Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unusual ocean‐atmosphere conditions in the tropical Indian Ocean during 1994

The southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (SETIO) was characterized by unusually cold sea surface temperature (SST) and strong northwestward alongshore surface winds during 1994. Using multi‐source data sets including ocean model simulation, two key processes are identified for the SETIO cooling. Entrainment cooling produced most of the negative SST anomaly near the coast whereas evaporative cooling dominated the process away from the coast. Convection was anomalously suppressed over SETIO and the divergence of moist air from the region helped the local evaporative process. This also led to anomalous moisture transports that explain the enhanced convection over the central equatorial Indian Ocean, India and East Asia. The positive feedback between the enhanced and suppressed convection regions in turn helped maintain the surface wind anomalies. These evidences clearly indicate the existence of an ocean‐atmosphere coupled phenomenon in the Indian Ocean during 1994.
Childhood Trauma, Perceived Stress, and Hair Cortisol in Adults With and Without Cardiovascular Disease

Objective Childhood trauma has been associated with greater psychological and physical morbidity, including a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). This may partially reflect trauma-induced disturbances in how stress is later perceived and regulated. This study evaluated the associations of childhood trauma with perceived stress and hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) in a large sample of adults with coronary artery disease (CAD) and in non-CVD patients experiencing other nonfatal illnesses. Whether sex, age, or CVD status influenced these associations was also examined. Methods A total of 1124 men and women (aged 65.2 [6.9] years) recruited from a hospital cohort completed the Childhood Trauma and Perceived Stress Questionnaires, whereas hair samples were obtained from 598 participants. Health status was confirmed via medical records. Results Moderate to severe childhood trauma was experienced by 359 participants. Childhood trauma was associated with greater perceived stress levels for the past 2 years (r = .308, p = .01; &bgr; = 0.263, p < .001), but not 3-month cortisol secretion in hair. Perceived stress correlated negatively with age (r = −.241, p < .001). In secondary analyses, age moderated the relation between sexual abuse and perceived stress (&bgr; = −0.067, p = .016). Although sexual abuse was associated with greater levels of perceived stress among all participants, this relation was strongest in younger individuals. Conclusions Participants who experienced trauma in their youth reported greater levels of perceived stress, but not HCC, in late adulthood. Whether this suggests intact hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal regulation in those exposed to childhood trauma or whether this reflects the characteristics of our sample requires further investigation.
IMPACT OF CROSS WINDS IN POLAR REGIONS ON GOCE ACCELEROMETER AND GRADIOMETER DATA

GOCE Vyy gravity gradients show a signature around the magnetic poles when compared to corresponding reference gradients computed with EGM08. These signatures have no gravitational origin. This hints at an insufficiency of the GOCE processing chain. In this work we are able to show that cross winds have a significant impact onto common mode accelerations of GOCE. This impact can clearly be related to the signature in the Vyy gravity gradients in the time domain, which is further evidence for a necessary improvement of the inverse calibration matrices (ICMs). According to the reprocessing of the GOCE data, as carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), we vary the scale factor within the ICMs which is mainly contributing to the signals observed around the magnetic poles.
CASE-BASED REASONING FOR COURSE TIMETABLING PROBLEMS

