The normal prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis for either bulk or small beam samples inherently has a small signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio due primarily to the neutron source being present while the sample signal is being obtained. Coincidence counting offers the possibility of greatly reducing or eliminating the noise generated by the neutron source. The present report presents our results to date on implementing the coincidence counting PGNAA approach. We conclude that coincidence PGNAA yields: (1) a larger signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, (2) more information (and therefore better accuracy) from essentially the same experiment when sophisticated coincidence electronics are used that can yield singles and coincidences simultaneously, and (3) a reduced (one or two orders of magnitude) signal from essentially the same experiment. In future work we will concentrate on: (1) modifying the existing CEARPGS Monte Carlo code to incorporate coincidence counting, (2) obtaining coincidence schemes for 18 or 20 of the common elements in coal and cement, and (3) optimizing the design of a PGNAA coincidence system for the bulk analysis of coal.

Reductions in the size of the U. S. nuclear weapons arsenal resulted in the need to store large quantities of plutonium-bearing metals and oxides for prolonged periods of time. To assure that the excess plutonium from the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites was stored in a safe and environmentally friendly manner the plutonium-bearing materials are stabilized and packaged according to well developed criteria published as a DOE Standard. The packaged materials are stored in secure facilities and regular surveillance activities are conducted to assure continuing package integrity. The stabilization, packaging, storage and surveillance requirements were developed through extensive science and engineering activities including those related to: plutonium-environment interactions and container pressurization, corrosion and stress corrosion cracking, plutonium-container material interactions, loss of sealing capability and changes in heat transfer characteristics. This paper summarizes some of those activities and outlines ongoing science and engineering programs that assure continued safe and secure storage of the plutonium-bearing metals and oxides.

Lattice for a 3-GeV cooler ring with split functions is presented. The ring consists of two half-rings of different properties: in one half-ring, the phase-slip factor is near-zero; in the other half-ring, the phase-slip factor is large. The near-zero phase slip minimizes the 'bad mixing' between the stochastic-cooling pick-ups and kickers, while the high phase slip maximizes the 'good mixing' between the kickers and the next-turn pick-ups.

Extensional wave attenuation and velocity measurements on a high permeability Monterey sand were performed over a range of gas saturations for imbibition and degassing conditions. These measurements were conducted using extensional wave pulse propagation and resonance over a 1-9 kHz frequency range for a hydrostatic confining pressure of 8.3 MPa. Analysis of the extensional wave data and the corresponding X-ray CT images of the gas saturation show strong attenuation resulting from the presence of the gas (Q{sub E} dropped from 300 for the dry sand to 30 for the partially-saturated sand), with larger attenuation at a given saturation resulting from heterogeneous gas distributions. The extensional wave velocities are in agreement with Gassmann theory for the test with near-homogeneous gas saturation and with a patchy saturation model for the test with heterogeneous gas saturation. These results show that partially-saturated sands under moderate confining pressure can produce strong intrinsic attenuation for extensional waves.

I discuss a number of novel phenomenological features of QCD in high transverse momentum reactions. The presence of direct higher-twist processes, where a proton is produced directly in the hard subprocess, can explain the 'baryon anomaly' - the large proton-to-pion ratio seen at RHIC in high centrality heavy ion collisions. Direct hadronic processes can also account for the deviation from leading-twist PQCD scaling at fixed x{sub T} = 2 p{sub T}/{radical}s. I suggest that the 'ridge' --the same-side long-range rapidity correlation observed at RHIC in high centrality heavy ion collisions is due to the imprint of semihard DGLAP gluon radiation from initial-state partons which have transverse momenta biased toward the trigger. A model for early thermalization of the quark-gluon medium is also outlined. Rescattering interactions from gluon-exchange, normally neglected in the parton model, have a profound effect in QCD hard-scattering reactions, leading to leading-twist single-spin asymmetries, diffractive deep inelastic scattering, diffractive hard hadronic reactions, the breakdown of the Lam-Tung relation in Drell-Yan reactions, nuclear shadowing--all leading-twist dynamics not incorporated in the light-front wavefunctions of the target computed in isolation. Anti shadowing is shown to be quark flavor specific and thus different in charged and neutral deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering. I …

The current capsule target design for the first ignition experiments at the NIF Facility beginning in 2009 will be a copper-doped beryllium capsule, roughly 2 mm in diameter with 160-{micro}m walls. The capsule will have a 75-{micro}m layer of solid DT on the inside surface, and the capsule will driven with x-rays generated from a gold/uranium cocktail hohlraum. The design specifications are extremely rigorous, particularly with respect to interfaces, which must be very smooth to inhibit Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth. This paper outlines the current design, and focuses on the challenges and advances in capsule fabrication and characterization; hohlraum fabrication, and D-T layering and characterization.

