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At least 289 records · Page 16

FIRST NuSTAR OBSERVATIONS OF MRK 501 WITHIN A RADIO TO TeV MULTI-INSTRUMENT CAMPAIGN

We report on simultaneous broadband observations of the TeV-emitting blazar Markarian 501 between 2013 April 1 and August 10, including the first detailed characterization of the synchrotron peak with Swift and NuSTAR. During the campaign, the nearby BL Lac object was observed in both a quiescent and an elevated state. The broadband campaign includes observations with NuSTAR, MAGIC, VERITAS, the Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope and UV Optical Telescope, various ground-based optical instruments, including the GASP-WEBT program, as well as radio observations by OVRO, Metsähovi, and the F-Gamma consortium. Some of the MAGIC observations were affected by a sand layer from the Saharan desert, and had to be corrected using event-by-event corrections derived with a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) facility. This is the first time that LIDAR information is used to produce a physics result with Cherenkov Telescope data taken during adverse atmospheric conditions, and hence sets a precedent for the current and future ground-based gamma-ray instruments. The NuSTAR instrument provides unprecedented sensitivity in hard X-rays, showing the source to display a spectral energy distribution (SED) between 3 and 79 keV consistent with a log-parabolic spectrum and hard X-ray variability on hour timescales. None (of the four extended NuSTAR observations) show evidence of the onset of inverse-Compton emission at hard X-ray energies. We apply a single-zone equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model to five simultaneous broadband SEDs. We find that the SSC model can reproduce the observed broadband states through a decrease in the magnetic field strength coinciding with an increase in the luminosity and hardness of the relativistic leptons responsible for the high-energy emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Prognostic Factors and Patterns of Relapse in Ewing Sarcoma Patients Treated With Chemotherapy and R0 Resection

Purpose: To identify prognostic factors and patterns of relapse for patients with Ewing sarcoma who underwent chemotherapy and R0 resection without radiation therapy (RT). Methods and Materials: We reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent surgical resection at our institution between 2000 and 2013 for an initial diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma. The associations of demographic and clinical factors with local control (LC) and patient outcome were determined by Cox regression. Time to events was measured from the time of surgery. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. Results: A total of 66 patients (median age 19 years, range 4-55 years) met the study criteria. The median follow-up was 5.6 years for living patients. In 43 patients (65%) for whom imaging studies were available, the median tumor volume reduction was 73%, and at least partial response by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors was achieved in 17 patients (40%). At 5 years, LC was 78%, progression-free survival (PFS) was 59%, and overall survival (OS) was 65%. Poor histologic response (necrosis ≤95%) was an independent predictor of LC (hazard ratio [HR] 6.8, P=.004), PFS (HR 5.2, P=.008), and OS (HR 5.0, P=.008). Metastasis on presentation was also an independent predictor of LC (HR 6.3, P=.011), PFS (HR 6.8, P=.002), and OS (HR 6.7, P=.002). Radiologic partial response was a predictor of PFS (HR 0.26, P=.012), and postchemotherapy tumor volume was associated with OS (HR 1.06, P=.015). All deaths were preceded by distant relapse. Of the 8 initial local-only relapses, 5 (63%) were soon followed by distant relapse. Predictors of poor postrecurrence survival were time to recurrence <1 year (HR 11.5, P=.002) and simultaneous local and distant relapse (HR 16.8, P=.001). Conclusions: Histologic and radiologic response to chemotherapy were independent predictors of outcome. Additional study is needed to determine the role of adjuvant radiation therapy for patients who have poor histologic response after R0 resection.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Design and implementation of HuREX analysis supporting interface - 171

Human error is recognized as one of the main causes to affect to the socio-technical system including nuclear power plant. Therefore, reducing human error through human reliability analysis (HRA) is a critical issue. Moreover, sufficient and reliable human performance data collection is a prerequisite for ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute developed the HuREX (Human Reliability data Extraction) framework to collect and analyze the responses of human operators from simulator training records of nuclear power plant. Thus, the development and computer software interfaces of the database are essential to efficiently support human reliability analysis. In this study, OPERA database was developed in accordance with the following process. First, the essential data required for the HRA analysis (e.g., plant data, procedures, system and equipment info, operating crews, results of simulator experiments, and so forth) was stored in the database. In addition, standardized procedures and related items were stored in the database to support HRA quantification. A data structure was developed to store crew responses conducted by operators to cope with an emergency situation during simulator experiments. In addition, various interfaces that escalate efficiency of the HuREX applications were developed. The HuREX analysis support interface was developed with HuREX Video Analyzer for observation of simulator collection data (e.g., audio-visual records, plant parameters, operator's action logs) and HuREX Data Analyzer for analysis of operator's conducted task. By using the OPERA database and HuREX analysis support interface developed through this research, maximizing the efficiency of human reliability analysis based on simulator training data. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

