Dynamic virtualization of AliEn grid jobs using the Vmbatch system

The Vmbatch system is shown to be a robust and reliable system for running batch jobs inside virtual machines. The system has been developed as a lightweight tool to establish and clean up virtual machines for CernVM processing of ALICE grid jobs. It can work with a stock guest image and interfaces with the Torque batch system. With the use of virtualization, the system can create a homogeneous execution environment for grid jobs that can be expanded dynamically upon availability of generic computing resources

The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC which focuses on QCD, the strong-interaction sector of the Standard Model. It is designed to address the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at extreme values of energy density and temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Besides running with Pb ions, the physics programme includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy running and dedicated proton-nucleus runs. ALICE will also take data with proton beams at the top LHC energy to collect reference data for the heavy-ion programme and to address several QCD topics for which ALICE is complementary to the other LHC detectors. The ALICE detector has been built by a collaboration including currently over 1000 physicists and engineers from 105 Institutes in 30 countries. Its overall dimensions are 16 16 26 m3 with a total weight of approximately 10 000 t. The experiment consists of 18 different detector systems each with its own specific technology choice and design constraints, driven both by the physics requirements and the experimental conditions expected at LHC. The most stringent design constraint is to cope with the extreme particle multiplicity anticipated in central Pb-Pb collisions. The different subsystems were optimized to provide high-momentum resolution as well as excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a broad range in momentum, up to the highest multiplicities predicted for LHC. This will allow for comprehensive studies of hadrons, electrons, muons, and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Most detector systems are scheduled to be installed and ready for data taking by mid-2008 when the LHC is scheduled to start operation, with the exception of parts of the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS), Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) and Electro Magnetic Calorimeter (EMCal). These detectors will be completed for the high-luminosity ion run expected in 2010. This paper describes in detail the detector components as installed for the first data taking in the summer of 2008

Open heavy flavour reconstruction in the ALICE Central Barrel

ICHEP08, Philadelphia, PA 29th July - 5th August 2008. ProceedingsThe ALICE experiment will be able to detect open charm and beauty hadrons in proton-proton and heavy ion collisions in the new energy regime of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Heavy flavours are a powerful tool to investigate the medium created in high energy nucleus--nucleus interactions because they are produced in the hard scatterings occurring at early times and, thanks to their long lifetime on the collision timescale, they probe all the stages of the system evolution. The detectors of the ALICE central barrel ($-0.9 < \eta < 0.9$) will allow to track charged particles down to low transverse momentum ($\approx$ 100 MeV/$c$) and will provide hadron and electron identification as well as an accurate measurement of the positions of primary and secondary vertices. It will therefore be possible to measure the production of open heavy flavours in the central rapidity region down to low transverse momentum, exploiting the semi-electronic and the hadronic decay channels. Here we present a general overview of the ALICE perspectives for heavy flavour physics and some examples from the open charm and beauty analyses which have been developed and tested on detailed simulations of the experimental apparatus

Prospects for \phi meson production in pp collisions at the ALICE experiment

To appear in the proceedings of International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM 2007), Levoca, Slovakia, 24-29 Jun 2007. Submitted to J.Phys.G. Hentet fra: http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.1152The ALICE experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will allow the study of resonance production in nucleus-nucleus and proton-proton collisions. This paper presents results based on physics performance studies to discuss prospects in ALICE for (1020) meson production in pp interactions during the LHC startup

The ALICE Grid Workflow for LHC Run 3

In preparation for LHC Run 3 and 4 the ALICE Collaboration has moved to a new Grid middleware, JAliEn, and workflow management system. The migration was dictated by the substantially higher requirements on the Grid infrastructure in terms of payload complexity, increased number of jobs and managed data volume, all of which required a complete rewrite of the middleware using modern software languages and technologies. Through containerisation, self-contained binaries, managed by the JAliEn middleware, we provide a uniform execution environment across sites and various architectures, including accelerators. The model and implementation have proven their scalability and can be easily deployed across sites with minimal intervention. This contribution outlines the architecture of the new Grid workflow as deployed in production and the workflow process. Specifically shown is how core components are moved and bootstrapped through CVMFS, enabling the middleware to run anywhere fully independent of the host system. Furthermore, we examine how new middleware releases, containers and their runtimes are centrally maintained and easily deployed across the Grid, also by the means of a common build system

Job splitting on the ALICE grid, introducing the new job optimizer for the ALICE grid middleware

This contribution introduces the job optimizer service for the nextgeneration ALICE Grid middleware, JAliEn (Java Alice Environment). It is a continuous service running on central machines and is essentially responsible for splitting jobs into subjobs, to then be distributed and executed on the ALICE grid. There are several ways of creating subjobs based on various strategies relevant to the aim of any particular grid job. Therefore a user has to explicitly declare that a job is to be split, and also define the strategy to be used. The new job optimizer service aims to retain the old ALICE grid middleware functionalities from the user’s point of view while increasing the performance and throughput. One aspect of increasing performance is looking at how the job optimizer interacts with the job queue database. A different way of describing subjobs in the database is presented, to minimize resource usage. There is also a focus on limiting communications with the database, as this is already a congested area. Furthermore, a new solution to splitting based on the locality of job input data will be presented, aiming to split into subjobs more efficiently, therefore making better use of resources on the grid to further increase throughput. Added options for the user regarding splitting by locality, such as setting a minimum limit for a subjob size, will also be explored

