The Impact of Data Characteristics on the Selection of Data Mining Methods for Predictive Classification

This research-in-process is exploring a contingency approach to the construction and selection of data mining models for predictive classification. This approach considers the structure of the data set and the relationships between and among the various attributes characterizing the data set, with the goal of selecting a model that provides greater insight into the data – and therefore predicts most accurately -- given a particular data structure. Preliminary results obtained from analysis of hospital patient records indicate that concentration indices, commonly used to measure firm concentration within an industry, are useful in characterizing data set structures and therefore in guiding the model selection process. The eventual goal of this research is the construction of a decision support system that can aid decision makers in the model selection task

Depression and Oral FTC/TDF Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Among Men and Transgender Women Who Have Sex With Men (MSM/TGW).

We conducted a longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of depressive symptomology in iPrEx, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of daily, oral FTC/TDF HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in men and transgender women who have sex with men. Depression-related adverse events (AEs) were the most frequently reported severe or life-threatening AEs and were not associated with being randomized to the FTC/TDF arm (152 vs. 144 respectively OR 0.66 95 % CI 0.35-1.25). Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) and a four questions suicidal ideation scale scores did not differ by arm. Participants reporting forced sex at anal sexual debut had higher CES-D scores (coeff: 3.23; 95 % CI 1.24-5.23) and were more likely to have suicidal ideation (OR 2.2; 95 % CI 1.09-4.26). CES-D scores were higher among people reporting non-condom receptive anal intercourse (ncRAI) (OR 1.46; 95 % CI 1.09-1.94). We recommend continuing PrEP during periods of depression in conjunction with provision of mental health services

Permutation Entropy and Bubble Entropy: Possible interactions and synergies between order and sorting relations

[EN] Despite its widely demonstrated usefulness, there is still room for improvement in the basic Permutation Entropy (PE) algorithm, as several subsequent studies have proposed in the recent years. For example, some improved PE variants try to address possible PE weaknesses, such as its only focus on ordinal information, and not on amplitude, or the possible detrimental impact of equal values in subsequences due to motif ambiguity. Other evolved PE methods try to reduce the influence of input parameters. A good representative of this last point is the Bubble Entropy (BE) method. BE is based on sorting relations instead of ordinal patterns, and its promising capabilities have not been extensively assessed yet. The objective of the present study was to comparatively assess the classification performance of this new method, and study and exploit the possible synergies between PE and BE. The claimed superior performance of BE over PE was first evaluated by conducting a series of time series classification tests over a varied and diverse experimental set. The results of this assessment apparently suggested that there is a complementary relationship between PE and BE, instead of a superior/inferior relationship. A second set of experiments using PE and BE simultaneously as the input features of a clustering algorithm, demonstrated that with a proper algorithm configuration, classification accuracy and robustness can benefit from both measures.Cuesta Frau, D.; Vargas-Rojo, B. (2020). Permutation Entropy and Bubble Entropy: Possible interactions and synergies between order and sorting relations. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering. 17(2):1637-1658. https://doi.org/10.3934/mbe.2020086S163716581721. C. Bandt and B. Pompe, Permutation entropy: A natural complexity measure for time series, Phys. Rev. Lett., 88 (2002), 174102.2. M. Zanin, L. Zunino, O. A. Rosso and D. Papo, Permutation entropy and its main biomedical and econophysics applications: A review, Entropy, 14 (2012), 1553-1577.14. F. Siokis, Credit market jitters in the course of the financial crisis: A permutation entropy approach in measuring informational efficiency in financial assets, Phys. A Statist. Mechan. Appl., 499 (2018).15. A. F. Bariviera, L. Zunino, M. B. Guercio, L. Martinez and O. Rosso, Efficiency and credit ratings: A permutation-information-theory analysis, J. Statist. Mechan. Theory Exper., 2013 (2013), P08007.16. A. F. Bariviera, M. B. Guercio, L. Martinez and O. Rosso, A permutation information theory tour through different interest rate maturities: the libor case, Philos. Transact. Royal Soc. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci., 373 (2015).20. B. Fadlallah, B. Chen, A. Keil and J. Príncipe, Weighted-permutation entropy: A complexity measure for time series incorporating amplitude information, Phys. Rev. E, 87 (2013), 022911.Deng, B., Cai, L., Li, S., Wang, R., Yu, H., Chen, Y., & Wang, J. (2016). Multivariate multi-scale weighted permutation entropy analysis of EEG complexity for Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive Neurodynamics, 11(3), 217-231. doi:10.1007/s11571-016-9418-924. D. Cuesta-Frau, Permutation entropy: Influence of amplitude information on time series classification performance, Math. Biosci. Eng., 5 (2019), 1-16.25. F. Traversaro, M. Risk, O. Rosso and F. Redelico, An empirical evaluation of alternative methods of estimation for Permutation Entropy in time series with tied values, arXiv e-prints, arXiv:1707.01517 (2017).26. D. Cuesta-Frau, M. Varela-Entrecanales, A. Molina-Picó and B. Vargas, Patterns with equal values in permutation entropy: Do they really matter for biosignal classification?, Complexity, 2018 (2018), 1-15.29. D. Cuesta-Frau, A. Molina-Picó, B. Vargas and P. González, Permutation entropy: Enhancing discriminating power by using relative frequencies vector of ordinal patterns instead of their shannon entropy, Entropy, 21 (2019).30. H. Azami and J. Escudero, Amplitude-aware permutation entropy: Illustration in spike detection and signal segmentation, Comput. Meth. Program. Biomed., 128 (2016), 40-51.32. G. Manis, M. Aktaruzzaman and R. Sassi, Bubble entropy: An entropy almost free of parameters, IEEE Transact. Biomed. Eng., 64 (2017), 2711-2718.34. L. Zunino, F. Olivares, F. Scholkmann and O. A. Rosso, Permutation entropy based time series analysis: Equalities in the input signal can lead to false conclusions, Phys. Lett. A, 381 (2017), 1883-1892.38. D. E. Lake, J. S. Richman, M. P. Griffin and J. R. Moorman, Sample entropy analysis of neonatal heart rate variability, Am. J. Physiology-Regulatory Integrat. Comparat. Physiol., 283 (2002), R789-R797, PMID: 12185014.41. I. Unal, Defining an Optimal Cut-Point Value in ROC Analysis: An Alternative Approach, Comput. Math. Methods Med., 2017 (2017), 14.47. A. K. Jain, M. N. Murty and P. J. Flynn, Data clustering: A review, ACM Comput. Surv., 31 (1999), 264-323.51. J. Sander, M. Ester, H.-P. Kriegel and X. Xu, Density-based clustering in spatial databases: The algorithm gdbscan and its applications, Data Min. Knowl. Discov., 2 (1998), 169-194.52. J. Wu, Advances in K-means Clustering: A Data Mining Thinking, Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2012.53. S. Panda, S. Sahu, P. Jena and S. Chattopadhyay, Comparing fuzzy-c means and k-means clustering techniques: A comprehensive study, in Advances in Computer Science, Engineering & Applications (eds. D. C. Wyld, J. Zizka and D. Nagamalai), Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012, 451-460.54. A. L. Goldberger, L. A. N. Amaral, L. Glass, J. M. Hausdorff, P. C. Ivanov, R. G. Mark, et al., PhysioBank, PhysioToolkit, and PhysioNet: Components of a new research resource for complex physiologic signals, Circulation, 101 (2000), 215-220.58. R. G. Andrzejak, K. Lehnertz, F. Mormann, C. Rieke, P. David and C. E. Elger, Indications of nonlinear deterministic and finite-dimensional structures in time series of brain electrical activity: Dependence on recording region and brain state, Phys. Rev. E, 64 (2001), 061907.60. N. Iyengar, C. K. Peng, R. Morin, A. L. Goldberger and L. A. Lipsitz, Age-related alterations in the fractal scaling of cardiac interbeat interval dynamics, Am. J. Physiology-Regulatory Integrat. Comparat. Physiol., 271 (1996), R1078-R1084, PMID: 8898003

Autoimmune Enteropathy with a CD8\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e CD7\u3csup\u3e-\u3c/sup\u3e T-cell Small Bowel Intraepithelial Lymphocytosis: Case Report and Literature Review

Background Adult onset autoimmune enteropathy (AIE) is a rare condition characterized by diarrhea refractory to dietary therapy diagnosed in patients with evidence of autoimmune conditions. Auto-antibodies to gut epithelial cells and other tissues are commonly demonstrated. Despite increasing awareness, the pathogenesis, histologic, immunologic and clinical features of AIE remain uncertain. There remains controversy regarding the diagnostic criteria, the frequency and types of auto-antibodies and associated autoimmune conditions, and the extent and types of histologic and immunologic abnormalities. CD4+ T-cells are thought to at least responsible for this condition; whether other cell types, including B- and other T-cell subsets are involved, are uncertain. We present a unique case of AIE associated with a CD8+CD7- lymphocytosis and review the literature to characterize the histologic and immunologic abnormalities, and the autoantibodies and autoimmune conditions associated with AIE. Case Presentation We present a case of immune mediated enteropathy distinguished by the CD8+CD7- intra-epithelial and lamina propria lymphocytosis. Twenty-nine cases of AIE have been reported. The majority of patients had auto-antibodies (typically anti-enterocyte), preferential small bowel involvement, and predominately CD3+ CD4+ infiltrates. Common therapies included steroids or immuno-suppressive agents and clinical response with associated with histologic improvement. Conclusions AIE is most often characterized (1) IgG subclass anti-epithelial cell antibodies, (2) preferential small bowel involvement, and (3) CD3+ alphabeta TCR+ infiltrates; there is insufficient evidence to conclude CD4+ T-cells are solely responsible in all cases of AIE

