How-To and Shift Info

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How-To-HRS (Detailed documentation and troubleshooting)

A shift portal page is available with summarized instructions for shift takers.

This page contains a listing of all procedures, including information that may be relevant only in specific cases. This page is obviously in progress; please contribute to it or contact any of the tritium students with updates.

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How to manage your BTA (for Shift Leader)

Open your browser on an a-onl@aonl machine
[1] https://bta/
[2] Login your name/pass word
[3] File->Open Timesheet
[4] choose: Hall:A -> Day-> Shift: Owl(or Day/Swing)
[5] click "Open"
[6] You see the address bar:
(Note that NO time specifically required! e.g.:https://bta/experimenter/a/2014-12-16/owl/end=2014_12_16_08_00;start2014_12_16_00_00) -> this will give you error when you save info for MCC

Instead, do the following

  https://bta/experimenter/a/2014-12-16/owl/

[7] If you want to edit hour(s), Please click very right "pencil" icon, then make a comment or edit time
DO NOT USE *EDIT ALL* ON THE BOTTOM
[8] To save your edited info into DATABASE, just click "V" (check-mark) in same place of "pencil" icon
[9] When MCC call you for BTA (An hour before your shift end), click "SAVE INFO for MCC"
[10] Read number ABU and BANU. (That's it ! This should work !)
[11] End of shift, please sign off
[12] Once you've done, please Logout.

BTA_Snapshot	BTA_Snapshot
STEP #1	STEP #2

Troubleshooting

• The start and end of run entries do not show up in HALOG:
  • Make sure you have waited long enough. Automated entries take a while to show up in the HAlog.
  • You want to quit coda, connect to adaql2 as a-onl using ssh, and restart coda. Yes even if you are already connected on adaql2 as a-onl, the ssh part is what you need here.

• If you hear an alarm with a very deep voice, read this [logbook entry.]

Beam Recovery Procedure

Update: October 24, 2010.

• Empty target, establish correct beam position
• 5 uA empty target
• BPM4A (X,Y) = ( 0.0, 0.0) mm
• BPM4B (X,Y) = ( 0.0, 0.0) mm
• See white board for updates on these.
• Tolerances on these : +/- 0.3 mm
• In standard configuration we run without the raster (ok on cryotarget if beam current is less than 5uA)
• Put in BeO target, for visual check of spot (if camera still works)
  • 10 uA rastered beam on BeO.

Data Acquisition

Basic Data Acquisition with CODA (updated 11/3)

This assumes runcontrol is already up. If not, go to Starting CODA From Scratch below.

Need to add a description of what/how the data taking process will occur!

• How to run DAQ on LEFT HRS:
  • From a terminal login as "adaq" on adaq1 machine (do "ssh adaq@adaq1" without the quotes)
  • Password is available on the white board
  • After login to adaq1, type "startcoda" to bring up the runcontrol GUI
  • The default configuration is " ????", if it is not loaded you can choose it from the menu "configurations->Cool", select "????"
  • Click "Platform->connect"
  • Click on "Download" button
  • Click on "Start (>>)" button, and acknowledge "start-of-run" pop-up window
  • To end a run click on "End" button

• How to run DAQ on RIGHT HRS:
  • From a terminal login as "adaq" on adaq2 machine (do "ssh adaq@adaq2" without the quotes)
  • Password is available on the white board
  • After login to adaq2, type "startcoda" to bring up the runcontrol GUI
  • The default configuration is "?????", if it is not loaded you can choose it from the menu "configurations->Cool", select "?????"
  • Click "Platform->connect"
  • Click on "Download" button
  • Click on "Start (>>)" button, and acknowledge the "start-of-run" pop-up window
  • To end a run click on "End" button

• How to kill coda processes
  • At the terminal of adaq1 (for LHRS) or adaq2 (for RHRS), type "kcoda".

