The CDF RunIIa silicon detector made the transition from commissioning to data taking. CDF's online and offline tracking algorithms, the performance of Layer 00 and the RunIIb silicon upgrade project are covered in this article.

The recent experimental advances in cold atomic traps have induced a great amount of interest in fields from condensed matter to particle physics, including approaches and prospects from the theoretical point of view. In this work we investigate the general properties and the ground state of an asymmetrical dilute gas of cold fermionic atoms, formed by two particle species having different densities. We have show in a recent paper, that a mixed phase composed of normal and superfluid components is the energetically favored ground state of such a cold fermionic system. Here we extend the analysis and verify that in fact, the mixed phase is the preferred ground state of an asymmetrical superfluid in various situations. We predict that the mixed phase can serve as a way of detecting superfluidity and estimating the magnitude of the gap parameter in asymmetrical fermionic systems.

The present Fermilab D0 silicon microstrip tracker, the silicon microstrip tracker which was designed to replace it, and plans for upgrading the present silicon tracker are described.

Plutonium, because of its radioactive nature, ages from the ''inside out'' by means of self-irradiation damage and thus produces Frankel-type defects (vacancies and self-interstitial atoms) and defect clusters. The self-irradiation damage in Plutonium-239 occurs mainly by {alpha}-particle decay, where most of the damage comes from the U-235 recoil nucleus. The defects resulting from the residual lattice damage and helium in-growth could result in microstructural and physical property changes. Because these self-irradiation effects would normally require decades to measure, with a fraction (7.5 wt%) of Pu-238 is added to the reference plutonium alloy thus accelerating the aging process by approximately 18 times the normal rate. By monitoring the properties of the Pu-238 spiked alloy over a period of about 3.5 years, the properties of plutonium in storage can be projected for periods up to about 60 years. This paper presents density and volume changes observed from the immersion density and dilatometry measurements equivalent to aging the reference plutonium alloys to nine years.

The ignition temperature of nitrogen-diluted dimethyl ether (DME) by heated air in counterflow was experimentally determined for DME concentration from 5.9 to 30%, system pressure from 1.5 to 3.0 atmospheres, and pressure-weighted strain rate from 110 to 170/s. These experimental data were compared with two mechanisms that were respectively available in 1998 and 2003, with the latter being a substantially updated version of the former. The comparison showed that while the 1998-mechanism uniformly over-predicted the ignition temperature, the 2003-mechanism yielded surprisingly close agreement for all experimental data. Sensitivity analysis for the near-ignition state based on both mechanisms identified the deficiencies of the 1998-mechanism, particularly the specifics of the low-temperature cool flame chemistry in effecting ignition at higher temperatures, as the fuel stream is being progressively heated from its cold boundary to the high-temperature ignition region around the hot-stream boundary. The 2003-mechanism, consisting of 79 species and 398 elementary reactions, was then systematically simplified by using the directed relation graph method to a skeletal mechanism of 49 species and 251 elementary reactions, which in turn was further simplified by using computational singular perturbation method and quasi-steady-state species assumption to a reduced mechanism consisting of 33 species and 28 lumped reactions. It …

The behavior of nanostructured materials/small-volumestructures and biologi-cal/bio-implantable materials, so-called "nano"and "bio" materials, is currently much in vogue in materials science. Oneaspect of this field, which to date has received only limited attention,is their fracture and fatigue properties. In this paper, we examine twotopics in this area, namely the premature fatigue failure ofsilicon-based micron-scale structures for microelectromechanical systems(MEMS), and the fracture properties of mineralized tissue, specificallyhuman bone.

Chemical inhibition of laminar propane flames by organophosphorus compounds has been studied experimentally, using a laboratory Mache Hebra nozzle burner and a flat flame burner with molecular beam mass spectrometry (MBMS), and with a computational flame model using a detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism. Both fuel-lean and fuel-rich propane flames were studied to examine the role of equivalence ratio in flame inhibition. The experiments examined a wide variety of organophosphorus compounds. We report on the experimental species flame profiles for tri-methyl phosphate (TMP) and compare them with the species flame profile results from modeling of TMP and di-methyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP). Both the experiments and kinetic modeling support and illustrate previous experimental studies in both premixed and non-premixed flames that inhibition efficiency is effectively the same for all of the organophosphorus compounds examined, independent of the molecular structure of the initial inhibitor molecule. The chemical inhibition is due to reactions involving the small P-bearing species HOPO{sub 2} and HOPO that are produced by the organophosphorus compounds (OPCs). The ratios of the HOPO{sub 2} and HOPO concentrations differ between the lean and rich flames, with HOPO{sub 2} dominant in lean flames while HOPO dominates in rich flames. The resulting HOPO{sub 2} …

