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At least 433 records · Page 24

Argonne Leadership Computing Facility: 2021 Operational Assessment Report

This Operational Assessment Report describes how the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) met or exceeded every one of its goals for calendar year (CY) 2021 as an advanced scientific computing center. In CY 2021, the ALCF operated its production resource, Theta, an Intel-based Cray XC40 system (11.7-petaflops) augmented with 24 NVIDIA DGX A100-based nodes (3.9-petaflops) that supports diverse workloads, integrating data analytics with artificial intelligence (AI) training and learning in a single platform. In 2021, we began deploying Polaris, our newest 40- petaflops system, and augmented this powerful testbed system with an additional 28 nodes to support the integration of real-time experiments and HPC resources. We also deployed our two largest storage systems yet, named Grand and Eagle, that will bring new services to our users and will power data-driven research for years to come. Last year, Theta delivered a total of 20.8 million node-hours to 16 Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) projects and 7.2 million node-hours to ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) projects (32 awarded during the 2020–2021 ALCC year and 17 awarded during the 2021–2022 ALCC year), as well as substantial support to Director’s Discretionary (DD) projects (5.5 million node-hours). As Table ES.1 shows, Theta performed exceptionally well in terms of overall availability (95.1 percent), scheduled availability (99.4 percent), and utilization (98.1 percent; Table 2.1). As of the submission date of this document, ALCF’s user community has published 249 papers in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals and technical proceedings. At the 2021 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC’21), Argonne researchers won two HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards and were part of a Gordon Bell Prize finalist team recognized for developing an AI-enabled, multi-resolution simulation framework for studying complex biomolecular machines. Their framework was used to observe the SARS-CoV-2 replication-transcription machinery in action, by directly integrating experimental data. ALCF also provided a comprehensive program of high-performance computing (HPC) support services to help our community make productive use of the facility’s diverse and growing collection of resources. We are now entering the exascale era, with exascale machines being planned for national laboratories across the country, including Aurora at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) in 2023. ALCF researchers have been leading and guiding numerous strategic activities that will push the boundaries of what’s possible in computational science and engineering and allow us to deliver science on day one.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Neural network-based classification and regression of magnetohydrodynamic modes in tokamaks

We present a machine learning-based magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) classifier and regressor that utilizes real or complex-valued 3D magnetic sensor array data to determine neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) onset times in tokamaks with millisecond accuracy. The input dataset consists of poloidal profiles of complex Fourier amplitudes with an n = 1 toroidal mode number from 144 human-labeled ITER Baseline Scenario discharges in the DIII-D tokamak, spanning both tearing-dominated and sawtooth-dominated regimes. Since m, n = 2,1 NTMs frequently emerge alongside sawteeth at the same frequency in this scenario, the focus is on isolating the m = 1 and m = 2 components of the n = 1 MHD mode near the tearing onset. To improve model regularization and prediction stability, singular value decomposition was applied to balance the sawtooth and tearing datasets. The enriched datasets facilitated training neural networks that learn the key distinguishing features of sawtooth and tearing modes in the poloidal profiles of their magnetic amplitude and phase. When the modes occur independently, the networks achieve perfect classification due to the modes’ distinct characteristics and low measurement noise. In the more experimentally relevant case where both modes coexist, the networks maintain exceptional performance across key metrics. Tests on synthetic data with known ground truth demonstrate the superior accuracy of the neural network trained on complex-valued input compared to models using real amplitude, phase, or pseudo-complex data, achieving both a mean time delay and standard deviation below 1 ms. Notably, standard linear regression methods fitting the dominant singular modes to the data closely match the neural network’s performance. Applying these methods across a broad range of H-mode scenarios will enable future studies to systematically identify dominant NTM triggers as scenario-specific variables, paving the way for more effective tearing mode avoidance strategies in future fusion reactor designs.

machine learning↗

Performance Comparison of Object Detection Networks for Shrapnel Identification in Ultrasound Images

