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<p> High Level Synthesis (HLS) is a promising approach to managing design complexity at a more abstract level as integrated circuit technology edges deeper into sub-micron design. One useful facet of HLS is the ability to automatically integrate architectural components that can address potential reliability issues, which may be on the increase due to miniaturization. Research into harnessing HLS for fault tolerance (FT) has been progressing since the early 1990's. There currently exists a large body of work regarding methods to incorporate capabilities such as fault detection, compensation, and recovery into HLS design.</p> <p> While many avenues of FT have been explored in the HLS environment, very little work has considered the effectiveness and feasibility of these techniques in the context of large HLS systems, which presumably is the raison d'etre of HLS. While existing HLS FT approaches are often elegant and involve highly sophisticated techniques to achieve optimal solutions, the costs of HLS infrastructure in regards to scalability are not well reported. The intent of this thesis is to explore the ramifications of applying common HLS techniques to large designs.</p> <p> Furthermore, a new HLS tool entitled RIFT is presented that is specifically designed to mitigate infrastructure costs that mount as greater parallelism is utilized. RIFT is named for its design philosophy of "Reducing Interconnects for Fault Tolerance". RIFT iteratively builds a logical hardware representation, which consists of both the components instantiated and their interconnections, one operation at a time. It chooses the next operation to be "mapped" to the burgeoning design based on scheduling constraints as well as the extra hardware and interconnect costs required to support a particular selection. Emphasis is placed on minimizing the delay of the datapath in effort to reduce the performance cost associated with the extra interconnects needed for FT. RIFT has been used to generate efficient solutions for FT designs requiring as many as a thousand operations.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The main goal of this thesis is the development of a novel methodology to generate creative solutions at functional level for design tasks without binding solution spaces with designers&rsquo / individual experiences and prejudices. For this purpose, an evolutionary methodology for the conceptual design of engineering products has been proposed. This methodology performs evaluation, combination and modification of the existing solutions repetitively to generate new solution alternatives. Therefore, initially a representation scheme, which is generic enough to cover all alternatives in solution domain, has been defined. Following that, the evolutionary operations have been defined and two evaluation metrics have been proposed. Finally, the computer implementation of the developed theory has been performed. The test-runs of developed software resulted in creative alternatives for the design task. Consequently, the evolutionary design methodology presents a systematic design approach for less experienced or inexperienced designers and establishes a base for experienced designers to conceive many other solution alternatives beyond their experiences.

Context: Early prediction of software cost and quality is important for better software planning and controlling. In early development phases, design complexity metrics are considered as useful indicators of software testing effort and some quality attributes. Although many studies investigate the relationship between design complexity and cost and quality, it is unclear what we have learned from these studies, because no systematic synthesis exists to date. Aim: The research presented in this thesis is intended to contribute for the body of knowledge about cost and quality prediction. A major part of this thesis presents the systematic review that provides detail discussion about state of the art of research on relationship between software design metric and cost and software quality. Method: This thesis starts with a literature review to identify the important complexity dimensions and potential predictors for predicting external software quality attributes are identified. Second, we aggregated Spearman correlation coefficients and estimated odds ratios from univariate logistic regression models from 59 different data sets from 57 primary studies by a tailored meta-analysis approach. At last, it is an attempt to evaluate and explain for disagreement among selected studies. Result: There are not enough studies for quantitatively summarizing relationship between design complexity and development cost. Fault proneness and maintainability is the main focused characteristics that consume 75% total number of studies. Within fault proneness and maintainability studies, coupling and scale are two complexity dimensions that are most frequently used. Vote counting shows evidence about positive impact of some design metrics on these two quality attributes. Meta analysis shows the aggregated effect size of Line of code (LOC) is stronger than those of WMC, RFC and CBO. The aggregated effect sizes of LCOM, DIT and NOC are at trivial to small level. In subgroup analysis, defect collections phase explains more than 50% of observed variation in five out of seven investigated metrics. Conclusions: Coupling and scale metrics are stronger correlated to fault proneness than cohesion and inheritance metrics. No design metrics are stronger single predictors than LOC. We found that there is a strong disagreement between the individual studies, and that defect collection phase is able to partially explain the differences between studies.

