Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “merging”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

Illustration of bunch merge simulation in RHIC

Following are examples of a 4 to 2 to 1 merge of proton bunches in RHIC obtained by running the simulation code rhic2mrg23. As the code runs, the user is prompted to enter several numbers. For these examples, RF harmonic number 1440.0 is entered. An RF frequency of 112.597 696 626 MHz at this harmonic is entered. This gives a proton energy of 100 GeV. The merge simulation starts with a uniform distribution of unbunched protons. 2.0 eV-s is entered for the longitudinal emittance of the distribution. The code will recommend a voltage to capture the unbunched protons into 4 harmonic 1440 buckets. A capture voltage of 142.390 kV is recommended. 144.0 kV is entered. It is desirable to capture the protons as “adiabatically” as possible. A capture time of 3318 ms is recommended by the code. 3320.0 ms is entered. A 4 to 2 merge time of 1659 ms is recommended by the code. 1660.0 ms is entered. A 2 to 1 merge time twice that of the 4 to 2 merge is recommended by the code. 3320.0 ms is entered. The code requests a “time fraction” FQMRG to be entered. This is a number (from 0.1 to 1.0) that determines the time at which data are recorded during the 4 to 2 merge. The number 0.5 is entered. This encodes the recording of data halfway through the 4 to 2 merge.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Illustration of bunch merge simulation in AGS

Following are examples of a 4 to 2 to 1 merge of proton bunches in AGS obtained by running the simulation code ags2mrg23. As the code runs, the user is prompted to enter several numbers. For these examples, RF harmonic number 12.0 is entered. An RF frequency of 4.453 913 448 73 MHz at this harmonic is entered. This gives proton G γ = 45.5. The merge simulation starts with a uniform distribution of unbunched protons. 2.0 eV-s is entered for the longitudinal emittance of the distribution. The code will recommend a voltage to capture the unbunched protons into 4 harmonic 12 buckets. A capture voltage of 0.0527 kV is recommended. 0.053 kV is entered. It is desirable to capture the protons as “adiabatically” as possible. Because of the long synchrotron period (372 ms), a capture time of 74,707 ms is recommended by the code. A shorter time, 10,000 ms, is entered to reduce the running time of the code. A 4 to 2 merge time of 37,353 ms is recommended by the code. 4000.0 ms is entered. A 2 to 1 merge time twice that of the 4 to 2 merge is recommended by the code. 8000.0 ms is entered. The code requests a “time fraction” FQMRG to be entered. This is a number (from 0.1 to 1.0) that determines the time at which data are recorded during the 4 to 2 merge. The number 0.5 is entered. This encodes the recording of data halfway through the 4 to 2 merge.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Efficient Merge and Insert Operations for Binary Heaps and Trees

Binary heaps and binary search trees merge efficiently. We introduce a new amortized analysis that allows us to prove the cost of merging either binary heaps or balanced binary trees is O(l), in the amortized sense. The standard set of other operations (create, insert, delete, extract minimum, in the case of binary heaps, and balanced binary trees, as well as a search operation for balanced binary trees) remain with a cost of O(log n). For binary heaps implemented as arrays, we show a new merge algorithm that has a single operation cost for merging two heaps, a and b, of O(absolute value of a + min(log absolute value of b log log absolute value of b. log absolute value of a log absolute value of b). This is an improvement over O(absolute value of a + log absolute value of a log absolute value of b). The cost of the new merge is so low that it can be used in a new structure which we call shadow heaps. to implement the insert operation to a tunable efficiency. Shadow heaps support the insert operation for simple priority queues in an amortized time of O(f(n)) and other operations in time O((log n log log n)/f (n)), where 1 less than or equal to f (n) less than or equal to log log n. More generally, the results here show that any data structure with operations that change its size by at most one, with the exception of a merge (aka meld) operation, can efficiently amortize the cost of the merge under conditions that are true for most implementations of binary heaps and search trees.

