Serial-bus based trigger timing distribution system
We have developed a serial-bus based trigger timing distribution system to handle the trigger and related timing signals over more than one thousand newly developed pipeline data acquisition modules for the Belle detector at the KEKB storage ring and for the SuperKEKB upgrade. The main idea is the use of 10-bit serial-bus lines over an inexpensive, compact and widely available enhanced category-5 shielded twist pair (STP) copper cable. The serial-bus is operated at 42.33 MHz, resulting in a 508 Mbps serial data transfer over the STP cable up to a distance of 15 m. The entire system consists of only three types of modules. The system is highly scalable by cascading switch modules over multiple stages: we use 4 stages to handle up to 4096 readout modules. We have proved that the basic technology is suitable for such an application. A two-step integration procedure before the full replacement is planned to integrate the system into the running Belle data acquisition system.
Data acquisition system for the Belle experiment
We built a data acquisition system for the Belle experiment at the KEK B-factory. The system is designed to record the signals from the detectors at 500 Hz trigger rate with a less than 10% dead time fraction. A typical event size is 30 kbyte, which corresponds to a data transfer rate of 15 Mbyte/s. The main components are two kinds of detector readout systems, an event builder, an online computer farm and a data storage system. The system has been reliably in operation at the design performance for a half year. We have completed cosmic-ray data taking for 2.5 months and started physics data taking on Jun. 1, 1999.
Legal Process and the Discovery of Better Policies for Fostering Innovation and Growth
Our chapter concerns how legal process can lead to efficient policies for fostering innovation and growth. Future innovation will depend at least as much on how laws are made as on a priori analyses of the optimal content of those laws. Of particular importance is whether U.S. choice of law and choice of forum rules promote an efficient market for law. Our analysis supports three suggestions for improving the law to support growth. First, the rules governing the selection of the jurisdiction whose law governs productive activity can significantly affect growth and innovation. Second, any proposal aimed at increasing growth through a change in law or legal institutions should take account of the existence of multiple jurisdictions and parties’ ability to choose the jurisdiction whose law controls their transactions. Third, we suggest harnessing the power of jurisdictional competition among the states through a federal law enforcing contracting parties’ choice of law except to the extent states legislatively override the choice of law and regulate local transactions. We apply this analysis to several areas of the law that are critical to growth and innovation: non-competition clauses, business associations, the legal profession, internet law, insurance, property law, products liability, and franchise regulation.