Recently, studies of the Platte River watershed have gained significant attention from federal and Nebraska, USA, state agencies due to the importance of groundwater/surface-water interactions under drought conditions. Using archive data from a 1983 pumping test, Chen and Chen (2003) interpret the hydraulic properties of the alluvium and a streambed of the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska, and compare their data with results of other studies performed over the past several years. Three important inconsistencies of this article will be highlighted here: (1) misuse of the analytical model of Hunt (1999), (2) departure of their results from previously published data, and (3) unsatisfactory explanation of these anomalous results.

We have developed NADS (Nuclear and Atomic Data System), a web-based graphical interface for viewing pointwise and grouped cross-sections and distributions. Our implementation is a client / server model. The client is a Java applet that displays the graphical interface, which has interactive 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D plots and tables. The server, which can serve and perform computations the data, has been implemented in Python using the FUDGE package developed by Bret Beck at LLNL. Computational capabilities include algebraic manipulation of nuclear evaluated data in databases such as LLNL's ENDL-99, ENDF/B-V and ENDF/B-VI as well as user data. Processed data used in LLNL's transport codes are accessible as well. NADS is available from http://nuclear.llnl.gov/

There is much interest in the combustion mechanism of organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) due to their role as potential halon replacements in fire suppression. A continuing investigation of the inhibition activity of organophosphorus compounds under a range of equivalence ratios was performed experimentally and computationally, as measured by the burning velocity. Updates to a previous mechanism were made by the addition and modification of reactions in the mechanism for a more complete description of the recombination reactions. In this work, the laminar flame speed is measured experimentally and calculated numerically for a premixed propane/air flame, under a range of equivalence ratios, undoped and doped with dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). A detailed investigation of the catalytic cycles involved in the recombination of key flame radicals is made for two equivalence ratios, lean and rich. From this, the importance of different catalytic cycles involved in the lean versus rich case is discussed. Although the importance of certain cycles is different under different stoichiometries, the OPCs are similarly effective across the range, demonstrating the robustness of OPCs as flame suppressants. In addition, it is shown that the phosphorus compounds are most active in the high temperature region of the flame. This may, in part, explain …

The classification of time-varying multivariate regional-scale wind fields at a specific location can assist event planning as well as consequence and risk analysis. Further, wind field classification involves data transformation and inference techniques that effectively characterize stochastic wind field variation. Such a classification scheme is potentially useful for addressing overall atmospheric transport uncertainty and meteorological parameter sensitivity issues. Different methods to classify wind fields over a location include the principal component analysis of wind data (e.g., Hardy and Walton, 1978) and the use of cluster analysis for wind data (e.g., Green et al., 1992; Kaufmann and Weber, 1996). The goal of this study is to use a clustering method to classify the winds of a gridded data set, i.e, from meteorological simulations generated by a forecast model.

Habitat use has been shown to be an important factor in the bioaccumulation of contaminants in striped bass. This study examines migration in striped bass as part of a larger study investigating bioaccumulation and maternal transfer of xenobiotics to progeny in the San Francisco Estuary system. Habitat use, residence time and spawning migration over the life of females (n = 23) was studied. Female striped bass were collected between Knights Landing and Colusa on the Sacramento River during the spawning runs of 1999 and 2001. Otoliths were removed, processed and aged via otolith microstructure. Subsequently, otoliths were analyzed for strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratio using an electron-microprobe to measure salinity exposure and to distinguish freshwater, estuary, and marine habitat use. Salinity exposure during the last year before capture was examined more closely for comparison of habitat use by the maternal parent to contaminant burden transferred to progeny. Results were selectively confirmed by ion microprobe analyses for habitat use. The Sr/Ca data demonstrate a wide range of migratory patterns. Age of initial ocean entry differs among individuals before returning to freshwater, presumably to spawn. Some fish reside in freshwater year-round, while others return to more saline habitats and make periodic migrations to freshwater. …

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Streak camera breakout and Fabry-Perot interferometer data have been taken on the outer surface of 1.80 g/cm{sup 3} TATB hemispherical boosters initiated by slapper detonators at three temperatures. The slapper causes breakout to occur at 54{sup o} at ambient temperatures and 42{sup o} at -54 C, where the axis of rotation is 0{sup o}. The Fabry velocities may be associated with pressures, and these decrease for large timing delays in breakout seen at the colder temperatures. At room temperature, the Fabry pressures appear constant at all angles. Both fresh and decade-old explosive are tested and no difference is seen. The problem has been modeled with reactive flow. Adjustment of the JWL for temperature makes little difference, but cooling to -54 C decreases the rate constant by 1/6th. The problem was run both at constant density and with density differences using two different codes. The ambient code results show that a density difference is probably there but it cannot be quantified.

