Caltech campus executive LDRD.

The environment most brain systems of humans and other animals are almost constantly confronted with is complex and continuously changing, with each time step updating a potentially bewildering set of opportunities and demands for action. Far from the controlled, discrete trials used in most neuro- and psychological investigations, behavior outside the lab at Caltech is a seamless and continuous process of monitoring (and error correction) of ongoing action, and of evaluating persistence in the current activity with respect to opportunities to switch tasks as alternatives become available. Prior work on frontopolar and prefrontal task switching, use tasks within the same modality (View a stream of symbols on a screen and perform certain response mappings depending on task rules). However, in thesetask switches' the effector is constant: only the mapping of visual symbols to the specific button changes. In this task, the subjects are choosing what kinds of future action decisions they want to perform, where they can control either which body part will act, or which direction they will orient an instructed body action. An effector choice task presents a single target and the subject selects which effector to use to reach the target (eye or hand). While the techniques available for humans can be less spatially resolved compared to non-human primate neural data, they do allow for experimentation on multiple brain areas with relative ease. Thus, we address a broader network of areas involved in motor decisions. We aim to resolve a current dispute regarding the specific functional roles of brain areas that are often co-activated in studies of decision tasks, dorsal premotor cortex(PMd) and posterior parietal cortex(PPC). In one model, the PPC distinctly drives intentions for action selection, whereas PMd stimulation results in complex multi-joint movements without any awareness of, nor subjective feeling of, willing the elicited movement, thus seems to merely help execute the chosen action

Performance testing of aged hydrogen getters against criteria for interim safe storage of plutonium bearing materials.

Hydrogen getters were tested for use in storage of plutonium-bearing materials in accordance with DOE's Criteria for Interim Safe Storage of Plutonium Bearing Materials. The hydrogen getter HITOP was aged for 3 months at 70 C and tested under both recombination and hydrogenation conditions at 20 and 70 C; partially saturated and irradiated aged getter samples were also tested. The recombination reaction was found to be very fast and well above the required rate of 45 std. cc H2h. The gettering reaction, which is planned as the backup reaction in this deployment, is slower and may not meet the requirements alone. Pressure drop measurements and {sup 1}H NMR analyses support these conclusions. Although the experimental conditions do not exactly replicate the deployment conditions, the results of our conservative experiments are clear: the aged getter shows sufficient reactivity to maintain hydrogen concentrations below the flammability limit, between the minimum and maximum deployment temperatures, for three months. The flammability risk is further reduced by the removal of oxygen through the recombination reaction. Neither radiation exposure nor thermal aging sufficiently degrades the getter to be a concern. Future testing to evaluate performance for longer aging periods is in progress

FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PHOTOPATTERNED POLYMER MEMBRANES FOR PROTEIN CONCENTRATION AND DIALYSIS IN MICROCHIPS

ABSTRACT Unique capability for processing protein samples in microchips is demonstrated via fabrication of photopatterned nanoporous polymer membranes with engineered pore size. Proteins are electrophoresed into membranes and concentrated by over two orders of magnitude before being injected for analysis. Specific analytes can be extracted from complex samples by flowing sample past a long dialysis membranes and perfusing in counterflow. Protein processing performance is used to characterize membrane porosity and specific diffusivities

Biological detection and tagging using tailorable, reactive, highly fluorescent chemosensors.

This program was focused on the development of a fluorogenic chemosensor family that could tuned for reaction with electrophilic (e.g. chemical species, toxins) and nucleophilic (e.g. proteins and other biological molecules) species. Our chemosensor approach utilized the fluorescent properties of well-known berberine-type alkaloids. In situ chemosensor reaction with a target species transformed two out-of-plane, weakly conjugated, short-wavelength chromophores into one rigid, planar, conjugated, chromophore with strong long wavelength fluorescence (530-560 nm,) and large Stokes shift (100-180 nm). The chemosensor was activated with an isourea group which allowed for reaction with carboxylic acid moieties found in amino acids

Savannah River Site/K Area Complex getter life extension report.

The K Area Complex (KAC) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has been utilizing HiTop hydrogen getter material in 9975 Shipping Containers to prevent the development of flammable environments during storage of moisture-containing plutonium oxides. Previous testing and subsequent reports have been performed and produced by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to demonstrate the suitability and longevity of the getter during storage at bounding thermal conditions. To date, results have shown that after 18 months of continuous storage at 70 C, the getter is able to both recombine gaseous hydrogen and oxygen into water when oxygen is available, and irreversibly getter (i.e. scavenge) hydrogen from the vapor space when oxygen is not available, both under a CO{sub 2} environment. [Refs. 1-5] Both of these reactions are catalytically enhanced and thermodynamically favorable. The purpose of this paper is to establish the justification that maintaining the current efforts of biannual testing is no longer necessary due to the robust performance of the getter material, the very unlikely potential that the recombination reaction will fail during storage conditions in KAC, and the insignificant aging effects that have been seen in the testing to date

Development of porous polymer monoliths for reverse-phase chromatography of proteins.

The polymers developed in this project are intended for use as a stationary phase in reverse-phase chromatography of proteins, where the mobile phase is a solution of acetonitrile and a phosphate buffer, 6.6 pH. A full library of pore sizes have been developed ranging from 0.41{micro}m to 4.09 {micro}m; these pore sizes can be determined by the solvent ratio of tetrahydrofuran:methoxyethanol during polymerization. A column that can separate proteins in an isocratic mode would be a vast improvement from the common method of separating proteins through gradient chromatography using multiple solvents. In the stationary phase, the main monomers have hydrophobic tails, lauryl acrylate and steryl acrylate. Separations of small hydrophobic molecules and peptides (trial molecules) have efficiencies of 24,000-33,000 theoretical plates m{sup -1}. The combination of a highly non-polar stationary phase and a mobile phase where the polarity can be controlled provide for excellent separation

Caltech campus executive LDRD.

The environment most brain systems of humans and other animals are almost constantly confronted with is complex and continuously changing, with each time step updating a potentially bewildering set of opportunities and demands for action. Far from the controlled, discrete trials used in most neuro- and psychological investigations, behavior outside the lab at Caltech is a seamless and continuous process of monitoring (and error correction) of ongoing action, and of evaluating persistence in the current activity with respect to opportunities to switch tasks as alternatives become available. Prior work on frontopolar and prefrontal task switching, use tasks within the same modality (View a stream of symbols on a screen and perform certain response mappings depending on task rules). However, in thesetask switches' the effector is constant: only the mapping of visual symbols to the specific button changes. In this task, the subjects are choosing what kinds of future action decisions they want to perform, where they can control either which body part will act, or which direction they will orient an instructed body action. An effector choice task presents a single target and the subject selects which effector to use to reach the target (eye or hand). While the techniques available for humans can be less spatially resolved compared to non-human primate neural data, they do allow for experimentation on multiple brain areas with relative ease. Thus, we address a broader network of areas involved in motor decisions. We aim to resolve a current dispute regarding the specific functional roles of brain areas that are often co-activated in studies of decision tasks, dorsal premotor cortex(PMd) and posterior parietal cortex(PPC). In one model, the PPC distinctly drives intentions for action selection, whereas PMd stimulation results in complex multi-joint movements without any awareness of, nor subjective feeling of, willing the elicited movement, thus seems to merely help execute the chosen action

The evaluation of potential limonene scavengers

This work is the study of different scavengers of limonene. Limonene is a citrus-based, low toxicity, hydrocarbon solvent for cleaning circuit boards and other parts. Though almost all limonene evaporates after cleaning procedures, trace residual limonene would be a concern if allowed to migrate freely through a sealed system. This work was charted to investigate materials that would effectively scavenge and permanently immobilize trace limonene. The requirements of a successful scavenger are the following: it must remove >90% of 30 mg/l limonene from a sealed volume with 3 months, at 20--25 C; it must not release any volatiles over prolonged aging; it must be packaged such that limonene vapors can access the scavenger, but not such that the scavenging medium can migrate; and it must operate in the presence of water, oxygen, pentane, toluene, and carbon dioxide gases. A number of adsorbents were evaluated. Additionally, a scheme for scavenging limonene by chemical reaction was investigated at Sandia. This attempt was not successful. The details of this investigation are found at the end of this report

Evaluation of SAES COMBOGETTER(r) for Use in Nuclear Material Transportation Packages

This report summarizes the testing of SAES COMBOGETTER{reg_sign} and evaluates its potential use as a hydrogen getter in nuclear material transportation packages. We measured the getters hydrogen uptake capacity, and uptake rates under different conditions including temperature, gas composition, and poisons. We also compared this getter to another commercially available hydrogen getter