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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Provenance–aware workflow for data quality management and improvement for large continuous scientific data streams

Data quality assessment, management and improvement is integral part of any big data intensive scientific research to ensure accurate, reliable and reproducible science discoveries. The task of maintaining the quality of data, however, is non-trivial and pose a challenge for a program like Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) that collects data from hundreds of instruments across the world,and distributes thousands of streaming data products that are continuously growing in near-real-time in an archive 1.7 Petabyte in size and growing. We present a computational data processing workflow to collect the data quality issue via an easy and intuitive web-based portal that allows reporting of any quality issues for any site, facility or instruments at a granularity down to individual variable in the data files. Portal allows instrument specialists and scientists to provide corrective actions in form of symbolic equation. A parallel processing framework applies the data improvement to large volume of data in efficient parallel environment, while optimizing data transfer and file I/O operations. Corrected files are systematically versioned and archived. A provenance tracking module tracks and records any change made to the data during its entire life cycle which are communicated transparently to the scientific users. Developed in Python using open source technologies, software architecture enables efficient and fast management and improvement of data in an operational data center environment.

Kumar, Jitendra↗
DOE OSTI2012

VMAT QA: Measurement-guided 4D dose reconstruction on a patient

Purpose: To develop and validate a volume-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) quality assurance (QA) tool that takes as input a time-resolved, low-density ({approx}10 mm) cylindrical surface dose map from a commercial helical diode array, and outputs a high density, volumetric, time-resolved dose matrix on an arbitrary patient dataset. This first validation study is limited to a homogeneous 'patient.'Methods: A VMAT treatment is delivered to a diode array phantom (ARCCHECK, Sun Nuclear Corp., Melbourne, FL). 3DVH software (Sun Nuclear) derives the high-density volumetric dose using measurement-guided dose reconstruction (MGDR). MGDR cylindrical phantom results are then used to perturb the three-dimensional (3D) treatment planning dose on the patient dataset, producing a semiempirical volumetric dose grid. Four-dimensional (4D) dose reconstruction on the patient is also possible by morphing individual sub-beam doses instead of the composite. For conventional (3D) dose comparison two methods were developed, using the four plans (Multi-Target, C-shape, Mock Prostate, and Head and Neck), including their structures and objectives, from the AAPM TG-119 report. First, 3DVH and treatment planning system (TPS) cumulative point doses were compared to ion chamber in a cube water-equivalent phantom ('patient'). The shape of the phantom is different from the ARCCHECK and furthermore the targets were placed asymmetrically. Second, coronal and sagittal absolute film dose distributions in the cube were compared with 3DVH and TPS. For time-resolved (4D) comparisons, three tests were performed. First, volumetric dose differences were calculated between the 3D MGDR and cumulative time-resolved patient (4D MGDR) dose at the end of delivery, where they ideally should be identical. Second, time-resolved (10 Hz sampling rate) ion chamber doses were compared to cumulative point dose vs time curves from 4D MGDR. Finally, accelerator output was varied to assess the linearity of the 4D MGDR with global fluence change. Results: Across four TG-119 plans, the average PTV point dose difference in the cube between 3DVH and ion chamber is 0.1 {+-} 1.0%. Average film vs TPS {gamma}-analysis passing rates are 83.0%, 91.1%, and 98.4% for 1%/2 mm, 2%/2 mm, and 3%/3 mm threshold combinations, respectively, while average film vs 3DVH {gamma}-analysis passing rates are 88.6%, 96.1%, and 99.5% for the same respective criteria. 4D MGDR was also sufficiently accurate. First, for 99.5% voxels in each case, the doses from 3D and 4D MGDR at the end of delivery agree within 0.5%local dose-error/1 mm distance. Moreover, all failing voxels are confined to the edge of the cylindrical reconstruction volume. Second, dose vs time curves track between the ion chamber and 4D MGDR within 1%. Finally, 4D MGDR dose changes linearly with the accelerator output: the difference between cumulative ion chamber and MGDR dose changed by no more than 1% (randomly) with the output variation range of 10%. Conclusions: Even for a well-commissioned TPS, comparison metrics show better agreement on average to MGDR than to TPS on the arbitrary-shaped measurable 'patient.' The method requires no more accelerator time than standard QA, while producing more clinically relevant information. Validation in a heterogeneous thoracic phantom is under way, as is the ultimate application of 4D MGDR to virtual motion studies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Results from a multi-laboratory ocean metaproteomic intercomparison: effects of LC-MS acquisition and data analysis procedures

