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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 433 records · Page 24

Diagnosing magnetic fields in cylindrical implosions with oblique proton radiography

Two experiments at the OMEGA Laser System used oblique proton radiography to measure magnetic fields in cylindrical implosions with and without an applied axial magnetic field. Although the goal of both experiments was to measure the magnitude of the compressed axial magnetic field in the core of the implosion, this field was obfuscated by two features in the coronal plasma produced by the compression beams: an azimuthal self-generated magnetic field and small length scale, high-amplitude structures attributed to collisionless effects. In order to understand these features, synthetic radiographs are generated using fields produced by 3D HYDRA simulations. These synthetic radiographs reproduce the features of the experimental radiographs with the exception of the small-scale structures. A direct inversion algorithm is successfully applied to a synthetic radiograph but is only partially able to invert the experimental radiographs in part because some protons are blocked by the field coils. The origins of the radiograph features and their dependence on various experimental parameters are explored. Furthermore, the results of this analysis should inform future measurements of compressed axial magnetic fields in cylindrical implosions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Global transcriptional regulatory network for Escherichia coli robustly connects gene expression to transcription factor activities

Significance While the transcriptional regulatory network (TRN) of Escherichia coli has expanded considerably in recent years through new chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) data, an open question remains: Does the global TRN, reconstructed by combining ChIP data for individual transcriptions factors, consistently explain observed differential gene expression? We have reconstructed a high-confidence TRN, determined its consistency with transcriptomics and predictive capabilities across multiple conditions, extracted 10 functional regulatory modules, and characterized this network at the sequence and structural levels. Our multiomics algorithmic pipeline is expected to facilitate rigorous validation and prioritization of experiments to elucidate TRNs in other bacteria.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Correlated purification for restoring 𝑁-representability in quantum simulation

Experimentally measured reduced density matrices (RDMs) often violate constraints that ensure they represent N-electron states—known as N-representability conditions—because of statistical and hardware noise. In this work, we present a correlated purification framework based on semidefinite programming to restore the accuracy of a noisy, unphysical two-electron RDM (2-RDM). The method performs a bi-objective optimization that minimizes both the many-electron energy and the nuclear norm of the correction to the measured 2-RDM. The nuclear norm, often employed in matrix completion, promotes low-rank corrections, while the energy term acts as a regularization term that can improve the purity of the ground state. While the method is particularly effective for ground states, it can also be applied to excited and nonstationary states by decreasing the weight of the energy relative to the error norm. In an application to fermionic shadow tomography of large hydrogen chains, correlated purification yields substantial reductions in both energy and 2-RDM error, achieving chemical accuracy across dissociation curves. This framework provides a robust strategy for tomography in many-body quantum simulations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Inversion of Many-Beam Bragg Intensities for Phasing by Iterated Projections: Removal of Multiple Scattering Artifacts from Diffraction Data

An iterated projection algorithm (N-Phaser) is developed that reconstructs a scattering potential from N-beam multiple Bragg scattered intensities. The method may be used to eliminate multiple scattering artifacts from electron diffraction data, solving the phase problem and increasing the thicknesses of samples used in materials science, solid-state chemistry, and small molecule crystallography. For high-energy transmission electron diffraction, we show that the algorithm recovers accurate complex structure factors from a wide range of thicknesses, orientations, and relativistic beam energies, and does not require known thickness or atomic-resolution data if sufficient multiple scattering occurs. Furthermore, extensions to Cryo-electron microscopy and Micro-electron diffraction are suggested.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quantum Criticality Under Imperfect Teleportation

