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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 109 records · Page 6

Experimental evaluation of the extended Dytlewski-style dead time correction formalism for neutron multiplicity counting

Over the past few decades, neutron multiplicity counting has played an integral role in Special Nuclear Material (SNM) characterization pertaining to nuclear safeguards. Current neutron multiplicity analysis techniques use singles, doubles, and triples count rates because a methodology to extract and dead time correct higher order count rates (i.e. quads and pents) was not fully developed. This limitation is overcome by the recent extension of a popular dead time correction method developed by Dytlewski. This extended dead time correction algorithm, named Dytlewski-Croft-Favalli (DCF), is detailed in reference Croft and Favalli (2017), which gives an extensive explanation of the theory and implications of this new development. Dead time corrected results can then be used to assay SNM by inverting a set of extended point model equations which as well have only recently been formulated. Here, we discuss and present the experimental evaluation of practical feasibility of the DCF dead time correction algorithm to demonstrate its performance and applicability in nuclear safeguards applications. In order to test the validity and effectiveness of the dead time correction for quads and pents, 252 Cf and SNM sources were measured in high efficiency neutron multiplicity counters at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the count rates were extracted up to the fifth order and corrected for dead time. To assess the DCF dead time correction, the corrected data is compared to traditional dead time correction treatment within INCC. In conclusion, the DCF dead time correction is found to provide adequate dead time treatment for broad range of count rates available in practical applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Evaluation of Solvita compost stability and maturity tests for assessment of quality of end-products from mixed latrine style compost toilets

Highlights: • Solvita® stability and maturity tests used on composting toilet end-product. • Solvita® ammonia better suited in evaluation of feedstock suitability for vermicomposting. • No clear value of Solvita® stability test due to prevalent inhibition of decomposition by ammonia. - Abstract: It is challenging and expensive to monitor and test decentralized composting toilet systems, yet critical to prevent the mismanagement of potentially harmful and pathogenic end-product. Recent studies indicate that mixed latrine composting toilets can be inhibited by high ammonia content, a product of urea hydrolysis. Urine-diverting vermicomposting toilets are better able to accomplish the goals of remote site human waste management by facilitating the consumption of fecal matter by earthworms, which are highly sensitive to ammonia. The reliability of Solvita® compost stability and maturity tests were evaluated as a means of determining feedstock suitability for vermicomposting (ammonia) and end-product stability/completeness (carbon dioxide). A significant linear regression between Solvita® ammonia and free ammonia gas was found. Solvita® ranking of maturity did not correspond to ranking assigned by ammonium:nitrate standards. Solvita® ammonia values 4 and 5 contained ammonia levels below earthworm toxicity limits in 80% and 100% of samples respectively indicative of their use in evaluating feedstock suitability for vermicomposting. Solvita® stability tests did not correlate with carbon dioxide evolution tests nor ranking of stability by the same test, presumably due to in situ inhibition of decomposition and microbial respiration by ammonia which were reported by the Solvita® CO{sub 2} test as having high stability values.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Protein-style dynamical transition in a non-biological polymer and a non-aqueous solvent

Using neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulation, techniques most often associated with protein dynamical transition studies, we have investigated the microscopic dynamics of one of the most common polymers, polystyrene, which was exposed to toluene vapor, mimicking the process of protein hydration from water vapor. Polystyrene with adsorbed toluene is an example of a solvent-solute system, which, unlike biopolymers, is anhydrous and lacks hydrogen bonding. Nevertheless, it exhibits the essential traits of the dynamical transition in biomolecules, such as a specific dependence of the microscopic dynamics of both solvent and host on the temperature and the amount of solvent adsorbed. Ultimately, we conclude that the protein dynamical transition is a manifestation of a universal solvent-solute dynamical relationship, which is not specific to either biomolecules as solute, or aqueous media as solvent, or even a particular type of interactions between solvent and solute.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Late Holocene Structural Style and Seismicity of Highly Transpressional Faults in Southern Haiti

The devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake ( M w 7.0) was caused by rupture of the Léogâne, blind, thrust fault located 5 km north of the 1,200-km-long, left-lateral, Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone (EPGFZ). Unexpectedly, the EPGFZ remained largely quiescent or slightly reactivated during the 2010 earthquake. Nevertheless, the EPGFZ still formed a major, crustal boundary between a coseismically uplifted lowland north of the EPGFZ and a subsided area in the highlands south of the fault. Here we use high-resolution sonar data from two Haitian Lakes that straddle the EPGFZ to demonstrate the presence of a 10- to 15-km-wide, 120-km-long, late Holocene fold-thrust belt which deforms clastic, lowland basins along the northern edge of the EPGFZ. In the eastern part of the study area, sonar results from Lake Azuey show that the linear trace of the EPGFZ cutting the Holocene lake bed is more deeply buried and less active than the adjacent, newly discovered, northwest striking, northeast dipping Jimani thrust fault that is part of the adjacent, transpressional belt of en echelon thrusts and folds. This structural relationship between a less active EPGFZ and more recently active, transpression-related Jimani thrust is remarkably similar to the 2010 epicentral area 70 km to the west between the less active EPGFZ and seismogenic, northeast-dipping, Léogâne thrust during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In this complex transpressional zone, we propose that coseismic deformation alternates at recurrence intervals of centuries between oblique, transpression-related structures (Léogâne, Jimani, and Trois Baies thrusts) and the main strike-slip, plate boundary fault zone (EPGFZ).

2010 Haiti earthquake↗

Linearized Jastrow-style fluctuations on spin-projected Hartree-Fock

The accurate and efficient description of strong electronic correlations remains an important objective in electronic structure theory. Projected Hartree-Fock theory, where symmetries of the Hamiltonian are deliberately broken and projectively restored, all with a mean-field computational scaling, shows considerable promise in this regard. However, the method is neither size extensive nor size consistent; in other words, the correlation energy per particle beyond broken-symmetry mean field vanishes in the thermodynamic limit, and the dissociation limit of a molecule is not the sum of the fragment energies. These two problems are closely related. Recently, Neuscamman [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 203001 (2012)] has proposed a method to cure the lack of size consistency in the context of the antisymmetrized geminal power wave function (equivalent to number-projected Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov) by using a Jastrow-type correlator in Hilbert space. Here, we apply the basic idea in the context of projected Hartree-Fock theory, linearizing the correlator for computational simplicity but extending it to include spin fluctuations. Results are presented for the Hubbard Hamiltonian and for some simple molecular systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Sesame-style decomposition of KS-DFT molecular dynamics for direct interrogation of nuclear models

A common paradigm used in the construction of equations of state is to decompose the thermodynamics into a superposition of three terms: a static-lattice cold curve, a contribution from the thermal motion of the nuclei, and a contribution from the thermal excitation of the electrons. While statistical mechanical models for crystals provide tractable framework for the nuclear contribution in the solid phase, much less is understood about the nuclear contribution above the % melt temperature $(C^{(nuc)}_ν≈3R)$ and how it should transition to the high-temperature limit $(C^{(nuc)}_ν\sim\frac{3}{2}R)$. Here, we describe an algorithm for extracting both the thermal nuclear and thermal electronic contributions from quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations. We then use the VASP QMD package to probe thermal nuclear behavior of liquid aluminum at normal density to compare the results to semi-empirical models – the Johnson generic model, the Chisolm high-temperature liquid model, and the CRIS model. The thermal electronic energy is also calculated from the VASP results and compared to the Kohn-Sham calculations from QE-DFT simulations, Green’s function average atom calculations, and the Thomas-Fermi atomic model.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Improving Deep Neural Networks’ Training for Image Classification With Nonlinear Conjugate Gradient-Style Adaptive Momentum

Momentum is crucial in stochastic gradient-based optimization algorithms for accelerating or improving training deep neural networks (DNNs). In deep learning practice, the momentum is usually weighted by a well-calibrated constant. However, tuning the hyperparameter for momentum can be a significant computational burden. In this article, we propose a novel adaptive momentum for improving DNNs training; this adaptive momentum, with no momentum-related hyperparame- ter required, is motivated by the nonlinear conjugate gradient (NCG) method. Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with this new adaptive momentum eliminates the need for the momentum hyperparameter calibration, allows using a significantly larger learning rate, accelerates DNN training, and improves the final accuracy and robustness of the trained DNNs. For example, SGD with this adaptive momentum reduces classification errors for training ResNet110 for CIFAR10 and CIFAR100 from 5.25% to 4.64% and 23.75% to 20.03%, respectively. Furthermore, SGD, with the new adaptive momentum, also benefits adversarial training and, hence, improves the adversarial robustness of the trained DNNs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

