The evolution of the ISOLDE control system

The ISOLDE on-line mass separator facility is operating on a Personal Computer based control system since spring 1992. Front End Computers accessing the hardware are controlled from consoles running Microsoft WindowsTM through a Novell NetWare4TM local area network. The control system is transparently integrated in the CERN wide office network and makes heavy use of the CERN standard office application programs to control and to document the running of the ISOLDE isotope separators. This paper recalls the architecture of the control system, shows its recent developments and gives some examples of its graphical user interface

Emotional Cues during Simultaneous Face and Voice Processing: Electrophysiological Insights

Both facial expression and tone of voice represent key signals of emotional communication but their brain processing correlates remain unclear. Accordingly, we constructed a novel implicit emotion recognition task consisting of simultaneously presented human faces and voices with neutral, happy, and angry valence, within the context of recognizing monkey faces and voices task. To investigate the temporal unfolding of the processing of affective information from human face-voice pairings, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to these audiovisual test stimuli in 18 normal healthy subjects; N100, P200, N250, P300 components were observed at electrodes in the frontal-central region, while P100, N170, P270 were observed at electrodes in the parietal-occipital region. Results indicated a significant audiovisual stimulus effect on the amplitudes and latencies of components in frontal-central (P200, P300, and N250) but not the parietal occipital region (P100, N170 and P270). Specifically, P200 and P300 amplitudes were more positive for emotional relative to neutral audiovisual stimuli, irrespective of valence, whereas N250 amplitude was more negative for neutral relative to emotional stimuli. No differentiation was observed between angry and happy conditions. The results suggest that the general effect of emotion on audiovisual processing can emerge as early as 200 msec (P200 peak latency) post stimulus onset, in spite of implicit affective processing task demands, and that such effect is mainly distributed in the frontal-central region

Exploration of Shared Genetic Architecture Between Subcortical Brain Volumes and Anorexia Nervosa

In MRI scans of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), reductions in brain volume are often apparent. However, it is unknown whether such brain abnormalities are influenced by genetic determinants that partially overlap with those underlying AN. Here, we used a battery of methods (LD score regression, genetic risk scores, sign test, SNP effect concordance analysis, and Mendelian randomization) to investigate the genetic covariation between subcortical brain volumes and risk for AN based on summary measures retrieved from genome-wide association studies of regional brain volumes (ENIGMA consortium, n = 13,170) and genetic risk for AN (PGC-ED consortium, n = 14,477). Genetic correlations ranged from − 0.10 to 0.23 (all p > 0.05). There were some signs of an inverse concordance between greater thalamus volume and risk for AN (permuted p = 0.009, 95% CI: [0.005, 0.017]). A genetic variant in the vicinity of ZW10, a gene involved in cell division, and neurotransmitter and immune system relevant genes, in particular DRD2, was significantly associated with AN only after conditioning on its association with caudate volume (pFDR = 0.025). Another genetic variant linked to LRRC4C, important in axonal and synaptic development, reached significance after conditioning on hippocampal volume (pFDR = 0.021). In this comprehensive set of analyses and based on the largest available sample sizes to date, there was weak evidence for associations between risk for AN and risk for abnormal subcortical brain volumes at a global level (that is, common variant genetic architecture), but suggestive evidence for effects of single genetic markers. Highly powered multimodal brain- and disorder-related genome-wide studies are needed to further dissect the shared genetic influences on brain structure and risk for AN

The Renovation of the ISOLDE Instrumentation

The ISOLDE [1] instrumentation [2] is mainly based on mechanical scanners, wire-grids and faraday-cups. Additional items are the “fixed needle beam scanner” (FNBS), the tape-station and a device called the “fast faraday cup”. The control system for these devices is being redesigned and reimplemented in order to be integrated in the standard control system of the CERN accelerators complex. While some devices will still be controlled with "usual" standards (VME), the tape-station and the wire-grids will be controlled using industrial PLC’s. In fact, recently, the automates have become fast enough for these applications. This article will describe the different developments in the control electronics, the improvements of the devices themselves and will finish with a short peek at future projects

A new TV beam observation system for CERN

Beam observation, emittance measurements and initial beam steering, are often achieved using scintillating or OTR (optical transition radiation) screens. In the CERN accelerators complex, this system is known as the BTV or MTV system. It consists of an observation camera, an illumination device and a vacuum tank provided of a view port containing the radiator. More than 100 such equipments, in several different flavours, are installed in the CPS complex, another 50 in the SPS complex and another 50 will be installed in the upcoming LHC. The newly developed electronics hardware consists of a single VME 64x card. This card is capable of controlling: all the different types of positioning mechanism for the screens, the adjustment of the illumination intensity, the different types of cameras (i.e. CCD or Vidicon tube) and the positioning of optical filters in front of the camera. Apart from the analogue video signal the card provides as output also the digitized image. A preserie of this new electronics has been installed and tested during the tests of the LHC beam transfer line TI8 last autumn. The production of 300 cards is now underway. These cards will be used for the complete renovation of the MTV system of the CPS complex [1] and for the installations in LHC and its transfer lines. In this contribution the new system is described with particular emphasis on the new VME card. The performances and limitations are also presented

Wire grid and wire scanner design for the CERN Linac4

As part of the CERN LHC injector chain upgrade, LINAC4 [1] will accelerate H- ions from 45 KeV to 160 MeV. A number of wire grids and wire scanners will be used to characterize the beam transverse profile. This paper covers all monitor design aspects intended to cope with the required specifications. In particular, the overall measurement robustness, accuracy and sensitivity must be satisfied for different commissioning and operational scenarios. The physics mechanisms generating the wire signals and the wire resistance to beam induced thermal loads have been considered in order to determine the most appropriate monitor design in terms of wire material and dimensions