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At least 343 records · Page 19

SU-E-T-30: A Factor for Converting Dose to a Gold Nanoparticle Mixture to a Biologically-Relevant Dose

Purpose: Monte Carlo studies of gold nanoparticle (GNP) dose enhancement on macroscopic scales in radiotherapy have modeled GNPs in tissue as a homogeneous mixture of gold and tissue. Using an explicit model of GNPs randomly positioned in a small volume (1 µm{sup 3}) of tissue, this study aims to quantify the dose to the biologically relevant component of a goldtissue mixture, enabling a conversion from macroscopically-scored dose. Methods: Using the PENELOPE Monte Carlo code with the penEasy package, we modeled a 1 µm{sup 3} volume containing either a tissue-gold mixture or GNPs suspended in ICRU 4-component tissue at various gold concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 15 mg Au/g tissue) and GNP diameters (20, 30, 40, 50 nm). The volume was irradiated with monoenergetic photon and electron beams, ranging from 110 eV to 6 MeV. Interaction forcing was utilized to increase simulation efficiency. Energy deposition was scored in the tissue for each case and was converted to dose. For each scenario, we calculated a conversion factor, the ratio of dose-to-tissue to dose-to-mixture as a function of energy. Results: The conversion factor was plotted as a function of energy for both photons and electrons. For electrons, the conversion factor was relatively unaffected by any of the parameters, including energy, ranging between 0.98–1.02. For photons, the factor was very energy dependent, with a range of 0.49–1.02. The factor was lowest for 10–100 keV photons. The conversion factor generally decreased with increasing GNP concentration and increasing GNP size. Conclusion: With a large variation in the conversion factor with incident energy, dose deposition is dependent on the spectrum incident on a volume. By scoring the energy spectrum in a given volume, one can provide a scenario-specific conversion factor, allowing fast, detailed Monte Carlo simulations without the need for explicit GNP-definition.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-F-T-67: Correction Factors for Monitor Unit Verification of Clinical Electron Beams

Purpose: Monitor units calculated by electron Monte Carlo treatment planning systems are often higher than TG-71 hand calculations for a majority of patients. Here I’ve calculated tables of geometry and heterogeneity correction factors for correcting electron hand calculations. Method: A flat water phantom with spherical volumes having radii ranging from 3 to 15 cm was created. The spheres were centered with respect to the flat water phantom, and all shapes shared a surface at 100 cm SSD. D{sub max} dose at 100 cm SSD was calculated for each cone and energy on the flat phantom and for the spherical volumes in the absence of the flat phantom. The ratio of dose in the sphere to dose in the flat phantom defined the geometrical correction factor. The heterogeneity factors were then calculated from the unrestricted collisional stopping power for tissues encountered in electron beam treatments. These factors were then used in patient second check calculations. Patient curvature was estimated by the largest sphere that aligns to the patient contour, and appropriate tissue density was read from the physical properties provided by the CT. The resulting MU were compared to those calculated by the treatment planning system and TG-71 hand calculations. Results: The geometry and heterogeneity correction factors range from ∼(0.8–1.0) and ∼(0.9–1.01) respectively for the energies and cones presented. Percent differences for TG-71 hand calculations drop from ∼(3–14)% to ∼(0–2)%. Conclusion: Monitor units calculated with the correction factors typically decrease the percent difference to under actionable levels, < 5%. While these correction factors work for a majority of patients, there are some patient anatomies that do not fit the assumptions made. Using these factors in hand calculations is a first step in bringing the verification monitor units into agreement with the treatment planning system MU.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Identification and Characterization of Soluble Factors Involved in Delayed Effects of Low Dose Radiation (Final Report)

