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Book Summary: Recognized as two of the world's leading authorities on the subject, Susan Herdman and Richard Clendaniel, joined by a team of expert contributors, deliver the 4th Edition of the field's definitive text on the management of vestibular diseases and disorders. From assessment through therapy, they present the scientific and clinical knowledge you need to distinguish between vestibular and non-vestibular dizziness and to plan and implement the appropriate treatments.

Identifying the emergence and development of new technologies has become an essential ability for firms competing in dynamic environments. Nonetheless, current technology intelligence practices are unstructured and vaguely defined. Moreover, the existing literature in future technology studies lacks strong, systematic explanations of what technologies are, where technologies come from, and how new technologies emerge and evolve. The present study builds on Structuration Theory, and proposes the structurational model of emerging technologies (SMET). The SMET suggests not only an ongoing view of technologies as social objects, but also a process for thinking through scientifically the complex, multidimensional and emergent dynamic of social and technological change. The SMET proposes that the emergence and development of a new technology can be tracked by examining systematically and collectively the extent of development of its technology-related social structure – its degree of structuration. The degree of structuration of a technology is an ongoing process instantiated in social practices, and can be observed through visible patterns or specific social outcomes of systemic activity organized in three analytical dimensions: structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy. The SMET assumes that the conceptual initiation of a new technology triggers new patterns of social activity or a signal of technological change; thus, the variation in the slope or trajectory of the degree of structuration of a technology may indicate an early signal of technological change. The SMET sets a foundation for identifying early signals of technological change when it is used on a systematic basis. Empirically, the study conducted an exploratory case study in the Internet industry. The study employed a sequential transformative mixed method procedure, and relied on 77 Internet experts to create retrospectively a systematic and collective interpretation of the Internet industry in the last ten (10) years. The test of hypotheses was based on only seven (7) Internet technologies due to time and instrumental constraints. The results confirm the fundamental relationships among constructs in the model, and support, thus, the SMET. The degree of structuration of a technology is revealed as a process independent of individuals’ participation in the enactment of a technology. Technological outcomes are explained by the extent of development of structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy (i.e., the degree of structuration of a technology). Moreover, influential technological outcomes shape individuals’ perspectives over time – i.e., the structurational effect. Hence, the study not only provides evidence that supports this novel theoretical framework, but also illustrates methodologically how to identify the emergence and development of new technologies. Likewise, the study discusses the implications of these results for technology management practices (e.g., product and technology development, innovation policies, and technology transfer activities). Lastly, the study recognizes limitations and suggests further research avenues.

Programmable reversible logic is emerging as a prospective logic design style for implementation in modern nanotechnology and quantum computing with minimal impact on circuit heat generation. Recent advances in reversible logic using and quantum computer algorithms allow for improved computer architecture and arithmetic logic unit designs. In this paper, a 2*2 Swap gate which is a reduced implementation in terms of quantum cost and delay to the previous Swap gate is presented. Next, a novel 3*3 programmable UPG gate capable of calculating the fundamental logic calculations is presented and verified, and its advantages over the Toffoli and Peres gates are discussed. The UPG is then implemented in a reduced design for calculating n-bit AND, n-bit OR and n-bit ZERO calculations. Then, two 3*3 RMUX gates capable of multiplexing two input values with reduced quantum cost and delay compared to the previously existing Fredkin gate is presented and verified. Next, 4*4 reversible gate is presented and verified which is capable of producing the calculations necessary for two-bit comparisons. The UPG and RC are implemented in the design of novel sequential and tree-based comparators. Then, two novel 4*4 reversible logic gates (MRG and PAOG) are proposed with minimal delay, and may be configured to produce a variety of logical calculations on fixed output lines based on programmable select input lines. A 5*5 structure (MG) is proposed that extends the capabilities of both the MRG and PAOG. The comparator designs are verified and its advantages to previous designs are discussed. Then, reversible implementations of ripple-carry, carry-select and Kogge-Stone carry look-ahead adders are analyzed and compared. Next, implementations of the Kogge-Stone adder with sparsity-4, 8 and 16 were designed, verified and compared. The enhanced sparsity-4 Kogge-Stone adder with ripple-carry adders was selected as the best design, and its implemented in the design of a 32-bit arithmetic logic unit is demonstrated. The proposed ALU design is verified and its advantages over the only existing ALU design are quantitatively analyzed.

