Clostridium botulinum is a taxonomic designation for many diverse anaerobic spore forming rod-shaped bacteria which have the common property of producing botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs). The BoNTs are exoneurotoxins that can cause severe paralysis and even death in humans and various other animal species. A collection of 174 C. botulinum strains were examined by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and BoNT genes to examine genetic diversity within this species. This collection contained representatives of each of the seven different serotypes of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT A-G). Analysis of the16S rRNA sequences confirmed earlier reports of at least four distinct genomic backgrounds (Groups I-IV) each of which has independently acquired one or more BoNT serotypes through horizontal gene transfer. AFLP analysis provided higher resolution, and can be used to further subdivide the four groups into sub-groups. Sequencing of the BoNT genes from serotypes A, B and E in multiple strains confirmed significant sequence variation within each serotype. Four distinct lineages within each of the BoNT A and B serotypes, and five distinct lineages of serotype E strains were identified. The nucleotide sequences of the seven serotypes of BoNT were compared and show varying degrees …

This account of the beginning of the program on laser fusion at Livermore in 1962, and its subsequent development during the decade ending in 1972, was originally prepared as a contribution to the January 1991 symposium 'Achievements in Physics' honoring Professor Keith Brueckner upon his retirement from the University of San Diego at La Jolla. It is a personal recollection of work at Livermore from my vantage point as its scientific leader, and of events elsewhere that I thought significant. This period was one of rapid growth in which the technology of high-power short-pulse lasers needed to drive the implosion of thermonuclear fuel to the temperature and density needed for ignition was developed, and in which the physics of the interaction of intense light with plasmas was explored both theoretically and experimentally.

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The measurement of regional attenuation Q{sup -1} can produce method dependent results. The discrepancies among methods are due to differing parameterizations (e.g., geometrical spreading rates), employed datasets (e.g., choice of path lengths and sources), and methodologies themselves (e.g., measurement in the frequency or time domain). We apply the coda normalization (CN), two-station (TS), reverse two-station (RTS), source-pair/receiver-pair (SPRP), and the new coda-source normalization (CS) methods to measure Q of the regional phase, Lg (Q{sub Lg}), and its power-law dependence on frequency of the form Q{sub 0}f{sup {eta}} with controlled parameterization in the well-studied region of northern California using a high-quality dataset from the Berkeley Digital Seismic Network. We test the sensitivity of each method to changes in geometrical spreading, Lg frequency bandwidth, the distance range of data, and the Lg measurement window. For a given method, there are significant differences in the power-law parameters, Q{sub 0} and {eta}, due to perturbations in the parameterization when evaluated using a conservative pairwise comparison. The CN method is affected most by changes in the distance range, which is most probably due to its fixed coda measurement window. Since, the CS method is best used to calculate the total path attenuation, it is very …

Using a regional time-domain waveform inversion for the complete moment tensor we calculate the deviatoric and isotropic source components for several explosions at the Nevada Test Site as well as earthquakes, and collapses in the surrounding region of the western US. The events separate into specific populations according to their deviation from a pure double-couple and ratio of isotropic to deviatoric energy. The separation allows for anomalous event identification and discrimination between explosions, earthquakes, and collapses. Error in the moment tensor solutions and source parameters is also calculated. We investigate the sensitivity of the moment tensor solutions to Green's functions calculated with imperfect Earth models, inaccurate event locations, and data with a low signal-to-noise ratio. We also test the performance of the method under a range of recording conditions from excellent azimuthal coverage to cases of sparse station availability, as might be expected for smaller events. Finally, we assess the depth and frequency dependence upon event size. This analysis will be used to determine the range where well-constrained solutions can be obtained.

Gas storage is a critical element in the natural gas industry. Producers, transmission & distribution companies, marketers, and end users all benefit directly from the load balancing function of storage. The unbundling process has fundamentally changed the way storage is used and valued. As an unbundled service, the value of storage is being recovered at rates that reflect its value. Moreover, the marketplace has differentiated between various types of storage services, and has increasingly rewarded flexibility, safety, and reliability. The size of the natural gas market has increased and is projected to continue to increase towards 30 trillion cubic feet (TCF) over the next 10 to 15 years. Much of this increase is projected to come from electric generation, particularly peaking units. Gas storage, particularly the flexible services that are most suited to electric loads, is critical in meeting the needs of these new markets. In order to address the gas storage needs of the natural gas industry, an industry-driven consortium was created--the Gas Storage Technology Consortium (GSTC). The objective of the GSTC is to provide a means to accomplish industry-driven research and development designed to enhance operational flexibility and deliverability of the Nation's gas storage system, and provide a …

This report describes a cold mass support system based on the use of oriented fiberglassepoxy rods in bending.

