of their: (1) science competence is based on their grades, understanding, knowledge, and learning; (2) performance is based on design and completion of a scientific task; (3) recognition is based on the value that others give to science. The survey was analyzed to determine its dimensionality and reliability. A Cronbach's alpha of . 857 was obtained, which suggests that the items have a good internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis was performed and three factors; competence, performance and recognition were retained. This version of the survey was deemed to be an appropriate instrument to address student science identity.
Comparison of the Effects of Sodium Hypochlorite and Chlorhexidine Irrigating Solutions on push-out Bond strength of glass-fiber posts

Reports regarding the effect of root canal irrigating solutions on the bond strength of these posts have been controversial. This study sought to assess the effect of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and chlorhexidine (CHX) on bond strength of glass-fiber posts. This experimental study was conducted on 30 sound single-rooted mandibular premolars in three groups for root canal irrigation with saline (group one), 5.25% NaOCl (group two) and 0.2% CHX (group three). Root canals were instrumented to #60 K-file using the step-back technique and filled with gutta-percha and AH26 sealer one millimeter short of the working length. Post space (10mm length) was prepared by Peeso reamers with a minimum of 5mm distance from the apex. Glass-fiber posts were cemented into canals using Panavia cement. The teeth were mounted in clear acrylic blocks. Each root along with its intracanal post was sectioned into three slices at the apical, middle and coronal levels, and push-out bond strength was measured in each section by an Instron machine. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s test. Bond strength was not significantly different in the three groups at the three levels of coronal, apical and middle; saline irrigation yielded the highest and CHX yielded the lowest bond strength but the differences were not significant. In the three groups, bond strength was higher in the coronal compared to the apical third. The three irrigating solutions can be used with no adverse effect on bond strength of glass-fiber posts.
Dynamics of Reintroduced Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs Foraging Eastern Red Bats in the Ozarks Featured Article: Variation in Recruitment of Reintroduced Bighorns

Burrowing, herbivorous mammals play important roles as ecosystem engineers and keystone species of grassland ecosystems around the world, but populations of many species have declined dramatically because of myriad threats from human activities. Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) play important roles in shaping the central grasslands of North America, and have declined by about 98% across their range, with consequent losses in associated species and grassland habitat. This has prompted much interest in restoring their populations to protected areas. Managers lack a clear understanding of the long-term success of reintroductions, however, and how success may vary across different species of prairie dogs and their widespread geographic ranges. We reintroduced over 1,000 Gunnison’s prairie dogs (C. gunnisoni) to a semiarid grassland ecosystem in the southern portion of their range in central New Mexico, USA, and used standard capture–recapture methods to study their population dynamics over a period of 8 years. Mean adult survival was 27% over the course of the study, with precipitation identified as the primary driver of survival. Estimated survival was below 12% during severe drought periods and during the first few years following initial reintroduction, the latter likely because of high predation. Consequently, multiple releases of animals were required to prevent extirpation, and the long-term sustainability of this population remains questionable. Over the 8 years of our study, our site experienced 4 severe droughts during spring, the key period for prairie dog mating, pregnancy, and lactation. Production of offspring at the site was low, likely because of the dry and variable conditions that occurred. We show that prairie dog restoration in semi-arid grassland environments that are typical of the lower elevations and southern extent of their range may not succeed in producing viable colonies, and that dedicated management for multiple years is needed to counteract periods of slow or negative population growth. Our findings underscore the importance of maintaining and expanding existing colonies wherever possible in these more arid regions, and suggest that reintroductions should be treated as a secondary management strategy. Our work also reveals the high vulnerability of prairie dog population extinction due to drought, which has important implications for Gunnison’s prairie dog conservation under a warming and drying climate. 2014 The Wildlife Society.
Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation Compared with Microfracture in the Knee

Methods: Eighty patients without general osteoarthritis who had a single symptomatic cartilage defect on the femoral condyle in a stable knee were treated with autologous chondrocyte implantation or microfracture (forty in each group). We used the International Cartilage Repair Society, Lysholm, Short Form-36 (SF-36), and Tegner forms to collect data. An independent observer performed a follow-up examination at twelve and twenty-four months. Two years postoperatively, arthroscopy with biopsy for histological evaluation was carried out. The histological evaluation was done by a pathologist and a clinical scientist, both of whom were blinded to each patient’s treatment.
Relative Upper Confidence Bound for the K-Armed Dueling Bandit Problem

This paper proposes a new method for the K-armed dueling bandit problem, a variation on the regular K-armed bandit problem that offers only relative feedback about pairs of arms. Our approach extends the Upper Confidence Bound algorithm to the relative setting by using estimates of the pairwise probabilities to select a promising arm and applying Upper Confidence Bound with the winner as a benchmark. We prove a sharp finite-time regret bound of order O(K log T) on a very general class of dueling bandit problems that matches a lower bound proven in (Yue et al., 2012). In addition, our empirical results using real data from an information retrieval application show that it greatly outperforms the state of the art.
EMPLOYMENT NETWORKS AND THE CEO LABOR MARKET

This paper looks at the influence of networks and connectedness on Chief Executive Officer (CEO) labor market outcomes. CEOs can establish direct connections with other executives and directors through overlapping professional experience, such as common directorships in companies. There are also second and higher degree connections established through indirect links of other linked executives or directors in the corporate community. I characterize CEOs’ positions on such networks and examine their consequences for CEO labor market. I construct measures that capture multiple aspects of connectedness and then test whether, how, and in what direction they affect the hiring of CEOs, CEO replacement, and the compensation paid to CEOs. Consistent with theories of social capital, I find that connected CEOs are more likely to depart from their current positions. A one standard deviation increase in the CEO’s connectedness measure leads to 1.44% higher probability of turnover. Connections also matter in the choice of a new CEO. Having a direct link to any of the board members boosts the probability of outside succession by 51.80%. Better-connected CEOs receive higher levels of compensation. A one standard deviation unit change in the new CEO’s connectedness measure increases a new CEO’s incentive pay by 10.62%, which is about an additional $560,869 for a new CEO receiving average level of compensation. Connections add to traditional turnover and compensation variables in economically significant ways.
Structured and Efficient Variational Deep Learning with Matrix Gaussian Posteriors

We introduce a variational Bayesian neural network where the parameters are governed via a probability distribution on random matrices. Specifically, we employ a matrix variate Gaussian (Gupta & Nagar, 1999) parameter posterior distribution where we explicitly model the covariance among the input and output dimensions of each layer. Furthermore, with approximate covariance matrices we can achieve a more efficient way to represent those correlations that is also cheaper than fully factorized parameter posteriors. We further show that with the "local reprarametrization trick" (Kingma et al., 2015) on this posterior distribution we arrive at a Gaussian Process (Rasmussen, 2006) interpretation of the hidden units in each layer and we, similarly with (Gal & Ghahramani, 2015), provide connections with deep Gaussian processes. We continue in taking advantage of this duality and incorporate "pseudo-data" (Snelson & Ghahramani, 2005) in our model, which in turn allows for more efficient posterior sampling while maintaining the properties of the original model. The validity of the proposed approach is verified through extensive experiments.