Phytoplasmas (Candidatus Phytoplasma, Class Mollicutes) cause disease in hundreds of economically important plants, and are obligately transmitted by sap-feeding insects of the order Hemiptera, mainly leafhoppers and psyllids. The 706,569-bp chromosome and four plasmids of aster yellows phytoplasma strain witches broom (AY-WB) were sequenced and compared to the onion yellows phytoplasma strain M (OY-M) genome. The phytoplasmas have small repeat-rich genomes. The repeated DNAs are organized into large clusters, potential mobile units (PMUs), which contain tra5 insertion sequences (ISs), and specialized sigma factors and membrane proteins. So far, PMUs are unique to phytoplasmas. Compared to mycoplasmas, phytoplasmas lack several recombination and DNA modification functions, and therefore phytoplasmas probably use different mechanisms of recombination, likely involving PMUs, for the creation of variability, allowing phytoplasmas to adjust to the diverse environments of plants and insects. The irregular GC skews and presence of ISs and large repeated sequences in the AY-WB and OY-M genomes are indicative of high genomic plasticity. Nevertheless, segments of {approx}250 kb, located between genes lplA and glnQ are syntenic between the two phytoplasmas, contain the majority of the metabolic genes and no ISs. AY-WB is further along in the reductive evolution process than OY-M. The AY-WB genome is {approx}154 …

Density modulation of charged particle beams may occur as a consequence of deliberate action, or may occur inadvertently because of imperfections in the particle source or acceleration method. In the case of intense beams, where space charge and external focusing govern the beam dynamics, density modulation may under some circumstances be converted to velocity modulation, with a corresponding conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy. Whether this will occur depends on the properties of the beam and the initial modulation. This paper describes the evolution of discrete and continuous density modulations on intense beams, and discusses three recent experiments related to the dynamics of density-modulated electron beams.

We propose and analyze a novel regenerative amplifier free electron laser (FEL) to produce fully coherent x-ray pulses. The method makes use of narrow-bandwidth Bragg crystals to form an x-ray feedback loop around a relatively short undulator. Self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) from the leading electron bunch in a bunch train is spectrally filtered by the Bragg reflectors and is brought back to the beginning of the undulator to interact repeatedly with subsequent bunches in the bunch train. The FEL interaction with these short bunches not only amplifies the radiation intensity but also broadens its spectrum, allowing for effective transmission of the x-rays outside the crystal bandwidth. The spectral brightness of these x-ray pulses is about two to three orders of magnitude higher than that from a single-pass SASE FEL.

This paper studies AMG (algebraic multigrid) methods that utilize energy minimization construction of the interpolation matrices locally, in the setting of element agglomeration AMG. The coarsening in element agglomeration AMG is done by agglomerating fine-grid elements, with coarse element matrices defined by a local Galerkin procedure applied to the matrix assembled from the individual fine-grid element matrices. This local Galerkin procedure involves only the coarse basis restricted to the agglomerated element. To construct the coarse basis, one exploits previously proposed constraint energy minimization procedures now applied to the local matrix. The constraints are that a given set of vectors should be interpolated exactly, not only globally, but also locally on every agglomerated element. The paper provides algorithmic details, as well as a convergence result based on a ''local-to-global'' energy bound of the resulting multiple-vector fitting AMG interpolation mappings. A particular implementation of the method is illustrated with a set of numerical experiments.

An important aspect of plasma wake field accelerators (PWFA) is stable propagation of the drive beam. In the under dense plasma regime, the drive beam creates an ion channel which acts on the beam as a strong thick focusing lens. The ion channel causes the beam to undergo multiple betatron oscillations along the length of the plasma. There are several advantages if the beam size can be matched to a constant radius. First, simulations have shown that instabilities such as hosing are reduced when the beam is matched [1]. Second, synchrotron radiation losses are minimized when the beam is matched. Third, an initially matched beam will propagate with no significant change in beam size in spite of large energy loss or gain. Coupling to the plasma with a matched radius can be difficult in some cases. This paper shows how an appropriate density ramp at the plasma entrance can be useful for achieving a matched beam. Additionally, the density ramp is helpful in bringing a misaligned trailing beam onto the drive beam axis. A plasma source with boundary profiles useful for matching has been created for the E-164X PWFA experiments at SLAC.

The purpose of this letter is to provide a summary of the Prometheus space reactor radiation shield design status at the time of program restructuring.

This article explores the energy gain for a single relativistic electron from a monochromatic linearly polarized plane wave incident on a planar reflective boundary oriented at an arbitrary oblique angle, and compares the prediction for the energy gain from Inverse Transition Radiation method and the electric field path integral method. It is found that both methods predict the same energy gain regardless of the orientation of the boundary. A brief analysis on partially reflecting surfaces is presented.

We have observed acceleration of relativistic electrons in vacuum driven by a linearly polarized visible laser beam incident on a thin gold-coated reflective boundary. The observed energy modulation effect follows all the characteristics expected for linear acceleration caused by a longitudinal electric field. As predicted by the Lawson-Woodward theorem the laser driven modulation only appears in the presence of the boundary. It shows a linear dependence with the strength of the electric field of the laser beam and also it is critically dependent on the laser polarization. Finally, it appears to follow the expected angular dependence of the inverse transition radiation process. experiment as the Laser Electron Accelerator Project (LEAP).

Particle accelerators require precise phase control of the electric field through the entire accelerator structure. Thus a future laser driven particle accelerator will require optical synchronism between the high-peak power laser sources that power the accelerator. The precise laser architecture for a laser driven particle accelerator is not determined yet, however it is clear that the ability to phase-lock independent modelocked oscillators will be of crucial importance. We report the present status on our work to demonstrate long term phaselocking between two modelocked lasers to within one degree of optical phase and describe the optical synchronization techniques that we employ.

The silicon vertex tracker (SVT) of the BaBar experiment at PEP-II is described. This is the crucial device for the measurement of the meson decay vertices to extract charge-conjugation parity (CP) asymmetries. It consists of five layers of double-sided ac-coupled silicon strip detectors, read out by a full-custom integrated circuit, capable of simultaneous acquisition, digitization, and transmission of data. It represents the core of the BaBar tracking system, providing position measurements with a precision of 10 m (inner layers) and 30 m (outer layers). The relevant performances of the SVT are presented, and the experience acquired during the construction, installation, and the first five years of data-taking is described. Innovative solutions are highlighted, like the sophisticated alignment procedure, imposed by the design of the silicon tracker, integrated in the beamline elements and mechanically separated from the other parts of BaBar. The harshness of the background conditions in the interaction region required several studies on the radiation damage of the sensors and the front-end chips, whose results are presented. Over the next five years the luminosity is predicted to increase by a factor three, leading to radiation and occupancy levels significantly exceeding the detector design. Extrapolation of future radiation doses and …

The inverse Free Electron Laser (IFEL) interaction has recently been proposed and used as a short wavelength modulator for micro bunching of beams for laser acceleration experiments [1,2]. These experiments utilized the fundamental of the interaction between the laser field and electron bunch. In the current experiment, we explore the higher order resonances of the IFEL interaction from a 3 period, 1.8 centimeter wavelength undulator with a picosecond, 0.5 mJ/pulse laser at 800nm. The resonances are observed by adjusting the gap of the undulator while keeping the beam energy constant. We also compare the experimental results to a simple analytic model that describes coupling to high order harmonics of the interaction.

The unusually long insertion devices being prepared for Angstrom-wavelength Free Electron Lasers (FELs) will generate spectral-angular distributions in the proposed experimental areas substantially different from those conventionally calculated for the far field. In this paper we report on computational simulations of near vs. far field distributions for the SLAC linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) undulator, an insertion device approximately 140 meters long. The properties of the coherent radiation as a limiting case of the near-field emission, for the special condition of a microbunched beam radiating along the undulator axis, are reviewed.

The temporal resolution of pump-flash interactions in the femtosecond-attosecond (fs-as) regime is limited by the characteristic time constants of the excited states in the detector material. If the relaxation time constant is appreciably longer that the time interval between the pump and probe signals the response of the detector material to the probe represents a temporal convolution with the pump and probe responses, setting a lower limit on the resolution to which the interval between the two pulses can be measured. In most of the solid state ultrafast detection schemes that are being considered for the ultrashort pulse x-ray sources under current development at SLAC and elsewhere the characteristic time constants are related to the bound states of the atoms comprising the material or to the relaxation times of phase transitions or charge carrier populations of the lattice, setting a probable lower limit on the attainable resolution on the order of {approx}0.1 ps. In this paper we consider a novel detection principle based on the excitation of specially prepared unbound states in an ionized plasma with high pump and probe fields, and estimate its potential for extending the lower limit of resolution into the attosecond (as) regime.

Precise contact between epithelial cells and their underlying basement membrane is critical to the maintenance of tissue architecture and function. To understand the role that the laminin receptor dystroglycan (DG) plays in these processes, we assayed cell responses to laminin-111 following conditional ablation of DG expression in cultured mammary epithelial cells (MECs). Strikingly, DG loss disrupted laminin-111-induced polarity and {beta}-casein production, and abolished laminin assembly at the step of laminin binding to the cell surface. DG re-expression restored these deficiencies. Investigations of mechanism revealed that DG cytoplasmic sequences were not necessary for laminin assembly and signaling, and only when the entire mucin domain of extracellular DG was deleted did laminin assembly not occur. These results demonstrate that DG is essential as a laminin-111 co-receptor in MECs that functions by mediating laminin anchoring to the cell surface, a process that allows laminin polymerization, tissue polarity, and {beta}-casein induction. The observed loss of laminin-111 assembly and signaling in DG-/-MECs provides insights into the signaling changes occurring in breast carcinomas and other cancers, where DG's laminin-binding function is frequently defective.

Nanoindentation has recently emerged to be the primary method to study the mechanical behavior and reliability of human enamel. Its hardness and elastic modulus were generally reported as average values with standard deviations that were calculated from the results of multiple nanoindentation tests. In such an approach, it is assumed that the mechanical properties of human enamel are constant, independent of testing parameters, like indent depth and loading rate. However, little is known if they affect the measurements. In this study, we investigated the dependence of the hardness and elastic modulus of human enamel on the indent depth. We found that in a depth range from 100 nm to 2000 nm the elastic moduli continuously decreased from {approx} 104 GPa to {approx} 70 GPa, and the hardnesses decreased from {approx} 5.7 GPa to {approx} 3.6 GPa. We then considered human enamel as a fiber-reinforced composite, and used the celebrated rule of mixture theory to quantify the upper and lower bounds of the elastic moduli, which were shown to cover the values measured in the current study and previous studies. Accordingly, we attributed the depth dependence of the hardness and modulus to the continuous microstructure evolution induced by nanoindenter.

The project is a continuation of DOE-funded work (FY02 and FY03) that has focused on the development of the ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) pretreatment technology, fermentation production of succinic acid and new processes and products to enhance dry mill profitability. The primary objective for work beginning in April 2004 and ending in November 2005 is focus on the key issues related to the: (1) design, costing and construction plan for a pilot AFEX pretreatment system, formation of a stakeholder development team to assist in the planning and design of a biorefinery pilot plant, continued evaluation of corn fractionation technologies, corn oil extraction, AFEX treatment of corn fiber/DDGs; (2) development of a process to fractionate AFEX-treated corn fiber and corn stover--cellulose and hemicellulose fractionation and sugar recovery; and (3) development of a scalable batch succinic acid production process at 500 L at or below $.42/lb, a laboratory scale fed-batch process for succinic acid production at or below $.40/lb, a recovery process for succinic acid that reduces the cost of succinic acid by $.02/lb and the development of an acid tolerant succinic acid production strain at lab scale (last objective not to be completed during this project time period).