Characterization of the CBC2 readout ASIC for the CMS strip-tracker high-luminosity upgrade

The CMS Binary Chip 2 (CBC2) is a full-scale prototype ASIC developed for the front-end readout of the high-luminosity upgrade of the CMS silicon strip tracker. The 254-channel, 130 nm CMOS ASIC is designed for the binary readout of double-layer modules, and features cluster-width discrimination and coincidence logic for detecting high-PT track candidates. The chip was delivered in January 2013 and has since been bump-bonded to a dual-chip hybrid and extensively tested. The CBC2 is fully functional and working to specification: we present the result of electrical characterization of the chip, including gain, noise, threshold scan and power consumption, together with the performance of the stub finding logic. Finally we will outline the plan for future developments towards the production version

The OGS experience in rapid determination of source parameters and ShakeMaps for NE Italy

OGS manages an integrated seismic network designed to monitor regional seismic activity of North-East Italy (NI) and surroundings. The network includes 11 digital broadband seismometers and 27 short period stations. Waveforms and parametric data are exchanged in real time with the local Civil Defence agencies, the INGV, the Earth Science Department of the University of Trieste, the Zentralanstalt für Meterologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Vienna, and the Agencija Republike Slovenije za Okolje (ARSO) in Ljubljana, in order to support emergency management and seismological studies in the whole Alps–Dinarides junction zone. The Antelope software suite from BRTT has been chosen as the common basis for real time data exchange, rapid location of earthquakes and alerting

Barley’s Second Spring as a Model Organism for Chloroplast Research

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) has been widely used as a model crop for studying molecular and physiological processes such as chloroplast development and photosynthesis. During the second half of the 20th century, mutants such as albostrians led to the discovery of the nuclear-encoded, plastid-localized RNA polymerase and the retrograde (chloroplast-to-nucleus) signalling communication pathway, while chlorina-f2 and xantha mutants helped to shed light on the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway, on the light-harvesting proteins and on the organization of the photosynthetic apparatus. However, during the last 30 years, a large fraction of chloroplast research has switched to the more \u201cuser-friendly\u201d model species Arabidopsis thaliana, the first plant species whose genome was sequenced and published at the end of 2000. Despite its many advantages, Arabidopsis has some important limitations compared to barley, including the lack of a real canopy and the absence of the proplastid-to-chloroplast developmental gradient across the leaf blade. These features, together with the availability of large collections of natural genetic diversity and mutant populations for barley, a complete genome assembly and protocols for genetic transformation and gene editing, have relaunched barley as an ideal model species for chloroplast research. In this review, we provide an update on the genomics tools now available for barley, and review the biotechnological strategies reported to increase photosynthesis efficiency in model species, which deserve to be validated in barley

FAAS and Antelope: two automatic earthquake location systems in the Northeastern Italy and surrounding areas

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Ultrasonic monitoring of friction contacts during shear vibration cycles

Complex high-value jointed structures such as aero-engines are carefully designed and optimized to prevent failure and maximise their life. In the design process, physically-based numerical models are employed to predict the nonlinear dynamic response of the structure. However, the reliability of these models is limited due to the lack of accurate validation data from metallic contact interfaces subjected to high-frequency vibration cycles. In this study, ultrasonic shear waves are used to characterise metallic contact interfaces during vibration cycles, hence providing new validation data for an understanding of the state of the friction contact. Supported by numerical simulations of wave propagation within the material, a novel experimental method is developed to simultaneously acquire ultrasonic measurements and friction hysteresis loops within the same test on a high-frequency friction rig. Large variability in the ultrasound reflection/transmission is observed within each hysteresis loop and is associated with stick/slip transitions. The measurement results reveal that the ultrasound technique can be used to detect stick and slip states in contact interfaces subjected to high-frequency shear vibration. This is the first observation of this type and paves the way towards real-time monitoring of vibrating contact interfaces in jointed structures, leading to a new physical understanding of the contact states and new validation data needed for improved nonlinear dynamic analyses

A flexible and low-cost open-source IPMC mezzanine for ATCA boards based on OpenIPMC

