Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs February 13, 2013

Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs
February 13, 2013

12 GeV Upgrade

Progress continues on the detector and tagger equipment for Hall D. Some 90 percent of the light guides for the Hall D Barrel Calorimeter have arrived from the University of Santa Maria and are being attached to the calorimeter modules. The full shipment of the light monitoring system that goes with them arrived from the University of Athens. The lead-glass calorimeter is being stacked into its support frame by a group from Indiana University. The Central Drift Chamber is having the gas manifold added at Carnegie Mellon University prior to undergoing full checkout. The fourth package of the planar drift chambers is being assembled. The production FADC-250 modules for reading out the two calorimeters are complete, and more than 90 percent have been tested at the University of Massachusetts. The first articles of the FADC-125 modules have arrived, as have the first F1TDC modules. Florida State University has begun assembling the Time-of-Flight wall. The tagger magnet has been delivered and is being assembled. The cool-down of the solenoid magnet has started, with the magnet now at liquid nitrogen temperature. Further cooling to liquid helium temperature awaits completion of some work on the cryogenics compressors.

Physics

Research Assistantship Offered
JLab is seeking candidates for a research assistantship. The program will sponsor a minority undergraduate student to work on projects that are part of the lab’s research program or directly related to the scientific or engineering aspects of the research program. This assistantship is funded by the JSA Initiatives Fund and will provide funds to support the student at the university during the 2013-2014 academic year. Nominations must be submitted by the faculty sponsor before the student may apply. Deadline for applications is April 5. Faculty sponsors may obtain more information and submit their nomination online.

Free-Electron Laser

The FEL team is hosting two graduate students from the University of Guanajuato in Mexico, who will be at the lab for six months on a scholarship funded by the Mexican Science Council. They will be learning about accelerator physics and associated technical/engineering aspects.

Activities for the new injector development have decreased significantly due to funding issues. However, some activities continue at a minimum level. For example, the other half of the gun stainless steel electrode is being hand polished with 600 grit sand paper. Engineering labor will also be kept at a minimum but sufficient to complete the design and drawings for the gun electrode support assembly. The components for the puck engagement mechanism vacuum test are at hand and will be sent to the production chemical room next week for ultra-high voltage cleaning. Afterwards, the system will be assembled and tested in Lab 3A.

Engineering

Over the past few weeks, the Alignment and Metrology group has:

  • Completed alignment of installed components in the west recombiner;
  • Started alignment of magnet components in the west spreader;
  • Pre-aligned and fiducialized rail assemblies for the Hall D Forward Drift Chamber;
  • Completed quality control survey of rail base-plates for the Super High Momentum Spectrometer in Hall C; and
  • Completed sieve slit alignment for the spectrometers in Hall A.

 system cleanup was started last week. The group will be restarting the plant soon. The ESR remains off and warm.

Announcements

 

Treat Your Valentine to Lunch at the Quark Cafe
On Thursday, Feb. 14, the Quark Cafe is offering a lovely menu of items to share with your Valentine. Partake in carved roast tenderloin of beef, pasta primavera, ham and Swiss croissant, steamed lemon asparagus, lobster mashed potatoes and chocolate covered strawberries

Come Out and Play on the JLab Softball Team!
The JLab co-ed softball team is now forming for the 2013 spring/summer season. All are invited to try their hand with a bat and glove. To express an interest in joining the team, send an email to Casey Heck. Practices are tentatively scheduled for Sundays, and the team would play in the York County Co-Ed Industrial League on Friday nights, April through July.

JLab Golf League Forming for Season; Meeting on Feb. 27
JLab golfers, and those who would like to be, are invited to join the JLab Golf League for the 2013 season. An organizational meeting will be held in the Applied Research Center conference room 231/233 on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at noon to discuss plans for the 2013 season. No food will be served at the meeting, but attendees are encouraged to bring their lunch. More information and an agenda can be found online. Questions may be directed to Mike Zarecky, x7609.

