Colossal Tunneling Electroresistance in Co-Planar Polymer Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions

Ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) are ideal resistance-switching devices due to their deterministic behavior and operation at low voltages. However, FTJs have remained mostly as a scientific curiosity due to three critical issues: lack of rectification in their current-voltage characteristic, small tunneling electroresistance (TER) effect, and absence of a straightforward lithography-based device fabrication method that would allow for their mass production. Co-planar FTJs that are fabricated using wafer-scale adhesion lithography technique are demonstrated, and a bi-stable rectifying behavior with colossal TER approaching 106% at room temperature is exhibited. The FTJs are based on poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)], and employ asymmetric co-planar metallic electrodes separated by &lt;20 nm. The tunneling nature of the charge transport is corroborated using Simmons direct tunneling model. The present work is the first demonstration of functional FTJs manufactured via a scalable lithography-based nano-patterning technique and could pave the way to new and exciting memory device concepts.</p

Speech production in children with Down's syndrome: The effects of reading, naming and imitation

People with DS are known to have difficulties with expressive language, and often have difficulties with intelligibility. They often have stronger visual than verbal short-term memory skills and, therefore, reading has often been suggested as an intervention for speech and language in this population. However, there is as yet no firm evidence that reading can improve speech outcomes. This study aimed to compare reading, picture naming and repetition for the same 10 words, to identify if the speech of eight children with DS (aged 11-14 years) was more accurate, consistent and intelligible when reading. Results show that children were slightly, yet significantly, more accurate and intelligible when they read words compared with when they produced those words in naming or imitation conditions although the reduction in inconsistency was non-significant. The results of this small-scale study provide tentative support for previous claims about the benefits of reading for children with DS. The mechanisms behind a facilitatory effect of reading are considered, and directions are identified for future research

XUV digital in-line holography using high-order harmonics

A step towards a successful implementation of timeresolved digital in-line holography with extreme ultraviolet radiation is presented. Ultrashort XUV pulses are produced as high-order harmonics of a femtosecond laser and a Schwarzschild objective is used to focus harmonic radiation at 38 nm and to produce a strongly divergent reference beam for holographic recording. Experimental holograms of thin wires are recorded and the objects reconstructed. Descriptions of the simulation and reconstruction theory and algorithms are also given. Spatial resolution of few hundreds of nm is potentially achievable, and micrometer resolution range is demonstrated.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

An experimental examination of the role of re-engineering in the management of software quality

This paper reports on the design and the results of a randomised, controlled experiment estimating the effect of predetermined changes in module complexity on the maintainability of different program versions seeded with equivalent logic errors. The experiment measures maintainability which is a defining sub-attribute of quality. The hypothesis "low module complexity results in high maintainability" is tested experimentally by monitoring and recording the time taken to identify and correct the seeded errors. Prior to the experiment programs are statically analysed to produce measurements of internal sub-attributes of the fundamental attribute of complexity. A first program version is modularised according to established rules giving a new version with a larger number of modules and with smaller individual module complexity. The results of this work can be used to design tools capable of providing an indicator, or factor, for re-engineering whereby a given program can be restructured in such a way that quality improvement can be quantified or at least estimated. As maintainability is a defining attribute of quality the insights gained can be further applied in understanding the underlying processes involved and ultimately lead to quality improvements

Developing effective teams in global multidiscipline engineering and manufacturing organisations

In today’s competitive business environment most activities in global relationships (subsidiaries, outsourcing, joint ventures) are carried out by multi-cultural and multidisciplinary teams which may be collocated or distributed. The members of these teams comprise a variety of experts of diverse cultural, organizational, and professional backgrounds. Within the project lifetime they are connected together with time and money constraints for a specific period of time to accomplish certain distinct objectives. The aims of this paper are to report on findings from an extensive literature review regarding multi-cultural and multidiscipline team work and to provide a basis for discussion and analysis of challenges such teams experience. A case study is carried out in a global multidiscipline engineering organization to identify empirical evidence of potential challenges in projects carried out by multicultural and multidisciplinary collaborative teamwork

A dataset of community perspectives on living conditions and disaster risk management in informal settlements: A case study in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

This article describes a dataset of community perspectives on living conditions and disaster risk management in Khan Road, a non-serviced informal settlement, located in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The data were collected by local community researchers via a structured questionnaire of 159 informal dwellers conducted between August and September 2022, using mobile phones via KoboToolbox. The dataset was analysed using exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques. This household survey is part of a research project aiming to develop an evidence base of opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities related to housing construction and resource management in incremental upgrading of informal settlements in South Africa. This dataset can be used by local practitioners and policymakers involved in decision-making for informal settlement upgrading and help them prioritise resources and upgrading interventions based on what informal dwellers need. Furthermore, this cleaned dataset could support the analysis of further South African data guiding the development of digital platforms as a real-time resource management tool or guide the enhancement of existing theoretical frameworks in the field of participatory design and co-production used by academic scholars

A 10 Years Review and Classification of the Geographic Information Systems Impact Literature (1998-2008)

Our objective in this paper is to review the literature on the impact of geographic information systems (GIS) in governmental and non-governmental organizations by analyzing 53 articles published between 1998 and 2008. The impacts of GIS are categorized in a taxonomy which designates GIS contributions to efficiency, effectiveness and societal well-being. According to this taxonomy, 38 articles are examined in-depth and their results reported. The focus of GIS impact research efforts in terms of research philosophies, methodologies and geographic focus is also presented. We suggest that the appropriate use of theories, concepts and testing of existing GIS evaluation frameworks could serve as building blocks for more rigorous studies on the impact of GIS, including Land Information Systems (LIS) and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)

A dataset of community perspectives on living conditions and disaster risk management in informal settlements: A case study in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

This article describes a dataset of community perspectives on living conditions and disaster risk management in Khan Road, a non-serviced informal settlement, located in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The data were collected by local community researchers via a structured questionnaire of 159 informal dwellers conducted between August and September 2022, using mobile phones via KoboToolbox. The dataset was analysed using exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques. This household survey is part of a research project aiming to develop an evidence base of opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities related to housing construction and resource management in incremental upgrading of informal settlements in South Africa. This dataset can be used by local practitioners and policymakers involved in decision-making for informal settlement upgrading and help them prioritise resources and upgrading interventions based on what informal dwellers need. Furthermore, this cleaned dataset could support the analysis of further South African data guiding the development of digital platforms as a real-time resource management tool or guide the enhancement of existing theoretical frameworks in the field of participatory design and co-production used by academic scholars

An experimental examination of program maintainability as a function of structuredness

The general ethos of producing structured programs has been, at least in theory, adopted throughout the software engineering community. By studying and measuring the structure of existing software we can estimate the benefits to be gained from changes in the structure in terms of the external attributes (perceived behaviour) of the re- structured software. [13, 2, 3, 10, 6, 7]. In this paper we report the results of two controlled experiments measuring the improvement on the maintainability of differently structured code. These experiments build on the experience and insights gained through an earlier experiment [5]. We discuss a strategy for re-structuring based on an improved re-engineering factor [9] and present the static measures of morphology (depth and width of module calls), coupling and cohesion and module complexity of a range of programs. By plotting these measures and adopting target values (e.g. width of call< 5) we estimate the expected improvement in the maintainability after re-engineering. We subsequently carry out the re-engineering, measure the re-structured code statically and measure the actual maintainability experimentally. The results reveal that unstructured programmes take longer to 'reveal their secrets'. An integral part of this work are the design and execution of controlled experiments as well as the use of automated tools for the static analysis of code and the recording of the experimental data