Predicting open education competency level: A machine learning approach.

This article aims to study open education competency data through machine learning models to determine whether models can be built on decision rules using the features from the students' perceptions and classify them by the level of competency. Data was collected from a convenience sample of 326 students from 26 countries using the eOpen instrument. Based on a quantitative research approach, we analyzed the eOpen data using two machine learning models considering these findings: 1) derivation of decision rules from students' perceptions of knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values related to open education to predict their competence level using Decision Trees and Random Forests models, 2) analysis of the prediction errors in the machine learning models to find bias, and 3) description of decision trees from the machine learning models to understand the choices that both models made to predict the competency levels. The results confirmed our hypothesis that the students' perceptions of their knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values related to open education and its sub-competencies produced satisfactory data for building machine learning models to predict the participants' competency levels.

Gender prediction based on University students' complex thinking competency: An analysis from machine learning approaches.

This article aims to study machine learning models to determine their performance in classifying students by gender based on their perception of complex thinking competency. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 605 students from a private university in Mexico with the eComplexity instrument. In this study, we consider the following data analyses: 1) predict students' gender based on their perception of complex thinking competency and sub-competencies from a 25 items questionnaire, 2) analyze models' performance during training and testing stages, and 3) study the models' prediction bias through a confusion matrix analysis. Our results confirm the hypothesis that the four machine learning models (Random Forest, Support Vector Machines, Multi-layer Perception, and One-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network) can find sufficient differences in the eComplexity data to classify correctly up to 96.94% and 82.14% of the students' gender in the training and testing stage, respectively. The confusion matrix analysis revealed partiality in gender prediction among all machine learning models, even though we have applied an oversampling method to reduce the imbalance dataset. It showed that the most frequent error was to predict Male students as Female class. This paper provides empirical support for analyzing perception data through machine learning models in survey research. This work proposed a novel educational practice based on developing complex thinking competency and machine learning models to facilitate educational itineraries adapted to the training needs of each group to reduce social gaps existing due to gender.

A Pilot Educational Intervention to Support Primary Care Provider Performance of Skin Cancer Examinations.

Educational interventions to support Primary Care Provider (PCP) performance of skin cancer examinations typically train PCPs to "triage and refer," an approach that may result in diagnostic delays in regions without appropriate access to dermatology care. To address the needs of PCPs and patients in regions without appropriate access to dermatology care, we developed a multi-faceted pilot intervention, including a curriculum and telementoring, designed to support PCP performance of skin cancer detection examinations. Our intervention offers two levels of proficiency: "triage and refer" and "diagnose and manage." The pilot intervention was conducted in collaboration with the Texas Tech University of Health Sciences Center El Paso, TX Family and Community Medicine Department (TTUHSC-El Paso). Participation in the intervention was voluntary, and 18-22 family medicine resident physicians completed the intervention tests. The participating family medicine resident physicians demonstrated statistically significant gains in knowledge and self-efficacy at the immediate post-intervention time points. Further adaption of the pilot intervention is needed to meet the needs of practicing PCPs. The pilot tests require further adaption and validation. Translating education delivery from live/synchronous to interactive virtual/asynchronous modules will support greater educational dissemination, and telementoring support is essential to address challenging cases encountered during patient care.

Band structure of a rotating helical phononic crystal.

We consider an elastic helical medium whose tensor stiffness twirls uniformly along the helix axis. We are interested in analyzing the band structure when the whole material is externally forced to rotate around the helix axis to a fixed constant frequency. Departing from a general dynamic description of the elastic phenomena, we establish a set of equations for the displacement vector and the stress tensor. These equations allow us to calculate the band structure parametrized by the externally imposed rotating frequency. We find that the band structure strongly depends on the rotation frequency, and we show that backward and forward modes propagate differently, particularly for the longitudinal and right-polarized modes.

