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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 343 records · Page 19

Randomized Trial of Hyperfractionation Versus Conventional Fractionation in T2 Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Vocal Cord (RTOG 9512)

Purpose: To compare hyperfractionation versus standard fractionation for T2N0 vocal cord carcinoma in a randomized controlled trial. Methods and Materials: Patients with T2 vocal cord cancer were stratified by substage (T2a vs T2b) and randomly assigned to receive either hyperfractionation (HFX) to 79.2 Gy in 66 fractions of 1.2 Gy given twice a day, or standard fractionation (SFX) to 70 Gy in 35 fractions given once a day. The trial was designed to detect a 55% reduction in the local failure hazard rate with 80% statistical power. Results: Between April 1996 and July 2003, a total of 250 patients were enrolled. Of 239 patients analyzable for outcomes, 94% were male, 83% had a Karnofsky performance status of 90-100, and 62% had T2a tumor. Median follow-up for all surviving patients was 7.9 years (range, 0.6-13.1 years). The 5-year local control (LC) rate was 8 points higher but not statistically significant (P=.14 for HFX [78%] vs SFX [70%]), corresponding to a 30% hazard rate reduction. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 49% versus 40% (P=.13) and overall survival (OS) was 72% versus 63% (P=.29). HFX was associated with higher rates of acute skin, mucosal, and laryngeal toxicity. Grade 3-4 late effects were similar with a 5-year cumulative incidence of 8.5% (3.4%-13.6%) after SFX and 8.5% (3.4%-13.5%) after HFX. Conclusions: The 5-year local control was modestly higher with HFX compared to SFX for T2 glottic carcinoma, but the difference was not statistically significant. These results are consistent with prior studies of hyperfractionation showing a benefit in local control. Substaging by T2a versus T2b carries prognostic value for DFS and OS. For cost and convenience reasons other altered fractionation schedules have been adopted in routine practice.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Hormonal contraception alters vaginal microbiota and cytokines in South African adolescents in a randomized trial

Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionally affected by HIV infection and unintended pregnancies. However, hormonal contraceptive (HC) use may influence HIV risk through changes in genital tract microbiota and inflammatory cytokines. To investigate this, 130 HIV negative adolescent females aged 15–19 years were enrolled into a substudy of UChoose, an open-label randomized crossover study (NCT02404038), comparing acceptability and contraceptive product preference as a proxy for HIV prevention delivery methods. Participants were randomized to injectable norethisterone enanthate (Net-En), combined oral contraceptives (COC) or etonorgesterol/ethinyl estradiol combined contraceptive vaginal ring (CCVR) for 16 weeks, then crossed over to another HC for 16 weeks. Cervicovaginal samples were collected at baseline, crossover and exit for characterization of the microbiota and measurement of cytokine levels; primary endpoints were cervical T cell activation, vaginal microbial diversity and cytokine concentrations. Adolescents randomized to COCs had lower vaginal microbial diversity and relative abundance of HIV risk-associated taxa compared to Net-En or CCVR. Cervicovaginal inflammatory cytokine concentrations were significantly higher in adolescents randomized to CCVR compared to COC and Net-En. This suggests that COC use may induce an optimal vaginal ecosystem by decreasing bacterial diversity and inflammatory taxa, while CCVR use is associated with genital inflammation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

High-speed quantum-random number generation by continuous measurement of arrival time of photons

We demonstrate a novel high speed and multi-bit optical quantum random number generator by continuously measuring arrival time of photons with a common starting point. To obtain the unbiased and post-processing free random bits, the measured photon arrival time is converted into the sum of integral multiple of a fixed period and a phase time. Theoretical and experimental results show that the phase time is an independent and uniform random variable. A random bit extraction method by encoding the phase time is proposed. An experimental setup has been built and the unbiased random bit generation rate could reach 128 Mb/s, with random bit generation efficiency of 8 bits per detected photon. The random numbers passed all tests in the statistical test suite.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Comparison of genetic algorithms with conjugate gradient methods

Genetic algorithms for mathematical function optimization are modeled on search strategies employed in natural adaptation. Comparisons of genetic algorithms with conjugate gradient methods, which were made on an IBM 1800 digital computer, show that genetic algorithms display superior performance over gradient methods for functions which are poorly behaved mathematically, for multimodal functions, and for functions obscured by additive random noise. Genetic methods offer performance comparable to gradient methods for many of the standard functions.

