The Need of Nested Grids for Aerial and Satellite Images and Digital Elevation Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villa, G.; Mas, S.; Fernández-Villarino, X.; Martínez-Luceño, J.; Ojeda, J. C.; Pérez-Martín, B.; Tejeiro, J. A.; García-González, C.; López-Romero, E.; Soteres, C.

2016-06-01

Usual workflows for production, archiving, dissemination and use of Earth observation images (both aerial and from remote sensing satellites) pose big interoperability problems, as for example: non-alignment of pixels at the different levels of the pyramids that makes it impossible to overlay, compare and mosaic different orthoimages, without resampling them and the need to apply multiple resamplings and compression-decompression cycles. These problems cause great inefficiencies in production, dissemination through web services and processing in "Big Data" environments. Most of them can be avoided, or at least greatly reduced, with the use of a common "nested grid" for mutiresolution production, archiving, dissemination and exploitation of orthoimagery, digital elevation models and other raster data. "Nested grids" are space allocation schemas that organize image footprints, pixel sizes and pixel positions at all pyramid levels, in order to achieve coherent and consistent multiresolution coverage of a whole working area. A "nested grid" must be complemented by an appropriate "tiling schema", ideally based on the "quad-tree" concept. In the last years a "de facto standard" grid and Tiling Schema has emerged and has been adopted by virtually all major geospatial data providers. It has also been adopted by OGC in its "WMTS Simple Profile" standard. In this paper we explain how the adequate use of this tiling schema as common nested grid for orthoimagery, DEMs and other types of raster data constitutes the most practical solution to most of the interoperability problems of these types of data.

Nested high-resolution large-eddy simulations in WRF to support wind power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirocha, J.; Kirkil, G.; Kosovic, B.; Lundquist, J. K.

2009-12-01

The WRF model’s grid nesting capability provides a potentially powerful framework for simulating flow over a wide range of scales. One such application is computation of realistic inflow boundary conditions for large eddy simulations (LES) by nesting LES domains within mesoscale domains. While nesting has been widely and successfully applied at GCM to mesoscale resolutions, the WRF model’s nesting behavior at the high-resolution (Δx < 1000m) end of the spectrum is less well understood. Nesting LES within msoscale domains can significantly improve turbulent flow prediction at the scale of a wind park, providing a basis for superior site characterization, or for improved simulation of turbulent inflows encountered by turbines. We investigate WRF’s grid nesting capability at high mesh resolutions using nested mesoscale and large-eddy simulations. We examine the spatial scales required for flow structures to equilibrate to the finer mesh as flow enters a nest, and how the process depends on several parameters, including grid resolution, turbulence subfilter stress models, relaxation zones at nest interfaces, flow velocities, surface roughnesses, terrain complexity and atmospheric stability. Guidance on appropriate domain sizes and turbulence models for LES in light of these results is provided This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 LLNL-ABS-416482

A two-stage adaptive stochastic collocation method on nested sparse grids for multiphase flow in randomly heterogeneous porous media

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

Liao, Qinzhuo, E-mail: liaoqz@pku.edu.cn; Zhang, Dongxiao; Tchelepi, Hamdi

A new computational method is proposed for efficient uncertainty quantification of multiphase flow in porous media with stochastic permeability. For pressure estimation, it combines the dimension-adaptive stochastic collocation method on Smolyak sparse grids and the Kronrod–Patterson–Hermite nested quadrature formulas. For saturation estimation, an additional stage is developed, in which the pressure and velocity samples are first generated by the sparse grid interpolation and then substituted into the transport equation to solve for the saturation samples, to address the low regularity problem of the saturation. Numerical examples are presented for multiphase flow with stochastic permeability fields to demonstrate accuracy and efficiencymore » of the proposed two-stage adaptive stochastic collocation method on nested sparse grids.« less

Nested mesoscale-to-LES modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of under-resolved convective structures

DOE PAGES

Mazzaro, Laura J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.; ...

2017-07-06

Multiscale atmospheric simulations can be computationally prohibitive, as they require large domains and fine spatiotemporal resolutions. Grid-nesting can alleviate this by bridging mesoscales and microscales, but one turbulence scheme must run at resolutions within a range of scales known as the terra incognita (TI). TI grid-cell sizes can violate both mesoscale and microscale subgrid-scale parametrization assumptions, resulting in unrealistic flow structures. Herein we assess the impact of unrealistic lateral boundary conditions from parent mesoscale simulations at TI resolutions on nested large eddy simulations (LES), to determine whether parent domains bias the nested LES. We present a series of idealized nestedmore » mesoscale-to-LES runs of a dry convective boundary layer (CBL) with different parent resolutions in the TI. We compare the nested LES with a stand-alone LES with periodic boundary conditions. The nested LES domains develop ~20% smaller convective structures, while potential temperature profiles are nearly identical for both the mesoscales and LES simulations. The horizontal wind speed and surface wind shear in the nested simulations closely resemble the reference LES. Heat fluxes are overestimated by up to ~0.01 K m s –1 in the top half of the PBL for all nested simulations. Overestimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stress in the nested domains are proportional to the parent domain's grid-cell size, and are almost eliminated for the simulation with the finest parent grid-cell size. Furthermore, based on these results, we recommend that LES of the CBL be forced by mesoscale simulations with the finest practical resolution.« less

Nested mesoscale-to-LES modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of under-resolved convective structures

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

Mazzaro, Laura J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.

Multiscale atmospheric simulations can be computationally prohibitive, as they require large domains and fine spatiotemporal resolutions. Grid-nesting can alleviate this by bridging mesoscales and microscales, but one turbulence scheme must run at resolutions within a range of scales known as the terra incognita (TI). TI grid-cell sizes can violate both mesoscale and microscale subgrid-scale parametrization assumptions, resulting in unrealistic flow structures. Herein we assess the impact of unrealistic lateral boundary conditions from parent mesoscale simulations at TI resolutions on nested large eddy simulations (LES), to determine whether parent domains bias the nested LES. We present a series of idealized nestedmore » mesoscale-to-LES runs of a dry convective boundary layer (CBL) with different parent resolutions in the TI. We compare the nested LES with a stand-alone LES with periodic boundary conditions. The nested LES domains develop ~20% smaller convective structures, while potential temperature profiles are nearly identical for both the mesoscales and LES simulations. The horizontal wind speed and surface wind shear in the nested simulations closely resemble the reference LES. Heat fluxes are overestimated by up to ~0.01 K m s –1 in the top half of the PBL for all nested simulations. Overestimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stress in the nested domains are proportional to the parent domain's grid-cell size, and are almost eliminated for the simulation with the finest parent grid-cell size. Furthermore, based on these results, we recommend that LES of the CBL be forced by mesoscale simulations with the finest practical resolution.« less

A two-way nesting procedure for the WAM model: Application to the Spanish coast

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

Lahoz, M.G.; Albiach, J.C.C.

1997-02-01

The performance of the standard one-way nesting procedure for a regional application of a third-generation wave model is investigated. It is found that this nesting procedure is not applicable when the resolution has to be enhanced drastically, unless intermediate grids are placed between the coarse and the fine grid areas. This solution, in turn, requires an excess of computing resources. A two-way nesting procedure is developed and implemented in the model. Advantages and disadvantages of both systems are discussed. The model output for a test case is compared with observed data and the results are discussed in the paper.

A Variable Resolution Stretched Grid General Circulation Model: Regional Climate Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fox-Rabinovitz, Michael S.; Takacs, Lawrence L.; Govindaraju, Ravi C.; Suarez, Max J.

2000-01-01

The development of and results obtained with a variable resolution stretched-grid GCM for the regional climate simulation mode, are presented. A global variable resolution stretched- grid used in the study has enhanced horizontal resolution over the U.S. as the area of interest The stretched-grid approach is an ideal tool for representing regional to global scale interaction& It is an alternative to the widely used nested grid approach introduced over a decade ago as a pioneering step in regional climate modeling. The major results of the study are presented for the successful stretched-grid GCM simulation of the anomalous climate event of the 1988 U.S. summer drought- The straightforward (with no updates) two month simulation is performed with 60 km regional resolution- The major drought fields, patterns and characteristics such as the time averaged 500 hPa heights precipitation and the low level jet over the drought area. appear to be close to the verifying analyses for the stretched-grid simulation- In other words, the stretched-grid GCM provides an efficient down-scaling over the area of interest with enhanced horizontal resolution. It is also shown that the GCM skill is sustained throughout the simulation extended to one year. The developed and tested in a simulation mode stretched-grid GCM is a viable tool for regional and subregional climate studies and applications.

Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Vertical Nesting Capability

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

2014-08-01

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with vertical nesting capability is an extension of the WRF model, which is available in the public domain, from www.wrf-model.org. The new code modifies the nesting procedure, which passes lateral boundary conditions between computational domains in the WRF model. Previously, the same vertical grid was required on all domains, while the new code allows different vertical grids to be used on concurrently run domains. This new functionality improves WRF's ability to produce high-resolution simulations of the atmosphere by allowing a wider range of scales to be efficiently resolved and more accurate lateral boundarymore » conditions to be provided through the nesting procedure.« less

Two-way against one-way nesting for climate downscaling in Europe and the Mediterranean region using LMDZ4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shan; Li, Laurent; Le Treut, Hervé

2016-04-01

In the 21st century, the estimated surface temperature warming projected by General Circulation Models (GCMs) is between 0.3 and 4.8 °C, depending on the scenario considered. GCMs exhibit a good representation of climate on a global scale, but they are not able to reproduce regional climate processes with the same level of accuracy. Society and policymakers need model projections to define climate change adaptation and mitigation policies on a global, regional and local scale. Climate downscaling is mostly conducted with a regional model nested into the outputs of a global model. This one-way nesting approach is generally used in the climate community without feedbacks from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) to GCMs. This lack of interaction between the two models may affect regional modes of variability, in particular those with a boundary conflict. The objective of this study is to evaluate a two-way nesting configuration that makes an interactive coupling between the RCM and the GCM, an approach against the traditional configuration of one-way nesting system. An additional aim of this work is to examine if the two-way nesting system can improve the RCM performance. The atmospheric component of the IPSL integrated climate model (LMDZ) is configured at both regional (LMDZ-regional) and global (LMDZ-global) scales. The two models have the same configuration for the dynamical framework and the physical forcings. The climatology values of sea surface temperature (SST) are prescribed for the two models. The stretched-grid of LMDZ-global is applied to a region defined by Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa and Western North Atlantic. To ensure a good statistical significance of results, all simulations last at least 80 years. The nesting process of models is performed by a relaxation procedure of a time scale of 90 minutes. In the case of two-way nesting, the exchange between the two models is every two hours. The relaxation procedure induces a boundary conflict, particularly in the eastern boundary for temperature and geopotential height. A correlation analysis on the synoptic scale evaluates the relationship between the GCM and the RCM. The beginning of the simulations shows a great consistency of the two models. When dominant dynamics apply, RCM inherits most of the GCM signal with a consistent spatial structure. On the contrary, when the atmospheric circulation is weak, there are not that many effects transferred from the GCM to the RCM. When the RCM has its own dynamics, the boundary conflict is more pronounced. Winter season is chosen for the two-way nesting test due to the predominant role of the atmospheric dynamics in winter. The new approach of a two-way nesting system reduces boundary bias, having a influence in some cases in climate model projections. The effect of two-way nesting is enhanced when using a finer grid.

Relationships of surrounding riparian habitat to nest-box use and reproductive outcome in House Wrens

Treesearch

Deborah M. Finch

1989-01-01

I assessed relationships among habitat structure, nest-site selection, and reproductive outcome of House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) by establishing three nest-box grids in riparian woodlands in southeastern Wyoming. Over a 3-year period, 37% of the boxes contained House Wren nests; 20% contained unused nests built by male House Wrens; and 42% were never used by wrens....

Bridging the scales in a eulerian air quality model to assess megacity export of pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siour, G.; Colette, A.; Menut, L.; Bessagnet, B.; Coll, I.; Meleux, F.

2013-08-01

In Chemistry Transport Models (CTMs), spatial scale interactions are often represented through off-line coupling between large and small scale models. However, those nested configurations cannot give account of the impact of the local scale on its surroundings. This issue can be critical in areas exposed to air mass recirculation (sea breeze cells) or around regions with sharp pollutant emission gradients (large cities). Such phenomena can still be captured by the mean of adaptive gridding, two-way nesting or using model nudging, but these approaches remain relatively costly. We present here the development and the results of a simple alternative multi-scale approach making use of a horizontal stretched grid, in the Eulerian CTM CHIMERE. This method, called "stretching" or "zooming", consists in the introduction of local zooms in a single chemistry-transport simulation. It allows bridging online the spatial scales from the city (∼1 km resolution) to the continental area (∼50 km resolution). The CHIMERE model was run over a continental European domain, zoomed over the BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) area. We demonstrate that, compared with one-way nesting, the zooming method allows the expression of a significant feedback of the refined domain towards the large scale: around the city cluster of BeNeLuX, NO2 and O3 scores are improved. NO2 variability around BeNeLux is also better accounted for, and the net primary pollutant flux transported back towards BeNeLux is reduced. Although the results could not be validated for ozone over BeNeLux, we show that the zooming approach provides a simple and immediate way to better represent scale interactions within a CTM, and constitutes a useful tool for apprehending the hot topic of megacities within their continental environment.

A parallel second-order adaptive mesh algorithm for incompressible flow in porous media.

PubMed

Pau, George S H; Almgren, Ann S; Bell, John B; Lijewski, Michael J

2009-11-28

In this paper, we present a second-order accurate adaptive algorithm for solving multi-phase, incompressible flow in porous media. We assume a multi-phase form of Darcy's law with relative permeabilities given as a function of the phase saturation. The remaining equations express conservation of mass for the fluid constituents. In this setting, the total velocity, defined to be the sum of the phase velocities, is divergence free. The basic integration method is based on a total-velocity splitting approach in which we solve a second-order elliptic pressure equation to obtain a total velocity. This total velocity is then used to recast component conservation equations as nonlinear hyperbolic equations. Our approach to adaptive refinement uses a nested hierarchy of logically rectangular grids with simultaneous refinement of the grids in both space and time. The integration algorithm on the grid hierarchy is a recursive procedure in which coarse grids are advanced in time, fine grids are advanced multiple steps to reach the same time as the coarse grids and the data at different levels are then synchronized. The single-grid algorithm is described briefly, but the emphasis here is on the time-stepping procedure for the adaptive hierarchy. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the algorithm's accuracy and convergence properties and to illustrate the behaviour of the method.

Aerodynamic analysis for aircraft with nacelles, pylons, and winglets at transonic speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boppe, Charles W.

1987-01-01

A computational method has been developed to provide an analysis for complex realistic aircraft configurations at transonic speeds. Wing-fuselage configurations with various combinations of pods, pylons, nacelles, and winglets can be analyzed along with simpler shapes such as airfoils, isolated wings, and isolated bodies. The flexibility required for the treatment of such diverse geometries is obtained by using a multiple nested grid approach in the finite-difference relaxation scheme. Aircraft components (and their grid systems) can be added or removed as required. As a result, the computational method can be used in the same manner as a wind tunnel to study high-speed aerodynamic interference effects. The multiple grid approach also provides high boundary point density/cost ratio. High resolution pressure distributions can be obtained. Computed results are correlated with wind tunnel and flight data using four different transport configurations. Experimental/computational component interference effects are included for cases where data are available. The computer code used for these comparisons is described in the appendices.

Simulating the Agulhas system in global ocean models - nesting vs. multi-resolution unstructured meshes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biastoch, Arne; Sein, Dmitry; Durgadoo, Jonathan V.; Wang, Qiang; Danilov, Sergey

2018-01-01

Many questions in ocean and climate modelling require the combined use of high resolution, global coverage and multi-decadal integration length. For this combination, even modern resources limit the use of traditional structured-mesh grids. Here we compare two approaches: A high-resolution grid nested into a global model at coarser resolution (NEMO with AGRIF) and an unstructured-mesh grid (FESOM) which allows to variably enhance resolution where desired. The Agulhas system around South Africa is used as a testcase, providing an energetic interplay of a strong western boundary current and mesoscale dynamics. Its open setting into the horizontal and global overturning circulations also requires global coverage. Both model configurations simulate a reasonable large-scale circulation. Distribution and temporal variability of the wind-driven circulation are quite comparable due to the same atmospheric forcing. However, the overturning circulation differs, owing each model's ability to represent formation and spreading of deep water masses. In terms of regional, high-resolution dynamics, all elements of the Agulhas system are well represented. Owing to the strong nonlinearity in the system, Agulhas Current transports of both configurations and in comparison with observations differ in strength and temporal variability. Similar decadal trends in Agulhas Current transport and Agulhas leakage are linked to the trends in wind forcing.

Cross-validation pitfalls when selecting and assessing regression and classification models.

PubMed

Krstajic, Damjan; Buturovic, Ljubomir J; Leahy, David E; Thomas, Simon

2014-03-29

We address the problem of selecting and assessing classification and regression models using cross-validation. Current state-of-the-art methods can yield models with high variance, rendering them unsuitable for a number of practical applications including QSAR. In this paper we describe and evaluate best practices which improve reliability and increase confidence in selected models. A key operational component of the proposed methods is cloud computing which enables routine use of previously infeasible approaches. We describe in detail an algorithm for repeated grid-search V-fold cross-validation for parameter tuning in classification and regression, and we define a repeated nested cross-validation algorithm for model assessment. As regards variable selection and parameter tuning we define two algorithms (repeated grid-search cross-validation and double cross-validation), and provide arguments for using the repeated grid-search in the general case. We show results of our algorithms on seven QSAR datasets. The variation of the prediction performance, which is the result of choosing different splits of the dataset in V-fold cross-validation, needs to be taken into account when selecting and assessing classification and regression models. We demonstrate the importance of repeating cross-validation when selecting an optimal model, as well as the importance of repeating nested cross-validation when assessing a prediction error.

Simulation of ozone production in a complex circulation region using nested grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghavi, M.; Cautenet, S.; Foret, G.

2003-07-01

During ESCOMPTE precampaign (15 June to 10 July 2000), three days of intensive pollution (IOP0) have been observed and simulated. The comprehensive RAMS model, version 4.3, coupled online with a chemical module including 29 species, has been used to follow the chemistry of the zone polluted over southern France. This online method can be used because the code is paralleled and the SGI 3800 computer is very powerful. Two runs have been performed: run1 with one grid and run2 with two nested grids. The redistribution of simulated chemical species (ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) was compared to aircraft measurements and surface stations. The 2-grid run has given substantially better results than the one-grid run only because the former takes the outer pollutants into account. This online method helps to explain dynamics and to retrieve the chemical species redistribution with a good agreement.

Simulation of ozone production in a complex circulation region using nested grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghavi, M.; Cautenet, S.; Foret, G.

2004-06-01

During the ESCOMPTE precampaign (summer 2000, over Southern France), a 3-day period of intensive observation (IOP0), associated with ozone peaks, has been simulated. The comprehensive RAMS model, version 4.3, coupled on-line with a chemical module including 29 species, is used to follow the chemistry of the polluted zone. This efficient but time consuming method can be used because the code is installed on a parallel computer, the SGI 3800. Two runs are performed: run 1 with a single grid and run 2 with two nested grids. The simulated fields of ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide are compared with aircraft and surface station measurements. The 2-grid run looks substantially better than the run with one grid because the former takes the outer pollutants into account. This on-line method helps to satisfactorily retrieve the chemical species redistribution and to explain the impact of dynamics on this redistribution.

Spatiotemporal patterns of duck nest density and predation risk: a multi-scale analysis of 18 years and more than 10,000 nests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ringelman, Kevin M.; Eadie, John M.; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Sih, Andrew; Loughman, Daniel L.; Yarris, Gregory S.; Oldenburger, Shaun L.; McLandress, M. Robert

2017-01-01

Many avian species are behaviorally-plastic in selecting nest sites, and may shift to new locations or habitats following an unsuccessful breeding attempt. If there is predictable spatial variation in predation risk, the process of many individuals using prior experience to adaptively change nest sites may scale up to create shifting patterns of nest density at a population level. We used 18 years of waterfowl nesting data to assess whether there were areas of consistently high or low predation risk, and whether low-risk areas increased, and high-risk areas decreased in nest density the following year. We created kernel density maps of successful and unsuccessful nests in consecutive years and found no correlation in predation risk and no evidence for adaptive shifts, although nest density was correlated between years. We also examined between-year correlations in nest density and nest success at three smaller spatial scales: individual nesting fields (10–28 ha), 16-ha grid cells and 4-ha grid cells. Here, results were similar across all scales: we found no evidence for year-to-year correlation in nest success but found strong evidence that nest density was correlated between years, and areas of high nest success increased in nest density the following year. Prior research in this system has demonstrated that areas of high nest density have higher nest success, and taken together, our results suggest that ducks may adaptively select nest sites based on the local density of conspecifics, rather than the physical location of last year's nest. In unpredictable environments, current cues, such as the presence of active conspecific nests, may be especially useful in selecting nest sites. The cues birds use to select breeding locations and successfully avoid predators deserve continued attention, especially in systems of conservation concern.

The added value of dynamical downscaling in a climate change scenario simulation:A case study for European Alps and East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Im, Eun-Soon; Coppola, Erika; Giorgi, Filippo

2010-05-01

Since anthropogenic climate change is a rather important factor for the future human life all over the planet and its effects are not globally uniform, climate information at regional or local scales become more and more important for an accurate assessment of the potential impact of climate change on societies and ecosystems. High resolution information with suitably fine-scale for resolving complex geographical features could be a critical factor for successful linkage between climate models and impact assessment studies. However, scale mismatch between them still remains major problem. One method for overcoming the resolution limitations of global climate models and for adding regional details to coarse-grid global projections is to use dynamical downscaling by means of a regional climate model. In this study, the ECHAM5/MPI-OM (1.875 degree) A1B scenario simulation has been dynamically downscaled by using two different approaches within the framework of RegCM3 modeling system. First, a mosaic-type parameterization of subgrid-scale topography and land use (Sub-BATS) is applied over the European Alpine region. The Sub-BATS system is composed of 15 km coarse-grid cell and 3 km sub-grid cell. Second, we developed the RegCM3 one-way double-nested system, with the mother domain encompassing the eastern regions of Asia at 60 km grid spacing and the nested domain covering the Korean Peninsula at 20 km grid spacing. By comparing the regional climate model output and the driving global model ECHAM5/MPI-OM output, it is possible to estimate the added value of physically-based dynamical downscaling when for example impact studies at hydrological scale are performed.

Hydro and morphodynamic simulations for probabilistic estimates of munitions mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmsten, M.; Penko, A.

2017-12-01

Probabilistic estimates of waves, currents, and sediment transport at underwater munitions remediation sites are necessary to constrain probabilistic predictions of munitions exposure, burial, and migration. To address this need, we produced ensemble simulations of hydrodynamic flow and morphologic change with Delft3D, a coupled system of wave, circulation, and sediment transport models. We have set up the Delft3D model simulations at the Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility (FRF) in Duck, NC, USA. The FRF is the prototype site for the near-field munitions mobility model, which integrates far-field and near-field field munitions mobility simulations. An extensive array of in-situ and remotely sensed oceanographic, bathymetric, and meteorological data are available at the FRF, as well as existing observations of munitions mobility for model testing. Here, we present results of ensemble Delft3D hydro- and morphodynamic simulations at Duck. A nested Delft3D simulation runs an outer grid that extends 12-km in the along-shore and 3.7-km in the cross-shore with 50-m resolution and a maximum depth of approximately 17-m. The inner nested grid extends 3.2-km in the along-shore and 1.2-km in the cross-shore with 5-m resolution and a maximum depth of approximately 11-m. The inner nested grid initial model bathymetry is defined as the most recent survey or remotely sensed estimate of water depth. Delft3D-WAVE and FLOW is driven with spectral wave measurements from a Waverider buoy in 17-m depth located on the offshore boundary of the outer grid. The spectral wave output and the water levels from the outer grid are used to define the boundary conditions for the inner nested high-resolution grid, in which the coupled Delft3D WAVE-FLOW-MORPHOLOGY model is run. The ensemble results are compared to the wave, current, and bathymetry observations collected at the FRF.

Patch-based Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Multimaterial Hydrodynamics

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

Lomov, I; Pember, R; Greenough, J

2005-10-18

We present a patch-based direct Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm for modeling real equation-of-state, multimaterial compressible flow with strength. Our approach to AMR uses a hierarchical, structured grid approach first developed by (Berger and Oliger 1984), (Berger and Oliger 1984). The grid structure is dynamic in time and is composed of nested uniform rectangular grids of varying resolution. The integration scheme on the grid hierarchy is a recursive procedure in which the coarse grids are advanced, then the fine grids are advanced multiple steps to reach the same time, and finally the coarse and fine grids are synchronized tomore » remove conservation errors during the separate advances. The methodology presented here is based on a single grid algorithm developed for multimaterial gas dynamics by (Colella et al. 1993), refined by(Greenough et al. 1995), and extended to the solution of solid mechanics problems with significant strength by (Lomov and Rubin 2003). The single grid algorithm uses a second-order Godunov scheme with an approximate single fluid Riemann solver and a volume-of-fluid treatment of material interfaces. The method also uses a non-conservative treatment of the deformation tensor and an acoustic approximation for shear waves in the Riemann solver. This departure from a strict application of the higher-order Godunov methodology to the equation of solid mechanics is justified due to the fact that highly nonlinear behavior of shear stresses is rare. This algorithm is implemented in two codes, Geodyn and Raptor, the latter of which is a coupled rad-hydro code. The present discussion will be solely concerned with hydrodynamics modeling. Results from a number of simulations for flows with and without strength will be presented.« less

Sensitivity studies of high-resolution RegCM3 simulations of precipitation over the European Alps: the effect of lateral boundary conditions and domain size

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadeem, Imran; Formayer, Herbert

2016-11-01

A suite of high-resolution (10 km) simulations were performed with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regional Climate Model (RegCM3) to study the effect of various lateral boundary conditions (LBCs), domain size, and intermediate domains on simulated precipitation over the Great Alpine Region. The boundary conditions used were ECMWF ERA-Interim Reanalysis with grid spacing 0.75∘, the ECMWF ERA-40 Reanalysis with grid spacing 1.125 and 2.5∘, and finally the 2.5∘ NCEP/DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis. The model was run in one-way nesting mode with direct nesting of the high-resolution RCM (horizontal grid spacing Δx = 10 km) with driving reanalysis, with one intermediate resolution nest (Δx = 30 km) between high-resolution RCM and reanalysis forcings, and also with two intermediate resolution nests (Δx = 90 km and Δx = 30 km) for simulations forced with LBC of resolution 2.5∘. Additionally, the impact of domain size was investigated. The results of multiple simulations were evaluated using different analysis techniques, e.g., Taylor diagram and a newly defined useful statistical parameter, called Skill-Score, for evaluation of daily precipitation simulated by the model. It has been found that domain size has the major impact on the results, while different resolution and versions of LBCs, e.g., 1.125∘ ERA40 and 0.7∘ ERA-Interim, do not produce significantly different results. It is also noticed that direct nesting with reasonable domain size, seems to be the most adequate method for reproducing precipitation over complex terrain, while introducing intermediate resolution nests seems to deteriorate the results.

Examining Interior Grid Nudging Techniques Using Two-Way Nesting in the WRF Model for Regional Climate Modeling

EPA Science Inventory

This study evaluates interior nudging techniques using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for regional climate modeling over the conterminous United States (CONUS) using a two-way nested configuration. NCEP–Department of Energy Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Pro...

A framework for WRF to WRF-IBM grid nesting to enable multiscale simulations

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

Wiersema, David John; Lundquist, Katherine A.; Chow, Fotini Katapodes

With advances in computational power, mesoscale models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are often pushed to higher resolutions. As the model’s horizontal resolution is refined, the maximum resolved terrain slope will increase. Because WRF uses a terrain-following coordinate, this increase in resolved terrain slopes introduces additional grid skewness. At high resolutions and over complex terrain, this grid skewness can introduce large numerical errors that require methods, such as the immersed boundary method, to keep the model accurate and stable. Our implementation of the immersed boundary method in the WRF model, WRF-IBM, has proven effective at microscalemore » simulations over complex terrain. WRF-IBM uses a non-conforming grid that extends beneath the model’s terrain. Boundary conditions at the immersed boundary, the terrain, are enforced by introducing a body force term to the governing equations at points directly beneath the immersed boundary. Nesting between a WRF parent grid and a WRF-IBM child grid requires a new framework for initialization and forcing of the child WRF-IBM grid. This framework will enable concurrent multi-scale simulations within the WRF model, improving the accuracy of high-resolution simulations and enabling simulations across a wide range of scales.« less

Multiscale Approach to Small River Plumes off California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basdurak, N. B.; Largier, J. L.; Nidzieko, N.

2012-12-01

While larger scale plumes have received significant attention, the dynamics of plumes associated with small rivers typical of California are little studied. Since small streams are not dominated by a momentum flux, their plumes are more susceptible to conditions in the coastal ocean such as wind and waves. In order to correctly model water transport at smaller scales, there is a need to capture larger scale processes. To do this, one-way nested grids with varying grid resolution (1 km and 10 m for the parent and the child grid respectively) were constructed. CENCOOS (Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System) model results were used as boundary conditions to the parent grid. Semi-idealized model results for Santa Rosa Creek, California are presented from an implementation of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS v3.0), a three-dimensional, free-surface, terrain-following numerical model. In these preliminary results, the interaction between tides, winds, and buoyancy forcing in plume dynamics is explored for scenarios including different strengths of freshwater flow with different modes (steady and pulsed). Seasonal changes in transport dynamics and dispersion patterns are analyzed.

CASTRO: A NEW COMPRESSIBLE ASTROPHYSICAL SOLVER. II. GRAY RADIATION HYDRODYNAMICS

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

Zhang, W.; Almgren, A.; Bell, J.

We describe the development of a flux-limited gray radiation solver for the compressible astrophysics code, CASTRO. CASTRO uses an Eulerian grid with block-structured adaptive mesh refinement based on a nested hierarchy of logically rectangular variable-sized grids with simultaneous refinement in both space and time. The gray radiation solver is based on a mixed-frame formulation of radiation hydrodynamics. In our approach, the system is split into two parts, one part that couples the radiation and fluid in a hyperbolic subsystem, and another parabolic part that evolves radiation diffusion and source-sink terms. The hyperbolic subsystem is solved explicitly with a high-order Godunovmore » scheme, whereas the parabolic part is solved implicitly with a first-order backward Euler method.« less

SUBGRID PARAMETERIZATION OF SNOW DISTRIBUTION FOR AN ENERGY AND MASS BALANCE SNOW COVER MODEL. (R824784)

EPA Science Inventory

Representation of sub-element scale variability in snow accumulation and ablation is increasingly recognized as important in distributed hydrologic modelling. Representing sub-grid scale variability may be accomplished through numerical integration of a nested grid or through a l...

Parallel simulation of tsunami inundation on a large-scale supercomputer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oishi, Y.; Imamura, F.; Sugawara, D.

2013-12-01

An accurate prediction of tsunami inundation is important for disaster mitigation purposes. One approach is to approximate the tsunami wave source through an instant inversion analysis using real-time observation data (e.g., Tsushima et al., 2009) and then use the resulting wave source data in an instant tsunami inundation simulation. However, a bottleneck of this approach is the large computational cost of the non-linear inundation simulation and the computational power of recent massively parallel supercomputers is helpful to enable faster than real-time execution of a tsunami inundation simulation. Parallel computers have become approximately 1000 times faster in 10 years (www.top500.org), and so it is expected that very fast parallel computers will be more and more prevalent in the near future. Therefore, it is important to investigate how to efficiently conduct a tsunami simulation on parallel computers. In this study, we are targeting very fast tsunami inundation simulations on the K computer, currently the fastest Japanese supercomputer, which has a theoretical peak performance of 11.2 PFLOPS. One computing node of the K computer consists of 1 CPU with 8 cores that share memory, and the nodes are connected through a high-performance torus-mesh network. The K computer is designed for distributed-memory parallel computation, so we have developed a parallel tsunami model. Our model is based on TUNAMI-N2 model of Tohoku University, which is based on a leap-frog finite difference method. A grid nesting scheme is employed to apply high-resolution grids only at the coastal regions. To balance the computation load of each CPU in the parallelization, CPUs are first allocated to each nested layer in proportion to the number of grid points of the nested layer. Using CPUs allocated to each layer, 1-D domain decomposition is performed on each layer. In the parallel computation, three types of communication are necessary: (1) communication to adjacent neighbours for the finite difference calculation, (2) communication between adjacent layers for the calculations to connect each layer, and (3) global communication to obtain the time step which satisfies the CFL condition in the whole domain. A preliminary test on the K computer showed the parallel efficiency on 1024 cores was 57% relative to 64 cores. We estimate that the parallel efficiency will be considerably improved by applying a 2-D domain decomposition instead of the present 1-D domain decomposition in future work. The present parallel tsunami model was applied to the 2011 Great Tohoku tsunami. The coarsest resolution layer covers a 758 km × 1155 km region with a 405 m grid spacing. A nesting of five layers was used with the resolution ratio of 1/3 between nested layers. The finest resolution region has 5 m resolution and covers most of the coastal region of Sendai city. To complete 2 hours of simulation time, the serial (non-parallel) computation took approximately 4 days on a workstation. To complete the same simulation on 1024 cores of the K computer, it took 45 minutes which is more than two times faster than real-time. This presentation discusses the updated parallel computational performance and the efficient use of the K computer when considering the characteristics of the tsunami inundation simulation model in relation to the characteristics and capabilities of the K computer.

Nested large-eddy simulations of nighttime shear-instability waves and transient warming in a steep valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Bowen; Chow, Fotini

2012-11-01

This numerical study investigates the nighttime flow dynamics in a steep valley. The Owens Valley in California is highly complex, and represents a challenging terrain for large-eddy simulations (LES). To ensure a faithful representation of the nighttime atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), realistic external boundary conditions are provided through grid nesting. The model obtains initial and lateral boundary conditions from reanalysis data, and bottom boundary conditions from a land-surface model. We demonstrate the ability to extend a mesoscale model to LES resolutions through a systematic grid-nesting framework, achieving accurate simulations of the stable ABL over complex terrain. Nighttime cold-air flow was channeled through a gap on the valley sidewall. The resulting katabatic current induced a cross-valley flow. Directional shear against the down-valley flow in the lower layers of the valley led to breaking Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at the interface, which is captured only on the LES grid. Later that night, the flow transitioned from down-slope to down-valley near the western sidewall, leading to a transient warming episode. Simulation results are verified against field observations and reveal good spatial and temporal precision. Supported by NSF grant ATM-0645784.

Effects of Grid Resolution on Modeled Air Pollutant Concentrations Due to Emissions from Large Point Sources: Case Study during KORUS-AQ 2016 Campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ju, H.; Bae, C.; Kim, B. U.; Kim, H. C.; Kim, S.

2017-12-01

Large point sources in the Chungnam area received a nation-wide attention in South Korea because the area is located southwest of the Seoul Metropolitan Area whose population is over 22 million and the summertime prevalent winds in the area is northeastward. Therefore, emissions from the large point sources in the Chungnam area were one of the major observation targets during the KORUS-AQ 2016 including aircraft measurements. In general, horizontal grid resolutions of eulerian photochemical models have profound effects on estimated air pollutant concentrations. It is due to the formulation of grid models; that is, emissions in a grid cell will be assumed to be mixed well under planetary boundary layers regardless of grid cell sizes. In this study, we performed series of simulations with the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with eXetension (CAMx). For 9-km and 3-km simulations, we used meteorological fields obtained from the Weather Research and Forecast model while utilizing the "Flexi-nesting" option in the CAMx for the 1-km simulation. In "Flexi-nesting" mode, CAMx interpolates or assigns model inputs from the immediate parent grid. We compared modeled concentrations with ground observation data as well as aircraft measurements to quantify variations of model bias and error depending on horizontal grid resolutions.

A Cell-Centered Multigrid Algorithm for All Grid Sizes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gjesdal, Thor

1996-01-01

Multigrid methods are optimal; that is, their rate of convergence is independent of the number of grid points, because they use a nested sequence of coarse grids to represent different scales of the solution. This nesting does, however, usually lead to certain restrictions of the permissible size of the discretised problem. In cases where the modeler is free to specify the whole problem, such constraints are of little importance because they can be taken into consideration from the outset. We consider the situation in which there are other competing constraints on the resolution. These restrictions may stem from the physical problem (e.g., if the discretised operator contains experimental data measured on a fixed grid) or from the need to avoid limitations set by the hardware. In this paper we discuss a modification to the cell-centered multigrid algorithm, so that it can be used br problems with any resolution. We discuss in particular a coarsening strategy and choice of intergrid transfer operators that can handle grids with both an even or odd number of cells. The method is described and applied to linear equations obtained by discretization of two- and three-dimensional second-order elliptic PDEs.

A Prototype Nonhydrostatic Regional-to-Global Nested-Grid Atmosphere Model for Medium-range Weather Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, L.; Lin, S. J.; Zhou, L.; Chen, J. H.; Benson, R.; Rees, S.

2016-12-01

Limited-area convection-permitting models have proven useful for short-range NWP, but are unable to interact with the larger scales needed for longer lead-time skill. A new global forecast model, fvGFS, has been designed combining a modern nonhydrostatic dynamical core, the GFDL Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere dynamical core (FV3) with operational GFS physics and initial conditions, and has been shown to provide excellent global skill while improving representation of small-scale phenomena. The nested-grid capability of FV3 allows us to build a regional-to-global variable-resolution model to efficiently refine to 3-km grid spacing over the Continental US. The use of two-way grid nesting allows us to reach these resolutions very efficiently, with the operational requirement easily attainable on current supercomputing systems.Even without a boundary-layer or advanced microphysical scheme appropriate for convection-perrmitting resolutions, the effectiveness of fvGFS can be demonstrated for a variety of weather events. We demonstrate successful proof-of-concept simulations of a variety of phenomena. We show the capability to develop intense hurricanes with realistic fine-scale eyewalls and rainbands. The new model also produces skillful predictions of severe weather outbreaks and of organized mesoscale convective systems. Fine-scale orographic and boundary-layer phenomena are also simulated with excellent fidelity by fvGFS. Further expected improvements are discussed, including the introduction of more sophisticated microphysics and of scale-aware convection schemes.

Procedures for offline grid nesting in regional ocean models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mason, Evan; Molemaker, Jeroen; Shchepetkin, Alexander F.; Colas, Francois; McWilliams, James C.; Sangrà, Pablo

One-way offline nesting of a primitive-equation regional ocean numerical model (ROMS) is investigated, with special attention to the boundary forcing file creation process. The model has a modified open boundary condition which minimises false wave reflections, and is optimised to utilise high-frequency boundary updates. The model configuration features a previously computed solution which supplies boundary forcing data to an interior domain with an increased grid resolution. At the open boundaries of the interior grid (the child) the topography is matched to that of the outer grid (the parent), over a narrow transition region. A correction is applied to the normal baroclinic and barotropic velocities at the open boundaries of the child to ensure volume conservation. It is shown that these steps, together with a carefully constructed interpolation of the parent data, lead to a high-quality child solution, with minimal artifacts such as persistent rim currents and wave reflections at the boundaries. Sensitivity experiments provide information about the robustness of the model open boundary condition to perturbations in the surface wind stress forcing field, to the perturbation of the volume conservation enforcement in the boundary forcing, and to perturbation of the vertical density structure in the boundary forcing. This knowledge is important when extending the nesting technique to include external data from alien sources, such as ocean models with physics and/or numerics different from ROMS, or from observed climatologies of temperature, salinity and sea level.

Toward Skillful Subseasonal Prediction of North Atlantic Hurricanes with regionally-refined GFDL HiRAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, K.; Harris, L.; Chen, J. H.; Lin, S. J.

2017-12-01

Skillful subseasonal prediction of hurricane activity (from two weeks to less than a season) is important for early preparedness and reducing the hurricane damage in coastal regions. In this study, we will present evaluations of the performance of GFDL HiRAM (High-Resolution Atmospheric Model) for the simulation and prediction of the North Atlantic hurricane activity on the sub-seasonal time scale. A series of sub-seasonal (30-day duration) retrospective predictions were performed over the years 2000-2014 using two configurations of HiRAM: a) global uniform 25km-resolution grid and b) two-way nested grid with a 8km-resolution nest over North Atlantic. The analysis of hurricane structure from the two sets of simulations indicates the two-way-nesting method is an efficient way to improve the representation of hurricanes in global models: the two-way nested configuration produces realistic hurricane inner-core size and structure, which leads to improved lifetime maximum intensity distribution. Both configurations show very promising performance in the subseasonal hurricane genesis prediction, but the two-way nested configuration shows better performance in the prediction of major hurricane (Categories 3-5) activity because of the improved intensity simulation. We will also present the analysis of how the phase and magnitude of MJO, as well as the initial SST anomaly affect the model's prediction skill.

Climate Simulations based on a different-grid nested and coupled model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dan; Ji, Jinjun; Li, Yinpeng

2002-05-01

An atmosphere-vegetation interaction model (A VIM) has been coupled with a nine-layer General Cir-culation Model (GCM) of Institute of Atmospheic Physics/State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (IAP/LASG), which is rhomboidally truncated at zonal wave number 15, to simulate global climatic mean states. A VIM is a model having inter-feedback between land surface processes and eco-physiological processes on land. As the first step to couple land with atmosphere completely, the physiological processes are fixed and only the physical part (generally named the SVAT (soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer scheme) model) of AVIM is nested into IAP/LASG L9R15 GCM. The ocean part of GCM is prescribed and its monthly sea surface temperature (SST) is the climatic mean value. With respect to the low resolution of GCM, i.e., each grid cell having lon-gitude 7.5° and latitude 4.5°, the vegetation is given a high resolution of 1.5° by 1.5° to nest and couple the fine grid cells of land with the coarse grid cells of atmosphere. The coupling model has been integrated for 15 years and its last ten-year mean of outputs was chosen for analysis. Compared with observed data and NCEP reanalysis, the coupled model simulates the main characteris-tics of global atmospheric circulation and the fields of temperature and moisture. In particular, the simu-lated precipitation and surface air temperature have sound results. The work creates a solid base on coupling climate models with the biosphere.

Rapid inundation estimates at harbor scale using tsunami wave heights offshore simulation and coastal amplification laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gailler, A.; Loevenbruck, A.; Hebert, H.

2013-12-01

Numerical tsunami propagation and inundation models are well developed and have now reached an impressive level of accuracy, especially in locations such as harbors where the tsunami waves are mostly amplified. In the framework of tsunami warning under real-time operational conditions, the main obstacle for the routine use of such numerical simulations remains the slowness of the numerical computation, which is strengthened when detailed grids are required for the precise modeling of the coastline response of an individual harbor. Thus only tsunami offshore propagation modeling tools using a single sparse bathymetric computation grid are presently included within the French Tsunami Warning Center (CENALT), providing rapid estimation of tsunami warning at western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins scale. We present here a preliminary work that performs quick estimates of the inundation at individual harbors from these high sea forecasting tsunami simulations. The method involves an empirical correction based on theoretical amplification laws (either Green's or Synolakis laws). The main limitation is that its application to a given coastal area would require a large database of previous observations, in order to define the empirical parameters of the correction equation. As no such data (i.e., historical tide gage records of significant tsunamis) are available for the western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins, we use a set of synthetic mareograms, calculated for both fake and well-known historical tsunamigenic earthquakes in the area. This synthetic dataset is obtained through accurate numerical tsunami propagation and inundation modeling by using several nested bathymetric grids of increasingly fine resolution close to the shores (down to a grid cell size of 3m in some Mediterranean harbors). Non linear shallow water tsunami modeling performed on a single 2' coarse bathymetric grid are compared to the values given by time-consuming nested grids simulations (and observation when available), in order to check to which extent the simple approach based on the amplification laws can explain the data. The idea is to fit tsunami data with numerical modeling carried out without any refined coastal bathymetry/topography. To this end several parameters are discussed, namely the bathymetric depth to which model results must be extrapolated (using the Green's law), or the mean bathymetric slope to consider near the studied coast (when using the Synolakis law).

Rapid inundation estimates using coastal amplification laws in the western Mediterranean basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gailler, Audrey; Loevenbruck, Anne; Hébert, Hélène

2014-05-01

Numerical tsunami propagation and inundation models are well developed and have now reached an impressive level of accuracy, especially in locations such as harbors where the tsunami waves are mostly amplified. In the framework of tsunami warning under real-time operational conditions, the main obstacle for the routine use of such numerical simulations remains the slowness of the numerical computation, which is strengthened when detailed grids are required for the precise modeling of the coastline response of an individual harbor. Thus only tsunami offshore propagation modeling tools using a single sparse bathymetric computation grid are presently included within the French Tsunami Warning Center (CENALT), providing rapid estimation of tsunami warning at western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins scale. We present here a preliminary work that performs quick estimates of the inundation at individual harbors from these high sea forecasting tsunami simulations. The method involves an empirical correction based on theoretical amplification laws (either Green's or Synolakis laws). The main limitation is that its application to a given coastal area would require a large database of previous observations, in order to define the empirical parameters of the correction equation. As no such data (i.e., historical tide gage records of significant tsunamis) are available for the western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins, we use a set of synthetic mareograms, calculated for both fake events and well-known historical tsunamigenic earthquakes in the area. This synthetic dataset is obtained through accurate numerical tsunami propagation and inundation modeling by using several nested bathymetric grids of increasingly fine resolution close to the shores (down to a grid cell size of 3m in some Mediterranean harbors). Non linear shallow water tsunami modeling performed on a single 2' coarse bathymetric grid are compared to the values given by time-consuming nested grids simulations (and observation when available), in order to check to which extent the simple approach based on the amplification laws can explain the data. The idea is to fit tsunami data with numerical modeling carried out without any refined coastal bathymetry/topography. To this end several parameters are discussed, namely the bathymetric depth to which model results must be extrapolated (using the Green's law), or the mean bathymetric slope to consider near the studied coast (when using the Synolakis law).

Multidimensional radiative transfer with multilevel atoms. II. The non-linear multigrid method.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fabiani Bendicho, P.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Auer, L.

1997-08-01

A new iterative method for solving non-LTE multilevel radiative transfer (RT) problems in 1D, 2D or 3D geometries is presented. The scheme obtains the self-consistent solution of the kinetic and RT equations at the cost of only a few (<10) formal solutions of the RT equation. It combines, for the first time, non-linear multigrid iteration (Brandt, 1977, Math. Comp. 31, 333; Hackbush, 1985, Multi-Grid Methods and Applications, springer-Verlag, Berlin), an efficient multilevel RT scheme based on Gauss-Seidel iterations (cf. Trujillo Bueno & Fabiani Bendicho, 1995ApJ...455..646T), and accurate short-characteristics formal solution techniques. By combining a valid stopping criterion with a nested-grid strategy a converged solution with the desired true error is automatically guaranteed. Contrary to the current operator splitting methods the very high convergence speed of the new RT method does not deteriorate when the grid spatial resolution is increased. With this non-linear multigrid method non-LTE problems discretized on N grid points are solved in O(N) operations. The nested multigrid RT method presented here is, thus, particularly attractive in complicated multilevel transfer problems where small grid-sizes are required. The properties of the method are analyzed both analytically and with illustrative multilevel calculations for Ca II in 1D and 2D schematic model atmospheres.

MODFLOW–USG version 1: An unstructured grid version of MODFLOW for simulating groundwater flow and tightly coupled processes using a control volume finite-difference formulation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Panday, Sorab; Langevin, Christian D.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Ibaraki, Motomu; Hughes, Joseph D.

2013-01-01

A new version of MODFLOW, called MODFLOW–USG (for UnStructured Grid), was developed to support a wide variety of structured and unstructured grid types, including nested grids and grids based on prismatic triangles, rectangles, hexagons, and other cell shapes. Flexibility in grid design can be used to focus resolution along rivers and around wells, for example, or to subdiscretize individual layers to better represent hydrostratigraphic units. MODFLOW–USG is based on an underlying control volume finite difference (CVFD) formulation in which a cell can be connected to an arbitrary number of adjacent cells. To improve accuracy of the CVFD formulation for irregular grid-cell geometries or nested grids, a generalized Ghost Node Correction (GNC) Package was developed, which uses interpolated heads in the flow calculation between adjacent connected cells. MODFLOW–USG includes a Groundwater Flow (GWF) Process, based on the GWF Process in MODFLOW–2005, as well as a new Connected Linear Network (CLN) Process to simulate the effects of multi-node wells, karst conduits, and tile drains, for example. The CLN Process is tightly coupled with the GWF Process in that the equations from both processes are formulated into one matrix equation and solved simultaneously. This robustness results from using an unstructured grid with unstructured matrix storage and solution schemes. MODFLOW–USG also contains an optional Newton-Raphson formulation, based on the formulation in MODFLOW–NWT, for improving solution convergence and avoiding problems with the drying and rewetting of cells. Because the existing MODFLOW solvers were developed for structured and symmetric matrices, they were replaced with a new Sparse Matrix Solver (SMS) Package developed specifically for MODFLOW–USG. The SMS Package provides several methods for resolving nonlinearities and multiple symmetric and asymmetric linear solution schemes to solve the matrix arising from the flow equations and the Newton-Raphson formulation, respectively.

Rapid inundation estimates at harbor scale using tsunami wave heights offshore simulation and Green's law approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gailler, Audrey; Hébert, Hélène; Loevenbruck, Anne

2013-04-01

Improvements in the availability of sea-level observations and advances in numerical modeling techniques are increasing the potential for tsunami warnings to be based on numerical model forecasts. Numerical tsunami propagation and inundation models are well developed and have now reached an impressive level of accuracy, especially in locations such as harbors where the tsunami waves are mostly amplified. In the framework of tsunami warning under real-time operational conditions, the main obstacle for the routine use of such numerical simulations remains the slowness of the numerical computation, which is strengthened when detailed grids are required for the precise modeling of the coastline response on the scale of an individual harbor. In fact, when facing the problem of the interaction of the tsunami wavefield with a shoreline, any numerical simulation must be performed over an increasingly fine grid, which in turn mandates a reduced time step, and the use of a fully non-linear code. Such calculations become then prohibitively time-consuming, which is clearly unacceptable in the framework of real-time warning. Thus only tsunami offshore propagation modeling tools using a single sparse bathymetric computation grid are presently included within the French Tsunami Warning Center (CENALT), providing rapid estimation of tsunami wave heights in high seas, and tsunami warning maps at western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins scale. We present here a preliminary work that performs quick estimates of the inundation at individual harbors from these deep wave heights simulations. The method involves an empirical correction relation derived from Green's law, expressing conservation of wave energy flux to extend the gridded wave field into the harbor with respect to the nearby deep-water grid node. The main limitation of this method is that its application to a given coastal area would require a large database of previous observations, in order to define the empirical parameters of the correction equation. As no such data (i.e., historical tide gage records of significant tsunamis) are available for the western Mediterranean and NE Atlantic basins, a set of synthetic mareograms is calculated for both fake and well-known historical tsunamigenic earthquakes in the area. This synthetic dataset is obtained through accurate numerical tsunami propagation and inundation modeling by using several nested bathymetric grids characterized by a coarse resolution over deep water regions and an increasingly fine resolution close to the shores (down to a grid cell size of 3m in some Mediterranean harbors). This synthetic dataset is then used to approximate the empirical parameters of the correction equation. Results of inundation estimates in several french Mediterranean harbors obtained with the fast "Green's law - derived" method are presented and compared with values given by time-consuming nested grids simulations.

Multigrid finite element method in stress analysis of three-dimensional elastic bodies of heterogeneous structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matveev, A. D.

2016-11-01

To calculate the three-dimensional elastic body of heterogeneous structure under static loading, a method of multigrid finite element is provided, when implemented on the basis of algorithms of finite element method (FEM), using homogeneous and composite threedimensional multigrid finite elements (MFE). Peculiarities and differences of MFE from the currently available finite elements (FE) are to develop composite MFE (without increasing their dimensions), arbitrarily small basic partition of composite solids consisting of single-grid homogeneous FE of the first order can be used, i.e. in fact, to use micro approach in finite element form. These small partitions allow one to take into account in MFE, i.e. in the basic discrete models of composite solids, complex heterogeneous and microscopically inhomogeneous structure, shape, the complex nature of the loading and fixation and describe arbitrarily closely the stress and stain state by the equations of three-dimensional elastic theory without any additional simplifying hypotheses. When building the m grid FE, m of nested grids is used. The fine grid is generated by a basic partition of MFE, the other m —1 large grids are applied to reduce MFE dimensionality, when m is increased, MFE dimensionality becomes smaller. The procedures of developing MFE of rectangular parallelepiped, irregular shape, plate and beam types are given. MFE generate the small dimensional discrete models and numerical solutions with a high accuracy. An example of calculating the laminated plate, using three-dimensional 3-grid FE and the reference discrete model is given, with that having 2.2 milliards of FEM nodal unknowns.

Colony mapping: A new technique for monitoring crevice-nesting seabirds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Renner, H.M.; Renner, M.; Reynolds, J.H.; Harping, A.M.A.; Jones, I.L.; Irons, D.B.; Byrd, G.V.

2006-01-01

Monitoring populations of auklets and other crevice-nesting seabirds remains problematic, although numerous methods have been attempted since the mid-1960s. Anecdotal evidence suggests several large auklet colonies have recently decreased in both abundance and extent, concurrently with vegetation encroachment and succession. Quantifying changes in the geographical extent of auklet colonies may be a useful alternative to monitoring population size directly. We propose a standardized method for colony mapping using a randomized systematic grid survey with two components: a simple presence/absence survey and an auklet evidence density survey. A quantitative auklet evidence density index was derived from the frequency of droppings and feathers. This new method was used to map the colony on St. George Island in the southeastern Bering Sea and results were compared to previous colony mapping efforts. Auklet presence was detected in 62 of 201 grid cells (each grid cell = 2500 m2) by sampling a randomly placed 16 m2 plot in each cell; estimated colony area = 155 000 m2. The auklet evidence density index varied by two orders of magnitude across the colony and was strongly correlated with means of replicated counts of birds socializing on the colony surface. Quantitatively mapping all large auklet colonies is logistically feasible using this method and would provide an important baseline for monitoring colony status. Regularly monitoring select colonies using this method may be the best means of detecting changes in distribution and population size of crevice-nesting seabirds. ?? The Cooper Ornithological Society 2006.

Daily hydro- and morphodynamic simulations at Duck, NC, USA using Delft3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penko, Allison; Veeramony, Jay; Palmsten, Margaret; Bak, Spicer; Brodie, Katherine; Hesser, Tyler

2017-04-01

Operational forecasting of the coastal nearshore has wide ranging societal and humanitarian benefits, specifically for the prediction of natural hazards due to extreme storm events. However, understanding the model limitations and uncertainty is as equally important as the predictions themselves. By comparing and contrasting the predictions of multiple high-resolution models in a location with near real-time collection of observations, we are able to perform a vigorous analysis of the model results in order to achieve more robust and certain predictions. In collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility (USACE FRF) as part of the Coastal Model Test Bed (CMTB) project, we have set up Delft3D at Duck, NC, USA to run in near-real time, driven by measured wave data at the boundary. The CMTB at the USACE FRF allows for the unique integration of operational wave, circulation, and morphology models with real-time observations. The FRF has an extensive array of in-situ and remotely sensed oceanographic, bathymetric, and meteorological data that is broadcast in near-real time onto a publically accessible server. Wave, current, and bed elevation instruments are permanently installed across the model domain including 2 waverider buoys in 17-m and 26-m water depths at 3.5-km and 17-km offshore, respectively, that record directional wave data every 30-min. Here, we present the workflow and output of the Delft3D hydro- and morphodynamic simulations at Duck, and show the tactical benefits and operational potential of such a system. A nested Delft3D simulation runs a parent grid that extends 12-km in the along-shore and 3.5-km in the cross-shore with 50-m resolution and a maximum depth of approximately 17-m. The bathymetry for the parent grid was obtained from a regional digital elevation model (DEM) generated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The inner nested grid extends 1.8-km in the along-shore and 1-km in the cross-shore with 5-m resolution and a maximum depth of approximately 8-m. The inner nested grid initial model bathymetry is set to either the predicted bathymetry from the previous day's simulation or a survey, whichever is more recent. Delft3D-WAVE runs in the parent grid and is driven with the real-time spectral wave measurements from the waverider buoy in 17-m depth. The spectral output from Delft3D-WAVE in the parent grid is then used as the boundary condition for the inner nested high-resolution grid, in which the coupled Delft3D wave-flow-morphology model is run. The model results are then compared to the wave, current, and bathymetry observations collected at the FRF as well as other models that are run in the CMTB.

Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain

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

Rai, Raj K.; Berg, Larry K.; Kosović, Branko

High resolution numerical simulation can provide insight into important physical processes that occur within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The present work employs large eddy simulation (LES) using the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) model, with the LES domain nested within mesoscale simulation, to simulate real conditions in the convective PBL over an area of complex terrain. A multiple nesting approach has been used to downsize the grid spacing from 12.15 km (mesoscale) to 0.03 km (LES). A careful selection of grid spacing in the WRF Meso domain has been conducted to minimize artifacts in the WRF-LES solutions. The WRF-LESmore » results have been evaluated with in situ and remote sensing observations collected during the US Department of Energy-supported Columbia BasinWind Energy Study (CBWES). Comparison of the first- and second-order moments, turbulence spectrum, and probability density function (PDF) of wind speed shows good agreement between the simulations and data. Furthermore, the WRF-LES variables show a great deal of variability in space and time caused by the complex topography in the LES domain. The WRF-LES results show that the flow structures, such as roll vortices and convective cells, vary depending on both the location and time of day. In addition to basic studies related to boundary-layer meteorology, results from these simulations can be used in other applications, such as studying wind energy resources, atmospheric dispersion, fire weather etc.« less

Noisy anthropogenic infrastructure interferes with alarm responses in Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis)

PubMed Central

Koper, Nicola

2018-01-01

Many birds rely on anti-predator communication to protect their nests; however, anthropogenic noise from industrial activities such as oil and gas development may disrupt acoustic communication. Here, we conducted acoustic playback experiments to determine whether Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) responded to conspecific alarm calls by delaying feeding visits, and whether this response was impaired by noise-producing natural gas compressor stations, generator- or grid-powered screw pump oil wells, and noise amplitude. We played alarm calls, and, as a control, western meadowlark songs, to Savannah sparrows as they approached their nests to feed their nestlings, and measured feeding latency. The greatest impacts on behaviour were detected at the noisiest treatment, compressor stations; feeding latency was shortened here compared with control sites, which may expose nests to greater predation risk. As noise amplitudes increased, Savannah sparrows took longer to feed following meadowlark playbacks, perhaps because noise interfered with interpretation of acoustic cues. The effects of compressor stations on anti-predator behaviour may be best explained by the distracting effects of anthropogenic noise, while increases in feeding latency following meadowlark playbacks may be explained by a heightened response threshold caused by acoustic masking. Industrial infrastructure can influence the reproductive success of wildlife through its impact on perception and interpretation of conspecific signals, but these effects are complex. PMID:29892404

Nested-grid simulation of mercury over North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.; Jaeglé, L.; van Donkelaar, A.; Martin, R. V.; Holmes, C. D.; Amos, H. M.; Wang, Q.; Talbot, R.; Artz, R.; Brooks, S.; Luke, W.; Holsen, T. M.; Felton, D.; Miller, E. K.; Perry, K. D.; Schmeltz, D.; Steffen, A.; Tordon, R.; Weiss-Penzias, P.; Zsolway, R.

2012-01-01

We have developed a new high-resolution (1/2° latitude by 2/3° longitude) nested-grid mercury (Hg) simulation over North America employing the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Emissions, chemistry, deposition, and meteorology are self-consistent between the global and nested domains. Compared to the global model (4° latitude by 5° longitude), the nested model shows improved skill at capturing the high spatial and temporal variability of Hg wet deposition over North America observed by the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) in 2008-2009. The nested simulation resolves features such as land/ocean contrast and higher deposition due to orographic precipitation, and predicts more efficient convective rain scavenging of Hg over the southeast United States. However, the nested model overestimates Hg wet deposition over the Ohio River Valley region (ORV) by 27%. We modify anthropogenic emission speciation profiles in the US EPA National Emission Inventory (NEI) to account for the rapid in-plume reduction of reactive to elemental Hg (IPR simulation). This leads to a decrease in the model bias to +3% over the ORV region. Over the contiguous US, the correlation coefficient (r) between MDN observations and our IPR simulation increases from 0.63 to 0.78. The IPR nested simulation generally reproduces the seasonal cycle in surface concentrations of speciated Hg from the Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet) and Canadian Atmospheric Mercury Network (CAMNet). In the IPR simulation, annual mean reactive gaseous and particulate-bound Hg are within 80% and 10% of observations, respectively. In contrast, the simulation with unmodified anthropogenic Hg speciation profiles overestimates these observations by factors of 2 to 4. The nested model shows improved skill at capturing the horizontal variability of Hg observed over California during the ARCTAS aircraft campaign. We find that North American anthropogenic emissions account for 10-22% of Hg wet deposition flux over the US, depending on the anthropogenic emissions speciation profile assumed. The percent contribution can be as high as 60% near large point emission sources in ORV. The contribution for the dry deposition is 13-20%.

Understanding Predictability of the Ocean

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-30

information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 30 SEP 2011 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2011 to 00-00...source of barotropic-to-baroclinic tidal energy conversion. In the region around the islands, the internal tidal energy is as much as 50% of the...PacIOOS currently employs four nested ROMS models: 4km island-chain, 1km Oahu, 100m Oahu South-Shore, and 80m Oahu West-Coast. Each grid is nested in

Photochemical grid model performance with varying horizontal grid resolution and sub-grid plume treatment for the Martins Creek near-field SO2 study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, Kirk R.; Hawkins, Andy; Kelly, James T.

2014-12-01

Near source modeling is needed to assess primary and secondary pollutant impacts from single sources and single source complexes. Source-receptor relationships need to be resolved from tens of meters to tens of kilometers. Dispersion models are typically applied for near-source primary pollutant impacts but lack complex photochemistry. Photochemical models provide a realistic chemical environment but are typically applied using grid cell sizes that may be larger than the distance between sources and receptors. It is important to understand the impacts of grid resolution and sub-grid plume treatments on photochemical modeling of near-source primary pollution gradients. Here, the CAMx photochemical grid model is applied using multiple grid resolutions and sub-grid plume treatment for SO2 and compared with a receptor mesonet largely impacted by nearby sources approximately 3-17 km away in a complex terrain environment. Measurements are compared with model estimates of SO2 at 4- and 1-km resolution, both with and without sub-grid plume treatment and inclusion of finer two-way grid nests. Annual average estimated SO2 mixing ratios are highest nearest the sources and decrease as distance from the sources increase. In general, CAMx estimates of SO2 do not compare well with the near-source observations when paired in space and time. Given the proximity of these sources and receptors, accuracy in wind vector estimation is critical for applications that pair pollutant predictions and observations in time and space. In typical permit applications, predictions and observations are not paired in time and space and the entire distributions of each are directly compared. Using this approach, model estimates using 1-km grid resolution best match the distribution of observations and are most comparable to similar studies that used dispersion and Lagrangian modeling systems. Model-estimated SO2 increases as grid cell size decreases from 4 km to 250 m. However, it is notable that the 1-km model estimates using 1-km meteorological model input are higher than the 1-km model simulation that used interpolated 4-km meteorology. The inclusion of sub-grid plume treatment did not improve model skill in predicting SO2 in time and space and generally acts to keep emitted mass aloft.

A Fast Full Tensor Gravity computation algorithm for High Resolution 3D Geologic Interpretations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayaram, V.; Crain, K.; Keller, G. R.

2011-12-01

We present an algorithm to rapidly calculate the vertical gravity and full tensor gravity (FTG) values due to a 3-D geologic model. This algorithm can be implemented on single, multi-core CPU and graphical processing units (GPU) architectures. Our technique is based on the line element approximation with a constant density within each grid cell. This type of parameterization is well suited for high-resolution elevation datasets with grid size typically in the range of 1m to 30m. The large high-resolution data grids in our studies employ a pre-filtered mipmap pyramid type representation for the grid data known as the Geometry clipmap. The clipmap was first introduced by Microsoft Research in 2004 to do fly-through terrain visualization. This method caches nested rectangular extents of down-sampled data layers in the pyramid to create view-dependent calculation scheme. Together with the simple grid structure, this allows the gravity to be computed conveniently on-the-fly, or stored in a highly compressed format. Neither of these capabilities has previously been available. Our approach can perform rapid calculations on large topographies including crustal-scale models derived from complex geologic interpretations. For example, we used a 1KM Sphere model consisting of 105000 cells at 10m resolution with 100000 gravity stations. The line element approach took less than 90 seconds to compute the FTG and vertical gravity on an Intel Core i7 CPU at 3.07 GHz utilizing just its single core. Also, unlike traditional gravity computational algorithms, the line-element approach can calculate gravity effects at locations interior or exterior to the model. The only condition that must be met is the observation point cannot be located directly above the line element. Therefore, we perform a location test and then apply appropriate formulation to those data points. We will present and compare the computational performance of the traditional prism method versus the line element approach on different CPU-GPU system configurations. The algorithm calculates the expected gravity at station locations where the observed gravity and FTG data were acquired. This algorithm can be used for all fast forward model calculations of 3D geologic interpretations for data from airborne, space and submarine gravity, and FTG instrumentation.

Weather forecast performances for complex orographic areas: Impact of different grid resolutions and of geographic data on heavy rainfall event simulations in Sicily

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caccamo, M. T.; Castorina, G.; Colombo, F.; Insinga, V.; Maiorana, E.; Magazù, S.

2017-12-01

Over the past decades, Sicily has undergone an increasing sequence of extreme weather events that have produced, besides huge damages to both environment and territory, the death of hundreds of people together with the evacuation of thousands of residents, which have permanently lost their properties. In this framework, with this paper we have investigated the impact of different grid spacing and geographic data on the performance of forecasts over complex orographic areas. In order to test the validity of this approach we have analyzed and discussed, as case study, the heavy rainfall occurred in Sicily during the night of October 10, 2015. In just 9 h, a Mediterranean depression, centered on the Tunisian coastline, produced a violent mesoscale storm localized on the Peloritani Mountains with a maximum rain accumulation of about 200 mm. The results of these simulations were obtained using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) Model, version 3.7.1, at different grid spacing values and the Two Way Nesting procedure with a sub-domain centered on the area of interest. The results highlighted that providing correct and timely forecasts of extreme weather events is a challenge that could have been efficiently and effectively countered using proper employment of high spatial resolution models.

A Structured and Unstructured grid Relocatable ocean platform for Forecasting (SURF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trotta, Francesco; Fenu, Elisa; Pinardi, Nadia; Bruciaferri, Diego; Giacomelli, Luca; Federico, Ivan; Coppini, Giovanni

2016-11-01

We present a numerical platform named Structured and Unstructured grid Relocatable ocean platform for Forecasting (SURF). The platform is developed for short-time forecasts and is designed to be embedded in any region of the large-scale Mediterranean Forecasting System (MFS) via downscaling. We employ CTD data collected during a campaign around the Elba island to calibrate and validate SURF. The model requires an initial spin up period of a few days in order to adapt the initial interpolated fields and the subsequent solutions to the higher-resolution nested grids adopted by SURF. Through a comparison with the CTD data, we quantify the improvement obtained by SURF model compared to the coarse-resolution MFS model.

Nest odor dynamics in the social wasp Vespula vulgaris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinmetz, Inge; Schmolz, Erik

2005-09-01

We investigated nest odor dynamics in the common yellow jacket, Vespula vulgaris. In six isolated colonies, we tested the aggression rates toward dead nestmates that had been stored for 10 min, 10 and 19 days outside their colonies at 76 °C. The aggression rate increased from about 12% toward recently killed nestmates up to 30% toward nestmates killed 19 days before the experiment. Obviously, the conserved nest odor profile of the nestmates frozen for several days did not match with that of their colony anymore. This indicates a change of the nest odor within the colony. In a second experiment, we kept two colonies each in one nest box with a complete separation of both neighbor nests by a solid wall inside the box for 28 days. In confrontation experiments, the colony members treated dead foragers from the neighbor nest as aggressively as dead foreign, non-neighbor workers (about 39% each) whereas only about 14% reacted aggressively toward dead nestmates. Seventeen days after the replacement of the solid wall by a metallic grid, which allowed no physical contact but air exchange between the two neighbor colonies, the aggression rates toward foreign workers and nestmates remained relatively unaffected whereas it decreased significantly toward dead neighbors to about 11%. These results suggest a nest odor dynamic caused by volatiles transferred between two adjacent colonies, resulting in an equalization of the former colony specific nest odors. A change of nest odor dynamics influenced by volatiles was so far described only for one ant species at all.

Inverse modeling of pan-Arctic methane emissions at high spatial resolution: what can we learn from assimilating satellite retrievals and using different process-based wetland and lake biogeochemical models?

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

Tan, Zeli; Zhuang, Qianlai; Henze, Daven K.

Understanding methane emissions from the Arctic, a fast-warming carbon reservoir, is important for projecting future changes in the global methane cycle. Here we optimized methane emissions from north of 60° N (pan-Arctic) regions using a nested-grid high-resolution inverse model that assimilates both high-precision surface measurements and column-average SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartogrphY (SCIAMACHY) satellite retrievals of methane mole fraction. For the first time, methane emissions from lakes were integrated into an atmospheric transport and inversion estimate, together with prior wetland emissions estimated with six biogeochemical models. In our estimates, in 2005, global methane emissions were in the range ofmore » 496.4–511.5 Tg yr −1, and pan-Arctic methane emissions were in the range of 11.9–28.5 Tg yr −1. Methane emissions from pan-Arctic wetlands and lakes were 5.5–14.2 and 2.4–14.2 Tg yr −1, respectively. Methane emissions from Siberian wetlands and lakes are the largest and also have the largest uncertainty. Our results indicate that the uncertainty introduced by different wetland models could be much larger than the uncertainty of each inversion. We also show that assimilating satellite retrievals can reduce the uncertainty of the nested-grid inversions. The significance of lake emissions cannot be identified across the pan-Arctic by high-resolution inversions, but it is possible to identify high lake emissions from some specific regions. In contrast to global inversions, high-resolution nested-grid inversions perform better in estimating near-surface methane concentrations.« less

Inverse modeling of pan-Arctic methane emissions at high spatial resolution: what can we learn from assimilating satellite retrievals and using different process-based wetland and lake biogeochemical models?

DOE PAGES

Tan, Zeli; Zhuang, Qianlai; Henze, Daven K.; ...