Transferring electron beam (EB) welding parameters between different welders can be a costly and time consuming process requiring the completion of expensive weld parameter studies. In order to modernize and streamline this process, the LLNL Beam Profiler diagnostic tool, which has been developed and tested at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to measure the size, shape, and power density distribution of electron beams, is currently being used to characterize the performance of EB machines at several U.S. Department of Energy facilities. The characterization of these machines involves performing defocus studies on each welder to measure the properties of 1 kW beams made at constant current, voltage, and work distance settings. Using these carefully characterized beams, autogenous welds on 304L stainless steel were then made at LLNL and replicated on the other machines. A key finding from these studies was that the widespread use of work distance values measured from the surface of the part being welded to the top of the EB vacuum chamber are suitable only for machines with a similar upper column design. Otherwise, the focus-lens to part distance must be determined and controlled. A simple method for determining the focus-lens to part distance with the LLNL Beam …

Unlike natural gas-fired generation, renewable generation (e.g., from wind, solar, and geothermal power) is largely immune to fuel price risk. If ratepayers are rational and value long-term price stability, then--contrary to common practice--any comparison of the levelized cost of renewable to gas-fired generation should be based on a hedged gas price input, rather than an uncertain gas price forecast. This paper compares natural gas prices that can be locked in through futures, swaps, and physical supply contracts to contemporaneous long-term forecasts of spot gas prices. We find that from 2000-2003, forward gas prices for terms of 2-10 years have been considerably higher than most contemporaneous long-term gas price forecasts. This difference is striking, and implies that comparisons between renewable and gas-fired generation based on these forecasts over this period have arguably yielded results that are biased in favor of gas-fired generation.

Although the concept of the photon as a quantum particle is sharpened by the quantization of the energy of the classical radiation field in a cavity, the photon's spin has remained a classical degree of freedom. The photon is considered a spin-1 particle, although only two classical polarization states transverse to its direction of propagation are allowed. Effectively therefore the photon is a spin-1/2 particle, although it still obeys Bose-Einstein statistics because the photon-photon interaction is zero. Here they show that the two polarization states of the photon can be quantized using Pauli's spin vector, such that a suitable equation of motion for the photon is Dirac's relativistic wave equation for zero mass and zero charge. Maxwell's equations for a free photon are inferred from the Dirac-field formalism and thus provide proof of this claim. For photons in the presence of electronic sources for electromagnetic fields we posit Lorentz-invariant inhomogeneous photonic equations of motion. Electro-dynamic operator equations are inferred from this modified Dirac-field formalism which reduce to Maxwell's equations if spin-dependent terms in the radiation-matter interaction are dropped.

Non-biological factors give rise to unwanted variations in cDNA microarray data. There are many normalization methods designed to remove such variations. However, to date there have been few published systematic evaluations of these techniques for removing variations arising from dye biases in the context of downstream, higher-order analytical tasks such as classification. Ten location normalization methods that adjust spatial- and/or intensity-dependent dye biases, and three scale methods that adjust scale differences were applied, individually and in combination, to five distinct, published, cancer biology-related cDNA microarray data sets. Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) classification error was employed as the quantitative end-point for assessing the effectiveness of a normalization method. In particular, a known classifier, k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), was estimated from data normalized using a given technique, and the LOOCV error rate of the ensuing model was computed. We found that k-NN classifiers are sensitive to dye biases in the data. Using NONRM and GMEDIAN as baseline methods, our results show that single-bias-removal techniques which remove either spatial-dependent dye bias (referred later as spatial effect) or intensity-dependent dye bias (referred later as intensity effect) moderately reduce LOOCV classification errors; whereas double-bias-removal techniques which remove both spatial- and intensity effect reduce LOOCV classification errors even …

We present our preliminary results for semileptonic form factors of D mesons in unquenched lattice QCD. Simulations are carried out with n{sub f} = 2 + 1 dynamical quarks using gauge configurations generated by the MILC collaboration. For the valence quarks, we adopt an improved staggered light quark action and the clover heavy quark action. Our results for D {yields} K and D {yields} {pi} form factors at q{sup 2} = 0 are in agreement with the experimental values.