This is a 'glue grant' that was part of a DOE Low Dose project entitled 'Identification and Characterization of Soluble Factors Involved in Delayed Effects of Low Dose Radiation'. This collaborative program has involved Drs. David L. Springer from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), John H. Miller from Washington State University, Tri-cities (WSU) and William F. Morgan then from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). In July 2008, Dr. Morgan moved to PNNL and Dr. Janet E. Baulch became PI for this project at University of Maryland. In November of 2008, a one year extension with no new funds was requested to complete the proteomic analyses. The project stemmed from studies in the Morgan laboratory demonstrating that genomically unstable cells secret a soluble factor or factors into the culture medium, that cause cytogenetic aberrations and apoptosis in normal parental GM10115 cells. The purpose of this project was to identify the death inducing effect (DIE) factor or factors, estimate their relative abundance, identify the cell signaling pathways involved and finally recapitulate DIE in normal cells by exogenous manipulation of putative DIE factors in culture medium. As reported in detail in the previous progress report, analysis of culture medium from the parental cell line, and stable and unstable clones demonstrated inconsistent proteomic profiles as relate to candidate DIE factors. While the proposed proteomic analyses did not provide information that would allow DIE factors to be identified, the analyses provided another important set of observations. Proteomic analysis suggested that proteins associated with the cellular response to oxidative stress and mitochondrial function were elevated in the medium from unstable clones in a manner consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction. These findings correlate with previous studies of these clones that demonstrated functional differences between the mitochondria of stable and unstable clones. These mitochondrial abnormalities in the unstable clones contributes to oxidative stress.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗

Precision Measurement of the Proton Magnetic Form Factor at High Q2

Elastic electromagnetic form factors characterize the distribution of electric charge and magnetization current inside the nucleon and reflect the internal structure determined by Quantum Chromodynamics. Existing data on the proton magnetic form factor at high Q2 (the 4-momentum transfer squared) have large statistical and systematic uncertainties. The GMp experiment E12-07-108 was one of the first set of experiments to run in Hall A at Jefferson Lab after the 12 GeV upgrade with the goal of this experiment to precisely measure the electron-proton elastic cross section for Q2 up to 17 GeV2 with an accuracy of better than 2% - several times better than existing data in this Q2 range. This will allow further tests of form factor scaling predicted by pQCD and, additionally, will be an important benchmark for many other experiments where elastic electron-proton scattering is used for normalization. Since, GMp data were taken at lower ?(virtual photon polarization) than SLAC data, the measured cross sections recieve a smaller contribution from the electric form factor. This dissertation analyzed the GMp experiment data for five different kinematic settings determining the form factor with total uncertainties nearly two times smaller than the existing data at these Q2. This dissertation also presents the results of all Fall 2016 and Spring 2016 GMp experiment data. The proton magnetic form factors were extracted using both the Rosenbluth separation method and a parameterization of the form factor ratio (?pGpE=GpM) obtained from a fit to the existing cross section data. At the end of this thesis, the extracted GMp form factor data is compared to the existing data. The results for ?pGpE=GpM from Rosenbluth separations are found to be consistent with previous extractions, but with significantly reduced uncertainties, further highlighting the discrepancy with the polarization transfer technique. This data set can provide significant additional constraints on contributions from two-photon exchange.

Narayan Gautam, Thir↗

Demonstrating the Value of Human Factors for Process Design in a Controlled Experiment

A controlled between-groups experiment was conducted to demonstrate the value of human factors for process design. Most evidence to convey the benefits of human factors is derived from reactive studies of existing flawed systems designed with little or no human factors involvement. Controlled experiments conducted explicitly to demonstrate the benefits of human factors have been scarce since the 1990s. Further, most previous research focused on product or interface design as opposed to process design. The present study was designed to fill these research gaps. Toward that end, 24 Sandia National Laboratories employees completed a simple visual inspection task simulating receipt inspection. The experimental group process was designed to conform to human factors and visual inspection principles, whereas the control group process was designed without consideration of such principles. Results indicated the experimental group exhibited superior performance accuracy, lower workload, and more favorable usability ratings as compared to the control group. Given the differences observed in the simple task used in the present study, the author concluded that incorporating human factors should have even greater benefits for complex products and processes. The study provides evidence to help human factors practitioners revitalize the critical message regarding the benefits of human factors involvement for a new generation of designers.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Analytical Examination of the Relationship between Fuel Properties, Engine Efficiency, and R Factor Values