SU-E-E-02: An Excel-Based Study Tool for ABR-Style Exams

Purpose: As the landscape of learning and testing shifts toward a computer-based environment, a replacement for paper-based methods of studying is desirable. Using Microsoft Excel, a study tool was developed that allows the user to populate multiple-choice questions and then generate an interactive quiz session to answer them. Methods: The code for the tool was written using Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Applications with the intent that this tool could be implemented by any institution with Excel. The base tool is a template with a setup macro, which builds out the structure based on user’s input. Once the framework is built, the user can input sets of multiple-choice questions, answer choices, and even add figures. The tool can be run in random-question or sequential-question mode for single or multiple courses of study. The interactive session allows the user to select answer choices and immediate feedback is provided. Once the user is finished studying, the tool records the day’s progress by reporting progress statistics useful for trending. Results: Six doctoral students at UTHSCSA have used this tool for the past two months to study for their qualifying exam, which is similar in format and content to the American Board of Radiology (ABR) Therapeutic Part II exam. The students collaborated to create a repository of questions, met weekly to go over these questions, and then used the tool to prepare for their exam. Conclusion: The study tool has provided an effective and efficient way for students to collaborate and be held accountable for exam preparation. The ease of use and familiarity of Excel are important factors for the tool’s use. There are software packages to create similar question banks, but this study tool has no additional cost for those that already have Excel. The study tool will be made openly available.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Life-Style and Genome Structure of Marine Pseudoalteromonas Siphovirus B8b Isolated from the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Marine viruses (phages) alter bacterial diversity and evolution with impacts on marine biogeochemical cycles, and yet few well-developed model systems limit opportunities for hypothesis testing. We isolate phage B8b from the Mediterranean Sea using Pseudoalteromonas sp. QC-44 as a host and characterize it using myriad techniques. Morphologically, phage B8b was classified as a member of the Siphoviridae family. One-step growth analyses showed that this siphovirus had a latent period of 70 min and released 172 new viral particles per cell. In the host range analysis against 89 bacterial host strains revealed that phage B8b infected 3 Pseudoalteromonas strains (52 tested, >99.9% 16S rRNA gene nucleotide identity) and 1 non-Pseudoaltermonas strain belonging to Alteromonas sp. (37 strains from 6 genera tested), which helps bound the phylogenetic distance possible in a phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer event. The Pseudoalteromonas phage B8b genome size was 42.7 kb, with clear structural and replication modules where the former were delineated leveraging identification of 16 structural genes by virion structural proteomics, only 4 of which had any similarity to known structural proteins. In nature, this phage was common in coastal marine environments in both photic and aphotic layers (found in 26.5% of available viral metagenomes), but not abundant in any sample (average per sample abundance was 0.65% of the reads). Together these data improve our understanding of siphoviruses in nature, and provide foundational information for a new 'rare virosphere' phage-host model system.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

A RHIC-style IPM in the Brookhaven AGS

Beam profiles in the two storage rings of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) are measured with ionization profile monitors (IPMs). Each ring has a vertical and horizontal detector. An IPM measures the distribution of electrons produced in the beam line by beam ionization of background gas. These detectors have been developed at BNL in a program that began in 1996. The current detectors are a design that was based on a prototype built in 2007 and used in RHIC from 2007 to 2012. During the 2012 shutdown we refurbished this prototype and installed it into the Alternating-Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). This paper describes the new AGS IPM and shows data from the detector commissioning.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Retrofitting Garden-Style Apartments in Brooklyn, New York

This research effort sought to achieve a solution package that yields energy savings greater than 30% more than the existing conditions in a minimally intrusive, multifamily, retrofit project.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Deploying Simulations to FPGAs for HIL-Style Tester Development

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) methodologies for test system development often require simulations capable of running at MHz speeds on FPGAs. The stringent memory and speed constraints necessitate compromises between model fidelity and execution speed. Numerically solving the underlying governing equations represents the highest accuracy, but slowest responding approach. By storing pre-determined results in look-up-tables (LUT), one can balance speed and accuracy.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Applications Technology Satellite 6 - Upgrading the life style of millions of people

The primary objective of the ATS-6 is to demonstrate the feasibility of operating a high-powered geosynchronous communications satellite capable of relaying color TV and other high-quality signals on multiple frequencies to relatively simple and inexpensive ground receivers. Other capabilities include providing a link between ships, aircraft, or other earth satellites (e.g., low-orbit meteorological satellites) and the ground. The ATS-6 flight-objective accomplishments and subsystem performance for its first 30 days in orbit are summarized. Success is predicted for most of the experiments carried.

Thole, J. M.↗