Scientists in the Physical Biosciences Division of the Ernest Orlando Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) studying transition metals in proteins with fluorescence-detected L-edge absorption spectroscopy have found the measurements to be extremely challenging. The difficulty is that the metal centers are present in very dilute concentrations so that their weak fluorescence is often obscured by strong background signals carbon and oxygen. To solve this problem, the Berkeley group has been working with researchers from the Advanced Detector Group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on an energy-dispersive superconducting tunnel junction x-ray detector. These devices in principle have the energy resolution needed to reveal the metal signal. The most recent results with the latest version of the detector on Beamline 4.0.1-2 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) illustrate the promise of the cryogenic detector strategy not only for this application but also for spectroscopy of other types of dilute samples. Transition-metal complexes are key elements in many biologically important processes that are catalyzed by proteins (enzymes), photosynthesis being a prime example. The changes in that occur in electronic structure throughout a catalytic cycle are the subject of much research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of these processes. L-edge x-ray spectroscopy offers …

Gov. Davis issued Executive Order D-5-99 in March 1999 calling for removal of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from gasoline no later than December 31, 2002. The Executive Order required the California Air Board, State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to prepare an analysis of potential impacts and health risks that may be associated with the use of ethanol as a fuel oxygenate. The SWRCB contracted with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to lead a team of researchers, including scientists from Clarkson University, University of Iowa, and University of California, Davis, in evaluating the potential ground and surface water impacts that may occur if ethanol is used to replace MTBE. These findings are reported in the document entitled Health and Environmental Assessment of the Use of Ethanol as a Fuel Oxygenate. This document has been peer reviewed and presented to the California Environmental Policy Council and may be viewed at: http://www-erd.llnl.gov/ethanol/. Ethanol used for fuels is made primarily from grains, but any feed stock containing sugar, starch, or cellulose can be fermented to ethanol. Ethanol contains 34.7% oxygen by weight. It is less dense than water, but infinitely soluble in water. …

The Steven Test was developed to determine relative impact sensitivity of metal encased solid high explosives and also be amenable to two-dimensional modeling. Low level reaction thresholds occur at impact velocities below those required for shock initiation. To assist in understanding this test, multi-dimensional gauge techniques utilizing carbon foil and carbon resistor gauges were used to measure pressure and event times. Carbon resistor gauges indicated late time low level reactions 200-540 {micro}s after projectile impact, creating 0.39-2.00 kb peak shocks centered in PBX 9501 explosives discs and a 0.60 kb peak shock in a LX-04 disk. Steven Test modeling results, based on ignition and growth criteria, are presented for two PBX 9501 scenarios: one with projectile impact velocity just under threshold (51 m/s) and one with projectile impact velocity just over threshold (55 m/s). Modeling results are presented and compared to experimental data.

U.S. MPC&A cooperation with the Russian Federation (RF) Navy is based on a Joint Statement signed in 1996 to protect Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) fresh fuel used for nuclear propulsion. The Russian Federation Navy is the largest owner in Russia of highly enriched uranium, both in the form of fresh nuclear fuel, and in the form of slightly irradiated fuel with a long cooling time after irradiation. As a result of this agreement, projects began at the Northern Fleet Fresh Fuel Storage Facility (Site 49) and Refueling Ship PM-63. Initial projects provided upgrades for RF Navy HEU fresh fuel storage facilities, beginning with a land-based facility near Murmansk and later adding other land-based and ship-based fresh fuel storage facilities. Additional protocols (December 1997, January 1999, and March 2000) significantly expanded cooperation to include all HEU fuel under RF Navy control. To date, it is estimated that tens of metric tons of HEU have been secured - enough to construct hundreds of nuclear devices. It was determined that the cooperation would be coordinated by the Russian Research Center, Kurchatov Institute. This paper describes the history of the Program development, its stages, current status, scale of the work and prospects.

The Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) Problem Solving Environment (PSE) consists of the tools and libraries needed for the development of ASCI simulation codes on ASCI machines. The recently completed ASCI PSE Milepost demonstrated that this software environment is available and functional at the scale used for application mileposts on ASCI White. As part of the PSE Milepost, we performed extensive performance testing of several critical run-time based systems. In this paper, we present microbenchmark results that compare the MPI [5], Pthreads and OpenMP [7, 8] implementations on ASCI White and ASCI Blue Pacific. Our results demonstrate that these run-time systems on White have improved sufficiently to accommodate the machine's approximately four-fold increase in processing capability over Blue Pacific.

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Wet-etch figuring (WEF), a computer-controlled method for generating arbitrarily shaped optical surfaces using wet chemical etching, has been developed. This method uses applicator geometry and surface tension gradients (the Marangoni Effect) to define and confine the footprint of a wetted etchant zone on the surface. Capillary forces attach the flowing etchant solution to the underside of the optic being figured. No mechanical or thermal stresses or residues are applied to the optic by this process. This enables interferometric measurement of the glass thickness while surfacing, which then controls the placement and dwell time of the wetted zone. The result is a truly deterministic, closed-loop figuring process with a high degree of optical precision. This process can figure sub-millimeter thickness, large-aperture plates or sheets that are very difficult to finish by conventional methods. Automated linear and circular spot etching tools were used to demonstrate surfacing on 380 micron-thick glass sheets, to Strehl better than 0.8, as specified by data array or Zernike polynomials.

Single solid-state devices or arrays of solid-state devices are being incorporated into many pulsed power applications as a means of generating fast, high-power, high repetition-rate pulses and ultimately replacing hard tubes and thyratrons. While vendors' data sheets provide a starting point for selecting solid-state devices, most data sheets do not have sufficient information to determine performance in a pulsed application. To obtain this relevant information, MOSFET's and IGBT's from a number of vendors have been tested to determine rise times, fall times and current handling capabilities. The emphasis is on the evaluation of devices that can perform in the range of 100ns pulse widths and the test devices must be capable of switching 1000 volts or greater at a pulsed current of at least 25 amperes. Additionally, some devices were retest with a series magnetic switch to evaluate the effects on switching parameters and specifically rise times. All devices were evaluated under identical conditions and the complete test results are presented.

This paper presents a plan for increasing the mapped resource base for geothermal exploration in the Western US. We plan to image large areas in the western US with recently developed high resolution hyperspectral geobotanical remote sensing tools. The proposed imaging systems have the ability to map visible faults, surface effluents, historical signatures, and discover subtle hidden faults and hidden thermal systems. Large regions can be imaged at reasonable costs. The technique of geobotanical remote sensing for geothermal signatures is based on recent successes in mapping faults and effluents the Long Valley Caldera and Mammoth Mountain in California.

Al 5083 disks of a superplastic forming grade were gas-pressure formed to hemispheres and cones at constant forming pressures with and without back pressure. The forming operation was performed using an in-house designed and built biaxial forming apparatus. The temporal change of dome heights of the hemispheres and cones were measured for the different forming and back pressures applied. The flow stresses and strain rates developed at the top of the dome during the forming step were shown to closely follow the flow stress-strain rate relationship obtained from the strain rate change tests performed at the same temperature using uniaxial tensile samples.

Solid-state lasers have held great promise for the generation of high-average-power, high-quality output beams for a number of decades. However, the inherent difficulty of scaling the active solid-state gain media while continuing to provide efficient cooling has limited demonstrated powers to <5kW. Even at the maximum demonstrated average powers, the output is most often delivered as continuous wave (CW) or as small energy pulses at high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and the beam divergence is typically >10X the diffraction limit. Challenges posed by optical distortions and depolarization arising from internal temperature gradients in the gain medium of a continuously cooled system are only increased for laser designs that would attempt to deliver the high average power in the form of high energy pulses (>25J) from a single coherent optical aperture. Although demonstrated phase-locking of multiple laser apertures may hold significant promise for the future scaling of solid-state laser systems,1 the continuing need for additional technical development and innovation coupled with the anticipated complexity of these systems effectively limits this approach for near-term multi-kW laser operation outside of a laboratory setting. We have developed and demonstrated a new operational mode for solid-state laser systems in which the cooling of the gain …

We describe the design and MPI implementation of two benchmarks created to characterize the balanced system performance of high-performance clusters and supercomputers: b{_}eff, the communication-specific benchmark examines the parallel message passing performance of a system, and b{_}eff{_}io, which characterizes the effective 1/0 bandwidth. Both benchmarks have two goals: (a) to get a detailed insight into the Performance strengths and weaknesses of different parallel communication and I/O patterns, and based on this, (b) to obtain a single bandwidth number that characterizes the average performance of the system namely communication and 1/0 bandwidth. Both benchmarks use a time driven approach and loop over a variety of communication and access patterns to characterize a system in an automated fashion. Results of the two benchmarks are given for several systems including IBM SPs, Cray T3E, NEC SX-5, and Hitachi SR 8000. After a redesign of b{_}eff{_}io, I/O bandwidth results for several compute partition sizes are achieved in an appropriate time for rapid benchmarking.

Adaptive optics (AO) on 8-10 m telescopes is an enormously powerful tool for studying young nearby stars. It is especially useful for searching for companions. Using AO on the 10-m W.M. Keck II telescope we have measured the position of the brown dwarf companion to TWA5 and resolved the primary into an 0.055{double_prime} double. Over the next several years follow-up astrometry should permit an accurate determination of the masses of these young stars. We have also re-observed the candidate extrasolar planet TWAGB, but measurements of its motion relative to TWA6A are inconclusive. We are carrying out a search for new planetary or brown dwarf companions to TWA stars and, if current giant planet models are correct, are currently capable of detecting a 1 Jupiter-mass companion at {approx} 1.0{double_prime} and a 5 Jupiter-mass companion at {approx} 0.5{double_prime} around a typical TWA member.

Statistical analysis gives a paradigm for detection and tracking of weak-signature sources that are moving among a network of detectors. The detector platforms compute and exchange information with near-neighbors in the form of Bayesian probabilities for possible sources. This can shown to be an optimal scheme for the use of detector information and communication resources. Here, we apply that paradigm to the detection and discrimination of radiation sources using multi-channel gamma-ray spectra. We present algorithms for the reduction of detector data to probability estimates and the fusion of estimates among multiple detectors. A primary result is the development of a goodness-of-fit metric, similar to {chi}{sup 2}, for template matching that is statistically valid for spectral channels with low expected counts. Discrimination of a target source from other false sources and detection of imprecisely known spectra are the main applications considered. We use simulated NaI spectral data to demonstrate the Bayesian algorithm compare it to other techniques. Results of simulations of a network of spectrometers are presented, showing its capability to distinguish intended targets from nuisance sources.

The human breast comprises three lineages: the luminal epithelial lineage, the myoepithelial lineage, and the mesenchymal lineage. It has been widely accepted that human breast neoplasia pertains only to the luminal epithelial lineage. In recent years, however, evidence has accumulated that neoplastic breast epithelial cells may be substantially more plastic in their differentiation repertoire than previously anticipated. Thus, along with an increasing availability of markers for the myoepithelial lineage, at least a partial differentiation towards this lineage is being revealed frequently. It has also become clear that conversions towards the mesenchymal lineage actually occur, referred to as epithelial to mesenchymal transitions. Indeed, some of the so-called myofibroblasts surrounding the tumor may indeed have an epithelial origin rather than a mesenchymal origin. Because myoepithelial cells, epithelial to mesenchymal transition-derived cells, genuine stromal cells and myofibroblasts share common markers, we now need to define a more ambitious set of markers to distinguish these cell types in the microenvironment of the tumors. This is necessary because the different microenvironments may confer different clinical outcomes. The aim of this commentary is to describe some of the inherent complexities in defining cellular phenotypes in the microenvironment of breast cancer and to expand wherever possible on …

We conduct a comparative experimental analysis of three well known media access protocols: 802.11, CSMA, and MACA for wireless radio networks. Both fixed and ad-hoc networks are considered. The experimental analysis was carried out using GloMoSim: a tool for simulating wireless networks. The main focus of experiments was to study how (i) the size of the network, (ii) number of open connections, (iii) the spatial location of individual connections, (iv) speed with which individual nodes move and (v) protocols higher up in the protocol stack (e,g. routing layer) affect the performance of the media access sublayer protocols. The performance of the protocols was measured w.r.t. three important parameters: (1) number of received packets, (2) average latency of each packet, and (3) throughput. The following general qualitative conclusions were obtained; some of the conclusions reinforce the earlier claims by other researchers. (1) Although 802.11 performs better than the other two protocols with respect to fairness of transmission, packets dropped, and latency, its performance is found to (i) show a lot of variance with changing input parameters and (ii) the overall performance still leaves a lot of room for improvement. (2) CSMA does not perform too well under the fairness criteria, however, …

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been developing sensors for the pulp and paper industry that uses a magnetic field. The applications for magnetic sensors that have studied include (1) sensors for the measurement of the water and ice content of wood chips entering the pulping mill, (2) sensors for measuring the water content and other constituents of the black liquor leaving the paper digester, and (3) sensors for measuring paper thickness and water content as the paper is being processed. These tasks can be done using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The magnetic field used for doing the NMR can come from either permanent magnets or superconducting magnets. The choice of the magnet is dependent on a number of factors, which include the size of the sample and field strength needed to do the sensing task at hand. This paper describes some superconducting magnet options that can be used in the pulp and paper industry.

