October 22, 1999
 
Runaround XXII
Still as much fun as 22 years ago
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Jumping Through International Hoops

 

Runaround XXII—&
Still as much fun as 22 years ago

By Monica Friedlander

It was back in 1978 that Harvey Levy first bounced around the notion of organizing a labwide foot-race. "I hope you and your 12 friends have a good time," a colleague told him.

As it turned out, Levy's "friends" numbered in the hundreds -- and his somewhat skeptical colleague gave up smoking to shape up for Ber-keley Lab's first "Runaround."

Just like they do now, the participants took off at the Firehouse and then huffed and puffed, laughed, cheered and competed their way up and down the rolling Berkeley Lab hills in an event that would instantly turn into the Lab's best attended social event of the year.

More than two decades later, little seems to have changed. As the 700-plus runners, walkers and bikers gathered at the starting line last Friday on a hot Indian summer day, the same mix of competitiveness, goofiness and good old-fashioned fun prevailed.

This year's champions are Gregory Hura, with a time of 10 minutes and 8.3 seconds, and Jamie Bascom, with 11 minutes and 27.4 seconds. Both work in the Life Sciences Division. Hura also won the race last year, and Bascom holds the distinction of having the second-best time for a woman in the Runaround's history. The only woman to have ever finished faster was Sarah Tabbutt, who won four years in a row from 1982 to 1985.

Stephen Derenzo, who has coordinated the Runaround for all but its first couple of years, says participation has increased over the years as more walkers joined in.
"I remember when three people in our building ran and everyone else was cheering," Derenzo says. "Now no one is cheering. Everyone's walking or running."

Derenzo credits growing institutional and administrative support at the Lab with the long-term success of the event. "It's more and more official and organized," he says. "It has become part of Lab culture. Staff is assigned from the Employee Activities Association, the roads are closed to traffic. We have the administration to thank for that. Even the decorations and refreshments are better. We had $1000's worth of refreshments this year. Harvey [Levy] would have fallen off his chair."

Levy, however, was more than happy with the support he got the very first time around. In fact, it was then-Lab Director Andy Sessler who made it possible for Levy to turn his idea into reality. Serendipitously, the two of them literally ran into each other while Sessler was finishing an exhausting run in Tilden Park.

"I approached him when he was in a weakened state," Levy jokes. "He thought it was a great idea. He just gave me carte blanche to do whatever I needed, and the rest is history."

Levy put together a proposal, picked a course -- one that's challenging enough for the serious runners yet manageable for the novices -- found someone (George Kapus) to design the logo and T-shirts, and even organized a raffle to help defray the costs. This was no small undertaking. "He did more work than I liked," quipped his boss, Paul Stagnaro, a technical supervisor in Facilities. "But it was well worth it."



Berkeley Lab's first Runaround was held in 1978. First across the finish line was Bryan Tracy, in 9 minutes and 25 seconds. And a spiffy electric car served as official "pace car." Photo by Don Fike

* * *



The winners this year were Jamie Bascom and Gregory Hura (being congratulated by Pier Oddone).

Sessler was not the only high profile participant that first year. Among others, Glenn Seaborg jumped on Levy's bandwagon in 1978. In later years he did not take part in the actual race, but stayed involved in various capacities, such as official starter. Sometimes he would give startled bystanders a chuckle by jumping through the finish line and having his picture taken, arms up in victory -- all in the spirit of fun. Last Friday, before the awarding of prizes, Derenzo asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence in memory of the 1951 Nobel Prize winner and Run-around supporter who passed away early this year.

Now a corporate consultant, Levy stayed at the Lab for only a couple of years after starting the Runaround. But his approach to the event prevails to this day. What Levy wanted was to create a fun event, not merely an athletic race. "I tried desperately to make it a joke," he says. "They had a run at Livermore, but it looked too serious. I wanted to take the seriousness out of it and at the same time give runners a chance to get involved."

Levy was a little amused, in fact, when his successor brought professional expertise to the venture. "He brought measuring tape and I thought it was funny. We didn't care, we just had fun."

Derenzo, a scientist who works at the Center for Functional Imaging, is a serious marathon runner himself. At the time he took over the Runaround he was already involved with organizing local club races and had the know-how to organize an event of this scope.

"The race needed good time keeping and results, and someone who knew about the technical aspects of accurate measurements," he says.

He first measured the course with a measuring wheel, then upgraded the battery timers and eventually wrote a computer program for accurate time-keeping, which is being used to this day. Derenzo's stewardship of the event doesn't end until literally the very last minute. Even on the day of the event he gets an early start: he first marks the course with his 25-pound flour sack, then checks to make sure everything is on track organization-wise, and finally gives participants instructions before jumping into the starting line himself.

"To his credit," Levy says, "[Derenzo] maintained the goofiness of the Runaround. He did a fine job and drew people in."

To this day the Runaround still has what Levy calls "the categories of absurdity" -- from best legs and best biceps to best costume and most pregnant woman. The logo in 1978 was the frog, and in addition to the champion frogs, awards included "Top Frog" to Andrew Sessler and "Nobel Frog" to Glenn Seaborg for their support of the event. Levy rented a frog costume of his own, but as luck would have it, the founder of the Runaround was sidelined with an injury right before the event and had to settle for cheering everyone else on -- in frog costume, nonetheless.



Runaround coordinator Stephen Derenzo
assesses the entry for the best biceps competition.

