Sample records for process plant layout

  1. A case study of printing industry plant layout for effective production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Viswajit, T.; Teja, T. Ravi; Deepthi, Y. P.

    2017-07-01

    This paper presents the overall picture of the processes happening in printing industry. This research is aimed to improve the plant layout of existing plant. The travel time was reduced by relocating machinery. Relocation is based on systematic layout planning (SLP). The complete process of raw material entering the industry to dispatching of finished product is shown in 3-D Flow diagram. The process happening in each floor explained in detail using Flow Process chart. Travel time is reduced by 25% after modifying existing plant layout.

  2. Design and Simulation Plant Layout Using Systematic Layout Planning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suhardini, D.; Septiani, W.; Fauziah, S.

    2017-12-01

    This research aims to design the factory layout of PT. Gunaprima Budiwijaya in order to increase production capacity. The problem faced by this company is inappropriate layout causes cross traffic on the production floor. The re-layout procedure consist of these three steps: analysing the existing layout, designing plant layout based on SLP and evaluation and selection of alternative layout using Simulation Pro model version 6. Systematic layout planning is used to re-layout not based on the initial layout. This SLP produces four layout alternatives, and each alternative will be evaluated based on two criteria, namely cost of material handling using Material Handling Evaluation Sheet (MHES) and processing time by simulation. The results showed that production capacity is increasing as much as 37.5% with the addition of the machine and the operator, while material handling cost was reduced by improvement of the layout. The use of systematic layout planning method reduces material handling cost of 10,98% from initial layout or amounting to Rp1.229.813,34.

  3. EQUIPMENT LAYOUT OF MAIN PROCESSING BUILDING (CPP601) LCELL PLAN AND ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    EQUIPMENT LAYOUT OF MAIN PROCESSING BUILDING (CPP-601) L-CELL PLAN AND SECTION SHOWS COMPLEXITY OF CELLS. INL DRAWING NUMBER 200-0601-00-098-105687. ALTERNATE ID NUMBER 4289-20-301. - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, Fuel Reprocessing Complex, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  4. Accelerator-based conversion (ABC) of weapons plutonium: Plant layout study and related design issues

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cowell, B.S.; Fontana, M.H.; Krakowski, R.A.

    1995-04-01

    In preparation for and in support of a detailed R and D Plan for the Accelerator-Based Conversion (ABC) of weapons plutonium, an ABC Plant Layout Study was conducted at the level of a pre-conceptual engineering design. The plant layout is based on an adaptation of the Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) detailed conceptual design that was completed in the early 1070s. Although the ABC Plant Layout Study included the Accelerator Equipment as an essential element, the engineering assessment focused primarily on the Target; Primary System (blanket and all systems containing plutonium-bearing fuel salt); the Heat-Removal System (secondary-coolant-salt and supercritical-steam systems); Chemicalmore » Processing; Operation and Maintenance; Containment and Safety; and Instrumentation and Control systems. Although constrained primarily to a reflection of an accelerator-driven (subcritical) variant of MSBR system, unique features and added flexibilities of the ABC suggest improved or alternative approaches to each of the above-listed subsystems; these, along with the key technical issues in need of resolution through a detailed R&D plan for ABC are described on the bases of the ``strawman`` or ``point-of-departure`` plant layout that resulted from this study.« less

  5. FACILITY LAYOUT OF FUEL STORAGE BUILDING (CPP603) SHOWING STORAGE BASINS, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    FACILITY LAYOUT OF FUEL STORAGE BUILDING (CPP-603) SHOWING STORAGE BASINS, FUEL ELEMENT CUTTING FACILITY, AND DRY GRAPHITE STORAGE FACILITY. INL DRAWING NUMBER 200-0603-00-030-056329. - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, Fuel Reprocessing Complex, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  6. Safety assessment in plant layout design using indexing approach: implementing inherent safety perspective. Part 1 - guideword applicability and method description.

    PubMed

    Tugnoli, Alessandro; Khan, Faisal; Amyotte, Paul; Cozzani, Valerio

    2008-12-15

    Layout planning plays a key role in the inherent safety performance of process plants since this design feature controls the possibility of accidental chain-events and the magnitude of possible consequences. A lack of suitable methods to promote the effective implementation of inherent safety in layout design calls for the development of new techniques and methods. In the present paper, a safety assessment approach suitable for layout design in the critical early phase is proposed. The concept of inherent safety is implemented within this safety assessment; the approach is based on an integrated assessment of inherent safety guideword applicability within the constraints typically present in layout design. Application of these guidewords is evaluated along with unit hazards and control devices to quantitatively map the safety performance of different layout options. Moreover, the economic aspects related to safety and inherent safety are evaluated by the method. Specific sub-indices are developed within the integrated safety assessment system to analyze and quantify the hazard related to domino effects. The proposed approach is quick in application, auditable and shares a common framework applicable in other phases of the design lifecycle (e.g. process design). The present work is divided in two parts: Part 1 (current paper) presents the application of inherent safety guidelines in layout design and the index method for safety assessment; Part 2 (accompanying paper) describes the domino hazard sub-index and demonstrates the proposed approach with a case study, thus evidencing the introduction of inherent safety features in layout design.

  7. Safety assessment in plant layout design using indexing approach: implementing inherent safety perspective. Part 2-Domino Hazard Index and case study.

    PubMed

    Tugnoli, Alessandro; Khan, Faisal; Amyotte, Paul; Cozzani, Valerio

    2008-12-15

    The design of layout plans requires adequate assessment tools for the quantification of safety performance. The general focus of the present work is to introduce an inherent safety perspective at different points of the layout design process. In particular, index approaches for safety assessment and decision-making in the early stages of layout design are developed and discussed in this two-part contribution. Part 1 (accompanying paper) of the current work presents an integrated index approach for safety assessment of early plant layout. In the present paper (Part 2), an index for evaluation of the hazard related to the potential of domino effects is developed. The index considers the actual consequences of possible escalation scenarios and scores or ranks the subsequent accident propagation potential. The effects of inherent and passive protection measures are also assessed. The result is a rapid quantification of domino hazard potential that can provide substantial support for choices in the early stages of layout design. Additionally, a case study concerning selection among various layout options is presented and analyzed. The case study demonstrates the use and applicability of the indices developed in both parts of the current work and highlights the value of introducing inherent safety features early in layout design.

  8. Solving a layout design problem by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuzkaya, Umut R.; Eser, Arzum; Argon, Goner

    2004-02-01

    Today, growing amounts of waste due to fast consumption rate of products started an irreversible environmental pollution and damage. A considerable part of this waste is caused by packaging material. With the realization of this fact, various waste policies have taken important steps. Here we considered a firm, where waste Aluminum constitutes majority of raw materials for this fir0m. In order to achieve a profitable recycling process, plant layout should be well designed. In this study, we propose a two-step approach involving Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to solve facility layout design problems. A case example is considered to demonstrate the results achieved.

  9. Using a 3D CAD plant model to simplify process hazard reviews

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tolpa, G.

    A Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) review is a formal predictive procedure used to identify potential hazard and operability problems associated with certain processes and facilities. The HAZOP procedure takes place several times during the life cycle of the facility. Replacing plastic models, layout and detail drawings with a 3D CAD electronic model, provides access to process safety information and a detailed level of plant topology that approaches the visualization capability of the imagination. This paper describes the process that is used for adding the use of a 3D CAD model to flowsheets and proven computer programs for the conduct ofmore » hazard and operability reviews. Using flowsheets and study nodes as a road map for the review the need for layout and other detail drawings is all but eliminated. Using the 3D CAD model again for a post-P and ID HAZOP supports conformance to layout and safety requirements, provides superior visualization of the plant configuration and preserves the owners equity in the design. The response from the review teams are overwhelmingly in favor of this type of review over a review that uses only drawings. Over the long term the plant model serves more than just process hazards analysis. Ongoing use of the model can satisfy the required access to process safety information, OHSA documentation and other legal requirements. In this paper extensive instructions address the logic for the process hazards analysis and the preparation required to assist anyone who wishes to add the use of a 3D model to their review.« less

  10. Quantitative assessment of energy and resource recovery in wastewater treatment plants based on plant-wide simulations.

    PubMed

    Fernández-Arévalo, T; Lizarralde, I; Fdz-Polanco, F; Pérez-Elvira, S I; Garrido, J M; Puig, S; Poch, M; Grau, P; Ayesa, E

    2017-07-01

    The growing development of technologies and processes for resource treatment and recovery is offering endless possibilities for creating new plant-wide configurations or modifying existing ones. However, the configurations' complexity, the interrelation between technologies and the influent characteristics turn decision-making into a complex or unobvious process. In this frame, the Plant-Wide Modelling (PWM) library presented in this paper allows a thorough, comprehensive and refined analysis of different plant configurations that are basic aspects in decision-making from an energy and resource recovery perspective. In order to demonstrate the potential of the library and the need to run simulation analyses, this paper carries out a comparative analysis of WWTPs, from a techno-economic point of view. The selected layouts were (1) a conventional WWTP based on a modified version of the Benchmark Simulation Model No. 2, (2) an upgraded or retrofitted WWTP, and (3) a new Wastewater Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRF) concept denominated as C/N/P decoupling WWTP. The study was based on a preliminary analysis of the organic matter and nutrient energy use and recovery options, a comprehensive mass and energy flux distribution analysis in each configuration in order to compare and identify areas for improvement, and a cost analysis of each plant for different influent COD/TN/TP ratios. Analysing the plants from a standpoint of resources and energy utilization, a low utilization of the energy content of the components could be observed in all configurations. In the conventional plant, the COD used to produce biogas was around 29%, the upgraded plant was around 36%, and 34% in the C/N/P decoupling WWTP. With regard to the self-sufficiency of plants, achieving self-sufficiency was not possible in the conventional plant, in the upgraded plant it depended on the influent C/N ratio, and in the C/N/P decoupling WWTP layout self-sufficiency was feasible for almost all influents, especially at high COD concentrations. The plant layouts proposed in this paper are just a sample of the possibilities offered by current technologies. Even so, the library presented here is generic and can be used to construct any other plant layout, provided that a model is available. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. 126. JOB NO. X98396, PLANT LAYOUT, FORD MOTOR COMPANY LONG ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    126. JOB NO. X9-8396, PLANT LAYOUT, FORD MOTOR COMPANY LONG BEACH ASSEMBLY PLANT, MARCH 1940. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA

  12. Maximization of the annual energy production of wind power plants by optimization of layout and yaw-based wake control: Maximization of wind plant AEP by optimization of layout and wake control

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gebraad, Pieter; Thomas, Jared J.; Ning, Andrew

    This paper presents a wind plant modeling and optimization tool that enables the maximization of wind plant annual energy production (AEP) using yaw-based wake steering control and layout changes. The tool is an extension of a wake engineering model describing the steady-state effects of yaw on wake velocity profiles and power productions of wind turbines in a wind plant. To make predictions of a wind plant's AEP, necessary extensions of the original wake model include coupling it with a detailed rotor model and a control policy for turbine blade pitch and rotor speed. This enables the prediction of power productionmore » with wake effects throughout a range of wind speeds. We use the tool to perform an example optimization study on a wind plant based on the Princess Amalia Wind Park. In this case study, combined optimization of layout and wake steering control increases AEP by 5%. The power gains from wake steering control are highest for region 1.5 inflow wind speeds, and they continue to be present to some extent for the above-rated inflow wind speeds. The results show that layout optimization and wake steering are complementary because significant AEP improvements can be achieved with wake steering in a wind plant layout that is already optimized to reduce wake losses.« less

  13. 44. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT OF PART ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    44. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT OF PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS H-1 TO H-10 INCL., GRINDING, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT 'B'.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant 8, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  14. 31. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT OF PART ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    31. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT OF PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS D-1 TO U-10 INCL., NITRATION, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT 'B'.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  15. Validation of X1 motorcycle model in industrial plant layout by using WITNESSTM simulation software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hamzas, M. F. M. A.; Bareduan, S. A.; Zakaria, M. Z.; Tan, W. J.; Zairi, S.

    2017-09-01

    This paper demonstrates a case study on simulation, modelling and analysis for X1 Motorcycles Model. In this research, a motorcycle assembly plant has been selected as a main place of research study. Simulation techniques by using Witness software were applied to evaluate the performance of the existing manufacturing system. The main objective is to validate the data and find out the significant impact on the overall performance of the system for future improvement. The process of validation starts when the layout of the assembly line was identified. All components are evaluated to validate whether the data is significance for future improvement. Machine and labor statistics are among the parameters that were evaluated for process improvement. Average total cycle time for given workstations is used as criterion for comparison of possible variants. From the simulation process, the data used are appropriate and meet the criteria for two-sided assembly line problems.

  16. Optimization of site layout for change of plant operation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reuwer, S.M.; Kasperski, E.; Joseph, T.D.

    1995-12-31

    Several of the Florida Power & Light operating fossil power plants have undergone significant site layout changes as well as changes in plant operation. The FPL Fort Lauderdale Plant was repowered in 1992 which consisted of using four (4) Westinghouse 501F Combustion Turbines rated at 158 Mw each, to repower two (2) existing steam turbines rates at 143 Mw each. In 1991, a physical security fence separation occurred between Turkey Point Plants`s fossil fueled Units 1&2, and its nuclear fueled Units 3&4. As a result of this separation, certain facilities common to both the nuclear side and fossil side ofmore » the plant required relocating. Also, the Sanford and Manatee Plants were evaluated for the use of a new fuel as an alternative source. Manatee Plant is currently in the licensing process for modifications to burn a new fuel, requiring expansion of backened clean-up equipment, with additional staff to operate this equipment. In order to address these plant changes, site development studies were prepared for each plant to determine the suitability of the existing ancillary facilities to support the operational changes, and to make recommendations for facility improvement if found inadequate. A standardized process was developed for all of the site studies. This proved to be a comprehensive process and approach, that gave FPL a successful result that all the various stake holders bought into. This process was objectively based, focused, and got us to where we need to be as quickly as possible. As a result, this paper details the outline and various methods developed to prepare a study following this process, that will ultimately provide the optimum site development plan for the changing plant operations.« less

  17. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-4 - Considerations affecting fee amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ...—Manufacturing plants involving operations requiring a high degree of design layout or process control; nuclear reactors; atomic particle accelerators; complex laboratories or industrial units especially designed for...

  18. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-4 - Considerations affecting fee amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ...—Manufacturing plants involving operations requiring a high degree of design layout or process control; nuclear reactors; atomic particle accelerators; complex laboratories or industrial units especially designed for...

  19. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-4 - Considerations affecting fee amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ...—Manufacturing plants involving operations requiring a high degree of design layout or process control; nuclear reactors; atomic particle accelerators; complex laboratories or industrial units especially designed for...

  20. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-4 - Considerations affecting fee amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ...—Manufacturing plants involving operations requiring a high degree of design layout or process control; nuclear reactors; atomic particle accelerators; complex laboratories or industrial units especially designed for...

  1. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-4 - Considerations affecting fee amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ...—Manufacturing plants involving operations requiring a high degree of design layout or process control; nuclear reactors; atomic particle accelerators; complex laboratories or industrial units especially designed for...

  2. 32 CFR 553.7 - Design and layout of Army national cemeteries.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 3 2012-07-01 2009-07-01 true Design and layout of Army national cemeteries... RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES § 553.7 Design and layout of Army national cemeteries. (a) General cemetery layout plans, landscape planting plans and gravesite layout plans for Army...

  3. 32 CFR 553.7 - Design and layout of Army national cemeteries.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 3 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Design and layout of Army national cemeteries... RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES § 553.7 Design and layout of Army national cemeteries. (a) General cemetery layout plans, landscape planting plans and gravesite layout plans for Army...

  4. 32 CFR 553.7 - Design and layout of Army national cemeteries.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Design and layout of Army national cemeteries... RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES § 553.7 Design and layout of Army national cemeteries. (a) General cemetery layout plans, landscape planting plans and gravesite layout plans for Army...

  5. 32 CFR 553.7 - Design and layout of Army national cemeteries.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Design and layout of Army national cemeteries... RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES § 553.7 Design and layout of Army national cemeteries. (a) General cemetery layout plans, landscape planting plans and gravesite layout plans for Army...

  6. 32 CFR 553.7 - Design and layout of Army national cemeteries.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Design and layout of Army national cemeteries... RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES § 553.7 Design and layout of Army national cemeteries. (a) General cemetery layout plans, landscape planting plans and gravesite layout plans for Army...

  7. 27. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT AND CROSS ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    27. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT AND CROSS SECTION OF PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS C-1, C-3, C-5, C-6, C-7, C-9 INCL., MIXING, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT 'B'.' From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  8. 8. General layout of power plant, piping and fuel tanks, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    8. General layout of power plant, piping and fuel tanks, sheet 93 of 130 - Naval Air Station Fallon, Fuel Tanks, 800 Complex, off Carson Road near intersection of Pasture & Berney Roads, Fallon, Churchill County, NV

  9. As-built data capture of complex piping using photogrammetry technology

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Morray, J.P.; Ziu, C.G.

    1995-11-01

    Plant owners face an increasingly difficult and expensive task of updating drawings, both regarding the plant logic and physical layout. Through the use of photogrammetry technology, H-H spectrum has created a complete operating plant data capture service, with the result that the task of recording accurate plant configurations has become assured and economical. The technology has proven to be extremely valuable for the capture of complex piping configurations, as well as entire plant facilities, and yields accuracy within 1/4 inch. The method uses photographs and workstation technology to quickly document and compute the plant layout, with all components, regardless ofmore » size, included in the resulting model. The system has the capability to compute actual 3-D coordinates of any point based on previous triangulations, allowing for an immediate assessment of accuracy. This ensures a consistent level of accuracy, which is impossible to achieve in a manual approach. Due to the speed of the process, the approach is very important in hazardous/difficult environments such as nuclear power facilities or offshore platforms.« less

  10. A Study of the Gaseous Diffusion Plant for U$sup 235$ Enrichment; STUDI SU GLI IMPIANTI A DISSUFIONE GASOSA PER L'ARRICCHIMENTO DELL' U$sup 23$$sup 5$

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Perona, G.

    1959-04-01

    The gaseous diffusion process for the enrichment of U/sup 235/ is discussed. The physical principles of the process, the cascades and selection of the pressures, temperatures, and barriers are described. The gaseous diffusion plant is discussed with a consideration of the preliminary calculation of the plant yields the diffusor, operating temperature, layout of the plants control, and cost analysis. The chemical properties of UF/sub 6/, its preparation and purification, and the transformation of UF/sub 6/ to UF/sub 4/ are reviewed. (J.S.R)

  11. EXPERIMENTAL MOLTEN-SALT-FUELED 30-Mw POWER REACTOR

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Alexander, L.G.; Kinyon, B.W.; Lackey, M.E.

    1960-03-24

    A preliminary design study was made of an experimental molten-salt- fueled power reactor. The reactor considered is a single-region homogeneous burner coupled with a Loeffler steam-generating cycle. Conceptual plant layouts, basic information on the major fuel circuit components, a process flowsheet, and the nuclear characteristics of the core are presented. The design plant electrical output is 10 Mw, and the total construction cost is estimated to be approximately ,000,000. (auth)

  12. Benchmark Simulation Model No 2: finalisation of plant layout and default control strategy.

    PubMed

    Nopens, I; Benedetti, L; Jeppsson, U; Pons, M-N; Alex, J; Copp, J B; Gernaey, K V; Rosen, C; Steyer, J-P; Vanrolleghem, P A

    2010-01-01

    The COST/IWA Benchmark Simulation Model No 1 (BSM1) has been available for almost a decade. Its primary purpose has been to create a platform for control strategy benchmarking of activated sludge processes. The fact that the research work related to the benchmark simulation models has resulted in more than 300 publications worldwide demonstrates the interest in and need of such tools within the research community. Recent efforts within the IWA Task Group on "Benchmarking of control strategies for WWTPs" have focused on an extension of the benchmark simulation model. This extension aims at facilitating control strategy development and performance evaluation at a plant-wide level and, consequently, includes both pretreatment of wastewater as well as the processes describing sludge treatment. The motivation for the extension is the increasing interest and need to operate and control wastewater treatment systems not only at an individual process level but also on a plant-wide basis. To facilitate the changes, the evaluation period has been extended to one year. A prolonged evaluation period allows for long-term control strategies to be assessed and enables the use of control handles that cannot be evaluated in a realistic fashion in the one week BSM1 evaluation period. In this paper, the finalised plant layout is summarised and, as was done for BSM1, a default control strategy is proposed. A demonstration of how BSM2 can be used to evaluate control strategies is also given.

  13. 26. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT AND CROSS ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    26. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PLAN LAYOUT AND CROSS SECTION OF PART I, SECTION 8, BUILDINGS NO. C-1, C-3, C-5, C-6, C-7, C-9, MIXING, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT B AS OF 4-24-44.' From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  14. Municipal wastewater treatment by biofiltration: comparisons of various treatment layouts. Part 1: assessment of carbon and nitrogen removal.

    PubMed

    Rocher, Vincent; Paffoni, Catherine; Gonçalves, Alexandre; Guérin, Sabrina; Azimi, Sam; Gasperi, Johnny; Moilleron, Régis; Pauss, André

    2012-01-01

    One of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the Paris conurbation (240,000 m(3)/d) has been studied over several years in order to provide technical and economical information about biological treatment by biofiltration. Biofiltration systems are processes in which carbon and nitrogen pollution of wastewater are treated by ascendant flow through immersed fixed cultures. This paper, focused on technical information, aims: (1) to compare performances of the three biological treatment layouts currently used in biofiltration systems: upstream denitrification (UD), downstream denitrification (DD) and combined upstream-downstream denitrification (U-DD) layouts; and (2) to describe in detail each treatment step. Our study has shown that more than 90% of the carbon and ammoniacal pollution is removed during biological treatment, whatever the layout used. Nitrate, produced during nitrification, is then reduced to atmospheric nitrogen. This reduction is more extensive when the denitrification stage occurs downstream from the treatment (DD layout with methanol addition), whereas it is only partial when it is inserted upstream from the treatment (UD layout - use of endogenous carbonaceous substrate). So, the UD layout leads to a nitrate concentration that exceeds the regulatory threshold in the effluent, and the treatment must be supplemented with a post-denitrification step (U-DD layout). Our work has also shown that the optimal ammonium-loading rate is about 1.1-1.2 kg N-NH(4)(+) per m(3) media (polystyrene) and day. For denitrification, the optimal nitrate-loading rate is about 2.5 kg N per m(3) media (expanded clay) and day in the case of DD with methanol, and is about 0.25 kg N-NO(3)(-) per m(3) media and day in the case of UD with exogenous carbonaceous substrate.

  15. Modelling of sedimentation and remobilization in in-line storage sewers for stormwater treatment.

    PubMed

    Frehmann, T; Flores, C; Luekewille, F; Mietzel, T; Spengler, B; Geiger, W F

    2005-01-01

    A special arrangement of combined sewer overflow tanks is the in-line storage sewer with downstream discharge (ISS-down). This layout has the advantage that, besides the sewer system, no other structures are required for stormwater treatment. The verification of the efficiency with respect to the processes of sedimentation and remobilization of sediment within the in-line storage sewer with downstream discharge is carried out in a combination of a field and a pilot plant study. The model study was carried out using a pilot plant model scaled 1:13. The following is intended to present some results of the pilot plant study and the mathematical empirical modelling of the sedimentation and remobilization process.

  16. Optical performance considerations for analysis and simulation of power tower plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pidaparthi, Arvind; Landman, Willem; Hoffmann, Jaap; Dinter, Frank

    2017-06-01

    South Africa has implemented a `time of day' tariff structure for concentrating solar power plants in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. It is hypothesised that payment allocation factors for the `time of day' and the `time of use' dispatch schedule influence the optimal heliostat field layout. SolarPILOT software is used to generate and optimize the heliostat field layout of a 100 MWe power tower plant in Upington, South Africa with 8 hours of thermal energy storage in the SunShot scenario with a high receiver thermal efficiency of 90%. A large size heliostat with a total area of 115.56 m2 and an external cylindrical receiver are considered for the heliostat field layout. A subset of 12 days is simulated on an hourly basis to achieve convergence and to take seasonal, daily and hourly weather variability into account. During the optimization of a heliostat field layout, the heliostats are ranked and selected according to a performance metric. In this study, two field layouts are compared based on two different performance metrics, namely: power delivered to the receiver and the time of use weighted power. The optical performance is simulated using both the Hermite (analytical) and the Monte-Carlo Ray-Tracing methods. By accounting for the TOU weighted power, it is found that the LCOE increases from 0.1831 /kWh to 0.1870 /kWh using the Hermite (analytical) method. Similarly, when MCRT techniques are used for the optical characterization, the LCOE value increases from 0.1781 /kWh to 0.1832 /kWh. It is recommended that payment allocation factors and the tariff structure for the time of day be included when comparing field layouts with other layout generation and optimization strategies. This study will be useful for power tower developers in identifying practices to be included in the optical characterization of their heliostat field layouts for better simulation results.

  17. Natural gas operations: considerations on process transients, design, and control.

    PubMed

    Manenti, Flavio

    2012-03-01

    This manuscript highlights tangible benefits deriving from the dynamic simulation and control of operational transients of natural gas processing plants. Relevant improvements in safety, controllability, operability, and flexibility are obtained not only within the traditional applications, i.e. plant start-up and shutdown, but also in certain fields apparently time-independent such as the feasibility studies of gas processing plant layout and the process design of processes. Specifically, this paper enhances the myopic steady-state approach and its main shortcomings with respect to the more detailed studies that take into consideration the non-steady state behaviors. A portion of a gas processing facility is considered as case study. Process transients, design, and control solutions apparently more appealing from a steady-state approach are compared to the corresponding dynamic simulation solutions. Copyright © 2011 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. A combined approach of simulation and analytic hierarchy process in assessing production facility layouts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramli, Razamin; Cheng, Kok-Min

    2014-07-01

    One of the important areas of concern in order to obtain a competitive level of productivity in a manufacturing system is the layout design and material transportation system (conveyor system). However, changes in customers' requirements have triggered the need to design other alternatives of the manufacturing layout for existing production floor. Hence, this paper discusses effective alternatives of the process layout specifically, the conveyor system layout. Subsequently, two alternative designs for the conveyor system were proposed with the aims to increase the production output and minimize space allocation. The first proposed layout design includes the installation of conveyor oven in the particular manufacturing room based on priority, and the second one is the one without the conveyor oven in the layout. Simulation technique was employed to design the new facility layout. Eventually, simulation experiments were conducted to understand the performance of each conveyor layout design based on operational characteristics, which include predicting the output of layouts. Utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the newly and improved layout designs were assessed before the final selection was done. As a comparison, the existing conveyor system layout was included in the assessment process. Relevant criteria involved in this layout design problem were identified as (i) usage of space of each design, (ii) operator's utilization rates, (iii) return of investment (ROI) of the layout, and (iv) output of the layout. In the final stage of AHP analysis, the overall priority of each alternative layout was obtained and thus, a selection for final use by the management was made based on the highest priority value. This efficient planning and designing of facility layout in a particular manufacturing setting is able to minimize material handling cost, minimize overall production time, minimize investment in equipment, and optimize utilization of space.

  19. 48. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated August 6, 1976 ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    48. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated August 6, 1976 by Raytheon Company. Original drawing property of United States Air Force, 21" Space Command. AL-2 - PAVE PAWS TECHNICAL FACILITY - OTIS AFB - EQUIPMENT LAYOUT - SECOND FLOOR AND PLATFORM 2A. DRAWING NO. AW35-46-06 - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  20. 11. Building Layout, 185189 D, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Richland ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    11. Building Layout, 185-189 D, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Richland Operations Office, Dwg. No. H-1-14844, 1957. - D-Reactor Complex, Deaeration Plant-Refrigeration Buildings, Area 100-D, Richland, Benton County, WA

  1. 25. VIEW OF THE MACHINE TOOL LAYOUT IN ROOMS 244 ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    25. VIEW OF THE MACHINE TOOL LAYOUT IN ROOMS 244 AND 296. MACHINES WERE USED FOR STAINLESS STEEL FABRICATION (THE J-LINE). THE ORIGINAL DRAWING HAS BEEN ARCHIVED ON MICROFILM. THE DRAWING WAS REPRODUCED AT THE BEST QUALITY POSSIBLE. LETTERS AND NUMBERS IN THE CIRCLES INDICATE FOOTER AND/OR COLUMN LOCATIONS. - Rocky Flats Plant, General Manufacturing, Support, Records-Central Computing, Southern portion of Plant, Golden, Jefferson County, CO

  2. Implementation of Lean System on Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier Manufacturing Process to Reduce Production Time

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maneechote, T.; Luangpaiboon, P.

    2010-10-01

    A manufacturing process of erbium doped fibre amplifiers is complicated. It needs to meet the customers' requirements under a present economic status that products need to be shipped to customers as soon as possible after purchasing orders. This research aims to study and improve processes and production lines of erbium doped fibre amplifiers using lean manufacturing systems via an application of computer simulation. Three scenarios of lean tooled box systems are selected via the expert system. Firstly, the production schedule based on shipment date is combined with a first in first out control system. The second scenario focuses on a designed flow process plant layout. Finally, the previous flow process plant layout combines with production schedule based on shipment date including the first in first out control systems. The computer simulation with the limited data via an expected value is used to observe the performance of all scenarios. The most preferable resulted lean tooled box systems from a computer simulation are selected to implement in the real process of a production of erbium doped fibre amplifiers. A comparison is carried out to determine the actual performance measures via an analysis of variance of the response or the production time per unit achieved in each scenario. The goodness of an adequacy of the linear statistical model via experimental errors or residuals is also performed to check the normality, constant variance and independence of the residuals. The results show that a hybrid scenario of lean manufacturing system with the first in first out control and flow process plant lay out statistically leads to better performance in terms of the mean and variance of production times.

  3. 59. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    59. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 by US Air Force Space Command. Original drawing property of United States Air Force, 21" Space Command. AL-6 PAVE PAWS SUPPORT SYSTEMS - CAPE COD AFB, MASSACHUSETTS - LAYOUT 4-A, 5TH & 5-A. DRAWING NO. AL-6 - SHEET 7 OF 21. - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  4. A novel approach of ensuring layout regularity correct by construction in advanced technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahmed, Shafquat Jahan; Vaderiya, Yagnesh; Gupta, Radhika; Parthasarathy, Chittoor; Marin, Jean-Claude; Robert, Frederic

    2017-03-01

    In advanced technology nodes, layout regularity has become a mandatory prerequisite to create robust designs less sensitive to variations in manufacturing process in order to improve yield and minimizing electrical variability. In this paper we describe a method for designing regular full custom layouts based on design and process co-optimization. The method includes various design rule checks that can be used on-the-fly during leaf-cell layout development. We extract a Layout Regularity Index (LRI) from the layouts based on the jogs, alignments and pitches used in the design for any given metal layer. Regularity Index of a layout is the direct indicator of manufacturing yield and is used to compare the relative health of different layout blocks in terms of process friendliness. The method has been deployed for 28nm and 40nm technology nodes for Memory IP and is being extended to other IPs (IO, standard-cell). We have quantified the gain of layout regularity with the deployed method on printability and electrical characteristics by process-variation (PV) band simulation analysis and have achieved up-to 5nm reduction in PV band.

  5. 10. Floor Layout of Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory, from The Thermal ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    10. Floor Layout of Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory, from The Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory at Hanford. General Electric Company, Hanford Atomic Products Operation, Richland, Washington, 1961. - D-Reactor Complex, Deaeration Plant-Refrigeration Buildings, Area 100-D, Richland, Benton County, WA

  6. 57. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    57. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 by US Air Force Space Command. Original drawing property of United States Air Force, 21" Space Command. AL-3 PAVE PAWS SUPPORT SYSTEMS - CAPE COD AFB, MASSACHUSETTS - LAYOUT 1 FLOOR AND 1sr FLOOR ROOF. DRAWING NO. AL-3 - SHEET 4 OF 21. - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  7. 58. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    58. Photocopy of Architectural Layout drawing, dated 25 June, 1993 by US Air Force Space Command. Original drawing property of United States Air Force, 21" Space Command. AL-5 PAVE PAWS SUPPORT SYSTEMS - CAPE COD AFB, MASSACHUSETTS - LAYOUT 3RD, 3A, 4TH LEVELS. DRAWING NO. AL-5 - SHEET 6 OF 21 - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  8. Optimization of RET flow using test layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Yunqiang; Sethi, Satyendra; Lucas, Kevin

    2008-11-01

    At advanced technology nodes with extremely low k1 lithography, it is very hard to achieve image fidelity requirements and process window for some layout configurations. Quite often these layouts are within simple design rule constraints for a given technology node. It is important to have these layouts included during early RET flow development. Most of RET developments are based on shrunk layout from the previous technology node, which is possibly not good enough. A better methodology in creating test layout is required for optical proximity correction (OPC) recipe and assists feature development. In this paper we demonstrate the application of programmable test layouts in RET development. Layout pattern libraries are developed and embedded in a layout tool (ICWB). Assessment gauges are generated together with patterns for quick correction accuracy assessment. Several groups of test pattern libraries have been developed based on learning from product patterns and a layout DOE approach. The interaction between layout patterns and OPC recipe has been studied. Correction of a contact layer is quite challenge because of poor convergence and low process window. We developed test pattern library with many different contact configurations. Different OPC schemes are studied on these test layouts. The worst process window patterns are pinpointed for a given illumination condition. Assist features (AF) are frequently placed according to pre-determined rules to improve lithography process window. These rules are usually derived from lithographic models and experiments. Direct validation of AF rules is required at development phase. We use the test layout approach to determine rules in order to eliminate AF printability problem.

  9. Structural considerations for underground nuclear power plants

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sarne, Y.

    The advantages and disadvantages of underground nuclear power plants are briefly reviewed. The impact of underground contruction on plant layout and structural design are discussed. Schedules and costs for construction are compared with those for conventional plants.

  10. A preliminary 'test case' manufacturing sequence for 50 cents/watt solar photovoltaic modules in 1986

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bickler, D. B.

    1979-01-01

    The paper describes a 'test case' manufacturing process sequence for solar photovoltaic modules which will cost 50 cents/watt in 1986. The process, which starts with the purification of silicon grown into 75-mm-wide thin ribbons, is discussed, and the plant layout is depicted; each department is sized to produce 250 MW of modules/per year. The cost of this process sequence is compared to present technology at various companies showing considerable spread for each process; data are tabulated in a composite state-of-the-art cell processing cost summary for these processes.

  11. The Use of Multi-Criteria Evaluation and Network Analysis in the Area Development Planning Process

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-03-01

    layouts. The alternative layout scoring process, base in multi-criteria evaluation, returns a quantitative score for each alternative layout and a...The purpose of this research was to develop improvements to the area development planning process. These plans are used to improve operations within...an installation sub-section by altering the physical layout of facilities. One methodology was developed based on apply network analysis concepts to

  12. The effect of design modifications to the typographical layout of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user preference and process time

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arnold, Jeffery E.

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book. The layouts of the new documents are referred to as Chart, Map, and Tabloid based on the format used to convey content hierarchy information. Most notably, all the new layouts feature larger page sizes, color, page tabs, and an icon based navigation system (IBNS). A convenience sample of 48 New York State educators representing three educator types (16 pre-service teachers, 16 in-service teachers, and 16 administrators) participated in the study. After completing timed tasks accurately, participants scored each layout based on preference. Educator type and layout were the independent variables, and process time and user preference were the dependent variables. A two-factor experimental design with Educator Type as the between variable and with repeated measures on Layout, the within variable, showed a significant difference in process time for Educator Type and Layout. The main effect for Educator Type (F(2, 45) = 8.03, p <.001) was significant with an observed power of .94, and an effect size of .26. The pair-wise comparisons for process time showed that pre-service teachers (p = .02) and administrators (p =.009) completed the assigned tasks more quickly when compared to in-service teachers. The main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 4.47, p =.01) was also significant with an observed power of .80, and an effect size of .09. Pair-wise comparisons showed that the newly developed Chart (p = .019) and Map (p = .032) layouts reduced overall process time when compared to the existing state learning standards (Book). The Layout X Educator type interaction was not significant. The same two-factor experimental design on preference, showed the main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 28.43, p =.001) was significant. The observed power was 1.0, with an effect size of .39. Pair-wise comparisons for preference scores showed that the Chart (p = .001), Map (p = .001), and Tabloid (p = .001) were preferred over the Book layout. The Layout Type X Educator Type interaction and the main effect for Educator Type were not significant. This study provides evidence that the newly developed design layouts improve usability (as measured by process time and preference scores) of the New York State elementary science learning standard documents. Features in the new layout design, such as the IBNS, may provide a foundation for a visual language and aid users in navigating standard documents across grade level and subject areas. Implications for the next generation of standard documents are presented.

  13. Computer visualizations in engineering applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bills, K. C.

    The use of computerized simulations of various robotic tasks via IGRIP software is reported. The projects include underwater activities demonstrating clean up of a quarry; time study of methods to store waste drums inside a facility; design walk-through of a new facility; plant layout flyover; and conceptual development and layout of new mechanisms.

  14. Feasibility of AN Ecrh System for Jet:. Plant Layout, Auxiliaries and Services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lennholm, M.; Bouquey, F.; Braune, H.; Farthing, J.; Garavaglia, S.; Giruzzi, G.; Granucci, G.; Jennison, M.; Parkin, A.

    2011-02-01

    A study conducted over the last year to asses the desirability and feasibility of installing an ECRH system on the JET tokamak has concluded that such a system is indeed both desirable and feasible. Details of physics studies, launcher and transmission line design, and power supplies are presented elsewhere in these proceedings. This paper concentrates on the logistical implications of installing this system at JET. The paper addresses issues such as port allocation and plant location. The study has concluded that a new building will be needed to house the ECRH plant. Building layout proposals are presented together with considerations regarding the required auxiliary equipment.

  15. An Arsenal Ship Design

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1996-12-01

    151 B. PROPULSION PLANT SELECTION....................................................................... 152 ix C. PROPULSION PLANT LAYOUT...155 D. ELECTRICAL PLANT SELECTION...designed into the hull and power plant and once finalized is only a function of how many miles the ship is to be driven. Decision trade- offs are to

  16. A user's manual for DELSOL3: A computer code for calculating the optical performance and optimal system design for solar thermal central receiver plants

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kistler, B.L.

    DELSOL3 is a revised and updated version of the DELSOL2 computer program (SAND81-8237) for calculating collector field performance and layout and optimal system design for solar thermal central receiver plants. The code consists of a detailed model of the optical performance, a simpler model of the non-optical performance, an algorithm for field layout, and a searching algorithm to find the best system design based on energy cost. The latter two features are coupled to a cost model of central receiver components and an economic model for calculating energy costs. The code can handle flat, focused and/or canted heliostats, and externalmore » cylindrical, multi-aperture cavity, and flat plate receivers. The program optimizes the tower height, receiver size, field layout, heliostat spacings, and tower position at user specified power levels subject to flux limits on the receiver and land constraints for field layout. DELSOL3 maintains the advantages of speed and accuracy which are characteristics of DELSOL2.« less

  17. Layout Design of Human-Machine Interaction Interface of Cabin Based on Cognitive Ergonomics and GA-ACA.

    PubMed

    Deng, Li; Wang, Guohua; Yu, Suihuai

    2016-01-01

    In order to consider the psychological cognitive characteristics affecting operating comfort and realize the automatic layout design, cognitive ergonomics and GA-ACA (genetic algorithm and ant colony algorithm) were introduced into the layout design of human-machine interaction interface. First, from the perspective of cognitive psychology, according to the information processing process, the cognitive model of human-machine interaction interface was established. Then, the human cognitive characteristics were analyzed, and the layout principles of human-machine interaction interface were summarized as the constraints in layout design. Again, the expression form of fitness function, pheromone, and heuristic information for the layout optimization of cabin was studied. The layout design model of human-machine interaction interface was established based on GA-ACA. At last, a layout design system was developed based on this model. For validation, the human-machine interaction interface layout design of drilling rig control room was taken as an example, and the optimization result showed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

  18. Layout Design of Human-Machine Interaction Interface of Cabin Based on Cognitive Ergonomics and GA-ACA

    PubMed Central

    Deng, Li; Wang, Guohua; Yu, Suihuai

    2016-01-01

    In order to consider the psychological cognitive characteristics affecting operating comfort and realize the automatic layout design, cognitive ergonomics and GA-ACA (genetic algorithm and ant colony algorithm) were introduced into the layout design of human-machine interaction interface. First, from the perspective of cognitive psychology, according to the information processing process, the cognitive model of human-machine interaction interface was established. Then, the human cognitive characteristics were analyzed, and the layout principles of human-machine interaction interface were summarized as the constraints in layout design. Again, the expression form of fitness function, pheromone, and heuristic information for the layout optimization of cabin was studied. The layout design model of human-machine interaction interface was established based on GA-ACA. At last, a layout design system was developed based on this model. For validation, the human-machine interaction interface layout design of drilling rig control room was taken as an example, and the optimization result showed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. PMID:26884745

  19. Using RGB-D sensors and evolutionary algorithms for the optimization of workstation layouts.

    PubMed

    Diego-Mas, Jose Antonio; Poveda-Bautista, Rocio; Garzon-Leal, Diana

    2017-11-01

    RGB-D sensors can collect postural data in an automatized way. However, the application of these devices in real work environments requires overcoming problems such as lack of accuracy or body parts' occlusion. This work presents the use of RGB-D sensors and genetic algorithms for the optimization of workstation layouts. RGB-D sensors are used to capture workers' movements when they reach objects on workbenches. Collected data are then used to optimize workstation layout by means of genetic algorithms considering multiple ergonomic criteria. Results show that typical drawbacks of using RGB-D sensors for body tracking are not a problem for this application, and that the combination with intelligent algorithms can automatize the layout design process. The procedure described can be used to automatically suggest new layouts when workers or processes of production change, to adapt layouts to specific workers based on their ways to do the tasks, or to obtain layouts simultaneously optimized for several production processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The Effect of Design Modifications to the Typographical Layout of the New York State Elementary Science Learning Standards on User Preference and Process Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arnold, Jeffery E.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book.…

  1. User-friendly design approach for analog layout design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Yongfu; Lee, Zhao Chuan; Tripathi, Vikas; Perez, Valerio; Ong, Yoong Seang; Hui, Chiu Wing

    2017-03-01

    Analog circuits are sensitives to the changes in the layout environment conditions, manufacturing processes, and variations. This paper presents analog verification flow with five types of analogfocused layout constraint checks to assist engineers in identifying any potential device mismatch and layout drawing mistakes. Compared to several solutions, our approach only requires layout design, which is sufficient to recognize all the matched devices. Our approach simplifies the data preparation and allows seamless integration into the layout environment with minimum disruption to the custom layout flow. Our user-friendly analog verification flow provides the engineer with more confident with their layouts quality.

  2. Mental Layout Extrapolations Prime Spatial Processing of Scenes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gottesman, Carmela V.

    2011-01-01

    Four experiments examined whether scene processing is facilitated by layout representation, including layout that was not perceived but could be predicted based on a previous partial view (boundary extension). In a priming paradigm (after Sanocki, 2003), participants judged objects' distances in photographs. In Experiment 1, full scenes (target),…

  3. Manufacturing engineering: Principles for optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koenig, Daniel T.

    Various subjects in the area of manufacturing engineering are addressed. The topics considered include: manufacturing engineering organization concepts and management techniques, factory capacity and loading techniques, capital equipment programs, machine tool and equipment selection and implementation, producibility engineering, methods, planning and work management, and process control engineering in job shops. Also discussed are: maintenance engineering, numerical control of machine tools, fundamentals of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture, computer-aided process planning and data collection, group technology basis for plant layout, environmental control and safety, and the Integrated Productivity Improvement Program.

  4. Automatic Layout Design for Power Module

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ning, Puqi; Wang, Fei; Ngo, Khai

    The layout of power modules is one of the most important elements in power module design, especially for high power densities, where couplings are increased. In this paper, an automatic design process using a genetic algorithm is presented. Some practical considerations are introduced in the optimization of the layout design of the module. This paper presents a process for automatic layout design for high power density modules. Detailed GA implementations are introduced both for outer loop and inner loop. As verified by a design example, the results of the automatic design process presented here are better than those from manualmore » design and also better than the results from a popular design software. This automatic design procedure could be a major step toward improving the overall performance of future layout design.« less

  5. Using pattern based layout comparison for a quick analysis of design changes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Lucas; Yang, Legender; Kan, Huan; Zou, Elain; Wan, Qijian; Du, Chunshan; Hu, Xinyi; Liu, Zhengfang

    2018-03-01

    A design usually goes through several versions until achieving a most successful one. These changes between versions are not a complete substitution but a continual improvement, either fixing the known issues of its prior versions (engineering change order) or a more optimized design substitution of a portion of the design. On the manufacturing side, process engineers care more about the design pattern changes because any new pattern occurrence may be a killer of the yield. An effective and efficient way to narrow down the diagnosis scope appeals to the engineers. What is the best approach of comparing two layouts? A direct overlay of two layouts may not always work as even though most of the design instances will be kept in the layout from version to version, the actual placements may be different. An alternative way, pattern based layout comparison, comes to play. By expanding this application, it makes it possible to transfer the learning in one cycle to another and accelerate the process of failure analysis. This paper presents a solution to compare two layouts by using Calibre DRC and Pattern Matching. The key step in this flow is layout decomposition. In theory, with a fixed pattern size, a layout can always be decomposed into limited number of patterns by moving the pattern center around the layout, the number is limited but may be huge if the layout is not processed smartly! A mathematical answer is not what we are looking for but an engineering solution is more desired. Layouts must be decomposed into patterns with physical meaning in a smart way. When a layout is decomposed and patterns are classified, a pattern library with unique patterns inside is created for that layout. After individual pattern libraries for each layout are created, run pattern comparison utility provided by Calibre Pattern Matching to compare the pattern libraries, unique patterns will come out for each layout. This paper illustrates this flow in details and demonstrates the advantage of combining Calibre DRC and Calibre Pattern Matching.

  6. Optimization of wind plant layouts using an adjoint approach

    DOE PAGES

    King, Ryan N.; Dykes, Katherine; Graf, Peter; ...

    2017-03-10

    Using adjoint optimization and three-dimensional steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, we present a new gradient-based approach for optimally siting wind turbines within utility-scale wind plants. By solving the adjoint equations of the flow model, the gradients needed for optimization are found at a cost that is independent of the number of control variables, thereby permitting optimization of large wind plants with many turbine locations. Moreover, compared to the common approach of superimposing prescribed wake deficits onto linearized flow models, the computational efficiency of the adjoint approach allows the use of higher-fidelity RANS flow models which can capture nonlinear turbulent flowmore » physics within a wind plant. The steady-state RANS flow model is implemented in the Python finite-element package FEniCS and the derivation and solution of the discrete adjoint equations are automated within the dolfin-adjoint framework. Gradient-based optimization of wind turbine locations is demonstrated for idealized test cases that reveal new optimization heuristics such as rotational symmetry, local speedups, and nonlinear wake curvature effects. Layout optimization is also demonstrated on more complex wind rose shapes, including a full annual energy production (AEP) layout optimization over 36 inflow directions and 5 wind speed bins.« less

  7. Optimization of wind plant layouts using an adjoint approach

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    King, Ryan N.; Dykes, Katherine; Graf, Peter

    Using adjoint optimization and three-dimensional steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, we present a new gradient-based approach for optimally siting wind turbines within utility-scale wind plants. By solving the adjoint equations of the flow model, the gradients needed for optimization are found at a cost that is independent of the number of control variables, thereby permitting optimization of large wind plants with many turbine locations. Moreover, compared to the common approach of superimposing prescribed wake deficits onto linearized flow models, the computational efficiency of the adjoint approach allows the use of higher-fidelity RANS flow models which can capture nonlinear turbulent flowmore » physics within a wind plant. The steady-state RANS flow model is implemented in the Python finite-element package FEniCS and the derivation and solution of the discrete adjoint equations are automated within the dolfin-adjoint framework. Gradient-based optimization of wind turbine locations is demonstrated for idealized test cases that reveal new optimization heuristics such as rotational symmetry, local speedups, and nonlinear wake curvature effects. Layout optimization is also demonstrated on more complex wind rose shapes, including a full annual energy production (AEP) layout optimization over 36 inflow directions and 5 wind speed bins.« less

  8. Automotive manufacturing assessment system. Volume IV: engine manufacturing analysis. Final report Jun 77-Aug 78

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Taylor, T. Jr

    Volume IV represents the results of one of four major study areas under the Automotive Manufacturing Assessment System (AMAS) sponsored by the DOT/Transportation Systems Center. AMAS was designed to assist in the evaluation of industry's capability to produce fuel efficient vehicles. An analysis of automotive engine manufacturing was conducted in order to determine the impact of regulatory changes on tooling costs and the production process. The 351W CID V-8 engine at Ford's Windsor No. 1 Plant was the subject of the analysis. A review of plant history and its product is presented along with an analysis of manufacturing operations, includingmore » material and production flow, plant layout, machining and assembly processes, tooling, supporting facilities, inspection, service and repair. Four levels of product change intensity showing the impact on manufacturing methods and cost is also presented.« less

  9. Layout compliance for triple patterning lithography: an iterative approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Bei; Garreton, Gilda; Pan, David Z.

    2014-10-01

    As the semiconductor process further scales down, the industry encounters many lithography-related issues. In the 14nm logic node and beyond, triple patterning lithography (TPL) is one of the most promising techniques for Metal1 layer and possibly Via0 layer. As one of the most challenging problems in TPL, recently layout decomposition efforts have received more attention from both industry and academia. Ideally the decomposer should point out locations in the layout that are not triple patterning decomposable and therefore manual intervention by designers is required. A traditional decomposition flow would be an iterative process, where each iteration consists of an automatic layout decomposition step and manual layout modification task. However, due to the NP-hardness of triple patterning layout decomposition, automatic full chip level layout decomposition requires long computational time and therefore design closure issues continue to linger around in the traditional flow. Challenged by this issue, we present a novel incremental layout decomposition framework to facilitate accelerated iterative decomposition. In the first iteration, our decomposer not only points out all conflicts, but also provides the suggestions to fix them. After the layout modification, instead of solving the full chip problem from scratch, our decomposer can provide a quick solution for a selected portion of layout. We believe this framework is efficient, in terms of performance and designer friendly.

  10. Selecting a pharmacy layout design using a weighted scoring system.

    PubMed

    McDowell, Alissa L; Huang, Yu-Li

    2012-05-01

    A weighted scoring system was used to select a pharmacy layout redesign. Facilities layout design techniques were applied at a local hospital pharmacy using a step-by-step design process. The process involved observing and analyzing the current situation, observing the current available space, completing activity flow charts of the pharmacy processes, completing communication and material relationship charts to detail which areas in the pharmacy were related to one another and how they were related, researching applications in other pharmacies or in scholarly works that could be beneficial, numerically defining space requirements for areas within the pharmacy, measuring the available space within the pharmacy, developing a set of preliminary designs, and modifying preliminary designs so they were all acceptable to the pharmacy staff. To select a final layout that could be implemented in the pharmacy, those layouts were compared via a weighted scoring system. The weighted aspect further allowed additional emphasis on categories based on their effect on pharmacy performance. The results produced a beneficial layout design as determined through simulated models of the pharmacy operation that more effectively allocated and strategically located space to improve transportation distances and materials handling, employee utilization, and ergonomics. Facilities layout designs for a hospital pharmacy were evaluated using a weighted scoring system to identify a design that was superior to both the current layout and alternative layouts in terms of feasibility, cost, patient safety, employee safety, flexibility, robustness, transportation distance, employee utilization, objective adherence, maintainability, usability, and environmental impact.

  11. A Garden of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirby, Tasha

    2008-01-01

    In order to beautify the school environment and further student learning, fourth-graders cultivated a Native Plant Learning Garden. They were responsible for designing a layout, researching garden elements, preparing the area, and planting a variety of native plants. By the completion of this inquiry-based project, students were able to clearly…

  12. Dish layouts analysis method for concentrative solar power plant.

    PubMed

    Xu, Jinshan; Gan, Shaocong; Li, Song; Ruan, Zhongyuan; Chen, Shengyong; Wang, Yong; Gui, Changgui; Wan, Bin

    2016-01-01

    Designs leading to maximize the use of sun radiation of a given reflective area without increasing the expense on investment are important to solar power plants construction. We here provide a method that allows one to compute shade area at any given time as well as the total shading effect of a day. By establishing a local coordinate system with the origin at the apex of a parabolic dish and z -axis pointing to the sun, neighboring dishes only with [Formula: see text] would shade onto the dish when in tracking mode. This procedure reduces the required computational resources, simplifies the calculation and allows a quick search for the optimum layout by considering all aspects leading to optimized arrangement: aspect ratio, shifting and rotation. Computer simulations done with information on dish Stirling system as well as DNI data released from NREL, show that regular-spacing is not an optimal layout, shifting and rotating column by certain amount can bring more benefits.

  13. A&M. TAN633. Utilities plan and profiles. Layout of TAN633 in ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    A&M. TAN-633. Utilities plan and profiles. Layout of TAN-633 in relation to neighboring buildings: actuator building, pool building, water filter building, liquid waste treatment plant, and buried storage tanks. Ralph M. Parsons 1229-13-ANP/GE-3-301-U-1. Date: December 1956. INEEL index code no. 034-0301-00-693-107311 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Area North, Scoville, Butte County, ID

  14. Modelling of Indoor Environments Using Lindenmayer Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peter, M.

    2017-09-01

    Documentation of the "as-built" state of building interiors has gained a lot of interest in the recent years. Various data acquisition methods exist, e.g. the extraction from photographed evacuation plans using image processing or, most prominently, indoor mobile laser scanning. Due to clutter or data gaps as well as errors during data acquisition and processing, automatic reconstruction of CAD/BIM-like models from these data sources is not a trivial task. Thus it is often tried to support reconstruction by general rules for the perpendicularity and parallelism which are predominant in man-made structures. Indoor environments of large, public buildings, however, often also follow higher-level rules like symmetry and repetition of e.g. room sizes and corridor widths. In the context of reconstruction of city city elements (e.g. street networks) or building elements (e.g. façade layouts), formal grammars have been put to use. In this paper, we describe the use of Lindenmayer systems - which originally have been developed for the computer-based modelling of plant growth - to model and reproduce the layout of indoor environments in 2D.

  15. Process Mining-Based Method of Designing and Optimizing the Layouts of Emergency Departments in Hospitals.

    PubMed

    Rismanchian, Farhood; Lee, Young Hoon

    2017-07-01

    This article proposes an approach to help designers analyze complex care processes and identify the optimal layout of an emergency department (ED) considering several objectives simultaneously. These objectives include minimizing the distances traveled by patients, maximizing design preferences, and minimizing the relocation costs. Rising demand for healthcare services leads to increasing demand for new hospital buildings as well as renovating existing ones. Operations management techniques have been successfully applied in both manufacturing and service industries to design more efficient layouts. However, high complexity of healthcare processes makes it challenging to apply these techniques in healthcare environments. Process mining techniques were applied to address the problem of complexity and to enhance healthcare process analysis. Process-related information, such as information about the clinical pathways, was extracted from the information system of an ED. A goal programming approach was then employed to find a single layout that would simultaneously satisfy several objectives. The layout identified using the proposed method improved the distances traveled by noncritical and critical patients by 42.2% and 47.6%, respectively, and minimized the relocation costs. This study has shown that an efficient placement of the clinical units yields remarkable improvements in the distances traveled by patients.

  16. Reactor safeguards system assessment and design. Volume I

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Varnado, G.B.; Ericson, D.M. Jr.; Daniel, S.L.

    1978-06-01

    This report describes the development and application of a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of nuclear power reactor safeguards systems. Analytic techniques are used to identify the sabotage acts which could lead to release of radioactive material from a nuclear power plant, to determine the areas of a plant which must be protected to assure that significant release does not occur, to model the physical plant layout, and to evaluate the effectiveness of various safeguards systems. The methodology was used to identify those aspects of reactor safeguards systems which have the greatest effect on overall system performance and which, therefore,more » should be emphasized in the licensing process. With further refinements, the methodology can be used by the licensing reviewer to aid in assessing proposed or existing safeguards systems.« less

  17. NREL Software Models Performance of Wind Plants (Fact Sheet)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2015-01-01

    This NREL Highlight is being developed for the 2015 February Alliance S&T Meeting, and describes NREL's Simulator for Offshore Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA) software in collaboration with Norway-based Statoil, to optimize layouts and controls of wind plants arrays.

