Here we report structural and functional studies of Mms6, a biomineralization protein that can promote the formation in vitro of magnetic nanoparticles with sizes and morphologies similar to the magnetites synthesized by magnetotactic bacteria. We found the binding pattern of Mms6 to ferric ion to be two-phase and multivalent. We quantatively determined that Mms6 binds one Fe{sup 3+} with a very high affinity (K{sub d} = 10{sup -16} M). The second phase of iron binding is multivalent and cooperative with respect to iron with a K{sub d} in the {mu}M range and a stoichiometry of about 20 ferric ion per protein molecule. We found that Mms6 exists in large particles of two sizes, one consisting of 20-40 monomeric units and the other of 200 units. From proteolytic digestion, ultracentrifugation and liposome fusion studies, we found that Mms6 forms a large micellar quaternary structure with the N-terminal domain self-assembling into a uniformly sized micelle and the C-terminal domain on the surface. The two-phase iron-binding pattern may be relevant to iron crystal formation. We propose that the first high affinity phase may stabilize a new conformation of the C-terminal domain that allows interaction with other C-terminal domains leading to a structural change …

Stimuli-responsive end-capped MSN materials are promising drug carriers that securely deliver a large payload of drug molecules without degradation or premature release. A general review of the recent progress in this field is presented, including a summary of a series of hard and soft caps for drug encapsulation and a variety of internal and external stimuli for controlled release of different therapeutics, a discussion of the biocompatibility of MSN both in vitro and in vivo, and a description of the sophisticated stimuli-responsive systems with novel capping agents and controlled release mechanism. The unique internal and external surfaces of MSN were utilized for the development of a glucose-responsive double delivery system end-capped with insulin. This unique system consists of functionalized MSNs capable of releasing insulin when the concentration of sugar in blood exceeds healthy levels. The insulin-free nanoparticles are then up taken by pancreatic cells, and release inside of them another biomolecule that stimulates the production of more insulin. The in vivo application of this system for the treatment of diabetes requires further understanding on the biological behaviors of these nanoparticles in blood vessels. The research presented in this dissertation demonstrated the size and surface effects on the interaction of MSNs …

The goal of the Development of High Temperature Capacitor Technology and Manufacturing Capability program was to mature a production-ready supply chain for reliable 250°C FPE (fluorinated polyester) film capacitors by 2011. These high-temperature film capacitors enable both the down hole drilling and aerospace industries by enabling a variety of benefits including: − Deeper oil exploration in higher temperature and pressure environments − Enabling power electronic and control equipment to operate in higher temperature environments − Enabling reduced cooling requirements of electronics − Increasing reliability and life of capacitors operating below rated temperature − Enabling capacitors to handle higher electrical losses without overheating. The key challenges to bringing the FPE film capacitors to market have been manufacturing challenges including: − FPE Film is difficult to handle and wind, resulting in poor yields − Voltage breakdown strength decreases when the film is wound into capacitors (~70% decrease) − Encapsulation technologies must be improved to enable higher temperature operation − Manufacturing and test cycle time is very long As a direct result of this program most of the manufacturing challenges have been met. The FPE film production metalization and winding yield has increased to over 82% from 70%, and the voltage breakdown strength …

Emission of carbon dioxide from fossil-fueled power generation stations contributes to global climate change. Storage of this carbon dioxide within the pores of geologic strata (geologic carbon storage) is one approach to mitigating the climate change that would otherwise occur. The large storage volume needed for this mitigation requires injection into brine-filled pore space in reservoir strata overlain by cap rocks. One of the main concerns of storage in such rocks is leakage via faults. In the early stages of site selection, site-specific fault coverages are often not available. This necessitates a method for using available fault data to develop an estimate of the likelihood of injected carbon dioxide encountering and migrating up a fault, primarily due to buoyancy. Fault population statistics provide one of the main inputs to calculate the encounter probability. Previous fault population statistics work is shown to be applicable to areal fault density statistics. This result is applied to a case study in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Basin with the result that the probability of a carbon dioxide plume from a previously planned injection had a 3% chance of encountering a fully seal offsetting fault.

Quarterly report that represents PNNL's results of HDPE, LDPE, and industrial polymer materials testing. ASTM D638 type 3 samples were subjected to a high pressure hydrogen environment between 3000 and 4000 PSI. These samples were tested using an instron load frame and were analyzed using a proprietary set of excel macros to determine trends in data. The development of an in-situ high pressure hydrogen tensile testing apparatus is discussed as is the stress modeling of the carbon fiber tank exterior.

Storage of CO{sub 2} in saline aquifers is intended to be at supercritical pressure and temperature conditions, but CO{sub 2} leaking from a geologic storage reservoir and migrating toward the land surface (through faults, fractures, or improperly abandoned wells) would reach subcritical conditions at depths shallower than 500-750 m. At these and shallower depths, subcritical CO{sub 2} can form two-phase mixtures of liquid and gaseous CO{sub 2}, with significant latent heat effects during boiling and condensation. Additional strongly non-isothermal effects can arise from decompression of gas-like subcritical CO{sub 2}, the so-called Joule-Thomson effect. Integrated modeling of CO{sub 2} storage and leakage requires the ability to model non-isothermal flows of brine and CO{sub 2} at conditions that range from supercritical to subcritical, including three-phase flow of aqueous phase, and both liquid and gaseous CO{sub 2}. In this paper, we describe and demonstrate comprehensive simulation capabilities that can cope with all possible phase conditions in brine-CO{sub 2} systems. Our model formulation includes: (1) an accurate description of thermophysical properties of aqueous and CO{sub 2}-rich phases as functions of temperature, pressure, salinity and CO{sub 2} content, including the mutual dissolution of CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O; (2) transitions between super- and subcritical conditions, …

The poly(diethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEM) - Pluronic F127 - PDEAEM pentablock copolymer (PB) gene delivery vector system has been found to possess an inherent selectivity in transfecting cancer cells over non-cancer cells in vitro, without attaching any targeting ligands. In order to understand the mechanism of this selective transfection, three possible intracellular barriers to transfection were investigated in both cancer and non-cancer cells. We concluded that escape from the endocytic pathway served as the primary intracellular barrier for PB-mediated transfection. Most likely, PB vectors were entrapped and rendered non-functional in acidic lysosomes of non-cancer cells, but survived in less acidic lysosomes of cancer cells. The work highlights the importance of identifying intracellular barriers for different gene delivery systems and provides a new paradigm for designing targeting vectors based on intracellular differences between cell types, rather than through the use of targeting ligands. The PB vector was further developed to simultaneously deliver anticancer drugs and genes, which showed a synergistic effect demonstrated by significantly enhanced gene expression in vitro. Due to the thermosensitive gelation behavior, the PB vector packaging both drug and gene was also investigated for its in vitro sustained release properties by using polyethylene glycol diacrylate as a barrier gel …

Residential customers in California's Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) territory have seen several electricity rate structure changes in the past decade. This poster: examines the history of the residential pricing structure and key milestones; summarizes and analyzes the usage between 2006 and 2009 for different baseline/climate areas; discusses the residential electricity Smart Meter roll out; and compares sample bills for customers in two climates under the current pricing structure and also the future time of use (TOU) structure.

Mesoporous silica materials, discovered in 1992 by the Mobile Oil Corporation, have received considerable attention in the chemical industry due to their superior textual properties such as high surface area, large pore volume, tunable pore diameter, and narrow pore size distribution. Among those materials, MCM-41, referred to Mobile Composition of Matter NO. 41, contains honeycomb liked porous structure that is the most common mesoporous molecular sieve studied. Applications of MCM-41 type mesoporous silica material in biomedical field as well as catalytical field have been developed and discussed in this thesis. The unique features of mesoporous silica nanoparticles were utilized for the design of delivery system for multiple biomolecules as described in chapter 2. We loaded luciferin into the hexagonal channels of MSN and capped the pore ends with gold nanoparticles to prevent premature release. Luciferase was adsorbed onto the outer surface of the MSN. Both the MSN and the gold nanoparticles were protected by poly-ethylene glycol to minimize nonspecific interaction of luciferase and keep it from denaturating. Controlled release of luciferin was triggered within the cells and the enzymatic reaction was detected by a luminometer. Further developments by varying enzyme/substrate pairs may provide opportunities to control cell behavior and manipulate …

In this thesis, we theoretically study the electromagnetic wave propagation in several passive and active optical components and devices including 2-D photonic crystals, straight and curved waveguides, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and etc. Several optical designs are also presented like organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells and solar concentrators. The first part of the thesis focuses on theoretical investigation. First, the plane-wave-based transfer (scattering) matrix method (TMM) is briefly described with a short review of photonic crystals and other numerical methods to study them (Chapter 1 and 2). Next TMM, the numerical method itself is investigated in details and developed in advance to deal with more complex optical systems. In chapter 3, TMM is extended in curvilinear coordinates to study curved nanoribbon waveguides. The problem of a curved structure is transformed into an equivalent one of a straight structure with spatially dependent tensors of dielectric constant and magnetic permeability. In chapter 4, a new set of localized basis orbitals are introduced to locally represent electromagnetic field in photonic crystals as alternative to planewave basis. The second part of the thesis focuses on the design of optical devices. First, two examples of TMM applications are given. The first example is the design …