The variability in gasoline energy content, though most frequently not a consumer concern, is an issue of concern for vehicle manufacturers in demonstrating compliance with regulatory requirements. Advancements in both vehicle technology, test methodology, and fuel formulations have increased the level of visibility and concern with regard to the energy content of fuels used for regulatory testing. The R factor was introduced into fuel economy calculations for vehicle certification in the late 1980s as a means of addressing batch-to-batch variations in the heating value of certification fuels and the resulting variations in fuel economy results. While previous studies have investigated values of the R factor for modern vehicles through experimentation, subsequent engine studies have made clear that it is difficult to distinguish between the confounding factors that influence engine efficiency when R is being studied experimentally. The proposed study focuses on an analytical approach to examining the heating value effects so that R values can be studied without the influence of confounding effects of other fuel properties. Data previously published for a 1.6-liter naturally-aspirated engine are used as a case study to explore the relationship between fuel properties, engine efficiency, and R factor values. The results demonstrate that engine efficiency does vary as a result of differences in heating value among fuels, although other factors that are variant among fuels also impact efficiency. R factor values depend not only on the difference in heating value between two fuels, but also on the directionality of the change and on engine operating loads. The latter is integral because the reference engine efficiency point is itself a function of the engine operating condition. R factor values asymptotically approach unity as engine operating load increases. Increasing engine efficiency causes R values for a given test fuel to increase. A method is presented for which the test data from only one fuel is required to establish R factor values for individual vehicles and test cycles. An alternative method of establishing Indolene fuel economy equivalency for certification tests is also discussed.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Nodal weighting factor method for ex-core fast neutron fluence evaluation

The nodal weighting factor method is developed for evaluating ex-core fast neutron flux in a nuclear reactor by utilizing adjoint neutron flux, a fictitious unit detector cross section for neutron energy above 1 or 0.1 MeV, the unit fission source, and relative assembly nodal powers. The method determines each nodal weighting factor for ex-core neutron fast flux evaluation by solving the steady-state adjoint neutron transport equation with a fictitious unit detector cross section for neutron energy above 1 or 0.1 MeV as the adjoint source, by integrating the unit fission source with a typical fission spectrum to the solved adjoint flux over all energies, all angles and given nodal volume, and by dividing it with the sum of all nodal weighting factors, which is a normalization factor. Then, the fast neutron flux can be obtained by summing the various relative nodal powers times the corresponding nodal weighting factors of the adjacent significantly contributed peripheral assembly nodes and times a proper fast neutron attenuation coefficient over an operating period. A generic set of nodal weighting factors can be used to evaluate neutron fluence at the same location for similar core design and fuel cycles, but the set of nodal weighting factors needs to be re-calibrated for a transition-fuel-cycle. This newly developed nodal weighting factor method should be a useful and simplified tool for evaluating fast neutron fluence at selected locations of interest in ex-core components of contemporary nuclear power reactors. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Joint Factorization of QCD and QED Radiation in Lepton-Hadron Scattering