An electronic medical records study of population obesity prevalence in El Paso, Texas.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we determine the feasibility of using electronic medical record (EMR) data to determine obesity prevalence at the census tract level in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border. METHODS: 2012-2018 Body Mass Index (BMI kg/m2) data from a large university clinic system in was geocoded and aggregated to a census tract level. After cleaning and removing duplicate EMR and unusable data, 143,524 patient records were successful geocoded. Maps were created to assess representativeness of EMR data across census tracts, within El Paso County. Additionally, maps were created to display the distribution of obesity across the same geography. RESULTS: EMR data represented all but one El Paso census tract. Representation ranged from 0.7% to 34.9%. Greatest representation were among census tracts in and around clinics. The mean EMR data BMI (kg/m2) was 30.1, this is approximately 6% less than the 36.0% estimated for El Paso County using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS) estimate. At the census tract level, obesity prevalence ranged from 26.6 to 57.6%. The highest obesity prevalence were in areas that tended to be less affluent, with a higher concentration of immigrants, poverty and Latino ethnic concentration. CONCLUSIONS: EMR data use for obesity surveillance is feasible in El Paso County, Texas, a U.S.-Mexico border community. Findings indicate substantial obesity prevalence variation between census tracts within El Paso County that may be associated with population distributions related to socioeconomics.

Using Electronic Medical Record Data to Better Understand Obesity in Hispanic Neighborhoods in El Paso, Texas.

The prevalence of obesity has been persistent amongst Hispanics over the last 20 years. Socioeconomic inequities have led to delayed diagnosis and treatment of chronic medical conditions related to obesity. Factors contributing include lack of insurance and insufficient health education. It is well-documented that obesity amongst Hispanics is higher in comparison to non-Hispanics, but it is not well-understood how the socioeconomic context along with Hispanic ethnic concentration impact the prevalence of obesity within a community. Specifically studying obesity within Hispanic dominant regions of the United States, along the Texas-Mexico border will aid in understanding this relationship. El Paso, Texas is predominantly Mexican-origin Hispanic, making up 83% of the county's total population. Through the use of electronic medical records, BMI averages along with obesity prevalence were analyzed for 161 census tracts in the El Paso County. Geographic weighted regression and Hot Spot technology were used to analyze the data. This study did identify a positive association between Hispanic ethnic concentration and obesity prevalence within the El Paso County. Median income did have a direct effect on obesity prevalence while evidence demonstrates that higher education is protective for health.

Ear problems and injuries in athletes.

The ear is an unique organ--the principal structure involved in both hearing and balance. Although not common, problems with the ear may be encountered in specific sporting populations. Common conditions affecting the ear in the athlete include otitis externa, an infection of the external ear; external auditory canal exostoses, or abnormal bony growths in the canal; and otitis media, an infection of the middle ear. Given its position on the head, the ear is subject to trauma, often resulting in an auricular hematoma. Divers, due to pressure changes on descent and ascent, are subject to both ear barotrauma and ear decompression sickness. This article will discuss recognition, treatment, and prevention of these conditions affecting the ear in the athlete.

Interaction between an icosahedron Li(13) cluster and a graphene layer doped with a hydrogen atom.

It is known that graphene reacts with atomic hydrogen to form a hydrogenated sheet of graphene. In order to understand the nature of the interaction between hydrogen and lithium in hydrogenated samples, we have carried out first principle calculations. Density functional theory and molecular dynamics were used to study the interaction between an icosahedron Li(13) cluster, and a graphene layer doped with a hydrogen atom. It was found that a hydrogen atom is levitated from the graphene layer and absorbed into the cluster of Li at 300 K and atmospheric pressure, with a binding energy far exceeding that of the adsorption energy of a hydrogen atom on the graphene layer.

Estudio de casos y controles en un grupo de mujeres embarazadas con experiencias adversas en la infancia y/o adolescencia e infecciones de transmisión sexual / Case studies and controls in a group of pregnant with adverse experience in childhood and/or adolescence and sexually transmitted infections

