November
15, 2002
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15, 2002 |
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Spam Wars: Hoaxsters,
Hucksters and Scammers Getting Wet: More Complicated Than We Thought Spam Wars: Hoaxsters, Hucksters and ScammersBy Ron Kolb They come with varied subject heads. CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET. READ CAREFULLY. URGENT REPLY NEEDED. ASSIST ME PLEASE. I WANT TO INVEST ABROAD. A CRY FOR HELP. And the messengers vary: Peter Obi, eldest son of the late Henri Obi Kabongo. Eduado De Mello, Principal Commander of the Union for the Total Independence of Angola. Aaron Hassan, accountant for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Femi Martins, executive director with the Zenith Bank of Lagos. But they all have certain things in common. The grammar-challenged English text. The plea for assistance in moving large sums of money from their country to yours. And the promises of riches to those who help in the transaction. Who among us at Berkeley Lab has not received one of these e-mails? Or dozens? If so, you are among the millions who have been randomly targeted by what has become known over the last 10 years as the Nigerian Scam. And these unsolicited offers, an illegal variation of electronic “spam,” keep on coming — because they work. The Secret Service, which has been tracking this con game for years, estimates that it grosses hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the cybercrooks preying on the world’s unsuspecting public. Despite Berkeley Lab’s sophisticated inventory of computer software and filters that protect its servers, thousands of spam messages come in each day, promising lower mortgage rates, better website designs, or sexual enhancers. And the volume is growing, according to the Lab’s head of security training and awareness, Gene Schultz.
“This week alone, I got 40 spam messages,” says Schultz, a computer systems engineer, of those unwanted solicitations, whose nickname derives from a Monty Python comedy routine. “It’s cheap for them to do, and they need to get only a few responses to have a certain percentage of success.” In most cases, Schultz says, spam’s impact is mainly to annoy the receiver. But in some cases, when the intent is to bilk someone or disrupt operations, consequences are more serious. He distinguishes between the hoaxsters, the hucksters, and the scammers. All use spam, but for different purposes: to cause mischief, to sell something, or to commit fraud. So, what to do? Schultz says that soon Lab plans to use a new, more sophisticated spam filtering software, called “Bright Mail” (see sidebar). But even that won’t eliminate all spam on your computer. So he has some tips to maintain some level of control. 1. Don’t forward the spam to someone else, thus extending its reach. There’s one exception: If it’s a repetitive pitch, send it to spam@lbl.gov with the subject that reads “spam:block:” followed by the spammer’s address. The Lab’s spam wall will automatically add the source address to the filtering system. In all other cases, just delete. 2. Don’t open attachments from spam. That’s how viruses and worms infect systems. 3. If you’re a web surfer, don’t use your Lab account; set up a second home account for such searches. Web sites sell their address lists, and spammers cull them by searching the “@” symbols. Think twice, too, before leaving your e-mail address at a web site. 4. Don’t delete files from your operating system, no matter what a spam message tells you. (Schultz says that this is one of the most effective ones he’s seen: A writer sends an e-mail, apologizing to the recipient for infecting his system and providing a fix via a deleted file. The move could disable computer functions or damage enabling software). By far the most publicized of the computer scams is the one that promises fabulous wealth to anyone who will help purported African officials or dignitaries handle some banking chores. There are millions of dollars stashed away somewhere in Africa, it explains, and in exchange for help in transferring the funds to a Western bank, the addressee is offered a share of the loot. Silly? The Secret Service says it receives about 100 phone calls, plus 300 to 500 pieces of related correspondence, per day from victims of the Nigerian scam. The average reported loss is $5,957, which was solicited by the scammers to ostensibly cover taxes, advance fees and bribes. It’s a sad commentary on the gullibility, or perhaps desperation, of the victims.
Neutron Generator Facility Unveiled
On Tuesday scientists in the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) unveiled a powerful neutron laboratory in Building 52. Ka-Ngo Leung (left) demonstrates the new facilty to Lab Director Charles Shank and Deputy Director Pier Oddone. The facility will serve as a test bed to determine the optimal way neutron generators can perform a variety of vital functions, such as determining whether legacy research materials contain hazardous waste and checking luggage and shipping containers for explosives and radioactive materials. The generator uses a process called prompt gamma activation analysis, in which stream of neutrons are directed toward an object that researchers want to analyze. The facility can accommodate research that until now could only be conducted using neutrons generated at nuclear reactors. Also pictured above is AFRD Director Bill Barletta (right). Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt
Getting Wet: More Complicated Than We ThoughtBy Lynn Yarris A 200-year-old scientific mystery has been solved, and the solution holds major significance for one of the most basic and ubiquitous of all industrial processes: the bonding of liquid metals to the surfaces of other materials. Berkeley Lab researchers with the Materials Sciences Division (MSD) have discovered why the standard equation for describing how liquid drops wet solid surfaces fares poorly when the liquid is molten metal and the solid surface becomes hot. For their achievement, the research team has received a $50,000 award from DOE’s Office of Science.
