Some of this week's stories

Accident, injury rates plummet in 1995

The laboratory's safety record drew praise from the safety and environment committee of the University of Chicago Board of Governors for Argonne.

In a congratulatory letter to Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim, committee chairman Bide L. Thomas wrote, "Not only has the laboratory's performance improved significantly during the past several years, it is well ahead of the average for all of the national labs and for industry in general. You and everyone else at both Argonne sites can be justifiably proud of your accomplishment."

In 1995, there were a total of 91 cases of recordable injuries at both Argonne sites. The incident rate, based on injuries per 200,000 employee-hours worked, was 1.96. The DOE incident rate for all research contractors was 3.4 in 1994, the most recent year for which full statistics are available.

Of those 91 cases, 30 resulted in days away from work, or days during which an employee could not fully perform his or her duties (lost workdays), resulting in a lost-workday incident rate of 0.65. The DOE contractor rate for 1994 was 1.5. Lost workdays in the Plant Facilities and Services Division fell by 85 percent compared to 1994.

The laboratory goals set by the ESH Division for 1995 were 2.3 for recordable injury rate and 1.10 for the lost workday case rate.

"Our laboratory was a safer place to work last year, yet there were still a significant number of injuries that could have been prevented," said ESH Director Robert Wynveen. Injuries to the hand accounted for the highest percentage of recordable injuries, with shoulder and back injuries a close second. Investigations of injuries have shown that many could have been prevented by better pre-planning and use of correct tools.

The laboratory's safety goal for 1996 is "no injury is acceptable," Wynveen said.

Argonne extras enjoy work
despite `grueling' hours

Diana Thompson (OCF-PRO) worked during the first day of filming and played a member of a SWAT team.

"I had a great time," Thompson said. "I actually got to open and close a car door for Morgan Freeman."

Thompson was on the set for about six or seven hours -- most of the time outdoors -- working on a scene which was shot five or six times. "It was a lot of fun," she said, in spite of the cold weather. "It was great just being able to talk to the stars. They were all very nice and very pleasant."

Sharon Gunter (HR) agreed that even though she put in "two long, long days" as an extra during filming at the Calumet Water Treatment Plant on Chicago's South Side, it was a good time.

Gunter took part in a scene where a laboratory is about to explode. She and played one of the laboratory workers trying frantically to escape before the lab goes up in flames.

"That was a real fun scene," she said. "Some of us made it to the elevator and others didn't and had to stand there and look shocked as the doors closed."

Gunter was amazed at how hard the film crews worked and at what good care they took of the extras. "The responsibility is just humongous," she said.

Sue Benson (DIS) also worked during filming at the water treatment plant.

"It was fun," Benson said, "but it was long and grueling." She got home at 3:30 a.m. both of the days she worked.

In one scene, she pretended to be talking to another extra while passing behind the movie's star Keanu Reeves. She also played one of the workers fleeing the lab before it exploded.

"The best part was meeting such a diverse group of people," Benson said. Among the extras were people just waiting for their big break, as well as others from all walks of life including bankers, lawyers and jewelers, to name a few.

When the two long days were finished, Benson, said, crew members asked the tired and bedraggled extras if they'd be willing to work again when they return to the area in April. Benson said she had to think about it for a few seconds, and answered: "Oh yeah!"

Instrument testing benefits
scientists, manufacturers

In return for expanding the group's capabilities, two companies are getting valuable real-world testing and the cachet attached to a "center of excellence" in chemistry.

A staff exchange in 1994 helped the group and LakeShore Cryotronics, Inc., of Westerville, Ohio, collaborate on the design of a new susceptometer/magnetometer, which measures the magnetic properties of materials. Magnetic studies are one way to determine if a material is a superconductor.

Now installed in Argonne-East's Building 200 and routinely working with specimens no larger than fruit flies, the device can measure the magnetic susceptibility and electrical conductivity of crystals cooled to 1.16 Kelvin (degrees above absolute zero) and magnetic fields up to 50,000 Gauss. Previously, the best equipment available worked at 4.15 K and 10,000 Gauss.

"The difference is enormous in terms of what you can learn," said senior scientist Jack Williams, organic superconductor group leader. "The LakeShore equipment has greatly expanded our capabilities."

LakeShore also benefits from the cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA). In addition to the "field testing," the company has been attempting to crack the chemistry market -- their strength has been physicists -- and benefits from having their susceptometer/magnetometer used by a well-known and highly cited group of chemists. In the last 18 months, his group has discovered 21 ambient-pressure organic superconductors, nearly doubling the number of such materials known.

`Best in the world'

This year, the organic superconductor group was selected by the industrial automation division of Siemens AG, the German industrial giant, to test their latest and most sensitive X-ray diffractometer. Siemens recognized Argonne as a center of excellence in X-ray diffraction.