The factorization theorem plays an important role in the analysis of high energy quantum chromodynamic (QCD) processes, separating the nonperturbative hadronic interaction into the universal parton distribution functions (PDFs) and fragmentation functions (FFs) and the process-dependent interactions into short distance perturbative calculations, with any interference power suppressed. With a virtual photon exchange, lepton-hadron deep inelastic scattering (DIS) provides an electromagnetic hard probe for the partonic structure of colliding hadrons and has played an important role in the development of QCD factorization. However, the collision induced QED radiation can change the momentum of the exchanged but unobserved virtual photon, making the photon-hadron frame, where the factorization formalism for DIS and semi-inclusive DIS (SIDIS) was derived, ill defined. A new analogous factorization approach has been introduced to separate the leading power process-independent QED radiative contributions to the single photon exchange by introducing lepton distribution functions (LDFs) and lepton fragmentation functions (LFFs), while process-dependent effects are perturbatively calculated with large logarithms removed [J. High Energ. Phys. 2021, 157 (2021)]. These LDFs and LFFs are considered global, as they appear in many different interactions, such as e+e-, DIS and SIDIS, so data from experiments can be used to fit and describe these functions across a wide range of lepton scattering. In this work, I will apply this new hybrid factorization approach to lepton-hadron DIS and SIDIS. For DIS, I derive the NLO short distance perturbative contribution to the cross section and demonstrate the effects the QED radiation has on the cross section using this approach using the CTEQ parameterization for the QCD functions. As part of the SIDIS analysis, I study the cross-section in two different kinematic regions: (1) the scattered lepton and observed hadron are not near back-to-back, and (2) they are close to back-to-back, where collinear QCD factorization works for (1) and TMD QCD factorization for (2) while collinear QED factorization works for both. As part of this work, I show the effects on the SIDIS cross section using fixed order calculations for the unpolarized structure function by first showing the effect of the radiative corrections on the main kinematic variables, especially how the internal transverse momentum is significantly correlated to the external angular dependence, and then the unpolarized structure function (or cross section) with matching between the descriptions for low and high transverse momentum. This work will impact the calculations for predictions for data from COMPASS and various Jefferson Lab experiments.

Cammarota, Justin [Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, K↗

Westcott g factors extended to arbitrary neutron energy spectra

Westcott 𝑔 factors are used in Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) and Prompt Gamma-ray Activation Analysis (PGAA) to evaluate the impact of non-1∕𝑣 behavior in the neutron-capture cross sections of certain nuclei on activation product yields. This non-1∕𝑣 behavior arises from the presence of neutron resonances in the neutron- capture cross sections that overlap with the source neutron spectrum at low (< 5 eV) energies. Historically, Westcott 𝑔 factors that have been cataloged for NAA and PGAA applications are the result of calculations that assume a Maxwellian neutron flux distribution with a given temperature. In this work, we use this approach with updated neutron-capture cross sections from the Evaluated Nuclear Data File, version VIII.1 (ENDF/B-VIII.1) to tabulate Westcott 𝑔 factor values for a broad range of Maxwellian distribution temperatures, comparing the results against currently-available 𝑔 factors from International Atomic Energy Agency tables and other sources. Here, it was discovered during this analysis that the use of guided thermal and cold-neutron beams at certain facilities necessitates an approach for evaluating Westcott 𝑔 factors based on arbitrary non-Maxwellian spectra. In this paper, we present an approach for calculating 𝑔 factors with user-specified neutron spectra, and we demonstrate these methods to obtain Westcott 𝑔-factors for guided- and cold-neutron beams at the Budapest Research Reactor and the Forschungsreaktor München II reactor. As part of this work, open-source software has been developed that can be used to perform these calculations for applications in PGAA and NAA experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Source Apportionment of Stack Emissions from Research and Development Facilities Using Positive Matrix Factorization

Emissions from research and development (R&D) facilities are difficult to characterize due to the wide variety of processes used, changing nature of research, and large number of chemicals. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations measured in the main exhaust stacks of four different R&D buildings to identify the number and composition of major contributing sources. PMF identified from 9-11 source-related factors contributing to the stack emissions depending on the building. The factors that were similar between buildings were major contributors to trichloroethylene (TCE), acetone, and ethanol emissions. Several other factors had similar profiles for two or more buildings but not for all four. One factor for each building was a combination of p/m-xylene, o-xylene and ethylbenzene. At least one factor for each building was identified that contained a broad mix of many species and constraints were used in PMF to modify the factors to resemble more closely the off-shift concentration profiles. PMF accepted the constraints with little decrease in model fit. Although the PMF model predicted the profiles of the off-shift samples, the percent of total emissions was under-predicted by the model versus the measured data.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Emission factors of industrial boilers burning biomass-derived fuels

