Allocation Of Facilities Research Articles

Optimal allocation of low-impact development facilities for urban runoff reduction

In the context of global climate change and urbanization development, the intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall events have increased significantly, while the proportion of impermeable surfaces in cities has been increasing. These changes have led to frequent urban flooding, which seriously affects the safety of people's lives and properties and restricts the high-quality development of urbanization. Low-impact development (LID) is an important way to effectively mitigate urban flooding. How to obtain the optimal runoff control effect through the deployment of LID facilities in the construction of sponge cities is an urgent problem to be solved. This study proposed a novel implementation framework for LID optimization based on SCS-CN model and used data from Shenzhen to verify the effects. The results shows that the optimization of LID facilities proves to be effective in flooding mitigation. The results of this study can support decision-making for urban flood mitigation and sponge city construction.

Analysis of Household Waste Generation and Composition in Mandalay: Urban–Rural Comparison and Implications for Optimizing Waste Management Facilities

Data on waste generation and composition are fundamental for effective waste management and can vary over time. Assessing the allocation of waste management facilities is also important to improve the entire waste management system, including land management. A survey conducted among 108 households in both urban and rural areas across six townships analyzed the waste generation and physical composition in Mandalay, highlighting the current trends relating to waste. Concurrently, data on current waste management facilities were gathered. The average waste generation is 0.84 kg/person/day, with urban areas producing 0.91 kg/person/day and rural areas 0.37 kg/person/day. The per capita waste generation rate reported in this study exceeds those in most previous studies conducted in Mandalay up to 2020, as well as the national average and that of most cities in Myanmar. Organic waste constitutes most of the physical composition, accounting for 82.3%, followed by plastic waste (10.7%), paper and cardboard (3.2%), glass (0.9%), metal (0.8%), leather and fabric (0.4%), and other waste (1.7%). Rural areas produce a higher percentage of most types of waste compared with urban areas, except for organic waste. Surprisingly, urban areas produce waste with a higher organic composition compared with rural areas. The percentage of organic waste was found to be higher than in previous studies conducted in Mandalay and other cities. Proper management of organic waste could significantly reduce the burden on waste management. In order to achieve this goal, this study proposes several viable strategies for optimizing solid waste management in Mandalay. The current location of waste management facilities reflects the efficiency of waste management and accessibility. However, there are concerns about this and improvements are necessary. These can be achieved by optimizing the placement of waste management facilities and enhancing the efficiency of the collection and transportation sector.

Analysis of the Spatio-Temporal Evolution of Urban Sports Service Facilities in the Yangtze River Delta

The spatial allocation of urban public sports facilities is critical for ensuring equitable access to basic public services and maintaining urban spatial cohesion. This study examines central cities in the Yangtze River Delta, utilizing Point of Interest (POI) data to characterize urban sports service facilities. Employing methods such as kernel density estimation, the nearest neighbor index, spatial autocorrelation, and coefficient of variation, this study analyzes the spatial aggregation, synergy, and equalization of sports service facilities at the community scale. The findings indicate that: (1) the spatial distribution of sports service facilities within community life circles demonstrates a clustered pattern, forming a concentric core-to-periphery structure, with notable variations in clustering degrees across different cities; (2) synergy among sports service facilities has significantly improved, with the emergence of multiple high-value clusters and low-value dispersions across various cities; and (3) the level of equalization of sports service facilities in community life circles follows the general order of Shanghai > Nanjing > Hangzhou > Hefei. These insights offer valuable guidance for the planning and optimization of urban public sports facilities.

Spatially explicit supply chain for nationwide CO2-to-fuel infrastructure: Data-driven optimization with Gaussian mixture model -based region screening and clustering

This study proposes a novel machine learning-based method for designing spatially explicit supply chains for establishing a nationwide CO2 utilization strategy. The proposed method is capable of considering not only technical feature for CO2-to-fuel conversion, but also the geographical features for facility allocation by integrating spatial data and various sociological information. To develop the proposed method, map polygonization and the ray-casting algorithm for precise spatial data generation are implemented, which identifies and screens out geographically and socially unfavorable terrains for facility allocation. The scenario evaluation method, which includes the Gaussian mixture model-based expectation–maximization algorithm and supply chain economics, such as transportation price and facility capital investment, are considered to calculate a large set of supply chain scenarios. As a case study, the proposed method is applied to determine the optimal supply chain configuration to secure economic feasibility in the Korean CO2 capture and utilization project. The results identify the hydrogen price as the most critical factor in the supply chain economy and show the potential profitability in 2043–2045. This study can promote the nationwide CO2 reduction strategy and the development of a sustainable energy supply system.

