Design and fabrication of a low cost implantable bladder pressure monitor

In the frame of the Flemish Community funded project Bioflex we developed and fabricated an implant for short term (< 7 days) bladder pressure monitoring, and diagnosis of incontinence. This implant is soft and flexible to prevent damaging the bladder's inner wall. It contains a standard flexible electronic circuit connected to a battery, which are embedded in surface treated silicone to enhance the biocompatibility and prevent salt deposition. This article describes the fabrication of the pill and the results of preliminary cytotoxicity tests. The electronic design and its tests, implantation and the result of the in-vivo experimentation will be presented in other articles

Low Voltage Control for the Liquid Argon Hadronic End-Cap Calorimeter of ATLAS

At the ATLAS detector a SCADA system surveys and controls the sub- detectors. The link is realized by PVSS2 software and a CanBus hardware system. The low voltages for the Hadronic Endcaps of the liquid argon calorimeter are produced by DC/DC-converters in the power boxes and split into 320 channels corresponding to the pre- amplifier and summing boards in the cryostat. Six units of a prototype distribution board are currently under test. Each of it contains 2 ELMBs as CanBus interface, a FPGA of type QL3012 for digital control and 30 low voltage regulators for the individual fine adjustments of the outputs

Quasi-randomness and algorithmic regularity for graphs with general degree distributions

We deal with two intimately related subjects: quasi-randomness and regular partitions. The purpose of the concept of quasi-randomness is to express how much a given graph “resembles” a random one. Moreover, a regular partition approximates a given graph by a bounded number of quasi-random graphs. Regarding quasi-randomness, we present a new spectral characterization of low discrepancy, which extends to sparse graphs. Concerning regular partitions, we introduce a concept of regularity that takes into account vertex weights, and show that if $G=(V,E)$ satisfies a certain boundedness condition, then $G$ admits a regular partition. In addition, building on the work of Alon and Naor [Proceedings of the 36th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC), Chicago, IL, ACM, New York, 2004, pp. 72–80], we provide an algorithm that computes a regular partition of a given (possibly sparse) graph $G$ in polynomial time. As an application, we present a polynomial time approximation scheme for MAX CUT on (sparse) graphs without “dense spots.

Downlink beamforming concepts in UTRA FDD

This article gives a comparison of beamforming concepts. Adaptive beamforming and fixed beam switching in WCDMA-FDD-mode are compared from a system level perspective, ordinary sectorization (three 120° sectors) serves as a basis for comparison. Pilot channels P-CPICH (Primary Common Pilot Channel) and S-CPICH (Secondary CPICH) are considered as additional interference. For adaptive beamforming channel estimation has to be based on the pilot bit sequence on DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel) which leads to degradation especially for high mobile velocities and large angular dispersions of the multipath channel

Upgrade of the Cold Electronics of the ATLAS HEC Calorimeter for sLHC

The signal amplification and summation electronics of the ATLAS Hadronic End-cap Calorimeter (HEC) is operated at the circumference of the HEC calorimeters inside the cryostats in liquid argon. The present electronics is designed to operate at irradiation levels expected for the LHC. For operation at the sLHC the irradiation levels are expected to be a factor 10 higher, therefore a new electronic system might be needed. The technological possibilities are investigated. From irradiation tests of the present HEC electronics it is known that it will operate up to a dose of 55 kGy of ionizing radiation and up to a neutron fluence of 3 * 10**14 n/cm**2, where it shows some degradation of performance. This matches well the requirements of up to 1.5 * 10**13 n/cm**2 for 10 years of LHC operation, including safety factors. For a subsequent sLHC running phase with 10 times higher expected irradiation levels, a more radiation hard HEC electronics will be needed. Therefore generic studies of different technologies have been carried out at the transistor level to understand the radiation hardness up to integrated neutron fluxes of ~2*10**16 n/cm**2 and the behaviour during operation at cryogenic temperatures. The S-parameter technique has been used to monitor the performance e.g. of gain and linearity during irradiation at room temperature. In addition, DC measurements before and after irradiation have been compared. Results of these tests and of accompanying noise tests are reported. In addition, results of S-parameter measurements will be reported operating the transistors in liquid nitrogen. Conclusions are drawn and the potential is assessed on the viability of using the tested technologies for carrying out the design of new HEC cold electronics for the sLHC

Phosphorylation of CLEC-2 is dependent on lipid rafts, actin polymerization,secondary mediators, and Rac

The C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2)activates platelets through Src and Syk tyrosine kinases via a single cytoplasmic YxxL motif known as a hem immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (hemITAM).Here, we demonstrate using sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation and methyl--cyclodextrin treatment that CLEC-2 translocates to lipid rafts upon ligand engagement and that translocation is essential for hemITAM phosphorylation and signal initiation. HemITAM phosphorylation, but not translocation, is also critically dependent on actin polymerization,Rac1 activation, and release of ADP and thromboxane A2 (TxA2). The role of ADP and TxA2 in mediating hosphorylation is dependent on ligand engagement and rac activation but is independent of platelet aggregation. In contrast,tyrosine phosphorylation of the GPVIFcR -chain ITAM, which has 2 YxxL motifs,is independent of actin polymerization and secondary mediators. These results reveal a unique series of proximal events in CLEC-2 phosphorylation involving actin polymerization, secondary mediators,and Rac activation

Multiplicity Structure of the Hadronic Final State in Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

The multiplicity structure of the hadronic system X produced in deep-inelastic processes at HERA of the type ep -> eXY, where Y is a hadronic system with mass M_Y< 1.6 GeV and where the squared momentum transfer at the pY vertex, t, is limited to |t|<1 GeV^2, is studied as a function of the invariant mass M_X of the system X. Results are presented on multiplicity distributions and multiplicity moments, rapidity spectra and forward-backward correlations in the centre-of-mass system of X. The data are compared to results in e+e- annihilation, fixed-target lepton-nucleon collisions, hadro-produced diffractive final states and to non-diffractive hadron-hadron collisions. The comparison suggests a production mechanism of virtual photon dissociation which involves a mixture of partonic states and a significant gluon content. The data are well described by a model, based on a QCD-Regge analysis of the diffractive structure function, which assumes a large hard gluonic component of the colourless exchange at low Q^2. A model with soft colour interactions is also successful.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J., error in first submission - omitted bibliograph