To heat targets to electron-volt temperatures for the study of warm dense matter with intense ion beams, low mass ions, such as lithium, have an energy loss peak (dE/dx) at a suitable kinetic energy. The Heavy Ion Fusion Sciences (HIFS) program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will carry out warm dense matter experiments using Li{sup +} ion beam with energy 1.2-4 MeV in order to achieve uniform heating up to 0.1-1 eV. The accelerator physics design of Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX-II) has a pulse length at the ion source of about 0.5 {micro}s. Thus for producing 50 nC of beam charge, the required beam current is about 100 mA. Focusability requires a normalized (edge) emittance {approx}2 {pi}-mm-mrad. Here, lithium aluminosilicate ion sources, of {beta}-eucryptite, are being studied within the scope of NDCX-II construction. Several small (0.64 cm diameter) lithium aluminosilicate ion sources, on 70%-80% porous tungsten substrate, were operated in a pulsed mode. The distance between the source surface and the mid-plane of the extraction electrode (1 cm diameter aperture) was 1.48 cm. The source surface temperature was at 1220 C to 1300 C. A 5-6 {micro}s long beam pulsed was recorded by a Faraday cup (+300 V on …

The Heavy Ion Fusion Science Virtual National Laboratory in the USA is constructing a new Neutralized Drift Compression eXperiment (NDCX-II) at LBNL. This facility is being developed for high energy density physics and inertial fusion energy research. The 12 m long induction linac in NDCX-II will produce a Li{sup +} beam pulse, at energies of 1.2-3 MeV, to heat target material to the warm dense matter regime ({approx} 1 eV). By making use of special acceleration voltage waveforms, 2.5T solenoid focusing, and neutralized drift compression, 20 - 50 nC of beam charge from the ion source will be compressed longitudinally and radially to achieve a subnanosecond pulse length and mm-scale target spot size. The original Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX-I) has successfully demonstrated simultaneous radial and longitudinal compression by imparting a velocity ramp to the ion beam, which then drifts in a neutralizing plasma to and through the final focussing solenoid and onto the target. At higher kinetic energy and current, NDCX-II will offer more than 100 times the peak energy fluence on target of NDCX-I. NDCX-II makes use of many parts from the decommissioned Advanced Test Accelerator (ATA) at LLNL. It includes 27 lattice periods between the injector and …

In this paper, we report the precise control of the size, shape and surface morphology of Au-Pt nanocatalysts (cubes, blocks, octahedrons and dogbones) synthesized via a seed-mediated approach. Gold 'seeds' of different aspect ratios (1 to 4.2), grown by a silver-assisted approach, were used as templates for high-yield production of novel Au-Pt nanocatalysts at a low temperature (40 C). Characterization by electron microscopy (SEM, TEM, HRTEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), UV-Vis spectroscopy, zeta-potential (surface charge), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were used to better understand their physico-chemical properties, preferred reactivities and underlying nanoparticle growth mechanism. A rotating disk electrode was used to evaluate the Au-Pt nanocatalysts electrochemical performance in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of direct methanol fuel cells. The results indicate the Au-Pt dogbones are partially and in some cases completely unaffected by methanol poisoning during the evaluation of the ORR. The ORR performance of the octahedron particles in the absence of MeOH is superior to that of the Au-Pt dogbones and Pt-black, however its performance is affected by the presence of MeOH.

XPG is a structure-specific endonuclease required for nucleotide excision repair (NER). XPG incision defects result in the cancer-prone syndrome xeroderma pigmentosum, whereas truncating mutations of XPG cause the severe postnatal progeroid developmental disorder Cockayne syndrome. We show that XPG interacts directly with WRN protein, which is defective in the premature aging disorder Werner syndrome, and that the two proteins undergo similar sub-nuclear redistribution in S-phase and co-localize in nuclear foci. The co-localization was observed in mid- to late-S-phase, when WRN moves from nucleoli to nuclear foci that have been shown to contain protein markers of both stalled replication forks and telomeric proteins. We mapped the interaction between XPG and WRN to the C-terminal domains of each and show that interaction with the C-terminal domain of XPG strongly stimulates WRN helicase activity. WRN also possesses a competing DNA single-strand annealing activity that, combined with unwinding, has been shown to coordinate regression of model replication forks to form Holliday junction/chicken foot intermediate structures. We tested whether XPG stimulated WRN annealing activity and found that XPG itself has intrinsic strand annealing activity that requires the unstructured R- and C-terminal domains, but not the conserved catalytic core or endonuclease activity. Annealing by XPG is …

We have measured the electrically detected magnetic resonance of donor-doped silicon field-effect transistors in resonant X- (9.7 GHz) and W-band (94 GHz) microwave cavities. The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) resonance signal increases by two orders of magnitude from X- to W-band, while the donor resonance signals are enhanced by over one order of magnitude. Bolometric effects and spin-dependent scattering are inconsistent with the observations. We propose that polarization transfer from the donor to the 2DEG is the main mechanism giving rise to the spin resonance signals.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) should be used to assist carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) planners to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and avoid unintended environmental trade-offs. LCA is an analytical framework for determining environmental impacts resulting from processes, products, and services. All life cycle stages are evaluated including raw material sourcing, processing, operation, maintenance, and component end-of-life, as well as intermediate stages such as transportation. In recent years a growing number of LCA studies have analyzed CCS systems. We reviewed 50+ LCA studies, and selected 11 studies that compared the environmental performance of 23 electric power plants with and without CCS. Here we summarize and interpret the findings of these studies. Regarding overall climatemitigation effectiveness of CCS, we distinguish between the capture percentage of carbon in the fuels, the net carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction, and the net GHG emission reduction. We also identify trade-offs between the climate benefits and the potential increased non-climate impacts of CCS. Emissions of non-CO2 flue gases such as NOx may increase due to the greater throughput of fuel, and toxicity issues may arise due to the use of monoethanolamine (MEA) capture solvent, resulting in ecological and human health impacts. We discuss areas where improvements …

Article on cooperative effects in the annelation of benzene by multiple etheno groups.

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