The ATLAS Level-1 muon topological trigger information for run 2 of the LHC

For run 2 of the LHC, the ATLAS Level-1 trigger system will include topological information on trigger objects in order to cope with the increased trigger rates. The existing Muon-to-Central-Trigger- Processor interface (MUCTPI) has been modified in order to provide coarse-grained topological information on muon candidates. A MUCTPI- to-Level-1-Topological-Processor interface (MuCTPiToTopo) has been developed to receive the electrical information and to send it optically to the Level-1 Topological Processor (L1TOPO). This poster will describe the different modules mentioned above and present results of functionality and connection tests performed

Effect of Ibandronate on Bending Strength and Toughness on Rodent Cortical bone; possible implications for fracture prevention

OBJECTIVES: There remains conflicting evidence regarding cortical bone strength following bisphosphonate therapy. As part of a study to assess the effects of bisphosphonate treatment on the healing of rat tibial fractures, the mechanical properties and radiological density of the uninjured contralateral tibia was assessed. METHODS: Skeletally mature aged rats were used. A total of 14 rats received 1µg/kg ibandronate (iban) daily and 17 rats received 1 ml 0.9% sodium chloride (control) daily. Stress at failure and toughness of the tibial diaphysis were calculated following four-point bending tests. RESULTS: Uninjured cortical bone in the iban group had a significantly greater mean (standard deviation (sd)), p < 0.001, stress at failure of 219.2 MPa (sd 45.99) compared with the control group (169.46 MPa (sd 43.32)) following only nine weeks of therapy. Despite this, the cortical bone toughness and work to failure was similar. There was no significant difference in radiological density or physical dimensions of the cortical bone. CONCLUSIONS: Iban therapy increases the stress at failure of uninjured cortical bone. This has relevance when normalising the strength of repair in a limb when comparing it with the unfractured limb. However, the 20% increase in stress at failure with iban therapy needs to be interpreted with caution as there was no corresponding increase in toughness or work to failure. Further research is required in this area, especially with the increasing clinical burden of low-energy diaphyseal femoral fractures following prolonged use of bisphosphonates. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2015;4:99–10

Production Test Rig for the ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger Digital Processors

The Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger is a digital pipelined system, reducing the 40 MHz bunch-crossing rate down to 75 kHz. It consists of a Preprocessor, a Cluster Processor (CP), and a Jet/Energy-sum Processor (JEP). The CP and JEP receive digitised trigger-tower data from the Preprocessor and produce electron/photon, tau, and jet trigger multiplicities, total and missing transverse energies, and Region-of-Interest (RoI) information. Data are read out to the data acquisition (DAQ) system to monitor the trigger by using readout driver modules (ROD). A dedicated backplane has been designed to cope with the demanding requirements of the CP and JEP sub-systems. A number of pre-production boards were manufactured in order to fully populate a crate and test the robustness of the design on a large scale. Dedicated test modules to emulate digitised calorimeter signals have been used. All modules, cables and backplanes on test are final versions for use at the LHC. This test rig represents up to one third of the Level-1 digital processor system. Real-time data between modules were processed and time-slice readout data was transferred to the ROD at a trigger rate up to 100 kHz. Intensive testing consisted of checking the readout data by comparing to hardware simulations of the trigger. Domains of validity of the boards were also measured and dedicated stressful data patterns were used to check the reliability of the system. Tests results have been successful and the Level-1 calorimeter trigger system is proceeding to full production