2016-10-12

Understanding methane emissions from the Arctic, a fast-warming carbon reservoir, is important for projecting future changes in the global methane cycle. Here we optimized methane emissions from north of 60° N (pan-Arctic) regions using a nested-grid high-resolution inverse model that assimilates both high-precision surface measurements and column-average SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartogrphY (SCIAMACHY) satellite retrievals of methane mole fraction. For the first time, methane emissions from lakes were integrated into an atmospheric transport and inversion estimate, together with prior wetland emissions estimated with six biogeochemical models. In our estimates, in 2005, global methane emissions were in the range ofmore » 496.4–511.5 Tg yr −1, and pan-Arctic methane emissions were in the range of 11.9–28.5 Tg yr −1. Methane emissions from pan-Arctic wetlands and lakes were 5.5–14.2 and 2.4–14.2 Tg yr −1, respectively. Methane emissions from Siberian wetlands and lakes are the largest and also have the largest uncertainty. Our results indicate that the uncertainty introduced by different wetland models could be much larger than the uncertainty of each inversion. We also show that assimilating satellite retrievals can reduce the uncertainty of the nested-grid inversions. The significance of lake emissions cannot be identified across the pan-Arctic by high-resolution inversions, but it is possible to identify high lake emissions from some specific regions. In contrast to global inversions, high-resolution nested-grid inversions perform better in estimating near-surface methane concentrations.« less

Stochastic collocation using Kronrod-Patterson-Hermite quadrature with moderate delay for subsurface flow and transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Q.; Tchelepi, H.; Zhang, D.

2015-12-01

Uncertainty quantification aims at characterizing the impact of input parameters on the output responses and plays an important role in many areas including subsurface flow and transport. In this study, a sparse grid collocation approach, which uses a nested Kronrod-Patterson-Hermite quadrature rule with moderate delay for Gaussian random parameters, is proposed to quantify the uncertainty of model solutions. The conventional stochastic collocation method serves as a promising non-intrusive approach and has drawn a great deal of interests. The collocation points are usually chosen to be Gauss-Hermite quadrature nodes, which are naturally unnested. The Kronrod-Patterson-Hermite nodes are shown to be more efficient than the Gauss-Hermite nodes due to nestedness. We propose a Kronrod-Patterson-Hermite rule with moderate delay to further improve the performance. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method for uncertainty quantification through subsurface flow and transport examples.

Triple-material stress-strain resistivity gage

DOEpatents

Stout, R.B.

1988-05-17

A triple material piezoresistive gage provides multi-component elastic stress measurements is disclosed. Thin foils of three piezoresistive materials, e.g. ytterbium, manganin, and constantan, are configured in a nested serpentine rectilinear grid or other grid arrangement and embedded in a medium, preferably normal to the direction of shock wave propagation. The output of the gage is a resistivity change history for each material of the gage. Each resistivity change is independent of the others so that three diagonal components of the elastic stress or strain tensor can be calculated from the resistivity measurements. 4 figs.

Triple-material stress-strain resistivity gage

DOEpatents

Stout, Ray B.

1988-01-01

A triple material piezoresistive gage provides multi-component elastic stress or measurements. Thin foils of three piezoresistive materials, e.g. ytterbium, manganin, and constantan, are configured in a nested serpentine rectilinear grid or other grid arrangement and embedded in a medium, preferably normal to the direction of shock wave propagation. The output of the gage is a resistivity change history for each material of the gage. Each resistivity change is independent of the others so that three diagonal components of the elastic stress or strain tensor can be calculated from the resistivity measurements.

Observations and Modelling of Winds and Waves during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment. Report 1. Intensive Observation Period IOP-1, 20-31 October 1990

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-01

wave buoy provided by SEATEX, Norway (Figure 3). The modified Mills-cross array was designed to provide spatial estimates of the variation in wave, wind... designed for SWADE to examine the wave physics at different spatial and temporal scales, and the usefulness of a nested system. Each grid is supposed to...field specification. SWADE Model This high-resolution grid was designed to simulate the small scale wave physics and to improve and verify the source

The impact of convection in the West African monsoon region on global weather forecasts - explicit vs. parameterised convection simulations using the ICON model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pante, Gregor; Knippertz, Peter

2017-04-01

The West African monsoon is the driving element of weather and climate during summer in the Sahel region. It interacts with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and the African easterly jet and African easterly waves. Poor representation of convection in numerical models, particularly its organisation on the mesoscale, can result in unrealistic forecasts of the monsoon dynamics. Arguably, the parameterisation of convection is one of the main deficiencies in models over this region. Overall, this has negative impacts on forecasts over West Africa itself but may also affect remote regions, as waves originating from convective heating are badly represented. Here we investigate those remote forecast impacts based on daily initialised 10-day forecasts for July 2016 using the ICON model. One set of simulations employs the default setup of the global model with a horizontal grid spacing of 13 km. It is compared with simulations using the 2-way nesting capability of ICON. A second model domain over West Africa (the nest) with 6.5 km grid spacing is sufficient to explicitly resolve MCSs in this region. In the 2-way nested simulations, the prognostic variables of the global model are influenced by the results of the nest through relaxation. The nest with explicit convection is able to reproduce single MCSs much more realistically compared to the stand-alone global simulation with parameterised convection. Explicit convection leads to cooler temperatures in the lower troposphere (below 500 hPa) over the northern Sahel due to stronger evaporational cooling. Overall, the feedback of dynamic variables from the nest to the global model shows clear positive effects when evaluating the output of the global domain of the 2-way nesting simulation and the output of the stand-alone global model with ERA-Interim re-analyses. Averaged over the 2-way nested region, bias and root mean squared error (RMSE) of temperature, geopotential, wind and relative humidity are significantly reduced in the lower troposphere. Outside Africa over the Atlantic or in Europe the effect of the 2-way nesting becomes visible after some days of simulation. The changes in error measures are not as clear as in the nesting region itself but still improvements for some variables at different altitudes are evident, most likely due to a better representation of African easterly waves and Rossby waves. This work shows the importance of the West African region for global weather forecasts and the potential of convective permitting modelling in this region to improve the forecasts even far away from Africa in the future.

Improving sub-grid scale accuracy of boundary features in regional finite-difference models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Panday, Sorab; Langevin, Christian D.

2012-01-01

As an alternative to grid refinement, the concept of a ghost node, which was developed for nested grid applications, has been extended towards improving sub-grid scale accuracy of flow to conduits, wells, rivers or other boundary features that interact with a finite-difference groundwater flow model. The formulation is presented for correcting the regular finite-difference groundwater flow equations for confined and unconfined cases, with or without Newton Raphson linearization of the nonlinearities, to include the Ghost Node Correction (GNC) for location displacement. The correction may be applied on the right-hand side vector for a symmetric finite-difference Picard implementation, or on the left-hand side matrix for an implicit but asymmetric implementation. The finite-difference matrix connectivity structure may be maintained for an implicit implementation by only selecting contributing nodes that are a part of the finite-difference connectivity. Proof of concept example problems are provided to demonstrate the improved accuracy that may be achieved through sub-grid scale corrections using the GNC schemes.

An algebraic multigrid method for Q2-Q1 mixed discretizations of the Navier-Stokes equations

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

Prokopenko, Andrey; Tuminaro, Raymond S.

Algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioners are considered for discretized systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) where unknowns associated with different physical quantities are not necessarily co-located at mesh points. Speci cally, we investigate a Q 2-Q 1 mixed finite element discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations where the number of velocity nodes is much greater than the number of pressure nodes. Consequently, some velocity degrees-of-freedom (dofs) are defined at spatial locations where there are no corresponding pressure dofs. Thus, AMG approaches lever- aging this co-located structure are not applicable. This paper instead proposes an automatic AMG coarsening that mimics certain pressure/velocitymore » dof relationships of the Q 2-Q 1 discretization. The main idea is to first automatically define coarse pressures in a somewhat standard AMG fashion and then to carefully (but automatically) choose coarse velocity unknowns so that the spatial location relationship between pressure and velocity dofs resembles that on the nest grid. To define coefficients within the inter-grid transfers, an energy minimization AMG (EMIN-AMG) is utilized. EMIN-AMG is not tied to specific coarsening schemes and grid transfer sparsity patterns, and so it is applicable to the proposed coarsening. Numerical results highlighting solver performance are given on Stokes and incompressible Navier-Stokes problems.« less

The numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models: State of the art and future perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klingbeil, Knut; Lemarié, Florian; Debreu, Laurent; Burchard, Hans

2018-05-01

The state of the art of the numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models is reviewed here. First, some fundamental differences in the hydrodynamics of the coastal ocean, such as the large surface elevation variation compared to the mean water depth, are contrasted against large scale ocean dynamics. Then the hydrodynamic equations as they are used in coastal ocean models as well as in large scale ocean models are presented, including parameterisations for turbulent transports. As steps towards discretisation, coordinate transformations and spatial discretisations based on a finite-volume approach are discussed with focus on the specific requirements for coastal ocean models. As in large scale ocean models, splitting of internal and external modes is essential also for coastal ocean models, but specific care is needed when drying & flooding of intertidal flats is included. As one obvious characteristic of coastal ocean models, open boundaries occur and need to be treated in a way that correct model forcing from outside is transmitted to the model domain without reflecting waves from the inside. Here, also new developments in two-way nesting are presented. Single processes such as internal inertia-gravity waves, advection and turbulence closure models are discussed with focus on the coastal scales. Some overview on existing hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models is given, including their extensions towards non-hydrostatic models. Finally, an outlook on future perspectives is made.

An algebraic multigrid method for Q2-Q1 mixed discretizations of the Navier-Stokes equations

DOE PAGES

Prokopenko, Andrey; Tuminaro, Raymond S.

2016-07-01

Algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioners are considered for discretized systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) where unknowns associated with different physical quantities are not necessarily co-located at mesh points. Speci cally, we investigate a Q 2-Q 1 mixed finite element discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations where the number of velocity nodes is much greater than the number of pressure nodes. Consequently, some velocity degrees-of-freedom (dofs) are defined at spatial locations where there are no corresponding pressure dofs. Thus, AMG approaches lever- aging this co-located structure are not applicable. This paper instead proposes an automatic AMG coarsening that mimics certain pressure/velocitymore » dof relationships of the Q 2-Q 1 discretization. The main idea is to first automatically define coarse pressures in a somewhat standard AMG fashion and then to carefully (but automatically) choose coarse velocity unknowns so that the spatial location relationship between pressure and velocity dofs resembles that on the nest grid. To define coefficients within the inter-grid transfers, an energy minimization AMG (EMIN-AMG) is utilized. EMIN-AMG is not tied to specific coarsening schemes and grid transfer sparsity patterns, and so it is applicable to the proposed coarsening. Numerical results highlighting solver performance are given on Stokes and incompressible Navier-Stokes problems.« less

Tsunami hazard assessment in the Hudson River Estuary based on dynamic tsunami-tide simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shelby, Michael; Grilli, Stéphan T.; Grilli, Annette R.

2016-12-01

This work is part of a tsunami inundation mapping activity carried out along the US East Coast since 2010, under the auspice of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation program (NTHMP). The US East Coast features two main estuaries with significant tidal forcing, which are bordered by numerous critical facilities (power plants, major harbors,...) as well as densely built low-level areas: Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River Estuary (HRE). HRE is the object of this work, with specific focus on assessing tsunami hazard in Manhattan, the Hudson and East River areas. In the NTHMP work, inundation maps are computed as envelopes of maximum surface elevation along the coast and inland, by simulating the impact of selected probable maximum tsunamis (PMT) in the Atlantic ocean margin and basin. At present, such simulations assume a static reference level near shore equal to the local mean high water (MHW) level. Here, instead we simulate maximum inundation in the HRE resulting from dynamic interactions between the incident PMTs and a tide, which is calibrated to achieve MHW at its maximum level. To identify conditions leading to maximum tsunami inundation, each PMT is simulated for four different phases of the tide and results are compared to those obtained for a static reference level. We first separately simulate the tide and the three PMTs that were found to be most significant for the HRE. These are caused by: (1) a flank collapse of the Cumbre Vieja Volcano (CVV) in the Canary Islands (with a 80 km3 volume representing the most likely extreme scenario); (2) an M9 coseismic source in the Puerto Rico Trench (PRT); and (3) a large submarine mass failure (SMF) in the Hudson River canyon of parameters similar to the 165 km3 historical Currituck slide, which is used as a local proxy for the maximum possible SMF. Simulations are performed with the nonlinear and dispersive long wave model FUNWAVE-TVD, in a series of nested grids of increasing resolution towards the coast, by one-way coupling. Four levels of nested grids are used, from a 1 arc-min spherical coordinate grid in the deep ocean down to a 39-m Cartesian grid in the HRE. Bottom friction coefficients in the finer grids are calibrated for the tide to achieve the local spatially averaged MHW level at high tide in the HRE. Combined tsunami-tide simulations are then performed for four phases of the tide corresponding to each tsunami arriving at Sandy Hook (NJ): 1.5 h ahead, concurrent with, 1.5 h after, and 3 h after the local high tide. These simulations are forced along the offshore boundary of the third-level grid by linearly superposing time series of surface elevation and horizontal currents of the calibrated tide and each tsunami wave train; this is done in deep enough water for a linear superposition to be accurate. Combined tsunami-tide simulations are then performed with FUNWAVE-TVD in this and the finest nested grids. Results show that, for the 3 PMTs, depending on the tide phase, the dynamic simulations lead to no or to a slightly increased inundation in the HRE (by up to 0.15 m depending on location), and to larger currents than for the simulations over a static level; the CRT SMF proxy tsunami is the PMT leading to maximum inundation in the HRE. For all tide phases, nonlinear interactions between tide and tsunami currents modify the elevation, current, and celerity of tsunami wave trains, mostly in the shallower water areas of the HRE where bottom friction dominates, as compared to a linear superposition of wave elevations and currents. We note that, while dynamic simulations predict a slight increase in inundation, this increase may be on the same order as, or even less than sources of uncertainty in the modeling of tsunami sources, such as their initial water elevation, and in bottom friction and bathymetry used in tsunami grids. Nevertheless, results in this paper provide insight into the magnitude and spatial variability of tsunami propagation and impact in the complex inland waterways surrounding New York City, and of their modification by dynamic tidal effects. We conclude that changes in inundation resulting from the inclusion of a dynamic tide in the specific case of the HRE, although of scientific interest, are not significant for tsunami hazard assessment and that the standard approach of specifying a static reference level equal to MHW is conservative. However, in other estuaries with similarly complex bathymetry/topography and stronger tidal currents, a simplified static approach might not be appropriate.

Kinematic modelling of disc galaxies using graphics processing units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bekiaris, G.; Glazebrook, K.; Fluke, C. J.; Abraham, R.

2016-01-01

With large-scale integral field spectroscopy (IFS) surveys of thousands of galaxies currently under-way or planned, the astronomical community is in need of methods, techniques and tools that will allow the analysis of huge amounts of data. We focus on the kinematic modelling of disc galaxies and investigate the potential use of massively parallel architectures, such as the graphics processing unit (GPU), as an accelerator for the computationally expensive model-fitting procedure. We review the algorithms involved in model-fitting and evaluate their suitability for GPU implementation. We employ different optimization techniques, including the Levenberg-Marquardt and nested sampling algorithms, but also a naive brute-force approach based on nested grids. We find that the GPU can accelerate the model-fitting procedure up to a factor of ˜100 when compared to a single-threaded CPU, and up to a factor of ˜10 when compared to a multithreaded dual CPU configuration. Our method's accuracy, precision and robustness are assessed by successfully recovering the kinematic properties of simulated data, and also by verifying the kinematic modelling results of galaxies from the GHASP and DYNAMO surveys as found in the literature. The resulting GBKFIT code is available for download from: http://supercomputing.swin.edu.au/gbkfit.

A test-bed modeling study for wave resource assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Z.; Neary, V. S.; Wang, T.; Gunawan, B.; Dallman, A.

2016-02-01

Hindcasts from phase-averaged wave models are commonly used to estimate standard statistics used in wave energy resource assessments. However, the research community and wave energy converter industry is lacking a well-documented and consistent modeling approach for conducting these resource assessments at different phases of WEC project development, and at different spatial scales, e.g., from small-scale pilot study to large-scale commercial deployment. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate current wave model codes, as well as limitations and knowledge gaps for predicting sea states, in order to establish best wave modeling practices, and to identify future research needs to improve wave prediction for resource assessment. This paper presents the first phase of an on-going modeling study to address these concerns. The modeling study is being conducted at a test-bed site off the Central Oregon Coast using two of the most widely-used third-generation wave models - WaveWatchIII and SWAN. A nested-grid modeling approach, with domain dimension ranging from global to regional scales, was used to provide wave spectral boundary condition to a local scale model domain, which has a spatial dimension around 60km by 60km and a grid resolution of 250m - 300m. Model results simulated by WaveWatchIII and SWAN in a structured-grid framework are compared to NOAA wave buoy data for the six wave parameters, including omnidirectional wave power, significant wave height, energy period, spectral width, direction of maximum directionally resolved wave power, and directionality coefficient. Model performance and computational efficiency are evaluated, and the best practices for wave resource assessments are discussed, based on a set of standard error statistics and model run times.

Development of Parallel Code for the Alaska Tsunami Forecast Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahng, B.; Knight, W. R.; Whitmore, P.

2014-12-01

The Alaska Tsunami Forecast Model (ATFM) is a numerical model used to forecast propagation and inundation of tsunamis generated by earthquakes and other means in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. At the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC), the model is mainly used in a pre-computed fashion. That is, results for hundreds of hypothetical events are computed before alerts, and are accessed and calibrated with observations during tsunamis to immediately produce forecasts. ATFM uses the non-linear, depth-averaged, shallow-water equations of motion with multiply nested grids in two-way communications between domains of each parent-child pair as waves get closer to coastal waters. Even with the pre-computation the task becomes non-trivial as sub-grid resolution gets finer. Currently, the finest resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEM) used by ATFM are 1/3 arc-seconds. With a serial code, large or multiple areas of very high resolution can produce run-times that are unrealistic even in a pre-computed approach. One way to increase the model performance is code parallelization used in conjunction with a multi-processor computing environment. NTWC developers have undertaken an ATFM code-parallelization effort to streamline the creation of the pre-computed database of results with the long term aim of tsunami forecasts from source to high resolution shoreline grids in real time. Parallelization will also permit timely regeneration of the forecast model database with new DEMs; and, will make possible future inclusion of new physics such as the non-hydrostatic treatment of tsunami propagation. The purpose of our presentation is to elaborate on the parallelization approach and to show the compute speed increase on various multi-processor systems.

Interference Lattice-based Loop Nest Tilings for Stencil Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

VanderWijngaart, Rob F.; Frumkin, Michael

2000-01-01

A common method for improving performance of stencil operations on structured multi-dimensional discretization grids is loop tiling. Tile shapes and sizes are usually determined heuristically, based on the size of the primary data cache. We provide a lower bound on the numbers of cache misses that must be incurred by any tiling, and a close achievable bound using a particular tiling based on the grid interference lattice. The latter tiling is used to derive highly efficient loop orderings. The total number of cache misses of a code is the sum of (necessary) cold misses and misses caused by elements being dropped from the cache between successive loads (replacement misses). Maximizing temporal locality is equivalent to minimizing replacement misses. Temporal locality of loop nests implementing stencil operations is optimized by tilings that avoid data conflicts. We divide the loop nest iteration space into conflict-free tiles, derived from the cache miss equation. The tiling involves the definition of the grid interference lattice an equivalence class of grid points whose images in main memory map to the same location in the cache-and the construction of a special basis for the lattice. Conflicts only occur on the boundaries of the tiles, unless the tiles are too thin. We show that the surface area of the tiles is bounded for grids of any dimensionality, and for caches of any associativity, provided the eccentricity of the fundamental parallelepiped (the tile spanned by the basis) of the lattice is bounded. Eccentricity is determined by two factors, aspect ratio and skewness. The aspect ratio of the parallelepiped can be bounded by appropriate array padding. The skewness can be bounded by the choice of a proper basis. Combining these two strategies ensures that pathologically thin tiles are avoided. They do not, however, minimize replacement misses per se. The reason is that tile visitation order influences the number of data conflicts on the tile boundaries. If two adjacent tiles are visited successively, there will be no replacement misses on the shared boundary. The iteration space may be covered with pencils larger than the size of the cache while avoiding data conflicts if the pencils are traversed by a scanning-face method. Replacement misses are incurred only on the boundaries of the pencils, and the number of misses is minimized by maximizing the volume of the scanning face, not the volume of the tile. We present an algorithm for constructing the most efficient scanning face for a given grid and stencil operator. In two dimensions it is based on a continued fraction algorithm. In three dimensions it follows Voronoi's successive minima algorithm. We show experimental results of using the scanning face, and compare with canonical loop orderings.

Novel Acoustic Techniques for Assessing Fish Schooling in the Context of an Operational Ocean Observatory

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-30

adaptively using real-time data collected with the international constellation of ocean color satellites, a nested grid of HF radars, and an...scattering source was identified during the experiment as dense, monotypic aggregations of a pelagic gastropod were located during a 2-day period. These

Novel Acoustic Techniques for Assessing Fish Schooling in the Context of an Operational Ocean Observatory

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-30

adaptively using real-time data collected with the international constellation of ocean color satellites, a nested grid of HF radars, and an operational... gastropod were located during a 2-day period. These aggregations were remarkablystrong scatterers at frequencies ranging from 38-200 kHz. Data

Visible-near infrared spectroscopy as a tool to improve mapping of soil properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evgrafova, Alevtina; Kühnel, Anna; Bogner, Christina; Haase, Ina; Shibistova, Olga; Guggenberger, Georg; Tananaev, Nikita; Sauheitl, Leopold; Spielvogel, Sandra

2017-04-01

Spectroscopic measurements, which are non-destructive, precise and rapid, can be used to predict soil properties and help estimate the spatial variability of soil properties at the pedon scale. These estimations are required for quantifying soil properties with higher precision, identifying the changes in soil properties and ecosystem response to climate change as well as increasing the estimation accuracy of soil-related models. Our objectives were to (i) predict soil properties for nested samples (n = 296) using the laboratory-based visible-near infrared (vis-NIR) spectra of air-dried (<2 mm) soil samples and values of measured soil properties for gridded samples (n = 174) as calibration and validation sets; (ii) estimate the precision and predictive accuracy of an empirical spectral model using (a) our own spectral library and (b) the global spectral library; (iii) support the global spectral library with obtained vis-NIR spectral data on permafrost-affected soils. The soil samples were collected from three permafrost-affected soil profiles underlain by permafrost at various depths between 23 cm to 57.5 cm below the surface (Cryosols) and one soil profile with no presence of permafrost within the upper 100 cm layer (Cambisol) in order to characterize the spatial distribution and variability of soil properties. The gridded soil samples (n = 174) were collected using an 80 cm wide grid with a mesh size of 10 cm on both axes. In addition, 300 nested soil samples were collected using a grid of 12 cm by 12 cm (25 samples per grid) from a hole of 1 cm in a diameter with a distance from the next sample of 1 cm. Due to a small amount of available soil material (< 1.5 g), 296 nested soil samples were analyzed only using vis-NIR spectroscopy. The air-dried mineral gridded soil samples (n = 174) were sieved through a 2-mm sieve and ground with an agate mortar prior to the elemental analysis. The soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentrations (in %) were determined using a dry combustion method on the Vario EL cube analyzer (Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH, Germany). Inorganic C was removed from the mineral soil samples with pH values higher than 7 prior to the elemental analysis using the volatilization method (HCl, 6 hours). The pH of soil samples was measured in 0.01 M CaCl2 using a 1:2 soil:solution ratio. However, for soil sample with a high in organic matter content, a 1:10 ratio was applied. We also measured oxalate and dithionite extracted iron, aluminum and manganese oxides and hydroxides using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (Varian Vista MPX ICP-OES, Agilent Technologies, USA). We predicted the above-mentioned soil properties for all nested samples using partial least squares regression, which was performed using R program. We can conclude that vis-NIR spectroscopy can be used effectively in order to describe, estimate and further map the spatial patterns of soil properties using geostatistical methods. This research could also help to improve the global soil spectral library taking into account that only few previous applications of vis-NIR spectroscopy were conducted on permafrost-affected soils of Northern Siberia. Keywords: Visible-near infrared spectroscopy, vis-NIR, permafrost-affected soils, Siberia, partial least squares regression.

Downscaling modelling system for multi-scale air quality forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nuterman, R.; Baklanov, A.; Mahura, A.; Amstrup, B.; Weismann, J.

2010-09-01

Urban modelling for real meteorological situations, in general, considers only a small part of the urban area in a micro-meteorological model, and urban heterogeneities outside a modelling domain affect micro-scale processes. Therefore, it is important to build a chain of models of different scales with nesting of higher resolution models into larger scale lower resolution models. Usually, the up-scaled city- or meso-scale models consider parameterisations of urban effects or statistical descriptions of the urban morphology, whereas the micro-scale (street canyon) models are obstacle-resolved and they consider a detailed geometry of the buildings and the urban canopy. The developed system consists of the meso-, urban- and street-scale models. First, it is the Numerical Weather Prediction (HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model) model combined with Atmospheric Chemistry Transport (the Comprehensive Air quality Model with extensions) model. Several levels of urban parameterisation are considered. They are chosen depending on selected scales and resolutions. For regional scale, the urban parameterisation is based on the roughness and flux corrections approach; for urban scale - building effects parameterisation. Modern methods of computational fluid dynamics allow solving environmental problems connected with atmospheric transport of pollutants within urban canopy in a presence of penetrable (vegetation) and impenetrable (buildings) obstacles. For local- and micro-scales nesting the Micro-scale Model for Urban Environment is applied. This is a comprehensive obstacle-resolved urban wind-flow and dispersion model based on the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes approach and several turbulent closures, i.e. k -ɛ linear eddy-viscosity model, k - ɛ non-linear eddy-viscosity model and Reynolds stress model. Boundary and initial conditions for the micro-scale model are used from the up-scaled models with corresponding interpolation conserving the mass. For the boundaries a kind of Dirichlet condition is chosen to provide the values based on interpolation from the coarse to the fine grid. When the roughness approach is changed to the obstacle-resolved one in the nested model, the interpolation procedure will increase the computational time (due to additional iterations) for meteorological/ chemical fields inside the urban sub-layer. In such situations, as a possible alternative, the perturbation approach can be applied. Here, the effects of main meteorological variables and chemical species are considered as a sum of two components: background (large-scale) values, described by the coarse-resolution model, and perturbations (micro-scale) features, obtained from the nested fine resolution model.

Microscale anthropogenic pollution modelling in a small tropical island during weak trade winds: Lagrangian particle dispersion simulations using real nested LES meteorological fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cécé, Raphaël; Bernard, Didier; Brioude, Jérome; Zahibo, Narcisse

2016-08-01

Tropical islands are characterized by thermal and orographical forcings which may generate microscale air mass circulations. The Lesser Antilles Arc includes small tropical islands (width lower than 50 km) where a total of one-and-a-half million people live. Air quality over this region is affected by anthropogenic and volcanic emissions, or saharan dust. To reduce risks for the population health, the atmospheric dispersion of emitted pollutants must be predicted. In this study, the dispersion of anthropogenic nitrogen oxides (NOx) is numerically modelled over the densely populated area of the Guadeloupe archipelago under weak trade winds, during a typical case of severe pollution. The main goal is to analyze how microscale resolutions affect air pollution in a small tropical island. Three resolutions of domain grid are selected: 1 km, 333 m and 111 m. The Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is used to produce real nested microscale meteorological fields. Then the weather outputs initialize the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (FLEXPART). The forward simulations of a power plant plume showed good ability to reproduce nocturnal peaks recorded by an urban air quality station. The increase in resolution resulted in an improvement of model sensitivity. The nesting to subkilometer grids helped to reduce an overestimation bias mainly because the LES domains better simulate the turbulent motions governing nocturnal flows. For peaks observed at two air quality stations, the backward sensitivity outputs identified realistic sources of NOx in the area. The increase in resolution produced a sharper inverse plume with a more accurate source area. This study showed the first application of the FLEXPART-WRF model to microscale resolutions. Overall, the coupling model WRF-LES-FLEXPART is useful to simulate the pollutant dispersion during a real case of calm wind regime over a complex terrain area. The forward and backward simulation results showed clearly that the subkilometer resolution of 333 m is necessary to reproduce realistic air pollution patterns in this case of short-range transport over a complex terrain area. Globally, this work contributes to enrich the sparsely documented domain of real nested microscale air pollution modelling. This study dealing with the determination of the proper resolution grid and proper turbulence scheme, is of significant interest to the near-source and complex terrain air quality research community.

An Approach for Dynamic Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, John W.; Liou, Meng-Sing; Hindman, Richard G.

1994-01-01

An approach is presented for the generation of two-dimensional, structured, dynamic grids. The grid motion may be due to the motion of the boundaries of the computational domain or to the adaptation of the grid to the transient, physical solution. A time-dependent grid is computed through the time integration of the grid speeds which are computed from a system of grid speed equations. The grid speed equations are derived from the time-differentiation of the grid equations so as to ensure that the dynamic grid maintains the desired qualities of the static grid. The grid equations are the Euler-Lagrange equations derived from a variational statement for the grid. The dynamic grid method is demonstrated for a model problem involving boundary motion, an inviscid flow in a converging-diverging nozzle during startup, and a viscous flow over a flat plate with an impinging shock wave. It is shown that the approach is more accurate for transient flows than an approach in which the grid speeds are computed using a finite difference with respect to time of the grid. However, the approach requires significantly more computational effort.

Bird on the wire: Landscape planning considering costs and benefits for bird populations coexisting with power lines.

PubMed

D'Amico, Marcello; Catry, Inês; Martins, Ricardo C; Ascensão, Fernando; Barrientos, Rafael; Moreira, Francisco

2018-02-24

Power-line grids are increasingly expanding worldwide, as well as their negative impacts on avifauna, namely the direct mortality through collision and electrocution, the reduction of breeding performance, and the barrier effect. On the other hand, some bird species can apparently benefit from the presence of power lines, for example perching for hunting purposes or nesting on electricity towers. In this perspective essay, we reviewed the scientific literature on both costs and benefits for avifauna coexisting with power lines. Overall, we detected a generalized lack of studies focusing on these costs or benefits at a population level. We suggest that a switch in research approach to a larger spatio-temporal scale would greatly improve our knowledge about the actual effects of power lines on bird populations. This research approach would facilitate suitable landscape planning encompassing both mitigation of costs and promotion of benefits for bird populations coexisting with power lines. For example, the strategic route planning of electricity infrastructures would limit collision risk or barrier effects for threatened bird populations. Concurrently, this strategic route planning would promote the range expansion of threatened populations of other bird species, by providing nesting structures in treeless but potentially suitable landscapes. We suggest establishing a collaborative dialogue among the scientific community, governments, and electricity companies, with the aim to produce a win-win scenario in which both biodiversity conservation and infrastructure development are integrated in a common strategy.

Noise promotes independent control of gamma oscillations and grid firing within recurrent attractor networks

PubMed Central

Solanka, Lukas; van Rossum, Mark CW; Nolan, Matthew F

2015-01-01

Neural computations underlying cognitive functions require calibration of the strength of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections and are associated with modulation of gamma frequency oscillations in network activity. However, principles relating gamma oscillations, synaptic strength and circuit computations are unclear. We address this in attractor network models that account for grid firing and theta-nested gamma oscillations in the medial entorhinal cortex. We show that moderate intrinsic noise massively increases the range of synaptic strengths supporting gamma oscillations and grid computation. With moderate noise, variation in excitatory or inhibitory synaptic strength tunes the amplitude and frequency of gamma activity without disrupting grid firing. This beneficial role for noise results from disruption of epileptic-like network states. Thus, moderate noise promotes independent control of multiplexed firing rate- and gamma-based computational mechanisms. Our results have implications for tuning of normal circuit function and for disorders associated with changes in gamma oscillations and synaptic strength. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06444.001 PMID:26146940

USING MM5V3 WITH ETA ANALYSES FOR AIR-QUALITY MODELING AT THE EPA

EPA Science Inventory

Efforts have been underway since MM5v3 was released in July 1999 to set up air-quality simulations using Eta analyses as background fields. Our previous simulations used a one-way quadruple-nested set of domains with horizontal grid spacing of 108, 36, 12 and 4 km. With Eta a...

THE PLUTO CODE FOR ADAPTIVE MESH COMPUTATIONS IN ASTROPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS

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

Mignone, A.; Tzeferacos, P.; Zanni, C.

We present a description of the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) implementation of the PLUTO code for solving the equations of classical and special relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD and RMHD). The current release exploits, in addition to the static grid version of the code, the distributed infrastructure of the CHOMBO library for multidimensional parallel computations over block-structured, adaptively refined grids. We employ a conservative finite-volume approach where primary flow quantities are discretized at the cell center in a dimensionally unsplit fashion using the Corner Transport Upwind method. Time stepping relies on a characteristic tracing step where piecewise parabolic method, weighted essentially non-oscillatory,more » or slope-limited linear interpolation schemes can be handily adopted. A characteristic decomposition-free version of the scheme is also illustrated. The solenoidal condition of the magnetic field is enforced by augmenting the equations with a generalized Lagrange multiplier providing propagation and damping of divergence errors through a mixed hyperbolic/parabolic explicit cleaning step. Among the novel features, we describe an extension of the scheme to include non-ideal dissipative processes, such as viscosity, resistivity, and anisotropic thermal conduction without operator splitting. Finally, we illustrate an efficient treatment of point-local, potentially stiff source terms over hierarchical nested grids by taking advantage of the adaptivity in time. Several multidimensional benchmarks and applications to problems of astrophysical relevance assess the potentiality of the AMR version of PLUTO in resolving flow features separated by large spatial and temporal disparities.« less

The Amundsen Sea Sector Data Set: Applications with UMISM: Where and How Much WATER? What WILL happen in the future?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fastook, J. L.

2006-12-01

Recent extraordinary programs of the Airborne Geophysical survey of the Amundsen Sea Embayment (AGASEA), by University of Texas [holt06] and British Antarctic Survey [vaughan06] teams in the astral summers of 2004/2005, collected some 75,000 km of flight-line data measuring ice thickness with radar sounders and surface elevation with laser or radar altimeters. Recently these data have been made available as a 5-km gridded data set in a format convenient for modeling. We apply the University of Maine Ice Sheet Model (UMISM) in its embedded mode [fastook04b] to do high-resolution analysis of the velocity distribution within the Amundsen Catchment. We show that the model adequately captures velocity distributions measured by SAR radar [rignot04]. We show the distribution of basal water predicted by the model [fastook97, johnson99, johnson02b, johnson02]. We hope that, within the limitations of our grounding line parameterization, the model has predictive capabilities and will show some examples of possible future retreat. The nest of embedded models begins with a 40 km grid of the entire ice sheet. Embedded in this is a 10 km grid that includes the entire AGASEA measurement area. Nested inside this medium-resolution grid are two 5 km grids encompassing Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers. This procedure allows us to obtain the highest- resolution results with very reasonable runtimes. A cycle of growth to an LGM configuration followed by retreat to the present configuration is run for this nest of embedded grids. Advance and retreat is controlled by a "thinning-at-the-grounding-line" parameter (the WEERTMAN) which is coupled to the Vostok Core temperature proxy. Full resolution 5-km results for thickness, velocity, and water distribution are shown for the two focused embedded grids. We also present a plausible, but perhaps extreme, scenario of future retreat that might arise if conditions ever returned to the state that produced the large retreat from the LGM configuration. One of these scenarios produces complete collapse of the WAIS in a few thousand years, while the other demonstrates how the "weak underbelly" might collapse [hughes81c]. [fastook97] J.L. Fastook. 4th Annual WAIS Initiative Workshop, 10-12 Sept. 1997, Sterling, Virginia, 1997. [fastook04b] J.L. Fastook and A. Sargent. 11h Annual WAIS Initiative Workshop, Sterling, Virginia, 2004. [holt06] J.W. Holt, et al.. Geophys. Res. Lett., L09502(doi:10.1029/2005GL025561), 2006. [hughes81c] T. Hughes. Journal of Glaciology, 27:518--521, 1981. [johnson02] Jesse Johnson and James L. Fastook. Quaternary International, 95-96:65--74, 2002. [johnson99] Jesse Johnson, Slawek Tulaczyk, and J.L. Fastook. 6th Annual WAIS Initiative Workshop, 15-18 Sept. 1999, Sterling, Virginia, 1999. [johnson02b] Jesse V. Johnson. A basal water model for ice sheets. PhD thesis, Department Physcs, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, 2002. [rignot04] E. Rignot, et al., Annals of Glaciology, 39:231--237, 2004. [vaughan06] D.G. Vaughan, et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., doi 10.1029/2005GL025588, 2006.

Wired: impacts of increasing power line use by a growing bird population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreira, Francisco; Encarnação, Vitor; Rosa, Gonçalo; Gilbert, Nathalie; Infante, Samuel; Costa, Julieta; D'Amico, Marcello; Martins, Ricardo C.; Catry, Inês

2017-02-01

Power lines are increasingly widespread across many regions of the planet. Although these linear infrastructures are known for their negative impacts on bird populations, through collision and electrocution, some species take advantage of electricity pylons for nesting. In this case, estimation of the net impact of these infrastructures at the population level requires an assessment of trade-offs between positive and negative impacts. We compiled historical information (1958-2014) of the Portuguese white stork Ciconia ciconia population to analyze long-term changes in numbers, distribution range and use of nesting structures. White stork population size increased 660% up to 12000 breeding pairs between 1984 and 2014. In the same period, the proportion of nests on electricity pylons increased from 1% to 25%, likely facilitated by the 60% increase in the length of the very high tension power line grid (holding the majority of the nests) in the stork’s distribution range. No differences in breeding success were registered for storks nesting on electricity pylons versus other structures, but a high risk of mortality by collision and electrocution with power lines was estimated. We discuss the implications of this behavioral change, and of the management responses by power line companies, both for stork populations and for managers.

Monitoring Finnish Owls 1982-1996: methods and results

Treesearch

Pertti Saurola

1997-01-01

In 1982, the Raptor Grid, a nation-wide program for monitoring birds of prey was started by the Finnish Ringing Centre. Voluntary banders were asked to select a 10 x 10 km study plot and find annually all active nests or at least occupied territories of birds of prey from their study plot (annual total averaged 120). Since 1986, additional...

Continuous attractor network models of grid cell firing based on excitatory–inhibitory interactions

PubMed Central

Shipston‐Sharman, Oliver; Solanka, Lukas

2016-01-01

Abstract Neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex encode location through spatial firing fields that have a grid‐like organisation. The challenge of identifying mechanisms for grid firing has been addressed through experimental and theoretical investigations of medial entorhinal circuits. Here, we discuss evidence for continuous attractor network models that account for grid firing by synaptic interactions between excitatory and inhibitory cells. These models assume that grid‐like firing patterns are the result of computation of location from velocity inputs, with additional spatial input required to oppose drift in the attractor state. We focus on properties of continuous attractor networks that are revealed by explicitly considering excitatory and inhibitory neurons, their connectivity and their membrane potential dynamics. Models at this level of detail can account for theta‐nested gamma oscillations as well as grid firing, predict spatial firing of interneurons as well as excitatory cells, show how gamma oscillations can be modulated independently from spatial computations, reveal critical roles for neuronal noise, and demonstrate that only a subset of excitatory cells in a network need have grid‐like firing fields. Evaluating experimental data against predictions from detailed network models will be important for establishing the mechanisms mediating grid firing. PMID:27870120

A dual communicator and dual grid-resolution algorithm for petascale simulations of turbulent mixing at high Schmidt number

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clay, M. P.; Buaria, D.; Gotoh, T.; Yeung, P. K.

2017-10-01

A new dual-communicator algorithm with very favorable performance characteristics has been developed for direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent mixing of a passive scalar governed by an advection-diffusion equation. We focus on the regime of high Schmidt number (S c), where because of low molecular diffusivity the grid-resolution requirements for the scalar field are stricter than those for the velocity field by a factor √{ S c }. Computational throughput is improved by simulating the velocity field on a coarse grid of Nv3 points with a Fourier pseudo-spectral (FPS) method, while the passive scalar is simulated on a fine grid of Nθ3 points with a combined compact finite difference (CCD) scheme which computes first and second derivatives at eighth-order accuracy. A static three-dimensional domain decomposition and a parallel solution algorithm for the CCD scheme are used to avoid the heavy communication cost of memory transposes. A kernel is used to evaluate several approaches to optimize the performance of the CCD routines, which account for 60% of the overall simulation cost. On the petascale supercomputer Blue Waters at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, scalability is improved substantially with a hybrid MPI-OpenMP approach in which a dedicated thread per NUMA domain overlaps communication calls with computational tasks performed by a separate team of threads spawned using OpenMP nested parallelism. At a target production problem size of 81923 (0.5 trillion) grid points on 262,144 cores, CCD timings are reduced by 34% compared to a pure-MPI implementation. Timings for 163843 (4 trillion) grid points on 524,288 cores encouragingly maintain scalability greater than 90%, although the wall clock time is too high for production runs at this size. Performance monitoring with CrayPat for problem sizes up to 40963 shows that the CCD routines can achieve nearly 6% of the peak flop rate. The new DNS code is built upon two existing FPS and CCD codes. With the grid ratio Nθ /Nv = 8, the disparity in the computational requirements for the velocity and scalar problems is addressed by splitting the global communicator MPI_COMM_WORLD into disjoint communicators for the velocity and scalar fields, respectively. Inter-communicator transfer of the velocity field from the velocity communicator to the scalar communicator is handled with discrete send and non-blocking receive calls, which are overlapped with other operations on the scalar communicator. For production simulations at Nθ = 8192 and Nv = 1024 on 262,144 cores for the scalar field, the DNS code achieves 94% strong scaling relative to 65,536 cores and 92% weak scaling relative to Nθ = 1024 and Nv = 128 on 512 cores.

Towards a coastal ocean forecasting system in Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian seas based on unstructured-grid model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Federico, Ivan; Oddo, Paolo; Pinardi, Nadia; Coppini, Giovanni

2014-05-01

The Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian Forecasting System (SANIFS) operational chain is based on a nesting approach. The large scale model for the entire Mediterranean basin (MFS, Mediterranean Forecasting system, operated by INGV, e.g. Tonani et al. 2008, Oddo et al. 2009) provides lateral open boundary conditions to the regional model for Adriatic and Ionian seas (AIFS, Adriatic Ionian Forecasting System) which provides the open-sea fields (initial conditions and lateral open boundary conditions) to SANIFS. The latter, here presented, is a coastal ocean model based on SHYFEM (Shallow HYdrodynamics Finite Element Model) code, which is an unstructured grid, finite element three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (e.g. Umgiesser et al., 2004, Ferrarin et al., 2013). The SANIFS hydrodynamic model component has been designed to provide accurate information of hydrodynamics and active tracer fields in the coastal waters of Southern Eastern Italy (Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria regions), where the model is characterized by a resolution of about of 200-500 m. The horizontal resolution is also accurate in open-sea areas, where the elements size is approximately 3 km. During the development phase the model has been initialized and forced at the lateral open boundaries through a full nesting strategy directly with the MFS fields. The heat fluxes has been computed by bulk formulae using as input data the operational analyses of European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Short range pre-operational forecast tests have been performed in different seasons to evaluate the robustness of the implemented model in different oceanographic conditions. Model results are validated by means of comparison with MFS operational results and observations. The model is able to reproduce the large-scale oceanographic structures of the area (keeping similar structures of MFS in open sea), while in the coastal area significant improvements in terms of reproduced structures and dynamics are evident.

Advanced Unstructured Grid Generation for Complex Aerodynamic Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.

2008-01-01

A new approach for distribution of grid points on the surface and in the volume has been developed and implemented in the NASA unstructured grid generation code VGRID. In addition to the point and line sources of prior work, the new approach utilizes surface and volume sources for automatic curvature-based grid sizing and convenient point distribution in the volume. A new exponential growth function produces smoother and more efficient grids and provides superior control over distribution of grid points in the field. All types of sources support anisotropic grid stretching which not only improves the grid economy but also provides more accurate solutions for certain aerodynamic applications. The new approach does not require a three-dimensional background grid as in the previous methods. Instead, it makes use of an efficient bounding-box auxiliary medium for storing grid parameters defined by surface sources. The new approach is less memory-intensive and more efficient computationally. The grids generated with the new method either eliminate the need for adaptive grid refinement for certain class of problems or provide high quality initial grids that would enhance the performance of many adaptation methods.

A multithreaded and GPU-optimized compact finite difference algorithm for turbulent mixing at high Schmidt number using petascale computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clay, M. P.; Yeung, P. K.; Buaria, D.; Gotoh, T.

2017-11-01

Turbulent mixing at high Schmidt number is a multiscale problem which places demanding requirements on direct numerical simulations to resolve fluctuations down the to Batchelor scale. We use a dual-grid, dual-scheme and dual-communicator approach where velocity and scalar fields are computed by separate groups of parallel processes, the latter using a combined compact finite difference (CCD) scheme on finer grid with a static 3-D domain decomposition free of the communication overhead of memory transposes. A high degree of scalability is achieved for a 81923 scalar field at Schmidt number 512 in turbulence with a modest inertial range, by overlapping communication with computation whenever possible. On the Cray XE6 partition of Blue Waters, use of a dedicated thread for communication combined with OpenMP locks and nested parallelism reduces CCD timings by 34% compared to an MPI baseline. The code has been further optimized for the 27-petaflops Cray XK7 machine Titan using GPUs as accelerators with the latest OpenMP 4.5 directives, giving 2.7X speedup compared to CPU-only execution at the largest problem size. Supported by NSF Grant ACI-1036170, the NCSA Blue Waters Project with subaward via UIUC, and a DOE INCITE allocation at ORNL.

Modeling Storm-Induced Inundation on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta for Present and Future Climates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ravens, T. M.; Allen, J.

2012-12-01

The Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta is a large delta on the west coast of Alaska and one of the few remaining deltas that is largely free of anthropogenic impacts. The delta hosts a wide-range of nesting birds including the endangered Spectacled Eider. The delta plain, with an elevation of about 2 m (m.s.l.) - and an average tidal range of 2.7 m - is subject to frequent inundation by storm surges originating from the adjacent Bering Sea. Here, we report on our efforts to validate a storm-surge modeling system consisting of a course-grid ADCIRC model covering the Bering and Chukchi Seas and a Delft3D fine-grid model of the southern YK Delta. The storm surge models are validated based on measured water levels from 2007-2010 and using satellite observations of inundation due to large storms in 2005 and 2006. About 10 storms over the past 30 years are modeled. Based on model output, we computed a spatially distributed inundation index which is a time-integral of water level throughout the fine-grid model domain from individual storms and from the 30 year period. In order to examine the change in inundation in future climates, the models of the 30 year period were re-run assuming a 1 and 2 meter sea level rise. The impact of climate change on inundation frequency and intensity - using the inundation index - is reported. Future work will relate the present and projected inundation index to ecological parameters such as bird-nest concentration and vegetation type.

Nest survival modelling using a multi-species approach in forests managed for timber and biofuel feedstock

USGS Publications Warehouse

Loman, Zachary G.; Monroe, Adrian; Riffell, Samuel K.; Miller, Darren A.; Vilella, Francisco; Wheat, Bradley R.; Rush, Scott A.; Martin, James A.

2018-01-01

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) intercropping is a novel forest management practice for biomass production intended to generate cellulosic feedstocks within intensively managed loblolly pine‐dominated landscapes. These pine plantations are important for early‐successional bird species, as short rotation times continually maintain early‐successional habitat. We tested the efficacy of using community models compared to individual surrogate species models in understanding influences on nest survival. We analysed nest data to test for differences in habitat use for 14 bird species in plots managed for switchgrass intercropping and controls within loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations in Mississippi, USA.We adapted hierarchical models using hyper‐parameters to incorporate information from both common and rare species to understand community‐level nest survival. This approach incorporates rare species that are often discarded due to low sample sizes, but can inform community‐level demographic parameter estimates. We illustrate use of this approach in generating both species‐level and community‐wide estimates of daily survival rates for songbird nests. We were able to include rare species with low sample size (minimum n = 5) to inform a hyper‐prior, allowing us to estimate effects of covariates on daily survival at the community level, then compare this with a single‐species approach using surrogate species. Using single‐species models, we were unable to generate estimates below a sample size of 21 nests per species.Community model species‐level survival and parameter estimates were similar to those generated by five single‐species models, with improved precision in community model parameters.Covariates of nest placement indicated that switchgrass at the nest site (<4 m) reduced daily nest survival, although intercropping at the forest stand level increased daily nest survival.Synthesis and applications. Community models represent a viable method for estimating community nest survival rates and effects of covariates while incorporating limited data for rarely detected species. Intercropping switchgrass in loblolly pine plantations slightly increased daily nest survival at the research plot scale (0.1 km2), although at a local scale (50 m2) switchgrass negatively influenced nest survival. A likely explanation is intercropping shifted community composition, favouring species with greater disturbance tolerance.

Advanced Unstructured Grid Generation for Complex Aerodynamic Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar

2010-01-01

A new approach for distribution of grid points on the surface and in the volume has been developed. In addition to the point and line sources of prior work, the new approach utilizes surface and volume sources for automatic curvature-based grid sizing and convenient point distribution in the volume. A new exponential growth function produces smoother and more efficient grids and provides superior control over distribution of grid points in the field. All types of sources support anisotropic grid stretching which not only improves the grid economy but also provides more accurate solutions for certain aerodynamic applications. The new approach does not require a three-dimensional background grid as in the previous methods. Instead, it makes use of an efficient bounding-box auxiliary medium for storing grid parameters defined by surface sources. The new approach is less memory-intensive and more efficient computationally. The grids generated with the new method either eliminate the need for adaptive grid refinement for certain class of problems or provide high quality initial grids that would enhance the performance of many adaptation methods.

Real-Time Very High-Resolution Regional 4D Assimilation in Supporting CRYSTAL-FACE Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Donghai; Minnis, Patrick

2004-01-01

To better understand tropical cirrus cloud physical properties and formation processes with a view toward the successful modeling of the Earth's climate, the CRYSTAL-FACE (Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment) field experiment took place over southern Florida from 1 July to 29 July 2002. During the entire field campaign, a very high-resolution numerical weather prediction (NWP) and assimilation system was performed in support of the mission with supercomputing resources provided by NASA Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS). By using NOAA NCEP Eta forecast for boundary conditions and as a first guess for initial conditions assimilated with all available observations, two nested 15/3 km grids are employed over the CRYSTAL-FACE experiment area. The 15-km grid covers the southeast US domain, and is run two times daily for a 36-hour forecast starting at 0000 UTC and 1200 UTC. The nested 3-km grid covering only southern Florida is used for 9-hour and 18-hour forecasts starting at 1500 and 0600 UTC, respectively. The forecasting system provided more accurate and higher spatial and temporal resolution forecasts of 4-D atmospheric fields over the experiment area than available from standard weather forecast models. These forecasts were essential for flight planning during both the afternoon prior to a flight day and the morning of a flight day. The forecasts were used to help decide takeoff times and the most optimal flight areas for accomplishing the mission objectives. See more detailed products on the web site http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/mode/crystal. The model/assimilation output gridded data are archived on the NASA Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) UniTree system in the HDF format at 30-min intervals for real-time forecasts or 5-min intervals for the post-mission case studies. Particularly, the data set includes the 3-D cloud fields (cloud liquid water, rain water, cloud ice, snow and graupe/hail).

A hierarchical nest survival model integrating incomplete temporally varying covariates

PubMed Central

Converse, Sarah J; Royle, J Andrew; Adler, Peter H; Urbanek, Richard P; Barzen, Jeb A

2013-01-01

Nest success is a critical determinant of the dynamics of avian populations, and nest survival modeling has played a key role in advancing avian ecology and management. Beginning with the development of daily nest survival models, and proceeding through subsequent extensions, the capacity for modeling the effects of hypothesized factors on nest survival has expanded greatly. We extend nest survival models further by introducing an approach to deal with incompletely observed, temporally varying covariates using a hierarchical model. Hierarchical modeling offers a way to separate process and observational components of demographic models to obtain estimates of the parameters of primary interest, and to evaluate structural effects of ecological and management interest. We built a hierarchical model for daily nest survival to analyze nest data from reintroduced whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the Eastern Migratory Population. This reintroduction effort has been beset by poor reproduction, apparently due primarily to nest abandonment by breeding birds. We used the model to assess support for the hypothesis that nest abandonment is caused by harassment from biting insects. We obtained indices of blood-feeding insect populations based on the spatially interpolated counts of insects captured in carbon dioxide traps. However, insect trapping was not conducted daily, and so we had incomplete information on a temporally variable covariate of interest. We therefore supplemented our nest survival model with a parallel model for estimating the values of the missing insect covariates. We used Bayesian model selection to identify the best predictors of daily nest survival. Our results suggest that the black fly Simulium annulus may be negatively affecting nest survival of reintroduced whooping cranes, with decreasing nest survival as abundance of S. annulus increases. The modeling framework we have developed will be applied in the future to a larger data set to evaluate the biting-insect hypothesis and other hypotheses for nesting failure in this reintroduced population; resulting inferences will support ongoing efforts to manage this population via an adaptive management approach. Wider application of our approach offers promise for modeling the effects of other temporally varying, but imperfectly observed covariates on nest survival, including the possibility of modeling temporally varying covariates collected from incubating adults. PMID:24340185

A hierarchical nest survival model integrating incomplete temporally varying covariates

USGS Publications Warehouse

Converse, Sarah J.; Royle, J. Andrew; Adler, Peter H.; Urbanek, Richard P.; Barzan, Jeb A.

2013-01-01

Nest success is a critical determinant of the dynamics of avian populations, and nest survival modeling has played a key role in advancing avian ecology and management. Beginning with the development of daily nest survival models, and proceeding through subsequent extensions, the capacity for modeling the effects of hypothesized factors on nest survival has expanded greatly. We extend nest survival models further by introducing an approach to deal with incompletely observed, temporally varying covariates using a hierarchical model. Hierarchical modeling offers a way to separate process and observational components of demographic models to obtain estimates of the parameters of primary interest, and to evaluate structural effects of ecological and management interest. We built a hierarchical model for daily nest survival to analyze nest data from reintroduced whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the Eastern Migratory Population. This reintroduction effort has been beset by poor reproduction, apparently due primarily to nest abandonment by breeding birds. We used the model to assess support for the hypothesis that nest abandonment is caused by harassment from biting insects. We obtained indices of blood-feeding insect populations based on the spatially interpolated counts of insects captured in carbon dioxide traps. However, insect trapping was not conducted daily, and so we had incomplete information on a temporally variable covariate of interest. We therefore supplemented our nest survival model with a parallel model for estimating the values of the missing insect covariates. We used Bayesian model selection to identify the best predictors of daily nest survival. Our results suggest that the black fly Simulium annulus may be negatively affecting nest survival of reintroduced whooping cranes, with decreasing nest survival as abundance of S. annulus increases. The modeling framework we have developed will be applied in the future to a larger data set to evaluate the biting-insect hypothesis and other hypotheses for nesting failure in this reintroduced population; resulting inferences will support ongoing efforts to manage this population via an adaptive management approach. Wider application of our approach offers promise for modeling the effects of other temporally varying, but imperfectly observed covariates on nest survival, including the possibility of modeling temporally varying covariates collected from incubating adults.

A SEMI-LAGRANGIAN TWO-LEVEL PRECONDITIONED NEWTON-KRYLOV SOLVER FOR CONSTRAINED DIFFEOMORPHIC IMAGE REGISTRATION.

PubMed

Mang, Andreas; Biros, George

2017-01-01

We propose an efficient numerical algorithm for the solution of diffeomorphic image registration problems. We use a variational formulation constrained by a partial differential equation (PDE), where the constraints are a scalar transport equation. We use a pseudospectral discretization in space and second-order accurate semi-Lagrangian time stepping scheme for the transport equations. We solve for a stationary velocity field using a preconditioned, globalized, matrix-free Newton-Krylov scheme. We propose and test a two-level Hessian preconditioner. We consider two strategies for inverting the preconditioner on the coarse grid: a nested preconditioned conjugate gradient method (exact solve) and a nested Chebyshev iterative method (inexact solve) with a fixed number of iterations. We test the performance of our solver in different synthetic and real-world two-dimensional application scenarios. We study grid convergence and computational efficiency of our new scheme. We compare the performance of our solver against our initial implementation that uses the same spatial discretization but a standard, explicit, second-order Runge-Kutta scheme for the numerical time integration of the transport equations and a single-level preconditioner. Our improved scheme delivers significant speedups over our original implementation. As a highlight, we observe a 20 × speedup for a two dimensional, real world multi-subject medical image registration problem.

Modeling the propagation, transformation and the impact of tsunami on urban areas using the coupling STOC-ML/IC/CADMAS in nested grids - Application to specific sites of Chile to improve the tsunami induced loads prediction.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokrani, C.; Catalan, P. A.; Cienfuegos, R.; Arikawa, T.

2016-02-01

A large part of coasts around the world are affected by tsunami impacts, which supposes a challenge when designing coastal protection structures. Numerical models provide predictions of tsunami-induced loads and there time evolution, which can be used to improve sizing rules of coastal structures. However, the numerical assessment of impact loads is an hard stake. Indeed, recent experimental studies have shown that pressure dynamics generated during tsunami impacts are highly sensitive to the incident local shape of the tsunami. Therefore, high numerical resolutions and very accurate models are required to model all stages during which the tsunami shape is modified before the impact. Given the large distances involved in tsunami events, this can be disregarded in favor of computing time. The Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) has recently developed a three-way coupled model which allows to accurately model the incident tsunami shape while maintaining reasonable computational time. This coupling approach uses three models used in nested grids (cf. Figure 1). The first one (STOC-ML) solves Nonlinear Shallow Water Equations with hydrostatic pressure. It is used to model the tsunami propagation off the coast. The second one (STOC-IC) is a 3D non-hydrostatic model, on which the free-surface position is estimated through the integrated continuity equation. It has shown to accurately describe dispersive and weakly linear effects occurring at the coast vicinity. The third model (CADMAS-SURF) solves fully three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and use a VOF method. Highly nonlinear, dispersive effects and wave breaking processes can be included at the wave scale and therefore, a very accurate description of the incident tsunami is provided. Each model have been separately validated from analytical and/or experimental data. The present objective is to highlight recent advances in Coastal Ocean modeling for tsunami modeling and loads prediction by applying this coupling approach to different sites of the Chilean coast. We first present validation tests to highlight the numerical abilities of this coupling. Then, two tsunami cases are considered and both near-shore processes and tsunami-induced loads on structures are analyzed.

Investigating the Effects of Grid Resolution of WRF Model for Simulating the Atmosphere for use in the Study of Wake Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prince, Alyssa; Trout, Joseph; di Mercurio, Alexis

2017-01-01

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a nested-grid, mesoscale numerical weather prediction system maintained by the Developmental Testbed Center. The model simulates the atmosphere by integrating partial differential equations, which use the conservation of horizontal momentum, conservation of thermal energy, and conservation of mass along with the ideal gas law. This research investigated the possible use of WRF in investigating the effects of weather on wing tip wake turbulence. This poster shows the results of an investigation into the accuracy of WRF using different grid resolutions. Several atmospheric conditions were modeled using different grid resolutions. In general, the higher the grid resolution, the better the simulation, but the longer the model run time. This research was supported by Dr. Manuel A. Rios, Ph.D. (FAA) and the grant ``A Pilot Project to Investigate Wake Vortex Patterns and Weather Patterns at the Atlantic City Airport by the Richard Stockton College of NJ and the FAA'' (13-G-006). Dr. Manuel A. Rios, Ph.D. (FAA), and the grant ``A Pilot Project to Investigate Wake Vortex Patterns and Weather Patterns at the Atlantic City Airport by the Richard Stockton College of NJ and the FAA''

An Improved Nested Sampling Algorithm for Model Selection and Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, X.; Ye, M.; Wu, J.; WANG, D.

2017-12-01

Multimodel strategy is a general approach for treating model structure uncertainty in recent researches. The unknown groundwater system is represented by several plausible conceptual models. Each alternative conceptual model is attached with a weight which represents the possibility of this model. In Bayesian framework, the posterior model weight is computed as the product of model prior weight and marginal likelihood (or termed as model evidence). As a result, estimating marginal likelihoods is crucial for reliable model selection and assessment in multimodel analysis. Nested sampling estimator (NSE) is a new proposed algorithm for marginal likelihood estimation. The implementation of NSE comprises searching the parameters' space from low likelihood area to high likelihood area gradually, and this evolution is finished iteratively via local sampling procedure. Thus, the efficiency of NSE is dominated by the strength of local sampling procedure. Currently, Metropolis-Hasting (M-H) algorithm and its variants are often used for local sampling in NSE. However, M-H is not an efficient sampling algorithm for high-dimensional or complex likelihood function. For improving the performance of NSE, it could be feasible to integrate more efficient and elaborated sampling algorithm - DREAMzs into the local sampling. In addition, in order to overcome the computation burden problem of large quantity of repeating model executions in marginal likelihood estimation, an adaptive sparse grid stochastic collocation method is used to build the surrogates for original groundwater model.

Flight initiation by Ferruginous Hawks depends on disturbance type, experience, and the anthropogenic landscape

PubMed Central

Wellicome, Troy I.; Bayne, Erin M.

2017-01-01

The expansion of humans and their related infrastructure is increasing the likelihood that wildlife will interact with humans. When disturbed by humans, animals often change their behaviour, which can result in time and energetic costs to that animal. An animal's decision to change behaviour is likely related to the type of disturbance, the individual's past experience with disturbance, and the landscape in which the disturbance occurs. In southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, we quantified probability of flight initiation from the nest by Ferruginous Hawks (Buteo regalis) during approaches to nests by investigators. We tested if probability of flight was related to different disturbance types, previous experience, and the anthropogenic landscape in which individual Ferruginous Hawks nested. Probability of flight was related to the type of approach by the investigator, the number of previous visits by investigators, and the vehicular traffic around the nest. Approaches by humans on foot resulted in a greater probability of flight than those in a vehicle. Approaches in a vehicle via low traffic volume access roads were related to increased probability of flight relative to other road types. The number of previous investigator approaches to the nest increased the probability of flight. Overall, we found support that Ferruginous Hawks show habituation to vehicles and the positive reinforcement hypotheses as probability of flight was negatively related to an index of traffic activity near the nest. Our work emphasizes that complex, dynamic processes drive the decision to initiate flight from the nest, and contributes to the growing body of work explaining how responses to humans vary within species. PMID:28542334

Flight initiation by Ferruginous Hawks depends on disturbance type, experience, and the anthropogenic landscape.

PubMed

Nordell, Cameron J; Wellicome, Troy I; Bayne, Erin M

2017-01-01

The expansion of humans and their related infrastructure is increasing the likelihood that wildlife will interact with humans. When disturbed by humans, animals often change their behaviour, which can result in time and energetic costs to that animal. An animal's decision to change behaviour is likely related to the type of disturbance, the individual's past experience with disturbance, and the landscape in which the disturbance occurs. In southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, we quantified probability of flight initiation from the nest by Ferruginous Hawks (Buteo regalis) during approaches to nests by investigators. We tested if probability of flight was related to different disturbance types, previous experience, and the anthropogenic landscape in which individual Ferruginous Hawks nested. Probability of flight was related to the type of approach by the investigator, the number of previous visits by investigators, and the vehicular traffic around the nest. Approaches by humans on foot resulted in a greater probability of flight than those in a vehicle. Approaches in a vehicle via low traffic volume access roads were related to increased probability of flight relative to other road types. The number of previous investigator approaches to the nest increased the probability of flight. Overall, we found support that Ferruginous Hawks show habituation to vehicles and the positive reinforcement hypotheses as probability of flight was negatively related to an index of traffic activity near the nest. Our work emphasizes that complex, dynamic processes drive the decision to initiate flight from the nest, and contributes to the growing body of work explaining how responses to humans vary within species.

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

Herman, R.; O’Brien, S.

Using our own prototype sensor arrays that were deployed to collect microclimate data, we were able to visualize distinct differences in temperature, wind speed, and humidity over very small ranges of distance. We collected data across four polygons within the Barrow Environmental Observatory site. Our prototype microclimate arrays were based on an Arduino microcontroller, DS18B20 temperature sensors, DHT11 relative humidity/temperature sensors, and Vernier anemometers. Data were obtained in a small grid pattern with four sensors spaced 60 cm apart along the x-axis, and moved at 60 cm increments along a y-line across a polygon. Overlaying bird nest location with suchmore » data has allowed us to better answer our research question, “How do Arctic birds choose where to nest to maximize fitness in harsh Arctic environments?”« less

Assessment of predation risk through referential communication in incubating birds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Toshitaka N.

2015-05-01

Parents of many bird species produce alarm calls when they approach and deter a nest predator in order to defend their offspring. Alarm calls have been shown to warn nestlings about predatory threats, but parents also face a similar risk of predation when incubating eggs in their nests. Here, I show that incubating female Japanese great tits, Parus minor, assess predation risk by conspecific alarm calls given outside the nest cavity. Tits produce acoustically discrete alarm calls for different nest predators: “jar” calls for snakes and “chicka” calls for other predators such as crows and martens. Playback experiments revealed that incubating females responded to “jar” calls by leaving their nest, whereas they responded to “chicka” calls by looking out of the nest entrance. Since snakes invade the nest cavity, escaping from the nest helps females avoid snake predation. In contrast, “chicka” calls are used for a variety of predator types, and therefore, looking out of the nest entrance helps females gather information about the type and location of approaching predators. These results show that incubating females derive information about predator type from different types of alarm calls, providing a novel example of functionally referential communication.

Assessment of predation risk through referential communication in incubating birds.

PubMed

Suzuki, Toshitaka N

2015-05-18

Parents of many bird species produce alarm calls when they approach and deter a nest predator in order to defend their offspring. Alarm calls have been shown to warn nestlings about predatory threats, but parents also face a similar risk of predation when incubating eggs in their nests. Here, I show that incubating female Japanese great tits, Parus minor, assess predation risk by conspecific alarm calls given outside the nest cavity. Tits produce acoustically discrete alarm calls for different nest predators: "jar" calls for snakes and "chicka" calls for other predators such as crows and martens. Playback experiments revealed that incubating females responded to "jar" calls by leaving their nest, whereas they responded to "chicka" calls by looking out of the nest entrance. Since snakes invade the nest cavity, escaping from the nest helps females avoid snake predation. In contrast, "chicka" calls are used for a variety of predator types, and therefore, looking out of the nest entrance helps females gather information about the type and location of approaching predators. These results show that incubating females derive information about predator type from different types of alarm calls, providing a novel example of functionally referential communication.

Teaching Mathematics Problem Solving to Students with Limited English Proficiency through Nested Spiral Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chyu, Chi-Oy W.

The Nested Spiral Approach (NSA) is an integrated instructional approach used to promote the motivated learning of mathematics problem solving in limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. The NSA is described and a trial use is discussed. The approach extends, elaborates, and supplements existing education and instruction theories to help LEP…

CFD modelling of Po River morphodynamics affected by bridge piers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nones, Michael; Guerrero, Massimo; Ruther, Nils; Baranya, Sandor

2017-04-01

The paper presents the numerical modelling of the hydromorphological evolution of a 10-km reach of the Po River close to Ostiglia in Italy, affected by the presence of a railway bridge. The 3D simulation is performed using the freely available code SSIIM, developed at the University of Science and Technology in Trondheim in Norway. The domain consists of an unstructured grid with rectangular meshes having a dimension of 50x50 meters, with a nested detailed grid (5x5 m) around the piers. Preliminary results show the capability of the model in reproducing the behaviour of the reach, both in terms of liquid flow and morphodynamics, if compared with historical data measured along this watercourse. For the future, as a part of the Italian national project INFRASAFE, additional simulations will be performed to calibrate the model, changing the analyzed domain and used grids, and imposing, as boundary conditions, new data measured directly on the field with traditional and innovative techniques.

Nested modeling approach to quantify sediment transport pathways and temporal variability of barrier island evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, J. W.; Dalyander, S.; Sherwood, C. R.; Thompson, D. M.; Plant, N. G.

2012-12-01

The Chandeleur Islands, situated off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, comprise a sand-starved barrier island system that has been disintegrating over the last decade. The persistent sediment transport in this area is predominantly directed alongshore but overwash and inundation during storm conditions has fragmented the island and reduced the subaerial extent by almost 75% since 2001. From 2010-2011 a sand berm was constructed along the Gulf side of the island adding 20 million cubic yards of sediment to this barrier island system. The redistribution of this sediment, particularly whether it remains in the active system and progrades the barrier island, has been evaluated using a series of numerical models and an extensive set of in situ and remote sensing observations. We have developed a coupled numerical modeling system capable of simulating morphologic evolution of the sand berm and barrier island using observations and predictions of regional and nearshore oceanographic processes. A nested approach provides large scale oceanographic information to force island evolution in a series of smaller grids, including two nearshore domains that are designed to simulate (1) the persistent alongshore sediment transport O(months-years) and (2) the overwash and breaching of the island/berm due to cross-shore forcing driven by winter cold fronts and tropical storms (O(hours-days)). The coupled model is evaluated using the observations of waves, water levels, currents, and topographic/morphologic change. Modeled processes are then used to identify the dominant sediment transport pathways and quantify the role of alongshore and cross-shore sediment transport in evolving the barrier island over a range of temporal scales.

Eddy Effects in the General Circulation, Spanning Mean Currents, Mesoscale Eddies, and Topographic Generation, Including Submesoscale Nests

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-30

against real-world data in cooperation with William S. Kessler and Hristina Hristova from PMEL (Solomon Sea), and Satoshi Mitarai and Taichi Sakagami from...refined grids, starting with basin-wide eddy permitting resolutions (although substantially finer than that used in climate modeling), and downscaling it...instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send

A Down-valley Low-level Jet Event During T-REX 2006

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-04

various terms in the momentum and energy equations contributed to aspects of drainage flow evolution and its variation on slopes in valley environments ...outer nest were provided by the North American Model (NAM) 12 km grid spacing forecasts produced by the National Center for Environmental Pre- diction...a sub - stantially improved nocturnal LLJ speed max prediction. This seems consistent with previous research findings focused upon the Owens Valley and

Analyzing Spatial and Temporal Variation in Precipitation Estimates in a Coupled Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomkins, C. D.; Springer, E. P.; Costigan, K. R.