Derenzo remembers the whimsical atmosphere continuing over the years, with such memorable entries as Mark Phillips, who in 1986 ran the entire race backwards, signed his name backwards at the finish line, and had his name printed backwards on the official results list.

The light-hearted approach, however, was never meant to undermine the seriousness of the race for the elite runners who give it their all to be first across the finish line. Moreover, Derenzo says, the Runaround gives everyone -- from the marathon runner to the casual walker -- a reason to stay in shape and become involved.

"When people plan a race, they think about it for months ahead of time. Even for three kilometers they put in 30 kilometers for preparation. It's a big motivating factor."

Although the Runaround appears to grind along like a well-oiled machine -- which it largely does -- Derenzo worries that people may take things for granted. "The organizational structure is more fragile than people think," he says. "There are countless people involved. And even at the best of times there is always a crisis of some kind." This year, for example, the organizers had to rent chairs and tables at the last minute when they could not be obtained from the regular source.

Over the past few years the event has added a non-competitive Bikearound as well, which starts half an hour before the main event. Meanwhile, some other modes of transportation, such as rollerblading, popular in 1978, have been eliminated for safety reasons.

Regardless of the individual approach to the Runaround, everyone agrees that what makes the event such a success is the community spirit it engenders. Whether the participants are retirees or competitive marathon runners, store keepers or Nobel Prize winners, during the Runaround they're all in it together.

"The Runaround creates a sense of family," Levy says. "At least for one day, people are in it elbow to elbow."

Full Runaround results will soon be pos-ted on the Runaround website at http://cfi.lbl.gov/~derenzo/runaround/.

Runaround Thanks:

  • Runaround coordinator: Stephen Derenzo
  • EAA representative: Kathy Gray
  • Protective Services: Don Bell
  • Prizes and water table staff: USE credit union
  • Official starter: Pier Oddone
  • Publicity: Public Information Department
  • T-shirt design: Flavio Robles
  • Radio crew organizer:Alan Biocca
  • Awards and results tabulation chair: Mary Clary
  • Course monitor organizer: Mike Bouchard
  • First aid table: Barbara Brown and Judy Kody
  • Refreshments committee chair: Mary Oxnam
  • Decorations committee chair: Dorothy Parker
  • Finisher card committee chair: Anne Fleming
  • T-shirt distribution committee chair: Sam Vanecek
  • Finish area setup committee chair: Richard Dicely
  • Finish area band: Steve Blair and company
  • Timing committee chair: Jimmie Johnson
  • Pencil table committee chair: Del Thomas

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty:
Jumping Through International Hoops

By Paul Preuss

Even before the U.S. Senate's failure last week to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the political challenges of monitoring nuclear testing around the world were proving more intricate than the technical challenges -- politics among the treaty's 155 signatory nations, and among the 201 staff members of the Treaty Organization's Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) as well.

Earlier this year, Deb Agarwal of the Lab's Information and Computing Sciences Division served as a "cost-free expert" on information technology, on loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to PrepCom's Provisional Technical Secretariat. After a stay this spring in Vienna, where the treaty organization is headquartered, and another visit last month, Agarwal has a new appreciation of how things get done in the international arena.



Deb Agarwal
Agarwal was in Vienna to advise on the practicality, economy and security of `reliable multicasting,' a method of transmitting data to multiple receivers at once and retransmitting, if necessary, to insure that nothing is lost. "I reported to the people responsible for setting up the Global Communication Infrastructure, the private network that will transmit data from the detecting stations to the International Data Center."

Eventually more than 321 sensors will feed data to the International Data Center through dedicated earth stations and satellites. Fifty primary seismic monitoring stations around the world will transmit continuously, backed up by another 120 stations sending sample information; 11 hydroacoustic stations will pick up sounds transmitted great distances underwater. Sixty "infrasound" arrays will receive low-frequency sound waves carried primarily through the ground, and 80 radionuclide stations will sample the air.

"Originally the idea was that all this data would flow directly from each sensor to the International Data Center, where it would be analyzed and then shared with all the states that requested it -- that's called the `basic topology,'" says Agarwal. "Then some countries wanted a `partitioned subnetwork' -- the network hook-up would be the same, but national centers would get the data, then forward it to the international center. In an `independent subnetwork,' each state would maintain its own network from the sensors to their national center, and then forward the data to the international center."

Every extra link in the chain increases the chance of transmission error or failure; since the treaty demands overall reliability of 98 percent, each link must be more than 99.5 percent reliable. This seemed an obvious job for reliable multicasting.

"The network people were thrilled with the idea," Agrawal continued, "so I started to write up a preliminary report for the May meeting of PrepCom's technical working group. Then the International Data-Center people said, `Wait a minute. If this data goes to more than one receiver, it could end up going straight to some of the subscriber countries without going through us. The treaty says we're supposed to be the central site.'"

The result was a "two-week-long, knock-down, drag-out fight to keep me from even presenting the preliminary report," Agarwal says. "These guys were fighting for their place in the verification system and were concerned that they might appear to be advocating a technology that was against the treaty."

Although Agarwal's preliminary report was finally published at the meeting, "I had brought up a lot of politically sensitive things unintentionally by suggesting multiple receivers of the data," she says. "Governing bodies in some countries had been persuaded to sign the treaty on the basis that their data was going to an international center. Raw sensor data can reveal a lot of things one country may not want another country to know about right away, besides nuclear explosions -- earthquakes or troop movements or reactor accidents, for example."

