Least-squares finite element methods for compressible Euler equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jiang, Bo-Nan; Carey, G. F.

1990-01-01

A method based on backward finite differencing in time and a least-squares finite element scheme for first-order systems of partial differential equations in space is applied to the Euler equations for gas dynamics. The scheme minimizes the L-sq-norm of the residual within each time step. The method naturally generates numerical dissipation proportional to the time step size. An implicit method employing linear elements has been implemented and proves robust. For high-order elements, computed solutions based on the L-sq method may have oscillations for calculations at similar time step sizes. To overcome this difficulty, a scheme which minimizes the weighted H1-norm of the residual is proposed and leads to a successful scheme with high-degree elements. Finally, a conservative least-squares finite element method is also developed. Numerical results for two-dimensional problems are given to demonstrate the shock resolution of the methods and compare different approaches.

Fast time- and frequency-domain finite-element methods for electromagnetic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Woochan

Fast electromagnetic analysis in time and frequency domain is of critical importance to the design of integrated circuits (IC) and other advanced engineering products and systems. Many IC structures constitute a very large scale problem in modeling and simulation, the size of which also continuously grows with the advancement of the processing technology. This results in numerical problems beyond the reach of existing most powerful computational resources. Different from many other engineering problems, the structure of most ICs is special in the sense that its geometry is of Manhattan type and its dielectrics are layered. Hence, it is important to develop structure-aware algorithms that take advantage of the structure specialties to speed up the computation. In addition, among existing time-domain methods, explicit methods can avoid solving a matrix equation. However, their time step is traditionally restricted by the space step for ensuring the stability of a time-domain simulation. Therefore, making explicit time-domain methods unconditionally stable is important to accelerate the computation. In addition to time-domain methods, frequency-domain methods have suffered from an indefinite system that makes an iterative solution difficult to converge fast. The first contribution of this work is a fast time-domain finite-element algorithm for the analysis and design of very large-scale on-chip circuits. The structure specialty of on-chip circuits such as Manhattan geometry and layered permittivity is preserved in the proposed algorithm. As a result, the large-scale matrix solution encountered in the 3-D circuit analysis is turned into a simple scaling of the solution of a small 1-D matrix, which can be obtained in linear (optimal) complexity with negligible cost. Furthermore, the time step size is not sacrificed, and the total number of time steps to be simulated is also significantly reduced, thus achieving a total cost reduction in CPU time. The second contribution is a new method for making an explicit time-domain finite-element method (TDFEM) unconditionally stable for general electromagnetic analysis. In this method, for a given time step, we find the unstable modes that are the root cause of instability, and deduct them directly from the system matrix resulting from a TDFEM based analysis. As a result, an explicit TDFEM simulation is made stable for an arbitrarily large time step irrespective of the space step. The third contribution is a new method for full-wave applications from low to very high frequencies in a TDFEM based on matrix exponential. In this method, we directly deduct the eigenmodes having large eigenvalues from the system matrix, thus achieving a significantly increased time step in the matrix exponential based TDFEM. The fourth contribution is a new method for transforming the indefinite system matrix of a frequency-domain FEM to a symmetric positive definite one. We deduct non-positive definite component directly from the system matrix resulting from a frequency-domain FEM-based analysis. The resulting new representation of the finite-element operator ensures an iterative solution to converge in a small number of iterations. We then add back the non-positive definite component to synthesize the original solution with negligible cost.

Emergent surgical airway: comparison of the three-step method and conventional cricothyroidotomy utilizing high-fidelity simulation.

PubMed

Quick, Jacob A; MacIntyre, Allan D; Barnes, Stephen L

2014-02-01

Surgical airway creation has a high potential for disaster. Conventional methods can be cumbersome and require special instruments. A simple method utilizing three steps and readily available equipment exists, but has yet to be adequately tested. Our objective was to compare conventional cricothyroidotomy with the three-step method utilizing high-fidelity simulation. Utilizing a high-fidelity simulator, 12 experienced flight nurses and paramedics performed both methods after a didactic lecture, simulator briefing, and demonstration of each technique. Six participants performed the three-step method first, and the remaining 6 performed the conventional method first. Each participant was filmed and timed. We analyzed videos with respect to the number of hand repositions, number of airway instrumentations, and technical complications. Times to successful completion were measured from incision to balloon inflation. The three-step method was completed faster (52.1 s vs. 87.3 s; p = 0.007) as compared with conventional surgical cricothyroidotomy. The two methods did not differ statistically regarding number of hand movements (3.75 vs. 5.25; p = 0.12) or instrumentations of the airway (1.08 vs. 1.33; p = 0.07). The three-step method resulted in 100% successful airway placement on the first attempt, compared with 75% of the conventional method (p = 0.11). Technical complications occurred more with the conventional method (33% vs. 0%; p = 0.05). The three-step method, using an elastic bougie with an endotracheal tube, was shown to require fewer total hand movements, took less time to complete, resulted in more successful airway placement, and had fewer complications compared with traditional cricothyroidotomy. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Simplified Two-Time Step Method for Calculating Combustion and Emission Rates of Jet-A and Methane Fuel With and Without Water Injection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molnar, Melissa; Marek, C. John

2005-01-01

A simplified kinetic scheme for Jet-A, and methane fuels with water injection was developed to be used in numerical combustion codes, such as the National Combustor Code (NCC) or even simple FORTRAN codes. The two time step method is either an initial time averaged value (step one) or an instantaneous value (step two). The switch is based on the water concentration in moles/cc of 1x10(exp -20). The results presented here results in a correlation that gives the chemical kinetic time as two separate functions. This two time step method is used as opposed to a one step time averaged method previously developed to determine the chemical kinetic time with increased accuracy. The first time averaged step is used at the initial times for smaller water concentrations. This gives the average chemical kinetic time as a function of initial overall fuel air ratio, initial water to fuel mass ratio, temperature, and pressure. The second instantaneous step, to be used with higher water concentrations, gives the chemical kinetic time as a function of instantaneous fuel and water mole concentration, pressure and temperature (T4). The simple correlations would then be compared to the turbulent mixing times to determine the limiting rates of the reaction. The NASA Glenn GLSENS kinetics code calculates the reaction rates and rate constants for each species in a kinetic scheme for finite kinetic rates. These reaction rates are used to calculate the necessary chemical kinetic times. Chemical kinetic time equations for fuel, carbon monoxide and NOx are obtained for Jet-A fuel and methane with and without water injection to water mass loadings of 2/1 water to fuel. A similar correlation was also developed using data from NASA's Chemical Equilibrium Applications (CEA) code to determine the equilibrium concentrations of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide as functions of overall equivalence ratio, water to fuel mass ratio, pressure and temperature (T3). The temperature of the gas entering the turbine (T4) was also correlated as a function of the initial combustor temperature (T3), equivalence ratio, water to fuel mass ratio, and pressure.

Development of a time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes solver based on a fractional-step method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenfeld, Moshe

1990-01-01

The main goals are the development, validation, and application of a fractional step solution method of the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems. A solution method that combines a finite volume discretization with a novel choice of the dependent variables and a fractional step splitting to obtain accurate solutions in arbitrary geometries is extended to include more general situations, including cases with moving grids. The numerical techniques are enhanced to gain efficiency and generality.

A novel method to accurately locate and count large numbers of steps by photobleaching

PubMed Central

Tsekouras, Konstantinos; Custer, Thomas C.; Jashnsaz, Hossein; Walter, Nils G.; Pressé, Steve

2016-01-01

Photobleaching event counting is a single-molecule fluorescence technique that is increasingly being used to determine the stoichiometry of protein and RNA complexes composed of many subunits in vivo as well as in vitro. By tagging protein or RNA subunits with fluorophores, activating them, and subsequently observing as the fluorophores photobleach, one obtains information on the number of subunits in a complex. The noise properties in a photobleaching time trace depend on the number of active fluorescent subunits. Thus, as fluorophores stochastically photobleach, noise properties of the time trace change stochastically, and these varying noise properties have created a challenge in identifying photobleaching steps in a time trace. Although photobleaching steps are often detected by eye, this method only works for high individual fluorophore emission signal-to-noise ratios and small numbers of fluorophores. With filtering methods or currently available algorithms, it is possible to reliably identify photobleaching steps for up to 20–30 fluorophores and signal-to-noise ratios down to ∼1. Here we present a new Bayesian method of counting steps in photobleaching time traces that takes into account stochastic noise variation in addition to complications such as overlapping photobleaching events that may arise from fluorophore interactions, as well as on-off blinking. Our method is capable of detecting ≥50 photobleaching steps even for signal-to-noise ratios as low as 0.1, can find up to ≥500 steps for more favorable noise profiles, and is computationally inexpensive. PMID:27654946

Analysis of real-time numerical integration methods applied to dynamic clamp experiments.

PubMed

Butera, Robert J; McCarthy, Maeve L

2004-12-01

Real-time systems are frequently used as an experimental tool, whereby simulated models interact in real time with neurophysiological experiments. The most demanding of these techniques is known as the dynamic clamp, where simulated ion channel conductances are artificially injected into a neuron via intracellular electrodes for measurement and stimulation. Methodologies for implementing the numerical integration of the gating variables in real time typically employ first-order numerical methods, either Euler or exponential Euler (EE). EE is often used for rapidly integrating ion channel gating variables. We find via simulation studies that for small time steps, both methods are comparable, but at larger time steps, EE performs worse than Euler. We derive error bounds for both methods, and find that the error can be characterized in terms of two ratios: time step over time constant, and voltage measurement error over the slope factor of the steady-state activation curve of the voltage-dependent gating variable. These ratios reliably bound the simulation error and yield results consistent with the simulation analysis. Our bounds quantitatively illustrate how measurement error restricts the accuracy that can be obtained by using smaller step sizes. Finally, we demonstrate that Euler can be computed with identical computational efficiency as EE.

Different methods to analyze stepped wedge trial designs revealed different aspects of intervention effects.

PubMed

Twisk, J W R; Hoogendijk, E O; Zwijsen, S A; de Boer, M R

2016-04-01

Within epidemiology, a stepped wedge trial design (i.e., a one-way crossover trial in which several arms start the intervention at different time points) is increasingly popular as an alternative to a classical cluster randomized controlled trial. Despite this increasing popularity, there is a huge variation in the methods used to analyze data from a stepped wedge trial design. Four linear mixed models were used to analyze data from a stepped wedge trial design on two example data sets. The four methods were chosen because they have been (frequently) used in practice. Method 1 compares all the intervention measurements with the control measurements. Method 2 treats the intervention variable as a time-independent categorical variable comparing the different arms with each other. In method 3, the intervention variable is a time-dependent categorical variable comparing groups with different number of intervention measurements, whereas in method 4, the changes in the outcome variable between subsequent measurements are analyzed. Regarding the results in the first example data set, methods 1 and 3 showed a strong positive intervention effect, which disappeared after adjusting for time. Method 2 showed an inverse intervention effect, whereas method 4 did not show a significant effect at all. In the second example data set, the results were the opposite. Both methods 2 and 4 showed significant intervention effects, whereas the other two methods did not. For method 4, the intervention effect attenuated after adjustment for time. Different methods to analyze data from a stepped wedge trial design reveal different aspects of a possible intervention effect. The choice of a method partly depends on the type of the intervention and the possible time-dependent effect of the intervention. Furthermore, it is advised to combine the results of the different methods to obtain an interpretable overall result. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extension of a streamwise upwind algorithm to a moving grid system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Obayashi, Shigeru; Goorjian, Peter M.; Guruswamy, Guru P.

1990-01-01

A new streamwise upwind algorithm was derived to compute unsteady flow fields with the use of a moving-grid system. The temporally nonconservative LU-ADI (lower-upper-factored, alternating-direction-implicit) method was applied for time marching computations. A comparison of the temporally nonconservative method with a time-conservative implicit upwind method indicates that the solutions are insensitive to the conservative properties of the implicit solvers when practical time steps are used. Using this new method, computations were made for an oscillating wing at a transonic Mach number. The computed results confirm that the present upwind scheme captures the shock motion better than the central-difference scheme based on the beam-warming algorithm. The new upwind option of the code allows larger time-steps and thus is more efficient, even though it requires slightly more computational time per time step than the central-difference option.

A two steps solution approach to solving large nonlinear models: application to a problem of conjunctive use.

PubMed

Vieira, J; Cunha, M C

2011-01-01

This article describes a solution method of solving large nonlinear problems in two steps. The two steps solution approach takes advantage of handling smaller and simpler models and having better starting points to improve solution efficiency. The set of nonlinear constraints (named as complicating constraints) which makes the solution of the model rather complex and time consuming is eliminated from step one. The complicating constraints are added only in the second step so that a solution of the complete model is then found. The solution method is applied to a large-scale problem of conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater resources. The results obtained are compared with solutions determined with the direct solve of the complete model in one single step. In all examples the two steps solution approach allowed a significant reduction of the computation time. This potential gain of efficiency of the two steps solution approach can be extremely important for work in progress and it can be particularly useful for cases where the computation time would be a critical factor for having an optimized solution in due time.

Evaluation of a Rapid One-step Real-time PCR Method as a High-throughput Screening for Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA in a Resource-limited Setting.

PubMed

Rashed-Ul Islam, S M; Jahan, Munira; Tabassum, Shahina

2015-01-01

Virological monitoring is the best predictor for the management of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. Consequently, it is important to use the most efficient, rapid and cost-effective testing systems for HBV DNA quantification. The present study compared the performance characteristics of a one-step HBV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) vs the two-step HBV PCR method for quantification of HBV DNA from clinical samples. A total of 100 samples consisting of 85 randomly selected samples from patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 15 samples from apparently healthy individuals were enrolled in this study. Of the 85 CHB clinical samples tested, HBV DNA was detected from 81% samples by one-step PCR method with median HBV DNA viral load (VL) of 7.50 × 10 3 lU/ml. In contrast, 72% samples were detected by the two-step PCR system with median HBV DNA of 3.71 × 10 3 lU/ml. The one-step method showed strong linear correlation with two-step PCR method (r = 0.89; p < 0.0001). Both methods showed good agreement at Bland-Altman plot, with a mean difference of 0.61 log 10 IU/ml and limits of agreement of -1.82 to 3.03 log 10 IU/ml. The intra-assay and interassay coefficients of variation (CV%) of plasma samples (4-7 log 10 IU/ml) for the one-step PCR method ranged between 0.33 to 0.59 and 0.28 to 0.48 respectively, thus demonstrating a high level of concordance between the two methods. Moreover, elimination of the DNA extraction step in the one-step PCR kit allowed time-efficient and significant labor and cost savings for the quantification of HBV DNA in a resource limited setting. Rashed-Ul Islam SM, Jahan M, Tabassum S. Evaluation of a Rapid One-step Real-time PCR Method as a High-throughput Screening for Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA in a Resource-limited Setting. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2015;5(1):11-15.

Evaluation of a Rapid One-step Real-time PCR Method as a High-throughput Screening for Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA in a Resource-limited Setting

PubMed Central

Jahan, Munira; Tabassum, Shahina

2015-01-01

Virological monitoring is the best predictor for the management of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. Consequently, it is important to use the most efficient, rapid and cost-effective testing systems for HBV DNA quantification. The present study compared the performance characteristics of a one-step HBV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) vs the two-step HBV PCR method for quantification of HBV DNA from clinical samples. A total of 100 samples consisting of 85 randomly selected samples from patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 15 samples from apparently healthy individuals were enrolled in this study. Of the 85 CHB clinical samples tested, HBV DNA was detected from 81% samples by one-step PCR method with median HBV DNA viral load (VL) of 7.50 × 103 lU/ml. In contrast, 72% samples were detected by the two-step PCR system with median HBV DNA of 3.71 × 103 lU/ml. The one-step method showed strong linear correlation with two-step PCR method (r = 0.89; p < 0.0001). Both methods showed good agreement at Bland-Altman plot, with a mean difference of 0.61 log10 IU/ml and limits of agreement of -1.82 to 3.03 log10 IU/ml. The intra-assay and interassay coefficients of variation (CV%) of plasma samples (4-7 log10 IU/ml) for the one-step PCR method ranged between 0.33 to 0.59 and 0.28 to 0.48 respectively, thus demonstrating a high level of concordance between the two methods. Moreover, elimination of the DNA extraction step in the one-step PCR kit allowed time-efficient and significant labor and cost savings for the quantification of HBV DNA in a resource limited setting. How to cite this article Rashed-Ul Islam SM, Jahan M, Tabassum S. Evaluation of a Rapid One-step Real-time PCR Method as a High-throughput Screening for Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA in a Resource-limited Setting. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2015;5(1):11-15. PMID:29201678

Development of a time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes solver based on a fractional-step method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenfeld, Moshe

1990-01-01

The development, validation and application of a fractional step solution method of the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems are discussed. A solution method that combines a finite-volume discretization with a novel choice of the dependent variables and a fractional step splitting to obtain accurate solutions in arbitrary geometries was previously developed for fixed-grids. In the present research effort, this solution method is extended to include more general situations, including cases with moving grids. The numerical techniques are enhanced to gain efficiency and generality.

A three dimensional multigrid multiblock multistage time stepping scheme for the Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elmiligui, Alaa; Cannizzaro, Frank; Melson, N. D.

1991-01-01

A general multiblock method for the solution of the three-dimensional, unsteady, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations has been developed. The convective and pressure terms are spatially discretized using Roe's flux differencing technique while the viscous terms are centrally differenced. An explicit Runge-Kutta method is used to advance the solution in time. Local time stepping, adaptive implicit residual smoothing, and the Full Approximation Storage (FAS) multigrid scheme are added to the explicit time stepping scheme to accelerate convergence to steady state. Results for three-dimensional test cases are presented and discussed.

Image superresolution by midfrequency sparse representation and total variation regularization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jian; Chang, Zhiguo; Fan, Jiulun; Zhao, Xiaoqiang; Wu, Xiaomin; Wang, Yanzi

2015-01-01

Machine learning has provided many good tools for superresolution, whereas existing methods still need to be improved in many aspects. On one hand, the memory and time cost should be reduced. On the other hand, the step edges of the results obtained by the existing methods are not clear enough. We do the following work. First, we propose a method to extract the midfrequency features for dictionary learning. This method brings the benefit of a reduction of the memory and time complexity without sacrificing the performance. Second, we propose a detailed wiping-off total variation (DWO-TV) regularization model to reconstruct the sharp step edges. This model adds a novel constraint on the downsampling version of the high-resolution image to wipe off the details and artifacts and sharpen the step edges. Finally, step edges produced by the DWO-TV regularization and the details provided by learning are fused. Experimental results show that the proposed method offers a desirable compromise between low time and memory cost and the reconstruction quality.

Implicit integration methods for dislocation dynamics

DOE PAGES

Gardner, D. J.; Woodward, C. S.; Reynolds, D. R.; ...

2015-01-20

In dislocation dynamics simulations, strain hardening simulations require integrating stiff systems of ordinary differential equations in time with expensive force calculations, discontinuous topological events, and rapidly changing problem size. Current solvers in use often result in small time steps and long simulation times. Faster solvers may help dislocation dynamics simulations accumulate plastic strains at strain rates comparable to experimental observations. Here, this paper investigates the viability of high order implicit time integrators and robust nonlinear solvers to reduce simulation run times while maintaining the accuracy of the computed solution. In particular, implicit Runge-Kutta time integrators are explored as a waymore » of providing greater accuracy over a larger time step than is typically done with the standard second-order trapezoidal method. In addition, both accelerated fixed point and Newton's method are investigated to provide fast and effective solves for the nonlinear systems that must be resolved within each time step. Results show that integrators of third order are the most effective, while accelerated fixed point and Newton's method both improve solver performance over the standard fixed point method used for the solution of the nonlinear systems.« less

A Computational Approach to Increase Time Scales in Brownian Dynamics–Based Reaction-Diffusion Modeling

PubMed Central

Frazier, Zachary

2012-01-01

Abstract Particle-based Brownian dynamics simulations offer the opportunity to not only simulate diffusion of particles but also the reactions between them. They therefore provide an opportunity to integrate varied biological data into spatially explicit models of biological processes, such as signal transduction or mitosis. However, particle based reaction-diffusion methods often are hampered by the relatively small time step needed for accurate description of the reaction-diffusion framework. Such small time steps often prevent simulation times that are relevant for biological processes. It is therefore of great importance to develop reaction-diffusion methods that tolerate larger time steps while maintaining relatively high accuracy. Here, we provide an algorithm, which detects potential particle collisions prior to a BD-based particle displacement and at the same time rigorously obeys the detailed balance rule of equilibrium reactions. We can show that for reaction-diffusion processes of particles mimicking proteins, the method can increase the typical BD time step by an order of magnitude while maintaining similar accuracy in the reaction diffusion modelling. PMID:22697237

High-Order Implicit-Explicit Multi-Block Time-stepping Method for Hyperbolic PDEs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nielsen, Tanner B.; Carpenter, Mark H.; Fisher, Travis C.; Frankel, Steven H.

2014-01-01

This work seeks to explore and improve the current time-stepping schemes used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in order to reduce overall computational time. A high-order scheme has been developed using a combination of implicit and explicit (IMEX) time-stepping Runge-Kutta (RK) schemes which increases numerical stability with respect to the time step size, resulting in decreased computational time. The IMEX scheme alone does not yield the desired increase in numerical stability, but when used in conjunction with an overlapping partitioned (multi-block) domain significant increase in stability is observed. To show this, the Overlapping-Partition IMEX (OP IMEX) scheme is applied to both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) problems, the nonlinear viscous Burger's equation and 2D advection equation, respectively. The method uses two different summation by parts (SBP) derivative approximations, second-order and fourth-order accurate. The Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed using the Simultaneous Approximation Term (SAT) penalty method. The 6-stage additive Runge-Kutta IMEX time integration schemes are fourth-order accurate in time. An increase in numerical stability 65 times greater than the fully explicit scheme is demonstrated to be achievable with the OP IMEX method applied to 1D Burger's equation. Results from the 2D, purely convective, advection equation show stability increases on the order of 10 times the explicit scheme using the OP IMEX method. Also, the domain partitioning method in this work shows potential for breaking the computational domain into manageable sizes such that implicit solutions for full three-dimensional CFD simulations can be computed using direct solving methods rather than the standard iterative methods currently used.

Two-step relaxation mode analysis with multiple evolution times applied to all-atom molecular dynamics protein simulation.

PubMed

Karasawa, N; Mitsutake, A; Takano, H

2017-12-01

Proteins implement their functionalities when folded into specific three-dimensional structures, and their functions are related to the protein structures and dynamics. Previously, we applied a relaxation mode analysis (RMA) method to protein systems; this method approximately estimates the slow relaxation modes and times via simulation and enables investigation of the dynamic properties underlying the protein structural fluctuations. Recently, two-step RMA with multiple evolution times has been proposed and applied to a slightly complex homopolymer system, i.e., a single [n]polycatenane. This method can be applied to more complex heteropolymer systems, i.e., protein systems, to estimate the relaxation modes and times more accurately. In two-step RMA, we first perform RMA and obtain rough estimates of the relaxation modes and times. Then, we apply RMA with multiple evolution times to a small number of the slowest relaxation modes obtained in the previous calculation. Herein, we apply this method to the results of principal component analysis (PCA). First, PCA is applied to a 2-μs molecular dynamics simulation of hen egg-white lysozyme in aqueous solution. Then, the two-step RMA method with multiple evolution times is applied to the obtained principal components. The slow relaxation modes and corresponding relaxation times for the principal components are much improved by the second RMA.

Two-step relaxation mode analysis with multiple evolution times applied to all-atom molecular dynamics protein simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karasawa, N.; Mitsutake, A.; Takano, H.

2017-12-01

Proteins implement their functionalities when folded into specific three-dimensional structures, and their functions are related to the protein structures and dynamics. Previously, we applied a relaxation mode analysis (RMA) method to protein systems; this method approximately estimates the slow relaxation modes and times via simulation and enables investigation of the dynamic properties underlying the protein structural fluctuations. Recently, two-step RMA with multiple evolution times has been proposed and applied to a slightly complex homopolymer system, i.e., a single [n ] polycatenane. This method can be applied to more complex heteropolymer systems, i.e., protein systems, to estimate the relaxation modes and times more accurately. In two-step RMA, we first perform RMA and obtain rough estimates of the relaxation modes and times. Then, we apply RMA with multiple evolution times to a small number of the slowest relaxation modes obtained in the previous calculation. Herein, we apply this method to the results of principal component analysis (PCA). First, PCA is applied to a 2-μ s molecular dynamics simulation of hen egg-white lysozyme in aqueous solution. Then, the two-step RMA method with multiple evolution times is applied to the obtained principal components. The slow relaxation modes and corresponding relaxation times for the principal components are much improved by the second RMA.

Calculating Time-Integral Quantities in Depletion Calculations

DOE PAGES

Isotalo, Aarno

2016-06-02

A method referred to as tally nuclides is presented for accurately and efficiently calculating the time-step averages and integrals of any quantities that are weighted sums of atomic densities with constant weights during the step. The method allows all such quantities to be calculated simultaneously as a part of a single depletion solution with existing depletion algorithms. Some examples of the results that can be extracted include step-average atomic densities and macroscopic reaction rates, the total number of fissions during the step, and the amount of energy released during the step. Furthermore, the method should be applicable with several depletionmore » algorithms, and the integrals or averages should be calculated with an accuracy comparable to that reached by the selected algorithm for end-of-step atomic densities. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated in depletion calculations using the Chebyshev rational approximation method. Here, we demonstrate how the ability to calculate energy release in depletion calculations can be used to determine the accuracy of the normalization in a constant-power burnup calculation during the calculation without a need for a reference solution.« less

Timing Calibration in PET Using a Time Alignment Probe

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

Moses, William W.; Thompson, Christopher J.

2006-05-05

We evaluate the Scanwell Time Alignment Probe for performing the timing calibration for the LBNL Prostate-Specific PET Camera. We calibrate the time delay correction factors for each detector module in the camera using two methods--using the Time Alignment Probe (which measures the time difference between the probe and each detector module) and using the conventional method (which measures the timing difference between all module-module combinations in the camera). These correction factors, which are quantized in 2 ns steps, are compared on a module-by-module basis. The values are in excellent agreement--of the 80 correction factors, 62 agree exactly, 17 differ bymore » 1 step, and 1 differs by 2 steps. We also measure on-time and off-time counting rates when the two sets of calibration factors are loaded into the camera and find that they agree within statistical error. We conclude that the performance using the Time Alignment Probe and conventional methods are equivalent.« less

New Reduced Two-Time Step Method for Calculating Combustion and Emission Rates of Jet-A and Methane Fuel With and Without Water Injection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molnar, Melissa; Marek, C. John

2004-01-01

A simplified kinetic scheme for Jet-A, and methane fuels with water injection was developed to be used in numerical combustion codes, such as the National Combustor Code (NCC) or even simple FORTRAN codes that are being developed at Glenn. The two time step method is either an initial time averaged value (step one) or an instantaneous value (step two). The switch is based on the water concentration in moles/cc of 1x10(exp -20). The results presented here results in a correlation that gives the chemical kinetic time as two separate functions. This two step method is used as opposed to a one step time averaged method previously developed to determine the chemical kinetic time with increased accuracy. The first time averaged step is used at the initial times for smaller water concentrations. This gives the average chemical kinetic time as a function of initial overall fuel air ratio, initial water to fuel mass ratio, temperature, and pressure. The second instantaneous step, to be used with higher water concentrations, gives the chemical kinetic time as a function of instantaneous fuel and water mole concentration, pressure and temperature (T4). The simple correlations would then be compared to the turbulent mixing times to determine the limiting properties of the reaction. The NASA Glenn GLSENS kinetics code calculates the reaction rates and rate constants for each species in a kinetic scheme for finite kinetic rates. These reaction rates were then used to calculate the necessary chemical kinetic times. Chemical kinetic time equations for fuel, carbon monoxide and NOx were obtained for Jet-A fuel and methane with and without water injection to water mass loadings of 2/1 water to fuel. A similar correlation was also developed using data from NASA's Chemical Equilibrium Applications (CEA) code to determine the equilibrium concentrations of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide as functions of overall equivalence ratio, water to fuel mass ratio, pressure and temperature (T3). The temperature of the gas entering the turbine (T4) was also correlated as a function of the initial combustor temperature (T3), equivalence ratio, water to fuel mass ratio, and pressure.

Formulation of an explicit-multiple-time-step time integration method for use in a global primitive equation grid model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, W. C.

1982-01-01

With appropriate modifications, a recently proposed explicit-multiple-time-step scheme (EMTSS) is incorporated into the UCLA model. In this scheme, the linearized terms in the governing equations that generate the gravity waves are split into different vertical modes. Each mode is integrated with an optimal time step, and at periodic intervals these modes are recombined. The other terms are integrated with a time step dictated by the CFL condition for low-frequency waves. This large time step requires a special modification of the advective terms in the polar region to maintain stability. Test runs for 72 h show that EMTSS is a stable, efficient and accurate scheme.

Short-term Time Step Convergence in a Climate Model

DOE PAGES

Wan, Hui; Rasch, Philip J.; Taylor, Mark; ...

2015-02-11

A testing procedure is designed to assess the convergence property of a global climate model with respect to time step size, based on evaluation of the root-mean-square temperature difference at the end of very short (1 h) simulations with time step sizes ranging from 1 s to 1800 s. A set of validation tests conducted without sub-grid scale parameterizations confirmed that the method was able to correctly assess the convergence rate of the dynamical core under various configurations. The testing procedure was then applied to the full model, and revealed a slow convergence of order 0.4 in contrast to themore » expected first-order convergence. Sensitivity experiments showed without ambiguity that the time stepping errors in the model were dominated by those from the stratiform cloud parameterizations, in particular the cloud microphysics. This provides a clear guidance for future work on the design of more accurate numerical methods for time stepping and process coupling in the model.« less

Issues in measure-preserving three dimensional flow integrators: Self-adjointness, reversibility, and non-uniform time stepping

DOE PAGES

Finn, John M.

2015-03-01

Properties of integration schemes for solenoidal fields in three dimensions are studied, with a focus on integrating magnetic field lines in a plasma using adaptive time stepping. It is shown that implicit midpoint (IM) and a scheme we call three-dimensional leapfrog (LF) can do a good job (in the sense of preserving KAM tori) of integrating fields that are reversible, or (for LF) have a 'special divergence-free' property. We review the notion of a self-adjoint scheme, showing that such schemes are at least second order accurate and can always be formed by composing an arbitrary scheme with its adjoint. Wemore » also review the concept of reversibility, showing that a reversible but not exactly volume-preserving scheme can lead to a fractal invariant measure in a chaotic region, although this property may not often be observable. We also show numerical results indicating that the IM and LF schemes can fail to preserve KAM tori when the reversibility property (and the SDF property for LF) of the field is broken. We discuss extensions to measure preserving flows, the integration of magnetic field lines in a plasma and the integration of rays for several plasma waves. The main new result of this paper relates to non-uniform time stepping for volume-preserving flows. We investigate two potential schemes, both based on the general method of Ref. [11], in which the flow is integrated in split time steps, each Hamiltonian in two dimensions. The first scheme is an extension of the method of extended phase space, a well-proven method of symplectic integration with non-uniform time steps. This method is found not to work, and an explanation is given. The second method investigated is a method based on transformation to canonical variables for the two split-step Hamiltonian systems. This method, which is related to the method of non-canonical generating functions of Ref. [35], appears to work very well.« less

A two-step method for developing a control rod program for boiling water reactors

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

Taner, M.S.; Levine, S.H.; Hsiao, M.Y.

1992-01-01

This paper reports on a two-step method that is established for the generation of a long-term control rod program for boiling water reactors (BWRs). The new method assumes a time-variant target power distribution in core depletion. In the new method, the BWR control rod programming is divided into two steps. In step 1, a sequence of optimal, exposure-dependent Haling power distribution profiles is generated, utilizing the spectral shift concept. In step 2, a set of exposure-dependent control rod patterns is developed by using the Haling profiles generated at step 1 as a target. The new method is implemented in amore » computer program named OCTOPUS. The optimization procedure of OCTOPUS is based on the method of approximation programming, in which the SIMULATE-E code is used to determine the nucleonics characteristics of the reactor core state. In a test in cycle length over a time-invariant, target Haling power distribution case because of a moderate application of spectral shift. No thermal limits of the core were violated. The gain in cycle length could be increased further by broadening the extent of the spetral shift.« less

A point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems

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

Kadioglu, Samet Y.; Berry, Ray A.; Martineau, Richard C.

2015-05-01

We introduce a point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems. The method treats the solution variables of interest (that can be located at cell centers, cell edges, or cell nodes) implicitly and the rest of the information related to same or other variables are handled explicitly. The method does not require implicit iteration; instead it time advances the solutions in a similar spirit to explicit methods, except it involves a few additional function(s) evaluation steps. Moreover, the method is unconditionally stable, as a fully implicit method would be. This new approach exhibits the simplicity of implementation ofmore » explicit methods and the stability of implicit methods. It is specifically designed for slow transient flow problems of long duration wherein one would like to perform time integrations with very large time steps. Because the method can be time inaccurate for fast transient problems, particularly with larger time steps, an appropriate solution strategy for a problem that evolves from a fast to a slow transient would be to integrate the fast transient with an explicit or semi-implicit technique and then switch to this point implicit method as soon as the time variation slows sufficiently. We have solved several test problems that result from scalar or systems of flow equations. Our findings indicate the new method can integrate slow transient problems very efficiently; and its implementation is very robust.« less

The large discretization step method for time-dependent partial differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haras, Zigo; Taasan, Shlomo

1995-01-01

A new method for the acceleration of linear and nonlinear time dependent calculations is presented. It is based on the Large Discretization Step (LDS) approximation, defined in this work, which employs an extended system of low accuracy schemes to approximate a high accuracy discrete approximation to a time dependent differential operator. Error bounds on such approximations are derived. These approximations are efficiently implemented in the LDS methods for linear and nonlinear hyperbolic equations, presented here. In these algorithms the high and low accuracy schemes are interpreted as the same discretization of a time dependent operator on fine and coarse grids, respectively. Thus, a system of correction terms and corresponding equations are derived and solved on the coarse grid to yield the fine grid accuracy. These terms are initialized by visiting the fine grid once in many coarse grid time steps. The resulting methods are very general, simple to implement and may be used to accelerate many existing time marching schemes.

A Study on Human Oriented Autonomous Distributed Manufacturing System —Real-time Scheduling Method Based on Preference of Human Operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwamura, Koji; Kuwahara, Shinya; Tanimizu, Yoshitaka; Sugimura, Nobuhiro

Recently, new distributed architectures of manufacturing systems are proposed, aiming at realizing more flexible control structures of the manufacturing systems. Many researches have been carried out to deal with the distributed architectures for planning and control of the manufacturing systems. However, the human operators have not yet been discussed for the autonomous components of the distributed manufacturing systems. A real-time scheduling method is proposed, in this research, to select suitable combinations of the human operators, the resources and the jobs for the manufacturing processes. The proposed scheduling method consists of following three steps. In the first step, the human operators select their favorite manufacturing processes which they will carry out in the next time period, based on their preferences. In the second step, the machine tools and the jobs select suitable combinations for the next machining processes. In the third step, the automated guided vehicles and the jobs select suitable combinations for the next transportation processes. The second and third steps are carried out by using the utility value based method and the dispatching rule-based method proposed in the previous researches. Some case studies have been carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Particle behavior simulation in thermophoresis phenomena by direct simulation Monte Carlo method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wada, Takao

2014-07-01

A particle motion considering thermophoretic force is simulated by using direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Thermophoresis phenomena, which occur for a particle size of 1 μm, are treated in this paper. The problem of thermophoresis simulation is computation time which is proportional to the collision frequency. Note that the time step interval becomes much small for the simulation considering the motion of large size particle. Thermophoretic forces calculated by DSMC method were reported, but the particle motion was not computed because of the small time step interval. In this paper, the molecule-particle collision model, which computes the collision between a particle and multi molecules in a collision event, is considered. The momentum transfer to the particle is computed with a collision weight factor, where the collision weight factor means the number of molecules colliding with a particle in a collision event. The large time step interval is adopted by considering the collision weight factor. Furthermore, the large time step interval is about million times longer than the conventional time step interval of the DSMC method when a particle size is 1 μm. Therefore, the computation time becomes about one-millionth. We simulate the graphite particle motion considering thermophoretic force by DSMC-Neutrals (Particle-PLUS neutral module) with above the collision weight factor, where DSMC-Neutrals is commercial software adopting DSMC method. The size and the shape of the particle are 1 μm and a sphere, respectively. The particle-particle collision is ignored. We compute the thermophoretic forces in Ar and H2 gases of a pressure range from 0.1 to 100 mTorr. The results agree well with Gallis' analytical results. Note that Gallis' analytical result for continuum limit is the same as Waldmann's result.

Index Fund Selections with GAs and Classifications Based on Turnover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orito, Yukiko; Motoyama, Takaaki; Yamazaki, Genji

It is well known that index fund selections are important for the risk hedge of investment in a stock market. The`selection’means that for`stock index futures’, n companies of all ones in the market are selected. For index fund selections, Orito et al.(6) proposed a method consisting of the following two steps : Step 1 is to select N companies in the market with a heuristic rule based on the coefficient of determination between the return rate of each company in the market and the increasing rate of the stock price index. Step 2 is to construct a group of n companies by applying genetic algorithms to the set of N companies. We note that the rule of Step 1 is not unique. The accuracy of the results using their method depends on the length of time data (price data) in the experiments. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a more`effective rule’for Step 1. The rule is based on turnover. The method consisting of Step 1 based on turnover and Step 2 is examined with numerical experiments for the 1st Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange. The results show that with our method, it is possible to construct the more effective index fund than the results of Orito et al.(6). The accuracy of the results using our method depends little on the length of time data (turnover data). The method especially works well when the increasing rate of the stock price index over a period can be viewed as a linear time series data.

Multi-electrolyte-step anodic aluminum oxide method for the fabrication of self-organized nanochannel arrays

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Nanochannel arrays were fabricated by the self-organized multi-electrolyte-step anodic aluminum oxide [AAO] method in this study. The anodization conditions used in the multi-electrolyte-step AAO method included a phosphoric acid solution as the electrolyte and an applied high voltage. There was a change in the phosphoric acid by the oxalic acid solution as the electrolyte and the applied low voltage. This method was used to produce self-organized nanochannel arrays with good regularity and circularity, meaning less power loss and processing time than with the multi-step AAO method. PMID:22333268

A computational method for sharp interface advection.

PubMed

Roenby, Johan; Bredmose, Henrik; Jasak, Hrvoje

2016-11-01

We devise a numerical method for passive advection of a surface, such as the interface between two incompressible fluids, across a computational mesh. The method is called isoAdvector, and is developed for general meshes consisting of arbitrary polyhedral cells. The algorithm is based on the volume of fluid (VOF) idea of calculating the volume of one of the fluids transported across the mesh faces during a time step. The novelty of the isoAdvector concept consists of two parts. First, we exploit an isosurface concept for modelling the interface inside cells in a geometric surface reconstruction step. Second, from the reconstructed surface, we model the motion of the face-interface intersection line for a general polygonal face to obtain the time evolution within a time step of the submerged face area. Integrating this submerged area over the time step leads to an accurate estimate for the total volume of fluid transported across the face. The method was tested on simple two-dimensional and three-dimensional interface advection problems on both structured and unstructured meshes. The results are very satisfactory in terms of volume conservation, boundedness, surface sharpness and efficiency. The isoAdvector method was implemented as an OpenFOAM ® extension and is published as open source.

A novel method to accurately locate and count large numbers of steps by photobleaching.

PubMed

Tsekouras, Konstantinos; Custer, Thomas C; Jashnsaz, Hossein; Walter, Nils G; Pressé, Steve

2016-11-07

Photobleaching event counting is a single-molecule fluorescence technique that is increasingly being used to determine the stoichiometry of protein and RNA complexes composed of many subunits in vivo as well as in vitro. By tagging protein or RNA subunits with fluorophores, activating them, and subsequently observing as the fluorophores photobleach, one obtains information on the number of subunits in a complex. The noise properties in a photobleaching time trace depend on the number of active fluorescent subunits. Thus, as fluorophores stochastically photobleach, noise properties of the time trace change stochastically, and these varying noise properties have created a challenge in identifying photobleaching steps in a time trace. Although photobleaching steps are often detected by eye, this method only works for high individual fluorophore emission signal-to-noise ratios and small numbers of fluorophores. With filtering methods or currently available algorithms, it is possible to reliably identify photobleaching steps for up to 20-30 fluorophores and signal-to-noise ratios down to ∼1. Here we present a new Bayesian method of counting steps in photobleaching time traces that takes into account stochastic noise variation in addition to complications such as overlapping photobleaching events that may arise from fluorophore interactions, as well as on-off blinking. Our method is capable of detecting ≥50 photobleaching steps even for signal-to-noise ratios as low as 0.1, can find up to ≥500 steps for more favorable noise profiles, and is computationally inexpensive. © 2016 Tsekouras et al. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

An accelerated hologram calculation using the wavefront recording plane method and wavelet transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arai, Daisuke; Shimobaba, Tomoyoshi; Nishitsuji, Takashi; Kakue, Takashi; Masuda, Nobuyuki; Ito, Tomoyoshi

2017-06-01

Fast hologram calculation methods are critical in real-time holography applications such as three-dimensional (3D) displays. We recently proposed a wavelet transform-based hologram calculation called WASABI. Even though WASABI can decrease the calculation time of a hologram from a point cloud, it increases the calculation time with increasing propagation distance. We also proposed a wavefront recoding plane (WRP) method. This is a two-step fast hologram calculation in which the first step calculates the superposition of light waves emitted from a point cloud in a virtual plane, and the second step performs a diffraction calculation from the virtual plane to the hologram plane. A drawback of the WRP method is in the first step when the point cloud has a large number of object points and/or a long distribution in the depth direction. In this paper, we propose a method combining WASABI and the WRP method in which the drawbacks of each can be complementarily solved. Using a consumer CPU, the proposed method succeeded in performing a hologram calculation with 2048 × 2048 pixels from a 3D object with one million points in approximately 0.4 s.

Analysis of 3D poroelastodynamics using BEM based on modified time-step scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Igumnov, L. A.; Petrov, A. N.; Vorobtsov, I. V.

2017-10-01

The development of 3d boundary elements modeling of dynamic partially saturated poroelastic media using a stepping scheme is presented in this paper. Boundary Element Method (BEM) in Laplace domain and the time-stepping scheme for numerical inversion of the Laplace transform are used to solve the boundary value problem. The modified stepping scheme with a varied integration step for quadrature coefficients calculation using the symmetry of the integrand function and integral formulas of Strongly Oscillating Functions was applied. The problem with force acting on a poroelastic prismatic console end was solved using the developed method. A comparison of the results obtained by the traditional stepping scheme with the solutions obtained by this modified scheme shows that the computational efficiency is better with usage of combined formulas.

Development and Implementation of a Transport Method for the Transport and Reaction Simulation Engine (TaRSE) based on the Godunov-Mixed Finite Element Method

USGS Publications Warehouse

James, Andrew I.; Jawitz, James W.; Munoz-Carpena, Rafael

2009-01-01

A model to simulate transport of materials in surface water and ground water has been developed to numerically approximate solutions to the advection-dispersion equation. This model, known as the Transport and Reaction Simulation Engine (TaRSE), uses an algorithm that incorporates a time-splitting technique where the advective part of the equation is solved separately from the dispersive part. An explicit finite-volume Godunov method is used to approximate the advective part, while a mixed-finite element technique is used to approximate the dispersive part. The dispersive part uses an implicit discretization, which allows it to run stably with a larger time step than the explicit advective step. The potential exists to develop algorithms that run several advective steps, and then one dispersive step that encompasses the time interval of the advective steps. Because the dispersive step is computationally most expensive, schemes can be implemented that are more computationally efficient than non-time-split algorithms. This technique enables scientists to solve problems with high grid Peclet numbers, such as transport problems with sharp solute fronts, without spurious oscillations in the numerical approximation to the solution and with virtually no artificial diffusion.

A parallelization method for time periodic steady state in simulation of radio frequency sheath dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Deuk-Chul; Shin, Sung-Sik; Yu, Dong-Hun

2017-10-01

In order to reduce the computing time in simulation of radio frequency (rf) plasma sources, various numerical schemes were developed. It is well known that the upwind, exponential, and power-law schemes can efficiently overcome the limitation on the grid size for fluid transport simulations of high density plasma discharges. Also, the semi-implicit method is a well-known numerical scheme to overcome on the simulation time step. However, despite remarkable advances in numerical techniques and computing power over the last few decades, efficient multi-dimensional modeling of low temperature plasma discharges has remained a considerable challenge. In particular, there was a difficulty on parallelization in time for the time periodic steady state problems such as capacitively coupled plasma discharges and rf sheath dynamics because values of plasma parameters in previous time step are used to calculate new values each time step. Therefore, we present a parallelization method for the time periodic steady state problems by using period-slices. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the developed method, one-dimensional fluid simulations are conducted for describing rf sheath dynamics. The result shows that speedup can be achieved by using a multithreading method.

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics: Applications Within DSTO

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-01

Most SPH codes use either an improved Euler method (a mid-point predictor - corrector method) [50] or a leapfrog predictor - corrector algorithm for...in the next section we used the predictor - corrector leapfrog algorithm for time stepping. If we write the set of equations describing the change in... predictor - corrector or leapfrog method is used when solving the equations. Monaghan has also noted [53] that, with a correctly chosen time step, total

A WENO-Limited, ADER-DT, Finite-Volume Scheme for Efficient, Robust, and Communication-Avoiding Multi-Dimensional Transport

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

Norman, Matthew R

2014-01-01

The novel ADER-DT time discretization is applied to two-dimensional transport in a quadrature-free, WENO- and FCT-limited, Finite-Volume context. Emphasis is placed on (1) the serial and parallel computational properties of ADER-DT and this framework and (2) the flexibility of ADER-DT and this framework in efficiently balancing accuracy with other constraints important to transport applications. This study demonstrates a range of choices for the user when approaching their specific application while maintaining good parallel properties. In this method, genuine multi-dimensionality, single-step and single-stage time stepping, strict positivity, and a flexible range of limiting are all achieved with only one parallel synchronizationmore » and data exchange per time step. In terms of parallel data transfers per simulated time interval, this improves upon multi-stage time stepping and post-hoc filtering techniques such as hyperdiffusion. This method is evaluated with standard transport test cases over a range of limiting options to demonstrate quantitatively and qualitatively what a user should expect when employing this method in their application.« less

The stepping behavior analysis of pedestrians from different age groups via a single-file experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Shuchao; Zhang, Jun; Song, Weiguo; Shi, Chang'an; Zhang, Ruifang

2018-03-01

The stepping behavior of pedestrians with different age compositions in single-file experiment is investigated in this paper. The relation between step length, step width and stepping time are analyzed by using the step measurement method based on the calculation of curvature of the trajectory. The relations of velocity-step width, velocity-step length and velocity-stepping time for different age groups are discussed and compared with previous studies. Finally effects of pedestrian gender and height on stepping laws and fundamental diagrams are analyzed. The study is helpful for understanding pedestrian dynamics of movement. Meanwhile, it offers experimental data to develop a microscopic model of pedestrian movement by considering stepping behavior.

Fortran programs for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation in a fully anisotropic trap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muruganandam, P.; Adhikari, S. K.

2009-10-01

Here we develop simple numerical algorithms for both stationary and non-stationary solutions of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation describing the properties of Bose-Einstein condensates at ultra low temperatures. In particular, we consider algorithms involving real- and imaginary-time propagation based on a split-step Crank-Nicolson method. In a one-space-variable form of the GP equation we consider the one-dimensional, two-dimensional circularly-symmetric, and the three-dimensional spherically-symmetric harmonic-oscillator traps. In the two-space-variable form we consider the GP equation in two-dimensional anisotropic and three-dimensional axially-symmetric traps. The fully-anisotropic three-dimensional GP equation is also considered. Numerical results for the chemical potential and root-mean-square size of stationary states are reported using imaginary-time propagation programs for all the cases and compared with previously obtained results. Also presented are numerical results of non-stationary oscillation for different trap symmetries using real-time propagation programs. A set of convenient working codes developed in Fortran 77 are also provided for all these cases (twelve programs in all). In the case of two or three space variables, Fortran 90/95 versions provide some simplification over the Fortran 77 programs, and these programs are also included (six programs in all). Program summaryProgram title: (i) imagetime1d, (ii) imagetime2d, (iii) imagetime3d, (iv) imagetimecir, (v) imagetimesph, (vi) imagetimeaxial, (vii) realtime1d, (viii) realtime2d, (ix) realtime3d, (x) realtimecir, (xi) realtimesph, (xii) realtimeaxial Catalogue identifier: AEDU_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEDU_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 122 907 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 609 662 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: FORTRAN 77 and Fortran 90/95 Computer: PC Operating system: Linux, Unix RAM: 1 GByte (i, iv, v), 2 GByte (ii, vi, vii, x, xi), 4 GByte (iii, viii, xii), 8 GByte (ix) Classification: 2.9, 4.3, 4.12 Nature of problem: These programs are designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in one-, two- or three-space dimensions with a harmonic, circularly-symmetric, spherically-symmetric, axially-symmetric or anisotropic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Solution method: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation, in either imaginary or real time, over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and/or non-stationary problems. Additional comments: This package consists of 12 programs, see "Program title", above. FORTRAN77 versions are provided for each of the 12 and, in addition, Fortran 90/95 versions are included for ii, iii, vi, viii, ix, xii. For the particular purpose of each program please see the below. Running time: Minutes on a medium PC (i, iv, v, vii, x, xi), a few hours on a medium PC (ii, vi, viii, xii), days on a medium PC (iii, ix). Program summary (1)Title of program: imagtime1d.F Title of electronic file: imagtime1d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 1 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in one-space dimension with a harmonic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (2)Title of program: imagtimecir.F Title of electronic file: imagtimecir.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 1 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in two-space dimensions with a circularly-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (3)Title of program: imagtimesph.F Title of electronic file: imagtimesph.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 1 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with a spherically-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (4)Title of program: realtime1d.F Title of electronic file: realtime1d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 2 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in one-space dimension with a harmonic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems. Program summary (5)Title of program: realtimecir.F Title of electronic file: realtimecir.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 2 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in two-space dimensions with a circularly-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems. Program summary (6)Title of program: realtimesph.F Title of electronic file: realtimesph.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 2 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 Typical running time: Minutes on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with a spherically-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems. Program summary (7)Title of programs: imagtimeaxial.F and imagtimeaxial.f90 Title of electronic file: imagtimeaxial.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 2 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time: Few hours on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with an axially-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (8)Title of program: imagtime2d.F and imagtime2d.f90 Title of electronic file: imagtime2d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 2 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time: Few hours on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in two-space dimensions with an anisotropic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (9)Title of program: realtimeaxial.F and realtimeaxial.f90 Title of electronic file: realtimeaxial.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 4 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time Hours on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with an axially-symmetric trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems. Program summary (10)Title of program: realtime2d.F and realtime2d.f90 Title of electronic file: realtime2d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 4 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time: Hours on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in two-space dimensions with an anisotropic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems. Program summary (11)Title of program: imagtime3d.F and imagtime3d.f90 Title of electronic file: imagtime3d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum RAM memory: 4 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time: Few days on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with an anisotropic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in imaginary time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary problems. Program summary (12)Title of program: realtime3d.F and realtime3d.f90 Title of electronic file: realtime3d.tar.gz Catalogue identifier: Program summary URL: Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Distribution format: tar.gz Computers: PC/Linux, workstation/UNIX Maximum Ram Memory: 8 GByte Programming language used: Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 Typical running time: Days on a medium PC Unusual features: None Nature of physical problem: This program is designed to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear partial differential equation in three-space dimensions with an anisotropic trap. The Gross-Pitaevskii equation describes the properties of a dilute trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Method of solution: The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is solved by the split-step Crank-Nicolson method by discretizing in space and time. The discretized equation is then solved by propagation in real time over small time steps. The method yields the solution of stationary and non-stationary problems.

Reconstructing Genetic Regulatory Networks Using Two-Step Algorithms with the Differential Equation Models of Neural Networks.

PubMed

Chen, Chi-Kan

2017-07-26

The identification of genetic regulatory networks (GRNs) provides insights into complex cellular processes. A class of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) captures the dynamics of GRN. Algorithms combining the RNN and machine learning schemes were proposed to reconstruct small-scale GRNs using gene expression time series. We present new GRN reconstruction methods with neural networks. The RNN is extended to a class of recurrent multilayer perceptrons (RMLPs) with latent nodes. Our methods contain two steps: the edge rank assignment step and the network construction step. The former assigns ranks to all possible edges by a recursive procedure based on the estimated weights of wires of RNN/RMLP (RE RNN /RE RMLP ), and the latter constructs a network consisting of top-ranked edges under which the optimized RNN simulates the gene expression time series. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to optimize the parameters of RNNs and RMLPs in a two-step algorithm. The proposed RE RNN -RNN and RE RMLP -RNN algorithms are tested on synthetic and experimental gene expression time series of small GRNs of about 10 genes. The experimental time series are from the studies of yeast cell cycle regulated genes and E. coli DNA repair genes. The unstable estimation of RNN using experimental time series having limited data points can lead to fairly arbitrary predicted GRNs. Our methods incorporate RNN and RMLP into a two-step structure learning procedure. Results show that the RE RMLP using the RMLP with a suitable number of latent nodes to reduce the parameter dimension often result in more accurate edge ranks than the RE RNN using the regularized RNN on short simulated time series. Combining by a weighted majority voting rule the networks derived by the RE RMLP -RNN using different numbers of latent nodes in step one to infer the GRN, the method performs consistently and outperforms published algorithms for GRN reconstruction on most benchmark time series. The framework of two-step algorithms can potentially incorporate with different nonlinear differential equation models to reconstruct the GRN.

Method and allocation device for allocating pending requests for data packet transmission at a number of inputs to a number of outputs of a packet switching device in successive time slots

DOEpatents

Abel, Francois [Rueschlikon, CH; Iliadis, Ilias [Rueschlikon, CH; Minkenberg, Cyriel J. A. [Adliswil, CH

2009-02-03

A method for allocating pending requests for data packet transmission at a number of inputs to a number of outputs of a switching system in successive time slots, including a matching method including the steps of providing a first request information in a first time slot indicating data packets at the inputs requesting transmission to the outputs of the switching system, performing a first step in the first time slot depending on the first request information to obtain a first matching information, providing a last request information in a last time slot successive to the first time slot, performing a last step in the last time slot depending on the last request information and depending on the first matching information to obtain a final matching information, and assigning the pending data packets at the number of inputs to the number of outputs based on the final matching information.

Time-asymptotic solutions of the Navier-Stokes equation for free shear flows using an alternating-direction implicit method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rudy, D. H.; Morris, D. J.

1976-01-01

An uncoupled time asymptotic alternating direction implicit method for solving the Navier-Stokes equations was tested on two laminar parallel mixing flows. A constant total temperature was assumed in order to eliminate the need to solve the full energy equation; consequently, static temperature was evaluated by using algebraic relationship. For the mixing of two supersonic streams at a Reynolds number of 1,000, convergent solutions were obtained for a time step 5 times the maximum allowable size for an explicit method. The solution diverged for a time step 10 times the explicit limit. Improved convergence was obtained when upwind differencing was used for convective terms. Larger time steps were not possible with either upwind differencing or the diagonally dominant scheme. Artificial viscosity was added to the continuity equation in order to eliminate divergence for the mixing of a subsonic stream with a supersonic stream at a Reynolds number of 1,000.

Time-Accurate Local Time Stepping and High-Order Time CESE Methods for Multi-Dimensional Flows Using Unstructured Meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Chau-Lyan; Venkatachari, Balaji Shankar; Cheng, Gary

2013-01-01

With the wide availability of affordable multiple-core parallel supercomputers, next generation numerical simulations of flow physics are being focused on unsteady computations for problems involving multiple time scales and multiple physics. These simulations require higher solution accuracy than most algorithms and computational fluid dynamics codes currently available. This paper focuses on the developmental effort for high-fidelity multi-dimensional, unstructured-mesh flow solvers using the space-time conservation element, solution element (CESE) framework. Two approaches have been investigated in this research in order to provide high-accuracy, cross-cutting numerical simulations for a variety of flow regimes: 1) time-accurate local time stepping and 2) highorder CESE method. The first approach utilizes consistent numerical formulations in the space-time flux integration to preserve temporal conservation across the cells with different marching time steps. Such approach relieves the stringent time step constraint associated with the smallest time step in the computational domain while preserving temporal accuracy for all the cells. For flows involving multiple scales, both numerical accuracy and efficiency can be significantly enhanced. The second approach extends the current CESE solver to higher-order accuracy. Unlike other existing explicit high-order methods for unstructured meshes, the CESE framework maintains a CFL condition of one for arbitrarily high-order formulations while retaining the same compact stencil as its second-order counterpart. For large-scale unsteady computations, this feature substantially enhances numerical efficiency. Numerical formulations and validations using benchmark problems are discussed in this paper along with realistic examples.

Adaptive Implicit Non-Equilibrium Radiation Diffusion

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

Philip, Bobby; Wang, Zhen; Berrill, Mark A

2013-01-01

We describe methods for accurate and efficient long term time integra- tion of non-equilibrium radiation diffusion systems: implicit time integration for effi- cient long term time integration of stiff multiphysics systems, local control theory based step size control to minimize the required global number of time steps while control- ling accuracy, dynamic 3D adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to minimize memory and computational costs, Jacobian Free Newton-Krylov methods on AMR grids for efficient nonlinear solution, and optimal multilevel preconditioner components that provide level independent solver convergence.

Method and apparatus for measuring response time

DOEpatents

Johanson, Edward W.; August, Charles

1985-01-01

A method of measuring the response time of an electrical instrument which generates an output signal in response to the application of a specified input, wherein the output signal varies as a function of time and when subjected to a step input approaches a steady-state value, comprises the steps of: (a) applying a step input of predetermined value to the electrical instrument to generate an output signal; (b) simultaneously starting a timer; (c) comparing the output signal to a reference signal to generate a stop signal when the output signal is substantially equal to the reference signal, the reference signal being a specified percentage of the steady-state value of the output signal corresponding to the predetermined value of the step input; and (d) applying the stop signal when generated to stop the timer.

Method and apparatus for measuring response time

DOEpatents

Johanson, E.W.; August, C.

1983-08-11

A method of measuring the response time of an electrical instrument which generates an output signal in response to the application of a specified input, wherein the output signal varies as a function of time and when subjected to a step input approaches a steady-state value, comprises the steps of: (a) applying a step input of predetermined value to the electrical instrument to generate an output signal; (b) simultaneously starting a timer; (c) comparing the output signal to a reference signal to generate a stop signal when the output signal is substantially equal to the reference signal, the reference signal being a specified percentage of the steady-state value of the output signal corresponding to the predetermined value of the step input; and (d) applying the stop signal when generated to stop the timer.

Model Predictive Control-based gait pattern generation for wearable exoskeletons.

PubMed

Wang, Letian; van Asseldonk, Edwin H F; van der Kooij, Herman

2011-01-01

This paper introduces a new method for controlling wearable exoskeletons that do not need predefined joint trajectories. Instead, it only needs basic gait descriptors such as step length, swing duration, and walking speed. End point Model Predictive Control (MPC) is used to generate the online joint trajectories based on these gait parameters. Real-time ability and control performance of the method during the swing phase of gait cycle is studied in this paper. Experiments are performed by helping a human subject swing his leg with different patterns in the LOPES gait trainer. Results show that the method is able to assist subjects to make steps with different step length and step duration without predefined joint trajectories and is fast enough for real-time implementation. Future study of the method will focus on controlling the exoskeletons in the entire gait cycle. © 2011 IEEE

On the stability of projection methods for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations based on high-order discontinuous Galerkin discretizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fehn, Niklas; Wall, Wolfgang A.; Kronbichler, Martin

2017-12-01

The present paper deals with the numerical solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations using high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods for discretization in space. For DG methods applied to the dual splitting projection method, instabilities have recently been reported that occur for small time step sizes. Since the critical time step size depends on the viscosity and the spatial resolution, these instabilities limit the robustness of the Navier-Stokes solver in case of complex engineering applications characterized by coarse spatial resolutions and small viscosities. By means of numerical investigation we give evidence that these instabilities are related to the discontinuous Galerkin formulation of the velocity divergence term and the pressure gradient term that couple velocity and pressure. Integration by parts of these terms with a suitable definition of boundary conditions is required in order to obtain a stable and robust method. Since the intermediate velocity field does not fulfill the boundary conditions prescribed for the velocity, a consistent boundary condition is derived from the convective step of the dual splitting scheme to ensure high-order accuracy with respect to the temporal discretization. This new formulation is stable in the limit of small time steps for both equal-order and mixed-order polynomial approximations. Although the dual splitting scheme itself includes inf-sup stabilizing contributions, we demonstrate that spurious pressure oscillations appear for equal-order polynomials and small time steps highlighting the necessity to consider inf-sup stability explicitly.

A computational method for sharp interface advection

PubMed Central

Bredmose, Henrik; Jasak, Hrvoje

2016-01-01

We devise a numerical method for passive advection of a surface, such as the interface between two incompressible fluids, across a computational mesh. The method is called isoAdvector, and is developed for general meshes consisting of arbitrary polyhedral cells. The algorithm is based on the volume of fluid (VOF) idea of calculating the volume of one of the fluids transported across the mesh faces during a time step. The novelty of the isoAdvector concept consists of two parts. First, we exploit an isosurface concept for modelling the interface inside cells in a geometric surface reconstruction step. Second, from the reconstructed surface, we model the motion of the face–interface intersection line for a general polygonal face to obtain the time evolution within a time step of the submerged face area. Integrating this submerged area over the time step leads to an accurate estimate for the total volume of fluid transported across the face. The method was tested on simple two-dimensional and three-dimensional interface advection problems on both structured and unstructured meshes. The results are very satisfactory in terms of volume conservation, boundedness, surface sharpness and efficiency. The isoAdvector method was implemented as an OpenFOAM® extension and is published as open source. PMID:28018619

Constant pressure and temperature discrete-time Langevin molecular dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grønbech-Jensen, Niels; Farago, Oded

2014-11-01

We present a new and improved method for simultaneous control of temperature and pressure in molecular dynamics simulations with periodic boundary conditions. The thermostat-barostat equations are built on our previously developed stochastic thermostat, which has been shown to provide correct statistical configurational sampling for any time step that yields stable trajectories. Here, we extend the method and develop a set of discrete-time equations of motion for both particle dynamics and system volume in order to seek pressure control that is insensitive to the choice of the numerical time step. The resulting method is simple, practical, and efficient. The method is demonstrated through direct numerical simulations of two characteristic model systems—a one-dimensional particle chain for which exact statistical results can be obtained and used as benchmarks, and a three-dimensional system of Lennard-Jones interacting particles simulated in both solid and liquid phases. The results, which are compared against the method of Kolb and Dünweg [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 4453 (1999)], show that the new method behaves according to the objective, namely that acquired statistical averages and fluctuations of configurational measures are accurate and robust against the chosen time step applied to the simulation.

Rational reduction of periodic propagators for off-period observations.

PubMed

Blanton, Wyndham B; Logan, John W; Pines, Alexander

2004-02-01

Many common solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance problems take advantage of the periodicity of the underlying Hamiltonian to simplify the computation of an observation. Most of the time-domain methods used, however, require the time step between observations to be some integer or reciprocal-integer multiple of the period, thereby restricting the observation bandwidth. Calculations of off-period observations are usually reduced to brute force direct methods resulting in many demanding matrix multiplications. For large spin systems, the matrix multiplication becomes the limiting step. A simple method that can dramatically reduce the number of matrix multiplications required to calculate the time evolution when the observation time step is some rational fraction of the period of the Hamiltonian is presented. The algorithm implements two different optimization routines. One uses pattern matching and additional memory storage, while the other recursively generates the propagators via time shifting. The net result is a significant speed improvement for some types of time-domain calculations.

Issues in measure-preserving three dimensional flow integrators: Self-adjointness, reversibility, and non-uniform time stepping

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

Finn, John M., E-mail: finn@lanl.gov

2015-03-15

Properties of integration schemes for solenoidal fields in three dimensions are studied, with a focus on integrating magnetic field lines in a plasma using adaptive time stepping. It is shown that implicit midpoint (IM) and a scheme we call three-dimensional leapfrog (LF) can do a good job (in the sense of preserving KAM tori) of integrating fields that are reversible, or (for LF) have a “special divergence-free” (SDF) property. We review the notion of a self-adjoint scheme, showing that such schemes are at least second order accurate and can always be formed by composing an arbitrary scheme with its adjoint.more » We also review the concept of reversibility, showing that a reversible but not exactly volume-preserving scheme can lead to a fractal invariant measure in a chaotic region, although this property may not often be observable. We also show numerical results indicating that the IM and LF schemes can fail to preserve KAM tori when the reversibility property (and the SDF property for LF) of the field is broken. We discuss extensions to measure preserving flows, the integration of magnetic field lines in a plasma and the integration of rays for several plasma waves. The main new result of this paper relates to non-uniform time stepping for volume-preserving flows. We investigate two potential schemes, both based on the general method of Feng and Shang [Numer. Math. 71, 451 (1995)], in which the flow is integrated in split time steps, each Hamiltonian in two dimensions. The first scheme is an extension of the method of extended phase space, a well-proven method of symplectic integration with non-uniform time steps. This method is found not to work, and an explanation is given. The second method investigated is a method based on transformation to canonical variables for the two split-step Hamiltonian systems. This method, which is related to the method of non-canonical generating functions of Richardson and Finn [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 54, 014004 (2012)], appears to work very well.« less

Step-height measurement with a low coherence interferometer using continuous wavelet transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Zhang; Suzuki, Takamasa; Choi, Samuel; Sasaki, Osami

2013-12-01

With the development of electronic technology in recent years, electronic components become increasingly miniaturized. At the same time a more accurate measurement method becomes indispensable. In the current measurement of nano-level, the Michelson interferometer with the laser diode is widely used, the method can measure the object accurately without touching the object. However it can't measure the step height that is larger than the half-wavelength. In this study, we improve the conventional Michelson interferometer by using a super luminescent diode and continuous wavelet transform, which can detect the time that maximizes the amplitude of the interference signal. We can accurately measure the surface-position of the object with this time. The method used in this experiment measured the step height of 20 microns.

