Currently there are three platforms that offer quasi-isentropic compression or ramp-wave compression (RWC): light-gas gun, magnetic flux (Z-pinch), and laser. We focus here on the light-gas gun technique and on some current theoretical insights from experimental data. A gradient impedance through the length of the impactor provides the pressure pulse upon impactor to the subject material. Applications and results are given concerning high-pressure strength and liquid to solid, phase transition of water plus its associated phase fraction history. We also introduce the Korteweg-deVries-Burgers equation as a means to understand the evolution these RWC waves that propagate through the thickness of the subject material. This equation has the necessary competition between non-linear, dispersion, and dissipation processes, which is shown through observed structures that are manifested in the experimental particle velocity histories. Such methodology points towards a possible quantifiable dissipation, through which RWC experiments may be analyzed.

More than fifteen years after the launch of programs in theU.K. and U.S., industry still offers one of the largest opportunities forenergy savings worldwide. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimatesthe savings potential from cost-optimization of industrial motor-drivensystems alone at 7 percent of global electricity use. The U.S. Departmentof Energy (USDOE) Industrial Technologies Program estimates 7 percentsavings potential in total US industrial energy use through theapplication of proven best practice. Simple paybacks for these types ofprojects are frequently two years or less. The technology required toachieve these savings is widely available; the technical skills requiredto identify energy saving opportunities are known and transferable.Although programs like USDOE's Best Practices have been highlysuccessful, most plants, as supported by 2002 MECS data, remain eitherunaware or unmotivated to improve their energy efficiency--as evidencedby the 98 percent of US industrial facilities reporting to MECS say thatthey lack a full-time energy manager. With the renewed interest in energyefficiency worldwide and the emergence of carbon trading and newfinancial instruments such as white certificates1, there is a need tointroduce greater transparency into the way that industrial facilitiesidentify, develop, and document energy efficiency projects. Historically,industrial energy efficiency projects have been developed by plantengineers, frequently with assistance from consultants and/or supplierswith …

A series of 1-m long Nb{sub 3}Sn dipole models has been built at Fermilab in an attempt to refine the wind-and-react technology for Nb3Sn accelerator magnets. Three models made with Powder-in-Tube Nb{sub 3}Sn strand reached their design field of 10 T demonstrating a good reproducibility of magnet quench performance and field quality. Recently a new dipole 'mirror' model based on Nb{sub 3}Sn coil made of improved Restack Rod Process strand was constructed and tested reaching the maximum field above 11 T. This paper describes the parameters of the RRP strand and cable used as well as the design, fabrication and test results of this magnet.

We used the Near Infrared Camera (NIRC) on Keck I to obtain K{sub s}-band images of four candidate high-redshift radio galaxies selected using optical and radio data in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey in Bootes. Our targets have 1.4 GHz radio flux densities greater than 1 mJy, but are undetected in the optical. Spectral energy distribution fitting suggests that three of these objects are at z > 3, with radio luminosities near the FR-I/FR-II break. The other has photometric redshift z{sub phot} = 1.2, but may in fact be at higher redshift. Two of the four objects exhibit diffuse morphologies in K{sub s}-band, suggesting that they are still in the process of forming.

Age of air is a technique for evaluating ventilation that has been actively used for over 20 years. Age of air quantifies the time it takes for outdoor air to reach a particular location or zone within then indoor environment. Age of air is often also used to quantify the ventilation effectiveness with respect to indoor air quality. In a purely single zone situation this use of age of air is straightforward, but application of age of air techniques in the general multizone environment has not been fully developed. This article looks at expanding those single-zone techniques to the more complicated environment of multizone buildings and in doing so develops further the general concept of age of air. The results of this analysis shows that the nominal age of air as often used cannot be directly used for determining ventilation effectiveness unless specific assumptions are made regarding source distributions.