After the May meeting, Agarwal completed her study. Multicast technology proved to work well in the organization's network; although its potential cost savings were minimal, its great advantage was reliability -- even if confined to transmitting data to the International Data Center and a country's own data center.

"Still, the fight over publishing that report was even harder than over the first one," Agarwal says, and the upshot was that her expert services were temporarily declined by the Provisional Technical Secretariat, "because they didn't want to be seen as pushing this technology."

Agarwal attended the September Working Group meeting as a member of the U.S. delegation -- her report made available only because the task leader of the communications group added it as a 14-page amendment to the group's agenda. Despite support from this quarter, however, Agarwal was sure that reliable multicasting would fall victim to international nerves and internal turf wars. "I really thought my report had killed it."

Then, on the last day of the meeting, "a member of one of the European delegations came up to me and said, `Deb, we want to use multicasting for our station's data.'" Since they had to establish a link from the station to their own data center, in addition to the link to the International Data Center, they saw multicasting as an opportunity to get the data to both places reliably and save money, too. Agarwal hopes that if this national multicasting experiment can be put in place, it may serve to allay the fears of other nations.

Is the effort still worthwhile, now that the U.S. has refused to ratify a treaty that cannot officially go into effect without that ratification?

"Whether every country has ratified the treaty or not, once the International Monitoring System is in place and the Global Communications Infrastructure and International Data Center are up and running, no nuclear explosion anywhere in the world should escape notice," says Agarwal. "That's something worth doing by itself. It is still my hope despite the recent setback that the treaty will obtain the necessary ratifications and enter into force."

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Committee's Home Page is at http://www.ctbto.org/. The U.S. Department of Energy's research and development program on behalf of the treaty is detailed at http://www.ctbt.rnd.doe.gov/ctbt/. For more about Deb Agarwal's experiences with the PrepCom, see her report on "CTBTO Cost-Free Multicasting Expert" and related links at http://www-itg.lbl.gov/~deba/CTBTO/.

UC Health Initiative

Lab to lend expertise to
multidisciplinary health research project

By Ron Kolb

Berkeley Lab will play a significant role in a bold new initiative in health sciences research announced recently by the University of California at Berkeley.

Promising to "help set the national agenda for health sciences in the new century," UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl announced the Health Sciences Initiative at a press conference on Oct. 6. The half-billion-dollar proposal will unite physical and biological scientists and engineers to enhance human health in a variety of ways.

The initiative will pay for two new buildings, to be built on campus at a cost of $300 million, and will involve as many as 400 researchers -- both current UC employees and new hires from the fields of biology, public health, psychology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science.

"This will be a new way of doing health science, a new approach to the pursuit of discovery," Berdahl said. "This is innovative, boundary-crossing research that brings together traditionally separate fields to solve some of the most important health problems." Outcomes could include new developments in cancer treatment and medical imaging, therapies for brain and spinal cord injuries, and the understanding and treatment of genetic and infectious diseases and the onset of dementias in old age.

Berdahl and other speakers at the news conference cited Berkeley Lab several times as a facility critical to the success of the program by bringing both scientific expertise and world-class instrumentation to the collaboration.

Executive Vice Chancellor Carol Christ credited Laboratory Director Charles Shank with the vision that helped catalyze the initiative.

"Chuck ShankÖsaid something a few years ago that has often resonated in my mind," Christ said. "He said the greatest challenges of twentieth century science came from reducing problems to their most fundamental elements; the great challenges of twenty-first century science will come from understanding complexity. We want to create the circumstances that allow our scientists to meet the challenges of understanding complexity."

She also noted, "The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab will provide an enormously powerful set of tools and capabilities, ranging from the genome project to the Advanced Light Source."

Among those participating in the announcement as part of the Health Sciences Initiative were Berkeley Lab's Alexander Pines, Tom Budinger and Ron Gronsky, all of whom hold joint appointments on campus. Deputy Director Pier Oddone and Physical Biosciences Division Director Graham Fleming also attended. Key initiative researchers include Carolyn Bertozzi and Eva Nogales.

Material scientist Ron Gronsky spoke about the engineering challenges inherent in the initiative's objectives, including advances in imaging, bioinformatics, micro-electromechanical systems, and robots. "We are so fortunate to have a national laboratory with us, that allows us to do things that very few others are able to do," he said.



Alexander Pines was among the
speakers at the Oct. 6 press
conference announcing UC's Health
Sciences Initiative. Pines, one of
the Lab participants in the project,
highlighted the Laboratory's work
in the cutting-edge areas of nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy
and magnetic resonance imaging.
Pines spoke about his work in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the challenges of characterizing molecular structure. He highlighted his efforts to "brighten the picture of NMR using lasers" in a collaboration with colleague Tom Budinger of the Center for Functional Imaging.

"Tom is pushing the envelope in magnetic fields, pushing the frontier of high-field MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)," Pines said. He also mentioned another lab collaborator, John Clarke, and their combined efforts to develop MRI without magnets, using a new class of detectors.

Budinger noted that the Health Sciences Initiative is special in its involvement with the undergraduate program on campus. "This is being put right into the curriculum," he told reporters. "I claim that here, we're at the forefront. [The Initiative] affects students at a number of levels. The idea of linking mathematics with biology, and bringing these teaching programs together, is unique."

Berdahl said this kind of focus on health sciences research at a campus that has no medical school is unprecedented. "We're at the forefront of a movement that approaches health care through the basic sciences in various disciplines."

