This paper extends previous results on nonlinear Schwarz preconditioning ([4]) to unstructured finite element elliptic problems exploiting now nonlocal (but small) subspaces. The non-local finite element subspaces are associated with subdomains obtained from a non-overlapping element partitioning of the original set of elements and are coarse outside the prescribed element subdomain. The coarsening is based on a modification of the agglomeration based AMGe method proposed in [8]. Then, the algebraic construction from [9] of the corresponding non-linear finite element subproblems is applied to generate the subspace based nonlinear preconditioner. The overall nonlinearly preconditioned problem is solved by an inexact Newton method. Numerical illustration is also provided.

Worldwide data on terrorist incidents between 1968 and 2004 gathered by the RAND corporation and the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) were assessed for patterns and trends in morbidity/mortality. Adjusted data analyzed involve a total of 19,828 events, 7,401 ''adverse'' events (each causing {ge}1 victim), and 86,568 ''casualties'' (injuries) of which 25,408 were fatal. Most terror-related adverse events, casualties and deaths involved bombs and guns. Weapon-specific patterns and terror-related risk levels in Israel (IS) have differed markedly from those of all other regions combined (OR). IS had a fatal fraction of casualties about half that of OR, but has experienced relatively constant lifetime terror-related casualty risks on the order of 0.5%--a level 2 to 3 orders of magnitude more than those experienced in OR that increased {approx}100-fold over the same period. Individual event fatality has increased steadily, the median increasing from 14 to 50%. Lorenz curves obtained indicate substantial dispersion among victim/event rates: about half of all victims were caused by the top 2.5% (or 10%) of harm-ranked events in OR (or IS). Extreme values of victim/event rates were approximated fairly well by generalized Pareto models (typically used to fit to data on forest …

It is shown that, in a finite beta plasma, there may exist sheath driven modes whose amplitude decreases exponentially with the distance from the divertor plate. The modes are sensitive to the radial tilt of the divertor plate. The short-wavelength branch of the instability, with the cross-field wavelength Dof order of a few ion gyroradii, is present in the case of a ''positive'' tilt of the divertor plate, whereas the long-wavelength branch, with D of order of 10 or so gyroradii is unstable for the opposite sign of the tilt. The parallel e-folding length becomes less than the distance from the plate to the X point (thereby making the mode insensitive to the processes near the X-point and the upper scrape-off layer) at the plasma betas exceeding (2-3) {center_dot} 10{sup -4}. A detailed analysis of the dispersion relations is provided. The features of the modes that can be used for their experimental identification are discussed. It is pointed out that the analog of these modes may also exist in linear plasma devices with shaped end electrodes.

The DRACO code creates geometry and meshes through a command-line Python interface consisting of hundreds of classes and modules which must be accompanied by current documentation. The standard Python utility pydoc performs introspection on objects and prints their associated documentation strings verbatim. However, pydoc supports only very rudimentary formatting and cannot produce printable documentation. We decided to modify pydoc to process formatted ''docstrings'' and use the Doxygen tool to generate the needed forms of documentation. Codes with complex interfaces often require substantial effort to keep user documentation current with interface changes. The DRACO code creates geometry and meshes through a command-line Python interface consisting of hundreds of classes and thousands of functions. A previous attempt to write documentation manually quickly fell out of date, so the development team needed to find an alternative. The existing tools did not provide the flexibility we needed, and the team was already conversant in Doxygen, a C++ code-documenting utility with a simple tag-based markup. Python comes with a utility, pydoc, that performs introspection on objects and prints their docstrings verbatim. However, pydoc supports only very rudimentary formatting and cannot produce printable documentation. Thus we decided to create ''docstrings'' written in Doxygen syntax for each …

We have developed and characterized a mixer to study the reaction kinetics of protein folding on a microsecond timescale. The mixer uses hydrodynamic focusing of pressure-driven flow in a microfluidic channel to reduce diffusion times as first demonstrated by Knight et al.[1]. Features of the mixer include 1 {micro}s mixing times, sample consumptions of order 1 nl/s, loading sample volumes on the order of microliters, and the ability to manufacture in fused silica for compatibility with most spectroscopic methods.

A public/private collaboration between federal, state, provincial, and local U.S. and Canadian governmental organizations, called the Canada - United States Cargo Security Project has been formed, with the goal to improve security of containerized cargo moving from overseas locations into eastern Canadian provinces and the Northeastern United States. The current phase of this project has two technical objectives. These are: (1) to build and test a prototype in-container sensor system able to detect unauthorized entry into the container and the presence of radioactive material, to record geographical location and environmental data, and to transmit this information via satellite communications to a remote monitoring facility, and (2) to develop a secure website where data from the in-container sensors and other information will be displayed in real or near-real time and can be made available to law enforcement and emergency response organizations as appropriate. This paper will describe these activities, currently being undertaken by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. An additional goal of the project's current phase is to integrate multi-jurisdictional training and first-responder exercises while monitoring and tracking container shipments from overseas to the US via Canadian ports-of-entry into North America. This activity is being undertaken by other project partners, which …

Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX) is an international project aimed to develop enhanced techniques for the a priori estimation of parameters in hydrologic models and in land surface parameterization schemes of atmospheric models. MOPEX science strategy involves three major steps: data preparation, a priori parameter estimation methodology development, and demonstration of parameter transferability. A comprehensive MOPEX database has been developed that contains historical hydrometeorological data and land surface characteristics data for many hydrologic basins in the United States and in other countries. This database is continuing to be expanded to include more basins in all parts of the world. A number of international MOPEX workshops have been convened to bring together interested hydrologists and land surface modelers from all over world to exchange knowledge and experience in developing a priori parameter estimation techniques. This paper describes the results from the second and third MOPEX workshops. The specific objective of those workshops is to examine the state of a priori parameter estimation techniques and how they can be potentially improved with observations from well-monitored hydrologic basins. Participants of these MOPEX workshops were given data for 12 basins in the Southeastern United States and were asked to carry out a series of …