Metaproteomics is an increasingly popular methodology that provides information regarding the metabolic functions of specific microbial taxa and has potential for contributing to ocean ecology and biogeochemical studies. A blinded multi-laboratory intercomparison was conducted to assess comparability and reproducibility of taxonomic and functional results and their sensitivity to methodological variables. Euphotic zone samples from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) in the North Atlantic Ocean collected by in situ pumps and the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Clio were distributed with a paired metagenome, and one-dimensional (1D) liquid chromatographic data-dependent acquisition mass spectrometry analysis was stipulated. Analysis of mass spectra from seven laboratories through a common bioinformatic pipeline identified a shared set of 1056 proteins from 1395 shared peptide constituents. Quantitative analyses showed good reproducibility: pairwise regressions of spectral counts between laboratories yielded R 2 values averaged 0.62±0.11, and a Sørensen similarity analysis of the top 1000 proteins revealed 70 %–80 % similarity between laboratory groups. Taxonomic and functional assignments showed good coherence between technical replicates and different laboratories. A bioinformatic intercomparison study, involving 10 laboratories using eight software packages, successfully identified thousands of peptides within the complex metaproteomic datasets, demonstrating the utility of these software tools for ocean metaproteomic research. Lessons learned and potential improvements in methods were described. Future efforts could examine reproducibility in deeper metaproteomes, examine accuracy in targeted absolute quantitation analyses, and develop standards for data output formats to improve data interoperability. Together, these results demonstrate the reproducibility of metaproteomic analyses and their suitability for microbial oceanography research, including integration into global-scale ocean surveys and ocean biogeochemical models.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Virtual prototyping of liquid metal blanket performance in fusion pilot plant

Liquid metal blanket is a dominant design option for the next step fusion devices responsible for harvesting energy from fusion reaction, and simultaneously producing fuel for the same reaction through tritium breeding. Liquid metal blankets introduce additional complexity to the design due to fluid motion, fluid structure interaction, and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects arising from the motion of the conducting fluid through the magnetic field. They are also directly affected by the plasma heat flux and neutronic fluence. PPPL is currently developing a virtual prototyping system for numerical analysis of the liquid metal blankets for future fusion devices. The system has a customized 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code in its core, allowing MHD flow and conjugate heat transfer analysis in blankets fluids and solids. The code was successfully used before for dual coolant blanket analysis [A. Khodak et al., Fusion Eng. and Des. 137 (2018)]. Recently the same code was modified to allow verified simulation of MHD flows at high Hartmann numbers of several thousand typical for blanket applications. CFD code receives volumetric heat source distribution from the neutronic analysis based on MCNP code. In addition, direct tritium breeding simulation will be performed allowing optimization of the blanket performance. 2D axisymmetric version of neutronics code will be used for rapid optimization, with 3D version employed for detailed analysis. The surface heat distribution on the plasma facing wall will be defined by the software HEAT allowing 3D modeling of the heat flux based on the magnetic field distribution including gyro-orbit effects. Results of thermal analysis are imported into structural analysis code also included in the system. Finally, direct import of CAD geometry will be used for analyzing all components and as a result design option can be efficiently optimized.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

A survey on resource allocation in high performance distributed computing systems

An efficient resource allocation is a fundamental requirement in high performance computing (HPC) systems. Many projects are dedicated to large-scale distributed computing systems that have designed and developed resource allocation mechanisms with a variety of architectures and services. In our study, through analysis, a comprehensive survey for describing resource allocation in various HPCs is reported. The aim of the work is to aggregate under a joint framework, the existing solutions for HPC to provide a thorough analysis and characteristics of the resource management and allocation strategies. Resource allocation mechanisms and strategies play a vital role towards the performance improvement of all the HPCs classifications. Therefore, a comprehensive discussion of widely used resource allocation strategies deployed in HPC environment is required, which is one of the motivations of this survey. Moreover, we have classified the HPC systems into three broad categories, namely: (a) cluster, (b) grid, and (c) cloud systems and define the characteristics of each class by extracting sets of common attributes. All of the aforementioned systems are cataloged into pure software and hybrid/hardware solutions. The system classification is used to identify approaches followed by the implementation of existing resource allocation strategies that are widely presented in the literature.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2015

