The design and performance of the ZEUS global tracking trigger

The Global Tracking Trigger (GTT) of the ZEUS experiment is described. The GTT is data driven at the ZEUS first level trigger rate of and performs event-based track finding on data from the experiment's Central Tracking Detector (CTD), silicon Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) and Straw Tube Tracker (STT) forward detectors. The resulting track-based trigger quantities calculated (track multiplicity, vertices, vector meson masses, background event probabilities, etc.) are available within and are used in the experiment's second level trigger to improve the selection of physics events. Detector information is pushed to the PC farm of the GTT using PowerPC VME board computers which are either embedded within the detector's frontend readout system (MVD) or are parasitically attached to them via multiple serial transputer links (CTD and STT). Data flow and control is performed via point-to-point Fast and Giga ethernet switched network connections using the TCP protocol. The principal design challenges were: integrating new and interfacing to existing frontend systems, providing a useful trigger result, satisfying the rate and latency requirements and not interfering with ongoing data taking during commissioning. These aims have been achieved. The GTT has been actively used in the ZEUS trigger since 2004 when an initial CTD-only algorithm was used; in 2005 this was upgraded to use MVD information which significantly improves track and primary vertex resolutions. Commissioning problems delayed the STT implementation and its use in the GTT has only been tested.     

Internet interventions: In review, in use, and into the future.

The provision of health care over the Internet is a rapidly evolving and potentially beneficial means of delivering treatment otherwise unsought or unobtainable. Internet interventions are typically behavioral treatments operationalized and transformed for Web delivery with the goal of symptom improvement. The literature on the feasibility and utility of Internet interventions is limited, and there are even fewer outcome study findings. This article reviews empirically tested Internet interventions and provides an overview of the issues in developing and/or using them in clinical practice. Future directions and implications are also addressed. Although Internet interventions will not likely replace face-to-face care, there is little doubt that they will grow in importance as a powerful component of successful psychobehavioral treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of solution treatment on microstructures and mechanical properties of AISI 321 service

A detailed knowledge of changes in microstructures and mechanical properties that occur in AISI 321 stainless steels service before and after solution treatment is of great interest,since the ductility and toughness of AISI 321 stainless steels may change drastically after service for a long time.After solution treatment at 1050 ℃,the microstructures of AISI 321 stainless steels service for 80 000 h at 700 ℃ indicate that the content of sigma phase significantly decreased,the grains of austenite grew and the amount of twins together with the size increased with solution treatment time.The results of mechanical properties tests show that the impact toughness at room temperature was superior at solution treatment,and there was no obvious change in the impact toughness between different times of solution treatment at room temperature.     

The scaling of human interactions with city size

The size of cities is known to play a fundamental role in social and economic life. Yet, its relation to the structure of the underlying network of human interactions has not been investigated empirically in detail. In this paper, we map society-wide communication networks to the urban areas of two European countries. We show that both the total number of contacts and the total communication activity grow superlinearly with city population size, according to well-defined scaling relations and resulting from a multiplicative increase that affects most citizens. Perhaps surprisingly, however, the probability that an individual''s contacts are also connected with each other remains largely unaffected. These empirical results predict a systematic and scale-invariant acceleration of interaction-based spreading phenomena as cities get bigger, which is numerically confirmed by applying epidemiological models to the studied networks. Our findings should provide a microscopic basis towards understanding the superlinear increase of different socioeconomic quantities with city size, that applies to almost all urban systems and includes, for instance, the creation of new inventions or the prevalence of certain contagious diseases.     

Flowing ability of the mortars formulated from self-compacting concretes incorporating rice husk ash

This paper presents the flowing ability of the mortars formulated from various self-compacting concretes (SCCs) incorporating rice husk ash (RHA). The mortars were produced with different RHA contents and water–binder (W/B) ratios, as used in their parent SCCs. The flowing ability of the mortars was determined with respect to the flow spread at various dosages of a polycarboxylate based high-range water reducer (HRWR). The effects of RHA, W/B ratio, and HRWR on the flowing ability of mortars were observed. The mortar flowing ability decreased with the higher RHA content and W/B ratio, but increased with the greater HRWR dosage. However, the excessive HRWR dosages were not conducive to the mortar flowing ability due to the segregation problem in the form of bleeding. The overall mortar flowing ability results were useful to examine the suitability of RHA, and to fix the HRWR dosages for different SCCs.     

Age, testing at preferred or nonpreferred times (testing optimality), and false memory.

Two experiments investigated whether age and testing at preferred (optimal) times of day or nonpreferred (nonoptimal) times affected the ability to select relevant from irrelevant but thematically related alternatives in a verbal false memory paradigm. A 3rd experiment pursued the same issues with a visual false memory paradigm. In all 3 experiments, younger adults (n?=?195) correctly recalled studied items more often than older adults (n?=?121), whereas the 2 age groups correctly recognized about the same numbers of previously studied items. In all 3 experiments, nonoptimally tested older adults had mom difficulty excluding nonstudied but thematically related items than the other groups; thus, they showed the greatest evidence of false memory, although all groups did so to a significant extent The results suggest that optimality and its circadian determinants need to be considered with some tasks for the elderly. Various models and mechanisms are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abnormal error-related antisaccade activation in premanifest and early manifest Huntington disease.

Objective: Individuals with the trinucleotide CAG expansion (CAG+) that causes Huntington's disease (HD) have impaired performance on antisaccade (AS) tasks that require directing gaze in the mirror opposite direction of visual targets. This study aimed to identify the neural substrates underlying altered antisaccadic performance. Method: Three groups of participants were recruited: (1) Imminent and early manifest HD (early HD, n = 8); (2) premanifest (presymptomatic) CAG+ (preHD, n = 10); and (3) CAG unexpanded (CAG?) controls (n = 12). All participants completed a uniform study visit that included a neurological evaluation, neuropsychological battery, molecular testing, and functional MRI during an AS task. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response was obtained during saccade preparation and saccade execution for both correct and incorrect responses using regression analysis. Results: Significant group differences in BOLD response were observed when comparing incorrect AS to correct AS execution. Specifically, as the percentage of incorrect AS increased, BOLD responses in the CAG? group decreased progressively in a well-documented reward detection network that includes the presupplementary motor area and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, AS errors in the preHD and early HD groups lacked this relationship with BOLD signal in the error detection network, and BOLD responses to AS errors were smaller in the two CAG+ groups as compared with the CAG? group. Conclusions: These results are the first to suggest that abnormalities in an error-related response network may underlie early changes in AS eye movements in premanifest and early manifest HD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auto-aggregation in zoospores of Phytophthora infestans: the cooperative roles of bioconvection and chemotaxis

Phytophthora infestans is a highly destructive plant pathogen. It was the cause of the infamous Irish potato famine in the nineteenth century and remains to this day a significant global problem with associated costs estimated at $3 billion annually. Key to the success of this pathogen is the dispersal of free-swimming cells called zoospores. A poorly understood aspect of zoospore behaviour is auto-aggregation—the spontaneous formation of large-scale patterns in cell density. Current competing hypotheses suggest that these patterns are formed by one of two distinct mechanisms: chemotaxis and bioconvection. In this paper, we present mathematical and experimental results that together provide strong evidence that auto-aggregation can only result from a combination of these mechanisms, each having a distinct, time-separated role. A better understanding of the underlying infection mechanisms of P. infestans and potentially other Phytophthora species will in the longer term lead to advances in preventative treatment and thus potentially significant savings in socio-economic costs.