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Decisions taken during the initial design stage determine 60% to 95% of the total cost of a product. So there is a significant need to concurrently consider performance, cost, production and design complexity issues at the early stages of the design process. The main obstacle to this approach is the lack of convenient and reliable cost and performance models that can be integrated into a complex design process as is used in the shipbuilding industry. Traditional models and analysis methods frequently do not provide the required sensitivity to consider all the important variables impacting performance, cost, production and ships life cycle. Our challenge is that achieving this sensitivity at the early design stage almost requires data available during the detail design analysis. The traditional design methods do not adequately include, early enough, production and life cycle engineering to have a positive impact on the design. Taking an integrated approach throughout the life cycle of the ship and using concurrent engineering analysis tools can improve these traditional design process weaknesses. Innovation is required in structural design and cost assessment. The use of design for X, and particular design for production and cost schemes, during the design is the solution: to reduce failure during a ships life caused by design misconception, to reduce the overall design time and to shorten the build cycle of ships, to enlarge the number of design alternatives during the design process. The author has developed some assessment methods for cost effectiveness and complexity measurements intended to be used by ship designers for the real time control of cost process. The outcome is that corrective actions can be taken by management in a rather short time to actually improve or overcome predicted unfavourable performance. Fundamentally, these methods will provide design engineers with objective and quantifiable cost and complexity measures making it possible to take rational design decisions throughout the design stages. The measures proposed in this PhD are based on several techniques like decision analysis, data mining, neural network, fuzzy logic. They are objective facts, which are not dependent on the engineers interpretation of information, but rather on a model generated to represent the ship design. The objectivity aspect is essential when using the complexity and cost measures in a design automation system. Finally, with these tools, the designers should obtain well-defined and unambiguous metrics for measurement of the different types of cost effectiveness and complexities in engineered artefacts. Such metrics help the designers and design automation tools to be objective and perform quantitative comparisons of alternative design solutions, cost estimation, as well as design optimization. In this PhD, these metrics have been applied and validated with success in real industrial conditions on the design of passenger ships. Les décisions prises au cours de la phase initiale de conception déterminent 60% à 95% du coût total dun produit. Il y a donc un besoin important denvisager simultanément des aspects de performance, de coût, de production, de complexité au stade précoce du processus de conception. Le principal obstacle à cette approche est le manque de commodité et de fiabilité des modèles de coûts et des modèles danalyse de performance qui peuvent être intégrés dans un processus de conception aussi complexe que celui utilisé dans lindustrie de la construction navale. Les modèles traditionnels et les méthodes danalyse les plus fréquemment utilisés ne fournissent pas la sensibilité nécessaire pour examiner toutes les variables de conception importantes qui ont une influence sur la performance, le coût, la production et le cycle de vie des navires. Notre défi est quatteindre cette sensibilité au niveau de la conception initiale demande presque toujours des données uniquement disponibles lors de la conception détaillée. Les méthodes de conception traditionnelles ne prennent pas suffisamment en compte, suffisamment tôt, la production et lingénierie du cycle de vie afin davoir un impact positif sur la conception. Adopter une approche intégrée sur lensemble du cycle de vie des navires et utiliser lingénierie simultanée peuvent améliorer les faiblesses des processus de conception traditionnels. Linnovation est nécessaire dans la conception structurelle et lévaluation des coûts. Lutilisation du concept de "design for X", et en particulier le design en pensant à la production et à la réduction des coûts lors de la conception est la solution : pour réduire les dysfonctionnements qui peuvent apparaître pendant la vie du navire causés par des erreurs de conception, de réduire le temps total de conception et de raccourcir le cycle de la construction de navires, délargir le nombre dalternatives de conception évaluées au cours du processus de conception. Lauteur a développé quelques méthodes dévaluation des coûts et des techniques de mesure de la complexité destinées à être utilisés par les concepteurs de navire pour le contrôle en temps réel de la conception. Le résultat est que les actions correctives peuvent être prises par la direction dans un temps assez court pour améliorer réellement ou surmonter les prévisions de performance défavorables. Fondamentalement, ces méthodes offrent aux ingénieurs de conception des mesures quantifiables des coûts et de la complexité qui rend possible la prise de décisions rationnelles tout au long des étapes de conception. Les mesures proposées dans cette thèse