Technology Designs Research Articles

The Inclusion of Children on the Autism Spectrum in the Design of Learning Technologies: A Small-Scale Exploration of Adults’ Perspectives

This research explores the inclusion of children on the autism spectrum in the design of educational technology from the perspectives of adult co-designers. A group of five non-verbal children with a diagnosis of autism participated in a series of four design workshops over the course of 6 weeks. Using a participatory design approach, a small team of three teachers and two technology developers worked alongside the children to design a language development and literacy app for use in a special education classroom. The outcome of this process was a stand-alone education app that comprised many of the contributions made by children during the workshops. The inclusion of children with autism in technology design ensures the end-product reflects their education needs and requirements. Using a qualitative approach, this small-scale study sought to examine the participation of children with autism through the various stages of the design process from the perspectives of their teachers and technology designers. Data were collected through individual interviews and a focus group with teachers and technology designers. Three major themes emerged from thematic analysis: (1) valuing contribution; (2) the challenge of listening; and (3) ownership in outcome. Emerging subthemes highlight challenges described by teachers and designers in facilitating and maintaining meaningful participation in design activities and their efforts to address these. Findings emphasise the value of participation while questioning participatory practices for specific phases of design. The study explores the challenges of equalising power between adults and children with autism in participatory design projects. It uncovers tension between the desire to ensure the authentic participation of children with autism where communication and engagement is significantly compromised by the complexity of their disability. The small number of participants and the modest scope of this design project limit the generalisability of the findings. However, it points to the value of recognising children’s contributions and the importance of striving to incorporate these in the final design artefact.

Critical Analysis of some Practices of Joining Stainless Steel Pipes Used in the Food Industry from the Perspective of Hygienic Welding Principles

Future EU policies on the dynamics of the food industry impose increasingly stringent hygiene principles. The principles of hygienic design are becoming more and more extensive, with the chapter on hygienic welding occupying a priority position. Surfaces that come into contact with food must be free of imperfections. In order to achieve these goals, research is being undertaken aimed at the continuous improvement of manufacturing technologies. This paper covers some aspects of a critical analysis of welded joints in stainless steel pipes used in the food industry. Some correlations of surface imperfections from the interior areas of the pipes jointed, with a big level of contamination, based on sanitation tests and visual analyses are presented. The conclusions contain some express technological recommendations for the designers of manufacturing and maintenance technologies, especially for welding specialists.

The frequency of facial muscles engaged in expressing emotions in people with visual disabilities via cloud-based video communication

As technology is advancing quickly, and various assistive technology applications are introduced to users with visual disabilities, many people with visual disabilities use smartphones and cloud-based video communication platforms such as Zoom. This study aims at advancing knowledge of how people with visual disabilities visualize voluntary emotions via facial expressions, especially in online contexts. A convenience sample of 28 participants with visual disabilities were observed as to how they show voluntary facial expressions via Zoom. The facial expressions were coded using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) Action Units (AU). Individual differences were found in the frequency of facial action units, which were influenced by the participants’ visual acuity levels (i.e., visual impairment and blindness) and emotion characteristics (i.e., positive/negative valence and high/low arousal levels). The research findings are anticipated to be widely beneficial to many researchers and professionals in the field of facial expressions of emotions, such as facial recognition systems and emotion sensing technologies. Relevance to human factors/ergonomics theoryThis study advanced knowledge of facial muscle engagements while people with visual disabilities visualize their emotions via facial expressions, especially in online contexts. The advanced understanding would contribute to building a fundamental knowledge foundation, ultimately applicable to universal designs of emotion technology that can read users’ facial expressions to customize services with the focus on adequately accommodating the users’ emotional needs (e.g., ambient intelligence) regardless of users’ visual ability/disability.

Understanding How Sensory Changes Experienced by Individuals with a Range of Age-Related Cognitive Changes Can Effect Technology Use.

