In the mature chorion, one of the membranes that exist during pregnancy between the developing fetus and mother, human placental cells form highly specialized tissues composed of mesenchyme and floating or anchoring villi. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization, we found that human invasive cytotrophoblasts isolated from anchoring villi or the uterine wall had gained individual chromosomes; however, chromosome losses were detected infrequently. With chromosomes gained in what appeared to be a chromosome-specific manner, more than half of the invasive cytotrophoblasts in normal pregnancies were found to be hyperdiploid. Interestingly, the rates of hyperdiploid cells depended not only on gestational age, but were strongly associated with the extraembryonic compartment at the fetal-maternal interface from which they were isolated. Since hyperdiploid cells showed drastically reduced DNA replication as measured by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation, we conclude that aneuploidy is a part of the normal process of placentation potentially limiting the proliferative capabilities of invasive cytotrophoblasts. Thus, under the special circumstances of human reproduction, somatic genomic variations may exert a beneficial, anti-neoplastic effect on the organism.

Designing a measurement system that might be used in a nuclear facility is a challenging, if not daunting, proposition. The situation is made more complicated when the system needs to be designed to satisfy the disparate requirements of a monitoring and a host party - a relationship that could prove to be adversarial. The cooperative design of the elements of the AVNG (Attribute Verification with Neutrons and Gamma Rays) system served as a crucible that exercised the possible pitfalls in the design and implementation of a measurement system that could be used in a host party nuclear facility that satisfied the constraints of operation for both the host and monitoring parties. Some of the issues that needed to be addressed in the joint design were certification requirements of the host party and the authentication requirements of the monitoring party. In this paper the nature of the problem of cooperative design will be introduced. The details of cooperative design revolve around the idiosyncratic nature of the adversarial relationship between the parties involved in a possible measurement regime, particularly if measurements on items that may contain sensitive information are being pursued. The possibility of an adversarial interaction is more likely if an …

Free Electron Lasers (FELs) operating in the UV or x-ray radiation spectrum require peak beam currents that are generally higher than those obtainable by present electron sources, thus making bunch compression necessary. Compression, however, may heighten the effects of collective forces and degrade the beam quality. In this paper they provide a framework for investigating some of these effects in rf compressors by focusing on the longitudinal dynamics of small-amplitude density perturbations, which have the potential to cause the disruptive appearance of the so-called microbunching instability. They develop a linear theory valid for low-to-moderate compression factors under the assumption of a 1D impedance model of longitudinal space charge and provide validation against macroparticle simulations.

Presented in this report are radionuclide concentrations required as part of the program of qualifying Sludge Batch Six (SB6) for processing in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The SB6 material is currently in Tank 51 being washed and prepared for transfer to Tank 40. The acceptance evaluation needs to be completed prior to the transfer of the material in Tank 51 to Tank 40. The sludge slurry in Tank 40 has already been qualified for DWPF and is currently being processed as SB5. The radionuclide concentrations were measured or estimated in the Tank 51 SB6 Qualification Sample prepared at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). This sample was prepared from the three liter sample of Tank 51 sludge slurry (HTF-51-09-110) taken on October 8, 2009. The sample was delivered to SRNL where it was initially characterized in the Shielded Cells. Under the direction of the Liquid Waste Organization it was then modified by eight washes, nine decants, an addition of Pu from Canyon Tank 16.3, and an addition of NaNO{sub 2}. This final slurry now has a composition expected to be similar to that of the slurry in Tank 51 after final preparations have been made for transfer of that …

Imaging systems as ultrasound, sonar, laser and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are subjected to speckle noise during image acquisition. Before analyzing these images, it is often necessary to remove the speckle noise using filters. We combine properties of two mathematical morphology filters with speckle statistics to propose a signal-dependent noise filter to multiplicative noise. We describe a multiscale scheme that preserves sharp edges while it smooths homogeneous areas, by combining local statistics with two mathematical morphology filters: the alternating sequential and the self-dual reconstruction algorithms. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is less sensitive to varying window sizes when applied to simulated and real SAR images in comparison with standard filters.

The 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act calls for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Meeting this target will require action from all sectors of the California economy, including industry. The industrial sector consumes 25% of the energy used and emits 28% of the carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) produced in the state. Many countries around the world have national-level GHG reduction or energy-efficiency targets, and comprehensive programs focused on implementation of energy efficiency and GHG emissions mitigation measures in the industrial sector are essential for achieving their goals. A combination of targets and industry-focused supporting programs has led to significant investments in energy efficiency as well as reductions in GHG emissions within the industrial sectors in these countries. This project has identified program and policies that have effectively targeted the industrial sector in other countries to achieve real energy and CO{sub 2} savings. Programs in Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK were chosen for detailed review. Based on the international experience documented in this report, it is recommended that companies in California's industrial sector be engaged in a program to provide them with support to meet the requirements of AB32, The Global Warming Solution …

Numerical simulations of laser-plasma wakefield (particle) accelerators model the acceleration of electrons trapped in plasma oscillations (wakes) left behind when an intense laser pulse propagates through the plasma. The goal of these simulations is to better understand the process involved in plasma wake generation and how electrons are trapped and accelerated by the wake. Understanding of such accelerators, and their development, offer high accelerating gradients, potentially reducing size and cost of new accelerators. One operating regime of interest is where a trapped subset of electrons loads the wake and forms an isolated group of accelerated particles with low spread in momentum and position, desirable characteristics for many applications. The electrons trapped in the wake may be accelerated to high energies, the plasma gradient in the wake reaching up to a gigaelectronvolt per centimeter. High-energy electron accelerators power intense X-ray radiation to terahertz sources, and are used in many applications including medical radiotherapy and imaging. To extract information from the simulation about the quality of the beam, a typical approach is to examine plots of the entire dataset, visually determining the adequate parameters necessary to select a subset of particles, which is then further analyzed. This procedure requires laborious examination of …

Imaging XCS arrays are being developed as a US-ITER activity for Doppler measurement of Ti and v profiles of impurities (W, Kr, Fe) with ~7 cm (a/30) and 10-100 ms resolution in ITER. The imaging XCS, modeled after a PPPL-MIT instrument on Alcator C-Mod, uses a spherically bent crystal and 2d x-ray detectors to achieve high spectral resolving power (E/dE>6000) horizontally and spatial imaging vertically. Two arrays will measure Ti and both poloidal and toroidal rotation velocity profiles. Measurement of many spatial chords permits tomographic inversion for inference of local parameters. The instrument design, predictions of performance, and results from C-Mod will be presented.

Samples of PUREX sludge from Tank 4 and HM sludge from Tank 12 were characterized in preparation for Sludge Batch 7 (SB7) formulation in Tank 51. SRNL analyses on Tank 4 and Tank 12 were requested in separate Technical Assistance Requests (TAR). The Tank 4 samples were pulled on January 19, 2010 following slurry operations by F-Tank Farm. The Tank 12 samples were pulled on February 9, 2010 following slurry operations by H-Tank Farm. At the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), two 200 mL dip samples of Tank 4 and two 200 mL dip samples of Tank 12 were received in the SRNL Shielded Cells. Each tank's samples were composited into clean 500 mL polyethylene storage bottles and weighed. The composited Tank 4 sample was 428.27 g and the composited Tank 12 sample was 502.15 g. As expected there are distinct compositional differences between Tank 4 and Tank 12 sludges. The Tank 12 slurry is much higher in Al, Hg, Mn, and Th, and much lower in Fe, Ni, S, and U than the Tank 4 slurry. The Tank 4 sludge definitely makes the more significant contribution of S to any sludge batch blend. This S, like that observed during …

Numerical simulation of some systems containing charged particles with highly relativistic directed motion can by speeded up by orders of magnitude by choice of the proper Lorentz-boosted frame. Orders of magnitude speedup has been demonstrated for simulations from first principles of laser-plasma accelerator, free electron laser, and particle beams interacting with electron clouds. Here we address the application of the Lorentz-boosted frame approach to coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR), which can be strongly present in bunch compressor chicanes. CSR is particularly relevant to the next generation of x-ray light sources and is simultaneously difficult to simulate in the lab frame because of the large ratio of scale lengths. It can increase both the incoherent and coherent longitudinal energy spread, effects that often lead to an increase in transverse emittance. We have adapted the WARP code to simulate CSR emission along a simple dipole bend. We present some scaling arguments for the possible computational speed up factor in the boosted frame and initial 3D simulation results.

Mathematical tools are needed to screen out sites where Joule-Thomson cooling is a prohibitive factor for CO{sub 2} geo-sequestration and to design approaches to mitigate the effect. In this paper, a simple analytical solution is developed by invoking steady-state flow and constant thermophysical properties. The analytical solution allows fast evaluation of spatiotemporal temperature fields, resulting from constant-rate CO{sub 2} injection. The applicability of the analytical solution is demonstrated by comparison with non-isothermal simulation results from the reservoir simulator TOUGH2. Analysis confirms that for an injection rate of 3 kg s{sup -1} (0.1 MT yr{sup -1}) into moderately warm (>40 C) and permeable formations (>10{sup -14} m{sup 2} (10 mD)), JTC is unlikely to be a problem for initial reservoir pressures as low as 2 MPa (290 psi).

This report documents results from a variety of activities requested by the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The activities related to caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, permeate precipitation behavior of waste as well as chromium (Cr) leaching are: • Model Input Boehmite Leaching Tests • Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) Support Leaching Tests • PEP Parallel Leaching Tests • Precipitation Study Results • Cr Caustic and Oxidative Leaching Tests. Leaching test activities using the PEP simulant provided input to a boehmite dissolution model and determined the effect of temperature on mass loss during caustic leaching, the reaction rate constant for the boehmite dissolution, and the effect of aeration in enhancing the chromium dissolution during caustic leaching. Other tests were performed in parallel with the PEP tests to support the development of scaling factors for caustic and oxidative leaching. Another study determined if precipitate formed in the wash solution after the caustic leach in the PEP. Finally, the leaching characteristics of different chromium compounds under different conditions were examined to determine the best one to use in further testing.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been completed and has made its first shots on-target. While upcoming experiments will be focused on achieving ignition, a variety of subsequent experiments are planned for the facility, including measurement of cross sections, astrophysical measurements, and investigation of hydrodynamic instability in the target capsule. In order to successfully execute several of these planned experiments, the ability to collect solid debris following a NIF capsule shot will be required. The ability to collect and analyze solid debris generated in a shot at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will greatly expand the number of nuclear reactions studied for diagnostic purposes. Currently, reactions are limited to only those producing noble gases for cryogenic collection and counting with the Radchem Apparatus for Gas Sampling (RAGS). The radchem solid collection diagnostic has already been identified by NIF to be valuable for the determination and understanding of mix generated in the target capsule's ablation. LLNL is currently developing this solid debris collection capability at NIF, and is in the stage of testing credible designs. Some of these designs explore the use of x-ray generated aerosols to assist in collection of solid debris. However, the variety of harsh experimental conditions this …

Radiochemical diagnostic techniques such as gas-phase capsule debris analysis may prove to be successful methods for establishing the success or failure of ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Samples in the gas phase offer the most direct method of collection by simply pumping out the large target chamber following a NIF shot. The target capsules will be prepared with dopants which will produce radioactive noble gas isotopes upon activation with neutrons. We have designed and constructed the Radchem Apparatus for Gas Sampling (RAGS) in order to collect post-shot gaseous samples for NIF capsule diagnostics. The design of RAGS incorporates multiple stages intended to purify, transfer, and count the radioactive decays from gaseous products synthesized in NIF experiments. At the moment the dopant of choice is {sup 124}Xe, which will undergo (n,{gamma}) and (n, 2n) reactions to produce {sup 125}Xe and {sup 123}Xe. The half-lives of each are on the order of multiple hours and are suitable for long-term gamma-counting. These isotopes and the rest of the gases evolved in a NIF shot will be drawn through the NIF turbo pumps, past the temporarily shuttered cryo pumps (to aid our collection efficiency), and towards the first main portion of …

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