Identifying the emergence and development of new technologies has become an essential ability for firms competing in dynamic environments. Nonetheless, current technology intelligence practices are unstructured and vaguely defined. Moreover, the existing literature in future technology studies lacks strong, systematic explanations of what technologies are, where technologies come from, and how new technologies emerge and evolve. The present study builds on Structuration Theory, and proposes the structurational model of emerging technologies (SMET). The SMET suggests not only an ongoing view of technologies as social objects, but also a process for thinking through scientifically the complex, multidimensional and emergent dynamic of social and technological change. The SMET proposes that the emergence and development of a new technology can be tracked by examining systematically and collectively the extent of development of its technology-related social structure – its degree of structuration. The degree of structuration of a technology is an ongoing process instantiated in social practices, and can be observed through visible patterns or specific social outcomes of systemic activity organized in three analytical dimensions: structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy. The SMET assumes that the conceptual initiation of a new technology triggers new patterns of social activity or a signal of technological change; thus, the variation in the slope or trajectory of the degree of structuration of a technology may indicate an early signal of technological change. The SMET sets a foundation for identifying early signals of technological change when it is used on a systematic basis. Empirically, the study conducted an exploratory case study in the Internet industry. The study employed a sequential transformative mixed method procedure, and relied on 77 Internet experts to create retrospectively a systematic and collective interpretation of the Internet industry in the last ten (10) years. The test of hypotheses was based on only seven (7) Internet technologies due to time and instrumental constraints. The results confirm the fundamental relationships among constructs in the model, and support, thus, the SMET. The degree of structuration of a technology is revealed as a process independent of individuals’ participation in the enactment of a technology. Technological outcomes are explained by the extent of development of structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy (i.e., the degree of structuration of a technology). Moreover, influential technological outcomes shape individuals’ perspectives over time – i.e., the structurational effect. Hence, the study not only provides evidence that supports this novel theoretical framework, but also illustrates methodologically how to identify the emergence and development of new technologies. Likewise, the study discusses the implications of these results for technology management practices (e.g., product and technology development, innovation policies, and technology transfer activities). Lastly, the study recognizes limitations and suggests further research avenues.

Neurocomputers offer a massively parallel computing paradigm by mimicking the human brain. Their efficient use in statistical information processing has been proposed to overcome critical bottlenecks with traditional computing schemes for applications such as image and speech processing, and associative memory. In neural networks information is generally represented by phase (e.g., oscillatory neural networks) or amplitude (e.g., cellular neural networks). Phase-based neurocomputing is constructed as a network of coupled oscillatory neurons that are connected via programmable phase elements. Representing each neuron circuit with one oscillatory device and implementing programmable phases among neighboring neurons, however, are not clearly feasible from circuits perspective if not impossible. In contrast to nascent oscillatory neurocomputing circuits, mature amplitude-based neural networks offer more efficient circuit solutions using simpler resistive networks where information is carried via voltage- and current-mode signals. Yet, such circuits have not been efficiently realized by CMOS alone due to the needs for an efficient summing mechanism for weighted neural signals and a digitally-controlled weighting element for representing couplings among artificial neurons. Large power consumption and high circuit complexity of such CMOS-based implementations have precluded adoption of amplitude-based neurocomputing circuits as well, and have led researchers to explore the use of emerging technologies for such circuits. Although they provide intriguing properties, previously proposed neurocomputing components based on emerging technologies have not offered a complete and practical solution to efficiently construct an entire system. In this thesis we explore the generalized problem of co-optimization of technology and architecture for such systems, and develop a recipe for device requirements and target capabilities. We describe four plausible technologies, each of which could potentially enable the implementation of an efficient and fully-functional neurocomputing system. We first investigate fully-digital neural network architectures that have been tried before using CMOS technology in which many large-size logic gates such as D flip-flops and look-up tables are required. Using a newly-proposed all-magnetic non-volatile logic family, mLogic, we demonstrate the efficacy of digitizing the oscillators and phase relationships for an oscillatory neural network by exploiting the inherent storage as well as enabling an all-digital cellular neural network hardware with simplified programmability. We perform system-level comparisons of mLogic and 32nm CMOS for both networks consisting of 60 neurons. Although digital implementations based on mLogic offer improvements over CMOS in terms of power and area, analog neurocomputing architectures seem to be more compatible with the greatest portion of emerging technologies and devices. For this purpose in this dissertation we explore several emerging technologies with unique device configurations and features such as mCell devices, ovenized aluminum nitride resonators, and tunable multi-gate graphene devices to efficiently enable two key components required for such analog networks – that is, summing function and weighting with compact D/A (digital-to-analog) conversion capability. We demonstrate novel ways to implement these functions and elaborate on our building blocks for artificial neurons and synapses using each technology. We verify the functionality of each proposed implementation using various image processing applications based on compact circuit simulation models for such post-CMOS devices. Finally, we design a proof-of-concept neurocomputing circuitry containing 20 neurons using 65nm CMOS technology that is based on the primitives that we define for our analog neurocomputing scheme. This allows us to fully recognize the inefficiencies of an all-CMOS implementation for such specific applications. We share our experimental results that are in agreement with circuit simulations for the same image processing applications based on proposed architectures using emerging technologies. Power and area comparisons demonstrate significant improvements for analog neurocomputing circuits when implemented using beyond- CMOS technologies, thereby promising huge opportunities for future energy-efficient computing.

