Physical Layout Research Articles

Visibility, Physical Work Environment, and Stress in ICU Nurses

OBJECTIVE Relationships among coworker and patient visibility, reactions to physical work environment, and work stress in ICU nurses are explored. BACKGROUND Millions of dollars are invested annually in the building or remodeling of ICUs, yet there is a gap in understanding relationships between the physical layout of nursing units and work stress. METHODS Using a cross-sectional, correlational, exploratory, predictive design, relationships among variables were studied in a diverse sample of ICU nurses. RESULTS Visibility had a direct effect on work stress (P < 0.01). The ViPES (Visibility, Physical Environment and Stress) model can help explain relationships among study variables. The findings from this study support the notion that high visibility is a job resource and low visibility is a job demand. CONCLUSIONS Design features supporting a sense of connection may be especially important to less experienced ICU nurses. Elements of the built environment that allow nurses to see not only patients, but also their coworkers, may help mitigate work stress.

A Research of the Integrated Circuit Design and Optimization

With the scientific and technical revolution going on, integrated circuit has been playing a vital role in our daily life ever since. In IC (Integrated circuit) design and manufacturing, layout of the integrated circuit determines its success or failure. However, the constantly decreasing characteristic size and progressive process bring about some new issues. That is why in post-Moore’s Law period, the design and optimization of layouts deserves attention of the whole industry. A properly designed and optimized layout not only results in better performance while using, but also cut out the cost of manufacture. In this paper, the methodology of integrated circuit layout design and optimization are discussed. For design, the author presented the whole flow of how the layout is generated and principles in integrated circuit design. For optimization, two approaches are analyzed. One is shorting out the critical area. Based on critical area theory and methodology of image processing, layouts can be improved in configuration. The method discussed here makes a modification on the previous way to make the optimization more accurate and efficient. The other method is inserting auxiliary polysilicon, which can counteract the impact of channel length change of MOSFETs and focus error as a unavoidable result of the process improvement.

Enhancing healthcare operations: a systematic literature review onapproaches for hospital facility layout planning.

The appropriate physical layout of hospital services can help resolve management problems by streamlining the work of medical teams, improving the flow of patients between specific areas and the medical support environment. Nevertheless, the academic literature lacks structured research into how the physical layout of hospitals might be improved. Our study aims to fill this research gap, providing information for researchers and professionals who intend to guide the hospital facility layout planning (HFLP) from the steps and prescribed approaches found in the literature. This study analyzes the current literature status and concerning approaches that support HFLP and identifies their strengths and weaknesses. The literature was classified using the following criteria: approaches for layout generation, approaches for layout evaluation and healthcare facility layout outcomes. The hospital facility layout outcomes achieved for each phase served as a basis for identifying a list of strengths and weaknesses for the hospital layout facility generation and evaluation approaches. Readers can refer to this paper to identify the approach that best fits the desired goal and the HFLP step. This is a contribution to current studies into HFLP, and it provides guidelines for selecting the approach to be utilized based on the desired outcome. The paper describes how to conduct an HFLP and lists the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The research may be used as a strategy for determining which tool is most suited based on the practitioner's target purpose.

Thermal modelling and layout optimization of GaN half-bridge IC with integrated drivers and power HEMTs

The paper presents the results of thermal modeling of a half-bridge monolithic integrated circuit (IC) with integrated drivers and enhanced mode power high electron mobility transistors, based on a GaN-on-SOI heterostructure. It had been established that the main heat sources in the IC were the half-bridge GaN HEMTs. The heat from the half-bridge GaN HEMTs propagates in the chip and leads to heating of the logic block and gate drivers. Heating of half-bridge GaN HEMTs leads to increased channel resistance and IC output current drop. Heating of the gate drivers reduces driving current, as a result, increases the switching time of the half-bridge GaN HEMTs. Heating of the logic block increases the rise and fall times of the generated control signals, which worsens the dynamic characteristics of the IC. A comparative analysis of heat propagation for IC dies based on GaN-on-SOI and GaN-on-Si heterostructures showed that GaN-on-SOI structure has a 40% greater junction-to-backside thermal resistivity compared to GaN-on-Si structure. In this case, the specific thermal resistance in the direction of heat propagation from the hotspot of the transistor to the backside of the die for the GaN-on-SOI structure is almost two orders of magnitude greater than in the direction of its propagation to the frontside of the chip. The results obtained were used for IC layout optimization. The rearrangement of GaN-on-SOI IC functional blocks, as well as to introduction of additional heat-spreading elements on the frontside of chip were carried out during the optimization.

