Switching from computer to microcomputer architecture education

In the last decades, the technological and scientific evolution of the computing discipline has been widely affecting research in software engineering education, which nowadays advocates more enlightened and liberal ideas. This article reviews cross-disciplinary research on a computer architecture class in consideration of its switching to microcomputer architecture. The authors present their strategies towards a successful crossing of boundaries between engineering disciplines. This communication aims at providing a different aspect on professional courses that are, nowadays, addressed at the expense of traditional courses.     

Print Media

James Aronson's The Press and the Cold War (Bobbs-Merrill, $8.00)

Jon G. Udell's Economic Trends in the Daily Newspacer Business: 1946 to 1970 (Wisconsin Project Reports, Vol. IV, No. 6, Bureau of Business Research and Service, Graduate School of Business, University of Hisconsin, Kadison, Hisconsin 53706, free)

William L. Rivers and David H. Rubin's A Region's Press: Anatomy of Newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area (Institute of Government Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Cal, 94720, $5.75/4.50)

Theodore P. Greene's America's Heroes: The Changing Models of Success in American Magazines (Oxford University Press, $9.50)

Burton's Which Ad Pulled Best? (Decker Communications Inc., 501 Madison Ave., New York 10022, $4.95 paperback)     

Administrative rhetoric: An undemocratic response to protest

Much of the criticism of protest rhetoric has centered on the protestors themselves. This essay focuses on administrators, particularly those at the University of California at Berkeley, and the rhetoric they used in response to protest. It outlines the major lines of argument that administrators traditionally use.     

BOOK REVIEW

This study examined institutional priorities among Florida's public community colleges as viewed by the presidents and local governing boards. The analysis sought to determine whether local priorities were in concordance with those of other community college leaders and whether there was agreement among the local leadership. The study also examined whether institutional setting was related to institutional priorities. Local leaders were asked to rank‐order 20 priorities presented in a study by the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC). Median rankings and rank correlation coefficients revealed a significant positive relationship between the Florida presidents and the leaders in the AACJC study. Both groups indicated a strong commitment to the role of teaching and the retention of top quality faculty. However, no significant correlation was found between the trustees and the AACJC group. Paired rankings from 1. colleges indicated that all but one pair of local leaders failed to rank the priorities in a significantly related way. Finally, the rank‐order analysis of institutional setting produced only one significant correlation; as the institutional setting changed from rural to urban, the trustee priority ranking of student proficiency in the written and oral use of English increased.     

Shared inventions and the evolution of capabilities: Examining the biotechnology industry

Do capabilities evolve differently as a function of the firm's unique ties or through the cumulative exposure to specific types of knowledge? We view capability evolution with respect to a firm's accumulation of knowledge-derived assets—patents. This study proposes that capabilities evolve by way of a firm's solo and joint invention experiences, and contends that these capabilities are uniquely shaped by the firm's history of patenting with two specific types of ties, upstream and downstream partners. Using a sample of 11,593 patents produced by 256 biotechnology firms from 1985 to 2006, we find that prior joint invention experience diversifies the capabilities of the firm and broadens its strategic options. In uncovering an inverted ‘U’ relationship, we also find that capabilities evolve differently according to the firm's unique joint invention experiences. Moreover, firms that continue to engage in more joint invention experiences develop broader capabilities than firms that retreat from this strategy and pursue solo inventions, whereby more specialized capabilities develop. Focusing on how R&D strategies impact capability development, our findings extend research on capabilities by accounting for how the path dependent role of shared property rights influences the technological trajectory of the firm.