This research aims at understanding how business networks influence the commercialization of emerging technologies. It focuses on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of nanotechnology in the UK and aims to identify what types of networks they use for commercialization. It also examines how different types of networks can explain success or otherwise in commercialization with respect to the position of the SME in the value chain and the type of resulting innovation. Various streams of literature including debates on SMEs and innovation, open innovation, the innovation systems literature, and the industrial networks approach are used to develop a conceptual framework that guides this research. Using a case study approach, 23 Nanotech SMEs in the UK are investigated. Secondary data on firms are gathered from various sources including company websites and the FAME database. Primary data are collected through 40 semi-structured interviews with SMEs’ senior managers and key informants. Data analysis is based upon thematic analysis. The findings present a typology of networks based on a combination of network structure and actor roles, including six network types: incumbent-oriented network with reactive SME, incumbent-oriented network with proactive SME, SME-oriented network, broker-oriented networks, hybrid networks and interrupted networks. The findings indicate that a reactive approach towards networking is less conducive to commercialization, regardless of the innovation type or value chain position. SMEs can proactively create incumbent-oriented, SME-oriented or broker-oriented networks to facilitate commercialization. Incumbent-oriented networks with proactive SMEs are conducive to commercialization of both nanomaterials and nano-intermediate products and can facilitate commercialization of moderately and highly radical nanotechnology. SME-oriented networks are also conducive to commercialization of moderately and highly radical nanotechnology, but have been used for commercialization of nano-enabled products. Broker-oriented networks can facilitate commercialization of technologies or products developed in the upstream part of the value chain and are more influential in the commercialization of moderately or highly radical nanotechnology. Some Nanotech SMEs are simultaneously involved in more than one network type, i.e. have hybrid networks, pursuing multiple strategies for commercialization. All SMEs with hybrid networks have broker-oriented networks in common and in some cases the broker-oriented network has caused formation of other network types. Finally, the findings show how interrupted networks pose the biggest challenge for commercialization. The thesis contributes to the debates on SMEs and innovation and the gap on how open innovation is implemented within the context of SMEs and emerging technologies. This research also informs SME managers' strategies and choices related to participation in business networks. It provides further insights for policy makers regarding the networking behaviour of SMEs and contribution of various network actors to commercialization and in this way assists with devising policies for encouraging and facilitating collaboration for commercialization.