Ultrasound imaging is a critical tool for triaging and diagnosing subjects but only if images can be properly interpreted. Unfortunately, in remote or military medicine situations, the expertise to interpret images can be lacking. Machine-learning image interpretation models that are explainable to the end user and deployable in real time with ultrasound equipment have the potential to solve this problem. We have previously shown how a YOLOv3 (You Only Look Once) object detection algorithm can be used for tracking shrapnel, artery, vein, and nerve fiber bundle features in a tissue phantom. However, real-time implementation of an object detection model requires optimizing model inference time. Here, we compare the performance of five different object detection deep-learning models with varying architectures and trainable parameters to determine which model is most suitable for this shrapnel-tracking ultrasound image application. We used a dataset of more than 16,000 ultrasound images from gelatin tissue phantoms containing artery, vein, nerve fiber, and shrapnel features for training and evaluating each model. Every object detection model surpassed 0.85 mean average precision except for the detection transformer model. Overall, the YOLOv7tiny model had the higher mean average precision and quickest inference time, making it the obvious model choice for this ultrasound imaging application. Other object detection models were overfitting the data as was determined by lower testing performance compared with higher training performance. In summary, the YOLOv7tiny object detection model had the best mean average precision and inference time and was selected as optimal for this application. Next steps will implement this object detection algorithm for real-time applications, an important next step in translating AI models for emergency and military medicine.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Network Configuration Analysis for Formation Flying Satellites

The performance of two networks to support autonomous multi-spacecraft formation flying systems is presented. Both systems are comprised of a ten-satellite formation, with one of the satellites designated as the central or 'mother ship.' All data is routed through the mother ship to the terrestrial network. The first system uses a TCP/EP over ATM protocol architecture within the formation, and the second system uses the IEEE 802.11 protocol architecture within the formation. The simulations consist of file transfers using either the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or the Simple Automatic File Exchange (SAFE) Protocol. The results compare the IP queuing delay, IP queue size and IP processing delay at the mother ship as well as end-to-end delay for both systems. In all cases, using IEEE 802.11 within the formation yields less delay. Also, the throughput exhibited by SAFE is better than FTP.

Knoblock, Eric J.↗

Catalytic DNA Polymerization Can Be Expedited by Active Product Release**

Abstract The sequence‐specific hybridization of DNA facilitates its use as a building block for designer nanoscale structures and reaction networks that perform computations. However, the strong binding energy of Watson–Crick base pairing that underlies this specificity also causes the DNA dehybridization rate to depend sensitively on sequence length and temperature. This strong dependency imposes stringent constraints on the design of multi‐step DNA reactions. Here we show how an ATP‐dependent helicase, Rep‐X, can drive specific dehybridization reactions at rates independent of sequence length, removing the constraints of equilibrium on DNA hybridization and dehybridization. To illustrate how this new capacity can speed up designed DNA reaction networks, we show that Rep‐X extends the range of conditions where the primer exchange reaction, which catalytically adds a domain provided by a hairpin template to a DNA substrate, proceeds rapidly.

Moerman, Pepijn G.↗

Catalytic DNA Polymerization Can Be Expedited by Active Product Release**

Abstract The sequence‐specific hybridization of DNA facilitates its use as a building block for designer nanoscale structures and reaction networks that perform computations. However, the strong binding energy of Watson–Crick base pairing that underlies this specificity also causes the DNA dehybridization rate to depend sensitively on sequence length and temperature. This strong dependency imposes stringent constraints on the design of multi‐step DNA reactions. Here we show how an ATP‐dependent helicase, Rep‐X, can drive specific dehybridization reactions at rates independent of sequence length, removing the constraints of equilibrium on DNA hybridization and dehybridization. To illustrate how this new capacity can speed up designed DNA reaction networks, we show that Rep‐X extends the range of conditions where the primer exchange reaction, which catalytically adds a domain provided by a hairpin template to a DNA substrate, proceeds rapidly.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Training a Quantum Annealing Based Restricted Boltzmann Machine on Cybersecurity Data

A restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) is a generative model that could be used in effectively balancing a cybersecurity dataset because the synthetic data a RBM generates follows the probability distribution of the training data. RBM training can be performed using contrastive divergence (CD) and quantum annealing (QA). QA-based RBM training is fundamentally different from CD and requires samples from a quantum computer. We present a real-world application that uses a quantum computer. Specifically, we train a RBM using QA for cybersecurity applications. The D-Wave 2000Q has been used to implement QA. RBMs are trained on the ISCX data, which is a benchmark dataset for cybersecurity. For comparison, RBMs are also trained using CD. CD is a commonly used method for RBM training. Our analysis of the ISCX data shows that the dataset is imbalanced. We present two different schemes to balance the training dataset before feeding it to a classifier. The first scheme is based on the undersampling of benign instances. The imbalanced training dataset is divided into five sub-datasets that are trained separately. A majority voting is then performed to get the result. Our results show the majority vote increases the classification accuracy up from 90.24% to 95.68%, in the case of CD. For the case of QA, the classification accuracy increases from 74.14% to 80.04%. In the second scheme, a RBM is used to generate synthetic data to balance the training dataset. We show that both QA and CD-trained RBM can be used to generate useful synthetic data. Balanced training data is used to evaluate several classifiers. Among the classifiers investigated, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Neural Network (NN) perform better than other classifiers. They both show an accuracy of 93%. Our results show a proof-of-concept that a QA-based RBM can be trained on a 64-bit binary dataset. The illustrative example suggests the possibility to migrate many practical classification problems to QA-based techniques. Further, we show that synthetic data generated from a RBM can be used to balance the original dataset.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The Promise of Ka-Band for Deep Space Communications

This talk briefly describes why there is a performance advantage over X-band and its limitations. The total advantage of a factor of 14.4 or 11.6 db, less the stochastic atmospheric effects can be used in several ways, smaller apertures, reduced RF power, greater data return through higher transmission rates, or shorter DSN track times at those same higher rates.

Ka-Band Spacecraft Communications Deep Space Netwo↗

Influence of building heat distribution temperatures on the energy performance and sizing of 5th generation district heating and cooling networks

This paper investigates the energy performance and sizing criteria of 5th generation district heating and cooling (5GDHC) networks as a function of the heat distribution temperature in the building systems connected to the district network. An energy simulation model of a 5GDHC network was developed in Modelica for a case study located in Denmark. Calculations were carried out for four different building heating systems. Simulation results show that reducing the heat distribution temperatures from 70 °C to 23 °C leads to around 40% annual electric energy savings (from 10.4 kWh/m 2 to 6.2 kWh/m 2 ) for the operation of the heat pumps. Heat distribution temperatures of 23 °C cause higher water mass flow rates through the network, leading to annual electric energy consumption for the circulation pumps that are almost doubled (from 0.16 kWh/m 2 to 0.3 kWh/m 2 ) compared to the reference case at 70 °C. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the results obtained from the Danish case study can be generalized and applied to other cases using a simplified mathematical approach. In conclusion, it is found that about 1.5% of electric energy savings can be achieved for each temperature degree reduction in the heat distribution system.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASCOM network ground communications availability report

A performance analysis of NASCOM Network circuits is presented. An objective of 99.80 percent availability has been established for all network circuits and an acceptable level of 99.50. A network narrative summary for the current month includes changes in network configurations, current month's totals for modes of service and trouble category losses, a discussion of trends, and significant losses that affected the performance indexes of individual or groups of circuits. A table and narrative summary of those circuits that failed to meet the objective of 99.80% availability for all network circuits and an acceptable level of 99.50. Lost time and interruption tables showing all circuits affected by outages, by trouble category, with their total time and events, scheduled operating hours, and individual availability indexes also are included. Selected circuits whose availabilities have or continue to affect the overall network availability are also analyzed.

