During the past few years, substantial progress has been made in developing experimental techniques capable of investigating the response of materials to dynamic loading on nanosecond time scales and shorter, with multiple diagnostics probing different aspects of the behavior. these relatively short time scales are scientifically interesting because plastic flow and phase changes in common materials with simple crystal structures--such as iron--may be suppressed, allowing unusual states to be induced and the dynamics of plasticity and polymorphism to be explored. Loading by laser ablation can be particularly convenient. The TRIDENT laser has been used to impart shocks and isentropic compression waves from {approx}1 to 200GPa in a range of elements and alloys, with diagnostics including surface velocimetry (line-imaging VISAR), surface displacement (framed area imaging), x-ray diffraction (single crystal and polycrystal), ellipsometry, and Raman spectroscopy. A major motivation has been the study of the properties of beryllium under conditions relevant to the fuel capsule in inertial confinement fusion: magnetically-driven shock and isentropic compression shots at Z were used to investigate the equation of state and shock melting characteristics, complemented by laser ablation experiments to investigate plasticity and heterogeneous response. These results will help to constrain acceptable tolerances on manufacturing, and possible …

Cathepsin B (CTSB) and cathepsin L (CTSL) are two widelyexpressed cysteine proteases thought to predominantly reside withinlysosomes. Functional analysis of CTSL in humans is complicated by theexistence of two CTSL-like homologues (CTSL and CTSL2), in contrast tomice which contain only one CTSL enzyme. Thus transgenic expression ofhuman CTSL in CTSL deficient mice provides an opportunity to study the invivo functions of this human protease without interference by its highlyrelated homologue. While mice with single gene deficiencies for murineCTSB or CTSL survive without apparent neuromuscular impairment, murineCTSB/CTSL double deficient mice display degeneration of cerebellarPurkinje cells and neurons of the cerebral cortex, resulting in severehypotrophy, motility defects, and lethality during their third to fourthweek of life. Here we show that expression of human CTSL through agenomic transgene results in widespread expression of human CTSL in themouse which is capable of rescuing the lethality found in CTSB/CTSLdouble-deficient animals. Human CTSL is expressed in the brain of thesecompound mutants predominantly in neurons of the cerebral cortex and inPurkinje cells of the cerebellum, where it appears to prevent neuronalcell death.

A micromechanical model is developed for grain bridging inmonolithic ceramics. Specifically, bridge formation of a single,non-equiaxed grain spanning adjacent grains is addressed. A cohesive zoneframework enables crack initiation and propagation along grainboundaries. The evolution of the bridge is investigated through avariance in both grain angle and aspect ratio. We propose that thebridging process can be partitioned into five distinct regimes ofresistance: propagate, kink, arrest, stall, and bridge. Although crackpropagation and kinking are well understood, crack arrest and subsequent"stall" have been largely overlooked. Resistance during the stall regimeexposes large volumes of microstructure to stresses well in excess of thegrain boundary strength. Bridging can occur through continued propagationor reinitiation ahead of the stalled crack tip. The driving forcerequired to reinitiate is substantially greater than the driving forcerequired to kink. In addition, the critical driving force to reinitiateis sensitive to grain aspect ratio but relatively insensitive to grainangle. The marked increase in crack resistance occurs prior to bridgeformation and provides an interpretation for the rapidly risingresistance curves which govern the strength of many brittle materials atrealistically small flaw sizes.

Atomic scale surface structure plays an important roleindescribing many properties of materials, especially in the case ofnanomaterials. One of the most effective techniques for surface structuredetermination is low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), which can beused in conjunction with optimization to fit simulated LEED intensitiesto experimental data. This optimization problem has a number ofcharacteristics that make it challenging: it has many local minima, theoptimization variables can be either continuous or categorical, theobjective function can be discontinuous, there are no exact analyticderivatives (and no derivatives at all for categorical variables), andfunction evaluations are expensive. In this study, we show how to apply aparticular class of optimization methods known as pattern search methodsto address these challenges. These methods donot explicitly usederivatives, and are particularly appropriate when categorical variablesare present, an important feature that has not been addressed in previousLEED studies. We have found that pattern search methods can produceexcellent results, compared to previously used methods, both in terms ofperformance and locating optimal results.

