Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review
Julio Castro
The University of Texas at El Paso
03/17/2016

LITERATURE REVIEW

In todays world, technology has been a huge impact in humanity. It has not only
impacted the way that people communicate or the simplicities of pleasing our curiosities, but has
become a new field of study. This has, in fact, become a job opportunity for many, since
computers, mobile phones, etc., are becoming more and more demanding every day. The
question now is, has technology really created more jobs, or has it simply replaced menial labor?
Is this a positive or a negative effect in the economy of individual laborers? If both, who has
benefitted and who has suffered due to this modern world of engineering?
Even though VLSI technology has been considered a new field of study and, therefore,
become a job opportunity, has it also negatively affected other profession possibilities?
Technology obviously needs engineers in order to be created. This fact opens up many
job opportunities for that specific field of study. Electronic devices have become such addicting
tools that keep developers working and creating more. These tools are a are positive resources
for people wo work in the medical field, for example, but not so good for those who work in
more hands-on environments like farmers and secretaries.
Dhiya Al-Jumeily et al., 2016, in their book Applied Computing in Medicine and Health,
claim that with the advancement of technology and the rapid growth of medical knowledge in
research and development, the expectations of individuals and the community for the highest
quality of health care has increased exponentially (page xxxvii). This means that Scale
Integration Technology has become a significant factor in todays medical world. With the
development in medicinal machines, doctors now have more time to evaluate their patients since
these machines are designed to do some of the work that used to be the responsibility of the
doctors. Even though it is recommended for doctors to memorize large amounts of medical
information, machines are now capable of storing information about the patients needs, among

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other useful data. Technology has not only become a stress reliever for doctors, as it can also
save them some valuable time. Because computers are capable of storing information that is
typed into them, therefore, VLSI technology has simplified some tasks for those in the medical
field, since doctors have less to memorize and can now become more engaged with their
patients.
Even though many people can argue that thanks to technological advances in the medical
field less and less doctors of medicine are needed, statistics will show otherwise.

Figure 1 - Total number of doctors of medicine in the U.S. from 1960 to 2012

The figure above that was taken from www.statista.com clearly illustrates how the
number of doctors in the United States from 1960 to 2012 has exponentially increased. Although

LITERATURE REVIEW

it is not certain that the amount of doctors in America has almost quadrupled in 50 years because
of the advancements of technology, it is safe to assume that these innovations draw the attention
of future generations and therefore, careers that involve science and mathematics are being
pursued more and more each year.
Similar to Al-Jumeilys (2016) claim, May and Reddaway strongly believe that technology
and scale integration have broaden job opportunities, they state that Very Large Scale Integration
(VLSI) offers new opportunities in computer architecture. The cost of a processor has been
reduced to that of a few thousand bytes of memory, with the result that parallel computers can be
constructed as easily and economically as their sequential predecessors. They consider that, in
todays world, the technology has rapidly advanced that it has impacted the biomedical field.
Sophisticated devices have been designed to go into a human beings body. These devices
include pacemakers, and imaging devices. As most people know, pacemakers are meant to
regulate the beating of a human heart. Imaging devices are like doctors; they can diagnose a
disease of the body that they are in. They even have the capability of monitoring the disease. If
VLSI was not around today, then it would be impossible to create such sophisticated technology
in such small devices. The technology could still exist, but would not be able to inside a persons
body. Because biomedical microsystems such as pacemakers and imaging devices have been
created with the use of VLSI, therefore, technology advances have positively changed the lives
of those with health problems, since their bodies are now regulated.
Both of these sources are correct about technology becoming a new job opportunity for
people, but what they are not aware of is that technology has also been the cause of recent
unemployment. Farmers, for example, have basically become extinct ever since modern

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machinery has been capable of doing what they used to. The table below illustrates how the
number of farmers has drastically decreased in the United States in the last decade and a half.

Figure 2 - Percent Population Farmers 1830-2000

A bizarre example of technology affecting the workforce is Biomedical System Advances.

Swatump Bhunia et al,. (2015), describe how Biomedical Microsystems have created such
sophisticated devices that can basically do the job of Medics. They claim that, With great
advances in electronics and electrode technologies, it has become possible to realize implantable
biomedical microsystems that interface with the internal body parts to monitor and manipulate
their activities. Therefore, In todays world, the technology has rapidly advanced that it has
impacted the biomedical field. Sophisticated devices have been designed to go into a human
beings body. These devices include pacemakers, and imaging devices. As most people know,
pacemakers are meant to regulate the beating of a human heart. Imaging devices are like doctors;
they can diagnose a disease of the body that they are in. They even have the capability of
monitoring the disease. If VLSI was not around today, then it would be impossible to create such
sophisticated technology in such small devices. The technology could still exist, but would not
be able to be inside a persons body.