MO-AB-BRA-09: Temporally Realistic Manipulation a 4D Biomechanical Lung Phantom for Evaluation of Simultaneous Registration and Segmentation

Purpose: To produce multi-modality compatible, realistic datasets for the joint evaluation of segmentation and registration with a reliable ground truth using a 4D biomechanical lung phantom. The further development of a computer controlled air flow system for recreation of real patient breathing patterns is incorporated for additional evaluation of motion prediction algorithms. Methods: A pair of preserved porcine lungs was pneumatically manipulated using an in-house computer controlled respirator. The respirator consisted of a set of bellows actuated by a 186 W computer controlled industrial motor. Patient breathing traces were recorded using a respiratory bellows belt during CT simulation and input into a control program incorporating a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback controller in LabVIEW. Mock tumors were created using dual compartment vacuum sealed sea sponges. 65% iohexol,a gadolinium-based contrast agent and 18F-FDG were used to produce contrast and thus determine a segmentation ground truth. The intensity distributions of the compartments were then digitally matched for the final dataset. A bifurcation tracking pipeline provided a registration ground truth using the bronchi of the lung. The lungs were scanned using a GE Discovery-ST PET/CT scanner and a Phillips Panorama 0.23T MRI using a T1 weighted 3D fast field echo (FFE) protocol. Results: The standard deviation of the error between the patient breathing trace and the encoder feedback from the respirator was found to be ±4.2%. Bifurcation tracking error using CT (0.97×0.97×3.27 mm{sup 3} resolution) was found to be sub-voxel up to 7.8 cm displacement for human lungs and less than 1.32 voxel widths in any axis up to 2.3 cm for the porcine lungs. Conclusion: An MRI/PET/CT compatible anatomically and temporally realistic swine lung phantom was developed for the evaluation of simultaneous registration and segmentation algorithms. With the addition of custom software and mock tumors, the entire package offers ground truths for benchmarking performance with high fidelity.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

A Fault-oblivious Extreme-scale Execution Environment

Exascale computing systems will provide a thousand-fold increase in parallelism and a proportional increase in failure rate relative to today's machines. Systems software for exascale machines must provide the infrastructure to support existing applications while simultaneously enabling efficient execution of new programming models that naturally express dynamic, adaptive, irregular computation; coupled simulations; and massive data analysis in a highly unreliable hardware environment with billions of threads of execution. We propose a new approach to the data and work distribution model provided by system software based on the unifying formalism of an abstract file system. The proposed hierarchical data model provides simple, familiar visibility and access to data structures through the file system hierarchy, while providing fault tolerance through selective redundancy. The hierarchical task model features work queues whose form and organization are represented as file system objects. Data and work are both first class entities. By exposing the relationships between data and work to the runtime system, information is available to optimize execution time and provide fault tolerance. The data distribution scheme provides replication (where desirable and possible) for fault tolerance and efficiency, and it is hierarchical to make it possible to take advantage of locality. The user, tools, and applications, including legacy applications, can interface with the data, work queues, and one another through the abstract file model. This runtime environment will provide multiple interfaces to support traditional Message Passing Interface applications, languages developed under DARPA's High Productivity Computing Systems program, as well as other, experimental programming models. We will validate our runtime system with pilot codes on existing platforms and will use simulation to validate for exascale-class platforms. In this final report, we summarize research results from the work done at the Ohio State University towards the larger goals of the project listed above.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2011

Application of the ORIGEN Fallout Analysis Tool and the DELFIC Fallout Planning Tool to National Technical Nuclear Forensics

The objective of this project was to provide a robust fallout analysis and planning tool for the National Technical Nuclear Forensics interagency ground sample collection team. Their application called for a fast-running, portable mission-planning tool for use in response to emerging improvised nuclear device (IND) post-detonation situations. The project met those goals by research and development of models to predict the physical, chemical, and radiological properties of fallout debris. ORNL has developed new graphical user interfaces for two existing codes, the Oak Ridge Isotope Generation (ORIGEN) code and the Defense Land Fallout Interpretive Code (DELFIC). ORIGEN is a validated, radionuclide production and decay code that has been implemented into the Fallout Analysis Tool to predict the fallout source term nuclide inventory after the detonation of an IND. DELFIC is a validated, physics-based, research reference fallout prediction software package. It has been implemented into the Fallout Planning Tool and is used to predict the fractionated isotope concentrations in fallout, particle sizes, fractionation ratios, dose rate, and integrated dose over the planned collection routes - information vital to ensure quality samples for nuclear forensic analysis while predicting dose to the sample collectors. DELFIC contains a particle activity module, which models the radiochemical fractionation of the elements in a cooling fireball as they condense into and onto particles to predict the fractionated activity size distribution for a given scenario. This provides the most detailed physics-based characterization of the fallout source term phenomenology available in an operational fallout model.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Poster — Thur Eve — 37: Respiratory gating with an Elekta flattening filter free photon beam

In cases where surgery is not possible for lung cancer treatment, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) may be an option. One problem when treating this type of cancer is the motion of the lungs caused by the patient's respiration. It is possible to reduce the impact of this movement with the use of respiratory gating. By combining respiratory gating with a flattening filter free (FFF) photon beam linac, the increased treatment time caused by a reduced beam-on time of respiratory gating methods can be compensated by the inherent increased dose rate of FFF beams. This project's aim is to create hardware and software interfaces allowing free respiration gating on an Elekta Synergy-S linac specially modified to deliver 6 MV FFF photon beams. First, a printed circuit board was created for reading the signal from a Bellows Belt from Philips (a respiration monitor belt) and transmitting an On/Off signal to the accelerator. A software was also developed to visualize patient respiration. Secondly, a FFF model was created with the Pinnacle treatment planning system from Philips. Gamma (Γ) analysis (2%, 2 mm) was used to evaluate model. For fields going from 5.6 × 5.6 to 12 × 12 cm{sup 2}, central axis depth dose model fitting shows an average gamma value of 0.2 and 100% of gamma values remain under the Γ = 1 limit. For smaller fields (0.8 × 0.8 and 1.6 × 1.6 cm{sup 2}), Pinnacle has more trouble trying to fit the measurements, overestimating dose in penumbra and buildup regions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

ORCHA: A performance portability system for extreme heterogeneity

Heterogeneity is the prevalent trend in the rapidly evolving high-performance computing (HPC) landscape in both hardware and application software. The diversity in hardware platforms, currently comprising various accelerators and a future possibility of specializable chiplets, poses a significant challenge for scientific software developers aiming to harness optimal performance across different computing platforms while maintaining the quality of solutions when their applications are simultaneously growing more complex. Code synthesis and code generation can provide mechanisms to mitigate this challenge. We have developed a divide and conquer approach where different aspects of performance are handled by different stand-alone tools that are interfaced with the application through generated code. This portability system, ORCHA, enables users to configure and orchestrate their computations among available resources on a platform by specifying a high-level recipe, thereby permitting a many-to-many paradigm where each recipe results in a different variant of the application. The core design goal is to let users decide the application’s hardware mapping and orchestration by editing only the high-level recipe—without modifying the maintained source code or binding the application to a particular runtime system. Tools in ORCHA distribution are: CG-Kit for translating the recipe into an execution graph; Milhoja to execute the graph by orchestrating data and task movement among hardware resources; and Macroprocessor that enables users to define their own code-shorthand for higher composability and easier management of code variants. Additionally, the design of ORCHA permits tools to work in a plug-and-play mode where the application can build and run without CG-Kit and Milhoja, and either tool can be swapped out for other tools with similar capabilities by modifying the code generation portion of ORCHA. In this paper, we describe the design of ORCHA and the role that code-generation plays in isolating applications from tools. We demonstrate the breadth of configurations ORCHA enables with a case study in which an application configuration is realized on three distinct hardware mappings—a GPU-centric, a CPU/GPU balanced, and a CPU/GPU concurrent layouts by using different recipes.

Lee, Youngjun↗
DOE OSTI2024

TrustDER: Trusted, Private and Scalable Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources

In this project, the Stanford and SLAC Teams have developed a Trusted, Private and Scalable platform for coordinating Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources (TrustDER). This is a layered system that ensures private, trusted and scalable coordination and monitoring of DERs. It accommodates a variety of resources, such as solar generation, gensets and loads, with a particular focus on battery systems-based resources, as they are a transformational technology experiencing fast growth in adoption by large critical facilities. The platform can be used as standalone or added to existing aggregation systems to enable trust, privacy and resilience. TrustDER consists of layers that address each of the shortcomings of the existing state of the art. Each layer in the platform can operate independently but provides information to the layers above it to enable a novel form of overall coordination architecture. The project consists of several tasks, with each task dedicated to the design of each layer. Task 2 Resource Virtualization defined a software abstraction layer for distributed energy resources (DERs). The goal of this abstraction was to simplify the implementation of algorithms utilizing cooperation of DERs resources in a variety of use cases. Task 3 is on Secure ID for Asset Authentication. Identity Management Systems (IDMS) are a foundational infrastructure for interactions between entities (organizations, users, devices, and services). Secure ID is blockchain-based a distributed identity management system allowing (1) identity provisioning, (2) authentication, (3) authorization, and (4) identity data sharing for IoT-enabled assets on the electricity grid. In this project, the SLAC team focused on designing and testing Keymaker, a protocol for authenticating device identity managed by Secure ID. Task 5 Private and Safe Integration is focused on the design and evaluation of a DER cooperation scheme which allows for the aggregation of DERs without impacting network reliability. The approach is designed based on realistic assumptions regarding data availability, communication infrastructure limitations, and privacy. Task 6 Scalable Distributed Privacy for Information explored how virtualized batteries could be managed privately. Specifically, it examined the case in which a principal provides a partitioned battery to multiple clients. Task 7 Use Cases was to ensure that this technology was applied in relevant situations and scenarios. Primarily, this means that virtualization needed to be employed in a manner that either improved flexibility, bolstered security or privacy, or decreased costs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Assessment of Industrial Load for Demand Response across U.S. Regions of the Western Interconnect

Demand response (DR) has the ability to both increase power grid reliability and potentially reduce operating system costs. Understanding the role of demand response in grid modeling has been difficult due to complex nature of the load characteristics compared to the modeled generation and the variation in load types. This is particularly true of industrial loads, where hundreds of different industries exist with varying availability for demand response. We present a framework considering industrial loads for the development of availability profiles that can provide more regional understanding and can be inserted into analysis software for further study. The developed framework utilizes a number of different informational resources, algorithms, and real-world measurements to perform a bottom-up approach in the development of a new database with representation of the potential demand response resource in the industrial sector across the U.S. This tool houses statistical values of energy and demand response (DR) potential by industrial plant and geospatially locates the information for aggregation for different territories without proprietary information. This report will discuss this framework and the analyzed quantities of demand response for Western Interconnect (WI) in support of evaluation of the cost production modeling with power grid modeling efforts of demand response.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2018

System Advisor Model (SAM) General Description (Version 2017.9.5)

This document describes the capabilities of the System Advisor Model (SAM) developed and distributed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The document is for potential users and others wanting to learn about the model's capabilities. SAM is a techno-economic computer model that calculates performance and financial metrics of renewable energy projects. Project developers, policy makers, equipment manufacturers, and researchers use graphs and tables of SAM results in the process of evaluating financial, technology, and incentive options for renewable energy projects. SAM simulates the performance of photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, solar water heating, wind, geothermal, biomass, and conventional power systems. The financial models are for projects that either buy and sell electricity at retail rates (residential and commercial) or sell electricity at a price determined in a power purchase agreement (PPA). SAM's simulation tools facilitate parametric and sensitivity analyses, Monte Carlo simulation and weather variability (P50/P90) studies. SAM can also read input variables from Microsoft Excel worksheets. For software developers, the SAM software development kit (SDK) makes it possible to use SAM simulation modules in their applications written in C/C plus plus, C sharp, Java, Python, MATLAB, and other languages. NREL provides both SAM and the SDK as free downloads at https://sam.nrel.gov. SAM is an open source project, so its source code is available to the public. Researchers can study the code to understand the model algorithms, and software programmers can contribute their own models and enhancements to the project. Technical support and more information about the software are available on the website.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Scalable Solution for Grid Optimization and DER Integration (CRADA Final Report)

Utilidata Inc. is an energy software company that provides clean energy and digital solutions for utilities. This work was the result of Utilidata Inc. being awarded a New York State Energy Research and Development Agency award to integrate Utilidata volt-VAR optimization (VVO) software with smart inverters to explore enhanced voltage control. This project was conducted in partnership with Utilidata Inc., National Grid, the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). As part of the project NREL conducted modeling and simulation analysis, developed cost-benefit analysis framework, and conducted laboratory testing to understand the potential for smart inverter integration to a centralized VVO control scheme. The remainder of the report provides an executive summary of the work, an introduction to the challenges, sections detailing specific aspects of the work, and the overall findings and conclusions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Analyzing a Five-Year Failure Record of a Leadership-Class Supercomputer

Extreme-scale computing systems are required to solve some of the grand challenges in science and technology. From astrophysics to molecular biology, supercomputers are an essential tool to accelerate scientific discovery. However, large computing systems are prone to failures due to their complexity. It is crucial to develop an understanding of how these systems fail to design reliable supercomputing platforms for the future. This paper examines a five-year failure and workload record of a leadership-class supercomputer. To the best of our knowledge, five years represents the vast majority of the lifespan of a supercomputer. This is the first time such analysis is performed on a top 10 modern supercomputer. We performed a failure categorization and found out that: i) most errors are GPU-related, with roughly 37% of them being double-bit errors on the cards; ii) failures are not evenly spread across the physical machine, with room temperature presumably playing a major role; and iii) software errors of the system bring down several nodes concurrently. Our failure rate analysis unveils that: i) the system consistently degrades, being at least twice as reliable at the beginning, compared to the end of the period; ii) Weibull distribution closely fits the mean-time-between-failure data; and iii) hardware and software errors show a markedly different pattern. Finally, we correlated failure and workload records to reveal that: i) failure and workload records are weakly correlated, except for certain types of failures when segmented by the hours of the day; ii) several categories of failures make jobs crash within the first minutes of execution; and iii) a significant fraction of failed jobs exhaust the requested time with a disregard of when the failure occurred during execution.

Rojas, Elvis↗
DOE OSTI2014

Monitoring Sensitive Bat Species at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Bats play a critical role in ecosystems and are vulnerable to disturbance and disruption by human activities. In recent decades, bat populations in the United States and elsewhere have decreased tremendously. There are 47 different species of bat in the United States and 28 of these occur in New Mexico with 15 different species documented at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and surrounding areas. Euderma maculatum(the spotted bat) is listed as “threatened” by the state of New Mexico and is known to occur at LANL. Four other species of bats are listed as “sensitive” and also occur here. In 1995, a four year study was initiated at LANL to assess the status of bat species of concern, elucidate distribution and relative abundance, and obtain information on roosting sites. There have been no definitive studies since then. Biologists in the Environmental Protection Division at LANL initiated a multi-year monitoring program for bats in May 2013 to implement the Biological Resources Management Plan. The objective of this ongoing study is to monitor bat species diversity and seasonal activity over time at LANL. Bat species diversity and seasonal activity were measured using an acoustic bat detector, the Pettersson D500X. This ultrasound recording unit is intended for long-term, unattended recording of bat and other high frequency animal calls. During 2013, the detector was deployed at two locations around LANL. Study sites were selected based on proximity to water where bats may be foraging. Recorded bat calls were analyzed using Sonobat, software that can help determine specific species of bat through their calls. A list of bat species at the two sites was developed and compared to lists from previous studies. Species diversity and seasonal activity, measured as the number of call sequences recorded each month, were compared between sites and among months. A total of 17,923 bat calls were recorded representing 15 species. Results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between bat diversity and month of the year. Future studies will be implemented based on these findings.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

A new scintillation hodoscope for CLAS12 and partial wave analysis of the channel yp → pK + K -

This thesis consists of two parts that have contributed to a new meson spectroscopy program, MesonEx, which is currently taking place in Hall B of the upgraded Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in the USA. The first, hardware part, presents design, testing, construction and calibration of a fast-timing scintillation Hodoscope for a new Forward Tagger detector, that has been installed inside the upgraded CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS12) which is situated in the Hall B of JLab. The Forward Tagger is a key apparatus for measurement of quasi-real photoproduction of mesons in the MesonEx, and a necessary device for other new hadron spectroscopy programs. The second, software and analysis part, presents contributions to the general HAdron SPEctroscopy CenTre (HASPECT) analysis framework, that has been developed in preparation for the MesonEx data analysis. The software contribution consists of finalizing HASPECT simulation and analysis chains in a model-independent way, and developing a mass-independent partial wave analysis procedure. This procedure has been tested via analysis of the γ p → pK + K - channel from the g 11 a CLAS data, in the photon energy range E γ = 3.0-3.8 GeV and momentum transfer squared range -t = 0.6 - 0.7 (GeV/c 2 ) 2 . The first result of this analysis is the differential cross section for the ϕ(1020) resonance photoproduction. This result has been compared with a previous analysis result, and a good agreement has validated the developed analysis procedure. Furthermore, S , P and D partial waves have been extracted from the data set, using the same procedure, and ambiguous solutions for these partial waves have been calculated, using the method of Barrelet zeros which is for the first time applied to photoproduction of the K + and K - mesons on the proton. Distributions of the calculated solutions have been compared with the fit results. It is found that the physical solution contains contributions of the ϕ(1020) in the P -wave and the a 2(1320) in the D -wave.

Stankovic, Ivana↗
DOE OSTI2013

MODEL BASED BIOMASS SYSTEM DESIGN OF FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY SYSTEMS FOR BIOENERGY PRODUCTION

Engineering feedstock supply systems that deliver affordable, high-quality biomass remains a challenge for the emerging bioenergy industry. Cellulosic biomass is geographically distributed and has diverse physical and chemical properties. Because of this feedstock supply systems that deliver cellulosic biomass resources to biorefineries require integration of a broad set of engineered unit operations. These unit operations include harvest and collection, storage, preprocessing, and transportation processes. Design decisions for each feedstock supply system unit operation impact the engineering design and performance of the other system elements. These interdependencies are further complicated by spatial and temporal variances such as climate conditions and biomass characteristics. This paper develops an integrated model that couples a SQL-based data management engine and systems dynamics models to design and evaluate biomass feedstock supply systems. The integrated model, called the Biomass Logistics Model (BLM), includes a suite of databases that provide 1) engineering performance data for hundreds of equipment systems, 2) spatially explicit labor cost datasets, and 3) local tax and regulation data. The BLM analytic engine is built in the systems dynamics software package PowersimTM. The BLM is designed to work with thermochemical and biochemical based biofuel conversion platforms and accommodates a range of cellulosic biomass types (i.e., herbaceous residues, short- rotation woody and herbaceous energy crops, woody residues, algae, etc.). The BLM simulates the flow of biomass through the entire supply chain, tracking changes in feedstock characteristics (i.e., moisture content, dry matter, ash content, and dry bulk density) as influenced by the various operations in the supply chain. By accounting for all of the equipment that comes into contact with biomass from the point of harvest to the throat of the conversion facility and the change in characteristics, the BLM evaluates economic performance of the engineered system, as well as determining energy consumption and green house gas performance of the design. This paper presents a BLM case study delivering corn stover to produce cellulosic ethanol. The case study utilizes the BLM to model the performance of several feedstock supply system designs. The case study also explores the impact of temporal variations in climate conditions to test the sensitivity of the engineering designs. Results from the case study show that under certain conditions corn stover can be delivered to the cellulosic ethanol biorefinery for $35/dry ton.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