Measurement of intrahepatic pressure during radiofrequency ablation in porcine liver.

PubMed

Kawamoto, Chiaki; Yamauchi, Atsushi; Baba, Yoko; Kaneko, Keiko; Yakabi, Koji

2010-04-01

To identify the most effective procedures to avoid increased intrahepatic pressure during radiofrequency ablation, we evaluated different ablation methods. Laparotomy was performed in 19 pigs. Intrahepatic pressure was monitored using an invasive blood pressure monitor. Radiofrequency ablation was performed as follows: single-step standard ablation; single-step at 30 W; single-step at 70 W; 4-step at 30 W; 8-step at 30 W; 8-step at 70 W; and cooled-tip. The array was fully deployed in single-step methods. In the multi-step methods, the array was gradually deployed in four or eight steps. With the cooled-tip, ablation was performed by increasing output by 10 W/min, starting at 40 W. Intrahepatic pressure was as follows: single-step standard ablation, 154.5 +/- 30.9 mmHg; single-step at 30 W, 34.2 +/- 20.0 mmHg; single-step at 70 W, 46.7 +/- 24.3 mmHg; 4-step at 30 W, 42.3 +/- 17.9 mmHg; 8-step at 30 W, 24.1 +/- 18.2 mmHg; 8-step at 70 W, 47.5 +/- 31.5 mmHg; and cooled-tip, 114.5 +/- 16.6 mmHg. The radiofrequency ablation-induced area was spherical with single-step standard ablation, 4-step at 30 W, and 8-step at 30 W. Conversely, the ablated area was irregular with single-step at 30 W, single-step at 70 W, and 8-step at 70 W. The ablation time was significantly shorter for the multi-step method than for the single-step method. Increased intrahepatic pressure could be controlled using multi-step methods. From the shapes of the ablation area, 30-W 8-step expansions appear to be most suitable for radiofrequency ablation.

A particle-in-cell method for the simulation of plasmas based on an unconditionally stable field solver

DOE PAGES

Wolf, Eric M.; Causley, Matthew; Christlieb, Andrew; ...

2016-08-09

Here, we propose a new particle-in-cell (PIC) method for the simulation of plasmas based on a recently developed, unconditionally stable solver for the wave equation. This method is not subject to a CFL restriction, limiting the ratio of the time step size to the spatial step size, typical of explicit methods, while maintaining computational cost and code complexity comparable to such explicit schemes. We describe the implementation in one and two dimensions for both electrostatic and electromagnetic cases, and present the results of several standard test problems, showing good agreement with theory with time step sizes much larger than allowedmore » by typical CFL restrictions.« less

Implicit–explicit (IMEX) Runge–Kutta methods for non-hydrostatic atmospheric models

DOE PAGES

Gardner, David J.; Guerra, Jorge E.; Hamon, François P.; ...

2018-04-17

The efficient simulation of non-hydrostatic atmospheric dynamics requires time integration methods capable of overcoming the explicit stability constraints on time step size arising from acoustic waves. In this work, we investigate various implicit–explicit (IMEX) additive Runge–Kutta (ARK) methods for evolving acoustic waves implicitly to enable larger time step sizes in a global non-hydrostatic atmospheric model. The IMEX formulations considered include horizontally explicit – vertically implicit (HEVI) approaches as well as splittings that treat some horizontal dynamics implicitly. In each case, the impact of solving nonlinear systems in each implicit ARK stage in a linearly implicit fashion is also explored.The accuracymore » and efficiency of the IMEX splittings, ARK methods, and solver options are evaluated on a gravity wave and baroclinic wave test case. HEVI splittings that treat some vertical dynamics explicitly do not show a benefit in solution quality or run time over the most implicit HEVI formulation. While splittings that implicitly evolve some horizontal dynamics increase the maximum stable step size of a method, the gains are insufficient to overcome the additional cost of solving a globally coupled system. Solving implicit stage systems in a linearly implicit manner limits the solver cost but this is offset by a reduction in step size to achieve the desired accuracy for some methods. Overall, the third-order ARS343 and ARK324 methods performed the best, followed by the second-order ARS232 and ARK232 methods.« less

Implicit-explicit (IMEX) Runge-Kutta methods for non-hydrostatic atmospheric models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, David J.; Guerra, Jorge E.; Hamon, François P.; Reynolds, Daniel R.; Ullrich, Paul A.; Woodward, Carol S.

2018-04-01

The efficient simulation of non-hydrostatic atmospheric dynamics requires time integration methods capable of overcoming the explicit stability constraints on time step size arising from acoustic waves. In this work, we investigate various implicit-explicit (IMEX) additive Runge-Kutta (ARK) methods for evolving acoustic waves implicitly to enable larger time step sizes in a global non-hydrostatic atmospheric model. The IMEX formulations considered include horizontally explicit - vertically implicit (HEVI) approaches as well as splittings that treat some horizontal dynamics implicitly. In each case, the impact of solving nonlinear systems in each implicit ARK stage in a linearly implicit fashion is also explored. The accuracy and efficiency of the IMEX splittings, ARK methods, and solver options are evaluated on a gravity wave and baroclinic wave test case. HEVI splittings that treat some vertical dynamics explicitly do not show a benefit in solution quality or run time over the most implicit HEVI formulation. While splittings that implicitly evolve some horizontal dynamics increase the maximum stable step size of a method, the gains are insufficient to overcome the additional cost of solving a globally coupled system. Solving implicit stage systems in a linearly implicit manner limits the solver cost but this is offset by a reduction in step size to achieve the desired accuracy for some methods. Overall, the third-order ARS343 and ARK324 methods performed the best, followed by the second-order ARS232 and ARK232 methods.

Implicit–explicit (IMEX) Runge–Kutta methods for non-hydrostatic atmospheric models

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

Gardner, David J.; Guerra, Jorge E.; Hamon, François P.

The efficient simulation of non-hydrostatic atmospheric dynamics requires time integration methods capable of overcoming the explicit stability constraints on time step size arising from acoustic waves. In this work, we investigate various implicit–explicit (IMEX) additive Runge–Kutta (ARK) methods for evolving acoustic waves implicitly to enable larger time step sizes in a global non-hydrostatic atmospheric model. The IMEX formulations considered include horizontally explicit – vertically implicit (HEVI) approaches as well as splittings that treat some horizontal dynamics implicitly. In each case, the impact of solving nonlinear systems in each implicit ARK stage in a linearly implicit fashion is also explored.The accuracymore » and efficiency of the IMEX splittings, ARK methods, and solver options are evaluated on a gravity wave and baroclinic wave test case. HEVI splittings that treat some vertical dynamics explicitly do not show a benefit in solution quality or run time over the most implicit HEVI formulation. While splittings that implicitly evolve some horizontal dynamics increase the maximum stable step size of a method, the gains are insufficient to overcome the additional cost of solving a globally coupled system. Solving implicit stage systems in a linearly implicit manner limits the solver cost but this is offset by a reduction in step size to achieve the desired accuracy for some methods. Overall, the third-order ARS343 and ARK324 methods performed the best, followed by the second-order ARS232 and ARK232 methods.« less

Computational plasticity algorithm for particle dynamics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krabbenhoft, K.; Lyamin, A. V.; Vignes, C.

2018-01-01

The problem of particle dynamics simulation is interpreted in the framework of computational plasticity leading to an algorithm which is mathematically indistinguishable from the common implicit scheme widely used in the finite element analysis of elastoplastic boundary value problems. This algorithm provides somewhat of a unification of two particle methods, the discrete element method and the contact dynamics method, which usually are thought of as being quite disparate. In particular, it is shown that the former appears as the special case where the time stepping is explicit while the use of implicit time stepping leads to the kind of schemes usually labelled contact dynamics methods. The framing of particle dynamics simulation within computational plasticity paves the way for new approaches similar (or identical) to those frequently employed in nonlinear finite element analysis. These include mixed implicit-explicit time stepping, dynamic relaxation and domain decomposition schemes.

Improvement of CFD Methods for Modeling Full Scale Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, Srujal; Klajny, Marcin; Myöhänen, Kari; Hyppänen, Timo

With the currently available methods of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the task of simulating full scale circulating fluidized bed combustors is very challenging. In order to simulate the complex fluidization process, the size of calculation cells should be small and the calculation should be transient with small time step size. For full scale systems, these requirements lead to very large meshes and very long calculation times, so that the simulation in practice is difficult. This study investigates the requirements of cell size and the time step size for accurate simulations, and the filtering effects caused by coarser mesh and longer time step. A modeling study of a full scale CFB furnace is presented and the model results are compared with experimental data.

Determining postural stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forth, Katharine E. (Inventor); Paloski, William H. (Inventor); Lieberman, Erez (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A method for determining postural stability of a person can include acquiring a plurality of pressure data points over a period of time from at least one pressure sensor. The method can also include the step of identifying a postural state for each pressure data point to generate a plurality of postural states. The method can include the step of determining a postural state of the person at a point in time based on at least the plurality of postural states.

General methods for analysis of sequential "n-step" kinetic mechanisms: application to single turnover kinetics of helicase-catalyzed DNA unwinding.

PubMed

Lucius, Aaron L; Maluf, Nasib K; Fischer, Christopher J; Lohman, Timothy M

2003-10-01

Helicase-catalyzed DNA unwinding is often studied using "all or none" assays that detect only the final product of fully unwound DNA. Even using these assays, quantitative analysis of DNA unwinding time courses for DNA duplexes of different lengths, L, using "n-step" sequential mechanisms, can reveal information about the number of intermediates in the unwinding reaction and the "kinetic step size", m, defined as the average number of basepairs unwound between two successive rate limiting steps in the unwinding cycle. Simultaneous nonlinear least-squares analysis using "n-step" sequential mechanisms has previously been limited by an inability to float the number of "unwinding steps", n, and m, in the fitting algorithm. Here we discuss the behavior of single turnover DNA unwinding time courses and describe novel methods for nonlinear least-squares analysis that overcome these problems. Analytic expressions for the time courses, f(ss)(t), when obtainable, can be written using gamma and incomplete gamma functions. When analytic expressions are not obtainable, the numerical solution of the inverse Laplace transform can be used to obtain f(ss)(t). Both methods allow n and m to be continuous fitting parameters. These approaches are generally applicable to enzymes that translocate along a lattice or require repetition of a series of steps before product formation.

Nonlinearly preconditioned semismooth Newton methods for variational inequality solution of two-phase flow in porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Haijian; Sun, Shuyu; Yang, Chao

2017-03-01

Most existing methods for solving two-phase flow problems in porous media do not take the physically feasible saturation fractions between 0 and 1 into account, which often destroys the numerical accuracy and physical interpretability of the simulation. To calculate the solution without the loss of this basic requirement, we introduce a variational inequality formulation of the saturation equilibrium with a box inequality constraint, and use a conservative finite element method for the spatial discretization and a backward differentiation formula with adaptive time stepping for the temporal integration. The resulting variational inequality system at each time step is solved by using a semismooth Newton algorithm. To accelerate the Newton convergence and improve the robustness, we employ a family of adaptive nonlinear elimination methods as a nonlinear preconditioner. Some numerical results are presented to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. A comparison is also included to show the superiority of the proposed fully implicit approach over the classical IMplicit Pressure-Explicit Saturation (IMPES) method in terms of the time step size and the total execution time measured on a parallel computer.

An in-depth stability analysis of nonuniform FDTD combined with novel local implicitization techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Londersele, Arne; De Zutter, Daniël; Vande Ginste, Dries

2017-08-01

This work focuses on efficient full-wave solutions of multiscale electromagnetic problems in the time domain. Three local implicitization techniques are proposed and carefully analyzed in order to relax the traditional time step limit of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method on a nonuniform, staggered, tensor product grid: Newmark, Crank-Nicolson (CN) and Alternating-Direction-Implicit (ADI) implicitization. All of them are applied in preferable directions, alike Hybrid Implicit-Explicit (HIE) methods, as to limit the rank of the sparse linear systems. Both exponential and linear stability are rigorously investigated for arbitrary grid spacings and arbitrary inhomogeneous, possibly lossy, isotropic media. Numerical examples confirm the conservation of energy inside a cavity for a million iterations if the time step is chosen below the proposed, relaxed limit. Apart from the theoretical contributions, new accomplishments such as the development of the leapfrog Alternating-Direction-Hybrid-Implicit-Explicit (ADHIE) FDTD method and a less stringent Courant-like time step limit for the conventional, fully explicit FDTD method on a nonuniform grid, have immediate practical applications.

The constant displacement scheme for tracking particles in heterogeneous aquifers

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

Wen, X.H.; Gomez-Hernandez, J.J.

1996-01-01

Simulation of mass transport by particle tracking or random walk in highly heterogeneous media may be inefficient from a computational point of view if the traditional constant time step scheme is used. A new scheme which adjusts automatically the time step for each particle according to the local pore velocity, so that each particle always travels a constant distance, is shown to be computationally faster for the same degree of accuracy than the constant time step method. Using the constant displacement scheme, transport calculations in a 2-D aquifer model, with nature log-transmissivity variance of 4, can be 8.6 times fastermore » than using the constant time step scheme.« less

Higher Order Time Integration Schemes for the Unsteady Navier-Stokes Equations on Unstructured Meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jothiprasad, Giridhar; Mavriplis, Dimitri J.; Caughey, David A.; Bushnell, Dennis M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The efficiency gains obtained using higher-order implicit Runge-Kutta schemes as compared with the second-order accurate backward difference schemes for the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are investigated. Three different algorithms for solving the nonlinear system of equations arising at each timestep are presented. The first algorithm (NMG) is a pseudo-time-stepping scheme which employs a non-linear full approximation storage (FAS) agglomeration multigrid method to accelerate convergence. The other two algorithms are based on Inexact Newton's methods. The linear system arising at each Newton step is solved using iterative/Krylov techniques and left preconditioning is used to accelerate convergence of the linear solvers. One of the methods (LMG) uses Richardson's iterative scheme for solving the linear system at each Newton step while the other (PGMRES) uses the Generalized Minimal Residual method. Results demonstrating the relative superiority of these Newton's methods based schemes are presented. Efficiency gains as high as 10 are obtained by combining the higher-order time integration schemes with the more efficient nonlinear solvers.

Stability analysis of Eulerian-Lagrangian methods for the one-dimensional shallow-water equations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Casulli, V.; Cheng, R.T.

1990-01-01

In this paper stability and error analyses are discussed for some finite difference methods when applied to the one-dimensional shallow-water equations. Two finite difference formulations, which are based on a combined Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, are discussed. In the first part of this paper the results of numerical analyses for an explicit Eulerian-Lagrangian method (ELM) have shown that the method is unconditionally stable. This method, which is a generalized fixed grid method of characteristics, covers the Courant-Isaacson-Rees method as a special case. Some artificial viscosity is introduced by this scheme. However, because the method is unconditionally stable, the artificial viscosity can be brought under control either by reducing the spatial increment or by increasing the size of time step. The second part of the paper discusses a class of semi-implicit finite difference methods for the one-dimensional shallow-water equations. This method, when the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is used for the convective terms, is also unconditionally stable and highly accurate for small space increments or large time steps. The semi-implicit methods seem to be more computationally efficient than the explicit ELM; at each time step a single tridiagonal system of linear equations is solved. The combined explicit and implicit ELM is best used in formulating a solution strategy for solving a network of interconnected channels. The explicit ELM is used at channel junctions for each time step. The semi-implicit method is then applied to the interior points in each channel segment. Following this solution strategy, the channel network problem can be reduced to a set of independent one-dimensional open-channel flow problems. Numerical results support properties given by the stability and error analyses. ?? 1990.

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

Smith, R.; Harrison, D. E. Jr.

A variable time step integration algorithm for carrying out molecular dynamics simulations of atomic collision cascades is proposed which evaluates the interaction forces only once per time step. The algorithm is tested on some model problems which have exact solutions and is compared against other common methods. These comparisons show that the method has good stability and accuracy. Applications to Ar/sup +/ bombardment of Cu and Si show good accuracy and improved speed to the original method (D. E. Harrison, W. L. Gay, and H. M. Effron, J. Math. Phys. /bold 10/, 1179 (1969)).

Design of a laser rangefinder for Martian terrain measurements. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palumbo, D. L.

1973-01-01

Methods for using a laser for rangefinding are discussed. These are: (1) Optical Focusing, (2) the Phase Difference Method, and (3) Timed Pulse. For application on a Mars Rover, the Timed Pulse Method proves to be the better choice in view of the requirements set down. This is made possible by pulse expansion techniques described in detail. Initial steps taken toward building the range finder are given, followed by a conclusion which is actually a proposal for future steps.

Thermal bistability-based method for real-time optimization of ultralow-threshold whispering gallery mode microlasers.

PubMed

Lin, Guoping; Candela, Y; Tillement, O; Cai, Zhiping; Lefèvre-Seguin, V; Hare, J

2012-12-15

A method based on thermal bistability for ultralow-threshold microlaser optimization is demonstrated. When sweeping the pump laser frequency across a pump resonance, the dynamic thermal bistability slows down the power variation. The resulting line shape modification enables a real-time monitoring of the laser characteristic. We demonstrate this method for a functionalized microsphere exhibiting a submicrowatt laser threshold. This approach is confirmed by comparing the results with a step-by-step recording in quasi-static thermal conditions.

A gas-kinetic BGK scheme for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xu, Kun

2000-01-01

This paper presents an improved gas-kinetic scheme based on the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) model for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. The current method extends the previous gas-kinetic Navier-Stokes solver developed by Xu and Prendergast by implementing a general nonequilibrium state to represent the gas distribution function at the beginning of each time step. As a result, the requirement in the previous scheme, such as the particle collision time being less than the time step for the validity of the BGK Navier-Stokes solution, is removed. Therefore, the applicable regime of the current method is much enlarged and the Navier-Stokes solution can be obtained accurately regardless of the ratio between the collision time and the time step. The gas-kinetic Navier-Stokes solver developed by Chou and Baganoff is the limiting case of the current method, and it is valid only under such a limiting condition. Also, in this paper, the appropriate implementation of boundary condition for the kinetic scheme, different kinetic limiting cases, and the Prandtl number fix are presented. The connection among artificial dissipative central schemes, Godunov-type schemes, and the gas-kinetic BGK method is discussed. Many numerical tests are included to validate the current method.

Comprehensive Numerical Analysis of Finite Difference Time Domain Methods for Improving Optical Waveguide Sensor Accuracy

PubMed Central

Samak, M. Mosleh E. Abu; Bakar, A. Ashrif A.; Kashif, Muhammad; Zan, Mohd Saiful Dzulkifly

2016-01-01

This paper discusses numerical analysis methods for different geometrical features that have limited interval values for typically used sensor wavelengths. Compared with existing Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) methods, the alternating direction implicit (ADI)-FDTD method reduces the number of sub-steps by a factor of two to three, which represents a 33% time savings in each single run. The local one-dimensional (LOD)-FDTD method has similar numerical equation properties, which should be calculated as in the previous method. Generally, a small number of arithmetic processes, which result in a shorter simulation time, are desired. The alternating direction implicit technique can be considered a significant step forward for improving the efficiency of unconditionally stable FDTD schemes. This comparative study shows that the local one-dimensional method had minimum relative error ranges of less than 40% for analytical frequencies above 42.85 GHz, and the same accuracy was generated by both methods.

Time-Accurate Solutions of Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations for Potential Turbopump Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin; Kwak, Dochan

2001-01-01

Two numerical procedures, one based on artificial compressibility method and the other pressure projection method, are outlined for obtaining time-accurate solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The performance of the two method are compared by obtaining unsteady solutions for the evolution of twin vortices behind a at plate. Calculated results are compared with experimental and other numerical results. For an un- steady ow which requires small physical time step, pressure projection method was found to be computationally efficient since it does not require any subiterations procedure. It was observed that the artificial compressibility method requires a fast convergence scheme at each physical time step in order to satisfy incompressibility condition. This was obtained by using a GMRES-ILU(0) solver in our computations. When a line-relaxation scheme was used, the time accuracy was degraded and time-accurate computations became very expensive.

Development of iterative techniques for the solution of unsteady compressible viscous flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sankar, Lakshmi N.; Hixon, Duane

1991-01-01

Efficient iterative solution methods are being developed for the numerical solution of two- and three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Iterative time marching methods have several advantages over classical multi-step explicit time marching schemes, and non-iterative implicit time marching schemes. Iterative schemes have better stability characteristics than non-iterative explicit and implicit schemes. Thus, the extra work required by iterative schemes can also be designed to perform efficiently on current and future generation scalable, missively parallel machines. An obvious candidate for iteratively solving the system of coupled nonlinear algebraic equations arising in CFD applications is the Newton method. Newton's method was implemented in existing finite difference and finite volume methods. Depending on the complexity of the problem, the number of Newton iterations needed per step to solve the discretized system of equations can, however, vary dramatically from a few to several hundred. Another popular approach based on the classical conjugate gradient method, known as the GMRES (Generalized Minimum Residual) algorithm is investigated. The GMRES algorithm was used in the past by a number of researchers for solving steady viscous and inviscid flow problems with considerable success. Here, the suitability of this algorithm is investigated for solving the system of nonlinear equations that arise in unsteady Navier-Stokes solvers at each time step. Unlike the Newton method which attempts to drive the error in the solution at each and every node down to zero, the GMRES algorithm only seeks to minimize the L2 norm of the error. In the GMRES algorithm the changes in the flow properties from one time step to the next are assumed to be the sum of a set of orthogonal vectors. By choosing the number of vectors to a reasonably small value N (between 5 and 20) the work required for advancing the solution from one time step to the next may be kept to (N+1) times that of a noniterative scheme. Many of the operations required by the GMRES algorithm such as matrix-vector multiplies, matrix additions and subtractions can all be vectorized and parallelized efficiently.

A Single-Step Enrichment Medium for Nonchromogenic Isolation of Healthy and Cold-Injured Salmonella spp. from Fresh Vegetables.

PubMed

Kim, Hong-Seok; Choi, Dasom; Kang, Il-Byeong; Kim, Dong-Hyeon; Yim, Jin-Hyeok; Kim, Young-Ji; Chon, Jung-Whan; Oh, Deog-Hwan; Seo, Kun-Ho

2017-02-01

Culture-based detection of nontyphoidal Salmonella spp. in foods requires at least four working days; therefore, new detection methods that shorten the test time are needed. In this study, we developed a novel single-step Salmonella enrichment broth, SSE-1, and compared its detection capability with that of commercial single-step ONE broth-Salmonella (OBS) medium and a conventional two-step enrichment method using buffered peptone water and Rappaport-Vassiliadis soy broth (BPW-RVS). Minimally processed lettuce samples were artificially inoculated with low levels of healthy and cold-injured Salmonella Enteritidis (10 0 or 10 1 colony-forming unit/25 g), incubated in OBS, BPW-RVS, and SSE-1 broths, and streaked on xylose lysine deoxycholate (XLD) agar. Salmonella recoverability was significantly higher in BPW-RVS (79.2%) and SSE-1 (83.3%) compared to OBS (39.3%) (p < 0.05). Our data suggest that the SSE-1 single-step enrichment broth could completely replace two-step enrichment with reduced enrichment time from 48 to 24 h, performing better than commercial single-step enrichment medium in the conventional nonchromogenic Salmonella detection, thus saving time, labor, and cost.

Method of making self-calibrated displacement measurements

DOEpatents

Pedersen, Herbert N.

1977-01-01

A method for monitoring the displacement of an object having an acoustically reflective surface at least partially submerged in an acoustically conductive medium. The reflective surface is designed to have a stepped interface responsive to an incident acoustic pulse to provide separate discrete reflected pulses to a receiving transducer. The difference in the time of flight of the reflected acoustic signals corresponds to the known step height and the time of travel of the signals to the receiving transducer provides a measure of the displacement of the object. Accordingly, the reference step length enables simultaneous calibration of each displacement measurement.

A multi-layer steganographic method based on audio time domain segmented and network steganography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Pengfei; Liu, Hanlin; Hu, Jingsong; Hu, Ronggui

2018-05-01

Both audio steganography and network steganography are belong to modern steganography. Audio steganography has a large capacity. Network steganography is difficult to detect or track. In this paper, a multi-layer steganographic method based on the collaboration of them (MLS-ATDSS&NS) is proposed. MLS-ATDSS&NS is realized in two covert layers (audio steganography layer and network steganography layer) by two steps. A new audio time domain segmented steganography (ATDSS) method is proposed in step 1, and the collaboration method of ATDSS and NS is proposed in step 2. The experimental results showed that the advantage of MLS-ATDSS&NS over others is better trade-off between capacity, anti-detectability and robustness, that means higher steganographic capacity, better anti-detectability and stronger robustness.

Enhanced capillary electrophoretic screening of Alzheimer based on direct apolipoprotein E genotyping and one-step multiplex PCR.

PubMed

Woo, Nain; Kim, Su-Kang; Sun, Yucheng; Kang, Seong Ho

2018-01-01

Human apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is associated with high cholesterol levels, coronary artery disease, and especially Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we developed an ApoE genotyping and one-step multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based-capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the enhanced diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The primer mixture of ApoE genes enabled the performance of direct one-step multiplex PCR from whole blood without DNA purification. The combination of direct ApoE genotyping and one-step multiplex PCR minimized the risk of DNA loss or contamination due to the process of DNA purification. All amplified PCR products with different DNA lengths (112-, 253-, 308-, 444-, and 514-bp DNA) of the ApoE genes were analyzed within 2min by an extended voltage programming (VP)-based CE under the optimal conditions. The extended VP-based CE method was at least 120-180 times faster than conventional slab gel electrophoresis methods In particular, all amplified DNA fragments were detected in less than 10 PCR cycles using a laser-induced fluorescence detector. The detection limits of the ApoE genes were 6.4-62.0pM, which were approximately 100-100,000 times more sensitive than previous Alzheimer's diagnosis methods In addition, the combined one-step multiplex PCR and extended VP-based CE method was also successfully applied to the analysis of ApoE genotypes in Alzheimer's patients and normal samples and confirmed the distribution probability of allele frequencies. This combination of direct one-step multiplex PCR and an extended VP-based CE method should increase the diagnostic reliability of Alzheimer's with high sensitivity and short analysis time even with direct use of whole blood. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A time-spectral approach to numerical weather prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheffel, Jan; Lindvall, Kristoffer; Yik, Hiu Fai

2018-05-01

Finite difference methods are traditionally used for modelling the time domain in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Time-spectral solution is an attractive alternative for reasons of accuracy and efficiency and because time step limitations associated with causal CFL-like criteria, typical for explicit finite difference methods, are avoided. In this work, the Lorenz 1984 chaotic equations are solved using the time-spectral algorithm GWRM (Generalized Weighted Residual Method). Comparisons of accuracy and efficiency are carried out for both explicit and implicit time-stepping algorithms. It is found that the efficiency of the GWRM compares well with these methods, in particular at high accuracy. For perturbative scenarios, the GWRM was found to be as much as four times faster than the finite difference methods. A primary reason is that the GWRM time intervals typically are two orders of magnitude larger than those of the finite difference methods. The GWRM has the additional advantage to produce analytical solutions in the form of Chebyshev series expansions. The results are encouraging for pursuing further studies, including spatial dependence, of the relevance of time-spectral methods for NWP modelling.

Validation of a One-Step Method for Extracting Fatty Acids from Salmon, Chicken and Beef Samples.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhichao; Richardson, Christine E; Hennebelle, Marie; Taha, Ameer Y

2017-10-01

Fatty acid extraction methods are time-consuming and expensive because they involve multiple steps and copious amounts of extraction solvents. In an effort to streamline the fatty acid extraction process, this study compared the standard Folch lipid extraction method to a one-step method involving a column that selectively elutes the lipid phase. The methods were tested on raw beef, salmon, and chicken. Compared to the standard Folch method, the one-step extraction process generally yielded statistically insignificant differences in chicken and salmon fatty acid concentrations, percent composition and weight percent. Initial testing showed that beef stearic, oleic and total fatty acid concentrations were significantly lower by 9-11% with the one-step method as compared to the Folch method, but retesting on a different batch of samples showed a significant 4-8% increase in several omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid concentrations with the one-step method relative to the Folch. Overall, the findings reflect the utility of a one-step extraction method for routine and rapid monitoring of fatty acids in chicken and salmon. Inconsistencies in beef concentrations, although minor (within 11%), may be due to matrix effects. A one-step fatty acid extraction method has broad applications for rapidly and routinely monitoring fatty acids in the food supply and formulating controlled dietary interventions. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Visualization of time-varying MRI data for MS lesion analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tory, Melanie K.; Moeller, Torsten; Atkins, M. Stella

2001-05-01

Conventional methods to diagnose and follow treatment of Multiple Sclerosis require radiologists and technicians to compare current images with older images of a particular patient, on a slic-by-slice basis. Although there has been progress in creating 3D displays of medical images, little attempt has been made to design visual tools that emphasize change over time. We implemented several ideas that attempt to address this deficiency. In one approach, isosurfaces of segmented lesions at each time step were displayed either on the same image (each time step in a different color), or consecutively in an animation. In a second approach, voxel- wise differences between time steps were calculated and displayed statically using ray casting. Animation was used to show cumulative changes over time. Finally, in a method borrowed from computational fluid dynamics (CFD), glyphs (small arrow-like objects) were rendered with a surface model of the lesions to indicate changes at localized points.

Single-step reinitialization and extending algorithms for level-set based multi-phase flow simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Lin; Hu, Xiangyu Y.; Adams, Nikolaus A.

2017-12-01

We propose efficient single-step formulations for reinitialization and extending algorithms, which are critical components of level-set based interface-tracking methods. The level-set field is reinitialized with a single-step (non iterative) "forward tracing" algorithm. A minimum set of cells is defined that describes the interface, and reinitialization employs only data from these cells. Fluid states are extrapolated or extended across the interface by a single-step "backward tracing" algorithm. Both algorithms, which are motivated by analogy to ray-tracing, avoid multiple block-boundary data exchanges that are inevitable for iterative reinitialization and extending approaches within a parallel-computing environment. The single-step algorithms are combined with a multi-resolution conservative sharp-interface method and validated by a wide range of benchmark test cases. We demonstrate that the proposed reinitialization method achieves second-order accuracy in conserving the volume of each phase. The interface location is invariant to reapplication of the single-step reinitialization. Generally, we observe smaller absolute errors than for standard iterative reinitialization on the same grid. The computational efficiency is higher than for the standard and typical high-order iterative reinitialization methods. We observe a 2- to 6-times efficiency improvement over the standard method for serial execution. The proposed single-step extending algorithm, which is commonly employed for assigning data to ghost cells with ghost-fluid or conservative interface interaction methods, shows about 10-times efficiency improvement over the standard method while maintaining same accuracy. Despite their simplicity, the proposed algorithms offer an efficient and robust alternative to iterative reinitialization and extending methods for level-set based multi-phase simulations.

Considerations for the independent reaction times and step-by-step methods for radiation chemistry simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plante, Ianik; Devroye, Luc

2017-10-01

Ionizing radiation interacts with the water molecules of the tissues mostly by ionizations and excitations, which result in the formation of the radiation track structure and the creation of radiolytic species such as H.,.OH, H2, H2O2, and e-aq. After their creation, these species diffuse and may chemically react with the neighboring species and with the molecules of the medium. Therefore radiation chemistry is of great importance in radiation biology. As the chemical species are not distributed homogeneously, the use of conventional models of homogeneous reactions cannot completely describe the reaction kinetics of the particles. Actually, many simulations of radiation chemistry are done using the Independent Reaction Time (IRT) method, which is a very fast technique to calculate radiochemical yields but which do not calculate the positions of the radiolytic species as a function of time. Step-by-step (SBS) methods, which are able to provide such information, have been used only sparsely because these are time-consuming in terms of calculation. Recent improvements in computer performance now allow the regular use of the SBS method in radiation chemistry. The SBS and IRT methods are both based on the Green's functions of the diffusion equation (GFDE). In this paper, several sampling algorithms of the GFDE and for the IRT method are presented. We show that the IRT and SBS methods are exactly equivalent for 2-particles systems for diffusion and partially diffusion-controlled reactions between non-interacting particles. We also show that the results obtained with the SBS simulation method with periodic boundary conditions are in agreement with the predictions by classical reaction kinetics theory, which is an important step towards using this method for modelling of biochemical networks and metabolic pathways involved in oxidative stress. Finally, the first simulation results obtained with the code RITRACKS (Relativistic Ion Tracks) are presented.

A new theory for multistep discretizations of stiff ordinary differential equations: Stability with large step sizes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Majda, G.

1985-01-01

A large set of variable coefficient linear systems of ordinary differential equations which possess two different time scales, a slow one and a fast one is considered. A small parameter epsilon characterizes the stiffness of these systems. A system of o.d.e.s. in this set is approximated by a general class of multistep discretizations which includes both one-leg and linear multistep methods. Sufficient conditions are determined under which each solution of a multistep method is uniformly bounded, with a bound which is independent of the stiffness of the system of o.d.e.s., when the step size resolves the slow time scale, but not the fast one. This property is called stability with large step sizes. The theory presented lets one compare properties of one-leg methods and linear multistep methods when they approximate variable coefficient systems of stiff o.d.e.s. In particular, it is shown that one-leg methods have better stability properties with large step sizes than their linear multistep counter parts. The theory also allows one to relate the concept of D-stability to the usual notions of stability and stability domains and to the propagation of errors for multistep methods which use large step sizes.

Comparison of sum-of-hourly and daily time step standardized ASCE Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djaman, Koffi; Irmak, Suat; Sall, Mamadou; Sow, Abdoulaye; Kabenge, Isa

2017-10-01

The objective of this study was to quantify differences associated with using 24-h time step reference evapotranspiration (ETo), as compared with the sum of hourly ETo computations with the standardized ASCE Penman-Monteith (ASCE-PM) model for semi-arid dry conditions at Fanaye and Ndiaye (Senegal) and semiarid humid conditions at Sapu (The Gambia) and Kankan (Guinea). The results showed that there was good agreement between the sum of hourly ETo and daily time step ETo at all four locations. The daily time step overestimated the daily ETo relative to the sum of hourly ETo by 1.3 to 8% for the whole study periods. However, there is location and monthly dependence of the magnitude of ETo values and the ratio of the ETo values estimated by both methods. Sum of hourly ETo tends to give higher ETo during winter time at Fanaye and Sapu, while the daily ETo was higher from March to November at the same weather stations. At Ndiaye and Kankan, daily time step estimates of ETo were high during the year. The simple linear regression slopes between the sum of 24-h ETo and the daily time step ETo at all weather stations varied from 1.02 to 1.08 with high coefficient of determination (R 2 ≥ 0.87). Application of the hourly ETo estimation method might help on accurate ETo estimation to meet irrigation requirement under precision agriculture.

Brain tissue segmentation in 4D CT using voxel classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Boom, R.; Oei, M. T. H.; Lafebre, S.; Oostveen, L. J.; Meijer, F. J. A.; Steens, S. C. A.; Prokop, M.; van Ginneken, B.; Manniesing, R.

2012-02-01

A method is proposed to segment anatomical regions of the brain from 4D computer tomography (CT) patient data. The method consists of a three step voxel classification scheme, each step focusing on structures that are increasingly difficult to segment. The first step classifies air and bone, the second step classifies vessels and the third step classifies white matter, gray matter and cerebrospinal fluid. As features the time averaged intensity value and the temporal intensity change value were used. In each step, a k-Nearest-Neighbor classifier was used to classify the voxels. Training data was obtained by placing regions of interest in reconstructed 3D image data. The method has been applied to ten 4D CT cerebral patient data. A leave-one-out experiment showed consistent and accurate segmentation results.

Ancient numerical daemons of conceptual hydrological modeling: 2. Impact of time stepping schemes on model analysis and prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kavetski, Dmitri; Clark, Martyn P.

2010-10-01

Despite the widespread use of conceptual hydrological models in environmental research and operations, they remain frequently implemented using numerically unreliable methods. This paper considers the impact of the time stepping scheme on model analysis (sensitivity analysis, parameter optimization, and Markov chain Monte Carlo-based uncertainty estimation) and prediction. It builds on the companion paper (Clark and Kavetski, 2010), which focused on numerical accuracy, fidelity, and computational efficiency. Empirical and theoretical analysis of eight distinct time stepping schemes for six different hydrological models in 13 diverse basins demonstrates several critical conclusions. (1) Unreliable time stepping schemes, in particular, fixed-step explicit methods, suffer from troublesome numerical artifacts that severely deform the objective function of the model. These deformations are not rare isolated instances but can arise in any model structure, in any catchment, and under common hydroclimatic conditions. (2) Sensitivity analysis can be severely contaminated by numerical errors, often to the extent that it becomes dominated by the sensitivity of truncation errors rather than the model equations. (3) Robust time stepping schemes generally produce "better behaved" objective functions, free of spurious local optima, and with sufficient numerical continuity to permit parameter optimization using efficient quasi Newton methods. When implemented within a multistart framework, modern Newton-type optimizers are robust even when started far from the optima and provide valuable diagnostic insights not directly available from evolutionary global optimizers. (4) Unreliable time stepping schemes lead to inconsistent and biased inferences of the model parameters and internal states. (5) Even when interactions between hydrological parameters and numerical errors provide "the right result for the wrong reason" and the calibrated model performance appears adequate, unreliable time stepping schemes make the model unnecessarily fragile in predictive mode, undermining validation assessments and operational use. Erroneous or misleading conclusions of model analysis and prediction arising from numerical artifacts in hydrological models are intolerable, especially given that robust numerics are accepted as mainstream in other areas of science and engineering. We hope that the vivid empirical findings will encourage the conceptual hydrological community to close its Pandora's box of numerical problems, paving the way for more meaningful model application and interpretation.

Asynchronous collision integrators: Explicit treatment of unilateral contact with friction and nodal restraints

PubMed Central

Wolff, Sebastian; Bucher, Christian

2013-01-01

This article presents asynchronous collision integrators and a simple asynchronous method treating nodal restraints. Asynchronous discretizations allow individual time step sizes for each spatial region, improving the efficiency of explicit time stepping for finite element meshes with heterogeneous element sizes. The article first introduces asynchronous variational integration being expressed by drift and kick operators. Linear nodal restraint conditions are solved by a simple projection of the forces that is shown to be equivalent to RATTLE. Unilateral contact is solved by an asynchronous variant of decomposition contact response. Therein, velocities are modified avoiding penetrations. Although decomposition contact response is solving a large system of linear equations (being critical for the numerical efficiency of explicit time stepping schemes) and is needing special treatment regarding overconstraint and linear dependency of the contact constraints (for example from double-sided node-to-surface contact or self-contact), the asynchronous strategy handles these situations efficiently and robust. Only a single constraint involving a very small number of degrees of freedom is considered at once leading to a very efficient solution. The treatment of friction is exemplified for the Coulomb model. Special care needs the contact of nodes that are subject to restraints. Together with the aforementioned projection for restraints, a novel efficient solution scheme can be presented. The collision integrator does not influence the critical time step. Hence, the time step can be chosen independently from the underlying time-stepping scheme. The time step may be fixed or time-adaptive. New demands on global collision detection are discussed exemplified by position codes and node-to-segment integration. Numerical examples illustrate convergence and efficiency of the new contact algorithm. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:23970806

Numerical solution methods for viscoelastic orthotropic materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gramoll, K. C.; Dillard, D. A.; Brinson, H. F.

1988-01-01

Numerical solution methods for viscoelastic orthotropic materials, specifically fiber reinforced composite materials, are examined. The methods include classical lamination theory using time increments, direction solution of the Volterra Integral, Zienkiewicz's linear Prony series method, and a new method called Nonlinear Differential Equation Method (NDEM) which uses a nonlinear Prony series. The criteria used for comparison of the various methods include the stability of the solution technique, time step size stability, computer solution time length, and computer memory storage. The Volterra Integral allowed the implementation of higher order solution techniques but had difficulties solving singular and weakly singular compliance function. The Zienkiewicz solution technique, which requires the viscoelastic response to be modeled by a Prony series, works well for linear viscoelastic isotropic materials and small time steps. The new method, NDEM, uses a modified Prony series which allows nonlinear stress effects to be included and can be used with orthotropic nonlinear viscoelastic materials. The NDEM technique is shown to be accurate and stable for both linear and nonlinear conditions with minimal computer time.

A Step-by-Step Picture of Pulsed (Time-Domain) NMR.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartz, Leslie J.

1988-01-01

Discusses a method for teaching time pulsed NMR principals that are as simple and pictorial as possible. Uses xyz coordinate figures and presents theoretical explanations using a Fourier transformation spectrum. Assumes no previous knowledge of quantum mechanics for students. Usable for undergraduates. (MVL)

Optimizing Fungal DNA Extraction Methods from Aerosol Filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimenez, G.; Mescioglu, E.; Paytan, A.

2016-12-01

Fungi and fungal spores can be picked up from terrestrial ecosystems, transported long distances, and deposited into marine ecosystems. It is important to study dust-borne fungal communities, because they can stay viable and effect the ambient microbial populations, which are key players in biogeochemical cycles. One of the challenges of studying dust-borne fungal populations is that aerosol samples contain low biomass, making extracting good quality DNA very difficult. The aim of this project was to increase DNA yield by optimizing DNA extraction methods. We tested aerosol samples collected from Haifa, Israel (polycarbonate filter), Monterey Bay, CA (quartz filter) and Bermuda (quartz filter). Using the Qiagen DNeasy Plant Kit, we tested the effect of altering bead beating times and incubation times, adding three freeze and thaw steps, initially washing the filters with buffers for various lengths of time before using the kit, and adding a step with 30 minutes of sonication in 65C water. Adding three freeze/thaw steps, adding a sonication step, washing with a phosphate buffered saline overnight, and increasing incubation time to two hours, in that order, resulted in the highest increase in DNA for samples from Israel (polycarbonate). DNA yield of samples from Monterey (quart filter) increased about 5 times when washing with buffers overnight (phosphate buffered saline and potassium phophate buffer), adding a sonication step, and adding three freeze and thaw steps. Samples collected in Bermuda (quartz filter) had the highest increase in DNA yield from increasing incubation to 2 hours, increasing bead beating time to 6 minutes, and washing with buffers overnight (phosphate buffered saline and potassium phophate buffer). Our results show that DNA yield can be increased by altering various steps of the Qiagen DNeasy Plant Kit protocol, but different types of filters collected at different sites respond differently to alterations. These results can be used as preliminary results to continue developing fungi DNA extraction methods. Developing these methods will be important as dust storms are predicted to increase due to increased draughts and anthropogenic activity, and the fungal communities of these dust-storms are currently relatively understudied.

Model reduction of dynamical systems by proper orthogonal decomposition: Error bounds and comparison of methods using snapshots from the solution and the time derivatives [Proper orthogonal decomposition model reduction of dynamical systems: error bounds and comparison of methods using snapshots from the solution and the time derivatives

DOE PAGES

Kostova-Vassilevska, Tanya; Oxberry, Geoffrey M.

2017-09-17

In this study, we consider two proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) methods for dimension reduction of dynamical systems. The first method (M1) uses only time snapshots of the solution, while the second method (M2) augments the snapshot set with time-derivative snapshots. The goal of the paper is to analyze and compare the approximation errors resulting from the two methods by using error bounds. We derive several new bounds of the error from POD model reduction by each of the two methods. The new error bounds involve a multiplicative factor depending on the time steps between the snapshots. For method M1 themore » factor depends on the second power of the time step, while for method 2 the dependence is on the fourth power of the time step, suggesting that method M2 can be more accurate for small between-snapshot intervals. However, three other factors also affect the size of the error bounds. These include (i) the norm of the second (for M1) and fourth derivatives (M2); (ii) the first neglected singular value and (iii) the spectral properties of the projection of the system’s Jacobian in the reduced space. Because of the interplay of these factors neither method is more accurate than the other in all cases. Finally, we present numerical examples demonstrating that when the number of collected snapshots is small and the first neglected singular value has a value of zero, method M2 results in a better approximation.« less

Model reduction of dynamical systems by proper orthogonal decomposition: Error bounds and comparison of methods using snapshots from the solution and the time derivatives [Proper orthogonal decomposition model reduction of dynamical systems: error bounds and comparison of methods using snapshots from the solution and the time derivatives

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

Kostova-Vassilevska, Tanya; Oxberry, Geoffrey M.

In this study, we consider two proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) methods for dimension reduction of dynamical systems. The first method (M1) uses only time snapshots of the solution, while the second method (M2) augments the snapshot set with time-derivative snapshots. The goal of the paper is to analyze and compare the approximation errors resulting from the two methods by using error bounds. We derive several new bounds of the error from POD model reduction by each of the two methods. The new error bounds involve a multiplicative factor depending on the time steps between the snapshots. For method M1 themore » factor depends on the second power of the time step, while for method 2 the dependence is on the fourth power of the time step, suggesting that method M2 can be more accurate for small between-snapshot intervals. However, three other factors also affect the size of the error bounds. These include (i) the norm of the second (for M1) and fourth derivatives (M2); (ii) the first neglected singular value and (iii) the spectral properties of the projection of the system’s Jacobian in the reduced space. Because of the interplay of these factors neither method is more accurate than the other in all cases. Finally, we present numerical examples demonstrating that when the number of collected snapshots is small and the first neglected singular value has a value of zero, method M2 results in a better approximation.« less

Computer implemented empirical mode decomposition method, apparatus and article of manufacture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Norden E. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A computer implemented physical signal analysis method is invented. This method includes two essential steps and the associated presentation techniques of the results. All the steps exist only in a computer: there are no analytic expressions resulting from the method. The first step is a computer implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition to extract a collection of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF) from nonlinear, nonstationary physical signals. The decomposition is based on the direct extraction of the energy associated with various intrinsic time scales in the physical signal. Expressed in the IMF's, they have well-behaved Hilbert Transforms from which instantaneous frequencies can be calculated. The second step is the Hilbert Transform. The final result is the Hilbert Spectrum. Thus, the invention can localize any event on the time as well as the frequency axis. The decomposition can also be viewed as an expansion of the data in terms of the IMF's. Then, these IMF's, based on and derived from the data, can serve as the basis of that expansion. The local energy and the instantaneous frequency derived from the IMF's through the Hilbert transform give a full energy-frequency-time distribution of the data which is designated as the Hilbert Spectrum.

A transient response analysis of the space shuttle vehicle during liftoff

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brunty, J. A.

1990-01-01

A proposed transient response method is formulated for the liftoff analysis of the space shuttle vehicles. It uses a power series approximation with unknown coefficients for the interface forces between the space shuttle and mobile launch platform. This allows the equation of motion of the two structures to be solved separately with the unknown coefficients at the end of each step. These coefficients are obtained by enforcing the interface compatibility conditions between the two structures. Once the unknown coefficients are determined, the total response is computed for that time step. The method is validated by a numerical example of a cantilevered beam and by the liftoff analysis of the space shuttle vehicles. The proposed method is compared to an iterative transient response analysis method used by Martin Marietta for their space shuttle liftoff analysis. It is shown that the proposed method uses less computer time than the iterative method and does not require as small a time step for integration. The space shuttle vehicle model is reduced using two different types of component mode synthesis (CMS) methods, the Lanczos method and the Craig and Bampton CMS method. By varying the cutoff frequency in the Craig and Bampton method it was shown that the space shuttle interface loads can be computed with reasonable accuracy. Both the Lanczos CMS method and Craig and Bampton CMS method give similar results. A substantial amount of computer time is saved using the Lanczos CMS method over that of the Craig and Bampton method. However, when trying to compute a large number of Lanczos vectors, input/output computer time increased and increased the overall computer time. The application of several liftoff release mechanisms that can be adapted to the proposed method are discussed.

Two-Step Formal Advertisement: An Examination.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-10-01

The purpose of this report is to examine the potential application of the Two-Step Formal Advertisement method of procurement. Emphasis is placed on...Step formal advertising is a method of procurement designed to take advantage of negotiation flexibility and at the same time obtain the benefits of...formal advertising . It is used where the specifications are not sufficiently definite or may be too restrictive to permit full and free competition

A Cascaded Approach for Correcting Ionospheric Contamination with Large Amplitude in HF Skywave Radars

PubMed Central

Wei, Yinsheng; Guo, Rujiang; Xu, Rongqing; Tang, Xiudong

2014-01-01

Ionospheric phase perturbation with large amplitude causes broadening sea clutter's Bragg peaks to overlap each other; the performance of traditional decontamination methods about filtering Bragg peak is poor, which greatly limits the detection performance of HF skywave radars. In view of the ionospheric phase perturbation with large amplitude, this paper proposes a cascaded approach based on improved S-method to correct the ionospheric phase contamination. This approach consists of two correction steps. At the first step, a time-frequency distribution method based on improved S-method is adopted and an optimal detection method is designed to obtain a coarse ionospheric modulation estimation from the time-frequency distribution. At the second correction step, based on the phase gradient algorithm (PGA) is exploited to eliminate the residual contamination. Finally, use the measured data to verify the effectiveness of the method. Simulation results show the time-frequency resolution of this method is high and is not affected by the interference of the cross term; ionospheric phase perturbation with large amplitude can be corrected in low signal-to-noise (SNR); such a cascade correction method has a good effect. PMID:24578656

Equilibrium Solutions of the Logarithmic Hamiltonian Leapfrog for the N-body Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minesaki, Yukitaka

2018-04-01

We prove that a second-order logarithmic Hamiltonian leapfrog for the classical general N-body problem (CGNBP) designed by Mikkola and Tanikawa and some higher-order logarithmic Hamiltonian methods based on symmetric multicompositions of the logarithmic algorithm exactly reproduce the orbits of elliptic relative equilibrium solutions in the original CGNBP. These methods are explicit symplectic methods. Before this proof, only some implicit discrete-time CGNBPs proposed by Minesaki had been analytically shown to trace the orbits of elliptic relative equilibrium solutions. The proof is therefore the first existence proof for explicit symplectic methods. Such logarithmic Hamiltonian methods with a variable time step can also precisely retain periodic orbits in the classical general three-body problem, which generic numerical methods with a constant time step cannot do.

Two-step method for creating a gastric tube during laparoscopic-thoracoscopic Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy.

PubMed

Liu, Yu; Li, Ji-Jia; Zu, Peng; Liu, Hong-Xu; Yu, Zhan-Wu; Ren, Yi

2017-12-07

To introduce a two-step method for creating a gastric tube during laparoscopic-thoracoscopic Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy and assess its clinical application. One hundred and twenty-two patients with middle or lower esophageal cancer who underwent laparoscopic-thoracoscopic Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy at Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute from March 2014 to March 2016 were included in this study, and divided into two groups based on the procedure used for creating a gastric tube. One group used a two-step method for creating a gastric tube, and the other group used the conventional method. The two groups were compared regarding the operating time, surgical complications, and number of stapler cartridges used. The mean operating time was significantly shorter in the two-step method group than in the conventional method group [238 (179-293) min vs 272 (189-347) min, P < 0.01]. No postoperative death occurred in either group. There was no significant difference in the rate of complications [14 (21.9%) vs 13 (22.4%), P = 0.55] or mean number of stapler cartridges used [5 (4-6) vs 5.2 (5-6), P = 0.007] between the two groups. The two-step method for creating a gastric tube during laparoscopic-thoracoscopic Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy has the advantages of simple operation, minimal damage to the tubular stomach, and reduced use of stapler cartridges.

Regionally Implicit Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Solving the Relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell System Submitted to Iowa State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guthrey, Pierson Tyler

The relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system (RVM) models the behavior of collisionless plasma, where electrons and ions interact via the electromagnetic fields they generate. In the RVM system, electrons could accelerate to significant fractions of the speed of light. An idea that is actively being pursued by several research groups around the globe is to accelerate electrons to relativistic speeds by hitting a plasma with an intense laser beam. As the laser beam passes through the plasma it creates plasma wakes, much like a ship passing through water, which can trap electrons and push them to relativistic speeds. Such setups are known as laser wakefield accelerators, and have the potential to yield particle accelerators that are significantly smaller than those currently in use. Ultimately, the goal of such research is to harness the resulting electron beams to generate electromagnetic waves that can be used in medical imaging applications. High-order accurate numerical discretizations of kinetic Vlasov plasma models are very effective at yielding low-noise plasma simulations, but are computationally expensive to solve because of the high dimensionality. In addition to the general difficulties inherent to numerically simulating Vlasov models, the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system has unique challenges not present in the non-relativistic case. One such issue is that operator splitting of the phase gradient leads to potential instabilities, thus we require an alternative to operator splitting of the phase. The goal of the current work is to develop a new class of high-order accurate numerical methods for solving kinetic Vlasov models of plasma. The main discretization in configuration space is handled via a high-order finite element method called the discontinuous Galerkin method (DG). One difficulty is that standard explicit time-stepping methods for DG suffer from time-step restrictions that are significantly worse than what a simple Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) argument requires. The maximum stable time-step scales inversely with the highest degree in the DG polynomial approximation space and becomes progressively smaller with each added spatial dimension. In this work, we overcome this difficulty by introducing a novel time-stepping strategy: the regionally-implicit discontinuous Galerkin (RIDG) method. The RIDG is method is based on an extension of the Lax-Wendroff DG (LxW-DG) method, which previously had been shown to be equivalent (for linear constant coefficient problems) to a predictor-corrector approach, where the prediction is computed by a space-time DG method (STDG). The corrector is an explicit method that uses the space-time reconstructed solution from the predictor step. In this work, we modify the predictor to include not just local information, but also neighboring information. With this modification, we show that the stability is greatly enhanced; we show that we can remove the polynomial degree dependence of the maximum time-step and show vastly improved time-steps in multiple spatial dimensions. Upon the development of the general RIDG method, we apply it to the non-relativistic 1D1V Vlasov-Poisson equations and the relativistic 1D2V Vlasov-Maxwell equations. For each we validate the high-order method on several test cases. In the final test case, we demonstrate the ability of the method to simulate the acceleration of electrons to relativistic speeds in a simplified test case.

Optimal variable-grid finite-difference modeling for porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xinxin; Yin, Xingyao; Li, Haishan

2014-12-01

Numerical modeling of poroelastic waves by the finite-difference (FD) method is more expensive than that of acoustic or elastic waves. To improve the accuracy and computational efficiency of seismic modeling, variable-grid FD methods have been developed. In this paper, we derived optimal staggered-grid finite difference schemes with variable grid-spacing and time-step for seismic modeling in porous media. FD operators with small grid-spacing and time-step are adopted for low-velocity or small-scale geological bodies, while FD operators with big grid-spacing and time-step are adopted for high-velocity or large-scale regions. The dispersion relations of FD schemes were derived based on the plane wave theory, then the FD coefficients were obtained using the Taylor expansion. Dispersion analysis and modeling results demonstrated that the proposed method has higher accuracy with lower computational cost for poroelastic wave simulation in heterogeneous reservoirs.

Analysis on burnup step effect for evaluating reactor criticality and fuel breeding ratio

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

Saputra, Geby; Purnama, Aditya Rizki; Permana, Sidik

Criticality condition of the reactors is one of the important factors for evaluating reactor operation and nuclear fuel breeding ratio is another factor to show nuclear fuel sustainability. This study analyzes the effect of burnup steps and cycle operation step for evaluating the criticality condition of the reactor as well as the performance of nuclear fuel breeding or breeding ratio (BR). Burnup step is performed based on a day step analysis which is varied from 10 days up to 800 days and for cycle operation from 1 cycle up to 8 cycles reactor operations. In addition, calculation efficiency based onmore » the variation of computer processors to run the analysis in term of time (time efficiency in the calculation) have been also investigated. Optimization method for reactor design analysis which is used a large fast breeder reactor type as a reference case was performed by adopting an established reactor design code of JOINT-FR. The results show a criticality condition becomes higher for smaller burnup step (day) and for breeding ratio becomes less for smaller burnup step (day). Some nuclides contribute to make better criticality when smaller burnup step due to individul nuclide half-live. Calculation time for different burnup step shows a correlation with the time consuming requirement for more details step calculation, although the consuming time is not directly equivalent with the how many time the burnup time step is divided.« less

Convergence speeding up in the calculation of the viscous flow about an airfoil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Radespiel, R.; Rossow, C.

1988-01-01

A finite volume method to solve the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations was developed. It is based on a cell-vertex scheme with central differences and explicit Runge-Kutta time steps. A good convergence for a stationary solution was obtained by the use of local time steps, implicit smoothing of the residues, a multigrid algorithm, and a carefully controlled artificial dissipative term. The method is illustrated by results for transonic profiles and airfoils. The method allows a routine solution of the Navier-Stokes equations.

Errors in Postural Preparation Lead to Increased Choice Reaction Times for Step Initiation in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Nutt, John G.; Horak, Fay B.

2011-01-01

Background. This study asked whether older adults were more likely than younger adults to err in the initial direction of their anticipatory postural adjustment (APA) prior to a step (indicating a motor program error), whether initial motor program errors accounted for reaction time differences for step initiation, and whether initial motor program errors were linked to inhibitory failure. Methods. In a stepping task with choice reaction time and simple reaction time conditions, we measured forces under the feet to quantify APA onset and step latency and we used body kinematics to quantify forward movement of center of mass and length of first step. Results. Trials with APA errors were almost three times as common for older adults as for younger adults, and they were nine times more likely in choice reaction time trials than in simple reaction time trials. In trials with APA errors, step latency was delayed, correlation between APA onset and step latency was diminished, and forward motion of the center of mass prior to the step was increased. Participants with more APA errors tended to have worse Stroop interference scores, regardless of age. Conclusions. The results support the hypothesis that findings of slow choice reaction time step initiation in older adults are attributable to inclusion of trials with incorrect initial motor preparation and that these errors are caused by deficits in response inhibition. By extension, the results also suggest that mixing of trials with correct and incorrect initial motor preparation might explain apparent choice reaction time slowing with age in upper limb tasks. PMID:21498431

A Particle Smoother with Sequential Importance Resampling for soil hydraulic parameter estimation: A lysimeter experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montzka, Carsten; Hendricks Franssen, Harrie-Jan; Moradkhani, Hamid; Pütz, Thomas; Han, Xujun; Vereecken, Harry

2013-04-01

An adequate description of soil hydraulic properties is essential for a good performance of hydrological forecasts. So far, several studies showed that data assimilation could reduce the parameter uncertainty by considering soil moisture observations. However, these observations and also the model forcings were recorded with a specific measurement error. It seems a logical step to base state updating and parameter estimation on observations made at multiple time steps, in order to reduce the influence of outliers at single time steps given measurement errors and unknown model forcings. Such outliers could result in erroneous state estimation as well as inadequate parameters. This has been one of the reasons to use a smoothing technique as implemented for Bayesian data assimilation methods such as the Ensemble Kalman Filter (i.e. Ensemble Kalman Smoother). Recently, an ensemble-based smoother has been developed for state update with a SIR particle filter. However, this method has not been used for dual state-parameter estimation. In this contribution we present a Particle Smoother with sequentially smoothing of particle weights for state and parameter resampling within a time window as opposed to the single time step data assimilation used in filtering techniques. This can be seen as an intermediate variant between a parameter estimation technique using global optimization with estimation of single parameter sets valid for the whole period, and sequential Monte Carlo techniques with estimation of parameter sets evolving from one time step to another. The aims are i) to improve the forecast of evaporation and groundwater recharge by estimating hydraulic parameters, and ii) to reduce the impact of single erroneous model inputs/observations by a smoothing method. In order to validate the performance of the proposed method in a real world application, the experiment is conducted in a lysimeter environment.

Implicit unified gas-kinetic scheme for steady state solutions in all flow regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yajun; Zhong, Chengwen; Xu, Kun

2016-06-01

This paper presents an implicit unified gas-kinetic scheme (UGKS) for non-equilibrium steady state flow computation. The UGKS is a direct modeling method for flow simulation in all regimes with the updates of both macroscopic flow variables and microscopic gas distribution function. By solving the macroscopic equations implicitly, a predicted equilibrium state can be obtained first through iterations. With the newly predicted equilibrium state, the evolution equation of the gas distribution function and the corresponding collision term can be discretized in a fully implicit way for fast convergence through iterations as well. The lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel (LU-SGS) factorization method is implemented to solve both macroscopic and microscopic equations, which improves the efficiency of the scheme. Since the UGKS is a direct modeling method and its physical solution depends on the mesh resolution and the local time step, a physical time step needs to be fixed before using an implicit iterative technique with a pseudo-time marching step. Therefore, the physical time step in the current implicit scheme is determined by the same way as that in the explicit UGKS for capturing the physical solution in all flow regimes, but the convergence to a steady state speeds up through the adoption of a numerical time step with large CFL number. Many numerical test cases in different flow regimes from low speed to hypersonic ones, such as the Couette flow, cavity flow, and the flow passing over a cylinder, are computed to validate the current implicit method. The overall efficiency of the implicit UGKS can be improved by one or two orders of magnitude in comparison with the explicit one.

Tendency for interlaboratory precision in the GMO analysis method based on real-time PCR.

PubMed

Kodama, Takashi; Kurosawa, Yasunori; Kitta, Kazumi; Naito, Shigehiro

2010-01-01

The Horwitz curve estimates interlaboratory precision as a function only of concentration, and is frequently used as a method performance criterion in food analysis with chemical methods. The quantitative biochemical methods based on real-time PCR require an analogous criterion to progressively promote method validation. We analyzed the tendency of precision using a simplex real-time PCR technique in 53 collaborative studies of seven genetically modified (GM) crops. Reproducibility standard deviation (SR) and repeatability standard deviation (Sr) of the genetically modified organism (GMO) amount (%) was more or less independent of GM crops (i.e., maize, soybean, cotton, oilseed rape, potato, sugar beet, and rice) and evaluation procedure steps. Some studies evaluated whole steps consisting of DNA extraction and PCR quantitation, whereas others focused only on the PCR quantitation step by using DNA extraction solutions. Therefore, SR and Sr for GMO amount (%) are functions only of concentration similar to the Horwitz curve. We proposed S(R) = 0.1971C 0.8685 and S(r) = 0.1478C 0.8424, where C is the GMO amount (%). We also proposed a method performance index in GMO quantitative methods that is analogous to the Horwitz Ratio.

Implicit time accurate simulation of unsteady flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Buuren, René; Kuerten, Hans; Geurts, Bernard J.

2001-03-01

Implicit time integration was studied in the context of unsteady shock-boundary layer interaction flow. With an explicit second-order Runge-Kutta scheme, a reference solution to compare with the implicit second-order Crank-Nicolson scheme was determined. The time step in the explicit scheme is restricted by both temporal accuracy as well as stability requirements, whereas in the A-stable implicit scheme, the time step has to obey temporal resolution requirements and numerical convergence conditions. The non-linear discrete equations for each time step are solved iteratively by adding a pseudo-time derivative. The quasi-Newton approach is adopted and the linear systems that arise are approximately solved with a symmetric block Gauss-Seidel solver. As a guiding principle for properly setting numerical time integration parameters that yield an efficient time accurate capturing of the solution, the global error caused by the temporal integration is compared with the error resulting from the spatial discretization. Focus is on the sensitivity of properties of the solution in relation to the time step. Numerical simulations show that the time step needed for acceptable accuracy can be considerably larger than the explicit stability time step; typical ratios range from 20 to 80. At large time steps, convergence problems that are closely related to a highly complex structure of the basins of attraction of the iterative method may occur. Copyright

EXPONENTIAL TIME DIFFERENCING FOR HODGKIN–HUXLEY-LIKE ODES

PubMed Central

Börgers, Christoph; Nectow, Alexander R.

2013-01-01

Several authors have proposed the use of exponential time differencing (ETD) for Hodgkin–Huxley-like partial and ordinary differential equations (PDEs and ODEs). For Hodgkin–Huxley-like PDEs, ETD is attractive because it can deal effectively with the stiffness issues that diffusion gives rise to. However, large neuronal networks are often simulated assuming “space-clamped” neurons, i.e., using the Hodgkin–Huxley ODEs, in which there are no diffusion terms. Our goal is to clarify whether ETD is a good idea even in that case. We present a numerical comparison of first- and second-order ETD with standard explicit time-stepping schemes (Euler’s method, the midpoint method, and the classical fourth-order Runge–Kutta method). We find that in the standard schemes, the stable computation of the very rapid rising phase of the action potential often forces time steps of a small fraction of a millisecond. This can result in an expensive calculation yielding greater overall accuracy than needed. Although it is tempting at first to try to address this issue with adaptive or fully implicit time-stepping, we argue that neither is effective here. The main advantage of ETD for Hodgkin–Huxley-like systems of ODEs is that it allows underresolution of the rising phase of the action potential without causing instability, using time steps on the order of one millisecond. When high quantitative accuracy is not necessary and perhaps, because of modeling inaccuracies, not even useful, ETD allows much faster simulations than standard explicit time-stepping schemes. The second-order ETD scheme is found to be substantially more accurate than the first-order one even for large values of Δt. PMID:24058276

Purification of anti-Japanese encephalitis virus monoclonal antibody by ceramic hydroxyapatite chromatography without proteins A and G.

PubMed

Saito, Maiko; Kurosawa, Yae; Okuyama, Tsuneo

2012-02-01

Antibody purification using proteins A and G has been a standard method for research and industrial processes. The conventional method, however, includes a three-step process, including buffer exchange, before chromatography. In addition, proteins A and G require low pH elution, which causes antibody aggregation and inactivates the antibody's immunity. This report proposes a two-step method using hydroxyapatite chromatography and membrane filtration, without proteins A and G. This novel method shortens the running time to one-third the conventional method for each cycle. Using our two-step method, 90.2% of the monoclonal antibodies purified were recovered in the elution fraction, the purity achieved was >90%, and most of the antigen-specific activity was retained. This report suggests that the two-step method using hydroxyapatite chromatography and membrane filtration should be considered as an alternative to purification using proteins A and G.