Kuszmaul, Christopher Lee↗

Spectral Data Assimilation for Merging Satellite Ocean Color Imagery

The Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) project was initiated 'to develop a methodology and operational capability to combine data products from various ocean color missions in a manner that ensures the best possible global coverage and best exploits the complementary missions of the sensors'. While the merging of data from multiple sources has already been implemented for sea surface temperature (SST), altimetry or clouds, this is a new topic in ocean color science. Merging ocean color data has obvious advantage in terms of spatial and temporal coverage of the global ocean but data merging should also result in new, more diverse and improved data products with lower uncertainties. The merging of ocean color satellite data is generally considered at the level of the global gridded products, i.e., NASA Level-3 and, more specifically, for the merging of chlorophyll a concentration data, [Ch1]. This approach limits computational issues and deals with a unique, simple quantity, [Ch1]. However, ocean color data merging can also be conducted at the level of water-leaving radiances, LwN(lamda), using either empirical or semi-analytical algorithms. Although more challenging, this latter approach is potentially extremely powerful as it can achieve good consistency in the final data products and can take advantage of both the specificities and differences of each source of data. The demonstration of the feasibility of such approach is the main objective of our SIMBIOS work. Here, we use a semi-analytical algorithm to merge Rrs (or, equivalently LwN) data from different sources to estimate [Ch1]. The model also allows for the retrieval of other quantities such as the combined absorption of colored detrital particulate and dissolved organic matter at 443 nm, a(sub cdm)(443) and the particulate backscattering, b(sub bp)(443).

Siegel, David A.↗

Hybrid Simulations of FRC Merging and Compression

An improved understanding of field-reversed configuration (FRC) merging and stability in high acceleration and compression magnetic fields is needed to speed up the development of the pulsed fusion concept developed at Helion Energy. All previous theoretical and simulation work on FRC merging and compression was performed using two-dimensional (2D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models. The results of novel 2D hybrid simulations (fluid electrons and full-orbit kinetic ions) of FRC merging and compression are presented. Results of kinetic and MHD simulations, computed using the HYM code, are compared and analyzed. In cases without axial magnetic compression, both the MHD and hybrid simulations show a high sensitivity to the initial parameters (i.e. FRC separation, velocity, normalized separatrix radius, and plasma viscosity), showing that FRCs with large elongation and separatrix radius either do not merge or merge partially, forming a doublet FRC. In conclusion, application of a mirror coil field at the FRC ends with increasing strength is shown to lead to fast and complete merging of the FRCs in MHD and kinetic simulations.

FRC↗

Observations of magnetic merging and the formation of the plasma sheet in the earth's magnetotail

Particle and magnetic field observations of the field line merging process in the earth's magnetotail are presented. By analyzing the lunar shadow pattern of electron fluxes detected by the lunar-orbiting Apollo 16 subsatellite it has been possible to identify the topology and to measure the velocity of the magnetotail field lines. The observations reported here were made as the moon crossed the separatrix between premerging and merged field lines. The measured field line velocities toward the merging region were 30-60 km/s, and the thickness of the separatrix was estimated to be about 2000 km. Most of the magnetic energy released in the merging process appears to go into the energization of particles. The length and the thickness of the merging region are inferred to be of the order of about 10 earth radii and about 4000 km, respectively. The energized particles travel away from the merging region along the separatrix. Those headed earthward may form the plasma sheet by being trapped on closed field lines. The rate of energization and the energy spectrum of those particles are consistent with those required for formation of the plasma sheet.

Lin, R. P.↗

TRMM-Based Merged Precipitation Analyses

This paper describes results of using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) information as the key calibration tool in a merged analysis on a 1X1 latitude/longitude monthly scale based on multiple satellite sources and raingauge analyses. The TRMM-based product is compared with surface-based validation data sets and the community-based 20-year Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP)monthly analyses. The TRMM-based merged analysis uses the TRMM information to calibrate the estimates from SSM/I and geosynchronous IR observations and merges those estimates together with the TRMM and gauge information to produce accurate rainfall estimates with the increased sampling provided by the combined satellite information. This TRMM merged analysis uses the combined instrument (Precipitation Radar [PR] and TRMM Microwave Imager [TMI]) retrieval of Haddad as the TRMM estimate with which to calibrate the other satellite estimates. This TRMM Combined instrument (TCI) estimate is shown to produce very similar absolute values to the other main TRMM products. The TRMM and other satellites merged analysis compares favorably to the atoll data set of Morrissey for the months of 1998 with a very small positive bias of 2%. However, comparison with the preliminary results from the TRMM ground validation radar information at Kwajalein atoll in the western Pacific Ocean shows a 26% positive bias. Therefore, absolute magnitudes from TRMM and/or the ground validation need to be treated with care at this point. A month by month comparison of the TRMM merged analysis and the GPCP analysis indicates very similar patterns, but with subtle differences in magnitude. Focusing on the Pacific Ocean ITCZ one can see the TRMM-based estimates having higher peak values and lower values in the ITCZ periphery. These attributes also show up in the statistics, where GPCP>TRMM at low values (below 10 mm/d) and TRMM>GPCP at high values (greater than 15 mm/d). Integrated over the 37N-37S belt for all of 1998 the TRMM value is 3.1 mm/day compared to 2.9 mm/day for GPCP, with the results when confined to ocean being 3.3 and 3.0, respectively. Therefore, TRMM has approximately 10% higher tropical oceanic precipitation than GPCP. Examples of TRMM monthly fields in analysis of geographic and temporal variations will also be discussed. Results for 1998 indicate that TRMM has a different ratio of western Pacific to eastern Pacific rainfall than GPCP, perhaps indicating that TRMM's ability to discern the vertical structure of the rain may lead to better estimates in the eastern Pacific. In addition the rainfall anomalies associated with the '98-'99 ENSO event are shown to be larger with the TRMM results as compared to the GPCP analyses.

