The CMS Drift Tube Trigger Track Finder

Muons are among the decay products of many new particles that may be discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. At the first trigger level the identification of muons and the determination of their transverse momenta and location is performed by the Drift Tube Trigger Track Finder in the central region of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, using track segments detected in the Drift Tube muon chambers. Track finding is performed both in pseudorapidity and azimuth. Track candidates are ranked and sorted, and the best four are delivered to the subsequent high level trigger stage. The concept, design, control and simulation software as well as the expected performance of the system are described. Prototyping, production and tests are also summarized

Analysis of coexistence and mutual interference between mobile and digital television systems

La creciente demanda de servicios de comunicaciones inalámbricas multimedia es un factor clave en los mercados más desarrollados. Así, las palabras de moda en las comunicaciones personales “acceso para cualquier persona, en cualquier sitio, en cualquier momento y para el servicio deseado”, implican una demanda notoria y creciente del Espectro Radioeléctrico. En este sentido, la última Conferencia Mundial de Radiocomunicaciones 2007 (CMR-07) atribuyó la parte alta de la banda UHF a las redes móviles como servicio co-primario a partir del 2015 en la Región 1, aprovechando el Dividendo Digital debido a la mayor eficiencia espectral de la TV digital con respecto a la analógica. Esto tiene el potencial de causar una interferencia perjudicial entre los sistemas de televisión y los sistemas móviles y necesita ser analizado con atención. En este artículo presentamos un estudio del problema de la interferencia co-canal en dicho escenario, proponiendo una metodología para tener en cuenta la interferencia entre una red móvil LTE y un sistema televisivo DVB-T, poniendo de relieve el comportamiento diferente de los dos radioenlaces.The ever increasing demand for multimedia wireless communication systems is a key feature of more advanced markets. The buzzwords of personal communications, meant to provide “access to anyone, anywhere, at anytime to the wanted service”, implies that radio spectrum demands are dramatically increasing in most developed markets. The last World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) allocated on a co-primary basis the upper part of the UHF band to mobile services as from 2015 in Region 1, taking advantage of the Digital Dividend due to the higher spectrum efficiency of digital TV with respect to the analogue system. This will cause potentially harmful mutual interference between TV and mobile radio services, that needs to be carefully analysed. In this paper we present a study of the co-channel interference problem, proposing a methodology to take into account the mutual interference between a LTE mobile network and a DVB-T system and highlighting the different behaviour of the two radio links

Longitudinal beam dynamics in the Frascati DAΦNE e^{+}e^{-} collider with a passive third harmonic cavity in the lengthening regime

A high-harmonic rf system is going to be installed in both rings of the DAΦNE Φ-Factory collider to improve the Touschek lifetime. The main goal of this paper is to study the impact of the 3rd harmonic cavity on beam dynamics making a special emphasis on the dynamics of a bunch train with a gap. The shift of the coherent synchrotron frequencies of the coupled-bunch modes has been estimated. In the following we investigated the effect of magnification of the synchrotron phase spread and beam spectrum variation due to the gap. Besides we simulated the bunch lengthening for different bunches along the unevenly filled train and evaluated the Touschek lifetime enhancement taking into account the obtained bunch distributions. Finally, the "cavity parking" option is discussed. It can be considered as a reliable backup procedure consisting of tuning the cavity away from the 3rd harmonic frequency and in between two revolution harmonics. It allows recovering, approximately, the same operating conditions as were before the harmonic cavity installation

Case report : posterior thoracic window in the presence of pleural effusion in critical care medicine : one more chance to image the aortic valve

Good quality echocardiographic images in the setting of critical care medicine may be difficult to obtain for many reasons. We present a case of an 85-year-old woman with acute pulmonary edema and pleural effusion, where transthoracic bedside echocardiographic examination raised a suspicion for significant aortic valve disease. However, given the orthopneic decubitus of the patients, the quality of images was poor. To increase the accuracy of diagnosis, a posterior thoracic view through the pleural effusion in the sitting position was used. This view allowed the diagnosis of mixed aortic valve disease (aortic stenosis and regurgitation) and the quantification of valve disease through multiparametric criteria as recommended by current guidelines. The posterior thoracic view, when feasible, may provide a useful option in the assessment of cardiac structures and further diagnostic information in technically difficult echocardiographic examinations

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty as a palliative treatment in patients with severe aortic stenosis and limited life expectancy : a single center experience

Whether balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) may provide an effective palliation in symptomatic high-risk patients is uncertain. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate outcomes in symptomatic high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS), who underwent BAV. All-cause mortality and length of hospitalization for heart failure (HF) up to death or to 1-year follow up were collected after BAV. One hundred thirty-two (132) patients (62% women), mean age 85±7 years, underwent BAV with a substantial reduction of the peak-to-peak aortic gradient from 53±21 to 29±15 mmHg (p<0.001). The median of days of HF hospitalization prior to BAV was 9 (0-19), and decreased after BAV to 0 (0-9), p<0.001. During 1-year follow-up patients with untreated CAD (85, 64%) had a higher mortality compared to patients with insignificant/treated CAD (47, 36%): 1-year survival: 45±7% vs. 66± 7%; p=0.02. After adjustment for STS risk score and severity of residual AS, patients with untreated CAD remained at higher risk of mortality (adjusted HR 1.74 [1.01-2.91]; p=0.04). Thus, in this series of symptomatic high-risk patients, BAV was associated with a significant reduction in aortic valve gradient and hospitalization time for HF post-BAV. In patients with significant CAD, percutaneous intervention might be considered in order to improve survival

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein-mediated actin dynamics control type-I interferon production in plasmacytoid dendritic cells

Mutations in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) protein (WASp), a regulator of actin dynamics in hematopoietic cells, cause WAS, an X-linked primary immunodeficiency characterized by recurrent infections and a marked predisposition to develop autoimmune disorders. The mechanisms that link actin alterations to the autoimmune phenotype are still poorly understood. We show that chronic activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and elevated type-I interferon (IFN) levels play a role in WAS autoimmunity. WAS patients display increased expression of type-I IFN genes and their inducible targets, alteration in pD