The Integrated Healthcare Timetabling competition 2024

Real-world timetabling problems in healthcare usually encompass several interdependent optimization problems. Despite their practical importance and the existence of algorithms for solving subproblems that compose these ‘integrated’ problems, there are no methodologies or guidelines for addressing them adequately. In the interest of stimulating research on these relevant integrated optimization problems, the authors prepared a computational challenge focusing on the Integrated Healthcare Timetabling Problem. In 2024, they launched an international competition associated with this original problem: the Integrated Healthcare Timetabling Competition. The scientific initiative can be called a success with respect to several criteria. The competition attracted a large number of participants from both industry and academia, leading to 32 teams submitting their computational results. Interestingly, the participants developed a diverse set of complementary algorithmic approaches, with several smart ideas to restrict the huge solution space or speed up the computations. This paper introduces the Integrated Healthcare Timetabling Competition’s statement, along with its regulations and datasets. It additionally reports the progress, participants’ submissions and results. All generated knowledge remains available to boost future scientific investigation, algorithm development and applications

On the Definition of the Spin Charge in Asymptotically-Flat Spacetimes

We propose a solution to a classic problem in gravitational physics consisting of defining the spin associated with asymptotically-flat spacetimes. We advocate that the correct asymptotic symmetry algebra to approach this problem is the generalized-BMS algebra gbms instead of the BMS algebra used hitherto in the literature for which a notion of spin is generically unavailable. We approach the problem of defining the spin charges from the perspective of coadjoint orbits of gbms and construct the complete set of Casimir invariants that determine gbms coadjoint orbits, using the notion of vorticity for gbms. This allows us to introduce spin charges for gbms as the generators of area-preserving diffeomorphisms forming its isotropy subalgebra. To elucidate the parallelism between our analysis and the Poincar & eacute; case, we clarify several features of the Poincar & eacute; embedding in gbms and reveal the presence of condensate fields associated with the symmetry breaking from gbms to Poincar & eacute;. We also introduce the notion of a rest frame available only for this extended algebra. This allows us to construct, from the spin generator, the gravitational analog of the Pauli-Luba & nacute;ski pseudo-vector. Finally, we obtain the gbms moment map, which we use to construct the gravitational spin charges and gravitational Casimirs from their dual algebra counterparts

Chitin and its effects when included in aquafeed

Chitin, the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature after cellulose, has been the sub- ject of increasing interest in recent years, particularly in the aquaculture sector. This review focuses on the effects of chitin in aquafeed on growth, nutrient utilization, gut microbiome modulation, and the immune system of aquatic organisms. Data from the literature showed significant variability in response to chitin by species, with some species benefiting from dietary chitin supplementation in terms of growth and immune health. However, excessive chitin inclusion led to negative effects on the protein and lipid digestibility. These results suggest that optimizing the amount of chitin-containing ingredients in aquafeed requires a deep understanding of each species’ nutritional needs and other studies needed for differ- ent aquaculture species. Furthermore, studies have highlighted the potential of chitin as an immunostimulant and promoter of gut health. In conclusion, chitin appears to be a promis- ing additive for sustainable aquaculture, but further research is needed to define best prac- tices for its use

Body composition determined with computed tomography at ICU admission as a potential long-term outcome assessment tool in critically ill patients: a post-hoc analysis of a prospective, observational study

Background: Body composition evaluated with computed tomography scan (CT) at intensive care unit (ICU) admission is a predictor of short-term mortality (six months). Little is known regarding long-term outcome. Our objective was to evaluate the potential predictor role of body composition at ICU admission evaluated with CT scan and long-term mortality (two years). Methods: Post-hoc analysis of a prospective observational study. Body composition evaluated at the level of the third lumbar vertebra (L3) was analyzed with dedicated software that automatically calculated the areas (cm2), determined the tissue composition by a Hounsfield unit (HU) and extracted fat component; all parameters were normalized to patient's height. Cox regression analysis was adopted to evaluate the association between statistically significant muscle parameters at univariate descriptive analysis and 2-years survival. Results: A total of fifty-one patients were evaluated for the analysis. Those who were alive at follow-up had a higher total muscle area compared to those who did not survive, 84.7 (68-99.4) versus 65.4 (59.2-84) cm2 per meter of height (P=0.025). However, no significant difference in fat area was found between survivors and non-survivors' group: the former had a fat area of 16.3 (10.9-23.4) cm2/m and the latter had 25.2 (14.8-31.5) cm2/m (P=0.166). Total muscle area was significantly associated with two-year mortality, showing a hazard ratio of 1.03 (1.01-1.06, P=0.023). Conclusions: Total muscle but not fat area evaluated at L3 at ICU admission is a prognostic marker of mortality at long-term follow-up in critically ill patients