Adler, Robert↗

Optimization of Ocean Color Algorithms: Application to Satellite Data Merging

The objective of our program is to develop and validate a procedure for ocean color data merging which is one of the major goals of the SIMBIOS project. The need for a merging capability is dictated by the fact that since the launch of MODIS on the Terra platform and over the next decade, several global ocean color missions from various space agencies are or will be operational simultaneously. The apparent redundancy in simultaneous ocean color missions can actually be exploited to various benefits. The most obvious benefit is improved coverage. The patchy and uneven daily coverage from any single sensor can be improved by using a combination of sensors. Beside improved coverage of the global Ocean the merging of Ocean color data should also result in new, improved, more diverse and better data products with lower uncertainties. Ultimately, ocean color data merging should result in the development of a unified, scientific quality, ocean color time series, from SeaWiFS to NPOESS and beyond. Various approaches can be used for ocean color data merging and several have been tested within the frame of the SIMBIOS program. As part of the SIMBIOS Program, we have developed a merging method for ocean color data. Conversely to other methods our approach does not combine end-products like the subsurface chlorophyll concentration (chl) from different sensors to generate a unified product. Instead, our procedure uses the normalized water-leaving radiances (L(sub WN)(lambda)) from single or multiple sensors and uses them in the inversion of a semi-analytical ocean color model that allows the retrieval of several ocean color variables simultaneously. Beside ensuring simultaneity and consistency of the retrievals (all products are derived from a single algorithm), this model-based approach has various benefits over techniques that blend end-products (e.g. chlorophyll): 1) it works with single or multiple data sources regardless of their specific bands, 2) it exploits band redundancies and band differences, 3) it accounts for uncertainties in the (L(sub WN)(lambda)) data and, 4) it provides uncertainty estimates for the retrieved variables.

Maritorena, Stephane↗

Optimization Of Ocean Color Algorithms: Application To Satellite And In Situ Data Merging

The objective of our program is to develop and validate a procedure for ocean color data merging which is one of the major goals of the SIMBIOS project (McClain et al., 1995). The need for a merging capability is dictated by the fact that since the launch of MODIS on the Terra platform and over the next decade, several global ocean color missions from various space agencies are or will be operational simultaneously. The apparent redundancy in simultaneous ocean color missions can actually be exploited to various benefits. The most obvious benefit is improved coverage (Gregg et al., 1998; Gregg & Woodward, 1998). The patchy and uneven daily coverage from any single sensor can be improved by using a combination of sensors. Beside improved coverage of the global ocean the merging of ocean color data should also result in new, improved, more diverse and better data products with lower uncertainties. Ultimately, ocean color data merging should result in the development of a unified, scientific quality, ocean color time series, from SeaWiFS to NPOESS and beyond. Various approaches can be used for ocean color data merging and several have been tested within the frame of the SIMBIOS program (see e.g. Kwiatkowska & Fargion, 2003, Franz et al., 2003). As part of the SIMBIOS Program, we have developed a merging method for ocean color data. Conversely to other methods our approach does not combine end-products like the subsurface chlorophyll concentration (chl) from different sensors to generate a unified product. Instead, our procedure uses the normalized waterleaving radiances (LwN( )) from single or multiple sensors and uses them in the inversion of a semianalytical ocean color model that allows the retrieval of several ocean color variables simultaneously. Beside ensuring simultaneity and consistency of the retrievals (all products are derived from a single algorithm), this model-based approach has various benefits over techniques that blend end-products (e.g. chlorophyll): 1) it works with single or multiple data sources regardless of their specific bands, 2) it exploits band redundancies and band differences, 3) it accounts for uncertainties in the LwN( ) data and, 4) it provides uncertainty estimates for the retrieved variables.

Maritorena, Stephane↗

Temporal-Spatial Structure of Magnetic Merging at the Magnetopause Inferred from 557.7-nm All-Sky Images

We demonstrate that high-resolution 557.7-nm all-sky images are useful tools for investigating the spatial and temporal evolution of merging on the dayside magnetopause. Analysis of ground and satellite measurements leads us to conclude that high-latitude merging events can occur at multiple sites simultaneously and vary asynchronously on time scales of 30 s to 3 min. Variations of 557.7 nm emissions were observed at a 10 s cadence at Ny-Alesund on 19 December 2001, while significant changes in the IMF clock angle were reaching the magnetopause. The optical patterns are consistent with a scenario in which merging occurs around the rim of the high-latitude cusp at positions dictated by the IMF clock angle. Electrons energized at merging sites represent plausible sources for 557.7 nm emissions in the cusp. Polar observations at the magnetopause have directly linked enhanced fluxes of > or = 0.5 keV electrons with merging. Spectra of electrons responsible for some of the emissions, measured during a DMSP F15 overflight, exhibit "inverted-V" features, indicating further acceleration above the ionosphere. SuperDARN spectral width boundaries, characteristic of open-closed field line transitions, are located at the equatorward edge of the 557.7nm emissions. Optical data suggest that with IMF B(sub Y) > 0, the Northern Hemisphere cusp divides into three source regions. When the IMF clock angle was approx. 150 deg structured 557.7-nm emissions came from east of the 13:00 MLT meridian. At larger clock angles the emissions appeared between 12:00 and 13:00 MLT. No significant 557.7-nm emissions were detected in the prenoon MLT sector. MHD simulations corroborate our scenario, showing that with the observed large dipole-tilt and IMF clock angles, merging sites develop near the front and eastern portions of the high-altitude cusp rim in the Northern Hemisphere and near the western part of the cusp rim in the Southern Hemisphere.

Maynard, N. C.↗

DeepMerge: Classifying high-redshift merging galaxies with deep neural networks

In this work, we investigate and demonstrate the use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for the task of distinguishing between merging and non-merging galaxies in simulated images, and for the first time at high redshifts (i.e. $z=2$). We extract images of merging and non-merging galaxies from the Illustris-1 cosmological simulation and apply observational and experimental noise that mimics that from the Hubble Space Telescope; the data without noise form a "pristine" data set and that with noise form a "noisy" data set. The test set classification accuracy of the CNN is $79\%$ for pristine and $76\%$ for noisy. The CNN outperforms a Random Forest classifier, which was shown to be superior to conventional one- or two-dimensional statistical methods (Concentration, Asymmetry, the Gini, $M_{20}$ statistics etc.), which are commonly used when classifying merging galaxies. We also investigate the selection effects of the classifier with respect to merger state and star formation rate, finding no bias. Finally, we extract Grad-CAMs (Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping) from the results to further assess and interrogate the fidelity of the classification model.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Computing a Stable Distance on Merge Trees

Distances on merge trees facilitate visual comparison of collections of scalar fields. Two desirable properties for these distances to exhibit are 1) the ability to discern between scalar fields which other, less complex topological summaries cannot and 2) to still be robust to perturbations in the dataset. The combination of these two properties, known respectively as stability and discriminativity, has led to theoretical distances which are either thought to be or shown to be computationally complex and thus their implementations have been scarce. In order to design similarity measures on merge trees which are computationally feasible for more complex merge trees, many researchers have elected to loosen the restrictions on at least one of these two properties. The question still remains, however, if there are practical situations where trading these desirable properties is necessary. Here we construct a distance between merge trees which is designed to retain both discriminativity and stability. While our approach can be expensive for large merge trees, we illustrate its use in a setting where the number of nodes is small. This setting can be made more practical since we also provide a proof that persistence simplification increases the outputted distance by at most half of the simplified value. As a result, we demonstrate our distance measure on applications in shape comparison and on detection of periodicity in the von Kármán vortex street.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Serial crystallography with multi-stage merging of thousands of images

