Archaea, one of three major evolutionary lineages of life, are a fascinating and diverse group of microbes with deep roots overlapping those of eukaryotes. The focus of the 'Archaea: Ecology Metabolism & Molecular Biology' GRC conference expands on a number of emerging topics highlighting new paradigms in archaeal metabolism, genome function and systems biology; information processing; evolution and the tree of life; the ecology and diversity of archaea and their viruses. The strength of this conference lies in its ability to couple a field with a rich history in high quality research with new scientific findings in an atmosphere of stimulating exchange. This conference remains an excellent opportunity for younger scientists to interact with world experts in this field.

In this report, technologies for petroleum production and exploration enhancement in deepwater and mature fields are developed through basic and applied research by: (1) Designing new fluids to efficiently drill deepwater wells that can not be cost-effectively drilled with current technologies. The new fluids will be heavy liquid foams that have low-density at shallow dept to avoid formation breakdown and high density at drilling depth to control formation pressure. The goal of this project is to provide industry with formulations of new fluids for reducing casing programs and thus well construction cost in deepwater development. (2) Studying the effects of flue gas/CO{sub 2} huff n puff on incremental oil recovery in Louisiana oilfields bearing light oil. An artificial neural network (ANN) model will be developed and used to map recovery efficiencies for candidate reservoirs in Louisiana. (3) Arriving at a quantitative understanding for the three-dimensional controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) geophysical response of typical Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbon reservoirs. We will seek to make available tools for the qualitative, rapid interpretation of marine CSEM signatures, and tools for efficient, three-dimensional subsurface conductivity modeling.

This presentation discusses electric vehicle grid integration for sustainable military installations. Fort Carson Military Reservation in Colorado Springs is used as a case study.

According to a 2008 report issued by the United States Geological Survey, North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation. With the size and remoteness of the discovery, the question became 'can a business case be made for increasing refining capacity in North Dakota?' And, if so what is the impact to existing players in the region. To answer the question, a study committee comprised of leaders in the region's petroleum industry were brought together to define the scope of the study, hire a consulting firm and oversee the study. The study committee met frequently to provide input on the findings and modify the course of the study, as needed. The study concluded that the Petroleum Area Defense District II (PADD II) has an oversupply of gasoline. With that in mind, a niche market, naphtha, was identified. Naphtha is used as a diluent used for pipelining the bitumen (heavy crude) from Canada to crude markets. The study predicted there will continue to be an increase in the demand for naphtha through 2030. The study estimated the optimal configuration for the refinery at 34,000 …

FACET, the Facility for Advanced Accelerator and Experimental Tests, is a new facility being constructed in sector 20 of the SLAC linac primarily to study beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration. The FACET beamline consists of a chicane and final focus system to compress the 23 GeV, 3.2 nC electron bunches to {approx}20 {micro}m long and {approx}10 {micro}m wide. Simulations of the FACET beamline indicate the short-duration and large, 1.5% rms energy spread beams may suffer a factor of four emittance growth from a combination of chromaticity, incoherent synchrotron radiation (ISR), and coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR). Emittance growth is directly correlated to head erosion in plasma wakefield acceleration and is a limiting factor in single stage performance. Studies of the geometric, CSR, and ISR components are presented. Numerical calculation of the rms emittance can be overwhelmed by long tails in the simulated phase space distributions; more useful definitions of emittance are given. A complete simulation of the beamline is presented as well, which agrees with design specifications.

The I-O Model 1030 carbon analyzer has been qualified for use at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The qualification was a side-by-side comparison of the Model 1030 system with the currently used Model 1010 Analyzer. This recommendation is based on side-by-side comparisons of the new unit to the currently used Model 1010 analyzer that are presented in this report. The side-by-side testing included standards and process samples. The standards, which were used for instrument calibration verifications in the measurement of total inorganic carbon (TIC) and of total organic carbon (TOC), were traceable back to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The process samples included TIC analyses of Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank samples and TOC analyses for Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) samples. After the Model 1030 has been used for production reporting, DWPF should consider an investigation into the uncertainties associated with the TOC measurements to determine how far below the 18,916 ppm limit DWPF must control the average of the measurements for a set of SME samples to account for the uncertainties of the measurements from this new analyzer. Based upon the results presented in this report, it is recommended that the Model 1030 carbon analyzer is …

