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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11

(U) SENSMG: First-Order Sensitivities of Neutron Reaction Rates, Reaction-Rate Ratios, Leakage, k eff , α , and Subcritical Multiplication Using PARTISN

SENSMG is a tool for computing first-order sensitivities of neutron reaction rates, reaction-rate ratios, leakage, k eff , α, and subcritical multiplication using the PARTISN multigroup discrete-ordinates code. SENSMG computes sensitivities to all of the transport cross sections and data (total, fission, a nu, chi, and all scattering moments), two edit cross sections (absorption and capture), and the density for every nuclide and energy group. It also computes sensitivities to the mass density for every material and derivatives with respect to all interface locations and outer boundaries. It computes sensitivities to user specified reactions whose cross sections are available in a user-supplied NJOY output file. The tool can be used for one-dimensional spherical and slab (r) and two-dimensional cylindrical (r-z) geometries. The tool can be used for fixed-source and eigenvalue problems. For most responses, the tool implements Generalized Perturbation Theory (GPT) as discussed by Williams and Stacey. The tool is thus limited to computing sensitivities only for GPT-allowable responses. For subcritical multiplication, the tool implements sensitivities derived by O’Brien and Clark. SENSMG has a similar role as the old SWANLAKE (Ref. 8), FORSS (Ref. 9), and SENSIT (Ref. 10) codes. It has capabilities similar to those of SUSD3D (Refs. 11 and 12), which also uses PARTISN. Section II of this report describes the theory behind adjoint-based sensitivities, gives the equations that SENSMG solves, and defines the sensitivities that are output. Section III describes the user interface, including the input file and command line options. Section IV describes the output. Section V gives some notes about the coding that may be of interest. Section VI presents some sample problems and discusses verification, which is ongoing. Section VII lists needs and ideas for future work. Appendix A lists most of the input files whose results are presented in Sec. VI. Appendix B provides some useful details on one of the cross-section libraries that SENSMG supports.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

First Solar Thermal Energy Planner (STEP 1) and Nationwide Industrial Heat and Power Analysis

The First Solar Thermal Energy Planner (STEP 1) and Nationwide Industrial Heat and Power Analysis (aka the STEP 1 Project or the Project) aimed to (1) developed a brand-new web tool that could provide decision support through free, rapid techno-economic analysis of behind-the-meter solar+storage systems for industrial process heat and (2) conduct high-level analyses of the cost-competitiveness of the same systems across the US in key sectors. The STEP 1 web tool collects key location, land availability, thermal load profile, proccess heat temperature and media, and other key parameters through an easy-to-use user interface (UI). The UI was designed to meet the user at their level of understanding by minimizing the number of required inputs as much as possible while including options for more nuanced inputs if the user desires. STEP 1 advises users on which solar thermal tehcnologies that could fit their needs based on the inputs provided (namely process media and temperature). The tool can model a wide range of solar thermal technologies including flat plate collectors, evacuated tubes, parabolic troughs, linear Fresnel, and molten salt towers all with corresponding thermal energy storage (TES) - solar PV with resistive heating and TES is also included. Once the parameters are collected, a nominal thermal energy production profile for the facility's location is generated using NREL's System Advisory Model (SAM) and then passed to a modified version of NREL's REopt platform to optimize the size (capacity) and dispatch of the solar+storage system to minimize lifecycle costs subject to energy balance, fuel and electricity rates, emission reductions goals, and other constraints. This entire process takes less than 20 minutes, is completely free, requires zero coding skills, and provides the user with a high-level assessment on the techno-economic feasability of deploying solar+storage systems for their energy needs. In addition to the development of the STEP 1 web tool, the project completed two complementary analyses focused on leveraging the backend code of STEP 1, public industrial facility locations and fuel consumption data, and key sector information to assess the economic opportunity of reducing fuel costs at various levels of capacity factor around the US. Both analyses found that there are key markets, locations, industrial sectors (namely food and beverage), and degrees of offset where solar thermal technologies could be cost-effectively deployed, highlighting a key market entry point for these technologies, and assessing deployment potential. In summary, the STEP 1 project improved the opportunities for solar+storage systems to expand into the industrial process heat market through breaking down barriers to assessing these technologies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

INSPIRED: Inelastic neutron scattering prediction for instantaneous results and experimental design

Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) has unique advantages in probing how atoms vibrate and how the vibrations propagate and interact. Such dynamic information is crucial in understanding various material properties, from heat capacity, thermal conductivity, phase transitions, and chemical reactions to more exotic quantum behavior. The analysis and interpretation of the INS spectra often start from a model structure of the sample, followed by a series of calculations to obtain the simulated spectra to compare with experiments. The conventional way to perform such calculations usually requires significant time, computing resources, and specialized expertise. Here, we present a new program named INSPIRED (Inelastic Neutron Scattering Prediction for Instantaneous Results and Experimental Design), which enables users to perform rapid INS simulations in several different ways on their personal computers in just a few clicks, with the crystal structure as the only input file. Specifically, the users can choose a pre-trained symmetry-aware neural network (coupled with an autoencoder) to predict the phonon density of states (DOS), 1D S(E) and 2D S(|Q|,E) spectra for any given structure. One can also choose an existing density functional theory (DFT) calculation from a database (containing over 12,000 crystals), and quickly obtain the simulated INS spectra for single crystals and powders. It is also possible to use pre-trained universal machine learning force fields to relax a given crystal structure, calculate the phonon dispersion and DOS, and, subsequently, the INS spectra. All these functions are implemented with a PyQt graphic user interface. Finally, we expect these new tools will benefit broad user communities and significantly improve the efficiency of experiment design, execution, and data analysis for INS.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

BioRT‐HBV 1.0: A Biogeochemical Reactive Transport Model at the Watershed Scale

Abstract Reactive Transport Models (RTMs) are essential tools for understanding and predicting intertwined ecohydrological and biogeochemical processes on land and in rivers. While traditional RTMs have focused primarily on subsurface processes, recent watershed‐scale RTMs have integrated ecohydrological and biogeochemical interactions between surface and subsurface. These emergent, watershed‐scale RTMs are often spatially explicit and require extensive data, computational power, and computational expertise. There is however a pressing need to create parsimonious models that require minimal data and are accessible to scientists with limited computational background. To that end, we have developed BioRT‐HBV 1.0, a watershed‐scale, hydro‐biogeochemical RTM that builds upon the widely used, bucket‐type HBV model known for its simplicity and minimal data requirements. BioRT‐HBV uses the conceptual structure and hydrology output of HBV to simulate processes including advective solute transport and biogeochemical reactions that depend on reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. These reactions include, for example, chemical weathering, soil respiration, and nutrient transformation. The model uses time series of weather (air temperature, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration) and initial biogeochemical conditions of subsurface water, soils, and rocks as input, and output times series of reaction rates and solute concentrations in subsurface waters and rivers. This paper presents the model structure and governing equations and demonstrates its utility with examples simulating carbon and nitrogen processes in a headwater catchment. As shown in the examples, BioRT‐HBV can be used to illuminate the dynamics of biogeochemical reactions in the invisible, arduous‐to‐measure subsurface, and their influence on the observed stream or river chemistry and solute export. With its parsimonious structure and easy‐to‐use graphical user interface, BioRT‐HBV can be a useful research tool for users without in‐depth computational training. It can additionally serve as an educational tool that promotes pollination of ideas across disciplines and foster a diverse, equal, and inclusive user community.

Sadayappan, Kayalvizhi↗

GIWAXS-SIIRkit: scattering intensity, indexing and refraction calculation toolkit for grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering of organic materials

Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) has become an increasingly popular technique for quantitative structural characterization and comparison of thin films. For this purpose, accurate intensity normalization and peak position determination are crucial. At present, few tools exist to estimate the uncertainties of these measurements. Here, a simulation package is introduced called GIWAXS-SIIRkit , where SIIR stands for scattering intensity, indexing and refraction. Furthermore, the package contains several tools that are freely available for download and can be executed in MATLAB. The package includes three functionalities: estimation of the relative scattering intensity and the corresponding uncertainty based on experimental setup and sample dimensions; extraction and indexing of peak positions to approximate the crystal structure of organic materials starting from calibrated GIWAXS patterns; and analysis of the effects of refraction on peak positions. Additionally, each tool is based on a graphical user interface and designed to have a short learning curve. A user guide is provided with detailed usage instruction, tips for adding functionality and customization, and exemplary files.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

TexTonic: Interactive Visualization for Exploration and discovery of Very Large Text Collections

TexTonic is a visual analytic system for interactive exploration of very large unstructured text collections. TexTonic visualizes hierarchical clusters of representative terms, snippets, and documents in a single, multi-scale spatial layout. Exploration is supported by interacting with the visualization and directly manipulating the terms in the visualization using semantic interactions. These semantic interactions steer the underlying analytic model by translating user interactions within the visualization to contextual updates to the supporting data model. The combination of semantic interactions and information visualization at multiple levels of the data hierarchy helps users manage information overload so that they can more effectively explore very large text collections. In this paper we describe TexTonic’s data processing and analytic pipeline, user interface and interaction design principles, and the results of a user study conducted mid-development with experienced data analysts. We also discuss the implications TexTonic could have on visual exploration and discovery tasks

