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At least 577 records · Page 32

TU-FG-201-11: Evaluating the Validity of Prospective Risk Analysis Methods: A Comparison of Traditional FMEA and Modified Healthcare FMEA

Purpose: To examine the ability of traditional Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and a light version of Healthcare FMEA (HFMEA), called Scenario analysis of FMEA (SAFER) by comparing their outputs in terms of the risks identified and their severity rankings. Methods: We applied two prospective methods of the quality management to surface image guided, linac-based radiosurgery (SIG-RS). For the traditional FMEA, decisions on how to improve an operation are based on risk priority number (RPN). RPN is a product of three indices: occurrence, severity and detectability. The SAFER approach; utilized two indices-frequency and severity-which were defined by a multidisciplinary team. A criticality matrix was divided into 4 categories; very low, low, high and very high. For high risk events, an additional evaluation was performed. Based upon the criticality of the process, it was decided if additional safety measures were needed and what they comprise. Results: Two methods were independently compared to determine if the results and rated risks were matching or not. Our results showed an agreement of 67% between FMEA and SAFER approaches for the 15 riskiest SIG-specific failure modes. The main differences between the two approaches were the distribution of the values and the failure modes (No.52, 54, 154) that have high SAFER scores do not necessarily have high FMEA RPN scores. In our results, there were additional risks identified by both methods with little correspondence. In the SAFER, when the risk score is determined, the basis of the established decision tree or the failure mode should be more investigated. Conclusion: The FMEA method takes into account the probability that an error passes without being detected. SAFER is inductive because it requires the identification of the consequences from causes, and semi-quantitative since it allow the prioritization of risks and mitigation measures, and thus is perfectly applicable to clinical parts of radiotherapy.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Direct constraint on the Higgs–charm coupling from a search for Higgs boson decays into charm quarks with the ATLAS detector

A search for the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of charm quarks is presented. The analysis uses proton–proton collisions to target the production of a Higgs boson in association with a leptonically decaying W or Z boson. The dataset delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb -1 . Flavour-tagging algorithms are used to identify jets originating from the hadronisation of charm quarks. The analysis method is validated with the simultaneous measurement of WW, WZ and ZZ production, with observed (expected) significances of 2.6 (2.2) standard deviations above the background-only prediction for the $(W/Z)Z( → c\bar{c})$ process and 3.8 (4.6) standard deviations for the $(W/Z)W(→cq)$ process. The $(W/Z)Z( → c\bar{c})$ search yields an observed (expected) upper limit of 26 (31) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section times branching fraction for a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV, corresponding to an observed (expected) constraint on the charm Yukawa coupling modifier |$k_c$| < 8.5 (12.4), at the 95% confidence level. A combination with the ATLAS $(W/Z)H,H → b\bar{b}$ analysis is performed, allowing the ratio $k_c/k_b$ to be constrained to less than 4.5 at the 95% confidence level, smaller than the ratio of the b- and c-quark masses, and therefore determines the Higgs-charm coupling to be weaker than the Higgs-bottom coupling at the 95% confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Demonstration of neutron identification in neutrino interactions in the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber

A significant challenge in measurements of neutrino oscillations is reconstructing the incoming neutrino energies. While modern fully-active tracking calorimeters such as liquid argon time projection chambers in principle allow the measurement of all final state particles above some detection threshold, undetected neutrons remain a considerable source of missing energy with little to no data constraining their production rates and kinematics. We present the first demonstration of tagging neutrino-induced neutrons in liquid argon time projection chambers using secondary protons emitted from neutron-argon interactions in the MicroBooNE detector. We describe the method developed to identify neutrino-induced neutrons and demonstrate its performance using neutrons produced in muon-neutrino charged current interactions. The method is validated using a small subset of MicroBooNE’s total dataset. The selection yields a sample with 60% of selected tracks corresponding to neutron-induced secondary protons. At this purity, the integrated efficiency is 8.4% for neutrons that produce a detectable proton.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

BESTEST-GSR (Building Energy Simulation Test - Generation Simulation and Reporting) [SWR 18-23]