Clinical researchers have identified sensory changes people with age-related cognitive changes, such as dementia and mild cognitive impairment, experience that are different from typical age-related sensory changes. Technology designers and researchers do not yet have an understanding of how these unique sensory changes affect technology use. This work begins to bridge the gap between the clinical knowledge of sensory changes and technology research and design through interviews with people with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive decline, and healthcare professionals. This extended version of our ASSETS conference paper includes people with a range of age-related cognitive changes describing changes in vision, hearing, speech, dexterity, proprioception, and smell. We discuss each of these sensory changes and ways to leverage optimal modes of sensory interaction for accessible technology use with existing and emerging technologies. Finally, we discuss how accessible sensory stimulation may change across the spectrum of age-related cognitive changes.

On Use of Construction Technology Designs for Expert Opinions

This article describes the basic principles and results of an expert system for construction planning and management. In the field of expert opinions, the system greatly helps to determine the limit of unreasonably low construction prices on the basis of a rapid cost analysis. Additionally, it can determine the technologically shortest possible construction periods or can answer the question of whether it is possible to complete the construction in the specified period, provided that a certain amount of construction is currently underway, which is very useful in expert opinions. The system is based on modeling the construction process using the so-called construction technology network graphs. This method allows, among other things, to create and use so-called typical network graphs as preprepared models of individual types of objects in the form of computer files, which can be modified according to the spatial structure of real buildings or facilities when used in creating a feasibility study or efficient time and financial planning and management of the building process. The system also enables the automatic creation of quality assurance checklists (inspection and acceptance plans for quality assurance), environmental plans (plans for the elimination of adverse effects of construction activities on the environment), and safety and health plans. Direct links to the bills of quantities (list of works and supplies with numbering of individual items), budgets (list of works and supplies with prices), or production calculations, despite the operational records of the actual construction process also on the company’s accounting agenda, are available.

The multidimensional nature of privacy risks: Conceptualisation, measurement and implications for digital services

AbstractWhile today consumers benefit from personalised service offerings, they are also understandably concerned about the privacy risks generated by disclosing their personal information online. We know that such perceived risks in general shape behaviour, but we know little about what specific privacy risks obstruct the use of digital services, making it difficult to implement technologies that could mitigate these risks. Based on qualitative and quantitative studies involving over 1000 participants, we conceptualise and quantify a multidimensional perspective on privacy risks consisting of physical, social, resource‐related, psychological, prosecution‐related, career‐related and freedom‐related privacy risks. Our results explicate the prospects of distinguishing privacy risk dimensions by demonstrating how they are differently pronounced across contexts and how technology designs can be tailored to assuage them. Thus, our findings improve the understanding of context and service‐specific privacy risks, helping managers to adjust their digital offerings to mitigate users' privacy risk perceptions.

Let's teach Kibot: Discovering discussion patterns between student groups and two conversational agent designs

AbstractConversational agents can deepen reasoning and encourage students to build on others' knowledge in collaborative learning. Embedding agents in group work, however, presents challenges where groups may ignore the agents, and this calls for designs where students perceive agents as learning partners. This study examines group interactions with two text‐based agents (ie, chatbots) that posed as an expert and a less knowledgeable peer in a high school marine biology lesson. Student messages (N = 1764) from 18 groups (52 students ages 14–15) received codes for reasoning, building on prior ideas, and responsiveness to the agents. Results indicate no differences between agents in how often each discussion move occurred. Interestingly, sequential pattern mining suggests that the less‐knowledgeable‐peer agent prompted groups to show questioning and building on others' ideas, similar to how students may act as peer tutors to the agent. Meanwhile, sequences with the expert agent resembled student‐teacher exchange, where groups responded to the agent's nudges and then provided reasoning. Findings illustrate the affordances of embedding humanized features in technology designs to promote discussion. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Conversational agents can facilitate group discussions, but can get abused or ignored by student groups. To engage students, agent designs can simulate the characteristics of familiar classroom figures, such as peers or teachers. There are limited explorations of how student groups adapt their interactions to different agent designs in collaborative settings. What the paper adds Illustrations of the utilities of diversifying agent designs in collaborative learning. Insights into the unique interaction patterns that student groups displayed to different designs, such as questioning and building on others' ideas with a less‐knowledgeable‐peer agent. Implications for practice and/or policy Embedding signs of humanness in classroom facilitation and technology design can foster responsiveness among users. Pedagogy can consider adaptive designs to promote interaction sequences that contribute to learning (eg, questioning, expanding on prior ideas) at opportune moments.

