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At least 73 records · Page 4

Use of a New Analytical Model To Match Production Data and Identify Opportunities To Maximize Well Productivity in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Reservoir

The low productivity of the oil wells in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) Trend, located in Louisiana and Mississippi, is a mystery. Production data from 55 wells in the TMS Trend were analyzed to identify possible means of enhancing well productivity. The -1/2 slope in a log–log plot for reservoir linear flow (RLF) was observed for some wells, but not all, and the -1 slope for boundary–dominated flow (BDF) has not been seen in the past 5 years of production. The behavior of the TMS wells is attributed to the ultralow permeability of the TMS matrix and the decline of fracture conductivity, both of which delay the BDF. On the basis of the concept of the distance of investigation, derived from the radius–of–investigation concept, the matrix permeability of the seven TMS wells was estimated to be between 34 and 65 nd, with an average of 51 nd. A new mathematical model for production decline of multifractured horizontal wells was developed taking into consideration the time–dependent fracture conductivity during the BDF period. This model fits TMS–well production data, with an average error of 6.12% and an R2 value of 0.96. Assuming constant matrix permeability, fitting the new model to the production data in the BDF period gives a rate of fracture–conductivity decline of between 0.20 and 0.74% per month. The new mathematical model reveals opportunities to optimize well completion to enhance well productivity in the TMS Trend. For a given amount of fracture proppant allocated to a well, the shortest possible fracture spacing should be used to maximize well productivity. If the number of fractures is fixed as a constraint of well completion design, well productivity is inversely proportional to the square root of fracture spacing (i.e., if the fracture spacing is shortened by fourfold, well productivity is expected to double). If the horizontal wellbore length is fixed as a constraint of well completion, well productivity is inversely proportional to fracture spacing (i.e., if the fracture spacing is shortened by 50%, well productivity is expected to double).

Engineering↗

Oxidation of Matrix Material in Helium with Varied Moisture Content

Exploration of the oxidation behavior of matrix material from tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel elements in moisture environments provides critical data needed to predict the material’s response during off-normal accident scenarios. Near-representative, matrix-only samples were fabricated to facilitate oxidation testing in varied moisture concentrations. Oxidation testing was completed over a range of temperatures and oxidizing environments to obtain the relevant oxidation kinetics parameters and empirical oxidation rates necessary to better predict and understand matrix oxidation behavior at relevant conditions. The acquired oxidations rates were fit to established models for steam oxidation of nuclear graphite, and data were acquired following an established process. The data showed good agreement over conditions typical of the kinetic regime, and they showed a departure from the kinetic model fit at elevated temperatures and steam partial pressures in helium carrier gas. The departure was confirmed to be due to the experimental conditions being beyond the kinetic regime based on destructive analysis.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Linear point and sound horizon as purely geometric standard rulers

The baryon acoustic oscillations feature (BAO) imprinted in the clustering correlation function is known to furnish us cosmic distance determinations that are independent of the cosmological-background model and the primordial perturbation parameters. These measurements can be accomplished rigorously by means of the purely geometric BAO methods. To date two different purely geometric BAO approaches have been proposed. The first exploits the linear-point standard ruler. The second, called correlation-function model-fitting, exploits the sound-horizon standard ruler. A key difference between them is that, when estimated from clustering data, the linear point makes use of a cosmological-model-independent procedure to extract the ratio of the ruler to the cosmic distance, while the correlation-function model-fitting relies on a phenomenological cosmological model for the correlation function. Nevertheless the two rulers need to be precisely defined independently of any specific observable (e.g., the BAO). We define the linear point and sound horizon and we fully characterize and compare the two rulers’ cosmological-parameter dependence. We find that they are both geometrical (i.e., independent of the primordial cosmological parameters) within the required accuracy, and that they have the same parameter dependence for a wide range of parameter values. We estimate the rulers’ best-fit values and errors, given the cosmological constraints obtained by the Planck Satellite team from their measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization anisotropies. We do this for three different cosmological models encompassed by the purely geometric BAO methods. In each case we find that the relative errors of the two rulers coincide and they are insensitive to the assumed cosmological model. Interestingly both the linear point and the sound horizon shift by 0.5σ when we do not fix the spatial geometry to be flat in Λ CDM. Finally, this points toward a sensitivity of the rulers to different cosmological models when they are estimated from the cosmic microwave background.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The inside-out growth of the most massive galaxies at 0.3 < z < 0.9

