A Survey of Digital Systems Curriculum and Pedagogy in Electrical and Computer Engineering Programs

Digital Systems is one of the basic foundational courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering. One of the challenges in designing and modifying the curriculum for the course is the fast pace of technology change in the area. TTL chips that were in vogue with students building physical circuits, have given way to new paradigms like FPGA based synthesis with hardware description languages such as VHDL. However, updating a course is not as simple as just changing the book, and changing the syllabus. A large amount of work needs to be done in terms of selecting the book that will accommodate the course, the device that should be used, the laboratory content, and even how much time needs to be dedicated for every topic. All these issues, and many more makes it hard to take the decision of updating the course. For that reason, this paper surveys the pedagogy and methodology that is used to teach the digital systems curriculum at different universities. The goal is that it will serve as a resource for faculty looking to update or revamp their digital systems curricula. Within the document they will find a comparative study by electrical and computer engineering program, a list of textbooks, and the devices most commonly used.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Government Contracts Under Argentine Law: A Comparative Law Overview

This Article will summarize Argentine law on government contracts as it exists today, with special reference to the contracts of the Federal Government. Due to the French origin of the theory and to the fact that this Article is addressed to an American readership, a tentative comparison with the main legal rules on the subject of these two countries will be offered. A discussion of the practical consequences of the application of the administrative contract doctrine, and some possible solutions to the problems created thereby will be then put forward. But first, the basic issues that this doctrine gives rise to will be defined and the French origin of the concept of contract administratif and its reception in Argentina will be explained. The analysis offered will be limited to the general substantive legal regime of Government contracts leaving aside the issues arising from the contracting procedure, i.e., the rules on competitive bidding. To the extent that this substantive regime results from laws and regulations, only those directly applicable to Government contracts shall be considered. Thus, the analysis will only deal tangentially with the impact on these contracts of the exercise of public powers granted by statutes that may affect indirectly the performance of the private contractor. Since such statutes may reach all Government contracts and not only those defined as “administrative” (unless a tautological definition is used, i.e., one that characterizes as “administrative” only those Government contracts that can be reached by laws granting regulatory or police powers to the Government), it may be argued that the issues raised by those statutes lie outside the scope of the doctrine of the administrative contract. Therefore, the issue of the conflict between the legislative powers of the State and the principle of the sanctity of the contract shall not be treated

Darwin's "Principle of divergence" and the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

The effect of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning is a relatively new research topic in ecology. The motivation for this research comes largely from current forecasts of ongoing loss of biodiversity. However, the intellectual link between biodiversity and ecosystem processes was first inferred by Darwin based on his Principle of Divergence. In the notes for his Big Species Book Darwin explicitly states that communities composed of organisms developed under “many and widely differing forms” should have higher rates of productivity and decomposition. Darwin also cites supporting evidence in the form of the Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis: a grass garden at Woburn Abbey in the South of England that contains early experiments on the relationship between organisms and their environment