A Two-stage Stochastic Programming for the Integrated Emergency Mobility Facility Allocation and Road Network Design Under Uncertainty

A Two-stage Stochastic Programming for the Integrated Emergency Mobility Facility Allocation and Road Network Design Under Uncertainty

Refining the 15-minute community living circle: An innovative evaluation method for medical facility allocation in Chengdu

The equitable distribution of public medical facilities is a cornerstone of urban planning, shaping the essence of urban livability. The globally embraced "15-Minute Community Living Circle" has offered a guiding light, but its traditional emphasis on walking often oversimplifies the complex modal choices urban residents make, especially when health emergencies necessitate rapid access. Our study revitalizes this paradigm by infusing it with a multi-modal perspective, spotlighting Chengdu—a city emblematic of the urban metamorphosis typical in burgeoning metropolises. Leveraging real-time isochrone data, our study enhances the 15-Minute Community Living Circle concept by incorporating multiple transportation modes, aligning it more closely with the realities of urban mobility. Analyzing data from 85 comprehensive hospitals and 76 streets in Chengdu, we provide a detailed assessment of spatial accessibility and efficiency. This nuanced examination reveals a distinct disparity: the city center emerges as a hub of high accessibility, contrasting starkly with the more limited access characterizing its outskirts. As urbanization accelerates and populations converge towards city centers in developing nations, these findings are both a diagnosis and a call to action. Our methodology, synergizing the multi-modal essence with the 15-minute community philosophy, offers not just an in-depth appraisal of Chengdu's medical infrastructure but pioneers a versatile blueprint for urban centers globally, reshaping how we envision equitable healthcare access in urban landscapes.

A Study on the Current Situation of Public Service Facilities’ Layout from the Perspective of 15-Minute Communities—Taking Chengdu of Sichuan Province as an Example

With the rapid expansion of cities, the construction of 15-minute communities has become an important way to improve the urban living environment and enhance the quality of life of residents. In this study, based on the perspective of a 15-minute community in Chengdu, the current situation of the spatial layout in the 12 main urban districts of 15,941 public service facility points is studied. Additionally, the matching relationship between the supply and demand of five major categories (19 subcategories) of public service facilities and the population is assessed by using the kernel density analysis method, the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method, the hierarchical analysis method and the bivariate spatial autocorrelation. Finally, suggestions for the optimization of basic service facilities are made in the light of the current development situation in Chengdu. The results show that (1) there is a large spatial heterogeneity in the distribution and accessibility of public service facilities in the study area; (2) there is a mismatch between the supply and demand of public service facilities and the population in Chengdu; and (3) in order to further optimize the allocation of public service facilities, it is necessary to focus first on areas where demand exceeds supply. This study built a framework for assessing the current status of spatial distribution of public service facilities, which measures the 15-minute accessibility of basic public service facilities in a more comprehensive way and bridges the gap of previous single-type studies, which make it difficult to make comprehensive optimization recommendations directly. Meanwhile, the bivariate spatial autocorrelation reveals the areas of mismatch between supply and demand more accurately, and more clearly shows the areas that need to be focused on for optimization by policy makers.

Facility layout design of bag and apparel factory with systematic layout planning and computerized relative allocation of facilities technique method

The high market attractiveness index and competitive position made Dewi Media Lestari invest in building a new factory. The factory specifically is used to produce convection products and apparel. Development is carried out using a systematic layout planning and computerized relative allocation of facilities technique. The objective of this research is to obtain an ideal layout that can minimize the distance between departments. As a result, there are nine departments with a total area of 385 m2 consisting of 18 m2loading dock department, 36 m2 raw material department, 86 m2cutting department, 42 m2 branding department, 21 m2 screen printing department, 105 m2 sewing department, 28 m2 finishing department, 28 m2 packing department, and 21 m2 warehouse department. Material handling costs for the initial layout produced using the systematic layout planning method are IDR 29,808.95 per day. After adjusting with Computerized Relative Facility Allocation Technique, the most ideal final layout was produced with minimal material handling costs of IDR 24,411.40 per day.

