Article about Carolyn Farb's cover feature for Brilliant Magazine in 2004.

This article is a review mapping the evidence on implementation qualities of sustainable harm reduction needle and syringe programs (NSPs). The emerging evidence suggests that sustainable NSP programs for people who inject drugs (PWID) require provider, consumer, and community engagement, supported by enabling health policies.

Article presenting a novel window-space-directed assembly strategy for the synthesis of zeolitic mesoporous MOFs with ultramicroporous apertures based on supertetrahedral building units. This article provides an effective and innovative strategy and paves the way for the future design and synthesis of functional, highly connected materials for various applications.

Article explores giant cross-magnetic-field steps which occur as a result of positron-electron collisions. Within a constant magnetic field (e.g., 1 T), a collision between a positron and an electron can result in a correlated drift across the magnetic field for a continuous range of impact parameters. Within this range, drift distances orders of magnitude larger than that associated with like-charge collisions were observed by computer simulation.

Article describes study which sought to evaluate methods for activity recognition for toddlers.

Study investigated the role of the neuroprotective kynurenic acid (KYNA) in RGC death against retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.

Version 3 of the Hadley Centre Atmospheric Model (HadAM3) has been used to demonstrate one means of comparing a general circulation model with observations for a specific climate perturbation, namely the strong 1997/98 El Nino. This event was characterized by the collapse of the tropical Pacific's Walker circulation, caused by the lack of a zonal sea surface temperature gradient during the El Nino. Relative to normal years, cloud altitudes were lower in the western portion of the Pacific and higher in the eastern portion. HadAM3 likewise produced the observed collapse of the Walker circulation, and it did a reasonable job of reproducing the west/east cloud structure changes. This illustrates that the 1997/98 El Nino serves as a useful means of testing cloud-climate interactions in climate models.

Optical coatings are a crucial part of the pulse trapping and extraction in the NIF multipass amplifiers. Coatings also steer the 192 beams from four linear arrays to four converging cones entering the target chamber. There are a total of 1600 physical vapor deposited coatings on NIF consisting of 576 mirrors within the multipass cavity, 192 polarizers that work in tandem with a Pockels cell to create an optical switch, and 832 transport mirrors. These optics are of sufficient size so that they are not aperture-limiting for the 40-cm x 40 cm beams over an incident range of 0 to 56.4 degrees. These coatings must withstand laser fluences up to 25 J/cm{sup 2} at 1053 nm (1 {omega}) and 3-ns pulse length and are the 1{omega} fluence-limiting component on NIF. The coatings must have a minimal impact on the beam wavefront and phase to maintain beam focusability, minimize scattered loss, and minimize nonlinear damage mechanisms. This is achieved by specifications ranging from <50 MPa coating stress, <1% coating nonuniformity, <4{angstrom} RMS surface roughness, and a PSD specification to control the amplitude of periodic spatial frequencies. Finally, the primary mission of optical coatings is efficient beam steering so reflection and transmission …

Optimizing compilers have a long history of applying loop transformations to C and Fortran scientific applications. However, such optimizations are rare in compilers for object-oriented languages such as C++ or Java, where loops operating on user-defined types are left unoptimized due to their unknown semantics. Our goal is to reduce the performance penalty of using high-level object-oriented abstractions. We propose an approach that allows the explicit communication between programmers and compilers. We have extended the traditional Fortran loop optimizations with an open interface. Through this interface, we have developed techniques to automatically recognize and optimize user-defined array abstractions. In addition, we have developed an adapted constant-propagation algorithm to automatically propagate properties of abstractions. We have implemented these techniques in a C++ source-to-source translator and have applied them to optimize several kernels written using an array-class library. Our experimental results show that using our approach, applications using high-level abstractions can achieve comparable, and in cases superior, performance to that achieved by efficient low-level hand-written codes.

Calibration of the 470-Ohm carbon resistor gauge is desired in the low stress region up to 1 GPa. A split-Hopkinson pressure bar, drop tower apparatus, gas pressure chamber, and gas gun have been used to perform the calibration experiments. The gauge behavior at elevated temperature was also investigated by heating the resistors to 200 C at atmospheric pressure while observing the resistance change. The motivation for this calibration work arises from the desire to increase the number of data points in the low stress regime to better establish the accuracy and precision of the gauge. Details of the various calibration arrangements and the results are discussed and compared to calibration curves fit to previously published calibration data. It was found that in most cases, the data from this work fit the calibration curves fit to previously published data rather well.