A double-windowed vacuum-tight experimental chamber was developed, and calibrated on the spectroscopic ellipsometer over the energy range from .7 to 4.5 eV using a silicon wafer with approximately 25 nm oxide thickness to remove the multiple-window effects from measurements. The ellipsometric measurements were done such that incident and exit beam were at 65 degree from surface normal. The plutonium sample (3 mm diameter, .1 mm thick) was electro-polished and mounted into the sample chamber in a glove box having a nitrogen atmosphere with less than 100ppm moisture and oxygen content. The index of refraction n and the extinction coefficient k decrease from 3.7 to 1 and 5.5 to 1.1 respectively as the photon energy increases from .7 to 4.3 eV.

Genomic comparisons between human and distant, non-primatemammals are commonly used to identify cis-regulatory elements based onconstrained sequence evolution. However, these methods fail to detect"cryptic" functional elements, which are too weakly conserved amongmammals to distinguish from nonfunctional DNA. To address this problem,we explored the potential of deep intra-primate sequence comparisons. Wesequenced the orthologs of 558 kb of human genomic sequence, coveringmultiple loci involved in cholesterol homeostasis, in 6 nonhumanprimates. Our analysis identified 6 noncoding DNA elements displayingsignificant conservation among primates, but undetectable in more distantcomparisons. In vitro and in vivo tests revealed that at least three ofthese 6 elements have regulatory function. Notably, the mouse orthologsof these three functional human sequences had regulatory activity despitetheir lack of significant sequence conservation, indicating that they arecryptic ancestral cis-regulatory elements. These regulatory elementscould still be detected in a smaller set of three primate speciesincluding human, rhesus and marmoset. Since the human and rhesus genomesequences are already available, and the marmoset genome is activelybeing sequenced, the primate-specific conservation analysis describedhere can be applied in the near future on a whole-genome scale, tocomplement the annotation provided by more distant speciescomparisons.

Recent experiments on double photoionization of H$_2$ with photon energies between 160 and 240 eV have revealed body-frame angular distributions that suggest classical two-slit interference effects may be present when one electron carries most of the available energy and the second electron is not observed. We report precise quantum mechanical calculations that reproduce the experimental findings. They reveal that the interpretation in terms of classical diffraction is only appropriate atsubstantially higher photon energies. At the energies considered in the experiment we offer an alternative explanation based on the mixing of two non-diffractive contributions by circularly polarized light.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research and Engineering (GNEM R&E) Program at LLNL has made significant progress enhancing the process of deriving seismic calibrations and performing scientific integration, analysis, and information management with software automation tools. Several achievements in schema design, data visualization, synthesis, and analysis were completed this year. Our tool efforts address the problematic issues of very large datasets and varied formats encountered during seismic calibration research. As data volumes have increased, scientific information management issues such as data quality assessment, ontology mapping, and metadata collection that are essential for production and validation of derived calibrations have negatively impacted researchers abilities to produce products. New information management and analysis tools have resulted in demonstrated gains in efficiency of producing scientific data products and improved accuracy of derived seismic calibrations. Significant software engineering and development efforts have produced an object-oriented framework that provides database centric coordination between scientific tools, users, and data. Nearly a half billion parameters, signals, measurements, and metadata entries are all stored in a relational database accessed by an extensive object-oriented multi-technology software framework that includes elements of stored procedures, real-time transactional database triggers and constraints, as well as coupled Java …

We measure the time to explosion of 12.7 mm diameter spheres of ultra fine TATB and PBX-9502 (95 wt% TATB, 5 wt% Kel-F 800) at 85.0, 92.5, and 98.0 percent of theoretical maximum density (TMD) in confined and unconfined configurations and at several elevated temperatures with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) One Dimensional Time to Explosion (ODTX) apparatus. Time to explosion data provide insight into the relative ease of thermal ignition and allow for the calibration of kinetic parameters. The measurements show that PBX-9502 is more thermally stable than ultra fine TATB, that unconfined samples are slightly more thermally stable than confined ones, and that lower density samples are more thermally stable than higher density ones. 'Go/no go' data at the lowest temperatures yield an experimental measurement of the critical temperature, which is the temperature at which an explosive can be heated indefinitely without undergoing self-heating and concomitant rapid and violent decomposition. Critical temperatures ranges for 12.7 mm diameter spheres of 98% TMD ultra fine TATB and PBX-9502 are 213-230 C and 234-239 C, respectively. Experimental data are modeled with ALE3D and kinetic parameters are determined. These kinetic parameters, when coupled with thermal property data, provide good prediction of …

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The capture of solar energy by photosynthesis has had a most profound influence on the development and sustenance of life on earth. It is the engine that has driven the proliferation of life and, as the source of both energy and oxygen, has had a major hand in shaping the forms that life has taken. Both ancient and present day photosynthetic carbon fixation is intimately tied to issues of immediate human concern, global energy and global warming. Decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels by tapping photosynthesis in a more direct way is an attractive goal for sustainable energy. Meeting this challenge means understanding photosynthetic energy conversion at a molecular level, a task requiring perspectives ranging through all disciplines of science. Researchers in photosynthesis have a strong history of working across conventional boundaries and engaging in multidisciplinary collaborations. The Gordon conference in photosynthesis has been a key focal point for the dissemination of new results and the establishment of powerful research collaborations. In this spirit the 2009 Gordon conference on biophysical aspects of photosynthesis will bring together top international researchers from diverse and complementary disciplines, all working towards understanding how photosynthesis converts light into the stable chemical energy that powers so …

We present the history and analysis of different wake field effects throughout the operational life of the PEP-II SLAC B-factory. Although the impedance of the high and low energy rings is small, the intense high current beams generated a lot of power. The effects from these wake fields are: heating and damage of vacuum beam chamber elements like RF seals, vacuum valves , shielded bellows, BPM buttons and ceramic tiles; vacuum spikes, vacuum instabilities and high detector background; beam longitudinal and transverse instabilities. We also discuss the methods used to eliminate these effects. Results of this analysis and the PEP-II experience may be very useful in the design of new storage rings and light sources.

Fields induced by a beam and penetrated outside the beam pipe can be used for a beam diagnostic. Wires placed in longitudinal slots in the outside wall of the beam pipe can work as a beam pickup. This has very small beam-coupling impedance and avoids complications of having a feed-through. The signal can be reasonably high at low frequencies. We calculate the beam-coupling impedance due to a long longitudinal slot in the resistive wall and the signal induced in a wire placed in such a slot and shielded by a thin screen from the beam. We present a field waveform at the outer side of a beam pipe, obtained as a result of calculations and measurements. Such kind of diagnostic can be used in storage rings, synchrotron light sources, and free electron lasers, like LINAC coherent light source.

We show that there exists an exponentially large discretuum of vacua in G{sub 2}-compactifications of M-theory without flux. In M-theory-inspired G{sub 2}-MSSM, quantities relevant for particle physics remain virtually insensitive to large variations of the vacuum energy across the landscape. The purely non-perturbative vacua form a special subset of a more general class of vacua containing fractional Chern-Simons contributions. The cosmological constant can be dynamically neutralized via a chain of transitions interpolated by fractional gauge instantons describing spontaneous nucleation of M2-brane domain walls. Each transition is generically accompanied by a gauge symmetry breaking in some sector of the theory. In particular, the visible sector GUT symmetry breaking can likewise be triggered by a spontaneous nucleation of an M2-brane.

We give an overview of wake fields and impedances in a proposed Super B project, which is based on extremely low emittance beams colliding at a large angle with a crab waist transformation. Understanding the effects that wake fields have on the beam is critical for a successful machine operation. We use our combined experience from the operation of the SLAC B-factory and DA{Phi}NE {Phi}-factory to eliminate strong HOM sources and minimize the chamber impedance in the Super B design. Based on a detailed study of the wake fields in this design we have developed a quasi-Green's function for the entire ring that is used to study bunch lengthening and beam stability. In particular, we check the stability threshold using numerical solutions of the Fokker-Plank equation. We also make a comparison of numerical simulations with the bunch lengthening data in the B- factory.