We study the surface brightness profiles of a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with 0.3 < z < 0.9. The BCGs are selected from the first Red-sequence Cluster Survey and an X-ray cluster survey. The surface brightness profiles of the BCGs are measured using HST ACS images, and the majority of them can be well modeled by a single Sérsic profile with a typical Sérsic index n ∼ 6 and a half-light radius ∼30 kpc. Although the single Sérsic model fits the profiles well, we argue that the systematics in the sky background measurement and the coupling between the model parameters make the comparison of the best-fit model parameters ambiguous. Direct comparison of the BCG profiles, on the other hand, has revealed an inside-out growth for these most massive galaxies: as the mass of a BCG increases, the central mass density of the galaxy increases slowly (ρ{sub 1kpc}∝M{sub ∗}{sup 0.39}), while the slope of the outer profile grows continuously shallower (α{sub r{sup 1}{sup /}{sup 4}}∝M{sub ∗}{sup −2.5}). Such a fashion of growth continues down to the less massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) as a smooth function of galaxy mass, without apparent distinction between BCGs and non-BCGs. For the very massive ETGs and BCGs, the slope of the Kormendy relation starts to trace the slope of the surface brightness profiles and becomes insensitive to subtle profile evolution. These results are generally consistent with dry mergers being the major driver of the mass growth for BCGs and massive ETGs. We also find strong correlations between the richness of clusters and the properties of BCGs: the more massive the clusters are, the more massive the BCGs (M{sub bcg}{sup ∗}∝M{sub clusters}{sup 0.6}) and the shallower their surface brightness profiles. After taking into account the bias in the cluster samples, we find the masses of the BCGs have grown by at least a factor of 1.5 from z = 0.5 to z = 0, in contrast to the previous findings of no evolution. Such an evolution validates the expectation from the ΛCDM model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A no-scale inflationary model to fit them all

The magnitude of B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background as measured by BICEP2 favours models of chaotic inflation with a quadratic m{sup 2} φ{sup 2}/2 potential, whereas data from the Planck satellite favour a small value of the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio r that is highly consistent with the Starobinsky R +R{sup 2} model. Reality may lie somewhere between these two scenarios. In this paper we propose a minimal two-field no-scale supergravity model that interpolates between quadratic and Starobinsky-like inflation as limiting cases, while retaining the successful prediction n{sub s} ≅ 0.96.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The impact of kidney function on Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarkers: implications for predicting amyloid-β positivity

Impaired kidney function has a potential confounding effect on blood biomarker levels, including biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Given the imminent use of certain blood biomarkers in the routine diagnostic work-up of patients with suspected AD, knowledge on the potential impact of comorbidities on the utility of blood biomarkers is important. We aimed to evaluate the association between kidney function, assessed through estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) calculated from plasma creatinine and AD blood biomarkers, as well as their influence over predicting Aβ-positivity. We included 242 participants from the Translational Biomarkers in Aging and Dementia (TRIAD) cohort, comprising cognitively unimpaired individuals (CU; n = 124), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 58), AD dementia (n = 34), and non-AD dementia (n = 26) patients all characterized by [ 18 F] AZD-4694. Plasma samples were analyzed for Aβ42, Aβ40, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light chain (NfL), tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181), 217 (p-tau217), 231 (p-tau231) and N-terminal containing tau fragments (NTA-tau) using Simoa technology. Kidney function was assessed by eGFR in mL/min/1.73 m 2 , based on plasma creatinine levels, age, and sex. Participants were also stratified according to their eGFR-indexed stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We evaluated the association between eGFR and blood biomarker levels with linear models and assessed whether eGFR provided added predictive value to determine Aβ-positivity with logistic regression models. Biomarker concentrations were highest in individuals with CKD stage 3, followed by stages 2 and 1, but differences were only significant for NfL, Aβ42, and Aβ40 (not Aβ42/Aβ40). All investigated biomarkers showed significant associations with eGFR except plasma NTA-tau, with stronger relationships observed for Aβ40 and NfL. However, after adjusting for either age, sex or Aβ-PET SUVr, the association with eGFR was no longer significant for all biomarkers except Aβ40, Aβ42, NfL, and GFAP. When evaluating whether accounting for kidney function could lead to improved prediction of Aβ-positivity, we observed no improvements in model fit (Akaike Information Criterion, AIC) or in discriminative performance (AUC) by adding eGFR to a base model including each plasma biomarker, age, and sex. While covariates like age and sex improved model fit, eGFR contributed minimally, and there were no significant differences in clinical discrimination based on AUC values. We found that kidney function seems to be associated with AD blood biomarker concentrations. However, these associations did not remain significant after adjusting for age and sex, except for Aβ40, Aβ42, NfL, and GFAP. While covariates such as age and sex improved prediction of Aβ-positivity, including eGFR in the models did not lead to improved prediction for any biomarker. Our findings indicate that renal function, within the normal to mild impairment range, does not seem to have a clinically relevant impact when using highly accurate blood biomarkers, such as p-tau217, in a biomarker-supported diagnosis.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