Some common issues with the DAQ

Setting prescale factor for the HRS only (updated 11/03)

   For Left HRS:
 *   log in as adaq on adaq1 machine
 *   type "prescaleL &" to open the GUI
 *   set the desired prescale factors and click "Save" and Exit 

   For Right HRS:
 *   log in as "adaq" on "adaq2" machine
 *   type "prescaleR &" to open the GUI
 *   set the desired prescale factors and click "Save" and Exit 

   Definition of triggers:(Proposed for Argon- 02/07/17)
       T1 = L-arm s0 && s2 && Shower
       T2 = L-arm (s0 || s2) && (Cherenov||Shower)
       T3 = R-arm s0 && s2 
       T4 = R-arm (s0 || s2) && !(Cherenov||Shower)
       T5 = T1 && T3
       T6 = T2 && T4
       T7 = L-arm EDTM trigger
       T8 = 103.7 kHz pulser (for LHRS), 1.024 kHz (for RHRS)
       T9 = 

Starting xscaler (HRS) and checking raw trigger rates (updated nov 5, 2014)

Raw rates of trigger and detector channels can be accessed using a GUI. Below are the instructions for opening "xscaler" GUI

• These screens are generally already open on the agen5 machine (above the DAQ machine)

• If it is xscaler is not open then follow these instructions:
  • login as a-onl on adaq1 or adaq2 machines (eg: "ssh a-onl@adaq1" )
  • passwords are written on the white board
  • type "goxscaler" and follow the instructions printed on the screen
  • type "./xscaler Left" or "./xscaler Right" to access xscaler display

How to download and check the LHRS MLU trigger (updated 11/05)

  Consult the MLU information off the main Hall A 

wiki page.

How to check the dead time

last update 12/2/14
"Needs to be updated" There are two ways to check for deadtime:

• online using the XScaler tool.
  
  • See above for instructions on how-to open the Xscaler.
  • Select the "misc" tab.
  • the ratio (DVCS_stop/DVCS_masterOR) is a measurement of the live time for our main trigger.

• offline. This solution allows to check deadtime for individual triggers (say DIS or DVCS, ...)
  

After you replay the run, ssh to aonl1, aonl2, aonl3 or aonl4 machine and:

> godvcs
> cd marco/deadtime/
> analyzer
> .L deadtime.C
> deadtime(NNNNN)

Cold Start Checklist (when beam has been off for several hours)

• Confirm target is “empty target”
• Call for pulsed beam for tuning
• Tune beam to beam dump (straight through, no Compton chicane)
• Call for 10μA beam
  • establish beam position
  • check beam charge monitors
  • check beam position monitors
• Confirm HRSs set to correct value
• Move target to THIN Carbon position for detector check out
• For detector checkout: current = 0.5μA
• Check out detectors at different currents
• In standard production configuration, check that the raster is off.
• Resume runplan

Starting CODA From Scratch

You do not need to do this routinely - only if you are starting from a fresh login or after a computer crash. Log in a a-onl account on adaql2 ( check with Run Coordinator in case you don't know the password )

(Contact: Bob Michaels)

Power cycling Fastbus crates

Right HRS only : go in Tools screen -> Crate Resets -> Lower Fastbus AC

This will power cycle all 3 ROCs of the fastbus

Same for Left HRS but it will get stuck off. To get the Fastbus back on login into hareboot2 from an accelerator account or hlal00 and power cycle iocha4 which is on port 1

Reboot crates

On one workspace you will see six xterms with names of the crates in the title, e.g. "ROC4--hallasfi4--hatsv40-port6". From each of the six xterms, you should telnet into the appropriate RS232 interface, e.g. for the above, "telnet hatsv40 2006" (if the prompt in the xterm is "->", it is already connected). The "hallasfi4" is the internet name of the crate's cpu.

If the xterms are missing, type "setupxterms".

From these xterms, you reboot by typing "ctrl-X". Yes, you hold down the Ctrl key, then hit X. You can also type reboot but "ctrl-X" is better. You can also reboot from the crate resets GUI on HA Tools.

To power cycle the DVCS crates, type crateOff in a terminal in logged as a-onl and after crateON to turn both ROC17 and ROC18 back on.

For full details about the Hall A DAQ (including reboot procedures) see This or This

If you have trouble downloading to ROC31

If ROC31 (or one of the other Intel CPU crates) gives errors in the "Configure" or "Download" steps, first try the following:

1. In RunControl, select the "Release Components" option under the "Platform" menu from the top menu bar.
2. In a terminal on adaq1, run the command "killdvcsrocs"
3. In a terminal on adaq1, run the command "dvcsrocs". Terminal windows for ROCs 27-31 should appear.
4. Select the "Configurations/Cool" menu, and select the proper run type (as of 22Oct2016, it should be LHRSBuf).
5. Now try to configure and download.
6. If it fails to configure or download again, try this once again, but do "kcoda" and "startcoda" instead of the "killdvcsrocs" and "dvcsrocs".
7. If still fails, try rebooting ROC31 as described below and call P.King (number on whiteboard).
   Note that if you reboot ROC31, the EDTM system will need to be restarted.

