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At least 667 records · Page 37

Time resolved surface photovoltage measurements using a big data capture approach to KPFM

Optoelectronic behavior in materials such as organic/inorganic hybrid perovskites depend on a complex interplay between fast (electronic) and slower (ionic) processes. These processes are thought to be influenced by structural inhomogeneities (e.g. interfaces and grain boundaries) bringing forward the necessity for development of techniques capable of correlating nanostructure and photo-transport behavior. While Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is ideally suited to map surface potentials on relevant length scales, it lacks sufficient temporal resolution to extract the meaningful system dynamics. Here, we develop a time resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) measurement based on full information capture of the photodetector stream during open loop KPFM operation. G-Mode, or G-KPFM allows quantification of SPV with microsecond temporal and nanoscale spatial resolution. Using this technique, we observe concurrent spatial and fast temporal variations in the SPV generated across a methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) thin film, a possible indicator relating microstructure with heterogenous photo-transport behavior. Here, we further demonstrate the advantage of adopting big data analytics including unsupervised clustering methods to quickly discern spatial variability in the information rich SPV dataset. Beyond G-KPFM, such clustering methods will be useful for interpretation of the multidimensional datasets arising from the growing number of time resolved KPFM approaches now available.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NBSR reactor control room upgrade - 215

The maintenance and modernization of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) reactor, known as the NBSR, is an ongoing process to endure until the eventual decommissioning of the reactor. As part of the renovation effort, the reactor control system is to be upgraded. Following some initial outsourcing efforts, the NBSR reactor control system upgrade has been restructured to be implemented by in-house means. The beginning stage of the upgrade involved the development of a simulator environment based on a PC system and digitization of the majority of nuclear reactor monitoring data. The NBSR reactor surveillance data consists of approximately thirteen hundred input/output points, including analog/digital sensor signals, signal conditioners, and relay logic. The aim of the current phase is to implement a new reactor data acquisition and display system (RDS) and lay out the infrastructure for the upgrade of the reactor control system (RCS). Key design criteria are to implement a reliable, redundant, diverse, modular and candid system where any complex digital manipulations are taken outside of the control room. Basically, the data analytics and custom codes are separated from reactor operation control and decision making logic. Furthermore, the new RDS is designed such that it could be maintained internally by NCNR personnel. The RDS is unique in design and modularity, minimizing custom codes and testing, making it ideal for research reactors. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

FY2018 Analysis Annual Progress Report

During fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018), the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded analysis projects supportive of VTO’s goals to pursue early stage research in vehicle and mobility system technologies to improve energy efficiency, increase energy reliability and security, improve transportation affordability, and promote economic growth. VTO analysis projects result in a foundation of data, analytical models, and applied analyses that provide insights into critical transportation energy problems and assist in research investment prioritization and portfolio planning.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Adaptive elasticity policies for staging-based in situ visualization

In situ processing aims to alleviate the growing gap between computation and I/O capabilities by performing data processing close to the data source. In situ processing is widely used to process data generated by multiple data sources, including observation data from edge devices or scientific observational facilities and the simulation data generated by scientific computation on a high-performance computing (HPC) platform. For a scientific workflow that is run on an HPC platform and composed of a simulation program and an in situ data analytics or visualization (abbreviated as ana/vis) task, there is an implicit assumption that the computing resources assigned to the workflow keep static during the workflow execution. However, with the converging trend between the HPC and cloud computing platform, running the in situ ana/vis task in an elastic way is promising to decrease its overhead and improve its resource utilization rate. Resource elasticity represents the ability to change resource configurations such as the number of computing nodes/processes during workflow execution. An elastic job may dynamically adjust resource configurations; it may use a few resources at the beginning and more resources toward the end of the job when interesting data appear. However, it is hard to predict a priori how many computing nodes/processes need to be added/removed during the workflow execution to adapt to changing workflow needs. How to efficiently guide elasticity operations, such as growing or shrinking the number of processes used for in situ analysis during workflow execution, is an open-ended research question. In this article, we present adaptive elasticity policies that adopt workflow runtime information collected during workflow execution to predict how to trigger the addition/removal of processes in order to minimize in situ processing overhead. Taking in situ visualization tasks as an example, we integrate the presented elasticity policies into a staging-based elastic workflow and evaluate its efficiency in multiple elasticity scenarios. Compared with the situation without elasticity or with a static elasticity policy that uses a fixed number of processes for each rescaling operation, the adaptive elasticity policy can save overhead in finding a proper resource configuration and improve resource utilization efficiency. Furthermore, one experiment illustrates that the adaptive elasticity policy saves 41% of core-hours compared with the situation without the resource elasticity.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Enabling Diverse Software Stacks on Supercomputers using High Performance Virtual Clusters.