Threats and Membership of Kandovan in UNESCO

This research aims to explore the heritage and tourist zone of Kandovan in Iran, currently undergoing the UNESCO registration process, but facing rejection due to threats in the area. The primary goal is to offer valuable insights to the Kandovan municipality and officials, assisting them in recognizing and mitigating the prevailing threats to secure the designation of Kandovan as a UNESCO heritage site. The examination of the heritage zone in Kandovan, Iran, involved a comprehensive approach incorporating a literature review, interviews, and on-site observations. Interviews were conducted with Kandovan officials to inquire about the heritage criteria, existing challenges and threats, future initiatives, and notable transformations. Field observations were employed to assess the physical characteristics and layout of the heritage area, residents' interactions with the heritage sites, and issues affecting tourists, including accommodation shortages and architectural concerns. The findings of this study have identified the threats present in Kandovan, as acknowledged by UNESCO. The majority of these threats have emerged as a consequence of the expanding urbanization and tourism activities in Kandovan, emphasizing the need for effective management and controlled development in the area.

Large circuit models: opportunities and challenges

Within the electronic design automation (EDA) domain, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions have emerged as formidable tools, yet they typically augment rather than redefine existing methodologies. These solutions often repurpose deep learning models from other domains, such as vision, text, and graph analytics, applying them to circuit design without tailoring to the unique complexities of electronic circuits. Such an “AI4EDA” approach falls short of achieving a holistic design synthesis and understanding, overlooking the intricate interplay of electrical, logical, and physical facets of circuit data. This study argues for a paradigm shift from AI4EDA towards AI-rooted EDA from the ground up, integrating AI at the core of the design process. Pivotal to this vision is the development of a multimodal circuit representation learning technique, poised to provide a comprehensive understanding by harmonizing and extracting insights from varied data sources, such as functional specifications, register-transfer level (RTL) designs, circuit netlists, and physical layouts. We champion the creation of large circuit models (LCMs) that are inherently multimodal, crafted to decode and express the rich semantics and structures of circuit data, thus fostering more resilient, efficient, and inventive design methodologies. Embracing this AI-rooted philosophy, we foresee a trajectory that transcends the current innovation plateau in EDA, igniting a profound “shift-left” in electronic design methodology. The envisioned advancements herald not just an evolution of existing EDA tools but a revolution, giving rise to novel instruments of design-tools that promise to radically enhance design productivity and inaugurate a new epoch where the optimization of circuit performance, power, and area (PPA) is achieved not incrementally, but through leaps that redefine the benchmarks of electronic systems’ capabilities.

Two-phase active immersion cooling for vertically mounted electronics with interchip component-assisted bubble departure

To address growing heat dissipation demands in high-performance computing chips, there is a transition from conventional cooling methods to advanced two-phase immersion cooling techniques for electronics thermal management. Here, we present a numerical investigation into the fluid dynamics and heat transfer in two-phase immersion cooling systems with vertically mounted chips on a printed circuit board (PCB) with interchip components such as capacitors, switches, and inductors. Leveraging a combined phase tracking and volume of fluid model, we study how the physical layout and geometries of interchip components affect the flow paths of bubbles, bubble coalescence phenomena, vapor coverage on chip surfaces, and cooling rates of heated chips. In an optimal PCB topology, a maximum heat flux of 18 W/cm2 and a heat transfer coefficient of 9650 W/m2K are observed for dielectric hydrofluoroether (HFE) - 7100 at an excessive wall temperature of 20 K under a constant wall temperature boundary condition. The research offers insights into the electronic system design to achieve efficient cooling for high-performance computing applications, demonstrating the critical role of interchip components in heat transfer.

Routing and scheduling of trains and engines in a railway marshalling station yard

In a busy railway marshalling station, train and engine traffic management in the receiving/departure yard plays a crucial role in efficient and stable operations. Traditionally, a track assignment problem (TAP) is solved to assign tracks to trains for berthing at a receiving/departure yard. However, the TAP does not encompass shunting operations in the yard (e.g., engine replacement and train disassembly), which can result in additional scheduling challenges for dispatchers and route conflicts between operations. This paper investigates a train and engine routing and scheduling problem (TERSP) in a receiving/departure yard of railway marshalling stations, which involves simultaneously assigning routes and scheduling route-setting start times for both train and shunting operations to be conducted in the yard. By introducing the concepts of task, activity, and pattern, we transform the original problem into assigning pre-generated patterns incorporating both route and route-setting start time alternatives to activities. The transformed problem is formulated into a compact binary integer linear programming model with a linear number of constraints and the objective of minimizing the total time deviation of all involved tasks. An improved technique that relies on listing all maximal (bi)cliques in a constructed graph is designed to effectively model the time coherence and track section occupation constraints. A heuristic that gradually expands the patterns for the identified key activities by adding more start time alternatives is applied to remedy an infeasible model caused by potential route conflicts. In addition, a rolling horizon algorithm that decomposes the original problem into consecutive smaller stages using either a time-rolling or a train-rolling rule is developed to efficiently solve instances. Finally, numerical experiments based on the physical layouts and real timetables of a receiving yard and a departure yard of a large marshalling station in China are conducted to assess the performance and applicability of our proposed approaches. The results demonstrate that our approaches typically find (near-)optimal solutions within several minutes for the investigated instances by simultaneously addressing different classes of yard operations and resources.