“The answer to the mystery is that in the interaction between liquid metals and solid surfaces at high temperatures during the process of wetting, ridges are formed on the solid surface that can greatly slow or even stop the spread of the liquid,” says Antoni Tomsia, who, along with MSD colleagues Eduardo Saiz and Rowland Cannon specializes in the study of interfaces between metals and ceramics. The three researchers believe that the ridges are formed in response to capillary forces and evolve through diffusion and solution-precipitation processes. Working with a unique high-vacuum wetting furnace that is equipped with a camera which can record images at the rate of 2,000 frames per second, the three MSD scientists over the past couple of years have been able to make movies that revealed the formation of ridges on the surfaces of ceramic materials under certain conditions — when the surfaces were wetted with drops of various molten metals, including nickel, copper, gold and aluminum. “We have found that in cases where unusual wetting behavior occurs, small ridges ranging in height from a few to several hundred nanometers are formed,” says Saiz. “The ridges form in response to the vertical component of force from surface tension. At lower temperatures these are very small elastic distortions, but at higher temperatures, where diffusion or solution-precipitation can occur, the ridges can readily exceed atomic dimensions and can limit the spreading velocity of the liquid.” The process by which liquids “wet,” or spread across the surface of a solid, is especially important when the liquid is a metal because it plays a key role in such routine but crucial tasks as soldering, brazing, coating, and composite processing. Consider, for example, where the computing industry would be if metal connecting pins could not be brazed to microprocessing chips. Or, what would the lighting industry do if metal contacts could not be joined to glass bulbs. “Wetting matters a lot in a great many manufacturing processes,” says Tomsia, “but its importance is overlooked until there’s a problem.” For the wetting of solid surfaces with drops of liquid metals the problem has been that the standard means of predicting how the wetting will proceed – the Young-Dupré equation – is not accurate. “Based on conventional fluid mechanics, you would expect a drop of liquid metal to spread over a ceramic surface and achieve the equilibrium contact angle given by the Young-Dupré equation within a fraction of a second,” says Cannon. “However, in real life the wetting process can take minutes, hours, or even days.” This delayed response is called “hysteresis,” and although scientists have been well aware of its occurrence in high-temperature wetting, until the experiments at Berkeley Lab no one had been able to explain it. The Young-Dupré equation, named for Thomas Young and Lewis Dupré, is used to predict the degree to which a liquid will spread out across the surface of a rigid solid or bead up. Its predictions work well when the liquid is water, such as characterizing the pattern of raindrops on windshields, but not for liquid metals when the temperature is within 25 percent of the substrate’s melting point, a frequent occurrence in the manufacturing of microprocessing chips. “The higher the temperature, the greater the size of the ridges that are formed and the slower the velocity of the liquid’s spreading,” says Cannon. “If the spreading velocity slows as the liquid approaches the final equlibrium contact angle, it raises the probability that ridges will be formed.”
Tomsia, Saiz and Cannon conducted their wetting experiments in a vacuum (10-6 torr) or in purified gas at temperatures up to about 1,600 degrees Celsius. Ceramic substrates were diamond-polished to make them extremely smooth, then brought into contact with molten liquid droplets. The triple junction lines where the liquid, substrate, and vapor from the droplet area come into contact were recorded before the droplets were acid-etched off the substrate. The researchers then imaged the topography of the wetted region using atomic force microscopy and discovered the ridges predicted by their theory. “The Young-Dupré equation assumed that solid surface substrates were rigid and insoluble,” says Tomsia. “We now know that if you put liquid metal on a rigid substrate it is a bit like putting hot oil on water; you will get perturbations on the surface.” The Berkeley Lab researchers are now developing a new model for describing the dynamics of wetting under conditions where the Young-Dupré equation fails. They are also looking into ways to manipulate those conditions so that wetting can be better controlled. “Liquid metals don’t wet ceramic surfaces the way we would like them to for doing such things as manufacturing microprocessing chips,” says Tomsia, “so we’re looking for ways to trick the metals into wetting these surfaces faster and more efficiently.”
UC President Richard C. Atkinson to RetireBy Monica Friedlander University of California President Richard C. Atkinson, who has led the university through a period of dramatic physical and programmatic growth, announced on Wednesday his intention to retire as president effective next October. He has served in this position since Oct. 1, 1995.
The 17th president of the UC system, Atkinson has initiated national reforms in college admissions testing, spearheaded new approaches to admissions and outreach in the post-affirmative action era at UC, and encouraged many research initiatives. During his tenure, UC’s enrollment has increased by approximately 30,000 students, the nine existing campuses have expanded, and a tenth campus was founded at Merced. Atkinson has placed high priority on maintaining and enhancing the university’s world-renowned standards of excellence in teaching, research and public service. He has also been a leading voice for the central role of research in contributing to California and the nation’s knowledge-based economy. One of the longest-serving presidents in the university’s history, Atkinson will cap a 23-year career in UC leadership posts — first as chancellor of UC San Diego and then as president of the UC system. “That is a lengthy period of time for positions of this kind,” Atkinson told the Board of Regents at a meeting in San Francisco. “These have been extremely rewarding years — challenging, stimulating, and deeply interesting years. But the time has come to bring them to a close, and to allow the University to move forward under new leadership. It also is time, I might add, for my grandchildren to see more of their grandfather.” Atkinson assumed the UC presidency at a time when the university was grappling with severe budget constraints and a bitter conflict over affirmative action. The university has recovered since and thrived, Atkinson said, thanks to high quality recruiting, a commitment to maintaining access to California’s top students, expanding outreach and teacher professional development programs, planning for growth, and promoting innovations. “It is not the president who is solely, or even chiefly, responsible for these achievements,” he said. “It is the University of California community — the Regents, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and friends of the University. And that is why, even in a time of budget uncertainty once again, I am confident in the University’s continued vitality.” Atkinson is a cognitive scientist whose research focuses on problems of memory, cognition, and learning. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Education. He said that over the next 10 months he plans to focus on keeping the university’s budget on a firm footing. The Board of Regents will conduct a national search for his successor.
