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The candidate division Korarchaeota comprises a group of uncultivated microorganisms that, by their small subunit rRNA phylogeny, may have diverged early from the major archaeal phyla Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. Here, we report the initial characterization of a member of the Korarchaeota with the proposed name,"Candidatus Korarchaeum cryptofilum," which exhibits an ultrathin filamentous morphology. To investigate possible ancestral relationships between deep-branching Korarchaeota and other phyla, we used whole-genome shotgun sequencing to construct a complete composite korarchaeal genome from enriched cells. The genome was assembled into a single contig 1.59 Mb in length with a G + C content of 49percent. Of the 1,617 predicted protein-coding genes, 1,382 (85percent) could be assigned to a revised set of archaeal Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs). The predicted gene functions suggest that the organism relies on a simple mode of peptide fermentation for carbon and energy and lacks the ability to synthesize de novo purines, CoA, and several other cofactors. Phylogenetic analyses based on conserved single genes and concatenated protein sequences positioned the korarchaeote as a deep archaeal lineage with an apparent affinity to the Crenarchaeota. However, the predicted gene content revealed that several conserved cellular systems, such as cell division, DNA replication, and tRNA …

As part of a program to characterize and baseline selected environmental parameters in the region around the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, ambient radon-222 monitoring was conducted in the rural community of Amargosa Valley, the community closest to the proposed repository site. Passive integrating radon monitors and a continuous radon monitoring instrument were deployed adjacent to the Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) (http://www.cemp.dri.edu/index.html) station located in the Amargosa Valley Community Center near the library. The CEMP station provided real-time ambient gamma exposure and meteorological data used to correct the integrated radon measurements as well as verify meteorological data collected by the continuous radon monitoring instrument. Additionally, different types of environmental enclosures that housed the monitors and instrument were used to determine if particular designs influenced the ambient radon measurements.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entered into an Interagency Agreement to transfer approximately 40 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to TVA for conversion to fuel for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. Savannah River Site (SRS) inventories included a significant amount of this material, which resulted from processing spent fuel and surplus materials. The HEU is blended with natural uranium (NU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) with a 4.95% 235U isotopic content and shipped as solution to the TVA vendor. The HEU Blend Down Project provided the upgrades needed to achieve the product throughput and purity required and provided loading facilities. The first blending to low enriched uranium (LEU) took place in March 2003 with the initial shipment to the TVA vendor in July 2003. The SRS Shipments have continued on a regular schedule without any major issues for the past 5 years and are due to complete in September 2008. The HEU Blend program is now looking to continue its success by dispositioning an additional approximately 21 MTU of HEU material as part of the SRS Enriched Uranium Disposition Project.

A dual-axis, synchroscan streak camera was used to measure longitudinal bunch profiles in three storage rings at SLAC: the PEP-II low- and high-energy rings, and SPEAR3. At high currents, both PEP rings exhibit a transient synchronous-phase shift along the bunch train due to RF-cavity beam loading. Bunch length and profile asymmetry were measured along the train for a range of beam currents. To avoid the noise inherent in a dual-axis sweep, we accumulated single-axis synchroscan images while applying a 50-ns gate to the microchannel plate. To improve the extinction ratio, an upstream mirror pivoting at 1 kHz was synchronized with the 2kHz MCP gate to deflect light from other bunches off the photocathode. Bunch length was also measured on the HER as a function of beam energy. For SPEAR3 we measured bunch length as a function of single-bunch current for several lattices: achromatic, low-emittance and low momentum compaction. In the first two cases, resistive and reactive impedance components can be extracted from the longitudinal bunch profiles. In the low-alpha configurations, we observed natural bunch lengths approaching the camera resolution, requiring special care to remove instrumental effects, and saw evidence of periodic bursting.

The Hanford Site environmental report is prepared annually for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in accordance with regulatory requirements. The report provides an overview of activities at the site; demonstrates the status of the site’s compliance with applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, executive orders, and DOE policies and directives; and summarizes environmental data that characterize Hanford Site environmental management performance. The report also highlights signifi cant environmental and public protection programs and efforts. Some historical and early 2008 information is included where appropriate.

An advanced simulation environment to model incompressible MHD flows relevant to blanket conditions in fusion reactors has been developed at HyPerComp in research collaboration with TEXCEL. The goals of this phase-II project are two-fold: The first is the incorporation of crucial physical phenomena such as induced magnetic field modeling, and extending the capabilities beyond fluid flow prediction to model heat transfer with natural convection and mass transfer including tritium transport and permeation. The second is the design of a sequence of benchmark tests to establish code competence for several classes of physical phenomena in isolation as well as in select (termed here as “canonical”,) combinations. No previous attempts to develop such a comprehensive MHD modeling capability exist in the literature, and this study represents essentially uncharted territory. During the course of this Phase-II project, a significant breakthrough was achieved in modeling liquid metal flows at high Hartmann numbers. We developed a unique mathematical technique to accurately compute the fluid flow in complex geometries at extremely high Hartmann numbers (10,000 and greater), thus extending the state of the art of liquid metal MHD modeling relevant to fusion reactors at the present time. These developments have been published in noted international journals. …

This literature review presents treatment options for nitrate, iodine-129, and uranium, which are present in groundwater at the 200-ZP-I Groundwater Operable Unit (OU) within the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. The objective of this review is to determine available methods to treat or sequester these contaminants in place (i.e., in situ) or to pump-and-treat the groundwater aboveground (i.e., ex situ). This review has been conducted with emphasis on commercially available or field-tested technologies, but theoretical studies have, in some cases, been considered when no published field data exist. The initial scope of this literature review included only nitrate and iodine-I 29, but it was later expanded to include uranium. The focus of the literature review was weighted toward researching methods for treatment of nitrate and iodine-129 over uranium because of the relatively greater impact of those compounds identified at the 200-ZP-I OU.

