Analyse eines digitalen Zwillings zur zeitkontinuierlichen Batchoptimierung in der Halbleiterfertigung

Motivated by the ongoing growth in demand for microchips, high production costs and the complex interplay of human, machine, material and method (4M), suppliers strive to develop more advanced production planning and control regimes for semiconductor production. Batching decisions often dramatically influence the overall performance of wafer fabs in terms of capacity utilization, due date compliance, cycle time and variability. To optimize such processes, we present an integrated testbed for batch formation optimization. Using a simulation of multiple semiconductor work centers, we explore how to optimize work in progress (WIP) flow with a continuous real-time scheduler and previously published batch formation heuristics. The proposed solver is designed to only optimize capacity-limited operations. By considering real-world operations requirements and semiconductor process specifics such as qualification criteria and re-entrance in our model, we demonstrate how to realize significant throughput gains. We explore and demonstrate the developed digital twin through a powerful BI frontend for historical analysis and real-time shop floor monitoring

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 3 Treatment Arms for Vertebral Compression Fractures: A Comparison of Improvement in Pain, Adjacent-Level Fractures, and Quality of Life Between Vertebroplasty, Kyphoplasty, and Nonoperative Management

BACKGROUND Osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) have become increasingly common, and previous nonrandomized and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared the effects of cement augmentation versus nonoperative management on the clinical outcome. This meta-analysis focuses on RCTs and the calculated differences between cement augmentation techniques and nonsurgical management in outcome (e.g., pain reduction, adjacent-level fractures, and quality of life [QOL]). METHODS A systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and the following scientific search engines were used: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Scopus. The inclusion criteria included RCTs that addressed different treatment strategies for OVF. The primary outcome was pain, which was determined by a visual analog scale (VAS) score; the secondary outcomes were the risk of adjacent-level fractures and QOL (as determined by the EuroQol-5 Dimension [EQ-5D] questionnaire, the Oswestry Disability Index [ODI], the Quality of Life Questionnaire of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis [QUALEFFO], and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire [RDQ]). Patients were assigned to 3 groups according to their treatment: vertebroplasty (VP), kyphoplasty (KP), and nonoperative management (NOM). The short-term (weeks), midterm (months), and long-term (>1 year) effects were compared. A random effects model was used to summarize the treatment effect, including I2 for assessing heterogeneity and the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias 2 (RoB 2) tool for assessment of ROB. Funnel plots were used to assess risk of publication bias. The log of the odds ratio (OR) between treatments is reported. RESULTS After screening of 1,861 references, 53 underwent full-text analysis and 16 trials (30.2%) were included. Eleven trials (68.8%) compared VP and NOM, 1 (6.3%) compared KP and NOM, and 4 (25.0%) compared KP and VP. Improvement of pain was better by 1.31 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41 to 2.21; p < 0.001) after VP when compared with NOM in short-term follow-up. Pain effects were similar after VP and KP (midterm difference of 0.0 points; 95% CI, -0.25 to 0.25). The risk of adjacent-level fractures was not increased after any treatment (log OR, -0.16; 95% CI, -0.83 to 0.5; NOM vs. VP or KP). QOL did not differ significantly between the VP or KP and NOM groups except in the short term when measured by the RDQ. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis provides evidence in favor of the surgical treatment of OVFs. Surgery was associated with greater improvement of pain and was unrelated to the development of adjacent-level fractures or QOL. Although improvements in sagittal balance after surgery were poorly documented, surgical treatment may be warranted if pain is a relevant problem. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

Extraction of the Longitudinal Profile of the Transverse Emittance From Single-Shot RF Deflector Measurements at sFLASH

The gain length of the free-electron laser (FEL) process strongly depends on the slice energy spread, slice emittance, and current of the electron bunch. At an FEL with only moderately compressed electron bunches, the slice energy spread is mainly determined by the compression process. In this regime, single-shot measurements using a transverse deflecting rf cavity enable the extraction of the longitudinal profile of the transverse emittance. At the free-electron laser FLASH at DESY, this technique was used to determine the slice properties of the electron bunch set up for seeded operation in the sFLASH experiment. Thereby, the performance of the seeded FEL process as a function of laser-electron timing can be predicted from these slice properties with the semi-analytical Ming-Xie model where only confined fractions of the electron bunch are stimulated to lase. The prediction is well in line with the FEL peak power observed during an experimental laser-electron timing scan. The power profiles of the FEL pulses were reconstructed from the longitudinal phase-space measurements of the seeded electron bunch that was measured with the rf deflector

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 3 Treatment Arms for Vertebral Compression Fractures: A Comparison of Improvement in Pain, Adjacent-Level Fractures, and Quality of Life Between Vertebroplasty, Kyphoplasty, and Nonoperative Management.