While large-scale simulations have been the hallmark of the High Performance Computing (HPC) community for decades, Large Scale Data Analytics (LSDA) workloads are gaining attention within the scientific community not only as a processing component to large HPC simulations, but also as standalone scientific tools for knowledge discovery. With the path towards Exascale, new HPC runtime systems are also emerging in a way that differs from classical distributed com- puting models. However, system software for such capabilities on the latest extreme-scale DOE supercomputing needs to be enhanced to more appropriately support these types of emerging soft- ware ecosystems. In this paper, we propose the use of Virtual Clusters on advanced supercomputing resources to enable systems to support not only HPC workloads, but also emerging big data stacks. Specifi- cally, we have deployed the KVM hypervisor within Cray's Compute Node Linux on a XC-series supercomputer testbed. We also use libvirt and QEMU to manage and provision VMs directly on compute nodes, leveraging Ethernet-over-Aries network emulation. To our knowledge, this is the first known use of KVM on a true MPP supercomputer. We investigate the overhead our solution using HPC benchmarks, both evaluating single-node performance as well as weak scaling of a 32-node virtual cluster. Overall, we find single node performance of our solution using KVM on a Cray is very efficient with near-native performance. However overhead increases by up to 20% as virtual cluster size increases, due to limitations of the Ethernet-over-Aries bridged network. Furthermore, we deploy Apache Spark with large data analysis workloads in a Virtual Cluster, ef- fectively demonstrating how diverse software ecosystems can be supported by High Performance Virtual Clusters.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 413: Clean Slate II Plutonium Dispersion (TTR) Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. Revision 0

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan provides the rationale and supporting information for the selection and implementation of corrective actions at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 413, Clean Slate II Plutonium Dispersion (TTR). CAU 413 is located on the Tonopah Test Range and includes one corrective action site, TA-23-02CS. CAU 413 consists of the release of radionuclides to the surface and shallow subsurface from the Clean Slate II (CSII) storage–transportation test conducted on May 31, 1963. The CSII test was a non-nuclear detonation of a nuclear device located inside a concrete bunker covered with 2 feet of soil. To facilitate site investigation and the evaluation of data quality objectives decisions, the releases at CAU 413 were divided into seven study groups: 1 Undisturbed Areas 2 Disturbed Areas 3 Sedimentation Areas 4 Former Staging Area 5 Buried Debris 6 Potential Source Material 7 Soil Mounds Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities, as set forth in the CAU 413 Corrective Action Investigation Plan, were performed from June 2015 through May 2016. Radionuclides detected in samples collected during the CAI were used to estimate total effective dose using the Construction Worker exposure scenario. Corrective action was required for areas where total effective dose exceeded, or was assumed to exceed, the radiological final action level (FAL) of 25 millirem per year. The results of the CAI and the assumptions made in the data quality objectives resulted in the following conclusions: The FAL is exceeded in surface soil in SG1, Undisturbed Areas; The FAL is assumed to be exceeded in SG5, Buried Debris, where contaminated debris and soil were buried after the CSII test; The FAL is not exceeded at SG2, SG3, SG4, SG6, or SG7. Because the FAL is exceeded at CAU 413, corrective action is required and corrective action alternatives (CAAs) must be evaluated. For CAU 413, three CAAs were evaluated: no further action, clean closure, and closure in place. The CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at CAU 413, and the detailed and comparative analysis of CAAs, clean closure was selected as the preferred CAA for CAU 413 by the U.S. Air Force, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and U.S. Department of Energy at the CAA meeting held on August 24, 2016.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Data Validation Package - June 2016 Groundwater and Surface Water Sampling at the Green River, Utah, Disposal Site