glmnetLRC f/k/a lrc package: Logistic Regression Classification

Methods for fitting and predicting logistic regression classifiers (LRC) with an arbitrary loss function using elastic net or best subsets. This package adds additional model fitting features to the existing glmnet and bestglm R packages. This package was created to perform the analyses described in Amidan BG, Orton DJ, LaMarche BL, et al. 2014. Signatures for Mass Spectrometry Data Quality. Journal of Proteome Research. 13(4), 2215-2222. It makes the model fitting available in the glmnet and bestglm packages more general by identifying optimal model parameters via cross validation with an customizable loss function. It also identifies the optimal threshold for binary classification.

Source record↗

glmnetLRC f/k/a lrc package: Logistic Regression Classification

Methods for fitting and predicting logistic regression classifiers (LRC) with an arbitrary loss function using elastic net or best subsets. This package adds additional model fitting features to the existing glmnet and bestglm R packages. This package was created to perform the analyses described in Amidan BG, Orton DJ, LaMarche BL, et al. 2014. Signatures for Mass Spectrometry Data Quality. Journal of Proteome Research. 13(4), 2215-2222. It makes the model fitting available in the glmnet and bestglm packages more general by identifying optimal model parameters via cross validation with an customizable loss function. It also identifies the optimal threshold for binary classification.

Source record↗

Dynamics of neutrals and ions in an ultrafast laser produced Zn plasma

Optical time of flight dynamics of neutrals and ions in an ultrafast laser produced zinc plasma generated by irradiating a solid zinc target using 100 fs laser pulses is investigated. An acceleration of ions is observed which arises from internal Coulomb forces acting between charged species in the plasma. Some of the fast ions recombine with electrons in the plasma and generate fast neutrals. Plasma plume imaging performed at various ambient pressures indicates adiabatic expansion at lower pressures and plume front deceleration at higher pressures: at lower pressures the plume front-time (R-t) plot displays a linear expansion, shock wave model fits to the data at 5 Torr and at higher pressures the data fits better to the drag model. Furthermore, around an intermediate pressure of 10 Torr, the R-t plot fits to the shock wave model at earlier stages of plasma expansion, while it fits to the drag model at the later stages. These investigations provide relevant information on the acceleration of ions and neutrals in an expanding zinc plasma plume produced by ultrafast laser pulses.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Direct uranium enrichment assay in gaseous uranium hexafluoride with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

A set of eleven U atomic emission lines, between 421.099 and 421.460 nm, were characterized for direct enrichment assay of gaseous UF 6 samples with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Several iterative, multivariate nonlinear spectral-fitting algorithms were evaluated for their efficacies to extract the enrichment information from the measured LIBS spectra. Furthermore, wavelength-dependent weight factors, which take into consideration of the spectral-line position in the fitting model, the determined isotopic ratio, and the isotopic shift of the emission line, are essential for the spectral-fitting model to function adequately. The analytical accuracies and precision were typically within 0.5% in absolute [ 235 U/( 235 U + 238 U)] ratios.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Ventilation/Perfusion Positron Emission Tomography—Based Assessment of Radiation Injury to Lung

Purpose: To investigate {sup 68}Ga-ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) as a novel imaging modality for assessment of perfusion, ventilation, and lung density changes in the context of radiation therapy (RT). Methods and Materials: In a prospective clinical trial, 20 patients underwent 4-dimensional (4D)-V/Q PET/CT before, midway through, and 3 months after definitive lung RT. Eligible patients were prescribed 60 Gy in 30 fractions with or without concurrent chemotherapy. Functional images were registered to the RT planning 4D-CT, and isodose volumes were averaged into 10-Gy bins. Within each dose bin, relative loss in standardized uptake value (SUV) was recorded for ventilation and perfusion, and loss in air-filled fraction was recorded to assess RT-induced lung fibrosis. A dose-effect relationship was described using both linear and 2-parameter logistic fit models, and goodness of fit was assessed with Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Results: A total of 179 imaging datasets were available for analysis (1 scan was unrecoverable). An almost perfectly linear negative dose-response relationship was observed for perfusion and air-filled fraction (r{sup 2}=0.99, P<.01), with ventilation strongly negatively linear (r{sup 2}=0.95, P<.01). Logistic models did not provide a better fit as evaluated by AIC. Perfusion, ventilation, and the air-filled fraction decreased 0.75 ± 0.03%, 0.71 ± 0.06%, and 0.49 ± 0.02%/Gy, respectively. Within high-dose regions, higher baseline perfusion SUV was associated with greater rate of loss. At 50 Gy and 60 Gy, the rate of loss was 1.35% (P=.07) and 1.73% (P=.05) per SUV, respectively. Of 8/20 patients with peritumoral reperfusion/reventilation during treatment, 7/8 did not sustain this effect after treatment. Conclusions: Radiation-induced regional lung functional deficits occur in a dose-dependent manner and can be estimated by simple linear models with 4D-V/Q PET/CT imaging. These findings may inform future studies of functional lung avoidance using V/Q PET/CT.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Low dose radiation risks for women surviving the a-bombs in Japan: generalized additive model

Background: Analyses of cancer mortality and incidence in Japanese A-bomb survivors have been used to estimate radiation risks, which are generally higher for women. Relative Risk (RR) is usually modelled as a linear function of dose. Extrapolation from data including high doses predicts small risks at low doses. Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) are flexible methods for modelling non-linear behaviour. Methods: GAMs are applied to cancer incidence in female low dose subcohorts, using anonymous public data for the 1958 – 1998 Life Span Study, to test for linearity, explore interactions, adjust for the skewed dose distribution, examine significance below 100 mGy, and estimate risks at 10 mGy. Results: For all solid cancer incidence, RR estimated from 0 – 100 mGy and 0 – 20 mGy subcohorts is significantly raised. The response tapers above 150 mGy. At low doses, RR increases with age-at-exposure and decreases with time-since-exposure, the preferred covariate. Using the empirical cumulative distribution of dose improves model fit, and capacity to detect non-linear responses. RR is elevated over wide ranges of covariate values. Results are stable under simulation, or when removing exceptional data cells, or adjusting neutron RBE. Estimates of Excess RR at 10 mGy using the cumulative dose distribution are 10 – 45 times higher than extrapolations from a linear model fitted to the full cohort. Below 100 mGy, quasipoisson models find significant effects for all solid, squamous, uterus, corpus, and thyroid cancers, and for respiratory cancers when age-at-exposure > 35 yrs. Results for the thyroid are compatible with studies of children treated for tinea capitis, and Chernobyl survivors. Results for the uterus are compatible with studies of UK nuclear workers and the Techa River cohort. Conclusion: Non-linear models find large, significant cancer risks for Japanese women exposed to low dose radiation from the atomic bombings. The risks should be reflected in protection standards.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A New Approach for Obtaining Cosmological Constraints from Type Ia Supernovae using Approximate Bayesian Computation

Cosmological parameter estimation techniques that robustly account for systematic measurement uncertainties will be crucial for the next generation of cosmological surveys. We present a new analysis method, superABC, for obtaining cosmological constraints from Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) light curves using Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) without any likelihood assumptions. The ABC method works by using a forward model simulation of the data where systematic uncertainties can be simulated and marginalized over. A key feature of the method presented here is the use of two distinct metrics, the `Tripp' and `Light Curve' metrics, which allow us to compare the simulated data to the observed data set. The Tripp metric takes as input the parameters of models fit to each light curve with the SALT-II method, whereas the Light Curve metric uses the measured fluxes directly without model fitting. We apply the superABC sampler to a simulated data set of $\sim$1000 SNe corresponding to the first season of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program. Varying $\Omega_m, w_0, \alpha$ and $\beta$ and a magnitude offset parameter, with no systematics we obtain $\Delta(w_0) = w_0^{\rm true} - w_0^{\rm best \, fit} = -0.036\pm0.109$ (a $\sim11$% 1$\sigma$ uncertainty) using the Tripp metric and $\Delta(w_0) = -0.055\pm0.068$ (a $\sim7$% 1$\sigma$ uncertainty) using the Light Curve metric. Including 1% calibration uncertainties in four passbands, adding 4 more parameters, we obtain $\Delta(w_0) = -0.062\pm0.132$ (a $\sim14$% 1$\sigma$ uncertainty) using the Tripp metric. Overall we find a $17$% increase in the uncertainty on $w_0$ with systematics compared to without. We contrast this with a MCMC approach where systematic effects are approximately included. We find that the MCMC method slightly underestimates the impact of calibration uncertainties for this simulated data set.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Extensions of BLUP Models for Genomic Prediction in Heterogeneous Populations: Application in a Diverse Switchgrass Sample

