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Copyright of Mexican Journal of Behavioral Analysis / Revista Mexicana de Análisis de la Conducta is the property of Sociedad Mexicana de Analisis de la Conducta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study compared animal performance and enteric methane (CH4) emissions from dairy cows in a part-time grazing (PTG) system in northern Sweden. Twenty-four Nordic Red dairy cows were allocated to one of two treatments: DAY (10 h daytime pasture access) or NIGHT (12 h night-time pasture access). The cows in each treatment received the same ad libitum partial mixed ration (PMR) indoors and ad libitum herbage allowance. Methane was recorded using two linked GreenFeedTM emissions monitoring (GEM) units, on pasture and indoors. Day or night grazing showed no statistical differences in estimated grass or PMR intake, milk production or daily enteric CH4 emissions. There was a rapid decrease in diurnal CH4 emissions (28%) when the cows were moved from indoors to pasture in both grazing treatments. Using two GEM units (indoor, outdoor) in combination improved the diurnal assessment of enteric CH4 emissions during PTG conditions in the mixed feeding system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a parsimonious model, this paper analyzes a dockless bike-sharing (DLB) service that competes with walking and a generic motorized mode. The DLB operator chooses a fleet size and a fare schedule that dictate the level of service (LOS) as measured by the access time or the walking time taken to reach the nearest bike location. The market equilibrium is formulated as a solution to a nonlinear equation system over which three counterfactual design problems are defined to maximize (i) profit, (ii) ridership, or (iii) social welfare. The model is calibrated with empirical data collected in Chengdu, China, and all three counterfactual designs are tested against the status quo. We show the LOS of a DLB system is subject to rapidly diminishing returns to the investment on the fleet. Thus, under the monopoly setting considered herein, the current fleet cap set by Chengdu can be cut by up to three quarters even when the DLB operator aims to maximize ridership. This indicates the city's fleet cap decision might have been misguided by the prevailing conditions of a competitive yet highly inefficient market. For a regulator seeking to influence the DLB operator for social good, the choice of policy instruments depends on the operator's objective. When the operator focuses on profit, limiting fare is much more effective than limiting fleet size. If, instead, it aims to grow market share, then setting a limit on fleet size becomes a dominant strategy. We also show, both analytically and numerically, that the ability to achieve a stable LOS with a low rebalancing frequency is critical to profitability. A lower rebalancing frequency always rewards users with cheaper fares and better LOS even for a profit-maximizing operator. Funding: This research was partially supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation [Grant CMMI 1922665] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 71971044]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2022.0304. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective: To investigate the effectiveness, from a system’s perspective, of offering group counseling options in college counseling centers. Methods: We achieve this through a data-driven simulation-based approach with the aim of providing administrators with a quantitative tool that informs their decision-making process. Results: Our simulation experiments reveal that offering group counseling options without resource reallocation does not have the desired positive impact on the system’s performance. However, with resource reallocation, our results demonstrate that the introduction of group counseling options can significantly improve the performance of the system by as much as 40%. Conclusions: Group counseling options, coupled with proper resource reallocation strategies, are effective in reducing access time of first-time patients by as much as 40%. The effect of group counseling is highly dependent on both the number of offered groups as well as their scheduling policy. Scheduling policies have to be scrutinized in light of their resulting group waiting time and resource-utilization efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College counseling centers in various universities have been tasked with the important responsibility of attending to the mental health needs of their students. Owing to the unprecedented recent surge of demand for such services, college counseling centers are facing several crippling resource-level challenges. This is leading to longer wait times which limit access to critical mental health services. To address these challenges, we construct a discrete-event simulation model that captures several intricate details of their operations and provides a data-driven framework to quantify the effect of different policy changes. In contrast to existing work on this matter, which is primarily based on qualitative assessments, the considered quantitative approach has the potential to lead to key observations that can assist counseling directors in constructing a system with desirable performance. To demonstrate the benefit of the considered simulation model, we use data specific to Texas A&M's Counseling & Psychological Services to run a series of numerical experiments. Our results demonstrate the predictive power of the simulation model, highlight a number of key observations, and identify policy changes that result in desirable system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming increasingly popular in areas like wearable communication devices, biomedical devices, and home automation systems. IoT-compatible processors or devices need larger integrated memory circuits, like static random access memory (SRAM). The design of such a larger memory with fast access times and low leakage is a challenge. This article proposes a 7T SRAM cell using an InGaAs-dual pocket-dual gate-tunnel FET (InGaAs-DP-DG-TFET) device. We have compared the key metrics of SRAM, such as read/write delay, stability, and power consumption, with 7T SRAM based on existing TFET devices. The 7T cell designed in this work significantly improved read and write access times. The proposed SRAM shows a decrement of read delay (write delay) by approximately 10x (210x) and 2.5x (43x) times compared to the 7T SRAM cell implemented using Si-DP-DG-TFET and InGaAs/Si-DP-DG-TFET at $V_{DD}$ = 700 mV. The proposed cell has the highest write margin (WM) and the least leakage power compared to the other cells examined here. The WM of the proposed 7T SRAM cell is 5x and 1.6x higher at $V_{DD}$ = 500 mV, compared to Si-DP-DG-TFET and InGaAs/Si-DP-DG-TFET counterparts, respectively. We computed the leakage power of the 7T SRAM cell since it is an essential factor in the design of SRAM. To explore the performance of TFET-based SRAM operation, we have carried out circuit simulations at various supply voltages and for different cell sizes. These simulations also offered an assessment of the cell’s dynamic performance. We employed a Verilog-A-based lookup table technique and ran simulations in the commercial HSPICE circuit simulator. The low leakage power and fast memory access of the proposed cell make it a promising candidate for IoT applications.

An essential part of the health system is the ambulance service, whose main task is to provide patients with high quality care. In the spirit of the above, the aim of the study is to explore the spatial characteristics of the ambulance service in a Hungarian territorial unit, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county. The main findings of the study are: - The geographical location of ambulance stations in the county is strongly influenced by geography and demographic characteristics. - The designation of the coverage areas of ambulance station is fundamentally consistent with the access time to the respective ambulance stations. - The accessibility of each settlement from the ambulance station and the time needed to travel the ambulance station - location - hospital route differ for the speed allowed by the Highway Code and for the speed of 60 km/h.

Copyright of China Forest Products Industry is the property of China Forest Products Industry Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An essential part of the health system is the ambulance service, whose main task is to provide patients with high quality care. In the spirit of the above, the aim of the study is to explore the spatial characteristics of the ambulance service in a Hungarian territorial unit, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county. The main findings of the study are: - The geographical location of ambulance stations in the county is strongly influenced by geography and demographic characteristics. - The designation of the coverage areas of ambulance station is fundamentally consistent with the access time to the respective ambulance stations. - The accessibility of each settlement from the ambulance station and the time needed to travel the ambulance station - location - hospital route differ for the speed allowed by the Highway Code and for the speed of 60 km/h [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific instruments on board satellites are becoming increasingly sensitive, making it imperative to submit these instruments to a thorough calibration. In-flight calibration could be largely improved by using an ancillary microsatellite flying in formation with the main satellite and emitting a well-defined and known reference signal. Due to the main satellite attitude motion, the calibration satellite and therefore, its calibration signal, will only enter the instrument FoV (Field of View) at certain instants. It is not intuitive how frequently and during how much time this will happen, or how this depends on the scan strategy. In the present work, the available time for calibration and its characteristics in terms of total, mean, and maximum duration are studied, deriving analytical expressions for these quantities. These expressions are validated numerically and allow us to assess the impact of different scan strategies and to evaluate the most suitable region to locate the calibration satellite. The focal plane of the instrument is also modelled to evaluate the calibration process at detector level, calculating the number of detectors viewed and the direction of the polarized signal that they received. For this last analysis, only numerical methods have been employed. The tools are finally used in a case study in order to show how they can be employed to test, evaluate, and optimize scanning strategies and relative positions. The tools presented in this work can be easily adapted to evaluate more generally the characteristics of the observation of each point in the sky for a given scan strategy and instrument FoV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable mobility is a priority for transport systems in urban areas. Contemporary planning of transport systems assumes an increase in the role of public transport in everyday trips. To increase the share of trips using public transport, it is essential to improve the accessibility of public transport stops. The accessibility of such stops depends primarily on the distance between the trip origin and the stop. Many factors influence the distance that passengers are willing to travel. This paper discusses the relationship between the access time to the bus stop and travel time. To study such a relationship, various statistical methods may be applied. This paper presents the results of the analysis performed based on the data on trips made by inhabitants of Bielsko-Biała, gathered during the building of its transport model.