Understanding virulence mechanisms of bacterial pathogens is vital to anticipating biological threats and to improving detectors, vaccines, and treatments. This project will characterize factors responsible for virulence of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague and a biothreat agent, which has an inducible Type III secretion virulence mechanism also found in other animal, plant, and human pathogens. Our approach relies on genomic and proteomic characterization of Y. pestis in addition to a bioinformatic infrastructure. Scientific and technical capabilities developed in this project can be applied to other microbes of interest. This work will establish a significant new direction for biodefense at LLNL and expand our national and international scientific collaborations.

Mainly due to the method of chirped pulse amplification, laser intensities have grown remarkably during recent years. However, the attaining of very much higher powers is limited by the material properties of gratings. These limitations might be overcome through the use of plasma, which is an ideal medium for processing very high power and very high total energy. A plasma can be irradiated by a long pump laser pulse, carrying significant energy, which is then quickly depleted in the plasma by a short counterpropagating pulse. This counterpropagating wave effect has already been employed in Raman amplifiers using gases or plasmas at low laser power. Of particular interest here are the new effects which enter in high power regimes. These new effects can be employed so that one high-energy optical system can be used like a flashlamp in what amounts to pumping the plasma, and a second low-power optical system can be used to extract quickly the energy from the plasma and focus it precisely. The combined system can be very compact. Thus, focused intensities more than 10{sup 25} W/cm{sup 2} can be contemplated using existing optical elements. These intensities are several orders of magnitude higher than what is currently available …

The VERtical Transport In the Global Ocean (VERTIGO) study examined particle sources and fluxes through the ocean's 'twilight zone' (defined here as depths below the euphotic zone to 1000 m). Interdisciplinary process studies were conducted at contrasting sites off Hawaii (ALOHA) and in the NW Pacific (K2) during 3 week occupations in 2004 and 2005, respectively. We examine in this overview paper the contrasting physical, chemical and biological settings and how these conditions impact the source characteristics of the sinking material and the transport efficiency through the twilight zone. A major finding in VERTIGO is the considerably lower transfer efficiency (T{sub eff}) of particulate organic carbon (POC), POC flux 500/150 m, at ALOHA (20%) vs. K2 (50%). This efficiency is higher in the diatom-dominated setting at K2 where silica-rich particles dominate the flux at the end of a diatom bloom, and where zooplankton and their pellets are larger. At K2, the drawdown of macronutrients is used to assess export and suggests that shallow remineralization above our 150 m trap is significant, especially for N relative to Si. We explore here also surface export ratios (POC flux/primary production) and possible reasons why this ratio is higher at K2, especially during the …

The objective of this project was to characterize the fluid properties and fluid-rock interactions which are needed for formation evaluation by NMR well logging. NMR well logging is finding wide use in formation evaluation. The formation parameters commonly estimated were porosity, permeability, and capillary bound water. Special cases include estimation of oil viscosity, residual oil saturation, location of oil/water contact, and interpretation on whether the hydrocarbon is oil or gas.

As the Hanford Site transitions into remediation of contaminated soil waste sites and tank farm closure, more information is needed about the transport of contaminants as they move through the vadose zone to the underlying water table. The hydraulic properties must be characterized for accurate simulation of flow and transport. This characterization includes the determination of soil texture types, their three-dimensional distribution, and the parameterization of each soil texture. This document describes a method to estimate the soil hydraulic parameter using the parameter scaling concept (Zhang et al. 2002) and inverse techniques. To this end, the Groundwater Protection Program Science and Technology Project funded vadose zone transport field studies, including analysis of the results to estimate field-scale hydraulic parameters for modeling. Parameter scaling is a new method to scale hydraulic parameters. The method relates the hydraulic-parameter values measured at different spatial scales for different soil textures. Parameter scaling factors relevant to a reference texture are determined using these local-scale parameter values, e.g., those measured in the lab using small soil cores. After parameter scaling is applied, the total number of unknown variables in hydraulic parameters is reduced by a factor equal to the number of soil textures. The field-scale values …