The response of stratospheric constituents to a solar eclipse, sunrise, and sunset

The use of measurements combined with detailed stratospheric modeling of time dependent events, to confirm chemical mechanisms and their laboratory rate constants, is examined. Careful simultaneous solutions of these equations have shown a significant daytime variation of ozone down to altitudes of about 30 km that can affect the interpretation of spectral absorption type experiments. The calculated sunset variations of NO and HO show a log linear concentration decay for limited time periods that can be readily converted into atmospheric temperatures by using known reaction rates up to about 70-km altitude. Proposed measurements of the time dependent behavior of NO and NO2 to be made by U2 aircraft at 20-km altitude are also discussed.

Herman, J. R.↗

Bayesian and LASSO Regressions for Comparative Permeability Modeling of Sandstone Reservoirs

In this research, Bayesian model averaging (BMA) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression (LASSO) algorithms were adopted for the core permeability modeling as a function of well log and core measurements. More specifically, the core permeability (dependent factor) was modeled given the well log and core data (independent variables) and then predicted in non-cored intervals of a well in a sandstone formation. The BMA is a stochastic linear modeling and a Bayesian parameter selection. Among 50 linear models generated as a function of the independent variables and depicted in Occam’s window, the best model of the highest posterior probability is determined. The best model has the optimal subset parameters that most influences the response factor. The core permeability modeling was again conducted using the LASSO algorithm, which adopts a completely different way of modeling and subset selection by using the penalized least-squared equation. Both BMA and LASSO resulted in a very accurate prediction of the core permeability by achieving perfect measured and calculated permeability matching. Matches for the two algorithms were quantified by computing the adjusted R-squared and root-mean-squared prediction error. In addition, results of the BMA and LASSO were compared to the conventional multiple linear regression (LM). The LASSO algorithm led to an accurate matching similar to LM, but slightly better than BMA. Therefore, both BMA and LASSO represent integrated procedures for accurate permeability estimation similar to conventional regression analysis.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Current interrupt method for calculating the electrochemical impedance in a solid oxide electrolysis stack

Here, in this work the time domain response of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) to a current interruption was transformed into the frequency domain using a carrier function Laplace transform, which is fit to the experimental data using a MATLAB Complex Nonlinear Least Squares (CNLS) solver. The hardware implementation, consisting principally of a high-speed switch and a fast-logging Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), was assembled and tested using a calibration module to assess the accuracy, repeatability, and speed of acquisition of the prototype device as compared against a calibrated commercial impedance spectrometer. Additionally, the current interrupt device and commercial FRA were used to acquire the impedance spectra of a four cell SOEC stack with a large, 300 cm 2 , active cell area.

SOEC↗

Global disease monitoring and forecasting with Wikipedia

Infectious disease is a leading threat to public health, economic stability, and other key social structures. Efforts to mitigate these impacts depend on accurate and timely monitoring to measure the risk and progress of disease. Traditional, biologically-focused monitoring techniques are accurate but costly and slow; in response, new techniques based on social internet data, such as social media and search queries, are emerging. These efforts are promising, but important challenges in the areas of scientific peer review, breadth of diseases and countries, and forecasting hamper their operational usefulness. We examine a freely available, open data source for this use: access logs from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Using linear models, language as a proxy for location, and a systematic yet simple article selection procedure, we tested 14 location-disease combinations and demonstrate that these data feasibly support an approach that overcomes these challenges. Specifically, our proof-of-concept yields models with up to 0.92, forecasting value up to the 28 days tested, and several pairs of models similar enough to suggest that transferring models from one location to another without re-training is feasible. Based on these preliminary results, we close with a research agenda designed to overcome these challenges and produce a disease monitoring and forecasting system that is significantly more effective, robust, and globally comprehensive than the current state of the art.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

The Increasingly Complex Challenge of Gas Hydrate Reservoir Simulation

Gas hydrate reservoir simulation is a complex endeavor. Reliable simulation capability will allow the proper design of field tests and the interpretation of field test data that are necessary to advance the understanding of the response of gas hydrate reservoirs to production activities. Increasing appreciation of the complexity of gas hydrate reservoirs, as well as continued uncertainty in key petrophysical parameters, requires great care in the design of simulation studies. This report outlines select emerging issues that greatly impact the relevance of numerical simulation resulting, including reservoir heterogeneity, geomechanics, log and core data interpretation, grid size, and others.

