VLSI Architecture and Design

Integrated circuit technology is rapidly approaching a state where feature sizes of one micron or less are tractable. Chip sizes are increasing slowly. These two developments result in considerably increased complexity in chip design. The physical characteristics of integrated circuit technology are also changing. The cost of communication will be dominating making new architectures and algorithms both feasible and desirable. A large number of processors on a single chip will be possible. The cost of communication will make designs enforcing locality superior to other types of designs. Scaling down feature sizes results in increase of the delay that wires introduce. The delay even of metal wires will become significant. Time tends to be a local property which will make the design of globally synchronous systems more difficult. Self-timed systems will eventually become a necessity. With the chip complexity measured in terms of logic devices increasing by more than an order of magnitude over the next few years the importance of efficient design methodologies and tools become crucial. Hierarchical and structured design are ways of dealing with the complexity of chip design. Structered design focuses on the information flow and enforces a high degree of regularity. Both hierarchical and structured design encourage the use of cell libraries. The geometry of the cells in such libraries should be parameterized so that for instance cells can adjust there size to neighboring cells and make the proper interconnection. Cells with this quality can be used as a basis for "Silicon Compilers"

Journal Staff

Sju forskare vid Linköpings universitet ventilerar olika sidor av samhällsundervisningens problematik och möjligheter, såsom hur samhällsundervisningens villkor ständigt förändras och konsekvenserna av detta, vilken roll teknikhistoria bör ha i grundskolan, hur gymnasieskolans nya kursplan i historia har påverkat läromedlen, innehållet i sponsrade läromedel, betydelsen av religionsundervisning i särskolan, hur staten främjar utbildning i samband med ett jubileum samt vikten av internationellt utbyte.

Taxation and Domestic Free Trade

In this paper it is argued that the domestic division of labor and trade is organized according to the same principle as the international division of labor and trade – the Ricardian comparative advantages. After all, the ultimate source of these comparative advantages is the individual. The comparative advantages of individuals then lend themselves to groups of people, companies, regions and countries. It is these that make it worthwhile for people to cooperate on any larger scale at all; we all rely on them and they imply that there is room for everyone in society. But just as tariffs ruin the international division of labor, taxes and similar domestic government interventionism destroy the domestic division of labor among people. This is illustrated by means of the ‘division of labor condition’, where taxes enter as a possible restriction to trade, thus creating a Darwinist society of the survival of the fittest. The least productive individuals and those who face the highest barriers to trade run the risk of ending up on the outskirts of society. The more productive ones will run the risk of overreaching as they are forced to perform more and more tasks themselves. The result is not only more home labor and more black markets, but also real barter and situations where nothing gets done at all. To restore the division of labor, and to make room for everyone who wants to participate in it, it is argued that removing barriers to domestic trade is the only possible option.Division of labor; Comparative Advantage; Trade; Productivity; Growth; Taxes; Unemployment; Household Labor; Informal economy

Corrigendum to: ‘Shy trout grow faster: do personality traits predict fitness of brown trout in the wild?’ by Bart Adriaenssens and Jörgen I. Johnsson. 22:135–143

No abstract available

Reasons for developing or exiting business in the primary sector - A study of milk farmers in central-west Sweden

The aim of this research was to study empirically what characterize farms and farmers that choose to develop the milk production at their farms. The background was that several farms have exited milk production, which threatens both goals about rural development and also the activities of the dairies. Based on survey data from 313 milk producing farms in central-west Sweden and structural equation analysis, it was concluded that farms that are accustomed to changes will develop their milk production further. The results also showed that farms which are more dependent on their milk production are more likely to develop their milk production. Furthermore, it was indicated that satisfactory supply of qualified labour stimulates development of milk production, as do location of the farm at a longer distance from common facilities. The results also showed that the farmers who develop their farms have more positive expectations about profitability in milk production and are also less risk averse. Finally, the results indicated that information through trade magazines and similar oneway communication channels are used by those who develop their milk production and that farmers who develop their milk production are those who take actions to evaluate their strategic decisions more seriously.farm management, rural development, strategic decision making, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,

Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Alto-Tiete river basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The authors describe and analyze river basin management in the most intensely urbanized and industrialized region of Brazil. The area covered by the Alto Tiete basin is almost coterminous with the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo. With a drainage area of 5,985 square kilometers (2.4 percent of the state's territory), the basin encompasses 35 of the 39 municipalities and 99.5 percent of the population of Greater Sao Paulo. Population growth and urban sprawl in Greater Sao Paulo have been rapid and uncontrolled in recent decades. In 2000, 17.8 million people lived in the basin and by 2010 the population is estimated to reach 20 million. This massive human occupation was accompanied by the large-scale construction of water infrastructure, including dams, pumping stations, canals, tunnels, and inter-basin transfers to and from neighboring basins. Today, the Alto-Tiete basin is served by a complex hydraulic and hydrological system. Despite this extensive water infrastructure, the water availability of the region is still very low (201 m3-hab-an) and even lower than the semiarid regions of the Brazilian Northeast. The two key management issues to be addressed in the Alto Tiete basin are water quantity to supply a burgeoning population, and water quality which is deteriorating to a point where water availability for a range of uses is severely affected. Urban flood control and mitigation represents another major challenge in the basin. Although important achievements have been made over the past 15 years, the decentralization process - characterized by the creation of the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees and some financing from the State Water Resources Fund - has yet to reveal measurable physical results such as the improvement of water quality or the rationalization of water use. It is undeniable that the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees have already played an important leadership role around several issues. An extraordinary mobilization around water issues, problems, and management has occurred, even though solving many water-related problems may be beyond the capacity of the committees or even of the water resources management system as a whole. Charging for water remains one of the key issues in making the Alto Tiete Committee more relevant and giving it more say in water investment and management decisions. As long as such decisions remain at the individual agency level (both state and municipal), decisionmaking will remain fragmented and it is unlikely that key policy instruments to curb water demand increases and pollution will be implemented.Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Drought Management,Water Conservation