We construct the microstates of near-extremal black holes in AdS_5 x S5 as gases of defects distributed in heavy BPS operators in the dual SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. These defects describe open strings on spherical D3-branes in the S5, and we show that they dominate the entropy by directly enumerating them and comparing the results with a partition sum calculation. We display new decoupling limits in which the field theory of the lightest open strings on the D-branes becomes dual to a near-horizon region of the black hole geometry. In the single-charge black hole we find evidence for an infrared duality between SU(N) Yang-Mills theories that exchanges the rank of the gauge group with an R-charge. In the two-charge case (where pairs of branes intersect on a line), the decoupled geometry includes an AdS_3 factor with a two-dimensional CFT dual. The degeneracy in this CFT accounts for the black hole entropy. In the three-charge case (where triples of branes intersect at a point), the decoupled geometry contains an AdS_2 factor. Below a certain critical mass, the two-charge system displays solutions with naked timelike singularities even though they do not violate a BPS bound. We suggest a string theoretic resolution of these …

Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at itsoptimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged …

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Adaptive optics (AO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are powerful imaging modalities that, when combined, can provide high-volumetric-resolution, images of the retina. The AO-OCT system at UC Davis has been under development for 2 years and has demonstrated the utility of this technology for microscopic, volumetric, in vivo retinal imaging [1]. The current system uses an AOptix bimorph deformable mirror (DM) for low-order, high-stroke correction [2] and a 140-actuator Boston Micromachines DM for high-order correction [3]. We are beginning to investigate the potential for increasing the image contrast in this system using higher-order wavefront correction. The first step in this analysis is to quantify the residual wavefront error (WFE) in the current system. Developing an error budget is a common tool for improved performance and system design in astronomical AO systems [4, 5]. The process for vision science systems is also discussed in several texts e.g. [6], but results from this type of analysis have rarely been included in journal articles on AO for vision science. Careful characterization of the AO system will lead to improved performance and inform the design of a future high-contrast system. In general, an AO system error budget must include an analysis of three categories …

Polymer Nanocomposites are an important class of nanomaterials with potential applications including but not limited to structural and cushion materials, electromagnetic and heat shields, conducting plastics, sensors, and catalysts for various chemical and bio processes. Success in most such applications hinges on molecular-level control of structure and assembly, and a deep understanding of how the overall morphology of various components and the interfaces between them affect the composite properties at the macroscale. The length and time-scales associated with such assemblies are prohibitively large for a full atomistic modeling. Instead we adopt a multiscale methodology in which atomic-level interactions between different components of a composite are incorporated into a coarse-grained simulation of the mesoscale morphology, which is then represented on a numerical grid and the macroscopic properties computed using a finite-elements method.

Repeating earthquakes (REs) are sequences of events that have nearly identical waveforms and are interpreted to represent fault asperities driven to failure by loading from aseismic creep on the surrounding fault surface at depth. We investigate the occurrence of these REs along faults in central California to determine which faults exhibit creep and the spatio-temporal distribution of this creep. At the juncture of the San Andreas and southern Calaveras-Paicines faults, both faults as well as a smaller secondary fault, the Quien Sabe fault, are observed to produce REs over the observation period of March 1984-May 2005. REs in this area reflect a heterogeneous creep distribution along the fault plane with significant variations in time. Cumulative slip over the observation period at individual sequence locations is determined to range from 5.5-58.2 cm on the San Andreas fault, 4.8-14.1 cm on the southern Calaveras-Paicines fault, and 4.9-24.8 cm on the Quien Sabe fault. Creep at depth appears to mimic the behaviors seen of creep on the surface in that evidence of steady slip, triggered slip, and episodic slip phenomena are also observed in the RE sequences. For comparison, we investigate the occurrence of REs west of the San Andreas fault within the …

A Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT) algorithm helps to increase the reliability and speed of radiation detection. This algorithm is further improved to reduce spatial gap and false alarm. SPRT, using Last-in-First-Elected-Last-Out (LIFELO) technique, reduces the error between the radiation measured and resultant alarm. Statistical analysis determines the reduction of spatial error and false alarm.

The Plasma Electrode Pockels Cell (PEPC) subsystem is a key component of the National Ignition Facility, enabling the laser to employ an efficient four-pass main amplifier architecture. PEPC relies on a pulsed power technology to initiate and maintain plasma within the cells and to provide the necessary high voltage bias to the cells nonlinear crystals. Ultimately, nearly 300 high-voltage, high-current pulse generators will be deployed in the NIF in support of PEPC. Production of solid-state plasma pulse generators and thyratron-switched pulse generators is now complete, with the majority of the hardware deployed in the facility. An entire cluster (one-fourth of a complete NIF) has been commissioned and is operating on a routine basis, supporting laser shot operations. Another cluster has been deployed, awaiting final commissioning. Activation and commissioning of new hardware continues to progress in parallel, driving toward a goal of completing the PEPC subsystem in late 2007.

