FINAL REPORT TESTING OF IRON PHOSPHATE LAW GLASS (VSL-11R2340-1) 04/25/2011 REV 0 06/10/2011

About 50 million gallons of high-level mixed waste is currently stored in underground tanks at The United States Department of Energy's (DOE's) Hanford site in the State of Washington. The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will provide DOE's Office of River Protection (ORP) with a means of treating this waste by vitrification for subsequent disposal. The tank waste will be separated into low- and high-activity waste fractions, which will then be vitrified respectively into Immobilized Low Activity Waste (ILAW) and Immobilized High Level Waste (IHLW) products. The ILAW product will be disposed in an engineered facility on the Hanford site while the IHLW product will likely be directed to a national deep geological disposal facility for high-level nuclear waste. The ILA W and IHLW products must meet a variety of requirements with respect to protection of the environment before they can be accepted for disposal. The objectives of the work reported herein were to assess the corrosion of Inconel 690 and 693 in the FeP glass developed by MS&T and to measure key high temperature properties of the LAW iron phosphate glass. Specific objectives of these tests were the following: (1) Determination of the extent of corrosion of Inconel 690 and 693 in LAW FeP glass at 1050, 1l00, and 1150 C; (2) Determination of the extent of corrosion of Inconel 690 and 693 in LAW FeP glass in the presence of an electric field; (3) Measurement of the high temperature specific heat of the LAW FeP glass; (4) Measurement of the high temperature density of the LAW FeP glass; (5) Measurement of the high temperature thermal diffusivity of the LAW FeP glass; and (6) Calculation of the high temperature thermal conductivity of the LAW FeP glass from the above three measured properties

Long-lived stops in MSSM scenarios with a neutralino LSP

This work investigates the possibility of a long-lived stop squark in supersymmetric models with the neutralino as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). We study the implications of meta-stable stops on the sparticle mass spectra and the dark matter density. We find that in order to obtain a sufficiently long stop lifetime so as to be observable as a stable R-hadron at an LHC experiment, we need to fine tune the mass degeneracy between the stop and the LSP considerably. This increases the stop-neutralino coanihilation cross section, leaving the neutralino relic density lower than what is expected from the WMAP results for stop masses ~1.5 TeV/c^2. However, if such scenarios are realised in nature we demonstrate that the long-lived stops will be produced at the LHC and that stop-based R-hadrons with masses up to 1 TeV/c^2 can be detected after one year of running at design luminosity

3D multi-agent models for protein release from PLGA spherical particles with complex inner morphologies

In order to better understand and predict the release of proteins from bioerodible micro- or nanospheres, it is important to know the influences of different initial factors on the release mechanisms. Often though it is difficult to assess what exactly is at the origin of a certain dissolution profile. We propose here a new class of fine-grained multi-agent models built to incorporate increasing complexity, permitting the exploration of the role of different parameters, especially that of the internal morphology of the spheres, in the exhibited release profile. This approach, based on Monte-Carlo (MC) and Cellular Automata (CA) techniques, has permitted the testing of various assumptions and hypotheses about several experimental systems of nanospheres encapsulating proteins. Results have confirmed that this modelling approach has increased the resolution over the complexity involved, opening promising perspectives for future developments, especially complementing in vitro experimentation

Global investigation of the Mg atom and ion layers using SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations between 70 and 150 km altitude and WACCM-Mg model results

Mg and Mg+ concentration fields in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere (UMLT) region are retrieved from SCIAMACHY/Envisat limb measurements of Mg and Mg+ dayglow emissions using a 2-D tomographic retrieval approach. The time series of monthly mean Mg and Mg+ number density and vertical column density in different latitudinal regions are presented. Data from the limb mesosphere–thermosphere mode of SCIAMACHY/Envisat are used, which cover the 50 to 150 km altitude region with a vertical sampling of ≈3.3 km and latitudes up to 82°. The high latitudes are not observed in the winter months, because there is no dayglow emission during polar night. The measurements were performed every 14 days from mid-2008 until April 2012. Mg profiles show a peak at around 90 km altitude with a density between 750 cm−3 and 1500 cm−3. Mg does not show strong seasonal variation at latitudes below 40°. For higher latitudes the density is lower and only in the Northern Hemisphere a seasonal cycle with a summer minimum is observed. The Mg+ peak occurs 5–15 km above the neutral Mg peak altitude. These ions have a significant seasonal cycle with a summer maximum in both hemispheres at mid and high latitudes. The strongest seasonal variations of Mg+ are observed at latitudes between 20 and 40° and the density at the peak altitude ranges from 500 cm−3 to 4000 cm−3. The peak altitude of the ions shows a latitudinal dependence with a maximum at mid latitudes that is up to 10 km higher than the peak altitude at the equator. The SCIAMACHY measurements are compared to other measurements and WACCM model results. The WACCM results show a significant seasonal variability for Mg with a summer minimum, which is more clearly pronounced than for SCIAMACHY, and globally a higher peak density than the SCIAMACHY results. Although the peak density of both is not in agreement, the vertical column density agrees well, because SCIAMACHY and WACCM profiles have different widths. The agreement between SCIAMACHY and WACCM results is much better for Mg+ with both showing the same seasonality and similar peak density. However, there are also minor differences, e.g. WACCM showing a nearly constant altitude of the Mg+ layer's peak density for all latitudes and seasons

XMM-Newton observation of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.326

A brief Chandra observation of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.326 showed it to be a relatively bright, soft X-ray source with a count rate of about 1 count ks−1. In this article, we present results for the quasar from a 65-ks XMM–Newton observation, which constrains its spectral shape well. The quasar is clearly detected with a total of ~460 net counts in the 0.2–10 keV band. The spectrum is characterized by a simple power-law model with a photon index of = 2.30+0.10 −0.10 and the intrinsic 2–10 keV luminosity is 3.14 × 1045 erg s−1. The 1σ upper limit to any intrinsic absorption column density is NH = 6.07 × 1022 cm−2. No significant iron emission lines were detected. We derive an X-rayto-optical flux ratio αox of −1.74 ± 0.01, consistent with the values found in other quasars of comparable ultraviolet luminosity. We did not detect significant flux variations either in the XMM–Newton exposure or between XMM–Newton and Chandra observations, which are separated by ∼8 months. The X-ray observation enables the bolometric luminosity to be calculated after modelling the spectral energy distribution: the accretion rate is found to be sub-Eddington

A momentum-dependent perspective on quasiparticle interference in Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8+\delta}

Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) probes the momentum-space electronic structure of materials, and provides invaluable information about the high-temperature superconducting cuprates. Likewise, the cuprate real-space, inhomogeneous electronic structure is elucidated by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS). Recently, STS has exploited quasiparticle interference (QPI) - wave-like electrons scattering off impurities to produce periodic interference patterns - to infer properties of the QP in momentum-space. Surprisingly, some interference peaks in Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8+\delta} (Bi-2212) are absent beyond the antiferromagnetic (AF) zone boundary, implying the dominance of particular scattering process. Here, we show that ARPES sees no evidence of quasiparticle (QP) extinction: QP-like peaks are measured everywhere on the Fermi surface, evolving smoothly across the AF zone boundary. This apparent contradiction stems from different natures of single-particle (ARPES) and two-particle (STS) processes underlying these probes. Using a simple model, we demonstrate extinction of QPI without implying the loss of QP beyond the AF zone boundary

Homonymous Quadrantanopsia as the First Manifestation of Cerebral Metastasis of Invasive Mole: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Homonymous quadrantanopsia results from retrochiasmal lesions in the visual pathway. Invasive mole is a benign tumor that arises from myometrial invasion of a hydatidiform mole via direct extension through tissue or venous channels. Cerebral metastasis of invasive mole is rare and there has been no report demonstrating homonymous quadrantanopsia as the first manifestation of metastasis in any trophoblastic neoplasms.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 31-year-old Asian woman who presented with right homonymous inferior quadrantanopsia from the mass effect of a solitary cerebral metastasis from an invasive mole. A magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the brain showed a metastatic tumor in the left occipital lobe. The visual field improved slightly after chemotherapy. There was a reduction in the tumor size and the surrounding edema. This is the first case report demonstrating that homonymous quadrantanopsia should be included in the manifestations of the metastasis of an invasive mole.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presentation of homonymous quadrantanopsia must alert ophthalmologists to conduct a complete medical history and arrange specialist consultation.</p

Raman Fingerprints of Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbons.

Bottom-up approaches allow the production of ultranarrow and atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with electronic and optical properties controlled by the specific atomic structure. Combining Raman spectroscopy and ab initio simulations, we show that GNR width, edge geometry, and functional groups all influence their Raman spectra. The low-energy spectral region below 1000 cm(-1) is particularly sensitive to edge morphology and functionalization, while the D peak dispersion can be used to uniquely fingerprint the presence of GNRs and differentiates them from other sp(2) carbon nanostructures.We acknowledge funding from: the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the framework of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, endowed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research of Germany; the ESF project GOSPEL (Ref. No. 09-EuroGRAPHENE-FP-001); the European Research Council (grant NOC-2D, NANOGRAPH, and Hetero2D); the Italian Ministry of Research through the national projects PRIN-GRAF (Grant No. 20105ZZTSE) and FIRB-FLASHit (Grant No. RBFR12SWOJ); the DFG Priority Program SPP 1459; the Graphene Flagship (Ref. No. CNECT-ICT-604391); the EU project MoQuaS; EPSRC Grants (EP/K01711X/1, EP/K017144/1); the EU grant GENIUS; a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Computer time was granted by PRACE at the CINECA Supercomputing Center (Grant No. PRA06 1348), and by the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract number DE-SC0012704.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Chemical Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b0418

Ori-Finder: A web-based system for finding oriCs in unannotated bacterial genomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chromosomal replication is the central event in the bacterial cell cycle. Identification of replication origins (<it>oriC</it>s) is necessary for almost all newly sequenced bacterial genomes. Given the increasing pace of genome sequencing, the current available software for predicting <it>oriC</it>s, however, still leaves much to be desired. Therefore, the increasing availability of genome sequences calls for improved software to identify <it>oriC</it>s in newly sequenced and unannotated bacterial genomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed Ori-Finder, an online system for finding <it>oriC</it>s in bacterial genomes based on an integrated method comprising the analysis of base composition asymmetry using the <it>Z</it>-curve method, distribution of DnaA boxes, and the occurrence of genes frequently close to <it>oriC</it>s. The program can also deal with unannotated genome sequences by integrating the gene-finding program ZCURVE 1.02. Output of the predicted results is exported to an HTML report, which offers convenient views on the results in both graphical and tabular formats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A web-based system to predict replication origins of bacterial genomes has been presented here. Based on this system, <it>oriC </it>regions have been predicted for the bacterial genomes available in GenBank currently. It is hoped that Ori-Finder will become a useful tool for the identification and analysis of <it>oriC</it>s in both bacterial and archaeal genomes.</p