This work introduces a FinFet based low-power 11T SRAM cell with write enhanced feature, which is considered to meet modern technology requirements due to its distinctive features and performance. The proposed 11T SRAM cell is designed in such a way, so that it reduces the overall power consumption, improving access time, and static noise margin (SNM), especially during the write operation. The proposed 11T SRAM cell is compared with other SRAM cells, including conventional 6T (conv6T), dual pull-up transistor 10T (DPUT10T), dual pull-down transistor 10T (DPDT10T), dual transmission gate 9T (DTG9T), and dual transmission gate 10T (DTG10T), at an equitable standard. The results obtained at the supply voltage of 0.5 V @ 27 °C shows the reduction in leakage power during hold 1 operation by 1.61 × /1.33 × /1.44 × /1.63 × /1.46 × , and reduction in power consumption during read operation by 1.02 × /1.55 × / 1.01 × /1.81 × /1.97 × in comparison with conv6T/DPUT10T/ DPDT10T/DTG9T/DTG10T, respectively. Write access time is also improved by a factor of 1.67 × /1.71 × /2.59 × /1.45 × /1.97 × , respectively. Additionally, read static noise margin (RSNM) and write static noise margin (WSNM) are improved by 2.03 × /1.01 × /1.65 × /1.54 × /1.43 × , and 1.42 × /1.33 × /1.41 × /1.02 × /1.62 × , respectively. This demonstrates why the proposed low-power 11T SRAM cell is desirable, especially when compared to the other cells under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single-sided Schmitt-trigger driven 10-transistor (ST 10T) static random access memory cell (SRAM) exhibiting lower power consumption, better read and write access time, improved hold and write stability are presented. Using a Schmitt-trigger inverter and a power gating approach, it has better read and write access time and stability. The single bitline structure with stacking effect lowers the proposed cell's leakage power. The proposed ST 10T cell has a maximum reduction in power consumption of up to 9667.52 times than the considered structure. Furthermore, improvements in write ability and hold stability of up to 1.62 and 1.17 times respectively, are obtained over compared SRAM cells. The cell reduces read and write access times by up to 1.66 and 45.85 times, respectively. The Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations demonstrate the proposed cell's resilient performance. The simulation is performed using Cadence Virtuoso GPDK 45 nm CMOS technology. [Display omitted] • It has lower power consumption due to a single BL structure with ST inverter and stacking effect. • The use of a ST inverter and a controlled power gating technique improves write access time. • Use of ST and conventional inverters cross-coupled structures, its read access time is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospitals face the challenge of managing demand for limited computed tomography (CT) resources from multiple patient types while ensuring timely access. Methods: A discrete event simulation model was created to evaluate CT access time for emergency department (ED) patients at a large academic medical center with six unique CT machines that serve unscheduled emergency, semi‐scheduled inpatient, and scheduled outpatient demand. Three operational interventions were tested: adding additional patient transporters, using an alternative creatinine lab, and adding a registered nurse dedicated to monitoring CT patients in the ED. Results: All interventions improved access times. Adding one or two transporters improved ED access times by up to 9.8 minutes (Mann‐Whitney (MW) CI: [−11.0,−8.7]) and 10.3 minutes (MW CI [−11.5, −9.2]). The alternative creatinine and RN interventions provided 3‐minute (MW CI: [−4.0, −2.0]) and 8.5‐minute (MW CI: [−9.7, −8.3]) improvements. Conclusions: Adding one transporter provided the greatest combination of reduced delay and ability to implement. The projected simulation improvements have been realized in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aggressive growth of the internet of things-based applications in the domestic and industrial domain, the embedded static memory is also under renovation stage to eliminate classical barriers such as soft errors, poor stability, and mediocre performance. In this work, a novel twelve transistors (12T) SRAM cell is presented that replaces the conventional inverter with Schmitt trigger-based inverter in core latch. The proposed SRAM circuit has been compared with four formerly reported designs for investigating the improvement in terms of various performance metrics. These designs include conventional six transistors (6T), tunable transistor 8T (T8T), PPN inverter-based 10T (PP10T), and stable low read power 11T (S11T) cells. The presented cell effectively minimizes the soft errors attributed to 1. 3 6 × / 1. 2 7 × / 1. 