From the standpoints of both basic research and biotechnology, there is considerable interest in reaching a clearer understanding of the diversity of biological mechanisms employed during lignocellulose degradation. Globally, termites are an extremely successful group of wood-degrading organisms and are therefore important both for their roles in carbon turnover in the environment and as potential sources of biochemical catalysts for efforts aimed at converting wood into biofuels. Only recently have data supported any direct role for the symbiotic bacteria in the gut of the termite in cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Here we use a metagenomic analysis of the bacterial community resident in the hindgut paunch of a wood-feeding Nasutitermes species to show the presence of a large, diverse set of bacterial genes for cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Many of these genes were expressed in vivo or had cellulase activity in vitro, and further analyses implicate spirochete and fibrobacter species in gut lignocellulose degradation. New insights into other important symbiotic functions including H{sub 2} metabolism, CO{sub 2}-reductive acetogenesis and N{sub 2} fixation are also provided by this first system-wide gene analysis of a microbial community specialized towards plant lignocellulose degradation. Our results underscore how complex even a 1-{micro}l environment can be.

Ln{sub 3}LuSe{sub 6} (Ln = La, Ce), {beta}-LnLuSe{sub 3} (Ln = Pr, Nd), and Ln{sub x}Lu{sub 4-x}Se{sub 6} (Ln = Sm, Gd; x = 1.82, 1.87) have been synthesized using a Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} flux at 1000 C. Ln{sub 3}LuSe{sub 6} (Ln = La, Ce) adopt the U{sub 3}ScS{sub 6}-type three-dimensional structure, which is constructed from two-dimensional {infinity}{sup 2} [Ln{sub 3}Se{sub 6}]{sup 3-} slabs with the gaps between these slabs filled by octahedrally coordinated Lu{sup 3+} ions. The series of {beta}-LnLuSe{sub 3} (Ln = Pr, Nd) are isotypic with UFeS{sub 3}. Their structures include layers formed from LuSe6 octahedra that are separated by eight-coordinate larger Ln{sup 3+} ions in bicapped trigonal prismatic environments. Sm{sub 1.82}Lu{sub 2.18}Se{sub 6} and Gd{sub 1.87}Lu{sub 2.13}Se{sub 6} crystallize in the disordered F-Ln{sub 2}S{sub 3} type structure with the eight-coordinate bicapped trigonal prismatic Ln(1) ions residing in the one-dimensional channels formed by three different double chains via edge and corner sharing. These double chains are constructed from Ln(2)Se{sub 7} monocapped trigonal prisms, Ln(3)Se{sub 6} octahedra, and Ln(4)S{sub 6} octahedra, respectively. The magnetic susceptibilities of {beta}-PrLuSe{sub 3} and {beta}-NdLuSe{sub 3} follow the Curie-Weiss law. Sm{sub 1.82}Lu{sub 2.18}Se{sub 6} shows van Vleck paramagnetism. Magnetic measurements show that Gd{sub …

The author discusses results from the Tevatron experiments on mixing and CP-violation in B{sub s} mesons, including the observation of B{sub s} oscillations and the first precision measurement of the mixing frequency, as well as a measurement of the lifetime difference {Delta}{Lambda}{sub s} and the first measurement of the CP-violating phase {delta}{sub s}. The author also briefly reports on the observation of four new bottom baryons at CDF.

The United States is considering the development of a domestic hydrogen-based energy economy. Hydrogen is of particular interest as a secondary energy carrier because it has the potential to be storable, transportable, environmentally benign, and useful in many chemical processes. Obviously, before a hydrogen economy can be implemented, an efficient and environmentally friendly means for large scale hydrogen production must be identified, proven, and developed. Hydrogen is now produced primarily via steam reforming of methane. However, from a long-term perspective, methane reforming is not a viable process for large-scale production of hydrogen since such fossil fuel conversion processes consume non-renewable resources and emit greenhouse gases. The U. S. National Research Council has recommended the use of water-splitting technologies to produce hydrogen using energy derived from a nuclear reactor. For the past several years, the Idaho National Laboratory has been actively studying the use of solid oxide fuel cells in conjunction with nuclear power for large-scale, high-temperature, electrolytic hydrogen production.

PEM fuel cells are excellent candidates for transportation applications due to their high efficiencies. PEM fuel cell Balance of Plant (BOP) components, such as air, thermal, and water management sub-systems, can have a significant effect on the overall system performance, but have traditionally not been addressed in research and development efforts. Recognizing this, the U.S. Department of Energy and Honeywell International Inc. are funding an effort that emphasizes the integration and optimization of air, thermal and water management sub-systems. This effort is one of the major elements to assist the fuel cell system developers and original equipment manufacturers to achieve the goal of an affordable and efficient power system for transportation applications. Past work consisted of: (1) Analysis, design, and fabrication of a motor driven turbocompressor. (2) A systematic trade study to select the most promising water and thermal management systems from five different concepts (absorbent wheel humidifier, gas to gas membrane humidifier, porous metal foam humidifier, cathode recycle compressor, and water injection pump.) This presentation will discuss progress made in the research and development of air, water and thermal management sub-systems for PEM fuel cell systems in transportation applications. More specifically, the presentation will discuss: (1) Progress of the …

Current activities of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Section III Subgroup on Containment Systems for Spent Fuel High-Level Waste Transport Packagings (also known as Subgroup NUPACK) are reviewed with emphasis on the recent revision of Subsection WB. Also, brief insightson new proposals for the development of rules for internal support structures and for a strain-based acceptance criteria are provided.

