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Epi Archive: Automated Synthesis of Global Notifiable Disease Data

ObjectiveLANL has built software that automatically collects global notifiable disease data, synthesizes the data, and makes it available to humans and computers within the Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) as a novel data stream. These data have many applications including improving the prediction and early warning of disease events.IntroductionMost countries do not report national notifiable disease data in a machine-readable format. Data are often in the form of a file that contains text, tables and graphs summarizing weekly or monthly disease counts. This presents a problem when information is needed for more data intensive approaches to epidemiology, biosurveillance and public health.While most nations likely store incident data in a machine-readable format, governments are often hesitant to share data openly for a variety of reasons that include technical, political, economic, and motivational issues1.A survey conducted by LANL of notifiable disease data reporting in over fifty countries identified only a few websites that report data in a machine-readable format. The majority (>70%) produce reports as PDF files on a regular basis. The bulk of the PDF reports present data in a structured tabular format, while some report in natural language.The structure and format of PDF reports change often; this adds to the complexity of identifying and parsing the desired data. Not all websites publish in English, and it is common to find typos and clerical errors.LANL has developed a tool, Epi Archive, to collect global notifiable disease data automatically and continuously and make it uniform and readily accessible.MethodsWe conducted a survey of the national notifiable disease reporting systems notating how the data are reported and in what formats. We determined the minimal metadata that is required to contextualize incident counts properly, as well as optional metadata that is commonly found.The development of software to regularly ingest notifiable disease data and make it available involves three or four main steps: scraping, detecting, parsing and persisting.Scraping: we examine website design and determine reporting mechanisms for each country/website, as well as what varies across the reporting mechanisms. We then designed and wrote code to automate the downloading of the data for each country. We store all artifacts presented as files (PDF, XLSX, etc.) in their original form, along with appropriate metadata for parsing and data provenance.Detecting: This step is required when parsing structured non-machine-readable data such as tabular data in PDF files. We combined the Nurminen methodology of PDF table detection with in-house heuristics to find the desired data within PDF reports2.Parsing: We determined what to extract from each dataset and parsed these data into uniform data structures, correctly accommodating the variations in metadata (e.g., time interval definitions) and the various human languages.Persisting: We store the data in the Epi Archive database and make it available on the internet and through the BSVE. The data is persisted into a structured and normalized SQL database.ResultsThe Epi Archive tool currently contains national and/or subnational notifiable disease data from twenty nations. When a user accesses the Epi Archive site, they are prompted with four fields: country, subregion, disease of interest, and date duration. Upon form submission, a time series is generated from the users’ specifications. The generated graph can then be downloaded into a CSV file if a user is interested in performing personal analysis. Additionally, the data from Epi Archive can be reached through a REST API (Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface).ConclusionsLANL, as part of a currently funded DTRA effort, is automatically and continually collecting global notifiable disease data. While 20 nations are in production, more are being brought online in the near future. These data are already being utilized and will have many applications including improving the prediction and early warning of disease events.References[1] van Panhuis WG, Paul P, Emerson C, et al. A systematic review of barriers to data sharing in public health. BMC Public Health. 2014. 14:1144. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1144[2] Nurminen, Anssi. "Algorithmic extraction of data in tables in PDF documents." (2013).

Khalsa, Hari S.↗

UPC++ as_eager Working Group Draft, Revision 2020.6.2

This draft proposes an extension for a new future-based completion variant that can be more effectively streamlined for RMA and atomic access operations that happen to be satisfied at runtime using purely node-local resources. Many such operations are most efficiently performed synchronously using load/store instructions on shared-memory mappings, where the actual access may only require a few CPU instructions. In such cases we believe it’s critical to minimize the overheads imposed by the UPC++ runtime and completion queues, in order to enable efficient operation on hierarchical node hardware using shared-memory bypass. The new upcxx::{source,operation}_cx::as_eager_future() completion variant accomplishes this goal by relaxing the current restriction that future-returning access operations must return a non-ready future whose completion is deferred until a subsequent explicit invocation of user-level progress. This relaxation allows access operations that are completed synchronously to instead return a ready future, thereby avoiding most or all of the runtime costs associated with deferment of future completion and subsequent mandatory entry into the progress engine. We additionally propose to make this new as_eager_future() completion variant the new default completion for communication operations that currently default to returning a future. This should encourage use of the streamlined variant, and may provide performance improvements to some codes without source changes. A mechanism is proposed to restore the legacy behavior on-demand for codes that might happen to rely on deferred completion for correctness. Finally, we propose a new as_eager_promise() completion variant that extends analogous improvements to promise-based completion, and corresponding changes to the default behavior of as_promise().

