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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 721 records · Page 40

SU-F-I-03: Correction of Intra-Fractional Set-Up Errors and Target Coverage Based On Cone-Beam Computed Tomography for Cervical Cancer Patients

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the patient set-up error and interfraction target coverage in cervical cancer using image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGART) with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods: Twenty cervical cancer patients undergoing intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) were randomly selected. All patients were matched to the isocenter using laser with the skin markers. Three dimensional CBCT projections were acquired by the Varian Truebeam treatment system. Set-up errors were evaluated by radiation oncologists, after CBCT correction. The clinical target volume (CTV) was delineated on each CBCT, and the planning target volume (PTV) coverage of each CBCT-CTVs was analyzed. Results: A total of 152 CBCT scans were acquired from twenty cervical cancer patients, the mean set-up errors in the longitudinal, vertical, and lateral direction were 3.57, 2.74 and 2.5mm respectively, without CBCT corrections. After corrections, these were decreased to 1.83, 1.44 and 0.97mm. For the target coverage, CBCT-CTV coverage without CBCT correction was 94% (143/152), and 98% (149/152) with correction. Conclusion: Use of CBCT verfication to measure patient setup errors could be applied to improve the treatment accuracy. In addition, the set-up error corrections significantly improve the CTV coverage for cervical cancer patients.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-F-T-252: An Investigation of Gamma Knife Frame Definition Error When Using a Pre-Planning Workflow

Purpose: To determine causal factors related to high frame definition error when treating GK patients using a pre-planning workflow. Methods: 160 cases were retrospectively reviewed. All patients received treatment using a pre-planning workflow whereby stereotactic coordinates are determined from a CT scan acquired after framing using a fiducial box. The planning software automatically detects the fiducials and compares their location to expected values based on the rigid design of the fiducial system. Any difference is reported as mean and maximum frame definition error. The manufacturer recommends these values be less than 1.0 mm and 1.5 mm. In this study, frame definition error was analyzed in comparison with a variety of factors including which neurosurgeon/oncologist/physicist was involved with the procedure, number of post used during framing (3 or 4), type of lesion, and which CT scanner was utilized for acquisition. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach was used to statistically evaluate the data and determine causal factors related to instances of high frame definition error. Results: Two factors were identified as significant: number of post (p=0.0003) and CT scanner (p=0.0001). Further analysis showed that one of the four scanners was significantly different than the others. This diagnostic scanner was identified as an older model with localization lasers not tightly calibrated. The average value for maximum frame definition error using this scanner was 1.48 mm (4 posts) and 1.75 mm (3 posts). For the other scanners this value was 1.13 mm (4 posts) and 1.40 mm (3 posts). Conclusion: In utilizing a pre-planning workflow the choice of CT scanner matters. Any scanner utilized for GK should undergo routine QA at a level appropriate for radiation oncology. In terms of 3 vs 4 post, it is hypothesized that three posts provide less stability during CT acquisition. This will be tested in future work.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Accuracy of Some Approximate Gaussian Filters for the Navier--Stokes Equation in the Presence of Model Error

Bayesian state estimation of a dynamical system from a stream of noisy measurements is important in many geophysical and engineering applications where high dimensionality of the state space, sparse observations, and model error pose key challenges. In this work, three computationally feasible, approximate Gaussian data assimilation/filtering algorithms are considered in various regimes of turbulent 2D Navier--Stokes dynamics in the presence of model error. The first source of error arises from the necessary use of reduced models for the forward dynamics of the filters, while a particular type of representation error arises from the finite resolution of observations which mix up information about resolved and unresolved dynamics. Two stochastically parameterized filtering algorithms, referred to as cSPEKF and GCF, are compared with 3DVAR---a prototypical time-sequential algorithm known to be accurate for filtering dissipative systems for a suitably inflated “background” covariance. We provide the first evidence that the stochastically parameterized algorithms, which do not rely on detailed knowledge of the underlying dynamics and do not require covariance inflation, can compete with or outperform an optimally tuned 3DVAR algorithm, and they can overcome competing sources of error in a range of dynamical scenarios.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Error Analysis of ZFP Compression for Floating-Point Data

