Real-time stereo matching using orthogonal reliability-based dynamic programming.

PubMed

Gong, Minglun; Yang, Yee-Hong

2007-03-01

A novel algorithm is presented in this paper for estimating reliable stereo matches in real time. Based on the dynamic programming-based technique we previously proposed, the new algorithm can generate semi-dense disparity maps using as few as two dynamic programming passes. The iterative best path tracing process used in traditional dynamic programming is replaced by a local minimum searching process, making the algorithm suitable for parallel execution. Most computations are implemented on programmable graphics hardware, which improves the processing speed and makes real-time estimation possible. The experiments on the four new Middlebury stereo datasets show that, on an ATI Radeon X800 card, the presented algorithm can produce reliable matches for 60% approximately 80% of pixels at the rate of 10 approximately 20 frames per second. If needed, the algorithm can be configured for generating full density disparity maps.

Taylor O(h³) Discretization of ZNN Models for Dynamic Equality-Constrained Quadratic Programming With Application to Manipulators.

PubMed

Liao, Bolin; Zhang, Yunong; Jin, Long

2016-02-01

In this paper, a new Taylor-type numerical differentiation formula is first presented to discretize the continuous-time Zhang neural network (ZNN), and obtain higher computational accuracy. Based on the Taylor-type formula, two Taylor-type discrete-time ZNN models (termed Taylor-type discrete-time ZNNK and Taylor-type discrete-time ZNNU models) are then proposed and discussed to perform online dynamic equality-constrained quadratic programming. For comparison, Euler-type discrete-time ZNN models (called Euler-type discrete-time ZNNK and Euler-type discrete-time ZNNU models) and Newton iteration, with interesting links being found, are also presented. It is proved herein that the steady-state residual errors of the proposed Taylor-type discrete-time ZNN models, Euler-type discrete-time ZNN models, and Newton iteration have the patterns of O(h(3)), O(h(2)), and O(h), respectively, with h denoting the sampling gap. Numerical experiments, including the application examples, are carried out, of which the results further substantiate the theoretical findings and the efficacy of Taylor-type discrete-time ZNN models. Finally, the comparisons with Taylor-type discrete-time derivative model and other Lagrange-type discrete-time ZNN models for dynamic equality-constrained quadratic programming substantiate the superiority of the proposed Taylor-type discrete-time ZNN models once again.

Machine learning in motion control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, Renjeng; Kermiche, Noureddine

1989-01-01

The existing methodologies for robot programming originate primarily from robotic applications to manufacturing, where uncertainties of the robots and their task environment may be minimized by repeated off-line modeling and identification. In space application of robots, however, a higher degree of automation is required for robot programming because of the desire of minimizing the human intervention. We discuss a new paradigm of robotic programming which is based on the concept of machine learning. The goal is to let robots practice tasks by themselves and the operational data are used to automatically improve their motion performance. The underlying mathematical problem is to solve the problem of dynamical inverse by iterative methods. One of the key questions is how to ensure the convergence of the iterative process. There have been a few small steps taken into this important approach to robot programming. We give a representative result on the convergence problem.

PolyCheck: Dynamic Verification of Iteration Space Transformations on Affine Programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bao, Wenlei; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; Pouchet, Louis-noel

2016-01-11

High-level compiler transformations, especially loop transformations, are widely recognized as critical optimizations to restructure programs to improve data locality and expose parallelism. Guaranteeing the correctness of program transformations is essential, and to date three main approaches have been developed: proof of equivalence of affine programs, matching the execution traces of programs, and checking bit-by-bit equivalence of the outputs of the programs. Each technique suffers from limitations in either the kind of transformations supported, space complexity, or the sensitivity to the testing dataset. In this paper, we take a novel approach addressing all three limitations to provide an automatic bug checkermore » to verify any iteration reordering transformations on affine programs, including non-affine transformations, with space consumption proportional to the original program data, and robust to arbitrary datasets of a given size. We achieve this by exploiting the structure of affine program control- and data-flow to generate at compile-time lightweight checker code to be executed within the transformed program. Experimental results assess the correctness and effectiveness of our method, and its increased coverage over previous approaches.« less

Two stage gear tooth dynamics program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, Linda S.

1989-01-01

The epicyclic gear dynamics program was expanded to add the option of evaluating the tooth pair dynamics for two epicyclic gear stages with peripheral components. This was a practical extension to the program as multiple gear stages are often used for speed reduction, space, weight, and/or auxiliary units. The option was developed for either stage to be a basic planetary, star, single external-external mesh, or single external-internal mesh. The two stage system allows for modeling of the peripherals with an input mass and shaft, an output mass and shaft, and a connecting shaft. Execution of the initial test case indicated an instability in the solution with the tooth paid loads growing to excessive magnitudes. A procedure to trace the instability is recommended as well as a method of reducing the program's computation time by reducing the number of boundary condition iterations.

Discrete-Time Stable Generalized Self-Learning Optimal Control With Approximation Errors.

PubMed

Wei, Qinglai; Li, Benkai; Song, Ruizhuo

2018-04-01

In this paper, a generalized policy iteration (GPI) algorithm with approximation errors is developed for solving infinite horizon optimal control problems for nonlinear systems. The developed stable GPI algorithm provides a general structure of discrete-time iterative adaptive dynamic programming algorithms, by which most of the discrete-time reinforcement learning algorithms can be described using the GPI structure. It is for the first time that approximation errors are explicitly considered in the GPI algorithm. The properties of the stable GPI algorithm with approximation errors are analyzed. The admissibility of the approximate iterative control law can be guaranteed if the approximation errors satisfy the admissibility criteria. The convergence of the developed algorithm is established, which shows that the iterative value function is convergent to a finite neighborhood of the optimal performance index function, if the approximate errors satisfy the convergence criterion. Finally, numerical examples and comparisons are presented.

Iterative refinement of structure-based sequence alignments by Seed Extension

PubMed Central

Kim, Changhoon; Tai, Chin-Hsien; Lee, Byungkook

2009-01-01

Background Accurate sequence alignment is required in many bioinformatics applications but, when sequence similarity is low, it is difficult to obtain accurate alignments based on sequence similarity alone. The accuracy improves when the structures are available, but current structure-based sequence alignment procedures still mis-align substantial numbers of residues. In order to correct such errors, we previously explored the possibility of replacing the residue-based dynamic programming algorithm in structure alignment procedures with the Seed Extension algorithm, which does not use a gap penalty. Here, we describe a new procedure called RSE (Refinement with Seed Extension) that iteratively refines a structure-based sequence alignment. Results RSE uses SE (Seed Extension) in its core, which is an algorithm that we reported recently for obtaining a sequence alignment from two superimposed structures. The RSE procedure was evaluated by comparing the correctly aligned fractions of residues before and after the refinement of the structure-based sequence alignments produced by popular programs. CE, DaliLite, FAST, LOCK2, MATRAS, MATT, TM-align, SHEBA and VAST were included in this analysis and the NCBI's CDD root node set was used as the reference alignments. RSE improved the average accuracy of sequence alignments for all programs tested when no shift error was allowed. The amount of improvement varied depending on the program. The average improvements were small for DaliLite and MATRAS but about 5% for CE and VAST. More substantial improvements have been seen in many individual cases. The additional computation times required for the refinements were negligible compared to the times taken by the structure alignment programs. Conclusion RSE is a computationally inexpensive way of improving the accuracy of a structure-based sequence alignment. It can be used as a standalone procedure following a regular structure-based sequence alignment or to replace the traditional iterative refinement procedures based on residue-level dynamic programming algorithm in many structure alignment programs. PMID:19589133

Composition of Web Services Using Markov Decision Processes and Dynamic Programming

PubMed Central

Uc-Cetina, Víctor; Moo-Mena, Francisco; Hernandez-Ucan, Rafael

2015-01-01

We propose a Markov decision process model for solving the Web service composition (WSC) problem. Iterative policy evaluation, value iteration, and policy iteration algorithms are used to experimentally validate our approach, with artificial and real data. The experimental results show the reliability of the model and the methods employed, with policy iteration being the best one in terms of the minimum number of iterations needed to estimate an optimal policy, with the highest Quality of Service attributes. Our experimental work shows how the solution of a WSC problem involving a set of 100,000 individual Web services and where a valid composition requiring the selection of 1,000 services from the available set can be computed in the worst case in less than 200 seconds, using an Intel Core i5 computer with 6 GB RAM. Moreover, a real WSC problem involving only 7 individual Web services requires less than 0.08 seconds, using the same computational power. Finally, a comparison with two popular reinforcement learning algorithms, sarsa and Q-learning, shows that these algorithms require one or two orders of magnitude and more time than policy iteration, iterative policy evaluation, and value iteration to handle WSC problems of the same complexity. PMID:25874247

Vibration computer programs E13101, E13102, E13104, and E13112 and application to the NERVA program. Project 187: Methodology documentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mironenko, G.

1972-01-01

Programs for the analyses of the free or forced, undamped vibrations of one or two elastically-coupled lumped parameter teams are presented. Bearing nonlinearities, casing and rotor distributed mass and elasticity, rotor imbalance, forcing functions, gyroscopic moments, rotary inertia, and shear and flexural deformations are all included in the system dynamics analysis. All bearings have nonlinear load displacement characteristics, the solution is achieved by iteration. Rotor imbalances allowed by such considerations as pilot tolerances and runouts as well as bearing clearances (allowing concail or cylindrical whirl) determine the forcing function magnitudes. The computer programs first obtain a solution wherein the bearings are treated as linear springs of given spring rates. Then, based upon the computed bearing reactions, new spring rates are predicted and another solution of the modified system is made. The iteration is continued until the changes to bearing spring rates and bearing reactions become negligibly small.

Modeling human decision making behavior in supervisory control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tulga, M. K.; Sheridan, T. B.

1977-01-01

An optimal decision control model was developed, which is based primarily on a dynamic programming algorithm which looks at all the available task possibilities, charts an optimal trajectory, and commits itself to do the first step (i.e., follow the optimal trajectory during the next time period), and then iterates the calculation. A Bayesian estimator was included which estimates the tasks which might occur in the immediate future and provides this information to the dynamic programming routine. Preliminary trials comparing the human subject's performance to that of the optimal model show a great similarity, but indicate that the human skips certain movements which require quick change in strategy.

Approximate optimal guidance for the advanced launch system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feeley, T. S.; Speyer, J. L.

1993-01-01

A real-time guidance scheme for the problem of maximizing the payload into orbit subject to the equations of motion for a rocket over a spherical, non-rotating earth is presented. An approximate optimal launch guidance law is developed based upon an asymptotic expansion of the Hamilton - Jacobi - Bellman or dynamic programming equation. The expansion is performed in terms of a small parameter, which is used to separate the dynamics of the problem into primary and perturbation dynamics. For the zeroth-order problem the small parameter is set to zero and a closed-form solution to the zeroth-order expansion term of Hamilton - Jacobi - Bellman equation is obtained. Higher-order terms of the expansion include the effects of the neglected perturbation dynamics. These higher-order terms are determined from the solution of first-order linear partial differential equations requiring only the evaluation of quadratures. This technique is preferred as a real-time, on-line guidance scheme to alternative numerical iterative optimization schemes because of the unreliable convergence properties of these iterative guidance schemes and because the quadratures needed for the approximate optimal guidance law can be performed rapidly and by parallel processing. Even if the approximate solution is not nearly optimal, when using this technique the zeroth-order solution always provides a path which satisfies the terminal constraints. Results for two-degree-of-freedom simulations are presented for the simplified problem of flight in the equatorial plane and compared to the guidance scheme generated by the shooting method which is an iterative second-order technique.

Learning-Based Adaptive Optimal Tracking Control of Strict-Feedback Nonlinear Systems.

PubMed

Gao, Weinan; Jiang, Zhong-Ping; Weinan Gao; Zhong-Ping Jiang; Gao, Weinan; Jiang, Zhong-Ping

2018-06-01

This paper proposes a novel data-driven control approach to address the problem of adaptive optimal tracking for a class of nonlinear systems taking the strict-feedback form. Adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and nonlinear output regulation theories are integrated for the first time to compute an adaptive near-optimal tracker without any a priori knowledge of the system dynamics. Fundamentally different from adaptive optimal stabilization problems, the solution to a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, not necessarily a positive definite function, cannot be approximated through the existing iterative methods. This paper proposes a novel policy iteration technique for solving positive semidefinite HJB equations with rigorous convergence analysis. A two-phase data-driven learning method is developed and implemented online by ADP. The efficacy of the proposed adaptive optimal tracking control methodology is demonstrated via a Van der Pol oscillator with time-varying exogenous signals.

Iterative simulated quenching for designing irregular-spot-array generators.

PubMed

Gillet, J N; Sheng, Y

2000-07-10

We propose a novel, to our knowledge, algorithm of iterative simulated quenching with temperature rescaling for designing diffractive optical elements, based on an analogy between simulated annealing and statistical thermodynamics. The temperature is iteratively rescaled at the end of each quenching process according to ensemble statistics to bring the system back from a frozen imperfect state with a local minimum of energy to a dynamic state in a Boltzmann heat bath in thermal equilibrium at the rescaled temperature. The new algorithm achieves much lower cost function and reconstruction error and higher diffraction efficiency than conventional simulated annealing with a fast exponential cooling schedule and is easy to program. The algorithm is used to design binary-phase generators of large irregular spot arrays. The diffractive phase elements have trapezoidal apertures of varying heights, which fit ideal arbitrary-shaped apertures better than do trapezoidal apertures of fixed heights.

Fostering Earth Observation Regional Networks - Integrative and iterative approaches to capacity building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habtezion, S.

2015-12-01

Fostering Earth Observation Regional Networks - Integrative and iterative approaches to capacity building Fostering Earth Observation Regional Networks - Integrative and iterative approaches to capacity building Senay Habtezion (shabtezion@start.org) / Hassan Virji (hvirji@start.org)Global Change SySTem for Analysis, Training and Research (START) (www.start.org) 2000 Florida Avenue NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 USA As part of the Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) project partnership effort to promote use of earth observations in advancing scientific knowledge, START works to bridge capacity needs related to earth observations (EOs) and their applications in the developing world. GOFC-GOLD regional networks, fostered through the support of regional and thematic workshops, have been successful in (1) enabling participation of scientists for developing countries and from the US to collaborate on key GOFC-GOLD and Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC) issues, including NASA Global Data Set validation and (2) training young developing country scientists to gain key skills in EOs data management and analysis. Members of the regional networks are also engaged and reengaged in other EOs programs (e.g. visiting scientists program; data initiative fellowship programs at the USGS EROS Center and Boston University), which has helped strengthen these networks. The presentation draws from these experiences in advocating for integrative and iterative approaches to capacity building through the lens of the GOFC-GOLD partnership effort. Specifically, this presentation describes the role of the GODC-GOLD partnership in nurturing organic networks of scientists and EOs practitioners in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Fast generating Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state via iterative interaction pictures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Bi-Hua; Chen, Ye-Hong; Wu, Qi-Cheng; Song, Jie; Xia, Yan

2016-10-01

We delve a little deeper into the construction of shortcuts to adiabatic passage for three-level systems by iterative interaction picture (multiple Schrödinger dynamics). As an application example, we use the deduced iterative based shortcuts to rapidly generate the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state in a three-atom system with the help of quantum Zeno dynamics. Numerical simulation shows the dynamics designed by the iterative picture method is physically feasible and the shortcut scheme performs much better than that using the conventional adiabatic passage techniques. Also, the influences of various decoherence processes are discussed by numerical simulation and the results prove that the scheme is fast and robust against decoherence and operational imperfection.

Wind turbine generator application places unique demands on tower design and materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kita, J. P.

1978-01-01

The most relevant contractual tower design requirements and goal for the Mod-1 tower are related to steel truss tower construction, cost-effective state-of-the-art design, a design life of 30 years, and maximum wind conditions of 120 mph at 30 feet elevation. The Mod-1 tower design approach was an iterative process. Static design loads were calculated and member sizes and overall geometry chosen with the use of finite element computer techniques. Initial tower dynamic characteristics were then combined with the dynamic properties of the other wind turbine components, and a series of complex dynamic computer programs were run to establish a dynamic load set and then a second tower design.

Computer Program for Analysis, Design and Optimization of Propulsion, Dynamics, and Kinematics of Multistage Rockets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lali, Mehdi

2009-03-01

A comprehensive computer program is designed in MATLAB to analyze, design and optimize the propulsion, dynamics, thermodynamics, and kinematics of any serial multi-staging rocket for a set of given data. The program is quite user-friendly. It comprises two main sections: "analysis and design" and "optimization." Each section has a GUI (Graphical User Interface) in which the rocket's data are entered by the user and by which the program is run. The first section analyzes the performance of the rocket that is previously devised by the user. Numerous plots and subplots are provided to display the performance of the rocket. The second section of the program finds the "optimum trajectory" via billions of iterations and computations which are done through sophisticated algorithms using numerical methods and incremental integrations. Innovative techniques are applied to calculate the optimal parameters for the engine and designing the "optimal pitch program." This computer program is stand-alone in such a way that it calculates almost every design parameter in regards to rocket propulsion and dynamics. It is meant to be used for actual launch operations as well as educational and research purposes.

Regulation of Dynamical Systems to Optimal Solutions of Semidefinite Programs: Algorithms and Applications to AC Optimal Power Flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dall'Anese, Emiliano; Dhople, Sairaj V.; Giannakis, Georgios B.

2015-07-01

This paper considers a collection of networked nonlinear dynamical systems, and addresses the synthesis of feedback controllers that seek optimal operating points corresponding to the solution of pertinent network-wide optimization problems. Particular emphasis is placed on the solution of semidefinite programs (SDPs). The design of the feedback controller is grounded on a dual e-subgradient approach, with the dual iterates utilized to dynamically update the dynamical-system reference signals. Global convergence is guaranteed for diminishing stepsize rules, even when the reference inputs are updated at a faster rate than the dynamical-system settling time. The application of the proposed framework to the controlmore » of power-electronic inverters in AC distribution systems is discussed. The objective is to bridge the time-scale separation between real-time inverter control and network-wide optimization. Optimization objectives assume the form of SDP relaxations of prototypical AC optimal power flow problems.« less

Efficient iteration in data-parallel programs with irregular and dynamically distributed data structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Littlefield, R.J.

1990-02-01

To implement an efficient data-parallel program on a non-shared memory MIMD multicomputer, data and computations must be properly partitioned to achieve good load balance and locality of reference. Programs with irregular data reference patterns often require irregular partitions. Although good partitions may be easy to determine, they can be difficult or impossible to implement in programming languages that provide only regular data distributions, such as blocked or cyclic arrays. We are developing Onyx, a programming system that provides a shared memory model of distributed data structures and extends the concept of data distribution to include irregular and dynamic distributions. Thismore » provides a powerful means to specify irregular partitions. Perhaps surprisingly, programs using it can also execute efficiently. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the Onyx implementation of a model problem that repeatedly executes an irregular but fixed data reference pattern. On an NCUBE hypercube, the speed of the Onyx implementation is comparable to that of carefully handwritten message-passing code.« less

Algorithm for predicting the evolution of series of dynamics of complex systems in solving information problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasatkina, T. I.; Dushkin, A. V.; Pavlov, V. A.; Shatovkin, R. R.

2018-03-01

In the development of information, systems and programming to predict the series of dynamics, neural network methods have recently been applied. They are more flexible, in comparison with existing analogues and are capable of taking into account the nonlinearities of the series. In this paper, we propose a modified algorithm for predicting the series of dynamics, which includes a method for training neural networks, an approach to describing and presenting input data, based on the prediction by the multilayer perceptron method. To construct a neural network, the values of a series of dynamics at the extremum points and time values corresponding to them, formed based on the sliding window method, are used as input data. The proposed algorithm can act as an independent approach to predicting the series of dynamics, and be one of the parts of the forecasting system. The efficiency of predicting the evolution of the dynamics series for a short-term one-step and long-term multi-step forecast by the classical multilayer perceptron method and a modified algorithm using synthetic and real data is compared. The result of this modification was the minimization of the magnitude of the iterative error that arises from the previously predicted inputs to the inputs to the neural network, as well as the increase in the accuracy of the iterative prediction of the neural network.

Neural network error correction for solving coupled ordinary differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shelton, R. O.; Darsey, J. A.; Sumpter, B. G.; Noid, D. W.

1992-01-01

A neural network is presented to learn errors generated by a numerical algorithm for solving coupled nonlinear differential equations. The method is based on using a neural network to correctly learn the error generated by, for example, Runge-Kutta on a model molecular dynamics (MD) problem. The neural network programs used in this study were developed by NASA. Comparisons are made for training the neural network using backpropagation and a new method which was found to converge with fewer iterations. The neural net programs, the MD model and the calculations are discussed.

Parallel programming of gradient-based iterative image reconstruction schemes for optical tomography.

PubMed

Hielscher, Andreas H; Bartel, Sebastian

2004-02-01

Optical tomography (OT) is a fast developing novel imaging modality that uses near-infrared (NIR) light to obtain cross-sectional views of optical properties inside the human body. A major challenge remains the time-consuming, computational-intensive image reconstruction problem that converts NIR transmission measurements into cross-sectional images. To increase the speed of iterative image reconstruction schemes that are commonly applied for OT, we have developed and implemented several parallel algorithms on a cluster of workstations. Static process distribution as well as dynamic load balancing schemes suitable for heterogeneous clusters and varying machine performances are introduced and tested. The resulting algorithms are shown to accelerate the reconstruction process to various degrees, substantially reducing the computation times for clinically relevant problems.

A SCILAB Program for Computing Rotating Magnetic Compact Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papasotiriou, P. J.; Geroyannis, V. S.

We implement the so-called ``complex-plane iterative technique'' (CIT) to the computation of classical differentially rotating magnetic white dwarf and neutron star models. The program has been written in SCILAB (© INRIA-ENPC), a matrix-oriented high-level programming language, which can be downloaded free of charge from the site http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab. Due to the advanced capabilities of this language, the code is short and understandable. Highlights of the program are: (a) time-saving character, (b) easy use due to the built-in graphics user interface, (c) easy interfacing with Fortran via online dynamic link. We interpret our numerical results in various ways by extensively using the graphics environment of SCILAB.

Weapon System Costing Methodology for Aircraft Airframes and Basic Structures. Volume I. Technical Volume

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-01

the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory for use in conceptual and preliminary designs pauses of weapon system development. The methods are a...trade study method provides ai\\ iterative capability stemming from a direct interface with design synthesis programs. A detailed cost data base ;ind...system for data expmjsion is provided. The methods are designed for ease in changing cost estimating relationships and estimating coefficients

Digital computer program for generating dynamic turbofan engine models (DIGTEM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daniele, C. J.; Krosel, S. M.; Szuch, J. R.; Westerkamp, E. J.

1983-01-01

This report describes DIGTEM, a digital computer program that simulates two spool, two-stream turbofan engines. The turbofan engine model in DIGTEM contains steady-state performance maps for all of the components and has control volumes where continuity and energy balances are maintained. Rotor dynamics and duct momentum dynamics are also included. Altogether there are 16 state variables and state equations. DIGTEM features a backward-differnce integration scheme for integrating stiff systems. It trims the model equations to match a prescribed design point by calculating correction coefficients that balance out the dynamic equations. It uses the same coefficients at off-design points and iterates to a balanced engine condition. Transients can also be run. They are generated by defining controls as a function of time (open-loop control) in a user-written subroutine (TMRSP). DIGTEM has run on the IBM 370/3033 computer using implicit integration with time steps ranging from 1.0 msec to 1.0 sec. DIGTEM is generalized in the aerothermodynamic treatment of components.

Model verification of large structural systems. [space shuttle model response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, L. T.; Hasselman, T. K.

1978-01-01

A computer program for the application of parameter identification on the structural dynamic models of space shuttle and other large models with hundreds of degrees of freedom is described. Finite element, dynamic, analytic, and modal models are used to represent the structural system. The interface with math models is such that output from any structural analysis program applied to any structural configuration can be used directly. Processed data from either sine-sweep tests or resonant dwell tests are directly usable. The program uses measured modal data to condition the prior analystic model so as to improve the frequency match between model and test. A Bayesian estimator generates an improved analytical model and a linear estimator is used in an iterative fashion on highly nonlinear equations. Mass and stiffness scaling parameters are generated for an improved finite element model, and the optimum set of parameters is obtained in one step.

Solution of large nonlinear quasistatic structural mechanics problems on distributed-memory multiprocessor computers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanford, M.

1997-12-31

Most commercially-available quasistatic finite element programs assemble element stiffnesses into a global stiffness matrix, then use a direct linear equation solver to obtain nodal displacements. However, for large problems (greater than a few hundred thousand degrees of freedom), the memory size and computation time required for this approach becomes prohibitive. Moreover, direct solution does not lend itself to the parallel processing needed for today`s multiprocessor systems. This talk gives an overview of the iterative solution strategy of JAS3D, the nonlinear large-deformation quasistatic finite element program. Because its architecture is derived from an explicit transient-dynamics code, it does not ever assemblemore » a global stiffness matrix. The author describes the approach he used to implement the solver on multiprocessor computers, and shows examples of problems run on hundreds of processors and more than a million degrees of freedom. Finally, he describes some of the work he is presently doing to address the challenges of iterative convergence for ill-conditioned problems.« less

Extending substructure based iterative solvers to multiple load and repeated analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farhat, Charbel

1993-01-01

Direct solvers currently dominate commercial finite element structural software, but do not scale well in the fine granularity regime targeted by emerging parallel processors. Substructure based iterative solvers--often called also domain decomposition algorithms--lend themselves better to parallel processing, but must overcome several obstacles before earning their place in general purpose structural analysis programs. One such obstacle is the solution of systems with many or repeated right hand sides. Such systems arise, for example, in multiple load static analyses and in implicit linear dynamics computations. Direct solvers are well-suited for these problems because after the system matrix has been factored, the multiple or repeated solutions can be obtained through relatively inexpensive forward and backward substitutions. On the other hand, iterative solvers in general are ill-suited for these problems because they often must restart from scratch for every different right hand side. In this paper, we present a methodology for extending the range of applications of domain decomposition methods to problems with multiple or repeated right hand sides. Basically, we formulate the overall problem as a series of minimization problems over K-orthogonal and supplementary subspaces, and tailor the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm to solve them efficiently. The resulting solution method is scalable, whereas direct factorization schemes and forward and backward substitution algorithms are not. We illustrate the proposed methodology with the solution of static and dynamic structural problems, and highlight its potential to outperform forward and backward substitutions on parallel computers. As an example, we show that for a linear structural dynamics problem with 11640 degrees of freedom, every time-step beyond time-step 15 is solved in a single iteration and consumes 1.0 second on a 32 processor iPSC-860 system; for the same problem and the same parallel processor, a pair of forward/backward substitutions at each step consumes 15.0 seconds.

Three-dimensional ordered-subset expectation maximization iterative protocol for evaluation of left ventricular volumes and function by quantitative gated SPECT: a dynamic phantom study.

PubMed

Ceriani, Luca; Ruberto, Teresa; Delaloye, Angelika Bischof; Prior, John O; Giovanella, Luca

2010-03-01

The purposes of this study were to characterize the performance of a 3-dimensional (3D) ordered-subset expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm in the quantification of left ventricular (LV) function with (99m)Tc-labeled agent gated SPECT (G-SPECT), the QGS program, and a beating-heart phantom and to optimize the reconstruction parameters for clinical applications. A G-SPECT image of a dynamic heart phantom simulating the beating left ventricle was acquired. The exact volumes of the phantom were known and were as follows: end-diastolic volume (EDV) of 112 mL, end-systolic volume (ESV) of 37 mL, and stroke volume (SV) of 75 mL; these volumes produced an LV ejection fraction (LVEF) of 67%. Tomographic reconstructions were obtained after 10-20 iterations (I) with 4, 8, and 16 subsets (S) at full width at half maximum (FWHM) gaussian postprocessing filter cutoff values of 8-15 mm. The QGS program was used for quantitative measurements. Measured values ranged from 72 to 92 mL for EDV, from 18 to 32 mL for ESV, and from 54 to 63 mL for SV, and the calculated LVEF ranged from 65% to 76%. Overall, the combination of 10 I, 8 S, and a cutoff filter value of 10 mm produced the most accurate results. The plot of the measures with respect to the expectation maximization-equivalent iterations (I x S product) revealed a bell-shaped curve for the LV volumes and a reverse distribution for the LVEF, with the best results in the intermediate range. In particular, FWHM cutoff values exceeding 10 mm affected the estimation of the LV volumes. The QGS program is able to correctly calculate the LVEF when used in association with an optimized 3D OSEM algorithm (8 S, 10 I, and FWHM of 10 mm) but underestimates the LV volumes. However, various combinations of technical parameters, including a limited range of I and S (80-160 expectation maximization-equivalent iterations) and low cutoff values (< or =10 mm) for the gaussian postprocessing filter, produced results with similar accuracies and without clinically relevant differences in the LV volumes and the estimated LVEF.

Acoustic environmental accuracy requirements for response determination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pettitt, M. R.

1983-01-01

A general purpose computer program was developed for the prediction of vehicle interior noise. This program, named VIN, has both modal and statistical energy analysis capabilities for structural/acoustic interaction analysis. The analytic models and their computer implementation were verified through simple test cases with well-defined experimental results. The model was also applied in a space shuttle payload bay launch acoustics prediction study. The computer program processes large and small problems with equal efficiency because all arrays are dynamically sized by program input variables at run time. A data base is built and easily accessed for design studies. The data base significantly reduces the computational costs of such studies by allowing the reuse of the still-valid calculated parameters of previous iterations.

IMPLICIT DUAL CONTROL BASED ON PARTICLE FILTERING AND FORWARD DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING.

PubMed

Bayard, David S; Schumitzky, Alan

2010-03-01

This paper develops a sampling-based approach to implicit dual control. Implicit dual control methods synthesize stochastic control policies by systematically approximating the stochastic dynamic programming equations of Bellman, in contrast to explicit dual control methods that artificially induce probing into the control law by modifying the cost function to include a term that rewards learning. The proposed implicit dual control approach is novel in that it combines a particle filter with a policy-iteration method for forward dynamic programming. The integration of the two methods provides a complete sampling-based approach to the problem. Implementation of the approach is simplified by making use of a specific architecture denoted as an H-block. Practical suggestions are given for reducing computational loads within the H-block for real-time applications. As an example, the method is applied to the control of a stochastic pendulum model having unknown mass, length, initial position and velocity, and unknown sign of its dc gain. Simulation results indicate that active controllers based on the described method can systematically improve closed-loop performance with respect to other more common stochastic control approaches.

Solving large mixed linear models using preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration.

PubMed

Strandén, I; Lidauer, M

1999-12-01

Continuous evaluation of dairy cattle with a random regression test-day model requires a fast solving method and algorithm. A new computing technique feasible in Jacobi and conjugate gradient based iterative methods using iteration on data is presented. In the new computing technique, the calculations in multiplication of a vector by a matrix were recorded to three steps instead of the commonly used two steps. The three-step method was implemented in a general mixed linear model program that used preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration. Performance of this program in comparison to other general solving programs was assessed via estimation of breeding values using univariate, multivariate, and random regression test-day models. Central processing unit time per iteration with the new three-step technique was, at best, one-third that needed with the old technique. Performance was best with the test-day model, which was the largest and most complex model used. The new program did well in comparison to other general software. Programs keeping the mixed model equations in random access memory required at least 20 and 435% more time to solve the univariate and multivariate animal models, respectively. Computations of the second best iteration on data took approximately three and five times longer for the animal and test-day models, respectively, than did the new program. Good performance was due to fast computing time per iteration and quick convergence to the final solutions. Use of preconditioned conjugate gradient based methods in solving large breeding value problems is supported by our findings.

Memory-induced nonlinear dynamics of excitation in cardiac diseases.

PubMed

Landaw, Julian; Qu, Zhilin

2018-04-01

Excitable cells, such as cardiac myocytes, exhibit short-term memory, i.e., the state of the cell depends on its history of excitation. Memory can originate from slow recovery of membrane ion channels or from accumulation of intracellular ion concentrations, such as calcium ion or sodium ion concentration accumulation. Here we examine the effects of memory on excitation dynamics in cardiac myocytes under two diseased conditions, early repolarization and reduced repolarization reserve, each with memory from two different sources: slow recovery of a potassium ion channel and slow accumulation of the intracellular calcium ion concentration. We first carry out computer simulations of action potential models described by differential equations to demonstrate complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. We then develop iterated map models that incorporate memory, which accurately capture the complex excitation dynamics and bifurcations of the action potential models. Finally, we carry out theoretical analyses of the iterated map models to reveal the underlying mechanisms of memory-induced nonlinear dynamics. Our study demonstrates that the memory effect can be unmasked or greatly exacerbated under certain diseased conditions, which promotes complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. The iterated map models reveal that memory converts a monotonic iterated map function into a nonmonotonic one to promote the bifurcations leading to high periodicity and chaos.

Memory-induced nonlinear dynamics of excitation in cardiac diseases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landaw, Julian; Qu, Zhilin

2018-04-01

Excitable cells, such as cardiac myocytes, exhibit short-term memory, i.e., the state of the cell depends on its history of excitation. Memory can originate from slow recovery of membrane ion channels or from accumulation of intracellular ion concentrations, such as calcium ion or sodium ion concentration accumulation. Here we examine the effects of memory on excitation dynamics in cardiac myocytes under two diseased conditions, early repolarization and reduced repolarization reserve, each with memory from two different sources: slow recovery of a potassium ion channel and slow accumulation of the intracellular calcium ion concentration. We first carry out computer simulations of action potential models described by differential equations to demonstrate complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. We then develop iterated map models that incorporate memory, which accurately capture the complex excitation dynamics and bifurcations of the action potential models. Finally, we carry out theoretical analyses of the iterated map models to reveal the underlying mechanisms of memory-induced nonlinear dynamics. Our study demonstrates that the memory effect can be unmasked or greatly exacerbated under certain diseased conditions, which promotes complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. The iterated map models reveal that memory converts a monotonic iterated map function into a nonmonotonic one to promote the bifurcations leading to high periodicity and chaos.

Dynamic analysis of six-bar mechanical press for deep drawing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitsi, S.; Tsiafis, I.; Bouzakis, K. D.

2017-02-01

This paper analyzes the dynamical behavior of a six-bar linkage used in mechanical presses for metal forming such as deep drawing. In the under study mechanism, a four-bar linkage is connected to a slider through an articulated binary link. The motion of the six-bar linkage is studied by kinematic analysis developing an analytical method. Furthermore, using an iterative method and d’ Alembert’s principle, the joint forces and drive moment are evaluated considering joint frictions. The simulation results obtained with a MATLAB program are validated by comparing the theoretical values of the input moment with the ones obtained from the conservation of energy law.

Cyclic Game Dynamics Driven by Iterated Reasoning

PubMed Central

Frey, Seth; Goldstone, Robert L.

2013-01-01

Recent theories from complexity science argue that complex dynamics are ubiquitous in social and economic systems. These claims emerge from the analysis of individually simple agents whose collective behavior is surprisingly complicated. However, economists have argued that iterated reasoning–what you think I think you think–will suppress complex dynamics by stabilizing or accelerating convergence to Nash equilibrium. We report stable and efficient periodic behavior in human groups playing the Mod Game, a multi-player game similar to Rock-Paper-Scissors. The game rewards subjects for thinking exactly one step ahead of others in their group. Groups that play this game exhibit cycles that are inconsistent with any fixed-point solution concept. These cycles are driven by a “hopping” behavior that is consistent with other accounts of iterated reasoning: agents are constrained to about two steps of iterated reasoning and learn an additional one-half step with each session. If higher-order reasoning can be complicit in complex emergent dynamics, then cyclic and chaotic patterns may be endogenous features of real-world social and economic systems. PMID:23441191

A Build-Up Interior Method for Linear Programming: Affine Scaling Form

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-01

initiating a major iteration imply convergence in a finite number of iterations. Each iteration t of the Dikin algorithm starts with an interior dual...this variant with the affine scaling method of Dikin [5] (in dual form). We have also looked into the analogous variant for the related Karmarkar’s...4] G. B. Dantzig, Linear Programming and Extensions (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1963). [5] I. I. Dikin , "Iterative solution of

Repeatable Reverse Engineering with the Platform for Architecture-Neutral Dynamic Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-18

record and replay functionality: on a live execution, the amount of compute resources needed to identify and halt on every memory access and inspect...and iteratively, running a replay of the previously gathered recording over and over to construct a deeper understanding of the important aspects of...system events happen during the replay . A second analysis pass over the replay might focus in on the activity of a particular program or a portion of the

Naval Research Logistics Quarterly. Volume 28, Number 4,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-01

Fan [31 and an observation by Meijerink and van der Vorst [181 guarantee that after pivoting on any diagonal element of a diagonally dominant M- matrix...Science, 3, 255-269 (1957). 1181 Meijerink, J. and H. Van der Vorst, "An Iterative Solution Method for Linear Systems of which the Coefficient Matrix Is a...Hee, K., A. Hordijk and J. Van der Wal, "Successive Approximations for Convergent Dynamic Programming," in Markov Decision Theory, H. Tijms and J

Iterative learning-based decentralized adaptive tracker for large-scale systems: a digital redesign approach.

PubMed

Tsai, Jason Sheng-Hong; Du, Yan-Yi; Huang, Pei-Hsiang; Guo, Shu-Mei; Shieh, Leang-San; Chen, Yuhua

2011-07-01

In this paper, a digital redesign methodology of the iterative learning-based decentralized adaptive tracker is proposed to improve the dynamic performance of sampled-data linear large-scale control systems consisting of N interconnected multi-input multi-output subsystems, so that the system output will follow any trajectory which may not be presented by the analytic reference model initially. To overcome the interference of each sub-system and simplify the controller design, the proposed model reference decentralized adaptive control scheme constructs a decoupled well-designed reference model first. Then, according to the well-designed model, this paper develops a digital decentralized adaptive tracker based on the optimal analog control and prediction-based digital redesign technique for the sampled-data large-scale coupling system. In order to enhance the tracking performance of the digital tracker at specified sampling instants, we apply the iterative learning control (ILC) to train the control input via continual learning. As a result, the proposed iterative learning-based decentralized adaptive tracker not only has robust closed-loop decoupled property but also possesses good tracking performance at both transient and steady state. Besides, evolutionary programming is applied to search for a good learning gain to speed up the learning process of ILC. Copyright © 2011 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.5 MW RF Load for ITER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ives, Robert Lawrence; Marsden, David; Collins, George

Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. developed a 1.5 MW RF load for the ITER fusion research facility currently under construction in France. This program leveraged technology developed in two previous SBIR programs that successfully developed high power RF loads for fusion research applications. This program specifically focused on modifications required by revised technical performance, materials, and assembly specification for ITER. This program implemented an innovative approach to actively distribute the RF power inside the load to avoid excessive heating or arcing associated with constructive interference. The new design implemented materials and assembly changes required to meet specifications. Critical components were builtmore » and successfully tested during the program.« less

Multi-machine analysis of termination scenarios with comparison to simulations of controlled shutdown of ITER discharges

DOE PAGES

de Vries, Peter C.; Luce, Timothy C.; Bae, Young-soon; ...

2017-11-22

To improve our understanding of the dynamics and control of ITER terminations, a study has been carried out on data from existing tokamaks. The aim of this joint analysis is to compare the assumptions for ITER terminations with the present experience basis. The study examined the parameter ranges in which present day devices operated during their terminations, as well as the dynamics of these parameters. The analysis of a database, built using a selected set of experimental termination cases, showed that, the H-mode density decays slower than the plasma current ramp-down. The consequential increase in f_GW limits the duration ofmore » the H-mode phase or result in disruptions. The lower temperatures after the drop out of H-mode will allow the plasma internal inductance to increase. But vertical stability control remains manageable in ITER at high internal inductance when accompanied by a strong elongation reduction. This will result in ITER terminations remaining longer at low q (q₉₅~3) than most present-day devices during the current ramp-down. A fast power ramp-down leads to a larger change in β_p at the H-L transition, but the experimental data showed that these are manageable for the ITER radial position control. The analysis of JET data shows that radiation and impurity levels significantly alter the H-L transition dynamics. Self-consistent calculations of the impurity content and resulting radiation should be taken into account when modelling ITER termination scenarios. Here, the results from this analysis can be used to better prescribe the inputs for the detailed modelling and preparation of ITER termination scenarios.« less

Multi-machine analysis of termination scenarios with comparison to simulations of controlled shutdown of ITER discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Vries, P. C.; Luce, T. C.; Bae, Y. S.; Gerhardt, S.; Gong, X.; Gribov, Y.; Humphreys, D.; Kavin, A.; Khayrutdinov, R. R.; Kessel, C.; Kim, S. H.; Loarte, A.; Lukash, V. E.; de la Luna, E.; Nunes, I.; Poli, F.; Qian, J.; Reinke, M.; Sauter, O.; Sips, A. C. C.; Snipes, J. A.; Stober, J.; Treutterer, W.; Teplukhina, A. A.; Voitsekhovitch, I.; Woo, M. H.; Wolfe, S.; Zabeo, L.; the Alcator C-MOD Team; the ASDEX Upgrade Team; the DIII-D Team; the EAST Team; contributors, JET; the KSTAR Team; the NSTX-U Team; the TCV Team; IOS members, ITPA; experts

2018-02-01

To improve our understanding of the dynamics and control of ITER terminations, a study has been carried out on data from existing tokamaks. The aim of this joint analysis is to compare the assumptions for ITER terminations with the present experience basis. The study examined the parameter ranges in which present day devices operated during their terminations, as well as the dynamics of these parameters. The analysis of a database, built using a selected set of experimental termination cases, showed that, the H-mode density decays slower than the plasma current ramp-down. The consequential increase in f GW limits the duration of the H-mode phase or result in disruptions. The lower temperatures after the drop out of H-mode will allow the plasma internal inductance to increase. But vertical stability control remains manageable in ITER at high internal inductance when accompanied by a strong elongation reduction. This will result in ITER terminations remaining longer at low q (q 95 ~ 3) than most present-day devices during the current ramp-down. A fast power ramp-down leads to a larger change in β p at the H-L transition, but the experimental data showed that these are manageable for the ITER radial position control. The analysis of JET data shows that radiation and impurity levels significantly alter the H-L transition dynamics. Self-consistent calculations of the impurity content and resulting radiation should be taken into account when modelling ITER termination scenarios. The results from this analysis can be used to better prescribe the inputs for the detailed modelling and preparation of ITER termination scenarios.

Silicon material task. Part 3: Low-cost silicon solar array project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roques, R. A.; Coldwell, D. M.

1977-01-01

The feasibility of a process for carbon reduction of low impurity silica in a plasma heat source was investigated to produce low-cost solar-grade silicon. Theoretical aspects of the reaction chemistry were studied with the aid of a computer program using iterative free energy minimization. These calculations indicate a threshold temperature exists at 2400 K below which no silicon is formed. The computer simulation technique of molecular dynamics was used to study the quenching of product species.

Nonlinear dynamic modeling of rotor system supported by angular contact ball bearings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hong; Han, Qinkai; Zhou, Daning

2017-02-01

In current bearing dynamic models, the displacement coordinate relations are usually utilized to approximately obtain the contact deformations between the rolling element and raceways, and then the nonlinear restoring forces of the rolling bearing could be calculated accordingly. Although the calculation efficiency is relatively higher, the accuracy is lower as the contact deformations should be solved through iterative analysis. Thus, an improved nonlinear dynamic model is presented in this paper. Considering the preload condition, surface waviness, Hertz contact and elastohydrodynamic lubrication, load distribution analysis is solved iteratively to more accurately obtain the contact deformations and angles between the rolling balls and raceways. The bearing restoring forces are then obtained through iteratively solving the load distribution equations at every time step. Dynamic tests upon a typical rotor system supported by two angular contact ball bearings are conducted to verify the model. Through comparisons, the differences between the nonlinear dynamic model and current models are also pointed out. The effects of axial preload, rotor eccentricity and inner/outer waviness amplitudes on the dynamic response are discussed in detail.

Output-Feedback Control of Unknown Linear Discrete-Time Systems With Stochastic Measurement and Process Noise via Approximate Dynamic Programming.

PubMed

Wang, Jun-Sheng; Yang, Guang-Hong

2017-07-25

This paper studies the optimal output-feedback control problem for unknown linear discrete-time systems with stochastic measurement and process noise. A dithered Bellman equation with the innovation covariance matrix is constructed via the expectation operator given in the form of a finite summation. On this basis, an output-feedback-based approximate dynamic programming method is developed, where the terms depending on the innovation covariance matrix are available with the aid of the innovation covariance matrix identified beforehand. Therefore, by iterating the Bellman equation, the resulting value function can converge to the optimal one in the presence of the aforementioned noise, and the nearly optimal control laws are delivered. To show the effectiveness and the advantages of the proposed approach, a simulation example and a velocity control experiment on a dc machine are employed.

Simulating transient dynamics of the time-dependent time fractional Fokker-Planck systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Yan-Mei

2016-09-01

For a physically realistic type of time-dependent time fractional Fokker-Planck (FP) equation, derived as the continuous limit of the continuous time random walk with time-modulated Boltzmann jumping weight, a semi-analytic iteration scheme based on the truncated (generalized) Fourier series is presented to simulate the resultant transient dynamics when the external time modulation is a piece-wise constant signal. At first, the iteration scheme is demonstrated with a simple time-dependent time fractional FP equation on finite interval with two absorbing boundaries, and then it is generalized to the more general time-dependent Smoluchowski-type time fractional Fokker-Planck equation. The numerical examples verify the efficiency and accuracy of the iteration method, and some novel dynamical phenomena including polarized motion orientations and periodic response death are discussed.

Blade loss transient dynamics analysis, volume 1. Task 2: TETRA 2 theoretical development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gallardo, Vincente C.; Black, Gerald

1986-01-01

The theoretical development of the forced steady state analysis of the structural dynamic response of a turbine engine having nonlinear connecting elements is discussed. Based on modal synthesis, and the principle of harmonic balance, the governing relations are the compatibility of displacements at the nonlinear connecting elements. There are four displacement compatibility equations at each nonlinear connection, which are solved by iteration for the principle harmonic of the excitation frequency. The resulting computer program, TETRA 2, combines the original TETRA transient analysis (with flexible bladed disk) with the steady state capability. A more versatile nonlinear rub or bearing element which contains a hardening (or softening) spring, with or without deadband, is also incorporated.

NPARC v3.1 User's Guide: A Companion to the NPARC v3.0 User's Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, Joongkee; Slater, John W.; Suresh, Ambady; Townsend, Scott

1999-01-01

NPARC v3.1 is a modification to the NPARC v3.0 computer program which expands the capabilities for time-accurate computations through the use of a Newton iterative implicit method, time-varying boundary conditions, and planar dynamic grids. This document discusses some of the changes from the NPARC v3.0, specifically: changes to the directory structure and execution, changes to the input format. background on new methods, new boundary conditions. dynamic grids, new options for output, usage concepts, and some test cases to serve as tutorials. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with the NPARC v3.0 user's guide.

Policy oscillation is overshooting.

PubMed

Wagner, Paul

2014-04-01

A majority of approximate dynamic programming approaches to the reinforcement learning problem can be categorized into greedy value function methods and value-based policy gradient methods. The former approach, although fast, is well known to be susceptible to the policy oscillation phenomenon. We take a fresh view to this phenomenon by casting, within the context of non-optimistic policy iteration, a considerable subset of the former approach as a limiting special case of the latter. We explain the phenomenon in terms of this view and illustrate the underlying mechanism with artificial examples. We also use it to derive the constrained natural actor-critic algorithm that can interpolate between the aforementioned approaches. In addition, it has been suggested in the literature that the oscillation phenomenon might be subtly connected to the grossly suboptimal performance in the Tetris benchmark problem of all attempted approximate dynamic programming methods. Based on empirical findings, we offer a hypothesis that might explain the inferior performance levels and the associated policy degradation phenomenon, and which would partially support the suggested connection. Finally, we report scores in the Tetris problem that improve on existing dynamic programming based results by an order of magnitude. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic SPECT reconstruction from few projections: a sparsity enforced matrix factorization approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Qiaoqiao; Zan, Yunlong; Huang, Qiu; Zhang, Xiaoqun

2015-02-01

The reconstruction of dynamic images from few projection data is a challenging problem, especially when noise is present and when the dynamic images are vary fast. In this paper, we propose a variational model, sparsity enforced matrix factorization (SEMF), based on low rank matrix factorization of unknown images and enforced sparsity constraints for representing both coefficients and bases. The proposed model is solved via an alternating iterative scheme for which each subproblem is convex and involves the efficient alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). The convergence of the overall alternating scheme for the nonconvex problem relies upon the Kurdyka-Łojasiewicz property, recently studied by Attouch et al (2010 Math. Oper. Res. 35 438) and Attouch et al (2013 Math. Program. 137 91). Finally our proof-of-concept simulation on 2D dynamic images shows the advantage of the proposed method compared to conventional methods.

Drawing dynamical and parameters planes of iterative families and methods.

PubMed

Chicharro, Francisco I; Cordero, Alicia; Torregrosa, Juan R

2013-01-01

The complex dynamical analysis of the parametric fourth-order Kim's iterative family is made on quadratic polynomials, showing the MATLAB codes generated to draw the fractal images necessary to complete the study. The parameter spaces associated with the free critical points have been analyzed, showing the stable (and unstable) regions where the selection of the parameter will provide us the excellent schemes (or dreadful ones).

Handling Big Data in Medical Imaging: Iterative Reconstruction with Large-Scale Automated Parallel Computation

PubMed Central

Lee, Jae H.; Yao, Yushu; Shrestha, Uttam; Gullberg, Grant T.; Seo, Youngho

2014-01-01

The primary goal of this project is to implement the iterative statistical image reconstruction algorithm, in this case maximum likelihood expectation maximum (MLEM) used for dynamic cardiac single photon emission computed tomography, on Spark/GraphX. This involves porting the algorithm to run on large-scale parallel computing systems. Spark is an easy-to- program software platform that can handle large amounts of data in parallel. GraphX is a graph analytic system running on top of Spark to handle graph and sparse linear algebra operations in parallel. The main advantage of implementing MLEM algorithm in Spark/GraphX is that it allows users to parallelize such computation without any expertise in parallel computing or prior knowledge in computer science. In this paper we demonstrate a successful implementation of MLEM in Spark/GraphX and present the performance gains with the goal to eventually make it useable in clinical setting. PMID:27081299

Handling Big Data in Medical Imaging: Iterative Reconstruction with Large-Scale Automated Parallel Computation.

PubMed

Lee, Jae H; Yao, Yushu; Shrestha, Uttam; Gullberg, Grant T; Seo, Youngho

2014-11-01

The primary goal of this project is to implement the iterative statistical image reconstruction algorithm, in this case maximum likelihood expectation maximum (MLEM) used for dynamic cardiac single photon emission computed tomography, on Spark/GraphX. This involves porting the algorithm to run on large-scale parallel computing systems. Spark is an easy-to- program software platform that can handle large amounts of data in parallel. GraphX is a graph analytic system running on top of Spark to handle graph and sparse linear algebra operations in parallel. The main advantage of implementing MLEM algorithm in Spark/GraphX is that it allows users to parallelize such computation without any expertise in parallel computing or prior knowledge in computer science. In this paper we demonstrate a successful implementation of MLEM in Spark/GraphX and present the performance gains with the goal to eventually make it useable in clinical setting.

Solving large-scale dynamic systems using band Lanczos method in Rockwell NASTRAN on CRAY X-MP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gupta, V. K.; Zillmer, S. D.; Allison, R. E.

1986-01-01

The improved cost effectiveness using better models, more accurate and faster algorithms and large scale computing offers more representative dynamic analyses. The band Lanczos eigen-solution method was implemented in Rockwell's version of 1984 COSMIC-released NASTRAN finite element structural analysis computer program to effectively solve for structural vibration modes including those of large complex systems exceeding 10,000 degrees of freedom. The Lanczos vectors were re-orthogonalized locally using the Lanczos Method and globally using the modified Gram-Schmidt method for sweeping rigid-body modes and previously generated modes and Lanczos vectors. The truncated band matrix was solved for vibration frequencies and mode shapes using Givens rotations. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the cost effectiveness and accuracy of the method as implemented in ROCKWELL NASTRAN. The CRAY version is based on RPK's COSMIC/NASTRAN. The band Lanczos method was more reliable and accurate and converged faster than the single vector Lanczos Method. The band Lanczos method was comparable to the subspace iteration method which was a block version of the inverse power method. However, the subspace matrix tended to be fully populated in the case of subspace iteration and not as sparse as a band matrix.

The fractal geometry of Hartree-Fock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Theel, Friethjof; Karamatskou, Antonia; Santra, Robin

2017-12-01

The Hartree-Fock method is an important approximation for the ground-state electronic wave function of atoms and molecules so that its usage is widespread in computational chemistry and physics. The Hartree-Fock method is an iterative procedure in which the electronic wave functions of the occupied orbitals are determined. The set of functions found in one step builds the basis for the next iteration step. In this work, we interpret the Hartree-Fock method as a dynamical system since dynamical systems are iterations where iteration steps represent the time development of the system, as encountered in the theory of fractals. The focus is put on the convergence behavior of the dynamical system as a function of a suitable control parameter. In our case, a complex parameter λ controls the strength of the electron-electron interaction. An investigation of the convergence behavior depending on the parameter λ is performed for helium, neon, and argon. We observe fractal structures in the complex λ-plane, which resemble the well-known Mandelbrot set, determine their fractal dimension, and find that with increasing nuclear charge, the fragmentation increases as well.

A simulation model for wind energy storage systems. Volume 1: Technical report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, A. W.; Edsinger, R. W.; Chan, Y. K.

1977-01-01

A comprehensive computer program for the modeling of wind energy and storage systems utilizing any combination of five types of storage (pumped hydro, battery, thermal, flywheel and pneumatic) was developed. The level of detail of Simulation Model for Wind Energy Storage (SIMWEST) is consistent with a role of evaluating the economic feasibility as well as the general performance of wind energy systems. The software package consists of two basic programs and a library of system, environmental, and load components. The first program is a precompiler which generates computer models (in FORTRAN) of complex wind source storage application systems, from user specifications using the respective library components. The second program provides the techno-economic system analysis with the respective I/O, the integration of systems dynamics, and the iteration for conveyance of variables. SIMWEST program, as described, runs on the UNIVAC 1100 series computers.

A simulation model for wind energy storage systems. Volume 2: Operation manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, A. W.; Edsinger, R. W.; Burroughs, J. D.

1977-01-01

A comprehensive computer program (SIMWEST) developed for the modeling of wind energy/storage systems utilizing any combination of five types of storage (pumped hydro, battery, thermal, flywheel, and pneumatic) is described. Features of the program include: a precompiler which generates computer models (in FORTRAN) of complex wind source/storage/application systems, from user specifications using the respective library components; a program which provides the techno-economic system analysis with the respective I/O the integration of system dynamics, and the iteration for conveyance of variables; and capability to evaluate economic feasibility as well as general performance of wind energy systems. The SIMWEST operation manual is presented and the usage of the SIMWEST program and the design of the library components are described. A number of example simulations intended to familiarize the user with the program's operation is given along with a listing of each SIMWEST library subroutine.

Pediatric faculty and residents’ perspectives on In-Training Evaluation Reports (ITERs)

PubMed Central

Patel, Rikin; Drover, Anne; Chafe, Roger

2015-01-01

Background In-training evaluation reports (ITERs) are used by over 90% of postgraduate medical training programs in Canada for resident assessment. Our study examined the perspectives of faculty and residents in one pediatric program as a means to improve the ITER as an evaluation tool. Method Two separate focus groups were conducted, one with eight pediatric residents and one with nine clinical faculty within the pediatrics program of Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine to discuss their perceptions of, and suggestions for improving, the use of ITERs. Results Residents and faculty shared many similar suggestions for improving the ITER as an evaluation tool. Both the faculty and residents emphasized the importance of written feedback, contextualizing the evaluation and timely follow-up. The biggest challenge appears to be the discrepancy in the quality of feedback sought by the residents and the faculty members’ ability to do so in a time effective manner. Others concerns related to the need for better engagement in setting rotation objectives and more direct observation by the faculty member completing the ITER. Conclusions The ITER is a useful tool in resident evaluations, but a number of issues relating to its actual use could improve the quality of feedback which residents receive. PMID:27004076

Drawing Dynamical and Parameters Planes of Iterative Families and Methods

PubMed Central

Chicharro, Francisco I.

2013-01-01

The complex dynamical analysis of the parametric fourth-order Kim's iterative family is made on quadratic polynomials, showing the MATLAB codes generated to draw the fractal images necessary to complete the study. The parameter spaces associated with the free critical points have been analyzed, showing the stable (and unstable) regions where the selection of the parameter will provide us the excellent schemes (or dreadful ones). PMID:24376386

Verification of Java Programs using Symbolic Execution and Invariant Generation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pasareanu, Corina; Visser, Willem

2004-01-01

Software verification is recognized as an important and difficult problem. We present a norel framework, based on symbolic execution, for the automated verification of software. The framework uses annotations in the form of method specifications an3 loop invariants. We present a novel iterative technique that uses invariant strengthening and approximation for discovering these loop invariants automatically. The technique handles different types of data (e.g. boolean and numeric constraints, dynamically allocated structures and arrays) and it allows for checking universally quantified formulas. Our framework is built on top of the Java PathFinder model checking toolset and it was used for the verification of several non-trivial Java programs.

Iterative-Transform Phase Retrieval Using Adaptive Diversity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dean, Bruce H.

2007-01-01

A phase-diverse iterative-transform phase-retrieval algorithm enables high spatial-frequency, high-dynamic-range, image-based wavefront sensing. [The terms phase-diverse, phase retrieval, image-based, and wavefront sensing are defined in the first of the two immediately preceding articles, Broadband Phase Retrieval for Image-Based Wavefront Sensing (GSC-14899-1).] As described below, no prior phase-retrieval algorithm has offered both high dynamic range and the capability to recover high spatial-frequency components. Each of the previously developed image-based phase-retrieval techniques can be classified into one of two categories: iterative transform or parametric. Among the modifications of the original iterative-transform approach has been the introduction of a defocus diversity function (also defined in the cited companion article). Modifications of the original parametric approach have included minimizing alternative objective functions as well as implementing a variety of nonlinear optimization methods. The iterative-transform approach offers the advantage of ability to recover low, middle, and high spatial frequencies, but has disadvantage of having a limited dynamic range to one wavelength or less. In contrast, parametric phase retrieval offers the advantage of high dynamic range, but is poorly suited for recovering higher spatial frequency aberrations. The present phase-diverse iterative transform phase-retrieval algorithm offers both the high-spatial-frequency capability of the iterative-transform approach and the high dynamic range of parametric phase-recovery techniques. In implementation, this is a focus-diverse iterative-transform phaseretrieval algorithm that incorporates an adaptive diversity function, which makes it possible to avoid phase unwrapping while preserving high-spatial-frequency recovery. The algorithm includes an inner and an outer loop (see figure). An initial estimate of phase is used to start the algorithm on the inner loop, wherein multiple intensity images are processed, each using a different defocus value. The processing is done by an iterative-transform method, yielding individual phase estimates corresponding to each image of the defocus-diversity data set. These individual phase estimates are combined in a weighted average to form a new phase estimate, which serves as the initial phase estimate for either the next iteration of the iterative-transform method or, if the maximum number of iterations has been reached, for the next several steps, which constitute the outerloop portion of the algorithm. The details of the next several steps must be omitted here for the sake of brevity. The overall effect of these steps is to adaptively update the diversity defocus values according to recovery of global defocus in the phase estimate. Aberration recovery varies with differing amounts as the amount of diversity defocus is updated in each image; thus, feedback is incorporated into the recovery process. This process is iterated until the global defocus error is driven to zero during the recovery process. The amplitude of aberration may far exceed one wavelength after completion of the inner-loop portion of the algorithm, and the classical iterative transform method does not, by itself, enable recovery of multi-wavelength aberrations. Hence, in the absence of a means of off-loading the multi-wavelength portion of the aberration, the algorithm would produce a wrapped phase map. However, a special aberration-fitting procedure can be applied to the wrapped phase data to transfer at least some portion of the multi-wavelength aberration to the diversity function, wherein the data are treated as known phase values. In this way, a multiwavelength aberration can be recovered incrementally by successively applying the aberration-fitting procedure to intermediate wrapped phase maps. During recovery, as more of the aberration is transferred to the diversity function following successive iterations around the ter loop, the estimated phase ceases to wrap in places where the aberration values become incorporated as part of the diversity function. As a result, as the aberration content is transferred to the diversity function, the phase estimate resembles that of a reference flat.