Sguardi del mondo austro-tedesco sul friulano goriziano

Il contributo prende in esame opinioni e punti di vista che gli studiosi soprattutto austriaci hanno formulato in merito alla lingua friulana nell’arco di tempo compreso fra l’inizio dell’Ottocento e la Prima guerra mondiale. Si considerano innanzitutto gli studi di statistica etnografica, i quali per un verso sollevano discussioni sulle modalità di rilevamento delle nazionalità e delle lingue, e per un altro si intrecciano con i primi studi scientifici sul retoromanzo o ladino. Il tema del friulano affiora anche nelle opere enciclopediche e nella pubblicistica, e naturalmente a proposito della poesia, della narrativa e delle tradizioni popolari; infine, gli scritti di memorialistica danno conto della deli- cata fase di passaggio dalla Gorizia austriaca a quella italiana

Variation in Phrase-Frames and Rhetorical Moves: A Corpus-Based Approach to a Non-Academic Genre

This study explores variations in the connection between phrase-frames (p-frames) and rhetorical moves within a non-academic genre across different media types. Employing a corpus-based genre approach, it analyses a Footballer Obituary Corpus (FOC) of 50 texts drawn from broadsheets, tabloids, institutional obituaries, radio, and video platforms, with a total of 44,957 tokens. The research identifies patterns of linguistic and rhetorical features across media, employing a novel time-based rhetorical framework to categorise communicative moves. The findings reveal significant variation in how p-frames are employed across media. For example, while tabloid texts focus on announcing death with straightforward p-frames, broadsheets and institutional sources also highlight professional achievements. The study notes disparities in the prevalence of specific rhetorical moves, with “Recognition as an Established Professional” (Move T-4) dominating in most media, except in radio, which uses emotionally resonant language. Methodologically, the study integrates a function-first approach to move annotation and a frequency-dispersion threshold tailored to the small corpus size. Despite the limited size of the corpus, the study highlights how linguistic forms align with rhetorical functions within a multimodal and cross-media framework. It further introduces a time-based move structure and underscores the importance of semantic grouping in p-frame analysis. These insights extend the scope of corpus based genre studies into non-academic domains and demonstrate the utility of p-frames in understanding genre specific communicative strategies

A low computation saturated controller for a quadcopter position tracking with stability and convoluted input constraints guarantees

In the class of differentially flat systems, nonlinear dynamics can be transformed into an equivalent linear representation via a coordinate change and an input mapping. Despite this beneficial linearization, one significant hindrance is that the system constraints have a convoluted form in the new space (the flat output space), which is usually disregarded in the literature or bypassed via conservative approximation of the feasible domain. In this paper, based on a pre-stabilization design and a novel input saturation component, the nonlinear input constraints are particularly handled for the position tracking problem of quadcopters in the flat output space. While the system's stability is shown to hold by Lyapunov arguments, the practical viability of the method is validated both in simulation and experiments over a nano-drone platform. Moreover, with the explicit solution introduced for the proposed saturation function, this flatness-based saturated controller not only ensures stability and constraints satisfaction, but also requires low computational effort, allowing possible embedded implementations

I costi dell’assistenza domiciliare infermieristica in italia: evidenze dallo studio AIDOMUS-IT

Introduzione: L’invecchiamento della popolazione e l’aumento della cronicità richiedono un rafforzamento dell’assistenza territoriale. In Italia, tuttavia, mancano stime affidabili sui costi dell’assistenza infermieristica domiciliare, elemento cruciale per una pianificazione sostenibile dei servizi. Obiettivi: Stimare il costo medio dell’assistenza infermieristica domiciliare sulla base dei dati del progetto AIDOMUS-IT. Materiali e metodi: Studio osservazionale trasversale multicentrico, basato su due fasi di raccolta dati (aprile - ottobre 2023 per la prima fase e marzo 2024 per la seconda fase). Sono stati analizzati il tipo di prestazioni, i materiali utilizzati, il costo del personale, il tempo di assistenza e di trasporto. È stata condotta un’analisi di sensibilità deterministica e probabilistica per valutarne la robustezza. Risultati: Il costo medio giornaliero di una persona presa in carico in assistenza domiciliare (senza considerare il costo delle prestazioni erogate) è pari a €27,78. Tale costo potrebbe essere pari a € 120,81 se si considerassero anche i costi (stimati) delle prestazioni erogate al domicilio. In media, un infermiere effettua 6,84 accessi a domicilio per turno. Tra le variabili che influenzano maggiormente il costo complessivo vi è il numero di pazienti assistiti per turno. Discussione e conclusioni: L’assistenza infermieristica domiciliare si conferma un’alternativa economicamente vantaggiosa rispetto al ricovero ospedaliero. Investire in questo ambito può migliorare l’efficienza del sistema, la qualità delle cure e gli esiti per i pazienti cronici