This volume of the LLE Review, covering January-March 2004, features ''Performance of 1-THz-Bandwidth, 2-D Smoothing by Spectral Dispersion and Polarization Smoothing of High-Power, Solid-State Laser Beams'', by S. P. Regan, J. A. Marozas, R. S. Craxton, J. H. Kelly, W. R. Donaldson, P. A. Jaanimagi, D. Jacobs-Perkins, R. L. Keck, T. J. Kessler, D. D. Meyerhofer, T. C. Sangster, W. Seka, V.A. Smalyuk, S. Skupsky, and J. D. Zuegel (p. 49). Laser-beam smoothing achieved with 1-THz-bandwidth, two-dimensional smoothing by spectral dispersion and polarization smoothing on the 60-beam, 30-kJ, 351-nm OMEGA laser system is reported. These beam-smoothing techniques are directly applicable to direct-drive ignition target designs for the 192-beam, 1.8-MJ, 351-nm National Ignition Facility. Equivalent-target-plane images for constant-intensity laser pulses of varying duration were used to determine the smoothing. The properties of the phase plates, frequency modulators, and birefringent wedges were simulated and found to be in good agreement with the measurements.

We report here a novel synthetic route to prepare the precursor and to efficiently label GVG with C-11. 5-Bromo-3-(carbobenzyloxy)amino-1-pentene was synthesized in five steps from homoserine lactone. This was used in a two step radiosynthesis, displacement with [{sup 11}C]cyanide followed by acid hydrolysis to afford [{sup 11}C]GVG with high radiochemical yields (> 35%, not optimized) and high specific activity (2-5 Ci/{micro}mol). The [{sup 11}C]cyanide trapping was achieved at {minus}5 C with a mixture of Kryptofix and K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} without using conventional aqueous trapping procedure [7]. At this temperature, the excess NH{sub 3} from the target that may interfere with the synthesis would not be trapped [8]. This procedure would be advantageous to any moisture sensitive radiosynthetic steps, as it was the case for our displacement reaction. When conventional aqueous trapping procedure was used, any trace amount of water left, even after prolonged heating, resulted in either no reaction or extremely low yields for the displacement reaction. The entire synthetic procedure should be extendible to the labeling of the pharmacologically active S- form of GVG when using S-homoserine lactone.

None

None

It has been well documented that spectacular dust storms in Asia (e.g. the events in 1998 and 2001) can affect the USA through long-range transport of dust across the Pacific. However, our observations and modeling show that the majority of dust at sites in Lassen National Park and Trinity Alps (Northern California) in spring 2002 (a year with no spectacular Asian dust events) is still from long-range intercontinental transport across the Pacific. We implemented the interactive dust emission algorithm of Ginoux et al. (2004) into the LLNL 3-D global atmospheric chemistry and aerosol transport model (IMPACT), then ran the model using a separate tracer for each dust emission region, using hi-resolution (1 x 1 degree) meteorological data from the NASA GMAO GEOS-3 assimilation system for 2001 and 2002. We also experimentally analyzed size- and time-resolved aerosol samples at Lassen National Park and Trinity Alps in the spring of 2002, which were taken as part of NOAA's ITCT 2k2 measurement campaign. The model-predicted time-series of soil dust over Northern California agrees remarkably well with our measurements, with a strong temporal correlation between the observations and intercontinental transport of dust across the Pacific in the model. Hence, we conclude that the majority …

This report presents the results of groundwater and vadose zone monitoring and remediation for fiscal year 1999 on the US. Department of Energy's Hanford Site, Washington. Water-level monitoring was performed to evaluate groundwater flow directions, to track changes in water levels, and to relate such changes to evolving disposal practices. Measurements for site-wide maps were conducted in June in past years and are now measured in March to reflect conditions that are closer to average. Water levels over most of the Hanford Site continued to decline between June 1998 and March 1999. The most widespread radiological contaminant plumes in groundwater were tritium and iodine-129. Concentrations of carbon-14, strontium-90, technetium-99, and uranium also exceeded drinking water standards in smaller plumes. Cesium-137 and plutonium exceeded standards only near the 216-B-5 injection well. Derived concentration guide levels specified in US Department of Energy Order 5400.5 were exceeded for plutonium, strontium-90, tritium, and uranium in small plumes or single wells. Nitrate and carbon tetrachloride are the most extensive chemical contaminants. Chloroform, chromium, cis-1,2dichloroethylene, cyanide, fluoride, and trichloroethylene also were present in smaller areas at levels above their maximum contaminant levels. Metals such as aluminum, cadmium, iron, manganese, and nickel exceeded their maximum contaminant levels …

We examine the mechanics of the send and receive mechanism of MPI and in particular how we can implement message passing in a robust way so that our performance is not significantly affected by changes to the MPI system. This leads us to using the Isend/Irecv protocol which will entail sometimes significant algorithmic changes. We discuss this within the context of two different algorithms for sparse Gaussian elimination that we have parallelized. One is a multifrontal solver called MUMPS, the other is a supernodal solver called SuperLU. Both algorithms are difficult to parallelize on distributed memory machines. Our initial strategies were based on simple MPI point-to-point communication primitives. With such approaches, the parallel performance of both codes are very sensitive to the MPI implementation, the way MPI internal buffers are used in particular. We then modified our codes to use more sophisticated nonblocking versions of MPI communication. This significantly improved the performance robustness (independent of the MPI buffering mechanism) and scalability, but at the cost of increased code complexity.