The evaluation and prediction of integrated fuel performance is a critical component of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program. The PLATE code is the primary tool being developed and used to perform these functions. The code is being modified to incorporate the most recent fuel/matrix interaction correlations as they become available for both aluminum and aluminum/silicon matrices. The code is also being adapted to treat cylindrical and square pin geometries to enhance the validation database by including the results gathered from various international partners. Additional modeling work has been initiated to evaluate the thermal and mechanical performance requirements unique to monolithic fuels during irradiation.

Advanced or ultra supercritical (USC) steam power plants offer the promise of higher efficiencies and lower emissions. Current goals of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) include power generation from coal at 60% efficiency, which would require steam temperatures of up to 760°C. Current research on the oxidation of candidate materials for advanced steam turbines is presented with a focus on a methodology for estimating chromium evaporation rates from protective chromia scales. The high velocities and pressures of advanced steam turbines lead to evaporation predictions as high as 5 × 10-8 kg m-2s-1 of CrO2(OH)2(g) at 760°C and 34.5 MPa. This is equivalent to 0.077 mm per year of solid Cr loss.

Increased plasma triglycerides concentrations are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Numerous studies support a reproducible genetic association between two minor haplotypes in the human apolipoprotein A5 gene (APOA5) and increased plasma triglyceride concentrations. We thus sought to investigate the effect of these minor haplotypes (APOA5*2 and APOA5*3) on ApoAV plasma levels through the precise insertion of single-copy intact APOA5 haplotypes at a targeted location in the mouse genome. While we found no difference in the amount of human plasma ApoAV in mice containing the common APOA5*1 and minor APOA5*2 haplotype, the introduction of the single APOA5*3 defining allele (19W) resulted in 3-fold lower ApoAV plasma levels consistent with existing genetic association studies. These results indicate that S19W polymorphism is likely to be functional and explain the strong association of this variant with plasma triglycerides supporting the value of sensitive in vivo assays to define the functional nature of human haplotypes.

In this paper we present a construction for the compact form of the exceptional Lie group E{sub 6} by exponentiating the corresponding Lie algebra e{sub 6}, which we realize as the sum of f{sub 4}, the derivations of the exceptional Jordan algebra J{sub 3} of dimension 3 with octonionic entries, and the right multiplication by the elements of J{sub 3} with vanishing trace. Our parameterization is a generalization of the Euler angles for SU(2) and it is based on the fibration of E{sub 6} via a F{sub 4} subgroup as the fiber. It makes use of a similar construction we have performed in a previous article for F{sub 4}. An interesting first application of these results lies in the fact that we are able to determine an explicit expression for the Haar invariant measure on the E{sub 6} group manifold.

We review the prospects for studies of the top quark at the LHC.

High-quality electron beams with up to 1 GeV energy havebeen generated by a laser-driven plasma-based accelerator by guiding a 40TW peak power laser pulse in a 3.3 cm long gas-filled capillary dischargewaveguide.

High-convergence ignition-like double-shell implosion experiments have been performed on the Omega laser facility [T.R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using cylindrical gold hohlraums with 40 drive beams. Repeatable, dominant primary (2.45 MeV) neutron production from the mix-susceptible compressional phase of a double-shell implosion, using fall-line design optimization and exacting fabrication standards, is experimentally inferred from time-resolved core x-ray imaging. Effective control of fuel-pusher mix during final compression is essential for achieving noncryogenic ignition with double-shell targets on the National Ignition Facility [Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)].

This paper provides lessons learned from developing several large system dynamics (SD) models. System dynamics modeling practice emphasize the need to keep models small so that they are manageable and understandable. This practice is generally reasonable and prudent; however, there are times that large SD models are necessary. This paper outlines two large SD projects that were done at two Department of Energy National Laboratories, the Idaho National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. This paper summarizes the models and then discusses some of the valuable lessons learned during these two modeling efforts.

The proposed Silicon Detector (SiD) concept for the ILC has barrel and end cap muon systems. An SiD scintillator based muon system prototype has 256 strips and was constructed from extruded strips, WLS fibers, clear fibers, and multianode photo multiplier tubes (MAPMT) Hamamatsu H7546B. Six MAPMTs were used. As a first step to understand strip output, the response of every anode to a given brightness of light and applied voltage must be measured. For the test, a custom made light source was used. Each MAPMT output was measured independently. The anode currents were measured at constant (green) input light brightness and the same photocathode to anode voltage (800V). The anode currents have a wide spread; for all tubes the maximum value is 5.23 times larger than the minimum value. The MAPMT cross talk was measured for one of the central inputs. The maximum cross talk value is about 4.9%. The average cross talk for the nearest four neighboring channels is 3.9%, for the farthest four is 1%. To assure the reproducibility and repeatability of the measurements, the double reference method was used.