--a remote power switch is installed on DVCS rack mostly for the trigger and VME trigger crate

port assignement can be found at https://logbooks.jlab.org/entry/3304858

Port	Device
1	trigger crate
2	trigger
3	nim crate1
6	portserver
7	network switch
8	Fan

You can telnet or use a web browser to access hareboot30 ( make sure proxy is off if you use a web browser )

Start CODA

Open a terminal and type startcoda.

The runcontrol window will appear: File:Startcoda.png

Hit the "Connect" button, then "Configure" (choose a configuration e.g. LeftHrs), and "Start Run", or, to troubleshoot, "Download", "Prestart", and "Go".

How to Take a Pedestal Run

HRS pedestals

If you've been running the normal spectrometer DAQ configuration, you'll need to press "Abort", then "RunTypes" and select the PEDRUN configuration. Download, StartRun. Run for about 5000 events, then EndRun. You may check the pedestal files in ~/ped (pedN.dat corresponding to ROC #N). See README there for more details. After pedestal run, change back to the running configuration.

NOTE: DONT try to use PEDRUN for anything other than pedestal determination -- its confusing since the prescale factors are in a different file, etc. If you want a run with pedestal suppression turned off, see the README.

How to check disk space for writing (updated 11/05)

As adaq@adaq1, type "df -k /adaq1/data1/"

How to check if the EDTM is on

There are least two ways:

• using the scalertool, check the display for T7 on the LHRS, it should read at about 6Hz.
• log into dvcs@intelha3, this requires the usual password. type the following in the terminal: "ps aux | grep -i edtm". If the edam is on, you should see something like /root/edtm/flexioctl edtm"

How to start the EDTM system (Expert only) (current as of 03/09/2015)

Expert only means you will need a password. Mongi Dlamini, Kijun Park, Marco Carmignotto also has the password.

To turn it ON at about 6Hz:

> ssh -X root@intelha3 (password require)
> cd /root/rpulser/
> ./rpulserl start 0 0xc015 0xc015
--- Check if flexioctl_sleep is already running by: ---
> ps aux | grep flexioctl_sleep
--- IF NOT: ---
> /root/edtm/flexioctl_sleep edtm 4 > /tmp/edtm.log & 

To turn it OFF:

> ssh -X root@intelha3 (password require)
> cd /root/rpulser/
> ./rpulserl stop 0 
--- It should be enought to disable EDTM. But if you also want to kill the flexioctl process: ---
> killall flexioctl_sleep (or killall flexioctl)

EDTM: older instructions that Longwu OU wrote

> ssh -X root@intelha3 (password require)
> cd /root/rpulser/
> ./rpulserl usage
> ./rpulserl start 0 0xa100 0xc339   \\ start pulser  (450Hz on port2)
> ./rpulserl stop 0                  \\ stop pulser

Intel Version

The crate containing the random pulser has both a Vxworks CPU (happex8) and an intel CPU (intelha3). As this crate is being used to read some F1 TDCs, using the intel ROC, the r_pulser library has been ported to Linux to run on intel ROCs, in case the Vxworks CPU needs to be reomved from the crate. This ported version is in /root/rpulser on intelha3. The available commands can be seen by running

 /root/rpulser/rpulserl usage

The pulser can be started with

 /root/rpulser/rpulserl start 0 0xa100 0xc339

This command has been placed in the boot script for intelha3. The equivalent command has been commented out of the boot script for happex8.

Using flexio module for EDTM measurement

The output of port B of the pulser generator goes to a NIM fan-out module and is then fed into two flexio module. Each module has two output cards and each card has 16 channels. The first module (which has 32 channels in total) provides EDTM pulse to the 32 S2m PMTs, one card for left side and one card for right. Only one card of the second module is used now, and its 14 outputs pulse 10 GC PMTs, GC analog sum and S0 PMTs respectively. Each channel of the output card can be enabled or disabled by setting the corresponding bit of the register.