Christ referred to the two prospective new buildings as "new communities of scientists. One will combine biologists, physicists, chemists and engineers; the other will bring together faculty in public health, in immunology, and in neuroscience. These new neighborhoods, in which faculty are not contained in their departments, will foster interdisciplinary collaboration."

The Initiative will be implemented over the next four to five years, according to Berdahl. About $124 million in private gifts and state support has already been committed for the public health and neuroscience building, proposed for the west end of campus, and for the molecular engineering and bioengineering building, which will go up on the old Stanley Hall site at the east end.

Open House 2000


After a two-year hiatus, Berkeley Lab's Open House will return in the year 2000 with new themes and an increased emphasis on science careers and education.

Third in a series of public events that open the Laboratory's doors to the community for a day, next year's version will be the first offered in the spring - Saturday, May 6, 2000.

The previous two Open Houses, both held in the fall, drew an estimated 5,000 visitors each to tour the facilities, hear scientific talks and enjoy food and entertainment.

Open House 2000 will do all that, but with a few new twists. A "science festival" will attract students from throughout the region and provide a "passport" experience in four thematic areas -- particles and matter, biology and the genome, home energy and the environment, and computing. A family science tent of interactive activities for younger children will also be available.

In addition, a Job and Career Fair will highlight the opportunities available to prospective employees in many fields of science and scientific support.

Programs and divisions are encouraged to begin planning their participation. A call will be issued soon to identify unit coordinators to work with the Open House Planning Task Force. Finally, volunteers will be sought to contribute to planning and staging activities.

Ideas, advice and questions are welcome and may be sent to Ron Kolb, coordinator for Open House 2000, at [email protected]. Look for more details in future issues of Currents.

News From Other Labs

RHIC Commissioned at Brookhaven

October 4 saw the official commissioning of the $600-million Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The world's newest and biggest particle accelerator for nuclear physics research is a product of an international collaboration that included many scientists and engineers from Berkeley Lab. It is expected to recreate conditions believed to have existed in the universe just after the Big Bang.

"This is a remarkable moment for science," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who was on hand for the commissioning ceremonies. "This new accelerator, which was completed on schedule and on budget, will be the only place in the world where researchers can do this kind of physics."

Said BNL director John Marburger, "We at Brookhaven are thrilled to present to the international science community a world-class facility for the 21st century."

RHIC features a pair of synchrotron rings inside a tunnel 3.8 kilometers (2.4 miles) in circumference. Beams of heavy ions -- atoms stripped of electrons from heavy elements such as gold -- traveling through these rings in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light will be forced to collide, liberating up to 36 trillion electron volts of energy in a volume comparable to that of an atomic nucleus.

This enormous energy density will create new matter at a temperature ten thousand times that of the sun. Such conditions should create a quark-gluon plasma, something that cannot be done at existing accelerator facilities anywhere else in the world.

The information to be extracted from the study of quark-gluon plasmas should have applications not only in nuclear physics, but in particle and astrophysics as well. To acquire this information, RHIC will rely on two giant detectors, STAR and PHENIX, and two smaller detectors, PHOBOS and BRAHMS. STAR, which stands for Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC, is the first to be finished and one of the most complex detectors ever constructed.

Its centerpiece is a large-volume Time Projection Chamber designed and built at Berkeley Lab under the leadership of Jay Marx in the Nuclear Science Division.-- Lynn Yarris

Bench Dedicated in Memory of Earl Hyde



On Monday, Oct. 18, Berkeley Lab dedicated a memorial bench in front of Bldg. 70A in memory of Earl Hyde, esteemed chemist and the Laboratory's first deputy director.

Joining members of Hyde's family at the dedication were current Lab Director Charles Shank (sitting in the middle) and former director Andy Sessler (right, standing).

Hyde, who died on March 3, 1997 at the age of 76, worked at the Lab from 1949 to 1986. Sessler named him to be the Lab's first deputy director in 1973. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

Berkeley Lab a Popular Filming Site

By Paul Preuss

A segment of "At Discovery Canada," a science show that aired recently on the Discovery Channel up north, featured a long segment on the work of Adam Hitchcock at the Advanced Light Source.

Hitchcock, a visiting chemistry professor from McMaster University in Ontario, discussed his work on polymers using soft x-ray microscopy on Beamline 7.0. He also gave an excellent introduction to the principle of synchrotron light, which the show's hosts used to preview the Canadian Light Source now under construction at the University of Saskatchewan. The show can be seen on the web at http://exn.ca/news/video/19990927-atdisco.ram (for Hitchcock's segment, be sure to slide past the first 41 minutes and 30 seconds).

In a separate project, Daniel Shannon and Daphne Pontbriand of Shanda Productions in Montreal, Quebec, visited the lab of Robert Cheng to film a segment for their new series on space flight. Using specially designed experimental gear, Cheng has done combustion research on numerous flights aboard NASA's KC-135 "vomit comet;" in the course of this fundamental research he has become a leading authority on the behavior of fire under conditions of microgravity.

Finally, all the way from Tel Aviv, Israel, came producer Herb Krosney and his crew to film a series on the history of nuclear medicine, destined for the History Channel. Krosney's crew interviewed Al Ghiorso on the roof of Bldg. 71, with the Lab's great historical accelerators, the Bevatron and the 184-Inch Cyclotron (reborn as the ALS) in the background.

