......This special issue represents the fifth anniversary of an important tradition in the computer architecture community: IEEE Micro’s Top Picks from the Computer Architecture Conferences. This tradition, initiated by IEEE Micro’s former Editor in Chief, Pradip Bose, attempts to share with the IEEE Micro readership a sampling of the top papers published in computer architecture in the past ye...

Mechanical testing of materials at the microscales is challenging. It requires delicate procedures not only for producing and handling the specimen to be tested, but also for applying an accurate and controlled force. This endeavor is even more challenging when it comes to investigating the behavior of brittle materials such as glass. Here, we present a microtensile tester for investigating sil...

by MOHAMMAD AKRAM HOSSAIN

......This special issue is the seventh in an important tradition in the computer architecture community: IEEE Micro’s Top Picks from the Computer Architecture Conferences. This tradition, started by IEEE Micro’s then editor in chief, Pradip Bose, provides a means for sharing a sample of the best papers published in computer architecture during the past year with the IEEE Micro readership and r...

In the last issue of IEEE Micro (Jan.-Feb. 2000, pp. 9-12), Micro Law addressed the Kodak, Intel, and Xerox cases, largely from the vantage point of tactics. All of these cases involved a powerful manufacturer’s refusal to sell patented parts, or to license its intellectual property rights, to a rival. Kodak was unsuccessful in the San Francisco federal court of appeals and the US Supreme Court...

Because of its kinetic nature and computational advantages, the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been well accepted as a useful tool to simulate micro-scale flows. The slip boundary model plays a crucial role in the accuracy of solutions for micro-channel flow simulations. The most used slip boundary condition is the Maxwell slip model. The results of Maxwell slip model are affected by the ac...

Final quality of products/services starts with suppliers in the supply chain. Problems can occur if suppliers do not deliver the quantities requested in full, on time, or buyers select suppliers solely on the basis of lowest price. Supplier selection has been studied for large businesses but not for very small (micro) businesses. Therefore, a survey was administered to micro-businesses to deter...