The GBTIA, a 5 Gbit/s Radiation-Hard Optical Receiver for the SLHC Upgrades

The GigaBit Transceiver (GBT) is a high-speed optical transmission system currently under development for HEP applications. This system will implement bi-directional optical links to be used in the radiation environment of the Super LHC. The GigaBit Transimpedance Amplifier (GBTIA) is the front-end optical receiver of the GBT chip set. This paper presents the GBTIA, a 5 Gbit/s, fully differential, and highly sensitive optical receiver designed and implemented in a commercial 0.13 μm CMOS process. When connected to a PIN-diode, the GBTIA displays a sensitivity better than −19 dBm for a BER of 10−12. The differential output across an external 50 Ω load remains constant at 400 mVpp even for signals near the sensitivity limit. The chip achieves an overall transimpedance gain of 20 kΩ with a measured bandwidth of 4 GHz. The total power consumption of the chip is less than 120 mW and the chip die size is 0.75 mm x 1.25 mm. Irradiation testing of the chip shows no performance degradation after a dose rate of 200 Mrad

The Level-0 Muon Trigger for the LHCb Experiment

A very compact architecture has been developed for the first level Muon Trigger of the LHCb experiment that processes 40 millions of proton-proton collisions per second. For each collision, it receives 3.2 kBytes of data and it finds straight tracks within a 1.2 microseconds latency. The trigger implementation is massively parallel, pipelined and fully synchronous with the LHC clock. It relies on 248 high density Field Programable Gate arrays and on the massive use of multigigabit serial link transceivers embedded inside FPGAs.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures, submitted to NIM

Profil Épidémiologique Des Pathologies Respiratoires Aux Services De Pneumologie De La Ville De Meknès (Maroc)

Introduction: Les pathologies respiratoires représentent l’une des causes majeures de morbidité et de mortalité. De ce fait, l’objectif majeur de la présente investigation est d’évaluer le profil épidémiologique des pathologies respiratoires des sujets hospitalisés aux services de pneumologie de Meknès (Maroc). Méthodes: Pour ce faire, une étude rétrospective et descriptive a été menée sur 2842 patients hospitalisés et traités aux services de pneumologie de l’hôpital Mohammed V et de Sidi Saïd, sur une période de cinq ans (1er janvier 2010 au 31 décembre 2014). Résultats: L’analyse des résultats a montré que les pathologies les plus répandues parmi les sujets hospitalisés ont été l’asthme (47,7 %), la tuberculose (17,48 %), les  pneumopathies (11,78 %) et la bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive (BPCO) (11,29 %). L’asthme était plus prononcé chez les femmes (58,36 %) (p < 0,001) alors que la tuberculose et la BPCO étaient plus fréquentes chez les hommes avec, respectivement, des taux de 56,44 % et de 89,1 % (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Les pathologies respiratoires représentent un véritable problème à la fois sanitaire et socio-économique pour les familles et les structures sanitaires de la ville de Meknès. Introduction: Respiratory pathologies represent one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the main objective of the present investigation is to evaluate the epidemiological profile of respiratory pathologies of subjects hospitalized at the pneumology department of Meknes (Morocco). Methods: For this purpose, a retrospective and descriptive study was carried out on 2842 patients hospitalized and treated at the Respiratory Departments of Mohammed V Hospital and Sidi Said, over a period of five years (January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014). Results:  the analysis of the results showed that the most common pathologies among the hospitalized subjects were asthma (47.7%), tuberculosis (17.48%), pneumopathy (11.78%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (11.29%). Asthma was more pronounced in women (58.36%) (p < 0.001) while tuberculosis and COPD were more common in men with rates of 56.44% and 89.1% (p < 0.001), respectively. Conclusion: Respiratory diseases represent a real health and socio-economic problem for families and health facilities in Meknes, a city in Morocco

Miniature curved artificial compound eyes.

International audienceIn most animal species, vision is mediated by compound eyes, which offer lower resolution than vertebrate single-lens eyes, but significantly larger fields of view with negligible distortion and spherical aberration, as well as high temporal resolution in a tiny package. Compound eyes are ideally suited for fast panoramic motion perception. Engineering a miniature artificial compound eye is challenging because it requires accurate alignment of photoreceptive and optical components on a curved surface. Here, we describe a unique design method for biomimetic compound eyes featuring a panoramic, undistorted field of view in a very thin package. The design consists of three planar layers of separately produced arrays, namely, a microlens array, a neuromorphic photodetector array, and a flexible printed circuit board that are stacked, cut, and curved to produce a mechanically flexible imager. Following this method, we have prototyped and characterized an artificial compound eye bearing a hemispherical field of view with embedded and programmable low-power signal processing, high temporal resolution, and local adaptation to illumination. The prototyped artificial compound eye possesses several characteristics similar to the eye of the fruit fly Drosophila and other arthropod species. This design method opens up additional vistas for a broad range of applications in which wide field motion detection is at a premium, such as collision-free navigation of terrestrial and aerospace vehicles, and for the experimental testing of insect vision theories

Profil Epidémiologique des Pathologies Respiratoires Chez les Enfants Hospitalisés aux Services de Pédiatrie de la Ville de Meknès (Maroc)