6 6 × / 1. 2 7 × enhancement of critical charge compared to 6T/T8T/PP10T/S11T cells. Also, the proposed bit-cell effectively mitigates multi-bit-cell upsets because it allows bit interleaving array structure. The presented bit-cell also shows reduction in leakage power by 1. 0 8 × / 1. 3 3 × / 0. 4 3 × / 1. 2 8 × in comparison to 6T/T8T/PP10T/S11T cells, respectively. The read and write stability of proposed bit-cell circuit is enhanced by 1. 9 6 × / 1. 8 8 × / 1 × / 1. 9 2 × and 1. 1 5 × / 1. 1 9 × / 1. 2 9 × / 1. 4 5 × , respectively, in comparison to 6T/T8T/PP10T/S11T cells, respectively. In addition to this, proposed cell exhibits improvement in dynamic power, data retention voltage, and overall electrical quality matrix. Variability comparison of key design metrics such as read power and read current of the proposed SRAM circuit with 6T cell has also been presented in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a 9T SRAM cell with low power (LP9T) and improved performance has been proposed. This cell is free from half-select issue and works with single-ended read and differential write operation in the sub-threshold region. To evaluate the relative performance, the obtained characteristics of LP9T SRAM cell are compared with other state-of-the-art designs at 45-nm technology node. The read and write power dissipation of LP9T SRAM cell is reduced by 1. 6 5 × and 1. 8 4 × as compared to Conv.6T SRAM cell. In proposed cell, leakage power is reduced by 1. 5 8 × , 1. 4 0 × , 1. 4 7 × , 1. 0 5 × , 1. 5 7 × and 1. 3 1 × as compared to conventional 6T (Conv.6T), low power (LP8T), transmission gate 8T(TG8T), transmission gate 9T (TG9T), Schmitt trigger 9T (ST9T), and positive feedback control 10T (PFC10T) SRAM cells. This reduction in leakage power is attributed to stacking effect. LP9T SRAM cell also exhibits significant improvement in read/write access time as compared to all considered cells. Also, the read and write energy of proposed cell is lowest among all considered cells. The LP9T SRAM cell has 2. 2 × and 1. 6 3 × higher read and write stability as compared to Conv.6T SRAM cell. Proposed SRAM cell has the highest value of ON to OFF current ratio ( I on ∕ I off ) which signifies the highest bit-cell density among all considered cells. The LP9T SRAM cell occupies 1. 2 0 × large area as compared to Conv.6T SRAM cell. The overall quality of SRAM cell is calculated through the electrical quality metric (EQM). It is observed that LP9T SRAM cell has the highest value of EQM in comparison to considered cells at 0.3 V supply voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Peer to Peer-Cloud (P2P-Cloud) is a suitable alternative to distributed cloud-based or peer-to-peer (P2P)-based content on a large scale. The P2P-Cloud is used in many applications such as IPTV, Video-On-Demand, and so on. In the P2P-Cloud network, overload is a common problem during overcrowds. If a node receives many requests simultaneously, the node may not be able to respond quickly to user requests, and this access latency in P2P-Cloud networks is a major problem for their users. The replication method in P2P-Cloud environments reduces the time to access and uses network bandwidth by making multiple data copies in diverse locations. The replication improves access to the information and increases the reliability of the system. The data replication's main problem is identifying the best possible placement of replica data nodes based on user requests for data access time and an NP-hard optimization problem. This paper proposes a new replica replacement to improve average access time and replica cost using fuzzy logic and Ant Colony Optimization algorithm. Ants can find the shortest path to discover the optimal node to place the duplicate file with the least access time latency. The fuzzy module evaluates the historical information of each node to analyze the pheromone value per iteration. The fuzzy membership function is also used to determine each node's degree based on the four characteristics. The simulation results showed that the access time and replica cost are improved compared to other replica replacement algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advent and rapid development of on-chip computation in applications based on internet of things has opened space for integration of human life processes with technology. Wireless sensor node is a crucial component of this integration and SRAM employed in these nodes is under renovation phase. In this work, a novel single ended, bit-line powered 10T static random-access memory cell is proposed which improves access time, dissipates low power and supports bit-interleaving. The performance metrics of proposed design are compared with conventional 6T (conv.6T), tunable 8T(TUA8T), transmission gate based 9T(TRD9T), PPN10T(P10T), Schmitt-trigger based 10T (STR10T), loop cutting 10T (LC10T), and data dependent 11T(DD11T) cell to affirm the novelty of observed results. The reduction of soft error in proposed 10T cell is indicated by 1.22 × /1.13 × /1.13 × /0.91 × /1.49 × /1.12 × improvement in critical charge in comparison to conv.6T/TUA8T/TRD9T/STR10T/P10T/LC10T cell respectively. The read and write delay of proposed cell is improved by 1.56 × /1.04 × //1.04 × /1.57 × /1.14 × /1.12 × /1.05 × and 3.29 × /2.29 × /2.49 × /7.94 × /7.15 × /3.38 × /2.32 × respectively compared to conv.6T/TUA8T/TRD9T/STR10T/P10T/DD11T/LC10T cell. Additionally, read and write static noise margin of proposed 10T cell is improved by 2.22 × /2.04 × /1 × /1.67 × /1.06 × /1.75 × /1 × and 1.18 × /1.22 × /0.89 × /0.93 × /1.23 × /1.33 × /0.98 × respectively in comparison to conv. 6T/TUA8T/TRD9T/STR10T/P10T/DD11T/ LC10T cell. This article further demonstrates 1.88 × and 1.26 × tighter disperse in read power variability and read current variability respectively as compared with that of conv. 6T SRAM cell. The reduced cell density due to more number of transistors is compensated by improved I on / I off ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the proposed work, a differential write and single-ended read half-select free 12 transistors static random access memory cell is designed and simulated. The proposed cell has a considerable reduction in power dissipation with better stability and moderate performance. This cell operates in subthreshold region and has a higher value of read static noise margin as compared to conventional six transistors static random access memory cell. A power cut-off technique is utilized between access and pull-up transistors during the write operation. It results in an increase in write static noise margin as compared to all considered cells. In the proposed cell, read and write access time is improved along with a reduction in read/write power dissipation as compared to conventional six transistors static random access memory cell. The bitline leakage current in the proposed cell is reduced which improves the Ion/Ioff ratio of the cell under subthreshold region. The proposed cell occupies less area as compared to considered radiationhardened design 12 transistors static random access memory cell. The computed electrical quality metric of proposed cell is better among considered static random access memory cells. Process variation analysis of read stability, access time, power dissipation, read current and leakage current has been performed with the help of Monte Carlo simulation at 3,000 points to get more soundness in the results. All characteristics of static random access memory cells are compared at various supply voltages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a comprehensive framework for analysis of time-dependent performance-reliability degradation of an SRAM cache, considering cache configurations, process parameters and their variations, supply voltage, and aging. The framework consists of three parts: microprocessor emulation, activity extraction, and evaluation of performance-reliability metrics. Evaluation of performance-reliability metrics is implemented with a prediction engine involving regression models for the metrics, which evaluates degradation due to various wearout mechanisms, including bias temperature instability (BTI), hot carrier injection (HCI), and random telegraph noise (RTN). The regression models not only enable more than 100 × faster computation compared with SPICE simulations but also protect intellectual property. This framework has been applied to study how SRAM instruction cache (I-Cache) configurations, cell structure, inclusion of RTN and gate length variation, voltage scaling, and stress time affect the performance and reliability parameters, such as access time, leakage power, critical charge (Qcrit), and static noise margin (SNM). We have also studied the impact of configuration parameters on the soft error rate (SER) and the hit rate of the I-Cache, and the impact of single error correction and double error detection (SECDED) error correcting codes (ECCs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents an 11 transistor (SEHF11T) static random access memory (SRAM) cell with high read static noise margin (RSNM) and write static noise margin (WSNM). It eliminates the write half‐select disturb using cross‐point data‐aware write word lines, which can mitigate bit‐interleaving structure to reduce multiple‐bit upset and increase soft‐error immunity. We evaluated and analyzed the effect of process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations on various design metrics and compared it with other cells. The SEHF11T performs fast read operation due to its higher read current and slow write operation due to its single‐ended