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At least 901 records · Page 50

Acidic microenvironments induce lymphangiogenesis and IL-8 production via TRPV1 activation in human lymphatic endothelial cells

Local acidosis is one of the characteristic features of the cancer microenvironment. Many reports indicate that acidosis accelerates the proliferation and invasiveness of cancer cells. However, whether acidic conditions affect lymphatic metastasis is currently unknown. In the present study, we focused on the effects of acidosis on lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) to assess the relationship between acidic microenvironments and lymph node metastasis. We demonstrated that normal human LECs express various acid receptors by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Acidic stimulation with low pH medium induced morphological changes in LECs to a spindle shape, and significantly promoted cellular growth and tube formation. Moreover, real-time PCR revealed that acidic conditions increased the mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-8. Acidic stimulation increased IL-8 production in LECs, whereas a selective transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 1 (TRPV1) antagonist, 5′-iodoresiniferatoxin, decreased IL-8 production. IL-8 accelerated the proliferation of LECs, and inhibition of IL-8 diminished tube formation and cell migration. In addition, phosphorylation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB was induced by acidic conditions, and inhibition of NF-κB activation reduced acid-induced IL-8 expression. These results suggest that acidic microenvironments in tumors induce lymphangiogenesis via TRPV1 activation in LECs, which in turn may promote lymphatic metastasis. - Highlights: • Acidity accelerates the growth, migration, and tube formation of LECs. • Acidic condition induces IL-8 expression in LECs. • IL-8 is critical for the changes of LECs. • IL-8 expression is induced via TRPV1 activation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A Review of Microgravity Levels on Ten OARE Shuttle Missions

The Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) is an accelerometer package with nano-g sensitivity and on-orbit bias calibration capabilities. The OARE consists of a three axis miniature electrostatic accelerometer (MESA), a full in-flight bias and scale factor calibration station, and an on-board microprocessor for experiment control and data storage. Originally designed to measure and record the aerodynamic acceleration environment of the NASA Space Shuttles during re-entry, the OARE has been used on ten shuttle missions to measure the quasi-steady acceleration environment (<1 Hz) of the Orbiter while in low-Earth orbit. The effects on the quasi-steady acceleration environment from Orbiter systems, Orbiter attitude, Orbiter altitude, and crew activity are well understood as a result of these ten shuttle missions. This knowledge of the quasi-steady acceleration realm has direct application to understanding the quasi-steady acceleration environment expected for the International Space Station (ISS). This paper will summarize the more salient aspects of this quasi-steady acceleration knowledge base.

McPherson, Kevin M.↗

Experimental studies for determining human discomfort response to vertical sinusoidal vibration

A study was conducted to investigate several problems related to methodology and design of experiments to obtain human comfort response to vertical sinusoidal vibration. Specifically, the studies were directed to the determination of (1) the adequacy of frequency averaging of vibration data to obtain discomfort predictors, (2) the effect of practice on subject ratings, (3) the effect of the demographic factors of age, sex, and weight, and (4) the relative importance of seat and floor vibrations in the determination of measurement and criteria specification location. Results indicate that accurate prediction of discomfort requires knowledge of both the acceleration level and frequency content of the vibration stimuli. More importantly, the prediction of discomfort was shown to be equally good based upon either floor accelerations or seat accelerations. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the discomfort levels in different seats resulting from similar vibratory imputs were equal. Therefore, it was recommended that criteria specifications and acceleration measurements be made at the floor location. The results also indicated that practice did not systematically influence discomfort responses nor did the demographic factors of age, weight, and sex contribute to the discomfort response variation.

Dempsey, T. K.↗

A nonvoxel-based dose convolution/superposition algorithm optimized for scalable GPU architectures