Introduction Psychic traumas, also called adverse experiences, are events from the subject's life characterized by its intensity, the subject's inability to respond to them properly and the pathogenic lasting effects they cause in the psychic organization. The violence effects against women and girls are usually devastating for their reproductive health and other aspects of their physical and mental well-being. Besides injuries, violence causes an increase in the long-term risk of women developing other health problems. Women with a history of psychic mistreat or sexual abuse face also a bigger risk of non-expected or involuntary pregnancies, sexual transmitted infections and adverse results from pregnancy. High rates of childhood abuse were found: 42.2% had suffered physical mistreat, 21.4% had been insulted, 16.5% was victim of humiliation and 7.6% had been a victim of sexual abuse before fifteen years of age. The main aggressors were male relatives, the stepfather or the father. A study done in the United States found that women exposed to this form of violence suffered STI in adult age in a bigger proportion (10.7%) than the ones that were never exposed (5.7%). An investigation was made in the National Perinatolgy Institute called «STD/HIV-AIDS and Personality Disorders (PD) in pregnant women and their couples. Detection and prevention from high risk practices¼ with the objective -among others- to resolve the existing association between adverse experiences in childhood and the presence of sexually transmitted infections in gestation. Material and method The investigation design was of cases and controls; the characteristics of the study in relation to temporality was prospective with respect to the presence or absence of the pathogenic agent in gestation and retrospective (investigating adverse experiences in childhood), analytical referring to the analysis type and transverse with respect to the capture of the sample. The evaluation of the STIs was made through the Laboratory of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic of the INPer and from the pertinent clinic exams. The diagnostic evaluation was made on the basis of the structured clinic interviews for the diagnostic psychiatric evaluation of I and II axes of DSM-IV. To investigate adverse childhood experiences, a psychodynamic interview was made and answers were transcribed then to the questionnaire made by Whitfields, Dube, Felitti and Anda, who developed the instrument Adverse Experiences in Childhood and/or Adolescence (ACE) with the aim to measure the amplitude of the exposition to emotional, physical and sexual abuse, as well as family dysfunction in these stages of life. It includes seven categories of adverse experiences, three relative to active abuse and five to passive abuse: 1. psychological abuse; 2. physical abuse; 3. sexual abuse; 4. conjugal violence against the mother; 5. living with parent or adults with alcohol problems and/or substance abusers; 6. living with parents or adults with mental disorders or suicidal; 7. living with parents that had been in jail. Results One hundred seventy-eight pregnant women were divided in two groups, the first one with 89 participants, in which a virus that caused the STI was identified, and the second group was the control group with also 89 pregnant women without STI. Significant differences were obtained in the socioeconomic level. There was also a significant association between fathers of the women with STI that had some legal problem and had being sent to jail for a period of time (RM 3.311); they also show small alcoholic problems (RM 2.073). There was a significant association with the different types of passive abuse (carelessness, negligence and indifference) physical, emotional and sexual, emphasizing that the relation between these categories and having an STI by a virus is highly significant; this is, being exposed in childhood to adverse events, more probability to get a viral STI in adulthood. The cases group accumulated three or more in bigger proportion (20.2%) than the control group (9%). The STI pregnant group presented a bigger number of traumatic events (69.9%) in comparison to the group with no STI that was 48.3%. It is appraised the bigger prevalence of mental disorders in the STI pregnant group, having a disorder increased the potential risk of infection by 2.45 times (C:I to 95% that oscillates between 1.303 and 4.61). Conclusions The STI viral group and the control group are different concerning socioeconomic level and schooling, finding in the STI group a bigger proportion of women whose monthly family income is lower, the poverty as a risk factor and/or social vulnerability for the HIV infection, the interaction between living in poverty conditions and the difficulty to access and to stay in the national educative system are closely related. In addition, this case group was integrated in a bigger proportion with pregnant who were not united in the study period. It is important to mention that half of the pregnant that formed the HIV/ AIDS group suffered the pain of seeing their couple die. From the adverse experiences in childhood and/or adolescence that could have been in the start or been a beginning factor for getting afterwards a viral STI in adulthood, the significant ones were having lived with a alcohol abuser adult, thus being victim of carelessness, negligence or indifference, same as being hit, pushed, pushed or hit so hard to leave marks, humiliations, coarses, insults, feelings of being less and victim of being touched or having a sexual experience. These traumatic events happened simultaneously, mainly in the cases group where 40 pregnant declared being exposed to two or more categories in contrast with 22 of the control group. Alcohol abuse is a generalized health problem and common in all societies; pregnant women with STI were in bigger proportion more exposed to familiar alcohol than the control group and approximately half of them were at the same time victims of some forms of abuse or violence by their fathers or stepfathers. Studies made in 21 countries show that between 7% and the 36% of the women had accepted being victims of sexual aggressions during their childhood and, according to most of these studies, the rate of abuses suffered by girls is 1.5 to 3 times bigger than men. The same report makes evident the fact that between 133 and 275 millions of children from all over the world are witnesses of domestic violence each year; this is, witness violent scenes at their home, generally through fights between their parents or between their mother and couple, which can also seriously affect their well-being, development and their social interaction in childhood and adult age. It has also been found that suffering an active abuse in childhood is a risk factor for structuring a borderline personality disorder.

