Vertical Integration and Dis-integration of Computer Firms: A History Friendly Model of the Co-evolution of the Computer and Semiconductor Industries

In this paper we present a history-friendly model of the changing vertical scope of computer firms during the evolution of the computer and semiconductor industries. The model is "history friendly", in that it attempts at replicating some basic, stylized qualitative features of the evolution of vertical integration on the basis of the causal mechanisms and processes which we believe can explain the history. The specific question addressed in the model is set in the context of dynamic and uncertain technological and market environments, characterized by periods of technological revolutions punctuating periods of relative technological stability and smooth technical progress. The model illustrates how the patterns of vertical integration and specialization in the computer industry change as a function of the evolving levels and distribution of firms' capabilities over time and how they depend on the co-evolution of the upstream and downstream sectors. Specific conditions in each of these markets - the size of the external market, the magnitude of the technological discontinuities, the lock-in effects in demand - exert critical effects and feedbacks on market structure and on the vertical scope of firms as time goes by

Applying Organizational Routines in understanding organizational change

Organizational routines are considered basic components of organizational behavior and repositories of Organizational capabilities (Nelson and Winter, 1982). They do, therefore, hold one of the keys to understanding organizational change. We identify problems encountered in such research and present proposal for how to deal with them, in order to advance our knowledge of routines and our understanding or organizational change. Developing these themes, we also introduce the articles in the special section 'Towards an Operationalization of the Routines concept'.

What Becomes of Global Color

The recent demise of certain global unbroken symmetry generators in the presence of a grand unified magnetic monopole leads us to consider more carefully the notion of charges associated with gauge symmetries. It turns out that global transformations associated with the generators of the gauge group, and their charges, make sense only for extended systems which are sufficiently localized. GUT monopoles fail this criterion. Detailed consideration of the monopole-antimonopole system helps remove apparent paradoxes related to the chromodyon excitations of a single monopole and agrees with the previous result that some, but not all, of the states naively expected do exist. The remaining states ns needed to fill out color multiplets are spread throughout space; they are recovered as long-lived excitations when an antimonopole is brought in from infinity

NTA-IOT: A FLEXIBLE AND MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR IOT APPLICATIONS

This work introduces the NTA-IoT, an abstract IoT architecture that is intended to be flexible and modular, in order to serve as a generic guide tool for developing IoT projects. The model is composed of two types of layers: base layers and support layers, with each layer providing a particular service in the IoT infrastructure. Some considerations and possible roles for building IoT projects following the NTA-IoT architecture are also detailed. Finally, this paper presents an example of a concrete implementation of the architecture on a home automation problem, based on the use of different technologies such as KNX, MQTT and the Outsystems platform to build a functional end-to-end IoT project. The correct functioning of this implementation shows that the architecture is, in fact, consistent and well-suited to serve as strategic guide to carry IoT projects with satisfactory results. Although the case study presented in this work is applied to home automation, the framework is hoped to be applicable to any type of project

Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development

macroeconomics, industrial research and development, patent law

The Meta Isomer of Acetaminophen Is A Time Dependent Inhibitor of Human CYP2E1

N-acetyl-m-aminophenol (3’-hydroxyacetanilide, AMAP) is the meta isomer of acetaminophen (4’-hydroxyacetanilide, APAP), the widely used analgesic that is safe at therapeutic doses but is hepatotoxic at larger doses. Unlike APAP, AMAP does not cause hepatotoxicity in mice even though AMAP and its metabolites covalently bind to hepatic proteins at levels comparable to APAP. Therefore, comparative studies with APAP and AMAP have been used in order to investigate mechanisms of toxicity and structure-toxicity relationships. However, the relationship between AMAP and CYP2E1, the enzyme generally implicated in the amplification of APAP-induced hepatotoxicity after ethanol ingestion, has not been fully elucidated. The microsomal metabolism of AMAP to reactive metabolites has been studied however, the identity of the reactive metabolite(s) of AMAP that bind to CYP2E1 has not been unequivocally determined. Therefore, we hypothesized that AMAP would covalently bind to and inhibit CYP2E1 in a reconstituted system and that mass spectral analysis would provide structural information for the reactive metabolite. Deconvoluted mass spectra indicated that a reactive metabolite of AMAP forms mono- and diadducts with CYP2E1 apoprotein (experimentally measured masses = 54622.4 ± 8.9 Da, 54791.3 ± 6.1 Da, and 54451.7 ± 5.5 Da, respectively) but not to other incubation components (i.e., heme, cytochrome b5, or cytochrome P450 reductase). NADPH was required for adduct formation while glutathione prevented it. The data indicated that reactive metabolite formation probably involves the addition of one oxygen atom to AMAP (MWAMAP = 151.2 Da; MWoxidized AMAP = 151.2 + 16.0 = 167.2 Da; experimentally determined mass of the small molecule adducted to CYP2E1 = 167.5 ± 7.1 Da. Therefore, the reactive metabolite of AMAP that covalently binds to CYP2E1 is likely formed from aromatic oxidation (quinone formation)