Purpose: Real-time adaptive planning and treatment has been infeasible due in part to its high computational complexity. There have been many recent efforts to utilize graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate the computational performance and dose accuracy in radiation therapy. Data structure and memory access patterns are the key GPU factors that determine the computational performance and accuracy. In this paper, the authors present a nonvoxel-based (NVB) approach to maximize computational and memory access efficiency and throughput on the GPU. Methods: The proposed algorithm employs a ray-tracing mechanism to restructure the 3D data sets computed from the CT anatomy into a nonvoxel-based framework. In a process that takes only a few milliseconds of computing time, the algorithm restructured the data sets by ray-tracing through precalculated CT volumes to realign the coordinate system along the convolution direction, as defined by zenithal and azimuthal angles. During the ray-tracing step, the data were resampled according to radial sampling and parallel ray-spacing parameters making the algorithm independent of the original CT resolution. The nonvoxel-based algorithm presented in this paper also demonstrated a trade-off in computational performance and dose accuracy for different coordinate system configurations. In order to find the best balance between the computed speedup and the accuracy, the authors employed an exhaustive parameter search on all sampling parameters that defined the coordinate system configuration: zenithal, azimuthal, and radial sampling of the convolution algorithm, as well as the parallel ray spacing during ray tracing. The angular sampling parameters were varied between 4 and 48 discrete angles, while both radial sampling and parallel ray spacing were varied from 0.5 to 10 mm. The gamma distribution analysis method (γ) was used to compare the dose distributions using 2% and 2 mm dose difference and distance-to-agreement criteria, respectively. Accuracy was investigated using three distinct phantoms with varied geometries and heterogeneities and on a series of 14 segmented lung CT data sets. Performance gains were calculated using three 256 mm cube homogenous water phantoms, with isotropic voxel dimensions of 1, 2, and 4 mm. Results: The nonvoxel-based GPU algorithm was independent of the data size and provided significant computational gains over the CPU algorithm for large CT data sizes. The parameter search analysis also showed that the ray combination of 8 zenithal and 8 azimuthal angles along with 1 mm radial sampling and 2 mm parallel ray spacing maintained dose accuracy with greater than 99% of voxels passing the γ test. Combining the acceleration obtained from GPU parallelization with the sampling optimization, the authors achieved a total performance improvement factor of >175 000 when compared to our voxel-based ground truth CPU benchmark and a factor of 20 compared with a voxel-based GPU dose convolution method. Conclusions: The nonvoxel-based convolution method yielded substantial performance improvements over a generic GPU implementation, while maintaining accuracy as compared to a CPU computed ground truth dose distribution. Such an algorithm can be a key contribution toward developing tools for adaptive radiation therapy systems.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Chiral-symmetry breaking and confinement in Minkowski space

We present a model for the quark-antiquark interaction formulated in Minkowski space using the Covariant Spectator Theory. The quark propagators are dressed with the same kernel that describes the interaction between different quarks. By applying the axial-vector Ward-Takahashi identity we show that our model satisfies the Adler-zero constraint imposed by chiral symmetry. For this model, our Minkowski-space results of the dressed quark mass function are compared to lattice QCD data obtained in Euclidean space. The mass function is then used in the calculation of the electromagnetic pion form factor in relativistic impulse approximation, and the results are presented and compared with the experimental data from JLab.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Radiation from Accelerated Particles in Shocks and Reconnections

Plasma instabilities are responsible not only for the onset and mediation of collisionless shocks but also for the associated acceleration of particles. We have investigated particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic electron-positron jet propagating into an unmagnetized electron-positron plasma. Cold jet electrons are thermalized and slowed while the ambient electrons are swept up to create a partially developed hydrodynamic-like shock structure. In the leading shock, electron density increases by a factor of about 3.5 in the simulation frame. Strong electromagnetic fields are generated in the trailing shock and provide an emission site. These magnetic fields contribute to the electrons transverse deflection and, more generally, relativistic acceleration behind the shock. We have calculated, self-consistently, the radiation from electrons accelerated in the turbulent magnetic fields. We found that the synthetic spectra depend on the Lorentz factor of the jet, its thermal temperature and strength of the generated magnetic fields. Our initial results of a jet-ambient interaction with anti-parallelmagnetic fields show pile-up of magnetic fields at the colliding shock, which may lead to reconnection and associated particle acceleration. We will investigate the radiation in a transient stage as a possible generation mechanism of precursors of prompt emission. In our simulations we calculate the radiation from electrons in the shock region. The detailed properties of this radiation are important for understanding the complex time evolution and spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova remnants.