If not designed properly, the input section of an analog down-converter can introduce phase noise that can prevail over other noise sources in the system. In the paper we present residual phase noise measurements of a simplified input section of a classical receiver that is composed of various commercially available mixers and driven by an LO amplifier.

The B{sub s} meson is an interesting particle to study because a sizable mixing induced CP violation in the B{sub s} -- {bar B}{sub s} system would be an indication for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper we present a measurement of the lifetime difference {Delta}{Gamma} between the B{sub s} mass eigenstates and the CP violating phase in the decay B{sub s} {yields} J/{psi}{phi}. In 1.7 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF II detector at the Tevatron p{bar p} collider we measure {Delta}{Gamma} = 0.076{sup +0.059}{sub -0.063} (stat.) {+-}0.006 (syst.) ps{sup -1}, well consistent with the Standard Model prediction, and a mean B{sub s} lifetime of c{sub tau}{sub s} = 456 {+-} 13 (stat.) {+-} (syst.) {micro}m. We find no evidence for CP violation.

The CMS Dataset Bookkeeping Service (DBS) has been developed to catalog all CMS event data from Monte Carlo and Detector sources. It provides the ability to identify MC or trigger source, track data provenance, construct datasets for analysis, and discover interesting data. CMS requires processing and analysis activities at various service levels and the DBS system provides support for localized processing or private analysis, as well as global access for CMS users at large. Catalog entries can be moved among the various service levels with a simple set of migration tools, thus forming a loose federation of databases. DBS is available to CMS users via a Python API, Command Line, and a Discovery web page interfaces. The system is built as a multi-tier web application with Java servlets running under Tomcat, with connections via JDBC to Oracle or MySQL database backends. Clients connect to the service through HTTP or HTTPS with authentication provided by GRID certificates and authorization through VOMS. DBS is an integral part of the overall CMS Data Management and Workflow Management systems.

Trajectories of electron beams emitted by an ion source with an anode layer and Hall electron closed drift orbits were visualized using light emission from a working gas excited by electrons. Gas discharge of magnetron type, arising in the beam drift region under the influence of an electric field of a target bias potential, was visualized.

Are the carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors in your demand controlled ventilation systems sufficiently accurate? The data from these sensors are used to automatically modulate minimum rates of outdoor air ventilation. The goal is to keep ventilation rates at or above design requirements while adjusting the ventilation rate with changes in occupancy in order to save energy. Studies of energy savings from demand controlled ventilation and of the relationship of indoor CO2 concentrations with health and work performance provide a strong rationale for use of indoor CO2 data to control minimum ventilation rates1-7. However, this strategy will only be effective if, in practice, the CO2 sensors have a reasonable accuracy. The objective of this study was; therefore, to determine if CO2 sensor performance, in practice, is generally acceptable or problematic. This article provides a summary of study methods and findings ? additional details are available in a paper in the proceedings of the ASHRAE IAQ?2007 Conference8.

This paper reports on the experimental investigation of tritium permeation in flibe (2LiF-BeF2) at the Safety and Tritium Applied Research facility of the Idaho National Laboratory. A stainless steel cell formed by two independent volumes separated by a 2mm thick nickel membrane is maintained at temperatures between 500 and 700 degrees Celsius. A controlled amount of T2 gas is flown in excess of argon in the source volume in contact with the bottom side of the nickel membrane, while a layer of molten salt is in contact with the top side. The tritium permeating above the liquid surface is carried by an argon flow to a diagnostic system comprised of a quadrupole mass spectrometer, a gas chromatographer and a proportional counter. Tritium permeability in flibe as a function of temperature is determined by the measured permeation flow rates reached in steady-state conditions, while the diffusivity is determined by fitting the transient process with the analytical solution for the diffusion process. As a result, the solubility of tritium in flibe as a function of temperature is also determined.

This paper describes the concept for and lessons from the development and field-testing of an open, interoperable communications infrastructure to support automating demand response (DR). Automating DR allows greater levels of participation and improved reliability and repeatability of the demand response and customer facilities. Automated DR systems have been deployed for critical peak pricing and demand bidding and are being designed for real time pricing. The system is designed to generate, manage, and track DR signals between utilities and Independent System Operators (ISOs) to aggregators and end-use customers and their control systems.

We develop a general continuum fluid dynamic model for dust transport in loss of vacuum accidents in fusion energy systems. The relationship between this general approach and established particle transport methods is clarified, in particular the relationship between the seemingly disparate treatments of aerosol dynamics and Lagrangian particle tracking. Constitutive equations for granular flow are found to be inadequate for prediction of mobilization, as these models essentially impose a condition of flow from the outset. Experiments confirm that at low shear, settled dust piles behave more like a continuum solid, and suitable solid models will be required to predict the onset of dust mobilization.

This report has a detailed study of the fuel cells.