Circuitos baseados em portas lógicas de limiar (threshold logic gates – TLG) vem sendo estudados como uma alternativa promissora em relação ao tradicional estilo lógico CMOS, baseado no operadores AND e OR, na construção de circuitos integrados digitais. TLGs são capazes de implementar funções Booleanas mais complexas em uma única porta lógica. Diversos novos dispositivos, candidatos a substituir o transistor MOS, não se comportam como chaves lógicas e são intrinsicamente mais adequados à implementação de TLGs. Exemplos desses dispositivos são os memristores, spintronica, diodos de tunelamento ressonante (RTD), autômatos celulares quânticos (QCA) e dispositivos de tunelamento de elétron único (SET). Para o desenvolvimento de um fluxo de projeto de circuitos integrados baseados em lógica threshold, duas etapas são fundamentais: (1) identificar se uma dada função Booleana corresponde a uma função lógica threshold (TLF), isto é, pode ser implementada em um único TLG e computar os pesos desse TLG; (2) se uma função não é identificada como TLF, outro método de síntese lógica deve construir uma rede de TLGs otimizada que implemente a função. Este trabalho propõe métodos para atacar cada um desses dois problemas, e os resultados superam os métodos do estado-da-arte. O método proposto para realizar a identificação de TLFs é o primeiro método heurístico capaz de identificar todas as funções de cinco e seis variáveis, além de identificar mais funções que os demais métodos existentes quando o número de variáveis aumenta. O método de síntese de redes de TLGs é capaz de sintetizar circuitos reduzindo o número de portas TLG utilizadas, bem como a profundidade lógica e o número de interconexões. Essa redução é demonstrada através da síntese dos circuitos de avaliação da MCNC em comparação com os métodos já propostos na literatura. Tais resultados devem impactar diretamente na área e desempenho do circuito. / In this work, a novel method to synthesize digital integrated circuits (ICs) based on threshold logic gates (TLG) is proposed. Synthesis considering TLGs is quite relevant, since threshold logic has been revisited as a promising alternative to conventional CMOS IC design due to its suitability to emerging technologies, such as resonant tunneling diodes, memristors and spintronics devices. Identification and synthesis of threshold logic functions (TLF) are fundamental steps for the development of an IC design flow based on threshold logic. The first contribution is a heuristic algorithm to identify if a function can be implemented as a single TLG. Furthermore, if a function is not detected as a TLF, the method uses the functional composition approach to generate an optimized TLG network that implements the target function. The identification method is able to assign optimal variable weights and optimal threshold value to implement the function. It is the first heuristic algorithm that is not based on integer linear programming (ILP) that is able to identify all threshold functions with up to six variables. Moreover, it also identifies more functions than other related heuristic methods when the number of variables is more than six. Differently from ILP based approaches, the proposed algorithm is scalable. The average execution time is less than 1 ms per function. The second major contribution is the constructive process applied to generate optimized TLG networks taking into account multiple goals and design costs, like gate count, logic depth and number of interconnections. Experiments carried out over MCNC benchmark circuits show an average gate count reduction of 32%, reaching up to 54% of reduction in some cases, when compared to related approaches.

A diminuição das dimensões do transistor MOS tem sido a principal estratégia adotada para alcançar otimizações de desempenho na fabricação de circuitos integrados. Contudo, reduzir as dimensões dos transistores tem se tornado uma tarefa cada vez mais difícil de ser alcançada. Nesse contexto, vários esforços estão sendo feitos para encontrar dispositivos alternativos que permitam futuros avanços em relação à capacidade computacional. Entre as mais promissoras tecnologias emergentes estão os transistores de efeito de campo com múltiplos e independentes gates (MIGFETs). MIGFETs são dispositivos controlados por mais que um terminal de controle permitindo que funções Booleanas com mais de uma variável sejam implementadas por um único dispositivo. Redes de chaves construídas com dispositivos MIGFET tendem a ser mais compactas do que as redes de chaves tradicionais. No entanto existe um compromisso em relação a redução no número de chaves, devido à maior capacidade lógica, e um maior tamanho e pior desempenho do dispositivo. Neste trabalho, pretendemos explorar tal balanceamento no sentido de avaliar os impactos do uso de MIGFETs na construção de circuitos integrados digitais. Dessa forma, alguns critérios de avaliação são apresentados no sentido de analisar área e atraso de circuitos construídos a partir de dispositivos MIGFET, onde cada transistor é representado por um modelo RC. Em particular, tal avaliação de área e desempenho é aplicada no projeto de circuitos somadores binários específicos (metodologia full-custom). Além do mais, bibliotecas de células construídas a partir de dispositivos MIGFET são utilizadas na síntese automática de circuitos de referência através da metodologia standard-cell. Através dos experimentos, é possível ter-se uma ideia, mesmo que inicial e pessimista, do quanto o layout de um dado MIGFET pode ser maior do que um single-gate FinFET e ainda apresentar redução na área do circuito devido à compactação lógica. / The scaling of MOS transistor has been the main manufacturing strategy for improving integrated circuit (IC) performance. However, as the device dimensions shrink, the scaling becomes harder to be achieved. In this context, much effort has been done in order to develop alternative devices that may allow further progress in computation capability. Among the promising emerging technologies is the multiple independent-gate field effect transistors (MIGFETs). MIGFETs are switch-based devices, which allow more logic capability in a single device. In general, switch networks built through MIGFET devices tend to be more compact than the traditional switch networks. However, there is a tradeoff between the number of logic switches merged and the area and performance of a given MIGFET. Thus, we aim to explore such a tradeoff in order to evaluate the MIGFET impacts in the building digital integrated circuits. To achieve this goal, in this work, we present an area and performance evaluation based on digital circuit built using MIGFET devices, where each MIGFET is represented through RC modelling. In particular, such an evaluation is applied on full-custom design of binary adder circuits and on standard-cell design flow targeting in a set of benchmark circuits. Through the experiments, it is possible have an insight, even superficial and pessimist, about how big can be the layout of a given MIGFET than the single-gate FinFET and still show a reduction in the final circuit area due to the logic compaction.