nature. It employs the read decoupling technique to enhance the RSNM. The stacked transistors in the left/right half‐cell increase the RSNM. In addition, the WSNM is improved by eliminating the feedback of cross‐coupled inverters pair during write operation by means of power‐cutoff write‐assist technique. The proposed cell shows 1.11X higher RSNM and 1.37X higher WSNM compared to fully differential 8T (FD8T) cell. The stacked transistors in the cell reduce leakage power dissipation. The SEHF11T consumes 0.47X lower leakage power compared to FD8T at VDD = 0.7 V. Furthermore, it exhibits high reliability against PVT variations in subthreshold region and shows 1.09X narrower spread in leakage power than that of FD8T at VDD = 0.3 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable mobility is a priority for transport systems in urban areas. Contemporary planning of transport systems assumes an increase in the role of public transport in everyday trips. To increase the share of trips using public transport, it is essential to improve the accessibility of public transport stops. The accessibility of such stops depends primarily on the distance between the trip origin and the stop. Many factors influence the distance that passengers are willing to travel. This paper discusses the relationship between the access time to the bus stop and travel time. To study such a relationship, various statistical methods may be applied. This paper presents the results of the analysis performed based on the data on trips made by inhabitants of Bielsko-Biała, gathered during the building of its transport model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand of Internet of things based portable gadgets motivate to develop low power static random access memory (SRAM) cell. It occupies large portion in modern system on chip devices. In this context, a detailed review on various SRAM cell topologies has been performed which includes comparative analysis of design parameters and challenges. To perform the comparative analysis, considered SRAM cell topologies are simulated with cadence virtuoso IC6.1.5-64b at 45 nm generic process design kit technology file. It is worthy to notice that 9T SRAM cell has highest value of read stability among considered cells. It is attributed to use of differential read decoupled structure. The 7T SRAM cell has highest value of write ability among considered cells. It is observed that 8T SRAM cell has lowest read power dissipation among considered cells. It happens due to the use of stack transistor in read path of the cell. The lowest value of read access time is also observed in 8T SRAM cell among considered SRAM cells. It is 1.82 × higher as compared to conventional 6T SRAM cell. Further, the write access time of 9T SRAM cell is lowest among considered cells. This is 1.41 × less as compared to conventional 6T SRAM cell. Static noise per unit area to power delay product ratio (SAPR) is used to evaluate the overall performance of considered SRAM topologies. It is observed that 8T SRAM cell has the highest value of SAPR among considered SRAM cells. It is 1.91 × as compared to conventional 6T SRAM cell. All the comparison has been done at 1.0 V supply voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyzed the stability, power, performance, and area of 6T-SRAMs using a promising scaling booster, i.e., source/drain patterning (SDP) scheme for the 3-nm technology node based on 3-D TCAD simulation. SDP scheme allows to decrease the spacing between transistors by downsizing the source/drain epitaxy. Proposed 5-nm and 3-nm SDP-SRAM (SDP-SRAM5 and SDP-SRAM3) are compared with conventional 5-nm node SRAM (Conv-SRAM5), quantitatively. Unlike a Conv-SRAM5, SDP-SRAMs have more design margins according to the two fin position parameters: fin location adjustment (FLA) and separation pitch adjustment (SPA). The optimized layout has the maximum FLA by significantly decreasing the back-end-of-line (BEOL) bitline and internal node capacitance. Read and write static noise margins were comparable (< 10 mV) between the SDP-SRAM and Conv-SRAM. The SDP-SRAM5 improved the read access time 18% compared to the Conv-SRAM5 in low-power (LP) applications, but the SDP-SRAM3 degraded it by 11% in high-performance (HP) applications because of the narrow M2 pitch. Both the SDP-SRAM5 and SDP-SRAM3 improved write access time about 10% compared to a Conv-SRAM5 in LP applications. The cell area of the SDP-SRAM3 decreased about 0.64 times compared to a Conv-SRAM5 without severe degradation of performance. The SDP scheme provides flexible layout designs enabling a high-density SRAM, promising for 3-nm node logic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tactical capacity planning is a key element of planning and control decisions in healthcare settings, focusing on the