The capacity of photosynthetic organisms to exhibit photo-induced electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signals has been known for over ten years. Subcellular units of photosynthetic materials, the quantasomes and the chromatophores, are capable of Hill Reaction activity, and also of exhibiting the light-induced EPR signals. This, coupled with the rapid rise and decay kinetics of these signals, suggests but does not prove that the unpaired electrons are involved in the initial electron transfer processes in the primary quantum conversion act. The identification of the species giving rise to these signals and their connection with processes of primary quantum conversion remains elusive even though such varied approaches as mutant strains, special growth conditions, extreme physical conditions, special metabolic inhibitors, etc. have been applied to this problem. In this communication the authors wish to report another method being used in an attempt to identify the species responsible for the unpaired electrons. Hoffman prepared a water soluble, stable free radical, di-tertiary-butylnitroxide (hereafter called DTBN), which is a 'vigorous free radical scavenger'. It shows a sharp, well resolved, symmetrical, three-line paramagnetic resonance spectrum that is relatively insensitive to the molecular environment. The chemistry of di-tertiary butylnitroxide has not been studied extensively. However, four distinct types …

The supply of calcium to the developing neonate via milk is an important physiological process. Until recently the mechanism for the enrichment of milk with calcium was thought to be almost entirely mediated via the secretory pathway. However, recent studies suggest that a specific isoform of the plasma membrane calcium ATPase, PMCA2, is the primary mechanism for calcium transport into milk, highlighting a major role for apical calcium transport. We compared the expression of the recently identified secretory calcium ATPase, SPCA2, and SPCA1, in the mouse mammary gland during different stages of development. SPCA2 levels increased over 35 fold during lactation, while SPCA1 increased only a modest two fold. The potential importance of SPCA2 in lactation was also highlighted by its localization to luminal secretory cells of the mammary gland during lactation, while SPCA1 was expressed throughout the cells of the mammary gland. We also observed major differences in the localization of PMCA2 and PMCA1 during lactation. Using the SCp2 mouse mammary epithelial cell 3D culture model, differences in the sub-cellular distribution of PMCA2 and PMCA1 were clear. These studies highlight the likely specific roles of PMCA2 and SPCA2 in lactation, and link the recently characterized SPCA2 calcium pump to …

Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) is a highly effective method for simulations that span a large range of spatiotemporal scales, such as astrophysical simulations that must accommodate ranges from interstellar to sub-planetary. Most mainstream visualization tools still lack support for AMR as a first class data type and AMR code teams use custom built applications for AMR visualization. The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Science Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies (VACET) is currently working on extending VisIt, which is an open source visualization tool that accommodates AMR as a first-class data type. These efforts will bridge the gap between general-purpose visualization applications and highly specialized AMR visual analysis applications. Here, we give an overview of the state of the art in AMR visualization research and tools and describe how VisIt currently handles AMR data.

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Three layer insulating glass units with two low-e coatings and an effective gas fill are known to be highly insulating, with center-of-glass U-factors as low as 0.57 W/m{sup 2}-K (0.10 Btu/h-ft{sup 2}- F). Such units have historically been built with center layers of glass or plastic which extend all the way through the spacer system. This paper shows that triple glazing systems with non-structural center layers which do not create a hermetic seal at the edge have the potential to be as thermally efficient as standard designs, while potentially removing some of the production and product integration issues that have discouraged the use of triples.

Amorphous alloys identified as SAM2X5 (Fe{sub 49.7}Cr{sub 17.7}Mn{sub 1.9}Mo{sub 7.4}W{sub 1.6}B{sub 15.2}C{sub 3.8}Si{sub 2.4}) and SAM1651 (Fe{sub 48}Mo{sub 14}Cr{sub 15}Y{sub 2}C{sub 15}B{sub 6}) have been produced as melt-spun ribbons, drop-cast ingots and thermal-spray coatings. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) additions provided corrosion resistance, while boron (B) enabled glass formation. Earlier electrochemical studies of melt-spun ribbons and ingots of these amorphous alloys demonstrated outstanding passive film stability. More recently thermal-spray coatings of these amorphous alloys have been made and subjected to long-term salt-fog and immersion tests. Good corrosion resistance has been observed during salt-fog testing. Corrosion rates were measured in situ with linear polarization, while simultaneously monitoring the open-circuit corrosion potentials. Reasonably good performance was observed. The sensitivity of these measurements to electrolyte composition and temperature was determined. The high boron content of SAM2X5 also made it an effective neutron absorber, and suitable for criticality control applications.

Waste streams planned for generation by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and existing radioactive High Level Waste (HLW) streams containing organic compounds such as the Tank 48H waste stream at Savannah River Site have completed simulant and radioactive testing, respectfully, by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). GNEP waste streams will include up to 53 wt% organic compounds and nitrates up to 56 wt%. Decomposition of high nitrate streams requires reducing conditions, e.g. provided by organic additives such as sugar or coal, to reduce NOX in the off-gas to N2 to meet Clean Air Act (CAA) standards during processing. Thus, organics will be present during the waste form stabilization process regardless of the GNEP processes utilized and exists in some of the high level radioactive waste tanks at Savannah River Site and Hanford Tank Farms, e.g. organics in the feed or organics used for nitrate destruction. Waste streams containing high organic concentrations cannot be stabilized with the existing HLW Best Developed Available Technology (BDAT) which is HLW vitrification (HLVIT) unless the organics are removed by pretreatment. The alternative waste stabilization pretreatment process of Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) operates at moderate temperatures (650-750 C) compared to vitrification (1150-1300 C). The …

