None

None

None

None

None

Measures charge and athermal phonons from each particle interaction,which provides excellent discrimination between electron recoils and nuclear recoils.

This report documents the findings from an onsite audit of the John Seiberling Federal building located in Akron, Ohio. The Federal landlord for this building is the General Services Administration (GSA). The focus of the audit was to identify various no-cost or low-cost energy efficiency opportunities that, once implemented, would reduce in either electrical and gas consumption and increase the operational efficiency of the building. This audit also provided an opportunity to identify potential capital cost projects that should be considered in the to acquire additional energy (electric and gas) and water savings to further increase the operational efficiency of the building.

None

None

Since the emerging of second generation sequencing technologies, the evaluation of different sequencing approaches and their assembly strategies for different types of genomes has become an important undertaken. Next generation sequencing technologies dramatically increase sequence throughput while decreasing cost, making them an attractive tool for whole genome shotgun sequencing. To compare different approaches for de-novo whole genome assembly, appropriate tools and a solid understanding of both quantity and quality of the underlying sequence data are crucial. Here, we performed an in-depth analysis of short-read Illumina sequence assembly strategies for bacterial and archaeal genomes. Different types of Illumina libraries as well as different trim parameters and assemblers were evaluated. Results of the comparative analysis and sequencing platforms will be presented. The goal of this analysis is to develop a cost-effective approach for the increased throughput of the generation of high quality microbial genomes.

We have developed two processes with the Biomek FX robot to construct 454 titanium and Illumina libraries in order to meet the increasing library demands. All modifications in the library construction steps were made to enable the adaptation of the entire processes to work with the 96-well plate format. The key modifications include the shearing of DNA with Covaris E210 and the enzymatic reaction cleaning and fragment size selection with SPRI beads and magnetic plate holders. The construction of 96 Titanium libraries takes about 8 hours from sheared DNA to ssDNA recovery. The processing of 96 Illumina libraries takes less time than that of the Titanium library process. Although both processes still require manual transfer of plates from robot to other work stations such as thermocyclers, these robotic processes represent about 12- to 24-folds increase of library capacity comparing to the manual processes. To enable the sequencing of many libraries in parallel, we have also developed sets of molecular barcodes for both library types. The requirements for the 454 library barcodes include 10 bases, 40-60percent GC, no consecutive same base, and no less than 3 bases difference between barcodes. We have used 96 of the resulted 270 barcodes to construct …

This report contains a summary of progress made on the subtask area on phase field model development for microstructure evolution in irradiated materials, which was a part of the Computational Materials Science Network (CMSN) project entitled: Multiscale Simulation of Thermo-mechanical Processes in Irradiated Fission-reactor Materials. The model problem chosen has been that of void nucleation and growth under irradiation conditions in single component systems.

The authors briefly summarize the development of, and test experience with, an initial data interface between the structural mechanics code Diablo and the SHARP reactor simulation system data hub MOAB. That interface has been exercised both to write MOAB databases from Diablo, and then also to use such a database to read in part of a simulation definition for a subsequent Diablo execution. All enhancements are integrated into the central Diablo source repository. The SHARP software system for advanced simulation of nuclear reactors and power plant systems is sponsored by DOE's Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. SHARP has been architected as a federation of single-physics simulation tools to permit flexibility in programming langugages and leveraging of past and on-going investments. Solution of multi-physics problems will be coordinated by, and data passed through, a central 'hub'. SHARP's hub implementation is utilizing MOAB: a Mesh-Oriented datABase. This same data hub approach is also intended to enable multi-resolution simulations, e.g, lower-dimension plant-scale simulations can be informed by high-fidelity 3D models of particular critical components.

