Structural Presburger digit vector automata

The least significant digit first decomposition of integer vectors into words of digit vectors provides a natural way for representing sets of integer vectors by automata. In this paper, the minimal automata representing Presburger sets are proved structurally Presburger: automata obtained by moving the initial state and replacing the accepting condition represent Presburger sets.     

The abject gaze and the homosexual body: Flandrin's Figure d'Etude

This article charts the history of the reception, reproduction and appropriation of a single image that has recently become a kind of "gay icon"--the Figure d'Etude in the Louvre, painted by Hippolyte Flandrin in 1835. Initially no more than a neo-classical academic exercise, the formal emptiness of this picture meant that it could be re-invested and reinscribed with new meanings and new titles at every turn. Emblematic of the anxious visibility/invisibility of the newly discovered homosexual body during a period when the gaze still had to be kept a dark secret, Flandrin's image only "came out" in its later photographic reworkings by Frederick Holland Day and Baron von Gloeden. After being reproduced for a specifically homosexual audience early this century, the popular Romantic pose of the young man curled-up in profile became a standard one, reappearing recently in the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe. The inactive, abject and inward-turned isolation of the figure with its narcissistic self-absorption makes it, in my view, a profoundly negative stereotype of the gay gaze and the homosexual body. Flandrin's figure nonetheless appears today on gay merchandise world-wide as a sign of our separate and secluded subject positions and our community's unwillingness to radically alter older imposed and inherited classical stereotypes.     

A typology of user liability to IT addiction

To date, information systems (IS) research mainly has provided a monolithic view of information technology (IT) use, considering it to be a desired behaviour with positive outcomes. However, given the dramatic increase in the use of technology during the last few years, susceptibility to IT addiction is increasingly becoming an important issue for technology users and IS researchers. In this paper, we report the results of a study that focuses on identifying variations in user liability to IT addiction, which reflects the susceptibility of individual users to develop IT addiction. First, a review of the literature in different disciplines (e.g. health, psychology and IS) allows us to better understand the concepts of IT addiction and liability to addiction. The literature review also provides an overview of the antecedents and consequences associated with IT addiction. Then, building on the analysis of 15 in‐depth interviews and 182 exploratory open‐ended surveys collected from smartphone users, we apply the concept of liability to addiction in the IT use context and propose a typological theory of user liability to IT addiction. Our typology reveals five ideal types; each can be associated to a user profile (addict, fanatic, highly engaged, regular and thoughtful ). Building upon both the extant literature and our results, we put forth propositions to extend the theoretical contributions of the study. We finally discuss the contributions and implications of our paper for research and practice.     

FAST: acceleration from theory to practice

Fast acceleration of symbolic transition systems (Fast) is a tool for the analysis of systems manipulating unbounded integer variables. We check safety properties by computing the reachability set of the system under study. Even if this reachability set is not necessarily recursive, we use innovative techniques, namely symbolic representation, acceleration and circuit selection, to increase convergence. Fast has proved to perform very well on case studies. This paper describes the tool, from the underlying theory to the architecture choices. Finally, Fast capabilities are compared with those of other tools. A range of case studies from the literature is investigated. This paper is mainly based on results presented at CAV 2003, TACAS 2004 and ATVA 2005.     

Numerical and experimental investigations of mixing in T-shaped and cross-shaped micromixers

Mass transfer within the T-shaped and cross-shaped micromixers has been studied using CFD and confocal laser scanning microscopy methods. The concentration profiles, based on flow regimes, were used to compare the T- and cross-geometries. The cross-shaped micromixer tends to intensify the mixing and this is occurring for lower flow rates in comparison to the T shape. The improvement made by the cross geometry is attributed to the stronger vortex stretching and high shear rate, which reduces the liquid transfer length. The presence of a single outlet in the T-shaped micromixer induces a smaller degree of freedom for the fluid. A higher pressure drop is calculated in T-shaped micromixer than in cross-shaped micromixer.     

Nutritional and nutraceutical comparison of Jamaican Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava) and Psidium guajava (common guava) fruits

Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava) is one of many underutilised edible fruits that grow wild in Jamaica, and could potentially be commercially exploited to yield health and economic benefits. In this study, the total phenolics, proximate contents, and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities of P. cattleianum and P. guajava (common guava), a well-known species, were compared. Strawberry guavas were found to be superior to common guavas in antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, total phenolics and vitamin C content. They also possessed relatively high fibre content (24.9%). The hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of strawberry guavas showed cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme inhibitory activities of 18.3% and 26.5%, respectively (250 μg/mL), indicating anti-inflammatory activity. The EtOAc and MeOH extracts of P. guajava showed 56.4% (COX-2) and 44.1% (COX-1) inhibitory activity, respectively. Additionally, nine compounds were isolated from strawberry guava fruits, some of which demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity. These results indicate that strawberry guavas are beneficial for health.     

High-speed single cable synchronization system for data-converters

A clock-cycle accurate synchronization technique for fully integrated data-converters is presented. Only a single cable is needed to distribute both the required synchronization signal and the converter clock. Different possible implementations, both to generate and decompose the distributed signal, are presented. A discrete component generator circuit is discussed. To avoid setup and hold time violations, on-chip signal reconstruction is unavoidable. A 40 nm CMOS recovery circuit was developed. Simulation results, including layout parasitics, show the wide frequency operating range of the proposed technique.