Compression of floating-point data will play an important role in high-performance computing as data bandwidth and storage become dominant costs. Lossy compression of floating-point data is powerful, but theoretical results are needed to bound its errors when used to store look-up tables, simulation results, or even the solution state during the computation. In this paper, we analyze the round-off error introduced by ZFP, a lossy compression algorithm. Here, the stopping criteria for ZFP depends on the compression mode specified by the user: fixed rate, fixed accuracy, or fixed precision [P. Lindstrom, ZFP 0.5.3 Documentation, 2018]. While most of our discussion is focused on the fixed precision mode of ZFP, we establish a bound on the error introduced by all three compression modes. In order to tightly capture the error, first we introduce a vector space that allows us to work with binary representations of components. Under this vector space, we define operators that implement each step of the ZFP compression and decompression to establish a bound on the error caused by ZFP. To conclude, numerical tests are provided to demonstrate the accuracy of the established bounds.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Enhancing ZFP: A Statistical Approach to Understanding and Reducing Error Bias in a Lossy Floating-Point Compression Algorithm

The amount of data generated and gathered in scientific simulations and data collection applications is continuously growing, putting mounting pressure on storage and bandwidth concerns. A means of reducing such issues is data compression; but, lossless data compression is typically ineffective when applied to floating-point data. Thus, users tend to apply a lossy data compressor, which allows for small deviations from the original data. It is essential to understand how the error from lossy compression impacts the accuracy of the data analytics. Thus, we must analyze not only the compression properties but the error as well. In this paper, we provide a statistical analysis of the error caused by ZFP compression, a state-of-the-art, lossy compression algorithm explicitly designed for floating-point data. We show that the error is indeed biased and propose simple modifications to the algorithm to neutralize the bias and further reduce the resulting error.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Decay curve analysis for data error quantification in time-domain induced polarization imaging

In recent years, the time-domain induced polarization (TDIP) imaging technique has emerged as a suitable method for the characterization and the monitoring of hydrogeologic and biogeochemical processes. However, one of the major challenges refers to the resolution of the electrical images. Hence, various studies have stressed the importance of data processing, error characterization, and the deployment of adequate inversion schemes. A widely accepted method to assess data error in electrical imaging relies on the analysis of the discrepancy between normal and reciprocal measurements. Nevertheless, the collection of reciprocals doubles the acquisition time and is only viable for a limited subset of commonly used electrode configurations (e.g., dipole-dipole [DD]). To overcome these limitations, we have developed a new methodology to quantify the data error in TDIP imaging, which is entirely based on the analysis of the recorded IP decay curve and does not require recollection of data (e.g., reciprocals). The first two steps of the methodology assess the general characteristics of the decay curves and the spatial consistency of the measurements for the detection and removal of outliers. In the third and fourth steps, we quantify the deviation of the measured decay curves from a smooth model for the estimation of random error of the total chargeability and transfer resistance measurement. The error models and imaging results obtained from this methodology - in the following referred to as "decay curve analysis" - are compared with those obtained following a conventional normal-reciprocal analysis revealing consistent results. As a result, we determine the applicability of our methodology with real field data collected at the floodplain scale (approximately 12 ha) using multiple gradient and DD configurations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Whole program Adaptive Error Detection and Mitigation

Our project investigated methods to detect soft errors in computing systems. Such detection schemes must have low overheads and also generate no false positives. Our solutions focused on control-space error detection based on changing addressing schemes so that faults tend to cascade – rather than being masked. Our solutions also addressed data-space error detection by synthesizing error detectors based on rigorous floating-point error analysis.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Introduction to CAUSES: Description of weather and climate models and their near-surface temperature errors in 5-day hindcasts near the Southern Great Plains

We introduce the Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface (CAUSES) project with its aim of better understanding the physical processes leading to warm screen-temperature biases over the American Midwest in many numerical models. In this first of four companion papers, 11 different models, from 9 institutes, perform a series of 5-day hindcasts, each initialised from reanalyses. After describing the common experimental protocol and detailing each model configuration, a gridded temperature data set is derived from observations and used to show that all the models have a warm bias over parts of the Midwest. Additionally, a strong diurnal cycle in the screen-temperature bias is found in most models. In some models the bias is largest around midday, while in others it is largest during the night. At the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, the model biases are shown to extend several kilometers into the atmosphere. Finally, to provide context for the companion papers, in which observations from the SGP site are used to evaluate the different processes contributing to errors there, it is shown that there are numerous locations across the Midwest where the diurnal cycle of the error is highly correlated with the diurnal cycle of the error at SGP. This suggests that conclusions drawn from detailed evaluation of models using instruments located at SGP will be representative of errors that are prevalent over a larger spatial scale.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Whole program Adaptive Error Detection and Mitigation