Boilers are combustion devices that provide process heat and are integral to many industrial facilities. Historically, outside of the pulp and paper industry, most boilers burned fossil fuels, although interest in decarbonization has been leading to an increased use of renewable fuels in boilers. These boilers, including those in the biorefineries, are often large sources of air pollutant emissions, and the characterization of these emissions is critical to obtaining air permits and ensuring protection of the surrounding air quality. Several industrial boilers and new biorefineries allow utilization of biomass-derived fuels (e.g. wastewater sludge, lignin, etc.) produced during their operation as a fuel for the boiler to meet process energy needs. However, there is limited empirical data on emission factors for the burning of unconventional fuels, such as solid-gas mixtures containing biomass residues. To fill this gap, we carry out a comprehensive data survey, collecting information on emission factors for boilers burning either a single or a mixture of solid and gaseous biomass-derived fuels. We review multiple hard-to-obtain and unconventional data sources, such as air permit applications, stack test data, and industry-sponsored data collection efforts, to compile emission factors for biomass-derived fuels. We then compare this data with wood residue emission factors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AP-42 emission factor database. Our results indicate that the emission factors for boilers burning unconventional fuels vary widely depending on the fuel composition, boiler type, and fuel characteristics. Overall, we find that median emission factors of selected biomass-derived fuels are typically lower than those of wood residue boilers in AP-42. The information collected herein could be useful to permitting agencies and industries utilizing boilers who may want to reduce the carbon impact of their facilities by combusting biomass-derived wastes for process energy needs, for more accurate emission estimation for permitting.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Evolved QCD predictions for the meson-photon transition form factors: beyond the semiclassical AdS/QCD approximation

The QCD evolution of the pion distribution amplitude (DA) {phi}{sub {pi}} (x, Q{sup 2}) is computed for several commonly used models. Our analysis includes the nonperturbative form predicted by lightfront holographic QCD, thus combining the nonperturbative bound state dynamics of the pion with the perturbative ERBL evolution of the pion distribution amplitude. We calculate the meson-photon transition form factors for the {pi}{sup 0}, {eta} and {eta}' using the hard-scattering formalism. We point out that a widely-used approximation of replacing {phi} (x; (1 - x)Q) with {phi} (x;Q) in the calculations will unjustifiably reduce the predictions for the meson-photon transition form factors. It is found that the four models of the pion DA discussed give very different predictions for the Q{sup 2} dependence of the meson-photon transition form factors in the region of Q{sup 2} > 30 GeV{sup 2}. More accurate measurements of these transition form factors at the large Q{sup 2} region will be able to distinguish the four models of the pion DA. The rapid growth of the large Q{sup 2} data for the pion-photon transition form factor reported by the BABAR Collaboration is difficult to explain within the current framework of QCD. If the BABAR data for the meson-photon transition form factor for the {pi}{sup 0} is confirmed, it could indicate physics beyond-the-standard model, such as a weakly-coupled elementary C = + axial vector or pseudoscalar z{sup 0} in the few GeV domain, an elementary field which would provide the coupling {gamma}{sup *}{gamma} {yields} z{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0} at leading twist. Our analysis thus indicates the importance of additional measurements of the pion-photon transition form factor at large Q{sup 2}.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Constraints on the light pseudoscalar meson distribution amplitudes from their meson-photon transition form factors

The meson-photon transition form factors {gamma}{gamma}*{yields}P (P stands for {pi}, {eta} and {eta}') provide strong constraints on the distribution amplitudes of the pseudoscalar mesons. In this paper, these transition form factors are calculated under the light-cone perturbative QCD approach, in which both the valence and nonvalence quarks' contributions have been taken into consideration. To be consistent, a unified wave function model is adopted to analyze these form factors. It is shown that with the proper charm component f{sub {eta}}'{sup c}{approx}-30 MeV and a moderate DA with B{approx}0.30, the experimental data on Q{sup 2}F{sub {eta}{gamma}}(Q{sup 2}) and Q{sup 2}F{sub {eta}'{gamma}}(Q{sup 2}) in the whole Q{sup 2} region can be explained simultaneously. Furthermore, a detailed discussion on the form factors' uncertainties caused by the constituent quark masses m{sub q} and m{sub s}, the parameter B, the mixing angle {phi}, and f{sub {eta}'}{sup c} are presented. It is found that, by adjusting these parameters within their reasonable regions, one can improve the form factor to a certain degree but cannot solve the puzzle for Q{sup 2}F{sub {pi}{gamma}}(Q{sup 2}), especially to explain the behavior of the {pi}-{gamma} form factor within the whole Q{sup 2} region consistently. We hope further experimental data on these form factors in the large Q{sup 2} region can clarify the present situation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Monte Carlo calculations of electron beam quality conversion factors for several ion chamber types

