An Agent-Based Representation of the Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice

Cohen, March and Olsen\'s Garbage Can Model (GCM) of organizational choice represent perhaps the first – and remains by far the most influential –agent-based representation of organizational decision processes. According to the GCM organizations are conceptualized as crossroads of time-dependent flows of four distinct classes of objects: \'participants,\' \'opportunities,\' \'solutions\' and \'problems.\' Collisions among the different objects generate events called \'decisions.\' In this paper we use NetLogo to build an explicit agent-based representation of the original GCM. We conduct a series of simulation experiments to validate and extend some of the most interesting conclusions of the GCM. We show that our representation is able to reproduce a number of properties of the original model. Yet, unlike the original model, in our representation these properties are not encoded explicitly, but emerge from general principles of the Garbage Can decision processes.Organization Theory, Garbage Can Model, Agent-Based Modelling

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Occurrence of ESKAPE Bacteria Group in Dogs, and the Related Zoonotic Risk in Animal-Assisted Therapy, and in Animal-Assisted Activity in the Health Context

Animal-assisted interventions are widely implemented in different contexts worldwide. Particularly, animal-assisted therapies and animal-assisted activities are often implemented in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and other health facilities. These interventions bring several benefits to patients but can also expose them to the risk of infection with potentially zoonotic agents. The dog is the main animal species involved used in these interventions. Therefore, we aimed at collecting data regarding the occurrence of the pathogens ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp.) in dogs, in order to draft guidelines concerning the possible monitoring of dogs involved in animal-assisted therapies and animal-assisted activities in healthcare facilities. We performed a literature search using the PRISMA guidelines to examine three databases: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Out of 2604 records found, 52 papers were identified as eligible for inclusion in the review/meta-analysis. Sixteen papers reported data on E. faecium; 16 on S. aureus; nine on K. pneumoniae; four on A. baumannii; eight on P. aeruginosa; and six on Enterobacter spp. This work will contribute to increased awareness to the potential zoonotic risks posed by the involvement of dogs in animal-assisted therapies, and animal-assisted activities in healthcare facilities

Evaluation of energy conservation opportunities through Energy Performance Contracting: A case study in Italy

Non-residential buildings like healthcare ones contribute to energy consumption and cause a negative environmental impact. This is mainly due to the age of the buildings, their poor level of energy efficiency and the implementation of only a basic maintenance plan. Owing to the very limited budget available for public administrators, Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), that entails the involvement of an Energy Service Company (ESCo), can provide the entire or part of the capital needed for investments aimed at progressively increasing energy efficiency over their service life. In this paper, three acute hospitals and two community clinics built in Italy are analysed, in order to assess the economic feasibility of several energy renovation actions that can be included within EPC contracts. To this purpose, the outcomes of energy audits carried out in 2014 about these buildings are reported, which involved analyses of consumption measured over the previous three years and assessment of use profiles for the development of models to break down the overall consumption and to estimate potential savings. Diverse improvement strategies were assessed, consisting in either isolated or combined renovation actions and tested on the five buildings, whose comparison was carried out in terms of energy saving, pollution reduction and economic feasibility. As a result, the best combined renovation actions per each hospital were recommended, that included - but were not limited to - the improvement of the control and regulation of existing sub-systems without replacement, partial replacement of other sub-systems and integration of renewables. Finally, each scenario was evaluated through the payback period and other economic performance indexes in order-to assess the feasibility of the EPC framework when applied to this case study

Managing Energy Retrofit of Acute Hospitals and Community Clinics through EPC Contracting: The MARTE Project

Abstract Acute hospitals and community clinics contribute to energy consumption and have a negative environmental impact. This is mainly due to the age of the buildings, a poor level of energy efficiency and a basic maintenance plan. Owing to the very limited money available for public administrators, Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), involving an Energy Service Company (ESCo), can provide the capital needed for investments aimed at increasing energy efficiency. In this paper three acute hospitals and two community clinics in Italy are analyzed prior to EPC development in order to assess the economic feasibility of retrofit strategies. The outcome of energy audits carried out in 2014, the analyses of consumption measured over the last 3 years, and the assessment of use profiles were all considered for the development of models to break down the overall consumption and to assess potential savings. Recommended improvement strategies include better insulation in envelopes, enhancement of mechanical and lighting equipment, use of renewable energy, better regulation of systems. Finally, payback periods for the most likely scenarios were evaluated