Real-time three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of epithelial structures in human mammary gland tissue blocks mapped with selected markers would be an extremely helpful tool for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment planning. Besides its clear clinical application, this tool could also shed a great deal of light on the molecular basis of breast cancer initiation and progression. In this paper we present a framework for real-time segmentation of epithelial structures in two-dimensional (2D) images of sections of normal and neoplastic mammary gland tissue blocks. Complete 3D rendering of the tissue can then be done by surface rendering of the structures detected in consecutive sections of the blocks. Paraffin embedded or frozen tissue blocks are first sliced, and sections are stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin. The sections are then imaged using conventional bright field microscopy and their background is corrected using a phantom image. We then use the Fast-Marching algorithm to roughly extract the contours of the different morphological structures in the images. The result is then refined with the Level-Set method which converges to an accurate (sub-pixel) solution for the segmentation problem. Finally, our system stacks together the 2D results obtained in order to reconstruct a 3D representation of the entire tissue …

We report on an ongoing study on modular Heavy Ion Fusion drivers. The modular driver is characterized by 10 to 20 nearly identical induction linacs, each carrying a single high current beam. In this scheme, the Integrated Research Experiment (IRE) can be one of the full size induction linacs. Hence, this approach offers significant advantages in terms of driver development path. For beam transport, these modules use solenoids which are capable of carrying high line charge densities, even at low energies. A new injector concept allows compression of the beam to high line densities right at the source. The final drift compression is performed in a plasma, in which the large repulsive space charge effects are neutralized. Finally, the beam is transversely compressed onto the target, using either external solenoids or current-carrying channels (in the Assisted Pinch Mode of beam propagation). We will report on progress towards a self-consistent point design from injector to target. Considerations of driver architecture, chamber environment as well as the methodology for meeting target requirements of spot size, pulse shape and symmetry will also be described. Finally, some near-term experiments to address the key scientific issues will be discussed.

We use the High Current Experiment (HCX) to study three mitigation measures: a rough surface to reduce electron emission and gas desorption from ions striking walls near grazing incidence, a suppressor electrode after the magnets to block beam-induced electrons off the end structures from drifting upstream, and clearing electrodes to remove electrons from drift regions between magnets. We find that each technique performs as intended.

Generation of a DC electron beam in the future Fermilab electron cooler [1] employs an electrostatic acceleration and a beam energy recovery, so that electrons are decelerated from the nominal energy of 4.3 MeV they have in the cooling section to few keV in the collector. Stable performance of this scheme requires a current loss {delta}I below 10 {micro}A at the beam current up to the nominal value of I = 0.5 A. One of sources of the loss is a back flow of secondary electrons from the beam collector. The paper discusses principles and performance of a collector with the low current loss. Electric and magnetic fields in the collectors used in existing electron coolers are axially symmetrical. For practically interesting parameters, such collectors can not provide {delta}I/I<10{sup -4} because of the reversibility of trajectories in the collectors: a secondary electron with the kinetic energy equal to the energy of the primary one can come out of the collector following the trajectory of the ''parent'' electron. The back flow can be dramatically decreased if the reversibility is broken by a transverse magnetic field in the collector cavity. In our case, the field was formed by a system of permanent …

We extend the Fermilab formalism for heavy quarks to develop a more improved action. We give results of matching calculations of the improvement couplings at tree level. Finally, we estimate the discretization errors associated with the new action.

A salt supernate waste (Tank 48H) generated at the Savannah River Site (SRS) during demonstration of In Tank Precipitation (ITP) process for Cs removal contains nitrates, nitrites, and sodium tetraphenyl borate (NaTPB). This slurry must be pre-processed in order to reduce the impacts of the nitrate and organic species on subsequent vitrification in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) is a candidate technology for destroying the nitrates, nitrites, and organics (NaTPB) prior to melting. Bench scale tests were designed and conducted at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to demonstrate that bench scale testing can adequately reproduce the CO/CO2 and H2/H2O fugacities representative of the FBSR process and form the appropriate product phases. Carbonate and silicate product phases that were compatible with DWPF vitrification were achieved in the bench scale testing and test parameters were optimized for a pilot scale FBSR demonstration.

The vadose zone is an extremely important zone that recharges our subsurface water resources and also serves as the repository for municipal, industrial and government waste. It acts as a buffer and filter for contaminants introduced by agricultural activities, and also serves as a reservoir for many agricultural crops. As safe and effective use of the vadose zone environment is a major challenge facing our society, there is a great need to improve our understanding of processes, their dynamics and their spatial and temporal patterns. With an increasing demand for investigation methods that have both high accuracy and high resolution across a variety of spatial scales, a new discipline ''hydrogeophysics'' has evolved, which aims at combining knowledge from various disciplines such as hydrogeology, soil physics, biogeochemistry, and geophysics to improve subsurface hydrogeological characterization and monitoring. Geophysical methods offer the advantage of being able to measure subsurface structures and to estimate flow and transport properties in a minimally or non-invasive manner. The discipline of hydrogeophysics is expanding rapidly, and studies are being performed using a wide range of standard geophysical methods as well as new methods that have been developed specifically for hydrologic applications. Time-lapse imaging has illustrated the potential of …