Investigation on construction characteristics and indoor environmental quality of Fangcang shelter hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, China

Since the rapid spread of COVID-19 in late 2019, Fangcang shelter hospitals have become crucial components of urban healthcare facilities. However, there remains a lack of systematic research on the performance assessment of Fangcang shelter hospitals. This study evaluated the construction efficiency, facility allocation, and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of 115 Fangcang shelter hospitals in Shanghai. Based on the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model, 51,040 social media reviews were processed to evaluate the prevalence of IEQ complaints. The results show that Fangcang shelter hospitals renovated from exhibition halls have the fastest median construction speed (58.2 bed/h), closely followed by office buildings (41.7 bed/h), while containers were the slowest (9.1 bed/h). Notably, there is a power function relationship between the bed capacity and construction speed (R2 = 0.81), indicating a scale effect. As for the indoor environment, toilet comfort issues comprise 31.2 % of the total complaints, followed by complaints about acoustics (22.8 %), hygiene (12.0 %), and thermal (11.2 %). Container-built Fangcang shelter hospitals face significant challenges to the acoustic (40 %) and thermal (15 %) environment, while renovated facilities encounter more problems with toilet facilities and privacy. We also found that the proportion of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues increases as the average bed area decreases across facilities renovated from factories, exhibition halls, and office buildings. These findings offer valuable insights into Fangcang shelter hospitals, which can be considered in future planning and spatial optimization of emergency shelters.

Development of a Simple Scoring System for Predicting Discharge Safety from the Medical ICU to Low-Acuity Wards: The Role of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score, Albumin, and Red Blood Cell Distribution Width.

Despite advancements in artificial intelligence-based decision-making, transitioning patients from intensive care units (ICUs) to low-acuity wards is challenging, especially in resource-limited settings. This study aimed to develop a simple scoring system to predict ICU discharge safety. We retrospectively analyzed patients admitted to a tertiary hospital's medical ICU (MICU) between July 2016 and December 2021. This period was divided into two phases for model development and validation. We identified risk factors associated with unexpected death within 14 days of MICU discharge and developed a predictive scoring system that incorporated these factors. We verified the system's performance using validation data. In the development cohort, 522 patients were discharged from the MICU, and 42 (8.04%) died unexpectedly. In multivariate analysis, the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (odds ratio [OR] 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-1.41), red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.07-1.36), and albumin (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16-0.84) were predictors of unexpected death. Each variable was assigned a weighted point in the scoring system, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.788 (95% CI 0.714-0.855). The scoring system was performed using an AUC of 0.738 (95% CI 0.653-0.822) in the validation cohort of 343 patients with 9.62% of unexpected deaths. When a cut-off of 0.032 was applied, a sensitivity and a specificity of 81.8% and 55.2%, respectively, were achieved. This simple bedside predictive score for ICU discharge uses the SOFA score, albumin level, and RDW to aid in timely decision-making and optimize critical care facility allocation in resource-limited settings.

Optimal allocation of convenience facilities to evacuation facilities in a non-aggregated city

Optimal allocation of convenience facilities to evacuation facilities in a non-aggregated city

Urban drone stations siting optimization based on hybrid algorithm of MILP and machine learning

Urban environments, characterized by high population density and intricate infrastructures, are susceptible to a range of emergencies such as fires and traffic accidents. Optimal placement and distribution of fire stations and ambulance centers are thus imperative for safeguarding both life and property. An investigation into the distribution inefficiencies of emergency service facilities in selected districts of Chengdu reveals that imbalanced distribution of these facilities results in suboptimal response times during critical incidents. To address this challenge, a two-stage clustering method, incorporating X-means and K-means algorithms, is employed to identify optimal number and locations for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) fire stations and drone ambulance centers. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model is subsequently constructed and solved using the Gurobi optimization platform. Bayesian optimization—a machine learning technique—is exploited to elucidate the interplay between response speed and service capacity of these UAV-based emergency service stations under an optimized layout. Results affirm that integration of MILP and machine learning provides a robust framework for solving complex problems related to the siting and allocation of emergency service facilities. The proposed hybrid algorithm demonstrates substantial potential for enhancing emergency preparedness and response in urban settings.

County medical community, medical insurance package payment, and hierarchical diagnosis and treatment-Empirical analysis of the impact of the pilot project of compact county medical communities in Sichuan Province.