The Efficacy of Health Information Technology in Supporting Health Equity for Black and Hispanic Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review.

BackgroundRacial inequity persists for chronic disease outcomes amid the proliferation of health information technology (HIT) designed to support patients in following recommended chronic disease self-management behaviors (ie, medication behavior, physical activity, and dietary behavior and attending follow-up appointments). Numerous interventions that use consumer-oriented HIT to support self-management have been evaluated, and some of the related literature has focused on racial minorities who experience disparate chronic disease outcomes. However, little is known about the efficacy of these interventions.ObjectiveThis study aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature that describes the efficacy of consumer-oriented HIT interventions designed to support self-management involving African American and Hispanic patients with chronic diseases.MethodsWe followed an a priori protocol using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)-Equity 2012 Extension guidelines for systematic reviews that focus on health equity. Themes of interest included the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We identified 7 electronic databases, created search strings, and conducted the searches. We initially screened results based on titles and abstracts and then performed full-text screening. We then resolved conflicts and extracted relevant data from the included articles.ResultsIn total, there were 27 included articles. The mean sample size was 640 (SD 209.5), and 52% (14/27) of the articles focused on African American participants, 15% (4/27) of the articles focused on Hispanic participants, and 33% (9/27) included both. Most articles addressed 3 of the 4 self-management behaviors: medication (17/27, 63%), physical activity (17/27, 63%), and diet (16/27, 59%). Only 15% (4/27) of the studies focused on follow-up appointment attendance. All the articles investigated HIT for use at home, whereas 7% (2/27) included use in the hospital.ConclusionsThis study addresses a key gap in research that has not sufficiently examined what technology designs and capabilities may be effective for underserved populations in promoting health behavior in concordance with recommendations.

Parity and the Resolution of Value Conflicts in Design

Recent developments in theories for responsible innovation have focused on the importance of actively accounting for values in our technological designs. Leading among these theories is that of Value Sensitive Design (VSD) which attempts to guide the design process on the basis of evaluative analysis. However, values often come into conflict and VSD has been criticized for not providing a proper method to resolve such inevitable conflicts. This paper examines three such methods and argues that although each has its merits, they all fail to account for a common source of value conflicts known as value incommensurability. Drawing on literature from the field of axiology, this paper argues that by incorporating the evaluative relation of ‘parity’ each of these three methods, and the VSD framework in general, will be able to properly understand the relation which holds between conflicting design options stemming from the incommensurable of values and be able to guide designers in making rational decision in the face of such conflicts.

Dynamic land use implications of rapidly expanding and evolving wind power deployment

The expansion of wind power poses distinct and varied geographic challenges to a sustainable energy transition. However, current knowledge of its land use impacts and synergies is limited by reliance on static characterizations that overlook the role of turbine technology and plant design in mediating interactions with the environment. Here, we investigate how wind technology development and innovation have shaped landscape interactions with social and ecological systems within the United States and contribute to evolving land area requirements. This work assesses trends in key land use facets of wind power using a holistic set of metrics to establish an evidence base that researchers, technology designers, land use managers, and policymakers can use in envisioning how future wind-intensive energy systems may be jointly optimized for clean energy, social, and environmental objectives. Since 2000, we find dynamic land occupancy patterns and regional trends that are driven by advancing technology and geographic factors. Though most historical U.S. wind deployment has been confined to the temperate grassland biome in the nation’s interior, regional expansion has implicated diverse land use and cover types. A large percentage of the typical wind plant footprint (∼96% to 99%) is not directly impacted by permanent physical infrastructure, allowing for multiple uses in the spaces between turbines. Surprisingly, turbines are commonly close to built structures. Moreover, rangeland and cropland have supported 93.4% of deployment, highlighting potential synergies with agricultural lands. Despite broadly decreasing capacity densities, offsetting technology improvements have stabilized power densities. Land use intensity, defined as the ratio of direct land usage to lifetime power generation of wind facilities, has also trended downwards. Although continued deployment on disturbed lands, and in close proximity to existing wind facilities and other infrastructure, could minimize the extent of impacts, ambitious decarbonization trajectories may predispose particular biomes to cumulative effects and risks from regional wind power saturation. Increased land-use and sustainability feedback in technology and plant design will be critical to sustainable management of wind power.

