Formerly entitled 'CO2 Fixation and Metabolism in Green Plants', this long-standing Gordon Research Conference has been held on a triennial basis since 1976. In 1990 the participants decided to alternate between sites in the U.S. and outside the U.S. The 2005 conference was held in Europe at the Centre Paul Langevin in Aussois, France, so the 2008 conference returns to a U.S. site - the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. The 2008 conference covers basic plant research related to photosynthesis and the subsequent regulation and engineering of carbon assimilation. Approaches that range from post-genomic technologies and systems biology, through to fundamental biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology are integrated within ecological and agronomic contexts. As such, the meeting provides the rare opportunity of a single venue for discussing all aspects of the 'carbon-side' of photosynthesis - from genome to biome. The 2008 conference will include an emphasis on the central role of carbon assimilation by plants for developing new sources of bioenergy and for achieving a carbon-neutral planet. A special characteristic of this conference is its 'intimacy' with approximately 110 conferees, ranging from beginning graduate students and postdoctoral associates to leading senior plant scientists, engaged in open and forward-thinking …

One-carbon (C-1) compounds play a central role in microbial metabolism. C-1 compounds include methane, carbon monoxide, CO2, and methanol as well as coenzyme-bound one-carbon compounds (methyl-B12, CH3-H4folate, etc). Such compounds are of broad global importance because several C-1 compounds (e.g., CH4) are important energy sources, some (e.g., CO2 and CH4) are potent greenhouse gases, and others (e.g., CH2Cl2) are xenobiotics. They are central in pathways of energy metabolism and carbon fixation by microbes and many are of industrial interest. Research on the pathways of one-carbon metabolism has added greatly to our understanding of evolution, structural biology, enzyme mechanisms, gene regulation, ecology, and applied biology. The 2008 meeting will include recent important findings in the following areas: (a) genomics, metagenomics, and proteomic studies that have expanded our understanding of autotrophy and C-1 metabolism and the evolution of these pathways; (b) redox regulation of carbon cycles and the interrelationship between the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical cycles (sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen); (c) novel pathways for carbon assimilation; (d) biotechnology related to C-1 metabolism; (e) novel enzyme mechanisms including channeling of C-1 intermediates during metabolism; and (f) the relationship between metal homeostasis and the global carbon cycle. The conference has a diverse and gender-balanced …

This report documents a field study of 78 small commercial customers in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District service territory who volunteered for an integrated energy-efficiency/demand-response (EE-DR) program in the summer of 2008. The original objective for the pilot was to provide a better understanding of demand response issues in the small commercial sector. Early findings justified a focus on offering small businesses (1) help with the energy efficiency of their buildings in exchange for occasional load shed, and (2) a portfolio of options to meet the needs of a diverse customer sector. To meet these expressed needs, the research pilot provided on-site energy efficiency advice and offered participants several program options, including the choice of either a dynamic rate or monthly payment for air-conditioning setpoint control. Overall results show that pilot participants had energy savings of 20%, and the potential for an additional 14% to 20% load drop during a 100 F demand response event. In addition to the efficiency-related bill savings, participants on the dynamic rate saved an estimated 5% on their energy costs compared to the standard rate. About 80% of participants said that the program met or surpassed their expectations, and three-quarters said they would probably or …

Hexavalent chromium is a widespread contaminant found in groundwater. In order to stimulate microbially mediated Cr(VI)-reduction, a poly-lactate compound was injected into Cr(VI)-contaminated aquifers at site 100H at Hanford. Investigation of bacterial community composition using high-density DNA microarray analysis of 16S rRNA gene products revealed a stimulation of Pseudomonas, Desulfovibrio and Geobacter species amongst others. Enrichment of these organisms coincided with continued Cr(VI) depletion. Functional gene-array analysis of DNA from monitoring well indicated high abundance of genes involved in nitrate-reduction, sulfate-reduction, iron-reduction, methanogenesis, chromium tolerance/reduction. Clone-library data revealed Psedomonas was the dominant genus in these samples. Based on above results, we conducted lab investigations to study the dominant anaerobic culturable microbial populations present at this site and their role in Cr(VI)-reduction. Enrichments using defined anaerobic media resulted in isolation of an iron-reducing, a sulfate-reducing and a nitrate-reducing isolate among several others. Preliminary 16S rDNA sequence analysis identified the isolates as Geobacter metallireducens, Pseudomonas stutzeri and Desulfovibrio vulgaris species respectively. The Pseudomonas isolate utilized acetate, lactate, glycerol and pyruvate as alternative carbon sources, and reduced Cr(VI). Anaerobic washed cell suspension of strain HLN reduced almost 95?M Cr(VI) within 4 hr. Further, with 100?M Cr(VI) as sole electron-acceptor, cells grew to 4.05 …