Washington ReportOrbach Partial to Nuclear PhysicsAs a nuclear physicist, it’s not surprising that Office of Science (SC) Director Ray Orbach is a strong supporter of new accelerators for nuclear physics research. Earlier this month he told members of a DOE/National Science Foundation advisory group that his office will soon be issuing a background paper to make the case for an accelerator initiative. “We believe an accelerator initiative is terribly important for the country,” Orbach said in a speech to the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee meeting in Arlington, Virginia. “Accelerators have produced results that have benefited not only nuclear physics research but also all our operations, including biological studies and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) being constructed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.” Orbach cited research at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility as an example of the broad benefits that can be realized from an accelerator program. He said the Jefferson Lab played a crucial role in building parts for SNS, but that the facility’s management is finding it tough to hold together research teams without a constant flow of new projects on the horizon. “We need to create some steady stream of opportunities at accelerator sites,” the SC director said. “To achieve that goal, DOE plans to encourage universities to offer courses and majors in accelerator physics, while the department will provide financial support to students interested in accelerator research.” Orbach expressed great concern over the difficulties that accelerator research groups are now facing and said they are a “a small-scale reflection” of the broader challenges facing DOE programs for nuclear and high-energy physics research. SC receives about the same amount of funds as it did 10 years ago for these programs, even as inflation and research costs have increased. This has taken a severe toll on physics research, he said, and troubles are mounting, particularly for some DOE laboratories. “They’re under terrible pressure. Some labs have their backs against the wall,” Orbach said. “We have to repair the damage done by flat funding over the past 10 years.” Orbach Likes Supercomputers, too!At the same NSAC meeting, Ray Orbach also expressed a strong SC commitment to developing a new generation of supercomputers. The Japanese have reached sustained speeds of 12 teraflop/s with their Earth Simulator for studying climate change and fusion energy. This is about five times faster than the fastest U.S. supercomputer, but not fast enough for Orbach. “We believe the frontier lies in 25 to 50 teraflop/s of sustained speed,” he said.” In a recent visit to General Motors, Orbach said, executives told him that that the company can no longer afford to build automobile prototypes and must construct virtual prototypes on screen. “But their computers have run out of gas because they cannot operate fast enough,” he said. — Lynn Yarris
The Best and Brightest in Technology Transfer
Last Friday, with Director Shank presiding, the Technology Transfer Department revived an old tradition and awarded the 2002 Excellence in Technology Transfer awards to 30 Lab researchers who were instrumental in transferring significant technologies from the research arena to industry. The technologies thus honored were gas-filled panels, thermal cycler technology, the Berkeley Lamp, nanocrystals, phot-diode technology, a building efficiency software suite, and computational crystallography, comparative genomics, and Geophysical Earth Modeling (GEM) software. These inventions not only benefit the public and industry, but also bring recognition to Berkeley Lab. Left to right are, in the back row: Cheryl Fragiadakis, Director Charles Shank, Michael Siminovitch, Rebecca Powles, Christian Kohler, Tony Hansen, Howdy Goudey, Joe Huang, Dariush Arasteh, Robin Mitchell, Paul Adams, Lior Pachter, and Mike Hoversten; front row: Robert Cheng, Derek Yegian, Liberato Manna, Liang-shi Li, Steve Holland, and Alexandre Poliakov.
McTague to Leave UC Lab Management Position
Vice President of Laboratory Management John P. McTague has announced his intention to leave his management position to return to UC Santa Barbara, where he is a Professor of Materials. He has served in this position since it was created in 2001. “The national laboratories have clearly benefited from John’s experience, wisdom and creativity in ensuring effective University oversight of our operations,” says Berkeley Lab Director Charles Shank. “He has added value with his management perspectives, contributions which I’m certain will continue beyond his tenure in the President’s office.” The position was created as a means to strengthen UC’s oversight and management of the three national laboratories managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In a written statement to UC employees, UC President Richard Atkinson said McTague has contributed to improvements in management and oversight in key areas such as security, safety and business efficiency. He credited McTague with securing high performance ratings for UC. “John’s decision to leave his position comes a month after the National Nuclear Security Administration completed a focused two-year review of the University’s contract in five specific areas: management accountability, safety and security, facilities safety, project management and critical skills (skilled workforce retention),” Atkinson said. “The University received the highest performance rating possible from the NNSA in all categories. Additionally, the labs consistently receive outstanding rankings from NNSA for the quality of their science and technology programs.” McTague is a physical chemist with degrees from Georgetown and Brown Universities. A former vice president of Ford Motor Company, McTague brought a wide range of experience to the position, including his work with DOE, its national laboratories, academia, and governmental science policy. “John has been a leading voice reminding all of us of the critical importance of the scientific mission of the men and women working in the laboratories,” Atkinson added. McTague’s resignation will be effective with the appointment of his successor. — Monica Friedlander
Berkeley Lab CurrentsPublished twice a month by the Communications Department for the employees and retirees of Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Ron Kolb, Communications Department head. EDITOR: Monica Friedlander, (510) 495-2248, msfriedlander@lbl.gov STAFF WRITERS: Lisa Gonzales, 486-4698; Dan Krotz, 486-4109, Paul Preuss, 486-6249; Lynn Yarris, 486-5375 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jon Bashor, X5849; Allan Chen, X4210 FLEA MARKET /CALENDAR: 486-5771 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Clarke, Pines in New “Scientific
American 50”
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Both scientists are members of the Materials Sciences Division and hold joint appointments with UC Berkeley. Clarke is professor of physics and Pines a professor of chemistry. The two were jointly chosen by the editors of Scientific American magazine as research leaders in the category of general technology for their “innovations in magnetic resonance imaging with weak magnetic fields.”
“Recognition for our collaborative work by the editors of Scientific American is certainly an honor, particularly since the magazine has a unique role in communicating science and technology,” says Clarke. “Above all, it’s an honor we share with our students and colleagues.”
Pines adds, “The work for which we have been cited has depended heavily on the contributions of our graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. We’re fortunate to work with such outstanding young scientists.”
Scientific American’s editor in chief, John Rennie, says the purpose of the new list is to recognize not only researchers but business and policy leaders, as well as companies and organizations “who are advancing technology and guaranteeing a brighter future for all of us.”
Other categories in this list, to be published in the magazine’s December issue, include agriculture, chemicals and materials, communications, computing, defense, energy, environment, manufacturing, medical diagnostics, medical treatments, and transportation. In each category the editors recognize a research leader, a business leader, a company, and a policy leader.
Clarke and Pines were named for their recent innovations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in ultralow magnetic fields. Their technology combines superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that allow room temperature access, coupled with modern developments in NMR pulse sequences and switched magnetic fields. This opens the possibility for mobile diagnostic scanning devices in materials and biomedicine, without the need for huge superconducting magnets.
John Clarke is noted for work in superconductivity, particularly the development and application of ultrasensitive SQUID detectors. He has used SQUIDs in many applications, including detection of NMR signals at ultralow frequencies; geophysics; nondestructive evaluation of materials; biosensors; detection of dark matter; and observing “qubits” for a potential quantum computer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and an Honorary Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Alexander Pines, Glenn T. Seaborg Professor of Chemistry, has pioneered such NMR developments as novel coherence methodologies, in particular for solid samples, and innovations in combining NMR spectroscopy and imaging, using ultrasensitive pumping with lasers and detection techniques using superconducting devices. Applications range from material science to biomedicine. Pines is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, and past president of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance. — Paul Preuss
Darleane Hoffman of the Lab’s Nuclear Sciences Division, an internationally recognized expert in the study of transuranic elements, was named to Discover magazine’s list of the nation's top 50 female scientists. She also holds an appointments with UC Berkeley’s Chemistry Department.
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Hoffman was honored for a lifetime of achievements in the field of atomic physics, most notably the discovery of naturally occurring deposits of plutonium-244. Hoffman was also a member of the Berkeley Lab team that confirmed the discovery of element 106, seaborgium, named for the late Nobel laureate Glenn Seaborg, a long-time colleague of hers. In addition to her discoveries of new elements, Hoffman has advanced the field of nuclear science with her research into their chemical properties of elements.
In 1997 Hoffman was awarded the National Medal of Science, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on an American scientist; and in 2000 she became the first woman to be awarded the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Priestley Medal.
Hoffman grew up in small-town Iowa in the years before World War II. In college she first studied applied arts, but soon fell in love with chemistry and the wonders of radioactivity. Her first job as a chemist was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1953 she moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she did her spontaneous fission work. She moved to Berkeley in 1984.
Two UC Berkeley professors were also honored on the Discover list: electrical engineering and computer science professor Ruzena Bajcsy and anthropology professor Margaret Conkey. The list is published in the November issue of the magazine. — Monica Friedlander
By Paul Preuss
Two Robotic Carbon Explorers from Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) have found the first direct evidence that terrestrial dust storms stimulate plankton growth in regions of the ocean poor in iron but rich in other nutrients. The observation was reported in the October 25 issue of Science.
Shortly after their deployment at Ocean Station PAPA in the spring of 2001 (see Currents, April 10, 2001) the Carbon Explorers encountered a major storm crossing the North Pacific, loaded with iron-rich dust from the Gobi Desert. Within a few days the floats had recorded a near doubling of plankton growth.
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Jim Bishop of ESD led the team that designed and deployed the Carbon Explorers. Modifications of SOLO floats (Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observers) created by Russ Davis of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, they can dive a kilometer or more before resurfacing to report by satellite.
Although the original SOLOs measured only temperature and salinity, Carbon Explorers measure particulate organic (mostly plankton) and inorganic carbon as well. They store more data longer, and their dive profiles can be reprogrammed over the internet by researchers anywhere on Earth.
The notion that wind-borne iron regulates the global climate, by fertilizing plankton that absorbs atmospheric carbon, is central to the "iron hypothesis" of the late oceanographer John Martin. Artificial iron fertilization is well established, but plankton growth following the Gobi Desert dust storm was the first time the long-assumed natural process had been caught in the act.
Recently some groups have sought carbon credits for seeding the ocean with iron — a practice whose effects, beyond temporarily stimulating plankton blooms, are unknown. The subsequent fate of atmospheric carbon fixed by plankton is still a mystery, however. The need to find out what actually happens to the carbon is what stimulated Bishop to design the Carbon Explorers.
Along with Bishop, Russ E. Davis and Jeffrey T. Sherman of the Scripps Instution of Oceanography are coauthors of the October 25 Science article, “Robotic observations of dust storm enhancement of carbon biomass in the North Pacific.” Members of Bishop's Berkeley Lab team include Christopher Guay, Phoebe Lam, Todd Wood, and David Kaszuba
By Paul Preuss
A mammalian body contains trillions of cells, most of them packed with a whole genome’s worth of DNA. Stretched out straight, the DNA in the nucleus of just one cell would be a yard or two long. How does it all fit?
Through tight, intricate, twisting and folding.
DNA winds around spools of proteins called histones; thread and spool together to make nucleosomes. Nucleosomes string together like beads, and the beads clump in thick fibers; the fibers fold into loops and the loops into a ropy mass of chromatin from which individual chromosomes are made.
Which creates a dilemma: for a cell to express proteins, it needs to unzip double-stranded DNA where genes are encoded. DNA wound up tight in chromatin can’t unzip; like the wire in a coiled steel cable, most of it can’t even be reached.
Researchers led by Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu of Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division are learning how each type of cell — although it may contain the entire genome — expresses only the genes appropriate to its physiological role. The secret lies in how specific DNA sites are made accessible to protein factors that change the chromatin structure locally.
 SATB1 proteins form a cage-like structure in the nuclei of specific cell types, where chromatin loops attach. SATB1 orchestrates gene expression by providing a platform for chromatin remodeling factors. |
A decade ago Kohwi-Shigematsu and her husband, Yoshinori Kohwi, also of Life Sciences, were investigating certain DNA sequences that are inclined to coil not quite “by the book.” They identified a special class of sequences with a tendency to pop open when the intact double strand of DNA is coiled in the opposite direction from the way the two strands coil around each other.
“We reasoned that if these regions” (which they called BURs, or base unpairing regions) “were biologically important, there must be an important protein associated with them,” says Kohwi-Shigematsu.
Using cloned BURs as bait, they went fishing in a library of proteins and hooked a big one they named “special AT-rich binding protein 1,” or SATB1. SATB1 works only in a few distinct kinds of cells. It is most widespread in the cells known as thymocytes, which grow to maturity in the thymus gland.
Thymocytes are the precursors of T cells, among the immune system's most potent weapons. “Killer” T cells wipe out invading disease organisms, tumors, or other cells marked for destruction. “Helper” T cells emit proteins like interleukin 2 that help identify targets, stimulate the defenders, and aid in the attack.
Kohwi-Shigematsu and her colleagues pinpointed SATB1’s vital role in T-cell development by preparing “knockout” mice that were genetically normal in all respects except that they lacked the gene for SATB1, and thus the SATB1 protein itself. Designated SATB1-null, the knockout mice exhibited odd reflexive behaviors and shrunken organs, including thymuses. They were small and thin and lived only three weeks, compared to two years or more for normal “wild type” mice.
Lack of SATB1 had wrecked the immune system of the knockout mice. Very few immature thymocytes were produced to begin with, and when those progressed to a crucial intermediate stage, most T-cell development came to a halt. Numerous genes essential to T-cell development and function were unregulated or misregulated, but in the end, runaway apoptosis (programmed cell death) of cells that normally express SATB1 is what probably killed the knockout mice at the end of their short lives.
Evidence for the hypothesis of Kohwi-Shigematsu and her colleagues is fast accumulating: SATB1 forms a network in the nucleus of thymocytes where specialized DNA sequences are tethered, organizing the chromosome into specific sets of genes and other DNA. SATB1 also orchestrates gene expression by allowing chromatin remodeling at specific genomic locations.
In microscope images made with the help of Life Sciences researcher Abby Dernburg, the network stands out clearly as a cage-like structure of fluorescently stained SATB1 proteins circumscribing heterochromatin, a densely packed type of chromatin associated with silent genes. Here the bases of the looped chromatin are attached and meet the factors that reshape it. Thus SATB1 controls the expression of numerous genes, in some cases many thousands of bases away from the attachment site.
How does SATB1 know whether to activate or repress transcription of a gene at a given time? Whether chromatin remodeling is motivated by local demand or higher-order regulation “is a chicken and egg question,” Kohwi-Shigematsu says — one that will keep her and her colleagues busy for the foreseeable future, in the search for even deeper secrets of gene regulation.
The paper by Dag Yasui, Masaru Miyano, Shutao Cai, Patrick Varga-Weisz, and Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu, appeared in the October 2002 issue of Nature. For more about SATB1 see the November issue of Science Beat at http://enews.lbl.gov
Unwanted e-mail, which made up about eight percent of all email in July 2001, accounted for 36 percent of the traffic by July 2002. The Lab’s Spam Wall today blocks about 5,500 spam messages every day. But even that is not enough to keep up with the creative spammers.
While the Lab’s monthly e-mail traffic has grown from 800,000 messages to about 1.3 million a month over the past three years, spam e-mail has tripled in just nine months — from 50,000 a month in January to 160,000 in September. The average e-mail user received five spam messages a day in 2001; the current daily average is around 30.
In an attempt to better filter the pesky intruders, the Lab will soon begin using the services of BrightMail, an outside firm that provides up-to-the-minute spam blocking.
“It’s really industrial grade spam-blocking,” said Mark Rosenberg, head of the Computing Infrastructure Technologies Group.
BrightMail, Rosenberg explains, has created millions of decoy email addresses to intentionally attract spam. It then analyzes those messages and creates rules for blocking them. The company updates and distributes these spam signatures every 10 minutes.
Not only are the spammers more prolific, they are also getting sneakier. Whereas they once sent from forged or hidden addresses, they have now developed methods to create a new address for every message sent, never using the same one twice. Since the Lab’s Spam Wall only blocks addresses already submitted, it’s not effective against this type of onslaught.
BrightMail, however, can analyze these messages’ content and provide effective blocking tools.
The Lab will begin testing BrightMail within the next couple of weeks and will put it into production in a month. Until then, Rosenberg advises employees to resist the urge to fire back or try to use unsubscribe options.
“When you reply, you’re giving the spammers what they want — confirmation that your e-mail address is valid,” he said. “Your best option is to delete the message.” — Jon Bashor
Berkeley Lab will share its expertise with the high-performance computing and networking community at the SC2002 conference, to be held Nov. 16-22 in Baltimore, Maryland. Lab scientists and NERSC users will instruct in three tutorials, give one plenary talk, present 10 technical papers, conduct special sessions, and moderate a panel discussion. They will also give talks in exhibit booths for the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program.
Highlights of contributions by Berkeley Lab staff will include Julian Borrill’s plenary talk on “Computing the Cosmos: from Big Bang to Black Holes” on Nov. 20; Vern Paxson, Stephen Lau, James Rothfuss, and Bill Kramer’s full-day tutorial on “Trends in Computer Security for Open Scientific Facilities” on Nov. 18; David Bailey’s one-day tutorial about “Tools and Methods for Performance Modeling and Prediction” on Nov. 17; and John Shalf’s full-day tutorial on “Developing HPC Scientific and Engineering Applications: From the Laptop to the Grid” on Nov. 18.
NERSC Director Horst Simon will moderate a panel discussion of “The 40 Tflop/s Earth Simulator System: Its Impact on the Future Development of Supercomputing” on Nov. 22. And Leroy Drummond and Osni Marques of the Scientific Computing Group have organized a Nov. 19 session to discuss “ACTS Tools Certification.” The ACTS Collection brings together general-purpose computational tool development projects supported by DOE.
Ten technical papers will be presented by other Lab scientists.
NERSC has signed a contract with IBM to double the size of its 3,328-processor RS/6000 SP supercomputer, creating a machine with a peak speed of 10 teraflop/s.
The agreement calls for new equipment to be installed in November. The 6,656-processor IBM system is expected to become available to NERSC users by April 2003. This is the largest number of processors ever to be made available on an open production system. The new contract is valued at about $30 million.
“NERSC is seeing an unprecedented level of requests for time on our systems,” says NERSC Director Horst Simon “With this agreement, we have an almost-instant solution to this situation.”
NERSC made the decision to increase the capability of the existing system, rather than purchase an entirely new one after a thorough review of proposals from a number of leading supercomputer vendors.
Adds Simon, “This new agreement allows us to build on this proven approach and quickly make the expanded system available to the DOE research community.” — Jon Bashor
A traveling resource center to help Department of Energy workers who may have suffered occupational illnesses will be making stops in the Bay Area during the first week of December.
The Occupational Illness Compensation Program is a federal effort being implemented jointly by the DOE and the Department of Labor. Questions will be fielded on Dec. 2 and 3 in Pleasanton at the Four Points Hotel and on Dec. 4 and 5 in Oakland at the Oakland Marriott City Center, both from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The program, signed into law in 2000, provides compensation to DOE employees and contractor employees who developed certain illnesses as a result of work associated with nuclear weapons production.
Berkeley Lab has attempted to notify former employees who may have worked in the past with toxic substances such as beryllium about the program.
Appointments may be made by calling toll free (866) 697-0841. Drop-in visits are welcome.
Two types of assistance are available to those who qualify. One, administered by the Labor Department, provides a lump sum of up to $150,000 and payment for future medical expenses to employees who suffer from specific diseases — radiogenic cancers, beryllium disease and chronic silicosis. Qualified survivors are also eligible for benefits.
The second program assists DOE contractor employees in applying for state workers’ compensation benefits, if it is determined by an independent physicians’ panel that the worker sustained an illness caused by exposure to a toxic substance at a DOE facility. Benefits are generally a portion of lost wages plus reimbursement of medical costs.
November 18 *
5:30–7 p.m.
Preserverance Hall
Imagine being able to observe how a nanocrystal grows or melts or changes its structure atom by atom. Today’s electron microscopes give us unprecedented views of materials and their strange behavior in the nanoworld. Uli Dahmen, director of Berkeley Lab’s National Center for Electron Microscopy, and his group have been using atomic resolution microscopy to research the structure of nanocrystals embedded in microcrystals and found that nanocrystals display fascinating behaviors. Understanding this behavior may lead scientists to the development strong alloys, efficient catalysts, and energy-saving devices.
Dahmen will talk about these and related issues during the next “Friends of Science” presentation, to be held in Perseverance Hall on Monday, Nov. 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Reservations are required.
To sign up email friendsofscience@lbl.gov or contact the Community Relations Office at X7292. Reserved parking will be available after 5 p.m. in the Building 54 lot.
This is a reminded that employees have only two weeks left to make changes to their benefit plans.
Those who missed the Lab Benefits Fair may attend UC Berkeley’s Vendor Fair on Monday, Nov. 18t from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the International House. All Open Enrollment changes will be effective Jan. 1, 2003. For more information, see the UC “At Your Service” website at http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/.
Appointments may now be made for onsite flu and pneumonia vaccinations, to be offered on consecutive Thursdays, Dec. 5 and Dec 12, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Building 26. Pneumonia vaccinations will also be offered.
The flu injections are $20 each, and the pneumococcal vaccine (Pneumovax, good for 6 years) is $25.
Checks should be payable to Sutter VNA & Hospice. A portion of the proceeds goes towards uncompensated care for home health and hospice patients.
To sign up, call Health Services at X6266.
Sponsored by the Employee Activities Association, the seventh annual Holiday Craft Fair will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5 from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Lab cafeteria. Everyone is invited to get a head start on holiday shopping.
Items, for example, will include a piano CD produced by Flavio Robles of TEID with 18 of his original compositions. (The price is $5, with the proceeds going to the Latino and Native American Association Scholarship Fund)
For more information on the event email cdbackhus@lbl.gov.workshops.
The Latino and Native American Association will hold its annual Christmas Toy Drive from Nov. 18 through Dec. 20. Collection bins will be placed in various buildings and in the cafeteria lobby. Donated toys will be given to children of low-income and homeless families. Bins will also be available for can food donations. For more information call X4842.
FRIENDS OF SCIENCE: NANOCRYSTALS
5:30 – 7:00 p.m., Perseverance Hall
SHOEMOBILE
7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., cafeteria parking lot
COMPUTER SECURITY COURSE
9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Bldg. 66 auditorium
OPEN ENROLLMENT ENDS
Midnight
FLU CLINIC
8:00 a.m. – 12:00, Bldg. 26
SHOEMOBILE
7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., cafeteria parking lot
CRAFT FAIR
3:00 – 6:00 p.m., cafeteria
Send us your announcements
Announcements for the General Calendar and Bulletin Board page may be sent to MSFriedlander@lbl.gov. Seminar & Lectures items may be mailed to currents_calendar@lbl.gov. You may also fax items to X6641 or mail them to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the Dec. 6 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2.
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
Simple Hamiltonian Chaos
Speaker: Edward Lorenz, MIT
4:30 p.m., 1 Le Conte Hall
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS’ 16TH ANNUAL SEGRE LECTURE
The Birth of Neutrino Astrophysics
Speaker: Masatoshi Koshiba, University of Tokyo, co-recipient of the 2002
Nobel Prize in Physics
5:45 p.m., George C. Pimentel Hall
PHYSICS DIVISION RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
Recent Results from Belle
Speaker: Hiroaki Aihara, University of Tokyo
4:00 p.m., Building 50A, Room 5132
NUCLEAR SCIENCE DIVISION COLLOQUIUM
The Universe in 10 Terabytes: Results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Speaker: Bruce Margon, Space Telescope Science Institute
11:00 a.m., Building 50 auditorium
PHYSICS DIVISION RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
Run2 Tevatron Status
Speaker: Michael Church, FNAL
4:00 p.m., Building 50A, Room 5132
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
From the Cosmic Microwave Background to Dark Matter: A Boltzmann Approach
to Modern Cosmology
Speaker: Chung-Pei Ma, UC Berkeley
4:30 p.m., 1 Le Conte Hall
LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR SERIES
Membrane Proteins in Action as Seen by In Situ Molecular Dynamics Stimulations
Speaker: Klaus Schulten, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4:00 p.m., Building 66 auditorium
LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR SERIES
Structure-Function Studies of Proteins that Determine Eukaryotic DNA Replication
Speaker: Thomas Kunkel, NIEHS, NIH
4:00 p.m., Building 66 auditorium
PHYSICS DIVISION RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
E158 Results
Speaker: Yury Kolomensky, Physics Division
4:00 p.m., Building 50A, Room 5132
|
Date |
Course |
Time |
Building |
|
|
12/2 |
EHS 260 |
Basic Electric Hazard Awareness |
1:00 – 2:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/3 |
EHS 62 |
MoveSMART |
8:30 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/3 |
EHS 66 |
MoveSMART Retraining |
1:00 – 2:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/3 |
EHS 66 |
MoveSMART Retraining |
3:00 – 4:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/4 |
EHS 62 |
MoveSMART |
8:30 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/4 |
EHS 116 |
First Aid Safety |
8:30 – 12:00 |
Bldg. 48-109 |
|
12/4 |
EHS 66 |
MoveSMART Retraining |
1:00 – 2:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/4 |
EHS 66 |
MoveSMART Retraining |
3:00 – 4:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/4 |
EHS 125 |
Child/Infant CPR |
6:00 – 8:00 |
Bldg. 48-109 |
|
12/5 |
EHS 62 |
MoveSMART |
8:30 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/10 |
EHS 10 |
Introduction to ES&H at LBNL* |
8:00 – 10:15 |
Bldg. 50 aud |
|
12/10 |
EHS 275 |
Confined Space Hazards |
8:30 – 11:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/10 |
EHS 274 |
Confined Space-Retraining |
11:00 – 12:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/10 |
EHS 330 |
Lead Hazards Awareness |
1:00 – 2:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/11 |
EHS 123 |
Adult Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation |
8:30 – 12:00 |
Bldg. 48-109 |
|
12/11 |
EHS 20 |
ES&H for Supervisors |
1:00 – 3:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/11 |
EHS 260 |
Basic Electric Hazard Awareness |
10:00 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/12 |
EHS 400 |
Radiation Protection-Fundamentals |
9:00 – 12:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/12 |
EHS 154 |
Building Emergency Team Training |
9:00 – 11:00 |
Bldg. 48-109 |
|
12/12 |
EHS 280 |
Laser Safety |
1:00 – 4:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/13 |
EHS 432 |
Radiation Protection-Lab Safety |
8:00 – 12:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/17 |
EHS 60 |
Ergonomics for Computer Users |
10:30 – 12:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/17 |
EHS 735/ |
Biosafety/Bloodborne Pathogen |
1:30 – 2:45 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/18 |
EHS 530 |
Fire Extinguisher |
10:00 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 48-109 |
|
12/19 |
EHS 256 |
Lockout/Tagout |
10:00 – 11:30 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
|
12/19 |
EHS 10 |
Introduction to ES&H at LBNL |
1:00 – 3:00 |
Bldg. 51-201 |
* Includes EHS 392/405, followed by the orientation. Please arrive at 8:15 for sign-in.
To enroll, contact Valarie Espinoza-Ross at VMEspinoza-Ross@lbl.gov or enroll via the web at https://hris.lbl.gov/self_service/training/. Preregistration is required for all courses except EHS 10. For a full, updated schedule, see http://www-ia1.lbl.gov/schedule/.
The field of computer security is growing at a rapid pace, forcing system administrators, users and managers to make decisions based on security considerations without always understanding why. A free half-day course on computer security fundamentals, presented by Gene Schultz on Nov. 25 from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Building 66 auditorium, will shed light on this subject. Topics will include an introduction to computer security, risks and threats, vulnerabilities and exposures, types of security measures, and how decisions are made. To enroll, use the Employee Self Service website (https://hris.lbl.gov).
‘99 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT GLX Sedan 4D, $19,900, exc cond, blue/green, V6 2.8 L, trans: both auto & gears, no clutch, frnt wheel dr, 42K mi, fully equip, all rec’s avail, Louis, 642-0933, 758-4459
‘98 HONDA PRELUDE, 58K mi, 5 spd, 4 cyl/2.2L VTEC, 195 hp, exc cond, silver, rear spoiler, body kit, fog lights, pwr sunrf, am/fm/cd, cabon fiber int, alarm, $15,900, Charles, X6031, (925) 682-3269
‘91 FORD ESCORT WAGON, 65K mi, red ext/dark gray int, 5 spd, ac, new sound syst, runs great, $2,250/bo, Cheryn, 642-5247, (925) 934-7817
‘90 ISUZU TRUCK, ext cab, sunrf, 5 spd, good cond, 189k mi, runs strong, $2,500/bo, Al, X5906, (925) 672-2716
‘90 DODGE DYNASTY, 4 dr, 86K mi, clean, exc eng, great int, all pwr, needs trans, Davina, X5722
‘89 JEEP CHEROKEE, 100K mi, exc cond, must sell, $2,500/bo, Therese, 812-3536
‘88 TOYOTA COROLLA, blue, 93K mi, ac, good cond, $1,600, MinCheol, 642-9643
‘65 MUSTANG 289, mint, less than 1K mi on rebuilt, red/blk int, 4 spd, 300 hp, super trapp exhaust, rallys, $10,500/bo, Mike, X5861, (209) 745-0554
BERKELEY HILLS, lge garden studio apt furn, priv deck, street parking, no smoking/pets, avail 1/1/03, $1,300/mo+$1,325 sec dep, Marilyn, 845-1029, mnasatir @uclink.berkeley.edu
BERKELEY, furn bdrm w/cable TV in Elmwood overlooking garden, nr stores/cafes, 3 mi to Lab, walk to shuttle, full access to kitchen & bth, $600/mo incl util, hi-speed comp access neg, dog on prop, Ros, 548-4202, ros.davidson@ attbi.com
BERKELEY, Lorina St/Russell, 1100 sq ft, flat, unfurn 2 bdrm, 3 unit bldg, priv yard, gas stove, refrig, pets neg, carport avail, hardwd flrs, w&d hookup, lge kitchen & sep din rm, nr shops/BART, back yard & garden, avail 11/01, $1,495 incl util, lease avail, Dorn, 843-1907
BERKELEY, Oregon St/Shattuck, 3 bdrm in Victorian dup, priv yard, gas stove, refrig, pets neg, lower unit, lge kitchen, washer, nr shops & BART, lge backyard, garden, patio, high ceilings, hardwd flrs, blinds, avail 11/01, $1,785, garbage pd, water split, lease neg, dep neg, Dorn, 843-1907
CENTRAL BERKELEY, nice furn rms, kitchen, laundry, TV, DSL, hardwd flrs, linens, dishes, brkfast, nr pub trans & shops, $950/mo inc util, $350/wk, Jin, 845-5959, jin.young@ juno.com, Paul X7363
CROCKER HIGHLANDS, 1930s house in exc cond, great location, 3+ bdrm/3 bth, den, office, w&d, formal din, brkfst rm, 2 fireplaces, decks, hardwd flrs & carpet, built-ins, historic but updated, 2 car garage, 2,700 sq ft, $2,900/mo, Dale, X5988, 547-2356
EL CERRITO 1 bdrm in 3 bdrm house, priv entr, furn, near pub trans & shops, share w/pianist, avail for short/long term, no pets/smoking, $800/mo, Aurora, 799-2323
EL CERRITO house, char-ming 2 bdrm/1 bth, renovated, view, liv/din, laundry hookup, lge yard, nr BART & shops, hardwd flrs, fireplace, lge yrd w/ fruit trees, $1,500/mo, Craig, 541-0011
NORTH BERKELEY B&B for visiting scholars, $650/2 wks, $850/mo, avail for 2 wks to 8 mos, 1 person per rm, 2 rms in house, 1 garden cottage, breakfast every day, bike avail, close to pub trans, avail now, Helen, 527-3252
RICHMOND marina bay, furn 2 bdrm/1 bth to share, avail now, 2nd flr, lge balc & liv rm, laundry, w-w carpet, gym/pool, 20 min drive to Lab, nr beach, safe & nice area, $625/mo, Chiao, X4555, jqwu@socrates. berkeley.edu
ROCKRIDGE, nice studio cottage in back of our house, nr BART, 400 sq ft, lge furn rm w/skylight, kitchen & bth w/shower, shared yard, util incl, furn neg, no pets, $850 + $1,150 dep, mo-to-mo, avail 11/24, Monica/Eva, 594-0265
GERMAN researcher seeks 1-2 bdrm apt in Berkeley, Lothar, lreichertz@web.de, Jeff, X5153
LBNL RA looking for 1-bdrm apt in Berkeley or N. Oakland, Steve, X6966
VISITING SCIENTIST w/wife & 12 mo old daughter seeks 1 bdrm apt nr Lab from beg of Jan, ulrike. meisel@web.de
ALPINE ladies ski boots, Nordica Trend 3.2w, size 24.5 (7.5 US size), good cond, $60, Andrei, X6634
BABY CAR SEAT/STROLLER, Graco, green/tan, 5 pos recline, 1 step fold, 0-4 yrs, $150, Jamila, X7692
CAL MEN'S basketball tickets, 2 @ $17.50/ea for games on 12/3, 12/10, 12/20, 12/21, 12/30 & 2/13, Scott, X4103
ENTERTAINMENT CTR, 1 yr old, lt oak, 66x72x24, retracting doors, lge storage drawers, mirrored top shelf, touch on/off lighting, $700, Larry, X5262
FRIDGE, 18"x18"x32", $40/bo, Duo, 528-3408
FURNITURE, walnut bdrm set w/chest, vanity, mirror, side table & 2 twin beds, sm desk, chest of drawers, couch, coffee table & table; Kenmore electric dryer, $50, Bob, (925) 376-2211
NIKONOS Underwater Camera setup, V w/35 & 28mm lenses, ext tubes/framers for both lenses, 2 Ikelite MS strobes, viewfin-der/masks, foam fitted Pelican case, sync cords, trays, arms, tools, books, $1,500, Mary, X5270, (925) 938-9891
SF OPERA TICKETS, Kat'a Kabanova, 11/15, Hansel & Gretel, 1/11, frnt row balc circle, $176/pr, Diana, X6444
SIMMONS MAXIPEDIC twin long mattress dorm size + matching box, exc cond, $120, Philip, X7307, 558-8856
SOFA & LOVE SEAT, brown, exc cond, $200; lge capacity washer & dryer, white, $300, Harsh, X5575, (925) 210-1883
STEP EXERCISE MACH, performance Iss-30 w/heart rate monitor, AB Roller plus, both for $50/bo, Malak, X5468
WARDROBE/ENT CTR, unfin, 76x44x22, 2 lge & 2 sm doors, rod for clothing removeable, Andria, X6610
TV, VCR, microwave, toaster oven, small bureau, Elisa, X7863, 665-9091
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, spacious chalet in Tyrol area, close to Heavenly, fully furn, peek of lake from front porch, sleeps 8+, sunny deck, pool & spa in club house, close to casinos & other attractions, $150/day+$75 one time cleaning fee Angela, X7712, Pat/Maria, 724-9450
TAHOE KEYS at S. Lake Tahoe, 3 bdrm house, 2-1/2 bth, fenced yard, quiet, sunny, close to attractions, priv dock, great view, $195/night, 2 night min, Bob, (925) 376-2211
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 (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax (X6641), or delivered/mailed to Bldg. 65B.
Ads run one issue only unless resubmitted, and are repeated only as space permits. They may not be retracted once submitted for publication.
The deadline for the Dec. 6, 2002 issue is Thursday,
Nov. 28.