Nonlinear response of human trunk musculature explains neuromuscular stabilization mechanisms in sitting posture

Objective. Determining the roles of underlying mechanisms involved in stabilizing the human trunk during sitting is a fundamental challenge in human motor control. However, distinguishing their roles requires understanding their complex interrelations and describing them with physiologically meaningful neuromechanical parameters. The literature has shown that such mechanistic understanding contributes to diagnosing and improving impaired balance as well as developing assistive technologies for restoring trunk stability. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive characterization of the underlying neuromuscular stabilization mechanisms involved in human sitting. Approach. This study characterized passive and active stabilization mechanisms involved in seated stability by identifying a nonlinear neuromechanical physiologically-meaningful model in ten able-bodied individuals during perturbed sitting via an adaptive unscented Kalman filter to account for the nonlinear time-varying process and measurement noises. Main results. We observed that the passive mechanism provided instant resistance against gravitational disturbances, whereas the active mechanism provided delayed complementary phasic response against external disturbances by activating appropriate trunk muscles while showing non-isometric behavior. The model predicted the trunk sway behavior during perturbed sitting with high accuracy and correlation (average: 0.0007 (rad2) and 86.77%). This allows a better mechanistic understanding of the roles of passive and active stabilization mechanisms involved in sitting. Significance. Our characterization approach accounts for the inherently nonlinear behavior of the neuromuscular mechanisms and physiological uncertainties, while allowing for real-time tracking and correction of parameters’ variations due to external disturbances and muscle fatigue. The outcome of our research, for the first time, (a) allows a better mechanistic understanding of the roles of passive and active stabilization mechanisms involved in sitting; (b) enables objective evaluation and targeted rehabilitative interventions for impaired balance; facilitate bio-inspired designs of assistive technologies, and (c) opens new horizons in mathematical identification of neuromechanical mechanisms employed in the stable control of human body postures and motions.

Design ethnography: A view from an industrial think tank

Anthropologists increasingly turn to design research for inspiration. Yet work in design anthropology is frequently cut off from ethnographic research. To some extent this is intentional, given concerns that ethnographic methods have failed to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. But anthropologists should not have to choose between ethnography and design research. This article examines the author’s participation in an industrial think tank in which anthropologists and engineers collaborated to address the environmental impacts of mining. This included discussion of unrecognized sources of pollution at mining sites and rising penalties for environmental damage. The members of the think tank also developed designs for new technology intended to reduce the exposure of artisanal gold miners to mercury and its release into the atmosphere, facilitate the recycling of electronic waste in developing countries, and reduce the catastrophic risks posed by tailings dams. Our collaborations point to the value of combining ethnography and design research in new ways.