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In the first part of the talk, I explain what empirical evidence points to the need for having an effective grand unification-like symmetry possessing the symmetry SU(4)-color in 4D. If one assumes the premises of a future predictive theory including gravity--be it string/M theory or a reincarnation--this evidence then suggests that such a theory should lead to an effective grand unification-like symmetry as above in 4D, near the string-GUT-scale, rather than the standard model symmetry. Advantages of an effective supersymmetric G(224) = SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R} x SU(4){sup c} or SO(10) symmetry in 4D in explaining (1) observed neutrino oscillations, (2) baryogenesis via leptogenesis, and (3) certain fermion mass-relations are noted. And certain distinguishing tests of a SUSY G(224) or SO(10)-framework involving CP and flavor violations (as in {mu} {yields} e{gamma}, {tau} {yields} {mu}{gamma}, edm's of the neutron and the electron) as well as proton decay are briefly mentioned. Recalling some of the successes we have had in our understanding of nature so far, and the current difficulties of string/M theory as regards the large multiplicity of string vacua, some comments are made on the traditional goal of understanding vis a vis the recently evolved view of landscape and …

The fascinating shapes and hierarchical designs of biomineralized structures have long been an inspiration to materials scientists because of the potential they suggest for biomolecular control over synthesis of crystalline materials. One prevailing view is that mineral-associated macromolecules are responsible for initiating and stabilizing non-equilibrium crystal polymorphs and morphologies through interactions between anionic moieties and cations in solution or at mineral surfaces. Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that bio-organic additives can dramatically alter crystal shapes and growth-rates in vitro. However, previous molecular-scale studies revealing mechanisms of growth modification focused on small molecules such as amino acids or peptides and always observed growth inhibition. In contrast, studies using full proteins were non-quantitative and underlying sources of growth modification were ill-defined. Here we investigate interactions between proteins isolated from abalone shell nacre and growing surfaces of calcite. We find that these proteins significantly accelerate the molecular-scale kinetics and, though much larger than atomic steps, alter growth morphology through step-specific interactions that lower their free energies. We propose that these proteins act as surfactants to promote ion attachment at calcite surfaces.

In this paper, we present a three-dimensional quasistatic model for high brightness beam dynamics simulation in rf/dc photoinjectors, rf linacs, and similar devices on parallel computers. In this model, electrostatic space-charge forces within a charged particle beam are calculated self-consistently at each time step by solving the three-dimensional Poisson equation in the beam frame and then transforming back to the laboratory frame. When the beam has a large energy spread, it is divided into a number of energy bins or slices so that the space-charge forces are calculated from the contribution of each bin and summed together. Image-charge effects from conducting photocathode are also included efficiently using a shifted-Green function method. For a beam with large aspect ratio, e.g., during emission, an integrated Green function method is used to solve the three-dimensional Poisson equation. Using this model, we studied beam transport in one Linac Coherent Light Sources photoinjector design through the first traveling wave linac with initial misalignment with respect to the accelerating axis within a range of a few KeV to about 10 KeV.

Renewables portfolio standards (RPS) have--since the late 1990s--proliferated at the state level in the United States. What began as a policy idea minted in California and first described in detail in the pages of the 'Electricity Journal' FPT has emerged as an important driver for renewable energy capacity additions in the United States. Over the years, articles in the 'Electricity Journal' have explored the RPS in more detail, identifying both its strengths and weaknesses. The present article provides an introduction to the history, concept, and design of the RPS, reviews early experience with the policy as applied at the state level, and provides a brief overview of Federal RPS proposals to date and the possible relationship between Federal and state RPS policies. Our purpose is to offer a factual introduction to the RPS, as applied and considered in the U.S. Though elements of state RPS design are summarized here, other publications provide a more thorough review of design lessons that emerge from that experience. In addition, the present article does not describe the results of economic analyses of Federal RPS proposals, though we do cite many of the analyses conducted by the U.S. DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The present paper deals with element-based AMG methods that target linear systems of equations coming from finite element discretizations of elliptic PDEs. The individual element information (element matrices and element topology) is the main input to construct the AMG hierarchy. We study a number of variants of the spectral agglomerate element based AMG method. The core of the algorithms relies on element agglomeration utilizing the element topology (built recursively from fine to coarse levels). The actual selection of the coarse degrees of freedom (dofs) is based on solving large number of local eigenvalue problems. Additionally, we investigate strategies for adaptive AMG as well as multigrid cycles that are more expensive than the V-cycle utilizing simple interpolation matrices and nested conjugate gradient (CG) based recursive calls between the levels. The presented algorithms are illustrated with an extensive set of experiments based on a matlab implementation of the methods.