sont basées sur plusieurs techniques telles que lanalyse à la décision, lanalyse de données, les réseaux de neurones ou encore la logique floue. Ce sont des faits objectifs, qui ne dépendent pas de linterprétation de linformation par lingénieur, mais plutôt dun modèle généré pour représenter le design du navire. Laspect de lobjectivité est essentiel pour lutilisation de la complexité et la mesure des coûts dans un système dautomatisation de la conception. Finalement, avec ces outils, les concepteurs obtiennent des mesures bien définies et non ambigües des paramètres de mesure de coûts, defficacité et de complexité des artefacts dingénierie. De telles mesures aident les concepteurs et les outils dautomatisation de la conception, à être objectifs et à comparer de manière quantitative les différentes alternatives lors de la conception, de lestimation des coûts, ainsi que de loptimisation. Dans cette thèse, ces paramètres ont été appliqués et validés avec succès et dans des conditions industrielles réelles sur la conception de navires à passagers. Las decisiones tomadas en la etapa inicial de un diseño determinan el 60% al 95% del total del costo de un producto. Por esta razón, es necesario considerar al mismo tiempo rendimiento, costo, producción y la complejidad en el proceso de la fase inicial del diseño. El principal obstáculo de este enfoque es la falta de práctica y fiabilidad de costos y de modelos de análisis de rendimiento, que puedan ser integrados en un proceso complejo de concepción utilizado en la industria de la construcción naval. Los modelos tradicionales y los métodos de análisis frecuentemente no tienen la sensibilidad necesaria para examinar todas las variables importantes que influyen en el rendimiento, costo, producción y la vida útil del buque. Nuestro reto es el que logrando de que ésta sensibilidad en la fase inicial de diseño casi siempre requiera de datos únicamente disponibles durante un análisis de diseño require detallado. Los métodos tradicionales de diseño no incluyen temprana y adecuadamente, la producción y la ingeniería del ciclo de vida para tener un impacto positivo en el diseño. Adoptando un enfoque integrado a lo largo del ciclo de vida de la nave usando la ingeniería concurrente y herramientas de análisis se pueden mejorar estas debilidades del proceso tradicional de diseño. Se requiere innovación en el diseño estructural y la evaluación de los costos. La utilización del concepto diseño para X, y en particular el diseño pensando en la producción y en la reducción de costos durante la concepción es la solución: para reducir errores durante la vida útil de los buques causados en la concepción del mismo, para reducir el tiempo total de diseño y acortando el ciclo constructivo del buque, para ampliar el número de alternativas durante el proceso de diseño. El autor ha desarrollado algunos métodos de evaluación de costos y de técnicas de medida de la complejidad destinadas a ser utilizadas por los diseñadores de barcos para el control en tiempo real del proceso de costos. El resultado es que las acciones correctivas pueden ser adoptadas por la dirección en un tiempo suficientemente corto para realmente mejorar o superar el rendimiento desfavorable proyectado. Fundamentalmente, estos métodos ofrecerán a los ingenieros diseñadores con medidas objetivas y cuantificables de costos y complejidad haciendo posible tomar decisiones racionales a lo largo de todas las etapas de diseño. Las medidas propuestas en esta tesis doctoral se basan en varias técnicas tales como análisis de decisión, análisis de datos, redes neuronales y lógica difusa. Son objetivos hechos, que no dependen de la interpretación que el ingeniero realice sobre la información, sino más bien en un modelo generado para representar el diseño de los buques. El aspecto de la objetividad es esencial cuando se usa las medidas de complejidad y costos en un sistema de automatización del diseño. Finalmente con estas herramientas, los diseñadores podrían obtener medidas bien definidas y no parámetros de medición ambiguos de costos, de eficacidad y de complejidad en los artefactos de ingeniería. Estas medidas ayudan a los diseñadores y a las herramientas automatizadas de diseño, a ser objetivos y a comparar de manera cuantitativa las diferentes alternativas de solución del diseño, estimación de costos, así como también la optimización del diseño. En este doctorado, estos parámetros han sido aplicados y validados con éxito sobre el diseño de buques de pasajeros en condiciones industriales reales. In der Anfangsphase einer Produktentwicklung getroffene Entscheidungen definieren 60% bis 90% der Gesamtkosten eines Produktes. Daher ist es absolut notwendig Performance, Kosten, Produktion, Designkomplexität in der Entstehungsphase eines Produktes zu betrachten. Das Haupthindernis hierbei ist das Fehlen von praktikablen und zuverlässigen Kosten- und Performancemodellen, welche sich in den komplexen Designprozess wie in der Schiffbauindustrie integrieren lassen. Konventionelle Modelle und Analysemethoden berücksichtigen oft nicht all die wichtigen Performance-, kosten-, produktion-, und Lebenszyklus-relevanten Variablen. Unsere Herausforderung, dass das Erreichen dieser Sensibilität in der Anfangsphase der Produktentwicklung, benötigt fast immer Daten, die erst in der Phase der Detailkonstruktion zur Verfügung stehen. Die konventionelle Entwurfsmethoden berücksichtigen nicht angemessen und früh genug die Produktion und das Lebenszyklen-Engineering, welche eine positive Auswirkung auf das Design haben. Ein integrierter Ansatz entlang des Lebenszyklus eines Schiffes und das