Lateral organ polarity in Arabidopsis is regulated by antagonistic interactions between genes that promote either adaxial or abaxial identity, but the molecular basis of this interaction is largely unknown. We show that the adaxial regulator ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 (AS2) is a direct target of the abaxial regulator KANADI1 (KAN1), and that KAN1 represses the transcription of AS2 in abaxial cells. Mutation of a single nucleotide in a KAN1 binding site in the AS2 promoter causes AS2 to be ectopically expressed in abaxial cells, resulting in a dominant, adaxialized phenotype. We also show that the abaxial expression of KAN1 is mediated directly or indirectly by AS2. These results demonstrate that KAN1 acts as a transcriptional repressor and that mutually repressive interactions between KAN1 and AS2 contribute to the establishment of adaxial-abaxial polarity in plants. A screen for mutations that affect the expression of a GFP reporter for KANADI2 produced mutations in two genes, CENTER CITY (CCT) and GRAND CENTRAL (GCT). Mutations in GCT and CCT delay the specification of central and peripheral identity and the globular-to-heart transition, but have little or no effect on the initial growth rate of the embryo. Mutant embryos eventually recover and undergo relatively normal patterning, albeit at …

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of illness and injury surveillance activities that provide an early warning system to detect health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

We search for evidence of a light Higgs boson (A{sup 0}) in the radiative decays of the narrow {Upsilon}(3S) resonance: {Upsilon}(3S) {yields} {gamma}A{sup 0}, where A{sup 0} {yields} invisible or A{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}. Such an object appears in extensions of the Standard Model, where a light CP-odd Higgs boson naturally couples strongly to b-quarks. We find no evidence for such processes in a sample of 122 x 106 {Upsilon}(3S) decays collected by the BABAR collaboration at the PEP-II B-factory, and set 90% C.L. upper limits on the product of the branching fractions {Beta}({Upsilon}(3S) {yields} {gamma}A{sup 0}) x {Beta}(A{sup 0} {yields} invisible) at (0.7-31) x 10{sup -6} in the mass range mA{sup 0} {le} 7.8 GeV, and on the product {Beta}({Upsilon}(3S) {yields} {gamma}A{sup 0}) x {Beta}(A{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) at (0.25-5.2) x 10{sup -6} in the mass range 0.212 {le} mA{sup 0} {le} 9.3GeV. We also set a limit on the dimuon branching fraction of the recently discovered {eta}{sub b} meson {Beta}({eta}{sub b} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) < 0.8% at 90% C.L. The results are preliminary.

In atmospheric modeling, global spectral methods have dominated weather and climate simulation for the past two decades. However, global methods based upon the spherical harmonic basis functions require expensive non-local communication and thus have difficulty in exploiting the full potential of current high-performance parallel computers. The primary objective of HOMME ((11)) is the development of a class of high-order scalable conservative atmospheric models for climate and general atmospheric modeling applications. The spatial discretizations are based on continuous Galerkin (spectral element method) and discontinuous Galerkin (DG). These are local methods based on high-order accurate spectral basis functions which have been shown to perform well on massively parallel supercomputers at any resolution (18). HOMME employs a cubed-sphere geometry (26) exhibiting none of the singularities present in conventional latitude-longitude spherical geometries. The element based formulation enables the use of general curvilinear geometries and adaptive conforming or non-conforming meshes.

The Princeton Field-Reversed Configuration (PFRC) experiment employs an odd-parity rotating magnetic field (RMFo) current drive and plasma heating system to form and sustain high-Β plasmas. For radial confinement, an array of coaxial, internal, passive, flux-conserving (FC) rings applies magnetic pressure to the plasma while still allowing radio-frequency RMFo from external coils to reach the plasma. The 3 ms pulse duration of the present experiment is limited by the skin time (τfc) of its room-temperature copper FC rings. To explore plasma phenomena with longer characteristic times, the pulse duration of the next-generation PFRC-2 device will exceed 100 ms, necessitating FC rings with (τfc > 300 ms. In this paper we review the physics of internal, discrete, passive FCs and describe the evolution of the PFRC's FC array. We then detail new experiments that have produced higher performance FC rings that contain embedded high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes. Several HTS tape winding configurations have been studied and a wide range of extended skin times, from 0.4 s to over 103 s, has been achieved. The new FC rings must carry up to 3 kA of current to balance the expected PFRC-2 plasma pressure, so the dependence of the HTS-FC critical current on the …

This is a final report covering work done at University of Maryland to develop a Ballistic Electron Emission Luminescence (BEEL) microscope. This technique was intended to examine the carrier transport and photon emission in deeply buried optically-active layers and thereby provide a means for materials science to unmask the detailed consequences of experimentally controllable growth parameters, such as quantum dot size, statistics and orientation, and defect density and charge recombination pathways.