X-rays are used to determine the arrangement of atoms in crystals -- in this case, of organic conductors and superconductors. A beam of X-rays is focused on a crystal, and the beam scatters from the specimen's atoms, forming a pattern of dots. By analyzing the pattern, scientists can deduce the atomic structure of the sample. The crystal's atomic structure is used as a blueprint for modifying the internal atomic arrangement and improving its electrical properties.

Siemens' new device, which has a large detector capable of detecting thousands of diffraction dots at a time, is "the best in the world" for some types of analysis, said Urs Geiser (CHM and MSD).

"With our previous diffractometers, it took several hours of exposure to get a pattern," Geiser said. "With the Siemens diffractometer, we had a photograph in 180 seconds." The device will be about 150 times better than anything else available at Argonne -- until the Advanced Photon Source (APS) comes on line.

Even after experiments begin at the huge X-ray machine, sometime in 1997, the Siemens device will still be useful for culling specimens, Williams said. "Beam time" on the big machine will be precious, so researchers will want to screen their specimens on the smaller device to find out which will yield the best results in one of the APS's 70 beam lines.

Fine-tuning a superconductor

Organic superconductors are promising carbon-bearing materials that conduct electricity without resistance when cooled with liquid helium.

Arvind Kini synthesizes the materials, which Hau Wang and John Schlueter (all CHM and MSD) use to grow dozens of crystals of organic superconductors at a time. These crystals are then tested to determine their superconducting properties.

Organic superconductors are less dense than their ceramic and metallic counterparts, a consideration for potential applications where weight is a factor. These materials also have an unrivaled potential for "fine-tuning" of their electrical properties by adjusting the chemistry of the materials used to produce them.

One goal of the group is to raise the "transition temperature" -- the point at which a superconductor loses all electrical resistance. The highest known transition temperature for an organic material, 13K, is still much lower than the highest known transition temperature for a ceramic material, about 130 K. Similarities in their crystal structure suggest that a "high-temperature" organic superconductor may be possible.

"High-temperature superconductors" are ceramic materials with transition temperatures high enough so that liquid nitrogen can be used to cool them. Liquid nitrogen is much less expensive and easier to handle than liquid helium.

Williams and his group prepare crystal samples in long, glass-fronted boxes containing dozens of H--shaped glass tubes, each containing an ounce or two of various solutions. Small black crystals -- large ones may be the size of a raisin -- grow on charged platinum wires suspended in the liquid.

-- Dave Jacqué

Arts at Argonne offers blues,
chamber music in March

The Festetic Quartet will perform pieces by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert on Sunday, March 17, at 3 p.m. in the APS Conference Center Auditorium (Building 402).

Tickets for the chamber music concert are $15 and go on sale in Argonne-East's Building 213 cafeteria the week of March 11 from noon to 1 p.m. Tickets can be ordered immediately by sending a check along with name and address to Arts at Argonne, Building 203, Room R202. Remaining tickets will be sold at the auditorium box office before the performance.

Junior Wells will bring his eight-piece band to Blues Fest VI on Friday, March 29, at 8 p.m. in the Building 213 cafeteria. Tickets are $10 and go on sale in Argonne-East's Building 213 cafeteria the week of March 11 and March 25 from noon to 1 p.m. Tickets can be ordered immediately by sending a check along with name and address to Arts at Argonne, Building 203, Room R202. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door before the performance.

Hull named `R&D Star to Watch'

Hull is manager of the superconductivity applications section of Argonne's Energy Technology Division. The section researches practical ways to use the materials.

Hull's recent work has concentrated on applications for high-temperature superconductors, materials that conduct electricity without resistance. His work has included development of superconducting current leads, an energy storage flywheel, and research into electromagnetic control of continuous metal casting.

For his research in this field, Hull won the University of Chicago's Distinguished Performance Award in 1995, the highest honor the university awards to an Argonne employee.

Colloquium canceled

The next colloquium in the "Partners in Progress: Science, Technology and Society" series will be "What They Don't Teach You in Engineering School" by Norman R. Augustine on April 16.

Computer users to meet

The agenda includes:

* Update on high-volume/high-speed printer replacement

* New microfiche service

* Adjustment of attended operation shift schedules

* Access to the new tape management system data

* Access to the new ECT services accounting system data.

The CUG usually meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 3 p.m. in Building 221, Room A216. Meetings are open to all interested ANL and DOE employees.

To subscribe to the CUG mailing list, send "subscribe cuglist e_address" in the body of an email message to Majordomo@ra.anl.gov. Replace "e_address" with a valid email address.

Additional CUG information is available in newsgroup anl.committees.cug and on the World Wide Web as http://www.anl.gov/CUG/home.html.