Praktizieren von Concurrent Engineering können die Schwäche des konventionellen Entwurfsprozesses beseitigen. Innovation ist notwendig im Strukturentwurf und in der Kostenanalyse. Die Anwendung von Design for X und besonders Design for Production and Cost Scheme während der Entwurfsphase ist die Lösung: Um die Fehlerquote verursacht durch Missverständnisse und die Entwurfs- und Produktionszeit zu reduzieren, sowie um eine höhere Anzahl von Entwurfsvarianten zu ermöglichen. Der Autor hat einige Analysemethoden für Kosteneffektivität und Komplexitätsmaßnahmen für die Anwendung durch Schiffsentwerfer für die Echtzeit-Steuerung von Kostenprozess entwickelt. Das Ergebnis ist, dass das Management korrigierende Maßnahmen in kurzer Zeit treffen kann, um eine ungünstige Performance zu verbessern bzw. zu vermeiden. Im Grunde beschaffen diese Methoden den Entwurfsingenieuren mit objektiven und quantifizierten Kosten- und Komplexitätsmaßnahmen. Dies vereinfacht das Treffen von vernünftigen Entwurfsentscheidungen über die gesamte Entstehungsphase eines Schiffes. Die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Maßnahmen basieren auf Techniken wie die Entscheidungsanalyse, das Data-Mining, neurale Netze und die Fuzzy-Logik. Es sind objektive Fakten, welche nicht von der Interpretation des Ingenieurs abhängen, sondern von einem generierten Model, um den Schiffsentwurf darzustellen. Der objektive Aspekt ist essenziell bei der Anwendung von Komplexitäts- und Kostenmaßnahmen in einem automatisierten Entwurfssystem. Mit diesen Werkzeugen sollte der Entwerfer gut-definierte und eindeutige Werte für Maßnahmen von unterschiedlicher Natur von Kosteneffektivität und -komplexität erhalten. Diese Werte helfen dem Entwerfer und automatisierten Entwurfssystemen, objektive zu sein. Ferner, ermöglichen diese Werte quantitative Vergleiche von Entwurfsvarianten, Kostenabschätzung und Entwurfsoptimierung. Diese Werte wurden im Rahmen eines Studienfalles mit realen Voraussetzungen (Entwurf von Passagierschiffen) erfolgreich angewendet und validiert.

Dark patterns have the ability to influence unconscious decision-making of users and manipulate them to make decisions that go against their own interests. While dark patterns have led to an increase in sales and optimization of advertisement within companies, the users are affected negatively since they don’t reach their goal with the interface interaction and may be forced to navigate in complicated interfaces or be lured into doing impulsive purchases. Despite numerous negative consequences for the users, dark patterns are frequently found in interfaces. This study investigates this problem by focusing on the UX designer’s role in this, and thereby aims to answer the following questions: What ethical responsibility does UX designers consider themselves to have, in terms of the use of dark patterns? How do UX designers experience that individual practice, organizational practice and applied ethics, according to the framework by Gray and Chivukula (2019), affect the use of dark patterns? The study also investigates if the framework completely covers the design complexity of UX designers in relation to dark patterns. These questions are answered by conducting five semi-structured interviews with professional UX designers. The results showed that organizational practice have the biggest influence on the use of dark patterns by UX designers. Individual practice may inhibit the use of dark patterns and applied ethics can affect the work style of UX designers. During the analysis of the research result, yet another factor was identified. This finding considered the structure of society as a factor greatly affecting a UX designer and also the use of dark patterns. This study therefore aims to further develop the framework by Gray and Chivukula and take the structure of society in to consideration. / Dark patterns har en förmåga att påverka användares undermedvetna beslutstaganden och manipulera användaren till att fatta beslut som går emot dennes egenintresse. Samtidigt som dark patterns har lett till ökad försäljning samt optimerade reklaminsatser hos företagen, drabbas användarna negativt då de inte uppnår målet med interaktionen och bland annat tvingas navigera i komplicerade gränssnitt eller lockas till impulsköp. Trots flertalet negativa konsekvenser för användarna är dark patterns vanligt förekommande. Den här studien undersöker denna problematik genom att fokusera på UX-designerns roll och därmed syftar studien till att besvara följande frågor. Vilket etiskt ansvar anser sig UX-designers ha kring användningen av dark patterns? Hur upplever UX-designers att individens praxis, organisationens praxis och tillämpad etik, enligt Gray och Chivukulas relationsmodell (2019), påverkar användningen av dark patterns? Studien undersöker även om relationsmodellen är heltäckande och fångar UX-designers designkomplexitet i förhållande till dark patterns. Studien besvarar dessa frågor genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med yrkesverksamma UX-designers. Resultatet visade att organisationens praxis (B) har störst påverkan på att UX-designers använder dark patterns. Individens praxis (A), kan istället hämma användningen av dark patterns medan inhämtad kunskap om etik (C) har påverkan på UX-designers arbetssätt. Under analysen identifierades ytterligare en huvudfaktor, samhällsstruktur, som också har stor påverkan på en UX-designer och därmed även på användningen av dark patterns. Studiens forskningsbidrag är därigenom en vidareutveckling av Gray och Chivukulas relationsmodell som tar samhällsstrukturerna i beaktande.