Data analysis (Needs to be updated for current run)

How to replay the data

If you are the third person in shift: first replay 70k events, check the online display, then replay the whole run.

Login to aonl1, aonl2, aonl3, or aonl4 as user a-onl (password on the white board) and run

$ godvcs "This will change"
$ analyzer
[].L replay_DVCS.C  "This will change"
[]replay_DVCS(runnumber) "This will change"

The rootfile is copied under /chafs/work1/dvcs/Rootfiles/left_dvcs_[run number].root. To look at the data you might want to use the online GUI (see the instructions below).
"This will change"

OnlineGUI

"This will be updated in the near future" (Last updated: November 06, 2014)

Once the run has been replayed (see instructions above), login to aonl1, aonl2, aonl3, or aonl4 as user a-onl (password on the white board) and do

$ godvcs 
[] onlineDVCS calo run#
[] onlineDVCS detectorL run#
[] onlineDVCS physics run#

When the GUI starts, select 'printAll' to print all plots at once.

The output files are stored under /chafs/work1/dvcs/Rootfiles/left_dvcs_[run number].root

For more detailed information on the online GUI, please see the README file at /adaqfs/home/a-onl/dvcs12/onlana/README.

Batch offline analysis

As soon as CODA files go to /mss, a batch job is submitted to the JLab farm to decode each file. Outputs are store under /mss/home/munoz/DVCS2/1stprod. A copy of the last 100 files is kept in the work disks under /work/halla/dvcs/disk1/1stprod.

Online analysis of L-HRS and R-HRS data (GMP version)

For DVCS see section above. Details can be found in the dedicated page on HRS online analysis.

Starting the Port Server Windows

On adaql2 type : start_monitors

this will open 6 xterms with in the title on which portserver to log :

so for example to log on hatsv4 port 3 type :

telnet hatsv4 2003

Spectrometer detectors (Needs to be updated for current run)

How to change the momentum setting of HRS

March 2016: Read [this] to learn about the special LHRS setting.

From the HAC window, there is a P0 SET field for each spectrometer in which you can enter the desired momentum setting. To change to a lower momentum from a higher previous setting, you just need to enter the new momentum value. To raise the momentum setting, you need to cycle the Q2 and Q3 magnets first and then enter the desired momentum setting. To cyle the Q2 and Q3, turn off their regulation (Hall A General Tools, click the button right of P0set), send Q2 and Q3 to 1600 A, wait two minutes at 1600A, set the p0 to the deisred value, turn onn Q2 and Q3 regulations. If you run into trouble with the dipole NMR lock, [this] might help you.

How to change the spectrometer angle

First, do a visual survey of the Hall to make sure nothing is in the spectrometer's path. Also, make sure you are not exceeding the minimum (typically 14 degrees) or maximum (experiment dependent) spectrometer angle.

Typically any motion less than 14 degrees requires techs to be present in the hall

Second, on hacsbc2, click the red "tool box" icon on the linux taskbar, as above. Choose bogies_SetSpec so that you can determine the angle and vernier setting for the spectrometer.

See the window displayed to the right. Enter the spectrometer (L or R), and the angle, and you will get two options for the floor mark and the vernier. Generally choose the vernier closer to zero. Center the cameras on the desire vernier using the Move+/Move- buttons on the Hall A General Tools screen. The TV monitors for these cameras are on the middle shelf, in rack CH01A05.

Third, choose bogies_Left (or bogies_Right) in the tool box to bring up the bogies control screen. [image:Bogies_SetSpec.window.gif] Click PSM enable and wait a few seconds for PSM OK to read YES. Click DM enable and wait a few seconds for DM OK to read YES.

Make sure the velocity is set to 0 and the direction is CW or CCW as desired. Click on Brake Release and wait for Brakes OK to read YES.

Click on ClampRelease, set the velocity to 400 (do not exceed this value). Once you see the spectrometer start to move in the floor angle camera - you cannot see the spectrometer move in the Hall overview camera, as it only moves a few degrees per minute at maximum speed. For the left arm, to move to a larger angle, the direction should be CCW, while for the right arm CW moves the spectrometer to a larger angle. The direction of the spectrometer is reversed by using a negative rpm. Watch the spectrometer motion on the cameras. When you are getting close to the desired angle, slow down to about 300 rpm. To stop, click on the Clamp Release button and the Brake button. Disable DM and PSM, and disconnect to close the GUI. Read off the floor angle mark and vernier, and input the values into the appropriate fields in the Alignment section of the Hall A General Tools GUI.