Send topic suggestions to Pat Garner (PLGarner@anl.gov, ext. 2-4872). Send mailing list questions to Ken Miles (KJMiles@anl.gov, ext. 2-3095).

Diversity workshops
offered to managers

Presented by Deborah Ashton of the Human Resources Diversity Program Office, workshops will examine the supervisor's responsibility in providing equal employment opportunities in the workplace. Sessions will also include information on discriminatory harassment (including sexual harassment) complying with Americans with Disabilities Act and cultural diversity.

All Argonne-East supervisors and managers are encouraged to attend one of the dates listed below. All sessions will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Argonne-East Building 203 auditorium. To enroll, contact Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410.

Dates:

Thursday, March 7

Tuesday, March 12

Wednesday, March 20

Tuesday, March 26

Wednesday, April 3

Wednesday, April 10

Tax forms ready
at TIS libraries

New this year is an IRS publication titled 1995 Federal Tax Forms in a CD-ROM format. The CD-ROM can be checked out for overnight use by employees and can be requested through the AIM system.

IPD-TIS librarians have identified a number of World Wide Web sites that offer federal and state tax forms and publications. To connect to these sites, access the IPD-TIS home page at www.ipd.anl.gov/tis and select IPD-TIS PATH:finders. To obtain a printed list of the Web site addresses, call any TIS library.

Monday, March 4

Chemistry Division Monday Morning Seminar Series: "Femtosecond Laser Studies of Simple Chemical Reactions in Solution: Comparisons with Gas Phase Processes" by Robin Hochstrasser, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.

Chemistry Seminar listed as March 4 in the ANL Calendar has been postponed to Monday, April 8. "Materials Chemistry at Argonne" by Dieter Gruen, Monday, April 8, 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.

High Energy Physics Division Theoretical Physics Seminar: "Multiple Parton Interactions in 2-Photon Collisions" by Manuel Drees, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2 p.m., Bldg. 362, Conference Room E188.

Physics Division Seminar: "Decay Out From the Superdeformed Band ¹⁹²Hg" by Araceli Lopez-Martens, CSNSM, Orsay, France. 3:30 p.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room R150.

Tuesday, March 5

OTD/Engineering Research Colloquium: "Revitalizing Nuclear Science and Technology in America" by Alan E. Waltar, Immediate Past-President, The American Nuclear Society. 10 a.m., Bldg. 208, Conference Room C234.

Environmental Research Division Seminar: "Applications of PCR and RT-PCR in Analyzing Pollution Control Systems" by Charles F. Kulpa, Professor of Microbiology and Director, Center for Bioengineering and Pollution Control, University of Notre Dame, Ind. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room E142.

Physics Division Atomic Physics Seminar: "Australian X-Ray Physics and the Advanced Photon Source" by Chris Chantler, University of Melbourne, Australia. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room R150.

Spring 1996 ACCA Biology Seminar Series: "Reproductive Toxicology (Teratology)" by Debra Kirchner, University of Illinois, Chicago. 7 p.m., Bldg. 223 Auditorium.

Wednesday, March 6

Materials Science Division Seminar: "Surface Phenomena in Liquid Alkanes and Their Mixtures" by Xiao Z. Wu, Northern Illinois University and MSD. 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Chemistry Division Seminar: "Computer Modeling Study of Heme Proteins: Confirmational Substrates and Bimolecular Reaction Rates" by Chong Zheng, Department of Chemistry, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.

High Energy Physics Division Seminar: "The Perturbative Resummed Series for Top-Quark Production" by Harry Contopanagos, (HEP). 11 a.m., Bldg. 362, Conference Room F108.

Friday, March 8

Environmental Assessment Division Seminar: "Our Environmental Values: The Role of Research" by Don Coursey, Dean of the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. 9 a.m., Bldg. 900, Conference Room J01.

Chemistry Division Seminar: "The Multielection Excited State: New Alternative for Solar Energy Conversion" by D. Mochra, Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 200, Conference Room J183.

IPNS Division Seminar: "Building Nanostructure in Molecules and Materials" by Jeffrey S. Moore, Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana. 11 a.m., Bldg. 360, Conference Room A224.

Physics Colloquium: "Dynamics of Vortices in Superconductors" by George Crabtree, (MSD). 11 a.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.

Monday, March 11

Chemistry Division Monday Morning Seminar Series: "Enhanced Optical Processes on Silver" by Therese Cotton, Maria Goeppert-Mayer Distinguished Scholar (CHM). 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.

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Story ideas, comments and suggestions are welcome. The Argonne News office is in Building 201, room 2Q-02 (OPA-201). The fax number is ext. 2-5274. Send E-mail to Argonne News editor Dave Jacque.

Seminar listings: Send by inter-office mail to Evie Fagan, Building 201, room 2U-09 (OPA-201). Fax to ext. 2-5274, or send by E-mail.

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