Krosney also enlisted the aid of Sheri Brenner of TEID's Audio-Visual Services in locating historic footage of experimental medical techniques using heavy ion beams.

Richardson Calls For Stockpile Program Review

In light of the failure of the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty last week, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has directed DOE Undersecretary Ernest P. Moniz to undertake a comprehensive internal review of the Stockpile Stewardship Program that will assess the fitness of the program's structure "in meeting current and long term needs for certifying the stockpile."

In the post Cold War era, Richardson said, "we are dependent on a new set of facilities and scientific resources" to maintain the nuclear deterrent, a task that will require the Administration and Congress to work together "whether or not a Test Ban Treaty is ratified."

Berkeley Lab Currents

Published twice a month by the Public Information Department for the employees and retirees of Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Ron Kolb, PID department head.

EDITOR: Monica Friedlander, (510) 495-2248, [email protected]

STAFF WRITERS: Paul Preuss, 486-6249; Lynn Yarris, 486-5375

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jon Bashor, X5849; Allan Chen, X4210, Jeffery Kahn, X4019

FLEA MARKET / CALENDAR: Vikki Davis, 486-5771

[email protected] / [email protected]

Public Information Department, Berkeley Lab, MS 65A
One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley CA 94720
Tel: 510/486-5771 Fax: 510/486-6641

Berkeley Lab is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Elements Week

Berkeley Lab will sponsor an "Elements Week" the week of Nov. 1- 5, which will include an Elements Week Symposium for teachers and students on Thursday, Nov. 4. More information is available online at http://www.lbl.gov/ElementsWeek/.

Computer Corner

New Tune-Up Service For Your Computer

Is your computer running a little rough? Has performance fallen off? Does it crash when you need it most? If so, maybe it's time for a desktop tune-up.

The Mac/PC Support Group in the Computing Infrastructure Support Department is now offering just such service that will identify problems and either fix them or suggest corrections. Charlie Verboom, who supervises the group, says the "tune-up" is similar to preventive car maintenance, aimed at keeping things running well and preventing major breakdowns.

"We've identified a number of common conditions on computers that can be annoying in the short run but also very disruptive in the long run," Verboom said. "We use a pretty exhaustive checklist to address these potential problems, as well as take care of a number of related functions at the same time."

The service costs $90 for a one-hour service call, although the price is fixed even if the tune-up takes longer. A similar service will be offered for supported Hewlett-Packard and Apple printers for the same price. Major repairs and parts are not included.

Appointments will be scheduled in between other, more urgent calls as support engineers are available.

Users will also be presented with available options for expanding the capabilities of each computer and recommendations for improvements. Among others, tune-up services include:

  • Removing unnecessary items/ extensions
  • Running tests from Norton Utilities 4
  • Cleaning the memory and disk cache in Navigator and making IMAP mail suggestions
  • Defragmenting the hard drive
  • Upgrading Netscape to the latest version (4.51)
  • Upgrading Microsoft Office 97 to SP2
  • Removing Fprot and installing Norton 5 Virus with updates
  • Checking network settings
  • Cleaning the equipment
  • Checking cables for wear.

The preventive maintenance for Apple and Hewlett-Packard printers will check page counts, determine printer lifecycle, clean components, and replace toner and cartridges where necessary.

To learn more about this new service, visit the website at http://www.lbl.gov/htdocs/CS/help/PMEXT.html. —&Jon Bashor

SHARES Campaign Kicks Off with Info Fairs

Why should I contribute? Who benefits? Where does my contribution go? And what options are available for donating?

As Berkeley Lab prepares for its employees' annual charitable giving campaign in November - called SHARES - these questions become important to those considering a gift. This year, employees will be able to get the answers at two information fairs to be held next week.

The SHARES Fair West will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the lobby of Bldg. 937 (the Berkeley Tower), where about 250 Lab employees work. The SHARES Fair East will follow the next day, Oct. 28, in the Lab cafeteria, also from 11:30 to 1:30.

As the official kickoff to the Lab's 1999 charitable giving campaign, the SHARES Fairs will feature information tables with representatives from Community Health Charities, the United Way of the Bay Area, Earth Share of California, and the Bay Area Black United Fund, as well as representatives from agencies served by these organizations. Additionally, there will be members of some of the 23 local nonprofit agencies chosen by the Lab for their special compatibility with Berkeley Lab's missions in science and education.

Eurest Dining Services is supporting the cafeteria fair with a special meal deal -- a grilled hot dog, chips and soft drink for $2.19.

The Berkeley Lab campaign begins Monday, Nov. 1, and ends Wednesday, Nov. 24. All Lab employees will receive a campaign packet the week of Nov. 1.

During each week of the campaign, employees who make a donation will be entered in a prize drawing. Early donors will be eligible for drawings in each subsequent week. Among the prizes are tickets for a San Francisco ferry trip, meals at East Bay restaurants, clothing and more. The Lab's Computing Infrastructure Support Department is donating four free desktop computer tune-ups, a new service with a regular cost of $90. Donors should include their prize ticket in their pledge form return envelope.

SHARES stands for Science for Health, Assistance, Resources, Education and Services, which reflects the many outreach programs of community agencies which will benefit from employee donations.

"Our goal is to make it easy and rewarding for every employee to find a community organization to support, either with a one-time donation or through monthly payroll deductions," said Ron Kolb, head of the Lab's Public Communications Office and coordinator of this year's SHARES campaign. "With hundreds of worthy choices available, we think that everyone here can find a good reason to participate."