Entanglement, measurement, and classical communication together enable teleportation of quantum states between distant parties, in principle, with perfect fidelity. To what extent do correlations and entanglement of a many-body wave function transfer under teleportation protocols? We address this question for the case of an imperfectly teleported quantum critical wave function, focusing on the ground state of a critical Ising chain. We demonstrate that imperfections, e.g., in the entangling gate adopted for a given protocol, effectively manifest as weak measurements acting on the otherwise pristinely teleported critical state. Armed with this perspective, we leverage and further develop the theory of measurement-altered quantum criticality to quantify the resilience of critical-state teleportation. We identify classes of teleportation protocols for which imperfection (i) preserves both the universal long-range entanglement and correlations of the original quantum critical state, (ii) weakly modifies these quantities away from their universal values, and (iii) obliterates long-range entanglement altogether while preserving power-law correlations, albeit with a new set of exponents. We also show that mixed states describing the average over a series of sequential imperfect teleportation events retain pristine power-law correlations due to a “built-in” decoding algorithm, though their entanglement structure measured by the negativity depends on errors similarly to individual protocol runs. These results may allow one to design teleportation protocols that optimize against errors—highlighting a potential practical application of measurement-altered criticality. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physics↗

Convex Q-Learning in Continuous Time with Application to Dispatch of Distributed Energy Resources

Convex Q-learning is a recent approach to reinforcement learning, motivated by the possibility of a firmer theory for convergence, and the possibility of making use of greater a priori knowledge regarding policy or value function structure. This paper explores algorithm design in the continuous time domain, with a finite-horizon optimal control objective. The main contributions are (i) The new Q-ODE: a model-free characterization of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. (ii) A formulation of Convex Q-learning that avoids approximations appearing in prior work. The Bellman error used in the algorithm is defined by filtered measurements, which is necessary in the presence of measurement noise. (iii) Convex Q-learning with linear function approximation is a convex program. It is shown that the constraint region is bounded, subject to an exploration condition on the training input. (iv) The theory is illustrated in application to resource allocation for distributed energy resources, for which the theory is ideally suited.

Lu, Fan↗

Coordinated Transmission and Distribution AC Optimal Power Flow

The current separate transmission and distribution energy management system faces multiple challenges associated with integrating distributed generators (DGs) into future grids. These challenges, such as a voltage rise issue resulting in curtailment of DGs, are difficult to solve via the current separate energy management. Thus, coordination between transmission and distribution is suggested, and a coordinated transmission and distribution AC optimal power flow (TDOPF) is proposed in this paper. A mathematical TDOPF model is established and analyzed in a master-slave structure. A heterogeneous decomposition algorithm (HGD), which is inspired by heterogeneous transmission and distribution characteristics, is proposed to solve the TDOPF in a distributed manner. The HGD is compared to other typical multi-area OPF decomposition algorithms and the differences are discussed. Numerical tests verify the benefit of the TDOPF to both transmission and distribution systems. The TDOPF improves economic operations, mitigates voltage rises, and decreases boundary bus mismatches. Hence, more DGs can be accommodated by the grid. In addition, a series of numerical tests indicate that the HGD competitively solves the TDOPF.

decomposition↗

Resilient Control of Networked Microgrids Using Vertical Federated Reinforcement Learning: Designs and Real-Time Test-Bed Validations

Improving system-level resiliency of networked microgrids against adversarial cyber-attacks is an important aspect in the current regime of increased inverter-based resources (IBRs). To achieve that, this paper contributes in designing a hierarchical control layer, in conjunction with the existing control layers, resilient to adversarial attack signals. Considering model complexities, unknown dynamical behaviors of IBRs, and privacy issues regarding data sharing in multi-party-owned microgrids, designing such a control layer is non-trivial. Here, to tackle these issues, a novel federated reinforcement learning (Fed-RL) method is proposed. To grasp the interconnected dynamics of networked microgrids, the paper develops Federated Soft Actor-Critic (FedSAC) algorithm following the vertical structure of implementing Fed-RL. Next, utilizing the OpenAI Gym interface, we built a custom set-up in GridLAB-D/HELICS co-simulation platform, named Resilient RL Co-simulation (ResRLCoSIM), to train the RL agents with IEEE 123-bus benchmark comprising 3 interconnected microgrids. Finally, the learned policies in the simulation are transferred to the real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test-bed developed using the high-fidelity Hypersim platform. Finally, experiments show that the simulator-trained RL controllers achieve desirable performance with the test-bed platform, validating the minimization of the sim-to-real gap.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