  18. 7. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    7. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDING NO. 10, PRODUCER GAS & EXHAUSTER BLDG., PLANT A.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant A, Parts I, II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Producer Gas Plant, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  19. Automatic page composition with nested sub-layouts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hunter, Andrew

    2013-03-01

    This paper provides an overview of a system for the automatic composition of publications. The system first composes nested hierarchies of contents, then applies layout engines at branch points in the hierarchies to explore layout options, and finally selects the best overall options for the finished publications. Although the system has been developed as a general platform for automated publishing, this paper describes its application to the composition and layout of a magazine-like publication for social content from Facebook. The composition process works by assembling design fragments that have been populated with text and images from the Facebook social network. The fragments constitute a design language for a publication. Each design fragment is a nested mutable sub-layout that has no specific size or shape until after it has been laid-out. The layout process balances the space requirements of the fragment's internal contents with its external context in the publication. The mutability of sub-layouts requires that their layout options must be kept open until all the other contents that share the same space have been considered. Coping with large numbers of options is one of the greatest challenges in layout automation. Most existing layout methods work by rapidly elimination design options rather than by keeping options open. A further goal of this publishing system is to confirm that a custom publication can be generated quickly by the described methods. In general, the faster that publications can be created, the greater the opportunities for the technology.

  20. Modelling-based identification of factors influencing campylobacters in chicken broiler houses and on carcasses sampled after processing and chilling.

    PubMed

    Hutchison, M L; Taylor, M J; Tchòrzewska, M A; Ford, G; Madden, R H; Knowles, T G

    2017-05-01

    To identify production and processing practices that might reduce Campylobacter numbers contaminating chicken broiler carcasses. The numbers of campylobacters were determined on carcass neck skins after processing or in broiler house litter samples. Supplementary information that described farm layouts, farming conditions for individual flocks, the slaughterhouse layouts and operating conditions inside plants was collected, matched with each Campylobacter test result. Statistical models predicting the numbers of campylobacters on neck skins and in litter were constructed. Carcass microbial contamination was more strongly influenced by on-farm production practices compared with slaughterhouse activities. We observed correlations between the chilling, washing and defeathering stages of processing and the numbers of campylobacters on carcasses. There were factors on farm that also correlated with numbers of campylobacters in litter. These included bird gender, the exclusion of dogs from houses, beetle presence in the house litter and the materials used to construct the house frame. Changes in farming practices have greater potential for reducing chicken carcass microbial contamination compared with processing interventions. Routine commercial practices were identified that were correlated with lowered numbers of campylobacters. Consequently, these practices are likely to be both cost-effective and suitable for adoption into established farms and commercial processing. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Applied Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for Applied Microbiology.

  1. Optimal multi-floor plant layout based on the mathematical programming and particle swarm optimization.

    PubMed

    Lee, Chang Jun

    2015-01-01

    In the fields of researches associated with plant layout optimization, the main goal is to minimize the costs of pipelines and pumping between connecting equipment under various constraints. However, what is the lacking of considerations in previous researches is to transform various heuristics or safety regulations into mathematical equations. For example, proper safety distances between equipments have to be complied for preventing dangerous accidents on a complex plant. Moreover, most researches have handled single-floor plant. However, many multi-floor plants have been constructed for the last decade. Therefore, the proper algorithm handling various regulations and multi-floor plant should be developed. In this study, the Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) problem including safety distances, maintenance spaces, etc. is suggested based on mathematical equations. The objective function is a summation of pipeline and pumping costs. Also, various safety and maintenance issues are transformed into inequality or equality constraints. However, it is really hard to solve this problem due to complex nonlinear constraints. Thus, it is impossible to use conventional MINLP solvers using derivatives of equations. In this study, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique is employed. The ethylene oxide plant is illustrated to verify the efficacy of this study.

  2. DeDaL: Cytoscape 3 app for producing and morphing data-driven and structure-driven network layouts.

    PubMed

    Czerwinska, Urszula; Calzone, Laurence; Barillot, Emmanuel; Zinovyev, Andrei

    2015-08-14

    Visualization and analysis of molecular profiling data together with biological networks are able to provide new mechanistic insights into biological functions. Currently, it is possible to visualize high-throughput data on top of pre-defined network layouts, but they are not always adapted to a given data analysis task. A network layout based simultaneously on the network structure and the associated multidimensional data might be advantageous for data visualization and analysis in some cases. We developed a Cytoscape app, which allows constructing biological network layouts based on the data from molecular profiles imported as values of node attributes. DeDaL is a Cytoscape 3 app, which uses linear and non-linear algorithms of dimension reduction to produce data-driven network layouts based on multidimensional data (typically gene expression). DeDaL implements several data pre-processing and layout post-processing steps such as continuous morphing between two arbitrary network layouts and aligning one network layout with respect to another one by rotating and mirroring. The combination of all these functionalities facilitates the creation of insightful network layouts representing both structural network features and correlation patterns in multivariate data. We demonstrate the added value of applying DeDaL in several practical applications, including an example of a large protein-protein interaction network. DeDaL is a convenient tool for applying data dimensionality reduction methods and for designing insightful data displays based on data-driven layouts of biological networks, built within Cytoscape environment. DeDaL is freely available for downloading at http://bioinfo-out.curie.fr/projects/dedal/.

  3. Design optimization of highly asymmetrical layouts by 2D contour metrology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, C. M.; Lo, Fred; Yang, Elvis; Yang, T. H.; Chen, K. C.

    2018-03-01

    As design pitch shrinks to the resolution limit of up-to-date optical lithography technology, the Critical Dimension (CD) variation tolerance has been dramatically decreased for ensuring the functionality of device. One of critical challenges associates with the narrower CD tolerance for whole chip area is the proximity effect control on asymmetrical layout environments. To fulfill the tight CD control of complex features, the Critical Dimension Scanning Electron Microscope (CD-SEM) based measurement results for qualifying process window and establishing the Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) model become insufficient, thus 2D contour extraction technique [1-5] has been an increasingly important approach for complementing the insufficiencies of traditional CD measurement algorithm. To alleviate the long cycle time and high cost penalties for product verification, manufacturing requirements are better to be well handled at design stage to improve the quality and yield of ICs. In this work, in-house 2D contour extraction platform was established for layout design optimization of 39nm half-pitch Self-Aligned Double Patterning (SADP) process layer. Combining with the adoption of Process Variation Band Index (PVBI), the contour extraction platform enables layout optimization speedup as comparing to traditional methods. The capabilities of identifying and handling lithography hotspots in complex layout environments of 2D contour extraction platform allow process window aware layout optimization to meet the manufacturing requirements.

  4. Dynamics of scene representations in the human brain revealed by magnetoencephalography and deep neural networks

    PubMed Central

    Cichy, Radoslaw Martin; Khosla, Aditya; Pantazis, Dimitrios; Oliva, Aude

    2017-01-01

    Human scene recognition is a rapid multistep process evolving over time from single scene image to spatial layout processing. We used multivariate pattern analyses on magnetoencephalography (MEG) data to unravel the time course of this cortical process. Following an early signal for lower-level visual analysis of single scenes at ~100 ms, we found a marker of real-world scene size, i.e. spatial layout processing, at ~250 ms indexing neural representations robust to changes in unrelated scene properties and viewing conditions. For a quantitative model of how scene size representations may arise in the brain, we compared MEG data to a deep neural network model trained on scene classification. Representations of scene size emerged intrinsically in the model, and resolved emerging neural scene size representation. Together our data provide a first description of an electrophysiological signal for layout processing in humans, and suggest that deep neural networks are a promising framework to investigate how spatial layout representations emerge in the human brain. PMID:27039703

  5. Simplify to survive: prescriptive layouts ensure profitable scaling to 32nm and beyond

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liebmann, Lars; Pileggi, Larry; Hibbeler, Jason; Rovner, Vyacheslav; Jhaveri, Tejas; Northrop, Greg

    2009-03-01

    The time-to-market driven need to maintain concurrent process-design co-development, even in spite of discontinuous patterning, process, and device innovation is reiterated. The escalating design rule complexity resulting from increasing layout sensitivities in physical and electrical yield and the resulting risk to profitable technology scaling is reviewed. Shortcomings in traditional Design for Manufacturability (DfM) solutions are identified and contrasted to the highly successful integrated design-technology co-optimization used for SRAM and other memory arrays. The feasibility of extending memory-style design-technology co-optimization, based on a highly simplified layout environment, to logic chips is demonstrated. Layout density benefits, modeled patterning and electrical yield improvements, as well as substantially improved layout simplicity are quantified in a conventional versus template-based design comparison on a 65nm IBM PowerPC 405 microprocessor core. The adaptability of this highly regularized template-based design solution to different yield concerns and design styles is shown in the extension of this work to 32nm with an increased focus on interconnect redundancy. In closing, the work not covered in this paper, focused on the process side of the integrated process-design co-optimization, is introduced.

  6. Field-design optimization with triangular heliostat pods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Domínguez-Bravo, Carmen-Ana; Bode, Sebastian-James; Heiming, Gregor; Richter, Pascal; Carrizosa, Emilio; Fernández-Cara, Enrique; Frank, Martin; Gauché, Paul

    2016-05-01

    In this paper the optimization of a heliostat field with triangular heliostat pods is addressed. The use of structures which allow the combination of several heliostats into a common pod system aims to reduce the high costs associated with the heliostat field and therefore reduces the Levelized Cost of Electricity value. A pattern-based algorithm and two pattern-free algorithms are adapted to handle the field layout problem with triangular heliostat pods. Under the Helio100 project in South Africa, a new small-scale Solar Power Tower plant has been recently constructed. The Helio100 plant has 20 triangular pods (each with 6 heliostats) whose positions follow a linear pattern. The obtained field layouts after optimization are compared against the reference field Helio100.

  7. Risk-based design of process plants with regard to domino effects and land use planning.

    PubMed

    Khakzad, Nima; Reniers, Genserik

    2015-12-15

    Land use planning (LUP) as an effective and crucial safety measure has widely been employed by safety experts and decision makers to mitigate off-site risks posed by major accidents. Accordingly, the concept of LUP in chemical plants has traditionally been considered from two perspectives: (i) land developments around existing chemical plants considering potential off-site risks posed by major accidents and (ii) development of existing chemical plants considering nearby land developments and the level of additional off-site risks the land developments would be exposed to. However, the attempts made to design chemical plants with regard to LUP requirements have been few, most of which have neglected the role of domino effects in risk analysis of major accidents. To overcome the limitations of previous work, first, we developed a Bayesian network methodology to calculate both on-site and off-site risks of major accidents while taking domino effects into account. Second, we combined the results of risk analysis with Analytic Hierarchical Process to design an optimal layout for which the levels of on-site and off-site risks would be minimum. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Automatic Layout Design for Power Module

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ning, Puqi; Wang, Fei; Ngo, Khai

    The layout of power modules is one of the key points in power module design, especially for high power densities, where couplings are increased. In this paper, along with the design example, an automatic design processes by using a genetic algorithm are presented. Some practical considerations and implementations are introduced in the optimization of module layout design.

  9. An analysis of the radioactive contamination due to radon in a granite processing plant and its decontamination by ventilation.

    PubMed

    Dieguez-Elizondo, Pedro M; Gil-Lopez, Tomas; O'Donohoe, Paul G; Castejon-Navas, Juan; Galvez-Huerta, Miguel A

    2017-02-01

    This work focuses on studying concentration distribution of 222 Rn radioisotope in a granite processing plant. Using Computational Fluid Dynamic Techniques (CFD), the exposure of the workers to radiation was assessed and, in order to minimise this exposure, different decontamination scenarios using ventilation were analysed. Natural ventilation showed not sufficient to maintain radon concentration below acceptable limits, so a forced ventilation was used instead. Position of the granite blocks also revealed as a determining factor in the radioactive level distribution. Thus, a correct layout of the stored material and an adequate ventilation system can guarantee free of exposure to radiation zones within the studied workshop. This leads to a drastic fall in the exposure of the workers and consequently minimises their risk of developing aggressive illness like lung cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Analysis on flexible manufacturing system layout using arena simulation software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fadzly, M. K.; Saad, Mohd Sazli; Shayfull, Z.

    2017-09-01

    Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) was defined as highly automated group technology machine cell, consisting of a group of processing stations interconnected by an automated material handling and storage system, and controlled by an integrated computer system. FMS can produce parts or products are in the mid-volume, mid-variety production range. The layout system in FMS is an important criterion to design the FMS system to produce a part or product. This facility layout of an FMS involves the positioning of cells within given boundaries, so as to minimize the total projected travel time between cells. Defining the layout includes specifying the spatial coordinates of each cell, its orientation in either a horizontal or vertical position, and the location of its load or unloads point. There are many types of FMS layout such as In-line, loop ladder and robot centered cell layout. The research is concentrating on the design and optimization FMS layout. The final conclusion can be summarized that the objective to design and optimisation of FMS layout for this study is successful because the FMS In-line layout is the best layout based on effective time and cost using ARENA simulation software.

  11. On the suitability and development of layout templates for analog layout reuse and layout-aware synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Castro-Lopez, Rafael; Fernandez, Francisco V.; Rodriguez Vazquez, Angel

    2005-06-01

    Accelerating the synthesis of increasingly complex analog integrated circuits is key to bridge the widening gap between what we can integrate and what we can design while meeting ever-tightening time-to-market constraints. It is a well-known fact in the semiconductor industry that such goal can only be attained by means of adequate CAD methodologies, techniques, and accompanying tools. This is particularly important in analog physical synthesis (a.k.a. layout generation), where large sensitivities of the circuit performances to the many subtle details of layout implementation (device matching, loading and coupling effects, reliability, and area features are of utmost importance to analog designers), render complete automation a truly challenging task. To approach the problem, two directions have been traditionally considered, knowledge-based and optimization-based, both with their own pros and cons. Besides, recently reported solutions oriented to speed up the overall design flow by means of reuse-based practices or by cutting off time-consuming, error-prone spins between electrical and layout synthesis (a technique known as layout-aware synthesis), rely on a outstandingly rapid yet efficient layout generation method. This paper analyses the suitability of procedural layout generation based on templates (a knowledge-based approach) by examining the requirements that both layout reuse and layout-aware solutions impose, and how layout templates face them. The ability to capture the know-how of experienced layout designers and the turnaround times for layout instancing are considered main comparative aspects in relation to other layout generation approaches. A discussion on the benefit-cost trade-off of using layout templates is also included. In addition to this analysis, the paper delves deeper into systematic techniques to develop fully reusable layout templates for analog circuits, either for a change of the circuit sizing (i.e., layout retargeting) or a change of the fabrication process (i.e., layout migration). Several examples implemented with the Cadence's Virtuoso tool suite are provided as demonstration of the paper's contributions.

  12. Production layout improvement by using line balancing and Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) at PT. XYZ

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buchari; Tarigan, U.; Ambarita, M. B.

    2018-02-01

    PT. XYZ is a wood processing company which produce semi-finished wood with production system is make to order. In the production process, it can be seen that the production line is not balanced. The imbalance of the production line is caused by the difference in cycle time between work stations. In addition, there are other issues, namely the existence of material flow pattern is irregular so it resulted in the backtracking and displacement distance away. This study aimed to obtain the allocation of work elements to specific work stations and propose an improvement of the production layout based on the result of improvements in the line balancing. The method used in the balancing is Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) or also known as Helgeson Birnie method. While the methods used in the improvement of the layout is the method of Systematic Layout Planning (SLP). By using Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) obtained increase in line efficiency becomes 84,86% and decreased balance delay becomes 15,14%. Repairing the layout using the method of Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) also give good results with a reduction in path length becomes 133,82 meters from 213,09 meters previously or a decrease of 37.2%.

  13. Native conflict awared layout decomposition in triple patterning lithography using bin-based library matching method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ke, Xianhua; Jiang, Hao; Lv, Wen; Liu, Shiyuan

    2016-03-01

    Triple patterning (TP) lithography becomes a feasible technology for manufacturing as the feature size further scale down to sub 14/10 nm. In TP, a layout is decomposed into three masks followed with exposures and etches/freezing processes respectively. Previous works mostly focus on layout decomposition with minimal conflicts and stitches simultaneously. However, since any existence of native conflict will result in layout re-design/modification and reperforming the time-consuming decomposition, the effective method that can be aware of native conflicts (NCs) in layout is desirable. In this paper, a bin-based library matching method is proposed for NCs detection and layout decomposition. First, a layout is divided into bins and the corresponding conflict graph in each bin is constructed. Then, we match the conflict graph in a prebuilt colored library, and as a result the NCs can be located and highlighted quickly.

  14. Improved heliostat field design for solar tower plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Collado, Francisco J.; Guallar, Jesús

    2017-06-01

    In solar power tower (SPT) systems, selecting the optimum location of thousands of heliostats and the most profitable tower height and receiver size remains a challenge. Campo code is prepared for the detailed design of such plants in particular, the optimum layout, provided that the plant size is known. Therefore, less exhaustive codes, as DELSOL3, are also needed to perform preliminary parametric analysis that narrows the most economic size of the plant.

  15. Dynamics of scene representations in the human brain revealed by magnetoencephalography and deep neural networks.

    PubMed

    Martin Cichy, Radoslaw; Khosla, Aditya; Pantazis, Dimitrios; Oliva, Aude

    2017-06-01

    Human scene recognition is a rapid multistep process evolving over time from single scene image to spatial layout processing. We used multivariate pattern analyses on magnetoencephalography (MEG) data to unravel the time course of this cortical process. Following an early signal for lower-level visual analysis of single scenes at ~100ms, we found a marker of real-world scene size, i.e. spatial layout processing, at ~250ms indexing neural representations robust to changes in unrelated scene properties and viewing conditions. For a quantitative model of how scene size representations may arise in the brain, we compared MEG data to a deep neural network model trained on scene classification. Representations of scene size emerged intrinsically in the model, and resolved emerging neural scene size representation. Together our data provide a first description of an electrophysiological signal for layout processing in humans, and suggest that deep neural networks are a promising framework to investigate how spatial layout representations emerge in the human brain. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. ALARA radiation considerations for the AP600 reactor

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lau, F.L.

    1995-03-01

    The radiation design of the AP600 reactor plant is based on an average annual occupational radiation exposure (ORE) of 100 man-rem. As a design goal we have established a lower value of 70 man-rem per year. And, with our current design process, we expect to achieve annual exposures which are well below this goal. To accomplish our goal we have established a process that provides criteria, guidelines and customer involvement to achieve the desired result. The criteria and guidelines provide the shield designer, as well as the systems and plant layout designers with information that will lead to an integratedmore » plant design that minimizes personnel exposure and yet is not burdened with complicated shielding or unnecessary component access limitations. Customer involvement is provided in the form of utility input, design reviews and information exchange. Cooperative programs with utilities in the development of specific systems or processes also provides for an ALARA design. The results are features which include ALARA radiation considerations as an integral part of the plant design and a lower plant ORE. It is anticipated that a further reduction in plant personnel exposures will result through good radiological practices by the plant operators. The information in place to support and direct the plant designers includes the Utility Requirements Document (URD), Federal Regulations, ALARA guidelines, radiation design information and radiation and shielding design criteria. This information, along with the utility input, design reviews and information feedback, will contribute to the reduction of plant radiation exposure levels such that they will be less than the stated goals.« less

  17. Feasibility of Supersonic Aircraft Concepts for Low-Boom and Flight Trim Constraints

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Li, Wu

    2015-01-01

    This paper documents a process for analyzing whether a particular supersonic aircraft configuration layout and a given cruise condition are feasible to achieve a trimmed low-boom design. This process was motivated by the need to know whether a particular configuration at a given cruise condition could be reshaped to satisfy both low-boom and flight trim constraints. Without such a process, much effort could be wasted on shaping a configuration layout at a cruise condition that could never satisfy both low-boom and flight trim constraints simultaneously. The process helps to exclude infeasible configuration layouts with minimum effort and allows a designer to develop trimmed low-boom concepts more effectively. A notional low-boom supersonic demonstrator concept is used to illustrate the analysis/design process.

  18. Conversion of KEGG metabolic pathways to SBGN maps including automatic layout

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Biologists make frequent use of databases containing large and complex biological networks. One popular database is the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) which uses its own graphical representation and manual layout for pathways. While some general drawing conventions exist for biological networks, arbitrary graphical representations are very common. Recently, a new standard has been established for displaying biological processes, the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN), which aims to unify the look of such maps. Ideally, online repositories such as KEGG would automatically provide networks in a variety of notations including SBGN. Unfortunately, this is non‐trivial, since converting between notations may add, remove or otherwise alter map elements so that the existing layout cannot be simply reused. Results Here we describe a methodology for automatic translation of KEGG metabolic pathways into the SBGN format. We infer important properties of the KEGG layout and treat these as layout constraints that are maintained during the conversion to SBGN maps. Conclusions This allows for the drawing and layout conventions of SBGN to be followed while creating maps that are still recognizably the original KEGG pathways. This article details the steps in this process and provides examples of the final result. PMID:23953132

  19. Range pattern matching with layer operations and continuous refinements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tseng, I.-Lun; Lee, Zhao Chuan; Li, Yongfu; Perez, Valerio; Tripathi, Vikas; Ong, Jonathan Yoong Seang

    2018-03-01

    At advanced and mainstream process nodes (e.g., 7nm, 14nm, 22nm, and 55nm process nodes), lithography hotspots can exist in layouts of integrated circuits even if the layouts pass design rule checking (DRC). Existence of lithography hotspots in a layout can cause manufacturability issues, which can result in yield losses of manufactured integrated circuits. In order to detect lithography hotspots existing in physical layouts, pattern matching (PM) algorithms and commercial PM tools have been developed. However, there are still needs to use DRC tools to perform PM operations. In this paper, we propose a PM synthesis methodology, which uses a continuous refinement technique, for the automatic synthesis of a given lithography hotspot pattern into a DRC deck, which consists of layer operation commands, so that an equivalent PM operation can be performed by executing the synthesized deck with the use of a DRC tool. Note that the proposed methodology can deal with not only exact patterns, but also range patterns. Also, lithography hotspot patterns containing multiple layers can be processed. Experimental results show that the proposed methodology can accurately and efficiently detect lithography hotspots in physical layouts.

  20. Layout design-based research on optimization and assessment method for shipbuilding workshop

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yang; Meng, Mei; Liu, Shuang

    2013-06-01

    The research study proposes to examine a three-dimensional visualization program, emphasizing on improving genetic algorithms through the optimization of a layout design-based standard and discrete shipbuilding workshop. By utilizing a steel processing workshop as an example, the principle of minimum logistic costs will be implemented to obtain an ideological equipment layout, and a mathematical model. The objectiveness is to minimize the total necessary distance traveled between machines. An improved control operator is implemented to improve the iterative efficiency of the genetic algorithm, and yield relevant parameters. The Computer Aided Tri-Dimensional Interface Application (CATIA) software is applied to establish the manufacturing resource base and parametric model of the steel processing workshop. Based on the results of optimized planar logistics, a visual parametric model of the steel processing workshop is constructed, and qualitative and quantitative adjustments then are applied to the model. The method for evaluating the results of the layout is subsequently established through the utilization of AHP. In order to provide a mode of reference to the optimization and layout of the digitalized production workshop, the optimized discrete production workshop will possess a certain level of practical significance.

  1. 43. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    43. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS H-1 TO H-10 INCL., GRINDING, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT 'B'.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  2. Layout decomposition of self-aligned double patterning for 2D random logic patterning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ban, Yongchan; Miloslavsky, Alex; Lucas, Kevin; Choi, Soo-Han; Park, Chul-Hong; Pan, David Z.

    2011-04-01

    Self-aligned double pattering (SADP) has been adapted as a promising solution for sub-30nm technology nodes due to its lower overlay problem and better process tolerance. SADP is in production use for 1D dense patterns with good pitch control such as NAND Flash memory applications, but it is still challenging to apply SADP to 2D random logic patterns. The favored type of SADP for complex logic interconnects is a two mask approach using a core mask and a trim mask. In this paper, we first describe layout decomposition methods of spacer-type double patterning lithography, then report a type of SADP compliant layouts, and finally report SADP applications on Samsung 22nm SRAM layout. For SADP decomposition, we propose several SADP-aware layout coloring algorithms and a method of generating lithography-friendly core mask patterns. Experimental results on 22nm node designs show that our proposed layout decomposition for SADP effectively decomposes any given layouts.

  3. Design & layout of recreation facilities

    Treesearch

    Howard R. Orr

    1971-01-01

    Design and layout of recreation facilities is a problem solving process that must be divorced from the emotionalism that has shrouded outdoor recreation and must deal deliberately with the growing information concerning people and natural resources.

  4. Layout design in order to improve efficiency in manufacturing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siregar, I.; Tarigan, U.; Nasution, T. H.

    2018-02-01

    This research was conducted at the company that produces bobbins and ream type cigarette paper. Problems that found on the production process is the back and forth (back tracking) movement. Back and forth (back tracking) movement extending the total distance moved by the material and increase the total moment of transfer materials thus reducing the efficiency of the transfer of materials in the production process. The purpose of this study is to give design for the layout of production facilities in the company, so that the expected production produced by the company can reach the targets set by the management company. The method used in this research is the Graph-Based Construction and Travel Chart Method. The results of the analysis of the proposed layout with Graph-Based Construction was selected with a total value that is equal to the moment of transfer of 780 758 m / year. This result is better than the actual layout in the amount of 1,021,038.12 meters / year and the results of the method Travel Alternative Chart I of 826.236,60 meters/year, Alternative II of 1.004.433,56 meters / year, and Alternative III for 828,467.12 meters/year. The design layout of Graph-Based Construction material increases the transfer efficiency for 23.53%. With this layout proposal, expected production capacity will be increased along with the shortening of the distance of the displacement that must be passed by the material to be processed.

  5. Design and simulation of integration system between automated material handling system and manufacturing layout in the automotive assembly line

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seha, S.; Zamberi, J.; Fairu, A. J.

    2017-10-01

    Material handling system (MHS) is an important part for the productivity plant and has recognized as an integral part of today’s manufacturing system. Currently, MHS has growth tremendously with its technology and equipment type. Based on the case study observation, the issue involving material handling system contribute to the reduction of production efficiency. This paper aims to propose a new design of integration between material handling and manufacturing layout by investigating the influences of layout and material handling system. A method approach tool using Delmia Quest software is introduced and the simulation result is used to assess the influences of the integration between material handling system and manufacturing layout in the performance of automotive assembly line. The result show, the production of assembly line output increases more than 31% from the current system. The source throughput rate average value went up to 252 units per working hour in model 3 and show the effectiveness of the pick-to-light system as efficient storage equipment. Thus, overall result shows, the application of AGV and the pick-to-light system gave a large significant effect in the automotive assembly line. Moreover, the change of layout also shows a large significant improvement to the performance.

  6. Design space exploration for early identification of yield limiting patterns

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Helen; Zou, Elain; Lee, Robben; Hong, Sid; Liu, Square; Wang, JinYan; Du, Chunshan; Zhang, Recco; Madkour, Kareem; Ali, Hussein; Hsu, Danny; Kabeel, Aliaa; ElManhawy, Wael; Kwan, Joe

    2016-03-01

    In order to resolve the causality dilemma of which comes first, accurate design rules or real designs, this paper presents a flow for exploration of the layout design space to early identify problematic patterns that will negatively affect the yield. A new random layout generating method called Layout Schema Generator (LSG) is reported in this paper, this method generates realistic design-like layouts without any design rule violation. Lithography simulation is then used on the generated layout to discover the potentially problematic patterns (hotspots). These hotspot patterns are further explored by randomly inducing feature and context variations to these identified hotspots through a flow called Hotspot variation Flow (HSV). Simulation is then performed on these expanded set of layout clips to further identify more problematic patterns. These patterns are then classified into design forbidden patterns that should be included in the design rule checker and legal patterns that need better handling in the RET recipes and processes.

  7. Describing litho-constrained layout by a high-resolution model filter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Min-Chun

    2008-05-01

    A novel high-resolution model (HRM) filtering technique was proposed to describe litho-constrained layouts. Litho-constrained layouts are layouts that have difficulties to pattern or are highly sensitive to process-fluctuations under current lithography technologies. HRM applies a short-wavelength (or high NA) model simulation directly on the pre-OPC, original design layout to filter out low spatial-frequency regions, and retain high spatial-frequency components which are litho-constrained. Since no OPC neither mask-synthesis steps are involved, this new technique is highly efficient in run time and can be used in design stage to detect and fix litho-constrained patterns. This method has successfully captured all the hot-spots with less than 15% overshoots on a realistic 80 mm2 full-chip M1 layout in 65nm technology node. A step by step derivation of this HRM technique is presented in this paper.

  8. Spatial layout optimization design of multi-type LEDs lighting source based on photoelectrothermal coupling theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xue, Lingyun; Li, Guang; Chen, Qingguang; Rao, Huanle; Xu, Ping

    2018-03-01

    Multiple LED-based spectral synthesis technology has been widely used in the fields of solar simulator, color mixing, and artificial lighting of plant factory and so on. Generally, amounts of LEDs are spatially arranged with compact layout to obtain the high power density output. Mutual thermal spreading among LEDs will produce the coupled thermal effect which will additionally increase the junction temperature of LED. Affected by the Photoelectric thermal coupling effect of LED, the spectrum of LED will shift and luminous efficiency will decrease. Correspondingly, the spectral synthesis result will mismatch. Therefore, thermal management of LED spatial layout plays an important role for multi-LEDs light source system. In the paper, the thermal dissipation network topology model considering the mutual thermal spreading effect among the LEDs is proposed for multi-LEDs system with various types of power. The junction temperature increment cased by the thermal coupling has the great relation with the spatial arrangement. To minimize the thermal coupling effect, an optimized method of LED spatial layout for the specific light source structure is presented and analyzed. The results showed that layout of LED with high-power are arranged in the corner and low-power in the center. Finally, according to this method, it is convenient to determine the spatial layout of LEDs in a system having any kind of light source structure, and has the advantages of being universally applicable to facilitate adjustment.

  9. EUVL back-insertion layout optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Civay, D.; Laffosse, E.; Chesneau, A.

    2018-03-01

    Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is targeted for front-up insertion at advanced technology nodes but will be evaluated for back insertion at more mature nodes. EUVL can put two or more mask levels back on one mask, depending upon what level(s) in the process insertion occurs. In this paper, layout optimization methods are discussed that can be implemented when EUVL back insertion is implemented. The layout optimizations can be focused on improving yield, reliability or density, depending upon the design needs. The proposed methodology modifies the original two or more colored layers and generates an optimized single color EUVL layout design.

  10. Production facility layout by comparing moment displacement using BLOCPLAN and ALDEP Algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tambunan, M.; Ginting, E.; Sari, R. M.

    2018-02-01

    Production floor layout settings include the organizing of machinery, materials, and all the equipments used in the production process in the available area. PT. XYZ is a company that manufactures rubber and rubber compounds for retreading tire threaded with hot and cold cooking system. In the production of PT. XYZ is divided into three interrelated parts, namely Masterbatch Department, Department Compound, and Procured Thread Line Department. PT. XYZ has a production process with material flow is irregular and the arrangement of machine is complicated and need to be redesigned. The purpose of this study is comparing movement displacement using BLOCPLAN and ALDEP algorithm in order to redesign existing layout. Redesigning the layout of the production floor is done by applying algorithms of BLOCPLAN and ALDEP. The algorithm used to find the best layout design by comparing the moment displacement and the flow pattern. Moment displacement on the floor layout of the company’s production currently amounts to 2,090,578.5 meters per year and material flow pattern is irregular. Based on the calculation, the moment displacement for the BLOCPLAN is 1,551,344.82 meter per year and ALDEP is 1,600,179 meter per year. Flow Material resulted is in the form of straight the line.

  11. 30. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION OF PART ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    30. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION OF PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS D-1 TO D-10 INCL., NITRATION, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT 'B'.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  12. PARLO: PArallel Run-Time Layout Optimization for Scientific Data Explorations with Heterogeneous Access Pattern

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gong, Zhenhuan; Boyuka, David; Zou, X

    Download Citation Email Print Request Permissions Save to Project The size and scope of cutting-edge scientific simulations are growing much faster than the I/O and storage capabilities of their run-time environments. The growing gap is exacerbated by exploratory, data-intensive analytics, such as querying simulation data with multivariate, spatio-temporal constraints, which induces heterogeneous access patterns that stress the performance of the underlying storage system. Previous work addresses data layout and indexing techniques to improve query performance for a single access pattern, which is not sufficient for complex analytics jobs. We present PARLO a parallel run-time layout optimization framework, to achieve multi-levelmore » data layout optimization for scientific applications at run-time before data is written to storage. The layout schemes optimize for heterogeneous access patterns with user-specified priorities. PARLO is integrated with ADIOS, a high-performance parallel I/O middleware for large-scale HPC applications, to achieve user-transparent, light-weight layout optimization for scientific datasets. It offers simple XML-based configuration for users to achieve flexible layout optimization without the need to modify or recompile application codes. Experiments show that PARLO improves performance by 2 to 26 times for queries with heterogeneous access patterns compared to state-of-the-art scientific database management systems. Compared to traditional post-processing approaches, its underlying run-time layout optimization achieves a 56% savings in processing time and a reduction in storage overhead of up to 50%. PARLO also exhibits a low run-time resource requirement, while also limiting the performance impact on running applications to a reasonable level.« less

  13. First LNG from North field overcomes feed, start-up problems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Redha, A.; Rahman, A.; Al-Thani, N.H.

    Qatar Gas LNG is the first LNG project in the gas-development program of the world`s largest gas reservoir, North field. The LNG plant was completed within the budget and schedule. The paper discusses the LNG plant design, LNG storage and loading, alternative mercaptan removal, layout modification, information and control systems, training, data management systems, start-up, and performance testing.

  14. A multilevel layout algorithm for visualizing physical and genetic interaction networks, with emphasis on their modular organization.

    PubMed

    Tuikkala, Johannes; Vähämaa, Heidi; Salmela, Pekka; Nevalainen, Olli S; Aittokallio, Tero

    2012-03-26

    Graph drawing is an integral part of many systems biology studies, enabling visual exploration and mining of large-scale biological networks. While a number of layout algorithms are available in popular network analysis platforms, such as Cytoscape, it remains poorly understood how well their solutions reflect the underlying biological processes that give rise to the network connectivity structure. Moreover, visualizations obtained using conventional layout algorithms, such as those based on the force-directed drawing approach, may become uninformative when applied to larger networks with dense or clustered connectivity structure. We implemented a modified layout plug-in, named Multilevel Layout, which applies the conventional layout algorithms within a multilevel optimization framework to better capture the hierarchical modularity of many biological networks. Using a wide variety of real life biological networks, we carried out a systematic evaluation of the method in comparison with other layout algorithms in Cytoscape. The multilevel approach provided both biologically relevant and visually pleasant layout solutions in most network types, hence complementing the layout options available in Cytoscape. In particular, it could improve drawing of large-scale networks of yeast genetic interactions and human physical interactions. In more general terms, the biological evaluation framework developed here enables one to assess the layout solutions from any existing or future graph drawing algorithm as well as to optimize their performance for a given network type or structure. By making use of the multilevel modular organization when visualizing biological networks, together with the biological evaluation of the layout solutions, one can generate convenient visualizations for many network biology applications.

  15. Phosphoric and electric utility fuel cell technology development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Breault, R. D.; Briggs, T. A.; Congdon, J. V.; Demarche, T. E.; Gelting, R. L.; Goller, G. J.; Luoma, W. I.; McCloskey, M. W.; Mientek, A. P.; Obrien, J. J.

    1984-01-01

    The advancement of electric utility cell stack technology and reduction of cell stack cost was initiated. The cell stack has a nominal 10 ft (2) active area and operates at 120 psia/405(0)F. The program comprises six parallel phases, which culminate in a full height, 10-ft(2) stack verification test: (1) provides the information and services needed to manage the effort, including definition of the prototype commercial power plant; (2) develops the technical base for long term improvements to the cell stack; (3) develops materials and processing techniques for cell stack components incorporating the best available technology; (4) provides the design of hardware and conceptual processing layouts, and updates the power plant definition of Phase 1 to reflect the results of Phases 2 and 3; Phase 5 manufactures the hardware to verify the achievements of Phases 2 and 3, and analyzes the cost of this hardware; and Phase 6 tests the cell stacks assembled from the hardware of Phase 5 to assess the state of development.

  16. Recent Developments in Australian Gold Extraction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thiele, Rodney B.

    1995-01-01

    Describes new technologies that have greatly improved the extraction efficiency of gold ore, including: altering plant layout to promote efficiency, engaging Filiblast forced oxidation and bioxidation systems, and updating the electrowinning procedure at the gold recovery stage. (JRH)

  17. Predicting the effect of seine rope layout pattern and haul-in procedure on the effectiveness of demersal seine fishing: A Computer simulation-based approach.

    PubMed

    Madsen, Nina A H; Aarsæther, Karl G; Herrmann, Bent

    2017-01-01

    Demersal Seining is an active fishing method applying two long seine ropes and a seine net. Demersal seining relies on fish responding to the seine rope as it moves during the fishing process. The seine ropes and net are deployed in a specific pattern encircling an area on the seabed. In some variants of demersal seining the haul-in procedure includes a towing phase where the fishing vessel moves forward before starting to winch in the seine ropes. The initial seine rope encircled area, the gradual change in it during the haul-in process and the fish's reaction to the moving seine ropes play an important role in the catch performance of demersal seine fishing. The current study investigates this subject by applying computer simulation models for demersal seine fishing. The demersal seine fishing is dynamic in nature and therefore a dynamic model, SeineSolver is applied for simulating the physical behaviour of the seine ropes during the fishing process. Information about the seine rope behaviour is used as input to another simulation tool, SeineFish that predicts the catch performance of the demersal seine fishing process. SeineFish implements a simple model for how fish at the seabed reacts to an approaching seine rope. Here, the SeineSolver and SeineFish tools are applied to investigate catching performance for a Norwegian demersal seine fishery targeting cod (Gadus morhua) in the coastal zone. The effect of seine rope layout pattern and the duration of the towing phase are investigated. Among the four different layout patterns investigated, the square layout pattern was predicted to perform best; catching 69%-86% more fish than would be obtained with the rectangular layout pattern. Inclusion of a towing phase in the fishing process was found to increase the catch performance for all layout patterns. For the square layout pattern, inclusion of a towing phase of 15 or 35 minutes increased the catch performance by respectively 37% and 48% compared to fishing without a towing phase. These results highlights the importance of the selected seine rope layout pattern and the duration of the towing phase when fishermen try to maximize the catch performance of their fishery. To our knowledge this is the first time the combination of models for the physical behaviour of seine ropes and for fish behaviour in response to seine rope movements have been applied to predict catch performance for demersal seining.

  18. Predicting the effect of seine rope layout pattern and haul-in procedure on the effectiveness of demersal seine fishing: A Computer simulation-based approach

    PubMed Central

    Madsen, Nina A. H.; Aarsæther, Karl G.; Herrmann, Bent

    2017-01-01

    Demersal Seining is an active fishing method applying two long seine ropes and a seine net. Demersal seining relies on fish responding to the seine rope as it moves during the fishing process. The seine ropes and net are deployed in a specific pattern encircling an area on the seabed. In some variants of demersal seining the haul-in procedure includes a towing phase where the fishing vessel moves forward before starting to winch in the seine ropes. The initial seine rope encircled area, the gradual change in it during the haul-in process and the fish's reaction to the moving seine ropes play an important role in the catch performance of demersal seine fishing. The current study investigates this subject by applying computer simulation models for demersal seine fishing. The demersal seine fishing is dynamic in nature and therefore a dynamic model, SeineSolver is applied for simulating the physical behaviour of the seine ropes during the fishing process. Information about the seine rope behaviour is used as input to another simulation tool, SeineFish that predicts the catch performance of the demersal seine fishing process. SeineFish implements a simple model for how fish at the seabed reacts to an approaching seine rope. Here, the SeineSolver and SeineFish tools are applied to investigate catching performance for a Norwegian demersal seine fishery targeting cod (Gadus morhua) in the coastal zone. The effect of seine rope layout pattern and the duration of the towing phase are investigated. Among the four different layout patterns investigated, the square layout pattern was predicted to perform best; catching 69%-86% more fish than would be obtained with the rectangular layout pattern. Inclusion of a towing phase in the fishing process was found to increase the catch performance for all layout patterns. For the square layout pattern, inclusion of a towing phase of 15 or 35 minutes increased the catch performance by respectively 37% and 48% compared to fishing without a towing phase. These results highlights the importance of the selected seine rope layout pattern and the duration of the towing phase when fishermen try to maximize the catch performance of their fishery. To our knowledge this is the first time the combination of models for the physical behaviour of seine ropes and for fish behaviour in response to seine rope movements have been applied to predict catch performance for demersal seining. PMID:28771583

  19. Energy benchmarking in wastewater treatment plants: the importance of site operation and layout.

    PubMed

    Belloir, C; Stanford, C; Soares, A

    2015-01-01

    Energy benchmarking is a powerful tool in the optimization of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in helping to reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Traditionally, energy benchmarking methods focused solely on reporting electricity consumption, however, recent developments in this area have led to the inclusion of other types of energy, including electrical, manual, chemical and mechanical consumptions that can be expressed in kWh/m3. In this study, two full-scale WWTPs were benchmarked, both incorporated preliminary, secondary (oxidation ditch) and tertiary treatment processes, Site 1 also had an additional primary treatment step. The results indicated that Site 1 required 2.32 kWh/m3 against 0.98 kWh/m3 for Site 2. Aeration presented the highest energy consumption for both sites with 2.08 kWh/m3 required for Site 1 and 0.91 kWh/m3 in Site 2. The mechanical energy represented the second biggest consumption for Site 1 (9%, 0.212 kWh/m3) and chemical input was significant in Site 2 (4.1%, 0.026 kWh/m3). The analysis of the results indicated that Site 2 could be optimized by constructing a primary settling tank that would reduce the biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids and NH4 loads to the oxidation ditch by 55%, 75% and 12%, respectively, and at the same time reduce the aeration requirements by 49%. This study demonstrated that the effectiveness of the energy benchmarking exercise in identifying the highest energy-consuming assets, nevertheless it points out the need to develop a holistic overview of the WWTP and the need to include parameters such as effluent quality, site operation and plant layout to allow adequate benchmarking.

  20. An optimization tool for satellite equipment layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qin, Zheng; Liang, Yan-gang; Zhou, Jian-ping

    2018-01-01

    Selection of the satellite equipment layout with performance constraints is a complex task which can be viewed as a constrained multi-objective optimization and a multiple criteria decision making problem. The layout design of a satellite cabin involves the process of locating the required equipment in a limited space, thereby satisfying various behavioral constraints of the interior and exterior environments. The layout optimization of satellite cabin in this paper includes the C.G. offset, the moments of inertia and the space debris impact risk of the system, of which the impact risk index is developed to quantify the risk to a satellite cabin of coming into contact with space debris. In this paper an optimization tool for the integration of CAD software as well as the optimization algorithms is presented, which is developed to automatically find solutions for a three-dimensional layout of equipment in satellite. The effectiveness of the tool is also demonstrated by applying to the layout optimization of a satellite platform.

  1. Overview of the Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor building layout

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cronje, J. M.; Van Wyk, J. J.; Memmott, M. J.

    The Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor (SMR) is an 800 MWt (>225 MWe) integral pressurized water reactor (iPWR), in which all of the components typically associated with the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) of a nuclear power plant are incorporated within a single reactor pressure vessel. This paper is the third in a series of four papers, which describe the design and functionality of the Westinghouse SMR. It focuses in particular upon the plant building layout and modular design of the Westinghouse SMR. In the development of small modular reactors, the building layout is an area where the safety of themore » plant can be improved by applying new design approaches. This paper will present an overview of the Westinghouse SMR building layout and indicate how the design features improve the safety and robustness of the plant. The Westinghouse SMR is designed with no shared systems between individual reactor units. The main buildings inside the security fence are the nuclear island, the rad-waste building, the annex building, and the turbine building. All safety related equipment is located in the nuclear island, which is a seismic class 1 building. To further enhance the safety and robustness of the design, the reactor, containment, and most of the safety related equipment are located below grade on the nuclear island. This reduces the possibility of severe damage from external threats or natural disasters. Two safety related ultimate heat sink (UHS) water tanks that are used for decay heat removal are located above grade, but are redundant and physically separated as far as possible for improved safety. The reactor and containment vessel are located below grade in the center of the nuclear island. The rad-waste and other radioactive systems are located on the bottom floors to limit the radiation exposure to personnel. The Westinghouse SMR safety trains are completely separated into four unconnected quadrants of the building, with access between quadrants only allowed above grade. This is an improvement to conventional reactor design since it prevents failures of multiple trains during floods or fires and other external events. The main control room is located below grade, with a remote shutdown room in a different quadrant. All defense in depth systems are placed on the nuclear island, primarily above grade, while the safety systems are located on lower floors. The economics of the Westinghouse SMR challenges the established approach of large Light Water Reactors (LWR) that utilized the economies of scale to reach economic competitiveness. To serve the market expectation of smaller capital investment and cost competitive energy, a modular design approach is implemented within the Westinghouse SMR. The Westinghouse SMR building layout integrates the three basic design constraints of modularization; transportation, handling and module-joining technology. (authors)« less

  2. Supporting the design of office layout meeting ergonomics requirements.

    PubMed

    Margaritis, Spyros; Marmaras, Nicolas

    2007-11-01

    This paper proposes a method and an information technology tool aiming to support the ergonomics layout design of individual workstations in a given space (building). The proposed method shares common ideas with previous generic methods for office layout. However, it goes a step forward and focuses on the cognitive tasks which have to be carried out by the designer or the design team trying to alleviate them. This is achieved in two ways: (i) by decomposing the layout design problem to six main stages, during which only a limited number of variables and requirements are considered and (ii) by converting the ergonomics requirements to functional design guidelines. The information technology tool (ErgoOffice 0.1) automates certain phases of the layout design process, and supports the design team either by its editing and graphical facilities or by providing adequate memory support.

  3. Application of Approximate Pattern Matching in Two Dimensional Spaces to Grid Layout for Biochemical Network Maps

    PubMed Central

    Inoue, Kentaro; Shimozono, Shinichi; Yoshida, Hideaki; Kurata, Hiroyuki

    2012-01-01

    Background For visualizing large-scale biochemical network maps, it is important to calculate the coordinates of molecular nodes quickly and to enhance the understanding or traceability of them. The grid layout is effective in drawing compact, orderly, balanced network maps with node label spaces, but existing grid layout algorithms often require a high computational cost because they have to consider complicated positional constraints through the entire optimization process. Results We propose a hybrid grid layout algorithm that consists of a non-grid, fast layout (preprocessor) algorithm and an approximate pattern matching algorithm that distributes the resultant preprocessed nodes on square grid points. To demonstrate the feasibility of the hybrid layout algorithm, it is characterized in terms of the calculation time, numbers of edge-edge and node-edge crossings, relative edge lengths, and F-measures. The proposed algorithm achieves outstanding performances compared with other existing grid layouts. Conclusions Use of an approximate pattern matching algorithm quickly redistributes the laid-out nodes by fast, non-grid algorithms on the square grid points, while preserving the topological relationships among the nodes. The proposed algorithm is a novel use of the pattern matching, thereby providing a breakthrough for grid layout. This application program can be freely downloaded from http://www.cadlive.jp/hybridlayout/hybridlayout.html. PMID:22679486

  4. Application of approximate pattern matching in two dimensional spaces to grid layout for biochemical network maps.

    PubMed

    Inoue, Kentaro; Shimozono, Shinichi; Yoshida, Hideaki; Kurata, Hiroyuki

    2012-01-01

    For visualizing large-scale biochemical network maps, it is important to calculate the coordinates of molecular nodes quickly and to enhance the understanding or traceability of them. The grid layout is effective in drawing compact, orderly, balanced network maps with node label spaces, but existing grid layout algorithms often require a high computational cost because they have to consider complicated positional constraints through the entire optimization process. We propose a hybrid grid layout algorithm that consists of a non-grid, fast layout (preprocessor) algorithm and an approximate pattern matching algorithm that distributes the resultant preprocessed nodes on square grid points. To demonstrate the feasibility of the hybrid layout algorithm, it is characterized in terms of the calculation time, numbers of edge-edge and node-edge crossings, relative edge lengths, and F-measures. The proposed algorithm achieves outstanding performances compared with other existing grid layouts. Use of an approximate pattern matching algorithm quickly redistributes the laid-out nodes by fast, non-grid algorithms on the square grid points, while preserving the topological relationships among the nodes. The proposed algorithm is a novel use of the pattern matching, thereby providing a breakthrough for grid layout. This application program can be freely downloaded from http://www.cadlive.jp/hybridlayout/hybridlayout.html.

  5. Understanding the critical challenges of self-aligned octuple patterning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Ji; Xiao, Wei; Kang, Weiling; Chen, Yijian

    2014-03-01

    In this paper, we present a thorough investigation of self-aligned octuple patterning (SAOP) process characteristics, cost structure, integration challenges, and layout decomposition. The statistical characteristics of SAOP CD variations such as multi-modality are analyzed and contributions from various features to CDU and MTT (mean-to-target) budgets are estimated. The gap space is found to have the worst CDU+MTT performance and is used to determine the required overlay accuracy to ensure a satisfactory edge-placement yield of a cut process. Moreover, we propose a 5-mask positive-tone SAOP (pSAOP) process for memory FEOL patterning and a 3-mask negative-tone SAOP (nSAOP) process for logic BEOL patterning. The potential challenges of 2-D SAOP layout decomposition for BEOL applications are identified. Possible decomposition approaches are explored and the functionality of several developed algorithm is verified using 2-D layout examples from Open Cell Library.

  6. A multilevel layout algorithm for visualizing physical and genetic interaction networks, with emphasis on their modular organization

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background Graph drawing is an integral part of many systems biology studies, enabling visual exploration and mining of large-scale biological networks. While a number of layout algorithms are available in popular network analysis platforms, such as Cytoscape, it remains poorly understood how well their solutions reflect the underlying biological processes that give rise to the network connectivity structure. Moreover, visualizations obtained using conventional layout algorithms, such as those based on the force-directed drawing approach, may become uninformative when applied to larger networks with dense or clustered connectivity structure. Methods We implemented a modified layout plug-in, named Multilevel Layout, which applies the conventional layout algorithms within a multilevel optimization framework to better capture the hierarchical modularity of many biological networks. Using a wide variety of real life biological networks, we carried out a systematic evaluation of the method in comparison with other layout algorithms in Cytoscape. Results The multilevel approach provided both biologically relevant and visually pleasant layout solutions in most network types, hence complementing the layout options available in Cytoscape. In particular, it could improve drawing of large-scale networks of yeast genetic interactions and human physical interactions. In more general terms, the biological evaluation framework developed here enables one to assess the layout solutions from any existing or future graph drawing algorithm as well as to optimize their performance for a given network type or structure. Conclusions By making use of the multilevel modular organization when visualizing biological networks, together with the biological evaluation of the layout solutions, one can generate convenient visualizations for many network biology applications. PMID:22448851

  7. Layout optimization of GGISCR structure for on-chip system level ESD protection applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zeng, Jie; Dong, Shurong; Wong, Hei; Hu, Tao; Li, Xiang

    2016-12-01

    To improve the holding voltage, area efficiency and robustness, a comparative study on single finger, 4-finger and round shape layout of gate-grounded-nMOS incorporated SCR (GGISCR) devices are conducted. The devices were fabricated with a commercial 0.35 μm HV-CMOS process without any additional mask or process modification. To have a fair comparison, we develop a new Figure-of-Merit (FOM) modeling for the performance evaluation of these devices. We found that the ring type device which has an It2 value of 18.9 A is area efficient and has smaller effective capacitance. The different characteristics were explained with the different effective ESD currents in these layout structures.

  8. TreePlus: interactive exploration of networks with enhanced tree layouts.

    PubMed

    Lee, Bongshin; Parr, Cynthia S; Plaisant, Catherine; Bederson, Benjamin B; Veksler, Vladislav D; Gray, Wayne D; Kotfila, Christopher

    2006-01-01

    Despite extensive research, it is still difficult to produce effective interactive layouts for large graphs. Dense layout and occlusion make food webs, ontologies, and social networks difficult to understand and interact with. We propose a new interactive Visual Analytics component called TreePlus that is based on a tree-style layout. TreePlus reveals the missing graph structure with visualization and interaction while maintaining good readability. To support exploration of the local structure of the graph and gathering of information from the extensive reading of labels, we use a guiding metaphor of "Plant a seed and watch it grow." It allows users to start with a node and expand the graph as needed, which complements the classic overview techniques that can be effective at (but often limited to) revealing clusters. We describe our design goals, describe the interface, and report on a controlled user study with 28 participants comparing TreePlus with a traditional graph interface for six tasks. In general, the advantage of TreePlus over the traditional interface increased as the density of the displayed data increased. Participants also reported higher levels of confidence in their answers with TreePlus and most of them preferred TreePlus.

  9. Machining fixture layout optimization using particle swarm optimization algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dou, Jianping; Wang, Xingsong; Wang, Lei

    2011-05-01

    Optimization of fixture layout (locator and clamp locations) is critical to reduce geometric error of the workpiece during machining process. In this paper, the application of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented to minimize the workpiece deformation in the machining region. A PSO based approach is developed to optimize fixture layout through integrating ANSYS parametric design language (APDL) of finite element analysis to compute the objective function for a given fixture layout. Particle library approach is used to decrease the total computation time. The computational experiment of 2D case shows that the numbers of function evaluations are decreased about 96%. Case study illustrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the PSO based optimization approach.

  10. 42. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION AND PLAN ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    42. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION AND PLAN LAYOUT OF PART I, SECTION 8, BUILDINGS NO. H-1 TO H-10 INCL., GRINDING, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT B AS OF 4-24-44.' From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (NashVille, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  11. Proceedings of the 1983 SPC/IREAPS Technical Symposium: Volume 1, Improving Shipbuilding Productivity. Held in Boston, MA on 23-25 August 1983

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-08-25

    currently available Westinghouse CAE capabilities include plant layout, piping design, piping analysis , support/hanger design, and drawing preparation. The...considerations involved with the design and analysis of piping and support systems and space management in nuclear power plants are very similar to...piping analysis system can obtain input defini- tion data either from the plant modeling system or from piping drawings (for systems not designed using

  12. 29. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION AND PLAN ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    29. Photograph of a line drawing. 'CROSS SECTION AND PLAN LAYOUT OF PART I, SECTION 8, BUILDINGS NO. D-1 TO D-10 INCL., NITRATION, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLANT B AS OF 4-24-44.' From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of the District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  13. Learning Building Layouts with Non-geometric Visual Information: The Effects of Visual Impairment and Age

    PubMed Central

    Kalia, Amy A.; Legge, Gordon E.; Giudice, Nicholas A.

    2009-01-01

    Previous studies suggest that humans rely on geometric visual information (hallway structure) rather than non-geometric visual information (e.g., doors, signs and lighting) for acquiring cognitive maps of novel indoor layouts. This study asked whether visual impairment and age affect reliance on non-geometric visual information for layout learning. We tested three groups of participants—younger (< 50 years) normally sighted, older (50–70 years) normally sighted, and low vision (people with heterogeneous forms of visual impairment ranging in age from 18–67). Participants learned target locations in building layouts using four presentation modes: a desktop virtual environment (VE) displaying only geometric cues (Sparse VE), a VE displaying both geometric and non-geometric cues (Photorealistic VE), a Map, and a Real building. Layout knowledge was assessed by map drawing and by asking participants to walk to specified targets in the real space. Results indicate that low-vision and older normally-sighted participants relied on additional non-geometric information to accurately learn layouts. In conclusion, visual impairment and age may result in reduced perceptual and/or memory processing that makes it difficult to learn layouts without non-geometric visual information. PMID:19189732

  14. An algorithm for automated layout of process description maps drawn in SBGN.

    PubMed

    Genc, Begum; Dogrusoz, Ugur

    2016-01-01

    Evolving technology has increased the focus on genomics. The combination of today's advanced techniques with decades of molecular biology research has yielded huge amounts of pathway data. A standard, named the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN), was recently introduced to allow scientists to represent biological pathways in an unambiguous, easy-to-understand and efficient manner. Although there are a number of automated layout algorithms for various types of biological networks, currently none specialize on process description (PD) maps as defined by SBGN. We propose a new automated layout algorithm for PD maps drawn in SBGN. Our algorithm is based on a force-directed automated layout algorithm called Compound Spring Embedder (CoSE). On top of the existing force scheme, additional heuristics employing new types of forces and movement rules are defined to address SBGN-specific rules. Our algorithm is the only automatic layout algorithm that properly addresses all SBGN rules for drawing PD maps, including placement of substrates and products of process nodes on opposite sides, compact tiling of members of molecular complexes and extensively making use of nested structures (compound nodes) to properly draw cellular locations and molecular complex structures. As demonstrated experimentally, the algorithm results in significant improvements over use of a generic layout algorithm such as CoSE in addressing SBGN rules on top of commonly accepted graph drawing criteria. An implementation of our algorithm in Java is available within ChiLay library (https://github.com/iVis-at-Bilkent/chilay). ugur@cs.bilkent.edu.tr or dogrusoz@cbio.mskcc.org Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  15. An algorithm for automated layout of process description maps drawn in SBGN

    PubMed Central

    Genc, Begum; Dogrusoz, Ugur

    2016-01-01

    Motivation: Evolving technology has increased the focus on genomics. The combination of today’s advanced techniques with decades of molecular biology research has yielded huge amounts of pathway data. A standard, named the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN), was recently introduced to allow scientists to represent biological pathways in an unambiguous, easy-to-understand and efficient manner. Although there are a number of automated layout algorithms for various types of biological networks, currently none specialize on process description (PD) maps as defined by SBGN. Results: We propose a new automated layout algorithm for PD maps drawn in SBGN. Our algorithm is based on a force-directed automated layout algorithm called Compound Spring Embedder (CoSE). On top of the existing force scheme, additional heuristics employing new types of forces and movement rules are defined to address SBGN-specific rules. Our algorithm is the only automatic layout algorithm that properly addresses all SBGN rules for drawing PD maps, including placement of substrates and products of process nodes on opposite sides, compact tiling of members of molecular complexes and extensively making use of nested structures (compound nodes) to properly draw cellular locations and molecular complex structures. As demonstrated experimentally, the algorithm results in significant improvements over use of a generic layout algorithm such as CoSE in addressing SBGN rules on top of commonly accepted graph drawing criteria. Availability and implementation: An implementation of our algorithm in Java is available within ChiLay library (https://github.com/iVis-at-Bilkent/chilay). Contact: ugur@cs.bilkent.edu.tr or dogrusoz@cbio.mskcc.org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:26363029

  16. Integrating ergonomics into engineering design: the role of objects.

    PubMed

    Hall-Andersen, Lene Bjerg; Broberg, Ole

    2014-05-01

    The objective of this study was to explore the role of objects in integrating ergonomic knowledge in engineering design processes. An engineering design case was analyzed using the theoretical concepts of boundary objects and intermediary objects: Boundary objects facilitate collaboration between different knowledge domains, while the aim of an intermediary object is to circulate knowledge and thus produce a distant effect. Adjustable layout drawings served as boundary objects and had a positive impact on the dialog between an ergonomist and designers. An ergonomic guideline document was identified as an intermediary object. However, when the ergonomic guidelines were circulated in the design process, only some of the guidelines were transferred to the design of the sterile processing plant. Based on these findings, recommendations for working with objects in design processes are included. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  17. Solar pond power plant feasibility study for Davis, California

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wu, Y. C.; Singer, M. J.; Marsh, H. E.; Harris, J.; Walton, A. L.

    1982-01-01

    The feasibility of constructing a solar pond power plant at Davis, California was studied. Site visits, weather data compilation, soil and water analyses, conceptual system design and analyses, a material and equipment market survey, conceptual site layout, and a preliminary cost estimate were studied. It was concluded that a solar pond power plant is technically feasible, but economically unattractive. The relatively small scale of the proposed plant and the high cost of importing salt resulted in a disproportionately high capital investment with respect to the annual energy production capacity of the plant. Cycle optimization and increased plant size would increase the economical attractiveness of the proposed concept.

  18. A novel method for designing and optimizing the layout of facilities in bathroom for the elderly in home-based rehabilitation.

    PubMed

    Wang, Duojin; Wu, Jing; Lin, Qinglian

    2018-05-01

    The home-based rehabilitation of elderly patients improves their autonomy, independence and reintegration into society. Hence, a suitable environment plays an important role in rehabilitation, as do different assistance technologies. The majority of accidents at home involving elderly people occur in the bathroom. Therefore, the planning of the layout of facilities is important in this potentially dangerous area. This paper proposes an approach towards designing and optimizing the layout of facilities in the bathroom, based on logistical and nonlogistical relationships. A fuzzy-based analytical hierarchical process (fuzzy-AHP) is then proposed for a comprehensive evaluation of the alternatives for this layout plan. This approach was applied to the home of a 71 years old female patient, who was experiencing home-based rehabilitation. After the initial designing and optimizing of the layout of the facilities in her bathroom, a plan could then be created for her particular needs. The results of this research could then enable the home-based rehabilitation of elderly patients to be more effective. Value: This paper develops a new approach to design and optimize the layout of facilities in bathroom for the elderly. Implications for Rehabilitation Develop a new approach to design and optimize the layout of facilities in bathroom. Provide a mathematical and more scientific approach to home layout design for home-based rehabilitation. Provide new opportunities for research, for both the therapist and the patient to analyse the home facility layout.

  19. Variability-aware double-patterning layout optimization for analog circuits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Yongfu; Perez, Valerio; Tripathi, Vikas; Lee, Zhao Chuan; Tseng, I.-Lun; Ong, Jonathan Yoong Seang

    2018-03-01

    The semiconductor industry has adopted multi-patterning techniques to manage the delay in the extreme ultraviolet lithography technology. During the design process of double-patterning lithography layout masks, two polygons are assigned to different masks if their spacing is less than the minimum printable spacing. With these additional design constraints, it is very difficult to find experienced layout-design engineers who have a good understanding of the circuit to manually optimize the mask layers in order to minimize color-induced circuit variations. In this work, we investigate the impact of double-patterning lithography on analog circuits and provide quantitative analysis for our designers to select the optimal mask to minimize the circuit's mismatch. To overcome the problem and improve the turn-around time, we proposed our smart "anchoring" placement technique to optimize mask decomposition for analog circuits. We have developed a software prototype that is capable of providing anchoring markers in the layout, allowing industry standard tools to perform automated color decomposition process.

  20. New business opportunity: Green field project with new technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Seung Jae; Woo, Jong Hun; Shin, Jong Gye

    2014-06-01

    Since 2009 of global financial crisis, shipbuilding industry has undergone hard times seriously. After such a long depression, the latest global shipping market index shows that the economic recovery of global shipbuilding market is underway. Especially, nations with enormous resources are going to increase their productivity or expanding their shipyards to accommodate a large amount of orders expected in the near future. However, few commercial projects have been carried out for the practical shipyard layout designs even though those can be good commercial opportunities for shipbuilding engineers. Shipbuilding starts with a shipyard construction with a large scale investment initially. Shipyard design and the equipment layout problem, which is directly linked to the productivity of ship production, is an important issue in the production planning of mass production of ships. In many cases, shipbuilding yard design has relied on the experience of the internal engineer, resulting in sporadic and poorly organized processes. Consequently, economic losses and the trial and error involved in such a design process are inevitable problems. The starting point of shipyard construction is to design a shipyard layout. Four kinds of engineering parts required for the shipyard layout design and construction. Those are civil engineering, building engineering, utility engineering and production layout engineering. Among these parts, production layout engineering is most important because its result is used as a foundation of the other engineering parts, and also, determines the shipyard capacity in the shipyard lifecycle. In this paper, the background of shipbuilding industry is explained in terms of engineering works for the recognition of the macro trend. Nextly, preliminary design methods and related case study is introduced briefly by referencing the previous research. Lastly, the designed work of layout design is validated using the computer simulation technology.

  1. Simultaneous optimization of micro-heliostat geometry and field layout using a genetic algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lazardjani, Mani Yousefpour; Kronhardt, Valentina; Dikta, Gerhard; Göttsche, Joachim

    2016-05-01

    A new optimization tool for micro-heliostat (MH) geometry and field layout is presented. The method intends simultaneous performance improvement and cost reduction through iteration of heliostat geometry and field layout parameters. This tool was developed primarily for the optimization of a novel micro-heliostat concept, which was developed at Solar-Institut Jülich (SIJ). However, the underlying approach for the optimization can be used for any heliostat type. During the optimization the performance is calculated using the ray-tracing tool SolCal. The costs of the heliostats are calculated by use of a detailed cost function. A genetic algorithm is used to change heliostat geometry and field layout in an iterative process. Starting from an initial setup, the optimization tool generates several configurations of heliostat geometries and field layouts. For each configuration a cost-performance ratio is calculated. Based on that, the best geometry and field layout can be selected in each optimization step. In order to find the best configuration, this step is repeated until no significant improvement in the results is observed.

  2. 38. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    38. Photograph of a line drawing. 'PART III, SECTION 1, EQUIPMENT LAYOUT, BUILDINGS G-1 TO G-10 INCL., PURIFICATION, MANUFACTURING AREA, PLAN 'B'.' From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works, Kingsport, Tennessee. Plant B, Parts II, III. (Nashville, TN: Office of District Engineer, 1944). - Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

  3. WASTE TREATMENT BUILDING SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    F. Habashi

    2000-06-22

    The Waste Treatment Building System provides the space, layout, structures, and embedded subsystems that support the processing of low-level liquid and solid radioactive waste generated within the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR). The activities conducted in the Waste Treatment Building include sorting, volume reduction, and packaging of dry waste, and collecting, processing, solidification, and packaging of liquid waste. The Waste Treatment Building System is located on the surface within the protected area of the MGR. The Waste Treatment Building System helps maintain a suitable environment for the waste processing and protects the systems within the Waste Treatment Building (WTB) from mostmore » of the natural and induced environments. The WTB also confines contaminants and provides radiological protection to personnel. In addition to the waste processing operations, the Waste Treatment Building System provides space and layout for staging of packaged waste for shipment, industrial and radiological safety systems, control and monitoring of operations, safeguards and security systems, and fire protection, ventilation and utilities systems. The Waste Treatment Building System also provides the required space and layout for maintenance activities, tool storage, and administrative facilities. The Waste Treatment Building System integrates waste processing systems within its protective structure to support the throughput rates established for the MGR. The Waste Treatment Building System also provides shielding, layout, and other design features to help limit personnel radiation exposures to levels which are as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA). The Waste Treatment Building System interfaces with the Site Generated Radiological Waste Handling System, and with other MGR systems that support the waste processing operations. The Waste Treatment Building System interfaces with the General Site Transportation System, Site Communications System, Site Water System, MGR Site Layout, Safeguards and Security System, Site Radiological Monitoring System, Site Electrical Power System, Site Compressed Air System, and Waste Treatment Building Ventilation System.« less

  4. EM calibration based on Post OPC layout analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sreedhar, Aswin; Kundu, Sandip

    2010-03-01

    Design for Manufacturability (DFM) involves changes to the design and CAD tools to help increase pattern printability and improve process control. Design for Reliability (DFR) performs the same to improve reliability of devices from failures such as Electromigration (EM), gate-oxide break down, hot carrier injection (HCI), Negative Bias Temperature Insatiability (NBTI) and mechanical stress effects. Electromigration (EM) occurs due to migration or displacement of atoms as a result of the movement of electrons through a conducting medium. The rate of migration determines the Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) which is modeled as a function of temperature and current density. The model itself is calibrated through failure analysis (FA) of parts that are deemed to have failed due to EM against design parameters such as linewidth. Reliability Verification (RV) of a design involves verifying that every conducting line in a design meets certain MTTF threshold. In order to perform RV, current density for each wire must be computed. Current itself is a function of the parasitics that are determined through RC extraction. The standard practice is to perform the RC extraction and current density calculation on drawn, pre-OPC layouts. If a wire fails to meet threshold for MTTF, it may be resized. Subsequently, mask preparation steps such as OPC and PSM introduce extra features such as SRAFs, jogs,hammerheads and serifs that change their resistance, capacitance and current density values. Hence, calibrating EM model based on pre-OPC layouts will lead to different results compared to post-OPC layouts. In this work, we compare EM model calibration and reliability check based on drawn layout versus predicted layout, where the drawn layout is pre-OPC layout and predicted layout is based on litho simulation of post-OPC layout. Results show significant divergence between these two approaches, making a case for methodology based on predicted layout.

  5. Planning of dairy farm and dairy plant based ecotourism

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarnyoto, A. S.; Tama, I. P.; Tantrika, C. F. M.

    2017-06-01

    One of a dairy production company producing pasteurized milk and yoghurt drink, whose brand has widely known in East Java, has a factory plant in Batu City, one of tourism destinations in Indonesia. Behind the factory plant, there is a vacant land with an estimated total area of 2.3 ha and a vacant cowshed which had not been used for cattle ranching. Because of that, the company planned to develop the vacant land as a dairy farm and plant based ecotourism. In addition, dairy farm and dairy plant based tourism attractions are still rarely found in Batu. Thus, the first aim of this study was to analyse the potencies of the company that related to future plans of ecotourism built. The second aim was to set up the strategies that can be done in order to actualize the ecotourism project. The next aim was to plan the ecotourism, especially the facilities planning and the facilities arrangement on the vacant land. Strategic management approach was used to analyse the potencies and to determine the strategies. To select the proper facilities, tourists were asked to give appraisal by using questionnaire. Appraisal result was mapped onto four quadrants spatial map to see advantages and shortcomings of each facility along with choosing the right facilities to be built. Those facilities and tourist activities were compared with ecotourism criteria to make sure that the facilities were appropriate to provide not only entertainment but also ecotourism function. To arrange the chosen facilities, the step in Systematic Layout Planning were conducted to generate a propose layout of facilities arrangement. Based on potencies analysis, in Internal-External matrix, the company current position was on quadrant 2 (grow and build), with the most appropriate strategy was intensive or integrative. The proposed strategies were to build the new infrastructure, to renovate cowshed, and to add new tourism facilities on the land. There were 11 selected facilities based on MDS. Moreover, based on SLP, a facility layout had been designed and been proposed to be built on the vacant land behind the factory as the new ecotourism destination.

  6. SUSTAINABLE YEAR-ROUND FOOD PRODUCTION IN COLD CLIMATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    The output of the Phase II investigation will include the operating pilot plant system to prove the CEHRF concept; an investor ready prospectus that can be presented to future investors; a detailed engineering design consisting of: layout view, rack design, and structural ana...

  7. Layout optimization of DRAM cells using rigorous simulation model for NTD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jeon, Jinhyuck; Kim, Shinyoung; Park, Chanha; Yang, Hyunjo; Yim, Donggyu; Kuechler, Bernd; Zimmermann, Rainer; Muelders, Thomas; Klostermann, Ulrich; Schmoeller, Thomas; Do, Mun-hoe; Choi, Jung-Hoe

    2014-03-01

    DRAM chip space is mainly determined by the size of the memory cell array patterns which consist of periodic memory cell features and edges of the periodic array. Resolution Enhancement Techniques (RET) are used to optimize the periodic pattern process performance. Computational Lithography such as source mask optimization (SMO) to find the optimal off axis illumination and optical proximity correction (OPC) combined with model based SRAF placement are applied to print patterns on target. For 20nm Memory Cell optimization we see challenges that demand additional tool competence for layout optimization. The first challenge is a memory core pattern of brick-wall type with a k1 of 0.28, so it allows only two spectral beams to interfere. We will show how to analytically derive the only valid geometrically limited source. Another consequence of two-beam interference limitation is a "super stable" core pattern, with the advantage of high depth of focus (DoF) but also low sensitivity to proximity corrections or changes of contact aspect ratio. This makes an array edge correction very difficult. The edge can be the most critical pattern since it forms the transition from the very stable regime of periodic patterns to non-periodic periphery, so it combines the most critical pitch and highest susceptibility to defocus. Above challenge makes the layout correction to a complex optimization task demanding a layout optimization that finds a solution with optimal process stability taking into account DoF, exposure dose latitude (EL), mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) and mask manufacturability constraints. This can only be achieved by simultaneously considering all criteria while placing and sizing SRAFs and main mask features. The second challenge is the use of a negative tone development (NTD) type resist, which has a strong resist effect and is difficult to characterize experimentally due to negative resist profile taper angles that perturb CD at bottom characterization by scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements. High resist impact and difficult model data acquisition demand for a simulation model that hat is capable of extrapolating reliably beyond its calibration dataset. We use rigorous simulation models to provide that predictive performance. We have discussed the need of a rigorous mask optimization process for DRAM contact cell layout yielding mask layouts that are optimal in process performance, mask manufacturability and accuracy. In this paper, we have shown the step by step process from analytical illumination source derivation, a NTD and application tailored model calibration to layout optimization such as OPC and SRAF placement. Finally the work has been verified with simulation and experimental results on wafer.

  8. Conceptual design assessment for the co-firing of bio-refinery supplied lignin project. Quarterly report, July 1--September 30, 2000

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Berglund, T.; Ranney, J.T.; Babb, C.L.

    2000-10-01

    The initial design criteria of the MSW to ethanol facility have been completed along with preliminary site identification and layouts for the processing facility. These items are the first step in evaluating the feasibility of this co-located facility. Pilot facility design and modification are underway for the production and dewatering of the lignin fuel. Major process equipment identification has been completed and several key unit operations will be accomplished on rental equipment. Equipment not available for rental or at TVA has been ordered and facility modification and shakedown will begin in October. The study of the interface and resulting impactsmore » on the TVA Colbert facility are underway. The TVA Colbert fossil plant is fully capable of providing a reliable steam supply for the proposed Masada waste processing facility. The preferred supply location in the Colbert steam cycle has been identified as have possible steam pipeline routes to the Colbert boundary. Additional analysis is underway to fully predict the impact of the steam supply on Colbert plant performance and to select a final steam pipeline route.« less

  9. Human Factors Analysis and Layout Guideline Development for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) Project

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-04-01

    project was to provide the Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN ) with a set of guidelines on analysis, design, and verification processes for effective room...design, and verification processes that should be used in the development of effective room layouts for Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN ) ships. The primary...designed CSC; however, the guidelines could be applied to the design of any multiple-operator space in any RCN vessel. Results: The development of

  10. New type of dummy layout pattern to control ILD etch rate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pohland, Oliver; Spieker, Julie; Huang, Chih-Ta; Govindaswamy, Srikanth; Balasinski, Artur

    2007-12-01

    Adding dummy features (waffles) to drawn geometries of the circuit layout is a common practice to improve its manufacturability. As an example, local dummy pattern improves MOSFET line and space CD control by adjusting short range optical proximity and reducing the aggressiveness of its correction features (OPC) to widen the lithography process window. Another application of dummy pattern (waffles) is to globally equalize layout pattern density, to reduce long-range inter-layer dielectric (ILD) thickness variations after the CMP process and improve contact resistance uniformity over the die area. In this work, we discuss a novel type of dummy pattern with a mid-range interaction distance, to control the ILD composition driven by its deposition and etch process. This composition is reflected on sidewall spacers and depends on the topography of the underlying poly pattern. During contact etch, it impacts the etch rate of the ILD. As a result, the deposited W filling the damascene etched self-aligned trench contacts in the ILD may electrically short to the underlying gates in the areas of isolated poly. To mitigate the dependence of the ILD composition on poly pattern distribution, we proposed a special dummy feature generation with the interaction range defined by the ILD deposition and etch process. This helped equalize mid-range poly pattern density without disabling the routing capability with damascene trench contacts in the periphery which would have increased the layout footprint.

  11. Coach design for the Korean high-speed train: a systematic approach to passenger seat design and layout.

    PubMed

    Jung, E S; Han, S H; Jung, M; Choe, J

    1998-12-01

    Proper ergonomic design of a passenger seat and coach layout for a high-speed train is an essential component that is directly related to passenger comfort. In this research, a systematic approach to the design of passenger seats was described and the coach layout which reflected the tradeoff between transportation capacity and passenger comfort was investigated for the Korean high-speed train. As a result, design recommendations and specifications of the passenger seat and its layout were suggested. The whole design process is composed of four stages. A survey and analysis of design requirement was first conducted, which formed the base for designing the first and second class passenger seats. Prototypes were made and evaluated iteratively, and seat arrangement and coach layout were finally obtained. The systematic approach and recommendations suggested in this study are expected to be applicable to the seat design for public transportations and to help modify and redesign existing vehicular seats.

  12. Implicit Learning of Viewpoint-Independent Spatial Layouts

    PubMed Central

    Tsuchiai, Taiga; Matsumiya, Kazumichi; Kuriki, Ichiro; Shioiri, Satoshi

    2012-01-01

    We usually perceive things in our surroundings as unchanged despite viewpoint changes caused by self-motion. The visual system therefore must have a function to process objects independently of viewpoint. In this study, we examined whether viewpoint-independent spatial layout can be obtained implicitly. For this purpose, we used a contextual cueing effect, a learning effect of spatial layout in visual search displays known to be an implicit effect. We investigated the transfer of the contextual cueing effect to images from a different viewpoint by using visual search displays of 3D objects. For images from a different viewpoint, the contextual cueing effect was maintained with self-motion but disappeared when the display changed without self-motion. This indicates that there is an implicit learning effect in environment-centered coordinates and suggests that the spatial representation of object layouts can be obtained and updated implicitly. We also showed that binocular disparity plays an important role in the layout representations. PMID:22740837

  13. Development of a Prediction Model Based on RBF Neural Network for Sheet Metal Fixture Locating Layout Design and Optimization.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zhongqi; Yang, Bo; Kang, Yonggang; Yang, Yuan

    2016-01-01

    Fixture plays an important part in constraining excessive sheet metal part deformation at machining, assembly, and measuring stages during the whole manufacturing process. However, it is still a difficult and nontrivial task to design and optimize sheet metal fixture locating layout at present because there is always no direct and explicit expression describing sheet metal fixture locating layout and responding deformation. To that end, an RBF neural network prediction model is proposed in this paper to assist design and optimization of sheet metal fixture locating layout. The RBF neural network model is constructed by training data set selected by uniform sampling and finite element simulation analysis. Finally, a case study is conducted to verify the proposed method.

  14. A multiple-drawer medication layout problem in automated dispensing cabinets.

    PubMed

    Pazour, Jennifer A; Meller, Russell D

    2012-12-01

    In this paper we investigate the problem of locating medications in automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) to minimize human selection errors. We formulate the multiple-drawer medication layout problem and show that the problem can be formulated as a quadratic assignment problem. As a way to evaluate various medication layouts, we develop a similarity rating for medication pairs. To solve industry-sized problem instances, we develop a heuristic approach. We use hospital ADC transaction data to conduct a computational experiment to test the performance of our developed heuristics, to demonstrate how our approach can aid in ADC design trade-offs, and to illustrate the potential improvements that can be made when applying an analytical process to the multiple-drawer medication layout problem. Finally, we present conclusions and future research directions.

  15. Development of a Prediction Model Based on RBF Neural Network for Sheet Metal Fixture Locating Layout Design and Optimization

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Zhongqi; Yang, Bo; Kang, Yonggang; Yang, Yuan

    2016-01-01

    Fixture plays an important part in constraining excessive sheet metal part deformation at machining, assembly, and measuring stages during the whole manufacturing process. However, it is still a difficult and nontrivial task to design and optimize sheet metal fixture locating layout at present because there is always no direct and explicit expression describing sheet metal fixture locating layout and responding deformation. To that end, an RBF neural network prediction model is proposed in this paper to assist design and optimization of sheet metal fixture locating layout. The RBF neural network model is constructed by training data set selected by uniform sampling and finite element simulation analysis. Finally, a case study is conducted to verify the proposed method. PMID:27127499

  16. Brunn: an open source laboratory information system for microplates with a graphical plate layout design process.

    PubMed

    Alvarsson, Jonathan; Andersson, Claes; Spjuth, Ola; Larsson, Rolf; Wikberg, Jarl E S

    2011-05-20

    Compound profiling and drug screening generates large amounts of data and is generally based on microplate assays. Current information systems used for handling this are mainly commercial, closed source, expensive, and heavyweight and there is a need for a flexible lightweight open system for handling plate design, and validation and preparation of data. A Bioclipse plugin consisting of a client part and a relational database was constructed. A multiple-step plate layout point-and-click interface was implemented inside Bioclipse. The system contains a data validation step, where outliers can be removed, and finally a plate report with all relevant calculated data, including dose-response curves. Brunn is capable of handling the data from microplate assays. It can create dose-response curves and calculate IC50 values. Using a system of this sort facilitates work in the laboratory. Being able to reuse already constructed plates and plate layouts by starting out from an earlier step in the plate layout design process saves time and cuts down on error sources.

  17. Automated Generation of Finite-Element Meshes for Aircraft Conceptual Design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Li, Wu; Robinson, Jay

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a novel approach for automated generation of fully connected finite-element meshes for all internal structural components and skins of a given wing-body geometry model, controlled by a few conceptual-level structural layout parameters. Internal structural components include spars, ribs, frames, and bulkheads. Structural layout parameters include spar/rib locations in wing chordwise/spanwise direction and frame/bulkhead locations in longitudinal direction. A simple shell thickness optimization problem with two load conditions is used to verify versatility and robustness of the automated meshing process. The automation process is implemented in ModelCenter starting from an OpenVSP geometry and ending with a NASTRAN 200 solution. One subsonic configuration and one supersonic configuration are used for numerical verification. Two different structural layouts are constructed for each configuration and five finite-element meshes of different sizes are generated for each layout. The paper includes various comparisons of solutions of 20 thickness optimization problems, as well as discussions on how the optimal solutions are affected by the stress constraint bound and the initial guess of design variables.

  18. Graph Drawing Aesthetics-Created by Users, Not Algorithms.

    PubMed

    Purchase, H C; Pilcher, C; Plimmer, B

    2012-01-01

    Prior empirical work on layout aesthetics for graph drawing algorithms has concentrated on the interpretation of existing graph drawings. We report on experiments which focus on the creation and layout of graph drawings: participants were asked to draw graphs based on adjacency lists, and to lay them out "nicely." Two interaction methods were used for creating the drawings: a sketch interface which allows for easy, natural hand movements, and a formal point-and-click interface similar to a typical graph editing system. We find, in common with many other studies, that removing edge crossings is the most significant aesthetic, but also discover that aligning nodes and edges to an underlying grid is important. We observe that the aesthetics favored by participants during creation of a graph drawing are often not evident in the final product and that the participants did not make a clear distinction between the processes of creation and layout. Our results suggest that graph drawing systems should integrate automatic layout with the user's manual editing process, and provide facilities to support grid-based graph creation.

  19. Standard cell electrical and physical variability analysis based on automatic physical measurement for design-for-manufacturing purposes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shauly, Eitan; Parag, Allon; Khmaisy, Hafez; Krispil, Uri; Adan, Ofer; Levi, Shimon; Latinski, Sergey; Schwarzband, Ishai; Rotstein, Israel

    2011-04-01

    A fully automated system for process variability analysis of high density standard cell was developed. The system consists of layout analysis with device mapping: device type, location, configuration and more. The mapping step was created by a simple DRC run-set. This database was then used as an input for choosing locations for SEM images and for specific layout parameter extraction, used by SPICE simulation. This method was used to analyze large arrays of standard cell blocks, manufactured using Tower TS013LV (Low Voltage for high-speed applications) Platforms. Variability of different physical parameters like and like Lgate, Line-width-roughness and more as well as of electrical parameters like drive current (Ion), off current (Ioff) were calculated and statistically analyzed, in order to understand the variability root cause. Comparison between transistors having the same W/L but with different layout configurations and different layout environments (around the transistor) was made in terms of performances as well as process variability. We successfully defined "robust" and "less-robust" transistors configurations, and updated guidelines for Design-for-Manufacturing (DfM).

  20. [INDENA SPA company's patent portfolio of Ginkgo biloba preparation].

    PubMed

    Wang, Nan; Guo, Kai; Cheng, Xin-min; Liu, Wei

    2015-10-01

    INDENA SPA Company in Italy is a multi-national company that produces and sells plant extracts. Based on its own re- search advantages in the field of Ginkgo biloba preparation, the company protects its own products market effectively through building patent portfolio around the patents of its opponent. Based on the multi-angle analysis for patent portfolio of G. biloba preparation from the aspects of application time, legal status, technical development route, and patent portfolio layout, this article provides technical reference on research and development of G. biloba preparation, and the author suggest that Chinese applicants learn techniques and layout experiences of other patents fully to enhance the level of research and patent protection level.

  1. Generalization of the photo process window and its application to OPC test pattern design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eisenmann, Hans; Peter, Kai; Strojwas, Andrzej J.

    2003-07-01

    From the early development phase up to the production phase, test pattern play a key role for microlithography. The requirement for test pattern is to represent the design well and to cover the space of all process conditions, e.g. to investigate the full process window and all other process parameters. This paper shows that the current state-of-the-art test pattern do not address these requirements sufficiently and makes suggestions for a better selection of test pattern. We present a new methodology to analyze an existing layout (e.g. logic library, test pattern or full chip) for critical layout situations which does not need precise process data. We call this method "process space decomposition", because it is aimed at decomposing the process impact to a layout feature into a sum of single independent contributions, the dimensions of the process space. This is a generalization of the classical process window, which examines defocus and exposure dependency of given test pattern, e.g. CD value of dense and isolated lines. In our process space we additionally define the dimensions resist effects, etch effects, mask error and misalignment, which describe the deviation of the printed silicon pattern from its target. We further extend it by the pattern space using a product based layout (library, full chip or synthetic test pattern). The criticality of pattern is defined by their deviation due to aerial image, their sensitivity to the respective dimension or several combinations of these. By exploring the process space for a given design, the method allows to find the most critical patterns independent of specific process parameters. The paper provides examples for different applications of the method: (1) selection of design oriented test pattern for lithography development (2) test pattern reduction in process characterization (3) verification/optimization of printability and performance of post processing procedures (like OPC) (4) creation of a sensitive process monitor.

  2. Science Facilities Bibliography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    A bibliographic collection on science buildings and facilities is cited with many different reference sources for those concerned with the design, planning, and layout of science facilities. References are given covering a broad scope of information on--(1) physical plant planning, (2) management and safety, (3) building type studies, (4) design…

  3. AMERICAN ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMEN.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    COSTINETT, SANDRA; ROSS, GORDON

    DESIGNED FOR NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS ON AN INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED LEVEL OF ENGLISH, THIS TEXT PROVIDES FOR PRACTICE IN CONVERSATIONAL BUSINESS ENGLISH. EACH OF THE TWELVE UNITS IS BASED ON A SPECIFIC TOPIC--PHONE CALLS, TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS, QUARTERLY REPORTS AND SALES, ORGANIZATION CHARTS, ORDERING, PLANT LAYOUT, INVESTMENTS, EMPLOYEE BENEFITS,…

  4. 29. SITE BUILDING 002 SCANNER BUILDING FLOOR 3A ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    29. SITE BUILDING 002 - SCANNER BUILDING - FLOOR 3A ("A" FACE) AT SYSTEM LAYOUT GRID 17. GENERAL OBLIQUE VIEW OF "A" FACE INTERIOR SHOWING RADAR EMITTER/ANTENNA INTERFACE ELECTRONICS. - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  5. An efficient way of layout processing based on calibre DRC and pattern matching for defects inspection application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Helen; Lee, Robben; Lee, Tyzy; Xue, Teddy; Liu, Hermes; Wu, Hall; Wan, Qijian; Du, Chunshan; Hu, Xinyi; Liu, Zhengfang

    2018-03-01

    As technology advances, escalating layout design complexity and chip size make defect inspection becomes more challenging than ever before. The YE (Yield Enhancement) engineers are seeking for an efficient strategy to ensure accuracy without suffering running time. A smart way is to set different resolutions for different pattern structures, for examples, logic pattern areas have a higher scan resolution while the dummy areas have a lower resolution, SRAM area may have another different resolution. This can significantly reduce the scan processing time meanwhile the accuracy does not suffer. Due to the limitation of the inspection equipment, the layout must be processed in order to output the Care Area marker in line with the requirement of the equipment, for instance, the marker shapes must be rectangle and the number of the rectangle shapes should be as small as possible. The challenge is how to select the different Care Areas by pattern structures, merge the areas efficiently and then partition them into pieces of rectangle shapes. This paper presents a solution based on Calibre DRC and Pattern Matching. Calibre equation-based DRC is a powerful layout processing engine and Calibre Pattern Matching's automated visual capture capability enables designers to define these geometries as layout patterns and store them in libraries which can be re-used in multiple design layouts. Pattern Matching simplifies the description of very complex relationships between pattern shapes efficiently and accurately. Pattern matching's true power is on display when it is integrated with normal DRC deck. In this application of defects inspection, we first run Calibre DRC to get rule based Care Area then use Calibre Pattern Matching's automated pattern capture capability to capture Care Area shapes which need a higher scan resolution with a tune able pattern halo. In the pattern matching step, when the patterns are matched, a bounding box marker will be output to identify the high resolution area. The equation-based DRC and Pattern Matching effectively work together for different scan phases.

  6. A smart way to identify and extract repeated patterns of a layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Fang; Gu, Tingting; Chu, Zhihao; Zhang, Chenming; Chen, Han; Zhu, Jun; Hu, Xinyi; Du, Chunshan; Wan, Qijian; Liu, Zhengfang

    2018-03-01

    As integrated circuits (IC) technology moves forward, manufacturing process is facing more and more challenges. Optical proximity correction (OPC) has been playing an important role in the whole manufacturing process. In the deep sub-micron technology, OPC engineers not only need to guarantee the layout designs to be manufacturable but also take a more precise control of the critical patterns to ensure a high performance circuit. One of the tasks that would like to be performed is the consistency checking as the identical patterns under identical context should have identical OPC results in theory, like SRAM regions. Consistency checking is essentially a technique of repeated patterns identification, extraction and derived patterns (i.e. OPC results) comparison. The layout passing to the OPC team may not have enough design hierarchical information either because the original designs may have undergone several layout processing steps or some other unknown reasons. This paper presents a generic way to identify and extract repeated layout structures in SRAM regions purely based on layout pattern analysis through Calibre Pattern Matching and Calibre equation-based DRC (eqDRC). Without Pattern Matching and eqDRC, it will take lots of effort to manually get it done by trial and error, it is almost impossible to automate the pattern analysis process. Combining Pattern Matching and eqDRC opens a new way to implement this flow. The repeated patterns must have some fundamental features for measurement of pitches in the horizontal and vertical direction separately by Calibre eqDRC and meanwhile can be a helper to generate some anchor points which will be the starting points for Pattern Matching to capture patterns. The informative statistical report from the pattern search tells the match counts individually for each patterns captured. Experiment shows that this is a smart way of identifying and extracting repeated structures effectively. The OPC results are the derived layers on these repeated structures, by running pattern search using design layers as pattern layers and OPC results as marker layers, it is an easy job to compare the consistency.

  7. Chemical process modelling of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) and evaluation of produced gas quality for end use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korre, Anna; Andrianopoulos, Nondas; Durucan, Sevket

    2015-04-01

    Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is an unconventional method for recovering energy from coal resources through in-situ thermo-chemical conversion to gas. In the core of the UCG lays the coal gasification process which involves the engineered injection of a blend of gasification agents into the coal resource and propagating its gasification. Athough UCG technology has been known for some time and considered a promising method for unconventional fossil fuel resources exploitation, there are limited modelling studies which achieve the necessary accuracy and realistic simulation of the processes involved. This paper uses the existing knowledge for surface gasifiers and investigates process designs which could be adapted to model UCG. Steady state simulations of syngas production were developed using the Advanced System for Process ENgineering (Aspen) Plus software. The Gibbs free energy minimisation method was used to simulate the different chemical reactor blocks which were combined using a FORTRAN code written. This approach facilitated the realistic simulation of the gasification process. A number of model configurations were developed to simulate different subsurface gasifier layouts considered for the exploitation of underground coal seams. The two gasifier layouts considered here are the linked vertical boreholes and the controlled retractable injection point (CRIP) methods. Different stages of the UCG process (i.e. initialisation, intermediate, end-phase) as well as the temperature level of the syngas collection point in each layout were found to be the two most decisive and distinctive parameters during the design of the optimal model configuration for each layout. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate the significance of the operational parameters and the performance indicators used to evaluate the results. The operational parameters considered were the type of reagents injected (i.e. O2, N2, CO2, H2O), the ratio between the injected reagents and the feedstock quantity (i.e. coal), the pressure, the gasification and the combustion temperatures. The performance indicators included the composition and the energy content of the product gas as well as the carbon and energy efficiency achieved under each operational scenario. Different operational scenarios for every model configuration facilitated the cross-comparison among different configurations. The proximate and ultimate analysis data for the coal seams modelled were taken from a number of candidate UCG sites (Durucan et al., 2014) .The model findings were validated using the results of field trials reported in the literature. It was found that, increased gasification temperature leads to higher H2 and CO quantities in the product gas. Moreover, CH4 and CO2 concentrations increased as reaction pressure increased, while the CH4 quantity reached its highest value at the highest operational pressure, when combined with the lowest gasification temperature. The simulation models developed can be used to design and validate experimental UCG studies and offer significant advantages in terms of time and resource savings. As the UCG process consists of interrelated stages and a number of diverse phenomena, therefore, the gasification designs developed could act as the basis for an integrated UCG model tailored to the needs of a UCG pilot plant.

  8. The role of simulation in the design of a neural network chip

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Desai, Utpal; Roppel, Thaddeus A.; Padgett, Mary L.

    1993-01-01

    An iterative, simulation-based design procedure for a neural network chip is introduced. For this design procedure, the goal is to produce a chip layout for a neural network in which the weights are determined by transistor gate width-to-length ratios. In a given iteration, the current layout is simulated using the circuit simulator SPICE, and layout adjustments are made based on conventional gradient-decent methods. After the iteration converges, the chip is fabricated. Monte Carlo analysis is used to predict the effect of statistical fabrication process variations on the overall performance of the neural network chip.

  9. The stem cell laboratory: design, equipment, and oversight.

    PubMed

    Wesselschmidt, Robin L; Schwartz, Philip H

    2011-01-01

    This chapter describes some of the major issues to be considered when setting up a laboratory for the culture of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). The process of establishing a hPSC laboratory can be divided into two equally important parts. One is completely administrative and includes developing protocols, seeking approval, and establishing reporting processes and documentation. The other part of establishing a hPSC laboratory involves the physical plant and includes design, equipment and personnel. Proper planning of laboratory operations and proper design of the physical layout of the stem cell laboratory so that meets the scope of planned operations is a major undertaking, but the time spent upfront will pay long-term returns in operational efficiency and effectiveness. A well-planned, organized, and properly equipped laboratory supports research activities by increasing efficiency and reducing lost time and wasted resources.

  10. Human-centered design for neonatal apnea monitoring: application of the UFuRT process to analyze a monitor display layout.

    PubMed

    Brannon, Timothy S

    2008-11-06

    Resolution of apnea of prematurity is a criterion for hospital discharge of the preterm infant. False alarms recorded as true events can prolong hospitalization and increase cost of care. The UFuRT process was used to analyze neonatal apnea monitoring, using a typical monitor display. The goals were to determine 1) the data needed to recognize true events and reject false alarms, and 2) how the display layout could be modified to better support these tasks.

  11. Picturing Sex Education: Notes on the Politics of Visual Stratification

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Janssen, Diederik F.

    2006-01-01

    This paper addresses the scarcity of research on depictions and layout in sex education materials. It is argued that pictures and layout can inform an analysis of social stratification based on visual access. This process of social organization is located using four theoretical models. However these models do not lend themselves to a close reading…

  12. How work context affects operating room processes: using data mining and computer simulation to analyze facility and process design.

    PubMed

    Baumgart, André; Denz, Christof; Bender, Hans-Joachim; Schleppers, Alexander

    2009-01-01

    The complexity of the operating room (OR) requires that both structural (eg, department layout) and behavioral (eg, staff interactions) patterns of work be considered when developing quality improvement strategies. In our study, we investigated how these contextual factors influence outpatient OR processes and the quality of care delivered. The study setting was a German university-affiliated hospital performing approximately 6000 outpatient surgeries annually. During the 3-year-study period, the hospital significantly changed its outpatient OR facility layout from a decentralized (ie, ORs in adjacent areas of the building) to a centralized (ie, ORs in immediate vicinity of each other) design. To study the impact of the facility change on OR processes, we used a mixed methods approach, including process analysis, process modeling, and social network analysis of staff interactions. The change in facility layout was seen to influence OR processes in ways that could substantially affect patient outcomes. For example, we found a potential for more errors during handovers in the new centralized design due to greater interdependency between tasks and staff. Utilization of the mixed methods approach in our analysis, as compared with that of a single assessment method, enabled a deeper understanding of the OR work context and its influence on outpatient OR processes.

  13. Process simulation during the design process makes the difference: process simulations applied to a traditional design.

    PubMed

    Traversari, Roberto; Goedhart, Rien; Schraagen, Jan Maarten

    2013-01-01

    The objective is evaluation of a traditionally designed operating room using simulation of various surgical workflows. A literature search showed that there is no evidence for an optimal operating room layout regarding the position and size of an ultraclean ventilation (UCV) canopy with a separate preparation room for laying out instruments and in which patients are induced in the operating room itself. Neither was literature found reporting on process simulation being used for this application. Many technical guidelines and designs have mainly evolved over time, and there is no evidence on whether the proposed measures are also effective for the optimization of the layout for workflows. The study was conducted by applying observational techniques to simulated typical surgical procedures. Process simulations which included complete surgical teams and equipment required for the intervention were carried out for four typical interventions. Four observers used a form to record conflicts with the clean area boundaries and the height of the supply bridge. Preferences for particular layouts were discussed with the surgical team after each simulated procedure. We established that a clean area measuring 3 × 3 m and a supply bridge height of 2.05 m was satisfactory for most situations, provided a movable operation table is used. The only cases in which conflicts with the supply bridge were observed were during the use of a surgical robot (Da Vinci) and a surgical microscope. During multiple trauma interventions, bottlenecks regarding the dimensions of the clean area will probably arise. The process simulation of four typical interventions has led to significantly different operating room layouts than were arrived at through the traditional design process. Evidence-based design, human factors, work environment, operating room, traditional design, process simulation, surgical workflowsPreferred Citation: Traversari, R., Goedhart, R., & Schraagen, J. M. (2013). Process simulation during the design process makes the difference: Process simulations applied to a traditional design. Health Environments Research & Design Journal 6(2), pp 58-76.

  14. Multiple Strategies for Spatial Integration of 2D Layouts within Working Memory

    PubMed Central

    Meilinger, Tobias; Watanabe, Katsumi

    2016-01-01

    Prior results on the spatial integration of layouts within a room differed regarding the reference frame that participants used for integration. We asked whether these differences also occur when integrating 2D screen views and, if so, what the reasons for this might be. In four experiments we showed that integrating reference frames varied as a function of task familiarity combined with processing time, cues for spatial transformation, and information about action requirements paralleling results in the 3D case. Participants saw part of an object layout in screen 1, another part in screen 2, and reacted on the integrated layout in screen 3. Layout presentations between two screens coincided or differed in orientation. Aligning misaligned screens for integration is known to increase errors/latencies. The error/latency pattern was thus indicative of the reference frame used for integration. We showed that task familiarity combined with self-paced learning, visual updating, and knowing from where to act prioritized the integration within the reference frame of the initial presentation, which was updated later, and from where participants acted respectively. Participants also heavily relied on layout intrinsic frames. The results show how humans flexibly adjust their integration strategy to a wide variety of conditions. PMID:27101011

  15. Reducing Operating Costs by Optimizing Space in Facilities

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-01

    Base level 5 engineering units will provide facility floor plans, furniture layouts, and staffing documentation as necessary. One obstacle...due to the quantity and diverse locations. Base level engineering units provided facility floor plans, furniture layouts, and staffing documentation... furniture purchases and placement 5. Follow a quality systematic process in all decisions The per person costs can be better understood with a real

  16. Optimizing longwall mine layouts

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Minkel, M.J.

    1996-12-31

    Before spending the time to design an underground mine in detail, the mining engineer should be assured of the economic viability of the location of the layout. This has historically been a trial-and-error, iterative process. Traditional underground mine planning usually bases the layout on the geological characteristics of a deposit such as minimum seam height, quality, and the absence of faults. Whether one attempts to make a decision manually. or use traditional mine planning software, the process works something like this: First you build geological model. Then you impose a {open_quotes}best guess{close_quotes} as to which geological layers will become partmore » of the mined product, or will influence mining. Next you place your design where you believe is the best location to make a mine. Then you select equipment which you believe will cost-effectively mine the area. Finally, you schedule your equipment selection through the design over the mine life, run financial analyses and see if the rate of return is acceptable. If the NPV is acceptable, the design is accepted. If the NPV is not acceptable, the engineer has to restart the cycle of redesigning the layout, rescheduling the equipment, and restudying the economics again.« less

  17. Radiological environment within an NPP after a severe nuclear accident

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andgren, Karin; Fritioff, Karin; Buhr, Anna Maria Blixt; Huutoniemi, Tommi

    2017-09-01

    The radiological environment following a severe nuclear accident can be visualised on building layouts. The direct radiation in an area (or room) can be visualized on the layout by a colouring scheme depending on the dose rate level (for example orange for high gamma dose rate level and purple for an intermediate gamma dose rate level). Following the Fukushima accident, a need for update of these layouts has been identified at the Swedish nuclear power plant of Forsmark. Shielding calculations for areas where access is desired for severe accident management have been performed. Many different sources of radiation together with different types of shielding material contribute to the dose that would be received by a person entering the area. External radiation from radioactivity within e.g. pipes and components is considered and also external radiation from radioactivity in the air (originating from diffuse leakage of the containment atmosphere). Results are presented as dose rates for relevant dose points together with a method for estimating the dose rate levels for each of the rooms of the reactor building.

  18. DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FUEL DISSOLUTION SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED SERVICE FACILITIES. PLANT MODIFICATIONS FOR REPROCESSING NON-PRODUCTION REACTOR FUELS. PROJECT CGC-830

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bierman, S.R.; Graf, W.A.; Kass, M.

    1960-07-29

    Design panameters are presented for phases of the facility to reprocess low-enrichment fuels from nonproduction reactors. Included are plant flowsheets and equipment layouts for fuel element dissolution, centrifugation, solution adjustment, and waste handling. Also included are the basic design criteria for the supporting facilities which service these phases and all other facilites located in the vicinity of the selected building (Bldg. 221-U). (J.R.D.)

  19. 40. Photocopy of building model photograph, ca., 1974, photographer unknown. ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    40. Photocopy of building model photograph, ca., 1974, photographer unknown. Original photograph property of United States Air Force, 21" Space Command. CAPE COD AIR STATION PAVE PAWS FACILITY MODEL - ELEVATION SHOWING FLOOR AND EQUIPMENT LAYOUT. - Cape Cod Air Station, Technical Facility-Scanner Building & Power Plant, Massachusetts Military Reservation, Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA

  20. 10 CFR Appendix C to Part 110 - Illustrative List of Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plant Assemblies and Components Under NRC...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... welds with substantial amounts of repetition of layout. The equipment, components and piping systems are... fully fluorinated hydrocarbon polymers. 1. Assemblies and components especially designed or prepared for use in gaseous diffusion enrichment. 1.1 Gaseous Diffusion Barriers Especially designed or prepared...

  1. 10 CFR Appendix C to Part 110 - Illustrative List of Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plant Assemblies and Components Under NRC...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... welds with substantial amounts of repetition of layout. The equipment, components and piping systems are... fully fluorinated hydrocarbon polymers. 1. Assemblies and components especially designed or prepared for use in gaseous diffusion enrichment. 1.1 Gaseous Diffusion Barriers Especially designed or prepared...

  2. 10 CFR Appendix C to Part 110 - Illustrative List of Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plant Assemblies and Components Under NRC...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... welds with substantial amounts of repetition of layout. The equipment, components and piping systems are... fully fluorinated hydrocarbon polymers. 1. Assemblies and components especially designed or prepared for use in gaseous diffusion enrichment. 1.1 Gaseous Diffusion Barriers Especially designed or prepared...

  3. 10 CFR Appendix C to Part 110 - Illustrative List of Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plant Assemblies and Components Under NRC...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... welds with substantial amounts of repetition of layout. The equipment, components and piping systems are... fully fluorinated hydrocarbon polymers. 1. Assemblies and components especially designed or prepared for use in gaseous diffusion enrichment. 1.1 Gaseous Diffusion Barriers Especially designed or prepared...

  4. 21. Photographic contact print from a 8x10 original negative. (Original ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    21. Photographic contact print from a 8x10 original negative. (Original drawing located on abandoned NASA site, currently owned by the City of Downey, Downey, California). 1954 NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION BUILDING 41 CONSTRUCTION LAYOUT. - NASA Industrial Plant, Missile Research Laboratory, 12214 Lakewood Boulevard, Downey, Los Angeles County, CA

  5. Feasibility studies: UV/chlorine advanced oxidation treatment for the removal of emerging contaminants.

    PubMed

    Sichel, C; Garcia, C; Andre, K

    2011-12-01

    UV/chlorine (UV/HOCl and UV/ClO(2)) Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) were assessed with varying process layout and compared to the state of the art UV/H(2)O(2) AOP. The process comparison focused on the economical and energy saving potential of the UV/chlorine AOP. Therefore the experiments were performed at technical scale (250 L/h continuous flow reactor) and at process energies, oxidant and model contaminant concentrations expected in full scale reference plants. As model compounds the emerging contaminants (ECs): desethylatrazine, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, diclofenac, benzotriazole, tolyltriazole, iopamidole and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) were degraded at initial compound concentrations of 1 μg/L in tap water and matrixes with increased organic load (46 mg/L DOC). UV/chlorine AOP organic by-product forming potential was assessed for trihalomethanes (THMs) and N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). A process design was evaluated which can considerably reduce process costs, energy consumption and by-product generation from UV/HOCl AOPs. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Analyzing the requirements for mass production of small wind turbine generators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anuskiewicz, T.; Asmussen, J.; Frankenfield, O.

    Mass producibility of small wind turbine generators to give manufacturers design and cost data for profitable production operations is discussed. A 15 kW wind turbine generator for production in annual volumes from 1,000 to 50,000 units is discussed. Methodology to cost the systems effectively is explained. The process estimate sequence followed is outlined with emphasis on the process estimate sheets compiled for each component and subsystem. These data enabled analysts to develop cost breakdown profiles crucial in manufacturing decision-making. The appraisal also led to various design recommendations including replacement of aluminum towers with cost effective carbon steel towers. Extensive cost information is supplied in tables covering subassemblies, capital requirements, and levelized energy costs. The physical layout of the plant is depicted to guide manufacturers in taking advantage of the growing business opportunity now offered in conjunction with the national need for energy development.

  7. The Stem Cell Laboratory: Design, Equipment, and Oversight

    PubMed Central

    Wesselschmidt, Robin L.; Schwartz, Philip H.

    2013-01-01

    This chapter describes some of the major issues to be considered when setting up a laboratory for the culture of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). The process of establishing a hPSC laboratory can be divided into two equally important parts. One is completely administrative and includes developing protocols, seeking approval, and establishing reporting processes and documentation. The other part of establishing a hPSC laboratory involves the physical plant and includes design, equipment and personnel. Proper planning of laboratory operations and proper design of the physical layout of the stem cell laboratory so that meets the scope of planned operations is a major undertaking, but the time spent upfront will pay long-term returns in operational efficiency and effectiveness. A well-planned, organized, and properly equipped laboratory supports research activities by increasing efficiency and reducing lost time and wasted resources. PMID:21822863

  8. Time cycle analysis and simulation of material flow in MOX process layout

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chakraborty, S.; Saraswat, A.; Danny, K.M.

    The (U,Pu)O{sub 2} MOX fuel is the driver fuel for the upcoming PFBR (Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor). The fuel has around 30% PuO{sub 2}. The presence of high percentages of reprocessed PuO{sub 2} necessitates the design of optimized fuel fabrication process line which will address both production need as well as meet regulatory norms regarding radiological safety criteria. The powder pellet route has highly unbalanced time cycle. This difficulty can be overcome by optimizing process layout in terms of equipment redundancy and scheduling of input powder batches. Different schemes are tested before implementing in the process line with the helpmore » of a software. This software simulates the material movement through the optimized process layout. The different material processing schemes have been devised and validity of the schemes are tested with the software. Schemes in which production batches are meeting at any glove box location are considered invalid. A valid scheme ensures adequate spacing between the production batches and at the same time it meets the production target. This software can be further improved by accurately calculating material movement time through glove box train. One important factor is considering material handling time with automation systems in place.« less

  9. Techno-economic performance evaluation of direct steam generation solar tower plants with thermal energy storage systems based on high-temperature concrete and encapsulated phase change materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guédez, R.; Arnaudo, M.; Topel, M.; Zanino, R.; Hassar, Z.; Laumert, B.

    2016-05-01

    Nowadays, direct steam generation concentrated solar tower plants suffer from the absence of a cost-effective thermal energy storage integration. In this study, the prefeasibility of a combined sensible and latent thermal energy storage configuration has been performed from thermodynamic and economic standpoints as a potential storage option. The main advantage of such concept with respect to only sensible or only latent choices is related to the possibility to minimize the thermal losses during system charge and discharge processes by reducing the temperature and pressure drops occurring all along the heat transfer process. Thermodynamic models, heat transfer models, plant integration and control strategies for both a pressurized tank filled with sphere-encapsulated salts and high temperature concrete storage blocks were developed within KTH in-house tool DYESOPT for power plant performance modeling. Once implemented, cross-validated and integrated the new storage model in an existing DYESOPT power plant layout, a sensitivity analysis with regards of storage, solar field and power block sizes was performed to determine the potential impact of integrating the proposed concept. Even for a storage cost figure of 50 USD/kWh, it was found that the integration of the proposed storage configuration can enhance the performance of the power plants by augmenting its availability and reducing its levelized cost of electricity. As expected, it was also found that the benefits are greater for the cases of smaller power block sizes. Specifically, for a power block of 80 MWe a reduction in levelized electricity costs of 8% was estimated together with an increase in capacity factor by 30%, whereas for a power block of 126 MWe the benefits found were a 1.5% cost reduction and 16% availability increase.

  10. SLAYING THE DRAGON-THE STORY OF ONE FPSO, 20 VIETNAMESE OPERATORS AND 3 CONCRETE MIXERS.

    PubMed

    O'Brien, Anthony; van Rooyen, Annelize

    2017-04-01

    End of life of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility requires a lot of planning and management. One of the major challenges is the issue of decontamination and waste management. Waste disposal is a very sensitive subject and with agreements like the London Protocol and differences in legislation between countries, it has the potential to become a major stumbling block. Radiation safety is something not often on the mind of an FPSO operator. The planning and layout of such a vessel and its processing plant have usually not gone through any as low as reasonably achievable process during design. Planning the decontamination of such a vessel should start long before the actual decommissioning date. Performing regular vessel cleanouts and radiological profiling of the plant can be beneficial in the end. Finding a workable solution in getting naturally occurring radioactive material contaminated waste out of the vessels and tanks and effectively reducing the waste volumes for end of life clean-up is very important. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. Assessing the efficiency of different CSO positions based on network graph characteristics.

    PubMed

    Sitzenfrei, R; Urich, C; Möderl, M; Rauch, W

    2013-01-01

    The technical design of urban drainage systems comprises two major aspects: first, the spatial layout of the sewer system and second, the pipe-sizing process. Usually, engineers determine the spatial layout of the sewer network manually, taking into account physical features and future planning scenarios. Before the pipe-sizing process starts, it is important to determine locations of possible weirs and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) based on, e.g. distance to receiving water bodies or to a wastewater treatment plant and available space for storage units. However, positions of CSOs are also determined by topological characteristics of the sewer networks. In order to better understand the impact of placement choices for CSOs and storage units in new systems, this work aims to determine case unspecific, general rules. Therefore, based on numerous, stochastically generated virtual alpine sewer systems of different sizes it is investigated how choices for placement of CSOs and storage units have an impact on the pipe-sizing process (hence, also on investment costs) and on technical performance (CSO efficiency and flooding). To describe the impact of the topological positions of these elements in the sewer networks, graph characteristics are used. With an evaluation of 2,000 different alpine combined sewer systems, it was found that, as expected, with CSOs at more downstream positions in the network, greater construction costs and better performance regarding CSO efficiency result. At a specific point (i.e. topological network position), no significant difference (further increase) in construction costs can be identified. Contrarily, the flooding efficiency increases with more upstream positions of the CSOs. Therefore, CSO and flooding efficiency are in a trade-off conflict and a compromise is required.

  12. Schematic driven silicon photonics design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chrostowski, Lukas; Lu, Zeqin; Flückiger, Jonas; Pond, James; Klein, Jackson; Wang, Xu; Li, Sarah; Tai, Wei; Hsu, En Yao; Kim, Chan; Ferguson, John; Cone, Chris

    2016-03-01

    Electronic circuit designers commonly start their design process with a schematic, namely an abstract representation of the physical circuit. In integrated photonics on the other hand, it is very common for the design to begin at the physical component level. In order to build large integrated photonic systems, it is crucial to design using a schematic-driven approach. This includes simulations based on schematics, schematic-driven layout, layout versus schematic verification, and post-layout simulations. This paper describes such a design framework implemented using Mentor Graphics and Lumerical Solutions design tools. In addition, we describe challenges in silicon photonics related to manufacturing, and how these can be taken into account in simulations and how these impact circuit performance.

  13. Space station functional relationships analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tullis, Thomas S.; Bied, Barbra R.

    1988-01-01

    A systems engineering process is developed to assist Space Station designers to understand the underlying operational system of the facility so that it can be physically arranged and configured to support crew productivity. The study analyzes the operational system proposed for the Space Station in terms of mission functions, crew activities, and functional relationships in order to develop a quantitative model for evaluation of interior layouts, configuration, and traffic analysis for any Station configuration. Development of the model involved identification of crew functions, required support equipment, criteria of assessing functional relationships, and tools for analyzing functional relationship matrices, as well as analyses of crew transition frequency, sequential dependencies, support equipment requirements, potential for noise interference, need for privacy, and overall compatability of functions. The model can be used for analyzing crew functions for the Initial Operating Capability of the Station and for detecting relationships among these functions. Note: This process (FRA) was used during Phase B design studies to test optional layouts of the Space Station habitat module. The process is now being automated as a computer model for use in layout testing of the Space Station laboratory modules during Phase C.

  14. Analysis of Work Design in Rubber Processing Plant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wahyuni, Dini; Nasution, Harmein; Budiman, Irwan; Wijaya, Khairini

    2018-02-01

    The work design illustrates how structured jobs, tasks, and roles are defined and modified and their impact on individuals, groups, and organizations. If the work is not designed well, the company must pay greater costs for workers' health, longer production processes or even penalties for not being able to meet the delivery schedule. This is visible to the condition in a rubber processing factory in North Sumatra. Work design aspects such as layouts, machinery and equipment, worker's physical working environment, work methods, and organizational policies have not been well-organized. Coagulum grinding machines into sheets are often damaged, resulting in 4 times the delay of product delivery in 2016, the presence of complaints of heat exposure submitted by workers, and workstation that has not been properly arranged is an indication of the need for work design. The research data will be collected through field observation, and distribution of questionnaires related aspects of work design. The result of the analysis depends on the respondent's answer from the distributed questionnaire regarding the 6 aspects studied.

  15. Colour processing in complex environments: insights from the visual system of bees

    PubMed Central

    Dyer, Adrian G.; Paulk, Angelique C.; Reser, David H.

    2011-01-01

    Colour vision enables animals to detect and discriminate differences in chromatic cues independent of brightness. How the bee visual system manages this task is of interest for understanding information processing in miniaturized systems, as well as the relationship between bee pollinators and flowering plants. Bees can quickly discriminate dissimilar colours, but can also slowly learn to discriminate very similar colours, raising the question as to how the visual system can support this, or whether it is simply a learning and memory operation. We discuss the detailed neuroanatomical layout of the brain, identify probable brain areas for colour processing, and suggest that there may be multiple systems in the bee brain that mediate either coarse or fine colour discrimination ability in a manner dependent upon individual experience. These multiple colour pathways have been identified along both functional and anatomical lines in the bee brain, providing us with some insights into how the brain may operate to support complex colour discrimination behaviours. PMID:21147796

  16. Electron-beam lithography data preparation based on multithreading MGS/PROXECCO

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eichhorn, Hans; Lemke, Melchior; Gramss, Juergen; Buerger, B.; Baetz, Uwe; Belic, Nikola; Eisenmann, Hans

    2001-04-01

    This paper will highlight an enhanced MGS layout data post processor and the results of its industrial application. Besides the preparation of hierarchical GDS layout data, the processing of flat data has been drastically accelerated. The application of the Proximity Correction in conjunction with the OEM version of the PROXECCO was crowned with success for data preparation of mask sets featuring 0.25 micrometers /0.18 micrometers integration levels.

  17. 394. F.A.N., Delineator Date Unknown STATE OF CALIFORNIA; DEPARTMENT OF ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    394. F.A.N., Delineator Date Unknown STATE OF CALIFORNIA; DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS; SAN FRANCISCO - OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE; EAST BAY CROSSING; PIERS E-2, E-3, E-4, E-5; PLANT LAYOUT AND CAISSON ANCHORAGES; DRG. NO.51 - San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, Spanning San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA

  18. Understanding Dynamic Model Validation of a Wind Turbine Generator and a Wind Power Plant: Preprint

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Muljadi, Eduard; Zhang, Ying Chen; Gevorgian, Vahan

    Regional reliability organizations require power plants to validate the dynamic models that represent them to ensure that power systems studies are performed to the best representation of the components installed. In the process of validating a wind power plant (WPP), one must be cognizant of the parameter settings of the wind turbine generators (WTGs) and the operational settings of the WPP. Validating the dynamic model of a WPP is required to be performed periodically. This is because the control parameters of the WTGs and the other supporting components within a WPP may be modified to comply with new grid codesmore » or upgrades to the WTG controller with new capabilities developed by the turbine manufacturers or requested by the plant owners or operators. The diversity within a WPP affects the way we represent it in a model. Diversity within a WPP may be found in the way the WTGs are controlled, the wind resource, the layout of the WPP (electrical diversity), and the type of WTGs used. Each group of WTGs constitutes a significant portion of the output power of the WPP, and their unique and salient behaviors should be represented individually. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the process of dynamic model validations of WTGs and WPPs, the available data recorded that must be screened before it is used for the dynamic validations, and the assumptions made in the dynamic models of the WTG and WPP that must be understood. Without understanding the correct process, the validations may lead to the wrong representations of the WTG and WPP modeled.« less

  19. 123. Photographic copy of drawing (6 October 1916, original drawing ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    123. Photographic copy of drawing (6 October 1916, original drawing in Archives, Office of the Building, Administration Building, Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Plant, Chicago, Illinois). Drawn by Sears Department 213 (engineer unknown). 1/16 inch to one foot. Partial fourth/fifth floor plan and schematic building section showing the relationship of the gravity conveyors in the warehouse space to the spiral chutes. GENERAL LAYOUT OF ALL MDSE DEPT. CONVEYORS - Sears Roebuck & Company Mail Order Plant, Merchandise Building, 924 South Homan Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, IL

  20. Conceptual design of a laser fusion power plant. Part I. An integrated facility

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    This study is a new preliminary conceptual design and economic analysis of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) power plant performed by Bechtel under the direction of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The purpose of a new conceptual design is to examine alternatives to the LLNL HYLIFE power plant and to incorporate information from the recent liquid metal cooled power plant conceptual design study (CDS) into the reactor system and balance of plant design. A key issue in the design of a laser fusion power plant is the degree of symmetry in the illumination of the target that will be requiredmore » for a proper burn. Because this matter is expected to remain unresolved for some time, another purpose of this study is to determine the effect of symmetry requirements on the total plant size, layout, and cost.« less

  1. Paving the way to a full chip gate level double patterning application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haffner, Henning; Meiring, Jason; Baum, Zachary; Halle, Scott

    2007-10-01

    Double patterning lithography processes can offer significant yield enhancement for challenging circuit designs. Many decomposition (i.e. the process of dividing the layout design into first and second exposures) techniques are possible, but the focus of this paper is on the use of a secondary "cut" mask to trim away extraneous features left from the first exposure. This approach has the advantage that each exposure only needs to support a subset of critical features (e.g. dense lines with the first exposure, isolated spaces with the second one). The extraneous features ("printing assist features" or PrAFs) are designed to support the process window of critical features much like the role of the subresolution assist features (SRAFs) in conventional processes. However, the printing nature of PrAFs leads to many more design options, and hence a greater process and decomposition parameter exploration space, than are available for SRAFs. A decomposition scheme using PRAFs was developed for a gate level process. A critical driver of the work was to deliver improved across-chip linewidth variation (ACLV) performance versus an optimized single exposure process while providing support for a larger range of critical features. A variety of PRAF techniques were investigated by simulation, with a PrAF scheme similar to standard SRAF rules being chosen as the optimal solution [1]. This paper discusses aspects of the code development for an automated PrAF generation and placement scheme and the subsequent decomposition of a layout into two mask levels. While PrAF placement and decomposition is straightforward for layouts with pitch and orientation restrictions, it becomes rather complex for unrestricted layout styles. Because this higher complexity yields more irregularly shaped PrAFs, mask making becomes another critical driver of the optimum placement and clean-up strategies. Examples are given of how those challenges are met or can be successfully circumvented. During subsequent decomposition of the PrAF-enhanced layout into two independent mask levels, various geometric decomposition parameters have to be considered. As an example, the removal of PrAFs has to be guaranteed by a minimum required overlap of the cut mask opening past any PrAF edge. It is discussed that process assumptions such as CD tolerances and overlay as well as inter-level relationship ground rules need to be considered to successfully optimize the final decomposition scheme. Furthermore, simulation and experimental results regarding not only ACLV but also across-device linewidth variation (ADLV) are analyzed.

  2. VISIBIOweb: visualization and layout services for BioPAX pathway models

    PubMed Central

    Dilek, Alptug; Belviranli, Mehmet E.; Dogrusoz, Ugur

    2010-01-01

    With recent advancements in techniques for cellular data acquisition, information on cellular processes has been increasing at a dramatic rate. Visualization is critical to analyzing and interpreting complex information; representing cellular processes or pathways is no exception. VISIBIOweb is a free, open-source, web-based pathway visualization and layout service for pathway models in BioPAX format. With VISIBIOweb, one can obtain well-laid-out views of pathway models using the standard notation of the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN), and can embed such views within one's web pages as desired. Pathway views may be navigated using zoom and scroll tools; pathway object properties, including any external database references available in the data, may be inspected interactively. The automatic layout component of VISIBIOweb may also be accessed programmatically from other tools using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The web site is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement. It is available at: http://visibioweb.patika.org. PMID:20460470

  3. Automated aerial image based CD metrology initiated by pattern marking with photomask layout data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, Grant; Choi, Sun Young; Jung, Eui Hee; Seyfarth, Arne; van Doornmalen, Hans; Poortinga, Eric

    2007-05-01

    The photomask is a critical element in the lithographic image transfer process from the drawn layout to the final structures on the wafer. The non-linearity of the imaging process and the related MEEF impose a tight control requirement on the photomask critical dimensions. Critical dimensions can be measured in aerial images with hardware emulation. This is a more recent complement to the standard scanning electron microscope measurement of wafers and photomasks. Aerial image measurement includes non-linear, 3-dimensional, and materials effects on imaging that cannot be observed directly by SEM measurement of the mask. Aerial image measurement excludes the processing effects of printing and etching on the wafer. This presents a unique contribution to the difficult process control and modeling tasks in mask making. In the past, aerial image measurements have been used mainly to characterize the printability of mask repair sites. Development of photomask CD characterization with the AIMS TM tool was motivated by the benefit of MEEF sensitivity and the shorter feedback loop compared to wafer exposures. This paper describes a new application that includes: an improved interface for the selection of meaningful locations using the photomask and design layout data with the Calibre TM Metrology Interface, an automated recipe generation process, an automated measurement process, and automated analysis and result reporting on a Carl Zeiss AIMS TM system.

  4. Improvement of production layout based on optimum production balancing scale results by using Moodie Young and Comsoal method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ikhsan, Siregar; Ulina Anastasia Sipangkar, Tri; Prasetio, Aji

    2017-09-01

    This research was conducted at a make to order production system company which is engaged in the car body of the vehicle. One of the products produced is dump truck which is one kind of transportation for the transport of goods equipped with hydraulics to facilitate goods’ loading and unloading process. The company has 7 work stations with different cycle times. Companies often experience delays in order delivery. The production process on the production floor has not been done optimally where there is a build up of work in process in some work centres. The build up of work in process (WIP) products is seen in the welding and painting stations. Stacking that occurs on the production line may cause the company to be liable for damages due to delays in product completion. The WIP occurs due to unbalanced paths can be seen from the variance of cycle time of each station is very diverse. The time difference of each work element is due to the allocation of work elements to each work centre unevenly. On the basis of the allocation of uneven work elements, the dump truck assembly line is made. The analysis is done by using Moodie Young and Comsoal method to do the balancing of production line. The result of layout improvement by using systematic layout planning (SLP) method is change the composition of the work centre from 7 into 4 work centre which enables the movement of material to be more effective and efficient so that it can get an efficient and effective production trajectory and can solve existing problems. The result of the track balancing is then used as a guide in constructing a new layout based on the balancing result with the most optimum method.

  5. Digital Full-Scope Simulation of a Conventional Nuclear Power Plant Control Room, Phase 2: Installation of a Reconfigurable Simulator to Support Nuclear Plant Sustainability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ronald L. Boring; Vivek Agarwal; Kirk Fitzgerald

    2013-03-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability program has developed a control room simulator in support of control room modernization at nuclear power plants in the U.S. This report highlights the recent completion of this reconfigurable, full-scale, full-scope control room simulator buildout at the Idaho National Laboratory. The simulator is fully reconfigurable, meaning it supports multiple plant models developed by different simulator vendors. The simulator is full-scale, using glasstop virtual panels to display the analog control boards found at current plants. The present installation features 15 glasstop panels, uniquely achieving a complete control room representation. The simulator ismore » also full-scope, meaning it uses the same plant models used for training simulators at actual plants. Unlike in the plant training simulators, the deployment on glasstop panels allows a high degree of customization of the panels, allowing the simulator to be used for research on the design of new digital control systems for control room modernization. This report includes separate sections discussing the glasstop panels, their layout to mimic control rooms at actual plants, technical details on creating a multi-plant and multi-vendor reconfigurable simulator, and current efforts to support control room modernization at U.S. utilities. The glasstop simulator provides an ideal testbed for prototyping and validating new control room concepts. Equally importantly, it is helping create a standardized and vetted human factors engineering process that can be used across the nuclear industry to ensure control room upgrades maintain and even improve current reliability and safety.« less

  6. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Aliaga, C., E-mail: caliaga@itene.com; Zhang, H.; Dobon, A.

    Highlights: • Study of the influence of components of printed electronics in paper recycling. • Comparison between paper recycled with and without resistors, batteries and layouts. • Mechanical and optical properties are evaluated in paper handsheets obtained. • Tensile strength of recycled paper is slighted reduced by layouts. • Optical properties of recycled paper slightly varies with layouts and batteries. - Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the presence of printed electronics on the paper waste streams and specifically on paper recyclability. The analysis is based on a case study focussed on envelopes formore » postal and courier services provided with these intelligent systems. The smart printed envelope of the study includes a combination of both conventional (thin flexible batteries and resistors) and printed electronic components (conductive track layout based on nanosilver ink). For this purpose, a comparison between envelopes with and without these components (batteries, resistors and conductive track layouts) was carried out through pilot scale paper recycling tests. The generation of rejects during the recycling process as well as the final quality of the recycled paper (mechanical and optical properties) were tested and quantitatively evaluated. The results show that resistors are retained during the screening process in the sieves and consequently they cannot end up in the final screened pulp. Therefore, mechanical and optical properties of the recycled paper are not affected. Nevertheless, inks from the conductive track layouts and batteries were partially dissolved in the process water. These substances were not totally retained in the sieving systems resulting in slight changes in the optical properties of the final recycled paper (variations are 7.2–7.5% in brightness, 8.5–10.7% in whiteness, 1.2–2.2% in L{sup ∗} values, 3.3–3.5% in opacity and 16.1–27% in yellowness). These variations are not in ranges able to cause problems in current paper recycling processes and restrict the use of recycled paper in current applications. Moreover, real impacts on industrial recycling are expected to be even significantly lower since the proportion of paper product with printed circuits in the current paper waste streams are much lower than the ones tested in this work. However, it should be underlined the fact that this situation may change over the next years due to the future developments in printed electronics and the gradual penetration of these types of devices in the market.« less

  7. Effect of heliostat size on the levelized cost of electricity for power towers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pidaparthi, Arvind; Hoffmann, Jaap

    2017-06-01

    The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of heliostat size on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for power tower plants. These effects are analyzed in a power tower with a net capacity of 100 MWe, 8 hours of thermal energy storage and a solar multiple of 1.8 in Upington, South Africa. A large, medium and a small size heliostat with a total area of 115.56 m2, 43.3 m2 and 15.67 m2 respectively are considered for comparison. A radial-staggered pattern and an external cylindrical receiver are considered for the heliostat field layouts. The optical performance of the optimized heliostat field layouts has been evaluated by the Hermite (analytical) method using SolarPILOT, a tool used for the generation and optimization of the heliostat field layout. The heliostat cost per unit is calculated separately for the three different heliostat sizes and the effects due to size scaling, learning curve benefits and the price index is included. The annual operation and maintenance (O&M) costs are estimated separately for the three heliostat fields, where the number of personnel required in the field is determined by the number of heliostats in the field. The LCOE values are used as a figure of merit to compare the different heliostat sizes. The results, which include the economic and the optical performance along with the annual O&M costs, indicate that lowest LCOE values are achieved by the medium size heliostat with an area of 43.3 m2 for this configuration. This study will help power tower developers determine the optimal heliostat size for power tower plants currently in the development stage.

  8. Facility Layout Problems Using Bays: A Survey

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davoudpour, Hamid; Jaafari, Amir Ardestani; Farahani, Leila Najafabadi

    2010-06-01

    Layout design is one of the most important activities done by industrial Engineers. Most of these problems have NP hard Complexity. In a basic layout design, each cell is represented by a rectilinear, but not necessarily convex polygon. The set of fully packed adjacent polygons is known as a block layout (Asef-Vaziri and Laporte 2007). Block layout is divided by slicing tree and bay layout. In bay layout, departments are located in vertical columns or horizontal rows, bays. Bay layout is used in real worlds especially in concepts such as semiconductor and aisles. There are several reviews in facility layout; however none of them focus on bay layout. The literature analysis given here is not limited to specific considerations about bay layout design. We present a state of art review for bay layout considering some issues such as the used objectives, the techniques of solving and the integration methods in bay.

  9. Water requirements of the aluminum industry

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Conklin, Howard L.

    1956-01-01

    Aluminum is unique among metals in the way it is obtained from its ore. The first step is to produce alumina, a white powder that bears no resemblance to the bauxite from which it is derived or to the metallic aluminum to which it is reduced by electrolytic action in a second step. Each step requires a complete plant facility, and the plants may be adjacent or separated by as much as the width of the North American continent. Field investigations sf every alumina plant and reduction works in the United States were undertaken to determine the industry's water use. Detailed studies were made of process and plant layout so that a water balance could be made for each plant to determine not only the gross water intake but also an approximation of the consumptive use of water. Water requirements of alumina plants range from 0.28 to 1.10 gallons per pound of alumina; the average for the industry is 0.66 gallon. Water requirements of reduction works vary considerably more, ranging from 1.24 to 36.33 gallons per pound of aluminum, and average 14.62 gallons. All alumina plants in the United States derive alumina from bauxite by the Bayer process or by the Combination process, a modification of the Bayer process. Although the chemical process for obtaining alumina from bauxite is essentially the same at all plants, different procedures are employed to cool the sodium aluminate solution before it enters the precipitating tanks and to concentrate it by evaporation of some of the water in the solution. Where this evaporation takes place in a cooling tower, water in the solution is lost to the atmosphere as water vapor and so is used consumptively. In other plants, the quantity of solution in the system is controlled by evaporation in a multiple-effect evaporator where practically all vapor distilled out of the solution is condensed to water that may be reused. The latter method is used in all recently constructed alumina plants, and some older plants are replacing cooling towers with multiple-effect evaporators. All reduction works in the United States use the Hall process, but the variation in water requirements is even greater than the variation at alumina plants, and, further, the total daily water requirement for all reduction works is more than 9 times the total daily requirement of all alumina plants. Many reduction works use gas scrubbers, but some do not. As gas scrubbing is one of the principal water uses in reduction works, the manner in which wash water is used, cooled, and reused accounts in large measure for the variation in water requirements. Although the supply of water for all plants but one was reported by the management to be ample for all plant needs, the economic factor of the cost of water differs considerably among plants. It is this factor that accounts in large measure for the widely divergent slant practices. Plant capacity alone has so little effect on plant water requirements that other conditions such as plant operation based on the cost of water, plant location, and the need for conservation of water mask any economy inherent in plant size.

  10. Methodology of shell structure reinforcement layout optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szafrański, Tomasz; Małachowski, Jerzy; Damaziak, Krzysztof

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents an optimization process of a reinforced shell diffuser intended for a small wind turbine (rated power of 3 kW). The diffuser structure consists of multiple reinforcement and metal skin. This kind of structure is suitable for optimization in terms of selection of reinforcement density, stringers cross sections, sheet thickness, etc. The optimisation approach assumes the reduction of the amount of work to be done between the optimization process and the final product design. The proposed optimization methodology is based on application of a genetic algorithm to generate the optimal reinforcement layout. The obtained results are the basis for modifying the existing Small Wind Turbine (SWT) design.

  11. Extraction and Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine Crops Based on Multitemporal High Resolution Data-Taking Qiaocheng District of Bozhou as AN Example

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, H.; He, J.; Zhou, H.; Guan, F.; Li, L.; Ren, B.; Wang, Z.

    2018-04-01

    Remote sensing technology has become an important method to rapidly acquireing of planting layout and composition of regional crops.It is very important to accurately master the planting area of Chinese medicine crops in the Characteristic planting area because it relations to accurately master the cultivation of Chinese medicine crops, formulate related policies and adjustment of crop planting structure.The author puts forward a method of using remote sencing technology for momitoring Chinese medicine which has good applicability and generalization. This paper took Qiaocheng District of Bozhou as an example to Verify the feasibility of the method, providing a reference for solving the problem of interpretation and extraction of Chinese medicinal materials in the region.

  12. Using bioprocess stoichiometry to build a plant-wide mass balance based steady-state WWTP model.

    PubMed

    Ekama, G A

    2009-05-01

    Steady-state models are useful for design of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) because they allow reactor sizes and interconnecting flows to be simply determined from explicit equations in terms of unit operation performance criteria. Once the overall WWTP scheme is established and the main system defining parameters of the individual unit operations estimated, dynamic models can be applied to the connected unit operations to refine their design and evaluate their performance under dynamic flow and load conditions. To model anaerobic digestion (AD) within plant-wide WWTP models, not only COD and nitrogen (N) but also carbon (C) fluxes entering the AD need to be defined. Current plant-wide models, like benchmark simulation model No 2 (BSM2), impose a C flux at the AD influent. In this paper, the COD and N mass balance steady-state models of activated sludge (AS) organics degradation, nitrification and denitrification (ND) and anaerobic (AD) and aerobic (AerD) digestion of wastewater sludge are extended and linked with bioprocess transformation stoichiometry to form C, H, O, N, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and charge mass balance based models so that also C (and H and O) can be tracked through the whole WWTP. By assigning a stoichiometric composition (x, y, z and a in C(x)H(y)O(z)N(a)) to each of the five main influent wastewater organic fractions and ammonia, these, and the products generated from them via the biological processes, are tracked through the WWTP. The model is applied to two theoretical case study WWTPs treating the same raw wastewater (WW) to the same final sludge residual biodegradable COD. It is demonstrated that much useful information can be generated with the relatively simple steady-state models to aid WWTP layout design and track the different products exiting the WWTP via the solid, liquid and gas streams, such as aerobic versus anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge, N loads in recycle streams, methane production for energy recovery and green house gas (CO(2), CH(4)) generation. To reduce trial and error usage of WWTP simulation software, it is recommended that they are extended to include pre-processors based on mass balance steady-state models to assist with WWTP layout design, unit operation selection, reactor sizing, option evaluation and comparison and wastewater characterization before dynamic simulation.

  13. Human Factors Evaluations of Two-Dimensional Spacecraft Conceptual Layouts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kennedy, Kriss J.; Toups, Larry D.; Rudisill, Marianne

    2010-01-01

    Much of the human factors work done in support of the NASA Constellation lunar program has been with low fidelity mockups. These volumetric replicas of the future lunar spacecraft allow researchers to insert test subjects from the engineering and astronaut population and evaluate the vehicle design as the test subjects perform simulations of various operational tasks. However, lunar outpost designs must be evaluated without the use of mockups, creating a need for evaluation tools that can be performed on two-dimension conceptual spacecraft layouts, such as floor plans. A tool based on the Cooper- Harper scale was developed and applied to one lunar scenario, enabling engineers to select between two competing floor plan layouts. Keywords: Constellation, human factors, tools, processes, habitat, outpost, Net Habitable Volume, Cooper-Harper.

  14. Lithography-induced limits to scaling of design quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kahng, Andrew B.

    2014-03-01

    Quality and value of an IC product are functions of power, performance, area, cost and reliability. The forthcoming 2013 ITRS roadmap observes that while manufacturers continue to enable potential Moore's Law scaling of layout densities, the "realizable" scaling in competitive products has for some years been significantly less. In this paper, we consider aspects of the question, "To what extent should this scaling gap be blamed on lithography?" Non-ideal scaling of layout densities has been attributed to (i) layout restrictions associated with multi-patterning technologies (SADP, LELE, LELELE), as well as (ii) various ground rule and layout style choices that stem from misalignment, reliability, variability, device architecture, and electrical performance vs. power constraints. Certain impacts seem obvious, e.g., loss of 2D flexibility and new line-end placement constraints with SADP, or algorithmically intractable layout stitching and mask coloring formulations with LELELE. However, these impacts may well be outweighed by weaknesses in design methodology and tooling. Arguably, the industry has entered a new era in which many new factors - (i) standard-cell library architecture, and layout guardbanding for automated place-and-route: (ii) performance model guardbanding and signoff analyses: (iii) physical design and manufacturing handoff algorithms spanning detailed placement and routing, stitching and RET; and (iv) reliability guardbanding - all contribute, hand in hand with lithography, to a newly-identified "design capability gap". How specific aspects of process and design enablements limit the scaling of design quality is a fundamental question whose answer must guide future RandD investment at the design-manufacturing interface. terface.

  15. Triple/quadruple patterning layout decomposition via linear programming and iterative rounding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Yibo; Xu, Xiaoqing; Yu, Bei; Baldick, Ross; Pan, David Z.

    2017-04-01

    As the feature size of the semiconductor technology scales down to 10 nm and beyond, multiple patterning lithography (MPL) has become one of the most practical candidates for lithography, along with other emerging technologies, such as extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), e-beam lithography (EBL), and directed self-assembly. Due to the delay of EUVL and EBL, triple and even quadruple patterning is considered to be used for lower metal and contact layers with tight pitches. In the process of MPL, layout decomposition is the key design stage, where a layout is split into various parts and each part is manufactured through a separate mask. For metal layers, stitching may be allowed to resolve conflicts, whereas it is forbidden for contact and via layers. We focus on the application of layout decomposition where stitching is not allowed, such as for contact and via layers. We propose a linear programming (LP) and iterative rounding solving technique to reduce the number of nonintegers in the LP relaxation problem. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can provide high quality decomposition solutions efficiently while introducing as few conflicts as possible.

  16. 1. Photographic copy of fire alarm plan for Control and ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    1. Photographic copy of fire alarm plan for Control and Recording Center Building 4221/E-22, showing layout of rooms. California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Plant Engineering 'Edwards Test Station, Fire Alarm Plan, Bldg. E-22,' drawing no. EFA/11-1, December 15, 1961. - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Edwards Facility, Control & Recording Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Boron, Kern County, CA

  17. The Methodology of Interactive Parametric Modelling of Construction Site Facilities in BIM Environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kozlovská, Mária; Čabala, Jozef; Struková, Zuzana

    2014-11-01

    Information technology is becoming a strong tool in different industries, including construction. The recent trend of buildings designing is leading up to creation of the most comprehensive virtual building model (Building Information Model) in order to solve all the problems relating to the project as early as in the designing phase. Building information modelling is a new way of approaching to the design of building projects documentation. Currently, the building site layout as a part of the building design documents has a very little support in the BIM environment. Recently, the research of designing the construction process conditions has centred on improvement of general practice in planning and on new approaches to construction site layout planning. The state of art in field of designing the construction process conditions indicated an unexplored problem related to connection of knowledge system with construction site facilities (CSF) layout through interactive modelling. The goal of the paper is to present the methodology for execution of 3D construction site facility allocation model (3D CSF-IAM), based on principles of parametric and interactive modelling.

  18. Robotic Inspection System for Non-Destructive Evaluation (nde) of Pipes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mackenzie, L. D.; Pierce, S. G.; Hayward, G.

    2009-03-01

    The demand for remote inspection of pipework in the processing cells of nuclear plant provides significant challenges of access, navigation, inspection technique and data communication. Such processing cells typically contain several kilometres of densely packed pipework whose actual physical layout may be poorly documented. Access to these pipes is typically afforded through the radiation shield via a small removable concrete plug which may be several meters from the actual inspection site, thus considerably complicating practical inspection. The current research focuses on the robotic deployment of multiple NDE payloads for weld inspection along non-ferritic steel pipework (thus precluding use of magnetic traction options). A fully wireless robotic inspection platform has been developed that is capable of travelling along the outside of a pipe at any orientation, while avoiding obstacles such as pipe hangers and delivering a variety of NDE payloads. An eddy current array system provides rapid imaging capabilities for surface breaking defects while an on-board camera, in addition to assisting with navigation tasks, also allows real time image processing to identify potential defects. All sensor data can be processed by the embedded microcontroller or transmitted wirelessly back to the point of access for post-processing analysis.

  19. Advanced Modeling System for Optimization of Wind Farm Layout and Wind Turbine Sizing Using a Multi-Level Extended Pattern Search Algorithm

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    DuPont, Bryony; Cagan, Jonathan; Moriarty, Patrick

    This paper presents a system of modeling advances that can be applied in the computational optimization of wind plants. These modeling advances include accurate cost and power modeling, partial wake interaction, and the effects of varying atmospheric stability. To validate the use of this advanced modeling system, it is employed within an Extended Pattern Search (EPS)-Multi-Agent System (MAS) optimization approach for multiple wind scenarios. The wind farm layout optimization problem involves optimizing the position and size of wind turbines such that the aerodynamic effects of upstream turbines are reduced, which increases the effective wind speed and resultant power at eachmore » turbine. The EPS-MAS optimization algorithm employs a profit objective, and an overarching search determines individual turbine positions, with a concurrent EPS-MAS determining the optimal hub height and rotor diameter for each turbine. Two wind cases are considered: (1) constant, unidirectional wind, and (2) three discrete wind speeds and varying wind directions, each of which have a probability of occurrence. Results show the advantages of applying the series of advanced models compared to previous application of an EPS with less advanced models to wind farm layout optimization, and imply best practices for computational optimization of wind farms with improved accuracy.« less

  20. Concept of a utility scale dispatch able solar thermal electricity plant with an indirect particle receiver in a single tower layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schwaiger, Karl; Haider, Markus; Haemmerle, Martin; Steiner, Peter; Obermaier, Michael-Dario

    2016-05-01

    Flexible dispatch able solar thermal electricity plants applying state of the art power cycles have the potential of playing a vital role in modern electricity systems and even participating in the ancillary market. By replacing molten salt via particles, operation temperatures can be increased and plant efficiencies of over 45 % can be reached. In this work the concept for a utility scale plant using corundum as storage/heat transfer material is thermodynamically modeled and its key performance data are cited. A novel indirect fluidized bed particle receiver concept is presented, profiting from a near black body behavior being able to heat up large particle flows by realizing temperature cycles over 500°C. Specialized fluidized bed steam-generators are applied with negligible auxiliary power demand. The performance of the key components is discussed and a rough sketch of the plant is provided.

  1. Prevention of MSD by means of ergonomic risk assessment (tools) in all phases of the vehicle development process.

    PubMed

    Karlheinz, Schaub; Michaela, Kugler; Max, Bierwirth; Andrea, Sinn-Behrendt; Ralph, Bruder

    2012-01-01

    In industrialized countries musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) play an import role and are often responsible for almost one third of the total sick leave. The changes in the demographic profiles, i.e. aging work forces might even worsen this situation in the future. For a highly productive and sustainable use of human resources in production systems, ergonomics offers high potentials. In the recent years the authors have developed several ergonomic risk assessment tools, especially for the use in automotive industries. These methods may be used during the planning phases in the Tech Centers as well as during the production phase at shop floor level. The tools might also be used for a standardized communication in between the Tech Center and the plants to improve the effects of "lessons learned" for the design and layout of workstations and processes and the optimization of vehicle components. This paper describes suitable risk assessment tools as well as the integration of these tools into the vehicle development process. It introduces a comprehensive management approach for the integration of ergonomics into the management of production systems.

  2. Flexible spatial perspective-taking: conversational partners weigh multiple cues in collaborative tasks.

    PubMed

    Galati, Alexia; Avraamides, Marios N

    2013-01-01

    Research on spatial perspective-taking often focuses on the cognitive processes of isolated individuals as they adopt or maintain imagined perspectives. Collaborative studies of spatial perspective-taking typically examine speakers' linguistic choices, while overlooking their underlying processes and representations. We review evidence from two collaborative experiments that examine the contribution of social and representational cues to spatial perspective choices in both language and the organization of spatial memory. Across experiments, speakers organized their memory representations according to the convergence of various cues. When layouts were randomly configured and did not afford intrinsic cues, speakers encoded their partner's viewpoint in memory, if available, but did not use it as an organizing direction. On the other hand, when the layout afforded an intrinsic structure, speakers organized their spatial memories according to the person-centered perspective reinforced by the layout's structure. Similarly, in descriptions, speakers considered multiple cues whether available a priori or at the interaction. They used partner-centered expressions more frequently (e.g., "to your right") when the partner's viewpoint was misaligned by a small offset or coincided with the layout's structure. Conversely, they used egocentric expressions more frequently when their own viewpoint coincided with the intrinsic structure or when the partner was misaligned by a computationally difficult, oblique offset. Based on these findings we advocate for a framework for flexible perspective-taking: people weigh multiple cues (including social ones) to make attributions about the relative difficulty of perspective-taking for each partner, and adapt behavior to minimize their collective effort. This framework is not specialized for spatial reasoning but instead emerges from the same principles and memory-depended processes that govern perspective-taking in non-spatial tasks.

  3. Flexible spatial perspective-taking: conversational partners weigh multiple cues in collaborative tasks

    PubMed Central

    Galati, Alexia; Avraamides, Marios N.

    2013-01-01

    Research on spatial perspective-taking often focuses on the cognitive processes of isolated individuals as they adopt or maintain imagined perspectives. Collaborative studies of spatial perspective-taking typically examine speakers' linguistic choices, while overlooking their underlying processes and representations. We review evidence from two collaborative experiments that examine the contribution of social and representational cues to spatial perspective choices in both language and the organization of spatial memory. Across experiments, speakers organized their memory representations according to the convergence of various cues. When layouts were randomly configured and did not afford intrinsic cues, speakers encoded their partner's viewpoint in memory, if available, but did not use it as an organizing direction. On the other hand, when the layout afforded an intrinsic structure, speakers organized their spatial memories according to the person-centered perspective reinforced by the layout's structure. Similarly, in descriptions, speakers considered multiple cues whether available a priori or at the interaction. They used partner-centered expressions more frequently (e.g., “to your right”) when the partner's viewpoint was misaligned by a small offset or coincided with the layout's structure. Conversely, they used egocentric expressions more frequently when their own viewpoint coincided with the intrinsic structure or when the partner was misaligned by a computationally difficult, oblique offset. Based on these findings we advocate for a framework for flexible perspective-taking: people weigh multiple cues (including social ones) to make attributions about the relative difficulty of perspective-taking for each partner, and adapt behavior to minimize their collective effort. This framework is not specialized for spatial reasoning but instead emerges from the same principles and memory-depended processes that govern perspective-taking in non-spatial tasks. PMID:24133432

  4. Thermodynamic Study of Multi Pressure HRSG in Gas/Steam Combined Cycle Power Plant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Meeta; Singh, Onkar

    2018-01-01

    Combined cycle power plants have a combination of gas based topping cycle and steam based bottoming cycle through the use of Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). These HRSG may be either of single pressure (SP) or dual pressure (DP) or multiple pressure type. Here in this study thermodynamic analysis is carried out for optimal performance of HRSG using different types of HRSG layout for combined cycle efficiency improvement. Performance of single pressure HRSG and dual pressure HRSG, utilized in gas/steam combined cycle is analyzed and presented here. In comparison to single pressure, dual pressure HRSG offers 10 to 15% higher reduction in stack temperature due to greater heat recovery and thus improved plant efficiency.

  5. Measurements and sensitivities of LWR in poly spacers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ayal, Guy; Shauly, Eitan; Levi, Shimon; Siany, Amit; Adan, Ofer; Shacham-Diamand, Yosi

    2010-03-01

    LER and LWR have long been considered a primary issue in process development and monitoring. Development of a low power process flavors emphasizes the effect of LER, LWR on different aspects of the device. Gate level performance, particularly leakage current at the front end of line, resistance and reliability in the back-end layers. Traditionally as can be seen in many publications, for the front end of line the focus is mainly on Poly and Active area layers. Poly spacers contribution to the gate leakage, for example, is rarely discussed. Following our research done on sources of gate leakage, we found leakage current (Ioff) in some processes to be highly sensitive to changes in the width of the Poly spacers - even more strongly to the actual Poly gate CDs. Therefore we decided to measure Poly spacers LWR, its correlation to the LWR in the poly, and its sensitivity to changes in layout and OPC. In our last year publication, we defined the terms LLER (Local Line Edge Roughness) and LLWR (Local Line Width Roughness). The local roughness is measured as the 3-sigma value of the line edge/width in a 5-nm segment around the measurement point. We will use these terms in this paper to evaluate the Poly roughness impact on Poly spacer's roughness. A dedicated test chip was designed for the experiments, having various transistors layout configurations with different densities to cover the all range of process design rules. Applied Materials LER and LWR innovative algorithms were used to measure and characterize the spacer roughness relative to the distance from the active edges and from other spaces. To accurately measure all structures in a reasonable time, the recipes were automatically generated from CAD. On silicon, after poly spacers generation, the transistors no longer resemble the Poly layer CAD layout, their morphology is different compared with Photo/Etch traditional structures , and dimensions vary significantly. In this paper we present metrology and characterization of poly spacer LLWR and LLER compared to that of the poly gate in various transistor shapes, showing that the relation between them depends on the transistor architecture (final layout, including OPC). We will show how the spacer deposition may reduce, keep or even enlarge the roughness measured on Poly, depending on transistor layout , but surprisingly, not dependent on proximity effects.

  6. Electron-beam lithography with character projection technique for high-throughput exposure with line-edge quality control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ikeno, Rimon; Maruyama, Satoshi; Mita, Yoshio; Ikeda, Makoto; Asada, Kunihiro

    2016-07-01

    The high throughput of character projection (CP) electron-beam (EB) lithography makes it a promising technique for low-to-medium volume device fabrication with regularly arranged layouts, such as for standard-cell logics and memory arrays. However, non-VLSI applications such as MEMS and MOEMS may not be able to fully utilize the benefits of the CP method due to the wide variety of layout figures including curved and oblique edges. In addition, the stepwise shapes that appear because of the EB exposure process often result in intolerable edge roughness, which degrades device performances. In this study, we propose a general EB lithography methodology for such applications utilizing a combination of the CP and variable-shaped beam methods. In the process of layout data conversion with CP character instantiation, several control parameters were optimized to minimize the shot count, improve the edge quality, and enhance the overall device performance. We have demonstrated EB shot reduction and edge-quality improvement with our methodology by using a leading-edge EB exposure tool, ADVANTEST F7000S-VD02, and a high-resolution hydrogen silsesquioxane resist. Atomic force microscope observations were used to analyze the resist edge profiles' quality to determine the influence of the control parameters used in the data conversion process.

  7. Time to learn: evidence for two types of attentional guidance in contextual cueing.

    PubMed

    Ogawa, Hirokazu; Watanabe, Katsumi

    2010-01-01

    Repetition of the same spatial configurations of a search display implicitly facilitates performance of a visual-search task when the target location in the display is fixed. The improvement of performance is referred to as contextual cueing. We examined whether the association process between target location and surrounding configuration of distractors occurs during active search or at the instant the target is found. To dissociate these two processes, we changed the surrounding configuration of the distractors at the instant of target detection so that the layout where the participants had searched for the target and the layout presented at the instant of target detection differed. The results demonstrated that both processes are responsible for the contextual-cueing effect, but they differ in the accuracies of attentional guidance and their time courses, suggesting that two different types of attentional-guidance processes may be involved in contextual cueing.

  8. Renewable Energy Supply for Power Dominated, Energy Intense Production Processes - A Systematic Conversion Approach for the Anodizing Process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    >D Stollenwerk, T Kuvarakul, I Kuperjans,

    2013-06-01

    European countries are highly dependent on energy imports. To lower this import dependency effectively, renewable energies will take a major role in future energy supply systems. To assist the national and inter-European efforts, extensive changes towards a renewable energy supply, especially on the company level, will be unavoidable. To conduct this conversion in the most effective way, the methodology developed in this paper can support the planning procedure. It is applied to the energy intense anodizing production process, where the electrical demand is the governing factor for the energy system layout. The differences between the classical system layout based on the current energy procurement and an approach with a detailed load-time-curve analysis, using process decomposition besides thermodynamic optimization, are discussed. The technical effects on the resulting energy systems are shown besides the resulting energy supply costs which will be determined by hourly discrete simulation.

  9. Layout pattern analysis using the Voronoi diagram of line segments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dey, Sandeep Kumar; Cheilaris, Panagiotis; Gabrani, Maria; Papadopoulou, Evanthia

    2016-01-01

    Early identification of problematic patterns in very large scale integration (VLSI) designs is of great value as the lithographic simulation tools face significant timing challenges. To reduce the processing time, such a tool selects only a fraction of possible patterns which have a probable area of failure, with the risk of missing some problematic patterns. We introduce a fast method to automatically extract patterns based on their structure and context, using the Voronoi diagram of line-segments as derived from the edges of VLSI design shapes. Designers put line segments around the problematic locations in patterns called "gauges," along which the critical distance is measured. The gauge center is the midpoint of a gauge. We first use the Voronoi diagram of VLSI shapes to identify possible problematic locations, represented as gauge centers. Then we use the derived locations to extract windows containing the problematic patterns from the design layout. The problematic locations are prioritized by the shape and proximity information of the design polygons. We perform experiments for pattern selection in a portion of a 22-nm random logic design layout. The design layout had 38,584 design polygons (consisting of 199,946 line segments) on layer Mx, and 7079 markers generated by an optical rule checker (ORC) tool. The optical rules specify requirements for printing circuits with minimum dimension. Markers are the locations of some optical rule violations in the layout. We verify our approach by comparing the coverage of our extracted patterns to the ORC-generated markers. We further derive a similarity measure between patterns and between layouts. The similarity measure helps to identify a set of representative gauges that reduces the number of patterns for analysis.

  10. Placement-aware decomposition of a digital standard cells library for double patterning lithography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wassal, Amr G.; Sharaf, Heba; Hammouda, Sherif

    2012-11-01

    To continue scaling the circuit features down, Double Patterning (DP) technology is needed in 22nm technologies and lower. DP requires decomposing the layout features into two masks for pitch relaxation, such that the spacing between any two features on each mask is greater than the minimum allowed mask spacing. The relaxed pitches of each mask are then processed on two separate exposure steps. In many cases, post-layout decomposition fails to decompose the layout into two masks due to the presence of conflicts. Post-layout decomposition of a standard cells block can result in native conflicts inside the cells (internal conflict), or native conflicts on the boundary between two cells (boundary conflict). Resolving native conflicts requires a redesign and/or multiple iterations for the placement and routing phases to get a clean decomposition. Therefore, DP compliance must be considered in earlier phases, before getting the final placed cell block. The main focus of this paper is generating a library of decomposed standard cells to be used in a DP-aware placer. This library should contain all possible decompositions for each standard cell, i.e., these decompositions consider all possible combinations of boundary conditions. However, the large number of combinations of boundary conditions for each standard cell will significantly increase the processing time and effort required to obtain all possible decompositions. Therefore, an efficient methodology is required to reduce this large number of combinations. In this paper, three different reduction methodologies are proposed to reduce the number of different combinations processed to get the decomposed library. Experimental results show a significant reduction in the number of combinations and decompositions needed for the library processing. To generate and verify the proposed flow and methodologies, a prototype for a placement-aware DP-ready cell-library is developed with an optimized number of cell views.

  11. Evaluation and redesign of manual material handling in a vaccine production centre's warehouse.

    PubMed

    Torres, Yaniel; Viña, Silvio

    2012-01-01

    This study was conducted in a warehouse at a vaccine production centre where improvement to existing storage and working conditions were sought through the construction of a new refrigerated store section (2-8C°). Warehousing tasks were videotaped and ergonomics analysis tools were used to assess the risk of developing MSDs. Specifically, these tools were the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and the NIOSH equation. The current plant layout was sketched and analyzed to find possible targets for improvement trough the application of general work space design and ergonomics principles. Seven of the eight postures evaluated with REBA had a total score between 8 and 10, meaning a high risk, and only one was at a medium risk level. Nine of the eleven manual material handling tasks analyzed with the NIOSH equation had a Lifting Index between 1.14 and 1.80 and two had a recommended weight limit of 0 kg, indicating a need for job redesign. Solutions included the redesign of shelves, the design of a two-step stair and a trolley with adjustable height; also, changes in work methods were proposed by introducing a two-workers lifting strategy and job rotation, and, finally, a restructuring of plant layout was completed.

  12. Automatic Constraint Detection for 2D Layout Regularization.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Haiyong; Nan, Liangliang; Yan, Dong-Ming; Dong, Weiming; Zhang, Xiaopeng; Wonka, Peter

    2016-08-01

    In this paper, we address the problem of constraint detection for layout regularization. The layout we consider is a set of two-dimensional elements where each element is represented by its bounding box. Layout regularization is important in digitizing plans or images, such as floor plans and facade images, and in the improvement of user-created contents, such as architectural drawings and slide layouts. To regularize a layout, we aim to improve the input by detecting and subsequently enforcing alignment, size, and distance constraints between layout elements. Similar to previous work, we formulate layout regularization as a quadratic programming problem. In addition, we propose a novel optimization algorithm that automatically detects constraints. We evaluate the proposed framework using a variety of input layouts from different applications. Our results demonstrate that our method has superior performance to the state of the art.

  13. Evidence-based ergonomics. A comparison of Japanese and American office layouts.

    PubMed

    Noro, Kageyu; Fujimaki, Goroh; Kishi, Shinsuke

    2003-01-01

    There is a variety of alternatives in office layouts. Yet the theoretical basis and criteria for predicting how well these layouts accommodate employees are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate criteria for selecting office layouts. Intensive computer workers worked in simulated office layouts in a controlled experimental laboratory. Eye movement measures indicate that knowledge work requires both concentration and interaction. Findings pointed to one layout as providing optimum balance between these 2 requirements. Recommendations for establishing a theoretical basis and design criteria for selecting office layouts based on work style are suggested.

  14. HOLA: Human-like Orthogonal Network Layout.

    PubMed

    Kieffer, Steve; Dwyer, Tim; Marriott, Kim; Wybrow, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Over the last 50 years a wide variety of automatic network layout algorithms have been developed. Some are fast heuristic techniques suitable for networks with hundreds of thousands of nodes while others are multi-stage frameworks for higher-quality layout of smaller networks. However, despite decades of research currently no algorithm produces layout of comparable quality to that of a human. We give a new "human-centred" methodology for automatic network layout algorithm design that is intended to overcome this deficiency. User studies are first used to identify the aesthetic criteria algorithms should encode, then an algorithm is developed that is informed by these criteria and finally, a follow-up study evaluates the algorithm output. We have used this new methodology to develop an automatic orthogonal network layout method, HOLA, that achieves measurably better (by user study) layout than the best available orthogonal layout algorithm and which produces layouts of comparable quality to those produced by hand.

  15. [VDT worker's posture and workload in free-address office system].

    PubMed

    Iwakiri, Kazuyuki; Mori, Ippei; Sotoyama, Midori; Nose, Kaori; Ochiai, Takanori; Jonai, Hiroshi; Saito, Susumu

    2006-01-01

    A free-address system is a new office layout in which a worker can freely sit in their favorite place with a computer and materials. Since this layout has recently been introduced in offices, we conducted a questionnaire survey which aimed to clarify the effects of the free-address system on visual display terminals (VDT) workers' posture and workload. A total of 203 male VDT workers who were system engineers aged 20 to 59 using a notebook computer were evaluated, of whom 150 used the free-address layout, and 53 used the fixed-address layout. The free-address layout was effective in the improvement of individual work space compared with the fixed-address layout. Also, in this layout the worker did not feel dissatisfaction with communication or support between workers. However, workers using the free-address layout assumed an unsuitable work posture, without adjusting the height of their chairs. Furthermore, this layout might have risk factors which increase neck/shoulder and low back stiffness and/or pain. Therefore, the free-address layout may have incipient problems, and it will be necessary to examine further the effects of this layout on VDT worker's health.

  16. 116. Photographic copy of drawing (25 June 1917, original drawing ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    116. Photographic copy of drawing (25 June 1917, original drawing in Archives, Office of the Building, Administration Building, Sears, Roebuck and Company Mail Order Plant, Chicago, Illinois). Drawn by Sears Department 131. 1/64 inch to one foot. Schematic plan of the Merchandise Building, describing the type of construction of the different portions of the building and shows the layout of the railroad tracks around the building. At the date of this drawing the building had all the major additons complete (to Annex A, Annex B, and the Box Factory). SCHETMATIC FLOOR PLAN - Sears Roebuck & Company Mail Order Plant, Merchandise Building, 924 South Homan Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, IL

  17. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fitzpatrick, F.C.; Gray, D.D.; Hyndman, J.R.

    The thermal, ecological, and social impacts of a 40-reactor NEC are compared to impacts from four 10-reactor NECs and ten 4-reactor power plants. The comparison was made for surrogate sites in western Tennessee. The surrogate site for the 40-reactor NEC is located on Kentucky Lake. A layout is postulated for ten clusters of four reactors each with 2.5-mile spacing between clusters. The plants use natural-draft cooling towers. A transmission system is proposed for delivering the power (48,000 MW) to five load centers. Comparable transmission systems are proposed for the 10-reactor NECs and the 4-reactor dispersed sites delivering power to themore » same load centers. (auth)« less

  18. Expert-guided evolutionary algorithm for layout design of complex space stations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qian, Zhiqin; Bi, Zhuming; Cao, Qun; Ju, Weiguo; Teng, Hongfei; Zheng, Yang; Zheng, Siyu

    2017-08-01

    The layout of a space station should be designed in such a way that different equipment and instruments are placed for the station as a whole to achieve the best overall performance. The station layout design is a typical nondeterministic polynomial problem. In particular, how to manage the design complexity to achieve an acceptable solution within a reasonable timeframe poses a great challenge. In this article, a new evolutionary algorithm has been proposed to meet such a challenge. It is called as the expert-guided evolutionary algorithm with a tree-like structure decomposition (EGEA-TSD). Two innovations in EGEA-TSD are (i) to deal with the design complexity, the entire design space is divided into subspaces with a tree-like structure; it reduces the computation and facilitates experts' involvement in the solving process. (ii) A human-intervention interface is developed to allow experts' involvement in avoiding local optimums and accelerating convergence. To validate the proposed algorithm, the layout design of one-space station is formulated as a multi-disciplinary design problem, the developed algorithm is programmed and executed, and the result is compared with those from other two algorithms; it has illustrated the superior performance of the proposed EGEA-TSD.

  19. Triple/quadruple patterning layout decomposition via novel linear programming and iterative rounding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Yibo; Xu, Xiaoqing; Yu, Bei; Baldick, Ross; Pan, David Z.

    2016-03-01

    As feature size of the semiconductor technology scales down to 10nm and beyond, multiple patterning lithography (MPL) has become one of the most practical candidates for lithography, along with other emerging technologies such as extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), e-beam lithography (EBL) and directed self assembly (DSA). Due to the delay of EUVL and EBL, triple and even quadruple patterning are considered to be used for lower metal and contact layers with tight pitches. In the process of MPL, layout decomposition is the key design stage, where a layout is split into various parts and each part is manufactured through a separate mask. For metal layers, stitching may be allowed to resolve conflicts, while it is forbidden for contact and via layers. In this paper, we focus on the application of layout decomposition where stitching is not allowed such as for contact and via layers. We propose a linear programming and iterative rounding (LPIR) solving technique to reduce the number of non-integers in the LP relaxation problem. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can provide high quality decomposition solutions efficiently while introducing as few conflicts as possible.

  20. An application of corelap algoritm to improve the utilization space of the classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sembiring, A. C.; Budiman, I.; Mardhatillah, A.; Tarigan, U. P.; Jawira, A.

    2018-04-01

    The high demand of the room due to the increasing number of students requires the addition of the room The limited number of rooms, the price of land and the cost of building expensive infrastructure requires effective and efficient use of the space. The facility layout redesign is done using the Computerized Relationship Planning (CORELAP) algorithm based on total closeness rating (TCR). By calculating the square distance between the departments based on the coordinates of the central point of the department. The distance obtained is multiplied by the material current from the From-to chart matrix. The analysis is done by comparing the total distance between the initial layout and the proposed layout and then viewing the activities performed in each room. The results of CORELAP algorithm processing gives an increase of room usage efficiency equal to 14, 98% from previous activity.

  1. Spatial layout of letters in nonwords affects visual short-term memory load: evidence from human electrophysiology.

    PubMed

    Prime, David; Dell'acqua, Roberto; Arguin, Martin; Gosselin, Frédéric; Jolicœur, Pierre

    2011-03-01

    The sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN) was used to investigate the effect of spatial layout on the maintenance of letters in VSTM. SPCN amplitude was measured for words, nonwords, and scrambled nonwords. We reexamined the effects of spatial layout of letters on SPCN amplitude in a design that equated the mean frequency of use of each position. Scrambled letters that did not form words elicited a larger SPCN than either words or nonwords, indicating lower VSTM load for nonwords presented in a typical horizontal array than the load observed for the same letters presented in spatially scrambled locations. In contrast, prior research has shown that the spatial extent of arrays of simple stimuli did not influence the amplitude of the SPCN. Thus, the present results indicate the existence of encoding and VSTM maintenance mechanisms specific to letter and word processing. Copyright © 2010 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  2. Integrated layout based Monte-Carlo simulation for design arc optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shao, Dongbing; Clevenger, Larry; Zhuang, Lei; Liebmann, Lars; Wong, Robert; Culp, James

    2016-03-01

    Design rules are created considering a wafer fail mechanism with the relevant design levels under various design cases, and the values are set to cover the worst scenario. Because of the simplification and generalization, design rule hinders, rather than helps, dense device scaling. As an example, SRAM designs always need extensive ground rule waivers. Furthermore, dense design also often involves "design arc", a collection of design rules, the sum of which equals critical pitch defined by technology. In design arc, a single rule change can lead to chain reaction of other rule violations. In this talk we present a methodology using Layout Based Monte-Carlo Simulation (LBMCS) with integrated multiple ground rule checks. We apply this methodology on SRAM word line contact, and the result is a layout that has balanced wafer fail risks based on Process Assumptions (PAs). This work was performed at the IBM Microelectronics Div, Semiconductor Research and Development Center, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533

  3. Toward Optimal Target Placement for Neural Prosthetic Devices

    PubMed Central

    Cunningham, John P.; Yu, Byron M.; Gilja, Vikash; Ryu, Stephen I.; Shenoy, Krishna V.

    2008-01-01

    Neural prosthetic systems have been designed to estimate continuous reach trajectories (motor prostheses) and to predict discrete reach targets (communication prostheses). In the latter case, reach targets are typically decoded from neural spiking activity during an instructed delay period before the reach begins. Such systems use targets placed in radially symmetric geometries independent of the tuning properties of the neurons available. Here we seek to automate the target placement process and increase decode accuracy in communication prostheses by selecting target locations based on the neural population at hand. Motor prostheses that incorporate intended target information could also benefit from this consideration. We present an optimal target placement algorithm that approximately maximizes decode accuracy with respect to target locations. In simulated neural spiking data fit from two monkeys, the optimal target placement algorithm yielded statistically significant improvements up to 8 and 9% for two and sixteen targets, respectively. For four and eight targets, gains were more modest, as the target layouts found by the algorithm closely resembled the canonical layouts. We trained a monkey in this paradigm and tested the algorithm with experimental neural data to confirm some of the results found in simulation. In all, the algorithm can serve not only to create new target layouts that outperform canonical layouts, but it can also confirm or help select among multiple canonical layouts. The optimal target placement algorithm developed here is the first algorithm of its kind, and it should both improve decode accuracy and help automate target placement for neural prostheses. PMID:18829845

  4. 48 CFR 52.236-17 - Layout of Work.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Layout of Work. 52.236-17... Layout of Work. As prescribed in 36.517, insert the following clause in solicitations and contracts when... need for accurate work layout and for siting verification during work performance: Layout of Work (APR...

  5. 48 CFR 52.236-17 - Layout of Work.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Layout of Work. 52.236-17... Layout of Work. As prescribed in 36.517, insert the following clause in solicitations and contracts when... need for accurate work layout and for siting verification during work performance: Layout of Work (APR...

  6. Optimized micromirror arrays for adaptive optics

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Michalicek, M. Adrian

    This paper describes the design, layout, fabrication, and surface characterization of highly optimized surface micromachined micromirror devices. Design considerations and fabrication capabilities are presented. These devices are fabricated in the state-of-the-art, four-level, planarized, ultra-low-stress polysilicon process available at Sandia National Laboratories known as the Sandia Ultra-planar Multi-level MEMS Technology (SUMMiT). This enabling process permits the development of micromirror devices with near-ideal characteristics that have previously been unrealizable in standard three-layer polysilicon processes. The reduced 1 {mu}m minimum feature sizes and 0.1 {mu}m mask resolution make it possible to produce dense wiring patterns and irregularly shaped flexures. Likewise, mirror surfaces canmore » be uniquely distributed and segmented in advanced patterns and often irregular shapes in order to minimize wavefront error across the pupil. The ultra-low-stress polysilicon and planarized upper layer allow designers to make larger and more complex micromirrors of varying shape and surface area within an array while maintaining uniform performance of optical surfaces. Powerful layout functions of the AutoCAD editor simplify the design of advanced micromirror arrays and make it possible to optimize devices according to the capabilities of the fabrication process. Micromirrors fabricated in this process have demonstrated a surface variance across the array from only 2{endash}3 nm to a worst case of roughly 25 nm while boasting active surface areas of 98{percent} or better. Combining the process planarization with a {open_quotes}planarized-by-design{close_quotes} approach will produce micromirror array surfaces that are limited in flatness only by the surface deposition roughness of the structural material. Ultimately, the combination of advanced process and layout capabilities have permitted the fabrication of highly optimized micromirror arrays for adaptive optics. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}« less

  7. The study on the effect of pattern density distribution on the STI CMP process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sub, Yoon Myung; Hian, Bernard Yap Tzen; Fong, Lee It; Anak, Philip Menit; Minhar, Ariffin Bin; Wui, Tan Kim; Kim, Melvin Phua Twang; Jin, Looi Hui; Min, Foo Thai

    2017-08-01

    The effects of pattern density on CMP characteristics were investigated using specially designed wafer for the characterization of pattern-dependencies in STI CMP [1]. The purpose of this study is to investigate the planarization behavior based on a direct STI CMP used in cerium (CeO2) based slurry system in terms of pattern density variation. The minimal design rule (DR) of 180nm generation technology node was adopted for the mask layout. The mask was successfully applied for evaluation of a cerium (CeO2) abrasive based direct STI CMP process. In this study, we described a planarization behavior of the loading-effects of pattern density variation which were characterized with layout pattern density and pitch variations using masks mentioned above. Furthermore, the characterizing pattern dependent on the variations of the dimensions and spacing features, in thickness remaining after CMP, were analyzed and evaluated. The goal was to establish a concept of library method which will be used to generate design rules reducing the probability of CMP-related failures. Details of the characterization were measured in various layouts showing different pattern density ranges and the effects of pattern density on STI CMP has been discussed in this paper.

  8. Mechatronic description of a laser autoguided vehicle for greenhouse operations.

    PubMed

    Sánchez-Hermosilla, Julián; González, Ramón; Rodríguez, Francisco; Donaire, Julián G

    2013-01-08

    This paper presents a novel approach for guiding mobile robots inside greenhouses demonstrated by promising preliminary physical experiments. It represents a comprehensive attempt to use the successful principles of AGVs (auto-guided vehicles) inside greenhouses, but avoiding the necessity of modifying the crop layout, and avoiding having to bury metallic pipes in the greenhouse floor. The designed vehicle can operate different tools, e.g., a spray system for applying plant-protection product, a lifting platform to reach the top part of the plants to perform pruning and harvesting tasks, and a trailer to transport fruits, plants, and crop waste. Regarding autonomous navigation, it follows the idea of AGVs, but now laser emitters are used to mark the desired route. The vehicle development is analyzed from a mechatronic standpoint (mechanics, electronics, and autonomous control).

  9. Molten salt thermal energy storage for utility peaking loads

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ferrara, A.; Haslett, R.; Joyce, J.

    1977-01-01

    This paper considers the use of thermal energy storage (TES) in molten salts to increase the capacity of power plants. Five existing fossil and nuclear electric utility plants were selected as representative of current technology. A review of system load diagrams indicated that TES to meet loads over 95% of peak was a reasonable goal. Alternate TES heat exchanger locations were evaluated, showing that the stored energy should be used either for feedwater heating or to generate steam for an auxiliary power cycle. Specific salts for each concept are recommended. Design layouts were prepared for one plant, and it was shown that a TES tube/shell heat exchanger system could provide about 7% peaking capability at lower cost than adding steam generation capacity. Promising alternate heat exchanger concepts were also identified.

  10. An efficient grid layout algorithm for biological networks utilizing various biological attributes

    PubMed Central

    Kojima, Kaname; Nagasaki, Masao; Jeong, Euna; Kato, Mitsuru; Miyano, Satoru

    2007-01-01

    Background Clearly visualized biopathways provide a great help in understanding biological systems. However, manual drawing of large-scale biopathways is time consuming. We proposed a grid layout algorithm that can handle gene-regulatory networks and signal transduction pathways by considering edge-edge crossing, node-edge crossing, distance measure between nodes, and subcellular localization information from Gene Ontology. Consequently, the layout algorithm succeeded in drastically reducing these crossings in the apoptosis model. However, for larger-scale networks, we encountered three problems: (i) the initial layout is often very far from any local optimum because nodes are initially placed at random, (ii) from a biological viewpoint, human layouts still exceed automatic layouts in understanding because except subcellular localization, it does not fully utilize biological information of pathways, and (iii) it employs a local search strategy in which the neighborhood is obtained by moving one node at each step, and automatic layouts suggest that simultaneous movements of multiple nodes are necessary for better layouts, while such extension may face worsening the time complexity. Results We propose a new grid layout algorithm. To address problem (i), we devised a new force-directed algorithm whose output is suitable as the initial layout. For (ii), we considered that an appropriate alignment of nodes having the same biological attribute is one of the most important factors of the comprehension, and we defined a new score function that gives an advantage to such configurations. For solving problem (iii), we developed a search strategy that considers swapping nodes as well as moving a node, while keeping the order of the time complexity. Though a naïve implementation increases by one order, the time complexity, we solved this difficulty by devising a method that caches differences between scores of a layout and its possible updates. Conclusion Layouts of the new grid layout algorithm are compared with that of the previous algorithm and human layout in an endothelial cell model, three times as large as the apoptosis model. The total cost of the result from the new grid layout algorithm is similar to that of the human layout. In addition, its convergence time is drastically reduced (40% reduction). PMID:17338825

  11. Alternating phase-shifted mask for logic gate levels, design, and mask manufacturing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liebmann, Lars W.; Graur, Ioana C.; Leipold, William C.; Oberschmidt, James M.; O'Grady, David S.; Regaill, Denis

    1999-07-01

    While the benefits of alternating phase shifted masks in improving lithographic process windows at increased resolution are well known throughout the lithography community, broad implementation of this potentially powerful technique has been slow due to the inherent complexity of the layout design and mask manufacturing process. This paper will review a project undertaken at IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center and Mask Manufacturing and Development facility to understand the technical and logistical issues associated with the application of alternating phase shifted mask technology to the gate level of a full microprocessor chip. The work presented here depicts an important milestone toward integration of alternating phase shifted masks into the manufacturing process by demonstrating an automated design solution and yielding a functional alternating phase shifted mask. The design conversion of the microprocessor gate level to a conjugate twin shifter alternating phase shift layout was accomplished with IBM's internal design system that automatically scaled the design, added required phase regions, and resolved phase conflicts. The subsequent fabrication of a nearly defect free phase shifted mask, as verified by SEM based die to die inspection, highlights the maturity of the alternating phase shifted mask manufacturing process in IBM's internal mask facility. Well defined and recognized challenges in mask inspection and repair remain and the layout of alternating phase shifted masks present a design and data preparation overhead, but the data presented here demonstrate the feasibility of designing and building manufacturing quality alternating phase shifted masks for the gate level of a microprocessor.

  12. Compilation of Blast Parameters of Selected High Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnics in Surface Burst Configurations.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-01-01

    APPENDIX B- DATA REDUCTION PROGRAM .............................. 403 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE NO. PAGE 1. Instrumented Test Pad Layout...weight to produce the same yield relative to hemis- pherical TNT. The test specimens were placed at ground zero in a particular in- plant geometry...The containers were either scaled from the original size or tested in full- scale configurations. The test charges were placed at ground zero and

  13. Heat Recovery Incinerator-Equipment Selection and Plant Layout for Safety, Human Engineering and Maintainability.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-10-01

    16 4.2 Solid Waste Receiving and Storage Area ........................ 17 4.3 Equipment Location and Spacing...10OROS (Ccr4n-ifl. **,0d. d - -eet -.d tdonfffy by bltk -P-+) HRI, RAM, Human factors, HRI design, IRI safety, solid waste , energy recovery 10 AOSTNACT...health and safety hazards to individuals hand-sorting the conglomerate of solid waste , the potential of dangerous substances and inflammable or ex

  14. Layout finishing of a 28nm, 3 billions transistors, multi-core processor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morey-Chaisemartin, Philippe; Beisser, Eric

    2013-06-01

    Designing a fully new 256 cores processor is a great challenge for a fabless startup. In addition to all architecture, functionalities and timing issues, the layout by itself is a bottleneck due to all the process constraints of a 28nm technology. As developers of advanced layout finishing solutions, we were involved in the design flow of this huge chip with its 3 billions transistors. We had to face the issue of dummy patterns instantiation with respect to design constraints. All the design rules to generate the "dummies" are clearly defined in the Design Rule Manual, and some automatic procedures are provided by the foundry itself, but these routines don't take care of the designer requests. Such a chip, embeds both digital parts and analog modules for clock and power management. These two different type of designs have each their own set of constraints. In both cases, the insertion of dummies should not introduce unexpected variations leading to malfunctions. For example, on digital parts were signal race conditions are critical on long wires or bus, introduction of uncontrolled parasitic along these nets are highly critical. For analog devices such as high frequency and high sensitivity comparators, the exact symmetry of the two parts of a current mirror generator should be guaranteed. Thanks to the easily customizable features of our dummies insertion tool, we were able to configure it in order to meet all the designer requirements as well as the process constraints. This paper will present all these advanced key features as well as the layout tricks used to fulfill all requirements.

  15. Select Generic Dry-Storage Pilot Plant Design for Safeguards and Security by Design (SSBD) per Used Fuel Campaign

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Demuth, Scott Francis; Sprinkle, James K.

    As preparation to the year-end deliverable (Provide SSBD Best Practices for Generic Dry-Storage Pilot Scale Plant) for the Work Package (FT-15LA040501–Safeguards and Security by Design for Extended Dry Storage), the initial step was to select a generic dry-storage pilot plant design for SSBD. To be consistent with other DOE-NE Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCR&D) activities, the Used Fuel Campaign was engaged for the selection of a design for this deliverable. For the work Package FT-15LA040501–“Safeguards and Security by Design for Extended Dry Storage”, SSBD will be initiated for the Generic Dry-Storage Pilot Scale Plant described by the layout ofmore » Reference 2. SSBD will consider aspects of the design that are impacted by domestic material control and accounting (MC&A), domestic security, and international safeguards.« less

  16. Rail vs truck transport of biomass.

    PubMed

    Mahmudi, Hamed; Flynn, Peter C

    2006-01-01

    This study analyzes the economics of transshipping biomass from truck to train in a North American setting. Transshipment will only be economic when the cost per unit distance of a second transportation mode is less than the original mode. There is an optimum number of transshipment terminals which is related to biomass yield. Transshipment incurs incremental fixed costs, and hence there is a minimum shipping distance for rail transport above which lower costs/km offset the incremental fixed costs. For transport by dedicated unit train with an optimum number of terminals, the minimum economic rail shipping distance for straw is 170 km, and for boreal forest harvest residue wood chips is 145 km. The minimum economic shipping distance for straw exceeds the biomass draw distance for economically sized centrally located power plants, and hence the prospects for rail transport are limited to cases in which traffic congestion from truck transport would otherwise preclude project development. Ideally, wood chip transport costs would be lowered by rail transshipment for an economically sized centrally located power plant, but in a specific case in Alberta, Canada, the layout of existing rail lines precludes a centrally located plant supplied by rail, whereas a more versatile road system enables it by truck. Hence for wood chips as well as straw the economic incentive for rail transport to centrally located processing plants is limited. Rail transshipment may still be preferred in cases in which road congestion precludes truck delivery, for example as result of community objections.

  17. A new code for the design and analysis of the heliostat field layout for power tower system

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wei, Xiudong; Lu, Zhenwu; Yu, Weixing

    2010-04-15

    A new code for the design and analysis of the heliostat field layout for power tower system is developed. In the new code, a new method for the heliostat field layout is proposed based on the edge ray principle of nonimaging optics. The heliostat field boundary is constrained by the tower height, the receiver tilt angle and size and the heliostat efficiency factor which is the product of the annual cosine efficiency and the annual atmospheric transmission efficiency. With the new method, the heliostat can be placed with a higher efficiency and a faster response speed of the design andmore » optimization can be obtained. A new module for the analysis of the aspherical heliostat is created in the new code. A new toroidal heliostat field is designed and analyzed by using the new code. Compared with the spherical heliostat, the solar image radius of the field is reduced by about 30% by using the toroidal heliostat if the mirror shape and the tracking are ideal. In addition, to maximize the utilization of land, suitable crops can be considered to be planted under heliostats. To evaluate the feasibility of the crop growth, a method for calculating the annual distribution of sunshine duration on the land surface is developed as well. (author)« less

  18. Processing sequence annotation data using the Lua programming language.

    PubMed

    Ueno, Yutaka; Arita, Masanori; Kumagai, Toshitaka; Asai, Kiyoshi

    2003-01-01

    The data processing language in a graphical software tool that manages sequence annotation data from genome databases should provide flexible functions for the tasks in molecular biology research. Among currently available languages we adopted the Lua programming language. It fulfills our requirements to perform computational tasks for sequence map layouts, i.e. the handling of data containers, symbolic reference to data, and a simple programming syntax. Upon importing a foreign file, the original data are first decomposed in the Lua language while maintaining the original data schema. The converted data are parsed by the Lua interpreter and the contents are stored in our data warehouse. Then, portions of annotations are selected and arranged into our catalog format to be depicted on the sequence map. Our sequence visualization program was successfully implemented, embedding the Lua language for processing of annotation data and layout script. The program is available at http://staff.aist.go.jp/yutaka.ueno/guppy/.

  19. Method and apparatus for displaying information

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Huang, Sui (Inventor); Eichler, Gabriel (Inventor); Ingber, Donald E. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A method for displaying large amounts of information. The method includes the steps of forming a spatial layout of tiles each corresponding to a representative reference element; mapping observed elements onto the spatial layout of tiles of representative reference elements; assigning a respective value to each respective tile of the spatial layout of the representative elements; and displaying an image of the spatial layout of tiles of representative elements. Each tile includes atomic attributes of representative elements. The invention also relates to an apparatus for displaying large amounts of information. The apparatus includes a tiler forming a spatial layout of tiles, each corresponding to a representative reference element; a comparator mapping observed elements onto said spatial layout of tiles of representative reference elements; an assigner assigning a respective value to each respective tile of said spatial layout of representative reference elements; and a display displaying an image of the spatial layout of tiles of representative reference elements.

  20. An integrated approach for facilities planning by ELECTRE method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elbishari, E. M. Y.; Hazza, M. H. F. Al; Adesta, E. Y. T.; Rahman, Nur Salihah Binti Abdul

    2018-01-01

    Facility planning is concerned with the design, layout, and accommodation of people, machines and activities of a system. Most of the researchers try to investigate the production area layout and the related facilities. However, few of them try to investigate the relationship between the production space and its relationship with service departments. The aim of this research to is to integrate different approaches in order to evaluate, analyse and select the best facilities planning method that able to explain the relationship between the production area and other supporting departments and its effect on human efforts. To achieve the objective of this research two different approaches have been integrated: Apple’s layout procedure as one of the effective tools in planning factories, ELECTRE method as one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making methods (MCDM) to minimize the risk of getting poor facilities planning. Dalia industries have been selected as a case study to implement our integration the factory have been divided two main different area: the whole facility (layout A), and the manufacturing area (layout B). This article will be concerned with the manufacturing area layout (Layout B). After analysing the data gathered, the manufacturing area was divided into 10 activities. There are five factors that the alternative were compared upon which are: Inter department satisfactory level, total distance travelled for workers, total distance travelled for the product, total time travelled for the workers, and total time travelled for the product. Three different layout alternatives have been developed in addition to the original layouts. Apple’s layout procedure was used to study and evaluate the different alternatives layouts, the study and evaluation of the layouts was done by calculating scores for each of the factors. After obtaining the scores from evaluating the layouts, ELECTRE method was used to compare the proposed alternatives with each other and with the existing layout; ELECTRE compares the alternatives based on their concordance and discordance indices. The alternatives were ranked from best to worst where regarding to the layouts concerned with the manufacturing area B.4 is the best alternative.

  1. Optimization lighting layout based on gene density improved genetic algorithm for indoor visible light communications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Huanlin; Wang, Xin; Chen, Yong; Kong, Deqian; Xia, Peijie

    2017-05-01

    For indoor visible light communication system, the layout of LED lamps affects the uniformity of the received power on communication plane. In order to find an optimized lighting layout that meets both the lighting needs and communication needs, a gene density genetic algorithm (GDGA) is proposed. In GDGA, a gene indicates a pair of abscissa and ordinate of a LED, and an individual represents a LED layout in the room. The segmented crossover operation and gene mutation strategy based on gene density are put forward to make the received power on communication plane more uniform and increase the population's diversity. A weighted differences function between individuals is designed as the fitness function of GDGA for reserving the population having the useful LED layout genetic information and ensuring the global convergence of GDGA. Comparing square layout and circular layout, with the optimized layout achieved by the GDGA, the power uniformity increases by 83.3%, 83.1% and 55.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the convergence of GDGA is verified compared with evolutionary algorithm (EA). Experimental results show that GDGA can quickly find an approximation of optimal layout.

  2. Statistical Study to Evaluate the Effect of Processing Variables on Shrinkage Incidence During Solidification of Nodular Cast Irons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gutiérrez, J. M.; Natxiondo, A.; Nieves, J.; Zabala, A.; Sertucha, J.

    2017-04-01

    The study of shrinkage incidence variations in nodular cast irons is an important aspect of manufacturing processes. These variations change the feeding requirements on castings and the optimization of risers' size is consequently affected when avoiding the formation of shrinkage defects. The effect of a number of processing variables on the shrinkage size has been studied using a layout specifically designed for this purpose. The β parameter has been defined as the relative volume reduction from the pouring temperature up to the room temperature. It is observed that shrinkage size and β decrease as effective carbon content increases and when inoculant is added in the pouring stream. A similar effect is found when the parameters selected from cooling curves show high graphite nucleation during solidification of cast irons for a given inoculation level. Pearson statistical analysis has been used to analyze the correlations among all involved variables and a group of Bayesian networks have been subsequently built so as to get the best accurate model for predicting β as a function of the input processing variables. The developed models can be used in foundry plants to study the shrinkage incidence variations in the manufacturing process and to optimize the related costs.

  3. Generalized shading analysis for paraboloidal collector fields

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Osborn, D. B.

    1980-01-01

    This paper presents the development and results of a generalized shading analysis for a field of point-focus parabolic dish concentrators. Shading of one concentrator by another with attendant loss of energy is a function of the position of the sun and the relative locations of the concentrators within the field. A method is presented for determining the annualized energy loss which includes a trade-off of system life-cycle energy as a function of concentrator spacing and field geometric layout. System energy output is computed on an annualized basis, employing 15 minute-increment environmental data tapes for the year 1976 at Barstow, California. For a land cost of $5000 per acre, lowest system energy cost occurs at about a 25 percent packing fraction (concentrator area/land area) for a typical 1-MWe dish-Stirling solar thermal power plant. Basic equations are given for computing the shading and concomitant energy loss as a function of concentrator center-to-center spacing, field layout site location.

  4. NOVEL MEMBRANE PROCESS TO UTILIZE DILUTE METHANE STREAMS - PHASE II

    EPA Science Inventory

    Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Various technologies and process improvements have been developed to curb methane emissions in...

  5. Coupled optical and thermal detailed simulations for the accurate evaluation and performance improvement of molten salts solar towers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    García-Barberena, Javier; Mutuberria, Amaia; Palacin, Luis G.; Sanz, Javier L.; Pereira, Daniel; Bernardos, Ana; Sanchez, Marcelino; Rocha, Alberto R.

    2017-06-01

    The National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain, CENER, and the Technology & Innovation area of ACS Cobra, as a result of their long term expertise in the CSP field, have developed a high-quality and high level of detail optical and thermal simulation software for the accurate evaluation of Molten Salts Solar Towers. The main purpose of this software is to make a step forward in the state-of-the-art of the Solar Towers simulation programs. Generally, these programs deal with the most critical systems of such plants, i.e. the solar field and the receiver, on an independent basis. Therefore, these programs typically neglect relevant aspects in the operation of the plant as heliostat aiming strategies, solar flux shapes onto the receiver, material physical and operational limitations, transient processes as preheating and secure cloud passing operating modes, and more. The modelling approach implemented in the developed program consists on effectively coupling detailed optical simulations of the heliostat field with also detailed and full-transient thermal simulations of the molten salts tube-based external receiver. The optical model is based on an accurate Monte Carlo ray-tracing method which solves the complete solar field by simulating each of the heliostats at once according to their specific layout in the field. In the thermal side, the tube-based cylindrical external receiver of a Molten Salts Solar Tower is modelled assuming one representative tube per panel, and implementing the specific connection layout of the panels as well as the internal receiver pipes. Each tube is longitudinally discretized and the transient energy and mass balances in the temperature dependent molten salts and steel tube models are solved. For this, a one dimensional radial heat transfer model based is used. The thermal model is completed with a detailed control and operation strategy module, able to represent the appropriate operation of the plant. An integration framework has been developed, helping ACS Cobra to adequately handle the optical and thermal coupled simulations. According to current results it can be concluded that the developed model has resulted in a powerful tool to improve the design and operation of future ACS Cobra's Molten Salts Solar Towers, since historical data based on its projects have been used for validation of the final tool.

  6. Feedforward-feedback control of dissolved oxygen concentration in a predenitrification system.

    PubMed

    Yong, Ma; Yongzhen, Peng; Shuying, Wang

    2005-07-01

    As the largest single energy-consuming component in most biological wastewater treatment systems, aeration control is of great interest from the point of view of saving energy and improving wastewater treatment plant efficiency. In this paper, three different strategies, including conventional constant dissolved oxygen (DO) set-point control, cascade DO set-point control, and feedforward-feedback DO set-point control were evaluated using the denitrification layout of the IWA simulation benchmark. Simulation studies showed that the feedforward-feedback DO set-point control strategy was better than the other control strategies at meeting the effluent standards and reducing operational costs. The control strategy works primarily by feedforward control based on an ammonium sensor located at the head of the aerobic process. It has an important advantage over effluent measurements in that there is no (or only a very short) time delay for information; feedforward control was combined with slow feedback control to compensate for model approximations. The feedforward-feedback DO control was implemented in a lab-scale wastewater treatment plant for a period of 60 days. Compared to operation with constant DO concentration, the required airflow could be reduced by up to 8-15% by employing the feedforward-feedback DO-control strategy, and the effluent ammonia concentration could be reduced by up to 15-25%. This control strategy can be expected to be accepted by the operating personnel in wastewater treatment plants.

  7. Compensation for Lithography Induced Process Variations during Physical Design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chin, Eric Yiow-Bing

    This dissertation addresses the challenge of designing robust integrated circuits in the deep sub micron regime in the presence of lithography process variability. By extending and combining existing process and circuit analysis techniques, flexible software frameworks are developed to provide detailed studies of circuit performance in the presence of lithography variations such as focus and exposure. Applications of these software frameworks to select circuits demonstrate the electrical impact of these variations and provide insight into variability aware compact models that capture the process dependent circuit behavior. These variability aware timing models abstract lithography variability from the process level to the circuit level and are used to estimate path level circuit performance with high accuracy with very little overhead in runtime. The Interconnect Variability Characterization (IVC) framework maps lithography induced geometrical variations at the interconnect level to electrical delay variations. This framework is applied to one dimensional repeater circuits patterned with both 90nm single patterning and 32nm double patterning technologies, under the presence of focus, exposure, and overlay variability. Studies indicate that single and double patterning layouts generally exhibit small variations in delay (between 1--3%) due to self compensating RC effects associated with dense layouts and overlay errors for layouts without self-compensating RC effects. The delay response of each double patterned interconnect structure is fit with a second order polynomial model with focus, exposure, and misalignment parameters with 12 coefficients and residuals of less than 0.1ps. The IVC framework is also applied to a repeater circuit with cascaded interconnect structures to emulate more complex layout scenarios, and it is observed that the variations on each segment average out to reduce the overall delay variation. The Standard Cell Variability Characterization (SCVC) framework advances existing layout-level lithography aware circuit analysis by extending it to cell-level applications utilizing a physically accurate approach that integrates process simulation, compact transistor models, and circuit simulation to characterize electrical cell behavior. This framework is applied to combinational and sequential cells in the Nangate 45nm Open Cell Library, and the timing response of these cells to lithography focus and exposure variations demonstrate Bossung like behavior. This behavior permits the process parameter dependent response to be captured in a nine term variability aware compact model based on Bossung fitting equations. For a two input NAND gate, the variability aware compact model captures the simulated response to an accuracy of 0.3%. The SCVC framework is also applied to investigate advanced process effects including misalignment and layout proximity. The abstraction of process variability from the layout level to the cell level opens up an entire new realm of circuit analysis and optimization and provides a foundation for path level variability analysis without the computationally expensive costs associated with joint process and circuit simulation. The SCVC framework is used with slight modification to illustrate the speedup and accuracy tradeoffs of using compact models. With variability aware compact models, the process dependent performance of a three stage logic circuit can be estimated to an accuracy of 0.7% with a speedup of over 50,000. Path level variability analysis also provides an accurate estimate (within 1%) of ring oscillator period in well under a second. Another significant advantage of variability aware compact models is that they can be easily incorporated into existing design methodologies for design optimization. This is demonstrated by applying cell swapping on a logic circuit to reduce the overall delay variability along a circuit path. By including these variability aware compact models in cell characterization libraries, design metrics such as circuit timing, power, area, and delay variability can be quickly assessed to optimize for the correct balance of all design metrics, including delay variability. Deterministic lithography variations can be easily captured using the variability aware compact models described in this dissertation. However, another prominent source of variability is random dopant fluctuations, which affect transistor threshold voltage and in turn circuit performance. The SCVC framework is utilized to investigate the interactions between deterministic lithography variations and random dopant fluctuations. Monte Carlo studies show that the output delay distribution in the presence of random dopant fluctuations is dependent on lithography focus and exposure conditions, with a 3.6 ps change in standard deviation across the focus exposure process window. This indicates that the electrical impact of random variations is dependent on systematic lithography variations, and this dependency should be included for precise analysis.

  8. CFD Investigation of the effects of bubble aerator layouts on hydrodynamics of an activated sludge channel reactor.

    PubMed

    Hreiz, Rainier; Potier, Olivier; Wicks, Jim; Commenge, Jean-Marc

    2018-03-08

    In this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are employed to characterize the effects of bubble aerator layouts (i.e. spatial arrangement) on the hydrodynamics in activated sludge (AS) reactors. The first configuration considered is a channel reactor with aerators placed alongside one lateral wall, for which velocity measurements are available in literature. CFD results were in good agreement with experimental data, which proves that the model is sufficiently accurate and predictive. Accordingly, simulations and numerical residence time distribution tests were conducted for different aerator layouts to determine their effects on the reactor hydrodynamics. The results revealed that the flow characteristics are extremely sensitive to the aerators arrangement given the high gas flow rates used in AS processes. Among the layouts investigated, the one where diffusers are placed all over the reactor floor has led to the least dispersive flow, i.e. which characteristics best tend toward that of an ideal plug flow reactor. Indeed, this flow field presented the lowest average turbulent diffusion and the most uniform axial velocity and turbulence fields. Such a flow behaviour is expected to be highly beneficial for biological treatment since it reduces pollutant dilution by axial diffusion and limits raw wastewater channelling to the outlet.

  9. Processing spatial layout by perception and sensorimotor interaction.

    PubMed

    Bridgeman, Bruce; Hoover, Merrit

    2008-06-01

    Everyone has the feeling that perception is usually accurate - we apprehend the layout of the world without significant error, and therefore we can interact with it effectively. Several lines of experimentation, however, show that perceived layout is seldom accurate enough to account for the success of visually guided behaviour. A visual world that has more texture on one side, for example, induces a shift of the body's straight ahead to that side and a mislocalization of a small target to the opposite side. Motor interaction with the target remains accurate, however, as measured by a jab with the finger. Slopes of hills are overestimated, even while matching the slopes of the same hills with the forearm is more accurate. The discrepancy shrinks as the estimated range is reduced, until the two estimates are hardly discrepant for a segment of a slope within arm's reach. From an evolutionary standpoint, the function of perception is not to provide an accurate physical layout of the world, but to inform the planning of future behaviour. Illusions - inaccuracies in perception - are perceived as such only when they can be verified by objective means, such as measuring the slope of a hill, the range of a landmark, or the location of a target. Normally such illusions are not checked and are accepted as reality without contradiction.

  10. Replenishable food supply on Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    The design team's present objective is to design a facility which will provide an environment to grow plants on the surface of Mars for a continuous supply of food for a ten-man crew. The main focus of the project is the design of a greenhouse. Concentration of the current design effort is on the outer structure, internal layout, and construction methods. The project was conducted by undergraduate students at Prairie View A&M University during Fall 1989 and Spring 1990.

  11. 129. Photographic copy of drawing (24 June 1963, original drawing ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    129. Photographic copy of drawing (24 June 1963, original drawing in Archives, Public Affairs Departmentm, Sears Merchandise Group, Hoffman Estates, Illinois). Swain and Meyers, Inc. 1/4 inch to one foot. Partial floor plan illustrating the layout of the large package handling area. Tables and equipment not present at the time of the survey are shown. SECOND FLOOR, SECTON B - Sears Roebuck & Company Mail Order Plant, Merchandise Building, 924 South Homan Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, IL

  12. The Fast-spectrum Transmutation Experimental Facility FASTEF: Main design achievements (part 2: Reactor building design and plant layout) within the FP7-CDT collaborative project of the European Commission

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    De Bruyn, D.; Engelen, J.; Ortega, A.

    MYRRHA (Multi-purpose hybrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) is the flexible experimental accelerator-driven system (ADS) in development at SCK-CEN in replacement of its material testing reactor BR2. SCK-CEN in association with 17 European partners from industry, research centres and academia, responded to the FP7 (Seventh Framework Programme) call from the European Commission to establish a Central Design Team (CDT) for the design of a Fast Spectrum Transmutation Experimental Facility (FASTEF) able to demonstrate efficient transmutation and associated technology through a system working in subcritical and/or critical mode. The project has started on April 01, 2009 for a period of threemore » years. In this paper, we present the latest concept of the reactor building and the plant layout. The FASTEF facility has evolved quite a lot since the intermediate reporting done at the ICAPP'10 and ICAPP'11 conferences 1,2. Many iterations have been performed to take into account the safety requirements. The present configuration enables an easy operation and maintenance of the facility, including the possibility to change large components of the reactor. In a companion paper 3, we present the latest configuration of the reactor core and primary system. (authors)« less

  13. Coupling solar photo-Fenton and biotreatment at industrial scale: main results of a demonstration plant.

    PubMed

    Malato, Sixto; Blanco, Julián; Maldonado, Manuel I; Oller, Isabel; Gernjak, Wolfgang; Pérez-Estrada, Leonidas

    2007-07-31

    This paper reports on the combined solar photo-Fenton/biological treatment of an industrial effluent (initial total organic carbon, TOC, around 500mgL(-1)) containing a non-biodegradable organic substance (alpha-methylphenylglycine at 500mgL(-1)), focusing on pilot plant tests performed for design of an industrial plant, the design itself and the plant layout. Pilot plant tests have demonstrated that biodegradability enhancement is closely related to disappearance of the parent compound, for which a certain illumination time and hydrogen peroxide consumption are required, working at pH 2.8 and adding Fe(2+)=20mgL(-1). Based on pilot plant results, an industrial plant with 100m(2) of CPC collectors for a 250L/h treatment capacity has been designed. The solar system discharges the wastewater (WW) pre-treated by photo-Fenton into a biotreatment based on an immobilized biomass reactor. First, results of the industrial plant are also presented, demonstrating that it is able to treat up to 500Lh(-1) at an average solar ultraviolet radiation of 22.9Wm(-2), under the same conditions (pH, hydrogen peroxide consumption) tested in the pilot plant.

  14. Improvement of the user interface of multimedia applications by automatic display layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lueders, Peter; Ernst, Rolf

    1995-03-01

    Multimedia research has mainly focussed on real-time data capturing and display combined with compression, storage and transmission of these data. However, there is another problem considering real-time selecting and arranging a possibly large amount of data from multiple media on the computer screen together with textual and graphical data of regular software. This problem has already been known from complex software systems, such as CASE and hypertest, and will even be aggravated in multimedia systems. The aim of our work is to alleviate the user from the burden of continuously selecting, placing and sizing windows and their contents, but without introducing solutions limited to only few applications. We present an experimental system which controls the computer screen contents and layouts, directed by a user and/or tool provided information filter and prioritization. To be application independent, the screen layout is based on general layout optimization algorithms adapted from the VLSI layout which are controlled by application specific objective functions. In this paper, we discuss the problems of a comprehensible screen layout including the stability of optical information in time, the information filtering, the layout algorithms and the adaptation of the objective function to include a specific application. We give some examples of different standard applications with layout problems ranging from hierarchical graph layout to window layout. The results show that the automatic tool independent display layout will be possible in a real time interactive environment.

  15. Assessing and Testing Hydrokinetic Turbine Performance and Effects on Open Channel Hydrodynamics: An Irrigation Canal Case Study.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gunawan, Budi; Neary, Vincent Sinclair; Mortensen, Josh

    Hydrokinetic energy from flowing water in open channels has the potential to support local electricity needs with lower regulatory or capital investment than impounding water with more conventional means. MOU agencies involved in federal hydropower development have identified the need to better understand the opportunities for hydrokinetic (HK) energy development within existing canal systems that may already have integrated hydropower plants. This document provides an overview of the main considerations, tools, and assessment methods, for implementing field tests in an open-channel water system to characterize current energy converter (CEC) device performance and hydrodynamic effects. It describes open channel processes relevantmore » to their HK site and perform pertinent analyses to guide siting and CEC layout design, with the goal of streamlining the evaluation process and reducing the risk of interfering with existing uses of the site. This document outlines key site parameters of interest and effective tools and methods for measurement and analysis with examples drawn from the Roza Main Canal, in Yakima, WA to illustrate a site application.« less

  16. Random Wiring, Ganglion Cell Mosaics, and the Functional Architecture of the Visual Cortex

    PubMed Central

    Coppola, David; White, Leonard E.; Wolf, Fred

    2015-01-01

    The architecture of iso-orientation domains in the primary visual cortex (V1) of placental carnivores and primates apparently follows species invariant quantitative laws. Dynamical optimization models assuming that neurons coordinate their stimulus preferences throughout cortical circuits linking millions of cells specifically predict these invariants. This might indicate that V1’s intrinsic connectome and its functional architecture adhere to a single optimization principle with high precision and robustness. To validate this hypothesis, it is critical to closely examine the quantitative predictions of alternative candidate theories. Random feedforward wiring within the retino-cortical pathway represents a conceptually appealing alternative to dynamical circuit optimization because random dimension-expanding projections are believed to generically exhibit computationally favorable properties for stimulus representations. Here, we ask whether the quantitative invariants of V1 architecture can be explained as a generic emergent property of random wiring. We generalize and examine the stochastic wiring model proposed by Ringach and coworkers, in which iso-orientation domains in the visual cortex arise through random feedforward connections between semi-regular mosaics of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and visual cortical neurons. We derive closed-form expressions for cortical receptive fields and domain layouts predicted by the model for perfectly hexagonal RGC mosaics. Including spatial disorder in the RGC positions considerably changes the domain layout properties as a function of disorder parameters such as position scatter and its correlations across the retina. However, independent of parameter choice, we find that the model predictions substantially deviate from the layout laws of iso-orientation domains observed experimentally. Considering random wiring with the currently most realistic model of RGC mosaic layouts, a pairwise interacting point process, the predicted layouts remain distinct from experimental observations and resemble Gaussian random fields. We conclude that V1 layout invariants are specific quantitative signatures of visual cortical optimization, which cannot be explained by generic random feedforward-wiring models. PMID:26575467

  17. Research Plan of the Department of Systems Engineering and the Operations Research Center for the Academic Year 2006

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    Facilities Layout o Scope problem with client in terms of options for M&S facilities layouts with regards to infrastructure, personnel... Facilities Layout o Develop M&S Installation Facilities Layout Design(s) Requirements and Milestones: • Scope problem with client (systems on which...objectives of this study are to (a) identify the desired technology and facilities layouts which would enhance inter-installation simulation

  18. Assistive peripheral phosphene arrays deliver advantages in obstacle avoidance in simulated end-stage retinitis pigmentosa: a virtual-reality study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zapf, Marc Patrick H.; Boon, Mei-Ying; Lovell, Nigel H.; Suaning, Gregg J.

    2016-04-01

    Objective. The prospective efficacy of peripheral retinal prostheses for guiding orientation and mobility in the absence of residual vision, as compared to an implant for the central visual field (VF), was evaluated using simulated prosthetic vision (SPV). Approach. Sighted volunteers wearing a head-mounted display performed an obstacle circumvention task under SPV. Mobility and orientation performance with three layouts of prosthetic vision were compared: peripheral prosthetic vision of higher visual acuity (VA) but limited VF, of wider VF but limited VA, as well as centrally restricted prosthetic vision. Learning curves using these layouts were compared fitting an exponential model to the mobility and orientation measures. Main results. Using peripheral layouts, performance was superior to the central layout. Walking speed with both higher-acuity and wider-angle layouts was 5.6% higher, and mobility errors reduced by 46.4% and 48.6%, respectively, as compared to the central layout. The wider-angle layout yielded the least number of collisions, 63% less than the higher-acuity and 73% less than the central layout. Using peripheral layouts, the number of visual-scanning related head movements was 54.3% (higher-acuity) and 60.7% (wider-angle) lower, as compared to the central layout, and the ratio of time standing versus time walking was 51.9% and 61.5% lower, respectively. Learning curves did not differ between layouts, except for time standing versus time walking, where both peripheral layouts achieved significantly lower asymptotic values compared to the central layout. Significance. Beyond complementing residual vision for an improved performance, peripheral prosthetic vision can effectively guide mobility in the later stages of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) without residual vision. Further, the temporal dynamics of learning peripheral and central prosthetic vision are similar. Therefore, development of a peripheral retinal prosthesis and early implantation to alleviate VF constriction in RP should be considered to extend the target group and the time of benefit for potential retinal prosthesis implantees.

  19. Improvement on post-OPC verification efficiency for contact/via coverage check by final CD biasing of metal lines and considering their location on the metal layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Youngmi; Choi, Jae-Young; Choi, Kwangseon; Choi, Jung-Hoe; Lee, Sooryong

    2011-04-01

    As IC design complexity keeps increasing, it is more and more difficult to ensure the pattern transfer after optical proximity correction (OPC) due to the continuous reduction of layout dimensions and lithographic limitation by k1 factor. To guarantee the imaging fidelity, resolution enhancement technologies (RET) such as off-axis illumination (OAI), different types of phase shift masks and OPC technique have been developed. In case of model-based OPC, to cross-confirm the contour image versus target layout, post-OPC verification solutions continuously keep developed - contour generation method and matching it to target structure, method for filtering and sorting the patterns to eliminate false errors and duplicate patterns. The way to detect only real errors by excluding false errors is the most important thing for accurate and fast verification process - to save not only reviewing time and engineer resource, but also whole wafer process time and so on. In general case of post-OPC verification for metal-contact/via coverage (CC) check, verification solution outputs huge of errors due to borderless design, so it is too difficult to review and correct all points of them. It should make OPC engineer to miss the real defect, and may it cause the delay time to market, at least. In this paper, we studied method for increasing efficiency of post-OPC verification, especially for the case of CC check. For metal layers, final CD after etch process shows various CD bias, which depends on distance with neighbor patterns, so it is more reasonable that consider final metal shape to confirm the contact/via coverage. Through the optimization of biasing rule for different pitches and shapes of metal lines, we could get more accurate and efficient verification results and decrease the time for review to find real errors. In this paper, the suggestion in order to increase efficiency of OPC verification process by using simple biasing rule to metal layout instead of etch model application is presented.

  20. Comparing multi-criteria decision analysis and integrated assessment to support long-term water supply planning

    PubMed Central

    Maurer, Max; Lienert, Judit

    2017-01-01

    We compare the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)–or more precisely, models used in multi-attribute value theory (MAVT)–to integrated assessment (IA) models for supporting long-term water supply planning in a small town case study in Switzerland. They are used to evaluate thirteen system scale water supply alternatives in four future scenarios regarding forty-four objectives, covering technical, social, environmental, and economic aspects. The alternatives encompass both conventional and unconventional solutions and differ regarding technical, spatial and organizational characteristics. This paper focuses on the impact assessment and final evaluation step of the structured MCDA decision support process. We analyze the performance of the alternatives for ten stakeholders. We demonstrate the implications of model assumptions by comparing two IA and three MAVT evaluation model layouts of different complexity. For this comparison, we focus on the validity (ranking stability), desirability (value), and distinguishability (value range) of the alternatives given the five model layouts. These layouts exclude or include stakeholder preferences and uncertainties. Even though all five led us to identify the same best alternatives, they did not produce identical rankings. We found that the MAVT-type models provide higher distinguishability and a more robust basis for discussion than the IA-type models. The needed complexity of the model, however, should be determined based on the intended use of the model within the decision support process. The best-performing alternatives had consistently strong performance for all stakeholders and future scenarios, whereas the current water supply system was outperformed in all evaluation layouts. The best-performing alternatives comprise proactive pipe rehabilitation, adapted firefighting provisions, and decentralized water storage and/or treatment. We present recommendations for possible ways of improving water supply planning in the case study and beyond. PMID:28481881

  1. VANLO - Interactive visual exploration of aligned biological networks

    PubMed Central

    Brasch, Steffen; Linsen, Lars; Fuellen, Georg

    2009-01-01

    Background Protein-protein interaction (PPI) is fundamental to many biological processes. In the course of evolution, biological networks such as protein-protein interaction networks have developed. Biological networks of different species can be aligned by finding instances (e.g. proteins) with the same common ancestor in the evolutionary process, so-called orthologs. For a better understanding of the evolution of biological networks, such aligned networks have to be explored. Visualization can play a key role in making the various relationships transparent. Results We present a novel visualization system for aligned biological networks in 3D space that naturally embeds existing 2D layouts. In addition to displaying the intra-network connectivities, we also provide insight into how the individual networks relate to each other by placing aligned entities on top of each other in separate layers. We optimize the layout of the entire alignment graph in a global fashion that takes into account inter- as well as intra-network relationships. The layout algorithm includes a step of merging aligned networks into one graph, laying out the graph with respect to application-specific requirements, splitting the merged graph again into individual networks, and displaying the network alignment in layers. In addition to representing the data in a static way, we also provide different interaction techniques to explore the data with respect to application-specific tasks. Conclusion Our system provides an intuitive global understanding of aligned PPI networks and it allows the investigation of key biological questions. We evaluate our system by applying it to real-world examples documenting how our system can be used to investigate the data with respect to these key questions. Our tool VANLO (Visualization of Aligned Networks with Layout Optimization) can be accessed at . PMID:19821976

  2. PGSB PlantsDB: updates to the database framework for comparative plant genome research.

    PubMed

    Spannagl, Manuel; Nussbaumer, Thomas; Bader, Kai C; Martis, Mihaela M; Seidel, Michael; Kugler, Karl G; Gundlach, Heidrun; Mayer, Klaus F X

    2016-01-04

    PGSB (Plant Genome and Systems Biology: formerly MIPS) PlantsDB (http://pgsb.helmholtz-muenchen.de/plant/index.jsp) is a database framework for the comparative analysis and visualization of plant genome data. The resource has been updated with new data sets and types as well as specialized tools and interfaces to address user demands for intuitive access to complex plant genome data. In its latest incarnation, we have re-worked both the layout and navigation structure and implemented new keyword search options and a new BLAST sequence search functionality. Actively involved in corresponding sequencing consortia, PlantsDB has dedicated special efforts to the integration and visualization of complex triticeae genome data, especially for barley, wheat and rye. We enhanced CrowsNest, a tool to visualize syntenic relationships between genomes, with data from the wheat sub-genome progenitor Aegilops tauschii and added functionality to the PGSB RNASeqExpressionBrowser. GenomeZipper results were integrated for the genomes of barley, rye, wheat and perennial ryegrass and interactive access is granted through PlantsDB interfaces. Data exchange and cross-linking between PlantsDB and other plant genome databases is stimulated by the transPLANT project (http://transplantdb.eu/). © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  3. 14 CFR 77.2 - Definition of terms.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... approach system is planned and is so indicated by an FAA approved airport layout plan; a military service approved military airport layout plan; any other FAA planning document, or military service military... layout plan, a military service approved military airport layout plan, or by any planning document...

  4. Characterization of various Si-photodiode junction combinations and layout specialities in 0.18µm CMOS and HV-CMOS technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jonak-Auer, I.; Synooka, O.; Kraxner, A.; Roger, F.

    2017-12-01

    With the ongoing miniaturization of CMOS technologies the need for integrated optical sensors on smaller scale CMOS nodes arises. In this paper we report on the development and implementation of different optical sensor concepts in high performance 0.18µm CMOS and high voltage (HV) CMOS technologies on three different substrate materials. The integration process is such that complete modularity of the CMOS processes remains untouched and no additional masks or ion implantation steps are necessary for the sensor integration. The investigated processes support 1.8V and 3V standard CMOS functionality as well as HV transistors capable of operating voltages of 20V and 50V. These processes intrinsically offer a wide variety of junction combinations, which can be exploited for optical sensing purposes. The availability of junction depths from submicron to several microns enables the selection of spectral range from blue to infrared wavelengths. By appropriate layout the contributions of photo-generated carriers outside the target spectral range can be kept to a minimum. Furthermore by making use of other features intrinsically available in 0.18µm CMOS and HV-CMOS processes dark current rates of optoelectronic devices can be minimized. We present TCAD simulations as well as spectral responsivity, dark current and capacitance data measured for various photodiode layouts and the influence of different EPI and Bulk substrate materials thereon. We show examples of spectral responsivity of junction combinations optimized for peak sensitivity in the ranges of 400-500nm, 550-650nm and 700-900nm. Appropriate junction combination enables good spectral resolution for colour sensing applications even without any additional filter implementation. We also show that by appropriate use of shallow trenches dark current values of photodiodes can further be reduced.

  5. Assembly Line Efficiency Improvement by Using WITNESS Simulation Software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yasir, A. S. H. M.; Mohamed, N. M. Z. N.

    2018-03-01

    In the nowadays-competitive world, efficiencies and the productivity of the assembly line are essential in manufacturing company. This paper demonstrates the study of the existing production line performance. The actual cycle time observed and recorded during the working process. The current layout was designed and analysed using Witness simulation software. The productivity and effectiveness for every single operator are measured to determine the operator idle time and busy time. Two new alternatives layout were proposed and analysed by using Witness simulation software to improve the performance of production activities. This research provided valuable and better understanding of production effectiveness by adjusting the line balancing. After analysing the data, simulation result from the current layout and the proposed plan later been tabulated to compare the improved efficiency and productivity. The proposed design plan has shown an increase in yield and productivity compared to the current arrangement. This research has been carried out in company XYZ, which is one of the automotive premises in Pahang, Malaysia.

  6. Automatic yield-line analysis of slabs using discontinuity layout optimization

    PubMed Central

    Gilbert, Matthew; He, Linwei; Smith, Colin C.; Le, Canh V.

    2014-01-01

    The yield-line method of analysis is a long established and extremely effective means of estimating the maximum load sustainable by a slab or plate. However, although numerous attempts to automate the process of directly identifying the critical pattern of yield-lines have been made over the past few decades, to date none has proved capable of reliably analysing slabs of arbitrary geometry. Here, it is demonstrated that the discontinuity layout optimization (DLO) procedure can successfully be applied to such problems. The procedure involves discretization of the problem using nodes inter-connected by potential yield-line discontinuities, with the critical layout of these then identified using linear programming. The procedure is applied to various benchmark problems, demonstrating that highly accurate solutions can be obtained, and showing that DLO provides a truly systematic means of directly and reliably automatically identifying yield-line patterns. Finally, since the critical yield-line patterns for many problems are found to be quite complex in form, a means of automatically simplifying these is presented. PMID:25104905

  7. Compact, high-speed algorithm for laying out printed circuit board runs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zapolotskiy, D. Y.

    1985-09-01

    A high speed printed circuit connection layout algorithm is described which was developed within the framework of an interactive system for designing two-sided printed circuit broads. For this reason, algorithm speed was considered, a priori, as a requirement equally as important as the inherent demand for minimizing circuit run lengths and the number of junction openings. This resulted from the fact that, in order to provide psychological man/machine compatibility in the design process, real-time dialog during the layout phase is possible only within limited time frames (on the order of several seconds) for each circuit run. The work was carried out for use on an ARM-R automated work site complex based on an SM-4 minicomputer with a 32K-word memory. This limited memory capacity heightened the demand for algorithm speed and also tightened data file structure and size requirements. The layout algorithm's design logic is analyzed. The structure and organization of the data files are described.

  8. Gradient-Based Optimization of Wind Farms with Different Turbine Heights: Preprint

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Stanley, Andrew P. J.; Thomas, Jared; Ning, Andrew

    Turbine wakes reduce power production in a wind farm. Current wind farms are generally built with turbines that are all the same height, but if wind farms included turbines with different tower heights, the cost of energy (COE) may be reduced. We used gradient-based optimization to demonstrate a method to optimize wind farms with varied hub heights. Our study includes a modified version of the FLORIS wake model that accommodates three-dimensional wakes integrated with a tower structural model. Our purpose was to design a process to minimize the COE of a wind farm through layout optimization and varying turbine hubmore » heights. Results indicate that when a farm is optimized for layout and height with two separate height groups, COE can be lowered by as much as 5%-9%, compared to a similar layout and height optimization where all the towers are the same. The COE has the best improvement in farms with high turbine density and a low wind shear exponent.« less

  9. Gradient-Based Optimization of Wind Farms with Different Turbine Heights

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Stanley, Andrew P. J.; Thomas, Jared; Ning, Andrew

    Turbine wakes reduce power production in a wind farm. Current wind farms are generally built with turbines that are all the same height, but if wind farms included turbines with different tower heights, the cost of energy (COE) may be reduced. We used gradient-based optimization to demonstrate a method to optimize wind farms with varied hub heights. Our study includes a modified version of the FLORIS wake model that accommodates three-dimensional wakes integrated with a tower structural model. Our purpose was to design a process to minimize the COE of a wind farm through layout optimization and varying turbine hubmore » heights. Results indicate that when a farm is optimized for layout and height with two separate height groups, COE can be lowered by as much as 5%-9%, compared to a similar layout and height optimization where all the towers are the same. The COE has the best improvement in farms with high turbine density and a low wind shear exponent.« less

  10. Buckling in serpentine microstructures and applications in elastomer-supported ultra-stretchable electronics with high areal coverage

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Yihui; Xu, Sheng; Fu, Haoran; Lee, Juhwan; Su, Jessica; Hwang, Keh-Chih; Rogers, John A.; Huang, Yonggang

    2014-01-01

    Lithographically defined electrical interconnects with thin, filamentary serpentine layouts have been widely explored for use in stretchable electronics supported by elastomeric substrates. We present a systematic and thorough study of buckling physics in such stretchable serpentine microstructures, and a strategic design of serpentine layout for ultra-stretchable electrode, via analytical models, finite element method (FEM) computations, and quantitative experiments. Both the onset of buckling and the postbuckling behaviors are examined, to determine scaling laws for the critical buckling strain and the limits of elastic behavior. Two buckling modes, namely the symmetric and anti-symmetric modes, are identified and analyzed, with experimental images and numerical results that show remarkable levels of agreement for the associated postbuckling processes. Based on these studies and an optimization in design layout, we demonstrate routes for application of serpentine interconnects in an ultra-stretchable electrode that offer, simultaneously, an areal coverage as high as 81%, and a biaxial stretchability as large as ~170%. PMID:25309616

  11. Buckling in serpentine microstructures and applications in elastomer-supported ultra-stretchable electronics with high areal coverage.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yihui; Xu, Sheng; Fu, Haoran; Lee, Juhwan; Su, Jessica; Hwang, Keh-Chih; Rogers, John A; Huang, Yonggang

    2013-01-01

    Lithographically defined electrical interconnects with thin, filamentary serpentine layouts have been widely explored for use in stretchable electronics supported by elastomeric substrates. We present a systematic and thorough study of buckling physics in such stretchable serpentine microstructures, and a strategic design of serpentine layout for ultra-stretchable electrode, via analytical models, finite element method (FEM) computations, and quantitative experiments. Both the onset of buckling and the postbuckling behaviors are examined, to determine scaling laws for the critical buckling strain and the limits of elastic behavior. Two buckling modes, namely the symmetric and anti-symmetric modes, are identified and analyzed, with experimental images and numerical results that show remarkable levels of agreement for the associated postbuckling processes. Based on these studies and an optimization in design layout, we demonstrate routes for application of serpentine interconnects in an ultra-stretchable electrode that offer, simultaneously, an areal coverage as high as 81%, and a biaxial stretchability as large as ~170%.

  12. Impact of data layouts on the efficiency of GPU-accelerated IDW interpolation.

    PubMed

    Mei, Gang; Tian, Hong

    2016-01-01

    This paper focuses on evaluating the impact of different data layouts on the computational efficiency of GPU-accelerated Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation algorithm. First we redesign and improve our previous GPU implementation that was performed by exploiting the feature of CUDA dynamic parallelism (CDP). Then we implement three versions of GPU implementations, i.e., the naive version, the tiled version, and the improved CDP version, based upon five data layouts, including the Structure of Arrays (SoA), the Array of Structures (AoS), the Array of aligned Structures (AoaS), the Structure of Arrays of aligned Structures (SoAoS), and the Hybrid layout. We also carry out several groups of experimental tests to evaluate the impact. Experimental results show that: the layouts AoS and AoaS achieve better performance than the layout SoA for both the naive version and tiled version, while the layout SoA is the best choice for the improved CDP version. We also observe that: for the two combined data layouts (the SoAoS and the Hybrid), there are no notable performance gains when compared to other three basic layouts. We recommend that: in practical applications, the layout AoaS is the best choice since the tiled version is the fastest one among three versions. The source code of all implementations are publicly available.

  13. 48 CFR 36.517 - Layout of work.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Layout of work. 36.517... CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Contract Clauses 36.517 Layout of work. The contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.236-17, Layout of Work, in solicitations and contracts when...

  14. 48 CFR 36.517 - Layout of work.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Layout of work. 36.517... CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Contract Clauses 36.517 Layout of work. The contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.236-17, Layout of Work, in solicitations and contracts when...

  15. A fast process development flow by applying design technology co-optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yi-Chieh; Yeh, Shin-Shing; Ou, Tsong-Hua; Lin, Hung-Yu; Mai, Yung-Ching; Lin, Lawrence; Lai, Jun-Cheng; Lai, Ya Chieh; Xu, Wei; Hurat, Philippe

    2017-03-01

    Beyond 40 nm technology node, the pattern weak points and hotspot types increase dramatically. The typical patterns for lithography verification suffers huge turn-around-time (TAT) to handle the design complexity. Therefore, in order to speed up process development and increase pattern variety, accurate design guideline and realistic design combinations are required. This paper presented a flow for creating a cell-based layout, a lite realistic design, to early identify problematic patterns which will negatively affect the yield. A new random layout generating method, Design Technology Co-Optimization Pattern Generator (DTCO-PG), is reported in this paper to create cell-based design. DTCO-PG also includes how to characterize the randomness and fuzziness, so that it is able to build up the machine learning scheme which model could be trained by previous results, and then it generates patterns never seen in a lite design. This methodology not only increases pattern diversity but also finds out potential hotspot preliminarily. This paper also demonstrates an integrated flow from DTCO pattern generation to layout modification. Optical Proximity Correction, OPC and lithographic simulation is then applied to DTCO-PG design database to detect hotspots and then hotspots or weak points can be automatically fixed through the procedure or handled manually. This flow benefits the process evolution to have a faster development cycle time, more complexity pattern design, higher probability to find out potential hotspots in early stage, and a more holistic yield ramping operation.

  16. Automatic layout of structured hierarchical reports.

    PubMed

    Bakke, Eirik; Karger, David R; Miller, Robert C

    2013-12-01

    Domain-specific database applications tend to contain a sizable number of table-, form-, and report-style views that must each be designed and maintained by a software developer. A significant part of this job is the necessary tweaking of low-level presentation details such as label placements, text field dimensions, list or table styles, and so on. In this paper, we present a horizontally constrained layout management algorithm that automates the display of structured hierarchical data using the traditional visual idioms of hand-designed database UIs: tables, multi-column forms, and outline-style indented lists. We compare our system with pure outline and nested table layouts with respect to space efficiency and readability, the latter with an online user study on 27 subjects. Our layouts are 3.9 and 1.6 times more compact on average than outline layouts and horizontally unconstrained table layouts, respectively, and are as readable as table layouts even for large datasets.

  17. Automation Study for Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant Hand Held Signal Flight Assembly, Rocket Barrel Assembly, 40 MM Signal, Final Packaging/Pack-Out, and Star Finishing

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-03-01

    J.B. Webb Jonesboro , AR Farmington, MI Crimping Press Joraco Drake Corp. Smithfield, RI Phoenix, AZ Die Cutter Roll Cut Peerless Machinery Co. Harbour...be taken are detailed for each assembly procedure. The report provides overall system integration requirements. The layouts of the two manufacturing...buildings are detailed. Several component changes to the Hand Held Signals are proposed. None of these will affect the operation of the-final product

  18. Airfield construction (3rd revised and enlarged edition)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goretskii, Leonid I.; Boguslavskii, Adol'f. M.; Serebrenikov, Vadim A.; Barzdo, V. I.; Leshchitskaia, T. P.; Polosin-Nikitin, S. M.

    The principal engineering aspects of airfield construction are discussed. In particular, attention is given to the fundamental principles and organizational aspects of airfield construction; excavation work and airfield layout; construction of drainage systems; foundations and pavements; and quality control and safety engineering. The discussion also covers the operation of various support plants, including concrete production and mixing, production of asphalt-concrete mixtures and organic binders, production of structural steel and reinforced concrete components, and operation of stone quarries and gravel pits.

  19. Reference Frames during the Acquisition and Development of Spatial Memories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Jonathan W.; McNamara, Timothy P.

    2010-01-01

    Four experiments investigated the role of reference frames during the acquisition and development of spatial knowledge, when learning occurs incrementally across views. In two experiments, participants learned overlapping spatial layouts. Layout 1 was first studied in isolation, and Layout 2 was later studied in the presence of Layout 1. The…

  20. Designing for Communication: The Key to Successful Desktop Publishing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCain, Ted D. E.

    Written for those who are new to design and page layout, this book focuses on providing novice desktop publishers with an understanding of communication, graphic design, typography, page layout, and page layout techniques. The book also discusses how people read, design as a consequence of understanding, and the principles of page layout. Chapters…

  1. Schematic driven layout of Reed Solomon encoders

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arave, Kari; Canaris, John; Miles, Lowell; Whitaker, Sterling

    1992-01-01

    Two Reed Solomon error correcting encoders are presented. Schematic driven layout tools were used to create the encoder layouts. Special consideration had to be given to the architecture and logic to provide scalability of the encoder designs. Knowledge gained from these projects was used to create a more flexible schematic driven layout system.

  2. A general method for the layout of ailerons and elevators of gliders and motorplanes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hiller, M. H.

    1979-01-01

    A method is described which allows the layout of the spatial driving mechanism of the aileron for a glider or a motorplane to be performed in a systematic manner. In particular, a prescribed input-output behavior of the mechanism can be realized by variation of individual parameters of the spatial four-bar mechanisms which constitute the entire driving mechanism. By means of a sensitivity analysis, a systematic choice of parameters is possible. At the same time the forces acting in the mechanism can be limited by imposing maximum values of the forces as secondary conditions during the variation process.

  3. Automatic page layout using genetic algorithms for electronic albuming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geigel, Joe; Loui, Alexander C. P.

    2000-12-01

    In this paper, we describe a flexible system for automatic page layout that makes use of genetic algorithms for albuming applications. The system is divided into two modules, a page creator module which is responsible for distributing images amongst various album pages, and an image placement module which positions images on individual pages. Final page layouts are specified in a textual form using XML for printing or viewing over the Internet. The system makes use of genetic algorithms, a class of search and optimization algorithms that are based on the concepts of biological evolution, for generating solutions with fitness based on graphic design preferences supplied by the user. The genetic page layout algorithm has been incorporated into a web-based prototype system for interactive page layout over the Internet. The prototype system is built using client-server architecture and is implemented in java. The system described in this paper has demonstrated the feasibility of using genetic algorithms for automated page layout in albuming and web-based imaging applications. We believe that the system adequately proves the validity of the concept, providing creative layouts in a reasonable number of iterations. By optimizing the layout parameters of the fitness function, we hope to further improve the quality of the final layout in terms of user preference and computation speed.

  4. Optimal Control Surface Layout for an Aeroservoelastic Wingbox

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stanford, Bret K.

    2017-01-01

    This paper demonstrates a technique for locating the optimal control surface layout of an aeroservoelastic Common Research Model wingbox, in the context of maneuver load alleviation and active utter suppression. The combinatorial actuator layout design is solved using ideas borrowed from topology optimization, where the effectiveness of a given control surface is tied to a layout design variable, which varies from zero (the actuator is removed) to one (the actuator is retained). These layout design variables are optimized concurrently with a large number of structural wingbox sizing variables and control surface actuation variables, in order to minimize the sum of structural weight and actuator weight. Results are presented that demonstrate interdependencies between structural sizing patterns and optimal control surface layouts, for both static and dynamic aeroelastic physics.

  5. Outage differences between Diablo Canyon and Unterweser power plants

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mehrens, H.

    Diablo Canyon (DCPP) of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Unterweser (KKU) of PreussenElektra have had an ongoing exchange program since 1989, which includes mutual visits by their employees at the optimum time for observing outages. Both DCPP and Unterweser use four-loop pressurized water reactors (PWRs), DCPP with two 1,100-MW units and KKU with a single 1,300-MW unit. Unterweser finished its 11th outage in 1990; DCPP units 1 and 2 will have their fourth outages in 1991. The scope of the maintenance and refueling work is quite similar in both plants and offers, therefore, a good basis for comparison. Outagemore » durations at European Kraftwerk Union KWU-PWR plants average {approximately}30 days as compared to the 60 to 80 days for PWRs in the US. Diablo Canyon has reduced outage durations from > 100 days to < 60. The key areas that contribute to the differences in outage duration are plant design and layout and outage execution.« less

  6. Solving a mathematical model integrating unequal-area facilities layout and part scheduling in a cellular manufacturing system by a genetic algorithm.

    PubMed

    Ebrahimi, Ahmad; Kia, Reza; Komijan, Alireza Rashidi

    2016-01-01

    In this article, a novel integrated mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is presented for designing a cellular manufacturing system (CMS) considering machine layout and part scheduling problems simultaneously as interrelated decisions. The integrated CMS model is formulated to incorporate several design features including part due date, material handling time, operation sequence, processing time, an intra-cell layout of unequal-area facilities, and part scheduling. The objective function is to minimize makespan, tardiness penalties, and material handling costs of inter-cell and intra-cell movements. Two numerical examples are solved by the Lingo software to illustrate the results obtained by the incorporated features. In order to assess the effects and importance of integration of machine layout and part scheduling in designing a CMS, two approaches, sequentially and concurrent are investigated and the improvement resulted from a concurrent approach is revealed. Also, due to the NP-hardness of the integrated model, an efficient genetic algorithm is designed. As a consequence, computational results of this study indicate that the best solutions found by GA are better than the solutions found by B&B in much less time for both sequential and concurrent approaches. Moreover, the comparisons between the objective function values (OFVs) obtained by sequential and concurrent approaches demonstrate that the OFV improvement is averagely around 17 % by GA and 14 % by B&B.

  7. Combining endangered plants and animals as surrogates to identify priority conservation areas in Yunnan, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Feiling; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Ruidong

    2016-08-01

    Suitable surrogates are critical for identifying optimal priority conservation areas (PCAs) to protect regional biodiversity. This study explored the efficiency of using endangered plants and animals as surrogates for identifying PCAs at the county level in Yunnan, southwest China. We ran the Dobson algorithm under three surrogate scenarios at 75% and 100% conservation levels and identified four types of PCAs. Assessment of the protection efficiencies of the four types of PCAs showed that endangered plants had higher surrogacy values than endangered animals but that the two were not substitutable; coupled endangered plants and animals as surrogates yielded a higher surrogacy value than endangered plants or animals as surrogates; the plant-animal priority areas (PAPAs) was the optimal among the four types of PCAs for conserving both endangered plants and animals in Yunnan. PAPAs could well represent overall species diversity distribution patterns and overlap with critical biogeographical regions in Yunnan. Fourteen priority units in PAPAs should be urgently considered as optimizing Yunnan’s protected area system. The spatial pattern of PAPAs at the 100% conservation level could be conceptualized into three connected conservation belts, providing a valuable reference for optimizing the layout of the in situ protected area system in Yunnan.

  8. UF6 breeder reactor power plants for electric power generation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rust, J. H.; Clement, J. D.; Hohl, F.

    1976-01-01

    The reactor concept analyzed is a U-233F6 core surrounded by a molten salt (Li(7)F, BeF2, ThF4) blanket. Nuclear survey calculations were carried out for both spherical and cylindrical geometries. Thermodynamic cycle calculations were performed for a variety of Rankine cycles. A conceptual design is presented along with a system layout for a 1000 MW stationary power plant. Advantages of the gas core breeder reactor (GCBR) are as follows: (1) high efficiency; (2) simplified on-line reprocessing; (3) inherent safety considerations; (4) high breeding ratio; (5) possibility of burning all or most of the long-lived nuclear waste actinides; and (6) possibility of extrapolating the technology to higher temperatures and MHD direct conversion.

  9. Statistical core design methodology using the VIPRE thermal-hydraulics code

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lloyd, M.W.; Feltus, M.A.

    1994-12-31

    This Penn State Statistical Core Design Methodology (PSSCDM) is unique because it not only includes the EPRI correlation/test data standard deviation but also the computational uncertainty for the VIPRE code model and the new composite box design correlation. The resultant PSSCDM equation mimics the EPRI DNBR correlation results well, with an uncertainty of 0.0389. The combined uncertainty yields a new DNBR limit of 1.18 that will provide more plant operational flexibility. This methodology and its associated correlation and uniqe coefficients are for a very particular VIPRE model; thus, the correlation will be specifically linked with the lumped channel and subchannelmore » layout. The results of this research and methodology, however, can be applied to plant-specific VIPRE models.« less

  10. Analytical Tools for Functional Assessment of Architectural Layouts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bąkowski, Jarosław

    2017-10-01

    Functional layout of the building, understood as a layout or set of the facility rooms (or groups of rooms) with a system of internal communication, creates an environment and a place of mutual relations between the occupants of the object. Achieving optimal (from the occupants’ point of view) spatial arrangement is possible through activities that often go beyond the stage of architectural design. Adopted in the architectural design, most often during trial and error process or on the basis of previous experience (evidence-based design), functional layout is subject to continuous evaluation and dynamic changing since the beginning of its use. Such verification of the occupancy phase allows to plan future, possible transformations, as well as to develop model solutions for use in other settings. In broader terms, the research hypothesis is to examine whether and how the collected datasets concerning the facility and its utilization can be used to develop methods for assessing functional layout of buildings. In other words, if it is possible to develop an objective method of assessing functional layouts basing on a set of buildings’ parameters: technical, technological and functional ones and whether the method allows developing a set of tools enhancing the design methodology of complex functional objects. By linking the design with the construction phase it is possible to build parametric models of functional layouts, especially in the context of sustainable design or lean design in every aspect: ecological (by reducing the property’s impact on environment), economic (by optimizing its cost) and social (through the implementation of high-performance work environment). Parameterization of size and functional connections of the facility become part of the analyses, as well as the element of model solutions. The “lean” approach means the process of analysis of the existing scheme and consequently - finding weak points as well as means for eliminating these defects. This approach, supplemented by the method of reverse engineering means that already in the design phase there is essential knowledge about the functioning of the facility. It is far beyond intuitive knowledge, based on the standards and specifications. In the scope of reverse engineering methods, the subject of the research is an audit of the product (i.e. architectural design, especially the built spatial layout) in order to determine exactly how it works. Information gained in this way is to help building a system for supporting decisions for preparing design solutions for future investments as well as the functional analysis itself becomes an essential part of the setting up building information process. The data are presented with graphical methods as networks of different factors between rooms. The direct analytical method for the setting is to determine the functional collision between users’ tracks, finding or indication of the shortest paths connecting analyzed rooms and finally to identify the optimal location of these rooms (each according to different factor). The measurement data are supplemented by the results of surveys conducted among users of hospitals, statistics and quantitative medical procedures performed in the test section of the hospital. The results of research are transferred and integrated with BIM system (building information modelling system), and included in the specifications of the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), especially at the level of information on the relationship between the individual properties associated with elements (in the case of hospitals it may be information about the necessary connections with other rooms, access times from or to specific rooms, rooms utilization conditions, fire safety protection and conditions and many other). At the level of the BIM specification the model data are integrated at the BIM 6D (an extension of the model data with a range of functional analysis) or even BIM 7D (additional integration with systems used at the stage of operation and maintenance of the facility).

  11. Applications of Modeling and Simulation for Flight Hardware Processing at Kennedy Space Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Marshall, Jennifer L.

    2010-01-01

    The Boeing Design Visualization Group (DVG) is responsible for the creation of highly-detailed representations of both on-site facilities and flight hardware using computer-aided design (CAD) software, with a focus on the ground support equipment (GSE) used to process and prepare the hardware for space. Throughout my ten weeks at this center, I have had the opportunity to work on several projects: the modification of the Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) High Bay, weekly mapping of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) floor layout, kinematics applications for the Orion Command Module (CM) hatches, and the design modification of the Ares I Upper Stage hatch for maintenance purposes. The main goal of each of these projects was to generate an authentic simulation or representation using DELMIA V5 software. This allowed for evaluation of facility layouts, support equipment placement, and greater process understanding once it was used to demonstrate future processes to customers and other partners. As such, I have had the opportunity to contribute to a skilled team working on diverse projects with a central goal of providing essential planning resources for future center operations.

  12. Power generation costs and ultimate thermal hydraulic power limits in hypothetical advanced designs with natural circulation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Duffey, R.B.; Rohatgi, U.S.

    Maximum power limits for hypothetical designs of natural circulation plants can be described analytically. The thermal hydraulic design parameters are those which limit the flow, being the elevations, flow areas, and loss coefficients. WE have found some simple ``design`` equations for natural circulation flow to power ratio, and for the stability limit. The analysis of historical and available data for maximum capacity factor estimation shows 80% to be reasonable and achievable. The least cost is obtained by optimizing both hypothetical plant performance for a given output,a nd the plant layout and design. There is also scope to increase output andmore » reduce cost by considering design variations of primary and secondary pressure, and by optimizing component elevations and loss coefficients. The design limits for each are set by stability and maximum flow considerations, which deserve close and careful evaluation.« less

  13. Modelling and optimization of transient processes in line focusing power plants with single-phase heat transfer medium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noureldin, K.; González-Escalada, L. M.; Hirsch, T.; Nouri, B.; Pitz-Paal, R.

    2016-05-01

    A large number of commercial and research line focusing solar power plants are in operation and under development. Such plants include parabolic trough collectors (PTC) or linear Fresnel using thermal oil or molten salt as the heat transfer medium (HTM). However, the continuously varying and dynamic solar condition represent a big challenge for the plant control in order to optimize its power production and to keep the operation safe. A better understanding of the behaviour of such power plants under transient conditions will help reduce defocusing instances, improve field control, and hence, increase the energy yield and confidence in this new technology. Computational methods are very powerful and cost-effective tools to gain such understanding. However, most simulation models described in literature assume equal mass flow distributions among the parallel loops in the field or totally decouple the flow and thermal conditions. In this paper, a new numerical model to simulate a whole solar field with single-phase HTM is described. The proposed model consists of a hydraulic part and a thermal part that are coupled to account for the effect of the thermal condition of the field on the flow distribution among the parallel loops. The model is specifically designed for large line-focusing solar fields offering a high degree of flexibility in terms of layout, condition of the mirrors, and spatially resolved DNI data. Moreover, the model results have been compared to other simulation tools, as well as experimental and plant data, and the results show very good agreement. The model can provide more precise data to the control algorithms to improve the plant control. In addition, short-term and accurate spatially discretized DNI forecasts can be used as input to predict the field behaviour in-advance. In this paper, the hydraulic and thermal parts, as well as the coupling procedure, are described and some validation results and results of simulating an example field are shown.

  14. A Tool for the Automated Design and Evaluation of Habitat Interior Layouts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simon, Matthew A.; Wilhite, Alan W.

    2013-01-01

    The objective of space habitat design is to minimize mass and system size while providing adequate space for all necessary equipment and a functional layout that supports crew health and productivity. Unfortunately, development and evaluation of interior layouts is often ignored during conceptual design because of the subjectivity and long times required using current evaluation methods (e.g., human-in-the-loop mockup tests and in-depth CAD evaluations). Early, more objective assessment could prevent expensive design changes that may increase vehicle mass and compromise functionality. This paper describes a new interior design evaluation method to enable early, structured consideration of habitat interior layouts. This interior layout evaluation method features a comprehensive list of quantifiable habitat layout evaluation criteria, automatic methods to measure these criteria from a geometry model, and application of systems engineering tools and numerical methods to construct a multi-objective value function measuring the overall habitat layout performance. In addition to a detailed description of this method, a C++/OpenGL software tool which has been developed to implement this method is also discussed. This tool leverages geometry modeling coupled with collision detection techniques to identify favorable layouts subject to multiple constraints and objectives (e.g., minimize mass, maximize contiguous habitable volume, maximize task performance, and minimize crew safety risks). Finally, a few habitat layout evaluation examples are described to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and tool to influence habitat design.

  15. Connectives and Layout as Processing Signals: How Textual Features Affect Students' Processing and Text Representation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Silfhout, Gerdineke; Evers-Vermeul, Jacqueline; Mak, Willem M.; Sanders, Ted J. M.

    2014-01-01

    When students read their school text, they may make a coherent mental representation of it that contains coherence relations between the text segments. The construction of such a representation is a prerequisite for learning from texts. This article focuses on the influence of connectives ("therefore," "furthermore") and layout…

  16. Device Independent Layout and Style Editing Using Multi-Level Style Sheets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dees, Walter

    This paper describes a layout and styling framework that is based on the multi-level style sheets approach. It shows some of the techniques that can be used to add layout and style information to a UI in a device-independent manner, and how to reuse the layout and style information to create user interfaces for different devices

  17. A grid layout algorithm for automatic drawing of biochemical networks.

    PubMed

    Li, Weijiang; Kurata, Hiroyuki

    2005-05-01

    Visualization is indispensable in the research of complex biochemical networks. Available graph layout algorithms are not adequate for satisfactorily drawing such networks. New methods are required to visualize automatically the topological architectures and facilitate the understanding of the functions of the networks. We propose a novel layout algorithm to draw complex biochemical networks. A network is modeled as a system of interacting nodes on squared grids. A discrete cost function between each node pair is designed based on the topological relation and the geometric positions of the two nodes. The layouts are produced by minimizing the total cost. We design a fast algorithm to minimize the discrete cost function, by which candidate layouts can be produced efficiently. A simulated annealing procedure is used to choose better candidates. Our algorithm demonstrates its ability to exhibit cluster structures clearly in relatively compact layout areas without any prior knowledge. We developed Windows software to implement the algorithm for CADLIVE. All materials can be freely downloaded from http://kurata21.bio.kyutech.ac.jp/grid/grid_layout.htm; http://www.cadlive.jp/ http://kurata21.bio.kyutech.ac.jp/grid/grid_layout.htm; http://www.cadlive.jp/

  18. Penrose high-dynamic-range imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Jia; Bai, Chenyan; Lin, Zhouchen; Yu, Jian

    2016-05-01

    High-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging is becoming increasingly popular and widespread. The most common multishot HDR approach, based on multiple low-dynamic-range images captured with different exposures, has difficulties in handling camera and object movements. The spatially varying exposures (SVE) technology provides a solution to overcome this limitation by obtaining multiple exposures of the scene in only one shot but suffers from a loss in spatial resolution of the captured image. While aperiodic assignment of exposures has been shown to be advantageous during reconstruction in alleviating resolution loss, almost all the existing imaging sensors use the square pixel layout, which is a periodic tiling of square pixels. We propose the Penrose pixel layout, using pixels in aperiodic rhombus Penrose tiling, for HDR imaging. With the SVE technology, Penrose pixel layout has both exposure and pixel aperiodicities. To investigate its performance, we have to reconstruct HDR images in square pixel layout from Penrose raw images with SVE. Since the two pixel layouts are different, the traditional HDR reconstruction methods are not applicable. We develop a reconstruction method for Penrose pixel layout using a Gaussian mixture model for regularization. Both quantitative and qualitative results show the superiority of Penrose pixel layout over square pixel layout.

  19. Task-specific performance effects with different numeric keypad layouts.

    PubMed

    Armand, Jenny T; Redick, Thomas S; Poulsen, Joan R

    2014-07-01

    Two commonly used keypad arrangements are the telephone and calculator layouts. The purpose of this study was to determine if entering different types of numeric information was quicker and more accurate with the telephone or the calculator layout on a computer keyboard numeric keypad. Fifty-seven participants saw a 10-digit numeric stimulus to type with a computer number keypad as quickly and as accurately as possible. Stimuli were presented in either a numerical [1,234,567,890] or phone [(123) 456-7890] format. The results indicated that participants' memory of the layout for the arrangement of keys on a telephone was significantly better than the layout of a calculator. In addition, the results showed that participants were more accurate when entering stimuli using the calculator keypad layout. Critically, participants' response times showed an interaction of stimulus format and keypad layout: participants were specifically slowed when entering numeric stimuli using a telephone keypad layout. Responses made using the middle row of keys were faster and more accurate than responses using the top and bottom row of keys. Implications for keypad design and cell phone usage are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  20. Improvement of productivity in low volume production industry layout by using witness simulation software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jaffrey, V.; Mohamed, N. M. Z. N.; Rose, A. N. M.

    2017-10-01

    In almost all manufacturing industry, increased productivity and better efficiency of the production line are the most important goals. Most factories especially small scale factory has less awareness of manufacturing system optimization and lack of knowledge about it and uses the traditional way of management. Problems that are commonly identified in the factory are a high idle time of labour and also small production. This study is done in a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) low volume production company. Data collection and problems affecting productivity and efficiency are identified. In this study, Witness simulation software is being used to simulate the layout and the output is focusing on the improvement of layout in terms of productivity and efficiency. In this study, the layout is rearranged by reducing the travel time from a workstation to another workstation. Then, the improved layout is modelled and the machine and labour statistic of both, original and improved layout is taken. Productivity and efficiency are calculated for both layout and then being compared.

  1. Combining Multiple Forms Of Visual Information To Specify Contact Relations In Spatial Layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sedgwick, Hal A.

    1990-03-01

    An expert system, called Layout2, has been described, which models a subset of available visual information for spatial layout. The system is used to examine detailed interactions between multiple, partially redundant forms of information in an environment-centered geometrical model of an environment obeying certain rather general constraints. This paper discusses the extension of Layout2 to include generalized contact relations between surfaces. In an environment-centered model, the representation of viewer-centered distance is replaced by the representation of environmental location. This location information is propagated through the representation of the environment by a network of contact relations between contiguous surfaces. Perspective information interacts with other forms of information to specify these contact relations. The experimental study of human perception of contact relations in extended spatial layouts is also discussed. Differences between human results and Layout2 results reveal limitations in the human ability to register available information; they also point to the existence of certain forms of information not yet formalized in Layout2.

  2. Exact solution for the optimal neuronal layout problem.

    PubMed

    Chklovskii, Dmitri B

    2004-10-01

    Evolution perfected brain design by maximizing its functionality while minimizing costs associated with building and maintaining it. Assumption that brain functionality is specified by neuronal connectivity, implemented by costly biological wiring, leads to the following optimal design problem. For a given neuronal connectivity, find a spatial layout of neurons that minimizes the wiring cost. Unfortunately, this problem is difficult to solve because the number of possible layouts is often astronomically large. We argue that the wiring cost may scale as wire length squared, reducing the optimal layout problem to a constrained minimization of a quadratic form. For biologically plausible constraints, this problem has exact analytical solutions, which give reasonable approximations to actual layouts in the brain. These solutions make the inverse problem of inferring neuronal connectivity from neuronal layout more tractable.

  3. Improving the Spacelab mass memory unit tape layout with a simulation model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Noneman, S. R.

    1984-01-01

    A tape drive called the Mass Memory Unit (MMU) stores software used by Spacelab computers. MMU tape motion must be minimized during typical flight operations to avoid a loss of scientific data. A projection of the tape motion is needed for evaluation of candidate tape layouts. A computer simulation of the scheduled and unscheduled MMU tape accesses is developed for this purpose. This simulation permits evaluations of candidate tape layouts by tracking and summarizing tape movements. The factors that affect tape travel are investigated and a heuristic is developed to find a good tape layout. An improved tape layout for Spacelab I is selected after the evaluation of fourteen candidates. The simulation model will provide the ability to determine MMU layouts that substantially decrease the tape travel on future Spacelab flights.

  4. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kornfeldt, H.; Bjoerk, K.O.; Ekstroem, P.

    The protection against dynamic effects in connection with potential pipe breaks has been implemented in different ways in the development of BWR reactor designs. First-generation plant designs reflect code requirements in effect at that time which means that no piping restraint systems were designed and built into those plants. Modern designs have, in contrast, implemented full protection against damage in connection with postulated pipe breaks, as required in current codes and regulations. Moderns standards and current regulatory demands can be met for the older plants by backfitting pipe whip restraint hardware. This could lead to several practical difficulties as thesemore » installations were not anticipated in the original plant design and layout. Meeting the new demands by analysis would in this situation have great advantages. Application of leak-before-break criteria gives an alternative opportunity of meeting modem standards in reactor safety design. Analysis takes into account data specific to BWR primary system operation, actual pipe material properties, piping loads and leak detection capability. Special attention must be given to ensure that the data used reflects actual plant conditions.« less

  5. A VLSI implementation of DCT using pass transistor technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kamath, S.; Lynn, Douglas; Whitaker, Sterling

    1992-01-01

    A VLSI design for performing the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) operation on image blocks of size 16 x 16 in a real time fashion operating at 34 MHz (worst case) is presented. The process used was Hewlett-Packard's CMOS26--A 3 metal CMOS process with a minimum feature size of 0.75 micron. The design is based on Multiply-Accumulate (MAC) cells which make use of a modified Booth recoding algorithm for performing multiplication. The design of these cells is straight forward, and the layouts are regular with no complex routing. Two versions of these MAC cells were designed and their layouts completed. Both versions were simulated using SPICE to estimate their performance. One version is slightly faster at the cost of larger silicon area and higher power consumption. An improvement in speed of almost 20 percent is achieved after several iterations of simulation and re-sizing.

  6. Accurate Modeling Method for Cu Interconnect

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamada, Kenta; Kitahara, Hiroshi; Asai, Yoshihiko; Sakamoto, Hideo; Okada, Norio; Yasuda, Makoto; Oda, Noriaki; Sakurai, Michio; Hiroi, Masayuki; Takewaki, Toshiyuki; Ohnishi, Sadayuki; Iguchi, Manabu; Minda, Hiroyasu; Suzuki, Mieko

    This paper proposes an accurate modeling method of the copper interconnect cross-section in which the width and thickness dependence on layout patterns and density caused by processes (CMP, etching, sputtering, lithography, and so on) are fully, incorporated and universally expressed. In addition, we have developed specific test patterns for the model parameters extraction, and an efficient extraction flow. We have extracted the model parameters for 0.15μm CMOS using this method and confirmed that 10%τpd error normally observed with conventional LPE (Layout Parameters Extraction) was completely dissolved. Moreover, it is verified that the model can be applied to more advanced technologies (90nm, 65nm and 55nm CMOS). Since the interconnect delay variations due to the processes constitute a significant part of what have conventionally been treated as random variations, use of the proposed model could enable one to greatly narrow the guardbands required to guarantee a desired yield, thereby facilitating design closure.

  7. Using the clustered circular layout as an informative method for visualizing protein-protein interaction networks.

    PubMed

    Fung, David C Y; Wilkins, Marc R; Hart, David; Hong, Seok-Hee

    2010-07-01

    The force-directed layout is commonly used in computer-generated visualizations of protein-protein interaction networks. While it is good for providing a visual outline of the protein complexes and their interactions, it has two limitations when used as a visual analysis method. The first is poor reproducibility. Repeated running of the algorithm does not necessarily generate the same layout, therefore, demanding cognitive readaptation on the investigator's part. The second limitation is that it does not explicitly display complementary biological information, e.g. Gene Ontology, other than the protein names or gene symbols. Here, we present an alternative layout called the clustered circular layout. Using the human DNA replication protein-protein interaction network as a case study, we compared the two network layouts for their merits and limitations in supporting visual analysis.

  8. Auditory Spatial Layout

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wightman, Frederic L.; Jenison, Rick

    1995-01-01

    All auditory sensory information is packaged in a pair of acoustical pressure waveforms, one at each ear. While there is obvious structure in these waveforms, that structure (temporal and spectral patterns) bears no simple relationship to the structure of the environmental objects that produced them. The properties of auditory objects and their layout in space must be derived completely from higher level processing of the peripheral input. This chapter begins with a discussion of the peculiarities of acoustical stimuli and how they are received by the human auditory system. A distinction is made between the ambient sound field and the effective stimulus to differentiate the perceptual distinctions among various simple classes of sound sources (ambient field) from the known perceptual consequences of the linear transformations of the sound wave from source to receiver (effective stimulus). Next, the definition of an auditory object is dealt with, specifically the question of how the various components of a sound stream become segregated into distinct auditory objects. The remainder of the chapter focuses on issues related to the spatial layout of auditory objects, both stationary and moving.

  9. Transport, mechanical and global migration data of multilayer copolyamide nanocomposite films with different layouts.

    PubMed

    Scarfato, P; Garofalo, E; Di Maio, L; Incarnato, L

    2017-06-01

    Transport, mechanical and global migration data concern multilayer food packaging films with different layouts, all incorporating a layered silicate/polyamide nanocomposite as oxygen barrier layer, and a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as moisture resistant layer in direct contact with food. The data are related to "Tuning of co-extrusion processing conditions and film layout to optimize the performances of PA/PE multilayer nanocomposite films for food packaging" by Garofalo et al. (2017) [1]. Nanocomposite multilayer films, with different relative layer thicknesses and clay types, were produced using a laboratory scale co-extrusion blown-film equipment and were analyzed in terms of transport to oxygen and water vapor, mechanical properties and overall migration. The results have shown that all the multilayer hybrid films, based on the copolyamide layer filled with Cloisite 30B, displayed the most significant oxygen barrier improvements and the best mechanical properties compared to the unfilled films. No significant alteration of the overall migration values was observed, as expectable [2], [3], [4]. The performance improvement was more relevant in the case of the film with the thinner nanocomposite layer.

  10. A Study of Vehicle Structural Layouts in Post-WWII Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sensmeier, Mark D.; Samareh, Jamshid A.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, results of a study of structural layouts of post-WWII aircraft are presented. This study was undertaken to provide the background information necessary to determine typical layouts, design practices, and industry trends in aircraft structural design. Design decisions are often predicated not on performance-related criteria, but rather on such factors as manufacturability, maintenance access, and of course cost. For this reason, a thorough understanding of current best practices in the industry is required as an input for the design optimization process. To determine these best practices and industry trends, a large number of aircraft structural cutaway illustrations were analyzed for five different aircraft categories (commercial transport jets, business jets, combat jet aircraft, single engine propeller aircraft, and twin-engine propeller aircraft). Several aspects of wing design and fuselage design characteristics are presented here for the commercial transport and combat aircraft categories. A great deal of commonality was observed for transport structure designs over a range of eras and manufacturers. A much higher degree of variability in structural designs was observed for the combat aircraft, though some discernable trends were observed as well.

  11. Detection and quantification of flow consistency in business process models.

    PubMed

    Burattin, Andrea; Bernstein, Vered; Neurauter, Manuel; Soffer, Pnina; Weber, Barbara

    2018-01-01

    Business process models abstract complex business processes by representing them as graphical models. Their layout, as determined by the modeler, may have an effect when these models are used. However, this effect is currently not fully understood. In order to systematically study this effect, a basic set of measurable key visual features is proposed, depicting the layout properties that are meaningful to the human user. The aim of this research is thus twofold: first, to empirically identify key visual features of business process models which are perceived as meaningful to the user and second, to show how such features can be quantified into computational metrics, which are applicable to business process models. We focus on one particular feature, consistency of flow direction, and show the challenges that arise when transforming it into a precise metric. We propose three different metrics addressing these challenges, each following a different view of flow consistency. We then report the results of an empirical evaluation, which indicates which metric is more effective in predicting the human perception of this feature. Moreover, two other automatic evaluations describing the performance and the computational capabilities of our metrics are reported as well.

  12. Influence of sample pool on interference pattern in defocused interferometric particle imaging.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Hongxia; Zhou, Ye; Liu, Jing; Jia, Dagong; Liu, Tiegen

    2017-04-01

    Particles widely exist in various fields. In practical experiments, sometimes it is necessary to dissolve particles in water in a sample pool. This article proposes two typical layouts of the sample pool in defocused interferometric particle imaging (IPI). Layout I is the sample pool surface perpendicular to the incident light and layout II is the sample pool surface perpendicular to the scattered light. For layout I, the scattered light of the particles does not keep symmetric at the meridional and sagittal planes after being refracted by the sample pool surface, and elliptical interference patterns are formed at the defocused IPI image plane. But for layout II, the scattered light keeps symmetric after being refracted, and circular interference patterns are formed. Aimed at the two sample pool layouts, the ray-tracing software ZEMAX was used to simulate the spot shape of particles at different defocus distances. Furthermore, its effect on the ellipticity of the interference pattern with the tilt angle of the sample pool is analyzed. The relative error of the axis ratio for layout I does not exceed 9.2% at different defocus distances. The experimental results have good agreement with the theoretical analyses, and it indicates that layout II is more reasonable for the IPI system.

  13. Influence of sample pool on interference pattern in defocused interferometric particle imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Hongxia; Zhou, Ye; Liu, Jing; Jia, Dagong; Liu, Tiegen

    2017-04-01

    Particles widely exist in various fields. In practical experiments, sometimes it is necessary to dissolve particles in water in a sample pool. This article proposes two typical layouts of the sample pool in defocused interferometric particle imaging (IPI). Layout I is the sample pool surface perpendicular to the incident light and layout II is the sample pool surface perpendicular to the scattered light. For layout I, the scattered light of the particles does not keep symmetric at the meridional and sagittal planes after being refracted by the sample pool surface, and elliptical interference patterns are formed at the defocused IPI image plane. But for layout II, the scattered light keeps symmetric after being refracted, and circular interference patterns are formed. Aimed at the two sample pool layouts, the ray-tracing software ZEMAX was used to simulate the spot shape of particles at different defocus distances. Furthermore, its effect on the ellipticity of the interference pattern with the tilt angle of the sample pool is analyzed. The relative error of the axis ratio for layout I does not exceed 9.2% at different defocus distances. The experimental results have good agreement with the theoretical analyses, and it indicates that layout II is more reasonable for the IPI system.

  14. Clear & Simple

    MedlinePlus

    ... page factsheet, a 10-page booklet, or a series of short factsheets delivered at different points in the learning process. Budget and target audience information help shape decisions about the length and scope of the product. Design questions include photo and graphics selection, layout and ...

  15. Flow Accelerated Erosion-Corrosion (FAC) considerations for secondary side piping in the AP1000{sup R} nuclear power plant design

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Vanderhoff, J. F.; Rao, G. V.; Stein, A.

    2012-07-01

    The issue of Flow Accelerated Erosion-Corrosion (FAC) in power plant piping is a known phenomenon that has resulted in material replacements and plant accidents in operating power plants. Therefore, it is important for FAC resistance to be considered in the design of new nuclear power plants. This paper describes the design considerations related to FAC that were used to develop a safe and robust AP1000{sup R} plant secondary side piping design. The primary FAC influencing factors include: - Fluid Temperature - Pipe Geometry/layout - Fluid Chemistry - Fluid Velocity - Pipe Material Composition - Moisture Content (in steam lines) Duemore » to the unknowns related to the relative impact of the influencing factors and the complexities of the interactions between these factors, it is difficult to accurately predict the expected wear rate in a given piping segment in a new plant. This paper provides: - a description of FAC and the factors that influence the FAC degradation rate, - an assessment of the level of FAC resistance of AP1000{sup R} secondary side system piping, - an explanation of options to increase FAC resistance and associated benefits/cost, - discussion of development of a tool for predicting FAC degradation rate in new nuclear power plants. (authors)« less

  16. Study of LED layout in indoor visible light communication and performance analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Jiaan; Che, Ying; Wang, Xinlan; Guo, Linyang; Li, Jing

    2017-10-01

    Light emitting diodes(LED) could provide both illumination and data communication in indoor visible light communication(VLC) that owns the modulation bandwith from several from several MHz to seneral hundreds of MHz. The layout of LED plays an important role in maintaining a steady optical power distribution over the receiving plane. The existing rectangular LED layout does not provide a full coverage on the receiving plane leaving receiving optical power outage area, which in turn affects the best performance of the VLC system. This paper design a circular layout scheme of LED in 5mX5mX3m room based on the criterion of the illumination minimum mean square deviation. The influence of the distribution of the intensity of illumination with the radius of 1m and 1.5m,for including the wall reflection and not including the wall reflection, and make a comparison with rectangular LED layout of illumination distribution, when the number of LEDs with rectangular layout as same as circular layout. Including the number of LEDs are 4 and 16.For a specific simulation parameters as following:height of receiving plane is 0.85m,a single LEDs is composed of 60X60 LED chips, the parameters of a single chip is that transmitting power is 20mW,center luminous intensity is 0.73cd.semiangle at half power is 70deg.The parameters of concentrator is that photodiode area is 1cm2,photodiode responsivity is 0.4,field of view at the receiver is 85deg.Other parameters are that reflective index of concentrator is 1.5,reflectivity of wall is 0.8.Circular layout and rectangular layout are analyzed through simulation of the received optical power distribution, signal noise ratio distribution in non line of sight(including the wall reflection) and line of sight(not including the wall reflection),when the number of the LED is different. It is clear from the results that the received optical power distribution of non line of sight is better than line of sight, when the number of the LED are same, but the signal noise ratio distribution is decreased result of the reflection of the wall. It is found that the received optical power of circular layout is better than the received optical power distribution of rectangulr layout, and circular layout is a good solution that add the received optical power at the 4 corners of room, improve the system ability of communication, when making a contrast of rectangular lyout with circular layout,at the same time,the fluctuate of circular layout's signal to noise ratio of is smller than rectangular layuot.The radius of circular layout or the location of rectangular layout is keeping, the received optical power of receiving plane is increased, by adding the number of LED,in the meantime, the interference between LED light source also increase. But the increase of the circular layout radius when the number of LED remain the same is helpful to reduce the inter symbol interference that work out between LED each other, enhance the system signal noise ratio. In this paper, the results of the reaearch provides a new idea for indoor visible light communication with non-standard room (Size of room is not 5mX5mX3m), at the same time, provides guiding significance for future setting up the indoor visible light communication links.

  17. [Comprehensive evaluation and selection of urban eco-engineering virescent trees in Shenyang City].

    PubMed

    Lu, Min; Jiang, Fengqi; Li, Yingjie

    2004-07-01

    Urban virescence eco-engineering is the core of urban eco-environmental construction, which can promote urban sustainable development. In urban virescence eco-engineering, the comprehensive evaluation of ecological adapt-ability and ecological effect of urban plants is the scientific basis of rational application and selection of urban garden plants. The ecological effect and integrative functions of urban virescence eco-engineering depend upon the selection and layout of garden plants. Using the methods of garden expert consultation and evaluation, this paper established systematically integrative evaluation and application indices of virescence plants in Shenyang City, from the aspects of ecological adaptability, ecological effect, beautification effect, resistance to plant diseases and insect pests, anti-pollution and economic results. According to garden experts evaluation and location of Shenyang, 200 sorts of virescence trees were evaluated and classified on the basis of the comprehensive evaluation system of virescence trees, and using cold resistance, drought resistance, barren resistance, plant diseases and insect pests resistance, anti-pollution, ornamental quality and ecological effects as the indexes. The results showed that the number of first rank trees was 58, the second was 93, methods of third was 38, and the fourth was 11, ranked by integrative performance.

  18. Cost comparison of centralized and decentralized wastewater management systems using optimization model.

    PubMed

    Jung, Youngmee Tiffany; Narayanan, N C; Cheng, Yu-Ling

    2018-05-01

    There is a growing interest in decentralized wastewater management (DWWM) as a potential alternative to centralized wastewater management (CWWM) in developing countries. However, the comparative cost of CWWM and DWWM is not well understood. In this study, the cost of cluster-type DWWM is simulated and compared to the cost of CWWM in Alibag, India. A three-step model is built to simulate a broad range of potential DWWM configurations with varying number and layout of cluster subsystems. The considered DWWM scheme consists of cluster subsystems, that each uses simplified sewer and DEWATS (Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems). We consider CWWM that uses conventional sewer and an activated sludge plant. The results show that the cost of DWWM can vary significantly with the number and layout of the comprising cluster subsystems. The cost of DWWM increased nonlinearly with increasing number of comprising clusters, mainly due to the loss in the economies of scale for DEWATS. For configurations with the same number of comprising cluster subsystems, the cost of DWWM varied by ±5% around the mean, depending on the layout of the cluster subsystems. In comparison to CWWM, DWWM was of lower cost than CWWM when configured with fewer than 16 clusters in Alibag, with significantly less operation and maintenance requirement, but with higher capital and land requirement for construction. The study demonstrates that cluster-type DWWM using simplified sewer and DEWATS may be a cost-competitive alternative to CWWM, when carefully configured to lower the cost. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Automatic digital photo-book making system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Wiley; Teo, Patrick; Muzzolini, Russ

    2010-02-01

    The diversity of photo products has grown more than ever before. A group of photos are not only printed individually, but also can be arranged in specific order to tell a story, such as in a photo book, a calendar or a poster collage. Similar to making a traditional scrapbook, digital photo book tools allow the user to choose a book style/theme, layouts of pages, backgrounds and the way the pictures are arranged. This process is often time consuming to users, given the number of images and the choices of layout/background combinations. In this paper, we developed a system to automatically generate photo books with only a few initial selections required. The system utilizes time stamps, color indices, orientations and other image properties to best fit pictures into a final photo book. The common way of telling a story is to lay the pictures out in chronological order. If the pictures are proximate in time, they will coincide with each other and are often logically related. The pictures are naturally clustered along a time line. Breaks between clusters can be used as a guide to separate pages or spreads, thus, pictures that are logically related can stay close on the same page or spread. When people are making a photo book, it is helpful to start with chronologically grouped images, but time alone wont be enough to complete the process. Each page is limited by the number of layouts available. Many aesthetic rules also apply, such as, emphasis of preferred pictures, consistency of local image density throughout the whole book, matching a background to the content of the images, and the variety of adjacent page layouts. We developed an algorithm to group images onto pages under the constraints of aesthetic rules. We also apply content analysis based on the color and blurriness of each picture, to match backgrounds and to adjust page layouts. Some of our aesthetic rules are fixed and given by designers. Other aesthetic rules are statistic models trained by using customer photo book samples. We evaluate our algorithm with test photo sets, and ask participants both quantitative and qualitative questions for feedback. We have seen the improvement on the time it takes users to produce a photo book and on the satisfaction with the overall quality.

  20. Numerical investigation of optimal layout of rockbolts for ground structures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kato, Junji; Ishi, Keiichiro; Terada, Kenjiro; Kyoya, Takashi

    Due to difficulty to obtain reliable ground data, layout of rockbolts is determined entirely in a classical way assuming an isotropic rock stress condition. The present study assumes anisotropic stress condition and optimizes layout of rockbolts in order to maximize the stiffness of unstable ground of tunnels and slopes by applying multiphase layout optimization. It was verified that this method has a certain possibility to improve the stiffness of unstable ground.

  1. The Effect of Visual Task Difficulty on the Fixation-Related Lambda Response

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2018-02-01

    than limiting eye movements in experimental paradigms. The lambda response, a prominent neural signature of the fixation-related potential, has been...release; distribution is unlimited. v List of Figures Fig. 1 Task layout. The left image shows the layout of the experimental environment while a...on an invisible 7 × 7 grid. Fig. 1 Task layout. The left image shows the layout of the experimental environment while a participant performs the

  2. Topology-optimized metasurfaces: impact of initial geometric layout.

    PubMed

    Yang, Jianji; Fan, Jonathan A

    2017-08-15

    Topology optimization is a powerful iterative inverse design technique in metasurface engineering and can transform an initial layout into a high-performance device. With this method, devices are optimized within a local design phase space, making the identification of suitable initial geometries essential. In this Letter, we examine the impact of initial geometric layout on the performance of large-angle (75 deg) topology-optimized metagrating deflectors. We find that when conventional metasurface designs based on dielectric nanoposts are used as initial layouts for topology optimization, the final devices have efficiencies around 65%. In contrast, when random initial layouts are used, the final devices have ultra-high efficiencies that can reach 94%. Our numerical experiments suggest that device topologies based on conventional metasurface designs may not be suitable to produce ultra-high-efficiency, large-angle metasurfaces. Rather, initial geometric layouts with non-trivial topologies and shapes are required.

  3. Constructing an optimal facility layout to maximize adjacency as a function of common boundary length

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghassemi Tari, Farhad; Neghabi, Hossein

    2018-03-01

    An effective facility layout implies that departments with high flow are laid adjacent. However, in the case of a very narrow boundary length between the neighbouring departments, the adjacency would actually be useless. In traditional layout design methods, a score is generally assigned independent of the department's boundary length. This may result in a layout design with a restricted material flow. This article proposes a new concept of adjacency in which the department pairs are laid adjacent with a wider path. To apply this concept, a shop with unequal rectangular departments is contemplated and a mathematical programming model with the objective of maximizing the sum of the adjacency degrees is proposed. A computational experiment is conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of the layout design. It is demonstrated that the new concept provides a more efficient and a more realistic layout design.

  4. Demonstration of electronic design automation flow for massively parallel e-beam lithography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brandt, Pieter; Belledent, Jérôme; Tranquillin, Céline; Figueiro, Thiago; Meunier, Stéfanie; Bayle, Sébastien; Fay, Aurélien; Milléquant, Matthieu; Icard, Beatrice; Wieland, Marco

    2014-07-01

    For proximity effect correction in 5 keV e-beam lithography, three elementary building blocks exist: dose modulation, geometry (size) modulation, and background dose addition. Combinations of these three methods are quantitatively compared in terms of throughput impact and process window (PW). In addition, overexposure in combination with negative bias results in PW enhancement at the cost of throughput. In proximity effect correction by over exposure (PEC-OE), the entire layout is set to fixed dose and geometry sizes are adjusted. In PEC-dose to size (DTS) both dose and geometry sizes are locally optimized. In PEC-background (BG), a background is added to correct the long-range part of the point spread function. In single e-beam tools (Gaussian or Shaped-beam), throughput heavily depends on the number of shots. In raster scan tools such as MAPPER Lithography's FLX 1200 (MATRIX platform) this is not the case and instead of pattern density, the maximum local dose on the wafer is limiting throughput. The smallest considered half-pitch is 28 nm, which may be considered the 14-nm node for Metal-1 and the 10-nm node for the Via-1 layer, achieved in a single exposure with e-beam lithography. For typical 28-nm-hp Metal-1 layouts, it was shown that dose latitudes (size of process window) of around 10% are realizable with available PEC methods. For 28-nm-hp Via-1 layouts this is even higher at 14% and up. When the layouts do not reach the highest densities (up to 10∶1 in this study), PEC-BG and PEC-OE provide the capability to trade throughput for dose latitude. At the highest densities, PEC-DTS is required for proximity correction, as this method adjusts both geometry edges and doses and will reduce the dose at the densest areas. For 28-nm-hp lines critical dimension (CD), hole&dot (CD) and line ends (edge placement error), the data path errors are typically 0.9, 1.0 and 0.7 nm (3σ) and below, respectively. There is not a clear data path performance difference between the investigated PEC methods. After the simulations, the methods were successfully validated in exposures on a MAPPER pre-alpha tool. A 28-nm half pitch Metal-1 and Via-1 layouts show good performance in resist that coincide with the simulation result. Exposures of soft-edge stitched layouts show that beam-to-beam position errors up to ±7 nm specified for FLX 1200 show no noticeable impact on CD. The research leading to these results has been performed in the frame of the industrial collaborative consortium IMAGINE.

  5. 9. Credit JPL. Photographic copy of drawing, engineering drawing showing ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    9. Credit JPL. Photographic copy of drawing, engineering drawing showing structure of Test Stand 'A' (Building 4202/E-3) and its relationship to the Monitor Building or blockhouse (Building 4203/E-4) when a reinforced concrete machinery room was added to the west side of Test Stand 'A' in 1955. California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Plant Engineering 'Electrical Layout - Muroc, Test Stand & Refrigeration Equipment Room,' drawing no. E3/7-0, April 6, 1955. - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Edwards Facility, Test Stand A, Edwards Air Force Base, Boron, Kern County, CA

  6. The methodological features of studying energy efficiency of a combined mini-TPP on the basis of a gas-piston unit and a steam turbine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shchinnikov, P. A.; Marasanov, N. V.

    2017-07-01

    The technology of electricity production by a mini-thermal power plant, operating on combined cycles of Otto and Rankine, is considered. The main aspects of the investigation methodology are outlined. It is shown that the design and layout parameters of all the major energy elements of the developed technology allow implementing it in a block and modular version; and the efficiency of electricity supply for the proposed technology will be at least 50 %.

  7. Estimation of design space for an extrusion-spheronization process using response surface methodology and artificial neural network modelling.

    PubMed

    Sovány, Tamás; Tislér, Zsófia; Kristó, Katalin; Kelemen, András; Regdon, Géza

    2016-09-01

    The application of the Quality by Design principles is one of the key issues of the recent pharmaceutical developments. In the past decade a lot of knowledge was collected about the practical realization of the concept, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. The key requirement of the concept is the mathematical description of the effect of the critical factors and their interactions on the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the product. The process design space (PDS) is usually determined by the use of design of experiment (DoE) based response surface methodologies (RSM), but inaccuracies in the applied polynomial models often resulted in the over/underestimation of the real trends and changes making the calculations uncertain, especially in the edge regions of the PDS. The completion of RSM with artificial neural network (ANN) based models is therefore a commonly used method to reduce the uncertainties. Nevertheless, since the different researches are focusing on the use of a given DoE, there is lack of comparative studies on different experimental layouts. Therefore, the aim of present study was to investigate the effect of the different DoE layouts (2 level full factorial, Central Composite, Box-Behnken, 3 level fractional and 3 level full factorial design) on the model predictability and to compare model sensitivities according to the organization of the experimental data set. It was revealed that the size of the design space could differ more than 40% calculated with different polynomial models, which was associated with a considerable shift in its position when higher level layouts were applied. The shift was more considerable when the calculation was based on RSM. The model predictability was also better with ANN based models. Nevertheless, both modelling methods exhibit considerable sensitivity to the organization of the experimental data set, and the use of design layouts is recommended, where the extreme values factors are more represented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. A fast and efficient method for device level layout analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dong, YaoQi; Zou, Elaine; Pang, Jenny; Huang, Lucas; Yang, Legender; Zhang, Chunlei; Du, Chunshan; Hu, Xinyi; Wan, Qijian

    2017-03-01

    There is an increasing demand for device level layout analysis, especially as technology advances. The analysis is to study standard cells by extracting and classifying critical dimension parameters. There are couples of parameters to extract, like channel width, length, gate to active distance, and active to adjacent active distance, etc. for 14nm technology, there are some other parameters that are cared about. On the one hand, these parameters are very important for studying standard cell structures and spice model development with the goal of improving standard cell manufacturing yield and optimizing circuit performance; on the other hand, a full chip device statistics analysis can provide useful information to diagnose the yield issue. Device analysis is essential for standard cell customization and enhancements and manufacturability failure diagnosis. Traditional parasitic parameters extraction tool like Calibre xRC is powerful but it is not sufficient for this device level layout analysis application as engineers would like to review, classify and filter out the data more easily. This paper presents a fast and efficient method based on Calibre equation-based DRC (eqDRC). Equation-based DRC extends the traditional DRC technology to provide a flexible programmable modeling engine which allows the end user to define grouped multi-dimensional feature measurements using flexible mathematical expressions. This paper demonstrates how such an engine and its programming language can be used to implement critical device parameter extraction. The device parameters are extracted and stored in a DFM database which can be processed by Calibre YieldServer. YieldServer is data processing software that lets engineers query, manipulate, modify, and create data in a DFM database. These parameters, known as properties in eqDRC language, can be annotated back to the layout for easily review. Calibre DesignRev can create a HTML formatted report of the results displayed in Calibre RVE which makes it easy to share results among groups. This method has been proven and used in SMIC PDE team and SPICE team.

  9. Maryland Department of the Environment

    Science.gov Websites

    Open - New lead laws now in effect for rental properties. Register your property today. Notices and /ParameterList.aspx?list={ListId}&ID={ItemId} 0x0 0x4 FileType rdl 353 Manage Processing Options /_layouts

  10. An efficient biological pathway layout algorithm combining grid-layout and spring embedder for complicated cellular location information

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background Graph drawing is one of the important techniques for understanding biological regulations in a cell or among cells at the pathway level. Among many available layout algorithms, the spring embedder algorithm is widely used not only for pathway drawing but also for circuit placement and www visualization and so on because of the harmonized appearance of its results. For pathway drawing, location information is essential for its comprehension. However, complex shapes need to be taken into account when torus-shaped location information such as nuclear inner membrane, nuclear outer membrane, and plasma membrane is considered. Unfortunately, the spring embedder algorithm cannot easily handle such information. In addition, crossings between edges and nodes are usually not considered explicitly. Results We proposed a new grid-layout algorithm based on the spring embedder algorithm that can handle location information and provide layouts with harmonized appearance. In grid-layout algorithms, the mapping of nodes to grid points that minimizes a cost function is searched. By imposing positional constraints on grid points, location information including complex shapes can be easily considered. Our layout algorithm includes the spring embedder cost as a component of the cost function. We further extend the layout algorithm to enable dynamic update of the positions and sizes of compartments at each step. Conclusions The new spring embedder-based grid-layout algorithm and a spring embedder algorithm are applied to three biological pathways; endothelial cell model, Fas-induced apoptosis model, and C. elegans cell fate simulation model. From the positional constraints, all the results of our algorithm satisfy location information, and hence, more comprehensible layouts are obtained as compared to the spring embedder algorithm. From the comparison of the number of crossings, the results of the grid-layout-based algorithm tend to contain more crossings than those of the spring embedder algorithm due to the positional constraints. For a fair comparison, we also apply our proposed method without positional constraints. This comparison shows that these results contain less crossings than those of the spring embedder algorithm. We also compared layouts of the proposed algorithm with and without compartment update and verified that latter can reach better local optima. PMID:20565884

  11. BioLayout(Java): versatile network visualisation of structural and functional relationships.

    PubMed

    Goldovsky, Leon; Cases, Ildefonso; Enright, Anton J; Ouzounis, Christos A

    2005-01-01

    Visualisation of biological networks is becoming a common task for the analysis of high-throughput data. These networks correspond to a wide variety of biological relationships, such as sequence similarity, metabolic pathways, gene regulatory cascades and protein interactions. We present a general approach for the representation and analysis of networks of variable type, size and complexity. The application is based on the original BioLayout program (C-language implementation of the Fruchterman-Rheingold layout algorithm), entirely re-written in Java to guarantee portability across platforms. BioLayout(Java) provides broader functionality, various analysis techniques, extensions for better visualisation and a new user interface. Examples of analysis of biological networks using BioLayout(Java) are presented.