Information on the campaign and on the available agencies can be accessed online at www.lbl.gov/shares/.

Bulletin Board

Lab Golf Club Wins DOE Challenge



Denny Parra, Ralph Sallee, Matt Hilburn and John Christman are members of the LBNL Golf Club, the winner of the annual DOE Golf Challenge held recently at the Mira Vista Golf and Country Club in El Cerrito. Livermore Lab was second, Sandia third, DOE-Oakland fourth, and SLAC fifth.

Individual honors went to Sallee, Christman, Parra, Victor Hou, and Matt Hilburn. Other Lab team members included Bruce Hongola, Cam Stephens, Don Weber, Ed Miller, Mark Campagna, and Nancy Sallee. The award plaque will soon be displayed in the cafeteria trophy case.

Health Fair on Wednesday

The Benefits Office is sponsoring a Health Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 10:30 to 2:30 in Perseverance Hall. Representatives from UC-sponsored group insurance health and welfare programs, including HMOs, dental, legal, and other insurance carriers, will be on hand to provide information and answer questions. Also planned during the event are health screening services and massage therapy.

LabView Class

A representative from National Instruments will be onsite the full week of Oct. 25-29 to teach a two-session LabView class. The first part, offered Monday though Wednesday, will cover the basics, with Thursday and Friday focusing on advanced topics. Either or both sessions may be taken.

The cost is $1,095 for the basics class and $399 for the advanced class. A valid Lab account number is required. For more information contact Roger Dwinell at X7701 or [email protected].

Enhanced Access to ACA Journals

Lab employees now have online access to 34 journals of the American Chemical Society (ACS) thanks to a contract with the California Digital Library. Since access is limited by IP address, users must go through the Lab network. To link to these titles, as well as to the other 355 online journals, look up the Library's journal page at http://www-library.lbl.gov/Library/text/ftext/ejour.html.

Last Chance for Onsite Flu and Pneumonia Shots

On Oct. 28 Health Services is offering Lab employees 18 and older a second chance to get low-cost flu and pneumonia shots at the Lab. The vaccinations will be given from 8:00 a.m. to noon this Thursdays in Bldg. 26. The cost is $12 for the flu vaccine and $25 for the pneumonia vaccine.

Health officials encourage vaccination for people over the age of 65 and for anyone suffering from heart, lung or other serious health problems. Health Services also suggests that people contact their personal physician for any questions regarding the vaccine. To make an appointment call X6266.

The vaccination program is made possible through the Visiting Nurse Association and the Hospice of Northern California (VNAHNC). Payment may be made by cash or check, payable to VNAHNC.

Fire Department Seeks Members For Auxiliary Team

Lab employees are sought to join the Fire Department's Auxiliary Team, which trains once a month and is on-call to assist the Fire Department in the event of a major disaster. Team members must be able to take an hour a month off work for the training and be able to leave their regular work to work with the Fire Department should such an emergency occur. Team members also participate in exercises for emergency preparedness.

Lab employees are invited to contact Fire Captain and Auxiliary Team Coordinator Charles Palmer at X7685 or Fire Chief Stacy Cox at x6360.

Discount Tickets for Annual Christmas Revels

For the fifth year in a row, Ken Woolfe of the Engineering Department will participate in a unique form of musical theater: the Christmas Revels, to be held at the Scottish Rite Theater in Oakland. The event celebrates the holiday season with a mix of music, dance and drama built on themes from rituals of varied cultures.

This year's show focuses on the Northlands: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Featured will be the award-winning Springar dancers from Norway and the Karelian Folk Ensemble from Karelia, a Finnish speaking province in Russia.

More than 80 local singers, dancers, actors and children will also perform, and audience participation is always an integral part of the show.

The Employees' Art Council (EAC) has reserved a block of tickets for the 5:00 p.m. performance on Saturday, Dec. 11.

Tickets purchased through the EAC are $17 for adults and $7 for children under 12 and seniors (65 and over). For tickets contact Mary Clary at X4940 or MMClary@ lbl.gov. The deadline for reservations and payment is Friday, Nov. 12.

The Scottish Rite Theater is located at 1547 Lakeside Drive in Oakland. Additional information is available from the Revels website at http://home.earthlink.net/~calrevels/

Computer Animation at Hall of Science

"A Peek Inside Pixar Animation Studios: Working the Magic of Computer Animation" will be the topic of a special event to be held at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 2:00 p.m. Computer animation expert David Haumann of Pixar Studios will demonstrate the evolution, art and technology of the growing field of computer animation in the film industry. Haumann has contributed to "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story" and was the lead technical director for the Academy Award-winning "Geri's Game." The presentation is included with museum admission. Seating is limited.

Other events at the Hall of Science include: "The Atoms Family," through Jan. 9; "Balancing Acts" exploring sustainable technologies, through Jan 17; and "Dancing Physics: Original Prints on Art and Science," through Jan. 9.

For more information call the Lawrence Hall of Science at 642-5132.

Currents Online

The full text and color photographs of each edition of Currents are published online at http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/Currents/. You may find a link to Currents on the Lab's home page under the heading "Publications." The site allows users to do searches of past articles going back to 1994.

Calendar of Events

The Berkeley Lab Calendar is published biweekly here on the World Wide Web and in Currents by the Public Information Department. Employees can list a meeting, class, or event in the Calendar by using this submission form. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on Monday in the week that Currents is published.