human centered computing, Visual analytics, Inform↗

Reducing PV Performance Uncertainty by Accurately Quantifying the PV Resource

Reducing uncertainty in the prediction and/or verification of photovoltaic (PV) plant output can directly increase the expected return on investment for each party in a contract, likely leading to more favorable terms for the contract, including a possible reduction in interest rates. Note that a reduction of 1% in the interest rate is estimated to reduce the levelized cost of energy by approximately 0.5 cents/kWh. This project developed a capability to provide spectrally resolved solar information from the National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), effectively providing 20 years of half-hourly data for all of the United States at a 4-km by 4-km spatial resolution. These data are now available freely to users directly through a geographic information system-based Web interface (https://nsrdb.nrel.gov) as well as through an application programming interface. Users of these data can conduct more accurate prefeasibility studies and assess multiple PV technologies. It is expected that widely used models such as PVSyst, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model (SAM), and PlantPredict, designed by First Solar, will develop the capabilities to use these spectral data.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Method and System for Accessing PV Resource Data from the NSRDB: Preprint

This study developed a capability to provide spectrally resolved solar resource data from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB), effectively providing 20 years of half-hourly data for all of the United States at a 4-km by 4-km spatial resolution. These data are now available freely to users directly through a geographic information system-based web interface (https://nsrdb.nrel.gov) as well as through an application programming interface. Users of these data can conduct more accurate prefeasibility studies and assess multiple photovoltaic (PV) technologies. It is expected that widely used models such as PVSyst, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model (SAM), and First Solar-designed PlantPredict will develop the capabilities to use these spectral data.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

TopicOnTiles: Tile-Based Spatio-Temporal Event Analytics via Exclusive Topic Modeling on Social Media

Detecting anomalous events of a particular area in a timely manner is an important task. Geo-tagged social media data are useful resource for this task; however, the abundance of everyday language in them makes this task still challenging. To address such challenges, we present TopicOnTiles, a visual analytics system that can reveal information relevant to anomalous events in a multi-level tile-based map interface by using social media data. To this end, we adopt and improve a recently proposed topic modeling method that can extract spatio-temporally exclusive topics corresponding to a particular region and a time point. Furthermore, we utilize a tile-based map interface to efficiently handle large-scale data in parallel. Our user interface effectively highlights anomalous tiles using our novel glyph visualization that encodes the degree of anomaly computed by our exclusive topic modeling processes. To show the effectiveness of our system, we present several usage scenarios using real-world datasets as well as comprehensive user study results.

Choi, Minsuk↗

Spring Boot based REST API to Improve Data Quality Report Generation for Big Scientific Data: ARM Data Center Example

Web application technologies are growing rapidly with continuous innovation and improvements. This paper focuses on the popular Spring Boot [1] java-based framework for building web and enterprise applications and how it provides the flexibility for service-oriented architecture (SOA). One challenge with any Spring-based applications is its level of complexity with configurations. Spring Boot makes it easy to create and deploy stand-alone, production-grade Spring applications with very little Spring configuration. Example, if we consider Spring Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework [2], we need to configure dispatcher servlet, web jars, a view resolver, and component scan among other things. To solve this, Spring Boot provides several Auto Configuration options to setup the application with any needed dependencies. Another challenge is to identify the framework dependencies and associated library versions required to develop a web application. Spring Boot offers simpler dependency management by using a comprehensive, but flexible, framework and the associated libraries in one single dependency, which provides all the Spring related technology that you need for starter projects as compared to CRUD web applications. This framework provides a range of additional features that are common across many projects such as embedded server, security, metrics, health checks, and externalized configuration. Web applications are generally packaged as war and deployed to a web server, but Spring Boot application can be packaged either as war or jar file, which allows to run the application without the need to install and/or configure on the application server. In this paper, we discuss how Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Data Center (ADC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is using Spring Boot to create a SOA based REST [4] service API, that bridges the gap between frontend user interfaces and backend database. Using this REST service API, ARM scientists are now able to submit reports via a user form or a command line interface, which captures the same data quality or other important information about ARM data.

Guntupally, Kavya↗

Molecular Weight Calculator

This program can calculate the molecular weight and percent composition of chemical formulas and amino acids, providing a graphical user interface to edit the formulas and parsing options. It recognizes user-definable abbreviations, custom elemental isotopes, and can display up to 20 compounds simultaneously. It also includes a Mole/Mass Converter, Formula Finder, Capillary Flow Modeller, Amino Acid Notation Converter, Peptide Sequence Fragmentation Modeler, Isotopic Distribution Calculator, and built-in calculator. Full program documentation is available by pressing F1 during program operation.