A one-dimensional chemical equilibrium model has been developed for analysis of simultaneous high-temperature electrolysis of steam and carbon dioxide (coelectrolysis) for the direct production of syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The model assumes local chemical equilibrium among the four process-gas species via the shift reaction. For adiabatic or specified-heat-transfer conditions, the electrolyzer model allows for the determination of coelectrolysis outlet temperature, composition (anode and cathode sides), mean Nernst potential, operating voltage and electrolyzer power based on specified inlet gas flow rates, heat loss or gain, current density, and cell area-specific resistance. Alternately, for isothermal operation, it allows for determination of outlet composition, mean Nernst potential, operating voltage, electrolyzer power, and the isothermal heat requirement for specified inlet gas flow rates, operating temperature, current density and area-specific resistance. This model has been developed for incorporation into a system-analysis code from which the overall performance of large-scale coelectrolysis plants can be evaluated. The one-dimensional co-electrolysis model has been validated by comparison with results obtained from a 3-D computational fluid dynamics model and by comparison with experimental results.

Inter-plant concentration ratios (IPCR), [Bq g{sup -1} {sup 137}Cs in coral atoll tree food-crops/Bq g{sup -1} {sup 137}Cs in leaves of native plant species whose roots share a common soil volume], can replace transfer factors (TF) to predict {sup 137}Cs concentration in tree food-crops in a contaminated area with an aged source term. The IPCR strategy has significant benefits relative to TF strategy for such purposes in the atoll ecosystem. IPCR strategy applied to specific assessments takes advantage of the fact tree roots naturally integrate 137Cs over large volumes of soil. Root absorption of {sup 137}Cs replaces large-scale, expensive soil sampling schemes to reduce variability in {sup 137}Cs concentration due to inhomogeneous radionuclide distribution. IPCR [drinking-coconut meat (DCM)/Scaevola (SCA) and Tournefortia (TOU) leaves (native trees growing on all atoll islands)] are log normally distributed (LND) with geometric standard deviation (GSD) = 1.85. TF for DCM from Enewetak, Eneu, Rongelap and Bikini Atolls are LND with GSD's of 3.5, 3.0, 2.7, and 2.1, respectively. TF GSD for Rongelap copra coconut meat is 2.5. IPCR of Pandanus fruit to SCA and TOU leaves are LND with GSD = 1.7 while TF GSD is 2.1. Because IPCR variability is much lower than TF …

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.

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) long-baseline experiment has been actively collecting beam data since 2005, having already accumulated 3 x 10{sup 20} protons-on-target (POT). The several million neutrinos per year observed at the Near detector may improve the existing body of knowledge of neutrino cross-sections and the Near-Far comparison of the observed energy spectrum neutral current events constrains oscillations into sterile neutrinos. MINOS capabilities of observing neutral current neutrino events are described and the employed methodology for event selection is discussed, along with preliminary results obtained. An outlook on the expected neutral current related contributions from MINOS is also presented.

Lattice level measurements of material response under extreme conditions are required to build a phenomenological understanding of the shock response of solids. We have successfully used laser produced plasma x-ray sources coincident with laser driven shock waves to make in-situ measurements of the lattice response during shock compression for both single crystal and polycrystalline materials. Using a detailed analysis of shocked single crystal iron which has undergone the {alpha} - {var_epsilon} phase transition we can constrain the transition mechanism to be consistent with a compression and shuffle of alternate lattice planes.

Although the Advanced Light Source (ALS) was initially conceived primarily as a low energy (1.9GeV) 3rd generation source of VUV and soft x-ray radiation it was realized very early in the development of the facility that a multipole wiggler source coupled with high quality, (brightness preserving), optics would result in a beamline whose performance across the optimal energy range (5-15keV) for macromolecular crystallography (MX) would be comparable to, or even exceed, that of many existing crystallography beamlines at higher energy facilities. Hence, starting in 1996, a suite of three beamlines, branching off a single wiggler source, was constructed, which together formed the ALS Macromolecular Crystallography Facility. From the outset this facility was designed to cater equally to the needs of both academic and industrial users with a heavy emphasis placed on the development and introduction of high throughput crystallographic tools, techniques, and facilities--such as large area CCD detectors, robotic sample handling and automounting facilities, a service crystallography program, and a tightly integrated, centralized, and highly automated beamline control environment for users. This facility was immediately successful, with the primary Multiwavelength Anomalous Diffraction beamline (5.0.2) in particular rapidly becoming one of the foremost crystallographic facilities in the US--responsible for structures such …