On the Use of Fuzzy and Permutation Entropy in Hand Gesture Characterization from EMG Signals: Parameters Selection and Comparison

The surface electromyography signal (sEMG) is widely used for gesture characterization; its reliability is strongly connected to the features extracted from sEMG recordings. This study aimed to investigate the use of two complexity measures, i.e., fuzzy entropy (FEn) and permutation entropy (PEn) for hand gesture characterization. Fourteen upper limb movements, sorted into three sets, were collected on ten subjects and the performances of FEn and PEn for gesture descriptions were analyzed for different computational parameters. FEn and PEn were able to properly cluster the expected numbers of gestures, but computational parameters were crucial for ensuring clusters' separability and proper gesture characterization. FEn and PEn were also compared with other eighteen classical time and frequency domain features through the minimum redundancy maximum relevance algorithm and showed the best predictive importance scores in two gesture sets; they also had scores within the subset of the best five features in the remaining one. Further, the classification accuracies of four different feature sets presented remarkable increases when FEn and PEn are included as additional features. Outcomes support the use of FEn and PEn for hand gesture description when computational parameters are properly selected, and they could be useful in supporting the development of robotic arms and prostheses myoelectric control

Glazed sgraffito ware from Torre Alemanna (Foggia, fifteenth to sixteenth century A.D.): technological aspects of a local production

The archaeometric investigation of 46 potsherds of “Torre Alemanna type” pottery aimed to define a compositional refer- ence group and to understand the technological characteristics of its production. Principal component analysis applied to bulk chemical data (XRF) of the ceramic body showed a strong compositional homogeneity. Their comparison with local clays and 6 fragments of bricks sampled from the ceramic kiln, on the one hand, revealed the use of alluvial clays as raw material and, on the other hand, proved their fractionation for the production of pottery. The mineralogical assemblages detected by X-ray powder diffraction analysis inferred maximum firing temperatures between 750 and 1000 °C for the ceramic body. Polarising optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) investigations on coating revealed the presence of quartz-rich white engobe covered with a high lead transparent glaze. The polychromatic decoration was analysed by colorimetry and EDS to compare the colour characteristics through all the pot- sherds. A temperature range between 780 and 950 °C of liquidus temperatures was inferred from the ternary phase diagram of PbO-Al2O3-SiO2 system. Overlap of temperature ranges for sintering of the ceramic body and maturing glaze points to a single firing of the Torre Alemanna type ware. The results obtained define the reference compositional group and technol- ogy of the Torre Alemanna type ware, already attested in several archaeological contexts of southern Italy, and showed a technological continuity with the past about the use of local carbonate-rich clays to produce fine pottery

Insect Derived Lauric Acid as Promising Alternative Strategy to Antibiotics in the Antimicrobial Resistance Scenario

Antibiotic misuse is greatly contributing to an increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and animals. Natural and synthetic alternative strategies are being investigated in human and veterinary medicine, but little attention is paid to the antimicrobial effects of edible lipids, such as medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and monoglycerides. Among MCFAs, lauric acid (LA) and its monoglyceride derivative, glycerol monolaurate (GML), exhibit the strongest antimicrobial activity. Coconut and palm kernel oils are considered the main sources of LA. On the other hand, some edible insects (e.g., Hermetia illucens) are gaining interest as novel feed ingredients, due to the high amount of LA they contain as well as their numerous bioactive components, which provide many additional benefits to animal health. Although the beneficial effect of both MCFAs and LA is gradually being recognized, their high content within insects and, consequently, their possible role as antimicrobials, has not been well-reported. This mini review focuses on the anti-infective effects of the insect-derived MCFAs LA and its derivatives. We emphasize the potential of insect lipids, compared to the other vegetable sources, in the current global scenario where a sustainable and circular economy is required. Finally, we critically discuss the use and the benefits of edible insects such as favorable options as feed and food from the perspective of animal and human nutrition