Environmental biotechnology encompasses a wide range of characterization, monitoring and control for bioenergy and bioremediation technologies that are based on biological processes. Recent breakthroughs in our understanding of biogeochemical processes and genomics are leading to exciting new and cost effective ways to monitor and manipulate the environment and potentially produce bioenergy fuels as we also cleanup the environment. Indeed, our ability to sequence an entire microbial genome in just a few hours is leading to similar breakthroughs in characterizing proteomes, metabolomes, phenotypes, and fluxes for organisms, populations, and communities. Understanding and modeling functional microbial community structure and stress responses in subsurface environments has tremendous implications for our fundamental understanding of biogeochemistry and the potential for making biofuel breakthroughs. Monitoring techniques that inventory and monitor terminal electron acceptors and electron donors, enzyme probes that measure functional activity in the environment, functional genomic microarrays, phylogenetic microarrays, metabolomics, proteomics, and quantitative PCR are also being rapidly adapted for studies in environmental biotechnology. Integration of all of these new high throughput techniques using the latest advances in bioinformatics and modeling will enable break-through science in environmental biotechnology. A review of these techniques with examples from field studies and lab simulations will be discussed.

Some years ago it was suggested that halogen negative ions [1] could offer a feasible alternative path to positive ions as a heavy ion fusion driver beam which would not suffer degradation due to electron accumulation in the accelerator and beam transport system, and which could be converted to a neutral beam by photodetachment near the chamber entrance if desired. Since then, experiments have demonstrated that negative halogen beams can be extracted and accelerated away from the gas plume near the source with a surviving current density close to what could be achieved with a positive ion of similar mass, and with comparable optical quality. In demonstrating the feasibility of halogen negative ions as heavy ion driver beams, ion � ion plasmas, an interesting and somewhat novel state of matter, were produced. These plasmas, produced near the extractor plane of the sources, appear, based upon many lines of experimental evidence, to consist of almost equal densities of positive and negative chlorine ions, with only a small component of free electrons. Serendipitously, the need to extract beams from this plasma for driver development provides a unique diagnostic tool to investigate the plasma, since each component - positive ions, negative ions, and …

Over the last decade, high-resolution Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) has emerged as a tool of choice for studying the electronic structure of solids, in particular, strongly correlated complex materials such as cuprate superconductors. In this paper we present the design of a novel time-of-flight based electron analyzer with capability of 2D in momentum space (kx and ky) and all energies (calculated from time of flight) in the third dimension. This analyzer will utilize an improved version of a 2D delay linedetector capable of imaging with<35 mm (700x700 pixels) spatial resolution and better than 120 ps FWHM timing resolution. Electron optics concepts and optimization procedure are considered for achieving an energy resolution less than 1 meV and an angular resolution better than 0.11.

One of the key components of a time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer is the detection system. In addition to high timing resolution, accurate two-dimensional imaging substantially broadensthe areas of applications of TOF spectrometers; for example, add a new dimension to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). In this paper we report on the recent developments of a high spatial (<50 mm) and timing (<130 ps) resolution imaging system capable of selective detection of electrons, ions and/or photons. Relative to our previously reported results, we have substantially improved the counting rate capabilities of the system especially for cases where the energy range of interest represents a small fraction of the incoming flux at the detector plane. The new system ignores all the events outside of a tunable time window substantially decreasing the dead time required for the event processing. That allows high-resolution TOF measurements within a given energy or momentum range and also can be used for distinguishing (or disabling) detection of photons versus detection of charged particles. The counting rate within a given energy window can be as high as ~;;400KHz at 10percent dead time. The electron detection system reported in the paper was developed for the TOF ARPES experiments at the Advanced Light …