Our project investigated methods to detect soft errors in computing systems. Such detection schemes must have low overheads and also generate no false positives. Our solutions focused on control-space error detection based on changing addressing schemes so that faults tend to cascade – rather than being masked. Our solutions also addressed data-space error detection by synthesizing error detectors based on rigorous floating-point error analysis.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Mitiq: A software package for error mitigation on noisy quantum computers

We introduce Mitiq, a Python package for error mitigation on noisy quantum computers. Error mitigation techniques can reduce the impact of noise on near-term quantum computers with minimal overhead in quantum resources by relying on a mixture of quantum sampling and classical post-processing techniques. Mitiq is an extensible toolkit of different error mitigation methods, including zero-noise extrapolation, probabilistic error cancellation, and Clifford data regression. The library is designed to be compatible with generic backends and interfaces with different quantum software frameworks. We describe Mitiq using code snippets to demonstrate usage and discuss features and contribution guidelines. We present several examples demonstrating error mitigation on IBM and Rigetti superconducting quantum processors as well as on noisy simulators.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Compensation of Axis Errors of Azimuth and Zenith Moving Concentrators in Programmable Solar-Tracking Systems

The solar-energy industry is currently concerned with improving software systems of sun-tracking concentrators. It is a feature of programmable tracking that there is no feedback from the tracked object, unlike in the case of optical tracking. In this regard, the accuracy of programmable tracking is affected by a large number of factors—in particular, axis-alignment errors. An error-checking algorithm is considered for the azimuth and zenith concentrator axes in programmable sun tracking. Effects of these errors on the accuracy of programmable tracking are assessed. It is shown that zenith axis errors have the same amount of influence as the vertical deviation of the azimuth axis, primarily affecting the azimuth angle, while its influence on the solar elevation can be neglected. The cumulative effect of axial errors is most noticeable when they have the same signs and lie in the same plane.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Background Error Covariance Estimation Using Information from a Single Model Trajectory with Application to Ocean Data Assimilation

An attractive property of ensemble data assimilation methods is that they provide flow dependent background error covariance estimates which can be used to update fields of observed variables as well as fields of unobserved model variables. Two methods to estimate background error covariances are introduced which share the above property with ensemble data assimilation methods but do not involve the integration of multiple model trajectories. Instead, all the necessary covariance information is obtained from a single model integration. The Space Adaptive Forecast error Estimation (SAFE) algorithm estimates error covariances from the spatial distribution of model variables within a single state vector. The Flow Adaptive error Statistics from a Time series (FAST) method constructs an ensemble sampled from a moving window along a model trajectory.SAFE and FAST are applied to the assimilation of Argo temperature profiles into version 4.1 of the Modular Ocean Model (MOM4.1) coupled to the GEOS-5 atmospheric model and to the CICE sea ice model. The results are validated against unassimilated Argo salinity data. They show that SAFE and FAST are competitive with the ensemble optimal interpolation (EnOI) used by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to produce its ocean analysis. Because of their reduced cost, SAFE and FAST hold promise for high-resolution data assimilation applications.

Error Covariance↗

Background Error Covariance Estimation using Information from a Single Model Trajectory with Application to Ocean Data Assimilation into the GEOS-5 Coupled Model

An attractive property of ensemble data assimilation methods is that they provide flow dependent background error covariance estimates which can be used to update fields of observed variables as well as fields of unobserved model variables. Two methods to estimate background error covariances are introduced which share the above property with ensemble data assimilation methods but do not involve the integration of multiple model trajectories. Instead, all the necessary covariance information is obtained from a single model integration. The Space Adaptive Forecast error Estimation (SAFE) algorithm estimates error covariances from the spatial distribution of model variables within a single state vector. The Flow Adaptive error Statistics from a Time series (FAST) method constructs an ensemble sampled from a moving window along a model trajectory. SAFE and FAST are applied to the assimilation of Argo temperature profiles into version 4.1 of the Modular Ocean Model (MOM4.1) coupled to the GEOS-5 atmospheric model and to the CICE sea ice model. The results are validated against unassimilated Argo salinity data. They show that SAFE and FAST are competitive with the ensemble optimal interpolation (EnOI) used by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to produce its ocean analysis. Because of their reduced cost, SAFE and FAST hold promise for high-resolution data assimilation applications.

Data Assimilation↗

Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) and Human Factor Analysis and Classification System (HFACS)

Research results have shown that more than half of aviation, aerospace and aeronautics mishaps incidents are attributed to human error. As a part of Quality within space exploration ground processing operations, the identification and or classification of underlying contributors and causes of human error must be identified, in order to manage human error.This presentation will provide a framework and methodology using the Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) and Human Factor Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), as an analysis tool to identify contributing factors, their impact on human error events, and predict the Human Error probabilities (HEPs) of future occurrences. This research methodology was applied (retrospectively) to six (6) NASA ground processing operations scenarios and thirty (30) years of Launch Vehicle related mishap data. This modifiable framework can be used and followed by other space and similar complex operations.

human error↗

Empirical State Error Covariance Matrix for Batch Estimation

State estimation techniques effectively provide mean state estimates. However, the theoretical state error covariance matrices provided as part of these techniques often suffer from a lack of confidence in their abilities to describe the true uncertainty in the estimated states. By a reinterpretation of the equations involved in the weighted least squares algorithm, it is possible to directly arrive at an empirical state error covariance matrix. This proposed empirical state error covariance matrix will contain the effect of all error sources, known or unknown. Results are presented for a simple, two observer, measurement error only problem.

Estimation↗

Effects of Dose Error and Sample Size on Sonic Boom Dose-response Curves

NASA will soon be collecting noise-annoyance community survey data as the X-59 aircraft flies supersonically over several communities in the USA. Sparse measurements of the X-59 sonic thumps will be used together with physics-based simulations to estimate noise doses at survey participant locations. These dose estimates have associated error that affects the accuracy of modeled dose-response curves, which can result in misestimation of annoyance. The precision in dose-response curves is also a consideration in selecting the number of survey participants. To enable pretest studies of dose error and precision, simulated dose-response data were generated based on NASA’s Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 test. The data included various degrees of dose error and sample size. Frequentist multilevel logistic regression models were fit to the true and perturbed dose-response data. Simple proportional relationships were identified between the model parameters and the perturbation standard deviation. The summary dose-response curves illustrate the impact on accuracy if dose error is not accounted for in the model. The precision in the dose-response curves is also shown as the number of participants and degree of participation is varied. Finally, sampling variability is illustrated by showing the dose-response curves for several replicates with random draws of participants and errors.

X-59↗

Effects of Dose Error and Sample Size on Sonic Boom Dose-Response Curves

NASA will soon be collecting noise-annoyance community survey data as the X-59 aircraft flies supersonically over several communities in the USA. Sparse measurements of the X-59 sonic thumps will be used together with physics-based simulations to estimate noise doses at survey participant locations. These dose estimates have associated error that affects the accuracy of modeled dose-response curves, which can result in misestimation of annoyance. The precision in dose-response curves is also a consideration in selecting the number of survey participants. To enable pretest studies of dose error and precision, simulated dose-response data were generated based on NASA’s Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 test. The data included various degrees of dose error and sample size. Frequentist multilevel logistic regression models were fit to the true and perturbed dose-response data. Simple proportional relationships were identified between the model parameters and the perturbation standard deviation. The summary dose-response curves illustrate the impact on accuracy if dose error is not accounted for in the model. The precision in the dose-response curves is also shown as the number of participants and degree of participation is varied. Finally, sampling variability is illustrated by showing the dose-response curves for several replicates with random draws of participants and errors.

X-59↗

Dose Error Correction Using Simulation Extrapolation for Community Noise Dose-Response Modeling

The objective of this work is to provide a framework to account and correct for dose error in dose-response modeling due to measurement uncertainty. Error in noise measurements, especially in the case of limited monitoring locations in a community, can lead to an attenuation or misestimation of parameters in dose-response models. This error can result in overpredicted annoyance at lower doses and underpredicted annoyance at higher doses. Simulated data in the present work are based on previous NASA community studies and incorporate a notional design for future studies with the X-59 aircraft. Several populations of different annoyance response sensitivities are included. Simulation extrapolation (SIMEX, Cook and Stefanski 1994) is used to correct for the dose error in a simple, fully pooled logistic regression. Results indicate the negative impact of attenuation is greatly diminished for all amounts of dose error considered, regardless of a population’s annoyance sensitivity. Therefore, SIMEX can help produce a more accurate dose-response relationship.

SIMEX↗