High-level waste (HLW) throughput (i.e., the amount of waste processed per unit of time) is primarily a function of two critical parameters: waste loading (WL) and melt rate. For the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), increasing HLW throughput would significantly reduce the overall mission life cycle costs for the Department of Energy (DOE). Significant increases in waste throughput have been achieved at DWPF since initial radioactive operations began in 1996. Key technical and operational initiatives that supported increased waste throughput included improvements in facility attainment, the Chemical Processing Cell (CPC) flowsheet, process control models and frit formulations. As a result of these key initiatives, DWPF increased WLs from a nominal 28% for Sludge Batch 2 (SB2) to {approx}34 to 38% for SB3 through SB6 while maintaining or slightly improving canister fill times. Although considerable improvements in waste throughput have been obtained, future contractual waste loading targets are nominally 40%, while canister production rates are also expected to increase (to a rate of 325 to 400 canisters per year). Although implementation of bubblers have made a positive impact on increasing melt rate for recent sludge batches targeting WLs in the mid30s, higher WLs will ultimately make the feeds to DWPF more …

None

We have studied ferromagnetism of Mn-implanted epitaxial Ge films on silicon. The Ge films were grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition using a mixture of germane (GeH{sub 4}) and methylgermane (CH{sub 3}GeH{sub 3}) gases with a carbon concentration of less than 1 at. %, and observed surface rms roughness of 0.5 nm, as measured by atomic force microscopy. Manganese ions were implanted in epitaxial Ge films grown on Si (100) wafers to an effective concentration of 16, 12, 6, and 2 at. %. Superconducting quantum interference device measurements showed that only the three highest Mn concentration samples are ferromagnetic, while the fourth sample, with [Mn] = 2 at. %, is paramagnetic. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements indicate that localized Mn moments are ferromagnetically coupled below the Curie temperature. Isothermal annealing of Mn-implanted Ge films with [Mn] = 16 at. % at 300 C for up to 1200 s decreases the magnetization but does not change the Curie temperature, suggesting that the amount of the magnetic phase slowly decreases with time at this anneal temperature. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron grazing incidence x-ray diffraction experiments show that the Mn-implanted region is amorphous, and we believe …

The process of recovering the waste in storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) typically requires mixing the contents of the tank to ensure uniformity of the discharge stream. Mixing is accomplished with one to four slurry pumps located within the tank liquid. The slurry pump may be fixed in position or they may rotate depending on the specific mixing requirements. The high-level waste in Tank 48 contains insoluble solids in the form of potassium tetraphenyl borate compounds (KTPB), monosodium titanate (MST), and sludge. Tank 48 is equipped with 4 slurry pumps, which are intended to suspend the insoluble solids prior to transfer of the waste to the Fluidized Bed Steam Reformer (FBSR) process. The FBSR process is being designed for a normal feed of 3.05 wt% insoluble solids. A chemical characterization study has shown the insoluble solids concentration is approximately 3.05 wt% when well-mixed. The project is requesting a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) mixing study from SRNL to determine the solids behavior with 2, 3, and 4 slurry pumps in operation and an estimate of the insoluble solids concentration at the suction of the transfer pump to the FBSR process. The impact of cooling coils is not considered …

None

The objective of this report is to document laboratory testing of magnesium mono potassium phosphate grouts for P-Reactor vessel in-situ decommissioning. Magnesium mono potassium phosphate cement-based grout was identified as candidate material for filling (physically stabilizing) the 105-P Reactor vessel (RV) because it is less alkaline than portland cement-based grout (pH of about 12.4). A less alkaline material ({<=} 10.5) was desired to address a potential materials compatibility issue caused by corrosion of aluminum metal in highly alkaline environments such as that encountered in portland cement grouts. Information concerning access points into the P-Reactor vessel and amount of aluminum metal in the vessel is provided elsewhere. Fresh and cured properties were measured for: (1) commercially blended magnesium mono potassium phosphate packaged grouts, (2) commercially available binders blended with inert fillers at SRNL, (3) grouts prepared from technical grade MgO and KH{sub 2}PO{sub 4} and inert fillers (quartz sands, Class F fly ash), and (4) Ceramicrete{reg_sign} magnesium mono potassium phosphate-based grouts prepared at Argonne National Laboratory. Boric acid was evaluated as a set retarder in the magnesium mono potassium phosphate mixes.