As part of a SLAC-CERN-KEK collaboration on high gradient X-band structure research, several prototype structures for the CLIC linear collider study have been tested using two of the high power (300 MW) X-band rf stations in the NLCTA facility at SLAC. These structures differ in terms of their fabrication (brazed disks and clamped quadrants), gradient profile (amount by which the gradient increases along the structure, which optimizes efficiency and maximizes sustainable gradient) and HOM damping (use of slots or waveguides to rapidly dissipate dipole mode energy). The CLIC goal in the next few years is to demonstrate the feasibility of a CLIC-ready baseline design and to investigate alternatives that could increase efficiency. This paper summarizes the high gradient test results from NLCTA in support of this effort.

We present a concept for powering the main linacs of the International Linear Collider (ILC) by delivering high power RF from the surface via overmoded, low-loss waveguides at widely spaced intervals. The baseline design employs a two-tunnel layout, with klystrons and modulators evenly distributed along a service tunnel running parallel to the accelerator tunnel. This new idea eliminates the need for the service tunnel. It also brings most of the warm heat load to the surface, dramatically reducing the tunnel water cooling and HVAC requirements. In the envisioned configuration, groups of 70 klystrons and modulators are clustered in surface buildings every 2.5 km. Their outputs are combined into two half-meter diameter circular TE{sub 01} mode evacuated waveguides. These are directed via special bends through a deep shaft and along the tunnel, one upstream and one downstream. Each feeds approximately 1.25 km of linac with power tapped off in 10 MW portions at 38 m intervals. The power is extracted through a novel coaxial tap-off (CTO), after which the local distribution is as it would be from a klystron. The tap-off design is also employed in reverse for the initial combining.

Shorter and shorter electron bunches are now used in the FEL designs. The fine structure of the wall of a beam vacuum pipe plays more noticeable role in the wake field generation. Additionally to the resistance and roughness, the wall may have an oxide layer, which is usually a dielectric. It is important for aluminium pipe, which have Al2O3 layer. The thickness of this layer may vary in a large range: 1-100 nm. We study this effect for the very short (20-1000 nm) ultra relativistic bunches in an infinite round pipe. We solved numerically the Maxwell equations for the fields in the metal and ceramics. Results showed that the oxide layer may considerably increase the wavelength and the decay time of the resistive-wall wake fields, however the loss factor of the very short bunches does not change much.

A number of photos and charts detailing the remediation of the Hanford Reservation and the cleanup of Strontium-90.

Size- and shape-controlled nanocrystal growth is intensely researched for applications including electro-optic, catalytic, and medical devices. Chemical transformations such as cation exchange overcome the limitation of traditional colloidal synthesis, where the nanocrystal shape often reflects the inherent symmetry of the underlying lattice. Here we show that nanocrystals, with established synthetic protocols for high monodispersity, can be templates for independent composition control. Specifically, controlled interconversion between wurtzite CdS, chalcocite Cu2S, and rock salt PbS occurs while preserving the anisotropic dimensions unique to the as-synthesized materials. Sequential exchange reactions between the three sulfide compositions are driven by the disparate solubilites of the metal ion exchange pair in specific coordinating molecules. Starting with CdS, highly anisotropic PbS nanorods are created, which serve as an important material for studying strong 2-dimensional quantum confinement, as well as for optoelectronic applications. Furthermore, interesting nanoheterostructures of CdS|PbS are obtained by precise control over ion insertion and removal.

In this paper we perform a new estimate of the high energy neutrinos expected from GRBs associated with the first generation of stars in light of new models and constraints on the epoch of reionization and a more detailed evaluation of the neutrino emission yields. We also compare the diffuse high energy neutrino background from Population III stars with the one from ''ordinary stars'' (Population II), as estimated consistently within the same cosmological and astrophysical assumptions. In disagreement with previous literature, we find that high energy neutrinos from Population III stars will not be observable with current or near future neutrino telescopes, falling below both IceCube sensitivity and atmospheric neutrino background under the most extreme assumptions for the GRB rate. This rules them out as a viable diagnostic tool for these still elusive metal-free stars.