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The Operating Room Scheduling (ORS) problem is the task of assigning patients to operating rooms, taking into account different specialties, the surgery and operating room session durations, and different priorities. Given that Answer Set Programming (ASP) has been recently employed for solving real-life scheduling and planning problems, in this paper we first present an off-line solution based on ASP for solving the ORS problem. Then, we present techniques for re-scheduling on-line in case the off-line schedule can not be fully applied. Results of an experimental analysis conducted on benchmarks with realistic sizes and parameters show that ASP is a suitable solving methodology also for the ORS problem. This analysis has been performed with a web framework for managing ORS problems via ASP that allows a user to insert the main parameters of the problem, solve a specific instance, and show results graphically in real-time.

Nuclear astrophysics, the union of nuclear physics and astronomy, went through an impressive expansion during the last twenty years. This could be achieved thanks to milestone improvements in astronomical observations, cross section measurements, powerful computer simulations and much refined stellar models. Italian groups are giving quite important contributions to every domain of nuclear astrophysics, sometimes being the leaders of worldwide unique experiments. In this paper we will discuss the astrophysical scenarios where nuclear astrophysics plays a key role and we will provide detailed descriptions of the present and future of the experiments on nuclear astrophysics which belong to the scientific programme of INFN (the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics).

This article offers a critical edition of a prose draft written by Giovanni Pascoli following the announcement of the death of a young irredentist from Trieste named Guglielmo Oberdan in 1882. Wrought with bitter anti-Austrian remarks mixed with harsh opinions of the Savoy monarchy and the Italian government, this plan for a newspaper article in its final form echoed Giosuè Carducci’s comments on the same topic. However, only a portion of the text was published in the 1920s, and for the most part the work has remained on the sidelines of critical debate. The critical edition is based on the autograph copy housed at the Casa Pascoli Archive and includes a reconstruction of the historical and cultural context surrounding the work, together with a detailed commentary. It also traces the place occupied by Oberdan in Pascoli’s own cultural biography and reconstructs a particular case regarding the reception of Pascoli’s early prose during the Fascist period.

We discuss the nature of the χb(3P) and X(3872) mesons. Are the χb(3P)'s standard bb mesons or bb states with a significative continuum component? Is the X(3872) a cc state with continuum coupling effects or a meson-meson molecule? To do that, we compare quark model and unquenched quark model results for the mass barycenter and splittings of the χb(3P) multiplet. Future and more precise experimental results will discriminate between the two interpretations. In the case of the X(3872), we interpret it as a cc core plus higher Fock components due to the coupling to the meson-meson continuum, and thus we think that it is compatible with the meson χc1(2P), with JPC = 1++. The JPC = 1++ quantum numbers are in agreement with the experimental results found by the LHCb collaboration. In our view, the X(3872)'s mass is lower than the quark model's predictions because of self-energy shifts. We also provide an estimation of the open charm/bottom strong decay modes of the X(3872) and χb(3P) mesons, such as X(3872) → DD* and χb2(3P) → BB, and radiative transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results are presented on a search for neutrino emission from a sample of six microquasars, based on the data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope between 2007 and 2010. By means of appropriate time cuts, the neutrino search has been restricted to the periods when the acceleration of relativistic jets was taking place at the microquasars under study. The time cuts have been chosen using the information from the X-ray telescopes RXTE/ASM and Swift/BAT, and, in one case, the gamma-ray telescope Fermi/LAT. No statistically significant excess has been observed, thus upper limits on the neutrino fluences have been derived and compared to the predictions by models. Constraints have been put on the ratio of proton to electron luminosity in the jets.

The separation of Sr2+ from dilute and trace solutions of low activity by means of hollow fiber Amicon ultrafiltration membranes is studied. The cation is absorbed on colloidal particles of titanium oxide formed directly in solution, and the colloidal dispersion is filtrated. The method has been studied under several different operative conditions (pH, Ti/Sr ratio, the presence of interfering ions, colloid formation time) with the aim of determining the optimum conditions to develop a separation process.

Abstract: Background: Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy and paratiroidectomy (MIVAT/P) are surgical procedures performed with 5-mm cameras handled by a camera assistant. Methods: The authors created a new camera handler for video-assisted neck surgery. It consists of a telescopic tripod device designed for mechanical handling of the camera, which is directly oriented by the operator even in solo surgery procedures. The camera is placed inside an O-shaped support, and moved by the operator himself for exploration and work on the surgical field. Results: Thanks to this simple device, the camera holder provides a firm field and prevents blood stains in limited working spaces. Conclusions: The novel camera handler may be useful in either MIVAT/P or other simple laparoscopic procedures (i.e., cholecystectomy) for a steady handling of the camera, even in solo surgery procedures.

We provide results for the open-flavor strong decays of strange and nonstrange baryons into a baryon-vector/pseudoscalar meson pair. The decay amplitudes are computed in the ³P0 pair-creation model, where ss pair-creation suppression is included for the first time in the baryon sector, in combination with the U(7) and hypercentral models. The effects of this ss suppression mechanism cannot be reabsorbed in a redefinition of the model parameters or in a different choice of the ³P0 model vertex factor. Our results for the decay amplitudes are compared with the existing experimental data and previous ³P0 and elementary meson emission model calculations. In this respect, we show that distinct quark models differ in the number of missing resonances they predict and also in the quantum numbers of states. Therefore, future experimental results will be important in order to disentangle different models of baryon structure. Finally, in the appendixes, we provide some details of our calculations, including the derivation of all relevant flavor couplings with strangeness suppression. This derivation may be helpful to calculate the open-flavor decay amplitudes starting from other models of baryons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]