The ICS-3000 Ion Chromatography (IC) system installed in 221-S M-13 has been qualified for use. The qualification was a head to head comparison of the ICS-3000 with the currently used DX-500 IC system. The crosscheck work included standards for instrument calibration and calibration verifications and standards for individual anion analysis, where the standards were traceable back to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In addition the crosscheck work included the analysis of simulated Sludge Receipt Adjustment Tank (SRAT) Receipt, SRAT Product, and Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) samples, along with radioactive Sludge Batch 5 material from the SRAT and SME tanks. Based upon the successful qualification of the ICS-3000 in M-13, it is recommended that this task proceed in developing the data to qualify, by a head to head comparison of the two ICS-3000 instruments, a second ICS-3000 to be installed in M-14. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) requires the analysis of specific anions at various stages of its processing of high level waste (HLW). The anions of interest to the DWPF are fluoride, formate, chloride, nitrite, nitrate, sulfate, oxalate, and phosphate. The anion analysis is used to evaluate process chemistry including formic acid/nitric acid additions to establish …

The vertical emittance of the low energy ring (LER) in the PEP-II B-Factory was reduced by using skew quadrupoles consisting of permanent magnet material. The advantages over electric quadrupoles or rotating existing normal quadrupoles are discussed. To assure a high field quality, a Biot-Savart calculation was used to cancel the natural 12-pole component by using different size poles over a few layers. A magnetic measurement confirmed the high quality of the magnets. After installation and adjusting the original electric 12 skew and 16 normal quadrupoles the emittance contribution from the region close to the interaction point, which was the biggest part in the original design, was considerably reduced. To strengthen the vertical behavior of the LER beam, a low emittance lattice was developed. It lowered the original vertical design emittance from 0.54 nm-rad to 0.034 nm-rad. In order to achieve this, additional skew quadrupoles were required to bring the coupling correction out of the arcs and closer to the detector solenoid in the straight (Fig. 1). It is important, together with low vertical dispersion, that the low vertical emittance is not coupled into the horizontal, which is what we get if the coupling correction continues into the arcs. Further details …

The quasi-axisymmetric stellarator (QAS) concept offers a promising path to a more compact stellarator reactor, closer in linear dimensions to tokamak reactors than previous stellarator designs. Concept improvements are needed, however, to make it more maintainable and more compatible with high plant availability. Using the ARIES-CS design as a starting point, compact stellarator designs with improved maintenance characteristics have been developed. While the ARIES-CS features a through-the-port maintenance scheme, we have investigated configuration changes to enable a sector-maintenance approach, as envisioned for example in ARIES AT. Three approaches are reported. The first is to make tradeoffs within the QAS design space, giving greater emphasis to maintainability criteria. The second approach is to improve the optimization tools to more accurately and efficiently target the physics properties of importance. The third is to employ a hybrid coil topology, so that the plasma shaping functions of the main coils are shared more optimally, either with passive conductors made of high-temperature superconductor or with local compensation coils, allowing the main coils to become simpler. Optimization tools are being improved to test these approaches.

None

The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a 234 m circumference storage ring for 3 GeV electrons with its synchrotron radiation serving currently 13 beamlines with about 27 experimental stations. It operated for long time with 100 mA peak current provided by usually three injections per day. In July 2009, the maximum beam current was raised to 200 mA. Over the period from June 2009 to March 2010, Top-Off operation started at every beamline. Top-Off, i.e., the injection of electrons into the storage ring with injection stoppers open, is necessary for SSRL to reach its design current of 500 mA. In the future, the maximal power of the injection current will also soon be raised from currently 1.5 W to 5 W. The Radiation Protection Department at SLAC worked with SSRL on the specifications for the safety systems for operation with Top-Off injection and higher beam currents.

The Savannah River Remediation (SRR) Organization requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) develop a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method to mix and blend the miscible contents of the blend tanks to ensure the contents are properly blended before they are transferred from the blend tank; such as, Tank 50H, to the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) feed tank. The work described here consists of two modeling areas. They are the mixing modeling analysis during miscible liquid blending operation, and the flow pattern analysis during transfer operation of the blended liquid. The transient CFD governing equations consisting of three momentum equations, one mass balance, two turbulence transport equations for kinetic energy and dissipation rate, and one species transport were solved by an iterative technique until the species concentrations of tank fluid were in equilibrium. The steady-state flow solutions for the entire tank fluid were used for flow pattern analysis, for velocity scaling analysis, and the initial conditions for transient blending calculations. A series of the modeling calculations were performed to estimate the blending times for various jet flow conditions, and to investigate the impact of the cooling coils on the blending time of the tank contents. The modeling results were …