Nishikawa, K. I.↗

Accelerating massively parallel hemodynamic models of coarctation of the aorta using neural networks

Comorbidities such as anemia or hypertension and physiological factors related to exertion can influence a patient’s hemodynamics and increase the severity of many cardiovascular diseases. Observing and quantifying associations between these factors and hemodynamics can be difficult due to the multitude of co-existing conditions and blood flow parameters in real patient data. Machine learning-driven, physics-based simulations provide a means to understand how potentially correlated conditions may affect a particular patient. Here, we use a combination of machine learning and massively parallel computing to predict the effects of physiological factors on hemodynamics in patients with coarctation of the aorta. We first validated blood flow simulations against in vitro measurements in 3D-printed phantoms representing the patient’s vasculature. We then investigated the effects of varying the degree of stenosis, blood flow rate, and viscosity on two diagnostic metrics – pressure gradient across the stenosis (ΔP) and wall shear stress (WSS) - by performing the largest simulation study to date of coarctation of the aorta (over 70 million compute hours). Using machine learning models trained on data from the simulations and validated on two independent datasets, we developed a framework to identify the minimal training set required to build a predictive model on a per-patient basis. We then used this model to accurately predict ΔP (mean absolute error within 1.18 mmHg) and WSS (mean absolute error within 0.99 Pa) for patients with this disease.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Latitudinal variation of speed and mass flux in the acceleration region of the solar wind inferred from spectral broadening measurements

Spectral broadening measurements conducted at S-band (13-cm wavelength) during solar minimum conditions in the heliocentric distance range of 3-8 R(sub O) by Mariner 4, Pioneer 10, Mariner 10, Helios 1, Helios 2, and Viking have been combined to reveal a factor of 2.6 reduction in bandwidth from equator to pole. Since spectral broadening bandwidth depends on electron density fluctuation and solar wind speed, and latitudinal variation of the former is available from coherence bandwidth measurements, the remote sensing spectral broadening measurements provide the first determination of the latitudinal variation of solar wind speed in the acceleration region. When combined with electron density measurements deduced from white-light coronagraphs, this result also leads to the first determination of the latitudinal variation of mass flux in the acceleration region. From equator to pole, solar wind speed increases by a factor of 2.2, while mass flux decreases by a factor of 2.3. These results are consistent with measurements of solar wind speed by multi-station intensity scintillation measurements, as well as measurements of mass flux inferred from Lyman alpha observations, both of which pertain to the solar wind beyond 0.5 AU. The spectral broadening observations, therefore, strengthen earlier conclusions about the latitudinal variation of solar wind speed and mass flux, and reinforce current solar coronal models and their implications for solar wind acceleration and solar wind modeling.

Woo, Richard↗

Symplectic multi-particle tracking on GPUs

A symplectic multi-particle tracking model is implemented on the Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) using the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) language. The symplectic tracking model can preserve phase space structure and reduce non-physical effects in long term simulation, which is important for beam property evaluation in particle accelerators. Though this model is computationally expensive, it is very suitable for parallelization and can be accelerated significantly by using GPUs. In this paper, we optimized the implementation of the symplectic tracking model on both single GPU and multiple GPUs. Using a single GPU processor, the code achieves a factor of 2-10 speedup for a range of problem sizes compared with the time on a single state-of-the-art Central Processing Unit (CPU) node with similar power consumption and semiconductor technology. It also shows good scalability on a multi-GPU cluster at Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. In an application to beam dynamics simulation, the GPU implementation helps save more than a factor of two total computing time in comparison to the CPU implementation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

THE ROLE OF CROSS-SHOCK POTENTIAL ON PICKUP ION SHOCK ACCELERATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF FOCUSED TRANSPORT THEORY

The focused transport theory is appropriate to describe the injection and acceleration of low-energy particles at shocks as an extension of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). In this investigation, we aim to characterize the role of cross-shock potential (CSP) originated in the charge separation across the shock ramp on pickup ion (PUI) acceleration at various types of shocks with a focused transport model. The simulation results of energy spectrum and spatial density distribution for the cases with and without CSP added in the model are compared. With sufficient acceleration time, the focused transport acceleration finally falls into the DSA regime with the power-law spectral index equal to the solution of the DSA theory. The CSP can affect the shape of the spectrum segment at lower energies, but it does not change the spectral index of the final power-law spectrum at high energies. It is found that the CSP controls the injection efficiency which is the fraction of PUIs reaching the DSA regime. A stronger CSP jump results in a dramatically improved injection efficiency. Our simulation results also show that the injection efficiency of PUIs is mass-dependent, which is lower for species with a higher mass. In addition, the CSP is able to enhance the particle reflection upstream to produce a stronger intensity spike at the shock front. We conclude that the CSP is a non-negligible factor that affects the dynamics of PUIs at shocks.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Celeritas R&D Report: Accelerating Geant4

Celeritas is a new Monte Carlo (MC) detector simulation code designed for computationally intensive applications on high-performance heterogeneous architectures. In the past two years Celeritas has advanced from prototyping a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-based single physics model in infinite medium to implementing a full set of electromagnetic (EM) physics processes in complex geometries. The current release of Celeritas, version 0.4, has incorporated full device-based navigation, an event loop in the presence of magnetic fields, and detector hit scoring. New functionality incorporates a scheduler to offload electromagnetic physics to the GPU within a Geant4-driven simulation, enabling straightforward integration of Celeritas into the high energy physics (HEP) experimental frameworks CMSSW and ATLAS FullSimLight. On the Perlmutter supercomputer, Celeritas performs EM physics between 3× and 18× faster using the machine’s Nvidia GPUs compared to using only CPUs, corresponding to an electrical power efficiency up to a factor of 5. When running a multithreaded Geant4 ATLAS test beam application with full hadronic physics, using Celeritas to accelerate the EM physics results in an overall simulation speedup of 1.7–2.2× on GPU and 1.2× on CPU. In a CMS test application using tt¯ events and the prototype Run 4 configuration, compared to Geant4 CPU, Celeritas with a Nvidia A100 improves overall throughput up to a factor of 2.7× but cannot be efficiently shared with more than 8 cores.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Unsupervised phase mapping of X-ray diffraction data by nonnegative matrix factorization integrated with custom clustering

Abstract Analyzing large X-ray diffraction (XRD) datasets is a key step in high-throughput mapping of the compositional phase diagrams of combinatorial materials libraries. Optimizing and automating this task can help accelerate the process of discovery of materials with novel and desirable properties. Here, we report a new method for pattern analysis and phase extraction of XRD datasets. The method expands the Nonnegative Matrix Factorization method, which has been used previously to analyze such datasets, by combining it with custom clustering and cross-correlation algorithms. This new method is capable of robust determination of the number of basis patterns present in the data which, in turn, enables straightforward identification of any possible peak-shifted patterns. Peak-shifting arises due to continuous change in the lattice constants as a function of composition and is ubiquitous in XRD datasets from composition spread libraries. Successful identification of the peak-shifted patterns allows proper quantification and classification of the basis XRD patterns, which is necessary in order to decipher the contribution of each unique single-phase structure to the multi-phase regions. The process can be utilized to determine accurately the compositional phase diagram of a system under study. The presented method is applied to one synthetic and one experimental dataset and demonstrates robust accuracy and identification abilities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Neck Muscle Coactivation Response to Varied Levels of Mental Workload During Simulated Flight Tasks

Objective To evaluate neck muscle coactivation across different levels of mental workload during simulated flight tasks. Background Neck pain (NP) is highly prevalent among military aviators. Given the complex nature within the flight environment, mental workload may be a risk factor for NP. This may induce higher levels of neck muscle coactivity, which over time may accelerate fatigue, increase neck discomfort, and affect flight task performance. Method Three counterbalanced mental workload conditions represented by simulated flight tasks modulated by interstimulus frequency and complexity were investigated using the Modifiable Multitasking Environment (ModME). The primary measure was a neck coactivation index to describe the neuromuscular effort of the neck muscles as a system. Additional measures included perceived workload (NASA TLX), subjective discomfort, and task performance. Participants ( n = 60; 30M, 30F) performed three test conditions over 1 hr each while seated in a simulated seating environment. Results Neck coactivation indices (CoA) and subjective neck discomfort corresponded with increasing level of mental workload. Average CoAs for low, medium, and high workloads were: .0278(SD = .0232), .0286(SD = .0231), and .0295(SD = .0228), respectively. NASA TLX mental, temporal, effort, and overall scores also increased with the level of mental workload assigned. For ModME task performance, the overall performance score, monitoring accuracy, and resource management accuracy decreased while reaction times increased with the increasing level of mental workload. Communication accuracy was lowest with the low mental workload but had higher reaction times relative to increasing workload. Conclusion Mental workload affects neck muscle coactivation during combinations of simulated flight tasks within a simulated helicopter seating environment. Application The results of this study provide insights into the physical response to mental workload. With increasing multisensory modalities within the work environment, these insights may assist the consideration of physical effects from cognitive factors.

Behavioral Sciences↗

Local Chemical Enhancement and Gating of Organic Coordinated Ionic-Electronic Transport

Superior properties in organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) over inorganic counterparts have inspired intense interest in biosensing, soft-robotics, neuromorphic computing, and smart medicine. However, slow ion transport relative to charge transport in these materials is a limiting factor. Here, it is demonstrated that hydrophilic molecules local to an interfacial OMIEC nanochannel can accelerate ion transport with ion mobilities surpassing electrophoretic transport by more than an order of magnitude. Furthermore, ion access to this interfacial channel can be gated through local surface energy. This mechanism is applied in a novel sensing device, which electronically detects and characterizes chemical reaction dynamics local to the buried channel. The ability to enhance ion transport at the nanoscale in OMIECs as well as govern ion transport through local chemical signaling enables new functionalities for printable, stretchable, and biocompatible mixed conduction devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Lithium deintercalation/intercalation processes in cathode materials based on lithium iron phosphate with the olivine structure

This review describes the current state of the studies of lithium deintercalation/intercalation processes in cathode materials based on lithium iron phosphate with olivine structure. The limiting factors of LiFePO{sub 4} charge/discharge processes, as well as the main methods for their acceleration are considered. A partial replacement of iron cations in the structure improves the electrochemical characteristics of the cathode materials, including the discharge capacity, charge/discharge rate, and, in some cases, changes the charge/discharge mechanism. The use of nanoscale phosphate LiFePO{sub 4} with the olivine structure considerably increases the charge/discharge rate of cathode materials based on it by reducing the diffusion path length. Methods for LiFePO{sub 4} surface modification are considered. Particular attention is paid to the development of composite materials with electron-conducting additives. Combining of various approaches to the modification of the material in question makes it possible to obtain materials with a discharge capacity close to the theoretical value (170 mA h g{sup –1}) at a low charge/discharge rate and to considerably increase its capacity at high charge and discharge currents.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Solutions on a brane in a bulk spacetime with Kalb–Ramond field

Effective gravitational field equations on a brane have been derived, when the bulk spacetime is endowed with the second rank antisymmetric Kalb–Ramond field. Since both the graviton and the Kalb–Ramond field are closed string excitations, they can propagate in the bulk. After deriving the effective gravitational field equations on the brane, we solve them for a static spherically symmetric solution. It turns out that the solution so obtained represents a black hole or naked singularity depending on the parameter space of the model. The stability of this model is also discussed. Cosmological solutions to the gravitational field equations have been obtained, where the Kalb–Ramond field is found to behave as normal pressure free matter. For certain specific choices of the parameters in the cosmological solution, the solution exhibits a transition in the behaviour of the scale factor and hence a transition in the expansion history of the universe. The possibility of accelerated expansion of the universe in this scenario is also discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Accelerating high-order mesh optimization using finite element partial assembly on GPUs

In this paper we present a new GPU-oriented mesh optimization method based on high order finite elements. Our approach relies on node movement with fixed topology, through the Target-Matrix Optimization Paradigm (TMOP) and uses a global nonlinear solve over the whole computational mesh, i.e., all mesh nodes are moved together. A key property of the method is that the mesh optimization process is recast in terms of finite element operations, which allows us to utilize recent advances in the field of GPU-accelerated high order finite element algorithms. For example, we reduce data motion by using tensor factorization and matrix-free methods, which have superior performance characteristics compared to traditional full finite element matrix assembly and offer advantages for GPU based HPC hardware. Furthermore, we describe the major mathematical components of the method along with their efficient GPU-oriented implementation. In addition, we propose an easily reproducible mesh optimization test that can serve as a performance benchmark for the mesh optimization community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