The distance and redshift of a type Ia supernova can bedetermined simultaneously through its multi-band light curves. This factmay beused for imaging surveys that discover and obtain photometry forlarge numbers of supernovae; so many that it would be difficult to obtaina spectroscopic redshift for each. Using available supernova-analysistools we find that there are several conditions in which a viabledistance--redshift can be determined. Uncertainties in the effectivedistance at z~;0.3 are dominated by redshift uncertainties coupled withthe steepness of the Hubble law. By z~;0.5 the Hubble law flattens outand distance-modulus uncertainties dominate. Observations that giveS/N=50 at peak brightness and a four-day observer cadence in each ofgriz-bands are necessary to match the intrinsic supernova magnitudedispersion out to z=1.0. Lower S/N can be tolerated with the addition ofredshift priors (e.g., from a host-galaxy photometric redshift),observationsin an additional redder band, or by focusing on supernovaredshifts that have particular leverage for this measurement. Morestringent S/N requirements are anticipated as improved systematicscontrol over intrinsic color, metallicity, and dust is attempted to bedrawn from light curves.

A new strategic plan is in place to upgrade the ALS so itcan continue to address fundamental questions, such as size-dependent anddimensional-confinement phenomena at the nanoscale; correlation andcomplexity in physical, biological, and environmental systems; andtemporal evolution, assembly, dynamics and ultrafast phenomena. Moreover,the growing number of ALS users (now exceeding 2,000 per year) requiresincreased attention. Accordingly, our plan concentrates on projects thatwill continue to make it possible for ALS users to address grandscientific and technological challenges with incisive world-class toolsand quality user support. Our highest priority is to begin top-offoperation, in which electrons are injected into the storage ring atintervals of approximately 1 minute. The combination of top-off andconcurrent development of small-gap in-vacuum undulators andsuperconducting undulators will allow an increase in brightness fromeight to more than 100 times, depending on the specific undulators andphoton energy range. As part of our core mission in the VUV and softx-ray regions, we plan to exploit these accelerator developments toextend our capabilities for high spatial and temporal resolution andutilize the remarkable coherence properties of the ALS in a newgeneration of beamlines. Ranked by priority, several proposed beamlineswill follow completion of five new beamlines already under constructionor funded. The intellectual excitement of the ALS has been …

The next generation of linear colliders will require alignment accuracies and stabilities of component placement at least one, perhaps two, orders of magnitude better than can be achieved by the conventional methods and procedures in practice today. The magnitudes of these component-placement tolerances for current designs of various linear collider subsystems are tabulated. In the micron range, long-term ground motion is sufficiently rapid that on-line reference and mechanical correction systems are called for. Some recent experiences with the upgraded SLAC laser alignment systems and examples of some conceivable solutions for the future are described. The so called ''girder'' problem is discussed in the light of ambient and vibratory disturbances. The importance of the quality of the underlying geology is stressed. The necessity and limitations of particle-beam-derived placement information are mentioned.

Solute additions of zirconium are believed to decrease RIS and dislocation density through point defect trapping and recombination, which in turn reduces grain boundary sensitization and IGSCC. In this work, the effect of zirconium on the microstructure, microchemistry, hardening and IGSCC behavior of 316SS doped with zirconium to levels of 0.31 and 0.45 wt% was studied. These alloys were then irradiated with 3.2 MeV protons to doses up to 7 dpa at a temperature of 400 C. Zr additions had relatively little effect on radiation hardening. Dislocation densities were reduced and average sizes slightly increased for the +Zr alloys relative to the 316SS. Although a low amount of swelling was seen in 316SS at 3 dpa, no voids were observed in either of the +Zr alloys at 3 or 7 dpa. The difference in RIS of Cr and Ni between 316SS and 316+LoZr at 3 dpa was negligible, though RIS for 316+HiZr was considerably less than 316+LoZr at 7 dpa. The link between the oversize solute addition of Zr and its effect on IASCC shows that although the percent strain to failure increased substantially for 316+LoZr compared to the 316SS, cracking behavior was substantially worse as the number of cracks …

