“The new Cagliostro”: Onofroff, Rubén Darío and his story "La esfinge"

The article retraces the career of the famous hypnotist Onofroff and particularly his visit to Buenos Aires, where his activity, in 1895, provoked many discussions and some public embarrassment. In this context Darío, using a pseudonym, published his crónica “La esfinge”. We reproduce “La esfinge”, transcribing the original text of La Nación, with annotations identifying the literary and theosophical sources Darío used when he wrote it.

"Bobok" y "Pedro Páramo", dos narraciones sobre muertos

El presente estudio realiza un análisis comparativo entre la novela del mexicano Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (1955), y un cuento del escritor ruso Dostoievski que trata también el tema del Más allá, titulado Bobok (1873). Paralelamente, se trabaja con la posibilidad de que el relato ruso hubiese podido ser una más de las fuentes literarias de la novela mexicana, y se trata de determinar las posibles conexiones -directas o indirectas- entre las dos obras. Ambas son puestas en común por su género literario, y a partir de ahí se estudian los elementos constitutivos que tienen en común, sus afinidades y divergencias más llamativas.

Common input to different regions of biceps brachii long head

The purpose of the experiment was to compare the level of synchronization exhibited by pairs of motor units located within and between functionally distinct regions of the biceps brachii muscle. Pairs of single motor units were recorded from seven subjects using separate electrodes located in the lateral and medial aspects of the long head of biceps brachii. Participants were required to exert a combination of flexion and supination torques so that both motor units discharged at approximately 10 pps for a parts per thousand yen200 s and the level of motor unit synchronization could be quantified. When motor unit recordings were sufficiently stable at the completion of this synchrony task, a series of ramp contractions with multiple combinations of flexion and supination torques were performed to characterize the recruitment thresholds of the motor units. Common input strength (CIS) was significantly greater (P <0.01) for the within-region pairs of motor units (0.28 extra sync. imps/s, n = 26) than for the between-region pairs (0.13 extra sync. imps/s, n = 18), but did not differ significantly for the 12 within-region pairs from the lateral head and 14 from the medial head (0.27 vs. 0.29 extra sync. imps/s; P = 0.83). Recruitment thresholds were measured for 33 motor units, but there was only a weak association between CIS and the respective recruitment patterns for motor unit pairs (n = 9). The present investigation provides evidence of a differential distribution of synaptic input across the biceps brachii motor neuron pool, but this appears to have minimal association with the recruitment patterns for individual motor units.

Hierarchical synthesis of complex DSP functions on FPGAs

SoC systems are now being increasingly constructed using a hierarchy of subsystems or silicon Intellectual Property (IP) cores. The key challenge is to use these cores in a highly efficient manner which can be difficult as the internal core structure may not be known. A design methodology based on synthesizing hierarchical circuit descriptions is presented. The paper employs the MARS synthesis scheduling algorithm within the existing IRIS synthesis flow and details how it can be enhanced to allow for design exploration of IP cores. It is shown that by accessing parameterised expressions for the datapath latencies in the cores, highly efficient FPGA solutions can be achieved. Hardware sharing at both the hierarchical and flattened levels is explored for a normalized lattice filter and results are presented.

Linear QR architecture for a single chip adaptive beamformer

This paper presents the design of a novel single chip adaptive beamformer capable of performing 50 Gflops, (Giga-floating-point operations/second). The core processor is a QR array implemented on a fully efficient linear systolic architecture, derived using a mapping that allows individual processors for boundary and internal cell operations. In addition, the paper highlights a number of rapid design techniques that have been used to realise this system. These include an architecture synthesis tool for quickly developing the circuit architecture and the utilisation of a library of parameterisable silicon intellectual property (IP) cores, to rapidly develop detailed silicon designs.

The Paradox of art criticism: Jacques Derrida in front of the Greco, Henri Michaux before René Magritte

This paper analyzes the rethinking of art criticism during French post-structuralism and deconstruction in the second half of the XX century. From Michel Foucault to Gilles Deleuze, from Jacques Derrida to Jean-Claude Lebensztejn, the article develops several conceptions and functions of art criticism by means of paradox, paying special attention to Henri Michaux’s essay on René Magritte En rêvant à partir de peintures énigmatiques [Dreams like Enigmatic Paintings].

A programmable architecture for layered multimedia streams in IPv6 networks

A new configurable architecture is presented that offers multiple levels of video playback by accommodating variable levels of network utilization and bandwidth. By utilizing scalable MPEG-4 encoding at the network edge and using specific video delivery protocols, media streaming components are merged to fully optimize video playback for IPv6 networks, thus improving QoS. This is achieved by introducing “programmable network functionality” (PNF) which splits layered video transmission and distributes it evenly over available bandwidth, reducing packet loss and delay caused by out-of-profile DiffServ classes. An FPGA design is given which gives improved performance, e.g. link utilization, end-to-end delay, and that during congestion, improves on-time delivery of video frames by up to 80% when compared to current “static” DiffServ.

Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students

Language and Power offers a comprehensive survey of the ways in which language intersects and connects with the social, cultural and political aspects of power; provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of the field, and covers all the major approaches, theoretical concepts and methods of analysis in this important and developing area of academic study; covers all the 'traditional' topics, such as race, gender and institutional power, but also incorporates newer material from forensic discourse analysis, the discourse of new capitalism and the study of humour as power; includes readings from works by seminal figures in the field, such as Roger Fowler, Deborah Cameron and Teun van Dijk; uses real texts and examples throughout, including advertisements from cosmetics companies; newspaper articles and headlines; websites and internet media; and spoken dialogues such as a transcription from the Obama and McCain presidential debate; and is accompanied by a supporting website that aims to challenge students at a more advanced level and features a complete four-unit chapter which includes activities, a reading and suggestions for further work.