Carcinogenic heterocyclic amines are produced from overcooked foods and are highly mutagenic in most short-term test systems. One of the most abundant of these amines, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), induces breast, colon and prostate tumors in rats. Human dietary epidemiology studies suggest a strong correlation between either meat consumption or well-done muscle meat consumption and cancers of the colon, breast, stomach, lung and esophagus. For over 20 years our laboratory has helped define the human exposure to these dietary carcinogens. In this report we describe how various environmental exposures may modulate the risk from exposure to heterocyclic amines, especially PhIP. To assess the impact of foods on PhIP metabolism in humans, we developed an LC/MS/MS method to analyze the four major PhIP urinary metabolites following the consumption of a single portion of grilled chicken. Adding broccoli to the volunteers' diet altered the kinetics of PhIP metabolism. At the cellular level we have found that PhIP itself stimulates a significant estrogenic response in MCF-7 cells, but even more interestingly, co-incubation of the cells with herbal teas appear to enhance the response. Numerous environmental chemicals found in food or the atmosphere can impact the exposure, metabolism, and cell proliferation response of heterocyclic amines.

An important challenge in computational modeling is the development of new computational methods and capabilities for studying molecular-scale structures over very large time-scales. In particular, there is great interest in understanding the nucleation and growth of carbon soot particles as well as their fate in the atmosphere. We have recently developed and implemented a new computational tool to time-integrate the detailed structure of atomistically resolved surfaces and nanostructures driven by chemical and physical kinetic rule-based rate expressions. Fundamental chemical and physical processes such as chemical reactions, surface adsorption and surface diffusion are performed using a non-lattice real-space kinetic Monte Carlo scheme and driven by user-defined rule-based kinetic rate expressions, while atomic structure relaxation is approached using molecular dynamics. We demonstrate the sensitivity of particle evolution to chemical and physical kinetic mechanism using a parallel implementation of the combined Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics code.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-meter diameter target chamber and room for 100 diagnostics. NIF is the world's largest and most energetic laser experimental system, providing a scientific center to study inertial confinement fusion and matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. NIF's energetic laser beams will compress fusion targets to conditions required for thermonuclear burn, liberating more energy than required to initiate the fusion reactions. Other NIF experiments will study physical processes at temperatures approaching 10{sup 8} K and 10'' bar; conditions that exist naturally only in the interior of stars and planets. NIF has completed the first phases of its laser commissioning program. The first four beams of NIF have generated 106 kilojoules in 23-ns pulses of infrared light and over 16 kJ in 3.5 ns pulses at the third harmonic (351 nm). NIF's target experimental systems are being commissioned and experiments have begun. This paper discusses NIF's current and future experimental capability, plans for diagnostics, cryogenic target systems, specialized optics for experiments, and potential enhancements to NIF such as multi-color laser operation and high-energy short pulse operation.

The National Ignition Facility at LLNL recently commissioned the first set of four beam lines into the target chamber. This effort, also called NIF Early Light, demonstrated the entire laser system architecture from master oscillator through target and initial X-ray diagnostics. This paper describes the detailed commissioning and installation steps for one of NIF's 48 beam quads. Using a dedicated single beam line Precision Diagnostic System, performance was explored over the entire power versus energy space from 6.4 TW/beam for sub-nanosecond pulses to 25 kJ/beam for 23 ns pulses at 1 {omega}. NEL also demonstrated record single beam line frequency converted Nd:Glass laser energies of 11.3 kJ at 2 {omega} and 10.4 kJ at 3{omega}.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is designed with its high value optical systems in cassettes called Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). Virtually all of the NIF's active components are assembled in one of the {approx}4000 electrical and optical LRUs that serve between two and eight of NIF's 192 laser beam lines. Many of these LRUs are optomechanical assemblies that are roughly the size of a telephone booth. The primary design challenges for this hardware include meeting stringent mechanical precision, stability and cleanliness requirements. Pre-production units of each LRU type have been fielded on the first bundle of NIF and used to demonstrate that NIF meets its performance objectives. This presentation provides an overview of the NIF LRUs, their design and production plans for building out the remaining NIF bundles.