Bosworth, J. L.↗

On Digital Simulation of Multicorrelated Random Processes and Its Applications

Two methods are described to simulate, on a digital computer, a set of correlated, stationary, and Gaussian time series with zero mean from the given matrix of power spectral densities and cross spectral densities. The first method is based upon trigonometric series with random amplitudes and deterministic phase angles. The random amplitudes are generated by using a standard random number generator subroutine. An example is given which corresponds to three components of wind velocities at two different spatial locations for a total of six correlated time series. In the second method, the whole process is carried out using the Fast Fourier Transform approach. This method gives more accurate results and works about twenty times faster for a set of six correlated time series.

Sinha, A. K.↗

HIGH-CONTRAST IMAGING VIA MODAL CONVERGENCE OF DEFORMABLE MIRROR

For extremely high contrast imaging, such as direct observation of faint stellar companions, an adaptive optics system is required to produce low-halo and low-speckle regions in the focal plane. A method for deformable mirror control is proposed to achieve this goal. The method relies on a modal convergence of the deformable mirror driven by a focal-plane metric. The modal sets are derived from the Walsh functions. The Walsh-function modes serve two purposes: the expansion of the actuator displacements and the expansion of the phase functions. Taking advantage of the unique properties of the modal functions, a universal control algorithm is devised for the realization of high-contrast focal planes with and without the help of conventional coronagraphy. Numerical modeling is conducted to simulate complete imaging systems under various scenarios. It is shown that the proposed method reliably produces high-contrast focal planes using either a segmented or a membrane mirror. In the presence of random aberration the method is shown to be able to maintain high-contrast focal planes. Requiring neither retrieval of electric fields nor detailed knowledge of the deformable mirrors, this technique may allow high-contrast imaging in real time.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Wave propagation through a random medium - The random slab problem

The first-order smoothing approximation yields integral equations for the mean and the two-point correlation function of a wave in a random medium. A method is presented for the approximate solution of these equations that combines features of the eiconal approximation and of the Born expansion. This method is applied to the problem of reflection and transmission of a plane wave by a slab of a random medium. Both the mean wave and the covariance are calculated to determine the reflected and transmitted amplitudes and intensities.

Acquista, C.↗

Quantifying data retention of perpendicular spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory chips using an effective thermal stability factor method

The thermal stability of perpendicular Spin-Transfer-Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) devices is investigated at chip level. Experimental data are analyzed in the framework of the Néel-Brown model including distributions of the thermal stability factor Δ. We show that in the low error rate regime important for applications, the effect of distributions of Δ can be described by a single quantity, the effective thermal stability factor Δ{sub eff}, which encompasses both the median and the standard deviation of the distributions. Data retention of memory chips can be assessed accurately by measuring Δ{sub eff} as a function of device diameter and temperature. We apply this method to show that 54 nm devices based on our perpendicular STT-MRAM design meet our 10 year data retention target up to 120 °C.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A Machine Learning-based Reliability Evaluation Model for Integrated Power-Gas Systems

This article proposes a hybrid machine learning method for the reliability evaluation of integrated power-gas systems (IPGS) under the uncertain component failure probability distributions. The Random Forest (RF) method is designed to select important features to solve the insufficient quantity of data and the curse of dimensionality problems. The Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) regression algorithm is developed to quantify the relationship between the uncertain parameters and reliability metrics. Moreover, a ten-fold cross-validation method is employed to further improve the accuracy of the regression model. Simulation results on three test systems show that the proposed method can achieve high accuracy for the reliability evaluation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Robustness analysis of an air heating plant and control law by using polynomial chaos