LITERATURE REVIEW

VLSI and technology in general, have affected jobs everywhere. UTEP and other
universities have been a part of this labor evolution. The fact that it is mostly the young people
who keep up with technology innovations, gives them an advantage against those who are still
stuck with physical labor duties and with the way that UTEP exploits technology demands for
more troubleshooters and tech-savvy employees. Now that UTEP students can access the
schools library digitally, there is no real need for faculty such as librarians, (P. Rudin 2008
Abstract). As a UTEP student, I can clearly see that there are several staff members in the library
that are there to help, but I see no librarians. So, what do these employees do? Most of them are
there to assist the students who are having printing issues, or any computer related problems.
This is because the librarys second floor is full of computers; technology has, without a doubt,
taken over the university. Now, to answer the question, Even though VLSI technology has been
considered a new field of study and, therefore, become a job opportunity, has it also negatively
affected other profession possibilities?; yes, technology has become a job opportunity
because it needs to be created and troubleshooted. It has also negatively affected other
jobs such as librarians because students can now search for books digitally. The
computers will malfunction, but the technology-maintenance staff who has replaced
the librarian staff will repair them.
How has technology changed the way that UTEP students learn?
Similar to the job gain and loss due to technology, the education in UTEP has
both benefited and suffered with the use of technology. The use of technology in class
can be distracting to the ones using it and to the ones around them. I attended Dr.
Virgilio Gonzalezs Introduction to Electrical Engineering Class where he allows his
students to use computers for note-taking purposes and observed that eleven students

LITERATURE REVIEW

decided to use their laptops and or tablets. Six of those students were not engaged in
the lecture at all and were distracted with websites such as www.Facebook.com and
www.Youtube.com. From the remaining four, two of those were taking notes and
seemed focused in the lecture while the other two were taking notes, but would go
back and forth between note-taking and the internet. According to this observation,
the use of technology in class is a distraction and affects the learning abilities of the
students.
On the other hand, the lab that is required for that course also makes use of
technology. This is very different from the lecture because this lab assigns the devices
to each students and the instructors monitor the use of the technology. This type of
technology is beneficial for the advancement in student learning because the students
for this specific class get to not only HEAR from the instructor how circuits work, but
they get to SEE and FEEL how they work. This is a plus for their education because
this will make them prepared for the real world; they will not only know about
circuits, but they will know how to fix circuits.
When I went to the computer lab in the Business building, I saw many students
struggling. Not only with their work, but with basic computer issues. One student, in
particular, was having trouble printing her work; she asked another for assistance and
was told that she did not have to print, but submit online. According to these
observations, I came to the conclusion that some students such as Business and
Liberal Arts majors have trouble with technology while others like Engineering and
Biology majors are very comfortable and even prefer it over hand written assignments.
Joglar, N. et al. coincide with my observations since they did an online evaluation

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with higher education students by using an online tool called iTest and concluded that
Computer Science students in particular were very interested in using this tool or
similar ones.
Technology does, indeed, have an impact in UTEPs educational system. There
is no concrete answer to the ones who wonder if it is a positive or negative change in
higher education learning; this all depends on the individual and how they decide to
use it. Technology can easily be exploited by many college students because there are
many tools out there such as the calculator that can help a math student finish his or
her homework quicker. It can also be abused by many and can lead them to failure.
Social media, for example, is a great tool for socialization but not for education.
These will distract ones education and lead to procrastination. Technology can be a
great educational too, students just need to know how to use it wisely.

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9
References

Al-Jumeily, D., Hussain, A., Mallucci, C., & Oliver, C. (2016). Applied computing in medicine
and health. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Retrieved from http://0www.sciencedirect.com.lib.utep.edu/science/book/9780128034682
Bhunia, S., Majerus, S., & Sawan, M. (2015; 2015). Implantable biomedical microsystems:
Design principles and applications. Waltham, MA: William Andrew, an imprint of Elsevier.
Retrieved from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.lib.utep.edu/science/book/9780323262088
Fernandez Manjon, B. (2007). Computers and education : E-learning, from theory to practice.
Dordrecht: Springer. Retrieved from http://0search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=206263&site=eh
ost-live&scope=site
May, D., & Reddaway, S. F. (1988). The influence of VLSI technology on computer architecture
and discussion]. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.Series A,
Mathematical and Physical Sciences,326(1591), 377-393. Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/38053
Rudin, P (2008). No fixed Address: The Evolution of Outreach Library Services on University
Campuses.