The Drift Scale Test (DST) now underway at Yucca Mountain has been simulated using a Drift Scale Distinct Element (DSDE) model. Simulated deformations show good agreement with field deformation measurements. Results indicate most fracture deformation is located above the crown of the Heated Drift. This work is part of the model validation effort for the DSDE model, which is used to assess thermal-mechanical effects on the hydrology of the rock mass surrounding a potential repository.

Objective--In this paper the photothermal design aspects of novel shape memory polymer (SMP) microactuators for treating stroke are presented. Materials and Methods--A total of three devices will be presented: two interventional ischemic stroke devices (coil and umbrella) and one device for releasing embolic coils (microgripper). The optical properties of SMP, methods for coupling laser light into SMP, heating distributions in the SMP devices and the impact of operating the thermally activated material in a blood vessel are presented. Results--Actuating the devices requires device temperatures in the range of 65 C-85 C. Attaining these temperatures under flow conditions requires critical engineering of the SMP optical properties, optical coupling into the SMP, and device geometries. Conclusion--Laser-activated SMP devices are a unique combination of laser-tissue and biomaterial technologies. Successful deployment of the microactuator requires well-engineered coupling of the light from the diffusing fiber through the blood into the SMP.

Engineers and water resource professionals are challenged with protecting facilities from flood events within environmental resource protection, regulatory, and economic constraints. One case in point is the Arroyo Las Positas (ALP), an intermittent stream that traverses the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California. Increased runoff from post-drought rainfall, upstream development, and new perennial discharges from LLNL activities have resulted in increased dry weather flows and wetland vegetation. These new conditions have recently begun to provide improved habitat for the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii; CRLF), but the additional vegetation diminishes the channel's drainage capacity and increases flood risk. When LLNL proposed to re-grade the channel to reestablish the 100-year flood capacity, traditional dredging practices were no longer being advocated by environmental regulatory agencies. LLNL therefore designed a desilting maintenance plan to protect LLNL facility areas from flooding, while minimizing impacts to wetland resources and habitat. The result was a combination of structural upland improvements and the ALP Five Year Maintenance Plan (Maintenance Plan), which includes phased desilting in segments so that the entire ALP is desilted after five years. A unique feature of the Maintenance Plan is the variable length of the segments designed to …

In this paper, we determine the minimum hybridization probe length to uniquely identify at least 95% of the open reading frame (ORF) in an organism. We analyze the whole genome sequences of 17 species, 11 bacteria, 4 archaea, and 2 eukaryotes. We also present a mathematical model for minimum probe length based on assuming that all ORFs are random, of constant length, and contain an equal distribution of bases. The model accurately predicts the minimum probe length for all species, but it incorrectly predicts that all ORFs may be uniquely identified. However, a probe length of just 9 bases is adequate to identify over 95% of the ORFs for all 15 prokaryotic species we studied. Using a minimum probe length, while accepting that some ORFs may not be identified and that data will be lost due to hybridization error, may result in significant savings in microarray and oligonucleotide probe design.

A Family of Durable Silver Mirror Designs has been fabricated at LLNL. We report here on the optical and environmental performance of the basic design, which can be cleaned with standard glass cleaner and cloth after months of exposure to outside atmosphere.

We discuss two volume rendering methods developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The first, cell projection, renders the polygons in the projection of each cell. It requires a global visibility sort in order to composite the cells in back to front order, and we discuss several different algorithms for this sort. The second method uses regularly spaced slice planes perpendicular to the X, Y, or Z axes, which slice the cells into polygons. Both methods are supplemented with anti-aliasing techniques to deal with small cells that might fall between pixel samples or slice planes, and both have been parallelized.

Nearly all industrial facilities have been responsible for introducing synthetic chemicals into the environment. The Savannah River Site is no exception. Several areas at the site have been contaminated by chlorinated volatile organic chemicals. Because of the persistence and refractory nature of these contaminants, a complete clean up of the site will take many years. A major focus of the mission of the Environmental Sciences Section of the Savannah River Technology Center is to develop better, faster, and less expensive methods for characterizing, monitoring, and remediating the subsurface. These new methods can then be applied directly at the Savannah River Site and at other contaminated areas in the United States and throughout the world. The Environmental Sciences Section has hosted field testing of many different monitoring technologies over the past two years primarily as a result of the Integrated Demonstration Program sponsored by the Department of Energy`s Office of Technology Development. This paper provides an overview of some of the technologies that have been demonstrated at the site and briefly discusses the applicability of these techniques.

