1. ALS AND SSRL SELECTED TO CO-HOST SRI 2003

The 2003 International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (SRI 2003) will be held in San Francisco and hosted jointly by the ALS and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). One of the largest and most important synchrotron-related meetings in the world, SRI 2003 is expected to draw about 600 attendees. Howard Padmore (ALS) and Joachim Stohr (SSRL) will be the conference co-chairs. The site proposal was presented last month by Stohr (with substantial assistance from Neville Smith of the ALS) at SRI 2000 in Berlin. The proposal emphasized the many attractions of the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the cutting-edge research and development taking place at the two host light sources and their experience in organizing similar large conferences. The selection was approved by a 12-7 vote of the SRI International Advisory Committee, which consists of the directors of synchrotron light sources from around the world. The conference is tentatively scheduled for August 2003; watch future issues of ALSNews for more specific information about dates and venues.

2. CHANGES TO PROPOSAL SCORING CONSIDERED
(Contact: alsuser@lbl.gov)

The ALS proposal study panel for independent-investigator proposals in the physical sciences has recommended the trial adoption of proposal-scoring changes modeled after the practices of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS). The proposed changes would effectively award a percentage of the beamtime requested in a proposal (100%, 75%, 50%, etc.) based roughly on the proposal's score. An email letter detailing the changes under consideration and requesting feedback was sent to all ALS users last week. If you did not receive the letter and would like a copy, please send an email request to alsuser@lbl.gov.

3. REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2000 ALS USERS' MEETING
(Contact: alsum2000@lbl.gov)

Users planning to attend this year's ALS Users' Meeting on October 16-18 are reminded that the deadline for registration is Friday, September 29. Registration can be done on the Web at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/usermtg/registration.html. In addition, meeting participants who wish to reserve a room and receive the special conference rate at the Hotel Durant should contact the hotel (510-845-8981) by Friday, September 22. More information about lodging is available at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/usermtg/accommodation.html. Up-to-date information about the 2000 ALS Users' Meeting, including information about workshops, transportation, and program changes, is available at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/usermtg/index.html.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first ALS Users' Meeting Logo Design Contest. The huge response and the quality and creativity of the submitted designs made the work of selecting a winner particularly challenging. Congratulations go to this year's winner, ALS writer/editor Lori Tamura.

4. X-RAY MICRODIFFRACTION WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED
(Contact: ntamura@lbl.gov)

The ALS and SSRL will hold a joint workshop on x-ray microdiffraction on October 18 at the 2000 ALS Users' Meeting. Participants will discuss the research now possible using x-ray microbeams as a characterization tool and will identify new areas that would broaden the range of applicability of this technique. A list of speakers and topics is available at http://xraysweb.lbl.gov/esg/ummicrodiff.html. For more information, contact Nobumichi Tamura (ntamura@lbl.gov).

5. 1999 ACTIVITY REPORT AVAILABLE ONLINE
(Contact: amgreiner@lbl.gov)

The 1999 ALS Activity Report is now available in PDF format on the ALS Web site at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/actrep. The Activity Report illustrates the depth and breadth of the ALS scientific program with a selection of research results. The report also summarizes operations and ongoing research and development, highlights educational outreach efforts and special events, and provides a reference for the beamlines scheduled for completion in the near future. Acrobat Reader version 4.0, with the PDF Viewer plugin, is highly recommended for viewing the file, as it will allow downloading of one page at a time. The full download is 8.6 MB. Be sure to activate the bookmark feature of Acrobat Reader to facilitate navigation through the document. Links to PDF files of previous Activity Reports are also provided on the same Web page. To request a hard copy of the Activity Report or any other available ALS publication, send an email message that includes your name, complete mailing address, and publication requested to alsuser@lbl.gov.

6. POSTDOCTORAL OPPORTUNITY
(Contact: liu@pa.msu.edu)

A postdoctoral research associate position, for work to be partially carried out at the ALS, is available through the physics department of Michigan State University. The current research areas include charge density waves in layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, novel bulk thermoelectric materials, and SiC/SiO2 interfaces. For more information, contact Rong Liu (liu@pa.msu.edu).

7. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Eimuller, T., R. Kalchgruber, P. Fischer, G. Schutz, P. Guttmann, G. Schmahl, M. Kohler, K. Prugl, F. Bammes, T. Schweinbock, and G. Bayreuther, "Quantitative imaging of magnetization reversal in FeGd multilayers by magnetic transmission x-ray microscopy," J. Appl. Phys. 87(9), 6478 (May 2000).

Galburt, E., M. Chadsey, M. Jurica, B. Chevalier, D. Erho, W. Tang, R. Monnat, and B. Stoddard, "Conformational changes and cleavage by the homing endonuclease I-PpoI: a critical role for a leucine residue in the active site," J. Mol. Biol. 300(4), 877 (July 2000).

Kurmaev, E.Z., A.P. Moewes, V.R. Galakhov, D.L. Ederer, and T. Koybayashi, "Ion-implantation effects in A1203: X-ray fluorescence measurements," Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 168, 395 (June 2000).

Lawniczak-Jablonska, K., T. Suski, I. Gorczyca, N.E. Christensen, K.E. Attenkofer, R.C.C. Perera, E.M. Gullikson, J.H. Underwood, D.L. Ederer, and Z. Liliental-Weber, "Electronic states in valence and conduction bands of group-III nitrides: Experiment and theory," Phys. Rev. B 61(24), 16623 (June 2000).

Qi, F., O. Sorkhabi, and A. Suits, "Evidence of triplet ethylene produced from photodissociation of ethylene sulfide," J. Chem. Phys. 112(24), 10707 (June 2000).

Snell, G.P., J. Viefhaus, F.B. Dunning, and N. Berrah, "Microsphere plate detectors used with a compact Mott polarimeter for time-of-flight studies," Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71(6), 2608 (June 2000).

Ueno, Y., Y. Muramatsu, M.M. Grush, and R.C.C. Perera, "Configurations of benzene and pyridine molecules adsorbed on graphitic surface of microporous carbon," J. Phys. Chem. B 104(30), 7154 (July 2000).

8. WHO'S IN TOWN

Following are some of the experimenters who will be collecting data during the next two weeks at the ALS.

Beamline 1.4.2
Kelly Knutsen and Richard Saykally (Univ. of California, Berkeley)

Beamline 1.4.3
Phil Huie (Stanford Univ. Medical Center)
Sherry Zhang and Phil Ross (Berkeley Lab)
T.J. Wilkinson and Dale Perry (Berkeley Lab)
Hoi-Ying Holman (Berkeley Lab)
Jessica Preciado, Ralph Greif, and Boris Rubinsky (Univ. of California, Berkeley)
Felicia Betancourt and Robert Glaeser (Univ. of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab)

Beamline 5.0.2
Wendell Lim (Univ. of California, San Francisco)
Roger Kornberg (Stanford Univ.)
Jim Berger (Univ. of California, Berkeley)
David Jeruzalmi (Rockefeller Univ.)
Tim Osslund (Amgen)
Tom Poulos (Univ. of California, Irvine)
Nguyen-Huu Xuong (Univ. of California, San Diego)
Nigel Walker (Tularik, Inc.)
Patricia Takahara (Roche Bioscience)

Beamline 7.3.1.1
Gary Mitchell (The Dow Chemical Company)
Shirley Chiang (Univ. of California, Davis)

Beamline 8.0.1
Lou Terminello and Christoph Bostedt (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Richard Saykally (Univ. of California, Berkeley)

Beamline 10.0.1
Jonathan Denlinger (Berkeley Lab)
Erwin Poliakoff and Gerald Rathbone (Louisiana State Univ.)
Eli Rotenberg (Berkeley Lab)
Z.X. Shen, Scot Kellar, Peter Bogdanov, Xingjiang Zhou (Stanford Univ.)
Ron Phaneuf, Aaron Covington, Guillermo Hinojosa, Alex Aguilar (Univ. of Nevada, Reno)
Carmen Cisneros, Ignacio Alvarez-Torres (Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico)
Marcelo Sant'Anna (Berkeley Lab)

9. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(Contact: Lampo@lbl.gov)

For the user run of September 6 - 10, the beam availability was 98%. Of the delivered beam, 91% was delivered to completion without interruption. There were no significant outages.

Long-term and weekly operations schedules are available on the Web (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/accelinfo.html). Requests for special operations use of the "scrubbing" shift should be sent to Bruce Samuelson (BCSamuelson@lbl.gov, x4738) by 1:00 p.m. Friday. The Accelerator Status Hotline at (510) 486-6766 (ext. 6766 from Lab phones) features a recorded message giving up-to-date information on the operational status of the accelerator.