Heuristic scheduling for clinical physicians.

Personnel scheduling is a problem faced by many organizations in the healthcare industry, particularly in rapidly developing outpatient centers. The task of creating a schedule that adequately covers patient demand while satisfying the preferences of employees, observing work regulations, and ensuring a fair distribution of work is highly complex. Even though this highly complex task directly affects measures such as patient waiting time and employee satisfaction, many organizations still resort to the traditional and cumbersome manual solution methods. A large segment of prior research on personnel scheduling in healthcare focuses on nurse rostering and the development of automated tools to aid in scheduling. The drawbacks to these methods include the lack of generality and the need for specialized software packages and training. The aim of this study is the development of an effective, low cost, and uncomplicated heuristic tool to aid schedulers in outpatient centers. Solution methodologies used by previous researchers in problems such as nurse rostering and aircrew rostering are adapted to the particular problem of physician scheduling in mixed specialty outpatient clinics. The developed heuristic tool obtains an initial feasible solution using a greedy algorithm and then uses the simulated annealing metaheuristic to improve the solution, which is a measure of physician satisfaction. The heuristic tool developed in this study was tested using eight randomly generated data sets to model 45 unique cases. The heuristic found the optimal solution in 19 of the 45 tested cases. The average difference from the optimal physician satisfaction rating in the other 26 cases was 0.35%

PRESISTANT: Learning based assistant for data pre-processing

Data pre-processing is one of the most time consuming and relevant steps in a data analysis process (e.g., classification task). A given data pre-processing operator (e.g., transformation) can have positive, negative or zero impact on the final result of the analysis. Expert users have the required knowledge to find the right pre-processing operators. However, when it comes to non-experts, they are overwhelmed by the amount of pre-processing operators and it is challenging for them to find operators that would positively impact their analysis (e.g., increase the predictive accuracy of a classifier). Existing solutions either assume that users have expert knowledge, or they recommend pre-processing operators that are only "syntactically" applicable to a dataset, without taking into account their impact on the final analysis. In this work, we aim at providing assistance to non-expert users by recommending data pre-processing operators that are ranked according to their impact on the final analysis. We developed a tool PRESISTANT, that uses Random Forests to learn the impact of pre-processing operators on the performance (e.g., predictive accuracy) of 5 different classification algorithms, such as J48, Naive Bayes, PART, Logistic Regression, and Nearest Neighbor. Extensive evaluations on the recommendations provided by our tool, show that PRESISTANT can effectively help non-experts in order to achieve improved results in their analytical tasks

La minería de datos, entre la estadística y la inteligencia artificial

En la pasada década hemos asistido a la irrupción de un nuevo concepto en el mundo empresarial: el data mining (minería de datos). Algunas empresas han implementado unidades de minería de datos estrechamente vinculadas a la dirección de la empresa y en los foros empresariales las sesiones dedicadas a la minería de datos han sido las protagonistas. La minería de datos se presenta como una disciplina nueva, ligada a la Inteligencia Artificial y diferenciada de la Estadística. Por otro lado, en el mundo estadístico más académico, la minería de datos ha sido considerada en su inicio como una moda más, aparecida después de los sistemas expertos, conocida desde hacía tiempo bajo el nombre de "data fishing". ¿Es esto realmente así? En este artículo abordaremos las raíces estadísticas de la minería de datos, los problemas que trata, haremos una panorámica sobre el alcance actual de la minería de datos, presentaremos un ejemplo de su aplicación en el mundo de la audiencia de televisión y, por último, daremos una visión de futuro

Descripció i classificació de les comarques catalanes en regions homogènies segons l'ús de la terra

The theme of this article is the application of techniques of exploratory statistics to the study of comprehensive numerical tables consisting of statistics of a spatial nature. The immensity of statistics compiled over a large area, as in the case of a population census, frequently makes it difficult to assimilate all the information contained therein. It is shown that the mentioned techniques of analysis make possible a profound understanding of such statistics without resorting to the inspection of the said tables. The objectives usually pursued are: (1) to emphasize the most outstanding characteristics of the statistics, such as associations andlor contrasts in the elements under study, an objective which is easily fulfilled through methods of descriptive factorial analysis; (2) to group the basic elements of study into a limited number of representative classes, which can likewise be easily achieved through a simple algorithrn of ascendent hierarchical classification. The aplication of this method demonstrates the compatibility of the two results. This normally corresponds to the final stage in the study of statistical tables, in which observations relate to small areas points. The natural desire to make the classes obtained coincide with geographical regions made necessary the introduction of the content relationship within the algorithm of ascendent hierarchical classification. The application undertaken makes it possible to identify improvements in the interpretation of the classes obtained.Postprint (published version

Finalidades de la educación científica en secundaria : opinión del profesorado sobre la situación actual

En este artículo, se presenta el diagnóstico que, sobre algunos aspectos que caracterizan la situación actual de la educación científica en nuestro país, realiza una muestra de docentes de secundaria, implicados en iniciativas de innovación y/o investigación. En concreto se les consulta sobre las dimensiones formativas que prioriza la enseñanza habitual, los aprendizajes que producen en los estudiantes, así como las razones que pueden explicar esta situación. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifi esto profundos obstáculos que habría que salvar para promover una educación científica de mayor calidad y más adecuada a las demandas de la sociedad actual.This article represents a diagnosis of some aspects of the present situation of scientific education in Spain offered by a sample of secondary school teachers involved in research and/or innovation activities. The teachers were asked about the priorities which normal teaching involves, students' results and the reasons for the same. The fi ndings point to the enormous diffi culties that will have to be overcome if scientific training is to be improved to meet the demands of everyday society