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Enabling end-to-end secure federated learning in biomedical research on heterogeneous computing environments with APPFLx

Facilitating large-scale, cross-institutional collaboration in biomedical machine learning (ML) projects requires a trustworthy and resilient federated learning (FL) environment to ensure that sensitive information such as protected health information is kept confidential. Specifically designed for this purpose, this work introduces APPFLx - a low-code, easy-to-use FL framework that enables easy setup, configuration, and running of FL experiments. APPFLx removes administrative boundaries of research organizations and healthcare systems while providing secure end-to-end communication, privacy-preserving functionality, and identity management. Furthermore, it is completely agnostic to the underlying computational infrastructure of participating clients, allowing an instantaneous deployment of this framework into existing computing infrastructures. Experimentally, the utility of APPFLx is demonstrated in two case studies: (1) predicting participant age from electrocardiogram (ECG) waveforms, and (2) detecting COVID-19 disease from chest radiographs. Here, ML models were securely trained across heterogeneous computing resources, including a combination of on-premise high-performance computing and cloud computing facilities. By securely unlocking data from multiple sources for training without directly sharing it, these FL models enhance generalizability and performance compared to centralized training models while ensuring data remains protected. In conclusion, APPFLx demonstrated itself as an easy-to-use framework for accelerating biomedical studies across organizations and healthcare systems on large datasets while maintaining the protection of private medical data.

Biomedical Research↗

Optimal Bayesian supervised domain adaptation for RNA sequencing data

Abstract Motivation When learning to subtype complex disease based on next-generation sequencing data, the amount of available data is often limited. Recent works have tried to leverage data from other domains to design better predictors in the target domain of interest with varying degrees of success. But they are either limited to the cases requiring the outcome label correspondence across domains or cannot leverage the label information at all. Moreover, the existing methods cannot usually benefit from other information available a priori such as gene interaction networks. Results In this article, we develop a generative optimal Bayesian supervised domain adaptation (OBSDA) model that can integrate RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data from different domains along with their labels for improving prediction accuracy in the target domain. Our model can be applied in cases where different domains share the same labels or have different ones. OBSDA is based on a hierarchical Bayesian negative binomial model with parameter factorization, for which the optimal predictor can be derived by marginalization of likelihood over the posterior of the parameters. We first provide an efficient Gibbs sampler for parameter inference in OBSDA. Then, we leverage the gene-gene network prior information and construct an informed and flexible variational family to infer the posterior distributions of model parameters. Comprehensive experiments on real-world RNA-Seq data demonstrate the superior performance of OBSDA, in terms of accuracy in identifying cancer subtypes by utilizing data from different domains. Moreover, we show that by taking advantage of the prior network information we can further improve the performance. Availability and implementation The source code for implementations of OBSDA and SI-OBSDA are available at the following link. https://github.com/SHBLK/BSDA. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology↗

Reduced-model scrape-off layer turbulence (nSOLT) simulations comparing three fueling scenarios

The 2D scrape-off-layer turbulence code (nSOLT) includes 1D Boltzmann neutral–plasma interactions, a model of divertor recycling (introduced here), and a fixed source of plasma concentrated at the core-side boundary. Three fueling methods are considered herein: (1) neutral injection in the far-SOL is accomplished by specifying the density of Franck–Condon distributed neutrals streaming in from the boundary. (2) Divertor recycling is modeled by injecting a fraction of the particle parallel flux in the scrape-off layer (SOL) back into the edge region as a source of plasma. (3) A constant source fuels the edge plasma from the core-side boundary to model pellet injection. For machine parameters (B, R m , and L // ) illustrative of the MAST-U device, and for a deuterium plasma, turbulent equilibria are obtained that share the same plasma fueling rate for each of the three fueling methods, with only one of the sources on in each case. In the presence of self-consistent turbulence, quasi-steady plasma and neutral (deuterium) profiles, fueling efficiencies, SOL transparencies, and heat flux widths are compared. Characteristics of the turbulent fluctuations, including skewness, cross-phases, and power spectra, are described. The calculated fueling efficiencies, SOL transparencies to neutral penetration, and many of the turbulent properties are remarkably similar for all three fueling methods despite significant differences in the plasma profiles. The nonlinear states of the three cases are dominated by separatrix-spanning vortex cells that control particle and heat losses into the SOL.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Priority-enabled Load Balancing for Dispersed Computing