2001-12-01

Integrated modeling efforts at the Los Alamos National Laboratory aim to simulate the hydrologic cycle and study the impacts of climate variability and land use changes on water resources and ecosystem function at the regional scale. The integrated model couples three existing models independently responsible for addressing the atmospheric, land surface, and ground water components: the Regional Atmospheric Model System (RAMS), the Los Alamos Distributed Hydrologic System (LADHS), and the Finite Element and Heat Mass (FEHM). The upper Rio Grande Basin, extending 92,000 km2 over northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, serves as the test site for this model. RAMS uses nested grids to simulate meteorological variables, with the smallest grid over the Rio Grande having 5-km horizontal grid spacing. As LADHS grid spacing is 100 m, a downscaling approach is needed to estimate meteorological variables from the 5km RAMS grid for input into LADHS. This study presents daily and cumulative precipitation predictions, in the month of October for water year 1993, and an approach to compare LADHS downscaled precipitation to RAMS-simulated precipitation. The downscaling algorithm is based on kriging, using topography as a covariate to distribute the precipitation and thereby incorporating the topographical resolution achieved at the 100m-grid resolution in LADHS. The results of the downscaling are analyzed in terms of the level of variance introduced into the model, mean simulated precipitation, and the correlation between the LADHS and RAMS estimates. Previous work presented a comparison of RAMS-simulated and observed precipitation recorded at COOP and SNOTEL sites. The effects of downscaling the RAMS precipitation were evaluated using Spearman and linear correlations and by examining the variance of both populations. The study focuses on determining how the downscaling changes the distribution of precipitation compared to the RAMS estimates. Spearman correlations computed for the LADHS and RAMS cumulative precipitation reveal a disassociation over time, with R equal to 0.74 at day eight and R equal to 0.52 at day 31. Linear correlation coefficients (Pearson) returned a stronger initial correlation of 0.97, decreasing to 0.68. The standard deviations for the 2500 LADHS cells underlying each 5km RAMS cell range from 8 mm to 695 mm in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and 2 mm to 112 mm in the San Luis Valley. Comparatively, the standard deviations of the RAMS estimates in these regions are 247 mm and 30 mm respectively. The LADHS standard deviations provide a measure of the variability introduced through the downscaling routine, which exceeds RAMS regional variability by a factor of 2 to 4. The coefficient of variation for the average LADHS grid cell values and the RAMS cell values in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are 0.66 and 0.27, respectively, and 0.79 and 0.75 in the San Luis Valley. The coefficients of variation evidence the uniformity of the higher precipitation estimates in the mountains, especially for RAMS, and also the lower means and variability found in the valley. Additionally, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests indicate clear spatial and temporal differences in mean simulated precipitation across the grid.

A fast immersed boundary method for external incompressible viscous flows using lattice Green's functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liska, Sebastian; Colonius, Tim

2017-02-01

A new parallel, computationally efficient immersed boundary method for solving three-dimensional, viscous, incompressible flows on unbounded domains is presented. Immersed surfaces with prescribed motions are generated using the interpolation and regularization operators obtained from the discrete delta function approach of the original (Peskin's) immersed boundary method. Unlike Peskin's method, boundary forces are regarded as Lagrange multipliers that are used to satisfy the no-slip condition. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are discretized on an unbounded staggered Cartesian grid and are solved in a finite number of operations using lattice Green's function techniques. These techniques are used to automatically enforce the natural free-space boundary conditions and to implement a novel block-wise adaptive grid that significantly reduces the run-time cost of solutions by limiting operations to grid cells in the immediate vicinity and near-wake region of the immersed surface. These techniques also enable the construction of practical discrete viscous integrating factors that are used in combination with specialized half-explicit Runge-Kutta schemes to accurately and efficiently solve the differential algebraic equations describing the discrete momentum equation, incompressibility constraint, and no-slip constraint. Linear systems of equations resulting from the time integration scheme are efficiently solved using an approximation-free nested projection technique. The algebraic properties of the discrete operators are used to reduce projection steps to simple discrete elliptic problems, e.g. discrete Poisson problems, that are compatible with recent parallel fast multipole methods for difference equations. Numerical experiments on low-aspect-ratio flat plates and spheres at Reynolds numbers up to 3700 are used to verify the accuracy and physical fidelity of the formulation.

Algebraic dynamic multilevel method for compositional flow in heterogeneous porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cusini, Matteo; Fryer, Barnaby; van Kruijsdijk, Cor; Hajibeygi, Hadi

2018-02-01

This paper presents the algebraic dynamic multilevel method (ADM) for compositional flow in three dimensional heterogeneous porous media in presence of capillary and gravitational effects. As a significant advancement compared to the ADM for immiscible flows (Cusini et al., 2016) [33], here, mass conservation equations are solved along with k-value based thermodynamic equilibrium equations using a fully-implicit (FIM) coupling strategy. Two different fine-scale compositional formulations are considered: (1) the natural variables and (2) the overall-compositions formulation. At each Newton's iteration the fine-scale FIM Jacobian system is mapped to a dynamically defined (in space and time) multilevel nested grid. The appropriate grid resolution is chosen based on the contrast of user-defined fluid properties and on the presence of specific features (e.g., well source terms). Consistent mapping between different resolutions is performed by the means of sequences of restriction and prolongation operators. While finite-volume restriction operators are employed to ensure mass conservation at all resolutions, various prolongation operators are considered. In particular, different interpolation strategies can be used for the different primary variables, and multiscale basis functions are chosen as pressure interpolators so that fine scale heterogeneities are accurately accounted for across different resolutions. Several numerical experiments are conducted to analyse the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the method for both 2D and 3D domains. Results show that ADM provides accurate solutions by employing only a fraction of the number of grid-cells employed in fine-scale simulations. As such, it presents a promising approach for large-scale simulations of multiphase flow in heterogeneous reservoirs with complex non-linear fluid physics.

High Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction (HD(CP)2): Large Eddy Simulation Study Over Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dipankar, A.; Stevens, B. B.; Zängl, G.; Pondkule, M.; Brdar, S.

2014-12-01

The effect of clouds on large scale dynamics is represented in climate models through parameterization of various processes, of which the parameterization of shallow and deep convection are particularly uncertain. The atmospheric boundary layer, which controls the coupling to the surface, and which defines the scale of shallow convection, is typically 1 km in depth. Thus, simulations on a O(100 m) grid largely obviate the need for such parameterizations. By crossing this threshold of O(100m) grid resolution one can begin thinking of large-eddy simulation (LES), wherein the sub-grid scale parameterization have a sounder theoretical foundation. Substantial initiatives have been taken internationally to approach this threshold. For example, Miura et al., 2007 and Mirakawa et al., 2014 approach this threshold by doing global simulations, with (gradually) decreasing grid resolution, to understand the effect of cloud-resolving scales on the general circulation. Our strategy, on the other hand, is to take a big leap forward by fixing the resolution at O(100 m), and gradually increasing the domain size. We believe that breaking this threshold would greatly help in improving the parameterization schemes and reducing the uncertainty in climate predictions. To take this forward, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has initiated a project on HD(CP)2 that aims for a limited area LES at resolution O(100 m) using the new unified modeling system ICON (Zängl et al., 2014). In the talk, results from the HD(CP)2 evaluation simulation will be shown that targets high resolution simulation over a small domain around Jülich, Germany. This site is chosen because high resolution HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiment took place in this region from 1.04.2013 to 31.05.2013, in order to critically evaluate the model. Nesting capabilities of ICON is used to gradually increase the resolution from the outermost domain, which is forced from the COSMO-DE data, to the innermost and finest resolution domain centered around Jülich (see Fig. 1 top panel). Furthermore, detailed analyses of the simulation results against the observation data will be presented. A reprsentative figure showing time series of column integrated water vapor (IWV) for both model and observation on 24.04.2013 is shown in bottom panel of Fig. 1.

GridLAB-D: An Agent-Based Simulation Framework for Smart Grids

DOE PAGES

Chassin, David P.; Fuller, Jason C.; Djilali, Ned

2014-01-01

Simulation of smart grid technologies requires a fundamentally new approach to integrated modeling of power systems, energy markets, building technologies, and the plethora of other resources and assets that are becoming part of modern electricity production, delivery, and consumption systems. As a result, the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity commissioned the development of a new type of power system simulation tool called GridLAB-D that uses an agent-based approach to simulating smart grids. This paper presents the numerical methods and approach to time-series simulation used by GridLAB-D and reviews applications in power system studies, market design, building control systemmore » design, and integration of wind power in a smart grid.« less

GridLAB-D: An Agent-Based Simulation Framework for Smart Grids

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

Chassin, David P.; Fuller, Jason C.; Djilali, Ned

2014-06-23

Simulation of smart grid technologies requires a fundamentally new approach to integrated modeling of power systems, energy markets, building technologies, and the plethora of other resources and assets that are becoming part of modern electricity production, delivery, and consumption systems. As a result, the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity commissioned the development of a new type of power system simulation tool called GridLAB-D that uses an agent-based approach to simulating smart grids. This paper presents the numerical methods and approach to time-series simulation used by GridLAB-D and reviews applications in power system studies, market design, building control systemmore » design, and integration of wind power in a smart grid.« less

Use of the superpopulation approach to estimate breeding population size: An example in asynchronously breeding birds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, K.A.; Frederick, P.C.; Nichols, J.D.

2011-01-01

Many populations of animals are fluid in both space and time, making estimation of numbers difficult. Much attention has been devoted to estimation of bias in detection of animals that are present at the time of survey. However, an equally important problem is estimation of population size when all animals are not present on all survey occasions. Here, we showcase use of the superpopulation approach to capture-recapture modeling for estimating populations where group membership is asynchronous, and where considerable overlap in group membership among sampling occasions may occur. We estimate total population size of long-legged wading bird (Great Egret and White Ibis) breeding colonies from aerial observations of individually identifiable nests at various times in the nesting season. Initiation and termination of nests were analogous to entry and departure from a population. Estimates using the superpopulation approach were 47-382% larger than peak aerial counts of the same colonies. Our results indicate that the use of the superpopulation approach to model nesting asynchrony provides a considerably less biased and more efficient estimate of nesting activity than traditional methods. We suggest that this approach may also be used to derive population estimates in a variety of situations where group membership is fluid. ?? 2011 by the Ecological Society of America.

Factors affecting songbird nest survival in riparian forests in a Midwestern agricultural landscape

Treesearch

Rebecca G. Peak; Frank R. Thompson; Terry L. Shaffer

2004-01-01

We investigated factors affecting nest success of songbirds in riparian forest and buffers in northeastern Missouri. We used an information-theoretic approach to determine support for hypotheses concerning effects of nest-site, habitat-patch, edge, and temporal factors on nest success of songbirds in three narrow (55-95 m) and three wide (400-530 m) riparian forests...

Molecular forensics in avian conservation: a DNA-based approach for identifying mammalian predators of ground-nesting birds and eggs.

PubMed

Hopken, Matthew W; Orning, Elizabeth K; Young, Julie K; Piaggio, Antoinette J

2016-01-07

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a ground-nesting bird from the Northern Rocky Mountains and a species at risk of extinction in in multiple U.S. states and Canada. Herein we report results from a proof of concept that mitochondrial and nuclear DNAs from mammalian predator saliva could be non-invasively collected from depredated greater sage-grouse eggshells and carcasses and used for predator species identification. Molecular forensic approaches have been applied to identify predators from depredated remains as one strategy to better understand predator-prey dynamics and guide management strategies. This can aid conservation efforts by correctly identifying predators most likely to impact threatened and endangered species. DNA isolated from non-invasive samples around nesting sites (e.g. fecal or hair samples) is one method that can increase the success and accuracy of predator species identification when compared to relying on nest remains alone. Predator saliva DNA was collected from depredated eggshells and carcasses using swabs. We sequenced two partial fragments of two mitochondrial genes and obtained microsatellite genotypes using canid specific primers for species and individual identification, respectively. Using this multilocus approach we were able to identify predators, at least down to family, from 11 out of 14 nests (79%) and three out of seven carcasses (47%). Predators detected most frequently were canids (86%), while other taxa included rodents, a striped skunk, and cattle. We attempted to match the genotypes of individual coyotes obtained from eggshells and carcasses with those obtained from fecal samples and coyotes collected in the areas, but no genotype matches were found. Predation is a main cause of nest failure in ground-nesting birds and can impact reproduction and recruitment. To inform predator management for ground-nesting bird conservation, accurate identification of predator species is necessary. Considering predation can have a high impact on recruitment, predation events are very difficult to observe, and predator species are difficult to identify visually from nest remains, molecular approaches that reduce the need to observe or handle animals offer an additional tool to better understand predator-prey dynamics at nesting sites.

Voluntary Nonmonetary Conservation Approaches on Private Land: A Review of Constraints, Risks, and Benefits for Raptor Nest Protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santangeli, Andrea; Laaksonen, Toni

2015-02-01

Biodiversity conservation on private land of the developed world faces several challenges. The costs of land are often high, and the attitudes of landowners towards conservation are variable. Scientists and practitioners need to scan for and adopt cost-effective solutions that allow for the long-term sustainability of conservation measures on private land. In this study, we focus on one of such possible solutions: Working with landowners to implement voluntary nonmonetary conservation. We restrict our focus to protection of raptor nests, but the ideas can be applied to other taxa as well. Through a literature review, we show that a voluntary nonmonetary approach for protecting raptor nests has been so far largely neglected and/or rarely reported in the scientific literature. However, results of a questionnaire sent to BirdLife partners across Europe indicate that this approach is more widely used than it appears from the literature. We show that voluntary nonmonetary approaches may represent useful tools to protect raptor nests on private land. We provide a workflow for implementation of such an approach in raptor nest protection, highlighting benefits, potential risks, and constraints in the application of the strategy. We suggest that a voluntary nonmonetary approach may have great potential for cost-effective conservation, but the risks it may entail should be carefully assessed in each case. There is an urgent need to consider and evaluate novel approaches, such as the one described here, which may constitute missed opportunities for cost-effective conservation.

Large-eddy Simulation of the Nighttime Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Bowen

A stable atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) develops over land at night due to radiative surface cooling. The state of turbulence in the stable boundary layer (SBL) is determined by the competing forcings of shear production and buoyancy destruction. When both forcings are comparable in strength, the SBL falls into an intermittently turbulent state, where intense turbulent bursts emerge sporadically from an overall quiescent background. This usually occurs on clear nights with weak winds when the SBL is strongly stable. Although turbulent bursts are generally short-lived (half an hour or less), their impact on the SBL is significant since they are responsible for most of the turbulent mixing. The nighttime SBL can be modeled with large-eddy simulation (LES). LES is a turbulence-resolving numerical approach which separates the large-scale energy-containing eddies from the smaller ones based on application of a spatial filter. While the large eddies are explicitly resolved, the small ones are represented by a subfilter-scale (SFS) stress model. Simulation of the SBL is more challenging than the daytime convective boundary layer (CBL) because nighttime turbulent motions are limited by buoyancy stratification, thus requiring fine grid resolution at the cost of immense computational resources. The intermittently turbulent SBL adds additional levels of complexity, requiring the model to not only sustain resolved turbulence during quiescent periods, but also to transition into a turbulent state under appropriate conditions. As a result, LES of the strongly stable SBL potentially requires even finer grid resolution, and has seldom been attempted. This dissertation takes a different approach. By improving the SFS representation of turbulence with a more sophisticated model, intermittently turbulent SBL is simulated, to our knowledge, for the first time in the LES literature. The turbulence closure is the dynamic reconstruction model (DRM), applied under an explicit filtering and reconstruction LES framework. The DRM is a mixed model that consists of subgrid scale (SGS) and resolved subfilter scale (RSFS) components. The RSFS portion is represented by a scale-similarity model that allows for backscatter of energy from the SFS to the mean flow. Compared to conventional closures, the DRM is able to sustain resolved turbulence under moderate stability at coarser resolution (thus saving computational resources). The DRM performs equally well at fine resolution. Under strong stability, the DRM simulates an intermittently turbulent SBL, whereas conventional closures predict false laminar flows. The improved simulation methodology of the SBL has many potential applications in the area of wind energy, numerical weather prediction, pollution modeling and so on. The SBL is first simulated over idealized flat terrain with prescribed forcings and periodic lateral boundaries. A wide range of stability regimes, from weakly to strongly stable conditions, is tested to evaluate model performance. Under strongly stable conditions, intermittency due to mean shear and turbulence interactions is simulated and analyzed. Furthermore, results of the strongly stable SBL are used to improve wind farm siting and nighttime operations. Moving away from the idealized setting, the SBL is simulated over relatively flat terrain at a Kansas site over the Great Plains, where the Cooperative Atmospheric-Surface Exchange Study -- 1999 (CASES-99) took place. The LES obtains realistic initial and lateral boundary conditions from a meso-scale model reanalysis through a grid nesting procedure. Shear-instability induced intermittency observed on the night of Oct 5th during CASES-99 is reproduced to good temporal and magnitude agreement. The LES locates the origin of the shear-instability waves in a shallow upwind valley, and uncovers the intermittency mechanism to be wave breaking over a standing wave (formed over a stagnant cold-air bubble) across the valley. Finally, flow over the highly complex terrain of the Owens Valley in California is modeled with a similar nesting procedure. The LES results are validated with observation data from the 2006 Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX). The nested LES reproduces a transient nighttime warming event observed on the valley floor on April 17 during T-REX. The intermittency mechanism is shown to be through slope-valley flow transitions. In addition, a cold-air intrusion from the eastern valley sidewall is simulated. This generates an easterly cross-valley flow, and the associated top-down mixing through breaking Kelvin-Helmholtz billows is analyzed. Finally, the nesting methodology tested and optimized in the CASES-99 and T-REX studies is transferrable to general ABL applications. For example, a nested LES is performed to model daytime methane plume dispersion over a landfill and good results are obtained.

Teaching Science to Students with Limited English Proficiency through Nested Spiral Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chyu, Chi-oy W.

The Nested Spiral Approach (NSA) is a teaching technique designed for students of limited English proficiency that integrates four aspects of motivated learning: contents, language, culture, and real life experiences. The approach consists of: (1) effective use of student strengths; (2) three teaching cycles for each lesson; and (3) five steps in…

Modeling North Atlantic Nor'easters With Modern Wave Forecast Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perrie, Will; Toulany, Bechara; Roland, Aron; Dutour-Sikiric, Mathieu; Chen, Changsheng; Beardsley, Robert C.; Qi, Jianhua; Hu, Yongcun; Casey, Michael P.; Shen, Hui

2018-01-01

Three state-of-the-art operational wave forecast model systems are implemented on fine-resolution grids for the Northwest Atlantic. These models are: (1) a composite model system consisting of SWAN implemented within WAVEWATCHIII® (the latter is hereafter, WW3) on a nested system of traditional structured grids, (2) an unstructured grid finite-volume wave model denoted "SWAVE," using SWAN physics, and (3) an unstructured grid finite element wind wave model denoted as "WWM" (for "wind wave model") which uses WW3 physics. Models are implemented on grid systems that include relatively large domains to capture the wave energy generated by the storms, as well as including fine-resolution nearshore regions of the southern Gulf of Maine with resolution on the scale of 25 m to simulate areas where inundation and coastal damage have occurred, due to the storms. Storm cases include three intense midlatitude cases: a spring Nor'easter storm in May 2005, the Patriot's Day storm in 2007, and the Boxing Day storm in 2010. Although these wave model systems have comparable overall properties in terms of their performance and skill, it is found that there are differences. Models that use more advanced physics, as presented in recent versions of WW3, tuned to regional characteristics, as in the Gulf of Maine and the Northwest Atlantic, can give enhanced results.

An Adaptive Unstructured Grid Method by Grid Subdivision, Local Remeshing, and Grid Movement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.

1999-01-01

An unstructured grid adaptation technique has been developed and successfully applied to several three dimensional inviscid flow test cases. The approach is based on a combination of grid subdivision, local remeshing, and grid movement. For solution adaptive grids, the surface triangulation is locally refined by grid subdivision, and the tetrahedral grid in the field is partially remeshed at locations of dominant flow features. A grid redistribution strategy is employed for geometric adaptation of volume grids to moving or deforming surfaces. The method is automatic and fast and is designed for modular coupling with different solvers. Several steady state test cases with different inviscid flow features were tested for grid/solution adaptation. In all cases, the dominant flow features, such as shocks and vortices, were accurately and efficiently predicted with the present approach. A new and robust method of moving tetrahedral "viscous" grids is also presented and demonstrated on a three-dimensional example.

A variable resolution right TIN approach for gridded oceanographic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marks, David; Elmore, Paul; Blain, Cheryl Ann; Bourgeois, Brian; Petry, Frederick; Ferrini, Vicki

2017-12-01

Many oceanographic applications require multi resolution representation of gridded data such as for bathymetric data. Although triangular irregular networks (TINs) allow for variable resolution, they do not provide a gridded structure. Right TINs (RTINs) are compatible with a gridded structure. We explored the use of two approaches for RTINs termed top-down and bottom-up implementations. We illustrate why the latter is most appropriate for gridded data and describe for this technique how the data can be thinned. While both the top-down and bottom-up approaches accurately preserve the surface morphology of any given region, the top-down method of vertex placement can fail to match the actual vertex locations of the underlying grid in many instances, resulting in obscured topology/bathymetry. Finally we describe the use of the bottom-up approach and data thinning in two applications. The first is to provide thinned, variable resolution bathymetry data for tests of storm surge and inundation modeling, in particular hurricane Katrina. Secondly we consider the use of the approach for an application to an oceanographic data grid of 3-D ocean temperature.

Numerical solution of the full potential equation using a chimera grid approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holst, Terry L.

1995-01-01

A numerical scheme utilizing a chimera zonal grid approach for solving the full potential equation in two spatial dimensions is described. Within each grid zone a fully-implicit approximate factorization scheme is used to advance the solution one interaction. This is followed by the explicit advance of all common zonal grid boundaries using a bilinear interpolation of the velocity potential. The presentation is highlighted with numerical results simulating the flow about a two-dimensional, nonlifting, circular cylinder. For this problem, the flow domain is divided into two parts: an inner portion covered by a polar grid and an outer portion covered by a Cartesian grid. Both incompressible and compressible (transonic) flow solutions are included. Comparisons made with an analytic solution as well as single grid results indicate that the chimera zonal grid approach is a viable technique for solving the full potential equation.

One-way coupling of an atmospheric and a hydrologic model in Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hay, L.E.; Clark, M.P.; Pagowski, M.; Leavesley, G.H.; Gutowski, W.J.

2006-01-01

This paper examines the accuracy of high-resolution nested mesoscale model simulations of surface climate. The nesting capabilities of the atmospheric fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University (PSU)-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) were used to create high-resolution, 5-yr climate simulations (from 1 October 1994 through 30 September 1999), starting with a coarse nest of 20 km for the western United States. During this 5-yr period, two finer-resolution nests (5 and 1.7 km) were run over the Yampa River basin in northwestern Colorado. Raw and bias-corrected daily precipitation and maximum and minimum temperature time series from the three MM5 nests were used as input to the U.S. Geological Survey's distributed hydrologic model [the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS)] and were compared with PRMS results using measured climate station data. The distributed capabilities of PRMS were provided by partitioning the Yampa River basin into hydrologic response units (HRUs). In addition to the classic polygon method of HRU definition, HRUs for PRMS were defined based on the three MM5 nests. This resulted in 16 datasets being tested using PRMS. The input datasets were derived using measured station data and raw and bias-corrected MM5 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km output distributed to 1) polygon HRUs and 2) 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km-gridded HRUs, respectively. Each dataset was calibrated independently, using a multiobjective, stepwise automated procedure. Final results showed a general increase in the accuracy of simulated runoff with an increase in HRU resolution. In all steps of the calibration procedure, the station-based simulations of runoff showed higher accuracy than the MM5-based simulations, although the accuracy of MM5 simulations was close to station data for the high-resolution nests. Further work is warranted in identifying the causes of the biases in MM5 local climate simulations and developing methods to remove them. ?? 2006 American Meteorological Society.

A Minimally Invasive Method for Sampling Nest and Roost Cavities for Fungi: a Novel Approach to Identify the Fungi Associated with Cavity-Nesting Birds

Treesearch

Michelle A. Jusino; Daniel Lindner; John K. Cianchetti; Adam T. Grisé; Nicholas J. Brazee; Jeffrey R. Walters

2014-01-01

Relationships among cavity-nesting birds, trees, and wood decay fungi pose interesting management challenges and research questions in many systems. Ornithologists need to understand the relationships between cavity-nesting birds and fungi in order to understand the habitat requirements of these birds. Typically, researchers rely on fruiting body surveys to identify...

Genesis of Pre-Hurricane Felix (2007). Part I: The Role of the Easterly Wave Critical Layer

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

the boundary layer does not overcome the positive entropy flux from the ocean surface. As suggested by Montgomery et al. (2006), cold pools of...Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with a high-resolution nested grid configuration that permits the representation of cloud system processes...from the jet level to the top of the atmospheric boundary layer. The region of a quasi-closed Lagrangian circulation within the wave pouch provides a

The Coastal Dynamics of Heterogeneous Sedimentary Environments: Numerical Modeling of Nearshore Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-10

supplied boundary data for Hurricane Katrina (Keen, Furukawa et al. 2006; Keen, Slingerland et al. 2010). The numerical models discussed in this report...explicitly. NCOM can be nested to a coarse-grid model to supply boundary conditions at the open boundary of the domain. NCOM has been validated at global...circulation study of Mississippi Sound (Keen 2002), which supplied steady currents for the nearshore erosion problem discussed in this report

Electromagnetic sensing for deterministic finishing gridded domes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galbraith, Stephen L.

2013-06-01

Electromagnetic sensing is a promising technology for precisely locating conductive grid structures that are buried in optical ceramic domes. Burying grid structures directly in the ceramic makes gridded dome construction easier, but a practical sensing technology is required to locate the grid relative to the dome surfaces. This paper presents a novel approach being developed for locating mesh grids that are physically thin, on the order of a mil, curved, and 75% to 90% open space. Non-contact location sensing takes place over a distance of 1/2 inch. A non-contact approach was required because the presence of the ceramic material precludes touching the grid with a measurement tool. Furthermore, the ceramic which may be opaque or transparent is invisible to the sensing technology which is advantageous for calibration. The paper first details the physical principles being exploited. Next, sensor impedance response is discussed for thin, open mesh, grids versus thick, solid, metal conductors. Finally, the technology approach is incorporated into a practical field tool for use in inspecting gridded domes.

Meso- to micro-scale coupled simulations of flow over complex terrain at the Perdigao site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neher, J.; van Veen, L.; Chow, F. K.; Mirocha, J. D.; Lundquist, J. K.

2017-12-01

In this work, the site of the 2017 Perdigao field campaign is analyzed with high resolution large-eddy simulations generated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model as a coupled mesoscale to microscale model. The fine topographic features of the site, with its ridgelines a mere 1.2 km apart, the occurrence of intermittent turbulence at night, and the presence of a wind turbine on one of the ridgelines pose a challenge for many current numerical models. Key test cases in the observational data that demonstrate these modelling difficulties are identified, and advanced modeling techniques for overcoming these issues in the WRF model are presented. These techniques include vertical grid nesting for control of the grid aspect ratio, the cell perturbation method for accelerating the generation of turbulence at the boundary, the dynamic reconstruction model as a closure model that allows for backscatter of turbulence, and the actuator disk model for representing the turbine wake. Multiple nesting configurations are considered, with special consideration given to spanning the `grey zone' where neither PBL nor LES closures are effective. Comparisons between model results and measured sounding, meteorological tower, and Lidar data are used to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques, and the model results are evaluated to provide a broader view of the flow field and the turbine wake interactions at the site.

Hydraulic Jumps, Waves and Other Flow Features Found by Modeling Stably-Stratified Flows in the Salt Lake Valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y.; Ludwig, F.; Street, R.

2003-12-01

The Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) was used to simulate weak synoptic wind conditions with stable stratification and pronounced drainage flow at night in the vicinity of the Jordan Narrows at the south end of Salt Lake Valley. The simulations showed the flow to be quite complex with hydraulic jumps and internal waves that make it essential to use a complete treatment of the fluid dynamics. Six one-way nested grids were used to resolve the topography; they ranged from 20-km grid spacing, initialized by ETA 40-km operational analyses down to 250-m horizontal resolution and 200 vertically stretched levels to a height of 20 km, beginning with a 10-m cell at the surface. Most of the features of interest resulted from interactions with local terrain features, so that little was lost by using one-way nesting. Canyon, gap, and over-terrain flows have a large effect on mixing and vertical transport, especially in the regions where hydraulic jumps are likely. Our results also showed that the effect of spatial resolution on simulation performance is profound. The horizontal resolution must be such that the smallest features that are likely to have important impact on the flow are spanned by at least a few grid points. Thus, the 250 m minimum resolution of this study is appropriate for treating the effects of features of about 1 km or greater extent. To be consistent, the vertical cell dimension must resolve the same terrain features resolved by the horizontal grid. These simulations show that many of the interesting flow features produce observable wind and temperature gradients at or near the surface. Accordingly, some relatively simple field measurements might be made to confirm that the mixing phenomena that were simulated actually take place in the real atmosphere, which would be very valuable for planning large, expensive field campaigns. The work was supported by the Atmospheric Sciences Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) provided computational time. We thank Professor Ming Xue and others at the University of Oklahoma for their help.

Unstructured-grid coastal ocean modelling in Southern Adriatic and Northern Ionian Seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Federico, Ivan; Pinardi, Nadia; Coppini, Giovanni; Oddo, Paolo

2016-04-01

The Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System (SANIFS) is a short-term forecasting system based on unstructured grid approach. The model component is built on SHYFEM finite element three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The operational chain exploits a downscaling approach starting from the Mediterranean oceanographic-scale model MFS (Mediterranean Forecasting System, operated by INGV). The implementation set-up has been designed to provide accurate hydrodynamics and active tracer processes in the coastal waters of Southern Eastern Italy (Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria regions), where the model is characterized by a variable resolution in range of 50-500 m. The horizontal resolution is also high in open-sea areas, where the elements size is approximately 3 km. The model is forced: (i) at the lateral open boundaries through a full nesting strategy directly with the MFS (temperature, salinity, non-tidal sea surface height and currents) and OTPS (tidal forcing) fields; (ii) at surface through two alternative atmospheric forcing datasets (ECMWF and COSMOME) via MFS-bulk-formulae. Given that the coastal fields are driven by a combination of both local/coastal and deep ocean forcings propagating along the shelf, the performance of SANIFS was verified first (i) at the large and shelf-coastal scales by comparing with a large scale CTD survey and then (ii) at the coastal-harbour scale by comparison with CTD, ADCP and tide gauge data. Sensitivity tests were performed on initialization conditions (mainly focused on spin-up procedures) and on surface boundary conditions by assessing the reliability of two alternative datasets at different horizontal resolution (12.5 and 7 km). The present work highlights how downscaling could improve the simulation of the flow field going from typical open-ocean scales of the order of several km to the coastal (and harbour) scales of tens to hundreds of meters.

Techniques for grid manipulation and adaptation. [computational fluid dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choo, Yung K.; Eisemann, Peter R.; Lee, Ki D.

1992-01-01

Two approaches have been taken to provide systematic grid manipulation for improved grid quality. One is the control point form (CPF) of algebraic grid generation. It provides explicit control of the physical grid shape and grid spacing through the movement of the control points. It works well in the interactive computer graphics environment and hence can be a good candidate for integration with other emerging technologies. The other approach is grid adaptation using a numerical mapping between the physical space and a parametric space. Grid adaptation is achieved by modifying the mapping functions through the effects of grid control sources. The adaptation process can be repeated in a cyclic manner if satisfactory results are not achieved after a single application.

The eGo grid model: An open source approach towards a model of German high and extra-high voltage power grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, Ulf Philipp; Wienholt, Lukas; Kleinhans, David; Cussmann, Ilka; Bunke, Wolf-Dieter; Pleßmann, Guido; Wendiggensen, Jochen

2018-02-01

There are several power grid modelling approaches suitable for simulations in the field of power grid planning. The restrictive policies of grid operators, regulators and research institutes concerning their original data and models lead to an increased interest in open source approaches of grid models based on open data. By including all voltage levels between 60 kV (high voltage) and 380kV (extra high voltage), we dissolve the common distinction between transmission and distribution grid in energy system models and utilize a single, integrated model instead. An open data set for primarily Germany, which can be used for non-linear, linear and linear-optimal power flow methods, was developed. This data set consists of an electrically parameterised grid topology as well as allocated generation and demand characteristics for present and future scenarios at high spatial and temporal resolution. The usability of the grid model was demonstrated by the performance of exemplary power flow optimizations. Based on a marginal cost driven power plant dispatch, being subject to grid restrictions, congested power lines were identified. Continuous validation of the model is nescessary in order to reliably model storage and grid expansion in progressing research.

Grid related issues for static and dynamic geometry problems using systems of overset structured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meakin, Robert L.

1995-01-01

Grid related issues of the Chimera overset grid method are discussed in the context of a method of solution and analysis of unsteady three-dimensional viscous flows. The state of maturity of the various pieces of support software required to use the approach is considered. Current limitations of the approach are identified.

Ecoregions and ecodistricts: Ecological regionalizations for the Netherlands' environmental policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klijn, Frans; de Waal, Rein W.; Oude Voshaar, Jan H.

1995-11-01

For communicating data on the state of the environment to policy makers, various integrative frameworks are used, including regional integration. For this kind of integration we have developed two related ecological regionalizations, ecoregions and ecodistricts, which are two levels in a series of classifications for hierarchically nested ecosystems at different spatial scale levels. We explain the compilation of the maps from existing geographical data, demonstrating the relatively holistic, a priori integrated approach. The resulting maps are submitted to discriminant analysis to test the consistancy of the use of mapping characteristics, using data on individual abiotic ecosystem components from a national database on a 1-km2 grid. This reveals that the spatial patterns of soil, groundwater, and geomorphology correspond with the ecoregion and ecodistrict maps. Differences between the original maps and maps formed by automatically reclassifying 1-km2 cells with these discriminant components are found to be few. These differences are discussed against the background of the principal dilemma between deductive, a priori integrated, and inductive, a posteriori, classification.

Are They Really "Two Different Species?" Implicitly Elicited Student Perceptions about NESTs and NNESTs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aslan, Erhan; Thompson, Amy S.

2017-01-01

The native/nonnative-English-speaking teacher (NEST/NNEST) dichotomy has received much attention in the English language teaching profession. Although research shows that NESTs and NNESTs have different perceived strengths regarding English proficiency, personal characteristics, teaching behavior, and approaches to teaching English, more research…

Interactions between nesting pileated woodpeckers and wood ducks

Treesearch

Richard N. Conner; Clifford E. Shackelford; Daniel Saenz; Richard R. Schaefer

2001-01-01

We observed interactions between a nesting pair of pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) and what appeared to be four pairs of wood ducks (Aix sponsa). Wood ducks regularly approached and attempted to enter an active pileated woodpecker nest cavity that contained three fully feathered young pileated woodpeckers. The male...

Comparison of maximum runup through analytical and numerical approaches for different fault parameters estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanoglu, U.; Wronna, M.; Baptista, M. A.; Miranda, J. M. A.

2017-12-01

The one-dimensional analytical runup theory in combination with near shore synthetic waveforms is a promising tool for tsunami rapid early warning systems. Its application in realistic cases with complex bathymetry and initial wave condition from inverse modelling have shown that maximum runup values can be estimated reasonably well. In this study we generate a simplistic bathymetry domains which resemble realistic near-shore features. We investigate the accuracy of the analytical runup formulae to the variation of fault source parameters and near-shore bathymetric features. To do this we systematically vary the fault plane parameters to compute the initial tsunami wave condition. Subsequently, we use the initial conditions to run the numerical tsunami model using coupled system of four nested grids and compare the results to the analytical estimates. Variation of the dip angle of the fault plane showed that analytical estimates have less than 10% difference for angles 5-45 degrees in a simple bathymetric domain. These results shows that the use of analytical formulae for fast run up estimates constitutes a very promising approach in a simple bathymetric domain and might be implemented in Hazard Mapping and Early Warning.

Multilevel Dynamic Generalized Structured Component Analysis for Brain Connectivity Analysis in Functional Neuroimaging Data.

PubMed

Jung, Kwanghee; Takane, Yoshio; Hwang, Heungsun; Woodward, Todd S

2016-06-01

We extend dynamic generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) to enhance its data-analytic capability in structural equation modeling of multi-subject time series data. Time series data of multiple subjects are typically hierarchically structured, where time points are nested within subjects who are in turn nested within a group. The proposed approach, named multilevel dynamic GSCA, accommodates the nested structure in time series data. Explicitly taking the nested structure into account, the proposed method allows investigating subject-wise variability of the loadings and path coefficients by looking at the variance estimates of the corresponding random effects, as well as fixed loadings between observed and latent variables and fixed path coefficients between latent variables. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by applying the method to the multi-subject functional neuroimaging data for brain connectivity analysis, where time series data-level measurements are nested within subjects.

Nested association mapping of stem rust resistance in wheat using genotyping by sequencing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Nested association mapping is an approach to map trait loci in which families within populations are interconnected by a common parent. By implementing joint-linkage association analysis, this approach is able to map causative loci with higher power and resolution compared to biparental linkage mapp...

Observer visitation frequency and success of mourning dove nests: A field experiment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nichols, J.D.; Percival, H.F.; Coon, R.A.; Conroy, M.J.; Hensler, G.L.; Hines, J.E.

1984-01-01

Field studies of nesting success generally require visits by the investigator to the nests under study. Such visits may themselves influence nesting success, however, and this possibility has been discussed and investigated by a number of workers with a variety of bird species. Livezey (1980) reviewed the relevant literature for duck nests and noted that most studies failed to demonstrate differences in nesting success between visited nests and those not visited. Livezey (1980) found in his own work that nest abandonment may have occurred as a result of disturbance by observers but that nest predation was not related to time spent by observers at nests or number of observers approaching nests. Various components of nesting and breeding success in seabirds are thought to be adversely affected by human disturbance and nest visitation (Gillett et al. 1975, Robert and Ralph 1975, Ollason and Dunnet 1980). Upland, ground-nesting species have also been studied (e.g. Stoddard 1931, Evans and Wolfe 1967, Henry 1969, Roseberry and Klimstra 1970, Klimstra and Roseberry 1975), and, although conclusions have varied, a number of these workers found no effect of observers on nest-predation rates.

Structured background grids for generation of unstructured grids by advancing front method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar

1991-01-01

A new method of background grid construction is introduced for generation of unstructured tetrahedral grids using the advancing-front technique. Unlike the conventional triangular/tetrahedral background grids which are difficult to construct and usually inadequate in performance, the new method exploits the simplicity of uniform Cartesian meshes and provides grids of better quality. The approach is analogous to solving a steady-state heat conduction problem with discrete heat sources. The spacing parameters of grid points are distributed over the nodes of a Cartesian background grid by interpolating from a few prescribed sources and solving a Poisson equation. To increase the control over the grid point distribution, a directional clustering approach is used. The new method is convenient to use and provides better grid quality and flexibility. Sample results are presented to demonstrate the power of the method.

Grid refinement in Cartesian coordinates for groundwater flow models using the divergence theorem and Taylor's series.

PubMed

Mansour, M M; Spink, A E F

2013-01-01

Grid refinement is introduced in a numerical groundwater model to increase the accuracy of the solution over local areas without compromising the run time of the model. Numerical methods developed for grid refinement suffered certain drawbacks, for example, deficiencies in the implemented interpolation technique; the non-reciprocity in head calculations or flow calculations; lack of accuracy resulting from high truncation errors, and numerical problems resulting from the construction of elongated meshes. A refinement scheme based on the divergence theorem and Taylor's expansions is presented in this article. This scheme is based on the work of De Marsily (1986) but includes more terms of the Taylor's series to improve the numerical solution. In this scheme, flow reciprocity is maintained and high order of refinement was achievable. The new numerical method is applied to simulate groundwater flows in homogeneous and heterogeneous confined aquifers. It produced results with acceptable degrees of accuracy. This method shows the potential for its application to solving groundwater heads over nested meshes with irregular shapes. © 2012, British Geological Survey © NERC 2012. Ground Water © 2012, National GroundWater Association.

A nested-grid limited-area model for short term weather forecasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, V. C.; Zack, J. W.; Kaplan, M. L.; Coats, G. D.

1983-01-01

The present investigation is concerned with a mesoscale atmospheric simulation system (MASS), incorporating the sigma-coordinate primitive equations. The present version of this model (MASS 3.0) has 14 vertical layers, with the upper boundary at 100 mb. There are 128 x 96 grid points in each layer. The earlier version of this model (MASS 2.0) has been described by Kaplan et al. (1982). The current investigation provides a summary of major revisions to that version and a description of the parameterization schemes which are presently included in the model. The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is considered, taking into account aspects of generalized similarity theory and free convection, the surface energy budget, the surface moisture budget, and prognostic equations for the depth h of the PBL. A cloud model is discussed, giving attention to stable precipitation, and cumulus convection.

LES-based generation of high-frequency fluctuation in wind turbulence obtained by meteorological model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamura, Tetsuro; Kawaguchi, Masaharu; Kawai, Hidenori; Tao, Tao

2017-11-01

The connection between a meso-scale model and a micro-scale large eddy simulation (LES) is significant to simulate the micro-scale meteorological problem such as strong convective events due to the typhoon or the tornado using LES. In these problems the mean velocity profiles and the mean wind directions change with time according to the movement of the typhoons or tornadoes. Although, a fine grid micro-scale LES could not be connected to a coarse grid meso-scale WRF directly. In LES when the grid is suddenly refined at the interface of nested grids which is normal to the mean advection the resolved shear stresses decrease due to the interpolation errors and the delay of the generation of smaller scale turbulence that can be resolved on the finer mesh. For the estimation of wind gust disaster the peak wind acting on buildings and structures has to be correctly predicted. In the case of meteorological model the velocity fluctuations have a tendency of diffusive variation without the high frequency component due to the numerically filtering effects. In order to predict the peak value of wind velocity with good accuracy, this paper proposes a LES-based method for generating the higher frequency components of velocity and temperature fields obtained by meteorological model.

Surface Wind and Upper-Ocean Variability Associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation Simulated by the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

observed data at one location include variability caused by small -scale atmospheric convec- tion and wind variations that cannot be resolved by the... data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this...high-resolution nested grid (9 km) for the atmospheric component is used for the central Indian Ocean. While observational data are assimilated into the

Ecological consequences of colony structure in dynamic ant nest networks.

PubMed

Ellis, Samuel; Franks, Daniel W; Robinson, Elva J H

2017-02-01

Access to resources depends on an individual's position within the environment. This is particularly important to animals that invest heavily in nest construction, such as social insects. Many ant species have a polydomous nesting strategy: a single colony inhabits several spatially separated nests, often exchanging resources between the nests. Different nests in a polydomous colony potentially have differential access to resources, but the ecological consequences of this are unclear. In this study, we investigate how nest survival and budding in polydomous wood ant ( Formica lugubris ) colonies are affected by being part of a multi-nest system. Using field data and novel analytical approaches combining survival models with dynamic network analysis, we show that the survival and budding of nests within a polydomous colony are affected by their position in the nest network structure. Specifically, we find that the flow of resources through a nest, which is based on its position within the wider nest network, determines a nest's likelihood of surviving and of founding new nests. Our results highlight how apparently disparate entities in a biological system can be integrated into a functional ecological unit. We also demonstrate how position within a dynamic network structure can have important ecological consequences.

Numerical simulation and prediction of coastal ocean circulation

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

Chen, P.

1992-01-01

Numerical simulation and prediction of coastal ocean circulation have been conducted in three cases. 1. A process-oriented modeling study is conducted to study the interaction of a western boundary current (WBC) with coastal water, and its responses to upstream topographic irregularities. It is hypothesized that the interaction of propagating WBC frontal waves and topographic Rossby waves are responsible for upstream variability. 2. A simulation of meanders and eddies in the Norwegian Coastal Current (NCC) for February and March of 1988 is conducted with a newly developed nested dynamic interactive model. The model employs a coarse-grid, large domain to account formore » non-local forcing and a fine-grid nested domain to resolve meanders and eddies. The model is forced by wind stresses, heat fluxes and atmospheric pressure corresponding Feb/March of 1988, and accounts for river/fjord discharges, open ocean inflow and outflow, and M[sub 2] tides. The simulation reproduced fairly well the observed circulation, tides, and salinity features in the North Sea, Norwegian Trench and NCC region in the large domain and fairly realistic meanders and eddies in the NCC in the nested region. 3. A methodology for practical coastal ocean hindcast/forecast is developed, taking advantage of the disparate time scales of various forcing and considering wind to be the dominant factor in affecting density fluctuation in the time scale of 1 to 10 days. The density field obtained from a prognostic simulation is analyzed by the empirical orthogonal function method (EOF), and correlated with the wind; these information are then used to drive a circulation model which excludes the density calculation. The method is applied to hindcast the circulation in the New York Bight for spring and summer season of 1988. The hindcast fields compare favorably with the results obtained from the prognostic circulation model.« less

Estimating raptor nesting success: old and new approaches

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, Jessi L.; Steenhof, Karen; Kochert, Michael N.; Bond, Laura

2013-01-01

Studies of nesting success can be valuable in assessing the status of raptor populations, but differing monitoring protocols can present unique challenges when comparing populations of different species across time or geographic areas. We used large datasets from long-term studies of 3 raptor species to compare estimates of apparent nest success (ANS, the ratio of successful to total number of nesting attempts), Mayfield nesting success, and the logistic-exposure model of nest survival. Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus), and American kestrels (F. sparverius) differ in their breeding biology and the methods often used to monitor their reproduction. Mayfield and logistic-exposure models generated similar estimates of nesting success with similar levels of precision. Apparent nest success overestimated nesting success and was particularly sensitive to inclusion of nesting attempts discovered late in the nesting season. Thus, the ANS estimator is inappropriate when exact point estimates are required, especially when most raptor pairs cannot be located before or soon after laying eggs. However, ANS may be sufficient to assess long-term trends of species in which nesting attempts are highly detectable.

A low-disturbance capture technique for ground-nesting Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Courtot, Karen; Roby, Daniel D.; Kerr, Lauren H.; Lyons, Donald E.; Adkins, Jessica Y.

2016-01-01

Capturing breeding adults of colonially nesting species can entail risks of nest failure and even colony abandonment, especially in species that react strongly to human disturbance. A low-disturbance technique for capturing specific adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at a ground-nesting colony was developed to reduce these risks and is described here. Nesting habitat enhancement was used to attract Doublecrested Cormorants to nest adjacent to above-ground tunnels constructed so that researchers could capture birds by hand. Using this technique, Double-crested Cormorants (n = 87) were captured during the incubation and chick-rearing stages of the nesting cycle. Unlike alternative capture techniques, this approach allowed targeting of specific individuals for capture and recapture, minimized local disturbance, and eliminated colony-wide disturbances. The tunnel-based system presented here could be adapted to capture adults or to access the nest contents of other ground-nesting colonial species that are inclined to nest in areas of enhanced nesting habitat and adapt to anthropogenic structures in their nesting area. This system would be particularly beneficial for other wary and easily disturbed species.

Nest guarding by female Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) at a wind-energy facility near Palm Springs, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Agha, Mickey; Lovich, Jeffrey E.; Ennen, Joshua R.; Wilcox, Ethan

2013-01-01

We observed behavior consistent with nest-guarding in Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) at two nests in a large wind-energy-generation facility near Palm Springs, California, locally known as the Mesa Wind Farm. As researchers approached the nests, female desert tortoises moved to the entrance of their burrows and positioned themselves sideways, directly over their nests. One female stretched her limbs outward and wedged herself into the burrow (her plastron directly above the nest). Guarding of nests is rarely observed in Agassiz's desert tortoise but can occur as a result of attempted predation on eggs by Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) or in direct response to the perceived threat posed by researchers. This is the first report of nest-guarding for G. agassizii in the Sonoran Desert ecosystem of California.

A multi-resolution approach to electromagnetic modeling.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherevatova, M.; Egbert, G. D.; Smirnov, M. Yu

2018-04-01

We present a multi-resolution approach for three-dimensional magnetotelluric forward modeling. Our approach is motivated by the fact that fine grid resolution is typically required at shallow levels to adequately represent near surface inhomogeneities, topography, and bathymetry, while a much coarser grid may be adequate at depth where the diffusively propagating electromagnetic fields are much smoother. This is especially true for forward modeling required in regularized inversion, where conductivity variations at depth are generally very smooth. With a conventional structured finite-difference grid the fine discretization required to adequately represent rapid variations near the surface are continued to all depths, resulting in higher computational costs. Increasing the computational efficiency of the forward modeling is especially important for solving regularized inversion problems. We implement a multi-resolution finite-difference scheme that allows us to decrease the horizontal grid resolution with depth, as is done with vertical discretization. In our implementation, the multi-resolution grid is represented as a vertical stack of sub-grids, with each sub-grid being a standard Cartesian tensor product staggered grid. Thus, our approach is similar to the octree discretization previously used for electromagnetic modeling, but simpler in that we allow refinement only with depth. The major difficulty arose in deriving the forward modeling operators on interfaces between adjacent sub-grids. We considered three ways of handling the interface layers and suggest a preferable one, which results in similar accuracy as the staggered grid solution, while retaining the symmetry of coefficient matrix. A comparison between multi-resolution and staggered solvers for various models show that multi-resolution approach improves on computational efficiency without compromising the accuracy of the solution.

An object-oriented approach to nested data parallelism

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sheffler, Thomas J.; Chatterjee, Siddhartha

1994-01-01

This paper describes an implementation technique for integrating nested data parallelism into an object-oriented language. Data-parallel programming employs sets of data called 'collections' and expresses parallelism as operations performed over the elements of a collection. When the elements of a collection are also collections, then there is the possibility for 'nested data parallelism.' Few current programming languages support nested data parallelism however. In an object-oriented framework, a collection is a single object. Its type defines the parallel operations that may be applied to it. Our goal is to design and build an object-oriented data-parallel programming environment supporting nested data parallelism. Our initial approach is built upon three fundamental additions to C++. We add new parallel base types by implementing them as classes, and add a new parallel collection type called a 'vector' that is implemented as a template. Only one new language feature is introduced: the 'foreach' construct, which is the basis for exploiting elementwise parallelism over collections. The strength of the method lies in the compilation strategy, which translates nested data-parallel C++ into ordinary C++. Extracting the potential parallelism in nested 'foreach' constructs is called 'flattening' nested parallelism. We show how to flatten 'foreach' constructs using a simple program transformation. Our prototype system produces vector code which has been successfully run on workstations, a CM-2, and a CM-5.

An optimized one-tube, semi-nested PCR assay for Paracoccidioides brasiliensis detection.

PubMed

Pitz, Amanda de Faveri; Koishi, Andrea Cristine; Tavares, Eliandro Reis; Andrade, Fábio Goulart de; Loth, Eduardo Alexandre; Gandra, Rinaldo Ferreira; Venancio, Emerson José

2013-01-01

Herein, we report a one-tube, semi-nested-polymerase chain reaction (OTsn-PCR) assay for the detection of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. We developed the OTsn-PCR assay for the detection of P. brasiliensis in clinical specimens and compared it with other PCR methods. The OTsn-PCR assay was positive for all clinical samples, and the detection limit was better or equivalent to the other nested or semi-nested PCR methods for P. brasiliensis detection. The OTsn-PCR assay described in this paper has a detection limit similar to other reactions for the molecular detection of P. brasiliensis, but this approach is faster and less prone to contamination than other conventional nested or semi-nested PCR assays.

High-tech or field techs: Radio-telemetry is a cost-effective method for reducing bias in songbird nest searching

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peterson, Sean M.; Streby, Henry M.; Lehman, Justin A.; Kramer, Gunnar R.; Fish, Alexander C.; Andersen, David E.

2015-01-01

We compared the efficacy of standard nest-searching methods with finding nests via radio-tagged birds to assess how search technique influenced our determination of nest-site characteristics and nest success for Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera). We also evaluated the cost-effectiveness of using radio-tagged birds to find nests. Using standard nest-searching techniques for 3 populations, we found 111 nests in locations with habitat characteristics similar to those described in previous studies: edges between forest and relatively open areas of early successional vegetation or shrubby wetlands, with 43% within 5 m of forest edge. The 83 nests found using telemetry were about half as likely (23%) to be within 5 m of forest edge. We spent little time searching >25 m into forest because published reports state that Golden-winged Warblers do not nest there. However, 14 nests found using telemetry (18%) were >25 m into forest. We modeled nest success using nest-searching method, nest age, and distance to forest edge as explanatory variables. Nest-searching method explained nest success better than nest age alone; we estimated that nests found using telemetry were 10% more likely to fledge young than nests found using standard nest-searching methods. Although radio-telemetry was more expensive than standard nest searching, the cost-effectiveness of both methods differed depending on searcher experience, amount of equipment owned, and bird population density. Our results demonstrate that telemetry can be an effective method for reducing bias in Golden-winged Warbler nest samples, can be cost competitive with standard nest-searching methods in some situations, and is likely to be a useful approach for finding nests of other forest-nesting songbirds.

A smoothed residual based goodness-of-fit statistic for nest-survival models

Treesearch

Rodney X. Sturdivant; Jay J. Rotella; Robin E. Russell

2008-01-01

Estimating nest success and identifying important factors related to nest-survival rates is an essential goal for many wildlife researchers interested in understanding avian population dynamics. Advances in statistical methods have led to a number of estimation methods and approaches to modeling this problem. Recently developed models allow researchers to include a...

Regional Model Nesting Within GFS Daily Forecasts Over West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Druyan, Leonard M.; Fulakeza, Matthew; Lonergan, Patrick; Worrell, Ruben

2010-01-01

The study uses the RM3, the regional climate model at the Center for Climate Systems Research of Columbia University and the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (CCSR/GISS). The paper evaluates 30 48-hour RM3 weather forecasts over West Africa during September 2006 made on a 0.5 grid nested within 1 Global Forecast System (GFS) global forecasts. September 2006 was the Special Observing Period #3 of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA). Archived GFS initial conditions and lateral boundary conditions for the simulations from the US National Weather Service, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration were interpolated four times daily. Results for precipitation forecasts are validated against Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite estimates and data from the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), which includes rain gauge measurements, and forecasts of circulation are compared to reanalysis 2. Performance statistics for the precipitation forecasts include bias, root-mean-square errors and spatial correlation coefficients. The nested regional model forecasts are compared to GFS forecasts to gauge whether nesting provides additional realistic information. They are also compared to RM3 simulations driven by reanalysis 2, representing high potential skill forecasts, to gauge the sensitivity of results to lateral boundary conditions. Nested RM3/GFS forecasts generate excessive moisture advection toward West Africa, which in turn causes prodigious amounts of model precipitation. This problem is corrected by empirical adjustments in the preparation of lateral boundary conditions and initial conditions. The resulting modified simulations improve on the GFS precipitation forecasts, achieving time-space correlations with TRMM of 0.77 on the first day and 0.63 on the second day. One realtime RM3/GFS precipitation forecast made at and posted by the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD) in Niamey, Niger is shown.

Application of advanced grid generation techniques for flow field computations about complex configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kathong, Monchai; Tiwari, Surendra N.

1988-01-01

In the computation of flowfields about complex configurations, it is very difficult to construct a boundary-fitted coordinate system. An alternative approach is to use several grids at once, each of which is generated independently. This procedure is called the multiple grids or zonal grids approach; its applications are investigated. The method conservative providing conservation of fluxes at grid interfaces. The Euler equations are solved numerically on such grids for various configurations. The numerical scheme used is the finite-volume technique with a three-stage Runge-Kutta time integration. The code is vectorized and programmed to run on the CDC VPS-32 computer. Steady state solutions of the Euler equations are presented and discussed. The solutions include: low speed flow over a sphere, high speed flow over a slender body, supersonic flow through a duct, and supersonic internal/external flow interaction for an aircraft configuration at various angles of attack. The results demonstrate that the multiple grids approach along with the conservative interfacing is capable of computing the flows about the complex configurations where the use of a single grid system is not possible.

Efficient Unstructured Grid Adaptation Methods for Sonic Boom Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Richard L.; Carter, Melissa B.; Deere, Karen A.; Waithe, Kenrick A.

2008-01-01

This paper examines the use of two grid adaptation methods to improve the accuracy of the near-to-mid field pressure signature prediction of supersonic aircraft computed using the USM3D unstructured grid flow solver. The first method (ADV) is an interactive adaptation process that uses grid movement rather than enrichment to more accurately resolve the expansion and compression waves. The second method (SSGRID) uses an a priori adaptation approach to stretch and shear the original unstructured grid to align the grid with the pressure waves and reduce the cell count required to achieve an accurate signature prediction at a given distance from the vehicle. Both methods initially create negative volume cells that are repaired in a module in the ADV code. While both approaches provide significant improvements in the near field signature (< 3 body lengths) relative to a baseline grid without increasing the number of grid points, only the SSGRID approach allows the details of the signature to be accurately computed at mid-field distances (3-10 body lengths) for direct use with mid-field-to-ground boom propagation codes.

An Odds Ratio Approach for Detecting DDF under the Nested Logit Modeling Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terzi, Ragip; Suh, Youngsuk

2015-01-01

An odds ratio approach (ORA) under the framework of a nested logit model was proposed for evaluating differential distractor functioning (DDF) in multiple-choice items and was compared with an existing ORA developed under the nominal response model. The performances of the two ORAs for detecting DDF were investigated through an extensive…

Monitoring bald eagles using lists of nests: Response to Watts and Duerr

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sauer, John R.; Otto, Mark C.; Kendall, William L.; Zimmerman, Guthrie S.

2011-01-01

The post-delisting monitoring plan for bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) roposed use of a dual-frame sample design, in which sampling of known nest sites in combination with additional area-based sampling is used to estimate total number of nesting bald eagle pairs. Watts and Duerr (2010) used data from repeated observations of bald eagle nests in Virginia, USA to estimate a nest turnover rate and used this rate to simulate decline in number of occupied nests in list nests over time. Results of Watts and Duerr suggest that, given the rates of loss of nests from the list of known nest sites in Virginia, the list information will be of little value to sampling unless lists are constantly updated. Those authors criticize the plan for not placing sufficient emphasis on updating and maintaining lists of bald eagle nests. Watts and Duerr's metric of turnover rate does not distinguish detectability or temporary nonuse of nests from permanent loss of nests and likely overestimates turnover rate. We describe a multi-state capture–recapture model that allows appropriate estimation of rates of loss of nests, and we use the model to estimate rates of loss from a sample of nests from Maine, USA. The post-delisting monitoring plan addresses the need to maintain and update the lists of nests, and we show that dual frame sampling is an effective approach for sampling nesting bald eagle populations.

Construction of nested maximin designs based on successive local enumeration and modified novel global harmony search algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Jin; Li, Xinyu; Xiao, Mi; Xu, Junnan; Zhang, Lin

2017-01-01

Engineering design often involves different types of simulation, which results in expensive computational costs. Variable fidelity approximation-based design optimization approaches can realize effective simulation and efficiency optimization of the design space using approximation models with different levels of fidelity and have been widely used in different fields. As the foundations of variable fidelity approximation models, the selection of sample points of variable-fidelity approximation, called nested designs, is essential. In this article a novel nested maximin Latin hypercube design is constructed based on successive local enumeration and a modified novel global harmony search algorithm. In the proposed nested designs, successive local enumeration is employed to select sample points for a low-fidelity model, whereas the modified novel global harmony search algorithm is employed to select sample points for a high-fidelity model. A comparative study with multiple criteria and an engineering application are employed to verify the efficiency of the proposed nested designs approach.

Effects of colony relocation on diet and productivity of Caspian terns

USGS Publications Warehouse

Roby, D.D.; Collis, K.; Lyons, Donald E.; Craig, D.P.; Adkins, J.Y.; Myers, A.M.; Suryan, R.M.

2002-01-01

We investigated the efficacy of management to reduce the impact of Caspian tern (Sterna caspia) predation on survival of juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River estuary. Resource managers sought to relocate approximately 9,000 pairs of terns nesting on Rice Island (river km 34) to East Sand Island (river km 8), where terns were expected to prey on fewer juvenile salmonids. Efforts to attract terns to nest on East Sand Island included creation of nesting habitat, use of social attraction techniques, and predator control, with concurrent efforts to discourage terns from nesting on Rice Island. This approach was successful in completely relocating the tern colony from Rice Island to East Sand Island by the third breeding season. Juvenile salmonids decreased and marine forage fishes (i.e., herring, sardine, anchovy, smelt, surfperch, Pacific sand lance) increased in the diet of Caspian terns nesting on East Sand Island, compared with terns nesting on Rice Island. During 1999 and 2000, the diet of terns nesting on Rice Island consisted of 77% and 90% juvenile salmonids, respectively, while during 1999, 2000, and 2001, the diet of terns nesting on East Sand Island consisted of 46%, 47%, and 33% juvenile salmonids, respectively. Nesting success of Caspian terns was consistently and substantially higher on East Sand Island than on Rice Island. These results indicate that relocating the Caspian tern colony was an effective management action for reducing predation on juvenile salmonids without harm to the population of breeding terns, at least in the short term. The success of this management approach largely was a consequence of the nesting and foraging ecology of Caspian terns: the species shifts breeding colony sites frequently in response to changing habitats, and the species is a generalist forager, preying on the most available forage fish near the colony.

Nest site characteristics and nesting success of the Western Burrowing Owl in the eastern Mojave Desert

USGS Publications Warehouse

Longshore, Kathleen M.; Crowe, Dorothy E.

2013-01-01

We evaluated nest site selection at two spatial scales (microsite, territory) and reproductive success of Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) at three spatial scales (microsite, territory, landscape) in the eastern Mojave Desert. We used binary logistic regression within an information-theoretic approach to assess factors influencing nest site choice and nesting success. Microsite-scale variables favored by owls included burrows excavated by desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), burrows with a large mound of excavated soil at the entrance, and a greater number of satellite burrows within 5 m of the nest burrow. At the territory scale, owls preferred patches with greater cover of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) within 50 m of the nest burrow. An interaction between the presence or absence of a calcic soil horizon layer over the top of the burrow (microsite) and the number of burrows within 50 m (territory) influenced nest site choice. Nesting success was influenced by a greater number of burrows within 5 m of the nest burrow. Total cool season precipitation was a predictor of nesting success at the landscape scale. Conservation strategies can rely on management of habitat for favored and productive nesting sites for this declining species.

A Hierarchical and Distributed Approach for Mapping Large Applications to Heterogeneous Grids using Genetic Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanyal, Soumya; Jain, Amit; Das, Sajal K.; Biswas, Rupak

2003-01-01

In this paper, we propose a distributed approach for mapping a single large application to a heterogeneous grid environment. To minimize the execution time of the parallel application, we distribute the mapping overhead to the available nodes of the grid. This approach not only provides a fast mapping of tasks to resources but is also scalable. We adopt a hierarchical grid model and accomplish the job of mapping tasks to this topology using a scheduler tree. Results show that our three-phase algorithm provides high quality mappings, and is fast and scalable.

High resolution regional climate simulation of the Hawaiian Islands - Validation of the historical run from 2003 to 2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, L.; Newman, A. J.; Ikeda, K.; Rasmussen, R.; Clark, M. P.; Monaghan, A. J.

2016-12-01

A high-resolution (a 1.5 km grid spacing domain nested within a 4.5 km grid spacing domain) 10-year regional climate simulation over the entire Hawaiian archipelago is being conducted at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.7.1. Numerical sensitivity simulations of the Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP, a filed experiment from July to August in 1990) showed that the simulated precipitation properties are sensitive to initial and lateral boundary conditions, sea surface temperature (SST), land surface models, vertical resolution and cloud droplet concentration. The validations of model simulated statistics of the trade wind inversion, temperature, wind field, cloud cover, and precipitation over the islands against various observations from soundings, satellites, weather stations and rain gauges during the period from 2003 to 2012 will be presented at the meeting.

A three-dimensional spacecraft-charging computer code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubin, A. G.; Katz, I.; Mandell, M.; Schnuelle, G.; Steen, P.; Parks, D.; Cassidy, J.; Roche, J.

1980-01-01

A computer code is described which simulates the interaction of the space environment with a satellite at geosynchronous altitude. Employing finite elements, a three-dimensional satellite model has been constructed with more than 1000 surface cells and 15 different surface materials. Free space around the satellite is modeled by nesting grids within grids. Applications of this NASA Spacecraft Charging Analyzer Program (NASCAP) code to the study of a satellite photosheath and the differential charging of the SCATHA (satellite charging at high altitudes) satellite in eclipse and in sunlight are discussed. In order to understand detector response when the satellite is charged, the code is used to trace the trajectories of particles reaching the SCATHA detectors. Particle trajectories from positive and negative emitters on SCATHA also are traced to determine the location of returning particles, to estimate the escaping flux, and to simulate active control of satellite potentials.

Linking occurrence and fitness to persistence: Habitat-based approach for endangered Greater Sage-Grouse

USGS Publications Warehouse

Aldridge, Cameron L.; Boyce, Mark S.

2007-01-01

Detailed empirical models predicting both species occurrence and fitness across a landscape are necessary to understand processes related to population persistence. Failure to consider both occurrence and fitness may result in incorrect assessments of habitat importance leading to inappropriate management strategies. We took a two-stage approach to identifying critical nesting and brood-rearing habitat for the endangered Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Alberta at a landscape scale. First, we used logistic regression to develop spatial models predicting the relative probability of use (occurrence) for Sage-Grouse nests and broods. Secondly, we used Cox proportional hazards survival models to identify the most risky habitats across the landscape. We combined these two approaches to identify Sage-Grouse habitats that pose minimal risk of failure (source habitats) and attractive sink habitats that pose increased risk (ecological traps). Our models showed that Sage-Grouse select for heterogeneous patches of moderate sagebrush cover (quadratic relationship) and avoid anthropogenic edge habitat for nesting. Nests were more successful in heterogeneous habitats, but nest success was independent of anthropogenic features. Similarly, broods selected heterogeneous high-productivity habitats with sagebrush while avoiding human developments, cultivated cropland, and high densities of oil wells. Chick mortalities tended to occur in proximity to oil and gas developments and along riparian habitats. For nests and broods, respectively, approximately 10% and 5% of the study area was considered source habitat, whereas 19% and 15% of habitat was attractive sink habitat. Limited source habitats appear to be the main reason for poor nest success (39%) and low chick survival (12%). Our habitat models identify areas of protection priority and areas that require immediate management attention to enhance recruitment to secure the viability of this population. This novel approach to habitat-based population viability modeling has merit for many species of concern. ?? 2007 by the Ecological Society of America.

Solving Partial Differential Equations on Overlapping Grids

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

Henshaw, W D

2008-09-22

We discuss the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) on overlapping grids. This is a powerful technique for efficiently solving problems in complex, possibly moving, geometry. An overlapping grid consists of a set of structured grids that overlap and cover the computational domain. By allowing the grids to overlap, grids for complex geometries can be more easily constructed. The overlapping grid approach can also be used to remove coordinate singularities by, for example, covering a sphere with two or more patches. We describe the application of the overlapping grid approach to a variety of different problems. These include the solutionmore » of incompressible fluid flows with moving and deforming geometry, the solution of high-speed compressible reactive flow with rigid bodies using adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), and the solution of the time-domain Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism.« less

Community-level demographic consequences of urbanization: an ecological network approach.

PubMed

Rodewald, Amanda D; Rohr, Rudolf P; Fortuna, Miguel A; Bascompte, Jordi

2014-11-01

Ecological networks are known to influence ecosystem attributes, but we poorly understand how interspecific network structure affect population demography of multiple species, particularly for vertebrates. Establishing the link between network structure and demography is at the crux of being able to use networks to understand population dynamics and to inform conservation. We addressed the critical but unanswered question, does network structure explain demographic consequences of urbanization? We studied 141 ecological networks representing interactions between plants and nesting birds in forests across an urbanization gradient in Ohio, USA, from 2001 to 2011. Nest predators were identified by video-recording nests and surveyed from 2004 to 2011. As landscapes urbanized, bird-plant networks were more nested, less compartmentalized and dominated by strong interactions between a few species (i.e. low evenness). Evenness of interaction strengths promoted avian nest survival, and evenness explained demography better than urbanization, level of invasion, numbers of predators or other qualitative network metrics. Highly uneven networks had approximately half the nesting success as the most even networks. Thus, nest survival reflected how urbanization altered species interactions, particularly with respect to how nest placement affected search efficiency of predators. The demographic effects of urbanization were not direct, but were filtered through bird-plant networks. This study illustrates how network structure can influence demography at the community level and further, that knowledge of species interactions and a network approach may be requisite to understanding demographic responses to environmental change. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.

Patched-grid calculations with the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations: Theory and applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rai, M. M.

1986-01-01

A patched-grid approach is one in which the flow region of interest is divided into subregions which are then discretized independently using existing grid generator. The equations of motion are integrated in each subregion in conjunction with patch-boundary schemes which allow proper information transfer across interfaces that separate subregions. The patched-grid approach greatly simplifies the treatment of complex geometries and also the addition of grid points to selected regions of the flow. A conservative patch-boundary condition that can be used with explicit, implicit factored and implicit relaxation schemes is described. Several example calculations that demonstrate the capabilities of the patched-grid scheme are also included.

PHOTOCHEMICAL SIMULATIONS OF POINT SOURCE EMISSIONS WITH THE MODELS-3 CMAQ PLUME-IN-GRID APPROACH

EPA Science Inventory

A plume-in-grid (PinG) approach has been designed to provide a realistic treatment for the simulation the dynamic and chemical processes impacting pollutant species in major point source plumes during a subgrid scale phase within an Eulerian grid modeling framework. The PinG sci...

Wind and Wave Driven Nearshore Circulation at Cape Hatteras Point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, N.; Voulgaris, G.; Warner, J. C.; List, J. H.

2012-12-01

We have used a measurement and modeling approach to identify hydrodynamic processes responsible for alongshore transport of sediment that can support the maintenance of Diamond Shoals, NC, a large inner-shelf sedimentary convergent feature. As a part of Carolina Coastal Change Processes project, a one month field experiment was conducted around Cape Hatteras point during February, 2010. The instrumentation consisted of 15 acoustic current meters (measuring pressure and velocity profile) deployed in water depths varying from 3-10m and a very high frequency (VHF) beam forming radar system providing surface waves and currents with a resolution of 150 m and a spatial coverage of 10-15 km2. Analysis of field observation suggests that wind-driven circulation and littoral current dominate surf zone and inner shelf processes at least at an order higher than tidally rectified flows. However, the data analysis identified that relevant processes like non-linear advective acceleration, pressure gradient and vortex-force (due to interaction between wave-induced drift and mean flow vorticity), may be significant, but were not assessed accurately due to instrument location and accuracy. To obtain a deeper physical understanding of the hydrodynamics in this study-site, we applied a three-dimensional Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave_Sediment-Transport (COAWST) numerical model. The COAWST modeling system is comprised of nested, coupled, three-dimensional ocean-circulation model (ROMS) and wave propagation model (SWAN), configured for the study site to simulate wave height, direction, period and mean current velocities (both Eulerian and Lagrangian). The nesting follows a two-way grid refinement process for the circulation module, and one-way for the wave model. The coarsest parent grid resolved processes on the spatial and temporal scales of mid-shelf to inner-shelf, and subsequent child grids evolved at inner-shelf and surf zone scales. Preliminary results show that the model successfully reproduces wind-driven circulation and littoral currents. Furthermore, model simulation provides evidence for (a) circulation pattern suggesting a mechanism for sediment movement from littoral zone to the Diamond Shoals complex; (b) Diamond shoals complex acting as independent coastline, which restricts the littoral currents to follow the coastline orientation around Cape Hatteras point. As a part of this study, simulated hydrodynamic parameters will be validated against field observations of wave height and direction and Eulerian velocities from acoustic current meters, and sea surface maps of wave height and Lagrangian flows provided by the VHF radar. Moreover, the model results will be analyzed to (a) identify the significance of the terms in momentum balance which are not estimated accurately through field observations; (b) provide a quasi-quantitative estimate of sediment transport contributing to shoal building process.