Aqueous radioactive wastes from Savannah River Site (SRS) separations and vitrification processes are contained in large underground carbon steel tanks. The 2007 inspection program revealed that the structural integrity and waste confinement capability of the Savannah River Site waste tanks were maintained. A very small amount of material had seeped from Tank 12 from a previously identified leaksite. The material observed had dried on the tank wall and did not reach the annulus floor. A total of 5945 photographs were made and 1221 visual and video inspections were performed during 2007. Additionally, ultrasonic testing was performed on four Waste Tanks (15, 36, 37 and 38) in accordance with approved inspection plans that met the requirements of WSRC-TR-2002- 00061, Revision 2 'In-Service Inspection Program for High Level Waste Tanks'. The Ultrasonic Testing (UT) In-Service Inspections (ISI) are documented in a separate report that is prepared by the ISI programmatic Level III UT Analyst. Tanks 15, 36, 37 and 38 are documented in 'Tank Inspection NDE Results for Fiscal Year 2007'; WSRC-TR-2007-00064.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) used an array of {sup 3}He proportional counters to measure the rate of neutral-current interactions in heavy water and precisely determined the total active ({nu}{sub x}) {sup 8}B solar neutrino flux. This technique is independent of previous methods employed by SNO. The total flux is found to be 5.54{sub -0.31}{sup +0.33}(stat){sub -0.34}{sup +0.36}(syst) x 10{sup 6} cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}, in agreement with previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino results yields {Delta}m{sup 2} = 7.94{sub -0.26}{sup +0.42} x 10{sup -5} eV{sup 2} and {theta} = 33.8{sub -1.3}{sup +1.4} degrees. The uncertainty on the mixing angle has been reduced from SNO's previous results.

In 2001, under DOE's Superconductivity Partnership Initiative (SPI), E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (Dupont) was awarded a cost-share contract to build a fully functional full-scale model high temperature superconducting reciprocating magnet unit specifically designed for the koalin clay industry. After competitive bidding, American Superconductor (AMSC) was selected to provide the coil for the magnet. Dupont performed the statement of work until September 2004, when it stopped work, with the concurrence of DOE, due to lack of federal funds. DOE had paid all invoices to that point, and Dupont had provided all cost share. At this same time, Dupont determined that this program did not fit with its corporate strategies and notified DOE that it was not interesting in resuming the program when funding became available. AMSC expressed interest in assuming performance of the Agreement to Dupont and DOE, and in March 2005, this project was transferred to AMSC by DOE amendment to the original contract and Novation Agreement between AMSC and Dupont. Design drawings and some hardware components and subassemblies were transferred to AMSC. However, no funding was obligated by DOE and AMSC never performed work on the project. This report contains a summary of the work …

Recent advances in very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy have opened a new observational window on the physics of pulsars. The high sensitivity of current imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, and in particular of the H.E.S.S. array, has already led to the discovery of about a dozen VHE-emitting pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) and PWN candidates. These include the plerions in the composite supernova remnants MSH 15-52, G21.5-0.9, Kes 75, and Vela, two sources in the Kookaburra, and the nebula of PSR B1823-13. This VHE emission is generally interpreted as inverse Compton emission from the relativistic electrons and positrons accelerated by the pulsar and its wind; as such, it can yield a more direct spatial and spectral view of the accelerated particles than can be inferred from observations of their synchrotron emission. The VHE-emitting PWNe detected by the H.E.S.S. telescopes are reviewed and the implications for pulsar physics discussed.

Image smoothing is a fundamental operation in computer vision and image processing. This work has two main thrusts: (1) implementation of a bilateral filter suitable for use in smoothing, or denoising, 3D volumetric data; (2) implementation of the 3D bilateral filter in three different parallelization models, along with parallel performance studies on two modern HPC architectures. Our bilateral filter formulation is based upon the work of Tomasi [11], but extended to 3D for use on volumetric data. Our three parallel implementations use POSIX threads, the Message Passing Interface (MPI), and Unified Parallel C (UPC), a Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) language. Our parallel performance studies, which were conducted on a Cray XT4 supercomputer and aquad-socket, quad-core Opteron workstation, show our algorithm to have near-perfect scalability up to 120 processors. Parallel algorithms, such as the one we present here, will have an increasingly important role for use in production visual analysis systems as the underlying computational platforms transition from single- to multi-core architectures in the future.