Physics

Speaker Nominations for the 2010 DNP Fall Meeting
Speaker nomination forms for the 2010 DNP Fall Meeting are due Feb. 1.

Summer 2010 SULI Program Applications Due
The submission deadline for the summer session of DOE's Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program is Feb. 1. This program places students in paid internships in science and engineering at any of several DOE facilities. Students work with scientists or engineers on projects related to the labs' research programs. The summer programs run from late May to mid-August; specific start dates depend on the lab and will be given to participants who have been accepted at that specific lab. Key dates in the application submission and acceptance process are available online. Students may continue to complete and submit applications after the labs begin making selections for internships; however, applications submitted after this date may not be read by the lab.

Accelerator

The Injector Two Wien Filter project is going well. The low-conductivity water controls in the South Access Building were upgraded and new valve actuators installed in both the North and South Access Buildings. All the old steel shielding in the north stub dump has been surveyed and stacked on pallets. Repair of tunnel groundwater leaks has begun. Cryo staff continued cooldown of the Standby Refrigerator but ran into problems. The decision was made to defer planned maintenance and run tests on the Cryo plant. The Ops wall repair and maintenance efforts were concluded with the wall operational software upgrade.

Free-Electron Laser

The FEL staff held an offsite meeting to discuss future plans for the FEL Division, covering especially the proposed efforts for JLAMP. The team had significant results in getting the Genesis/OPC code and Medusa/OPC running at JLab. 

Theory Center

Low-energy nucleon-nucleon, hyperon-nucleon and hyperon-hyperon interactions have been calculated in lattice QCD at a pion mass ~390 MeV <arXiv:0912.4243 [hep-lat]> by the NPLQCD collaboration, involving Theory Center staff and users. The isospin-3/2 N-Σ interactions were found to be highly spin-dependent, and the interaction in the ³S₁ channel was found to be strong. The Λ-Λ interaction was determined to be attractive, as anticipated from model-dependent discussions regarding the H-dibaryon.

Facilities Management

Construction has started for the Experimental Staging Building (ESB) located at the northeast corner of the accelerator site. The construction contractor has relocated the fence, cleared trees and is placing the surcharge on approximately one third of the building’s footprint, in the more heavily loaded portion of the building. The surcharge is the large pile of sand that you see behind the North Linac Service Building. The surcharge program is a ground improvement technique that pre-consolidates the construction site and minimizes settlement of the building after construction. The need for surcharge on this project is due to a combination of the ESB floor load requirement of 500 pounds per square foot and the thick layer of very soft clay in the construction area. The surcharge will be in-place for approximately 1.5 months and will be removed prior to start of the building foundation construction. Data gathered from the surcharge program will be used as a learning tool to refine and more accurately predict the settlements associated with the remaining portion of the buildings. Dynamic compaction is another method that is used to pre-consolidate soil. This process involves dropping a heavy weight repeatedly on the ground at regularly spaced intervals, which creates significant vibration. Due to accelerator operations, dynamic compaction was not an option for this project.

JLab's Safety Numbers

5 Days since Last Recordable Accident (JLab record: 331)
5 Days since Last Lost Workday Accident (JLab record: 676)

JLab Calendar of Events

Jan. 25-29: PAC 35
Jan. 28: Safety Shoe Vendor onsite
Feb. 6: Virginia Regional High School Science Bowl
Feb. 9: Science Series Lecture: A TACT-ful Chemical Musical
Feb. 15: Presidents Day holiday - JLab closed
Feb. 25: Safety Shoe Vendor onsite

Environment, Safety, Health & Quality

A place for everything and everything in its place. While it's simple in theory, it can be difficult for some to practice. Every quarter, ESH&Q analyzes the data that’s been collected in the CATS, Safety Observation and Safety Warden Inspections databases to identify trends that should be addressed before there is an incident. For the last three quarters, housekeeping has been the top problem category identified by safety wardens.

Poor housekeeping can contribute to incidents by hiding hazards that cause injuries. Good housekeeping leaves work areas neat and orderly; keeps halls and floors free of slip and trip hazards; and removes waste materials and other fire hazards from work areas. It also requires paying attention to important details, such as the layout of the whole workplace, aisle marking, the adequacy of storage facilities and maintenance. Housekeeping requires continual maintenance. You can accomplish this by integrating housekeeping into work processes, considering such questions as: Do you have a plan for maintaining orderly work and storage spaces?, Have you addressed day-to-day cleanup?, and Do you regularly remove wastes and unused materials?  

Computing and Networking Infrastructure

IT Helpdesk Hours
Starting on Feb. 1, the IT Helpdesk will be open from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Attention JLab Smartcard Users
If you use a JLab smartcard to log on to your system, it needs to be renewed at the Computer Center Helpdesk between Jan. 27 and Feb. 18. All JLab smartcards that have not been renewed by Feb. 18 will cease to function. Renewal takes only a couple of minutes, but requires you and your smartcard to be present at the Helpdesk. Details about smartcard renewal can be found on the JLab Computing webpage.

Using A Personal Cell Phone as A Pager
JLab staff and users who either currently carry a pager and/or who have a personal cell phone and would like to receive pages now have the option of receiving pages on their personal cell phones via text messages. If you would like to use this service, e-mail the Helpdesk and provide your cell phone number and the name of your cellular service provider (e.g. AT&T, Sprint, Verizon or etc.). Note that this service is provided as a convenience to eliminate the need to carry multiple devices and to extend paging to the broader lab community. The lab does not reimburse for messaging expenses and cannot guarantee coverage or signal quality.

Pages can be sent from the laboratory's main search page or e-mail addressed using the format USERNAME-page@jlab.org. Other paging methods, including directly dialing 584-xxxx, will not work with text-message paging.

Spam and Virus Filtering by McAfee
JLab's E-mail Spam and Virus filtering company, formerly MXLogic, has now merged with McAfee. The only differences users may notice are:
- E-mail Spam Quarantine Reports now come from mcafee.com instead of mxlogic.com
- User account portal webpages are now branded as McAfee.

Announcements

Employee Job Task Analysis Due Friday, Jan. 29
Beginning this year, Skill Requirements Lists (SRL) must be done annually during the month of January using a tool called the EJTA. These annual reviews are done first by the employee and then reviewed and approved by the supervisor. All employee EJTAs must be completed and approved by Friday, Jan. 29. The EJTA and associated training is located online. For any questions you may have, e-mail or call Bruce Ullman at x7170.

Last Chance to Sign General Access RWP
The General Access Radiological Work Permit for 2010-2011 is now available for signature. If you are a radiation worker, you must sign this RWP to gain access through the security gate. You have until Jan. 31 to sign the RWP. You may sign it offsite, if you are not on the JLab property. To access the RWP, open document number KD0003 on the web-based training page.

New Service Offered at Quark Cafe Every Wednesday from 3-4 p.m.
The Quark Cafe is now open for Recharge Wednesdays – a snack break every Wednesday from 3-4 p.m. Each week will feature a new snack special. In addition to the weekly special, a wide variety of snacks and treats will be available every week, including fresh fruit, chips, granola bars and cereal, cookies and dessert items, trail mix snacks, candy, yogurt and other dairy-case items. Beverage choices will include espresso, coffee and fountain and bottled drinks. Stop by Quark Cafe today from 3-4 to check out this new service and purchase a late afternoon pick-me-up.

TIAA-CREF Individual Counseling
TIAA-CREF will be offering individual counseling sessions, where you can discuss your personal financial situation with a TIAA-CREF consultant on a confidential basis. A consultant will be available to discuss how to help you achieve your financial goals by investing in financial solutions such as mutual funds, brokerage, life insurance and annuities. A consultant can help you simplify your retirement by providing objective advice and asset allocation based on your individual needs, show you how you can get a personalized action plan and review your retirement income options. These sessions will be available in the VARC building on Feb. 25, March 26 and April 30. To discuss your plan and options for managing your retirement savings or to schedule an appointment with a TIAA-CREF Individual Consultant, call TIAA-CREF at (800) 732-8353, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (ET).

Proper Disposal of Non-working UPS Boxes
The Property office has observed a number of possibly defective or unused UPS (uninterruptable power supply) boxes around JLab. Property staff reminds the JLab community that to properly dispose of a bad UPS, go to the Property webpage. Click on: Custodian Re-Assignment/Property Relocation and Disposal Website and then select: Submit disposal/excess of "administrative" property not on your inventory. Fill out the web-based disposal request. This will automatically generate a work order to have the UPS picked up. 

For more information about a specific UPS unit, check the owner's pamphlet or contact the Helpdesk at x7155. For questions regarding excessing and properly disposing of JLab property, contact the Property office at x7348, x6270 or x5972.