Purpose: To provide a comprehensive investigation of electron beam reference dosimetry using Monte Carlo simulations of the response of 10 plane-parallel and 18 cylindrical ion chamber types. Specific emphasis is placed on the determination of the optimal shift of the chambers’ effective point of measurement (EPOM) and beam quality conversion factors. Methods: The EGSnrc system is used for calculations of the absorbed dose to gas in ion chamber models and the absorbed dose to water as a function of depth in a water phantom on which cobalt-60 and several electron beam source models are incident. The optimal EPOM shifts of the ion chambers are determined by comparing calculations of R{sub 50} converted from I{sub 50} (calculated using ion chamber simulations in phantom) to R{sub 50} calculated using simulations of the absorbed dose to water vs depth in water. Beam quality conversion factors are determined as the calculated ratio of the absorbed dose to water to the absorbed dose to air in the ion chamber at the reference depth in a cobalt-60 beam to that in electron beams. Results: For most plane-parallel chambers, the optimal EPOM shift is inside of the active cavity but different from the shift determined with water-equivalent scaling of the front window of the chamber. These optimal shifts for plane-parallel chambers also reduce the scatter of beam quality conversion factors, k{sub Q}, as a function of R{sub 50}. The optimal shift of cylindrical chambers is found to be less than the 0.5 r{sub cav} recommended by current dosimetry protocols. In most cases, the values of the optimal shift are close to 0.3 r{sub cav}. Values of k{sub ecal} are calculated and compared to those from the TG-51 protocol and differences are explained using accurate individual correction factors for a subset of ion chambers investigated. High-precision fits to beam quality conversion factors normalized to unity in a beam with R{sub 50} = 7.5 cm (k{sub Q}{sup ′}) are provided. These factors avoid the use of gradient correction factors as used in the TG-51 protocol although a chamber dependent optimal shift in the EPOM is required when using plane-parallel chambers while no shift is needed with cylindrical chambers. The sensitivity of these results to parameters used to model the ion chambers is discussed and the uncertainty related to the practical use of these results is evaluated. Conclusions: These results will prove useful as electron beam reference dosimetry protocols are being updated. The analysis of this work indicates that cylindrical ion chambers may be appropriate for use in low-energy electron beams but measurements are required to characterize their use in these beams.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Single-particle spectroscopic factors for spherical nuclei

Within the self-consistent theory of finite Fermi systems, the total single-particle spectroscopic factors for seven doubly magic nuclei of {sup 40}Ca, {sup 48}Ca, {sup 56}Ni, {sup 78}Ni, {sup 100}Sn, {sup 132}Sn, and {sup 208}Pb and for the {sup 188–212}Pb chain of semimagic even lead isotopes are calculated by the energy-density-functional method implemented with a functional in the form proposed by Fayans and his coauthors. The spectroscopic factor is expressed in terms of the Z factor, which is the residue of the single-particle Green’s function at the single-particle pole. The total Z factor calculated in the present study involves both effects of coupling to phonons and the volume Z factor, which is due to the fact that the mass operator features an energy dependence not associated with surface phonons. The volume Z factor is on the same order of magnitude as the phonon-coupling contribution. The volume effect depends only slightly on the nuclear species and on the single-particle state λ. On the contrary, the phonon contribution to the total spectroscopic factor changes upon going over from one state to another and from one nuclear species to another.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Quality factor assessment of finite-size all-dielectric metasurfaces at the magnetic dipole resonance

Recently there has been a large interest in achieving metasurface resonances with large quality factors. In this article, we examine metasurfaces that comprised a finite number of magnetic dipoles oriented parallel or orthogonal to the plane of the metasurface and determine analytic formulas for their resonances’ quality factors. These conditions are experimentally achievable in finite-size metasurfaces made of dielectric cubic resonators at the magnetic dipole resonance. Our results show that finite metasurfaces made of parallel (to the plane) magnetic dipoles exhibit low quality factor resonances with a quality factor that is independent of the number of resonators. More importantly, finite metasurfaces made of orthogonal (to the plane) magnetic dipoles lead to resonances with large quality factors, which ultimately depend on the number of resonators comprising the metasurface. In particular, by properly modulating the array of dipole moments by having a distribution of resonator polarizabilities, one can potentially increase the quality factor of metasurface resonances even further. These results provide design guidelines to achieve a sought quality factor applicable to any resonator geometry for the development of new devices such as photodetectors, modulators, and sensors.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Risk Factor Analysis in Low-Temperature Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis for the Appalachian Basin (GPFA-AB)

This submission contains information used to compute the risk factors for the GPFA-AB project. The risk factors are natural reservoir quality, thermal resource quality, potential for induced seismicity, and utilization. The methods used to combine the risk factors included taking the product, sum, and minimum of the four risk factors. The files are divided into images, rasters, shapefiles, and supporting information. The image files show what the raster and shapefiles should look like. The raster files contain the input risk factors, calculation of the scaled risk factors, and calculation of the combined risk factors. The shapefiles include definition of the fairways, definition of the US Census Places, the center of the raster cells, and locations of industries. Supporting information contains details of the calculations or processing used in generating the files. An image of the raster will have the same name except *.png as the file ending instead of *.tif. Images with 'fairways' or 'industries' added to the name are composed of a raster with the relevant shapefile added. The file About_GPFA-AB_Phase1RiskAnalysisTask5DataUpload.pdf contains information the citation, special use considerations, authorship, etc. ***See 'GPFA-AB.zip' at bottom for compressed and organized version of the files associated with this submission*** **More details (including location) on each file are given in the spreadsheet 'list_of_contents.csv' in the folder 'SupportingInfo'** Code used to calculate values is available: https://github.com/calvinwhealton/geothermal_pfa under the folder 'combining_metrics' - *See link below*

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Development of Human Factors Awareness for Criticality Safety Specialists at Westinghouse Nuclear Fuels - 14223

Although human factors assessment typically involves specialist expertise, it is considered that enhanced local knowledge of this area for criticality safety specialists supports the incorporation of human factors consideration into tasks such as safety assessment, design and hazard reviews, development of operational and engineered criticality controls, training, incident investigation and emergency response. At the Westinghouse Springfields Fuel Manufacturing Site in the United Kingdom, specialist human factor support has been engaged to identify key competencies and training plans for criticality safety specialists. In addition, discussions have been held with the UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to outline the proposal and to discuss the approach. Following completion of an internationally recognised human factors training course the learning is now being applied by criticality safety specialists. Recent examples of learning applied include: 1) Review of past events and incidents to support the consideration of operator/equipment interfaces, leading to improved designs and processes. 2) Identification of critical tasks and the level of human factor assessment that is likely to be required. To support this, guidance has been produced by the criticality section for staff and contractors performing criticality safety assessments. 3) Assessment of the 'aims and operability' of engineered and procedural controls derived as part of the criticality safety assessment process. This involves participation of plant management and operators. 4) Consideration of human factors in emergency response activities such as infrequent tasks and tasks being undertaken under time pressures etc. This has been examined in recent emergency exercises and in the development of a recent criticality exercise scenario. 5) Criticality training has been reviewed with Plant Management, focussing on the methods utilised to deliver training (e.g. classroom based, computer training, on plant walk-downs); the aims and scope of training and how understanding is validated. 6) The link between criticality safety assessment and how the operations are / will be conducted has been reviewed as part of formal and informal criticality meetings and inspections. A key aspect of this is the criticality specialist's interaction with both plant management and operational staff. The development of human factors awareness into the criticality safety specialist's competency framework continues to be developed at Westinghouse but real benefits to criticality safety are already being demonstrated by this approach. (author)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