Monroe, Matthew↗

Apollo: Democratizing genome annotation

Genome annotation is the process of identifying the location and function of a genome's encoded features. Improving the biological accuracy of annotation is a complex and iterative process requiring researchers to review and incorporate multiple sources of information such as transcriptome alignments, predictive models based on sequence profiles, and comparisons to features found in related organisms. Because rapidly decreasing costs are enabling an ever-growing number of scientists to incorporate sequencing as a routine laboratory technique, there is widespread demand for tools that can assist in the deliberative analytical review of genomic information. To this end, we present Apollo, an open source software package that enables researchers to efficiently inspect and refine the precise structure and role of genomic features in a graphical browser-based platform. Some of Apollo's newer user interface features include support for real-time collaboration, allowing distributed users to simultaneously edit the same encoded features while also instantly seeing the updates made by other researchers on the same region in a manner similar to Google Docs. Its technical architecture enables Apollo to be integrated into multiple existing genomic analysis pipelines and heterogeneous laboratory workflow platforms. Finally, we consider the implications that Apollo and related applications may have on how the results of genome research are published and made accessible.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

VERAIO Software Management Plan

VERAIO is a set of utility codes used to provide a common set of input and outputs to the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA). VERA is a collection of several different computer codes that all have a common input and output. This prevents the need to manage input and output from each individual code, allowing for ease of use and reducing errors associated with code operability. The VERAIO utilities include VERAIn, VERAView, and VERARun. Each of these utilities is described below. VERAIn is an input processor that reads an ASCII input file generated by users, parses the file, performs some error checking, and writes an XML file to be read by other VERA codes. The main purpose of VERAIn is to provide a common input to all of the VERA codes so users only need to learn one input. VERAIn is written in Perl and uses YAML configuration files to provide flexibility. VERAView is a graphical user interface (GUI) that reads a VERA HDF output file and allows users to visualize results. VERAView is written in Python. VERARun is a script that drives the VERA execution in a high performance computing (HPC) environment. Work performed at the code level supports the Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) (VERA-QA-001), and VERA Software Quality Assurance Plan (VERA-QA-002).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MACCS User Guide (V.5.0)

MACCS is used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and various national and international organizations for probabilistic consequence analysis of nuclear power accidents. This user guide is intended to assist analysts in understanding the MACCS/MACCS-UI User Interface (UI) model and to provide information regarding the code. This user guide version describes MACCS Version 5.0, model history, explains how to set up and execute a problem, and informs the user of the definition of various input parameters and any constraints placed on those parameters. This report is part of a series of reports documenting MACCS. Other reports include the MACCS Theory Manual, MACCS Verification Report, Technical Bases for Consequence Analyses Using MACCS, as well as documentation for preprocessor codes including SecPop, MelMACCS, and COMIDA2.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

MACCS User Guide - Version 5.2

MACCS is used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and various national and international organizations for probabilistic consequence analysis of nuclear power accidents. This user guide is intended to assist analysts in understanding the MACCS/MACCS-UI User Interface (UI) model and to provide information regarding the code. This user guide version describes MACCS Version 5.2, model history, explains how to set up and execute a problem, and informs the user of the definition of various input parameters and any constraints placed on those parameters. This report is part of a series of reports documenting MACCS. Other reports include the MACCS Theory Manual, MACCS Verification Report, Technical Bases for Consequence Analyses Using MACCS, as well as documentation for preprocessor codes including SecPop, MelMACCS, and COMIDA2.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Adjusting padding of graphical charts representing data from multidimensional databases

An exemplary method of displaying a data visualization includes retrieving a dataset that includes a plurality of fields and displaying a graphical user interface with a plurality of shelves. The method further includes receiving user actions to: (i) associate a first field with a first shelf, and (ii) associate a second field with a second shelf; displaying, in accordance with the received user actions, a data visualization, where each data mark has a first size defined according to a default position of a displayed slidable affordance; and receiving an additional user action that moves the slidable affordance from the default position to a user-defined position. In response to receiving the additional user action, the method further includes updating the data visualization, where each data mark included in the updated data visualization has a second size, different from the first size, defined according to the user-defined position of the slidable affordance.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

UX Focused Development Work During Recent ORNL EPICS-Based Instrument Control System Upgrade Projects

The importance of usability and easy-to-use user interfaces (UI) have been recognized across many domains. However, the user-friendliness of scientific experiment control systems often lags behind industry standards in the flourishing user experience (UX) field. Scientific control systems can certainly benefit from these new UX research methods and approaches. Recent instrument control system upgrade projects at the SNS and HFIR facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrate the effectiveness of UX focused development work, and further reveal the need for more utilization of such techniques coming from the UX field. The ongoing control system upgrades are targeting the key facility-level priority of higher scientific productivity, and UX is one of the important tools to help us achieve this priority. We will highlight research methods and practices, introduce our findings and deliverables, and share challenges and lessons learned in applying UX methods to scientific control systems.

Yao, Marie Xingxing↗

pnnl/Forte

Interactive user-interface application for deep probabilistic day-ahead net-load forecasting. This application allows a utility operator and/or other end-user to access through an easy interface the powers of advanced deep AI/ML algorithms for generating day-ahead probabilistic forecast of net-load. Also known as "VRN3P"

Bhattacharjee, Kaustav↗