I provide a review of observations in the optical, UV (HST), and EUV (EUVE and Chandra LETG) of the rapid periodic oscillations of nonmagnetic, disk-accreting, high mass-accretion rate cataclysmic variables (CVs), with particular emphasis on the dwarf nova SS Cyg in outburst. In addition, I drawn attention to a correlation, valid over nearly six orders of magnitude in frequency, between the frequencies of the quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of white dwarf, neutron star, and black hole binaries. This correlation identifies the high frequency quasi-coherent oscillations (so-called ''dwarf nova oscillations'') of CVs with the kilohertz QPOs of low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), and the low frequency and low coherence QPOs of CVs with the horizontal branch oscillations (or the broad noise component identified as such) of LMXBs. Assuming that the same mechanisms produce the QPOs of white dwarf, neutron star, and black hole binaries, this correlation has important implications for QPO models.

The pollutant-formation characteristics and other properties of a combustion reaction typically depend strongly on the proximity of the mixture to its stoichiometric condition, i.e., the ''mixture stoichiometry.'' A quantitative, widely applicable measure of this mixture property is therefore a critical independent variable in the study of combustion systems. Such a parameter enables the clear separation of mixture stoichiometry effects from other effects (e.g., fuel molecular structure, product temperature, diluent concentration, pressure). The parameter most often used to quantify mixture stoichiometry is the equivalence ratio. Unfortunately, the equivalence ratio fails to properly account for oxygen in oxygenates, i.e., compounds that have oxygen chemically bound within the fuel molecule. This manuscript introduces the oxygen ratio, a parameter that properly characterizes mixture stoichiometry for a broader class of reactants than does the equivalence ratio, including oxygenates. A detailed definition of the oxygen ratio is provided and used to show its relationship to the equivalence ratio. The definition is also used to quantify errors involved when the equivalence ratio is used as a measure of mixture stoichiometry with oxygenates. Proper usage of the oxygen ratio is discussed and the oxygen ratio is used to interpret results in a practical example.

This paper presents the results of experiments that investigate the effect of single and multiple jet penetration into geologic materials. In previous studies of jet penetration into concrete targets, we demonstrated that an enhanced surface crater could be created by the simultaneous penetration of multiple shaped charge jets and that an enhanced target borehole could be created by the subsequent delayed penetration of a single shaped charge jet. This paper describes an extension of the multiple jet penetration research to limestone and granite.

A series of glass samples were prepared analogous to high level waste glass using either glass frit or glass precursors combined with a high level waste surrogate containing NaTcO{sub 4}. Three different technetium species were observed in these glasses depending upon the synthesis conditions. If the glasses were prepared by reducing NaTcO{sub 4} to TcO{sub 2} {center_dot} 2H{sub 2}O with hydrazine or if a large amount of organic material was present, inclusions of TcO{sub 2} were observed. If no organic material was present, technetium was incorporated as TcO{sub 4}{sup -}. If only a small amount of organic material was present, isolated Tc(IV) sites were observed in the glass. The relative technetium retention of these glasses was estimated from the Tc K-edge height, and had no correlation with the oxidation state of the technetium. Pertechnetate was well retained in these glasses.

The main objective of the Gordon Research Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology was to present and discuss new, fundamental research findings on microorganisms, their activities in the environment, their ecosystem-level effects, and their environmental or commercial applications. To accomplish this goal, knowledge of microbial diversity, interactions and population dynamics was required. The genomic basis of microbial processes, the cycling of naturally occurring and hazardous substances, and methodologies to assess the functional relationships of microorganisms in their habitats were essential for understanding the ecological consequences of microbial activities and the formulation of generalizing principles. In the last decade, molecular technology has revealed that microbial diversity is far more extensive than the limited view obtained from culturing procedures. Great advances in environmental microbiology have resulted from the development and application of molecular approaches to ecology and molecular evolution. A further surprise resulting from the application of these new tools is the blurring of the distinction between pathogenic traits versus those considered non-pathogenic. This year's conference addressed the issues of biodiversity, its development, and the impact of stress on gene selection and expression. In addition microbial metabolic versatility with toxins such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and organic pollutants were discussed. The nine …