A manga é uma das frutas tropicais mais produzida no mundo, sendo amplamente consumida in natura e processada. O seu processamento gera grande quantidade de resíduos, sendo 15 % a 20 % do seu peso representado pela casca. A casca da manga contém quantidades significativas de fitoquímicos, como os compostos fenólicos, os carotenoides e a pectina. Devido à sua composição química, rica em compostos benéficos à saúde, e à grande quantidade de resíduos gerados anualmente a casca da manga apresenta enorme potencial para ser utilizada como ingrediente funcional. Dessa forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a extração sequencial de compostos fenólicos e pectina da casca da manga com o auxílio do ultrassom. O trabalho foi divido em duas etapas. A primeira etapa avaliou a extração dos compostos fenólicos através de um planejamento experimental 32. As variáveis independentes foram a concentração de etanol na solução aquosa de extração (25-75 %, v/v) e a potência do ultrassom (25-75 %). Os resultados mostraram que o ultrassom não afetou significativamente a extração dos compostos fenólicos. Visando reduzir a quantidade de solvente e energia gastas no processo de extração, o melhor rendimento (67 %) foi obtido com solução aquosa com 50 % de etanol, sem aplicação do ultrassom, e 8 minutos de processamento. A segunda etapa do trabalho teve como objetivo estudar a influência do ultrassom e da extração prévia dos compostos fenólicos na qualidade e rendimento da pectina. Os resultados demostraram aumento superior a 50 % no rendimento da pectina com a aplicação do ultrassom no resíduo da extração dos compostos fenólicos. A extração prévia dos compostos fenólicos não prejudicou o rendimento e a qualidade da pectina extraída da casca da manga demostrando que os compostos fenólicos e pectina podem ser extraídos da casca da manga com auxílio de uma tecnologia emergente. / Mango is an important tropical fruit consumed in fresh or processed form worldwide. Commercial processing of mango into juice, nectar, pulp, puree, and jam produces 15-20 % peel waste. Mango peel contains significant amounts of phytochemicals, like phenolic compounds, carotenoids and pectin, which makes it suitable to be processed for value-added applications in functional foods and nutraceuticals. Mango peel has enormous potential as a functional ingredient. Thus the aim of this work was to study the ultrasound technology potential for sequential extraction of phenolic compounds and pectin from this agroindustrial waste. The work was divided in two steps. The first step was to explore the phenolic compound extraction assisted by ultrasound using an experimental design (32). The independent variables were ethanol concentration (%) and ultrasound power intensity (%). The results showed that the ultrasound power intensity did not affect the phenolic compound content extracted. Aiming to reduce the amount of solvent and the spending energy, the best extraction yield (67 %) was obtained using 50 % of ethanol concentration, without ultrasound intensity and 8 minutes of experiment under stirring. In the second step, the aim was to investigate the potential of ultrasound intensity and the influence polyphenols removal on the extracted pectin quality. Results showed that extraction yield enhance over than 50 % when ultrasound (75 %) was used on the phenolic extraction residue and the pectin obtained a galacturonic acid content higher than 65 %. The phenolic extraction did not affect the quality of the pectic polymer extracted from mango peel. The results showed that the phenolic compounds and pectin from mango peel can be extracted using an emerging technology.