Hierarchical diagnosis and treatment (HDT) is an important exploration direction to alleviate the rising pressure of health expenses and medical insurance fund expenditure in China, and to maintain and protect the public health in this country. In recent years, the construction of compact county medical communities (CCMC) has become the primary approach for implementing the HDT. Utilizing the quasi-natural experiment of the pilot project of CCMC in Sichuan Province in 2019, coupled with county-level data extracted from the ' Sichuan Provincial Health Statistics Yearbook ' spanning the years 2008 to 2021, this research evaluates the effect of the pilot project of CCMC on promoting HDT under the medical insurance package payment model. The results show that the pilot project of CCMC has significantly increased the number of consultations per capita of medical and health institutions in pilot counties by 0.434 times, of which the number of consultations per capita of primary medical institutions has increased by 0.340 times; the number of hospitalizations per capita in public hospitals and primary medical institutions in pilot counties increased significantly, and the surgery rate of inpatients in public hospitals increased by 5% compared to before the pilot. There was no significant impact on the allocation of medical facilities and human resources in the pilot counties. Therefore, the construction of CCMC under the medical insurance package payment mode has promoted the realization of the county-level HDT. These findings provide valuable insights for healthcare policy, especially in developing and implementing effective strategies for HDT in county-level medical institutions.

Методические подходы к расчету показателей риска аварий при обосновании безопасности размещения магистральных газопроводов в пределах пятой подзоны приаэродромной территории

The issues of safe allocation of hazardous production facilities, particularly trunk gas pipelines and gas supply facilities, as well as the application of a risk-oriented approach with the substantiation of such allocation, are currently at the top of the agenda. The article continues the earlier published studies dedicated to the review of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the risk analysis of the field, the determination of acceptable risk criteria with the substantiation of safe allocation of trunk gas pipelines and gas supply facilities within the fifth subzone of the aerodrome environs. The study provides general relations for the calculation of risk indices; the final calculated indices are the individual risks of fatalities among passengers and crewmembers as well as the annual number of fatalities on aircraft as a result of accidents at hazardous production facilities per 1 million persons of passenger traffic. The suggested approach takes into account several aviation-specific factors; i.e., aircraft flights at variable heights, complex configuration of take-off and landing, several available routes of approach to the airport (departure from the airport), and random allocation of hazardous production facilities adjacent to the aerodrome. A methodology and algorithm to use the introduced general relations have been provided, for which lists of input data and basic assumptions have been composed. The assumptions enable the conversion of general relations into simple algebraic expressions. Safety criteria and methodological approaches to determine their actual values, as suggested by the authors, enable linking the field of industrial safety and the field of aircraft flight safety and primarily aim at the reduction of uncertainties associated with problems of risk-oriented approach with the substantiation of allocation of trunk gas pipelines within the fifth subzone of the aerodrome environs. The vectors of further improvement of the methodology have been proposed.

Detecting anomalous commuting patterns: Mismatch between urban land attractiveness and commuting activities

Rapid urbanization has dramatically changed the urban spatial structures, causing a mismatch between residents' commuting activities and the optimal status of the current urban facility configuration. However, limited attention has been paid to detecting these mismatched commuting patterns and their associations with built environmental characteristics. To maximize the effectiveness of urban facility allocation and improve commuting efficiency, this paper developed a framework to identify anomalous commuting interaction patterns. A weighted bipartite network considering urban land attractiveness was first constructed to analyze the commuting flows between urban units. Then a modified Hungarian algorithm was proposed to obtain the optimal commuting interaction fluxes. By comparing real and optimal interaction fluxes, two types of commuting anomalies were detected. Finally, the machine learning model was used to explore the non-linear relationships between built environment and anomalous commuting patterns. Results show the spatial distribution of areas with significant anomalous interactions and the difference between overload- and underload- related anomalous commuting patterns. Potential urban sub-centers were identified to adjust the urban spatial layouts. Besides, the nonlinear and threshold effects of the built environment on the two anomalous commuting patterns were confirmed, which can provide references for urban spatial renewal and commuting flow allocation.

Measuring and visualising 15-min-areas for fair CO2 budget distribution

The “MyFairShare” project develops fair CO2 mobility budgets for individuals. Here, “fairness” mainly depends on the people’s location as everyone should be able to access all destinations necessary to perform everyday tasks. Therefore, a basic understanding about the accessibility of facilities to visit within an area is needed, regarding all activities that must be performed. Given this, the amount of emitted CO2 is computed, assuming the use of sustainable modes while regarding reasonable ranges, i.e. a travel time of 15 min. In order to achieve this, a software system for computing this metric has been developed. It is based on open source applications and uses data that—besides public transport data in GTFS format—is freely available throughout Europe. This paper describes the method and presents the results of applying it to the project’s five Living Labs Berlin, Jelgava, London, Sarpsborg, and Vienna. The results show that besides population density, the possibility to use sustainable modes of transport highly depend on the land use mix, i.e. the allocation of facilities daily activities may be performed at in the vicinity of places of inhabitancy.