In addition to the events listed below, Berkeley Lab's Washington, D.C. Projects office is hosting a Science and Technology Seminars series. 

Scientific Conferences

General Interest

MON, OCTOBER 25

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EXPO
10:00 - 2:00, Perseverance Hall

5-DAY LABVIEW CLASS STARTS
Call Roger Dwinell at X7701

WED., OCTOBER 27

HEALTH FAIR
10:30 - 2:30, Perseverance Hall

SHARES FAIR
11:30 - 1:30, lobby of Bldg 937 (downtown Berkeley)

THURS., OCTOBER 28

FLU & PENUMONIA SHOTS
8:00 - 12:00, Bldg. 26Call X6266 for appointment.

SHARES FAIR
11:30 - 1:30, cafeteria lobby

THURS., OCTOBER 4

SHOEMOBILE
7:30 - 3:30, cafeteria parking lot

TRIPMOBILE
11:30 - 12:40, cafeteria parking lot

Dance classes are held every Monday from noon to 1:00 on the lower level of Bldg. 51, with practices on Wednesdays at noon. Martial arts classes are held every Monday and Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. at the same location.

Seminars & Lectures

MON., OCTOBER 25

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIA
"Evidence for a Cosmological Constant from a Study of Supernovae" will be presented by Gerson Goldhaber of the Physics Division and UC Berkeley.
4:30 p.m., 1 LeConte Hall

TUES., OCTOBER 26

LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION
"Molecules, Mice and Men: New Paradigms for Understanding Aging" will be presented by Judith Campisi of Life Sciences.
4:00 p.m., Bldg 66 auditorium

THURS., OCTOBER 28

MATERIALS SCIENCES DIVISION
"Metal Oxides: O2 Chemistry and Dynamical Effects on Oxide Reactivity" will be presented by Lars G. M. Petterson of Stockholm University, Sweden.
1:30 p.m., Bldg. 66 auditorium

ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIA
"Pulsar Planets" will be presented by Aleksander Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University.
4:30 p.m., 2 LeConte Hall

FRI., OCTOBER 29

CENTER FOR BEAM PHYSICS
"Characterization and Debugging of the ALS Lattice" will be presented by Christoph Steier of Accelerator and Fusion Research.
10:30 a.m., Bldg. 71 conference room

MON., NOVEMBER 1

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIA
"Deep Earth Physics: Fads and Fallacies in a Fragmented Science" will be presented by Don L. Anderson of the California Institute of Technology.
5:45 p.m., Pimental Hall

TUES., NOVEMBER 2

LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION
"C-Tetrads: A Tell-Tale Noe" will be presented by Kalle Gehring of McGill University.
4:00 p.m., Bldg 84-318

CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
"Applications of Genomic Sequence Data to Bioremediation and Microbial Physiology" will be presented by Frank Robb of the University of Maryland.
Noon, 338 Koshland Hall

THURS., NOVEMBER 4

MATERIALS SCIENCES DIVISION
"The Ice / Water Interface: Computer Simulations of 4 Crystallographic Ice Interfaces" will be presented by Anthony Haymet of the University of Houston, Texas.
1:30 p.m., Bldg. 66 auditorium

ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIA
"Magnetic Fields in TTS" will be presented by Chris Johns of UC Berkeley.
4:30 p.m., 2 LeConte Hall

FRI., NOVEMBER 5

EARTH SCIENCES DIVISION
"Thermally Driven Coupled Processes in Unsaturated Fractured Tuff" will be presented by Yvonne Tsang of Earth Sciences.
11:00 a.m., Bldg 90-2063

EH&S Class Schedule: November 1999

For more information or to register contact Susan Aberg at [email protected] or enroll via the web at http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/ehstraining/registration/. For a full, updated schedule of EH&S training sessions see http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/schedule/.

Upcoming Holiday Schedule

Employees may use either vacation or leave without pay for those days. Those who have not accrued enough vacation days may receive an advance against future vacation accrual.

Flea Market

Autos / Supplies

`98 TOYOTA, Avalon XLS V6, 18K mi, fully loaded, white pearl w/ grey leather seats, wood grain, 6 passenger, keyless entry, CD, moonroof, alloy wheels, $27,000/bo, X4319, (925) 833-1668

`94 PLYMOUTH, Voyager, green, 6 cyl, 7 seats, back seats removable, ac, am/fm/cass, 77K mi, good cond, $8,000/bo, Winnie, X4213, 841-8148

`93 FORD, Ranger STX 4X4, 5 spd, new tires and clutch, exc cond, 54K mi, $8,700/bo, Scott, (925) 376-9618

`91 FORD, Escort GT, silver, 16 valve, stick shift, 5 spd, 97K mi alarm, pwr steer, cruise, am/fm/ cass, $2,600/bo, Victor, X6081

`84 TOYOTA, Corolla, 4 dr, 5 spd, 125K, ac, dark red, well maintained, runs great, $2,000/ bo, Ted, X4203 or Cloe, 841-4104

Motorcycles

`91 SUZUKI 500 GSE, red, 25K mi, looks great, new breaks, tires ok, good for commute, parked in front of Bldg 74, $1,700/bo, Sylvain, X5419, 502-5419

`87 KAWASAKI VULCAN VN1500-B, 22K, metallic blue, superclean, new tires/seat, performance pipes, $2,900, Maria, X4619, or Garry, X5721