A Storytelling Methodology to Facilitate User-Centered Co-Ideation between Scientists and Designers

Successful implementation of sustainable innovation requires strong collaborative ecosystems. In particular, collaboration between scientific and people-centered expertise (e.g., designers) is essential to bring technical innovation through contextualized, meaningful and attractive experiences. However, in practice, these types of expertise are siloed and struggle to communicate and think together. We present a creative design method based on participatory story building to support collaborative user-centered ideation between technology scientists and designers. The core of the method is a new story creation model, the three-tension framework, that facilitates the exploration of users’ experiences and needs during ideation. To evaluate the method’s effectiveness, we conducted open-ended interviews with participants. We found that the method facilitates the expression of different perspectives and outside-the-box creative thinking. An originality and strength of our method is that it favors the discovery of new issues and pain points—rather than only solutions. This, combined with idea enrichment by multidisciplinary expertise, contributes to generating ideas in a broader range of application areas than usual. Our results indicate that participatory storytelling has the potential to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration and to bring user-centered thinking to non-design stakeholders in order to envision user needs in future scenarios and new ecosystems.

Human Factors and Technological Characteristics Influencing the Interaction of Medical Professionals With Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Clinical Decision Support Systems: Literature Review.

BackgroundThe digitization and automation of diagnostics and treatments promise to alter the quality of health care and improve patient outcomes, whereas the undersupply of medical personnel, high workload on medical professionals, and medical case complexity increase. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) have been proven to help medical professionals in their everyday work through their ability to process vast amounts of patient information. However, comprehensive adoption is partially disrupted by specific technological and personal characteristics. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), CDSSs have become an adaptive technology with human-like capabilities and are able to learn and change their characteristics over time. However, research has not reflected on the characteristics and factors essential for effective collaboration between human actors and AI-enabled CDSSs.ObjectiveOur study aims to summarize the factors influencing effective collaboration between medical professionals and AI-enabled CDSSs. These factors are essential for medical professionals, management, and technology designers to reflect on the adoption, implementation, and development of an AI-enabled CDSS.MethodsWe conducted a literature review including 3 different meta-databases, screening over 1000 articles and including 101 articles for full-text assessment. Of the 101 articles, 7 (6.9%) met our inclusion criteria and were analyzed for our synthesis.ResultsWe identified the technological characteristics and human factors that appear to have an essential effect on the collaboration of medical professionals and AI-enabled CDSSs in accordance with our research objective, namely, training data quality, performance, explainability, adaptability, medical expertise, technological expertise, personality, cognitive biases, and trust. Comparing our results with those from research on non-AI CDSSs, some characteristics and factors retain their importance, whereas others gain or lose relevance owing to the uniqueness of human-AI interactions. However, only a few (1/7, 14%) studies have mentioned the theoretical foundations and patient outcomes related to AI-enabled CDSSs.ConclusionsOur study provides a comprehensive overview of the relevant characteristics and factors that influence the interaction and collaboration between medical professionals and AI-enabled CDSSs. Rather limited theoretical foundations currently hinder the possibility of creating adequate concepts and models to explain and predict the interrelations between these characteristics and factors. For an appropriate evaluation of the human-AI collaboration, patient outcomes and the role of patients in the decision-making process should be considered.

541 Designing a web-based technology system to support burn disaster response

IntroductionAccurately transmitting information in a burn mass casualty incident (BMCI) is critical. Modern technology, including “apps” and web-based systems coordinated through a central command center addresses this need. The system should 1.) Function as a real-time link between on-scene personnel, local hospitals or trauma centers and regional burn centers; 2.) Organize triage in accordance with accepted burn mass casualty national standards; and 3.) Match acuity of age and percent burn to immediate open beds, either direct from the scene or from secondary hospitals, without overwhelming any one particular facility.MethodsExtensive literature review was conducted to do a comparative study of similar/existing commercial data management tools; investigate technology designs of mobile apps and web browsers accessible to cloud-based systems, and identify what data and processes needed to be tracked and coordinated across diverse stakeholders to deliver real-time situational awareness for definitive medical planning capabilities.ResultsDevelopment of a Burn Patient Transfer System (BPTS) web-based application with mobile access resulted. The BPTS is series of dashboards designed for specific patient management for both referring (RF) and receiving facilities (RC), coordinated through a central command center. Focus for RFs includes an ability to list number of patients by acuity, addition of new patients, transfer status confirmation and situational awareness throughout the BMCI. RCs report or modify open bed availability of both immediate and eventual beds, for adult or pediatric patients. With this information, appropriate receiving facilities are identified by command personnel to coordinate approval of patient transfer, mode of transport and maintain situational awareness between medical personnel at referring and receiving facilities without exceeding facility surge capability. Clinical experts are responsible for final decisions on a case-by-case basis at both RF and RCs, as defined by a patient transfer algorithm matching patients by age and acuity.ConclusionsThe BPTS is an accessible communications system designed to serve three critical functions; A). Provide a mechanism and platform to report both immediate and surge burn bed capacity; B). Match patient acuity with available open beds at registered medical facilities and burn centers in accordance with ABA Disaster Triage recommendations and C). Track patient movement in real-time. Its core functionality is patient transfer management to and from locations where appropriate care can be delivered based upon clinical needs. This may include initial transfer to a local hospital or trauma center for primary stabilization, or direct to a burn center if and when weather, security and infrastructure permit.