Building Energy Simulation Test (BESTEST) is an NREL-developed method to validate the qualitative performance of different whole building simulations engines relative to each other. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/6231.pdf For EnergyPlus® and OpenStudio®, generation of test cases, simulation, and reporting has been a manual or partially automated process that typically took a number of months after a new version of EnergyPlus came out. Building Energy Simulation Test - Generation Simulation and Reporting (BESTEST-GSR) was developed to fully automate this process so it is less error-prone, less time-consuming, and can be quickly run on request for any development branch of EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. The initial use case is to directly support OpenStudio and EnergyPlus development, but the software is configured to support use by external software developers that build tools on top of EnergyPlus and/or OpenStudio. Tools built on top of OpenStudio can leverage the test generation, simulation, and reporting, while tools built on EnergyPlus can leverage the test simulation and reporting. The model generation is accomplished by running OpenStudio measures for envelope, heating, or cooling test cases. At this stage the specified weather file required for a specific test case is assigned to the model. Simulation is enabled using the OpenStudio Command Line Interface (CLI) to run a series of OpenStudio and Reporting measures to a specified seed model. The specified workflow is defined with an OpenStudio OSW file. The first measure generates the test case model, while the second measure is a reporting measure that runs after the simulation to collect necessary simulation results from the EnergyPlus SQL file. The Reporting stage gathers data from individual OpenStudio OSW files and populates a series of BESTEST Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. BESTEST-GSR also gathers zip files from individual simulations for diagnostic purposes.

Goldwasser, David↗

LoTToR: An Algorithm for Missing-Wedge Correction of the Low-Tilt Tomographic 3D Reconstruction of a Single-Molecule Structure (LoTToR) v1.0

The low-tilt tomographic reconstruction (LoTToR) method is a post-processing method to correct the missing-wedge artifact, which contains a model-free iteration process under a set of constraints in real and reciprocal spaces. A proof of concept is conducted by using the LoTToR on a phantom, i.e., a simulated 3D reconstruction from a low-tilt series of images, including that within a tilt range of ±15°. The method is validated by using both negative-staining (NS) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) experimental data. A significantly reduced missing-wedge artifact verifies the capability of LoTToR, suggesting a new tool to support the future study of macromolecular dynamics, fluctuation and chemical activity from the viewpoint of single-molecule 3D structure determination. Moreover, the software can be used for hospital computer tomography (CT) to reduce the radiation damage to patients without reducing the CT image quality.

Ren, Gang↗

BESTEST-GSR (Building Energy Simulation Test - Generation Simulation and Reporting) 2023 [SWR 18-23]

Building Energy Simulation Test (BESTEST) is an NREL-developed method to validate the qualitative performance of different whole building simulations engines relative to each other. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/6231.pdf The purpose of this repository is to generate BESTEST test case models, run simulations, and populate data for ASHRAE Standard 140 reporting spreadsheets for EnergyPlus® based whole building simulation tools. It was originally setup for 2014 version of Standard 140. In May of 2022 it was updated to the 2020 version of Standard 140. This update included updates and additions to existing test suites, the bulk of which was in Section 5.2 (Building Thermal Envelope and Fabric Load Tests). We did not add Section 5.5 Airside HVAC Equipment Performance, but we hope to add that later in 2022. At some point we also hope to add Section 5.2.4 ground modeling, which is currently excluded. Supported Tools The default IDF generation is based on the OpenStudio® CLI, but the workflow supports a 'Bring your own IDF' use case. Additionally, for non-EnergyPlus® based tools the post processing scripts can be used if simulation results are provided as a CSV file.The scripts on this repository should work on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Dependencies Install OpenStudio® 3.4.0 make sure command line can recognize the 'openstudio' command This includes EnergyPlus® 22.1 Install Ruby on your system if it isn't already setup. 2.7 is used for development but other versions may work Since OpenStudio has its own embedded Ruby, which is used for running measures, you don't necessarily have to use a version of Ruby supported by OpenStudio. Install RubyXL Ruby gem This is used to modify Microsoft Excel spreadsheets Install Parallel Ruby gem This allows the CLI to run simulations in parallel

Goldwasser, David↗

Improved Prediction of Cold-Air Pools in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model Using a Truly Horizontal Diffusion Scheme for Potential Temperature

The terrain-following vertical coordinate system used by many atmospheric models, including the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, is prone to errors in regions of complex terrain. These errors stem, in part, from the calculation of horizontal gradients within the diffusion term of the momentum or scalar evolution equations. In WRF, such gradients can be calculated along coordinate surfaces, or using metric terms that help account for grid skewness. However, neither of these options ensures a truly horizontal gradient calculation, especially if a grid cell is skewed enough that the heights of the neighboring grid points used in the calculation fall outside the vertical range of the cell. In this work, an improved scheme that uses Taylor series approximations to vertically interpolate variables to the level necessary for a truly horizontal gradient calculation is implemented in WRF for the diffusion of potential temperature. The scheme is validated using an atmosphere-at-rest configuration, in which spurious flows develop only as a result of numerical errors and can thus be used as a proxy for model performance. Following validation, the method is applied to the simulation of cold-air pools (CAPs), which occur in regions of complex terrain and are characterized by strong near-surface temperature gradients. Using the truly horizontal scheme, idealized simulations demonstrate reduced numerical mixing in a quiescent CAP, and a realistic case study in the Columbia River basin shows a reduction in positive wind speed bias by up to roughly 20% compared to observations from the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A deep learning-enhanced framework for multiphysics joint inversion