BACKGROUND Osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) have become increasingly common, and previous nonrandomized and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared the effects of cement augmentation versus nonoperative management on the clinical outcome. This meta-analysis focuses on RCTs and the calculated differences between cement augmentation techniques and nonsurgical management in outcome (e.g., pain reduction, adjacent-level fractures, and quality of life [QOL]). METHODS A systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and the following scientific search engines were used: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Scopus. The inclusion criteria included RCTs that addressed different treatment strategies for OVF. The primary outcome was pain, which was determined by a visual analog scale (VAS) score; the secondary outcomes were the risk of adjacent-level fractures and QOL (as determined by the EuroQol-5 Dimension [EQ-5D] questionnaire, the Oswestry Disability Index [ODI], the Quality of Life Questionnaire of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis [QUALEFFO], and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire [RDQ]). Patients were assigned to 3 groups according to their treatment: vertebroplasty (VP), kyphoplasty (KP), and nonoperative management (NOM). The short-term (weeks), midterm (months), and long-term (>1 year) effects were compared. A random effects model was used to summarize the treatment effect, including I2 for assessing heterogeneity and the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias 2 (RoB 2) tool for assessment of ROB. Funnel plots were used to assess risk of publication bias. The log of the odds ratio (OR) between treatments is reported. RESULTS After screening of 1,861 references, 53 underwent full-text analysis and 16 trials (30.2%) were included. Eleven trials (68.8%) compared VP and NOM, 1 (6.3%) compared KP and NOM, and 4 (25.0%) compared KP and VP. Improvement of pain was better by 1.31 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41 to 2.21; p < 0.001) after VP when compared with NOM in short-term follow-up. Pain effects were similar after VP and KP (midterm difference of 0.0 points; 95% CI, -0.25 to 0.25). The risk of adjacent-level fractures was not increased after any treatment (log OR, -0.16; 95% CI, -0.83 to 0.5; NOM vs. VP or KP). QOL did not differ significantly between the VP or KP and NOM groups except in the short term when measured by the RDQ. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis provides evidence in favor of the surgical treatment of OVFs. Surgery was associated with greater improvement of pain and was unrelated to the development of adjacent-level fractures or QOL. Although improvements in sagittal balance after surgery were poorly documented, surgical treatment may be warranted if pain is a relevant problem. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

The lncRNA GATA6-AS epigenetically regulates endothelial gene expression via interaction with LOXL2

Impaired or excessive growth of endothelial cells contributes to several diseases. However, the functional involvement of regulatory long non-coding RNAs in these processes is not well defined. Here, we show that the long non-coding antisense transcript of GATA6 (GATA6-AS) interacts with the epigenetic regulator LOXL2 to regulate endothelial gene expression via changes in histone methylation. Using RNA deep sequencing, we find that GATA6-AS is upregulated in endothelial cells during hypoxia. Silencing of GATA6-AS diminishes TGF-β2-induced endothelial–mesenchymal transition in vitro and promotes formation of blood vessels in mice. We identify LOXL2, known to remove activating H3K4me3 chromatin marks, as a GATA6-AS-associated protein, and reveal a set of angiogenesis-related genes that are inversely regulated by LOXL2 and GATA6-AS silencing. As GATA6-AS silencing reduces H3K4me3 methylation of two of these genes, periostin and cyclooxygenase-2, we conclude that GATA6-AS acts as negative regulator of nuclear LOXL2 function

Recent Results from FEL Seeding at FLASH

The free-electron laser facility FLASH at DESY operates since several years in SASE mode, delivering high-intensity FEL pulses in the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray wavelength range for users. In order to get more control of the characteristics of the FEL pulses, external FEL seeding has proven to be a reliable method to do so. At FLASH, an experimental setup to test several different external seeding methods has been installed since 2010. After successful demonstration of direct seeding at 38 nm, the setup is now being operated in HGHG and later in EEHGmode. Furthermore, other studies on laser-induced effects on the electron beam dynamics have been performed. In this contribution, we give an overview of recent experimental results on FEL seeding at FLASH

Definitions of study outcomes.

<p>Definitions of study outcomes.</p

Kaplan-Meier curves of incident organ involvement in SSc patients of the study population after RP onset.

<p>RP, Raynaud’s phenomenon; Pts, patients; DLCO, single breath diffusing capacity for monoxide; GI symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, defined as a history of either dysphagia, reflux, early satiety, vomiting, diarrhoea, bloating or constipation; Skin involvement, defined as a modified Rodnan skin score of ≥2 at any part of the body; Cardiac involvement, defined as either the presence of diastolic dysfunction, conduction blocks, a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 50%, or a pericardial effusion; FVC, forced vital capacity; PAPsys, systolic pulmonary artery pressure as estimated by echocardiography.</p

Cox multivariable regression analysis of risk factors for the time to incident FVC<80% of predicted, PAPsys>40 mmHg, any cardiac dysfunction, diastolic dysfunction, conduction block, pericardial effusion and renal crisis.

<p>ACA, anti-centromere autoantibodies; Anti-RNAP-III, anti-RNA-polymerase-III autoantibodies; Anti-TOPO, anti-topoisomerase-I autoantibodies; cardiac involvement, defined as either the presence of diastolic dysfunction, conduction blocks, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)<50%, or pericardial effusion; CI, confidence interval; FVC, forced vital capacity; HR, hazard ratio; PAPsys, systolic pulmonary artery pressure as estimated by echocardiography; RP, Raynaud's phenomenon.</p