WE-E-17A-06: Assessing the Scale of Tumor Heterogeneity by Complete Hierarchical Segmentation On MRI

Purpose: In many cancers, intratumoral heterogeneity exists in vascular and genetic structure. We developed an algorithm which uses clinical imaging to interrogate different scales of heterogeneity. We hypothesize that heterogeneity of perfusion at large distance scales may correlate with propensity for disease recurrence. We applied the algorithm to initial diagnosis MRI of rhabdomyosarcoma patients to predict recurrence. Methods: The Spatial Heterogeneity Analysis by Recursive Partitioning (SHARP) algorithm recursively segments the tumor image. The tumor is repeatedly subdivided, with each dividing line chosen to maximize signal intensity difference between the two subregions. This process continues to the voxel level, producing segments at multiple scales. Heterogeneity is measured by comparing signal intensity histograms between each segmented region and the adjacent region. We measured the scales of contrast enhancement heterogeneity of the primary tumor in 18 rhabdomyosarcoma patients. Using Cox proportional hazards regression, we explored the influence of heterogeneity parameters on relapse-free survival (RFS). To compare with existing methods, fractal and Haralick texture features were also calculated. Results: The complete segmentation produced by SHARP allows extraction of diverse features, including the amount of heterogeneity at various distance scales, the area of the tumor with the most heterogeneity at each scale, and for a given point in the tumor, the heterogeneity at different scales. 10/18 rhabdomyosarcoma patients suffered disease recurrence. On contrast-enhanced MRI, larger scale of maximum signal intensity heterogeneity, relative to tumor diameter, predicted for shorter RFS (p=0.05). Fractal dimension, fractal fit, and three Haralick features did not predict RFS (p=0.09-0.90). Conclusion: SHARP produces an automatic segmentation of tumor regions and reports the amount of heterogeneity at various distance scales. In rhabdomyosarcoma, RFS was shorter when the primary tumor exhibited larger scale of heterogeneity on contrast-enhanced MRI. If validated on a larger dataset, this imaging biomarker could be useful to help personalize treatment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Acquisition, preprocessing, and reconstruction of ultralow dose volumetric CT scout for organ-based CT scan planning

Purpose: Traditionally, 2D radiographic preparatory scan images (scout scans) are used to plan diagnostic CT scans. However, a 3D CT volume with a full 3D organ segmentation map could provide superior information for customized scan planning and other purposes. A practical challenge is to design the volumetric scout acquisition and processing steps to provide good image quality (at least good enough to enable 3D organ segmentation) while delivering a radiation dose similar to that of the conventional 2D scout. Methods: The authors explored various acquisition methods, scan parameters, postprocessing methods, and reconstruction methods through simulation and cadaver data studies to achieve an ultralow dose 3D scout while simultaneously reducing the noise and maintaining the edge strength around the target organ. Results: In a simulation study, the 3D scout with the proposed acquisition, preprocessing, and reconstruction strategy provided a similar level of organ segmentation capability as a traditional 240 mAs diagnostic scan, based on noise and normalized edge strength metrics. At the same time, the proposed approach delivers only 1.25% of the dose of a traditional scan. In a cadaver study, the authors’ pictorial-structures based organ localization algorithm successfully located the major abdominal-thoracic organs from the ultralow dose 3D scout obtained with the proposed strategy. Conclusions: The authors demonstrated that images with a similar degree of segmentation capability (interpretability) as conventional dose CT scans can be achieved with an ultralow dose 3D scout acquisition and suitable postprocessing. Furthermore, the authors applied these techniques to real cadaver CT scans with a CTDI dose level of less than 0.1 mGy and successfully generated a 3D organ localization map.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SIS epidemiological model for adaptive RT: Forecasting the parotid glands shrinkage during tomotherapy treatment

Purpose: A susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemic model was applied to radiation therapy (RT) treatments to predict morphological variations in head and neck (H&N) anatomy. Methods: 360 daily MVCT images of 12 H&N patients treated by tomotherapy were analyzed in this retrospective study. Deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms, mesh grids, and structure recontouring, implemented in the RayStation treatment planning system (TPS), were applied to assess the daily organ warping. The parotid’s warping was evaluated using the epidemiological approach considering each vertex as a single subject and its deformed vector field (DVF) as an infection. Dedicated IronPython scripts were developed to export daily coordinates and displacements of the region of interest (ROI) from the TPS. MATLAB tools were implemented to simulate the SIS modeling. Finally, the fully trained model was applied to a new patient. Results: A QUASAR phantom was used to validate the model. The patients’ validation was obtained setting 0.4 cm of vertex displacement as threshold and splitting susceptible (S) and infectious (I) cases. The correlation between the epidemiological model and the parotids’ trend for further optimization of alpha and beta was carried out by Euclidean and dynamic time warping (DTW) distances. The best fit with experimental conditions across all patients (Euclidean distance of 4.09 ± 1.12 and DTW distance of 2.39 ± 0.66) was obtained setting the contact rate at 7.55 ± 0.69 and the recovery rate at 2.45 ± 0.26; birth rate was disregarded in this constant population. Conclusions: Combining an epidemiological model with adaptive RT (ART), the authors’ novel approach could support image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) to validate daily setup and to forecast anatomical variations. The SIS-ART model developed could support clinical decisions in order to optimize timing of replanning achieving personalized treatments.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

The SprayList: a scalable relaxed priority queue

High-performance concurrent priority queues are essential for applications such as task scheduling and discrete event simulation. Unfortunately, even the best performing implementations do not scale past a number of threads in the single digits. This is because of the sequential bottleneck in accessing the elements at the head of the queue in order to perform a DeleteMin operation. In this paper, we present the SprayList, a scalable priority queue with relaxed ordering semantics. Starting from a non-blocking SkipList, the main innovation behind our design is that the DeleteMin operations avoid a sequential bottleneck by ``spraying'' themselves onto the head of the SkipList list in a coordinated fashion. The spraying is implemented using a carefully designed random walk, so that DeleteMin returns an element among the first O(p log^3 p) in the list, with high probability, where p is the number of threads. We prove that the running time of a DeleteMin operation is O(log^3 p), with high probability, independent of the size of the list. Our experiments show that the relaxed semantics allow the data structure to scale for high thread counts, comparable to a classic unordered SkipList. As a result, we observe that, for reasonably parallel workloads, the scalability benefits of relaxation considerably outweigh the additional work due to out-of-order execution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MemFriend: Understanding Memory Performance with Spatial-Temporal Affinity

In HPC applications, memory access behavior is one of the main factors affecting performance. Improving an application’s memory access behavior involves optimizing data layout and/or restructuring code, and requires studying spatial-temporal data locality. Existing data locality analyses focus on single-location metrics and are restricted to evaluating temporal locality. We introduce spatial-temporal affinity metrics that quantify temporal access proximity, forward access correlation, and nearby access correlation between pairs of memory locations. We describe methods for distinguishing between potential vs. realized affinity and for reasoning about affinity at multiple resolutions (3D, 2D, 1D). Finally, we construct spatial-temporal affinity signatures that classify memory behavior and that be used to reason about changes in software (data relayout, code refactoring) or hardware (caching, prefetching). We describe methods for signature visualization, interpretation, and quantitative comparison of signatures. We evaluate our methodology using applications with variants that contrast data structures, data layouts and algorithms. We show that spatial-temporal affinity analysis provides novel insights and enables predictive reasoning about application performance when contrasted with reuse distance analysis.

Suriyakumar, Yasodhadevi↗

PeleC [SWR-17-35]

PeleC is an adaptive-mesh compressible hydrodynamics code for reacting flows. It solves the compressible Navier-Stokes with multispecies transport in a block structured framework. The resulting algorithm is well suited for flows with localized resolution requirements and robust to discontinuities. User controllable refinement crieteria has the potential to result in extremely small numerical dissipation and dispersion, making this code appropriate for both research and applied usage. The code is built on the AMReX library which facilitates hierarchical parallelism and manages distributed memory parallism. PeleC algorithms are implemented to express shared memory parallelism.

Source record↗

On polarimetric radar signatures of deep convection for model evaluation: columns of specific differential phase observed during MC3E

The representation of deep convection in general circulation models is in part informed by cloud-resolving models (CRMs) that function at higher spatial and temporal resolution; however, recent studies have shown that CRMs often fail at capturing the details of deep convection updrafts. With the goal of providing constraint on CRM simulation of deep convection updrafts, ground-based remote sensing observations are analyzed and statistically correlated for four deep convection events observed during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). Since positive values of specific differential phase observed above the melting level are associated with deep convection updraft cells, so-called columns are analyzed using two scanning polarimetric radars in Oklahoma: the National Weather Service Vance WSR-88D (KVNX) and the Department of Energy C-band Scanning Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Precipitation Radar (C-SAPR). KVNX and C-SAPR volumes and columns are then statistically correlated with vertical winds retrieved via multi-Doppler wind analysis, lightning flash activity derived from the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array, and KVNX differential reflectivity . Results indicate strong correlations of volume above the melting level with updraft mass flux, lightning flash activity, and intense rainfall. Analysis of columns reveals signatures of changing updraft properties from one storm event to another as well as during event evolution. Comparison of to shows commonalities in information content of each, as well as potential problems with associated with observational artifacts.

Atm↗

General algorithm for characterization of donor-acceptor pair recombination processes in solid-state materials

Radiative recombination processes can occur in solid-state systems through the pairing of donor and acceptor defects of the lattice. Recently, donor-acceptor pairs (DAP) have been proposed as promising candidates for quantum applications, and their signature has been observed in emerging low-dimensional materials. Therefore, the identification of such processes is gaining interest and requires methods to efficiently and reliably characterize them. Here, we introduce a general algorithm to identify DAP processes starting from the experimental photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum and basic material parameters, including the lattice structure and dielectric constant. The algorithm recognizes possible DAP transitions from the emission pattern in the spectrum and returns the characteristic energy of the DAP transition and the separation between the donor and acceptor sites. By testing the algorithm on the photoluminescence spectrum of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), we show that our method is robust against experimental errors and adds new capabilities to the investigation toolbox of semiconductors and their optical properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Milestone Completion Report WBS 1.3.5.05 ECP/VTK-m FY17Q4 [MS-17/03-06] Key Reduce / Spatial Division / Basic Advect / Normals STDA05-4.

The FY17Q4 milestone of the ECP/VTK-m project includes the completion of a key-reduce scheduling mechanism, a spatial division algorithm, an algorithm for basic particle advection, and the computation of smoothed surface normals. With the completion of this milestone, we are able to, respectively, more easily group like elements (a common visualization algorithm operation), provide the fundamentals for geometric search structures, provide the fundamentals for many flow visualization algorithms, and provide more realistic rendering of surfaces approximated with facets.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MetaHeuristic Feature Selection for Energy Group Optimization and Analysis

Energy discretization is a crucial component of deterministic neutron transport simulations. Metaheuristic (MH) optimizers are effective algorithms to determine group structures that maximize both solution accuracy and computational efficiency. This project establishes a framework for optimizing group structures for PARTISN simulations using the Python library MEALPY. Group structure optimization is formulated as a binary feature selection problem, and results are investigated with permutation and material importance techniques to determine physically relevant energy bounds. We conclude that MH optimizers find group structures that drastically improve flux calculations while preserving k-effective accuracy. Further, we find that individual energy bounds are not necessarily physically relevant, but rather specific energy ranges are.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