Joint inversion has drawn considerable attention due to the availability of multiple geophysical data sets, ever-increasing computational resources, the development of advanced algorithms, and its ability to reduce inversion uncertainty. A key issue of joint inversion is to develop effective strategies to link different geophysical data in a unified mathematical framework, in which the information obtained from different models can complement each other. We have developed a deep learning-enhanced joint inversion framework to simultaneously reconstruct different physical models by fusing different types of geophysical data. Traditionally, structure similarity constraints are pursued by joint inversion algorithms using manually crafted formulations (e.g., cross gradient). The constraint is constructed by a deep neural network (DNN) during the learning process. The framework is designed to combine the DNN and a traditional independent inversion workflow and improve the joint inversion result iteratively. The network can be easily extended to incorporate multiphysics without structural changes. Numerical experiments on the joint inversion of 2D DC resistivity data and seismic traveltime are used to validate our method. In addition, this learning-based framework demonstrates excellent generalization abilities when tested on data sets using different geologic structures. It also can handle different sensing configurations and nonconforming discretization.

Geochemistry & Geophysics↗

Designing an Optimal Sensor Network via Minimizing Information Loss

Optimal experimental design is a classic topic in statistics, with many well-studied problems, applications, and solutions. The design problem we study is the placement of sensors to monitor spatiotemporal processes, explicitly accounting for the temporal dimension in our modeling and optimization. We observe that recent advancements in computational sciences often yield large datasets based on physics-based simulations, which are rarely leveraged in experimental design. We introduce a novel model-based sensor placement criterion, along with a highly-efficient optimization algorithm, which integrates physics-based simulations and Bayesian experimental design principles to identify sensor networks that “minimize information loss” from simulated data. Our technique relies on sparse variational inference and (separable) Gauss-Markov priors, and thus may adapt many techniques from Bayesian experimental design. We validate our method through a case study monitoring air temperature in Phoenix, Arizona, using state-of-the-art physics-based simulations. Our results show our framework to be superior to random or quasi-random sampling, particularly with a limited number of sensors. We conclude by discussing practical considerations and implications of our framework, including more complex modeling tools and real-world deployments.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Rossi-alpha Uncertainty Quantification by Analytic, Bootstrap, and Sample Methods to Inform Fitting Best Practices

The prompt neutron period (the negative reciprocal of the prompt neutron decay constant) can be estimated using the Rossi-alpha technique that is predicated on fitting Rossi alpha histograms and of interest in nuclear criticality safety and nonproliferation. The histograms are traditionally fit with a one-exponential model; however, recent work has proposed a two-exponential model to account for reflector induced phenomenon. Until recently, the uncertainty quantification for either model was inadequate (inaccurate and demanded large measurement times). Measurement uncertainty quantification by sample and analytic methods was developed and validated in Ref. The purpose of this transaction is to (i) validate a new bootstrap method by comparing bin-by-bin error bar estimates and (ii) demonstrate how to choose bin widths and reset times to optimize precision and accuracy.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

New method for the determination of photoabsorption from transmittance measurements in the extreme ultraviolet

We have developed a new method for the determination of photoabsorption at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths longer than 20 nm, where reliable refractive index values are sparse or non-existent. Our method overcomes the obstacle of multiple reflections that occur inside thin films in this spectral range, which up until now has prevented the accurate determination of photoabsorption from transmittance measurements. We have derived a mathematical expression that is independent of internal reflection amplitudes, while taking advantage of the transmittance oscillations stemming from such reflections. The method is validated on measurements of aluminum thin films. This advance will enable accurate refractive index values for many important materials for optical instrumentation, thus facilitating high-priority research on topics including coherent light sources, planetary and solar physics, and semiconductor manufacturing.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Lineage frequency time series reveal elevated levels of genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England

Genetic drift in infectious disease transmission results from randomness of transmission and host recovery or death. The strength of genetic drift for SARS-CoV-2 transmission is expected to be high due to high levels of superspreading, and this is expected to substantially impact disease epidemiology and evolution. However, we don’t yet have an understanding of how genetic drift changes over time or across locations. Furthermore, noise that results from data collection can potentially confound estimates of genetic drift. To address this challenge, we develop and validate a method to jointly infer genetic drift and measurement noise from time-series lineage frequency data. Our method is highly scalable to increasingly large genomic datasets, which overcomes a limitation in commonly used phylogenetic methods. We apply this method to over 490,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences from England collected between March 2020 and December 2021 by the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium and separately infer the strength of genetic drift for pre-B.1.177, B.1.177, Alpha, and Delta. We find that even after correcting for measurement noise, the strength of genetic drift is consistently, throughout time, higher than that expected from the observed number of COVID-19 positive individuals in England by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude, which cannot be explained by literature values of superspreading. Our estimates of genetic drift suggest low and time-varying establishment probabilities for new mutations, inform the parametrization of SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary models, and motivate future studies of the potential mechanisms for increased stochasticity in this system.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

CTF Validation and Verification Manual

Coolant-Boiling in Rod Arrays- Two Fluids (COBRA-TF) is a Thermal/Hydraulic (T/H) simulation code designed for Light Water Reactor (LWR) analysis. It uses a two-fluid, three-field (i.e. fluid film, fluid drops, and vapor) modeling approach. Both sub-channel and 3D Cartesian forms of nine conservation equations are available for LWR modeling. The code was originally developed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory in 1980 and has been used and modified by several institutions over the last several decades. COBRA-TF is also used at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) by the Reactor Dynamics and Fuel Management Group (RDFMG), and has been improved, updated, and subsequently became the PSU RDFMG version of COBRA-TF (CTF). One part of the improvement process includes validating the methods in CTF. This document seeks to provide a certain level of certainty and confidence in the predictive capabilities of the code for the scenarios it was designed to model--rod bundle geometries with operating conditions that are representative of prototypical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)s and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)s in both normal and accident conditions. This is done by modeling a variety of experiments that simulate these scenarios and then presenting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results that demonstrates the accuracy to which CTF is capable of capturing specific quantities of interest.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Evaluating Emulation-based Models of Distributed Computing Systems

Emulation-based models of distributed computing systems are collections of virtual ma- chines, virtual networks, and other emulation components configured to stand in for oper- ational systems when performing experimental science, training, analysis of design alterna- tives, test and evaluation, or idea generation. As with any tool, we should carefully evaluate whether our uses of emulation-based models are appropriate and justified. Otherwise, we run the risk of using a model incorrectly and creating meaningless results. The variety of uses of emulation-based models each have their own goals and deserve thoughtful evaluation. In this paper, we enumerate some of these uses and describe approaches that one can take to build an evidence-based case that a use of an emulation-based model is credible. Predictive uses of emulation-based models, where we expect a model to tell us something true about the real world, set the bar especially high and the principal evaluation method, called validation , is comensurately rigorous. We spend the majority of our time describing and demonstrating the validation of a simple predictive model using a well-established methodology inherited from decades of development in the compuational science and engineering community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Application of the SHARP Toolkit to Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Challenge Problems

The Simulation-based High-efficiency Advanced Reactor Prototyping (SHARP) toolkit is under development by the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Campaign of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy. To better understand and exploit the benefits of advanced modeling simulations, the NEAMS Campaign initiated the “Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) Challenge Problems” task, which include the assessment of hot channel factors (HCFs) and the demonstration of zooming capability using the SHARP toolkit. If both challenge problems are resolved through advanced modeling and simulation using the SHARP toolkit, the economic competitiveness of a SFR can be significantly improved. The efforts in the first year of this project focused on the development of computational models, meshes, and coupling procedures for multi-physics calculations using the neutronics (PROTEUS) and thermal-hydraulic (Nek5000) components of the SHARP toolkit, as well as demonstration of the HCF calculation capability for the 100 MWe Advanced Fast Reactor (AFR-100) design. Testing the feasibility of the SHARP zooming capability is planned in FY 2018. The HCFs developed for the earlier SFRs (FFTF, CRBR, and EBR-II) were reviewed, and a subset of these were identified as potential candidates for reduction or elimination through high-fidelity simulations. A one-way offline coupling method was used to evaluate the HCFs where the neutronics solver PROTEUS computes the power profile based on an assumed temperature, and the computational fluid dynamics solver Nek5000 evaluates the peak temperatures using the neutronics power profile. If the initial temperature profile used in the neutronics calculation is reasonably accurate, the one-way offline method is valid because the neutronics power profile has weak dependence on small temperature variation. In order to get more precise results, the proper temperature profile for initial neutronics calculations was obtained from the STAR-CCM+ calculations. The HCFs of the peak temperatures at cladding outer surface, cladding inner wall surface, and fuel centerline induced by cladding manufacturing tolerance and uncertainties on the cladding, coolant, and fuel properties were evaluated for the AFR-100. Some assessment on the effect of wire wrap configuration and size of the bundle shows that it is practical to use the 7-pin bare rod bundle to calculate the HCFs. The resulting HCFs obtained from the high-fidelity SHARP calculations are generally smaller than those developed for the earlier SFRs because the most uncertainties involved in the modeling and simulations were disappeared. For completeness, additional investigations are planned in FY 2018, which will use random sampling techniques.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Recovery Efficiency, False Negative Rate, and Limit of Detection Performance of a Validated Macrofoam-Swab Sampling Method with Low Surface Concentrations of Two Bacillus anthracis Surrogates