Evaluation of a transfinite element numerical solution method for nonlinear heat transfer problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cerro, J. A.; Scotti, S. J.

1991-01-01

Laplace transform techniques have been widely used to solve linear, transient field problems. A transform-based algorithm enables calculation of the response at selected times of interest without the need for stepping in time as required by conventional time integration schemes. The elimination of time stepping can substantially reduce computer time when transform techniques are implemented in a numerical finite element program. The coupling of transform techniques with spatial discretization techniques such as the finite element method has resulted in what are known as transfinite element methods. Recently attempts have been made to extend the transfinite element method to solve nonlinear, transient field problems. This paper examines the theoretical basis and numerical implementation of one such algorithm, applied to nonlinear heat transfer problems. The problem is linearized and solved by requiring a numerical iteration at selected times of interest. While shown to be acceptable for weakly nonlinear problems, this algorithm is ineffective as a general nonlinear solution method.

A framework for simultaneous aerodynamic design optimization in the presence of chaos

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

Günther, Stefanie, E-mail: stefanie.guenther@scicomp.uni-kl.de; Gauger, Nicolas R.; Wang, Qiqi

Integrating existing solvers for unsteady partial differential equations into a simultaneous optimization method is challenging due to the forward-in-time information propagation of classical time-stepping methods. This paper applies the simultaneous single-step one-shot optimization method to a reformulated unsteady constraint that allows for both forward- and backward-in-time information propagation. Especially in the presence of chaotic and turbulent flow, solving the initial value problem simultaneously with the optimization problem often scales poorly with the time domain length. The new formulation relaxes the initial condition and instead solves a least squares problem for the discrete partial differential equations. This enables efficient one-shot optimizationmore » that is independent of the time domain length, even in the presence of chaos.« less

Enabling fast, stable and accurate peridynamic computations using multi-time-step integration

DOE PAGES

Lindsay, P.; Parks, M. L.; Prakash, A.

2016-04-13

Peridynamics is a nonlocal extension of classical continuum mechanics that is well-suited for solving problems with discontinuities such as cracks. This paper extends the peridynamic formulation to decompose a problem domain into a number of smaller overlapping subdomains and to enable the use of different time steps in different subdomains. This approach allows regions of interest to be isolated and solved at a small time step for increased accuracy while the rest of the problem domain can be solved at a larger time step for greater computational efficiency. Lastly, performance of the proposed method in terms of stability, accuracy, andmore » computational cost is examined and several numerical examples are presented to corroborate the findings.« less

The general alcoholics anonymous tools of recovery: the adoption of 12-step practices and beliefs.

PubMed

Greenfield, Brenna L; Tonigan, J Scott

2013-09-01

Working the 12 steps is widely prescribed for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members although the relative merits of different methods for measuring step work have received minimal attention and even less is known about how step work predicts later substance use. The current study (1) compared endorsements of step work on an face-valid or direct measure, the Alcoholics Anonymous Inventory (AAI), with an indirect measure of step work, the General Alcoholics Anonymous Tools of Recovery (GAATOR); (2) evaluated the underlying factor structure of the GAATOR and changes in step work over time; (3) examined changes in the endorsement of step work over time; and (4) investigated how, if at all, 12-step work predicted later substance use. New AA affiliates (N = 130) completed assessments at intake, 3, 6, and 9 months. Significantly more participants endorsed step work on the GAATOR than on the AAI for nine of the 12 steps. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure for the GAATOR comprising behavioral step work and spiritual step work. Behavioral step work did not change over time, but was predicted by having a sponsor, while Spiritual step work decreased over time and increases were predicted by attending 12-step meetings or treatment. Behavioral step work did not prospectively predict substance use. In contrast, spiritual step work predicted percent days abstinent. Behavioral step work and spiritual step work appear to be conceptually distinct components of step work that have distinct predictors and unique impacts on outcomes. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Simulation methods with extended stability for stiff biochemical Kinetics.

PubMed

Rué, Pau; Villà-Freixa, Jordi; Burrage, Kevin

2010-08-11

With increasing computer power, simulating the dynamics of complex systems in chemistry and biology is becoming increasingly routine. The modelling of individual reactions in (bio)chemical systems involves a large number of random events that can be simulated by the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA). The key quantity is the step size, or waiting time, tau, whose value inversely depends on the size of the propensities of the different channel reactions and which needs to be re-evaluated after every firing event. Such a discrete event simulation may be extremely expensive, in particular for stiff systems where tau can be very short due to the fast kinetics of some of the channel reactions. Several alternative methods have been put forward to increase the integration step size. The so-called tau-leap approach takes a larger step size by allowing all the reactions to fire, from a Poisson or Binomial distribution, within that step. Although the expected value for the different species in the reactive system is maintained with respect to more precise methods, the variance at steady state can suffer from large errors as tau grows. In this paper we extend Poisson tau-leap methods to a general class of Runge-Kutta (RK) tau-leap methods. We show that with the proper selection of the coefficients, the variance of the extended tau-leap can be well-behaved, leading to significantly larger step sizes. The benefit of adapting the extended method to the use of RK frameworks is clear in terms of speed of calculation, as the number of evaluations of the Poisson distribution is still one set per time step, as in the original tau-leap method. The approach paves the way to explore new multiscale methods to simulate (bio)chemical systems.

Dynamic Pathfinders: Leveraging Your OPAC to Create Resource Guides

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, Ben

2008-01-01

Library pathfinders are a time-tested method of leading library users to important resources. However, paper-based pathfinders suffer from space limitations, and both paper-based and Web-based pathfinders require frequent updates to keep up with new library acquisitions. This article details a step-by-step method to create an online dynamic…

Bootstrap-based methods for estimating standard errors in Cox's regression analyses of clustered event times.

PubMed

Xiao, Yongling; Abrahamowicz, Michal

2010-03-30

We propose two bootstrap-based methods to correct the standard errors (SEs) from Cox's model for within-cluster correlation of right-censored event times. The cluster-bootstrap method resamples, with replacement, only the clusters, whereas the two-step bootstrap method resamples (i) the clusters, and (ii) individuals within each selected cluster, with replacement. In simulations, we evaluate both methods and compare them with the existing robust variance estimator and the shared gamma frailty model, which are available in statistical software packages. We simulate clustered event time data, with latent cluster-level random effects, which are ignored in the conventional Cox's model. For cluster-level covariates, both proposed bootstrap methods yield accurate SEs, and type I error rates, and acceptable coverage rates, regardless of the true random effects distribution, and avoid serious variance under-estimation by conventional Cox-based standard errors. However, the two-step bootstrap method over-estimates the variance for individual-level covariates. We also apply the proposed bootstrap methods to obtain confidence bands around flexible estimates of time-dependent effects in a real-life analysis of cluster event times.

Counterrotating prop-fan simulations which feature a relative-motion multiblock grid decomposition enabling arbitrary time-steps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janus, J. Mark; Whitfield, David L.

1990-01-01

Improvements are presented of a computer algorithm developed for the time-accurate flow analysis of rotating machines. The flow model is a finite volume method utilizing a high-resolution approximate Riemann solver for interface flux definitions. The numerical scheme is a block LU implicit iterative-refinement method which possesses apparent unconditional stability. Multiblock composite gridding is used to orderly partition the field into a specified arrangement of blocks exhibiting varying degrees of similarity. Block-block relative motion is achieved using local grid distortion to reduce grid skewness and accommodate arbitrary time step selection. A general high-order numerical scheme is applied to satisfy the geometric conservation law. An even-blade-count counterrotating unducted fan configuration is chosen for a computational study comparing solutions resulting from altering parameters such as time step size and iteration count. The solutions are compared with measured data.

An efficient unstructured WENO method for supersonic reactive flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Wen-Geng; Zheng, Hong-Wei; Liu, Feng-Jun; Shi, Xiao-Tian; Gao, Jun; Hu, Ning; Lv, Meng; Chen, Si-Cong; Zhao, Hong-Da

2018-03-01

An efficient high-order numerical method for supersonic reactive flows is proposed in this article. The reactive source term and convection term are solved separately by splitting scheme. In the reaction step, an adaptive time-step method is presented, which can improve the efficiency greatly. In the convection step, a third-order accurate weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) method is adopted to reconstruct the solution in the unstructured grids. Numerical results show that our new method can capture the correct propagation speed of the detonation wave exactly even in coarse grids, while high order accuracy can be achieved in the smooth region. In addition, the proposed adaptive splitting method can reduce the computational cost greatly compared with the traditional splitting method.

Robust numerical solution of the reservoir routing equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorentini, Marcello; Orlandini, Stefano

2013-09-01

The robustness of numerical methods for the solution of the reservoir routing equation is evaluated. The methods considered in this study are: (1) the Laurenson-Pilgrim method, (2) the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, and (3) the fixed order Cash-Karp method. Method (1) is unable to handle nonmonotonic outflow rating curves. Method (2) is found to fail under critical conditions occurring, especially at the end of inflow recession limbs, when large time steps (greater than 12 min in this application) are used. Method (3) is computationally intensive and it does not solve the limitations of method (2). The limitations of method (2) can be efficiently overcome by reducing the time step in the critical phases of the simulation so as to ensure that water level remains inside the domains of the storage function and the outflow rating curve. The incorporation of a simple backstepping procedure implementing this control into the method (2) yields a robust and accurate reservoir routing method that can be safely used in distributed time-continuous catchment models.

A novel and fast method for proton range verification using a step wedge and 2D scintillator.

PubMed

Shen, Jiajian; Allred, Bryce C; Robertson, Daniel G; Liu, Wei; Sio, Terence T; Remmes, Nicholas B; Keole, Sameer R; Bues, Martin

2017-09-01

To implement and evaluate a novel and fast method for proton range verification by using a planar scintillator and step wedge. A homogenous proton pencil beam plan with 35 energies was designed and delivered to a 2D flat scintillator with a step wedge. The measurement was repeated 15 times (3 different days, 5 times per day). The scintillator image was smoothed, the Bragg peak and distal fall off regions were fitted by an analytical equation, and the proton range was calculated using simple trigonometry. The accuracy of this method was verified by comparing the measured ranges to those obtained using an ionization chamber and a scanning water tank, the gold standard. The reproducibility was evaluated by comparing the ranges over 15 repeated measurements. The sensitivity was evaluated by delivering to same beam to the system with a film inserted under the wedge. The range accuracy of all 35 proton energies measured over 3 days was within 0.2 mm. The reproducibility in 15 repeated measurements for all 35 proton ranges was ±0.045 mm. The sensitivity to range variation is 0.1 mm for the worst case. This efficient procedure permits measurement of 35 proton ranges in less than 3 min. The automated data processing produces results immediately. The setup of this system took less than 5 min. The time saving by this new method is about two orders of magnitude when compared with the time for water tank range measurements. A novel method using a scintillator with a step wedge to measure the proton range was implemented and evaluated. This novel method is fast and sensitive, and the proton range measured by this method was accurate and highly reproducible. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Solving the MHD equations by the space time conservation element and solution element method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Moujin; John Yu, S.-T.; Henry Lin, S.-C.; Chang, Sin-Chung; Blankson, Isaiah

2006-05-01

We apply the space-time conservation element and solution element (CESE) method to solve the ideal MHD equations with special emphasis on satisfying the divergence free constraint of magnetic field, i.e., ∇ · B = 0. In the setting of the CESE method, four approaches are employed: (i) the original CESE method without any additional treatment, (ii) a simple corrector procedure to update the spatial derivatives of magnetic field B after each time marching step to enforce ∇ · B = 0 at all mesh nodes, (iii) a constraint-transport method by using a special staggered mesh to calculate magnetic field B, and (iv) the projection method by solving a Poisson solver after each time marching step. To demonstrate the capabilities of these methods, two benchmark MHD flows are calculated: (i) a rotated one-dimensional MHD shock tube problem and (ii) a MHD vortex problem. The results show no differences between different approaches and all results compare favorably with previously reported data.

Step-by-step training in basic laparoscopic skills using two-way web conferencing software for remote coaching: A multicenter randomized controlled study.

PubMed

Mizota, Tomoko; Kurashima, Yo; Poudel, Saseem; Watanabe, Yusuke; Shichinohe, Toshiaki; Hirano, Satoshi

2018-07-01

Despite its advantages, few trainees outside of North America have access to simulation training. We hypothesized that a stepwise training method using tele-mentoring system would be an efficient technique for training in basic laparoscopic skills. Residents were randomized into two groups and trained to proficiency in intracorporeal suturing. The stepwise group (SG) practiced the task step-by-step, while the other group practiced comprehensively (CG). Each participant received weekly coaching via two-way web conferencing software. The duration of the coaching sessions and self-practice time were compared between the two groups. Twenty residents from 15 institutions participated, and all achieved proficiency. Coaching sessions using tele-mentoring system were completed without difficulties. The SG required significantly shorter coaching time per session than the CG (p = .002). There was no significant difference in self-practice time. The stepwise training method with the tele-mentoring system appears to make efficient use of surgical trainees' and trainers' time. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fast intersection detection algorithm for PC-based robot off-line programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedrowitz, Christian H.

1994-11-01

This paper presents a method for fast and reliable collision detection in complex production cells. The algorithm is part of the PC-based robot off-line programming system of the University of Siegen (Ropsus). The method is based on a solid model which is managed by a simplified constructive solid geometry model (CSG-model). The collision detection problem is divided in two steps. In the first step the complexity of the problem is reduced in linear time. In the second step the remaining solids are tested for intersection. For this the Simplex algorithm, which is known from linear optimization, is used. It computes a point which is common to two convex polyhedra. The polyhedra intersect, if such a point exists. Regarding the simplified geometrical model of Ropsus the algorithm runs also in linear time. In conjunction with the first step a resultant collision detection algorithm is found which requires linear time in all. Moreover it computes the resultant intersection polyhedron using the dual transformation.

Particle simulation of Coulomb collisions: Comparing the methods of Takizuka and Abe and Nanbu

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

Wang Chiaming; Lin, Tungyou; Caflisch, Russel

2008-04-20

The interactions of charged particles in a plasma are governed by long-range Coulomb collision. We compare two widely used Monte Carlo models for Coulomb collisions. One was developed by Takizuka and Abe in 1977, the other was developed by Nanbu in 1997. We perform deterministic and statistical error analysis with respect to particle number and time step. The two models produce similar stochastic errors, but Nanbu's model gives smaller time step errors. Error comparisons between these two methods are presented.

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

Isotalo, Aarno

A method referred to as tally nuclides is presented for accurately and efficiently calculating the time-step averages and integrals of any quantities that are weighted sums of atomic densities with constant weights during the step. The method allows all such quantities to be calculated simultaneously as a part of a single depletion solution with existing depletion algorithms. Some examples of the results that can be extracted include step-average atomic densities and macroscopic reaction rates, the total number of fissions during the step, and the amount of energy released during the step. Furthermore, the method should be applicable with several depletionmore » algorithms, and the integrals or averages should be calculated with an accuracy comparable to that reached by the selected algorithm for end-of-step atomic densities. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated in depletion calculations using the Chebyshev rational approximation method. Here, we demonstrate how the ability to calculate energy release in depletion calculations can be used to determine the accuracy of the normalization in a constant-power burnup calculation during the calculation without a need for a reference solution.« less

Multi-Step Time Series Forecasting with an Ensemble of Varied Length Mixture Models.

PubMed

Ouyang, Yicun; Yin, Hujun

2018-05-01

Many real-world problems require modeling and forecasting of time series, such as weather temperature, electricity demand, stock prices and foreign exchange (FX) rates. Often, the tasks involve predicting over a long-term period, e.g. several weeks or months. Most existing time series models are inheritably for one-step prediction, that is, predicting one time point ahead. Multi-step or long-term prediction is difficult and challenging due to the lack of information and uncertainty or error accumulation. The main existing approaches, iterative and independent, either use one-step model recursively or treat the multi-step task as an independent model. They generally perform poorly in practical applications. In this paper, as an extension of the self-organizing mixture autoregressive (AR) model, the varied length mixture (VLM) models are proposed to model and forecast time series over multi-steps. The key idea is to preserve the dependencies between the time points within the prediction horizon. Training data are segmented to various lengths corresponding to various forecasting horizons, and the VLM models are trained in a self-organizing fashion on these segments to capture these dependencies in its component AR models of various predicting horizons. The VLM models form a probabilistic mixture of these varied length models. A combination of short and long VLM models and an ensemble of them are proposed to further enhance the prediction performance. The effectiveness of the proposed methods and their marked improvements over the existing methods are demonstrated through a number of experiments on synthetic data, real-world FX rates and weather temperatures.

A Crank–Nicolson Leapfrog stabilization: Unconditional stability and two applications

DOE PAGES

Jiang, Nan; Kubacki, Michaela; Layton, William; ...

2014-12-09

We propose and analyze a linear stabilization of the Crank-Nicolson Leapfrog (CNLF) method that removes all time step/CFL conditions for stability and controls the unstable mode. It also increases the SPD part of the linear system to be solved at each time step while increasing solution accuracy. We give a proof of unconditional stability of the method as well as a proof of unconditional, asymptotic stability of both the stable and unstable modes. As a result, we illustrate two applications of the method: uncoupling groundwater-surface water flows and Stokes flow plus a Coriolis term.

An approach to improving transporting velocity in the long-range ultrasonic transportation of micro-particles

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

Meng, Jianxin; Mei, Deqing, E-mail: meidq-127@zju.edu.cn; Yang, Keji

2014-08-14

In existing ultrasonic transportation methods, the long-range transportation of micro-particles is always realized in step-by-step way. Due to the substantial decrease of the driving force in each step, the transportation is lower-speed and stair-stepping. To improve the transporting velocity, a non-stepping ultrasonic transportation approach is proposed. By quantitatively analyzing the acoustic potential well, an optimal region is defined as the position, where the largest driving force is provided under the condition that the driving force is simultaneously the major component of an acoustic radiation force. To keep the micro-particle trapped in the optimal region during the whole transportation process, anmore » approach of optimizing the phase-shifting velocity and phase-shifting step is adopted. Due to the stable and large driving force, the displacement of the micro-particle is an approximately linear function of time, instead of a stair-stepping function of time as in the existing step-by-step methods. An experimental setup is also developed to validate this approach. Long-range ultrasonic transportations of zirconium beads with high transporting velocity were realized. The experimental results demonstrated that this approach is an effective way to improve transporting velocity in the long-range ultrasonic transportation of micro-particles.« less

A second-order accurate immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method for particle-laden flows

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

Zhou, Qiang; Fan, Liang-Shih, E-mail: fan.1@osu.edu

A new immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) is presented for fully resolved simulations of incompressible viscous flows laden with rigid particles. The immersed boundary method (IBM) recently developed by Breugem (2012) [19] is adopted in the present method, development including the retraction technique, the multi-direct forcing method and the direct account of the inertia of the fluid contained within the particles. The present IB-LBM is, however, formulated with further improvement with the implementation of the high-order Runge–Kutta schemes in the coupled fluid–particle interaction. The major challenge to implement high-order Runge–Kutta schemes in the LBM is that the flow information suchmore » as density and velocity cannot be directly obtained at a fractional time step from the LBM since the LBM only provides the flow information at an integer time step. This challenge can be, however, overcome as given in the present IB-LBM by extrapolating the flow field around particles from the known flow field at the previous integer time step. The newly calculated fluid–particle interactions from the previous fractional time steps of the current integer time step are also accounted for in the extrapolation. The IB-LBM with high-order Runge–Kutta schemes developed in this study is validated by several benchmark applications. It is demonstrated, for the first time, that the IB-LBM has the capacity to resolve the translational and rotational motion of particles with the second-order accuracy. The optimal retraction distances for spheres and tubes that help the method achieve the second-order accuracy are found to be around 0.30 and −0.47 times of the lattice spacing, respectively. Simulations of the Stokes flow through a simple cubic lattice of rotational spheres indicate that the lift force produced by the Magnus effect can be very significant in view of the magnitude of the drag force when the practical rotating speed of the spheres is encountered. This finding may lead to more comprehensive studies of the effect of the particle rotation on fluid–solid drag laws. It is also demonstrated that, when the third-order or the fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme is used, the numerical stability of the present IB-LBM is better than that of all methods in the literature, including the previous IB-LBMs and also the methods with the combination of the IBM and the traditional incompressible Navier–Stokes solver. - Highlights: • The IBM is embedded in the LBM using Runge–Kutta time schemes. • The effectiveness of the present IB-LBM is validated by benchmark applications. • For the first time, the IB-LBM achieves the second-order accuracy. • The numerical stability of the present IB-LBM is better than previous methods.« less

A multi-time-step noise reduction method for measuring velocity statistics from particle tracking velocimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machicoane, Nathanaël; López-Caballero, Miguel; Bourgoin, Mickael; Aliseda, Alberto; Volk, Romain

2017-10-01

We present a method to improve the accuracy of velocity measurements for fluid flow or particles immersed in it, based on a multi-time-step approach that allows for cancellation of noise in the velocity measurements. Improved velocity statistics, a critical element in turbulent flow measurements, can be computed from the combination of the velocity moments computed using standard particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) or particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques for data sets that have been collected over different values of time intervals between images. This method produces Eulerian velocity fields and Lagrangian velocity statistics with much lower noise levels compared to standard PIV or PTV measurements, without the need of filtering and/or windowing. Particle displacement between two frames is computed for multiple different time-step values between frames in a canonical experiment of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The second order velocity structure function of the flow is computed with the new method and compared to results from traditional measurement techniques in the literature. Increased accuracy is also demonstrated by comparing the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy measured from this function against previously validated measurements.

Variable Step Integration Coupled with the Method of Characteristics Solution for Water-Hammer Analysis, A Case Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turpin, Jason B.

2004-01-01

One-dimensional water-hammer modeling involves the solution of two coupled non-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs). These equations result from applying the principles of conservation of mass and momentum to flow through a pipe, and usually the assumption that the speed at which pressure waves propagate through the pipe is constant. In order to solve these equations for the interested quantities (i.e. pressures and flow rates), they must first be converted to a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by either approximating the spatial derivative terms with numerical techniques or using the Method of Characteristics (MOC). The MOC approach is ideal in that no numerical approximation errors are introduced in converting the original system of PDEs into an equivalent system of ODEs. Unfortunately this resulting system of ODEs is bound by a time step constraint so that when integrating the equations the solution can only be obtained at fixed time intervals. If the fluid system to be modeled also contains dynamic components (i.e. components that are best modeled by a system of ODEs), it may be necessary to take extremely small time steps during certain points of the model simulation in order to achieve stability and/or accuracy in the solution. Coupled together, the fixed time step constraint invoked by the MOC, and the occasional need for extremely small time steps in order to obtain stability and/or accuracy, can greatly increase simulation run times. As one solution to this problem, a method for combining variable step integration (VSI) algorithms with the MOC was developed for modeling water-hammer in systems with highly dynamic components. A case study is presented in which reverse flow through a dual-flapper check valve introduces a water-hammer event. The predicted pressure responses upstream of the check-valve are compared with test data.

Dynamical continuous time random Lévy flights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jian; Chen, Xiaosong

2016-03-01

The Lévy flights' diffusive behavior is studied within the framework of the dynamical continuous time random walk (DCTRW) method, while the nonlinear friction is introduced in each step. Through the DCTRW method, Lévy random walker in each step flies by obeying the Newton's Second Law while the nonlinear friction f(v) = - γ0v - γ2v3 being considered instead of Stokes friction. It is shown that after introducing the nonlinear friction, the superdiffusive Lévy flights converges, behaves localization phenomenon with long time limit, but for the Lévy index μ = 2 case, it is still Brownian motion.

Representation of solution for fully nonlocal diffusion equations with deviation time variable

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drin, I. I.; Drin, S. S.; Drin, Ya. M.

2018-01-01

We prove the solvability of the Cauchy problem for a nonlocal heat equation which is of fractional order both in space and time. The representation formula for classical solutions for time- and space- fractional partial differential operator Dat + a2 (-Δ) γ/2 (0 <= α <= 1, γ ɛ (0, 2]) and deviation time variable is given in terms of the Fox H-function, using the step by step method.

A review of hybrid implicit explicit finite difference time domain method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Juan

2018-06-01

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has been extensively used to simulate varieties of electromagnetic interaction problems. However, because of its Courant-Friedrich-Levy (CFL) condition, the maximum time step size of this method is limited by the minimum size of cell used in the computational domain. So the FDTD method is inefficient to simulate the electromagnetic problems which have very fine structures. To deal with this problem, the Hybrid Implicit Explicit (HIE)-FDTD method is developed. The HIE-FDTD method uses the hybrid implicit explicit difference in the direction with fine structures to avoid the confinement of the fine spatial mesh on the time step size. So this method has much higher computational efficiency than the FDTD method, and is extremely useful for the problems which have fine structures in one direction. In this paper, the basic formulations, time stability condition and dispersion error of the HIE-FDTD method are presented. The implementations of several boundary conditions, including the connect boundary, absorbing boundary and periodic boundary are described, then some applications and important developments of this method are provided. The goal of this paper is to provide an historical overview and future prospects of the HIE-FDTD method.

Seismic wavefield modeling based on time-domain symplectic and Fourier finite-difference method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Gang; Ba, Jing; Liu, Xin-xin; Zhu, Kun; Liu, Guo-Chang

2017-06-01

Seismic wavefield modeling is important for improving seismic data processing and interpretation. Calculations of wavefield propagation are sometimes not stable when forward modeling of seismic wave uses large time steps for long times. Based on the Hamiltonian expression of the acoustic wave equation, we propose a structure-preserving method for seismic wavefield modeling by applying the symplectic finite-difference method on time grids and the Fourier finite-difference method on space grids to solve the acoustic wave equation. The proposed method is called the symplectic Fourier finite-difference (symplectic FFD) method, and offers high computational accuracy and improves the computational stability. Using acoustic approximation, we extend the method to anisotropic media. We discuss the calculations in the symplectic FFD method for seismic wavefield modeling of isotropic and anisotropic media, and use the BP salt model and BP TTI model to test the proposed method. The numerical examples suggest that the proposed method can be used in seismic modeling of strongly variable velocities, offering high computational accuracy and low numerical dispersion. The symplectic FFD method overcomes the residual qSV wave of seismic modeling in anisotropic media and maintains the stability of the wavefield propagation for large time steps.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IMPROVED QUASI-STATIC METHOD IN RATTLESNAKE/MOOSE FOR TIME-DEPENDENT RADIATION TRANSPORT MODELLING

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

Zachary M. Prince; Jean C. Ragusa; Yaqi Wang

Because of the recent interest in reactor transient modeling and the restart of the Transient Reactor (TREAT) Facility, there has been a need for more efficient, robust methods in computation frameworks. This is the impetus of implementing the Improved Quasi-Static method (IQS) in the RATTLESNAKE/MOOSE framework. IQS has implemented with CFEM diffusion by factorizing flux into time-dependent amplitude and spacial- and weakly time-dependent shape. The shape evaluation is very similar to a flux diffusion solve and is computed at large (macro) time steps. While the amplitude evaluation is a PRKE solve where the parameters are dependent on the shape andmore » is computed at small (micro) time steps. IQS has been tested with a custom one-dimensional example and the TWIGL ramp benchmark. These examples prove it to be a viable and effective method for highly transient cases. More complex cases are intended to be applied to further test the method and its implementation.« less

Effect of sample preparation method on quantification of polymorphs using PXRD.

PubMed

Alam, Shahnwaz; Patel, Sarsvatkumar; Bansal, Arvind Kumar

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of quantitative analysis of polymorphic mixtures. Various techniques such as hand grinding and mixing (in mortar and pestle), air jet milling and ball milling for micronization of particle and mixing were used to prepare binary mixtures. Using these techniques, mixtures of form I and form II of clopidogrel bisulphate were prepared in various proportions from 0-5% w/w of form I in form II and subjected to x-ray powder diffraction analysis. In order to obtain good resolution in minimum time, step time and step size were varied to optimize scan rate. Among the six combinations, step size of 0.05 degrees with step time of 5 s demonstrated identification of maximum characteristic peaks of form I in form II. Data obtained from samples prepared using both grinding and mixing in ball mill showed good analytical sensitivity and accuracy compared to other methods. Powder x-ray diffraction method was reproducible, precise with LOD of 0.29% and LOQ of 0.91%. Validation results showed excellent correlation between actual and predicted concentration with R2 > 0.9999.

Multigrid methods with space–time concurrency

DOE PAGES

Falgout, R. D.; Friedhoff, S.; Kolev, Tz. V.; ...

2017-10-06

Here, we consider the comparison of multigrid methods for parabolic partial differential equations that allow space–time concurrency. With current trends in computer architectures leading towards systems with more, but not faster, processors, space–time concurrency is crucial for speeding up time-integration simulations. In contrast, traditional time-integration techniques impose serious limitations on parallel performance due to the sequential nature of the time-stepping approach, allowing spatial concurrency only. This paper considers the three basic options of multigrid algorithms on space–time grids that allow parallelism in space and time: coarsening in space and time, semicoarsening in the spatial dimensions, and semicoarsening in the temporalmore » dimension. We develop parallel software and performance models to study the three methods at scales of up to 16K cores and introduce an extension of one of them for handling multistep time integration. We then discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and their benefit compared to traditional space-parallel algorithms with sequential time stepping on modern architectures.« less

Multigrid methods with space–time concurrency

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

Falgout, R. D.; Friedhoff, S.; Kolev, Tz. V.

Here, we consider the comparison of multigrid methods for parabolic partial differential equations that allow space–time concurrency. With current trends in computer architectures leading towards systems with more, but not faster, processors, space–time concurrency is crucial for speeding up time-integration simulations. In contrast, traditional time-integration techniques impose serious limitations on parallel performance due to the sequential nature of the time-stepping approach, allowing spatial concurrency only. This paper considers the three basic options of multigrid algorithms on space–time grids that allow parallelism in space and time: coarsening in space and time, semicoarsening in the spatial dimensions, and semicoarsening in the temporalmore » dimension. We develop parallel software and performance models to study the three methods at scales of up to 16K cores and introduce an extension of one of them for handling multistep time integration. We then discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and their benefit compared to traditional space-parallel algorithms with sequential time stepping on modern architectures.« less

Addressing Spatial Dependence Bias in Climate Model Simulations—An Independent Component Analysis Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahar, Jannatun; Johnson, Fiona; Sharma, Ashish

2018-02-01

Conventional bias correction is usually applied on a grid-by-grid basis, meaning that the resulting corrections cannot address biases in the spatial distribution of climate variables. To solve this problem, a two-step bias correction method is proposed here to correct time series at multiple locations conjointly. The first step transforms the data to a set of statistically independent univariate time series, using a technique known as independent component analysis (ICA). The mutually independent signals can then be bias corrected as univariate time series and back-transformed to improve the representation of spatial dependence in the data. The spatially corrected data are then bias corrected at the grid scale in the second step. The method has been applied to two CMIP5 General Circulation Model simulations for six different climate regions of Australia for two climate variables—temperature and precipitation. The results demonstrate that the ICA-based technique leads to considerable improvements in temperature simulations with more modest improvements in precipitation. Overall, the method results in current climate simulations that have greater equivalency in space and time with observational data.

Development of iterative techniques for the solution of unsteady compressible viscous flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sankar, Lakshmi N.; Hixon, Duane

1992-01-01

The development of efficient iterative solution methods for the numerical solution of two- and three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations is discussed. Iterative time marching methods have several advantages over classical multi-step explicit time marching schemes, and non-iterative implicit time marching schemes. Iterative schemes have better stability characteristics than non-iterative explicit and implicit schemes. In this work, another approach based on the classical conjugate gradient method, known as the Generalized Minimum Residual (GMRES) algorithm is investigated. The GMRES algorithm has been used in the past by a number of researchers for solving steady viscous and inviscid flow problems. Here, we investigate the suitability of this algorithm for solving the system of non-linear equations that arise in unsteady Navier-Stokes solvers at each time step.

A transition from using multi‐step procedures to a fully integrated system for performing extracorporeal photopheresis: A comparison of costs and efficiencies

PubMed Central

Leblond, Veronique; Ouzegdouh, Maya; Button, Paul

2017-01-01

Abstract Introduction The Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital Hemobiotherapy Department, Paris, France, has been providing extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) since November 2011, and started using the Therakos® CELLEX® fully integrated system in 2012. This report summarizes our single‐center experience of transitioning from the use of multi‐step ECP procedures to the fully integrated ECP system, considering the capacity and cost implications. Materials and Methods The total number of ECP procedures performed 2011–2015 was derived from department records. The time taken to complete a single ECP treatment using a multi‐step technique and the fully integrated system at our department was assessed. Resource costs (2014€) were obtained for materials and calculated for personnel time required. Time‐driven activity‐based costing methods were applied to provide a cost comparison. Results The number of ECP treatments per year increased from 225 (2012) to 727 (2015). The single multi‐step procedure took 270 min compared to 120 min for the fully integrated system. The total calculated per‐session cost of performing ECP using the multi‐step procedure was greater than with the CELLEX® system (€1,429.37 and €1,264.70 per treatment, respectively). Conclusions For hospitals considering a transition from multi‐step procedures to fully integrated methods for ECP where cost may be a barrier, time‐driven activity‐based costing should be utilized to gain a more comprehensive understanding the full benefit that such a transition offers. The example from our department confirmed that there were not just cost and time savings, but that the time efficiencies gained with CELLEX® allow for more patient treatments per year. PMID:28419561

Overview of fast algorithm in 3D dynamic holographic display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Juan; Jia, Jia; Pan, Yijie; Wang, Yongtian

2013-08-01

3D dynamic holographic display is one of the most attractive techniques for achieving real 3D vision with full depth cue without any extra devices. However, huge 3D information and data should be preceded and be computed in real time for generating the hologram in 3D dynamic holographic display, and it is a challenge even for the most advanced computer. Many fast algorithms are proposed for speeding the calculation and reducing the memory usage, such as:look-up table (LUT), compressed look-up table (C-LUT), split look-up table (S-LUT), and novel look-up table (N-LUT) based on the point-based method, and full analytical polygon-based methods, one-step polygon-based method based on the polygon-based method. In this presentation, we overview various fast algorithms based on the point-based method and the polygon-based method, and focus on the fast algorithm with low memory usage, the C-LUT, and one-step polygon-based method by the 2D Fourier analysis of the 3D affine transformation. The numerical simulations and the optical experiments are presented, and several other algorithms are compared. The results show that the C-LUT algorithm and the one-step polygon-based method are efficient methods for saving calculation time. It is believed that those methods could be used in the real-time 3D holographic display in future.

A Semi-implicit Method for Time Accurate Simulation of Compressible Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wall, Clifton; Pierce, Charles D.; Moin, Parviz

2001-11-01

A semi-implicit method for time accurate simulation of compressible flow is presented. The method avoids the acoustic CFL limitation, allowing a time step restricted only by the convective velocity. Centered discretization in both time and space allows the method to achieve zero artificial attenuation of acoustic waves. The method is an extension of the standard low Mach number pressure correction method to the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, and the main feature of the method is the solution of a Helmholtz type pressure correction equation similar to that of Demirdžić et al. (Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids, Vol. 16, pp. 1029-1050, 1993). The method is attractive for simulation of acoustic combustion instabilities in practical combustors. In these flows, the Mach number is low; therefore the time step allowed by the convective CFL limitation is significantly larger than that allowed by the acoustic CFL limitation, resulting in significant efficiency gains. Also, the method's property of zero artificial attenuation of acoustic waves is important for accurate simulation of the interaction between acoustic waves and the combustion process. The method has been implemented in a large eddy simulation code, and results from several test cases will be presented.

Error correction in short time steps during the application of quantum gates

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

Castro, L.A. de, E-mail: leonardo.castro@usp.br; Napolitano, R.D.J.

2016-04-15

We propose a modification of the standard quantum error-correction method to enable the correction of errors that occur due to the interaction with a noisy environment during quantum gates without modifying the codification used for memory qubits. Using a perturbation treatment of the noise that allows us to separate it from the ideal evolution of the quantum gate, we demonstrate that in certain cases it is necessary to divide the logical operation in short time steps intercalated by correction procedures. A prescription of how these gates can be constructed is provided, as well as a proof that, even for themore » cases when the division of the quantum gate in short time steps is not necessary, this method may be advantageous for reducing the total duration of the computation.« less

Prediction-Correction Algorithms for Time-Varying Constrained Optimization

DOE PAGES

Simonetto, Andrea; Dall'Anese, Emiliano

2017-07-26

This article develops online algorithms to track solutions of time-varying constrained optimization problems. Particularly, resembling workhorse Kalman filtering-based approaches for dynamical systems, the proposed methods involve prediction-correction steps to provably track the trajectory of the optimal solutions of time-varying convex problems. The merits of existing prediction-correction methods have been shown for unconstrained problems and for setups where computing the inverse of the Hessian of the cost function is computationally affordable. This paper addresses the limitations of existing methods by tackling constrained problems and by designing first-order prediction steps that rely on the Hessian of the cost function (and do notmore » require the computation of its inverse). In addition, the proposed methods are shown to improve the convergence speed of existing prediction-correction methods when applied to unconstrained problems. Numerical simulations corroborate the analytical results and showcase performance and benefits of the proposed algorithms. A realistic application of the proposed method to real-time control of energy resources is presented.« less

Krylov Deferred Correction Accelerated Method of Lines Transpose for Parabolic Problems

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

Jia, Jun; Jingfang, Huang

2008-01-01

In this paper, a new class of numerical methods for the accurate and efficient solutions of parabolic partial differential equations is presented. Unlike traditional method of lines (MoL), the new {\\bf \\it Krylov deferred correction (KDC) accelerated method of lines transpose (MoL^T)} first discretizes the temporal direction using Gaussian type nodes and spectral integration, and symbolically applies low-order time marching schemes to form a preconditioned elliptic system, which is then solved iteratively using Newton-Krylov techniques such as Newton-GMRES or Newton-BiCGStab method. Each function evaluation in the Newton-Krylov method is simply one low-order time-stepping approximation of the error by solving amore » decoupled system using available fast elliptic equation solvers. Preliminary numerical experiments show that the KDC accelerated MoL^T technique is unconditionally stable, can be spectrally accurate in both temporal and spatial directions, and allows optimal time-step sizes in long-time simulations.« less

Single Laboratory Validated Method for Determination of Cylindrospermopsin and Anatoxin-a in Ambient Water by Liquid Chromatography/ Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)

EPA Science Inventory

This product is an LC/MS/MS single laboratory validated method for the determination of cylindrospermopsin and anatoxin-a in ambient waters. The product contains step-by-step instructions for sample preparation, analyses, preservation, sample holding time and QC protocols to ensu...

A split-step method to include electron–electron collisions via Monte Carlo in multiple rate equation simulations

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

Huthmacher, Klaus; Molberg, Andreas K.; Rethfeld, Bärbel

2016-10-01

A split-step numerical method for calculating ultrafast free-electron dynamics in dielectrics is introduced. The two split steps, independently programmed in C++11 and FORTRAN 2003, are interfaced via the presented open source wrapper. The first step solves a deterministic extended multi-rate equation for the ionization, electron–phonon collisions, and single photon absorption by free-carriers. The second step is stochastic and models electron–electron collisions using Monte-Carlo techniques. This combination of deterministic and stochastic approaches is a unique and efficient method of calculating the nonlinear dynamics of 3D materials exposed to high intensity ultrashort pulses. Results from simulations solving the proposed model demonstrate howmore » electron–electron scattering relaxes the non-equilibrium electron distribution on the femtosecond time scale.« less

A second-order accurate immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method for particle-laden flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Qiang; Fan, Liang-Shih

2014-07-01

A new immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) is presented for fully resolved simulations of incompressible viscous flows laden with rigid particles. The immersed boundary method (IBM) recently developed by Breugem (2012) [19] is adopted in the present method, development including the retraction technique, the multi-direct forcing method and the direct account of the inertia of the fluid contained within the particles. The present IB-LBM is, however, formulated with further improvement with the implementation of the high-order Runge-Kutta schemes in the coupled fluid-particle interaction. The major challenge to implement high-order Runge-Kutta schemes in the LBM is that the flow information such as density and velocity cannot be directly obtained at a fractional time step from the LBM since the LBM only provides the flow information at an integer time step. This challenge can be, however, overcome as given in the present IB-LBM by extrapolating the flow field around particles from the known flow field at the previous integer time step. The newly calculated fluid-particle interactions from the previous fractional time steps of the current integer time step are also accounted for in the extrapolation. The IB-LBM with high-order Runge-Kutta schemes developed in this study is validated by several benchmark applications. It is demonstrated, for the first time, that the IB-LBM has the capacity to resolve the translational and rotational motion of particles with the second-order accuracy. The optimal retraction distances for spheres and tubes that help the method achieve the second-order accuracy are found to be around 0.30 and -0.47 times of the lattice spacing, respectively. Simulations of the Stokes flow through a simple cubic lattice of rotational spheres indicate that the lift force produced by the Magnus effect can be very significant in view of the magnitude of the drag force when the practical rotating speed of the spheres is encountered. This finding may lead to more comprehensive studies of the effect of the particle rotation on fluid-solid drag laws. It is also demonstrated that, when the third-order or the fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme is used, the numerical stability of the present IB-LBM is better than that of all methods in the literature, including the previous IB-LBMs and also the methods with the combination of the IBM and the traditional incompressible Navier-Stokes solver.

The General Alcoholics Anonymous Tools of Recovery: The Adoption of 12-Step Practices and Beliefs

PubMed Central

Greenfield, Brenna L.; Tonigan, J. Scott

2013-01-01

Working the 12 steps is widely prescribed for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members although the relative merits of different methods for measuring step-work have received minimal attention and even less is known about how step-work predicts later substance use. The current study (1) compared endorsements of step-work on an face-valid or direct measure, the Alcoholics Anonymous Inventory (AAI), with an indirect measure of step-work, the General Alcoholics Anonymous Tools of Recovery (GAATOR), (2) evaluated the underlying factor structure of the GAATOR and changes in step-work over time, (3) examined changes in the endorsement of step-work over time, and (4) investigated how, if at all, 12-step-work predicted later substance use. New AA affiliates (N = 130) completed assessments at intake, 3, 6, and 9 months. Significantly more participants endorsed step-work on the GAATOR than on the AAI for nine of the 12 steps. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure for the GAATOR comprising Behavioral Step-Work and Spiritual Step-Work. Behavioral Step-Work did not change over time, but was predicted by having a sponsor, while Spiritual Step-Work decreased over time and increases were predicted by attending 12-step meetings or treatment. Behavioral Step-Work did not prospectively predict substance use. In contrast, Spiritual Step-Work predicted percent days abstinent, an effect that is consistent with recent work on the mediating effects of spiritual growth, AA, and increased abstinence. Behavioral and Spiritual Step-Work appear to be conceptually distinct components of step-work that have distinct predictors and unique impacts on outcomes. PMID:22867293

Comparison of Methods for Demonstrating Passage of Time When Using Computer-Based Video Prompting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mechling, Linda C.; Bryant, Kathryn J.; Spencer, Galen P.; Ayres, Kevin M.

2015-01-01

Two different video-based procedures for presenting the passage of time (how long a step lasts) were examined. The two procedures were presented within the framework of video prompting to promote independent multi-step task completion across four young adults with moderate intellectual disability. The two procedures demonstrating passage of the…

Solving large mixed linear models using preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration.

PubMed

Strandén, I; Lidauer, M

1999-12-01

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

Efficiency and Accuracy of Time-Accurate Turbulent Navier-Stokes Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rumsey, Christopher L.; Sanetrik, Mark D.; Biedron, Robert T.; Melson, N. Duane; Parlette, Edward B.

1995-01-01

The accuracy and efficiency of two types of subiterations in both explicit and implicit Navier-Stokes codes are explored for unsteady laminar circular-cylinder flow and unsteady turbulent flow over an 18-percent-thick circular-arc (biconvex) airfoil. Grid and time-step studies are used to assess the numerical accuracy of the methods. Nonsubiterative time-stepping schemes and schemes with physical time subiterations are subject to time-step limitations in practice that are removed by pseudo time sub-iterations. Computations for the circular-arc airfoil indicate that a one-equation turbulence model predicts the unsteady separated flow better than an algebraic turbulence model; also, the hysteresis with Mach number of the self-excited unsteadiness due to shock and boundary-layer separation is well predicted.

Real-Time Tracking of Knee Adduction Moment in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

PubMed Central

Kang, Sang Hoon; Lee, Song Joo; Zhang, Li-Qun

2014-01-01

Background The external knee adduction moment (EKAM) is closely associated with the presence, progression, and severity of knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, there is a lack of convenient and practical method to estimate and track in real-time the EKAM of patients with knee OA for clinical evaluation and gait training, especially outside of gait laboratories. New Method A real-time EKAM estimation method was developed and applied to track and investigate the EKAM and other knee moments during stepping on an elliptical trainer in both healthy subjects and a patient with knee OA. Results Substantial changes were observed in the EKAM and other knee moments during stepping in the patient with knee OA. Comparison with Existing Method(s) This is the first study to develop and test feasibility of real-time tracking method of the EKAM on patients with knee OA using 3-D inverse dynamics. Conclusions The study provides us an accurate and practical method to evaluate in real-time the critical EKAM associated with knee OA, which is expected to help us to diagnose and evaluate patients with knee OA and provide the patients with real-time EKAM feedback rehabilitation training. PMID:24361759

Discrete maximal regularity of time-stepping schemes for fractional evolution equations.

PubMed

Jin, Bangti; Li, Buyang; Zhou, Zhi

2018-01-01

In this work, we establish the maximal [Formula: see text]-regularity for several time stepping schemes for a fractional evolution model, which involves a fractional derivative of order [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], in time. These schemes include convolution quadratures generated by backward Euler method and second-order backward difference formula, the L1 scheme, explicit Euler method and a fractional variant of the Crank-Nicolson method. The main tools for the analysis include operator-valued Fourier multiplier theorem due to Weis (Math Ann 319:735-758, 2001. doi:10.1007/PL00004457) and its discrete analogue due to Blunck (Stud Math 146:157-176, 2001. doi:10.4064/sm146-2-3). These results generalize the corresponding results for parabolic problems.

Three-dimensional unstructured grid Euler computations using a fully-implicit, upwind method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitaker, David L.

1993-01-01

A method has been developed to solve the Euler equations on a three-dimensional unstructured grid composed of tetrahedra. The method uses an upwind flow solver with a linearized, backward-Euler time integration scheme. Each time step results in a sparse linear system of equations which is solved by an iterative, sparse matrix solver. Local-time stepping, switched evolution relaxation (SER), preconditioning and reuse of the Jacobian are employed to accelerate the convergence rate. Implicit boundary conditions were found to be extremely important for fast convergence. Numerical experiments have shown that convergence rates comparable to that of a multigrid, central-difference scheme are achievable on the same mesh. Results are presented for several grids about an ONERA M6 wing.

A Predictive Model for Toxicity Effects Assessment of Biotransformed Hepatic Drugs Using Iterative Sampling Method.

PubMed

Tharwat, Alaa; Moemen, Yasmine S; Hassanien, Aboul Ella

2016-12-09

Measuring toxicity is one of the main steps in drug development. Hence, there is a high demand for computational models to predict the toxicity effects of the potential drugs. In this study, we used a dataset, which consists of four toxicity effects:mutagenic, tumorigenic, irritant and reproductive effects. The proposed model consists of three phases. In the first phase, rough set-based methods are used to select the most discriminative features for reducing the classification time and improving the classification performance. Due to the imbalanced class distribution, in the second phase, different sampling methods such as Random Under-Sampling, Random Over-Sampling and Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique are used to solve the problem of imbalanced datasets. ITerative Sampling (ITS) method is proposed to avoid the limitations of those methods. ITS method has two steps. The first step (sampling step) iteratively modifies the prior distribution of the minority and majority classes. In the second step, a data cleaning method is used to remove the overlapping that is produced from the first step. In the third phase, Bagging classifier is used to classify an unknown drug into toxic or non-toxic. The experimental results proved that the proposed model performed well in classifying the unknown samples according to all toxic effects in the imbalanced datasets.

Round-robin comparison of methods for the detection of human enteric viruses in lettuce.

PubMed

Le Guyader, Françoise S; Schultz, Anna-Charlotte; Haugarreau, Larissa; Croci, Luciana; Maunula, Leena; Duizer, Erwin; Lodder-Verschoor, Froukje; von Bonsdorff, Carl-Henrik; Suffredini, Elizabetha; van der Poel, Wim M M; Reymundo, Rosanna; Koopmans, Marion

2004-10-01

Five methods that detect human enteric virus contamination in lettuce were compared. To mimic multiple contaminations as observed after sewage contamination, artificial contamination was with human calicivirus and poliovirus and animal calicivirus strains at different concentrations. Nucleic acid extractions were done at the same time in the same laboratory to reduce assay-to-assay variability. Results showed that the two critical steps are the washing step and removal of inhibitors. The more reliable methods (sensitivity, simplicity, low cost) included an elution/concentration step and a commercial kit. Such development of sensitive methods for viral detection in foods other than shellfish is important to improve food safety.

The iterative thermal emission method: A more implicit modification of IMC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, A. R.; Gentile, N. A.; Palmer, T. S.

2014-11-01

For over 40 years, the Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method has been used to solve challenging problems in thermal radiative transfer. These problems typically contain regions that are optically thick and diffusive, as a consequence of the high degree of ;pseudo-scattering; introduced to model the absorption and reemission of photons from a tightly-coupled, radiating material. IMC has several well-known features that could be improved: a) it can be prohibitively computationally expensive, b) it introduces statistical noise into the material and radiation temperatures, which may be problematic in multiphysics simulations, and c) under certain conditions, solutions can be nonphysical, in that they violate a maximum principle, where IMC-calculated temperatures can be greater than the maximum temperature used to drive the problem. We have developed a variant of IMC called iterative thermal emission IMC, which is designed to have a reduced parameter space in which the maximum principle is violated. ITE IMC is a more implicit version of IMC in that it uses the information obtained from a series of IMC photon histories to improve the estimate for the end of time step material temperature during a time step. A better estimate of the end of time step material temperature allows for a more implicit estimate of other temperature-dependent quantities: opacity, heat capacity, Fleck factor (probability that a photon absorbed during a time step is not reemitted) and the Planckian emission source. We have verified the ITE IMC method against 0-D and 1-D analytic solutions and problems from the literature. These results are compared with traditional IMC. We perform an infinite medium stability analysis of ITE IMC and show that it is slightly more numerically stable than traditional IMC. We find that significantly larger time steps can be used with ITE IMC without violating the maximum principle, especially in problems with non-linear material properties. The ITE IMC method does however yield solutions with larger variance because each sub-step uses a different Fleck factor (even at equilibrium).

The iterative thermal emission method: A more implicit modification of IMC

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

Long, A.R., E-mail: arlong.ne@tamu.edu; Gentile, N.A.; Palmer, T.S.

2014-11-15

For over 40 years, the Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method has been used to solve challenging problems in thermal radiative transfer. These problems typically contain regions that are optically thick and diffusive, as a consequence of the high degree of “pseudo-scattering” introduced to model the absorption and reemission of photons from a tightly-coupled, radiating material. IMC has several well-known features that could be improved: a) it can be prohibitively computationally expensive, b) it introduces statistical noise into the material and radiation temperatures, which may be problematic in multiphysics simulations, and c) under certain conditions, solutions can be nonphysical, in thatmore » they violate a maximum principle, where IMC-calculated temperatures can be greater than the maximum temperature used to drive the problem. We have developed a variant of IMC called iterative thermal emission IMC, which is designed to have a reduced parameter space in which the maximum principle is violated. ITE IMC is a more implicit version of IMC in that it uses the information obtained from a series of IMC photon histories to improve the estimate for the end of time step material temperature during a time step. A better estimate of the end of time step material temperature allows for a more implicit estimate of other temperature-dependent quantities: opacity, heat capacity, Fleck factor (probability that a photon absorbed during a time step is not reemitted) and the Planckian emission source. We have verified the ITE IMC method against 0-D and 1-D analytic solutions and problems from the literature. These results are compared with traditional IMC. We perform an infinite medium stability analysis of ITE IMC and show that it is slightly more numerically stable than traditional IMC. We find that significantly larger time steps can be used with ITE IMC without violating the maximum principle, especially in problems with non-linear material properties. The ITE IMC method does however yield solutions with larger variance because each sub-step uses a different Fleck factor (even at equilibrium)« less

A transition from using multi-step procedures to a fully integrated system for performing extracorporeal photopheresis: A comparison of costs and efficiencies.

PubMed

Azar, Nabih; Leblond, Veronique; Ouzegdouh, Maya; Button, Paul

2017-12-01

The Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital Hemobiotherapy Department, Paris, France, has been providing extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) since November 2011, and started using the Therakos ® CELLEX ® fully integrated system in 2012. This report summarizes our single-center experience of transitioning from the use of multi-step ECP procedures to the fully integrated ECP system, considering the capacity and cost implications. The total number of ECP procedures performed 2011-2015 was derived from department records. The time taken to complete a single ECP treatment using a multi-step technique and the fully integrated system at our department was assessed. Resource costs (2014€) were obtained for materials and calculated for personnel time required. Time-driven activity-based costing methods were applied to provide a cost comparison. The number of ECP treatments per year increased from 225 (2012) to 727 (2015). The single multi-step procedure took 270 min compared to 120 min for the fully integrated system. The total calculated per-session cost of performing ECP using the multi-step procedure was greater than with the CELLEX ® system (€1,429.37 and €1,264.70 per treatment, respectively). For hospitals considering a transition from multi-step procedures to fully integrated methods for ECP where cost may be a barrier, time-driven activity-based costing should be utilized to gain a more comprehensive understanding the full benefit that such a transition offers. The example from our department confirmed that there were not just cost and time savings, but that the time efficiencies gained with CELLEX ® allow for more patient treatments per year. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Clinical Apheresis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Do-It-Yourself Critical Path Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Edward P., Jr.

This report describes the critical path method (CPM), a system for planning and scheduling work to get the best time-cost combination for any particular job. With the use of diagrams, the report describes how CPM works on a step-by-step basis. CPM uses a network to show which parts of a job must be done and how they would eventually fit together…

Adaptive time-stepping Monte Carlo integration of Coulomb collisions

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

Sarkimaki, Konsta; Hirvijoki, E.; Terava, J.

Here, we report an accessible and robust tool for evaluating the effects of Coulomb collisions on a test particle in a plasma that obeys Maxwell–Jüttner statistics. The implementation is based on the Beliaev–Budker collision integral which allows both the test particle and the background plasma to be relativistic. The integration method supports adaptive time stepping, which is shown to greatly improve the computational efficiency. The Monte Carlo method is implemented for both the three-dimensional particle momentum space and the five-dimensional guiding center phase space.

Adaptive time-stepping Monte Carlo integration of Coulomb collisions

DOE PAGES

Sarkimaki, Konsta; Hirvijoki, E.; Terava, J.

2017-10-12

Here, we report an accessible and robust tool for evaluating the effects of Coulomb collisions on a test particle in a plasma that obeys Maxwell–Jüttner statistics. The implementation is based on the Beliaev–Budker collision integral which allows both the test particle and the background plasma to be relativistic. The integration method supports adaptive time stepping, which is shown to greatly improve the computational efficiency. The Monte Carlo method is implemented for both the three-dimensional particle momentum space and the five-dimensional guiding center phase space.

Particle Simulation of Coulomb Collisions: Comparing the Methods of Takizuka & Abe and Nanbu

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

Wang, C; Lin, T; Caflisch, R

2007-05-22

The interactions of charged particles in a plasma are in a plasma is governed by the long-range Coulomb collision. We compare two widely used Monte Carlo models for Coulomb collisions. One was developed by Takizuka and Abe in 1977, the other was developed by Nanbu in 1997. We perform deterministic and stochastic error analysis with respect to particle number and time step. The two models produce similar stochastic errors, but Nanbu's model gives smaller time step errors. Error comparisons between these two methods are presented.

Method and apparatus for fault tolerance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masson, Gerald M. (Inventor); Sullivan, Gregory F. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A method and apparatus for achieving fault tolerance in a computer system having at least a first central processing unit and a second central processing unit. The method comprises the steps of first executing a first algorithm in the first central processing unit on input which produces a first output as well as a certification trail. Next, executing a second algorithm in the second central processing unit on the input and on at least a portion of the certification trail which produces a second output. The second algorithm has a faster execution time than the first algorithm for a given input. Then, comparing the first and second outputs such that an error result is produced if the first and second outputs are not the same. The step of executing a first algorithm and the step of executing a second algorithm preferably takes place over essentially the same time period.

A temperature control method for shortening thermal cycling time to achieve rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a disposable polymer microfluidic device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bu, Minqiang; Perch-Nielsen, Ivan R.; Sørensen, Karen S.; Skov, Julia; Sun, Yi; Duong Bang, Dang; Pedersen, Michael E.; Hansen, Mikkel F.; Wolff, Anders

2013-07-01

We present a temperature control method capable of effectively shortening the thermal cycling time of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a disposable polymer microfluidic device with an external heater and a temperature sensor. The method employs optimized temperature overshooting and undershooting steps to achieve a rapid ramping between the temperature steps for DNA denaturation, annealing and extension. The temperature dynamics within the microfluidic PCR chamber was characterized and the overshooting and undershooting parameters were optimized using the temperature-dependent fluorescence signal from Rhodamine B. The method was validated with the PCR amplification of mecA gene (162 bp) from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacterium (MRSA), where the time for 30 cycles was reduced from 50 min (without over- and undershooting) to 20 min.

Incompressible spectral-element method: Derivation of equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deanna, Russell G.

1993-01-01

A fractional-step splitting scheme breaks the full Navier-Stokes equations into explicit and implicit portions amenable to the calculus of variations. Beginning with the functional forms of the Poisson and Helmholtz equations, we substitute finite expansion series for the dependent variables and derive the matrix equations for the unknown expansion coefficients. This method employs a new splitting scheme which differs from conventional three-step (nonlinear, pressure, viscous) schemes. The nonlinear step appears in the conventional, explicit manner, the difference occurs in the pressure step. Instead of solving for the pressure gradient using the nonlinear velocity, we add the viscous portion of the Navier-Stokes equation from the previous time step to the velocity before solving for the pressure gradient. By combining this 'predicted' pressure gradient with the nonlinear velocity in an explicit term, and the Crank-Nicholson method for the viscous terms, we develop a Helmholtz equation for the final velocity.

First-Order Hyperbolic System Method for Time-Dependent Advection-Diffusion Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mazaheri, Alireza; Nishikawa, Hiroaki

2014-01-01

A time-dependent extension of the first-order hyperbolic system method for advection-diffusion problems is introduced. Diffusive/viscous terms are written and discretized as a hyperbolic system, which recovers the original equation in the steady state. The resulting scheme offers advantages over traditional schemes: a dramatic simplification in the discretization, high-order accuracy in the solution gradients, and orders-of-magnitude convergence acceleration. The hyperbolic advection-diffusion system is discretized by the second-order upwind residual-distribution scheme in a unified manner, and the system of implicit-residual-equations is solved by Newton's method over every physical time step. The numerical results are presented for linear and nonlinear advection-diffusion problems, demonstrating solutions and gradients produced to the same order of accuracy, with rapid convergence over each physical time step, typically less than five Newton iterations.

Efficiency and flexibility using implicit methods within atmosphere dycores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, K. J.; Archibald, R.; Norman, M. R.; Gardner, D. J.; Woodward, C. S.; Worley, P.; Taylor, M.

2016-12-01

A suite of explicit and implicit methods are evaluated for a range of configurations of the shallow water dynamical core within the spectral-element Community Atmosphere Model (CAM-SE) to explore their relative computational performance. The configurations are designed to explore the attributes of each method under different but relevant model usage scenarios including varied spectral order within an element, static regional refinement, and scaling to large problem sizes. The limitations and benefits of using explicit versus implicit, with different discretizations and parameters, are discussed in light of trade-offs such as MPI communication, memory, and inherent efficiency bottlenecks. For the regionally refined shallow water configurations, the implicit BDF2 method is about the same efficiency as an explicit Runge-Kutta method, without including a preconditioner. Performance of the implicit methods with the residual function executed on a GPU is also presented; there is speed up for the residual relative to a CPU, but overwhelming transfer costs motivate moving more of the solver to the device. Given the performance behavior of implicit methods within the shallow water dynamical core, the recommendation for future work using implicit solvers is conditional based on scale separation and the stiffness of the problem. The strong growth of linear iterations with increasing resolution or time step size is the main bottleneck to computational efficiency. Within the hydrostatic dynamical core, of CAM-SE, we present results utilizing approximate block factorization preconditioners implemented using the Trilinos library of solvers. They reduce the cost of linear system solves and improve parallel scalability. We provide a summary of the remaining efficiency considerations within the preconditioner and utilization of the GPU, as well as a discussion about the benefits of a time stepping method that provides converged and stable solutions for a much wider range of time step sizes. As more complex model components, for example new physics and aerosols, are connected in the model, having flexibility in the time stepping will enable more options for combining and resolving multiple scales of behavior.

An approach to predict Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) using time domain and bispectrum features from HRV signal.

PubMed

Houshyarifar, Vahid; Chehel Amirani, Mehdi

2016-08-12

In this paper we present a method to predict Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) with higher order spectral (HOS) and linear (Time) features extracted from heart rate variability (HRV) signal. Predicting the occurrence of SCA is important in order to avoid the probability of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). This work is a challenge to predict five minutes before SCA onset. The method consists of four steps: pre-processing, feature extraction, feature reduction, and classification. In the first step, the QRS complexes are detected from the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal and then the HRV signal is extracted. In second step, bispectrum features of HRV signal and time-domain features are obtained. Six features are extracted from bispectrum and two features from time-domain. In the next step, these features are reduced to one feature by the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) technique. Finally, KNN and support vector machine-based classifiers are used to classify the HRV signals. We used two database named, MIT/BIH Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) Database and Physiobank Normal Sinus Rhythm (NSR). In this work we achieved prediction of SCD occurrence for six minutes before the SCA with the accuracy over 91%.

Effect of time step size and turbulence model on the open water hydrodynamic performance prediction of contra-rotating propellers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhan-zhi; Xiong, Ying

2013-04-01

A growing interest has been devoted to the contra-rotating propellers (CRPs) due to their high propulsive efficiency, torque balance, low fuel consumption, low cavitations, low noise performance and low hull vibration. Compared with the single-screw system, it is more difficult for the open water performance prediction because forward and aft propellers interact with each other and generate a more complicated flow field around the CRPs system. The current work focuses on the open water performance prediction of contra-rotating propellers by RANS and sliding mesh method considering the effect of computational time step size and turbulence model. The validation study has been performed on two sets of contra-rotating propellers developed by David W Taylor Naval Ship R & D center. Compared with the experimental data, it shows that RANS with sliding mesh method and SST k-ω turbulence model has a good precision in the open water performance prediction of contra-rotating propellers, and small time step size can improve the level of accuracy for CRPs with the same blade number of forward and aft propellers, while a relatively large time step size is a better choice for CRPs with different blade numbers.

Multiple Time-Step Dual-Hamiltonian Hybrid Molecular Dynamics — Monte Carlo Canonical Propagation Algorithm

PubMed Central

Weare, Jonathan; Dinner, Aaron R.; Roux, Benoît

2016-01-01

A multiple time-step integrator based on a dual Hamiltonian and a hybrid method combining molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) is proposed to sample systems in the canonical ensemble. The Dual Hamiltonian Multiple Time-Step (DHMTS) algorithm is based on two similar Hamiltonians: a computationally expensive one that serves as a reference and a computationally inexpensive one to which the workload is shifted. The central assumption is that the difference between the two Hamiltonians is slowly varying. Earlier work has shown that such dual Hamiltonian multiple time-step schemes effectively precondition nonlinear differential equations for dynamics by reformulating them into a recursive root finding problem that can be solved by propagating a correction term through an internal loop, analogous to RESPA. Of special interest in the present context, a hybrid MD-MC version of the DHMTS algorithm is introduced to enforce detailed balance via a Metropolis acceptance criterion and ensure consistency with the Boltzmann distribution. The Metropolis criterion suppresses the discretization errors normally associated with the propagation according to the computationally inexpensive Hamiltonian, treating the discretization error as an external work. Illustrative tests are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. PMID:26918826

Finite-difference modeling with variable grid-size and adaptive time-step in porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xinxin; Yin, Xingyao; Wu, Guochen

2014-04-01

Forward modeling of elastic wave propagation in porous media has great importance for understanding and interpreting the influences of rock properties on characteristics of seismic wavefield. However, the finite-difference forward-modeling method is usually implemented with global spatial grid-size and time-step; it consumes large amounts of computational cost when small-scaled oil/gas-bearing structures or large velocity-contrast exist underground. To overcome this handicap, combined with variable grid-size and time-step, this paper developed a staggered-grid finite-difference scheme for elastic wave modeling in porous media. Variable finite-difference coefficients and wavefield interpolation were used to realize the transition of wave propagation between regions of different grid-size. The accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm were shown by numerical examples. The proposed method is advanced with low computational cost in elastic wave simulation for heterogeneous oil/gas reservoirs.

A numerical method for computing unsteady 2-D boundary layer flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krainer, Andreas

1988-01-01

A numerical method for computing unsteady two-dimensional boundary layers in incompressible laminar and turbulent flows is described and applied to a single airfoil changing its incidence angle in time. The solution procedure adopts a first order panel method with a simple wake model to solve for the inviscid part of the flow, and an implicit finite difference method for the viscous part of the flow. Both procedures integrate in time in a step-by-step fashion, in the course of which each step involves the solution of the elliptic Laplace equation and the solution of the parabolic boundary layer equations. The Reynolds shear stress term of the boundary layer equations is modeled by an algebraic eddy viscosity closure. The location of transition is predicted by an empirical data correlation originating from Michel. Since transition and turbulence modeling are key factors in the prediction of viscous flows, their accuracy will be of dominant influence to the overall results.