medium-term allocation of a clinic's resources to appointments of different types. One of the most scarce resources in healthcare is physician time. Due to uncertainty in demand for appointments, it is difficult to provide an exact match between the planned physician availability and appointment requests. Our study uses cardinality-constrained robust optimization to develop tactical capacity plans which are robust against uncertainty, providing a feasible allocation of capacity for all realizations of demand to the extent allowed by the budget of uncertainty. The outpatient setting we consider sees first-visit patients and re-visit patients, and both patient types have access time targets. We experimentally evaluate our robust model and its practical implications under different levels of conservatism. We show that we can guarantee 100% feasibility of the robust tactical capacity plan while not being fully conservative, which will lead to the clinic saving money while being able to meet demand despite uncertainty. We also show how the robust model helps us to identify the critical time periods leading to worst case physician peak load, which could be valuable to decision-makers. Throughout the experiments, we find that the step of translating available data into an uncertainty set can influence the true conservatism of a solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the parameters of a harmonic signal is one of the most common types of measurements in radio engineering, communication engineering, electronics and automation systems. The research and development of new methods for measuring the harmonic signal parameters are relevant. This work studied algorithm errors for determining the phase shift of harmonic signals using stochastic sampling. The relevance of this study is dictated by increasing requirements for the accuracy and speed of measuring equipment, the reduction of time it takes to decide on the presence of a signal while searching for it, that make it necessary to use statistically optimal methods for measuring signal parameters. The work aimed to develop an algorithm and estimate its errors for the possibility of practical implementation of the algorithm for processing infra-lowfrequency radio signals during stochastic sampling. According to the uniform distribution law, the instantaneous values in each sample of the signals under investigation are based on stochastic sampling in time. Mathematical modeling of algorithm errors for determining the phase shift of signals with harmonics, and depending on harmonics compared to the first (main) harmonic of the signal under investigation during the sampling by real analog-to-digital converters have been carried out. The obtained values of the algorithm errors for determining the phase shift of the main harmonic are within an acceptable range (<30%); at harmonics amplitudes (up to the 3rd harmonic) within 20%. The computing experiment results for estimating the algorithm errors confirm the possibility of obtaining high accuracy in determining the phase shift of harmonic signals. This algorithm can be used for processing infra-low-frequency radio signals with sufficient accuracy in acoustics, hydroacoustics, seismic acoustics, underwater, and underground communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total travel time from origin to destination determines convenience of public transport system because reliability of total travel time link with public transport. To better serve the needs of people and to decrease travel time, the flexible solutions for public transport system are growing. One such flexible solution is integration of transportation system. The focus of this research is to measure factors that contribute to total travel time. Six major road of Peshawar city are studied to collect data regarding access time, egress time, waiting at transit stop and walking time while mode shifting. Hypothetically significance measured of these four different times upon total travel time to assess transport integration system. The analysis shows that multi-modal public transport trips effect total travel time because, waiting and extra walking time exists in mode transfer. Access and egress times don't have any positive significance with total travel time because access and egress times are considered part of travel time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief, we proposed, based on the polarity upset mechanism of single-event transient voltage of n-channel metal–oxide–semiconductor (nMOS) transistors, a novel radiation hardened by polar design (RHPD) 12T SRAM cell to enhance the reliability and operation speed for space applications. Simulation results in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) 65-nm CMOS commercial standard process show that the proposed RHPD-12T cell can tolerate all single-node upsets. Meanwhile, compared with We-QUATRO, QUATRO, and dual interlocked storage cell (DICE), the write speed of the proposed cell can be reduced by ~41.8 and ~35.3%, and the static power consumption is reduced by ~41.6 and ~46.3%, respectively. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation has proved that under high frequency and low supply (0.6 V) voltage, RHPD-12T has the minimum write failure probability compared with five other SRAM cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: The existing public and forest transport infrastructure (truck forest roads) are permanent objects used when passing through forests. They also serve as a firefighter belt and provide direct access to firefighting vehicles, or are used as the starting point where firefighting teams extinguish fires or move toward remote fires. The paper identifies the existing fire road network (including public roads, forest roads, non-classified roads and fire roads) for access of firefighting vehicles during fire extinguishing interventions. Material and Methods: An analysis of the intervention rate was conducted on a dispersive sample (35 positions) from two volunteer fire associations (VFA) on the island of Vis. Also, an analysis of the surface availability to fire vehicles concerning the time of departure from the fire station was conducted, as well as the comparison with the Standard time of intervention defined by the regulations on fire department organization in the Republic of Croatia. Results: For each simulated fire location for intervention of two existing volunteer fire associations: VFA Komiža and VFA Vis, results show that for a few fire locations, despite a smaller distance from the VFA Komiža, a quicker intervention is possible from the VFA Vis (locations 4, 5 and 14), and vice versa (locations 21, 22 and 25). With the use of a New Service Area, tool intervention times regarding different areas were calculated. Intervention times were divided into intervals: 25 min. The last two categories of area are beyond reach for firefighters within the Standard time of intervention (15 min) and together they comprise to 27.88% of the total research area. Conclusions: The results of Closest Facility tool indicate that for the simulated fire position the best/fastest route is not always the shortest one, because of a significant effect of the structural elements of each road, the state of the road and the longitudinal slope of the road itself. One of the possible approaches to gain access to the area for fire-fighting, as well as to prioritize fire roads regarding maintenance/reconstruction is to improve road conditions, and thus increase the average driving speed.

Background/objective: Long access time to computed tomography (CT) facilities is seen as a substantial problem in many hospitals. Walk-in is an intervention that eliminates access times, since it gives patients direct access without an appointment. The Rijnstate hospital implemented walk-in CT in 2010, which offered the opportunity to study the positive and negative effects of walk-in CT in practice and how these effects are balanced.Material and Methods: Employee interviews (N = 10), patient surveys (N = 535) and a data analysis using data from the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) of 129.148 patients between October 2008 and March 2017 were conducted.Results: All stakeholders stated that the system improved with the introduction of walk-in. The interviews also resulted in main performance indicators: access time, waiting time, one-stop-shop, autonomy of choice, productivity and employee satisfaction. The patient survey divulged the maximum acceptable waiting time: 79% of patients stated this to be 15-30 minutes or more. When asked which performance indicator is most important, 'one stop shop' was mentioned by 134 patients over access time, waiting time and autonomy of choice (ranged from 79 to 88). The data analysis showed a doubling in production, while CT capacity hardly increased. The percentage of outpatients that had to wait 30 minutes or less has decreased from 85.2% in 2009 to 59.5% in 2016, but the absolute number of outpatients with these waiting times increased from 5.146 to 7.681. Overtime production regarding outpatients has decreased over the years.Conclusions: Walk-in CT performs better regarding the main performance indicators than a full appointment system. The reasons are that it almost nullifies CT access time and enhances one-stop-shop for patients. Walk-in also improves satisfaction of patients, referring physicians as well as the entire radiology staff, technicians and doctors alike. Furthermore, all results suggest that productivity can be higher with walk-in than with only appointments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]