A vapor-phase, reagent-based, fiber optic trichloroethylene (TCE) sensor developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was demonstrated at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in two configurations. The first incorporated the sensor into a down-well instrument bounded by two inflatable packers capable of sealing an area for discrete depth analysis. The second involved an integration of the sensor into the probe tip of the Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station (WES) cone penetrometry system. Discrete depth measurements of vapor-phase concentrations of TCE in the vadose zone were successfully made using both configurations. These measurements demonstrate the first successful in situ sensing (as opposed to sampling) of TCE at a field site.

Supersymmetric particls, Higgs mesons, the top quark and other heavy objects are expected to decay frequently into three or more body final states in which at least one particle, such a neutrino or photino, is non-interacting. A method is described for obtaining an excellent estimate of both the mass and the longitudinal momentum of the parent state. The probable longitudinal momenta of the non-interacting particle and of the parent, and the minimum invariant mass of the parent are derived from a minimization procedure. The distributions in these variables are shown to peak sharply at their true values.

We discuss the results of and future plans for experiments to study the possibility of producing an x-ray laser. The schemes we have investigated are all pumped by the Novette Laser, operated at short pulse (tau/sub L/ approx. 100 psec) and an incident wavelength of lambda /sub L/ approx. 0.53 ..mu..m. We have studied the possibility of lasing at 53.6, 68.0 to 72.0, 119.0, and 153.0 eV, using the inversion methods of resonant photo-excitation, collisional excitation, and three-body recombination.

A series of pressurization tests of a 3.5-km deep body of jointed crystalline rock has shown that both the pressure deformation (i.e., dilation) of the region and the boundary permeation are nonlinear functions of the effective stress. This is because the apertures for both the joints and microcracks are strong functions of the effective normal stress acting to close them. For a surface pressure increase from zero to 7.5 MPa, the fluid storage in the natural joints and microcracks in this 0.3 km{sup 3} volume of rock increased by 1470 m{sup 3}. The corresponding increase in fluid storage between 7.5 and 15 MPa was 1090 m{sup 3}. However, even at a surface pressure level of 15 MPa, the permeation loss rate from this large volume of rock is only 0.3 l/s after six months of pressure maintenance. Using transient nonlinear numerical modeling, it is shown that the pressure-dependent fracture permeability model of Gangi, and the fracture porosity equivalent, adequately represent the measured permeability and porosity data obtained to date from this continuing series of pressurization experiments.

This article uses the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient as guidelines to assess the progress of flood resilience building in Thailand.

Several diagnostics measure the particle sources and losses in the Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) plasma. An absolutely calibrated high-speed (0.5 ms per frame) filtered (6561 A) video camera measures the total ionization source as a function of radius. An axial view of the plasma automatically integrates the axial variations within the depth of field of the system. Another camera, viewing the plasma radially, measures the axial source variations near the deuterium fueling source. Axial ion losses are measured by an array of Faraday cups that are equipped with grids for repelling electrons and are mounted at each end of the experiment. Unequal ion and electron (nonambipolar) radial losses are inferred from net current measurements on an array of grounded plates at each end. Any differences between the measured particle losses and sources may be attributed to ambipolar radial losses and/or azimuthal asymmetries in the particle-loss profiles. Methods of system calibration, along with details of computer data acquisition and processing of this relatively large set of data, are also presented. 6 refs., 1 fig.

Flat plate chord tests are one experimental method used to investigate how fluid/structure interaction (FSI) effects modify the impulsive loading in nuclear reactor pressure suppression pools. This analytical study examines the applicability of using a flexible flat plate in an otherwise rigid shell to model dynamic pool wall response in a flexible shell pressure suppression torus. Bubble pressures varying by a factor of seven are used as input to two-dimensional finite-element models. Boundary response to various plate and shell thicknesses are compared on the basis of equivalent natural frequency. Results indicate the qualitative flat plate response compares well with the flexible shell but absolute pressures vary significantly and nonconservatively.