Effects of various light curing methods on the leachability of uncured substances and hardness of a composite resin.

PubMed

Moon, H-J; Lee, Y-K; Lim, B-S; Kim, C-W

2004-03-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the various light curing units (plasma arc, halogen and light-emitting diodes) and irradiation methods (one-step, two-step and pulse) using different light energy densities on the leachability of unreacted monomers (Bis-GMA and UDMA) and the surface hardness of a composite resin (Z250, 3M). Leachability of the specimens immersed for 7 days in ethanol was analysed by HPLC. Vicker's hardness number (VHN) was measured immediately after curing (IC) and after immersion in ethanol for 7 days. Various irradiation methods with three curing units resulted in differences in the amount of leached monomers and VHN of IC when light energy density was lower than 17.0 J cm(-2) (P = 0.05). However, regardless of curing units and irradiation methods, these results were not different when the time or light energy density increased. When similar light energy density was irradiated (15.6-17.7 J cm(-2)), the efficiency of irradiation methods was different by the following order: one-step > or = two-step > pulse. These results suggest that the amount of leached monomers and VHN were influenced by forming polymer structure in activation and initiation stages of polymerization process with different light source energies and curing times.

Multi-site Stochastic Simulation of Daily Streamflow with Markov Chain and KNN Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathai, J.; Mujumdar, P.

2017-12-01

A key focus of this study is to develop a method which is physically consistent with the hydrologic processes that can capture short-term characteristics of daily hydrograph as well as the correlation of streamflow in temporal and spatial domains. In complex water resource systems, flow fluctuations at small time intervals require that discretisation be done at small time scales such as daily scales. Also, simultaneous generation of synthetic flows at different sites in the same basin are required. We propose a method to equip water managers with a streamflow generator within a stochastic streamflow simulation framework. The motivation for the proposed method is to generate sequences that extend beyond the variability represented in the historical record of streamflow time series. The method has two steps: In step 1, daily flow is generated independently at each station by a two-state Markov chain, with rising limb increments randomly sampled from a Gamma distribution and the falling limb modelled as exponential recession and in step 2, the streamflow generated in step 1 is input to a nonparametric K-nearest neighbor (KNN) time series bootstrap resampler. The KNN model, being data driven, does not require assumptions on the dependence structure of the time series. A major limitation of KNN based streamflow generators is that they do not produce new values, but merely reshuffle the historical data to generate realistic streamflow sequences. However, daily flow generated using the Markov chain approach is capable of generating a rich variety of streamflow sequences. Furthermore, the rising and falling limbs of daily hydrograph represent different physical processes, and hence they need to be modelled individually. Thus, our method combines the strengths of the two approaches. We show the utility of the method and improvement over the traditional KNN by simulating daily streamflow sequences at 7 locations in the Godavari River basin in India.

Adaptive dynamic programming for discrete-time linear quadratic regulation based on multirate generalised policy iteration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chun, Tae Yoon; Lee, Jae Young; Park, Jin Bae; Choi, Yoon Ho

2018-06-01

In this paper, we propose two multirate generalised policy iteration (GPI) algorithms applied to discrete-time linear quadratic regulation problems. The proposed algorithms are extensions of the existing GPI algorithm that consists of the approximate policy evaluation and policy improvement steps. The two proposed schemes, named heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) and dual HDP (DHP), based on multirate GPI, use multi-step estimation (M-step Bellman equation) at the approximate policy evaluation step for estimating the value function and its gradient called costate, respectively. Then, we show that these two methods with the same update horizon can be considered equivalent in the iteration domain. Furthermore, monotonically increasing and decreasing convergences, so called value iteration (VI)-mode and policy iteration (PI)-mode convergences, are proved to hold for the proposed multirate GPIs. Further, general convergence properties in terms of eigenvalues are also studied. The data-driven online implementation methods for the proposed HDP and DHP are demonstrated and finally, we present the results of numerical simulations performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Method for restoring the resistance of indium oxide semiconductors after heating while in sealed structures

DOEpatents

Seager, C.H.; Evans, J.T. Jr.

1998-11-24

A method is described for counteracting increases in resistivity encountered when Indium Oxide resistive layers are subjected to high temperature annealing steps during semiconductor device fabrication. The method utilizes a recovery annealing step which returns the Indium Oxide layer to its original resistivity after a high temperature annealing step has caused the resistivity to increase. The recovery anneal comprises heating the resistive layer to a temperature between 100 C and 300 C for a period of time that depends on the annealing temperature. The recovery is observed even when the Indium Oxide layer is sealed under a dielectric layer. 1 fig.

Method for restoring the resistance of indium oxide semiconductors after heating while in sealed structures

DOEpatents

Seager, Carleton H.; Evans, Jr., Joseph Tate

1998-01-01

A method for counteracting increases in resistivity encountered when Indium Oxide resistive layers are subjected to high temperature annealing steps during semiconductor device fabrication. The method utilizes a recovery annealing step which returns the Indium Oxide layer to its original resistivity after a high temperature annealing step has caused the resistivity to increase. The recovery anneal comprises heating the resistive layer to a temperature between 100.degree. C. and 300.degree. C. for a period of time that depends on the annealing temperature. The recovery is observed even when the Indium Oxide layer is sealed under a dielectric layer.

Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Continuum Damage Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Min, J. B.; Tworzydlo, W. W.; Xiques, K. E.

1995-01-01

The paper presents an application of adaptive finite element methods to the modeling of low-cycle continuum damage and life prediction of high-temperature components. The major objective is to provide automated and accurate modeling of damaged zones through adaptive mesh refinement and adaptive time-stepping methods. The damage modeling methodology is implemented in an usual way by embedding damage evolution in the transient nonlinear solution of elasto-viscoplastic deformation problems. This nonlinear boundary-value problem is discretized by adaptive finite element methods. The automated h-adaptive mesh refinements are driven by error indicators, based on selected principal variables in the problem (stresses, non-elastic strains, damage, etc.). In the time domain, adaptive time-stepping is used, combined with a predictor-corrector time marching algorithm. The time selection is controlled by required time accuracy. In order to take into account strong temperature dependency of material parameters, the nonlinear structural solution a coupled with thermal analyses (one-way coupling). Several test examples illustrate the importance and benefits of adaptive mesh refinements in accurate prediction of damage levels and failure time.

Spatial and Temporal Control Contribute to Step Length Asymmetry during Split-Belt Adaptation and Hemiparetic Gait

PubMed Central

Finley, James M.; Long, Andrew; Bastian, Amy J.; Torres-Oviedo, Gelsy

2014-01-01

Background Step length asymmetry (SLA) is a common hallmark of gait post-stroke. Though conventionally viewed as a spatial deficit, SLA can result from differences in where the feet are placed relative to the body (spatial strategy), the timing between foot-strikes (step time strategy), or the velocity of the body relative to the feet (step velocity strategy). Objective The goal of this study was to characterize the relative contributions of each of these strategies to SLA. Methods We developed an analytical model that parses SLA into independent step position, step time, and step velocity contributions. This model was validated by reproducing SLA values for twenty-five healthy participants when their natural symmetric gait was perturbed on a split-belt treadmill moving at either a 2:1 or 3:1 belt-speed ratio. We then applied the validated model to quantify step position, step time, and step velocity contributions to SLA in fifteen stroke survivors while walking at their self-selected speed. Results SLA was predicted precisely by summing the derived contributions, regardless of the belt-speed ratio. Although the contributions to SLA varied considerably across our sample of stroke survivors, the step position contribution tended to oppose the other two – possibly as an attempt to minimize the overall SLA. Conclusions Our results suggest that changes in where the feet are placed or changes in interlimb timing could be used as compensatory strategies to reduce overall SLA in stroke survivors. These results may allow clinicians and researchers to identify patient-specific gait abnormalities and personalize their therapeutic approaches accordingly. PMID:25589580

One-step leapfrog ADI-FDTD method for simulating electromagnetic wave propagation in general dispersive media.

PubMed

Wang, Xiang-Hua; Yin, Wen-Yan; Chen, Zhi Zhang David

2013-09-09

The one-step leapfrog alternating-direction-implicit finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) method is reformulated for simulating general electrically dispersive media. It models material dispersive properties with equivalent polarization currents. These currents are then solved with the auxiliary differential equation (ADE) and then incorporated into the one-step leapfrog ADI-FDTD method. The final equations are presented in the form similar to that of the conventional FDTD method but with second-order perturbation. The adapted method is then applied to characterize (a) electromagnetic wave propagation in a rectangular waveguide loaded with a magnetized plasma slab, (b) transmission coefficient of a plane wave normally incident on a monolayer graphene sheet biased by a magnetostatic field, and (c) surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagation along a monolayer graphene sheet biased by an electrostatic field. The numerical results verify the stability, accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed one-step leapfrog ADI-FDTD algorithm in comparison with analytical results and the results obtained with the other methods.

Unconditionally energy stable time stepping scheme for Cahn–Morral equation: Application to multi-component spinodal decomposition and optimal space tiling

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

Tavakoli, Rouhollah, E-mail: rtavakoli@sharif.ir

An unconditionally energy stable time stepping scheme is introduced to solve Cahn–Morral-like equations in the present study. It is constructed based on the combination of David Eyre's time stepping scheme and Schur complement approach. Although the presented method is general and independent of the choice of homogeneous free energy density function term, logarithmic and polynomial energy functions are specifically considered in this paper. The method is applied to study the spinodal decomposition in multi-component systems and optimal space tiling problems. A penalization strategy is developed, in the case of later problem, to avoid trivial solutions. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate themore » success and performance of the presented method. According to the numerical results, the method is convergent and energy stable, independent of the choice of time stepsize. Its MATLAB implementation is included in the appendix for the numerical evaluation of algorithm and reproduction of the presented results. -- Highlights: •Extension of Eyre's convex–concave splitting scheme to multiphase systems. •Efficient solution of spinodal decomposition in multi-component systems. •Efficient solution of least perimeter periodic space partitioning problem. •Developing a penalization strategy to avoid trivial solutions. •Presentation of MATLAB implementation of the introduced algorithm.« less

Progress in development of HEDP capabilities in FLASH's Unsplit Staggered Mesh MHD solver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, D.; Xia, G.; Daley, C.; Dubey, A.; Gopal, S.; Graziani, C.; Lamb, D.; Weide, K.

2011-11-01

FLASH is a publicly available astrophysical community code designed to solve highly compressible multi-physics reactive flows. We are adding capabilities to FLASH that will make it an open science code for the academic HEDP community. Among many important numerical requirements, we consider the following features to be important components necessary to meet our goals for FLASH as an HEDP open toolset. First, we are developing computationally efficient time-stepping integration methods that overcome the stiffness that arises in the equations describing a physical problem when there are disparate time scales. To this end, we are adding two different time-stepping schemes to FLASH that relax the time step limit when diffusive effects are present: an explicit super-time-stepping algorithm (Alexiades et al. in Com. Num. Mech. Eng. 12:31-42, 1996) and a Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov implicit formulation. These two methods will be integrated into a robust, efficient, and high-order accurate Unsplit Staggered Mesh MHD (USM) solver (Lee and Deane in J. Comput. Phys. 227, 2009). Second, we have implemented an anisotropic Spitzer-Braginskii conductivity model to treat thermal heat conduction along magnetic field lines. Finally, we are implementing the Biermann Battery term to account for spontaneous generation of magnetic fields in the presence of non-parallel temperature and density gradients.

A simple and efficient method for poly-3-hydroxybutyrate quantification in diazotrophic bacteria within 5 minutes using flow cytometry.

PubMed

Alves, L P S; Almeida, A T; Cruz, L M; Pedrosa, F O; de Souza, E M; Chubatsu, L S; Müller-Santos, M; Valdameri, G

2017-01-16

The conventional method for quantification of polyhydroxyalkanoates based on whole-cell methanolysis and gas chromatography (GC) is laborious and time-consuming. In this work, a method based on flow cytometry of Nile red stained bacterial cells was established to quantify poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production by the diazotrophic and plant-associated bacteria, Herbaspirillum seropedicae and Azospirillum brasilense. The method consists of three steps: i) cell permeabilization, ii) Nile red staining, and iii) analysis by flow cytometry. The method was optimized step-by-step and can be carried out in less than 5 min. The final results indicated a high correlation coefficient (R2=0.99) compared to a standard method based on methanolysis and GC. This method was successfully applied to the quantification of PHB in epiphytic bacteria isolated from rice roots.

Computer implemented empirical mode decomposition method apparatus, and article of manufacture utilizing curvature extrema

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Zheng (Inventor); Huang, Norden Eh (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A computer implemented physical signal analysis method is includes two essential steps and the associated presentation techniques of the results. All the steps exist only in a computer: there are no analytic expressions resulting from the method. The first step is a computer implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition to extract a collection of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF) from nonlinear, nonstationary physical signals based on local extrema and curvature extrema. The decomposition is based on the direct extraction of the energy associated with various intrinsic time scales in the physical signal. Expressed in the IMF's, they have well-behaved Hilbert Transforms from which instantaneous frequencies can be calculated. The second step is the Hilbert Transform. The final result is the Hilbert Spectrum. Thus, the invention can localize any event on the time as well as the frequency axis. The decomposition can also be viewed as an expansion of the data in terms of the IMF's. Then, these IMF's, based on and derived from the data, can serve as the basis of that expansion. The local energy and the instantaneous frequency derived from the IMF's through the Hilbert transform give a full energy-frequency-time distribution of the data which is designated as the Hilbert Spectrum.

A new unconditionally stable and consistent quasi-analytical in-stream water quality solution scheme for CSTR-based water quality simulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woldegiorgis, Befekadu Taddesse; van Griensven, Ann; Pereira, Fernando; Bauwens, Willy

2017-06-01

Most common numerical solutions used in CSTR-based in-stream water quality simulators are susceptible to instabilities and/or solution inconsistencies. Usually, they cope with instability problems by adopting computationally expensive small time steps. However, some simulators use fixed computation time steps and hence do not have the flexibility to do so. This paper presents a novel quasi-analytical solution for CSTR-based water quality simulators of an unsteady system. The robustness of the new method is compared with the commonly used fourth-order Runge-Kutta methods, the Euler method and three versions of the SWAT model (SWAT2012, SWAT-TCEQ, and ESWAT). The performance of each method is tested for different hypothetical experiments. Besides the hypothetical data, a real case study is used for comparison. The growth factors we derived as stability measures for the different methods and the R-factor—considered as a consistency measure—turned out to be very useful for determining the most robust method. The new method outperformed all the numerical methods used in the hypothetical comparisons. The application for the Zenne River (Belgium) shows that the new method provides stable and consistent BOD simulations whereas the SWAT2012 model is shown to be unstable for the standard daily computation time step. The new method unconditionally simulates robust solutions. Therefore, it is a reliable scheme for CSTR-based water quality simulators that use first-order reaction formulations.

Robotic path-finding in inverse treatment planning for stereotactic radiosurgery with continuous dose delivery

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

Vandewouw, Marlee M., E-mail: marleev@mie.utoronto

Purpose: Continuous dose delivery in radiation therapy treatments has been shown to decrease total treatment time while improving the dose conformity and distribution homogeneity over the conventional step-and-shoot approach. The authors develop an inverse treatment planning method for Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ that continuously delivers dose along a path in the target. Methods: The authors’ method is comprised of two steps: find a path within the target, then solve a mixed integer optimization model to find the optimal collimator configurations and durations along the selected path. Robotic path-finding techniques, specifically, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using an extended Kalman filter, aremore » used to obtain a path that travels sufficiently close to selected isocentre locations. SLAM is novelly extended to explore a 3D, discrete environment, which is the target discretized into voxels. Further novel extensions are incorporated into the steering mechanism to account for target geometry. Results: The SLAM method was tested on seven clinical cases and compared to clinical, Hamiltonian path continuous delivery, and inverse step-and-shoot treatment plans. The SLAM approach improved dose metrics compared to the clinical plans and Hamiltonian path continuous delivery plans. Beam-on times improved over clinical plans, and had mixed performance compared to Hamiltonian path continuous plans. The SLAM method is also shown to be robust to path selection inaccuracies, isocentre selection, and dose distribution. Conclusions: The SLAM method for continuous delivery provides decreased total treatment time and increased treatment quality compared to both clinical and inverse step-and-shoot plans, and outperforms existing path methods in treatment quality. It also accounts for uncertainty in treatment planning by accommodating inaccuracies.« less

Adaptive time stepping for fluid-structure interaction solvers

DOE PAGES

Mayr, M.; Wall, W. A.; Gee, M. W.

2017-12-22

In this work, a novel adaptive time stepping scheme for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems is proposed that allows for controlling the accuracy of the time-discrete solution. Furthermore, it eases practical computations by providing an efficient and very robust time step size selection. This has proven to be very useful, especially when addressing new physical problems, where no educated guess for an appropriate time step size is available. The fluid and the structure field, but also the fluid-structure interface are taken into account for the purpose of a posteriori error estimation, rendering it easy to implement and only adding negligible additionalmore » cost. The adaptive time stepping scheme is incorporated into a monolithic solution framework, but can straightforwardly be applied to partitioned solvers as well. The basic idea can be extended to the coupling of an arbitrary number of physical models. Accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are studied in a variety of numerical examples ranging from academic benchmark tests to complex biomedical applications like the pulsatile blood flow through an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Finally, the demonstrated accuracy of the time-discrete solution in combination with reduced computational cost make this algorithm very appealing in all kinds of FSI applications.« less

Adaptive time stepping for fluid-structure interaction solvers

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

Mayr, M.; Wall, W. A.; Gee, M. W.

In this work, a novel adaptive time stepping scheme for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems is proposed that allows for controlling the accuracy of the time-discrete solution. Furthermore, it eases practical computations by providing an efficient and very robust time step size selection. This has proven to be very useful, especially when addressing new physical problems, where no educated guess for an appropriate time step size is available. The fluid and the structure field, but also the fluid-structure interface are taken into account for the purpose of a posteriori error estimation, rendering it easy to implement and only adding negligible additionalmore » cost. The adaptive time stepping scheme is incorporated into a monolithic solution framework, but can straightforwardly be applied to partitioned solvers as well. The basic idea can be extended to the coupling of an arbitrary number of physical models. Accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are studied in a variety of numerical examples ranging from academic benchmark tests to complex biomedical applications like the pulsatile blood flow through an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Finally, the demonstrated accuracy of the time-discrete solution in combination with reduced computational cost make this algorithm very appealing in all kinds of FSI applications.« less

Advancing parabolic operators in thermodynamic MHD models: Explicit super time-stepping versus implicit schemes with Krylov solvers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caplan, R. M.; Mikić, Z.; Linker, J. A.; Lionello, R.

2017-05-01

We explore the performance and advantages/disadvantages of using unconditionally stable explicit super time-stepping (STS) algorithms versus implicit schemes with Krylov solvers for integrating parabolic operators in thermodynamic MHD models of the solar corona. Specifically, we compare the second-order Runge-Kutta Legendre (RKL2) STS method with the implicit backward Euler scheme computed using the preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) solver with both a point-Jacobi and a non-overlapping domain decomposition ILU0 preconditioner. The algorithms are used to integrate anisotropic Spitzer thermal conduction and artificial kinematic viscosity at time-steps much larger than classic explicit stability criteria allow. A key component of the comparison is the use of an established MHD model (MAS) to compute a real-world simulation on a large HPC cluster. Special attention is placed on the parallel scaling of the algorithms. It is shown that, for a specific problem and model, the RKL2 method is comparable or surpasses the implicit method with PCG solvers in performance and scaling, but suffers from some accuracy limitations. These limitations, and the applicability of RKL methods are briefly discussed.

Highly accurate adaptive TOF determination method for ultrasonic thickness measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Lianjie; Liu, Haibo; Lian, Meng; Ying, Yangwei; Li, Te; Wang, Yongqing

2018-04-01

Determining the time of flight (TOF) is very critical for precise ultrasonic thickness measurement. However, the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the received signals would induce significant TOF determination errors. In this paper, an adaptive time delay estimation method has been developed to improve the TOF determination’s accuracy. An improved variable step size adaptive algorithm with comprehensive step size control function is proposed. Meanwhile, a cubic spline fitting approach is also employed to alleviate the restriction of finite sampling interval. Simulation experiments under different SNR conditions were conducted for performance analysis. Simulation results manifested the performance advantage of proposed TOF determination method over existing TOF determination methods. When comparing with the conventional fixed step size, and Kwong and Aboulnasr algorithms, the steady state mean square deviation of the proposed algorithm was generally lower, which makes the proposed algorithm more suitable for TOF determination. Further, ultrasonic thickness measurement experiments were performed on aluminum alloy plates with various thicknesses. They indicated that the proposed TOF determination method was more robust even under low SNR conditions, and the ultrasonic thickness measurement accuracy could be significantly improved.

Contact-aware simulations of particulate Stokesian suspensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Libin; Rahimian, Abtin; Zorin, Denis

2017-10-01

We present an efficient, accurate, and robust method for simulation of dense suspensions of deformable and rigid particles immersed in Stokesian fluid in two dimensions. We use a well-established boundary integral formulation for the problem as the foundation of our approach. This type of formulation, with a high-order spatial discretization and an implicit and adaptive time discretization, have been shown to be able to handle complex interactions between particles with high accuracy. Yet, for dense suspensions, very small time-steps or expensive implicit solves as well as a large number of discretization points are required to avoid non-physical contact and intersections between particles, leading to infinite forces and numerical instability. Our method maintains the accuracy of previous methods at a significantly lower cost for dense suspensions. The key idea is to ensure interference-free configuration by introducing explicit contact constraints into the system. While such constraints are unnecessary in the formulation, in the discrete form of the problem, they make it possible to eliminate catastrophic loss of accuracy by preventing contact explicitly. Introducing contact constraints results in a significant increase in stable time-step size for explicit time-stepping, and a reduction in the number of points adequate for stability.

Reliability enhancement of Navier-Stokes codes through convergence enhancement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, K.-Y.; Dulikravich, G. S.

1993-01-01

Reduction of total computing time required by an iterative algorithm for solving Navier-Stokes equations is an important aspect of making the existing and future analysis codes more cost effective. Several attempts have been made to accelerate the convergence of an explicit Runge-Kutta time-stepping algorithm. These acceleration methods are based on local time stepping, implicit residual smoothing, enthalpy damping, and multigrid techniques. Also, an extrapolation procedure based on the power method and the Minimal Residual Method (MRM) were applied to the Jameson's multigrid algorithm. The MRM uses same values of optimal weights for the corrections to every equation in a system and has not been shown to accelerate the scheme without multigriding. Our Distributed Minimal Residual (DMR) method based on our General Nonlinear Minimal Residual (GNLMR) method allows each component of the solution vector in a system of equations to have its own convergence speed. The DMR method was found capable of reducing the computation time by 10-75 percent depending on the test case and grid used. Recently, we have developed and tested a new method termed Sensitivity Based DMR or SBMR method that is easier to implement in different codes and is even more robust and computationally efficient than our DMR method.

Reliability enhancement of Navier-Stokes codes through convergence enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, K.-Y.; Dulikravich, G. S.

1993-11-01

Reduction of total computing time required by an iterative algorithm for solving Navier-Stokes equations is an important aspect of making the existing and future analysis codes more cost effective. Several attempts have been made to accelerate the convergence of an explicit Runge-Kutta time-stepping algorithm. These acceleration methods are based on local time stepping, implicit residual smoothing, enthalpy damping, and multigrid techniques. Also, an extrapolation procedure based on the power method and the Minimal Residual Method (MRM) were applied to the Jameson's multigrid algorithm. The MRM uses same values of optimal weights for the corrections to every equation in a system and has not been shown to accelerate the scheme without multigriding. Our Distributed Minimal Residual (DMR) method based on our General Nonlinear Minimal Residual (GNLMR) method allows each component of the solution vector in a system of equations to have its own convergence speed. The DMR method was found capable of reducing the computation time by 10-75 percent depending on the test case and grid used. Recently, we have developed and tested a new method termed Sensitivity Based DMR or SBMR method that is easier to implement in different codes and is even more robust and computationally efficient than our DMR method.

Generalized Lagrange Jacobi Gauss-Lobatto (GLJGL) Collocation Method for Solving Linear and Nonlinear Fokker-Planck Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parand, K.; Latifi, S.; Moayeri, M. M.; Delkhosh, M.

2018-05-01

In this study, we have constructed a new numerical approach for solving the time-dependent linear and nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations. In fact, we have discretized the time variable with Crank-Nicolson method and for the space variable, a numerical method based on Generalized Lagrange Jacobi Gauss-Lobatto (GLJGL) collocation method is applied. It leads to in solving the equation in a series of time steps and at each time step, the problem is reduced to a problem consisting of a system of algebraic equations that greatly simplifies the problem. One can observe that the proposed method is simple and accurate. Indeed, one of its merits is that it is derivative-free and by proposing a formula for derivative matrices, the difficulty aroused in calculation is overcome, along with that it does not need to calculate the General Lagrange basis and matrices; they have Kronecker property. Linear and nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations are given as examples and the results amply demonstrate that the presented method is very valid, effective, reliable and does not require any restrictive assumptions for nonlinear terms.

A model-free method for mass spectrometer response correction. [for oxygen consumption and cardiac output calculation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shykoff, Barbara E.; Swanson, Harvey T.

1987-01-01

A new method for correction of mass spectrometer output signals is described. Response-time distortion is reduced independently of any model of mass spectrometer behavior. The delay of the system is found first from the cross-correlation function of a step change and its response. A two-sided time-domain digital correction filter (deconvolution filter) is generated next from the same step response data using a regression procedure. Other data are corrected using the filter and delay. The mean squared error between a step response and a step is reduced considerably more after the use of a deconvolution filter than after the application of a second-order model correction. O2 consumption and CO2 production values calculated from data corrupted by a simulated dynamic process return to near the uncorrupted values after correction. Although a clean step response or the ensemble average of several responses contaminated with noise is needed for the generation of the filter, random noise of magnitude not above 0.5 percent added to the response to be corrected does not impair the correction severely.

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

Simonetto, Andrea; Dall'Anese, Emiliano

This article develops online algorithms to track solutions of time-varying constrained optimization problems. Particularly, resembling workhorse Kalman filtering-based approaches for dynamical systems, the proposed methods involve prediction-correction steps to provably track the trajectory of the optimal solutions of time-varying convex problems. The merits of existing prediction-correction methods have been shown for unconstrained problems and for setups where computing the inverse of the Hessian of the cost function is computationally affordable. This paper addresses the limitations of existing methods by tackling constrained problems and by designing first-order prediction steps that rely on the Hessian of the cost function (and do notmore » require the computation of its inverse). In addition, the proposed methods are shown to improve the convergence speed of existing prediction-correction methods when applied to unconstrained problems. Numerical simulations corroborate the analytical results and showcase performance and benefits of the proposed algorithms. A realistic application of the proposed method to real-time control of energy resources is presented.« less

On the optimal use of fictitious time in variation of parameters methods with application to BG14

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gottlieb, Robert G.

1991-01-01

The optimal way to use fictitious time in variation of parameter methods is presented. Setting fictitious time to zero at the end of each step is shown to cure the instability associated with some types of problems. Only some parameters are reinitialized, thereby retaining redundant information.

Fast Determination of Distribution-Connected PV Impacts Using a Variable Time-Step Quasi-Static Time-Series Approach: Preprint

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

Mather, Barry

The increasing deployment of distribution-connected photovoltaic (DPV) systems requires utilities to complete complex interconnection studies. Relatively simple interconnection study methods worked well for low penetrations of photovoltaic systems, but more complicated quasi-static time-series (QSTS) analysis is required to make better interconnection decisions as DPV penetration levels increase. Tools and methods must be developed to support this. This paper presents a variable-time-step solver for QSTS analysis that significantly shortens the computational time and effort to complete a detailed analysis of the operation of a distribution circuit with many DPV systems. Specifically, it demonstrates that the proposed variable-time-step solver can reduce themore » required computational time by as much as 84% without introducing any important errors to metrics, such as the highest and lowest voltage occurring on the feeder, number of voltage regulator tap operations, and total amount of losses realized in the distribution circuit during a 1-yr period. Further improvement in computational speed is possible with the introduction of only modest errors in these metrics, such as a 91 percent reduction with less than 5 percent error when predicting voltage regulator operations.« less

Empirical mode decomposition apparatus, method and article of manufacture for analyzing biological signals and performing curve fitting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Norden E. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A computer implemented physical signal analysis method includes four basic steps and the associated presentation techniques of the results. The first step is a computer implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition that extracts a collection of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF) from nonlinear, nonstationary physical signals. The decomposition is based on the direct extraction of the energy associated with various intrinsic time scales in the physical signal. Expressed in the IMF's, they have well-behaved Hilbert Transforms from which instantaneous frequencies can be calculated. The second step is the Hilbert Transform which produces a Hilbert Spectrum. Thus, the invention can localize any event on the time as well as the frequency axis. The decomposition can also be viewed as an expansion of the data in terms of the IMF's. Then, these IMF's, based on and derived from the data, can serve as the basis of that expansion. The local energy and the instantaneous frequency derived from the IMF's through the Hilbert transform give a full energy-frequency-time distribution of the data which is designated as the Hilbert Spectrum. The third step filters the physical signal by combining a subset of the IMFs. In the fourth step, a curve may be fitted to the filtered signal which may not have been possible with the original, unfiltered signal.

Empirical mode decomposition apparatus, method and article of manufacture for analyzing biological signals and performing curve fitting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Norden E. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

A computer implemented physical signal analysis method includes four basic steps and the associated presentation techniques of the results. The first step is a computer implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition that extracts a collection of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF) from nonlinear, nonstationary physical signals. The decomposition is based on the direct extraction of the energy associated with various intrinsic time scales in the physical signal. Expressed in the IMF's, they have well-behaved Hilbert Transforms from which instantaneous frequencies can be calculated. The second step is the Hilbert Transform which produces a Hilbert Spectrum. Thus, the invention can localize any event on the time as well as the frequency axis. The decomposition can also be viewed as an expansion of the data in terms of the IMF's. Then, these IMF's, based on and derived from the data, can serve as the basis of that expansion. The local energy and the instantaneous frequency derived from the IMF's through the Hilbert transform give a full energy-frequency-time distribution of the data which is designated as the Hilbert Spectrum. The third step filters the physical signal by combining a subset of the IMFs. In the fourth step, a curve may be fitted to the filtered signal which may not have been possible with the original, unfiltered signal.

Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method for Parabolic Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaneko, Hideaki; Bey, Kim S.; Hou, Gene J. W.

2004-01-01

In this paper, we develop a time and its corresponding spatial discretization scheme, based upon the assumption of a certain weak singularity of parallel ut(t) parallel Lz(omega) = parallel ut parallel2, for the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for one-dimensional parabolic problems. Optimal convergence rates in both time and spatial variables are obtained. A discussion of automatic time-step control method is also included.

Multigrid for hypersonic viscous two- and three-dimensional flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turkel, E.; Swanson, R. C.; Vatsa, V. N.; White, J. A.

1991-01-01

The use of a multigrid method with central differencing to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for hypersonic flows is considered. The time dependent form of the equations is integrated with an explicit Runge-Kutta scheme accelerated by local time stepping and implicit residual smoothing. Variable coefficients are developed for the implicit process that removes the diffusion limit on the time step, producing significant improvement in convergence. A numerical dissipation formulation that provides good shock capturing capability for hypersonic flows is presented. This formulation is shown to be a crucial aspect of the multigrid method. Solutions are given for two-dimensional viscous flow over a NACA 0012 airfoil and three-dimensional flow over a blunt biconic.

A Semi-implicit Method for Resolution of Acoustic Waves in Low Mach Number Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wall, Clifton; Pierce, Charles D.; Moin, Parviz

2002-09-01

A semi-implicit numerical method for time accurate simulation of compressible flow is presented. By extending the low Mach number pressure correction method, a Helmholtz equation for pressure is obtained in the case of compressible flow. The method avoids the acoustic CFL limitation, allowing a time step restricted only by the convective velocity, resulting in significant efficiency gains. Use of a discretization that is centered in both time and space results in zero artificial damping of acoustic waves. The method is attractive for problems in which Mach numbers are low, and the acoustic waves of most interest are those having low frequency, such as acoustic combustion instabilities. Both of these characteristics suggest the use of time steps larger than those allowable by an acoustic CFL limitation. In some cases it may be desirable to include a small amount of numerical dissipation to eliminate oscillations due to small-wavelength, high-frequency, acoustic modes, which are not of interest; therefore, a provision for doing this in a controlled manner is included in the method. Results of the method for several model problems are presented, and the performance of the method in a large eddy simulation is examined.

Fully implicit adaptive mesh refinement solver for 2D MHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philip, B.; Chacon, L.; Pernice, M.

2008-11-01

Application of implicit adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to simulate resistive magnetohydrodynamics is described. Solving this challenging multi-scale, multi-physics problem can improve understanding of reconnection in magnetically-confined plasmas. AMR is employed to resolve extremely thin current sheets, essential for an accurate macroscopic description. Implicit time stepping allows us to accurately follow the dynamical time scale of the developing magnetic field, without being restricted by fast Alfven time scales. At each time step, the large-scale system of nonlinear equations is solved by a Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov method together with a physics-based preconditioner. Each block within the preconditioner is solved optimally using the Fast Adaptive Composite grid method, which can be considered as a multiplicative Schwarz method on AMR grids. We will demonstrate the excellent accuracy and efficiency properties of the method with several challenging reduced MHD applications, including tearing, island coalescence, and tilt instabilities. B. Philip, L. Chac'on, M. Pernice, J. Comput. Phys., in press (2008)

Time series analysis as input for clinical predictive modeling: Modeling cardiac arrest in a pediatric ICU

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Thousands of children experience cardiac arrest events every year in pediatric intensive care units. Most of these children die. Cardiac arrest prediction tools are used as part of medical emergency team evaluations to identify patients in standard hospital beds that are at high risk for cardiac arrest. There are no models to predict cardiac arrest in pediatric intensive care units though, where the risk of an arrest is 10 times higher than for standard hospital beds. Current tools are based on a multivariable approach that does not characterize deterioration, which often precedes cardiac arrests. Characterizing deterioration requires a time series approach. The purpose of this study is to propose a method that will allow for time series data to be used in clinical prediction models. Successful implementation of these methods has the potential to bring arrest prediction to the pediatric intensive care environment, possibly allowing for interventions that can save lives and prevent disabilities. Methods We reviewed prediction models from nonclinical domains that employ time series data, and identified the steps that are necessary for building predictive models using time series clinical data. We illustrate the method by applying it to the specific case of building a predictive model for cardiac arrest in a pediatric intensive care unit. Results Time course analysis studies from genomic analysis provided a modeling template that was compatible with the steps required to develop a model from clinical time series data. The steps include: 1) selecting candidate variables; 2) specifying measurement parameters; 3) defining data format; 4) defining time window duration and resolution; 5) calculating latent variables for candidate variables not directly measured; 6) calculating time series features as latent variables; 7) creating data subsets to measure model performance effects attributable to various classes of candidate variables; 8) reducing the number of candidate features; 9) training models for various data subsets; and 10) measuring model performance characteristics in unseen data to estimate their external validity. Conclusions We have proposed a ten step process that results in data sets that contain time series features and are suitable for predictive modeling by a number of methods. We illustrated the process through an example of cardiac arrest prediction in a pediatric intensive care setting. PMID:22023778

A simple and efficient method for poly-3-hydroxybutyrate quantification in diazotrophic bacteria within 5 minutes using flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Alves, L.P.S.; Almeida, A.T.; Cruz, L.M.; Pedrosa, F.O.; de Souza, E.M.; Chubatsu, L.S.; Müller-Santos, M.; Valdameri, G.

2017-01-01

The conventional method for quantification of polyhydroxyalkanoates based on whole-cell methanolysis and gas chromatography (GC) is laborious and time-consuming. In this work, a method based on flow cytometry of Nile red stained bacterial cells was established to quantify poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production by the diazotrophic and plant-associated bacteria, Herbaspirillum seropedicae and Azospirillum brasilense. The method consists of three steps: i) cell permeabilization, ii) Nile red staining, and iii) analysis by flow cytometry. The method was optimized step-by-step and can be carried out in less than 5 min. The final results indicated a high correlation coefficient (R2=0.99) compared to a standard method based on methanolysis and GC. This method was successfully applied to the quantification of PHB in epiphytic bacteria isolated from rice roots. PMID:28099582

Finite Volume Method for Pricing European Call Option with Regime-switching Volatility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lista Tauryawati, Mey; Imron, Chairul; Putri, Endah RM

2018-03-01

In this paper, we present a finite volume method for pricing European call option using Black-Scholes equation with regime-switching volatility. In the first step, we formulate the Black-Scholes equations with regime-switching volatility. we use a finite volume method based on fitted finite volume with spatial discretization and an implicit time stepping technique for the case. We show that the regime-switching scheme can revert to the non-switching Black Scholes equation, both in theoretical evidence and numerical simulations.

A two-step method for rapid characterization of electroosmotic flows in capillary electrophoresis.

PubMed

Zhang, Wenjing; He, Muyi; Yuan, Tao; Xu, Wei

2017-12-01

The measurement of electroosmotic flow (EOF) is important in a capillary electrophoresis (CE) experiment in terms of performance optimization and stability improvement. Although several methods exist, there are demanding needs to accurately characterize ultra-low electroosmotic flow rates (EOF rates), such as in coated capillaries used in protein separations. In this work, a new method, called the two-step method, was developed to accurately and rapidly measure EOF rates in a capillary, especially for measuring the ultra-low EOF rates in coated capillaries. In this two-step method, the EOF rates were calculated by measuring the migration time difference of a neutral marker in two consecutive experiments, in which a pressure driven was introduced to accelerate the migration and the DC voltage was reversed to switch the EOF direction. Uncoated capillaries were first characterized by both this two-step method and a conventional method to confirm the validity of this new method. Then this new method was applied in the study of coated capillaries. Results show that this new method is not only fast in speed, but also better in accuracy. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

SU-E-J-126: An Online Replanning Method for FFF Beams Without Couch Shift

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

Ahunbay, E; Ates, O; Li, X

2015-06-15

Purpose: In a situation that couch shift for patient positioning is not preferred or prohibited (e.g., MR-Linac), segment aperture morphing (SAM) can address target dislocation and deformation. For IMRT/VMAT with flattening filter free (FFF) beams, however, SAM method would lead to an adverse translational dose effect due to the beam unflattening. Here we propose a new 2-step process to address both the translational effect of FFF beams and the target deformation. Methods: The replanning method consists of an offline and an online steps. The offline step is to create a series of pre-shifted plans (PSP) obtained by a so calledmore » “warm start” optimization (starting optimization from the original plan, rather from scratch) at a series of isocenter shifts with fixed distance (e.g. 2 cm, at x,y,z = 2,0,0 ; 2,2,0 ; 0,2,0; …;− 2,0,0). The PSPs all have the same number of segments with very similar shapes, since the warm-start optimization only adjusts the MLC positions instead of regenerating them. In the online step, a new plan is obtained by linearly interpolating the MLC positions and the monitor units of the closest PSPs for the shift determined from the image of the day. This two-step process is completely automated, and instantaneously fast (no optimization or dose calculation needed). The previously-developed SAM algorithm is then applied for daily deformation. We tested the method on sample prostate and pancreas cases. Results: The two-step interpolation method can account for the adverse dose effects from FFF beams, while SAM corrects for the target deformation. The whole process takes the same time as the previously reported SAM process (5–10 min). Conclusion: The new two-step method plus SAM can address both the translation effects of FFF beams and target deformation, and can be executed in full automation requiring no additional time from the SAM process. This research was supported by Elekta inc. (Crawley, UK)« less

Mesoporous carbon materials

DOEpatents

Dai, Sheng [Knoxville, TN; Wang, Xiqing [Oak Ridge, TN

2012-02-14

The invention is directed to a method for fabricating a mesoporous carbon material, the method comprising subjecting a precursor composition to a curing step followed by a carbonization step, the precursor composition comprising: (i) a templating component comprised of a block copolymer, (ii) a phenolic compound or material, (iii) a crosslinkable aldehyde component, and (iv) at least 0.5 M concentration of a strong acid having a pKa of or less than -2, wherein said carbonization step comprises heating the precursor composition at a carbonizing temperature for sufficient time to convert the precursor composition to a mesoporous carbon material. The invention is also directed to a mesoporous carbon material having an improved thermal stability, preferably produced according to the above method.

Mesoporous carbon materials

DOEpatents

Dai, Sheng; Wang, Xiqing

2013-08-20

The invention is directed to a method for fabricating a mesoporous carbon material, the method comprising subjecting a precursor composition to a curing step followed by a carbonization step, the precursor composition comprising: (i) a templating component comprised of a block copolymer, (ii) a phenolic compound or material, (iii) a crosslinkable aldehyde component, and (iv) at least 0.5 M concentration of a strong acid having a pKa of or less than -2, wherein said carbonization step comprises heating the precursor composition at a carbonizing temperature for sufficient time to convert the precursor composition to a mesoporous carbon material. The invention is also directed to a mesoporous carbon material having an improved thermal stability, preferably produced according to the above method.

On time discretizations for spectral methods. [numerical integration of Fourier and Chebyshev methods for dynamic partial differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gottlieb, D.; Turkel, E.

1980-01-01

New methods are introduced for the time integration of the Fourier and Chebyshev methods of solution for dynamic differential equations. These methods are unconditionally stable, even though no matrix inversions are required. Time steps are chosen by accuracy requirements alone. For the Fourier method both leapfrog and Runge-Kutta methods are considered. For the Chebyshev method only Runge-Kutta schemes are tested. Numerical calculations are presented to verify the analytic results. Applications to the shallow water equations are presented.

Rapid and Efficient Method for the Detection of Microplastic in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Fishes.

PubMed

Roch, Samuel; Brinker, Alexander

2017-04-18

The rising evidence of microplastic pollution impacts on aquatic organisms in both marine and freshwater ecosystems highlights a pressing need for adequate and comparable detection methods. Available tissue digestion protocols are time-consuming (>10 h) and/or require several procedural steps, during which materials can be lost and contaminants introduced. This novel approach comprises an accelerated digestion step using sodium hydroxide and nitric acid in combination to digest all organic material within 1 h plus an additional separation step using sodium iodide which can be used to reduce mineral residues in samples where necessary. This method yielded a microplastic recovery rate of ≥95%, and all tested polymer types were recovered with only minor changes in weight, size, and color with the exception of polyamide. The method was also shown to be effective on field samples from two benthic freshwater fish species, revealing a microplastic burden comparable to that indicated in the literature. As a consequence, the present method saves time, minimizes the loss of material and the risk of contamination, and facilitates the identification of plastic particles and fibers, thus providing an efficient method to detect and quantify microplastics in the gastrointestinal tract of fishes.

The Technique of Changing the Drive Method of Micro Step Drive and Sensorless Drive for Hybrid Stepping Motor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoneda, Makoto; Dohmeki, Hideo

The position control system with the advantage large torque, low vibration, and high resolution can be obtained by the constant current micro step drive applied to hybrid stepping motor. However loss is large, in order not to be concerned with load torque but to control current uniformly. As the one technique of a position control system in which high efficiency is realizable, the same sensorless control as a permanent magnet motor is effective. But, it was the purpose that the control method proposed until now controls speed. Then, this paper proposed changing the drive method of micro step drive and sensorless drive. The change of the drive method was verified from the simulation and the experiment. On no load, it was checked not producing change of a large speed at the time of a change by making electrical angle and carrying out zero reset of the integrator. On load, it was checked that a large speed change arose. The proposed system could change drive method by setting up the initial value of an integrator using the estimated result, without producing speed change. With this technique, the low loss position control system, which employed the advantage of the hybrid stepping motor, has been built.

Overlapping MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging for In-Parallel MS and MS/MS Data Acquisition without Sacrificing Spatial Resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Rebecca L.; Lee, Young Jin

2017-09-01

Metabolomics experiments require chemical identifications, often through MS/MS analysis. In mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), this necessitates running several serial tissue sections or using a multiplex data acquisition method. We have previously developed a multiplex MSI method to obtain MS and MS/MS data in a single experiment to acquire more chemical information in less data acquisition time. In this method, each raster step is composed of several spiral steps and each spiral step is used for a separate scan event (e.g., MS or MS/MS). One main limitation of this method is the loss of spatial resolution as the number of spiral steps increases, limiting its applicability for high-spatial resolution MSI. In this work, we demonstrate multiplex MS imaging is possible without sacrificing spatial resolution by the use of overlapping spiral steps, instead of spatially separated spiral steps as used in the previous work. Significant amounts of matrix and analytes are still left after multiple spectral acquisitions, especially with nanoparticle matrices, so that high quality MS and MS/MS data can be obtained on virtually the same tissue spot. This method was then applied to visualize metabolites and acquire their MS/MS spectra in maize leaf cross-sections at 10 μm spatial resolution. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Autonomous antenna tracking system for mobile symphonie ground stations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ernsberger, K.; Lorch, G.; Waffenschmidt, E.

1982-01-01

The implementation of a satellite tracking and antenna control system is described. Due to the loss of inclination control for the symphonie satellites, it became necessary to equip the parabolic antennas of the mobile Symphonie ground station with tracking facilities. For the relatively low required tracking accuracy of 0.5 dB, a low cost, step track system was selected. The step track system developed for this purpose and tested over a long period of time in 7 ground stations is based on a search step method with subsequent parabola interpolation. As compared with the real search step method, the system has the advantage of a higher pointing angle resolution, and thus a higher tracking accuracy. When the pilot signal has been switched off for a long period of time, as for instance after the eclipse, the antenna is repointed towards the satellite by an automatically initiated spiral search scan. The function and design of the tracking system are detailed, while easy handling and tracking results.

HITEMP Material and Structural Optimization Technology Transfer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Craig S.; Arnold, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The feasibility of adding viscoelasticity and the Generalized Method of Cells (GMC) for micromechanical viscoelastic behavior into the commercial HyperSizer structural analysis and optimization code was investigated. The viscoelasticity methodology was developed in four steps. First, a simplified algorithm was devised to test the iterative time stepping method for simple one-dimensional multiple ply structures. Second, GMC code was made into a callable subroutine and incorporated into the one-dimensional code to test the accuracy and usability of the code. Third, the viscoelastic time-stepping and iterative scheme was incorporated into HyperSizer for homogeneous, isotropic viscoelastic materials. Finally, the GMC was included in a version of HyperSizer. MS Windows executable files implementing each of these steps is delivered with this report, as well as source code. The findings of this research are that both viscoelasticity and GMC are feasible and valuable additions to HyperSizer and that the door is open for more advanced nonlinear capability, such as viscoplasticity.

A high-order time-parallel scheme for solving wave propagation problems via the direct construction of an approximate time-evolution operator

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

Haut, T. S.; Babb, T.; Martinsson, P. G.

2015-06-16

Our manuscript demonstrates a technique for efficiently solving the classical wave equation, the shallow water equations, and, more generally, equations of the form ∂u/∂t=Lu∂u/∂t=Lu, where LL is a skew-Hermitian differential operator. The idea is to explicitly construct an approximation to the time-evolution operator exp(τL)exp(τL) for a relatively large time-step ττ. Recently developed techniques for approximating oscillatory scalar functions by rational functions, and accelerated algorithms for computing functions of discretized differential operators are exploited. Principal advantages of the proposed method include: stability even for large time-steps, the possibility to parallelize in time over many characteristic wavelengths and large speed-ups over existingmore » methods in situations where simulation over long times are required. Numerical examples involving the 2D rotating shallow water equations and the 2D wave equation in an inhomogenous medium are presented, and the method is compared to the 4th order Runge–Kutta (RK4) method and to the use of Chebyshev polynomials. The new method achieved high accuracy over long-time intervals, and with speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than both RK4 and the use of Chebyshev polynomials.« less

Synthesis of walking sounds for alleviating gait disturbances in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Rodger, Matthew W M; Young, William R; Craig, Cathy M

2014-05-01

Managing gait disturbances in people with Parkinson's disease is a pressing challenge, as symptoms can contribute to injury and morbidity through an increased risk of falls. While drug-based interventions have limited efficacy in alleviating gait impairments, certain nonpharmacological methods, such as cueing, can also induce transient improvements to gait. The approach adopted here is to use computationally-generated sounds to help guide and improve walking actions. The first method described uses recordings of force data taken from the steps of a healthy adult which in turn were used to synthesize realistic gravel-footstep sounds that represented different spatio-temporal parameters of gait, such as step duration and step length. The second method described involves a novel method of sonifying, in real time, the swing phase of gait using real-time motion-capture data to control a sound synthesis engine. Both approaches explore how simple but rich auditory representations of action based events can be used by people with Parkinson's to guide and improve the quality of their walking, reducing the risk of falls and injury. Studies with Parkinson's disease patients are reported which show positive results for both techniques in reducing step length variability. Potential future directions for how these sound approaches can be used to manage gait disturbances in Parkinson's are also discussed.

QUICR-learning for Multi-Agent Coordination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agogino, Adrian K.; Tumer, Kagan

2006-01-01

Coordinating multiple agents that need to perform a sequence of actions to maximize a system level reward requires solving two distinct credit assignment problems. First, credit must be assigned for an action taken at time step t that results in a reward at time step t > t. Second, credit must be assigned for the contribution of agent i to the overall system performance. The first credit assignment problem is typically addressed with temporal difference methods such as Q-learning. The second credit assignment problem is typically addressed by creating custom reward functions. To address both credit assignment problems simultaneously, we propose the "Q Updates with Immediate Counterfactual Rewards-learning" (QUICR-learning) designed to improve both the convergence properties and performance of Q-learning in large multi-agent problems. QUICR-learning is based on previous work on single-time-step counterfactual rewards described by the collectives framework. Results on a traffic congestion problem shows that QUICR-learning is significantly better than a Q-learner using collectives-based (single-time-step counterfactual) rewards. In addition QUICR-learning provides significant gains over conventional and local Q-learning. Additional results on a multi-agent grid-world problem show that the improvements due to QUICR-learning are not domain specific and can provide up to a ten fold increase in performance over existing methods.

Comparative analysis of peak-detection techniques for comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography.

PubMed

Latha, Indu; Reichenbach, Stephen E; Tao, Qingping

2011-09-23

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) is a powerful technology for separating complex samples. The typical goal of GC×GC peak detection is to aggregate data points of analyte peaks based on their retention times and intensities. Two techniques commonly used for two-dimensional peak detection are the two-step algorithm and the watershed algorithm. A recent study [4] compared the performance of the two-step and watershed algorithms for GC×GC data with retention-time shifts in the second-column separations. In that analysis, the peak retention-time shifts were corrected while applying the two-step algorithm but the watershed algorithm was applied without shift correction. The results indicated that the watershed algorithm has a higher probability of erroneously splitting a single two-dimensional peak than the two-step approach. This paper reconsiders the analysis by comparing peak-detection performance for resolved peaks after correcting retention-time shifts for both the two-step and watershed algorithms. Simulations with wide-ranging conditions indicate that when shift correction is employed with both algorithms, the watershed algorithm detects resolved peaks with greater accuracy than the two-step method. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Validity of four approaches of using repeaters' MCAT scores in medical school admissions to predict USMLE Step 1 total scores.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaohui; Oppler, Scott; Dunleavy, Dana; Kroopnick, Marc

2010-10-01

This study investigated the validity of four approaches (the average, most recent, highest-within-administration, and highest-across-administration approaches) of using repeaters' Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores to predict Step 1 scores. Using the differential predication method, this study investigated the magnitude of differences in the expected Step 1 total scores between MCAT nonrepeaters and three repeater groups (two-time, three-time, and four-time test takers) for the four scoring approaches. For the average score approach, matriculants with the same MCAT average are expected to achieve similar Step 1 total scores regardless of whether the individual attempted the MCAT exam one or multiple times. For the other three approaches, repeaters are expected to achieve lower Step 1 scores than nonrepeaters; for a given MCAT score, as the number of attempts increases, the expected Step 1 decreases. The effect was strongest for the highest-across-administration approach, followed by the highest-within-administration approach, and then the most recent approach. Using the average score is the best approach for considering repeaters' MCAT scores in medical school admission decisions.

Integrated method for chaotic time series analysis

DOEpatents

Hively, Lee M.; Ng, Esmond G.

1998-01-01

Methods and apparatus for automatically detecting differences between similar but different states in a nonlinear process monitor nonlinear data. Steps include: acquiring the data; digitizing the data; obtaining nonlinear measures of the data via chaotic time series analysis; obtaining time serial trends in the nonlinear measures; and determining by comparison whether differences between similar but different states are indicated.

Construction of super - hydrophobic copper alloy surface by one - step mixed solution immersion method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Qiang; Chen, Ying; Chen, Dong; Zhang, Zeting

2018-01-01

This paper presents a method for preparing a super hydrophobic surface with a fast, simple, low-cost, one-step reaction by immersing copper alloy in an ethanol solution containing silver nitrate and myristic acid. The effects of reaction time, reaction temperature, reactant concentration and reaction time on the wettability of the material were studied. The surface wettability, appearance, chemical composition, durability and chemical stability of the prepared samples was measured by water contact angle (CA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results show that when the reaction time is only 10min, the surface WCA of the prepared material can reach 154.9. This study provides an effective method for the rapid preparation of stable super hydrophobic surfaces.

Implicit method for the computation of unsteady flows on unstructured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venkatakrishnan, V.; Mavriplis, D. J.

1995-01-01

An implicit method for the computation of unsteady flows on unstructured grids is presented. Following a finite difference approximation for the time derivative, the resulting nonlinear system of equations is solved at each time step by using an agglomeration multigrid procedure. The method allows for arbitrarily large time steps and is efficient in terms of computational effort and storage. Inviscid and viscous unsteady flows are computed to validate the procedure. The issue of the mass matrix which arises with vertex-centered finite volume schemes is addressed. The present formulation allows the mass matrix to be inverted indirectly. A mesh point movement and reconnection procedure is described that allows the grids to evolve with the motion of bodies. As an example of flow over bodies in relative motion, flow over a multi-element airfoil system undergoing deployment is computed.

One-Step Extraction and Hydrolysis of Flavonoid Glycosides in Rape Bee Pollen Based on Soxhlet-Assisted Matrix Solid Phase Dispersion.

PubMed

Tu, Xijuan; Ma, Shuangqin; Gao, Zhaosheng; Wang, Jing; Huang, Shaokang; Chen, Wenbin

2017-11-01

Flavonoids are frequently found as glycosylated derivatives in plant materials. To determine contents of flavonoid aglycones in these matrices, procedures for the extraction and hydrolysis of flavonoid glycosides are required. The current sample preparation method is both labour and time consuming. Develop a modified matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) procedure as an alternative methodology for the one-step extraction and hydrolysis of flavonoid glycosides. HPLC-DAD was applied for demonstrating the one-step extraction and hydrolysis of flavonoids in rape bee pollen. The obtained contents of flavonoid aglycones (quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin) were used for the optimisation and validation of the method. The extraction and hydrolysis were accomplished in one step. The procedure completes in 2 h with silica gel as dispersant, a 1:2 ratio of sample to dispersant, and 60% aqueous ethanol with 0.3 M hydrochloric acid as the extraction solution. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of repeatability were less than 5%, and the recoveries at two fortified levels were between 88.3 and 104.8%. The proposed methodology is simple and highly efficient, with good repeatability and recovery. Compared with currently available methods, the present work has advantages of using less time and labour, higher extraction efficiency, and less consumption of the acid catalyst. This method may have applications for the one-step extraction and hydrolysis of bioactive compounds from plant materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simplified Two-Time Step Method for Calculating Combustion Rates and Nitrogen Oxide Emissions for Hydrogen/Air and Hydorgen/Oxygen

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molnar, Melissa; Marek, C. John

2005-01-01

A simplified single rate expression for hydrogen combustion and nitrogen oxide production was developed. Detailed kinetics are predicted for the chemical kinetic times using the complete chemical mechanism over the entire operating space. These times are then correlated to the reactor conditions using an exponential fit. Simple first order reaction expressions are then used to find the conversion in the reactor. The method uses a two-time step kinetic scheme. The first time averaged step is used at the initial times with smaller water concentrations. This gives the average chemical kinetic time as a function of initial overall fuel air ratio, temperature, and pressure. The second instantaneous step is used at higher water concentrations (> 1 x 10(exp -20) moles/cc) in the mixture which gives the chemical kinetic time as a function of the instantaneous fuel and water mole concentrations, pressure and temperature (T4). The simple correlations are then compared to the turbulent mixing times to determine the limiting properties of the reaction. The NASA Glenn GLSENS kinetics code calculates the reaction rates and rate constants for each species in a kinetic scheme for finite kinetic rates. These reaction rates are used to calculate the necessary chemical kinetic times. This time is regressed over the complete initial conditions using the Excel regression routine. Chemical kinetic time equations for H2 and NOx are obtained for H2/air fuel and for the H2/O2. A similar correlation is also developed using data from NASA s Chemical Equilibrium Applications (CEA) code to determine the equilibrium temperature (T4) as a function of overall fuel/air ratio, pressure and initial temperature (T3). High values of the regression coefficient R2 are obtained.

Summary of Simplified Two Time Step Method for Calculating Combustion Rates and Nitrogen Oxide Emissions for Hydrogen/Air and Hydrogen/Oxygen

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marek, C. John; Molnar, Melissa

2005-01-01

A simplified single rate expression for hydrogen combustion and nitrogen oxide production was developed. Detailed kinetics are predicted for the chemical kinetic times using the complete chemical mechanism over the entire operating space. These times are then correlated to the reactor conditions using an exponential fit. Simple first order reaction expressions are then used to find the conversion in the reactor. The method uses a two time step kinetic scheme. The first time averaged step is used at the initial times with smaller water concentrations. This gives the average chemical kinetic time as a function of initial overall fuel air ratio, temperature, and pressure. The second instantaneous step is used at higher water concentrations (greater than l x 10(exp -20)) moles per cc) in the mixture which gives the chemical kinetic time as a function of the instantaneous fuel and water mole concentrations, pressure and temperature (T(sub 4)). The simple correlations are then compared to the turbulent mixing times to determine the limiting properties of the reaction. The NASA Glenn GLSENS kinetics code calculates the reaction rates and rate constants for each species in a kinetic scheme for finite kinetic rates. These reaction rates are used to calculate the necessary chemical kinetic times. This time is regressed over the complete initial conditions using the Excel regression routine. Chemical kinetic time equations for H2 and NOx are obtained for H2/Air fuel and for H2/O2. A similar correlation is also developed using data from NASA's Chemical Equilibrium Applications (CEA) code to determine the equilibrium temperature (T(sub 4)) as a function of overall fuel/air ratio, pressure and initial temperature (T(sub 3)). High values of the regression coefficient R squared are obtained.

Latent Subgroup Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial Through a Semiparametric Accelerated Failure Time Mixture Model

PubMed Central

Altstein, L.; Li, G.

2012-01-01

Summary This paper studies a semiparametric accelerated failure time mixture model for estimation of a biological treatment effect on a latent subgroup of interest with a time-to-event outcome in randomized clinical trials. Latency is induced because membership is observable in one arm of the trial and unidentified in the other. This method is useful in randomized clinical trials with all-or-none noncompliance when patients in the control arm have no access to active treatment and in, for example, oncology trials when a biopsy used to identify the latent subgroup is performed only on subjects randomized to active treatment. We derive a computational method to estimate model parameters by iterating between an expectation step and a weighted Buckley-James optimization step. The bootstrap method is used for variance estimation, and the performance of our method is corroborated in simulation. We illustrate our method through an analysis of a multicenter selective lymphadenectomy trial for melanoma. PMID:23383608

A fast quadrature-based numerical method for the continuous spectrum biphasic poroviscoelastic model of articular cartilage.

PubMed

Stuebner, Michael; Haider, Mansoor A

2010-06-18

A new and efficient method for numerical solution of the continuous spectrum biphasic poroviscoelastic (BPVE) model of articular cartilage is presented. Development of the method is based on a composite Gauss-Legendre quadrature approximation of the continuous spectrum relaxation function that leads to an exponential series representation. The separability property of the exponential terms in the series is exploited to develop a numerical scheme that can be reduced to an update rule requiring retention of the strain history at only the previous time step. The cost of the resulting temporal discretization scheme is O(N) for N time steps. Application and calibration of the method is illustrated in the context of a finite difference solution of the one-dimensional confined compression BPVE stress-relaxation problem. Accuracy of the numerical method is demonstrated by comparison to a theoretical Laplace transform solution for a range of viscoelastic relaxation times that are representative of articular cartilage. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Resuscitator’s perceptions and time for corrective ventilation steps during neonatal resuscitation☆

PubMed Central

Sharma, Vinay; Lakshminrusimha, Satyan; Carrion, Vivien; Mathew, Bobby

2016-01-01

Background The 2010 neonatal resuscitation program (NRP) guidelines incorporate ventilation corrective steps (using the mnemonic – MRSOPA) into the resuscitation algorithm. The perception of neonatal providers, time taken to perform these maneuvers or the effectiveness of these additional steps has not been evaluated. Methods Using two simulated clinical scenarios of varying degrees of cardiovascular compromise –perinatal asphyxia with (i) bradycardia (heart rate – 40 min−1) and (ii) cardiac arrest, 35 NRP certified providers were evaluated for preference to performing these corrective measures, the time taken for performing these steps and time to onset of chest compressions. Results The average time taken to perform ventilation corrective steps (MRSOPA) was 48.9 ± 21.4 s. Providers were less likely to perform corrective steps and proceed directly to endotracheal intubation in the scenario of cardiac arrest as compared to a state of bradycardia. Cardiac compressions were initiated significantly sooner in the scenario of cardiac arrest 89 ± 24 s as compared to severe bradycardia 122 ± 23 s, p < 0.0001. There were no differences in the time taken to initiation of chest compressions between physicians or mid-level care providers or with the level of experience of the provider. Conclusions Effective ventilation of the lungs with corrective steps using a mask is important in most cases of neonatal resuscitation. Neonatal resuscitators prefer early endotracheal intubation and initiation of chest compressions in the presence of asystolic cardiac arrest. Corrective ventilation steps can potentially postpone initiation of chest compressions and may delay return of spontaneous circulation in the presence of severe cardiovascular compromise. PMID:25796996

Improving arrival time identification in transient elastography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Jens; McLaughlin, Joyce; Renzi, Daniel

2012-04-01

In this paper, we improve the first step in the arrival time algorithm used for shear wave speed recovery in transient elastography. In transient elastography, a shear wave is initiated at the boundary and the interior displacement of the propagating shear wave is imaged with an ultrasound ultra-fast imaging system. The first step in the arrival time algorithm finds the arrival times of the shear wave by cross correlating displacement time traces (the time history of the displacement at a single point) with a reference time trace located near the shear wave source. The second step finds the shear wave speed from the arrival times. In performing the first step, we observe that the wave pulse decorrelates as it travels through the medium, which leads to inaccurate estimates of the arrival times and ultimately to blurring and artifacts in the shear wave speed image. In particular, wave ‘spreading’ accounts for much of this decorrelation. Here we remove most of the decorrelation by allowing the reference wave pulse to spread during the cross correlation. This dramatically improves the images obtained from arrival time identification. We illustrate the improvement of this method on phantom and in vivo data obtained from the laboratory of Mathias Fink at ESPCI, Paris.

Multi-off-grid methods in multi-step integration of ordinary differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beaudet, P. R.

1974-01-01

Description of methods of solving first- and second-order systems of differential equations in which all derivatives are evaluated at off-grid locations in order to circumvent the Dahlquist stability limitation on the order of on-grid methods. The proposed multi-off-grid methods require off-grid state predictors for the evaluation of the n derivatives at each step. Progressing forward in time, the off-grid states are predicted using a linear combination of back on-grid state values and off-grid derivative evaluations. A comparison is made between the proposed multi-off-grid methods and the corresponding Adams and Cowell on-grid integration techniques in integrating systems of ordinary differential equations, showing a significant reduction in the error at larger step sizes in the case of the multi-off-grid integrator.

Automated segmentation of linear time-frequency representations of marine-mammal sounds.

PubMed

Dadouchi, Florian; Gervaise, Cedric; Ioana, Cornel; Huillery, Julien; Mars, Jérôme I

2013-09-01

Many marine mammals produce highly nonlinear frequency modulations. Determining the time-frequency support of these sounds offers various applications, which include recognition, localization, and density estimation. This study introduces a low parameterized automated spectrogram segmentation method that is based on a theoretical probabilistic framework. In the first step, the background noise in the spectrogram is fitted with a Chi-squared distribution and thresholded using a Neyman-Pearson approach. In the second step, the number of false detections in time-frequency regions is modeled as a binomial distribution, and then through a Neyman-Pearson strategy, the time-frequency bins are gathered into regions of interest. The proposed method is validated on real data of large sequences of whistles from common dolphins, collected in the Bay of Biscay (France). The proposed method is also compared with two alternative approaches: the first is smoothing and thresholding of the spectrogram; the second is thresholding of the spectrogram followed by the use of morphological operators to gather the time-frequency bins and to remove false positives. This method is shown to increase the probability of detection for the same probability of false alarms.

