Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN

Runtime Safety Analysis for Safe Reconfiguration

Modern technical systems are increasingly built to exhibit self-x properties as, e.g., self-healing or self-optimization. For this, they require adaptation at runtime. This is even true for embedded or mechatronic systems which often operate in safety- critical environments. There, the effects of the adaptation with respect to safety must be analyzed carefully. However, not all parameters needed for safety analyses, e.g., the concrete system architecture, are known at design time. Consequently, safety analyses need to be executed during runtime. Current approaches of runtime safety analysis typically react to anomalies that already occurred in the system. Thus, unsafe system states cannot be excluded completely. We present a runtime safety analysis that prevents system states with an unacceptable risk that have not yet occurred. For this, we generate the reachable component structures at runtime and analyze them with respect to risk. The system is modified such that component structures with an unacceptable risk are not reachable any more and are thus prevented

A discipline-spanning development process for self-adaptive mechatronic systems

Technical systems contain mechanical, electrical, and software parts. Consequently, they are developed by engineers of the respective disciplines. However, current industrial practice as well as existing development processes do not account for the required tight integration between the engineers of the different disciplines. Processes become even more complex, when self-adaptive systems are built. In this paper, we present a development process for selfadaptive mechatronic systems which particularly addresses the integration between the disciplines concerned with the development of software, namely control and software engineering. We illustrate the process by presenting examples from the development of autonomous railway vehicles which build convoys to improve energy efficiency

Generating Simulink and Stateflow Models From Software Specifications

Much of the innovation in today’s technical systems is only possible by the use of embedded software. This is especially true in the case of system of systems where autonomous systems coordinate using complex message-based communication protocols. MechatronicUML is a modeling language for these systems that exploits formal methods to verify that safety requirements are always satisfied. In this paper, we present how we integrate MechatronicUML in the Simulink tool chain by means of model generation. We specifically discuss how the verified behavior is preserved in the generated models

Fusarium graminearum hydrophobins: role in fungal growth and plant infection.

Hydrophobins are small fungal-specific proteins which are present at the surface of aerial hyphae and spores. They may play a role in several processes such as formation of fungal aerial structures, attachment to hydrophobic surfaces, interaction with the environment and protection against the host defense system by masking the fungal cell wall. The plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum, a necrotrophic fungus which causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat, barley and other cereal grains, contains five hydrophobin genes. To determine their role in F. graminearum, single and triple mutants of the five genes were produced and characterized. Interestingly, Hyd1 is dramatically upregulated during initial epiphytical growth on wheat paleas and glumes. A reduction in hydrophobicity was observed for the single mutants 06hyd1 and 06hyd3 as well as the triple mutants including 06hyd1 or 06hyd3. Single disruptants 06hyd2, 06hyd4 or 06hyd5 behaved wild type-like. The single mutant 06hydr3 and the triple mutants including 06hydr3 showed a decrease in growth compared to the wild type in a complete or minimal growth medium. Surprisingly, a reduced growth was registered when these mutants were grown under osmotic stress conditions or in the presence of H2O2. In order to verify possible defects in their cell wall, the growth of the mutants is currently under scrutiny in the presence of \u3b2-1,3-glucanase, chitinase and two fungicides. Point inoculation of wheat spikes with all mutants showed no role of the hydrophobins during infection. Preliminary data suggest a reduction in virulence of the Hyd1 mutant after spray inoculation