Compact quad-channel filtering diplexer using meander hairpin ring resonator aided by grey wolf algorithm

Abstract In this paper, a compact quad-channel filtering diplexer using meander hairpin ring resonators (M-HRR) aided by grey wolf algorithm (GWA) is proposed. To realize a compact size of the multi-channel diplexer, the form of a meander-line structure is applied to the hairpin ring resonator for the miniaturization of the proposed quad-channel diplexer. Then, using the coupling topology of the 0° feeding structure, a transmission zero (TZ) is generated between two resonant frequencies of M-HRR to improve the band-edge selectivity and band-to-band isolation of the diplexer. To address the problematic challenge of the complexity in designing the multi-channel diplexer with a time-consuming optimization manually, an intelligent GWA is utilized to optimize the physical layout of the designed circuit to achieve the desired performance of the diplexer rapidly. Furthermore, different kinds of intelligent algorithms are implemented and compared under identical conditions. Finally, a quad-channel filtering diplexer centering at 3.28/3.75/4.32/4.75 GHz with 3-dB fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 5.4%, 2.9%, 4.9%, and 3.2% respectively is fabricated and measured. The circuit occupies a compact size of 0.22λg × 0.20λg. Good accordance is observed between the simulated and measured frequency responses.

A comparison of multi-source power supply systems for autonomous marine vehicles: The SWAMP case study

Extensive research on zero-emissions autonomous surface vehicles has been recently carried out, aiming at increasing autonomy. Due to their small size, unmanned vehicles present unique difficulties in terms of weight and dimensions when powering the vehicle with renewable energy sources. In this paper, photovoltaic source, fuel cell and Li-ion battery multi-source configurations are proposed, demonstrating by physical layout and simulation results the feasibility of the prototype, compliant with strict constraints of the vehicle under test. The energy system model of the vehicle under test is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. A comparison of multi-source energy system configurations is proposed and validated by simulation results in terms of endurance, weight and size. If compared with the original battery-powered vehicle, as shown by comparing simulation results, the endurance is doubled, extended up to 12 h on the most favorable day of the year. The solution even complies with payload and physical dimensions constraints.

Ergonomics, Health, and Perceptions about Remote Domestic Workposts: Study in Areas of City of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.

Home office (HO) stands out as one of the most promising and popular forms of teleworking, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, many companies want to implement or maintain this working method, given its numerous advantages. However, there are adverse effects that are mainly related to physical and mental health. This article presents ergonomic analyses of HOs in neighborhoods considered heat islands. Temperature levels, extreme low-frequency non-ionizing radiation (ELF-NIR), illuminance, physical layout characteristics, and physiological parameters of teleworkers were measured. The results reveal that 92% of these professionals work 6 to 8 h daily with an ambient temperature between 25 and 30 °C, illumination levels in the range 11.20-290 Lux, and ELF-NIR > 0.4 µT. The majority of teleworkers are overweight (BMI > 24.9), and some of them have blood pressure higher than average values (129 mmHg for systolic and 84 mmHg for diastolic) in addition to a reduction in the number of red blood cells and hematocrits. Symptoms such as burning sensation, dryness, tired eyes, redness, itching, and photophobia (light sensitivity) show a 68.95% similarity. These HOs do not meet the required ergonomic and health standards.

Matching constraint extraction for analog integrated circuits layout via edge classify

Achieving matching constraints between various components is important in analog integrated circuit (IC) layout design, as it can reduce the impact of layout parasitics on the performance of IC. When automating analog integrated circuit layout design, identifying accurate matching constraints is an essential step before placement and routing. The matching relationship between devices strongly depends on circuit's topology and design expertise. This work focuses on differential circuits with various topologies and proposes a supervised learning framework that incorporates symmetry analysis. The heterogeneous multi-relationship graph representation is proposed to capture circuit's topology and extract matching constraints. Additionally, a symmetry analysis algorithm and filtering method based on matching levels are investigated to enhance the model's performance. The experimental results demonstrate that this work maintains a low false alarm rate and outperforms other matching constraint detection algorithms in terms of F1 score and accuracy.

