A graph placement methodology for fast chip design.

Chip floorplanning is the engineering task of designing the physical layout of a computer chip. Despite five decades of research1, chip floorplanning has defied automation, requiring months of intense effort by physical design engineers to produce manufacturable layouts. Here we present a deep reinforcement learning approach to chip floorplanning. In under six hours, our method automatically generates chip floorplans that are superior or comparable to those produced by humans in all key metrics, including power consumption, performance and chip area. To achieve this, we pose chip floorplanning as a reinforcement learning problem, and develop an edge-based graph convolutional neural network architecture capable of learning rich and transferable representations of the chip. As a result, our method utilizes past experience to become better and faster at solving new instances of the problem, allowing chip design to be performed by artificial agents with more experience than any human designer. Our method was used to design the next generation of Google's artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators, and has the potential to save thousands of hours of human effort for each new generation. Finally, we believe that more powerful AI-designed hardware will fuel advances in AI, creating a symbiotic relationship between the two fields.

Lingual frenuloplasty with myofunctional therapy: Exploring safety and efficacy in 348 cases.

BACKGROUND: Ankyloglossia is a condition of altered tongue mobility due to the presence of restrictive tissue between the undersurface of the tongue and the floor of mouth. Potential implications of restricted tongue mobility (such as mouth breathing, snoring, dental clenching, and myofascial tension) remain underappreciated due to limited peer-reviewed evidence. Here, we explore the safety and efficacy of lingual frenuloplasty and myofunctional therapy for the treatment of these conditions in a large and diverse cohort of patients with restricted tongue mobility. METHODS: Four hundred twenty consecutive patients (ages 29 months to 79 years) treated with myofunctional therapy and lingual frenuloplasty for indications of mouth breathing, snoring, dental clenching, and/or myofascial tension were surveyed. All procedures were performed by a single surgeon using a scissors and suture technique. Safety and efficacy was assessed >2 months postoperatively by means of patient-reported outcome measures. RESULTS: In all, 348 surveys (83% response rate) were completed showing 91% satisfaction rate and 87% rate of improvement in quality of life through amelioration of mouth breathing (78.4%), snoring (72.9%), clenching (91.0%), and/or myofascial tension (77.5%). Minor complications occurred in <5% of cases including complaints of prolonged pain or bleeding, temporary numbness of the tongue-tip, salivary gland issues, minor wound infection or inflammation, and need for revision to excise scar tissue. There were no major complications. CONCLUSION: Lingual frenuloplasty with myofunctional therapy is safe and potentially effective for the treatment of mouth breathing, snoring, clenching, and myofascial tension in appropriately selected patient candidates. Further studies with objective measures are merited. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

Airway Centric® TMJ philosophy/Airway Centric® orthodontics ushers in the post-retraction world of orthodontics.

OBJECTIVE: Airway Centric® Dentistry/Orthodontics was defined in a previous article (Gelb M. Airway centric TMJ philosophy. CDA Journal. 2014) that also suggested airway considerations were more important than condylar position issues in determining patient health and welfare. Indeed, that article called for a new paradigm in the profession, but specific treatment techniques to achieve optimal airways and avoid reducing the airway were not discussed. The present article amplifies on that article and identifies specific orthodontic treatment methods, which are or are not, congruent with this new paradigm. METHOD: The basis of traditional orthodontic diagnosis is outlined with references from the literature that show the scientific foundation for treatment is weak. A new approach to diagnosis and treatment with the goal of airway optimization is discussed. DISCUSSION: Six keys for optimal orthodontic outcomes are presented as new goals, and none involve the teeth. Ten specific treatment goals are outlined, and some are the diametric opposite of the current standard of care in the profession. CONCLUSION: We recommend that optimizing the airway for every patient and never doing any treatment which will diminish the airway, even minutely, needs to become the standard of care in Airway Centric® Dentistry.

Soft tissue facial changes using Biobloc appliances: geometric morphometrics.

The aim of this study is to determine how the Biobloc appliance affects the growth of soft tissue facial components. 14 landmarks in pre-, post- and no-treatment standardized lateral photographs were digitized in 41 cases (30 cases in the pre- and post-treatment group, and 11 cases in the control group). Using finite-element analysis, it was found that soft tissue facial changes in patients treated with Biobloc appliances showed a consistent growth guidance direction of approximately 45 degrees. For the untreated group, the facial growth direction was less consistent and more vertical. It is concluded that soft tissue facial changes associated with Biobloc treatment are consistent with a more balanced facial profile.

Evaluation of the posterior airway space following Biobloc therapy: geometric morphometrics.

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the posterior airway space in patients following Biobloc therapy, using geometric morphometrics. Pre- and post-treatment lateral cephalographs of 53 children (mean age, 12.9 +/- 1.5 years; mean treatment time, 21.3 +/- 6.2 months) were scanned and 27 landmarks encompassing the airway were digitized. Mean configurations were computed using Procrustes superimposition, followed by principal components analysis (PCA) and finite-element scaling analysis (FESA). Marked shape-changes were identified using PCA for the airway following treatment (p < 0.01). Using pseudo-colored FESA, a relative 31% increase in nasopharyngeal airway area was found above and behind the soft palate. Additionally, a 23% increase in oropharyngeal airway area was located behind the base of the tongue with a 9% increase in hypopharyngeal area near the level of the hyoid bone. Functional airway improvements are associated with Biobloc treatment in actively growing patients.