A combination of cyclic polarization tests, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) measurements indicate a film is formed when aluminum is polarized above 4.5V in 1:1 EC+DMC with 1M LiBOB. The quantity of film that is formed increases with increasing applied potential. Results of EQCM tests suggest the film is AlBO{sub 3}. The film is very protective against corrosion and inhibits pitting corrosion of aluminum in normally corrosive 1M LiTFSI.

This project seeks to compute ground motions for large (M>6.5) scenario earthquakes on the Hayward Fault using realistic pseudodynamic ruptures, the USGS three-dimensional (3D) velocity model and anelastic finite difference simulations on parallel computers. We will attempt to bound ground motions by performing simulations with suites of stochastic rupture models for a given scenario on a given fault segment. The outcome of this effort will provide the average, spread and range of ground motions that can be expected from likely large earthquake scenarios. The resulting ground motions will be based on first-principles calculations and include the effects of slip heterogeneity, fault geometry and directivity, however, they will be band-limited to relatively low-frequency (< 1 Hz).

The LLNL Crystal Driven Neutron Source is operational and has produced record ion currents of {approx}10 nA and neutron output of 1.9 ({+-}0.3) x 10{sup 5} per thermal cycle using a crystal heating rate of 0.2 C/s from 10 C to 110 C. A 3 cm diameter by 1 cm thick LiTaO{sub 3} crystal with a socket secured field emitter tip is thermally cycled with feedback control for ionization and acceleration of deuterons onto a deuterated target to produce D-D fusion neutrons. The entire crystal and temperature system is mounted on a bellows which allows movement of the crystal along the beam axis and is completely contained on a single small vacuum flange. The modular crystal assembly permitted experimental flexibility. Operationally, flashover breakdowns along the side of the crystal and poor emitter tip characteristics can limit the neutron source. The experimental neutron results extend earlier published work by increasing the ion current and pulse length significantly to achieve a factor-of-two higher neutron output per thermal cycle. These findings are reviewed along with details of the instrument.

The 2002 National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction states that 'the United States must be prepared to respond to the use of WMD against our citizens, our military forces, and those of friends and allies'. Scenario No.1 of the 15 Department of Homeland Security national planning scenarios is an improvised nuclear detonation in the national capitol region. An effective response involves managing large-scale incident response, mass casualty, mass evacuation, and mass decontamination issues. Preparedness planning activities based on this scenario provided difficult challenges in time critical decision making and managing a large number of casualties within the hazard area. Perhaps even more challenging is the need to coordinate a large scale response across multiple jurisdictions and effectively responding with limited infrastructure and resources. Federal response planning continues to make improvements in coordination and recommending protective actions, but much work remains. The most critical life-saving activity depends on actions taken in the first few minutes and hours of an event. The most effective way to reduce the enormous national and international social and economic disruptions from a domestic nuclear explosion is through planning and rapid action, from the individual to the federal response. Anticipating response resources for survivors based …

We have demonstrated that seeded growth of nanocrystals offers a convenient way to design nanoheterostructures with complex shapes and morphologies by changing the crystalline structure of the seed. By using Use nanocrystals with wurtzite and zinc blende structure as seeds for growth of US nanorods, we synthesized CdSe/CdS heterostructure nanorods and nanotetrapods, respectively. Both of these structures showed excellent luminescentproperties, combining high photoluminescence efficiency (similar to 80 and similar to 50percent for nanorods and nanotetrapods, correspondingly), giant extinction coefficients (similar to 2 x 10(7) and similar to 1.5 x 10(8) M-1 cm (-1) at 350 nm for nanorods and nanotetrapods, correspondingly), and efficient energy transfer from the US arms into the emitting CdSe Core.

Conventionally, sequential analysis of time-dependent observation data follows a simple First-in/ First-out (FIFO) scheme. Under a FIFO scheme, the oldest data point in the system is first chosen for subsequent analysis, such as for computing population mean and sequential probability ratio test (SPRT). Once the analysis is completed or the decision is made, the oldest data point is dropped out of the system and a new sample is drawn. The intrinsic disadvantage of a FIFO scheme is its delayed response. At the time a new sample is drawn, the analysis either cannot tell immediately about the sample, or makes an incorrect statement about the sample. In our research, we adopted a Last-In/ First-Elected/ Last-Out (LIFELO) scheme for realtime sequential analysis of continuous spatial survey data. In this scheme, the most recent data point from a given spatial location in the sequence is first selected for starting the subsequent analysis. If needed, the next youngest data point is chosen to join the analysis. This process is continued until a conclusion is made about the most recent location or data point. LIFELO scheme offers a reduced response time and spatial errors for decision-making for time-and-spatial critical environmental contamination surveys. In terms of …

Tb and Eu complexes of enantiopure ligands with a new modular design show strong overall luminescence and CPL activity in aqueous solution.