A spectral radius scaling semi-implicit iterative time stepping method for reactive flow simulations with detailed chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Qing; Xiao, Zhixiang; Ren, Zhuyin

2018-09-01

A spectral radius scaling semi-implicit time stepping scheme has been developed for simulating unsteady compressible reactive flows with detailed chemistry, in which the spectral radius in the LUSGS scheme has been augmented to account for viscous/diffusive and reactive terms and a scalar matrix is proposed to approximate the chemical Jacobian using the minimum species destruction timescale. The performance of the semi-implicit scheme, together with a third-order explicit Runge-Kutta scheme and a Strang splitting scheme, have been investigated in auto-ignition and laminar premixed and nonpremixed flames of three representative fuels, e.g., hydrogen, methane, and n-heptane. Results show that the minimum species destruction time scale can well represent the smallest chemical time scale in reactive flows and the proposed scheme can significantly increase the allowable time steps in simulations. The scheme is stable when the time step is as large as 10 μs, which is about three to five orders of magnitude larger than the smallest time scales in various tests considered. For the test flames considered, the semi-implicit scheme achieves second order of accuracy in time. Moreover, the errors in quantities of interest are smaller than those from the Strang splitting scheme indicating the accuracy gain when the reaction and transport terms are solved coupled. Results also show that the relative efficiency of different schemes depends on fuel mechanisms and test flames. When the minimum time scale in reactive flows is governed by transport processes instead of chemical reactions, the proposed semi-implicit scheme is more efficient than the splitting scheme. Otherwise, the relative efficiency depends on the cost in sub-iterations for convergence within each time step and in the integration for chemistry substep. Then, the capability of the compressible reacting flow solver and the proposed semi-implicit scheme is demonstrated for capturing the hydrogen detonation waves. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated in a two-dimensional hydrogen/air diffusion flame.

Multi-step-ahead Method for Wind Speed Prediction Correction Based on Numerical Weather Prediction and Historical Measurement Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Han; Yan, Jie; Liu, Yongqian; Han, Shuang; Li, Li; Zhao, Jing

2017-11-01

Increasing the accuracy of wind speed prediction lays solid foundation to the reliability of wind power forecasting. Most traditional correction methods for wind speed prediction establish the mapping relationship between wind speed of the numerical weather prediction (NWP) and the historical measurement data (HMD) at the corresponding time slot, which is free of time-dependent impacts of wind speed time series. In this paper, a multi-step-ahead wind speed prediction correction method is proposed with consideration of the passing effects from wind speed at the previous time slot. To this end, the proposed method employs both NWP and HMD as model inputs and the training labels. First, the probabilistic analysis of the NWP deviation for different wind speed bins is calculated to illustrate the inadequacy of the traditional time-independent mapping strategy. Then, support vector machine (SVM) is utilized as example to implement the proposed mapping strategy and to establish the correction model for all the wind speed bins. One Chinese wind farm in northern part of China is taken as example to validate the proposed method. Three benchmark methods of wind speed prediction are used to compare the performance. The results show that the proposed model has the best performance under different time horizons.

An automatic step adjustment method for average power analysis technique used in fiber amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xue-Ming

2006-04-01

An automatic step adjustment (ASA) method for average power analysis (APA) technique used in fiber amplifiers is proposed in this paper for the first time. In comparison with the traditional APA technique, the proposed method has suggested two unique merits such as a higher order accuracy and an ASA mechanism, so that it can significantly shorten the computing time and improve the solution accuracy. A test example demonstrates that, by comparing to the APA technique, the proposed method increases the computing speed by more than a hundredfold under the same errors. By computing the model equations of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, the numerical results show that our method can improve the solution accuracy by over two orders of magnitude at the same amplifying section number. The proposed method has the capacity to rapidly and effectively compute the model equations of fiber Raman amplifiers and semiconductor lasers.

Reconstructing biochemical pathways from time course data.

PubMed

Srividhya, Jeyaraman; Crampin, Edmund J; McSharry, Patrick E; Schnell, Santiago

2007-03-01

Time series data on biochemical reactions reveal transient behavior, away from chemical equilibrium, and contain information on the dynamic interactions among reacting components. However, this information can be difficult to extract using conventional analysis techniques. We present a new method to infer biochemical pathway mechanisms from time course data using a global nonlinear modeling technique to identify the elementary reaction steps which constitute the pathway. The method involves the generation of a complete dictionary of polynomial basis functions based on the law of mass action. Using these basis functions, there are two approaches to model construction, namely the general to specific and the specific to general approach. We demonstrate that our new methodology reconstructs the chemical reaction steps and connectivity of the glycolytic pathway of Lactococcus lactis from time course experimental data.

A GPU-accelerated semi-implicit fractional-step method for numerical solutions of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Sanghyun; Park, Junshin; You, Donghyun

2018-01-01

Utility of the computational power of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) is elaborated for solutions of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations which are integrated using a semi-implicit fractional-step method. The Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) and the Fourier-transform-based direct solution methods used in the semi-implicit fractional-step method take advantage of multiple tridiagonal matrices whose inversion is known as the major bottleneck for acceleration on a typical multi-core machine. A novel implementation of the semi-implicit fractional-step method designed for GPU acceleration of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is presented. Aspects of the programing model of Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), which are critical to the bandwidth-bound nature of the present method are discussed in detail. A data layout for efficient use of CUDA libraries is proposed for acceleration of tridiagonal matrix inversion and fast Fourier transform. OpenMP is employed for concurrent collection of turbulence statistics on a CPU while the Navier-Stokes equations are computed on a GPU. Performance of the present method using CUDA is assessed by comparing the speed of solving three tridiagonal matrices using ADI with the speed of solving one heptadiagonal matrix using a conjugate gradient method. An overall speedup of 20 times is achieved using a Tesla K40 GPU in comparison with a single-core Xeon E5-2660 v3 CPU in simulations of turbulent boundary-layer flow over a flat plate conducted on over 134 million grids. Enhanced performance of 48 times speedup is reached for the same problem using a Tesla P100 GPU.

Exploring inductive linearization for pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Chihiro; Duffull, Stephen B

2018-02-01

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic systems are often expressed with nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). While there are numerous methods to solve such ODEs these methods generally rely on time-stepping solutions (e.g. Runge-Kutta) which need to be matched to the characteristics of the problem at hand. The primary aim of this study was to explore the performance of an inductive approximation which iteratively converts nonlinear ODEs to linear time-varying systems which can then be solved algebraically or numerically. The inductive approximation is applied to three examples, a simple nonlinear pharmacokinetic model with Michaelis-Menten elimination (E1), an integrated glucose-insulin model and an HIV viral load model with recursive feedback systems (E2 and E3, respectively). The secondary aim of this study was to explore the potential advantages of analytically solving linearized ODEs with two examples, again E3 with stiff differential equations and a turnover model of luteinizing hormone with a surge function (E4). The inductive linearization coupled with a matrix exponential solution provided accurate predictions for all examples with comparable solution time to the matched time-stepping solutions for nonlinear ODEs. The time-stepping solutions however did not perform well for E4, particularly when the surge was approximated by a square wave. In circumstances when either a linear ODE is particularly desirable or the uncertainty in matching the integrator to the ODE system is of potential risk, then the inductive approximation method coupled with an analytical integration method would be an appropriate alternative.

Continuous-Time Bilinear System Identification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Juang, Jer-Nan

2003-01-01

The objective of this paper is to describe a new method for identification of a continuous-time multi-input and multi-output bilinear system. The approach is to make judicious use of the linear-model properties of the bilinear system when subjected to a constant input. Two steps are required in the identification process. The first step is to use a set of pulse responses resulting from a constant input of one sample period to identify the state matrix, the output matrix, and the direct transmission matrix. The second step is to use another set of pulse responses with the same constant input over multiple sample periods to identify the input matrix and the coefficient matrices associated with the coupling terms between the state and the inputs. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the concept and the computational algorithm for the identification method.

Carbon composition with hierarchical porosity, and methods of preparation

DOEpatents

Mayes, Richard T; Dai, Sheng

2014-10-21

A method for fabricating a porous carbon material possessing a hierarchical porosity, the method comprising subjecting a precursor composition to a curing step followed by a carbonization step, the precursor composition comprising: (i) a templating component comprised of a block copolymer, (ii) a phenolic component, (iii) a dione component in which carbonyl groups are adjacent, and (iv) an acidic component, wherein said carbonization step comprises heating the precursor composition at a carbonizing temperature for sufficient time to convert the precursor composition to a carbon material possessing a hierarchical porosity comprised of mesopores and macropores. Also described are the resulting hierarchical porous carbon material, a capacitive deionization device in which the porous carbon material is incorporated, as well as methods for desalinating water by use of said capacitive deionization device.

Cingi Steps for preoperative computer-assisted image editing before reduction rhinoplasty.

PubMed

Cingi, Can Cemal; Cingi, Cemal; Bayar Muluk, Nuray

2014-04-01

The aim of this work is to provide a stepwise systematic guide for a preoperative photo-editing procedure for rhinoplasty cases involving the cooperation of a graphic artist and a surgeon. One hundred female subjects who planned to undergo a reduction rhinoplasty operation were included in this study. The Cingi Steps for Preoperative Computer Imaging (CS-PCI) program, a stepwise systematic guide for image editing using Adobe PhotoShop's "liquify" effect, was applied to the rhinoplasty candidates. The stages of CS-PCI are as follows: (1) lowering the hump; (2) shortening the nose; (3) adjusting the tip projection, (4) perfecting the nasal dorsum, (5) creating a supratip break, and (6) exaggerating the tip projection and/or dorsal slope. Performing the Cingi Steps allows the patient to see what will happen during the operation and observe the final appearance of his or her nose. After the application of described steps, 71 patients (71%) accepted step 4, and 21 (21%) of them accepted step 5. Only 10 patients (10%) wanted to make additional changes to their operation plans. The main benefits of using this method is that it decreases the time needed by the surgeon to perform a graphic analysis, and it reduces the time required for the patient to reach a decision about the procedure. It is an easy and reliable method that will provide improved physician-patient communication, increased patient confidence, and enhanced surgical planning while limiting the time needed for planning. © 2014 ARS-AAOA, LLC.

Method and apparatus for detecting timing errors in a system oscillator

DOEpatents

Gliebe, Ronald J.; Kramer, William R.

1993-01-01

A method of detecting timing errors in a system oscillator for an electronic device, such as a power supply, includes the step of comparing a system oscillator signal with a delayed generated signal and generating a signal representative of the timing error when the system oscillator signal is not identical to the delayed signal. An LED indicates to an operator that a timing error has occurred. A hardware circuit implements the above-identified method.

Evaluation of the matrix exponential for use in ground-water-flow and solute-transport simulations; theoretical framework

USGS Publications Warehouse

Umari, A.M.; Gorelick, S.M.

1986-01-01

It is possible to obtain analytic solutions to the groundwater flow and solute transport equations if space variables are discretized but time is left continuous. From these solutions, hydraulic head and concentration fields for any future time can be obtained without ' marching ' through intermediate time steps. This analytical approach involves matrix exponentiation and is referred to as the Matrix Exponential Time Advancement (META) method. Two algorithms are presented for the META method, one for symmetric and the other for non-symmetric exponent matrices. A numerical accuracy indicator, referred to as the matrix condition number, was defined and used to determine the maximum number of significant figures that may be lost in the META method computations. The relative computational and storage requirements of the META method with respect to the time marching method increase with the number of nodes in the discretized problem. The potential greater accuracy of the META method and the associated greater reliability through use of the matrix condition number have to be weighed against this increased relative computational and storage requirements of this approach as the number of nodes becomes large. For a particular number of nodes, the META method may be computationally more efficient than the time-marching method, depending on the size of time steps used in the latter. A numerical example illustrates application of the META method to a sample ground-water-flow problem. (Author 's abstract)

Efficient and accurate time-stepping schemes for integrate-and-fire neuronal networks.

PubMed

Shelley, M J; Tao, L

2001-01-01

To avoid the numerical errors associated with resetting the potential following a spike in simulations of integrate-and-fire neuronal networks, Hansel et al. and Shelley independently developed a modified time-stepping method. Their particular scheme consists of second-order Runge-Kutta time-stepping, a linear interpolant to find spike times, and a recalibration of postspike potential using the spike times. Here we show analytically that such a scheme is second order, discuss the conditions under which efficient, higher-order algorithms can be constructed to treat resets, and develop a modified fourth-order scheme. To support our analysis, we simulate a system of integrate-and-fire conductance-based point neurons with all-to-all coupling. For six-digit accuracy, our modified Runge-Kutta fourth-order scheme needs a time-step of Delta(t) = 0.5 x 10(-3) seconds, whereas to achieve comparable accuracy using a recalibrated second-order or a first-order algorithm requires time-steps of 10(-5) seconds or 10(-9) seconds, respectively. Furthermore, since the cortico-cortical conductances in standard integrate-and-fire neuronal networks do not depend on the value of the membrane potential, we can attain fourth-order accuracy with computational costs normally associated with second-order schemes.

On the error propagation of semi-Lagrange and Fourier methods for advection problems☆

PubMed Central

Einkemmer, Lukas; Ostermann, Alexander

2015-01-01

In this paper we study the error propagation of numerical schemes for the advection equation in the case where high precision is desired. The numerical methods considered are based on the fast Fourier transform, polynomial interpolation (semi-Lagrangian methods using a Lagrange or spline interpolation), and a discontinuous Galerkin semi-Lagrangian approach (which is conservative and has to store more than a single value per cell). We demonstrate, by carrying out numerical experiments, that the worst case error estimates given in the literature provide a good explanation for the error propagation of the interpolation-based semi-Lagrangian methods. For the discontinuous Galerkin semi-Lagrangian method, however, we find that the characteristic property of semi-Lagrangian error estimates (namely the fact that the error increases proportionally to the number of time steps) is not observed. We provide an explanation for this behavior and conduct numerical simulations that corroborate the different qualitative features of the error in the two respective types of semi-Lagrangian methods. The method based on the fast Fourier transform is exact but, due to round-off errors, susceptible to a linear increase of the error in the number of time steps. We show how to modify the Cooley–Tukey algorithm in order to obtain an error growth that is proportional to the square root of the number of time steps. Finally, we show, for a simple model, that our conclusions hold true if the advection solver is used as part of a splitting scheme. PMID:25844018

Improved diffusion Monte Carlo propagators for bosonic systems using Itô calculus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hâkansson, P.; Mella, M.; Bressanini, Dario; Morosi, Gabriele; Patrone, Marta

2006-11-01

The construction of importance sampled diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) schemes accurate to second order in the time step is discussed. A central aspect in obtaining efficient second order schemes is the numerical solution of the stochastic differential equation (SDE) associated with the Fokker-Plank equation responsible for the importance sampling procedure. In this work, stochastic predictor-corrector schemes solving the SDE and consistent with Itô calculus are used in DMC simulations of helium clusters. These schemes are numerically compared with alternative algorithms obtained by splitting the Fokker-Plank operator, an approach that we analyze using the analytical tools provided by Itô calculus. The numerical results show that predictor-corrector methods are indeed accurate to second order in the time step and that they present a smaller time step bias and a better efficiency than second order split-operator derived schemes when computing ensemble averages for bosonic systems. The possible extension of the predictor-corrector methods to higher orders is also discussed.

Multi-Time Step Service Restoration for Advanced Distribution Systems and Microgrids

DOE PAGES

Chen, Bo; Chen, Chen; Wang, Jianhui; ...

2017-07-07

Modern power systems are facing increased risk of disasters that can cause extended outages. The presence of remote control switches (RCSs), distributed generators (DGs), and energy storage systems (ESS) provides both challenges and opportunities for developing post-fault service restoration methodologies. Inter-temporal constraints of DGs, ESS, and loads under cold load pickup (CLPU) conditions impose extra complexity on problem formulation and solution. In this paper, a multi-time step service restoration methodology is proposed to optimally generate a sequence of control actions for controllable switches, ESSs, and dispatchable DGs to assist the system operator with decision making. The restoration sequence is determinedmore » to minimize the unserved customers by energizing the system step by step without violating operational constraints at each time step. The proposed methodology is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and can adapt to various operation conditions. Furthermore, the proposed method is validated through several case studies that are performed on modified IEEE 13-node and IEEE 123-node test feeders.« less

Multi-Time Step Service Restoration for Advanced Distribution Systems and Microgrids

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

Chen, Bo; Chen, Chen; Wang, Jianhui

Modern power systems are facing increased risk of disasters that can cause extended outages. The presence of remote control switches (RCSs), distributed generators (DGs), and energy storage systems (ESS) provides both challenges and opportunities for developing post-fault service restoration methodologies. Inter-temporal constraints of DGs, ESS, and loads under cold load pickup (CLPU) conditions impose extra complexity on problem formulation and solution. In this paper, a multi-time step service restoration methodology is proposed to optimally generate a sequence of control actions for controllable switches, ESSs, and dispatchable DGs to assist the system operator with decision making. The restoration sequence is determinedmore » to minimize the unserved customers by energizing the system step by step without violating operational constraints at each time step. The proposed methodology is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and can adapt to various operation conditions. Furthermore, the proposed method is validated through several case studies that are performed on modified IEEE 13-node and IEEE 123-node test feeders.« less

Efficient variable time-stepping scheme for intense field-atom interactions

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

Cerjan, C.; Kosloff, R.

1993-03-01

The recently developed Residuum method [Tal-Ezer, Kosloff, and Cerjan, J. Comput. Phys. 100, 179 (1992)], a Krylov subspace technique with variable time-step integration for the solution of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation, is applied to the frequently used soft Coulomb potential in an intense laser field. This one-dimensional potential has asymptotic Coulomb dependence with a softened'' singularity at the origin; thus it models more realistic phenomena. Two of the more important quantities usually calculated in this idealized system are the photoelectron and harmonic photon generation spectra. These quantities are shown to be sensitive to the choice of a numerical integration scheme:more » some spectral features are incorrectly calculated or missing altogether. Furthermore, the Residuum method allows much larger grid spacings for equivalent or higher accuracy in addition to the advantages of variable time stepping. Finally, it is demonstrated that enhanced high-order harmonic generation accompanies intense field stabilization and that preparation of the atom in an intermediate Rydberg state leads to stabilization at much lower laser intensity.« less

Fabrication of efficient planar perovskite solar cells using a one-step chemical vapor deposition method

PubMed Central

Tavakoli, Mohammad Mahdi; Gu, Leilei; Gao, Yuan; Reckmeier, Claas; He, Jin; Rogach, Andrey L.; Yao, Yan; Fan, Zhiyong

2015-01-01

Organometallic trihalide perovskites are promising materials for photovoltaic applications, which have demonstrated a rapid rise in photovoltaic performance in a short period of time. We report a facile one-step method to fabricate planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), with a solar power conversion efficiency of up to 11.1%. We performed a systematic optimization of CVD parameters such as temperature and growth time to obtain high quality films of CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite. Scanning electron microscopy and time resolved photoluminescence data showed that the perovskite films have a large grain size of more than 1 micrometer, and carrier life-times of 10 ns and 120 ns for CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbI3-xClx, respectively. This is the first demonstration of a highly efficient perovskite solar cell using one step CVD and there is likely room for significant improvement of device efficiency. PMID:26392200

Asynchronous machine rotor speed estimation using a tabulated numerical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Huu Phuc; De Miras, Jérôme; Charara, Ali; Eltabach, Mario; Bonnet, Stéphane

2017-12-01

This paper proposes a new method to estimate the rotor speed of the asynchronous machine by looking at the estimation problem as a nonlinear optimal control problem. The behavior of the nonlinear plant model is approximated off-line as a prediction map using a numerical one-step time discretization obtained from simulations. At each time-step, the speed of the induction machine is selected satisfying the dynamic fitting problem between the plant output and the predicted output, leading the system to adopt its dynamical behavior. Thanks to the limitation of the prediction horizon to a single time-step, the execution time of the algorithm can be completely bounded. It can thus easily be implemented and embedded into a real-time system to observe the speed of the real induction motor. Simulation results show the performance and robustness of the proposed estimator.

Finite difference time domain calculation of transients in antennas with nonlinear loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luebbers, Raymond J.; Beggs, John H.; Kunz, Karl S.; Chamberlin, Kent

1991-01-01

Determining transient electromagnetic fields in antennas with nonlinear loads is a challenging problem. Typical methods used involve calculating frequency domain parameters at a large number of different frequencies, then applying Fourier transform methods plus nonlinear equation solution techniques. If the antenna is simple enough so that the open circuit time domain voltage can be determined independently of the effects of the nonlinear load on the antennas current, time stepping methods can be applied in a straightforward way. Here, transient fields for antennas with more general geometries are calculated directly using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) methods. In each FDTD cell which contains a nonlinear load, a nonlinear equation is solved at each time step. As a test case, the transient current in a long dipole antenna with a nonlinear load excited by a pulsed plane wave is computed using this approach. The results agree well with both calculated and measured results previously published. The approach given here extends the applicability of the FDTD method to problems involving scattering from targets, including nonlinear loads and materials, and to coupling between antennas containing nonlinear loads. It may also be extended to propagation through nonlinear materials.

Comparison of IMRT planning with two-step and one-step optimization: a strategy for improving therapeutic gain and reducing the integral dose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abate, A.; Pressello, M. C.; Benassi, M.; Strigari, L.

2009-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency in inverse IMRT planning of one-step optimization with the step-and-shoot (SS) technique as compared to traditional two-step optimization using the sliding windows (SW) technique. The Pinnacle IMRT TPS allows both one-step and two-step approaches. The same beam setup for five head-and-neck tumor patients and dose-volume constraints were applied for all optimization methods. Two-step plans were produced converting the ideal fluence with or without a smoothing filter into the SW sequence. One-step plans, based on direct machine parameter optimization (DMPO), had the maximum number of segments per beam set at 8, 10, 12, producing a directly deliverable sequence. Moreover, the plans were generated whether a split-beam was used or not. Total monitor units (MUs), overall treatment time, cost function and dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were estimated for each plan. PTV conformality and homogeneity indexes and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) that are the basis for improving therapeutic gain, as well as non-tumor integral dose (NTID), were evaluated. A two-sided t-test was used to compare quantitative variables. All plans showed similar target coverage. Compared to two-step SW optimization, the DMPO-SS plans resulted in lower MUs (20%), NTID (4%) as well as NTCP values. Differences of about 15-20% in the treatment delivery time were registered. DMPO generates less complex plans with identical PTV coverage, providing lower NTCP and NTID, which is expected to reduce the risk of secondary cancer. It is an effective and efficient method and, if available, it should be favored over the two-step IMRT planning.

A semi-automated method for rapid detection of ripple events on interictal voltage discharges in the scalp electroencephalogram

PubMed Central

Chu, Catherine. J.; Chan, Arthur; Song, Dan; Staley, Kevin J.; Stufflebeam, Steven M.; Kramer, Mark A.

2017-01-01

Summary Background High frequency oscillations are emerging as a clinically important indicator of epileptic networks. However, manual detection of these high frequency oscillations is difficult, time consuming, and subjective, especially in the scalp EEG, thus hindering further clinical exploration and application. Semi-automated detection methods augment manual detection by reducing inspection to a subset of time intervals. We propose a new method to detect high frequency oscillations that co-occur with interictal epileptiform discharges. New Method The new method proceeds in two steps. The first step identifies candidate time intervals during which high frequency activity is increased. The second step computes a set of seven features for each candidate interval. These features require that the candidate event contain a high frequency oscillation approximately sinusoidal in shape, with at least three cycles, that co-occurs with a large amplitude discharge. Candidate events that satisfy these features are stored for validation through visual analysis. Results We evaluate the detector performance in simulation and on ten examples of scalp EEG data, and show that the proposed method successfully detects spike-ripple events, with high positive predictive value, low false positive rate, and high intra-rater reliability. Comparison with Existing Method The proposed method is less sensitive than the existing method of visual inspection, but much faster and much more reliable. Conclusions Accurate and rapid detection of high frequency activity increases the clinical viability of this rhythmic biomarker of epilepsy. The proposed spike-ripple detector rapidly identifies candidate spike-ripple events, thus making clinical analysis of prolonged, multielectrode scalp EEG recordings tractable. PMID:27988323

A General Method for Solving Systems of Non-Linear Equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nachtsheim, Philip R.; Deiss, Ron (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

The method of steepest descent is modified so that accelerated convergence is achieved near a root. It is assumed that the function of interest can be approximated near a root by a quadratic form. An eigenvector of the quadratic form is found by evaluating the function and its gradient at an arbitrary point and another suitably selected point. The terminal point of the eigenvector is chosen to lie on the line segment joining the two points. The terminal point found lies on an axis of the quadratic form. The selection of a suitable step size at this point leads directly to the root in the direction of steepest descent in a single step. Newton's root finding method not infrequently diverges if the starting point is far from the root. However, the current method in these regions merely reverts to the method of steepest descent with an adaptive step size. The current method's performance should match that of the Levenberg-Marquardt root finding method since they both share the ability to converge from a starting point far from the root and both exhibit quadratic convergence near a root. The Levenberg-Marquardt method requires storage for coefficients of linear equations. The current method which does not require the solution of linear equations requires more time for additional function and gradient evaluations. The classic trade off of time for space separates the two methods.

Optimal pre-scheduling of problem remappings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nicol, David M.; Saltz, Joel H.

1987-01-01

A large class of scientific computational problems can be characterized as a sequence of steps where a significant amount of computation occurs each step, but the work performed at each step is not necessarily identical. Two good examples of this type of computation are: (1) regridding methods which change the problem discretization during the course of the computation, and (2) methods for solving sparse triangular systems of linear equations. Recent work has investigated a means of mapping such computations onto parallel processors; the method defines a family of static mappings with differing degrees of importance placed on the conflicting goals of good load balance and low communication/synchronization overhead. The performance tradeoffs are controllable by adjusting the parameters of the mapping method. To achieve good performance it may be necessary to dynamically change these parameters at run-time, but such changes can impose additional costs. If the computation's behavior can be determined prior to its execution, it can be possible to construct an optimal parameter schedule using a low-order-polynomial-time dynamic programming algorithm. Since the latter can be expensive, the performance is studied of the effect of a linear-time scheduling heuristic on one of the model problems, and it is shown to be effective and nearly optimal.

Effectiveness of en masse versus two-step retraction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Rizk, Mumen Z; Mohammed, Hisham; Ismael, Omar; Bearn, David R

2018-01-05

This review aims to compare the effectiveness of en masse and two-step retraction methods during orthodontic space closure regarding anchorage preservation and anterior segment retraction and to assess their effect on the duration of treatment and root resorption. An electronic search for potentially eligible randomized controlled trials and prospective controlled trials was performed in five electronic databases up to July 2017. The process of study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment was performed by two reviewers independently. A narrative review is presented in addition to a quantitative synthesis of the pooled results where possible. The Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used for the methodological quality assessment of the included studies. Eight studies were included in the qualitative synthesis in this review. Four studies were included in the quantitative synthesis. En masse/miniscrew combination showed a statistically significant standard mean difference regarding anchorage preservation - 2.55 mm (95% CI - 2.99 to - 2.11) and the amount of upper incisor retraction - 0.38 mm (95% CI - 0.70 to - 0.06) when compared to a two-step/conventional anchorage combination. Qualitative synthesis suggested that en masse retraction requires less time than two-step retraction with no difference in the amount of root resorption. Both en masse and two-step retraction methods are effective during the space closure phase. The en masse/miniscrew combination is superior to the two-step/conventional anchorage combination with regard to anchorage preservation and amount of retraction. Limited evidence suggests that anchorage reinforcement with a headgear produces similar results with both retraction methods. Limited evidence also suggests that en masse retraction may require less time and that no significant differences exist in the amount of root resorption between the two methods.

Stability with large step sizes for multistep discretizations of stiff ordinary differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Majda, George

1986-01-01

One-leg and multistep discretizations of variable-coefficient linear systems of ODEs having both slow and fast time scales are investigated analytically. The stability properties of these discretizations are obtained independent of ODE stiffness and compared. The results of numerical computations are presented in tables, and it is shown that for large step sizes the stability of one-leg methods is better than that of the corresponding linear multistep methods.

Single-step scanner-based digital image correlation (SB-DIC) method for large deformation mapping in rubber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goh, C. P.; Ismail, H.; Yen, K. S.; Ratnam, M. M.

2017-01-01

The incremental digital image correlation (DIC) method has been applied in the past to determine strain in large deformation materials like rubber. This method is, however, prone to cumulative errors since the total displacement is determined by combining the displacements in numerous stages of the deformation. In this work, a method of mapping large strains in rubber using DIC in a single-step without the need for a series of deformation images is proposed. The reference subsets were deformed using deformation factors obtained from the fitted mean stress-axial stretch ratio curve obtained experimentally and the theoretical Poisson function. The deformed reference subsets were then correlated with the deformed image after loading. The recently developed scanner-based digital image correlation (SB-DIC) method was applied on dumbbell rubber specimens to obtain the in-plane displacement fields up to 350% axial strain. Comparison of the mean axial strains determined from the single-step SB-DIC method with those from the incremental SB-DIC method showed an average difference of 4.7%. Two rectangular rubber specimens containing circular and square holes were deformed and analysed using the proposed method. The resultant strain maps from the single-step SB-DIC method were compared with the results of finite element modeling (FEM). The comparison shows that the proposed single-step SB-DIC method can be used to map the strain distribution accurately in large deformation materials like rubber at much shorter time compared to the incremental DIC method.

Step Transfer-Addition and Radical-Termination (START) Polymerization of α,ω-Unconjugated Dienes under Irradiation of Blue LED Light.

PubMed

Xu, Tianchi; Yin, Hongnan; Li, Xiaohong; Zhang, Lifen; Cheng, Zhenping; Zhu, Xiulin

2017-07-01

A new polymerization method, termed as step transfer-addition and radical-termination, is developed for the step-growth radical polymerization of α,ω-unconjugated dienes under irradiation of visible light at room temperature (25 °C) for the first time. α,ω-Diiodoperfluoroalkane monomers (signified as A) are added onto α,ω-unconjugated dienes (signified as B) alternatively and efficiently with the generation of perfluorocarbon-containing alternating copolymers (AB) n . Based on the combined analyses of polymerization kinetics and NMR spectra ( 1 H and 19 F), the mechanism of the novel polymerization method, including the side reaction, is proposed. This novel polymerization method provides a new strategy not only for the step-growth radical polymerization of α,ω-unconjugated dienes but also for the construction of high molecular weight perfluorocarbon-containing alternating copolymers. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Construction of moment-matching multinomial lattices using Vandermonde matrices and Gröbner bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundengârd, Karl; Ogutu, Carolyne; Silvestrov, Sergei; Ni, Ying; Weke, Patrick

2017-01-01

In order to describe and analyze the quantitative behavior of stochastic processes, such as the process followed by a financial asset, various discretization methods are used. One such set of methods are lattice models where a time interval is divided into equal time steps and the rate of change for the process is restricted to a particular set of values in each time step. The well-known binomial- and trinomial models are the most commonly used in applications, although several kinds of higher order models have also been examined. Here we will examine various ways of designing higher order lattice schemes with different node placements in order to guarantee moment-matching with the process.

Thickness measurement by two-sided step-heating thermal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaoli; Tao, Ning; Sun, J. G.; Zhang, Cunlin; Zhao, Yuejin

2018-01-01

Infrared thermal imaging is a promising nondestructive technique for thickness prediction. However, it is usually thought to be only appropriate for testing the thickness of thin objects or near-surface structures. In this study, we present a new two-sided step-heating thermal imaging method which employed a low-cost portable halogen lamp as the heating source and verified it with two stainless steel step wedges with thicknesses ranging from 5 mm to 24 mm. We first derived the one-dimensional step-heating thermography theory with the consideration of warm-up time of the lamp, and then applied the nonlinear regression method to fit the experimental data by the derived function to determine the thickness. After evaluating the reliability and accuracy of the experimental results, we concluded that this method is capable of testing thick objects. In addition, we provided the criterions for both the required data length and the applicable thickness range of the testing material. It is evident that this method will broaden the thermal imaging application for thickness measurement.

hp-Adaptive time integration based on the BDF for viscous flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hay, A.; Etienne, S.; Pelletier, D.; Garon, A.

2015-06-01

This paper presents a procedure based on the Backward Differentiation Formulas of order 1 to 5 to obtain efficient time integration of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The adaptive algorithm performs both stepsize and order selections to control respectively the solution accuracy and the computational efficiency of the time integration process. The stepsize selection (h-adaptivity) is based on a local error estimate and an error controller to guarantee that the numerical solution accuracy is within a user prescribed tolerance. The order selection (p-adaptivity) relies on the idea that low-accuracy solutions can be computed efficiently by low order time integrators while accurate solutions require high order time integrators to keep computational time low. The selection is based on a stability test that detects growing numerical noise and deems a method of order p stable if there is no method of lower order that delivers the same solution accuracy for a larger stepsize. Hence, it guarantees both that (1) the used method of integration operates inside of its stability region and (2) the time integration procedure is computationally efficient. The proposed time integration procedure also features a time-step rejection and quarantine mechanisms, a modified Newton method with a predictor and dense output techniques to compute solution at off-step points.

Meshless Method with Operator Splitting Technique for Transient Nonlinear Bioheat Transfer in Two-Dimensional Skin Tissues

PubMed Central

Zhang, Ze-Wei; Wang, Hui; Qin, Qing-Hua

2015-01-01

A meshless numerical scheme combining the operator splitting method (OSM), the radial basis function (RBF) interpolation, and the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) is developed for solving transient nonlinear bioheat problems in two-dimensional (2D) skin tissues. In the numerical scheme, the nonlinearity caused by linear and exponential relationships of temperature-dependent blood perfusion rate (TDBPR) is taken into consideration. In the analysis, the OSM is used first to separate the Laplacian operator and the nonlinear source term, and then the second-order time-stepping schemes are employed for approximating two splitting operators to convert the original governing equation into a linear nonhomogeneous Helmholtz-type governing equation (NHGE) at each time step. Subsequently, the RBF interpolation and the MFS involving the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation are respectively employed to obtain approximated particular and homogeneous solutions of the nonhomogeneous Helmholtz-type governing equation. Finally, the full fields consisting of the particular and homogeneous solutions are enforced to fit the NHGE at interpolation points and the boundary conditions at boundary collocations for determining unknowns at each time step. The proposed method is verified by comparison of other methods. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the coefficients in the cases of a linear and an exponential relationship of TDBPR is investigated to reveal their bioheat effect on the skin tissue. PMID:25603180

Meshless method with operator splitting technique for transient nonlinear bioheat transfer in two-dimensional skin tissues.

PubMed

Zhang, Ze-Wei; Wang, Hui; Qin, Qing-Hua

2015-01-16

A meshless numerical scheme combining the operator splitting method (OSM), the radial basis function (RBF) interpolation, and the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) is developed for solving transient nonlinear bioheat problems in two-dimensional (2D) skin tissues. In the numerical scheme, the nonlinearity caused by linear and exponential relationships of temperature-dependent blood perfusion rate (TDBPR) is taken into consideration. In the analysis, the OSM is used first to separate the Laplacian operator and the nonlinear source term, and then the second-order time-stepping schemes are employed for approximating two splitting operators to convert the original governing equation into a linear nonhomogeneous Helmholtz-type governing equation (NHGE) at each time step. Subsequently, the RBF interpolation and the MFS involving the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation are respectively employed to obtain approximated particular and homogeneous solutions of the nonhomogeneous Helmholtz-type governing equation. Finally, the full fields consisting of the particular and homogeneous solutions are enforced to fit the NHGE at interpolation points and the boundary conditions at boundary collocations for determining unknowns at each time step. The proposed method is verified by comparison of other methods. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the coefficients in the cases of a linear and an exponential relationship of TDBPR is investigated to reveal their bioheat effect on the skin tissue.

Adiabatic tapered optical fiber fabrication in two step etching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chenari, Z.; Latifi, H.; Ghamari, S.; Hashemi, R. S.; Doroodmand, F.

2016-01-01

A two-step etching method using HF acid and Buffered HF is proposed to fabricate adiabatic biconical optical fiber tapers. Due to the fact that the etching rate in second step is almost 3 times slower than the previous droplet etching method, terminating the fabrication process is controllable enough to achieve a desirable fiber diameter. By monitoring transmitted spectrum, final diameter and adiabaticity of tapers are deduced. Tapers with losses about 0.3 dB in air and 4.2 dB in water are produced. The biconical fiber taper fabricated using this method is used to excite whispering gallery modes (WGMs) on a microsphere surface in an aquatic environment. So that they are suitable to be used in applications like WGM biosensors.

Deciding Full Branching Time Logic by Program Transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pettorossi, Alberto; Proietti, Maurizio; Senni, Valerio

We present a method based on logic program transformation, for verifying Computation Tree Logic (CTL*) properties of finite state reactive systems. The finite state systems and the CTL* properties we want to verify, are encoded as logic programs on infinite lists. Our verification method consists of two steps. In the first step we transform the logic program that encodes the given system and the given property, into a monadic ω -program, that is, a stratified program defining nullary or unary predicates on infinite lists. This transformation is performed by applying unfold/fold rules that preserve the perfect model of the initial program. In the second step we verify the property of interest by using a proof method for monadic ω-programs.

Implicit Plasma Kinetic Simulation Using The Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taitano, William; Knoll, Dana; Chacon, Luis

2009-11-01

The use of fully implicit time integration methods in kinetic simulation is still area of algorithmic research. A brute-force approach to simultaneously including the field equations and the particle distribution function would result in an intractable linear algebra problem. A number of algorithms have been put forward which rely on an extrapolation in time. They can be thought of as linearly implicit methods or one-step Newton methods. However, issues related to time accuracy of these methods still remain. We are pursuing a route to implicit plasma kinetic simulation which eliminates extrapolation, eliminates phase-space from the linear algebra problem, and converges the entire nonlinear system within a time step. We accomplish all this using the Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov algorithm. The original research along these lines considered particle methods to advance the distribution function [1]. In the current research we are advancing the Vlasov equations on a grid. Results will be presented which highlight algorithmic details for single species electrostatic problems and coupled ion-electron electrostatic problems. [4pt] [1] H. J. Kim, L. Chac'on, G. Lapenta, ``Fully implicit particle in cell algorithm,'' 47th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, Oct. 24-28, 2005, Denver, CO

A two-step leaching method designed based on chemical fraction distribution of the heavy metals for selective leaching of Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb from metallurgical sludge.

PubMed

Wang, Fen; Yu, Junxia; Xiong, Wanli; Xu, Yuanlai; Chi, Ru-An

2018-01-01

For selective leaching and highly effective recovery of heavy metals from a metallurgical sludge, a two-step leaching method was designed based on the distribution analysis of the chemical fractions of the loaded heavy metal. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) was used as a leaching agent in the first step to leach the relatively labile heavy metals and then ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was applied to leach the residual metals according to their different fractional distribution. Using the two-step leaching method, 82.89% of Cd, 55.73% of Zn, 10.85% of Cu, and 0.25% of Pb were leached in the first step by 0.7 M HCl at a contact time of 240 min, and the leaching efficiencies for Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb were elevated up to 99.76, 91.41, 71.85, and 94.06%, by subsequent treatment with 0.2 M EDTA at 480 min, respectively. Furthermore, HCl leaching induced fractional redistribution, which might increase the mobility of the remaining metals and then facilitate the following metal removal by EDTA. The facilitation was further confirmed by the comparison to the one-step leaching method with single HCl or single EDTA, respectively. These results suggested that the designed two-step leaching method by HCl and EDTA could be used for selective leaching and effective recovery of heavy metals from the metallurgical sludge or heavy metal-contaminated solid media.

Integrated method for chaotic time series analysis

DOEpatents

Hively, L.M.; Ng, E.G.

1998-09-29

Methods and apparatus for automatically detecting differences between similar but different states in a nonlinear process monitor nonlinear data are disclosed. Steps include: acquiring the data; digitizing the data; obtaining nonlinear measures of the data via chaotic time series analysis; obtaining time serial trends in the nonlinear measures; and determining by comparison whether differences between similar but different states are indicated. 8 figs.

Stability of discrete time recurrent neural networks and nonlinear optimization problems.

PubMed

Singh, Jayant; Barabanov, Nikita

2016-02-01

We consider the method of Reduction of Dissipativity Domain to prove global Lyapunov stability of Discrete Time Recurrent Neural Networks. The standard and advanced criteria for Absolute Stability of these essentially nonlinear systems produce rather weak results. The method mentioned above is proved to be more powerful. It involves a multi-step procedure with maximization of special nonconvex functions over polytopes on every step. We derive conditions which guarantee an existence of at most one point of local maximum for such functions over every hyperplane. This nontrivial result is valid for wide range of neuron transfer functions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A three operator split-step method covering a larger set of non-linear partial differential equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zia, Haider

2017-06-01

This paper describes an updated exponential Fourier based split-step method that can be applied to a greater class of partial differential equations than previous methods would allow. These equations arise in physics and engineering, a notable example being the generalized derivative non-linear Schrödinger equation that arises in non-linear optics with self-steepening terms. These differential equations feature terms that were previously inaccessible to model accurately with low computational resources. The new method maintains a 3rd order error even with these additional terms and models the equation in all three spatial dimensions and time. The class of non-linear differential equations that this method applies to is shown. The method is fully derived and implementation of the method in the split-step architecture is shown. This paper lays the mathematical ground work for an upcoming paper employing this method in white-light generation simulations in bulk material.

A combined application of boundary-element and Runge-Kutta methods in three-dimensional elasticity and poroelasticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Igumnov, Leonid; Ipatov, Aleksandr; Belov, Aleksandr; Petrov, Andrey

2015-09-01

The report presents the development of the time-boundary element methodology and a description of the related software based on a stepped method of numerical inversion of the integral Laplace transform in combination with a family of Runge-Kutta methods for analyzing 3-D mixed initial boundary-value problems of the dynamics of inhomogeneous elastic and poro-elastic bodies. The results of the numerical investigation are presented. The investigation methodology is based on direct-approach boundary integral equations of 3-D isotropic linear theories of elasticity and poroelasticity in Laplace transforms. Poroelastic media are described using Biot models with four and five base functions. With the help of the boundary-element method, solutions in time are obtained, using the stepped method of numerically inverting Laplace transform on the nodes of Runge-Kutta methods. The boundary-element method is used in combination with the collocation method, local element-by-element approximation based on the matched interpolation model. The results of analyzing wave problems of the effect of a non-stationary force on elastic and poroelastic finite bodies, a poroelastic half-space (also with a fictitious boundary) and a layered half-space weakened by a cavity, and a half-space with a trench are presented. Excitation of a slow wave in a poroelastic medium is studied, using the stepped BEM-scheme on the nodes of Runge-Kutta methods.

Optimal subinterval selection approach for power system transient stability simulation

DOE PAGES

Kim, Soobae; Overbye, Thomas J.

2015-10-21

Power system transient stability analysis requires an appropriate integration time step to avoid numerical instability as well as to reduce computational demands. For fast system dynamics, which vary more rapidly than what the time step covers, a fraction of the time step, called a subinterval, is used. However, the optimal value of this subinterval is not easily determined because the analysis of the system dynamics might be required. This selection is usually made from engineering experiences, and perhaps trial and error. This paper proposes an optimal subinterval selection approach for power system transient stability analysis, which is based on modalmore » analysis using a single machine infinite bus (SMIB) system. Fast system dynamics are identified with the modal analysis and the SMIB system is used focusing on fast local modes. An appropriate subinterval time step from the proposed approach can reduce computational burden and achieve accurate simulation responses as well. As a result, the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated with the GSO 37-bus system.« less

An efficient and accurate two-stage fourth-order gas-kinetic scheme for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Liang; Xu, Kun; Li, Qibing; Li, Jiequan

2016-12-01

For computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the generalized Riemann problem (GRP) solver and the second-order gas-kinetic scheme (GKS) provide a time-accurate flux function starting from a discontinuous piecewise linear flow distributions around a cell interface. With the adoption of time derivative of the flux function, a two-stage Lax-Wendroff-type (L-W for short) time stepping method has been recently proposed in the design of a fourth-order time accurate method for inviscid flow [21]. In this paper, based on the same time-stepping method and the second-order GKS flux function [42], a fourth-order gas-kinetic scheme is constructed for the Euler and Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. In comparison with the formal one-stage time-stepping third-order gas-kinetic solver [24], the current fourth-order method not only reduces the complexity of the flux function, but also improves the accuracy of the scheme. In terms of the computational cost, a two-dimensional third-order GKS flux function takes about six times of the computational time of a second-order GKS flux function. However, a fifth-order WENO reconstruction may take more than ten times of the computational cost of a second-order GKS flux function. Therefore, it is fully legitimate to develop a two-stage fourth order time accurate method (two reconstruction) instead of standard four stage fourth-order Runge-Kutta method (four reconstruction). Most importantly, the robustness of the fourth-order GKS is as good as the second-order one. In the current computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research, it is still a difficult problem to extend the higher-order Euler solver to the NS one due to the change of governing equations from hyperbolic to parabolic type and the initial interface discontinuity. This problem remains distinctively for the hypersonic viscous and heat conducting flow. The GKS is based on the kinetic equation with the hyperbolic transport and the relaxation source term. The time-dependent GKS flux function provides a dynamic process of evolution from the kinetic scale particle free transport to the hydrodynamic scale wave propagation, which provides the physics for the non-equilibrium numerical shock structure construction to the near equilibrium NS solution. As a result, with the implementation of the fifth-order WENO initial reconstruction, in the smooth region the current two-stage GKS provides an accuracy of O ((Δx) 5 ,(Δt) 4) for the Euler equations, and O ((Δx) 5 ,τ2 Δt) for the NS equations, where τ is the time between particle collisions. Many numerical tests, including difficult ones for the Navier-Stokes solvers, have been used to validate the current method. Perfect numerical solutions can be obtained from the high Reynolds number boundary layer to the hypersonic viscous heat conducting flow. Following the two-stage time-stepping framework, the third-order GKS flux function can be used as well to construct a fifth-order method with the usage of both first-order and second-order time derivatives of the flux function. The use of time-accurate flux function may have great advantages on the development of higher-order CFD methods.

A Time Integration Algorithm Based on the State Transition Matrix for Structures with Time Varying and Nonlinear Properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bartels, Robert E.

2003-01-01

A variable order method of integrating the structural dynamics equations that is based on the state transition matrix has been developed. The method has been evaluated for linear time variant and nonlinear systems of equations. When the time variation of the system can be modeled exactly by a polynomial it produces nearly exact solutions for a wide range of time step sizes. Solutions of a model nonlinear dynamic response exhibiting chaotic behavior have been computed. Accuracy of the method has been demonstrated by comparison with solutions obtained by established methods.

Optimization of Advanced ACTPol Transition Edge Sensor Bolometer Operation Using R(T,I) Transition Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salatino, Maria

2017-06-01

In the current submm and mm cosmology experiments the focal planes are populated by kilopixel transition edge sensors (TESes). Varying incoming power load requires frequent rebiasing of the TESes through standard current-voltage (IV) acquisition. The time required to perform IVs on such large arrays and the resulting transient heating of the bath reduces the sky observation time. We explore a bias step method that significantly reduces the time required for the rebiasing process. This exploits the detectors' responses to the injection of a small square wave signal on top of the dc bias current and knowledge of the shape of the detector transition R(T,I). This method has been tested on two detector arrays of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). In this paper, we focus on the first step of the method, the estimate of the TES %Rn.

An arbitrary-order staggered time integrator for the linear acoustic wave equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jaejoon; Park, Hyunseo; Park, Yoonseo; Shin, Changsoo

2018-02-01

We suggest a staggered time integrator whose order of accuracy can arbitrarily be extended to solve the linear acoustic wave equation. A strategy to select the appropriate order of accuracy is also proposed based on the error analysis that quantitatively predicts the truncation error of the numerical solution. This strategy not only reduces the computational cost several times, but also allows us to flexibly set the modelling parameters such as the time step length, grid interval and P-wave speed. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can almost eliminate temporal dispersive errors during long term simulations regardless of the heterogeneity of the media and time step lengths. The method can also be successfully applied to the source problem with an absorbing boundary condition, which is frequently encountered in the practical usage for the imaging algorithms or the inverse problems.

Efficient computation of the Grünwald-Letnikov fractional diffusion derivative using adaptive time step memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacDonald, Christopher L.; Bhattacharya, Nirupama; Sprouse, Brian P.; Silva, Gabriel A.

2015-09-01

Computing numerical solutions to fractional differential equations can be computationally intensive due to the effect of non-local derivatives in which all previous time points contribute to the current iteration. In general, numerical approaches that depend on truncating part of the system history while efficient, can suffer from high degrees of error and inaccuracy. Here we present an adaptive time step memory method for smooth functions applied to the Grünwald-Letnikov fractional diffusion derivative. This method is computationally efficient and results in smaller errors during numerical simulations. Sampled points along the system's history at progressively longer intervals are assumed to reflect the values of neighboring time points. By including progressively fewer points backward in time, a temporally 'weighted' history is computed that includes contributions from the entire past of the system, maintaining accuracy, but with fewer points actually calculated, greatly improving computational efficiency.

Fully decoupled monolithic projection method for natural convection problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Xiaomin; Kim, Kyoungyoun; Lee, Changhoon; Choi, Jung-Il

2017-04-01

To solve time-dependent natural convection problems, we propose a fully decoupled monolithic projection method. The proposed method applies the Crank-Nicolson scheme in time and the second-order central finite difference in space. To obtain a non-iterative monolithic method from the fully discretized nonlinear system, we first adopt linearizations of the nonlinear convection terms and the general buoyancy term with incurring second-order errors in time. Approximate block lower-upper decompositions, along with an approximate factorization technique, are additionally employed to a global linearly coupled system, which leads to several decoupled subsystems, i.e., a fully decoupled monolithic procedure. We establish global error estimates to verify the second-order temporal accuracy of the proposed method for velocity, pressure, and temperature in terms of a discrete l2-norm. Moreover, according to the energy evolution, the proposed method is proved to be stable if the time step is less than or equal to a constant. In addition, we provide numerical simulations of two-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection and periodic forced flow. The results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly mitigates the time step limitation, reduces the computational cost because only one Poisson equation is required to be solved, and preserves the second-order temporal accuracy for velocity, pressure, and temperature. Finally, the proposed method reasonably predicts a three-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection for different Rayleigh numbers.

Time series analysis as input for clinical predictive modeling: modeling cardiac arrest in a pediatric ICU.

PubMed

Kennedy, Curtis E; Turley, James P

2011-10-24

Thousands of children experience cardiac arrest events every year in pediatric intensive care units. Most of these children die. Cardiac arrest prediction tools are used as part of medical emergency team evaluations to identify patients in standard hospital beds that are at high risk for cardiac arrest. There are no models to predict cardiac arrest in pediatric intensive care units though, where the risk of an arrest is 10 times higher than for standard hospital beds. Current tools are based on a multivariable approach that does not characterize deterioration, which often precedes cardiac arrests. Characterizing deterioration requires a time series approach. The purpose of this study is to propose a method that will allow for time series data to be used in clinical prediction models. Successful implementation of these methods has the potential to bring arrest prediction to the pediatric intensive care environment, possibly allowing for interventions that can save lives and prevent disabilities. We reviewed prediction models from nonclinical domains that employ time series data, and identified the steps that are necessary for building predictive models using time series clinical data. We illustrate the method by applying it to the specific case of building a predictive model for cardiac arrest in a pediatric intensive care unit. Time course analysis studies from genomic analysis provided a modeling template that was compatible with the steps required to develop a model from clinical time series data. The steps include: 1) selecting candidate variables; 2) specifying measurement parameters; 3) defining data format; 4) defining time window duration and resolution; 5) calculating latent variables for candidate variables not directly measured; 6) calculating time series features as latent variables; 7) creating data subsets to measure model performance effects attributable to various classes of candidate variables; 8) reducing the number of candidate features; 9) training models for various data subsets; and 10) measuring model performance characteristics in unseen data to estimate their external validity. We have proposed a ten step process that results in data sets that contain time series features and are suitable for predictive modeling by a number of methods. We illustrated the process through an example of cardiac arrest prediction in a pediatric intensive care setting.

An optimal open/closed-loop control method with application to a pre-stressed thin duralumin plate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadimpalli, Sruthi Raju

The excessive vibrations of a pre-stressed duralumin plate, suppressed by a combination of open-loop and closed-loop controls, also known as open/closed-loop control, is studied in this thesis. The two primary steps involved in this process are: Step (I) with an assumption that the closed-loop control law is proportional, obtain the optimal open-loop control by direct minimization of the performance measure consisting of energy at terminal time and a penalty on open-loop control force via calculus of variations. If the performance measure also involves a penalty on closed-loop control effort then a Fourier based method is utilized. Step (II) the energy at terminal time is minimized numerically to obtain optimal values of feedback gains. The optimal closed-loop control gains obtained are used to describe the displacement and the velocity of open-loop, closed-loop and open/closed-loop controlled duralumin plate.

Combined non-parametric and parametric approach for identification of time-variant systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dziedziech, Kajetan; Czop, Piotr; Staszewski, Wieslaw J.; Uhl, Tadeusz

2018-03-01

Identification of systems, structures and machines with variable physical parameters is a challenging task especially when time-varying vibration modes are involved. The paper proposes a new combined, two-step - i.e. non-parametric and parametric - modelling approach in order to determine time-varying vibration modes based on input-output measurements. Single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) vibration modes from multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) non-parametric system representation are extracted in the first step with the use of time-frequency wavelet-based filters. The second step involves time-varying parametric representation of extracted modes with the use of recursive linear autoregressive-moving-average with exogenous inputs (ARMAX) models. The combined approach is demonstrated using system identification analysis based on the experimental mass-varying MDOF frame-like structure subjected to random excitation. The results show that the proposed combined method correctly captures the dynamics of the analysed structure, using minimum a priori information on the model.

Improving the Accuracy of the Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method Using Substeps

DOE PAGES

Isotalo, Aarno; Pusa, Maria

2016-05-01

The Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method (CRAM) for solving the decay and depletion of nuclides is shown to have a remarkable decrease in error when advancing the system with the same time step and microscopic reaction rates as the previous step. This property is exploited here to achieve high accuracy in any end-of-step solution by dividing a step into equidistant sub-steps. The computational cost of identical substeps can be reduced significantly below that of an equal number of regular steps, as the LU decompositions for the linear solves required in CRAM only need to be formed on the first substep. Themore » improved accuracy provided by substeps is most relevant in decay calculations, where there have previously been concerns about the accuracy and generality of CRAM. Lastly, with substeps, CRAM can solve any decay or depletion problem with constant microscopic reaction rates to an extremely high accuracy for all nuclides with concentrations above an arbitrary limit.« less

Perception of linear acceleration in weightlessness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arrott, A. P.; Young, L. R.

1987-01-01

Eye movements and subjective detection of acceleration were measured on human experimental subjects during vestibular sled acceleration during the D1 Spacelab Mission. Methods and results are reported on the time to detection of small acceleration steps, the threshold for detection of linear acceleration, perceived motion path, and CLOAT. A consistently shorter time to detection of small acceleration steps is found. Subjective reports of perceived motion during sinusoidal oscillation in weightlessness were qualitatively similar to reports on earth.

Standardization of a two-step real-time polymerase chain reaction based method for species-specific detection of medically important Aspergillus species.

PubMed

Das, P; Pandey, P; Harishankar, A; Chandy, M; Bhattacharya, S; Chakrabarti, A

2017-01-01

Standardization of Aspergillus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) poses two technical challenges (a) standardization of DNA extraction, (b) optimization of PCR against various medically important Aspergillus species. Many cases of aspergillosis go undiagnosed because of relative insensitivity of conventional diagnostic methods such as microscopy, culture or antigen detection. The present study is an attempt to standardize real-time PCR assay for rapid sensitive and specific detection of Aspergillus DNA in EDTA whole blood. Three nucleic acid extraction protocols were compared and a two-step real-time PCR assay was developed and validated following the recommendations of the European Aspergillus PCR Initiative in our setup. In the first PCR step (pan-Aspergillus PCR), the target was 28S rDNA gene, whereas in the second step, species specific PCR the targets were beta-tubulin (for Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus terreus), gene and calmodulin gene (for Aspergillus niger). Species specific identification of four medically important Aspergillus species, namely, A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. terreus were achieved by this PCR. Specificity of the PCR was tested against 34 different DNA source including bacteria, virus, yeast, other Aspergillus sp., other fungal species and for human DNA and had no false-positive reactions. The analytical sensitivity of the PCR was found to be 102 CFU/ml. The present protocol of two-step real-time PCR assays for genus- and species-specific identification for commonly isolated species in whole blood for diagnosis of invasive Aspergillus infections offers a rapid, sensitive and specific assay option and requires clinical validation at multiple centers.

General linear methods and friends: Toward efficient solutions of multiphysics problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandu, Adrian

2017-07-01

Time dependent multiphysics partial differential equations are of great practical importance as they model diverse phenomena that appear in mechanical and chemical engineering, aeronautics, astrophysics, meteorology and oceanography, financial modeling, environmental sciences, etc. There is no single best time discretization for the complex multiphysics systems of practical interest. We discuss "multimethod" approaches that combine different time steps and discretizations using the rigourous frameworks provided by Partitioned General Linear Methods and Generalize-structure Additive Runge Kutta Methods..

Preconditioned conjugate-gradient methods for low-speed flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

1993-01-01

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations is integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the Lower-Upper Successive Symmetric Over-Relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on Incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional Line Gauss-Seidel Relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient methods for low speed flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

1993-01-01

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and the convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the lower-upper (L-U)-successive symmetric over-relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional line Gauss-Seidel relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Accurate step-FMCW ultrasound ranging and comparison with pulse-echo signaling methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natarajan, Shyam; Singh, Rahul S.; Lee, Michael; Cox, Brian P.; Culjat, Martin O.; Grundfest, Warren S.; Lee, Hua

2010-03-01

This paper presents a method setup for high-frequency ultrasound ranging based on stepped frequency-modulated continuous waves (FMCW), potentially capable of producing a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to traditional pulse-echo signaling. In current ultrasound systems, the use of higher frequencies (10-20 MHz) to enhance resolution lowers signal quality due to frequency-dependent attenuation. The proposed ultrasound signaling format, step-FMCW, is well-known in the radar community, and features lower peak power, wider dynamic range, lower noise figure and simpler electronics in comparison to pulse-echo systems. In pulse-echo ultrasound ranging, distances are calculated using the transmit times between a pulse and its subsequent echoes. In step-FMCW ultrasonic ranging, the phase and magnitude differences at stepped frequencies are used to sample the frequency domain. Thus, by taking the inverse Fourier transform, a comprehensive range profile is recovered that has increased immunity to noise over conventional ranging methods. Step-FMCW and pulse-echo waveforms were created using custom-built hardware consisting of an arbitrary waveform generator and dual-channel super heterodyne receiver, providing high SNR and in turn, accuracy in detection.

Numerical difficulties and computational procedures for thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled problems of saturated porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simoni, L.; Secchi, S.; Schrefler, B. A.

2008-12-01

This paper analyses the numerical difficulties commonly encountered in solving fully coupled numerical models and proposes a numerical strategy apt to overcome them. The proposed procedure is based on space refinement and time adaptivity. The latter, which in mainly studied here, is based on the use of a finite element approach in the space domain and a Discontinuous Galerkin approximation within each time span. Error measures are defined for the jump of the solution at each time station. These constitute the parameters allowing for the time adaptivity. Some care is however, needed for a useful definition of the jump measures. Numerical tests are presented firstly to demonstrate the advantages and shortcomings of the method over the more traditional use of finite differences in time, then to assess the efficiency of the proposed procedure for adapting the time step. The proposed method reveals its efficiency and simplicity to adapt the time step in the solution of coupled field problems.

Parameter Estimation of Multiple Frequency-Hopping Signals with Two Sensors

PubMed Central

Pan, Jin; Ma, Boyuan

2018-01-01

This paper essentially focuses on parameter estimation of multiple wideband emitting sources with time-varying frequencies, such as two-dimensional (2-D) direction of arrival (DOA) and signal sorting, with a low-cost circular synthetic array (CSA) consisting of only two rotating sensors. Our basic idea is to decompose the received data, which is a superimposition of phase measurements from multiple sources into separated groups and separately estimate the DOA associated with each source. Motivated by joint parameter estimation, we propose to adopt the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm in this paper; our method involves two steps, namely, the expectation-step (E-step) and the maximization (M-step). In the E-step, the correspondence of each signal with its emitting source is found. Then, in the M-step, the maximum-likelihood (ML) estimates of the DOA parameters are obtained. These two steps are iteratively and alternatively executed to jointly determine the DOAs and sort multiple signals. Closed-form DOA estimation formulae are developed by ML estimation based on phase data, which also realize an optimal estimation. Directional ambiguity is also addressed by another ML estimation method based on received complex responses. The Cramer-Rao lower bound is derived for understanding the estimation accuracy and performance comparison. The verification of the proposed method is demonstrated with simulations. PMID:29617323

A semi-automated method for rapid detection of ripple events on interictal voltage discharges in the scalp electroencephalogram.

PubMed

Chu, Catherine J; Chan, Arthur; Song, Dan; Staley, Kevin J; Stufflebeam, Steven M; Kramer, Mark A

2017-02-01

High frequency oscillations are emerging as a clinically important indicator of epileptic networks. However, manual detection of these high frequency oscillations is difficult, time consuming, and subjective, especially in the scalp EEG, thus hindering further clinical exploration and application. Semi-automated detection methods augment manual detection by reducing inspection to a subset of time intervals. We propose a new method to detect high frequency oscillations that co-occur with interictal epileptiform discharges. The new method proceeds in two steps. The first step identifies candidate time intervals during which high frequency activity is increased. The second step computes a set of seven features for each candidate interval. These features require that the candidate event contain a high frequency oscillation approximately sinusoidal in shape, with at least three cycles, that co-occurs with a large amplitude discharge. Candidate events that satisfy these features are stored for validation through visual analysis. We evaluate the detector performance in simulation and on ten examples of scalp EEG data, and show that the proposed method successfully detects spike-ripple events, with high positive predictive value, low false positive rate, and high intra-rater reliability. The proposed method is less sensitive than the existing method of visual inspection, but much faster and much more reliable. Accurate and rapid detection of high frequency activity increases the clinical viability of this rhythmic biomarker of epilepsy. The proposed spike-ripple detector rapidly identifies candidate spike-ripple events, thus making clinical analysis of prolonged, multielectrode scalp EEG recordings tractable. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of the period of stability in a balance test after stepping up using a simplified cumulative sum.

PubMed

Safieddine, Doha; Chkeir, Aly; Herlem, Cyrille; Bera, Delphine; Collart, Michèle; Novella, Jean-Luc; Dramé, Moustapha; Hewson, David J; Duchêne, Jacques

2017-11-01

Falls are a major cause of death in older people. One method used to predict falls is analysis of Centre of Pressure (CoP) displacement, which provides a measure of balance quality. The Balance Quality Tester (BQT) is a device based on a commercial bathroom scale that calculates instantaneous values of vertical ground reaction force (Fz) as well as the CoP in both anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions. The entire testing process needs to take no longer than 12 s to ensure subject compliance, making it vital that calculations related to balance are only calculated for the period when the subject is static. In the present study, a method is presented to detect the stabilization period after a subject has stepped onto the BQT. Four different phases of the test are identified (stepping-on, stabilization, balancing, stepping-off), ensuring that subjects are static when parameters from the balancing phase are calculated. The method, based on a simplified cumulative sum (CUSUM) algorithm, could detect the change between unstable and stable stance. The time taken to stabilize significantly affected the static balance variables of surface area and trajectory velocity, and was also related to Timed-up-and-Go performance. Such a finding suggests that the time to stabilize could be a worthwhile parameter to explore as a potential indicator of balance problems and fall risk in older people. Copyright © 2017 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From h to p efficiently: optimal implementation strategies for explicit time-dependent problems using the spectral/hp element method

PubMed Central

Bolis, A; Cantwell, C D; Kirby, R M; Sherwin, S J

2014-01-01

We investigate the relative performance of a second-order Adams–Bashforth scheme and second-order and fourth-order Runge–Kutta schemes when time stepping a 2D linear advection problem discretised using a spectral/hp element technique for a range of different mesh sizes and polynomial orders. Numerical experiments explore the effects of short (two wavelengths) and long (32 wavelengths) time integration for sets of uniform and non-uniform meshes. The choice of time-integration scheme and discretisation together fixes a CFL limit that imposes a restriction on the maximum time step, which can be taken to ensure numerical stability. The number of steps, together with the order of the scheme, affects not only the runtime but also the accuracy of the solution. Through numerical experiments, we systematically highlight the relative effects of spatial resolution and choice of time integration on performance and provide general guidelines on how best to achieve the minimal execution time in order to obtain a prescribed solution accuracy. The significant role played by higher polynomial orders in reducing CPU time while preserving accuracy becomes more evident, especially for uniform meshes, compared with what has been typically considered when studying this type of problem.© 2014. The Authors. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:25892840

Feasibility of a real-time self-monitoring device for sitting less and moving more: a randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

Martin, Anne; Adams, Jacob M; Bunn, Christopher; Gill, Jason M R; Gray, Cindy M; Hunt, Kate; Maxwell, Douglas J; van der Ploeg, Hidde P; Wyke, Sally

2017-01-01

Objectives Time spent inactive and sedentary are both associated with poor health. Self-monitoring of walking, using pedometers for real-time feedback, is effective at increasing physical activity. This study evaluated the feasibility of a new pocket-worn sedentary time and physical activity real-time self-monitoring device (SitFIT). Methods Forty sedentary men were equally randomised into two intervention groups. For 4 weeks, one group received a SitFIT providing feedback on steps and time spent sedentary (lying/sitting); the other group received a SitFIT providing feedback on steps and time spent upright (standing/stepping). Change in sedentary time, standing time, stepping time and step count was assessed using activPAL monitors at baseline, 4-week follow-up (T1) and 12-week (T2) follow-up. Semistructured interviews were conducted after 4 and 12 weeks. Results The SitFIT was reported as acceptable and usable and seen as a motivating tool to reduce sedentary time by both groups. On average, participants reduced their sedentary time by 7.8 minutes/day (95% CI −55.4 to 39.7) (T1) and by 8.2 minutes/day (95% CI −60.1 to 44.3) (T2). They increased standing time by 23.2 minutes/day (95% CI 4.0 to 42.5) (T1) and 16.2 minutes/day (95% CI −13.9 to 46.2) (T2). Stepping time was increased by 8.5 minutes/day (95% CI 0.9 to 16.0) (T1) and 9.0 minutes/day (95% CI 0.5 to 17.5) (T2). There were no between-group differences at either follow-up time points. Conclusion The SitFIT was perceived as a useful tool for self-monitoring of sedentary time. It has potential as a real-time self-monitoring device to reduce sedentary and increase upright time. PMID:29081985

Real-Time Occlusion Handling in Augmented Reality Based on an Object Tracking Approach

PubMed Central

Tian, Yuan; Guan, Tao; Wang, Cheng

2010-01-01

To produce a realistic augmentation in Augmented Reality, the correct relative positions of real objects and virtual objects are very important. In this paper, we propose a novel real-time occlusion handling method based on an object tracking approach. Our method is divided into three steps: selection of the occluding object, object tracking and occlusion handling. The user selects the occluding object using an interactive segmentation method. The contour of the selected object is then tracked in the subsequent frames in real-time. In the occlusion handling step, all the pixels on the tracked object are redrawn on the unprocessed augmented image to produce a new synthesized image in which the relative position between the real and virtual object is correct. The proposed method has several advantages. First, it is robust and stable, since it remains effective when the camera is moved through large changes of viewing angles and volumes or when the object and the background have similar colors. Second, it is fast, since the real object can be tracked in real-time. Last, a smoothing technique provides seamless merging between the augmented and virtual object. Several experiments are provided to validate the performance of the proposed method. PMID:22319278

Event time analysis of longitudinal neuroimage data.