Background: Respiratory diseases are a common cause of consultation and hospitalization in the paediatric service. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the epidemiological profile of respiratory infections among children in Meknes city. Methods: Data from records of children with respiratory infections admitted to the pediatric services in Meknes (Mohammed V Public Hospital and Sidi Said Hospital) in Morocco over a five-year period were extracted. Our cross-sectional observational study concerned 4040 cases hospitalized from January 1st, 2010 to December 31st, 2014, among children aged 0 to 15 and living in Meknes. Results: Hospitalizations for acute bronchiolitis (p < 0.001), asthma exacerbations (p < 0.001), acute pneumonitis (P < 0.001), bronchitis (p < 0.001), and laryngitis (P < 0.001) were more common in male patients, while females were more affected by whooping cough. Hospitalizations for bronchiolitis were more frequent in the automn-winter season in infants (< 2 years). Conclusion: Respiratory diseases constitute a significant burden of childhood illnesses. In our study, hospitalizations for respiratory illness were largely dominated by acute bronchiolitis and asthma exacerbation. Children under 5 were the most represented and the majority of hospitalized patients for respiratory diseases were male. Acute bronchiolitis was more frequent in the autumn-winter period and mainly affected the infants.Introduction: Les pathologies respiratoires représentent un motif fréquent de consultation et d’hospitalisation au service de pédiatrie. L’objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier le profil épidémiologique des affections respiratoires infantiles dans la ville de Meknès. Méthodes: Il s’agit d’une étude observationnelle transversale pourtant sur 4040 cas hospitalisés pour affectionsrespiratoires aux services de pédiatrie de la ville de Meknès(Hôpital public Mohammed V et Sidi Saïd) du premier janvier 2010 au 31 décembre 2014. Ont été inclus dans ce travail, les enfants âgés de 0 à 15 ans résidants à Meknès et ayant été hospitalisés aux services de pédiatrie pour affections respiratoires. Résultats: Les hospitalisations pour bronchiolite aiguë (p < 0,001), exacerbation d’asthme (p < 0,001), pneumopathie aiguë (p < 0,001), bronchite (p < 0,001) et laryngite (p < 0,001) étaient plus fréquentes chez les patients du sexe masculin, alors que le sexe féminin était plus touché par la coqueluche. Les hospitalisations pour bronchiolite étaient plus fréquentes en période automno-hivernale chez les nourrissons (< 2 ans). Conclusion: Les hospitalisations pour affections respiratoires ont été largement dominées par la bronchiolite aigue et l’exacerbation d’asthme. Les patients ayant moins de 5 ans ont été les plusreprésentés dans l’étude et la majorité des cas hospitalisés pour affections respiratoires étaient de sexe masculin. La bronchiolite aigue était plus fréquente en période automno-hivernale et touchait plus les nourrissons

Profil épidémiologique des maladies cardiovasculaires dans la Ville de Meknès (Maroc)

Introduction: In Morocco, very little published work has focused on cardiovascular diseases. As a result, the main objective of this research is to evaluate the epidemiological profile of cardiovascular diseases in patients who are hospitalized and treated in the cardiology department of Mohammed V Hospital, Meknes (Morocco). Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive and analytical study of 1112 patients admitted to this department over a fouryear period (from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014). Results: 54.49 % of patients were women and the most affected age group was 45-64 years old (42.08 %) (p < 0.001). The most common pathologies among hospitalized patients were: ischemic heart disease which represented the first cause of hospitalization with 341 cases corresponding to 30.66 %, followed by heart failure (20.59 %). Ischemic heart disease was more common in men (p = 0.05) while women were more affected by high blood pressure (p = 0.0096), heart failure (p = 0.06) and venous thrombosis (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Cardiovascular pathologies represent a real health and socio-economic problem for families and health facilities. The frequency and severity of these diseases should prompt us to do further research on this topic to find the most plausible solutions to reduce negative impacts

XPAD: pixel detector for material sciences

Currently available 2D detectors do not make full use of the high flux and high brilliance of third generation synchrotron sources. The XPAD prototype, using active pixels, has been developed to fulfil the needs of materials science scattering experiments. At the time, its prototype is build of eight modules of eight chips. The threshold calibration of /spl ap/4 10/sup 4/ pixels is discussed. Applications to powder diffraction or SAXS experiments prove that it allows to record high quality data

Utilisation Des Tubes A Diffusion Passive Pour La Surveillance De La Pollution Automobile Dans La Ville De Meknes

Road traffic emission is one of the major sources of air pollution which can cause several human health problems including cardiorespiratory diseases. The aim of our study is to monitor air quality in Meknes city (Morocco) by measuring nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and benzene (C6H6) concentration mainly generated by road traffic. To this end, we deployed passive diffusion tubes at 14 sampling sites during two measurement campaigns in the summer of 2014 and the winter of 2015 using car and underground proximity sites. In parallel with the winter measurement campaign, road traffic counting sessions were conducted on the main roads of the city in order to determine average daily traffic intensity. Results of this study show that the atmospheric concentrations of NO2 and C6H6 reach maximum values in the city center and decrease towards its periphery. The average value of NO2 in all targeted sites was around 32, 59 μg / m3, which is lower than the EU limit of 40 μg / m3. The average concentration of C6H6 in Meknes was equal to 1,77 μg / m3, a value close to the quality objective set by the European Union (2 μg / m3) and well below the annual Moroccan limit (10 μg / m3). The use of GIS (geographic information system) for coupling the results of measurement campaigns and those of traffic counting made it possible to determine the areas most affected by these tracers and thus to set up very high spatial resolution cartography

Low power discriminator for ATLAS pixel chip

The design of the front-end (FE) pixel electronics requires low power, low noise and low threshold dispersion. In this work, we propose a new architecture for the discriminator circuit. It is based on the principle of dynamic biasing and developed for the FE chip of the ATLAS pixel upgrade. This paper presents two discriminator structures where the bias current depends on the presence of a signal at the input of the discriminator. Since the activity in the FE chip is very low, the power consumption is largely reduced allowing the material reduction in the B-layer