Boswell, Ray↗

Gauge-invariant TMD factorization for Drell-Yan hadronic tensor at small $\mathcal{x}$

The Drell-Yan hadronic tensor for electromagnetic (EM) current is calculated in the Sudakov region $s\gg Q^2 \gg q^2_⊥$ with $\frac{1}{Q^2}$ accuracy, first at the tree level and then with the double-log accuracy. It is demonstrated that in the leading order in $N_c$ the higher-twist quark-quark-gluon TMDs reduce to leading-twist TMDs due to QCD equation of motion. The resulting tensor for unpolarized hadrons is EM gauge-invariant and depends on two leading-twist TMDs: $f_1$ responsible for total DY cross section, and Boer-Mulders function $h\frac{⊥}{1}$. The order-of-magnitude estimates of angular distributions for DY process seem to agree with LHC results at corresponding kinematics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

RRI-GBT MULTI-BAND RECEIVER: MOTIVATION, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT

We report the design and development of a self-contained multi-band receiver (MBR) system, intended for use with a single large aperture to facilitate sensitive and high time-resolution observations simultaneously in 10 discrete frequency bands sampling a wide spectral span (100-1500 MHz) in a nearly log-periodic fashion. The development of this system was primarily motivated by need for tomographic studies of pulsar polar emission regions. Although the system design is optimized for the primary goal, it is also suited for several other interesting astronomical investigations. The system consists of a dual-polarization multi-band feed (with discrete responses corresponding to the 10 bands pre-selected as relatively radio frequency interference free), a common wide-band radio frequency front-end, and independent back-end receiver chains for the 10 individual sub-bands. The raw voltage time sequences corresponding to 16 MHz bandwidth each for the two linear polarization channels and the 10 bands are recorded at the Nyquist rate simultaneously. We present the preliminary results from the tests and pulsar observations carried out with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope using this receiver. The system performance implied by these results and possible improvements are also briefly discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Autonomous Inversion of In Situ Deformation Measurement Data for Injection-Induced Stress Change

Geologic carbon storage (GCS) is likely to play a key part of the global effort to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions and perhaps even reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations through carbon negative operations. A critical part of effort to commercialize and widely deploy this technology is developing the capability to rapidly assimilate real-time monitoring data into a form that will enable site operators to make decisions to manage the safe and efficient operations. Two of the risks associate with GCS are the risk of inducing fractures in the sealing formations that can create leakage pathways and the risk of inducing earthquakes of sufficient magnitude to cause public concern, property damage, or safety risks. To properly manage these risks the site operator needs to know the initial state of stress, the change in stress induced by injection, and the relationship between operational parameters such as injection rate and pressure and the change in stress. Current methods of estimating the change in stress require choosing the type of constitutive model and the model parameters based on core, log, and geophysical data during the characterization phase, with little feedback from operational observations to validate or refine these choices. These characterization methods interrogate the geologic formations using length scales, loading rates or magnitudes that are quite different from those encountered by the actual storage system. It is shown that errors in the assumed constitutive response, even when informed by laboratory tests on core samples, are likely to be common, large, and underestimate the magnitude of stress change caused by injection. Recent advances in borehole-based strain instruments and borehole and surface-based tilt and displacement instruments have now enabled monitoring of the deformation of the storage system throughout its operational lifespan. This data can enable validation and refinement of the knowledge of the geomechanical properties and state of the system, but brings with it a challenge to transform the raw data into actionable knowledge. We demonstrate a method that uses automatic differentiation and a finite-element based geomechanical model perform a gradient-based deterministic inversion of geomechanical monitoring data. This approach allows autonomous integration of the instrument data without the need for time consuming manual interpretation and selection of updated model parameters. Furthermore, only isotropic linear elasticity is considered in this paper, the approach presented is very flexible as to what type of geomechanical constitutive response can be used. The approach is easily adaptable to nonlinear physics-based constitutive models to account for common rock behaviors such as creep and plasticity. The approach also enables training of machine learning-based constitutive models by allowing back propagation of errors through the finite element calculations. This enables strongly enforcing known physics, such as conservation of momentum and continuity, while allowing data-driven models to learn the truly unknown physics such as the constitutive or petrophysical responses.