PubMed

Sabuncu, Mert R; Bernal-Rusiel, Jorge L; Reuter, Martin; Greve, Douglas N; Fischl, Bruce

2014-08-15

This paper presents a method for the statistical analysis of the associations between longitudinal neuroimaging measurements, e.g., of cortical thickness, and the timing of a clinical event of interest, e.g., disease onset. The proposed approach consists of two steps, the first of which employs a linear mixed effects (LME) model to capture temporal variation in serial imaging data. The second step utilizes the extended Cox regression model to examine the relationship between time-dependent imaging measurements and the timing of the event of interest. We demonstrate the proposed method both for the univariate analysis of image-derived biomarkers, e.g., the volume of a structure of interest, and the exploratory mass-univariate analysis of measurements contained in maps, such as cortical thickness and gray matter density. The mass-univariate method employs a recently developed spatial extension of the LME model. We applied our method to analyze structural measurements computed using FreeSurfer, a widely used brain Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) analysis software package. We provide a quantitative and objective empirical evaluation of the statistical performance of the proposed method on longitudinal data from subjects suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) at baseline. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implicit-Explicit Time Integration Methods for Non-hydrostatic Atmospheric Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, D. J.; Guerra, J. E.; Hamon, F. P.; Reynolds, D. R.; Ullrich, P. A.; Woodward, C. S.

2016-12-01

The Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME) project is developing a non-hydrostatic atmospheric dynamical core for high-resolution coupled climate simulations on Department of Energy leadership class supercomputers. An important factor in computational efficiency is avoiding the overly restrictive time step size limitations of fully explicit time integration methods due to the stiffest modes present in the model (acoustic waves). In this work we compare the accuracy and performance of different Implicit-Explicit (IMEX) splittings of the non-hydrostatic equations and various Additive Runge-Kutta (ARK) time integration methods. Results utilizing the Tempest non-hydrostatic atmospheric model and the ARKode package show that the choice of IMEX splitting and ARK scheme has a significant impact on the maximum stable time step size as well as solution quality. Horizontally Explicit Vertically Implicit (HEVI) approaches paired with certain ARK methods lead to greatly improved runtimes. With effective preconditioning IMEX splittings that incorporate some implicit horizontal dynamics can be competitive with HEVI results. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-699187

Innovative method and equipment for personalized ventilation.

PubMed

Kalmár, F

2015-06-01

At the University of Debrecen, a new method and equipment for personalized ventilation has been developed. This equipment makes it possible to change the airflow direction during operation with a time frequency chosen by the user. The developed office desk with integrated air ducts and control system permits ventilation with 100% outdoor air, 100% recirculated air, or a mix of outdoor and recirculated air in a relative proportion set by the user. It was shown that better comfort can be assured in hot environments if the fresh airflow direction is variable. Analyzing the time step of airflow direction changing, it was found that women prefer smaller time steps and their votes related to thermal comfort sensation are higher than men's votes. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Electrosynthesis of nanofibers and nano-composite films

DOEpatents

Lin, Yuehe; Liang, Liang; Liu, Jun

2006-10-17

A method for producing an array of oriented nanofibers that involves forming a solution that includes at least one electroactive species. An electrode substrate is brought into contact with the solution. A current density is applied to the electrode substrate that includes at least a first step of applying a first substantially constant current density for a first time period and a second step of applying a second substantially constant current density for a second time period. The first and second time periods are of sufficient duration to electrically deposit on the electrode substrate an array of oriented nanofibers produced from the electroactive species. Also disclosed are films that include arrays or networks of oriented nanofibers and a method for amperometrically detecting or measuring at least one analyte in a sample.

Implementation of Competency-Based Pharmacy Education (CBPE)

PubMed Central

Koster, Andries; Schalekamp, Tom; Meijerman, Irma

2017-01-01

Implementation of competency-based pharmacy education (CBPE) is a time-consuming, complicated process, which requires agreement on the tasks of a pharmacist, commitment, institutional stability, and a goal-directed developmental perspective of all stakeholders involved. In this article the main steps in the development of a fully-developed competency-based pharmacy curriculum (bachelor, master) are described and tips are given for a successful implementation. After the choice for entering into CBPE is made and a competency framework is adopted (step 1), intended learning outcomes are defined (step 2), followed by analyzing the required developmental trajectory (step 3) and the selection of appropriate assessment methods (step 4). Designing the teaching-learning environment involves the selection of learning activities, student experiences, and instructional methods (step 5). Finally, an iterative process of evaluation and adjustment of individual courses, and the curriculum as a whole, is entered (step 6). Successful implementation of CBPE requires a system of effective quality management and continuous professional development as a teacher. In this article suggestions for the organization of CBPE and references to more detailed literature are given, hoping to facilitate the implementation of CBPE. PMID:28970422

Inexact adaptive Newton methods

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

Bertiger, W.I.; Kelsey, F.J.

1985-02-01

The Inexact Adaptive Newton method (IAN) is a modification of the Adaptive Implicit Method/sup 1/ (AIM) with improved Newton convergence. Both methods simplify the Jacobian at each time step by zeroing coefficients in regions where saturations are changing slowly. The methods differ in how the diagonal block terms are treated. On test problems with up to 3,000 cells, IAN consistently saves approximately 30% of the CPU time when compared to the fully implicit method. AIM shows similar savings on some problems, but takes as much CPU time as fully implicit on other test problems due to poor Newton convergence.

Eulerian Lagrangian Adaptive Fup Collocation Method for solving the conservative solute transport in heterogeneous porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gotovac, Hrvoje; Srzic, Veljko

2014-05-01

Contaminant transport in natural aquifers is a complex, multiscale process that is frequently studied using different Eulerian, Lagrangian and hybrid numerical methods. Conservative solute transport is typically modeled using the advection-dispersion equation (ADE). Despite the large number of available numerical methods that have been developed to solve it, the accurate numerical solution of the ADE still presents formidable challenges. In particular, current numerical solutions of multidimensional advection-dominated transport in non-uniform velocity fields are affected by one or all of the following problems: numerical dispersion that introduces artificial mixing and dilution, grid orientation effects, unresolved spatial and temporal scales and unphysical numerical oscillations (e.g., Herrera et al, 2009; Bosso et al., 2012). In this work we will present Eulerian Lagrangian Adaptive Fup Collocation Method (ELAFCM) based on Fup basis functions and collocation approach for spatial approximation and explicit stabilized Runge-Kutta-Chebyshev temporal integration (public domain routine SERK2) which is especially well suited for stiff parabolic problems. Spatial adaptive strategy is based on Fup basis functions which are closely related to the wavelets and splines so that they are also compactly supported basis functions; they exactly describe algebraic polynomials and enable a multiresolution adaptive analysis (MRA). MRA is here performed via Fup Collocation Transform (FCT) so that at each time step concentration solution is decomposed using only a few significant Fup basis functions on adaptive collocation grid with appropriate scales (frequencies) and locations, a desired level of accuracy and a near minimum computational cost. FCT adds more collocations points and higher resolution levels only in sensitive zones with sharp concentration gradients, fronts and/or narrow transition zones. According to the our recent achievements there is no need for solving the large linear system on adaptive grid because each Fup coefficient is obtained by predefined formulas equalizing Fup expansion around corresponding collocation point and particular collocation operator based on few surrounding solution values. Furthermore, each Fup coefficient can be obtained independently which is perfectly suited for parallel processing. Adaptive grid in each time step is obtained from solution of the last time step or initial conditions and advective Lagrangian step in the current time step according to the velocity field and continuous streamlines. On the other side, we implement explicit stabilized routine SERK2 for dispersive Eulerian part of solution in the current time step on obtained spatial adaptive grid. Overall adaptive concept does not require the solving of large linear systems for the spatial and temporal approximation of conservative transport. Also, this new Eulerian-Lagrangian-Collocation scheme resolves all mentioned numerical problems due to its adaptive nature and ability to control numerical errors in space and time. Proposed method solves advection in Lagrangian way eliminating problems in Eulerian methods, while optimal collocation grid efficiently describes solution and boundary conditions eliminating usage of large number of particles and other problems in Lagrangian methods. Finally, numerical tests show that this approach enables not only accurate velocity field, but also conservative transport even in highly heterogeneous porous media resolving all spatial and temporal scales of concentration field.

Research on the range side lobe suppression method for modulated stepped frequency radar signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yinkai; Shan, Tao; Feng, Yuan

2018-05-01

The magnitude of time-domain range sidelobe of modulated stepped frequency radar affects the imaging quality of inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR). In this paper, the cause of high sidelobe in modulated stepped frequency radar imaging is analyzed first in real environment. Then, the chaos particle swarm optimization (CPSO) is used to select the amplitude and phase compensation factors according to the minimum sidelobe criterion. Finally, the compensated one-dimensional range images are obtained. Experimental results show that the amplitude-phase compensation method based on CPSO algorithm can effectively reduce the sidelobe peak value of one-dimensional range images, which outperforms the common sidelobe suppression methods and avoids the coverage of weak scattering points by strong scattering points due to the high sidelobes.

Integrating viscoelastic mass spring dampers into position-based dynamics to simulate soft tissue deformation in real time

PubMed Central

Lu, Yuhua; Liu, Qian

2018-01-01

We propose a novel method to simulate soft tissue deformation for virtual surgery applications. The method considers the mechanical properties of soft tissue, such as its viscoelasticity, nonlinearity and incompressibility; its speed, stability and accuracy also meet the requirements for a surgery simulator. Modifying the traditional equation for mass spring dampers (MSD) introduces nonlinearity and viscoelasticity into the calculation of elastic force. Then, the elastic force is used in the constraint projection step for naturally reducing constraint potential. The node position is enforced by the combined spring force and constraint conservative force through Newton's second law. We conduct a comparison study of conventional MSD and position-based dynamics for our new integrating method. Our approach enables stable, fast and large step simulation by freely controlling visual effects based on nonlinearity, viscoelasticity and incompressibility. We implement a laparoscopic cholecystectomy simulator to demonstrate the practicality of our method, in which liver and gallbladder deformation can be simulated in real time. Our method is an appropriate choice for the development of real-time virtual surgery applications. PMID:29515870

Integrating viscoelastic mass spring dampers into position-based dynamics to simulate soft tissue deformation in real time.

PubMed

Xu, Lang; Lu, Yuhua; Liu, Qian

2018-02-01

We propose a novel method to simulate soft tissue deformation for virtual surgery applications. The method considers the mechanical properties of soft tissue, such as its viscoelasticity, nonlinearity and incompressibility; its speed, stability and accuracy also meet the requirements for a surgery simulator. Modifying the traditional equation for mass spring dampers (MSD) introduces nonlinearity and viscoelasticity into the calculation of elastic force. Then, the elastic force is used in the constraint projection step for naturally reducing constraint potential. The node position is enforced by the combined spring force and constraint conservative force through Newton's second law. We conduct a comparison study of conventional MSD and position-based dynamics for our new integrating method. Our approach enables stable, fast and large step simulation by freely controlling visual effects based on nonlinearity, viscoelasticity and incompressibility. We implement a laparoscopic cholecystectomy simulator to demonstrate the practicality of our method, in which liver and gallbladder deformation can be simulated in real time. Our method is an appropriate choice for the development of real-time virtual surgery applications.

Finite element solution of nonlinear eddy current problems with periodic excitation and its industrial applications☆

PubMed Central

Bíró, Oszkár; Koczka, Gergely; Preis, Kurt

2014-01-01

An efficient finite element method to take account of the nonlinearity of the magnetic materials when analyzing three-dimensional eddy current problems is presented in this paper. The problem is formulated in terms of vector and scalar potentials approximated by edge and node based finite element basis functions. The application of Galerkin techniques leads to a large, nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations in the time domain. The excitations are assumed to be time-periodic and the steady-state periodic solution is of interest only. This is represented either in the frequency domain as a finite Fourier series or in the time domain as a set of discrete time values within one period for each finite element degree of freedom. The former approach is the (continuous) harmonic balance method and, in the latter one, discrete Fourier transformation will be shown to lead to a discrete harmonic balance method. Due to the nonlinearity, all harmonics, both continuous and discrete, are coupled to each other. The harmonics would be decoupled if the problem were linear, therefore, a special nonlinear iteration technique, the fixed-point method is used to linearize the equations by selecting a time-independent permeability distribution, the so-called fixed-point permeability in each nonlinear iteration step. This leads to uncoupled harmonics within these steps. As industrial applications, analyses of large power transformers are presented. The first example is the computation of the electromagnetic field of a single-phase transformer in the time domain with the results compared to those obtained by traditional time-stepping techniques. In the second application, an advanced model of the same transformer is analyzed in the frequency domain by the harmonic balance method with the effect of the presence of higher harmonics on the losses investigated. Finally a third example tackles the case of direct current (DC) bias in the coils of a single-phase transformer. PMID:24829517

Finite element solution of nonlinear eddy current problems with periodic excitation and its industrial applications.

PubMed

Bíró, Oszkár; Koczka, Gergely; Preis, Kurt

2014-05-01

An efficient finite element method to take account of the nonlinearity of the magnetic materials when analyzing three-dimensional eddy current problems is presented in this paper. The problem is formulated in terms of vector and scalar potentials approximated by edge and node based finite element basis functions. The application of Galerkin techniques leads to a large, nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations in the time domain. The excitations are assumed to be time-periodic and the steady-state periodic solution is of interest only. This is represented either in the frequency domain as a finite Fourier series or in the time domain as a set of discrete time values within one period for each finite element degree of freedom. The former approach is the (continuous) harmonic balance method and, in the latter one, discrete Fourier transformation will be shown to lead to a discrete harmonic balance method. Due to the nonlinearity, all harmonics, both continuous and discrete, are coupled to each other. The harmonics would be decoupled if the problem were linear, therefore, a special nonlinear iteration technique, the fixed-point method is used to linearize the equations by selecting a time-independent permeability distribution, the so-called fixed-point permeability in each nonlinear iteration step. This leads to uncoupled harmonics within these steps. As industrial applications, analyses of large power transformers are presented. The first example is the computation of the electromagnetic field of a single-phase transformer in the time domain with the results compared to those obtained by traditional time-stepping techniques. In the second application, an advanced model of the same transformer is analyzed in the frequency domain by the harmonic balance method with the effect of the presence of higher harmonics on the losses investigated. Finally a third example tackles the case of direct current (DC) bias in the coils of a single-phase transformer.

Minimum number of clusters and comparison of analysis methods for cross sectional stepped wedge cluster randomised trials with binary outcomes: A simulation study.

PubMed

Barker, Daniel; D'Este, Catherine; Campbell, Michael J; McElduff, Patrick

2017-03-09

Stepped wedge cluster randomised trials frequently involve a relatively small number of clusters. The most common frameworks used to analyse data from these types of trials are generalised estimating equations and generalised linear mixed models. A topic of much research into these methods has been their application to cluster randomised trial data and, in particular, the number of clusters required to make reasonable inferences about the intervention effect. However, for stepped wedge trials, which have been claimed by many researchers to have a statistical power advantage over the parallel cluster randomised trial, the minimum number of clusters required has not been investigated. We conducted a simulation study where we considered the most commonly used methods suggested in the literature to analyse cross-sectional stepped wedge cluster randomised trial data. We compared the per cent bias, the type I error rate and power of these methods in a stepped wedge trial setting with a binary outcome, where there are few clusters available and when the appropriate adjustment for a time trend is made, which by design may be confounding the intervention effect. We found that the generalised linear mixed modelling approach is the most consistent when few clusters are available. We also found that none of the common analysis methods for stepped wedge trials were both unbiased and maintained a 5% type I error rate when there were only three clusters. Of the commonly used analysis approaches, we recommend the generalised linear mixed model for small stepped wedge trials with binary outcomes. We also suggest that in a stepped wedge design with three steps, at least two clusters be randomised at each step, to ensure that the intervention effect estimator maintains the nominal 5% significance level and is also reasonably unbiased.

Controlling dental enamel-cavity ablation depth with optimized stepping parameters along the focal plane normal using a three axis, numerically controlled picosecond laser.

PubMed

Yuan, Fusong; Lv, Peijun; Wang, Dangxiao; Wang, Lei; Sun, Yuchun; Wang, Yong

2015-02-01

The purpose of this study was to establish a depth-control method in enamel-cavity ablation by optimizing the timing of the focal-plane-normal stepping and the single-step size of a three axis, numerically controlled picosecond laser. Although it has been proposed that picosecond lasers may be used to ablate dental hard tissue, the viability of such a depth-control method in enamel-cavity ablation remains uncertain. Forty-two enamel slices with approximately level surfaces were prepared and subjected to two-dimensional ablation by a picosecond laser. The additive-pulse layer, n, was set to 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70. A three-dimensional microscope was then used to measure the ablation depth, d, to obtain a quantitative function relating n and d. Six enamel slices were then subjected to three dimensional ablation to produce 10 cavities, respectively, with additive-pulse layer and single-step size set to corresponding values. The difference between the theoretical and measured values was calculated for both the cavity depth and the ablation depth of a single step. These were used to determine minimum-difference values for both the additive-pulse layer (n) and single-step size (d). When the additive-pulse layer and the single-step size were set 5 and 45, respectively, the depth error had a minimum of 2.25 μm, and 450 μm deep enamel cavities were produced. When performing three-dimensional ablating of enamel with a picosecond laser, adjusting the timing of the focal-plane-normal stepping and the single-step size allows for the control of ablation-depth error to the order of micrometers.

Study protocol: Community Links to Establish Alcohol Recovery (CLEAR) for women leaving jail.

PubMed

Johnson, Jennifer E; Schonbrun, Yael Chatav; Anderson, Bradley; Kurth, Megan; Timko, Christine; Stein, Michael

2017-04-01

This article describes the protocol for a randomized effectiveness trial of a method to link alcohol use disordered women who are in pretrial jail detention with post-release 12-step mutual help groups. Jails serve 15 times more people per year than do prisons and have very short stays, posing few opportunities for treatment or treatment planning. Alcohol use is associated with poor post-jail psychosocial and health outcomes including sexually transmitted diseases and HIV, especially for women. At least weekly 12-step self-help group attendance in the months after release from jail has been associated with improvements in alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Linkage strategies improve 12-step attendance and alcohol outcomes among outpatients, but have not previously been tested in criminal justice populations. In the intervention condition, a 12-step volunteer meets once individually with an incarcerated woman while she is in jail and arranges to be in contact after release to accompany her to 12-step meetings. The control condition provides schedules for local 12-step meetings. Outcomes include percent days abstinent from alcohol (primary), 12-step meeting involvement, and fewer unprotected sexual occasions (secondary) after release from jail. We hypothesize that (Minton, 2015) 12-step involvement will mediate the intervention's effect on alcohol use, and (O'Brien, 2001) percent days abstinent will mediate the intervention's effect on STI/HIV risk-taking outcomes. Research methods accommodate logistical and philosophical hurdles including rapid turnover of commitments and unpredictable release times at the jail, possible post-randomization ineligibility due to sentencing, 12-step principles such as Nonaffiliation, and use of volunteers as interventionists. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Compressible, multiphase semi-implicit method with moment of fluid interface representation

DOE PAGES

Jemison, Matthew; Sussman, Mark; Arienti, Marco

2014-09-16

A unified method for simulating multiphase flows using an exactly mass, momentum, and energy conserving Cell-Integrated Semi-Lagrangian advection algorithm is presented. The deforming material boundaries are represented using the moment-of-fluid method. Our new algorithm uses a semi-implicit pressure update scheme that asymptotically preserves the standard incompressible pressure projection method in the limit of infinite sound speed. The asymptotically preserving attribute makes the new method applicable to compressible and incompressible flows including stiff materials; enabling large time steps characteristic of incompressible flow algorithms rather than the small time steps required by explicit methods. Moreover, shocks are captured and material discontinuities aremore » tracked, without the aid of any approximate or exact Riemann solvers. As a result, wimulations of underwater explosions and fluid jetting in one, two, and three dimensions are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm at efficiently computing multiphase flows containing shock waves and material discontinuities with large “impedance mismatch.”« less

Solution of nonlinear time-dependent PDEs through componentwise approximation of matrix functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cibotarica, Alexandru; Lambers, James V.; Palchak, Elisabeth M.

2016-09-01

Exponential propagation iterative (EPI) methods provide an efficient approach to the solution of large stiff systems of ODEs, compared to standard integrators. However, the bulk of the computational effort in these methods is due to products of matrix functions and vectors, which can become very costly at high resolution due to an increase in the number of Krylov projection steps needed to maintain accuracy. In this paper, it is proposed to modify EPI methods by using Krylov subspace spectral (KSS) methods, instead of standard Krylov projection methods, to compute products of matrix functions and vectors. Numerical experiments demonstrate that this modification causes the number of Krylov projection steps to become bounded independently of the grid size, thus dramatically improving efficiency and scalability. As a result, for each test problem featured, as the total number of grid points increases, the growth in computation time is just below linear, while other methods achieved this only on selected test problems or not at all.

Adaption of the temporal correlation coefficient calculation for temporal networks (applied to a real-world pig trade network).

PubMed

Büttner, Kathrin; Salau, Jennifer; Krieter, Joachim

2016-01-01

The average topological overlap of two graphs of two consecutive time steps measures the amount of changes in the edge configuration between the two snapshots. This value has to be zero if the edge configuration changes completely and one if the two consecutive graphs are identical. Current methods depend on the number of nodes in the network or on the maximal number of connected nodes in the consecutive time steps. In the first case, this methodology breaks down if there are nodes with no edges. In the second case, it fails if the maximal number of active nodes is larger than the maximal number of connected nodes. In the following, an adaption of the calculation of the temporal correlation coefficient and of the topological overlap of the graph between two consecutive time steps is presented, which shows the expected behaviour mentioned above. The newly proposed adaption uses the maximal number of active nodes, i.e. the number of nodes with at least one edge, for the calculation of the topological overlap. The three methods were compared with the help of vivid example networks to reveal the differences between the proposed notations. Furthermore, these three calculation methods were applied to a real-world network of animal movements in order to detect influences of the network structure on the outcome of the different methods.

Efficient Control Law Simulation for Multiple Mobile Robots

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

Driessen, B.J.; Feddema, J.T.; Kotulski, J.D.

1998-10-06

In this paper we consider the problem of simulating simple control laws involving large numbers of mobile robots. Such simulation can be computationally prohibitive if the number of robots is large enough, say 1 million, due to the 0(N2 ) cost of each time step. This work therefore uses hierarchical tree-based methods for calculating the control law. These tree-based approaches have O(NlogN) cost per time step, thus allowing for efficient simulation involving a large number of robots. For concreteness, a decentralized control law which involves only the distance and bearing to the closest neighbor robot will be considered. The timemore » to calculate the control law for each robot at each time step is demonstrated to be O(logN).« less

Image encryption using a synchronous permutation-diffusion technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enayatifar, Rasul; Abdullah, Abdul Hanan; Isnin, Ismail Fauzi; Altameem, Ayman; Lee, Malrey

2017-03-01

In the past decade, the interest on digital images security has been increased among scientists. A synchronous permutation and diffusion technique is designed in order to protect gray-level image content while sending it through internet. To implement the proposed method, two-dimensional plain-image is converted to one dimension. Afterward, in order to reduce the sending process time, permutation and diffusion steps for any pixel are performed in the same time. The permutation step uses chaotic map and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to permute a pixel, while diffusion employs DNA sequence and DNA operator to encrypt the pixel. Experimental results and extensive security analyses have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of this proposed image encryption method.

Direct differentiation of the quasi-incompressible fluid formulation of fluid-structure interaction using the PFEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Minjie; Scott, Michael H.

2017-07-01

Accurate and efficient response sensitivities for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations are important for assessing the uncertain response of coastal and off-shore structures to hydrodynamic loading. To compute gradients efficiently via the direct differentiation method (DDM) for the fully incompressible fluid formulation, approximations of the sensitivity equations are necessary, leading to inaccuracies of the computed gradients when the geometry of the fluid mesh changes rapidly between successive time steps or the fluid viscosity is nonzero. To maintain accuracy of the sensitivity computations, a quasi-incompressible fluid is assumed for the response analysis of FSI using the particle finite element method and DDM is applied to this formulation, resulting in linearized equations for the response sensitivity that are consistent with those used to compute the response. Both the response and the response sensitivity can be solved using the same unified fractional step method. FSI simulations show that although the response using the quasi-incompressible and incompressible fluid formulations is similar, only the quasi-incompressible approach gives accurate response sensitivity for viscous, turbulent flows regardless of time step size.

A Review of High-Order and Optimized Finite-Difference Methods for Simulating Linear Wave Phenomena

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zingg, David W.

1996-01-01

This paper presents a review of high-order and optimized finite-difference methods for numerically simulating the propagation and scattering of linear waves, such as electromagnetic, acoustic, or elastic waves. The spatial operators reviewed include compact schemes, non-compact schemes, schemes on staggered grids, and schemes which are optimized to produce specific characteristics. The time-marching methods discussed include Runge-Kutta methods, Adams-Bashforth methods, and the leapfrog method. In addition, the following fourth-order fully-discrete finite-difference methods are considered: a one-step implicit scheme with a three-point spatial stencil, a one-step explicit scheme with a five-point spatial stencil, and a two-step explicit scheme with a five-point spatial stencil. For each method studied, the number of grid points per wavelength required for accurate simulation of wave propagation over large distances is presented. Recommendations are made with respect to the suitability of the methods for specific problems and practical aspects of their use, such as appropriate Courant numbers and grid densities. Avenues for future research are suggested.

Optical method for determining the mechanical properties of a material

DOEpatents

Maris, H.J.; Stoner, R.J.

1998-12-01

Disclosed is a method for characterizing a sample, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring data from the sample using at least one probe beam wavelength to measure, for times less than a few nanoseconds, a change in the reflectivity of the sample induced by a pump beam; (b) analyzing the data to determine at least one material property by comparing a background signal component of the data with data obtained for a similar delay time range from one or more samples prepared under conditions known to give rise to certain physical and chemical material properties; and (c) analyzing a component of the measured time dependent reflectivity caused by ultrasonic waves generated by the pump beam using the at least one determined material property. The first step of analyzing may include a step of interpolating between reference samples to obtain an intermediate set of material properties. The material properties may include sound velocity, density, and optical constants. In one embodiment, only a correlation is made with the background signal, and at least one of the structural phase, grain orientation, and stoichiometry is determined. 14 figs.

Optical method for determining the mechanical properties of a material

DOEpatents

Maris, Humphrey J.; Stoner, Robert J.

1998-01-01

Disclosed is a method for characterizing a sample, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring data from the sample using at least one probe beam wavelength to measure, for times less than a few nanoseconds, a change in the reflectivity of the sample induced by a pump beam; (b) analyzing the data to determine at least one material property by comparing a background signal component of the data with data obtained for a similar delay time range from one or more samples prepared under conditions known to give rise to certain physical and chemical material properties; and (c) analyzing a component of the measured time dependent reflectivity caused by ultrasonic waves generated by the pump beam using the at least one determined material property. The first step of analyzing may include a step of interpolating between reference samples to obtain an intermediate set of material properties. The material properties may include sound velocity, density, and optical constants. In one embodiment, only a correlation is made with the background signal, and at least one of the structural phase, grain orientation, and stoichiometry is determined.

Modeling laser-plasma acceleration in the laboratory frame

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

None

2011-01-01

A simulation of laser-plasma acceleration in the laboratory frame. Both the laser and the wakefield buckets must be resolved over the entire domain of the plasma, requiring many cells and many time steps. While researchers often use a simulation window that moves with the pulse, this reduces only the multitude of cells, not the multitude of time steps. For an artistic impression of how to solve the simulation by using the boosted-frame method, watch the video "Modeling laser-plasma acceleration in the wakefield frame".

A Numerical Scheme for Ordinary Differential Equations Having Time Varying and Nonlinear Coefficients Based on the State Transition Matrix

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bartels, Robert E.

2002-01-01

A variable order method of integrating initial value ordinary differential equations that is based on the state transition matrix has been developed. The method has been evaluated for linear time variant and nonlinear systems of equations. While it is more complex than most other methods, it produces exact solutions at arbitrary time step size when the time variation of the system can be modeled exactly by a polynomial. Solutions to several nonlinear problems exhibiting chaotic behavior have been computed. Accuracy of the method has been demonstrated by comparison with an exact solution and with solutions obtained by established methods.

Coupling of Spinosad Fermentation and Separation Process via Two-Step Macroporous Resin Adsorption Method.

PubMed

Zhao, Fanglong; Zhang, Chuanbo; Yin, Jing; Shen, Yueqi; Lu, Wenyu

2015-08-01

In this paper, a two-step resin adsorption technology was investigated for spinosad production and separation as follows: the first step resin addition into the fermentor at early cultivation period to decrease the timely product concentration in the broth; the second step of resin addition was used after fermentation to adsorb and extract the spinosad. Based on this, a two-step macroporous resin adsorption-membrane separation process for spinosad fermentation, separation, and purification was established. Spinosad concentration in 5-L fermentor increased by 14.45 % after adding 50 g/L macroporous at the beginning of fermentation. The established two-step macroporous resin adsorption-membrane separation process got the 95.43 % purity and 87 % yield for spinosad, which were both higher than that of the conventional crystallization of spinosad from aqueous phase that were 93.23 and 79.15 % separately. The two-step macroporous resin adsorption method has not only carried out the coupling of spinosad fermentation and separation but also increased spinosad productivity. In addition, the two-step macroporous resin adsorption-membrane separation process performs better in spinosad yield and purity.

Improving wavelet denoising based on an in-depth analysis of the camera color processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seybold, Tamara; Plichta, Mathias; Stechele, Walter

2015-02-01

While Denoising is an extensively studied task in signal processing research, most denoising methods are designed and evaluated using readily processed image data, e.g. the well-known Kodak data set. The noise model is usually additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). This kind of test data does not correspond to nowadays real-world image data taken with a digital camera. Using such unrealistic data to test, optimize and compare denoising algorithms may lead to incorrect parameter tuning or suboptimal choices in research on real-time camera denoising algorithms. In this paper we derive a precise analysis of the noise characteristics for the different steps in the color processing. Based on real camera noise measurements and simulation of the processing steps, we obtain a good approximation for the noise characteristics. We further show how this approximation can be used in standard wavelet denoising methods. We improve the wavelet hard thresholding and bivariate thresholding based on our noise analysis results. Both the visual quality and objective quality metrics show the advantage of the proposed method. As the method is implemented using look-up-tables that are calculated before the denoising step, our method can be implemented with very low computational complexity and can process HD video sequences real-time in an FPGA.

Algorithms and software for nonlinear structural dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belytschko, Ted; Gilbertsen, Noreen D.; Neal, Mark O.

1989-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop efficient methods for explicit time integration in nonlinear structural dynamics for computers which utilize both concurrency and vectorization. As a framework for these studies, the program WHAMS, which is described in Explicit Algorithms for the Nonlinear Dynamics of Shells (T. Belytschko, J. I. Lin, and C.-S. Tsay, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Vol. 42, 1984, pp 225 to 251), is used. There are two factors which make the development of efficient concurrent explicit time integration programs a challenge in a structural dynamics program: (1) the need for a variety of element types, which complicates the scheduling-allocation problem; and (2) the need for different time steps in different parts of the mesh, which is here called mixed delta t integration, so that a few stiff elements do not reduce the time steps throughout the mesh.

Synchronization of Chaotic Systems without Direct Connections Using Reinforcement Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Norihisa; Adachi, Masaharu

In this paper, we propose a control method for the synchronization of chaotic systems that does not require the systems to be connected, unlike existing methods such as that proposed by Pecora and Carroll in 1990. The method is based on the reinforcement learning algorithm. We apply our method to two discrete-time chaotic systems with mismatched parameters and achieve M step delay synchronization. Moreover, we extend the proposed method to the synchronization of continuous-time chaotic systems.

Identifying mechanical property parameters of planetary soil using in-situ data obtained from exploration rovers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Liang; Gao, Haibo; Liu, Zhen; Deng, Zongquan; Liu, Guangjun

2015-12-01

Identifying the mechanical property parameters of planetary soil based on terramechanics models using in-situ data obtained from autonomous planetary exploration rovers is both an important scientific goal and essential for control strategy optimization and high-fidelity simulations of rovers. However, identifying all the terrain parameters is a challenging task because of the nonlinear and coupling nature of the involved functions. Three parameter identification methods are presented in this paper to serve different purposes based on an improved terramechanics model that takes into account the effects of slip, wheel lugs, etc. Parameter sensitivity and coupling of the equations are analyzed, and the parameters are grouped according to their sensitivity to the normal force, resistance moment and drawbar pull. An iterative identification method using the original integral model is developed first. In order to realize real-time identification, the model is then simplified by linearizing the normal and shearing stresses to derive decoupled closed-form analytical equations. Each equation contains one or two groups of soil parameters, making step-by-step identification of all the unknowns feasible. Experiments were performed using six different types of single-wheels as well as a four-wheeled rover moving on planetary soil simulant. All the unknown model parameters were identified using the measured data and compared with the values obtained by conventional experiments. It is verified that the proposed iterative identification method provides improved accuracy, making it suitable for scientific studies of soil properties, whereas the step-by-step identification methods based on simplified models require less calculation time, making them more suitable for real-time applications. The models have less than 10% margin of error comparing with the measured results when predicting the interaction forces and moments using the corresponding identified parameters.

Design of a laser rangefinder for Martian terrain measurements. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palumbo, D. L.

1973-01-01

Three methods for using a laser for rangefinding are discussed: optical focusing, the phase difference method, and timed pulse. For application on a Mars Rover, the timed pulse method proves to be the better choice in view of the requirements set down. This is made possible by pulse expansion techniques described in detail. Initial steps taken toward building the range finder are given, followed by a conclusion.

Diagnosis of Cetacean morbillivirus: A sensitive one step real time RT fast-PCR method based on SYBR(®) Green.

PubMed

Sacristán, Carlos; Carballo, Matilde; Muñoz, María Jesús; Bellière, Edwige Nina; Neves, Elena; Nogal, Verónica; Esperón, Fernando

2015-12-15

Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) (family Paramyxoviridae, genus Morbillivirus) is considered the most pathogenic virus of cetaceans. It was first implicated in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) mass stranding episode along the Northwestern Atlantic coast in the late 1980s, and in several more recent worldwide epizootics in different Odontoceti species. This study describes a new one step real-time reverse transcription fast polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-fast PCR) method based on SYBR(®) Green to detect a fragment of the CeMV fusion protein gene. This primer set also works for conventional RT-PCR diagnosis. This method detected and identified all three well-characterized strains of CeMV: porpoise morbillivirus (PMV), dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) and pilot whale morbillivirus (PWMV). Relative sensitivity was measured by comparing the results obtained from 10-fold dilution series of PMV and DMV positive controls and a PWMV field sample, to those obtained by the previously described conventional phosphoprotein gene based RT-PCR method. Both the conventional and real-time RT-PCR methods involving the fusion protein gene were 100- to 1000-fold more sensitive than the previously described conventional RT-PCR method. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of annealing on the physical properties of therapeutic proteins during freeze drying process.

PubMed

Lim, Jun Yeul; Lim, Dae Gon; Kim, Ki Hyun; Park, Sang-Koo; Jeong, Seong Hoon

2018-02-01

Effects of annealing steps during the freeze drying process on etanercept, model protein, were evaluated using various analytical methods. The annealing was introduced in three different ways depending on time and temperature. Residual water contents of dried cakes varied from 2.91% to 6.39% and decreased when the annealing step was adopted, suggesting that they are directly affected by the freeze drying methods Moreover, the samples were more homogenous when annealing was adopted. Transition temperatures of the excipients (sucrose, mannitol, and glycine) were dependent on the freeze drying steps. Size exclusion chromatography showed that monomer contents were high when annealing was adopted and also they decreased less after thermal storage at 60°C. Dynamic light scattering results exhibited that annealing can be helpful in inhibiting aggregation and that thermal storage of freeze-dried samples preferably induced fragmentation over aggregation. Shift of circular dichroism spectrum and of the contents of etanercept secondary structure was observed with different freeze drying steps and thermal storage conditions. All analytical results suggest that the physicochemical properties of etanercept formulation can differ in response to different freeze drying steps and that annealing is beneficial for maintaining stability of protein and reducing the time of freeze drying process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Time-Extended Policies in Mult-Agent Reinforcement Learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Kagan; Agogino, Adrian K.

2004-01-01

Reinforcement learning methods perform well in many domains where a single agent needs to take a sequence of actions to perform a task. These methods use sequences of single-time-step rewards to create a policy that tries to maximize a time-extended utility, which is a (possibly discounted) sum of these rewards. In this paper we build on our previous work showing how these methods can be extended to a multi-agent environment where each agent creates its own policy that works towards maximizing a time-extended global utility over all agents actions. We show improved methods for creating time-extended utilities for the agents that are both "aligned" with the global utility and "learnable." We then show how to crate single-time-step rewards while avoiding the pi fall of having rewards aligned with the global reward leading to utilities not aligned with the global utility. Finally, we apply these reward functions to the multi-agent Gridworld problem. We explicitly quantify a utility's learnability and alignment, and show that reinforcement learning agents using the prescribed reward functions successfully tradeoff learnability and alignment. As a result they outperform both global (e.g., team games ) and local (e.g., "perfectly learnable" ) reinforcement learning solutions by as much as an order of magnitude.

Lipid extraction methods from microalgal biomass harvested by two different paths: screening studies toward biodiesel production.

PubMed

Ríos, Sergio D; Castañeda, Joandiet; Torras, Carles; Farriol, Xavier; Salvadó, Joan

2013-04-01

Microalgae can grow rapidly and capture CO2 from the atmosphere to convert it into complex organic molecules such as lipids (biodiesel feedstock). High scale economically feasible microalgae based oil depends on optimizing the entire process production. This process can be divided in three very different but directly related steps (production, concentration, lipid extraction and transesterification). The aim of this study is to identify the best method of lipid extraction to undergo the potentiality of some microalgal biomass obtained from two different harvesting paths. The first path used all physicals concentration steps, and the second path was a combination of chemical and physical concentration steps. Three microalgae species were tested: Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Nannochloropsis gaditana, and Chaetoceros calcitrans One step lipid extraction-transesterification reached the same fatty acid methyl ester yield as the Bligh and Dyer and soxhlet extraction with n-hexane methods with the corresponding time, cost and solvent saving. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Symplectic molecular dynamics simulations on specially designed parallel computers.

PubMed

Borstnik, Urban; Janezic, Dusanka

2005-01-01

We have developed a computer program for molecular dynamics (MD) simulation that implements the Split Integration Symplectic Method (SISM) and is designed to run on specialized parallel computers. The MD integration is performed by the SISM, which analytically treats high-frequency vibrational motion and thus enables the use of longer simulation time steps. The low-frequency motion is treated numerically on specially designed parallel computers, which decreases the computational time of each simulation time step. The combination of these approaches means that less time is required and fewer steps are needed and so enables fast MD simulations. We study the computational performance of MD simulation of molecular systems on specialized computers and provide a comparison to standard personal computers. The combination of the SISM with two specialized parallel computers is an effective way to increase the speed of MD simulations up to 16-fold over a single PC processor.

Higher-order hybrid implicit/explicit FDTD time-stepping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tierens, W.

2016-12-01

Both partially implicit FDTD methods, and symplectic FDTD methods of high temporal accuracy (3rd or 4th order), are well documented in the literature. In this paper we combine them: we construct a conservative FDTD method which is fourth order accurate in time and is partially implicit. We show that the stability condition for this method depends exclusively on the explicit part, which makes it suitable for use in e.g. modelling wave propagation in plasmas.

Influence of Age, Maturity, and Body Size on the Spatiotemporal Determinants of Maximal Sprint Speed in Boys.

PubMed

Meyers, Robert W; Oliver, Jon L; Hughes, Michael G; Lloyd, Rhodri S; Cronin, John B

2017-04-01

Meyers, RW, Oliver, JL, Hughes, MG, Lloyd, RS, and Cronin, JB. Influence of age, maturity, and body size on the spatiotemporal determinants of maximal sprint speed in boys. J Strength Cond Res 31(4): 1009-1016, 2017-The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of age, maturity, and body size on the spatiotemporal determinants of maximal sprint speed in boys. Three-hundred and seventy-five boys (age: 13.0 ± 1.3 years) completed a 30-m sprint test, during which maximal speed, step length, step frequency, contact time, and flight time were recorded using an optical measurement system. Body mass, height, leg length, and a maturity offset represented somatic variables. Step frequency accounted for the highest proportion of variance in speed (∼58%) in the pre-peak height velocity (pre-PHV) group, whereas step length explained the majority of the variance in speed (∼54%) in the post-PHV group. In the pre-PHV group, mass was negatively related to speed, step length, step frequency, and contact time; however, measures of stature had a positive influence on speed and step length yet a negative influence on step frequency. Speed and step length were also negatively influence by mass in the post-PHV group, whereas leg length continued to positively influence step length. The results highlighted that pre-PHV boys may be deemed step frequency reliant, whereas those post-PHV boys may be marginally step length reliant. Furthermore, the negative influence of body mass, both pre-PHV and post-PHV, suggests that training to optimize sprint performance in youth should include methods such as plyometric and strength training, where a high neuromuscular focus and the development force production relative to body weight are key foci.

Experimental localization of an acoustic sound source in a wind-tunnel flow by using a numerical time-reversal technique.

PubMed

Padois, Thomas; Prax, Christian; Valeau, Vincent; Marx, David

2012-10-01

The possibility of using the time-reversal technique to localize acoustic sources in a wind-tunnel flow is investigated. While the technique is widespread, it has scarcely been used in aeroacoustics up to now. The proposed method consists of two steps: in a first experimental step, the acoustic pressure fluctuations are recorded over a linear array of microphones; in a second numerical step, the experimental data are time-reversed and used as input data for a numerical code solving the linearized Euler equations. The simulation achieves the back-propagation of the waves from the array to the source and takes into account the effect of the mean flow on sound propagation. The ability of the method to localize a sound source in a typical wind-tunnel flow is first demonstrated using simulated data. A generic experiment is then set up in an anechoic wind tunnel to validate the proposed method with a flow at Mach number 0.11. Monopolar sources are first considered that are either monochromatic or have a narrow or wide-band frequency content. The source position estimation is well-achieved with an error inferior to the wavelength. An application to a dipolar sound source shows that this type of source is also very satisfactorily characterized.

Sources of spurious force oscillations from an immersed boundary method for moving-body problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jongho; Kim, Jungwoo; Choi, Haecheon; Yang, Kyung-Soo

2011-04-01

When a discrete-forcing immersed boundary method is applied to moving-body problems, it produces spurious force oscillations on a solid body. In the present study, we identify two sources of these force oscillations. One source is from the spatial discontinuity in the pressure across the immersed boundary when a grid point located inside a solid body becomes that of fluid with a body motion. The addition of mass source/sink together with momentum forcing proposed by Kim et al. [J. Kim, D. Kim, H. Choi, An immersed-boundary finite volume method for simulations of flow in complex geometries, Journal of Computational Physics 171 (2001) 132-150] reduces the spurious force oscillations by alleviating this pressure discontinuity. The other source is from the temporal discontinuity in the velocity at the grid points where fluid becomes solid with a body motion. The magnitude of velocity discontinuity decreases with decreasing the grid spacing near the immersed boundary. Four moving-body problems are simulated by varying the grid spacing at a fixed computational time step and at a constant CFL number, respectively. It is found that the spurious force oscillations decrease with decreasing the grid spacing and increasing the computational time step size, but they depend more on the grid spacing than on the computational time step size.

An explicit scheme for ohmic dissipation with smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsukamoto, Yusuke; Iwasaki, Kazunari; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro

2013-09-01

In this paper, we present an explicit scheme for Ohmic dissipation with smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD). We propose an SPH discretization of Ohmic dissipation and solve Ohmic dissipation part of induction equation with the super-time-stepping method (STS) which allows us to take a longer time step than Courant-Friedrich-Levy stability condition. Our scheme is second-order accurate in space and first-order accurate in time. Our numerical experiments show that optimal choice of the parameters of STS for Ohmic dissipation of SPMHD is νsts ˜ 0.01 and Nsts ˜ 5.

Zone clearance in an infinite TASEP with a step initial condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cividini, Julien; Appert-Rolland, Cécile

2017-06-01

The TASEP is a paradigmatic model of out-of-equilibrium statistical physics, for which many quantities have been computed, either exactly or by approximate methods. In this work we study two new kinds of observables that have some relevance in biological or traffic models. They represent the probability for a given clearance zone of the lattice to be empty (for the first time) at a given time, starting from a step density profile. Exact expressions are obtained for single-time quantities, while more involved history-dependent observables are studied by Monte Carlo simulation, and partially predicted by a phenomenological approach.

A Semi-Implicit, Three-Dimensional Model for Estuarine Circulation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Peter E.

2006-01-01

A semi-implicit, finite-difference method for the numerical solution of the three-dimensional equations for circulation in estuaries is presented and tested. The method uses a three-time-level, leapfrog-trapezoidal scheme that is essentially second-order accurate in the spatial and temporal numerical approximations. The three-time-level scheme is shown to be preferred over a two-time-level scheme, especially for problems with strong nonlinearities. The stability of the semi-implicit scheme is free from any time-step limitation related to the terms describing vertical diffusion and the propagation of the surface gravity waves. The scheme does not rely on any form of vertical/horizontal mode-splitting to treat the vertical diffusion implicitly. At each time step, the numerical method uses a double-sweep method to transform a large number of small tridiagonal equation systems and then uses the preconditioned conjugate-gradient method to solve a single, large, five-diagonal equation system for the water surface elevation. The governing equations for the multi-level scheme are prepared in a conservative form by integrating them over the height of each horizontal layer. The layer-integrated volumetric transports replace velocities as the dependent variables so that the depth-integrated continuity equation that is used in the solution for the water surface elevation is linear. Volumetric transports are computed explicitly from the momentum equations. The resulting method is mass conservative, efficient, and numerically accurate.

Three-step approach for prediction of limit cycle pressure oscillations in combustion chambers of gas turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iurashev, Dmytro; Campa, Giovanni; Anisimov, Vyacheslav V.; Cosatto, Ezio

2017-11-01

Currently, gas turbine manufacturers frequently face the problem of strong acoustic combustion driven oscillations inside combustion chambers. These combustion instabilities can cause extensive wear and sometimes even catastrophic damages to combustion hardware. This requires prevention of combustion instabilities, which, in turn, requires reliable and fast predictive tools. This work presents a three-step method to find stability margins within which gas turbines can be operated without going into self-excited pressure oscillations. As a first step, a set of unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations with the Flame Speed Closure (FSC) model implemented in the OpenFOAM® environment are performed to obtain the flame describing function of the combustor set-up. The standard FSC model is extended in this work to take into account the combined effect of strain and heat losses on the flame. As a second step, a linear three-time-lag-distributed model for a perfectly premixed swirl-stabilized flame is extended to the nonlinear regime. The factors causing changes in the model parameters when applying high-amplitude velocity perturbations are analysed. As a third step, time-domain simulations employing a low-order network model implemented in Simulink® are performed. In this work, the proposed method is applied to a laboratory test rig. The proposed method permits not only the unsteady frequencies of acoustic oscillations to be computed, but the amplitudes of such oscillations as well. Knowing the amplitudes of unstable pressure oscillations, it is possible to determine how these oscillations are harmful to the combustor equipment. The proposed method has a low cost because it does not require any license for computational fluid dynamics software.

High-Order Space-Time Methods for Conservation Laws

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huynh, H. T.

2013-01-01

Current high-order methods such as discontinuous Galerkin and/or flux reconstruction can provide effective discretization for the spatial derivatives. Together with a time discretization, such methods result in either too small a time step size in the case of an explicit scheme or a very large system in the case of an implicit one. To tackle these problems, two new high-order space-time schemes for conservation laws are introduced: the first is explicit and the second, implicit. The explicit method here, also called the moment scheme, achieves a Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition of 1 for the case of one-spatial dimension regardless of the degree of the polynomial approximation. (For standard explicit methods, if the spatial approximation is of degree p, then the time step sizes are typically proportional to 1/p(exp 2)). Fourier analyses for the one and two-dimensional cases are carried out. The property of super accuracy (or super convergence) is discussed. The implicit method is a simplified but optimal version of the discontinuous Galerkin scheme applied to time. It reduces to a collocation implicit Runge-Kutta (RK) method for ordinary differential equations (ODE) called Radau IIA. The explicit and implicit schemes are closely related since they employ the same intermediate time levels, and the former can serve as a key building block in an iterative procedure for the latter. A limiting technique for the piecewise linear scheme is also discussed. The technique can suppress oscillations near a discontinuity while preserving accuracy near extrema. Preliminary numerical results are shown

Investigating the use of a rational Runge Kutta method for transport modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dougherty, David E.

An unconditionally stable explicit time integrator has recently been developed for parabolic systems of equations. This rational Runge Kutta (RRK) method, proposed by Wambecq 1 and Hairer 2, has been applied by Liu et al.3 to linear heat conduction problems in a time-partitioned solution context. An important practical question is whether the method has application for the solution of (nearly) hyperbolic equations as well. In this paper the RRK method is applied to a nonlinear heat conduction problem, the advection-diffusion equation, and the hyperbolic Buckley-Leverett problem. The method is, indeed, found to be unconditionally stable for the linear heat conduction problem and performs satisfactorily for the nonlinear heat flow case. A heuristic limitation on the utility of RRK for the advection-diffusion equation arises in the Courant number; for the second-order accurate one-step two-stage RRK method, a limiting Courant number of 2 applies. First order upwinding is not as effective when used with RRK as with Euler one-step methods. The method is found to perform poorly for the Buckley-Leverett problem.

Optimization of cryoprotectant loading into murine and human oocytes.

PubMed

Karlsson, Jens O M; Szurek, Edyta A; Higgins, Adam Z; Lee, Sang R; Eroglu, Ali

2014-02-01

Loading of cryoprotectants into oocytes is an important step of the cryopreservation process, in which the cells are exposed to potentially damaging osmotic stresses and chemical toxicity. Thus, we investigated the use of physics-based mathematical optimization to guide design of cryoprotectant loading methods for mouse and human oocytes. We first examined loading of 1.5 M dimethyl sulfoxide (Me(2)SO) into mouse oocytes at 23°C. Conventional one-step loading resulted in rates of fertilization (34%) and embryonic development (60%) that were significantly lower than those of untreated controls (95% and 94%, respectively). In contrast, the mathematically optimized two-step method yielded much higher rates of fertilization (85%) and development (87%). To examine the causes for oocyte damage, we performed experiments to separate the effects of cell shrinkage and Me(2)SO exposure time, revealing that neither shrinkage nor Me(2)SO exposure single-handedly impairs the fertilization and development rates. Thus, damage during one-step Me(2)SO addition appears to result from interactions between the effects of Me(2)SO toxicity and osmotic stress. We also investigated Me(2)SO loading into mouse oocytes at 30°C. At this temperature, fertilization rates were again lower after one-step loading (8%) in comparison to mathematically optimized two-step loading (86%) and untreated controls (96%). Furthermore, our computer algorithm generated an effective strategy for reducing Me(2)SO exposure time, using hypotonic diluents for cryoprotectant solutions. With this technique, 1.5 M Me(2)SO was successfully loaded in only 2.5 min, with 92% fertilizability. Based on these promising results, we propose new methods to load cryoprotectants into human oocytes, designed using our mathematical optimization approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimization of Cryoprotectant Loading into Murine and Human Oocytes

PubMed Central

Karlsson, Jens O.M.; Szurek, Edyta A.; Higgins, Adam Z.; Lee, Sang R.; Eroglu, Ali

2014-01-01

Loading of cryoprotectants into oocytes is an important step of the cryopreservation process, in which the cells are exposed to potentially damaging osmotic stresses and chemical toxicity. Thus, we investigated the use of physics-based mathematical optimization to guide design of cryoprotectant loading methods for mouse and human oocytes. We first examined loading of 1.5 M dimethylsulfoxide (Me2SO) into mouse oocytes at 23°C. Conventional one-step loading resulted in rates of fertilization (34%) and embryonic development (60%) that were significantly lower than those of untreated controls (95% and 94%, respectively). In contrast, the mathematically optimized two-step method yielded much higher rates of fertilization (85%) and development (87%). To examine the causes for oocyte damage, we performed experiments to separate the effects of cell shrinkage and Me2SO exposure time, revealing that neither shrinkage nor Me2SO exposure single-handedly impairs the fertilization and development rates. Thus, damage during one-step Me2SO addition appears to result from interactions between the effects of Me2SO toxicity and osmotic stress. We also investigated Me2SO loading into mouse oocytes at 30°C. At this temperature, fertilization rates were again lower after one-step loading (8%) in comparison to mathematically optimized two-step loading (86%) and untreated controls (96%). Furthermore, our computer algorithm generated an effective strategy for reducing Me2SO exposure time, using hypotonic diluents for cryoprotectant solutions. With this technique, 1.5 M Me2SO was successfully loaded in only 2.5 min, with 92% fertilizability. Based on these promising results, we propose new methods to load cryoprotectants into human oocytes, designed using our mathematical optimization approach. PMID:24246951

Cross-platform evaluation of commercial real-time SYBR green RT-PCR kits for sensitive and rapid detection of European bat Lyssavirus type 1.

PubMed

Picard-Meyer, Evelyne; Peytavin de Garam, Carine; Schereffer, Jean Luc; Marchal, Clotilde; Robardet, Emmanuelle; Cliquet, Florence

2015-01-01

This study evaluates the performance of five two-step SYBR Green RT-qPCR kits and five one-step SYBR Green qRT-PCR kits using real-time PCR assays. Two real-time thermocyclers showing different throughput capacities were used. The analysed performance evaluation criteria included the generation of standard curve, reaction efficiency, analytical sensitivity, intra- and interassay repeatability as well as the costs and the practicability of kits, and thermocycling times. We found that the optimised one-step PCR assays had a higher detection sensitivity than the optimised two-step assays regardless of the machine used, while no difference was detected in reaction efficiency, R (2) values, and intra- and interreproducibility between the two methods. The limit of detection at the 95% confidence level varied between 15 to 981 copies/µL and 41 to 171 for one-step kits and two-step kits, respectively. Of the ten kits tested, the most efficient kit was the Quantitect SYBR Green qRT-PCR with a limit of detection at 95% of confidence of 20 and 22 copies/µL on the thermocyclers Rotor gene Q MDx and MX3005P, respectively. The study demonstrated the pivotal influence of the thermocycler on PCR performance for the detection of rabies RNA, as well as that of the master mixes.

Cross-Platform Evaluation of Commercial Real-Time SYBR Green RT-PCR Kits for Sensitive and Rapid Detection of European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1

PubMed Central

Picard-Meyer, Evelyne; Peytavin de Garam, Carine; Schereffer, Jean Luc; Marchal, Clotilde; Robardet, Emmanuelle; Cliquet, Florence

2015-01-01

This study evaluates the performance of five two-step SYBR Green RT-qPCR kits and five one-step SYBR Green qRT-PCR kits using real-time PCR assays. Two real-time thermocyclers showing different throughput capacities were used. The analysed performance evaluation criteria included the generation of standard curve, reaction efficiency, analytical sensitivity, intra- and interassay repeatability as well as the costs and the practicability of kits, and thermocycling times. We found that the optimised one-step PCR assays had a higher detection sensitivity than the optimised two-step assays regardless of the machine used, while no difference was detected in reaction efficiency, R 2 values, and intra- and interreproducibility between the two methods. The limit of detection at the 95% confidence level varied between 15 to 981 copies/µL and 41 to 171 for one-step kits and two-step kits, respectively. Of the ten kits tested, the most efficient kit was the Quantitect SYBR Green qRT-PCR with a limit of detection at 95% of confidence of 20 and 22 copies/µL on the thermocyclers Rotor gene Q MDx and MX3005P, respectively. The study demonstrated the pivotal influence of the thermocycler on PCR performance for the detection of rabies RNA, as well as that of the master mixes. PMID:25785274

A multiple-block multigrid method for the solution of the three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atkins, Harold

1991-01-01

A multiple block multigrid method for the solution of the three dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The basic flow solver is a cell vertex method which employs central difference spatial approximations and Runge-Kutta time stepping. The use of local time stepping, implicit residual smoothing, multigrid techniques and variable coefficient numerical dissipation results in an efficient and robust scheme is discussed. The multiblock strategy places the block loop within the Runge-Kutta Loop such that accuracy and convergence are not affected by block boundaries. This has been verified by comparing the results of one and two block calculations in which the two block grid is generated by splitting the one block grid. Results are presented for both Euler and Navier-Stokes computations of wing/fuselage combinations.

Method study on fuzzy-PID adaptive control of electric-hydraulic hitch system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Mingsheng; Wang, Liubu; Liu, Jian; Ye, Jin

2017-03-01

In this paper, fuzzy-PID adaptive control method is applied to the control of tractor electric-hydraulic hitch system. According to the characteristics of the system, a fuzzy-PID adaptive controller is designed and the electric-hydraulic hitch system model is established. Traction control and position control performance simulation are carried out with the common PID control method. A field test rig was set up to test the electric-hydraulic hitch system. The test results showed that, after the fuzzy-PID adaptive control is adopted, when the tillage depth steps from 0.1m to 0.3m, the system transition process time is 4s, without overshoot, and when the tractive force steps from 3000N to 7000N, the system transition process time is 5s, the system overshoot is 25%.

Dynamic advance reservation with delayed allocation

DOEpatents

Vokkarane, Vinod; Somani, Arun

2014-12-02

A method of scheduling data transmissions from a source to a destination, includes the steps of: providing a communication system having a number of channels and a number of paths, each of the channels having a plurality of designated time slots; receiving two or more data transmission requests; provisioning the transmission of the data; receiving data corresponding to at least one of the two or more data transmission requests; waiting until an earliest requested start time T.sub.s; allocating at the current time each of the two or more data transmission requests; transmitting the data; and repeating the steps of waiting, allocating, and transmitting until each of the two or more data transmission requests that have been provisioned for a transmission of data is satisfied. A system to perform the method of scheduling data transmissions is also described.

Spatiotemporal groundwater level modeling using hybrid artificial intelligence-meshless method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nourani, Vahid; Mousavi, Shahram

2016-05-01

Uncertainties of the field parameters, noise of the observed data and unknown boundary conditions are the main factors involved in the groundwater level (GL) time series which limit the modeling and simulation of GL. This paper presents a hybrid artificial intelligence-meshless model for spatiotemporal GL modeling. In this way firstly time series of GL observed in different piezometers were de-noised using threshold-based wavelet method and the impact of de-noised and noisy data was compared in temporal GL modeling by artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). In the second step, both ANN and ANFIS models were calibrated and verified using GL data of each piezometer, rainfall and runoff considering various input scenarios to predict the GL at one month ahead. In the final step, the simulated GLs in the second step of modeling were considered as interior conditions for the multiquadric radial basis function (RBF) based solve of governing partial differential equation of groundwater flow to estimate GL at any desired point within the plain where there is not any observation. In order to evaluate and compare the GL pattern at different time scales, the cross-wavelet coherence was also applied to GL time series of piezometers. The results showed that the threshold-based wavelet de-noising approach can enhance the performance of the modeling up to 13.4%. Also it was found that the accuracy of ANFIS-RBF model is more reliable than ANN-RBF model in both calibration and validation steps.

Adaptive time-stepping Monte Carlo integration of Coulomb collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Särkimäki, K.; Hirvijoki, E.; Terävä, J.

2018-01-01

We report an accessible and robust tool for evaluating the effects of Coulomb collisions on a test particle in a plasma that obeys Maxwell-Jüttner statistics. The implementation is based on the Beliaev-Budker collision integral which allows both the test particle and the background plasma to be relativistic. The integration method supports adaptive time stepping, which is shown to greatly improve the computational efficiency. The Monte Carlo method is implemented for both the three-dimensional particle momentum space and the five-dimensional guiding center phase space. Detailed description is provided for both the physics and implementation of the operator. The focus is in adaptive integration of stochastic differential equations, which is an overlooked aspect among existing Monte Carlo implementations of Coulomb collision operators. We verify that our operator converges to known analytical results and demonstrate that careless implementation of the adaptive time step can lead to severely erroneous results. The operator is provided as a self-contained Fortran 95 module and can be included into existing orbit-following tools that trace either the full Larmor motion or the guiding center dynamics. The adaptive time-stepping algorithm is expected to be useful in situations where the collision frequencies vary greatly over the course of a simulation. Examples include the slowing-down of fusion products or other fast ions, and the Dreicer generation of runaway electrons as well as the generation of fast ions or electrons with ion or electron cyclotron resonance heating.

Adaptive [theta]-methods for pricing American options

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaliq, Abdul Q. M.; Voss, David A.; Kazmi, Kamran

2008-12-01

We develop adaptive [theta]-methods for solving the Black-Scholes PDE for American options. By adding a small, continuous term, the Black-Scholes PDE becomes an advection-diffusion-reaction equation on a fixed spatial domain. Standard implementation of [theta]-methods would require a Newton-type iterative procedure at each time step thereby increasing the computational complexity of the methods. Our linearly implicit approach avoids such complications. We establish a general framework under which [theta]-methods satisfy a discrete version of the positivity constraint characteristic of American options, and numerically demonstrate the sensitivity of the constraint. The positivity results are established for the single-asset and independent two-asset models. In addition, we have incorporated and analyzed an adaptive time-step control strategy to increase the computational efficiency. Numerical experiments are presented for one- and two-asset American options, using adaptive exponential splitting for two-asset problems. The approach is compared with an iterative solution of the two-asset problem in terms of computational efficiency.

Hybrid method to estimate two-layered superficial tissue optical properties from simulated data of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

PubMed

Hsieh, Hong-Po; Ko, Fan-Hua; Sung, Kung-Bin

2018-04-20

An iterative curve fitting method has been applied in both simulation [J. Biomed. Opt.17, 107003 (2012)JBOPFO1083-366810.1117/1.JBO.17.10.107003] and phantom [J. Biomed. Opt.19, 077002 (2014)JBOPFO1083-366810.1117/1.JBO.19.7.077002] studies to accurately extract optical properties and the top layer thickness of a two-layered superficial tissue model from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) data. This paper describes a hybrid two-step parameter estimation procedure to address two main issues of the previous method, including (1) high computational intensity and (2) converging to local minima. The parameter estimation procedure contained a novel initial estimation step to obtain an initial guess, which was used by a subsequent iterative fitting step to optimize the parameter estimation. A lookup table was used in both steps to quickly obtain reflectance spectra and reduce computational intensity. On simulated DRS data, the proposed parameter estimation procedure achieved high estimation accuracy and a 95% reduction of computational time compared to previous studies. Furthermore, the proposed initial estimation step led to better convergence of the following fitting step. Strategies used in the proposed procedure could benefit both the modeling and experimental data processing of not only DRS but also related approaches such as near-infrared spectroscopy.

A Novel Walking Detection and Step Counting Algorithm Using Unconstrained Smartphones.

PubMed

Kang, Xiaomin; Huang, Baoqi; Qi, Guodong

2018-01-19

Recently, with the development of artificial intelligence technologies and the popularity of mobile devices, walking detection and step counting have gained much attention since they play an important role in the fields of equipment positioning, saving energy, behavior recognition, etc. In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed to simultaneously detect walking motion and count steps through unconstrained smartphones in the sense that the smartphone placement is not only arbitrary but also alterable. On account of the periodicity of the walking motion and sensitivity of gyroscopes, the proposed algorithm extracts the frequency domain features from three-dimensional (3D) angular velocities of a smartphone through FFT (fast Fourier transform) and identifies whether its holder is walking or not irrespective of its placement. Furthermore, the corresponding step frequency is recursively updated to evaluate the step count in real time. Extensive experiments are conducted by involving eight subjects and different walking scenarios in a realistic environment. It is shown that the proposed method achieves the precision of 93.76 % and recall of 93.65 % for walking detection, and its overall performance is significantly better than other well-known methods. Moreover, the accuracy of step counting by the proposed method is 95.74 % , and is better than both of the several well-known counterparts and commercial products.

An Automated Method of Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) Data Analysis and Reactive Site Tracking for Mineral-Water Interface Reactions Observed at the Nanometer Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, B. D.; Higgins, S. R.

