First experiences with the ATLAS Pixel Detector Control System at the Combined Test Beam 2004

Detector control systems (DCS) include the read out, control and supervision of hardware devices as well as the monitoring of external systems like cooling system and the processing of control data. The implementation of such a system in the final experiment has also to provide the communication with the trigger and data acquisition system (TDAQ). In addition, conditions data which describe the status of the pixel detector modules and their environment must be logged and stored in a common LHC wide database system. At the combined test beam all ATLAS subdetectors were operated together for the first time over a longer period. To ensure the functionality of the pixel detector a control system was set up. We describe the architecture chosen for the pixel detector control system, the interfaces to hardware devices, the interfaces to the users and the performance of our system. The embedding of the DCS in the common infrastructure of the combined test beam and also its communication with surrounding systems will be discussed in some detail.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, Pixel 2005 proceedings preprin

Synergetic use of polarimetric Doppler radars at Ka- and C- band for retrieval of water drop and ice particle size distributions

The transition from bulk to spectral bin microphysics schemes within numerical weather prediction (NWP) models promises more realistic simulations of cloud resolving processes and finally an improving of weather forecasting quality. However the needed size distributions of water drops and ice particles were parameterized from rare observations, typically from ground based rain distrometers or aircraft in-situ measurements. The current work introduces a retrieval method to derive size distributions from synergetic use of vertical pointed Ka-band and polarimetric C-band radar. The method is based on using the full height-resolved Doppler spectra instead of mean values of reflectivity and radial velocity inside the radar bin volume. Within a Mie and T-matrix based radar forward operator, Doppler spectra were simulated from assumed size distributions, taking into account the attenuation at Ka-band. In an iterative way, the parameters of distributions were varied until differences between simulated and observed radar profiles could minimized. Additional data e.g. from radiosounding and SODAR wind profilers were used to estimate and minimize the most relevant error sources expected from vertical air motion and turbulence. First results were achieved from a case study of 8th July 2007 during the Convection and Orographically Induced Precipitation Study (COPS)

PRISMA database machine: A distributed, main-memory approach

The PRISMA project is a large-scale research effort in the design and implementation of a highly parallel machine for data and knowledge processing. The PRISMA database machine is a distributed, main-memory database management system implemented in an object-oriented language that runs on top of a multi-computer system. A prototype that is envisioned consists of 64 processing elements

Validation Studies of the ATLAS Pixel Detector Control System

The ATLAS pixel detector consists of 1744 identical silicon pixel modules arranged in three barrel layers providing coverage for the central region, and three disk layers on either side of the primary interaction point providing coverage of the forward regions. Once deployed into the experiment, the detector will employ optical data transfer, with the requisite powering being provided by a complex system of commercial and custom-made power supplies. However, during normal performance and production tests in the laboratory, only single modules are operated and electrical readout is used. In addition, standard laboratory power supplies are used. In contrast to these normal tests, the data discussed here was obtained from a multi-module assembly which was powered and read out using production items: the optical data path, the final design power supply system using close to final services, and the Detector Control System (DCS). To demonstrate the functionality of the pixel detector system a stepwise transition was made from the normal laboratory readout and power supply systems to the ones foreseen for the experiment, with validation of the data obtained at each transition.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, proceedings for the Pixel2005 worksho

Dynamical Electroweak Symmetry Breaking by a Neutrino Condensate

We show that the electroweak symmetry can be broken in a natural and phenomenologically acceptable way by a neutrino condensate. Therefore, we assume as particle content only the chiral fermions and gauge bosons of the Standard Model and in addition right-handed neutrinos. A fundamental Higgs field is absent. We assume instead that new interactions exist that can effectively be described as four-fermion interactions and that can become critical in the neutrino sector. We discuss in detail the coupled Dirac-Majorana gap equations which lead to a neutrino condensate, electroweak symmetry breaking and via the dynamical see-saw mechanism to small neutrino masses. We show that the effective Lagrangian is that of the Standard Model with massive neutrinos and with a composite Higgs particle. The mass predictions are consistent with data.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures; minor clarifications; version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Habitual Physical Activity After Total Knee Replacement:analysis in 830 patients and comparison with a sex-and age-matched normative population (vol 92, pg 1109, 2012)

Background. Previous studies on physical activity after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) concentrated mainly on a return to sports activities. Objective. The objectives of this study were to determine the habitual physical activity behavior of people who had undergone TKA (TKA group) 1 to 5 years after surgery and to examine to what extent they adhered to international guidelines for health-enhancing physical activity. Additional aims were to compare younger (= 65 years old) people as well as men and women in the TKA group and to compare the results for the TKA group with those for a sex- and age-matched normative population (normative group). Design. This investigation was a cohort study. Methods. All people who had a primary TKA at 1 of 2 participating hospitals between 2002 and 2006 were sent the Short Questionnaire to Assess Health-Enhancing Physical Activity at least 1 year after surgery. Results. The TKA group spent, on average, 1,347 minutes per week on physical activity, most of which was light-intensity activity (780 minutes per week). Participants younger than 65 years of age spent significantly more time on physical activity than participants 65 years of age or older. There was no significant difference between male and female participants. Compared with the sex- and age-matched normative group, the TKA group spent significantly less time on the total amount of physical activity per week and met the guidelines for health-enhancing physical activity less often (55% versus 64%). Limitations. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess habitual physical activity, and presurgery data on physical activity were not available. Conclusions. Almost half of the TKA group did not meet the health-enhancing physical activity guidelines, and the TKA group was not as physically active as the normative group. People who have undergone TKA should be encouraged to be more physically active