Facility characteristics preferred by older men seeking medical male circumcision services in Kenya: qualitative findings from the ‘Tasco’ study (May 2014-June 2016)

Primary healthcare facilities are central to the implementation of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) as points of access to integrated health services in line with the Kenya AIDS Strategic Framework II (2020/21-2024/25). Knowledge of factors that explain men’s uptake of VMMC and sexual health services at these facilities and preferences of where to get the services remain poorly understood. Using qualitative methodologies, we examined factors that determined facility choice for VMMC services and reasons for preferring the facility among men aged 25–39 years who previously underwent VMMC. The current study draws from focus group discussion interviews with circumcised men and their partners conducted as part of a randomized controlled trial to assess impact of two demand creation interventions in western Kenya. This involved 12 focus group discussions (FGD) with 6–10 participants each. Six FGDs were conducted with circumcised men, and 6 with their sex partners. Thematic issues relevant to a predetermined framework were identified. The themes were organized as follows: service availability, accessibility, affordability, appropriateness and, acceptability. Facility location, physical layout, organization of patient flow, infrastructure, and service provider skills were the outstanding factors affecting the choice of VMMC service outlets by men aged 25–39 years. Additionally, preferences were influenced by individual’s disposition, attitudes, knowledge of VMMC services and tacit balance between their own recognized health needs versus desire to conform to social-cultural norms. Facility choice and individual preference are intricate issues, simultaneously involving multiple but largely intra-personal and facility-level factors. The intrapersonal dimensions elicited may also reflect differential responses to strategic communications and demand creation messages with promotion and prevention frames.

GRAAFE: GRaph Anomaly Anticipation Framework for Exascale HPC systems

The main limitation of applying predictive tools to large-scale supercomputers is the complexity of deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) services in production and modeling heterogeneous data sources while preserving topological information in compact models. This paper proposes GRAAFE, a framework for continuously predicting compute node failures in the Marconi100 supercomputer. The framework consists of (i) an anomaly prediction model based on graph neural networks (GNNs) that leverage nodes’ physical layout in the compute room and (ii) the computationally efficient integration into the Marconi100’s ExaMon holistic monitoring system with Kubeflow, an MLOps Kubernetes framework which enables continuous deployment of AI pipelines. The GRAAFE GNN model achieves an area under the curve (AUC) from 0.91 to 0.78, surpassing state-of-the-art (SoA), achieving AUC between 0.64 and 0.5. GRAAFE sustains the anomaly prediction for all the Marconi100 nodes every 120s, requiring an additional 30% CPU resources and less than 5% more RAM w.r.t. monitoring only.

The Aesthetics of Learning: Factors Shaping Art Spaces in High School Libraries

This study explores the diverse factors influencing the aesthetics of learning within high school libraries in Hanoi, Vietnam, highlighting the transition of these spaces from traditional book repositories to dynamic learning environments. Employing a structured questionnaire administered to 200 teachers and school administrators, the research utilizes multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the impact of physical layout, institutional policy, educational objectives, student engagement, technological integration, and cultural and community influences on learning aesthetics. The results reveal significant positive contributions from the physical layout, institutional policy, educational objectives, student engagement, and technological integration. In contrast, cultural and community influences did not show a significant effect, indicating a more complex relationship between local culture and educational aesthetics that may require deeper analysis. These findings provide valuable insights for educational policymakers and school administrators by underscoring the importance of strategic design and resource allocation in enhancing library environments to bolster learning outcomes. The study addresses a critical gap in the existing academic literature and offers actionable recommendations for optimizing library spaces' aesthetic and functional aspects to enhance educational effectiveness.

Organisations’ and employees’ perceptions of the impact of activity-based working on the organisational culture

Purpose Challenged by the effects of organisational flexibility and high corporate real estate (CRE) costs, organisations increasingly seek flexibility and operational efficiency in their physical office layouts. This paper examines and compares how the existing organisational culture of organisations changed with the introduction of activity-based working (ABW) from the perspectives of organisations and their employees. Design/methodology/approach The research focused on large organisations that had introduced ABW during the period of 2012–2019 and their employees. Two surveys were implemented with the management of organisations and employees. In-depth interviews with the management were also undertaken. The research focused on three different industry sectors in Australia – financial, IT and public. The competing value framework was used to measure the dimensions of organisational culture. Findings Findings identify major finance, internal business, learning and growth and staff and client-oriented motives affecting organisations’ decisions to introduce ABW. Findings illustrate that the nature of workplace design has a considerable impact on organisations’ culture and can be used to leverage and change it. However, a noticeable discrepancy between the perceptions of the organisation and employees in the public and private sectors was identified, where public sector employees felt that standardised procedures still governed their actions even in ABW. Originality/value This research highlights that workplace designs directly influence the culture of organisations. It emphasises the importance of an in-depth examination of the behavioural and attitudinal characteristics of organisations and their employees to obtain a better understanding of how they perceive and interact in ABW layouts.