The sputtering of beryllium (Be) has been used at LLNL for nearly 30 years in the fabrication of laser targets. Several years ago the prospect of using sputtering to fabricate spherical Be capsules for National Ignition Facility (NIF) targets began to be explored and a basic strategy was developed that involved sputtering down onto plastic mandrels bouncing in a pan. While this appears to be very straightforward in principle, in practice sputtering has been used almost exclusively to make thin films (< 1 micron) on flat substrates. Thick films pose a significant challenge for sputtering while materials on spherical substrates are essentially unexplored. More recently, based on computational results, the point design for the first NIF ignition target capsule was specified as a Be capsule with Cu-doped layers of specific thickness, each layer with a different concentration of copper. While the work described here was motivated by the need to make the layered capsules, the primary progress on Be capsules has been the development of a more complete metallurgical understanding of the materials that are fabricated and the beginning of the exploration of the relationship between the sputter processing and microstructure of these spherical samples. At least two barriers to …

In its present form, the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) is a transport line designed to transmit 50 GeV electron beams of SLC emittance (3 x 10{sup -10} radian-meters) straight through the central arm of the Beam Switchyard (BSY C line) with a final focus point out in the Research Yard but relatively near the end of the switchyard tunnel. The axis of the incident beam coincides with that of the SLAC linear accelerator; the final focus, some 300 meters downstream of the end of the accelerator, is displaced from this axis by about 2 meters horizontally.

In a companion pro, collposal it is proposed to align quadrupoles of a transport line to within transverse tolerances of 5 to 10 micrometers. Such a proposal is meaningful only if the effective magnetic center of such lenses can in fact be repeatably located with respect to some external mechanical tooling to comparable accuracy. It is the purpose of this note to describe some new methods and procedures that will accomplish this aim. It will be shown that these methods are capable of yielding greater sensitivity than the more traditional methods used in the past. The notion of the ''nodal'' point is exploited.

GEONET is a database system developed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center for the alignment of the Stanford Linear Collider. It features an automated data flow, ranging from data collection using HP110 handheld computers to processing, storing and retrieving data and finally to adjusted coordinates. This paper gives a brief introduction to the SLC project and the applied survey methods. It emphasizes the hardware and software implementation of GEONET using a network of IBM PC/XT's.

We investigate a microscope design that offers high signal sensitivity and hyperspectral imaging capabilities and allows for implementation of various optical imaging approaches while its operational complexity is minimized. This system utilizes long working distance microscope objectives that enable for off-axis illumination of the tissue thereby allowing for excitation at any optical wavelength and nearly eliminating spectral noise from the optical elements. Preliminary studies using human and animal tissues demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for real-time imaging of intact tissue microstructures using autofluorescence and light scattering imaging methods.

One of the fundamental alignment problems encountered when building a particle accelerator is the transfer of a component's magnetic centerline position to external fiducials. This operation, dubbed fiducialization, is critical because it can contribute significantly to the alignment error budget. The fiducialization process requires two measurements: (1) from magnetic centerline to mechanical centerline, and (2) from mechanical centerline to external fiducials. This paper will focus on methods for observing the second measurement. Two Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) examples are presented. The object of magnet fiducialization is to relate the magnet-defined beamline position to exterior reference surfaces. To be useful for later component alignment, this relationship must be established in a manner consistent with overall positioning tolerances. The error budget for the SLC's {+-} 100 {micro}m component to component alignment tolerance is as follows: magnetic centerline to mechanical centerline--{sigma} = {+-}30 {micro}m; mechanical centerline to fiducial marks--{sigma} = {+-}50 {micro}m; and fiducial marks to adjacent components--{sigma} = {+-}80 {micro}m; the TOTAL {sigma} = {+-}100 {micro}m. The offset between the mechanical and magnetic centerlines of well-known magnets is generally smaller than the {+-}30 {micro}m measurement tolerance. It is commonly assumed to be zero without measurement. When this tiny value must be measured, …