Piping Available for Use
A good quantity of Schedule 10 stainless steel uncertified pipes - of various lengths and diameters - are currently available to any work center at JLab, for work-related projects. The pipes are available in Free Stock; and are being stored in the Central Material Storage Area (CMSA) until March 1. Anyone interested may contact Lawrence Ferbee, x6297, or Lamont Williams, x6270.

 

Tracking Thomas at JLab
Little Thomas is visiting all corners of the JLab campus. If you can identify his location this week, email Kandice Carter with your guess. Guesses are accepted through Friday.

Crystal Baker correctly guessed the location for Feb. 6. Honorable mentions go to Chris Curtis, Paul Vasilauskis, Debra Brand, Monty Lehmann, Harry Fanning, Dennis Merritt, Michael McCaughan and Dick Owen. Check out the Tracking Thomas webpage for a better view of his last location and this week's new mystery photo.

Environment, Safety, Health and Quality

Hand Sanitizer Available
To minimize the spread of flu this season, JLab's ESH&Q Division has purchased bottles of liquid hand sanitizer for staff and users for disinfecting hands. Bottles of hand sanitizer are available in three sizes:

  • Two-liter bottles for conference rooms, public areas and high-traffic areas;
  • 12-ounce bottles for group and lab work areas; and
  • 0.5-ounce bottles for individuals.

Also available are disinfectant wipes that may be used for hands as well as for common-use workplace surfaces, such as phones and keyboards. These items can be picked up at Free Stock in Bldg. 90, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday. If you have any questions, call x6297 or x7225.

Computing and Networking Infrastructure

CNI Maintenance Day, Feb. 19, 5-10 p.m.
There will be a maintenance period on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 5-10 p.m. Many systems will be affected during this time:

  • Access to the external internet will be down, 5-5:45 p.m.
  • The BSN fileserver (admfs, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Y, Z drives) will be replaced. Total outage time should be less than one hour, starting at 5 p.m.
  • Zimbra email will be down 5:30 to 5:45 p.m. to apply system patches.
  • Internet Explorer (IE) will be upgraded to version 8 on XP systems and version 9 on all others.
  • Systems that use the 2-factor Cryptocard token (key fob) will be unavailable 5:30-6:30 p.m. in order to update an authentication server. All access to systems, such as hallgw and acelogin will be restored by 6:30 p.m.
  • Linux and Windows patches will be released. Plan on rebooting your desktop on Wednesday or Thursday to finalize any system or kernel updates.
  • Updates to various Adobe software (Flash, Reader, etc.) will be released to all Windows systems.
  • Java 1.7 will become the default on all Windows systems. See the Java 1.6 End-of-Life message for further details.

If you have any comments or questions about this planned maintenance period, contact the IT Helpdesk, x7155.

Java 1.6 End-of-Life Preparations
The 1.6 version of Java will no longer be supported or updated by the end of this month. In anticipation of the end of this support, the CNI group is planning to push out Java 1.7 to all Windows systems at JLab on the evening of Feb. 19. During this update, the group will also remove version 1.6 and earlier versions of Java, as they are no longer supported and pose a security risk to the site. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the IT Helpdesk, x7155.

Computer User Account Audit
The annual Computer User Account Audit will begin on Monday, Feb. 18. All supervisors and sponsors of users with computer accounts at JLab are required to review and re-authorize these accounts. This audit is a critical part of maintaining an appropriate level of cyber security at JLab. If you sponsor someone with a computer user account at JLab, you will receive an email on Feb. 18 with information on how to complete your user audit. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the audit, contact Jessica A. Perry, x7262.
 
 

JLab Calendar of Events

Feb. 25: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
March 2: Virginia Regional Middle School Science Bowl
March 5: Science Series: Guesstimating
March 6: Colloquium and Public Lecture
March 13: Colloquium and Public Lecture
March 17-19: C-REX Workshop