The performance of a macrofoam-swab sampling method was evaluated using Bacillus anthracis Sterne (BAS) and Bacillus atrophaeus Nakamura (BG) spores applied at nine low target amounts (2-500 spores) to positive-control plates and test coupons (2 in × 2 in) of four surface materials (glass, stainless steel, vinyl tile, and plastic). Test results from cultured samples were used to evaluate the effects of surrogate, surface concentration, and surface material on recovery efficiency (RE), false negative rate (FNR), and limit of detection. For RE, surrogate and surface material had statistically significant effects, but concentration did not. Mean REs were the lowest for vinyl tile (50.8% with BAS, 40.2% with BG) and the highest for glass (92.8% with BAS, 71.4% with BG). FNR values ranged from 0 to 0.833 for BAS and 0 to 0.806 for BG, with values increasing as concentration decreased in the range tested (0.078 to 19.375 CFU/cm2, where CFU denotes ‘colony forming units’). Surface material also had a statistically significant effect. A FNR-concentration curve was fit for each combination of surrogate and surface material. For both surrogates, the FNR curves tended to be the lowest for glass and highest for vinyl title. The FNR curves for BG tended to be higher than for BAS at lower concentrations, especially for glass. Results using a modified Rapid Viability-Polymerase Chain Reaction (mRV-PCR) analysis method were also obtained. The mRV-PCR results and comparisons to the culture results are discussed in a separate report.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Hanford Tank Waste Disposition Integrated Flowsheet: Corrosion Specification Development Final Report

The Savannah River National Laboratory has developed a corrosion model to facilitate implementation of Hanford’s Direct Feed Low Activity Waste flowsheet. The focus was specifically on secondary effluent waste stream compositions from the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s melter off-gas treatment system returned to the Hanford Tank Farms (return stream.) The return stream compositions were predicted to contain components at relative concentrations that are significantly more corrosive toward the carbon steel waste tanks, specifically halide and sulfate anions, than the current waste compositions in the tank farms. Electrochemical tests were performed, utilizing a statistically designed matrix, to determine the corrosion chemistry limits that will mitigate pitting in the return stream. The current corrosion chemistry specifications for the Hanford Tank Farms do not mitigate for the halide concentrations that will be expected in the return stream. The model requires a 10:1 nitrite to total halide ratio, for stream compositions at a minimum of pH 10 and a maximum temperature of 40°C. The final specification may use other corrosion data that is being generated for the DST chemistry control limits to delineate between the effect of fluoride and chloride. This test program has employed statistically designed test matrices and electrochemical test methods to validate the corrosion model specifically at boundary regions to optimize corrosion control specifications.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

CTF 4.0 Validation and Verification

Coolant-Boiling in Rod Arrays- Two Fluids (COBRA-TF) is a Thermal/Hydraulic (T/H) simulation code designed for Light Water Reactor (LWR) analysis. It uses a two-fluid, three-field (i.e. fluid film, fluid drops, and vapor) modeling approach. Both sub-channel and 3D Cartesian forms of nine conservation equations are available for LWR modeling. The code was originally developed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory in 1980 and has been used and modified by several institutions over the last several decades. COBRA-TF is also used at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) by the Reactor Dynamics and Fuel Modeling Group (RDFMG) and has been improved, updated, and subsequently became the PSU RDFMG version of COBRA-TF (CTF). One part of the improvement process includes validating the methods in CTF. This document seeks to provide a certain level of certainty and confidence in the predictive capabilities of the code for the scenarios it was designed to model—rod bundle geometries with operating conditions that are representative of prototypical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)s and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)s in both normal and accident conditions. This is done by modeling a variety of experiments that simulate these scenarios and then presenting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results that demonstrates the accuracy to which CTF is capable of capturing specific quantities of interest.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