One Hot Second

Parker Radclyffe is up against a wall. Thorne Mansion, the mysterious Italianate castle she's come to Texas to restore, isn't the problem. No matter how intriguing the relic is, it's merely an ember compared to the blazing magnetism of its owner, Chandler Thorne. When his family mansion burned down, Chandler had to watch over a hundred years of proud history go up in smoke. After more than a year, he finally has everything in place to rebuild, including a renowned conservation architect to oversee the restoration. But when he lays eyes on Parker he realizes he's gotten more than he paid for. Maybe more than he can handle. Parker is a military brat who never sits still long enough to get burned. Chandler is her opposite, a man with deep roots and deeper family secrets. It won't be easy to find the common ground it takes to build a home together, but Chandler is a Thorne in every sense. He plans to stick with Parker until she sees that love is more than worth the risk. 64,000 words

A collection of eleven stories by award-winning authors that explore the many varieties of teenage desire, including first crushes, first kisses, and first times.

A collection of eleven stories by award-winning authors that explore the many varieties of teenage desire, including first crushes, first kisses, and first times.

Unwrap a steamy British gift this year… I had a brilliant life, living in England where everyone knew me as just Ben, the massage therapist. Then my mother summoned me home, determined to marry me off. You see, I'm not just Ben. I'm Bennett Worthington Montague, crown prince of Mithoria, and my mother has arranged for every eligible aristocratic girl to compete to become my princess. Does anyone care what I want? But I'm planning my escape. When a mate offers to let me stay at his house in New Hampshire for Christmas, while he's on holiday in Switzerland, I jump at the chance. But on my way there, I get lost. During a blizzard. Then a sexy girl rescues me. A snowstorm, a hot tub, and a beautiful woman. Need I say more? We've only just met, but we can't keep our hands off each other. This might just be the best Christmas ever. Unless someone tells my mother where I've gone. One Hot Christmas is the sixth book in the bestselling Hot Brits series of romantic comedies.

EDBT 2000 is the seventh conference in a series dedicated to the advancement of database technology. This year’s conference special theme, \Connect Millions of Users and Data Sources," underscores the importance of databases for the information age that is dawning with the new millennium. The importance - rives not just from the observation that the information age essentially rests on theconvergenceofcommunications,computing,andstorage.Equallyimportant, many of the concepts and techniques underlying the success of databasesystems have independent meaning and impact for today’s distributed information s- tems. The papers in the volume should also be seen in this light. The EDBT 2000 conference program includes 30 research papers selected by the program committee out of 187 submissions, covering advances in research, development, and applications of databases. The conference program also - cludes six industry andapplications papers,a panel discussion,six tutorials,and several software demonstrations. The conference features three distinguished - vited speakers: Ashish Gupta discusses database issues in electronic commerce, Stefano Ceri addresses the impact and challenges of XML on databases, and Andreas Reuter shares his views on new perspectives on database technology. The technical contributions presented at the EDBT 2000 conference are colle- ed and preserved in this volume that we are pleased to present to you with the expectation that it will serve as a valuable research and reference tool in your professional life.

Engineering Digital Design, Second Edition provides the most extensive coverage of any available textbook in digital logic and design. The new REVISED Second Edition published in September of 2002 provides 5 productivity tools free on the accompanying CD ROM. This software is also included on the Instructor's Manual CD ROM and complete instructions accompany each software program. In the REVISED Second Edition modern notation combines with state-of-the-art treatment of the most important subjects in digital design to provide the student with the background needed to enter industry or graduate study at a competitive level. Combinatorial logic design and synchronous and asynchronous sequential machine design methods are given equal weight, and new ideas and design approaches are explored. The productivity tools provided on the accompanying CD are outlined below: [1] EXL-Sim2002 logic simulator: EXL-Sim2002 is a full-featured, interactive, schematic-capture and simulation program that is ideally suited for use with the text at either the entry or advanced-level of logic design. Its many features include drag-and-drop capability, rubber banding, mixed logic and positive logic simulations, macro generation, individual and global (or randomized) delay assignments, connection features that eliminate the need for wire connections, schematic page sizing and zooming, waveform zooming and scrolling, a variety of printout capabilities, and a host of other useful features. [2] BOOZER logic minimizer: BOOZER is a software minimization tool that is recommended for use with the text. It accepts entered variable (EV) or canonical (1's and 0's) data from K-maps or truth tables, with or without don't cares, and returns an optimal or near optimal single or multi-output solution. It can handle up to 12 functions Boolean functions and as many inputs when used on modern computers. [3] ESPRESSO II logic minimizer: ESPRESSO II is another software minimization tool widely used in schools and industry. It supports advanced heuristic algorithms for minimization of two-level, multi-output Boolean functions but does not accept entered variables. It is also readily available from the University of California, Berkeley, 1986 VLSI Tools Distribution. [4] ADAM design software: ADAM (for Automated Design of Asynchronous Machines) is a very powerful productivity tool that permits the automated design of very complex asynchronous state machines, all free of timing defects. The input files are state tables for the desired state machines. The output files are given in the Berkeley format appropriate for directly programming PLAs. ADAM also allows the designer to design synchronous state machines, timing-defect-free. The options include the lumped path delay (LPD) model or NESTED CELL model for asynchronous FSM designs, and the use of D FLIP-FLOPs for synchronous FSM designs. The background for the use of ADAM is covered in Chapters 11, 14 and 16 of the REVISED 2nd Edition. [5] A-OPS design software: A-OPS (for Asynchronous One-hot Programmable Sequencers) is another very powerful productivity tool that permits the design of asynchronous and synchronous state machines by using a programmable sequencer kernel. This software generates a PLA or PAL output file (in Berkeley format) or the VHDL code for the automated timing-defect-free designs of the following: (a) Any 1-Hot programmable sequencer up to 10 states. (b) The 1-Hot design of multiple asynchronous or synchronous state machines driven by either PLDs or RAM. The input file is that of a state table for the desired state machine. This software can be used to design systems with the capability of instantly switching between several radically different controllers on a time-shared basis. The background for the use of A-OPS is covered in Chapters 13, 14 and 16 of the REVISED 2nd Edition.

Welcome to the proceedings of PATMOS 2003. This was the 13th in a series of international workshops held in several locations in Europe. Over the years, PATMOS has gained recognition as one of the major European events devoted to power and timing aspects of integrated circuit and system design. Despite its signi?cant growth and development, PATMOS can still be considered as a very informal forum, featuring high-level scienti?c presentations together with open discussions and panel sessions in a free and relaxed environment. This year, PATMOS took place in Turin, Italy, organized by the Politecnico di Torino, with technical co-sponsorship from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and the generous support of the European Commission, as well as that of several industrial sponsors, including BullDAST, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, STMicroelectronics, and Synopsys. The objective of the PATMOS workshop is to provide a forum to discuss and investigate the emerging problems in methodologies and tools for the design of new generations of integrated circuits and systems. A major emphasis of the technical program is on speed and low-power aspects, with particular regard to modeling, characterization, design, and architectures.