This paper presents a robustness analysis of an air heating plant with a multivariable closed-loop control law by using the polynomial chaos methodology (MPC). The plant consists of a PVC tube with a fan in the air input (that forces the air through the tube) and a mass flux sensor in the output. A heating resistance warms the air as it flows inside the tube, and a thermo-couple sensor measures the air temperature. The plant has thus two inputs (the fan's rotation intensity and heat generated by the resistance, both measured in percent of the maximum value) and two outputs (air temperature and air mass flux, also in percent of the maximal value). The mathematical model is obtained by System Identification techniques. The mass flux sensor, which is nonlinear, is linearized and the delays in the transfer functions are properly approximated by non-minimum phase transfer functions. The resulting model is transformed to a state-space model, which is used for control design purposes. The multivariable robust control design techniques used is the LQG/LTR, and the controllers are validated in simulation software and in the real plant. Finally, the MPC is applied by considering some of the system's parameters as random variables (one at a time, and the system's stochastic differential equations are solved by expanding the solution (a stochastic process) in an orthogonal basis of polynomial functions of the basic random variables. This method transforms the stochastic equations in a set of deterministic differential equations, which can be solved by traditional numerical methods (That is the MPC). Statistical data for the system (like expected values and variances) are then calculated. The effects of randomness in the parameters are evaluated in the open-loop and closed-loop pole's positions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An asymptotic-preserving stochastic Galerkin method for the radiative heat transfer equations with random inputs and diffusive scalings

In this paper, we develop an Asymptotic-Preserving (AP) stochastic Galerkin scheme for the radiative heat transfer equations with random inputs and diffusive scalings. In this problem the random inputs arise due to uncertainties in cross section, initial data or boundary data. We use the generalized polynomial chaos based stochastic Galerkin (gPC-SG) method, which is combined with the micro–macro decomposition based deterministic AP framework in order to handle efficiently the diffusive regime. For linearized problem we prove the regularity of the solution in the random space and consequently the spectral accuracy of the gPC-SG method. We also prove the uniform (in the mean free path) linear stability for the space-time discretizations. Several numerical tests are presented to show the efficiency and accuracy of proposed scheme, especially in the diffusive regime.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Thermal microwave emission from a random inhomogeneous layer over a homogeneous medium using the method of invariant imbedding

The paper studies thermal microwave emission from an inhomogeneous slab of a random medium, with possible nonuniform absorption, scattering, and temperature profiles, bounded by different dielectrics on both sides. The invariant imbedding method is used to cast the boundary value problem of the radiative transfer equations into an initial value problem at zero slab thickness. As a numerical example, the angular and polarization variations of brightness temperatures for ice over water are considered.

Tsang, L.↗

System and method for key generation in security tokens

Functional randomness in security tokens (FRIST) may achieve improved security in two-factor authentication hardware tokens by improving on the algorithms used to securely generate random data. A system and method in one embodiment according to the present invention may allow for security of a token based on storage cost and computational security. This approach may enable communication where security is no longer based solely on onetime pads (OTPs) generated from a single cryptographic function (e.g., SHA-256).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Accurate and efficient calculation of excitation energies with the active-space particle-particle random phase approximation

An efficient method for calculating excitation energies based on the particle-particle random phase approximation (ppRPA) is presented. Neglecting the contributions from the high-lying virtual states and the low-lying core states leads to the significantly smaller active-space ppRPA matrix while keeping the error to within 0.05 eV from the corresponding full ppRPA excitation energies. The resulting computational cost is significantly reduced and becomes less than the construction of the non-local Fock exchange potential matrix in the self-consistent-field (SCF) procedure. With only a modest number of active orbitals, the original ppRPA singlet-triplet (ST) gaps as well as the low-lying single and double excitation energies can be accurately reproduced at much reduced computational costs, up to 100 times faster than the iterative Davidson diagonalization of the original full ppRPA matrix. For high-lying Rydberg excitations where the Davidson algorithm fails, the computational savings of active-space ppRPA with respect to the direct diagonalization is even more dramatic. The virtues of the underlying full ppRPA combined with the significantly lower computational cost of the active-space approach will significantly expand the applicability of the ppRPA method to calculate excitation energies at a cost of O(K^{4}), with a prefactor much smaller than a single SCF Hartree-Fock (HF)/hybrid functional calculation, thus opening up new possibilities for the quantum mechanical study of excited state electronic structure of large systems.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Using Machine Learning to Discern Eruption in Noisy Environments: A Case Study Using CO2-Driven Cold-Water Geyser in Chimayó, New Mexico