Burghardt, Jeffrey A.↗

Forecasting the 2013–2014 influenza season using Wikipedia

Infectious diseases are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality around the world; thus, forecasting their impact is crucial for planning an effective response strategy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), seasonal influenza affects 5% to 20% of the U.S. population and causes major economic impacts resulting from hospitalization and absenteeism. Understanding influenza dynamics and forecasting its impact is fundamental for developing prevention and mitigation strategies. We combine modern data assimilation methods with Wikipedia access logs and CDC influenza-like illness (ILI) reports to create a weekly forecast for seasonal influenza. The methods are applied to the 2013-2014 influenza season but are sufficiently general to forecast any disease outbreak, given incidence or case count data. We adjust the initialization and parametrization of a disease model and show that this allows us to determine systematic model bias. In addition, we provide a way to determine where the model diverges from observation and evaluate forecast accuracy. Wikipedia article access logs are shown to be highly correlated with historical ILI records and allow for accurate prediction of ILI data several weeks before it becomes available. The results show that prior to the peak of the flu season, our forecasting method produced 50% and 95% credible intervals for the 2013-2014 ILI observations that contained the actual observations for most weeks in the forecast. However, since our model does not account for re-infection or multiple strains of influenza, the tail of the epidemic is not predicted well after the peak of flu season has passed.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Structured Covariance Gaussian Networks for Orion Crew Module Aerodynamic Uncertainty Quantification

In this paper we propose a new approach for nonlinear regression and uncertainty quantification. The method is based on a pair of neural networks which parameterize mean and dense covariance functions of a multivariate Gaussian process, trained together to maximize the log-likelihood of observing the given data. The covariance matrix is made positive definite at every input by construction. We also propose a sampling approach that produces viable surrogate function realizations from the Gaussian process. We call the proposed model a Structured Covariance Gaussian Network (SCGN). We illustrate the use of SCGNs for learning an aerodynamic response surface with built-in uncertainty for the Orion crew module. We find that SCGN provides an efficient and systematic way to learn nonlinear functional relationships and dense covariances. We compare results to a baseline Gaussian process regressor and observe that the SCGN provides comparable uncertainty descriptions with improved scalability to dataset size. The sample functions generated by SCGN are fast to evaluate online and are therefore convenient for use in trajectory simulations. These results suggest that SCGN may be a viable computational method for aerodynamic uncertainty quantification.

machine learning↗

Structured Covariance Gaussian Networks for Orion Crew Module Aerodynamic Uncertainty Quantification

In this paper we propose a new approach for nonlinear regression and uncertainty quantification. The method is based on a pair of neural networks which parameterize mean and dense covariance functions of a multivariate Gaussian process, trained together to maximize the log-likelihood of observing the given data. The covariance matrix is made positive definite at every input by construction. We also propose a sampling approach that produces viable surrogate function realizations from the Gaussian process. We call the proposed model a Structured Covariance Gaussian Network (SCGN). We illustrate the use of SCGNs for learning an aerodynamic response surface with built-in uncertainty for the Orion crew module. We find that SCGN provides an efficient and systematic way to learn nonlinear functional relationships and dense covariances. We compare results to a baseline Gaussian process regressor and observe that the SCGN provides comparable uncertainty descriptions with improved scalability to dataset size. The sample functions generated by SCGN are fast to evaluate online and are therefore convenient for use in trajectory simulations. These results suggest that SCGN may be a viable computational method for aerodynamic uncertainty quantification.