This work presents the development of an Intelligent Platform Management Controller mezzanine in a Mini DIMM form factor for use in electronic boards compliant to the PICMG Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard. The module is based on an STMicroelectronics STM32H745 microcontroller running the OpenIPMC open-source software. The mezzanine has been successfully tested on a variety of ATCA boards being proposed for the upgrade of the experiments at the HL-LHC, with its design and firmware being distributed under open-source hardware license

Plant communities of Italy. The vegetation prodrome

The Vegetation Prodrome of Italy was promoted in 2012 by the Italian "Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection", in collaboration with the "Italian Society of Botany", to provide a comprehensive and systematic catalogue and description of Italian plant communities. The Prodrome that is presented in this paper is the first full organic synthesis of the vegetation of Italy at the alliance syntaxonomic level. It fulfils several needs, the main one being a unified and comprehensive national framework that may make an important contribution to the definition of the European Vegetation Prodrome. Syntaxonomy, as well as taxonomy, is sometimes based on considerations that may in part diverge: several authors tend to favour models that are divisive or aggregative to a greater or lesser extent in terms of flora, biogeography and ecology. These different points of view stimulate the scientific debate and allow the adoption of a framework that is more widely supported. The Prodrome includes 75 classes, 2 subclasses, 175 orders, 6 suborders and 393 alliances. The classes were grouped into nine broad categories according to structural, physiognomic and synecological elements rather than to syntaxonomic criteria. The rank, full valid name, any synonymies and incorrect names are provided for each syntaxon. The short declaration highlights the physiognomy, synecology, syndynamics and distribution of the plant communities that belong to the syntaxon. The Prodrome of the Italian Vegetation is linked to the European Strategy for Biodiversity, the European Habitats Directive and the European Working Groups related to the ecosystems and their services. In addition to basic applications, the Prodrome can be used as a framework for scientific research related to the investigation of the relationships between plant communities and the environmental factors that influence their composition and distribution

Quantification of habitat fragmentation reveals extinction risk in terrestrial mammals

Although habitat fragmentation is often assumed to be a primary driver of extinction, global patterns of fragmentation and its relationship to extinction risk have not been consistently quantified for any major animal taxon. We developed high-resolution habitat fragmentation models and used phylogenetic comparative methods to quantify the effects of habitat fragmentation on the world's terrestrial mammals, including 4,018 species across 26 taxonomic Orders. Results demonstrate that species with more fragmentation are at greater risk of extinction, even after accounting for the effects of key macroecological predictors, such as body size and geographic range size. Species with higher fragmentation had smaller ranges and a lower proportion of high-suitability habitat within their range, andmost high-suitability habitat occurred outside of protected areas, further elevating extinction risk. Our models provide a quantitative evaluation of extinction risk assessments for species, allow for identification of emerging threats in species not classified as threatened, and provide maps of global hotspots of fragmentation for the world's terrestrial mammals. Quantification of habitat fragmentation will help guide threat assessment and strategic priorities for global mammal conservation

A Test-Case on Continuation Methods for Bladed-Disk Vibration with Contact and Friction

Bladed-disks in turbo-machines experience harsh operating conditions and undergo high vibration amplitudes if not properly damped. Friction at the blade-to-blade or blade-to-disk interfaces plays a key role in dampening the high amplitudes. Due to the inherent complexity of these structures and non-linearities introduced by the friction joints, accurate response prediction becomes very difficult. There are variety of methods in the literature to predict non-linear vibration due to contact friction. However, their application to the bladed-disks remains limited. Furthermore, there are not many 3D realistic test-cases in the open literature for testing those methods and serve as a benchmark. A bladed-disk representative of a real turbine is presented as an open numerical test-case for the research community. It is characterized by a blade root joint and a shroud joint. The bladed-disk sector is meshed in different ways along with component mode synthesis (CMS) model order reduction for onward non-linear computations. The steady-state solution is obtained by multi-Harmonic Balance method and then continuation method is employed to predict the non-linear frequency response. Thus, it can serve as a case for testing previous and new methods as well as a benchmark for comparative studies