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In the past decades, software-based self-testing (SBST) which is testing of a processing core using its native instructions has attracted much attention. However, efficient SBST of a processing core which is deeply embedded in a multicore architecture is still an open issue. In this study, inspiring from built-in self-test methods, the authors place several number of hardware test components next to the processing cores in order to overcome existing SBST challenges. These test components facilitate quick testing of embedded cores by providing several mechanisms such as virtual fetch, virtual jump, fake load & store, and segmented test application. In order to enable segmented test application, they propose the concept of test snippet and a test snippet generation approach. The result is the capability of testing embedded cores in short idle times leading to efficient online testing of the cores with zero performance overhead. The authors’ results show that their test snippet generation approach not only leads to the production of test snippets which are properly fitted the proposed test architecture but also its final fault coverage is comparable and even a little better than the fault coverage of the best existing methods.

Usability is a critical but often overlooked factor in the design and development of healthcare information technology systems. One system increasingly being leveraged as a research and quality improvement tool is an online research portal that allows self-service access to electronic health record (EHR) data. We discuss the usability testing of such a portal through a low-cost usability inspection method: heuristic evaluation. Using heuristic evaluation methods, we identified 20 usability errors: 15.0% (3/20) were cosmetic, 35.0% (7/20) were minor, 40.0% (8/20) were major, and 10.0% (2/20) were catastrophic. Our heuristic evaluation demonstrates an affordable and efficient method to identify and correct a significant number of problems, thus improving the system using limited effort and resources. A user-friendly environment that follows accepted heuristics for good interface design is essential for ensuring accessibility and usability of data extracted from EHRs for quality improvement and research projects.