Opportunistic managed access to local in-network compute resources can improve the performance of distributed applications and reduce the dependence on shared network resources. Instead of backhauling application data to a centralized cloud data center for processing, networked services may be adaptively and continuously dispersed into shared compute resources that are closer to the source of need. While this approach has several benefits, support for mission-aware access to computation is often an afterthought, and is implemented as a brittle extension over traditional load-balancer solutions.In this work, we investigate the design of two priority-aware resource allocation strategies and two load-balancing dispatching strategies as first class citizens in an open-source dispersed computing middleware. We present a control theoretic analysis of these load-balancing primitives to identify weaknesses and strengths in our design, and recommend future directions. In parallel, we prototype two priority-aware allocation algorithms to validate our priority predictions. In initial experiments our prototype shows substantial gains in processing prioritized load. Finally, we make our source-code and experimental configurations open source.

Paulos, Aaron↗

Epi Archive: automated data collection of notifiable disease data

LANL has built a software program that automatically collects global notifiable disease data—particularly data stored in files—and makes it available and shareable within the Biosurveillance Ecosystem(BSVE) as a new data source. This will improve the prediction and early warning of disease events and other applications. Most countries do not report national notifiable disease data in a machine-readable format. Data are often in the form of a file that contains text, tables and graphs summarizing weekly or monthly disease counts. This presents a problem when information is needed for more data intensive approaches to epidemiology, biosurveillance and public health as exemplified by the Biosurveillance Ecosystem(BSVE).While most nations do likely store their data in a machine-readable format, the governments are often hesitant to share data openly for a variety of reasons that include technical, political, economic, and motivational issues. For example, an attempt by LANL to obtain a weekly version of openly available monthly data, reported by the Australian government, resulted in an onerous bureaucratic reply. The obstacles to obtaining data included: paperwork to request data from each of the Australian states and territories, a long delay to obtain data (up to 3 months) and extensive limitations on the data’s use that prohibit collaboration and sharing. This type of experience when attempting to contact public health departments or ministries of health for data is not uncommon. A survey conducted by LANL of notifiable disease data reporting in 52 countries identified only 10 as being machine-readable and 42 being reported in pdf files on a regular basis. Within the 42 nations that report in pdf files, 32 report in a structured, tabular format and10 in a non-structured way. As a result, LANL has developed a tool-Epi Archive (formerly known as EPIC)-to automatically and continuously collect global notifiable disease data and make it readily accessible. We conducted a survey of the national notifiable disease reporting systems notating how the data is reported in two important dimensions: date standards and case definitions. The development of software to regularly ingests notifiable disease data frand makes this data available involved four main steps scraping, extracting, parsing and persisting. For scraping: we would examine website designs and determine reporting mechanisms for each country/website as well as what varies across the reporting mechanisms. We then designed and wrote code to automate the downloading of report pdf files, for each country. We stored report pdfs along with appropriate metadata for extracting and parsing. For extracting: we developed software that can extract notifiable disease data presented in tabular form from a pdf file. We combined the methodology of figure placement detection with the in-house developed table extraction and annotation heuristics. For parsing: we determined what to extract from each pdf dataset from the survey conducted. We then parsed the extracted data into uniform data structures correctly accommodating the dimensions surveyed and the various human languages. This task involved ingesting notifiable disease data in many disparate formats extracted from pdf files and coalescing the data into a standardized format. For persisting: We then store the data in the Epi Archive PostgreSQL database and make it available through the BSVE. The EpiArchive tool currently contains subnational notifiable disease data from 10 nations. When a user accesses the EpiArchive site, they are prompted with four fields: country, region, disease, and date duration. These fields allow the user to specify the location(down to the state level), the disease of interest, and the duration of interest. Upon form submission, a time series is generated from the users’ specifications. The generated time series can then be downloaded into a csv file if a user is interested in performing personal analysis. Additionally, the data from EpiArchive can be reached through an API. LANL as part of a currently funded DTRA effort so that it will automatically and continuously collect global notifiable disease data—particularly data stored in pdf files—and make it available and shareable within the Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) as a new data source. This will provide data to analytics and users that will improve the prediction and early warning of disease events and other applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and theoretical investigations of the effect of extended ligands in potassium organic matter interaction

Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient for plant growth, and despite its abundance in soil, most of the K is structurally bound in minerals, limiting its bioavailability and making this soil K reservoir largely inaccessible to plants. Microbial biochemical weathering has been shown to be a promising pathway to sustainably increase plant available K. However, the mechanisms underpinning microbial K uptake, transformation, storage, and sharing are poorly resolved. Here, to better understand the controls on microbial K transformations, we performed K K-edge x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy on K-organic salts, including acetate, citrate, nitrate, oxalate, and tartrate, which are frequently observed as low molecular weight organic acids secreted by soil microbes, as well as humic acid, which acts as a proxy for higher molecular weight organic acids. The organic salts display feature-rich K XANES spectra, each demonstrating numerous unique features spanning ~13 eV range across the absorption edge. In contrast, the spectra for humic acid have one broad, wide feature across the same energy range. We used a combination of time-dependent density functional theory and the Bethe–Salpeter equation based approach within the OCEAN code to simulate the experimental spectra for K-nitrate (KNO 3 ) and K-citrate [K 3 (C 6 H 5 O 7 )·H 2 O] to identify the electronic transitions that give rise to some of the outlying and unique spectral features in the organic salts. KNO 3 has both the lowest and highest lying energy features, and K 3 (C 6 H 5 O 7 )·H 2 O is produced by several soil microbes and is effective at mineral weathering. Our results analyze the K-organic salt bonding in detail to elucidate why the spectral shapes differ and indicate that the K K-edge XANES spectra are associated with the entire ligand despite similar first-shell bonding environments around the K center. The improved understanding of K bonding environments with organic ligands and their use for interpretation of the K-XANES spectra provides an important toolkit to understand how K is transformed by microbial processes and made bioavailable for plant uptake.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Final Assembly and Factory Testing of the Jefferson Lab SHMS Spectrometer Quadrupole and Dipole Superconducting Magnets

Jefferson Lab is constructing an 11 Gev/c electron spectrometer called the Super High Momentum Spectrometer (SHMS) as part of the 12 GeV JLAB upgrade for experimental Hall C. Three of the five superconducting(SC) SHMS magnets are under construction at SigmaPhi in Vannes France as a result of an international competition for design and fabrication. The three magnets Q2 and Q3 60 cm bore quadrupoles and the 60 cm warm bore dipole are complete or near complete and have many design features in common. All three magnets share a common superconductor, collaring system, cryostat design, cold to warm support, cryogenic interface, burnout resistant current leads, DC power supply, quench protection, instrumentation and controls. The three magnets are collared, installed in cryostats and welded up and in various stages of final testing. The Q2 quadrupole is due to ship from France to America in August arriving during this ASC conference and has passed all final hipot, leak and pressure tests. The dipole is in leak and pressure testing as of July 2016 while the Q3 quadrupole requires some outer vacuum vessel assembly. Delivery of the Q3 and Dipole magnets will follow the Q2 at about 1 month intervals. Lastly, factory testing have included hipot and electrical tests, magnetic tests at low field, mechanical alignments to center the coils, leak tests and ASME Code required pressure tests. Upon installation in Hall C at JLAB cold testing will commence.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Automating linear accelerator quality assurance

Purpose: The purpose of this study was 2-fold. One purpose was to develop an automated, streamlined quality assurance (QA) program for use by multiple centers. The second purpose was to evaluate machine performance over time for multiple centers using linear accelerator (Linac) log files and electronic portal images. The authors sought to evaluate variations in Linac performance to establish as a reference for other centers. Methods: The authors developed analytical software tools for a QA program using both log files and electronic portal imaging device (EPID) measurements. The first tool is a general analysis tool which can read and visually represent data in the log file. This tool, which can be used to automatically analyze patient treatment or QA log files, examines the files for Linac deviations which exceed thresholds. The second set of tools consists of a test suite of QA fields, a standard phantom, and software to collect information from the log files on deviations from the expected values. The test suite was designed to focus on the mechanical tests of the Linac to include jaw, MLC, and collimator positions during static, IMRT, and volumetric modulated arc therapy delivery. A consortium of eight institutions delivered the test suite at monthly or weekly intervals on each Linac using a standard phantom. The behavior of various components was analyzed for eight TrueBeam Linacs. Results: For the EPID and trajectory log file analysis, all observed deviations which exceeded established thresholds for Linac behavior resulted in a beam hold off. In the absence of an interlock-triggering event, the maximum observed log file deviations between the expected and actual component positions (such as MLC leaves) varied from less than 1% to 26% of published tolerance thresholds. The maximum and standard deviations of the variations due to gantry sag, collimator angle, jaw position, and MLC positions are presented. Gantry sag among Linacs was 0.336 ± 0.072 mm. The standard deviation in MLC position, as determined by EPID measurements, across the consortium was 0.33 mm for IMRT fields. With respect to the log files, the deviations between expected and actual positions for parameters were small (<0.12 mm) for all Linacs. Considering both log files and EPID measurements, all parameters were well within published tolerance values. Variations in collimator angle, MLC position, and gantry sag were also evaluated for all Linacs. Conclusions: The performance of the TrueBeam Linac model was shown to be consistent based on automated analysis of trajectory log files and EPID images acquired during delivery of a standardized test suite. The results can be compared directly to tolerance thresholds. In addition, sharing of results from standard tests across institutions can facilitate the identification of QA process and Linac changes. These reference values are presented along with the standard deviation for common tests so that the test suite can be used by other centers to evaluate their Linac performance against those in this consortium.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MatLab Package for Whispering Gallery Mode Data

Dye-doped whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR) microspheres yield highly structured emission spectra that are extremely sensitive to their environment and are of intense interest for use in a variety of sensing applications. Efforts to leverage the unique sensitivities of WGMRs have relied on stringent experimental requirements to correlate specific spectral shifts/changes to an analyte/stimulus such as 1) precise positional knowledge, 2) reference spectra for each microsphere, and 3) high mechanical stability. Consequently, these can hinder adequate mixing or incorporation of analytes and creates challenges for remote sensing. The MATLAB codes provided here are to be used in conjunction with a continuous flow technique for measuring WGM spectra of dye-doped microspheres suspended in solution. One MATLAB script, smooths the data, automatically baseline corrects it to isolate the whispering gallery modes (WGM) from the unwanted bulk emission, and assesses the similarity of each spectrum to aid in selecting a set of unique WGM spectra for further analysis. The next script is designed to analyze WGM spectra to determine the size of the resonator and the refractive index (RI) of its local environment without a priori knowledge of the individual microsphere. The final script allows the user to cluster spheres based on the product of their RI and radius and the contrast ratio of the RI of the sphere material and that of its environment by using a shared nearest neighbor spectral clustering algorithm.

Lilley, Laura↗

Optimization of Asynchronous Communication Operations through Eager Notifications

UPC++ is a C++ library implementing the Asynchronous Partitioned Global Address Space (APGAS) model. We propose an enhancement to the completion mechanisms of UPC++ used to synchronize communication operations that is designed to reduce overhead for on-node operations. Our enhancement permits eager delivery of completion notification in cases where the data transfer semantics of an operation happen to complete synchronously, for example due to the use of shared-memory bypass. This semantic relaxation allows removing significant overhead from the critical path of the implementation in such cases. We evaluate our results on three different representative systems using a combination of microbenchmarks and five variations of the the HPCChallenge RandomAccess benchmark implemented in UPC++ and run on a single node to accentuate the impact of locality. We find that in RMA versions of the benchmark written in a straightforward manner (without manually optimizing for locality), the new eager notification mode can provide up to a 25% speedup when synchronizing with promises and up to a 13.5x speedup when synchronizing with conjoined futures. We also evaluate our results using a graph matching application written with UPC++ RMA communication, where we measure overall speedups of as much as 11% in single-node runs of the unmodified application code, due to our transparent enhancements.

Kamil, Amir↗

Codes Don't Always Get Enforced, But Contracts Do: Changing the Procurement Paradigm to Drive Building Energy Performance

New construction could account for more than 25% of the U.S. energy consumption by 2030. Millions of square feet are built every year that will not perform as expected - despite advancing codes, rating systems, super-efficient technologies, and advanced utility programs. With retrofits of these under-performers decades away, savings potential will be lost for years to come. Only the building owner is in the driver's seat to demand - and verify - higher-performing buildings. Yet our current policy and market interventions really target the design team, not the owner. Accelerate Performance, a U.S. Department of Energy funded initiative, is changing the building procurement approach to drive deeper, verified savings in three pilot states: Illinois, Minnesota, and Connecticut. Performance-based procurement ties energy performance to design and contractor team compensation while freeing them to meet energy targets with strategies most familiar to them. The process teases out the creativity of the design and contracting teams to deliver energy performance - without driving up the construction cost. The paper will share early results and lessons learned from new procurement and contract approaches in government, public, and private sector building projects. The paper provides practical guidance for building owners, facilities managers, design, and contractor teams who wish to incorporate effective performance-based procurement for deeper energy savings in their buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Dial

A key step in almost all scientific endeavors is answering the question: Given this data I already collected, what new data do I expect will yield the most useful information toward my scientific objective? The area of (sequential) experimental design has long been investigating answers to this question, but in recent years techniques from the machine learning subfield of active learning are increasingly applied. Researchers need a simple software tool for active learning applied to experimental design that can easily integrate into their existing workflows. This computer code, Dial, provides a microservice in ORNL's INTERSECT ecosystem for active learning applied to experimental design. By being part of the INTERSECT ecosystem, Dial is simple to integrate into any INTERSECT-based workflow. Dial provides multiple backend options, where a backend is an implementation of a specific active learning method. Users can select the backend that performs best for their application. Developers can also add new backends as needed. At its core, Dial receives a set of pre-existing measurements and input parameter bounds and then recommends one or more new sets of parameters to measure. Dial also includes interfaces to other microservices in the INTERSECT ecosystem so that it can be incorporated into INTERSECT campaigns. Dial provides a simple, yet powerful interface to convert automated INTERSECT workflows into autonomous workflows that adapt based on the results that are obtained. A shared microservice for active learning prevents duplicated effort by each application team implementing its own adaptive design of experiments tool.

Drane, Lance [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)↗

Receiver willingness to participate in off-hour service programs

Service trips, a frequently overlooked segment of urban traffic, represent a disproportionately large share of the negative impacts associated with commercial activity. The reason is that although service trips are less frequent than freight trips, they often take longer and thus occupy a significant share of commercial parking. Demand management programs seeking to move service trips off-hours can potentially reduce congestion and emissions but they have been understudied. Here, this paper describes research conducted to investigate receivers’ willingness to participate in off-hour programs for planned service activity. The research reported in this paper analyzes results from a survey of 189 business establishments in New York City and the Capital Region in New York State using descriptive analyses of the data, and by estimating a discrete choice model to gain insight into how business characteristics influence willingness to participate in off-hour services. To assess the impacts of a hypothetical off-hour services program, the authors applied the discrete choice model, together with service trip attraction models, to quantify the hours of daytime parking that could be eliminated by the proposed program in certain ZIP Codes in New York City and the Albany area. The research conducted led to the identification of numerous policy implications that will help policymakers understand and maximize the potential benefits of implementing off-hour service programs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

GeantV alpha release

In the fall 2016, GeantV went through a thorough community evaluation of the project status and of its strategy for sharing the R&D results with the LHC experiments and with the HEP simulation community in general. Following this discussion, GeantV has engaged onto an ambitious 2-year road-path aiming to deliver a beta version that has most of the final design and several performance features of the final product, partially integrated with some of the experiment’s frameworks. The initial GeantV prototype has been updated to a vector-aware concurrent framework, which is able to deliver high-density floating-point computations for most of the performance-critical components such as propagation in field and physics models. Electromagnetic physics models were adapted for the specific GeantV requirements, aiming for the full demonstration of shower physics performance in the alpha release at the end of 2017. We have revisited and formalized GeantV user interfaces and helper protocols, allowing to: connect to user code, provide recipes to access efficiently MC truth and generate user data in a concurrent environment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

JTAG-based PLC memory acquisition framework for industrial control systems

In industrial control systems (ICS), programmable logic controllers (PLC) are the embedded devices that directly control and monitor critical industrial infrastructure processes such as nuclear plants and power grid stations. Cyberattacks often target PLCs to sabotage a physical process. A memory forensic analysis of a suspect PLC can answer questions about an attack, including compromised firmware and manipulation of PLC control logic code and I/O devices. Given physical access to a PLC, collecting forensic information from the PLC memory at the hardware-level is risky and challenging. It may cause the PLC to crash or hang since PLCs have proprietary, legacy hardware with heterogeneous architecture. This paper addresses this research problem and proposes a novel JTAG (Joint Test Action Group)-based framework, Kyros, for reliable PLC memory acquisition. Kyros systematically creates a JTAG profile of a PLC through hardware assessment, JTAG pins identification, memory map creation, and optimizing acquisition parameters. It also facilitates the community of interest (such as ICS owners, operators, and vendors) to develop the JTAG profiles of PLCs. Further, we present a case study of Kyros implementation over Allen-Bradley 1756-A10/B to help understand the framework's application on a real-world PLC used in industry settings. The sample PLC memory dumps are shared with the research community to facilitate further research.

Rais, Muhammad Haris↗