The work performed during the past three years has been extremely productive. Ferrographic capture was utilized in analysis of several thousand field samples collected from arrays of multilevel samplers during three intensive field campaigns conducted at two shallow sandy aquifer sites in Oyster, VA. This work has shown resulted in three important conclusions: (1) Ferrographic capture provides unparalleled low quantitation limits for bacterial cell enumeration (Johnson et al., 2000). (2) The high-resolution analyses provided by ferrographic capture allowed observation of increased bacterial removal rates (from groundwater) that corresponded to increased populations of protozoa in the groundwater (Zhang et al., 2001). This novel data allowed determination of bacterial predation rates by protists in the field, a consideration that will be important for successful bioaugmentation strategies. (3) The high-resolution analyses provided by ferrographic capture allowed observation of detachment of indigenous cells in response to breakthrough of injected cells in groundwater (Johnson et al., 2001). The implication of this unique observation is that bacterial transport, specifically bacterial attachment and detachment, may be much more dynamic than has been indicated by short-term laboratory and field studies. Dynamic attachment and detachment of bacteria in groundwater may lead to greatly increased transport distances over long terms …

This report provides an overview of the process for filling positions to which the President makes appointments with the advice and consent of the Senate (PAS positions). It also identifies, for the 109th Congress, all nominations to executive level full-time positions in the 15 departments. Profiles of the departments provide basic information regarding their full-time PAS positions and related appointment activity during the 109th Congress.

The Gordon Research Conference on Archaea: Ecology, Metabolism [and Molecular Biology] was held at Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire, August 5-10, 2001. The conference was attended by 135 participants. The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field, coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, and included US and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate discussion about the key issues in the field today. Session topics included the following: Ecology and genetic elements; Genomics and evolution; Ecology, genomes and gene regulation; Replication and recombination; Chromatin and transcription; Gene regulation; Post-transcription processing; Biochemistry and metabolism; Proteomics and protein structure; Metabolism and physiology. The featured speaker addressed the topic: ''Archaeal viruses, witnesses of prebiotic evolution?''

None

We describe searches for decays to two-body charmless final states {eta}'{eta}, {eta}'{pi}{sup 0} and {eta}{pi}{sup 0} of B{sup 0} mesons produced in e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilation. The data, collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, represent 232 million produced B{bar B} pairs. The results for branching fractions are, in units of 10{sup -6} (upper limits at 90% C.L.): {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}'{eta}) = 0.2{sub -0.5}{sup +0.7} {+-} 0.4 (< 1.7), {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}{pi}{sup 0}) = 0.6{sub -0.4}{sup +0.5} {+-} 0.1 (< 1.3), and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}'{pi}{sup 0}) = 0.8{sub -0.6}{sup +0.8} {+-} 0.1 (< 2.1). The first error quoted is statistical and the second systematic.

The competition between the addition of polar, oxygen-containing functional groups (functionalization) and the cleavage of C-C bonds (fragmentation) has a governing influence on the change in volatility of organic species upon atmospheric oxidation, and hence on the loading of tropospheric organic aerosol. However the branching between these two channels is generally poorly constrained for oxidized organics. Here we determine functionalization/fragmentation branching ratios for organics spanning a range of oxidation levels, using the heterogeneous oxidation of squalane (C30H62) as a model system. Squalane particles are exposed to high concentrations of OH in a flow reactor, and measurements of particle mass and elemental ratios enable the determination of absolute elemental composition (number of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms) of the oxidized particles. At low OH exposures, the oxygen content of the organics increases, indicating that functionalization dominates, whereas at higher exposures the amount of carbon in the particles decreases, indicating the increasing importance of fragmentation processes. Once the organics are moderately oxidized (O/C~;;0.4), fragmentation completely dominates, and the increase in O/C ratio upon further oxidation is due to the loss of carbon rather than the addition of oxygen. These results suggest that fragmentation reactions may be key steps in the atmospheric formation …