The Gordon Research Conference on CELLULAR & MOLECULAR FUNGAL BIOLOGY was held at Holderness School, Holderness New Hampshire, June 17 - 22, 2012. The 2012 Gordon Conference on Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology (CMFB) will present the latest, cutting-edge research on the exciting and growing field of molecular and cellular aspects of fungal biology. Topics will range from yeast to filamentous fungi, from model systems to economically important organisms, and from saprophytes and commensals to pathogens of plants and animals. The CMFB conference will feature a wide range of topics including systems biology, cell biology and morphogenesis, organismal interactions, genome organisation and regulation, pathogenesis, energy metabolism, biomass production and population genomics. The Conference was well-attended with 136 participants. Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings.

This conference will highlight the urgency for research on graphitic carbon materials and gather scientists in physics, chemistry, and engineering to tackle the challenges in this field. The conference will focus on scalable synthesis, characterization, novel physical and electronic properties, structure-properties relationship studies, and new applications of the carbon materials. Contributors

The K-Area Materials Storage (KAMS) Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) requires a surveillance program to monitor the safety performance of 3013 containers and 9975 shipping packages stored in KAMS. The SRS surveillance program [Reference 1] outlines activities for field surveillance and laboratory tests that demonstrate the packages meet the functional performance requirements described in the DSA. The SRS program also supports the complexwide Integrated Surveillance Program (ISP) [Reference 2] for 3013 containers. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the SRS portion of the surveillance program activities through fiscal year 2010 (FY10) and formally communicate the interpretation of these results by the Surveillance Program Authority (SPA). Surveillance for the initial 3013 container random sampling of the Innocuous bin and the Pressure bin has been completed and there has been no indication of corrosion or significant pressurization. The maximum pressure observed was less than 50 psig, which is well below the design pressure of 699 psig for the 3013 container [Reference 3]. The data collected during surveillance of these bins has been evaluated by the Materials Identification and Surveillance (MIS) Working Group and no additional surveillance is necessary for these bins at least through FY13. A decision will …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not maintain complete information on New Source Review (NSR) permits issued to fossil fuel electricity generating units. State and local permitting agencies track the NSR permits they issue, but EPA does not maintain complete or centralized information on permits, despite a 2006 recommendation by the National Research Council that it do so. EPA maintains several databases that compile data on draft and issued NSR permits, but these sources are incomplete and thus cannot be used to identify all of the NSR permits that have been issued nationwide. In addition, EPA has the opportunity to review and comment on every draft NSR permit issued by state and local permitting agencies, but it does not compile data on whether the permitting agencies address EPA’s comments in final permits. The absence of more complete information on NSR permitting makes it difficult to know which units have obtained NSR permits or to assess how state and local permitting agencies vary from EPA in their interpretations of NSR requirements."

To probe chemical dynamics, X-ray pump-probe experiments trigger a change in a sample with an optical laser pulse, followed by an X-ray probe. At the Linac Coherent Light Source, LCLS, timing differences between the optical pulse and x-ray probe have been observed with an accuracy as low as 50 femtoseconds. This sets a lower bound on the number of frames one can arrange over a time scale to recreate a 'movie' of the chemical reaction. The timing system is based on phase measurements from signals corresponding to the two laser pulses; these measurements are done by using a double-balanced mixer for detection. To increase the accuracy of the system, this paper studies parameters affecting phase detection systems based on mixers, such as signal input power, noise levels, temperature drift, and the effect these parameters have on components such as the mixers, splitters, amplifiers, and phase shifters. Noise data taken with a spectrum analyzer show that splitters based on ferrite cores perform with less noise than strip-line splitters. The data also shows that noise in specific mixers does not correspond with the changes in sensitivity per input power level. Temperature drift is seen to exist on a scale between 1 and …

Anomalous X-ray Diffraction (AXRD) has become a useful technique in characterizing bulk and nanomaterials as it provides specific information about the crystal structure of materials. In this project we present the results of AXRD applied to materials for photovoltaic applications: ZnO loaded with Ga and ZnCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel. The X-ray diffraction data collected for various energies were plotted in Origin software. The peaks were fitted using different functions including Pseudo Voigt, Gaussian, and Lorentzian. This fitting provided the integrated intensity data (peaks area values), which when plotted as a function of X-ray energies determined the material structure. For the first analyzed sample, Ga was not incorporated into the ZnO crystal structure. For the ZnCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel Co was found in one or both tetrahedral and octahedral sites. The use of anomalous X-ray diffraction (AXRD) provides element and site specific information for the crystal structure of a material. This technique lets us correlate the structure to the electronic properties of the materials as it allows us to probe precise locations of cations in the spinel structure. What makes it possible is that in AXRD the diffraction pattern is measured at a number of energies near an X-ray absorption edge …

An antenna shower is a parton shower in which the basic move is a color-coherent 2 {yields} 3 parton splitting process. In this paper, we give compact forms for the spin-dependent antenna splitting functions involving massive partons of spin 0 and spin 1/2. We hope that this formalism we have presented will be useful in describing the QCD dynamics of the top quark and other heavy particles at LHC.

This report begins by explaining the three distinct stages that comprise the advice and consent process, which is the means through which most of these positions are filled. The report then provides an overview of recess appointments and briefly discusses other options that are available to Presidents for temporarily filling vacant advice and consent positions. Finally, it discusses certain types of statutory provisions that Congress has applied selectively to specific advice and consent positions in the executive branch.

The objective of this survey was to obtain user feedback to, among other things, determine how to organize the exponentially growing data within the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility, and identify users’ preferred data analysis system. The survey findings appear to have met this objective, having received approximately 300 responses that give insight into the type of work users perform, usage of the data, percentage of data analysis users might perform on an ARM-hosted computing resource, downloading volume level where users begin having reservations, opinion about usage if given more powerful computing resources (including ability to manipulate data), types of tools that would be most beneficial to them, preferred programming language and data analysis system, level of importance for certain types of capabilities, and finally, level of interest in participating in a code-sharing community.

This report reviews the process and procedures that currently apply to congressional consideration of foreign arms sales proposed by the President. This includes consideration of proposals to sell major defense equipment, defense articles and services, or the re-transfer to third party states of such military items.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army Working Capital Fund (AWCF) collected over $16 billion for goods and services provided to customers in fiscal year 2009. Cash generated from sales is used by AWCF to cover its expenses such as paying employees. In light of the Army's changing role in the Middle East, GAO was asked to determine whether (1) AWCF's monthly cash balances fell within the Department of Defense's (DOD) cash requirements for fiscal years 2000 through 2009, (2) the cash transfers resulted in AWCF's monthly cash balances falling below the minimum amount required by DOD, and (3) the AWCF's projected monthly cash balances are expected to fall below DOD's minimum cash requirement for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and actions the Army can take to manage those balances. To address these objectives, GAO (1) reviewed relevant DOD guidance, (2) obtained and analyzed AWCF budget and accounting reports containing cash information, and (3) interviewed DOD and Army officials."

The presence of sulfur in marine archaeological wood presents a challenge to conservation. Upon exposure to oxygen, sulfur compounds in waterlogged wooden artifacts are being oxidized, producing sulfuric acid. This speeds the degradation of the wood, potentially damaging specimens beyond repair. Sulfur K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to identify the species of sulfur present in samples from the timbers of the Mary Rose, a preserved 16th century warship known to undergo degradation through acidification. The results presented here show that sulfur content varied significantly on a local scale. Only certain species of sulfur have the potential to produce sulfuric acid by contact with oxygen and seawater in situ, such as iron sulfides and elemental sulfur. Organic sulfurs, such as the amino acids cysteine and methionine, may produce acid but are integral parts of the wood's structure and may not be released from the organic matrix. The sulfur species contained in the sample reflect the exposure to oxygen while submerged, and this exposure can differ greatly over time and position. A better understanding of the species pathway to acidifications required, along with its location, in order to suggest a more customized and effective preservation strategy. Waterlogged archaeological wood, frequently in …

Ultrafast THz radiation has important applications in materials science studies, such as characterizing transport properties, studying the vibrational response of materials, and in recent years, controlling materials and elucidating their response in intense electromagnetic fields. THz fields can be generated in a lab setting using various plasma-based techniques. This study seeks to examine the interaction of two plasmas in order to better understand the fundamental physics associated with femtosecond filamentation processes and to achieve more efficient THz generation in a lab setting. The intensity of fluorescence in the region of overlap was measured as a function of polarization, power, and relative time delay of the two plasma-generating laser beams. Results of time dependent intensity studies indicate strikingly similar behaviors across polarizations and power levels; a sudden intensity spike was observed at time-zero, followed by a secondary maxima and subsequent decay to the initial plasma intensity. Dependence of the intensity on the power through either beam arm was also observed. Spectral studies of the enhanced emission were also carried out. Although this physical phenomenon is still not fully understood, future studies, including further spectral analysis of the fluorescence overlap, could yield new insight into the ultrafast processes occurring at the intersection …

This report provides a description of BCAP program overview and its Selected issues.

Recent initiatives at UCLA concerning ultra-short, GeV electron beam generation have been aimed at achieving sub-fs pulses capable of driving X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) in single-spike mode. This use of very low Q beams may allow existing FEL injectors to produce few-100 attosecond pulses, with very high brightness. Towards this end, recent experiments at the LCLS have produced {approx}2 fs, 20 pC electron pulses. We discuss here extensions of this work, in which we seek to exploit the beam brightness in FELs, in tandem with new developments in cryogenic undulator technology, to create compact accelerator-undulator systems that can lase below 0.15 {angstrom}, or be used to permit 1.5 {angstrom} operation at 4.5 GeV. In addition, we are now developing experiments which use the present LCLS fs pulses to excite plasma wakefields exceeding 1 TV/m, permitting a table-top TeV accelerator for frontier high energy physics applications.

This report addresses several frequently-asked questions related to the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) and the annual budget.

The Anti Coincidence Detector (ACD) on the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope provides charged particle rejection for the Large Area Telescope (LAT). We use two calibrations used by the ACD to conduct three studies on the performance of the ACD. We examine the trending of the calibrations to search for damage and find a timescale over which the calibrations can be considered reliable. We also calculated the number of photoelectrons counted by a PMT on the ACD from a normal proton. Third, we calculated the veto efficiencies of the ACD for two different veto settings. The trends of the calibrations exhibited no signs of damage, and indicated timescales of reliability for the calibrations of one to two years. The number of photoelectrons calculated ranged from 5 to 25. Large errors in the effect of the energy spectrum of the charged particles caused these values to have very large errors of around 60 percent. Finally, the veto efficiencies were found to be very high at both veto values, both for charged particles and for the lower energy backsplash spectrum. The Anti Coincidence Detector (ACD) on the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope is a detector system built around the silicon strip tracker …

Agency strategic plan for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas describing the organization's planned services, activities, and other goals during fiscal years 2013 through 2017.

Synthetic CdZnTe or ''CZT'' crystals are highly suitable for {gamma}-spectrometers operating at the room temperature. Secondary phases (SP) in CZT are known to inhibit detector performance, particularly when they are present in large numbers or dimensions. These SP may exist as voids or composites of non-cubic phase metallic Te layers with bodies of polycrystalline and amorphous CZT material and voids. Defects associated with crystal twining may also influence detector performance in CZT. Using transmission electron microscopy, we identify two types of defects that are on the nano scale. The first defect consists of 40 nm diameter metallic Pd/Te bodies on the grain boundaries of Te-rich composites. Although the nano-Pd/Te bodies around these composites may be unique to the growth source of this CZT material, noble metal impurities like these may contribute to SP formation in CZT. The second defect type consists of atom-scale grain boundary dislocations. Specifically, these involve inclined ''finite-sized'' planar defects or interfaces between layers of atoms that are associated with twins. Finite-sized twins may be responsible for the subtle but observable striations that can be seen with optical birefringence imaging and synchrotron X-ray topographic imaging.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO estimates that under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), about three-quarters of approximately 7 million children who were uninsured in January 2009 would be eligible for Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or the new premium tax credit. The remaining children had family incomes too high to be eligible, were noncitizens, or would be ineligible for the premium tax credit because they would be considered to have access to affordable employer-sponsored insurance per the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) proposed affordability standard, in which IRS interpreted PPACA as defining affordability for an employee’s eligible family members based on the cost of an employee-only plan. Some commenters raised concerns that IRS’s interpretation was inconsistent with PPACA’s goal of increasing access to affordable health insurance as it does not consider the higher cost of family insurance and could result in some children remaining uninsured. Under PPACA, CHIP is not funded beyond 2015, and states may opt to reduce CHIP eligibility or eliminate programs in fiscal year 2020. Without CHIP, more children could become uninsured. In May 2012, IRS finalized its rule but deferred …

High-energy physicists worldwide rely on online resources such as SPIRES and arXiv to perform gather research and share their own publications. SPIRES is a tool designed to search the literature within high-energy physics, while arXiv provides the actual full-text documents of this literature. In high-energy physics, papers are often ranked according to the number of citations they acquire - meaning the number of times a later paper references the original. This paper investigates the correlation between the number of times a paper is clicked in order to be downloaded and the number of citations it receives following the click. It explores how physicists truly read what they cite.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, or CDMS, collaboration is preparing a new experiment called SuperCDMS. CDMS uses Germanium detectors to attempt the direct detection of dark matter. To do this, they measure the ionization and heat produced during an event where a WIMP scatters off of germanium crystal lattice. To prepare for the experiment the detectors are calibrated with various radioactive sources. The response of the detectors is also modeled by a Monte Carlo simulation. These simulations include modeling everything from the radiation production to the raw data collected by the detector. The experimental data will be used to validate the results of the detector simulation. This research will look only at the phonons produced during events that occur very close to the detector surface. From the raw data and simulation output three parameters will be determined: the rise time, the decay time, and time to position independence. It was found that the simulation's risetime and time to position independence was generally smaller than that of the data, while the decay time was found to be larger in the simulation than in the data. These differences show that the simulation is not complete. The difference in risetime implies that the …

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is required to deliver a high quality electron beam for producing coherent X-rays. As a result, high resolution beam position monitoring is required. The Beam Position Monitor (BPM) digitizer acquires analog signals from the beam line and digitizes them to obtain beam position data. Although Matlab is currently being used to test the BPM digitizer?s functions and capability, the Controls Department at SLAC prefers to use Experimental Physics and Industrial Control Systems (EPICS). This paper discusses the transition of providing similar as well as enhanced functionalities, than those offered by Matlab, to test the digitizer. Altogether, the improved test stand development system can perform mathematical and statistical calculations with the waveform signals acquired from the digitizer and compute the fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the signals. Finally, logging of meaningful data into files has been added.

The authors have developed an X-band SRF testing system using a high-Q copper cavity with an interchangeable flat bottom for the testing of different materials. By measuring the Q of the cavity, the system is capable to characterize the quenching magnetic field of the superconducting samples at different power level and temperature, as well as the surface resistivity. This paper presents the most recent development of the system and testing results.