The research in this thesis investigates Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), a Knowledge-Based Reasoning technique that proved to be capable of providing good solutions in educational course timetabling problems. Following the basic idea behind CBR, experiences in solving previous similar timetabling problems are employed to find the solutions for new problems. A basic CBR system that is hierarchically organized with structured knowledge representations by attribute graphs is proposed in Chapter Four. The system is then further improved to solve a wider range of problems, which is described in Chapter Five. Evaluations on a large number of experiments indicate that this approach could provide a significant step forward in timetabling and scheduling research. This basic system works well on relatively small problems. To deal with this drawback a multiple-retrieval approach that partitions large timetabling problems into small solvable sub-problems is presented in Chapter Six. Good results are obtained from a wide range of experiments. In Chapter Seven, a new idea is introduced in CBR for solving timetabling problems by investigating the approach to select the most appropriate heuristic method rather than to employ it directly on the problem, in the attempt to raise the level of generality at which we can operate. All the evidence obtained from the first stage experiments indicates that there is a range of promising future directions. Finally in Chapter Eight the results of the work are evaluated and some directions for future work are present.
Postoperative complications and prognosis after lobar resection versus sublobar resection in elderly patients with clinical Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVES The study aimed to investigate the outcomes of sublobar resection in elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. METHODS A total of 205 patients aged ≥75 years were identified from 794 consecutive patients who underwent complete surgical resection for clinical Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer. The outcomes of lobectomy and sublobar resection were compared. Propensity scores were estimated for multivariable analyses and matching. RESULTS Sublobar resection (n = 99) was more frequently performed than lobectomy (n = 106) in older patients (P = 0.027) and those with lower maximum standardized uptake on positron emission tomography (P < 0.001), lower T stage (P < 0.001), lower %vital capacity (P = 0.007) and lower %diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (P = 0.025). Severe (≥Grade IIIa) postoperative complications occurred more frequently with lobectomy (11 of 106 procedures, 10.4%) than with sublobar resection (5 of 99, 5.1%; P = 0.16). In propensity score-adjusted multivariable analysis, lobectomy was an independent predictive factor for severe postoperative complications (odds ratio 3.49, 95% confidence interval 1.01-12.05; P = 0.048). Overall survival (OS) was not significantly different following lobectomy (5-year OS 67.2%) or sublobar resection (5-year OS 73.9%; P = 0.93). In multivariable analysis, the surgical procedure was not an independent predictive factor for OS (lobectomy: hazard ratio 1.03, 95% confidence interval 0.49-2.16; P = 0.94). CONCLUSIONS Sublobar resection may be the optimal procedure in elderly patients with clinical Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer and is associated with less severe postoperative complications than lobectomy and similar OS.
Association between e‐alert implementation for detection of acute kidney injury and outcomes: a systematic review

Background. Electronic alerts (e‐alerts) for acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized patients are increasingly being implemented; however, their impact on outcomes remains uncertain. Methods. We performed a systematic review. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for original studies published between 1990 and 2016. Randomized, quasi‐randomized, observational and before‐and‐after studies that included hospitalized patients, implemented e‐alerts for AKI and described their impact on one of care processes, patient‐centred outcomes or resource utilization measures were included. Results. Our search yielded six studies (n = 10 165 patients). E‐alerts were generally automated, triggered through electronic health records and not linked to clinical decision support. In pooled analysis, e‐alerts did not improve mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.05; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.84‐1.31; n = 3 studies; n = 3425 patients; I2 = 0%] or reduce renal replacement therapy (RRT) use (OR 1.20; 95% CI, 0.91‐1.57; n = 2 studies; n = 3236 patients; I2 = 0%). Isolated studies reported improvements in selected care processes. Pooled analysis found no significant differences in prescribed fluid therapy. Conclusions. In the available studies, e‐alerts for AKI do not improve survival or reduce RRT utilization. The impact of e‐alerts on processes of care was variable. Additional research is needed to understand those aspects of e‐alerts that are most likely to improve care processes and outcomes.
Limited Use of Adjuvant Therapy in Patients With Resected Gallbladder Cancer Despite a Strong Association With Survival

Background: There are no randomized data to guide clinicians treating patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC). Several retrospective studies reported the survival benefits of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) and chemoradiation (CRT). In this paper, we examine whether these publications have impacted the utilization of adjuvant therapies and whether their survival benefits are evident in a contemporary cohort of patients. Methods: Using the National Cancer Data Base, we identified 5029 patients diagnosed with T1‐3N0‐1 GBC and treated with surgical resection from 2005 to 2013. We described trends in receipt of adjuvant treatments for three time periods (2005–2007, 2008–2010, 2011–2013) and calculated three-year overall survival (OS) probabilities for 2989 patients treated in 2005–2010. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: The percentage of patients who received no adjuvant treatments was unchanged from 2005 to 2013. Adjuvant RT decreased from 4.2% to 1.7% (P < .001), adjuvant chemotherapy increased from 8.3% to 13.8% (P < .001), and adjuvant CRT remained stable at 15.9% (P = .98). Adjuvant treatments were associated with improved three-year OS, with adjusted hazard ratio of 0.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.39 to 0.58) for CRT, 0.77 (95% CI = 0.61 to 0.97) for chemotherapy, and 0.63 (95% CI = 0.44 to 0.92) for RT. Adjuvant CRT was associated with improved survival in all categories, except T1N0, and in patients with negative and positive margins. Conclusion: Over the past decade there was no increase in the utilization of adjuvant therapies in the United States for patients with resected GBC. Adjuvant therapy is associated with statistically significantly improved three-year OS. This analysis should form the basis for current clinical recommendations and support future prospective trials.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 DNA Decay Dynamics With Early, Long-term Virologic Control of Perinatal Infection

