The self-irradiation damage generated by alpha decay of plutonium results in the formation of lattice defects, helium, and uranium atoms. Over time, microstructural evolution resulting from the self-irradiation may influence the physical and mechanical properties of the material. In order to assess microstructural changes, we have developed and applied procedures for the specimen preparation, handling, and transmission electron microscopy characterization of Pu alloys. These transmission electron microscopy investigations of Pu-Ga alloys ranging in age up to 42-years old reveal the presence of nanometer-sized helium bubbles. The number density of bubbles and the average size have been determined for eight different aged materials.

The recently generated database of microbial genes from anoligotrophic environment populated by a calculated 1,800 of major phylotypes (the Sargasso Sea metagenome) presents a great source for expanding local databases of genes indicative of a specific function. In this paper we analyze the Sargasso Sea metagenome in terms of the presence of methanopterin-linked C1 transfer genes that are signature for methylotrophy. We conclude that more than 10 phylotypes possessing genes of interest are present in this environment, and a few of these are relatively abundant species. The sequences representative of the major phylotypes do not appear to belong to any known microbial group capable of methanopterin-linked C1 transfer. Instead, they separate from all known sequences on phylogenetic trees, pointing towards their affiliation with a novel microbial phylum. These data imply a broader distribution of methanopterin-linked functions in the microbial world than previously known.

The sensitivity of the continental seasonal climate to initial conditions is estimated from an ensemble of decadal simulations of an atmospheric general circulation model with the same specifications of radiative forcings and monthly ocean boundary conditions, but with different initial states of atmosphere and land. As measures of the ''reproducibility'' of continental climate for different initial conditions, spatio-temporal correlations are computed across paired realizations of eleven model land-surface variables in which the seasonal cycle is either included or excluded--the former case being pertinent to climate simulation, and the latter to seasonal anomaly prediction. It is found that the land-surface variables which include the seasonal cycle are impacted only marginally by changes in initial conditions; moreover, their seasonal climatologies exhibit high spatial reproducibility. In contrast, the reproducibility of a seasonal land-surface anomaly is generally low, although it is substantially higher in the Tropics; its spatial reproducibility also markedly fluctuates in tandem with warm and cold phases of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation. However, the overall degree of reproducibility depends strongly on the particular land-surface anomaly considered. It is also shown that the predictability of a land-surface anomaly implied by its reproducibility statistics is consistent with what is inferred from more conventional predictability …

A liquid hydrogen in a absorber for muon cooling requires that up to 300 W be removed from 20 liters of liquid hydrogen. The wall of the container is a heat exchanger between the hydrogen and 14 K helium gas in channels within the wall. The warm liquid hydrogen is circulated down the cylindrical walls of the absorber by free convection. The flow of the hydrogen is studied using FEA methods for two cases and the heat transfer coefficient to the wall is calculated. The first case is when the wall is bare. The second case is when there is a duct some distance inside the cooled wall.

Above-boiling temperature conditions, as encountered, forexample, in geothermal reservoirs and in geologic repositories for thestorage of heat-producing nuclear wastes, may give rise to stronglyaltered liquid and gas flow processes in porous subsurface environments.The magnitude of such flow perturbation is extremely hard to measure inthe field. We therefore propose a simple temperature-profile method thatuses high-resolution temperature data for deriving such information. Theenergy that is transmitted with the vapor and water flow creates a nearlyisothermal zone maintained at about the boiling temperature, referred toas a heat pipe. Characteristic features of measured temperature profiles,such as the differences in the gradients inside and outside of the heatpipe regions, are used to derive the approximate magnitude of the liquidand gas fluxes in the subsurface, for both steady-state and transientconditions.

The challenges of increased technological demands in today's workplace require virtually all workers to develop higher-order cognitive skills including problem solving and systems thinking in order to be productive. Such ''habits of mind'' are viewed as particularly critical for success in the information-based workplace, which values reduced hierarchy, greater worker independence, teamwork, communications skills, non-routine problem solving, and understanding of complex systems. The need is particularly compelling in the buildings arena. To scope the problem, this paper presents the results of interviews and focus groups--conducted by Oakland California's Peralta Community College District and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory--in which approximately 50 industry stakeholders discussed contemporary needs for building operator education at the community college level. Numerous gaps were identified between the education today received by building operators and technicians and current workplace needs. The participants concurred that many of the problems seen today in achieving and maintaining energy savings in buildings can be traced to inadequacies in building operation and lack of awareness and knowledge about how existing systems are to be used, monitored, and maintained. Participants and others we interviewed affirmed that while these issues are addressed in various graduate-level and continuing education programs, they are virtually absent at the …

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The design for the new Federal Building for San Franciscoincludes an office tower that is to be naturally ventilated. Each flooris designed to be cross-ventilated, through upper windows that arecontrolled by the building management system (BMS). Users have controlover lower windows, which can be as much as 50 percent of the totalopenable area. There are significant differences in the performance andthe control of the windward and leeward sides of the building, andseparate monitoring and control strategies are determined for each side.The performance and control of the building has been designed and testedusing a modified version of EnergyPlus. Results from studies withEnergyPlus and CFD are used in designing the control strategy. EnergyPluswas extended to model a simplified version of the airflow patterndetermined using CFD. Wind-driven cross-ventilation produces a main jetthrough the upper openings of the building, across the ceiling from thewindward to the leeward side. Below this jet, the occupied regions aresubject to a recirculating air flow. Results show that temperatureswithin the building are predicted to be satisfactory, provided a suitablecontrol strategy is implemented uses night cooling in periods of hotweather. The control strategy has 10 window opening modes. EnergyPlus wasextended to simulate the effects of these modes, and to assess …

The hidden-variable theorems of Bell and followers depend upon an assumption, namely the hidden-variable assumption, that conflicts with the precepts of quantum philosophy. Hence from an orthodox quantum perspective those theorems entail no faster-than-light transfer of information. They merely reinforce the ban on hidden variables. The need for some sort of faster-than-light information transfer can be shown by using counterfactuals instead of hidden variables. Shimony's criticism of that argument fails to take into account the distinction between no-faster-than-light connection in one direction and that same condition in both directions. The argument can be cleanly formulated within the framework of a fixed past, open future interpretation of quantum theory, which neatly accommodates the critical assumptions that the experimenters are free to choose which experiments they will perform. The assumptions are compatible with the Tomonaga-Schwinger formulation of quantum field theory, and hence with orthodox quantum precepts, and with the relativistic requirement that no prediction pertaining to an outcome in one region can depend upon a free choice made in a region spacelike-separated from the first.

The quadratic function approaching method (QFAM) is introduced for magnetotelluric sounding (MT) data inversion. The method takes the advantage of that quadratic function has single extreme value, which avoids leading to an inversion solution for local minimum and ensures the solution for global minimization of an objective function. The method does not need calculation of sensitivity matrix and not require a strict initial earth model. Examples for synthetic data and field measurement data indicate that the proposed inversion method is effective.

Acrylamido-quinazolines substituted at the 6-position bindirreversibly to the intracellular ATP binding domain of the epidermalgrowth factor receptor (EGFR). A general route was developed forpreparing 6-substituted-4-anilinoquinazolines from [18F]fluoroanilinesfor evaluation as EGFR targeting agents with PET. By a cyclizationreaction, 2-[18F]fluoroaniline was reacted withN'-(2-cyano-4-nitrophenyl)-N,N-dimethylimidoformamide to produce6-nitro-4-(2-[18F]fluoroanilino)quinazoline in 27.5 percentdecay-corrected radiochemical yield. Acid mediated tin chloride reductionof the nitro group was achieved in 5 min (80 percent conversion) andsubsequent acylation with acrylic acid gave6-acrylamido-4-(2-[18F]fluoroanilino)quinazoline in 8.5 percentdecay-corrected radiochemical yield, from starting fluoride, in less than2 hours.

During the last few years, new technologies have been introduced for real-time continuous measurement of the flow rates of outdoor air (OA) into HVAC systems; however, an evaluation of these measurements technologies has not previously been published. This document describes a test system and protocols developed for a controlled evaluation of these measurement technologies. The results of tests of three commercially available measurement technologies are also summarized. The test system and protocol were judged practical and very useful. The three commercially available measurement technologies should provide reasonably, e.g., 20%, accurate measurements of OA flow rates as long as air velocities are maintained high enough to produce accurately measurable pressure signals. In HVAC systems with economizer controls, to maintain the required air velocities the OA intake will need to be divided into two sections in parallel, each with a separate OA damper. All of the measurement devices had pressure drops that are likely to be judged acceptable. The influence of wind on the accuracy of these measurement technologies still needs to be evaluated.

The accuracy of Cartesian embedded boundary methods for the second order wave equation in general two-dimensional domains subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions is analyzed. Based on the analysis, we develop a numerical method where both the solution and its gradient are second order accurate. We avoid the small-cell stiffness problem without sacrificing the second order accuracy by adding a small artificial term to the Dirichlet boundary condition. Long-time stability of the method is obtained by adding a small fourth order dissipative term. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the accuracy and stability of the method. The method is also used to solve the two-dimensional TM{sub z} problem for Maxwell's equations posed as a second order wave equation for the electric field coupled to ordinary differential equations for the magnetic field.

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NMR spectroscopy conveys information about chemical structure through ppm-scale shifts of the resonance frequency depending on the chemical environment. In order to observe these small shifts, magnets with highly homogeneous magnetic field B{sub 0} are used. The high cost and large size of these magnets are a consequence of the requirement for high homogeneity. In this contribution we introduce a new method for recording high-resolution NMR spectra from samples in inhomogeneous B{sub 0}, opening up the possibility of exploiting magnets of lower homogeneity and cost. Instead of using the traditional B{sub 0} ''shim coils'', adiabatic radiofrequency (RF) pulse sequences and modulated B{sub 0} gradients generated by coils in the probe are used to produce ''shim pulses''. A great deal of work has been devoted to finding methods for retrieving chemical shift information even when B{sub 0} is inhomogeneous. One class of methods relies on zero- or multiple quantum coherences which evolve independently of B{sub 0}. These methods are inherently two-dimensional and the high-resolution information is obtained indirectly. In order to minimize experimental time it is desirable to acquire a high-resolution spectrum directly just as for traditional NMR in homogeneous fields. A further advantage with direct acquisition is that modification of …

The combination of lithography and self-assembly provides apowerful means of organizing solution-synthesized nanostructures for awide variety of applications. We have developed a fluidic assembly methodthat relies on the local pinning of a moving liquid contact line bylithographically produced topographic features to concentratenanoparticles at those features. The final stages of the assembly processare controlled first by long-range immersion capillary forces and then bythe short-range electrostatic and Van der Waal's interactions. We havesuccessfully assembled nanoparticles from 50 nm to 2 nm in size usingthis technique and have also demonstrated the controlled positioning ofmore complex nanotetrapod structures. We have used this process toassemble Au nanoparticles into pre-patterned electrode structures andhave performed preliminary electrical characterization of the devices soformed. The fluidic assembly method is capable of very high yield, interms of positioning nanostructures at each lithographically-definedlocation, and of excellent specificity, with essentially no particledeposition between features.

Polymer injection has been used in reservoirs to alleviate contrasting permeability zones to enhance oil recovery (EOR). Polymer technology relies mainly on the use of polyacrylamides cross-linked by a hazardous metal or organic. Contemporary polymer plugging has investigated the stimulation of in-situ microorganisms to produce polymers (Jenneman et. al., 2000) and the use of biocatalysts to trigger gelling (Bailey et. al., 2000). The use of biological polymers are advantageous in that they can block high permeability areas, are environmentally friendly, and have potential to form reversible gels without the use of hazardous cross-linkers. Recent efforts have produced a reactive alkaline-soluble biopolymer from Agrobacterium species ATCC # 31749 that gels upon decreasing the pH of the polymeric solution. Microbial polymers are of interest due to their potential cost savings, compared to conventional use of synthetic chemical polymers. Numerous microorganisms are known to produce extracellular polysaccharides. One microbiological polymer of interest is curdlan, â - (1, 3) glucan, which has demonstrated gelling properties by a reduction in pH. The focus of this study was to determine the impact an alkaline-soluble biopolymer can have on sandstone permeability.

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Perturbations on an interface driven by a strong blast wave grow in time due to a combination of Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov, and decompression effects. In this paper, results from three-dimensional numerical simulations of such a system under drive conditions to be attainable on the National Ignition Facility [E. M. Campbell, Laser Part. Beams, 9(2), 209 (1991)] are presented. Using the multi-physics, adaptive mesh refinement, higher order Godunov Eulerian hydrocode, Raptor [L. H. Howell and J.A. Greenough, J. Comp. Phys. 184, 53 (2003)], the late nonlinear instability evolution, including transition to turbulence, is considered for various multimode perturbation spectra. The 3D post-transition state differs from the 2D result, but the process of transition proceeds similarly in both 2D and 3D. The turbulent mixing transition results in a reduction in the growth rate of the mixing layer relative to its pre-transition value and, in the case of the bubble front, relative to the 2D result. The post-transition spike front velocity is approximately the same in 2D and 3D. Implications for hydrodynamic mixing in core-collapse supernova are discussed.

We present a block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method for computing solutions to Poisson's equation in two and three dimensions. It is based on a conservative, finite-volume formulation of the classical Mehrstellen methods. This is combined with finite volume AMR discretizations to obtain a method that is fourth-order accurate in solution error, and with easily verifiable solvability conditions for Neumann and periodic boundary conditions.