  12. Combining endangered plants and animals as surrogates to identify priority conservation areas in Yunnan, China

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Feiling; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Ruidong

    2016-01-01

    Suitable surrogates are critical for identifying optimal priority conservation areas (PCAs) to protect regional biodiversity. This study explored the efficiency of using endangered plants and animals as surrogates for identifying PCAs at the county level in Yunnan, southwest China. We ran the Dobson algorithm under three surrogate scenarios at 75% and 100% conservation levels and identified four types of PCAs. Assessment of the protection efficiencies of the four types of PCAs showed that endangered plants had higher surrogacy values than endangered animals but that the two were not substitutable; coupled endangered plants and animals as surrogates yielded a higher surrogacy value than endangered plants or animals as surrogates; the plant-animal priority areas (PAPAs) was the optimal among the four types of PCAs for conserving both endangered plants and animals in Yunnan. PAPAs could well represent overall species diversity distribution patterns and overlap with critical biogeographical regions in Yunnan. Fourteen priority units in PAPAs should be urgently considered as optimizing Yunnan’s protected area system. The spatial pattern of PAPAs at the 100% conservation level could be conceptualized into three connected conservation belts, providing a valuable reference for optimizing the layout of the in situ protected area system in Yunnan. PMID:27538537

  13. Loss analysis and optimum design of a highly efficient and compact CMOS DC–DC converter with novel transistor layout using 60 nm multipillar-type vertical body channel MOSFET

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Itoh, Kazuki; Endoh, Tetsuo

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, we present a novel transistor layout of multi pillar-type vertical body-channel (BC) MOSFET for cascode power switches for improving the efficiency and compactness of CMOS DC–DC converters. The proposed layout features a stacked and multifingered layout to suppress the loss due to parasitic components such as diffusion resistance and contact resistance. In addition, the loss of each MOSFET, which configures cascode power switches, is analyzed, and it is revealed that the total optimum gate width and loss with the high-side (HS) n-type MOSFET topology are 27 and 16% smaller than those with the HS p-type MOSFET topology, respectively. Moreover, a circuit simulation of 2.0 to 0.8 V, 100 MHz CMOS DC–DC converters with the proposed layout is carried out by using experimentally extracted models of BSIM4 60 nm vertical BC MOSFETs. The peak efficiency of the HS n-type MOSFET converter with the proposed layout is 90.1%, which is 6.0% higher than that with the conventional layout.

  14. Generating Multi-Destination Maps.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Junsong; Fan, Jiepeng; Luo, Zhenshan

    2017-08-01

    Multi-destination maps are a kind of navigation maps aimed to guide visitors to multiple destinations within a region, which can be of great help to urban visitors. However, they have not been developed in the current online map service. To address this issue, we introduce a novel layout model designed especially for generating multi-destination maps, which considers the global and local layout of a multi-destination map. We model the layout problem as a graph drawing that satisfies a set of hard and soft constraints. In the global layout phase, we balance the scale factor between ROIs. In the local layout phase, we make all edges have good visibility and optimize the map layout to preserve the relative length and angle of roads. We also propose a perturbation-based optimization method to find an optimal layout in the complex solution space. The multi-destination maps generated by our system are potential feasible on the modern mobile devices and our result can show an overview and a detail view of the whole map at the same time. In addition, we perform a user study to evaluate the effectiveness of our method, and the results prove that the multi-destination maps achieve our goals well.

  15. Layout and cabling considerations for a large communications antenna array

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Logan, R. T., Jr.

    1993-01-01

    Layout considerations for a large deep space communications antenna array are discussed. A fractal geometry for the antenna layout is described that provides optimal packing of antenna elements, efficient cable routing, and logical division of the array into identical sub-arrays.

  16. SOI layout decomposition for double patterning lithography on high-performance computer platforms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Verstov, Vladimir; Zinchenko, Lyudmila; Makarchuk, Vladimir

    2014-12-01

    In the paper silicon on insulator layout decomposition algorithms for the double patterning lithography on high performance computing platforms are discussed. Our approach is based on the use of a contradiction graph and a modified concurrent breadth-first search algorithm. We evaluate our technique on 45 nm Nangate Open Cell Library including non-Manhattan geometry. Experimental results show that our soft computing algorithms decompose layout successfully and a minimal distance between polygons in layout is increased.

  17. Human factors engineering approaches to patient identification armband design.

    PubMed

    Probst, C Adam; Wolf, Laurie; Bollini, Mara; Xiao, Yan

    2016-01-01

    The task of patient identification is performed many times each day by nurses and other members of the care team. Armbands are used for both direct verification and barcode scanning during patient identification. Armbands and information layout are critical to reducing patient identification errors and dangerous workarounds. We report the effort at two large, integrated healthcare systems that employed human factors engineering approaches to the information layout design of new patient identification armbands. The different methods used illustrate potential pathways to obtain standardized armbands across healthcare systems that incorporate human factors principles. By extension, how the designs have been adopted provides examples of how to incorporate human factors engineering into key clinical processes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  18. Control centers design for ergonomics and safety.

    PubMed

    Quintana, Leonardo; Lizarazo, Cesar; Bernal, Oscar; Cordoba, Jorge; Arias, Claudia; Monroy, Magda; Cotrino, Carlos; Montoya, Olga

    2012-01-01

    This paper shows the general design conditions about ergonomics and safety for control centers in the petrochemical process industry. Some of the topics include guidelines for the optimized workstation design, control room layout, building layout, and lighting, acoustical and environmental design. Also takes into account the safety parameters in the control rooms and centers design. The conditions and parameters shown in this paper come from the standards and global advances on this topic on the most recent publications. And also the work was supplemented by field visits of our team to the control center operations in a petrochemical company, and technical literature search efforts. This guideline will be useful to increase the productivity and improve the working conditions at the control rooms.

  19. Medication room madness: calming the chaos.

    PubMed

    Conrad, Carole; Fields, Willa; McNamara, Tracey; Cone, Maryann; Atkins, Patricia

    2010-01-01

    Nurses work in stressful environments, encountering interruptions and distractions at almost every turn. The aim of this medication safety project was to improve the physical design and organizational layout of the medication room, reduce nurse interruptions and distractions, and create a standard medication process for enhanced patient safety and efficiency. This successful change improved the medication administration process, decreased medication errors, and enhanced nursing satisfaction.

  20. Library API for Z-Order Memory Layout

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bethel, E. Wes

    This library provides a simple-to-use API for implementing an altnerative to traditional row-major order in-memory layout, one based on a Morton- order space filling curve (SFC) , specifically, a Z-order variant of the Morton order curve. The library enables programmers to, after a simple initialization step, to convert a multidimensional array from row-major to Z- order layouts, then use a single, generic API call to access data from any arbitrary (i,j,k) location from within the array, whether it it be stored in row- major or z-order format. The motivation for using a SFC in-memory layout is for improved spatial locality,more » which results in increased use of local high speed cache memory. The basic idea is that with row-major order layouts, a data access to some location that is nearby in index space is likely far away in physical memory, resulting in poor spatial locality and slow runtime. On the other hand, with a SFC-based layout, accesses that are nearby in index space are much more likely to also be nearby in physical memory, resulting in much better spatial locality, and better runtime performance. Numerous studies over the years have shown significant runtime performance gains are realized by using a SFC-based memory layout compared to a row-major layout, sometimes by as much as 50%, which result from the better use of the memory and cache hierarchy that are attendant with a SFC-based layout (see, for example, [Beth2012]). This library implementation is intended for use with codes that work with structured, array-based data in 2 or 3 dimensions. It is not appropriate for use with unstructured or point-based data.« less

  1. The role of optimization in the next generation of computer-based design tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rogan, J. Edward

    1989-01-01

    There is a close relationship between design optimization and the emerging new generation of computer-based tools for engineering design. With some notable exceptions, the development of these new tools has not taken full advantage of recent advances in numerical design optimization theory and practice. Recent work in the field of design process architecture has included an assessment of the impact of next-generation computer-based design tools on the design process. These results are summarized, and insights into the role of optimization in a design process based on these next-generation tools are presented. An example problem has been worked out to illustrate the application of this technique. The example problem - layout of an aircraft main landing gear - is one that is simple enough to be solved by many other techniques. Although the mathematical relationships describing the objective function and constraints for the landing gear layout problem can be written explicitly and are quite straightforward, an approximation technique has been used in the solution of this problem that can just as easily be applied to integrate supportability or producibility assessments using theory of measurement techniques into the design decision-making process.

  2. 1D design style implications for mask making and CEBL

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smayling, Michael C.

    2013-09-01

    At advanced nodes, CMOS logic is being designed in a highly regular design style because of the resolution limitations of optical lithography equipment. Logic and memory layouts using 1D Gridded Design Rules (GDR) have been demonstrated to nodes beyond 12nm.[1-4] Smaller nodes will require the same regular layout style but with multiple patterning for critical layers. One of the significant advantages of 1D GDR is the ease of splitting layouts into lines and cuts. A lines and cuts approach has been used to achieve good pattern fidelity and process margin to below 12nm.[4] Line scaling with excellent line-edge roughness (LER) has been demonstrated with self-aligned spacer processing.[5] This change in design style has important implications for mask making: • The complexity of the masks will be greatly reduced from what would be required for 2D designs with very complex OPC or inverse lithography corrections. • The number of masks will initially increase, as for conventional multiple patterning. But in the case of 1D design, there are future options for mask count reduction. • The line masks will remain simple, with little or no OPC, at pitches (1x) above 80nm. This provides an excellent opportunity for continual improvement of line CD and LER. The line pattern will be processed through a self-aligned pitch division sequence to divide pitch by 2 or by 4. • The cut masks can be done with "simple OPC" as demonstrated to beyond 12nm.[6] Multiple simple cut masks may be required at advanced nodes. "Coloring" has been demonstrated to below 12nm for two colors and to 8nm for three colors. • Cut/hole masks will eventually be replaced by e-beam direct write using complementary e-beam lithography (CEBL).[7-11] This transition is gated by the availability of multiple column e-beam systems with throughput adequate for high- volume manufacturing. A brief description of 1D and 2D design styles will be presented, followed by examples of 1D layouts. Mask complexity for 1D layouts patterned directly will be compared to mask complexity for lines and cuts at nodes larger than 20nm. No such comparison is possible below 20nm since single-patterning does not work below ~80nm pitch using optical exposure tools. Also discussed will be recently published wafer results for line patterns with pitch division by-2 and by-4 at sub-12nm nodes, plus examples of post-etch results for 1D patterns done with cut masks and compared to cuts exposed by a single-column e-beam direct write system.

  3. IC layout adjustment method and tool for improving dielectric reliability at interconnects

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kahng, Andrew B.; Chan, Tuck Boon

    Method for adjusting a layout used in making an integrated circuit includes one or more interconnects in the layout that are susceptible to dielectric breakdown are selected. One or more selected interconnects are adjusted to increase via to wire spacing with respect to at least one via and one wire of the one or more selected interconnects. Preferably, the selecting analyzes signal patterns of interconnects, and estimates the stress ratio based on state probability of routed signal nets in the layout. An annotated layout is provided that describes distances by which one or more via or wire segment edges aremore » to be shifted. Adjustments can include thinning and shifting of wire segments, and rotation of vias.« less

  4. Learning Layouts for Single-Page Graphic Designs.

    PubMed

    O'Donovan, Peter; Agarwala, Aseem; Hertzmann, Aaron

    2014-08-01

    This paper presents an approach for automatically creating graphic design layouts using a new energy-based model derived from design principles. The model includes several new algorithms for analyzing graphic designs, including the prediction of perceived importance, alignment detection, and hierarchical segmentation. Given the model, we use optimization to synthesize new layouts for a variety of single-page graphic designs. Model parameters are learned with Nonlinear Inverse Optimization (NIO) from a small number of example layouts. To demonstrate our approach, we show results for applications including generating design layouts in various styles, retargeting designs to new sizes, and improving existing designs. We also compare our automatic results with designs created using crowdsourcing and show that our approach performs slightly better than novice designers.

  5. Investigation of alternative layouts for the supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for a sodium-cooled fast reactor.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Moisseytsev, A.; Sienicki, J. J.

    2009-07-01

    Analyses of supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO{sub 2}) Brayton cycle performance have largely settled on the recompression supercritical cycle (or Feher cycle) incorporating a flow split between the main compressor downstream of heat rejection, a recompressing compressor providing direct compression without heat rejection, and high and low temperature recuperators to raise the effectiveness of recuperation and the cycle efficiency. Alternative cycle layouts have been previously examined by Angelino (Politecnico, Milan), by MIT (Dostal, Hejzlar, and Driscoll), and possibly others but not for sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) operating at relatively low core outlet temperature. Thus, the present authors could not be suremore » that the recompression cycle is an optimal arrangement for application to the SFR. To ensure that an advantageous alternative layout has not been overlooked, several alternative cycle layouts have been investigated for a S-CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle coupled to the Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR) SFR preconceptual design having a 510 C core outlet temperature and a 470 C turbine inlet temperature to determine if they provide any benefit in cycle performance (e.g., enhanced cycle efficiency). No such benefits were identified, consistent with the previous examinations, such that attention was devoted to optimizing the recompression supercritical cycle. The effects of optimizing the cycle minimum temperature and pressure are investigated including minimum temperatures and/or pressures below the critical values. It is found that improvements in the cycle efficiency of 1% or greater relative to previous analyses which arbitrarily fixed the minimum temperature and pressure can be realized through an optimal choice of the combination of the minimum cycle temperature and pressure (e.g., for a fixed minimum temperature there is an optimal minimum pressure). However, this leads to a requirement for a larger cooler for heat rejection which may impact the tradeoff between efficiency and capital cost. In addition, for minimum temperatures below the critical temperature, a lower heat sink temperature is required the availability of which is dependent upon the climate at the specific plant site.« less

  6. Saving Material with Systematic Process Designs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kerausch, M.

    2011-08-01

    Global competition is forcing the stamping industry to further increase quality, to shorten time-to-market and to reduce total cost. Continuous balancing between these classical time-cost-quality targets throughout the product development cycle is required to ensure future economical success. In today's industrial practice, die layout standards are typically assumed to implicitly ensure the balancing of company specific time-cost-quality targets. Although die layout standards are a very successful approach, there are two methodical disadvantages. First, the capabilities for tool design have to be continuously adapted to technological innovations; e.g. to take advantage of the full forming capability of new materials. Secondly, the great variety of die design aspects have to be reduced to a generic rule or guideline; e.g. binder shape, draw-in conditions or the use of drawbeads. Therefore, it is important to not overlook cost or quality opportunities when applying die design standards. This paper describes a systematic workflow with focus on minimizing material consumption. The starting point of the investigation is a full process plan for a typical structural part. All requirements are definedaccording to a predefined set of die design standards with industrial relevance are fulfilled. In a first step binder and addendum geometry is systematically checked for material saving potentials. In a second step, blank shape and draw-in are adjusted to meet thinning, wrinkling and springback targets for a minimum blank solution. Finally the identified die layout is validated with respect to production robustness versus splits, wrinkles and springback. For all three steps the applied methodology is based on finite element simulation combined with a stochastical variation of input variables. With the proposed workflow a well-balanced (time-cost-quality) production process assuring minimal material consumption can be achieved.

  7. 76 FR 68194 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-03

    ... Layouts for HPBS Work Measures. OMB No.: 0970-0230. Description: There is no longer a High Performance... information on States' performance. The Transmission File Layouts form provides the format that States will... are not requesting any changes to the Transmission File Layouts form. Respondents: Respondents may...

  8. 32 CFR Appendix B to Part 247 - CE Publications

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... liaison functions on publisher premises including monitoring and coordinating layout and design and other... coordinate layout and ensure that the preparation of editorial material is performed in such a way as to... commander's representative shall have the authority to specify newspaper advertising layout when required to...

  9. Layout Guide for Burnt and Un-burnt Tropical Forest: The Diversity of Forest Plants and Insetcs for Sustainable Environmental

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Watiniasih, N. L.; Tambunan, J.; Merdana, I. M.; Antara, I. N. G.

    2018-04-01

    Forest fire is a common phenomenon in tropical forest likes in Indonesia. Beside the effect of soaring heat and lack of rain during dry season due to the tropical climate, farming system is also reported as one reason of forest fire in Indonesia. People of surrounding areas and neighbouring countries are suffering from the effect of forest fire. Plants and animals are the most suffer from this occurrence that they cannot escape. This study aimed to investigate the effect of previously burnt and un-burnt tropical forest in Borneo Island on the plant and insect diversity of the tropical forest. The result of the study found that the plants in previously burnt forest area was dominated by one species, while higher and more stable plant diversity was found in un-burnt forest. Although the number of individual insects was higher in previously burnt tropical forest, but the insects was more diverse in un-burnt tropical forest. The alteration of environmental conditions in previously burnt and un-burnt forest indicate that the energy held in natural forest support higher number and more stable insects than previously burnt forest.

  10. The Impact of Inherent Instructional Design in Online Courseware.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harvey, Douglas M.; Lee, Jung

    2001-01-01

    Examines how the use of server-based courseware development solutions affects the instructional design process when creating online distance education. Highlights include pedagogical, visual interface (e.g., visual metaphor and navigation layout), interaction, and instructional design implications of online courseware. (Contains 54 references.)…

  11. Desktop Publishing in Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, Wendy; Layman, J.

    1989-01-01

    Discusses the state of desktop publishing (DTP) in education today and describes the weaknesses of the systems available for use in the classroom. Highlights include document design and layout; text composition; graphics; word processing capabilities; a comparison of commercial and educational DTP packages; and skills required for DTP. (four…

  12. Directed self-assembly of block copolymers for nanolithography: fabrication of isolated features and essential integrated circuit geometries.

    PubMed

    Stoykovich, Mark P; Kang, Huiman; Daoulas, Kostas Ch; Liu, Guoliang; Liu, Chi-Chun; de Pablo, Juan J; Müller, Marcus; Nealey, Paul F

    2007-10-01

    Self-assembling block copolymers are of interest for nanomanufacturing due to the ability to realize sub-100 nm dimensions, thermodynamic control over the size and uniformity and density of features, and inexpensive processing. The insertion point of these materials in the production of integrated circuits, however, is often conceptualized in the short term for niche applications using the dense periodic arrays of spots or lines that characterize bulk block copolymer morphologies, or in the long term for device layouts completely redesigned into periodic arrays. Here we show that the domain structure of block copolymers in thin films can be directed to assemble into nearly the complete set of essential dense and isolated patterns as currently defined by the semiconductor industry. These results suggest that block copolymer materials, with their intrinsically advantageous self-assembling properties, may be amenable for broad application in advanced lithography, including device layouts used in existing nanomanufacturing processes.

  13. A TEMPLATE-BASED FABRICATION TECHNIQUE FOR SPATIALLY-DESIGNED POLYMER MICRO/NANOFIBER COMPOSITES

    PubMed Central

    Naik, Nisarga; Caves, Jeff; Kumar, Vivek; Chaikof, Elliot; Allen, Mark G.

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports a template-based technique for the fabrication of polymer micro/nanofiber composites, exercising control over the fiber dimensions and alignment. Unlike conventional spinning-based methods of fiber production, the presented approach is based on micro-transfer molding. It is a parallel processing technique capable of producing fibers with control over both in-plane and out-of-plane geometries, in addition to packing density and layout of the fibers. Collagen has been used as a test polymer to demonstrate the concept. Hollow and solid collagen fibers with various spatial layouts have been fabricated. Produced fibers have widths ranging from 2 µm to 50 µm, and fiber thicknesses ranging from 300 nm to 3 µm. Also, three-dimensionality of the process has been demonstrated by producing in-plane serpentine fibers with designed arc lengths, out-of-plane wavy fibers, fibers with focalized particle encapsulation, and porous fibers with desired periodicity and pore sizes. PMID:24533428

  14. [Study on ecological suitability regionalization of Corni Fructus based on Maxent and ArcGIS model].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Fei; Chen, Sui-Qing; Wang, Li-Li; Zhang, Tao; Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Zhu, Shou-Dong

    2017-08-01

    Through planting regionalization the scientific basis for planting area of high-quality medicinal materials was predicted. Through interview investigation and field survey, the distribution information of Corni Fructus in China was collected,and 89 sampling point from 14 producing areas were collected. Climate and topography of Corni Fructus were analyzed, the ecological adaptability of study was conducted based on ArcGIS and Maxent. Different suitability grade at potential areas and regionalization map were formulated. There are nine ecological factors affecting the growth of Corni Fructus, for example precipitation in November and March and vegetation type. The results showed that the most suitable habitats are Henan, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Hubei, Sichuan, Anhui, Hunan and Shandong province. Using the spatial analysis method,the study not only illustrates the most suitable for the surroundings of Corni Fructus,but also provides a scientific reference for wild resource tending, introduction and cultivation, and artificial planting base and directing production layout. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  15. Wastewater reclamation and recharge: A water management strategy for Albuquerque

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gorder, P.J.; Brunswick, R.J.; Bockemeier, S.W.

    1995-12-31

    Approximately 61,000 acre-feet of the pumped water is annually discharged to the Rio Grande as treated wastewater. Albuquerque`s Southside Water Reclamation Plant (SWRP) is the primary wastewater treatment facility for most of the Albuquerque area. Its current design capacity is 76 million gallons per day (mgd), which is expected to be adequate until about 2004. A master plan currently is being prepared (discussed here in Wastewater Master Planning and the Zero Discharge Concept section) to provide guidelines for future expansions of the plant and wastewater infrastructure. Construction documents presently are being prepared to add ammonia and nitrogen removal capability tomore » the plant, as required by its new discharge permit. The paper discusses water management strategies, indirect potable reuse for Albuquerque, water quality considerations for indirect potable reuse, treatment for potable reuse, geohydrological aspects of a recharge program, layout and estimated costs for a conceptual reclamation and recharge system, and work to be accomplished under phase 2 of the reclamation and recharge program.« less

  16. Task Parallel Incomplete Cholesky Factorization using 2D Partitioned-Block Layout

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kim, Kyungjoo; Rajamanickam, Sivasankaran; Stelle, George Widgery

    We introduce a task-parallel algorithm for sparse incomplete Cholesky factorization that utilizes a 2D sparse partitioned-block layout of a matrix. Our factorization algorithm follows the idea of algorithms-by-blocks by using the block layout. The algorithm-byblocks approach induces a task graph for the factorization. These tasks are inter-related to each other through their data dependences in the factorization algorithm. To process the tasks on various manycore architectures in a portable manner, we also present a portable tasking API that incorporates different tasking backends and device-specific features using an open-source framework for manycore platforms i.e., Kokkos. A performance evaluation is presented onmore » both Intel Sandybridge and Xeon Phi platforms for matrices from the University of Florida sparse matrix collection to illustrate merits of the proposed task-based factorization. Experimental results demonstrate that our task-parallel implementation delivers about 26.6x speedup (geometric mean) over single-threaded incomplete Choleskyby- blocks and 19.2x speedup over serial Cholesky performance which does not carry tasking overhead using 56 threads on the Intel Xeon Phi processor for sparse matrices arising from various application problems.« less

  17. Automatic Optimization of Wayfinding Design.

    PubMed

    Huang, Haikun; Lin, Ni-Ching; Barrett, Lorenzo; Springer, Darian; Wang, Hsueh-Cheng; Pomplun, Marc; Yu, Lap-Fai

    2017-10-10

    Wayfinding signs play an important role in guiding users to navigate in a virtual environment and in helping pedestrians to find their ways in a real-world architectural site. Conventionally, the wayfinding design of a virtual environment is created manually, so as the wayfinding design of a real-world architectural site. The many possible navigation scenarios, and the interplay between signs and human navigation, can make the manual design process overwhelming and non-trivial. As a result, creating a wayfinding design for a typical layout can take months to several years. In this paper, we introduce the Way to Go! approach for automatically generating a wayfinding design for a given layout. The designer simply has to specify some navigation scenarios; our approach will automatically generate an optimized wayfinding design with signs properly placed considering human agents' visibility and possibility of making navigation mistakes. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in generating wayfinding designs for different layouts. We evaluate our results by comparing different wayfinding designs and show that our optimized designs can guide pedestrians to their destinations effectively. Our approach can also help the designer visualize the accessibility of a destination from different locations, and correct any "blind zone" with additional signs.

  18. Applying mixed methods to pretest the Pressure Ulcer Quality of Life (PU-QOL) instrument.

    PubMed

    Gorecki, C; Lamping, D L; Nixon, J; Brown, J M; Cano, S

    2012-04-01

    Pretesting is key in the development of patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments. We describe a mixed-methods approach based on interviews and Rasch measurement methods in the pretesting of the Pressure Ulcer Quality of Life (PU-QOL) instrument. We used cognitive interviews to pretest the PU-QOL in 35 patients with pressure ulcers with the view to identifying problematic items, followed by Rasch analysis to examine response options, appropriateness of the item series and biases due to question ordering (item fit). We then compared findings in an interactive and iterative process to identify potential strengths and weaknesses of PU-QOL items, and guide decision-making about further revisions to items and design/layout. Although cognitive interviews largely supported items, they highlighted problems with layout, response options and comprehension. Findings from the Rasch analysis identified problems with response options through reversed thresholds. The use of a mixed-methods approach in pretesting the PU-QOL instrument proved beneficial for identifying problems with scale layout, response options and framing/wording of items. Rasch measurement methods are a useful addition to standard qualitative pretesting for evaluating strengths and weaknesses of early stage PRO instruments.

  19. The development of an inherent safety approach to the prevention of domino accidents.

    PubMed

    Cozzani, Valerio; Tugnoli, Alessandro; Salzano, Ernesto

    2009-11-01

    The severity of industrial accidents in which a domino effect takes place is well known in the chemical and process industry. The application of an inherent safety approach for the prevention of escalation events leading to domino accidents was explored in the present study. Reference primary scenarios were analyzed and escalation vectors were defined. Inherent safety distances were defined and proposed as a metric to express the intensity of the escalation vectors. Simple rules of thumb were presented for a preliminary screening of these distances. Swift reference indices for layout screening with respect to escalation hazard were also defined. Two case studies derived from existing layouts of oil refineries were selected to understand the potentialities coming from the application in the methodology. The results evidenced that the approach allows a first comparative assessment of the actual domino hazard in a layout, and the identification of critical primary units with respect to escalation events. The methodology developed also represents a useful screening tool to identify were to dedicate major efforts in the design of add-on measures, optimizing conventional passive and active measures for the prevention of severe domino accidents.

  20. Revisiting adoption of high transmission PSM: pros, cons and path forward

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Z. Mark; McDonald, Steve; Progler, Chris

    2009-12-01

    High transmission attenuated phase shift masks (Hi-T PSM) have been successfully applied in volume manufacturing for certain memory devices. Moreover, numerous studies have shown the potential benefits of Hi-T PSM for specific lithography applications. In this paper, the potential for extending Hi-T PSM to logic devices, is revisited with an emphasis on understanding layout, transmission, and manufacturing of Hi-T PSM versus traditional 6% embedded attenuated phase shift mask (EAPSM). Simulations on various layouts show Hi-T PSM has advantage over EAPSM in low duty cycle line patterns and high duty cycle space patterns. The overall process window can be enhanced when Hi- T PSM is combined with optimized optical proximity correction (OPC), sub-resolution assist features (SRAF), and source illumination. Therefore, Hi-T PSM may be a viable and lower cost alternative to other complex resolution enhancement technology (RET) approaches. Aerial image measurement system (AIMS) results on test masks, based on an inverse lithography technology (ILT) generated layout, confirm the simulation results. New advancement in high transmission blanks also make low topography Hi-T PSM a reality, which can minimize scattering effects in high NA lithography.

  1. Document reconstruction by layout analysis of snippets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kleber, Florian; Diem, Markus; Sablatnig, Robert

    2010-02-01

    Document analysis is done to analyze entire forms (e.g. intelligent form analysis, table detection) or to describe the layout/structure of a document. Also skew detection of scanned documents is performed to support OCR algorithms that are sensitive to skew. In this paper document analysis is applied to snippets of torn documents to calculate features for the reconstruction. Documents can either be destroyed by the intention to make the printed content unavailable (e.g. tax fraud investigation, business crime) or due to time induced degeneration of ancient documents (e.g. bad storage conditions). Current reconstruction methods for manually torn documents deal with the shape, inpainting and texture synthesis techniques. In this paper the possibility of document analysis techniques of snippets to support the matching algorithm by considering additional features are shown. This implies a rotational analysis, a color analysis and a line detection. As a future work it is planned to extend the feature set with the paper type (blank, checked, lined), the type of the writing (handwritten vs. machine printed) and the text layout of a snippet (text size, line spacing). Preliminary results show that these pre-processing steps can be performed reliably on a real dataset consisting of 690 snippets.

  2. 46 CFR 160.076-35 - Information pamphlet.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... pamphlet prior to purchase. The pamphlet text and layout must be submitted to the Commandant for approval... information, instructions, or illustrations must not be included within the approved text and layout. Sample pamphlet text and layout may be obtained by contacting the Commandant. This pamphlet may be combined with...

  3. 46 CFR 160.076-35 - Information pamphlet.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... pamphlet prior to purchase. The pamphlet text and layout must be submitted to the Commandant for approval... information, instructions, or illustrations must not be included within the approved text and layout. Sample pamphlet text and layout may be obtained by contacting the Commandant. This pamphlet may be combined with...

  4. Layout Geometry in Encoding and Retrieval of Spatial Memory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mou, Weimin; Liu, Xianyun; McNamara, Timothy P.

    2009-01-01

    Two experiments investigated whether the spatial reference directions that are used to specify objects' locations in memory can be solely determined by layout geometry. Participants studied a layout of objects from a single viewpoint while their eye movements were recorded. Subsequently, participants used memory to make judgments of relative…

  5. 76 FR 52956 - Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-24

    ... (HPBS) Transmission File Layouts for HPBS Work Measures OMB No.: 0970-0230 Description: There is no... provide us less precise information on States' performance. The Transmission File Layouts form provides... requested to transmit similar files. We are not requesting any changes to the Transmission File Layouts form...

  6. 41 CFR 102-85.35 - What definitions apply to this part?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., due to its layout, design, location, or other characteristics, is unlikely to be needed by another GSA... professional techniques of planning, layout and interior design to determine the best internal location and the... definition of “tenant improvement.” Initial space layout means the specific placement of workstations...

  7. 41 CFR 102-85.35 - What definitions apply to this part?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., due to its layout, design, location, or other characteristics, is unlikely to be needed by another GSA... professional techniques of planning, layout and interior design to determine the best internal location and the... definition of “tenant improvement.” Initial space layout means the specific placement of workstations...

  8. 41 CFR 102-85.35 - What definitions apply to this part?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ..., due to its layout, design, location, or other characteristics, is unlikely to be needed by another GSA... professional techniques of planning, layout and interior design to determine the best internal location and the... definition of “tenant improvement.” Initial space layout means the specific placement of workstations...

  9. 77 FR 22376 - Airport Improvement Program (AIP) Grant Assurances

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-13

    .... Additionally, the FAA is amending paragraph (a) of Sponsor Assurance 29, Airport Layout Plan, to require that... be depicted on the airport layout plan (ALP). This includes all residential and commercial through... the statutory grant assurance relating to airport layout plans to provide that a sponsor does not have...

  10. 41 CFR 102-85.35 - What definitions apply to this part?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ..., due to its layout, design, location, or other characteristics, is unlikely to be needed by another GSA... professional techniques of planning, layout and interior design to determine the best internal location and the... definition of “tenant improvement.” Initial space layout means the specific placement of workstations...

  11. Issues in Text Design and Layout for Computer Based Communications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andresen, Lee W.

    1991-01-01

    Discussion of computer-based communications (CBC) focuses on issues involved with screen design and layout for electronic text, based on experiences with electronic messaging, conferencing, and publishing within the Australian Open Learning Information Network (AOLIN). Recommendations for research on design and layout for printed text are also…

  12. 76 FR 39256 - Airworthiness Directives; Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 7X Airplanes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-06

    ... include modifying the applicable wiring and layout, a general visual inspection for absence of marks of... March 3, 2010. (2) Modify the applicable wiring and layout, in accordance with the Accomplishment... modifying the applicable wiring and layout, in accordance with Dassault Mandatory Service Bulletin 7X- 006...

  13. Simulation Modeling of a Facility Layout in Operations Management Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yazici, Hulya Julie

    2006-01-01

    Teaching quantitative courses can be challenging. Similarly, layout modeling and lean production concepts can be difficult to grasp in an introductory OM (operations management) class. This article describes a simulation model developed in PROMODEL to facilitate the learning of layout modeling and lean manufacturing. Simulation allows for the…

  14. Study on workshop layout of a motorcycle company based on systematic layout planning (SLP)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Kang-Qu; Zhang, Rui-Juan; Wang, Ying-Dong; Wang, Bing-Jie

    2010-08-01

    The method of SLP has been applied in a motorcycle company's layout planning. In this layout design, the related graphics have been used to illuminate the logistics and non-logistics relationships of every workshop to get the integrated relationships of workshops and preliminary plans. Comparing the two preliminary plans including logistics efficiency, space utilization, management conveniences, etc, an improvement solution is proposed. Through the improvement solution, the productivity has been increased by 18% and the production capacity is able to make 1600 engines each day.

  15. [SCHWABE Company's patent portfolio of Ginkgo biloba preparation].

    PubMed

    Liu, Wei; Cheng, Xin-Min; Geng, Dong-Mei; Tan, Wei; Zou, Wen-Jun

    2014-09-01

    SCHWABE Company in German is the first and largest manufacturer of Ginkgo biloba preparation. The company not only has leading technology in this field, but also protects its own market effectively through the high quality of patent drafting and exactly patent layout. Based on multi-angle analysis for patent portfolio of G. biloba preparation at application time, legal status, globally layout, Chinese layout, the article provides technical reference of research and development of G. biloba, also provides valuable experience of traditonal Chinese medicine patent portfolio layout for Chinese enterprises.

  16. Navigating comics: an empirical and theoretical approach to strategies of reading comic page layouts.

    PubMed

    Cohn, Neil

    2013-01-01

    Like the sequence of words in written language, comic book page layouts direct images into a deliberate reading sequence. Conventional wisdom would expect that comic panels follow the order of text: left-to-right and down - a "Z-path" - though several layouts can violate this order, such as Gestalt groupings of panels that deny a Z-path of reading. To examine how layouts pressure readers to choose pathways deviating from the Z-path, we presented participants with comic pages empty of content, and asked them to number the panels in the order they would read them. Participants frequently used strategies departing from both the traditional Z-path and Gestalt groupings. These preferences reveal a system of constraints that organizes panels into hierarchic constituents, guiding readers through comic page layouts.

  17. Consumer's Perception on Design and Layout of Consumer Medical Information Leaflets on Obesity and Lipid Lowering Drugs.

    PubMed

    Mathew, Elizabeth M; Rajiah, Kingston; Sharma, Krishana Kumar

    2013-12-01

    Printed education materials are often used to augment healthcare professional's verbal information to consumers so it serves as an important component of symptom management. They also enhance the teaching process and can be used by consumers as a home reference. This study was aimed to interpret consumers' perception on Consumer Medical Information Leaflets (CMILs) on obesity and lipid lowering drugs, on design and layout using the standard method such as Baker Able Leaflet Design (BALD). Convenience sampling was done. The study was conducted over a period of 3 years in community pharmacy settings in Tamil Nadu, India. The Consumer Medical Information Leaflets (CMILs) were randomly collected from different community pharmacies. Total of 19 CMILs which are commonly used by the consumers were collected and CMILs were assessed using BALD assessment tool Results: According to BALD assessment (46.28%) leaflets were rated as 'above standard' and (53.72) leaflets were rated as 'standard or poor' in layout and design since their scores were less than 25. This shows that this issue may be important from the patient's perspective, which may discourage patient from actually reading the CMILs. In India, generally CMILs are continued to be prepared in English and with higher proportion of consumers with English illiteracy. CMILs, which are prepared without taking consideration of reading level of consumers and proper layout and design, may not achieve the intended purpose. This is an important aspect that any company has to reckon while preparing leaflets and at least in some major local languages in which CMILs have to be prepared.

  18. A Close Loop Low-Power and High Speed 130 nm CMOS Sample and Hold Circuit Based on Switched Capacitor for ADC Module

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nasir, Z.; Ruslan, S. H.

    2017-08-01

    A sample and hold (S/H) block is typically used as an analogue to digital interface in the analogue to digital converter (ADC) system. Since ADC is widely used in processing signals, the power consumption of the ADC must be lowered to conserve energy. Therefore the S/H circuit must be of a low powered too. Sampling phase and hold phase are the two phases of the operation cycle of the S/H circuit. Switched capacitor (SC) techniques have been developed in order to allow the integration on a single silicon chip of both digital and analogue functions. By controlling switches around the SC, the SC circuit works by passing charge into and out of a capacitor. SC circuits are suitable for on chip implementations because they replace a resistor with switches and capacitors. In this research, a closed-loop sample and hold circuit based on SC is designed and simulated with Cadence EDA tools. The schematic, layout, and simulation of the circuit is done using generic Silterra 130 nm technology file. All the analysis is done using Virtuoso Analog Design Environment. Layout and schematic are drawn using Virtuoso Schematic Editor and Virtuoso Layout Editor, Calibre is used for post layout simulation. The closed loop S/H circuit based on SC is successfully designed and able to sample and hold the analogue input waveform. The power consumption of the circuit is 0.919 mW and the propagation delay is 64.96 ps.

  19. ITER Cryoplant Infrastructures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fauve, E.; Monneret, E.; Voigt, T.; Vincent, G.; Forgeas, A.; Simon, M.

    2017-02-01

    The ITER Tokamak requires an average 75 kW of refrigeration power at 4.5 K and 600 kW of refrigeration Power at 80 K to maintain the nominal operation condition of the ITER thermal shields, superconducting magnets and cryopumps. This is produced by the ITER Cryoplant, a complex cluster of refrigeration systems including in particular three identical Liquid Helium Plants and two identical Liquid Nitrogen Plants. Beyond the equipment directly part of the Cryoplant, colossal infrastructures are required. These infrastructures account for a large part of the Cryoplants lay-out, budget and engineering efforts. It is ITER Organization responsibility to ensure that all infrastructures are adequately sized and designed to interface with the Cryoplant. This proceeding presents the overall architecture of the cryoplant. It provides order of magnitude related to the cryoplant building and utilities: electricity, cooling water, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).

  20. Using manufacturing simulators to evaluate important processing decisions in the furniture and cabinet industries

    Treesearch

    Janice K. Wiedenbeck; Philip A. Araman

    1995-01-01

    We've been telling the wood industry about our process simulation modeling research and development work for several years. We've demonstrated our crosscut-first and rip-first rough mill simulation and animation models. Weâve advised companies on how they could use simulation modeling to help make critically important, pending decisions related to mill layout...

  1. Study Of Lampungnese Traditional Home Garden Design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pratiwi, R. A.; Gunawan

    2017-10-01

    Lampung is one area in Indonesia which has a traditional culture that comes from two groups of descents, they are ulun Lampung Pepadun and ulun Lampung Saibatin. Lampungnese traditional culture has been well-known by Indonesian people for its traditional dances, traditional clothing, or traditional home architecture. However, Lampungnese traditional home garden recently may not yet been described. Information related to Lampungnese traditional home garden is still very limited and it does not yet represented the culture based design concept. This research was directed to identify the elements of the home garden and map it into design concept of the Lampungnese traditional home garden based on information of Lampungnese traditional culture. The study was conducted by using descriptive approach through literature review, interviews and cultural exploration, as well as field observation. The study was able to identify the elements forming the Lampungnese traditional home garden, namely gakhang hadap, walai, outdoor kitchenette, firewood place, outdoor kitchen, livestock barns, as well as plants. Space layout of the home garden comprises front yard (tengahbah/terambah/beruan), side yard (kebik/kakebik), and backyard (kudan/juyu/kebon). Each element of the garden is located in the right place of the space layout.

  2. Comparing taxi clearance input layouts for advancements in flight deck automation for surface operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Lara W. S.

    Airport moving maps (AMMs) have been shown to decrease navigation errors, increase taxiing speed, and reduce workload when they depict airport layout, current aircraft position, and the cleared taxi route. However, current technologies are limited in their ability to depict the cleared taxi route due to the unavailability of datacomm or other means of electronically transmitting clearances from ATC to the flight deck. This study examined methods by which pilots can input ATC-issued taxi clearances to support taxi route depictions on the AMM. Sixteen general aviation (GA) pilots used a touchscreen monitor to input taxi clearances using two input layouts, softkeys and QWERTY, each with and without feedforward (graying out invalid inputs). QWERTY yielded more taxi route input errors than the softkeys layout. The presence of feedforward did not produce fewer taxi route input errors than in the non-feedforward condition. The QWERTY layout did reduce taxi clearance input times relative to the softkeys layout, but when feedforward was present this effect was observed only for the longer, 6-segment taxi clearances. It was observed that with the softkeys layout, feedforward reduced input times compared to non-feedforward but only for the 4-segment clearances. Feedforward did not support faster taxi clearance input times for the QWERTY layout. Based on the results and analyses of the present study, it is concluded that for taxi clearance inputs, (1) QWERTY remain the standard for alphanumeric inputs, and (2) feedforward be investigated further, with a focus on participant preference and performance of black-gray contrast of keys.

  3. 76 FR 28925 - Tribal Veterans Cemetery Grants

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-19

    ... means the process of site selection, land acquisition, design and planning, earth moving, landscaping... space, or functional layout; and it will not enter into a construction contract for the project or... State or Tribal Organization and the design team to provide a standard for preparation of drawings...

  4. Cotton gin drying systems–patterns in fuel energy use

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Fuel cost increases and consumption variability threaten gin profitability. Twenty-three U.S. cotton gins were audited to elucidate drying system components, layouts and process control strategies that made better use of fuel. Seed cotton samples were obtained before and after each drying system a...

  5. ERGONOMICS ABSTRACTS 48983-49619.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ministry of Technology, London (England). Warren Spring Lab.

    THE LITERATURE OF ERGONOMICS, OR BIOTECHNOLOGY, IS CLASSIFIED INTO 15 AREAS--METHODS, SYSTEMS OF MEN AND MACHINES, VISUAL AND AUDITORY AND OTHER INPUTS AND PROCESSES, INPUT CHANNELS, BODY MEASUREMENTS, DESIGN OF CONTROLS AND INTEGRATION WITH DISPLAYS, LAYOUT OF PANELS AND CONSOLES, DESIGN OF WORK SPACE, CLOTHING AND PERSONAL EQUIPMENT, SPECIAL…

  6. Layout as Political Expression: Visual Literacy and the Peruvian Press.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnhurst, Kevin G.

    Newspaper layout and design studies ignore politics, and most studies of newspaper politics ignore visual design. News layout is generally thought to be a set of neutral, efficient practices. This study suggests that the political position of Peruvian newspapers parallels their visual presentation of terrorism. The liberal "La Republica"…

  7. Two-Year-Old Children Interpret Abstract, Purely Geometric Maps

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winkler-Rhoades, Nathan; Carey, Susan C.; Spelke, Elizabeth S.

    2013-01-01

    In two experiments, 2.5-year-old children spontaneously used geometric information from 2D maps to locate objects in a 3D surface layout, without instruction or feedback. Children related maps to their corresponding layouts even though the maps differed from the layouts in size, mobility, orientation, dimensionality, and perspective, and even when…

  8. 33 CFR 127.105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LNG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LNG. 127.105 Section 127.105 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Natural Gas § 127.105 Layout and...

  9. 33 CFR 127.105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LNG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LNG. 127.105 Section 127.105 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Natural Gas § 127.105 Layout and...

  10. 33 CFR 127.1105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Design and Construction § 127.1105 Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG. Each new waterfront facility...

  11. 33 CFR 127.1105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Design and Construction § 127.1105 Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG. Each new waterfront facility...

  12. 33 CFR 127.1105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Design and Construction § 127.1105 Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG. Each new waterfront facility...

  13. 49 CFR 238.447 - Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Train operator's controls and power car cab layout... layout. (a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance.... (d) Power car cab information displays shall be designed with the following characteristics: (1...

  14. 33 CFR 127.1105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Design and Construction § 127.1105 Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG. Each new waterfront facility...

  15. 49 CFR 238.447 - Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Train operator's controls and power car cab layout... layout. (a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance.... (d) Power car cab information displays shall be designed with the following characteristics: (1...

  16. 49 CFR 238.447 - Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Train operator's controls and power car cab layout... layout. (a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance.... (d) Power car cab information displays shall be designed with the following characteristics: (1...

  17. 33 CFR 127.1105 - Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Layout and spacing of marine... AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Design and Construction § 127.1105 Layout and spacing of marine transfer area for LHG. Each new waterfront facility...

  18. Student Perceptions of Textbook Layout and Learnability in Private Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoshangabadwala, Alefiyah

    2015-01-01

    This research is an exploratory study that investigates students' perceptions pertinent to textbook layout and organization and their evaluation of the textbook ease of learning. The objective is to find out whether the layout dynamics of school textbooks make any difference in students' interest in studying or subject understanding. 73 students…

  19. Gender Differences in Student Attitude for Seating Layout in College Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burgess, Brigitte; Kaya, Naz

    2007-01-01

    This study examined whether gender influenced college students' attitudes regarding classroom seating layout. Seating layouts included: a) rows of tablet-arm chairs, b) U-shaped, c) clusters, and d) rows of tables with individual chairs. The sample consisted of 912 college students. Factor analysis yielded two dimensions: "Feeling at Ease" and…

  20. Layout of the LER (Low Energy Ring) Arc

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hutton, A.

    We have recently been trying to accumulate all of the information necessary to decide on the layout of the regular curved arcs of the Low Energy Ring (LER) and there have been several ABC Notes published on different aspects of the problem. This note will describe the layout that has been derived from these considerations.

  1. A flexible layout design method for passive micromixers.

    PubMed

    Deng, Yongbo; Liu, Zhenyu; Zhang, Ping; Liu, Yongshun; Gao, Qingyong; Wu, Yihui

    2012-10-01

    This paper discusses a flexible layout design method of passive micromixers based on the topology optimization of fluidic flows. Being different from the trial and error method, this method obtains the detailed layout of a passive micromixer according to the desired mixing performance by solving a topology optimization problem. Therefore, the dependence on the experience of the designer is weaken, when this method is used to design a passive micromixer with acceptable mixing performance. Several design disciplines for the passive micromixers are considered to demonstrate the flexibility of the layout design method for passive micromixers. These design disciplines include the approximation of the real 3D micromixer, the manufacturing feasibility, the spacial periodic design, and effects of the Péclet number and Reynolds number on the designs obtained by this layout design method. The capability of this design method is validated by several comparisons performed between the obtained layouts and the optimized designs in the recently published literatures, where the values of the mixing measurement is improved up to 40.4% for one cycle of the micromixer.

  2. A compact and realistic cerebral cortical layout derived from prewhitened resting-state fMRI time series: Cherniak's adjacency rule, size law, and metamodule grouping upheld

    PubMed Central

    Lewis, Scott M.; Christova, Peka; Jerde, Trenton A.; Georgopoulos, Apostolos P.

    2012-01-01

    We used hierarchical tree clustering to derive a functional organizational chart of 52 human cortical areas (26 per hemisphere) from zero-lag correlations calculated between single-voxel, prewhitened, resting-state BOLD fMRI time series in 18 subjects. No special “resting-state networks” were identified. There were four major features in the resulting tree (dendrogram). First, there was a strong clustering of homotopic, left-right hemispheric areas. Second, cortical areas were concatenated in multiple, partially overlapping clusters. Third, the arrangement of the areas revealed a layout that closely resembled the actual layout of the cerebral cortex, namely an orderly progression from anterior to posterior. And fourth, the layout of the cortical areas in the tree conformed to principles of efficient, compact layout of components proposed by Cherniak. Since the tree was derived on the basis of the strength of neural correlations, these results document an orderly relation between functional interactions and layout, i.e., between structure and function. PMID:22973198

  3. Navigating Comics: An Empirical and Theoretical Approach to Strategies of Reading Comic Page Layouts

    PubMed Central

    Cohn, Neil

    2013-01-01

    Like the sequence of words in written language, comic book page layouts direct images into a deliberate reading sequence. Conventional wisdom would expect that comic panels follow the order of text: left-to-right and down – a “Z-path” – though several layouts can violate this order, such as Gestalt groupings of panels that deny a Z-path of reading. To examine how layouts pressure readers to choose pathways deviating from the Z-path, we presented participants with comic pages empty of content, and asked them to number the panels in the order they would read them. Participants frequently used strategies departing from both the traditional Z-path and Gestalt groupings. These preferences reveal a system of constraints that organizes panels into hierarchic constituents, guiding readers through comic page layouts. PMID:23616776

  4. Optical Layout Analysis of Polarization Interference Imaging Spectrometer by Jones Calculus in View of both Optical Throughput and Interference Fringe Visibility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xuanni; Zhang, Chunmin

    2013-01-01

    A polarization interference imaging spectrometer based on Savart polariscope was presented. Its optical throughput was analyzed by Jones calculus. The throughput expression was given, and clearly showed that the optical throughput mainly depended on the intensity of incident light, transmissivity, refractive index and the layout of optical system. The simulation and analysis gave the optimum layout in view of both optical throughput and interference fringe visibility, and verified that the layout of our former design was optimum. The simulation showed that a small deviation from the optimum layout influenced interference fringe visibility little for the optimum one, but influenced severely for others, so a small deviation is admissible in the optimum, and this can mitigate the manufacture difficulty. These results pave the way for further research and engineering design.

  5. Universality in the Evolution of Orientation Columns in the Visual Cortex

    PubMed Central

    Kaschube, Matthias; Schnabel, Michael; Löwel, Siegrid; Coppola, David M.; White, Leonard E.; Wolf, Fred

    2011-01-01

    The brain’s visual cortex processes information concerning form, pattern, and motion within functional maps that reflect the layout of neuronal circuits. We analyzed functional maps of orientation preference in the ferret, tree shrew, and galago—three species separated since the basal radiation of placental mammals more than 65 million years ago—and found a common organizing principle. A symmetry-based class of models for the self-organization of cortical networks predicts all essential features of the layout of these neuronal circuits, but only if suppressive long-range interactions dominate development. We show mathematically that orientation-selective long-range connectivity can mediate the required interactions. Our results suggest that self-organization has canalized the evolution of the neuronal circuitry underlying orientation preference maps into a single common design. PMID:21051599

  6. The perception of surface layout during low level flight

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perrone, John A.

    1991-01-01

    Although it is fairly well established that information about surface layout can be gained from motion cues, it is not so clear as to what information humans can use and what specific information they should be provided. Theoretical analyses tell us that the information is in the stimulus. It will take more experiments to verify that this information can be used by humans to extract surface layout from the 2D velocity flow field. The visual motion factors that can affect the pilot's ability to control an aircraft and to infer the layout of the terrain ahead are discussed.

  7. A comparative evaluation of in-vehicle side view displays layouts in critical lane changing situation.

    PubMed

    Beck, Donghyun; Lee, Minho; Park, Woojin

    2017-12-01

    This study conducted a driving simulator experiment to comparatively evaluate three in-vehicle side view displays layouts for camera monitor systems (CMS) and the traditional side view mirror arrangement. The three layouts placed two electronic side view displays near the traditional mirrors positions, on the dashboard at each side of the steering wheel and on the centre fascia with the two displays joined side-by-side, respectively. Twenty-two participants performed a time- and safety-critical driving task that required rapidly gaining situation awareness through the side view displays/mirrors and making a lane change to avoid collision. The dependent variables were eye-off-the-road time, response time, and, ratings of perceived workload, preference and perceived safety. Overall, the layout placing the side view displays on the dashboard at each side of the steering wheel was found to be the best. The results indicated that reducing eye gaze travel distance and maintaining compatibility were both important for the design of CMS displays layout. Practitioner Summary: A driving simulator study was conducted to comparatively evaluate three in-vehicle side view displays layouts for camera monitor systems (CMS) and the traditional side view mirror arrangement in critical lane changing situation. Reducing eye movement and maintaining compatibility were found to be both important for the ergonomics design of CMS displays layout.

  8. Lithography-based automation in the design of program defect masks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vakanas, George P.; Munir, Saghir; Tejnil, Edita; Bald, Daniel J.; Nagpal, Rajesh

    2004-05-01

    In this work, we are reporting on a lithography-based methodology and automation in the design of Program Defect masks (PDM"s). Leading edge technology masks have ever-shrinking primary features and more pronounced model-based secondary features such as optical proximity corrections (OPC), sub-resolution assist features (SRAF"s) and phase-shifted mask (PSM) structures. In order to define defect disposition specifications for critical layers of a technology node, experience alone in deciding worst-case scenarios for the placement of program defects is necessary but may not be sufficient. MEEF calculations initiated from layout pattern data and their integration in a PDM layout flow provide a natural approach for improvements, relevance and accuracy in the placement of programmed defects. This methodology provides closed-loop feedback between layout and hard defect disposition specifications, thereby minimizing engineering test restarts, improving quality and reducing cost of high-end masks. Apart from SEMI and industry standards, best-known methods (BKM"s) in integrated lithographically-based layout methodologies and automation specific to PDM"s are scarce. The contribution of this paper lies in the implementation of Design-For-Test (DFT) principles to a synergistic interaction of CAD Layout and Aerial Image Simulator to drive layout improvements, highlight layout-to-fracture interactions and output accurate program defect placement coordinates to be used by tools in the mask shop.

  9. Gallium-arsenide process evaluation based on a RISC microprocessor example

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brown, Richard B.; Upton, Michael; Chandna, Ajay; Huff, Thomas R.; Mudge, Trevor N.; Oettel, Richard E.

    1993-10-01

    This work evaluates the features of a gallium-arsenide E/D MESFET process in which a 32-b RISC microprocessor was implemented. The design methodology and architecture of this prototype CPU are described. The performance sensitivity of the microprocessor and other large circuit blocks to different process parameters is analyzed, and recommendations for future process features, circuit approaches, and layout styles are made. These recommendations are reflected in the design of a second microprocessor using a more advanced process that achieves much higher density and performance.

  10. Model aerodynamic test results for two variable cycle engine coannular exhaust systems at simulated takeoff and cruise conditions. Comprehensive data report. Volume 1: Design layouts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nelson, D. P.

    1981-01-01

    The design layouts and detailed design drawings of coannular exhaust nozzle models for a supersonic propulsion system are presented. The layout drawings show the assembly of the component parts for each configuration. A listing of the component parts is also given.

  11. 78 FR 42419 - Airport Improvement Program (AIP): Policy Regarding Access to Airports From Residential Property

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-16

    ... assurances. In addition, Grant Assurance 29, Airport Layout Plan, was amended to require all proposed and... airport layout plan (ALP). A complete list of the current grant assurances can be viewed at: http://www... 29, Airport Layout Plan, should remain permissive; Using safety as a triggering event for a sponsor...

  12. 78 FR 49551 - Vogtle Electric Generating Station, Units 3 and 4; Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Change to...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-14

    ... design and layout of the turbine building. As part of this request, the licensee needed to change the... information related to the design and layout of the Turbine Building detailed in the amendment request. These... Structures and Layout AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Exemption and combined license amendment...

  13. 49 CFR 238.447 - Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Train operator's controls and power car cab layout... Specific Requirements for Tier II Passenger Equipment § 238.447 Train operator's controls and power car cab layout. (a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance...

  14. 49 CFR 238.447 - Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Train operator's controls and power car cab layout... Specific Requirements for Tier II Passenger Equipment § 238.447 Train operator's controls and power car cab layout. (a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance...

  15. Reading in Examination-Type Situations: The Effects of Text Layout on Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lonsdale, Maria dos Santos; Dyson, Mary C.; Reynolds, Linda

    2006-01-01

    Examinations are conventionally used to measure candidates' achievement in a limited time period. However, the influence of text layout on performance may compromise the construct validity of the examination. An experimental study looked at the effects of the text layout on the speed and accuracy of a reading task in an examination-type situation.…

  16. Yearbook and Magazine Layout, English, Journalism. Language Arts: 5113.200.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, Marlene E.

    Developed as a quinmester unit for the high school on yearbook and magazine layout, this guide provides the teacher with suggested teaching strategies for a study of the theory and practice of page layout, photo cropping and editing, use of color and special effects, copy fitting and headline writing and fitting, and principles of typography.…

  17. [Analysis on layout of traditional Chinese medicine industry based on location quotient].

