118,230 research outputs found
Real-time and Probabilistic Temporal Logics: An Overview
Over the last two decades, there has been an extensive study on logical
formalisms for specifying and verifying real-time systems. Temporal logics have
been an important research subject within this direction. Although numerous
logics have been introduced for the formal specification of real-time and
complex systems, an up to date comprehensive analysis of these logics does not
exist in the literature. In this paper we analyse real-time and probabilistic
temporal logics which have been widely used in this field. We extrapolate the
notions of decidability, axiomatizability, expressiveness, model checking, etc.
for each logic analysed. We also provide a comparison of features of the
temporal logics discussed
Low Power Processor Architectures and Contemporary Techniques for Power Optimization – A Review
The technological evolution has increased the number of transistors for a given die area significantly and increased the switching speed from few MHz to GHz range. Such inversely proportional decline in size and boost in performance consequently demands shrinking of supply voltage and effective power dissipation in chips with millions of transistors. This has triggered substantial amount of research in power reduction techniques into almost every aspect of the chip and particularly the processor cores contained in the chip. This paper presents an overview of techniques for achieving the power efficiency mainly at the processor core level but also visits related domains such as buses and memories. There are various processor parameters and features such as supply voltage, clock frequency, cache and pipelining which can be optimized to reduce the power consumption of the processor. This paper discusses various ways in which these parameters can be optimized. Also, emerging power efficient processor architectures are overviewed and research activities are discussed which should help reader identify how these factors in a processor contribute to power consumption. Some of these concepts have been already established whereas others are still active research areas. © 2009 ACADEMY PUBLISHER
User involvement in healthcare technology development and assessment: Structured literature review
Purpose – Medical device users are one of the principal stakeholders of medical device technologies. User involvement in medical device technology development and assessment is central to meet their needs.
Design/methodology/approach – A structured review of literature, published from 1980 to 2005 in peer-reviewed journals, was carried out from social science perspective to investigate the practice of user involvement in the development and assessment of medical device technologies. This was followed by qualitative thematic analysis.
Findings – It is found that users of medical devices include clinicians, patients, carers and others. Different kinds of medical devices are developed and assessed by user involvement. The user involvement occurs at different stages of the medical device technology lifecycle and the degree of user involvement is in the order of design stage > testing and trials stage > deployment stage > concept stage. Methods most commonly used for capturing users’ perspectives are usability tests, interviews and questionnaire surveys.
Research limitations/implications – We did not review the relevant literature published in engineering, medical and nursing fields, which might have been useful.
Practical implications – Consideration of the users’ characteristics and the context of medical device use is critical for developing and assessing medical device technologies from users’ perspectives.
Originality/value – This study shows that users of medical device technologies are not homogeneous but heterogeneous, in several aspects, and their needs, skills and working environments vary. This is important consideration for incorporating users’ perspectives in medical device technologies.
Paper type: Literature review
A History of Cluster Analysis Using the Classification Society's Bibliography Over Four Decades
The Classification Literature Automated Search Service, an annual
bibliography based on citation of one or more of a set of around 80 book or
journal publications, ran from 1972 to 2012. We analyze here the years 1994 to
2011. The Classification Society's Service, as it was termed, has been produced
by the Classification Society. In earlier decades it was distributed as a
diskette or CD with the Journal of Classification. Among our findings are the
following: an enormous increase in scholarly production post approximately
2000; a very major increase in quantity, coupled with work in different
disciplines, from approximately 2004; and a major shift also from cluster
analysis in earlier times having mathematics and psychology as disciplines of
the journals published in, and affiliations of authors, contrasted with, in
more recent times, a "centre of gravity" in management and engineering.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure
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