Demonstration of association between common genetic variants and chronic human diseases such as obesity could have profound implications for the prediction, prevention and treatment of these conditions. Unequivocal proof of such an association, however, requires adherence to established methodological guidelines, which include independent replication of initial positive findings. Recently, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within GAD2 were found to be associated with class III obesity (BMI > 40 kg/m2) in 188 families (612 individuals) segregating the condition and a case-control study of 575 cases and 646 lean controls. Functional data supporting a pathophysiological role for one of the SNPs (-243A>G) were also presented. In the present study, we attempted to replicate this association in larger groups of subjects, and to extend the functional studies of the -243A>G SNP. In 2,327 subjects comprising 692 German nuclear families with severe, early-onset obesity, we found no evidence for a relationship between the three GAD2 SNPs and obesity, whether SNPs were studied individually or as haplotypes. In two independent case-control studies (a total of 680 class III obesity cases and 1,186 lean controls), there was no significant relationship between the -243A>G SNP and obesity (odds ratio (OR) = 0.99, 95% CI 0.83 - 1.18,in the …

After the successful Run I of the Tevatron (1992-1996),with the top quark discovery, both CDF and D0 experiments were extensively upgraded to meet the challenges of the Tevatron Run II collider. The energy of p{bar p} collisions at the Tevatron was increased from {radical}s = 1.8 TeV to {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. t{bar t} production cross section is expected to increase by a factor of {approx} 30%. Major upgrades in the Tevatron accelerator chain will increase the Run II instantaneous luminosity: the goal is to achieve L = 5 - 20 x 10{sup 31} cm{sup 2}s{sup -1} while the highest luminosity reached up to now (September 2003) is 5.2 x 10{sup 31} cm{sup 2} s{sup -1}. In this paper we will present the top quark properties measured by both CDF and D0 with the first physics-quality data collected during the Run II (March 2002-January 2003). First we will review t{bar t} cross section measurements in the various decay channels; then top quark mass measurements will be presented.

Monosodium titanate (MST) is an inorganic adsorbent powder that effectively removes strontium, plutonium, neptunium, and other trace elements from alkaline high-level waste (HLW) supernate. This work tested one commercial titanate and four general methods to engineer MST into particles large enough to use in adsorption columns. The most successful of the engineered products selected from batch contact and chemical stability testing succeeded in treating 2900 bed volumes (BV) of simulated salt waste containing dissolved plutonium and strontium. There was no detectable strontium breakthrough and only 6 per cent plutonium breakthrough--well within the processing goal--at the end of the demonstration which operated at 5.3 BV/hour. Additional column tests at nominally 15 BV/hr demonstrated similar removal performance. Batch testing of adsorbents used both actual Savannah River Site (SRS) tank supernate as well as simulated salt solutions spiked with strontium, neptunium, and plutonium. In tank waste tests, internal gelation beads produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) demonstrated a batch distribution coefficient of 35,000 +/- 4,000 mL/g for plutonium at a phase ratio of 1970 mL/g. In the same batch the sorbent demonstrated a batch distribution coefficient of 99,000 +/- 7,500 mL/g for strontium. These results indicate that this material should be …

The DZERO experiment located at Fermilab has recently started RunII with an upgraded detector. The RunII physics program requires the Data Acquisition to readout the detector at a rate of 1 KHz. Events fragments, totaling 250 KB, are readout from approximately 60 front end crates and sent to a particular farm node for Level 3 Trigger processing. A scalable system, capable of complex event routing, has been designed and implemented based on commodity components: VMIC 7750 Single Board Computers for readout, a Cisco 6509 switch for data flow, and close to 100 Linux-based PCs for high-level event filtering.

Cosmologists have developed a phenomenally successful picture of structure in the universe based on the idea that the universe expanded exponentially in its earliest moments. There are three pieces of evidence for this exponential expansion--inflation--from observations of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. First, the shape of the primordial spectrum is very similar to that predicted by generic inflation models. Second, the angular scale at which the first acoustic peak appears is consistent with the flat universe predicted by inflation. Here the author describes the third piece of evidence, perhaps the most convincing of all: the phase coherence needed to account for the clear peak/trough structure observed by the WMAP satellite and its predecessors. The author also discusses alternatives to inflation that have been proposed recently and explain how they produce coherent phases.