Resistencia al esfuerzo cortante en suelos pumíticos

La mayoría de los suelos que se encuentran en el Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara provienen principalmente de la caldera de La Primavera cuya última actividad se dio en tiempos geológicos recientes, hace 30,000 años aproximadamente. Actualmente la técnica de penetración estándar (SPT) es la más utilizada para la exploración del subsuelo y para la obtención de los parámetros de comportamiento mecánico; sin embargo, hay pocos trabajos que relacionen los datos obtenidos con esta técnica y la resistencia al esfuerzo cortante de los suelos de Guadalajara. Como etapa inicial para correlacionar estos valores, se presenta este trabajo, se realizaron pruebas de corte directo y triaxiales variando características físicas de los suelos y registrando la resistencia al esfuerzo cortante máxima y residual: se varió su granulometría, peso volumétrico seco y contenido de agua. Se determinó la influencia de estos factores con la resistencia al esfuerzo cortante. El mejor ajuste se dio con el Peso Volumétrico Seco. Además algunas pruebas demuestran que los suelos presentan una resistencia por cohesión que debería ser considerada al estudiar el comportamiento de estos suelos. En un trabajo posterior se deberán relacionar estos resultados con los datos obtenidos por medio de la prueba de penetración estándar

Correlación entre propiedades mecánicas y propiedades físicas en suelos pumíticos no saturados

Se realizaron diversas pruebas de caracterización física (granulometría, contenido de agua, densidad, etc.) y de comportamiento mecánico (corte directo y permeabilidad) en suelos pumíticos que representan la gran mayoría de los suelos (depósitos piroclásticos) de la zona metropolitana de guadalajara. Dichos suelos están conformados por arenas limosas y cenizas provenientes de la actividad volcánica reciente en el valle de Atemajac. Se llevó a cabo un análisis de regresión multivariable para poder obtener expresiones matemáticas que resolvieran las propiedades mecánicas de estos suelos a partir de sus propiedades índices. Las expresiones que presentamos son ecuaciones prácticas que proponemos como una forma alternativa para obtener la resistencia al esfuerzo cortante y la permeabilidad de los suelos pumíticos, a partir de propiedades físicas sencillas de obtener

Alpha-thalassemia. Case report alpha-thalassemia in a Costa Rican family, A case report

This case report highlights the importance for health care providers to be aware of the αlpha‐thalassemia syndromes, their relevance to clinical care and family counseling, appropriate diagnostic algorithm for definitive diagnosis.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Centro de Investigación en Hematología y Trastornos Afines (CIHATA

Approaches for advancing scientific understanding of macrosystems

The emergence of macrosystems ecology (MSE), which focuses on regional- to continental-scale ecological patterns and processes, builds upon a history of long-term and broad-scale studies in ecology. Scientists face the difficulty of integrating the many elements that make up macrosystems, which consist of hierarchical processes at interacting spatial and temporal scales. Researchers must also identify the most relevant scales and variables to be considered, the required data resources, and the appropriate study design to provide the proper inferences. The large volumes of multi-thematic data often associated with macrosystem studies typically require validation, standardization, and assimilation. Finally, analytical approaches need to describe how cross-scale and hierarchical dynamics and interactions relate to macroscale phenomena. Here, we elaborate on some key methodological challenges of MSE research and discuss existing and novel approaches to meet them

Diferentes ecuaciones de falla al cortante en suelos pumíticos no saturados

Se realizaron pruebas de corte directo en suelos pumíticos que representan a la gran mayoría de los suelos (depósitos piroclásticos) de la Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara. Dichos suelos están conformados por arenas limosas y cenizas provenientes de la actividad volcánica reciente (geológicamente hablando) en el valle de Atemajac. Para las pruebas de corte directo se utilizaron gráficas esfuerzo cortante vs esfuerzo normal y se resolvió trabajar con cuatro variables independientes: granulometría (D10 y % Que pasa malla No.200), contenido de agua (w), densidad y esfuerzo efectivo. De este modo las variables dependientes resultan ser: esfuerzo cortante, ángulo de fricción y cohesión

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey : baryon acoustic oscillations in the Data Releases 10 and 11 Galaxy samples

We present a one per cent measurement of the cosmic distance scale from the detections of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of galaxies from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. Our results come from the Data Release 11 (DR11) sample, containing nearly one million galaxies and covering approximately 8500 square degrees and the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.7. We also compare these results with those from the publicly released DR9 and DR10 samples. Assuming a concordance Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, the DR11 sample covers a volume of 13 Gpc3 and is the largest region of the Universe ever surveyed at this density. We measure the correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the BAO feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance of over 7σ in both the correlation function and power spectrum. Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch, rd, which has a value of rd,fid = 149.28 Mpc in our fiducial cosmology. We find DV = (1264 ± 25 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) at z = 0.32 and DV = (2056 ± 20 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) at z = 0.57. At 1.0 per cent, this latter measure is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. Separating the clustering along and transverse to the line of sight yields measurements at z = 0.57 of DA = (1421 ± 20 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) and H = (96.8 ± 3.4 km s−1 Mpc−1)(rd,fid/rd). Our measurements of the distance scale are in good agreement with previous BAO measurements and with the predictions from cosmic microwave background data for a spatially flat CDM model with a cosmological constant.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe