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At least 793 records · Page 44

Stochastic stability properties of jump linear systems

Jump linear systems are defined as a family of linear systems with randomly jumping parameters (usually governed by a Markov jump process) and are used to model systems subject to failures or changes in structure. The authors study stochastic stability properties in jump linear systems and the relationship among various moment and sample path stability properties. It is shown that all second moment stability properties are equivalent and are sufficient for almost sure sample path stability, and a testable necessary and sufficient condition for second moment stability is derived. The Lyapunov exponent method for the study of almost sure sample stability is discussed, and a theorem which characterizes the Lyapunov exponents of jump linear systems is presented.

Feng, Xiangbo↗

Long-range correlations in nucleotide sequences

DNA sequences have been analysed using models, such as an n-step Markov chain, that incorporate the possibility of short-range nucleotide correlations. We propose here a method for studying the stochastic properties of nucleotide sequences by constructing a 1:1 map of the nucleotide sequence onto a walk, which we term a 'DNA walk'. We then use the mapping to provide a quantitative measure of the correlation between nucleotides over long distances along the DNA chain. Thus we uncover in the nucleotide sequence a remarkably long-range power law correlation that implies a new scale-invariant property of DNA. We find such long-range correlations in intron-containing genes and in nontranscribed regulatory DNA sequences, but not in complementary DNA sequences or intron-less genes.

NASA Discipline Cardiopulmonary↗

FIGS: spectral fitting constraints on the star formation history of massive galaxies since the cosmic noon

We constrain the stellar population properties of a sample of 52 massive galaxies – with stellar mass log (M(s)/M(⊙)) ≳ 10.5 – over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 2 by use of observer-frame optical and near-infrared slitless spectra from Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS and WFC3 grisms. The deep exposures (∼100 ks) allow us to target individual spectra of massive galaxies to F160W = 22.5 AB. Our spectral fitting approach uses a set of six base models adapted to the redshift and spectral resolution of each observation, and fits the weights of the base models, including potential dust attenuation, via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Our sample comprises a mixed distribution of quiescent (19) and star-forming galaxies (33). We quantify the width of the age distribution (Δt) that is found to dominate the variance of the retrieved parameters according to principal component analysis. The population parameters follow the expected trend towards older ages with increasing mass, and Δt appears to weakly anticorrelate with stellar mass, suggesting a more efficient star formation at the massive end. As expected, the redshift dependence of the relative stellar age (measured in units of the age of the Universe at the source) in the quiescent sample rejects the hypothesis of a single burst (aka monolithic collapse). Radial colour gradients within each galaxy are also explored, finding a wider scatter in the star-forming subsample, but no conclusive trend with respect to the population parameters.

Ignacio Ferreras↗

Invertible neural networks for E3SM land model calibration and simulation

We apply an invertible neural network (INN) for E3SM land model calibration and simulation with eight parameters at the Missouri Ozark AmeriFlux forest site. INN provides bijective (two-way) mappings between inputs and outputs, thus it can solve probabilistic inverse problems and forward approximations simultaneously. We demonstrate INN's inverse and forward capability in both synthetic and real-data applications. Results indicate that INN produces accurate parameter posterior distributions similar to Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling and it generates model outputs close to the forward model simulations. Additionally, both the inverse and forward evaluations in INN are computationally efficient which allows for rapid integration of observations for parameter estimation and fast model predictions.

Lu, Dan↗

SICK: THE SPECTROSCOPIC INFERENCE CRANK

There exists an inordinate amount of spectral data in both public and private astronomical archives that remain severely under-utilized. The lack of reliable open-source tools for analyzing large volumes of spectra contributes to this situation, which is poised to worsen as large surveys successively release orders of magnitude more spectra. In this article I introduce sick, the spectroscopic inference crank, a flexible and fast Bayesian tool for inferring astrophysical parameters from spectra. sick is agnostic to the wavelength coverage, resolving power, or general data format, allowing any user to easily construct a generative model for their data, regardless of its source. sick can be used to provide a nearest-neighbor estimate of model parameters, a numerically optimized point estimate, or full Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling of the posterior probability distributions. This generality empowers any astronomer to capitalize on the plethora of published synthetic and observed spectra, and make precise inferences for a host of astrophysical (and nuisance) quantities. Model intensities can be reliably approximated from existing grids of synthetic or observed spectra using linear multi-dimensional interpolation, or a Cannon-based model. Additional phenomena that transform the data (e.g., redshift, rotational broadening, continuum, spectral resolution) are incorporated as free parameters and can be marginalized away. Outlier pixels (e.g., cosmic rays or poorly modeled regimes) can be treated with a Gaussian mixture model, and a noise model is included to account for systematically underestimated variance. Combining these phenomena into a scalar-justified, quantitative model permits precise inferences with credible uncertainties on noisy data. I describe the common model features, the implementation details, and the default behavior, which is balanced to be suitable for most astronomical applications. Using a forward model on low-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of M67 stars reveals atomic diffusion processes on the order of 0.05 dex, previously only measurable with differential analysis techniques in high-resolution spectra. sick is easy to use, well-tested, and freely available online through GitHub under the MIT license.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Generalized Uncertainty Quantification for Linear Inverse Problems in X-ray Imaging

In industrial and engineering applications, X-ray radiography has attained wide use as a data collection protocol for the assessment of material properties in cases where direct observation is not possible. The direct measurement of nuclear materials, particularly when they are under explosive or implosive loading, is not feasible, and radiography can serve as a useful tool for obtaining indirect measurements. In such experiments, high energy X-rays are pulsed through a scene containing material of interest, and a detector records a radiograph by measuring the radiation that is not attenuated in the scene. One approach to the analysis of these radiographs is to model the imaging system as an operator that acts upon the object being imaged to produce a radiograph. In this model, the goal is to solve an inverse problem to reconstruct the values of interest in the object, which are typically material properties such as density or areal density. The primary objective in this work is to provide quantitative solutions with uncertainty estimates for three separate applications in X-ray radiography: deconvolution, Abel inversion, and radiation spot shape reconstruction. For each problem, we introduce a new hierarchical Bayesian model for determining a posterior distribution on the unknowns and develop efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for sampling from the posterior. A Poisson likelihood, based on a noise model for photon counts at the detector, is combined with a prior tailored to each application: an edge-localizing prior for deconvolution; a smoothing prior with non-negativity constraints for spot reconstruction; and a full covariance sampling prior based on a Wishart hyperprior for Abel inversion. After developing our methods in a general setting, we demonstrate each model on both synthetically generated datasets, including those from a well known radiation transport code, and real high energy radiographs taken at two U. S. Department of Energy laboratories.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The DESI One-percent Survey: Evidence for Assembly Bias from Low-redshift Counts-in-cylinders Measurements

Abstract We explore the galaxy-halo connection information that is available in low-redshift samples from the early data release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We model the halo occupation distribution (HOD) from z = 0.1 to 0.3 using Survey Validation 3 (SV3; a.k.a., the One-Percent Survey) data of the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey. In addition to more commonly used metrics, we incorporate counts-in-cylinders (CiC) measurements, which drastically tighten HOD constraints. Our analysis is aided by the Python package, galtab , which enables the rapid, precise prediction of CiC for any HOD model available in halotools . This methodology allows our Markov chains to converge with much fewer trial points, and enables even more drastic speedups due to its GPU portability. Our HOD fits constrain characteristic halo masses tightly and provide statistical evidence for assembly bias, especially at lower luminosity thresholds: the HOD of central galaxies in z ∼ 0.15 samples with limiting absolute magnitude M r < −20.0 and M r < −20.5 samples is positively correlated with halo concentration with a significance of 99.9% and 99.5%, respectively. Our models also favor positive central assembly bias for the brighter M r < −21.0 sample at z ∼ 0.25 (94.8% significance), but there is no significant evidence for assembly bias with the same luminosity threshold at z ∼ 0.15. We provide our constraints for each threshold sample’s characteristic halo masses, assembly bias, and other HOD parameters. These constraints are expected to be significantly tightened with future DESI data, which will span an area 100 times larger than that of SV3.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Adaptive, Active Learning, and Multifidelity Monte Carlo Methods in the MOOSE Stochastic Tools Module

MOOSE is an open-source computational platform for constructing multi-physics models and executing them in a massively parallel fashion. It has a stochastic tools module (STM) for forward/inverse uncertainty quantification (UQ) and surrogate modeling. This presentation details some recent developments to the STM with respect to the implementation of adaptive, active learning, and multifidelity Monte Carlo methods for forward UQ of computational models. Specifically, the adaptive Monte Carlo methods include Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)-driven algorithms like adaptive importance sampling and parallelized subset simulation for statistical QoI estimation, rare events analysis, and stochastic gradient-free optimization. The active learning methods include Gaussian Process (GP) surrogates and their training via Adam optimization, design of acquisition functions, and integration with samplers like Monte Carlo, adaptive importance, and parallelized subset simulation. These active learning methods are also designed to work in a batch mode, wherein, the required calls to the full computational model are executed in parallel whenever a user-specified batch size is met. The multifidelity methods in STM are broadly divided into two categories: hierarchical, where a defined hierarchy exists among the low-fidelity models, and peer, where all the low-fidelity models are treated equally. A GP surrogate is used to learn the differences between the low- and high-fidelity models in both multifidelity categories, and acquisition functions from the active learning classes are used to decide whether to rely on a low-fidelity model or call the expensive high-fidelity model. Alongside the software description and usage, applications are also presented to nuclear engineering computational models including a TRISO nuclear fuel particle, a reactor pressure vessel, and a heat-pipe microreactor.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Single-probe measurements from DR12 galaxy clustering – towards an accurate model

We analyze the broad-range shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions of the BOSS Data Release 12 (DR12) CMASS and LOWZ galaxy sample to obtain constraints on the Hubble expansion rate H(z), the angular-diameter distance DA(z), the normalised growth rate f(z)σ 8 (z), and the physical matter density Ω m h 2 . In addition, we adopt wide and flat priors on all model parameters in order to ensure the results are those of a `single-probe' galaxy clustering analysis. We also marginalize over three nuisance terms that account for potential observational systematics affecting the measured monopole. However, such Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis is computationally expensive for advanced theoretical models, thus we develop a new methodology to speed up our analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multi-level methods and approximating distribution functions

Biochemical reaction networks are often modelled using discrete-state, continuous-time Markov chains. System statistics of these Markov chains usually cannot be calculated analytically and therefore estimates must be generated via simulation techniques. There is a well documented class of simulation techniques known as exact stochastic simulation algorithms, an example of which is Gillespie’s direct method. These algorithms often come with high computational costs, therefore approximate stochastic simulation algorithms such as the tau-leap method are used. However, in order to minimise the bias in the estimates generated using them, a relatively small value of tau is needed, rendering the computational costs comparable to Gillespie’s direct method. The multi-level Monte Carlo method (Anderson and Higham, Multiscale Model. Simul. 10:146–179, 2012) provides a reduction in computational costs whilst minimising or even eliminating the bias in the estimates of system statistics. This is achieved by first crudely approximating required statistics with many sample paths of low accuracy. Then correction terms are added until a required level of accuracy is reached. Recent literature has primarily focussed on implementing the multi-level method efficiently to estimate a single system statistic. However, it is clearly also of interest to be able to approximate entire probability distributions of species counts. We present two novel methods that combine known techniques for distribution reconstruction with the multi-level method. We demonstrate the potential of our methods using a number of examples.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

SU-F-T-116: Predicting IQ and the Risk of Hearing Loss Following Proton Versus Photon Radiotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients

Purpose: The increased sparing of normal tissues in intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) compared to photon intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in brain tumor treatments should translate into improved neurocognitive outcomes. Models were used to estimate the intelligence quotient (IQ) and the risk of hearing loss 5 years post radiotherapy and to compare outcomes of proton against photon in pediatric brain tumors. Methods: Patients who had received radical IMRT were randomly selected from our retrospective database: 10 cases each of craniopharyngioma, ependymoma and medulloblastoma, and 20 cases of glioma. The existing planning CT and contours were used to generate IMPT plans. The RBE-corrected dose to brain structures and cochleas were calculated for both IMPT and IMRT. A model was applied to estimate IQ using a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique. The reported incidence of hearing loss as a function of cochlear dose was used to estimate the rate of occurrence. Results: The average brain dose was less in all IMPT plans compared to IMRT: ranging from a 6.7% reduction (P=0.003) in the case of medulloblastoma to 38% (P=0.007) for craniopharyngioma. This dose reduction translated into a gain in IQ of 1.9 points on average for protons vs photons for the whole cohort at 5 years post-treatment (P=0.011). In terms of specific diseases, the gains in IQ ranged from 0.8 points for medulloblastoma, to 2.7 points for craniopharyngioma. Hearing loss probability was evaluated on a per-ear-basis and was found to be systematically less for proton versus photon: overall 2.9% versus 7.2% (P < 0.001). Conclusion: A novel method was developed to predict neurocognitive outcomes in pediatric brain tumor patients on a case-by-case basis. A modest gain in IQ was systematically observed for proton in all patients. Given the uncertainties within the model used and our reinterpretation, these gains may be underestimated.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A probabilistic graphical model approach to stochastic multiscale partial differential equations

We develop a probabilistic graphical model based methodology to efficiently perform uncertainty quantification in the presence of both stochastic input and multiple scales. Both the stochastic input and model responses are treated as random variables in this framework. Their relationships are modeled by graphical models which give explicit factorization of a high-dimensional joint probability distribution. The hyperparameters in the probabilistic model are learned using sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method, which is superior to standard Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for multi-modal distributions. Finally, we make predictions from the probabilistic graphical model using the belief propagation algorithm. Numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of the predictive capability of the developed graphical model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Modeling the molecular gas in NGC 6240

We present the first observations of H{sup 13}CN (1−0), H{sup 13}CO{sup +}(1−0), and SiO (2−1)in NGC 6240, obtained with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Combining a Markov Chain Monte Carlo code with Large Velocity Gradient (LVG) modeling, and with additional data from the literature, we simultaneously fit three gas phases and six molecular species to constrain the physical condition of the molecular gas, including mass−luminosity conversion factors. We find ∼10{sup 10}M{sub ⊙} of dense molecular gas in cold, dense clouds (T{sub k}∼10 K, n{sub H{sub 2}}∼10{sup 6} cm{sup −3}) with a volume filling factor <0.002, embedded in a shock heated molecular medium (T{sub k}∼2000 K, n{sub H{sub 2}}∼10{sup 3.6} cm{sup −3}), both surrounded by an extended diffuse phase (T{sub k}∼200 K, n{sub H{sub 2}}∼10{sup 2.5} cm{sup −3}). We derive a global α{sub CO}=1.5{sub 1.1}{sup 7.1} with gas masses log{sub 10}(M/[M{sub ⊙}])=10.1{sub 10.0}{sup 10.8}, dominated by the dense gas. We also find α{sub HCN}=32{sub 13}{sup 89}, which traces the cold, dense gas. The [{sup 12}C]/[{sup 13}C] ratio is only slightly elevated (98{sub 65}{sup 230}), contrary to the very high [CO]/[{sup 13}CO] ratio (300–500) reported in the literature. However, we find very high [HCN]/[H{sup 13}CN] and [HCO{sup +}]/[H{sup 13}CO{sup +}] abundance ratios (300{sub 200}{sup 500}) which we attribute to isotope fractionation in the cold, dense clouds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Computational Bayesian Framework for Quantification and Reduction of Predictive Uncertainty in Subsurface Environmental Modeling

Subsurface environmental systems are open and complex, in which intricate hydrologic, microbiologic, and geochemical processes occur and interact at multiple scales. Understanding and predicting system responses to natural forces (e.g., climate changes) and human activities (e.g., contaminant remediation and CO 2 sequestration) is indispensable for managing water resources, cleaning subsurface contamination at many sites of the Department of Energy (DOE), and providing expert analysis to inform policy-making on long-term stewardship of nuclear waste disposal and CO 2 storage sites. Groundwater reactive transport modeling is necessary for understanding and predicting the complex subsurface environmental system. However, as complex systems are never completely predictable, model predictions of the subsurface system are inherently uncertain, and uncertainty is one of the greatest obstacles in simulating the subsurface environment. Quantifying predictive uncertainty of the complex system is critical to test model predictive power, support decision-making, and guide experimental design and data collection for uncertainty reduction. This project tackled two major obstacles to efficient and effective quantification and reduction of predictive uncertainty in simulating the complex subsurface environment. One obstacle is that existing methods of uncertainty quantification are too fragmented and incomplete for understanding and predicting the complex subsurface environment as a whole. The other obstacle is that existing methods of uncertainty quantification are computationally demanding and may not be applicable to groundwater reactive transport modeling that is always computationally expensive. The above two obstacles to uncertainty quantification directly affect the design of data collection schemes for uncertainty reduction. In this project, we developed a comprehensive Bayesian framework to remove the first obstacle. The second obstacle was tackled by using the sparse grid methods, which were originally developed and analyzed for numerical integration in the field of applied mathematics. We integrated the sparse grid methods into the Bayesian framework seamlessly, which led to a sparse-grid-based method of Bayesian uncertainty analysis. The developed computational Bayesian framework has been applied to a number of subsurface environmental problems through collaborating with scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The applications demonstrated that the computational Bayesian framework is general and compatible with any models and numerical codes of subsurface modeling. It is thus can be applied to gain insights for subsurface environmental modeling. This project helped the PI achieve his career goal to advance the state-of-the-art computational methods in uncertainty quantification for subsurface environmental modeling. This project supported two doctoral students, two master students, and one post-doc. The two doctoral students, after their graduation, worked as post-docs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The project produced a total of 29 journal articles (four under review), one book chapter, and a number of conference proceedings and abstracts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

PyDREAM: high-dimensional parameter inference for biological models in python

Biological models contain many parameters whose values are difficult to measure directly via experimentation and therefore require calibration against experimental data. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are suitable to estimate multivariate posterior model parameter distributions, but these methods may exhibit slow or premature convergence in high-dimensional search spaces. Here, we present PyDREAM, a Python implementation of the (Multiple-Try) Differential Evolution Adaptive Metropolis [DREAM(ZS)] algorithm developed by Vrugt and ter Braak (2008) and Laloy and Vrugt (2012). PyDREAM achieves excellent performance for complex, parameter-rich models and takes full advantage of distributed computing resources, facilitating parameter inference and uncertainty estimation of CPU-intensive biological models.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Equation of State Optimization and Uncertainty Quantization: Implementation in the LANL EOS Production Code OpenSesame

We detail the approaches of particle swarm optimization and Bayesian inference through Markov chain Monte Carlo for equation of state development. This work includes formulation of the modeling for the equation of state, numeric optimization of the parametric models via particle swarm optimization, and generation of probability distributions of equations of state from Markov chain Monte Carlo.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Methodology for Path Planning with Dynamic Data-Driven Flight Capability Estimation

This paper presents methodology to enable path planning for an unmanned aerial vehicle that uses dynamic data-driven flight capability estimation. The main contribution of the work is a general mathematical approach that leverages offline high-fidelity physics-based modeling together with onboard sensor measurements to achieve dynamic path planning. The mathematical framework, expressed as a constrained partially observable Markov decision process, accounts for vehicle capability constraints and is robust to modeling error and disturbances in both the vehicle process and measurement models. Vehicle capability constraints are incorporated using probabilistic support vector machine surrogates of high-fidelity physics-based models that adequately capture the richness of the vehicle dynamics. Sensor measurements are treated in a general manner and can include combinations of multiple modalities such as that through global positioning system signals, inertial mass unit outputs, and structural strain data of the airframe. Results are presented for a simulated three-dimensional environment and point-mass airplane model. The vehicle can dynamically adjust its trajectory according to the observations it receives about its current state of health, thereby retaining a high probability of survival and mission success.

42 ENGINEERING↗

How Bayesian methods can improve R -matrix analyses of data: The example of the d t reaction

The 3 H(d, n) 4 He reaction is of significant interest in nuclear astrophysics and nuclear applications. It is an important, early step in big-bang nucleosynthesis and a key process in nuclear fusion reactors. We use one- and two-level R-matrix approximations to analyze data on the cross section for this reaction at center-of-mass energies below 215 keV. We critically examine the data sets using a Bayesian statistical model that allows for both common-mode and additional point-to-point un- certainties. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling to evaluate this R-matrix-plus-statistical model and find two-level R-matrix results that are stable with respect to variations in the channel radii. The S factor at 40 keV evaluates to 25.36(19) MeV b (68% credibility interval). We discuss our Bayesian analysis in detail and provide guidance for future applications of Bayesian methods to R-matrix analyses. We also discuss possible paths to further reduction of the S-factor uncertainty.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