An unstructured-grid, radiation-hydrodynamics code is used to simulate implosions. Although most of the problems are spherically symmetric, they are run on 3D, unstructured grids in order to test the code�s ability to maintain spherical symmetry of the converging waves. Three problems, of increasing complexity, are presented. In the first, a cold, spherical, ideal gas bubble is imploded by an enclosing high pressure source. For the second, we add non-linear heat conduction and drive the implosion with twelve laser beams centered on the vertices of an icosahedron. In the third problem, a NIF capsule is driven with a Planckian radiation source.

The management of excess plutonium by the US Department of Energy includes a number of storage and disposition alternatives. Savannah River Site (SRS) is supporting DOE with plutonium disposition efforts, including the immobilization of certain plutonium materials in a borosilicate glass matrix. Surplus plutonium inventories slated for vitrification include materials with elevated levels of Americium-241. The Am-241 content of plutonium materials generally reflects in-growth of the isotope due to decay of plutonium and is age-dependent. However, select plutonium inventories have Am-241 levels considerably above the age-based levels. Elevated levels of americium significantly impact radiation source terms of plutonium materials and will make handling of the materials more difficult. Plutonium materials are normally handled in shielded glove boxes, and the work entails both extremity and whole body exposures. This paper reports results of an SRS analysis of plutonium materials source terms vs. the Americium-241 content of the materials. Data with respect to dependence and magnitude of source terms on/vs. Am-241 levels are presented and discussed. The investigation encompasses both vitrified and un-vitrified plutonium oxide (PuO2) batches.

At the Savannah River Site, low-level radioactive decontaminated salt solution is mixed with slag, flyash, and cement to form a grout-like material called ``Saltstone``. The Saltstone is poured into concrete vaults constructed at the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF). The impact of SDF on groundwater has been studied in a radiological performance assessment (PA). Sophisticated groundwater models were used to predict the groundwater flow and contaminant transport problems. The modeling effort was divided into two parts: the unsaturated-zone model and the saturated zone model. One of the major performance objectives is to show that the impacted groundwater will be in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT), a new geophysical imaging technique, was used to study the movement of a tracer through the test block at the Unsaturated Zone Transport Test (UZTT) at Busted Butte, Nevada. Data were collected four times starting in July and ending in early September, 1998. ERT baseline images show a resistivity structure which is consistent with the known lithology in the rear part of the test block. There appears to be a low resistivity region in the front half of the block, particularly near the bottom. Difference images from August 19 and September 9 show clear and consistent resistivity decreases in the region near injection holes 18, 20, and 21 which can be associated with the injection of conductive water. The images show very little effect in the region around the other injection holes, 23, and 24 through 27 where far less water was injected. Difference images from August 19 and September 9 show resistivity decreases which could be interpreted as water moving down into the block. This is the same region which has an anomalously low resistivity in the baseline image. These results should be considered preliminary, and are subject to further interpretation.

The basement membrane (BM) extracellular matrix induces differentiation and suppresses apoptosis in mammary epithelial cells, whereas cells lacking BM lose their differentiated phenotype and undergo apoptosis. Addition of purified BM components, which are known to induce {beta}-casein expression, did not prevent apoptosis, indicating that a more complex BM was necessary. A comparison of culture conditions where apoptosis would or would not occur allowed us to relate inhibition of apoptosis to a complete withdrawal from the cell cycle, which was observed only when cells acquired a three-dimensional alveolar structure in response to BM. In the absence of this morphology, both the G1 cyclin kinase inhibitor p21/WAF-I and positive proliferative signals including c-myc and cyclin Dl were expressed and the retinoblastoma protein (Rb) continued to be hyperphosphorylated. When we overexpressed either c-myc in quiescent cells or p21 when cells were still cycling, apoptosis was induced. In the absence of three-dimensional alveolar structures, mammary epithelial cells secrete a number of factors including transforming growth factor a and tenascin, which when added exogenously to quiescent cells induced expression of c-myc and interleukin-{beta}1-converting enzyme (ICE) mRNA and led to apoptosis. These experiments demonstrate that a correct tissue architecture is crucial for long-range homeostasis, suppression of …

We have developed an assay for detecting variant erythrocytes that occur as a result of in vivo allele loss at the glycophorin A (GPA) locus on chromosome 4 in humans. This gene codes for an erythroid- specific cell surface glycoprotein, and with our assay we are able to detect rare variant erythrocytes that have lost expression of one of the two GPA alleles. Two distinctly different variant cell types are detected with this assay. One variant cell type (called N{O}) is hemizygous. Our assay also detects homozygous variant erythrocytes that have lost expression of the GPA(M) allele and express the GPA(N) allele at twice the heterozygous level. The results of this assay are an enumeration of the frequency of N{O} and NN variant cell types for each individual analyzed. These variant cell frequencies provide a measure of the amount of somatic cell genotoxicity that has occurred at the GPA locus. Such genotoxicity could be the result of (1) reactions of toxic chemicals to which the individual has been exposed, or (2) high energy radiation effects on erythroid precursor cells, or (3) errors in DNA replication or repair in these cells of the bone marrow. Thus, the GPA-based variant cell frequency …

Two articles, one written by Elaine Schad titled 'The Art of Teaching Art' and another by Susan Shelton titled 'Denton school participates in art program', for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Both pieces cover art education in local schools and the help of NTIEVA and their teaching of DBAE.

The occasion of this conference, the Sixth International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, falls sixteen years after the remarkable triple simultaneous discovery of this powerful isotopic measurement. In the interval since the Fifth Conference in Paris in 1991, new facilities of both large and small size have become fully operational, achieving impressive gains in both measurement throughput and precision. The purpose of this short review is to extrapolate from recent gains and experience and to project the status of the field beyond the coming millennial date. AMS achieved instant application in archaeology and the geosciences and its early growth was stimulated by the excitement caused by the early results. The ability to obtain an accurate radiocarbon date with a sample one thousand times smaller than possible with scintillation or gas counting, the ability to trace {sup 14}CO{sub 2} in sea water with a similar thousand fold shrinkage in sample size, and the wide utility of {sup 10}Be, {sup 26}Al, {sup 36}Cl, and {sup 129}I as tracers and chronometers of erosion, hydrology and paleoclimate were sufficient to drive the partial conversion of existing accelerators and the construction of new dedicated ones. These applications remain the core of the present field and …