Finalidades de la educación científica en Educación Secundaria : aportaciones de la investigación educativa y opinión de los profesores

En este artículo se analizan algunas de las aportaciones realizadas por la investigación educativa en relación con la alfabetización científica y tecnológica. A partir de estas referencias se presentan los resultados de una consulta realizada a profesores de secundaria -con amplia experiencia docente, y que han colaborado o colaboran en iniciativas de innovación y/o investigación educativas- sobre las finalidades que prioriza y que debería priorizar la educación científica de los estudiantes de ESO y bachillerato. Además de constatar una elevada coincidencia entre la información obtenida a partir de ambas fuentes, como conclusiones de este estudio se identifican algunos obstáculos importantes que dificultan el trabajo de los profesores, así como algunas iniciativas para mejorar la calidad de la educación científica que reciben los estudiantes de estos niveles educativos.This study analyzes the goals that scientific disciplines should have in secondary education. With this aim, we have collected information from some secondary teachers with a lot of experience in teaching and in educational innovation. The results pointed out that in the first levels of secondary education, students' education should be more centred on scientific and technology literacy, while in the higher levels it should be more based on preparing students for higher further studies. In order to provide a main conclusion, we have identified some difficulties and initiatives in order to improve the quality of the students' scientific education at these levels

Effects of potassium fertilization of fescue pastures and oral administration of potassium chloride on metabolism of magnesium, calcium and potassium in lactating beef cows

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of potas-sium (K) fertilization of fescue pasture and oral administration of potassium chloride (KCl) on plasma Mg, Ca and K in lactating beef cows. Four pasture trials were conducted in February and March of 1982 and 1983. Pasture I (control pasture) was fertilized at a rate of 112 kg of N/ha and 169 kg of P/ha. Pasture II (K pasture) was fertilized at the same rate as pasture I plus 224 kg of K/ha. One half of the animals on each pasture were given 280 grams of KCl via gelatin bolus. Milk, urine and fecal samples were collected twice daily. The Cr203 acid detergent lignin (internal-external) technique was used to estimate fecal dry matter output. The weigh-suckle-weigh method was used to estimate daily milk production. Creatinine ratios were used to determine urine volume. Plasma Mg was depressed by pasture fertilization in both years. Potassium chloride bolusing had no effect on plasma Mg. Sixteen of 24 animals on the K fertilized pasture became hypomagnesemic. Plasma Ca was variable and inconsistent. Plasma K was not affected by treat-ment. However, plasma K of animals in trial II in both years had sig-nificantly higher plasma K. This may be a reflection of the higher forage K in trial II. From these results it seems the incidence of hypomagnesemic tetany may be increased by heavy K fertilization of fescue pastures and not by KCl intake

Understanding the role of emotion regulation tendencies in the momentary associations between negative affect and eating disorder behaviors.

Background: Eating disorders (EDs) are becoming increasingly commonplace and are associated with a broad array of dangerous medical complications. Further, EDs frequently present alongside comorbid psychiatric disorders (e.g., depressive and anxiety-related disorders), which are known to both predict ED severity and reduce treatment efficacy. While diagnostic categorization persists, Fairburn et al.’s (1993) transdiagnostic model suggests EDs may be more closely related and maintained through core, shared symptoms. To assess ED maintenance, momentary triggers such as negative affect (NA) are becoming increasingly centralized. The present study examines the roles of depressive symptoms and worry in predicting and moderating the relationships among NA (i.e., guilt/anxiety) and ED behaviors (i.e., binge eating, dietary restriction, and driven exercise) to provide a clearer description of ED psychopathology. Method: Participants (N = 130) completed diagnostic screenings and baseline questionnaires at onset, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys sent to their mobile phones four times per day for 25 days. The relationships among NA and ED behaviors were tested using mixed effects models in R. Results: State and trait NA were differentially implicated in the associations among ED behaviors and depression/worry. Depressive symptoms and worry were each moderators of the relationship between driven exercise and state NA. Discussion: The present study broadens current understanding of NA’s contribution to ED psychopathology and emphasizes the significance of psychiatric comorbidities in maintaining ED behaviors. Future research should assess the treatment of depressive cognitions in reducing binge eating behaviors and the efficacy of emotional regulation strategies in reducing dietary restriction and driven exercise

Project MK Ultra: a Site of Forgotten Calamity

Project MK Ultra refers to a set of top-secret CIA experiments that took place from 1953 to 1973 and involved unwitting subjects being administered drugs and hypnosis. As there is little information currently existent digitally relating to the project, an archive was established through this essay which relates information regarding the truth of what happened during the experiments without conspiracy theories as are often found in relation to this project. After having done research on the project as a whole and subsequently finding fifteen artifacts that communicate important truths about the project, it can be concluded that the CIA, in a time of mass national paranoia, abused their powers in the search of techniques to assist in espionage and other similar practices. This can be seen in the detrimental effects which the experiments had on individuals who took place in them as is discussed in a few of the artifacts. The other artifacts reveal the CIA’s true intentions during the experiment, concluded to be a form of control over other nations in espionage by more thoroughly understanding the use of drugs and hypnosis on the brain. Valid intentions were thus shifted to abuse of power as the agency performed the experiments often without the subject’s knowledge of what was truly taking place. It was because of the underlying reasons for the experiment that it was able to be done and still remains a topic about which talking is not common.https://ir.library.louisville.edu/uars/1016/thumbnail.jp