Resumen Introducción Los traumas psíquicos, también denominados experiencias adversas, son acontecimientos de la vida del sujeto caracterizados por su intensidad, la incapacidad del sujeto para responder a ellos adecuadamente y los efectos patógenos duraderos que provocan en la organización psíquica. Los efectos de la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas suelen ser devastadores para la salud reproductiva de la mujer y otros aspectos de su bienestar físico y mental. Además de causar lesiones, la violencia lleva a que aumente el riesgo a largo plazo de que las mujeres desarrollen otros problemas de salud. Las mujeres con una historia de maltrato físico o abuso sexual también enfrentan un riesgo mayor de embarazos no previstos o involuntarios, infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) y resultados adversos del embarazo. En el Instituto Nacional de Perinatología se realizó una investigación titulada «ETS/VIH-SIDA y trastornos de la personalidad en mujeres embarazadas y sus parejas. Detección y prevención de prácticas de alto riesgo¼ con el objetivo -entre otros- de determinar la asociación existente entre experiencias adversas en la infancia y la presencia de infecciones de transmisión sexual en la gestación. Material y método El diseño de la investigación fue de casos y controles; el estudio fue prospectivo respecto de la presencia o ausencia del agente patógeno en la gestación y retrospectivo (indagación de experiencias adversas en la infancia). La evaluación de las ITS se efectuó por medio del laboratorio; la evaluación diagnóstica se efectuó con base en las Entrevistas Clínicas Estructuradas para la evaluación diagnóstica psiquiátrica de los Ejes I y II del DSM-IV. Se aplicó el instrumento Experiencias Adversas en la Infancia y/o Adolescencia (ACE, por sus siglas en inglés), con el fin de medir la amplitud de la exposición al abuso emocional, físico y sexual, así como la disfunción familiar en estas etapas de la vida. El instrumento comprende siete categorías: 1. abuso psicológico; 2. abuso físico; 3. abuso sexual; 4. violencia conyugal contra la madre; 5. vivir con padres o adultos con problemas de alcoholismo y/o que eran abusadores de sustancias; 6. vivir con padres o adultos con trastornos mentales o suicidas; 7. vivir con padres que fueron encarcelados. Resultado Se estudiaron dos grupos, el primero de casos integrado con 89 embarazadas con ITS viral y el segundo fue el grupo control integrado también con 89 gestantes, sin ITS. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas en el nivel socioeconómico. Así mismo hubo una asociación significativa entre los padres de las mujeres con ITS que tuvieron algún problema con la ley por lo que habían sido encarcelados por un determinado periodo de tiempo (la razón de momios fue 3.311); y los que manifestaron leves problemas de alcoholismo (RM 2.073). Hubo una asociación significativa en: abuso pasivo, físico, emocional y sexual, donde destaca que la relación entre estas categorías y padecer una ITS por virus es altamente significativa. El grupo de las gestantes con ITS presentó un mayor número de problemas traumáticos (69.9%) en comparación con el grupo sin ITS que fue de 48.3%. Conclusiones De las experiencias adversas en la infancia y/o adolescencia, que pudieron estar en el origen o haber sido un factor iniciador para adquirir posteriormente una ITS de origen viral en la edad adulta, fueron significativas haber convivido con un adulto cercano con problema de abuso del alcohol y haber sido víctima de descuido, abuso físico, emocional o sexual.

[Pneumatosis coli]. / Neumatosis coli.

OBJECTIVE: To report a pneumatosis coli case. CASE REPORT: A 56 year old man was submitted to a routine medical check up. During rectosigmoidoscopy examination many submucous lesions of cystic aspect were found, which were demonstrated by different imaging methods and endoscopy. CONCLUSION: The pneumatosis coli is an infrequent pathology in our means and must be included in the differential diagnosis of secondary pneumatosis intestinalis.