Background. Early antiretroviral therapy (ART) limits proviral reservoirs, a goal for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remission strategies. Whether this is an immediate or long-term effect of virologic suppression (VS) in perinatal infection is unknown. Methods. We quantified HIV-1 DNA longitudinally for up to 14 years in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) among 61 perinatally HIV-1-infected youths in the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study who achieved VS at different ages. Participants in group 1 (n = 13) were <1 year of age and in group 2 (n = 48) from 1 through 5 years of age at VS. Piecewise linear mixed-effects regression models assessed the effect of age at VS on HIV-1 DNA trajectories during VS. Results. In the first 2 years following VS, HIV-1 DNA levels decreased by -0.25 (95% confidence interval [CI], -.36 to -.13) log10 copies/million PBMCs per year and was faster with early VS by age 1 year compared with after age 1 (-0.50 and -0.15 log10 copies/million PBMCs per year, respectively). Between years 2 and 14 from VS, HIV-1 DNA decayed by -0.05 (95% CI, -.06 to -.03) log10 copies/million PBMCs per year and was no longer significantly different between groups. The estimated mean half-life of HIV-1 DNA from VS was 15.9 years and was shorter for group 1 compared to group 2 at 5.9 years and 18.8 years, respectively (P = .09). Adjusting for CD4 cell counts had no effect on decay estimates. Conclusions. Early effective, long-term ART initiated from infancy leads to decay of HIV-1-infected cells to exceedingly low concentrations desired for HIV-1 remission strategies.
Computational modeling of the explosion and detonation of high explosives

The detonation of hundreds of explosive devices from either a transportation or stor­ age accident is an extremely dangerous event. Motivation for this work came from a transportation accident where a truck carrying 16,000 kg of seismic boosters overturned, caught fire and detonated. The damage was catastrophic, creating a crater 24 m wide by 10 m deep in the middle of the highway. Our particular interest is understanding the fundamental physical mechanisms by which convective deflagration of cylindrical PBX 9501 devices can transition to a fully-developed detonation in transportation and storage accidents. Predictive computer simulations of large-scale deflagrations and detonations are dependent on the availability of robust reaction models embedded in a computational framework capable of running on massively parallel computer architectures. Our research group has been developing such models in the Uintah Computational Framework, which is capable of scaling up to 512 K cores. The current Deflagration to Detonation Transition (DDT) model merges a combustion model from Ward, Son, and Brewster tha t captures the effects of pressure and initial temperature on the burn rate, with a criteria model for burning in cracks of damaged explosives from Berghout et al., and a detonation model from Souers describing fully developed detonation. The prior extensive validation against experimental tests was extended to a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. We made changes to the reactant equation of state-enabling predictions of combustions, explosions, and detonations over a range of pressures spanning five orders of magnitude. A resolution dependence was eliminated from the reaction model facilitating large scale simulations to be run at a resolution of 2 mm without loss of fidelity. Adjustments were also made to slow down the flame propagation of conductive and convective deflagration. Large twoand three-dimensional simulations revealed two dominant mechanisms for the initiation of a DDT, inertial confinement and Impact to Detonation Transition. Understanding these mechanisms led to identifying ways to package and store explosive devices tha t reduced the probability of a detonation. We determined tha t the arrangement of the explosive cylinders and the number of devices packed in a box greatly affected the propensity to transition to a detonation. For inspiring my love of science. For encouraging me to pursue my dreams. For their never ending love and support. This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Jeff and Trish Beckvermit. I love you. Thank you.
Use of text-mining methods to improve efficiency in the calculation of drug exposure to support pharmacoepidemiology studies

Abstract Background Efficient generation of structured dose instructions that enable researchers to calculate drug exposure is central to pharmacoepidemiology studies. Our aim was to design and test an algorithm to codify dose instructions, applied to the NHS Scotland Prescribing Information System (PIS) that records about 100 million prescriptions per annum. Methods A natural language processing (NLP) algorithm was developed that enabled free-text dose instructions to be represented by three attributes – quantity, frequency and qualifier – specified by three, three and two variables, respectively. A sample of 15 593 distinct dose instructions was used to test, validate and refine the algorithm. The final algorithm used a zero-assumption approach and was then applied to the full dataset. Results The initial algorithm generated structured output for 13 152 (84.34%) of the 15 593 sample dose instructions, and reviewers identified 767 (5.83%) incorrect translations, giving an accuracy of 94.17%. Following subsequent refinement of the algorithm rules, application to the full dataset of 458 227 687 prescriptions (99.67% had dose instructions represented by 4 964 083 distinct instructions) generated a structured output for 92.3% of dose instruction texts. This varied by therapeutic area (from 86.7% for the central nervous system to 96.8% for the cardiovascular system). Conclusions We created an NLP algorithm, operational at scale, to produce structured output that gives data users maximum flexibility to formulate, test and apply their own assumptions according to the medicines under investigation. Text mining approaches can provide a solution to the safe and efficient management and provisioning of large volumes of data generated through our health systems.
Advance Care Planning in Skilled Nursing Facilities: A Multisite Examination of Professional Judgments