Appropriation of literacy technologies in the classroom: reflections from creative learning design workshops with primary school teachers

Background:Approaches to teacher professional development, such as learning designs (LDs), can facilitate primary school teachers' appropriation of literacy technology in the classroom. LDs are detailed learning activities and interventions designed by teachers to plan their use of technology.Methods:Using a creative design methodology to carry out a series of LD workshops with teachers, we aimed to understand how primary school teachers envision learning and teaching with two distinct technologies designed to support children's reading skills: a game and an e‐reader. Employing systematic qualitative content analysis, we compared LDs developed by teachers for each technology.Results:Our study shows that while principles of teacher instruction are consistently incorporated across the LDs, the design of each technology plays an important role in how teachers plan their students' learning and focal reading skills. Further, teachers' perception of the technology is as important as the features of the design. Compared with the e‐reader, the game is perceived as an individual practice activity with less opportunities to learn with peers. Finally, across both technologies, teachers envision supporting additional literacy skills, beyond those designed in the technology, highlighting the importance of explicitly facilitating LDs intended to foster within‐subject learning.Conclusions:These findings raise a new set of considerations on how to support teachers to design literacy learning and teaching activities with technology, and also offer a new methodological approach to facilitate LDs in future research and teacher training.HighlightsWhat is already known about this topic Professional development supports teachers to appropriate literacy technologies in the classroom. The learning design approach has been shown to facilitate professional development by placing teachers in the role of the designer. The learning design approach can support and complement existing pedagogical approaches in the classroom, as well as to foster socio‐constructivist learning. What this paper adds In the context of literacy, teachers rely on the learning aims of the technology and its pedagogical approach to determine how and what their students will learn. Teachers embed learning with peers when the technology aligns with existing social practice in the classroom. Teachers reappropriate literacy technology designed to support reading skills to extend into other literacy skills, such as writing and oral language. Implications for theory, policy or practice The paper offers a learning design methodology to support teachers in creating activities that integrate literacy technologies in the classroom. The methodology includes strategies that support teachers to embed learning with peers alongside reflecting a broad coverage of literacy learning objectives.

Do You Know How People Who Are Blind Cross Streets? Mentally Stepping into Another’s Shoes Through Imitation

