[en] LHCb is one of the 4 LHC experiments. In order to ensure the safety of the detector and to maximize efficiency, LHCb needs to coordinate its own operations, in particular the voltage configuration of the different sub-detectors, according to the accelerator status. A control software has been developed for this purpose, based on the Finite State Machine tool-kit and the SCADA system used for control throughout LHCb (and the other LHC experiments). This software permits to efficiently drive both the Low Voltage (LV) and High Voltage (HV) systems of the 10 different sub-detectors that constitute LHCb, setting each sub-system to the required voltage (easily configurable at run-time) based on the accelerator state. The control software is also responsible for monitoring the state of the Sub-detector voltages and adding it to the event data in the form of status-bits. Safe and yet flexible operation of the LHCb detector has been obtained and automatic actions, triggered by the state changes of the accelerator, have been implemented. This paper will detail the implementation of the voltage control software, its flexible run-time configuration and its usage in the LHCb experiment. (authors)

[en] LHCb is one of the 4 experiments at the LHC accelerator at CERN. During the upgrade phase of the experiment (planned for 2018), several new electronic boards and Front End chips that perform the data acquisition for the experiment will be added by the different sub-detectors. These devices will need to be integrated in the Experiment Control System (ECS) that drives LHCb. Typically, they are controlled via a server running on a PC which allows the communication between the hardware and the experiment’s SCADA (WinCC OA). A set of tools was developed that provide an easy integration of the control and monitoring of the devices in the ECS. The fwHw is a tool that allows the abstraction of the device’s models into the ECS. Using XML files describing the structure and registers of the devices it creates the necessary model of the hardware as a data structure in the SCADA. It allows then the control and monitoring of the defined registers using their name, without the need to know the details of the hardware behind. The fwHw tool also provides the facility of defining and applying recipes - named sets of configurations which can be used to easily configure the hardware according to specific needs. (author)

[en] The Online System of the LHCb experiment at CERN is composed of a very large number of PCs: around 1500 in a CPU farm for performing the High Level Trigger; around 170 for the control system, running the SCADA system - PVSS; and several others for performing data monitoring, reconstruction, storage, and infrastructure tasks, like databases, etc. Some PCs run Linux, some run Windows but all of them need to be remotely controlled and monitored to make sure they are correctly running and to be able, for example, to reboot them whenever necessary. A set of tools was developed in order to centrally monitor the status of all PCs and PVSS Projects needed to run the experiment: a Farm Monitoring and Control (FMC) tool, which provides the lower level access to the PCs, and a System Overview Tool (developed within the Joint Controls Project - JCOP), which provides a centralized interface to the FMC tool and adds PVSS project monitoring and control. The implementation of these tools has provided a reliable and efficient way to manage the system, both during normal operations as well as during shutdowns, upgrades or maintenance operations. This paper will present the particular implementation of this tool in the LHCb experiment and the benefits of its usage in a large scale heterogeneous system

[en] This paper presents two models for hepatitis B, both given by fractional differential equations. The first model is formulated without parameters that indicate drug therapy, while the second one considers the drug therapy. The basic reproduction number and the stability analysis are considered for both models. Moreover, some numerical simulations by nonstandard finite difference schemes are presented. The numerical results show that the solutions converges to an equilibrium point as predicted in the stability analysis.

[en] We experimentally demonstrate that a column of hydrogen plasma generated by an ultra-short (sub-picosecond), moderate intensity (∼10^15–16 W.cm^–2) laser, radially expands at a higher velocity when using a circularly polarized laser beam instead of a linearly polarized beam. Interferometry shows that after 1 ns there is a clear shock structure formed, that can be approximated to a cylindrical blast wave. The shock velocity was measured for plasmas created with linearly and circularly polarized laser beams, indicating an approximately 20% higher velocity for plasmas generated with a circularly polarized laser beam, thus implying a higher plasma electron temperature. The heating mechanism was determined to be the Above Threshold Ionization effect. The calculated electrum energy spectrum for a circularly polarized laser beam was broader when compared to the one generated by a linearly polarized laser beam, leading to a higher plasma temperature

[en] The Republic of Angola joined the IAEA in September 1999. Since then, the country started by designing, promoting and developing its programme on nuclear and technology through the Unit for Nuclear Science and Technology created by the Ministry of Science and Technology.The Angolan Atomic Law was approved on June 28 and published on September 05, 2007.Radioactive Waste Every person who is licensed to generate, keep or manage radioactive waste shall be responsible for the safe management of radioactive waste generated by the practice or source for which he/she is authorized. No person shall transport any radioactive material, radioactive substance or radiation generator on any vessel or boat within the territorial waters or the exclusive economic zone of Angola; on any aircraft within the airspace of Angola; or any means of land transport without authorization from the Regulatory Authority of Atomic Energy

No abstract available

[en] A plasma waveguide scheme for high-intensity laser guiding with densities and lengths suitable for laser-plasma particle accelerators is presented. This scheme uses a laser-triggered high-voltage discharge, presents negligible jitter, allows full access to the plasma, and can be scaled to large distances. Experimental results showing the feasibility of this scheme are presented

[en] LHCb is a large experiment at the LHC accelerator. The experiment control system is in charge of the configuration, control and monitoring of the different sub-detectors and of all areas of the online system. The building blocks of the control system are based on the PVSS SCADA System complemented by a control Framework developed in common for the 4 LHC experiments. This framework includes an 'expert system' like tool called SMI++ which is used for the system automation. The experiment's operations are now almost completely automated, driven by a top-level object called Big-Brother, which pilots all the experiment's standard procedures and the most common error-recovery procedures. The architecture, tools and mechanisms used for the implementation as well as some operational examples will be described. (authors)

[en] The LHCb Data Acquisition system reads data from over 300 read-out boards and distributes them to more than 1500 event-filter servers. It uses a simple push-protocol over Gigabit Ethernet. After filtering, the data is consolidated into files for permanent storage using a SAN-based storage system. Since the beginning of data-taking many lessons have been learned and the reliability and robustness of the system has been greatly improved. We report on these changes and improvements, their motivation and how we intend to develop the system for Run 2. We also will report on how we try to optimise the usage of CPU resources during the running of the LHC ('deferred triggering') and the implications on the data acquisition.