Measurement of quarkonium production at forward rapidity in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

The inclusive production cross sections at forward rapidity of J/ψ , ψ(2S) , Υ (1S) and Υ (2S) are measured in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.35 pb‾¹ . Quarkonia are reconstructed in the dimuon-decay channel and the signal yields are evaluated by fitting the μ+μ− invariant mass distributions. The differential production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum pT and rapidity y , over the ranges 0<pT<20 GeV/c for J/ψ , 0<pT<12 GeV/c for all other resonances and for \(2.5 . The measured cross sections integrated over pT and y , and assuming unpolarized quarkonia, are: σJ/ψ=6.69±0.04±0.63 μ b, σψ(2S)=1.13±0.07±0.19 μ b, σΥ(1S)=54.2±5.0±6.7 nb and σΥ(2S)=18.4±3.7±2.9 nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. The results are compared to measurements performed by other LHC experiments and to theoretical models

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate mediates activation of transcription factors CREB and ATF-1 via a Gα11-coupled receptor in the spermatogenic cell line GC-2

AbstractDehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) is a circulating steroid produced in the adrenal cortex, brain, and gonads. Whereas a series of investigations attest to neuroprotective effects of the steroid in the brain, surprisingly little is known about the physiological effects of DHEAS on cells of the reproductive system. Here we demonstrate that DHEAS acting on the spermatogenic cell line GC-2 induces a time- and concentration-dependent phosphorylation of c-Src and Erk1/2 and activates the transcription factors activating transforming factor-1 (ATF-1) and cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB). These actions are consistent with the non-classical signaling pathway of testosterone and suggest that DHEAS is a pro-androgen that is converted into testosterone in order to exert its biological activity. The fact, however, that steroid sulfatase mRNA was not detected in the GC-2 cells and the clear demonstration of DHEAS-induced activation of Erk1/2, ATF-1 and CREB after silencing the androgen receptor by small interfering RNA (siRNA) clearly contradict this assumption and make it appear unlikely that DHEAS has to be converted in the cytosol into a different steroid in order to activate the kinases and transcription factors mentioned. Instead, it is likely that the DHEAS-induced signaling is mediated through the interaction of the steroid with a membrane-bound G-protein-coupled receptor, since silencing of Guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit alpha-11 (Gnα11) leads to the abolition of the DHEAS-induced stimulation of Erk1/2, ATF-1, and CREB. The investigation presented here shows a hormone-like activity of DHEAS on a spermatogenic cell line. Since DHEAS is produced in male and female reproductive organs, these findings could help to define new roles for DHEAS in the physiology of reproduction

THE APPLICATION OF SPEED READING AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL (A Case Study of Qualitative Research in One of Senior High School at Majalengka)

Muhammad Salim Pajri. 14111330143. THE APPLICATION OF SPEED READING AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL (A Case Study of Qualitative Research in One of Senior High School at Majalengka) Reading is the important things in education, because people can get knowledge and information from reading. Without reading people cannot absorb many sciences. Here, the researcher use speed reading technique as the tool of analyzing to know the learning and teaching process at intermediate level. Moreover, the aims of this research are (1). To know the teaching and learning process of speed reading. (2). To know students’ attitude towards teaching and learning speed reading. (3). To know overcome of the difficulties of speed reading. Theoretically, is regarding to the reading area, especially in the reading comprehension by using speed reading technique. Practically, the researcher will analyze of speed reading in one of Senior High School at Majalengka which has benefit for teacher to know students’ ability in school. The research finding and discussion told about the teaching and learning process of speed reading at intermediate level. There are three activities of speed reading techniques. (1) Preparation Activity: teacher begins with greetings, deliver material and prepare students by warming up to focuss in learning process. (2) Core Activity: teacher teaches all the materials of speed reading. (3) Follow-up Activity: teacher gives exercise as the activity to know students score of speed reading test. The result of the analysis shows there are 5 students’ attitude towards teaching and learning speed reading. then, the finding shows that (1). Students’ feeling towards teaching and learning using speed reading in general: students like speed reading then also comfortable. (2). Students’ feeling towards the process of teaching and learning speed reading: they get comprehension of this technique. (3). Students’ difficulties in learning using speed reading: there are unfamiliar word on athe text. (4). Students’ feeling towards their comprehension in learning using speed reading: they get purpose in speed reading learning. (5). Students’ motivation in learning using speed reading: they can read books in fast time. It was found the overcome of difficulties of speed reading technique they are the process of the teaching speed reading and response the students’ response towards it, difficulties, disadvantages and teaching using speed reading technique and the result, usefulness, critics, and suggestions of teaching using speed reading technique. From the research that has been done, it can be concluded that there is way to apply speed reading by using steps of speed reading. From this technique will increase students’ ability in reading process. It can help students to read fast and efficient time. Keywords: Reading Comprehension, Speed Reading, Intermediate Leve