Barriers to communication and cooperation in addressing community impacts of radioactive releases from research facilities.

Two instances of research facilities responding to public scrutiny will be discussed. The first concerns emissions from a �tritium labeling facility� operated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); the second deals with releases of plutonium from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). There are many parallels between these two cases, both of which are still ongoing. In both, the national laboratory is the acknowledged source of low-level (by regulatory standards) radioactive contamination in the community. A major purpose of both investigations is to determine the degree of the contamination and the threat it poses to public health and the environment. The examining panel or committee is similarly constituted in the two cases, including representatives from all four categories of stakeholders: decision makers; scientists and other professionals doing the analysis/assessment; environmental activist or public interest groups; and �ordinary� citizens (nearly everyone else not in one or more of the first three camps). Both involved community participation from the beginning. The levels of outrage over the events triggering the assessment are comparable; though �discovered� or �appreciated� only a few years ago, the release of radiation in both cases occurred or began occurring more than a decade ago. The meetings have been conducted in a similar manner, with comparable frequency, often utilizing the services of professional facilitators. In both cases, the sharply contrasting perceptions of risk commonly seen between scientists and activists were present from the beginning, though the contrast was sharper and more problematical in the Berkeley case. Yet, the Livermore case seems to be progressing towards a satisfactory resolution, while the Berkeley case remains mired in ill-will, with few tangible results after two years of effort. We perceive a wide gap in negotiation skills (at the very least), and a considerable difference in willingness to compromise, between the environmental activist groups participating in the two cases. A degree of contentiousness existed from the start among the participants in the Berkeley case�particularly between the environmental activists and the scientists/regulators�that was not approached in the Livermore case, and which was and still is severe enough to stifle meaningful progress. The Berkeley activists are considerably more aggressive, we believe, in arguing their points of view, making demands about what should be done, and verbally assailing the scientists and government regulators. We offer the following comments on the barriers to communication and cooperation that distinguish the Berkeley and Livermore cases. In no particular order, they are (a) the presence of a higher degree of polarization between the Berkeley activists and the �establishment,� as represented by government scientists and regulators, (b) the absence, in the Berkeley case, of an activist leader with skills and effectiveness comparable to a well-known leader in Livermore, (c) frequent displays by several of the Berkeley activists of incivility, distrust, and disrespect for the regulators and scientists, (d) extraordinary difficulties in reaching consensus in the Tritium Issues Work Group meetings, perhaps because goals diverged among the factions, (e) a considerable degree of resentment by the Berkeley activists over the imbalance in conditions of participation, pitting well-paid, tax-supported professionals against �citizen volunteers,� (f) the brick wall that divides the perspectives of �no safe dose� and �levels below regulatory concern� when trying to reach conclusions about radiation dangers to the community, and (g) unwillingness to consider both sides of the risk-reward coin: benefits to the community and society at large of the tritium labeling activity, vs. the health risk from small quantities of tritium released to the environment

Realtime calibration of the A4 electromagnetic lead fluoride calorimeter

Sufficient energy resolution is the key issue for the calorimetry in particle and nuclear physics. The calorimeter of the A4 parity violation experiment at MAMI is a segmented calorimeter where the energy of an event is determined by summing the signals of neighbouring channels. In this case the precise matching of the individual modules is crucial to obtain a good energy resolution. We have developped a calibration procedure for our total absorbing electromagnetic calorimeter which consists of 1022 lead fluoride (PbF_2) crystals. This procedure reconstructs the the single-module contributions to the events by solving a linear system of equations, involving the inversion of a 1022 x 1022-matrix. The system has shown its functionality at beam energies between 300 and 1500 MeV and represents a new and fast method to keep the calorimeter permanently in a well-calibrated state

Measurement of the Transverse Beam Spin Asymmetry in Elastic Electron Proton Scattering and the Inelastic Contribution to the Imaginary Part of the Two-Photon Exchange Amplitude

We report on a measurement of the asymmetry in the scattering of transversely polarized electrons off unpolarized protons, A$_\perp$, at two Q$^2$ values of \qsquaredaveragedlow (GeV/c)$^2$ and \qsquaredaveragedhighII (GeV/c)$^2$ and a scattering angle of $30^\circ < \theta_e < 40^\circ$. The measured transverse asymmetries are A$_{\perp}$(Q$^2$ = \qsquaredaveragedlow (GeV/c)$^2$) = (\experimentalasymmetry alulowcorr $\pm$ \statisticalerrorlow$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ \combinedsyspolerrorlowalucor$_{\rm sys}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ and A$_{\perp}$(Q$^2$ = \qsquaredaveragedhighII (GeV/c)$^2$) = (\experimentalasymme tryaluhighcorr $\pm$ \statisticalerrorhigh$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ \combinedsyspolerrorhighalucor$_{\rm sys}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. The first errors denotes the statistical error and the second the systematic uncertainties. A$_\perp$ arises from the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange amplitude and is zero in the one-photon exchange approximation. From comparison with theoretical estimates of A$_\perp$ we conclude that $\pi$N-intermediate states give a substantial contribution to the imaginary part of the two-photon amplitude. The contribution from the ground state proton to the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange can be neglected. There is no obvious reason why this should be different for the real part of the two-photon amplitude, which enters into the radiative corrections for the Rosenbluth separation measurements of the electric form factor of the proton.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to PRL on Oct.

Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2016)

This article lists the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2016. Changes to virus taxonomy (the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [ICTV]) now take place annually and are the result of a multi-stage process. In accordance with the ICTV Statutes (http://​www.​ictvonline.​org/​statutes.​asp), proposals submitted to the ICTV Executive Committee (EC) undergo a review process that involves input from the ICTV Study Groups (SGs) and Subcommittees (SCs), other interested virologists, and the EC. After final approval by the EC, proposals are then presented for ratification to the full ICTV membership by publication on an ICTV web site (http://​www.​ictvonline.​org/​) followed by an electronic vote. The latest set of proposals approved by the EC was made available on the ICTV website by January 2016 (https://​talk.​ictvonline.​org/​files/​proposals/​). A list of these proposals was then emailed on 28 March 2016 to the 148 members of ICTV, namely the EC Members, Life Members, ICTV Subcommittee Members (including the SG chairs) and ICTV National Representatives. Members were then requested to vote on whether to ratify the taxonomic proposals (voting closed on 29 April 2016)

Evidence for Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q2Q^2 = 0.108 (GeV/c)2^2

We report on a measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons off unpolarized protons with the A4 apparatus at MAMI in Mainz at a four momentum transfer value of $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$ and at a forward electron scattering angle of 30$^\circ < \theta_e < 40^\circ$. The measured asymmetry is $A_{LR}(\vec{e}p)$ = (\Aphys $\pm$ \Deltastat$_{stat}$ $\pm$ \Deltasyst$_{syst}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. The expectation from the Standard Model assuming no strangeness contribution to the vector current is A$_0$ = (\Azero $\pm$ \DeltaAzero) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. We have improved the statistical accuracy by a factor of 3 as compared to our previous measurements at a higher $Q^2$. We have extracted the strangeness contribution to the electromagnetic form factors from our data to be $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ = \GEsGMs $\pm$ \DeltaGEsGMs at $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$. As in our previous measurement at higher momentum transfer for $G_E^s$ + 0.230 $G_M^s$, we again find the value for $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ to be positive, this time at an improved significance level of 2 $\sigma$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Measurement of Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q^2=0.230 (GeV/c)^2

We report on a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in the scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons on unpolarized protons at a $Q^2$ of 0.230 (GeV/c)^2 and a scattering angle of \theta_e = 30^o - 40^o. Using a large acceptance fast PbF_2 calorimeter with a solid angle of \Delta\Omega = 0.62 sr the A4 experiment is the first parity violation experiment to count individual scattering events. The measured asymmetry is A_{phys} =(-5.44 +- 0.54_{stat} +- 0.27_{\rm sys}) 10^{-6}. The Standard Model expectation assuming no strangeness contributions to the vector form factors is $A_0=(-6.30 +- 0.43) 10^{-6}$. The difference is a direct measurement of the strangeness contribution to the vector form factors of the proton. The extracted value is G^s_E + 0.225 G^s_M = 0.039 +- 0.034 or F^s_1 + 0.130 F^s_2 = 0.032 +- 0.028.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters on Dec 11, 200

A luminosity monitor for the A4 parity violation experiment at MAMI

A water Cherenkov luminosity monitor system with associated electronics has been developed for the A4 parity violation experiment at MAMI. The detector system measures the luminosity of the hydrogen target hit by the MAMI electron beam and monitors the stability of the liquid hydrogen target. Both is required for the precise study of the count rate asymmetries in the scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons on unpolarized protons. Any helicity correlated fluctuation of the target density leads to false asymmetries. The performance of the luminosity monitor, investigated in about 2000 hours with electron beam, and the results of its application in the A4 experiment are presented.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, submitted to NIM

3D Reconstruction for Partial Data Electrical Impedance Tomography Using a Sparsity Prior

In electrical impedance tomography the electrical conductivity inside a physical body is computed from electro-static boundary measurements. The focus of this paper is to extend recent result for the 2D problem to 3D. Prior information about the sparsity and spatial distribution of the conductivity is used to improve reconstructions for the partial data problem with Cauchy data measured only on a subset of the boundary. A sparsity prior is enforced using the $\ell_1$ norm in the penalty term of a Tikhonov functional, and spatial prior information is incorporated by applying a spatially distributed regularization parameter. The optimization problem is solved numerically using a generalized conditional gradient method with soft thresholding. Numerical examples show the effectiveness of the suggested method even for the partial data problem with measurements affected by noise.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1405.655

Contribution of Quark-Mass-Dependent Operators to Higher Twist Effects in DIS

We look at the contribution of Quark-Mass-dependent twist-4 operators to the second moments of spin averaged structure functions and the Bjorken sum rule. Its contribution is non-negligible in the former case due to large Wilson coefficients. We also discuss the values of the twist- 4 spin-2 nucleon matrix element within present experimental constraints.Comment: 14pages, RevTex, (To be published in Phys. Rev. D) University of Washington preprint DOE/ER/40427-22-N9