The cathodic arc plasmas produced by cathode spots usuallyinclude macroparticles, which is undesirable for many applications. Acommon way of removing macroparticles is to use curved solenoid filterswhich guide the plasma from the source to the substrate. In this work, anarc source with relatively small cathode is used, limiting the possiblelocations of plasma production. The relative position of cathodic arcsource and macroparticle filtered was systematically varied and thefiltered plasma current was recorded. It was found that axis-symmetricplasma injection leads to maximum throughput only if an anode aperturewas used, which limited the plasma to near-axis flow by scraping offplasma at larger angles to the axis. When the anode aperture was removed,more plasma could enter the filter. In this case, maximum filtered ioncurrent was achieved when the plasma was injected off-axis, namely offsetin the direction where the filter is curved. Such behavior wasanticipated because the plasma column in the filter is known to beshifted by ExB and centrifugal drift as well as by non-axis-symmetriccomponents of the magnetic field in the filter entrance and exit plane.The data have implications for plasma transport variations caused bydifferent spot locations on cathodes that are not small compared to thefilter cross section.

Some genes produce transcripts that function directly in regulatory, catalytic, or structural roles in the cell. These non-coding RNAs are prevalent in all living organisms, and methods that aid the understanding of their functional roles are essential. RNA secondary structure, the pattern of base-pairing, contains the critical information for determining the three dimensional structure and function of the molecule. In this work we examine whether the basic geometric and topological properties of secondary structure are sufficient to distinguish between RNA families in a learning framework. First, we develop a labeled dual graph representation of RNA secondary structure by adding biologically meaningful labels to the dual graphs proposed by Gan et al [1]. Next, we define a similarity measure directly on the labeled dual graphs using the recently developed marginalized kernels [2]. Using this similarity measure, we were able to train Support Vector Machine classifiers to distinguish RNAs of known families from random RNAs with similar statistics. For 22 of the 25 families tested, the classifier achieved better than 70% accuracy, with much higher accuracy rates for some families. Training a set of classifiers to automatically assign family labels to RNAs using a one vs. all multi-class scheme also yielded encouraging …

Production increases in intensively managed forests have been obtained by improving resource availability through water and nutrient amendments. Increased stem production has been attributed to shifts in growth from roots to shoot, and such shifts would have important implications for below ground carbon sequestration. We examined above and below ground growth and biomass accumulation and distribution in two eastern cottonwood clones and American sycamore receiving irrigation(I), fertilization(F), orirrigation+fertilization(IF) and compared with non-treated controls(C). Above ground growth and biomass accumulation responded positively to both I and F in all genotypes. After three growing seasons, the largest trees were sycamore receiving the IF treatment, with a total mean annual biomass production of 9.4 Mg ha -1 yr -1. Total cottonwood mean annual biomass production in both clones was >5.0 Mg ha -1 yr -1 in the IF treatment. Above ground biomass production was 6.3 and >3.1 Mg ha -1 yr -1 for sycamore and cottonwoods, respectively. Total root mass fraction was lower in high resource treatments and declined as stands aged. To compare allocation in trees of equal size, we used allometric relationships between above and below ground tissue. Allometric relationships between woody perennial tissues rarely differed among treatments. Improved resource availability …

High temporal and spatial resolution measurements in the boundary of the DIII-D tokamak show that edge localized modes (ELMs) are produced in the low field side, are poloidally localized and are composed of fast bursts ({approx}20 to 40 {micro}s long) of hot, dense plasma on a background of less dense, colder plasma ({approx}5 x 10{sup 18} m{sup {+-}3}, 50 eV) possibly created by the bursts themselves. The ELMs travel radially in the scrapeoff layer (SOL), starting at the separatrix at {approx}450 m/s, and slow down to {approx}150 m/s near the wall, convecting particles and energy to the SOL and walls. The temperature and density in the ELM plasma initially correspond to those at the top of the density pedestal but quickly decay with radius in the SOL. The temperature decay length ({approx}1.2 to 1.5 cm) is much shorter than the density decay length ({approx}3 to 8 cm), and the latter decreases with increasing pedestal (and SOL) density. The local particle and energy flux at the midplane wall during the bursts are 10% to 50% ({approx}1 to 2 x 10{sup 21} m{sup {+-}2} s{sup {+-}1}) and 1% to 2 % ({approx}20 to 30 kW/m{sup 2}) respectively of the LCFS average fluxes, …