Machine-learning-based Prediction of Gait Events from EMG in Cerebral Palsy Children

Machine-learning techniques are suitably employed for gait-event prediction from only surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals in control subjects during walking. Nevertheless, a reference approach is not available in cerebral-palsy hemiplegic children, likely due to the large variability of foot-floor contacts. This study is designed to investigate a machine-learning-based approach, specifically developed to binary classify gait events and to predict heel-strike (HS) and toe-off (TO) timing from sEMG signals in hemiplegic-child walking. To this objective, sEMG signals are acquired from five hemiplegic-leg muscles in nearly 2500 strides from 20 hemiplegic children, acknowledged as Winters' group 1 and 2. sEMG signals, segmented in overlapping windows of 600 samples (pace = 5 samples), are used to train a multi-layer perceptron model. Intra-subject and inter-subject experimental settings are tested. The best-performing intra-subject approach is able to provide in the hemiplegic population a mean classification accuracy () of 0.97±0.01 and a suitable prediction of HS and TO events, in terms of average mean absolute error (MAE, 14.8±3.2 ms for HS and 17.6±4.2 ms for TO) and F1-score (0.95±0.03 for HS and 0.92±0.07 for TO). These results outperform previous sEMG-based attempts in cerebral-palsy populations and are comparable with outcomes achieved by reference approaches in control populations. In conclusion, the findings of the study prove the feasibility of neural networks in predicting the two main gait events using surface EMG signals, also in condition of high variability of the signal to predict as in hemiplegic cerebral palsy

SiLiBA: Building the geological chert lithotheque

Lithotheques collect and exhibit raw material used by human communities for the manufacturing of objects during the Prehistory and represents an important tool of their knowledge. These collections are essential in the procuring and provenance study of archaeological lithic industries. This paper aims, firstly, to introduce SiLiBA, the lithotheque of the Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences Department of the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy), as reference collection in the archaeological field studies, and secondly to propose guidelines and rules to build a lithotheque. The collection consists of about 900 pieces of geological cherts, which are the result of an expanded collecting action of primary and secondary cherts across Italy (Apulia, Basilicata, Sicily), Croatia, and Switzerland, belonging to formations from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary Period. All the chert samples were described according to the non-destructive multiparametric protocol for chert investigation (NM-PCI), providing a modular dataset of binary, ordinal and continuous variables which integrates petrographycal, micropaleontological, chemical and physical data. Such results were summarized in suitable reports, with also geographic coordinates, geological description and photographic documentation, in a digital database, which will be soon online. Cherts are grouped in 37 suitable boxes, following geographic hierarchical organisation and reporting informative labels. Some representative samples are exposed in the Earth Sciences Museum of the same University. Furthermore, the lithotheque is equipped by a dedicated laboratory which includes optical microscopes, a glossmeter and a spectrophotocolorimeter. The promotion in the last years was guaranteed by dissemination activities for educational and academic communities, including an interactive laboratory of experimental archaeology

The Presence of Toxocara Eggs on Dog’s Fur as Potential Zoonotic Risk in Animal-Assisted Interventions: A Systematic Review

Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) usually contribute to the well-being and health of users/patients, but it is essential that the animals involved in these activities do not represent a source of zoonoses. This systematic review focused on the evaluation of the potential risk of the transmission of Toxocara by dogs’ fur, considering their involvement as the main animal species in AAIs. Three databases were considered: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, and the PRISMA guidelines were used. Out of 162 articles found, 14 papers were identified as eligible for inclusion in the review. Although the findings were very heterogeneous, they showed that regular parasitological surveillance to plan effective control programs is strongly needed to guarantee the health of pets and consequently the public health, according to the concept of One Health. Since AAIs involve patients and/or users potentially susceptible, it is very important to appropriately treat dogs enrolled in these interventions after an accurate diagnosis of parasitic zoonoses