If the bogie becomes unresponsive, you might read the section below on how to reset the bogie.

How to reset the Bogie IOC

Sometimes the HRS bogie controllers get in a funny state and will not respond to the GUI. For example, you click on the buttons (PSM enable, DM enable, etc), but the state field doesn't change, even after a patient wait of 5--10 seconds.

The first thing you should try is to close the Bogie GUI window using the disconnect button, wait for 5 minutes and try again. Sometimes the system will correct itself. If it doesn't you may want to try rebooting the Bogie IOC.

Follow this link: Resetting the HRS Bogie IOC

How to reset the quadrupoles

The reset for Q2 is simply on the front of the power supply, there are red lights on when the power supply is tripped. At the bottom of the board that has the red light, there is a blue reset button. There may be more than one light on so there may be more than one blue button that needs to be pushed. Push blue buttons until all of the red lights are out. Once all of the lights are out, lower the large lever on the lower right side of the power supply and lift it back into position. this will reset the Q2 and Q3 power supplies locally. For Q1, it's simpler, there is a large sign in the back of the Q1 equipment rack on the power supply balcony that says the blue reset button is here. you press the button and the magnet resets.

How to reboot HRS magnet IOC

Go to the hall A main menu screen.

Click "IOCS". Note that the left HRS magnet IOC's (iocha14) are accessible at http://hareboot10 and the right HRS magnet IOC's(iocha16) are accessible at http://hareboot25 (Username and password for IOC reboot are available in the counting house). Close the "Hall A IOC Systems" window. To reboot:

• the left HRS magnet IOC's, go to http://hareboot10 and from the pull-up menu next to iocha14, select "immediate reboot".
• the right HRS magnet IOC's, go to http://hareboot25, click on control, select iocha16, from the pull-up menu select "immediate reboot".

After the IOC reboot, please make sure that the spectrometer-angle information is reentered into the Hall A General Tools GUI.

How to restart the HRS hall probe gaussmeters

This procedure is NEW as of September 28, 2010.

From HALOG 333032:

The Lakeshore gaussmeters for the magnet hall probes are no longer being controlled by the Slow Controls VME crates (iocha14 and iocha16). You will notice that the GUI for each gaussmeter is slightly different than the previous GUI. The functions are still the same. However, if a meter "hangs", a person must notify accelerator Software On Call to reset the interface; ask MCC to make the call. At present this is not something we can do from the Counting House.

DO NOT attempt to reboot iocha14 or iocha16 to correct any problem with a gaussmeter readout. The control is now done through a portserver with an Accelerator PC acting as a "soft"-IOC. We do not have direct access to this PC.

Beam Line

Is the beam energy locked?

[How to check status of 2A energy lock]

Is the raster on?

One way is to check the raster current on the scope. Another way is to connect to JTAB, go to the Hall A tab and type "raster" in the search box.

How to Check the Raster (spot) (updated 11/08)

In order to properly analyze data from the raster and bpm runs, whoever is taking the data will need to use the spot_Left code located in my directory. The standard spot++ analyzer has not been updated to include the second (downstream) rasters.

The instructions are:

1. login as a-onl on adaq1 (eg: "'ssh a-onl@adaq1").
   1. passwords are written on the counting house white board
2. cd to the rastersize/luke/ directory
3. From the terminal, type"./spot_Left runnumber max_number_of events" (without the quotes, and where runnumber and max_number_of events should be integers)
4. root should analyze and display the raster and bpm histograms

This is taken from Luke's elog [1]

How to do harp scan

Go to the JTabs menu and select tab "Hall A", then "ARC Integral" and after that click tab "ARC Scanners". A window named "New ARC" will pop up. Six charts are in this window and below each chart there is a blue box with the current value of gain. To do harp scan we need to have CW beam above 5 muA and the gain should be at least 16, and beam position should be stable.

Since the beginning of 2016, MCC is in charge of the Harps. Just request the harps to be done by them and make sure they post their result in the log. On JTab, under the operation tabs, you can look at the most recent raw harp scan by selecting the Harps button and then harp history.