`86 HONDA MAGNA V45, 23K, very clean, runs great, 150 PSI compression, new/tires/seat/battery/fork seals, $2,200, Maria X4619, or Garry, X5721

Housing

BERKELEY, house, 2 bdrm/2 bth, short-term rental, exquisite architect-designed, on edge of Tilden Park, view, garden, deck, study, dining room, darkroom, furn, security system, near bus, non-smokers, no pets, $2,000/mo, 10/29 - 12/13, Evan 486-6784

BERKELEY, house, quiet neighborhood, 15 mins walk west of downtown, recently restored, 2 bdrm, furn, hardwood floors, fireplace, living, dining, share yard/laudry, avail 11/1, $2,000/ mo, non-smokers, Chris, X7028

EL CERRITO HILLS, furn rm, bay view, incl utilities, share wash/dry/kitchen, 15 min from Lab, $600/mo, Larry, X5406, 235-9268

ELMWOOD, share elegant 11 rm house w/ 2 men, 1 woman, nonsmoking professionals, $600/mo + dep, shared exp, $745 for mstr bedroom w/ frplc, huge closet, piano, yellow labrador, laundry, sauna, hardwd floors, exc neighborhood, woman pref, Tony, 841-5424

WEST BERKELEY, room for rent, shared kitchen/bth, garden, close to transportation, no long-term commitment, ideal for visiting researcher/student looking for month-to-month, Ted, X4203, or Cloe, 841-4104

Miscellaneous

BABY ITEMS, 1 wood crib, $50; 1 metal frame crib w/ adjustable front panel and drawer, $100; 2 crib mattresses, $20 each; 2 battery-powered swings, $30 each, Joe, X7082

BIKE, Trek 2100, composite racing bike, alumnium fork, carbon frame, titanium rim, very light, Shimano 101, very good cond, $400/bo (new $1,200), Jens 486-6174

COMPUTER GAMES, Mac, CD's, Myst, never opened, $12; Star Trek, Borg, $10; Warcraft, Orcs and Humans, never opened, $5, Jon, X5974

FAX, fully functional, buy or loan for a year, Werner, X2901, 525-1090

FURNITURE, contemporary, new, six Scandinavian dining chairs, natural color, $50 ea; glass dining and coffee tables, $100 ea, Inna, X2419, (925) 933-1747 (eve)

FUTON, double, black w/ light-colored frame, $75, Madeline (925) 280-1907

MATTRESS, queen, box, frame, $100/bo; bookcase, 5 shelves, brown, $20; 2 bookcases, 5 shelves, self-assembled, white, $5 or free with purchase of other items, Hong, X6334, 442-7556 (pager)

MATTRESS, twin, box, frame $45/ bo Annie, X4207, 841-8171

METRANOME, $16, Duo, X6878

MOVING SALE, mountain bike GT Outpost, lights, lock and cable, $150; table + 4 chairs, $100; futon, full w/ frame and cover, $100, Simon, 642-1440

REFRIGERATOR, Norcold portable dual voltage chest type, 12 vdc or 117 vac model MRFT-630, clean, low hours, $250, Bill, X5649

STAIRMASTER, 4400PT, like new, perfect cond, $1,300/bo, (new $2,350), pick up in Berkeley, John, 643 5181

WASHER/DRYER, gas, model WLW3310B, energy savings, exc cond, $200/bo; Eureka Bravo Upright Vacuum 9000, exc cond, $30/bo, Tim, X7810, 865-4308 (eve)

Wanted

HOUSING, room, visiting postdoc researcher from Spain, 11/1, prefer close to Lab, Victor, X2455, 655 3629

HOUSING, studio, apt, shared house, postdoc, 11/1, smoke-free, Usman, usman1@my-deja. com

HOUSING, furn room, visiting post-doc, 11/1, Maxime, X2362

HOUSING, room, studio, visiting MD from France, non-smoker, 1 to 3 years, Thiebaut, X5550

HOUSING, studio or 1 bdrm apt, visiting scholar, pref North Berkeley hills, Paola X2428, 981-1171

Vacation

SO LAKE TAHOE, spacious chalet in Tyrol area, close to Heavenly, peek of the Lake from front porch, fully furn, sleeps 8+, sunny deck, pool, spa in club house, close to casinos, shopping and more, $125/night, Maria, 724-9450

TAHOE KEYS, house, 3 bdrm, 2-1/2 bth, fenced yard, quiet area, close to many attractions, private dock, great view of lake and mountains, $150/night, 2 night min, Bob, (925) 376-2211

Free

COUCH, hide-a-bed, large, brown, vinyl, good cond, presentable, will deliver to Berkeley/Richmond area, Maren, X2486

PUPPIES, brown with black, 6 wks, very cute, Rafeeg, X5621, 601-5572

WATER HEATER, 30 gallon, gas, you haul, Duo, X6878

Carpool

VANPOOLERS wanted from Tracy, meet at Tracy Walmart at 7:00, return at 3:30, cost depends on number of riders, Mike Rushing, X7036

Flea Market Ad Policy

Ads are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel. Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale. Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number.

Ads must be submitted in writing -- via e-mail ([email protected]), fax (X6641), or delivered/ mailed to Bldg. 65B. No ads are taken over the phone.

Ads will run one week only unless resubmitted in writing. They will be repeated only as space permits.

The deadline for the Nov. 5 issue is Friday, Oct. 29.