Fast evaluation of appointment schedules for outpatients in health care

We consider the problem of evaluating an appointment schedule for outpatients in a hospital. Given a fixed-length session during which a physician sees K patients, each patient has to be given an appointment time during this session in advance. When a patient arrives on its appointment, the consultations of the previous patients are either already finished or are still going on, which respectively means that the physician has been standing idle or that the patient has to wait, both of which are undesirable. Optimising a schedule according to performance criteria such as patient waiting times, physician idle times, session overtime, etc. usually requires a heuristic search method involving a huge number of repeated schedule evaluations. Hence, the aim of our evaluation approach is to obtain accurate predictions as fast as possible, i.e. at a very low computational cost. This is achieved by (1) using Lindley's recursion to allow for explicit expressions and (2) choosing a discrete-time (slotted) setting to make those expression easy to compute. We assume general, possibly distinct, distributions for the patient's consultation times, which allows us to account for multiple treatment types, as well as patient no-shows. The moments of waiting and idle times are obtained. For each slot, we also calculate the moments of waiting and idle time of an additional patient, should it be appointed to that slot. As we demonstrate, a graphical representation of these quantities can be used to assist a sequential scheduling strategy, as often used in practice

Hopf algebras and Markov chains: Two examples and a theory

The operation of squaring (coproduct followed by product) in a combinatorial Hopf algebra is shown to induce a Markov chain in natural bases. Chains constructed in this way include widely studied methods of card shuffling, a natural "rock-breaking" process, and Markov chains on simplicial complexes. Many of these chains can be explictly diagonalized using the primitive elements of the algebra and the combinatorics of the free Lie algebra. For card shuffling, this gives an explicit description of the eigenvectors. For rock-breaking, an explicit description of the quasi-stationary distribution and sharp rates to absorption follow.Comment: 51 pages, 17 figures. (Typographical errors corrected. Further fixes will only appear on the version on Amy Pang's website, the arXiv version will not be updated.

Development of PCL polyHIPE substrates for 3D breast cancer cell culture

Cancer is a becoming a huge social and economic burden on society, becoming one of the most significant barriers to life expectancy in the 21st century. In particular, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women. One of the most significant difficulties to finding efficient therapies for specific cancers, such as breast cancer, is the efficiency and ease of drug development and testing. Tissue-engineered (TE) in vitro models are rapidly developing as an alternative to animal testing for pharmaceuticals. Additionally, porosity included within these structures overcomes the diffusional mass transfer limit whilst enabling cell infiltration and integration with surrounding tissue. Within this study, we investigated the use of high-molecular-weight polycaprolactone methacrylate (PCL–M) polymerised high-internal-phase emulsions (polyHIPEs) as a scaffold to support 3D breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell culture. We assessed the porosity, interconnectivity, and morphology of the polyHIPEs when varying mixing speed during formation of the emulsion, successfully demonstrating the tunability of these polyHIPEs. An ex ovo chick chorioallantoic membrane assay identified the scaffolds as bioinert, with biocompatible properties within a vascularised tissue. Furthermore, in vitro assessment of cell attachment and proliferation showed promising potential for the use of PCL polyHIPEs to support cell growth. Our results demonstrate that PCL polyHIPEs are a promising material to support cancer cell growth with tuneable porosity and interconnectivity for the fabrication of perfusable 3D cancer models

Gelatin-containing porous polycaprolactone PolyHIPEs as substrates for 3D breast cancer cell culture and vascular infiltration

Tumour survival and growth are reliant on angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, to facilitate nutrient and waste exchange and, importantly, provide a route for metastasis from a primary to a secondary site. Whilst current models can ensure the transport and exchange of nutrients and waste via diffusion over distances greater than 200 μm, many lack sufficient vasculature capable of recapitulating the tumour microenvironment and, thus, metastasis. In this study, we utilise gelatin-containing polymerised high internal phase emulsion (polyHIPE) templated polycaprolactone-methacrylate (PCL-M) scaffolds to fabricate a composite material to support the 3D culture of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and vascular ingrowth. Firstly, we investigated the effect of gelatin within the scaffolds on the mechanical and chemical properties using compression testing and FTIR spectroscopy, respectively. Initial in vitro assessment of cell metabolic activity and vascular endothelial growth factor expression demonstrated that gelatin-containing PCL-M polyHIPEs are capable of supporting 3D breast cancer cell growth. We then utilised the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay to assess the angiogenic potential of cell-seeded gelatin-containing PCL-M polyHIPEs, and vascular ingrowth within cell-seeded, surfactant and gelatin-containing scaffolds was investigated via histological staining. Overall, our study proposes a promising composite material to fabricate a substrate to support the 3D culture of cancer cells and vascular ingrowth