The Advanced Light Source (ALS), now under construction at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, is a synchrotron radiation source of the third generation designed to produce extremely bright photon beams in the UV and soft X-ray regions. Its main accelerator components are a 1-1.9 GeV electron storage ring with 196.8 m circumference and 12 super-periods, a 1.5 GeV booster synchrotron with 75.0 m circumference and 4 super-periods, and a 50 MeV linac, as shown in Fig. 1. The storage ring has particularly tight positioning tolerances for lattice magnets and other components to assure the required operational characteristics. The general survey and alignment concept for the ALS is based on a network of fixed monuments installed in the building floor, to which all component positions are referred. Measurements include electronic distance measurements and separate sightings for horizontal and vertical directions, partially with automated electronic data capture. Most of the data processing is accomplished by running a customized version of PC-GEONET. It provides raw data storage, data reduction, and the calculation of adjusted coordinates, as well as an option for error analysis. PC-GEONET has also been used to establish an observation plan for the monuments and calculate their expected position accuracies, based on approximate …

Horizontal path correction of optical beam propagation presents a severe challenge to adaptive optics systems due to the short transverse coherence length and the high degree of scintillation incurred by propagation along these paths. The system presented operates with nearly monochromatic light. It does not require a global reconstruction of the phase, thereby eliminating issues with branch points and making its performance relatively unaffected by scintillation. The systems pixel count, 1024, and relatively high correction speed, in excess of 800 Hz, enable its use for correction of horizontal path beam propagation. We present results from laboratory and field tests of the system in which we have achieved Strehl ratios greater than 0.5.

With residential areas moving closer to military training sites, the effects upon the environment and neighboring civilians due to dust generated by training exercises has become a growing concern. Under a project supported by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) of the Department of Defense, a custom application named DUSTRAN is currently under development that integrates a system of EPA atmospheric dispersion models with the ArcGIS application environment in order to simulate the dust dispersion generated by a planned training maneuver. This integration between modeling system and GIS application allows for the use of real world geospatial data such as terrain, land-use, and domain size as input by the modeling system. Output generated by the modeling system, such as concentration and deposition plumes, can then be displayed upon accurate maps representing the training site. This paper discusses the development of this integration between modeling system and Arc GIS application.

Using laser optical pumping, widths and frequency shifts are determined for microwave transitions between ground-state hyperfine components of {sup 85}Rb and {sup 87}Rb atoms contained in vapor cells with alkane anti-relaxation coatings. The results are compared with data on Zeeman relaxation obtained in nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR) experiments, a comparison important for quantitative understanding of spin-relaxation mechanisms in coated cells. By comparing cells manufactured over a forty-year period we demonstrate the long-term stability of coated cells, an important property for atomic clocks and magnetometers.

The United States Science Centers Program exists because expertise relevant to the production or use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) exists in the states formerly comprising the Soviet Union. We seek to deter the transfer of that knowledge to people or governments that would use it to do harm or terrorize. Working through the Science & Technology Centers in Moscow and Kyiv, we promote peaceful collaborative science as an alternative to the proliferation of WMD expertise. In concert, we believe that increasing the prosperity of scientists helps reduce the potential attraction of working for rogue states and groups. Therefore, we aim to help scientific groups become successful at developing stable sources of income. Towards that end, we hope to guide former WMD scientists in the successful preparation of not only research proposals to the Science Centers, but future proposals seeking other funding sources as they join the competitive global scientific community.

Observations of the radio galaxy MRC 0316-257 at z = 3.13 and the surrounding field are presented. Using narrow- and broad-band imaging obtained with the VLT*, 92 candidate Ly{alpha} emitters with a rest-frame equivalent width of > 15 AngstromS were selected in a {approx} 7{prime} x 7{prime} field around the radio galaxy. Spectroscopy of 40 candidate emitters resulted in the discovery of 33 emission line galaxies of which 31 are Ly{alpha} emitters with redshifts similar to that of the radio galaxy, while the remaining two galaxies turned out to be [{omicron} II] emitters. The Ly{alpha} profiles had widths (FWHM) corresponding to 120-800 kms{sup -1},with a median of 260 kms{sup -1}. Where the signal-to-noise spectra was large enough, the Ly{alpha} profiles are found to be asymmetric, with apparent absorption troughs blueward of the profile peaks, indicative of absorption along the line of sight of an {Eta}{Iota} mass of 1-5000 {mu}{circle_dot}. Besides that of the radio galaxy and one of the emitters that is an QSO, the continuum of the emitters is faint, with luminosities ranging from 1.3 L{sub *} to < 0.03 L{sub *}.The colors of the confirmed emitters are, on average, very blue. The median UV continuum slope is {beta}=-1.65, …