The 2009 Participating Load Pilot Customer Impact Evaluation provides evidence that short duration demand response events which cycle off air conditioners for less than thirty minutes in a hot, dry environment do not lead to a significant degradation in the comfort level of residents participating in the program. This was investigated using: (1) Analysis of interval temperature data collected from inside residences of select program participants; and (2) Direct and indirect customer feedback from surveys designed and implemented by Southern California Edison at the conclusion of the program season. There were 100 indoor temperature monitors that were acquired by LBNL for this study that transmitted temperature readings at least once per hour with corresponding timestamps during the program season, June-October, 2009. Recorded temperatures were transferred from the onsite telemetry devices to a mesh network, stored, and then delivered to KEMA for analysis. Following an extensive data quality review, temperature increases during each of the thirty demand response test events were calculated for each device. The results are as follows: (1) Even for tests taking place during outside temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, over 85 percent of the devices measured less than a 0.5 degree Fahrenheit temperature increase indoors …

The 7th International Conference on Chemical Kinetics (ICCK) was held July 10-14, 2011, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, MA, hosted by Prof. William H. Green of MIT’s Chemical Engineering department. This cross-disciplinary meeting highlighted the importance of fundamental understanding of elementary reactions to the full range of chemical investigations. The specific conference focus was on elementary-step kinetics in both the gas phase and in condensed phase. The meeting provided a unique opportunity to discuss how the same reactive species and reaction motifs manifest under very different reaction conditions (e.g. atmospheric, aqueous, combustion, plasma, in nonaqueous solvents, on surfaces.). The conference featured special sessions on new/improved experimental techniques, improved models and data analysis for interpreting complicated kinetics, computational kinetics (especially rate estimates for large kinetic models), and a panel discussion on how the community should document/archive kinetic data. In the past, this conference had been limited to homogeneous gas-phase and liquid-phase systems. This conference included studies of heterogeneous kinetics which provide rate constants for, or insight into, elementary reaction steps. This Grant from DOE BES covered about half of the subsidies we provided to students and postdocs who attended the conference, by charging them reduced-rate registration fees. The …

Enrichment of emulsion PCR product is the most laborious and pipette-intensive step in the 454 Titanium process, posing the biggest obstacle for production-oriented scale up. The Joint Genome Institute has developed a pair of custom-made robots based on the Microlab Star liquid handling deck manufactured by Hamilton to mediate the complexity and ergonomic demands of the 454 enrichment process. The robot includes a custom built centrifuge, magnetic deck positions, as well as heating and cooling elements. At present processing eight emulsion cup samples in a single 2.5 hour run, these robots are capable of processing up to 24 emulsion cup samples. Sample emulsions are broken using the standard 454 breaking process and transferred from a pair of 50ml conical tubes to a single 2ml tube and loaded on the robot. The robot performs the enrichment protocol and produces beads in 2ml tubes ready for counting. The robot follows the Roche 454 enrichment protocol with slight exceptions to the manner in which it resuspends beads via pipette mixing rather than vortexing and a set number of null bead removal washes. The robotic process is broken down in similar discrete steps: First Melt and Neutralization, Enrichment Primer Annealing, Enrichment Bead Incubation, Null …

This report presents highlights of the research conducted on NERSC computers in a variety of scientific disciplines during the years 2008-2009. It also reports on changes and upgrades to NERSC's systems and services as well as activities of NERSC staff.

This thin, MEMS contact-stress sensor continuously and accurately measures time-varying, solid interface loads over tens of thousands of load cycles. The contact-stress sensor is extremely thin (150 {mu}m) and has a linear output with an accuracy of {+-} 1.5% FSO.

The U. S. Department of Energy’s Intermountain Industrial Assessment Center (IIAC) at the University of Utah has been providing eligible small- and medium-sized manufacturers with no-cost plant assessments since 2001, offering cost-effective recommendations for improvements in the areas of energy efficiency, pollution prevention, and productivity improvement.

None

The Illinois Wind Working Group (IWWG) was founded in 2006 with about 15 members. It has grown to over 200 members today representing all aspects of the wind industry across the State of Illinois. In 2008, the IWWG developed a strategic plan to give direction to the group and its activities. The strategic plan identifies ways to address critical market barriers to the further penetration of wind. The key to addressing these market barriers is public education and outreach. Since Illinois has a restructured electricity market, utilities no longer have a strong control over the addition of new capacity within the state. Instead, market acceptance depends on willing landowners to lease land and willing county officials to site wind farms. Many times these groups are uninformed about the benefits of wind energy and unfamiliar with the process. Therefore, many of the project objectives focus on conferences, forum, databases and research that will allow these stakeholders to make well-educated decisions.

None

None

None