Source record↗

Algorithms for Performance, Dependability, and Performability Evaluation using Stochastic Activity Networks

Modeling tools and technologies are important for aerospace development. At the University of Illinois, we have worked on advancing the state of the art in modeling by Markov reward models in two important areas: reducing the memory necessary to numerically solve systems represented as stochastic activity networks and other stochastic Petri net extensions while still obtaining solutions in a reasonable amount of time, and finding numerically stable and memory-efficient methods to solve for the reward accumulated during a finite mission time. A long standing problem when modeling with high level formalisms such as stochastic activity networks is the so-called state space explosion, where the number of states increases exponentially with size of the high level model. Thus, the corresponding Markov model becomes prohibitively large and solution is constrained by the the size of primary memory. To reduce the memory necessary to numerically solve complex systems, we propose new methods that can tolerate such large state spaces that do not require any special structure in the model (as many other techniques do). First, we develop methods that generate row and columns of the state transition-rate-matrix on-the-fly, eliminating the need to explicitly store the matrix at all. Next, we introduce a new iterative solution method, called modified adaptive Gauss-Seidel, that exhibits locality in its use of data from the state transition-rate-matrix, permitting us to cache portions of the matrix and hence reduce the solution time. Finally, we develop a new memory and computationally efficient technique for Gauss-Seidel based solvers that avoids the need for generating rows of A in order to solve Ax = b. This is a significant performance improvement for on-the-fly methods as well as other recent solution techniques based on Kronecker operators. Taken together, these new results show that one can solve very large models without any special structure.

Deavours, Daniel D.↗

Networking and AI systems: Requirements and benefits

The price performance benefits of network systems is well documented. The ability to share expensive resources sold timesharing for mainframes, department clusters of minicomputers, and now local area networks of workstations and servers. In the process, other fundamental system requirements emerged. These have now been generalized with open system requirements for hardware, software, applications and tools. The ability to interconnect a variety of vendor products has led to a specification of interfaces that allow new techniques to extend existing systems for new and exciting applications. As an example of the message passing system, local area networks provide a testbed for many of the issues addressed by future concurrent architectures: synchronization, load balancing, fault tolerance and scalability. Gold Hill has been working with a number of vendors on distributed architectures that range from a network of workstations to a hypercube of microprocessors with distributed memory. Results from early applications are promising both for performance and scalability.

Source record↗

Requirements for a network storage service

Sandia National Laboratories provides a high performance classified computer network as a core capability in support of its mission of nuclear weapons design and engineering, physical sciences research, and energy research and development. The network, locally known as the Internal Secure Network (ISN), comprises multiple distributed local area networks (LAN's) residing in New Mexico and California. The TCP/IP protocol suite is used for inter-node communications. Scientific workstations and mid-range computers, running UNIX-based operating systems, compose most LAN's. One LAN, operated by the Sandia Corporate Computing Computing Directorate, is a general purpose resource providing a supercomputer and a file server to the entire ISN. The current file server on the supercomputer LAN is an implementation of the Common File Server (CFS). Subsequent to the design of the ISN, Sandia reviewed its mass storage requirements and chose to enter into a competitive procurement to replace the existing file server with one more adaptable to a UNIX/TCP/IP environment. The requirements study for the network was the starting point for the requirements study for the new file server. The file server is called the Network Storage Service (NSS) and its requirements are described. An application or functional description of the NSS is given. The final section adds performance, capacity, and access constraints to the requirements.

Kelly, Suzanne M.↗

On the evaluation and selection of network-level traffic control policies: Perimeter control, TUC, and their combination

Perimeter control (PC) of urban traffic networks can be effective in increasing network-wide efficiency. PC operates on the border of a protected region of a traffic network. Most studies thus far considered fixed-time plans for the inner part of these regions. A few studies have shown that combining PC with locally actuated or decentralized traffic control systems may have positive effects on traffic performance, including better-defined Network Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams (NMFDs), increased network throughput, and reduced delays. The Traffic-responsive Urban Control (TUC) is a real-time network-wide traffic control system with particular design characteristics, such as the balancing of link's occupancies and an inherent gating feature. These characteristics suggest that TUC may enhance the traffic network performance when combined with PC whilst improving the resulting NMFDs and network throughput and delays. Here, in this work, we investigate the effect of feedback perimeter control (FPC), TUC, and their combination on the NMFD and on the traffic conditions of general traffic and public transport in the microsimulation of a realistic model of the Christchurch Central Business District in New Zealand. We perform a thorough investigation of practical aspects of both control strategies and their combination, including parameter tuning and infrastructure requirements, and how they may affect the control system choice. Results show higher throughput and less hysteresis on the NMFDs, particularly when TUC is involved. PC provides benefits concentrated in the protected region which can greatly benefit public transportation if there is an overlap with the transit network. The combination of TUC and FPC boosts network-wide throughput.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Requirements for a network storage service