How to check for Parity settings (beam half wave plate and Wien angle)

Our standard configuration is 30 Hz, prompt helicity reporting.

These settings are outputted in the run start and run end entries in the halo. But if you do not have a recent entry for those can also do the following:

• go to the JTABS menu, choose the INJECTOR tabs, then choose Parity and then Parity Controls. Look for Insertable WavePlate.
• go to the JTABS menu, choose the INJECTOR tabs, then choose Spin then Spin Control. Look for the HWienAngle.

How to record info for the arc energy measurement

Ultrastab reading, ninth dipole field

[this elog entry]

Compton Operation

Take Compton data

Start a Compton run every two hours.

The Compton DAQ is located in the back room in the Counting House (look for the Compton computer under the small LCD screen).

CODA runs on compton@compton. If CODA is not already running:

Kill CODA first, then start it up again:

            $ kcoda
            $ startcoda

A few new Terminal windows and a GUI pop up. Let "top" refer to the bar with named menu options near the top of the GUI (ex: Platform, Sessions, etc). Let "bottom" refer to the bar below "top" that contains a line of buttons (hover over them to reveal their labels; starting with "Configuration" on the left).

1. In top, select: Platform > Connect
2. In bottom, click on "Configuration" button.
   • If configuration listed in the "Run Parameters" box is not FADC_prod: in top, select Configurations > Cool and change it to FADC_Prod.
3. In bottom, click on "Download" button
4. In bottom, click on "Prestart" button
5. When ready to start run, click "Start" button. Typical run duration: 2 hours. Type in any Start Of Run comments in the box.
6. When ready to stop run, click "End" button. Type in any End Of Run comments in the box.

Make sure the Compton photon detector is on

The Compton photon detector HV is on the BEAMLINE HV gui which should be up on hapc3. The photon detector is slot 12, channel L4.11.HV=-1690 V.

Check the Compton rates/slow signals

• Look at the strip chart running on adaq2 on the "Compton" desktop. If the strip chart is not up, you can start it as follows:
  • ssh compton@compton-old
  • StripTool compton_monitor.stp
• Make sure the laser is cycling on and off (the green trace labeled COMPTON_PW1PCAV_ca).
• Check for collisions - the photon detector rate should increase and decrease as the laser cycles on and off (blue trace - ComptonCentralRate).
• Check rates. The laser-off rate in the photon detector should be below 500 Hz/uA. Closer to 100 Hz is better.
• Make sure the Compton position lock is on. If the vertical beam position is changing more than 0.1 mm (IPM1P02B.YPOS), the position lock is likely not on - call MCC and ask them to make sure it is.
• The laser-on rate should be on the order of 1 kHz/uA. If it is smaller than that, we might need to scan the electron beam. This is done by a Compton expert.

What low Compton rates means

[this entry]

How to check that the Compton electron detector is out of beam

[this entry]

Slow control

How to bring up HAC control window (Hall A Tools), Monticello and JTabs

We like to run this display on is hacsbc2. The monitor is located in the Hall A Counting House in rack CH01A02, just below the NMR dipole oscilloscopes. Click here to see the screen.

If the display is not here: log onto the a-onl or the adaq accounts:

• Hall A Tools: 'hlamain'
• JTabs: 'jtabs'
• Monticello" 'monticello'

JTabs is the newest version of the accelerator tools (it replaces monticello) and has some overlap witht he old EDM monticello and hlamain GUIs. It is most likely to be up to date and working, but maybe missing some items from the EDM tools. [Original halog with nice pictures

High Voltage controls (updated: 03/15, K.Park)

LHRS/RHRS : High Voltage controls

Login as "adev" on the "adaql1" or "adaql2" computers. (since I have added voice alarm for LEFT, RIGHT HRS and Compton HV, please note that command is different !)

cd ~adev/slowc

To run the Left HRS alone: ./hvsL LEFT

To run the Right HRS alone: ./hvsR RIGHT

To run the beamline (Compton) crate: ./hvsC BEAMLINE

The following instructions can be used for running the GUI using the vnc server [How to open high voltage GUI]. This is not how we want to run routinely.

[HV instructions for users]

[HV for experts]

[Contact List (to be updated)]

Graduate Students