An Analytical GPU-Enabled Framework for the Stacked 3D IC Layouts

Three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs) have recently garnered significant attention as a potential solution to the challenges posed by interconnect scaling in 2D ICs. However, the inclusion of an extra dimension and the introduction of through-silicon vias (TSVs) for interlayer connections have resulted in a significantly more complex compared to traditional 2D placement. In this paper, we propose an analytical framework for the stacked 3D ICs. Specifically, our approach involves the diffusion of standard and macro modules in the presence of wirelength and density forces, followed by a 2D mixed-size placement to optimize placement. To eliminate the overlap between macros, we perform legalization and fix them. The TSV insertions are then conducted, and we fix them in the center of the 3D net. Finally, legalization and detailed placement for cells are performed layer-by-layer. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency of the proposed framework, we propose a GPU-enabled acceleration strategy that accelerates the wirelength computation based on the deep learning toolkit PyTorch. Extensive experimental results on the standard-cell IBM-PLACE benchmarks and large-scale modern mixed-size (MMS) benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms state-of-the-art 3D placement methods.

Visual Highlighting for Situated Brushing and Linking

AbstractBrushing and linking is widely used for visual analytics in desktop environments. However, using this approach to link many data items between situated (e.g., a virtual screen with data) and embedded views (e.g., highlighted objects in the physical environment) is largely unexplored. To this end, we study the effectiveness of visual highlighting techniques in helping users identify and link physical referents to brushed data marks in a situated scatterplot. In an exploratory virtual reality user study (N=20), we evaluated four highlighting techniques under different physical layouts and tasks. We discuss the effectiveness of these techniques, as well as implications for the design of brushing and linking operations in situated analytics.

Nonlinear dynamic wave characteristics of optical soliton solutions in ion-acoustic wave

Traveling wave solutions are utilized to depict reaction-diffusion and analyze electrical signal transmission and propagation in space-time nonlinear fractional order partial differential equations like the space-time fractional Telegraph and Kolmogorov-Petrovsky Piskunov equations, and that are used in physical science to model combustion, biological research to model nerve impulse propagation, chemical dynamics to model concentration in order wave propagation, and plasma to model the progression of a set of duffing oscillators. In this study, the new generalized (G′/G)−expansion technique was employed to construct some novel and more universal closed-form traveling wave solutions in the sense of conformable derivatives which explain the above-stated phenomena properly. By utilizing complex fractional transformation, the ordinary differential equations are generated from fractional order differential equations. The recommended technique allowed us to produce some dynamical wave patterns of kink, single soliton, compacton, periodic shape, multiple periodic waves, anti-kink, and other structures are developed, which are shown using 3D plots and contour plots to illustrate the physical layout clearly. The traveling waveform responses can be defined in terms of functions based on trigonometry, hyperbolic operations, and rational functions and that are quick, flexible, and simple to reproduce. Furthermore, the obtained closed-form solutions for nonlinear fractional evolution equations make stability analysis and accuracy comparison amongst numerical solvers easier, which asserts that the new generalized (G′/G)−expansion technique is one of the most proficient and effective approaches.

The Rigidity of Public Space for Children's Use (Play): Case of: The First November Square - Batna Province (Algeria)

The presence of children in public spaces has become a trigging reality to consider, because children use these spaces to play without taking into account their suitability for such activity. This article tackles children's use of the public square as a play space in Batna Province, Algeria. We adopted a mixed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative elements to study the use and quality of a space used by children. The qualitative component allows us to explore human interactions and the environment, while the spatial analysis gives us an understanding of the physical layout of the context. The quantitative component aims to evaluate the opinions and preferences of children’s carers. To carry out this study, we conducted a field investigation, including direct observation on the site and interviews with children's carers in the square to find out their assessment and opinions on the quality of the space and its use. Moreover, an analytical study of the square plan was also implemented at the spatial and functional level, in order to reveal all the changes in space before and after use by children. The results of the study confirmed the lack of ease and flexibility of this space for use by children, and the results of the interview emphases the achieved findings, because the public space did not take the child as a user of it at all, neither in terms of space, nor planning and equipment, which led to falling into excessive use of it that resulted in lots of problems.