During the period of October 2 and 3, 2007, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) performed confirmatory radiological survey activities which included gamma surface scans within Area B1S/B2S and the collection of soil samples from these areas.

The availability of whole-cell level metabolic networks of high quality has made it possible to develop a predictive understanding of bacterial metabolism. Using the optimization framework of flux balance analysis, I investigate metabolic response and activity patterns to variations in the availability of nutrient and chemical factors such as oxygen and ammonia by simulating 30,000 random cellular environments. The distribution of reaction fluxes is heavy-tailed for the bacteria H. pylori and E. coli, and the eukaryote S. cerevisiae. While the majority of flux balance investigations have relied on implementations of the simplex method, it is necessary to use interior-point optimization algorithms to adequately characterize the full range of activity patterns on metabolic networks. The interior-point activity pattern is bimodal for E. coli and S. cerevisiae, suggesting that most metabolic reaction are either in frequent use or are rarely active. The trimodal activity pattern of H. pylori indicates that a group of its metabolic reactions (20%) are active in approximately half of the simulated environments. Constructing the high-flux backbone of the network for every environment, there is a clear trend that the more frequently a reaction is active, the more likely it is a part of the backbone. Finally, I briefly …

The influence of epitaxial strain, in the form of tetragonal distortions, on the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of La{sub 0.67}Sr{sub 0.33}MnO{sub 3} thin films was studied. The tetragonal distortion (c/a ratio) was modulated through the choice of the substrate, ranging from c/a=1.007 on (001)-oriented (LaAlO{sub 3}){sub 0.3}(Sr{sub 2}AlTaO{sub 6}){sub 0.7} substrates to 0.952 on (110)-oriented GdScO{sub 3} substrates. In agreement with previous theoretical predictions, these large values of tensile strain cause the Curie temperature and the saturation magnetization to decrease, alter the temperature dependence of the resistivity and magnetoresistance, and increase the resistivity several orders of magnitude.

We determine the relative branching fractions of semileptonic B decays to charmed final states. The measurement is performed on the recoil from a fully reconstructed B meson in a sample of 362 million B{bar B} pairs collected at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. A simultaneous fit to a set of discriminating variables is performed on a sample of {bar B} {yields} DX{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} decays to determine the contributions from the different channels.

A variety of system configurations are used in North America to meet the heating and domestic hot water needs of single-family homes. This includes, for example: warm air furnaces with electric water heaters; boilers with integrated hot water coils; and boilers with 'indirect' hot water storage tanks. Integrated hydronic systems which provide both heat and hot water are more popular only in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. For those making decisions about configurations of these integrated hydronic systems, including control options, little information is available concerning the annual energy cost implications of these decisions. This report presents results of a project to use a direct load emulation approach to measure the performance of hydronic systems, develop performance curves, and to provide decision tools to consumers. This is a laboratory measurement system involving direct energy input and output measurements under different load patterns. These results are then used to develop performance correlations for specific systems that can be used to predict energy use in specific applications. A wide range of system types have been tested under this project including conventional boilers with 'tankless' internal coils for domestic hot water production, boilers with indirect external storage tanks, tank type water heaters which …

FLASH (Free Electron Laser in Hamburg) is a user facility for a high intensity VUV-light source [1]. The radiation wavelength is tunable in the range from about 40 to 13 nm by changing the electron beam energy from 450 to 700 MeV. The accelerator is also a test facility for the European XFEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser) to be built in Hamburg [2] and the project study ILC (International Linear Collider) [3]. The superconducting TESLA technology is tested at this facility, together with other accelerator components.

High concentration caustic solutions are known to cause stress corrosion cracking in carbon steel at elevated temperature. This calculation establishes the conditions where heat of dilution will not cause the solution temperature--concentration to exceed the boundary for stress corrosion cracking as established by NACE International.

The first lab-on-chip system for picoliter droplet generation and PCR amplification with real-time fluorescence detection has performed PCR in isolated droplets at volumes 10{sup 6} smaller than commercial real-time PCR systems. The system utilized a shearing T-junction in a silicon device to generate a stream of monodisperse picoliter droplets that were isolated from the microfluidic channel walls and each other by the oil phase carrier. An off-chip valving system stopped the droplets on-chip, allowing them to be thermal cycled through the PCR protocol without droplet motion. With this system a 10-pL droplet, encapsulating less than one copy of viral genomic DNA through Poisson statistics, showed real-time PCR amplification curves with a cycle threshold of {approx}18, twenty cycles earlier than commercial instruments. This combination of the established real-time PCR assay with digital microfluidics is ideal for isolating single-copy nucleic acids in a complex environment.

Using examples from active research areas in combustion andastrophysics, we demonstrate a computationally efficient numericalapproach for simulating multiscale low Mach number reacting flows. Themethod enables simulations that incorporate an unprecedented range oftemporal and spatial scales, while at the same time, allows an extremelyhigh degree of reaction fidelity. Sample applications demonstrate theefficiency of the approach with respect to a traditional time-explicitintegration method, and the utility of the methodology for studying theinteraction of turbulence with terrestrial and astrophysical flamestructures.

I develop a formulation for Hamiltonian dynamics in an accelerator with magnets whose edges follow a spiral. I demonstrate using this Hamiltonian that a spiral FFAG can be made perfectly 'scaling'. I describe how one computes the RF phase during a rapid acceleration cycle to keep the beam at the appropriate RF phase. I examine the effect of tilting an RF cavity with respect a radial line from the center of the machine, potentially with a different angle than the spiral of the magnets. I discuss partially the effects of the finite energy jumps on the dynamics. This is a status report of work that is still incomplete.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for the deployment of one of the Rapidly Deployable Chemical Defense System (RDCDS) weather stations and central control system. Instructions for the deployment and operation of the Atmospheric Systems Corporation miniSODAR™ (SOnic Detection and Ranging) can be found in accompanying manuals developed by Atmospheric Systems Corporation. A detailed description of the system and its components can be found in the manual entitled Description of the RDCDS Meteorological Component.

We construct the three-loop four-point amplitude of N = 8 supergravity using the unitarity method. The amplitude is ultraviolet finite in four dimensions. Novel cancellations, not predicted by traditional superspace power-counting arguments, render its degree of divergence in D dimensions to be no worse than that of N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory--a finite theory in four dimensions. Similar cancellations can be identified at all loop orders in certain unitarity cuts, suggesting that N = 8 supergravity may be a perturbatively finite theory of quantum gravity.

This is a final report on Doe No. DE- FG02. This includes the details of collisionless reconnection in an electron-positron plasma and also nonlinear evolution of the g-mode

Understanding magnetic reconnection is one of the principal challenges in plasma physics. Reconnection is a process by which magnetic fields reconfigure themselves, releasing energy that can be converted to particle energies and bulk flows. Thanks to the availability of sophisticated diagnostics in fusion and laboratory experiments, in situ probing of magnetospheric and solar wind plasmas, and X-ray emission measurements from solar and stellar plasmas, theoretical models of magnetic reconnection can now be constrained by stringent observational tests. The members of the CMRS comprise an interdisciplinary group drawn from applied mathematics, astrophysics, computer science, fluid dynamics, plasma physics, and space science communities.

The profound revolutions in particle physics likely to emerge from current and future experiments motivates an improved understanding of the precise predictions of the Standard Model and new physics models. Higher order predictions in quantum field theories inevitably requires the renormalization procedure, which makes sensible predictions out of the naively divergent results of perturbation theory. Thus, a robust understanding of renormalization is crucial for identifying and interpreting the possible discovery of new physics. The results of this thesis represent a broad set of investigations in to the nature of renormalization. The author begins by motivating a more physical approach to renormalization based on gauge-invariant Green's functions. The resulting effective charges are first applied to gauge coupling unification. This approach provides an elegant formalism for understanding all threshold corrections, and the gauge couplings unify in a more physical manner compared to the usual methods. Next, the gauge-invariant three-gluon vertex is studied in detail, revealing an interesting and rich structure. The effective coupling for the three-gluon vertex, {alpha}(k{sub 1}{sup 2}, k{sub 2}{sup 2}, k{sub 3}{sup 2}), depends on three momentum scales and gives rise to an effective scale Q{sub eff}{sup 2}(k{sub 1}{sup 2}, k{sub 2}{sup 2}, k{sub 3}{sup 2}) which governs the …

This report considers the future of the U.S. tanker fleet for aerial refueling.

This report considers how the Air Force is changing itself to meet new defensive needs. The issues for Congress on this are mostly budgetary and how effective it will be.

The outline for this report is: (1) Factors Leading to Lunar Magma Ocean Model for Planetary Differentiation (2) Rationale for Magma Oceans on Other Planets Means for early efficient differentiation (Works on Moon why not here?) (3) Some Inconsistencies between the Lunar Magma Ocean Model and Observations. The conclusions are: (1) Differentiation via solidification of a magma ocean is derived from geologic observations of the Moon (2) Although geologic observations on other bodies are often consistent with differentiation via magma ocean solidification, it is not generally required. (3) There are some fundamental inconsistencies between observed lunar data and the model, that will require this model to be modified (4) Nevertheless, the Moon is the only location we know of to study magma ocean process in detail.

After commenting briefly on the role of the typicality assumption in science, we advocate a phenomenological approach to the cosmological measure problem. Like any other theory, a measure should be simple, general, well defined, and consistent with observation. This allows us to proceed by elimination. As an example, we consider the proper time cutoff on a geodesic congruence. It predicts that typical observers are quantum fluctuations in the early universe, or Boltzmann babies. We sharpen this well-known youngness problem by taking into account the expansion and open spatial geometry of pocket universes. Moreover, we relate the youngness problem directly to the probability distribution for observables, such as the temperature of the cosmic background radiation. We consider a number of modifications of the proper time measure, but find none that would make it compatible with observation.

We compute the expected value of the cosmological constant in our universe from the Causal Entropic Principle. Since observers must obey the laws of thermodynamics and causality, it asserts that physical parameters are most likely to be found in the range of values for which the total entropy production within a causally connected region is maximized. Despite the absence of more explicit anthropic criteria, the resulting probability distribution turns out to be in excellent agreement with observation. In particular, we find that dust heated by stars dominates the entropy production, demonstrating the remarkable power of this thermodynamic selection criterion. The alternative approach--weighting by the number of ''observers per baryon''--is less well-defined, requires problematic assumptions about the nature of observers, and yet prefers values larger than present experimental bounds.

The overall goals of the Tank Farm Vadose Zone Project, led by CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc., are 1) to define risks from past and future single-shell tank farm activities, 2) to identify and evaluate the efficacy of interim measures, and 3) to aid, via collection of geochemical information and data, the future decisions that must be made by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) regarding the near-term operations, future waste retrieval, and final closure activities for the single-shell tank Waste Management Areas (WMAs). For a more complete discussion of the goals of the Tank Farm Vadose Zone Project, see the overall work plan, Phase 1 RCRA Facility Investigation/Corrective Measures Study Work Plan for the Single-Shell Tank Waste Management Areas (DOE 1999). Specific details on the rationale for activities performed at WMA U are found in Crumpler (2003). To meet these goals, CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc., asked scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to perform detailed analyses of vadose zone sediment collected within the U Single-Shell Tank Farm. Specifically, this report contains all the geochemical and selected physical characterization data collected on vadose zone sediment recovered from ten direct push characterization holes emplaced to investigate vadose zone contamination …

As Congress considers immigration reform and ways to address the unauthorized alien population, the issue of unauthorized employment is the focus of much discussion. This report discusses options for addressing unauthorized employment in the United States.

This report is on Ballast Water Management to Combat Invasive Species.

This report will identify and discuss oversight issues and legislation introduced in the 110th Congress to address specific concerns related to how ESA is implemented and how endangered species are managed.