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At least 937 records · Page 52

USEEIO v2.0, The US Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Model v2.0

USEEIO v2.0 is an environmental-economic model of US goods and services that can be used for life cycle assessment, footprinting, national prioritization, and related applications. This paper describes the development of the model and accompanies the release of a full model dataset as well as various supporting datasets of national environmental totals by US industry. Novel methodological elements since USEEIO v1 models include waste sector disaggregation, final demand vectors for US consumption and production, a domestic form of the model that can be used to separate domestic and foreign impacts, and price adjustment matrices for converting outputs to purchaser price and in various US dollar years. Improvements in modeling national totals of industry and environmental flows are described. The model is validated through reproduction of national totals from input data sources and through analysis of changes from the most recent complete USEEIO model that can be explained based on data updates or method changes. The model datasets can all be reproduced with open source software packages.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

New Physics Agnostic Selections For New Physics Searches

We discuss a model-independent strategy for boosting new physics searches with the help of an unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm. Prior to a search, each input event is preprocessed by the algorithm - a variational autoencoder (VAE). Based on the loss assigned to each event, input data can be split into a background control sample and a signal enriched sample. Following this strategy, one can enhance the sensitivity to new physics with no assumption on the underlying new physics signature. Our results show that a typical BSM search on the signal enriched group is more sensitive than an equivalent search on the original dataset.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

New interaction potentials for borate glasses with mixed network formers

Here, we adapt and apply a recently developed optimization scheme used to obtain effective potentials for aluminosilicate glasses to include the network former boron into the interaction parameter set. As input data for the optimization, we used the radial distribution functions of the liquid at high temperature generated by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, and density, coordination, and elastic modulus of glass at room temperature from experiments. The new interaction potentials are shown to reliably reproduce the structure, coordination, and mechanical properties over a wide range of compositions for binary alkali borates. Furthermore, the transferability of these new interaction parameters allows mixing to reliably reproduce the properties of various boroaluminate and borosilicate glasses.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Phase behavior of continuous-space systems: A supervised machine learning approach

The phase behavior of complex fluids is a challenging problem for molecular simulations. Supervised machine learning (ML) methods have shown potential for identifying the phase boundaries of lattice models. In this work, we extend these ML methods to continuous-space systems. We propose a convolutional neural network model that utilizes grid-interpolated coordinates of molecules as input data of ML and optimizes the search for phase transitions with different filter sizes. We test the method for the phase diagram of two off-lattice models, namely, the Widom–Rowlinson model and a symmetric freely jointed polymer blend, for which results are available from standard molecular simulations techniques. The ML results show good agreement with results of previous simulation studies with the added advantage that there is no critical slowing down. We find that understanding intermediate structures near a phase transition and including them in the training set is important to obtain the phase boundary near the critical point. The method is quite general and easy to implement and could find wide application to study the phase behavior of complex fluids.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Cordon screen: A cordon-based congestion pricing policy evaluation method for U.S. cities

Global trends toward urbanization will exacerbate traffic congestion, delays in economic productivity, and air pollution issues for growing cities. Traffic congestion pricing is one method available to help ameliorate these concerns. New York City is on the verge of implementing a cordon-based traffic congestion pricing policy around its central business district. For budget-constrained municipalities, evaluating implementation of such policy could be costly. This article proposes a sketch-planning methodology, called Cordon Screen, for major U.S. cities to evaluate the net income, traffic mitigation, and avoided pollution emissions from cordon-based traffic congestion pricing. This method relies on national datasets and limited user-specific data inputs, along with a range of user-selectable assumptions informed by academic literature to deliver order-of-magnitude results. The numerous limitations of this method are acceptable for preliminary policy evaluation to determine if greater financial investment to obtain more accurate results is justified. The Denver metropolitan area is used to demonstrate Cordon Screen capabilities, with mid-range assumption results suggesting the policy is most effective at generating net income and increasing vehicle speeds on major interstates. For Denver, the policy is comparably less effective at reducing air pollution and increasing speeds on minor roadways. Validation against early implementation results from the London cordon are acceptable. Still, users should discount revenue generation projections. Choice of cordon area may be the most difficult obstacle when using the Cordon Screen. With refinement, Cordon Screen could serve as a low-cost, open-source planning evaluation tool for growing and congested U.S. cities.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Coffee supply chain planning under climate change

The growing demand but uncertain supply makes the sustainability of the coffee industry a shared concern for all participants along the coffee supply chain. This study proposed a decision-making model that comprises the cultivation management, including shade management and annual agriculture management, and the supply chain logistics. A two-stage stochastic program is presented and used within a rolling horizon scheme that periodically updates input data information to deal with uncertainty associated with future climate scenarios. The program minimizes the total expected cost of the entire supply chain of arabica coffee. The study applied the model to the real case study of arabica coffee bean supply to the U.S. market, trying to answer whether arabica coffee supply can meet the U.S. demand from 2022 to 2050 and how to best mitigate any shortage through corporate-farmer partnerships. The results show that the coffee supply will have a 3% shortage in the future; medium-level shade management and more irrigation and fertilization are possible mitigation strategies. These results demonstrate the need for all participants to adopt suitable technologies for the sustainability of global coffee supply chains together.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Development of a reduced model for energetic particle transport by sawteeth in tokamaks

We report that the sawtooth instability is known for inducing transport and loss of energetic particles (EPs), and for generating seed magnetic islands that can trigger tearing modes. Both effects degrade the overall plasma performance. Several theories and numerical models have been previously developed to quantify the expected EP transport caused by sawteeth, with various degrees of sophistication to differentiate the response of EPs at different energies and on different orbits (e.g. passing vs. trapped), although the analysis is frequently limited to a single time slice during a tokamak discharge. This work describes the development and initial benchmark of a framework that enables a reduced model for EP transport by sawteeth retaining the full EP phase-space information. The model, implemented in the ORBIT hamiltonian particle-following code, can be used either as a standalone post-processor taking input data from codes such as TRANSP, or as a pre-processor to compute transport coefficients that can be fed back to TRANSP for time-dependent simulations including the effects of sawteeth on EPs. The advantage of the latter approach is that the evolution of the EP distribution can be simulated quantitatively for sawtoothing discharges, thus enabling a more accurate modeling of sources, sinks and overall transport properties of EP and thermal plasma species for comprehensive physics studies that require detailed information of the fast-ion distribution function and its evolution over time.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Single Gaussian process method for arbitrary tokamak regimes with a statistical analysis

Abstract Gaussian process regression is a Bayesian method for inferring profiles based on input data. The technique is increasing in popularity in the fusion community due to its many advantages over traditional fitting techniques including intrinsic uncertainty quantification and robustness to over-fitting. This work investigates the use of a new method, the change-point method, for handling the varying length scales found in different tokamak regimes. The use of the Student’s t-distribution for the Bayesian likelihood probability is also investigated and shown to be advantageous in providing good fits in profiles with many outliers. To compare different methods, synthetic data generated from analytic profiles is used to create a database enabling a quantitative statistical comparison of which methods perform the best. Using a full Bayesian approach with the change-point method, Matérn kernel for the prior probability, and Student’s t-distribution for the likelihood is shown to give the best results.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

MHD mode tracking using high-speed cameras and deep learning

Abstract We present a new algorithm to track the amplitude and phase of rotating magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes in tokamak plasmas using high speed imaging cameras and deep learning. This algorithm uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict the amplitudes of the n = 1 sine and cosine mode components using solely optical measurements from one or more cameras. The model was trained and tested on an experimental dataset consisting of camera frame images and magnetic-based mode measurements from the High Beta Tokamak - Extended Pulse (HBT-EP) device, and it outperformed other, more conventional, algorithms using identical image inputs. The effect of different input data streams on the accuracy of the model’s predictions is also explored, including using a temporal frame stack or images from two cameras viewing different toroidal regions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Measurements and modeling of type-I and type-II ELMs heat flux to the DIII-D divertor

Type-I and type-II edge-localized-modes (ELMs) heat flux profiles measured at the DIII-D divertor feature a peak in the vicinity of the strike-point and a plateau in the scrape-off-layer (SOL), which extends to the first wall. The plateau is present in attached and detached divertors and it is found to originate with plasma bursts upstream in the SOL. The integrated ELM heat flux is distributed at ~65% in the peak and ~35% in this plateau. The parallel loss model, currently used at ITER to predict power loads to the walls, is benchmarked using these results in the primary and secondary divertors with unprecedented constraints using experimental input data for ELM size, radial velocity, energy, electron temperature and density, heat flux footprints and number of filaments. The model can reproduce the experimental near-SOL peak within ~20%, but cannot match the SOL plateau. Employing a two-component approach for the ELM radial velocity, as guided by intermittent data, the full radial heat flux profile can be well matched. The ELM-averaged radial velocity at the separatrix, which explains profile widening, increases from ~0.2 km s –1 in attached to ~0.8 km s –1 in detached scenarios, as the ELM filaments' path becomes electrically disconnected from the sheath at the target. The results presented here indicate filaments fragmentation as a possible mechanism for ELM transport to the far-SOL and provide evidence on the beneficial role of detachment to mitigate ELM flux in the divertor far-SOL. However, these findings imply that wall regions far from the strike points in future machines should be designed to withstand significant heat flux, even for small-ELM regimes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Lack of clear standards and usable comparisons of downscaled climate projections pose a roadblock for US climate discovery and adaptation

Abstract The release of global climate projections coupled with the demand for local-resolution climate-forced meteorology has prompted many research groups to downscale these projections using various statistical, dynamical, and current machine learning techniques. Such downscaled datasets are being used to plan infrastructure and other community needs over the coming decades. Faced with roughly a dozen available US downscaled datasets, many practitioners ask, ‘What are the relevant differences between datasets?’ This work highlights the difficulty of comparing downscaled datasets and illustrates ways in which datasets differ even when using identical climate model input data. We show that substantial variability in precipitation projections arises from downscaling alone and that the downscaled dataset agreement varies depending on global climate projection. This analysis emphasizes the need for greater coordination and movement toward rigorous benchmarking of downscaling strategies within the downscaling research community, à la the land-modeling community, to better quantify downscaling dataset differences, strengths, and weaknesses for practitioners.

Hartke, Samantha H. (ORCID:0000000202394723)↗

An end-to-end trainable hybrid classical-quantum classifier

Abstract We introduce a hybrid model combining a quantum-inspired tensor network and a variational quantum circuit to perform supervised learning tasks. This architecture allows for the classical and quantum parts of the model to be trained simultaneously, providing an end-to-end training framework. We show that compared to the principal component analysis, a tensor network based on the matrix product state with low bond dimensions performs better as a feature extractor for the input data of the variational quantum circuit in the binary and ternary classification of MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets. The architecture is highly adaptable and the classical-quantum boundary can be adjusted according to the availability of the quantum resource by exploiting the correspondence between tensor networks and quantum circuits.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Granger causal inference for climate change attribution

Abstract Climate change detection and attribution (D&A) is concerned with determining the extent to which anthropogenic activities have influenced specific aspects of the global climate system. D&A fits within the broader field of causal inference, the collection of statistical methods that identify cause and effect relationships. There are a wide variety of methods for making attribution statements, each of which require different types of input data and focus on different types of weather and climate events and each of which are conditional to varying extents. Some methods are based on Pearl causality (direct experimental interference) while others leverage Granger (predictive) causality, and the causal framing provides important context for how the resulting attribution conclusion should be interpreted. However, while Granger-causal attribution analyses have become more common, there is no clear statement of their strengths and weaknesses relative to Pearl-causal attribution and no clear consensus on where and when Granger-causal perspectives are appropriate. In this prospective paper, we provide a formal definition for Granger-based approaches to trend and event attribution and a clear comparison with more traditional methods for assessing the human influence on extreme weather and climate events. Broadly speaking, Granger-causal attribution statements can be constructed quickly from observations and do not require computationally-intesive dynamical experiments. These analyses also enable rapid attribution, which is useful in the aftermath of a severe weather event, and provide multiple lines of evidence for anthropogenic climate change when paired with Pearl-causal attribution. Confidence in attribution statements is increased when different methodologies arrive at similar conclusions. Moving forward, we encourage the D&A community to embrace hybrid approaches to climate change attribution that leverage the strengths of both Granger and Pearl causality.

Risser, Mark D. (ORCID:0000000319561783)↗

Harnessing Machine Learning for Agnostic Biodetection

The United States’ current list-based approach to biodefense is limited because it considers only known biological agents. Alternatively, developing and adopting a system based on agent-agnostic signatures would enable detection and characterization of both known and novel agents, thereby engendering greater adaptability in the face of an evolving threat landscape. Machine learning (ML) could aid in such a transition, as it can recognize and encode highly complex patterns from multiple input data modalities and has already demonstrated success in many healthcare and defense applications. Functionalizing ML for environmental biodetection requires understanding current technical capabilities. In this article, we provide a systematic review of existing ML platforms and discuss anticipated development efforts needed to achieve effective ML-enabled, agnostic biodetection.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Nonlinear dimension reduction for surrogate modeling using gradient information

We introduce a method for the nonlinear dimension reduction of a high-dimensional function $u:{\mathbb{R}}^d\rightarrow{\mathbb{R}}$, $d\gg 1$. Our objective is to identify a nonlinear feature map $g:{\mathbb{R}}^d\rightarrow{\mathbb{R}}^m$, with a prescribed intermediate dimension $m\ll d$, so that $u$ can be well approximated by $f\circ g$ for some profile function $f:{\mathbb{R}}^m\rightarrow{\mathbb{R}}$. We propose to build the feature map by aligning the Jacobian $\nabla g$ with the gradient $\nabla u$, and we theoretically analyze the properties of the resulting $g$. Once $g$ is built, we construct $f$ by solving a gradient-enhanced least squares problem. Our practical algorithm uses a sample $\{{\textbf{x}}^{(i)},u({\textbf{x}}^{(i)}),\nabla u({\textbf{x}}^{(i)})\}_{i=1}^N$ and builds both $g$ and $f$ on adaptive downward-closed polynomial spaces, using cross validation to avoid overfitting. We numerically evaluate the performance of our algorithm across different benchmarks, and explore the impact of the intermediate dimension $m$. We show that building a nonlinear feature map $g$ can permit more accurate approximation of $u$ than a linear $g$, for the same input data set.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

B/PS bulges in DESI Legacy edge-on galaxies – I. Sample building

ABSTRACT We present the biggest up-to-date sample of edge-on galaxies with boxy/peanut-shaped (B/PS) bulges and X-structures. The sample was prepared using images from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy catalogue and contains about 2000 galaxies. To find suitable candidates in catalogue, we made the assumption that the residues (original images minus model) of galaxies with B/PS bulges should exhibit a characteristic X-shape. Galaxies with such features were selected by eye and then used as input data for a neural network training, which was applied to a bigger sample of edge-on galaxies. Using the available data and the photometric models from the literature, we investigated the observational and statistical properties of the sample created. Comparing the B/D ratios for galaxies with and without B/PS bulges, we found that the B/D ratio for galaxies from our sample is statistically higher, with typical values in the range ≈0.2–0.5 depending on the decomposition procedure. We studied how the opening angles φ of the X-structure and the length of its rays are distributed in the formed sample and found them to be consistent with previous measurements and predictions from N-body models, e.g. $\varphi \gtrsim 25{^\circ }$, but measured here for a much larger number of galaxies. We found a sharp increase in the B/PS bulge fraction for stellar masses log M⋆ ≳ 10.4, but for edge-on galaxies, which complements the results of previous works. The sample can be used in future work to test various bar models and their relationship with B/PS bulges, as well as to study their stability and evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Extended quantitative rescattering model for simulating high-order harmonic streaking spectra by synchronization of an intense IR laser and a time-delayed attosecond XUV pulse

In this work, we theoretically investigate the modulated high-harmonic generation (HHG) driven by an intense few-cycle infrared (IR) laser field and a weak extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulse at a delayed time. We establish an extended quantitative rescattering (EQRS) model to simulate the HHG streaking spectra, with the ideas of correcting the IR ionization and the transition from the ground to continuum states in the strong-field approximation. The EQRS model has an accuracy comparable to that from “exactly” solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). We reveal that the fringes in the streaking spectra are caused by the interference between the attosecond XUV pulse and harmonics resulting from different recombination pathways under the intense IR laser. We then demonstrate that the XUV pulse can be accurately retrieved by treating the single-atom TDSE results or macroscopic propagation results as the “input” data. This work provides with a tool for efficiently simulating and thoroughly analyzing the XUV-assisted HHG, which could also enhance its capability for tracing the electron dynamics involved in the strong-field phenomena.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Machine learning BPS spectra and the gap conjecture

We explore statistical properties of Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield q-series for strongly coupled supersymmetric theories that correspond to a particular family of three-manifolds. We discover that gaps between exponents in the -series are statistically more significant at the beginning of the -series compared to gaps that appear in higher powers of. Our observations are obtained by calculating saliencies of -series features used as input data for principal component analysis, which is a standard example of an explainable machine learning technique that allows for a direct calculation and a better analysis of feature saliencies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