Phycomyces

This monographic review on a fungus is not addressed to mycologists. None of the authors has been trained or has otherwise acquired a general proficiency in mycology. They are motivated by a common interest in the performances of signal handling exhibited by the sense organs of all organisms and by the desire to attack these as yet totally obscure aspects of molecular biology by the study of a microorganism with certain desirable properties. The sporangiophore of the fungus Phycomyces is a gigantic, single-celled, erect, cylindrical, aerial hypha. It is sensitive to at least four distinct stimuli: light, gravity, stretch, and some unknown stimulus by which it avoids solid objects. These stimuli control a common output, the growth rate, producing either temporal changes in growth rate or tropic responses. We are interested in the output because it gives us information about the reception of the various signals. In the absence of external stimuli, the growth rate is controlled by internal signals keeping the network of biochemical processes in balance. The external stimuli interact with the internal signals. We wish to inquire into the early steps of this interaction. For light, for instance, the cell must have a receptor pigment as the first mediator. What kind of a molecule is this pigment? Which organelle contains it? What chemical reaction happens after a light quantum has been absorbed? And how is the information introduced by this primary photochemical event amplified in a controlled manner and processed in the next step? How do a few quanta or a few molecules trigger macroscopic responses? Will we find ourselves confronted with devices wholly distinct from anything now known in biology

Software Requirements Specification Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation (VISION) Model

The purpose of this Software Requirements Specification (SRS) is to define the top-level requirements for a Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation Model (VISION) of the Advanced Fuel Cycle (AFC). This simulation model is intended to serve a broad systems analysis and study tool applicable to work conducted as part of the AFCI (including costs estimates) and Generation IV reactor development studies

Software Platform Evaluation - Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation (VISION) Model

The purpose of this Software Platform Evaluation (SPE) is to document the top-level evaluation of potential software platforms on which to construct a simulation model that satisfies the requirements for a Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation Model (VISION) of the Advanced Fuel Cycle (AFC). See the Software Requirements Specification for Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation (VISION) Model (INEEL/EXT-05-02643, Rev. 0) for a discussion of the objective and scope of the VISION model. VISION is intended to serve as a broad systems analysis and study tool applicable to work conducted as part of the AFCI (including costs estimates) and Generation IV reactor development studies. This document will serve as a guide for selecting the most appropriate software platform for VISION. This is a “living document” that will be modified over the course of the execution of this work

Lessons Learned From Dynamic Simulations of Advanced Fuel Cycles

Years of performing dynamic simulations of advanced nuclear fuel cycle options provide insights into how they could work and how one might transition from the current once-through fuel cycle. This paper summarizes those insights from the context of the 2005 objectives and goals of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI). Our intent is not to compare options, assess options versus those objectives and goals, nor recommend changes to those objectives and goals. Rather, we organize what we have learned from dynamic simulations in the context of the AFCI objectives for waste management, proliferation resistance, uranium utilization, and economics. Thus, we do not merely describe “lessons learned” from dynamic simulations but attempt to answer the “so what” question by using this context. The analyses have been performed using the Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Dynamics (VISION). We observe that the 2005 objectives and goals do not address many of the inherently dynamic discriminators among advanced fuel cycle options and transitions thereof

Cyber security fear appeals:unexpectedly complicated

Cyber security researchers are starting to experiment with fear appeals, with a wide variety of designs and reported efficaciousness. This makes it hard to derive recommendations for designing and deploying these interventions. We thus reviewed the wider fear appeal literature to arrive at a set of guidelines to assist cyber security researchers. Our review revealed a degree of dissent about whether or not fear appeals are indeed helpful and advisable. Our review also revealed a wide range of fear appeal experimental designs, in both cyber and other domains, which confirms the need for some standardized guidelines to inform practice in this respect. We propose a protocol for carrying out fear appeal experiments, and we review a sample of cyber security fear appeal studies, via this lens, to provide a snapshot of the current state of play. We hope the proposed experimental protocol will prove helpful to those who wish to engage in future cyber security fear appeal research

Answering Key Fuel Cycle Questions

The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) program has both “outcome” and “process” goals because it must address both waste already accumulating as well as completing the fuel cycle in connection with advanced nuclear power plant concepts. The outcome objectives are waste geological repository capacity and cost, energy security and sustainability, proliferation resistance, fuel cycle economics, and safety. The process objectives are readiness to proceed and adaptability and robustness in the face of uncertainties. A classic decision-making approach to such a multi-attribute problem would be to weight individual quantified criteria and calculate an overall figure of merit. This is inappropriate for several reasons. First, the goals are not independent. Second, the importance of different goals varies among stakeholders. Third, the importance of different goals is likely to vary with time, especially the “energy future.” Fourth, some key considerations are not easily or meaningfully quantifiable at present. Instead, at this point, we have developed 16 questions the AFCI program should answer and suggest an approach of determining for each whether relevant options improve meeting each of the program goals. We find that it is not always clear which option is best for a specific question and specific goal; this helps identify key issues for future work. In general, we suggest attempting to create as many win-win decisions (options that are attractive or neutral to most goals) as possible. Thus, to help clarify why the program is exploring the options it is, and to set the stage for future narrowing of options, we have developed 16 questions, as follows: · What are the AFCI program goals? · Which potential waste disposition approaches do we plan for? · What are the major separations, transmutation, and fuel options? · How do we address proliferation resistance? · Which potential energy futures do we plan for? · What potential external triggers do we plan for? · Should we separate uranium? · If we separate uranium, should we recycle it, store it or dispose of it? · Is it practical to plan to fabricate and handle “hot” fuel? · Which transuranic elements (TRU) should be separated and transmuted? · Of those TRU separated, which should be transmuted together? · Should we separate and/or transmute Cs and Sr isotopes that dominate near-term repository heating? · Should we separate and/or transmute very long-lived Tc and I isotopes? · Which separation technology? · What mix of transmutation technologies? · What fuel technology best supports the above decisions

Infrared spectroscopy of phytochrome and model pigments

Fourier-transform infrared difference spectra between the red-absorbing and far-red-absorbing forms of oat phytochrome have been measured in H2O and 2H2O. The difference spectra are compared with infrared spectra of model compounds, i.e. the (5Z,10Z,15Z)- and (5Z,10Z,15E)-isomers of 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethyl-bilindion (Et8-bilindion), 2,3-dihydro-2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethyl-bilindion (H2Et8-bilindion), and protonated H2Et8-bilindion in various solvents. The spectra of the model compounds show that only for the protonated forms can clear differences between the two isomers be detected. Since considerable differences are present between the spectra of Et8-bilindion and H2Et8-bilindion, it is concluded that only the latter compound can serve as a model system of phytochrome. The 2H2O effect on the difference spectrum of phytochrome supports the view that the chromophore in red-absorbing phytochrome is protonated and suggests, in addition, that it is also protonated in far-red-absorbing phytochrome. The spectra show that protonated carboxyl groups are influenced. The small amplitudes in the difference spectra exclude major changes of protein secondary structure