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Lack of advance care planning (ACP) may increase hospitalizations and impact the quality of life for skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents, especially African American residents who may be less likely to receive ACP discussions. We examined the professional judgments of SNF providers to see if race of SNF residents and providers, and risk for hospitalization for residents influenced professional judgments as to when ACP was needed and feelings of responsibility for ensuring ACP discussions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Nurses and social workers (n = 350) within 29 urban SNFs completed surveys and rated vignettes describing eight typical SNF residents. Linear mixed modeling was used to examine factors that impacted ratings of need for ACP and responsibility for ensuring ACP. RESULTS Neither the race of the provider, resident, nor the interaction of the two were associated with either outcome variable. In contrast, providers rated (on a 9-point scale) residents at high risk for hospitalization as more in need of ACP (estimate = 0.86, confidence interval [CI] 0.65, 1.07) and felt more responsible for ensuring ACP (estimate = 0.60, CI 0.42, 0.78). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Research on ACP is continuing to evolve and these results show the primacy of disease trajectory variables on providers' judgments about ACP. Differences between providers indicate a need for stronger policies and education. Further, research comparing rural, suburban, and urban SNFs is needed to explore possible forms of structural racism such as residential and SNF segregation.
Mobile Phone Apps to Improve Medication Adherence: A Systematic Stepwise Process to Identify High-Quality Apps

Background There are a growing number of mobile phone apps available to support people in taking their medications and to improve medication adherence. However, little is known about how these apps differ in terms of features, quality, and effectiveness. Objective We aimed to systematically review the medication reminder apps available in the Australian iTunes store and Google Play to assess their features and their quality in order to identify high-quality apps. Methods This review was conducted in a similar manner to a systematic review by using a stepwise approach that included (1) a search strategy; (2) eligibility assessment; (3) app selection process through an initial screening of all retrieved apps and full app review of the included apps; (4) data extraction using a predefined set of features considered important or desirable in medication reminder apps; (5) analysis by classifying the apps as basic and advanced medication reminder apps and scoring and ranking them; and (6) a quality assessment by using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), a reliable tool to assess mobile health apps. Results We identified 272 medication reminder apps, of which 152 were found only in Google Play, 87 only in iTunes, and 33 in both app stores. Apps found in Google Play had more customer reviews, higher star ratings, and lower cost compared with apps in iTunes. Only 109 apps were available for free and 124 were recently updated in 2015 or 2016. Overall, the median number of features per app was 3.0 (interquartile range 4.0) and only 18 apps had ≥9 of the 17 desirable features. The most common features were flexible scheduling that was present in 56.3% (153/272) of the included apps, medication tracking history in 54.8% (149/272), snooze option in 34.9% (95/272), and visual aids in 32.4% (88/272). We classified 54.8% (149/272) of the included apps as advanced medication reminder apps and 45.2% (123/272) as basic medication reminder apps. The advanced apps had a higher number of features per app compared with the basic apps. Using the MARS instrument, we were able to identify high-quality apps that were rated as being very interesting and entertaining, highly interactive and customizable, intuitive, and easy to use and to navigate as well as having a high level of visual appeal and good-quality information. Conclusions Many medication reminder apps are available in the app stores; however, the majority of them did not have many of the desirable features and were, therefore, considered low quality. Through a systematic stepwise process, we were able to identify high-quality apps to be tested in a future study that will provide evidence on the use of medication reminder apps to improve medication adherence.
On Exponential Almost Sure Stability of Random Jump Systems

This paper is concerned with a class of random jump systems represented by transition operators, which includes switched linear systems with strictly stationary switching signals in infinite modes space as its special case. A series of necessary and sufficient conditions are established for almost sure stability of this class of random jump systems under different scenarios. The stability criteria obtained are further extended to Markov jump linear systems with infinite states, and hence a unified approach to describing the almost sure stability of MJLSs is addressed under this context. All the results in the work are developed for both the continuous- and discrete-time systems.