The Crab Nebula is the result of an exploding star — a supernova — that was seen in 1054 AD. Nuclear reactions involving rare, unstable isotopes occur in the universe in novae and supernovae; these reactions create all the heavy elements up to uranium. Physicists at Argonne and the University of Notre Dame have begun a new collaborative project to explore and explain the physics of rare nuclear isotopes. Photo by the FORS Team, European Southern Observatory.

Oct. 24, 2005 -- Some of this week's stories:

Argonne, Notre Dame to study rare isotopes

Physicists at Argonne and the University of Notre Dame have begun a new collaborative project to explore and explain the physics of rare nuclear isotopes.

The collaboration, "Advancing Nuclear Theory for a Rare Isotope Accelerator: Nuclear Structure and Reactions for Astrophysics," will include joint research efforts as well as exchanges of scientists, post-doctoral students, and graduate students during the three-year, first phase of the program.

Rare nuclear isotopes are extremely short-lived. The cosmic processes that create the chemical elements, fuel the sun and stars and make life possible on Earth stem from these rare isotopes. The Department of Energy is proposing to build a Rare Isotope Accelerator to create these exotic isotopes and help answer key scientific questions about the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets; Argonne is a candidate site for that facility.

The Argonne-Notre Dame collaboration will explore the role of rare nuclear isotopes in astrophysical phenomena, including supernovae, colliding neutron stars and nuclear processes, such as solar burning. Many of the nuclei that participated in the evolution of our galaxy have never been made on earth, and theories to describe them are not yet quantitatively reliable.

"Experimental and theoretical efforts in this direction represent great challenges and opportunities for nuclear science in coming years," said Argonne Director Robert Rosner.

The initiative will also provide positions for two new postdoctoral fellows, one at each site, support graduate training schools with hands-on research, support research symposia and workshops, and attract distinguished visiting scholars to Argonne and Notre Dame. The initiative will lay the foundation for nuclear theory research on specific astrophysical problems and refined theoretical methods that will be of use far into the future. It will strengthen the skills and knowledge base of both the nuclear physics and astrophysics communities and will expand the interaction between them.

The theory groups at Argonne and Notre Dame have complementary expertise in nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure. Both sites also have strong experimental nuclear physics programs. "Consequently, in bringing Argonne and Notre Dame closer together, this initiative materially strengthens the capacity for growth and productivity in nuclear physics," Rosner said.

Both Argonne and Notre Dame are members of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics. The initiative's programs will be coordinated with those of the National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center.

Performance appraisal process enters next phase

All employees have had data entry access to their own performance appraisals Oct. 3 -17. During that time, each employee could enter a draft assessment of his or her own work during the past year and enter suggested goals.

Next, supervisors will edit and complete performance appraisal documents and submit them to the second-level supervisors for approval. Later, each employee will receive an e-mail letting him or her know when the completed and approved performance appraisal is available to view or print.

Supervisors

At this point in the performance appraisal process most supervisors are completing the performance appraisals. A variety of information is available on the Web application to support them in this process. Supervisors can view the Position Description, the Job Hazard Questionnaire and the Training Profile for each of their supervisees. If an employee has uploaded a formal statement of accomplishments, the supervisor can also view that file. Matrix input is also available through the Web application if a supervisor has requested it.

More information on how supervisors complete their responsibilities is available on Inside Argonne.

Curtain rises on Argonne chamber music series

The Red Priest group will perform at Argonne's Building 402 Conference Center Saturday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m., the first concert in Arts at Argonne's 2005-2006 chamber music concert series.

The group performs largely from memory, which allows freedom and interaction. The program is drawn from many baroque sources to create a wide range of moods and colors.

The concert is open to the public. Visitors who are U.S. citizens need photo identification to enter the site, and should call to register before the concert. Non-U.S. citizens must register before the event by calling (630) 252-3751 during business hours.

Sponsored by Arts at Argonne, the program is partially supported by the University of Chicago and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Admission is $25. To order tickets, call ext. 2-3751 or mail a request using the online ticket request form. Remaining tickets will be available the week of Oct. 24 in the Building 213 Cafeteria between noon and 1 p.m.

The 2005 - 2006 chamber music series will include:

Arnaldo Cohen, pianist, on Saturday, Nov. 19.

Adaskin String Trio with Thomas Gallant, oboe, on Sunday, Feb. 26.

St. Lawrence String Quartet on Saturday, March 25.

Martin Bruns, tenor, and Brian Zeger, piano, on Friday, April 22.

Mannsfeld named deputy to the director

Kelly Mannsfeld has been appointed deputy to the director, effective Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Mannsfeld will strengthen the directorate, will help to maintain strong laboratory management during the upcoming competition for the Argonne contract and will play a key role in implementing the directorate's vision for the post-competition laboratory.

"Kelly brings a deep and genuine concern for employees through a wealth of experience within the national laboratory system and in the private sector," said Argonne Director Robert Rosner. "That experience will be vital as we strive to make Argonne the best laboratory it can be."

Mannsfeld's previous position was associate director for administration at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). She served as a member of the Director's Council, the decision-making body for the laboratory, and as the contract officer for matters relating to the prime contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

She also served as Jefferson Lab's director of Human Resources and Services from 2000-2002.

Choral Group rehearsals under way

The Argonne Choral Group has begun rehearsals for a performance at the Veteran's Recognition Ceremony in November and its 25th year of performing a holiday program in December.

New voices are always welcome to join returning singers; contact Harry Bell (PFS-DR) at ext. 2-9625.

Google makes finding online information easier

The "search" functions on Argonne's internal and external Web pages are now powered by Google, which should speed the process of finding information on the laboratory's many thousands of Web pages.

There are actually two "search engines" indexing the content on Argonne's Web site:

Employees can access the internal search engine available on Inside Argonne (http://inside.anl.gov) or at http://search.anl.gov. That search engine indexes internal pages — those behind the firewall and only accessible to employees — and Argonne's publicly accessible pages.

The search box on the Argonne home page (www.anl.gov) and at http://public-search.anl.gov will index only publicly accessible pages. It will not, for example, find manuals or benefits information intended for employee use.

Library doubles subscriptions to journals

The Argonne Library has doubled the number of scientific journals available to the laboratory's researchers.

Through a special licensing package negotiated by a group of national laboratory libraries, more than 1,300 journals published by Springer are now available to researchers in electronic form from their office computers, for the same annual cost the laboratory had been paying previously for 75 Springer print titles.

The addition of more than 1,200 new Springer titles more than doubles the number of journal titles made available by the Argonne Library.  Both current and back issues are available in electronic form, with archival access for Springer titles going back 10 to 100 years, depending on the title.

A list of the Springer journal collection, showing the extent of the archival access for each title, is available at  http://www.springerlink.com/.  The new journals will be added to the library catalog by Sunday, Oct. 30.

Kearney Rd. speed limit now 15 mph

The speed limit on Kearney Road south of Rock Road has been reduced from 30 mph to 15 mph to reduce vibration that may affect the Center for Nanoscale Materials.

The lower speed limit will also enhance safety in the construction area.

Signs with the new speed limit have been posted. The new limit will remain in force indefinitely.

Local college offers on-site registration

Joliet Junior College will offer registration at Argonne for its spring 2006 term Monday, Nov. 14.

College representatives will be available in Building 201, Room 172, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to register and advise students for spring 2006 classes. Employees must bring completed and approved educational assistance forms (ANL-89) to the registration.

Call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410 for more information.

Recycled paint gets good grades during evaluation

An Argonne team recently conducted a pilot project to evaluate the use of a remanufactured paint, made from post-consumer and secondary waste paint.

Post-consumer latex paint comes from collection sites and participating contractors. Secondary paint includes mis-tints and overstocked supply from factories and distributors.

The paint is sorted, strained and re-blended with virgin materials and additives creating a low-cost, post-consumer paint. Recycled paint also is low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which minimizes exposure of workers to chemicals and minimizes odors in the work area. Remanufactured paint is about half of the cost of new paint.

The Argonne team comprised Omar Karim (PFS); Mary Malik, industrial hygiene technician, (EQO); Jim Woodring (EQO), industrial hygienist; and Gregg Kulma (EQO), Argonne's pollution prevention/waste minimization coordinator. The team evaluated the paint to assess ease of application, coverage, spatter, color consistency, drying time, clean-up, odor and VOC emission.

Argonne can benefit from using remanufactured latex paint products because it can help fulfill mandated recycling efforts while decreasing cost, protecting workers and office occupants, and meeting the need for quality.

Contact Kulma at ext. 2-9147 to learn more about using remanufactured paint.

Seminar to focus on how to prevent identity theft

"Understanding your Credit Report to Prevent Identity Theft" will be the subject of a seminar sponsored by the Argonne Credit Union Wednesday, Nov. 2.

The seminar will begin at 7 p.m. at the Hyatt Lisle Hotel. The seminar will focus on preventing identity theft, handling credit report disputes and myths about credit report scoring.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Seats can be reserved online or at the Argonne Credit Union.

CIS classes

Computing classes offered by the Computing and Information Systems Division are held in Building 201, Room 167C. Unless otherwise noted, classes cost $225 and are limited to eight participants. Complete class descriptions, schedules and enrollment forms are online. For more information about enrollment procedures, contact Diane Cavazos (CIS) at ext. 2-7153 or dkcavazos@anl.gov.

Classes offered in November will include:

"Intermediate Word 2003" (CIS123) — Monday, Nov. 7, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Prerequisite: Introduction to Word.