Schwertmannite is a poorly crystallized iron oxyhydroxidewith essential structural sulfate that can be a major component in acidmine drainage environments. Original characterization work concluded thatthe sulfate was largely contained within tunnels of an orderedakaganeite-like structure based on powder XRD, analysis of IR spectra,and sulfate extraction procedures [1]. Since the original description,problems have emerged with the nature of the tunnel sulfate, and with theinterpretation of the IR spectra. Other related work has shown that it isnow possible to determine sulfate-iron oxide inner sphere bindingunambiguously from the S K-edge XANES spectrum. Hence a reassessment ofthe evidence for the original schwertmannite structure was deemednecessary and timely.

Many analysts identify carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and separation as a major roadblock in efforts to cost effectively mitigate greenhouse gas emissions via sequestration. An assessment 4 conducted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Programme cited separation costs from $35 to $264 per tonne of CO2 avoided for a conventional coal fired power plant utilizing existing capture technologies. Because these costs equate to a greater than 40% increase in current power generation rates, it appears obvious that a significant improvement in CO2 separation technology is required if a negative impact on the world economy is to be avoided.

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The Value Methodology (VM) study brings together a multidisciplinary team of people who own the problem and have the expertise to identify and solve it. With the varied backgrounds and experiences the team brings to the study, come different perspectives on the problem and the requirements of the project. A requirements analysis step can be added to the Information and Function Analysis Phases of a VM study to validate whether the functions being performed are required, either regulatory or customer prescribed. This paper will provide insight to the level of rigor applied to a requirements analysis step and give some examples of tools and techniques utilized to ease the management of the requirements and functions those requirements support for highly complex problems.

Three peaks and two dips have been detected in the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background from the BOOMERANG experiment, at {ell} {approx} 210, 540, 840 and {ell} {approx} 420, 750, respectively. Using model-independent analyses, we find that all five features are statistically significant and we measure their location and amplitude. These are consistent with the adiabatic inflationary model. We also calculate the mean and variance of the peak and dip locations and amplitudes in a large 7-dimensional parameter space of such models, which gives good agreement with the model-independent estimates, and forecast where the next few peaks and dips should be found if the basic paradigm is correct. We test the robustness of our results by comparing Bayesian marginalization techniques on this space with likelihood maximization techniques applied to a second 7-dimensional cosmological parameter space, using an independent computational pipeline, and find excellent agreement: {Omega}{sub tot} = 1.02{sub -0.05}{sup +0.06} vs. 1.04 {+-} 0.05, {Omega}{sub b}h{sup 2} = 0.022{sub -0.003}{sup +0.004} vs. 0.019{sub -0.004}{sup +0.005}, and n{sub s} = 0.96{sub -0.09}{sup +0.10} vs. 0.90 {+-} 0.08. The deviation in primordial spectral index n{sub s} is a consequence of the strong correlation with the optical depth.

As part of a ''round robin'' project, the performance of two wood windows and a Calibrated Transfer Standard was modeled using the THERM heat-transfer simulation program. The resulting interior surface temperatures can be used as input to condensation resistance rating procedures. The Radiation and Condensation Index features within THERM were used to refine the accuracy of simulation results. Differences in surface temperatures between the ''Basic'' calculations and those incorporating the Radiation and/or Condensation Index features are demonstrated and explained.

We have studied how lepton pairs from decays of heavy-flavoured mesons produced in pA collisions can be used to determine the modifications of the gluon distribution in the nucleus. Since heavyquark production is dominated by the gg channel, the ratio of correlated lepton pair cross sections from DD-bar and BB-bar decays in pA and pp collisions directly reflects the ratio R{sub g}A= f{sub g}A/f{sub g}p. We have numerically calculated the lepton pair cross sections from these decays in pp and pA collisions at SPS, RHIC and LHC energies. We find that ratio of the pA to pp cross sections agrees quite well with the input R{sub g}A. Thus, sufficiently accurate measurements could be used to determine the nuclear modification of the gluon distribution over a greater range of x and Q2 than presently available, putting strong constraints on models.