Anomalous Heat Conduction and Anomalous Diffusion in Low Dimensional Nanoscale Systems

Thermal transport is an important energy transfer process in nature. Phonon is the major energy carrier for heat in semiconductor and dielectric materials. In analogy to Ohm's law for electrical conductivity, Fourier's law is a fundamental rule of heat transfer in solids. It states that the thermal conductivity is independent of sample scale and geometry. Although Fourier's law has received great success in describing macroscopic thermal transport in the past two hundreds years, its validity in low dimensional systems is still an open question. Here we give a brief review of the recent developments in experimental, theoretical and numerical studies of heat transport in low dimensional systems, include lattice models, nanowires, nanotubes and graphenes. We will demonstrate that the phonon transports in low dimensional systems super-diffusively, which leads to a size dependent thermal conductivity. In other words, Fourier's law is breakdown in low dimensional structures

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Measurement of the Neutron Spin Structure Function g1ng_1^n with a Polarized ^3He Target

Results are reported from the HERMES experiment at HERA on a measurement of the neutron spin structure function $g_1^n(x,Q^2)$ in deep inelastic scattering using 27.5 GeV longitudinally polarized positrons incident on a polarized $^3$He internal gas target. The data cover the kinematic range $0.023<x<0.6$ and $1 (GeV/c)^2 < Q^2 <15 (GeV/c)^2$. The integral $\int_{0.023}^{0.6} g_1^n(x) dx$ evaluated at a fixed $Q^2$ of $2.5 (GeV/c)^2$ is $-0.034\pm 0.013(stat.)\pm 0.005(syst.)$. Assuming Regge behavior at low $x$, the first moment $\Gamma_1^n=\int_0^1 g_1^n(x) dx$ is $-0.037\pm 0.013(stat.)\pm 0.005(syst.)\pm 0.006(extrapol.)$.Comment: 4 pages TEX, text available at http://www.krl.caltech.edu/preprints/OAP.htm

Flavor Decomposition of the Polarized Quark Distributions in the Nucleon from Inclusive and Semi-inclusive Deep-inelastic Scattering

Spin asymmetries of semi-inclusive cross sections for the production of positively and negatively charged hadrons have been measured in deep-inelastic scattering of polarized positrons on polarized hydrogen and 3He targets, in the kinematic range 0.023<x<0.6 and 1 GeV^2<Q^2<10 GeV^2. Polarized quark distributions are extracted as a function of x for up $(u+u_bar) and down (d+d_bar) flavors. The up quark polarization is positive and the down quark polarization is negative in the measured range. The polarization of the sea is compatible with zero. The first moments of the polarized quark distributions are presented. The isospin non-singlet combination Delta_q_3 is consistent with the prediction based on the Bjorken sum rule. The moments of the polarized quark distributions are compared to predictions based on SU(3)_f flavor symmetry and to a prediction from lattice QCD.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures (eps format), 10 tables in Latex New version contains tables of asymmetries and correlation matri

The Effect of Student-Directed Transition Planning With a Computer-Based Reading Support Program on the Self-Determination of Students With Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of student-directed transition planning instruction (Whose Future Is It Anyway? curriculum) with a computer-based reading support program (Rocket Reader) on the self-determination, self-efficacy and outcome expectancy, and transition planning knowledge of students with disabilities. This study employed a pre- and postmeasure design with 168 middle school students with disabilities who were assigned to an experimental group (n = 86) and control group (n = 82). The results of the study demonstrated that self-determination, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancy for education planning improved through the application of Rocket Reader . Avenues are discussed for promoting middle school students’ self-determination in their transition planning, as are implications for future research.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline