ALSNews Vol. 220, April 16, 2003
ALSNews is a biweekly electronic newsletter to keep users and other interested parties informed about developments at the Advanced Light Source, a national user facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California. To be placed on the mailing list, send your name and complete internet address to ALSNews@lbl.gov. We welcome suggestions for topics and content.
Previous Issues are available.
Table of Contents
- Shutdown 2003 Activities Proceeding on Schedule
- Recent Publications
- Job Opportunities at the ALS
- ALS Staff Photo on Home Page
- Operations Update
1. SHUTDOWN 2003 ACTIVITIES PROCEEDING ON SCHEDULE
(Contact: SLRossi@lbl.gov)
We are currently in our third and final week of the maintenance and
installation portion of the April 2003 shutdown. Machine startup will
begin next week, followed by a few days of beamline commissioning, with
light returning to users at 8:00 A.M. on April 30.
A survey of the storage ring and experiment floor has been completed,
and while plans had been made to align the storage ring during the shutdown,
it has been decided to forgo the alignment at this time. We normally
align the storage ring on a two-year cycle, but had decided to see if
undertaking this task on an annual basis would simplify the task. It
was ultimately decided that the risks of aligning the storage ring at
this time outweighed the benefits.
The cryocoolers on the three installed superbend magnets have been replaced as a part of regularly scheduled maintenance. The mechanical portion of the job has been completed well ahead of schedule, and the magnets are currently undergoing power cycling tests, a normal part of the procedure.
Installation of higher-order mode (HOM) dampers on third-harmonic cavities 1, 2, and 3 is largely complete; a few troubleshooting items remain. A number of other tasks have been completed during the shutdown, and as usual a large number of people have worked very hard to ensure their safe and timely completion.
Publications are the primary measure of the scientific productivity of a facility, and the scientific productivity of a facility is the primary metric that determines a facility's funding. If you have published any ALS-related work in a scientific journal or conference proceedings, or completed a Ph.D. thesis or received a patent based on work done at the ALS, please let us know so that your work can be reported to the DOE as well as cited in the 2002 ALS Activity Report. Simply go to the User Services Online Forms Web page at http://alsusweb.lbl.gov. Below is a sampling of a few ALS-related papers recently published.
Harries, J.R., J.P. Sullivan, J.B. Sternberg, S. Obara, T. Suzuki, P. Hammond, J. Bozek, N. Berrah, M. Halka, and Y. Azuma, "Double photoexcitation of helium in a strong dc electric field," Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(13), 133002 (April 2003).
Hellwig, O., T.L. Kirk, J.B. Kortright, A. Berger, and E.E. Fullerton, "A new phase diagram for layered antiferromagnetic films," Nature Materials 2(2), 112 (February 2003).
Margarit, S.M., H. Sondermann, B.E. Hall, B. Nagar, A. Hoelz, M. Pirruccello, D. Bar-Sagi, and J. Kuriyan, "Structural evidence for feedback activation by Ras·GTP of the Ras-specific nucleotide exchange factor SOS," Cell 112(5), 685 (March 2003).
Nagar, B., O. Hantschel, M.A. Young, K. Scheffzek, D. Veach, W. Bornmann, B. Clarkson, G. Superti-Furga, and J. Kuriyan, "Structural basis for the autoinhibition of c-Abl tyrosine kinase," Cell 112(6), 859 (March 2003).
Raty, J.Y., G. Galli, C. Bostedt, T. van Buuren, and L.J. Terminello, "Quantum confinement and fullerenelike surface reconstruction in nanodiamonds," Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(3), 037401 (January 2003).
Saes, M., C. Bressler, R. Abela, D. Grolimund, S.L. Johnson, P.A. Heimann, and M. Chergui, "Observing photochemical transients by ultrafast x-ray absorption spectroscopy," Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(4), 047403 (January 2003).
Spolenak, R., W.L. Brown, N. Tamura, A.A. MacDowell, R.S. Celestre, H.A. Padmore, B.C. Valek, J.C. Bravman, T. Marieb, H. Fujimoto, B.W. Batterman, and J.R. Patel, "Local plasticity of Al thin films as revealed by x-ray microdiffraction," Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(9), 096102 (March 2003).
Walden, H., M. Podgorski, and B.A. Schulman, "Insights into the ubiquitin transfer cascade from the structure of the activating enzyme for NEDD8," Nature 422(6929), 330 (March 2003).
Young, T.A., B. Delagoutte, J.A. Endrizzi, A.M. Falick, and T. Alber, "Structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknB supports a universal activation mechanism for Ser/Thr protein kinases," Nat. Struct. Biol. 10(3), 168 (March 2003).
3. JOB OPPORTUNTIES AT THE ALS
Listed below are a few ALS-related positions that are currently available. For more detailed information on a specific job, go to the Berkeley Lab Current Job Opportunities Web page (http://cjo.lbl.gov/), type the Job Requisition Number (shown below in parentheses) into the keyword search box, and click on the "GO" button (do not use the "return" key). For a complete listing of ALS-related openings, search on the keywords "Advanced Light Source."
Student Assistant (013359). Summer employment for science and engineering college students. Assist with programmatic activities, such as taking data, working on accelerator hardware, and using the computer for simulations and calculations. Some positions may also include working with scientists and engineers to assist in the design and fabrication of technical components. Other positions may involve performing data entry into various information management systems, assisting technical staff with organization and storage of equipment and supplies within the ALS facility, and performing errands as needed.
Computer Systems Engineer I (013487). Intern position intended to provide a career path as well as build expertise and leadership in an individual with high potential of becoming a permanent member of the Software Engineering staff. Work in a small team-oriented environment to develop and support software controlling accelerator and beamline systems and collecting, managing, and processing scientific data. One-year term with the possibility of renewal and/or conversion to career.
Biophysicist Scientist/Engineer (015593). As a member of the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB), provide technical and scientific support for users at the BCSB at the ALS. Work with BCSB scientists and engineers to develop methodology and instrumentation for collecting and analyzing crystallographic data using synchrotron radiation. Participate on projects involving the structure determination of biological molecules and biomolecular complexes.
4. ALS STAFF PHOTO ON HOME PAGE
ALS staff members gathered atop the booster ring shielding on St. Patrick's Day for the annual staff photo. Check out who's wearing green and who's not at http://www-als.lbl.gov/.
5. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(Contact: Lampo@lbl.gov)
The ALS is currently shut down for planned installations and maintenance. User operations will resume at 8:00 A.M. on Wednesday, April 30, 2003.
Long-term and weekly operations schedules are available on the Web (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/schedules/index.html). Requests for special operations use of the "scrubbing" shift should be sent to Bruce Samuelson (ALS-CR@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. A Web page showing the ring status in real time can be found at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/status/.
ALSNews is a biweekly electronic newsletter to keep users informed about developments at the Advanced Light Source, a national user facility located at Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California. To be placed on the mailing list, send your email address to ALSNews@lbl.gov. We welcome suggestions for topics and content. Submissions are due the Friday before the issue date.
LBNL/PUB-875
Editors: lstamura@lbl.gov, alrobinson@lbl.gov, amgreiner@lbl.gov
This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.