Genomic prediction is a useful tool to accelerate genetic gain in selection using DNA marker information. However, this technology typically relies on standard prediction procedures, such as genomic BLUP, that are not designed to accommodate population heterogeneity resulting from differences in marker effects across populations. In this study, we assayed different prediction procedures to capture marker-by-population interactions in genomic prediction models. Prediction procedures included genomic BLUP and two kernel-based extensions of genomic BLUP which explicitly accounted for population heterogeneity. To model population heterogeneity, dissemblance between populations was either depicted by a unique coefficient (as previously reported), or a more flexible function of genetic distance between populations (proposed herein). Models under investigation were applied in a diverse switchgrass sample under two validation schemes: whole-sample calibration, where all individuals except selection candidates are included in the calibration set, and cross-population calibration, where the target population is entirely excluded from the calibration set. First, we showed that using fixed effects, from principal components or putative population groups, appeared detrimental to prediction accuracy, especially in cross-population calibration. Then we showed that modelling population heterogeneity by our proposed procedure resulted in highly significant improvements in model fit. In such cases, gains in accuracy were often positive. These results suggest that population heterogeneity may be parsimoniously captured by kernel methods. However, in cases where improvement in model fit by our proposed procedure is null-to-moderate, ignoring heterogeneity should probably be preferred due to the robustness and simplicity of the standard genomic BLUP model.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Single-shot 3D coherent diffractive imaging of core-shell nanoparticles with elemental specificity

We report 3D coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) of Au/Pd core-shell nanoparticles with 6.1nm spatial resolution with elemental specificity. We measured single-shot diffraction patterns of the nanoparticles using intense x-ray free electron laser pulses. By exploiting the curvature of the Ewald sphere and the symmetry of the nanoparticle, we reconstructed the 3D electron density of 34 core-shell structures from these diffraction patterns. To extract 3D structural information beyond the diffraction signal, we implemented a super-resolution technique by taking advantage of CDI’s quantitative reconstruction capabilities. We used high-resolution model fitting to determine the Au core size and the Pd shell thickness to be 65.0±1.0nm and 4.0±0.5nm, respectively. We also identified the 3D elemental distribution inside the nanoparticles with an accuracy of 3%. To further examine the model fitting procedure, we simulated noisy diffraction patterns from a Au/Pd core-shell model and a solid Au model and confirmed the validity of the method. We anticipate this super-resolution CDI method can be generally used for quantitative 3D imaging of symmetrical nanostructures with elemental specificity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Removing flat directions in standard model EFT fits: How polarized electron-ion collider data can complement the LHC

We study the potential of future electron-ion collider (EIC) data to probe four-fermion operators in the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT). The ability to perform measurements with both polarized electron and proton beams at the EIC provides a powerful tool that can disentangle the effects from different SMEFT operators. We compare the potential constraints from an EIC with those obtained from Drell-Yan data at the Large Hadron Collider. We show that EIC data play an important complementary role since they probe combinations of Wilson coefficients not accessible through available Drell-Yan measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Forward Modeling of 3-D Ion Properties in Jupiter’s Magnetosphere Using Juno/JADE-I Data

The Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment Ion sensor (JADE-I) on NASA’s Juno mission provides in-situ measurements of ions from 0.1 to 46.2 keV/q inside Jupiter’s magnetosphere. JADE-I is used to study the plasma with two types of datasets from the same measurement: Time-of-flight (TOF) and SPECIES. The TOF dataset provides mass-per-charge measurements with a range of 1–64 amu/q but oversamples particles over 6π steradian viewing per spacecraft spin and has little directional information. On the other hand, the SPECIES dataset can provide a good measurement of the flow direction but does not provide mass-per-charge information due to the telemetry limit. In this study, we developed a 2-step forward modeling method that combines the advantages and avoids the disadvantages of TOF and SPECIES data to derive the 3-D properties of heavy ions. Assuming that the ion velocity distribution can be described with the kappa distribution, we first perform the forward model fit of the TOF data to calculate the relative abundance of heavy ion species. Then we fix the relative abundance and perform the second forward model fit on the SPECIES data. Here, using this method, we obtain the densities of different heavy ions, the shared temperature and kappa value, and the 3-D flow velocity vector. Some data examples of the equatorial plasma disk before Perijove 24 are included to demonstrate the method. Plasma properties can then be mapped to explore spatial and temporal variabilities in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