Parallel tiled Nussinov RNA folding loop nest generated using both dependence graph transitive closure and loop skewing.

PubMed

Palkowski, Marek; Bielecki, Wlodzimierz

2017-06-02

RNA secondary structure prediction is a compute intensive task that lies at the core of several search algorithms in bioinformatics. Fortunately, the RNA folding approaches, such as the Nussinov base pair maximization, involve mathematical operations over affine control loops whose iteration space can be represented by the polyhedral model. Polyhedral compilation techniques have proven to be a powerful tool for optimization of dense array codes. However, classical affine loop nest transformations used with these techniques do not optimize effectively codes of dynamic programming of RNA structure predictions. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel approach allowing for generation of a parallel tiled Nussinov RNA loop nest exposing significantly higher performance than that of known related code. This effect is achieved due to improving code locality and calculation parallelization. In order to improve code locality, we apply our previously published technique of automatic loop nest tiling to all the three loops of the Nussinov loop nest. This approach first forms original rectangular 3D tiles and then corrects them to establish their validity by means of applying the transitive closure of a dependence graph. To produce parallel code, we apply the loop skewing technique to a tiled Nussinov loop nest. The technique is implemented as a part of the publicly available polyhedral source-to-source TRACO compiler. Generated code was run on modern Intel multi-core processors and coprocessors. We present the speed-up factor of generated Nussinov RNA parallel code and demonstrate that it is considerably faster than related codes in which only the two outer loops of the Nussinov loop nest are tiled.

Direct numerical simulation of particulate flows with an overset grid method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koblitz, A. R.; Lovett, S.; Nikiforakis, N.; Henshaw, W. D.

2017-08-01

We evaluate an efficient overset grid method for two-dimensional and three-dimensional particulate flows for small numbers of particles at finite Reynolds number. The rigid particles are discretised using moving overset grids overlaid on a Cartesian background grid. This allows for strongly-enforced boundary conditions and local grid refinement at particle surfaces, thereby accurately capturing the viscous boundary layer at modest computational cost. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a fractional-step scheme which is second-order-accurate in space and time, while the fluid-solid coupling is achieved with a partitioned approach including multiple sub-iterations to increase stability for light, rigid bodies. Through a series of benchmark studies we demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach compared to other boundary conformal and static grid methods in the literature. In particular, we find that fully resolving boundary layers at particle surfaces is crucial to obtain accurate solutions to many common test cases. With our approach we are able to compute accurate solutions using as little as one third the number of grid points as uniform grid computations in the literature. A detailed convergence study shows a 13-fold decrease in CPU time over a uniform grid test case whilst maintaining comparable solution accuracy.

A multiscale numerical study into the cascade of kinetic energy leading to severe local storms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paine, D. A.; Kaplan, M. L.

1977-01-01

The cascade of kinetic energy from macro- through mesoscales is studied on the basis of a nested grid system used to solve a set of nonlinear differential equations. The kinetic energy cascade and the concentration of vorticity through the hydrodynamic spectrum provide a means for predicting the location and intensity of severe weather from large-scale data sets. A mechanism described by the surface pressure tendency equation proves to be important in explaining how initial middle-tropospheric mass-momentum imbalances alter the low-level pressure field.

Multiple imputation of missing data in nested case-control and case-cohort studies.

PubMed

Keogh, Ruth H; Seaman, Shaun R; Bartlett, Jonathan W; Wood, Angela M

2018-06-05

The nested case-control and case-cohort designs are two main approaches for carrying out a substudy within a prospective cohort. This article adapts multiple imputation (MI) methods for handling missing covariates in full-cohort studies for nested case-control and case-cohort studies. We consider data missing by design and data missing by chance. MI analyses that make use of full-cohort data and MI analyses based on substudy data only are described, alongside an intermediate approach in which the imputation uses full-cohort data but the analysis uses only the substudy. We describe adaptations to two imputation methods: the approximate method (MI-approx) of White and Royston () and the "substantive model compatible" (MI-SMC) method of Bartlett et al. (). We also apply the "MI matched set" approach of Seaman and Keogh () to nested case-control studies, which does not require any full-cohort information. The methods are investigated using simulation studies and all perform well when their assumptions hold. Substantial gains in efficiency can be made by imputing data missing by design using the full-cohort approach or by imputing data missing by chance in analyses using the substudy only. The intermediate approach brings greater gains in efficiency relative to the substudy approach and is more robust to imputation model misspecification than the full-cohort approach. The methods are illustrated using the ARIC Study cohort. Supplementary Materials provide R and Stata code. © 2018, The International Biometric Society.

Development of design technique for vacuum insulation in large size multi-aperture multi-grid accelerator for nuclear fusion.

PubMed

Kojima, A; Hanada, M; Tobari, H; Nishikiori, R; Hiratsuka, J; Kashiwagi, M; Umeda, N; Yoshida, M; Ichikawa, M; Watanabe, K; Yamano, Y; Grisham, L R

2016-02-01

Design techniques for the vacuum insulation have been developed in order to realize a reliable voltage holding capability of multi-aperture multi-grid (MAMuG) accelerators for fusion application. In this method, the nested multi-stage configuration of the MAMuG accelerator can be uniquely designed to satisfy the target voltage within given boundary conditions. The evaluation of the voltage holding capabilities of each acceleration stages was based on the previous experimental results about the area effect and the multi-aperture effect. Since the multi-grid effect was found to be the extension of the area effect by the total facing area this time, the total voltage holding capability of the multi-stage can be estimated from that per single stage by assuming the stage with the highest electric field, the total facing area, and the total apertures. By applying these consideration, the analysis on the 3-stage MAMuG accelerator for JT-60SA agreed well with the past gap-scan experiments with an accuracy of less than 10% variation, which demonstrated the high reliability to design MAMuG accelerators and also multi-stage high voltage bushings.

Development of design technique for vacuum insulation in large size multi-aperture multi-grid accelerator for nuclear fusion

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

Kojima, A., E-mail: kojima.atsushi@jaea.go.jp; Hanada, M.; Tobari, H.

Design techniques for the vacuum insulation have been developed in order to realize a reliable voltage holding capability of multi-aperture multi-grid (MAMuG) accelerators for fusion application. In this method, the nested multi-stage configuration of the MAMuG accelerator can be uniquely designed to satisfy the target voltage within given boundary conditions. The evaluation of the voltage holding capabilities of each acceleration stages was based on the previous experimental results about the area effect and the multi-aperture effect. Since the multi-grid effect was found to be the extension of the area effect by the total facing area this time, the total voltagemore » holding capability of the multi-stage can be estimated from that per single stage by assuming the stage with the highest electric field, the total facing area, and the total apertures. By applying these consideration, the analysis on the 3-stage MAMuG accelerator for JT-60SA agreed well with the past gap-scan experiments with an accuracy of less than 10% variation, which demonstrated the high reliability to design MAMuG accelerators and also multi-stage high voltage bushings.« less

A Novel Particle Swarm Optimization Approach for Grid Job Scheduling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izakian, Hesam; Tork Ladani, Behrouz; Zamanifar, Kamran; Abraham, Ajith

This paper represents a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, for grid job scheduling. PSO is a population-based search algorithm based on the simulation of the social behavior of bird flocking and fish schooling. Particles fly in problem search space to find optimal or near-optimal solutions. In this paper we used a PSO approach for grid job scheduling. The scheduler aims at minimizing makespan and flowtime simultaneously. Experimental studies show that the proposed novel approach is more efficient than the PSO approach reported in the literature.

Intelligent automated surface grid generation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yao, Ke-Thia; Gelsey, Andrew

1995-01-01

The goal of our research is to produce a flexible, general grid generator for automated use by other programs, such as numerical optimizers. The current trend in the gridding field is toward interactive gridding. Interactive gridding more readily taps into the spatial reasoning abilities of the human user through the use of a graphical interface with a mouse. However, a sometimes fruitful approach to generating new designs is to apply an optimizer with shape modification operators to improve an initial design. In order for this approach to be useful, the optimizer must be able to automatically grid and evaluate the candidate designs. This paper describes and intelligent gridder that is capable of analyzing the topology of the spatial domain and predicting approximate physical behaviors based on the geometry of the spatial domain to automatically generate grids for computational fluid dynamics simulators. Typically gridding programs are given a partitioning of the spatial domain to assist the gridder. Our gridder is capable of performing this partitioning. This enables the gridder to automatically grid spatial domains of wide range of configurations.

Influence of model grid size on the simulation of PM2.5 and the related excess mortality in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goto, D.; Ueda, K.; Ng, C. F.; Takami, A.; Ariga, T.; Matsuhashi, K.; Nakajima, T.

2016-12-01

Aerosols, especially PM2.5, can affect air pollution, climate change, and human health. The estimation of health impacts due to PM2.5 is often performed using global and regional aerosol transport models with various horizontal resolutions. To investigate the dependence of the simulated PM2.5 on model grid sizes, we executed two simulations using a high-resolution model ( 10km; HRM) and a low-resolution model ( 100km; LRM, which is a typical value for general circulation models). In this study, we used a global-to-regional atmospheric transport model to simulate PM2.5 in Japan with a stretched grid system in HRM and a uniform grid system in LRM for the present (the 2000) and the future (the 2030, as proposed by the Representative Concentrations Pathway 4.5, RCP4.5). These calculations were performed by nudging meteorological fields obtained from an atmosphere-ocean coupled model and providing emission inventories used in the coupled model. After correcting for bias, we calculated the excess mortality due to long-term exposure to PM2.5 for the elderly. Results showed the LRM underestimated by approximately 30 % (of PM2.5 concentrations in the 2000 and 2030), approximately 60 % (excess mortality in the 2000) and approximately 90 % (excess mortality in 2030) compared to the HRM results. The estimation of excess mortality therefore performed better with high-resolution grid sizes. In addition, we also found that our nesting method could be a useful tool to obtain better estimation results.

Security architecture for health grid using ambient intelligence.

PubMed

Naqvi, S; Riguidel, M; Demeure, I

2005-01-01

To propose a novel approach of incorporating ambient intelligence in the health grid security architecture. Security concerns are severely impeding the grid community effort in spreading its wings in health applications. In this paper, we have proposed a high level approach to incorporate ambient intelligence for health grid security architecture and have argued that this will significantly improve the current state of the grid security paradigm with an enhanced user-friendly environment. We believe that the time is right to shift the onus of traditional security mechanisms onto the new technologies. The incorporation of ambient intelligence in the security architecture of a grid will not only render a security paradigm robust but also provide an attractive vision for the future of computing by bringing the two worlds together. In this article we propose an evolutionary approach of utilizing smart devices for grid security architecture. We argue that such an infrastructure will impart unique features to the existing grid security paradigms by offering fortified and relentless monitoring. This new security architecture will be comprehensive in nature but will not be cumbersome for the users due to its typical characteristics of not prying into their lives and adapting to their needs. We have identified a new paradigm of the security architecture for a health grid that will not only render a security mechanism robust but will also provide the high levels of user-friendliness. As our approach is a first contribution to this problem, a number of other issues for future research remain open. However, the prospects are fascinating.

A benders decomposition approach to multiarea stochastic distributed utility planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCusker, Susan Ann

Until recently, small, modular generation and storage options---distributed resources (DRs)---have been installed principally in areas too remote for economic power grid connection and sensitive applications requiring backup capacity. Recent regulatory changes and DR advances, however, have lead utilities to reconsider the role of DRs. To a utility facing distribution capacity bottlenecks or uncertain load growth, DRs can be particularly valuable since they can be dispersed throughout the system and constructed relatively quickly. DR value is determined by comparing its costs to avoided central generation expenses (i.e., marginal costs) and distribution investments. This requires a comprehensive central and local planning and production model, since central system marginal costs result from system interactions over space and time. This dissertation develops and applies an iterative generalized Benders decomposition approach to coordinate models for optimal DR evaluation. Three coordinated models exchange investment, net power demand, and avoided cost information to minimize overall expansion costs. Local investment and production decisions are made by a local mixed integer linear program. Central system investment decisions are made by a LP, and production costs are estimated by a stochastic multi-area production costing model with Kirchhoff's Voltage and Current Law constraints. The nested decomposition is a new and unique method for distributed utility planning that partitions the variables twice to separate local and central investment and production variables, and provides upper and lower bounds on expected expansion costs. Kirchhoff's Voltage Law imposes nonlinear, nonconvex constraints that preclude use of LP if transmission capacity is available in a looped transmission system. This dissertation develops KVL constraint approximations that permit the nested decomposition to consider new transmission resources, while maintaining linearity in the three individual models. These constraints are presented as a heuristic for the given examples; future research will investigate conditions for convergence. A ten-year multi-area example demonstrates the decomposition approach and suggests the ability of DRs and new transmission to modify capacity additions and production costs by changing demand and power flows. Results demonstrate that DR and new transmission options may lead to greater capacity additions, but resulting production cost savings more than offset extra capacity costs.

Influence of olfactory and visual cover on nest site selection and nest success for grassland-nesting birds.

PubMed

Fogarty, Dillon T; Elmore, R Dwayne; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D; Loss, Scott R

2017-08-01

Habitat selection by animals is influenced by and mitigates the effects of predation and environmental extremes. For birds, nest site selection is crucial to offspring production because nests are exposed to extreme weather and predation pressure. Predators that forage using olfaction often dominate nest predator communities; therefore, factors that influence olfactory detection (e.g., airflow and weather variables, including turbulence and moisture) should influence nest site selection and survival. However, few studies have assessed the importance of olfactory cover for habitat selection and survival. We assessed whether ground-nesting birds select nest sites based on visual and/or olfactory cover. Additionally, we assessed the importance of visual cover and airflow and weather variables associated with olfactory cover in influencing nest survival. In managed grasslands in Oklahoma, USA, we monitored nests of Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ), Eastern Meadowlark ( Sturnella magna ), and Grasshopper Sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ) during 2015 and 2016. To assess nest site selection, we compared cover variables between nests and random points. To assess factors influencing nest survival, we used visual cover and olfactory-related measurements (i.e., airflow and weather variables) to model daily nest survival. For nest site selection, nest sites had greater overhead visual cover than random points, but no other significant differences were found. Weather variables hypothesized to influence olfactory detection, specifically precipitation and relative humidity, were the best predictors of and were positively related to daily nest survival. Selection for overhead cover likely contributed to mitigation of thermal extremes and possibly reduced detectability of nests. For daily nest survival, we hypothesize that major nest predators focused on prey other than the monitored species' nests during high moisture conditions, thus increasing nest survival on these days. Our study highlights how mechanistic approaches to studying cover informs which dimensions are perceived and selected by animals and which dimensions confer fitness-related benefits.

The PRISM (Pliocene Palaeoclimate) reconstruction: Time for a paradigm shift

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dowsett, Harry J.; Robinson, Marci M.; Stoll, Danielle K.; Foley, Kevin M.; Johnson, Andrew L. A.; Williams, Mark; Riesselman, Christina

2013-01-01

Global palaeoclimate reconstructions have been invaluable to our understanding of the causes and effects of climate change, but single-temperature representations of the oceanic mixed layer for data–model comparisons are outdated, and the time for a paradigm shift in marine palaeoclimate reconstruction is overdue. The new paradigm in marine palaeoclimate reconstruction stems the loss of valuable climate information and instead presents a holistic and nuanced interpretation of multi-dimensional oceanographic processes and responses. A wealth of environmental information is hidden within the US Geological Survey's Pliocene Research,Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) marine palaeoclimate reconstruction, and we introduce here a plan to incorporate all valuable climate data into the next generation of PRISM products. Beyond the global approach and focus, we plan to incorporate regional climate dynamics with emphasis on processes, integrating multiple environmental proxies wherever available in order to better characterize the mixed layer, and developing a finer time slice within the Mid-Piacenzian Age of the Pliocene, complemented by underused proxies that offer snapshots into environmental conditions. The result will be a proxy-rich, temporally nested, process-oriented approach in a digital format - a relational database with geographic information system capabilities comprising a three-dimensional grid representing the surface layer, with a plethora of data in each cell.

Improvements in sub-grid, microphysics averages using quadrature based approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhary, K.; Debusschere, B.; Larson, V. E.

2013-12-01

Sub-grid variability in microphysical processes plays a critical role in atmospheric climate models. In order to account for this sub-grid variability, Larson and Schanen (2013) propose placing a probability density function on the sub-grid cloud microphysics quantities, e.g. autoconversion rate, essentially interpreting the cloud microphysics quantities as a random variable in each grid box. Random sampling techniques, e.g. Monte Carlo and Latin Hypercube, can be used to calculate statistics, e.g. averages, on the microphysics quantities, which then feed back into the model dynamics on the coarse scale. We propose an alternate approach using numerical quadrature methods based on deterministic sampling points to compute the statistical moments of microphysics quantities in each grid box. We have performed a preliminary test on the Kessler autoconversion formula, and, upon comparison with Latin Hypercube sampling, our approach shows an increased level of accuracy with a reduction in sample size by almost two orders of magnitude. Application to other microphysics processes is the subject of ongoing research.

Generating grids directly on CAD database surfaces using a parametric evaluator approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatzhe, Timothy D.; Melson, Thomas G.

1995-01-01

A very important, but often overlooked step in grid generation is acquiring a suitable geometry definition of the vehicle to be analyzed. In the past, geometry was usually obtained by generating a number of cross-sections of each component. A number of recent efforts have focussed on non-uniform rational B-spline surfaces (NURBS) to provide as single type of analytic surface to deal with inside the grid generator. This approach has required the development of tools to read other types of surfaces and convert them, either exactly or by approximation, into a NURBS surface. This paper describes a more generic parametric evaluator approach, which does not rely on a particular surface type internal to the grid generation system and is less restrictive in the number of surface types that can be represented exactly. This approach has been implemented in the McDonnell Douglas grid generation system, MACGS, and offers direct access to all types of surfaces from a Unigraphics part file.

A multi-resolution approach to electromagnetic modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherevatova, M.; Egbert, G. D.; Smirnov, M. Yu

2018-07-01

We present a multi-resolution approach for 3-D magnetotelluric forward modelling. Our approach is motivated by the fact that fine-grid resolution is typically required at shallow levels to adequately represent near surface inhomogeneities, topography and bathymetry, while a much coarser grid may be adequate at depth where the diffusively propagating electromagnetic fields are much smoother. With a conventional structured finite difference grid, the fine discretization required to adequately represent rapid variations near the surface is continued to all depths, resulting in higher computational costs. Increasing the computational efficiency of the forward modelling is especially important for solving regularized inversion problems. We implement a multi-resolution finite difference scheme that allows us to decrease the horizontal grid resolution with depth, as is done with vertical discretization. In our implementation, the multi-resolution grid is represented as a vertical stack of subgrids, with each subgrid being a standard Cartesian tensor product staggered grid. Thus, our approach is similar to the octree discretization previously used for electromagnetic modelling, but simpler in that we allow refinement only with depth. The major difficulty arose in deriving the forward modelling operators on interfaces between adjacent subgrids. We considered three ways of handling the interface layers and suggest a preferable one, which results in similar accuracy as the staggered grid solution, while retaining the symmetry of coefficient matrix. A comparison between multi-resolution and staggered solvers for various models shows that multi-resolution approach improves on computational efficiency without compromising the accuracy of the solution.

Terrestrial nest-building by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): implications for the tree-to-ground sleep transition in early hominins.

PubMed

Koops, Kathelijne; McGrew, William C; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Knapp, Leslie A

2012-07-01

Nest-building is a great ape universal and arboreal nesting in chimpanzees and bonobos suggests that the common ancestor of Pan and Homo also nested in trees. It has been proposed that arboreal nest-building remained the prevailing pattern until Homo erectus, a fully terrestrial biped, emerged. We investigated the unusual occurrence of ground-nesting in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), which may inform on factors influencing the tree-to-ground sleep transition in the hominin lineage. We used a novel genetic approach to examine ground-nesting in unhabituated chimpanzees at Seringbara in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea. Previous research showed that ground-nesting at Seringbara was not ecologically determined. Here, we tested a possible mate-guarding function of ground-nesting by analyzing DNA from shed hairs collected from ground nests and tree nests found in close proximity. We examined whether or not ground-nesting was a group-level behavioral pattern and whether or not it occurred in more than one community. We used multiple genetic markers to identify sex and to examine variation in mitochondrial DNA control region (HV1, HV2) sequences. Ground-nesting was a male-biased behavior and males constructed more elaborate ("night") nests than simple ("day") nests on the ground. The mate-guarding hypothesis was not supported, as ground and associated tree nests were built either by maternally-related males or possibly by the same individuals. Ground-nesting was widespread and likely habitual in two communities. We suggest that terrestrial nest-building may have already occurred in arboreally-adapted early hominins before the emergence of H. erectus. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Potential Influences of Climate and Nest Structure on Spotted Owl Reproductive Success: A Biophysical Approach

PubMed Central

Rockweit, Jeremy T.; Franklin, Alan B.; Bakken, George S.; Gutiérrez, R. J.

2012-01-01

Many bird species do not make their own nests; therefore, selection of existing sites that provide adequate microclimates is critical. This is particularly true for owls in north temperate climates that often nest early in the year when inclement weather is common. Spotted owls use three main types of nest structures, each of which are structurally distinct and may provide varying levels of protection to the eggs or young. We tested the hypothesis that spotted owl nest configuration influences nest microclimate using both experimental and observational data. We used a wind tunnel to estimate the convective heat transfer coefficient (hc) of eggs in 25 potential nest configurations that mimicked 2 nest types (top-cavity and platform nests), at 3 different wind speeds. We then used the estimates of hc in a biophysical heat transfer model to estimate how long it would take unattended eggs to cool from incubation temperature (∼36°C) to physiological zero temperature (PZT; ∼26°C) under natural environmental conditions. Our results indicated that the structural configuration of nests influences the cooling time of the eggs inside those nests, and hence, influences the nest microclimate. Estimates of time to PZT ranged from 10.6 minutes to 33.3 minutes. Nest configurations that were most similar to platform nests always had the fastest egg cooling times, suggesting that platform nests were the least protective of those nests we tested. Our field data coupled with our experimental results suggested that nest choice is important for the reproductive success of owls during years of inclement weather or in regions characterized by inclement weather during the nesting season. PMID:22859993

Inter-seasonal maintenance of individual nest site preferences in hawksbill sea turtles.

PubMed

Kamel, Stephanie J; Mrosovsky, N

2006-11-01

Within a single population of hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), we found a behavioral polymorphism for maternal nest site choice with respect to beach microhabitat characteristics. Some females preferred to nest in littoral forest and in places with overstory vegetation cover, and others preferred to nest in more open, deforested areas. Nest site choice was consistent within and between nesting seasons two years apart. This was not a result of females simply returning to the same location along the shoreline; beach sections used by individual turtles varied between seasons. Nest site choice was not influenced by changes in beach environment (e.g., beach width and foliage cover) or by changes in females' reproductive output (e.g., clutch size), suggesting that fidelity to particular microhabitats is a major determinant of the observed nesting patterns. Because hawksbills exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, if the behavioral polymorphism in nest site choice has a genetic basis, as is plausible, then this would have implications for sex ratio evolution and offspring survival. By taking an individual-based approach to the study of maternal behavior we reveal previously overlooked individual variation and hope to provide some impetus for more detailed studies of nest site choice.

A mixed volume grid approach for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coirier, William J.; Jorgenson, Philip C. E.

1996-01-01

An approach for solving the compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations upon meshes composed of nearly arbitrary polyhedra is described. Each polyhedron is constructed from an arbitrary number of triangular and quadrilateral face elements, allowing the unified treatment of tetrahedral, prismatic, pyramidal, and hexahedral cells, as well the general cut cells produced by Cartesian mesh approaches. The basics behind the numerical approach and the resulting data structures are described. The accuracy of the mixed volume grid approach is assessed by performing a grid refinement study upon a series of hexahedral, tetrahedral, prismatic, and Cartesian meshes for an analytic inviscid problem. A series of laminar validation cases are made, comparing the results upon differing grid topologies to each other, to theory, and experimental data. A computation upon a prismatic/tetrahedral mesh is made simulating the laminar flow over a wall/cylinder combination.

Benefits Analysis of Smart Grid Projects. White paper, 2014-2016

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

Marnay, Chris; Liu, Liping; Yu, JianCheng

Smart grids are rolling out internationally, with the United States (U.S.) nearing completion of a significant USD4-plus-billion federal program funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA-2009). The emergence of smart grids is widespread across developed countries. Multiple approaches to analyzing the benefits of smart grids have emerged. The goals of this white paper are to review these approaches and analyze examples of each to highlight their differences, advantages, and disadvantages. This work was conducted under the auspices of a joint U.S.-China research effort, the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) Implementation Plan, Smart Grid. We present comparative benefits assessmentsmore » (BAs) of smart grid demonstrations in the U.S. and China along with a BA of a pilot project in Europe. In the U.S., we assess projects at two sites: (1) the University of California, Irvine campus (UCI), which consists of two distinct demonstrations: Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration Project (ISGD) and the UCI campus itself; and (2) the Navy Yard (TNY) area in Philadelphia, which has been repurposed as a mixed commercial-industrial, and possibly residential, development. In China, we cover several smart-grid aspects of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (TEC) and the Shenzhen Bay Technology and Ecology City (B-TEC). In Europe, we look at a BA of a pilot smart grid project in the Malagrotta area west of Rome, Italy, contributed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The Irvine sub-project BAs use the U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) Smart Grid Computational Tool (SGCT), which is built on methods developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The TEC sub-project BAs apply Smart Grid Multi-Criteria Analysis (SG-MCA) developed by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with fuzzy logic. The B-TEC and TNY sub-project BAs are evaluated using new approaches developed by those project teams. JRC has adopted an approach similar to EPRI’s but tailored to the Malagrotta distribution grid.« less

Contrasting nest survival patterns for ducks and songbirds in northern mixed-grass prairie

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grant, Todd; Shaffer, Terry L.; Madden, Elizabeth M.; Nenneman, Melvin P.

2017-01-01

Management actions intended to protect or improve habitat for ducks may benefit grassland-nesting passerines, but scant information is available to explore this assumption. During 1998–2003, we examined nest survival of ducks and songbirds to determine whether effects of prescribed fire and other habitat features (e.g., shrub cover and distance to habitat edges) were similar for ducks and passerines breeding in North Dakota. We used the logistic-exposure method to estimate survival of duck and songbird nests (n = 3,171). We used an information-theoretic approach to identify factors that most influenced nest survival. Patterns of nest survival were markedly different between taxonomic groups. For ducks, nest survival was greater during the first postfire nesting season (daily survival rate [DSR] = 0.957, 85% CI = 0.951–0.963), relative to later postfire nesting seasons (DSR = 0.946, 85% CI = 0.942–0.950). Furthermore duck nest survival and nest densities were inversely related. Duck nest survival also was greater as shrub cover decreased and as distance from cropland and wetland edges increased. Passerines had lower nest survival during the first postfire nesting season (DSR = 0.934, 85% CI = 0.924–0.944), when densities also were low compared to subsequent postfire nesting seasons (DSR = 0.947, 85% CI = 0.944–0.950). Parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) reduced passerine nest survival and this effect was more pronounced during the first postfire nesting season compared to subsequent nesting seasons. Passerine nest survival was greater as shrub cover decreased and perhaps for more concealed nests. Duck and songbird nest survival rates were not correlated during this study and for associated studies that examined additional variables using the same dataset, suggesting that different mechanisms influenced their survival. Based on our results, ducks should not be considered direct surrogates for passerines when predicting effects of prescribed fire, shrub cover, and habitat edges on nest survival.

High-field superconducting nested coil magnet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laverick, C.; Lobell, G. M.

1970-01-01

Superconducting magnet, employed in conjunction with five types of superconducting cables in a nested solenoid configuration, produces total, central magnetic field strengths approaching 70 kG. The multiple coils permit maximum information on cable characteristics to be gathered from one test.

Comparison of statistical sampling methods with ScannerBit, the GAMBIT scanning module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, Gregory D.; McKay, James; Farmer, Ben; Scott, Pat; Roebber, Elinore; Putze, Antje; Conrad, Jan

2017-11-01

We introduce ScannerBit, the statistics and sampling module of the public, open-source global fitting framework GAMBIT. ScannerBit provides a standardised interface to different sampling algorithms, enabling the use and comparison of multiple computational methods for inferring profile likelihoods, Bayesian posteriors, and other statistical quantities. The current version offers random, grid, raster, nested sampling, differential evolution, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and ensemble Monte Carlo samplers. We also announce the release of a new standalone differential evolution sampler, Diver, and describe its design, usage and interface to ScannerBit. We subject Diver and three other samplers (the nested sampler MultiNest, the MCMC GreAT, and the native ScannerBit implementation of the ensemble Monte Carlo algorithm T-Walk) to a battery of statistical tests. For this we use a realistic physical likelihood function, based on the scalar singlet model of dark matter. We examine the performance of each sampler as a function of its adjustable settings, and the dimensionality of the sampling problem. We evaluate performance on four metrics: optimality of the best fit found, completeness in exploring the best-fit region, number of likelihood evaluations, and total runtime. For Bayesian posterior estimation at high resolution, T-Walk provides the most accurate and timely mapping of the full parameter space. For profile likelihood analysis in less than about ten dimensions, we find that Diver and MultiNest score similarly in terms of best fit and speed, outperforming GreAT and T-Walk; in ten or more dimensions, Diver substantially outperforms the other three samplers on all metrics.

TIGGERC: Turbomachinery Interactive Grid Generator for 2-D Grid Applications and Users Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, David P.

1994-01-01

A two-dimensional multi-block grid generator has been developed for a new design and analysis system for studying multiple blade-row turbomachinery problems. TIGGERC is a mouse driven, interactive grid generation program which can be used to modify boundary coordinates and grid packing and generates surface grids using a hyperbolic tangent or algebraic distribution of grid points on the block boundaries. The interior points of each block grid are distributed using a transfinite interpolation approach. TIGGERC can generate a blocked axisymmetric H-grid, C-grid, I-grid or O-grid for studying turbomachinery flow problems. TIGGERC was developed for operation on Silicon Graphics workstations. Detailed discussion of the grid generation methodology, menu options, operational features and sample grid geometries are presented.

Decoration Increases the Conspicuousness of Raptor Nests

PubMed Central

Canal, David; Mulero-Pázmány, Margarita; Negro, Juan José; Sergio, Fabrizio

2016-01-01

Avian nests are frequently concealed or camouflaged, but a number of species builds noticeable nests or use conspicuous materials for nest decoration. In most cases, nest decoration has a role in mate choice or provides thermoregulatory or antiparasitic benefits. In territorial species however, decorations may serve additional or complementary functions, such as extended phenotypic signaling of nest-site occupancy and social status to potential intruders. The latter may benefit both signaler and receiver by minimizing the risk of aggressive interactions, especially in organisms with dangerous weaponry. Support for this hypothesis was recently found in a population of black kites (Milvus migrans), a territorial raptor that decorates its nest with white artificial materials. However, the crucial assumption that nest decorations increased nest-site visibility to conspecifics was not assessed, a key aspect given that black kite nests may be well concealed within the canopy. Here, we used an unmanned aircraft system to take pictures of black kite nests, with and without an experimentally placed decoration, from different altitudes and distances simulating the perspective of a flying and approaching, prospecting intruder. The pictures were shown to human volunteers through a standardized routine to determine whether detection rates varied according the nest decoration status and distance. Decorated nests consistently showed a higher detection frequency and a lower detection-latency, compared to undecorated versions of the same nests. Our results confirm that nest decoration in this species may act as a signaling medium that enhances nest visibility for aerial receivers, even at large distances. This finding complements previous work on this communication system, which showed that nest decoration was a threat informing trespassing conspecifics on the social dominance, territory quality and fighting capabilities of the signaler. PMID:27455066

Decoration Increases the Conspicuousness of Raptor Nests.

PubMed

Canal, David; Mulero-Pázmány, Margarita; Negro, Juan José; Sergio, Fabrizio

2016-01-01

Avian nests are frequently concealed or camouflaged, but a number of species builds noticeable nests or use conspicuous materials for nest decoration. In most cases, nest decoration has a role in mate choice or provides thermoregulatory or antiparasitic benefits. In territorial species however, decorations may serve additional or complementary functions, such as extended phenotypic signaling of nest-site occupancy and social status to potential intruders. The latter may benefit both signaler and receiver by minimizing the risk of aggressive interactions, especially in organisms with dangerous weaponry. Support for this hypothesis was recently found in a population of black kites (Milvus migrans), a territorial raptor that decorates its nest with white artificial materials. However, the crucial assumption that nest decorations increased nest-site visibility to conspecifics was not assessed, a key aspect given that black kite nests may be well concealed within the canopy. Here, we used an unmanned aircraft system to take pictures of black kite nests, with and without an experimentally placed decoration, from different altitudes and distances simulating the perspective of a flying and approaching, prospecting intruder. The pictures were shown to human volunteers through a standardized routine to determine whether detection rates varied according the nest decoration status and distance. Decorated nests consistently showed a higher detection frequency and a lower detection-latency, compared to undecorated versions of the same nests. Our results confirm that nest decoration in this species may act as a signaling medium that enhances nest visibility for aerial receivers, even at large distances. This finding complements previous work on this communication system, which showed that nest decoration was a threat informing trespassing conspecifics on the social dominance, territory quality and fighting capabilities of the signaler.

Time-Dependent Simulation of Incompressible Flow in a Turbopump Using Overset Grid Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin; Kwak, Dochan

2001-01-01

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete unsteady turbopump simulation capability by using overset grid systems. A computational model of a turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI, hybrid MPI/Open-MP, and MLP versions of the INS3D code. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for a turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.3 Million grid points, are performed on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. The approach taken for these simulations, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code are presented.

A tableau approach of the KSS nest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Wenjuan; Qiu, Weiyuan; Roesch, Pascale; Tan, Lei; Yin, Yongcheng

The KSS nest is a sophisticated choice of puzzle pieces given in [Ann. of Math. 165 (2007), 749-841]. This nest, once combined with the KL-Lemma, has proven to be a powerful machinery, leading to several important advancements in the field of holomorphic dynamics. We give here a presentation of the KSS nest in terms of tableau. This is an effective language invented by Branner and Hubbard to deal with the complexity of the dynamics of puzzle pieces. We show, in a typical situation, how to make the combination between the KSS nest and the KL-Lemma. One consequence of this is the recently proved Branner-Hubbard conjecture. Our estimates here can be used to give an alternative proof of the rigidity property.

Nest survival of American Coots relative to grazing, burning, and water depths

USGS Publications Warehouse

Austin, Jane E.; Buhl, Deborah A.

2011-01-01

Water and emergent vegetation are key features influencing nest site selection and success for many marsh-nesting waterbirds. Wetland management practices such as grazing, burning, and water-level manipulations directly affect these features and can influence nest survival. We used model selection and before-after-control-impact approaches to evaluate the effects of water depth and four common land-management practices or treatments, i.e., summer grazing, fall grazing, fall burning, and idle (no active treatment) on nest survival of American coots (Fulica americana) nesting at Grays Lake, a large montane wetland in southeast Idaho. The best model included the variables year × treatment, and quadratic functions of date, water depth, and nest age; height of vegetation at the nest did not improve the best model. However, results from the before-after-control-impact analysis indicate that management practices affected nest success via vegetation and involved interactions of hydrology, residual vegetation, and habitat composition. Nest success in idled fields changed little between pre- and post-treatment periods, whereas nest success declined in fields that were grazed or burned, with the most dramatic declines the year following treatments. The importance of water depth may be amplified in this wetland system because of rapid water-level withdrawal during the nesting season. Water and land-use values for area ranchers, management for nesting waterbirds, and long-term wetland function are important considerations in management of water levels and vegetation.

A high resolution WRF model for wind energy forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vincent, Claire Louise; Liu, Yubao

2010-05-01

The increasing penetration of wind energy into national electricity markets has increased the demand for accurate surface layer wind forecasts. There has recently been a focus on forecasting the wind at wind farm sites using both statistical models and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Recent advances in computing capacity and non-hydrostatic NWP models means that it is possible to nest mesoscale models down to Large Eddy Simulation (LES) scales over the spatial area of a typical wind farm. For example, the WRF model (Skamarock 2008) has been run at a resolution of 123 m over a wind farm site in complex terrain in Colorado (Liu et al. 2009). Although these modelling attempts indicate a great hope for applying such models for detailed wind forecasts over wind farms, one of the obvious challenges of running the model at this resolution is that while some boundary layer structures are expected to be modelled explicitly, boundary layer eddies into the inertial sub-range can only be partly captured. Therefore, the amount and nature of sub-grid-scale mixing that is required is uncertain. Analysis of Liu et al. (2009) modelling results in comparison to wind farm observations indicates that unrealistic wind speed fluctuations with a period of around 1 hour occasionally occurred during the two day modelling period. The problem was addressed by re-running the same modelling system with a) a modified diffusion constant and b) two-way nesting between the high resolution model and its parent domain. The model, which was run with horizontal grid spacing of 370 m, had dimensions of 505 grid points in the east-west direction and 490 points in the north-south direction. It received boundary conditions from a mesoscale model of resolution 1111 m. Both models had 37 levels in the vertical. The mesoscale model was run with a non-local-mixing planetary boundary layer scheme, while the 370 m model was run with no planetary boundary layer scheme. It was found that increasing the diffusion constant caused damping of the unrealistic fluctuations, but did not completely solve the problem. Using two-way nesting also mitigated the unrealistic fluctuations significantly. It can be concluded that for real case LES modelling of wind farm circulations, care should be taken to ensure the consistency between the mesoscale weather forcing and LES models to avoid exciting spurious noise along the forcing boundary. The development of algorithms that adequately model the sub-grid-scale mixing that cannot be resolved by LES models is an important area for further research. References Liu, Y. Y._W. Liu, W. Y.Y. Cheng, W. Wu, T. T. Warner and K. Parks, 2009: Simulating intra-farm wind variations with the WRF-RTFDDA-LES modeling system. 10th WRF Users' Workshop, Boulder, C, USA. June 23 - 26, 2009. Skamarock, W., J. Dudhia, D.O. Gill, D.M. Barker, M.G.Duda, X-Y. Huang, W. Wang and J.G. Powers, A Description of the Advanced Research WRF version 3, NCAR Technical Note TN-475+STR, NCAR, Boulder, Colorado, 2008.

Nested PCR Biases in Interpreting Microbial Community Structure in 16S rRNA Gene Sequence Datasets

PubMed Central

Yu, Guoqin; Fadrosh, Doug; Goedert, James J.; Ravel, Jacques; Goldstein, Alisa M.

2015-01-01

Background Sequencing of the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene has become a common approach to microbial community investigations in the fields of human health and environmental sciences. This approach, however, is difficult when the amount of DNA is too low to be amplified by standard PCR. Nested PCR can be employed as it can amplify samples with DNA concentration several-fold lower than standard PCR. However, potential biases with nested PCRs that could affect measurement of community structure have received little attention. Results In this study, we used 17 DNAs extracted from vaginal swabs and 12 DNAs extracted from stool samples to study the influence of nested PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene on the estimation of microbial community structure using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Nested and standard PCR methods were compared on alpha- and beta-diversity metrics and relative abundances of bacterial genera. The effects of number of cycles in the first round of PCR (10 vs. 20) and microbial diversity (relatively low in vagina vs. high in stool) were also investigated. Vaginal swab samples showed no significant difference in alpha diversity or community structure between nested PCR and standard PCR (one round of 40 cycles). Stool samples showed significant differences in alpha diversity (except Shannon’s index) and relative abundance of 13 genera between nested PCR with 20 cycles in the first round and standard PCR (P<0.01), but not between nested PCR with 10 cycles in the first round and standard PCR. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that had low relative abundance (sum of relative abundance <0.167) accounted for most of the distortion (>27% of total OTUs in stool). Conclusions Nested PCR introduced bias in estimated diversity and community structure. The bias was more significant for communities with relatively higher diversity and when more cycles were applied in the first round of PCR. We conclude that nested PCR could be used when standard PCR does not work. However, rare taxa detected by nested PCR should be validated by other technologies. PMID:26196512

Nested PCR Biases in Interpreting Microbial Community Structure in 16S rRNA Gene Sequence Datasets.

PubMed

Yu, Guoqin; Fadrosh, Doug; Goedert, James J; Ravel, Jacques; Goldstein, Alisa M

2015-01-01

Sequencing of the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene has become a common approach to microbial community investigations in the fields of human health and environmental sciences. This approach, however, is difficult when the amount of DNA is too low to be amplified by standard PCR. Nested PCR can be employed as it can amplify samples with DNA concentration several-fold lower than standard PCR. However, potential biases with nested PCRs that could affect measurement of community structure have received little attention. In this study, we used 17 DNAs extracted from vaginal swabs and 12 DNAs extracted from stool samples to study the influence of nested PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene on the estimation of microbial community structure using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Nested and standard PCR methods were compared on alpha- and beta-diversity metrics and relative abundances of bacterial genera. The effects of number of cycles in the first round of PCR (10 vs. 20) and microbial diversity (relatively low in vagina vs. high in stool) were also investigated. Vaginal swab samples showed no significant difference in alpha diversity or community structure between nested PCR and standard PCR (one round of 40 cycles). Stool samples showed significant differences in alpha diversity (except Shannon's index) and relative abundance of 13 genera between nested PCR with 20 cycles in the first round and standard PCR (P<0.01), but not between nested PCR with 10 cycles in the first round and standard PCR. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that had low relative abundance (sum of relative abundance <0.167) accounted for most of the distortion (>27% of total OTUs in stool). Nested PCR introduced bias in estimated diversity and community structure. The bias was more significant for communities with relatively higher diversity and when more cycles were applied in the first round of PCR. We conclude that nested PCR could be used when standard PCR does not work. However, rare taxa detected by nested PCR should be validated by other technologies.

Hybrid Grid and Basis Set Approach to Quantum Chemistry DMRG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoudenmire, Edwin Miles; White, Steven

We present a new approach for using DMRG for quantum chemistry that combines the advantages of a basis set with that of a grid approximation. Because DMRG scales linearly for quasi-one-dimensional systems, it is feasible to approximate the continuum with a fine grid in one direction while using a standard basis set approach for the transverse directions. Compared to standard basis set methods, we reach larger systems and achieve better scaling when approaching the basis set limit. The flexibility and reduced costs of our approach even make it feasible to incoporate advanced DMRG techniques such as simulating real-time dynamics. Supported by the Simons Collaboration on the Many-Electron Problem.

Advanced techniques for modeling avian nest survival

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dinsmore, S.J.; White, Gary C.; Knopf, F.L.

2002-01-01

Estimation of avian nest survival has traditionally involved simple measures of apparent nest survival or Mayfield constant-nest-survival models. However, these methods do not allow researchers to build models that rigorously assess the importance of a wide range of biological factors that affect nest survival. Models that incorporate greater detail, such as temporal variation in nest survival and covariates representative of individual nests represent a substantial improvement over traditional estimation methods. In an attempt to improve nest survival estimation procedures, we introduce the nest survival model now available in the program MARK and demonstrate its use on a nesting study of Mountain Plovers (Charadrius montanus Townsend) in Montana, USA. We modeled the daily survival of Mountain Plover nests as a function of the sex of the incubating adult, nest age, year, linear and quadratic time trends, and two weather covariates (maximum daily temperature and daily precipitation) during a six-year study (1995–2000). We found no evidence for yearly differences or an effect of maximum daily temperature on the daily nest survival of Mountain Plovers. Survival rates of nests tended by female and male plovers differed (female rate = 0.33; male rate = 0.49). The estimate of the additive effect for males on nest survival rate was 0.37 (95% confidence limits were 0.03, 0.71) on a logit scale. Daily survival rates of nests increased with nest age; the estimate of daily nest-age change in survival in the best model was 0.06 (95% confidence limits were 0.04, 0.09) on a logit scale. Daily precipitation decreased the probability that the nest would survive to the next day; the estimate of the additive effect of daily precipitation on the nest survival rate was −1.08 (95% confidence limits were −2.12, −0.13) on a logit scale. Our approach to modeling daily nest-survival rates allowed several biological factors of interest to be easily included in nest survival models and allowed us to generate more biologically meaningful estimates of nest survival.

A multiscale analysis of nest predation on Least Bell's Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kus, Barbara E.; Peterson, Bonnie L.; Deutschman, Douglas H.

2008-01-01

We examined variables influencing nest predation on the endangered Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) at three spatial scales to determine what nest-site, habitat, or landscape characteristics affect the likelihood of nest predation and to determine the spatial distribution of predation risk and the variables influencing it. We used MARK to calculate daily survival rates of Least Bell's Vireo nests and applied an information-theoretic approach to evaluate support for logistic regression models of the effect of habitat variables on predation risk. Analysis of data for 195 nests collected during 1999 and 2000 at the San Luis Rey River and Pilgrim Creek in southern California revealed no effect of fine-scale factors, including nest height, supporting plant species, and three measures of nest concealment, on the likelihood of predation. At the intermediate scale, distances to the riparian-habitat edge and to internal gaps in the canopy were unrelated to nest survival. Surrounding land-use type was a poor predictor of predation risk, with the exception of proximity to golf course–park habitat and wetland. Nests within 400 m of golf course–park were only 20% as likely to avoid predation as nests >400 m from this habitat, and nests near wetland were more than twice as likely to survive as nests distant from wetland. Spatially, predation appeared to be random throughout the site, with localized clustering evident in the vicinity of golf course–park and wetland. Our results suggest that the landscape may be the most appropriate scale at which to manage nest predation in this system.

DRAGON Grid: A Three-Dimensional Hybrid Grid Generation Code Developed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liou, Meng-Sing

2000-01-01

Because grid generation can consume 70 percent of the total analysis time for a typical three-dimensional viscous flow simulation for a practical engineering device, payoffs from research and development could reduce costs and increase throughputs considerably. In this study, researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field developed a new hybrid grid approach with the advantages of flexibility, high-quality grids suitable for an accurate resolution of viscous regions, and a low memory requirement. These advantages will, in turn, reduce analysis time and increase accuracy. They result from an innovative combination of structured and unstructured grids to represent the geometry and the computation domain. The present approach makes use of the respective strengths of both the structured and unstructured grid methods, while minimizing their weaknesses. First, the Chimera grid generates high-quality, mostly orthogonal meshes around individual components. This process is flexible and can be done easily. Normally, these individual grids are required overlap each other so that the solution on one grid can communicate with another. However, when this communication is carried out via a nonconservative interpolation procedure, a spurious solution can result. Current research is aimed at entirely eliminating this undesired interpolation by directly replacing arbitrary grid overlapping with a nonstructured grid called a DRAGON grid, which uses the same set of conservation laws over the entire region, thus ensuring conservation everywhere. The DRAGON grid is shown for a typical film-cooled turbine vane with 33 holes and 3 plenum compartments. There are structured grids around each geometrical entity and unstructured grids connecting them. In fiscal year 1999, Glenn researchers developed and tested the three-dimensional DRAGON grid-generation tools. A flow solver suitable for the DRAGON grid has been developed, and a series of validation tests are underway.

Embolectomy of a Bird's Nest Vena Caval Filter.

PubMed

Chitwood, W R; Chiang, K S; Williams, J M; Zeri, R S; Semer, D A

1994-12-01

In this case report we describe a successful embolectomy of a partially migrated Bird's Nest Caval Filter with attached embolic material. We used transesophageal echocardiography to guide the surgical approach. The patient recovered uneventfully from both the embolectomy and the subsequent pelvic operation.

[Application of nested case-control study on safe evaluation of post-marketing traditional Chinese medicine injection].

PubMed

Xiao, Ying; Zhao, Yubin; Xie, Yanming

2011-10-01

The nested case-control study design (or the case-control in a cohort study) is described here as a new study design used in safe evaluation of post-marketing traditional Chinese medicine injection. In the nested case-control study, cases of a disease that occur in a defined cohort are identified and, for each, a specified number of matched controls is selected from among those in the cohort who have not developed the disease by the time of disease occurrence in the case. For many research questions, the nested case-control design potentially offers impressive reductions in costs and efforts of data collection and analysis compared with the full cohort approach, with relatively minor loss in statistical efficiency. The nested case-control design is particularly advantageous for studies in safe evaluation of post-marketing traditional Chinese medicine injection. Some examples of the application of nested case-control study were given.

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

Shaunak, S.K.; Soni, B.K.

With research interests shifting away from primarily military or industrial applications to more environmental applications, the area of ocean modelling has become an increasingly popular and exciting area of research. This paper presents a CIPS (Computation Field Simulation) system customized for the solution of oceanographic problems. This system deals primarily with the generation of simple, yet efficient grids for coastal areas. The two primary grid approaches are both structured in methodology. The first approach is a standard approach which is used in such popular grid generation softwares as GE-NIE++, EAGLEVIEW, and TIGER, where the user defines boundaries via points, lines,more » or curves, varies the distribution of points along these boundaries and then creates the interior grid. The second approach is to allow the user to interactively select points on the screen to form the boundary curves and then create the interior grid from these spline curves. The program has been designed with the needs of the ocean modeller in mind so that the modeller can obtain results in a timely yet elegant manner. The modeller performs four basic steps in using the program. First, he selects a region of interest from a popular database. Then, he creates a grid for that region. Next, he sets up boundary and input conditions and runs a circulation model. Finally, the modeller visualizes the output.« less

Response of beach-nesting American Oystercatchers to off-road vehicles: An experimental approach reveals physiological nuances and decreased nest attendance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Felton, Shilo K.; Pollock, Kenneth H.; Simons, Theodore R.

2018-01-01

Shorebird populations face increasing challenges as rising sea levels and growing human populations constrain their breeding habitats. On recreational beaches, the nesting season often coincides with a season of high visitor use, increasing the potential for conflict, which may negatively influence beach-nesting shorebird species. We designed a field experiment to study the responses of nesting American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) to off-road passenger vehicles (ORVs) at Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores in North Carolina, USA. We used continuous video and heart rate recordings to assess changes in the behavior and physiology of incubating oystercatchers. We conducted driving experiments affecting 7 nesting pairs in 2014 and 19 nesting pairs in 2015, between April and July of each year. Experimental treatments were repeated throughout the incubation period for each nest. Although responses were highly variable within and among pairs, paired randomized permutation tests indicated that, overall, oystercatcher pairs spent a greater proportion of time with their heads up and exhibited slower heart rates during driving treatments. Pairs also left their nests more frequently and attended their nests for a lower proportion of time during driving treatments, although these responses diminished over time. Higher nest attendance and lower departure rates late in incubation may have reflected a stronger attachment to nests closer to hatching or habituation to the driving treatment, although individuals continued to exhibit physiological responses to passing vehicles throughout incubation. Beach-nesting birds may benefit from reduced vehicle traffic at their nesting sites, allowing parents to spend more time attending the nest and less time on defensive behaviors.

Assessing species distribution using Google Street View: a pilot study with the Pine Processionary Moth.

PubMed

Rousselet, Jérôme; Imbert, Charles-Edouard; Dekri, Anissa; Garcia, Jacques; Goussard, Francis; Vincent, Bruno; Denux, Olivier; Robinet, Christelle; Dorkeld, Franck; Roques, Alain; Rossi, Jean-Pierre

2013-01-01

Mapping species spatial distribution using spatial inference and prediction requires a lot of data. Occurrence data are generally not easily available from the literature and are very time-consuming to collect in the field. For that reason, we designed a survey to explore to which extent large-scale databases such as Google maps and Google Street View could be used to derive valid occurrence data. We worked with the Pine Processionary Moth (PPM) Thaumetopoea pityocampa because the larvae of that moth build silk nests that are easily visible. The presence of the species at one location can therefore be inferred from visual records derived from the panoramic views available from Google Street View. We designed a standardized procedure allowing evaluating the presence of the PPM on a sampling grid covering the landscape under study. The outputs were compared to field data. We investigated two landscapes using grids of different extent and mesh size. Data derived from Google Street View were highly similar to field data in the large-scale analysis based on a square grid with a mesh of 16 km (96% of matching records). Using a 2 km mesh size led to a strong divergence between field and Google-derived data (46% of matching records). We conclude that Google database might provide useful occurrence data for mapping the distribution of species which presence can be visually evaluated such as the PPM. However, the accuracy of the output strongly depends on the spatial scales considered and on the sampling grid used. Other factors such as the coverage of Google Street View network with regards to sampling grid size and the spatial distribution of host trees with regards to road network may also be determinant.

Spatiotemporal Variability of Turbulence Kinetic Energy Budgets in the Convective Boundary Layer over Both Simple and Complex Terrain

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

Rai, Raj K.; Berg, Larry K.; Pekour, Mikhail

The assumption of sub-grid scale (SGS) horizontal homogeneity within a model grid cell, which forms the basis of SGS turbulence closures used by mesoscale models, becomes increasingly tenuous as grid spacing is reduced to a few kilometers or less, such as in many emerging high-resolution applications. Herein, we use the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) budget equation to study the spatio-temporal variability in two types of terrain—complex (Columbia Basin Wind Energy Study [CBWES] site, north-eastern Oregon) and flat (ScaledWind Farm Technologies [SWiFT] site, west Texas) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. In each case six-nested domains (three domains eachmore » for mesoscale and large-eddy simulation [LES]) are used to downscale the horizontal grid spacing from 10 km to 10 m using the WRF model framework. The model output was used to calculate the values of the TKE budget terms in vertical and horizontal planes as well as the averages of grid cells contained in the four quadrants (a quarter area) of the LES domain. The budget terms calculated along the planes and the mean profile of budget terms show larger spatial variability at CBWES site than at the SWiFT site. The contribution of the horizontal derivative of the shear production term to the total production shear was found to be 45% and 15% of the total shear, at the CBWES and SWiFT sites, respectively, indicating that the horizontal derivatives applied in the budget equation should not be ignored in mesoscale model parameterizations, especially for cases with complex terrain with <10 km scale.« less

Assessing Species Distribution Using Google Street View: A Pilot Study with the Pine Processionary Moth

PubMed Central

Dekri, Anissa; Garcia, Jacques; Goussard, Francis; Vincent, Bruno; Denux, Olivier; Robinet, Christelle; Dorkeld, Franck; Roques, Alain; Rossi, Jean-Pierre

2013-01-01

Mapping species spatial distribution using spatial inference and prediction requires a lot of data. Occurrence data are generally not easily available from the literature and are very time-consuming to collect in the field. For that reason, we designed a survey to explore to which extent large-scale databases such as Google maps and Google street view could be used to derive valid occurrence data. We worked with the Pine Processionary Moth (PPM) Thaumetopoea pityocampa because the larvae of that moth build silk nests that are easily visible. The presence of the species at one location can therefore be inferred from visual records derived from the panoramic views available from Google street view. We designed a standardized procedure allowing evaluating the presence of the PPM on a sampling grid covering the landscape under study. The outputs were compared to field data. We investigated two landscapes using grids of different extent and mesh size. Data derived from Google street view were highly similar to field data in the large-scale analysis based on a square grid with a mesh of 16 km (96% of matching records). Using a 2 km mesh size led to a strong divergence between field and Google-derived data (46% of matching records). We conclude that Google database might provide useful occurrence data for mapping the distribution of species which presence can be visually evaluated such as the PPM. However, the accuracy of the output strongly depends on the spatial scales considered and on the sampling grid used. Other factors such as the coverage of Google street view network with regards to sampling grid size and the spatial distribution of host trees with regards to road network may also be determinant. PMID:24130675

The dependability of medical students' performance ratings as documented on in-training evaluations.

PubMed

van Barneveld, Christina

2005-03-01

To demonstrate an approach to obtain an unbiased estimate of the dependability of students' performance ratings during training, when the data-collection design includes nesting of student in rater, unbalanced nest sizes, and dependent observations. In 2003, two variance components analyses of in-training evaluation (ITE) report data were conducted using urGENOVA software. In the first analysis, the dependability for the nested and unbalanced data-collection design was calculated. In the second analysis, an approach using multiple generalizability studies was used to obtain an unbiased estimate of the student variance component, resulting in an unbiased estimate of dependability. Results suggested that there is bias in estimates of the dependability of students' performance on ITEs that are attributable to the data-collection design. When the bias was corrected, the results indicated that the dependability of ratings of student performance was almost zero. The combination of the multiple generalizability studies method and the use of specialized software provides an unbiased estimate of the dependability of ratings of student performance on ITE scores for data-collection designs that include nesting of student in rater, unbalanced nest sizes, and dependent observations.

Evaluation of Service Level Agreement Approaches for Portfolio Management in the Financial Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pontz, Tobias; Grauer, Manfred; Kuebert, Roland; Tenschert, Axel; Koller, Bastian

The idea of service-oriented Grid computing seems to have the potential for fundamental paradigm change and a new architectural alignment concerning the design of IT infrastructures. There is a wide range of technical approaches from scientific communities which describe basic infrastructures and middlewares for integrating Grid resources in order that by now Grid applications are technically realizable. Hence, Grid computing needs viable business models and enhanced infrastructures to move from academic application right up to commercial application. For a commercial usage of these evolutions service level agreements are needed. The developed approaches are primary of academic interest and mostly have not been put into practice. Based on a business use case of the financial industry, five service level agreement approaches have been evaluated in this paper. Based on the evaluation, a management architecture has been designed and implemented as a prototype.

Power grid operation risk management: V2G deployment for sustainable development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haddadian, Ghazale J.

The production, transmission, and delivery of cost--efficient energy to supply ever-increasing peak loads along with a quest for developing a low-carbon economy require significant evolutions in the power grid operations. Lower prices of vast natural gas resources in the United States, Fukushima nuclear disaster, higher and more intense energy consumptions in China and India, issues related to energy security, and recent Middle East conflicts, have urged decisions makers throughout the world to look into other means of generating electricity locally. As the world look to combat climate changes, a shift from carbon-based fuels to non-carbon based fuels is inevitable. However, the variability of distributed generation assets in the electricity grid has introduced major reliability challenges for power grid operators. While spearheading sustainable and reliable power grid operations, this dissertation develops a multi-stakeholder approach to power grid operation design; aiming to address economic, security, and environmental challenges of the constrained electricity generation. It investigates the role of Electric Vehicle (EV) fleets integration, as distributed and mobile storage assets to support high penetrations of renewable energy sources, in the power grid. The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept is considered to demonstrate the bidirectional role of EV fleets both as a provider and consumer of energy in securing a sustainable power grid operation. The proposed optimization modeling is the application of Mixed-Integer Linear Programing (MILP) to large-scale systems to solve the hourly security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) -- an optimal scheduling concept in the economic operation of electric power systems. The Monte Carlo scenario-based approach is utilized to evaluate different scenarios concerning the uncertainties in the operation of power grid system. Further, in order to expedite the real-time solution of the proposed approach for large-scale power systems, it considers a two-stage model using the Benders Decomposition (BD). The numerical simulation demonstrate that the utilization of smart EV fleets in power grid systems would ensure a sustainable grid operation with lower carbon footprints, smoother integration of renewable sources, higher security, and lower power grid operation costs. The results, additionally, illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed MILP approach and its potentials as an optimization tool for sustainable operation of large scale electric power systems.

A Bayesian network approach to predicting nest presence of thefederally-threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus) using barrier island features

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gieder, Katherina D.; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Fraser, James D.; Catlin, Daniel H.; Gutierrez, Benjamin T.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Turecek, Aaron M.; Thieler, E. Robert

2014-01-01

Sea-level rise and human development pose significant threats to shorebirds, particularly for species that utilize barrier island habitat. The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a federally-listed shorebird that nests on barrier islands and rapidly responds to changes in its physical environment, making it an excellent species with which to model how shorebird species may respond to habitat change related to sea-level rise and human development. The uncertainty and complexity in predicting sea-level rise, the responses of barrier island habitats to sea-level rise, and the responses of species to sea-level rise and human development necessitate a modelling approach that can link species to the physical habitat features that will be altered by changes in sea level and human development. We used a Bayesian network framework to develop a model that links piping plover nest presence to the physical features of their nesting habitat on a barrier island that is impacted by sea-level rise and human development, using three years of data (1999, 2002, and 2008) from Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. Our model performance results showed that we were able to successfully predict nest presence given a wide range of physical conditions within the model’s dataset. We found that model predictions were more successful when the range of physical conditions included in model development was varied rather than when those physical conditions were narrow. We also found that all model predictions had fewer false negatives (nests predicted to be absent when they were actually present in the dataset) than false positives (nests predicted to be present when they were actually absent in the dataset), indicating that our model correctly predicted nest presence better than nest absence. These results indicated that our approach of using a Bayesian network to link specific physical features to nest presence will be useful for modelling impacts of sea-level rise- or human-related habitat change on barrier islands. We recommend that potential users of this method utilize multiple years of data that represent a wide range of physical conditions in model development, because the model performed less well when constructed using a narrow range of physical conditions. Further, given that there will always be some uncertainty in predictions of future physical habitat conditions related to sea-level rise and/or human development, predictive models will perform best when developed using multiple, varied years of data input.

Application of multiple grids topology to supersonic internal/external flow interactions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kathong, M.; Tiwari, S. N.; Smith, R. E.

1988-01-01

For many aerodynamic applications, it is very difficult to construct a smooth body-fitted grid around complex configurations. An approach, called 'multiple grids' or 'zonal grids', which subdivides the entire physical domain into several subdomains, is used to overcome such difficulties. The approach is applied to obtain the solutions to the Euler equations for the supersonic internal/external flow around a fighter-aircraft configuration. Steady-state solutions are presented for Mach 2 at 0, 3.79, 7, and 10 deg angles-of-attack. The problem of conservative treatment at the zonal interfaces is also addressed.

CFD Methods and Tools for Multi-Element Airfoil Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Stuart E.; George, Michael W. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

This lecture will discuss the computational tools currently available for high-lift multi-element airfoil analysis. It will present an overview of a number of different numerical approaches, their current capabilities, short-comings, and computational costs. The lecture will be limited to viscous methods, including inviscid/boundary layer coupling methods, and incompressible and compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes methods. Both structured and unstructured grid generation approaches will be presented. Two different structured grid procedures are outlined, one which uses multi-block patched grids, the other uses overset chimera grids. Turbulence and transition modeling will be discussed.

Communication requirements of sparse Cholesky factorization with nested dissection ordering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naik, Vijay K.; Patrick, Merrell L.

1989-01-01

Load distribution schemes for minimizing the communication requirements of the Cholesky factorization of dense and sparse, symmetric, positive definite matrices on multiprocessor systems are presented. The total data traffic in factoring an n x n sparse symmetric positive definite matrix representing an n-vertex regular two-dimensional grid graph using n exp alpha, alpha not greater than 1, processors are shown to be O(n exp 1 + alpha/2). It is O(n), when n exp alpha, alpha not smaller than 1, processors are used. Under the conditions of uniform load distribution, these results are shown to be asymptotically optimal.

Surface Modeling, Grid Generation, and Related Issues in Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choo, Yung K. (Compiler)

1995-01-01

The NASA Steering Committee for Surface Modeling and Grid Generation (SMAGG) sponsored a workshop on surface modeling, grid generation, and related issues in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solutions at Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, May 9-11, 1995. The workshop provided a forum to identify industry needs, strengths, and weaknesses of the five grid technologies (patched structured, overset structured, Cartesian, unstructured, and hybrid), and to exchange thoughts about where each technology will be in 2 to 5 years. The workshop also provided opportunities for engineers and scientists to present new methods, approaches, and applications in SMAGG for CFD. This Conference Publication (CP) consists of papers on industry overview, NASA overview, five grid technologies, new methods/ approaches/applications, and software systems.

Building of nested components by a double-nozzle droplet deposition process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, SuLi; Wei, ZhengYing; Du, Jun; Zhao, Guangxi; Wang, Xin; Lu, BingHeng

2016-07-01

According to the nested components jointed with multiple parts,a double-nozzle droplet deposition process was put forward in this paper, and the experimental system was developed. Through the research on the properties of support materials and the process of double-nozzle droplet deposition, the linkage control of the metal droplet deposition and the support material extrusion was realized, and a nested component with complex construction was fabricated directly. Compared with the traditional forming processes, this double-nozzle deposition process has the advantages of short cycle, low cost and so on. It can provide an approach way to build the nested parts.

Immunocapture reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction combined with nested PCR greatly increases the detection of Prunus necrotic ring spot virus in the peach.

PubMed

Helguera, P R; Taborda, R; Docampo, D M; Ducasse, D A

2001-06-01

A detection system based on nested PCR after IC-RT-PCR (IC-RT-PCR-Nested PCR) was developed to improve indexing of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus in peach trees. Inhibitory effects and inconsistencies of the standard IC-RT-PCR were overcome by this approach. IC-RT-PCR-Nested PCR improved detection by three orders of magnitude compared with DAS-ELISA for the detection of PNRSV in leaves. Several different tissues were evaluated and equally consistent results were observed. The main advantages of the method are its consistency, high sensitivity and easy application in quarantine programs.

Grid-based Meteorological and Crisis Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hluchy, Ladislav; Bartok, Juraj; Tran, Viet; Lucny, Andrej; Gazak, Martin

2010-05-01

We present several applications from domain of meteorology and crisis management we developed and/or plan to develop. Particularly, we present IMS Model Suite - a complex software system designed to address the needs of accurate forecast of weather and hazardous weather phenomena, environmental pollution assessment, prediction of consequences of nuclear accident and radiological emergency. We discuss requirements on computational means and our experiences how to meet them by grid computing. The process of a pollution assessment and prediction of the consequences in case of radiological emergence results in complex data-flows and work-flows among databases, models and simulation tools (geographical databases, meteorological and dispersion models, etc.). A pollution assessment and prediction requires running of 3D meteorological model (4 nests with resolution from 50 km to 1.8 km centered on nuclear power plant site, 38 vertical levels) as well as running of the dispersion model performing the simulation of the release transport and deposition of the pollutant with respect to the numeric weather prediction data, released material description, topography, land use description and user defined simulation scenario. Several post-processing options can be selected according to particular situation (e.g. doses calculation). Another example is a forecasting of fog as one of the meteorological phenomena hazardous to the aviation as well as road traffic. It requires complicated physical model and high resolution meteorological modeling due to its dependence on local conditions (precise topography, shorelines and land use classes). An installed fog modeling system requires a 4 time nested parallelized 3D meteorological model with 1.8 km horizontal resolution and 42 levels vertically (approx. 1 million points in 3D space) to be run four times daily. The 3D model outputs and multitude of local measurements are utilized by SPMD-parallelized 1D fog model run every hour. The fog forecast model is a subject of the parameterization and parameter optimization before its real deployment. The parameter optimization requires tens of evaluations of the parameterized model accuracy and each evaluation of the model parameters requires re-running of the hundreds of meteorological situations collected over the years and comparison of the model output with the observed data. The architecture and inherent heterogeneity of both examples and their computational complexity and their interfaces to other systems and services make them well suited for decomposition into a set of web and grid services. Such decomposition has been performed within several projects we participated or participate in cooperation with academic sphere, namely int.eu.grid (dispersion model deployed as a pilot application to an interactive grid), SEMCO-WS (semantic composition of the web and grid services), DMM (development of a significant meteorological phenomena prediction system based on the data mining), VEGA 2009-2011 and EGEE III. We present useful and practical applications of technologies of high performance computing. The use of grid technology provides access to much higher computation power not only for modeling and simulation, but also for the model parameterization and validation. This results in the model parameters optimization and more accurate simulation outputs. Having taken into account that the simulations are used for the aviation, road traffic and crisis management, even small improvement in accuracy of predictions may result in significant improvement of safety as well as cost reduction. We found grid computing useful for our applications. We are satisfied with this technology and our experience encourages us to extend its use. Within an ongoing project (DMM) we plan to include processing of satellite images which extends our requirement on computation very rapidly. We believe that thanks to grid computing we are able to handle the job almost in real time.

AVQS: attack route-based vulnerability quantification scheme for smart grid.

PubMed

Ko, Jongbin; Lim, Hyunwoo; Lee, Seokjun; Shon, Taeshik

2014-01-01

A smart grid is a large, consolidated electrical grid system that includes heterogeneous networks and systems. Based on the data, a smart grid system has a potential security threat in its network connectivity. To solve this problem, we develop and apply a novel scheme to measure the vulnerability in a smart grid domain. Vulnerability quantification can be the first step in security analysis because it can help prioritize the security problems. However, existing vulnerability quantification schemes are not suitable for smart grid because they do not consider network vulnerabilities. We propose a novel attack route-based vulnerability quantification scheme using a network vulnerability score and an end-to-end security score, depending on the specific smart grid network environment to calculate the vulnerability score for a particular attack route. To evaluate the proposed approach, we derive several attack scenarios from the advanced metering infrastructure domain. The experimental results of the proposed approach and the existing common vulnerability scoring system clearly show that we need to consider network connectivity for more optimized vulnerability quantification.

Solving Upwind-Biased Discretizations. 2; Multigrid Solver Using Semicoarsening

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris

1999-01-01

This paper studies a novel multigrid approach to the solution for a second order upwind biased discretization of the convection equation in two dimensions. This approach is based on semi-coarsening and well balanced explicit correction terms added to coarse-grid operators to maintain on coarse-grid the same cross-characteristic interaction as on the target (fine) grid. Colored relaxation schemes are used on all the levels allowing a very efficient parallel implementation. The results of the numerical tests can be summarized as follows: 1) The residual asymptotic convergence rate of the proposed V(0, 2) multigrid cycle is about 3 per cycle. This convergence rate far surpasses the theoretical limit (4/3) predicted for standard multigrid algorithms using full coarsening. The reported efficiency does not deteriorate with increasing the cycle, depth (number of levels) and/or refining the target-grid mesh spacing. 2) The full multi-grid algorithm (FMG) with two V(0, 2) cycles on the target grid and just one V(0, 2) cycle on all the coarse grids always provides an approximate solution with the algebraic error less than the discretization error. Estimates of the total work in the FMG algorithm are ranged between 18 and 30 minimal work units (depending on the target (discretizatioin). Thus, the overall efficiency of the FMG solver closely approaches (if does not achieve) the goal of the textbook multigrid efficiency. 3) A novel approach to deriving a discrete solution approximating the true continuous solution with a relative accuracy given in advance is developed. An adaptive multigrid algorithm (AMA) using comparison of the solutions on two successive target grids to estimate the accuracy of the current target-grid solution is defined. A desired relative accuracy is accepted as an input parameter. The final target grid on which this accuracy can be achieved is chosen automatically in the solution process. the actual relative accuracy of the discrete solution approximation obtained by AMA is always better than the required accuracy; the computational complexity of the AMA algorithm is (nearly) optimal (comparable with the complexity of the FMG algorithm applied to solve the problem on the optimally spaced target grid).