machine learning↗

High-Density and Very-Low-Density Lipoprotein Have Opposing Roles in Regulating Tumor-Initiating Cells and Sensitivity to Radiation in Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Purpose: We previously demonstrated that cholesterol-lowering agents regulate radiation sensitivity of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) cell lines in vitro and are associated with less radiation resistance among IBC patients who undergo postmastectomy radiation. We hypothesized that decreasing IBC cellular cholesterol induced by treatment with lipoproteins would increase radiation sensitivity. Here, we examined the impact of specific transporters of cholesterol (ie lipoproteins) on the responses of IBC cells to self-renewal and to radiation in vitro and on clinical outcomes in IBC patients. Methods and Materials: Two patient-derived IBC cell lines, SUM 149 and KPL4, were incubated with low-density lipoproteins (LDL), very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), or high-density lipoproteins (HDL) for 24 hours prior to irradiation (0-6 Gy) and mammosphere formation assay. Cholesterol panels were examined in a cohort of patients with primary IBC diagnosed between 1995 and 2011 at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Lipoprotein levels were then correlated to patient outcome, using the log rank statistical model, and examined in multivariate analysis using Cox regression. Results: VLDL increased and HDL decreased mammosphere formation compared to untreated SUM 149 and KPL4 cells. Survival curves showed enhancement of survival in both of the IBC cell lines when pretreated with VLDL and, conversely, radiation sensitization in all cell lines when pretreated with HDL. In IBC patients, higher VLDL values (>30 mg/dL) predicted a lower 5-year overall survival rate than normal values (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.9 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05-3.45], P=.035). Lower-than-normal patient HDL values (<60 mg/dL) predicted a lower 5-year overall survival rate than values higher than 60 mg/dL (HR = 3.21 [95% CI: 1.25-8.27], P=.015). Conclusions: This study discovered a relationship among the plasma levels of lipoproteins, overall patient response, and radiation resistance in IBC patients and IBC patient-derived cell lines. A more expansive study is needed to verify these observations.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Interactions of Mean Climate Change and Climate Variability on Food Security Extremes

Recognizing that climate change will affect agricultural systems both through mean changes and through shifts in climate variability and associated extreme events, we present preliminary analyses of climate impacts from a network of 1137 crop modeling sites contributed to the AgMIP Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP). At each site sensitivity tests were run according to a common protocol, which enables the fitting of crop model emulators across a range of carbon dioxide, temperature, and water (CTW) changes. C3MP can elucidate several aspects of these changes and quantify crop responses across a wide diversity of farming systems. Here we test the hypothesis that climate change and variability interact in three main ways. First, mean climate changes can affect yields across an entire time period. Second, extreme events (when they do occur) may be more sensitive to climate changes than a year with normal climate. Third, mean climate changes can alter the likelihood of climate extremes, leading to more frequent seasons with anomalies outside of the expected conditions for which management was designed. In this way, shifts in climate variability can result in an increase or reduction of mean yield, as extreme climate events tend to have lower yield than years with normal climate.C3MP maize simulations across 126 farms reveal a clear indication and quantification (as response functions) of mean climate impacts on mean yield and clearly show that mean climate changes will directly affect the variability of yield. Yield reductions from increased climate variability are not as clear as crop models tend to be less sensitive to dangers on the cool and wet extremes of climate variability, likely underestimating losses from water-logging, floods, and frosts.

Variability↗

Retrieval of atmospheric properties of cloudy L dwarfs

Here, we present the first results from applying the spectral inversion technique in the cloudy L dwarf regime. This new framework provides a flexible approach to modelling cloud opacity which can be built incrementally as the data require and improves upon previous retrieval experiments in the brown dwarf regime by allowing for scattering in two-stream radiative transfer. Our first application of the tool to two mid-L dwarfs is able to reproduce their near-infrared spectra far more closely than grid models. Our retrieved thermal, chemical and cloud profiles allow us to estimate Teff = 1796 $+23\atop{-25}$ K and logg = 5.21$+0.05\atop{-0.08}$ for 2MASS J05002100+0330501, and for 2MASSW J2224438-015852 we find Teff = 1723 $+18\atop{-19}$ K and log g = 5.31 $+0.04\atop{-0.08}$, in close agreement with previous empirical estimates. Our best model for both objects includes an optically thick cloud deck which passes τcloud ≥ 1 (looking down) at a pressure of around 5 bar. The temperature at this pressure is too high for silicate species to condense, and we argue that corundum and/or iron clouds are responsible for this cloud opacity. Our retrieved profiles are cooler at depth and warmer at altitude than the forward grid models that we compare, and we argue that some form of heating mechanism may be at work in the upper atmospheres of these L dwarfs. We also identify anomalously high CO abundance in both targets, which does not correlate with the warmth of our upper atmospheres or our choice of cloud model, and find similarly anomalous alkali abundance for one of our targets. For these anomalies they may reflect unrecognized shortcomings in our retrieval model or inaccuracies in our gas phase opacities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