Introduction: The objective of this study is to investigate the extent to which sighted persons understand thought processes of persons who are visually impaired (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision). The investigation focused on a street-crossing task. Method: Participants were 15 visually impaired persons and 21 sighted persons. The sighted group included 6 orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists and 15 individuals who represent the sighted public and have infrequent interactions with people with visual impairments. Participants provided verbal reports of their thought processes associated with a street-crossing scenario twice, once as a “non-pretender” and once as a “pretender.” In the non-pretender role, participants verbalized their thinking in line with their actual state of sightedness. In the pretender role, participants with visual impairments pretended that they did not have any visual impairments, whereas sighted participants pretended that they were blind. Transcribed data were analyzed using thematic analysis, resulting in three themes with 14 subthemes. The genuine responses of visually impaired participants and the imitated responses of the sighted participants were compared using proportions of the subthemes. Results: Fisher’s exact z tests demonstrated that out of the 14 subthemes, the visually impaired participants’ proportions were (a) similar to those of sighted O&M specialists in 10 subthemes and (b) different from those of the other sighted participants in seven subthemes. Participants verbalized fewer thoughts when describing sighted navigation than when describing navigation as a person with visual impairment. Discussion: Sighted persons with infrequent social interaction with people who are visually impaired seem to be less successful at “pretending to be blind,” indicating that they may have difficulties in adopting the perspective of people with visual impairments. Implications for Practitioners: Sighted O&M specialists develop an understanding of the cognitive processes of people who are visually impaired through training and contact. Other professionals that support these individuals (e.g., technology designers) could benefit from developing such an understanding and immersing themselves in the social life of people with visual impairments.

Wrap-Gate CNT-MOSFET Based SRAM Bit-Cell with Asymmetrical Ground Gating and Built-In Read-Assist Schemes for Application in Limited-Energy Environments

This paper proposes a novel design of ultra-low power radiation-hardened single-ended SRAM bit-cell using the gate-all-around CNT-MOSFET based-gate diffusion input method (GAA CNT-GDI) for application in radiation-prone terrestrial (low-orbit) environments, where resources of circuit’s power supply are limited. In the structure of bit-cell to improve read-/hold-stability and expand write-ability several schemes have been used such as asymmetric virtual ground gating, built-in read-assist and the multi-diameter/chirality for CNTs. Also, in order to investigate single/double upsets, injection circuit model using the structure of the T-connected pseudo resistors (TPRs) has been proposed. The results of extensive Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations to evaluate the proposed bit-cell indicate expand write/hold/read static noise margins about 12.5%, 3.8%, and 8.2%, other figure of merits (FoMs), such as performance, yield, variability (μ/σ) and critical charge about 6.4 %, 5.8 % and almost 1.19 times respectively compared to studied cell design in counterpart technologies. Moreover, the suggested bit-cell has more robustness against radiation-induced soft errors with high reliability of data storage in the presence of critical voltage conditions, and better results in terms of other comprehensive FoMs as compared to state-of-the-art bit-cells in the 16 nm technology. The proposed bit-cell in a real application is used to store data from two-layer quick-response (2LQR) code-based in safety-critical environments. The results show the better performance of bit-cell in terms of a comprehensive FoM, which provides more effective trade-off between the hardware efficiency and quality metrics to evaluate the appropriate accuracy in the pixel-by-pixel image as compared to other well-known counterpart designs. Finally, the simulation results have validated that the suggested memory architecture can be a suitable candidate for application in devices such as terrestrial satellites that require both high reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Importance of Charge Trapping/Detrapping Involving the Gate Electrode on the Noise Currents of Scaled MOSFETs

Carrier trapping/detrapping from/to the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">gate</i> into dielectric traps is often neglected when modeling noise in MOSFETs and, to the best of our knowledge, no systematic study of its impacts on scaled devices is available. In this article, we show that this trapping mechanism cannot be neglected in nowadays aggressively scaled gate dielectric thicknesses without causing errors up to several orders of magnitude in the estimation of the drain current noise. The noise generation mechanism is modeled analytically and then analyzed through the use of 2-D and 3-D TCAD simulations of scaled MOSFETs with different architectures and channel/gate-stack materials. The results provide new insights for technology and device designers, highlight the relevance of the choice of the gate metal work function (WF) and the role of valence band electron trapping at high gate voltages.

Understanding the Design Continuum Between Group Technology and Fractal Cell Designs for Manufacturing Systems Through the Central Backup Cellular Manufacturing System

Understanding the Design Continuum Between Group Technology and Fractal Cell Designs for Manufacturing Systems Through the Central Backup Cellular Manufacturing System