Obesity is increasing in an epidemic fashion in most countries and constitutes a public health problem by enhancing the risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. Owing to the increase in obesity, life expectancy may start to decrease in developed countries for the first time in recent history. The factors determining fat mass in adult humans are not fully understood, but increased lipid storage in already developed fat cells is thought to be most important. We show that adipocyte number is a major determinant for the fat mass in adults. However, the number of fat cells stays constant in adulthood in lean and obese and even under extreme conditions, indicating that the number of adipocytes is set during childhood and adolescence. To establish the dynamics within the stable population of adipocytes in adults, we have measured adipocyte turnover by analyzing the integration of {sup 14}C derived from nuclear bomb tests in genomic DNA. Approximately 10% of fat cells are renewed annually at all adult ages and levels of body mass index. Neither adipocyte death nor generation rate is altered in obesity, suggesting a tight regulation of fat cell number that is independent of metabolic profile …

The Solenoid Transport Experiment (STX) at LBNL successfully demonstrated the transport of a space-charge dominated ion beam in a two-solenoid lattice. Initial experiments showed a strong dependence of electron cloud effects on solenoid field strength. A current-reducing aperture, two solenoids and in-bore diagnostics were added to the two-solenoid lattice in order to study electron cloud effects more closely. Experiments were conducted with a 10 {micro}s, singly charged potassium ion bunch at an ion energy of 0.3 MeV and currents of 26 mA and 45 mA. A qualitative comparison of experimental and calculated results are presented, including a comparison of the effects of manipulating electrons on the beam dynamics, quantifying beam-induced gas desorption, ionization, and electron effects.

The resolution of chemically amplified resists is becoming an increasing concern, especially for lithography in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime. Large-scale screening and performance-based down-selection is currently underway to identify resist platforms that can support shrinking feature sizes. Resist screening efforts, however, are hampered by the absence of reliable resolution metrics that can objectively quantify resist resolution in a high-throughput fashion. Here we examine two high-throughput metrics for resist resolution determination. After summarizing their details and justifying their utility, we characterize the sensitivity of both metrics to two of the main experimental uncertainties associated with lithographic exposure tools, namely: limited focus control and limited knowledge of optical aberrations. For an implementation at EUV wavelengths, we report aberration and focus limited error bars in extracted resolution of {approx} 1.25 nm RMS for both metrics making them attractive candidates for future screening and down-selection efforts.

Moving beyond ITER toward a demonstration power reactor (Demo) will require the integration of stable high fusion gain in steady-state, advanced methods for dissipating very high divertor heat-fluxes, and adherence to strict limits on in-vessel tritium retention. While ITER will clearly address the issue of high fusion gain, and new and planned long-pulse experiments (EAST, JT60-SA, KSTAR, SST-1) will collectively address stable steady-state high-performance operation, none of these devices will adequately address the integrated heat-flux, tritium retention, and plasma performance requirements needed for extrapolation to Demo. Expressing power exhaust requirements in terms of P{sub heat}/R, future ARIES reactors are projected to operate with 60-200MW/m, a Component Test Facility (CTF) or Fusion Development Facility (FDF) for nuclear component testing (NCT) with 40-50MW/m, and ITER 20-25MW/m. However, new and planned long-pulse experiments are currently projected to operate at values of P{sub heat}/R no more than 16MW/m. Furthermore, none of the existing or planned experiments are capable of operating with very high temperature first-wall (T{sub wall} = 600-1000C) which may be critical for understanding and ultimately minimizing tritium retention with a reactor-relevant metallic first-wall. The considerable gap between present and near-term experiments and the performance needed for NCT and Demo motivates the development …

In this paper we report on strangeness measurements in p+p, Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at different energies in the STAR detector at RHIC. We will focus on two momentum regions in particular: Firstly we look at strangeness enhancement in A+A collisions with respect to p+p. These yields are dominated by low transverse momentum. We compare the enhancements from Au+Au and Cu+Cu data at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV with Pb+Pb data at {radical}s{sub NN} = 17.2 GeV and find that the enhancement does not scale with N{sub part} as expected, but rather scales with N{sub part}{sup 1/3}, where N{sub part} represents the number of participants; We then examine {Lambda}/K{sub S}{sup 0} ratios at intermediate transverse momentum in both Au+Au and Cu+Cu data where we find a greater enhancement in Cu+Cu compared to Au+Au data when we compare integrated ratios between 1.5 < p{sub T} < 3.5 GeV/c.