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This paper discusses how software development can be used as a method for music education research. It explains how software development can externalize ideas, stimulate action and reflection, and provide evidence to support the educative value of new software-based experiences. Parallels between the interactive software development process and established research methods are drawn, with particular focus on action research, case study, and activity theory. A new approach to arts educational research called Software Development as Research (SoDaR) is proposed. The paper includes examples from the author's use of this approach when developing the "jam2jam" software to facilitate networked music improvisation experiences for young children. (Contains 1 figure.)

Preparing and developing e-learning materials is a costly and time consuming enterprise. This paper highlights the elements of effective design that we consider assist in the development of high quality materials in a cost efficient way. We introduce six elements of design and discuss each in some detail. These elements focus on paying attention to the provision of a rich learning activity, situating this activity within an interesting story line, providing meaningful opportunities for student reflection and third party criticism, considering appropriate technologies for delivery, ensuring that the design is suitable for the context in which it will be used, and bearing in mind the personal, social, and environmental impact of the designed activities. Along the way, we describe how these design elements can be effectively utilized by contextualizing them with examples from an e-learning initiative.

As an important constraint on the threshold voltage (Vt) distribution, the random telegraph noise (RTN) has attracted much attention due to the widely used multi-bit-per-cell technology in 3D NAND flash. This work investigated the physical mechanisms of RTN in charge- trap-based 3D NAND flash. According to statistical 3D TCAD simulation analysis, the fringing field from the control gate and the random discrete nitride trapped charges, two competitive mechanisms, are proposed to be responsible for the non-monotonic RTN behavior. As the programmed cell Vt level increases, the increasing fringing field from the control gate reduces the current-path percolation effect and the RTN amplitude. However, once the random discrete nitride trapped charges start to dominate the percolation current path, the RTN amplitude increases significantly. Instructively, the clarification of RTN competitive mechanisms contributes to compacting Vt distributions specifically in multi-level 3D NAND flash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of random discrete dopants in the source/drain (S/D) leads on the current variability of a gate-all-around Si nanowire transistor is analyzed. A full 3-dimensional (3-D) real-space nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism is used for estimating the variability in the [I.sub.D]-[V.sub.G] characteristics of a future-generation Si nanowire transistor induced by random dopants (RDs) in the source/drain (S/D) extensions.