Sandia National Laboratories provides a high performance classified computer network as a core capability in support of its mission of nuclear weapons design and engineering, physical sciences research, and energy research and development. The network, locally known as the Internal Secure Network (ISN), was designed in 1989 and comprises multiple distributed local area networks (LAN's) residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Livermore, California. The TCP/IP protocol suite is used for inner-node communications. Scientific workstations and mid-range computers, running UNIX-based operating systems, compose most LAN's. One LAN, operated by the Sandia Corporate Computing Directorate, is a general purpose resource providing a supercomputer and a file server to the entire ISN. The current file server on the supercomputer LAN is an implementation of the Common File System (CFS) developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Subsequent to the design of the ISN, Sandia reviewed its mass storage requirements and chose to enter into a competitive procurement to replace the existing file server with one more adaptable to a UNIX/TCP/IP environment. The requirements study for the network was the starting point for the requirements study for the new file server. The file server is called the Network Storage Services (NSS) and is requirements are described in this paper. The next section gives an application or functional description of the NSS. The final section adds performance, capacity, and access constraints to the requirements.

Kelly, Suzanne M.↗

Shortest path network interdiction with asymmetric uncertainty

Abstract This paper considers an extension of the shortest path network interdiction problem that incorporates robustness to account for parameter uncertainty. The shortest path interdiction problem is a game of two players with conflicting agendas and capabilities: an evader, who traverses the arcs of a network from a source node to a sink node using a path of shortest length, and an interdictor, who maximizes the length of the evader's shortest path by interdicting arcs on the network. It is usually assumed that the parameters defining the network are known exactly by both players. We consider the situation where the evader assumes the nominal parameter values while the interdictor uses robust optimization techniques to account for parameter uncertainty or sensor degradation. We formulate this problem as a nonlinear mixed‐integer semi‐infinite bilevel program and show that it can be converted into a mixed‐integer linear program with a second order cone constraint. We use random geometric networks and transportation networks to perform computational studies and demonstrate the unique decision strategies that our variant produces. Solving the shortest path interdiction problem with asymmetric uncertainty protects the interdictor from investing in a strategy that hinges on key interdictions performing as promised. It also provides an alternate strategy that mitigates the risk of these worst‐case possibilities.

Punla‐Green, She'ifa Z.↗

A systematic method for selecting molecular descriptors as features when training models for predicting physiochemical properties

Machine learning has proven to be a powerful tool for accelerating biofuel development. Although numerous models are available to predict a range of properties using chemical descriptors, there is a trade-off between interpretability and performance. Neural networks provide predictive models with high accuracy at the expense of some interpretability, while simpler models such as linear regression often lack in accuracy. In addition to model architecture, feature selection is also critical for developing interpretable and accurate predictive models. We present a method for systematically selecting molecular descriptor features and developing interpretable machine learning models without sacrificing accuracy. Our method simplifies the process of selecting features by reducing feature multicollinearity and enables discoveries of new relationships between global properties and molecular descriptors. To demonstrate our approach, we developed models for predicting melting point, boiling point, flash point, yield sooting index, and net heat of combustion with the help of the Tree-based Pipeline Optimization Tool (TPOT). For training, we used publicly available experimental data for up to 8351 molecules. Our models accurately predict various molecular properties for organic molecules (mean absolute percent error (MAPE) ranges from 3.3% to 10.5%) and provide a set of features that are well-correlated to the property. This method enables researchers to explore sets of features that significantly contribute to the prediction of the property, offering new scientific insights. To help accelerate early stage biofuel research and development, we also integrated the data and models into a open-source, interactive web tool.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