We earlier reported the measured decrease of electrical resistivity during isochronal-annealing of ion irradiation damage that was accumulated at low-temperature (10 or 20K), and the temperature dependence of the resistance of defect-populations produced by low-temperature damage-accumulation and annealing in a stabilized {delta}-phase plutonium alloy, Pu(3.3 at%Ga)[1]. We noted that the temperature dependence of the resistance of defects resulting from low-temperature damage accumulation and subsequent annealing exhibits a -ln(T) temperature dependence suggestive of a Kondo impurity. A discussion of a possible ''structure-property'' effect, as it might relate to the nature of the {delta}-phase of Pu, is presented.

A new electromagnetic kinetic electron {delta} particle simulation model has been demonstrated to work well at large values of plasma {beta} times the ion-to-electron mass ratio. The simulation is three-dimensional using toroidal flux-tube geometry and includes electron-ion collisions. The model shows accurate shear Alfven wave damping and microtearing physics. Zonal flows with kinetic electrons are found to be turbulent with the spectrum peaking at zero and having a width in the frequency range of the driving turbulence. This is in contrast with adiabatic electron cases where the zonal flows are near stationary, even though the linear behavior of the zonal flow is not significantly affected by kinetic electrons. zonal fields are found to be very weak, consistent with theoretical predictions for {beta} below the kinetic ballooning limit. Detailed spectral analysis of the turbulence data is presented in the various limits.

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During Calendar Year (CY) 2002, the Russian Federation (R.F.) delivered low enriched uranium (LEU) from the conversion and processing of 30 metric tons (MT) of weapons-grade (90% {sup 235}U assay) uranium. Through July 2003, the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Transparency Implementation Program (TIP) will have monitored the conversion of over 190 MT HEU into LEU. This total represents about 38 percent of the projected 500 MT HEU scheduled to be blended down through the year 2013 and is equivalent to the destruction of 7,600 nuclear devices. The National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) HEU-TIP monitors the processing of this HEU at four Russian uranium-processing plants. During CY 2002, United States (U.S.) personnel monitored this process for a total of 194 monitor-weeks by staffing a Transparency Monitoring Office (TMO) located in Novouralsk, and through a series of five-day Special Monitoring Visits (SMV) to the four plants. U.S. monitor observations include the inventory of in-process containers, the observation of operations and non-destructive assay measurements (NDA) to determine {sup 235}U enrichment, as well as the examination and validation of Russian Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) documents. In addition, the U.S. designed Blend Down Monitoring System (BDMS) installed at the Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP) …

Computational or scientific simulations are increasingly being applied to solve a variety of scientific problems. Domains such as astrophysics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and environmental studies are benefiting from this important capability. Simulations, however, produce enormous amounts of data that need to be analyzed and understood. In this overview paper, we describe scientific simulation data, its characteristics, and the way scientists generate and use the data. We then compare and contrast simulation data to data streams. Finally, we describe our approach to analyzing simulation data, present the AQSim (Ad-hoc Queries for Simulation data) system, and discuss some of the challenges that result from handling this kind of data.

We describe here a series of dynamic compression experiments using impactors with specifically prescribed density profiles. Building upon previous impactor designs, we compose our functionally graded density impactors of materials whose densities vary from about 0.1 g/cc to more than 15 g/cc. These impactors, whose density profiles are not restricted to be monotonic, can be used to generate prescribed thermodynamic paths in the targets. These paths include quasi-isentropes as well as combinations of shock, rarefraction, and quasi-isentropic compression waves. The time-scale of these experiments ranges from nanoseconds to several microseconds. Strain-rates in the quasi-isentropic compression experiments vary from approximately 10{sup 4}s{sup -1} to 10{sup 6}s{sup -1}. We applied this quasi-isentropic compression technique to resolidify water where ice is at a higher temperature than the initial water sample. The particle velocity of quasi-isentropically compressed water exhibits a two-wave structure and sample thickness scales consistently with water-ice phase transition time. Experiments on resolidification of molten bismuth are also promising.

Article on improved forage digestibility of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) by transgenic down-regulation of cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase.