During the past two years, the U.S. heavy ion fusion science program has made significant experimental and theoretical progress in simultaneous transverse and longitudinal beam compression, ion-beam-driven warm dense matter targets, high brightness beam transport, advanced theory and numerical simulations, and heavy ion target designs for fusion. First experiments combining radial and longitudinal compression of intense ion beams propagating through background plasma resulted in on-axis beam densities increased by 700X at the focal plane. With further improvements planned in 2007, these results will enable initial ion beam target experiments in warm dense matter to begin next year at LBNL. We are assessing how these new techniques apply to low-cost modular fusion drivers and higher-gain direct-drive targets for inertial fusion energy.

The conceptual design of compact superconducting magnets for the International Linear Collider final focus is presently under development. A primary concern in using superconducting quadrupoles is the potential for inducing additional vibrations from cryogenic operation. We have employed a Laser Doppler Vibrometer system to measure the vibrations in a spare RHIC quadrupole magnet under cryogenic conditions. Some preliminary results of these studies were limited in resolution due to a rather large motion of the laser head as well as the magnet. As a first step towards improving the measurement quality, a new set up was used that reduces the motion of the laser holder. The improved setup is described, and vibration spectra measured at cryogenic temperatures, both with and without helium flow, are presented.

BackgroundIncreasing energy costs and environmental concerns have motivated engineering microbes for the production of ?second generation? biofuels that have better properties than ethanol.Results& ConclusionsSaccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered with an n-butanol biosynthetic pathway, in which isozymes from a number of different organisms (S. cerevisiae, Escherichia coli, Clostridium beijerinckii, and Ralstonia eutropha) were substituted for the Clostridial enzymes and their effect on n-butanol production was compared. By choosing the appropriate isozymes, we were able to improve production of n-butanol ten-fold to 2.5 mg/L. The most productive strains harbored the C. beijerinckii 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, which uses NADH as a co-factor, rather than the R. eutropha isozyme, which uses NADPH, and the acetoacetyl-CoA transferase from S. cerevisiae or E. coli rather than that from R. eutropha. Surprisingly, expression of the genes encoding the butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase from C. beijerinckii (bcd and etfAB) did not improve butanol production significantly as previously reported in E. coli. Using metabolite analysis, we were able to determine which steps in the n-butanol biosynthetic pathway were the most problematic and ripe for future improvement.

For each sludge batch that is processed in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performs confirmation of the applicability of the digestion method to be used by the DWPF lab for elemental analysis of Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) receipt samples and SRAT product process control samples. DWPF SRAT samples are typically dissolved using a room temperature HF-HNO3 acid dissolution (i.e., DWPF Cold Chem Method, see Procedure SW4-15.201) and then analyzed by inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). This report contains the results and comparison of data generated from performing the Aqua Regia (AR), Sodium Peroxide/Hydroxide Fusion (PF) and DWPF Cold Chem (CC) method digestion of Sludge Batch 5 (SB5) SRAT Receipt and SB5 SRAT Product samples. The SB5 SRAT Receipt and SB5 SRAT Product samples were prepared in the SRNL Shielded Cells, and the SRAT Receipt material is representative of the sludge that constitutes the SB5 Batch composition. This is the sludge in Tank 51 that is to be transferred into Tank 40, which will contain the heel of Sludge Batch 4 (SB4), to form the SB5 Blend composition. The results for any one particular element should not be used …

Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory researchers are analyzing the electrochemical and thermal-fluid behavior of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) for high temperature steam electrolysis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The major challenges facing commercialization of steam electrolysis technology are related to efficiency, cost, and durability of the SOECs. The goal of this effort is to guide the design and optimization of performance for high temperature electrolysis (HTE) systems. An SOEC module developed by FLUENT Inc. as part of their general CFD code was used for the SOEC analysis by INL. ANL has developed an independent SOEC model that combines the governing electrochemical mechanisms based on first principals to the heat transfer and fluid dynamics in the operation of SOECs. The ANL model was embedded into the commercial STAR-CD CFD software, and is being used for the analysis of SOECs by ANL. The FY06 analysis performed by ANL and reported here covered the influence of electrochemical properties, SOEC component resistances and their contributing factors, SOEC size and inlet flow conditions, and SOEC flow configurations on the efficiency and expected durability of these systems. Some of the important findings from the ANL analysis are: (1) Increasing the inlet mass …

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Research supported by this grant focuses on molecular scale understanding of central issues related to the structure and dynamics of geochemically important fluids, fluid-mineral interfaces, and confined fluids using computational modeling and experimental methods. Molecular scale knowledge about fluid structure and dynamics, how these are affected by mineral surfaces and molecular-scale (nano-) confinement, and how water molecules and dissolved species interact with surfaces is essential to understanding the fundamental chemistry of a wide range of low-temperature geochemical processes, including sorption and geochemical transport. Our principal efforts are devoted to continued development of relevant computational approaches, application of these approaches to important geochemical questions, relevant NMR and other experimental studies, and application of computational modeling methods to understanding the experimental results. The combination of computational modeling and experimental approaches is proving highly effective in addressing otherwise intractable problems. In 2006-2007 we have significantly advanced in new, highly promising research directions along with completion of on-going projects and final publication of work completed in previous years. New computational directions are focusing on modeling proton exchange reactions in aqueous solutions using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), metadynamics (MTD), and empirical valence bond (EVB) approaches. Proton exchange is critical to understanding the structure, dynamics, …

The LBNL 88-Inch Cyclotron offers broad-spectrum neutrons for single event effects testing. We discuss results from this beamline for neutron soft upsets in Xilinx Virtex-4 and -5 field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) devices.

Proteins of a serine/arginine-rich (SR) family are part of the spliceosome and are implicated in both constitutive and alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs. With the funding from DOE we have been studying alternative of splicing of genes encoding serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins and the roles of SR proteins that interact with U1-70K in regulating basic and alternative splicing. Alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs of Arabidopsis serine/arginine-rich proteins and its regulation by hormones and stresses: We analyzed the splicing of all 19 Arabidopsis genes in different tissues, during different seedling stages and in response to various hormonal and stress treatments. Remarkably, about 90 different transcripts are produced from 15 SR genes, thereby increasing the transcriptome complexity of SR genes by about five fold. Using the RNA isolated from polysomes we have shown that most of the splice variants are recruited for translation. Alternative splicing of some SR genes is controlled in a developmental and tissue-specific manner (Palusa et al., 2007). Interestingly, among the various hormones and abiotic stresses tested, temperature stress (cold and heat) and ultraviolet light dramatically altered alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs of several SR genes whereas hormones altered the splicing of only two SR genes (Palusa et al., 2007). Localization and dynamics …

This note summarizes the results of the 'Workshop on Polarization and Beam Energy Measurements at the ILC', held at DESY (Zeuthen) April 9-11 2008. The topics for the workshop included (1) physics requirements, (2) polarized sources and low energy polarimetry, (3) BDS polarimeters, (4) BDS energy spectrometers, and (5) physics-based measurements of beam polarization and beam energy from collider data. Discussions focused on the current ILC baseline program as described in the Reference Design Report (RDR), which includes physics runs at beam energies between 100 and 250 GeV, as well as calibration runs on the Z-pole. Electron polarization of P{sub e{sup -}} {approx}> 80% and positron polarization of P{sub e{sup +}} {approx}> 30% are part of the baseline configuration of the machine. Energy and polarization measurements for ILC options beyond the baseline, including Z-pole running and the 1 TeV energy upgrade, were also discussed.

One fundamental element of scientific inquiry is discoveringrelationships, particularly the interactions between different variablesin observed or simulated phenomena. Building upon our prior work in thefield of Query-Driven Visualization, where visual data analysisprocessing is focused on subsets of large data deemed to be"scientifically interesting," this new work focuses on a novel knowledgediscovery capability suitable for use with petascale class datasets. Itenables visual presentation of the presence or absence of relationships(correlations) between variables in data subsets produced by Query-Drivenmethodologies. This technique holds great potential for enablingknowledge discovery from large and complex datasets currently emergingfrom SciDAC and INCITE projects. It is sufficiently generally to beapplicable to any time of complex, time-varying, multivariate data fromstructured, unstructured or adaptive grids.

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Small 4 K coolers are used to cool superconducting magnets.These coolers are usually used with high temperature suerconductor (HTS)leads. In most cases, magnet is shielded with iron or active shieldcoils. Thus the field at the cooler is low. There are instances when thecooler must be in a magnetic field. Gifford McMahon (GM) coolers or pulsetube coolers are commercially available to cool the magnets. This paperwill discuss how the two types of coolers are affected by the straymagnetic field. Strategies for using coolers on magnets that generatestray magnetic fields are discussed.

Using 214 fb{sup -1} of data recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEPII electron-positron collider, they study the decay D{sub s}{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}e{sup +}{nu}{sub e}. Except for a small S-wave contribution, the events with K{sup +}K{sup -} masses in the range 1.01-1.03 GeV/c{sup 2} correspond to {phi} mesons. For D{sub s}{sup +} {yields} {phi}e{sup +}{nu}{sub e} decays, they measure the relative normalization of the Lorentz invariant form factors at q{sup 2} = 0, r{sub V} = V(0)/A{sub 1}(0) = 1.849 {+-} 0.060 {+-} 0.095, r{sub 2} = A{sub 2}(0)/A{sub 1}(0) = 0.763 {+-} 0.071 {+-} 0.065 and the pole mass of the axial-vector form factors m{sub A} = (2.28{sub -0.18}{sup +0.23} {+-} 0.18) GeV/c{sup 2}. Within the same K{sup +}K{sup -} mass range, they also measure the relative branching fractions {Beta}(D{sub s}{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}e{sup +}{nu}{sub e})/{Beta}(D{sub s}{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}) - 0.558 {+-} 0.007 {+-} 0.016, from which they obtain the total branching fraction {Beta}(D{sub s}{sup +} {yields} {phi}e{sup +}{nu}{sub e}) = (2.61 {+-} 0.03 {+-} 0.08 {+-} 0.15) x 10{sup -2}. By comparing this value with the predicted decay rate, they extract A{sub 1}(0) = 0.607 {+-} 0.011 {+-} …

A general problem when fitting EXAFS data is determining whether particular parameters are statistically significant. The F-test is an excellent way of determining relevancy in EXAFS because it only relies on the ratio of the fit residual of two possible models, and therefore the data errors approximately cancel. Although this test is widely used in crystallography (there, it is often called a 'Hamilton test') and has been properly applied to EXAFS data in the past, it is very rarely applied in EXAFS analysis. We have implemented a variation of the F-test adapted for EXAFS data analysis in the RSXAP analysis package, and demonstrate its applicability with a few examples, including determining whether a particular scattering shell is warranted, and differentiating between two possible species or two possible structures in a given shell.

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This report summarizes our study of the price elasticity of demand for home appliances, including refrigerators, clothes washers, and dishwashers. In the context of increasingly stringent appliance standards, we are interested in what kind of impact the increased manufacturing costs caused by higher efficiency requirements will have on appliance sales. We begin with a review of existing economics literature describing the impact of economic variables on the sale of durable goods.We then describe the market for home appliances and changes in this market over the past 20 years, performing regression analysis on the shipments of home appliances and relevant economic variables including changes to operating cost and household income. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the demand for home appliances is price inelastic.

Reduction of the uranium metallocene,[eta5-1,2,4-(Me3C)3C5H2]2UCl2 (1), Cp'2UCl2, in the presence of2,2'-bipyridyl and sodium naphthalene gives the dark green metallocenecomplex, Cp'2U(bipy) (6), which reacts with p-tolylazide orpyridine-N-oxide to give Cp'2U=N(p-tolyl) (7) or Cp'2U(O)(py) (8),respectively. The Lewis acid, BPh3, precipitates Ph3B(py) and gives thebase-free oxo, Cp'2UO (10), which crystallizes from pentane. Theoxometallocene 10 behaves as a nucleophile with Me3SiX reagents but itdoes not exhibit cycloaddition behavior with acetylenes, suggesting thatthe polar resonance structure, Cp'2U+-O- dominates the double bondresonance structure Cp'2U=O.

Noble gas isotopes are used extensively as tracers inhydrologic and paleoclimatic studies. These applications requireknowledge of the isotopic mass (m) dependence of noble gas diffusioncoefficients in water (D), which has not been measured but is estimatedusing experimental D-values for the major isotopes along with an untestedrelationship from kinetic theory, D prop m-0.5. We applied moleculardynamics methods to determine the mass dependence of D for four noblegases at 298 K, finding that D prop m-beta with beta<0.2, whichrefutes the kinetic theory model underlying all currentapplications.

We analyze quark and gluon condensates in quantum chromodynamics. We suggest that these are localized inside hadrons, because the particles whose interactions are responsible for them are confined within these hadrons. This can explain the results of recent studies of gluon condensate contributions to vacuum correlators. We also give a general discussion of condensates in asymptotically free vectorial and chiral gauge theories.

Simulations of the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Chemical Processing Cell vessels were performed with the primary purpose of producing melter feeds for the beaded frit program plus obtaining samples of simulated slurries containing high concentrations of noble metals for off-site analytical studies for the hydrogen program. Eight pairs of 22-L simulations were performed of the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) and Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) cycles. These sixteen simulations did not contain mercury. Six pairs were trimmed with a single noble metal (Ag, Pd, Rh, or Ru). One pair had all four noble metals, and one pair had no noble metals. One supporting 4-L simulation was completed with Ru and Hg. Several other 4-L supporting tests with mercury have not yet been performed. This report covers the calculations performed on SRNL analytical and process data related to the noble metals and hydrogen generation. It was originally envisioned as a supporting document for the off-site analytical studies. Significant new findings were made, and many previous hypotheses and findings were given additional support as summarized below. The timing of hydrogen generation events was reproduced very well within each of the eight pairs of runs, e.g. the onset of hydrogen, peak …

The EBIS Project at Brookhaven National Laboratory is in the second year of a four-year project. It will replace the Tandem Van de Graaff accelerators with an Electron Beam Ion Source, an RFQ, and one IH Linac cavity, as the heavy ion preinjector for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and for the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). The preinjector will provide all ions species, He to U, (Q/m &gt;0.16) at 2 MeV/amu at a repetition rate of 5 Hz, pulse length of 10-40 {micro}s, and intensities of {approx}2.0 mA. End-to-end simulations (from EBIS to the Booster injection) as well as error sensitivity studies will be presented and physics issues will be discussed.

We have been using alumina scintillators for imaging beams in heavy-ion beam fusion experiments in 2 to 4 transverse dimensions [1]. The scintillator has a limited lifetime under bombardment by the heavy ion beams. As a possible replacement for the scintillator, we are studying the technique of imaging the beam on a gas cloud. A gas cloud for imaging the beam may be created on a solid hole plate placed in the path of the beam, or by a localized gas jet. It is possible to image the beam using certain fast-quenching optical lines that closely follow beam current density and are independent of gas density. We describe this technique and show preliminary experimental data. This approach has promise to be a new fast beam current diagnostic on a nanosecond time scale.

The plasma lens concept is examined as an alternative to focusing horns and solenoids for a neutrino beam facility. The concept is based on a combined high-current lens/target configuration. Current is fed at an electrode located downstream from the beginning of the target where pion capturing is needed. The current is carried by plasma outside the target. A second plasma lens section, with an additional current feed, follows the target. The plasma is immersed in a relatively small solenoidal magnetic field to facilitate its current profile shaping to optimize pion capture. Simulations of the not yet fully optimized configuration yielded a 25% higher neutrino flux at a detector situated at 3 km from the target than the horn system for the entire energy spectrum and a factor of 2.47 higher flux for neutrinos with energy larger than 3 GeV. A major advantage of plasma lenses is in background reduction. In anti-neutrino operation, neutrino background is reduced by a factor of close to 3 for the whole spectrum, and for and for energy larger than 3 GeV, neutrino background is reduced by a factor of 3.6. Plasma lenses have additional advantages: larger axial currents, high signal purity: minimal neutrino background in …