The Modern FPGA as Discriminator, TDC and ADC

Recent generations of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have become indispensible tools for complex state machine control and signal processing, and now routinely incorporate CPU cores to allow execution of user software code. At the same time, their exceptional performance permits low-power implementation of functionality previously the exclusive domain of dedicated analog electronics. Specific examples presented here use FPGAs as discriminator, time-to-digital (TDC) and analog-to-digital converter (ADC). All three cases are examples of instrumentation for current or future astroparticle experiments.Comment: 7 pages, v3 minor JINST editorial correction

The World Become Image: Nonrepresentational Discussions of Film and the Natural World

This dissertation investigates the relationships between film and the natural world. Building upon extant work in the burgeoning field of Ecocinema, this project attempts to move beyond the scholarly work on Ecocinema that satisfies itself with questions of representation. The issues and arguments taken up here tend to be more programmatic. This work is interested in ecological exchanges, encounters, and relationships, not representations. The first chapter introduces the project, its origins, and the philosophical motivations for working outside the mode of representation. The second chapter excavates a concern for animals and the environment within the margins and subtext of classical film theory, arguing that from the outset, scholars have built their understanding of film at least partly around its relation to the natural world. The third chapter examines closely Godfrey Reggio’s experimental documentary film Koyaanisqatsi in the context of looming ecological disaster, Posthumanism, and an increasingly militarized civilian population. Chapter four turns its attention onto the photography of Henri Cartier- Bresson and animals. This chapter takes up Jacques Derrida’s challenge in The Animal that Therefore I Am to open the question of animals and pathos in a way that is not itself pathetic. The final chapter of this dissertation challenges critical consensus regarding the status of cinema in the work of Thomas Pynchon. This chapter argues that Gravity’s Rainbow, Inherent Vice, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s film adaptation of the novel, configure the cinema as a media ecology

Severe pulmonary hypertension in pregnancy following successful repair of ventricular septal defect in childhood.

Journal ArticleBACKGROUND: Because of advances in surgical repair, an increasing number of women born with structural cardiac disease now live to reproductive age. Patients treated successfully in childhood are followed for varying periods of time, then may be lost to follow-up or told that no follow-up is necessary because their condition is stable. However, the hemodynamic changes that accompany pregnancy may result in cardiovascular decompensation, even after years of apparently good health. CASES: We have recently cared for two women who had undergone repair of congenital heart disease in childhood. Although they thought that their repair was complete and they had been asymptomatic until the pregnancy, both presented with symptoms and signs of severe pulmonary hypertension, subsequently confirmed on cardiac catheterization. One patient elected to terminate her pregnancy, and the other died in the immediate puerperium. CONCLUSION: Despite normal physical function and an absence of abnormal physical findings, a thorough cardiac evaluation including echocardiography should be considered for pregnant patients with a history of repaired congenital heart disease, especially if the original defect is known to lead to pulmonary hypertension

Population-based study of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in Utah: 1988-1994.

Journal ArticleOBJECTIVE: To define the natural history of congenital diaphragmatic hernia and to determine the potential impact of fetal therapy. METHODS: This retrospective case series consisted of all fetuses and neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia born between 1988 and 1994 in the state of Utah that could be identified through genetic counseling referrals, delivery logs, and neonatal intensive care unit discharge diagnosis records. Maternal and neonatal hospital records were reviewed for antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum variables. Based on existing recommendations, fetuses who might have benefited from fetal therapy were identified. RESULTS: Ninety-six cases were identified, for a frequency of one case in 2710 live births per year. Five pregnancies were terminated before 21 weeks' gestation. The overall survival rate excluding these five cases was 58.2%. Among the remaining 91 cases, survival was significantly better for infants diagnosed in the neonatal period than for those diagnosed prenatally (78% versus 35%; P < .001). The frequency of associated anomalies was similar for antepartum and postpartum cases. Sixty-two percent of nonsurvivors had some type of other anomaly, but no pattern was apparent. There were no accurate prenatal predictors for lethal pulmonary hypoplasia, but preterm birth and the presence of severe cardiac anomalies were predictors of neonatal death. Only two of 96 fetuses would have potentially benefited from fetal therapy. CONCLUSION: The outcome of infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia is worse with preterm birth and if diagnosed prenatally. The survival rate we found was better than that reported in earlier studies, suggesting improved perinatal and neonatal management. Fetal therapy based on current eligibility criteria would have a minimal impact on survival of fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Evaluation of Giga-bit Ethernet Instrumentation for SalSA Electronics Readout (GEISER)

An instrumentation prototype for acquiring high-speed transient data from an array of high bandwidth antennas is presented. Multi-kilometer cable runs complicate acquisition of such large bandwidth radio signals from an extensive antenna array. Solutions using analog fiber optic links are being explored, though are very expensive. We propose an inexpensive solution that allows for individual operation of each antenna element, operating at potentially high local self-trigger rates. Digitized data packets are transmitted to the surface via commercially available Giga-bit Ethernet hardware. Events are then reconstructed on a computer farm by sorting the received packets using standard networking gear, eliminating the need for custom, very high-speed trigger hardware. Such a system is completely scalable and leverages the hugh capital investment made by the telecommunications industry. Test results from a demonstration prototype are presented.Comment: 8 pages, to be submitted to NIM