Convergence of the Bouguer-Beer law for radiation extinction in particulate media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frankel, A.; Iaccarino, G.; Mani, A.

2016-10-01

Radiation transport in particulate media is a common physical phenomenon in natural and industrial processes. Developing predictive models of these processes requires a detailed model of the interaction between the radiation and the particles. Resolving the interaction between the radiation and the individual particles in a very large system is impractical, whereas continuum-based representations of the particle field lend themselves to efficient numerical techniques based on the solution of the radiative transfer equation. We investigate radiation transport through discrete and continuum-based representations of a particle field. Exact solutions for radiation extinction are developed using a Monte Carlo model in different particle distributions. The particle distributions are then projected onto a concentration field with varying grid sizes, and the Bouguer-Beer law is applied by marching across the grid. We show that the continuum-based solution approaches the Monte Carlo solution under grid refinement, but quickly diverges as the grid size approaches the particle diameter. This divergence is attributed to the homogenization error of an individual particle across a whole grid cell. We remark that the concentration energy spectrum of a point-particle field does not approach zero, and thus the concentration variance must also diverge under infinite grid refinement, meaning that no grid-converged solution of the radiation transport is possible.

New multigrid approach for three-dimensional unstructured, adaptive grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parthasarathy, Vijayan; Kallinderis, Y.

1994-01-01

A new multigrid method with adaptive unstructured grids is presented. The three-dimensional Euler equations are solved on tetrahedral grids that are adaptively refined or coarsened locally. The multigrid method is employed to propagate the fine grid corrections more rapidly by redistributing the changes-in-time of the solution from the fine grid to the coarser grids to accelerate convergence. A new approach is employed that uses the parent cells of the fine grid cells in an adapted mesh to generate successively coaser levels of multigrid. This obviates the need for the generation of a sequence of independent, nonoverlapping grids as well as the relatively complicated operations that need to be performed to interpolate the solution and the residuals between the independent grids. The solver is an explicit, vertex-based, finite volume scheme that employs edge-based data structures and operations. Spatial discretization is of central-differencing type combined with a special upwind-like smoothing operators. Application cases include adaptive solutions obtained with multigrid acceleration for supersonic and subsonic flow over a bump in a channel, as well as transonic flow around the ONERA M6 wing. Two levels of multigrid resulted in reduction in the number of iterations by a factor of 5.

FNCS: A Framework for Power System and Communication Networks Co-Simulation

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

Ciraci, Selim; Daily, Jeffrey A.; Fuller, Jason C.

2014-04-13

This paper describes the Fenix framework that uses a federated approach for integrating power grid and communication network simulators. Compared existing approaches, Fenix al- lows co-simulation of both transmission and distribution level power grid simulators with the communication network sim- ulator. To reduce the performance overhead of time synchro- nization, Fenix utilizes optimistic synchronization strategies that make speculative decisions about when the simulators are going to exchange messages. GridLAB-D (a distribution simulator), PowerFlow (a transmission simulator), and ns-3 (a telecommunication simulator) are integrated with the frame- work and are used to illustrate the enhanced performance pro- vided by speculative multi-threadingmore » on a smart grid applica- tion. Our speculative multi-threading approach achieved on average 20% improvement over the existing synchronization methods« less

Using a Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) approach to develop and pilot a photo grid method to gain insights into early child health and development in a socio-economic disadvantaged community.

PubMed

Lowrie, Emma; Tyrrell-Smith, Rachel

2017-01-01

This paper reports on the use of a Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) approach to develop a new research tool to involve members of the community in thinking about priorities for early child health and development in a deprived area of the UK. The CEnR approach involves researchers, professionals and members of the public working together during all stages of research and development.Researchers used a phased approach to the development of a Photo Grid tool including reviewing tools which could be used for community engagement, and testing the new tool based on feedback from workshops with local early years professionals and parents of young children.The Photo Grid tool is a flat square grid on which photo cards can be placed. Participants were asked to pace at the top of the grid the photos they considered most important for early child health and development, working down to the less important ones at the bottom. The findings showed that the resulting Photo Grid tool was a useful and successful method of engaging with the local community. The evidence for this is the high numbers of participants who completed a pilot study and who provided feedback on the method. By involving community members throughout the research process, it was possible to develop a method that would be acceptable to the local population, thus decreasing the likelihood of a lack of engagement. The success of the tool is therefore particularly encouraging as it engages "seldom heard voices," such as those with low literacy. The aim of this research was to consult with professionals and parents to develop a new research toolkit (Photo Grid), to understand community assets and priorities in relation to early child health and development in Blackpool, a socio-economic disadvantaged community. A Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) approach was used to consult with community members. This paper describes the process of using a CEnR approach in developing a Photo Grid toolkit. A phased CEnR approach was used to design, test and pilot a Photo Grid tool. Members of the Blackpool community; parents with children aged 0-4 years, health professionals, members of the early year's workforce, and community development workers were involved in the development of the research tool at various stages. They were recruited opportunistically via a venue-based time-space sampling method. In total, 213 parents and 18 professionals engaged in the research process. Using a CEnR approach allowed effective engagement with the local community and professionals, evidence by high levels of engagement throughout the development process. This approach improved the acceptability and usability of the resulting Photo Grid toolkit. Community members found the method accessible, engaging, useful, and thought provoking. The Photo Grid toolkit was seen by community members as accessible, engaging, useful and thought provoking in an area of high social deprivation, complex problems, and low literacy. The Photo Grid is an adaptable tool which can be used in other areas of socio-economic disadvantage to engage with the community to understand a wide variety of complex topics.

A New Integrated Weighted Model in SNOW-V10: Verification of Categorical Variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Laura X.; Isaac, George A.; Sheng, Grant

2014-01-01

This paper presents the verification results for nowcasts of seven categorical variables from an integrated weighted model (INTW) and the underlying numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Nowcasting, or short range forecasting (0-6 h), over complex terrain with sufficient accuracy is highly desirable but a very challenging task. A weighting, evaluation, bias correction and integration system (WEBIS) for generating nowcasts by integrating NWP forecasts and high frequency observations was used during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as part of the Science of Nowcasting Olympic Weather for Vancouver 2010 (SNOW-V10) project. Forecast data from Canadian high-resolution deterministic NWP system with three nested grids (at 15-, 2.5- and 1-km horizontal grid-spacing) were selected as background gridded data for generating the integrated nowcasts. Seven forecast variables of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind gust, visibility, ceiling and precipitation rate are treated as categorical variables for verifying the integrated weighted forecasts. By analyzing the verification of forecasts from INTW and the NWP models among 15 sites, the integrated weighted model was found to produce more accurate forecasts for the 7 selected forecast variables, regardless of location. This is based on the multi-categorical Heidke skill scores for the test period 12 February to 21 March 2010.

Simulating ground water-lake interactions: Approaches and insights

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunt, R.J.; Haitjema, H.M.; Krohelski, J.T.; Feinstein, D.T.

2003-01-01

Approaches for modeling lake-ground water interactions have evolved significantly from early simulations that used fixed lake stages specified as constant head to sophisticated LAK packages for MODFLOW. Although model input can be complex, the LAK package capabilities and output are superior to methods that rely on a fixed lake stage and compare well to other simple methods where lake stage can be calculated. Regardless of the approach, guidelines presented here for model grid size, location of three-dimensional flow, and extent of vertical capture can facilitate the construction of appropriately detailed models that simulate important lake-ground water interactions without adding unnecessary complexity. In addition to MODFLOW approaches, lake simulation has been formulated in terms of analytic elements. The analytic element lake package had acceptable agreement with a published LAK1 problem, even though there were differences in the total lake conductance and number of layers used in the two models. The grid size used in the original LAK1 problem, however, violated a grid size guideline presented in this paper. Grid sensitivity analyses demonstrated that an appreciable discrepancy in the distribution of stream and lake flux was related to the large grid size used in the original LAK1 problem. This artifact is expected regardless of MODFLOW LAK package used. When the grid size was reduced, a finite-difference formulation approached the analytic element results. These insights and guidelines can help ensure that the proper lake simulation tool is being selected and applied.

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic Bondi-Hoyle accretion. 2: Homogeneous medium at Mach 3 with gamma = 5/3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruffert, Maximilian; Arnett, David

1994-01-01

We investigate the hydrodynamics of three-dimensional classical Bondi-Hoyle accretion. Totally absorbing spheres of varying sizes (from 10 down to 0.01 accretion radii) move at Mach 3 relative to a homogeneous and slightly perturbed medium, which is taken to be an ideal gas (gamma = 5/3). To accommodate the long-range gravitational forces, the extent of the computational volume is 32(exp 3) accretion radii. We examine the influence of numerical procedure on physical behavior. The hydrodynamics is modeled by the 'piecewise parabolic method.' No energy sources (nuclear burning) or sinks (radiation, conduction) are included. The resolution in the vicinity of the accretor is increased by multiply nesting several (5-10) grids around the sphere, each finer grid being a factor of 2 smaller in zone dimension that the next coarser grid. The largest dynamic range (ratio of size of the largest grid to size of the finest zone) is 16,384. This allows us to include a coarse model for the surface of the accretor (vacuum sphere) on the finest grid, while at the same time evolving the gas on the coarser grids. Initially (at time t = 0-10), a shock front is set up, a Mach cone develops, and the accretion column is observable. Eventually the flow becomes unstable, destroying axisymmetry. This happens approximately when the mass accretion rate reaches the values (+/- 10%) predicted by the Bondi-Hoyle accretion formula (factor of 2 included). However, our three-dimensional models do not show the highly dynamic flip-flop flow so prominent in two-dimensional calculations performed by other authors. The flow, and thus the accretion rate of all quantities, shows quasi-periodic (P approximately equals 5) cycles between quiescent and active states. The interpolation formula proposed in an accompanying paper is found to follow the collected numerical data to within approximately 30%. The specific angular momentum accreted is of the same order of magnitude as the values previously found for two-dimensional flows.

Immersed Boundary Methods for High-Resolution Simulation of Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Flow Over Complex Terrain

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

Lundquist, K A

Mesoscale models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are increasingly used for high resolution simulations, particularly in complex terrain, but errors associated with terrain-following coordinates degrade the accuracy of the solution. Use of an alternative Cartesian gridding technique, known as an immersed boundary method (IBM), alleviates coordinate transformation errors and eliminates restrictions on terrain slope which currently limit mesoscale models to slowly varying terrain. In this dissertation, an immersed boundary method is developed for use in numerical weather prediction. Use of the method facilitates explicit resolution of complex terrain, even urban terrain, in the WRF mesoscale model.more » First, the errors that arise in the WRF model when complex terrain is present are presented. This is accomplished using a scalar advection test case, and comparing the numerical solution to the analytical solution. Results are presented for different orders of advection schemes, grid resolutions and aspect ratios, as well as various degrees of terrain slope. For comparison, results from the same simulation are presented using the IBM. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional immersed boundary methods are then described, along with details that are specific to the implementation of IBM in the WRF code. Our IBM is capable of imposing both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. Additionally, a method for coupling atmospheric physics parameterizations at the immersed boundary is presented, making IB methods much more functional in the context of numerical weather prediction models. The two-dimensional IB method is verified through comparisons of solutions for gentle terrain slopes when using IBM and terrain-following grids. The canonical case of flow over a Witch of Agnesi hill provides validation of the basic no-slip and zero gradient boundary conditions. Specified diurnal heating in a valley, producing anabatic winds, is used to validate the use of flux (non-zero) boundary conditions. This anabatic flow set-up is further coupled to atmospheric physics parameterizations, which calculate surface fluxes, demonstrating that the IBM can be coupled to various land-surface parameterizations in atmospheric models. Additionally, the IB method is extended to three dimensions, using both trilinear and inverse distance weighted interpolations. Results are presented for geostrophic flow over a three-dimensional hill. It is found that while the IB method using trilinear interpolation works well for simple three-dimensional geometries, a more flexible and robust method is needed for extremely complex geometries, as found in three-dimensional urban environments. A second, more flexible, immersed boundary method is devised using inverse distance weighting, and results are compared to the first IBM approach. Additionally, the functionality to nest a domain with resolved complex geometry inside of a parent domain without resolved complex geometry is described. The new IBM approach is used to model urban terrain from Oklahoma City in a one-way nested configuration, where lateral boundary conditions are provided by the parent domain. Finally, the IB method is extended to include wall model parameterizations for rough surfaces. Two possible implementations are presented, one which uses the log law to reconstruct velocities exterior to the solid domain, and one which reconstructs shear stress at the immersed boundary, rather than velocity. These methods are tested on the three-dimensional canonical case of neutral atmospheric boundary layer flow over flat terrain.« less

Eggshell Porosity Provides Insight on Evolution of Nesting in Dinosaurs.

PubMed

Tanaka, Kohei; Zelenitsky, Darla K; Therrien, François

2015-01-01

Knowledge about the types of nests built by dinosaurs can provide insight into the evolution of nesting and reproductive behaviors among archosaurs. However, the low preservation potential of their nesting materials and nesting structures means that most information can only be gleaned indirectly through comparison with extant archosaurs. Two general nest types are recognized among living archosaurs: 1) covered nests, in which eggs are incubated while fully covered by nesting material (as in crocodylians and megapodes), and 2) open nests, in which eggs are exposed in the nest and brooded (as in most birds). Previously, dinosaur nest types had been inferred by estimating the water vapor conductance (i.e., diffusive capacity) of their eggs, based on the premise that high conductance corresponds to covered nests and low conductance to open nests. However, a lack of statistical rigor and inconsistencies in this method render its application problematic and its validity questionable. As an alternative we propose a statistically rigorous approach to infer nest type based on large datasets of eggshell porosity and egg mass compiled for over 120 extant archosaur species and 29 archosaur extinct taxa/ootaxa. The presence of a strong correlation between eggshell porosity and nest type among extant archosaurs indicates that eggshell porosity can be used as a proxy for nest type, and thus discriminant analyses can help predict nest type in extinct taxa. Our results suggest that: 1) covered nests are likely the primitive condition for dinosaurs (and probably archosaurs), and 2) open nests first evolved among non-avian theropods more derived than Lourinhanosaurus and were likely widespread in non-avian maniraptorans, well before the appearance of birds. Although taphonomic evidence suggests that basal open nesters (i.e., oviraptorosaurs and troodontids) were potentially the first dinosaurs to brood their clutches, they still partially buried their eggs in sediment. Open nests with fully exposed eggs only became widespread among Euornithes. A potential co-evolution of open nests and brooding behavior among maniraptorans may have freed theropods from the ground-based restrictions inherent to covered nests and allowed the exploitation of alternate nesting locations. These changes in nesting styles and behaviors thus may have played a role in the evolutionary success of maniraptorans (including birds).

Eggshell Porosity Provides Insight on Evolution of Nesting in Dinosaurs

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Knowledge about the types of nests built by dinosaurs can provide insight into the evolution of nesting and reproductive behaviors among archosaurs. However, the low preservation potential of their nesting materials and nesting structures means that most information can only be gleaned indirectly through comparison with extant archosaurs. Two general nest types are recognized among living archosaurs: 1) covered nests, in which eggs are incubated while fully covered by nesting material (as in crocodylians and megapodes), and 2) open nests, in which eggs are exposed in the nest and brooded (as in most birds). Previously, dinosaur nest types had been inferred by estimating the water vapor conductance (i.e., diffusive capacity) of their eggs, based on the premise that high conductance corresponds to covered nests and low conductance to open nests. However, a lack of statistical rigor and inconsistencies in this method render its application problematic and its validity questionable. As an alternative we propose a statistically rigorous approach to infer nest type based on large datasets of eggshell porosity and egg mass compiled for over 120 extant archosaur species and 29 archosaur extinct taxa/ootaxa. The presence of a strong correlation between eggshell porosity and nest type among extant archosaurs indicates that eggshell porosity can be used as a proxy for nest type, and thus discriminant analyses can help predict nest type in extinct taxa. Our results suggest that: 1) covered nests are likely the primitive condition for dinosaurs (and probably archosaurs), and 2) open nests first evolved among non-avian theropods more derived than Lourinhanosaurus and were likely widespread in non-avian maniraptorans, well before the appearance of birds. Although taphonomic evidence suggests that basal open nesters (i.e., oviraptorosaurs and troodontids) were potentially the first dinosaurs to brood their clutches, they still partially buried their eggs in sediment. Open nests with fully exposed eggs only became widespread among Euornithes. A potential co-evolution of open nests and brooding behavior among maniraptorans may have freed theropods from the ground-based restrictions inherent to covered nests and allowed the exploitation of alternate nesting locations. These changes in nesting styles and behaviors thus may have played a role in the evolutionary success of maniraptorans (including birds). PMID:26605799

Use of upscaled elevation and surface roughness data in two-dimensional surface water models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hughes, J.D.; Decker, J.D.; Langevin, C.D.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we present an approach that uses a combination of cell-block- and cell-face-averaging of high-resolution cell elevation and roughness data to upscale hydraulic parameters and accurately simulate surface water flow in relatively low-resolution numerical models. The method developed allows channelized features that preferentially connect large-scale grid cells at cell interfaces to be represented in models where these features are significantly smaller than the selected grid size. The developed upscaling approach has been implemented in a two-dimensional finite difference model that solves a diffusive wave approximation of the depth-integrated shallow surface water equations using preconditioned Newton–Krylov methods. Computational results are presented to show the effectiveness of the mixed cell-block and cell-face averaging upscaling approach in maintaining model accuracy, reducing model run-times, and how decreased grid resolution affects errors. Application examples demonstrate that sub-grid roughness coefficient variations have a larger effect on simulated error than sub-grid elevation variations.

Structured Overlapping Grid Simulations of Contra-rotating Open Rotor Noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Housman, Jeffrey A.; Kiris, Cetin C.

2015-01-01

Computational simulations using structured overlapping grids with the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) solver framework are presented for predicting tonal noise generated by a contra-rotating open rotor (CROR) propulsion system. A coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational AeroAcoustics (CAA) numerical approach is applied. Three-dimensional time-accurate hybrid Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes/Large Eddy Simulation (RANS/LES) CFD simulations are performed in the inertial frame, including dynamic moving grids, using a higher-order accurate finite difference discretization on structured overlapping grids. A higher-order accurate free-stream preserving metric discretization with discrete enforcement of the Geometric Conservation Law (GCL) on moving curvilinear grids is used to create an accurate, efficient, and stable numerical scheme. The aeroacoustic analysis is based on a permeable surface Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) approach, evaluated in the frequency domain. A time-step sensitivity study was performed using only the forward row of blades to determine an adequate time-step. The numerical approach is validated against existing wind tunnel measurements.

Habitat edges have weak effects on duck nest survival at local spatial scales

USGS Publications Warehouse

Raquel, Amelia J; Ringelman, Kevin M.; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Eadie, John M.

2015-01-01

Edge effects on nesting success have been documented in breeding birds in a variety of contexts, but there is still uncertainty in how edge type and spatial scale determine the magnitude and detectability of edge effects. Habitat edges are often viewed as predator corridors that surround or penetrate core habitat and increase the risk of predation for nearby nests. We studied the effects of three different types of potential predator corridors (main perimeter roads, field boundaries, and ATV trails within fields) on waterfowl nest survival in California. We measured the distance from duck nests to the nearest edge of each type, and used distance as a covariate in a logistic exposure analysis of nest survival. We found only weak evidence for edge effects due to predation. The best supported model of nest survival included all three distance categories, and while all coefficient estimates were positive (indicating that survival increased with distance from edge), 85% coefficient confidence intervals approached or bounded zero indicating an overall weak effect of habitat edges on nest success. We suggest that given the configuration of edges at our site, there may be few areas far enough from hard edges to be considered ‘core’ habitat, making edge effects on nest survival particularly difficult to detect.

On NUFFT-based gridding for non-Cartesian MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fessler, Jeffrey A.

2007-10-01

For MRI with non-Cartesian sampling, the conventional approach to reconstructing images is to use the gridding method with a Kaiser-Bessel (KB) interpolation kernel. Recently, Sha et al. [L. Sha, H. Guo, A.W. Song, An improved gridding method for spiral MRI using nonuniform fast Fourier transform, J. Magn. Reson. 162(2) (2003) 250-258] proposed an alternative method based on a nonuniform FFT (NUFFT) with least-squares (LS) design of the interpolation coefficients. They described this LS_NUFFT method as shift variant and reported that it yielded smaller reconstruction approximation errors than the conventional shift-invariant KB approach. This paper analyzes the LS_NUFFT approach in detail. We show that when one accounts for a certain linear phase factor, the core of the LS_NUFFT interpolator is in fact real and shift invariant. Furthermore, we find that the KB approach yields smaller errors than the original LS_NUFFT approach. We show that optimizing certain scaling factors can lead to a somewhat improved LS_NUFFT approach, but the high computation cost seems to outweigh the modest reduction in reconstruction error. We conclude that the standard KB approach, with appropriate parameters as described in the literature, remains the practical method of choice for gridding reconstruction in MRI.

Service engineering for grid services in medicine and life science.

PubMed

Weisbecker, Anette; Falkner, Jürgen

2009-01-01

Clearly defined services with appropriate business models are necessary in order to exploit the benefit of grid computing for industrial and academic users in medicine and life sciences. In the project Services@MediGRID the service engineering approach is used to develop those clearly defined grid services and to provide sustainable business models for their usage.

Task Scheduling in Desktop Grids: Open Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernov, Ilya; Nikitina, Natalia; Ivashko, Evgeny

2017-12-01

We survey the areas of Desktop Grid task scheduling that seem to be insufficiently studied so far and are promising for efficiency, reliability, and quality of Desktop Grid computing. These topics include optimal task grouping, "needle in a haystack" paradigm, game-theoretical scheduling, domain-imposed approaches, special optimization of the final stage of the batch computation, and Enterprise Desktop Grids.

Conservative zonal schemes for patched grids in 2 and 3 dimensions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hessenius, Kristin A.

1987-01-01

The computation of flow over complex geometries, such as realistic aircraft configurations, poses difficult grid generation problems for computational aerodynamicists. The creation of a traditional, single-module grid of acceptable quality about an entire configuration may be impossible even with the most sophisticated of grid generation techniques. A zonal approach, wherein the flow field is partitioned into several regions within which grids are independently generated, is a practical alternative for treating complicated geometries. This technique not only alleviates the problems of discretizing a complex region, but also facilitates a block processing approach to computation thereby circumventing computer memory limitations. The use of such a zonal scheme, however, requires the development of an interfacing procedure that ensures a stable, accurate, and conservative calculation for the transfer of information across the zonal borders.

Turbulent Output-Based Anisotropic Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Michael A.; Carlson, Jan-Renee

2010-01-01

Controlling discretization error is a remaining challenge for computational fluid dynamics simulation. Grid adaptation is applied to reduce estimated discretization error in drag or pressure integral output functions. To enable application to high O(10(exp 7)) Reynolds number turbulent flows, a hybrid approach is utilized that freezes the near-wall boundary layer grids and adapts the grid away from the no slip boundaries. The hybrid approach is not applicable to problems with under resolved initial boundary layer grids, but is a powerful technique for problems with important off-body anisotropic features. Supersonic nozzle plume, turbulent flat plate, and shock-boundary layer interaction examples are presented with comparisons to experimental measurements of pressure and velocity. Adapted grids are produced that resolve off-body features in locations that are not known a priori.

Salient eyes deter conspecific nest intruders in wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula).

PubMed

Davidson, Gabrielle L; Clayton, Nicola S; Thornton, Alex

2014-02-01

Animals often respond fearfully when encountering eyes or eye-like shapes. Although gaze aversion has been documented in mammals when avoiding group-member conflict, the importance of eye coloration during interactions between conspecifics has yet to be examined in non-primate species. Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) have near-white irides, which are conspicuous against their dark feathers and visible when seen from outside the cavities where they nest. Because jackdaws compete for nest sites, their conspicuous eyes may act as a warning signal to indicate that a nest is occupied and deter intrusions by conspecifics. We tested whether jackdaws' pale irides serve as a deterrent to prospecting conspecifics by comparing prospectors' behaviour towards nest-boxes displaying images with bright eyes (BEs) only, a jackdaw face with natural BEs, or a jackdaw face with dark eyes. The jackdaw face with BEs was most effective in deterring birds from making contact with nest-boxes, whereas both BE conditions reduced the amount of time jackdaws spent in proximity to the image. We suggest BEs in jackdaws may function to prevent conspecific competitors from approaching occupied nest sites.

Near-Body Grid Adaption for Overset Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buning, Pieter G.; Pulliam, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

A solution adaption capability for curvilinear near-body grids has been implemented in the OVERFLOW overset grid computational fluid dynamics code. The approach follows closely that used for the Cartesian off-body grids, but inserts refined grids in the computational space of original near-body grids. Refined curvilinear grids are generated using parametric cubic interpolation, with one-sided biasing based on curvature and stretching ratio of the original grid. Sensor functions, grid marking, and solution interpolation tasks are implemented in the same fashion as for off-body grids. A goal-oriented procedure, based on largest error first, is included for controlling growth rate and maximum size of the adapted grid system. The adaption process is almost entirely parallelized using MPI, resulting in a capability suitable for viscous, moving body simulations. Two- and three-dimensional examples are presented.

Effects of a Peer Assessment System Based on a Grid-Based Knowledge Classification Approach on Computer Skills Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Ting-Chia

2016-01-01

In this study, a peer assessment system using the grid-based knowledge classification approach was developed to improve students' performance during computer skills training. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted in a computer skills certification course. The participants were divided into three…

Multilevel Analysis Methods for Partially Nested Cluster Randomized Trials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanders, Elizabeth A.

2011-01-01

This paper explores multilevel modeling approaches for 2-group randomized experiments in which a treatment condition involving clusters of individuals is compared to a control condition involving only ungrouped individuals, otherwise known as partially nested cluster randomized designs (PNCRTs). Strategies for comparing groups from a PNCRT in the…

Reproductive success of migratory birds in habitat sources and sinks

Treesearch

Therese M. Donovan; Frank R. , III Thompson; John Faaborg; John R. Probst

1995-01-01

Fragmentation of breeding habitat in North America has been implicated in the decline of forest-nesting, Neotropical migrant birds. We used a comparative approach to examine the effects of fragmentation on three forest-nesting migrants: Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus), Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo ofivaceus), and Wood Thrush (...

AN OPTIMAL ADAPTIVE LOCAL GRID REFINEMENT APPROACH TO MODELING CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT

EPA Science Inventory

A Lagrangian-Eulerian method with an optimal adaptive local grid refinement is used to model contaminant transport equations. pplication of this approach to two bench-mark problems indicates that it completely resolves difficulties of peak clipping, numerical diffusion, and spuri...

Simultaneous analysis and design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haftka, R. T.

1984-01-01

Optimization techniques are increasingly being used for performing nonlinear structural analysis. The development of element by element (EBE) preconditioned conjugate gradient (CG) techniques is expected to extend this trend to linear analysis. Under these circumstances the structural design problem can be viewed as a nested optimization problem. There are computational benefits to treating this nested problem as a large single optimization problem. The response variables (such as displacements) and the structural parameters are all treated as design variables in a unified formulation which performs simultaneously the design and analysis. Two examples are used for demonstration. A seventy-two bar truss is optimized subject to linear stress constraints and a wing box structure is optimized subject to nonlinear collapse constraints. Both examples show substantial computational savings with the unified approach as compared to the traditional nested approach.

Mesoscale Air-Sea Interactions along the Gulf Stream: An Eddy-Resolving and Convection-Permitting Coupled Regional Climate Model Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsieh, J. S.; Chang, P.; Saravanan, R.

2017-12-01

Frontal and mesoscale air-sea interactions along the Gulf Stream (GS) during boreal winter are investigated using an eddy-resolving and convection-permitting coupled regional climate model with atmospheric grid resolutions varying from meso-β (27-km) to -r (9-km and 3-km nest) scales in WRF and a 9-km ocean model (ROMS) that explicitly resolves the ocean mesoscale eddies across the North Atlantic basin. The mesoscale wavenumber energy spectra for the simulated surface wind stress and SST demonstrate good agreement with the observed spectra calculated from the observational QuikSCAT and AMSR-E datasets, suggesting that the model well captures the energy cascade of the mesoscale eddies in both the atmosphere and the ocean. Intercomparison among different resolution simulations indicates that after three months of integration the simulated GS path tends to overshoot beyond the separation point in the 27-km WRF coupled experiments than the observed climatological path of the GS, whereas the 3-km nested and 9-km WRF coupled simulations realistically simulate GS separation. The GS overshoot in 27-km WRF coupled simulations is accompanied with a significant SST warming bias to the north of the GS extension. Such biases are associated with the deficiency of wind stress-SST coupling strengths simulated by the coupled model with a coarser resolution in WRF. It is found that the model at 27-km grid spacing can approximately simulate 72% (62%) of the observed mean coupling strength between surface wind stress curl (divergence) and crosswind (downwind) SST gradient while by increasing the WRF resolutions to 9 km or 3 km the coupled model can much better capture the observed coupling strengths.

Seamless atmospheric modeling across the hydrostatic-nonhydrostatic scales - preliminary results using an unstructured-Voronoi mesh for weather prediction.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skamarock, W. C.

2015-12-01

One of the major problems in atmospheric model applications is the representation of deep convection within the models; explicit simulation of deep convection on fine meshes performs much better than sub-grid parameterized deep convection on coarse meshes. Unfortunately, the high cost of explicit convective simulation has meant it has only been used to down-scale global simulations in weather prediction and regional climate applications, typically using traditional one-way interactive nesting technology. We have been performing real-time weather forecast tests using a global non-hydrostatic atmospheric model (the Model for Prediction Across Scales, MPAS) that employs a variable-resolution unstructured Voronoi horizontal mesh (nominally hexagons) to span hydrostatic to nonhydrostatic scales. The smoothly varying Voronoi mesh eliminates many downscaling problems encountered using traditional one- or two-way grid nesting. Our test weather forecasts cover two periods - the 2015 Spring Forecast Experiment conducted at the NOAA Storm Prediction Center during the month of May in which we used a 50-3 km mesh, and the PECAN field program examining nocturnal convection over the US during the months of June and July in which we used a 15-3 km mesh. An important aspect of this modeling system is that the model physics be scale-aware, particularly the deep convection parameterization. These MPAS simulations employ the Grell-Freitas scale-aware convection scheme. Our test forecasts show that the scheme produces a gradual transition in the deep convection, from the deep unstable convection being handled entirely by the convection scheme on the coarse mesh regions (dx > 15 km), to the deep convection being almost entirely explicit on the 3 km NA region of the meshes. We will present results illustrating the performance of critical aspects of the MPAS model in these tests.

The 1887 earthquake and tsunami in the Ligurian Sea: analysis of coastal effects studied by numerical modeling and prototype for real-time computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monnier, Angélique; Gailler, Audrey; Loevenbruck, Anne; Heinrich, Philippe; Hébert, Hélène

2017-04-01

The February 1887 earthquake in Italy (Imperia) triggered a tsunami well observed on the French and Italian coastlines. Tsunami waves were recorded on a tide gauge in the Genoa harbour with a small, recently reappraised maximum amplitude of about 10-12 cm (crest-to-trough). The magnitude of the earthquake is still debated in the recent literature, and discussed according to available macroseismic, tectonic and tsunami data. While the tsunami waveform observed in the Genoa harbour may be well explained with a magnitude smaller than 6.5 (Hébert et al., EGU 2015), we investigate in this study whether such source models are consistent with the tsunami effects reported elsewhere along the coastline. The idea is to take the opportunity of the fine bathymetric data recently synthetized for the French Tsunami Warning Center (CENALT) to test the 1887 source parameters using refined, nested grid tsunami numerical modeling down to the harbour scale. Several source parameters are investigated to provide a series of models accounting for various magnitudes and mechanisms. This allows us to compute the tsunami effects for several coastal sites in France (Nice, Villefranche, Antibes, Mandelieu, Cannes) and to compare with observations. Meanwhile we also check the computing time of the chosen scenarios to study whether running nested grids simulation in real time can be suitable in operational context in term of computational cost for these Ligurian scenarios. This work is supported by the FP7 ASTARTE project (Assessment Strategy and Risk Reduction for Tsunamis in Europe, grant 603839 FP7) and by the French PIA TANDEM (Tsunamis in the Atlantic and English ChaNnel: Definition of the Effects through Modeling) project (grant ANR-11-RSNR-00023).

A Data-Model Comparison over Europe using a new 2000-yr Summer Temperature Reconstruction from the PAGES 2k Regional Network and Last-Millennium GCM Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smerdon, Jason; Werner, Johannes; Fernandez-Donado, Laura; Buntgen, Ulf; Charpentier Ljungqvist, Fredrik; Esper, Jan; Fidel Gonzalez-Rouco, J.; Luterbacher, Juerg; McCarroll, Danny; Wagner, Sebastian; Wahl, Eugene; Wanner, Heinz; Zorita, Eduardo

2013-04-01

A new reconstruction of European summer (JJA) land temperatures is presented and compared to 37 forced transient simulations of the last millennium from coupled General Circulation Models (CGCMs). The reconstructions are derived from eleven annually resolved tree-ring and documentary records from ten European countries/regions, compiled as part of the Euro_Med working group contribution to the PAGES 2k Regional Network. Records were selected based upon their summer temperature signal, annual resolution, and time-continuous sampling. All tree-ring data were detrended using the Regional Curve Standardization (RCS) method to retain low-frequency variance in the resulting mean chronologies. A nested Composite-Plus-Scale (CPS) mean temperature reconstruction extending from 138 B.C.E. to 2003 C.E. was derived using nine nests reflecting the availability of predictors back in time. Each nest was calculated using a weighted composite based on the correlation of each proxy with the CRUTEM4v mean European JJA land temperature (35°-70°N, 10°W-40°E). The CPS methodology was implemented using a sliding calibration period, initially extending from 1850-1953 C.E. and incrementing by one year until reaching the final period of 1900-2003 C.E. Within each calibration step, the 50 years excluded from calibration were used for validation. Validation statistics across all reconstruction ensemble members within each nest indicate skillful reconstructions (RE: 0.42-0.64; CE: 0.26-0.54) and are all above the maximum validation statistics achieved in an ensemble of red noise benchmarking experiments. A gridded (5°x5°) European summer (JJA) temperature reconstruction back to 750 C.E. was derived using Bayesian inference together with a localized stochastic description of the underlying processes. Instrumental data are JJA means from the 5° European land grid cells in the CRUTEM4v dataset. Predictive experiments using the full proxy data were made, resulting in a multivariate distribution of temperature reconstructions from 750-2003 C.E. The mean of this distribution is the optimal estimate of the gridded JJA temperature anomalies and its width provides objective reconstruction uncertainties. The derived reconstruction is compared to withheld instrumental and proxy data to evaluate reconstruction skill on decadal-to-centennial time scales. A comparison between the mean Bayesian and CPS reconstructions indicates remarkable agreement, with a correlation during their period of overlap of 0.95. In both the Bayesian and CPS reconstructions, warm periods during the 1st, 2nd, and 7th-12th centuries compare to similar warm summer temperatures during the mid 20th century, although the 2003 summer remains the warmest single summer over the duration of the reconstructions. A relative period of cold summer temperatures is also noted from the 14th-19th centuries, consistent with the expected timing of the Little Ice Age. Comparisons between the reconstructions and the 37-member ensemble of millennium-length forced transient simulations from CGCMs, including eleven simulations from the collection of CMIP5/PMIP3 last-millennium experiments, indicate good regional agreement between reconstructions and models. Based on the separation of simulations into strong or weak scaling of total solar irradiance (TSI) forcing over the last millennium, there is some evidence that there is better agreement with the ensemble using strong TSI as forcing.

Scalability of grid- and subbasin-based land surface modeling approaches for hydrologic simulations

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

Tesfa, Teklu K.; Ruby Leung, L.; Huang, Maoyi

2014-03-27

This paper investigates the relative merits of grid- and subbasin-based land surface modeling approaches for hydrologic simulations, with a focus on their scalability (i.e., abilities to perform consistently across a range of spatial resolutions) in simulating runoff generation. Simulations produced by the grid- and subbasin-based configurations of the Community Land Model (CLM) are compared at four spatial resolutions (0.125o, 0.25o, 0.5o and 1o) over the topographically diverse region of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Using the 0.125o resolution simulation as the “reference”, statistical skill metrics are calculated and compared across simulations at 0.25o, 0.5o and 1o spatial resolutions of each modelingmore » approach at basin and topographic region levels. Results suggest significant scalability advantage for the subbasin-based approach compared to the grid-based approach for runoff generation. Basin level annual average relative errors of surface runoff at 0.25o, 0.5o, and 1o compared to 0.125o are 3%, 4%, and 6% for the subbasin-based configuration and 4%, 7%, and 11% for the grid-based configuration, respectively. The scalability advantages of the subbasin-based approach are more pronounced during winter/spring and over mountainous regions. The source of runoff scalability is found to be related to the scalability of major meteorological and land surface parameters of runoff generation. More specifically, the subbasin-based approach is more consistent across spatial scales than the grid-based approach in snowfall/rainfall partitioning, which is related to air temperature and surface elevation. Scalability of a topographic parameter used in the runoff parameterization also contributes to improved scalability of the rain driven saturated surface runoff component, particularly during winter. Hence this study demonstrates the importance of spatial structure for multi-scale modeling of hydrological processes, with implications to surface heat fluxes in coupled land-atmosphere modeling.« less

Improved assay to detect Plasmodium falciparum using an uninterrupted, semi-nested PCR and quantitative lateral flow analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background A rapid, non-invasive, and inexpensive point-of-care (POC) diagnostic for malaria followed by therapeutic intervention would improve the ability to control infection in endemic areas. Methods A semi-nested PCR amplification protocol is described for quantitative detection of Plasmodium falciparum and is compared to a traditional nested PCR. The approach uses primers that target the P. falciparum dihydrofolate reductase gene. Results This study demonstrates that it is possible to perform an uninterrupted, asymmetric, semi-nested PCR assay with reduced assay time to detect P. falciparum without compromising the sensitivity and specificity of the assay using saliva as a testing matrix. Conclusions The development of this PCR allows nucleic acid amplification without the need to transfer amplicon from the first PCR step to a second reaction tube with nested primers, thus reducing both the chance of contamination and the time for analysis to < two hours. Analysis of the PCR amplicon yield was adapted to lateral flow detection using the quantitative up-converting phosphor (UCP) reporter technology. This approach provides a basis for migration of the assay to a POC microfluidic format. In addition the assay was successfully evaluated with oral samples. Oral fluid collection provides a simple non-invasive method to collect clinical samples. PMID:23433252

Collar grids for intersecting geometric components within the Chimera overlapped grid scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parks, Steven J.; Buning, Pieter G.; Chan, William M.; Steger, Joseph L.

1991-01-01

A method for overcoming problems with using the Chimera overset grid scheme in the region of intersecting geometry components is presented. A 'collar grid' resolves the intersection region and provides communication between the component grids. This approach is validated by comparing computed and experimental data for a flow about a wing/body configuration. Application of the collar grid scheme to the Orbiter fuselage and vertical tail intersection in a computation of the full Space Shuttle launch vehicle demonstrates its usefulness for simulation of flow about complex aerospace vehicles.

Factors influencing nesting success of king eiders on northern Alaska's Coastal Plain

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bentzen, R.L.; Powell, A.N.; Suydam, R.S.

2008-01-01

King eider (Somateria spectabilis) populations have declined markedly in recent decades for unknown reasons. Nest survival is one component of recruitment, and a female's chance of reproductive success increases with her ability to choose an appropriate nesting strategy. We estimated variation in daily nest survival of king eiders at 2 sites, Teshekpuk and Kuparuk, Alaska, USA, 2002-2005. We evaluated both a priori and exploratory competing models of nest survival that considered importance of nest concealment, seclusion, and incubation constancy as strategies to avoid 2 primary egg predators, avian (Larus spp., Stercorarius spp., and Corvus corax) and fox (Alopex lagopus). We used generalized nonlinear techniques to examine factors affecting nest survival rates and information-theoretic approaches to select among competing models. Estimated nest survival, accounting for a nest visitation effect, varied considerably across sites and years (0.21-0.57); however, given our small sample size, much of this variation maybe attributable to sampling variation (??process = 0.007, 95% CI: 0.003-0.070). Nest survival was higher at Kuparuk than Teshekpuk in all years; however, due to the correlative nature of our data, we cannot determine the underlying causes with any certainty. We found mixed support for the concealed breeding strategy, females derived no benefit from nesting in areas with more willow (Salix spp.; measure of concealment) except that the observer effect diminished as willow cover increased. We suggest these patterns are due to conflicting predation pressures. Nest survival was not higher on islands (measure of seclusion) or with increased incubation constancy but was higher post-fox removal, indicating that predator control on breeding grounds could be a viable management option. Nest survival was negatively affected by our nest visitations, most likely by exposing the nest to avian scavengers. We recommend precautions be taken to limit the effects of nest visits in future studies and to consider them as a possible negative bias in estimated nest survival. Future models of the impacts of development within the breeding grounds of king eider should consider the influence of humans in the vicinity of nests.

Parameterized Finite Element Modeling and Buckling Analysis of Six Typical Composite Grid Cylindrical Shells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Changliang; Wang, Junbiao; Liu, Chuang

2014-10-01

Six typical composite grid cylindrical shells are constructed by superimposing three basic types of ribs. Then buckling behavior and structural efficiency of these shells are analyzed under axial compression, pure bending, torsion and transverse bending by finite element (FE) models. The FE models are created by a parametrical FE modeling approach that defines FE models with original natural twisted geometry and orients cross-sections of beam elements exactly. And the approach is parameterized and coded by Patran Command Language (PCL). The demonstrations of FE modeling indicate the program enables efficient generation of FE models and facilitates parametric studies and design of grid shells. Using the program, the effects of helical angles on the buckling behavior of six typical grid cylindrical shells are determined. The results of these studies indicate that the triangle grid and rotated triangle grid cylindrical shell are more efficient than others under axial compression and pure bending, whereas under torsion and transverse bending, the hexagon grid cylindrical shell is most efficient. Additionally, buckling mode shapes are compared and provide an understanding of composite grid cylindrical shells that is useful in preliminary design of such structures.

Direct Replacement of Arbitrary Grid-Overlapping by Non-Structured Grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Kai-Hsiung; Liou, Meng-Sing

1994-01-01

A new approach that uses nonstructured mesh to replace the arbitrarily overlapped structured regions of embedded grids is presented. The present methodology uses the Chimera composite overlapping mesh system so that the physical domain of the flowfield is subdivided into regions which can accommodate easily-generated grid for complex configuration. In addition, a Delaunay triangulation technique generates nonstructured triangular mesh which wraps over the interconnecting region of embedded grids. It is designed that the present approach, termed DRAGON grid, has three important advantages: eliminating some difficulties of the Chimera scheme, such as the orphan points and/or bad quality of interpolation stencils; making grid communication in a fully conservative way; and implementation into three dimensions is straightforward. A computer code based on a time accurate, finite volume, high resolution scheme for solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations has been further developed to include both the Chimera overset grid and the nonstructured mesh schemes. For steady state problems, the local time stepping accelerates convergence based on a Courant - Friedrichs - Leury (CFL) number near the local stability limit. Numerical tests on representative steady and unsteady supersonic inviscid flows with strong shock waves are demonstrated.

Hyperbolic Prismatic Grid Generation and Solution of Euler Equations on Prismatic Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pandya, S. A.; Chattot, JJ; Hafez, M. M.; Kutler, Paul (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

A hyperbolic grid generation method is used to generate prismatic grids and an approach using prismatic grids to solve the Euler equations is presented. The theory of the stability and feasibility of the hyperbolic grid generation method is presented. The hyperbolic grid generation method of Steger et al for structured grids is applied to a three dimensional triangularized surface definition to generate a grid that is unstructured on each successive layer. The grid, however, retains structure in the body-normal direction and has a computational cell shaped like a triangular prism. In order to take advantage of the structure in the normal direction, a finite-volume scheme that treats the unknowns along the normal direction implicitly is introduced and the flow over a sphere is simulated.

Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Black Hole Accretion Flows Using PATCHWORK, a Multi-Patch, multi-code approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avara, Mark J.; Noble, Scott; Shiokawa, Hotaka; Cheng, Roseanne; Campanelli, Manuela; Krolik, Julian H.

2017-08-01

A multi-patch approach to numerical simulations of black hole accretion flows allows one to robustly match numerical grid shape and equations solved to the natural structure of the physical system. For instance, a cartesian gridded patch can be used to cover coordinate singularities on a spherical-polar grid, increasing computational efficiency and better capturing the physical system through natural symmetries. We will present early tests, initial applications, and first results from the new MHD implementation of the PATCHWORK framework.

Assessment of grid optimisation measures for the German transmission grid using open source grid data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Böing, F.; Murmann, A.; Pellinger, C.; Bruckmeier, A.; Kern, T.; Mongin, T.

2018-02-01

The expansion of capacities in the German transmission grid is a necessity for further integration of renewable energy sources into the electricity sector. In this paper, the grid optimisation measures ‘Overhead Line Monitoring’, ‘Power-to-Heat’ and ‘Demand Response in the Industry’ are evaluated and compared against conventional grid expansion for the year 2030. Initially, the methodical approach of the simulation model is presented and detailed descriptions of the grid model and the used grid data, which partly originates from open-source platforms, are provided. Further, this paper explains how ‘Curtailment’ and ‘Redispatch’ can be reduced by implementing grid optimisation measures and how the depreciation of economic costs can be determined considering construction costs. The developed simulations show that the conventional grid expansion is more efficient and implies more grid relieving effects than the evaluated grid optimisation measures.

An Improved Compressive Sensing and Received Signal Strength-Based Target Localization Algorithm with Unknown Target Population for Wireless Local Area Networks.

PubMed

Yan, Jun; Yu, Kegen; Chen, Ruizhi; Chen, Liang

2017-05-30

In this paper a two-phase compressive sensing (CS) and received signal strength (RSS)-based target localization approach is proposed to improve position accuracy by dealing with the unknown target population and the effect of grid dimensions on position error. In the coarse localization phase, by formulating target localization as a sparse signal recovery problem, grids with recovery vector components greater than a threshold are chosen as the candidate target grids. In the fine localization phase, by partitioning each candidate grid, the target position in a grid is iteratively refined by using the minimum residual error rule and the least-squares technique. When all the candidate target grids are iteratively partitioned and the measurement matrix is updated, the recovery vector is re-estimated. Threshold-based detection is employed again to determine the target grids and hence the target population. As a consequence, both the target population and the position estimation accuracy can be significantly improved. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves the best accuracy among all the algorithms compared.

An Intelligent Approach to Strengthening of the Rural Electrical Power Supply Using Renewable Energy Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robert, F. C.; Sisodia, G. S.; Gopalan, S.

2017-08-01

The healthy growth of economy lies in the balance between rural and urban development. Several developing countries have achieved a successful growth of urban areas, yet rural infrastructure has been neglected until recently. The rural electrical grids are weak with heavy losses and low capacity. Renewable energy represents an efficient way to generate electricity locally. However, the renewable energy generation may be limited by the low grid capacity. The current solutions focus on grid reinforcement only. This article presents a model for improving renewable energy integration in rural grids with the intelligent combination of three strategies: 1) grid reinforcement, 2) use of storage and 3) renewable energy curtailments. Such approach provides a solution to integrate a maximum of renewable energy generation on low capacity grids while minimising project cost and increasing the percentage of utilisation of assets. The test cases show that a grid connection agreement and a main inverter sized at 60 kW (resp. 80 kW) can accommodate a 100 kWp solar park (resp. 100 kW wind turbine) with minimal storage.

Semantic web data warehousing for caGrid.

PubMed

McCusker, James P; Phillips, Joshua A; González Beltrán, Alejandra; Finkelstein, Anthony; Krauthammer, Michael

2009-10-01

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing caGrid as a means for sharing cancer-related data and services. As more data sets become available on caGrid, we need effective ways of accessing and integrating this information. Although the data models exposed on caGrid are semantically well annotated, it is currently up to the caGrid client to infer relationships between the different models and their classes. In this paper, we present a Semantic Web-based data warehouse (Corvus) for creating relationships among caGrid models. This is accomplished through the transformation of semantically-annotated caBIG Unified Modeling Language (UML) information models into Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontologies that preserve those semantics. We demonstrate the validity of the approach by Semantic Extraction, Transformation and Loading (SETL) of data from two caGrid data sources, caTissue and caArray, as well as alignment and query of those sources in Corvus. We argue that semantic integration is necessary for integration of data from distributed web services and that Corvus is a useful way of accomplishing this. Our approach is generalizable and of broad utility to researchers facing similar integration challenges.

AVQS: Attack Route-Based Vulnerability Quantification Scheme for Smart Grid

PubMed Central

Lim, Hyunwoo; Lee, Seokjun; Shon, Taeshik

2014-01-01

A smart grid is a large, consolidated electrical grid system that includes heterogeneous networks and systems. Based on the data, a smart grid system has a potential security threat in its network connectivity. To solve this problem, we develop and apply a novel scheme to measure the vulnerability in a smart grid domain. Vulnerability quantification can be the first step in security analysis because it can help prioritize the security problems. However, existing vulnerability quantification schemes are not suitable for smart grid because they do not consider network vulnerabilities. We propose a novel attack route-based vulnerability quantification scheme using a network vulnerability score and an end-to-end security score, depending on the specific smart grid network environment to calculate the vulnerability score for a particular attack route. To evaluate the proposed approach, we derive several attack scenarios from the advanced metering infrastructure domain. The experimental results of the proposed approach and the existing common vulnerability scoring system clearly show that we need to consider network connectivity for more optimized vulnerability quantification. PMID:25152923

Application of multi-grid methods for solving the Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Demuren, A. O.

1989-01-01

The application of a class of multi-grid methods to the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for two-dimensional laminar flow problems is discussed. The methods consist of combining the full approximation scheme-full multi-grid technique (FAS-FMG) with point-, line-, or plane-relaxation routines for solving the Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables. The performance of the multi-grid methods is compared to that of several single-grid methods. The results show that much faster convergence can be procured through the use of the multi-grid approach than through the various suggestions for improving single-grid methods. The importance of the choice of relaxation scheme for the multi-grid method is illustrated.

Application of multi-grid methods for solving the Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Demuren, A. O.

1989-01-01

This paper presents the application of a class of multi-grid methods to the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for two-dimensional laminar flow problems. The methods consists of combining the full approximation scheme-full multi-grid technique (FAS-FMG) with point-, line- or plane-relaxation routines for solving the Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables. The performance of the multi-grid methods is compared to those of several single-grid methods. The results show that much faster convergence can be procured through the use of the multi-grid approach than through the various suggestions for improving single-grid methods. The importance of the choice of relaxation scheme for the multi-grid method is illustrated.

Direct torque control method applied to the WECS based on the PMSG and controlled with backstepping approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Errami, Youssef; Obbadi, Abdellatif; Sahnoun, Smail; Ouassaid, Mohammed; Maaroufi, Mohamed

2018-05-01

This paper proposes a Direct Torque Control (DTC) method for Wind Power System (WPS) based Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) and Backstepping approach. In this work, generator side and grid-side converter with filter are used as the interface between the wind turbine and grid. Backstepping approach demonstrates great performance in complicated nonlinear systems control such as WPS. So, the control method combines the DTC to achieve Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and Backstepping approach to sustain the DC-bus voltage and to regulate the grid-side power factor. In addition, control strategy is developed in the sense of Lyapunov stability theorem for the WPS. Simulation results using MATLAB/Simulink validate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.

e-Human Grid Ecology - understanding and approaching the inverse tragedy of the commons in the e-Grid society.

PubMed

Knoch, Tobias A; Baumgärtner, Volkmar; de Zeeuw, Luc V; Grosveld, Frank G; Egger, Kurt

2009-01-01

With ever-new technologies emerging also the amount of information to be stored and processed is growing exponentially and is believed to be always at the limit. In contrast, however, huge resources are available in the IT sector alike e.g. the renewable energy sector, which are often even not at all used. This under-usage bares any rational especially in the IT sector where e.g. virtualisation and grid approaches could be fast implemented due to the great technical and fast turnover opportunities. Here, we describe this obvious paradox for the first time as the Inverse Tragedy of the Commons, in contrast to the Classical Tragedy of the Commons where resources are overexploited. From this perspective the grid IT sector attempting to share resources for better efficiency, reveals two challenges leading to the heart of the paradox: i) From a macro perspective all grid infrastructures involve not only mere technical solutions but also dominantly all of the autopoietic social sub-systems ranging from religion to policy. ii) On the micro level the individual players and their psychology and risk behaviour are of major importance for acting within the macro autopoietic framework. Thus, the challenges of grid implementation are similar to those of e.g. climate protection. This is well described by the classic Human Ecology triangle and our extension to a rectangle: invironment-individual-society-environment. Extension of this classical interdisciplinary field of basic and applied research to an e-Human Grid Ecology rational, allows the Inverse Tragedy of the Commons of the grid sector to be understood and approached better and implies obvious guidelines in the day-to-day management for grid and other (networked) resources, which is of importance for many fields with similar paradoxes as in (e-)society.

Evaluation of the WRF model for precipitation downscaling on orographic complex islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz, Juan P.; González, Albano; Expósito, Francisco; Pérez, Juan C.

2010-05-01

General Circulation Models (GCMs) have proven to be an effective tool to simulate many aspects of large-scale and global climate. However, their applicability to climate impact studies is limited by their capabilities to resolve regional scale situations. In this sense, dynamical downscaling techniques are an appropriate alternative to estimate high resolution regional climatologies. In this work, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) has been used to simulate precipitations over the Canary Islands region during 2009. The precipitation patterns over Canary Islands, located at North Atlantic region, show large gradients over a relatively small geographical area due to large scale factors such as Trade Winds regime predominant in the area and mesoscale factors mainly due to the complex terrain. Sensitivity study of simulated WRF precipitations to variations in model setup and parameterizations was carried out. Thus, WRF experiments were performed using two way nesting at 3 km horizontal grid spacing and 28 vertical levels in the Canaries inner domain. The initial and lateral and lower boundary conditions for the outer domain were provided at 6 hourly intervals by NCEP FNL (Final) Operational Global Analysis data on 1.0x1.0 degree resolution interpolated onto the WRF model grid. Numerous model options have been tested, including different microphysics schemes, cumulus parameterizations and nudging configuration Positive-definite moisture advection condition was also checked. Two integration approaches were analyzed: a 1-year continuous long-term integration and a consecutive short-term monthly reinitialized integration. To assess the accuracy of our simulations, model results are compared against observational datasets obtained from a network of meteorological stations in the region. In general, we can observe that the regional model is able to reproduce the spatial distribution of precipitation, but overestimates rainfall, mainly during strong precipitation events.

Highly variable aerodynamic roughness length (z0) for a hummocky debris-covered glacier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miles, Evan S.; Steiner, Jakob F.; Brun, Fanny

2017-08-01

The aerodynamic roughness length (z0) is an essential parameter in surface energy balance studies, but few literature values exist for debris-covered glaciers. We use microtopographic and aerodynamic methods to assess the spatial variability of z0 for Lirung Glacier, Nepal. We apply structure from motion to produce digital elevation models for three nested domains: five 1 m2 plots, a 21,300 m2 surface depression, and the lower 550,000 m2 of the debris-mantled tongue. Wind and temperature sensor towers were installed in the vicinity of the plots within the surface depression in October 2014. We calculate z0 according to a variety of transect-based microtopographic parameterizations for each plot, then develop a grid version of the algorithms by aggregating data from all transects. This grid approach is applied to the surface depression digital elevation model to characterize z0 spatial variability. The algorithms reproduce the same variability among transects and plots, but z0 estimates vary by an order of magnitude between algorithms. Across the study depression, results from different algorithms are strongly correlated. Using Monin-Obukov similarity theory, we derive z0 values from the meteorological data. Using different stability criteria, we derive median values of z0 between 0.03 m and 0.05 m, but with considerable uncertainty due to the glacier's complex topography. Considering estimates from these algorithms, results suggest that z0 varies across Lirung Glacier between ˜0.005 m (gravels) to ˜0.5 m (boulders). Future efforts should assess the importance of such variable z0 values in a distributed energy balance model.

A spatial classification and database for management, research, and policy making: The Great Lakes aquatic habitat framework

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wang, Lizhu; Riseng, Catherine M.; Mason, Lacey; Werhrly, Kevin; Rutherford, Edward; McKenna, James E.; Castiglione, Chris; Johnson, Lucinda B.; Infante, Dana M.; Sowa, Scott P.; Robertson, Mike; Schaeffer, Jeff; Khoury, Mary; Gaiot, John; Hollenhurst, Tom; Brooks, Colin N.; Coscarelli, Mark

2015-01-01

Managing the world's largest and most complex freshwater ecosystem, the Laurentian Great Lakes, requires a spatially hierarchical basin-wide database of ecological and socioeconomic information that is comparable across the region. To meet such a need, we developed a spatial classification framework and database — Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework (GLAHF). GLAHF consists of catchments, coastal terrestrial, coastal margin, nearshore, and offshore zones that encompass the entire Great Lakes Basin. The catchments captured in the database as river pour points or coastline segments are attributed with data known to influence physicochemical and biological characteristics of the lakes from the catchments. The coastal terrestrial zone consists of 30-m grid cells attributed with data from the terrestrial region that has direct connection with the lakes. The coastal margin and nearshore zones consist of 30-m grid cells attributed with data describing the coastline conditions, coastal human disturbances, and moderately to highly variable physicochemical and biological characteristics. The offshore zone consists of 1.8-km grid cells attributed with data that are spatially less variable compared with the other aquatic zones. These spatial classification zones and their associated data are nested within lake sub-basins and political boundaries and allow the synthesis of information from grid cells to classification zones, within and among political boundaries, lake sub-basins, Great Lakes, or within the entire Great Lakes Basin. This spatially structured database could help the development of basin-wide management plans, prioritize locations for funding and specific management actions, track protection and restoration progress, and conduct research for science-based decision making.

Fully automatic hp-adaptivity for acoustic and electromagnetic scattering in three dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurtz, Jason Patrick

We present an algorithm for fully automatic hp-adaptivity for finite element approximations of elliptic and Maxwell boundary value problems in three dimensions. The algorithm automatically generates a sequence of coarse grids, and a corresponding sequence of fine grids, such that the energy norm of the error decreases exponentially with respect to the number of degrees of freedom in either sequence. At each step, we employ a discrete optimization algorithm to determine the refinements for the current coarse grid such that the projection-based interpolation error for the current fine grid solution decreases with an optimal rate with respect to the number of degrees of freedom added by the refinement. The refinements are restricted only by the requirement that the resulting mesh is at most 1-irregular, but they may be anisotropic in both element size h and order of approximation p. While we cannot prove that our method converges at all, we present numerical evidence of exponential convergence for a diverse suite of model problems from acoustic and electromagnetic scattering. In particular we show that our method is well suited to the automatic resolution of exterior problems truncated by the introduction of a perfectly matched layer. To enable and accelerate the solution of these problems on commodity hardware, we include a detailed account of three critical aspects of our implementation, namely an efficient implementation of sum factorization, several efficient interfaces to the direct multi-frontal solver MUMPS, and some fast direct solvers for the computation of a sequence of nested projections.

Creation of parallel algorithms for the solution of problems of gas dynamics on multi-core computers and GPU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rybakin, B.; Bogatencov, P.; Secrieru, G.; Iliuha, N.

2013-10-01

The paper deals with a parallel algorithm for calculations on multiprocessor computers and GPU accelerators. The calculations of shock waves interaction with low-density bubble results and the problem of the gas flow with the forces of gravity are presented. This algorithm combines a possibility to capture a high resolution of shock waves, the second-order accuracy for TVD schemes, and a possibility to observe a low-level diffusion of the advection scheme. Many complex problems of continuum mechanics are numerically solved on structured or unstructured grids. To improve the accuracy of the calculations is necessary to choose a sufficiently small grid (with a small cell size). This leads to the drawback of a substantial increase of computation time. Therefore, for the calculations of complex problems it is reasonable to use the method of Adaptive Mesh Refinement. That is, the grid refinement is performed only in the areas of interest of the structure, where, e.g., the shock waves are generated, or a complex geometry or other such features exist. Thus, the computing time is greatly reduced. In addition, the execution of the application on the resulting sequence of nested, decreasing nets can be parallelized. Proposed algorithm is based on the AMR method. Utilization of AMR method can significantly improve the resolution of the difference grid in areas of high interest, and from other side to accelerate the processes of the multi-dimensional problems calculating. Parallel algorithms of the analyzed difference models realized for the purpose of calculations on graphic processors using the CUDA technology [1].

Association between nighttime artificial light pollution and sea turtle nest density along Florida coast: A geospatial study using VIIRS remote sensing data.

PubMed

Hu, Zhiyong; Hu, Hongda; Huang, Yuxia

2018-08-01

Artificial lighting at night has becoming a new type of pollution posing an important anthropogenic environmental pressure on organisms. The objective of this research was to examine the potential association between nighttime artificial light pollution and nest densities of the three main sea turtle species along Florida beaches, including green turtles, loggerheads, and leatherbacks. Sea turtle survey data was obtained from the "Florida Statewide Nesting Beach Survey program". We used the new generation of satellite sensor "Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)" (version 1 D/N Band) nighttime annual average radiance composite image data. We defined light pollution as artificial light brightness greater than 10% of the natural sky brightness above 45° of elevation (>1.14 × 10 -11 Wm -2 sr -1 ). We fitted a generalized linear model (GLM), a GLM with eigenvectors spatial filtering (GLM-ESF), and a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach for each species to examine the potential correlation of nest density with light pollution. Our models are robust and reliable in terms of the ability to deal with data distribution and spatial autocorrelation (SA) issues violating model assumptions. All three models found that nest density is significantly negatively correlated with light pollution for each sea turtle species: the higher light pollution, the lower nest density. The two spatially extended models (GLM-ESF and GEE) show that light pollution influences nest density in a descending order from green turtles, to loggerheads, and then to leatherbacks. The research findings have an implication for sea turtle conservation policy and ordinance making. Near-coastal lights-out ordinances and other approaches to shield lights can protect sea turtles and their nests. The VIIRS DNB light data, having significant improvements over comparable data by its predecessor, the DMSP-OLS, shows promise for continued and improved research about ecological effects of artificial light pollution. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multilevel and Single-Level Models for Measured and Latent Variables When Data Are Clustered

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapleton, Laura M.; McNeish, Daniel M.; Yang, Ji Seung

2016-01-01

Multilevel models are often used to evaluate hypotheses about relations among constructs when data are nested within clusters (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002), although alternative approaches are available when analyzing nested data (Binder & Roberts, 2003; Sterba, 2009). The overarching goal of this article is to suggest when it is appropriate…

Selection of anthropogenic features and vegetation characteristics by nesting Common Ravens in the sagebrush ecosystem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howe, Kristy B.; Coates, Peter S.; Delehanty, David J.

2014-01-01

Common Raven (Corvus corax) numbers and distribution are increasing throughout the sagebrush steppe, influencing avian communities in complex ways. Anthropogenic structures are thought to increase raven populations by providing food and nesting subsidies, which is cause for concern because ravens are important nest predators of sensitive species, including Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). During 2007–2009, we located raven nests in southeastern Idaho and conducted a resource selection analysis. We measured variables at multiple spatial scales for 72 unique nest locations, including landscape-level vegetation characteristics and anthropogenic structures. Using generalized linear mixed models and an information-theoretic approach, we found a 31% decrease in the odds of nesting by ravens for every 1 km increase in distance away from a transmission line. Furthermore, a 100-m increase in distance away from the edge of two different land cover types decreased the odds of nesting by 20%, and an increase in the amount of edge by 1 km within an area of 102.1 ha centered on the nest increased the odds of nesting by 49%. A post hoc analysis revealed that ravens were most likely to nest near edges of adjoining big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and land cover types that were associated with direct human disturbance or fire. These findings contribute to our understanding of raven expansion into rural environments and could be used to make better-informed conservation decisions, especially in the face of increasing renewable energy development.

Coordinating compass-based and nest-based flight directions during bumblebee learning and return flights.

PubMed

Collett, Thomas S; de Ibarra, Natalie Hempel; Riabinina, Olena; Philippides, Andrew

2013-03-15

Bumblebees tend to face their nest over a limited range of compass directions when learning the nest's location on departure and finding it on their approach after foraging. They thus obtain similar views of the nest and its surroundings on their learning and return flights. How do bees coordinate their flights relative to nest-based and compass-based reference frames to get such similar views? We show, first, that learning and return flights contain straight segments that are directed along particular compass bearings, which are independent of the orientation of a bee's body. Bees are thus free within limits to adjust their viewing direction relative to the nest, without disturbing flight direction. Second, we examine the coordination of nest-based and compass-based control during likely information gathering segments of these flights: loops during learning flights and zigzags on return flights. We find that bees tend to start a loop or zigzag when flying within a restricted range of compass directions and to fly towards the nest and face it after a fixed change in compass direction, without continuous interactions between their nest-based and compass-based directions of flight. A preferred trajectory of compass-based flight over the course of a motif, combined with the tendency of the bees to keep their body oriented towards the nest automatically narrows the range of compass directions over which bees view the nest. Additionally, the absence of interactions between the two reference frames allows loops and zigzags to have a stereotyped form that can generate informative visual feedback.

An Advanced User Interface Approach for Complex Parameter Study Process Specification in the Information Power Grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yarrow, Maurice; McCann, Karen M.; Biswas, Rupak; VanderWijngaart, Rob; Yan, Jerry C. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The creation of parameter study suites has recently become a more challenging problem as the parameter studies have now become multi-tiered and the computational environment has become a supercomputer grid. The parameter spaces are vast, the individual problem sizes are getting larger, and researchers are now seeking to combine several successive stages of parameterization and computation. Simultaneously, grid-based computing offers great resource opportunity but at the expense of great difficulty of use. We present an approach to this problem which stresses intuitive visual design tools for parameter study creation and complex process specification, and also offers programming-free access to grid-based supercomputer resources and process automation.

Application of Lagrangian blending functions for grid generation around airplane geometries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abolhassani, Jamshid S.; Sadrehaghighi, Ideen; Tiwari, Surendra N.

1990-01-01

A simple procedure was developed and applied for the grid generation around an airplane geometry. This approach is based on a transfinite interpolation with Lagrangian interpolation for the blending functions. A monotonic rational quadratic spline interpolation was employed for the grid distributions.

Hydroacoustic propagation grids for the CTBT knowledge databaes BBN technical memorandum W1303

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

J. Angell

1998-05-01

The Hydroacoustic Coverage Assessment Model (HydroCAM) has been used to develop components of the hydroacoustic knowledge database required by operational monitoring systems, particularly the US National Data Center (NDC). The database, which consists of travel time, amplitude correction and travel time standard deviation grids, is planned to support source location, discrimination and estimation functions of the monitoring network. The grids will also be used under the current BBN subcontract to support an analysis of the performance of the International Monitoring System (IMS) and national sensor systems. This report describes the format and contents of the hydroacoustic knowledgebase grids, and themore » procedures and model parameters used to generate these grids. Comparisons between the knowledge grids, measured data and other modeled results are presented to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach. A recommended approach for augmenting the knowledge database with a database of expected spectral/waveform characteristics is provided in the final section of the report.« less

Movements and Habitat-Use of Loggerhead Sea Turtles in the Northern Gulf of Mexico during the Reproductive Period

PubMed Central

Hart, Kristen M.; Lamont, Margaret M.; Sartain, Autumn R.; Fujisaki, Ikuko; Stephens, Brail S.

2013-01-01

Nesting strategies and use of important in-water habitats for far-ranging marine turtles can be determined using satellite telemetry. Because of a lack of information on habitat-use by marine turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico, we used satellite transmitters in 2010 through 2012 to track movements of 39 adult female breeding loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) tagged on nesting beaches at three sites in Florida and Alabama. During the nesting season, recaptured turtles emerged to nest 1 to 5 times, with mean distance between emergences of 27.5 km; however, several turtles nested on beaches separated by ∼250 km within a single season. Mean total distances traveled throughout inter-nesting periods for all turtles was 1422.0±930.8 km. In-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using 50% kernel density estimation (KDE), were located a mean distance of 33.0 km from land, in water with mean depth of −31.6 m; other in-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach, were located a mean 13.8 km from land and in water with a mean depth of −15.8 m. Mean size of in-water inter-nesting habitats were 61.9 km2 (50% KDEs, n = 10) and 741.4 km2 (MCPs, n = 30); these areas overlapped significantly with trawling and oil and gas extraction activities. Abundance estimates for this nesting subpopulation may be inaccurate in light of how much spread there is between nests of the same individual. Further, our results also have consequences for critical habitat designations for northern Gulf loggerheads, as protection of one nesting beach would not encompass the entire range used by turtles during breeding seasons. PMID:23843971

Movements and habitat-use of loggerhead sea turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the reproductive period

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hart, Kristen M.; Lamont, Margaret M.; Sartain-Iverson, Autumn R.; Fujisaki, Ikuko; Stephens, Brail S.

2013-01-01

Nesting strategies and use of important in-water habitats for far-ranging marine turtles can be determined using satellite telemetry. Because of a lack of information on habitat-use by marine turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico, we used satellite transmitters in 2010 through 2012 to track movements of 39 adult female breeding loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) tagged on nesting beaches at three sites in Florida and Alabama. During the nesting season, recaptured turtles emerged to nest 1 to 5 times, with mean distance between emergences of 27.5 km; however, several turtles nested on beaches separated by ~250 km within a single season. Mean total distances traveled throughout inter-nesting periods for all turtles was 1422.0±930.8 km. In-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using 50% kernel density estimation (KDE), were located a mean distance of 33.0 km from land, in water with mean depth of −31.6 m; other in-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach, were located a mean 13.8 km from land and in water with a mean depth of −15.8 m. Mean size of in-water inter-nesting habitats were 61.9 km2 (50% KDEs, n = 10) and 741.4 km2 (MCPs, n = 30); these areas overlapped significantly with trawling and oil and gas extraction activities. Abundance estimates for this nesting subpopulation may be inaccurate in light of how much spread there is between nests of the same individual. Further, our results also have consequences for critical habitat designations for northern Gulf loggerheads, as protection of one nesting beach would not encompass the entire range used by turtles during breeding seasons.

Movements and habitat-use of loggerhead sea turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the reproductive period.

PubMed

Hart, Kristen M; Lamont, Margaret M; Sartain, Autumn R; Fujisaki, Ikuko; Stephens, Brail S

2013-01-01

Nesting strategies and use of important in-water habitats for far-ranging marine turtles can be determined using satellite telemetry. Because of a lack of information on habitat-use by marine turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico, we used satellite transmitters in 2010 through 2012 to track movements of 39 adult female breeding loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) tagged on nesting beaches at three sites in Florida and Alabama. During the nesting season, recaptured turtles emerged to nest 1 to 5 times, with mean distance between emergences of 27.5 km; however, several turtles nested on beaches separated by ~250 km within a single season. Mean total distances traveled throughout inter-nesting periods for all turtles was 1422.0 ± 930.8 km. In-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using 50% kernel density estimation (KDE), were located a mean distance of 33.0 km from land, in water with mean depth of -31.6 m; other in-water inter-nesting sites, delineated using minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach, were located a mean 13.8 km from land and in water with a mean depth of -15.8 m. Mean size of in-water inter-nesting habitats were 61.9 km(2) (50% KDEs, n = 10) and 741.4 km(2) (MCPs, n = 30); these areas overlapped significantly with trawling and oil and gas extraction activities. Abundance estimates for this nesting subpopulation may be inaccurate in light of how much spread there is between nests of the same individual. Further, our results also have consequences for critical habitat designations for northern Gulf loggerheads, as protection of one nesting beach would not encompass the entire range used by turtles during breeding seasons.

Marine turtles are not fussy nesters: a novel test of small-scale nest site selection using structure from motion beach terrain information

PubMed Central

Leon, Javier X.; Gilby, Ben L.; Olds, Andrew D.; Schlacher, Thomas A.

2017-01-01

Background Nest selection is widely regarded as a key process determining the fitness of individuals and viability of animal populations. For marine turtles that nest on beaches, this is particularly pivotal as the nesting environment can significantly control reproductive success.The aim of this study was to identify the environmental attributes of beaches (i.e., morphology, vegetation, urbanisation) that may be associated with successful oviposition in green and loggerhead turtle nests. Methods We quantified the proximity of turtle nests (and surrounding beach locations) to urban areas, measured their exposure to artificial light, and used ultra-high resolution (cm-scale) digital surface models derived from Structure-from-Motion (SfM) algorithms, to characterise geomorphic and vegetation features of beaches on the Sunshine Coast, eastern Australia. Results At small spatial scales (i.e., <100 m), we found no evidence that turtles selected nest sites based on a particular suite of environmental attributes (i.e., the attributes of nest sites were not consistently different from those of surrounding beach locations). Nest sites were, however, typically characterised by occurring close to vegetation, on parts of the shore where the beach- and dune-face was concave and not highly rugged, and in areas with moderate exposure to artificial light. Conclusion This study used a novel empirical approach to identify the attributes of turtle nest sites from a broader ‘envelope’ of environmental nest traits, and is the first step towards optimizing conservation actions to mitigate, at the local scale, present and emerging human impacts on turtle nesting beaches. PMID:28070454

Present and future thermal environments available to Sharp-tailed Grouse in an intact grassland.

PubMed

Raynor, Edward J; Powell, Larkin A; Schacht, Walter H

2018-01-01

Better understanding animal ecology in terms of thermal habitat use has become a focus of ecological studies, in large part due to the predicted temperature increases associated with global climate change. To further our knowledge on how ground-nesting endotherms respond to thermal landscapes, we examined the thermal ecology of Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) during the nesting period. We measured site-specific iButton temperatures (TiB) and vegetation characteristics at nest sites, nearby random sites, and landscape sites to assess thermal patterns at scales relevant to nesting birds. We asked if microhabitat vegetation characteristics at nest sites matched the characteristics that directed macrohabitat nest-site selection. Grouse selected sites sheltered by dense vegetation for nesting that moderated TiB on average up to 2.7°C more than available landscape sites. Successful nests were positioned in a way that reduced exposure to thermal extremes by as much as 4°C relative to failed nests with an overall mean daytime difference (±SE) of 0.4 ±0.03°C. We found that macrohabitat nest-site selection was guided by dense vegetation cover and minimal bare ground as also seen at the microhabitat scale. Global climate projections for 2080 suggest that TiB at nest sites may approach temperatures currently avoided on the landscape, emphasizing a need for future conservation plans that acknowledge fine-scale thermal space in climate change scenarios. These data show that features of grassland landscapes can buffer organisms from unfavorable microclimatic conditions and highlight how thermal heterogeneity at the individual-level can drive decisions guiding nest site selection.

Present and future thermal environments available to Sharp-tailed Grouse in an intact grassland

PubMed Central

Powell, Larkin A.; Schacht, Walter H.

2018-01-01

Better understanding animal ecology in terms of thermal habitat use has become a focus of ecological studies, in large part due to the predicted temperature increases associated with global climate change. To further our knowledge on how ground-nesting endotherms respond to thermal landscapes, we examined the thermal ecology of Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) during the nesting period. We measured site-specific iButton temperatures (TiB) and vegetation characteristics at nest sites, nearby random sites, and landscape sites to assess thermal patterns at scales relevant to nesting birds. We asked if microhabitat vegetation characteristics at nest sites matched the characteristics that directed macrohabitat nest-site selection. Grouse selected sites sheltered by dense vegetation for nesting that moderated TiB on average up to 2.7°C more than available landscape sites. Successful nests were positioned in a way that reduced exposure to thermal extremes by as much as 4°C relative to failed nests with an overall mean daytime difference (±SE) of 0.4 ±0.03°C. We found that macrohabitat nest-site selection was guided by dense vegetation cover and minimal bare ground as also seen at the microhabitat scale. Global climate projections for 2080 suggest that TiB at nest sites may approach temperatures currently avoided on the landscape, emphasizing a need for future conservation plans that acknowledge fine-scale thermal space in climate change scenarios. These data show that features of grassland landscapes can buffer organisms from unfavorable microclimatic conditions and highlight how thermal heterogeneity at the individual-level can drive decisions guiding nest site selection. PMID:29415080

Population-specific demographic estimates provide insights into declines of Lark Buntings (Calamospiza melanocorys)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Yackel Adams, A.A.; Skagen, S.K.; Savidge, J.A.

2007-01-01

Many North American prairie bird populations have recently declined, and the causes of these declines remain largely unknown. To determine whether population limitation occurs during breeding, we evaluated the stability of a population of prairie birds using population-specific values for fecundity and postfledging survival. During 2001-2003, we radiomarked 67 female Lark Buntings (Calamospiza melanocorys) to determine annual fecundity and evaluate contributing factors such as nest survival and breeding response (number of breeding attempts and dispersal). Collectively, 67 females built 112 nests (1.67 ± 0.07 nests female−1 season−1; range: 1–3); 34 were second nests and 11 were third nests. Daily nest survival estimates were similar for initial and later nests with overall nest survival (DSR19) of 30.7% and 31.7%, respectively. Nest predation was the most common cause of failure (92%). Capture and radiomarking of females did not affect nest survival. Lark Bunting dispersal probabilities increased among females that fledged young from initial nests and females that lost their original nests late in the season. Conservative and liberal estimates of mean annual fecundity were 0.96 ±0.11 and 1.24 ± 0.09 female offspring per female, respectively. Given the fecundity and juvenile-survival estimates for this population, annual adult survival values of 71–77% are necessary to achieve a stable population. Because adult survival of prairie passerines ranges between 55% and 65%, this study area may not be capable of sustaining a stable population in the absence of immigration. We contrast our population assessment with one that assumes indirect values of fecundity and juvenile survival. To elucidate limiting factors, estimation of population-specific demographic parameters is desirable. We present an approach for selecting species and areas for evaluation of population stability.

Simulation of axisymmetric jets with a finite element Navier-Stokes solver and a multilevel VOF approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervone, A.; Manservisi, S.; Scardovelli, R.

2010-09-01

A multilevel VOF approach has been coupled to an accurate finite element Navier-Stokes solver in axisymmetric geometry for the simulation of incompressible liquid jets with high density ratios. The representation of the color function over a fine grid has been introduced to reduce the discontinuity of the interface at the cell boundary. In the refined grid the automatic breakup and coalescence occur at a spatial scale much smaller than the coarse grid spacing. To reduce memory requirements, we have implemented on the fine grid a compact storage scheme which memorizes the color function data only in the mixed cells. The capillary force is computed by using the Laplace-Beltrami operator and a volumetric approach for the two principal curvatures. Several simulations of axisymmetric jets have been performed to show the accuracy and robustness of the proposed scheme.

Landmark memories are more robust when acquired at the nest site than en route: experiments in desert ants.

PubMed

Bisch-Knaden, Sonja; Wehner, Rüdiger

2003-03-01

Foraging desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, encounter different sequences of visual landmarks while navigating by path integration. This paper explores the question whether the storage of landmark information depends on the context in which the landmarks are learned during an ant's foraging journey. Two experimental set-ups were designed in which the ants experienced an artificial landmark panorama that was placed either around the nest entrance (nest marks) or along the vector route leading straight towards the feeder (route marks). The two training paradigms resulted in pronounced differences in the storage characteristics of the acquired landmark information: memory traces of nest marks were much more robust against extinction and/or suppression than those of route marks. In functional terms, this result is in accord with the observation that desert ants encounter new route marks during every foraging run but always pass the same landmarks when approaching the nest entrance.

Nest-Gallery Development and Caste Composition of Isolated Foraging Groups of the Drywood Termite, Incisitermes minor (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae)

PubMed Central

Himmi, S. Khoirul; Yoshimura, Tsuyoshi; Yanase, Yoshiyuki; Oya, Masao; Torigoe, Toshiyuki; Akada, Masanori; Imadzu, Setsuo

2016-01-01

An X-ray computed-tomographic examination of nest-gallery development from timbers naturally infested by foraging groups of Incisitermes minor colonies was conducted. This study documents the colonization process of I. minor to new timbers and how the isolated groups maintain their nest-gallery system. The results suggested that development of a nest-gallery within a suitable wood item is not random, but shows selection for softer substrate and other adaptations to the different timber environments. Stigmergic coordinations were expressed in dynamic changes of the nest-gallery system; indicated by fortification behavior in sealing and re-opening a tunnel approaching the outer edge of the timber, and accumulating fecal pellets in particular chambers located beneath the timber surface. The study also examines the caste composition of isolated groups to discover how I. minor sustains colonies with and without primary reproductives. PMID:27455332

Integrated geometry and grid generation system for complex configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Akdag, Vedat; Wulf, Armin

1992-01-01

A grid generation system was developed that enables grid generation for complex configurations. The system called ICEM/CFD is described and its role in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications is presented. The capabilities of the system include full computer aided design (CAD), grid generation on the actual CAD geometry definition using robust surface projection algorithms, interfacing easily with known CAD packages through common file formats for geometry transfer, grid quality evaluation of the volume grid, coupling boundary condition set-up for block faces with grid topology generation, multi-block grid generation with or without point continuity and block to block interface requirement, and generating grid files directly compatible with known flow solvers. The interactive and integrated approach to the problem of computational grid generation not only substantially reduces manpower time but also increases the flexibility of later grid modifications and enhancements which is required in an environment where CFD is integrated into a product design cycle.

Meso-beta scale numerical simulation studies of terrain-induced jet streak mass/momentum perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Yuh-Lang; Kaplan, Michael L.

1993-01-01

The first section is on 3-D numerical modeling of terrain-induced circulations and covers the following: (1) additional insights into gravity wave generation mechanisms based on the control simulation; (2) ongoing nested-grid numerical simulations; (3) work to be completed during the remainder of FY-93; and (4) work objectives for FY-94. The second section is on linear theory and theoretical modeling and covers the following: (1) the free response of a uniform barotropic flow to an initially stationary unbalanced (ageostrophic) zonal wind anomaly; and (2) the free response of a uniform barotropic flow to an initially stationary balanced zonal wind anomaly.

Smartphone technologies and Bayesian networks to assess shorebird habitat selection

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zeigler, Sara; Thieler, E. Robert; Gutierrez, Ben; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Hines, Megan K.; Fraser, James D.; Catlin, Daniel H.; Karpanty, Sarah M.

2017-01-01

Understanding patterns of habitat selection across a species’ geographic distribution can be critical for adequately managing populations and planning for habitat loss and related threats. However, studies of habitat selection can be time consuming and expensive over broad spatial scales, and a lack of standardized monitoring targets or methods can impede the generalization of site-based studies. Our objective was to collaborate with natural resource managers to define available nesting habitat for piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) throughout their U.S. Atlantic coast distribution from Maine to North Carolina, with a goal of providing science that could inform habitat management in response to sea-level rise. We characterized a data collection and analysis approach as being effective if it provided low-cost collection of standardized habitat-selection data across the species’ breeding range within 1–2 nesting seasons and accurate nesting location predictions. In the method developed, >30 managers and conservation practitioners from government agencies and private organizations used a smartphone application, “iPlover,” to collect data on landcover characteristics at piping plover nest locations and random points on 83 beaches and barrier islands in 2014 and 2015. We analyzed these data with a Bayesian network that predicted the probability a specific combination of landcover variables would be associated with a nesting site. Although we focused on a shorebird, our approach can be modified for other taxa. Results showed that the Bayesian network performed well in predicting habitat availability and confirmed predicted habitat preferences across the Atlantic coast breeding range of the piping plover. We used the Bayesian network to map areas with a high probability of containing nesting habitat on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York, USA, as an example application. Our approach facilitated the collation of evidence-based information on habitat selection from many locations and sources, which can be used in management and decision-making applications.

Estimation of Regional Net CO2 Exchange over the Southern Great Plains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biraud, S. C.; Riley, W. J.; Fischer, M. L.; Torn, M. S.; Cooley, H. S.

2004-12-01

Estimating spatially distributed ecosystem CO2 exchange is an important component of the North American Carbon Program. We describe here a methodology to estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) over the Southern Great Plains, using: (1) data from the Department Of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites in Oklahoma and Kansas; (2) meteorological forcing data from the Mesonet facilities; (3) soil and vegetation types from 1 km resolution USGS databases; (4) vegetation status (e.g., LAI) from 1 km satellite measurements of surface reflectance (MODIS); (5) a tested land-surface model; and (6) a coupled land-surface and meteorological model (MM5/ISOLSM). This framework allows us to simulate regional surface fluxes in addition to ABL and free troposphere concentrations of CO2 at a continental scale with fine-scale nested grids centered on the ARM central facility. We use the offline land-surface and coupled models to estimate regional NEE, and compare predictions to measurements from the 9 Extended Facility sites with eddy correlation measurements. Site level comparisons to portable ECOR measurements in several crop types are also presented. Our approach also allows us to extend bottom-up estimates to periods and areas where meteorological forcing data are unavailable.

Sparrow nest survival in relation to prescribed fire and woody plant invasion in a northern mixed-grass prairie

USGS Publications Warehouse

Murphy, Robert K.; Shaffer, Terry L.; Grant, Todd A.; Derrig, James L.; Rubin, Cory S.; Kerns, Courtney K.

2017-01-01

Prescribed fire is used to reverse invasion by woody vegetation on grasslands, but managers often are uncertain whether influences of shrub and tree reduction outweigh potential effects of fire on nest survival of grassland birds. During the 2001–2003 breeding seasons, we examined relationships of prescribed fire and woody vegetation to nest survival of clay-colored sparrow (Spizella pallida) and Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) in mixed-grass prairie at Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern North Dakota, USA. We assessed relationships of nest survival to 1) recent fire history, in terms of number of breeding seasons (2, 3, or 4–5) since the last prescribed fire, and 2) prevalence of trees and tall (>1.5 m) shrubs in the landscape and of low (≤1.5 m) shrubs within 5 m of nests. Nest survival of both species exhibited distinct patterns related to age of the nest and day of year, but bore no relationship to fire history. Survival of clay-colored sparrow nests declined as the amount of trees and tall shrubs within 100 m increased, but we found no relationship to suggest nest parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) as an underlying mechanism. We found little evidence linking nest survival of Savannah sparrow to woody vegetation. Our results suggest that fire can be used to restore northern mixed-grass prairies without adversely affecting nest survival of ≥2 widespread passerine species. Survival of nests of clay-colored sparrow may increase when tall woody cover is reduced by fire. Our data lend support to the use of fire for reducing scattered patches of tall woody cover to enhance survival of nests of ≥1 grassland bird species in northern mixed-grass prairies, but further study is needed that incorporates experimental approaches and assessments of shorter term effects of fire on survival of nests of grassland passerines.

A Grid Approach to Managing Sustainability: Evidence from a Multiple Italian Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agostino, Deborah; Dal Molin, Martina

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the coherence between sustainability conceptualization (the "what") and its implementation (the "how") in terms of implemented actions and stakeholders' interactions. The paper proposes a grid approach for the simultaneous evaluation of sustainability conceptualization and…

Applications of Lagrangian blending functions for grid generation around airplane geometries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abolhassani, Jamshid S.; Sadrehaghighi, Ideen; Tiwari, Surendra N.; Smith, Robert E.

1990-01-01

A simple procedure has been developed and applied for the grid generation around an airplane geometry. This approach is based on a transfinite interpolation with Lagrangian interpolation for the blending functions. A monotonic rational quadratic spline interpolation has been employed for the grid distributions.

Spectral analysis of one-way and two-way downscaling applications for a tidally driven coastal ocean forecasting system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solano, Miguel; Gonzalez, Juan; Canals, Miguel; Capella, Jorge; Morell, Julio; Leonardi, Stefano

2017-04-01

A prevailing problem for a tidally driven coastal ocean has been the adequate imposition of open boundary conditions. This study aims at assessing the role of open boundary conditions and tidal forcing for one and two way downscaling applications at high resolution. The operational system is based on the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Forecasting System (COFS) that uses the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), a split-explicit ocean model in which the barotropic (2D) and baroclinic (3D) modes advance separately. This COFS uses a uniform horizontal grid with 1km resolution, but a grid sensitivity analysis is performed for both one and two way downscaling methodologies with horizontal resolutions up to 700m. Initial and lateral boundary conditions are derived from the U.S Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) operational AmSeas model forecast, a 3-km resolution of the regional Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) that encompasses the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Meteorological conditions are interpolated from the Navy's COAMPS model with the exception of surface stresses, which are computed from a 2-km application of the WRF model used by NCEP's National Digital Forecast Database. Tidal forcing is performed in two different ways: 1) tidal and sub-tidal variability is imposed to the barotropic and baroclinic modes by downscaling from the AmSeas NCOM regional model and 2) tidal variability is imposed using ROMS harmonic tidal forcing from OTPS and sub-tidal conditions are imposed by filtering high frequencies out the NCOM regional solution. Special focus is given to the latter approach, where the nudging time scales and the boundary update frequency play an important role in the evolution of the ocean state for short 3-day forecasts. A spectral analysis of the sea surface height and barotropic velocity is performed via Fourier's transform, continuous 1-D wavelet transforms, and classic harmonic analysis. Tide signals are then reconstructed and removed from the OBC's in 3 ways: 1) using Rich Pawlowicz's t_tide package (classic harmonic analysis), 2) with traditional band-pass filters (e.g. Lanczos) and 3) using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition. The tide filtering approach shows great improvement in the high frequency response of tidal motions at the open boundaries. Results are validated with NOAA tide gauges, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers, High Frequency Radars (6km and 2km resolution). A floating drifter experiment is performed in coastal zones, in which 12 drifters were deployed at different coastal zones and tracked for several days. The results show an improvement of the forecast skill with the proper implementation of the tide filtering approach by adjusting the nudging time scales and adequately removing the tidal signals. Significant improvement is found in the tracking skill of the floating drifters for the one-way grid and the two-way nested application also shows some improvement over the offline downscaling approach at higher resolutions.

A Genetic-Based Scheduling Algorithm to Minimize the Makespan of the Grid Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Entezari-Maleki, Reza; Movaghar, Ali

Task scheduling algorithms in grid environments strive to maximize the overall throughput of the grid. In order to maximize the throughput of the grid environments, the makespan of the grid tasks should be minimized. In this paper, a new task scheduling algorithm is proposed to assign tasks to the grid resources with goal of minimizing the total makespan of the tasks. The algorithm uses the genetic approach to find the suitable assignment within grid resources. The experimental results obtained from applying the proposed algorithm to schedule independent tasks within grid environments demonstrate the applicability of the algorithm in achieving schedules with comparatively lower makespan in comparison with other well-known scheduling algorithms such as, Min-min, Max-min, RASA and Sufferage algorithms.

Risk of predation and weather events affect nest site selection by sympatric Pacific (Gavia pacifica) and Yellow-billed (Gavia adamsii) loons in Arctic habitats

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haynes, Trevor B.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Lindberg, Mark S.; Rosenberger, Amanda E.

2014-01-01

Pacific (Gavia pacifica) and Yellow-billed (G. adamsii) loons nest sympatrically in Arctic regions. These related species likely face similar constraints and requirements for nesting success; therefore, use of similar habitats and direct competition for nesting habitat is likely. Both of these loon species must select a breeding lake that provides suitable habitat for nesting and raising chicks; however, characteristics of nest site selection by either species on interior Arctic lakes remains poorly understood. Here, logistic regression was used to compare structural and habitat characteristics of all loon nest locations with random points from lakes on the interior Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska. Results suggest that both loon species select nest sites to avoid predation and exposure to waves and shifting ice. Loon nest sites were more likely to be on islands and peninsulas (odds ratio = 16.13, 95% CI = 4.64–56.16) than mainland shoreline, which may help loons avoid terrestrial predators. Further, nest sites had a higher degree of visibility (mean degrees of visibility to 100 and 200 m) of approaching predators than random points (odds ratio = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.22–5.39). Nests were sheltered from exposure, having lower odds of being exposed to prevailing winds (odds ratio = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.13–0.92) and lower odds of having high fetch values (odds ratio = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.22–0.96). Differences between Pacific and Yellow-billed loon nesting sites were subtle, suggesting that both species have similar general nest site requirements. However, Yellow-billed Loons nested at slightly higher elevations and were more likely to nest on peninsulas than Pacific Loons. Pacific Loons constructed built up nests from mud and vegetation, potentially in response to limited access to suitable shoreline due to other territorial loons. Results suggest that land managers wishing to protect habitats for these species should focus on lakes with islands as well as shorelines sheltered from exposure to prevailing wind and ice patterns.

Grid-based mapping: A method for rapidly determining the spatial distributions of small features over very large areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramsdale, Jason D.; Balme, Matthew R.; Conway, Susan J.; Gallagher, Colman; van Gasselt, Stephan A.; Hauber, Ernst; Orgel, Csilla; Séjourné, Antoine; Skinner, James A.; Costard, Francois; Johnsson, Andreas; Losiak, Anna; Reiss, Dennis; Swirad, Zuzanna M.; Kereszturi, Akos; Smith, Isaac B.; Platz, Thomas

2017-06-01

The increased volume, spatial resolution, and areal coverage of high-resolution images of Mars over the past 15 years have led to an increased quantity and variety of small-scale landform identifications. Though many such landforms are too small to represent individually on regional-scale maps, determining their presence or absence across large areas helps form the observational basis for developing hypotheses on the geological nature and environmental history of a study area. The combination of improved spatial resolution and near-continuous coverage significantly increases the time required to analyse the data. This becomes problematic when attempting regional or global-scale studies of metre and decametre-scale landforms. Here, we describe an approach for mapping small features (from decimetre to kilometre scale) across large areas, formulated for a project to study the northern plains of Mars, and provide context on how this method was developed and how it can be implemented. Rather than ;mapping; with points and polygons, grid-based mapping uses a ;tick box; approach to efficiently record the locations of specific landforms (we use an example suite of glacial landforms; including viscous flow features, the latitude dependant mantle and polygonised ground). A grid of squares (e.g. 20 km by 20 km) is created over the mapping area. Then the basemap data are systematically examined, grid-square by grid-square at full resolution, in order to identify the landforms while recording the presence or absence of selected landforms in each grid-square to determine spatial distributions. The result is a series of grids recording the distribution of all the mapped landforms across the study area. In some ways, these are equivalent to raster images, as they show a continuous distribution-field of the various landforms across a defined (rectangular, in most cases) area. When overlain on context maps, these form a coarse, digital landform map. We find that grid-based mapping provides an efficient solution to the problems of mapping small landforms over large areas, by providing a consistent and standardised approach to spatial data collection. The simplicity of the grid-based mapping approach makes it extremely scalable and workable for group efforts, requiring minimal user experience and producing consistent and repeatable results. The discrete nature of the datasets, simplicity of approach, and divisibility of tasks, open up the possibility for citizen science in which crowdsourcing large grid-based mapping areas could be applied.

Regional Data Assimilation Using a Stretched-Grid Approach and Ensemble Calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fox-Rabinovitz, M. S.; Takacs, L. L.; Govindaraju, R. C.; Atlas, Robert (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The global variable resolution stretched grid (SG) version of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Data Assimilation System (DAS) incorporating the GEOS SG-GCM (Fox-Rabinovitz 2000, Fox-Rabinovitz et al. 2001a,b), has been developed and tested as an efficient tool for producing regional analyses and diagnostics with enhanced mesoscale resolution. The major area of interest with enhanced regional resolution used in different SG-DAS experiments includes a rectangle over the U.S. with 50 or 60 km horizontal resolution. The analyses and diagnostics are produced for all mandatory levels from the surface to 0.2 hPa. The assimilated regional mesoscale products are consistent with global scale circulation characteristics due to using the SG-approach. Both the stretched grid and basic uniform grid DASs use the same amount of global grid-points and are compared in terms of regional product quality.

LPV Modeling of a Flexible Wing Aircraft Using Modal Alignment and Adaptive Gridding Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Al-Jiboory, Ali Khudhair; Zhu, Guoming; Swei, Sean Shan-Min; Su, Weihua; Nguyen, Nhan T.

2017-01-01

One of the earliest approaches in gain-scheduling control is the gridding based approach, in which a set of local linear time-invariant models are obtained at various gridded points corresponding to the varying parameters within the flight envelop. In order to ensure smooth and effective Linear Parameter-Varying control, aligning all the flexible modes within each local model and maintaining small number of representative local models over the gridded parameter space are crucial. In addition, since the flexible structural models tend to have large dimensions, a tractable model reduction process is necessary. In this paper, the notion of s-shifted H2- and H Infinity-norm are introduced and used as a metric to measure the model mismatch. A new modal alignment algorithm is developed which utilizes the defined metric for aligning all the local models over the entire gridded parameter space. Furthermore, an Adaptive Grid Step Size Determination algorithm is developed to minimize the number of local models required to represent the gridded parameter space. For model reduction, we propose to utilize the concept of Composite Modal Cost Analysis, through which the collective contribution of each flexible mode is computed and ranked. Therefore, a reduced-order model is constructed by retaining only those modes with significant contribution. The NASA Generic Transport Model operating at various flight speeds is studied for verification purpose, and the analysis and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach.

A nested real-time PCR assay for the quantification of Plasmodium falciparum DNA extracted from dried blood spots.

PubMed

Tran, Tuan M; Aghili, Amirali; Li, Shanping; Ongoiba, Aissata; Kayentao, Kassoum; Doumbo, Safiatou; Traore, Boubacar; Crompton, Peter D

2014-10-04

As public health efforts seek to eradicate malaria, there has been an emphasis on eliminating low-density parasite reservoirs in asymptomatic carriers. As such, diagnosing submicroscopic Plasmodium infections using PCR-based techniques has become important not only in clinical trials of malaria vaccines and therapeutics, but also in active malaria surveillance campaigns. However, PCR-based quantitative assays that rely on nucleic acid extracted from dried blood spots (DBS) have demonstrated lower sensitivity than assays that use cryopreserved whole blood as source material. The density of Plasmodium falciparum asexual parasites was quantified using genomic DNA extracted from dried blood spots (DBS) and the sensitivity of two approaches was compared: quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) targeting the P. falciparum 18S ribosomal RNA gene, either with an initial conventional PCR amplification prior to qPCR (nested qPCR), or without an initial amplification (qPCR only). Parasite densities determined by nested qPCR, qPCR only, and light microscopy were compared. Nested qPCR results in 10-fold higher sensitivity (0.5 parasites/μl) when compared to qPCR only (five parasites/ul). Among microscopy-positive samples, parasite densities calculated by nested qPCR correlated strongly with microscopy for both asymptomatic (Pearson's r=0.58, P<0.001) and symptomatic (Pearson's r=0.70, P<0.0001) P. falciparum infections. Nested qPCR improves the sensitivity for the detection of P. falciparum blood-stage infection from clinical DBS samples. This approach may be useful for active malaria surveillance in areas where submicroscopic asymptomatic infections are prevalent.

Personal Constructions of Biological Concepts--The Repertory Grid Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCloughlin, Thomas J. J.; Matthews, Philip S. C.

2017-01-01

This work discusses repertory grid analysis as a tool for investigating the structures of students' representations of biological concepts. Repertory grid analysis provides the researcher with a variety of techniques that are not associated with standard methods of concept mapping for investigating conceptual structures. It can provide valuable…

Parallelization Issues and Particle-In Codes.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elster, Anne Cathrine

1994-01-01

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein. The field of parallel scientific computing has concentrated on parallelization of individual modules such as matrix solvers and factorizers. However, many applications involve several interacting modules. Our analyses of a particle-in-cell code modeling charged particles in an electric field, show that these accompanying dependencies affect data partitioning and lead to new parallelization strategies concerning processor, memory and cache utilization. Our test-bed, a KSR1, is a distributed memory machine with a globally shared addressing space. However, most of the new methods presented hold generally for hierarchical and/or distributed memory systems. We introduce a novel approach that uses dual pointers on the local particle arrays to keep the particle locations automatically partially sorted. Complexity and performance analyses with accompanying KSR benchmarks, have been included for both this scheme and for the traditional replicated grids approach. The latter approach maintains load-balance with respect to particles. However, our results demonstrate it fails to scale properly for problems with large grids (say, greater than 128-by-128) running on as few as 15 KSR nodes, since the extra storage and computation time associated with adding the grid copies, becomes significant. Our grid partitioning scheme, although harder to implement, does not need to replicate the whole grid. Consequently, it scales well for large problems on highly parallel systems. It may, however, require load balancing schemes for non-uniform particle distributions. Our dual pointer approach may facilitate this through dynamically partitioned grids. We also introduce hierarchical data structures that store neighboring grid-points within the same cache -line by reordering the grid indexing. This alignment produces a 25% savings in cache-hits for a 4-by-4 cache. A consideration of the input data's effect on the simulation may lead to further improvements. For example, in the case of mean particle drift, it is often advantageous to partition the grid primarily along the direction of the drift. The particle-in-cell codes for this study were tested using physical parameters, which lead to predictable phenomena including plasma oscillations and two-stream instabilities. An overview of the most central references related to parallel particle codes is also given.

A Nested Analysis for Data Collected from Groups: Making Crowding Research More Efficient

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schiffenbauer, Allen; And Others

1978-01-01

This paper examines the difference between dependent and independent responses and suggest that, for the case of independence, a nested analysis of variance model is appropriate. The advantages of this analytic approach are explained, and conditions are discussed under which more powerful test of treatment effects may be obtained. (Author/MA)

Marbled murrelet effectiveness monitoring plan for the Northwest Forest Plan.

Treesearch

Sarah Madsen; Diane Evans; Thomas Hamer; Paul Henson; Sherri Miller; S. Kim Nelson; Daniel Roby; Martin Stapanian

1999-01-01

This report describes options for effectiveness monitoring of long-term status and trends to evaluate the success of the Northwest Forest Plan in maintaining and restoring marbled murrelet nesting habitat and populations on Federal lands. A two-phase approach is described that begins with developing reliable and repeatable processes for identifying nesting habitat and...

Numerical simulation of tornadoes' meteorological conditions over Greece: A case study of tornadic activity over NW Peloponnese on March 25, 2009

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsangouras, Ioannis T.; Nastos, Panagiotis T.; Pytharoulis, Ioannis

2014-05-01

Recent research revealed that NW Peloponnese, Greece is an area that favours pre-frontal tornadic incidence. This study presents the results of the synoptic analysis of the meteorological conditions during a tornado event over NW Peloponnese on March 25, 2009. Further, the role of topography in tornado genesis is examined. The tornado was formed approximately at 10:30 UTC, south-west of Vardas village, crossed the Nea Manolada and faded away at Lappas village, causing several damage. The length of its track was approximately 9-10 km and this tornado was characterized as F2 (Fujita scale) or T4-T5 in TORRO intensity scale. Synoptic analysis was based on ECMWF datasets, as well as on daily composite mean and anomaly of the geopotential heights at the middle and lower troposphere from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. In addition, numerous datasets derived from weather observations and remote sensing were used in order to interpret better the examined extreme event. Finally, a numerical simulation was performed using the non-hydrostatic Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), initialized with ECMWF gridded analyses, with telescoping nested grids that allow the representation of atmospheric circulations ranging from the synoptic scale down to the meso-scale. In the numerical simulations the topography of the inner grid was modified by: a) 0% (actual topography) and b) -100% (without topography).

Factorial inferential grid grouping and representativeness analysis for a systematic selection of representative grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Guanhui; Huang, Guohe; Dong, Cong; Xu, Ye; Yao, Yao

2017-08-01

A factorial inferential grid grouping and representativeness analysis (FIGGRA) approach is developed to achieve a systematic selection of representative grids in large-scale climate change impact assessment and adaptation (LSCCIAA) studies and other fields of Earth and space sciences. FIGGRA is applied to representative-grid selection for temperature (Tas) and precipitation (Pr) over the Loess Plateau (LP) to verify methodological effectiveness. FIGGRA is effective at and outperforms existing grid-selection approaches (e.g., self-organizing maps) in multiple aspects such as clustering similar grids, differentiating dissimilar grids, and identifying representative grids for both Tas and Pr over LP. In comparison with Pr, the lower spatial heterogeneity and higher spatial discontinuity of Tas over LP lead to higher within-group similarity, lower between-group dissimilarity, lower grid grouping effectiveness, and higher grid representativeness; the lower interannual variability of the spatial distributions of Tas results in lower impacts of the interannual variability on the effectiveness of FIGGRA. For LP, the spatial climatic heterogeneity is the highest in January for Pr and in October for Tas; it decreases from spring, autumn, summer to winter for Tas and from summer, spring, autumn to winter for Pr. Two parameters, i.e., the statistical significance level (α) and the minimum number of grids in every climate zone (Nmin), and their joint effects are significant for the effectiveness of FIGGRA; normalization of a nonnormal climate-variable distribution is helpful for the effectiveness only for Pr. For FIGGRA-based LSCCIAA studies, a low value of Nmin is recommended for both Pr and Tas, and a high and medium value of α for Pr and Tas, respectively.

A comparison of two conformal mapping techniques applied to an aerobrake body

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hommel, Mark J.

1987-01-01

Conformal mapping is a classical technique which has been utilized for solving problems in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Conformal mapping has been successfully applied in the construction of grids around airfoils, engine inlets and other aircraft configurations. Conformal mapping techniques were applied to an aerobrake body having an axis of symmetry. Two different approaches were utilized: (1) Karman-Trefftz transformation; and (2) Point Wise Schwarz Christoffel transformation. In both cases, the aerobrake body was mapped onto a near circle, and a grid was generated in the mapped plane. The mapped body and grid were then mapped back into physical space and the properties of the associated grids were examined. Advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are discussed.

Algorithms for the automatic generation of 2-D structured multi-block grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoenfeld, Thilo; Weinerfelt, Per; Jenssen, Carl B.

1995-01-01

Two different approaches to the fully automatic generation of structured multi-block grids in two dimensions are presented. The work aims to simplify the user interactivity necessary for the definition of a multiple block grid topology. The first approach is based on an advancing front method commonly used for the generation of unstructured grids. The original algorithm has been modified toward the generation of large quadrilateral elements. The second method is based on the divide-and-conquer paradigm with the global domain recursively partitioned into sub-domains. For either method each of the resulting blocks is then meshed using transfinite interpolation and elliptic smoothing. The applicability of these methods to practical problems is demonstrated for typical geometries of fluid dynamics.

CyNEST: a maintainable Cython-based interface for the NEST simulator

PubMed Central

Zaytsev, Yury V.; Morrison, Abigail

2014-01-01

NEST is a simulator for large-scale networks of spiking point neuron models (Gewaltig and Diesmann, 2007). Originally, simulations were controlled via the Simulation Language Interpreter (SLI), a built-in scripting facility implementing a language derived from PostScript (Adobe Systems, Inc., 1999). The introduction of PyNEST (Eppler et al., 2008), the Python interface for NEST, enabled users to control simulations using Python. As the majority of NEST users found PyNEST easier to use and to combine with other applications, it immediately displaced SLI as the default NEST interface. However, developing and maintaining PyNEST has become increasingly difficult over time. This is partly because adding new features requires writing low-level C++ code intermixed with calls to the Python/C API, which is unrewarding. Moreover, the Python/C API evolves with each new version of Python, which results in a proliferation of version-dependent code branches. In this contribution we present the re-implementation of PyNEST in the Cython language, a superset of Python that additionally supports the declaration of C/C++ types for variables and class attributes, and provides a convenient foreign function interface (FFI) for invoking C/C++ routines (Behnel et al., 2011). Code generation via Cython allows the production of smaller and more maintainable bindings, including increased compatibility with all supported Python releases without additional burden for NEST developers. Furthermore, this novel approach opens up the possibility to support alternative implementations of the Python language at no cost given a functional Cython back-end for the corresponding implementation, and also enables cross-compilation of Python bindings for embedded systems and supercomputers alike. PMID:24672470

Nest and chick survival and colony-site dynamics of least terns in the U.S. Virgin Islands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lombard, Claudia D.; Collazo, Jaime; McNair, Douglas B.

2010-01-01

We report nest and chick survival and colony-site dynamics of the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum). These results are the first for the Caribbean and were derived with likelihood-based approaches from 4640 nests and 44 chicks fitted with transmitters monitored in 52 colonies at St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, 2003–2006. Managed colonies excluded, overall daily nest survival (±SE) was 0.92 ± 0.03 (period survival = 0.18). Daily nest survival of managed colonies (fenced) was significantly higher (0.97 ± 0.02; period survival = 0.51). Variation in nest survival was best explained by a negative linear trend in daily survival, influenced by year, rain, large colony size, and nesting habitat. Daily nest-survival rates at sandy beaches (0.94 ± 0.02), offshore cays (0.93 ± 0.005), and saltflats (0.91 ± 0.02) did not differ significantly. The period survival of chicks was 0.30 ± 0.11. Estimated fledglings per nest attempt were 0.06. Demographic assessments suggested that higher reproductive rates are required for maintenance (λ ≥ 1). Managed colonies could meet nest-survival thresholds, but complementary measures are needed to increase chick survival. Our findings suggest that management should target sites harboring large colonies because they had higher nest success and higher probability of use in subsequent seasons. The colonies' site dynamics suggested that immigration from other populations is plausible. This possibility relaxes breeding-productivity thresholds and advocates for coordinated conservation among populations on neighboring islands. Estimates of age-specific survival and connectivity are needed for the status of the species to be assessed appropriately and conservation priorities set.

Weather radar data correlate to hail-induced mortality in grassland birds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carver, Amber; Ross, Jeremy D.; Augustine, David J.; Skagen, Susan K.; Dwyer, Angela M.; Tomback, Diana F.; Wunder, Michael B.

2017-01-01

Small-bodied terrestrial animals such as songbirds (Order Passeriformes) are especially vulnerable to hail-induced mortality; yet, hail events are challenging to predict, and they often occur in locations where populations are not being studied. Focusing on nesting grassland songbirds, we demonstrate a novel approach to estimate hail-induced mortality. We quantify the relationship between the probability of nests destroyed by hail and measured Level-III Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) data, including atmospheric base reflectivity, maximum estimated size of hail and maximum estimated azimuthal wind shear. On 22 June 2014, a hailstorm in northern Colorado destroyed 102 out of 203 known nests within our research site. Lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) nests comprised most of the sample (n = 186). Destroyed nests were more likely to be found in areas of higher storm intensity, and distributions of NEXRAD variables differed between failed and surviving nests. For 133 ground nests where nest-site vegetation was measured, we examined the ameliorative influence of woody vegetation, nest cover and vegetation density by comparing results for 13 different logistic regression models incorporating the independent and additive effects of weather and vegetation variables. The most parsimonious model used only the interactive effect of hail size and wind shear to predict the probability of nest survival, and the data provided no support for any of the models without this predictor. We conclude that vegetation structure may not mitigate mortality from severe hailstorms and that weather radar products can be used remotely to estimate potential for hail mortality of nesting grassland birds. These insights will improve the efficacy of grassland bird population models under predicted climate change scenarios.

Spatial Ecology of Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) Nesting in a Fragmented Landscape.

PubMed

Evans, Luke J; Jones, T Hefin; Pang, Keeyen; Saimin, Silvester; Goossens, Benoit

2016-09-19

The role that oil palm plays in the Lower Kinabatangan region of Eastern Sabah is of considerable scientific and conservation interest, providing a model habitat for many tropical regions as they become increasingly fragmented. Crocodilians, as apex predators, widely distributed throughout the tropics, are ideal indicator species for ecosystem health. Drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)) were used to identify crocodile nests in a fragmented landscape. Flights were targeted through the use of fuzzy overlay models and nests located primarily in areas indicated as suitable habitat. Nests displayed a number of similarities in terms of habitat characteristics allowing for refined modelling of survey locations. As well as being more cost-effective compared to traditional methods of nesting survey, the use of drones also enabled a larger survey area to be completed albeit with a limited number of flights. The study provides a methodology for targeted nest surveying, as well as a low-cost repeatable flight methodology. This approach has potential for widespread applicability across a range of species and for a variety of study designs.

Spatial Ecology of Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) Nesting in a Fragmented Landscape

PubMed Central

Evans, Luke J.; Jones, T. Hefin; Pang, Keeyen; Saimin, Silvester; Goossens, Benoit

2016-01-01

The role that oil palm plays in the Lower Kinabatangan region of Eastern Sabah is of considerable scientific and conservation interest, providing a model habitat for many tropical regions as they become increasingly fragmented. Crocodilians, as apex predators, widely distributed throughout the tropics, are ideal indicator species for ecosystem health. Drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)) were used to identify crocodile nests in a fragmented landscape. Flights were targeted through the use of fuzzy overlay models and nests located primarily in areas indicated as suitable habitat. Nests displayed a number of similarities in terms of habitat characteristics allowing for refined modelling of survey locations. As well as being more cost-effective compared to traditional methods of nesting survey, the use of drones also enabled a larger survey area to be completed albeit with a limited number of flights. The study provides a methodology for targeted nest surveying, as well as a low-cost repeatable flight methodology. This approach has potential for widespread applicability across a range of species and for a variety of study designs. PMID:27657065

Using a composite grid approach in a complex coastal domain to estimate estuarine residence time

USGS Publications Warehouse

Warner, John C.; Geyer, W. Rockwell; Arango, Herman G.

2010-01-01

We investigate the processes that influence residence time in a partially mixed estuary using a three-dimensional circulation model. The complex geometry of the study region is not optimal for a structured grid model and so we developed a new method of grid connectivity. This involves a novel approach that allows an unlimited number of individual grids to be combined in an efficient manner to produce a composite grid. We then implemented this new method into the numerical Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and developed a composite grid of the Hudson River estuary region to investigate the residence time of a passive tracer. Results show that the residence time is a strong function of the time of release (spring vs. neap tide), the along-channel location, and the initial vertical placement. During neap tides there is a maximum in residence time near the bottom of the estuary at the mid-salt intrusion length. During spring tides the residence time is primarily a function of along-channel location and does not exhibit a strong vertical variability. This model study of residence time illustrates the utility of the grid connectivity method for circulation and dispersion studies in regions of complex geometry.

On computations of the integrated space shuttle flowfield using overset grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chiu, I-T.; Pletcher, R. H.; Steger, J. L.

1990-01-01

Numerical simulations using the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations and chimera (overset) grid approach were carried out for flows around the integrated space shuttle vehicle over a range of Mach numbers. Body-conforming grids were used for all the component grids. Testcases include a three-component overset grid - the external tank (ET), the solid rocket booster (SRB) and the orbiter (ORB), and a five-component overset grid - the ET, SRB, ORB, forward and aft attach hardware, configurations. The results were compared with the wind tunnel and flight data. In addition, a Poisson solution procedure (a special case of the vorticity-velocity formulation) using primitive variables was developed to solve three-dimensional, irrotational, inviscid flows for single as well as overset grids. The solutions were validated by comparisons with other analytical or numerical solution, and/or experimental results for various geometries. The Poisson solution was also used as an initial guess for the thin-layer Navier-Stokes solution procedure to improve the efficiency of the numerical flow simulations. It was found that this approach resulted in roughly a 30 percent CPU time savings as compared with the procedure solving the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations from a uniform free stream flowfield.

Semantic web data warehousing for caGrid

PubMed Central

McCusker, James P; Phillips, Joshua A; Beltrán, Alejandra González; Finkelstein, Anthony; Krauthammer, Michael

2009-01-01

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing caGrid as a means for sharing cancer-related data and services. As more data sets become available on caGrid, we need effective ways of accessing and integrating this information. Although the data models exposed on caGrid are semantically well annotated, it is currently up to the caGrid client to infer relationships between the different models and their classes. In this paper, we present a Semantic Web-based data warehouse (Corvus) for creating relationships among caGrid models. This is accomplished through the transformation of semantically-annotated caBIG® Unified Modeling Language (UML) information models into Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontologies that preserve those semantics. We demonstrate the validity of the approach by Semantic Extraction, Transformation and Loading (SETL) of data from two caGrid data sources, caTissue and caArray, as well as alignment and query of those sources in Corvus. We argue that semantic integration is necessary for integration of data from distributed web services and that Corvus is a useful way of accomplishing this. Our approach is generalizable and of broad utility to researchers facing similar integration challenges. PMID:19796399

Parathion alters incubation behavior of laughing gulls

USGS Publications Warehouse

White, D.H.; Mitchell, C.A.; Hill, E.F.

1983-01-01

One member of each pair of incubating laughing gulls at 9 nests was trapped, orally dosed with either 6 mg/kg parathion in corn oil or corn oil alone, and marked about the neck with red dye. Each nest was marked with a numbered stake and the treatment was recorded. A pilot study with captive laughing gulls had determined the proper dosage of parathion that would significantly inhibit their brain AChE activity (about 50% of normal) without overt signs of poisoning. After dosing, birds were released and the nests were observed for 2 1/2 days from a blind on the nesting island. The activities of the birds at each marked nest were recorded at 10-minute intervals. Results indicated that on the day of treatment there was no difference (P greater than 0.05, Chi-square test) in the proportion of time spent on the nest between treated and control birds. However, birds dosed with 6 mg/kg parathion spent significantly less time incubating on days 2 and 3 than did birds receiving only corn oil. By noon on the third day, sharing of nest duties between pair members in the treated group had approached normal, indicating recovery from parathion intoxication. These findings suggest that sublethal exposure of nesting birds to an organophosphate (OP) insecticide, such as parathion, may result in decreased nest attentiveness, thereby making the clutch more susceptible to predation or egg failure. Behavioral changes caused by sublethal OP exposure could be especially detrimental in avian species where only one pair member incubates or where both members are exposed in species sharing nest duties.

Coupling of Peridynamics and Finite Element Formulation for Multiscale Simulations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-16

unidirectional fiber - reinforced composites, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 217 (2012) 247-261. [44] S. A. Silling, M. Epton...numerical testing for different grid widths to horizon ratios , (4) development of an approach to add another material variable in the given approach...partition of unity principle, (3) numerical testing for different grid widths to horizon ratios , (4) development of an approach to add another

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.

Assessment of spatial variability of major-ion concentrations and del oxygen-18 values in surface snow, Upper Fremont Glacier, Wyoming, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Naftz, D.L.; Schuster, P.F.; Reddy, M.M.

1994-01-01

One hundred samples were collected from the surface of the Upper Fremont Glacier at equally spaced intervals defined by an 8100m2 snow grid to asesss the significance of lateral variability in major-ion concentrations and del oxygen-18 values. Comparison of the observed variability of each chemical constituent to the variability expected by measurement error indicated substantial lateral variability with the surface-snow layer. Results of the nested ANOVA indicate most of the variance for every constituent is in the values grouped at the two smaller geographic scales (between 506m2 and within 506m2 sections). The variance data from the snow grid were used to develop equations to evaluate the significance of both positive and negative concentration/value peaks of nitrate and del oxygen-18 with depth, in a 160m ice core. Values of del oxygen-18 in the section from 110-150m below the surface consistently vary outside the expected limits and possibly represents cooler temperatures during the Little Ice Age from about 1810 to 1725 A.D. -from Authors

Evaluation of the Dornier Gmbh interactive grid generation system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Robert L.

1989-01-01

An interactive grid generation program, INGRID, is investigated and evaluated. A description of the task and work performed, a description and evaluation of INGRID, and a discussion of the possibilities for bringing INGRID into the NASA and Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator (NAS) computing environments is included. The interactive grid generation program was found to be a viable approach for grid generation and determined that it could be converted to work in the NAS environment but that INGRID does not solve the fundamentally hard problems associated with grid generation, specifically, domain decomposition.

A description and evaluation of an air quality model nested within global and regional composition-climate models using MetUM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neal, Lucy S.; Dalvi, Mohit; Folberth, Gerd; McInnes, Rachel N.; Agnew, Paul; O'Connor, Fiona M.; Savage, Nicholas H.; Tilbee, Marie

2017-11-01

There is a clear need for the development of modelling frameworks for both climate change and air quality to help inform policies for addressing these issues simultaneously. This paper presents an initial attempt to develop a single modelling framework, by introducing a greater degree of consistency in the meteorological modelling framework by using a two-step, one-way nested configuration of models, from a global composition-climate model (GCCM) (140 km resolution) to a regional composition-climate model covering Europe (RCCM) (50 km resolution) and finally to a high (12 km) resolution model over the UK (AQUM). The latter model is used to produce routine air quality forecasts for the UK. All three models are based on the Met Office's Unified Model (MetUM). In order to better understand the impact of resolution on the downscaling of projections of future climate and air quality, we have used this nest of models to simulate a 5-year period using present-day emissions and under present-day climate conditions. We also consider the impact of running the higher-resolution model with higher spatial resolution emissions, rather than simply regridding emissions from the RCCM. We present an evaluation of the models compared to in situ air quality observations over the UK, plus a comparison against an independent 1 km resolution gridded dataset, derived from a combination of modelling and observations, effectively producing an analysis of annual mean surface pollutant concentrations. We show that using a high-resolution model over the UK has some benefits in improving air quality modelling, but that the use of higher spatial resolution emissions is important to capture local variations in concentrations, particularly for primary pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. For secondary pollutants such as ozone and the secondary component of PM10, the benefits of a higher-resolution nested model are more limited and reasons for this are discussed. This study highlights the point that the resolution of models is not the only factor in determining model performance - consistency between nested models is also important.

Nested Tracking Graphs

DOE PAGES

Lukasczyk, Jonas; Weber, Gunther; Maciejewski, Ross; ...

2017-06-01

Tracking graphs are a well established tool in topological analysis to visualize the evolution of components and their properties over time, i.e., when components appear, disappear, merge, and split. However, tracking graphs are limited to a single level threshold and the graphs may vary substantially even under small changes to the threshold. To examine the evolution of features for varying levels, users have to compare multiple tracking graphs without a direct visual link between them. We propose a novel, interactive, nested graph visualization based on the fact that the tracked superlevel set components for different levels are related to eachmore » other through their nesting hierarchy. This approach allows us to set multiple tracking graphs in context to each other and enables users to effectively follow the evolution of components for different levels simultaneously. We show the effectiveness of our approach on datasets from finite pointset methods, computational fluid dynamics, and cosmology simulations.« less

A Method to Represent Heterogeneous Materials for Rapid Prototyping: The Matryoshka Approach

PubMed Central

Lei, Shuangyan; Frank, Matthew C.; Anderson, Donald D.; Brown, Thomas D.

2015-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for representing heterogeneous materials using nested STL shells, based, in particular, on the density distributions of human bones. Design/methodology/approach Nested STL shells, called Matryoshka models, are described, based on their namesake Russian nesting dolls. In this approach, polygonal models, such as STL shells, are “stacked” inside one another to represent different material regions. The Matryoshka model addresses the challenge of representing different densities and different types of bone when reverse engineering from medical images. The Matryoshka model is generated via an iterative process of thresholding the Hounsfield Unit (HU) data using computed tomography (CT), thereby delineating regions of progressively increasing bone density. These nested shells can represent regions starting with the medullary (bone marrow) canal, up through and including the outer surface of the bone. Findings The Matryoshka approach introduced can be used to generate accurate models of heterogeneous materials in an automated fashion, avoiding the challenge of hand-creating an assembly model for input to multi-material additive or subtractive manufacturing. Originality/Value This paper presents a new method for describing heterogeneous materials: in this case, the density distribution in a human bone. The authors show how the Matryoshka model can be used to plan harvesting locations for creating custom rapid allograft bone implants from donor bone. An implementation of a proposed harvesting method is demonstrated, followed by a case study using subtractive rapid prototyping to harvest a bone implant from a human tibia surrogate. PMID:26120277

Model of interaction in Smart Grid on the basis of multi-agent system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engel, E. A.; Kovalev, I. V.; Engel, N. E.

2016-11-01

This paper presents model of interaction in Smart Grid on the basis of multi-agent system. The use of travelling waves in the multi-agent system describes the behavior of the Smart Grid from the local point, which is being the complement of the conventional approach. The simulation results show that the absorption of the wave in the distributed multi-agent systems is effectively simulated the interaction in Smart Grid.

A hybrid structured-unstructured grid method for unsteady turbomachinery flow computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathur, Sanjay R.; Madavan, Nateri K.; Rajagopalan, R. G.

1993-01-01

A hybrid grid technique for the solution of 2D, unsteady flows is developed. This technique is capable of handling complex, multiple component geometries in relative motion, such as those encountered in turbomachinery. The numerical approach utilizes a mixed structured-unstructured zonal grid topology along with modeling equations and solution methods that are most appropriate in the individual domains, therefore combining the advantages of both structured and unstructured grid techniques.

Effect of mosaic representation of vegetation in land surface schemes on simulated energy and carbon balances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, R.; Arora, V. K.

2012-01-01

Energy and carbon balance implications of representing vegetation using a composite or mosaic approach in a land surface scheme are investigated. In the composite approach the attributes of different plant functional types (PFTs) present in a grid cell are aggregated in some fashion for energy and water balance calculations. The resulting physical environmental conditions (including net radiation, soil moisture and soil temperature) are common to all PFTs and affect their ecosystem processes. In the mosaic approach energy and water balance calculations are performed separately for each PFT tile using its own vegetation attributes, so each PFT "sees" different physical environmental conditions and its carbon balance evolves somewhat differently from that in the composite approach. Simulations are performed at selected boreal, temperate and tropical locations to illustrate the differences caused by using the composite versus mosaic approaches of representing vegetation. These idealized simulations use 50% fractional coverage for each of the two dominant PFTs in a grid cell. Differences in simulated grid averaged primary energy fluxes at selected sites are generally less than 5% between the two approaches. Simulated grid-averaged carbon fluxes and pool sizes at these sites can, however, differ by as much as 46%. Simulation results suggest that differences in carbon balance between the two approaches arise primarily through differences in net radiation which directly affects net primary productivity, and thus leaf area index and vegetation biomass.

Management and protection protocols for nesting sea turtles on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cohen, J.B.

2005-01-01

Executive Summary 1. The southeast U.S. population of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) has increased since the species was listed as federally threatened in 1978. Since standardized monitoring began in North Carolina in 1995, the number of nests at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) fluctuated from year to year, and was lowest in 1996 and 1997 (39 nests) and highest in 2003 (101 nests). Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) have nested in small numbers at CAHA, sporadically over time. 2. Hatching success of sea turtle nests typically approaches 80%. At CAHA hatching success from 1999-2003 was low when hurricanes hit during the nesting season (30%-38%), and ranged from 52%-70% otherwise. Hatching success at CAHA is usually correlated with hatching success in the surrounding subpopulation (north Florida to North Carolina). 3. Inclement weather, predation, and human recreation can negatively impact nesting rate and hatching success. 4. Currently there is little protection from recreation at CAHA for nesting females and nests that have not been found by monitors. We propose three management options to provide such protection, and to increase protection for known nests and hatchlings. We propose an adaptive management framework for assessing the effectiveness of these management options in improving sea turtle nesting rate and nest and hatchling survival. 5. We recommend continued efforts to trap and remove mammalian predators from all sea turtle habitat. We further recommend intensive monitoring and surveillance of protected areas to determine the extent and timing of threats to nests and broods, including nest overwash, predation, and disturbance or vandalism by humans. 6. Continue to relocate nests and assist stranded turtles according to North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission guidelines. 7. Artificial light sources pose a serious threat to sea turtles in some parts of CAHA, which must be remedied immediately. We recommend that CAHA enact turtle-friendly lighting regulations and work with the communities within its borders to reduce light pollution and to eliminate artificial light sources that are directly visible from sea turtle nesting areas. 8. We recommend increased education and outreach to CAHA visitors, including requiring participation in an educational program before being granted nighttime beach access. The long-term success of sea turtle recovery will depend on public cooperation and positive public attitudes toward sea turtles and turtle management actions.

California's Snow Gun and its implications for mass balance predictions under greenhouse warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howat, I.; Snyder, M.; Tulaczyk, S.; Sloan, L.

2003-12-01

Precipitation has received limited treatment in glacier and snowpack mass balance models, largely due to the poor resolution and confidence of precipitation predictions relative to temperature predictions derived from atmospheric models. Most snow and glacier mass balance models rely on statistical or lapse rate-based downscaling of general or regional circulation models (GCM's and RCM's), essentially decoupling sub-grid scale, orographically-driven evolution of atmospheric heat and moisture. Such models invariably predict large losses in the snow and ice volume under greenhouse warming. However, positive trends in the mass balance of glaciers in some warming maritime climates, as well as at high elevations of the Greenland Ice Sheet, suggest that increased precipitation may play an important role in snow- and glacier-climate interactions. Here, we present a half century of April snowpack data from the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains of California, USA. This high-density network of snow-course data indicates that a gain in winter snow accumulation at higher elevations has compensated loss in snow volume at lower elevations by over 50% and has led to glacier expansion on Mt. Shasta. These trends are concurrent with a region-wide increase in winter temperatures up to 2° C. They result from the orographic lifting and saturation of warmer, more humid air leading to increased precipitation at higher elevations. Previous studies have invoked such a "Snow Gun" effect to explain contemporaneous records of Tertiary ocean warming and rapid glacial expansion. A climatological context of the California's "snow gun" effect is elucidated by correlation between the elevation distribution of April SWE observations and the phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the El Nino Southern Oscillation, both controlling the heat and moisture delivered to the U.S. Pacific coast. The existence of a significant "Snow Gun" effect presents two challenges to snow and glacier mass balance modeling. Firstly, the link between amplification of orographic precipitation and the temporal evolution of ocean-climate oscillations indicates that prediction of future mass balance trends requires consideration of the timing and amplitude of such oscillations. Only recently have ocean-atmosphere models begun to realistically produce such temporal variability. Secondly, the steepening snow mass-balance elevation-gradient associated with the "Snow Gun" implies greater spatial variability in balance with warming. In a warming climate, orographic processes at a scale finer that the highest resolution RCM (>20km grid) become increasingly important and predictions based on lower elevations become increasingly inaccurate for higher elevations. Therefore, thermodynamic interaction between atmospheric heat, moisture and topography must be included in downscaling techniques. In order to demonstrate the importance of the thermodynamic downscaling in mass balance predictions, we nest a high-resolution (100m grid), coupled Orographic Precipitation and Surface Energy balance Model (OPSEM) into the RegC2.5 RCM (40 km grid) and compare results. We apply this nesting technique to Mt. Shasta, California, an area of high topography (~4000m) relative to its RegCM2.5 grid elevation (1289m). These models compute average April snow volume under present and doubled-present Atmospheric CO2 concentrations. While the RegCM2.5 regional model predicts an 83% decrease in April SWE, OPSEM predicts a 16% increase. These results indicate that thermodynamic interactions between the atmosphere and topography at sub- RCM grid resolution must be considered in mass balance models.

Differences in body image between anorexics and in-vitro-fertilization patients - a study with Body Grid

PubMed Central

Borkenhagen, Ada; Klapp, Burghard F.; Schoeneich, Frank; Brähler, Elmar

2005-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of the investigation was to explore the body image disturbance of anorexics and in-vitro-fertilization patients (IvF-patients) with Body Grid and Body Identity Plot. Methods: The paper reports on an empirical study conducted with 32 anorexic patients and 30 IvF-patients. The structure of the body image was derived from the Body Grid, an idiographic approach following the Role Repertory Grid developed by George A. Kelly [17]. The representation of the body image and the degree of body-acceptance is represented graphically. Results: By the Body Grid and Body Identity Plot measures we were able to identify important differences in body image between anorexics and IvF-patients. Conclusion: The tendencies of dissociation in the body image of anorexics which we found must be seen in the sense of a specific body image disturbance which differs significantly from the body-experience profile of IvF-patients. With the grid approach it was possible to elicit the inner structure of body image and determine the acceptance of the body and integration of single body parts. PMID:19742059

A bulk viscosity approach for shock capturing on unstructured grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoeybi, Mohammad; Larsson, Nils Johan; Ham, Frank; Moin, Parviz

2008-11-01

The bulk viscosity approach for shock capturing (Cook and Cabot, JCP, 2005) augments the bulk part of the viscous stress tensor. The intention is to capture shock waves without dissipating turbulent structures. The present work extends and modifies this method for unstructured grids. We propose a method that properly scales the bulk viscosity with the grid spacing normal to the shock for unstructured grid for which the shock is not necessarily aligned with the grid. The magnitude of the strain rate tensor used in the original formulation is replaced with the dilatation, which appears to be more appropriate in the vortical turbulent flow regions (Mani et al., 2008). The original form of the model is found to have an impact on dilatational motions away form the shock wave, which is eliminated by a proposed localization of the bulk viscosity. Finally, to allow for grid adaptation around shock waves, an explicit/implicit time advancement scheme has been developed that adaptively identifies the stiff regions. The full method has been verified with several test cases, including 2D shock-vorticity entropy interaction, homogenous isotropic turbulence, and turbulent flow over a cylinder.

Influence of high-resolution surface databases on the modeling of local atmospheric circulation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paiva, L. M. S.; Bodstein, G. C. R.; Pimentel, L. C. G.

2013-12-01

Large-eddy simulations are performed using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) code at horizontal grid resolutions as fine as 300 m to assess the influence of detailed and updated surface databases on the modeling of local atmospheric circulation systems of urban areas with complex terrain. Applications to air pollution and wind energy are sought. These databases are comprised of 3 arc-sec topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, 10 arc-sec vegetation type data from the European Space Agency (ESA) GlobCover Project, and 30 arc-sec Leaf Area Index and Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation data from the ESA GlobCarbon Project. Simulations are carried out for the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro using six one-way nested-grid domains that allow the choice of distinct parametric models and vertical resolutions associated to each grid. ARPS is initialized using the Global Forecasting System with 0.5°-resolution data from the National Center of Environmental Prediction, which is also used every 3 h as lateral boundary condition. Topographic shading is turned on and two soil layers with depths of 0.01 and 1.0 m are used to compute the soil temperature and moisture budgets in all runs. Results for two simulated runs covering the period from 6 to 7 September 2007 are compared to surface and upper-air observational data to explore the dependence of the simulations on initial and boundary conditions, topographic and land-use databases and grid resolution. Our comparisons show overall good agreement between simulated and observed data and also indicate that the low resolution of the 30 arc-sec soil database from United States Geological Survey, the soil moisture and skin temperature initial conditions assimilated from the GFS analyses and the synoptic forcing on the lateral boundaries of the finer grids may affect an adequate spatial description of the meteorological variables.

MaGate Simulator: A Simulation Environment for a Decentralized Grid Scheduler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Ye; Brocco, Amos; Courant, Michele; Hirsbrunner, Beat; Kuonen, Pierre

This paper presents a simulator for of a decentralized modular grid scheduler named MaGate. MaGate’s design emphasizes scheduler interoperability by providing intelligent scheduling serving the grid community as a whole. Each MaGate scheduler instance is able to deal with dynamic scheduling conditions, with continuously arriving grid jobs. Received jobs are either allocated on local resources, or delegated to other MaGates for remote execution. The proposed MaGate simulator is based on GridSim toolkit and Alea simulator, and abstracts the features and behaviors of complex fundamental grid elements, such as grid jobs, grid resources, and grid users. Simulation of scheduling tasks is supported by a grid network overlay simulator executing distributed ant-based swarm intelligence algorithms to provide services such as group communication and resource discovery. For evaluation, a comparison of behaviors of different collaborative policies among a community of MaGates is provided. Results support the use of the proposed approach as a functional ready grid scheduler simulator.

Construction and application research of Three-dimensional digital power grid in Southwest China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yang; Zhou, Hong; You, Chuan; Jiang, Li; Xin, Weidong

2018-01-01

With the rapid development of Three-dimensional (3D) digital design technology in the field of power grid construction, the data foundation and technical means of 3D digital power grid construction approaches perfection. 3D digital power grid has gradually developed into an important part of power grid construction and management. In view of the complicated geological conditions in Southwest China and the difficulty in power grid construction and management, this paper is based on the data assets of Southwest power grid, and it aims at establishing a 3D digital power grid in Southwest China to provide effective support for power grid construction and operation management. This paper discusses the data architecture, technical architecture and system design and implementation process of the 3D digital power grid construction through teasing the key technology of 3D digital power grid. The application of power grid data assets management, transmission line corridor planning, geological hazards risk assessment, environmental impact assessment in 3D digital power grid are also discussed and analysed.

High-performance parallel approaches for three-dimensional light detection and ranging point clouds gridding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizki, Permata Nur Miftahur; Lee, Heezin; Lee, Minsu; Oh, Sangyoon

2017-01-01

With the rapid advance of remote sensing technology, the amount of three-dimensional point-cloud data has increased extraordinarily, requiring faster processing in the construction of digital elevation models. There have been several attempts to accelerate the computation using parallel methods; however, little attention has been given to investigating different approaches for selecting the most suited parallel programming model for a given computing environment. We present our findings and insights identified by implementing three popular high-performance parallel approaches (message passing interface, MapReduce, and GPGPU) on time demanding but accurate kriging interpolation. The performances of the approaches are compared by varying the size of the grid and input data. In our empirical experiment, we demonstrate the significant acceleration by all three approaches compared to a C-implemented sequential-processing method. In addition, we also discuss the pros and cons of each method in terms of usability, complexity infrastructure, and platform limitation to give readers a better understanding of utilizing those parallel approaches for gridding purposes.

NAS Grid Benchmarks: A Tool for Grid Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frumkin, Michael; VanderWijngaart, Rob F.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We present an approach for benchmarking services provided by computational Grids. It is based on the NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) and is called NAS Grid Benchmark (NGB) in this paper. We present NGB as a data flow graph encapsulating an instance of an NPB code in each graph node, which communicates with other nodes by sending/receiving initialization data. These nodes may be mapped to the same or different Grid machines. Like NPB, NGB will specify several different classes (problem sizes). NGB also specifies the generic Grid services sufficient for running the bench-mark. The implementor has the freedom to choose any specific Grid environment. However, we describe a reference implementation in Java, and present some scenarios for using NGB.

Hybrid Nested Partitions and Math Programming Framework for Large-scale Combinatorial Optimization

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-31

optimization problems: 1) exact algorithms and 2) metaheuristic algorithms . This project will integrate concepts from these two technologies to develop...optimal solutions within an acceptable amount of computation time, and 2) metaheuristic algorithms such as genetic algorithms , tabu search, and the...integer programming decomposition approaches, such as Dantzig Wolfe decomposition and Lagrangian relaxation, and metaheuristics such as the Nested

The Demand for Higher Education: A Static Structural Approach Accounting for Individual Heterogeneity and Nesting Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flannery, Darragh; O'Donoghue, Cathal

2013-01-01

In this paper we estimate a structural model of higher education participation and labour choices in a static setting that accounts for individual heterogeneity and possible nesting structures in the decision process. We assume that young people that complete upper secondary education are faced with three choices, go to higher education, not go to…

Relationship of songbird nest concealment to nest fate and flushing behavior of adults

Treesearch

Dirk E. Burhans; Frank R. III Thompson

2001-01-01

Advoiding predation is an important consideration for any potential prey animal. Failure to escape from a predator results in loss of fitness, so there is strong selection for choices and behaviors that result in successful escape (Lima and Dill 1990). In their cost-benefit approach to flight from predators, Ydenberg and Dill (1986) stressed that flight should be...

Convergent evolution: floral guides, stingless bee nest entrances, and insectivorous pitchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biesmeijer, Jacobus C.; Giurfa, Martin; Koedam, Dirk; Potts, Simon G.; Joel, Daniel M.; Dafni, Amots

2005-09-01

Several recent hypotheses, including sensory drive and sensory exploitation, suggest that receiver biases may drive selection of biological signals in the context of sexual selection. Here we suggest that a similar mechanism may have led to convergence of patterns in flowers, stingless bee nest entrances, and pitchers of insectivorous plants. A survey of these non-related visual stimuli shows that they share features such as stripes, dark centre, and peripheral dots. Next, we experimentally show that in stingless bees the close-up approach to a flower is guided by dark centre preference. Moreover, in the approach towards their nest entrance, they have a spontaneous preference for entrance patterns containing a dark centre and disrupted ornamentation. Together with existing empirical evidence on the honeybee's and other insects’ orientation to flowers, this suggests that the signal receivers of the natural patterns we examined, mainly Hymenoptera, have spontaneous preferences for radiating stripes, dark centres, and peripheral dots. These receiver biases may have evolved in other behavioural contexts in the ancestors of Hymenoptera, but our findings suggest that they have triggered the convergent evolution of visual stimuli in floral guides, stingless bee nest entrances, and insectivorous pitchers.

Visual navigation in desert ants Cataglyphis fortis: are snapshots coupled to a celestial system of reference?

PubMed

Akesson, Susanne; Wehner, Rüdiger

2002-07-01

Central-place foraging insects such as desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis use both path integration and landmarks to navigate during foraging excursions. The use of landmark information and a celestial system of reference for nest location was investigated by training desert ants returning from an artificial feeder to find the nest at one of four alternative positions located asymmetrically inside a four-cylinder landmark array. The cylindrical landmarks were all of the same size and arranged in a square, with the nest located in the southeast corner. When released from the compass direction experienced during training (southeast), the ants searched most intensely at the fictive nest position. When instead released from any of the three alternative directions of approach (southwest, northwest or northeast), the same individuals instead searched at two of the four alternative positions by initiating their search at the position closest to the direction of approach when entering the landmark square and then returning to the position at which snapshot, current landmark image and celestial reference information were in register. The results show that, in the ants' visual snapshot memory, a memorized landmark scene can temporarily be decoupled from a memorized celestial system of reference.

Convergent evolution: floral guides, stingless bee nest entrances, and insectivorous pitchers.

PubMed

Biesmeijer, Jacobus C; Giurfa, Martin; Koedam, Dirk; Potts, Simon G; Joel, Daniel M; Dafni, Amots

2005-09-01

Several recent hypotheses, including sensory drive and sensory exploitation, suggest that receiver biases may drive selection of biological signals in the context of sexual selection. Here we suggest that a similar mechanism may have led to convergence of patterns in flowers, stingless bee nest entrances, and pitchers of insectivorous plants. A survey of these non-related visual stimuli shows that they share features such as stripes, dark centre, and peripheral dots. Next, we experimentally show that in stingless bees the close-up approach to a flower is guided by dark centre preference. Moreover, in the approach towards their nest entrance, they have a spontaneous preference for entrance patterns containing a dark centre and disrupted ornamentation. Together with existing empirical evidence on the honeybee's and other insects' orientation to flowers, this suggests that the signal receivers of the natural patterns we examined, mainly Hymenoptera, have spontaneous preferences for radiating stripes, dark centres, and peripheral dots. These receiver biases may have evolved in other behavioural contexts in the ancestors of Hymenoptera, but our findings suggest that they have triggered the convergent evolution of visual stimuli in floral guides, stingless bee nest entrances, and insectivorous pitchers.

Elementary dispersion analysis of some mimetic discretizations on triangular C-grids

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

Korn, P., E-mail: peter.korn@mpimet.mpg.de; Danilov, S.; A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Moscow

2017-02-01

Spurious modes supported by triangular C-grids limit their application for modeling large-scale atmospheric and oceanic flows. Their behavior can be modified within a mimetic approach that generalizes the scalar product underlying the triangular C-grid discretization. The mimetic approach provides a discrete continuity equation which operates on an averaged combination of normal edge velocities instead of normal edge velocities proper. An elementary analysis of the wave dispersion of the new discretization for Poincaré, Rossby and Kelvin waves shows that, although spurious Poincaré modes are preserved, their frequency tends to zero in the limit of small wavenumbers, which removes the divergence noisemore » in this limit. However, the frequencies of spurious and physical modes become close on shorter scales indicating that spurious modes can be excited unless high-frequency short-scale motions are effectively filtered in numerical codes. We argue that filtering by viscous dissipation is more efficient in the mimetic approach than in the standard C-grid discretization. Lumping of mass matrices appearing with the velocity time derivative in the mimetic discretization only slightly reduces the accuracy of the wave dispersion and can be used in practice. Thus, the mimetic approach cures some difficulties of the traditional triangular C-grid discretization but may still need appropriately tuned viscosity to filter small scales and high frequencies in solutions of full primitive equations when these are excited by nonlinear dynamics.« less

Influence of high-resolution surface databases on the modeling of local atmospheric circulation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paiva, L. M. S.; Bodstein, G. C. R.; Pimentel, L. C. G.

2014-08-01

Large-eddy simulations are performed using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) code at horizontal grid resolutions as fine as 300 m to assess the influence of detailed and updated surface databases on the modeling of local atmospheric circulation systems of urban areas with complex terrain. Applications to air pollution and wind energy are sought. These databases are comprised of 3 arc-sec topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, 10 arc-sec vegetation-type data from the European Space Agency (ESA) GlobCover project, and 30 arc-sec leaf area index and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation data from the ESA GlobCarbon project. Simulations are carried out for the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro using six one-way nested-grid domains that allow the choice of distinct parametric models and vertical resolutions associated to each grid. ARPS is initialized using the Global Forecasting System with 0.5°-resolution data from the National Center of Environmental Prediction, which is also used every 3 h as lateral boundary condition. Topographic shading is turned on and two soil layers are used to compute the soil temperature and moisture budgets in all runs. Results for two simulated runs covering three periods of time are compared to surface and upper-air observational data to explore the dependence of the simulations on initial and boundary conditions, grid resolution, topographic and land-use databases. Our comparisons show overall good agreement between simulated and observational data, mainly for the potential temperature and the wind speed fields, and clearly indicate that the use of high-resolution databases improves significantly our ability to predict the local atmospheric circulation.

Smothering in UK free-range flocks. Part 2: investigating correlations between disease, housing and management practices.

PubMed

Rayner, A C; Gill, R; Brass, D; Willings, T H; Bright, A

2016-09-10

Smothering, when birds group together in a way that results in death from suffocation, is a welfare and economic concern for the egg industry. This questionnaire-based study explored correlations between disease, housing, management practices and smothering on free-range farms. A binomial logistic regression approach was used to test whether question responses predicted occurrence of nest box smothers (NBS) and panic and recurring smothers (PSRS) on farms. Breed (P=0.008) and nest box manufacturer (P=0.014) predicted NBS. Breed and nest box design have been previously reported to affect nesting behaviour. The affect of nest box manufacturer found in this study may illustrate the effect of nest box design features or house layouts. Nest box manufacturer (P=0.009), feeding oyster grit or grain on the litter (P<0.001) and range use on a sunny day (P<0.001) also predicted PSRS. Implementing some management practices to encourage desirable behaviours (eg ranging) may contribute to smothering, whereas some management practices such as those aimed at occupying birds may be beneficial, illustrating the delicate balance of factors involved in free-range egg production. It is hoped that these results will stimulate further work exploring the suitability of housing design and management of laying hens in light of smothering. British Veterinary Association.

How numbers of nesting sea turtles can be overestimated by nearly a factor of two

PubMed Central

Esteban, Nicole; Mortimer, Jeanne A.

2017-01-01

Estimating the absolute number of individuals in populations and their fecundity is central to understanding the ecosystem role of species and their population dynamics as well as allowing informed conservation management for endangered species. Estimates of abundance and fecundity are often difficult to obtain for rare or cryptic species. Yet, in addition, here we show for a charismatic group, sea turtles, that are neither cryptic nor rare and whose nesting is easy to observe, that the traditional approach of direct observations of nesting has likely led to a gross overestimation of the number of individuals in populations and underestimation of their fecundity. We use high-resolution GPS satellite tags to track female green turtles throughout their nesting season in the Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean) and assess when and where they nested. For individual turtles, nest locations were often spread over several tens of kilometres of coastline. Assessed by satellite observations, a mean of 6.0 clutches (range 2–9, s.d. = 2.2) was laid by individuals, about twice as many as previously assumed, a finding also reported in other species and ocean basins. Taken together, these findings suggest that the actual number of nesting turtles may be almost 50% less than previously assumed. PMID:28202810

How numbers of nesting sea turtles can be overestimated by nearly a factor of two.

PubMed

Esteban, Nicole; Mortimer, Jeanne A; Hays, Graeme C

2017-02-22

Estimating the absolute number of individuals in populations and their fecundity is central to understanding the ecosystem role of species and their population dynamics as well as allowing informed conservation management for endangered species. Estimates of abundance and fecundity are often difficult to obtain for rare or cryptic species. Yet, in addition, here we show for a charismatic group, sea turtles, that are neither cryptic nor rare and whose nesting is easy to observe, that the traditional approach of direct observations of nesting has likely led to a gross overestimation of the number of individuals in populations and underestimation of their fecundity. We use high-resolution GPS satellite tags to track female green turtles throughout their nesting season in the Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean) and assess when and where they nested. For individual turtles, nest locations were often spread over several tens of kilometres of coastline. Assessed by satellite observations, a mean of 6.0 clutches (range 2-9, s.d. = 2.2) was laid by individuals, about twice as many as previously assumed, a finding also reported in other species and ocean basins. Taken together, these findings suggest that the actual number of nesting turtles may be almost 50% less than previously assumed. © 2017 The Author(s).

Aerodynamic Shape Sensitivity Analysis and Design Optimization of Complex Configurations Using Unstructured Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Arthur C., III; Newman, James C., III; Barnwell, Richard W.

1997-01-01

A three-dimensional unstructured grid approach to aerodynamic shape sensitivity analysis and design optimization has been developed and is extended to model geometrically complex configurations. The advantage of unstructured grids (when compared with a structured-grid approach) is their inherent ability to discretize irregularly shaped domains with greater efficiency and less effort. Hence, this approach is ideally suited for geometrically complex configurations of practical interest. In this work the nonlinear Euler equations are solved using an upwind, cell-centered, finite-volume scheme. The discrete, linearized systems which result from this scheme are solved iteratively by a preconditioned conjugate-gradient-like algorithm known as GMRES for the two-dimensional geometry and a Gauss-Seidel algorithm for the three-dimensional; similar procedures are used to solve the accompanying linear aerodynamic sensitivity equations in incremental iterative form. As shown, this particular form of the sensitivity equation makes large-scale gradient-based aerodynamic optimization possible by taking advantage of memory efficient methods to construct exact Jacobian matrix-vector products. Simple parameterization techniques are utilized for demonstrative purposes. Once the surface has been deformed, the unstructured grid is adapted by considering the mesh as a system of interconnected springs. Grid sensitivities are obtained by differentiating the surface parameterization and the grid adaptation algorithms with ADIFOR (which is an advanced automatic-differentiation software tool). To demonstrate the ability of this procedure to analyze and design complex configurations of practical interest, the sensitivity analysis and shape optimization has been performed for a two-dimensional high-lift multielement airfoil and for a three-dimensional Boeing 747-200 aircraft.

Geospatial modeling of plant stable isotope ratios - the development of isoscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, J. B.; Ehleringer, J. R.; Hurley, J. M.; Cerling, T. E.

2007-12-01

Large-scale spatial variation in stable isotope ratios can yield critical insights into the spatio-temporal dynamics of biogeochemical cycles, animal movements, and shifts in climate, as well as anthropogenic activities such as commerce, resource utilization, and forensic investigation. Interpreting these signals requires that we understand and model the variation. We report progress in our development of plant stable isotope ratio landscapes (isoscapes). Our approach utilizes a GIS, gridded datasets, a range of modeling approaches, and spatially distributed observations. We synthesize findings from four studies to illustrate the general utility of the approach, its ability to represent observed spatio-temporal variability in plant stable isotope ratios, and also outline some specific areas of uncertainty. We also address two basic, but critical questions central to our ability to model plant stable isotope ratios using this approach: 1. Do the continuous precipitation isotope ratio grids represent reasonable proxies for plant source water?, and 2. Do continuous climate grids (as is or modified) represent a reasonable proxy for the climate experienced by plants? Plant components modeled include leaf water, grape water (extracted from wine), bulk leaf material ( Cannabis sativa; marijuana), and seed oil ( Ricinus communis; castor bean). Our approaches to modeling the isotope ratios of these components varied from highly sophisticated process models to simple one-step fractionation models to regression approaches. The leaf water isosocapes were produced using steady-state models of enrichment and continuous grids of annual average precipitation isotope ratios and climate. These were compared to other modeling efforts, as well as a relatively sparse, but geographically distributed dataset from the literature. The latitudinal distributions and global averages compared favorably to other modeling efforts and the observational data compared well to model predictions. These results yield confidence in the precipitation isoscapes used to represent plant source water, the modified climate grids used to represent leaf climate, and the efficacy of this approach to modeling. Further work confirmed these observations. The seed oil isoscape was produced using a simple model of lipid fractionation driven with the precipitation grid, and compared well to widely distributed observations of castor bean oil, again suggesting that the precipitation grids were reasonable proxies for plant source water. The marijuana leaf δ2H observations distributed across the continental United States were regressed against the precipitation δ2H grids and yielded a strong relationship between them, again suggesting that plant source water was reasonably well represented by the precipitation grid. Finally, the wine water δ18O isoscape was developed from regressions that related precipitation isotope ratios and climate to observations from a single vintage. Favorable comparisons between year-specific wine water isoscapes and inter-annual variations in previous vintages yielded confidence in the climate grids. Clearly significant residual variability remains to be explained in all of these cases and uncertainties vary depending on the component modeled, but we conclude from this synthesis that isoscapes are capable of representing real spatial and temporal variability in plant stable isotope ratios.

PCP-induced deficits in murine nest building activity: employment of an ethological rodent behavior to mimic negative-like symptoms of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Pedersen, Christian Spang; Sørensen, Dorte Bratbo; Parachikova, Anna I; Plath, Niels

2014-10-15

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by three symptom domains, positive (hallucinations, obsession), negative (social withdrawal, apathy, self-neglect) and cognitive (impairment in attention, memory and executive function). Whereas current medication ameliorates positive symptomatology, negative symptoms as well as cognitive dysfunctions remain untreated. The development of improved therapies for negative symptoms has proven particularly difficult, in part due to the inability of mimicking these in rodents. Here, we address the predictive validity of combining an ethologically well preserved behavior in rodents, namely nest building activity, with an established animal model of schizophrenia, the sub-chronic PCP model, for negative symptoms. Decline in rodent nesting activity has been suggested to mirror domains of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including social withdrawal, anhedonia and self-neglect, whereas repeated treatment with the NMDAR antagonist PCP induces and exacerbates schizophrenia-like symptoms in rodents and human subjects. Using a back-translational approach of pharmacological validation, we tested the effects of two agents targeting the nicotinic α7 receptor (EVP-6124 and TC-5619) that were reported to exert some beneficial effect on negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Sub-chronic PCP treatment resulted in a significant nest building deficit in mice and treatment with EVP-6124 and TC-5619 reversed this PCP-induced deficit. In contrast, the atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone remained ineffective in this assay. In addition, EVP-6124, TC-5619 and risperidone were tested in the Social Interaction Test (SIT), an assay suggested to address negative-like symptoms. Results obtained in SIT were comparable to results in the nest building test (NEST). Based on these findings, we propose nest building in combination with the sub-chronic PCP model as a novel approach to assess negative-like symptoms of schizophrenia in rodents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Methodological and Ecological Approaches on Heterogeneity of Nest-Site Selection of a Long-Lived Vulture

PubMed Central

Moreno-Opo, Rubén; Fernández-Olalla, Mariana; Margalida, Antoni; Arredondo, Ángel; Guil, Francisco

2012-01-01

The application of scientific-based conservation measures requires that sampling methodologies in studies modelling similar ecological aspects produce comparable results making easier their interpretation. We aimed to show how the choice of different methodological and ecological approaches can affect conclusions in nest-site selection studies along different Palearctic meta-populations of an indicator species. First, a multivariate analysis of the variables affecting nest-site selection in a breeding colony of cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) in central Spain was performed. Then, a meta-analysis was applied to establish how methodological and habitat-type factors determine differences and similarities in the results obtained by previous studies that have modelled the forest breeding habitat of the species. Our results revealed patterns in nesting-habitat modelling by the cinereous vulture throughout its whole range: steep and south-facing slopes, great cover of large trees and distance to human activities were generally selected. The ratio and situation of the studied plots (nests/random), the use of plots vs. polygons as sampling units and the number of years of data set determined the variability explained by the model. Moreover, a greater size of the breeding colony implied that ecological and geomorphological variables at landscape level were more influential. Additionally, human activities affected in greater proportion to colonies situated in Mediterranean forests. For the first time, a meta-analysis regarding the factors determining nest-site selection heterogeneity for a single species at broad scale was achieved. It is essential to homogenize and coordinate experimental design in modelling the selection of species' ecological requirements in order to avoid that differences in results among studies would be due to methodological heterogeneity. This would optimize best conservation and management practices for habitats and species in a global context. PMID:22413023

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lockyer, Zachary B.; Coates, Peter S.; Casazza, Michael L.; Espinosa, Shawn; Delehanty, David J.

2015-01-01

Identifying links between micro-habitat selection and wildlife reproduction is imperative to population persistence and recovery. This information is particularly important for landscape species such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse). Although this species has been widely studied, because environmental factors can affect sage-grouse populations, local and regional studies are crucial for developing viable conservation strategies. We studied the habitat-use patterns of 71 radio-marked sage-grouse inhabiting an area affected by wildfire in the Virginia Mountains of northwestern Nevada during 2009–2011 to determine the effect of micro-habitat attributes on reproductive success. We measured standard vegetation parameters at nest and random sites using a multi-scale approach (range = 0.01–15,527 ha). We used an information-theoretic modeling approach to identify environmental factors influencing nest-site selection and survival, and determine whether nest survival was a function of resource selection. Sage-grouse selected micro-sites with greater shrub canopy cover and less cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) cover than random sites. Total shrub canopy, including sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) and other shrub species, at small spatial scales (0.8 ha and 3.1 ha) was the single contributing selection factor to higher nest survival. These results indicate that reducing the risk of wildfire to maintain important sagebrush habitats could be emphasized in sage-grouse conservation strategies in Nevada. Managers may seek to mitigate the influx of annual grass invasion by preserving large intact sagebrush-dominated stands with a mixture of other shrub species. For this area of Nevada, the results suggest that ≥40% total shrub canopy cover in sage-grouse nesting areas could yield improved reproductive success. 

Fully Automated Single-Zone Elliptic Grid Generation for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Aeroshell and Canopy Geometries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

kaul, Upender K.

2008-01-01

A procedure for generating smooth uniformly clustered single-zone grids using enhanced elliptic grid generation has been demonstrated here for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) geometries such as aeroshell and canopy. The procedure obviates the need for generating multizone grids for such geometries, as reported in the literature. This has been possible because the enhanced elliptic grid generator automatically generates clustered grids without manual prescription of decay parameters needed with the conventional approach. In fact, these decay parameters are calculated as decay functions as part of the solution, and they are not constant over a given boundary. Since these decay functions vary over a given boundary, orthogonal grids near any arbitrary boundary can be clustered automatically without having to break up the boundaries and the corresponding interior domains into various zones for grid generation.

Nest-niche differentiation in two sympatric columbid species from a Mediterranean Tetraclinis woodland: Considerations for forest management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanane, Saâd; Yassin, Mohamed

2017-01-01

Studies of niche partitioning among Columbid species have mainly addressed food habits and foraging activities, while partitioning in relation to nest-niche differentiation has been little studied. Here we investigate whether two sympatric columbid species-Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) and Turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur)-occupy similar niches. A total of 74 nests were monitored: 37 nests for each species. The study, conducted in June 2016, attempted to determine the factors that may play a role in nest-niche differentiation among the two sympatric columbid species in a Moroccan Thuya (Tetraclinis articulata) forest. We used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to test the relevance of nest placement, proximity of food resources, forest edge and human presence variables in the nest distribution of the two species. The results show substantial niche segregation in the T. articulata nest-trees selected by Woodpigeons and Turtle doves, with selection depending primarily on the tree size and nest height. Observed nest-niche partitioning may diminish the potential for competition between these species and enhance opportunities for their coexistence. Management policies and practices aimed at ensuring the presence of mixed-sized class of Thuya trees must be prioritized. We recommend additional studies designed to: (1) reproduce the same experimental approach on other Mediterranean Thuya forests to improve our understanding of the effects of different levels of anthropogenic disturbance on the breeding behaviour of these two game species; (2) better understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of Woodpigeon and Turtle dove coexistence in the region; and (3) better identify the spatio-temporal extent of the effect of forest management on Woodpigeon and Turtle dove site occupancy.

Field Margins, Foraging Distances and Their Impacts on Nesting Pollinator Success

PubMed Central

Rands, Sean A.; Whitney, Heather M.

2011-01-01

The areas of wild land around the edges of agricultural fields are a vital resource for many species. These include insect pollinators, to whom field margins provide both nest sites and important resources (especially when adjacent crops are not in flower). Nesting pollinators travel relatively short distances from the nest to forage: most species of bee are known to travel less than two kilometres away. In order to ensure that these pollinators have sufficient areas of wild land within reach of their nests, agricultural landscapes need to be designed to accommodate the limited travelling distances of nesting pollinators. We used a spatially-explicit modelling approach to consider whether increasing the width of wild strips of land within the agricultural landscape will enhance the amount of wild resources available to a nesting pollinator, and if it would impact differently on pollinators with differing foraging strategies. This was done both by creating field structures with a randomised geography, and by using landscape data based upon the British agricultural landscape. These models demonstrate that enhancing field margins should lead to an increase in the availability of forage to pollinators that nest within the landscape. With the exception of species that only forage within a very short range of their nest (less than 125 m), a given amount of field margin manipulation should enhance the proportion of land available to a pollinator for foraging regardless of the distance over which it normally travels to find food. A fixed amount of field edge manipulation should therefore be equally beneficial for both longer-distance nesting foragers such as honeybees, and short-distance foragers such as solitary bees. PMID:21991390

The Rules Grid: Helping Children with Social Communication and Interaction Needs Manage Social Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devlin, Niall

2009-01-01

This article introduces a new practical visual approach, the Rules Grid, to support children who have social communication and interaction needs. The Rules Grid involves a system whereby behaviours of concern can be broken down into smaller behavioural manifestations which in turn lead not only to problem identification and specification, but…

Solar Electricity Generation: Issues of Development and Impact on ICT Implementation in Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damasen, Ikwaba Paul

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss, in-depth, how solar electricity can be developed and used to tackle grid electricity-related problems in African countries suffering from unreliable and inadequate grid electricity. Design/methodology/approach: The paper discusses in depth the current status of grid electricity in…

76 FR 67793 - Notification of Expanded Pricing Grid for Precious Metals Products Containing Platinum and Gold...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-02

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Notification of Expanded Pricing Grid for Precious... in the Federal Register on January 6, 2009, outlining the new pricing methodology for numismatic... considerably, and is approaching the upper bracket of the pricing grid. As a result, it is necessary to expand...

A new approach to flow simulation in highly heterogeneous porous media

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

Rame, M.; Killough, J.E.

In this paper, applications are presented for a new numerical method - operator splittings on multiple grids (OSMG) - devised for simulations in heterogeneous porous media. A coarse-grid, finite-element pressure solver is interfaced with a fine-grid timestepping scheme. The CPU time for the pressure solver is greatly reduced and concentration fronts have minimal numerical dispersion.

Grid generation using classical techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moretti, G.

1980-01-01

A brief historical review of conformal mapping and its applications to problems in fluid mechanics and electromagnetism is presented. The use of conformal mapping as a grid generator is described. The philosophy of the 'closed form' approach and its application to a Neumann problem is discussed. Karman-Trefftz mappings and grids for ablated, three dimensional bodies are also discussed.

Grid scale drives the scale and long-term stability of place maps

PubMed Central

Mallory, Caitlin S; Hardcastle, Kiah; Bant, Jason S; Giocomo, Lisa M

2018-01-01

Medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) grid cells fire at regular spatial intervals and project to the hippocampus, where place cells are active in spatially restricted locations. One feature of the grid population is the increase in grid spatial scale along the dorsal-ventral MEC axis. However, the difficulty in perturbing grid scale without impacting the properties of other functionally-defined MEC cell types has obscured how grid scale influences hippocampal coding and spatial memory. Here, we use a targeted viral approach to knock out HCN1 channels selectively in MEC, causing grid scale to expand while leaving other MEC spatial and velocity signals intact. Grid scale expansion resulted in place scale expansion in fields located far from environmental boundaries, reduced long-term place field stability and impaired spatial learning. These observations, combined with simulations of a grid-to-place cell model and position decoding of place cells, illuminate how grid scale impacts place coding and spatial memory. PMID:29335607

Factors affecting nest survival of Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) in southern Indiana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crimmins, Shawn M.; McKann, Patrick C.; Robb, Joseph R.; Lewis, Jason P.; Vanosdol, Teresa; Walker, Benjamin A.; Williams, Perry J.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.

2016-01-01

Populations of Henslow’s Sparrows have declined dramatically in recent decades, coinciding with widespread loss of native grassland habitat. Prescribed burning is a primary tool for maintaining grassland patches, but its effects on nest survival of Henslow’s Sparrows remains largely unknown, especially in conjunction with other factors. We monitored 135 nests of Henslow’s Sparrows at Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge in southern Indiana from 1998–2001 in an effort to understand factors influencing nest survival, including prescribed burning of habitat. We used a mixed-effects implementation of the logistic exposure model to predict daily nest survival in an information theoretic framework. We found that daily survival declined near the onset of hatching and increased with the height of standing dead vegetation, although this relationship was weak. We found only nominal support to suggest that time since burn influenced nest survival. Overall, nest age was the most important factor in estimating daily nest survival rates. Our daily survival estimate from our marginal model (0.937) was similar to that derived from the Mayfield method (0.944) suggesting that our results are comparable to previous studies using the Mayfield approach. Our results indicate that frequent burning to limit woody encroachment into grassland habitats might benefit Henslow’s Sparrow, but that a variety of factors ultimately influence daily nest survival. However, we note that burning too frequently can also limit occupancy by Henslow’s Sparrows. We suggest that additional research is needed to determine the population-level consequences of habitat alteration and if other extrinsic factors influence demographics of Henslow’s Sparrows.

Fully implicit moving mesh adaptive algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chacon, Luis

2005-10-01

In many problems of interest, the numerical modeler is faced with the challenge of dealing with multiple time and length scales. The former is best dealt with with fully implicit methods, which are able to step over fast frequencies to resolve the dynamical time scale of interest. The latter requires grid adaptivity for efficiency. Moving-mesh grid adaptive methods are attractive because they can be designed to minimize the numerical error for a given resolution. However, the required grid governing equations are typically very nonlinear and stiff, and of considerably difficult numerical treatment. Not surprisingly, fully coupled, implicit approaches where the grid and the physics equations are solved simultaneously are rare in the literature, and circumscribed to 1D geometries. In this study, we present a fully implicit algorithm for moving mesh methods that is feasible for multidimensional geometries. A crucial element is the development of an effective multilevel treatment of the grid equation.ootnotetextL. Chac'on, G. Lapenta, A fully implicit, nonlinear adaptive grid strategy, J. Comput. Phys., accepted (2005) We will show that such an approach is competitive vs. uniform grids both from the accuracy (due to adaptivity) and the efficiency standpoints. Results for a variety of models 1D and 2D geometries, including nonlinear diffusion, radiation-diffusion, Burgers equation, and gas dynamics will be presented.

Development of a severe local storm prediction system: A 60-day test of a mesoscale primitive equation model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paine, D. A.; Zack, J. W.; Kaplan, M. L.

1979-01-01

The progress and problems associated with the dynamical forecast system which was developed to predict severe storms are examined. The meteorological problem of severe convective storm forecasting is reviewed. The cascade hypothesis which forms the theoretical core of the nested grid dynamical numerical modelling system is described. The dynamical and numerical structure of the model used during the 1978 test period is presented and a preliminary description of a proposed multigrid system for future experiments and tests is provided. Six cases from the spring of 1978 are discussed to illustrate the model's performance and its problems. Potential solutions to the problems are examined.

Three-dimensional microstructure simulation of Ni-based superalloy investment castings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Dong; Xu, Qingyan; Liu, Baicheng

2011-05-01

An integrated macro and micro multi-scale model for the three-dimensional microstructure simulation of Ni-based superalloy investment castings was developed, and applied to industrial castings to investigate grain evolution during solidification. A ray tracing method was used to deal with the complex heat radiation transfer. The microstructure evolution was simulated based on the Modified Cellular Automaton method, which was coupled with three-dimensional nested macro and micro grids. Experiments for Ni-based superalloy turbine wheel investment casting were carried out, which showed a good correspondence with the simulated results. It is indicated that the proposed model is able to predict the microstructure of the casting precisely, which provides a tool for the optimizing process.

A global data set of soil hydraulic properties and sub-grid variability of soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montzka, Carsten; Herbst, Michael; Weihermüller, Lutz; Verhoef, Anne; Vereecken, Harry

2017-07-01

Agroecosystem models, regional and global climate models, and numerical weather prediction models require adequate parameterization of soil hydraulic properties. These properties are fundamental for describing and predicting water and energy exchange processes at the transition zone between solid earth and atmosphere, and regulate evapotranspiration, infiltration and runoff generation. Hydraulic parameters describing the soil water retention (WRC) and hydraulic conductivity (HCC) curves are typically derived from soil texture via pedotransfer functions (PTFs). Resampling of those parameters for specific model grids is typically performed by different aggregation approaches such a spatial averaging and the use of dominant textural properties or soil classes. These aggregation approaches introduce uncertainty, bias and parameter inconsistencies throughout spatial scales due to nonlinear relationships between hydraulic parameters and soil texture. Therefore, we present a method to scale hydraulic parameters to individual model grids and provide a global data set that overcomes the mentioned problems. The approach is based on Miller-Miller scaling in the relaxed form by Warrick, that fits the parameters of the WRC through all sub-grid WRCs to provide an effective parameterization for the grid cell at model resolution; at the same time it preserves the information of sub-grid variability of the water retention curve by deriving local scaling parameters. Based on the Mualem-van Genuchten approach we also derive the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity from the water retention functions, thereby assuming that the local parameters are also valid for this function. In addition, via the Warrick scaling parameter λ, information on global sub-grid scaling variance is given that enables modellers to improve dynamical downscaling of (regional) climate models or to perturb hydraulic parameters for model ensemble output generation. The present analysis is based on the ROSETTA PTF of Schaap et al. (2001) applied to the SoilGrids1km data set of Hengl et al. (2014). The example data set is provided at a global resolution of 0.25° at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.870605.

Methodological Approaches for Estimating the Benefits and Costs of Smart Grid Demonstration Projects

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

Lee, Russell

This report presents a comprehensive framework for estimating the benefits and costs of Smart Grid projects and a step-by-step approach for making these estimates. The framework identifies the basic categories of benefits, the beneficiaries of these benefits, and the Smart Grid functionalities that lead to different benefits and proposes ways to estimate these benefits, including their monetization. The report covers cost-effectiveness evaluation, uncertainty, and issues in estimating baseline conditions against which a project would be compared. The report also suggests metrics suitable for describing principal characteristics of a modern Smart Grid to which a project can contribute. This first sectionmore » of the report presents background information on the motivation for the report and its purpose. Section 2 introduces the methodological framework, focusing on the definition of benefits and a sequential, logical process for estimating them. Beginning with the Smart Grid technologies and functions of a project, it maps these functions to the benefits they produce. Section 3 provides a hypothetical example to illustrate the approach. Section 4 describes each of the 10 steps in the approach. Section 5 covers issues related to estimating benefits of the Smart Grid. Section 6 summarizes the next steps. The methods developed in this study will help improve future estimates - both retrospective and prospective - of the benefits of Smart Grid investments. These benefits, including those to consumers, society in general, and utilities, can then be weighed against the investments. Such methods would be useful in total resource cost tests and in societal versions of such tests. As such, the report will be of interest not only to electric utilities, but also to a broad constituency of stakeholders. Significant aspects of the methodology were used by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop its methods for estimating the benefits and costs of its renewable and distributed systems integration demonstration projects as well as its Smart Grid Investment Grant projects and demonstration projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The goal of this report, which was cofunded by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and DOE, is to present a comprehensive set of methods for estimating the benefits and costs of Smart Grid projects. By publishing this report, EPRI seeks to contribute to the development of methods that will establish the benefits associated with investments in Smart Grid technologies. EPRI does not endorse the contents of this report or make any representations as to the accuracy and appropriateness of its contents. The purpose of this report is to present a methodological framework that will provide a standardized approach for estimating the benefits and costs of Smart Grid demonstration projects. The framework also has broader application to larger projects, such as those funded under the ARRA. Moreover, with additional development, it will provide the means for extrapolating the results of pilots and trials to at-scale investments in Smart Grid technologies. The framework was developed by a panel whose members provided a broad range of expertise.« less

Scenario based approach for multiple source Tsunami Hazard assessment for Sines, Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wronna, M.; Omira, R.; Baptista, M. A.

2015-08-01

In this paper, we present a scenario-based approach for tsunami hazard assessment for the city and harbour of Sines - Portugal, one of the test-sites of project ASTARTE. Sines holds one of the most important deep-water ports which contains oil-bearing, petrochemical, liquid bulk, coal and container terminals. The port and its industrial infrastructures are facing the ocean southwest towards the main seismogenic sources. This work considers two different seismic zones: the Southwest Iberian Margin and the Gloria Fault. Within these two regions, we selected a total of six scenarios to assess the tsunami impact at the test site. The tsunami simulations are computed using NSWING a Non-linear Shallow Water Model With Nested Grids. In this study, the static effect of tides is analysed for three different tidal stages MLLW (mean lower low water), MSL (mean sea level) and MHHW (mean higher high water). For each scenario, inundation is described by maximum values of wave height, flow depth, drawback, runup and inundation distance. Synthetic waveforms are computed at virtual tide gauges at specific locations outside and inside the harbour. The final results describe the impact at Sines test site considering the single scenarios at mean sea level, the aggregate scenario and the influence of the tide on the aggregate scenario. The results confirm the composite of Horseshoe and Marques Pombal fault as the worst case scenario. It governs the aggregate scenario with about 60 % and inundates an area of 3.5 km2.

Operational monitoring and forecasting of bathing water quality through exploiting satellite Earth observation and models: The AlgaRisk demonstration service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shutler, J. D.; Warren, M. A.; Miller, P. I.; Barciela, R.; Mahdon, R.; Land, P. E.; Edwards, K.; Wither, A.; Jonas, P.; Murdoch, N.; Roast, S. D.; Clements, O.; Kurekin, A.

2015-04-01

Coastal zones and shelf-seas are important for tourism, commercial fishing and aquaculture. As a result the importance of good water quality within these regions to support life is recognised worldwide and a number of international directives for monitoring them now exist. This paper describes the AlgaRisk water quality monitoring demonstration service that was developed and operated for the UK Environment Agency in response to the microbiological monitoring needs within the revised European Union Bathing Waters Directive. The AlgaRisk approach used satellite Earth observation to provide a near-real time monitoring of microbiological water quality and a series of nested operational models (atmospheric and hydrodynamic-ecosystem) provided a forecast capability. For the period of the demonstration service (2008-2013) all monitoring and forecast datasets were processed in near-real time on a daily basis and disseminated through a dedicated web portal, with extracted data automatically emailed to agency staff. Near-real time data processing was achieved using a series of supercomputers and an Open Grid approach. The novel web portal and java-based viewer enabled users to visualise and interrogate current and historical data. The system description, the algorithms employed and example results focussing on a case study of an incidence of the harmful algal bloom Karenia mikimotoi are presented. Recommendations and the potential exploitation of web services for future water quality monitoring services are discussed.

Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ning; Cheung, Kwok Fai; Stopa, Justin E.; Hsiao, Feng; Chen, Yi-Leng; Vega, Luis; Cross, Patrick

2016-04-01

The complex wave climate of Hawaii includes a mix of seasonal swells and wind waves from all directions across the Pacific. Numerical hindcasting from surface winds provides essential space-time information to complement buoy and satellite observations for studies of the marine environment. We utilize WAVEWATCH III and SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) in a nested grid system to model basin-wide processes as well as high-resolution wave conditions around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The wind forcing includes the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) for the globe and downscaled regional winds from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Long-term in-situ buoy measurements and remotely-sensed wind speeds and wave heights allow thorough assessment of the modeling approach and data products for practical application. The high-resolution WRF winds, which include orographic and land-surface effects, are validated with QuickSCAT observations from 2000 to 2009. The wave hindcast reproduces the spatial patterns of swell and wind wave events detected by altimeters on multiple platforms between 1991 and 2009 as well as the seasonal variations recorded at 16 offshore and nearshore buoys around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The hindcast captures heightened seas in interisland channels and around prominent headlands, but tends to overestimate the heights of approaching northwest swells and give lower estimates in sheltered areas. The validated high-resolution hindcast sets a baseline for future improvement of spectral wave models.

Coupling density functional theory to polarizable force fields for efficient and accurate Hamiltonian molecular dynamics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwörer, Magnus; Breitenfeld, Benedikt; Tröster, Philipp; Bauer, Sebastian; Lorenzen, Konstantin; Tavan, Paul; Mathias, Gerald

2013-06-01

Hybrid molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, in which the forces acting on the atoms are calculated by grid-based density functional theory (DFT) for a solute molecule and by a polarizable molecular mechanics (PMM) force field for a large solvent environment composed of several 103-105 molecules, pose a challenge. A corresponding computational approach should guarantee energy conservation, exclude artificial distortions of the electron density at the interface between the DFT and PMM fragments, and should treat the long-range electrostatic interactions within the hybrid simulation system in a linearly scaling fashion. Here we describe a corresponding Hamiltonian DFT/(P)MM implementation, which accounts for inducible atomic dipoles of a PMM environment in a joint DFT/PMM self-consistency iteration. The long-range parts of the electrostatics are treated by hierarchically nested fast multipole expansions up to a maximum distance dictated by the minimum image convention of toroidal boundary conditions and, beyond that distance, by a reaction field approach such that the computation scales linearly with the number of PMM atoms. Short-range over-polarization artifacts are excluded by using Gaussian inducible dipoles throughout the system and Gaussian partial charges in the PMM region close to the DFT fragment. The Hamiltonian character, the stability, and efficiency of the implementation are investigated by hybrid DFT/PMM-MD simulations treating one molecule of the water dimer and of bulk water by DFT and the respective remainder by PMM.

Extraction and representation of nested catchment areas from digital elevation models in lake-dominated topography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mackay, D. Scott; Band, Lawrence E.

1998-04-01

This paper presents a new method for extracting flow directions, contributing (upslope) areas, and nested catchments from digital elevation models in lake-dominated areas. Existing tools for acquiring descriptive variables of the topography, such as surface flow directions and contributing areas, were developed for moderate to steep topography. These tools are typically difficult to apply in gentle topography owing to limitations in explicitly handling lakes and other flat areas. This paper addresses the problem of accurately representing general topographic features by first identifying distinguishing features, such as lakes, in gentle topography areas and then using these features to guide the search for topographic flow directions and catchment marking. Lakes are explicitly represented in the topology of a watershed for use in water routing. Nonlake flat features help guide the search for topographic flow directions in areas of low signal to noise. This combined feature-based and grid-based search for topographic features yields improved contributing areas and watershed boundaries where there are lakes and other flat areas. Lakes are easily classified from remotely sensed imagery, which makes automated representation of lakes as subsystems within a watershed system tractable with widely available data sets.

Description and Evaluation of IAP-AACM: A Global-regional Aerosol Chemistry Model for the Earth System Model CAS-ESM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Chen, X.

2017-12-01

We present a first description and evaluation of the IAP Atmospheric Aerosol Chemistry Model (IAP-AACM) which has been integrated into the earth system model CAS-ESM. In this way it is possible to research into interaction of clouds and aerosol by its two-way coupling with the IAP Atmospheric General Circulation Model (IAP-AGCM). The model has a nested global-regional grid based on the Global Environmental Atmospheric Transport Model (GEATM) and the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS). The AACM provides two optional gas chemistry schemes, the CBM-Z gas chemistry as well as a sulfur oxidize box designed specifically for the CAS-ESM. Now the model driven by AGCM has been applied to a 1-year simulation of tropospheric chemistry both on global and regional scales for 2014, and been evaluated against various observation datasets, including aerosol precursor gas concentration, aerosol mass and number concentrations. Furthermore, global budgets in AACM are compared with other global aerosol models. Generally, the AACM simulations are within the range of other global aerosol model predictions, and the model has a reasonable agreement with observations of gases and particles concentration both on global and regional scales.

2-dimensional implicit hydrodynamics on adaptive grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stökl, A.; Dorfi, E. A.

2007-12-01

We present a numerical scheme for two-dimensional hydrodynamics computations using a 2D adaptive grid together with an implicit discretization. The combination of these techniques has offered favorable numerical properties applicable to a variety of one-dimensional astrophysical problems which motivated us to generalize this approach for two-dimensional applications. Due to the different topological nature of 2D grids compared to 1D problems, grid adaptivity has to avoid severe grid distortions which necessitates additional smoothing parameters to be included into the formulation of a 2D adaptive grid. The concept of adaptivity is described in detail and several test computations demonstrate the effectivity of smoothing. The coupled solution of this grid equation together with the equations of hydrodynamics is illustrated by computation of a 2D shock tube problem.

A Method to Represent Heterogeneous Materials for Rapid Prototyping: The Matryoshka Approach.

PubMed

Lei, Shuangyan; Frank, Matthew C; Anderson, Donald D; Brown, Thomas D

The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for representing heterogeneous materials using nested STL shells, based, in particular, on the density distributions of human bones. Nested STL shells, called Matryoshka models, are described, based on their namesake Russian nesting dolls. In this approach, polygonal models, such as STL shells, are "stacked" inside one another to represent different material regions. The Matryoshka model addresses the challenge of representing different densities and different types of bone when reverse engineering from medical images. The Matryoshka model is generated via an iterative process of thresholding the Hounsfield Unit (HU) data using computed tomography (CT), thereby delineating regions of progressively increasing bone density. These nested shells can represent regions starting with the medullary (bone marrow) canal, up through and including the outer surface of the bone. The Matryoshka approach introduced can be used to generate accurate models of heterogeneous materials in an automated fashion, avoiding the challenge of hand-creating an assembly model for input to multi-material additive or subtractive manufacturing. This paper presents a new method for describing heterogeneous materials: in this case, the density distribution in a human bone. The authors show how the Matryoshka model can be used to plan harvesting locations for creating custom rapid allograft bone implants from donor bone. An implementation of a proposed harvesting method is demonstrated, followed by a case study using subtractive rapid prototyping to harvest a bone implant from a human tibia surrogate.

Real-space grids and the Octopus code as tools for the development of new simulation approaches for electronic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, Xavier; Strubbe, David; De Giovannini, Umberto; Larsen, Ask Hjorth; Oliveira, Micael J. T.; Alberdi-Rodriguez, Joseba; Varas, Alejandro; Theophilou, Iris; Helbig, Nicole; Verstraete, Matthieu J.; Stella, Lorenzo; Nogueira, Fernando; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; Castro, Alberto; Marques, Miguel A. L.; Rubio, Angel

Real-space grids are a powerful alternative for the simulation of electronic systems. One of the main advantages of the approach is the flexibility and simplicity of working directly in real space where the different fields are discretized on a grid, combined with competitive numerical performance and great potential for parallelization. These properties constitute a great advantage at the time of implementing and testing new physical models. Based on our experience with the Octopus code, in this article we discuss how the real-space approach has allowed for the recent development of new ideas for the simulation of electronic systems. Among these applications are approaches to calculate response properties, modeling of photoemission, optimal control of quantum systems, simulation of plasmonic systems, and the exact solution of the Schr\\"odinger equation for low-dimensionality systems.

Estimating length of avian incubation and nestling stages in afrotropical forest birds from interval-censored nest records

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stanley, T.R.; Newmark, W.D.

2010-01-01

In the East Usambara Mountains in northeast Tanzania, research on the effects of forest fragmentation and disturbance on nest survival in understory birds resulted in the accumulation of 1,002 nest records between 2003 and 2008 for 8 poorly studied species. Because information on the length of the incubation and nestling stages in these species is nonexistent or sparse, our objectives in this study were (1) to estimate the length of the incubation and nestling stage and (2) to compute nest survival using these estimates in combination with calculated daily survival probability. Because our data were interval censored, we developed and applied two new statistical methods to estimate stage length. In the 8 species studied, the incubation stage lasted 9.6-21.8 days and the nestling stage 13.9-21.2 days. Combining these results with estimates of daily survival probability, we found that nest survival ranged from 6.0% to 12.5%. We conclude that our methodology for estimating stage lengths from interval-censored nest records is a reasonable and practical approach in the presence of interval-censored data. ?? 2010 The American Ornithologists' Union.

A Control Chart Approach for Representing and Mining Data Streams with Shape Based Similarity

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

Omitaomu, Olufemi A

The mining of data streams for online condition monitoring is a challenging task in several domains including (electric) power grid system, intelligent manufacturing, and consumer science. Considering a power grid application in which thousands of sensors, called the phasor measurement units, are deployed on the power grid network to continuously collect streams of digital data for real-time situational awareness and system management. Depending on design, each sensor could stream between ten and sixty data samples per second. The myriad of sensory data captured could convey deeper insights about sequence of events in real-time and before major damages are done. However,more » the timely processing and analysis of these high-velocity and high-volume data streams is a challenge. Hence, a new data processing and transformation approach, based on the concept of control charts, for representing sequence of data streams from sensors is proposed. In addition, an application of the proposed approach for enhancing data mining tasks such as clustering using real-world power grid data streams is presented. The results indicate that the proposed approach is very efficient for data streams storage and manipulation.« less

Computation of transonic separated wing flows using an Euler/Navier-Stokes zonal approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaynak, Uenver; Holst, Terry L.; Cantwell, Brian J.

1986-01-01

A computer program called Transonic Navier Stokes (TNS) has been developed which solves the Euler/Navier-Stokes equations around wings using a zonal grid approach. In the present zonal scheme, the physical domain of interest is divided into several subdomains called zones and the governing equations are solved interactively. The advantages of the Zonal Grid approach are as follows: (1) the grid for any subdomain can be generated easily; (2) grids can be, in a sense, adapted to the solution; (3) different equation sets can be used in different zones; and, (4) this approach allows for a convenient data base organization scheme. Using this code, separated flows on a NACA 0012 section wing and on the NASA Ames WING C have been computed. First, the effects of turbulence and artificial dissipation models incorporated into the code are assessed by comparing the TNS results with other CFD codes and experiments. Then a series of flow cases is described where data are available. The computed results, including cases with shock-induced separation, are in good agreement with experimental data. Finally, some futuristic cases are presented to demonstrate the abilities of the code for massively separated cases which do not have experimental data.

A new solution-adaptive grid generation method for transonic airfoil flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakamura, S.; Holst, T. L.

1981-01-01

The clustering algorithm is controlled by a second-order, ordinary differential equation which uses the airfoil surface density gradient as a forcing function. The solution to this differential equation produces a surface grid distribution which is automatically clustered in regions with large gradients. The interior grid points are established from this surface distribution by using an interpolation scheme which is fast and retains the desirable properties of the original grid generated from the standard elliptic equation approach.

A Data-Driven Approach to Interactive Visualization of Power Grids

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

Zhu, Jun

Driven by emerging industry standards, electric utilities and grid coordination organizations are eager to seek advanced tools to assist grid operators to perform mission-critical tasks and enable them to make quick and accurate decisions. The emerging field of visual analytics holds tremendous promise for improving the business practices in today’s electric power industry. The conducted investigation, however, has revealed that the existing commercial power grid visualization tools heavily rely on human designers, hindering user’s ability to discover. Additionally, for a large grid, it is very labor-intensive and costly to build and maintain the pre-designed visual displays. This project proposes amore » data-driven approach to overcome the common challenges. The proposed approach relies on developing powerful data manipulation algorithms to create visualizations based on the characteristics of empirically or mathematically derived data. The resulting visual presentations emphasize what the data is rather than how the data should be presented, thus fostering comprehension and discovery. Furthermore, the data-driven approach formulates visualizations on-the-fly. It does not require a visualization design stage, completely eliminating or significantly reducing the cost for building and maintaining visual displays. The research and development (R&D) conducted in this project is mainly divided into two phases. The first phase (Phase I & II) focuses on developing data driven techniques for visualization of power grid and its operation. Various data-driven visualization techniques were investigated, including pattern recognition for auto-generation of one-line diagrams, fuzzy model based rich data visualization for situational awareness, etc. The R&D conducted during the second phase (Phase IIB) focuses on enhancing the prototyped data driven visualization tool based on the gathered requirements and use cases. The goal is to evolve the prototyped tool developed during the first phase into a commercial grade product. We will use one of the identified application areas as an example to demonstrate how research results achieved in this project are successfully utilized to address an emerging industry need. In summary, the data-driven visualization approach developed in this project has proven to be promising for building the next-generation power grid visualization tools. Application of this approach has resulted in a state-of-the-art commercial tool currently being leveraged by more than 60 utility organizations in North America and Europe .« less

A Grid Sourcing and Adaptation Study Using Unstructured Grids for Supersonic Boom Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, Melissa B.; Deere, Karen A.

2008-01-01

NASA created the Supersonics Project as part of the NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Program to advance technology that will make a supersonic flight over land viable. Computational flow solvers have lacked the ability to accurately predict sonic boom from the near to far field. The focus of this investigation was to establish gridding and adaptation techniques to predict near-to-mid-field (<10 body lengths below the aircraft) boom signatures at supersonic speeds using the USM3D unstructured grid flow solver. The study began by examining sources along the body the aircraft, far field sourcing and far field boundaries. The study then examined several techniques for grid adaptation. During the course of the study, volume sourcing was introduced as a new way to source grids using the grid generation code VGRID. Two different methods of using the volume sources were examined. The first method, based on manual insertion of the numerous volume sources, made great improvements in the prediction capability of USM3D for boom signatures. The second method (SSGRID), which uses an a priori adaptation approach to stretch and shear the original unstructured grid to align the grid and pressure waves, showed similar results with a more automated approach. Due to SSGRID s results and ease of use, the rest of the study focused on developing a best practice using SSGRID. The best practice created by this study for boom predictions using the CFD code USM3D involved: 1) creating a small cylindrical outer boundary either 1 or 2 body lengths in diameter (depending on how far below the aircraft the boom prediction is required), 2) using a single volume source under the aircraft, and 3) using SSGRID to stretch and shear the grid to the desired length.

iSERVO: Implementing the International Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory by Integrating Computational Grid and Geographical Information Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aktas, Mehmet; Aydin, Galip; Donnellan, Andrea; Fox, Geoffrey; Granat, Robert; Grant, Lisa; Lyzenga, Greg; McLeod, Dennis; Pallickara, Shrideep; Parker, Jay; Pierce, Marlon; Rundle, John; Sayar, Ahmet; Tullis, Terry

2006-12-01

We describe the goals and initial implementation of the International Solid Earth Virtual Observatory (iSERVO). This system is built using a Web Services approach to Grid computing infrastructure and is accessed via a component-based Web portal user interface. We describe our implementations of services used by this system, including Geographical Information System (GIS)-based data grid services for accessing remote data repositories and job management services for controlling multiple execution steps. iSERVO is an example of a larger trend to build globally scalable scientific computing infrastructures using the Service Oriented Architecture approach. Adoption of this approach raises a number of research challenges in millisecond-latency message systems suitable for internet-enabled scientific applications. We review our research in these areas.

e-Science and its implications.

PubMed

Hey, Tony; Trefethen, Anne

2003-08-15

After a definition of e-science and the Grid, the paper begins with an overview of the technological context of Grid developments. NASA's Information Power Grid is described as an early example of a 'prototype production Grid'. The discussion of e-science and the Grid is then set in the context of the UK e-Science Programme and is illustrated with reference to some UK e-science projects in science, engineering and medicine. The Open Standards approach to Grid middleware adopted by the community in the Global Grid Forum is described and compared with community-based standardization processes used for the Internet, MPI, Linux and the Web. Some implications of the imminent data deluge that will arise from the new generation of e-science experiments in terms of archiving and curation are then considered. The paper concludes with remarks about social and technological issues posed by Grid-enabled 'collaboratories' in both scientific and commercial contexts.

Rotational-translational fourier imaging system requiring only one grid pair

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Jonathan W. (Inventor)

2006-01-01

The sky contains many active sources that emit X-rays, gamma rays, and neutrons. Unfortunately hard X-rays, gamma rays, and neutrons cannot be imaged by conventional optics. This obstacle led to the development of Fourier imaging systems. In early approaches, multiple grid pairs were necessary in order to create rudimentary Fourier imaging systems. At least one set of grid pairs was required to provide multiple real components of a Fourier derived image, and another set was required to provide multiple imaginary components of the image. It has long been recognized that the expense associated with the physical production of the numerous grid pairs required for Fourier imaging was a drawback. Herein one grid pair (two grids), with accompanying rotation and translation, can be used if one grid has one more slit than the other grid, and if the detector is modified.

The Overgrid Interface for Computational Simulations on Overset Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Computational simulations using overset grids typically involve multiple steps and a variety of software modules. A graphical interface called OVERGRID has been specially designed for such purposes. Data required and created by the different steps include geometry, grids, domain connectivity information and flow solver input parameters. The interface provides a unified environment for the visualization, processing, generation and diagnosis of such data. General modules are available for the manipulation of structured grids and unstructured surface triangulations. Modules more specific for the overset approach include surface curve generators, hyperbolic and algebraic surface grid generators, a hyperbolic volume grid generator, Cartesian box grid generators, and domain connectivity: pre-processing tools. An interface provides automatic selection and viewing of flow solver boundary conditions, and various other flow solver inputs. For problems involving multiple components in relative motion, a module is available to build the component/grid relationships and to prescribe and animate the dynamics of the different components.

Coarse Grid CFD for underresolved simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Class, Andreas G.; Viellieber, Mathias O.; Himmel, Steffen R.

2010-11-01

CFD simulation of the complete reactor core of a nuclear power plant requires exceedingly huge computational resources so that this crude power approach has not been pursued yet. The traditional approach is 1D subchannel analysis employing calibrated transport models. Coarse grid CFD is an attractive alternative technique based on strongly under-resolved CFD and the inviscid Euler equations. Obviously, using inviscid equations and coarse grids does not resolve all the physics requiring additional volumetric source terms modelling viscosity and other sub-grid effects. The source terms are implemented via correlations derived from fully resolved representative simulations which can be tabulated or computed on the fly. The technique is demonstrated for a Carnot diffusor and a wire-wrap fuel assembly [1]. [4pt] [1] Himmel, S.R. phd thesis, Stuttgart University, Germany 2009, http://bibliothek.fzk.de/zb/berichte/FZKA7468.pdf

A comprehensive WSN-based approach to efficiently manage a Smart Grid.

PubMed

Martinez-Sandoval, Ruben; Garcia-Sanchez, Antonio-Javier; Garcia-Sanchez, Felipe; Garcia-Haro, Joan; Flynn, David

2014-10-10

The Smart Grid (SG) is conceived as the evolution of the current electrical grid representing a big leap in terms of efficiency, reliability and flexibility compared to today's electrical network. To achieve this goal, the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are considered by the scientific/engineering community to be one of the most suitable technologies to apply SG technology to due to their low-cost, collaborative and long-standing nature. However, the SG has posed significant challenges to utility operators-mainly very harsh radio propagation conditions and the lack of appropriate systems to empower WSN devices-making most of the commercial widespread solutions inadequate. In this context, and as a main contribution, we have designed a comprehensive ad-hoc WSN-based solution for the Smart Grid (SENSED-SG) that focuses on specific implementations of the MAC, the network and the application layers to attain maximum performance and to successfully deal with any arising hurdles. Our approach has been exhaustively evaluated by computer simulations and mathematical analysis, as well as validation within real test-beds deployed in controlled environments. In particular, these test-beds cover two of the main scenarios found in a SG; on one hand, an indoor electrical substation environment, implemented in a High Voltage AC/DC laboratory, and, on the other hand, an outdoor case, deployed in the Transmission and Distribution segment of a power grid. The results obtained show that SENSED-SG performs better and is more suitable for the Smart Grid than the popular ZigBee WSN approach.

Sensitivity of the Carolina Coastal Ocean Circulation to Open Boundary and Atmospheric Forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X.; Xie, L.; Pietrafesa, L.

2003-12-01

The ocean circulation on the continental shelf off the Carolina coast is characterized by a complex flow regime and temporal variability, which is influenced by atmospheric forcing, the Gulf Stream system, complex coastline and bathymetry, river discharge and tidal forcing. In this study, a triple-nested, HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) is used to simulate the coastal ocean circulation on the continental shelf off the Carolina coast and its interactions with the offshore large-scale ocean circulation system. The horizontal mesh size in the innermost domain was set to 1 km, whereas the outermost domain coincides with the near real-time 1/12­’ Atlantic HYCOM Nowcast/Forecast System operated at the Naval Research Laboratory. The intermediate domain uses a mesh size of 3 km. Atmospheric forcing fields for the Carolina coastal region are derived from the NOAA operational ETA model, the ECMWF reanalysis fields and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis fields. These forcing fields are derived at 0.8›¦, 1.125›¦ and 1.875›¦ resolutions, and at intervals of 6 hour, daily and monthly. The sensitivity of the model results to the spatial and temporal resolution of the atmospheric forcing fields is analyzed. To study the dependence of the model sensitivity on the model grid size, single-window simulations at resolutions of 1km, 3km and 9km are carried out using the same forcing fields that were applied to the nested system. Comparisons between the nested and the single domain simulation results will be presented.

Assessment of Hybrid RANS/LES Turbulence Models for Aeroacoustics Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, Veer N.; Lockard, David P.

2010-01-01

Predicting the noise from aircraft with exposed landing gear remains a challenging problem for the aeroacoustics community. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has shown promise as a technique that could produce high-fidelity flow solutions, generating grids that can resolve the pertinent physics around complex configurations can be very challenging. Structured grids are often impractical for such configurations. Unstructured grids offer a path forward for simulating complex configurations. However, few unstructured grid codes have been thoroughly tested for unsteady flow problems in the manner needed for aeroacoustic prediction. A widely used unstructured grid code, FUN3D, is examined for resolving the near field in unsteady flow problems. Although the ultimate goal is to compute the flow around complex geometries such as the landing gear, simpler problems that include some of the relevant physics, and are easily amenable to the structured grid approaches are used for testing the unstructured grid approach. The test cases chosen for this study correspond to the experimental work on single and tandem cylinders conducted in the Basic Aerodynamic Research Tunnel (BART) and the Quiet Flow Facility (QFF) at NASA Langley Research Center. These configurations offer an excellent opportunity to assess the performance of hybrid RANS/LES turbulence models that transition from RANS in unresolved regions near solid bodies to LES in the outer flow field. Several of these models have been implemented and tested in both structured and unstructured grid codes to evaluate their dependence on the solver and mesh type. Comparison of FUN3D solutions with experimental data and numerical solutions from a structured grid flow solver are found to be encouraging.

Military Cyberspace: From Evolution to Revolution

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-08

support the GCCs and enable USCYBERCOM to accomplish its mission? 15. SUBJECT TERMS Network Operations, Global Information Grid ( GIG ), Network...DATE: 08 February 2012 WORD COUNT: 5,405 PAGES: 30 KEY TERMS: Network Operations, Global Information Grid ( GIG ), Network Architecture...defense of the DOD global information grid ( GIG ). The DOD must pursue an enterprise approach to network management in the cyberspace domain to

Geometry modeling and grid generation using 3D NURBS control volume

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, Tzu-Yi; Soni, Bharat K.; Shih, Ming-Hsin

1995-01-01

The algorithms for volume grid generation using NURBS geometric representation are presented. The parameterization algorithm is enhanced to yield a desired physical distribution on the curve, surface and volume. This approach bridges the gap between CAD surface/volume definition and surface/volume grid generation. Computational examples associated with practical configurations have shown the utilization of these algorithms.

High-order central ENO finite-volume scheme for hyperbolic conservation laws on three-dimensional cubed-sphere grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivan, L.; De Sterck, H.; Susanto, A.; Groth, C. P. T.

2015-02-01

A fourth-order accurate finite-volume scheme for hyperbolic conservation laws on three-dimensional (3D) cubed-sphere grids is described. The approach is based on a central essentially non-oscillatory (CENO) finite-volume method that was recently introduced for two-dimensional compressible flows and is extended to 3D geometries with structured hexahedral grids. Cubed-sphere grids feature hexahedral cells with nonplanar cell surfaces, which are handled with high-order accuracy using trilinear geometry representations in the proposed approach. Varying stencil sizes and slope discontinuities in grid lines occur at the boundaries and corners of the six sectors of the cubed-sphere grid where the grid topology is unstructured, and these difficulties are handled naturally with high-order accuracy by the multidimensional least-squares based 3D CENO reconstruction with overdetermined stencils. A rotation-based mechanism is introduced to automatically select appropriate smaller stencils at degenerate block boundaries, where fewer ghost cells are available and the grid topology changes, requiring stencils to be modified. Combining these building blocks results in a finite-volume discretization for conservation laws on 3D cubed-sphere grids that is uniformly high-order accurate in all three grid directions. While solution-adaptivity is natural in the multi-block setting of our code, high-order accurate adaptive refinement on cubed-sphere grids is not pursued in this paper. The 3D CENO scheme is an accurate and robust solution method for hyperbolic conservation laws on general hexahedral grids that is attractive because it is inherently multidimensional by employing a K-exact overdetermined reconstruction scheme, and it avoids the complexity of considering multiple non-central stencil configurations that characterizes traditional ENO schemes. Extensive numerical tests demonstrate fourth-order convergence for stationary and time-dependent Euler and magnetohydrodynamic flows on cubed-sphere grids, and robustness against spurious oscillations at 3D shocks. Performance tests illustrate efficiency gains that can be potentially achieved using fourth-order schemes as compared to second-order methods for the same error level. Applications on extended cubed-sphere grids incorporating a seventh root block that discretizes the interior of the inner sphere demonstrate the versatility of the spatial discretization method.

Parallel architectures for iterative methods on adaptive, block structured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gannon, D.; Vanrosendale, J.

1983-01-01

A parallel computer architecture well suited to the solution of partial differential equations in complicated geometries is proposed. Algorithms for partial differential equations contain a great deal of parallelism. But this parallelism can be difficult to exploit, particularly on complex problems. One approach to extraction of this parallelism is the use of special purpose architectures tuned to a given problem class. The architecture proposed here is tuned to boundary value problems on complex domains. An adaptive elliptic algorithm which maps effectively onto the proposed architecture is considered in detail. Two levels of parallelism are exploited by the proposed architecture. First, by making use of the freedom one has in grid generation, one can construct grids which are locally regular, permitting a one to one mapping of grids to systolic style processor arrays, at least over small regions. All local parallelism can be extracted by this approach. Second, though there may be a regular global structure to the grids constructed, there will be parallelism at this level. One approach to finding and exploiting this parallelism is to use an architecture having a number of processor clusters connected by a switching network. The use of such a network creates a highly flexible architecture which automatically configures to the problem being solved.

Inter-assemblage facilitation: the functional diversity of cavity-producing beetles drives the size diversity of cavity-nesting bees.

PubMed

Sydenham, Markus A K; Häusler, Lise D; Moe, Stein R; Eldegard, Katrine

2016-01-01

Inter-specific interactions are important drivers and maintainers of biodiversity. Compared to trophic and competitive interactions, the role of non-trophic facilitation among species has received less attention. Cavity-nesting bees nest in old beetle borings in dead wood, with restricted diameters corresponding to the body size of the bee species. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the functional diversity of cavity-producing wood boring beetles - in terms of cavity diameters - drives the size diversity of cavity-nesting bees. The invertebrate communities were sampled in 30 sites, located in forested landscapes along an elevational gradient. We regressed the species richness and abundance of cavity nesting bees against the species richness and abundance of wood boring beetles, non-wood boring beetles and elevation. The proportion of cavity nesting bees in bee species assemblage was regressed against the species richness and abundance of wood boring beetles. We also tested the relationships between the size diversity of cavity nesting bees and wood boring beetles. The species richness and abundance of cavity nesting bees increased with the species richness and abundance of wood boring beetles. No such relationship was found for non-wood boring beetles. The abundance of wood boring beetles was also related to an increased proportion of cavity nesting bee individuals. Moreover, the size diversity of cavity-nesting bees increased with the functional diversity of wood boring beetles. Specifically, the mean and dispersion of bee body sizes increased with the functional dispersion of large wood boring beetles. The positive relationships between cavity producing bees and cavity nesting bees suggest that non-trophic facilitative interactions between species assemblages play important roles in organizing bee species assemblages. Considering a community-wide approach may therefore be required if we are to successfully understand and conserve wild bee species assemblages in forested landscapes.

Derived Optimal Linear Combination Evapotranspiration (DOLCE): a global gridded synthesis ET estimate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hobeichi, Sanaa; Abramowitz, Gab; Evans, Jason; Ukkola, Anna

2018-02-01

Accurate global gridded estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) are key to understanding water and energy budgets, in addition to being required for model evaluation. Several gridded ET products have already been developed which differ in their data requirements, the approaches used to derive them and their estimates, yet it is not clear which provides the most reliable estimates. This paper presents a new global ET dataset and associated uncertainty with monthly temporal resolution for 2000-2009. Six existing gridded ET products are combined using a weighting approach trained by observational datasets from 159 FLUXNET sites. The weighting method is based on a technique that provides an analytically optimal linear combination of ET products compared to site data and accounts for both the performance differences and error covariance between the participating ET products. We examine the performance of the weighting approach in several in-sample and out-of-sample tests that confirm that point-based estimates of flux towers provide information on the grid scale of these products. We also provide evidence that the weighted product performs better than its six constituent ET product members in four common metrics. Uncertainty in the ET estimate is derived by rescaling the spread of participating ET products so that their spread reflects the ability of the weighted mean estimate to match flux tower data. While issues in observational data and any common biases in participating ET datasets are limitations to the success of this approach, future datasets can easily be incorporated and enhance the derived product.

Unstructured Grids for Sonic Boom Analysis and Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Richard L.; Nayani, Sudheer N.

2015-01-01

An evaluation of two methods for improving the process for generating unstructured CFD grids for sonic boom analysis and design has been conducted. The process involves two steps: the generation of an inner core grid using a conventional unstructured grid generator such as VGRID, followed by the extrusion of a sheared and stretched collar grid through the outer boundary of the core grid. The first method evaluated, known as COB, automatically creates a cylindrical outer boundary definition for use in VGRID that makes the extrusion process more robust. The second method, BG, generates the collar grid by extrusion in a very efficient manner. Parametric studies have been carried out and new options evaluated for each of these codes with the goal of establishing guidelines for best practices for maintaining boom signature accuracy with as small a grid as possible. In addition, a preliminary investigation examining the use of the CDISC design method for reducing sonic boom utilizing these grids was conducted, with initial results confirming the feasibility of a new remote design approach.

Development of a large scale Chimera grid system for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearce, Daniel G.; Stanley, Scott A.; Martin, Fred W., Jr.; Gomez, Ray J.; Le Beau, Gerald J.; Buning, Pieter G.; Chan, William M.; Chiu, Ing-Tsau; Wulf, Armin; Akdag, Vedat

1993-01-01

The application of CFD techniques to large problems has dictated the need for large team efforts. This paper offers an opportunity to examine the motivations, goals, needs, problems, as well as the methods, tools, and constraints that defined NASA's development of a 111 grid/16 million point grid system model for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle. The Chimera approach used for domain decomposition encouraged separation of the complex geometry into several major components each of which was modeled by an autonomous team. ICEM-CFD, a CAD based grid generation package, simplified the geometry and grid topology definition by provoding mature CAD tools and patch independent meshing. The resulting grid system has, on average, a four inch resolution along the surface.

Future evolution of distributed systems for smart grid - The challenges and opportunities to using decentralized energy system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konopko, Joanna

2015-12-01

A decentralized energy system is a relatively new approach in the power industry. Decentralized energy systems provide promising opportunities for deploying renewable energy sources locally available as well as for expanding access to clean energy services to remote communities. The electricity system of the future must produce and distribute electricity that is reliable and affordable. To accomplish these goals, both the electricity grid and the existing regulatory system must be smarter. In this paper, the major issues and challenges in distributed systems for smart grid are discussed and future trends are presented. The smart grid technologies and distributed generation systems are explored. A general overview of the comparison of the traditional grid and smart grid is also included.

HELIOS-R: An Ultrafast, Open-Source Retrieval Code For Exoplanetary Atmosphere Characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LAVIE, Baptiste

2015-12-01

Atmospheric retrieval is a growing, new approach in the theory of exoplanet atmosphere characterization. Unlike self-consistent modeling it allows us to fully explore the parameter space, as well as the degeneracies between the parameters using a Bayesian framework. We present HELIOS-R, a very fast retrieving code written in Python and optimized for GPU computation. Once it is ready, HELIOS-R will be the first open-source atmospheric retrieval code accessible to the exoplanet community. As the new generation of direct imaging instruments (SPHERE, GPI) have started to gather data, the first version of HELIOS-R focuses on emission spectra. We use a 1D two-stream forward model for computing fluxes and couple it to an analytical temperature-pressure profile that is constructed to be in radiative equilibrium. We use our ultra-fast opacity calculator HELIOS-K (also open-source) to compute the opacities of CO2, H2O, CO and CH4 from the HITEMP database. We test both opacity sampling (which is typically used by other workers) and the method of k-distributions. Using this setup, we compute a grid of synthetic spectra and temperature-pressure profiles, which is then explored using a nested sampling algorithm. By focusing on model selection (Occam’s razor) through the explicit computation of the Bayesian evidence, nested sampling allows us to deal with current sparse data as well as upcoming high-resolution observations. Once the best model is selected, HELIOS-R provides posterior distributions of the parameters. As a test for our code we studied HR8799 system and compared our results with the previous analysis of Lee, Heng & Irwin (2013), which used the proprietary NEMESIS retrieval code. HELIOS-R and HELIOS-K are part of the set of open-source community codes we named the Exoclimes Simulation Platform (www.exoclime.org).

ManUniCast: A Community Weather and Air-Quality Forecasting Teaching Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, David M.; Anderson, Stuart; Fairman, Jonathan G.; Lowe, Douglas; McFiggans, Gordon; Lee, Elsa; Seo-Zindy, Ryo

2014-05-01

Manunicast was borne out of the needs of our teaching program: students were entering a world where environmental prediction via numerical model was an essential skill, but were not exposed to the production or output of such models. Our site is an educational testbed to explain to students and the public how weather, air-quality, and air-chemistry forecasts are made using real-time predictions as examples. As far as we know, this site provides the first freely available real-time predictions for the UK. We perform two simulations a day over three domains using the most popular, freely available, community atmospheric mesoscale and chemistry models WRF-ARW and WRF-Chem: 1. a WRF-ARW domain over the North Atlantic and western Europe (20-km horizontal grid spacing) 2. a WRF-ARW domain over the UK and Ireland (4-km grid spacing, nested within the 20-km domain) 3. a WRF-Chem domain over the UK and Ireland (12-km grid spacing) Called ManUniCast (Manchester University Forecast), we offer a suite of products from horizontal maps, time series at stations (meteograms), skew-T-logp charts, and cross sections to help students better visualize the weather and the relationships between the various fields more effectively, specifically through the ability to overlay and fade between different plotted products. This presentation discusses how we funded and built ManUniCast, the struggles we faced, and its use in our classes.

Host selection by the shiny cowbird

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wiley, J.W.

1988-01-01

Factors important in Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) host selection were examined within the mangrove community in Puerto Rico. Cowbirds did not parasitize birds in proportion to their abundance. The cowbird breeding season coincided with those of its major hosts, which were 'high-quality' foster species (i.e., species that fledge .gtoreq. 55% of cowbirds hatched: Yellow Warbler, Dendroica petechia; Yellow-shouldered Blackbird, Agelaius xanthomus; Black-whiskered Vireo, Vireo altiloquus; Black-cowled Oriole, Icterus dominicensis; Peurto Rican Flycatcher, Myiarchus antillarum; Troupial, Icterus icterus), and did not extend into other periods even though nests of 'low-quality: species (i.e., species that fledge < 55% of cowbird chicks that hatched: Bronze Mannikin, Lonchura cucullata; Greater Antillean Grackle, Quiscalus niger; Gray Kingbird, Tyrannus dominicensis; Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos; Red-legged Thrush, Turdus plumbeus) were available. Shiny Cowbird food habits and egg size were similar to those of their hosts, suggesting that cowbirds choose hosts partly on the basis of this combination. Cowbirds located host nests primarily by cryptically watching activities of birds in likely habitats. Other nest locating strategies were active searching of suitable habitat and 'flushing' of hosts by the cowbird's noisy approach. Cowbirds closely monitored nest status with frequent visits that peaked on the host's first day of egg laying. Hosts using covered nests (e.g., cavities, domed nests) were as vulnerable to cowbird parasitism as those building open nests.

Hierarchically nested river landform sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasternack, G. B.; Weber, M. D.; Brown, R. A.; Baig, D.

2017-12-01

River corridors exhibit landforms nested within landforms repeatedly down spatial scales. In this study we developed, tested, and implemented a new way to create river classifications by mapping domains of fluvial processes with respect to the hierarchical organization of topographic complexity that drives fluvial dynamism. We tested this approach on flow convergence routing, a morphodynamic mechanism with different states depending on the structure of nondimensional topographic variability. Five nondimensional landform types with unique functionality (nozzle, wide bar, normal channel, constricted pool, and oversized) represent this process at any flow. When this typology is nested at base flow, bankfull, and floodprone scales it creates a system with up to 125 functional types. This shows how a single mechanism produces complex dynamism via nesting. Given the classification, we answered nine specific scientific questions to investigate the abundance, sequencing, and hierarchical nesting of these new landform types using a 35-km gravel/cobble river segment of the Yuba River in California. The nested structure of flow convergence routing landforms found in this study revealed that bankfull landforms are nested within specific floodprone valley landform types, and these types control bankfull morphodynamics during moderate to large floods. As a result, this study calls into question the prevailing theory that the bankfull channel of a gravel/cobble river is controlled by in-channel, bankfull, and/or small flood flows. Such flows are too small to initiate widespread sediment transport in a gravel/cobble river with topographic complexity.

Grid oscillators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Popovic, Zorana B.; Kim, Moonil; Rutledge, David B.

1988-01-01

Loading a two-dimensional grid with active devices offers a means of combining the power of solid-state oscillators in the microwave and millimeter-wave range. The grid structure allows a large number of negative resistance devices to be combined. This approach is attractive because the active devices do not require an external locking signal, and the combining is done in free space. In addition, the loaded grid is a planar structure amenable to monolithic integration. Measurements on a 25-MESFET grid at 9.7 GHz show power-combining and frequency-locking without an external locking signal, with an ERP of 37 W. Experimental far-field patterns agree with theoretical results obtained using reciprocity.

Ion mobility spectrometer with virtual aperture grid

DOEpatents

Pfeifer, Kent B.; Rumpf, Arthur N.

2010-11-23

An ion mobility spectrometer does not require a physical aperture grid to prevent premature ion detector response. The last electrodes adjacent to the ion collector (typically the last four or five) have an electrode pitch that is less than the width of the ion swarm and each of the adjacent electrodes is connected to a source of free charge, thereby providing a virtual aperture grid at the end of the drift region that shields the ion collector from the mirror current of the approaching ion swarm. The virtual aperture grid is less complex in assembly and function and is less sensitive to vibrations than the physical aperture grid.

A Solution Framework for Environmental Characterization Problems

EPA Science Inventory

This paper describes experiences developing a grid-enabled framework for solving environmental inverse problems. The solution approach taken here couples environmental simulation models with global search methods and requires readily available computational resources of the grid ...

ARPA-E: Advancing the Electric Grid

ScienceCinema

Lemmon, John; Ruiz, Pablo; Sommerer, Tim; Aziz, Michael

2018-06-07

The electric grid was designed with the assumption that all energy generation sources would be relatively controllable, and grid operators would always be able to predict when and where those sources would be located. With the addition of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which can be installed faster than traditional generation technologies, this is no longer the case. Furthermore, the fact that renewable energy sources are imperfectly predictable means that the grid has to adapt in real-time to changing patterns of power flow. We need a dynamic grid that is far more flexible. This video highlights three ARPA-E-funded approaches to improving the grid's flexibility: topology control software from Boston University that optimizes power flow, gas tube switches from General Electric that provide efficient power conversion, and flow batteries from Harvard University that offer grid-scale energy storage.

Managing American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) population qrowth by targeting nesting season vital rates

USGS Publications Warehouse

Felton, Shilo K.; Hostetter, Nathan J.; Pollock, Kenneth H.; Simons, Theodore R.

2017-01-01

In populations of long-lived species, adult survival typically has a relatively high influence on population growth. From a management perspective, however, adult survival can be difficult to increase in some instances, so other component rates must be considered to reverse population declines. In North Carolina, USA, management to conserve the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) targets component vital rates related to fecundity, specifically nest and chick survival. The effectiveness of such a management approach in North Carolina was assessed by creating a three-stage female-based deterministic matrix model. Isoclines were produced from the matrix model to evaluate minimum nest and chick survival rates necessary to reverse population decline, assuming all other vital rates remained stable at mean values. Assuming accurate vital rates, breeding populations within North Carolina appear to be declining. To reverse this decline, combined nest and chick survival would need to increase from 0.14 to ≤ 0.27, a rate that appears to be attainable based on historical estimates. Results are heavily dependent on assumptions of other vital rates, most notably adult survival, revealing the need for accurate estimates of all vital rates to inform management actions. This approach provides valuable insights for evaluating conservation goals for species of concern.

Analyzing medical costs with time-dependent treatment: The nested g-formula.

PubMed

Spieker, Andrew; Roy, Jason; Mitra, Nandita

2018-04-16

As medical expenses continue to rise, methods to properly analyze cost outcomes are becoming of increasing relevance when seeking to compare average costs across treatments. Inverse probability weighted regression models have been developed to address the challenge of cost censoring in order to identify intent-to-treat effects (i.e., to compare mean costs between groups on the basis of their initial treatment assignment, irrespective of any subsequent changes to their treatment status). In this paper, we describe a nested g-computation procedure that can be used to compare mean costs between two or more time-varying treatment regimes. We highlight the relative advantages and limitations of this approach when compared with existing regression-based models. We illustrate the utility of this approach as a means to inform public policy by applying it to a simulated data example motivated by costs associated with cancer treatments. Simulations confirm that inference regarding intent-to-treat effects versus the joint causal effects estimated by the nested g-formula can lead to markedly different conclusions regarding differential costs. Therefore, it is essential to prespecify the desired target of inference when choosing between these two frameworks. The nested g-formula should be considered as a useful, complementary tool to existing methods when analyzing cost outcomes. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Regional Climate Simulations of the Hydrological Cycle in the Iberian Peninsula with a Coupled WRF-HYDRO Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rios-Entenza, A.; Miguez-Macho, G.

2008-12-01

Land-atmosphere water exchanges and heat fluxes play an important role in climate and particularly in controlling precipitation in water-limited regions. One of such regions is the Iberian Peninsula, and in this study we examine the relevance of water recycling in convective precipitation regimes of the Fall and Spring there, when rainfall is critical for agriculture and many other human activities. We conducted simulations with WRF-ARW model at 5 km horizontal resolution, using a 1500 km x 1500 km nested grid that covers the Iberian Peninsula, with a parent domain that uses spectral nudging in order to avoid the distortion of the large-scale circulation caused by the interaction of the modeled flow with the lateral boundaries of the nested grid. For land-surface interactions we coupled WRF with the LEAF-HYDRO land surface model, which includes water table dynamics. We use therefore a tool that simulates the entire water cycle, including the water table, which has been reported to be critical for soil moisture dynamics in semi-arid regions like the Iberian Peninsula. For each one of the events that we selected, we performed two simulations: a control one, where all land-atmosphere feedbacks are taken into account, and the experiment, where infiltration of the precipitated water into the soil was suppressed. In this manner we explore the role of upward latent and sensible heat fluxes and evapotranspiration in precipitation dynamics. Preliminary results suggest that water recycling is a key factor in extending convective precipitation during several days, and that the total new water added in the area as a whole is only a fraction of the total measured rainfall. An estimation of this fraction is very important to better understanding the water budget and for hydrological planning in this water-stressed region.

GFDL's unified regional-global weather-climate modeling system with variable resolution capability for severe weather predictions and regional climate simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, S. J.

2015-12-01

The NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory has been developing a unified regional-global modeling system with variable resolution capabilities that can be used for severe weather predictions (e.g., tornado outbreak events and cat-5 hurricanes) and ultra-high-resolution (1-km) regional climate simulations within a consistent global modeling framework. The fundation of this flexible regional-global modeling system is the non-hydrostatic extension of the vertically Lagrangian dynamical core (Lin 2004, Monthly Weather Review) known in the community as FV3 (finite-volume on the cubed-sphere). Because of its flexability and computational efficiency, the FV3 is one of the final candidates of NOAA's Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS). We have built into the modeling system a stretched (single) grid capability, a two-way (regional-global) multiple nested grid capability, and the combination of the stretched and two-way nests, so as to make convection-resolving regional climate simulation within a consistent global modeling system feasible using today's High Performance Computing System. One of our main scientific goals is to enable simulations of high impact weather phenomena (such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, category-5 hurricanes) within an IPCC-class climate modeling system previously regarded as impossible. In this presentation I will demonstrate that it is computationally feasible to simulate not only super-cell thunderstorms, but also the subsequent genesis of tornadoes using a global model that was originally designed for century long climate simulations. As a unified weather-climate modeling system, we evaluated the performance of the model with horizontal resolution ranging from 1 km to as low as 200 km. In particular, for downscaling studies, we have developed various tests to ensure that the large-scale circulation within the global varaible resolution system is well simulated while at the same time the small-scale can be accurately captured within the targeted high resolution region.

Dynamical Downscaling of Seasonal Climate Prediction over Nordeste Brazil with ECHAM3 and NCEP's Regional Spectral Models at IRI.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobre, Paulo; Moura, Antonio D.; Sun, Liqiang

2001-12-01

This study presents an evaluation of a seasonal climate forecast done with the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) dynamical forecast system (regional model nested into a general circulation model) over northern South America for January-April 1999, encompassing the rainy season over Brazil's Nordeste. The one-way nesting is one in two tiers: first the NCEP's Regional Spectral Model (RSM) runs with an 80-km grid mesh forced by the ECHAM3 atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) outputs; then the RSM runs with a finer grid mesh (20 km) forced by the forecasts generated by the RSM-80. An ensemble of three realizations is done. Lower boundary conditions over the oceans for both ECHAM and RSM model runs are sea surface temperature forecasts over the tropical oceans. Soil moisture is initialized by ECHAM's inputs. The rainfall forecasts generated by the regional model are compared with those of the AGCM and observations. It is shown that the regional model at 80-km resolution improves upon the AGCM rainfall forecast, reducing both seasonal bias and root-mean-square error. On the other hand, the RSM-20 forecasts presented larger errors, with spatial patterns that resemble those of local topography. The better forecast of the position and width of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the tropical Atlantic by the RSM-80 model is one of the principal reasons for better-forecast scores of the RSM-80 relative to the AGCM. The regional model improved the spatial as well as the temporal details of rainfall distribution, and also presenting the minimum spread among the ensemble members. The statistics of synoptic-scale weather variability on seasonal timescales were best forecast with the regional 80-km model over the Nordeste. The possibility of forecasting the frequency distribution of dry and wet spells within the rainy season is encouraging.

Automated classifications of topography from DEMs by an unsupervised nested-means algorithm and a three-part geometric signature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwahashi, Junko; Pike, Richard J.

2007-05-01

An iterative procedure that implements the classification of continuous topography as a problem in digital image-processing automatically divides an area into categories of surface form; three taxonomic criteria-slope gradient, local convexity, and surface texture-are calculated from a square-grid digital elevation model (DEM). The sequence of programmed operations combines twofold-partitioned maps of the three variables converted to greyscale images, using the mean of each variable as the dividing threshold. To subdivide increasingly subtle topography, grid cells sloping at less than mean gradient of the input DEM are classified by designating mean values of successively lower-sloping subsets of the study area (nested means) as taxonomic thresholds, thereby increasing the number of output categories from the minimum 8 to 12 or 16. Program output is exemplified by 16 topographic types for the world at 1-km spatial resolution (SRTM30 data), the Japanese Islands at 270 m, and part of Hokkaido at 55 m. Because the procedure is unsupervised and reflects frequency distributions of the input variables rather than pre-set criteria, the resulting classes are undefined and must be calibrated empirically by subsequent analysis. Maps of the example classifications reflect physiographic regions, geological structure, and landform as well as slope materials and processes; fine-textured terrain categories tend to correlate with erosional topography or older surfaces, coarse-textured classes with areas of little dissection. In Japan the resulting classes approximate landform types mapped from airphoto analysis, while in the Americas they create map patterns resembling Hammond's terrain types or surface-form classes; SRTM30 output for the United States compares favorably with Fenneman's physical divisions. Experiments are suggested for further developing the method; the Arc/Info AML and the map of terrain classes for the world are available as online downloads.

Automated classifications of topography from DEMs by an unsupervised nested-means algorithm and a three-part geometric signature

USGS Publications Warehouse

Iwahashi, J.; Pike, R.J.

2007-01-01

An iterative procedure that implements the classification of continuous topography as a problem in digital image-processing automatically divides an area into categories of surface form; three taxonomic criteria-slope gradient, local convexity, and surface texture-are calculated from a square-grid digital elevation model (DEM). The sequence of programmed operations combines twofold-partitioned maps of the three variables converted to greyscale images, using the mean of each variable as the dividing threshold. To subdivide increasingly subtle topography, grid cells sloping at less than mean gradient of the input DEM are classified by designating mean values of successively lower-sloping subsets of the study area (nested means) as taxonomic thresholds, thereby increasing the number of output categories from the minimum 8 to 12 or 16. Program output is exemplified by 16 topographic types for the world at 1-km spatial resolution (SRTM30 data), the Japanese Islands at 270??m, and part of Hokkaido at 55??m. Because the procedure is unsupervised and reflects frequency distributions of the input variables rather than pre-set criteria, the resulting classes are undefined and must be calibrated empirically by subsequent analysis. Maps of the example classifications reflect physiographic regions, geological structure, and landform as well as slope materials and processes; fine-textured terrain categories tend to correlate with erosional topography or older surfaces, coarse-textured classes with areas of little dissection. In Japan the resulting classes approximate landform types mapped from airphoto analysis, while in the Americas they create map patterns resembling Hammond's terrain types or surface-form classes; SRTM30 output for the United States compares favorably with Fenneman's physical divisions. Experiments are suggested for further developing the method; the Arc/Info AML and the map of terrain classes for the world are available as online downloads. ?? 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Bioinformatics Approach for Detecting Repetitive Nested Motifs using Pattern Matching.

PubMed

Romero, José R; Carballido, Jessica A; Garbus, Ingrid; Echenique, Viviana C; Ponzoni, Ignacio

2016-01-01

The identification of nested motifs in genomic sequences is a complex computational problem. The detection of these patterns is important to allow the discovery of transposable element (TE) insertions, incomplete reverse transcripts, deletions, and/or mutations. In this study, a de novo strategy for detecting patterns that represent nested motifs was designed based on exhaustive searches for pairs of motifs and combinatorial pattern analysis. These patterns can be grouped into three categories, motifs within other motifs, motifs flanked by other motifs, and motifs of large size. The methodology used in this study, applied to genomic sequences from the plant species Aegilops tauschii and Oryza sativa , revealed that it is possible to identify putative nested TEs by detecting these three types of patterns. The results were validated through BLAST alignments, which revealed the efficacy and usefulness of the new method, which is called Mamushka.

Relationships of environmental contaminants to reproductive success in red-breasted mergansers (Mergus serrator) from Lake Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heinz, G.H.; Haseltine, S.D.; Reichel, W.L.; Hensler, G.L.

1983-01-01

In 1977 and 1978, we studied red-breasted mergansers Mergus serrator nesting on islands in northwestern Lake Michigan to determine whether environmental contaminants were having effects on reproduction. Seventeen contaminants were measured in randomly chosen eggs from 206 nests under study. Using a variety of statistical approaches, we looked for effects of individual contaminants and combinations of contaminants on reproductive measurements such as nest desertion, failure of eggs to hatch, death of newly hatched ducklings, percentage hatching success, number of ducklings leaving the nest and eggshell thickness. We also looked for relationships between the levels of some contaminants in blood samples of 39 incubating females and reproductive success. A small degree of eggshell thinning was attributed to DDE and a few other statistical tests were significant, but no contaminant or combination of contaminants we measured seemed to have a pronounced effect on the aspects of reproduction we followed.

Evaluation of load flow and grid expansion in a unit-commitment and expansion optimization model SciGRID International Conference on Power Grid Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senkpiel, Charlotte; Biener, Wolfgang; Shammugam, Shivenes; Längle, Sven

2018-02-01

Energy system models serve as a basis for long term system planning. Joint optimization of electricity generating technologies, storage systems and the electricity grid leads to lower total system cost compared to an approach in which the grid expansion follows a given technology portfolio and their distribution. Modelers often face the problem of finding a good tradeoff between computational time and the level of detail that can be modeled. This paper analyses the differences between a transport model and a DC load flow model to evaluate the validity of using a simple but faster transport model within the system optimization model in terms of system reliability. The main findings in this paper are that a higher regional resolution of a system leads to better results compared to an approach in which regions are clustered as more overloads can be detected. An aggregation of lines between two model regions compared to a line sharp representation has little influence on grid expansion within a system optimizer. In a DC load flow model overloads can be detected in a line sharp case, which is therefore preferred. Overall the regions that need to reinforce the grid are identified within the system optimizer. Finally the paper recommends the usage of a load-flow model to test the validity of the model results.

A highly parallel multigrid-like method for the solution of the Euler equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tuminaro, Ray S.

1989-01-01

We consider a highly parallel multigrid-like method for the solution of the two dimensional steady Euler equations. The new method, introduced as filtering multigrid, is similar to a standard multigrid scheme in that convergence on the finest grid is accelerated by iterations on coarser grids. In the filtering method, however, additional fine grid subproblems are processed concurrently with coarse grid computations to further accelerate convergence. These additional problems are obtained by splitting the residual into a smooth and an oscillatory component. The smooth component is then used to form a coarse grid problem (similar to standard multigrid) while the oscillatory component is used for a fine grid subproblem. The primary advantage in the filtering approach is that fewer iterations are required and that most of the additional work per iteration can be performed in parallel with the standard coarse grid computations. We generalize the filtering algorithm to a version suitable for nonlinear problems. We emphasize that this generalization is conceptually straight-forward and relatively easy to implement. In particular, no explicit linearization (e.g., formation of Jacobians) needs to be performed (similar to the FAS multigrid approach). We illustrate the nonlinear version by applying it to the Euler equations, and presenting numerical results. Finally, a performance evaluation is made based on execution time models and convergence information obtained from numerical experiments.

Fully implicit moving mesh adaptive algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serazio, C.; Chacon, L.; Lapenta, G.

2006-10-01

In many problems of interest, the numerical modeler is faced with the challenge of dealing with multiple time and length scales. The former is best dealt with with fully implicit methods, which are able to step over fast frequencies to resolve the dynamical time scale of interest. The latter requires grid adaptivity for efficiency. Moving-mesh grid adaptive methods are attractive because they can be designed to minimize the numerical error for a given resolution. However, the required grid governing equations are typically very nonlinear and stiff, and of considerably difficult numerical treatment. Not surprisingly, fully coupled, implicit approaches where the grid and the physics equations are solved simultaneously are rare in the literature, and circumscribed to 1D geometries. In this study, we present a fully implicit algorithm for moving mesh methods that is feasible for multidimensional geometries. Crucial elements are the development of an effective multilevel treatment of the grid equation, and a robust, rigorous error estimator. For the latter, we explore the effectiveness of a coarse grid correction error estimator, which faithfully reproduces spatial truncation errors for conservative equations. We will show that the moving mesh approach is competitive vs. uniform grids both in accuracy (due to adaptivity) and efficiency. Results for a variety of models 1D and 2D geometries will be presented. L. Chac'on, G. Lapenta, J. Comput. Phys., 212 (2), 703 (2006) G. Lapenta, L. Chac'on, J. Comput. Phys., accepted (2006)

Predicting bycatch hotspots for endangered leatherback turtles on longlines in the Pacific Ocean.

PubMed

Roe, John H; Morreale, Stephen J; Paladino, Frank V; Shillinger, George L; Benson, Scott R; Eckert, Scott A; Bailey, Helen; Tomillo, Pilar Santidrián; Bograd, Steven J; Eguchi, Tomoharu; Dutton, Peter H; Seminoff, Jeffrey A; Block, Barbara A; Spotila, James R

2014-02-22

Fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. We integrated use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles with longline fishing effort to estimate predicted bycatch risk over space and time in the Pacific Ocean. Areas of predicted bycatch risk did not overlap for eastern and western Pacific nesting populations, warranting their consideration as distinct management units with respect to fisheries bycatch. For western Pacific nesting populations, we identified several areas of high risk in the north and central Pacific, but greatest risk was adjacent to primary nesting beaches in tropical seas of Indo-Pacific islands, largely confined to several exclusive economic zones under the jurisdiction of national authorities. For eastern Pacific nesting populations, we identified moderate risk associated with migrations to nesting beaches, but the greatest risk was in the South Pacific Gyre, a broad pelagic zone outside national waters where management is currently lacking and may prove difficult to implement. Efforts should focus on these predicted hotspots to develop more targeted management approaches to alleviate leatherback bycatch.

Predicting bycatch hotspots for endangered leatherback turtles on longlines in the Pacific Ocean

PubMed Central

Roe, John H.; Morreale, Stephen J.; Paladino, Frank V.; Shillinger, George L.; Benson, Scott R.; Eckert, Scott A.; Bailey, Helen; Tomillo, Pilar Santidrián; Bograd, Steven J.; Eguchi, Tomoharu; Dutton, Peter H.; Seminoff, Jeffrey A.; Block, Barbara A.; Spotila, James R.

2014-01-01

Fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. We integrated use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles with longline fishing effort to estimate predicted bycatch risk over space and time in the Pacific Ocean. Areas of predicted bycatch risk did not overlap for eastern and western Pacific nesting populations, warranting their consideration as distinct management units with respect to fisheries bycatch. For western Pacific nesting populations, we identified several areas of high risk in the north and central Pacific, but greatest risk was adjacent to primary nesting beaches in tropical seas of Indo-Pacific islands, largely confined to several exclusive economic zones under the jurisdiction of national authorities. For eastern Pacific nesting populations, we identified moderate risk associated with migrations to nesting beaches, but the greatest risk was in the South Pacific Gyre, a broad pelagic zone outside national waters where management is currently lacking and may prove difficult to implement. Efforts should focus on these predicted hotspots to develop more targeted management approaches to alleviate leatherback bycatch. PMID:24403331

Mapping the navigational knowledge of individually foraging ants, Myrmecia croslandi

PubMed Central

Narendra, Ajay; Gourmaud, Sarah; Zeil, Jochen

2013-01-01

Ants are efficient navigators, guided by path integration and visual landmarks. Path integration is the primary strategy in landmark-poor habitats, but landmarks are readily used when available. The landmark panorama provides reliable information about heading direction, routes and specific location. Visual memories for guidance are often acquired along routes or near to significant places. Over what area can such locally acquired memories provide information for reaching a place? This question is unusually approachable in the solitary foraging Australian jack jumper ant, since individual foragers typically travel to one or two nest-specific foraging trees. We find that within 10 m from the nest, ants both with and without home vector information available from path integration return directly to the nest from all compass directions, after briefly scanning the panorama. By reconstructing panoramic views within the successful homing range, we show that in the open woodland habitat of these ants, snapshot memories acquired close to the nest provide sufficient navigational information to determine nest-directed heading direction over a surprisingly large area, including areas that animals may have not visited previously. PMID:23804615

Ion Engine Grid Gap Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soulas, Gerge C.; Frandina, Michael M.

2004-01-01

A simple technique for measuring the grid gap of an ion engine s ion optics during startup and steady-state operation was demonstrated with beam extraction. The grid gap at the center of the ion optics assembly was measured with a long distance microscope that was focused onto an alumina pin that protruded through the center accelerator grid aperture and was mechanically attached to the screen grid. This measurement technique was successfully applied to a 30 cm titanium ion optics assembly mounted onto an NSTAR engineering model ion engine. The grid gap and each grid s movement during startup from room temperature to both full and low power were measured. The grid gaps with and without beam extraction were found to be significantly different. The grid gaps at the ion optics center were both significantly smaller than the cold grid gap and different at the two power levels examined. To avoid issues associated with a small grid gap during thruster startup with titanium ion optics, a simple method was to operate the thruster initially without beam extraction to heat the ion optics. Another possible method is to apply high voltage to the grids prior to igniting the discharge because power deposition to the grids from the plasma is lower with beam extraction than without. Further testing would be required to confirm this approach.

Filter size definition in anisotropic subgrid models for large eddy simulation on irregular grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbà, Antonella; Campaniello, Dario; Nini, Michele

2017-06-01

The definition of the characteristic filter size to be used for subgrid scales models in large eddy simulation using irregular grids is still an unclosed problem. We investigate some different approaches to the definition of the filter length for anisotropic subgrid scale models and we propose a tensorial formulation based on the inertial ellipsoid of the grid element. The results demonstrate an improvement in the prediction of several key features of the flow when the anisotropicity of the grid is explicitly taken into account with the tensorial filter size.

Advanced Computing Architectures for Cognitive Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-01

Evolution ................................................................................. 20  Figure 9: Logic diagram smart block-based neuron...48  Figure 21: Naive Grid Potential Kernel...processing would be helpful for Air Force systems acquisition. Specific cognitive processing approaches addressed herein include global information grid

Nonuniform depth grids in parabolic equation solutions.

PubMed

Sanders, William M; Collins, Michael D

2013-04-01

The parabolic wave equation is solved using a finite-difference solution in depth that involves a nonuniform grid. The depth operator is discretized using Galerkin's method with asymmetric hat functions. Examples are presented to illustrate that this approach can be used to improve efficiency for problems in ocean acoustics and seismo-acoustics. For shallow water problems, accuracy is sensitive to the precise placement of the ocean bottom interface. This issue is often addressed with the inefficient approach of using a fine grid spacing over all depth. Efficiency may be improved by using a relatively coarse grid with nonuniform sampling to precisely position the interface. Efficiency may also be improved by reducing the sampling in the sediment and in an absorbing layer that is used to truncate the computational domain. Nonuniform sampling may also be used to improve the implementation of a single-scattering approximation for sloping fluid-solid interfaces.

An Exact Dual Adjoint Solution Method for Turbulent Flows on Unstructured Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nielsen, Eric J.; Lu, James; Park, Michael A.; Darmofal, David L.

2003-01-01

An algorithm for solving the discrete adjoint system based on an unstructured-grid discretization of the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The method is constructed such that an adjoint solution exactly dual to a direct differentiation approach is recovered at each time step, yielding a convergence rate which is asymptotically equivalent to that of the primal system. The new approach is implemented within a three-dimensional unstructured-grid framework and results are presented for inviscid, laminar, and turbulent flows. Improvements to the baseline solution algorithm, such as line-implicit relaxation and a tight coupling of the turbulence model, are also presented. By storing nearest-neighbor terms in the residual computation, the dual scheme is computationally efficient, while requiring twice the memory of the flow solution. The scheme is expected to have a broad impact on computational problems related to design optimization as well as error estimation and grid adaptation efforts.

Simulation of hypersonic rarefied flows with the immersed-boundary method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruno, D.; De Palma, P.; de Tullio, M. D.

2011-05-01

This paper provides a validation of an immersed boundary method for computing hypersonic rarefied gas flows. The method is based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes equation and is validated versus numerical results obtained by the DSMC approach. The Navier-Stokes solver employs a flexible local grid refinement technique and is implemented on parallel machines using a domain-decomposition approach. Thanks to the efficient grid generation process, based on the ray-tracing technique, and the use of the METIS software, it is possible to obtain the partitioned grids to be assigned to each processor with a minimal effort by the user. This allows one to by-pass the expensive (in terms of time and human resources) classical generation process of a body fitted grid. First-order slip-velocity boundary conditions are employed and tested for taking into account rarefied gas effects.

Navier-Stokes calculations on multi-element airfoils using a chimera-based solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jasper, Donald W.; Agrawal, Shreekant; Robinson, Brian A.

1993-01-01

A study of Navier-Stokes calculations of flows about multielement airfoils using a chimera grid approach is presented. The chimera approach utilizes structured, overlapped grids which allow great flexibility of grid arrangement and simplifies grid generation. Calculations are made for two-, three-, and four-element airfoils, and modeling of the effect of gap distance between elements is demonstrated for a two element case. Solutions are obtained using the thin-layer form of the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with turbulence closure provided by the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic model or the Baldwin-Barth one equation model. The Baldwin-Barth turbulence model is shown to provide better agreement with experimental data and to dramatically improve convergence rates for some cases. Recently developed, improved farfield boundary conditions are incorporated into the solver for greater efficiency. Computed results show good comparison with experimental data which include aerodynamic forces, surface pressures, and boundary layer velocity profiles.

A Sensemaking Perspective on Situation Awareness in Power Grid Operations

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

Greitzer, Frank L.; Schur, Anne; Paget, Mia L.

2008-07-21

With increasing complexity and interconnectivity of the electric power grid, the scope and complexity of grid operations continues to grow. New paradigms are needed to guide research to improve operations by enhancing situation awareness of operators. Research on human factors/situation awareness is described within a taxonomy of tools and approaches that address different levels of cognitive processing. While user interface features and visualization approaches represent the predominant focus of human factors studies of situation awareness, this paper argues that a complementary level, sensemaking, deserves further consideration by designers of decision support systems for power grid operations. A sensemaking perspective onmore » situation aware-ness may reveal new insights that complement ongoing human factors research, where the focus of the investigation of errors is to understand why the decision makers experienced the situation the way they did, or why what they saw made sense to them at the time.« less

A mesh-free approach to acoustic scattering from multiple spheres nested inside a large sphere by using diagonal translation operators.

PubMed

Hesford, Andrew J; Astheimer, Jeffrey P; Greengard, Leslie F; Waag, Robert C

2010-02-01

A multiple-scattering approach is presented to compute the solution of the Helmholtz equation when a number of spherical scatterers are nested in the interior of an acoustically large enclosing sphere. The solution is represented in terms of partial-wave expansions, and a linear system of equations is derived to enforce continuity of pressure and normal particle velocity across all material interfaces. This approach yields high-order accuracy and avoids some of the difficulties encountered when using integral equations that apply to surfaces of arbitrary shape. Calculations are accelerated by using diagonal translation operators to compute the interactions between spheres when the operators are numerically stable. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method.

A mesh-free approach to acoustic scattering from multiple spheres nested inside a large sphere by using diagonal translation operators

PubMed Central

Hesford, Andrew J.; Astheimer, Jeffrey P.; Greengard, Leslie F.; Waag, Robert C.

2010-01-01

A multiple-scattering approach is presented to compute the solution of the Helmholtz equation when a number of spherical scatterers are nested in the interior of an acoustically large enclosing sphere. The solution is represented in terms of partial-wave expansions, and a linear system of equations is derived to enforce continuity of pressure and normal particle velocity across all material interfaces. This approach yields high-order accuracy and avoids some of the difficulties encountered when using integral equations that apply to surfaces of arbitrary shape. Calculations are accelerated by using diagonal translation operators to compute the interactions between spheres when the operators are numerically stable. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method. PMID:20136208

Conceptualizing and Confronting Inequity: Approaches within and New Directions for the "NNEST Movement"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudolph, Nathanael; Selvi, Ali Fuad; Yazan, Bedrettin

2015-01-01

This article examines inequity as conceptualized and approached within and through the non-native English speakers in TESOL (NNEST) "movement." The authors unpack critical approaches to the NNEST experience, conceptualized via binaries (NS/NNS; NEST/NNEST). The authors then explore postmodern and poststructural approaches to identity and…

Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens

PubMed Central

Mueller, Ulrich G.; Scott, Jarrod J.; Ishak, Heather D.; Cooper, Michael; Rodrigues, Andre

2010-01-01

Background Leafcutter ants depend on the cultivation of symbiotic Attamyces fungi for food, which are thought to be grown by the ants in single-strain, clonal monoculture throughout the hundreds to thousands of gardens within a leafcutter nest. Monoculture eliminates cultivar-cultivar competition that would select for competitive fungal traits that are detrimental to the ants, whereas polyculture of several fungi could increase nutritional diversity and disease resistance of genetically variable gardens. Methodology/Principal Findings Using three experimental approaches, we assessed cultivar diversity within nests of Atta leafcutter ants, which are most likely among all fungus-growing ants to cultivate distinct cultivar genotypes per nest because of the nests' enormous sizes (up to 5000 gardens) and extended lifespans (10–20 years). In Atta texana and in A. cephalotes, we resampled nests over a 5-year period to test for persistence of resident cultivar genotypes within each nest, and we tested for genetic differences between fungi from different nest sectors accessed through excavation. In A. texana, we also determined the number of Attamyces cells carried as a starter inoculum by a dispersing queens (minimally several thousand Attamyces cells), and we tested for genetic differences between Attamyces carried by sister queens dispersing from the same nest. Except for mutational variation arising during clonal Attamyces propagation, DNA fingerprinting revealed no evidence for fungal polyculture and no genotype turnover during the 5-year surveys. Conclusions/Significance Atta leafcutter ants can achieve stable, fungal monoculture over many years. Mutational variation emerging within an Attamyces monoculture could provide genetic diversity for symbiont choice (gardening biases of the ants favoring specific mutational variants), an analog of artificial selection. PMID:20844760

Environmental correlates of breeding in the Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Morrison, J.L.; Pias, Kyle E.; Cohen, J.B.; Catlin, D.H.

2009-01-01

We evaluated the influence of weather on reproduction of the Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) in an agricultural landscape in south-central Florida. We used a mixed logistic-regression modeling approach within an information-theoretic framework to examine the influence of total rainfall, rainfall frequency, and temperature on the number of breeding pairs, timing of breeding, nest success, and productivity of Crested Caracaras during 1994–2000. The best models indicated an influence of rainfall frequency and laying period on reproduction. More individuals nested and more pairs nested earlier during years with more frequent rainfall in late summer and early fall. Pairs that nested later in each breeding season had smaller clutches, lower nest success and productivity, and higher probability of nest failure. More frequent rainfall during early spring months that are usually characterized by water deficit (March–May), more frequent rainfall during the fall drawdown period (September–November), and a shorter winter dry period showed some association with higher probability of brood reduction and lower nest success. The proportion of nests that failed was higher in “wet” years, when total rainfall during the breeding season (September–April) was >10% above the 20-year average. Rainfall may influence reproduction in Crested Caracaras indirectly through food resources. As total rainfall increased during February–April, when most pairs are feeding nestlings or dependent fledglings, the proportion of drawdown-dependent species (those that become available as rainfall decreases and wetlands become isolated and shallow) in the diet of Crested Caracaras declined, which may indicate reduced availability of foraging habitat for this primarily terrestrial raptor.

Reproductive behavior of the great hornbill (Buceros bicornis).

PubMed

Kozlowski, Corinne P; Bauman, Karen L; Asa, Cheryl S

2015-01-01

Great hornbills (Buceros bicornis) are a long-lived, monogamous species that forms strong pair-bonds, and mate compatibility is thought to be important for successful reproduction. Within AZA, great hornbills are listed as a red SSP. The population consists of a limited number of individuals that do not breed reliably, and improving reproduction is a top priority for the Coraciiformes TAG. To better understand mating behavior and evaluate mate compatibility, this study documented the behavior of pairs of great hornbills during and immediately after courtship. Using live observations, the study followed one female, an experienced and successful breeder, as she was paired with four successive males over 11 breeding seasons. Initially, males frequently vocalized, investigated the nest, and approached the female. As the female spent more time in the nest, these behaviors were replaced by regurgitation and food offering. The female was most often observed plastering and vocalizing. Behavioral differences between successful and unsuccessful pairs, possibly indicative of pair compatibility, included rates of approaching, billing, and biting. Numerous behaviors occurred more frequently during years that a chick hatched, including pseudoregurgitation, regurgitation, offering food items, and nest investigation. Males also spent more time in proximity to both the female and the nest during years that a chick hatched. Together, these results suggest that the amount of time pairs spend in proximity, the amount of time a male spends near the nest, and the frequency of certain behaviors may help evaluate compatibility and the likelihood of successful reproduction for pairs of great hornbills. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An Embedded 3D Fracture Modeling Approach for Simulating Fracture-Dominated Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Geothermal Reservoirs

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

Johnston, Henry; Wang, Cong; Winterfeld, Philip

An efficient modeling approach is described for incorporating arbitrary 3D, discrete fractures, such as hydraulic fractures or faults, into modeling fracture-dominated fluid flow and heat transfer in fractured geothermal reservoirs. This technique allows 3D discrete fractures to be discretized independently from surrounding rock volume and inserted explicitly into a primary fracture/matrix grid, generated without including 3D discrete fractures in prior. An effective computational algorithm is developed to discretize these 3D discrete fractures and construct local connections between 3D fractures and fracture/matrix grid blocks of representing the surrounding rock volume. The constructed gridding information on 3D fractures is then added tomore » the primary grid. This embedded fracture modeling approach can be directly implemented into a developed geothermal reservoir simulator via the integral finite difference (IFD) method or with TOUGH2 technology This embedded fracture modeling approach is very promising and computationally efficient to handle realistic 3D discrete fractures with complicated geometries, connections, and spatial distributions. Compared with other fracture modeling approaches, it avoids cumbersome 3D unstructured, local refining procedures, and increases computational efficiency by simplifying Jacobian matrix size and sparsity, while keeps sufficient accuracy. Several numeral simulations are present to demonstrate the utility and robustness of the proposed technique. Our numerical experiments show that this approach captures all the key patterns about fluid flow and heat transfer dominated by fractures in these cases. Thus, this approach is readily available to simulation of fractured geothermal reservoirs with both artificial and natural fractures.« less

Plane Smoothers for Multiblock Grids: Computational Aspects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Llorente, Ignacio M.; Diskin, Boris; Melson, N. Duane

1999-01-01

Standard multigrid methods are not well suited for problems with anisotropic discrete operators, which can occur, for example, on grids that are stretched in order to resolve a boundary layer. One of the most efficient approaches to yield robust methods is the combination of standard coarsening with alternating-direction plane relaxation in the three dimensions. However, this approach may be difficult to implement in codes with multiblock structured grids because there may be no natural definition of global lines or planes. This inherent obstacle limits the range of an implicit smoother to only the portion of the computational domain in the current block. This report studies in detail, both numerically and analytically, the behavior of blockwise plane smoothers in order to provide guidance to engineers who use block-structured grids. The results obtained so far show alternating-direction plane smoothers to be very robust, even on multiblock grids. In common computational fluid dynamics multiblock simulations, where the number of subdomains crossed by the line of a strong anisotropy is low (up to four), textbook multigrid convergence rates can be obtained with a small overlap of cells between neighboring blocks.

Simulation of a Wall-Bounded Flow using a Hybrid LES/RAS Approach with Turbulence Recycling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quinlan, Jesse R.; Mcdaniel, James; Baurle, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Simulations of a supersonic recessed-cavity flow are performed using a hybrid large-eddy/ Reynolds-averaged simulation approach utilizing an inflow turbulence recycling procedure and hybridized inviscid flux scheme. Calorically perfect air enters the three-dimensional domain at a free stream Mach number of 2.92. Simulations are performed to assess grid sensitivity of the solution, efficacy of the turbulence recycling, and effect of the shock sensor used with the hybridized inviscid flux scheme. Analysis of the turbulent boundary layer upstream of the rearward-facing step for each case indicates excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. Mean velocity and pressure results are compared to Reynolds-averaged simulations and experimental data for each case, and these comparisons indicate good agreement on the finest grid. Simulations are repeated on a coarsened grid, and results indicate strong grid density sensitivity. The effect of turbulence recycling on the solution is illustrated by performing coarse grid simulations with and without inflow turbulence recycling. Two shock sensors, one of Ducros and one of Larsson, are assessed for use with the hybridized inviscid flux reconstruction scheme.

Creating raptor benefits from powerline problems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kochert, Michael N.; Olendorff, R.R.

1999-01-01

Powerlines benefit raptors by providing enhanced nesting and roosting sites. However, they also can kill raptors by electrocution and raptors can interfere with power transmission. The electrocution problem has been reduced by correcting existing lethal lines and implementing electrocution safe designs for new lines. Remedial actions include pole modifications, perch management and insulation of wires and hardware. New line designs provide for proper insulation and adequate spacing of conductors and grounded hardware. Nesting platforms can reduce power transmission problems and enhance the benefits of nesting on powerlines. A combination of perch deterrents and insulator shields is a positive, cost-effective approach to managing bird contamination that allows birds to continue roosting on the towers.

Obesity Policy Action framework and analysis grids for a comprehensive policy approach to reducing obesity.

PubMed

Sacks, G; Swinburn, B; Lawrence, M

2009-01-01

A comprehensive policy approach is needed to control the growing obesity epidemic. This paper proposes the Obesity Policy Action (OPA) framework, modified from the World Health Organization framework for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, to provide specific guidance for governments to systematically identify areas for obesity policy action. The proposed framework incorporates three different public health approaches to addressing obesity: (i) 'upstream' policies influence either the broad social and economic conditions of society (e.g. taxation, education, social security) or the food and physical activity environments to make healthy eating and physical activity choices easier; (ii) 'midstream' policies are aimed at directly influencing population behaviours; and (iii) 'downstream' policies support health services and clinical interventions. A set of grids for analysing potential policies to support obesity prevention and management is presented. The general pattern that emerges from populating the analysis grids as they relate to the Australian context is that all sectors and levels of government, non-governmental organizations and private businesses have multiple opportunities to contribute to reducing obesity. The proposed framework and analysis grids provide a comprehensive approach to mapping the policy environment related to obesity, and a tool for identifying policy gaps, barriers and opportunities.

A Comprehensive WSN-Based Approach to Efficiently Manage a Smart Grid

PubMed Central

Martinez-Sandoval, Ruben; Garcia-Sanchez, Antonio-Javier; Garcia-Sanchez, Felipe; Garcia-Haro, Joan; Flynn, David

2014-01-01

The Smart Grid (SG) is conceived as the evolution of the current electrical grid representing a big leap in terms of efficiency, reliability and flexibility compared to today's electrical network. To achieve this goal, the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are considered by the scientific/engineering community to be one of the most suitable technologies to apply SG technology to due to their low-cost, collaborative and long-standing nature. However, the SG has posed significant challenges to utility operators—mainly very harsh radio propagation conditions and the lack of appropriate systems to empower WSN devices—making most of the commercial widespread solutions inadequate. In this context, and as a main contribution, we have designed a comprehensive ad-hoc WSN-based solution for the Smart Grid (SENSED-SG) that focuses on specific implementations of the MAC, the network and the application layers to attain maximum performance and to successfully deal with any arising hurdles. Our approach has been exhaustively evaluated by computer simulations and mathematical analysis, as well as validation within real test-beds deployed in controlled environments. In particular, these test-beds cover two of the main scenarios found in a SG; on one hand, an indoor electrical substation environment, implemented in a High Voltage AC/DC laboratory, and, on the other hand, an outdoor case, deployed in the Transmission and Distribution segment of a power grid. The results obtained show that SENSED-SG performs better and is more suitable for the Smart Grid than the popular ZigBee WSN approach. PMID:25310468

Single block three-dimensional volume grids about complex aerodynamic vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen J.; Weilmuenster, K. James

1993-01-01

This paper presents an alternate approach for the generation of volumetric grids for supersonic and hypersonic flows about complex configurations. The method uses parametric two dimensional block face grid definition within the framework of GRIDGEN2D. The incorporation of face decomposition reduces complex surfaces to simple shapes. These simple shapes are combined to obtain the final face definition. The advantages of this method include the reduction of overall grid generation time through the use of vectorized computer code, the elimination of the need to generate matching block faces, and the implementation of simplified boundary conditions. A simple axisymmetric grid is used to illustrate this method. In addition, volume grids for two complex configurations, the Langley Lifting Body (HL-20) and the Space Shuttle Orbiter, are shown.

Transonic cascade flow calculations using non-periodic C-type grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arnone, Andrea; Liou, Meng-Sing; Povinelli, Louis A.

1991-01-01

A new kind of C-type grid is proposed for turbomachinery flow calculations. This grid is nonperiodic on the wake and results in minimum skewness for cascades with high turning and large camber. Euler and Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are discretized on this type of grid using a finite volume approach. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulence closure. Jameson's explicit Runge-Kutta scheme is adopted for the integration in time, and computational efficiency is achieved through accelerating strategies such as multigriding and residual smoothing. A detailed numerical study was performed for a turbine rotor and for a vane. A grid dependence analysis is presented and the effect of artificial dissipation is also investigated. Comparison of calculations with experiments clearly demonstrates the advantage of the proposed grid.

Cyber-physical security of Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection and Control in a smart grid environment

PubMed Central

Ashok, Aditya; Hahn, Adam; Govindarasu, Manimaran

2013-01-01

Smart grid initiatives will produce a grid that is increasingly dependent on its cyber infrastructure in order to support the numerous power applications necessary to provide improved grid monitoring and control capabilities. However, recent findings documented in government reports and other literature, indicate the growing threat of cyber-based attacks in numbers and sophistication targeting the nation’s electric grid and other critical infrastructures. Specifically, this paper discusses cyber-physical security of Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) from a coordinated cyber attack perspective and introduces a game-theoretic approach to address the issue. Finally, the paper briefly describes how cyber-physical testbeds can be used to evaluate the security research and perform realistic attack-defense studies for smart grid type environments. PMID:25685516

Cyber-physical security of Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection and Control in a smart grid environment.

PubMed

Ashok, Aditya; Hahn, Adam; Govindarasu, Manimaran

2014-07-01

Smart grid initiatives will produce a grid that is increasingly dependent on its cyber infrastructure in order to support the numerous power applications necessary to provide improved grid monitoring and control capabilities. However, recent findings documented in government reports and other literature, indicate the growing threat of cyber-based attacks in numbers and sophistication targeting the nation's electric grid and other critical infrastructures. Specifically, this paper discusses cyber-physical security of Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) from a coordinated cyber attack perspective and introduces a game-theoretic approach to address the issue. Finally, the paper briefly describes how cyber-physical testbeds can be used to evaluate the security research and perform realistic attack-defense studies for smart grid type environments.

An electrical betweenness approach for vulnerability assessment of power grids considering the capacity of generators and load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Kai; Zhang, Bu-han; Zhang, Zhe; Yin, Xiang-gen; Wang, Bo

2011-11-01

Most existing research on the vulnerability of power grids based on complex networks ignores the electrical characteristics and the capacity of generators and load. In this paper, the electrical betweenness is defined by considering the maximal demand of load and the capacity of generators in power grids. The loss of load, which reflects the ability of power grids to provide sufficient power to customers, is introduced to measure the vulnerability together with the size of the largest cluster. The simulation results of the IEEE-118 bus system and the Central China Power Grid show that the cumulative distributions of node electrical betweenness follow a power-law and that the nodes with high electrical betweenness play critical roles in both topological structure and power transmission of power grids. The results prove that the model proposed in this paper is effective for analyzing the vulnerability of power grids.

Non-Gaussian power grid frequency fluctuations characterized by Lévy-stable laws and superstatistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schäfer, Benjamin; Beck, Christian; Aihara, Kazuyuki; Witthaut, Dirk; Timme, Marc

2018-02-01

Multiple types of fluctuations impact the collective dynamics of power grids and thus challenge their robust operation. Fluctuations result from processes as different as dynamically changing demands, energy trading and an increasing share of renewable power feed-in. Here we analyse principles underlying the dynamics and statistics of power grid frequency fluctuations. Considering frequency time series for a range of power grids, including grids in North America, Japan and Europe, we find a strong deviation from Gaussianity best described as Lévy-stable and q-Gaussian distributions. We present a coarse framework to analytically characterize the impact of arbitrary noise distributions, as well as a superstatistical approach that systematically interprets heavy tails and skewed distributions. We identify energy trading as a substantial contribution to today's frequency fluctuations and effective damping of the grid as a controlling factor enabling reduction of fluctuation risks, with enhanced effects for small power grids.

Predator behaviour and predation risk in the heterogeneous Arctic environment.

PubMed

Lecomte, Nicolas; Careau, Vincent; Gauthier, Gilles; Giroux, Jean-François

2008-05-01

1. Habitat heterogeneity and predator behaviour can strongly affect predator-prey interactions but these factors are rarely considered simultaneously, especially when systems encompass multiple predators and prey. 2. In the Arctic, greater snow geese Anser caerulescens atlanticus L. nest in two structurally different habitats: wetlands that form intricate networks of water channels, and mesic tundra where such obstacles are absent. In this heterogeneous environment, goose eggs are exposed to two types of predators: the arctic fox Vulpes lagopus L. and a diversity of avian predators. We hypothesized that, contrary to birds, the hunting ability of foxes would be impaired by the structurally complex wetland habitat, resulting in a lower predation risk for goose eggs. 3. In addition, lemmings, the main prey of foxes, show strong population cycles. We thus further examined how their fluctuations influenced the interaction between habitat heterogeneity and fox predation on goose eggs. 4. An experimental approach with artificial nests suggested that foxes were faster than avian predators to find unattended goose nests in mesic tundra whereas the reverse was true in wetlands. Foxes spent 3.5 times more time between consecutive attacks on real goose nests in wetlands than in mesic tundra. Their attacks on goose nests were also half as successful in wetlands than in mesic tundra whereas no difference was found for avian predators. 5. Nesting success in wetlands (65%) was higher than in mesic tundra (56%) but the difference between habitats increased during lemming crashes (15%) compared to other phases of the cycle (5%). Nests located at the edge of wetland patches were also less successful than central ones, suggesting a gradient in accessibility of goose nests in wetlands for foxes. 6. Our study shows that the structural complexity of wetlands decreases predation risk from foxes but not avian predators in arctic-nesting birds. Our results also demonstrate that cyclic lemming populations indirectly alter the spatial distribution of productive nests due to a complex interaction between habitat structure, prey-switching and foraging success of foxes.

Energy Power Research Institute Shows Benefits of Grid-Connected Devices at

Science.gov Websites

product availability. With real-time status monitoring of the connected devices, a utility system could be devices, this approach can provide grid operators or other load management systems with real-time measure

Grid generation in three dimensions by Poisson equations with control of cell size and skewness at boundary surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorenson, R. L.; Steger, J. L.

1983-01-01

An algorithm for generating computational grids about arbitrary three-dimensional bodies is developed. The elliptic partial differential equation (PDE) approach developed by Steger and Sorenson and used in the NASA computer program GRAPE is extended from two to three dimensions. Forcing functions which are found automatically by the algorithm give the user the ability to control mesh cell size and skewness at boundary surfaces. This algorithm, as is typical of PDE grid generators, gives smooth grid lines and spacing in the interior of the grid. The method is applied to a rectilinear wind-tunnel case and to two body shapes in spherical coordinates.

Formation of Virtual Organizations in Grids: A Game-Theoretic Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, Thomas E.; Grosu, Daniel

The execution of large scale grid applications requires the use of several computational resources owned by various Grid Service Providers (GSPs). GSPs must form Virtual Organizations (VOs) to be able to provide the composite resource to these applications. We consider grids as self-organizing systems composed of autonomous, self-interested GSPs that will organize themselves into VOs with every GSP having the objective of maximizing its profit. We formulate the resource composition among GSPs as a coalition formation problem and propose a game-theoretic framework based on cooperation structures to model it. Using this framework, we design a resource management system that supports the VO formation among GSPs in a grid computing system.

The functional micro-organization of grid cells revealed by cellular-resolution imaging

PubMed Central

Heys, James G.; Rangarajan, Krsna V.; Dombeck, Daniel A.

2015-01-01

Summary Establishing how grid cells are anatomically arranged, on a microscopic scale, in relation to their firing patterns in the environment would facilitate a greater micro-circuit level understanding of the brain’s representation of space. However, all previous grid cell recordings used electrode techniques that provide limited descriptions of fine-scale organization. We therefore developed a technique for cellular-resolution functional imaging of medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) neurons in mice navigating a virtual linear track, enabling a new experimental approach to study MEC. Using these methods, we show that grid cells are physically clustered in MEC compared to non-grid cells. Additionally, we demonstrate that grid cells are functionally micro-organized: The similarity between the environment firing locations of grid cell pairs varies as a function of the distance between them according to a “Mexican Hat” shaped profile. This suggests that, on average, nearby grid cells have more similar spatial firing phases than those further apart. PMID:25467986

The impact of the topology on cascading failures in a power grid model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koç, Yakup; Warnier, Martijn; Mieghem, Piet Van; Kooij, Robert E.; Brazier, Frances M. T.

2014-05-01

Cascading failures are one of the main reasons for large scale blackouts in power transmission grids. Secure electrical power supply requires, together with careful operation, a robust design of the electrical power grid topology. Currently, the impact of the topology on grid robustness is mainly assessed by purely topological approaches, that fail to capture the essence of electric power flow. This paper proposes a metric, the effective graph resistance, to relate the topology of a power grid to its robustness against cascading failures by deliberate attacks, while also taking the fundamental characteristics of the electric power grid into account such as power flow allocation according to Kirchhoff laws. Experimental verification on synthetic power systems shows that the proposed metric reflects the grid robustness accurately. The proposed metric is used to optimize a grid topology for a higher level of robustness. To demonstrate its applicability, the metric is applied on the IEEE 118 bus power system to improve its robustness against cascading failures.

Application of a New Hybrid RANS/LES Modeling Paradigm to Compressible Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliver, Todd; Pederson, Clark; Haering, Sigfried; Moser, Robert

2017-11-01

It is well-known that traditional hybrid RANS/LES modeling approaches suffer from a number of deficiencies. These deficiencies often stem from overly simplistic blending strategies based on scalar measures of turbulence length scale and grid resolution and from use of isotropic subgrid models in LES regions. A recently developed hybrid modeling approach has shown promise in overcoming these deficiencies in incompressible flows [Haering, 2015]. In the approach, RANS/LES blending is accomplished using a hybridization parameter that is governed by an additional model transport equation and is driven to achieve equilibrium between the resolved and unresolved turbulence for the given grid. Further, the model uses an tensor eddy viscosity that is formulated to represent the effects of anisotropic grid resolution on subgrid quantities. In this work, this modeling approach is extended to compressible flows and implemented in the compressible flow solver SU2 (http://su2.stanford.edu/). We discuss both modeling and implementation challenges and show preliminary results for compressible flow test cases with smooth wall separation.

Implicit finite difference methods on composite grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mastin, C. Wayne

1987-01-01

Techniques for eliminating time lags in the implicit finite-difference solution of partial differential equations are investigated analytically, with a focus on transient fluid dynamics problems on overlapping multicomponent grids. The fundamental principles of the approach are explained, and the method is shown to be applicable to both rectangular and curvilinear grids. Numerical results for sample problems are compared with exact solutions in graphs, and good agreement is demonstrated.

A tesselated probabilistic representation for spatial robot perception and navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elfes, Alberto

1989-01-01

The ability to recover robust spatial descriptions from sensory information and to efficiently utilize these descriptions in appropriate planning and problem-solving activities are crucial requirements for the development of more powerful robotic systems. Traditional approaches to sensor interpretation, with their emphasis on geometric models, are of limited use for autonomous mobile robots operating in and exploring unknown and unstructured environments. Here, researchers present a new approach to robot perception that addresses such scenarios using a probabilistic tesselated representation of spatial information called the Occupancy Grid. The Occupancy Grid is a multi-dimensional random field that maintains stochastic estimates of the occupancy state of each cell in the grid. The cell estimates are obtained by interpreting incoming range readings using probabilistic models that capture the uncertainty in the spatial information provided by the sensor. A Bayesian estimation procedure allows the incremental updating of the map using readings taken from several sensors over multiple points of view. An overview of the Occupancy Grid framework is given, and its application to a number of problems in mobile robot mapping and navigation are illustrated. It is argued that a number of robotic problem-solving activities can be performed directly on the Occupancy Grid representation. Some parallels are drawn between operations on Occupancy Grids and related image processing operations.

Large-Scale Parallel Viscous Flow Computations using an Unstructured Multigrid Algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.

1999-01-01

The development and testing of a parallel unstructured agglomeration multigrid algorithm for steady-state aerodynamic flows is discussed. The agglomeration multigrid strategy uses a graph algorithm to construct the coarse multigrid levels from the given fine grid, similar to an algebraic multigrid approach, but operates directly on the non-linear system using the FAS (Full Approximation Scheme) approach. The scalability and convergence rate of the multigrid algorithm are examined on the SGI Origin 2000 and the Cray T3E. An argument is given which indicates that the asymptotic scalability of the multigrid algorithm should be similar to that of its underlying single grid smoothing scheme. For medium size problems involving several million grid points, near perfect scalability is obtained for the single grid algorithm, while only a slight drop-off in parallel efficiency is observed for the multigrid V- and W-cycles, using up to 128 processors on the SGI Origin 2000, and up to 512 processors on the Cray T3E. For a large problem using 25 million grid points, good scalability is observed for the multigrid algorithm using up to 1450 processors on a Cray T3E, even when the coarsest grid level contains fewer points than the total number of processors.

Determining origin in a migratory marine vertebrate: a novel method to integrate stable isotopes and satellite tracking

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vander Zanden, Hannah B.; Tucker, Anton D.; Hart, Kristen M.; Lamont, Margaret M.; Fujisaki, Ikuko; Addison, David S.; Mansfield, Katherine L.; Phillips, Katrina F.; Wunder, Michael B.; Bowen, Gabriel J.; Pajuelo, Mariela; Bolten, Alan B.; Bjorndal, Karen A.

2015-01-01

Stable isotope analysis is a useful tool to track animal movements in both terrestrial and marine environments. These intrinsic markers are assimilated through the diet and may exhibit spatial gradients as a result of biogeochemical processes at the base of the food web. In the marine environment, maps to predict the spatial distribution of stable isotopes are limited, and thus determining geographic origin has been reliant upon integrating satellite telemetry and stable isotope data. Migratory sea turtles regularly move between foraging and reproductive areas. Whereas most nesting populations can be easily accessed and regularly monitored, little is known about the demographic trends in foraging populations. The purpose of the present study was to examine migration patterns of loggerhead nesting aggregations in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), where sea turtles have been historically understudied. Two methods of geographic assignment using stable isotope values in known-origin samples from satellite telemetry were compared: 1) a nominal approach through discriminant analysis and 2) a novel continuous-surface approach using bivariate carbon and nitrogen isoscapes (isotopic landscapes) developed for this study. Tissue samples for stable isotope analysis were obtained from 60 satellite-tracked individuals at five nesting beaches within the GoM. Both methodological approaches for assignment resulted in high accuracy of foraging area determination, though each has advantages and disadvantages. The nominal approach is more appropriate when defined boundaries are necessary, but up to 42% of the individuals could not be considered in this approach. All individuals can be included in the continuous-surface approach, and individual results can be aggregated to identify geographic hotspots of foraging area use, though the accuracy rate was lower than nominal assignment. The methodological validation provides a foundation for future sea turtle studies in the region to inexpensively determine geographic origin for large numbers of untracked individuals. Regular monitoring of sea turtle nesting aggregations with stable isotope sampling can be used to fill critical data gaps regarding habitat use and migration patterns. Probabilistic assignment to origin with isoscapes has not been previously used in the marine environment, but the methods presented here could also be applied to other migratory marine species.

Determining origin in a migratory marine vertebrate: a novel method to integrate stable isotopes and satellite tracking.

PubMed

Zanden, Hannah B Vander; Tucker, Anton D; Hart, Kristen M; Lamont, Margaret M; Fuisaki, Ikuko; Addison, David; Mansfield, Katherine L; Phillips, Katrina F; Wunder, Michael B; Bowen, Gabriel J; Pajuelo, Mariela; Bolten, Alan B; Bjorndal, Karen A

2015-03-01

Stable isotope analysis is a useful tool to track animal movements in both terrestrial and marine environments. These intrinsic markers are assimilated through the diet and may exhibit spatial gradients as a result of biogeochemical processes at the base of the food web. In the marine environment, maps to predict the spatial distribution of stable isotopes are limited, and thus determining geographic origin has been reliant upon integrating satellite telemetry and stable isotope data. Migratory sea turtles regularly move between foraging and reproductive areas. Whereas most nesting populations can be easily accessed and regularly monitored, little is known about the demographic trends in foraging populations. The purpose of the present study was to examine migration patterns of loggerhead nesting aggregations in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), where sea turtles have been historically understudied. Two methods of geographic assignment using stable isotope values in known-origin samples from satellite telemetry were compared: (1) a nominal approach through discriminant analysis and (2) a novel continuous-surface approach using bivariate carbon and nitrogen isoscapes (isotopic landscapes) developed for this study. Tissue samples for stable isotope analysis were obtained from 60 satellite-tracked individuals at five nesting beaches within the GoM. Both methodological approaches for assignment resulted in high accuracy of foraging area determination, though each has advantages and disadvantages. The nominal approach is more appropriate when defined boundaries are necessary, but up to 42% of the individuals could not be considered in this approach. All individuals can be included in the continuous-surface approach, and individual results can be aggregated to identify geographic hotspots of foraging area use, though the accuracy rate was lower than nominal assignment. The methodological validation provides a foundation for future sea turtle studies in the region to inexpensively determine geographic origin for large numbers of untracked individuals. Regular monitoring of sea turtle nesting aggregations with stable isotope sampling can be used to fill critical data gaps regarding habitat use and migration patterns. Probabilistic assignment to origin with isoscapes has not been previously used in the marine environment, but the methods presented here could also be applied to other migratory marine species.

Nuclear core and fuel assemblies

DOEpatents

Downs, Robert E.

1981-01-01

A fast flux nuclear core of a plurality of rodded, open-lattice assemblies having a rod pattern rotated relative to a rod support structure pattern. Elongated fuel rods are oriented on a triangular array and laterally supported by grid structures positioned along the length of the assembly. Initial inter-assembly contact is through strongbacks at the corners of the support pattern and peripheral fuel rods between adjacent assemblies are nested so as to maintain a triangular pitch across a clearance gap between the other portions of adjacent assemblies. The rod pattern is rotated relative to the strongback support pattern by an angle .alpha. equal to sin .sup.-1 (p/2c), where p is the intra-assembly rod pitch and c is the center-to-center spacing among adjacent assemblies.

Full-Scale Numerical Modeling of Turbulent Processes in the Earth's Ionosphere

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

Eliasson, B.; Stenflo, L.; Department of Physics, Linkoeping University, SE-581 83 Linkoeping

2008-10-15

We present a full-scale simulation study of ionospheric turbulence by means of a generalized Zakharov model based on the separation of variables into high-frequency and slow time scales. The model includes realistic length scales of the ionospheric profile and of the electromagnetic and electrostatic fields, and uses ionospheric plasma parameters relevant for high-latitude radio facilities such as Eiscat and HAARP. A nested grid numerical method has been developed to resolve the different length-scales, while avoiding severe restrictions on the time step. The simulation demonstrates the parametric decay of the ordinary mode into Langmuir and ion-acoustic waves, followed by a Langmuirmore » wave collapse and short-scale caviton formation, as observed in ionospheric heating experiments.« less

Efficient Development of High Fidelity Structured Volume Grids for Hypersonic Flow Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen J.

2003-01-01

A new technique for the control of grid line spacing and intersection angles of a structured volume grid, using elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) is presented. Existing structured grid generation algorithms make use of source term hybridization to provide control of grid lines, imposing orthogonality implicitly at the boundary and explicitly on the interior of the domain. A bridging function between the two types of grid line control is typically used to blend the different orthogonality formulations. It is shown that utilizing such a bridging function with source term hybridization can result in the excessive use of computational resources and diminishes robustness. A new approach, Anisotropic Lagrange Based Trans-Finite Interpolation (ALBTFI), is offered as a replacement to source term hybridization. The ALBTFI technique captures the essence of the desired grid controls while improving the convergence rate of the elliptic PDEs when compared with source term hybridization. Grid generation on a blunt cone and a Shuttle Orbiter is used to demonstrate and assess the ALBTFI technique, which is shown to be as much as 50% faster, more robust, and produces higher quality grids than source term hybridization.

Three-dimensional hybrid grid generation using advancing front techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinbrenner, John P.; Noack, Ralph W.

1995-01-01

A new 3-dimensional hybrid grid generation technique has been developed, based on ideas of advancing fronts for both structured and unstructured grids. In this approach, structured grids are first generate independently around individual components of the geometry. Fronts are initialized on these structure grids, and advanced outward so that new cells are extracted directly from the structured grids. Employing typical advancing front techniques, cells are rejected if they intersect the existing front or fail other criteria When no more viable structured cells exist further cells are advanced in an unstructured manner to close off the overall domain, resulting in a grid of 'hybrid' form. There are two primary advantages to the hybrid formulation. First, generating blocks with limited regard to topology eliminates the bottleneck encountered when a multiple block system is used to fully encapsulate a domain. Individual blocks may be generated free of external constraints, which will significantly reduce the generation time. Secondly, grid points near the body (presumably with high aspect ratio) will still maintain a structured (non-triangular or tetrahedral) character, thereby maximizing grid quality and solution accuracy near the surface.

Managing native predators: Evidence from a partial removal of raccoons (Procyon lotor) on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stocking, Jessica J.; Simons, Theodore R.; Parsons, Arielle W.; O'Connell, Allan F.

2017-01-01

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are important predators of ground-nesting species in coastal systems. They have been identified as a primary cause of nest failure for the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) throughout its range. Concerns over the long-term effects of raccoon predation and increased nest success following a hurricane inspired a mark-resight study of the raccoon population on a barrier island off North Carolina, USA. Approximately half of the raccoons were experimentally removed in 2008. Nests (n = 700) were monitored on two adjacent barrier islands during 2004–2013. Daily nest survival estimates were highest for 2004 (0.974 ± 0.005) and lowest for 2007 and 2008 (0.925 ± 0.009 and 0.925 ± 0.010, respectively). The only model in our candidate set that received any support included island and time of season, along with a diminishing effect of the hurricane and a constant, 5-year effect of the raccoon removal. For both hurricane and raccoon removal, however, the support for island-specific effects was weak (β = -0.204 ± 0.116 and 0.146 ± 0.349, respectively). We conclude that either the raccoon reduction was inadequate, or factors other than predation cause more variation in nest success than previously recognized. A multi-faceted approach to management aimed at reducing nest losses to storm overwash, predation, and human disturbance is likely to yield the largest population level benefits.

AstroGrid: Taverna in the Virtual Observatory .

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson, K. M.; Walton, N. A.

This paper reports on the implementation of the Taverna workbench by AstroGrid, a tool for designing and executing workflows of tasks in the Virtual Observatory. The workflow approach helps astronomers perform complex task sequences with little technical effort. Visual approach to workflow construction streamlines highly complex analysis over public and private data and uses computational resources as minimal as a desktop computer. Some integration issues and future work are discussed in this article.

Efficient Fluid Dynamic Design Optimization Using Cartesian Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dadone, A.; Grossman, B.; Sellers, Bill (Technical Monitor)

2004-01-01

This report is subdivided in three parts. The first one reviews a new approach to the computation of inviscid flows using Cartesian grid methods. The crux of the method is the curvature-corrected symmetry technique (CCST) developed by the present authors for body-fitted grids. The method introduces ghost cells near the boundaries whose values are developed from an assumed flow-field model in vicinity of the wall consisting of a vortex flow, which satisfies the normal momentum equation and the non-penetration condition. The CCST boundary condition was shown to be substantially more accurate than traditional boundary condition approaches. This improved boundary condition is adapted to a Cartesian mesh formulation, which we call the Ghost Body-Cell Method (GBCM). In this approach, all cell centers exterior to the body are computed with fluxes at the four surrounding cell edges. There is no need for special treatment corresponding to cut cells which complicate other Cartesian mesh methods.

Advances in Domain Connectivity for Overset Grids Using the X-Rays Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.; Kim, Noah; Pandya, Shishir A.

2012-01-01

Advances in automation and robustness of the X-rays approach to domain connectivity for overset grids are presented. Given the surface definition for each component that makes up a complex configuration, the determination of hole points with appropriate hole boundaries is automatically and efficiently performed. Improvements made to the original X-rays approach for identifying the minimum hole include an automated closure scheme for hole-cutters with open boundaries, automatic determination of grid points to be considered for blanking by each hole-cutter, and an adaptive X-ray map to economically handle components in close proximity. Furthermore, an automated spatially varying offset of the hole boundary from the minimum hole is achieved using a dual wall-distance function and an orphan point removal iteration process. Results using the new scheme are presented for a number of static and relative motion test cases on a variety of aerospace applications.

An interprojection sensor fusion approach to estimate blocked projection signal in synchronized moving grid-based CBCT system.

PubMed

Zhang, Hong; Ren, Lei; Kong, Vic; Giles, William; Zhang, You; Jin, Jian-Yue

2016-01-01

A preobject grid can reduce and correct scatter in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). However, half of the signal in each projection is blocked by the grid. A synchronized moving grid (SMOG) has been proposed to acquire two complimentary projections at each gantry position and merge them into one complete projection. That approach, however, suffers from increased scanning time and the technical difficulty of accurately merging the two projections per gantry angle. Herein, the authors present a new SMOG approach which acquires a single projection per gantry angle, with complimentary grid patterns for any two adjacent projections, and use an interprojection sensor fusion (IPSF) technique to estimate the blocked signal in each projection. The method may have the additional benefit of reduced imaging dose due to the grid blocking half of the incident radiation. The IPSF considers multiple paired observations from two adjacent gantry angles as approximations of the blocked signal and uses a weighted least square regression of these observations to finally determine the blocked signal. The method was first tested with a simulated SMOG on a head phantom. The signal to noise ratio (SNR), which represents the difference of the recovered CBCT image to the original image without the SMOG, was used to evaluate the ability of the IPSF in recovering the missing signal. The IPSF approach was then tested using a Catphan phantom on a prototype SMOG assembly installed in a bench top CBCT system. In the simulated SMOG experiment, the SNRs were increased from 15.1 and 12.7 dB to 35.6 and 28.9 dB comparing with a conventional interpolation method (inpainting method) for a projection and the reconstructed 3D image, respectively, suggesting that IPSF successfully recovered most of blocked signal. In the prototype SMOG experiment, the authors have successfully reconstructed a CBCT image using the IPSF-SMOG approach. The detailed geometric features in the Catphan phantom were mostly recovered according to visual evaluation. The scatter related artifacts, such as cupping artifacts, were almost completely removed. The IPSF-SMOG is promising in reducing scatter artifacts and improving image quality while reducing radiation dose.