KAMO and BLEND provide particularly effective tools to automatically manage the merging of large numbers of data sets from serial crystallography. The requirement for manual intervention in the process can be reduced by extending BLEND to support additional clustering options such as the use of more accurate cell distance metrics and the use of reflection-intensity correlation coefficients to infer `distances' among sets of reflections. This increases the sensitivity to differences in unit-cell parameters and allows clustering to assemble nearly complete data sets on the basis of intensity or amplitude differences. If the data sets are already sufficiently complete to permit it, one applies KAMO once and clusters the data using intensities only. When starting from incomplete data sets, one applies KAMO twice, first using unit-cell parameters. In this step, either the simple cell vector distance of the original BLEND or the more sensitive NCDist is used. This step tends to find clusters of sufficient size such that, when merged, each cluster is sufficiently complete to allow reflection intensities or amplitudes to be compared. One then uses KAMO again using the correlation between reflections with a common hkl to merge clusters in a way that is sensitive to structural differences that may not have perturbed the unit-cell parameters sufficiently to make meaningful clusters. Many groups have developed effective clustering algorithms that use a measurable physical parameter from each diffraction still or wedge to cluster the data into categories which then can be merged, one hopes, to yield the electron density from a single protein form. Since these physical parameters are often largely independent of one another, it should be possible to greatly improve the efficacy of data-clustering software by using a multi-stage partitioning strategy. Here, one possible approach to multi-stage data clustering is demonstrated. The strategy is to use unit-cell clustering until the merged data are sufficiently complete and then to use intensity-based clustering. Using this strategy, it is demonstrated that it is possible to accurately cluster data sets from crystals that have subtle differences.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DeepMerge: Studying Distant Merging Galaxies with Deep Neural Networks

The hierarchical merging of galaxies is a probe of the cosmos to test the canonical ?CDM cosmology paradigm. A particularly interesting period is "cosmic high noon" at redshifts z? 2?3, during which star formation rates were the highest, and significant amounts of stellar mass assembled into galaxy-scale bodies. Detecting galaxy mergers in observations by conventional automated methods (which use extracted parameters of galaxy structure - asymmetry, clumpiness, concentration etc.) or by visual inspection has proven to be quite time-consuming and prone to errors. Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) are a primary representative of deep learning algorithms which are used in computer vision tasks by training to detect features in images. CNNs were already used for classification of low-redshift merging galaxies [1, 2]. Here we will use CNN to to learn directly from images (without the need to extract morphology parameters) of distant merging galaxies in order to distinguish between merging and non-merging objects.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Taylor State Merging at SSX: Experiment and Simulation

We describe experiments and simulations of dynamical merging with two Taylor state plasmas in a Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) device. Taylor states are formed by magnetized plasma guns at opposite ends of the device. We performed experiments with Taylor states of both senses of magnetic helicity (right-handed twist or left-handed twist). We present results of both counter-helicity merging (one side left-handed, the other right-handed) and co-helicity merging (both sides left-handed). Experiments show significant ion heating, consistent with magnetic reconnection. We suggest that the merged, warm state could be a suitable target for future magneto-inertial fusion experiments. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations of these experiments reveal the structure of the final relaxed, merged state.

Brown, Michael↗

Magnetic field merging in the solar wind

Magnetic field merging in the solar wind is discussed in terms of steady-state merging, which involves a steady flow field, and of spontaneous merging, which involves an instability such as the tearing instability. Spontaneous merging is found to be more effective than steady-state merging.

Schindler, K.↗

Dayside merging and cusp geometry

Geometrical considerations are presented to show that dayside magnetic merging when constrained to act only where the fields are antiparallel results in lines of merging that converge at the polar cusps. An important consequence of this geometry is that no accelerated flows are predicted across the dayside magnetopause. Acceleration owing to merging acts in opposition to the magnetosheath flow at the merging point and produces the variably directed, slower-than-magnetosheath flows observed in the entry layer. Another consequence of the merging geometry is that much of the time closed field lines constitute the subsolar region of the magnetopause. The manner in which the polar cap convection patterns predicted by the proposed geometry change as the interplanetary field is rotated through 360 deg provides a unifying description of how the observed single circular vortex and the crescent-shaped double vortex patterns mutually evolve under the influence of a single operating principle.

Crooker, N. U.↗

Trochoidal analysis of scattered electrons in a merged electron-ion beam geometry

The method and apparatus of this invention provides a plurality of measurements indicative of the absolute cross section for excitation of an ion beam. The ion beam is merged for excitation by specific energies of electrons in an electron beam. Both beams are merged in an evacuated enclosure having a longitudinal magnetic field and a crossed uniform electric field. The ions and electrons interact over a known merged longitudinal length in a merged beam area. After collision, the electron and ion beams are demerged. Forward and backward-scattered electrons are collected and position-detected by a pair of microchannel plate arrays located at opposite ends of said longitudinal beam-merging area. A series of electron and ion primary current measurements are taken at full ion and electron beam strength. Measurements are also taken at greatly reduced beam strength to obtain a beam overlap profile.

Ara Chutjian↗