Spotting the difference in molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakuraba, Shun; Kono, Hidetoshi

2016-08-01

Comparing two trajectories from molecular simulations conducted under different conditions is not a trivial task. In this study, we apply a method called Linear Discriminant Analysis with ITERative procedure (LDA-ITER) to compare two molecular simulation results by finding the appropriate projection vectors. Because LDA-ITER attempts to determine a projection such that the projections of the two trajectories do not overlap, the comparison does not suffer from a strong anisotropy, which is an issue in protein dynamics. LDA-ITER is applied to two test cases: the T4 lysozyme protein simulation with or without a point mutation and the allosteric protein PDZ2 domain of hPTP1E with or without a ligand. The projection determined by the method agrees with the experimental data and previous simulations. The proposed procedure, which complements existing methods, is a versatile analytical method that is specialized to find the "difference" between two trajectories.

Comparisons of Observed Process Quality in German and American Infant/Toddler Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tietze, Wolfgang; Cryer, Debby

2004-01-01

Observed process quality in infant/toddler classrooms was compared in Germany (n = 75) and the USA (n = 219). Process quality was assessed with the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale(ITERS) and parent attitudes about ITERS content with the ITERS Parent Questionnaire (ITERSPQ). The ITERS had comparable reliabilities in the two countries and…

A novel dynamical community detection algorithm based on weighting scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ju; Yu, Kai; Hu, Ke

2015-12-01

Network dynamics plays an important role in analyzing the correlation between the function properties and the topological structure. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamical iteration (DI) algorithm, which incorporates the iterative process of membership vector with weighting scheme, i.e. weighting W and tightness T. These new elements can be used to adjust the link strength and the node compactness for improving the speed and accuracy of community structure detection. To estimate the optimal stop time of iteration, we utilize a new stability measure which is defined as the Markov random walk auto-covariance. We do not need to specify the number of communities in advance. It naturally supports the overlapping communities by associating each node with a membership vector describing the node's involvement in each community. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that the algorithm can uncover communities effectively and efficiently.

Solution of Cubic Equations by Iteration Methods on a Pocket Calculator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bamdad, Farzad

2004-01-01

A method to provide students a vision of how they can write iteration programs on an inexpensive programmable pocket calculator, without requiring a PC or a graphing calculator is developed. Two iteration methods are used, successive-approximations and bisection methods.

On 3D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcknight, R. L.; Chen, P. C.; Dame, L. T.; Holt, R. V.; Huang, H.; Hartle, M.; Gellin, S.; Allen, D. H.; Haisler, W. E.

1986-01-01

Accomplishments are described for the 2-year program, to develop advanced 3-D inelastic structural stress analysis methods and solution strategies for more accurate and cost effective analysis of combustors, turbine blades and vanes. The approach was to develop a matrix of formulation elements and constitutive models. Three constitutive models were developed in conjunction with optimized iterating techniques, accelerators, and convergence criteria within a framework of dynamic time incrementing. Three formulations models were developed; an eight-noded mid-surface shell element, a nine-noded mid-surface shell element and a twenty-noded isoparametric solid element. A separate computer program was developed for each combination of constitutive model-formulation model. Each program provides a functional stand alone capability for performing cyclic nonlinear structural analysis. In addition, the analysis capabilities incorporated into each program can be abstracted in subroutine form for incorporation into other codes or to form new combinations.

The 3D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcknight, R. L.; Maffeo, R. J.; Tipton, M. T.; Weber, G.

1992-01-01

A two-year program to develop advanced 3D inelastic structural stress analysis methods and solution strategies for more accurate and cost effective analysis of combustors, turbine blades, and vanes is described. The approach was to develop a matrix of formulation elements and constitutive models. Three constitutive models were developed in conjunction with optimized iterating techniques, accelerators, and convergence criteria within a framework of dynamic time incrementing. Three formulation models were developed: an eight-noded midsurface shell element; a nine-noded midsurface shell element; and a twenty-noded isoparametric solid element. A separate computer program has been developed for each combination of constitutive model-formulation model. Each program provides a functional stand alone capability for performing cyclic nonlinear structural analysis. In addition, the analysis capabilities incorporated into each program can be abstracted in subroutine form for incorporation into other codes or to form new combinations.

An expanded system simulation model for solar energy storage (technical report), volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, A. W.

1979-01-01

The simulation model for wind energy storage (SIMWEST) program now includes wind and/or photovoltaic systems utilizing any combination of five types of storage (pumped hydro, battery, thermal, flywheel and pneumatic) and is available for the UNIVAC 1100 series and the CDC 6000 series computers. The level of detail is consistent with a role of evaluating the economic feasibility as well as the general performance of wind and/or photovoltaic energy systems. The software package consists of two basic programs and a library of system, environmental, and load components. The first program is a precompiler which generates computer models (in FORTRAN) of complex wind and/or photovoltaic source/storage/application systems, from user specifications using the respective library components. The second program provides the techno-economic system analysis with the respective I/0, the integration of system dynamics, and the iteration for conveyance of variables.

Strongly Coupled Fluid-Body Dynamics in the Immersed Boundary Projection Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chengjie; Eldredge, Jeff D.

2014-11-01

A computational algorithm is developed to simulate dynamically coupled interaction between fluid and rigid bodies. The basic computational framework is built upon a multi-domain immersed boundary method library, whirl, developed in previous work. In this library, the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible flow are solved on a uniform Cartesian grid by the vorticity-based immersed boundary projection method of Colonius and Taira. A solver for the dynamics of rigid-body systems is also included. The fluid and rigid-body solvers are strongly coupled with an iterative approach based on the block Gauss-Seidel method. Interfacial force, with its intimate connection with the Lagrange multipliers used in the fluid solver, is used as the primary iteration variable. Relaxation, developed from a stability analysis of the iterative scheme, is used to achieve convergence in only 2-4 iterations per time step. Several two- and three-dimensional numerical tests are conducted to validate and demonstrate the method, including flapping of flexible wings, self-excited oscillations of a system of linked plates and three-dimensional propulsion of flexible fluked tail. This work has been supported by AFOSR, under Award FA9550-11-1-0098.

Continuous analog of multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique for computed tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tateishi, Kiyoko; Yamaguchi, Yusaku; Abou Al-Ola, Omar M.; Kojima, Takeshi; Yoshinaga, Tetsuya

2016-03-01

We propose a hybrid dynamical system as a continuous analog to the block-iterative multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (BI-MART), which is a well-known iterative image reconstruction algorithm for computed tomography. The hybrid system is described by a switched nonlinear system with a piecewise smooth vector field or differential equation and, for consistent inverse problems, the convergence of non-negatively constrained solutions to a globally stable equilibrium is guaranteed by the Lyapunov theorem. Namely, we can prove theoretically that a weighted Kullback-Leibler divergence measure can be a common Lyapunov function for the switched system. We show that discretizing the differential equation by using the first-order approximation (Euler's method) based on the geometric multiplicative calculus leads to the same iterative formula of the BI-MART with the scaling parameter as a time-step of numerical discretization. The present paper is the first to reveal that a kind of iterative image reconstruction algorithm is constructed by the discretization of a continuous-time dynamical system for solving tomographic inverse problems. Iterative algorithms with not only the Euler method but also the Runge-Kutta methods of lower-orders applied for discretizing the continuous-time system can be used for image reconstruction. A numerical example showing the characteristics of the discretized iterative methods is presented.

A multi-purpose method for analysis of spur gear tooth loading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kasuba, R.; Evans, J. W.; August, R.; Frater, J. L.

1981-01-01

A large digitized approach was developed for the static and dynamic load analysis of spur gearing. An iterative procedure was used to calculate directly the "variable-variable" gear mesh stiffness as a function of transmitted load, gear tooth profile errors, gear tooth deflections and gear hub torsional deformation, and position of contacting profile points. The developed approach can be used to analyze the loads, Hertz stresses, and PV for the normal and high contrast ratio gearing, presently the modeling is limited to the condition that for a given gear all teeth have identical spacing and profiles (with or without surface imperfections). Certain types of simulated sinusoidal profile errors and pitting can cause interruptions of the gear mesh stiffness function and, thus, increase the dynamic loads in spur gearing. In addition, a finite element stress and mesh subprogram was developed for future introduction into the main program for calculating the gear tooth bending stresses under dynamic loads.

Markov Chain Monte Carlo from Lagrangian Dynamics.

PubMed

Lan, Shiwei; Stathopoulos, Vasileios; Shahbaba, Babak; Girolami, Mark

2015-04-01

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) improves the computational e ciency of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm by reducing its random walk behavior. Riemannian HMC (RHMC) further improves the performance of HMC by exploiting the geometric properties of the parameter space. However, the geometric integrator used for RHMC involves implicit equations that require fixed-point iterations. In some cases, the computational overhead for solving implicit equations undermines RHMC's benefits. In an attempt to circumvent this problem, we propose an explicit integrator that replaces the momentum variable in RHMC by velocity. We show that the resulting transformation is equivalent to transforming Riemannian Hamiltonian dynamics to Lagrangian dynamics. Experimental results suggests that our method improves RHMC's overall computational e ciency in the cases considered. All computer programs and data sets are available online (http://www.ics.uci.edu/~babaks/Site/Codes.html) in order to allow replication of the results reported in this paper.

Inspiring peer-to-peer educations with film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vachon, R. W.

2014-12-01

Oceans are vast, complicated, often inaccessible, three-dimensional and dark (for the most part). The value, vulnerabilities and dynamics of marine systems are quite far removed from the consciousness of many people. However, these reasons are not alibis for not understanding and appreciating oceans deep-rooted influences on our lives. Currently, the Nereus Program, a fellowship of climate, fisheries and computer modeling scientists, are accessing school systems in person and virtually, motivating teens to tell stories about their local understanding of the ocean's influence on their communities (even if they live in a landlocked location). In it's first iteration, we are soliciting youth to communicate through the popular medium of film. These films will be assembled into an on-line digital field guide. In part, this program is designed to be a peer-to-peer educational technique, where civilians are teaching other civilians about local or regional ocean dynamics. Additionally, the act of teaching through film is a proven method for deepening engagement, learning and empowerment of the individuals producing the films.

A free interactive matching program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

J.-F. Ostiguy

1999-04-16

For physicists and engineers involved in the design and analysis of beamlines (transfer lines or insertions) the lattice function matching problem is central and can be time-consuming because it involves constrained nonlinear optimization. For such problems convergence can be difficult to obtain in general without expert human intervention. Over the years, powerful codes have been developed to assist beamline designers. The canonical example is MAD (Methodical Accelerator Design) developed at CERN by Christophe Iselin. MAD, through a specialized command language, allows one to solve a wide variety of problems, including matching problems. Although in principle, the MAD command interpreter canmore » be run interactively, in practice the solution of a matching problem involves a sequence of independent trial runs. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, there still exists relatively few tools exploiting the resources offered by modern environments to assist lattice designer with this routine and repetitive task. In this paper, we describe a fully interactive lattice matching program, written in C++ and assembled using freely available software components. An important feature of the code is that the evolution of the lattice functions during the nonlinear iterative process can be graphically monitored in real time; the user can dynamically interrupt the iterations at will to introduce new variables, freeze existing ones into their current state and/or modify constraints. The program runs under both UNIX and Windows NT.« less

Gyrokinetic simulation of edge blobs and divertor heat-load footprint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, C. S.; Ku, S.; Hager, R.; Churchill, M.; D'Azevedo, E.; Worley, P.

2015-11-01

Gyrokinetic study of divertor heat-load width Lq has been performed using the edge gyrokinetic code XGC1. Both neoclassical and electrostatic turbulence physics are self-consistently included in the simulation with fully nonlinear Fokker-Planck collision operation and neutral recycling. Gyrokinetic ions and drift kinetic electrons constitute the plasma in realistic magnetic separatrix geometry. The electron density fluctuations from nonlinear turbulence form blobs, as similarly seen in the experiments. DIII-D and NSTX geometries have been used to represent today's conventional and tight aspect ratio tokamaks. XGC1 shows that the ion neoclassical orbit dynamics dominates over the blob physics in setting Lq in the sample DIII-D and NSTX plasmas, re-discovering the experimentally observed 1/Ip type scaling. Magnitude of Lq is in the right ballpark, too, in comparison with experimental data. However, in an ITER standard plasma, XGC1 shows that the negligible neoclassical orbit excursion effect makes the blob dynamics to dominate Lq. Differently from Lq 1mm (when mapped back to outboard midplane) as was predicted by simple-minded extrapolation from the present-day data, XGC1 shows that Lq in ITER is about 1 cm that is somewhat smaller than the average blob size. Supported by US DOE and the INCITE program.

Improved cryoEM-Guided Iterative Molecular Dynamics–Rosetta Protein Structure Refinement Protocol for High Precision Protein Structure Prediction

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Many excellent methods exist that incorporate cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) data to constrain computational protein structure prediction and refinement. Previously, it was shown that iteration of two such orthogonal sampling and scoring methods – Rosetta and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations – facilitated exploration of conformational space in principle. Here, we go beyond a proof-of-concept study and address significant remaining limitations of the iterative MD–Rosetta protein structure refinement protocol. Specifically, all parts of the iterative refinement protocol are now guided by medium-resolution cryoEM density maps, and previous knowledge about the native structure of the protein is no longer necessary. Models are identified solely based on score or simulation time. All four benchmark proteins showed substantial improvement through three rounds of the iterative refinement protocol. The best-scoring final models of two proteins had sub-Ångstrom RMSD to the native structure over residues in secondary structure elements. Molecular dynamics was most efficient in refining secondary structure elements and was thus highly complementary to the Rosetta refinement which is most powerful in refining side chains and loop regions. PMID:25883538

A Two-Timescale Discretization Scheme for Collocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Desai, Prasun; Conway, Bruce A.

2004-01-01

The development of a two-timescale discretization scheme for collocation is presented. This scheme allows a larger discretization to be utilized for smoothly varying state variables and a second finer discretization to be utilized for state variables having higher frequency dynamics. As such. the discretization scheme can be tailored to the dynamics of the particular state variables. In so doing. the size of the overall Nonlinear Programming (NLP) problem can be reduced significantly. Two two-timescale discretization architecture schemes are described. Comparison of results between the two-timescale method and conventional collocation show very good agreement. Differences of less than 0.5 percent are observed. Consequently. a significant reduction (by two-thirds) in the number of NLP parameters and iterations required for convergence can be achieved without sacrificing solution accuracy.

Do in-training evaluation reports deserve their bad reputations? A study of the reliability and predictive ability of ITER scores and narrative comments.

PubMed

Ginsburg, Shiphra; Eva, Kevin; Regehr, Glenn

2013-10-01

Although scores on in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) are often criticized for poor reliability and validity, ITER comments may yield valuable information. The authors assessed across-rotation reliability of ITER scores in one internal medicine program, ability of ITER scores and comments to predict postgraduate year three (PGY3) performance, and reliability and incremental predictive validity of attendings' analysis of written comments. Numeric and narrative data from the first two years of ITERs for one cohort of residents at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine (2009-2011) were assessed for reliability and predictive validity of third-year performance. Twenty-four faculty attendings rank-ordered comments (without scores) such that each resident was ranked by three faculty. Mean ITER scores and comment rankings were submitted to regression analyses; dependent variables were PGY3 ITER scores and program directors' rankings. Reliabilities of ITER scores across nine rotations for 63 residents were 0.53 for both postgraduate year one (PGY1) and postgraduate year two (PGY2). Interrater reliabilities across three attendings' rankings were 0.83 for PGY1 and 0.79 for PGY2. There were strong correlations between ITER scores and comments within each year (0.72 and 0.70). Regressions revealed that PGY1 and PGY2 ITER scores collectively explained 25% of variance in PGY3 scores and 46% of variance in PGY3 rankings. Comment rankings did not improve predictions. ITER scores across multiple rotations showed decent reliability and predictive validity. Comment ranks did not add to the predictive ability, but correlation analyses suggest that trainee performance can be measured through these comments.

Wavefront Control Toolbox for James Webb Space Telescope Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shiri, Ron; Aronstein, David L.; Smith, Jeffery Scott; Dean, Bruce H.; Sabatke, Erin

2007-01-01

We have developed a Matlab toolbox for wavefront control of optical systems. We have applied this toolbox to the optical models of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in general and to the JWST Testbed Telescope (TBT) in particular, implementing both unconstrained and constrained wavefront optimization to correct for possible misalignments present on the segmented primary mirror or the monolithic secondary mirror. The optical models implemented in Zemax optical design program and information is exchanged between Matlab and Zemax via the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) interface. The model configuration is managed using the XML protocol. The optimization algorithm uses influence functions for each adjustable degree of freedom of the optical mode. The iterative and non-iterative algorithms have been developed to converge to a local minimum of the root-mean-square (rms) of wavefront error using singular value decomposition technique of the control matrix of influence functions. The toolkit is highly modular and allows the user to choose control strategies for the degrees of freedom to be adjusted on a given iteration and wavefront convergence criterion. As the influence functions are nonlinear over the control parameter space, the toolkit also allows for trade-offs between frequency of updating the local influence functions and execution speed. The functionality of the toolbox and the validity of the underlying algorithms have been verified through extensive simulations.

Erosion of tungsten armor after multiple intense transient events in ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bazylev, B. N.; Janeschitz, G.; Landman, I. S.; Pestchanyi, S. E.

2005-03-01

Macroscopic erosion by melt motion is the dominating damage mechanism for tungsten armour under high-heat loads with energy deposition W > 1 MJ/m 2 and τ > 0.1 ms. For ITER divertor armour the results of a fluid dynamics simulation of the melt motion erosion after repetitive stochastically varying plasma heat loads of consecutive disruptions interspaced by ELMs are presented. The heat loads for particular single transient events are numerically simulated using the two-dimensional MHD code FOREV-2D. The whole melt motion is calculated by the fluid dynamics code MEMOS-1.5D. In addition for the ITER dome melt motion erosion of tungsten armour caused by the lateral radiation impact from the plasma shield at the disruption and ELM heat loads is estimated.

Low dose dynamic myocardial CT perfusion using advanced iterative reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eck, Brendan L.; Fahmi, Rachid; Fuqua, Christopher; Vembar, Mani; Dhanantwari, Amar; Bezerra, Hiram G.; Wilson, David L.

2015-03-01

Dynamic myocardial CT perfusion (CTP) can provide quantitative functional information for the assessment of coronary artery disease. However, x-ray dose in dynamic CTP is high, typically from 10mSv to >20mSv. We compared the dose reduction potential of advanced iterative reconstruction, Iterative Model Reconstruction (IMR, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, Ohio) to hybrid iterative reconstruction (iDose4) and filtered back projection (FBP). Dynamic CTP scans were obtained using a porcine model with balloon-induced ischemia in the left anterior descending coronary artery to prescribed fractional flow reserve values. High dose dynamic CTP scans were acquired at 100kVp/100mAs with effective dose of 23mSv. Low dose scans at 75mAs, 50mAs, and 25mAs were simulated by adding x-ray quantum noise and detector electronic noise to the projection space data. Images were reconstructed with FBP, iDose4, and IMR at each dose level. Image quality in static CTP images was assessed by SNR and CNR. Blood flow was obtained using a dynamic CTP analysis pipeline and blood flow image quality was assessed using flow-SNR and flow-CNR. IMR showed highest static image quality according to SNR and CNR. Blood flow in FBP was increasingly over-estimated at reduced dose. Flow was more consistent for iDose4 from 100mAs to 50mAs, but was over-estimated at 25mAs. IMR was most consistent from 100mAs to 25mAs. Static images and flow maps for 100mAs FBP, 50mAs iDose4, and 25mAs IMR showed comparable, clear ischemia, CNR, and flow-CNR values. These results suggest that IMR can enable dynamic CTP at significantly reduced dose, at 5.8mSv or 25% of the comparable 23mSv FBP protocol.

MPL-A program for computations with iterated integrals on moduli spaces of curves of genus zero

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogner, Christian

2016-06-01

We introduce the Maple program MPL for computations with multiple polylogarithms. The program is based on homotopy invariant iterated integrals on moduli spaces M0,n of curves of genus 0 with n ordered marked points. It includes the symbol map and procedures for the analytic computation of period integrals on M0,n. It supports the automated computation of a certain class of Feynman integrals.

WavePacket: A Matlab package for numerical quantum dynamics.II: Open quantum systems, optimal control, and model reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Burkhard; Hartmann, Carsten

2018-07-01

WavePacket is an open-source program package for numeric simulations in quantum dynamics. It can solve time-independent or time-dependent linear Schrödinger and Liouville-von Neumann-equations in one or more dimensions. Also coupled equations can be treated, which allows, e.g., to simulate molecular quantum dynamics beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Optionally accounting for the interaction with external electric fields within the semi-classical dipole approximation, WavePacket can be used to simulate experiments involving tailored light pulses in photo-induced physics or chemistry. Being highly versatile and offering visualization of quantum dynamics 'on the fly', WavePacket is well suited for teaching or research projects in atomic, molecular and optical physics as well as in physical or theoretical chemistry. Building on the previous Part I [Comp. Phys. Comm. 213, 223-234 (2017)] which dealt with closed quantum systems and discrete variable representations, the present Part II focuses on the dynamics of open quantum systems, with Lindblad operators modeling dissipation and dephasing. This part also describes the WavePacket function for optimal control of quantum dynamics, building on rapid monotonically convergent iteration methods. Furthermore, two different approaches to dimension reduction implemented in WavePacket are documented here. In the first one, a balancing transformation based on the concepts of controllability and observability Gramians is used to identify states that are neither well controllable nor well observable. Those states are either truncated or averaged out. In the other approach, the H2-error for a given reduced dimensionality is minimized by H2 optimal model reduction techniques, utilizing a bilinear iterative rational Krylov algorithm. The present work describes the MATLAB version of WavePacket 5.3.0 which is hosted and further developed at the Sourceforge platform, where also extensive Wiki-documentation as well as numerous worked-out demonstration examples with animated graphics can be found.

Global Asymptotic Behavior of Iterative Implicit Schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yee, H. C.; Sweby, P. K.

1994-01-01

The global asymptotic nonlinear behavior of some standard iterative procedures in solving nonlinear systems of algebraic equations arising from four implicit linear multistep methods (LMMs) in discretizing three models of 2 x 2 systems of first-order autonomous nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is analyzed using the theory of dynamical systems. The iterative procedures include simple iteration and full and modified Newton iterations. The results are compared with standard Runge-Kutta explicit methods, a noniterative implicit procedure, and the Newton method of solving the steady part of the ODEs. Studies showed that aside from exhibiting spurious asymptotes, all of the four implicit LMMs can change the type and stability of the steady states of the differential equations (DEs). They also exhibit a drastic distortion but less shrinkage of the basin of attraction of the true solution than standard nonLMM explicit methods. The simple iteration procedure exhibits behavior which is similar to standard nonLMM explicit methods except that spurious steady-state numerical solutions cannot occur. The numerical basins of attraction of the noniterative implicit procedure mimic more closely the basins of attraction of the DEs and are more efficient than the three iterative implicit procedures for the four implicit LMMs. Contrary to popular belief, the initial data using the Newton method of solving the steady part of the DEs may not have to be close to the exact steady state for convergence. These results can be used as an explanation for possible causes and cures of slow convergence and nonconvergence of steady-state numerical solutions when using an implicit LMM time-dependent approach in computational fluid dynamics.

User interface support

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, Clayton; Wilde, Nick

1989-01-01

Space construction will require heavy investment in the development of a wide variety of user interfaces for the computer-based tools that will be involved at every stage of construction operations. Using today's technology, user interface development is very expensive for two reasons: (1) specialized and scarce programming skills are required to implement the necessary graphical representations and complex control regimes for high-quality interfaces; (2) iteration on prototypes is required to meet user and task requirements, since these are difficult to anticipate with current (and foreseeable) design knowledge. We are attacking this problem by building a user interface development tool based on extensions to the spreadsheet model of computation. The tool provides high-level support for graphical user interfaces and permits dynamic modification of interfaces, without requiring conventional programming concepts and skills.

Elastic-plastic mixed-iterative finite element analysis: Implementation and performance assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutjahjo, Edhi; Chamis, Christos C.

1993-01-01

An elastic-plastic algorithm based on Von Mises and associative flow criteria is implemented in MHOST-a mixed iterative finite element analysis computer program developed by NASA Lewis Research Center. The performance of the resulting elastic-plastic mixed-iterative analysis is examined through a set of convergence studies. Membrane and bending behaviors of 4-node quadrilateral shell finite elements are tested for elastic-plastic performance. Generally, the membrane results are excellent, indicating the implementation of elastic-plastic mixed-iterative analysis is appropriate.

Reducing Disparities in Cancer Screening and Prevention through Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships with Local Libraries: A Comprehensive Dynamic Trial.

PubMed

Rapkin, Bruce D; Weiss, Elisa; Lounsbury, David; Michel, Tamara; Gordon, Alexis; Erb-Downward, Jennifer; Sabino-Laughlin, Eilleen; Carpenter, Alison; Schwartz, Carolyn E; Bulone, Linda; Kemeny, Margaret

2017-09-01

Reduction of cancer-related disparities requires strategies that link medically underserved communities to preventive care. In this community-based participatory research project, a public library system brought together stakeholders to plan and undertake programs to address cancer screening and risk behavior. This study was implemented over 48 months in 20 large urban neighborhoods, selected to reach diverse communities disconnected from care. In each neighborhood, Cancer Action Councils were organized to conduct a comprehensive dynamic trial, an iterative process of program planning, implementation and evaluation. This process was phased into neighborhoods in random, stepped-wedge sequence. Population-level outcomes included self-reported screening adherence and smoking cessation, based on street intercept interviews. Event-history regressions (n = 9374) demonstrated that adherence outcomes were associated with program implementation, as were mediators such as awareness of screening programs and cancer information seeking. Findings varied by ethnicity, and were strongest among respondents born outside the U.S. or least engaged in care. This intervention impacted health behavior in diverse, underserved and vulnerable neighborhoods. It has been sustained as a routine library system program for several years after conclusion of grant support. In sum, participatory research with the public library system offers a flexible, scalable approach to reduce cancer health disparities. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Perl Modules for Constructing Iterators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tilmes, Curt

2009-01-01

The Iterator Perl Module provides a general-purpose framework for constructing iterator objects within Perl, and a standard API for interacting with those objects. Iterators are an object-oriented design pattern where a description of a series of values is used in a constructor. Subsequent queries can request values in that series. These Perl modules build on the standard Iterator framework and provide iterators for some other types of values. Iterator::DateTime constructs iterators from DateTime objects or Date::Parse descriptions and ICal/RFC 2445 style re-currence descriptions. It supports a variety of input parameters, including a start to the sequence, an end to the sequence, an Ical/RFC 2445 recurrence describing the frequency of the values in the series, and a format description that can refine the presentation manner of the DateTime. Iterator::String constructs iterators from string representations. This module is useful in contexts where the API consists of supplying a string and getting back an iterator where the specific iteration desired is opaque to the caller. It is of particular value to the Iterator::Hash module which provides nested iterations. Iterator::Hash constructs iterators from Perl hashes that can include multiple iterators. The constructed iterators will return all the permutations of the iterations of the hash by nested iteration of embedded iterators. A hash simply includes a set of keys mapped to values. It is a very common data structure used throughout Perl programming. The Iterator:: Hash module allows a hash to include strings defining iterators (parsed and dispatched with Iterator::String) that are used to construct an overall series of hash values.

Final Report on ITER Task Agreement 81-08

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richard L. Moore

As part of an ITER Implementing Task Agreement (ITA) between the ITER US Participant Team (PT) and the ITER International Team (IT), the INL Fusion Safety Program was tasked to provide the ITER IT with upgrades to the fusion version of the MELCOR 1.8.5 code including a beryllium dust oxidation model. The purpose of this model is to allow the ITER IT to investigate hydrogen production from beryllium dust layers on hot surfaces inside the ITER vacuum vessel (VV) during in-vessel loss-of-cooling accidents (LOCAs). Also included in the ITER ITA was a task to construct a RELAP5/ATHENA model of themore » ITER divertor cooling loop to model the draining of the loop during a large ex-vessel pipe break followed by an in-vessel divertor break and compare the results to a simular MELCOR model developed by the ITER IT. This report, which is the final report for this agreement, documents the completion of the work scope under this ITER TA, designated as TA 81-08.« less

Overview of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) engineering design activities*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimomura, Y.

1994-05-01

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) [International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1988), ITER Documentation Series, No. 1] project is a multiphased project, presently proceeding under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency according to the terms of a four-party agreement among the European Atomic Energy Community (EC), the Government of Japan (JA), the Government of the Russian Federation (RF), and the Government of the United States (US), ``the Parties.'' The ITER project is based on the tokamak, a Russian invention, and has since been brought to a high level of development in all major fusion programs in the world. The objective of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful purposes. The ITER design is being developed, with support from the Parties' four Home Teams and is in progress by the Joint Central Team. An overview of ITER Design activities is presented.

The fusion code XGC: Enabling kinetic study of multi-scale edge turbulent transport in ITER [Book Chapter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D'Azevedo, Eduardo; Abbott, Stephen; Koskela, Tuomas

The XGC fusion gyrokinetic code combines state-of-the-art, portable computational and algorithmic technologies to enable complicated multiscale simulations of turbulence and transport dynamics in ITER edge plasma on the largest US open-science computer, the CRAY XK7 Titan, at its maximal heterogeneous capability, which have not been possible before due to a factor of over 10 shortage in the time-to-solution for less than 5 days of wall-clock time for one physics case. Frontier techniques such as nested OpenMP parallelism, adaptive parallel I/O, staging I/O and data reduction using dynamic and asynchronous applications interactions, dynamic repartitioning for balancing computational work in pushing particlesmore » and in grid related work, scalable and accurate discretization algorithms for non-linear Coulomb collisions, and communication-avoiding subcycling technology for pushing particles on both CPUs and GPUs are also utilized to dramatically improve the scalability and time-to-solution, hence enabling the difficult kinetic ITER edge simulation on a present-day leadership class computer.« less

Varying-energy CT imaging method based on EM-TV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ping; Han, Yan

2016-11-01

For complicated structural components with wide x-ray attenuation ranges, conventional fixed-energy computed tomography (CT) imaging cannot obtain all the structural information. This limitation results in a shortage of CT information because the effective thickness of the components along the direction of x-ray penetration exceeds the limit of the dynamic range of the x-ray imaging system. To address this problem, a varying-energy x-ray CT imaging method is proposed. In this new method, the tube voltage is adjusted several times with the fixed lesser interval. Next, the fusion of grey consistency and logarithm demodulation are applied to obtain full and lower noise projection with a high dynamic range (HDR). In addition, for the noise suppression problem of the analytical method, EM-TV (expectation maximization-total Jvariation) iteration reconstruction is used. In the process of iteration, the reconstruction result obtained at one x-ray energy is used as the initial condition of the next iteration. An accompanying experiment demonstrates that this EM-TV reconstruction can also extend the dynamic range of x-ray imaging systems and provide a higher reconstruction quality relative to the fusion reconstruction method.

Dynamics of a new family of iterative processes for quadratic polynomials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gutiérrez, J. M.; Hernández, M. A.; Romero, N.

2010-03-01

In this work we show the presence of the well-known Catalan numbers in the study of the convergence and the dynamical behavior of a family of iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations. In fact, we introduce a family of methods, depending on a parameter . These methods reach the order of convergence m+2 when they are applied to quadratic polynomials with different roots. Newton's and Chebyshev's methods appear as particular choices of the family appear for m=0 and m=1, respectively. We make both analytical and graphical studies of these methods, which give rise to rational functions defined in the extended complex plane. Firstly, we prove that the coefficients of the aforementioned family of iterative processes can be written in terms of the Catalan numbers. Secondly, we make an incursion into its dynamical behavior. In fact, we show that the rational maps related to these methods can be written in terms of the entries of the Catalan triangle. Next we analyze its general convergence, by including some computer plots showing the intricate structure of the Universal Julia sets associated with the methods.

AFMPB: An adaptive fast multipole Poisson-Boltzmann solver for calculating electrostatics in biomolecular systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Benzhuo; Cheng, Xiaolin; Huang, Jingfang; McCammon, J. Andrew

2010-06-01

A Fortran program package is introduced for rapid evaluation of the electrostatic potentials and forces in biomolecular systems modeled by the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The numerical solver utilizes a well-conditioned boundary integral equation (BIE) formulation, a node-patch discretization scheme, a Krylov subspace iterative solver package with reverse communication protocols, and an adaptive new version of fast multipole method in which the exponential expansions are used to diagonalize the multipole-to-local translations. The program and its full description, as well as several closely related libraries and utility tools are available at http://lsec.cc.ac.cn/~lubz/afmpb.html and a mirror site at http://mccammon.ucsd.edu/. This paper is a brief summary of the program: the algorithms, the implementation and the usage. Program summaryProgram title: AFMPB: Adaptive fast multipole Poisson-Boltzmann solver Catalogue identifier: AEGB_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEGB_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GPL 2.0 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 453 649 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 8 764 754 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran Computer: Any Operating system: Any RAM: Depends on the size of the discretized biomolecular system Classification: 3 External routines: Pre- and post-processing tools are required for generating the boundary elements and for visualization. Users can use MSMS ( http://www.scripps.edu/~sanner/html/msms_home.html) for pre-processing, and VMD ( http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/) for visualization. Sub-programs included: An iterative Krylov subspace solvers package from SPARSKIT by Yousef Saad ( http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~saad/software/SPARSKIT/sparskit.html), and the fast multipole methods subroutines from FMMSuite ( http://www.fastmultipole.org/). Nature of problem: Numerical solution of the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation that describes electrostatic interactions of molecular systems in ionic solutions. Solution method: A novel node-patch scheme is used to discretize the well-conditioned boundary integral equation formulation of the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation. Various Krylov subspace solvers can be subsequently applied to solve the resulting linear system, with a bounded number of iterations independent of the number of discretized unknowns. The matrix-vector multiplication at each iteration is accelerated by the adaptive new versions of fast multipole methods. The AFMPB solver requires other stand-alone pre-processing tools for boundary mesh generation, post-processing tools for data analysis and visualization, and can be conveniently coupled with different time stepping methods for dynamics simulation. Restrictions: Only three or six significant digits options are provided in this version. Unusual features: Most of the codes are in Fortran77 style. Memory allocation functions from Fortran90 and above are used in a few subroutines. Additional comments: The current version of the codes is designed and written for single core/processor desktop machines. Check http://lsec.cc.ac.cn/~lubz/afmpb.html and http://mccammon.ucsd.edu/ for updates and changes. Running time: The running time varies with the number of discretized elements ( N) in the system and their distributions. In most cases, it scales linearly as a function of N.

Managing Risk for Cassini During Mission Operations and Data Analysis (MOandDA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witkowski, Mona M.

2002-01-01

A Risk Management Process has been tailored for Cassini that not only satisfies the requirements of NASA and JPL, but also allows the Program to proactively identify and assess risks that threaten mission objectives. Cassini Risk Management is a team effort that involves both management and engineering staff. The process is managed and facilitated by the Mission Assurance Manager (MAM), but requires regular interactions with Program Staff and team members to instill the risk management philosophy into the day to day mission operations. While Risk Management is well defined for projects in the development phase, it is a relatively new concept for Mission Operations. The Cassini team has embraced this process and has begun using it in an effective, proactive manner, to ensure mission success. It is hoped that the Cassini Risk Management Process will form the basis by which risk management is conducted during MO&DA on future projects. proactive in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks before they become problems. Cost ehtiveness is achieved by: Comprehensively identifying risks Rapidly assessing which risks require the expenditure of pruject cewums Taking early actions to mitigate these risks Iterating the process frequently, to be responsive to the dynamic internal and external environments The Cassini Program has successfully implemented a Risk Management Process for mission operations, The initial SRL has been developed and input into he online tool. The Risk Management webbased system has been rolled out for use by the flight team and risk owners we working proactive in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks before they become problems. Cost ehtiveness is achieved by: Comprehensively identifying risks Rapidly assessing which risks require the expenditure of pruject cewums Taking early actions to mitigate these risks Iterating the process frequently, to be responsive to the dynamic internal and external environments The Cassini Program has successfully implemented a Risk Management Process for mission operations, The initial SRL has been developed and input into he online tool. The Risk Management webbased system has been rolled out for use by the flight team and risk owners we working put into place will become visible and will be illusmted in future papers.

An Improved Newton's Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathews, John H.

1989-01-01

Describes Newton's method to locate roots of an equation using the Newton-Raphson iteration formula. Develops an adaptive method overcoming limitations of the iteration method. Provides the algorithm and computer program of the adaptive Newton-Raphson method. (YP)

Final Report on ITER Task Agreement 81-10

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brad J. Merrill

An International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Implementing Task Agreement (ITA) on Magnet Safety was established between the ITER International Organization (IO) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Fusion Safety Program (FSP) during calendar year 2004. The objectives of this ITA were to add new capabilities to the MAGARC code and to use this updated version of MAGARC to analyze unmitigated superconductor quench events for both poloidal field (PF) and toroidal field (TF) coils of the ITER design. This report documents the completion of the work scope for this ITA. Based on the results obtained for this ITA, an unmitigated quenchmore » event in an ITER larger PF coil does not appear to be as severe an accident as in an ITER TF coil.« less

Parallel Dynamics Simulation Using a Krylov-Schwarz Linear Solution Scheme

DOE PAGES

Abhyankar, Shrirang; Constantinescu, Emil M.; Smith, Barry F.; ...

2016-11-07

Fast dynamics simulation of large-scale power systems is a computational challenge because of the need to solve a large set of stiff, nonlinear differential-algebraic equations at every time step. The main bottleneck in dynamic simulations is the solution of a linear system during each nonlinear iteration of Newton’s method. In this paper, we present a parallel Krylov- Schwarz linear solution scheme that uses the Krylov subspacebased iterative linear solver GMRES with an overlapping restricted additive Schwarz preconditioner. As a result, performance tests of the proposed Krylov-Schwarz scheme for several large test cases ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 buses, including amore » real utility network, show good scalability on different computing architectures.« less

Parallel Dynamics Simulation Using a Krylov-Schwarz Linear Solution Scheme

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abhyankar, Shrirang; Constantinescu, Emil M.; Smith, Barry F.

Fast dynamics simulation of large-scale power systems is a computational challenge because of the need to solve a large set of stiff, nonlinear differential-algebraic equations at every time step. The main bottleneck in dynamic simulations is the solution of a linear system during each nonlinear iteration of Newton’s method. In this paper, we present a parallel Krylov- Schwarz linear solution scheme that uses the Krylov subspacebased iterative linear solver GMRES with an overlapping restricted additive Schwarz preconditioner. As a result, performance tests of the proposed Krylov-Schwarz scheme for several large test cases ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 buses, including amore » real utility network, show good scalability on different computing architectures.« less

Design optimization of first wall and breeder unit module size for the Indian HCCB blanket module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deepak, SHARMA; Paritosh, CHAUDHURI

2018-04-01

The Indian test blanket module (TBM) program in ITER is one of the major steps in the Indian fusion reactor program for carrying out the R&D activities in the critical areas like design of tritium breeding blankets relevant to future Indian fusion devices (ITER relevant and DEMO). The Indian Lead–Lithium Cooled Ceramic Breeder (LLCB) blanket concept is one of the Indian DEMO relevant TBM, to be tested in ITER as a part of the TBM program. Helium-Cooled Ceramic Breeder (HCCB) is an alternative blanket concept that consists of lithium titanate (Li2TiO3) as ceramic breeder (CB) material in the form of packed pebble beds and beryllium as the neutron multiplier. Specifically, attentions are given to the optimization of first wall coolant channel design and size of breeder unit module considering coolant pressure and thermal loads for the proposed Indian HCCB blanket based on ITER relevant TBM and loading conditions. These analyses will help proceeding further in designing blankets for loads relevant to the future fusion device.

A generalized computer code for developing dynamic gas turbine engine models (DIGTEM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daniele, C. J.

1984-01-01

This paper describes DIGTEM (digital turbofan engine model), a computer program that simulates two spool, two stream (turbofan) engines. DIGTEM was developed to support the development of a real time multiprocessor based engine simulator being designed at the Lewis Research Center. The turbofan engine model in DIGTEM contains steady state performance maps for all the components and has control volumes where continuity and energy balances are maintained. Rotor dynamics and duct momentum dynamics are also included. DIGTEM features an implicit integration scheme for integrating stiff systems and trims the model equations to match a prescribed design point by calculating correction coefficients that balance out the dynamic equations. It uses the same coefficients at off design points and iterates to a balanced engine condition. Transients are generated by defining the engine inputs as functions of time in a user written subroutine (TMRSP). Closed loop controls can also be simulated. DIGTEM is generalized in the aerothermodynamic treatment of components. This feature, along with DIGTEM's trimming at a design point, make it a very useful tool for developing a model of a specific turbofan engine.

A generalized computer code for developing dynamic gas turbine engine models (DIGTEM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daniele, C. J.

1983-01-01

This paper describes DIGTEM (digital turbofan engine model), a computer program that simulates two spool, two stream (turbofan) engines. DIGTEM was developed to support the development of a real time multiprocessor based engine simulator being designed at the Lewis Research Center. The turbofan engine model in DIGTEM contains steady state performance maps for all the components and has control volumes where continuity and energy balances are maintained. Rotor dynamics and duct momentum dynamics are also included. DIGTEM features an implicit integration scheme for integrating stiff systems and trims the model equations to match a prescribed design point by calculating correction coefficients that balance out the dynamic equations. It uses the same coefficients at off design points and iterates to a balanced engine condition. Transients are generated by defining the engine inputs as functions of time in a user written subroutine (TMRSP). Closed loop controls can also be simulated. DIGTEM is generalized in the aerothermodynamic treatment of components. This feature, along with DIGTEM's trimming at a design point, make it a very useful tool for developing a model of a specific turbofan engine.

iCI: Iterative CI toward full CI.

PubMed

Liu, Wenjian; Hoffmann, Mark R

2016-03-08

It is shown both theoretically and numerically that the minimal multireference configuration interaction (CI) approach [Liu, W.; Hoffmann, M. R. Theor. Chem. Acc. 2014, 133, 1481] converges quickly and monotonically from above to full CI by updating the primary, external, and secondary states that describe the respective static, dynamic, and again static components of correlation iteratively, even when starting with a rather poor description of a strongly correlated system. In short, the iterative CI (iCI) is a very effective means toward highly correlated wave functions and, ultimately, full CI.

An iterative forward analysis technique to determine the equation of state of dynamically compressed materials

DOE PAGES

Ali, S. J.; Kraus, R. G.; Fratanduono, D. E.; ...

2017-05-18

Here, we developed an iterative forward analysis (IFA) technique with the ability to use hydrocode simulations as a fitting function for analysis of dynamic compression experiments. The IFA method optimizes over parameterized quantities in the hydrocode simulations, breaking the degeneracy of contributions to the measured material response. Velocity profiles from synthetic data generated using a hydrocode simulation are analyzed as a first-order validation of the technique. We also analyze multiple magnetically driven ramp compression experiments on copper and compare with more conventional techniques. Excellent agreement is obtained in both cases.

Representation-Independent Iteration of Sparse Data Arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

James, Mark

2007-01-01

An approach is defined that describes a method of iterating over massively large arrays containing sparse data using an approach that is implementation independent of how the contents of the sparse arrays are laid out in memory. What is unique and important here is the decoupling of the iteration over the sparse set of array elements from how they are internally represented in memory. This enables this approach to be backward compatible with existing schemes for representing sparse arrays as well as new approaches. What is novel here is a new approach for efficiently iterating over sparse arrays that is independent of the underlying memory layout representation of the array. A functional interface is defined for implementing sparse arrays in any modern programming language with a particular focus for the Chapel programming language. Examples are provided that show the translation of a loop that computes a matrix vector product into this representation for both the distributed and not-distributed cases. This work is directly applicable to NASA and its High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program that JPL and our current program are engaged in. The goal of this program is to create powerful, scalable, and economically viable high-powered computer systems suitable for use in national security and industry by 2010. This is important to NASA for its computationally intensive requirements for analyzing and understanding the volumes of science data from our returned missions.

A Brownian dynamics study on ferrofluid colloidal dispersions using an iterative constraint method to satisfy Maxwell’s equations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dubina, Sean Hyun, E-mail: sdubin2@uic.edu; Wedgewood, Lewis Edward, E-mail: wedge@uic.edu

2016-07-15

Ferrofluids are often favored for their ability to be remotely positioned via external magnetic fields. The behavior of particles in ferromagnetic clusters under uniformly applied magnetic fields has been computationally simulated using the Brownian dynamics, Stokesian dynamics, and Monte Carlo methods. However, few methods have been established that effectively handle the basic principles of magnetic materials, namely, Maxwell’s equations. An iterative constraint method was developed to satisfy Maxwell’s equations when a uniform magnetic field is imposed on ferrofluids in a heterogeneous Brownian dynamics simulation that examines the impact of ferromagnetic clusters in a mesoscale particle collection. This was accomplished bymore » allowing a particulate system in a simple shear flow to advance by a time step under a uniformly applied magnetic field, then adjusting the ferroparticles via an iterative constraint method applied over sub-volume length scales until Maxwell’s equations were satisfied. The resultant ferrofluid model with constraints demonstrates that the magnetoviscosity contribution is not as substantial when compared to homogeneous simulations that assume the material’s magnetism is a direct response to the external magnetic field. This was detected across varying intensities of particle-particle interaction, Brownian motion, and shear flow. Ferroparticle aggregation was still extensively present but less so than typically observed.« less

Dynamic Confinement of ITER Plasma by O-Mode Driver at Electron Cyclotron Frequency Range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefan, V. Alexander

2009-05-01

A low B-field side launched electron cyclotron O-Mode driver leads to the dynamic rf confinement, in addition to rf turbulent heating, of ITER plasma. The scaling law for the local energy confinement time τE is evaluated (τE ˜ 3neTe/2Q, where (3/2) neTe is the local plasma thermal energy density and Q is the local rf turbulent heating rate). The dynamics of unstable dissipative trapped particle modes (DTPM) strongly coupled to Trivelpiece-Gould (T-G) modes is studied for gyrotron frequency 170GHz; power˜24 MW CW; and on-axis B-field ˜ 10T. In the case of dynamic stabilization of DTPM turbulence and for the heavily damped T-G modes, the energy confinement time scales as τE˜(I0)-2, whereby I0(W/m^2) is the O-Mode driver irradiance. R. Prater et. al., Nucl. Fusion 48, No 3 (March 2008). E. P. Velikhov, History of the Russian Tokamak and the Tokamak Thermonuclear Fusion Research Worldwide That Led to ITER (Documentary movie; Stefan Studios Int'l, La Jolla, CA, 2008; E. P. Velikhov, V. Stefan.) M N Rosenbluth, Phys. Scr. T2A 104-109 1982 B. B. Kadomtsev and O. P. Pogutse, Nucl. Fusion 11, 67 (1971).

Dynamic thermal-time model of cold hardiness for dormant grapevine buds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Grapevine (Vitis spp.) cold hardiness varies dynamically throughout the dormant season, primarily in response to changes in temperature. We describe development and possible uses of a discrete-dynamic model of bud cold hardiness for three Vitis genotypes. Iterative methods were used to optimize and ...

Sequence-Controlled Polymerization on Facially Amphiphilic Templates at Interfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-14

controlled chain growth polymerization. We will synthesize a ?- conjugated “parent” polymer by iterative exponential growth (IEG), attach cyclic olefin...template that is programmed to direct sequence- controlled chain growth polymerization. We will synthesize a ?- conjugated “parent” polymer by iterative...polymerization. We will synthesize a π- conjugated “parent” polymer by organometallic iterative exponential growth (IEG),2 attach cyclic olefin “daughter

Validity and reliability of an in-training evaluation report to measure the CanMEDS roles in emergency medicine residents.

PubMed

Kassam, Aliya; Donnon, Tyrone; Rigby, Ian

2014-03-01

There is a question of whether a single assessment tool can assess the key competencies of residents as mandated by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada CanMEDS roles framework. The objective of the present study was to investigate the reliability and validity of an emergency medicine (EM) in-training evaluation report (ITER). ITER data from 2009 to 2011 were combined for residents across the 5 years of the EM residency training program. An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to explore the construct validity of the ITER. A total of 172 ITERs were completed on residents across their first to fifth year of training. A combined, 24-item ITER yielded a five-factor solution measuring the CanMEDs role Medical Expert/Scholar, Communicator/Collaborator, Professional, Health Advocate and Manager subscales. The factor solution accounted for 79% of the variance, and reliability coefficients (Cronbach alpha) ranged from α  =  0.90 to 0.95 for each subscale and α  =  0.97 overall. The combined, 24-item ITER used to assess residents' competencies in the EM residency program showed strong reliability and evidence of construct validity for assessment of the CanMEDS roles. Further research is needed to develop and test ITER items that will differentiate each CanMEDS role exclusively.

R2D2-A Fortran Program for Two-Dimensional Chemically Reacting, Hyperthermal, Internal Flows, Volume II.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-01-01

is identified in the flow chart simply as "Compute VECT’s ( predictor solution)" and "Compute V’s ( corrector solution)." A significant portion of the...TrintoTo Tm ANDera ionT SToION 28 ITIME :1 PRINCIPAL SUBROUTINES WALLPOINT (ITER,DT) ITER - iteration index for MacCormack Algorithm (ITER=1 for predictor ...WEILERSTEIN, R RAY, 6 MILLER F33615-7- C -3016UNLASSIFIED GASL-TR-254-VBL-2 AFFDL-TR-79-3162-VOL-2 NII III hImllllllllll EIEIIIIIIEIIEE EEIIIIIIIIIIII H

A Unique Technique to get Kaprekar Iteration in Linear Programming Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumathi, P.; Preethy, V.

2018-04-01

This paper explores about a frivolous number popularly known as Kaprekar constant and Kaprekar numbers. A large number of courses and the different classroom capacities with difference in study periods make the assignment between classrooms and courses complicated. An approach of getting the minimum value of number of iterations to reach the Kaprekar constant for four digit numbers and maximum value is also obtained through linear programming techniques.

Supply based on demand dynamical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levi, Asaf; Sabuco, Juan; Sanjuán, Miguel A. F.

2018-04-01

We propose and numerically analyze a simple dynamical model that describes the firm behaviors under uncertainty of demand. Iterating this simple model and varying some parameter values, we observe a wide variety of market dynamics such as equilibria, periodic, and chaotic behaviors. Interestingly, the model is also able to reproduce market collapses.

Systematic iteration between model and methodology: A proposed approach to evaluating unintended consequences.

PubMed

Morell, Jonathan A

2018-06-01

This article argues that evaluators could better deal with unintended consequences if they improved their methods of systematically and methodically combining empirical data collection and model building over the life cycle of an evaluation. This process would be helpful because it can increase the timespan from when the need for a change in methodology is first suspected to the time when the new element of the methodology is operational. The article begins with an explanation of why logic models are so important in evaluation, and why the utility of models is limited if they are not continually revised based on empirical evaluation data. It sets the argument within the larger context of the value and limitations of models in the scientific enterprise. Following will be a discussion of various issues that are relevant to model development and revision. What is the relevance of complex system behavior for understanding predictable and unpredictable unintended consequences, and the methods needed to deal with them? How might understanding of unintended consequences be improved with an appreciation of generic patterns of change that are independent of any particular program or change effort? What are the social and organizational dynamics that make it rational and adaptive to design programs around single-outcome solutions to multi-dimensional problems? How does cognitive bias affect our ability to identify likely program outcomes? Why is it hard to discern change as a result of programs being embedded in multi-component, continually fluctuating, settings? The last part of the paper outlines a process for actualizing systematic iteration between model and methodology, and concludes with a set of research questions that speak to how the model/data process can be made efficient and effective. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parallel conjugate gradient algorithms for manipulator dynamic simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fijany, Amir; Scheld, Robert E.

1989-01-01

Parallel conjugate gradient algorithms for the computation of multibody dynamics are developed for the specialized case of a robot manipulator. For an n-dimensional positive-definite linear system, the Classical Conjugate Gradient (CCG) algorithms are guaranteed to converge in n iterations, each with a computation cost of O(n); this leads to a total computational cost of O(n sq) on a serial processor. A conjugate gradient algorithms is presented that provide greater efficiency using a preconditioner, which reduces the number of iterations required, and by exploiting parallelism, which reduces the cost of each iteration. Two Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) algorithms are proposed which respectively use a diagonal and a tridiagonal matrix, composed of the diagonal and tridiagonal elements of the mass matrix, as preconditioners. Parallel algorithms are developed to compute the preconditioners and their inversions in O(log sub 2 n) steps using n processors. A parallel algorithm is also presented which, on the same architecture, achieves the computational time of O(log sub 2 n) for each iteration. Simulation results for a seven degree-of-freedom manipulator are presented. Variants of the proposed algorithms are also developed which can be efficiently implemented on the Robot Mathematics Processor (RMP).

A superlinear iteration method for calculation of finite length journal bearing's static equilibrium position.

PubMed

Zhou, Wenjie; Wei, Xuesong; Wang, Leqin; Wu, Guangkuan

2017-05-01

Solving the static equilibrium position is one of the most important parts of dynamic coefficients calculation and further coupled calculation of rotor system. The main contribution of this study is testing the superlinear iteration convergence method-twofold secant method, for the determination of the static equilibrium position of journal bearing with finite length. Essentially, the Reynolds equation for stable motion is solved by the finite difference method and the inner pressure is obtained by the successive over-relaxation iterative method reinforced by the compound Simpson quadrature formula. The accuracy and efficiency of the twofold secant method are higher in comparison with the secant method and dichotomy. The total number of iterative steps required for the twofold secant method are about one-third of the secant method and less than one-eighth of dichotomy for the same equilibrium position. The calculations for equilibrium position and pressure distribution for different bearing length, clearance and rotating speed were done. In the results, the eccentricity presents linear inverse proportional relationship to the attitude angle. The influence of the bearing length, clearance and bearing radius on the load-carrying capacity was also investigated. The results illustrate that larger bearing length, larger radius and smaller clearance are good for the load-carrying capacity of journal bearing. The application of the twofold secant method can greatly reduce the computational time for calculation of the dynamic coefficients and dynamic characteristics of rotor-bearing system with a journal bearing of finite length.

A superlinear iteration method for calculation of finite length journal bearing's static equilibrium position

PubMed Central

Zhou, Wenjie; Wei, Xuesong; Wang, Leqin

2017-01-01

Solving the static equilibrium position is one of the most important parts of dynamic coefficients calculation and further coupled calculation of rotor system. The main contribution of this study is testing the superlinear iteration convergence method—twofold secant method, for the determination of the static equilibrium position of journal bearing with finite length. Essentially, the Reynolds equation for stable motion is solved by the finite difference method and the inner pressure is obtained by the successive over-relaxation iterative method reinforced by the compound Simpson quadrature formula. The accuracy and efficiency of the twofold secant method are higher in comparison with the secant method and dichotomy. The total number of iterative steps required for the twofold secant method are about one-third of the secant method and less than one-eighth of dichotomy for the same equilibrium position. The calculations for equilibrium position and pressure distribution for different bearing length, clearance and rotating speed were done. In the results, the eccentricity presents linear inverse proportional relationship to the attitude angle. The influence of the bearing length, clearance and bearing radius on the load-carrying capacity was also investigated. The results illustrate that larger bearing length, larger radius and smaller clearance are good for the load-carrying capacity of journal bearing. The application of the twofold secant method can greatly reduce the computational time for calculation of the dynamic coefficients and dynamic characteristics of rotor-bearing system with a journal bearing of finite length. PMID:28572997

Modelling of caesium dynamics in the negative ion sources at BATMAN and ELISE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mimo, A.; Wimmer, C.; Wünderlich, D.; Fantz, U.

2017-08-01

The knowledge of Cs dynamics in negative hydrogen ion sources is a primary issue to achieve the ITER requirements for the Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) systems, i.e. one hour operation with an accelerated ion current of 40 A of D- and a ratio between negative ions and co-extracted electrons below one. Production of negative ions is mostly achieved by conversion of hydrogen/deuterium atoms on a converter surface, which is caesiated in order to reduce the work function and increase the conversion efficiency. The understanding of the Cs transport and redistribution mechanism inside the source is necessary for the achievement of high performances. Cs dynamics was therefore investigated by means of numerical simulations performed with the Monte Carlo transport code CsFlow3D. Simulations of the prototype source (1/8 of the ITER NBI source size) have shown that the plasma distribution inside the source has the major effect on Cs dynamics during the pulse: asymmetry of the plasma parameters leads to asymmetry in Cs distribution in front of the plasma grid. The simulated time traces and the general simulation results are in agreement with the experimental measurements. Simulations performed for the ELISE testbed (half of the ITER NBI source size) have shown an effect of the vacuum phase time on the amount and stability of Cs during the pulse. The sputtering of Cs due to back-streaming ions was reproduced by the simulations and it is in agreement with the experimental observation: this can become a critical issue during long pulses, especially in case of continuous extraction as foreseen for ITER. These results and the acquired knowledge of Cs dynamics will be useful to have a better management of Cs and thus to reduce its consumption, in the direction of the demonstration fusion power plant DEMO.

Numerical solution of quadratic matrix equations for free vibration analysis of structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gupta, K. K.

1975-01-01

This paper is concerned with the efficient and accurate solution of the eigenvalue problem represented by quadratic matrix equations. Such matrix forms are obtained in connection with the free vibration analysis of structures, discretized by finite 'dynamic' elements, resulting in frequency-dependent stiffness and inertia matrices. The paper presents a new numerical solution procedure of the quadratic matrix equations, based on a combined Sturm sequence and inverse iteration technique enabling economical and accurate determination of a few required eigenvalues and associated vectors. An alternative procedure based on a simultaneous iteration procedure is also described when only the first few modes are the usual requirement. The employment of finite dynamic elements in conjunction with the presently developed eigenvalue routines results in a most significant economy in the dynamic analysis of structures.

A Centered Projective Algorithm for Linear Programming

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-02-01

zx/l to (PA Karmarkar’s algorithm iterates this procedure. An alternative method, the so-called affine variant (first proposed by Dikin [6] in 1967...trajectories, II. Legendre transform coordinates . central trajectories," manuscripts, to appear in Transactions of the American [6] I.I. Dikin ...34Iterative solution of problems of linear and quadratic programming," Soviet Mathematics Dokladv 8 (1967), 674-675. [7] I.I. Dikin , "On the speed of an

Convergence Time towards Periodic Orbits in Discrete Dynamical Systems

PubMed Central

San Martín, Jesús; Porter, Mason A.

2014-01-01

We investigate the convergence towards periodic orbits in discrete dynamical systems. We examine the probability that a randomly chosen point converges to a particular neighborhood of a periodic orbit in a fixed number of iterations, and we use linearized equations to examine the evolution near that neighborhood. The underlying idea is that points of stable periodic orbit are associated with intervals. We state and prove a theorem that details what regions of phase space are mapped into these intervals (once they are known) and how many iterations are required to get there. We also construct algorithms that allow our theoretical results to be implemented successfully in practice. PMID:24736594

Design of robust iterative learning control schemes for systems with polytopic uncertainties and sector-bounded nonlinearities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boski, Marcin; Paszke, Wojciech

2017-01-01

This paper deals with designing of iterative learning control schemes for uncertain systems with static nonlinearities. More specifically, the nonlinear part is supposed to be sector bounded and system matrices are assumed to range in the polytope of matrices. For systems with such nonlinearities and uncertainties the repetitive process setting is exploited to develop a linear matrix inequality based conditions for computing the feedback and feedforward (learning) controllers. These controllers guarantee acceptable dynamics along the trials and ensure convergence of the trial-to-trial error dynamics, respectively. Numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results and confirm effectiveness of the designed control scheme.

A Huygens immersed-finite-element particle-in-cell method for modeling plasma-surface interactions with moving interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Huijun; Cao, Yong; Chu, Yuchuan; He, Xiaoming; Lin, Tao

2018-06-01

Surface evolution is an unavoidable issue in engineering plasma applications. In this article an iterative method for modeling plasma-surface interactions with moving interface is proposed and validated. In this method, the plasma dynamics is simulated by an immersed finite element particle-in-cell (IFE-PIC) method, and the surface evolution is modeled by the Huygens wavelet method which is coupled with the iteration of the IFE-PIC method. Numerical experiments, including prototypical engineering applications, such as the erosion of Hall thruster channel wall, are presented to demonstrate features of this Huygens IFE-PIC method for simulating the dynamic plasma-surface interactions.

Development of a practice-based research program.

PubMed

Hawk, C; Long, C R; Boulanger, K

1998-01-01

To establish an infrastructure to collect accurate data from ambulatory settings. The program was developed through an iterative model governed by a process of formative evaluation. The three iterations were a needs assessment, feasibility study and pilot project. Necessary program components were identified as infrastructure, practitioner-researcher partnership, centralized data management and standardized quality assurance measures. Volunteer chiropractors and their staff collected data on patients in their practices in ambulatory settings in the U.S. and Canada. Evaluative measures were counts of participants, patients and completed forms. Standardized, validated and reliable measures collected by patient self-report were used to assess treatment outcomes. These included the SF-36 or SF-12 Health Survey, the Pain Disability Index, and the Global Well-Being Scale. For characteristics for which appropriate standardized instruments were not available, questionnaires were designed and and pilot-tested before use. Information was gathered on practice and patient characteristics and treatment outcomes, but for this report, only those data concerning process evaluation are reported. Through the three program iterations, 65 DCs collected data on 1360 patients, 663 of whom were new patients. Follow-up data recorded by doctors were obtained for more than 70% of patients; a maximum of 50% of patient-completed follow-up forms were collected in the three iterations. This program is capable of providing data for descriptive epidemiology of ambulatory patients, and, with continued effort to maximize follow-up, may have utility in providing insight into utilization patterns and patient outcomes.

Navigation of a Satellite Cluster with Realistic Dynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

20 2.2.1 Dynamics ( Clohessy - Wiltshire Equations) ............ 21 2.2.2 Iterated, Extended Kalman Filter.................26 iv I1l...8 Figure 4. Point mass and Clohessy - Wiltshire orbits (10 orbits) .......... 16 Figure 5. Real dynamics and Clohessy - Wiltshire orbits (10...filter ..... 31 Figure 8. Comparison of the Clohessy - Wiltshire and truth model solutions

Implementation of a Complex Intervention to Support Leadership Development in Nursing Homes: A Multimethod Participatory Study.

PubMed

Dewar, Belinda; Barrie, Karen; Sharp, Cathy; Meyer, Julienne

2017-04-01

Leadership is key to quality improvement in nursing homes. This article reports on the initial analysis of the transformational My Home Life Leadership Support program for nursing home managers being implemented in Scotland. It analyses learning from a multimethod participatory descriptive study. Contribution analysis theory informed the evaluation. Evidence-Based Practice, Relationship-Centered Care, Appreciative Inquiry, and Caring Conversations informed the intervention to develop transformational leadership. Data generation methods included baseline and postintervention questionnaires to describe culture change within the study population, together with more in-depth qualitative data generated from group discussions throughout the leadership support program. Qualitative data analysis was an iterative collaborative process with participants to generate themes about the impact of the program on themselves and their practice. Data showed positive changes in managers' perceptions of their self-awareness, leadership communication and relationship skills, and development of positive cultures. This model offers lessons for those interested in ways to approach the emotional, educational, and cultural dynamics of change in other human service contexts.

CAN-DO, CFD-based Aerodynamic Nozzle Design and Optimization program for supersonic/hypersonic wind tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korte, John J.; Kumar, Ajay; Singh, D. J.; White, J. A.

1992-01-01

A design program is developed which incorporates a modern approach to the design of supersonic/hypersonic wind-tunnel nozzles. The approach is obtained by the coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with design optimization. The program can be used to design a 2D or axisymmetric, supersonic or hypersonic, wind-tunnel nozzles that can be modeled with a calorically perfect gas. The nozzle design is obtained by solving a nonlinear least-squares optimization problem (LSOP). The LSOP is solved using an iterative procedure which requires intermediate flowfield solutions. The nozzle flowfield is simulated by solving the Navier-Stokes equations for the subsonic and transonic flow regions and the parabolized Navier-Stokes equations for the supersonic flow regions. The advantages of this method are that the design is based on the solution of the viscous equations eliminating the need to make separate corrections to a design contour, and the flexibility of applying the procedure to different types of nozzle design problems.

Tritium proof-of-principle pellet injector: Phase 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, P. W.; Gouge, M. J.

1995-03-01

As part of the International Thermonuclear Engineering Reactor (ITER) plasma fueling development program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has fabricated a pellet injection system to test the mechanical and thermal properties of extruded tritium. This repeating, single-stage, pneumatic injector, called the Tritium-Proof-of-Principle Phase-2 (TPOP-2) Pellet Injector, has a piston-driven mechanical extruder and is designed to extrude hydrogenic pellets sized for the ITER device. The TPOP-II program has the following development goals: evaluate the feasibility of extruding tritium and DT mixtures for use in future pellet injection systems; determine the mechanical and thermal properties of tritium and DT extrusions; integrate, test and evaluate the extruder in a repeating, single-stage light gas gun sized for the ITER application (pellet diameter approximately 7-8 mm); evaluate options for recycling propellant and extruder exhaust gas; evaluate operability and reliability of ITER prototypical fueling systems in an environment of significant tritium inventory requiring secondary and room containment systems. In initial tests with deuterium feed at ORNL, up to thirteen pellets have been extruded at rates up to 1 Hz and accelerated to speeds of order 1.0-1.1 km/s using hydrogen propellant gas at a supply pressure of 65 bar. The pellets are typically 7.4 mm in diameter and up to 11 mm in length and are the largest cryogenic pellets produced by the fusion program to date. These pellets represent about a 11% density perturbation to ITER. Hydrogenic pellets will be used in ITER to sustain the fusion power in the plasma core and may be crucial in reducing first wall tritium inventories by a process called isotopic fueling where tritium-rich pellets fuel the burning plasma core and deuterium gas fuels the edge.

Natural selection of memory-one strategies for the iterated prisoner's dilemma.

PubMed

Kraines, D P; Kraines, V Y

2000-04-21

In the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, mutually cooperative behavior can become established through Darwinian natural selection. In simulated interactions of stochastic memory-one strategies for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, Nowak and Sigmund discovered that cooperative agents using a Pavlov (Win-Stay Lose-Switch) type strategy eventually dominate a random population. This emergence follows more directly from a deterministic dynamical system based on differential reproductive success or natural selection. When restricted to an environment of memory-one agents interacting in iterated Prisoner's Dilemma games with a 1% noise level, the Pavlov agent is the only cooperative strategy and one of very few others that cannot be invaded by a similar strategy. Pavlov agents are trusting but no suckers. They will exploit weakness but repent if punished for cheating. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

A new version of Scilab software package for the study of dynamical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordeianu, C. C.; Felea, D.; Beşliu, C.; Jipa, Al.; Grossu, I. V.

2009-11-01

This work presents a new version of a software package for the study of chaotic flows, maps and fractals [1]. The codes were written using Scilab, a software package for numerical computations providing a powerful open computing environment for engineering and scientific applications. It was found that Scilab provides various functions for ordinary differential equation solving, Fast Fourier Transform, autocorrelation, and excellent 2D and 3D graphical capabilities. The chaotic behaviors of the nonlinear dynamics systems were analyzed using phase-space maps, autocorrelation functions, power spectra, Lyapunov exponents and Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Various well-known examples are implemented, with the capability of the users inserting their own ODE or iterative equations. New version program summaryProgram title: Chaos v2.0 Catalogue identifier: AEAP_v2_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEAP_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1275 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 7135 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Scilab 5.1.1. Scilab 5.1.1 should be installed before running the program. Information about the installation can be found at http://wiki.scilab.org/howto/install/windows. Computer: PC-compatible running Scilab on MS Windows or Linux Operating system: Windows XP, Linux RAM: below 150 Megabytes Classification: 6.2 Catalogue identifier of previous version: AEAP_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 178 (2008) 788 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Nature of problem: Any physical model containing linear or nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODE). Solution method: Numerical solving of ordinary differential equations for the study of chaotic flows. The chaotic behavior of the nonlinear dynamical system is analyzed using Poincare sections, phase-space maps, autocorrelation functions, power spectra, Lyapunov exponents and Kolmogorov-Sinai entropies. Numerical solving of iterative equations for the study of maps and fractals. Reasons for new version: The program has been updated to use the new version 5.1.1 of Scilab with new graphical capabilities [2]. Moreover, new use cases have been added which make the handling of the program easier and more efficient. Summary of revisions: A new use case concerning coupled predator-prey models has been added [3]. Three new use cases concerning fractals (Sierpinsky gasket, Barnsley's Fern and Tree) have been added [3]. The graphical user interface (GUI) of the program has been reconstructed to include the new use cases. The program has been updated to use Scilab 5.1.1 with the new graphical capabilities. Additional comments: The program package contains 12 subprograms. interface.sce - the graphical user interface (GUI) that permits the choice of a routine as follows 1.sci - Lorenz dynamical system 2.sci - Chua dynamical system 3.sci - Rosler dynamical system 4.sci - Henon map 5.sci - Lyapunov exponents for Lorenz dynamical system 6.sci - Lyapunov exponent for the logistic map 7.sci - Shannon entropy for the logistic map 8.sci - Coupled predator-prey model 1f.sci - Sierpinsky gasket 2f.sci - Barnsley's Fern 3f.sci - Barnsley's Tree Running time: 10 to 20 seconds for problems that do not involve Lyapunov exponents calculation; 60 to 1000 seconds for problems that involve high orders ODE, Lyapunov exponents calculation and fractals. References: C.C. Bordeianu, C. Besliu, Al. Jipa, D. Felea, I. V. Grossu, Comput. Phys. Comm. 178 (2008) 788. S. Campbell, J.P. Chancelier, R. Nikoukhah, Modeling and Simulation in Scilab/Scicos, Springer, 2006. R.H. Landau, M.J. Paez, C.C. Bordeianu, A Survey of Computational Physics, Introductory Computational Science, Princeton University Press, 2008.

Linear and nonlinear dynamic analysis of redundant load path bearingless rotor systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murthy, V. R.; Shultz, Louis A.

1994-01-01

The goal of this research is to develop the transfer matrix method to treat nonlinear autonomous boundary value problems with multiple branches. The application is the complete nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of multiple-branched rotor blades. Once the development is complete, it can be incorporated into the existing transfer matrix analyses. There are several difficulties to be overcome in reaching this objective. The conventional transfer matrix method is limited in that it is applicable only to linear branch chain-like structures, but consideration of multiple branch modeling is important for bearingless rotors. Also, hingeless and bearingless rotor blade dynamic characteristics (particularly their aeroelasticity problems) are inherently nonlinear. The nonlinear equations of motion and the multiple-branched boundary value problem are treated together using a direct transfer matrix method. First, the formulation is applied to a nonlinear single-branch blade to validate the nonlinear portion of the formulation. The nonlinear system of equations is iteratively solved using a form of Newton-Raphson iteration scheme developed for differential equations of continuous systems. The formulation is then applied to determine the nonlinear steady state trim and aeroelastic stability of a rotor blade in hover with two branches at the root. A comprehensive computer program is developed and is used to obtain numerical results for the (1) free vibration, (2) nonlinearly deformed steady state, (3) free vibration about the nonlinearly deformed steady state, and (4) aeroelastic stability tasks. The numerical results obtained by the present method agree with results from other methods.

Robust Transmission of H.264/AVC Streams Using Adaptive Group Slicing and Unequal Error Protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomos, Nikolaos; Argyropoulos, Savvas; Boulgouris, Nikolaos V.; Strintzis, Michael G.

2006-12-01

We present a novel scheme for the transmission of H.264/AVC video streams over lossy packet networks. The proposed scheme exploits the error-resilient features of H.264/AVC codec and employs Reed-Solomon codes to protect effectively the streams. A novel technique for adaptive classification of macroblocks into three slice groups is also proposed. The optimal classification of macroblocks and the optimal channel rate allocation are achieved by iterating two interdependent steps. Dynamic programming techniques are used for the channel rate allocation process in order to reduce complexity. Simulations clearly demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over other recent algorithms for transmission of H.264/AVC streams.

Procedure for estimating stability and control parameters from flight test data by using maximum likelihood methods employing a real-time digital system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grove, R. D.; Bowles, R. L.; Mayhew, S. C.

1972-01-01

A maximum likelihood parameter estimation procedure and program were developed for the extraction of the stability and control derivatives of aircraft from flight test data. Nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom equations describing aircraft dynamics were used to derive sensitivity equations for quasilinearization. The maximum likelihood function with quasilinearization was used to derive the parameter change equations, the covariance matrices for the parameters and measurement noise, and the performance index function. The maximum likelihood estimator was mechanized into an iterative estimation procedure utilizing a real time digital computer and graphic display system. This program was developed for 8 measured state variables and 40 parameters. Test cases were conducted with simulated data for validation of the estimation procedure and program. The program was applied to a V/STOL tilt wing aircraft, a military fighter airplane, and a light single engine airplane. The particular nonlinear equations of motion, derivation of the sensitivity equations, addition of accelerations into the algorithm, operational features of the real time digital system, and test cases are described.

Update on Integrated Optical Design Analyzer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, James D., Jr.; Troy, Ed

2003-01-01

Updated information on the Integrated Optical Design Analyzer (IODA) computer program has become available. IODA was described in Software for Multidisciplinary Concurrent Optical Design (MFS-31452), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 10 (October 2001), page 8a. To recapitulate: IODA facilitates multidisciplinary concurrent engineering of highly precise optical instruments. The architecture of IODA was developed by reviewing design processes and software in an effort to automate design procedures. IODA significantly reduces design iteration cycle time and eliminates many potential sources of error. IODA integrates the modeling efforts of a team of experts in different disciplines (e.g., optics, structural analysis, and heat transfer) working at different locations and provides seamless fusion of data among thermal, structural, and optical models used to design an instrument. IODA is compatible with data files generated by the NASTRAN structural-analysis program and the Code V (Registered Trademark) optical-analysis program, and can be used to couple analyses performed by these two programs. IODA supports multiple-load-case analysis for quickly accomplishing trade studies. IODA can also model the transient response of an instrument under the influence of dynamic loads and disturbances.

A Fractal Excursion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camp, Dane R.

1991-01-01

After introducing the two-dimensional Koch curve, which is generated by simple recursions on an equilateral triangle, the process is extended to three dimensions with simple recursions on a regular tetrahedron. Included, for both fractal sequences, are iterative formulae, illustrations of the first several iterations, and a sample PASCAL program.…

An iterative method for hydrodynamic interactions in Brownian dynamics simulations of polymer dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miao, Linling; Young, Charles D.; Sing, Charles E.

2017-07-01

Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations are a standard tool for understanding the dynamics of polymers in and out of equilibrium. Quantitative comparison can be made to rheological measurements of dilute polymer solutions, as well as direct visual observations of fluorescently labeled DNA. The primary computational challenge with BD is the expensive calculation of hydrodynamic interactions (HI), which are necessary to capture physically realistic dynamics. The full HI calculation, performed via a Cholesky decomposition every time step, scales with the length of the polymer as O(N3). This limits the calculation to a few hundred simulated particles. A number of approximations in the literature can lower this scaling to O(N2 - N2.25), and explicit solvent methods scale as O(N); however both incur a significant constant per-time step computational cost. Despite this progress, there remains a need for new or alternative methods of calculating hydrodynamic interactions; large polymer chains or semidilute polymer solutions remain computationally expensive. In this paper, we introduce an alternative method for calculating approximate hydrodynamic interactions. Our method relies on an iterative scheme to establish self-consistency between a hydrodynamic matrix that is averaged over simulation and the hydrodynamic matrix used to run the simulation. Comparison to standard BD simulation and polymer theory results demonstrates that this method quantitatively captures both equilibrium and steady-state dynamics after only a few iterations. The use of an averaged hydrodynamic matrix allows the computationally expensive Brownian noise calculation to be performed infrequently, so that it is no longer the bottleneck of the simulation calculations. We also investigate limitations of this conformational averaging approach in ring polymers.

Interactive outlining: an improved approach using active contours

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daneels, Dirk; van Campenhout, David; Niblack, Carlton W.; Equitz, Will; Barber, Ron; Fierens, Freddy

1993-04-01

The purpose of our work is to outline objects on images in an interactive environment. We use an improved method based on energy minimizing active contours or `snakes.' Kass et al., proposed a variational technique; Amini used dynamic programming; and Williams and Shah introduced a fast, greedy algorithm. We combine the advantages of the latter two methods in a two-stage algorithm. The first stage is a greedy procedure that provides fast initial convergence. It is enhanced with a cost term that extends over a large number of points to avoid oscillations. The second stage, when accuracy becomes important, uses dynamic programming. This step is accelerated by the use of alternating search neighborhoods and by dropping stable points from the iterations. We have also added several features for user interaction. First, the user can define points of high confidence. Mathematically, this results in an extra cost term and, in that way, the robustness in difficult areas (e.g., noisy edges, sharp corners) is improved. We also give the user the possibility of incremental contour tracking, thus providing feedback on the refinement process. The algorithm has been tested on numerous photographic clip art images and extensive tests on medical images are in progress.

The truncated conjugate gradient (TCG), a non-iterative/fixed-cost strategy for computing polarization in molecular dynamics: Fast evaluation of analytical forces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aviat, Félix; Lagardère, Louis; Piquemal, Jean-Philip

2017-10-01

In a recent paper [F. Aviat et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 13, 180-190 (2017)], we proposed the Truncated Conjugate Gradient (TCG) approach to compute the polarization energy and forces in polarizable molecular simulations. The method consists in truncating the conjugate gradient algorithm at a fixed predetermined order leading to a fixed computational cost and can thus be considered "non-iterative." This gives the possibility to derive analytical forces avoiding the usual energy conservation (i.e., drifts) issues occurring with iterative approaches. A key point concerns the evaluation of the analytical gradients, which is more complex than that with a usual solver. In this paper, after reviewing the present state of the art of polarization solvers, we detail a viable strategy for the efficient implementation of the TCG calculation. The complete cost of the approach is then measured as it is tested using a multi-time step scheme and compared to timings using usual iterative approaches. We show that the TCG methods are more efficient than traditional techniques, making it a method of choice for future long molecular dynamics simulations using polarizable force fields where energy conservation matters. We detail the various steps required for the implementation of the complete method by software developers.

The truncated conjugate gradient (TCG), a non-iterative/fixed-cost strategy for computing polarization in molecular dynamics: Fast evaluation of analytical forces.

PubMed

Aviat, Félix; Lagardère, Louis; Piquemal, Jean-Philip

2017-10-28

In a recent paper [F. Aviat et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 13, 180-190 (2017)], we proposed the Truncated Conjugate Gradient (TCG) approach to compute the polarization energy and forces in polarizable molecular simulations. The method consists in truncating the conjugate gradient algorithm at a fixed predetermined order leading to a fixed computational cost and can thus be considered "non-iterative." This gives the possibility to derive analytical forces avoiding the usual energy conservation (i.e., drifts) issues occurring with iterative approaches. A key point concerns the evaluation of the analytical gradients, which is more complex than that with a usual solver. In this paper, after reviewing the present state of the art of polarization solvers, we detail a viable strategy for the efficient implementation of the TCG calculation. The complete cost of the approach is then measured as it is tested using a multi-time step scheme and compared to timings using usual iterative approaches. We show that the TCG methods are more efficient than traditional techniques, making it a method of choice for future long molecular dynamics simulations using polarizable force fields where energy conservation matters. We detail the various steps required for the implementation of the complete method by software developers.

Improving Drive Files for Vehicle Road Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherng, John G.; Goktan, Ali; French, Mark; Gu, Yi; Jacob, Anil

2001-09-01

Shaker tables are commonly used in laboratories for automotive vehicle component testing to study durability and acoustics performance. An example is development testing of car seats. However, it is difficult to repeat the measured road data perfectly with the response of a shaker table as there are basic differences in dynamic characteristics between a flexible vehicle and substantially rigid shaker table. In addition, there are performance limits in the shaker table drive systems that can limit correlation. In practice, an optimal drive signal for the actuators is created iteratively. During each iteration, the error between the road data and the response data is minimised by an optimising algorithm which is generally a part of the feed back loop of the shake table controller. This study presents a systematic investigation to the errors in time and frequency domains as well as joint time-frequency domain and an evaluation of different digital signal processing techniques that have been used in previous work. In addition, we present an innovative approach that integrates the dynamic characteristics of car seats and the human body into the error-minimising iteration process. We found that the iteration process can be shortened and the error reduced by using a weighting function created by normalising the frequency response function of the car seat. Two road data test sets were used in the study.

A stopping criterion for the iterative solution of partial differential equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Kaustubh; Malan, Paul; Perot, J. Blair

2018-01-01

A stopping criterion for iterative solution methods is presented that accurately estimates the solution error using low computational overhead. The proposed criterion uses information from prior solution changes to estimate the error. When the solution changes are noisy or stagnating it reverts to a less accurate but more robust, low-cost singular value estimate to approximate the error given the residual. This estimator can also be applied to iterative linear matrix solvers such as Krylov subspace or multigrid methods. Examples of the stopping criterion's ability to accurately estimate the non-linear and linear solution error are provided for a number of different test cases in incompressible fluid dynamics.

Challenges and status of ITER conductor production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devred, A.; Backbier, I.; Bessette, D.; Bevillard, G.; Gardner, M.; Jong, C.; Lillaz, F.; Mitchell, N.; Romano, G.; Vostner, A.

2014-04-01

Taking the relay of the large Hadron collider (LHC) at CERN, ITER has become the largest project in applied superconductivity. In addition to its technical complexity, ITER is also a management challenge as it relies on an unprecedented collaboration of seven partners, representing more than half of the world population, who provide 90% of the components as in-kind contributions. The ITER magnet system is one of the most sophisticated superconducting magnet systems ever designed, with an enormous stored energy of 51 GJ. It involves six of the ITER partners. The coils are wound from cable-in-conduit conductors (CICCs) made up of superconducting and copper strands assembled into a multistage cable, inserted into a conduit of butt-welded austenitic steel tubes. The conductors for the toroidal field (TF) and central solenoid (CS) coils require about 600 t of Nb3Sn strands while the poloidal field (PF) and correction coil (CC) and busbar conductors need around 275 t of Nb-Ti strands. The required amount of Nb3Sn strands far exceeds pre-existing industrial capacity and has called for a significant worldwide production scale up. The TF conductors are the first ITER components to be mass produced and are more than 50% complete. During its life time, the CS coil will have to sustain several tens of thousands of electromagnetic (EM) cycles to high current and field conditions, way beyond anything a large Nb3Sn coil has ever experienced. Following a comprehensive R&D program, a technical solution has been found for the CS conductor, which ensures stable performance versus EM and thermal cycling. Productions of PF, CC and busbar conductors are also underway. After an introduction to the ITER project and magnet system, we describe the ITER conductor procurements and the quality assurance/quality control programs that have been implemented to ensure production uniformity across numerous suppliers. Then, we provide examples of technical challenges that have been encountered and we present the status of ITER conductor production worldwide.

Domain decomposition methods in computational fluid dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gropp, William D.; Keyes, David E.

1991-01-01

The divide-and-conquer paradigm of iterative domain decomposition, or substructuring, has become a practical tool in computational fluid dynamic applications because of its flexibility in accommodating adaptive refinement through locally uniform (or quasi-uniform) grids, its ability to exploit multiple discretizations of the operator equations, and the modular pathway it provides towards parallelism. These features are illustrated on the classic model problem of flow over a backstep using Newton's method as the nonlinear iteration. Multiple discretizations (second-order in the operator and first-order in the preconditioner) and locally uniform mesh refinement pay dividends separately, and they can be combined synergistically. Sample performance results are included from an Intel iPSC/860 hypercube implementation.

Approximately adaptive neural cooperative control for nonlinear multiagent systems with performance guarantee

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing; Yang, Tianyu; Staskevich, Gennady; Abbe, Brian

2017-04-01

This paper studies the cooperative control problem for a class of multiagent dynamical systems with partially unknown nonlinear system dynamics. In particular, the control objective is to solve the state consensus problem for multiagent systems based on the minimisation of certain cost functions for individual agents. Under the assumption that there exist admissible cooperative controls for such class of multiagent systems, the formulated problem is solved through finding the optimal cooperative control using the approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning approach. With the aid of neural network parameterisation and online adaptive learning, our method renders a practically implementable approximately adaptive neural cooperative control for multiagent systems. Specifically, based on the Bellman's principle of optimality, the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation for multiagent systems is first derived. We then propose an approximately adaptive policy iteration algorithm for multiagent cooperative control based on neural network approximation of the value functions. The convergence of the proposed algorithm is rigorously proved using the contraction mapping method. The simulation results are included to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

How does culture affect experiential training feedback in exported Canadian health professional curricula?

PubMed

Wilbur, Kerry; Mousa Bacha, Rasha; Abdelaziz, Somaia

2017-03-17

To explore feedback processes of Western-based health professional student training curricula conducted in an Arab clinical teaching setting. This qualitative study employed document analysis of in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) used by Canadian nursing, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, paramedic, dental hygiene, and pharmacy technician programs established in Qatar. Six experiential training program coordinators were interviewed between February and May 2016 to explore how national cultural differences are perceived to affect feedback processes between students and clinical supervisors. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded according to a priori cultural themes. Document analysis found all programs' ITERs outlined competency items for students to achieve. Clinical supervisors choose a response option corresponding to their judgment of student performance and may provide additional written feedback in spaces provided. Only one program required formal face-to-face feedback exchange between students and clinical supervisors. Experiential training program coordinators identified that no ITER was expressly culturally adapted, although in some instances, modifications were made for differences in scopes of practice between Canada and Qatar.  Power distance was recognized by all coordinators who also identified both student and supervisor reluctance to document potentially negative feedback in ITERs. Instances of collectivism were described as more lenient student assessment by clinical supervisors of the same cultural background. Uncertainty avoidance did not appear to impact feedback processes. Our findings suggest that differences in specific cultural dimensions between Qatar and Canada have implications on the feedback process in experiential training which may be addressed through simple measures to accommodate communication preferences.

Exploiting parallel computing with limited program changes using a network of microcomputers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, J. L., Jr.; Sobieszczanski-Sobieski, J.

1985-01-01

Network computing and multiprocessor computers are two discernible trends in parallel processing. The computational behavior of an iterative distributed process in which some subtasks are completed later than others because of an imbalance in computational requirements is of significant interest. The effects of asynchronus processing was studied. A small existing program was converted to perform finite element analysis by distributing substructure analysis over a network of four Apple IIe microcomputers connected to a shared disk, simulating a parallel computer. The substructure analysis uses an iterative, fully stressed, structural resizing procedure. A framework of beams divided into three substructures is used as the finite element model. The effects of asynchronous processing on the convergence of the design variables are determined by not resizing particular substructures on various iterations.

Extended Lagrangian Excited State Molecular Dynamics

DOE PAGES

Bjorgaard, Josiah August; Sheppard, Daniel Glen; Tretiak, Sergei; ...

2018-01-09

In this work, an extended Lagrangian framework for excited state molecular dynamics (XL-ESMD) using time-dependent self-consistent field theory is proposed. The formulation is a generalization of the extended Lagrangian formulations for ground state Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 123004]. The theory is implemented, demonstrated, and evaluated using a time-dependent semiempirical model, though it should be generally applicable to ab initio theory. The simulations show enhanced energy stability and a significantly reduced computational cost associated with the iterative solutions of both the ground state and the electronically excited states. Relaxed convergence criteria can therefore be used both formore » the self-consistent ground state optimization and for the iterative subspace diagonalization of the random phase approximation matrix used to calculate the excited state transitions. In conclusion, the XL-ESMD approach is expected to enable numerically efficient excited state molecular dynamics for such methods as time-dependent Hartree–Fock (TD-HF), Configuration Interactions Singles (CIS), and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT).« less

Extended Lagrangian Excited State Molecular Dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bjorgaard, Josiah August; Sheppard, Daniel Glen; Tretiak, Sergei

In this work, an extended Lagrangian framework for excited state molecular dynamics (XL-ESMD) using time-dependent self-consistent field theory is proposed. The formulation is a generalization of the extended Lagrangian formulations for ground state Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 123004]. The theory is implemented, demonstrated, and evaluated using a time-dependent semiempirical model, though it should be generally applicable to ab initio theory. The simulations show enhanced energy stability and a significantly reduced computational cost associated with the iterative solutions of both the ground state and the electronically excited states. Relaxed convergence criteria can therefore be used both formore » the self-consistent ground state optimization and for the iterative subspace diagonalization of the random phase approximation matrix used to calculate the excited state transitions. In conclusion, the XL-ESMD approach is expected to enable numerically efficient excited state molecular dynamics for such methods as time-dependent Hartree–Fock (TD-HF), Configuration Interactions Singles (CIS), and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT).« less

Extended Lagrangian Excited State Molecular Dynamics.

PubMed

Bjorgaard, J A; Sheppard, D; Tretiak, S; Niklasson, A M N

2018-02-13

An extended Lagrangian framework for excited state molecular dynamics (XL-ESMD) using time-dependent self-consistent field theory is proposed. The formulation is a generalization of the extended Lagrangian formulations for ground state Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 123004]. The theory is implemented, demonstrated, and evaluated using a time-dependent semiempirical model, though it should be generally applicable to ab initio theory. The simulations show enhanced energy stability and a significantly reduced computational cost associated with the iterative solutions of both the ground state and the electronically excited states. Relaxed convergence criteria can therefore be used both for the self-consistent ground state optimization and for the iterative subspace diagonalization of the random phase approximation matrix used to calculate the excited state transitions. The XL-ESMD approach is expected to enable numerically efficient excited state molecular dynamics for such methods as time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TD-HF), Configuration Interactions Singles (CIS), and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT).

Establishing Factor Validity Using Variable Reduction in Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hofmann, Rich

1995-01-01

Using a 21-statement attitude-type instrument, an iterative procedure for improving confirmatory model fit is demonstrated within the context of the EQS program of P. M. Bentler and maximum likelihood factor analysis. Each iteration systematically eliminates the poorest fitting statement as identified by a variable fit index. (SLD)

Dynamic Bayesian wavelet transform: New methodology for extraction of repetitive transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Dong; Tsui, Kwok-Leung

2017-05-01

Thanks to some recent research works, dynamic Bayesian wavelet transform as new methodology for extraction of repetitive transients is proposed in this short communication to reveal fault signatures hidden in rotating machine. The main idea of the dynamic Bayesian wavelet transform is to iteratively estimate posterior parameters of wavelet transform via artificial observations and dynamic Bayesian inference. First, a prior wavelet parameter distribution can be established by one of many fast detection algorithms, such as the fast kurtogram, the improved kurtogram, the enhanced kurtogram, the sparsogram, the infogram, continuous wavelet transform, discrete wavelet transform, wavelet packets, multiwavelets, empirical wavelet transform, empirical mode decomposition, local mean decomposition, etc.. Second, artificial observations can be constructed based on one of many metrics, such as kurtosis, the sparsity measurement, entropy, approximate entropy, the smoothness index, a synthesized criterion, etc., which are able to quantify repetitive transients. Finally, given artificial observations, the prior wavelet parameter distribution can be posteriorly updated over iterations by using dynamic Bayesian inference. More importantly, the proposed new methodology can be extended to establish the optimal parameters required by many other signal processing methods for extraction of repetitive transients.

Extending systems thinking in planning and evaluation using group concept mapping and system dynamics to tackle complex problems.

PubMed

Hassmiller Lich, Kristen; Urban, Jennifer Brown; Frerichs, Leah; Dave, Gaurav

2017-02-01

Group concept mapping (GCM) has been successfully employed in program planning and evaluation for over 25 years. The broader set of systems thinking methodologies (of which GCM is one), have only recently found their way into the field. We present an overview of systems thinking emerging from a system dynamics (SD) perspective, and illustrate the potential synergy between GCM and SD. As with GCM, participatory processes are frequently employed when building SD models; however, it can be challenging to engage a large and diverse group of stakeholders in the iterative cycles of divergent thinking and consensus building required, while maintaining a broad perspective on the issue being studied. GCM provides a compelling resource for overcoming this challenge, by richly engaging a diverse set of stakeholders in broad exploration, structuring, and prioritization. SD provides an opportunity to extend GCM findings by embedding constructs in a testable hypothesis (SD model) describing how system structure and changes in constructs affect outcomes over time. SD can be used to simulate the hypothesized dynamics inherent in GCM concept maps. We illustrate the potential of the marriage of these methodologies in a case study of BECOMING, a federally-funded program aimed at strengthening the cross-sector system of care for youth with severe emotional disturbances. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deductive Evaluation: Formal Code Analysis With Low User Burden

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Di Vito, Ben. L

2016-01-01

We describe a framework for symbolically evaluating iterative C code using a deductive approach that automatically discovers and proves program properties. Although verification is not performed, the method can infer detailed program behavior. Software engineering work flows could be enhanced by this type of analysis. Floyd-Hoare verification principles are applied to synthesize loop invariants, using a library of iteration-specific deductive knowledge. When needed, theorem proving is interleaved with evaluation and performed on the fly. Evaluation results take the form of inferred expressions and type constraints for values of program variables. An implementation using PVS (Prototype Verification System) is presented along with results for sample C functions.

Stability and dynamic analysis of a slender column with curved longitudinal stiffeners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lake, Mark S.

1989-01-01

The results of a stability design study are presented for a slender column with curved longitudinal stiffeners for large space structure applications. Linear stability analyses are performed using a link-plate representation of the stiffeners to determine stiffener local buckling stresses. Results from a set of parametric analyses are used to determine an approximate explicit expression for stiffener local buckling in terms of its geometric parameters. This expression along with other equations governing column stability and mass are assembled into a determinate system describing minimum mass stiffened column design. An iterative solution is determined to solve this system and a computer program incorporating this routine is presented. Example design problems are presented which verify the solution accuracy and illustrate the implementation of the solution routine. Also, observations are made which lead to a greatly simplified first iteration design equation relating the percent increase in column mass to the percent increase in column buckling load. From this, generalizations are drawn as to the mass savings offered by the stiffened column concept. Finally, the percent increase in fundamental column vibration frequency due to the addition of deployable stiffeners is studied.

Computational efficiency improvements for image colorization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Chao; Sharma, Gaurav; Aly, Hussein

2013-03-01

We propose an efficient algorithm for colorization of greyscale images. As in prior work, colorization is posed as an optimization problem: a user specifies the color for a few scribbles drawn on the greyscale image and the color image is obtained by propagating color information from the scribbles to surrounding regions, while maximizing the local smoothness of colors. In this formulation, colorization is obtained by solving a large sparse linear system, which normally requires substantial computation and memory resources. Our algorithm improves the computational performance through three innovations over prior colorization implementations. First, the linear system is solved iteratively without explicitly constructing the sparse matrix, which significantly reduces the required memory. Second, we formulate each iteration in terms of integral images obtained by dynamic programming, reducing repetitive computation. Third, we use a coarseto- fine framework, where a lower resolution subsampled image is first colorized and this low resolution color image is upsampled to initialize the colorization process for the fine level. The improvements we develop provide significant speedup and memory savings compared to the conventional approach of solving the linear system directly using off-the-shelf sparse solvers, and allow us to colorize images with typical sizes encountered in realistic applications on typical commodity computing platforms.

Off-Policy Integral Reinforcement Learning Method to Solve Nonlinear Continuous-Time Multiplayer Nonzero-Sum Games.

PubMed

Song, Ruizhuo; Lewis, Frank L; Wei, Qinglai

2017-03-01

This paper establishes an off-policy integral reinforcement learning (IRL) method to solve nonlinear continuous-time (CT) nonzero-sum (NZS) games with unknown system dynamics. The IRL algorithm is presented to obtain the iterative control and off-policy learning is used to allow the dynamics to be completely unknown. Off-policy IRL is designed to do policy evaluation and policy improvement in the policy iteration algorithm. Critic and action networks are used to obtain the performance index and control for each player. The gradient descent algorithm makes the update of critic and action weights simultaneously. The convergence analysis of the weights is given. The asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system and the existence of Nash equilibrium are proved. The simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed method for nonlinear CT NZS games with unknown system dynamics.

Stability of Mixed-Strategy-Based Iterative Logit Quantal Response Dynamics in Game Theory

PubMed Central

Zhuang, Qian; Di, Zengru; Wu, Jinshan

2014-01-01

Using the Logit quantal response form as the response function in each step, the original definition of static quantal response equilibrium (QRE) is extended into an iterative evolution process. QREs remain as the fixed points of the dynamic process. However, depending on whether such fixed points are the long-term solutions of the dynamic process, they can be classified into stable (SQREs) and unstable (USQREs) equilibriums. This extension resembles the extension from static Nash equilibriums (NEs) to evolutionary stable solutions in the framework of evolutionary game theory. The relation between SQREs and other solution concepts of games, including NEs and QREs, is discussed. Using experimental data from other published papers, we perform a preliminary comparison between SQREs, NEs, QREs and the observed behavioral outcomes of those experiments. For certain games, we determine that SQREs have better predictive power than QREs and NEs. PMID:25157502

PROGRAM VSAERO: A computer program for calculating the non-linear aerodynamic characteristics of arbitrary configurations: User's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maskew, B.

1982-01-01

VSAERO is a computer program used to predict the nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics of arbitrary three-dimensional configurations in subsonic flow. Nonlinear effects of vortex separation and vortex surface interaction are treated in an iterative wake-shape calculation procedure, while the effects of viscosity are treated in an iterative loop coupling potential-flow and integral boundary-layer calculations. The program employs a surface singularity panel method using quadrilateral panels on which doublet and source singularities are distributed in a piecewise constant form. This user's manual provides a brief overview of the mathematical model, instructions for configuration modeling and a description of the input and output data. A listing of a sample case is included.

A Dynamic Model of the Initial Spares Support List Development Process

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-06-01

S117Z1NOTE NREI -NOT READI END ITERS IIT7INOTE GPEI -QUANTITY OF PARTS M. END ITER 11775NOTE FUSERF -PARTS USE RATE FACTOR U8WOTE OP U -OTHER PARTS USE...FAILURES ’I 1675R PtJER.L=(NREI.K) (QPEI) (PUSERF.K)+OPUR II7HNOTE PUSER -PARTS USE RATE II7t5NOTE NREI -NOT READY END ITEMS II756NOTE GPEI -QUANTITY

Assessing Quality in Toddler Classrooms Using the CLASS-Toddler and the ITERS-R

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

La Paro, Karen M.; Williamson, Amy C.; Hatfield, Bridget

2014-01-01

Many very young children attend early care and education programs, but current information about the quality of center-based care for toddlers is scarce. Using 2 observation instruments, the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Toddler Version (CLASS-Toddler), 93 child care…

An overview of ITER diagnostics (invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Kenneth M.; Costley, A. E.; ITER-JCT Home Team; ITER Diagnostics Expert Group

1997-01-01

The requirements for plasma measurements for operating and controlling the ITER device have now been determined. Initial criteria for the measurement quality have been set, and the diagnostics that might be expected to achieve these criteria have been chosen. The design of the first set of diagnostics to achieve these goals is now well under way. The design effort is concentrating on the components that interact most strongly with the other ITER systems, particularly the vacuum vessel, blankets, divertor modules, cryostat, and shield wall. The relevant details of the ITER device and facility design and specific examples of diagnostic design to provide the necessary measurements are described. These designs have to take account of the issues associated with very high 14 MeV neutron fluxes and fluences, nuclear heating, high heat loads, and high mechanical forces that can arise during disruptions. The design work is supported by an extensive research and development program, which to date has concentrated on the effects these levels of radiation might cause on diagnostic components. A brief outline of the organization of the diagnostic development program is given.

MO-DE-207A-07: Filtered Iterative Reconstruction (FIR) Via Proximal Forward-Backward Splitting: A Synergy of Analytical and Iterative Reconstruction Method for CT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, H

Purpose: This work is to develop a general framework, namely filtered iterative reconstruction (FIR) method, to incorporate analytical reconstruction (AR) method into iterative reconstruction (IR) method, for enhanced CT image quality. Methods: FIR is formulated as a combination of filtered data fidelity and sparsity regularization, and then solved by proximal forward-backward splitting (PFBS) algorithm. As a result, the image reconstruction decouples data fidelity and image regularization with a two-step iterative scheme, during which an AR-projection step updates the filtered data fidelity term, while a denoising solver updates the sparsity regularization term. During the AR-projection step, the image is projected tomore » the data domain to form the data residual, and then reconstructed by certain AR to a residual image which is in turn weighted together with previous image iterate to form next image iterate. Since the eigenvalues of AR-projection operator are close to the unity, PFBS based FIR has a fast convergence. Results: The proposed FIR method is validated in the setting of circular cone-beam CT with AR being FDK and total-variation sparsity regularization, and has improved image quality from both AR and IR. For example, AIR has improved visual assessment and quantitative measurement in terms of both contrast and resolution, and reduced axial and half-fan artifacts. Conclusion: FIR is proposed to incorporate AR into IR, with an efficient image reconstruction algorithm based on PFBS. The CBCT results suggest that FIR synergizes AR and IR with improved image quality and reduced axial and half-fan artifacts. The authors was partially supported by the NSFC (#11405105), the 973 Program (#2015CB856000), and the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program (#14PJ1404500).« less

Conjugate Gradient Algorithms For Manipulator Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fijany, Amir; Scheid, Robert E.

1991-01-01

Report discusses applicability of conjugate-gradient algorithms to computation of forward dynamics of robotic manipulators. Rapid computation of forward dynamics essential to teleoperation and other advanced robotic applications. Part of continuing effort to find algorithms meeting requirements for increased computational efficiency and speed. Method used for iterative solution of systems of linear equations.

Bifurcations of 2-Periodic Nonautonomous Stunted Tent Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, L.; Rocha, J. Leonel; Silva, M. T.

2017-06-01

In this paper, we will consider a family of 2-periodic nonautonomous dynamical systems, generated by the alternate iteration of two stunted tent maps and study its bifurcation skeleton. We will describe the bifurcation phenomena along and around the bones accomplished with the combinatorial data furnished by the respective symbolic dynamics.

Dynamic iterative beam hardening correction (DIBHC) in myocardial perfusion imaging using contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

PubMed

Stenner, Philip; Schmidt, Bernhard; Allmendinger, Thomas; Flohr, Thomas; Kachelrie, Marc

2010-06-01

In cardiac perfusion examinations with computed tomography (CT) large concentrations of iodine in the ventricle and in the descending aorta cause beam hardening artifacts that can lead to incorrect perfusion parameters. The aim of this study is to reduce these artifacts by performing an iterative correction and by accounting for the 3 materials soft tissue, bone, and iodine. Beam hardening corrections are either implemented as simple precorrections which cannot account for higher order beam hardening effects, or as iterative approaches that are based on segmenting the original image into material distribution images. Conventional segmentation algorithms fail to clearly distinguish between iodine and bone. Our new algorithm, DIBHC, calculates the time-dependent iodine distribution by analyzing the voxel changes of a cardiac perfusion examination (typically N approximately 15 electrocardiogram-correlated scans distributed over a total scan time up to T approximately 30 s). These voxel dynamics are due to changes in contrast agent. This prior information allows to precisely distinguish between bone and iodine and is key to DIBHC where each iteration consists of a multimaterial (soft tissue, bone, iodine) polychromatic forward projection, a raw data comparison and a filtered backprojection. Simulations with a semi-anthropomorphic dynamic phantom and clinical scans using a dual source CT scanner with 2 x 128 slices, a tube voltage of 100 kV, a tube current of 180 mAs, and a rotation time of 0.28 seconds have been carried out. The uncorrected images suffer from beam hardening artifacts that appear as dark bands connecting large concentrations of iodine in the ventricle, aorta, and bony structures. The CT-values of the affected tissue are usually underestimated by roughly 20 HU although deviations of up to 61 HU have been observed. For a quantitative evaluation circular regions of interest have been analyzed. After application of DIBHC the mean values obtained deviate by only 1 HU for the simulations and the corrected values show an increase of up to 61 HU for the measurements. One iteration of DIBHC greatly reduces the beam hardening artifacts induced by the contrast agent dynamics (and those due to bone) now allowing for an improved assessment of contrast agent uptake in the myocardium which is essential for determining myocardial perfusion.

Kernel-based least squares policy iteration for reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Xu, Xin; Hu, Dewen; Lu, Xicheng

2007-07-01

In this paper, we present a kernel-based least squares policy iteration (KLSPI) algorithm for reinforcement learning (RL) in large or continuous state spaces, which can be used to realize adaptive feedback control of uncertain dynamic systems. By using KLSPI, near-optimal control policies can be obtained without much a priori knowledge on dynamic models of control plants. In KLSPI, Mercer kernels are used in the policy evaluation of a policy iteration process, where a new kernel-based least squares temporal-difference algorithm called KLSTD-Q is proposed for efficient policy evaluation. To keep the sparsity and improve the generalization ability of KLSTD-Q solutions, a kernel sparsification procedure based on approximate linear dependency (ALD) is performed. Compared to the previous works on approximate RL methods, KLSPI makes two progresses to eliminate the main difficulties of existing results. One is the better convergence and (near) optimality guarantee by using the KLSTD-Q algorithm for policy evaluation with high precision. The other is the automatic feature selection using the ALD-based kernel sparsification. Therefore, the KLSPI algorithm provides a general RL method with generalization performance and convergence guarantee for large-scale Markov decision problems (MDPs). Experimental results on a typical RL task for a stochastic chain problem demonstrate that KLSPI can consistently achieve better learning efficiency and policy quality than the previous least squares policy iteration (LSPI) algorithm. Furthermore, the KLSPI method was also evaluated on two nonlinear feedback control problems, including a ship heading control problem and the swing up control of a double-link underactuated pendulum called acrobot. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed method can optimize controller performance using little a priori information of uncertain dynamic systems. It is also demonstrated that KLSPI can be applied to online learning control by incorporating an initial controller to ensure online performance.

Conceptual design and structural analysis of the spectroscopy of the atmosphere using far infrared emission (SAFIRE) instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moses, Robert W.; Averill, Robert D.

1992-01-01

The conceptual design and structural analysis for the Spectroscopy of the Atmosphere using Far Infrared Emission (SAFIRE) Instrument are provided. SAFIRE, which is an international effort, is proposed for the Earth Observing Systems (EOS) program for atmospheric ozone studies. A concept was developed which meets mission requirements and is the product of numerous parametric studies and design/analysis iterations. Stiffness, thermal stability, and weight constraints led to a graphite/epoxy composite design for the optical bench and supporting struts. The structural configuration was determined by considering various mounting arrangements of the optical, cryo, and electronic components. Quasi-static, thermal, modal, and dynamic response analyses were performed, and the results are presented for the selected configuration.

Application of computational fluid dynamics to the design of the Space Transportation Main Engine subscale nozzle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garrett, J. L.; Syed, S. A.

1992-01-01

CFD analyses of the Space Transportation Main Engine film/dump cooled subscale nozzle are presented, with an emphasis on the timely impact of CFD in the design of the subscale nozzle secondary coolant system. Calculations were performed with the Generalized Aerodynamic Simulation Program (GASP), using a Baldwin-Lomas Turbulence model, and finite rate hydrogen-oxygen chemistry. Design iterations for both the secondary coolant cavity passage and the secondary coolant lip are presented. In addition, validation of the GASP chemistry and turbulence models by comparison with data and other CFD codes are presented for a hypersonic laminar separation corner, a backward facing step, and a 2D scramjet nozzle with hydrogen-oxygen kinetics.

Static and Dynamic Performance of Newly Developed ITER Relevant Insulation Systems after Neutron Irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokopec, R.; Humer, K.; Fillunger, H.; Maix, R. K.; Weber, H. W.

2006-03-01

Fiber reinforced plastics will be used as insulation systems for the superconducting magnet coils of ITER. The fast neutron and gamma radiation environment present at the magnet location will lead to serious material degradation, particularly of the insulation. For this reason, advanced radiation-hard resin systems are of special interest. In this study various R-glass fiber / Kapton reinforced DGEBA epoxy and cyanate ester composites fabricated by the vacuum pressure impregnation method were investigated. All systems were irradiated at ambient temperature (340 K) in the TRIGA reactor (Vienna) to a fast neutron fluence of 1×1022 m-2 (E>0.1 MeV). Short-beam shear and static tensile tests were carried out at 77 K prior to and after irradiation. In addition, tension-tension fatigue measurements were used in order to assess the mechanical performance of the insulation systems under the pulsed operation conditions of ITER. For the cyanate ester based system the influence of interleaving Kapton layers on the static and dynamic material behavior was investigated as well.

Numerical methods for solving moment equations in kinetic theory of neuronal network dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rangan, Aaditya V.; Cai, David; Tao, Louis

2007-02-01

Recently developed kinetic theory and related closures for neuronal network dynamics have been demonstrated to be a powerful theoretical framework for investigating coarse-grained dynamical properties of neuronal networks. The moment equations arising from the kinetic theory are a system of (1 + 1)-dimensional nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE) on a bounded domain with nonlinear boundary conditions. The PDEs themselves are self-consistently specified by parameters which are functions of the boundary values of the solution. The moment equations can be stiff in space and time. Numerical methods are presented here for efficiently and accurately solving these moment equations. The essential ingredients in our numerical methods include: (i) the system is discretized in time with an implicit Euler method within a spectral deferred correction framework, therefore, the PDEs of the kinetic theory are reduced to a sequence, in time, of boundary value problems (BVPs) with nonlinear boundary conditions; (ii) a set of auxiliary parameters is introduced to recast the original BVP with nonlinear boundary conditions as BVPs with linear boundary conditions - with additional algebraic constraints on the auxiliary parameters; (iii) a careful combination of two Newton's iterates for the nonlinear BVP with linear boundary condition, interlaced with a Newton's iterate for solving the associated algebraic constraints is constructed to achieve quadratic convergence for obtaining the solutions with self-consistent parameters. It is shown that a simple fixed-point iteration can only achieve a linear convergence for the self-consistent parameters. The practicability and efficiency of our numerical methods for solving the moment equations of the kinetic theory are illustrated with numerical examples. It is further demonstrated that the moment equations derived from the kinetic theory of neuronal network dynamics can very well capture the coarse-grained dynamical properties of integrate-and-fire neuronal networks.

On equivalent parameter learning in simplified feature space based on Bayesian asymptotic analysis.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Keisuke

2012-07-01

Parametric models for sequential data, such as hidden Markov models, stochastic context-free grammars, and linear dynamical systems, are widely used in time-series analysis and structural data analysis. Computation of the likelihood function is one of primary considerations in many learning methods. Iterative calculation of the likelihood such as the model selection is still time-consuming though there are effective algorithms based on dynamic programming. The present paper studies parameter learning in a simplified feature space to reduce the computational cost. Simplifying data is a common technique seen in feature selection and dimension reduction though an oversimplified space causes adverse learning results. Therefore, we mathematically investigate a condition of the feature map to have an asymptotically equivalent convergence point of estimated parameters, referred to as the vicarious map. As a demonstration to find vicarious maps, we consider the feature space, which limits the length of data, and derive a necessary length for parameter learning in hidden Markov models. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance Analysis and Design Synthesis (PADS) computer program. Volume 2: Program description, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The QL module of the Performance Analysis and Design Synthesis (PADS) computer program is described. Execution of this module is initiated when and if subroutine PADSI calls subroutine GROPE. Subroutine GROPE controls the high level logical flow of the QL module. The purpose of the module is to determine a trajectory that satisfies the necessary variational conditions for optimal performance. The module achieves this by solving a nonlinear multi-point boundary value problem. The numerical method employed is described. It is an iterative technique that converges quadratically when it does converge. The three basic steps of the module are: (1) initialization, (2) iteration, and (3) culmination. For Volume 1 see N73-13199.

A Model For Selecting An Environmentally Responsive Trait: Evaluating Micro-scale Fitness Through UV-C Resistance and Exposure in Escherichia coli.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schenone, D. J.; Igama, S.; Marash-Whitman, D.; Sloan, C.; Okansinski, A.; Moffet, A.; Grace, J. M.; Gentry, D.

2015-12-01

Experimental evolution of microorganisms in controlled microenvironments serves as a powerful tool for understanding the relationship between micro-scale microbial interactions as well as local-to global-scale environmental factors. In response to iterative and targeted environmental pressures, mutagenesis drives the emergence of novel phenotypes. Current methods to induce expression of these phenotypes require repetitive and time intensive procedures and do not allow for the continuous monitoring of conditions such as optical density, pH and temperature. To address this shortcoming, an Automated Dynamic Directed Evolution Chamber is being developed. It will initially produce Escherichia coli cells with an elevated UV-C resistance phenotype that will ultimately be adapted for different organisms as well as studying environmental effects. A useful phenotype and environmental factor for examining this relationship is UV-C resistance and exposure. In order to build a baseline for the device's operational parameters, a UV-C assay was performed on six E. coli replicates with three exposure fluxes across seven iterations. The fluxes included a 0 second exposure (control), 6 seconds at 3.3 J/m2/s and 40 seconds at 0.5 J/m2/s. After each iteration the cells were regrown and tested for UV-C resistance. We sought to quantify the increase and variability of UV-C resistance among different fluxes, and observe changes in each replicate at each iteration in terms of variance. Under different fluxes, we observed that the 0s control showed no significant increase in resistance, while the 6s/40s fluxes showed increased resistance as the number of iterations increased. A one-million fold increase in survivability was observed after seven iterations. Through statistical analysis using Spearman's rank correlation, the 40s exposure showed signs of more consistently increased resistance, but seven iterations was insufficient to demonstrate statistical significance; to test this further, our experiments will include more iterations. Furthermore, we plan to sequence all the replicants. As adaptation dynamics under intense UV exposure leads to high rate of change, it would be useful to observe differences in tolerance-related and non-tolerance-related genes between the original and UV resistant strains.

Fast non-interferometric iterative phase retrieval for holographic data storage.

PubMed

Lin, Xiao; Huang, Yong; Shimura, Tsutomu; Fujimura, Ryushi; Tanaka, Yoshito; Endo, Masao; Nishimoto, Hajimu; Liu, Jinpeng; Li, Yang; Liu, Ying; Tan, Xiaodi

2017-12-11

Fast non-interferometric phase retrieval is a very important technique for phase-encoded holographic data storage and other phase based applications due to its advantage of easy implementation, simple system setup, and robust noise tolerance. Here we present an iterative non-interferometric phase retrieval for 4-level phase encoded holographic data storage based on an iterative Fourier transform algorithm and known portion of the encoded data, which increases the storage code rate to two-times that of an amplitude based method. Only a single image at the Fourier plane of the beam is captured for the iterative reconstruction. Since beam intensity at the Fourier plane of the reconstructed beam is more concentrated than the reconstructed beam itself, the requirement of diffractive efficiency of the recording media is reduced, which will improve the dynamic range of recording media significantly. The phase retrieval only requires 10 iterations to achieve a less than 5% phase data error rate, which is successfully demonstrated by recording and reconstructing a test image data experimentally. We believe our method will further advance the holographic data storage technique in the era of big data.

ASTROP2 Users Manual: A Program for Aeroelastic Stability Analysis of Propfans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reddy, T. S. R.; Lucero, John M.

1996-01-01

This manual describes the input data required for using the second version of the ASTROP2 (Aeroelastic STability and Response Of Propulsion systems - 2 dimensional analysis) computer code. In ASTROP2, version 2.0, the program is divided into two modules: 2DSTRIP, which calculates the structural dynamic information; and 2DASTROP, which calculates the unsteady aerodynamic force coefficients from which the aeroelastic stability can be determined. In the original version of ASTROP2, these two aspects were performed in a single program. The improvements to version 2.0 include an option to account for counter rotation, improved numerical integration, accommodation for non-uniform inflow distribution, and an iterative scheme to flutter frequency convergence. ASTROP2 can be used for flutter analysis of multi-bladed structures such as those found in compressors, turbines, counter rotating propellers or propfans. The analysis combines a two-dimensional, unsteady cascade aerodynamics model and a three dimensional, normal mode structural model using strip theory. The flutter analysis is formulated in the frequency domain resulting in an eigenvalue determinant. The flutter frequency and damping can be inferred from the eigenvalues.

Comparison of some optimal control methods for the design of turbine blades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Desilva, B. M. E.; Grant, G. N. C.

1977-01-01

This paper attempts a comparative study of some numerical methods for the optimal control design of turbine blades whose vibration characteristics are approximated by Timoshenko beam idealizations with shear and incorporating simple boundary conditions. The blade was synthesized using the following methods: (1) conjugate gradient minimization of the system Hamiltonian in function space incorporating penalty function transformations, (2) projection operator methods in a function space which includes the frequencies of vibration and the control function, (3) epsilon-technique penalty function transformation resulting in a highly nonlinear programming problem, (4) finite difference discretization of the state equations again resulting in a nonlinear program, (5) second variation methods with complex state differential equations to include damping effects resulting in systems of inhomogeneous matrix Riccatti equations some of which are stiff, (6) quasi-linear methods based on iterative linearization of the state and adjoint equation. The paper includes a discussion of some substantial computational difficulties encountered in the implementation of these techniques together with a resume of work presently in progress using a differential dynamic programming approach.

Exploiting Vector and Multicore Parallelsim for Recursive, Data- and Task-Parallel Programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ren, Bin; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; Agrawal, Kunal

Modern hardware contains parallel execution resources that are well-suited for data-parallelism-vector units-and task parallelism-multicores. However, most work on parallel scheduling focuses on one type of hardware or the other. In this work, we present a scheduling framework that allows for a unified treatment of task- and data-parallelism. Our key insight is an abstraction, task blocks, that uniformly handles data-parallel iterations and task-parallel tasks, allowing them to be scheduled on vector units or executed independently as multicores. Our framework allows us to define schedulers that can dynamically select between executing task- blocks on vector units or multicores. We show that thesemore » schedulers are asymptotically optimal, and deliver the maximum amount of parallelism available in computation trees. To evaluate our schedulers, we develop program transformations that can convert mixed data- and task-parallel pro- grams into task block-based programs. Using a prototype instantiation of our scheduling framework, we show that, on an 8-core system, we can simultaneously exploit vector and multicore parallelism to achieve 14×-108× speedup over sequential baselines.« less

NASA's Zero-g aircraft operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, R. K.

1988-01-01

NASA's Zero-g aircraft, operated by the Johnson Space Center, provides the unique weightless or zero-g environment of space flight for hardware development and test and astronaut training purposes. The program, which began in 1959, uses a slightly modified Boeing KC-135A aircraft, flying a parabolic trajectory, to produce weightless periods of 20 to 25 seconds. The program has supported the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Shuttle programs as well as a number of unmanned space operations. Typical experiments for flight in the aircraft have included materials processing experiments, welding, fluid manipulation, cryogenics, propellant tankage, satellite deployment dynamics, planetary sciences research, crew training with weightless indoctrination, space suits, tethers, etc., and medical studies including vestibular research. The facility is available to microgravity research organizations on a cost-reimbursable basis, providing a large, hands-on test area for diagnostic and support equipment for the Principal Investigators and providing an iterative-type design approach to microgravity experiment development. The facility allows concepts to be proven and baseline experimentation to be accomplished relatively inexpensively prior to committing to the large expense of a space flight.

How does culture affect experiential training feedback in exported Canadian health professional curricula?

PubMed Central

Mousa Bacha, Rasha; Abdelaziz, Somaia

2017-01-01

Objectives To explore feedback processes of Western-based health professional student training curricula conducted in an Arab clinical teaching setting. Methods This qualitative study employed document analysis of in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) used by Canadian nursing, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, paramedic, dental hygiene, and pharmacy technician programs established in Qatar. Six experiential training program coordinators were interviewed between February and May 2016 to explore how national cultural differences are perceived to affect feedback processes between students and clinical supervisors. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded according to a priori cultural themes. Results Document analysis found all programs’ ITERs outlined competency items for students to achieve. Clinical supervisors choose a response option corresponding to their judgment of student performance and may provide additional written feedback in spaces provided. Only one program required formal face-to-face feedback exchange between students and clinical supervisors. Experiential training program coordinators identified that no ITER was expressly culturally adapted, although in some instances, modifications were made for differences in scopes of practice between Canada and Qatar.  Power distance was recognized by all coordinators who also identified both student and supervisor reluctance to document potentially negative feedback in ITERs. Instances of collectivism were described as more lenient student assessment by clinical supervisors of the same cultural background. Uncertainty avoidance did not appear to impact feedback processes. Conclusions Our findings suggest that differences in specific cultural dimensions between Qatar and Canada have implications on the feedback process in experiential training which may be addressed through simple measures to accommodate communication preferences. PMID:28315858

Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-3). Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harms, Thelma; Cryer, Debby; Clifford, Richard M.; Yazejian, Noreen

2017-01-01

Building on extensive feedback from the field as well as vigorous new research on how best to support infant and toddler development and learning, the authors have revised and updated the widely used "Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale." ITERS-3 is the next-generation assessment tool for use in center-based child care programs for…

Performance of extended Lagrangian schemes for molecular dynamics simulations with classical polarizable force fields and density functional theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vitale, Valerio; Dziedzic, Jacek; Albaugh, Alex; Niklasson, Anders M. N.; Head-Gordon, Teresa; Skylaris, Chris-Kriton

2017-03-01

Iterative energy minimization with the aim of achieving self-consistency is a common feature of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and classical molecular dynamics with polarizable force fields. In the former, the electronic degrees of freedom are optimized, while the latter often involves an iterative determination of induced point dipoles. The computational effort of the self-consistency procedure can be reduced by re-using converged solutions from previous time steps. However, this must be done carefully, as not to break time-reversal symmetry, which negatively impacts energy conservation. Self-consistent schemes based on the extended Lagrangian formalism, where the initial guesses for the optimized quantities are treated as auxiliary degrees of freedom, constitute one elegant solution. We report on the performance of two integration schemes with the same underlying extended Lagrangian structure, which we both employ in two radically distinct regimes—in classical molecular dynamics simulations with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and in BOMD simulations with the Onetep linear-scaling density functional theory (LS-DFT) approach. Both integration schemes are found to offer significant improvements over the standard (unpropagated) molecular dynamics formulation in both the classical and LS-DFT regimes.

Performance of extended Lagrangian schemes for molecular dynamics simulations with classical polarizable force fields and density functional theory.

PubMed

Vitale, Valerio; Dziedzic, Jacek; Albaugh, Alex; Niklasson, Anders M N; Head-Gordon, Teresa; Skylaris, Chris-Kriton

2017-03-28

Iterative energy minimization with the aim of achieving self-consistency is a common feature of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and classical molecular dynamics with polarizable force fields. In the former, the electronic degrees of freedom are optimized, while the latter often involves an iterative determination of induced point dipoles. The computational effort of the self-consistency procedure can be reduced by re-using converged solutions from previous time steps. However, this must be done carefully, as not to break time-reversal symmetry, which negatively impacts energy conservation. Self-consistent schemes based on the extended Lagrangian formalism, where the initial guesses for the optimized quantities are treated as auxiliary degrees of freedom, constitute one elegant solution. We report on the performance of two integration schemes with the same underlying extended Lagrangian structure, which we both employ in two radically distinct regimes-in classical molecular dynamics simulations with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and in BOMD simulations with the Onetep linear-scaling density functional theory (LS-DFT) approach. Both integration schemes are found to offer significant improvements over the standard (unpropagated) molecular dynamics formulation in both the classical and LS-DFT regimes.

Performance of extended Lagrangian schemes for molecular dynamics simulations with classical polarizable force fields and density functional theory

DOE PAGES

Vitale, Valerio; Dziedzic, Jacek; Albaugh, Alex; ...

2017-03-28

Iterative energy minimization with the aim of achieving self-consistency is a common feature of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and classical molecular dynamics with polarizable force fields. In the former, the electronic degrees of freedom are optimized, while the latter often involves an iterative determination of induced point dipoles. The computational effort of the self-consistency procedure can be reduced by re-using converged solutions from previous time steps. However, this must be done carefully, as not to break time-reversal symmetry, which negatively impacts energy conservation. Self-consistent schemes based on the extended Lagrangian formalism, where the initial guesses for the optimized quantities aremore » treated as auxiliary degrees of freedom, constitute one elegant solution. We report on the performance of two integration schemes with the same underlying extended Lagrangian structure, which we both employ in two radically distinct regimes—in classical molecular dynamics simulations with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and in BOMD simulations with the Onetep linear-scaling density functional theory (LS-DFT) approach. Furthermore, both integration schemes are found to offer significant improvements over the standard (unpropagated) molecular dynamics formulation in both the classical and LS-DFT regimes.« less

Performance of extended Lagrangian schemes for molecular dynamics simulations with classical polarizable force fields and density functional theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vitale, Valerio; Dziedzic, Jacek; Albaugh, Alex

Iterative energy minimization with the aim of achieving self-consistency is a common feature of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and classical molecular dynamics with polarizable force fields. In the former, the electronic degrees of freedom are optimized, while the latter often involves an iterative determination of induced point dipoles. The computational effort of the self-consistency procedure can be reduced by re-using converged solutions from previous time steps. However, this must be done carefully, as not to break time-reversal symmetry, which negatively impacts energy conservation. Self-consistent schemes based on the extended Lagrangian formalism, where the initial guesses for the optimized quantities aremore » treated as auxiliary degrees of freedom, constitute one elegant solution. We report on the performance of two integration schemes with the same underlying extended Lagrangian structure, which we both employ in two radically distinct regimes—in classical molecular dynamics simulations with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and in BOMD simulations with the Onetep linear-scaling density functional theory (LS-DFT) approach. Furthermore, both integration schemes are found to offer significant improvements over the standard (unpropagated) molecular dynamics formulation in both the classical and LS-DFT regimes.« less

Construction of robust dynamic genome-scale metabolic model structures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae through iterative re-parameterization.

PubMed

Sánchez, Benjamín J; Pérez-Correa, José R; Agosin, Eduardo

2014-09-01

Dynamic flux balance analysis (dFBA) has been widely employed in metabolic engineering to predict the effect of genetic modifications and environmental conditions in the cell׳s metabolism during dynamic cultures. However, the importance of the model parameters used in these methodologies has not been properly addressed. Here, we present a novel and simple procedure to identify dFBA parameters that are relevant for model calibration. The procedure uses metaheuristic optimization and pre/post-regression diagnostics, fixing iteratively the model parameters that do not have a significant role. We evaluated this protocol in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae dFBA framework calibrated for aerobic fed-batch and anaerobic batch cultivations. The model structures achieved have only significant, sensitive and uncorrelated parameters and are able to calibrate different experimental data. We show that consumption, suboptimal growth and production rates are more useful for calibrating dynamic S. cerevisiae metabolic models than Boolean gene expression rules, biomass requirements and ATP maintenance. Copyright © 2014 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global Optimal Trajectory in Chaos and NP-Hardness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latorre, Vittorio; Gao, David Yang

This paper presents an unconventional theory and method for solving general nonlinear dynamical systems. Instead of the direct iterative methods, the discretized nonlinear system is first formulated as a global optimization problem via the least squares method. A newly developed canonical duality theory shows that this nonconvex minimization problem can be solved deterministically in polynomial time if a global optimality condition is satisfied. The so-called pseudo-chaos produced by linear iterative methods are mainly due to the intrinsic numerical error accumulations. Otherwise, the global optimization problem could be NP-hard and the nonlinear system can be really chaotic. A conjecture is proposed, which reveals the connection between chaos in nonlinear dynamics and NP-hardness in computer science. The methodology and the conjecture are verified by applications to the well-known logistic equation, a forced memristive circuit and the Lorenz system. Computational results show that the canonical duality theory can be used to identify chaotic systems and to obtain realistic global optimal solutions in nonlinear dynamical systems. The method and results presented in this paper should bring some new insights into nonlinear dynamical systems and NP-hardness in computational complexity theory.

Pressure-based high-order TVD methodology for dynamic stall control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, H. Q.; Przekwas, A. J.

1992-01-01

The quantitative prediction of the dynamics of separating unsteady flows, such as dynamic stall, is of crucial importance. This six-month SBIR Phase 1 study has developed several new pressure-based methodologies for solving 3D Navier-Stokes equations in both stationary and moving (body-comforting) coordinates. The present pressure-based algorithm is equally efficient for low speed incompressible flows and high speed compressible flows. The discretization of convective terms by the presently developed high-order TVD schemes requires no artificial dissipation and can properly resolve the concentrated vortices in the wing-body with minimum numerical diffusion. It is demonstrated that the proposed Newton's iteration technique not only increases the convergence rate but also strongly couples the iteration between pressure and velocities. The proposed hyperbolization of the pressure correction equation is shown to increase the solver's efficiency. The above proposed methodologies were implemented in an existing CFD code, REFLEQS. The modified code was used to simulate both static and dynamic stalls on two- and three-dimensional wing-body configurations. Three-dimensional effect and flow physics are discussed.

Two-Level Chebyshev Filter Based Complementary Subspace Method: Pushing the Envelope of Large-Scale Electronic Structure Calculations.

PubMed

Banerjee, Amartya S; Lin, Lin; Suryanarayana, Phanish; Yang, Chao; Pask, John E

2018-06-12

We describe a novel iterative strategy for Kohn-Sham density functional theory calculations aimed at large systems (>1,000 electrons), applicable to metals and insulators alike. In lieu of explicit diagonalization of the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian on every self-consistent field (SCF) iteration, we employ a two-level Chebyshev polynomial filter based complementary subspace strategy to (1) compute a set of vectors that span the occupied subspace of the Hamiltonian; (2) reduce subspace diagonalization to just partially occupied states; and (3) obtain those states in an efficient, scalable manner via an inner Chebyshev filter iteration. By reducing the necessary computation to just partially occupied states and obtaining these through an inner Chebyshev iteration, our approach reduces the cost of large metallic calculations significantly, while eliminating subspace diagonalization for insulating systems altogether. We describe the implementation of the method within the framework of the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) electronic structure method and show that this results in a computational scheme that can effectively tackle bulk and nano systems containing tens of thousands of electrons, with chemical accuracy, within a few minutes or less of wall clock time per SCF iteration on large-scale computing platforms. We anticipate that our method will be instrumental in pushing the envelope of large-scale ab initio molecular dynamics. As a demonstration of this, we simulate a bulk silicon system containing 8,000 atoms at finite temperature, and obtain an average SCF step wall time of 51 s on 34,560 processors; thus allowing us to carry out 1.0 ps of ab initio molecular dynamics in approximately 28 h (of wall time).

Physics and technology in the ion-cyclotron range of frequency on Tore Supra and TITAN test facility: implication for ITER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Litaudon, X; Bernard, J. M.; Colas, L.

2013-01-01

To support the design of an ITER ion-cyclotron range of frequency heating (ICRH) system and to mitigate risks of operation in ITER, CEA has initiated an ambitious Research & Development program accompanied by experiments on Tore Supra or test-bed facility together with a significant modelling effort. The paper summarizes the recent results in the following areas: Comprehensive characterization (experiments and modelling) of a new Faraday screen concept tested on the Tore Supra antenna. A new model is developed for calculating the ICRH sheath rectification at the antenna vicinity. The model is applied to calculate the local heat flux on Toremore » Supra and ITER ICRH antennas. Full-wave modelling of ITER ICRH heating and current drive scenarios with the EVE code. With 20 MW of power, a current of 400 kA could be driven on axis in the DT scenario. Comparison between DT and DT(3He) scenario is given for heating and current drive efficiencies. First operation of CW test-bed facility, TITAN, designed for ITER ICRH components testing and could host up to a quarter of an ITER antenna. R&D of high permittivity materials to improve load of test facilities to better simulate ITER plasma antenna loading conditions.« less

Computer program determines chemical equilibria in complex systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, S.; Zeleznik, F. J.

1966-01-01

Computer program numerically solves nonlinear algebraic equations for chemical equilibrium based on iteration equations independent of choice of components. This program calculates theoretical performance for frozen and equilibrium composition during expansion and Chapman-Jouguet flame properties, studies combustion, and designs hardware.

4D PET iterative deconvolution with spatiotemporal regularization for quantitative dynamic PET imaging.

PubMed

Reilhac, Anthonin; Charil, Arnaud; Wimberley, Catriona; Angelis, Georgios; Hamze, Hasar; Callaghan, Paul; Garcia, Marie-Paule; Boisson, Frederic; Ryder, Will; Meikle, Steven R; Gregoire, Marie-Claude

2015-09-01

Quantitative measurements in dynamic PET imaging are usually limited by the poor counting statistics particularly in short dynamic frames and by the low spatial resolution of the detection system, resulting in partial volume effects (PVEs). In this work, we present a fast and easy to implement method for the restoration of dynamic PET images that have suffered from both PVE and noise degradation. It is based on a weighted least squares iterative deconvolution approach of the dynamic PET image with spatial and temporal regularization. Using simulated dynamic [(11)C] Raclopride PET data with controlled biological variations in the striata between scans, we showed that the restoration method provides images which exhibit less noise and better contrast between emitting structures than the original images. In addition, the method is able to recover the true time activity curve in the striata region with an error below 3% while it was underestimated by more than 20% without correction. As a result, the method improves the accuracy and reduces the variability of the kinetic parameter estimates calculated from the corrected images. More importantly it increases the accuracy (from less than 66% to more than 95%) of measured biological variations as well as their statistical detectivity. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unsteady flow model for circulation-control airfoils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rao, B. M.

1979-01-01

An analysis and a numerical lifting surface method are developed for predicting the unsteady airloads on two-dimensional circulation control airfoils in incompressible flow. The analysis and the computer program are validated by correlating the computed unsteady airloads with test data and also with other theoretical solutions. Additionally, a mathematical model for predicting the bending-torsion flutter of a two-dimensional airfoil (a reference section of a wing or rotor blade) and a computer program using an iterative scheme are developed. The flutter program has a provision for using the CC airfoil airloads program or the Theodorsen hard flap solution to compute the unsteady lift and moment used in the flutter equations. The adopted mathematical model and the iterative scheme are used to perform a flutter analysis of a typical CC rotor blade reference section. The program seems to work well within the basic assumption of the incompressible flow.

Field tests of a participatory ergonomics toolkit for Total Worker Health

PubMed Central

Kernan, Laura; Plaku-Alakbarova, Bora; Robertson, Michelle; Warren, Nicholas; Henning, Robert

2018-01-01

Growing interest in Total Worker Health® (TWH) programs to advance worker safety, health and well-being motivated development of a toolkit to guide their implementation. Iterative design of a program toolkit occurred in which participatory ergonomics (PE) served as the primary basis to plan integrated TWH interventions in four diverse organizations. The toolkit provided start-up guides for committee formation and training, and a structured PE process for generating integrated TWH interventions. Process data from program facilitators and participants throughout program implementation were used for iterative toolkit design. Program success depended on organizational commitment to regular design team meetings with a trained facilitator, the availability of subject matter experts on ergonomics and health to support the design process, and retraining whenever committee turnover occurred. A two committee structure (employee Design Team, management Steering Committee) provided advantages over a single, multilevel committee structure, and enhanced the planning, communication, and team-work skills of participants. PMID:28166897

WIND: Computer program for calculation of three dimensional potential compressible flow about wind turbine rotor blades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dulikravich, D. S.

1980-01-01

A computer program is presented which numerically solves an exact, full potential equation (FPE) for three dimensional, steady, inviscid flow through an isolated wind turbine rotor. The program automatically generates a three dimensional, boundary conforming grid and iteratively solves the FPE while fully accounting for both the rotating cascade and Coriolis effects. The numerical techniques incorporated involve rotated, type dependent finite differencing, a finite volume method, artificial viscosity in conservative form, and a successive line overrelaxation combined with the sequential grid refinement procedure to accelerate the iterative convergence rate. Consequently, the WIND program is capable of accurately analyzing incompressible and compressible flows, including those that are locally transonic and terminated by weak shocks. The program can also be used to analyze the flow around isolated aircraft propellers and helicopter rotors in hover as long as the total relative Mach number of the oncoming flow is subsonic.

Dynamic systems and the role of evaluation: The case of the Green Communities project.

PubMed

Anzoise, Valentina; Sardo, Stefania

2016-02-01

The crucial role evaluation can play in the co-development of project design and its implementation will be addressed through the analysis of a case study, the Green Communities (GC) project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment within the EU Interregional Operational Program (2007-2013) "Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency". The project's broader goals included an attempt to trigger a change in Italian local development strategies, especially for mountain and inland areas, which would be tailored to the real needs of communities, and based on a sustainable exploitation and management of the territorial assets. The goal was not achieved, and this paper addresses the issues of how GC could have been more effective in fostering a vision of change, and which design adaptations and evaluation procedures would have allowed the project to better cope with the unexpected consequences and resistances it encountered. The conclusions drawn are that projects should be conceived, designed and carried out as dynamic systems, inclusive of a dynamic and engaged evaluation enabling the generation of feedbacks loops, iteratively interpreting the narratives and dynamics unfolding within the project, and actively monitoring the potential of various relationships among project participants for generating positive social change. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simulation of Fusion Plasmas

ScienceCinema

Holland, Chris [UC San Diego, San Diego, California, United States

2017-12-09

The upcoming ITER experiment (www.iter.org) represents the next major milestone in realizing the promise of using nuclear fusion as a commercial energy source, by moving into the “burning plasma” regime where the dominant heat source is the internal fusion reactions. As part of its support for the ITER mission, the US fusion community is actively developing validated predictive models of the behavior of magnetically confined plasmas. In this talk, I will describe how the plasma community is using the latest high performance computing facilities to develop and refine our models of the nonlinear, multiscale plasma dynamics, and how recent advances in experimental diagnostics are allowing us to directly test and validate these models at an unprecedented level.

Intra-retinal segmentation of optical coherence tomography images using active contours with a dynamic programming initialization and an adaptive weighting strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gholami, Peyman; Roy, Priyanka; Kuppuswamy Parthasarathy, Mohana; Ommani, Abbas; Zelek, John; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2018-02-01

Retinal layer shape and thickness are one of the main indicators in the diagnosis of ocular diseases. We present an active contour approach to localize intra-retinal boundaries of eight retinal layers from OCT images. The initial locations of the active contour curves are determined using a Viterbi dynamic programming method. The main energy function is a Chan-Vese active contour model without edges. A boundary term is added to the energy function using an adaptive weighting method to help curves converge to the retinal layer edges more precisely, after evolving of curves towards boundaries, in final iterations. A wavelet-based denoising method is used to remove speckle from OCT images while preserving important details and edges. The performance of the proposed method was tested on a set of healthy and diseased eye SD-OCT images. The experimental results, compared between the proposed method and the manual segmentation, which was determined by an optometrist, indicate that our method has obtained an average of 95.29%, 92.78%, 95.86%, 87.93%, 82.67%, and 90.25% respectively, for accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, Jaccard Index, and Dice Similarity Coefficient over all segmented layers. These results justify the robustness of the proposed method in determining the location of different retinal layers.

Dissemination, Implementation, and Improvement Science Research in Population Health: Opportunities for Public Health and CTSAs

PubMed Central

Gase, Lauren N.; Inkelas, Moira

2015-01-01

Abstract Importance The complex, dynamic nature of health systems requires dissemination, implementation, and improvement (DII) sciences to effectively translate emerging knowledge into practice. Although they hold great promise for informing multisector policies and system‐level changes, these methods are often not strategically used by public health. Objectives and Methods More than 120 stakeholders from Southern California, including the community, federal and local government, university, and health services were convened to identify key priorities and opportunities for public health departments and Clinical and Translational Science Awards programs (CTSAs) to advance DII sciences in population health. Main Outcomes Participants identified challenges (mismatch of practice realities with narrowly focused research questions; lack of iterative learning) and solutions (using methods that fit the dynamic nature of the real world; aligning theories of change across sectors) for applying DII science research to public health problems. Pragmatic steps that public health and CTSAs can take to facilitate DII science research include: employing appropriate study designs; training scientists and practicing professionals in these methods; securing resources to advance this work; and supporting team science to solve complex‐systems issues. Conclusions Public health and CTSAs represent a unique model of practice for advancing DII research in population health. The partnership can inform policy and program development in local communities. PMID:26243323

Multimodal Logistics Network Design over Planning Horizon through a Hybrid Meta-Heuristic Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Yoshiaki; Yamazaki, Yoshihiro; Wada, Takeshi

Logistics has been acknowledged increasingly as a key issue of supply chain management to improve business efficiency under global competition and diversified customer demands. This study aims at improving a quality of strategic decision making associated with dynamic natures in logistics network optimization. Especially, noticing an importance to concern with a multimodal logistics under multiterms, we have extended a previous approach termed hybrid tabu search (HybTS). The attempt intends to deploy a strategic planning more concretely so that the strategic plan can link to an operational decision making. The idea refers to a smart extension of the HybTS to solve a dynamic mixed integer programming problem. It is a two-level iterative method composed of a sophisticated tabu search for the location problem at the upper level and a graph algorithm for the route selection at the lower level. To keep efficiency while coping with the resulting extremely large-scale problem, we invented a systematic procedure to transform the original linear program at the lower-level into a minimum cost flow problem solvable by the graph algorithm. Through numerical experiments, we verified the proposed method outperformed the commercial software. The results indicate the proposed approach can make the conventional strategic decision much more practical and is promising for real world applications.

Dissemination, Implementation, and Improvement Science Research in Population Health: Opportunities for Public Health and CTSAs.

PubMed

Kuo, Tony; Gase, Lauren N; Inkelas, Moira

2015-12-01

The complex, dynamic nature of health systems requires dissemination, implementation, and improvement (DII) sciences to effectively translate emerging knowledge into practice. Although they hold great promise for informing multisector policies and system-level changes, these methods are often not strategically used by public health. More than 120 stakeholders from Southern California, including the community, federal and local government, university, and health services were convened to identify key priorities and opportunities for public health departments and Clinical and Translational Science Awards programs (CTSAs) to advance DII sciences in population health. Participants identified challenges (mismatch of practice realities with narrowly focused research questions; lack of iterative learning) and solutions (using methods that fit the dynamic nature of the real world; aligning theories of change across sectors) for applying DII science research to public health problems. Pragmatic steps that public health and CTSAs can take to facilitate DII science research include: employing appropriate study designs; training scientists and practicing professionals in these methods; securing resources to advance this work; and supporting team science to solve complex-systems issues. Public health and CTSAs represent a unique model of practice for advancing DII research in population health. The partnership can inform policy and program development in local communities. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Minimizing the Total Service Time of Discrete Dynamic Berth Allocation Problem by an Iterated Greedy Heuristic

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Berth allocation is the forefront operation performed when ships arrive at a port and is a critical task in container port optimization. Minimizing the time ships spend at berths constitutes an important objective of berth allocation problems. This study focuses on the discrete dynamic berth allocation problem (discrete DBAP), which aims to minimize total service time, and proposes an iterated greedy (IG) algorithm to solve it. The proposed IG algorithm is tested on three benchmark problem sets. Experimental results show that the proposed IG algorithm can obtain optimal solutions for all test instances of the first and second problem sets and outperforms the best-known solutions for 35 out of 90 test instances of the third problem set. PMID:25295295

Gas Gun Model and Comparison to Experimental Performance of Pipe Guns Operating with Light Propellant Gases and Large Cryogenic Pellets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reed, J. R.; Carmichael, J. R.; Gebhart, T. E.

Injection of multiple large (~10 to 30 mm diameter) shattered pellets into ITER plasmas is presently part of the scheme planned to mitigate the deleterious effects of disruptions on the vessel components. To help in the design and optimize performance of the pellet injectors for this application, a model referred to as “the gas gun simulator” has been developed and benchmarked against experimental data. The computer code simulator is a Java program that models the gas-dynamics characteristics of a single-stage gas gun. Following a stepwise approach, the code utilizes a variety of input parameters to incrementally simulate and analyze themore » dynamics of the gun as the projectile is launched down the barrel. Using input data, the model can calculate gun performance based on physical characteristics, such as propellant-gas and fast-valve properties, barrel geometry, and pellet mass. Although the model is fundamentally generic, the present version is configured to accommodate cryogenic pellets composed of H2, D2, Ne, Ar, and mixtures of them and light propellant gases (H2, D2, and He). The pellets are solidified in situ in pipe guns that consist of stainless steel tubes and fast-acting valves that provide the propellant gas for pellet acceleration (to speeds ~200 to 700 m/s). The pellet speed is the key parameter in determining the response time of a shattered pellet system to a plasma disruption event. The calculated speeds from the code simulations of experiments were typically in excellent agreement with the measured values. With the gas gun simulator validated for many test shots and over a wide range of physical and operating parameters, it is a valuable tool for optimization of the injector design, including the fast valve design (orifice size and volume) for any operating pressure (~40 bar expected for the ITER application) and barrel length for any pellet size (mass, diameter, and length). Key design parameters and proposed values for the pellet injectors for the ITER disruption mitigation systems are discussed.« less

Gas Gun Model and Comparison to Experimental Performance of Pipe Guns Operating with Light Propellant Gases and Large Cryogenic Pellets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Combs, S. K.; Reed, J. R.; Lyttle, M. S.

2016-01-01

Injection of multiple large (~10 to 30 mm diameter) shattered pellets into ITER plasmas is presently part of the scheme planned to mitigate the deleterious effects of disruptions on the vessel components. To help in the design and optimize performance of the pellet injectors for this application, a model referred to as “the gas gun simulator” has been developed and benchmarked against experimental data. The computer code simulator is a Java program that models the gas-dynamics characteristics of a single-stage gas gun. Following a stepwise approach, the code utilizes a variety of input parameters to incrementally simulate and analyze themore » dynamics of the gun as the projectile is launched down the barrel. Using input data, the model can calculate gun performance based on physical characteristics, such as propellant-gas and fast-valve properties, barrel geometry, and pellet mass. Although the model is fundamentally generic, the present version is configured to accommodate cryogenic pellets composed of H2, D2, Ne, Ar, and mixtures of them and light propellant gases (H2, D2, and He). The pellets are solidified in situ in pipe guns that consist of stainless steel tubes and fast-acting valves that provide the propellant gas for pellet acceleration (to speeds ~200 to 700 m/s). The pellet speed is the key parameter in determining the response time of a shattered pellet system to a plasma disruption event. The calculated speeds from the code simulations of experiments were typically in excellent agreement with the measured values. With the gas gun simulator validated for many test shots and over a wide range of physical and operating parameters, it is a valuable tool for optimization of the injector design, including the fast valve design (orifice size and volume) for any operating pressure (~40 bar expected for the ITER application) and barrel length for any pellet size (mass, diameter, and length). Key design parameters and proposed values for the pellet injectors for the ITER disruption mitigation systems are discussed.« less

Program for the solution of multipoint boundary value problems of quasilinear differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Linear equations are solved by a method of superposition of solutions of a sequence of initial value problems. For nonlinear equations and/or boundary conditions, the solution is iterative and in each iteration a problem like the linear case is solved. A simple Taylor series expansion is used for the linearization of both nonlinear equations and nonlinear boundary conditions. The perturbation method of solution is used in preference to quasilinearization because of programming ease, and smaller storage requirements; and experiments indicate that the desired convergence properties exist although no proof or convergence is given.

Iterative Neighbour-Information Gathering for Ranking Nodes in Complex Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shuang; Wang, Pei; Lü, Jinhu

2017-01-01

Designing node influence ranking algorithms can provide insights into network dynamics, functions and structures. Increasingly evidences reveal that node’s spreading ability largely depends on its neighbours. We introduce an iterative neighbourinformation gathering (Ing) process with three parameters, including a transformation matrix, a priori information and an iteration time. The Ing process iteratively combines priori information from neighbours via the transformation matrix, and iteratively assigns an Ing score to each node to evaluate its influence. The algorithm appropriates for any types of networks, and includes some traditional centralities as special cases, such as degree, semi-local, LeaderRank. The Ing process converges in strongly connected networks with speed relying on the first two largest eigenvalues of the transformation matrix. Interestingly, the eigenvector centrality corresponds to a limit case of the algorithm. By comparing with eight renowned centralities, simulations of susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model on real-world networks reveal that the Ing can offer more exact rankings, even without a priori information. We also observe that an optimal iteration time is always in existence to realize best characterizing of node influence. The proposed algorithms bridge the gaps among some existing measures, and may have potential applications in infectious disease control, designing of optimal information spreading strategies.

An Iterative Needs Assessment/Evaluation Model for a Japanese University English-Language Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Kathleen A.

2009-01-01

The focus of this study is the development and implementation of the Iterative Needs Assessment/Evaluation Model for use as part of an English curriculum reform project at a four-year university in Japan. Three questions were addressed in this study: (a) what model components were necessary for use in a Japanese university setting; (b) what survey…

Changing drug users' risk environments: peer health advocates as multi-level community change agents.

PubMed

Weeks, Margaret R; Convey, Mark; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Li, Jianghong; Radda, Kim; Martinez, Maria; Robles, Eduardo

2009-06-01

Peer delivered, social oriented HIV prevention intervention designs are increasingly popular for addressing broader contexts of health risk beyond a focus on individual factors. Such interventions have the potential to affect multiple social levels of risk and change, including at the individual, network, and community levels, and reflect social ecological principles of interaction across social levels over time. The iterative and feedback dynamic generated by this multi-level effect increases the likelihood for sustained health improvement initiated by those trained to deliver the peer intervention. The Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP), conducted with heroin and cocaine/crack users in Hartford, Connecticut, exemplified this intervention design and illustrated the multi-level effect on drug users' risk and harm reduction at the individual level, the social network level, and the larger community level. Implications of the RAP program for designing effective prevention programs and for analyzing long-term change to reduce HIV transmission among high-risk groups are discussed from this ecological and multi-level intervention perspective.

DyNAMiC Workbench: an integrated development environment for dynamic DNA nanotechnology

PubMed Central

Grun, Casey; Werfel, Justin; Zhang, David Yu; Yin, Peng

2015-01-01

Dynamic DNA nanotechnology provides a promising avenue for implementing sophisticated assembly processes, mechanical behaviours, sensing and computation at the nanoscale. However, design of these systems is complex and error-prone, because the need to control the kinetic pathway of a system greatly increases the number of design constraints and possible failure modes for the system. Previous tools have automated some parts of the design workflow, but an integrated solution is lacking. Here, we present software implementing a three ‘tier’ design process: a high-level visual programming language is used to describe systems, a molecular compiler builds a DNA implementation and nucleotide sequences are generated and optimized. Additionally, our software includes tools for analysing and ‘debugging’ the designs in silico, and for importing/exporting designs to other commonly used software systems. The software we present is built on many existing pieces of software, but is integrated into a single package—accessible using a Web-based interface at http://molecular-systems.net/workbench. We hope that the deep integration between tools and the flexibility of this design process will lead to better experimental results, fewer experimental design iterations and the development of more complex DNA nanosystems. PMID:26423437

Adaptive nearly optimal control for a class of continuous-time nonaffine nonlinear systems with inequality constraints.

PubMed

Fan, Quan-Yong; Yang, Guang-Hong

2017-01-01

The state inequality constraints have been hardly considered in the literature on solving the nonlinear optimal control problem based the adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) method. In this paper, an actor-critic (AC) algorithm is developed to solve the optimal control problem with a discounted cost function for a class of state-constrained nonaffine nonlinear systems. To overcome the difficulties resulting from the inequality constraints and the nonaffine nonlinearities of the controlled systems, a novel transformation technique with redesigned slack functions and a pre-compensator method are introduced to convert the constrained optimal control problem into an unconstrained one for affine nonlinear systems. Then, based on the policy iteration (PI) algorithm, an online AC scheme is proposed to learn the nearly optimal control policy for the obtained affine nonlinear dynamics. Using the information of the nonlinear model, novel adaptive update laws are designed to guarantee the convergence of the neural network (NN) weights and the stability of the affine nonlinear dynamics without the requirement for the probing signal. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by simulation studies. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

U. S. fusion programs: Struggling to stay in the game

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crawford, M.

Funding for the US fusion energy program has suffered and will probably continue to suffer major cuts. A committee hand-picked by Energy Secretary James Watkins urged the Department of Energy to mount an aggressive program to develop fusion power, but congress cut funding from $323 million in 1990 to $275 million in 1991. This portends dire conditions for fusion research and development. Projects to receive top priority are concerned with the tokamaks and to keep the next big machine, the Burning Plasma Experiment, scheduled for beginning of construction in 1993 on schedule. Secretary Watkins is said to want to keepmore » the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor (ITER) on schedule. ITER would follow the Burning Plasma Experiment.« less

Three-dimensional kinetic and fluid dynamic modeling and three iterative algorithms for side-pumped alkali vapor lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Binglin; Xu, Xingqi; Xia, Chunsheng; Pan, Bailiang

2017-11-01

Combining the kinetic and fluid dynamic processes in static and flowing-gas diode-pumped alkali vapor lasers, a comprehensive physical model with three cyclically iterative algorithms for simulating the three-dimensional pump and laser intensities as well as temperature distribution in the vapor cell of side-pumped alkali vapor lasers is established. Comparison with measurement of a static side-pumped cesium vapor laser with a diffuse type hollow cylinder cavity, and with classical and modified models is made. Influences of flowed velocity and pump power on laser power are calculated and analyzed. The results have demonstrated that for high-power side-pumped alkali vapor lasers, it is necessary to take into account the three-dimensional distributions of pump energy, laser energy and temperature in the cell to simultaneously obtain the thermal features and output characteristics. Therefore, the model can deepen the understanding of the complete kinetic and fluid dynamic mechanisms of a side-pumped alkali vapor laser, and help with its further experimental design.

Iterants, Fermions and Majorana Operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauffman, Louis H.

Beginning with an elementary, oscillatory discrete dynamical system associated with the square root of minus one, we study both the foundations of mathematics and physics. Position and momentum do not commute in our discrete physics. Their commutator is related to the diffusion constant for a Brownian process and to the Heisenberg commutator in quantum mechanics. We take John Wheeler's idea of It from Bit as an essential clue and we rework the structure of that bit to a logical particle that is its own anti-particle, a logical Marjorana particle. This is our key example of the amphibian nature of mathematics and the external world. We show how the dynamical system for the square root of minus one is essentially the dynamics of a distinction whose self-reference leads to both the fusion algebra and the operator algebra for the Majorana Fermion. In the course of this, we develop an iterant algebra that supports all of matrix algebra and we end the essay with a discussion of the Dirac equation based on these principles.

Indian Test Facility (INTF) and its updates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandyopadhyay, M.; Chakraborty, A.; Rotti, C.; Joshi, J.; Patel, H.; Yadav, A.; Shah, S.; Tyagi, H.; Parmar, D.; Sudhir, Dass; Gahlaut, A.; Bansal, G.; Soni, J.; Pandya, K.; Pandey, R.; Yadav, R.; Nagaraju, M. V.; Mahesh, V.; Pillai, S.; Sharma, D.; Singh, D.; Bhuyan, M.; Mistry, H.; Parmar, K.; Patel, M.; Patel, K.; Prajapati, B.; Shishangiya, H.; Vishnudev, M.; Bhagora, J.

2017-04-01

To characterize ITER Diagnostic Neutral Beam (DNB) system with full specification and to support IPR’s negative ion beam based neutral beam injector (NBI) system development program, a R&D facility, named INTF is under commissioning phase. Implementation of a successful DNB at ITER requires several challenges need to be overcome. These issues are related to the negative ion production, its neutralization and corresponding neutral beam transport over the path lengths of ∼ 20.67 m to reach ITER plasma. DNB is a procurement package for INDIA, as an in-kind contribution to ITER. Since ITER is considered as a nuclear facility, minimum diagnostic systems, linked with safe operation of the machine are planned to be incorporated in it and so there is difficulty to characterize DNB after onsite commissioning. Therefore, the delivery of DNB to ITER will be benefited if DNB is operated and characterized prior to onsite commissioning. INTF has been envisaged to be operational with the large size ion source activities in the similar timeline, as with the SPIDER (RFX, Padova) facility. This paper describes some of the development updates of the facility.

Characterization of the ITER CS conductor and projection to the ITER CS performance

DOE PAGES

Martovetsky, N.; Isono, T.; Bessette, D.; ...

2017-06-20

The ITER Central Solenoid (CS) is one of the critical elements of the machine. The CS conductor went through an intense optimization and qualification program, which included characterization of the strands, a conductor straight short sample testing in the SULTAN facility at the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), Villigen, Switzerland, and a single-layer CS Insert coil recently tested in the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) facility in QST-Naka, Japan. In this paper, we obtained valuable data in a wide range of the parameters (current, magnetic field, temperature, and strain), which allowed a credible characterization of the CS conductor in different conditions.more » Finally, using this characterization, we will make a projection to the performance of the CS in the ITER reference scenario.« less

Characterization of the ITER CS conductor and projection to the ITER CS performance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martovetsky, N.; Isono, T.; Bessette, D.

The ITER Central Solenoid (CS) is one of the critical elements of the machine. The CS conductor went through an intense optimization and qualification program, which included characterization of the strands, a conductor straight short sample testing in the SULTAN facility at the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), Villigen, Switzerland, and a single-layer CS Insert coil recently tested in the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) facility in QST-Naka, Japan. In this paper, we obtained valuable data in a wide range of the parameters (current, magnetic field, temperature, and strain), which allowed a credible characterization of the CS conductor in different conditions.more » Finally, using this characterization, we will make a projection to the performance of the CS in the ITER reference scenario.« less

Mission of ITER and Challenges for the Young

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikeda, Kaname

2009-02-01

It is recognized that the ongoing effort to provide sufficient energy for the wellbeing of the globe's population and to power the world economy is of the greatest importance. ITER is a joint international research and development project that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. It represents the responsible actions of governments whose countries comprise over half the world's population, to create fusion power as a source of clean, economic, carbon dioxide-free energy. This is the most important science initiative of our time. The partners in the Project—the ITER Parties—are the European Union, Japan, the People's Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA. ITER will be constructed in Europe, at Cadarache in the South of France. The talk will illustrate the genesis of the ITER Organization, the ongoing work at the Cadarache site and the planned schedule for construction. There will also be an explanation of the unique aspects of international collaboration that have been developed for ITER. Although the present focus of the project is construction activities, ITER is also a major scientific and technological research program, for which the best of the world's intellectual resources is needed. Challenges for the young, imperative for fulfillment of the objective of ITER will be identified. It is important that young students and researchers worldwide recognize the rapid development of the project, and the fundamental issues that must be overcome in ITER. The talk will also cover the exciting career and fellowship opportunities for young people at the ITER Organization.

Mission of ITER and Challenges for the Young

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ikeda, Kaname

2009-02-19

It is recognized that the ongoing effort to provide sufficient energy for the wellbeing of the globe's population and to power the world economy is of the greatest importance. ITER is a joint international research and development project that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. It represents the responsible actions of governments whose countries comprise over half the world's population, to create fusion power as a source of clean, economic, carbon dioxide-free energy. This is the most important science initiative of our time.The partners in the Project--the ITER Parties--are the European Union, Japan, the People'smore » Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA. ITER will be constructed in Europe, at Cadarache in the South of France. The talk will illustrate the genesis of the ITER Organization, the ongoing work at the Cadarache site and the planned schedule for construction. There will also be an explanation of the unique aspects of international collaboration that have been developed for ITER.Although the present focus of the project is construction activities, ITER is also a major scientific and technological research program, for which the best of the world's intellectual resources is needed. Challenges for the young, imperative for fulfillment of the objective of ITER will be identified. It is important that young students and researchers worldwide recognize the rapid development of the project, and the fundamental issues that must be overcome in ITER.The talk will also cover the exciting career and fellowship opportunities for young people at the ITER Organization.« less

Fault Accommodation in Control of Flexible Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maghami, Peiman G.; Sparks, Dean W., Jr.; Lim, Kyong B.

1998-01-01

New synthesis techniques for the design of fault accommodating controllers for flexible systems are developed. Three robust control design strategies, static dissipative, dynamic dissipative and mu-synthesis, are used in the approach. The approach provides techniques for designing controllers that maximize, in some sense, the tolerance of the closed-loop system against faults in actuators and sensors, while guaranteeing performance robustness at a specified performance level, measured in terms of the proximity of the closed-loop poles to the imaginary axis (the degree of stability). For dissipative control designs, nonlinear programming is employed to synthesize the controllers, whereas in mu-synthesis, the traditional D-K iteration is used. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed techniques, they are applied to the control design of a structural model of a flexible laboratory test structure.

LOW-ENGINE-FRICTION TECHNOLOGY FOR ADVANCED NATURAL-GAS RECIPROCATING ENGINES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Victor W. Wong; Tian Tian; Grant Smedley

2003-08-28

This program aims at improving the efficiency of advanced natural-gas reciprocating engines (ANGRE) by reducing piston/ring assembly friction without major adverse effects on engine performance, such as increased oil consumption and emissions. A detailed set of piston/ring dynamic and friction models have been developed and applied that illustrated the fundamental relationships between design parameters and friction losses. Various low-friction strategies and concepts have been explored, and engine experiments will validate these concepts. An iterative process of experimentation, simulation and analysis, will be followed with the goal of demonstrating a complete optimized low-friction engine system. As planned, MIT has developed guidelinesmore » for an initial set of low-friction piston-ring-pack designs. Current recommendations focus on subtle top-piston-ring and oil-control-ring characteristics. A full-scale Waukesha F18 engine has been installed at Colorado State University and testing of the baseline configuration is in progress. Components for the first design iteration are being procured. Subsequent work includes examining the friction and engine performance data and extending the analyses to other areas to evaluate opportunities for further friction improvement and the impact on oil consumption/emission and wear, towards demonstrating an optimized reduced-friction engine system.« less

Stochastic optimal operation of reservoirs based on copula functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Xiao-hui; Tan, Qiao-feng; Wang, Xu; Wang, Hao; Wen, Xin; Wang, Chao; Zhang, Jing-wen

2018-02-01

Stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) has been widely used to derive operating policies for reservoirs considering streamflow uncertainties. In SDP, there is a need to calculate the transition probability matrix more accurately and efficiently in order to improve the economic benefit of reservoir operation. In this study, we proposed a stochastic optimization model for hydropower generation reservoirs, in which 1) the transition probability matrix was calculated based on copula functions; and 2) the value function of the last period was calculated by stepwise iteration. Firstly, the marginal distribution of stochastic inflow in each period was built and the joint distributions of adjacent periods were obtained using the three members of the Archimedean copulas, based on which the conditional probability formula was derived. Then, the value in the last period was calculated by a simple recursive equation with the proposed stepwise iteration method and the value function was fitted with a linear regression model. These improvements were incorporated into the classic SDP and applied to the case study in Ertan reservoir, China. The results show that the transition probability matrix can be more easily and accurately obtained by the proposed copula function based method than conventional methods based on the observed or synthetic streamflow series, and the reservoir operation benefit can also be increased.

Mediating the Message: The Team Approach to Developing Interdisciplinary Science Exhibitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stauffer, B. W.; Starrs, S. K.

2005-05-01

Museum exhibition developers can take advantage of a wide range of methods and media for delivering scientific information to a general audience. But, determining what information to convey and which medium is the best means of conveying it can be an arduous process. How do you design an exhibition so a visiting fifth grade school group learns basic scientific concepts while an amateur naturalist finds enough rich content to warrant coming back in a few months? How much or how little media should be included? What forms of media are most appropriate? Answering these questions requires intensive and iterative collaboration and compromise among a team of educators, scientists and designers. The National Museum of Natural History's Forces of Change Program uses a unique team approach that includes scientific, exhibit design, and education experts to create interdisciplinary science exhibitions. Exhibit topics have explored the dynamics of a grasslands ecosystem, global impacts of El Nino, climate change in the Arctic, the functions of the atmosphere, and soil composition. Exhibition-related products include publications, scavenger hunts, interactive computer kiosks, educational CD-ROMs, animated cartoons, web sites, and school group activities. Team members will describe the team process and the iterative discussions involved in developing these products so they are as scientifically sound and engaging as possible.

A new method for computation of eigenvector derivatives with distinct and repeated eigenvalues in structural dynamic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhengguang; Lai, Siu-Kai; Wu, Baisheng

2018-07-01

Determining eigenvector derivatives is a challenging task due to the singularity of the coefficient matrices of the governing equations, especially for those structural dynamic systems with repeated eigenvalues. An effective strategy is proposed to construct a non-singular coefficient matrix, which can be directly used to obtain the eigenvector derivatives with distinct and repeated eigenvalues. This approach also has an advantage that only requires eigenvalues and eigenvectors of interest, without solving the particular solutions of eigenvector derivatives. The Symmetric Quasi-Minimal Residual (SQMR) method is then adopted to solve the governing equations, only the existing factored (shifted) stiffness matrix from an iterative eigensolution such as the subspace iteration method or the Lanczos algorithm is utilized. The present method can deal with both cases of simple and repeated eigenvalues in a unified manner. Three numerical examples are given to illustrate the accuracy and validity of the proposed algorithm. Highly accurate approximations to the eigenvector derivatives are obtained within a few iteration steps, making a significant reduction of the computational effort. This method can be incorporated into a coupled eigensolver/derivative software module. In particular, it is applicable for finite element models with large sparse matrices.

Dynamic re-weighted total variation technique and statistic Iterative reconstruction method for x-ray CT metal artifact reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Chengtao; Qiu, Bensheng; Zhang, Cheng; Ma, Changyu; Yuan, Gang; Li, Ming

2017-07-01

Over the years, the X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been successfully used in clinical diagnosis. However, when the body of the patient to be examined contains metal objects, the image reconstructed would be polluted by severe metal artifacts, which affect the doctor's diagnosis of disease. In this work, we proposed a dynamic re-weighted total variation (DRWTV) technique combined with the statistic iterative reconstruction (SIR) method to reduce the artifacts. The DRWTV method is based on the total variation (TV) and re-weighted total variation (RWTV) techniques, but it provides a sparser representation than TV and protects the tissue details better than RWTV. Besides, the DRWTV can suppress the artifacts and noise, and the SIR convergence speed is also accelerated. The performance of the algorithm is tested on both simulated phantom dataset and clinical dataset, which are the teeth phantom with two metal implants and the skull with three metal implants, respectively. The proposed algorithm (SIR-DRWTV) is compared with two traditional iterative algorithms, which are SIR and SIR constrained by RWTV regulation (SIR-RWTV). The results show that the proposed algorithm has the best performance in reducing metal artifacts and protecting tissue details.

FLEXWAL: A computer program for predicting the wall modifications for two-dimensional, solid, adaptive-wall tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Everhart, J. L.

1983-01-01

A program called FLEXWAL for calculating wall modifications for solid, adaptive-wall wind tunnels is presented. The method used is the iterative technique of NASA TP-2081 and is applicable to subsonic and transonic test conditions. The program usage, program listing, and a sample case are given.

Fusion energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1990-09-01

The main purpose of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is to develop an experimental fusion reactor through the united efforts of many technologically advanced countries. The ITER terms of reference, issued jointly by the European Community, Japan, the USSR, and the United States, call for an integrated international design activity and constitute the basis of current activities. Joint work on ITER is carried out under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to the terms of quadripartite agreement reached between the European Community, Japan, the USSR, and the United States. The site for joint technical work sessions is at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics. Garching, Federal Republic of Germany. The ITER activities have two phases: a definition phase performed in 1988 and the present design phase (1989 to 1990). During the definition phase, a set of ITER technical characteristics and supporting research and development (R and D) activities were developed and reported. The present conceptual design phase of ITER lasts until the end of 1990. The objectives of this phase are to develop the design of ITER, perform a safety and environmental analysis, develop site requirements, define future R and D needs, and estimate cost, manpower, and schedule for construction and operation. A final report will be submitted at the end of 1990. This paper summarizes progress in the ITER program during the 1989 design phase.

A Mathematica program for the approximate analytical solution to a nonlinear undamped Duffing equation by a new approximate approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Dongmei; Wang, Zhongcheng

2006-03-01

According to Mickens [R.E. Mickens, Comments on a Generalized Galerkin's method for non-linear oscillators, J. Sound Vib. 118 (1987) 563], the general HB (harmonic balance) method is an approximation to the convergent Fourier series representation of the periodic solution of a nonlinear oscillator and not an approximation to an expansion in terms of a small parameter. Consequently, for a nonlinear undamped Duffing equation with a driving force Bcos(ωx), to find a periodic solution when the fundamental frequency is identical to ω, the corresponding Fourier series can be written as y˜(x)=∑n=1m acos[(2n-1)ωx]. How to calculate the coefficients of the Fourier series efficiently with a computer program is still an open problem. For HB method, by substituting approximation y˜(x) into force equation, expanding the resulting expression into a trigonometric series, then letting the coefficients of the resulting lowest-order harmonic be zero, one can obtain approximate coefficients of approximation y˜(x) [R.E. Mickens, Comments on a Generalized Galerkin's method for non-linear oscillators, J. Sound Vib. 118 (1987) 563]. But for nonlinear differential equations such as Duffing equation, it is very difficult to construct higher-order analytical approximations, because the HB method requires solving a set of algebraic equations for a large number of unknowns with very complex nonlinearities. To overcome the difficulty, forty years ago, Urabe derived a computational method for Duffing equation based on Galerkin procedure [M. Urabe, A. Reiter, Numerical computation of nonlinear forced oscillations by Galerkin's procedure, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 14 (1966) 107-140]. Dooren obtained an approximate solution of the Duffing oscillator with a special set of parameters by using Urabe's method [R. van Dooren, Stabilization of Cowell's classic finite difference method for numerical integration, J. Comput. Phys. 16 (1974) 186-192]. In this paper, in the frame of the general HB method, we present a new iteration algorithm to calculate the coefficients of the Fourier series. By using this new method, the iteration procedure starts with a(x)cos(ωx)+b(x)sin(ωx), and the accuracy may be improved gradually by determining new coefficients a,a,… will be produced automatically in an one-by-one manner. In all the stage of calculation, we need only to solve a cubic equation. Using this new algorithm, we develop a Mathematica program, which demonstrates following main advantages over the previous HB method: (1) it avoids solving a set of associate nonlinear equations; (2) it is easier to be implemented into a computer program, and produces a highly accurate solution with analytical expression efficiently. It is interesting to find that, generally, for a given set of parameters, a nonlinear Duffing equation can have three independent oscillation modes. For some sets of the parameters, it can have two modes with complex displacement and one with real displacement. But in some cases, it can have three modes, all of them having real displacement. Therefore, we can divide the parameters into two classes, according to the solution property: there is only one mode with real displacement and there are three modes with real displacement. This program should be useful to study the dynamically periodic behavior of a Duffing oscillator and can provide an approximate analytical solution with high-accuracy for testing the error behavior of newly developed numerical methods with a wide range of parameters. Program summaryTitle of program:AnalyDuffing.nb Catalogue identifier:ADWR_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADWR_v1_0 Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions:none Computer for which the program is designed and others on which it has been tested:the program has been designed for a microcomputer and been tested on the microcomputer. Computers:IBM PC Installations:the address(es) of your computer(s) Operating systems under which the program has been tested:Windows XP Programming language used:Software Mathematica 4.2, 5.0 and 5.1 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.:23 663 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.:152 321 Distribution format:tar.gz Memory required to execute with typical data:51 712 Bytes No. of bits in a word: No. of processors used:1 Has the code been vectorized?:no Peripherals used:no Program Library subprograms used:no Nature of physical problem:To find an approximate solution with analytical expressions for the undamped nonlinear Duffing equation with periodic driving force when the fundamental frequency is identical to the driving force. Method of solution:In the frame of the general HB method, by using a new iteration algorithm to calculate the coefficients of the Fourier series, we can obtain an approximate analytical solution with high-accuracy efficiently. Restrictions on the complexity of the problem:For problems, which have a large driving frequency, the convergence may be a little slow, because more iterative times are needed. Typical running time:several seconds Unusual features of the program:For an undamped Duffing equation, it can provide all the solutions or the oscillation modes with real displacement for any interesting parameters, for the required accuracy, efficiently. The program can be used to study the dynamically periodic behavior of a nonlinear oscillator, and can provide a high-accurate approximate analytical solution for developing high-accurate numerical method.

Iterative reconstruction for CT perfusion with a prior-image induced hybrid nonlocal means regularization: Phantom studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Bin; Lyu, Qingwen; Ma, Jianhua

2016-04-15

Purpose: In computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging, an initial phase CT acquired with a high-dose protocol can be used to improve the image quality of later phase CT acquired with a low-dose protocol. For dynamic regions, signals in the later low-dose CT may not be completely recovered if the initial CT heavily regularizes the iterative reconstruction process. The authors propose a hybrid nonlocal means (hNLM) regularization model for iterative reconstruction of low-dose CTP to overcome the limitation of the conventional prior-image induced penalty. Methods: The hybrid penalty was constructed by combining the NLM of the initial phase high-dose CT inmore » the stationary region and later phase low-dose CT in the dynamic region. The stationary and dynamic regions were determined by the similarity between the initial high-dose scan and later low-dose scan. The similarity was defined as a Gaussian kernel-based distance between the patch-window of the same pixel in the two scans, and its measurement was then used to weigh the influence of the initial high-dose CT. For regions with high similarity (e.g., stationary region), initial high-dose CT played a dominant role for regularizing the solution. For regions with low similarity (e.g., dynamic region), the regularization relied on a low-dose scan itself. This new hNLM penalty was incorporated into the penalized weighted least-squares (PWLS) for CTP reconstruction. Digital and physical phantom studies were performed to evaluate the PWLS-hNLM algorithm. Results: Both phantom studies showed that the PWLS-hNLM algorithm is superior to the conventional prior-image induced penalty term without considering the signal changes within the dynamic region. In the dynamic region of the Catphan phantom, the reconstruction error measured by root mean square error was reduced by 42.9% in PWLS-hNLM reconstructed image. Conclusions: The PWLS-hNLM algorithm can effectively use the initial high-dose CT to reconstruct low-dose CTP in the stationary region while reducing its influence in the dynamic region.« less

Multi-limit unsymmetrical MLIBD image restoration algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yang; Cheng, Yiping; Chen, Zai-wang; Bo, Chen

2012-11-01

A novel multi-limit unsymmetrical iterative blind deconvolution(MLIBD) algorithm was presented to enhance the performance of adaptive optics image restoration.The algorithm enhances the reliability of iterative blind deconvolution by introducing the bandwidth limit into the frequency domain of point spread(PSF),and adopts the PSF dynamic support region estimation to improve the convergence speed.The unsymmetrical factor is automatically computed to advance its adaptivity.Image deconvolution comparing experiments between Richardson-Lucy IBD and MLIBD were done,and the result indicates that the iteration number is reduced by 22.4% and the peak signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 10.18dB with MLIBD method. The performance of MLIBD algorithm is outstanding in the images restoration the FK5-857 adaptive optics and the double-star adaptive optics.

Nonlinear BCJR equalizer for suppression of intrachannel nonlinearities in 40 Gb/s optical communications systems.

PubMed

Djordjevic, Ivan B; Vasic, Bane

2006-05-29

A maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) symbol decoding supplemented with iterative decoding is proposed as an effective mean for suppression of intrachannel nonlinearities. The MAP detector, based on Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv algorithm, operates on the channel trellis, a dynamical model of intersymbol interference, and provides soft-decision outputs processed further in an iterative decoder. A dramatic performance improvement is demonstrated. The main reason is that the conventional maximum-likelihood sequence detector based on Viterbi algorithm provides hard-decision outputs only, hence preventing the soft iterative decoding. The proposed scheme operates very well in the presence of strong intrachannel intersymbol interference, when other advanced forward error correction schemes fail, and it is also suitable for 40 Gb/s upgrade over existing 10 Gb/s infrastructure.

Structured Programming on the 380-Z.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Graeme

1983-01-01

With the production of SBAS, a combination of language and machine allowing for a disciplined and error-free approach to teaching programming is available. Instructional strategies for use with SBAS and basic concepts (decisions, repetitions/iterations, actions/processes) are discussed. Sample flow charts and program listings are provided. (JN)

A dynamic multiarmed bandit-gene expression programming hyper-heuristic for combinatorial optimization problems.

PubMed

Sabar, Nasser R; Ayob, Masri; Kendall, Graham; Qu, Rong

2015-02-01

Hyper-heuristics are search methodologies that aim to provide high-quality solutions across a wide variety of problem domains, rather than developing tailor-made methodologies for each problem instance/domain. A traditional hyper-heuristic framework has two levels, namely, the high level strategy (heuristic selection mechanism and the acceptance criterion) and low level heuristics (a set of problem specific heuristics). Due to the different landscape structures of different problem instances, the high level strategy plays an important role in the design of a hyper-heuristic framework. In this paper, we propose a new high level strategy for a hyper-heuristic framework. The proposed high-level strategy utilizes a dynamic multiarmed bandit-extreme value-based reward as an online heuristic selection mechanism to select the appropriate heuristic to be applied at each iteration. In addition, we propose a gene expression programming framework to automatically generate the acceptance criterion for each problem instance, instead of using human-designed criteria. Two well-known, and very different, combinatorial optimization problems, one static (exam timetabling) and one dynamic (dynamic vehicle routing) are used to demonstrate the generality of the proposed framework. Compared with state-of-the-art hyper-heuristics and other bespoke methods, empirical results demonstrate that the proposed framework is able to generalize well across both domains. We obtain competitive, if not better results, when compared to the best known results obtained from other methods that have been presented in the scientific literature. We also compare our approach against the recently released hyper-heuristic competition test suite. We again demonstrate the generality of our approach when we compare against other methods that have utilized the same six benchmark datasets from this test suite.

Robust lateral blended-wing-body aircraft feedback control design using a parameterized LFR model and DGK-iteration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schirrer, A.; Westermayer, C.; Hemedi, M.; Kozek, M.

2013-12-01

This paper shows control design results, performance, and limitations of robust lateral control law designs based on the DGK-iteration mixed-μ-synthesis procedure for a large, flexible blended wing body (BWB) passenger aircraft. The aircraft dynamics is preshaped by a low-complexity inner loop control law providing stabilization, basic response shaping, and flexible mode damping. The μ controllers are designed to further improve vibration damping of the main flexible modes by exploiting the structure of the arising significant parameter-dependent plant variations. This is achieved by utilizing parameterized Linear Fractional Representations (LFR) of the aircraft rigid and flexible dynamics. Designs with various levels of LFR complexity are carried out and discussed, showing the achieved performance improvement over the initial controller and their robustness and complexity properties.

A method for the dynamic and thermal stress analysis of space shuttle surface insulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ojalvo, I. U.; Levy, A.; Austin, F.

1975-01-01

The thermal protection system of the space shuttle consists of thousands of separate insulation tiles bonded to the orbiter's surface through a soft strain-isolation layer. The individual tiles are relatively thick and possess nonuniform properties. Therefore, each is idealized by finite-element assemblages containing up to 2500 degrees of freedom. Since the tiles affixed to a given structural panel will, in general, interact with one another, application of the standard direct-stiffness method would require equation systems involving excessive numbers of unknowns. This paper presents a method which overcomes this problem through an efficient iterative procedure which requires treatment of only a single tile at any given time. Results of associated static, dynamic, and thermal stress analyses and sufficient conditions for convergence of the iterative solution method are given.

Scalable Evaluation of Polarization Energy and Associated Forces in Polarizable Molecular Dynamics: II.Towards Massively Parallel Computations using Smooth Particle Mesh Ewald.

PubMed

Lagardère, Louis; Lipparini, Filippo; Polack, Étienne; Stamm, Benjamin; Cancès, Éric; Schnieders, Michael; Ren, Pengyu; Maday, Yvon; Piquemal, Jean-Philip

2014-02-28

In this paper, we present a scalable and efficient implementation of point dipole-based polarizable force fields for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with periodic boundary conditions (PBC). The Smooth Particle-Mesh Ewald technique is combined with two optimal iterative strategies, namely, a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver and a Jacobi solver in conjunction with the Direct Inversion in the Iterative Subspace for convergence acceleration, to solve the polarization equations. We show that both solvers exhibit very good parallel performances and overall very competitive timings in an energy-force computation needed to perform a MD step. Various tests on large systems are provided in the context of the polarizable AMOEBA force field as implemented in the newly developed Tinker-HP package which is the first implementation for a polarizable model making large scale experiments for massively parallel PBC point dipole models possible. We show that using a large number of cores offers a significant acceleration of the overall process involving the iterative methods within the context of spme and a noticeable improvement of the memory management giving access to very large systems (hundreds of thousands of atoms) as the algorithm naturally distributes the data on different cores. Coupled with advanced MD techniques, gains ranging from 2 to 3 orders of magnitude in time are now possible compared to non-optimized, sequential implementations giving new directions for polarizable molecular dynamics in periodic boundary conditions using massively parallel implementations.

Scalable Evaluation of Polarization Energy and Associated Forces in Polarizable Molecular Dynamics: II.Towards Massively Parallel Computations using Smooth Particle Mesh Ewald

PubMed Central

Lagardère, Louis; Lipparini, Filippo; Polack, Étienne; Stamm, Benjamin; Cancès, Éric; Schnieders, Michael; Ren, Pengyu; Maday, Yvon; Piquemal, Jean-Philip

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a scalable and efficient implementation of point dipole-based polarizable force fields for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with periodic boundary conditions (PBC). The Smooth Particle-Mesh Ewald technique is combined with two optimal iterative strategies, namely, a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver and a Jacobi solver in conjunction with the Direct Inversion in the Iterative Subspace for convergence acceleration, to solve the polarization equations. We show that both solvers exhibit very good parallel performances and overall very competitive timings in an energy-force computation needed to perform a MD step. Various tests on large systems are provided in the context of the polarizable AMOEBA force field as implemented in the newly developed Tinker-HP package which is the first implementation for a polarizable model making large scale experiments for massively parallel PBC point dipole models possible. We show that using a large number of cores offers a significant acceleration of the overall process involving the iterative methods within the context of spme and a noticeable improvement of the memory management giving access to very large systems (hundreds of thousands of atoms) as the algorithm naturally distributes the data on different cores. Coupled with advanced MD techniques, gains ranging from 2 to 3 orders of magnitude in time are now possible compared to non-optimized, sequential implementations giving new directions for polarizable molecular dynamics in periodic boundary conditions using massively parallel implementations. PMID:26512230

Cardiac-gated parametric images from 82 Rb PET from dynamic frames and direct 4D reconstruction.

PubMed

Germino, Mary; Carson, Richard E

2018-02-01

Cardiac perfusion PET data can be reconstructed as a dynamic sequence and kinetic modeling performed to quantify myocardial blood flow, or reconstructed as static gated images to quantify function. Parametric images from dynamic PET are conventionally not gated, to allow use of all events with lower noise. An alternative method for dynamic PET is to incorporate the kinetic model into the reconstruction algorithm itself, bypassing the generation of a time series of emission images and directly producing parametric images. So-called "direct reconstruction" can produce parametric images with lower noise than the conventional method because the noise distribution is more easily modeled in projection space than in image space. In this work, we develop direct reconstruction of cardiac-gated parametric images for 82 Rb PET with an extension of the Parametric Motion compensation OSEM List mode Algorithm for Resolution-recovery reconstruction for the one tissue model (PMOLAR-1T). PMOLAR-1T was extended to accommodate model terms to account for spillover from the left and right ventricles into the myocardium. The algorithm was evaluated on a 4D simulated 82 Rb dataset, including a perfusion defect, as well as a human 82 Rb list mode acquisition. The simulated list mode was subsampled into replicates, each with counts comparable to one gate of a gated acquisition. Parametric images were produced by the indirect (separate reconstructions and modeling) and direct methods for each of eight low-count and eight normal-count replicates of the simulated data, and each of eight cardiac gates for the human data. For the direct method, two initialization schemes were tested: uniform initialization, and initialization with the filtered iteration 1 result of the indirect method. For the human dataset, event-by-event respiratory motion compensation was included. The indirect and direct methods were compared for the simulated dataset in terms of bias and coefficient of variation as a function of iteration. Convergence of direct reconstruction was slow with uniform initialization; lower bias was achieved in fewer iterations by initializing with the filtered indirect iteration 1 images. For most parameters and regions evaluated, the direct method achieved the same or lower absolute bias at matched iteration as the indirect method, with 23%-65% lower noise. Additionally, the direct method gave better contrast between the perfusion defect and surrounding normal tissue than the indirect method. Gated parametric images from the human dataset had comparable relative performance of indirect and direct, in terms of mean parameter values per iteration. Changes in myocardial wall thickness and blood pool size across gates were readily visible in the gated parametric images, with higher contrast between myocardium and left ventricle blood pool in parametric images than gated SUV images. Direct reconstruction can produce parametric images with less noise than the indirect method, opening the potential utility of gated parametric imaging for perfusion PET. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

A polynomial primal-dual Dikin-type algorithm for linear programming

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jansen, B.; Roos, R.; Terlaky, T.

1994-12-31

We present a new primal-dual affine scaling method for linear programming. The search direction is obtained by using Dikin`s original idea: minimize the objective function (which is the duality gap in a primal-dual algorithm) over a suitable ellipsoid. The search direction has no obvious relationship with the directions proposed in the literature so far. It guarantees a significant decrease in the duality gap in each iteration, and at the same time drives the iterates to the central path. The method admits a polynomial complexity bound that is better than the one for Monteiro et al.`s original primal-dual affine scaling method.

Ontology development for provenance tracing in National Climate Assessment of the US Global Change Research Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Linyun; Ma, Xiaogang; Zheng, Jin; Goldstein, Justin; Duggan, Brian; West, Patrick; Aulenbach, Steve; Tilmes, Curt; Fox, Peter

2014-05-01

This poster will show how we used a case-driven iterative methodology to develop an ontology to represent the content structure and the associated provenance information in a National Climate Assessment (NCA) report of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). We applied the W3C PROV-O ontology to implement a formal representation of provenance. We argue that the use case-driven, iterative development process and the application of a formal provenance ontology help efficiently incorporate domain knowledge from earth and environmental scientists in a well-structured model interoperable in the context of the Web of Data.

FIELD ANALYTICAL SCREENING PROGRAM: PCB METHOD - INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

This innovative technology evaluation report (ITER) presents information on the demonstration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 Superfund Field Analytical Screening Program (FASP) method for determining polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in soil...

Post-game analysis: An initial experiment for heuristic-based resource management in concurrent systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yan, Jerry C.

1987-01-01

In concurrent systems, a major responsibility of the resource management system is to decide how the application program is to be mapped onto the multi-processor. Instead of using abstract program and machine models, a generate-and-test framework known as 'post-game analysis' that is based on data gathered during program execution is proposed. Each iteration consists of (1) (a simulation of) an execution of the program; (2) analysis of the data gathered; and (3) the proposal of a new mapping that would have a smaller execution time. These heuristics are applied to predict execution time changes in response to small perturbations applied to the current mapping. An initial experiment was carried out using simple strategies on 'pipeline-like' applications. The results obtained from four simple strategies demonstrated that for this kind of application, even simple strategies can produce acceptable speed-up with a small number of iterations.

Spectral Analysis for Weighted Iterated Triangulations of Graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yufei; Dai, Meifeng; Wang, Xiaoqian; Sun, Yu; Su, Weiyi

Much information about the structural properties and dynamical aspects of a network is measured by the eigenvalues of its normalized Laplacian matrix. In this paper, we aim to present a first study on the spectra of the normalized Laplacian of weighted iterated triangulations of graphs. We analytically obtain all the eigenvalues, as well as their multiplicities from two successive generations. As an example of application of these results, we then derive closed-form expressions for their multiplicative Kirchhoff index, Kemeny’s constant and number of weighted spanning trees.

Network structures between strategies in iterated prisoners' dilemma games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Young Jin; Roh, Myungkyoon; Son, Seung-Woo

2014-02-01

We use replicator dynamics to study an iterated prisoners' dilemma game with memory. In this study, we investigate the characteristics of all 32 possible strategies with a single-step memory by observing the results when each strategy encounters another one. Based on these results, we define similarity measures between the 32 strategies and perform a network analysis of the relationship between the strategies by constructing a strategies network. Interestingly, we find that a win-lose circulation, like rock-paper-scissors, exists between strategies and that the circulation results from one unusual strategy.

A case study in bifurcation theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khmou, Youssef

This short paper is focused on the bifurcation theory found in map functions called evolution functions that are used in dynamical systems. The most well-known example of discrete iterative function is the logistic map that puts into evidence bifurcation and chaotic behavior of the topology of the logistic function. We propose a new iterative function based on Lorentizan function and its generalized versions, based on numerical study, it is found that the bifurcation of the Lorentzian function is of second-order where it is characterized by the absence of chaotic region.

Efficient stabilization and acceleration of numerical simulation of fluid flows by residual recombination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Citro, V.; Luchini, P.; Giannetti, F.; Auteri, F.

2017-09-01

The study of the stability of a dynamical system described by a set of partial differential equations (PDEs) requires the computation of unstable states as the control parameter exceeds its critical threshold. Unfortunately, the discretization of the governing equations, especially for fluid dynamic applications, often leads to very large discrete systems. As a consequence, matrix based methods, like for example the Newton-Raphson algorithm coupled with a direct inversion of the Jacobian matrix, lead to computational costs too large in terms of both memory and execution time. We present a novel iterative algorithm, inspired by Krylov-subspace methods, which is able to compute unstable steady states and/or accelerate the convergence to stable configurations. Our new algorithm is based on the minimization of the residual norm at each iteration step with a projection basis updated at each iteration rather than at periodic restarts like in the classical GMRES method. The algorithm is able to stabilize any dynamical system without increasing the computational time of the original numerical procedure used to solve the governing equations. Moreover, it can be easily inserted into a pre-existing relaxation (integration) procedure with a call to a single black-box subroutine. The procedure is discussed for problems of different sizes, ranging from a small two-dimensional system to a large three-dimensional problem involving the Navier-Stokes equations. We show that the proposed algorithm is able to improve the convergence of existing iterative schemes. In particular, the procedure is applied to the subcritical flow inside a lid-driven cavity. We also discuss the application of Boostconv to compute the unstable steady flow past a fixed circular cylinder (2D) and boundary-layer flow over a hemispherical roughness element (3D) for supercritical values of the Reynolds number. We show that Boostconv can be used effectively with any spatial discretization, be it a finite-difference, finite-volume, finite-element or spectral method.

ELM mitigation techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, T. E.

2013-07-01

Large edge-localized mode (ELM) control techniques must be developed to help ensure the success of burning and ignited fusion plasma devices such as tokamaks and stellarators. In full performance ITER tokamak discharges, with QDT = 10, the energy released by a single ELM could reach ˜30 MJ which is expected to result in an energy density of 10-15 MJ/m2on the divertor targets. This will exceed the estimated divertor ablation limit by a factor of 20-30. A worldwide research program is underway to develop various types of ELM control techniques in preparation for ITER H-mode plasma operations. An overview of the ELM control techniques currently being developed is discussed along with the requirements for applying these techniques to plasmas in ITER. Particular emphasis is given to the primary approaches, pellet pacing and resonant magnetic perturbation fields, currently being considered for ITER.

MODEL-Based Methodology for System of Systems Architecture Development with Application to the Recapitalization of the Future Towing and Salvage Platform

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

SEP) is a comprehensive , iterative and recursive problem solving process, applied sequentially top-down by integrated teams. It transforms needs...central integrated design repository. It includes a comprehensive behavior modeling notation to understand the dynamics of a design. CORE is a MBSE...37 F. DYNAMIC POSITIONING..........................................................................38 G. FIREFIGHTING

Heating and current drive requirements towards steady state operation in ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poli, F. M.; Bonoli, P. T.; Kessel, C. E.; Batchelor, D. B.; Gorelenkova, M.; Harvey, B.; Petrov, Y.

2014-02-01

Steady state scenarios envisaged for ITER aim at optimizing the bootstrap current, while maintaining sufficient confinement and stability to provide the necessary fusion yield. Non-inductive scenarios will need to operate with Internal Transport Barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. However, the large pressure gradients associated with ITBs in regions of weak or negative magnetic shear can be conducive to ideal MHD instabilities, reducing the no-wall limit. The E × B flow shear from toroidal plasma rotation is expected to be low in ITER, with a major role in the ITB dynamics being played by magnetic geometry. Combinations of H/CD sources that maintain weakly reversed magnetic shear profiles throughout the discharge are the focus of this work. Time-dependent transport simulations indicate that, with a trade-off of the EC equatorial and upper launcher, the formation and sustainment of quasi-steady state ITBs could be demonstrated in ITER with the baseline heating configuration. However, with proper constraints from peeling-ballooning theory on the pedestal width and height, the fusion gain and the maximum non-inductive current are below the ITER target. Upgrades of the heating and current drive system in ITER, like the use of Lower Hybrid current drive, could overcome these limitations, sustaining higher non-inductive current and confinement, more expanded ITBs which are ideal MHD stable.

CORSICA modelling of ITER hybrid operation scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, S. H.; Bulmer, R. H.; Campbell, D. J.; Casper, T. A.; LoDestro, L. L.; Meyer, W. H.; Pearlstein, L. D.; Snipes, J. A.

2016-12-01

The hybrid operating mode observed in several tokamaks is characterized by further enhancement over the high plasma confinement (H-mode) associated with reduced magneto-hydro-dynamic (MHD) instabilities linked to a stationary flat safety factor (q ) profile in the core region. The proposed ITER hybrid operation is currently aiming at operating for a long burn duration (>1000 s) with a moderate fusion power multiplication factor, Q , of at least 5. This paper presents candidate ITER hybrid operation scenarios developed using a free-boundary transport modelling code, CORSICA, taking all relevant physics and engineering constraints into account. The ITER hybrid operation scenarios have been developed by tailoring the 15 MA baseline ITER inductive H-mode scenario. Accessible operation conditions for ITER hybrid operation and achievable range of plasma parameters have been investigated considering uncertainties on the plasma confinement and transport. ITER operation capability for avoiding the poloidal field coil current, field and force limits has been examined by applying different current ramp rates, flat-top plasma currents and densities, and pre-magnetization of the poloidal field coils. Various combinations of heating and current drive (H&CD) schemes have been applied to study several physics issues, such as the plasma current density profile tailoring, enhancement of the plasma energy confinement and fusion power generation. A parameterized edge pedestal model based on EPED1 added to the CORSICA code has been applied to hybrid operation scenarios. Finally, fully self-consistent free-boundary transport simulations have been performed to provide information on the poloidal field coil voltage demands and to study the controllability with the ITER controllers. Extended from Proc. 24th Int. Conf. on Fusion Energy (San Diego, 2012) IT/P1-13.

Modifications Of Hydrostatic-Bearing Computer Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hibbs, Robert I., Jr.; Beatty, Robert F.

1991-01-01

Several modifications made to enhance utility of HBEAR, computer program for analysis and design of hydrostatic bearings. Modifications make program applicable to more realistic cases and reduce time and effort necessary to arrive at a suitable design. Uses search technique to iterate on size of orifice to obtain required pressure ratio.

Generalization of analytical tools for helicopter-rotor airfoils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gibbs, E. H.

1979-01-01

A state-of-the-art finite difference boundary-layer program incorporated into the NYU Transonic Analysis Program is described. Some possible treatments for the trailing edge region were investigated. Findings indicate the trailing edge region, still within the scope of an iterative potential flow, boundary layer program, appears feasible.

Using POGIL to Help Students Learn to Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Helen H.; Shepherd, Tricia D.

2013-01-01

POGIL has been successfully implemented in a scientific computing course to teach science students how to program in Python. Following POGIL guidelines, the authors have developed guided inquiry activities that lead student teams to discover and understand programming concepts. With each iteration of the scientific computing course, the authors…

Writing and compiling code into biochemistry.

PubMed

Shea, Adam; Fett, Brian; Riedel, Marc D; Parhi, Keshab

2010-01-01

This paper presents a methodology for translating iterative arithmetic computation, specified as high-level programming constructs, into biochemical reactions. From an input/output specification, we generate biochemical reactions that produce output quantities of proteins as a function of input quantities performing operations such as addition, subtraction, and scalar multiplication. Iterative constructs such as "while" loops and "for" loops are implemented by transferring quantities between protein types, based on a clocking mechanism. Synthesis first is performed at a conceptual level, in terms of abstract biochemical reactions - a task analogous to high-level program compilation. Then the results are mapped onto specific biochemical reactions selected from libraries - a task analogous to machine language compilation. We demonstrate our approach through the compilation of a variety of standard iterative functions: multiplication, exponentiation, discrete logarithms, raising to a power, and linear transforms on time series. The designs are validated through transient stochastic simulation of the chemical kinetics. We are exploring DNA-based computation via strand displacement as a possible experimental chassis.

Investigation of iterative image reconstruction in low-dose breast CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bian, Junguo; Yang, Kai; Boone, John M.; Han, Xiao; Sidky, Emil Y.; Pan, Xiaochuan

2014-06-01

There is interest in developing computed tomography (CT) dedicated to breast-cancer imaging. Because breast tissues are radiation-sensitive, the total radiation exposure in a breast-CT scan is kept low, often comparable to a typical two-view mammography exam, thus resulting in a challenging low-dose-data-reconstruction problem. In recent years, evidence has been found that suggests that iterative reconstruction may yield images of improved quality from low-dose data. In this work, based upon the constrained image total-variation minimization program and its numerical solver, i.e., the adaptive steepest descent-projection onto the convex set (ASD-POCS), we investigate and evaluate iterative image reconstructions from low-dose breast-CT data of patients, with a focus on identifying and determining key reconstruction parameters, devising surrogate utility metrics for characterizing reconstruction quality, and tailoring the program and ASD-POCS to the specific reconstruction task under consideration. The ASD-POCS reconstructions appear to outperform the corresponding clinical FDK reconstructions, in terms of subjective visualization and surrogate utility metrics.

An efficient algorithm using matrix methods to solve wind tunnel force-balance equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, D. L.

1972-01-01

An iterative procedure applying matrix methods to accomplish an efficient algorithm for automatic computer reduction of wind-tunnel force-balance data has been developed. Balance equations are expressed in a matrix form that is convenient for storing balance sensitivities and interaction coefficient values for online or offline batch data reduction. The convergence of the iterative values to a unique solution of this system of equations is investigated, and it is shown that for balances which satisfy the criteria discussed, this type of solution does occur. Methods for making sensitivity adjustments and initial load effect considerations in wind-tunnel applications are also discussed, and the logic for determining the convergence accuracy limits for the iterative solution is given. This more efficient data reduction program is compared with the technique presently in use at the NASA Langley Research Center, and computational times on the order of one-third or less are demonstrated by use of this new program.

Determination and Control of Optical and X-Ray Wave Fronts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Young K.

1997-01-01

A successful design of a space-based or ground optical system requires an iterative procedure which includes the kinematics and dynamics of the system in operating environment, control synthesis and verification. To facilitate the task of designing optical wave front control systems being developed at NASA/MSFC, a multi-discipline dynamics and control tool has been developed by utilizing TREETOPS, a multi-body dynamics and control simulation, NASTRAN and MATLAB. Dynamics and control models of STABLE and ARIS were developed for TREETOPS simulation, and their simulation results are documented in this report.

Shape regularized active contour based on dynamic programming for anatomical structure segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Tianli; Luo, Jiebo; Singhal, Amit; Ahuja, Narendra

2005-04-01

We present a method to incorporate nonlinear shape prior constraints into segmenting different anatomical structures in medical images. Kernel space density estimation (KSDE) is used to derive the nonlinear shape statistics and enable building a single model for a class of objects with nonlinearly varying shapes. The object contour is coerced by image-based energy into the correct shape sub-distribution (e.g., left or right lung), without the need for model selection. In contrast to an earlier algorithm that uses a local gradient-descent search (susceptible to local minima), we propose an algorithm that iterates between dynamic programming (DP) and shape regularization. DP is capable of finding an optimal contour in the search space that maximizes a cost function related to the difference between the interior and exterior of the object. To enforce the nonlinear shape prior, we propose two shape regularization methods, global and local regularization. Global regularization is applied after each DP search to move the entire shape vector in the shape space in a gradient descent fashion to the position of probable shapes learned from training. The regularized shape is used as the starting shape for the next iteration. Local regularization is accomplished through modifying the search space of the DP. The modified search space only allows a certain amount of deformation of the local shape from the starting shape. Both regularization methods ensure the consistency between the resulted shape with the training shapes, while still preserving DP"s ability to search over a large range and avoid local minima. Our algorithm was applied to two different segmentation tasks for radiographic images: lung field and clavicle segmentation. Both applications have shown that our method is effective and versatile in segmenting various anatomical structures under prior shape constraints; and it is robust to noise and local minima caused by clutter (e.g., blood vessels) and other similar structures (e.g., ribs). We believe that the proposed algorithm represents a major step in the paradigm shift to object segmentation under nonlinear shape constraints.

Experiments on water detritiation and cryogenic distillation at TLK; Impact on ITER fuel cycle subsystems interfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cristescu, I.; Cristescu, I. R.; Doerr, L.

2008-07-15

The ITER Isotope Separation System (ISS) and Water Detritiation System (WDS) should be integrated in order to reduce potential chronic tritium emissions from the ISS. This is achieved by routing the top (protium) product from the ISS to a feed point near the bottom end of the WDS Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) column. This provides an additional barrier against ISS emissions and should mitigate the memory effects due to process parameter fluctuations in the ISS. To support the research activities needed to characterize the performances of various components for WDS and ISS processes under various working conditions and configurationsmore » as needed for ITER design, an experimental facility called TRENTA representative of the ITER WDS and ISS protium separation column, has been commissioned and is in operation at TLK The experimental program on TRENTA facility is conducted to provide the necessary design data related to the relevant ITER operating modes. The operation availability and performances of ISS-WDS have impact on ITER fuel cycle subsystems with consequences on the design integration. The preliminary experimental data on TRENTA facility are presented. (authors)« less

Field tests of a participatory ergonomics toolkit for Total Worker Health.

PubMed

Nobrega, Suzanne; Kernan, Laura; Plaku-Alakbarova, Bora; Robertson, Michelle; Warren, Nicholas; Henning, Robert

2017-04-01

Growing interest in Total Worker Health ® (TWH) programs to advance worker safety, health and well-being motivated development of a toolkit to guide their implementation. Iterative design of a program toolkit occurred in which participatory ergonomics (PE) served as the primary basis to plan integrated TWH interventions in four diverse organizations. The toolkit provided start-up guides for committee formation and training, and a structured PE process for generating integrated TWH interventions. Process data from program facilitators and participants throughout program implementation were used for iterative toolkit design. Program success depended on organizational commitment to regular design team meetings with a trained facilitator, the availability of subject matter experts on ergonomics and health to support the design process, and retraining whenever committee turnover occurred. A two committee structure (employee Design Team, management Steering Committee) provided advantages over a single, multilevel committee structure, and enhanced the planning, communication, and teamwork skills of participants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inspection Methods in Programming.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

Counting is a a specialization of Iterative-generation in which the generating function is Oneplus ) Waters’ second category of plan building method...is Oneplus and the initial input is 1. 0 I 180 CHAPTER NINE -ta a acio f igr9-.IeaieGnrtoPln 7 -7 STEADY STATE PLANS 181 TemporalPlan counting...specializalion iterative-generation roles .action(afu nction) ,tail(counting) conslraints .action.op = oneplus A .action.input = 1 The lItcrative-application

Spreadsheets in Science Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliot, Chris

1988-01-01

Described is the use of a spreadsheet to model dynamic phenomena using numerical iterative methods. Uses the discharge of a capacitor, simple and damped harmonic motion, and the flow of heat along a bar as examples. (Author/CW)

The ITER project construction status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Motojima, O.

2015-10-01

The pace of the ITER project in St Paul-lez-Durance, France is accelerating rapidly into its peak construction phase. With the completion of the B2 slab in August 2014, which will support about 400 000 metric tons of the tokamak complex structures and components, the construction is advancing on a daily basis. Magnet, vacuum vessel, cryostat, thermal shield, first wall and divertor structures are under construction or in prototype phase in the ITER member states of China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States. Each of these member states has its own domestic agency (DA) to manage their procurements of components for ITER. Plant systems engineering is being transformed to fully integrate the tokamak and its auxiliary systems in preparation for the assembly and operations phase. CODAC, diagnostics, and the three main heating and current drive systems are also progressing, including the construction of the neutral beam test facility building in Padua, Italy. The conceptual design of the Chinese test blanket module system for ITER has been completed and those of the EU are well under way. Significant progress has been made addressing several outstanding physics issues including disruption load characterization, prediction, avoidance, and mitigation, first wall and divertor shaping, edge pedestal and SOL plasma stability, fuelling and plasma behaviour during confinement transients and W impurity transport. Further development of the ITER Research Plan has included a definition of the required plant configuration for 1st plasma and subsequent phases of ITER operation as well as the major plasma commissioning activities and the needs of the accompanying R&D program to ITER construction by the ITER parties.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis Of Optical Payload For Lasercomm Science (OPALS) sealed enclosure module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Kevin R.; Zayas, Daniel; Turner, Daniel

2012-01-01

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using the commercial CFD package CFDesign has been performed at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in support of the Phaeton Early Career Hire Program's Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) mission. The OPALS project is one which involves an International Space Station payload that will be using forced convection cooling in a hermetically sealed enclosure at 1 atm of air to cool "off-the-shelf" vendor electronics. The CFD analysis was used to characterize the thermal and fluid flow environment within a complicated labyrinth of electronics boards, fans, instrumentation, harnessing, ductwork and heat exchanger fins. The paradigm of iteratively using CAD/CAE tools and CFD was followed in order to determine the optimum flow geometry and heat sink configuration to yield operational convective film coefficients and temperature survivability limits for the electronics payload. Results from this current CFD analysis and correlation of the CFD model against thermal test data will be presented. Lessons learned and coupled thermal / flow modeling strategies will be shared in this paper.

Further Improvement in 3DGRAPE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen

2004-01-01

3DGRAPE/AL:V2 denotes version 2 of the Three-Dimensional Grids About Anything by Poisson's Equation with Upgrades from Ames and Langley computer program. The preceding version, 3DGRAPE/AL, was described in Improved 3DGRAPE (ARC-14069) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 21, No. 5 (May 1997), page 66. These programs are so named because they generate volume grids by iteratively solving Poisson's Equation in three dimensions. The grids generated by the various versions of 3DGRAPE have been used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The main novel feature of 3DGRAPE/AL:V2 is the incorporation of an optional scheme in which anisotropic Lagrange-based trans-finite interpolation (ALBTFI) is coupled with exponential decay functions to compute and blend interior source terms. In the input to 3DGRAPE/AL:V2 the user can specify whether or not to invoke ALBTFI in combination with exponential-decay controls, angles, and cell size for controlling the character of grid lines. Of the known programs that solve elliptic partial differential equations for generating grids, 3DGRAPE/AL:V2 is the only code that offers a combination of speed and versatility with most options for controlling the densities and other characteristics of grids for CFD.

Groupwise Image Registration Guided by a Dynamic Digraph of Images.

PubMed

Tang, Zhenyu; Fan, Yong

2016-04-01

For groupwise image registration, graph theoretic methods have been adopted for discovering the manifold of images to be registered so that accurate registration of images to a group center image can be achieved by aligning similar images that are linked by the shortest graph paths. However, the image similarity measures adopted to build a graph of images in the extant methods are essentially pairwise measures, not effective for capturing the groupwise similarity among multiple images. To overcome this problem, we present a groupwise image similarity measure that is built on sparse coding for characterizing image similarity among all input images and build a directed graph (digraph) of images so that similar images are connected by the shortest paths of the digraph. Following the shortest paths determined according to the digraph, images are registered to a group center image in an iterative manner by decomposing a large anatomical deformation field required to register an image to the group center image into a series of small ones between similar images. During the iterative image registration, the digraph of images evolves dynamically at each iteration step to pursue an accurate estimation of the image manifold. Moreover, an adaptive dictionary strategy is adopted in the groupwise image similarity measure to ensure fast convergence of the iterative registration procedure. The proposed method has been validated based on both simulated and real brain images, and experiment results have demonstrated that our method was more effective for learning the manifold of input images and achieved higher registration accuracy than state-of-the-art groupwise image registration methods.

Linear MHD stability analysis of post-disruption plasmas in ITER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aleynikova, K., E-mail: ksenia.aleynikova@gmail.com; Huijsmans, G. T. A.; Aleynikov, P.

2016-05-15

Most of the plasma current can be replaced by a runaway electron (RE) current during plasma disruptions in ITER. In this case the post-disruption plasma current profile is likely to be more peaked than the pre-disruption profile. The MHD activity of such plasma will affect the runaway electron generation and confinement and the dynamics of the plasma position evolution (Vertical Displacement Event), limiting the timeframe for runaway electrons and disruption mitigation. In the present paper, we evaluate the influence of the possible RE seed current parameters on the onset of the MHD instabilities. By varying the RE seed current profile,more » we search for subsequent plasma evolutions with the highest and the lowest MHD activity. This information can be applied to a development of desirable ITER disruption scenario.« less

A block iterative finite element algorithm for numerical solution of the steady-state, compressible Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooke, C. H.

1976-01-01

An iterative method for numerically solving the time independent Navier-Stokes equations for viscous compressible flows is presented. The method is based upon partial application of the Gauss-Seidel principle in block form to the systems of nonlinear algebraic equations which arise in construction of finite element (Galerkin) models approximating solutions of fluid dynamic problems. The C deg-cubic element on triangles is employed for function approximation. Computational results for a free shear flow at Re = 1,000 indicate significant achievement of economy in iterative convergence rate over finite element and finite difference models which employ the customary time dependent equations and asymptotic time marching procedure to steady solution. Numerical results are in excellent agreement with those obtained for the same test problem employing time marching finite element and finite difference solution techniques.

Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics in the Multicanonical Ensemble: Connections between Wang-Landau Sampling and Metadynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogel, Thomas; Perez, Danny; Junghans, Christoph

2014-03-01

We show direct formal relationships between the Wang-Landau iteration [PRL 86, 2050 (2001)], metadynamics [PNAS 99, 12562 (2002)] and statistical temperature molecular dynamics [PRL 97, 050601 (2006)], the major Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics work horses for sampling from a generalized, multicanonical ensemble. We aim at helping to consolidate the developments in the different areas by indicating how methodological advancements can be transferred in a straightforward way, avoiding the parallel, largely independent, developments tracks observed in the past.

Acceleration of the direct reconstruction of linear parametric images using nested algorithms.

PubMed

Wang, Guobao; Qi, Jinyi

2010-03-07

Parametric imaging using dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) provides important information for biological research and clinical diagnosis. Indirect and direct methods have been developed for reconstructing linear parametric images from dynamic PET data. Indirect methods are relatively simple and easy to implement because the image reconstruction and kinetic modeling are performed in two separate steps. Direct methods estimate parametric images directly from raw PET data and are statistically more efficient. However, the convergence rate of direct algorithms can be slow due to the coupling between the reconstruction and kinetic modeling. Here we present two fast gradient-type algorithms for direct reconstruction of linear parametric images. The new algorithms decouple the reconstruction and linear parametric modeling at each iteration by employing the principle of optimization transfer. Convergence speed is accelerated by running more sub-iterations of linear parametric estimation because the computation cost of the linear parametric modeling is much less than that of the image reconstruction. Computer simulation studies demonstrated that the new algorithms converge much faster than the traditional expectation maximization (EM) and the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithms for dynamic PET.

A superlinear interior points algorithm for engineering design optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herskovits, J.; Asquier, J.

1990-01-01

We present a quasi-Newton interior points algorithm for nonlinear constrained optimization. It is based on a general approach consisting of the iterative solution in the primal and dual spaces of the equalities in Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions. This is done in such a way to have primal and dual feasibility at each iteration, which ensures satisfaction of those optimality conditions at the limit points. This approach is very strong and efficient, since at each iteration it only requires the solution of two linear systems with the same matrix, instead of quadratic programming subproblems. It is also particularly appropriate for engineering design optimization inasmuch at each iteration a feasible design is obtained. The present algorithm uses a quasi-Newton approximation of the second derivative of the Lagrangian function in order to have superlinear asymptotic convergence. We discuss theoretical aspects of the algorithm and its computer implementation.

Self-consistent hybrid functionals for solids: a fully-automated implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erba, A.

2017-08-01

A fully-automated algorithm for the determination of the system-specific optimal fraction of exact exchange in self-consistent hybrid functionals of the density-functional-theory is illustrated, as implemented into the public Crystal program. The exchange fraction of this new class of functionals is self-consistently updated proportionally to the inverse of the dielectric response of the system within an iterative procedure (Skone et al 2014 Phys. Rev. B 89, 195112). Each iteration of the present scheme, in turn, implies convergence of a self-consistent-field (SCF) and a coupled-perturbed-Hartree-Fock/Kohn-Sham (CPHF/KS) procedure. The present implementation, beside improving the user-friendliness of self-consistent hybrids, exploits the unperturbed and electric-field perturbed density matrices from previous iterations as guesses for subsequent SCF and CPHF/KS iterations, which is documented to reduce the overall computational cost of the whole process by a factor of 2.

Phase retrieval by coherent modulation imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Fucai; Chen, Bo; Morrison, Graeme R.

Phase retrieval is a long-standing problem in imaging when only the intensity of the wavefield can be recorded. Coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) is a lensless technique that uses iterative algorithms to recover amplitude and phase contrast images from diffraction intensity data. For general samples, phase retrieval from a single diffraction pattern has been an algorithmic and experimental challenge. Here we report a method of phase retrieval that uses a known modulation of the sample exit-wave. This coherent modulation imaging (CMI) method removes inherent ambiguities of CDI and uses a reliable, rapidly converging iterative algorithm involving three planes. It works formore » extended samples, does not require tight support for convergence, and relaxes dynamic range requirements on the detector. CMI provides a robust method for imaging in materials and biological science, while its single-shot capability will benefit the investigation of dynamical processes with pulsed sources, such as X-ray free electron laser.« less

Phase retrieval by coherent modulation imaging

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Fucai; Chen, Bo; Morrison, Graeme R.; ...

2016-11-18

Phase retrieval is a long-standing problem in imaging when only the intensity of the wavefield can be recorded. Coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) is a lensless technique that uses iterative algorithms to recover amplitude and phase contrast images from diffraction intensity data. For general samples, phase retrieval from a single diffraction pattern has been an algorithmic and experimental challenge. Here we report a method of phase retrieval that uses a known modulation of the sample exit-wave. This coherent modulation imaging (CMI) method removes inherent ambiguities of CDI and uses a reliable, rapidly converging iterative algorithm involving three planes. It works formore » extended samples, does not require tight support for convergence, and relaxes dynamic range requirements on the detector. CMI provides a robust method for imaging in materials and biological science, while its single-shot capability will benefit the investigation of dynamical processes with pulsed sources, such as X-ray free electron laser.« less

Updating finite element dynamic models using an element-by-element sensitivity methodology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farhat, Charbel; Hemez, Francois M.

1993-01-01

A sensitivity-based methodology for improving the finite element model of a given structure using test modal data and a few sensors is presented. The proposed method searches for both the location and sources of the mass and stiffness errors and does not interfere with the theory behind the finite element model while correcting these errors. The updating algorithm is derived from the unconstrained minimization of the squared L sub 2 norms of the modal dynamic residuals via an iterative two-step staggered procedure. At each iteration, the measured mode shapes are first expanded assuming that the model is error free, then the model parameters are corrected assuming that the expanded mode shapes are exact. The numerical algorithm is implemented in an element-by-element fashion and is capable of 'zooming' on the detected error locations. Several simulation examples which demonstate the potential of the proposed methodology are discussed.

Parallelization of implicit finite difference schemes in computational fluid dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decker, Naomi H.; Naik, Vijay K.; Nicoules, Michel

1990-01-01

Implicit finite difference schemes are often the preferred numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics, requiring less stringent stability bounds than the explicit schemes. Each iteration in an implicit scheme involves global data dependencies in the form of second and higher order recurrences. Efficient parallel implementations of such iterative methods are considerably more difficult and non-intuitive. The parallelization of the implicit schemes that are used for solving the Euler and the thin layer Navier-Stokes equations and that require inversions of large linear systems in the form of block tri-diagonal and/or block penta-diagonal matrices is discussed. Three-dimensional cases are emphasized and schemes that minimize the total execution time are presented. Partitioning and scheduling schemes for alleviating the effects of the global data dependencies are described. An analysis of the communication and the computation aspects of these methods is presented. The effect of the boundary conditions on the parallel schemes is also discussed.

Phase retrieval by coherent modulation imaging.

PubMed

Zhang, Fucai; Chen, Bo; Morrison, Graeme R; Vila-Comamala, Joan; Guizar-Sicairos, Manuel; Robinson, Ian K

2016-11-18

Phase retrieval is a long-standing problem in imaging when only the intensity of the wavefield can be recorded. Coherent diffraction imaging is a lensless technique that uses iterative algorithms to recover amplitude and phase contrast images from diffraction intensity data. For general samples, phase retrieval from a single-diffraction pattern has been an algorithmic and experimental challenge. Here we report a method of phase retrieval that uses a known modulation of the sample exit wave. This coherent modulation imaging method removes inherent ambiguities of coherent diffraction imaging and uses a reliable, rapidly converging iterative algorithm involving three planes. It works for extended samples, does not require tight support for convergence and relaxes dynamic range requirements on the detector. Coherent modulation imaging provides a robust method for imaging in materials and biological science, while its single-shot capability will benefit the investigation of dynamical processes with pulsed sources, such as X-ray free-electron lasers.

Tritium environmental transport studies at TFTR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritter, P. D.; Dolan, T. J.; Longhurst, G. R.

1993-06-01

Environmental tritium concentrations will be measured near the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) to help validate dynamic models of tritium transport in the environment. For model validation the database must contain sequential measurements of tritium concentrations in key environmental compartments. Since complete containment of tritium is an operational goal, the supplementary monitoring program should be able to glean useful data from an unscheduled acute release. Portable air samplers will be used to take samples automatically every 4 hours for a week after an acute release, thus obtaining the time resolution needed for code validation. Samples of soil, vegetation, and foodstuffs will be gathered daily at the same locations as the active air monitors. The database may help validate the plant/soil/air part of tritium transport models and enhance environmental tritium transport understanding for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

Nonlinear random response prediction using MSC/NASTRAN

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, J. H.; Chiang, C. K.; Rizzi, S. A.

1993-01-01

An equivalent linearization technique was incorporated into MSC/NASTRAN to predict the nonlinear random response of structures by means of Direct Matrix Abstract Programming (DMAP) modifications and inclusion of the nonlinear differential stiffness module inside the iteration loop. An iterative process was used to determine the rms displacements. Numerical results obtained for validation on simple plates and beams are in good agreement with existing solutions in both the linear and linearized regions. The versatility of the implementation will enable the analyst to determine the nonlinear random responses for complex structures under combined loads. The thermo-acoustic response of a hexagonal thermal protection system panel is used to highlight some of the features of the program.

The Normalized-Rate Iterative Algorithm: A Practical Dynamic Spectrum Management Method for DSL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Statovci, Driton; Nordström, Tomas; Nilsson, Rickard

2006-12-01

We present a practical solution for dynamic spectrum management (DSM) in digital subscriber line systems: the normalized-rate iterative algorithm (NRIA). Supported by a novel optimization problem formulation, the NRIA is the only DSM algorithm that jointly addresses spectrum balancing for frequency division duplexing systems and power allocation for the users sharing a common cable bundle. With a focus on being implementable rather than obtaining the highest possible theoretical performance, the NRIA is designed to efficiently solve the DSM optimization problem with the operators' business models in mind. This is achieved with the help of two types of parameters: the desired network asymmetry and the desired user priorities. The NRIA is a centralized DSM algorithm based on the iterative water-filling algorithm (IWFA) for finding efficient power allocations, but extends the IWFA by finding the achievable bitrates and by optimizing the bandplan. It is compared with three other DSM proposals: the IWFA, the optimal spectrum balancing algorithm (OSBA), and the bidirectional IWFA (bi-IWFA). We show that the NRIA achieves better bitrate performance than the IWFA and the bi-IWFA. It can even achieve performance almost as good as the OSBA, but with dramatically lower requirements on complexity. Additionally, the NRIA can achieve bitrate combinations that cannot be supported by any other DSM algorithm.

Control of particle and power exhaust in pellet fuelled ITER DT scenarios employing integrated models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiesen, S.; Köchl, F.; Belo, P.; Kotov, V.; Loarte, A.; Parail, V.; Corrigan, G.; Garzotti, L.; Harting, D.

2017-07-01

The integrated model JINTRAC is employed to assess the dynamic density evolution of the ITER baseline scenario when fuelled by discrete pellets. The consequences on the core confinement properties, α-particle heating due to fusion and the effect on the ITER divertor operation, taking into account the material limitations on the target heat loads, are discussed within the integrated model. Using the model one can observe that stable but cyclical operational regimes can be achieved for a pellet-fuelled ITER ELMy H-mode scenario with Q  =  10 maintaining partially detached conditions in the divertor. It is shown that the level of divertor detachment is inversely correlated with the core plasma density due to α-particle heating, and thus depends on the density evolution cycle imposed by pellet ablations. The power crossing the separatrix to be dissipated depends on the enhancement of the transport in the pedestal region being linked with the pressure gradient evolution after pellet injection. The fuelling efficacy of the deposited pellet material is strongly dependent on the E  ×  B plasmoid drift. It is concluded that integrated models like JINTRAC, if validated and supported by realistic physics constraints, may help to establish suitable control schemes of particle and power exhaust in burning ITER DT-plasma scenarios.

Conceptual Design of the ITER Plasma Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snipes, J. A.

2013-10-01

The conceptual design of the ITER Plasma Control System (PCS) has been approved and the preliminary design has begun for the 1st plasma PCS. This is a collaboration of many plasma control experts from existing devices to design and test plasma control techniques applicable to ITER on existing machines. The conceptual design considered all phases of plasma operation, ranging from non-active H/He plasmas through high fusion gain inductive DT plasmas to fully non-inductive steady-state operation, to ensure that the PCS control functionality and architecture can satisfy the demands of the ITER Research Plan. The PCS will control plasma equilibrium and density, plasma heat exhaust, a range of MHD instabilities (including disruption mitigation), and the non-inductive current profile required to maintain stable steady-state scenarios. The PCS architecture requires sophisticated shared actuator management and event handling systems to prioritize control goals, algorithms, and actuators according to dynamic control needs and monitor plasma and plant system events to trigger automatic changes in the control algorithms or operational scenario, depending on real-time operating limits and conditions.

A stopping criterion to halt iterations at the Richardson-Lucy deconvolution of radiographic images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almeida, G. L.; Silvani, M. I.; Souza, E. S.; Lopes, R. T.

2015-07-01

Radiographic images, as any experimentally acquired ones, are affected by spoiling agents which degrade their final quality. The degradation caused by agents of systematic character, can be reduced by some kind of treatment such as an iterative deconvolution. This approach requires two parameters, namely the system resolution and the best number of iterations in order to achieve the best final image. This work proposes a novel procedure to estimate the best number of iterations, which replaces the cumbersome visual inspection by a comparison of numbers. These numbers are deduced from the image histograms, taking into account the global difference G between them for two subsequent iterations. The developed algorithm, including a Richardson-Lucy deconvolution procedure has been embodied into a Fortran program capable to plot the 1st derivative of G as the processing progresses and to stop it automatically when this derivative - within the data dispersion - reaches zero. The radiograph of a specially chosen object acquired with thermal neutrons from the Argonauta research reactor at Institutode Engenharia Nuclear - CNEN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have undergone this treatment with fair results.

Power loss for high-voltage solar-cell arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parker, L. W.

1979-01-01

Electric field particle collection and power loss are calculated in program written in FORTRAN IV for use on UNIVAC 1100/40 computer. Program incorporates positive and negative and negative charge flows and balance between positive and negative flows is performed by iteration.

Fast and secure encryption-decryption method based on chaotic dynamics

DOEpatents

Protopopescu, Vladimir A.; Santoro, Robert T.; Tolliver, Johnny S.

1995-01-01

A method and system for the secure encryption of information. The method comprises the steps of dividing a message of length L into its character components; generating m chaotic iterates from m independent chaotic maps; producing an "initial" value based upon the m chaotic iterates; transforming the "initial" value to create a pseudo-random integer; repeating the steps of generating, producing and transforming until a pseudo-random integer sequence of length L is created; and encrypting the message as ciphertext based upon the pseudo random integer sequence. A system for accomplishing the invention is also provided.

Adaptive implicit-explicit and parallel element-by-element iteration schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tezduyar, T. E.; Liou, J.; Nguyen, T.; Poole, S.

1989-01-01

Adaptive implicit-explicit (AIE) and grouped element-by-element (GEBE) iteration schemes are presented for the finite element solution of large-scale problems in computational mechanics and physics. The AIE approach is based on the dynamic arrangement of the elements into differently treated groups. The GEBE procedure, which is a way of rewriting the EBE formulation to make its parallel processing potential and implementation more clear, is based on the static arrangement of the elements into groups with no inter-element coupling within each group. Various numerical tests performed demonstrate the savings in the CPU time and memory.

A Block Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient-type Iterative Solver for Linear Systems in Thermal Reservoir Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Betté, Srinivas; Diaz, Julio C.; Jines, William R.; Steihaug, Trond

1986-11-01

A preconditioned residual-norm-reducing iterative solver is described. Based on a truncated form of the generalized-conjugate-gradient method for nonsymmetric systems of linear equations, the iterative scheme is very effective for linear systems generated in reservoir simulation of thermal oil recovery processes. As a consequence of employing an adaptive implicit finite-difference scheme to solve the model equations, the number of variables per cell-block varies dynamically over the grid. The data structure allows for 5- and 9-point operators in the areal model, 5-point in the cross-sectional model, and 7- and 11-point operators in the three-dimensional model. Block-diagonal-scaling of the linear system, done prior to iteration, is found to have a significant effect on the rate of convergence. Block-incomplete-LU-decomposition (BILU) and block-symmetric-Gauss-Seidel (BSGS) methods, which result in no fill-in, are used as preconditioning procedures. A full factorization is done on the well terms, and the cells are ordered in a manner which minimizes the fill-in in the well-column due to this factorization. The convergence criterion for the linear (inner) iteration is linked to that of the nonlinear (Newton) iteration, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the computation. The algorithm, with both BILU and BSGS preconditioners, is evaluated in the context of a variety of thermal simulation problems. The solver is robust and can be used with little or no user intervention.

Evaluating the performance of two neutron spectrum unfolding codes based on iterative procedures and artificial neural networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ortiz-Rodriguez, J. M.; Reyes Alfaro, A.; Reyes Haro, A.

In this work the performance of two neutron spectrum unfolding codes based on iterative procedures and artificial neural networks is evaluated. The first one code based on traditional iterative procedures and called Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry from the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas (NSDUAZ) use the SPUNIT iterative algorithm and was designed to unfold neutron spectrum and calculate 15 dosimetric quantities and 7 IAEA survey meters. The main feature of this code is the automated selection of the initial guess spectrum trough a compendium of neutron spectrum compiled by the IAEA. The second one code known as Neutron spectrometry and dosimetrymore » with artificial neural networks (NDSann) is a code designed using neural nets technology. The artificial intelligence approach of neural net does not solve mathematical equations. By using the knowledge stored at synaptic weights on a neural net properly trained, the code is capable to unfold neutron spectrum and to simultaneously calculate 15 dosimetric quantities, needing as entrance data, only the rate counts measured with a Bonner spheres system. Similarities of both NSDUAZ and NSDann codes are: they follow the same easy and intuitive user's philosophy and were designed in a graphical interface under the LabVIEW programming environment. Both codes unfold the neutron spectrum expressed in 60 energy bins, calculate 15 dosimetric quantities and generate a full report in HTML format. Differences of these codes are: NSDUAZ code was designed using classical iterative approaches and needs an initial guess spectrum in order to initiate the iterative procedure. In NSDUAZ, a programming routine was designed to calculate 7 IAEA instrument survey meters using the fluence-dose conversion coefficients. NSDann code use artificial neural networks for solving the ill-conditioned equation system of neutron spectrometry problem through synaptic weights of a properly trained neural network. Contrary to iterative procedures, in neural net approach it is possible to reduce the rate counts used to unfold the neutron spectrum. To evaluate these codes a computer tool called Neutron Spectrometry and dosimetry computer tool was designed. The results obtained with this package are showed. The codes here mentioned are freely available upon request to the authors.« less

Evaluating the performance of two neutron spectrum unfolding codes based on iterative procedures and artificial neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortiz-Rodríguez, J. M.; Reyes Alfaro, A.; Reyes Haro, A.; Solís Sánches, L. O.; Miranda, R. Castañeda; Cervantes Viramontes, J. M.; Vega-Carrillo, H. R.

2013-07-01

In this work the performance of two neutron spectrum unfolding codes based on iterative procedures and artificial neural networks is evaluated. The first one code based on traditional iterative procedures and called Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry from the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas (NSDUAZ) use the SPUNIT iterative algorithm and was designed to unfold neutron spectrum and calculate 15 dosimetric quantities and 7 IAEA survey meters. The main feature of this code is the automated selection of the initial guess spectrum trough a compendium of neutron spectrum compiled by the IAEA. The second one code known as Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry with artificial neural networks (NDSann) is a code designed using neural nets technology. The artificial intelligence approach of neural net does not solve mathematical equations. By using the knowledge stored at synaptic weights on a neural net properly trained, the code is capable to unfold neutron spectrum and to simultaneously calculate 15 dosimetric quantities, needing as entrance data, only the rate counts measured with a Bonner spheres system. Similarities of both NSDUAZ and NSDann codes are: they follow the same easy and intuitive user's philosophy and were designed in a graphical interface under the LabVIEW programming environment. Both codes unfold the neutron spectrum expressed in 60 energy bins, calculate 15 dosimetric quantities and generate a full report in HTML format. Differences of these codes are: NSDUAZ code was designed using classical iterative approaches and needs an initial guess spectrum in order to initiate the iterative procedure. In NSDUAZ, a programming routine was designed to calculate 7 IAEA instrument survey meters using the fluence-dose conversion coefficients. NSDann code use artificial neural networks for solving the ill-conditioned equation system of neutron spectrometry problem through synaptic weights of a properly trained neural network. Contrary to iterative procedures, in neural net approach it is possible to reduce the rate counts used to unfold the neutron spectrum. To evaluate these codes a computer tool called Neutron Spectrometry and dosimetry computer tool was designed. The results obtained with this package are showed. The codes here mentioned are freely available upon request to the authors.

Capture zones for simple aquifers

USGS Publications Warehouse

McElwee, Carl D.

1991-01-01

Capture zones showing the area influenced by a well within a certain time are useful for both aquifer protection and cleanup. If hydrodynamic dispersion is neglected, a deterministic curve defines the capture zone. Analytical expressions for the capture zones can be derived for simple aquifers. However, the capture zone equations are transcendental and cannot be explicitly solved for the coordinates of the capture zone boundary. Fortunately, an iterative scheme allows the solution to proceed quickly and efficiently even on a modest personal computer. Three forms of the analytical solution must be used in an iterative scheme to cover the entire region of interest, after the extreme values of the x coordinate are determined by an iterative solution. The resulting solution is a discrete one, and usually 100-1000 intervals along the x-axis are necessary for a smooth definition of the capture zone. The presented program is written in FORTRAN and has been used in a variety of computing environments. No graphics capability is included with the program; it is assumed the user has access to a commercial package. The superposition of capture zones for multiple wells is expected to be satisfactory if the spacing is not too close. Because this program deals with simple aquifers, the results rarely will be the final word in a real application.

Robust dynamic myocardial perfusion CT deconvolution for accurate residue function estimation via adaptive-weighted tensor total variation regularization: a preclinical study.

PubMed

Zeng, Dong; Gong, Changfei; Bian, Zhaoying; Huang, Jing; Zhang, Xinyu; Zhang, Hua; Lu, Lijun; Niu, Shanzhou; Zhang, Zhang; Liang, Zhengrong; Feng, Qianjin; Chen, Wufan; Ma, Jianhua

2016-11-21

Dynamic myocardial perfusion computed tomography (MPCT) is a promising technique for quick diagnosis and risk stratification of coronary artery disease. However, one major drawback of dynamic MPCT imaging is the heavy radiation dose to patients due to its dynamic image acquisition protocol. In this work, to address this issue, we present a robust dynamic MPCT deconvolution algorithm via adaptive-weighted tensor total variation (AwTTV) regularization for accurate residue function estimation with low-mA s data acquisitions. For simplicity, the presented method is termed 'MPD-AwTTV'. More specifically, the gains of the AwTTV regularization over the original tensor total variation regularization are from the anisotropic edge property of the sequential MPCT images. To minimize the associative objective function we propose an efficient iterative optimization strategy with fast convergence rate in the framework of an iterative shrinkage/thresholding algorithm. We validate and evaluate the presented algorithm using both digital XCAT phantom and preclinical porcine data. The preliminary experimental results have demonstrated that the presented MPD-AwTTV deconvolution algorithm can achieve remarkable gains in noise-induced artifact suppression, edge detail preservation, and accurate flow-scaled residue function and MPHM estimation as compared with the other existing deconvolution algorithms in digital phantom studies, and similar gains can be obtained in the porcine data experiment.

Robust dynamic myocardial perfusion CT deconvolution for accurate residue function estimation via adaptive-weighted tensor total variation regularization: a preclinical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Dong; Gong, Changfei; Bian, Zhaoying; Huang, Jing; Zhang, Xinyu; Zhang, Hua; Lu, Lijun; Niu, Shanzhou; Zhang, Zhang; Liang, Zhengrong; Feng, Qianjin; Chen, Wufan; Ma, Jianhua

2016-11-01

Dynamic myocardial perfusion computed tomography (MPCT) is a promising technique for quick diagnosis and risk stratification of coronary artery disease. However, one major drawback of dynamic MPCT imaging is the heavy radiation dose to patients due to its dynamic image acquisition protocol. In this work, to address this issue, we present a robust dynamic MPCT deconvolution algorithm via adaptive-weighted tensor total variation (AwTTV) regularization for accurate residue function estimation with low-mA s data acquisitions. For simplicity, the presented method is termed ‘MPD-AwTTV’. More specifically, the gains of the AwTTV regularization over the original tensor total variation regularization are from the anisotropic edge property of the sequential MPCT images. To minimize the associative objective function we propose an efficient iterative optimization strategy with fast convergence rate in the framework of an iterative shrinkage/thresholding algorithm. We validate and evaluate the presented algorithm using both digital XCAT phantom and preclinical porcine data. The preliminary experimental results have demonstrated that the presented MPD-AwTTV deconvolution algorithm can achieve remarkable gains in noise-induced artifact suppression, edge detail preservation, and accurate flow-scaled residue function and MPHM estimation as compared with the other existing deconvolution algorithms in digital phantom studies, and similar gains can be obtained in the porcine data experiment.

Program Aids Analysis And Optimization Of Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, James L., Jr.; Lamarsh, William J., II

1994-01-01

NETS/ PROSSS (NETS Coupled With Programming System for Structural Synthesis) computer program developed to provide system for combining NETS (MSC-21588), neural-network application program and CONMIN (Constrained Function Minimization, ARC-10836), optimization program. Enables user to reach nearly optimal design. Design then used as starting point in normal optimization process, possibly enabling user to converge to optimal solution in significantly fewer iterations. NEWT/PROSSS written in C language and FORTRAN 77.

Sequential computation of elementary modes and minimal cut sets in genome-scale metabolic networks using alternate integer linear programming

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Song, Hyun-Seob; Goldberg, Noam; Mahajan, Ashutosh

Elementary (flux) modes (EMs) have served as a valuable tool for investigating structural and functional properties of metabolic networks. Identification of the full set of EMs in genome-scale networks remains challenging due to combinatorial explosion of EMs in complex networks. It is often, however, that only a small subset of relevant EMs needs to be known, for which optimization-based sequential computation is a useful alternative. Most of the currently available methods along this line are based on the iterative use of mixed integer linear programming (MILP), the effectiveness of which significantly deteriorates as the number of iterations builds up. Tomore » alleviate the computational burden associated with the MILP implementation, we here present a novel optimization algorithm termed alternate integer linear programming (AILP). Results: Our algorithm was designed to iteratively solve a pair of integer programming (IP) and linear programming (LP) to compute EMs in a sequential manner. In each step, the IP identifies a minimal subset of reactions, the deletion of which disables all previously identified EMs. Thus, a subsequent LP solution subject to this reaction deletion constraint becomes a distinct EM. In cases where no feasible LP solution is available, IP-derived reaction deletion sets represent minimal cut sets (MCSs). Despite the additional computation of MCSs, AILP achieved significant time reduction in computing EMs by orders of magnitude. The proposed AILP algorithm not only offers a computational advantage in the EM analysis of genome-scale networks, but also improves the understanding of the linkage between EMs and MCSs.« less

Fusion materials: Technical evaluation of the technology of vandium alloys for use as blanket structural materials in fusion power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1993-08-01

The Committee's evaluation of vanadium alloys as a structural material for fusion reactors was constrained by limited data and time. The design of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is still in the concept stage, so meaningful design requirements were not available. The data on the effect of environment and irradiation on vanadium alloys were sparse, and interpolation of these data were made to select the V-5Cr-5Ti alloy. With an aggressive, fully funded program it is possible to qualify a vanadium alloy as the principal structural material for the ITER blanket in the available 5 to 8-year window. However, the data base for V-5Cr-5Ti is limited and will require an extensive development and test program. Because of the chemical reactivity of vanadium the alloy will be less tolerant of system failures, accidents, and off-normal events than most other candidate blanket structural materials and will require more careful handling during fabrication of hardware. Because of the cost of the material more stringent requirements on processes, and minimal historical working experience, it will cost an order of magnitude to qualify a vanadium alloy for ITER blanket structures than other candidate materials. The use of vanadium is difficult and uncertain; therefore, other options should be explored more thoroughly before a final selection of vanadium is confirmed. The Committee views the risk as being too high to rely solely on vanadium alloys. In viewing the state and nature of the design of the ITER blanket as presented to the Committee, it is obvious that there is a need to move toward integrating fabrication, welding, and materials engineers into the ITER design team. If the vanadium alloy option is to be pursued, a large program needs to be started immediately. The commitment of funding and other resources needs to be firm and consistent with a realistic program plan.

Comparative studies for two different orientations of pebble bed in an HCCB blanket

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paritosh, CHAUDHURI; Chandan, DANANI; E, RAJENDRAKUMAR

2017-12-01

The Indian Test Blanket Module (TBM) program in ITER is one of the major steps in its fusion reactor program towards DEMO and the future fusion power reactor vision. Research and development (R&D) is focused on two types of breeding blanket concepts: lead-lithium ceramic breeder (LLCB) and helium-cooled ceramic breeder (HCCB) blanket systems for the DEMO reactor. As part of the ITER-TBM program, the LLCB concept will be tested in one-half of ITER port no. 2, whose materials and technologies will be tested during ITER operation. The HCCB concept is a variant of the solid breeder blanket, which is presently part of our domestic R&D program for DEMO relevant technology development. In the HCCB concept Li2TiO3 and beryllium are used as the tritium breeder and neutron multiplier, respectively, in the form of a packed bed having edge-on configuration with reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel as the structural material. In this paper two design schemes, mainly two different orientations of pebble beds, are discussed. In the current concept (case-1), the ceramic breeder beds are kept horizontal in the toroidal-radial direction. Due to gravity, the pebbles may settle down at the bottom and create a finite gap between the pebbles and the top cooling plate, which will affect the heat transfer between them. In the alternate design concept (case-2), the pebble bed is vertically (poloidal-radial) orientated where the side plates act as cooling plates instead of top and bottom plates. These two design variants are analyzed analytically and 2D thermal-hydraulic simulation studies are carried out with ANSYS, using the heat loads obtained from neutronic calculations. Based on the analysis the performance is compared and details of the thermal and radiative heat transfer studies are also discussed in this paper.

MSC/NASTRAN DMAP Alter Used for Closed-Form Static Analysis With Inertia Relief and Displacement-Dependent Loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

Solving for the displacements of free-free coupled systems acted upon by static loads is a common task in the aerospace industry. Often, these problems are solved by static analysis with inertia relief. This technique allows for a free-free static analysis by balancing the applied loads with the inertia loads generated by the applied loads. For some engineering applications, the displacements of the free-free coupled system induce additional static loads. Hence, the applied loads are equal to the original loads plus the displacement-dependent loads. A launch vehicle being acted upon by an aerodynamic loading can have such applied loads. The final displacements of such systems are commonly determined with iterative solution techniques. Unfortunately, these techniques can be time consuming and labor intensive. Because the coupled system equations for free-free systems with displacement-dependent loads can be written in closed form, it is advantageous to solve for the displacements in this manner. Implementing closed-form equations in static analysis with inertia relief is analogous to implementing transfer functions in dynamic analysis. An MSC/NASTRAN (MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation/NASA Structural Analysis) DMAP (Direct Matrix Abstraction Program) Alter was used to include displacement-dependent loads in static analysis with inertia relief. It efficiently solved a common aerospace problem that typically has been solved with an iterative technique.

SACFIR: SDN-Based Application-Aware Centralized Adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring Routing Protocol for WSNs.

PubMed

Aslam, Muhammad; Hu, Xiaopeng; Wang, Fan

2017-12-13

Smart reconfiguration of a dynamic networking environment is offered by the central control of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Centralized SDN-based management architectures are capable of retrieving global topology intelligence and decoupling the forwarding plane from the control plane. Routing protocols developed for conventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) utilize limited iterative reconfiguration methods to optimize environmental reporting. However, the challenging networking scenarios of WSNs involve a performance overhead due to constant periodic iterative reconfigurations. In this paper, we propose the SDN-based Application-aware Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SACFIR) routing protocol with the centralized SDN iterative solver controller to maintain the load-balancing between flow reconfigurations and flow allocation cost. The proposed SACFIR's routing protocol offers a unique iterative path-selection algorithm, which initially computes suitable clustering based on residual resources at the control layer and then implements application-aware threshold-based multi-hop report transmissions on the forwarding plane. The operation of the SACFIR algorithm is centrally supervised by the SDN controller residing at the Base Station (BS). This paper extends SACFIR to SDN-based Application-aware Main-value Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SAMCFIR) to establish both proactive and reactive reporting. The SAMCFIR transmission phase enables sensor nodes to trigger direct transmissions for main-value reports, while in the case of SACFIR, all reports follow computed routes. Our SDN-enabled proposed models adjust the reconfiguration period according to the traffic burden on sensor nodes, which results in heterogeneity awareness, load-balancing and application-specific reconfigurations of WSNs. Extensive experimental simulation-based results show that SACFIR and SAMCFIR yield the maximum scalability, network lifetime and stability period when compared to existing routing protocols.

SACFIR: SDN-Based Application-Aware Centralized Adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring Routing Protocol for WSNs

PubMed Central

Hu, Xiaopeng; Wang, Fan

2017-01-01

Smart reconfiguration of a dynamic networking environment is offered by the central control of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Centralized SDN-based management architectures are capable of retrieving global topology intelligence and decoupling the forwarding plane from the control plane. Routing protocols developed for conventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) utilize limited iterative reconfiguration methods to optimize environmental reporting. However, the challenging networking scenarios of WSNs involve a performance overhead due to constant periodic iterative reconfigurations. In this paper, we propose the SDN-based Application-aware Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SACFIR) routing protocol with the centralized SDN iterative solver controller to maintain the load-balancing between flow reconfigurations and flow allocation cost. The proposed SACFIR’s routing protocol offers a unique iterative path-selection algorithm, which initially computes suitable clustering based on residual resources at the control layer and then implements application-aware threshold-based multi-hop report transmissions on the forwarding plane. The operation of the SACFIR algorithm is centrally supervised by the SDN controller residing at the Base Station (BS). This paper extends SACFIR to SDN-based Application-aware Main-value Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SAMCFIR) to establish both proactive and reactive reporting. The SAMCFIR transmission phase enables sensor nodes to trigger direct transmissions for main-value reports, while in the case of SACFIR, all reports follow computed routes. Our SDN-enabled proposed models adjust the reconfiguration period according to the traffic burden on sensor nodes, which results in heterogeneity awareness, load-balancing and application-specific reconfigurations of WSNs. Extensive experimental simulation-based results show that SACFIR and SAMCFIR yield the maximum scalability, network lifetime and stability period when compared to existing routing protocols. PMID:29236031

Recursive Factorization of the Inverse Overlap Matrix in Linear-Scaling Quantum Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

PubMed

Negre, Christian F A; Mniszewski, Susan M; Cawkwell, Marc J; Bock, Nicolas; Wall, Michael E; Niklasson, Anders M N

2016-07-12

We present a reduced complexity algorithm to compute the inverse overlap factors required to solve the generalized eigenvalue problem in a quantum-based molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Our method is based on the recursive, iterative refinement of an initial guess of Z (inverse square root of the overlap matrix S). The initial guess of Z is obtained beforehand by using either an approximate divide-and-conquer technique or dynamical methods, propagated within an extended Lagrangian dynamics from previous MD time steps. With this formulation, we achieve long-term stability and energy conservation even under the incomplete, approximate, iterative refinement of Z. Linear-scaling performance is obtained using numerically thresholded sparse matrix algebra based on the ELLPACK-R sparse matrix data format, which also enables efficient shared-memory parallelization. As we show in this article using self-consistent density-functional-based tight-binding MD, our approach is faster than conventional methods based on the diagonalization of overlap matrix S for systems as small as a few hundred atoms, substantially accelerating quantum-based simulations even for molecular structures of intermediate size. For a 4158-atom water-solvated polyalanine system, we find an average speedup factor of 122 for the computation of Z in each MD step.

Construction of non-Markovian coarse-grained models employing the Mori-Zwanzig formalism and iterative Boltzmann inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshimoto, Yuta; Li, Zhen; Kinefuchi, Ikuya; Karniadakis, George Em

2017-12-01

We propose a new coarse-grained (CG) molecular simulation technique based on the Mori-Zwanzig (MZ) formalism along with the iterative Boltzmann inversion (IBI). Non-Markovian dissipative particle dynamics (NMDPD) taking into account memory effects is derived in a pairwise interaction form from the MZ-guided generalized Langevin equation. It is based on the introduction of auxiliary variables that allow for the replacement of a non-Markovian equation with a Markovian one in a higher dimensional space. We demonstrate that the NMDPD model exploiting MZ-guided memory kernels can successfully reproduce the dynamic properties such as the mean square displacement and velocity autocorrelation function of a Lennard-Jones system, as long as the memory kernels are appropriately evaluated based on the Volterra integral equation using the force-velocity and velocity-velocity correlations. Furthermore, we find that the IBI correction of a pair CG potential significantly improves the representation of static properties characterized by a radial distribution function and pressure, while it has little influence on the dynamic processes. Our findings suggest that combining the advantages of both the MZ formalism and IBI leads to an accurate representation of both the static and dynamic properties of microscopic systems that exhibit non-Markovian behavior.

Recursive Factorization of the Inverse Overlap Matrix in Linear Scaling Quantum Molecular Dynamics Simulations

DOE PAGES

Negre, Christian F. A; Mniszewski, Susan M.; Cawkwell, Marc Jon; ...

2016-06-06

We present a reduced complexity algorithm to compute the inverse overlap factors required to solve the generalized eigenvalue problem in a quantum-based molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Our method is based on the recursive iterative re nement of an initial guess Z of the inverse overlap matrix S. The initial guess of Z is obtained beforehand either by using an approximate divide and conquer technique or dynamically, propagated within an extended Lagrangian dynamics from previous MD time steps. With this formulation, we achieve long-term stability and energy conservation even under incomplete approximate iterative re nement of Z. Linear scaling performance ismore » obtained using numerically thresholded sparse matrix algebra based on the ELLPACK-R sparse matrix data format, which also enables e cient shared memory parallelization. As we show in this article using selfconsistent density functional based tight-binding MD, our approach is faster than conventional methods based on the direct diagonalization of the overlap matrix S for systems as small as a few hundred atoms, substantially accelerating quantum-based simulations even for molecular structures of intermediate size. For a 4,158 atom water-solvated polyalanine system we nd an average speedup factor of 122 for the computation of Z in each MD step.« less

In-class Simulations of the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Game.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodo, Peter

2002-01-01

Developed a simple computer program for the in-class simulation of the repeated prisoner's dilemma game with student-designed strategies. Describes the basic features of the software. Presents two examples using the program to teach the problems of cooperation among profit-maximizing agents. (JEH)

An iterative method for tri-level quadratic fractional programming problems using fuzzy goal programming approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kassa, Semu Mitiku; Tsegay, Teklay Hailay

2017-08-01

Tri-level optimization problems are optimization problems with three nested hierarchical structures, where in most cases conflicting objectives are set at each level of hierarchy. Such problems are common in management, engineering designs and in decision making situations in general, and are known to be strongly NP-hard. Existing solution methods lack universality in solving these types of problems. In this paper, we investigate a tri-level programming problem with quadratic fractional objective functions at each of the three levels. A solution algorithm has been proposed by applying fuzzy goal programming approach and by reformulating the fractional constraints to equivalent but non-fractional non-linear constraints. Based on the transformed formulation, an iterative procedure is developed that can yield a satisfactory solution to the tri-level problem. The numerical results on various illustrative examples demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is very much promising and it can also be used to solve larger-sized as well as n-level problems of similar structure.

The application of MINIQUASI to thermal program boundary and initial value problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

The feasibility of applying the solution techniques of Miniquasi to the set of equations which govern a thermoregulatory model is investigated. For solving nonlinear equations and/or boundary conditions, a Taylor Series expansion is required for linearization of both equations and boundary conditions. The solutions are iterative and in each iteration, a problem like the linear case is solved. It is shown that Miniquasi cannot be applied to the thermoregulatory model as originally planned.

Moving beyond Smile Sheets: A Case Study on the Evaluation and Iterative Improvement of an Online Faculty Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Ken-Zen; Lowenthal, Patrick R.; Bauer, Christine; Heaps, Allan; Nielsen, Crystal

2017-01-01

Institutions of higher education are struggling to meet the growing demand for online courses and programs, partly because many faculty lack experience teaching online. The eCampus Quality Instruction Program (eQIP) is an online faculty development program developed to train faculty to design and teach fully online courses. The purpose of this…

A Gauge Invariant Description for the General Conic Constrained Particle from the FJBW Iteration Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbosa, Gabriel D.; Thibes, Ronaldo

2018-06-01

We consider a second-degree algebraic curve describing a general conic constraint imposed on the motion of a massive spinless particle. The problem is trivial at classical level but becomes involved and interesting concerning its quantum counterpart with subtleties in its symplectic structure and symmetries. We start with a second-class version of the general conic constrained particle, which encompasses previous versions of circular and elliptical paths discussed in the literature. By applying the symplectic FJBW iteration program, we proceed on to show how a gauge invariant version for the model can be achieved from the originally second-class system. We pursue the complete constraint analysis in phase space and perform the Faddeev-Jackiw symplectic quantization following the Barcelos-Wotzasek iteration program to unravel the essential aspects of the constraint structure. While in the standard Dirac-Bergmann approach there are four second-class constraints, in the FJBW they reduce to two. By using the symplectic potential obtained in the last step of the FJBW iteration process, we construct a gauge invariant model exhibiting explicitly its BRST symmetry. We obtain the quantum BRST charge and write the Green functions generator for the gauge invariant version. Our results reproduce and neatly generalize the known BRST symmetry of the rigid rotor, clearly showing that this last one constitutes a particular case of a broader class of theories.

Modeling the dynamics of evaluation: a multilevel neural network implementation of the iterative reprocessing model.

PubMed

Ehret, Phillip J; Monroe, Brian M; Read, Stephen J

2015-05-01

We present a neural network implementation of central components of the iterative reprocessing (IR) model. The IR model argues that the evaluation of social stimuli (attitudes, stereotypes) is the result of the IR of stimuli in a hierarchy of neural systems: The evaluation of social stimuli develops and changes over processing. The network has a multilevel, bidirectional feedback evaluation system that integrates initial perceptual processing and later developing semantic processing. The network processes stimuli (e.g., an individual's appearance) over repeated iterations, with increasingly higher levels of semantic processing over time. As a result, the network's evaluations of stimuli evolve. We discuss the implications of the network for a number of different issues involved in attitudes and social evaluation. The success of the network supports the IR model framework and provides new insights into attitude theory. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Quantum-Inspired Multidirectional Associative Memory With a Self-Convergent Iterative Learning.

PubMed

Masuyama, Naoki; Loo, Chu Kiong; Seera, Manjeevan; Kubota, Naoyuki

2018-04-01

Quantum-inspired computing is an emerging research area, which has significantly improved the capabilities of conventional algorithms. In general, quantum-inspired hopfield associative memory (QHAM) has demonstrated quantum information processing in neural structures. This has resulted in an exponential increase in storage capacity while explaining the extensive memory, and it has the potential to illustrate the dynamics of neurons in the human brain when viewed from quantum mechanics perspective although the application of QHAM is limited as an autoassociation. We introduce a quantum-inspired multidirectional associative memory (QMAM) with a one-shot learning model, and QMAM with a self-convergent iterative learning model (IQMAM) based on QHAM in this paper. The self-convergent iterative learning enables the network to progressively develop a resonance state, from inputs to outputs. The simulation experiments demonstrate the advantages of QMAM and IQMAM, especially the stability to recall reliability.

Eighteen-month-olds' memory for short movies of simple stories.

PubMed

Kingo, Osman S; Krøjgaard, Peter

2015-04-01

This study investigated twenty four 18-month-olds' memory for dynamic visual stimuli. During the first visit participants saw one of two brief movies (30 seconds) with a simple storyline displayed in four iterations. After 2 weeks, memory was tested in the visual paired comparison paradigm in which the familiar and the novel movie were contrasted simultaneously and displayed in two iterations for a total of 60 seconds. Eye-tracking revealed that participants fixated the familiar movie significantly more than the novel movie, thus indicating memory for the familiar movie. Furthermore, time-dependent analysis of the data revealed that individual differences in the looking-patterns for the first and second iteration of the movies were related to individual differences in productive vocabulary. We suggest that infants' vocabulary may be indicative of their ability to understand and remember the storyline of the movies, thereby affecting their subsequent memory. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A strategy with novel evolutionary features for the iterated prisoner's dilemma.

PubMed

Li, Jiawei; Kendall, Graham

2009-01-01

In recent iterated prisoner's dilemma tournaments, the most successful strategies were those that had identification mechanisms. By playing a predetermined sequence of moves and learning from their opponents' responses, these strategies managed to identify their opponents. We believe that these identification mechanisms may be very useful in evolutionary games. In this paper one such strategy, which we call collective strategy, is analyzed. Collective strategies apply a simple but efficient identification mechanism (that just distinguishes themselves from other strategies), and this mechanism allows them to only cooperate with their group members and defect against any others. In this way, collective strategies are able to maintain a stable population in evolutionary iterated prisoner's dilemma. By means of an invasion barrier, this strategy is compared with other strategies in evolutionary dynamics in order to demonstrate its evolutionary features. We also find that this collective behavior assists the evolution of cooperation in specific evolutionary environments.

Eigenproblem solution by a combined Sturm sequence and inverse iteration technique.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gupta, K. K.

1973-01-01

Description of an efficient and numerically stable algorithm, along with a complete listing of the associated computer program, developed for the accurate computation of specified roots and associated vectors of the eigenvalue problem Aq = lambda Bq with band symmetric A and B, B being also positive-definite. The desired roots are first isolated by the Sturm sequence procedure; then a special variant of the inverse iteration technique is applied for the individual determination of each root along with its vector. The algorithm fully exploits the banded form of relevant matrices, and the associated program written in FORTRAN V for the JPL UNIVAC 1108 computer proves to be most significantly economical in comparison to similar existing procedures. The program may be conveniently utilized for the efficient solution of practical engineering problems, involving free vibration and buckling analysis of structures. Results of such analyses are presented for representative structures.

Can SNOMED CT be squeezed without losing its shape?

PubMed

López-García, Pablo; Schulz, Stefan

2016-09-21

In biomedical applications where the size and complexity of SNOMED CT become problematic, using a smaller subset that can act as a reasonable substitute is usually preferred. In a special class of use cases-like ontology-based quality assurance, or when performing scaling experiments for real-time performance-it is essential that modules show a similar shape than SNOMED CT in terms of concept distribution per sub-hierarchy. Exactly how to extract such balanced modules remains unclear, as most previous work on ontology modularization has focused on other problems. In this study, we investigate to what extent extracting balanced modules that preserve the original shape of SNOMED CT is possible, by presenting and evaluating an iterative algorithm. We used a graph-traversal modularization approach based on an input signature. To conform to our definition of a balanced module, we implemented an iterative algorithm that carefully bootstraped and dynamically adjusted the signature at each step. We measured the error for each sub-hierarchy and defined convergence as a residual sum of squares <1. Using 2000 concepts as an initial signature, our algorithm converged after seven iterations and extracted a module 4.7 % the size of SNOMED CT. Seven sub-hierarhies were either over or under-represented within a range of 1-8 %. Our study shows that balanced modules from large terminologies can be extracted using ontology graph-traversal modularization techniques under certain conditions: that the process is repeated a number of times, the input signature is dynamically adjusted in each iteration, and a moderate under/over-representation of some hierarchies is tolerated. In the case of SNOMED CT, our results conclusively show that it can be squeezed to less than 5 % of its size without any sub-hierarchy losing its shape more than 8 %, which is likely sufficient in most use cases.

Thermal modeling of W rod armor.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nygren, Richard Einar

2004-09-01

Sandia has developed and tested mockups armored with W rods over the last decade and pioneered the initial development of W rod armor for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in the 1990's. We have also developed 2D and 3D thermal and stress models of W rod-armored plasma facing components (PFCs) and test mockups and are applying the models to both short pulses, i.e. edge localized modes (ELMs), and thermal performance in steady state for applications in C-MOD, DiMES testing and ITER. This paper briefly describes the 2D and 3D models and their applications with emphasis on modeling for an ongoingmore » test program that simulates repeated heat loads from ITER ELMs.« less

Iterative Evaluation in a Mobile Counseling and Testing Program to Reach People of Color at Risk for HIV--New Strategies Improve Program Acceptability, Effectiveness, and Evaluation Capabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spielberg, Freya; Kurth, Ann; Reidy, William; McKnight, Teka; Dikobe, Wame; Wilson, Charles

2011-01-01

This article highlights findings from an evaluation that explored the impact of mobile versus clinic-based testing, rapid versus central-lab based testing, incentives for testing, and the use of a computer counseling program to guide counseling and automate evaluation in a mobile program reaching people of color at risk for HIV. The program's…

Design requirements for plasma facing materials in ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matera, R.; Federici, G.; ITER Joint Central Team

1996-10-01

After the official approval of the Interim Design Report, the ITER project enters the final phase of the EDA. With the definition of the design requirements of the high heat flux components, the structural and armor materials' working domain is better specified, allowing to focus the R & D program on the most critical issues and to orient the design of divertor and first wall components towards those concepts which potentially have a better chance to withstand normal and off-normal operating conditions. Among the latter, slow, high-power, high recycling transient are at present driving the design of high heat flux components. Examples of possible design solution under experimental validation in the R & D program are presented and discussed in this paper.

Improving Defense Acquisition Management and Policy Through a Life-Cycle Affordability Framework

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-04

substrates based on gender, culture, and propensity. Four Design a neurofeedback -based training program that will produce changes in neuronal substrates...Validate the training program by iterating Step 3 until the desired behavioral outcome is achieved. Confirm that the neurofeedback creates desired

The Creative Chaos: Speculations on the Connection Between Non-Linear Dynamics and the Creative Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zausner, Tobi

Chaos theory may provide models for creativity and for the personality of the artist. A collection of speculative hypotheses examines the connection between art and such fundamentals of non-linear dynamics as iteration, dissipative processes, open systems, entropy, sensitivity to stimuli, autocatalysis, subsystems, bifurcations, randomness, unpredictability, irreversibility, increasing levels of organization, far-from-equilibrium conditions, strange attractors, period doubling, intermittency and self-similar fractal organization. Non-linear dynamics may also explain why certain individuals suffer mental disorders while others remain intact during a lifetime of sustained creative output.

Numerical simulations of the charged-particle flow dynamics for sources with a curved emission surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altsybeyev, V. V.

2016-12-01

The implementation of numerical methods for studying the dynamics of particle flows produced by pulsed sources is discussed. A particle tracking method with so-called gun iteration for simulations of beam dynamics is used. For the space charge limited emission problem, we suggest a Gauss law emission model for precise current-density calculation in the case of a curvilinear emitter. The results of numerical simulations of particle-flow formation for cylindrical bipolar diode and for diode with elliptical emitter are presented.

Non-linear quantum-classical scheme to simulate non-equilibrium strongly correlated fermionic many-body dynamics

PubMed Central

Kreula, J. M.; Clark, S. R.; Jaksch, D.

2016-01-01

We propose a non-linear, hybrid quantum-classical scheme for simulating non-equilibrium dynamics of strongly correlated fermions described by the Hubbard model in a Bethe lattice in the thermodynamic limit. Our scheme implements non-equilibrium dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) and uses a digital quantum simulator to solve a quantum impurity problem whose parameters are iterated to self-consistency via a classically computed feedback loop where quantum gate errors can be partly accounted for. We analyse the performance of the scheme in an example case. PMID:27609673

WARP3D-Release 10.8: Dynamic Nonlinear Analysis of Solids using a Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient Software Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koppenhoefer, Kyle C.; Gullerud, Arne S.; Ruggieri, Claudio; Dodds, Robert H., Jr.; Healy, Brian E.

1998-01-01

This report describes theoretical background material and commands necessary to use the WARP3D finite element code. WARP3D is under continuing development as a research code for the solution of very large-scale, 3-D solid models subjected to static and dynamic loads. Specific features in the code oriented toward the investigation of ductile fracture in metals include a robust finite strain formulation, a general J-integral computation facility (with inertia, face loading), an element extinction facility to model crack growth, nonlinear material models including viscoplastic effects, and the Gurson-Tver-gaard dilatant plasticity model for void growth. The nonlinear, dynamic equilibrium equations are solved using an incremental-iterative, implicit formulation with full Newton iterations to eliminate residual nodal forces. The history integration of the nonlinear equations of motion is accomplished with Newmarks Beta method. A central feature of WARP3D involves the use of a linear-preconditioned conjugate gradient (LPCG) solver implemented in an element-by-element format to replace a conventional direct linear equation solver. This software architecture dramatically reduces both the memory requirements and CPU time for very large, nonlinear solid models since formation of the assembled (dynamic) stiffness matrix is avoided. Analyses thus exhibit the numerical stability for large time (load) steps provided by the implicit formulation coupled with the low memory requirements characteristic of an explicit code. In addition to the much lower memory requirements of the LPCG solver, the CPU time required for solution of the linear equations during each Newton iteration is generally one-half or less of the CPU time required for a traditional direct solver. All other computational aspects of the code (element stiffnesses, element strains, stress updating, element internal forces) are implemented in the element-by- element, blocked architecture. This greatly improves vectorization of the code on uni-processor hardware and enables straightforward parallel-vector processing of element blocks on multi-processor hardware.

Interactive iterative relative fuzzy connectedness lung segmentation on thoracic 4D dynamic MR images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Yubing; Udupa, Jayaram K.; Odhner, Dewey; Wu, Caiyun; Zhao, Yue; McDonough, Joseph M.; Capraro, Anthony; Torigian, Drew A.; Campbell, Robert M.

2017-03-01

Lung delineation via dynamic 4D thoracic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is necessary for quantitative image analysis for studying pediatric respiratory diseases such as thoracic insufficiency syndrome (TIS). This task is very challenging because of the often-extreme malformations of the thorax in TIS, lack of signal from bone and connective tissues resulting in inadequate image quality, abnormal thoracic dynamics, and the inability of the patients to cooperate with the protocol needed to get good quality images. We propose an interactive fuzzy connectedness approach as a potential practical solution to this difficult problem. Manual segmentation is too labor intensive especially due to the 4D nature of the data and can lead to low repeatability of the segmentation results. Registration-based approaches are somewhat inefficient and may produce inaccurate results due to accumulated registration errors and inadequate boundary information. The proposed approach works in a manner resembling the Iterative Livewire tool but uses iterative relative fuzzy connectedness (IRFC) as the delineation engine. Seeds needed by IRFC are set manually and are propagated from slice-to-slice, decreasing the needed human labor, and then a fuzzy connectedness map is automatically calculated almost instantaneously. If the segmentation is acceptable, the user selects "next" slice. Otherwise, the seeds are refined and the process continues. Although human interaction is needed, an advantage of the method is the high level of efficient user-control on the process and non-necessity to refine the results. Dynamic MRI sequences from 5 pediatric TIS patients involving 39 3D spatial volumes are used to evaluate the proposed approach. The method is compared to two other IRFC strategies with a higher level of automation. The proposed method yields an overall true positive and false positive volume fraction of 0.91 and 0.03, respectively, and Hausdorff boundary distance of 2 mm.

The temporal representation of the delay of dynamic iterated rippled noise with positive and negative gain by single units in the ventral cochlear nucleus.

PubMed

Sayles, Mark; Winter, Ian Michael

2007-09-26

Spike trains were recorded from single units in the ventral cochlear nucleus of the anaesthetised guinea-pig in response to dynamic iterated rippled noise with positive and negative gain. The short-term running waveform autocorrelation functions of these stimuli show peaks at integer multiples of the time-varying delay when the gain is +1, and troughs at odd-integer multiples and peaks at even-integer multiples of the time-varying delay when the gain is -1. In contrast, the short-term autocorrelation of the Hilbert envelope shows peaks at integer multiples of the time-varying delay for both positive and negative gain stimuli. A running short-term all-order interspike interval analysis demonstrates the ability of single units to represent the modulated pitch contour in their short-term interval statistics. For units with low best frequency (approximate < or = 1.1 kHz) the temporal discharge pattern reflected the waveform fine structure regardless of unit classification (Primary-like, Chopper). For higher best frequency units the pattern of response varied according to unit type. Chopper units with best frequency approximate > or = 1.1 kHz responded to envelope modulation; showing no difference between their response to stimuli with positive and negative gain. Primary-like units with best frequencies in the range 1-3 kHz were still able to represent the difference in the temporal fine structure between dynamic rippled noise with positive and negative gain. No unit with a best frequency above 3 kHz showed a response to the temporal fine structure. Chopper units in this high frequency group showed significantly greater representation of envelope modulation relative to primary-like units with the same range of best frequencies. These results show that at the level of the cochlear nucleus there exists sufficient information in the time domain to represent the time-varying pitch associated with dynamic iterated rippled noise.

Using Iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Improve Teaching Pedagogy.

PubMed

Murray, Elizabeth J

2018-01-15

Most students entering nursing programs today are members of Generation Y or the Millennial generation, and they learn differently than previous generations. Nurse educators must consider implementing innovative teaching strategies that appeal to the newest generation of learners. The Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle is a framework that can be helpful when planning, assessing, and continually improving teaching pedagogy. This article describes the use of iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to implement a change in teaching pedagogy.

Aircraft Rollout Iterative Energy Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kinoshita, L.

1986-01-01

Aircraft Rollout Iterative Energy Simulation (ARIES) program analyzes aircraft-brake performance during rollout. Simulates threedegree-of-freedom rollout after nose-gear touchdown. Amount of brake energy dissipated during aircraft landing determines life expectancy of brake pads. ARIES incorporates brake pressure, actual flight data, crosswinds, and runway characteristics to calculate following: brake energy during rollout for up to four independent brake systems; time profiles of rollout distance, velocity, deceleration, and lateral runway position; and all aerodynamic moments on aircraft. ARIES written in FORTRAN 77 for batch execution.

Integrated Research/Education University Aircraft Design Program Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-06

iterations and loop shaping compared to MIMO control methods. Despite the drawbacks, loop closure and classical methods are the design methods most commonly...AFRL-AFOSR-VA-TR-2017-0077 Integrated Research/Education University Aircraft Design Program Development Eli Livne UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 4333...SUBTITLE Integrated Research/Education University Aircraft Design Program Development 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER FA9550-14-1-0027 5c.  PROGRAM

COMPARISON OF NUMERICAL SCHEMES FOR SOLVING A SPHERICAL PARTICLE DIFFUSION EQUATION

EPA Science Inventory

A new robust iterative numerical scheme was developed for a nonlinear diffusive model that described sorption dynamics in spherical particle suspensions. he numerical scheme had been applied to finite difference and finite element models that showed rapid convergence and stabilit...

An IEP for Me: Program Improvement for Rural Teachers of Students with Moderate to Severe Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennington, Robert C.

2017-01-01

Developing high-quality programming for students with moderate to severe disability (MSD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be challenging for teachers across the range of experience and training including those in rural contexts. This article outlines a process for the iterative refinement of teaching programs comprised of an evaluation…

Modeling Complex Dynamic Interactions of Nonlinear, Aeroelastic, Multistage, and Localization Phenomena in Turbine Engines

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-25

fast method of predicting the number of iterations needed for converged results. A new hybrid technique is proposed to predict the convergence history...interchanging between the modes, whereas a smaller veering (or crossing) region shows fast mode switching. Then, the nonlinear vibration re- sponse of the...problems of interest involve dynamic ( fast ) crack propagation, then the nodes selected by the proposed approach at some time instant might not

Volumetric imaging of fast biological dynamics in deep tissue via wavefront engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Lingjie; Tang, Jianyong; Cui, Meng

2016-03-01

To reveal fast biological dynamics in deep tissue, we combine two wavefront engineering methods that were developed in our laboratory, namely optical phase-locked ultrasound lens (OPLUL) based volumetric imaging and iterative multiphoton adaptive compensation technique (IMPACT). OPLUL is used to generate oscillating defocusing wavefront for fast axial scanning, and IMPACT is used to compensate the wavefront distortions for deep tissue imaging. We show its promising applications in neuroscience and immunology.

Regularized Reconstruction of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Images for Evaluation of Breast Lesions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging contrast-enhanced relaxometry of breast tumors: an MRI multicenter investigation concerning 100 patients,” Mag. Res. Im., vol...The overall goal of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate methods for im- proving image quality in dynamic magnetic resonance imaging ...Olafsson, H. R. Shi, and D. C. Noll, “Toeplitz-based iterative image reconstruction for MRI with correction for magnetic field inhomogeneity,” IEEE

How do IMGs compare with Canadian medical school graduates in a family practice residency program?

PubMed Central

Andrew, Rodney F.

2010-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To compare international medical graduates (IMGs) with Canadian medical school graduates in a family practice residency program. DESIGN Analysis of the results of the in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) and the Certification in Family Medicine (CCFP) examination results for 2 cohorts of IMGs and Canadian-trained graduates between the years 2006 and 2008. SETTING St Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in Vancouver, BC, a training site of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Family Practice Residency Program. PARTICIPANTS In-training evaluation reports were examined for 12 first-year and 9 second-year Canadian-trained residents at the SPH site, and 12 first-year and 12 second-year IMG residents at the IMG site at SPH; CCFP examination results were reviewed for all UBC family practice residents who took the May 2008 examination and disclosed their results. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pass or fail rates on the CCFP examination; proportions of evaluations in each group of residents given each of the following designations: exceeds expectations, meets expectations, or needs improvement. The May 2008 CCFP examination results were reviewed. RESULTS Compared with the second-year IMGs, the second-year SPH Canadian-trained residents had a greater proportion of exceeds expectations designations than the IMGs. For the first-year residents, both the SPH Canadian graduates and IMGs had similar results in all 3 categories. Combining the results of the 2 cohorts, the Canadian-trained residents had 310 (99%) ITERs that were designated as either exceeds expectations or meets expectations, and only 3 (1%) ITERs were in the needs improvement category. The IMG results were 362 (97.6%) ITERs in the exceeds expectations or meets expectations categories; 9 (2%) were in the needs improvement category. Statistically these are not significant differences. Seven of the 12 (58%) IMG candidates passed the CCFP examination compared with 59 of 62 (95%) of the UBC family practice residents. CONCLUSION The IMG residents compared favourably with their Canadian-trained colleagues when comparing ITERs but not in passing the CCFP examination. Further research is needed to elucidate these results. PMID:20841570

Development of a Tritium Extruder for ITER Pellet Injection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

M.J. Gouge; P.W. Fisher

As part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) plasma fueling development program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has fabricated a pellet injection system to test the mechanical and thermal properties of extruded tritium. Hydrogenic pellets will be used in ITER to sustain the fusion power in the plasma core and may be crucial in reducing first-wall tritium inventories by a process of "isotopic fueling" in which tritium-rich pellets fuel the burning plasma core and deuterium gas fuels the edge. This repeating single-stage pneumatic pellet injector, called the Tritium-Proof-of-Principle Phase II (TPOP-II) Pellet Injector, has a piston-driven mechanical extruder andmore » is designed to extrude and accelerate hydrogenic pellets sized for the ITER device. The TPOP-II program has the following development goals: evaluate the feasibility of extruding tritium and deuterium-tritium (D-T) mixtures for use in future pellet injection systems; determine the mechanical and thermal properties of tritium and D-T extrusions; integrate, test, and evaluate the extruder in a repeating, single-stage light gas gun that is sized for the ITER application (pellet diameter -7 to 8 mm); evaluate options for recycling propellant and extruder exhaust gas; and evaluate operability and reliability of ITER prototypical fueling systems in an environment of significant tritium inventory that requires secondary and room containment systems. In tests with deuterium feed at ORNL, up to 13 pellets per extrusion have been extruded at rates up to 1 Hz and accelerated to speeds of 1.0 to 1.1 km/s, using hydrogen propellant gas at a supply pressure of 65 bar. Initially, deuterium pellets 7.5 mm in diameter and 11 mm in length were produced-the largest cryogenic pellets produced by the fusion program to date. These pellets represent about a 10% density perturbation to ITER. Subsequently, the extruder nozzle was modified to produce pellets that are almost 7.5-mm right circular cylinders. Tritium and D-T pellets have been produced in experiments at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Tritium Systems Test Assembly. About 38 g of tritium have been utilized in the experiment. The tritium was received in eight batches, six from product containers and two from the Isotope Separation System. Two types of runs were made: those in which the material was only extruded and those in which pellets were produced and fired with deuterium propellant. A total of 36 TZ runs and 28 D-T runs have been made. A total of 36 pure tritium runs and 28 D-T mixture runs were made. Extrusion experiments indicate that both T2 and D-T will require higher extrusion forces than D2 by about a factor of two.« less

2009 Space Shuttle Probabilistic Risk Assessment Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamlin, Teri L.; Canga, Michael A.; Boyer, Roger L.; Thigpen, Eric B.

2010-01-01

Loss of a Space Shuttle during flight has severe consequences, including loss of a significant national asset; loss of national confidence and pride; and, most importantly, loss of human life. The Shuttle Probabilistic Risk Assessment (SPRA) is used to identify risk contributors and their significance; thus, assisting management in determining how to reduce risk. In 2006, an overview of the SPRA Iteration 2.1 was presented at PSAM 8 [1]. Like all successful PRAs, the SPRA is a living PRA and has undergone revisions since PSAM 8. The latest revision to the SPRA is Iteration 3. 1, and it will not be the last as the Shuttle program progresses and more is learned. This paper discusses the SPRA scope, overall methodology, and results, as well as provides risk insights. The scope, assumptions, uncertainties, and limitations of this assessment provide risk-informed perspective to aid management s decision-making process. In addition, this paper compares the Iteration 3.1 analysis and results to the Iteration 2.1 analysis and results presented at PSAM 8.

Highly efficient and exact method for parallelization of grid-based algorithms and its implementation in DelPhi

PubMed Central

Li, Chuan; Li, Lin; Zhang, Jie; Alexov, Emil

2012-01-01

The Gauss-Seidel method is a standard iterative numerical method widely used to solve a system of equations and, in general, is more efficient comparing to other iterative methods, such as the Jacobi method. However, standard implementation of the Gauss-Seidel method restricts its utilization in parallel computing due to its requirement of using updated neighboring values (i.e., in current iteration) as soon as they are available. Here we report an efficient and exact (not requiring assumptions) method to parallelize iterations and to reduce the computational time as a linear/nearly linear function of the number of CPUs. In contrast to other existing solutions, our method does not require any assumptions and is equally applicable for solving linear and nonlinear equations. This approach is implemented in the DelPhi program, which is a finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann equation solver to model electrostatics in molecular biology. This development makes the iterative procedure on obtaining the electrostatic potential distribution in the parallelized DelPhi several folds faster than that in the serial code. Further we demonstrate the advantages of the new parallelized DelPhi by computing the electrostatic potential and the corresponding energies of large supramolecular structures. PMID:22674480

A Strategic Planning Process Model for Distance Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pisel, Kenneth P.

2008-01-01

As more institutions seek to implement or expand distance learning programs, it becomes critical to integrate distance learning programs into broader strategic visions and plans. Using the informed opinion from a panel of peer-nominated experts via iterative Delphi questionnaires, a 10-phased strategic planning process model for distance education…

Mentored Discussions of Teaching: An Introductory Teaching Development Program for Future STEM Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baiduc, Rachael R.; Linsenmeier, Robert A.; Ruggeri, Nancy

2016-01-01

Today's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are tomorrow's new faculty members; but these junior academicians often receive limited pedagogical training. We describe four iterations of an entry-level program with a low time commitment, Mentored Discussions of Teaching (MDT). The…

Variable-Metric Algorithm For Constrained Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frick, James D.

1989-01-01

Variable Metric Algorithm for Constrained Optimization (VMACO) is nonlinear computer program developed to calculate least value of function of n variables subject to general constraints, both equality and inequality. First set of constraints equality and remaining constraints inequalities. Program utilizes iterative method in seeking optimal solution. Written in ANSI Standard FORTRAN 77.

Brief Instrumental School-Based Mentoring for Middle School Students: Theory and Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McQuillin, Samuel D.; Lyons, Michael D.

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the efficacy of an intentionally brief school-based mentoring program. This academic goal-focused mentoring program was developed through a series of iterative randomized controlled trials, and is informed by research in social cognitive theory, cognitive dissonance theory, motivational interviewing, and research in academic…

Knowledge Sharing through Pair Programming in Learning Environments: An Empirical Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kavitha, R. K.; Ahmed, M. S.

2015-01-01

Agile software development is an iterative and incremental methodology, where solutions evolve from self-organizing, cross-functional teams. Pair programming is a type of agile software development technique where two programmers work together with one computer for developing software. This paper reports the results of the pair programming…

A General Simulator Using State Estimation for a Space Tug Navigation System. [computerized simulation, orbital position estimation and flight mechanics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boland, J. S., III

1975-01-01

A general simulation program is presented (GSP) involving nonlinear state estimation for space vehicle flight navigation systems. A complete explanation of the iterative guidance mode guidance law, derivation of the dynamics, coordinate frames, and state estimation routines are given so as to fully clarify the assumptions and approximations involved so that simulation results can be placed in their proper perspective. A complete set of computer acronyms and their definitions as well as explanations of the subroutines used in the GSP simulator are included. To facilitate input/output, a complete set of compatable numbers, with units, are included to aid in data development. Format specifications, output data phrase meanings and purposes, and computer card data input are clearly spelled out. A large number of simulation and analytical studies were used to determine the validity of the simulator itself as well as various data runs.

Experimental study and modelling of deuterium thermal release from Be-D co-deposited layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldwin, M. J.; Schwarz-Selinger, T.; Doerner, R. P.

2014-07-01

A study of the thermal desorption of deuterium from 1 µm thick co-deposited Be-(0.1)D layers formed at 330 K by a magnetron sputtering technique is reported. A range of thermal desorption rates 0 ⩽ β ⩽ 1.0 K s-1 are explored with a view to studying the effectiveness of the proposed ITER wall and divertor bake procedure (β = 0 K s-1) to be carried out at 513 and 623 K. Fixed temperature bake durations up to 24 h are examined. The experimental thermal release data are used to validate a model input into the Tritium Migration and Analysis Program (TMAP-7). Good agreement with experiment is observed for a TMAP-7 model incorporating trap populations of activation energies for D release of 0.80 and 0.98 eV, and a dynamically computed surface D atomic to molecular recombination rate.

Signalling networks and dynamics of allosteric transitions in bacterial chaperonin GroEL: implications for iterative annealing of misfolded proteins.

PubMed

Thirumalai, D; Hyeon, Changbong

2018-06-19

Signal transmission at the molecular level in many biological complexes occurs through allosteric transitions. Allostery describes the responses of a complex to binding of ligands at sites that are spatially well separated from the binding region. We describe the structural perturbation method, based on phonon propagation in solids, which can be used to determine the signal-transmitting allostery wiring diagram (AWD) in large but finite-sized biological complexes. Application to the bacterial chaperonin GroEL-GroES complex shows that the AWD determined from structures also drives the allosteric transitions dynamically. From both a structural and dynamical perspective these transitions are largely determined by formation and rupture of salt-bridges. The molecular description of allostery in GroEL provides insights into its function, which is quantitatively described by the iterative annealing mechanism. Remarkably, in this complex molecular machine, a deep connection is established between the structures, reaction cycle during which GroEL undergoes a sequence of allosteric transitions, and function, in a self-consistent manner.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Allostery and molecular machines'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Parallel processing of real-time dynamic systems simulation on OSCAR (Optimally SCheduled Advanced multiprocessoR)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kasahara, Hironori; Honda, Hiroki; Narita, Seinosuke

1989-01-01

Parallel processing of real-time dynamic systems simulation on a multiprocessor system named OSCAR is presented. In the simulation of dynamic systems, generally, the same calculation are repeated every time step. However, we cannot apply to Do-all or the Do-across techniques for parallel processing of the simulation since there exist data dependencies from the end of an iteration to the beginning of the next iteration and furthermore data-input and data-output are required every sampling time period. Therefore, parallelism inside the calculation required for a single time step, or a large basic block which consists of arithmetic assignment statements, must be used. In the proposed method, near fine grain tasks, each of which consists of one or more floating point operations, are generated to extract the parallelism from the calculation and assigned to processors by using optimal static scheduling at compile time in order to reduce large run time overhead caused by the use of near fine grain tasks. The practicality of the scheme is demonstrated on OSCAR (Optimally SCheduled Advanced multiprocessoR) which has been developed to extract advantageous features of static scheduling algorithms to the maximum extent.

Nonlinear modelling of high-speed catenary based on analytical expressions of cable and truss elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yang; Liu, Zhigang; Wang, Hongrui; Lu, Xiaobing; Zhang, Jing

2015-10-01

Due to the intrinsic nonlinear characteristics and complex structure of the high-speed catenary system, a modelling method is proposed based on the analytical expressions of nonlinear cable and truss elements. The calculation procedure for solving the initial equilibrium state is proposed based on the Newton-Raphson iteration method. The deformed configuration of the catenary system as well as the initial length of each wire can be calculated. Its accuracy and validity of computing the initial equilibrium state are verified by comparison with the separate model method, absolute nodal coordinate formulation and other methods in the previous literatures. Then, the proposed model is combined with a lumped pantograph model and a dynamic simulation procedure is proposed. The accuracy is guaranteed by the multiple iterative calculations in each time step. The dynamic performance of the proposed model is validated by comparison with EN 50318, the results of the finite element method software and SIEMENS simulation report, respectively. At last, the influence of the catenary design parameters (such as the reserved sag and pre-tension) on the dynamic performance is preliminarily analysed by using the proposed model.

A fractional-order accumulative regularization filter for force reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wensong, Jiang; Zhongyu, Wang; Jing, Lv

2018-02-01

The ill-posed inverse problem of the force reconstruction comes from the influence of noise to measured responses and results in an inaccurate or non-unique solution. To overcome this ill-posedness, in this paper, the transfer function of the reconstruction model is redefined by a Fractional order Accumulative Regularization Filter (FARF). First, the measured responses with noise are refined by a fractional-order accumulation filter based on a dynamic data refresh strategy. Second, a transfer function, generated by the filtering results of the measured responses, is manipulated by an iterative Tikhonov regularization with a serious of iterative Landweber filter factors. Third, the regularization parameter is optimized by the Generalized Cross-Validation (GCV) to improve the ill-posedness of the force reconstruction model. A Dynamic Force Measurement System (DFMS) for the force reconstruction is designed to illustrate the application advantages of our suggested FARF method. The experimental result shows that the FARF method with r = 0.1 and α = 20, has a PRE of 0.36% and an RE of 2.45%, is superior to other cases of the FARF method and the traditional regularization methods when it comes to the dynamic force reconstruction.

A comparison of multiprocessor scheduling methods for iterative data flow architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Storch, Matthew

1993-01-01

A comparative study is made between the Algorithm to Architecture Mapping Model (ATAMM) and three other related multiprocessing models from the published literature. The primary focus of all four models is the non-preemptive scheduling of large-grain iterative data flow graphs as required in real-time systems, control applications, signal processing, and pipelined computations. Important characteristics of the models such as injection control, dynamic assignment, multiple node instantiations, static optimum unfolding, range-chart guided scheduling, and mathematical optimization are identified. The models from the literature are compared with the ATAMM for performance, scheduling methods, memory requirements, and complexity of scheduling and design procedures.

Railway track geometry degradation due to differential settlement of ballast/subgrade - Numerical prediction by an iterative procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, Jens C. O.; Li, Xin

2018-01-01

An iterative procedure for numerical prediction of long-term degradation of railway track geometry (longitudinal level) due to accumulated differential settlement of ballast/subgrade is presented. The procedure is based on a time-domain model of dynamic vehicle-track interaction to calculate the contact loads between sleepers and ballast in the short-term, which are then used in an empirical model to determine the settlement of ballast/subgrade below each sleeper in the long-term. The number of load cycles (wheel passages) accounted for in each iteration step is determined by an adaptive step length given by a maximum settlement increment. To reduce the computational effort for the simulations of dynamic vehicle-track interaction, complex-valued modal synthesis with a truncated modal set is applied for the linear subset of the discretely supported track model with non-proportional spatial distribution of viscous damping. Gravity loads and state-dependent vehicle, track and wheel-rail contact conditions are accounted for as external loads on the modal model, including situations involving loss of (and recovered) wheel-rail contact, impact between hanging sleeper and ballast, and/or a prescribed variation of non-linear track support stiffness properties along the track model. The procedure is demonstrated by calculating the degradation of longitudinal level over time as initiated by a prescribed initial local rail irregularity (dipped welded rail joint).

Invariants, Attractors and Bifurcation in Two Dimensional Maps with Polynomial Interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hacinliyan, Avadis Simon; Aybar, Orhan Ozgur; Aybar, Ilknur Kusbeyzi

This work will present an extended discrete-time analysis on maps and their generalizations including iteration in order to better understand the resulting enrichment of the bifurcation properties. The standard concepts of stability analysis and bifurcation theory for maps will be used. Both iterated maps and flows are used as models for chaotic behavior. It is well known that when flows are converted to maps by discretization, the equilibrium points remain the same but a richer bifurcation scheme is observed. For example, the logistic map has a very simple behavior as a differential equation but as a map fold and period doubling bifurcations are observed. A way to gain information about the global structure of the state space of a dynamical system is investigating invariant manifolds of saddle equilibrium points. Studying the intersections of the stable and unstable manifolds are essential for understanding the structure of a dynamical system. It has been known that the Lotka-Volterra map and systems that can be reduced to it or its generalizations in special cases involving local and polynomial interactions admit invariant manifolds. Bifurcation analysis of this map and its higher iterates can be done to understand the global structure of the system and the artifacts of the discretization by comparing with the corresponding results from the differential equation on which they are based.

Understanding and predicting the dynamics of tokamak discharges during startup and rampdown

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jackson, G. L.; Politzer, P. A.; Humphreys, D. A.

Understanding the dynamics of plasma startup and termination is important for present tokamaks and for predictive modeling of future burning plasma devices such as ITER. We report on experiments in the DIII-D tokamak that explore the plasma startup and rampdown phases and on the benchmarking of transport models. Key issues have been examined such as plasma initiation and burnthrough with limited inductive voltage and achieving flattop and maximum burn within the technical limits of coil systems and their actuators while maintaining the desired q profile. Successful rampdown requires scenarios consistent with technical limits, including controlled H-L transitions, while avoiding verticalmore » instabilities, additional Ohmic transformer flux consumption, and density limit disruptions. Discharges were typically initiated with an inductive electric field typical of ITER, 0.3 V/m, most with second harmonic electron cyclotron assist. A fast framing camera was used during breakdown and burnthrough of low Z impurity charge states to study the formation physics. An improved 'large aperture' ITER startup scenario was developed, and aperture reduction in rampdown was found to be essential to avoid instabilities. Current evolution using neoclassical conductivity in the CORSICA code agrees with rampup experiments, but the prediction of the temperature and internal inductance evolution using the Coppi-Tang model for electron energy transport is not yet accurate enough to allow extrapolation to future devices.« less

PLAN2D - A PROGRAM FOR ELASTO-PLASTIC ANALYSIS OF PLANAR FRAMES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawrence, C.

1994-01-01

PLAN2D is a FORTRAN computer program for the plastic analysis of planar rigid frame structures. Given a structure and loading pattern as input, PLAN2D calculates the ultimate load that the structure can sustain before collapse. Element moments and plastic hinge rotations are calculated for the ultimate load. The location of hinges required for a collapse mechanism to form are also determined. The program proceeds in an iterative series of linear elastic analyses. After each iteration the resulting elastic moments in each member are compared to the reserve plastic moment capacity of that member. The member or members that have moments closest to their reserve capacity will determine the minimum load factor and the site where the next hinge is to be inserted. Next, hinges are inserted and the structural stiffness matrix is reformulated. This cycle is repeated until the structure becomes unstable. At this point the ultimate collapse load is calculated by accumulating the minimum load factor from each previous iteration and multiplying them by the original input loads. PLAN2D is based on the program STAN, originally written by Dr. E.L. Wilson at U.C. Berkeley. PLAN2D has several limitations: 1) Although PLAN2D will detect unloading of hinges it does not contain the capability to remove hinges; 2) PLAN2D does not allow the user to input different positive and negative moment capacities and 3) PLAN2D does not consider the interaction between axial and plastic moment capacity. Axial yielding and buckling is ignored as is the reduction in moment capacity due to axial load. PLAN2D is written in FORTRAN and is machine independent. It has been tested on an IBM PC and a DEC MicroVAX. The program was developed in 1988.

Iterative blip-summed path integral for quantum dynamics in strongly dissipative environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makri, Nancy

2017-04-01

The iterative decomposition of the blip-summed path integral [N. Makri, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 134117 (2014)] is described. The starting point is the expression of the reduced density matrix for a quantum system interacting with a harmonic dissipative bath in the form of a forward-backward path sum, where the effects of the bath enter through the Feynman-Vernon influence functional. The path sum is evaluated iteratively in time by propagating an array that stores blip configurations within the memory interval. Convergence with respect to the number of blips and the memory length yields numerically exact results which are free of statistical error. In situations of strongly dissipative, sluggish baths, the algorithm leads to a dramatic reduction of computational effort in comparison with iterative path integral methods that do not implement the blip decomposition. This gain in efficiency arises from (i) the rapid convergence of the blip series and (ii) circumventing the explicit enumeration of between-blip path segments, whose number grows exponentially with the memory length. Application to an asymmetric dissipative two-level system illustrates the rapid convergence of the algorithm even when the bath memory is extremely long.

Development of the ITER ICH Transmission Line and Matching System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasmussen, D. A.; Goulding, R. H.; Pesavento, P. V.; Peters, B.; Swain, D. W.; Fredd, E. H.; Hosea, J.; Greenough, N.

2011-10-01

The ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating (ICH) System is designed to couple 20 MW of heating power for ion and electron heating. Prototype components for the ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating (ICH) transmission line and matching system are being designed and tested. The ICH transmission lines are pressurized 300 mm diameter coaxial lines with water-cooled aluminum outer conductor and gas-cooled and water-cooled copper inner conductor. Each ICH transmission line is designed to handle 40-55 MHz power at up to 6 MW/line. A total of 8 lines split to 16 antenna inputs on two ICH antennas. Industrial suppliers have designed coaxial transmission line and matching components and prototypes will be manufactured. The prototype components will be qualified on a test stand operating at the full power and pulse length needed for ITER. The matching system must accommodated dynamic changes in the plasma loading due to ELMS and the L to H-mode transition. Passive ELM tolerance will be performed using hybrid couplers and loads, which can absorb the transient reflected power. The system is also designed to compensate for the mutual inductances of the antenna current straps to limit the peak voltages on the antenna array elements.

Iterative load-balancing method with multigrid level relaxation for particle simulation with short-range interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furuichi, Mikito; Nishiura, Daisuke

2017-10-01

We developed dynamic load-balancing algorithms for Particle Simulation Methods (PSM) involving short-range interactions, such as Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), Moving Particle Semi-implicit method (MPS), and Discrete Element method (DEM). These are needed to handle billions of particles modeled in large distributed-memory computer systems. Our method utilizes flexible orthogonal domain decomposition, allowing the sub-domain boundaries in the column to be different for each row. The imbalances in the execution time between parallel logical processes are treated as a nonlinear residual. Load-balancing is achieved by minimizing the residual within the framework of an iterative nonlinear solver, combined with a multigrid technique in the local smoother. Our iterative method is suitable for adjusting the sub-domain frequently by monitoring the performance of each computational process because it is computationally cheaper in terms of communication and memory costs than non-iterative methods. Numerical tests demonstrated the ability of our approach to handle workload imbalances arising from a non-uniform particle distribution, differences in particle types, or heterogeneous computer architecture which was difficult with previously proposed methods. We analyzed the parallel efficiency and scalability of our method using Earth simulator and K-computer supercomputer systems.

Parameter Estimation in Epidemiology: from Simple to Complex Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguiar, Maíra; Ballesteros, Sebastién; Boto, João Pedro; Kooi, Bob W.; Mateus, Luís; Stollenwerk, Nico

2011-09-01

We revisit the parameter estimation framework for population biological dynamical systems, and apply it to calibrate various models in epidemiology with empirical time series, namely influenza and dengue fever. When it comes to more complex models like multi-strain dynamics to describe the virus-host interaction in dengue fever, even most recently developed parameter estimation techniques, like maximum likelihood iterated filtering, come to their computational limits. However, the first results of parameter estimation with data on dengue fever from Thailand indicate a subtle interplay between stochasticity and deterministic skeleton. The deterministic system on its own already displays complex dynamics up to deterministic chaos and coexistence of multiple attractors.

Nonlinear system guidance in the presence of transmission zero dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, G.; Hunt, L. R.; Su, R.

1995-01-01

An iterative procedure is proposed for computing the commanded state trajectories and controls that guide a possibly multiaxis, time-varying, nonlinear system with transmission zero dynamics through a given arbitrary sequence of control points. The procedure is initialized by the system inverse with the transmission zero effects nulled out. Then the 'steady state' solution of the perturbation model with the transmission zero dynamics intact is computed and used to correct the initial zero-free solution. Both time domain and frequency domain methods are presented for computing the steady state solutions of the possibly nonminimum phase transmission zero dynamics. The procedure is illustrated by means of linear and nonlinear examples.

A system dynamics evaluation model: implementation of health information exchange for public health reporting

PubMed Central

Merrill, Jacqueline A; Deegan, Michael; Wilson, Rosalind V; Kaushal, Rainu; Fredericks, Kimberly

2013-01-01

Objective To evaluate the complex dynamics involved in implementing electronic health information exchange (HIE) for public health reporting at a state health department, and to identify policy implications to inform similar implementations. Materials and methods Qualitative data were collected over 8 months from seven experts at New York State Department of Health who implemented web services and protocols for querying, receipt, and validation of electronic data supplied by regional health information organizations. Extensive project documentation was also collected. During group meetings experts described the implementation process and created reference modes and causal diagrams that the evaluation team used to build a preliminary model. System dynamics modeling techniques were applied iteratively to build causal loop diagrams representing the implementation. The diagrams were validated iteratively by individual experts followed by group review online, and through confirmatory review of documents and artifacts. Results Three casual loop diagrams captured well-recognized system dynamics: Sliding Goals, Project Rework, and Maturity of Resources. The findings were associated with specific policies that address funding, leadership, ensuring expertise, planning for rework, communication, and timeline management. Discussion This evaluation illustrates the value of a qualitative approach to system dynamics modeling. As a tool for strategic thinking on complicated and intense processes, qualitative models can be produced with fewer resources than a full simulation, yet still provide insights that are timely and relevant. Conclusions System dynamics techniques clarified endogenous and exogenous factors at play in a highly complex technology implementation, which may inform other states engaged in implementing HIE supported by federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation. PMID:23292910

A system dynamics evaluation model: implementation of health information exchange for public health reporting.

PubMed

Merrill, Jacqueline A; Deegan, Michael; Wilson, Rosalind V; Kaushal, Rainu; Fredericks, Kimberly

2013-06-01

To evaluate the complex dynamics involved in implementing electronic health information exchange (HIE) for public health reporting at a state health department, and to identify policy implications to inform similar implementations. Qualitative data were collected over 8 months from seven experts at New York State Department of Health who implemented web services and protocols for querying, receipt, and validation of electronic data supplied by regional health information organizations. Extensive project documentation was also collected. During group meetings experts described the implementation process and created reference modes and causal diagrams that the evaluation team used to build a preliminary model. System dynamics modeling techniques were applied iteratively to build causal loop diagrams representing the implementation. The diagrams were validated iteratively by individual experts followed by group review online, and through confirmatory review of documents and artifacts. Three casual loop diagrams captured well-recognized system dynamics: Sliding Goals, Project Rework, and Maturity of Resources. The findings were associated with specific policies that address funding, leadership, ensuring expertise, planning for rework, communication, and timeline management. This evaluation illustrates the value of a qualitative approach to system dynamics modeling. As a tool for strategic thinking on complicated and intense processes, qualitative models can be produced with fewer resources than a full simulation, yet still provide insights that are timely and relevant. System dynamics techniques clarified endogenous and exogenous factors at play in a highly complex technology implementation, which may inform other states engaged in implementing HIE supported by federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation.

Parallel processors and nonlinear structural dynamics algorithms and software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belytschko, Ted

1990-01-01

Techniques are discussed for the implementation and improvement of vectorization and concurrency in nonlinear explicit structural finite element codes. In explicit integration methods, the computation of the element internal force vector consumes the bulk of the computer time. The program can be efficiently vectorized by subdividing the elements into blocks and executing all computations in vector mode. The structuring of elements into blocks also provides a convenient way to implement concurrency by creating tasks which can be assigned to available processors for evaluation. The techniques were implemented in a 3-D nonlinear program with one-point quadrature shell elements. Concurrency and vectorization were first implemented in a single time step version of the program. Techniques were developed to minimize processor idle time and to select the optimal vector length. A comparison of run times between the program executed in scalar, serial mode and the fully vectorized code executed concurrently using eight processors shows speed-ups of over 25. Conjugate gradient methods for solving nonlinear algebraic equations are also readily adapted to a parallel environment. A new technique for improving convergence properties of conjugate gradients in nonlinear problems is developed in conjunction with other techniques such as diagonal scaling. A significant reduction in the number of iterations required for convergence is shown for a statically loaded rigid bar suspended by three equally spaced springs.

Fifty-sixth Christmas Bird Count. 147. Southern Dorchester County, Md

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, F.A.; Williams, B.K.; Nichols, J.D.; Hines, J.E.; Kendall, W.L.; Smith, G.W.; Caithamer, David F.

1956-01-01

Summary and Recommendations: We suggest that managers are approaching the limits of their ability to improve waterfowl harvest management, primarily because the information needed to make better decisions is being sacrificed by the current approach to setting regulations. We propose an actively adaptive management strategy in which regulatory decisions play a dominant role in reducing uncertainty about population dynamics. The proposed strategy recognizes 'value' in acquiring knowledge only to the extent that it contributes to the objective of optimizing harvests. To implement this strategy, managers will need: (1) a set of regulatory options, with possible constraints on their use; (2) quantifiable harvest management objectives; (3) a set of models that represent an array of meaningful hypotheses about the effects of regulations on populations; and (4) a measure of credibility (or likelihood) for each model, which can be updated regularly using information from waterfowl monitoring programs. Adaptive optimization is an iterative process in which the harvest-management policy converges over time to one that maximizes harvest under the most appropriate model. At each time step, an optimal regulatory decision is identified based on the state of the system and the model likelihoods. In the next time step, predicted population changes from the alternative models are compared with the actual changes provided by the monitoring program, The likelihoods are increased or decreased to the extent that predicted and actual population changes correspond. These updated likelihoods then are used in setting regulations in the next cycle and the process begins again. This iterative process produces the most informative regulations when uncertainty is prevalent and produces maximum sustainable yields as uncertainty is eliminated. We see no major obstacles to implementing this adaptive strategy, although there are a number of practical considerations. First and foremost, managers should assess the 'value' of learning. Only when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the effects of hunting regulations on population dynamics will the merit of our proposed strategy be evident. We suggest that this almost always will be true given our current understanding of the relationship between annual regulations, survival and population growth in waterfowl. Nonetheless, careful consideration should be given to formulating the set of alternative models. There is no value in distinguishing between models which differ in their mathematical formulation or biological realism, but which suggest similar harvest strategies. We suspect that 'mechanistic' models (i.e., those that attempt to capture the essence of biological processes) will make better candidates for model sets than so-called 'phenomenological' models. Assuming that all model sets include a good approximation of reality, learning rates will be dependent on the quality of monitoring programs. Fortunately, a variety of high-quality monitoring plans for many duck and goose populations of North America, when used with our adaptive approach, should provide new knowledge about population dynamics and response to hunting, and, thus, lead to improved management.

Integrated Model Reduction and Control of Aircraft with Flexible Wings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swei, Sean Shan-Min; Zhu, Guoming G.; Nguyen, Nhan T.

2013-01-01

This paper presents an integrated approach to the modeling and control of aircraft with exible wings. The coupled aircraft rigid body dynamics with a high-order elastic wing model can be represented in a nite dimensional state-space form. Given a set of desired output covariance, a model reduction process is performed by using the weighted Modal Cost Analysis (MCA). A dynamic output feedback controller, which is designed based on the reduced-order model, is developed by utilizing output covariance constraint (OCC) algorithm, and the resulting OCC design weighting matrix is used for the next iteration of the weighted cost analysis. This controller is then validated for full-order evaluation model to ensure that the aircraft's handling qualities are met and the uttering motion of the wings suppressed. An iterative algorithm is developed in CONDUIT environment to realize the integration of model reduction and controller design. The proposed integrated approach is applied to NASA Generic Transport Model (GTM) for demonstration.

Simulation of tokamak armour erosion and plasma contamination at intense transient heat fluxes in ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landman, I. S.; Bazylev, B. N.; Garkusha, I. E.; Loarte, A.; Pestchanyi, S. E.; Safronov, V. M.

2005-03-01

For ITER, the potential material damage of plasma facing tungsten-, CFC-, or beryllium components during transient processes such as ELMs or mitigated disruptions are simulated numerically using the MHD code FOREV-2D and the melt motion code MEMOS-1.5D for a heat deposition in the range of 0.5-3 MJ/m 2 on the time scale of 0.1-1 ms. Such loads can cause significant evaporation at the target surface and a contamination of the SOL by the ions of evaporated material. Results are presented on carbon plasma dynamics in toroidal geometry and on radiation fluxes from the SOL carbon ions obtained with FOREV-2D. The validation of MEMOS-1.5D against the plasma gun tokamak simulators MK-200UG and QSPA-Kh50, based on the tungsten melting threshold, is described. Simulations with MEMOS-1.5D for a beryllium first wall that provide important details about the melt motion dynamics and typical features of the damage are reported.

Multi-layer Lanczos iteration approach to calculations of vibrational energies and dipole transition intensities for polyatomic molecules

DOE PAGES

Yu, Hua-Gen

2015-01-28

We report a rigorous full dimensional quantum dynamics algorithm, the multi-layer Lanczos method, for computing vibrational energies and dipole transition intensities of polyatomic molecules without any dynamics approximation. The multi-layer Lanczos method is developed by using a few advanced techniques including the guided spectral transform Lanczos method, multi-layer Lanczos iteration approach, recursive residue generation method, and dipole-wavefunction contraction. The quantum molecular Hamiltonian at the total angular momentum J = 0 is represented in a set of orthogonal polyspherical coordinates so that the large amplitude motions of vibrations are naturally described. In particular, the algorithm is general and problem-independent. An applicationmore » is illustrated by calculating the infrared vibrational dipole transition spectrum of CH₄ based on the ab initio T8 potential energy surface of Schwenke and Partridge and the low-order truncated ab initio dipole moment surfaces of Yurchenko and co-workers. A comparison with experiments is made. The algorithm is also applicable for Raman polarizability active spectra.« less

Polynomic nonlinear dynamical systems - A residual sensitivity method for model reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yurkovich, S.; Bugajski, D.; Sain, M.

1985-01-01

The motivation for using polynomic combinations of system states and inputs to model nonlinear dynamics systems is founded upon the classical theories of analysis and function representation. A feature of such representations is the need to make available all possible monomials in these variables, up to the degree specified, so as to provide for the description of widely varying functions within a broad class. For a particular application, however, certain monomials may be quite superfluous. This paper examines the possibility of removing monomials from the model in accordance with the level of sensitivity displayed by the residuals to their absence. Critical in these studies is the effect of system input excitation, and the effect of discarding monomial terms, upon the model parameter set. Therefore, model reduction is approached iteratively, with inputs redesigned at each iteration to ensure sufficient excitation of remaining monomials for parameter approximation. Examples are reported to illustrate the performance of such model reduction approaches.

How far could we make ourselves understood by the Andromedans? - an evolutionary cybernetic problem in hierarchical dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santoli, Salvatore

1994-01-01

The mechanistic interpretation of the communication process between cognitive hierarchical systems as an iterated pair of convolutions between the incoming discrete time series signals and the chaotic dynamics (CD) at the nm-scale of the perception (energy) wetware level, with the consequent feeding of the resulting collective properties to the CD software (symbolic) level, shows that the category of quality, largely present in Galilean quantitative-minded science, is to be increasingly made into quantity for finding optimum common codes for communication between different intelligent beings. The problem is similar to that solved by biological evolution, of communication between the conscious logic brain and the underlying unfelt ultimate extra-logical processes, as well as to the problem of the mind-body or the structure-function dichotomies. Perspective cybernated nanotechnological and/or nanobiological interfaces, and time evolution of the 'contact language' (the iterated dialogic process) as a self-organising system might improve human-alien understanding.

WE-AB-303-09: Rapid Projection Computations for On-Board Digital Tomosynthesis in Radiation Therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Iliopoulos, AS; Sun, X; Pitsianis, N

2015-06-15

Purpose: To facilitate fast and accurate iterative volumetric image reconstruction from limited-angle on-board projections. Methods: Intrafraction motion hinders the clinical applicability of modern radiotherapy techniques, such as lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). The LIVE system may impact clinical practice by recovering volumetric information via Digital Tomosynthesis (DTS), thus entailing low time and radiation dose for image acquisition during treatment. The DTS is estimated as a deformation of prior CT via iterative registration with on-board images; this shifts the challenge to the computational domain, owing largely to repeated projection computations across iterations. We address this issue by composing efficient digitalmore » projection operators from their constituent parts. This allows us to separate the static (projection geometry) and dynamic (volume/image data) parts of projection operations by means of pre-computations, enabling fast on-board processing, while also relaxing constraints on underlying numerical models (e.g. regridding interpolation kernels). Further decoupling the projectors into simpler ones ensures the incurred memory overhead remains low, within the capacity of a single GPU. These operators depend only on the treatment plan and may be reused across iterations and patients. The dynamic processing load is kept to a minimum and maps well to the GPU computational model. Results: We have integrated efficient, pre-computable modules for volumetric ray-casting and FDK-based back-projection with the LIVE processing pipeline. Our results show a 60x acceleration of the DTS computations, compared to the previous version, using a single GPU; presently, reconstruction is attained within a couple of minutes. The present implementation allows for significant flexibility in terms of the numerical and operational projection model; we are investigating the benefit of further optimizations and accurate digital projection sub-kernels. Conclusion: Composable projection operators constitute a versatile research tool which can greatly accelerate iterative registration algorithms and may be conducive to the clinical applicability of LIVE. National Institutes of Health Grant No. R01-CA184173; GPU donation by NVIDIA Corporation.« less

SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria User Manual Version 4.44

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sierra Thermal /Fluid Team

2017-04-01

Aria is a Galerkin fnite element based program for solving coupled-physics problems described by systems of PDEs and is capable of solving nonlinear, implicit, transient and direct-to-steady state problems in two and three dimensions on parallel architectures. The suite of physics currently supported by Aria includes thermal energy transport, species transport, and electrostatics as well as generalized scalar, vector and tensor transport equations. Additionally, Aria includes support for manufacturing process fows via the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations specialized to a low Reynolds number ( %3C 1 ) regime. Enhanced modeling support of manufacturing processing is made possible through use of eithermore » arbitrary Lagrangian- Eulerian (ALE) and level set based free and moving boundary tracking in conjunction with quasi-static nonlinear elastic solid mechanics for mesh control. Coupled physics problems are solved in several ways including fully-coupled Newton's method with analytic or numerical sensitivities, fully-coupled Newton- Krylov methods and a loosely-coupled nonlinear iteration about subsets of the system that are solved using combinations of the aforementioned methods. Error estimation, uniform and dynamic h -adaptivity and dynamic load balancing are some of Aria's more advanced capabilities. Aria is based upon the Sierra Framework.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sierra Thermal/Fluid Team

Aria is a Galerkin fnite element based program for solving coupled-physics problems described by systems of PDEs and is capable of solving nonlinear, implicit, transient and direct-to-steady state problems in two and three dimensions on parallel architectures. The suite of physics currently supported by Aria includes thermal energy transport, species transport, and electrostatics as well as generalized scalar, vector and tensor transport equations. Additionally, Aria includes support for manufacturing process fows via the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations specialized to a low Reynolds number ( %3C 1 ) regime. Enhanced modeling support of manufacturing processing is made possible through use of eithermore » arbitrary Lagrangian- Eulerian (ALE) and level set based free and moving boundary tracking in conjunction with quasi-static nonlinear elastic solid mechanics for mesh control. Coupled physics problems are solved in several ways including fully-coupled Newton's method with analytic or numerical sensitivities, fully-coupled Newton- Krylov methods and a loosely-coupled nonlinear iteration about subsets of the system that are solved using combinations of the aforementioned methods. Error estimation, uniform and dynamic h -adaptivity and dynamic load balancing are some of Aria's more advanced capabilities. Aria is based upon the Sierra Framework.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sierra Thermal /Fluid Team

Aria is a Galerkin finite element based program for solving coupled-physics problems described by systems of PDEs and is capable of solving nonlinear, implicit, transient and direct-to-steady state problems in two and three dimensions on parallel architectures. The suite of physics currently supported by Aria includes thermal energy transport, species transport, and electrostatics as well as generalized scalar, vector and tensor transport equations. Additionally, Aria includes support for manufacturing process flows via the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations specialized to a low Reynolds number (Re %3C 1) regime. Enhanced modeling support of manufacturing processing is made possible through use of either arbitrarymore » Lagrangian- Eulerian (ALE) and level set based free and moving boundary tracking in conjunction with quasi-static nonlinear elastic solid mechanics for mesh control. Coupled physics problems are solved in several ways including fully-coupled Newton's method with analytic or numerical sensitivities, fully-coupled Newton- Krylov methods and a loosely-coupled nonlinear iteration about subsets of the system that are solved using combinations of the aforementioned methods. Error estimation, uniform and dynamic h-adaptivity and dynamic load balancing are some of Aria's more advanced capabilities. Aria is based upon the Sierra Framework.« less

Aerothermodynamic Flight Simulation Capabilities for Aerospace Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Charles G.

1998-01-01

Aerothermodynamics, encompassing aerodynamics, aeroheating, and fluid dynamics and physical processes, is the genesis for the design and development of advanced space transportation vehicles and provides crucial information to other disciplines such as structures, materials, propulsion, avionics, and guidance, navigation and control. Sources of aerothermodynamic information are ground-based facilities, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) and engineering computer codes, and flight experiments. Utilization of this aerothermodynamic triad provides the optimum aerothermodynamic design to safely satisfy mission requirements while reducing design conservatism, risk and cost. The iterative aerothermodynamic process for initial screening/assessment of aerospace vehicle concepts, optimization of aerolines to achieve/exceed mission requirements, and benchmark studies for final design and establishment of the flight data book are reviewed. Aerothermodynamic methodology centered on synergism between ground-based testing and CFD predictions is discussed for various flow regimes encountered by a vehicle entering the Earth s atmosphere from low Earth orbit. An overview of the resources/infrastructure required to provide accurate/creditable aerothermodynamic information in a timely manner is presented. Impacts on Langley s aerothermodynamic capabilities due to recent programmatic changes such as Center reorganization, downsizing, outsourcing, industry (as opposed to NASA) led programs, and so forth are discussed. Sample applications of these capabilities to high Agency priority, fast-paced programs such as Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)/X-33 Phases I and 11, X-34, Hyper-X and X-38 are presented and lessons learned discussed. Lastly, enhancements in ground-based testing/CFD capabilities necessary to partially/fully satisfy future requirements are addressed.

"I've Lost My Husband, My House and I Need a New Knee...Why Should I Smile?": Action Research Evaluation of a Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Program for Older Adults with Depression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Lisa; Reid, Corinne

2006-01-01

The current paper details an action research approach to developing and evaluating a group cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program for older adults (65+ years) experiencing depression. This approach allowed the development of a novel program and for each component of the program to be evaluated and modified in an iterative, developmental…

Exploiting loop level parallelism in nonprocedural dataflow programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gokhale, Maya B.

1987-01-01

Discussed are how loop level parallelism is detected in a nonprocedural dataflow program, and how a procedural program with concurrent loops is scheduled. Also discussed is a program restructuring technique which may be applied to recursive equations so that concurrent loops may be generated for a seemingly iterative computation. A compiler which generates C code for the language described below has been implemented. The scheduling component of the compiler and the restructuring transformation are described.

Army Hearing Program Talking Points Calendar Year 2016

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-12

Reserve ARMY HEARING PROGRAM TALKING POINTS CALENDAR YEAR 2016 TIP No. 51-065-0817 2 BACKGROUND Hearing health in the Army has improved...over time, largely due to the dedicated work of hearing health experts. However, noise-induced hearing loss and associated problems have not been...eliminated. The Army Hearing Program continually evolves to address hearing health challenges, and maintains the momentum to build iteratively upon

A computer program for the design and analysis of low-speed airfoils, supplement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eppler, R.; Somers, D. M.

1980-01-01

Three new options were incorporated into an existing computer program for the design and analysis of low speed airfoils. These options permit the analysis of airfoils having variable chord (variable geometry), a boundary layer displacement iteration, and the analysis of the effect of single roughness elements. All three options are described in detail and are included in the FORTRAN IV computer program.

Thermal stress analysis of reusable surface insulation for shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ojalvo, I. U.; Levy, A.; Austin, F.

1974-01-01

An iterative procedure for accurately determining tile stresses associated with static mechanical and thermally induced internal loads is presented. The necessary conditions for convergence of the method are derived. An user-oriented computer program based upon the present method of analysis was developed. The program is capable of analyzing multi-tiled panels and determining the associated stresses. Typical numerical results from this computer program are presented.

DYNGEN: A program for calculating steady-state and transient performance of turbojet and turbofan engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sellers, J. F.; Daniele, C. J.

1975-01-01

The DYNGEN, a digital computer program for analyzing the steady state and transient performance of turbojet and turbofan engines, is described. The DYNGEN is based on earlier computer codes (SMOTE, GENENG, and GENENG 2) which are capable of calculating the steady state performance of turbojet and turbofan engines at design and off-design operating conditions. The DYNGEN has the combined capabilities of GENENG and GENENG 2 for calculating steady state performance; to these the further capability for calculating transient performance was added. The DYNGEN can be used to analyze one- and two-spool turbojet engines or two- and three-spool turbofan engines without modification to the basic program. A modified Euler method is used by DYNGEN to solve the differential equations which model the dynamics of the engine. This new method frees the programmer from having to minimize the number of equations which require iterative solution. As a result, some of the approximations normally used in transient engine simulations can be eliminated. This tends to produce better agreement when answers are compared with those from purely steady state simulations. The modified Euler method also permits the user to specify large time steps (about 0.10 sec) to be used in the solution of the differential equations. This saves computer execution time when long transients are run. Examples of the use of the program are included, and program results are compared with those from an existing hybrid-computer simulation of a two-spool turbofan.

A benchmarking program to reduce red blood cell outdating: implementation, evaluation, and a conceptual framework.

PubMed

Barty, Rebecca L; Gagliardi, Kathleen; Owens, Wendy; Lauzon, Deborah; Scheuermann, Sheena; Liu, Yang; Wang, Grace; Pai, Menaka; Heddle, Nancy M

2015-07-01

Benchmarking is a quality improvement tool that compares an organization's performance to that of its peers for selected indicators, to improve practice. Processes to develop evidence-based benchmarks for red blood cell (RBC) outdating in Ontario hospitals, based on RBC hospital disposition data from Canadian Blood Services, have been previously reported. These benchmarks were implemented in 160 hospitals provincewide with a multifaceted approach, which included hospital education, inventory management tools and resources, summaries of best practice recommendations, recognition of high-performing sites, and audit tools on the Transfusion Ontario website (http://transfusionontario.org). In this study we describe the implementation process and the impact of the benchmarking program on RBC outdating. A conceptual framework for continuous quality improvement of a benchmarking program was also developed. The RBC outdating rate for all hospitals trended downward continuously from April 2006 to February 2012, irrespective of hospitals' transfusion rates or their distance from the blood supplier. The highest annual outdating rate was 2.82%, at the beginning of the observation period. Each year brought further reductions, with a nadir outdating rate of 1.02% achieved in 2011. The key elements of the successful benchmarking strategy included dynamic targets, a comprehensive and evidence-based implementation strategy, ongoing information sharing, and a robust data system to track information. The Ontario benchmarking program for RBC outdating resulted in continuous and sustained quality improvement. Our conceptual iterative framework for benchmarking provides a guide for institutions implementing a benchmarking program. © 2015 AABB.

Planning and Measurement in School to Work Transition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kooi, Beverly Y.

An analysis, development, and research (ADR) approach for planning educational research and development programs was used as a model for planning the National Institute of Education's School-To-Work Transition Program. The ADR model is system oriented and utilizes an iterative approach in which research questions are raised as others are answered.…

Who Are with Us: MOOC Learners on a FutureLearn Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liyanagunawardena, Tharindu Rekha; Lundqvist, Karsten Øster; Williams, Shirley Ann

2015-01-01

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) attract learners with a variety of backgrounds. Engaging them using game development was trialled in a beginner's programming course, "Begin programming: build your first mobile game," on FutureLearn platform. The course has completed two iterations: first in autumn 2013 and second in spring 2014 with…

Digital Competition Game to Improve Programming Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreno, Julian

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a digital game with an educational purpose in the subject of computer programming, which enables students to reinforce and improve their abilities on the concepts of sequencing, defined iteration and nesting. For its design, a problem solving approach was followed and a score comparing mechanism was implemented…

Multi-Draft Composing: An Iterative Model for Academic Argument Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckstein, Grant; Chariton, Jessica; McCollum, Robb Mark

2011-01-01

Post-secondary writing teachers in composition and English as a second language (ESL) writing programs are likely familiar with multi-draft composing. Both composition and ESL writing programs share nearly identical multi-draft models despite the very unique and different cultures of each group. We argue that multi-draft composing as it is…

Evaluating a Graduate Professional Development Program for Informal Science Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lake, Jeremy Paul

2017-01-01

This study is an examination and evaluation of the outcomes of a series of courses that I helped build to create a graduate certificate. Specifically, I wanted to evaluate whether or not the online iteration of the "Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program" truly provided the long term…

The Past, Present, and Future of Demand-Driven Acquisitions in Academic Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goedeken, Edward A.; Lawson, Karen

2015-01-01

Demand-driven acquisitions (DDA) programs have become a well-established approach toward integrating user involvement in the process of building academic library collections. However, these programs are in a constant state of evolution. A recent iteration in this evolution of ebook availability is the advent of large ebook collections whose…

A Hardware-Accelerated Quantum Monte Carlo framework (HAQMC) for N-body systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gothandaraman, Akila; Peterson, Gregory D.; Warren, G. Lee; Hinde, Robert J.; Harrison, Robert J.

2009-12-01

Interest in the study of structural and energetic properties of highly quantum clusters, such as inert gas clusters has motivated the development of a hardware-accelerated framework for Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. In the Quantum Monte Carlo method, the properties of a system of atoms, such as the ground-state energies, are averaged over a number of iterations. Our framework is aimed at accelerating the computations in each iteration of the QMC application by offloading the calculation of properties, namely energy and trial wave function, onto reconfigurable hardware. This gives a user the capability to run simulations for a large number of iterations, thereby reducing the statistical uncertainty in the properties, and for larger clusters. This framework is designed to run on the Cray XD1 high performance reconfigurable computing platform, which exploits the coarse-grained parallelism of the processor along with the fine-grained parallelism of the reconfigurable computing devices available in the form of field-programmable gate arrays. In this paper, we illustrate the functioning of the framework, which can be used to calculate the energies for a model cluster of helium atoms. In addition, we present the capabilities of the framework that allow the user to vary the chemical identities of the simulated atoms. Program summaryProgram title: Hardware Accelerated Quantum Monte Carlo (HAQMC) Catalogue identifier: AEEP_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEEP_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 691 537 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 5 031 226 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C/C++ for the QMC application, VHDL and Xilinx 8.1 ISE/EDK tools for FPGA design and development Computer: Cray XD1 consisting of a dual-core, dualprocessor AMD Opteron 2.2 GHz with a Xilinx Virtex-4 (V4LX160) or Xilinx Virtex-II Pro (XC2VP50) FPGA per node. We use the compute node with the Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA Operating system: Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS Has the code been vectorised or parallelized?: Yes Classification: 6.1 Nature of problem: Quantum Monte Carlo is a practical method to solve the Schrödinger equation for large many-body systems and obtain the ground-state properties of such systems. This method involves the sampling of a number of configurations of atoms and averaging the properties of the configurations over a number of iterations. We are interested in applying the QMC method to obtain the energy and other properties of highly quantum clusters, such as inert gas clusters. Solution method: The proposed framework provides a combined hardware-software approach, in which the QMC simulation is performed on the host processor, with the computationally intensive functions such as energy and trial wave function computations mapped onto the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) logic device attached as a co-processor to the host processor. We perform the QMC simulation for a number of iterations as in the case of our original software QMC approach, to reduce the statistical uncertainty of the results. However, our proposed HAQMC framework accelerates each iteration of the simulation, by significantly reducing the time taken to calculate the ground-state properties of the configurations of atoms, thereby accelerating the overall QMC simulation. We provide a generic interpolation framework that can be extended to study a variety of pure and doped atomic clusters, irrespective of the chemical identities of the atoms. For the FPGA implementation of the properties, we use a two-region approach for accurately computing the properties over the entire domain, employ deep pipelines and fixed-point for all our calculations guaranteeing the accuracy required for our simulation.

Fractal attractors in economic growth models with random pollution externalities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Torre, Davide; Marsiglio, Simone; Privileggi, Fabio

2018-05-01

We analyze a discrete time two-sector economic growth model where the production technologies in the final and human capital sectors are affected by random shocks both directly (via productivity and factor shares) and indirectly (via a pollution externality). We determine the optimal dynamics in the decentralized economy and show how these dynamics can be described in terms of a two-dimensional affine iterated function system with probability. This allows us to identify a suitable parameter configuration capable of generating exactly the classical Barnsley's fern as the attractor of the log-linearized optimal dynamical system.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D'Azevedo, Eduardo; Abbott, Stephen; Koskela, Tuomas

The XGC fusion gyrokinetic code combines state-of-the-art, portable computational and algorithmic technologies to enable complicated multiscale simulations of turbulence and transport dynamics in ITER edge plasma on the largest US open-science computer, the CRAY XK7 Titan, at its maximal heterogeneous capability, which have not been possible before due to a factor of over 10 shortage in the time-to-solution for less than 5 days of wall-clock time for one physics case. Frontier techniques such as nested OpenMP parallelism, adaptive parallel I/O, staging I/O and data reduction using dynamic and asynchronous applications interactions, dynamic repartitioning.

A contracting-interval program for the Danilewski method. Ph.D. Thesis - Va. Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, J. D.

1971-01-01

The concept of contracting-interval programs is applied to finding the eigenvalues of a matrix. The development is a three-step process in which (1) a program is developed for the reduction of a matrix to Hessenberg form, (2) a program is developed for the reduction of a Hessenberg matrix to colleague form, and (3) the characteristic polynomial with interval coefficients is readily obtained from the interval of colleague matrices. This interval polynomial is then factored into quadratic factors so that the eigenvalues may be obtained. To develop a contracting-interval program for factoring this polynomial with interval coefficients it is necessary to have an iteration method which converges even in the presence of controlled rounding errors. A theorem is stated giving sufficient conditions for the convergence of Newton's method when both the function and its Jacobian cannot be evaluated exactly but errors can be made proportional to the square of the norm of the difference between the previous two iterates. This theorem is applied to prove the convergence of the generalization of the Newton-Bairstow method that is used to obtain quadratic factors of the characteristic polynomial.

Recent Progress on ECH Technology for ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sirigiri, Jagadishwar

2005-10-01

The Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive (ECH&CD) system for ITER is a critical ITER system that must be available for use on Day 1 of the ITER experimental program. The applications of the system include plasma start-up, plasma heating and suppression of Neoclassical Tearing Modes (NTMs). These applications are accomplished using 27 one megawatt continuous wave gyrotrons: 24 at a frequency of 170 GHz and 3 at a frequency of 120 GHz. There are DC power supplies for the gyrotrons, a transmission line system, one launcher at the equatorial plane and three upper port launchers. The US will play a major role in delivering parts of the ECH&CD system to ITER. The present state-of-the-art includes major advances in all areas of ECH technology. In the US, a major effort is underway to supply gyrotrons of up to 1.5 MW power level at 110 GHz to General Atomics for use in heating the DIII-D tokamak. This presentation will include a brief review of the state-of-the-art, worldwide, in ECH technology. The requirements for the ITER ECH&CD system will then be reviewed. ITER calls for gyrotrons capable of operating from a 50 kV power supply, after potential depression, with a minimum of 50% overall efficiency. This is a very significant challenge and some approaches to meeting this goal will be presented. Recent experimental results at MIT showing improved efficiency of high frequency, 1.5 MW gyrotrons will be described. These results will be incorporated into the planned development of gyrotrons for ITER. The ITER ECH&CD system will also be a challenge to the transmission lines, which must operate at high average power at up to 1000 seconds and with high efficiency. The technology challenges and efforts in the US and other ITER parties to solve these problems will be reviewed. *In collaboration with E. Choi, C. Marchewka, I. Mastovosky, M. A. Shapiro and R. J. Temkin. This work is supported by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences of the U. S. Department of Energy.

Local orientational mobility in regular hyperbranched polymers.

PubMed

Dolgushev, Maxim; Markelov, Denis A; Fürstenberg, Florian; Guérin, Thomas

2016-07-01

We study the dynamics of local bond orientation in regular hyperbranched polymers modeled by Vicsek fractals. The local dynamics is investigated through the temporal autocorrelation functions of single bonds and the corresponding relaxation forms of the complex dielectric susceptibility. We show that the dynamic behavior of single segments depends on their remoteness from the periphery rather than on the size of the whole macromolecule. Remarkably, the dynamics of the core segments (which are most remote from the periphery) shows a scaling behavior that differs from the dynamics obtained after structural average. We analyze the most relevant processes of single segment motion and provide an analytic approximation for the corresponding relaxation times. Furthermore, we describe an iterative method to calculate the orientational dynamics in the case of very large macromolecular sizes.

Using the surface panel method to predict the steady performance of ducted propellers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Hao-Peng; Su, Yu-Min; Li, Xin; Shen, Hai-Long

2009-12-01

A new numerical method was developed for predicting the steady hydrodynamic performance of ducted propellers. A potential based surface panel method was applied both to the duct and the propeller, and the interaction between them was solved by an induced velocity potential iterative method. Compared with the induced velocity iterative method, the method presented can save programming and calculating time. Numerical results for a JD simplified ducted propeller series showed that the method presented is effective for predicting the steady hydrodynamic performance of ducted propellers.

Nonconvex model predictive control for commercial refrigeration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gybel Hovgaard, Tobias; Boyd, Stephen; Larsen, Lars F. S.; Bagterp Jørgensen, John

2013-08-01

We consider the control of a commercial multi-zone refrigeration system, consisting of several cooling units that share a common compressor, and is used to cool multiple areas or rooms. In each time period we choose cooling capacity to each unit and a common evaporation temperature. The goal is to minimise the total energy cost, using real-time electricity prices, while obeying temperature constraints on the zones. We propose a variation on model predictive control to achieve this goal. When the right variables are used, the dynamics of the system are linear, and the constraints are convex. The cost function, however, is nonconvex due to the temperature dependence of thermodynamic efficiency. To handle this nonconvexity we propose a sequential convex optimisation method, which typically converges in fewer than 5 or so iterations. We employ a fast convex quadratic programming solver to carry out the iterations, which is more than fast enough to run in real time. We demonstrate our method on a realistic model, with a full year simulation and 15-minute time periods, using historical electricity prices and weather data, as well as random variations in thermal load. These simulations show substantial cost savings, on the order of 30%, compared to a standard thermostat-based control system. Perhaps more important, we see that the method exhibits sophisticated response to real-time variations in electricity prices. This demand response is critical to help balance real-time uncertainties in generation capacity associated with large penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources in a future smart grid.

External heating and current drive source requirements towards steady-state operation in ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poli, F. M.; Kessel, C. E.; Bonoli, P. T.; Batchelor, D. B.; Harvey, R. W.; Snyder, P. B.

2014-07-01

Steady state scenarios envisaged for ITER aim at optimizing the bootstrap current, while maintaining sufficient confinement and stability to provide the necessary fusion yield. Non-inductive scenarios will need to operate with internal transport barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. However, the large pressure gradients associated with ITBs in regions of weak or negative magnetic shear can be conducive to ideal MHD instabilities, reducing the no-wall limit. The E × B flow shear from toroidal plasma rotation is expected to be low in ITER, with a major role in the ITB dynamics being played by magnetic geometry. Combinations of heating and current drive (H/CD) sources that sustain reversed magnetic shear profiles throughout the discharge are the focus of this work. Time-dependent transport simulations indicate that a combination of electron cyclotron (EC) and lower hybrid (LH) waves is a promising route towards steady state operation in ITER. The LH forms and sustains expanded barriers and the EC deposition at mid-radius freezes the bootstrap current profile stabilizing the barrier and leading to confinement levels 50% higher than typical H-mode energy confinement times. Using LH spectra with spectrum centred on parallel refractive index of 1.75-1.85, the performance of these plasma scenarios is close to the ITER target of 9 MA non-inductive current, global confinement gain H98 = 1.6 and fusion gain Q = 5.

Time-dependent modeling of dust injection in semi-detached ITER divertor plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smirnov, Roman; Krasheninnikov, Sergei

2017-10-01

At present, it is generally understood that dust related issues will play important role in operation of the next step fusion devices, i.e. ITER, and in the development of future fusion reactors. Recent progress in research on dust in magnetic fusion devises has outlined several topics of particular concern: a) degradation of fusion plasma performance; b) impairment of in-vessel diagnostic instruments; and c) safety issues related to dust reactivity and tritium retention. In addition, observed dust events in fusion edge plasmas are highly irregular and require consideration of temporal evolution of both the dust and the fusion plasma. In order to address the dust-related fusion performance issues, we have coupled the dust transport code DUSTT and the edge plasma transport code UEDGE in time-dependent manner, allowing modeling of transient dust-induced phenomena in fusion edge plasmas. Using the coupled codes we simulate burst-like injection of tungsten dust into ITER divertor plasma in semi-detached regime, which is considered as preferable ITER divertor operational mode based on the plasma and heat load control restrictions. Analysis of transport of the dust and the dust-produced impurities, and of dynamics of the ITER divertor and edge plasma in response to the dust injection will be presented. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, under Award Number DE-FG02-06ER54852.

Learning to improve iterative repair scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zweben, Monte; Davis, Eugene

1992-01-01

This paper presents a general learning method for dynamically selecting between repair heuristics in an iterative repair scheduling system. The system employs a version of explanation-based learning called Plausible Explanation-Based Learning (PEBL) that uses multiple examples to confirm conjectured explanations. The basic approach is to conjecture contradictions between a heuristic and statistics that measure the quality of the heuristic. When these contradictions are confirmed, a different heuristic is selected. To motivate the utility of this approach we present an empirical evaluation of the performance of a scheduling system with respect to two different repair strategies. We show that the scheduler that learns to choose between the heuristics outperforms the same scheduler with any one of two heuristics alone.

E-Learning Quality Assurance: A Process-Oriented Lifecycle Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdous, M'hammed

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a process-oriented lifecycle model for ensuring quality in e-learning development and delivery. As a dynamic and iterative process, quality assurance (QA) is intertwined with the e-learning development process. Design/methodology/approach: After reviewing the existing literature, particularly…

Identification of Stochastically Perturbed Autonomous Systems from Temporal Sequences of Probability Density Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nie, Xiaokai; Luo, Jingjing; Coca, Daniel; Birkin, Mark; Chen, Jing

2018-03-01

The paper introduces a method for reconstructing one-dimensional iterated maps that are driven by an external control input and subjected to an additive stochastic perturbation, from sequences of probability density functions that are generated by the stochastic dynamical systems and observed experimentally.

PubMed Central

Worrall, Graham; Chambers, Larry W.

1990-01-01

With the increasing expenditure on health care programs for seniors, there is an urgent need to evaluate such programs. The Measurement Iterative Loop is a tool that can provide both health administrators and health researchers with a method of evaluation of existing programs and identification of gaps in knowledge, and forms a rational basis for health-care policy decisions. In this article, the Loop is applied to one common problem of the elderly: dementia. PMID:21233998

Low-Cost, Net-Shape Ceramic Radial Turbine Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-05-01

PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK Garrett Turbine Engine Company AE OKUI UBR 111 South 34th Street, P.O. Box 2517 Phoenix, Arizona 85010 %I. CONTROLLING...processing iterations. Program management and materials characterization were conducted at Garrett Turbine Engine Company (GTEC), test bar and rotor...automotive gas turbine engine rotor development efforts at ACC. xvii PREFACE This is the final technical report of the Low-Cost, Net- Shape Ceramic

Suboptimal Scheduling in Switched Systems With Continuous-Time Dynamics: A Least Squares Approach.

PubMed

Sardarmehni, Tohid; Heydari, Ali

2018-06-01

Two approximate solutions for optimal control of switched systems with autonomous subsystems and continuous-time dynamics are presented. The first solution formulates a policy iteration (PI) algorithm for the switched systems with recursive least squares. To reduce the computational burden imposed by the PI algorithm, a second solution, called single loop PI, is presented. Online and concurrent training algorithms are discussed for implementing each solution. At last, effectiveness of the presented algorithms is evaluated through numerical simulations.

Conduction at the onset of chaos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldovin, Fulvio

2017-02-01

After a general discussion of the thermodynamics of conductive processes, we introduce specific observables enabling the connection of the diffusive transport properties with the microscopic dynamics. We solve the case of Brownian particles, both analytically and numerically, and address then whether aspects of the classic Onsager's picture generalize to the non-local non-reversible dynamics described by logistic map iterates. While in the chaotic case numerical evidence of a monotonic relaxation is found, at the onset of chaos complex relaxation patterns emerge.

Implications of the Turing machine model of computation for processor and programming language design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunter, Geoffrey

2004-01-01

A computational process is classified according to the theoretical model that is capable of executing it; computational processes that require a non-predeterminable amount of intermediate storage for their execution are Turing-machine (TM) processes, while those whose storage are predeterminable are Finite Automation (FA) processes. Simple processes (such as traffic light controller) are executable by Finite Automation, whereas the most general kind of computation requires a Turing Machine for its execution. This implies that a TM process must have a non-predeterminable amount of memory allocated to it at intermediate instants of its execution; i.e. dynamic memory allocation. Many processes encountered in practice are TM processes. The implication for computational practice is that the hardware (CPU) architecture and its operating system must facilitate dynamic memory allocation, and that the programming language used to specify TM processes must have statements with the semantic attribute of dynamic memory allocation, for in Alan Turing"s thesis on computation (1936) the "standard description" of a process is invariant over the most general data that the process is designed to process; i.e. the program describing the process should never have to be modified to allow for differences in the data that is to be processed in different instantiations; i.e. data-invariant programming. Any non-trivial program is partitioned into sub-programs (procedures, subroutines, functions, modules, etc). Examination of the calls/returns between the subprograms reveals that they are nodes in a tree-structure; this tree-structure is independent of the programming language used to encode (define) the process. Each sub-program typically needs some memory for its own use (to store values intermediate between its received data and its computed results); this locally required memory is not needed before the subprogram commences execution, and it is not needed after its execution terminates; it may be allocated as its execution commences, and deallocated as its execution terminates, and if the amount of this local memory is not known until just before execution commencement, then it is essential that it be allocated dynamically as the first action of its execution. This dynamically allocated/deallocated storage of each subprogram"s intermediate values, conforms with the stack discipline; i.e. last allocated = first to be deallocated, an incidental benefit of which is automatic overlaying of variables. This stack-based dynamic memory allocation was a semantic implication of the nested block structure that originated in the ALGOL-60 programming language. AGLOL-60 was a TM language, because the amount of memory allocated on subprogram (block/procedure) entry (for arrays, etc) was computable at execution time. A more general requirement of a Turing machine process is for code generation at run-time; this mandates access to the source language processor (compiler/interpretor) during execution of the process. This fundamental aspect of computer science is important to the future of system design, because it has been overlooked throughout the 55 years since modern computing began in 1048. The popular computer systems of this first half-century of computing were constrained by compile-time (or even operating system boot-time) memory allocation, and were thus limited to executing FA processes. The practical effect was that the distinction between the data-invariant program and its variable data was blurred; programmers had to make trial and error executions, modifying the program"s compile-time constants (array dimensions) to iterate towards the values required at run-time by the data being processed. This era of trial and error computing still persists; it pervades the culture of current (2003) computing practice.

Installation and Testing of ITER Integrated Modeling and Analysis Suite (IMAS) on DIII-D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lao, L.; Kostuk, M.; Meneghini, O.; Smith, S.; Staebler, G.; Kalling, R.; Pinches, S.

2017-10-01

A critical objective of the ITER Integrated Modeling Program is the development of IMAS to support ITER plasma operation and research activities. An IMAS framework has been established based on the earlier work carried out within the EU. It consists of a physics data model and a workflow engine. The data model is capable of representing both simulation and experimental data and is applicable to ITER and other devices. IMAS has been successfully installed on a local DIII-D server using a flexible installer capable of managing the core data access tools (Access Layer and Data Dictionary) and optionally the Kepler workflow engine and coupling tools. A general adaptor for OMFIT (a workflow engine) is being built for adaptation of any analysis code to IMAS using a new IMAS universal access layer (UAL) interface developed from an existing OMFIT EU Integrated Tokamak Modeling UAL. Ongoing work includes development of a general adaptor for EFIT and TGLF based on this new UAL that can be readily extended for other physics codes within OMFIT. Work supported by US DOE under DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Doppler Lidar System Design via Interdisciplinary Design Concept at NASA Langley Research Center - Part III

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Bruce W.; Sessions, Alaric M.; Beyon, Jeffrey; Petway, Larry B.

2014-01-01

Optimized designs of the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) instrument for Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) were accomplished via Interdisciplinary Design Concept (IDEC) at NASA Langley Research Center during the summer of 2013. Three branches in the Engineering Directorate and three students were involved in this joint task through the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program. The Laser Remote Sensing Branch (LRSB), Mechanical Systems Branch (MSB), and Structural and Thermal Systems Branch (STSB) were engaged to achieve optimal designs through iterative and interactive collaborative design processes. A preliminary design iteration was able to reduce the power consumption, mass, and footprint by removing redundant components and replacing inefficient components with more efficient ones. A second design iteration reduced volume and mass by replacing bulky components with excessive performance with smaller components custom-designed for the power system. The existing power system was analyzed to rank components in terms of inefficiency, power dissipation, footprint and mass. Design considerations and priorities are compared along with the results of each design iteration. Overall power system improvements are summarized for design implementations.

Developing an Assessment Process for a Master's of Science Degree in a Pharmaceutical Sciences Program.

PubMed

Bloom, Timothy J; Hall, Julie M; Liu, Qinfeng; Stagner, William C; Adams, Michael L

2016-09-25

Objective. To develop a program-level assessment process for a master's of science degree in a pharmaceutical sciences (MSPS) program. Design. Program-level goals were created and mapped to course learning objectives. Embedded assessment tools were created by each course director and used to gather information related to program-level goals. Initial assessment iterations involved a subset of offered courses, and course directors met with the department assessment committee to review the quality of the assessment tools as well as the data collected with them. Insights from these discussions were used to improve the process. When all courses were used for collecting program-level assessment data, a modified system of guided reflection was used to reduce demands on committee members. Assessment. The first two iterations of collecting program-level assessment revealed problems with both the assessment tools and the program goals themselves. Course directors were inconsistent in the Bloom's Taxonomy level at which they assessed student achievement of program goals. Moreover, inappropriate mapping of program goals to course learning objectives were identified. These issues led to unreliable measures of how well students were doing with regard to program-level goals. Peer discussions between course directors and the assessment committee led to modification of program goals as well as improved assessment data collection tools. Conclusion. By starting with a subset of courses and using course-embedded assessment tools, a program-level assessment process was created with little difficulty. Involving all faculty members and avoiding comparisons between courses made obtaining faculty buy-in easier. Peer discussion often resulted in consensus on how to improve assessment tools.

Near Optimal Event-Triggered Control of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems Using Neurodynamic Programming.

PubMed

Sahoo, Avimanyu; Xu, Hao; Jagannathan, Sarangapani

2016-09-01

This paper presents an event-triggered near optimal control of uncertain nonlinear discrete-time systems. Event-driven neurodynamic programming (NDP) is utilized to design the control policy. A neural network (NN)-based identifier, with event-based state and input vectors, is utilized to learn the system dynamics. An actor-critic framework is used to learn the cost function and the optimal control input. The NN weights of the identifier, the critic, and the actor NNs are tuned aperiodically once every triggered instant. An adaptive event-trigger condition to decide the trigger instants is derived. Thus, a suitable number of events are generated to ensure a desired accuracy of approximation. A near optimal performance is achieved without using value and/or policy iterations. A detailed analysis of nontrivial inter-event times with an explicit formula to show the reduction in computation is also derived. The Lyapunov technique is used in conjunction with the event-trigger condition to guarantee the ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system. The simulation results are included to verify the performance of the controller. The net result is the development of event-driven NDP.

Application of numerical optimization techniques to control system design for nonlinear dynamic models of aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lan, C. Edward; Ge, Fuying

1989-01-01

Control system design for general nonlinear flight dynamic models is considered through numerical simulation. The design is accomplished through a numerical optimizer coupled with analysis of flight dynamic equations. The general flight dynamic equations are numerically integrated and dynamic characteristics are then identified from the dynamic response. The design variables are determined iteratively by the optimizer to optimize a prescribed objective function which is related to desired dynamic characteristics. Generality of the method allows nonlinear effects to aerodynamics and dynamic coupling to be considered in the design process. To demonstrate the method, nonlinear simulation models for an F-5A and an F-16 configurations are used to design dampers to satisfy specifications on flying qualities and control systems to prevent departure. The results indicate that the present method is simple in formulation and effective in satisfying the design objectives.

Faster than Real-Time Dynamic Simulation for Large-Size Power System with Detailed Dynamic Models using High-Performance Computing Platform

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Renke; Jin, Shuangshuang; Chen, Yousu

This paper presents a faster-than-real-time dynamic simulation software package that is designed for large-size power system dynamic simulation. It was developed on the GridPACKTM high-performance computing (HPC) framework. The key features of the developed software package include (1) faster-than-real-time dynamic simulation for a WECC system (17,000 buses) with different types of detailed generator, controller, and relay dynamic models, (2) a decoupled parallel dynamic simulation algorithm with optimized computation architecture to better leverage HPC resources and technologies, (3) options for HPC-based linear and iterative solvers, (4) hidden HPC details, such as data communication and distribution, to enable development centered on mathematicalmore » models and algorithms rather than on computational details for power system researchers, and (5) easy integration of new dynamic models and related algorithms into the software package.« less

jInv: A Modular and Scalable Framework for Electromagnetic Inverse Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belliveau, P. T.; Haber, E.

2016-12-01

Inversion is a key tool in the interpretation of geophysical electromagnetic (EM) data. Three-dimensional (3D) EM inversion is very computationally expensive and practical software for inverting large 3D EM surveys must be able to take advantage of high performance computing (HPC) resources. It has traditionally been difficult to achieve those goals in a high level dynamic programming environment that allows rapid development and testing of new algorithms, which is important in a research setting. With those goals in mind, we have developed jInv, a framework for PDE constrained parameter estimation problems. jInv provides optimization and regularization routines, a framework for user defined forward problems, and interfaces to several direct and iterative solvers for sparse linear systems. The forward modeling framework provides finite volume discretizations of differential operators on rectangular tensor product meshes and tetrahedral unstructured meshes that can be used to easily construct forward modeling and sensitivity routines for forward problems described by partial differential equations. jInv is written in the emerging programming language Julia. Julia is a dynamic language targeted at the computational science community with a focus on high performance and native support for parallel programming. We have developed frequency and time-domain EM forward modeling and sensitivity routines for jInv. We will illustrate its capabilities and performance with two synthetic time-domain EM inversion examples. First, in airborne surveys, which use many sources, we achieve distributed memory parallelism by decoupling the forward and inverse meshes and performing forward modeling for each source on small, locally refined meshes. Secondly, we invert grounded source time-domain data from a gradient array style induced polarization survey using a novel time-stepping technique that allows us to compute data from different time-steps in parallel. These examples both show that it is possible to invert large scale 3D time-domain EM datasets within a modular, extensible framework written in a high-level, easy to use programming language.

An Object Model for a Rocket Engine Numerical Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitra, D.; Bhalla, P. N.; Pratap, V.; Reddy, P.

1998-01-01

Rocket Engine Numerical Simulator (RENS) is a packet of software which numerically simulates the behavior of a rocket engine. Different parameters of the components of an engine is the input to these programs. Depending on these given parameters the programs output the behaviors of those components. These behavioral values are then used to guide the design of or to diagnose a model of a rocket engine "built" by a composition of these programs simulating different components of the engine system. In order to use this software package effectively one needs to have a flexible model of a rocket engine. These programs simulating different components then should be plugged into this modular representation. Our project is to develop an object based model of such an engine system. We are following an iterative and incremental approach in developing the model, as is the standard practice in the area of object oriented design and analysis of softwares. This process involves three stages: object modeling to represent the components and sub-components of a rocket engine, dynamic modeling to capture the temporal and behavioral aspects of the system, and functional modeling to represent the transformational aspects. This article reports on the first phase of our activity under a grant (RENS) from the NASA Lewis Research center. We have utilized Rambaugh's object modeling technique and the tool UML for this purpose. The classes of a rocket engine propulsion system are developed and some of them are presented in this report. The next step, developing a dynamic model for RENS, is also touched upon here. In this paper we will also discuss the advantages of using object-based modeling for developing this type of an integrated simulator over other tools like an expert systems shell or a procedural language, e.g., FORTRAN. Attempts have been made in the past to use such techniques.

Simulation of fluid-structure interaction in micropumps by coupling of two commercial finite element programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Andreas; Gerlach, Gerald

1998-09-01

This paper deals with the simulation of the fluid-structure interaction phenomena in micropumps. The proposed solution approach is based on external coupling of two different solvers, which are considered here as `black boxes'. Therefore, no specific intervention is necessary into the program code, and solvers can be exchanged arbitrarily. For the realization of the external iteration loop, two algorithms are considered: the relaxation-based Gauss-Seidel method and the computationally more extensive Newton method. It is demonstrated in terms of a simplified test case, that for rather weak coupling, the Gauss-Seidel method is sufficient. However, by simply changing the considered fluid from air to water, the two physical domains become strongly coupled, and the Gauss-Seidel method fails to converge in this case. The Newton iteration scheme must be used instead.

Parallel Conjugate Gradient: Effects of Ordering Strategies, Programming Paradigms, and Architectural Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliker, Leonid; Heber, Gerd; Biswas, Rupak

2000-01-01

The Conjugate Gradient (CG) algorithm is perhaps the best-known iterative technique to solve sparse linear systems that are symmetric and positive definite. A sparse matrix-vector multiply (SPMV) usually accounts for most of the floating-point operations within a CG iteration. In this paper, we investigate the effects of various ordering and partitioning strategies on the performance of parallel CG and SPMV using different programming paradigms and architectures. Results show that for this class of applications, ordering significantly improves overall performance, that cache reuse may be more important than reducing communication, and that it is possible to achieve message passing performance using shared memory constructs through careful data ordering and distribution. However, a multi-threaded implementation of CG on the Tera MTA does not require special ordering or partitioning to obtain high efficiency and scalability.

Nonperturbative measurement of the local magnetic field using pulsed polarimetry for fusion reactor conditions (invited)a)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Roger J.

2008-10-01

A novel diagnostic technique for the remote and nonperturbative sensing of the local magnetic field in reactor relevant plasmas is presented. Pulsed polarimetry [Patent No. 12/150,169 (pending)] combines optical scattering with the Faraday effect. The polarimetric light detection and ranging (LIDAR)-like diagnostic has the potential to be a local Bpol diagnostic on ITER and can achieve spatial resolutions of millimeters on high energy density (HED) plasmas using existing lasers. The pulsed polarimetry method is based on nonlocal measurements and subtle effects are introduced that are not present in either cw polarimetry or Thomson scattering LIDAR. Important features include the capability of simultaneously measuring local Te, ne, and B∥ along the line of sight, a resiliency to refractive effects, a short measurement duration providing near instantaneous data in time, and location for real-time feedback and control of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities and the realization of a widely applicable internal magnetic field diagnostic for the magnetic fusion energy program. The technique improves for higher neB∥ product and higher ne and is well suited for diagnosing the transient plasmas in the HED program. Larger devices such as ITER and DEMO are also better suited to the technique, allowing longer pulse lengths and thereby relaxing key technology constraints making pulsed polarimetry a valuable asset for next step devices. The pulsed polarimetry technique is clarified by way of illustration on the ITER tokamak and plasmas within the magnetized target fusion program within present technological means.

Shaping Aspirations, Awareness, Academics, and Action: Outcomes of Summer Enrichment Programs for English-Learning Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Paul H.; Mellom, Paula J.

2012-01-01

Mixed-method evaluation of two iterations of month-long summer enrichment programs for English-learning secondary students investigated impacts on participants' beliefs about school and academic achievement, and on actual course choices, test outcomes, and graduation rates. Students (N = 85) from one ethnically diverse, high-poverty high school in…

Iterations of the SafeCare Model: An Evidence-Based Child Maltreatment Prevention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Anna; Lutzker, John R.

2008-01-01

SafeCare is an evidenced-based parenting program for at-risk and maltreating parents that addresses the social and family ecology in which child maltreatment occurs. SafeCare home visitors focus on behavioral skills that are trained to predetermined performance criteria. Recent research has stressed the importance of successful dissemination and…

Design Features of a Friendly Software Environment for Novice Programmers. Technical Report No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenstadt, Marc

This paper describes the results of a 6-year period of design, implementation, testing, and iterative redesign of a programming language, user aids, and curriculum materials for use by psychology students learning how to write simple computer programs. The SOLO language, which was the resulting product, is primarily a simple, database…

Application of microdosimetry on biological physics for ionizing radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dandan; Sun, Liang

2018-02-01

Not Available Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11304212 and 11575124), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant Nos. BK20130279), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Special Program of China (Grant No. 2014GB112006).

Modeling cardiovascular hemodynamics using the lattice Boltzmann method on massively parallel supercomputers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Randles, Amanda Elizabeth

Accurate and reliable modeling of cardiovascular hemodynamics has the potential to improve understanding of the localization and progression of heart diseases, which are currently the most common cause of death in Western countries. However, building a detailed, realistic model of human blood flow is a formidable mathematical and computational challenge. The simulation must combine the motion of the fluid, the intricate geometry of the blood vessels, continual changes in flow and pressure driven by the heartbeat, and the behavior of suspended bodies such as red blood cells. Such simulations can provide insight into factors like endothelial shear stress that act as triggers for the complex biomechanical events that can lead to atherosclerotic pathologies. Currently, it is not possible to measure endothelial shear stress in vivo, making these simulations a crucial component to understanding and potentially predicting the progression of cardiovascular disease. In this thesis, an approach for efficiently modeling the fluid movement coupled to the cell dynamics in real-patient geometries while accounting for the additional force from the expansion and contraction of the heart will be presented and examined. First, a novel method to couple a mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann fluid model to the microscopic molecular dynamics model of cell movement is elucidated. A treatment of red blood cells as extended structures, a method to handle highly irregular geometries through topology driven graph partitioning, and an efficient molecular dynamics load balancing scheme are introduced. These result in a large-scale simulation of the cardiovascular system, with a realistic description of the complex human arterial geometry, from centimeters down to the spatial resolution of red-blood cells. The computational methods developed to enable scaling of the application to 294,912 processors are discussed, thus empowering the simulation of a full heartbeat. Second, further extensions to enable the modeling of fluids in vessels with smaller diameters and a method for introducing the deformational forces exerted on the arterial flows from the movement of the heart by borrowing concepts from cosmodynamics are presented. These additional forces have a great impact on the endothelial shear stress. Third, the fluid model is extended to not only recover Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics, but also a wider range of Knudsen numbers, which is especially important in micro- and nano-scale flows. The tradeoffs of many optimizations methods such as the use of deep halo level ghost cells that, alongside hybrid programming models, reduce the impact of such higher-order models and enable efficient modeling of extreme regimes of computational fluid dynamics are discussed. Fourth, the extension of these models to other research questions like clogging in microfluidic devices and determining the severity of co-arctation of the aorta is presented. Through this work, a validation of these methods by taking real patient data and the measured pressure value before the narrowing of the aorta and predicting the pressure drop across the co-arctation is shown. Comparison with the measured pressure drop in vivo highlights the accuracy and potential impact of such patient specific simulations. Finally, a method to enable the simulation of longer trajectories in time by discretizing both spatially and temporally is presented. In this method, a serial coarse iterator is used to initialize data at discrete time steps for a fine model that runs in parallel. This coarse solver is based on a larger time step and typically a coarser discretization in space. Iterative refinement enables the compute-intensive fine iterator to be modeled with temporal parallelization. The algorithm consists of a series of prediction-corrector iterations completing when the results have converged within a certain tolerance. Combined, these developments allow large fluid models to be simulated for longer time durations than previously possible.

Optimization of image quality and acquisition time for lab-based X-ray microtomography using an iterative reconstruction algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Qingyang; Andrew, Matthew; Thompson, William; Blunt, Martin J.; Bijeljic, Branko

2018-05-01

Non-invasive laboratory-based X-ray microtomography has been widely applied in many industrial and research disciplines. However, the main barrier to the use of laboratory systems compared to a synchrotron beamline is its much longer image acquisition time (hours per scan compared to seconds to minutes at a synchrotron), which results in limited application for dynamic in situ processes. Therefore, the majority of existing laboratory X-ray microtomography is limited to static imaging; relatively fast imaging (tens of minutes per scan) can only be achieved by sacrificing imaging quality, e.g. reducing exposure time or number of projections. To alleviate this barrier, we introduce an optimized implementation of a well-known iterative reconstruction algorithm that allows users to reconstruct tomographic images with reasonable image quality, but requires lower X-ray signal counts and fewer projections than conventional methods. Quantitative analysis and comparison between the iterative and the conventional filtered back-projection reconstruction algorithm was performed using a sandstone rock sample with and without liquid phases in the pore space. Overall, by implementing the iterative reconstruction algorithm, the required image acquisition time for samples such as this, with sparse object structure, can be reduced by a factor of up to 4 without measurable loss of sharpness or signal to noise ratio.

Experimental investigation of the flow field and power consumption characteristics of regular and fractal blade impellers in a dynamic mixer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiros, K.; Bruce, P. J. K.; Buxton, O. R. H.; Vassilicos, J. C.

2015-11-01

Experiments have been performed in an octagonal un-baffled water tank, stirred by three radial turbines with different geometry impellers: (1) regular rectangular blades; (2) single-iteration fractal blades; (3) two-iteration fractal blades. Shaft torque was monitored and the power number calculated for each case. Both impellers with fractal geometry blades exhibited a decrease of turbine power number compared to the regular one (15% decrease for single-iteration and 19% for two iterations). Phase locked PIV in the discharge region of the blades revealed that the vortices emanating from the regular blades are more coherent, have higher kinetic energy, and advect faster towards the tank's walls where they are dissipated, compared to their fractal counterparts. This suggests a strong link between vortex production and behaviour and the energy input for the different impellers. Planar PIV measurements in the bulk of the tank showed an increase of turbulence intensity of over 20% for the fractal geometry blades, suggesting higher mixing efficiency. Experiments with pressure measurements on the different geometry blade surfaces are ongoing to investigate the distribution of forces, and calculate hydrodynamic centres of pressure. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support given by European Union FP7 Marie Curie MULTISOLVE project (Grant Agreement No. 317269).

A nonlinear optimal control approach for chaotic finance dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rigatos, G.; Siano, P.; Loia, V.; Tommasetti, A.; Troisi, O.

2017-11-01

A new nonlinear optimal control approach is proposed for stabilization of the dynamics of a chaotic finance model. The dynamic model of the financial system, which expresses interaction between the interest rate, the investment demand, the price exponent and the profit margin, undergoes approximate linearization round local operating points. These local equilibria are defined at each iteration of the control algorithm and consist of the present value of the systems state vector and the last value of the control inputs vector that was exerted on it. The approximate linearization makes use of Taylor series expansion and of the computation of the associated Jacobian matrices. The truncation of higher order terms in the Taylor series expansion is considered to be a modelling error that is compensated by the robustness of the control loop. As the control algorithm runs, the temporary equilibrium is shifted towards the reference trajectory and finally converges to it. The control method needs to compute an H-infinity feedback control law at each iteration, and requires the repetitive solution of an algebraic Riccati equation. Through Lyapunov stability analysis it is shown that an H-infinity tracking performance criterion holds for the control loop. This implies elevated robustness against model approximations and external perturbations. Moreover, under moderate conditions the global asymptotic stability of the control loop is proven.

A Modularized Efficient Framework for Non-Markov Time Series Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schamberg, Gabriel; Ba, Demba; Coleman, Todd P.

2018-06-01

We present a compartmentalized approach to finding the maximum a-posteriori (MAP) estimate of a latent time series that obeys a dynamic stochastic model and is observed through noisy measurements. We specifically consider modern signal processing problems with non-Markov signal dynamics (e.g. group sparsity) and/or non-Gaussian measurement models (e.g. point process observation models used in neuroscience). Through the use of auxiliary variables in the MAP estimation problem, we show that a consensus formulation of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) enables iteratively computing separate estimates based on the likelihood and prior and subsequently "averaging" them in an appropriate sense using a Kalman smoother. As such, this can be applied to a broad class of problem settings and only requires modular adjustments when interchanging various aspects of the statistical model. Under broad log-concavity assumptions, we show that the separate estimation problems are convex optimization problems and that the iterative algorithm converges to the MAP estimate. As such, this framework can capture non-Markov latent time series models and non-Gaussian measurement models. We provide example applications involving (i) group-sparsity priors, within the context of electrophysiologic specrotemporal estimation, and (ii) non-Gaussian measurement models, within the context of dynamic analyses of learning with neural spiking and behavioral observations.

Initial value problem of space dynamics in universal Stumpff anomaly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharaf, M. A.; Dwidar, H. R.

2018-05-01

In this paper, the initial value problem of space dynamics in universal Stumpff anomaly ψ is set up and developed in analytical and computational approach. For the analytical expansions, the linear independence of the functions U_{j} (ψ;σ); {j=0,1,2,3} are proved. The differential and recurrence equations satisfied by them and their relations with the elementary functions are given. The universal Kepler equation and its validations for different conic orbits are established together with the Lagrangian coefficients. Efficient representations of these functions are developed in terms of the continued fractions. For the computational developments we consider the following items: 1. Top-down algorithm for continued fraction evaluation. 2. One-point iteration formulae. 3. Determination of the coefficients of Kepler's equation. 4. Derivatives of Kepler's equation of any integer order. 5. Determination of the initial guess for the solution of the universal Kepler equation. Finally we give summary on the computational design for the initial value problem of space dynamics in universal Stumpff anomaly. This design based on the solution of the universal Kepler's equation by an iterative schemes of quadratic up to any desired order ℓ.

Use of the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm as a generic solver for mixed-model equations in animal breeding applications.

PubMed

Tsuruta, S; Misztal, I; Strandén, I

2001-05-01

Utility of the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm with a diagonal preconditioner for solving mixed-model equations in animal breeding applications was evaluated with 16 test problems. The problems included single- and multiple-trait analyses, with data on beef, dairy, and swine ranging from small examples to national data sets. Multiple-trait models considered low and high genetic correlations. Convergence was based on relative differences between left- and right-hand sides. The ordering of equations was fixed effects followed by random effects, with no special ordering within random effects. The preconditioned conjugate gradient program implemented with double precision converged for all models. However, when implemented in single precision, the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm did not converge for seven large models. The preconditioned conjugate gradient and successive overrelaxation algorithms were subsequently compared for 13 of the test problems. The preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm was easy to implement with the iteration on data for general models. However, successive overrelaxation requires specific programming for each set of models. On average, the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm converged in three times fewer rounds of iteration than successive overrelaxation. With straightforward implementations, programs using the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm may be two or more times faster than those using successive overrelaxation. However, programs using the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm would use more memory than would comparable implementations using successive overrelaxation. Extensive optimization of either algorithm can influence rankings. The preconditioned conjugate gradient implemented with iteration on data, a diagonal preconditioner, and in double precision may be the algorithm of choice for solving mixed-model equations when sufficient memory is available and ease of implementation is essential.

Adapting high-level language programs for parallel processing using data flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Standley, Hilda M.

1988-01-01

EASY-FLOW, a very high-level data flow language, is introduced for the purpose of adapting programs written in a conventional high-level language to a parallel environment. The level of parallelism provided is of the large-grained variety in which parallel activities take place between subprograms or processes. A program written in EASY-FLOW is a set of subprogram calls as units, structured by iteration, branching, and distribution constructs. A data flow graph may be deduced from an EASY-FLOW program.

Conceptual design of data acquisition and control system for two Rf driver based negative ion source for fusion R&D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soni, Jigensh; Yadav, R. K.; Patel, A.; Gahlaut, A.; Mistry, H.; Parmar, K. G.; Mahesh, V.; Parmar, D.; Prajapati, B.; Singh, M. J.; Bandyopadhyay, M.; Bansal, G.; Pandya, K.; Chakraborty, A.

2013-02-01

Twin Source - An Inductively coupled two RF driver based 180 kW, 1 MHz negative ion source experimental setup is initiated at IPR, Gandhinagar, under Indian program, with the objective of understanding the physics and technology of multi-driver coupling. Twin Source [1] (TS) also provides an intermediate platform between operational ROBIN [2] [5] and eight RF drivers based Indian test facility -INTF [3]. A twin source experiment requires a central system to provide control, data acquisition and communication interface, referred as TS-CODAC, for which a software architecture similar to ITER CODAC core system has been decided for implementation. The Core System is a software suite for ITER plant system manufacturers to use as a template for the development of their interface with CODAC. The ITER approach, in terms of technology, has been adopted for the TS-CODAC so as to develop necessary expertise for developing and operating a control system based on the ITER guidelines as similar configuration needs to be implemented for the INTF. This cost effective approach will provide an opportunity to evaluate and learn ITER CODAC technology, documentation, information technology and control system processes, on an operational machine. Conceptual design of the TS-CODAC system has been completed. For complete control of the system, approximately 200 Nos. control signals and 152 acquisition signals are needed. In TS-CODAC, control loop time required is within the range of 5ms - 10 ms, therefore for the control system, PLC (Siemens S-7 400) has been chosen as suggested in the ITER slow controller catalog. For the data acquisition, the maximum sampling interval required is 100 micro second, and therefore National Instruments (NI) PXIe system and NI 6259 digitizer cards have been selected as suggested in the ITER fast controller catalog. This paper will present conceptual design of TS -CODAC system based on ITER CODAC Core software and applicable plant system integration processes.

Task toward a Realization of Commercial Tokamak Fusion Plants in 2050 -The Role of ITER and the Succeeding Developments- 4.Technology and Material Research in Fusion Power Plant Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akiba, Masato; Matsui, Hideki; Takatsu, Hideyuki; Konishi, Satoshi

Technical issues regarding the fusion power plant that are required to be developed in the period of ITER construction and operation, both with ITER and with other facilities that complement ITER are described in this section. Three major fields are considered to be important in fusion technology. Section 4.1 summarizes blanket study, and ITER Test Blanket Module (TBM) development that focuses its effort on the first generation power blanket to be installed in DEMO. ITER will be equipped with 6 TBMs which are developed under each party's fusion program. In Japan, the solid breeder using water as a coolant is the primary candidate, and He-cooled pebble bed is the alternative. Other liquid options such as LiPb, Li or molten salt are developed by other parties' initiatives. The Test Blanket Working Group (TBWG) is coordinating these efforts. Japanese universities are investigating advanced concepts and fundamental crosscutting technologies. Section 4.2 introduces material development and particularly, the international irradiation facility, IFMIF. Reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steels are identified as promising candidates for the structural material of the first generation fusion blanket, while and vanadium alloy and SiC/SiC composite are pursued as advanced options. The IFMIF is currently planning the next phase of joint activity, EVEDA (Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activity) that encompasses construction. Material studies together with the ITER TBM will provide essential technical information for development of the fusion power plant. Other technical issues to be addressed regarding the first generation fusion power plant are summarized in section 4.3. Development of components for ITER made remarkable progress for the major essential technology also necessary for future fusion plants, however many still need further improvements toward power plant. Such areas includes; the divertor, plasma heating/current drive, magnets, tritium, and remote handling. There remain many other technical issues for power plant which require integrated efforts.

SU-D-206-03: Segmentation Assisted Fast Iterative Reconstruction Method for Cone-Beam CT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, P; Mao, T; Gong, S

2016-06-15

Purpose: Total Variation (TV) based iterative reconstruction (IR) methods enable accurate CT image reconstruction from low-dose measurements with sparse projection acquisition, due to the sparsifiable feature of most CT images using gradient operator. However, conventional solutions require large amount of iterations to generate a decent reconstructed image. One major reason is that the expected piecewise constant property is not taken into consideration at the optimization starting point. In this work, we propose an iterative reconstruction method for cone-beam CT (CBCT) using image segmentation to guide the optimization path more efficiently on the regularization term at the beginning of the optimizationmore » trajectory. Methods: Our method applies general knowledge that one tissue component in the CT image contains relatively uniform distribution of CT number. This general knowledge is incorporated into the proposed reconstruction using image segmentation technique to generate the piecewise constant template on the first-pass low-quality CT image reconstructed using analytical algorithm. The template image is applied as an initial value into the optimization process. Results: The proposed method is evaluated on the Shepp-Logan phantom of low and high noise levels, and a head patient. The number of iterations is reduced by overall 40%. Moreover, our proposed method tends to generate a smoother reconstructed image with the same TV value. Conclusion: We propose a computationally efficient iterative reconstruction method for CBCT imaging. Our method achieves a better optimization trajectory and a faster convergence behavior. It does not rely on prior information and can be readily incorporated into existing iterative reconstruction framework. Our method is thus practical and attractive as a general solution to CBCT iterative reconstruction. This work is supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LR16F010001), National High-tech R&D Program for Young Scientists by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2015AA020917).« less

specsim: A Fortran-77 program for conditional spectral simulation in 3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Tingting

1998-12-01

A Fortran 77 program, specsim, is presented for conditional spectral simulation in 3D domains. The traditional Fourier integral method allows generating random fields with a given covariance spectrum. Conditioning to local data is achieved by an iterative identification of the conditional phase information. A flowchart of the program is given to illustrate the implementation procedures of the program. A 3D case study is presented to demonstrate application of the program. A comparison with the traditional sequential Gaussian simulation algorithm emphasizes the advantages and drawbacks of the proposed algorithm.

Whole-body direct 4D parametric PET imaging employing nested generalized Patlak expectation-maximization reconstruction

PubMed Central

Karakatsanis, Nicolas A.; Casey, Michael E.; Lodge, Martin A.; Rahmim, Arman; Zaidi, Habib

2016-01-01

Whole-body (WB) dynamic PET has recently demonstrated its potential in translating the quantitative benefits of parametric imaging to the clinic. Post-reconstruction standard Patlak (sPatlak) WB graphical analysis utilizes multi-bed multi-pass PET acquisition to produce quantitative WB images of the tracer influx rate Ki as a complimentary metric to the semi-quantitative standardized uptake value (SUV). The resulting Ki images may suffer from high noise due to the need for short acquisition frames. Meanwhile, a generalized Patlak (gPatlak) WB post-reconstruction method had been suggested to limit Ki bias of sPatlak analysis at regions with non-negligible 18F-FDG uptake reversibility; however, gPatlak analysis is non-linear and thus can further amplify noise. In the present study, we implemented, within the open-source Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction (STIR) platform, a clinically adoptable 4D WB reconstruction framework enabling efficient estimation of sPatlak and gPatlak images directly from dynamic multi-bed PET raw data with substantial noise reduction. Furthermore, we employed the optimization transfer methodology to accelerate 4D expectation-maximization (EM) convergence by nesting the fast image-based estimation of Patlak parameters within each iteration cycle of the slower projection-based estimation of dynamic PET images. The novel gPatlak 4D method was initialized from an optimized set of sPatlak ML-EM iterations to facilitate EM convergence. Initially, realistic simulations were conducted utilizing published 18F-FDG kinetic parameters coupled with the XCAT phantom. Quantitative analyses illustrated enhanced Ki target-to-background ratio (TBR) and especially contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) performance for the 4D vs. the indirect methods and static SUV. Furthermore, considerable convergence acceleration was observed for the nested algorithms involving 10–20 sub-iterations. Moreover, systematic reduction in Ki % bias and improved TBR were observed for gPatlak vs. sPatlak. Finally, validation on clinical WB dynamic data demonstrated the clinical feasibility and superior Ki CNR performance for the proposed 4D framework compared to indirect Patlak and SUV imaging. PMID:27383991

Whole-body direct 4D parametric PET imaging employing nested generalized Patlak expectation-maximization reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karakatsanis, Nicolas A.; Casey, Michael E.; Lodge, Martin A.; Rahmim, Arman; Zaidi, Habib

2016-08-01

Whole-body (WB) dynamic PET has recently demonstrated its potential in translating the quantitative benefits of parametric imaging to the clinic. Post-reconstruction standard Patlak (sPatlak) WB graphical analysis utilizes multi-bed multi-pass PET acquisition to produce quantitative WB images of the tracer influx rate K i as a complimentary metric to the semi-quantitative standardized uptake value (SUV). The resulting K i images may suffer from high noise due to the need for short acquisition frames. Meanwhile, a generalized Patlak (gPatlak) WB post-reconstruction method had been suggested to limit K i bias of sPatlak analysis at regions with non-negligible 18F-FDG uptake reversibility; however, gPatlak analysis is non-linear and thus can further amplify noise. In the present study, we implemented, within the open-source software for tomographic image reconstruction platform, a clinically adoptable 4D WB reconstruction framework enabling efficient estimation of sPatlak and gPatlak images directly from dynamic multi-bed PET raw data with substantial noise reduction. Furthermore, we employed the optimization transfer methodology to accelerate 4D expectation-maximization (EM) convergence by nesting the fast image-based estimation of Patlak parameters within each iteration cycle of the slower projection-based estimation of dynamic PET images. The novel gPatlak 4D method was initialized from an optimized set of sPatlak ML-EM iterations to facilitate EM convergence. Initially, realistic simulations were conducted utilizing published 18F-FDG kinetic parameters coupled with the XCAT phantom. Quantitative analyses illustrated enhanced K i target-to-background ratio (TBR) and especially contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) performance for the 4D versus the indirect methods and static SUV. Furthermore, considerable convergence acceleration was observed for the nested algorithms involving 10-20 sub-iterations. Moreover, systematic reduction in K i % bias and improved TBR were observed for gPatlak versus sPatlak. Finally, validation on clinical WB dynamic data demonstrated the clinical feasibility and superior K i CNR performance for the proposed 4D framework compared to indirect Patlak and SUV imaging.

Force and Moment Approach for Achievable Dynamics Using Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostroff, Aaron J.; Bacon, Barton J.

1999-01-01

This paper describes a general form of nonlinear dynamic inversion control for use in a generic nonlinear simulation to evaluate candidate augmented aircraft dynamics. The implementation is specifically tailored to the task of quickly assessing an aircraft's control power requirements and defining the achievable dynamic set. The achievable set is evaluated while undergoing complex mission maneuvers, and perfect tracking will be accomplished when the desired dynamics are achievable. Variables are extracted directly from the simulation model each iteration, so robustness is not an issue. Included in this paper is a description of the implementation of the forces and moments from simulation variables, the calculation of control effectiveness coefficients, methods for implementing different types of aerodynamic and thrust vectoring controls, adjustments for control effector failures, and the allocation approach used. A few examples illustrate the perfect tracking results obtained.

Dynamics of movie competition and popularity spreading in recommender systems.

PubMed

Yeung, C H; Cimini, G; Jin, C-H

2011-01-01

We introduce a simple model to study movie competition in recommender systems. Movies of heterogeneous quality compete against each other through viewers' reviews and generate interesting dynamics at the box office. By assuming mean-field interactions between the competing movies, we show that the runaway effect of popularity spreading is triggered by defeating the average review score, leading to box-office hits: Popularity rises and peaks before fade-out. The average review score thus characterizes the critical movie quality necessary for transition from box-office bombs to blockbusters. The major factors affecting the critical review score are examined. By iterating the mean-field dynamical equations, we obtain qualitative agreements with simulations and real systems in the dynamical box-office forms, revealing the significant role of competition in understanding box-office dynamics.

Dynamics of movie competition and popularity spreading in recommender systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeung, C. H.; Cimini, G.; Jin, C.-H.

2011-01-01

We introduce a simple model to study movie competition in recommender systems. Movies of heterogeneous quality compete against each other through viewers’ reviews and generate interesting dynamics at the box office. By assuming mean-field interactions between the competing movies, we show that the runaway effect of popularity spreading is triggered by defeating the average review score, leading to box-office hits: Popularity rises and peaks before fade-out. The average review score thus characterizes the critical movie quality necessary for transition from box-office bombs to blockbusters. The major factors affecting the critical review score are examined. By iterating the mean-field dynamical equations, we obtain qualitative agreements with simulations and real systems in the dynamical box-office forms, revealing the significant role of competition in understanding box-office dynamics.

Generalization of a model of hysteresis for dynamical systems.

PubMed

Piquette, Jean C; McLaughlin, Elizabeth A; Ren, Wei; Mukherjee, Binu K

2002-06-01

A previously described model of hysteresis [J. C. Piquette and S. E. Forsythe, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106, 3317-3327 (1999); 106, 3328-3334 (1999)] is generalized to apply to a dynamical system. The original model produces theoretical hysteresis loops that agree well with laboratory measurements acquired under quasi-static conditions. The loops are produced using three-dimensional rotation matrices. An iterative procedure, which allows the model to be applied to a dynamical system, is introduced here. It is shown that, unlike the quasi-static case, self-crossing of the loops is a realistic possibility when inertia and viscous friction are taken into account.

A Framework for Load Balancing of Tensor Contraction Expressions via Dynamic Task Partitioning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lai, Pai-Wei; Stock, Kevin; Rajbhandari, Samyam

In this paper, we introduce the Dynamic Load-balanced Tensor Contractions (DLTC), a domain-specific library for efficient task parallel execution of tensor contraction expressions, a class of computation encountered in quantum chemistry and physics. Our framework decomposes each contraction into smaller unit of tasks, represented by an abstraction referred to as iterators. We exploit an extra level of parallelism by having tasks across independent contractions executed concurrently through a dynamic load balancing run- time. We demonstrate the improved performance, scalability, and flexibility for the computation of tensor contraction expressions on parallel computers using examples from coupled cluster methods.

Investigation to advance prediction techniques of the low-speed aerodynamics of V/STOL aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maskew, B.; Strash, D.; Nathman, J.; Dvorak, F. A.

1985-01-01

A computer program, VSAERO, has been applied to a number of V/STOL configurations with a view to advancing prediction techniques for the low-speed aerodynamic characteristics. The program couples a low-order panel method with surface streamline calculation and integral boundary layer procedures. The panel method--which uses piecewise constant source and doublet panels-includes an iterative procedure for wake shape and models boundary layer displacement effect using the source transpiration technique. Certain improvements to a basic vortex tube jet model were installed in the code prior to evaluation. Very promising results were obtained for surface pressures near a jet issuing at 90 deg from a flat plate. A solid core model was used in the initial part of the jet with a simple entrainment model. Preliminary representation of the downstream separation zone significantly improve the correlation. The program accurately predicted the pressure distribution inside the inlet on the Grumman 698-411 design at a range of flight conditions. Furthermore, coupled viscous/potential flow calculations gave very close correlation with experimentally determined operational boundaries dictated by the onset of separation inside the inlet. Experimentally observed degradation of these operational boundaries between nacelle-alone tests and tests on the full configuration were also indicated by the calculation. Application of the program to the General Dynamics STOL fighter design were equally encouraging. Very close agreement was observed between experiment and calculation for the effects of power on pressure distribution, lift and lift curve slope.

HFEM3D

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weiss, Chester J

Software solves the three-dimensional Poisson equation div(k(grad(u)) = f, by the finite element method for the case when material properties, k, are distributed over hierarchy of edges, facets and tetrahedra in the finite element mesh. Method is described in Weiss, CJ, Finite element analysis for model parameters distributed on a hierarchy of geometric simplices, Geophysics, v82, E155-167, doi:10.1190/GEO2017-0058.1 (2017). A standard finite element method for solving Poisson’s equation is augmented by including in the 3D stiffness matrix additional 2D and 1D stiffness matrices representing the contributions from material properties associated with mesh faces and edges, respectively. The resulting linear systemmore » is solved iteratively using the conjugate gradient method with Jacobi preconditioning. To minimize computer storage for program execution, the linear solver computes matrix-vector contractions element-by-element over the mesh, without explicit storage of the global stiffness matrix. Program output vtk compliant for visualization and rendering by 3rd party software. Program uses dynamic memory allocation and as such there are no hard limits on problem size outside of those imposed by the operating system and configuration on which the software is run. Dimension, N, of the finite element solution vector is constrained by the the addressable space in 32-vs-64 bit operating systems. Total storage requirements for the problem. Total working space required for the program is approximately 13*N double precision words.« less

Xyce

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomquist, Heidi K.; Fixel, Deborah A.; Fett, David Brian

The Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator simulates electronic circuit behavior in DC, AC, HB, MPDE and transient mode using standard analog (DAE) and/or device (PDE) device models including several age and radiation aware devices. It supports a variety of computing platforms (both serial and parallel) computers. Lastly, it uses a variety of modern solution algorithms dynamic parallel load-balancing and iterative solvers.

A nearly-linear computational-cost scheme for the forward dynamics of an N-body pendulum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chou, Jack C. K.

1989-01-01

The dynamic equations of motion of an n-body pendulum with spherical joints are derived to be a mixed system of differential and algebraic equations (DAE's). The DAE's are kept in implicit form to save arithmetic and preserve the sparsity of the system and are solved by the robust implicit integration method. At each solution point, the predicted solution is corrected to its exact solution within given tolerance using Newton's iterative method. For each iteration, a linear system of the form J delta X = E has to be solved. The computational cost for solving this linear system directly by LU factorization is O(n exp 3), and it can be reduced significantly by exploring the structure of J. It is shown that by recognizing the recursive patterns and exploiting the sparsity of the system the multiplicative and additive computational costs for solving J delta X = E are O(n) and O(n exp 2), respectively. The formulation and solution method for an n-body pendulum is presented. The computational cost is shown to be nearly linearly proportional to the number of bodies.

Local sharpening and subspace wavefront correction with predictive dynamic digital holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulaiman, Sennan; Gibson, Steve

2017-09-01

Digital holography holds several advantages over conventional imaging and wavefront sensing, chief among these being significantly fewer and simpler optical components and the retrieval of complex field. Consequently, many imaging and sensing applications including microscopy and optical tweezing have turned to using digital holography. A significant obstacle for digital holography in real-time applications, such as wavefront sensing for high energy laser systems and high speed imaging for target racking, is the fact that digital holography is computationally intensive; it requires iterative virtual wavefront propagation and hill-climbing to optimize some sharpness criteria. It has been shown recently that minimum-variance wavefront prediction can be integrated with digital holography and image sharpening to reduce significantly large number of costly sharpening iterations required to achieve near-optimal wavefront correction. This paper demonstrates further gains in computational efficiency with localized sharpening in conjunction with predictive dynamic digital holography for real-time applications. The method optimizes sharpness of local regions in a detector plane by parallel independent wavefront correction on reduced-dimension subspaces of the complex field in a spectral plane.

Pollution Reduction Technology Program for Small Jet Aircraft Engines, Phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bruce, T. W.; Davis, F. G.; Kuhn, T. E.; Mongia, H. C.

1978-01-01

A series of iterative combustor pressure rig tests were conducted on two combustor concepts applied to the AiResearch TFE731-2 turbofan engine combustion system for the purpose of optimizing combustor performance and operating characteristics consistant with low emissions. The two concepts were an axial air-assisted airblast fuel injection configuration with variable-geometry air swirlers and a staged premix/prevaporization configuration. The iterative rig testing and modification sequence on both concepts was intended to provide operational compatibility with the engine and determine one concept for further evaluation in a TFE731-2 engine.

A minimization method on the basis of embedding the feasible set and the epigraph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zabotin, I. Ya; Shulgina, O. N.; Yarullin, R. S.

2016-11-01

We propose a conditional minimization method of the convex nonsmooth function which belongs to the class of cutting-plane methods. During constructing iteration points a feasible set and an epigraph of the objective function are approximated by the polyhedral sets. In this connection, auxiliary problems of constructing iteration points are linear programming problems. In optimization process there is some opportunity of updating sets which approximate the epigraph. These updates are performed by periodically dropping of cutting planes which form embedding sets. Convergence of the proposed method is proved, some realizations of the method are discussed.

ITER-relevant calibration technique for soft x-ray spectrometer.

PubMed

Rzadkiewicz, J; Książek, I; Zastrow, K-D; Coffey, I H; Jakubowska, K; Lawson, K D

2010-10-01

The ITER-oriented JET research program brings new requirements for the low-Z impurity monitoring, in particular for the Be—the future main wall component of JET and ITER. Monitoring based on Bragg spectroscopy requires an absolute sensitivity calibration, which is challenging for large tokamaks. This paper describes both “component-by-component” and “continua” calibration methods used for the Be IV channel (75.9 Å) of the Bragg rotor spectrometer deployed on JET. The calibration techniques presented here rely on multiorder reflectivity calculations and measurements of continuum radiation emitted from helium plasmas. These offer excellent conditions for the absolute photon flux calibration due to their low level of impurities. It was found that the component-by-component method gives results that are four times higher than those obtained by means of the continua method. A better understanding of this discrepancy requires further investigations.

Monitor design with multiple self-loops for maximally permissive supervisors.

PubMed

Chen, YuFeng; Li, ZhiWu; Barkaoui, Kamel; Uzam, Murat

2016-03-01

In this paper, we improve the previous work by considering that a control place can have multiple self-loops. Then, two integer linear programming problems (ILPPs) are formulated. Based on the first ILPP, an iterative deadlock control policy is developed, where a control place is computed at each iteration to implement as many marking/transition separation instances (MTSIs) as possible. The second ILPP can find a set of control places to implement all MTSIs and the objective function is used to minimize the number of control places. It is a non-iterative deadlock control strategy since we need to solve the ILPP only once. Both ILPPs can make all legal markings reachable in the controlled system, i.e., the obtained supervisor is behaviorally optimal. Finally, we provide examples to illustrate the proposed approaches. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiple zeros of polynomials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, C. A.

1974-01-01

For polynomials of higher degree, iterative numerical methods must be used. Four iterative methods are presented for approximating the zeros of a polynomial using a digital computer. Newton's method and Muller's method are two well known iterative methods which are presented. They extract the zeros of a polynomial by generating a sequence of approximations converging to each zero. However, both of these methods are very unstable when used on a polynomial which has multiple zeros. That is, either they fail to converge to some or all of the zeros, or they converge to very bad approximations of the polynomial's zeros. This material introduces two new methods, the greatest common divisor (G.C.D.) method and the repeated greatest common divisor (repeated G.C.D.) method, which are superior methods for numerically approximating the zeros of a polynomial having multiple zeros. These methods were programmed in FORTRAN 4 and comparisons in time and accuracy are given.

The development and preliminary testing of a multimedia patient-provider survivorship communication module for breast cancer survivors.

PubMed

Wen, Kuang-Yi; Miller, Suzanne M; Stanton, Annette L; Fleisher, Linda; Morra, Marion E; Jorge, Alexandra; Diefenbach, Michael A; Ropka, Mary E; Marcus, Alfred C

2012-08-01

This paper describes the development of a theory-guided and evidence-based multimedia training module to facilitate breast cancer survivors' preparedness for effective communication with their health care providers after active treatment. The iterative developmental process used included: (1) theory and evidence-based content development and vetting; (2) user testing; (3) usability testing; and (4) participant module utilization. Formative evaluation of the training module prototype occurred through user testing (n = 12), resulting in modification of the content and layout. Usability testing (n = 10) was employed to improve module functionality. Preliminary web usage data (n = 256, mean age = 53, 94.5% White, 75% college graduate and above) showed that 59% of the participants accessed the communication module, for an average of 7 min per login. The iterative developmental process was informative in enhancing the relevance of the communication module. Preliminary web usage results demonstrate the potential feasibility of such a program. Our study demonstrates survivors' openness to the use of a web-based communication skills training module and outlines a systematic iterative user and interface program development and testing process, which can serve as a prototype for others considering such an approach. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

The development and preliminary testing of a multimedia patient–provider survivorship communication module for breast cancer survivors

PubMed Central

Wen, Kuang-Yi; Miller, Suzanne M.; Stanton, Annette L.; Fleisher, Linda; Morra, Marion E.; Jorge, Alexandra; Diefenbach, Michael A.; Ropka, Mary E.; Marcus, Alfred C.

2012-01-01

Objective This paper describes the development of a theory-guided and evidence-based multimedia training module to facilitate breast cancer survivors’ preparedness for effective communication with their health care providers after active treatment. Methods The iterative developmental process used included: (1) theory and evidence-based content development and vetting; (2) user testing; (3) usability testing; and (4) participant module utilization. Results Formative evaluation of the training module prototype occurred through user testing (n = 12), resulting in modification of the content and layout. Usability testing (n = 10) was employed to improve module functionality. Preliminary web usage data (n = 256, mean age = 53, 94.5% White, 75% college graduate and above) showed that 59% of the participants accessed the communication module, for an average of 7 min per login. Conclusion The iterative developmental process was informative in enhancing the relevance of the communication module. Preliminary web usage results demonstrate the potential feasibility of such a program. Practice implications Our study demonstrates survivors’ openness to the use of a web-based communication skills training module and outlines a systematic iterative user and interface program development and testing process, which can serve as a prototype for others considering such an approach. PMID:22770812

Sequential computation of elementary modes and minimal cut sets in genome-scale metabolic networks using alternate integer linear programming.

PubMed

Song, Hyun-Seob; Goldberg, Noam; Mahajan, Ashutosh; Ramkrishna, Doraiswami

2017-08-01

Elementary (flux) modes (EMs) have served as a valuable tool for investigating structural and functional properties of metabolic networks. Identification of the full set of EMs in genome-scale networks remains challenging due to combinatorial explosion of EMs in complex networks. It is often, however, that only a small subset of relevant EMs needs to be known, for which optimization-based sequential computation is a useful alternative. Most of the currently available methods along this line are based on the iterative use of mixed integer linear programming (MILP), the effectiveness of which significantly deteriorates as the number of iterations builds up. To alleviate the computational burden associated with the MILP implementation, we here present a novel optimization algorithm termed alternate integer linear programming (AILP). Our algorithm was designed to iteratively solve a pair of integer programming (IP) and linear programming (LP) to compute EMs in a sequential manner. In each step, the IP identifies a minimal subset of reactions, the deletion of which disables all previously identified EMs. Thus, a subsequent LP solution subject to this reaction deletion constraint becomes a distinct EM. In cases where no feasible LP solution is available, IP-derived reaction deletion sets represent minimal cut sets (MCSs). Despite the additional computation of MCSs, AILP achieved significant time reduction in computing EMs by orders of magnitude. The proposed AILP algorithm not only offers a computational advantage in the EM analysis of genome-scale networks, but also improves the understanding of the linkage between EMs and MCSs. The software is implemented in Matlab, and is provided as supplementary information . hyunseob.song@pnnl.gov. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. Published by Oxford University Press 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and are in the public domain in the US.

Virtual Worlds; Real Learning: Design Principles for Engaging Immersive Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu (u. Sjarpm)

2012-01-01

The EMDT master's program at Full Sail University embarked on a small project to use a virtual environment to teach graduate students. The property used for this project has evolved our several iterations and has yielded some basic design principles and pedagogy for virtual spaces. As a result, students are emerging from the program with a better grasp of future possibilities.

Harvesting Social Change: A Peace Education Program in Three Acts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cann, Colette N.

2012-01-01

This article narrates the story of how a peace education program, over the course of a year, shifts from a more traditional form of peace education as conflict resolution skill building to a critical form of peace education. The path of this journey was neither straight nor direct; rather it meandered through an iteration of itself that actually…

For the Love of Statistics: Appreciating and Learning to Apply Experimental Analysis and Statistics through Computer Programming Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mascaró, Maite; Sacristán, Ana Isabel; Rufino, Marta M.

2016-01-01

For the past 4 years, we have been involved in a project that aims to enhance the teaching and learning of experimental analysis and statistics, of environmental and biological sciences students, through computational programming activities (using R code). In this project, through an iterative design, we have developed sequences of R-code-based…

Diffusive molecular dynamics simulations of lithiation of silicon nanopillars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendez, J. P.; Ponga, M.; Ortiz, M.

2018-06-01

We report diffusive molecular dynamics simulations concerned with the lithiation of Si nano-pillars, i.e., nano-sized Si rods held at both ends by rigid supports. The duration of the lithiation process is of the order of milliseconds, well outside the range of molecular dynamics but readily accessible to diffusive molecular dynamics. The simulations predict an alloy Li15Si4 at the fully lithiated phase, exceedingly large and transient volume increments up to 300% due to the weakening of Sisbnd Si iterations, a crystalline-to-amorphous-to-lithiation phase transition governed by interface kinetics, high misfit strains and residual stresses resulting in surface cracks and severe structural degradation in the form of extensive porosity, among other effects.

A framework to observe and evaluate the sustainability of human-natural systems in a complex dynamic context.

PubMed

Satanarachchi, Niranji; Mino, Takashi

2014-01-01

This paper aims to explore the prominent implications of the process of observing complex dynamics linked to sustainability in human-natural systems and to propose a framework for sustainability evaluation by introducing the concept of sustainability boundaries. Arguing that both observing and evaluating sustainability should engage awareness of complex dynamics from the outset, we try to embody this idea in the framework by two complementary methods, namely, the layer view- and dimensional view-based methods, which support the understanding of a reflexive and iterative sustainability process. The framework enables the observation of complex dynamic sustainability contexts, which we call observation metastructures, and enable us to map the contexts to sustainability boundaries.

Code Samples Used for Complexity and Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivancevic, Vladimir G.; Reid, Darryn J.

2015-11-01

The following sections are included: * MathematicaⓇ Code * Generic Chaotic Simulator * Vector Differential Operators * NLS Explorer * 2C++ Code * C++ Lambda Functions for Real Calculus * Accelerometer Data Processor * Simple Predictor-Corrector Integrator * Solving the BVP with the Shooting Method * Linear Hyperbolic PDE Solver * Linear Elliptic PDE Solver * Method of Lines for a Set of the NLS Equations * C# Code * Iterative Equation Solver * Simulated Annealing: A Function Minimum * Simple Nonlinear Dynamics * Nonlinear Pendulum Simulator * Lagrangian Dynamics Simulator * Complex-Valued Crowd Attractor Dynamics * Freeform Fortran Code * Lorenz Attractor Simulator * Complex Lorenz Attractor * Simple SGE Soliton * Complex Signal Presentation * Gaussian Wave Packet * Hermitian Matrices * Euclidean L2-Norm * Vector/Matrix Operations * Plain C-Code: Levenberg-Marquardt Optimizer * Free Basic Code: 2D Crowd Dynamics with 3000 Agents

Lambert W function for applications in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veberič, Darko

2012-12-01

The Lambert W(x) function and its possible applications in physics are presented. The actual numerical implementation in C++ consists of Halley's and Fritsch's iterations with initial approximations based on branch-point expansion, asymptotic series, rational fits, and continued-logarithm recursion. Program summaryProgram title: LambertW Catalogue identifier: AENC_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AENC_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License version 3 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1335 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 25 283 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C++ (with suitable wrappers it can be called from C, Fortran etc.), the supplied command-line utility is suitable for other scripting languages like sh, csh, awk, perl etc. Computer: All systems with a C++ compiler. Operating system: All Unix flavors, Windows. It might work with others. RAM: Small memory footprint, less than 1 MB Classification: 1.1, 4.7, 11.3, 11.9. Nature of problem: Find fast and accurate numerical implementation for the Lambert W function. Solution method: Halley's and Fritsch's iterations with initial approximations based on branch-point expansion, asymptotic series, rational fits, and continued logarithm recursion. Additional comments: Distribution file contains the command-line utility lambert-w. Doxygen comments, included in the source files. Makefile. Running time: The tests provided take only a few seconds to run.

Intelligent tit-for-tat in the iterated prisoner's dilemma game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baek, Seung Ki; Kim, Beom Jun

2008-07-01

We seek a route to the equilibrium where all the agents cooperate in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game on a two-dimensional plane, focusing on the role of tit-for-tat strategy. When a time horizon, within which a strategy can recall the past, is one time step, an equilibrium can be achieved as cooperating strategies dominate the whole population via proliferation of tit-for-tat. Extending the time horizon, we filter out poor strategies by simplified replicator dynamics and observe a similar evolutionary pattern to reach the cooperating equilibrium. In particular, the rise of a modified tit-for-tat strategy plays a central role, which implies how a robust strategy is adopted when provided with an enhanced memory capacity.

Development and tests of molybdenum armored copper components for MITICA ion source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavei, Mauro; Böswirth, Bernd; Greuner, Henri; Marcuzzi, Diego; Rizzolo, Andrea; Valente, Matteo

2016-02-01

In order to prevent detrimental material erosion of components impinged by back-streaming positive D or H ions in the megavolt ITER injector and concept advancement beam source, a solution based on explosion bonding technique has been identified for producing a 1 mm thick molybdenum armour layer on copper substrate, compatible with ITER requirements. Prototypes have been recently manufactured and tested in the high heat flux test facility Garching Large Divertor Sample Test Facility (GLADIS) to check the capability of the molybdenum-copper interface to withstand several thermal shock cycles at high power density. This paper presents both the numerical fluid-dynamic analyses of the prototypes simulating the test conditions in GLADIS as well as the experimental results.

Development and tests of molybdenum armored copper components for MITICA ion source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pavei, Mauro, E-mail: mauro.pavei@igi.cnr.it; Marcuzzi, Diego; Rizzolo, Andrea

2016-02-15

In order to prevent detrimental material erosion of components impinged by back-streaming positive D or H ions in the megavolt ITER injector and concept advancement beam source, a solution based on explosion bonding technique has been identified for producing a 1 mm thick molybdenum armour layer on copper substrate, compatible with ITER requirements. Prototypes have been recently manufactured and tested in the high heat flux test facility Garching Large Divertor Sample Test Facility (GLADIS) to check the capability of the molybdenum-copper interface to withstand several thermal shock cycles at high power density. This paper presents both the numerical fluid-dynamic analysesmore » of the prototypes simulating the test conditions in GLADIS as well as the experimental results.« less

Development and tests of molybdenum armored copper components for MITICA ion source.

PubMed

Pavei, Mauro; Böswirth, Bernd; Greuner, Henri; Marcuzzi, Diego; Rizzolo, Andrea; Valente, Matteo

2016-02-01

In order to prevent detrimental material erosion of components impinged by back-streaming positive D or H ions in the megavolt ITER injector and concept advancement beam source, a solution based on explosion bonding technique has been identified for producing a 1 mm thick molybdenum armour layer on copper substrate, compatible with ITER requirements. Prototypes have been recently manufactured and tested in the high heat flux test facility Garching Large Divertor Sample Test Facility (GLADIS) to check the capability of the molybdenum-copper interface to withstand several thermal shock cycles at high power density. This paper presents both the numerical fluid-dynamic analyses of the prototypes simulating the test conditions in GLADIS as well as the experimental results.

ZettaBricks: A Language Compiler and Runtime System for Anyscale Computing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amarasinghe, Saman

This grant supported the ZettaBricks and OpenTuner projects. ZettaBricks is a new implicitly parallel language and compiler where defining multiple implementations of multiple algorithms to solve a problem is the natural way of programming. ZettaBricks makes algorithmic choice a first class construct of the language. Choices are provided in a way that also allows our compiler to tune at a finer granularity. The ZettaBricks compiler autotunes programs by making both fine-grained as well as algorithmic choices. Choices also include different automatic parallelization techniques, data distributions, algorithmic parameters, transformations, and blocking. Additionally, ZettaBricks introduces novel techniques to autotune algorithms for differentmore » convergence criteria. When choosing between various direct and iterative methods, the ZettaBricks compiler is able to tune a program in such a way that delivers near-optimal efficiency for any desired level of accuracy. The compiler has the flexibility of utilizing different convergence criteria for the various components within a single algorithm, providing the user with accuracy choice alongside algorithmic choice. OpenTuner is a generalization of the experience gained in building an autotuner for ZettaBricks. OpenTuner is a new open source framework for building domain-specific multi-objective program autotuners. OpenTuner supports fully-customizable configuration representations, an extensible technique representation to allow for domain-specific techniques, and an easy to use interface for communicating with the program to be autotuned. A key capability inside OpenTuner is the use of ensembles of disparate search techniques simultaneously; techniques that perform well will dynamically be allocated a larger proportion of tests.« less

The development of professional identity and the formation of teams in the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System's Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program (CoEPCE).

PubMed

Meyer, Emily M; Zapatka, Susan; Brienza, Rebecca S

2015-06-01

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) is one of five Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education (CoEPCE) pilot sites. The overall goal of the CoEPCE program, which is funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations, is to develop and implement innovative approaches for training future health care providers in postgraduate education programs to function effectively in teams to provide exceptional patient care. This longitudinal study employs theoretically grounded qualitative methods to understand the effect of a combined nursing and medical training model on professional identity and team development at the VACHS CoEPCE site. The authors used qualitative approaches to understand trainees' experiences, expectations, and impressions of the program. From September 2011 to August 2012, they conducted 28 interviews of 18 trainees (internal medicine [IM] residents and nurse practitioners [NPs]) and subjected data to three stages of open, iterative coding. Major themes illuminate both the evolution of individual professional identity within both types of trainees and the dynamic process of group identity development. Results suggest that initially IM residents struggled to understand NPs' roles and responsibilities, whereas NP trainees doubted their ability to work alongside physicians. At the end of one academic year, these uncertainties disappeared, and what was originally artificial had transformed into an organic interprofessional team of health providers who shared a strong sense of understanding and trust. This study provides early evidence of successful interprofessional collaboration among NPs and IM residents in a primary care training program.

Positive feedback : exploring current approaches in iterative travel demand model implementation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

Currently, the models that TxDOTs Transportation Planning and Programming Division (TPP) developed are : traditional three-step models (i.e., trip generation, trip distribution, and traffic assignment) that are sequentially : applied. A limitation...

Present limits and improvements of structural materials for fusion reactors - a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavassoli, A.-A. F.

2002-04-01

Since the transition from ITER or DEMO to a commercial power reactor would involve a significant change in system and materials options, a parallel R&D path has been put in place in Europe to address these issues. This paper assesses the structural materials part of this program along with the latest R&D results from the main programs. It is shown that stainless steels and ferritic/martensitic steels, retained for ITER and DEMO, will also remain the principal contenders for the future FPR, despite uncertainties over irradiation induced embrittlement at low temperatures and consequences of high He/dpa ratio. Neither one of the present advanced high temperature materials has to this date the structural integrity reliability needed for application in critical components. This situation is unlikely to change with the materials R&D alone and has to be mitigated in close collaboration with blanket system design.

Efficient fractal-based mutation in evolutionary algorithms from iterated function systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salcedo-Sanz, S.; Aybar-Ruíz, A.; Camacho-Gómez, C.; Pereira, E.

2018-03-01

In this paper we present a new mutation procedure for Evolutionary Programming (EP) approaches, based on Iterated Function Systems (IFSs). The new mutation procedure proposed consists of considering a set of IFS which are able to generate fractal structures in a two-dimensional phase space, and use them to modify a current individual of the EP algorithm, instead of using random numbers from different probability density functions. We test this new proposal in a set of benchmark functions for continuous optimization problems. In this case, we compare the proposed mutation against classical Evolutionary Programming approaches, with mutations based on Gaussian, Cauchy and chaotic maps. We also include a discussion on the IFS-based mutation in a real application of Tuned Mass Dumper (TMD) location and optimization for vibration cancellation in buildings. In both practical cases, the proposed EP with the IFS-based mutation obtained extremely competitive results compared to alternative classical mutation operators.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The purpose of the computer program is to generate system matrices that model data acquisition process in dynamic single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The application is for the reconstruction of dynamic data from projection measurements that provide the time evolution of activity uptake and wash out in an organ of interest. The measurement of the time activity in the blood and organ tissue provide time-activity curves (TACs) that are used to estimate kinetic parameters. The program provides a correct model of the in vivo spatial and temporal distribution of radioactive in organs. The model accounts for the attenuation ofmore » the internal emitting radioactivity, it accounts for the vary point response of the collimators, and correctly models the time variation of the activity in the organs. One important application where the software is being used in a measuring the arterial input function (AIF) in a dynamic SPECT study where the data are acquired from a slow camera rotation. Measurement of the arterial input function (AIF) is essential to deriving quantitative estimates of regional myocardial blood flow using kinetic models. A study was performed to evaluate whether a slowly rotating SPECT system could provide accurate AIF's for myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). Methods: Dynamic cardiac SPECT was first performed in human subjects at rest using a Phillips Precedence SPECT/CT scanner. Dynamic measurements of Tc-99m-tetrofosmin in the myocardium were obtained using an infusion time of 2 minutes. Blood input, myocardium tissue and liver TACs were estimated using spatiotemporal splines. These were fit to a one-compartment perfusion model to obtain wash-in rate parameters K1. Results: The spatiotemporal 4D ML-EM reconstructions gave more accurate reconstructions that did standard frame-by-frame 3D ML-EM reconstructions. From additional computer simulations and phantom studies, it was determined that a 1 minute infusion with a SPECT system rotation speed providing 180 degrees of projection data every 54s can produce measurements of blood pool and myocardial TACs. This has important application in the circulation of coronary flow reserve using rest/stress dynamic cardiac SPECT. They system matrices are used in maximum likelihood and maximum a posterior formulations in estimation theory where through iterative algorithms (conjugate gradient, expectation maximization, or maximum a posteriori probability algorithms) the solution is determined that maximizes a likelihood or a posteriori probability function.« less

Impacts of demand response and renewable generation in electricity power market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Zhechong

This thesis presents the objective of the research which is to analyze the impacts of uncertain wind power and demand response on power systems operation and power market clearing. First, in order to effectively utilize available wind generation, it is usually given the highest priority by assigning zero or negative energy bidding prices when clearing the day-ahead electric power market. However, when congestion occurs, negative wind bidding prices would aggravate locational marginal prices (LMPs) to be negative in certain locations. A load shifting model is explored to alleviate possible congestions and enhance the utilization of wind generation, by shifting proper amount of load from peak hours to off peaks. The problem is to determine proper amount of load to be shifted, for enhancing the utilization of wind generation, alleviating transmission congestions, and making LMPs to be non-negative values. The second piece of work considered the price-based demand response (DR) program which is a mechanism for electricity consumers to dynamically manage their energy consumption in response to time-varying electricity prices. It encourages consumers to reduce their energy consumption when electricity prices are high, and thereby reduce the peak electricity demand and alleviate the pressure to power systems. However, it brings additional dynamics and new challenges on the real-time supply and demand balance. Specifically, price-sensitive DR load levels are constantly changing in response to dynamic real-time electricity prices, which will impact the economic dispatch (ED) schedule and in turn affect electricity market clearing prices. This thesis adopts two methods for examining the impacts of different DR price elasticity characteristics on the stability performance: a closed-loop iterative simulation method and a non-iterative method based on the contraction mapping theorem. This thesis also analyzes the financial stability of DR load consumers, by incorporating explicit LMP formulations and consumer payment requirements into the network-constrained unit commitment (NCUC) problem. The proposed model determines the proper amount of DR loads to be shifted from peak hours to off-peaks under ISO's direct load control, for reducing the operation cost and ensuring that consumer payments of DR loads will not deteriorate significantly after load shifting. Both MINLP and MILP models are discussed, and improved formulation strategies are presented.

A Research Program in Computer Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-07-01

K PROGRAM VERIFICATION 12 [Shaw76b] Shaw, M., W. A. Wulf, and R. L. London, Abstraction and Verification ain Aiphard: Iteration and Generators...millisecond trame of speech: pitch, gain, and 10 k -parameters (often called reflection coefficients). The 12 parameters from each frame are encoded into...del rey, CA 90291 Program Code 3D30 & 3P1O I,%’POLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12 REPORT DATE Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency July 1976 1400

Accelerating scientific computations with mixed precision algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baboulin, Marc; Buttari, Alfredo; Dongarra, Jack; Kurzak, Jakub; Langou, Julie; Langou, Julien; Luszczek, Piotr; Tomov, Stanimire

2009-12-01

On modern architectures, the performance of 32-bit operations is often at least twice as fast as the performance of 64-bit operations. By using a combination of 32-bit and 64-bit floating point arithmetic, the performance of many dense and sparse linear algebra algorithms can be significantly enhanced while maintaining the 64-bit accuracy of the resulting solution. The approach presented here can apply not only to conventional processors but also to other technologies such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), Graphical Processing Units (GPU), and the STI Cell BE processor. Results on modern processor architectures and the STI Cell BE are presented. Program summaryProgram title: ITER-REF Catalogue identifier: AECO_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AECO_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 7211 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 41 862 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: FORTRAN 77 Computer: desktop, server Operating system: Unix/Linux RAM: 512 Mbytes Classification: 4.8 External routines: BLAS (optional) Nature of problem: On modern architectures, the performance of 32-bit operations is often at least twice as fast as the performance of 64-bit operations. By using a combination of 32-bit and 64-bit floating point arithmetic, the performance of many dense and sparse linear algebra algorithms can be significantly enhanced while maintaining the 64-bit accuracy of the resulting solution. Solution method: Mixed precision algorithms stem from the observation that, in many cases, a single precision solution of a problem can be refined to the point where double precision accuracy is achieved. A common approach to the solution of linear systems, either dense or sparse, is to perform the LU factorization of the coefficient matrix using Gaussian elimination. First, the coefficient matrix A is factored into the product of a lower triangular matrix L and an upper triangular matrix U. Partial row pivoting is in general used to improve numerical stability resulting in a factorization PA=LU, where P is a permutation matrix. The solution for the system is achieved by first solving Ly=Pb (forward substitution) and then solving Ux=y (backward substitution). Due to round-off errors, the computed solution, x, carries a numerical error magnified by the condition number of the coefficient matrix A. In order to improve the computed solution, an iterative process can be applied, which produces a correction to the computed solution at each iteration, which then yields the method that is commonly known as the iterative refinement algorithm. Provided that the system is not too ill-conditioned, the algorithm produces a solution correct to the working precision. Running time: seconds/minutes

Dynamic diagnostics of the error fields in tokamaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pustovitov, V. D.

2007-07-01

The error field diagnostics based on magnetic measurements outside the plasma is discussed. The analysed methods rely on measuring the plasma dynamic response to the finite-amplitude external magnetic perturbations, which are the error fields and the pre-programmed probing pulses. Such pulses can be created by the coils designed for static error field correction and for stabilization of the resistive wall modes, the technique developed and applied in several tokamaks, including DIII-D and JET. Here analysis is based on the theory predictions for the resonant field amplification (RFA). To achieve the desired level of the error field correction in tokamaks, the diagnostics must be sensitive to signals of several Gauss. Therefore, part of the measurements should be performed near the plasma stability boundary, where the RFA effect is stronger. While the proximity to the marginal stability is important, the absolute values of plasma parameters are not. This means that the necessary measurements can be done in the diagnostic discharges with parameters below the nominal operating regimes, with the stability boundary intentionally lowered. The estimates for ITER are presented. The discussed diagnostics can be tested in dedicated experiments in existing tokamaks. The diagnostics can be considered as an extension of the 'active MHD spectroscopy' used recently in the DIII-D tokamak and the EXTRAP T2R reversed field pinch.

Efficient loads analyses of Shuttle-payloads using dynamic models with linear or nonlinear interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spanos, P. D.; Cao, T. T.; Hamilton, D. A.; Nelson, D. A. R.

1989-01-01

An efficient method for the load analysis of Shuttle-payload systems with linear or nonlinear attachment interfaces is presented which allows the kinematics of the interface degrees of freedom at a given time to be evaluated without calculating the combined system modal representation of the Space Shuttle and its payload. For the case of a nonlinear dynamic model, an iterative procedure is employed to converge the nonlinear terms of the equations of motion to reliable values. Results are presented for a Shuttle abort landing event.

Assessment of Preconditioner for a USM3D Hierarchical Adaptive Nonlinear Method (HANIM) (Invited)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pandya, Mohagna J.; Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Frink, Neal T.

2016-01-01

Enhancements to the previously reported mixed-element USM3D Hierarchical Adaptive Nonlinear Iteration Method (HANIM) framework have been made to further improve robustness, efficiency, and accuracy of computational fluid dynamic simulations. The key enhancements include a multi-color line-implicit preconditioner, a discretely consistent symmetry boundary condition, and a line-mapping method for the turbulence source term discretization. The USM3D iterative convergence for the turbulent flows is assessed on four configurations. The configurations include a two-dimensional (2D) bump-in-channel, the 2D NACA 0012 airfoil, a three-dimensional (3D) bump-in-channel, and a 3D hemisphere cylinder. The Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solutions have been obtained using a Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and families of uniformly refined nested grids. Two types of HANIM solutions using line- and point-implicit preconditioners have been computed. Additional solutions using the point-implicit preconditioner alone (PA) method that broadly represents the baseline solver technology have also been computed. The line-implicit HANIM shows superior iterative convergence in most cases with progressively increasing benefits on finer grids.

Iterated Stretching of Viscoelastic Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Hsueh-Chia; Demekhin, Evgeny A.; Kalaidin, Evgeny

1999-01-01

We examine, with asymptotic analysis and numerical simulation, the iterated stretching dynamics of FENE and Oldroyd-B jets of initial radius r(sub 0), shear viscosity nu, Weissenberg number We, retardation number S, and capillary number Ca. The usual Rayleigh instability stretches the local uniaxial extensional flow region near a minimum in jet radius into a primary filament of radius [Ca(1 - S)/ We](sup 1/2)r(sub 0) between two beads. The strain-rate within the filament remains constant while its radius (elastic stress) decreases (increases) exponentially in time with a long elastic relaxation time 3We(r(sup 2, sub 0)/nu). Instabilities convected from the bead relieve the tension at the necks during this slow elastic drainage and trigger a filament recoil. Secondary filaments then form at the necks from the resulting stretching. This iterated stretching is predicted to occur successively to generate high-generation filaments of radius r(sub n), (r(sub n)/r(sub 0)) = square root of 2[r(sub n-1)/r(sub 0)](sup 3/2) until finite-extensibility effects set in.

Tungsten dust impact on ITER-like plasma edge

DOE PAGES

Smirnov, R. D.; Krasheninnikov, S. I.; Pigarov, A. Yu.; ...

2015-01-12

The impact of tungsten dust originating from divertor plates on the performance of edge plasma in ITER-like discharge is evaluated using computer modeling with the coupled dust-plasma transport code DUSTT-UEDGE. Different dust injection parameters, including dust size and mass injection rates, are surveyed. It is found that tungsten dust injection with rates as low as a few mg/s can lead to dangerously high tungsten impurity concentrations in the plasma core. Dust injections with rates of a few tens of mg/s are shown to have a significant effect on edge plasma parameters and dynamics in ITER scale tokamaks. The large impactmore » of certain phenomena, such as dust shielding by an ablation cloud and the thermal force on tungsten ions, on dust/impurity transport in edge plasma and consequently on core tungsten contamination level is demonstrated. Lastly, it is also found that high-Z impurities provided by dust can induce macroscopic self-sustained plasma oscillations in plasma edge leading to large temporal variations of edge plasma parameters and heat load to divertor target plates.« less

Qualification of a cyanate ester epoxy blend supplied by Japanese industry for the ITER TF coil insulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokopec, R.; Humer, K.; Fillunger, H.; Maix, R. K.; Weber, H. W.; Knaster, J.; Savary, F.

2012-06-01

During the last years, two cyanate ester epoxy blends supplied by European and US industry have been successfully qualified for the ITER TF coil insulation. The results of the qualification of a third CE blend supplied by Industrial Summit Technology (IST, Japan) will be presented in this paper. Sets of test samples were fabricated exactly under the same conditions as used before. The reinforcement of the composite consists of wrapped R-glass / polyimide tapes, which are vacuum pressure impregnated with the resin. The mechanical properties of this material were characterized prior to and after reactor irradiation to a fast neutron fluence of 2×1022m-2 (E>0.1 MeV), i.e. twice the ITER design fluence. Static and dynamic tensile as well as static short beam shear tests were carried out at 77 K. In addition, stress strain relations were recorded to determine the Young's modulus at room temperature and at 77 K. The results are compared in detail with the previously qualified materials from other suppliers.

Moving mesh finite element simulation for phase-field modeling of brittle fracture and convergence of Newton's iteration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Fei; Huang, Weizhang; Li, Xianping; Zhang, Shicheng

2018-03-01

A moving mesh finite element method is studied for the numerical solution of a phase-field model for brittle fracture. The moving mesh partial differential equation approach is employed to dynamically track crack propagation. Meanwhile, the decomposition of the strain tensor into tensile and compressive components is essential for the success of the phase-field modeling of brittle fracture but results in a non-smooth elastic energy and stronger nonlinearity in the governing equation. This makes the governing equation much more difficult to solve and, in particular, Newton's iteration often fails to converge. Three regularization methods are proposed to smooth out the decomposition of the strain tensor. Numerical examples of fracture propagation under quasi-static load demonstrate that all of the methods can effectively improve the convergence of Newton's iteration for relatively small values of the regularization parameter but without compromising the accuracy of the numerical solution. They also show that the moving mesh finite element method is able to adaptively concentrate the mesh elements around propagating cracks and handle multiple and complex crack systems.

Use of Picard and Newton iteration for solving nonlinear ground water flow equations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mehl, S.

2006-01-01

This study examines the use of Picard and Newton iteration to solve the nonlinear, saturated ground water flow equation. Here, a simple three-node problem is used to demonstrate the convergence difficulties that can arise when solving the nonlinear, saturated ground water flow equation in both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems with and without nonlinear boundary conditions. For these cases, the characteristic types of convergence patterns are examined. Viewing these convergence patterns as orbits of an attractor in a dynamical system provides further insight. It is shown that the nonlinearity that arises from nonlinear head-dependent boundary conditions can cause more convergence difficulties than the nonlinearity that arises from flow in an unconfined aquifer. Furthermore, the effects of damping on both convergence and convergence rate are investigated. It is shown that no single strategy is effective for all problems and how understanding pitfalls and merits of several methods can be helpful in overcoming convergence difficulties. Results show that Picard iterations can be a simple and effective method for the solution of nonlinear, saturated ground water flow problems.

Optimization applications in aircraft engine design and test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pratt, T. K.

1984-01-01

Starting with the NASA-sponsored STAEBL program, optimization methods based primarily upon the versatile program COPES/CONMIN were introduced over the past few years to a broad spectrum of engineering problems in structural optimization, engine design, engine test, and more recently, manufacturing processes. By automating design and testing processes, many repetitive and costly trade-off studies have been replaced by optimization procedures. Rather than taking engineers and designers out of the loop, optimization has, in fact, put them more in control by providing sophisticated search techniques. The ultimate decision whether to accept or reject an optimal feasible design still rests with the analyst. Feedback obtained from this decision process has been invaluable since it can be incorporated into the optimization procedure to make it more intelligent. On several occasions, optimization procedures have produced novel designs, such as the nonsymmetric placement of rotor case stiffener rings, not anticipated by engineering designers. In another case, a particularly difficult resonance contraint could not be satisfied using hand iterations for a compressor blade, when the STAEBL program was applied to the problem, a feasible solution was obtained in just two iterations.

Nonperturbative measurement of the local magnetic field using pulsed polarimetry for fusion reactor conditions (invited).

PubMed

Smith, Roger J

2008-10-01

A novel diagnostic technique for the remote and nonperturbative sensing of the local magnetic field in reactor relevant plasmas is presented. Pulsed polarimetry [Patent No. 12/150,169 (pending)] combines optical scattering with the Faraday effect. The polarimetric light detection and ranging (LIDAR)-like diagnostic has the potential to be a local B(pol) diagnostic on ITER and can achieve spatial resolutions of millimeters on high energy density (HED) plasmas using existing lasers. The pulsed polarimetry method is based on nonlocal measurements and subtle effects are introduced that are not present in either cw polarimetry or Thomson scattering LIDAR. Important features include the capability of simultaneously measuring local T(e), n(e), and B(parallel) along the line of sight, a resiliency to refractive effects, a short measurement duration providing near instantaneous data in time, and location for real-time feedback and control of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities and the realization of a widely applicable internal magnetic field diagnostic for the magnetic fusion energy program. The technique improves for higher n(e)B(parallel) product and higher n(e) and is well suited for diagnosing the transient plasmas in the HED program. Larger devices such as ITER and DEMO are also better suited to the technique, allowing longer pulse lengths and thereby relaxing key technology constraints making pulsed polarimetry a valuable asset for next step devices. The pulsed polarimetry technique is clarified by way of illustration on the ITER tokamak and plasmas within the magnetized target fusion program within present technological means.

Myria: Scalable Analytics as a Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howe, B.; Halperin, D.; Whitaker, A.

2014-12-01

At the UW eScience Institute, we're working to empower non-experts, especially in the sciences, to write and use data-parallel algorithms. To this end, we are building Myria, a web-based platform for scalable analytics and data-parallel programming. Myria's internal model of computation is the relational algebra extended with iteration, such that every program is inherently data-parallel, just as every query in a database is inherently data-parallel. But unlike databases, iteration is a first class concept, allowing us to express machine learning tasks, graph traversal tasks, and more. Programs can be expressed in a number of languages and can be executed on a number of execution environments, but we emphasize a particular language called MyriaL that supports both imperative and declarative styles and a particular execution engine called MyriaX that uses an in-memory column-oriented representation and asynchronous iteration. We deliver Myria over the web as a service, providing an editor, performance analysis tools, and catalog browsing features in a single environment. We find that this web-based "delivery vector" is critical in reaching non-experts: they are insulated from irrelevant effort technical work associated with installation, configuration, and resource management. The MyriaX backend, one of several execution runtimes we support, is a main-memory, column-oriented, RDBMS-on-the-worker system that supports cyclic data flows as a first-class citizen and has been shown to outperform competitive systems on 100-machine cluster sizes. I will describe the Myria system, give a demo, and present some new results in large-scale oceanographic microbiology.

Computer program for solving laminar, transitional, or turbulent compressible boundary-layer equations for two-dimensional and axisymmetric flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, J. E.; Blanchard, D. K.

1982-01-01

A numerical algorithm and computer program are presented for solving the laminar, transitional, or turbulent two dimensional or axisymmetric compressible boundary-layer equations for perfect-gas flows. The governing equations are solved by an iterative three-point implicit finite-difference procedure. The software, program VGBLP, is a modification of the approach presented in NASA TR R-368 and NASA TM X-2458, respectively. The major modifications are: (1) replacement of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration technique with a finite-difference procedure for numerically solving the equations required to initiate the parabolic marching procedure; (2) introduction of the Blottner variable-grid scheme; (3) implementation of an iteration scheme allowing the coupled system of equations to be converged to a specified accuracy level; and (4) inclusion of an iteration scheme for variable-entropy calculations. These modifications to the approach presented in NASA TR R-368 and NASA TM X-2458 yield a software package with high computational efficiency and flexibility. Turbulence-closure options include either two-layer eddy-viscosity or mixing-length models. Eddy conductivity is modeled as a function of eddy viscosity through a static turbulent Prandtl number formulation. Several options are provided for specifying the static turbulent Prandtl number. The transitional boundary layer is treated through a streamwise intermittency function which modifies the turbulence-closure model. This model is based on the probability distribution of turbulent spots and ranges from zero to unity for laminar and turbulent flow, respectively. Several test cases are presented as guides for potential users of the software.

Optimal design of supply chain network under uncertainty environment using hybrid analytical and simulation modeling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiadamrong, N.; Piyathanavong, V.

2017-12-01

Models that aim to optimize the design of supply chain networks have gained more interest in the supply chain literature. Mixed-integer linear programming and discrete-event simulation are widely used for such an optimization problem. We present a hybrid approach to support decisions for supply chain network design using a combination of analytical and discrete-event simulation models. The proposed approach is based on iterative procedures until the difference between subsequent solutions satisfies the pre-determined termination criteria. The effectiveness of proposed approach is illustrated by an example, which shows closer to optimal results with much faster solving time than the results obtained from the conventional simulation-based optimization model. The efficacy of this proposed hybrid approach is promising and can be applied as a powerful tool in designing a real supply chain network. It also provides the possibility to model and solve more realistic problems, which incorporate dynamism and uncertainty.