2008-12-01

Developing a method for bridging the gap between macroscopic and microscopic measurements of reaction kinetics at the mineral-water interface has important implications in geological and chemical fields. Investigating these reactions on the nanometer scale with SPM is often limited by image analysis and data extraction due to the large quantity of data usually obtained in SPM experiments. Here we present a computer algorithm for automated analysis of mineral-water interface reactions. This algorithm automates the analysis of sequential SPM images by identifying the kinetically active surface sites (i.e., step edges), and by tracking the displacement of these sites from image to image. The step edge positions in each image are readily identified and tracked through time by a standard edge detection algorithm followed by statistical analysis on the Hough Transform of the edge-mapped image. By quantifying this displacement as a function of time, the rate of step edge displacement is determined. Furthermore, the total edge length, also determined from analysis of the Hough Transform, combined with the computed step speed, yields the surface area normalized rate of the reaction. The algorithm was applied to a study of the spiral growth of the calcite(104) surface from supersaturated solutions, yielding results almost 20 times faster than performing this analysis by hand, with results being statistically similar for both analysis methods. This advance in analysis of kinetic data from SPM images will facilitate the building of experimental databases on the microscopic kinetics of mineral-water interface reactions.

Storybridging: Four steps for constructing effective health narratives

PubMed Central

Boeijinga, Anniek; Hoeken, Hans; Sanders, José

2017-01-01

Objective: To develop a practical step-by-step approach to constructing narrative health interventions in response to the mixed results and wide diversity of narratives used in health-related narrative persuasion research. Method: Development work was guided by essential narrative characteristics as well as principles enshrined in the Health Action Process Approach. Results: The ‘storybridging’ method for constructing health narratives is described as consisting of four concrete steps: (a) identifying the stage of change, (b) identifying the key elements, (c) building the story, and (d) pre-testing the story. These steps are illustrated by means of a case study in which an effective narrative health intervention was developed for Dutch truck drivers: a high-risk, underprivileged occupational group. Conclusion: Although time and labour intensive, the Storybridging approach suggests integrating the target audience as an important stakeholder throughout the development process. Implications and recommendations are provided for health promotion targeting truck drivers specifically and for constructing narrative health interventions in general. PMID:29276232

Noisy image magnification with total variation regularization and order-changed dictionary learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jian; Chang, Zhiguo; Fan, Jiulun; Zhao, Xiaoqiang; Wu, Xiaomin; Wang, Yanzi

2015-12-01

Noisy low resolution (LR) images are always obtained in real applications, but many existing image magnification algorithms can not get good result from a noisy LR image. We propose a two-step image magnification algorithm to solve this problem. The proposed algorithm takes the advantages of both regularization-based method and learning-based method. The first step is based on total variation (TV) regularization and the second step is based on sparse representation. In the first step, we add a constraint on the TV regularization model to magnify the LR image and at the same time to suppress the noise in it. In the second step, we propose an order-changed dictionary training algorithm to train the dictionaries which is dominated by texture details. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs better than many other algorithms when the noise is not serious. The proposed algorithm can also provide better visual quality on natural LR images.

High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the rapid analysis of pheophytins and pyropheophytins in virgin olive oil.

PubMed

Li, Xueqi; Woodman, Michael; Wang, Selina C

2015-08-01

Pheophytins and pyropheophytin are degradation products of chlorophyll pigments, and their ratios can be used as a sensitive indicator of stress during the manufacturing and storage of olive oil. They increase over time depending on the storage condition and if the oil is exposed to heat treatments during the refining process. The traditional analysis method includes solvent- and time-consuming steps of solid-phase extraction followed by analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. We developed an improved dilute/fluorescence method where multi-step sample preparation was replaced by a simple isopropanol dilution before the high-performance liquid chromatography injection. A quaternary solvent gradient method was used to include a fourth strong solvent wash on a quaternary gradient pump, which avoided the need to premix any solvents and greatly reduced the oil residues on the column from previous analysis. This new method not only reduces analysis cost and time but shows reliability, repeatability, and improved sensitivity, especially important for low-level samples. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Evaluation of viral removal by nanofiltration using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaowen; Bailey, Mark R; Emery, Warren R; Lambooy, Peter K; Chen, Dayue

2007-06-01

Nanofiltration is commonly introduced into purification processes of biologics produced in mammalian cells to serve as a designated step for removal of potential exogenous viral contaminants and endogenous retrovirus-like particles. The LRV (log reduction value) achieved by nanofiltration is often determined by cell-based infectivity assay, which is time-consuming and labour-intensive. We have explored the possibility of employing QPCR (quantitative PCR) to evaluate LRV achieved by nanofiltration in scaled-down studies using two model viruses, namely xenotropic murine leukemia virus and murine minute virus. We report here the successful development of a QPCR-based method suitable for quantification of virus removal by nanofiltration. The method includes a nuclease treatment step to remove free viral nucleic acids, while viral genome associated with intact virus particles is shielded from the nuclease. In addition, HIV Armored RNA was included as an internal control to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the method. The QPCRbased method described here provides several advantages such as better sensitivity, faster turnaround time, reduced cost and higher throughput over the traditional cell-based infectivity assays.

High-Order Residual-Distribution Hyperbolic Advection-Diffusion Schemes: 3rd-, 4th-, and 6th-Order

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mazaheri, Alireza R.; Nishikawa, Hiroaki

2014-01-01

In this paper, spatially high-order Residual-Distribution (RD) schemes using the first-order hyperbolic system method are proposed for general time-dependent advection-diffusion problems. The corresponding second-order time-dependent hyperbolic advection- diffusion scheme was first introduced in [NASA/TM-2014-218175, 2014], where rapid convergences over each physical time step, with typically less than five Newton iterations, were shown. In that method, the time-dependent hyperbolic advection-diffusion system (linear and nonlinear) was discretized by the second-order upwind RD scheme in a unified manner, and the system of implicit-residual-equations was solved efficiently by Newton's method over every physical time step. In this paper, two techniques for the source term discretization are proposed; 1) reformulation of the source terms with their divergence forms, and 2) correction to the trapezoidal rule for the source term discretization. Third-, fourth, and sixth-order RD schemes are then proposed with the above techniques that, relative to the second-order RD scheme, only cost the evaluation of either the first derivative or both the first and the second derivatives of the source terms. A special fourth-order RD scheme is also proposed that is even less computationally expensive than the third-order RD schemes. The second-order Jacobian formulation was used for all the proposed high-order schemes. The numerical results are then presented for both steady and time-dependent linear and nonlinear advection-diffusion problems. It is shown that these newly developed high-order RD schemes are remarkably efficient and capable of producing the solutions and the gradients to the same order of accuracy of the proposed RD schemes with rapid convergence over each physical time step, typically less than ten Newton iterations.

Pseudo-time algorithms for the Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swanson, R. C.; Turkel, E.

1986-01-01

A pseudo-time method is introduced to integrate the compressible Navier-Stokes equations to a steady state. This method is a generalization of a method used by Crocco and also by Allen and Cheng. We show that for a simple heat equation that this is just a renormalization of the time. For a convection-diffusion equation the renormalization is dependent only on the viscous terms. We implement the method for the Navier-Stokes equations using a Runge-Kutta type algorithm. This permits the time step to be chosen based on the inviscid model only. We also discuss the use of residual smoothing when viscous terms are present.

Asynchronous adaptive time step in quantitative cellular automata modeling

PubMed Central

Zhu, Hao; Pang, Peter YH; Sun, Yan; Dhar, Pawan

2004-01-01

Background The behaviors of cells in metazoans are context dependent, thus large-scale multi-cellular modeling is often necessary, for which cellular automata are natural candidates. Two related issues are involved in cellular automata based multi-cellular modeling: how to introduce differential equation based quantitative computing to precisely describe cellular activity, and upon it, how to solve the heavy time consumption issue in simulation. Results Based on a modified, language based cellular automata system we extended that allows ordinary differential equations in models, we introduce a method implementing asynchronous adaptive time step in simulation that can considerably improve efficiency yet without a significant sacrifice of accuracy. An average speedup rate of 4–5 is achieved in the given example. Conclusions Strategies for reducing time consumption in simulation are indispensable for large-scale, quantitative multi-cellular models, because even a small 100 × 100 × 100 tissue slab contains one million cells. Distributed and adaptive time step is a practical solution in cellular automata environment. PMID:15222901

Integrated process development-a robust, rapid method for inclusion body harvesting and processing at the microscale level.

PubMed

Walther, Cornelia; Kellner, Martin; Berkemeyer, Matthias; Brocard, Cécile; Dürauer, Astrid

2017-10-21

Escherichia coli stores large amounts of highly pure product within inclusion bodies (IBs). To take advantage of this beneficial feature, after cell disintegration, the first step to optimal product recovery is efficient IB preparation. This step is also important in evaluating upstream optimization and process development, due to the potential impact of bioprocessing conditions on product quality and on the nanoscale properties of IBs. Proper IB preparation is often neglected, due to laboratory-scale methods requiring large amounts of materials and labor. Miniaturization and parallelization can accelerate analyses of individual processing steps and provide a deeper understanding of up- and downstream processing interdependencies. Consequently, reproducible, predictive microscale methods are in demand. In the present study, we complemented a recently established high-throughput cell disruption method with a microscale method for preparing purified IBs. This preparation provided results comparable to laboratory-scale IB processing, regarding impurity depletion, and product loss. Furthermore, with this method, we performed a "design of experiments" study to demonstrate the influence of fermentation conditions on the performance of subsequent downstream steps and product quality. We showed that this approach provided a 300-fold reduction in material consumption for each fermentation condition and a 24-fold reduction in processing time for 24 samples.

A time step criterion for the stable numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juan-Lien Ramirez, Alina; Löhnert, Stefan; Neuweiler, Insa

2017-04-01

The process of propagating or widening cracks in rock formations by means of fluid flow, known as hydraulic fracturing, has been gaining attention in the last couple of decades. There is growing interest in its numerical simulation to make predictions. Due to the complexity of the processes taking place, e.g. solid deformation, fluid flow in an open channel, fluid flow in a porous medium and crack propagation, this is a challenging task. Hydraulic fracturing has been numerically simulated for some years now [1] and new methods to take more of its processes into account (increasing accuracy) while modeling in an efficient way (lower computational effort) have been developed in recent years. An example is the use of the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM), whose application originated within the framework of solid mechanics, but is now seen as an effective method for the simulation of discontinuities with no need for re-meshing [2]. While more focus has been put to the correct coupling of the processes mentioned above, less attention has been paid to the stability of the model. When using a quasi-static approach for the simulation of hydraulic fracturing, choosing an adequate time step is not trivial. This is in particular true if the equations are solved in a staggered way. The difficulty lies within the inconsistency between the static behavior of the solid and the dynamic behavior of the fluid. It has been shown that too small time steps may lead to instabilities early into the simulation time [3]. While the solid reaches a stationary state instantly, the fluid is not able to achieve equilibrium with its new surrounding immediately. This is why a time step criterion has been developed to quantify the instability of the model concerning the time step. The presented results were created with a 2D poroelastic model, using the XFEM for both the solid and the fluid phases. An embedded crack propagates following the energy release rate criteria when the fluid pressure within the crack rises. The fluid flow within the crack and in the porous medium are simulated using the mass balance for water and Darcy's law for flow. The equations for flow and deformation in the rock and that for flow in the fracture are solved in a staggered manner. The two sets of equations are coupled via Lagrange multipliers. We present a time step criterion for the stability of the scheme and illustrate this criterion with test examples of crack propagation. [1] T. Boone and A. Ingraffea. A numerical procedure for simulation of hydraulically-driven fracture propagation in poroelastic media. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Met. 14, 27-47, (1990) [2] T. Mohammadnejad and A. Khoei. An extended finite element method for hydraulic fracture propagation in deformable porous media with the cohesive crack model. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design. 73, 77-95, (2013) [3] E.W. Remij, J.J.C. Remmers, J.M. Huyghe, D.M.J. Smeulders. The enhanced local pressure model for the accurate analysis of fluid pressure driven fracture in porous materials. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 286, 293-312, (2015)

On the performance of voltage stepping for the simulation of adaptive, nonlinear integrate-and-fire neuronal networks.

PubMed

Kaabi, Mohamed Ghaith; Tonnelier, Arnaud; Martinez, Dominique

2011-05-01

In traditional event-driven strategies, spike timings are analytically given or calculated with arbitrary precision (up to machine precision). Exact computation is possible only for simplified neuron models, mainly the leaky integrate-and-fire model. In a recent paper, Zheng, Tonnelier, and Martinez (2009) introduced an approximate event-driven strategy, named voltage stepping, that allows the generic simulation of nonlinear spiking neurons. Promising results were achieved in the simulation of single quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons. Here, we assess the performance of voltage stepping in network simulations by considering more complex neurons (quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons with adaptation) coupled with multiple synapses. To handle the discrete nature of synaptic interactions, we recast voltage stepping in a general framework, the discrete event system specification. The efficiency of the method is assessed through simulations and comparisons with a modified time-stepping scheme of the Runge-Kutta type. We demonstrated numerically that the original order of voltage stepping is preserved when simulating connected spiking neurons, independent of the network activity and connectivity.

Two-Step Optimization for Spatial Accessibility Improvement: A Case Study of Health Care Planning in Rural China

PubMed Central

Luo, Jing; Tian, Lingling; Luo, Lei; Yi, Hong

2017-01-01

A recent advancement in location-allocation modeling formulates a two-step approach to a new problem of minimizing disparity of spatial accessibility. Our field work in a health care planning project in a rural county in China indicated that residents valued distance or travel time from the nearest hospital foremost and then considered quality of care including less waiting time as a secondary desirability. Based on the case study, this paper further clarifies the sequential decision-making approach, termed “two-step optimization for spatial accessibility improvement (2SO4SAI).” The first step is to find the best locations to site new facilities by emphasizing accessibility as proximity to the nearest facilities with several alternative objectives under consideration. The second step adjusts the capacities of facilities for minimal inequality in accessibility, where the measure of accessibility accounts for the match ratio of supply and demand and complex spatial interaction between them. The case study illustrates how the two-step optimization method improves both aspects of spatial accessibility for health care access in rural China. PMID:28484707

Two-Step Optimization for Spatial Accessibility Improvement: A Case Study of Health Care Planning in Rural China.

PubMed

Luo, Jing; Tian, Lingling; Luo, Lei; Yi, Hong; Wang, Fahui

2017-01-01

A recent advancement in location-allocation modeling formulates a two-step approach to a new problem of minimizing disparity of spatial accessibility. Our field work in a health care planning project in a rural county in China indicated that residents valued distance or travel time from the nearest hospital foremost and then considered quality of care including less waiting time as a secondary desirability. Based on the case study, this paper further clarifies the sequential decision-making approach, termed "two-step optimization for spatial accessibility improvement (2SO4SAI)." The first step is to find the best locations to site new facilities by emphasizing accessibility as proximity to the nearest facilities with several alternative objectives under consideration. The second step adjusts the capacities of facilities for minimal inequality in accessibility, where the measure of accessibility accounts for the match ratio of supply and demand and complex spatial interaction between them. The case study illustrates how the two-step optimization method improves both aspects of spatial accessibility for health care access in rural China.

A high-throughput semi-automated preparation for filtered synaptoneurosomes.

PubMed

Murphy, Kathryn M; Balsor, Justin; Beshara, Simon; Siu, Caitlin; Pinto, Joshua G A

2014-09-30

Synaptoneurosomes have become an important tool for studying synaptic proteins. The filtered synaptoneurosomes preparation originally developed by Hollingsworth et al. (1985) is widely used and is an easy method to prepare synaptoneurosomes. The hand processing steps in that preparation, however, are labor intensive and have become a bottleneck for current proteomic studies using synaptoneurosomes. For this reason, we developed new steps for tissue homogenization and filtration that transform the preparation of synaptoneurosomes to a high-throughput, semi-automated process. We implemented a standardized protocol with easy to follow steps for homogenizing multiple samples simultaneously using a FastPrep tissue homogenizer (MP Biomedicals, LLC) and then filtering all of the samples in centrifugal filter units (EMD Millipore, Corp). The new steps dramatically reduce the time to prepare synaptoneurosomes from hours to minutes, increase sample recovery, and nearly double enrichment for synaptic proteins. These steps are also compatible with biosafety requirements for working with pathogen infected brain tissue. The new high-throughput semi-automated steps to prepare synaptoneurosomes are timely technical advances for studies of low abundance synaptic proteins in valuable tissue samples. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Determination of low-frequency normal modes and structure coefficients using optimal sequence stacking method and autoregressive method in frequency domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majstorovic, J.; Rosat, S.; Lambotte, S.; Rogister, Y. J. G.

2017-12-01

Although there are numerous studies about 3D density Earth model, building an accurate one is still an engaging challenge. One procedure to refine global 3D Earth density models is based on unambiguous measurements of Earth's normal mode eigenfrequencies. To have unbiased eigenfrequency measurements one needs to deal with a variety of time records quality and especially different noise sources, while standard approaches usually include signal processing methods such as Fourier transform. Here we present estimate of complex eigenfrequencies and structure coefficients for several modes below 1 mHz (0S2, 2S1, etc.). Our analysis is performed in three steps. The first step includes the use of stacking methods to enhance specific modes of interest above the observed noise level. Out of three trials the optimal sequence estimation turned out to be the foremost compared to the spherical harmonic stacking method and receiver strip method. In the second step we apply an autoregressive method in the frequency domain to estimate complex eigenfrequencies of target modes. In the third step we apply the phasor walkout method to test and confirm our eigenfrequencies. Before conducting an analysis of time records, we evaluate how the station distribution and noise levels impact the estimate of eigenfrequencies and structure coefficients by using synthetic seismograms calculated for a 3D realistic Earth model, which includes Earth's ellipticity and lateral heterogeneity. Synthetic seismograms are computed by means of normal mode summation using self-coupling and cross-coupling of modes up to 1 mHz. Eventually, the methods tested on synthetic data are applied to long-period seismometer and superconducting gravimeter data recorded after six mega-earthquakes of magnitude greater than 8.3. Hence, we propose new estimates of structure coefficients dependent on the density variations.

Helicopter time-domain electromagnetic numerical simulation based on Leapfrog ADI-FDTD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, S.; Ji, Y.; Li, D.; Wu, Y.; Wang, A.

2017-12-01

We present a three-dimension (3D) Alternative Direction Implicit Finite-Difference Time-Domain (Leapfrog ADI-FDTD) method for the simulation of helicopter time-domain electromagnetic (HTEM) detection. This method is different from the traditional explicit FDTD, or ADI-FDTD. Comparing with the explicit FDTD, leapfrog ADI-FDTD algorithm is no longer limited by Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy(CFL) condition. Thus, the time step is longer. Comparing with the ADI-FDTD, we reduce the equations from 12 to 6 and .the Leapfrog ADI-FDTD method will be easier for the general simulation. First, we determine initial conditions which are adopted from the existing method presented by Wang and Tripp(1993). Second, we derive Maxwell equation using a new finite difference equation by Leapfrog ADI-FDTD method. The purpose is to eliminate sub-time step and retain unconditional stability characteristics. Third, we add the convolution perfectly matched layer (CPML) absorbing boundary condition into the leapfrog ADI-FDTD simulation and study the absorbing effect of different parameters. Different absorbing parameters will affect the absorbing ability. We find the suitable parameters after many numerical experiments. Fourth, We compare the response with the 1-Dnumerical result method for a homogeneous half-space to verify the correctness of our algorithm.When the model contains 107*107*53 grid points, the conductivity is 0.05S/m. The results show that Leapfrog ADI-FDTD need less simulation time and computer storage space, compared with ADI-FDTD. The calculation speed decreases nearly four times, memory occupation decreases about 32.53%. Thus, this algorithm is more efficient than the conventional ADI-FDTD method for HTEM detection, and is more precise than that of explicit FDTD in the late time.

Assessing performance of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) using Cognitive Task Analysis.

PubMed

Saitwal, Himali; Feng, Xuan; Walji, Muhammad; Patel, Vimla; Zhang, Jiajie

2010-07-01

Many Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems fail to provide user-friendly interfaces due to the lack of systematic consideration of human-centered computing issues. Such interfaces can be improved to provide easy to use, easy to learn, and error-resistant EHR systems to the users. To evaluate the usability of an EHR system and suggest areas of improvement in the user interface. The user interface of the AHLTA (Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application) was analyzed using the Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) method called GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection rules) and an associated technique called KLM (Keystroke Level Model). The GOMS method was used to evaluate the AHLTA user interface by classifying each step of a given task into Mental (Internal) or Physical (External) operators. This analysis was performed by two analysts independently and the inter-rater reliability was computed to verify the reliability of the GOMS method. Further evaluation was performed using KLM to estimate the execution time required to perform the given task through application of its standard set of operators. The results are based on the analysis of 14 prototypical tasks performed by AHLTA users. The results show that on average a user needs to go through 106 steps to complete a task. To perform all 14 tasks, they would spend about 22 min (independent of system response time) for data entry, of which 11 min are spent on more effortful mental operators. The inter-rater reliability analysis performed for all 14 tasks was 0.8 (kappa), indicating good reliability of the method. This paper empirically reveals and identifies the following finding related to the performance of AHLTA: (1) large number of average total steps to complete common tasks, (2) high average execution time and (3) large percentage of mental operators. The user interface can be improved by reducing (a) the total number of steps and (b) the percentage of mental effort, required for the tasks. 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monte Carlo Sampling in Fractal Landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitão, Jorge C.; Lopes, J. M. Viana Parente; Altmann, Eduardo G.

2013-05-01

We design a random walk to explore fractal landscapes such as those describing chaotic transients in dynamical systems. We show that the random walk moves efficiently only when its step length depends on the height of the landscape via the largest Lyapunov exponent of the chaotic system. We propose a generalization of the Wang-Landau algorithm which constructs not only the density of states (transient time distribution) but also the correct step length. As a result, we obtain a flat-histogram Monte Carlo method which samples fractal landscapes in polynomial time, a dramatic improvement over the exponential scaling of traditional uniform-sampling methods. Our results are not limited by the dimensionality of the landscape and are confirmed numerically in chaotic systems with up to 30 dimensions.

Method for network analyzation and apparatus

DOEpatents

Bracht, Roger B.; Pasquale, Regina V.

2001-01-01

A portable network analyzer and method having multiple channel transmit and receive capability for real-time monitoring of processes which maintains phase integrity, requires low power, is adapted to provide full vector analysis, provides output frequencies of up to 62.5 MHz and provides fine sensitivity frequency resolution. The present invention includes a multi-channel means for transmitting and a multi-channel means for receiving, both in electrical communication with a software means for controlling. The means for controlling is programmed to provide a signal to a system under investigation which steps consecutively over a range of predetermined frequencies. The resulting received signal from the system provides complete time domain response information by executing a frequency transform of the magnitude and phase information acquired at each frequency step.

Enhanced thermoelectric properties of phase-separating bismuth selenium telluride thin films via a two-step method

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

Takashiri, Masayuki, E-mail: takashiri@tokai-u.jp; Kurita, Kensuke; Hagino, Harutoshi

2015-08-14

A two-step method that combines homogeneous electron beam (EB) irradiation and thermal annealing has been developed to enhance the thermoelectric properties of nanocrystalline bismuth selenium telluride thin films. The thin films, prepared using a flash evaporation method, were treated with EB irradiation in a N{sub 2} atmosphere at room temperature and an acceleration voltage of 0.17 MeV. Thermal annealing was performed under Ar/H{sub 2} (5%) at 300 °C for 60 min. X-ray diffraction was used to determine that compositional phase separation between bismuth telluride and bismuth selenium telluride developed in the thin films exposed to higher EB doses and thermal annealing. We proposemore » that the phase separation was induced by fluctuations in the distribution of selenium atoms after EB irradiation, followed by the migration of selenium atoms to more stable sites during thermal annealing. As a result, thin film crystallinity improved and mobility was significantly enhanced. This indicates that the phase separation resulting from the two-step method enhanced, rather than disturbed, the electron transport. Both the electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient were improved following the two-step method. Consequently, the power factor of thin films that underwent the two-step method was enhanced to 20 times (from 0.96 to 21.0 μW/(cm K{sup 2}) that of the thin films treated with EB irradiation alone.« less

Ground Reaction Forces of the Lead and Trail Limbs when Stepping Over an Obstacle

PubMed Central

Bovonsunthonchai, Sunee; Khobkhun, Fuengfa; Vachalathiti, Roongtiwa

2015-01-01

Background Precise force generation and absorption during stepping over different obstacles need to be quantified for task accomplishment. This study aimed to quantify how the lead limb (LL) and trail limb (TL) generate and absorb forces while stepping over obstacle of various heights. Material/Methods Thirteen healthy young women participated in the study. Force data were collected from 2 force plates when participants stepped over obstacles. Two limbs (right LL and left TL) and 4 conditions of stepping (no obstacle, stepping over 5 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm obstacle heights) were tested for main effect and interaction effect by 2-way ANOVA. Paired t-test and 1-way repeated-measure ANOVA were used to compare differences of variables between limbs and among stepping conditions, respectively. The main effects on the limb were found in first peak vertical force, minimum vertical force, propulsive peak force, and propulsive impulse. Results Significant main effects of condition were found in time to minimum force, time to the second peak force, time to propulsive peak force, first peak vertical force, braking peak force, propulsive peak force, vertical impulse, braking impulse, and propulsive impulse. Interaction effects of limb and condition were found in first peak vertical force, propulsive peak force, braking impulse, and propulsive impulse. Conclusions Adaptations of force generation in the LL and TL were found to involve adaptability to altered external environment during stepping in healthy young adults. PMID:26169293

Adaptive time steps in trajectory surface hopping simulations

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

Spörkel, Lasse, E-mail: spoerkel@kofo.mpg.de; Thiel, Walter, E-mail: thiel@kofo.mpg.de

2016-05-21

Trajectory surface hopping (TSH) simulations are often performed in combination with active-space multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) treatments. Technical problems may arise in such simulations if active and inactive orbitals strongly mix and switch in some particular regions. We propose to use adaptive time steps when such regions are encountered in TSH simulations. For this purpose, we present a computational protocol that is easy to implement and increases the computational effort only in the critical regions. We test this procedure through TSH simulations of a GFP chromophore model (OHBI) and a light-driven rotary molecular motor (F-NAIBP) on semiempirical MRCI potential energymore » surfaces, by comparing the results from simulations with adaptive time steps to analogous ones with constant time steps. For both test molecules, the number of successful trajectories without technical failures rises significantly, from 53% to 95% for OHBI and from 25% to 96% for F-NAIBP. The computed excited-state lifetime remains essentially the same for OHBI and increases somewhat for F-NAIBP, and there is almost no change in the computed quantum efficiency for internal rotation in F-NAIBP. We recommend the general use of adaptive time steps in TSH simulations with active-space CI methods because this will help to avoid technical problems, increase the overall efficiency and robustness of the simulations, and allow for a more complete sampling.« less

Adaptive time steps in trajectory surface hopping simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spörkel, Lasse; Thiel, Walter

2016-05-01

Trajectory surface hopping (TSH) simulations are often performed in combination with active-space multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) treatments. Technical problems may arise in such simulations if active and inactive orbitals strongly mix and switch in some particular regions. We propose to use adaptive time steps when such regions are encountered in TSH simulations. For this purpose, we present a computational protocol that is easy to implement and increases the computational effort only in the critical regions. We test this procedure through TSH simulations of a GFP chromophore model (OHBI) and a light-driven rotary molecular motor (F-NAIBP) on semiempirical MRCI potential energy surfaces, by comparing the results from simulations with adaptive time steps to analogous ones with constant time steps. For both test molecules, the number of successful trajectories without technical failures rises significantly, from 53% to 95% for OHBI and from 25% to 96% for F-NAIBP. The computed excited-state lifetime remains essentially the same for OHBI and increases somewhat for F-NAIBP, and there is almost no change in the computed quantum efficiency for internal rotation in F-NAIBP. We recommend the general use of adaptive time steps in TSH simulations with active-space CI methods because this will help to avoid technical problems, increase the overall efficiency and robustness of the simulations, and allow for a more complete sampling.

Fast numerical methods for simulating large-scale integrate-and-fire neuronal networks.

PubMed

Rangan, Aaditya V; Cai, David

2007-02-01

We discuss numerical methods for simulating large-scale, integrate-and-fire (I&F) neuronal networks. Important elements in our numerical methods are (i) a neurophysiologically inspired integrating factor which casts the solution as a numerically tractable integral equation, and allows us to obtain stable and accurate individual neuronal trajectories (i.e., voltage and conductance time-courses) even when the I&F neuronal equations are stiff, such as in strongly fluctuating, high-conductance states; (ii) an iterated process of spike-spike corrections within groups of strongly coupled neurons to account for spike-spike interactions within a single large numerical time-step; and (iii) a clustering procedure of firing events in the network to take advantage of localized architectures, such as spatial scales of strong local interactions, which are often present in large-scale computational models-for example, those of the primary visual cortex. (We note that the spike-spike corrections in our methods are more involved than the correction of single neuron spike-time via a polynomial interpolation as in the modified Runge-Kutta methods commonly used in simulations of I&F neuronal networks.) Our methods can evolve networks with relatively strong local interactions in an asymptotically optimal way such that each neuron fires approximately once in [Formula: see text] operations, where N is the number of neurons in the system. We note that quantifications used in computational modeling are often statistical, since measurements in a real experiment to characterize physiological systems are typically statistical, such as firing rate, interspike interval distributions, and spike-triggered voltage distributions. We emphasize that it takes much less computational effort to resolve statistical properties of certain I&F neuronal networks than to fully resolve trajectories of each and every neuron within the system. For networks operating in realistic dynamical regimes, such as strongly fluctuating, high-conductance states, our methods are designed to achieve statistical accuracy when very large time-steps are used. Moreover, our methods can also achieve trajectory-wise accuracy when small time-steps are used.

Investigation of solvent-free MALDI-TOFMS sample preparation methods for the analysis of organometallic and coordination compounds.

PubMed

Hughes, Laura; Wyatt, Mark F; Stein, Bridget K; Brenton, A Gareth

2009-01-15

An investigation of various solvent-free matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) sample preparation methods for the characterization of organometallic and coordination compounds is described. Such methods are desirable for insoluble materials, compounds that are only soluble in disadvantageous solvents, or complexes that dissociate in solution, all of which present a major "difficulty" to most mass spectrometry techniques. First-row transition metal acetylacetonate complexes, which have been characterized previously by solution preparation MALDI-TOFMS, were used to evaluate the various solvent-free procedures. These procedures comprise two distinct steps: the first being the efficient "solids mixing" (the mixing of sample and matrix), and the second being the effective transfer of the sample/matrix mixture to the MALDI target plate. This investigation shows that vortex mixing is the most efficient first step and that smearing using a microspatula is the most effective second step. In addition, the second step is shown to be much more critical than the first step in obtaining high-quality data. Case studies of truly insoluble materials highlight the importance of these techniques for the wider chemistry community.

A high-order positivity-preserving single-stage single-step method for the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christlieb, Andrew J.; Feng, Xiao; Seal, David C.; Tang, Qi

2016-07-01

We propose a high-order finite difference weighted ENO (WENO) method for the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. The proposed method is single-stage (i.e., it has no internal stages to store), single-step (i.e., it has no time history that needs to be stored), maintains a discrete divergence-free condition on the magnetic field, and has the capacity to preserve the positivity of the density and pressure. To accomplish this, we use a Taylor discretization of the Picard integral formulation (PIF) of the finite difference WENO method proposed in Christlieb et al. (2015) [23], where the focus is on a high-order discretization of the fluxes (as opposed to the conserved variables). We use the version where fluxes are expanded to third-order accuracy in time, and for the fluid variables space is discretized using the classical fifth-order finite difference WENO discretization. We use constrained transport in order to obtain divergence-free magnetic fields, which means that we simultaneously evolve the magnetohydrodynamic (that has an evolution equation for the magnetic field) and magnetic potential equations alongside each other, and set the magnetic field to be the (discrete) curl of the magnetic potential after each time step. In this work, we compute these derivatives to fourth-order accuracy. In order to retain a single-stage, single-step method, we develop a novel Lax-Wendroff discretization for the evolution of the magnetic potential, where we start with technology used for Hamilton-Jacobi equations in order to construct a non-oscillatory magnetic field. The end result is an algorithm that is similar to our previous work Christlieb et al. (2014) [8], but this time the time stepping is replaced through a Taylor method with the addition of a positivity-preserving limiter. Finally, positivity preservation is realized by introducing a parameterized flux limiter that considers a linear combination of high and low-order numerical fluxes. The choice of the free parameter is then given in such a way that the fluxes are limited towards the low-order solver until positivity is attained. Given the lack of additional degrees of freedom in the system, this positivity limiter lacks energy conservation where the limiter turns on. However, this ingredient can be dropped for problems where the pressure does not become negative. We present two and three dimensional numerical results for several standard test problems including a smooth Alfvén wave (to verify formal order of accuracy), shock tube problems (to test the shock-capturing ability of the scheme), Orszag-Tang, and cloud shock interactions. These results assert the robustness and verify the high-order of accuracy of the proposed scheme.

A modified interval symmetric single step procedure ISS-5D for simultaneous inclusion of polynomial zeros

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sham, Atiyah W. M.; Monsi, Mansor; Hassan, Nasruddin; Suleiman, Mohamed

2013-04-01

The aim of this paper is to present a new modified interval symmetric single-step procedure ISS-5D which is the extension from the previous procedure, ISS1. The ISS-5D method will produce successively smaller intervals that are guaranteed to still contain the zeros. The efficiency of this method is measured on the CPU times and the number of iteration. The procedure is run on five test polynomials and the results obtained are shown in this paper.

Dance-the-Music: an educational platform for the modeling, recognition and audiovisual monitoring of dance steps using spatiotemporal motion templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maes, Pieter-Jan; Amelynck, Denis; Leman, Marc

2012-12-01

In this article, a computational platform is presented, entitled "Dance-the-Music", that can be used in a dance educational context to explore and learn the basics of dance steps. By introducing a method based on spatiotemporal motion templates, the platform facilitates to train basic step models from sequentially repeated dance figures performed by a dance teacher. Movements are captured with an optical motion capture system. The teachers' models can be visualized from a first-person perspective to instruct students how to perform the specific dance steps in the correct manner. Moreover, recognition algorithms-based on a template matching method-can determine the quality of a student's performance in real time by means of multimodal monitoring techniques. The results of an evaluation study suggest that the Dance-the-Music is effective in helping dance students to master the basics of dance figures.

Investigation of correlation classification techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haskell, R. E.

1975-01-01

A two-step classification algorithm for processing multispectral scanner data was developed and tested. The first step is a single pass clustering algorithm that assigns each pixel, based on its spectral signature, to a particular cluster. The output of that step is a cluster tape in which a single integer is associated with each pixel. The cluster tape is used as the input to the second step, where ground truth information is used to classify each cluster using an iterative method of potentials. Once the clusters have been assigned to classes the cluster tape is read pixel-by-pixel and an output tape is produced in which each pixel is assigned to its proper class. In addition to the digital classification programs, a method of using correlation clustering to process multispectral scanner data in real time by means of an interactive color video display is also described.

New insight of high temperature oxidation on self-exfoliation capability of graphene oxide.

PubMed

Liu, Yuhang; Zeng, Jie; Han, Di; Wu, Kai; Yu, Bowen; Chai, Songgang; Chen, Feng; Fu, Qiang

2018-05-04

The preparation of graphene oxide (GO) via Hummers method is usually divided into two steps: low temperature oxidation at 35 °C (step I oxidation) and high temperature oxidation at 98 °C (step II oxidation). However, the effects of these two steps on the exfoliation capability and chemical structure of graphite oxide remain unclear. In this study, both the functional group content of graphite oxide and the entire evolution of interlayer spacing were investigated during the two steps. Step I oxidation is a slowly inhomogeneous oxidation step to remove unoxidized graphite flakes. The prepared graphite oxide can be easily self-exfoliated but contains a lot of organic sulfur. During the first 20 min of step II oxidation, the majority of organic sulfur can be efficiently removed and graphite oxide still remains a good exfoliation capability due to sharp increasing of carboxyl groups. However, with a longer oxidation time at step II oxidation, the decrease of organic sulfur content is slowed down apparently but without any carboxyl groups forming, then graphite oxide finally loses self-exfoliation capability. It is concluded that a short time of step II oxidation can produce purer and ultralarge GO sheets via self-exfoliation. The pure GO is possessed with better thermal stability and liquid crystal behavior. Besides, reduced GO films prepared from step II oxidation show better mechanical and electric properties after reducing compared with that obtained only via step I oxidation.

New insight of high temperature oxidation on self-exfoliation capability of graphene oxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuhang; Zeng, Jie; Han, Di; Wu, Kai; Yu, Bowen; Chai, Songgang; Chen, Feng; Fu, Qiang

2018-05-01

The preparation of graphene oxide (GO) via Hummers method is usually divided into two steps: low temperature oxidation at 35 °C (step I oxidation) and high temperature oxidation at 98 °C (step II oxidation). However, the effects of these two steps on the exfoliation capability and chemical structure of graphite oxide remain unclear. In this study, both the functional group content of graphite oxide and the entire evolution of interlayer spacing were investigated during the two steps. Step I oxidation is a slowly inhomogeneous oxidation step to remove unoxidized graphite flakes. The prepared graphite oxide can be easily self-exfoliated but contains a lot of organic sulfur. During the first 20 min of step II oxidation, the majority of organic sulfur can be efficiently removed and graphite oxide still remains a good exfoliation capability due to sharp increasing of carboxyl groups. However, with a longer oxidation time at step II oxidation, the decrease of organic sulfur content is slowed down apparently but without any carboxyl groups forming, then graphite oxide finally loses self-exfoliation capability. It is concluded that a short time of step II oxidation can produce purer and ultralarge GO sheets via self-exfoliation. The pure GO is possessed with better thermal stability and liquid crystal behavior. Besides, reduced GO films prepared from step II oxidation show better mechanical and electric properties after reducing compared with that obtained only via step I oxidation.

Aerial robot intelligent control method based on back-stepping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Jian; Xue, Qian

2018-05-01

The aerial robot is characterized as strong nonlinearity, high coupling and parameter uncertainty, a self-adaptive back-stepping control method based on neural network is proposed in this paper. The uncertain part of the aerial robot model is compensated online by the neural network of Cerebellum Model Articulation Controller and robust control items are designed to overcome the uncertainty error of the system during online learning. At the same time, particle swarm algorithm is used to optimize and fix parameters so as to improve the dynamic performance, and control law is obtained by the recursion of back-stepping regression. Simulation results show that the designed control law has desired attitude tracking performance and good robustness in case of uncertainties and large errors in the model parameters.

PHISICS/RELAP5-3D Adaptive Time-Step Method Demonstrated for the HTTR LOFC#1 Simulation

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

Baker, Robin Ivey; Balestra, Paolo; Strydom, Gerhard

A collaborative effort between Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as part of the Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group is underway to model the high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) loss of forced cooling (LOFC) transient that was performed in December 2010. The coupled version of RELAP5-3D, a thermal fluids code, and PHISICS, a neutronics code, were used to model the transient. The focus of this report is to summarize the changes made to the PHISICS-RELAP5-3D code for implementing an adaptive time step methodology into the code for the first time, and to test it usingmore » the full HTTR PHISICS/RELAP5-3D model developed by JAEA and INL and the LOFC simulation. Various adaptive schemes are available based on flux or power convergence criteria that allow significantly larger time steps to be taken by the neutronics module. The report includes a description of the HTTR and the associated PHISICS/RELAP5-3D model test results as well as the University of Rome sub-contractor report documenting the adaptive time step theory and methodology implemented in PHISICS/RELAP5-3D. Two versions of the HTTR model were tested using 8 and 26 energy groups. It was found that most of the new adaptive methods lead to significant improvements in the LOFC simulation time required without significant accuracy penalties in the prediction of the fission power and the fuel temperature. In the best performing 8 group model scenarios, a LOFC simulation of 20 hours could be completed in real-time, or even less than real-time, compared with the previous version of the code that completed the same transient 3-8 times slower than real-time. A few of the user choice combinations between the methodologies available and the tolerance settings did however result in unacceptably high errors or insignificant gains in simulation time. The study is concluded with recommendations on which methods to use for this HTTR model. An important caveat is that these findings are very model-specific and cannot be generalized to other PHISICS/RELAP5-3D models.« less

Very-short-term wind power prediction by a hybrid model with single- and multi-step approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed, E.; Wang, S.; Yu, J.

2017-05-01

Very-short-term wind power prediction (VSTWPP) has played an essential role for the operation of electric power systems. This paper aims at improving and applying a hybrid method of VSTWPP based on historical data. The hybrid method is combined by multiple linear regressions and least square (MLR&LS), which is intended for reducing prediction errors. The predicted values are obtained through two sub-processes:1) transform the time-series data of actual wind power into the power ratio, and then predict the power ratio;2) use the predicted power ratio to predict the wind power. Besides, the proposed method can include two prediction approaches: single-step prediction (SSP) and multi-step prediction (MSP). WPP is tested comparatively by auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) model from the predicted values and errors. The validity of the proposed hybrid method is confirmed in terms of error analysis by using probability density function (PDF), mean absolute percent error (MAPE) and means square error (MSE). Meanwhile, comparison of the correlation coefficients between the actual values and the predicted values for different prediction times and window has confirmed that MSP approach by using the hybrid model is the most accurate while comparing to SSP approach and ARMA. The MLR&LS is accurate and promising for solving problems in WPP.

Peyton's 4-Steps-Approach in comparison: Medium-term effects on learning external chest compression – a pilot study

PubMed Central

Münster, Tobias; Stosch, Christoph; Hindrichs, Nina; Franklin, Jeremy; Matthes, Jan

2016-01-01

Introduction: The external chest compression is a very important skill required to maintain a minimum of circulation during cardiac arrest until further medical procedures can be taken. Peyton’s 4-Steps-Approach is one method of skill training, the four steps being: Demonstration, Deconstruction, Comprehension and Execution. Based on CPR skill training, this method is widely, allegedly predominantly used, although there are insufficient studies on Peyton’s 4-Steps-Approach for skill training in CPR in comparison with other methods of skill training. In our study, we compared the medium- term effects on learning external chest compression with a CPR training device in three different groups: PEY (Peyton’s 4-Steps-Approach), PMOD (Peyton’s 4-Steps-Approach without Step 3) and STDM, the standard model, according to the widely spread method “see one, do one” (this is equal to Peyton’s step 1 and 3). Material and Methods: This prospective and randomised pilot study took place during the summer semester of 2009 at the SkillsLab and Simulation Centre of the University of Cologne (Kölner interprofessionelles Skills Lab und Simulationszentrum - KISS). The subjects were medical students (2nd and 3rd semester). They volunteered for the study and were randomised in three parallel groups, each receiving one of the teaching methods mentioned above. One week and 5/6 months after the intervention, an objective, structured single assessment was taken. Compression rate, compression depth, correct compressions, and the sum of correct checklist items were recorded. Additionally, we compared cumulative percentages between the groups based on the correct implementation of the resuscitation guidelines during that time. Results: The examined sample consisted of 134 subjects (68% female; age 22±4; PEY: n=62; PMOD: n=31; STDM: n=41). There was no difference between the groups concerning age, gender, pre-existing experience in CPR or time of last CPR course. The only significant difference between the groups was the mean compression rate (bpm): Group 1 (PEY) with 99±17 bpm, Group 2 (PMOD) with 101±16 bpm and Group 3 (STDM) with 90±16 bpm (p=0,007 for Group 3 vs. Group 1 and Group 3 vs. Group 2, Mann-Whitney- U-Test). We observed no significant differences between the groups after the second assessment. Conclusion: Our study showed that there are no essential differences in external chest compression during CPR performed by medical students dependent on the teaching method (Peyton vs. “Non-Peyton”) implemented with regard to the medium-term effects. The absence of benefits could possibly be due to the simplicity of external chest compression. PMID:27579360

Temperature measurement method using temperature coefficient timing for resistive or capacitive sensors

DOEpatents

Britton, Jr., Charles L.; Ericson, M. Nance

1999-01-01

A method and apparatus for temperature measurement especially suited for low cost, low power, moderate accuracy implementation. It uses a sensor whose resistance varies in a known manner, either linearly or nonlinearly, with temperature, and produces a digital output which is proportional to the temperature of the sensor. The method is based on performing a zero-crossing time measurement of a step input signal that is double differentiated using two differentiators functioning as respective first and second time constants; one temperature stable, and the other varying with the sensor temperature.

Finite-difference fluid dynamics computer mathematical models for the design and interpretation of experiments for space flight. [atmospheric general circulation experiment, convection in a float zone, and the Bridgman-Stockbarger crystal growing system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, G. O.; Fowlis, W. W.; Miller, T. L.

1984-01-01

Numerical methods are used to design a spherical baroclinic flow model experiment of the large scale atmosphere flow for Spacelab. The dielectric simulation of radial gravity is only dominant in a low gravity environment. Computer codes are developed to study the processes at work in crystal growing systems which are also candidates for space flight. Crystalline materials rarely achieve their potential properties because of imperfections and component concentration variations. Thermosolutal convection in the liquid melt can be the cause of these imperfections. Such convection is suppressed in a low gravity environment. Two and three dimensional finite difference codes are being used for this work. Nonuniform meshes and implicit iterative methods are used. The iterative method for steady solutions is based on time stepping but has the options of different time steps for velocity and temperature and of a time step varying smoothly with position according to specified powers of the mesh spacings. This allows for more rapid convergence. The code being developed for the crystal growth studies allows for growth of the crystal as the solid-liquid interface. The moving interface is followed using finite differences; shape variations are permitted. For convenience in applying finite differences in the solid and liquid, a time dependent coordinate transformation is used to make this interface a coordinate surface.

A new approach for bioassays based on frequency- and time-domain measurements of magnetic nanoparticles.

PubMed

Oisjöen, Fredrik; Schneiderman, Justin F; Astalan, Andrea Prieto; Kalabukhov, Alexey; Johansson, Christer; Winkler, Dag

2010-01-15

We demonstrate a one-step wash-free bioassay measurement system capable of tracking biochemical binding events. Our approach combines the high resolution of frequency- and high speed of time-domain measurements in a single device in combination with a fast one-step bioassay. The one-step nature of our magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) based assay reduces the time between sample extraction and quantitative results while mitigating the risks of contamination related to washing steps. Our method also enables tracking of binding events, providing the possibility of, for example, investigation of how chemical/biological environments affect the rate of a binding process or study of the action of certain drugs. We detect specific biological binding events occurring on the surfaces of fluid-suspended MNPs that modify their magnetic relaxation behavior. Herein, we extrapolate a modest sensitivity to analyte of 100 ng/ml with the present setup using our rapid one-step bioassay. More importantly, we determine the size-distributions of the MNP systems with theoretical fits to our data obtained from the two complementary measurement modalities and demonstrate quantitative agreement between them. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a real time activity monitoring Android application utilizing SmartStep.

PubMed

Hegde, Nagaraj; Melanson, Edward; Sazonov, Edward

2016-08-01

Footwear based activity monitoring systems are becoming popular in academic research as well as consumer industry segments. In our previous work, we had presented developmental aspects of an insole based activity and gait monitoring system-SmartStep, which is a socially acceptable, fully wireless and versatile insole. The present work describes the development of an Android application that captures the SmartStep data wirelessly over Bluetooth Low energy (BLE), computes features on the received data, runs activity classification algorithms and provides real time feedback. The development of activity classification methods was based on the the data from a human study involving 4 participants. Participants were asked to perform activities of sitting, standing, walking, and cycling while they wore SmartStep insole system. Multinomial Logistic Discrimination (MLD) was utilized in the development of machine learning model for activity prediction. The resulting classification model was implemented in an Android Smartphone. The Android application was benchmarked for power consumption and CPU loading. Leave one out cross validation resulted in average accuracy of 96.9% during model training phase. The Android application for real time activity classification was tested on a human subject wearing SmartStep resulting in testing accuracy of 95.4%.

Comparison of the Chebyshev Method and the Generalized Crank-Nicholson Method for time Propagation in Quantum Mechanics

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

Formanek, Martin; Vana, Martin; Houfek, Karel

2010-09-30

We compare efficiency of two methods for numerical solution of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation, namely the Chebyshev method and the recently introduced generalized Crank-Nicholson method. As a testing system the free propagation of a particle in one dimension is used. The space discretization is based on the high-order finite diferences to approximate accurately the kinetic energy operator in the Hamiltonian. We show that the choice of the more effective method depends on how many wave functions must be calculated during the given time interval to obtain relevant and reasonably accurate information about the system, i.e. on the choice of themore » time step.« less

a Method of Time-Series Change Detection Using Full Polsar Images from Different Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, W.; Yang, J.; Zhao, J.; Shi, H.; Yang, L.

2018-04-01

Most of the existing change detection methods using full polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) are limited to detecting change between two points in time. In this paper, a novel method was proposed to detect the change based on time-series data from different sensors. Firstly, the overall difference image of a time-series PolSAR was calculated by ominous statistic test. Secondly, difference images between any two images in different times ware acquired by Rj statistic test. Generalized Gaussian mixture model (GGMM) was used to obtain time-series change detection maps in the last step for the proposed method. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we carried out the experiment of change detection by using the time-series PolSAR images acquired by Radarsat-2 and Gaofen-3 over the city of Wuhan, in China. Results show that the proposed method can detect the time-series change from different sensors.

Rapid Calculation of Spacecraft Trajectories Using Efficient Taylor Series Integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, James R.; Martini, Michael C.

2011-01-01

A variable-order, variable-step Taylor series integration algorithm was implemented in NASA Glenn's SNAP (Spacecraft N-body Analysis Program) code. SNAP is a high-fidelity trajectory propagation program that can propagate the trajectory of a spacecraft about virtually any body in the solar system. The Taylor series algorithm's very high order accuracy and excellent stability properties lead to large reductions in computer time relative to the code's existing 8th order Runge-Kutta scheme. Head-to-head comparison on near-Earth, lunar, Mars, and Europa missions showed that Taylor series integration is 15.8 times faster than Runge- Kutta on average, and is more accurate. These speedups were obtained for calculations involving central body, other body, thrust, and drag forces. Similar speedups have been obtained for calculations that include J2 spherical harmonic for central body gravitation. The algorithm includes a step size selection method that directly calculates the step size and never requires a repeat step. High-order Taylor series integration algorithms have been shown to provide major reductions in computer time over conventional integration methods in numerous scientific applications. The objective here was to directly implement Taylor series integration in an existing trajectory analysis code and demonstrate that large reductions in computer time (order of magnitude) could be achieved while simultaneously maintaining high accuracy. This software greatly accelerates the calculation of spacecraft trajectories. At each time level, the spacecraft position, velocity, and mass are expanded in a high-order Taylor series whose coefficients are obtained through efficient differentiation arithmetic. This makes it possible to take very large time steps at minimal cost, resulting in large savings in computer time. The Taylor series algorithm is implemented primarily through three subroutines: (1) a driver routine that automatically introduces auxiliary variables and sets up initial conditions and integrates; (2) a routine that calculates system reduced derivatives using recurrence relations for quotients and products; and (3) a routine that determines the step size and sums the series. The order of accuracy used in a trajectory calculation is arbitrary and can be set by the user. The algorithm directly calculates the motion of other planetary bodies and does not require ephemeris files (except to start the calculation). The code also runs with Taylor series and Runge-Kutta used interchangeably for different phases of a mission.

Survey Methods to Optimize Response Rate in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network.

PubMed

Funkhouser, Ellen; Vellala, Kavya; Baltuck, Camille; Cacciato, Rita; Durand, Emily; McEdward, Deborah; Sowell, Ellen; Theisen, Sarah E; Gilbert, Gregg H

2017-09-01

Surveys of health professionals typically have low response rates, and these rates have been decreasing in the recent years. We report on the methods used in a successful survey of dentist members of the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. The objectives were to quantify the (1) increase in response rate associated with successive survey methods, (2) time to completion with each successive step, (3) contribution from the final method and personal contact, and (4) differences in response rate and mode of response by practice/practitioner characteristics. Dentist members of the network were mailed an invitation describing the study. Subsequently, up to six recruitment steps were followed: initial e-mail, two e-mail reminders at 2-week intervals, a third e-mail reminder with postal mailing a paper questionnaire, a second postal mailing of paper questionnaire, and staff follow-up. Of the 1,876 invited, 160 were deemed ineligible and 1,488 (87% of 1,716 eligible) completed the survey. Completion by step: initial e-mail, 35%; second e-mail, 15%; third e-mail, 7%; fourth e-mail/first paper, 11%; second paper, 15%; and staff follow-up, 16%. Overall, 76% completed the survey online and 24% on paper. Completion rates increased in absolute numbers and proportionally with later methods of recruitment. Participation rates varied little by practice/practitioner characteristics. Completion on paper was more likely by older dentists. Multiple methods of recruitment resulted in a high participation rate: Each step and method produced incremental increases with the final step producing the largest increase.

Daily rainfall forecasting for one year in a single run using Singular Spectrum Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unnikrishnan, Poornima; Jothiprakash, V.

2018-06-01

Effective modelling and prediction of smaller time step rainfall is reported to be very difficult owing to its highly erratic nature. Accurate forecast of daily rainfall for longer duration (multi time step) may be exceptionally helpful in the efficient planning and management of water resources systems. Identification of inherent patterns in a rainfall time series is also important for an effective water resources planning and management system. In the present study, Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) is utilized to forecast the daily rainfall time series pertaining to Koyna watershed in Maharashtra, India, for 365 days after extracting various components of the rainfall time series such as trend, periodic component, noise and cyclic component. In order to forecast the time series for longer time step (365 days-one window length), the signal and noise components of the time series are forecasted separately and then added together. The results of the study show that the method of SSA could extract the various components of the time series effectively and could also forecast the daily rainfall time series for longer duration such as one year in a single run with reasonable accuracy.

Comment on 'Shang S. 2012. Calculating actual crop evapotranspiration under soil water stress conditions with appropriate numerical methods and time step. Hydrological Processes 26: 3338-3343. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.8405'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yatheendradas, Soni; Narapusetty, Balachandrudu; Peters-Lidard, Christa; Funk, Christopher; Verdin, James

2014-01-01

A previous study analyzed errors in the numerical calculation of actual crop evapotranspiration (ET(sub a)) under soil water stress. Assuming no irrigation or precipitation, it constructed equations for ET(sub a) over limited soil-water ranges in a root zone drying out due to evapotranspiration. It then used a single crop-soil composite to provide recommendations about the appropriate usage of numerical methods under different values of the time step and the maximum crop evapotranspiration (ET(sub c)). This comment reformulates those ET(sub a) equations for applicability over the full range of soil water values, revealing a dependence of the relative error in numerical ET(sub a) on the initial soil water that was not seen in the previous study. It is shown that the recommendations based on a single crop-soil composite can be invalid for other crop-soil composites. Finally, a consideration of the numerical error in the time-cumulative value of ET(sub a) is discussed besides the existing consideration of that error over individual time steps as done in the previous study. This cumulative ET(sub a) is more relevant to the final crop yield.

Two-step reconstruction method using global optimization and conjugate gradient for ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography.

PubMed

Tavakoli, Behnoosh; Zhu, Quing

2013-01-01

Ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a promising method for characterizing malignant and benign lesions in the female breast. We introduce a new two-step algorithm for DOT inversion in which the optical parameters are estimated with the global optimization method, genetic algorithm. The estimation result is applied as an initial guess to the conjugate gradient (CG) optimization method to obtain the absorption and scattering distributions simultaneously. Simulations and phantom experiments have shown that the maximum absorption and reduced scattering coefficients are reconstructed with less than 10% and 25% errors, respectively. This is in contrast with the CG method alone, which generates about 20% error for the absorption coefficient and does not accurately recover the scattering distribution. A new measure of scattering contrast has been introduced to characterize benign and malignant breast lesions. The results of 16 clinical cases reconstructed with the two-step method demonstrates that, on average, the absorption coefficient and scattering contrast of malignant lesions are about 1.8 and 3.32 times higher than the benign cases, respectively.

A pseudospectral Legendre method for hyperbolic equations with an improved stability condition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tal-Ezer, Hillel

1986-01-01

A new pseudospectral method is introduced for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations. This method uses different grid points than previously used pseudospectral methods: in fact the grid points are related to the zeroes of the Legendre polynomials. The main advantage of this method is that the allowable time step is proportional to the inverse of the number of grid points 1/N rather than to 1/n(2) (as in the case of other pseudospectral methods applied to mixed initial boundary value problems). A highly accurate time discretization suitable for these spectral methods is discussed.

A pseudospectral Legendre method for hyperbolic equations with an improved stability condition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tal-Ezer, H.

1984-01-01

A new pseudospectral method is introduced for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations. This method uses different grid points than previously used pseudospectral methods: in fact the grid are related to the zeroes of the Legendre polynomials. The main advantage of this method is that the allowable time step is proportional to the inverse of the number of grid points 1/N rather than to 1/n(2) (as in the case of other pseudospectral methods applied to mixed initial boundary value problems). A highly accurate time discretization suitable for these spectral methods is discussed.

Unified gas-kinetic scheme with multigrid convergence for rarefied flow study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yajun; Zhong, Chengwen; Xu, Kun

2017-09-01

The unified gas kinetic scheme (UGKS) is based on direct modeling of gas dynamics on the mesh size and time step scales. With the modeling of particle transport and collision in a time-dependent flux function in a finite volume framework, the UGKS can connect the flow physics smoothly from the kinetic particle transport to the hydrodynamic wave propagation. In comparison with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, the current equation-based UGKS can implement implicit techniques in the updates of macroscopic conservative variables and microscopic distribution functions. The implicit UGKS significantly increases the convergence speed for steady flow computations, especially in the highly rarefied and near continuum regimes. In order to further improve the computational efficiency, for the first time, a geometric multigrid technique is introduced into the implicit UGKS, where the prediction step for the equilibrium state and the evolution step for the distribution function are both treated with multigrid acceleration. More specifically, a full approximate nonlinear system is employed in the prediction step for fast evaluation of the equilibrium state, and a correction linear equation is solved in the evolution step for the update of the gas distribution function. As a result, convergent speed has been greatly improved in all flow regimes from rarefied to the continuum ones. The multigrid implicit UGKS (MIUGKS) is used in the non-equilibrium flow study, which includes microflow, such as lid-driven cavity flow and the flow passing through a finite-length flat plate, and high speed one, such as supersonic flow over a square cylinder. The MIUGKS shows 5-9 times efficiency increase over the previous implicit scheme. For the low speed microflow, the efficiency of MIUGKS is several orders of magnitude higher than the DSMC. Even for the hypersonic flow at Mach number 5 and Knudsen number 0.1, the MIUGKS is still more than 100 times faster than the DSMC method for obtaining a convergent steady state solution.

Technical Note: Using dual step-wedge and 2D scintillator to achieve highly precise and robust proton range quality assurance.

PubMed

Deng, Wei; Liu, Wei; Robertson, Daniel G; Bues, Martin; Sio, Terence T; Keole, Sameer R; Shen, Jiajian

2018-05-12

To develop a fast method for proton range quality assurance (QA) using a dual step-wedge and 2D scintillator and to evaluate the robustness, sensitivity, and long term reproducibility of this method. An in-house customized dual step-wedge and a 2D scintillator were developed to measure proton ranges. Proton beams with homogenous fluence were delivered through wedge, and the images captured by the scintillator were used to calculate the proton ranges by a simple trigonometric method. The range measurements of 97 energies, comprising all clinically available synchrotron energies at our facility (ranges varying from 4 to 32 cm) were repeated 10 times in all four gantry rooms for range baseline values. They were then used for evaluating room-to-room range consistencies. The robustness to setup uncertainty was evaluated by measuring ranges with ±2mm setup deviations in the x, y, and z directions. The long term reproducibility was evaluated by one month of daily range measurements by this method. Ranges of all 97 energies were measured in less than 10 minutes including setup time. The reproducibility in a single day and daily over one month is within 0.1 mm and 0.15 mm, respectively. The method was very robust to setup uncertainty, with measured range consistencies within 0.15mm for ±2mm couch shifts. The method was also sensitive enough for validating range consistencies among gantry rooms and for detecting small range variations. The new method of using a dual step-wedge and scintillator for proton range QA was efficient, highly reproducible, and robust. This method of proton range QA was highly feasible, and appealing from a workflow point of view. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

On computational methods for crashworthiness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belytschko, T.

1992-01-01

The evolution of computational methods for crashworthiness and related fields is described and linked with the decreasing cost of computational resources and with improvements in computation methodologies. The latter includes more effective time integration procedures and more efficient elements. Some recent developments in methodologies and future trends are also summarized. These include multi-time step integration (or subcycling), further improvements in elements, adaptive meshes, and the exploitation of parallel computers.

Epileptic seizure prediction by non-linear methods

DOEpatents

Hively, Lee M.; Clapp, Ned E.; Daw, C. Stuart; Lawkins, William F.

1999-01-01

Methods and apparatus for automatically predicting epileptic seizures monitor and analyze brain wave (EEG or MEG) signals. Steps include: acquiring the brain wave data from the patient; digitizing the data; obtaining nonlinear measures of the data via chaotic time series analysis tools; obtaining time serial trends in the nonlinear measures; comparison of the trend to known seizure predictors; and providing notification that a seizure is forthcoming.

On coupling fluid plasma and kinetic neutral physics models

DOE PAGES

Joseph, I.; Rensink, M. E.; Stotler, D. P.; ...

2017-03-01

The coupled fluid plasma and kinetic neutral physics equations are analyzed through theory and simulation of benchmark cases. It is shown that coupling methods that do not treat the coupling rates implicitly are restricted to short time steps for stability. Fast charge exchange, ionization and recombination coupling rates exist, even after constraining the solution by requiring that the neutrals are at equilibrium. For explicit coupling, the present implementation of Monte Carlo correlated sampling techniques does not allow for complete convergence in slab geometry. For the benchmark case, residuals decay with particle number and increase with grid size, indicating that theymore » scale in a manner that is similar to the theoretical prediction for nonlinear bias error. Progress is reported on implementation of a fully implicit Jacobian-free Newton–Krylov coupling scheme. The present block Jacobi preconditioning method is still sensitive to time step and methods that better precondition the coupled system are under investigation.« less

Stepping around the Brick Wall: Overcoming Student Obstacles in Methods Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bos, Angela L.; Schneider, Monica C.

2009-01-01

Many political science departments offer, and increasing numbers of them require, undergraduate research methods courses. At the same time, studies cite high levels of student anxiety about such courses. Utilizing survey data from both students who take and faculty who teach methods, we conduct an analysis that compares the barriers students and…

An Empirical Method for Determining the Lunar Gravity Field. Ph.D. Thesis - George Washington Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferrari, A. J.

1971-01-01

A method has been devised to determine the spherical harmonic coefficients of the lunar gravity field. This method consists of a two-step data reduction and estimation process. In the first step, a weighted least-squares empirical orbit determination scheme is applied to Doppler tracking data from lunar orbits to estimate long-period Kepler elements and rates. Each of the Kepler elements is represented by an independent function of time. The long-period perturbing effects of the earth, sun, and solar radiation are explicitly modeled in this scheme. Kepler element variations estimated by this empirical processor are ascribed to the non-central lunar gravitation features. Doppler data are reduced in this manner for as many orbits as are available. In the second step, the Kepler element rates are used as input to a second least-squares processor that estimates lunar gravity coefficients using the long-period Lagrange perturbation equations.

ASPECTS: an automation-assisted SPE method development system.

PubMed

Li, Ming; Chou, Judy; King, Kristopher W; Yang, Liyu

2013-07-01

A typical conventional SPE method development (MD) process usually involves deciding the chemistry of the sorbent and eluent based on information about the analyte; experimentally preparing and trying out various combinations of adsorption chemistry and elution conditions; quantitatively evaluating the various conditions; and comparing quantitative results from all combination of conditions to select the best condition for method qualification. The second and fourth steps have mostly been performed manually until now. We developed an automation-assisted system that expedites the conventional SPE MD process by automating 99% of the second step, and expedites the fourth step by automatically processing the results data and presenting it to the analyst in a user-friendly format. The automation-assisted SPE MD system greatly saves the manual labor in SPE MD work, prevents analyst errors from causing misinterpretation of quantitative results, and shortens data analysis and interpretation time.

Automatic stage identification of Drosophila egg chamber based on DAPI images

PubMed Central

Jia, Dongyu; Xu, Qiuping; Xie, Qian; Mio, Washington; Deng, Wu-Min

2016-01-01

The Drosophila egg chamber, whose development is divided into 14 stages, is a well-established model for developmental biology. However, visual stage determination can be a tedious, subjective and time-consuming task prone to errors. Our study presents an objective, reliable and repeatable automated method for quantifying cell features and classifying egg chamber stages based on DAPI images. The proposed approach is composed of two steps: 1) a feature extraction step and 2) a statistical modeling step. The egg chamber features used are egg chamber size, oocyte size, egg chamber ratio and distribution of follicle cells. Methods for determining the on-site of the polytene stage and centripetal migration are also discussed. The statistical model uses linear and ordinal regression to explore the stage-feature relationships and classify egg chamber stages. Combined with machine learning, our method has great potential to enable discovery of hidden developmental mechanisms. PMID:26732176

Accelerating Time Integration for the Shallow Water Equations on the Sphere Using GPUs

DOE PAGES

Archibald, R.; Evans, K. J.; Salinger, A.

2015-06-01

The push towards larger and larger computational platforms has made it possible for climate simulations to resolve climate dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales. This direction in climate simulation has created a strong need to develop scalable timestepping methods capable of accelerating throughput on high performance computing. This study details the recent advances in the implementation of implicit time stepping of the spectral element dynamical core within the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Accelerated Climate Model for Energy (ACME) on graphical processing units (GPU) based machines. We demonstrate how solvers in the Trilinos project are interfaced with ACMEmore » and GPU kernels to increase computational speed of the residual calculations in the implicit time stepping method for the atmosphere dynamics. We demonstrate the optimization gains and data structure reorganization that facilitates the performance improvements.« less

Relationships of stroke patients' gait parameters with fear of falling.

PubMed

Park, Jin; Yoo, Ingyu

2014-12-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation of gait parameters with fear of falling in stroke survivors. [Subjects] In total, 12 patients with stroke participated. [Methods] The subjects performed on a Biodex Gait Trainer 2 for 5 min to evaluate characteristic gait parameters. The kinematic gait parameters measured were gait speed, step cycle, step length, and time on each foot (step symmetry). All the subjects also completed a fall anxiety survey. [Results] Correlations between gait parameters and fear of falling scores were calculated. There was a moderate degree of correlation between fear of falling scores and the step cycle item of gait parameters. [Conclusions] According to our results, the step cycle gait parameter may be related to increased fall anxiety.

Kinetic energy definition in velocity Verlet integration for accurate pressure evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Jaewoon; Kobayashi, Chigusa; Sugita, Yuji

2018-04-01

In molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, a proper definition of kinetic energy is essential for controlling pressure as well as temperature in the isothermal-isobaric condition. The virial theorem provides an equation that connects the average kinetic energy with the product of particle coordinate and force. In this paper, we show that the theorem is satisfied in MD simulations with a larger time step and holonomic constraints of bonds, only when a proper definition of kinetic energy is used. We provide a novel definition of kinetic energy, which is calculated from velocities at the half-time steps (t - Δt/2 and t + Δt/2) in the velocity Verlet integration method. MD simulations of a 1,2-dispalmitoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) lipid bilayer and a water box using the kinetic energy definition could reproduce the physical properties in the isothermal-isobaric condition properly. We also develop a multiple time step (MTS) integration scheme with the kinetic energy definition. MD simulations with the MTS integration for the DPPC and water box systems provided the same quantities as the velocity Verlet integration method, even when the thermostat and barostat are updated less frequently.

Kinetic energy definition in velocity Verlet integration for accurate pressure evaluation.

PubMed

Jung, Jaewoon; Kobayashi, Chigusa; Sugita, Yuji

2018-04-28

In molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, a proper definition of kinetic energy is essential for controlling pressure as well as temperature in the isothermal-isobaric condition. The virial theorem provides an equation that connects the average kinetic energy with the product of particle coordinate and force. In this paper, we show that the theorem is satisfied in MD simulations with a larger time step and holonomic constraints of bonds, only when a proper definition of kinetic energy is used. We provide a novel definition of kinetic energy, which is calculated from velocities at the half-time steps (t - Δt/2 and t + Δt/2) in the velocity Verlet integration method. MD simulations of a 1,2-dispalmitoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) lipid bilayer and a water box using the kinetic energy definition could reproduce the physical properties in the isothermal-isobaric condition properly. We also develop a multiple time step (MTS) integration scheme with the kinetic energy definition. MD simulations with the MTS integration for the DPPC and water box systems provided the same quantities as the velocity Verlet integration method, even when the thermostat and barostat are updated less frequently.

An Optimized Method to Detect BDS Satellites' Orbit Maneuvering and Anomalies in Real-Time.

PubMed

Huang, Guanwen; Qin, Zhiwei; Zhang, Qin; Wang, Le; Yan, Xingyuan; Wang, Xiaolei

2018-02-28

The orbital maneuvers of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Constellations will decrease the performance and accuracy of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). Because satellites in the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) are in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO), maneuvers occur more frequently. Also, the precise start moment of the BDS satellites' orbit maneuvering cannot be obtained by common users. This paper presented an improved real-time detecting method for BDS satellites' orbit maneuvering and anomalies with higher timeliness and higher accuracy. The main contributions to this improvement are as follows: (1) instead of the previous two-steps method, a new one-step method with higher accuracy is proposed to determine the start moment and the pseudo random noise code (PRN) of the satellite orbit maneuvering in that time; (2) BDS Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) orbital maneuvers are firstly detected according to the proposed selection strategy for the stations; and (3) the classified non-maneuvering anomalies are detected by a new median robust method using the weak anomaly detection factor and the strong anomaly detection factor. The data from the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) in 2017 was used for experimental analysis. The experimental results and analysis showed that the start moment of orbital maneuvers and the period of non-maneuver anomalies can be determined more accurately in real-time. When orbital maneuvers and anomalies occur, the proposed method improved the data utilization for 91 and 95 min in 2017.

An Optimized Method to Detect BDS Satellites’ Orbit Maneuvering and Anomalies in Real-Time

PubMed Central

Huang, Guanwen; Qin, Zhiwei; Zhang, Qin; Wang, Le; Yan, Xingyuan; Wang, Xiaolei

2018-01-01

The orbital maneuvers of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Constellations will decrease the performance and accuracy of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). Because satellites in the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) are in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO), maneuvers occur more frequently. Also, the precise start moment of the BDS satellites’ orbit maneuvering cannot be obtained by common users. This paper presented an improved real-time detecting method for BDS satellites’ orbit maneuvering and anomalies with higher timeliness and higher accuracy. The main contributions to this improvement are as follows: (1) instead of the previous two-steps method, a new one-step method with higher accuracy is proposed to determine the start moment and the pseudo random noise code (PRN) of the satellite orbit maneuvering in that time; (2) BDS Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) orbital maneuvers are firstly detected according to the proposed selection strategy for the stations; and (3) the classified non-maneuvering anomalies are detected by a new median robust method using the weak anomaly detection factor and the strong anomaly detection factor. The data from the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) in 2017 was used for experimental analysis. The experimental results and analysis showed that the start moment of orbital maneuvers and the period of non-maneuver anomalies can be determined more accurately in real-time. When orbital maneuvers and anomalies occur, the proposed method improved the data utilization for 91 and 95 min in 2017. PMID:29495638

A splitting scheme based on the space-time CE/SE method for solving multi-dimensional hydrodynamical models of semiconductor devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nisar, Ubaid Ahmed; Ashraf, Waqas; Qamar, Shamsul

2016-08-01

Numerical solutions of the hydrodynamical model of semiconductor devices are presented in one and two-space dimension. The model describes the charge transport in semiconductor devices. Mathematically, the models can be written as a convection-diffusion type system with a right hand side describing the relaxation effects and interaction with a self consistent electric field. The proposed numerical scheme is a splitting scheme based on the conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method for hyperbolic step, and a semi-implicit scheme for the relaxation step. The numerical results of the suggested scheme are compared with the splitting scheme based on Nessyahu-Tadmor (NT) central scheme for convection step and the same semi-implicit scheme for the relaxation step. The effects of various parameters such as low field mobility, device length, lattice temperature and voltages for one-space dimensional hydrodynamic model are explored to further validate the generic applicability of the CE/SE method for the current model equations. A two dimensional simulation is also performed by CE/SE method for a MESFET device, producing results in good agreement with those obtained by NT-central scheme.

Rapid all-in-one three-step immunoassay for non-instrumental detection of ochratoxin A in high-coloured herbs and spices.

PubMed

Goryacheva, Irina Yu; De Saeger, Sarah; Nesterenko, Irina S; Eremin, Sergei A; Van Peteghem, Carlos

2007-05-15

A feasible three-step method for ochratoxin A (OTA) rapid detection was developed and applied for OTA screening in high-coloured matrices such as liquorice, ginger, nutmeg, black pepper, white pepper and Capsicum spp. spices at a control level of 10mugkg(-1). The method was based on the clean-up tandem immunoassay column and involved three steps: extract application, washing step and application of chromogenic substrate. A significant simplification of the assay was reached by using an additional frit with conjugate inside the clean-up tandem immunoassay column. The time for analysis was less than 10min, including 5min for colour development. Results were visually evaluated as colour development for negative result or no colour development for positive result. The method was coupled with a simple methanol-based extraction. A total of 27 samples were screened for OTA with the proposed method. It was shown that two samples of red pepper and one sample of liquorice, pili-pili, chilli and cayenne were contaminated with OTA above the control level at 10mugkg(-1), but none of tested ginger, nutmeg, black pepper and white pepper.

Scalable explicit implementation of anisotropic diffusion with Runge-Kutta-Legendre super-time stepping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaidya, Bhargav; Prasad, Deovrat; Mignone, Andrea; Sharma, Prateek; Rickler, Luca

2017-12-01

An important ingredient in numerical modelling of high temperature magnetized astrophysical plasmas is the anisotropic transport of heat along magnetic field lines from higher to lower temperatures. Magnetohydrodynamics typically involves solving the hyperbolic set of conservation equations along with the induction equation. Incorporating anisotropic thermal conduction requires to also treat parabolic terms arising from the diffusion operator. An explicit treatment of parabolic terms will considerably reduce the simulation time step due to its dependence on the square of the grid resolution (Δx) for stability. Although an implicit scheme relaxes the constraint on stability, it is difficult to distribute efficiently on a parallel architecture. Treating parabolic terms with accelerated super-time-stepping (STS) methods has been discussed in literature, but these methods suffer from poor accuracy (first order in time) and also have difficult-to-choose tuneable stability parameters. In this work, we highlight a second-order (in time) Runge-Kutta-Legendre (RKL) scheme (first described by Meyer, Balsara & Aslam 2012) that is robust, fast and accurate in treating parabolic terms alongside the hyperbolic conversation laws. We demonstrate its superiority over the first-order STS schemes with standard tests and astrophysical applications. We also show that explicit conduction is particularly robust in handling saturated thermal conduction. Parallel scaling of explicit conduction using RKL scheme is demonstrated up to more than 104 processors.

Mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, W. K.

1982-01-01

The computational methods used to predict and optimize the thermal structural behavior of aerospace vehicle structures are reviewed. In general, two classes of algorithms, implicit and explicit, are used in transient thermal analysis of structures. Each of these two methods has its own merits. Due to the different time scales of the mechanical and thermal responses, the selection of a time integration method can be a different yet critical factor in the efficient solution of such problems. Therefore mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures are being developed. The computer implementation aspects and numerical evaluation of these mixed time implicit-explicit algorithms in thermal analysis of structures are presented. A computationally useful method of estimating the critical time step for linear quadrilateral element is also given. Numerical tests confirm the stability criterion and accuracy characteristics of the methods. The superiority of these mixed time methods to the fully implicit method or the fully explicit method is also demonstrated.

Mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, W. K.

1983-01-01

The computational methods used to predict and optimize the thermal-structural behavior of aerospace vehicle structures are reviewed. In general, two classes of algorithms, implicit and explicit, are used in transient thermal analysis of structures. Each of these two methods has its own merits. Due to the different time scales of the mechanical and thermal responses, the selection of a time integration method can be a difficult yet critical factor in the efficient solution of such problems. Therefore mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures are being developed. The computer implementation aspects and numerical evaluation of these mixed time implicit-explicit algorithms in thermal analysis of structures are presented. A computationally-useful method of estimating the critical time step for linear quadrilateral element is also given. Numerical tests confirm the stability criterion and accuracy characteristics of the methods. The superiority of these mixed time methods to the fully implicit method or the fully explicit method is also demonstrated.

Tracking vortices in superconductors: Extracting singularities from a discretized complex scalar field evolving in time

DOE PAGES

Phillips, Carolyn L.; Guo, Hanqi; Peterka, Tom; ...

2016-02-19

In type-II superconductors, the dynamics of magnetic flux vortices determine their transport properties. In the Ginzburg-Landau theory, vortices correspond to topological defects in the complex order parameter field. Earlier, we introduced a method for extracting vortices from the discretized complex order parameter field generated by a large-scale simulation of vortex matter. With this method, at a fixed time step, each vortex [simplistically, a one-dimensional (1D) curve in 3D space] can be represented as a connected graph extracted from the discretized field. Here we extend this method as a function of time as well. A vortex now corresponds to a 2Dmore » space-time sheet embedded in 4D space time that can be represented as a connected graph extracted from the discretized field over both space and time. Vortices that interact by merging or splitting correspond to disappearance and appearance of holes in the connected graph in the time direction. This method of tracking vortices, which makes no assumptions about the scale or behavior of the vortices, can track the vortices with a resolution as good as the discretization of the temporally evolving complex scalar field. In addition, even details of the trajectory between time steps can be reconstructed from the connected graph. With this form of vortex tracking, the details of vortex dynamics in a model of a superconducting materials can be understood in greater detail than previously possible.« less

Real-time biscuit tile image segmentation method based on edge detection.

PubMed

Matić, Tomislav; Aleksi, Ivan; Hocenski, Željko; Kraus, Dieter

2018-05-01

In this paper we propose a novel real-time Biscuit Tile Segmentation (BTS) method for images from ceramic tile production line. BTS method is based on signal change detection and contour tracing with a main goal of separating tile pixels from background in images captured on the production line. Usually, human operators are visually inspecting and classifying produced ceramic tiles. Computer vision and image processing techniques can automate visual inspection process if they fulfill real-time requirements. Important step in this process is a real-time tile pixels segmentation. BTS method is implemented for parallel execution on a GPU device to satisfy the real-time constraints of tile production line. BTS method outperforms 2D threshold-based methods, 1D edge detection methods and contour-based methods. Proposed BTS method is in use in the biscuit tile production line. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

General Methods for Analysis of Sequential “n-step” Kinetic Mechanisms: Application to Single Turnover Kinetics of Helicase-Catalyzed DNA Unwinding

PubMed Central

Lucius, Aaron L.; Maluf, Nasib K.; Fischer, Christopher J.; Lohman, Timothy M.

2003-01-01

Helicase-catalyzed DNA unwinding is often studied using “all or none” assays that detect only the final product of fully unwound DNA. Even using these assays, quantitative analysis of DNA unwinding time courses for DNA duplexes of different lengths, L, using “n-step” sequential mechanisms, can reveal information about the number of intermediates in the unwinding reaction and the “kinetic step size”, m, defined as the average number of basepairs unwound between two successive rate limiting steps in the unwinding cycle. Simultaneous nonlinear least-squares analysis using “n-step” sequential mechanisms has previously been limited by an inability to float the number of “unwinding steps”, n, and m, in the fitting algorithm. Here we discuss the behavior of single turnover DNA unwinding time courses and describe novel methods for nonlinear least-squares analysis that overcome these problems. Analytic expressions for the time courses, fss(t), when obtainable, can be written using gamma and incomplete gamma functions. When analytic expressions are not obtainable, the numerical solution of the inverse Laplace transform can be used to obtain fss(t). Both methods allow n and m to be continuous fitting parameters. These approaches are generally applicable to enzymes that translocate along a lattice or require repetition of a series of steps before product formation. PMID:14507688

Deep freezing of Angora goat semen: effects of diluent composition and method and rate of dilution on survival of spermatozoa.

PubMed

Salamon, S; Ritar, A J

1982-01-01

Five factorial experiments were conducted to examine the effects of concentration of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris), type and concentration of sugar in the diluent, rate and method of dilution on the survival of goat spermatozoa after freezing by the pellet method. Spermatozoa tolerated a relatively wide range in concentration of Tris, but the cell survival depended on the type of sugar included in the Tris diluent. Glucose and fructose were more suitable components than lactose or raffinose. Survival of spermatozoa after thawing was better for three- to fivefold prefreezing dilution. There was interaction between method of semen dilution (one-step, two-step), holding time at 5 degrees C, and glycerol concentration. The best result was obtained after one-step dilution at 30 degrees C (Tris 375 mM-glucose 41.625 mM-citric acid 124 mM), 1.5 h holding at 5 degrees C, and with 4% (v/v) glycerol concentration in the diluted semen.

Load forecasting via suboptimal seasonal autoregressive models and iteratively reweighted least squares estimation

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

Mbamalu, G.A.N.; El-Hawary, M.E.

The authors propose suboptimal least squares or IRWLS procedures for estimating the parameters of a seasonal multiplicative AR model encountered during power system load forecasting. The proposed method involves using an interactive computer environment to estimate the parameters of a seasonal multiplicative AR process. The method comprises five major computational steps. The first determines the order of the seasonal multiplicative AR process, and the second uses the least squares or the IRWLS to estimate the optimal nonseasonal AR model parameters. In the third step one obtains the intermediate series by back forecast, which is followed by using the least squaresmore » or the IRWLS to estimate the optimal season AR parameters. The final step uses the estimated parameters to forecast future load. The method is applied to predict the Nova Scotia Power Corporation's 168 lead time hourly load. The results obtained are documented and compared with results based on the Box and Jenkins method.« less

High order volume-preserving algorithms for relativistic charged particles in general electromagnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yang; Sun, Yajuan; Zhang, Ruili; Wang, Yulei; Liu, Jian; Qin, Hong

2016-09-01

We construct high order symmetric volume-preserving methods for the relativistic dynamics of a charged particle by the splitting technique with processing. By expanding the phase space to include the time t, we give a more general construction of volume-preserving methods that can be applied to systems with time-dependent electromagnetic fields. The newly derived methods provide numerical solutions with good accuracy and conservative properties over long time of simulation. Furthermore, because of the use of an accuracy-enhancing processing technique, the explicit methods obtain high-order accuracy and are more efficient than the methods derived from standard compositions. The results are verified by the numerical experiments. Linear stability analysis of the methods shows that the high order processed method allows larger time step size in numerical integrations.

Advanced real-time multi-display educational system (ARMES): An innovative real-time audiovisual mentoring tool for complex robotic surgery.

PubMed

Lee, Joong Ho; Tanaka, Eiji; Woo, Yanghee; Ali, Güner; Son, Taeil; Kim, Hyoung-Il; Hyung, Woo Jin

2017-12-01

The recent scientific and technologic advances have profoundly affected the training of surgeons worldwide. We describe a novel intraoperative real-time training module, the Advanced Robotic Multi-display Educational System (ARMES). We created a real-time training module, which can provide a standardized step by step guidance to robotic distal subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy procedures, ARMES. The short video clips of 20 key steps in the standardized procedure for robotic gastrectomy were created and integrated with TilePro™ software to delivery on da Vinci Surgical Systems (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA). We successfully performed the robotic distal subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for patient with gastric cancer employing this new teaching method without any transfer errors or system failures. Using this technique, the total operative time was 197 min and blood loss was 50 mL and there were no intra- or post-operative complications. Our innovative real-time mentoring module, ARMES, enables standardized, systematic guidance during surgical procedures. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Method and Apparatus for Reading Two Dimensional Identification Symbols Using Radar Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schramm, Harry F., Jr. (Inventor); Roxby, Donald L. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A method and apparatus are provided for sensing two-dimensional identification marks provided on a substrate or embedded within a substrate below a surface of the substrate. Micropower impulse radar is used to transmit a high risetime, short duration pulse to a focussed radar target area of the substrate having the two dimensional identification marks. The method further includes the steps of listening for radar echoes returned from the identification marks during a short listening period window occurring a predetermined time after transmission of the radar pulse. If radar echoes are detected, an image processing step is carried out. If no radar echoes are detected, the method further includes sequentially transmitting further high risetime, short duration pulses, and listening for radar echoes from each of said further pulses after different elapsed times for each of the further pulses until radar echoes are detected. When radar echoes are detected, data based on the detected echoes is processed to produce an image of the identification marks.

Development of a multiplex probe combination-based one-step real-time reverse transcription-PCR for NA subtype typing of avian influenza virus.

PubMed

Sun, Zhihao; Qin, Tao; Meng, Feifei; Chen, Sujuan; Peng, Daxin; Liu, Xiufan

2017-10-18

Nine influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) subtypes have been identified in poultry and wild birds. Few methods are available for rapid and simple NA subtyping. Here we developed a multiplex probe combination-based one-step real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR) to detect nine avian influenza virus NA subtypes. Nine primer-probe pairs were assigned to three groups based on the different fluorescent dyes of the probes (FAM, HEX, or Texas Red). Each probe detected only one NA subtype, without cross reactivity. The detection limit was less than 100 EID 50 or 100 copies of cDNA per reaction. Data obtained using this method with allantoic fluid samples isolated from live bird markets and H9N2-infected chickens correlated well with data obtained using virus isolation and sequencing, but was more sensitive. This new method provides a specific and sensitive alternative to conventional NA-subtyping methods.

Direct analysis of organic priority pollutants by IMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giam, C. S.; Reed, G. E.; Holliday, T. L.; Chang, L.; Rhodes, B. J.

1995-01-01

Many routine methods for monitoring of trace amounts of atmospheric organic pollutants consist of several steps. Typical steps are: (1) collection of the air sample; (2) trapping of organics from the sample; (3) extraction of the trapped organics; and (4) identification of the organics in the extract by GC (gas chromatography), HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), or MS (Mass Spectrometry). These methods are often cumbersome and time consuming. A simple and fast method for monitoring atmospheric organics using an IMS (Ion Mobility Spectrometer) is proposed. This method has a short sampling time and does not require extraction of the organics since the sample is placed directly in the IMS. The purpose of this study was to determine the responses in the IMS to organic 'priority pollutants'. Priority pollutants including representative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, phenols, chlorinated pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) were analyzed in both the positive and negative detection mode at ambient atmospheric pressure. Detection mode and amount detected are presented.

Exoskeleton Training May Improve Level of Physical Activity After Spinal Cord Injury: A Case Series.

PubMed

Gorgey, Ashraf S; Wade, Rodney; Sumrell, Ryan; Villadelgado, Lynette; Khalil, Refka E; Lavis, Timothy

2017-01-01

Objectives: To determine whether the use of a powered exoskeleton can improve parameters of physical activity as determined by walking time, stand up time, and number of steps in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: Three men with complete (1 C5 AIS A and 2 T4 AIS A) and one man with incomplete (C5 AIS D) SCI participated in a clinical rehabilitation program. In the training program, the participants walked once weekly using a powered exoskeleton (Ekso) for approximately 1 hour over the course of 10 to 15 weeks. Walking time, stand up time, ratio of walking to stand up time, and number of steps were determined. Oxygen uptake (L/min), energy expenditure, and body composition were measured in one participant after training. Results: Over the course of 10 to 15 weeks, the maximum walking time increased from 12 to 57 minutes and the number of steps increased from 59 to 2,284 steps. At the end of the training, the 4 participants were able to exercise for 26 to 59 minutes. For one participant, oxygen uptake increased from 0.27 L/min during rest to 0.55 L/min during walking. Maximum walking speed was 0.24 m/s, and delta energy expenditure increased by 1.4 kcal/min during walking. Body composition showed a modest decrease in absolute fat mass in one participant. Conclusion: Exoskeleton training may improve parameters of physical activity after SCI by increasing the number of steps and walking time. Other benefits may include increasing energy expenditure and improving the profile of body composition.

A Kalman filter for a two-dimensional shallow-water model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parrish, D. F.; Cohn, S. E.

1985-01-01

A two-dimensional Kalman filter is described for data assimilation for making weather forecasts. The filter is regarded as superior to the optimal interpolation method because the filter determines the forecast error covariance matrix exactly instead of using an approximation. A generalized time step is defined which includes expressions for one time step of the forecast model, the error covariance matrix, the gain matrix, and the evolution of the covariance matrix. Subsequent time steps are achieved by quantifying the forecast variables or employing a linear extrapolation from a current variable set, assuming the forecast dynamics are linear. Calculations for the evolution of the error covariance matrix are banded, i.e., are performed only with the elements significantly different from zero. Experimental results are provided from an application of the filter to a shallow-water simulation covering a 6000 x 6000 km grid.

Polynomial elimination theory and non-linear stability analysis for the Euler equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kennon, S. R.; Dulikravich, G. S.; Jespersen, D. C.

1986-01-01

Numerical methods are presented that exploit the polynomial properties of discretizations of the Euler equations. It is noted that most finite difference or finite volume discretizations of the steady-state Euler equations produce a polynomial system of equations to be solved. These equations are solved using classical polynomial elimination theory, with some innovative modifications. This paper also presents some preliminary results of a new non-linear stability analysis technique. This technique is applicable to determining the stability of polynomial iterative schemes. Results are presented for applying the elimination technique to a one-dimensional test case. For this test case, the exact solution is computed in three iterations. The non-linear stability analysis is applied to determine the optimal time step for solving Burgers' equation using the MacCormack scheme. The estimated optimal time step is very close to the time step that arises from a linear stability analysis.

Automatic Detection of Clouds and Shadows Using High Resolution Satellite Image Time Series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Champion, Nicolas

2016-06-01

Detecting clouds and their shadows is one of the primaries steps to perform when processing satellite images because they may alter the quality of some products such as large-area orthomosaics. The main goal of this paper is to present the automatic method developed at IGN-France for detecting clouds and shadows in a sequence of satellite images. In our work, surface reflectance orthoimages are used. They were processed from initial satellite images using a dedicated software. The cloud detection step consists of a region-growing algorithm. Seeds are firstly extracted. For that purpose and for each input ortho-image to process, we select the other ortho-images of the sequence that intersect it. The pixels of the input ortho-image are secondly labelled seeds if the difference of reflectance (in the blue channel) with overlapping ortho-images is bigger than a given threshold. Clouds are eventually delineated using a region-growing method based on a radiometric and homogeneity criterion. Regarding the shadow detection, our method is based on the idea that a shadow pixel is darker when comparing to the other images of the time series. The detection is basically composed of three steps. Firstly, we compute a synthetic ortho-image covering the whole study area. Its pixels have a value corresponding to the median value of all input reflectance ortho-images intersecting at that pixel location. Secondly, for each input ortho-image, a pixel is labelled shadows if the difference of reflectance (in the NIR channel) with the synthetic ortho-image is below a given threshold. Eventually, an optional region-growing step may be used to refine the results. Note that pixels labelled clouds during the cloud detection are not used for computing the median value in the first step; additionally, the NIR input data channel is used to perform the shadow detection, because it appeared to better discriminate shadow pixels. The method was tested on times series of Landsat 8 and Pléiades-HR images and our first experiments show the feasibility to automate the detection of shadows and clouds in satellite image sequences.

Intrinsically water-repellent copper oxide surfaces; An electro-crystallization approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akbari, Raziyeh; Ramos Chagas, Gabriela; Godeau, Guilhem; Mohammadizadeh, Mohammadreza; Guittard, Frédéric; Darmanin, Thierry

2018-06-01

Use of metal oxide thin layers is increased due to their good durability under environmental conditions. In this work, the repeatable nanostructured crystalite Cu2O thin films, developed by electrodeposition method without any physical and chemical modifications, demonstrate good hydrophobicity. Copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) layers were fabricated on gold/Si(1 0 0) substrates by different electrodeposition methods i.e. galvanostatic deposition, cyclic voltammetry, and pulse potentiostatic deposition and using copper sulfate (in various concentrations) as a precursor. The greatest crystalline face on prepared Cu2O samples is (1 1 1) which is the most hydrophobic facet of Cu2O cubic structure. Indeed, different crystallite structures such as nanotriangles and truncated octahedrons were formed on the surface for various electrodeposition methods. The increase of the contact angle (θw) measured by the rest time, reaching to about 135°, was seen at different rates and electrodeposition methods. In addition, two-step deposition surfaces were also prepared by applying two of the mentioned methods, alternatively. In general, the morphology of the two-step deposition surfaces showed some changes compared to that of one-step samples, allowing the formation of different crystallite shapes. Moreover, the wettability behavior showd the larger θw of the two-step deposition layers compared to the related one-step deposition layers. Therefore, the highest observed θw was related to the one of two-step deposition layers due to the creation of small octahedral structures on the surface, having narrow and deep valleys. However, there was an exception which was due to the resulted big structures and broad valleys on the surface. So, it is possible to engineer different crystallites shapes using the proposed two-step deposition method. It is expected that hydrophobic crystallite thin films can be used in environmental and electronic applications to save energy and materials properties.

Sensing cocaine in saliva with attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy combined with a one-step extraction method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hans, Kerstin M.-C.; Gianella, Michele; Sigrist, Markus W.

2012-03-01

On-site drug tests have gained importance, e.g., for protecting the society from impaired drivers. Since today's drug tests are majorly only positive/negative, there is a great need for a reliable, portable and preferentially quantitative drug test. In the project IrSens we aim to bridge this gap with the development of an optical sensor platform based on infrared spectroscopy and focus on cocaine detection in saliva. We combine a one-step extraction method, a sample drying technique and infrared attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy. As a first step we have developed an extraction technique that allows us to extract cocaine from saliva to an almost infrared-transparent solvent and to record ATR spectra with a commercially available Fourier Transform-infrared spectrometer. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that such a simple and easy-to-use one-step extraction method is used to transfer cocaine from saliva into an organic solvent and detect it quantitatively. With this new method we are able to reach a current limit of detection around 10 μg/ml. This new extraction method could also be applied to waste water monitoring and controlling caffeine content in beverages.

Automatic diagnosis of malaria based on complete circle-ellipse fitting search algorithm.

PubMed

Sheikhhosseini, M; Rabbani, H; Zekri, M; Talebi, A

2013-12-01

Diagnosis of malaria parasitemia from blood smears is a subjective and time-consuming task for pathologists. The automatic diagnostic process will reduce the diagnostic time. Also, it can be worked as a second opinion for pathologists and may be useful in malaria screening. This study presents an automatic method for malaria diagnosis from thin blood smears. According to this fact that malaria life cycle is started by forming a ring around the parasite nucleus, the proposed approach is mainly based on curve fitting to detect parasite ring in the blood smear. The method is composed of six main phases: stain object extraction step, which extracts candidate objects that may be infected by malaria parasites. This phase includes stained pixel extraction step based on intensity and colour, and stained object segmentation by defining stained circle matching. Second step is preprocessing phase which makes use of nonlinear diffusion filtering. The process continues with detection of parasite nucleus from resulted image of previous step according to image intensity. Fourth step introduces a complete search process in which the circle search step identifies the direction and initial points for direct least-square ellipse fitting algorithm. Furthermore in the ellipse searching process, although parasite shape is completed undesired regions with high error value are removed and ellipse parameters are modified. Features are extracted from the parasite candidate region instead of whole candidate object in the fifth step. By employing this special feature extraction way, which is provided by special searching process, the necessity of employing clump splitting methods is removed. Also, defining stained circle matching process in the first step speeds up the whole procedure. Finally, a series of decision rules are applied on the extracted features to decide on the positivity or negativity of malaria parasite presence. The algorithm is applied on 26 digital images which are provided from thin blood smear films. The images are contained 1274 objects which may be infected by parasite or healthy. Applying the automatic identification of malaria on provided database showed a sensitivity of 82.28% and specificity of 98.02%. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2013 Royal Microscopical Society.

Multivariate assessment of event-related potentials with the t-CWT method.

PubMed

Bostanov, Vladimir

2015-11-05

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are usually assessed with univariate statistical tests although they are essentially multivariate objects. Brain-computer interface applications are a notable exception to this practice, because they are based on multivariate classification of single-trial ERPs. Multivariate ERP assessment can be facilitated by feature extraction methods. One such method is t-CWT, a mathematical-statistical algorithm based on the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and Student's t-test. This article begins with a geometric primer on some basic concepts of multivariate statistics as applied to ERP assessment in general and to the t-CWT method in particular. Further, it presents for the first time a detailed, step-by-step, formal mathematical description of the t-CWT algorithm. A new multivariate outlier rejection procedure based on principal component analysis in the frequency domain is presented as an important pre-processing step. The MATLAB and GNU Octave implementation of t-CWT is also made publicly available for the first time as free and open source code. The method is demonstrated on some example ERP data obtained in a passive oddball paradigm. Finally, some conceptually novel applications of the multivariate approach in general and of the t-CWT method in particular are suggested and discussed. Hopefully, the publication of both the t-CWT source code and its underlying mathematical algorithm along with a didactic geometric introduction to some basic concepts of multivariate statistics would make t-CWT more accessible to both users and developers in the field of neuroscience research.

Pseudo-time methods for constrained optimization problems governed by PDE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taasan, Shlomo

1995-01-01

In this paper we present a novel method for solving optimization problems governed by partial differential equations. Existing methods are gradient information in marching toward the minimum, where the constrained PDE is solved once (sometimes only approximately) per each optimization step. Such methods can be viewed as a marching techniques on the intersection of the state and costate hypersurfaces while improving the residuals of the design equations per each iteration. In contrast, the method presented here march on the design hypersurface and at each iteration improve the residuals of the state and costate equations. The new method is usually much less expensive per iteration step since, in most problems of practical interest, the design equation involves much less unknowns that that of either the state or costate equations. Convergence is shown using energy estimates for the evolution equations governing the iterative process. Numerical tests show that the new method allows the solution of the optimization problem in a cost of solving the analysis problems just a few times, independent of the number of design parameters. The method can be applied using single grid iterations as well as with multigrid solvers.

Modified cleaning method for biomineralized components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsutsui, Hideto; Jordan, Richard W.

2018-02-01

The extraction and concentration of biomineralized components from sediment or living materials is time consuming and laborious and often involves steps that remove either the calcareous or siliceous part, in addition to organic matter. However, a relatively quick and easy method using a commercial cleaning fluid for kitchen drains, sometimes combined with a kerosene soaking step, can produce remarkable results. In this study, the method is applied to sediments and living materials bearing calcareous (e.g., coccoliths, foraminiferal tests, holothurian ossicles, ichthyoliths, and fish otoliths) and siliceous (e.g., diatom valves, silicoflagellate skeletons, and sponge spicules) components. The method preserves both components in the same sample, without etching or partial dissolution, but is not applicable to unmineralized components such as dinoflagellate thecae, tintinnid loricae, pollen, or plant fragments.

Modelling of Sub-daily Hydrological Processes Using Daily Time-Step Models: A Distribution Function Approach to Temporal Scaling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kandel, D. D.; Western, A. W.; Grayson, R. B.

2004-12-01

Mismatches in scale between the fundamental processes, the model and supporting data are a major limitation in hydrologic modelling. Surface runoff generation via infiltration excess and the process of soil erosion are fundamentally short time-scale phenomena and their average behaviour is mostly determined by the short time-scale peak intensities of rainfall. Ideally, these processes should be simulated using time-steps of the order of minutes to appropriately resolve the effect of rainfall intensity variations. However, sub-daily data support is often inadequate and the processes are usually simulated by calibrating daily (or even coarser) time-step models. Generally process descriptions are not modified but rather effective parameter values are used to account for the effect of temporal lumping, assuming that the effect of the scale mismatch can be counterbalanced by tuning the parameter values at the model time-step of interest. Often this results in parameter values that are difficult to interpret physically. A similar approach is often taken spatially. This is problematic as these processes generally operate or interact non-linearly. This indicates a need for better techniques to simulate sub-daily processes using daily time-step models while still using widely available daily information. A new method applicable to many rainfall-runoff-erosion models is presented. The method is based on temporal scaling using statistical distributions of rainfall intensity to represent sub-daily intensity variations in a daily time-step model. This allows the effect of short time-scale nonlinear processes to be captured while modelling at a daily time-step, which is often attractive due to the wide availability of daily forcing data. The approach relies on characterising the rainfall intensity variation within a day using a cumulative distribution function (cdf). This cdf is then modified by various linear and nonlinear processes typically represented in hydrological and erosion models. The statistical description of sub-daily variability is thus propagated through the model, allowing the effects of variability to be captured in the simulations. This results in cdfs of various fluxes, the integration of which over a day gives respective daily totals. Using 42-plot-years of surface runoff and soil erosion data from field studies in different environments from Australia and Nepal, simulation results from this cdf approach are compared with the sub-hourly (2-minute for Nepal and 6-minute for Australia) and daily models having similar process descriptions. Significant improvements in the simulation of surface runoff and erosion are achieved, compared with a daily model that uses average daily rainfall intensities. The cdf model compares well with a sub-hourly time-step model. This suggests that the approach captures the important effects of sub-daily variability while utilizing commonly available daily information. It is also found that the model parameters are more robustly defined using the cdf approach compared with the effective values obtained at the daily scale. This suggests that the cdf approach may offer improved model transferability spatially (to other areas) and temporally (to other periods).

Design, Development and Testing of Web Services for Multi-Sensor Snow Cover Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadlec, Jiri

This dissertation presents the design, development and validation of new data integration methods for mapping the extent of snow cover based on open access ground station measurements, remote sensing images, volunteer observer snow reports, and cross country ski track recordings from location-enabled mobile devices. The first step of the data integration procedure includes data discovery, data retrieval, and data quality control of snow observations at ground stations. The WaterML R package developed in this work enables hydrologists to retrieve and analyze data from multiple organizations that are listed in the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences Inc (CUAHSI) Water Data Center catalog directly within the R statistical software environment. Using the WaterML R package is demonstrated by running an energy balance snowpack model in R with data inputs from CUAHSI, and by automating uploads of real time sensor observations to CUAHSI HydroServer. The second step of the procedure requires efficient access to multi-temporal remote sensing snow images. The Snow Inspector web application developed in this research enables the users to retrieve a time series of fractional snow cover from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for any point on Earth. The time series retrieval method is based on automated data extraction from tile images provided by a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). The average required time for retrieving 100 days of data using this technique is 5.4 seconds, which is significantly faster than other methods that require the download of large satellite image files. The presented data extraction technique and space-time visualization user interface can be used as a model for working with other multi-temporal hydrologic or climate data WMTS services. The third, final step of the data integration procedure is generating continuous daily snow cover maps. A custom inverse distance weighting method has been developed to combine volunteer snow reports, cross-country ski track reports and station measurements to fill cloud gaps in the MODIS snow cover product. The method is demonstrated by producing a continuous daily time step snow presence probability map dataset for the Czech Republic region. The ability of the presented methodology to reconstruct MODIS snow cover under cloud is validated by simulating cloud cover datasets and comparing estimated snow cover to actual MODIS snow cover. The percent correctly classified indicator showed accuracy between 80 and 90% using this method. Using crowdsourcing data (volunteer snow reports and ski tracks) improves the map accuracy by 0.7--1.2%. The output snow probability map data sets are published online using web applications and web services. Keywords: crowdsourcing, image analysis, interpolation, MODIS, R statistical software, snow cover, snowpack probability, Tethys platform, time series, WaterML, web services, winter sports.

Segmentation and Quantitative Analysis of Apoptosis of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells from Fluorescence Microscopy Images.

PubMed

Du, Yuncheng; Budman, Hector M; Duever, Thomas A

2017-06-01

Accurate and fast quantitative analysis of living cells from fluorescence microscopy images is useful for evaluating experimental outcomes and cell culture protocols. An algorithm is developed in this work to automatically segment and distinguish apoptotic cells from normal cells. The algorithm involves three steps consisting of two segmentation steps and a classification step. The segmentation steps are: (i) a coarse segmentation, combining a range filter with a marching square method, is used as a prefiltering step to provide the approximate positions of cells within a two-dimensional matrix used to store cells' images and the count of the number of cells for a given image; and (ii) a fine segmentation step using the Active Contours Without Edges method is applied to the boundaries of cells identified in the coarse segmentation step. Although this basic two-step approach provides accurate edges when the cells in a given image are sparsely distributed, the occurrence of clusters of cells in high cell density samples requires further processing. Hence, a novel algorithm for clusters is developed to identify the edges of cells within clusters and to approximate their morphological features. Based on the segmentation results, a support vector machine classifier that uses three morphological features: the mean value of pixel intensities in the cellular regions, the variance of pixel intensities in the vicinity of cell boundaries, and the lengths of the boundaries, is developed for distinguishing apoptotic cells from normal cells. The algorithm is shown to be efficient in terms of computational time, quantitative analysis, and differentiation accuracy, as compared with the use of the active contours method without the proposed preliminary coarse segmentation step.

Individualizing drug dosage with longitudinal data.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiaolu; Qu, Annie

2016-10-30

We propose a two-step procedure to personalize drug dosage over time under the framework of a log-linear mixed-effect model. We model patients' heterogeneity using subject-specific random effects, which are treated as the realizations of an unspecified stochastic process. We extend the conditional quadratic inference function to estimate both fixed-effect coefficients and individual random effects on a longitudinal training data sample in the first step and propose an adaptive procedure to estimate new patients' random effects and provide dosage recommendations for new patients in the second step. An advantage of our approach is that we do not impose any distribution assumption on estimating random effects. Moreover, the new approach can accommodate more general time-varying covariates corresponding to random effects. We show in theory and numerical studies that the proposed method is more efficient compared with existing approaches, especially when covariates are time varying. In addition, a real data example of a clozapine study confirms that our two-step procedure leads to more accurate drug dosage recommendations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Method and apparatus for characterizing propagation delays of integrated circuit devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blaes, Brent R. (Inventor); Buehler, Martin G. (Inventor)

1987-01-01

Propagation delay of a signal through a channel is measured by cyclically generating a first step-wave signal for transmission through the channel to a two-input logic element and a second step-wave signal with a controlled delay to the second input terminal of the logic element. The logic element determines which signal is present first at its input terminals and stores a binary signal indicative of that determination for control of the delay of the second signal which is advanced or retarded for the next cycle until both the propagation delayed first step-wave signal and the control delayed step-wave signal are coincident. The propagation delay of the channel is then determined by measuring the time between the first and second step-wave signals out of the controlled step-wave signal generator.

Reliability of fitness tests using methods and time periods common in sport and occupational management.

PubMed

Burnstein, Bryan D; Steele, Russell J; Shrier, Ian

2011-01-01

Fitness testing is used frequently in many areas of physical activity, but the reliability of these measurements under real-world, practical conditions is unknown. To evaluate the reliability of specific fitness tests using the methods and time periods used in the context of real-world sport and occupational management. Cohort study. Eighteen different Cirque du Soleil shows. Cirque du Soleil physical performers who completed 4 consecutive tests (6-month intervals) and were free of injury or illness at each session (n = 238 of 701 physical performers). Performers completed 6 fitness tests on each assessment date: dynamic balance, Harvard step test, handgrip, vertical jump, pull-ups, and 60-second jump test. We calculated the intraclass coefficient (ICC) and limits of agreement between baseline and each time point and the ICC over all 4 time points combined. Reliability was acceptable (ICC > 0.6) over an 18-month time period for all pairwise comparisons and all time points together for the handgrip, vertical jump, and pull-up assessments. The Harvard step test and 60-second jump test had poor reliability (ICC < 0.6) between baseline and other time points. When we excluded the baseline data and calculated the ICC for 6-month, 12-month, and 18-month time points, both the Harvard step test and 60-second jump test demonstrated acceptable reliability. Dynamic balance was unreliable in all contexts. Limit-of-agreement analysis demonstrated considerable intraindividual variability for some tests and a learning effect by administrators on others. Five of the 6 tests in this battery had acceptable reliability over an 18-month time frame, but the values for certain individuals may vary considerably from time to time for some tests. Specific tests may require a learning period for administrators.

Analysis of molecular interaction using a pulse-induced ring-down compression ATR-DIRLD step-scan time resolved spectroscopy/2D-IR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishikawa, Yuji; Ito, Hiroto; Noda, Isao

2018-03-01

A rheo-optical method, based on pulsed compression ATR dynamic infrared linear dichroism (DIRLD) step scan time-resolved-FT-IR/2D-IR spectroscopy, is further improved. By inserting a tungsten carbide block with massive weight between a film sample and a piezo electric actuator, a ring-down response was successfully generated according to the inertial effect. The improved method is used to analyze molecular interactions in cellulose acetate propionate (CAP) films including tricresyl-phosphate (TCP), as compared with cellulose triacetate (CTA) films with the TCP case. The result suggests that the existence of molecular interaction among propionyl groups in the CAP, the TCP's Methyl, and phenyl rings, which is not observed in the CTA-TCP system.

An online replanning method using warm start optimization and aperture morphing for flattening-filter-free beams

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

Ahunbay, Ergun E., E-mail: eahunbay@mcw.edu; Ates,

Purpose: In a situation where a couch shift for patient positioning is not preferred or prohibited (e.g., MR-linac), segment aperture morphing (SAM) can address target dislocation and deformation. For IMRT/VMAT with flattening-filter-free (FFF) beams, however, SAM method would lead to an adverse translational dose effect due to the beam unflattening. Here the authors propose a new two-step process to address both the translational effect of FFF beams and the target deformation. Methods: The replanning method consists of an offline and an online step. The offline step is to create a series of preshifted-plans (PSPs) obtained by a so-called “warm start”more » optimization (starting optimization from the original plan, rather than from scratch) at a series of isocenter shifts. The PSPs all have the same number of segments with very similar shapes, since the warm start optimization only adjusts the MLC positions instead of regenerating them. In the online step, a new plan is obtained by picking the closest PSP or linearly interpolating the MLC positions and the monitor units of the closest PSPs for the shift determined from the image of the day. This two-step process is completely automated and almost instantaneous (no optimization or dose calculation needed). The previously developed SAM algorithm is then applied for daily deformation. The authors tested the method on sample prostate and pancreas cases. Results: The two-step interpolation method can account for the adverse dose effects from FFF beams, while SAM corrects for the target deformation. Plan interpolation method is effective in diminishing the unflat beam effect and may allow reducing the required number of PSPs. The whole process takes the same time as the previously reported SAM process (5–10 min). Conclusions: The new two-step method plus SAM can address both the translation effects of FFF beams and target deformation, and can be executed in full automation except the delineation of target contour required by the SAM process.« less

A Method for Response Time Measurement of Electrosensitive Protective Devices.

PubMed

Dźwiarek, Marek

1996-01-01

A great step toward the improvement of safety at work was made when electrosensitive protective devices (ESPDs) were applied to the protection of press and robot-assisted manufacturing system operators. The way the device is mounted is crucial. The parameters of ESPD mounting that ensure safe distance from the controlled dangerous zone are response time, sensitivity, and the dimensions of the detection zone. The proposed experimental procedure of response time measurement is realized in two steps, with a test piece penetrating the detection zone twice. In the first step, low-speed penetration (at a speed v m ) enables the detection zone border to be localized. In the second step of measurement, the probe is injected at a high speed V d . The actuator rod position is measured and when it is equal to the value L registered by the earlier measurements, counting time begins as well as the monitoring of the state of the equipment under test (EUT) output relays. After the state changes, time tp is registered. The experimental procedure is realized on a special experimental stand. Because the stand has been constructed for certification purposes, the design satisfies the requirements imposed by Polski Komitet Normalizacyjny (PKN, 1995). The experimental results prove the measurement error to be smaller than ± 0.6 ms.

Influence of numerical dissipation in computing supersonic vortex-dominated flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kandil, O. A.; Chuang, A.

1986-01-01

Steady supersonic vortex-dominated flows are solved using the unsteady Euler equations for conical and three-dimensional flows around sharp- and round-edged delta wings. The computational method is a finite-volume scheme which uses a four-stage Runge-Kutta time stepping with explicit second- and fourth-order dissipation terms. The grid is generated by a modified Joukowski transformation. The steady flow solution is obtained through time-stepping with initial conditions corresponding to the freestream conditions, and the bow shock is captured as a part of the solution. The scheme is applied to flat-plate and elliptic-section wings with a leading edge sweep of 70 deg at an angle of attack of 10 deg and a freestream Mach number of 2.0. Three grid sizes of 29 x 39, 65 x 65 and 100 x 100 have been used. The results for sharp-edged wings show that they are consistent with all grid sizes and variation of the artificial viscosity coefficients. The results for round-edged wings show that separated and attached flow solutions can be obtained by varying the artificial viscosity coefficients. They also show that the solutions are independent of the way time stepping is done. Local time-stepping and global minimum time-steeping produce same solutions.

Network geometry inference using common neighbors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadopoulos, Fragkiskos; Aldecoa, Rodrigo; Krioukov, Dmitri

2015-08-01

We introduce and explore a method for inferring hidden geometric coordinates of nodes in complex networks based on the number of common neighbors between the nodes. We compare this approach to the HyperMap method, which is based only on the connections (and disconnections) between the nodes, i.e., on the links that the nodes have (or do not have). We find that for high degree nodes, the common-neighbors approach yields a more accurate inference than the link-based method, unless heuristic periodic adjustments (or "correction steps") are used in the latter. The common-neighbors approach is computationally intensive, requiring O (t4) running time to map a network of t nodes, versus O (t3) in the link-based method. But we also develop a hybrid method with O (t3) running time, which combines the common-neighbors and link-based approaches, and we explore a heuristic that reduces its running time further to O (t2) , without significant reduction in the mapping accuracy. We apply this method to the autonomous systems (ASs) Internet, and we reveal how soft communities of ASs evolve over time in the similarity space. We further demonstrate the method's predictive power by forecasting future links between ASs. Taken altogether, our results advance our understanding of how to efficiently and accurately map real networks to their latent geometric spaces, which is an important necessary step toward understanding the laws that govern the dynamics of nodes in these spaces, and the fine-grained dynamics of network connections.

A financial analysis of operating room charges for robot-assisted gynaecologic surgery: Efficiency strategies in the operating room for reducing the costs

PubMed Central

Zeybek, Burak; Öge, Tufan; Kılıç, Cemil Hakan; Borahay, Mostafa A.; Kılıç, Gökhan Sami

2014-01-01

Objective To analyse the steps taking place in the operating room (OR) before the console time starts in robot-assisted gynaecologic surgery and to identify potential ways to decrease non-operative time in the OR. Material and Methods Thirteen consecutive robotic cases for benign gynaecologic disease at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) were retrospectively reviewed. The collected data included the specific terms ‘Anaesthesia Done’ (step 1), ‘Drape Done’ (step 2), and ‘Trocar In’ (step 3), all of which refer to the time before the actual surgery began and OR charges were evaluated as level 3, 4, and 5 for open abdominal/vaginal hysterectomy, laparoscopic hysterectomy, and robot-assisted hysterectomy, respectively. Results The cost of the OR for 0–30 minutes and each additional 30 minutes were $3,693 and $1,488, $4,961 and $2,426, $5,513 and $2,756 in level 3, 4, and 5 surgeries, respectively. The median time for step 1 was 12.1 min (5.25–23.3), for step 2 was 19 (4.59–44) min, and for step 3 was 25.3 (16.45–45) min. The total median time until the actual operation began was 54.58 min (40–100). The total cost was $6948.7 when the charge was calculated according to level 4 and $7771.1 when the charge was calculated according to level 5. Conclusion Robot-assisted surgery is already ‘cost-expensive’ in the preparation stage of a surgical procedure during anaesthesia induction and draping of the patient because of charging levels. Every effort should be made to shorten the time and reduce the number of instruments used without compromising care. (J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc 2014; 15: 25–9) PMID:24790513

Estimating the number of people in crowded scenes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Minjin; Kim, Wonjun; Kim, Changick

2011-01-01

This paper presents a method to estimate the number of people in crowded scenes without using explicit object segmentation or tracking. The proposed method consists of three steps as follows: (1) extracting space-time interest points using eigenvalues of the local spatio-temporal gradient matrix, (2) generating crowd regions based on space-time interest points, and (3) estimating the crowd density based on the multiple regression. In experimental results, the efficiency and robustness of our proposed method are demonstrated by using PETS 2009 dataset.

Real-time localization of mobile device by filtering method for sensor fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuse, Takashi; Nagara, Keita

2017-06-01

Most of the applications with mobile devices require self-localization of the devices. GPS cannot be used in indoor environment, the positions of mobile devices are estimated autonomously by using IMU. Since the self-localization is based on IMU of low accuracy, and then the self-localization in indoor environment is still challenging. The selflocalization method using images have been developed, and the accuracy of the method is increasing. This paper develops the self-localization method without GPS in indoor environment by integrating sensors, such as IMU and cameras, on mobile devices simultaneously. The proposed method consists of observations, forecasting and filtering. The position and velocity of the mobile device are defined as a state vector. In the self-localization, observations correspond to observation data from IMU and camera (observation vector), forecasting to mobile device moving model (system model) and filtering to tracking method by inertial surveying and coplanarity condition and inverse depth model (observation model). Positions of a mobile device being tracked are estimated by system model (forecasting step), which are assumed as linearly moving model. Then estimated positions are optimized referring to the new observation data based on likelihood (filtering step). The optimization at filtering step corresponds to estimation of the maximum a posterior probability. Particle filter are utilized for the calculation through forecasting and filtering steps. The proposed method is applied to data acquired by mobile devices in indoor environment. Through the experiments, the high performance of the method is confirmed.

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

Phillips, Carolyn L.; Guo, Hanqi; Peterka, Tom

In type-II superconductors, the dynamics of magnetic flux vortices determine their transport properties. In the Ginzburg-Landau theory, vortices correspond to topological defects in the complex order parameter field. Earlier, in Phillips et al. [Phys. Rev. E 91, 023311 (2015)], we introduced a method for extracting vortices from the discretized complex order parameter field generated by a large-scale simulation of vortex matter. With this method, at a fixed time step, each vortex [simplistically, a one-dimensional (1D) curve in 3D space] can be represented as a connected graph extracted from the discretized field. Here we extend this method as a function ofmore » time as well. A vortex now corresponds to a 2D space-time sheet embedded in 4D space time that can be represented as a connected graph extracted from the discretized field over both space and time. Vortices that interact by merging or splitting correspond to disappearance and appearance of holes in the connected graph in the time direction. This method of tracking vortices, which makes no assumptions about the scale or behavior of the vortices, can track the vortices with a resolution as good as the discretization of the temporally evolving complex scalar field. Additionally, even details of the trajectory between time steps can be reconstructed from the connected graph. With this form of vortex tracking, the details of vortex dynamics in a model of a superconducting materials can be understood in greater detail than previously possible.« less

Trajectory errors of different numerical integration schemes diagnosed with the MPTRAC advection module driven by ECMWF operational analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rößler, Thomas; Stein, Olaf; Heng, Yi; Baumeister, Paul; Hoffmann, Lars

2018-02-01

The accuracy of trajectory calculations performed by Lagrangian particle dispersion models (LPDMs) depends on various factors. The optimization of numerical integration schemes used to solve the trajectory equation helps to maximize the computational efficiency of large-scale LPDM simulations. We analyzed global truncation errors of six explicit integration schemes of the Runge-Kutta family, which we implemented in the Massive-Parallel Trajectory Calculations (MPTRAC) advection module. The simulations were driven by wind fields from operational analysis and forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) at T1279L137 spatial resolution and 3 h temporal sampling. We defined separate test cases for 15 distinct regions of the atmosphere, covering the polar regions, the midlatitudes, and the tropics in the free troposphere, in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region, and in the middle stratosphere. In total, more than 5000 different transport simulations were performed, covering the months of January, April, July, and October for the years 2014 and 2015. We quantified the accuracy of the trajectories by calculating transport deviations with respect to reference simulations using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration scheme with a sufficiently fine time step. Transport deviations were assessed with respect to error limits based on turbulent diffusion. Independent of the numerical scheme, the global truncation errors vary significantly between the different regions. Horizontal transport deviations in the stratosphere are typically an order of magnitude smaller compared with the free troposphere. We found that the truncation errors of the six numerical schemes fall into three distinct groups, which mostly depend on the numerical order of the scheme. Schemes of the same order differ little in accuracy, but some methods need less computational time, which gives them an advantage in efficiency. The selection of the integration scheme and the appropriate time step should possibly take into account the typical altitude ranges as well as the total length of the simulations to achieve the most efficient simulations. However, trying to summarize, we recommend the third-order Runge-Kutta method with a time step of 170 s or the midpoint scheme with a time step of 100 s for efficient simulations of up to 10 days of simulation time for the specific ECMWF high-resolution data set considered in this study. Purely stratospheric simulations can use significantly larger time steps of 800 and 1100 s for the midpoint scheme and the third-order Runge-Kutta method, respectively.

Natural colorants: Pigment stability and extraction yield enhancement via utilization of appropriate pretreatment and extraction methods.

PubMed

Ngamwonglumlert, Luxsika; Devahastin, Sakamon; Chiewchan, Naphaporn

2017-10-13

Natural colorants from plant-based materials have gained increasing popularity due to health consciousness of consumers. Among the many steps involved in the production of natural colorants, pigment extraction is one of the most important. Soxhlet extraction, maceration, and hydrodistillation are conventional methods that have been widely used in industry and laboratory for such a purpose. Recently, various non-conventional methods, such as supercritical fluid extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pulsed-electric field extraction, and enzyme-assisted extraction have emerged as alternatives to conventional methods due to the advantages of the former in terms of smaller solvent consumption, shorter extraction time, and more environment-friendliness. Prior to the extraction step, pretreatment of plant materials to enhance the stability of natural pigments is another important step that must be carefully taken care of. In this paper, a comprehensive review of appropriate pretreatment and extraction methods for chlorophylls, carotenoids, betalains, and anthocyanins, which are major classes of plant pigments, is provided by using pigment stability and extraction yield as assessment criteria.

Epileptic seizure prediction by non-linear methods

DOEpatents

Hively, L.M.; Clapp, N.E.; Day, C.S.; Lawkins, W.F.

1999-01-12

This research discloses methods and apparatus for automatically predicting epileptic seizures monitor and analyze brain wave (EEG or MEG) signals. Steps include: acquiring the brain wave data from the patient; digitizing the data; obtaining nonlinear measures of the data via chaotic time series analysis tools; obtaining time serial trends in the nonlinear measures; comparison of the trend to known seizure predictors; and providing notification that a seizure is forthcoming. 76 figs.

Speech perception at positive signal-to-noise ratios using adaptive adjustment of time compression.

PubMed

Schlueter, Anne; Brand, Thomas; Lemke, Ulrike; Nitzschner, Stefan; Kollmeier, Birger; Holube, Inga

2015-11-01

Positive signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) characterize listening situations most relevant for hearing-impaired listeners in daily life and should therefore be considered when evaluating hearing aid algorithms. For this, a speech-in-noise test was developed and evaluated, in which the background noise is presented at fixed positive SNRs and the speech rate (i.e., the time compression of the speech material) is adaptively adjusted. In total, 29 younger and 12 older normal-hearing, as well as 24 older hearing-impaired listeners took part in repeated measurements. Younger normal-hearing and older hearing-impaired listeners conducted one of two adaptive methods which differed in adaptive procedure and step size. Analysis of the measurements with regard to list length and estimation strategy for thresholds resulted in a practical method measuring the time compression for 50% recognition. This method uses time-compression adjustment and step sizes according to Versfeld and Dreschler [(2002). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111, 401-408], with sentence scoring, lists of 30 sentences, and a maximum likelihood method for threshold estimation. Evaluation of the procedure showed that older participants obtained higher test-retest reliability compared to younger participants. Depending on the group of listeners, one or two lists are required for training prior to data collection.

Star sub-pixel centroid calculation based on multi-step minimum energy difference method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Duo; Han, YanLi; Sun, Tengfei

2013-09-01

The star's centroid plays a vital role in celestial navigation, star images which be gotten during daytime, due to the strong sky background, have a low SNR, and the star objectives are nearly submerged in the background, takes a great trouble to the centroid localization. Traditional methods, such as a moment method, weighted centroid calculation method is simple but has a big error, especially in the condition of a low SNR. Gaussian method has a high positioning accuracy, but the computational complexity. Analysis of the energy distribution in star image, a location method for star target centroids based on multi-step minimum energy difference is proposed. This method uses the linear superposition to narrow the centroid area, in the certain narrow area uses a certain number of interpolation to pixels for the pixels' segmentation, and then using the symmetry of the stellar energy distribution, tentatively to get the centroid position: assume that the current pixel is the star centroid position, and then calculates and gets the difference of the sum of the energy which in the symmetric direction(in this paper we take the two directions of transverse and longitudinal) and the equal step length(which can be decided through different conditions, the paper takes 9 as the step length) of the current pixel, and obtain the centroid position in this direction when the minimum difference appears, and so do the other directions, then the validation comparison of simulated star images, and compare with several traditional methods, experiments shows that the positioning accuracy of the method up to 0.001 pixel, has good effect to calculate the centroid of low SNR conditions; at the same time, uses this method on a star map which got at the fixed observation site during daytime in near-infrared band, compare the results of the paper's method with the position messages which were known of the star, it shows that :the multi-step minimum energy difference method achieves a better effect.

Reply to Comment by Roques et al. on "Base Flow Recession from Unsaturated-Saturated Porous Media considering Lateral Unsaturated Discharge and Aquifer Compressibility"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Xiuyu; Zhan, Hongbin; Zhang, You-Kuan; Schilling, Keith

2018-04-01

Roques et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR022085) claims that they have proposed an exponential time step (ETS) method to improve the computing method of Liang et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020938) which used a constant time step (CTS) method on the derivative for dQ/dt in field data, where Q is the base flow discharge and t is the time since the start of base flow recession. This reply emphasizes that the main objective of Liang et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020938) was to develop an analytical model to investigate the effects of the unsaturated flow on base flow recession, not on the data interpretation methods. The analytical model indicates that the base flow recession hydrograph behaves as dQ/dt ˜aQb with the exponent b close to 1 at late times, which is consistent with previous theoretical models. The model of Liang et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020938) was applied to field data where the derivative of dQ/dt was computed using the CTS method, a method that has been widely adopted in previous studies. The ETS method proposed by Roques et al. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.07.013) appears to be a good alternative but its accuracy needs further validation. Using slopes to fit field data as proposed by Roques et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR022085) appears to match data satisfactorily at early times whereas it performs less satisfactorily at late times and leads to the exponent b being obviously larger than 1.

Do walking strategies to increase physical activity reduce reported sitting in workplaces: a randomized control trial

PubMed Central

Gilson, Nicholas D; Puig-Ribera, Anna; McKenna, Jim; Brown, Wendy J; Burton, Nicola W; Cooke, Carlton B

2009-01-01

Background Interventions designed to increase workplace physical activity may not automatically reduce high volumes of sitting, a behaviour independently linked to chronic diseases such as obesity and type II diabetes. This study compared the impact two different walking strategies had on step counts and reported sitting times. Methods Participants were white-collar university employees (n = 179; age 41.3 ± 10.1 years; 141 women), who volunteered and undertook a standardised ten-week intervention at three sites. Pre-intervention step counts (Yamax SW-200) and self-reported sitting times were measured over five consecutive workdays. Using pre-intervention step counts, employees at each site were randomly allocated to a control group (n = 60; maintain normal behaviour), a route-based walking group (n = 60; at least 10 minutes sustained walking each workday) or an incidental walking group (n = 59; walking in workday tasks). Workday step counts and reported sitting times were re-assessed at the beginning, mid- and endpoint of intervention and group mean± SD steps/day and reported sitting times for pre-intervention and intervention measurement points compared using a mixed factorial ANOVA; paired sample-t-tests were used for follow-up, simple effect analyses. Results A significant interactive effect (F = 3.5; p < 0.003) was found between group and step counts. Daily steps for controls decreased over the intervention period (-391 steps/day) and increased for route (968 steps/day; t = 3.9, p < 0.000) and incidental (699 steps/day; t = 2.5, p < 0.014) groups. There were no significant changes for reported sitting times, but average values did decrease relative to the control (routes group = 7 minutes/day; incidental group = 15 minutes/day). Reductions were most evident for the incidental group in the first week of intervention, where reported sitting decreased by an average of 21 minutes/day (t = 1.9; p < 0.057). Conclusion Compared to controls, both route and incidental walking increased physical activity in white-collar employees. Our data suggests that workplace walking, particularly through incidental movement, also has the potential to decrease employee sitting times, but there is a need for on-going research using concurrent and objective measures of sitting, standing and walking. PMID:19619295

[Comparison between one-step and two-step space closing methods of sliding mechanics using three-dimensional finite element].

PubMed

Han, Yaohui; Mou, Lan; Xu, Gengchi; Yang, Yiqiang; Ge, Zhenlin

2015-03-01

To construct a three-dimensional finite element model comparing between one-step and two-step methods in torque control of anterior teeth during space closure. Dicom image data including maxilla and upper teeth were obtained though cone-beam CT. A three-dimensional model was set up and the maxilla, upper teeth and periodontium were separated using Mimics software. The models were instantiated using Pro/Engineer software, and Abaqus finite element analysis software was used to simulate the sliding mechanics by loading 1.47 Nforce on traction hooks with different heights (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 mm, respectively) in order to compare the initial displacement between six maxillary anterior teeth (one-step method) and four maxillary anterior teeth (two-step method). When moving anterior teeth bodily, initial displacements of central incisors in two-step method and in one-step method were 29.26 × 10⁻⁶ mm and 15.75 × 10⁻⁶ mm, respectively. The initial displacements of lateral incisors in two-step method and in one-step method were 46.76 × 10(-6) mm and 23.18 × 10(-6) mm, respectively. Under the same amount of light force, the initial displacement of anterior teeth in two-step method was doubled compared with that in one-step method. The root and crown of the canine couldn't obtain the same amount of displacement in one-step method. Two-step method could produce more initial displacement than one-step method. Therefore, two-step method was easier to achieve torque control of the anterior teeth during space closure.

A highly accurate boundary integral equation method for surfactant-laden drops in 3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorgentone, Chiara; Tornberg, Anna-Karin

2018-05-01

The presence of surfactants alters the dynamics of viscous drops immersed in an ambient viscous fluid. This is specifically true at small scales, such as in applications of droplet based microfluidics, where the interface dynamics become of increased importance. At such small scales, viscous forces dominate and inertial effects are often negligible. Considering Stokes flow, a numerical method based on a boundary integral formulation is presented for simulating 3D drops covered by an insoluble surfactant. The method is able to simulate drops with different viscosities and close interactions, automatically controlling the time step size and maintaining high accuracy also when substantial drop deformation appears. To achieve this, the drop surfaces as well as the surfactant concentration on each surface are represented by spherical harmonics expansions. A novel reparameterization method is introduced to ensure a high-quality representation of the drops also under deformation, specialized quadrature methods for singular and nearly singular integrals that appear in the formulation are evoked and the adaptive time stepping scheme for the coupled drop and surfactant evolution is designed with a preconditioned implicit treatment of the surfactant diffusion.

A vectorized Lanczos eigensolver for high-performance computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bostic, Susan W.

1990-01-01

The computational strategies used to implement a Lanczos-based-method eigensolver on the latest generation of supercomputers are described. Several examples of structural vibration and buckling problems are presented that show the effects of using optimization techniques to increase the vectorization of the computational steps. The data storage and access schemes and the tools and strategies that best exploit the computer resources are presented. The method is implemented on the Convex C220, the Cray 2, and the Cray Y-MP computers. Results show that very good computation rates are achieved for the most computationally intensive steps of the Lanczos algorithm and that the Lanczos algorithm is many times faster than other methods extensively used in the past.