This event included annual sampling of groundwater and surface water locations at the Green River, Utah, Disposal Site. Sampling and analyses were conducted as specified in Sampling and Analysis Plan for US. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Sites (LMS/PRO/S04351, continually updated, http://energy.gov/lrnldownloads/sampling-and- analysis-plan-us-department-energy-office-legacy-management-sites). Samples were collected from 15 monitoring wells and two surface locations at the disposal site as specified in the draft 2011 Ground Water Compliance Action Plan for the Green River, Utah, Disposal Site. Planned monitoring locations are shown in Attachment 1, Sampling and Analysis Work Order. A duplicate sample was collected from location 0179. One equipment blank was collected during this sampling event. Water levels were measured at all monitoring wells that were sampled. See Attachment 2, Trip Reports for additional details. The analytical data and associated qualifiers can be viewed in environmental database reports and are also available for viewing with dynamic mapping via the GEMS (Geospatial Environmental Mapping System) website at http://gems.lm.doe.gov/#. No issues were identified during the data validation process that requires additional action or follow-up.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Evaluation of the excitation spectra with diffusion Monte Carlo on an auxiliary bosonic ground state

We aim to improve upon the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) approach for excitations replacing the Jastrow factor by an auxiliary bosonic (AB) ground state and multiplying it by a fermionic component factor. The instantaneous change in imaginary time of an arbitrary excitation in the original interacting fermionic system is obtained by measuring observables via the ground-state distribution of walkers of an AB system that is subject to an auxiliary effective potential. The effective potential is used to (i) drive the AB system’s ground-state configuration space toward the configuration space of the excitations of the original fermionic system and (ii) subtract from a diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculation contributions that can be included in conventional approximations, such as mean-field and configuration interaction (CI) methods. In this novel approach, the AB ground state is treated statistically in DMC, whereas the fermionic component of the original system is expanded in a basis. The excitation energies of the fermionic eigenstates are obtained by sampling a fermion–boson coupling term on the AB ground state. We show that this approach can take advantage of and correct for approximate eigenstates obtained via mean-field calculations or truncated interactions. We demonstrate that the AB ground-state factor incorporates the correlations missed by standard Jastrow factors, further reducing basis truncation errors. Relevant parts of the theory have been tested in soluble model systems and exhibit excellent agreement with exact analytical data and CI and VMC approaches. In particular, for limited basis set expansions and sufficient statistics, AB approaches outperform CI and VMC in terms of basis size for the same systems. The implementation of this method in current codes, despite being demanding, will be facilitated by reusing procedures already developed for calculating ground-state properties with DMC and excitations with VMC.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Multiscale spatial analysis of fracture arrangement and pattern reconstruction using Ripley's K-function

This work presents novel multiscale spatial data analytics using Ripley's K-function, as a measure of spatial interaction, to study one-dimensional arrangement of fractures. Fracture spatial arrangements are classified into clustered, anticlustered, or indistinguishable from random by testing statistical significance of the calculated Ripley's K-function. Characterizations of fracture arrangements are performed as a function of length scale and position. Analysis of the K-function along the study interval identifies where fracture clustering and anticlustering occur. Here, a simulation technique is also introduced here to statistically reconstruct spatial arrangements and to generate fracture realizations that are spatially similar to the fractures observed in the field. With this simulation technique, one can also fill spatial gaps in fracture measurements where data are absent, unreliable, or unused. Synthetic as well as field-measured 1D fracture datasets are used for testing and demonstration. Methods introduced in this work can be readily applied to fracture datasets observed in outcrops, borehole image logs, and cores.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Scalable Parallel Methods for Analyzing Metagenomics Data at Extreme Scale

The field of bioinformatics and computational biology is currently experiencing a data revolution. The exciting prospect of making fundamental biological discoveries is fueling the rapid development and deployment of numerous cost-effective, high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies. The result is that the DNA and protein sequence repositories are being bombarded with new sequence information. Databases are continuing to report a Moore’s law-like growth trajectory in their database sizes, roughly doubling every 18 months. In what seems to be a paradigm-shift, individual projects are now capable of generating billions of raw sequence data that need to be analyzed in the presence of already annotated sequence information. While it is clear that data-driven methods, such as sequencing homology detection, are becoming the mainstay in the field of computational life sciences, the algorithmic advancements essential for implementing complex data analytics at scale have mostly lagged behind. Sequence homology detection is central to a number of bioinformatics applications including genome sequencing and protein family characterization. Given millions of sequences, the goal is to identify all pairs of sequences that are highly similar (or “homologous”) on the basis of alignment criteria. While there are optimal alignment algorithms to compute pairwise homology, their deployment for large-scale is currently not feasible; instead, heuristic methods are used at the expense of quality. In this dissertation, we present the design and evaluation of a parallel implementation for conducting optimal homology detection on distributed memory supercomputers. Our approach uses a combination of techniques from asynchronous load balancing (viz. work stealing, dynamic task counters), data replication, and exact-matching filters to achieve homology detection at scale. Results for a collection of 2.56M sequences show parallel efficiencies of ~75-100% on up to 8K cores, representing a time-to-solution of 33 seconds. We extend this work with a detailed analysis of single-node sequence alignment performance using the latest CPU vector instruction set extensions. Preliminary results reveal that current sequence alignment algorithms are unable to fully utilize widening vector registers.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Nonnegative tensor factorization for contaminant source identification

Unsupervised Machine Learning (ML) is becoming increasingly popular for solving various types of data analytics problems including feature extraction, blind source separation, exploratory analyses, model diagnostics, etc. In this work, we have developed a new unsupervised ML method based on Nonnegative Tensor Factorization (NTF) for identification of the original groundwater types (including contaminant sources) present in geochemical mixtures observed in an aquifer. Frequently, groundwater types with different geochemical signatures are related to different background and/or contamination sources. The characterization of groundwater mixing processes is a challenging but very important task critical for any environmental management project aiming to characterize the fate and transport of contaminants in the subsurface and perform contaminant remediation. This task typically requires solving complex inverse models representing groundwater flow and geochemical transport in the aquifer, where the inverse analysis accounts for available site data. Usually, the model is calibrated against the available data characterizing the spatial and temporal distribution of the observed geochemical types. Numerous different geochemical constituents and processes may need to be simulated in these models which further complicates the analyses. Additionally, the application of inverse methods may introduce biases in the analyses through the assumptions made in the model development process. Here, we substitute the model inversion with unsupervised ML analysis. The ML analysis does not make any assumptions about underlying physical and geochemical processes occurring in the aquifer. Our ML methodology, called NTFk, is capable of identifying (1) the unknown number of groundwater types (contaminant sources) present in the aquifer, (2) the original geochemical concentrations (signatures) of these groundwater types and (3) spatial and temporal dynamics in the mixing of these groundwater types. These results are obtained only from the measured geochemical data without any additional site information. In general, the NTFk methodology allows for interpretation of large high-dimensional datasets representing diverse spatial and temporal components such as state variables and velocities. NTFk has been tested on synthetic and real-world site three-dimensional datasets. Finally, the NTFk algorithm is designed to work with geochemical data represented in the form of concentrations, ratios (of two constituents; for example, isotope ratios), and delta notations (standard normalized stable isotope ratios).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Integrated Risk-Informed Condition Based Maintenance Capability and Automated Platform: Technical Report 1

Due to continuing global energy market trends, driven heavily by the abundant preserves of natural gas, there is an immediate need to reduce costs associated with operation and maintenance (O&M) for the current domestic nuclear power industry and for future reactor developments. This is to ensure that nuclear power generation remains an economically competitive and viable option in the energy market. O&M costs include labor-intensive preventive maintenance (PM) programs, which involve manually-performed inspection, calibration, testing, and maintenance of plant assets at periodic frequency and time-based replacement of assets, irrespective of their condition. This has resulted in an expensive, labor-centric business model to achieve high capacity factors. Fortunately, there are technologies (advanced sensors, data analytics, and risk assessment methodologies) that can enable the transition from a labor-centric business model to a technology-centric business model. The technology-centric business model will result in a significant reduction of PM activities, laying the foundation for real-time condition assessment of plant assets, reducing overall labor and part costs. To enable this transition, PKMJ Technical Services LLC is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (operated by the Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC) and the Public Services Enterprise Group (PSEG) Nuclear, LLC in the Integrated Risk-Informed Condition-Based Maintenance Capability and Automated Platform Project. In this report, the configuration of a digital cloud platform using Microsoft Azure is discussed, data from the PSEG Salem Nuclear Generating Station Units 1 & 2 are imported into a digital cloud platform, and the data is used for an evaluation of several key areas: cost impact analysis, risk-informed model development, and preventive maintenance strategy optimization. First, the cost impact analysis reviews which plant assets are potential good candidates for condition-based monitoring. Next, INL utilized the data in their local environment to develop the risk-informed model; which provides estimates of failure rates and probability of failures of assets based upon their past performance. The developed model is performed on assets selected from the cost impact analysis. Lastly, engineers assess the preventive maintenance strategy for the selected assets at PSEG against maintenance strategies in the nuclear industry for similar assets to potentially identify acceptable justification for the extension of current maintenance frequencies.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Mic-hackathon 2024: hackathon on machine learning for electron and scanning probe microscopy

Microscopy is one of the primary sources of information on materials structure and functionality at the nanometer and atomic scales. The data generated through microscopy is often contained in well-structured datasets, enriched with extensive metadata and sample histories, although not always with the same level of detail or storage format. The broad incorporation of data management plans by major funding agencies ensures the preservation and accessibility of this data. However, deriving insights from these rich datasets remains challenging due to the lack of established code ecosystems, standardized benchmarks, and integration strategies. Correspondingly, the efficiency of data usage is very low, and time expenditures at the analysis stage are enormous. In addition to post-acquisition data analysis, the emergence of application programming interfaces by major microscope manufacturers now creates opportunities for real-time ML-based data analytics to enable automated decision making, and particularly ML-agent controlled real-time microscope operation. Despite these opportunities, there is a significant gap in integrating the ML community with the broader microscopy community, limiting the value that these methods bring to physics and materials discovery and materials optimization. Hackathons address these challenges by fostering collaboration between ML experts and microscopy professionals, encouraging the development of innovative solutions that leverage ML for microscopy and preparing the workforce of the future both for microscopy-intensive domains areas, instrument manufacturers, and ML scientists interested in real world applications for fundamental research, materials optimization, and manufacturing. The hackathon generated benchmark datasets and digital twins of microscopes that further contribute to the development of the field and establish data analysis ecosystems. All the codes can be found at GitHub(https://github.com/KalininGroup/Mic-hackathon-2024-codes-publication/tree/1.0.0.1) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/15579940).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A Conceptual Architecture for National Biosurveillance: Moving Beyond Situational Awareness to Enable Digital Detection of Emerging Threats

Despite numerous calls for improvement, the U.S. biosurveillance enterprise remains a patchwork of uncoordinated systems that fail to take advantage of the rapid progress in information processing, communication, and analytics made in the past decade. By synthesizing components from the extensive biosurveillance literature, we propose a conceptual framework for a national biosurveillance architecture and provide suggestions for implementation. The framework differs from the current federal biosurveillance development pathway in that it is not focused on systems useful for “situational awareness,” but is instead focused on the long-term goal of having true warning capabilities. Therefore, a guiding design objective is the ability to digitally detect emerging threats that span jurisdictional boundaries, because attempting to solve the most challenging biosurveillance problem first provides the strongest foundation to meet simpler surveillance objectives. Core components of the vision are: (1) a whole-of-government approach to support currently disparate federal surveillance efforts that have a common data need, including those for food safety, vaccine and medical product safety, and infectious disease surveillance; (2) an information architecture that enables secure, national access to electronic health records, yet does not require that data be sent to a centralized location for surveillance analysis; (3) an inference architecture that leverages advances in ‘big data’ analytics and learning inference engines—a significant departure from the statistical process control paradigm that underpins nearly all current syndromic surveillance systems; and, (4) an organizational architecture with a governance model aimed at establishing national biosurveillance as a critical part of the U.S. national infrastructure. Although it will take many years to implement, and a national campaign of education and debate to acquire public buy-in for such a comprehensive system, the potential benefits warrant increased consideration within the U.S. government.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Data Validation Package - June 2015 Groundwater and Surface Water Sampling at the Green River, Utah, Disposal Site

Groundwater samples were collected during the 2015 sampling event from point-of-compliance (POC) wells 0171, 0173, 0176, 0179, 0181, and 0813 to monitor the disposition of contaminants in the middle sandstone unit of the Cedar Mountain Formation. Groundwater samples also were collected from alluvium monitoring wells 0188, 0189, 0192, 0194, and 0707, and basal sandstone monitoring wells 0182, 0184, 0185, and 0588 as a best management practice. Surface locations 0846 and 0847 were sampled to monitor for degradation of water quality in the backwater area of Brown’s Wash and in the Green River immediately downstream of Brown’s Wash. The Green River location 0801 is upstream from the site and is sampled to determine background-threshold values (BTVs). Sampling and analyses were conducted as specified in Sampling and Analysis Plan for U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Sites (LMS/PRO/S04351, continually updated, http://energy.gov/lm/downloads/sampling-and- analysis-plan-us-department-energy-office-legacy-management-sites). Water levels were measured at each sampled well. The analytical data and associated qualifiers can be viewed in environmental database reports and are also available for viewing with dynamic mapping via the GEMS (Geospatial Environmental Mapping System) website at http://gems.lm.doe.gov/#. All six POC wells are completed in the middle sandstone unit of the Cedar Mountain Formation and are monitored to measure contaminant concentrations for comparison to proposed alternate concentration limits (ACLs), as provided in Table 1. Contaminant concentrations in the POC wells remain below their respective ACLs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Data Validation Package, April and June 2016 Groundwater and Surface Water Sampling at the Gunnison, Colorado, Processing Site, October 2016

This event included annual sampling of groundwater and surface water locations at the Gunnison, Colorado, Processing Site. Sampling and analyses were conducted as specified in Sampling and Analysis Plan for US Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Sites (LMS/PRO/S04351, continually updated, http://energy.gov/lm/downloads/sampling-and­ analysis-plan-us-department-energy-office-legacy-management-sites). Samples were collected from 28 monitoring wells, three domestic wells, and six surface locations in April at the processing site as specified in the draft 2010 Ground Water Compliance Action Plan for the Gunnison, Colorado, Processing Site. Planned monitoring locations are shown in Attachment 1, Sampling and Analysis Work Order. Domestic wells 0476 and 0477 were sampled in June because the homes were unoccupied in April, and the wells were not in use. Duplicate samples were collected from locations 0126, 0477, and 0780. One equipment blank was collected during this sampling event. Water levels were measured at all monitoring wells that were sampled. See Attachment 2, Trip Reports for additional details. The analytical data and associated qualifiers can be viewed in environmental database reports and are also available for viewing with dynamic mapping via the GEMS (Geospatial Environmental Mapping System) website at http://gems.lm.doe.gov/#. No issues were identified during the data validation process that requires additional action or follow-up. An assessment of anomalous data is included in Attachment 3. Interpretation and presentation of results, including an assessment ofthe natural flushing compliance strategy, will be reported in the upcoming 2016 Verification Monitoring Report. U.S.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Exploring Memory Hierarchy to Improve Scientific Data Read Performance, In: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing

Improving read performance is one of the major challenges with speeding up scientific data analytic applications. Utilizing the memory hierarchy is one major line of researches to address the read performance bottleneck. Related methods usually combine solide-state-drives(SSDs) with dynamic random-access memory(DRAM) and/or parallel file system(PFS) to mitigate the speed and space gap between DRAM and PFS. However, these methods are unable to handle key performance issues plaguing SSDs, namely read contention that may cause up to 50% performance reduction. In this paper, we propose a framework that exploits the memory hierarchy resource to address the read contention issues involved with SSDs. The framework employs a general purpose online read algorithm that able to detect and utilize memory hierarchy resource to relieve the problem. To maintain a near optimal operating environment for SSDs, the framework is able to orchastrate data chunks across different memory layers to facilitate the read algorithm. Compared to existing tools, our framework achieves up to 50% read performance improvement when tested on datasets from real-world scientific simulations.

Computer Science↗

Evaluating Optical Techniques to Characterize Solid State Samples for the Pu-238 Supply Program

This report documents steps that have been taken to establish advanced characterization capabilities for solid-state samples to support the 238 Pu Supply Program. The program has already invested significantly in spectroscopy and online monitoring development for liquid processes. Many of the data, analytical methods, and equipment could also be leveraged for the analysis of Np/Pu oxides and Np pellets to help classify material properties and link them to operations. The techniques described in this work include diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman spectroscopy, and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Each technique is sensitive to various chemical and/or elemental species and can provide complimentary information to more standard methods such as powder x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. These options are remotely deployable via fiber-optic cables. DRS and Raman spectroscopy are already approved for glove box and hot cell work, but LIBS requires US Department of Energy approval for incorporation. Raman spectroscopy does require laser shielding, which means that DRS is the easiest method to implement. However, each technique provides complimentary data, and the most robust sample characterization could be achieved when all three, among other methods, are harnessed together. This report documents some of the progress made testing these capabilities, some of the challenges, and next steps to optimize the technology and integration strategies.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