A web-based decision support framework for optimizing road network accessibility and emergency facility allocation during flooding

Transportation systems can be significantly affected by flooding, leading to physical damage and hindering accessibility. Despite flooding being a frequent occurrence, there are limited accessible online tools available for supporting routing and emergency planning decisions during flooding. Existing tools are generally based on complicated models and are not easily accessible to non-expert users, highlighting the need for efficient communication and decision-making tools for analyzing flood impacts on transportation networks for various stakeholders, including the public, to minimize the adverse impacts on those groups. This paper presents a web application that uses graph network methods and the latest web technologies and standards to assist in describing flood events in terms of operational constraints and provide analytical methods to support mobility and mitigation decisions during these events. The framework is designed to be user-friendly, enabling non-expert users to access information about road status, shortest paths to critical amenities, location-allocation, and service coverage. The study area includes the following two communities in the State of Iowa, Cedar Rapids and Charles City, which were used to test the application's functionality and explore the outcomes. Our research demonstrates that flooding can significantly affect bridge operation, routing from locations to critical amenities, arbitrary point-to-point routing, planning for emergency facility placement, and service area accessibility. The introduced framework can solve complex flood-related analytical decision tasks and provide an understandable representation of transportation vulnerability, enhancing mitigation strategies. Therefore, this web application provides a valuable tool for stakeholders to make informed decisions on transportation networks during flood events.

Tertiary Education Trust Fund Intervention on Physical Infrastructural Development and Financial Resource Generation in Public Universities in South East Nigeria

The insufficient financial allocation and inadequate supply of basic physical infrastructural facilities in Nigerian public universities gave rise to this study on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention on physical infrastructural development and financial resources generation in Public Universities in South East, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised all the 231 staff from the five (5) federal universities in South East, Nigeria. This consisted of 16 staff in TETFund offices and 215 Heads of Departments in the five federal universities in South East, Nigeria. The entire population was used as the study sample purposively. The instrument used for data collection a was a researcher developed questionnaire. The instrument was validated and the reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha to determine the internal consistency which yielded a reliability index of 0.72. In analyzing the data, mean scores and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that, TETFund intervention had significant impact on physical infrastructural development in federal universities in South East, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, TETFund should improve its intervention in providing physical infrastructural facilities towards ensuring qualitative university education in public universities in South East, Nigeria.

Quantum Computing as a Game Changer on the Path towards a Net-Zero Economy: A Review of the Main Challenges in the Energy Domain

The aim of this paper is to report on the state of the art of the literature on the most recent challenges in the energy domain that can be addressed through the use of quantum computing technology. More in detail, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the scope of the literature review considered in this paper is specifically limited to forecasting, grid management (namely, scheduling, dispatching, stability, and reliability), battery production, solar cell production, green hydrogen and ammonia production, and carbon capture. These challenges have been identified as the most relevant business needs currently expressed by energy companies on their path towards a net-zero economy. A critical discussion of the most relevant methodological approaches and experimental setups is provided, together with an overview of future research directions. Overall, the key finding of the paper, based on the proposed literature review, is twofold: namely, (1) quantum computing has the potential to trigger significant transformation in the energy domain by drastically reducing CO2 emissions, especially those relative to battery production, solar cell production, green hydrogen and ammonia production, as well as point-source and direct-air carbon capture technology; and (2) quantum computing offers enhanced optimization capability relative to relevant challenges that concern forecasting solar and wind resources, as well as managing power demand, facility allocation, and ensuring reliability and stability in power grids.

Integrated System Design for Post-Disaster Management: Multi-Facility, Multi-Period, and Bi-Objective Optimization Approach

Disaster management requires efficient allocation of essential facilities with consideration of various objectives. During the response and recovery phase of disaster management (RRDM), various types of missions occur in multiple periods, and each of them needs different support from facilities. In this study, a bi-objective mathematical model was derived to support multi-period RRDM by optimal allocation of required facilities such as drone stations, shelters, emergency medical facilities, and warehouses according to the mission life cycle. Connectivity between facilities was considered to ensure inter-facility complementarity. For efficient derivation of Pareto solutions, a modified epsilon-constraint algorithm for bi-objective optimization was developed. The algorithm was tested with a realistic disaster simulation scenario using HAZUS 4.0 as a demonstration of the benefits of the proposed approach. With the simulation experiments, the proposed approach was expected to provide efficient operational plans and guidelines to decision makers for the bi-objective optimization problem in RRDM systems. In addition, the consideration of inter-facility connectivity can play an important role in the RRDM, especially for robustness and readiness.