In this paper, we present an approach based on machine learning (ML) to distinguish eruption and precursory signals of Chimayó geyser (New Mexico, U.S.A.) under noisy environmental conditions. This geyser can be considered a natural analog of CO 2 intrusion into shallow water aquifers. By studying this geyser, we can understand upwelling of CO 2 -rich fluids from depth, which has relevance to leak monitoring in a CO 2 sequestration project. ML methods such as random forests (RFs) are known to be robust multiclass classifiers and perform well under unfavorable, noisy conditions. However, the extent of the RF method’s accuracy is poorly understood for this CO 2 -driven geysering application. The current study aims to quantify the performance of RF classifiers to discern the geyser state. Toward this goal, we first present the data collected from the seismometer that is installed near the Chimayó geyser. The seismic signals collected at this site contain different types of noises such as daily temperature variations, animal movement near the geyser, and human activity. First, we filter the signals from these noises by combining the Butterworth high-pass (BH) filter and an autoregressive (AR) method in a multilevel fashion. We show that by combining these filtering techniques in a hierarchical fashion leads to a reduction in noise in the seismic data without removing the precursors and eruption event signals. We then use RF on the filtered data to classify the state of geyser into three classes: remnant noise, precursor, and eruption states. RF classifier is constructed based on the comprehensive features extracted using the Tsfresh Python package. We show that the classification accuracy using RF on the filtered data is greater than 90%. We also evaluate the accuracy of other classical time-series methods such as dynamic time warping (DTW) on filtered data along with RF on partially filtered data in which we remove the daily trends. Classification accuracy shows that DTW performs poorly (44%) and RF on partially filtered data performs decently (87%). Denoising seismic signals from both daily trends and human activity enhances RF classifier performance by 7%. Finally, these aspects make the proposed ML framework attractive for event discrimination and signal enhancement under noisy conditions, with strong potential for application to monitor leaks in CO 2 sequestration.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Processing of X-ray snapshots from crystals in random orientations

A new method for the treatment of partial reflections from X-ray snapshots is implemented in the program package nXDS, which yields intensity data of almost the same quality as those obtained by the classical rotation method. A functional expression is introduced that relates scattered X-ray intensities from a still or a rotation snapshot to the corresponding structure-factor amplitudes. The new approach was implemented in the program nXDS for processing monochromatic diffraction images recorded by a multi-segment detector where each exposure could come from a different crystal. For images containing indexable spots, the intensities of the expected reflections and their variances are obtained by profile fitting after mapping the contributing pixel contents to the Ewald sphere. The varying intensity decline owing to the angular distance of the reflection from the surface of the Ewald sphere is estimated using a Gaussian rocking curve. This decline is dubbed ‘Ewald offset correction’, which is well defined even for still images. Together with an image-scaling factor and other corrections, an explicit expression is defined that predicts each recorded intensity from its corresponding structure-factor amplitude. All diffraction parameters, scaling and correction factors are improved by post-refinement. The ambiguous case of a lower point group than the lattice symmetry is resolved by a method reminiscent of the technique of ‘selective breeding’. It selects the indexing alternative for each image that yields, on average, the highest correlation with intensities from all other images. Processing a test set of rotation images by XDS and treating the same images by nXDS as snapshots of crystals in random orientations yields data of comparable quality, clearly indicating an anomalous signal from Se atoms.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