"Intermediate Excel 2003" (CIS126) — Tuesday, Nov. 8, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Prerequisite: Introduction to Excel.

"Intermediate Access 2003" (CIS129) — Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Prerequisite: Introduction to Access.

"Introduction to PowerPoint 2003" (CIS131) — Thursday, Nov. 10, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

"Advanced PowerPoint 2003" (CIS132) — Friday, Nov. 11, 8:30 a.m. _ 4:30 p.m. Prerequisite: Introduction to PowerPoint.

"Beginning Unix" (CIS564) — Tuesday, Nov. 15, 9 a.m. - noon is the first session. Wednesday, Nov. 16, 9 a.m. _ noon is the second session. There is no cost for this course.

"vi Editor in Unix" (CIS567) — Friday, Nov. 18, 9 a.m. - noon. There is no cost for this course. Prerequisite: A general knowledge of Unix, especially Unix file management commands.

Employees' children eligible for scholarships

Under the University of Chicago/Argonne Scholarship Plan, children of full-time, regular Argonne employees are eligible to compete for full tuition scholarships.

To be awarded a scholarship, the student must be accepted for freshman-level admission to The University of Chicago and must be among the most qualified applicants from Argonne families, as judged by The University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago application and verification forms are available in the Division of Educational Programs (DEP), Division Office, Building 223, Room M-125 or by calling Carol Reynolds at ext. 2-4114. Students may also fill out the Basic Information Form and the application online at uncommonapplication.uchicago.edu.

Students who wish to compete for a scholarship are required to complete a verification form that must be validated by DEP to be accepted by the university. The verification form must be received no later than Thursday, Dec. 1.

The university will continue to provide one-half tuition remission to dependent children of full-time, regular Argonne employees. Students must be admitted for study in the college or the laboratory schools of the university.

For information on the tuition remission program, call Performance Development in Human Resources at ext. 2-3410. For information about University of Chicago admissions, call (773) 702-0231.

Argonne News deadline moves to Friday at 5 p.m.

Starting with the Monday, Nov. 7 issue of Argonne News , the deadline for news, seminar listings and classified ads will be Friday at 5 p.m.

The deadline will be subject to change due to holidays. See schedule below.

Issue	Deadline is 5 p.m. on:	Issue	Deadline is 5 p.m. on:
Nov. 7	Friday, Oct. 28	Dec. 5	Wednesday, Nov. 23
Nov. 21	Friday, Nov. 11	Dec. 19	Wednesday, Dec. 16

Fermilab seeks help for annual seed harvest

The Fermilab Prairie Project needs volunteers for its annual prairie seed harvest Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Seeds will be used to help revive native grasslands destroyed during the area's settlement in the 19th century. More than 1,100 acres of tallgrass prairie have been reconstructed at Fermilab. Some of the seeds will be used to restore prairie areas at Argonne.

A picnic lunch will be provided. Volunteers should wear field clothing and gloves and bring hand clippers and paper grocery bags if possible.

Currently, visitors are required to show a driver's license. Enter on Pine Street and follow the signs to the harvest sites. Large groups should notify lootens@fnal.gov.

For more information, call Fermilab's Public Affairs Office at (630) 840-3351. In case of bad weather, call the Fermilab switchboard at (630) 840-3000.

Retirement vendors to visit Argonne

The laboratory's retirement vendors will send representatives to Argonne during November. To schedule an appointment, call the number listed.

Fidelity — Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Tuesday, Nov. 22. Call the appointment desk at (800) 642-7131.

TIAA-CREF — Thursday, Nov. 3, and Friday, Nov. 4. Call the appointment desk at (800) 842-2005 or www.tiaa-cref.org/moc.

Prudential — Wednesday, Nov. 16. Call Cheryl at the appointment desk at (630) 285-8876.

Speakers' resources updated

Argonne's educational programs for K-12 students and teachers are the subject of new text, PowerPoint and video files that are now available on Inside Argonne as a resource for employees giving presentations on this or related topics.

These materials, originally prepared for Argonne Director Robert Rosner's presentation to the Illinois Association of School Boards, DuPage Division, are the latest additions to a growing library of resources for Argonne speakers.

The full collection of materials is online at www.inside.anl.gov/resources/speakers/.

Party to celebrate Halloween

The Argonne Club will hold a Halloween party Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Building 617 Lower Level from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

The party will feature costume contests. Cover is $3. Adult beverages and food will be available.

All visitors must be badged by the Argonne Information Center prior to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the Argonne Club Web site.

'Fall back' on Oct. 30

Daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. The Argonne Fire Department reminds employees to check the batteries in their home smoke detectors.

In 2007, daylight-saving time will begin at 2 a.m. March 11, and end 2 a.m. Nov. 4.