The works supported by this ARM project lay the solid foundation for improving the parameterization of subgrid cloud-radiation interactions in the NCAR CCSM and the climate simulations. We have made a significant use of CRM simulations and concurrent ARM observations to produce long-term, consistent cloud and radiative property datasets at the cloud scale (Wu et al. 2006, 2007). With these datasets, we have investigated the mesoscale enhancement of cloud systems on surface heat fluxes (Wu and Guimond 2006), quantified the effects of cloud horizontal inhomogeneity and vertical overlap on the domain-averaged radiative fluxes (Wu and Liang 2005), and subsequently validated and improved the physically-based mosaic treatment of subgrid cloud-radiation interactions (Liang and Wu 2005). We have implemented the mosaic treatment into the CCM3. The 5-year (1979-1983) AMIP-type simulation showed significant impacts of subgrid cloud-radiation interaction on the climate simulations (Wu and Liang 2005). We have actively participated in CRM intercomparisons that foster the identification and physical understanding of common errors in cloud-scale modeling (Xie et al. 2005; Xu et al. 2005, Grabowski et al. 2005).

The Geometry Description Markup Language (GDML) is a specialized XML-based language designed as an application-independent persistent format for describing the geometries of detectors associated with physics measurements. It serves to implement ''geometry trees'' which correspond to the hierarchy of volumes a detector geometry can be composed of, and to allow to identify the position of individual solids, as well as to describe the materials they are made of. Being pure XML, GDML can be universally used, and in particular it can be considered as the format for interchanging geometries among different applications. In this paper we will present the current status of the development of GDML. After having discussed the contents of the latest GDML schema, which is the basic definition of the format, we will concentrate on the GDML processors. We will present the latest implementation of the GDML ''writers'' as well as ''readers'' for either Geant4 [2], [3] or ROOT [4], [10].

The Gray Cancer Institute has pioneered the use of X ray focussing techniques to develop systems for micro irradiating individual cells and sub cellular targets in vitro. Cellular micro irradiation is now recognised as a highly versatile technique for understanding how ionising radiation interacts with living cells and tissues. The strength of the technique lies in its ability to deliver precise doses of radiation to selected individual cells (or sub cellular targets). The application of this technique in the field of radiation biology continues to be of great interest for investigating a number of phenomena currently of concern to the radiobiological community. One important phenomenon is the so called ‘bystander effect’ where it is observed that unirradiated cells can also respond to signals transmitted by irradiated neighbours. Clearly, the ability of a microbeam to irradiate just a single cell or selected cells within a population is well suited to studying this effect. Our prototype ‘tabletop’ X-ray microprobe was optimised for focusing 278 eV C-K X rays and has been used successfully for a number of years. However, we have sought to develop a new variable energy soft X-ray microprobe capable of delivering focused CK (0.28 keV), Al-K (1.48 keV) and …

We are developing a Compton telescope based on high resolution Si and CdTe detectors for astrophysical observations in sub-MeV/MeV gamma-ray region. Recently, we constructed a prototype Compton telescope which consists of six layers of double-sided Si strip detectors and CdTe pixel detectors to demonstrate the basic performance of this new technology. By irradiating the detector with gamma-rays from radio isotope sources, we have succeeded in Compton reconstruction of images and spectra. The obtained angular resolution is 3.9{sup o} (FWHM) at 511 keV, and the energy resolution is 14 keV (FWHM) at the same energy. In addition to the conventional Compton reconstruction, i.e., drawing cones in the sky, we also demonstrated a full reconstruction by tracking Compton recoil electrons using the signals detected in successive Si layers. By irradiating {sup 137}Cs source, we successfully obtained an image and a spectrum of 662 keV line emission with this method. As a next step, development of larger double-sided Si strip detectors with a size of 4 cm x 4 cm is underway to improve the effective area of the Compton telescope. We are also developing a new low-noise analog ASIC to handle the increasing number of channels. Initial results from these two new …

Presentation by Dr. Dan Arvizu of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to the Clean-Tech Investors Summit on January 23, 2007 overviews renewable energy technology opportunities.