    PubMed

    Chen, Cong; Yu, Yuanyuan; Hu, Yuanjia; Wang, Yitao

    2012-03-01

    To observe the layout and evolution of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) medical industry, classify the industry by region and conduct a preliminary study on its professional advantages, competitiveness and possible cause by using the theory of location quotient in regional economics, in order to provide suggestions for the layout of the TCM medical industry.

  18. Layout and flow of dermatology clinics: principles from operations management.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jordan V

    2018-04-15

    Dermatology is a medical specialty that experiences high patient demand and long patient wait times. Dermatology clinics should look for ways to improve efficiency through the incorporation of principles from operations management. Addressing the layout and flow of a clinic can lead to operational efficiency. An ideal layout may lead to increased patient volume, satisfaction, and retention.

  19. CMOS VLSI Layout and Verification of a SIMD Computer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zheng, Jianqing

    1996-01-01

    A CMOS VLSI layout and verification of a 3 x 3 processor parallel computer has been completed. The layout was done using the MAGIC tool and the verification using HSPICE. Suggestions for expanding the computer into a million processor network are presented. Many problems that might be encountered when implementing a massively parallel computer are discussed.

  20. 15 CFR 744.21 - Restrictions on certain military end-uses in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... production, such as: design, design research, design analyses, design concepts, assembly and testing of prototypes, pilot production schemes, design data, process of transforming design data into a product, configuration design, integration design, layouts; and “production” means all production stages, such as...

  1. 15 CFR 744.21 - Restrictions on certain military end-uses in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... production, such as: design, design research, design analyses, design concepts, assembly and testing of prototypes, pilot production schemes, design data, process of transforming design data into a product, configuration design, integration design, layouts; and “production” means all production stages, such as...

  2. Newspaper Design: Desktop Newspaper Design Can Make Staffs Throw Their Hands Up, Give Them the Hands-Down Edge.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Marianne

    1988-01-01

    Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using an Apple Macintosh in a high school journalism department. Details the software available in the categories of layout ("Xpress" and "Pagemaker"), word processing ("Microsoft Word"), and graphics ("MacDraw,""Cricket Draw,""MacPaint," and…

  3. Building United Judgment: A Handbook for Consensus Decision Making.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Avery, Michel; And Others

    This handbook contains techniques that will help community groups or other organizations use consensus decision making. The layout of the handbook is a scrambled montage of "main text" and boxes containing personal statements, examples, artifacts from the writing process, and additional bits of information. Chapter one introduces…

  4. What Is Information Design?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redish, Janice C. (Ginny)

    2000-01-01

    Defines two meanings of information design: the overall process of developing a successful document; and the way the information is presented on the screen (layout, typography, color, and so forth). Discusses the future importance of both of these meanings of information design, in terms of design for the web and single-sources (planning…

  5. Gimme Shelter!: Doghouse Project Hones Construction Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shackelford, Ray; Griffis, Kurt

    2007-01-01

    In Rover's House project, students practice planning, measurement, layout, and processing skills in building a doghouse. The project is more than a doghouse--it is a learning activity that helps students develop and enhance their ability to work with reinforced concrete, steel and wood studs, trusses, roofing materials and a variety of…

  6. Miniaturized ceramic platform for metal oxide gas sensors array

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Samotaev, N. N.

    2016-10-01

    In work is developing an ultra-fast, low cost and technology flexible process for production array of ceramic MEMS microhotplates for using in semiconductor gas sensors orientated to small series applications, where is sufficient to produce 10-100 samples with a different layout of heaters and membrane per day.

  7. Path Planning For A Class Of Cutting Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tavora, Jose

    1989-03-01

    Optimizing processing time in some contour-cutting operations requires solving the so-called no-load path problem. This problem is formulated and an approximate resolution method (based on heuristic search techniques) is described. Results for real-life instances (clothing layouts in the apparel industry) are presented and evaluated.

  8. Deceleration efficiencies of shrub windbreaks in a wind tunnel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Xiaoxu; Zou, Xueyong; Zhou, Na; Zhang, Chunlai; Shi, Sha

    2015-03-01

    Artemisia and Salix are dominant shrub species for windbreaks in arid areas of China, and they show similar features to shrubs in other arid areas of the world. We compared the mean velocity fields and shelter effects of two shrub windbreaks with different layouts. For a single plant of Artemisia, the higher the free airflow velocity is, the more the wind velocity around two sides of the plant increases. The velocity gradient around a single plant of Salix is smaller than that around an Artemisia plant due to the difference in the plant shapes. Seven new velocity zones in the horizontal direction appear when airflow passes through an Artemisia windbreak, including four deceleration zones and three acceleration zones. The mean velocity field that is affected by a Salix windbreak can be divided into a deceleration zone in the front, an acceleration zone above, a vortex zone behind and a restoration zone downwind of the vortex zone. Shelter effects of the shrub windbreaks vary with the wind velocity and are influenced by the construct of the windbreaks. Shrub windbreaks that have a complex construction have better shelter effects than simple ones. The shelter effects of plant windbreaks are also influenced by the growth features of the plants. Considering the plant characteristics and the shelter effects of Salix and Artemisia windbreaks, it is optimal to plant these two windbreaks together in a sand-control system. This research is intended to be useful for sand movement control in arid areas.

  9. New shipyard layout design for the preliminary phase & case study for the green field project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Young Joo; Woo, Jong Hun

    2013-03-01

    For several decades, Asian nations such as Korea, Japan and China have been leading the shipbuilding industry since the decline in Europe and America. However, several developing countries such as India, Brazil, etc. are going to make an entrance into the shipbuilding industry. These developing countries are finding technical partners or information providers because they are in situation of little experiences and technologies. Now, the shipbuilding engineering companies of shipbuilding advanced countries are getting a chance of engineering business against those developing countries. The starting point of this business model is green field project for the construction of new shipyard. This business model is started with a design of the shipyard layout. For the conducting of the shipyard layout design, four kinds of engineering parts are required. Those are civil engineering, building engineering, utility engineering and production layout engineering. Among these parts, production layout engineering is most important because its result is the foundation of the other engineering parts and it determines the shipyard capacity during the shipyard operation lifecycle. Previous researches about the shipyard layout design are out of the range from the business requirements because most research cases are in the tower of ivory, which means that there are little consideration of real ship and shipbuilding operation. In this paper, a shipyard layout design for preliminary phase is conducted for the target of newly planned shipyard at Venezuela of South America with an integrated method that is capable of dealing with actual master data from the shipyard. The layout design method of this paper is differentiated from the previous researches in that the actual product data from the target ship and the actual shipbuilding operation data are used for the required area estimation.

  10. Built environmental factors and adults' travel behaviors: Role of street layout and local destinations.

    PubMed

    Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Owen, Neville; Cole, Rachel; Mavoa, Suzanne; Oka, Koichiro; Hanibuchi, Tomoya; Sugiyama, Takemi

    2017-03-01

    Street layout is consistently associated with adults' travel behaviors, however factors influencing this association are unclear. We examined associations of street layout with travel behaviors: walking for transport (WT) and car use; and, the extent to which these relationships may be accounted for by availability of local destinations. A 24-h travel diary was completed in 2009 by 16,345 adult participants of the South-East Queensland Household Travel Survey, Australia. Three travel-behavior outcomes were derived: any home-based WT; over 30min of home-based WT; and, over 60min of car use. For street layout, a space syntax measure of street integration was calculated for each Statistical Area 1 (SA1, the smallest geographic unit in Australia). An objective measure of availability of destinations - Walk Score - was also derived for each SA1. Logistic regression examined associations of street layout with travel behaviors. Mediation analyses examined to what extent availability of destinations explained the associations. Street integration was significantly associated with travel behaviors. Each one-decile increment in street integration was associated with an 18% (95%CI: 1.15, 1.21) higher odds of any home-based WT; a 10% (95%CI: 1.06, 1.15) higher odds of over 30min of home-based WT; and a 5% (95%CI: 0.94, 0.96) lower odds of using a car over 60min. Local destinations partially mediated the effects of street layout on travel behaviors. Well-connected street layout contributes to active travel partially through availability of more local destinations. Urban design strategies need to address street layout and destinations to promote active travel among residents. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Change of the layout of an office of a metallurgical company: simple projects, big solutions.

    PubMed

    Duarte, Luiz Carlos da Silva; Eckhardt, Moacir; da Motta, Giordano Paulo

    2012-01-01

    The posture, a good organization and the proper layout of the environment and workplaces have a positive influence on the income of an employee. To develop the work it is used a methodology that addressed the study phases of the theory involving the subject, description of the current situation, preparation of conceptions, choice of design, implementation and reporting of results. Through the project of "Change of the layout of an office of a metallurgical company" there was an intervention in these reported aspects providing improvements in the office, regarding ergonomic, layout, workplace and lighting issues, bringing welfare to the official, with the intent to improve its performance within the company and facilitating its actions, as the company's customer service. The results provided improvements in layout, in the workplace and especially in comfort for the human resources that perform their activities.

  12. Organizing vertical layout environments: a forward-looking development strategy for high-rise building projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Magay, A. A.; Bulgakova, E. A.; Zabelina, S. A.

    2018-03-01

    The article highlights issues surrounding development of high rise buildings. With the rapid increase of the global population there has been a trend for people to migrate into megacities and has caused the expansion of big city territories. This trend, coupled with the desire for a comfortable living environment, has resulted in numerous problems plaguing the megacity. This article proposes that a viable solution to the problems facing megacities is to create vertical layout environments. Potential options for creating vertical layout environments are set out below including the construction of buildings with atriums. Further, the article puts forth suggested spatial organization of the environment as well as optimal landscaping of high-rise buildings and constructions for the creation of vertical layout environments. Finally, the persuasive reasons for the adoption of vertical layout environments is that it will decrease the amount of developed urban areas, decrease traffic and increase environmental sustainability.

  13. ManiWordle: providing flexible control over Wordle.

    PubMed

    Koh, Kyle; Lee, Bongshin; Kim, Bohyoung; Seo, Jinwook

    2010-01-01

    Among the multifarious tag-clouding techniques, Wordle stands out to the community by providing an aesthetic layout, eliciting the emergence of the participatory culture and usage of tag-clouding in the artistic creations. In this paper, we introduce ManiWordle, a Wordle-based visualization tool that revamps interactions with the layout by supporting custom manipulations. ManiWordle allows people to manipulate typography, color, and composition not only for the layout as a whole, but also for the individual words, enabling them to have better control over the layout result. We first describe our design rationale along with the interaction techniques for tweaking the layout. We then present the results both from the preliminary usability study and from the comparative study between ManiWordle and Wordle. The results suggest that ManiWordle provides higher user satisfaction and an efficient method of creating the desired "art work," harnessing the power behind the ever-increasing popularity of Wordle.

  14. Towards a building typology and terminology for Irish hospitals.

    PubMed

    Grey, T; Kennelly, S; de Freine, P; Mahon, S; Mannion, V; O'Neill, D

    2017-02-01

    The physical form of the hospital environment shapes the care setting and influences the relationship of the hospital to the community. Due to ongoing demographic change, evolving public health needs, and advancing medical practice, typical hospitals are frequently redeveloped, retrofitted, or expanded. It is argued that multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches are required to ensure that hospital design matches these increasingly complex needs. To facilitate such a conversation across different disciplines, experts, and community stakeholders, it is helpful to establish a hospital typology and associated terminology as part of any collaborative process. Examine the literature around hospital design, and review the layout and overall form of a range of typical Irish acute public hospitals, to outline an associated building typology, and to establish the terminology associated with the planning and design of these hospitals in Ireland. Searches in 'Academic Search Complete', 'Compendex', 'Google', 'Google Scholar', 'JSTOR', 'PADDI', 'Science Direct', 'Scopus', 'Web of Science', and Trinity College Dublin Library. The search terms included: 'hospital design history'; 'hospital typology'; 'hospital design terminology'; and 'hospital design Ireland'. Typical hospitals are composed of different layouts due to development over time; however, various discrete building typologies can still be determined within many hospitals. This paper presents a typology illustrating distinct layout, circulation, and physical form characteristics, along with a hospital planning and design terminology of key terms and definitions. This typology and terminology define the main components of Irish hospital building design to create a shared understanding around design, and support stakeholder engagement, as part of any collaborative design process.

  15. A Physics-Based Engineering Approach to Predict the Cross Section for Advanced SRAMs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Lei; Zhou, Wanting; Liu, Huihua

    2012-12-01

    This paper presents a physics-based engineering approach to estimate the heavy ion induced upset cross section for 6T SRAM cells from layout and technology parameters. The new approach calculates the effects of radiation with junction photocurrent, which is derived based on device physics. The new and simple approach handles the problem by using simple SPICE simulations. At first, the approach uses a standard SPICE program on a typical PC to predict the SPICE-simulated curve of the collected charge vs. its affected distance from the drain-body junction with the derived junction photocurrent. And then, the SPICE-simulated curve is used to calculate the heavy ion induced upset cross section with a simple model, which considers that the SEU cross section of a SRAM cell is more related to a “radius of influence” around a heavy ion strike than to the physical size of a diffusion node in the layout for advanced SRAMs in nano-scale process technologies. The calculated upset cross section based on this method is in good agreement with the test results for 6T SRAM cells processed using 90 nm process technology.

  16. Rules based process window OPC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Brien, Sean; Soper, Robert; Best, Shane; Mason, Mark

    2008-03-01

    As a preliminary step towards Model-Based Process Window OPC we have analyzed the impact of correcting post-OPC layouts using rules based methods. Image processing on the Brion Tachyon was used to identify sites where the OPC model/recipe failed to generate an acceptable solution. A set of rules for 65nm active and poly were generated by classifying these failure sites. The rules were based upon segment runlengths, figure spaces, and adjacent figure widths. 2.1 million sites for active were corrected in a small chip (comparing the pre and post rules based operations), and 59 million were found at poly. Tachyon analysis of the final reticle layout found weak margin sites distinct from those sites repaired by rules-based corrections. For the active layer more than 75% of the sites corrected by rules would have printed without a defect indicating that most rulesbased cleanups degrade the lithographic pattern. Some sites were missed by the rules based cleanups due to either bugs in the DRC software or gaps in the rules table. In the end dramatic changes to the reticle prevented catastrophic lithography errors, but this method is far too blunt. A more subtle model-based procedure is needed changing only those sites which have unsatisfactory lithographic margin.

  17. Stability Calculation Method of Slope Reinforced by Prestressed Anchor in Process of Excavation

    PubMed Central

    Li, Zhong; Wei, Jia; Yang, Jun

    2014-01-01

    This paper takes the effect of supporting structure and anchor on the slope stability of the excavation process into consideration; the stability calculation model is presented for the slope reinforced by prestressed anchor and grillage beam, and the dynamic search model of the critical slip surface also is put forward. The calculation model of the optimal stability solution of each anchor tension of the whole process is also given out, through which the real-time analysis and checking of slope stability in the process of excavation can be realized. The calculation examples indicate that the slope stability is changed with the dynamic change of the design parameters of anchor and grillage beam. So it is relatively more accurate and reasonable by using dynamic search model to determine the critical slip surface of the slope reinforced by prestressed anchor and grillage beam. Through the relationships of each anchor layout and the slope height of various stages of excavation, and the optimal stability solution of prestressed bolt tension design value in various excavation stages can be obtained. The arrangement of its prestressed anchor force reflects that the layout of the lower part of bolt and the calculation of slope reinforcement is in line with the actual. These indicate that the method is reasonable and practical. PMID:24683319

  18. Stability calculation method of slope reinforced by prestressed anchor in process of excavation.

    PubMed

    Li, Zhong; Wei, Jia; Yang, Jun

    2014-01-01

    This paper takes the effect of supporting structure and anchor on the slope stability of the excavation process into consideration; the stability calculation model is presented for the slope reinforced by prestressed anchor and grillage beam, and the dynamic search model of the critical slip surface also is put forward. The calculation model of the optimal stability solution of each anchor tension of the whole process is also given out, through which the real-time analysis and checking of slope stability in the process of excavation can be realized. The calculation examples indicate that the slope stability is changed with the dynamic change of the design parameters of anchor and grillage beam. So it is relatively more accurate and reasonable by using dynamic search model to determine the critical slip surface of the slope reinforced by prestressed anchor and grillage beam. Through the relationships of each anchor layout and the slope height of various stages of excavation, and the optimal stability solution of prestressed bolt tension design value in various excavation stages can be obtained. The arrangement of its prestressed anchor force reflects that the layout of the lower part of bolt and the calculation of slope reinforcement is in line with the actual. These indicate that the method is reasonable and practical.

  19. Advanced in-production hotspot prediction and monitoring with micro-topography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fanton, P.; Hasan, T.; Lakcher, A.; Le-Gratiet, B.; Prentice, C.; Simiz, J.-G.; La Greca, R.; Depre, L.; Hunsche, S.

    2017-03-01

    At 28nm technology node and below, hot spot prediction and process window control across production wafers have become increasingly critical to prevent hotspots from becoming yield-limiting defects. We previously established proof of concept for a systematic approach to identify the most critical pattern locations, i.e. hotspots, in a reticle layout by computational lithography and combining process window characteristics of these patterns with across-wafer process variation data to predict where hotspots may become yield impacting defects [1,2]. The current paper establishes the impact of micro-topography on a 28nm metal layer, and its correlation with hotspot best focus variations across a production chip layout. Detailed topography measurements are obtained from an offline tool, and pattern-dependent best focus (BF) shifts are determined from litho simulations that include mask-3D effects. We also establish hotspot metrology and defect verification by SEM image contour extraction and contour analysis. This enables detection of catastrophic defects as well as quantitative characterization of pattern variability, i.e. local and global CD uniformity, across a wafer to establish hotspot defect and variability maps. Finally, we combine defect prediction and verification capabilities for process monitoring by on-product, guided hotspot metrology, i.e. with sampling locations being determined from the defect prediction model and achieved prediction accuracy (capture rate) around 75%

  20. CAE Based Die Face Engineering Development to Contribute to the Revitalization of the Tool & Die Industry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tang, Arthur; Lee, Wing C.; St. Pierre, Shawn; He, Jeanne; Liu, Kesu; Chen, Chin C.

    2005-08-01

    Over the past two decades, the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools have emerged as one of the most important engineering tools in various industries, due to its flexibility and accuracy in prediction. Nowadays, CAE tools are widely used in the sheet metal forming industry to predict the forming feasibility of a wide variety of complex components, ranging from aerospace and automotive components to household products. As the demand of CAE based formability accelerates, the need for a robust and streamlined die face engineering tool becomes more crucial, especially in the early stage when the tooling layout is not available, but a product design decision must be made. Ability to generate blank, binder and addendum surfaces with an appropriate layout of Drawbead, Punch Opening Line, Trim Line are the primary features and functions of a CAE based die face engineering tool. Once the die face layout is ready, a formability study should be followed to verify the die face layout is adequate to produce a formable part. If successful, the established die face surface should be exported back to the CAD/CAM environment to speed up the tooling and manufacturing design process with confidence that this particular part is formable with this given die face. With a CAE tool as described above, the tool & die industry will be greatly impacted as the processes will enable the bypass of hardware try-out and shorten the overall vehicle production timing. The trend has shown that OEMs and first tiers will source to low cost producers in the world which will have a negative impact to the traditional tool & die makers in the developed countries. CAE based tool as described should be adopted, along with many other solutions, in order to maintain efficiency of producing high quality product and meeting time-to-market requirements. This paper will describe how a CAE based die face engineering (DFE) tool could be further developed to enable the traditional tool & die makers to meet the challenge ahead.

  1. Designing high-performance cost-efficient embedded SRAM in deep-submicron era

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kobozeva, Olga; Venkatraman, Ramnath; Castagnetti, Ruggero; Duan, Franklin; Kamath, Arvind; Ramesh, Shiva

    2004-05-01

    We have previously presented the smallest and fastest 6 Transistor (6T)-Static Random Access Memories (SRAM) bitcells for System-on-Chip (SoC) high-density (HD) memories in 0.18 μm and 0.13 μm technologies. Our 1.87 μm2 6TSRAM bitcell with cell current of 47 μA and industry lowest soft error rate (0.35 FIT/Kbit) is used to assemble memory blocks embedded into SoC designs in 0.13 μm process technology. Excellent performance is achieved at a low overall cost, as our bitcells are based on standard CMOS process and demonstrate high yields in manufacturing. This paper discusses our methodology of embedded SRAM bitcell design. The key aspects of our approach are: 1) judicious selection of tightest achievable yet manufacturable design rules to build the cell; 2) compatibility with standard Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) flow; 3) use of parametric testing and yield analysis to achieve excellent design robustness and manufacturability. A thorough understanding of process limitations, particularly those related to photolithography was critical to the successful design and manufacturing of our aggressive, yet robust SRAM bitcells. The patterning of critical layers, such as diffusion, poly gate, contact and metal 1 has profound implications on functionality, electrical performance and manufacturability of memories. We have conducted the development of SRAM bitcells using two approaches for OPC: a) "manual" OPC, wherein the bitcell layout of each of the critical layers is achieved using iterative improvement of layout & aerial image simulation and b) automated OPC-compatible design, wherein the drawn bitcell layout becomes a subject of a full chip OPC. While manual-OPC remains a popular option, automated OPC-compatible bitcell design is very attractive, as it does not require additional development costs to achieve fab-to-fab portability. In both cases we have obtained good results with respect to patterning of the critical layers, electrical performance of the bitcell and memory yields. A critical part of our memory technology development effort is the design of memory-specific test structures that are used for: a) verifying electrical characteristics of SRAM transistors and b) confirming the robustness of the design rules used within the SRAM cell. In addition to electrical test structures, we have a fully functional SRAM test chip called RAMPCM that is composed of sub-blocks each designated to evaluate the robustness of a specific critical design rule used within the bitcells. The results from the electrical testing and RAMPCM yield analysis are used to identify opportunities for improvements in the layout design. The paper will also suggest some techniques that can result in more design friendly OPC solutions. Our work indicates that future IC designs can benefit from an automated OPC tool that can intelligently handle layout modifications according to design priorities.

  2. 77 FR 58897 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated; Notice of Filing of...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-09-24

    ... will expedite such review and analysis. The Exchange proposes to publish by circular the layout of... submission of the entire data layout or may be limited to only certain components of the layout. The Exchange... consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) \\6\\ requirements that the rules of an exchange be designed to promote...

  3. DSS 13 phase 2 pedestal room microwave layout

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cwik, T.; Chen, J. C.

    1991-01-01

    The design and predicted performance is described of the microwave layout for three band operation of the beam waveguide antenna Deep Space Station 13. Three pedestal room microwave candidate layout designs were produced for simultaneous X/S and X/Ka band operation. One of the three designs was chosen based on given constraints, and for this design the microwave performance was estimated.

  4. Layout Geometry in the Selection of Intrinsic Frames of Reference from Multiple Viewpoints

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mou, Weimin; Zhao, Mintao; McNamara, Timothy P.

    2007-01-01

    Four experiments investigated the roles of layout geometry in the selection of intrinsic frames of reference in spatial memory. Participants learned the locations of objects in a room from 2 or 3 viewing perspectives. One view corresponded to the axis of bilateral symmetry of the layout, and the other view(s) was (were) nonorthogonal to the axis…

  5. A segmentation algorithm based on image projection for complex text layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Wangsheng; Chen, Qin; Wei, Chuanyi; Li, Ziyang

    2017-10-01

    Segmentation algorithm is an important part of layout analysis, considering the efficiency advantage of the top-down approach and the particularity of the object, a breakdown of projection layout segmentation algorithm. Firstly, the algorithm will algorithm first partitions the text image, and divided into several columns, then for each column scanning projection, the text image is divided into several sub regions through multiple projection. The experimental results show that, this method inherits the projection itself and rapid calculation speed, but also can avoid the effect of arc image information page segmentation, and also can accurate segmentation of the text image layout is complex.

  6. A Sharp methodology for VLSI layout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bapat, Shekhar

    1993-01-01

    The layout problem for VLSI circuits is recognized as a very difficult problem and has been traditionally decomposed into the several seemingly independent sub-problems of placement, global routing, and detailed routing. Although this structure achieves a reduction in programming complexity, it is also typically accompanied by a reduction in solution quality. Most current placement research recognizes that the separation is artificial, and that the placement and routing problems should be solved ideally in tandem. We propose a new interconnection model, Sharp and an associated partitioning algorithm. The Sharp interconnection model uses a partitioning shape that roughly resembles the musical sharp 'number sign' and makes extensive use of pre-computed rectilinear Steiner trees. The model is designed to generate strategic routing information along with the partitioning results. Additionally, the Sharp model also generates estimates of the routing congestion. We also propose the Sharp layout heuristic that solves the layout problem in its entirety. The Sharp layout heuristic makes extensive use of the Sharp partitioning model. The use of precomputed Steiner tree forms enables the method to model accurately net characteristics. For example, the Steiner tree forms can model both the length of the net and more importantly its route. In fact, the tree forms are also appropriate for modeling the timing delays of nets. The Sharp heuristic works to minimize both the total layout area by minimizing total net length (thus reducing the total wiring area), and the congestion imbalances in the various channels (thus reducing the unused or wasted channel area). Our heuristic uses circuit element movements amongst the different partitioning blocks and selection of alternate minimal Steiner tree forms to achieve this goal. The objective function for the algorithm can be modified readily to include other important circuit constraints like propagation delays. The layout technique first computes a very high-level approximation of the layout solution (i.e., the positions of the circuit elements and the associated net routes). The approximate solution is alternately refined, objective function. The technique creates well defined sub-problems and offers intermediary steps that can be solved in parallel, as well as a parallel mechanism to merge the sub-problem solutions.

  7. Updated (BP3) Technical and Economic Feasibility Study - Electrochemical Membrane for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Power Generation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ghezel-Ayagh, Hossein

    This topical report summarizes the results of an updated Technical & Economic Feasibility Study (T&EFS) which was conducted in Budget Period 3 of the project to evaluate the performance and cost of the Electrochemical Membrane (ECM)-based CO 2 capture system. The ECM technology is derived from commercially available inorganic membranes; the same used in FuelCell Energy’s commercial fuel cell power plants and sold under the trade name Direct FuelCell® (DFC®). The ECM stacks are utilized in the Combined Electric Power (generation) And Carbon dioxide Separation (CEPACS) systems which can be deployed as add-ons to conventional power plants (Pulverized Coal, Combinedmore » Cycle, etc.) or industrial facilities to simultaneously produce power while capturing >90% of the CO 2 from the flue gas. In this study, an ECM-based CEPACS plant was designed to capture and compress >90% of the CO 2 (for sequestration or beneficial use) from the flue gas of a reference 550 MW (nominal, net AC) Pulverized Coal (PC) Rankine Cycle (Subcritical steam) power plant. ECM performance was updated based on bench scale ECM stack test results. The system process simulations were performed to generate the CEPACS plant performance estimates. The performance assessment included estimation of the parasitic power consumption for CO 2 capture and compression, and the efficiency impact on the PC plant. While the ECM-based CEPACS system for the 550 MW PC plant captures 90% of CO 2 from the flue gas, it generates additional (net AC) power after compensating for the auxiliary power requirements of CO 2 capture and compression. An equipment list, ECM stacks packaging design, and CEPACS plant layout were developed to facilitate the economic analysis. Vendor quotes were also solicited. The economic feasibility study included estimation of CEPACS plant capital cost, cost of electricity (COE) analyses and estimation of cost per ton of CO 2 captured. The incremental COE for the ECM-based CO 2 capture is expected to meet U.S. DOE’s target of 35%. This study has indicated that CEPACS systems offer significant benefits with respect to cost, performance, water consumption and emissions to environment. The realization of these benefits will provide a single solution to carbon dioxide capture in addition to meeting the increasing demand for electricity.« less

  8. Updated (BP3) Technical and Economic Feasibility Study - Electrochemical Membrane for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Power Generation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ghezel-Ayagh, Hossein

    This topical report summarizes the results of an updated Technical & Economic Feasibility Study (T&EFS) which was conducted in Budget Period 3 of the project to evaluate the performance and cost of the Electrochemical Membrane (ECM)-based CO2 capture system. The ECM technology is derived from commercially available inorganic membranes; the same used in FuelCell Energy’s commercial fuel cell power plants and sold under the trade name Direct FuelCell® (DFC®). The ECM stacks are utilized in the Combined Electric Power (generation) And Carbon dioxide Separation (CEPACS) systems which can be deployed as add-ons to conventional power plants (Pulverized Coal, Combined Cycle,more » etc.) or industrial facilities to simultaneously produce power while capturing >90% of the CO2 from the flue gas. In this study, an ECM-based CEPACS plant was designed to capture and compress >90% of the CO2 (for sequestration or beneficial use) from the flue gas of a reference 550 MW (nominal, net AC) Pulverized Coal (PC) Rankine Cycle (Subcritical steam) power plant. ECM performance was updated based on bench scale ECM stack test results. The system process simulations were performed to generate the CEPACS plant performance estimates. The performance assessment included estimation of the parasitic power consumption for CO2 capture and compression, and the efficiency impact on the PC plant. While the ECM-based CEPACS system for the 550 MW PC plant captures 90% of CO2 from the flue gas, it generates additional (net AC) power after compensating for the auxiliary power requirements of CO2 capture and compression. An equipment list, ECM stacks packaging design, and CEPACS plant layout were developed to facilitate the economic analysis. Vendor quotes were also solicited. The economic feasibility study included estimation of CEPACS plant capital cost, cost of electricity (COE) analyses and estimation of cost per ton of CO2 captured. The incremental COE for the ECM-based CO2 capture is expected to meet U.S. DOE’s target of 35%. This study has indicated that CEPACS systems offer significant benefits with respect to cost, performance, water consumption and emissions to environment. The realization of these benefits will provide a single solution to carbon dioxide capture in addition to meeting the increasing demand for electricity.« less

  9. Consumer’s Perception on Design and Layout of Consumer Medical Information Leaflets on Obesity and Lipid Lowering Drugs

    PubMed Central

    Mathew, Elizabeth M.; Rajiah, Kingston; Sharma, Krishana Kumar

    2013-01-01

    Background: Printed education materials are often used to augment healthcare professional’s verbal information to consumers so it serves as an important component of symptom management. They also enhance the teaching process and can be used by consumers as a home reference. Objective: This study was aimed to interpret consumers’ perception on Consumer Medical Information Leaflets (CMILs) on obesity and lipid lowering drugs, on design and layout using the standard method such as Baker Able Leaflet Design (BALD). Material and Methods: Convenience sampling was done. The study was conducted over a period of 3 years in community pharmacy settings in Tamil Nadu, India. The Consumer Medical Information Leaflets (CMILs) were randomly collected from different community pharmacies. Total of 19 CMILs which are commonly used by the consumers were collected and CMILs were assessed using BALD assessment tool Results: According to BALD assessment (46.28%) leaflets were rated as ‘above standard’ and (53.72) leaflets were rated as ‘standard or poor’ in layout and design since their scores were less than 25. This shows that this issue may be important from the patient’s perspective, which may discourage patient from actually reading the CMILs. Conclusion: In India, generally CMILs are continued to be prepared in English and with higher proportion of consumers with English illiteracy. CMILs, which are prepared without taking consideration of reading level of consumers and proper layout and design, may not achieve the intended purpose. This is an important aspect that any company has to reckon while preparing leaflets and at least in some major local languages in which CMILs have to be prepared. PMID:24551641

  10. The capture and recreation of 3D auditory scenes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Zhiyun

    The main goal of this research is to develop the theory and implement practical tools (in both software and hardware) for the capture and recreation of 3D auditory scenes. Our research is expected to have applications in virtual reality, telepresence, film, music, video games, auditory user interfaces, and sound-based surveillance. The first part of our research is concerned with sound capture via a spherical microphone array. The advantage of this array is that it can be steered into any 3D directions digitally with the same beampattern. We develop design methodologies to achieve flexible microphone layouts, optimal beampattern approximation and robustness constraint. We also design novel hemispherical and circular microphone array layouts for more spatially constrained auditory scenes. Using the captured audio, we then propose a unified and simple approach for recreating them by exploring the reciprocity principle that is satisfied between the two processes. Our approach makes the system easy to build, and practical. Using this approach, we can capture the 3D sound field by a spherical microphone array and recreate it using a spherical loudspeaker array, and ensure that the recreated sound field matches the recorded field up to a high order of spherical harmonics. For some regular or semi-regular microphone layouts, we design an efficient parallel implementation of the multi-directional spherical beamformer by using the rotational symmetries of the beampattern and of the spherical microphone array. This can be implemented in either software or hardware and easily adapted for other regular or semi-regular layouts of microphones. In addition, we extend this approach for headphone-based system. Design examples and simulation results are presented to verify our algorithms. Prototypes are built and tested in real-world auditory scenes.

  11. a Preliminary Work on Layout Slam for Reconstruction of Indoor Corridor Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baligh Jahromi, A.; Sohn, G.; Shahbazi, M.; Kang, J.

    2017-09-01

    We propose a real time indoor corridor layout estimation method based on visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The proposed method adopts the Manhattan World Assumption at indoor spaces and uses the detected single image straight line segments and their corresponding orthogonal vanishing points to improve the feature matching scheme in the adopted visual SLAM system. Using the proposed real time indoor corridor layout estimation method, the system is able to build an online sparse map of structural corner point features. The challenges presented by abrupt camera rotation in the 3D space are successfully handled through matching vanishing directions of consecutive video frames on the Gaussian sphere. Using the single image based indoor layout features for initializing the system, permitted the proposed method to perform real time layout estimation and camera localization in indoor corridor areas. For layout structural corner points matching, we adopted features which are invariant under scale, translation, and rotation. We proposed a new feature matching cost function which considers both local and global context information. The cost function consists of a unary term, which measures pixel to pixel orientation differences of the matched corners, and a binary term, which measures the amount of angle differences between directly connected layout corner features. We have performed the experiments on real scenes at York University campus buildings and the available RAWSEEDS dataset. The incoming results depict that the proposed method robustly performs along with producing very limited position and orientation errors.

  12. Layout Improvement Study to Reduce Staff Walking Distance in a Large Health Care Facility: How to Not Walk an Extra 4740 Miles.

    PubMed

    Ley-Chavez, Adriana; Hmar-Lagroun, Tatiana; Douglas-Ntagha, Pamela; Cumbo, Charlotte L

    2016-01-01

    Inefficient facility layouts have been found to be a challenge in health care, with excessive walking adding to the demands of staff and creating delays, which can impact the quality of care. Minimizing unnecessary transportation during care delivery improves efficiency, reduces delays, and frees up resources for use on value-added activities. This article presents a methodology and application of facility design to improve responsiveness and efficiency at a large hospital. The approach described provides the opportunity to improve existing layouts in facilities in which the floor plan is already defined, but there is some flexibility to relocate key areas. The existing physical constraints and work flows are studied and taken into consideration, and the volume of traffic flow throughout the facility guides the decision of where to relocate areas for maximum efficiency. Details on the steps followed and general recommendations to perform the necessary process and data analyses are provided. We achieved a 34.8% reduction in distance walked (4740 miles saved per year) and a 30% reduction in floors traveled in elevators (344 931 floors, which translate to 842 hours spent using elevators) by relocating 4 areas in which frequently used resources are housed.

  13. Communication Characterization and Optimization of Applications Using Topology-Aware Task Mapping on Large Supercomputers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sreepathi, Sarat; D'Azevedo, Eduardo; Philip, Bobby

    On large supercomputers, the job scheduling systems may assign a non-contiguous node allocation for user applications depending on available resources. With parallel applications using MPI (Message Passing Interface), the default process ordering does not take into account the actual physical node layout available to the application. This contributes to non-locality in terms of physical network topology and impacts communication performance of the application. In order to mitigate such performance penalties, this work describes techniques to identify suitable task mapping that takes the layout of the allocated nodes as well as the application's communication behavior into account. During the first phasemore » of this research, we instrumented and collected performance data to characterize communication behavior of critical US DOE (United States - Department of Energy) applications using an augmented version of the mpiP tool. Subsequently, we developed several reordering methods (spectral bisection, neighbor join tree etc.) to combine node layout and application communication data for optimized task placement. We developed a tool called mpiAproxy to facilitate detailed evaluation of the various reordering algorithms without requiring full application executions. This work presents a comprehensive performance evaluation (14,000 experiments) of the various task mapping techniques in lowering communication costs on Titan, the leadership class supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.« less

  14. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    Exploration of various types of power plant cycles for nuclear propelled aircraft has been continued during this quarter. The principal current objective of the project is the development of information which will make an intelligent choice of the basic power plant cycle possible. It is still hoped that this choice can be made late in 1950. The survey studies which have been under way for several months continued during the quarter. These consist of analyses and rough preliminary layouts for various types of aircraft, using each of the several basic cycles which have been seriously considered for each of themore » three phases of development. Although it is still extremely premature to discuss the relative merits of the various cycles, the information so for developed discloses some cycle differences which may, if confirmed by additional work, be significant. In this respect, there have been no recent major changes in the comparative standings of the cycles.« less

  15. End-of-fabrication CMOS process monitor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buehler, M. G.; Allen, R. A.; Blaes, B. R.; Hannaman, D. J.; Lieneweg, U.; Lin, Y.-S.; Sayah, H. R.

    1990-01-01

    A set of test 'modules' for verifying the quality of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process at the end of the wafer fabrication is documented. By electrical testing of specific structures, over thirty parameters are collected characterizing interconnects, dielectrics, contacts, transistors, and inverters. Each test module contains a specification of its purpose, the layout of the test structure, the test procedures, the data reduction algorithms, and exemplary results obtained from 3-, 2-, or 1.6-micrometer CMOS/bulk processes. The document is intended to establish standard process qualification procedures for Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC's).

  16. [Study on ecological suitability regionalization of Eucommia ulmoides in Guizhou].

    PubMed

    Kang, Chuan-Zhi; Wang, Qing-Qing; Zhou, Tao; Jiang, Wei-Ke; Xiao, Cheng-Hong; Xie, Yu

    2014-05-01

    To study the ecological suitability regionalization of Eucommia ulmoides, for selecting artificial planting base and high-quality industrial raw material purchase area of the herb in Guizhou. Based on the investigation of 14 Eucommia ulmoides producing areas, pinoresinol diglucoside content and ecological factors were obtained. Using spatial analysis method to carry on ecological suitability regionalization. Meanwhile, combining pinoresinol diglucoside content, the correlation of major active components and environmental factors were analyzed by statistical analysis. The most suitability planting area of Eucommia ulmoides was the northwest of Guizhou. The distribution of Eucommia ulmoides was mainly affected by the type and pH value of soil, and monthly precipitation. The spatial structure of major active components in Eucommia ulmoides were randomly distributed in global space, but had only one aggregation point which had a high positive correlation in local space. The major active components of Eucommia ulmoides had no correlation with altitude, longitude or latitude. Using the spatial analysis method and statistical analysis method, based on environmental factor and pinoresinol diglucoside content, the ecological suitability regionalization of Eucommia ulmoides can provide reference for the selection of suitable planting area, artificial planting base and directing production layout.

  17. Design of a Sub-Picosecond Jitter with Adjustable-Range CMOS Delay-Locked Loop for High-Speed and Low-Power Applications

    PubMed Central

    Abdulrazzaq, Bilal I.; Ibrahim, Omar J.; Kawahito, Shoji; Sidek, Roslina M.; Shafie, Suhaidi; Yunus, Nurul Amziah Md.; Lee, Lini; Halin, Izhal Abdul

    2016-01-01

    A Delay-Locked Loop (DLL) with a modified charge pump circuit is proposed for generating high-resolution linear delay steps with sub-picosecond jitter performance and adjustable delay range. The small-signal model of the modified charge pump circuit is analyzed to bring forth the relationship between the DLL’s internal control voltage and output time delay. Circuit post-layout simulation shows that a 0.97 ps delay step within a 69 ps delay range with 0.26 ps Root-Mean Square (RMS) jitter performance is achievable using a standard 0.13 µm Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) process. The post-layout simulation results show that the power consumption of the proposed DLL architecture’s circuit is 0.1 mW when the DLL is operated at 2 GHz. PMID:27690040

  18. Walk, Look, Remember: The Influence of the Gallery's Spatial Layout on Human Memory for an Art Exhibition.

    PubMed

    Krukar, Jakub

    2014-09-01

    The spatial organisation of museums and its influence on the visitor experience has been the subject of numerous studies. Previous research, despite reporting some actual behavioural correlates, rarely had the possibility to investigate the cognitive processes of the art viewers. In the museum context, where spatial layout is one of the most powerful curatorial tools available, attention and memory can be measured as a means of establishing whether or not the gallery fulfils its function as a space for contemplating art. In this exploratory experiment, 32 participants split into two groups explored an experimental, non-public exhibition and completed two unanticipated memory tests afterwards. The results show that some spatial characteristics of an exhibition can inhibit the recall of pictures and shift the focus to perceptual salience of the artworks.

  19. Walk, Look, Remember: The Influence of the Gallery’s Spatial Layout on Human Memory for an Art Exhibition

    PubMed Central

    Krukar, Jakub

    2014-01-01

    The spatial organisation of museums and its influence on the visitor experience has been the subject of numerous studies. Previous research, despite reporting some actual behavioural correlates, rarely had the possibility to investigate the cognitive processes of the art viewers. In the museum context, where spatial layout is one of the most powerful curatorial tools available, attention and memory can be measured as a means of establishing whether or not the gallery fulfils its function as a space for contemplating art. In this exploratory experiment, 32 participants split into two groups explored an experimental, non-public exhibition and completed two unanticipated memory tests afterwards. The results show that some spatial characteristics of an exhibition can inhibit the recall of pictures and shift the focus to perceptual salience of the artworks. PMID:25379276

  20. Marker optimization for facial motion acquisition and deformation.

    PubMed

    Le, Binh H; Zhu, Mingyang; Deng, Zhigang

    2013-11-01

    A long-standing problem in marker-based facial motion capture is what are the optimal facial mocap marker layouts. Despite its wide range of potential applications, this problem has not yet been systematically explored to date. This paper describes an approach to compute optimized marker layouts for facial motion acquisition as optimization of characteristic control points from a set of high-resolution, ground-truth facial mesh sequences. Specifically, the thin-shell linear deformation model is imposed onto the example pose reconstruction process via optional hard constraints such as symmetry and multiresolution constraints. Through our experiments and comparisons, we validate the effectiveness, robustness, and accuracy of our approach. Besides guiding minimal yet effective placement of facial mocap markers, we also describe and demonstrate its two selected applications: marker-based facial mesh skinning and multiresolution facial performance capture.

  1. Verification and extension of the MBL technique for photo resist pattern shape measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Isawa, Miki; Tanaka, Maki; Kazumi, Hideyuki; Shishido, Chie; Hamamatsu, Akira; Hasegawa, Norio; De Bisschop, Peter; Laidler, David; Leray, Philippe; Cheng, Shaunee

    2011-03-01

    In order to achieve pattern shape measurement with CD-SEM, the Model Based Library (MBL) technique is in the process of development. In this study, several libraries which consisted by double trapezoid model placed in optimum layout, were used to measure the various layout patterns. In order to verify the accuracy of the MBL photoresist pattern shape measurement, CDAFM measurements were carried out as a reference metrology. Both results were compared to each other, and we confirmed that there is a linear correlation between them. After that, to expand the application field of the MBL technique, it was applied to end-of-line (EOL) shape measurement to show the capability. Finally, we confirmed the possibility that the MBL could be applied to more local area shape measurement like hot-spot analysis.

  2. Sentient Structures: Optimising Sensor Layouts for Direct Measurement of Discrete Variables

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-11-01

    1 Sentient Structures Optimising Sensor Layouts for Direct Measurement of Discrete Variables Report to US Air Force...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Sentient Structures 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER FA48690714045 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Donald Price...optimal sensor placements is an important requirement for the development of sentient structures. An optimal sensor layout is attained when a limited

  3. Implementation of depression screening in antenatal clinics through tablet computers: results of a feasibility study.

    PubMed

    Marcano-Belisario, José S; Gupta, Ajay K; O'Donoghue, John; Ramchandani, Paul; Morrison, Cecily; Car, Josip

    2017-05-10

    Mobile devices may facilitate depression screening in the waiting area of antenatal clinics. This can present implementation challenges, of which we focused on survey layout and technology deployment. We assessed the feasibility of using tablet computers to administer a socio-demographic survey, the Whooley questions and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to 530 pregnant women attending National Health Service (NHS) antenatal clinics across England. We randomised participants to one of two layout versions of these surveys: (i) a scrolling layout where each survey was presented on a single screen; or (ii) a paging layout where only one question appeared on the screen at any given time. Overall, 85.10% of eligible pregnant women agreed to take part. Of these, 90.95% completed the study procedures. Approximately 23% of participants answered Yes to at least one Whooley question, and approximately 13% of them scored 10 points of more on the EPDS. We observed no association between survey layout and the responses given to the Whooley questions, the median EPDS scores, the number of participants at increased risk of self-harm, and the number of participants asking for technical assistance. However, we observed a difference in the number of participants at each EPDS scoring interval (p = 0.008), which provide an indication of a woman's risk of depression. A scrolling layout resulted in faster completion times (median = 4 min 46 s) than a paging layout (median = 5 min 33 s) (p = 0.024). However, the clinical significance of this difference (47.5 s) is yet to be determined. Tablet computers can be used for depression screening in the waiting area of antenatal clinics. This requires the careful consideration of clinical workflows, and technology-related issues such as connectivity and security. An association between survey layout and EPDS scoring intervals needs to be explored further to determine if it corresponds to a survey layout effect. Future research needs to evaluate the effect of this type of antenatal depression screening on clinical outcomes and clinic workflows. This study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov under the identifier NCT02516982 on 20 July 2015.

  4. The influence of wind speed on airflow and fine particle transport within different building layouts of an industrial city.

    PubMed

    Mei, Dan; Wen, Meng; Xu, Xuemei; Zhu, Yuzheng; Xing, Futang

    2018-04-20

    In atmospheric environment, the layout difference of urban buildings has a powerful influence on accelerating or inhibiting the dispersion of particle matters (PM). In industrial cities, buildings of variable heights can obstruct the diffusion of PM from industrial stacks. In this study, PM dispersed within building groups was simulated by Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled Lagrangian approach. Four typical street building arrangements were used: (a) a low-rise building block with Height/base H/b = 1 (b = 20 m); (b) step-up building layout (H/b = 1, 2, 3, 4); (c) step-down building layout (H/b = 4, 3, 2, 1); (d) high-rise building block (H/b = 5). Profiles of stream functions and turbulence intensity were used to examine the effect of various building layouts on atmospheric airflow. Here, concepts of particle suspension fraction and concentration distribution were used to evaluate the effect of wind speed on fine particle transport. These parameters showed that step-up building layouts accelerated top airflow and diffused more particles into street canyons, likely having adverse effects on resident health. In renewal old industry areas, the step-down building arrangement which can hinder PM dispersion from high-level stacks should be constructed preferentially. High turbulent intensity results in formation of a strong vortex that hinders particles into the street canyons. It is found that an increase in wind speed enhanced particle transport and reduced local particle concentrations, however, it did not affect the relative location of high particle concentration zones, which are related to building height and layout. This study has demonstrated the height variation and layout of urban architecture affect the local concentration distribution of particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere and for the first time that wind velocity has particular effects on PM transport in various building groups. The findings may have general implications in optimization the building layout based on particle transport characteristics during the renewal of industrial cities. For city planners, the results and conclusions are useful for improving the local air quality. The study method also can be used to calculate the explosion risk of industrial dust for people who live in industrial cities.

  5. Examining a knowledge domain: Interactive visualization of the Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge 1

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stowell, Marilyn Ruth

    This research compared the effectiveness and performance of interactive visualizations of the GIS&T Body of Knowledge 1. The visualizations were created using Processing, and display the structure and content of the Body of Knowledge using various spatial layout methods: the Indented List, Tree Graph, treemap and Similarity Graph. The first three methods utilize the existing hierarchical structure of the BoK text, while the fourth method (Similarity Graph) serves as a jumping off point for exploring content-based visualizations of the BoK. The following questions have guided the framework of this research: (1) Which of the spatial layouts is most effective for completing tasks related to the GIS&T; BoK overall? How do they compare to each other in terms of performance? (2) Is one spatial layout significantly more or less effective than others for completing a particular cognitive task? (3) Is the user able to utilize the BoK as a basemap or reference system and make inferences based on BoK scorecard overlays? (4) Which design aspects of the interface assist in carrying out the survey objectives? Which design aspects of the application detract from fulfilling the objectives? To answer these questions, human subjects were recruited to participate in a survey, during which they were assigned a random spatial layout and were asked questions about the BoK based on their interaction with the visualization tool. 75 users were tested, 25 for each spatial layout. Statistical analysis revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between means for overall accuracy when comparing the three visualizations. In looking at individual questions, Tree Graph and Indented List yielded statistically significant higher scores for questions regarding the structure of the Body of Knowledge, as compared to the treemap. There was a significant strong positive correlation between the time taken to complete the survey and the final survey score. This correlation was particularly strong with treemap, possibly confirming the steeper learning curve with the more complex layout. Users were asked for feedback on the perceived "ease" of using the interface, and though few users said the interface was easy to use, there was a positive correlation between perceived "ease" and overall score. Qualitative feedback revealed that the external controls on the interface were not inviting to use, and the interface overall was not intuitive. Additional human subjects were recruited from the professional GIS community to participate in testing remotely. These results weren't significant due to small sample size, but helped to verify the feedback and results from the controlled testing.

  6. 10 CFR 70.64 - Requirements for new facilities or new processes at existing facilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... behavior of items relied on for safety. (b) Facility and system design and facility layout must be based on... existing facilities. (a) Baseline design criteria. Each prospective applicant or licensee shall address the following baseline design criteria in the design of new facilities. Each existing licensee shall address the...

  7. 10 CFR 70.64 - Requirements for new facilities or new processes at existing facilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... behavior of items relied on for safety. (b) Facility and system design and facility layout must be based on... existing facilities. (a) Baseline design criteria. Each prospective applicant or licensee shall address the following baseline design criteria in the design of new facilities. Each existing licensee shall address the...

  8. 10 CFR 70.64 - Requirements for new facilities or new processes at existing facilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... behavior of items relied on for safety. (b) Facility and system design and facility layout must be based on... existing facilities. (a) Baseline design criteria. Each prospective applicant or licensee shall address the following baseline design criteria in the design of new facilities. Each existing licensee shall address the...

  9. CMOS array design automation techniques. [metal oxide semiconductors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramondetta, P.; Feller, A.; Noto, R.; Lombardi, T.

    1975-01-01

    A low cost, quick turnaround technique for generating custom metal oxide semiconductor arrays using the standard cell approach was developed, implemented, tested and validated. Basic cell design topology and guidelines are defined based on an extensive analysis that includes circuit, layout, process, array topology and required performance considerations particularly high circuit speed.

  10. 10 CFR 70.64 - Requirements for new facilities or new processes at existing facilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... behavior of items relied on for safety. (b) Facility and system design and facility layout must be based on... existing facilities. (a) Baseline design criteria. Each prospective applicant or licensee shall address the following baseline design criteria in the design of new facilities. Each existing licensee shall address the...

  11. A CMOS VLSI IC for Real-Time Opto-Electronic Two-Dimensional Histogram Generation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-12-01

    large scale integration) design; MAGIC ; CMOS; optics; image processing; 93 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATiON 19...1. Sun SPARCstation ............. .............. 6 2. Magic .................. ................... 6 a. Peg ................. .................. 7 b...38 v APPENDIX B. MAGIC CELL LAYOUTS .... ............ .. 39 APPENDIX C: SIMULATION DATA ....... ............. .. 56 A. FINITE STATE MACHINE

  12. Spatial and Social Networks in Organizational Innovation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wineman, Jean D.; Kabo, Felichism W.; Davis, Gerald F.

    2009-01-01

    Research on the enabling factors of innovation has focused on either the social component of organizations or on the spatial dimensions involved in the innovation process. But no one has examined the aggregate consequences of the link from spatial layout, to social networks, to innovation. This project enriches our understanding of how innovation…

  13. Library Automation and Facility Planning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cohen, Aaron; Cohen, Elaine

    This seminar and workbook are designed to aid librarians in planning and designing attractive and efficient libraries in light of the changing technologies of the 1980s. It is based on the premise that the electronic revolution of the 1980s will cause substantial changes in the work force, work processes, and the nature of physical layouts of…

  14. Process development for automated solar cell and module production. Task 4: Automated array assembly

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hagerty, J. J.

    1981-01-01

    The cell preparation station was installed in its new enclosure. Operation verification tests were performed. The detailed layout drawings of the automated lamination station were produced and construction began. All major and most minor components were delivered by vendors. The station framework was built and assembly of components begun.

  15. Child Care Center Design & the Potential of Architecture.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abbott, Carl; Abbott, Cooper

    This paper discusses the impact of layout and design of child care centers on the education of young children. It asserts that child care facilities must be designed to support and stimulate children's natural developmental processes, providing both direct and indirect educational opportunities. The paper discusses the stages of the design process…

  16. A small-angle x-ray scattering system with a vertical layout.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zhen; Chen, Xiaowei; Meng, Lingpu; Cui, Kunpeng; Wu, Lihui; Li, Liangbin

    2014-12-01

    A small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) system with a vertical layout (V-SAXS) has been designed and constructed for in situ detection on nanostructures, which is well suitable for in situ study on self-assembly of nanoparticles at liquid interface and polymer processing. A steel-tower frame on a reinforced basement is built as the supporting skeleton for scattering beam path and detector platform, ensuring the system a high working stability and a high operating accuracy. A micro-focus x-ray source combining parabolic three-dimensional multi-layer mirror and scatteringless collimation system provides a highly parallel beam, which allows us to detect the very small angle range. With a sample-to-detector distance of 7 m, the largest measurable length scale is 420 nm in real space. With a large sample zone, it is possible to install different experimental setups such as film stretching machine, which makes the system perfect to follow the microstructures evolution of materials during processing. The capability of the V-SAXS on in situ study is tested with a drying experiment of a free latex droplet, which confirms our initial design.

  17. Machine detector interface studies: Layout and synchrotron radiation estimate in the future circular collider interaction region

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boscolo, Manuela; Burkhardt, Helmut; Sullivan, Michael

    The interaction region layout for the e +e – future circular collider FCC-ee is presented together with a preliminary estimate of synchrotron radiation that affects this region. We describe in this paper the main guidelines of this design and the estimate of synchrotron radiation coming from the last bending magnets and from the final focus quadrupoles, with the software tools developed for this purpose. Here, the design follows the asymmetric optics layout as far as incoming bend radiation is concerned with the maximum foreseen beam energy of 175 GeV and we present a feasible initial layout with an indication ofmore » tolerable synchrotron radiation.« less

  18. Machine detector interface studies: Layout and synchrotron radiation estimate in the future circular collider interaction region

    DOE PAGES

    Boscolo, Manuela; Burkhardt, Helmut; Sullivan, Michael

    2017-01-27

    The interaction region layout for the e +e – future circular collider FCC-ee is presented together with a preliminary estimate of synchrotron radiation that affects this region. We describe in this paper the main guidelines of this design and the estimate of synchrotron radiation coming from the last bending magnets and from the final focus quadrupoles, with the software tools developed for this purpose. Here, the design follows the asymmetric optics layout as far as incoming bend radiation is concerned with the maximum foreseen beam energy of 175 GeV and we present a feasible initial layout with an indication ofmore » tolerable synchrotron radiation.« less

  19. Low Carbon Design Research on the Space Layout Types of Office Buildings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xia, Bing

    2018-01-01

    It is beneficial to find out the relationship of the spatial layout and low-carbon design in order to reduce buildings’ carbon emissions in the conceptual design phase. This paper analyzes and compares shape coefficient values, annual energy consumption and lighting performance of office buildings of different space layout types in Shanghai. Based on morphological characteristics of different types, the study also analyzes and presents low-carbon design strategies for each single type. This study assumes that architects should conduct passive and active design according to the specific building space layout, so that to make best use of the advantages and bypassing the disadvantages, in order to maximally reduce buildings’ carbon emissions.

  20. Limitations on energy resolution of segmented silicon detectors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wiącek, P.; Chudyba, M.; Fiutowski, T.; Dąbrowski, W.

    2018-04-01

    In the paper experimental study of charge division effects and energy resolution of X-ray silicon pad detectors are presented. The measurements of electrical parameters, capacitances and leakage currents, for six different layouts of pad arrays are reported. The X-ray spectra have been measured using a custom developed dedicated low noise front-end electronics. The spectra measured for six different detector layouts have been analysed in detail with particular emphasis on quantitative evaluation of charge division effects. Main components of the energy resolution due to Fano fluctuations, electronic noise, and charge division, have been estimated for six different sensor layouts. General recommendations regarding optimisation of pad sensor layout for achieving best possible energy resolution have been formulated.

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