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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,495 records · Page 83
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Probing the topological charge in QCD matter via multiplicity up–down asymmetry

Relativistic heavy ion collisions provide the possibility to study the topological charge in QCD matter through the event-by-event fluctuating net axial charge or nonequal numbers of left- and right-handed quarks they generate in the produced quark–gluon plasma. Based on the chiral kinetic approach for nearly massless quarks and antiquarks in the strong vorticity field produced along the normal direction of the reaction plane of non-central heavy ion collisions, we show that a unique signal for the topological charge in QCD matter can be identified from the asymmetric distribution of particles with momenta pointing to the upper and lower hemispheres of the reaction plane as a result of the fluctuating net axial charge.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Time-dependent iodate and iodide adsorption to Fe oxides

Aqueous iodine removal via adsorption to Fe oxides could provide an efficient remedial pathway for vadose zone and groundwater contamination. We conducted a series of macroscopic batch experiments to determine the extent of the time-dependent iodate (IO3-) and iodide (I-) adsorption to four Fe oxides (i.e., ferrihydrite, goethite, magnetite and hematite) at different pH values and solution ionic strengths (IS). The results showed that IO3- adsorption extent [in terms of the average distribution coefficient (Kd) after 2 days of reacting time] followed the order: ferrihydrite (927.5 mL/g) > goethite (84.9 mL/g) > magnetite (23.8 mL/g) > hematite (9.5 mL/g). However, the range of specific surface area (SSA) normalized Kd values was narrow (2 - 4.6 mL/m2), suggesting SSA control over the adsorption extent. The adsorption extent correlated negatively with both pH and IS, implying IO3- outer-sphere adsorption. The adsorption extent increased with time (~27-48%) after 200 days, likely because of interparticle diffusion within aggregates. I- adsorption was insignificant for all Fe oxides. Because of its large SSA, ferrihydrite could be efficient at removing aqueous iodate, potentially decreasing the time of groundwater plume spreading.

Wang, Guohui↗
DOE OSTI2018

Identification of Critical Switches for Integrating Renewable Distributed Generation by Dynamic Network Reconfiguration

With growing penetration of renewable distributed generations (DGs) in distribution systems, effective integration of DGs has become a major concern. Distribution system dynamic reconfiguration (DSDR), which relies on real-time operations of remote-controlled switches, is potentially an efficient strategy receiving inadequate attention. Moreover, in most DSDR-related publications, normally all switches are assumed remotely controllable, which is not practical. Here we borrow the concept of critical switches to denote the switches that are most effective in accommodating DGs by DSDR. In this regard, the problem of identifying critical switches is not well investigated, although in several related publications, selected switches are assumed remote-controlled based on experience. In this work, we study the application of DSDR for DG integration. Critical switches, which optimally enable intra-day DSDR to minimize DG curtailments, are identified by limiting the number of switches to be operated and the switch-type-dependent operation constraints. Considering uncertainties of loads and DGs, the problem is formulated as a two-stage robust optimization model solved by a nested column-and-constraint generation algorithm. Illustrative cases show that DG curtailments can be significantly reduced by a small number of critical switches that operate only several times in intra-day DSDR. The proposed method can be used to provide insights for switch allocation, maintenance, and operation

Lei, Shunbo (ORCID:0000000181690821)↗
DOE OSTI2013

Effectiveness of robust optimization in intensity-modulated proton therapy planning for head and neck cancers

Purpose: Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) is highly sensitive to uncertainties in beam range and patient setup. Conventionally, these uncertainties are dealt using geometrically expanded planning target volume (PTV). In this paper, the authors evaluated a robust optimization method that deals with the uncertainties directly during the spot weight optimization to ensure clinical target volume (CTV) coverage without using PTV. The authors compared the two methods for a population of head and neck (H and N) cancer patients. Methods: Two sets of IMPT plans were generated for 14 H and N cases, one being PTV-based conventionally optimized and the other CTV-based robustly optimized. For the PTV-based conventionally optimized plans, the uncertainties are accounted for by expanding CTV to PTV via margins and delivering the prescribed dose to PTV. For the CTV-based robustly optimized plans, spot weight optimization was guided to reduce the discrepancy in doses under extreme setup and range uncertainties directly, while delivering the prescribed dose to CTV rather than PTV. For each of these plans, the authors calculated dose distributions under various uncertainty settings. The root-mean-square dose (RMSD) for each voxel was computed and the area under the RMSD-volume histogram curves (AUC) was used to relatively compare plan robustness. Data derived from the dose volume histogram in the worst-case and nominal doses were used to evaluate the plan optimality. Then the plan evaluation metrics were averaged over the 14 cases and were compared with two-sided paired t tests. Results: CTV-based robust optimization led to more robust (i.e., smaller AUCs) plans for both targets and organs. Under the worst-case scenario and the nominal scenario, CTV-based robustly optimized plans showed better target coverage (i.e., greater D{sub 95%}), improved dose homogeneity (i.e., smaller D{sub 5%}- D{sub 95%}), and lower or equivalent dose to organs at risk. Conclusions: CTV-based robust optimization provided significantly more robust dose distributions to targets and organs than PTV-based conventional optimization in H and N using IMPT. Eliminating the use of PTV and planning directly based on CTV provided better or equivalent normal tissue sparing.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-279: Realization of Three-Dimensional Conformal Dose Planning in Prostate Brachytherapy

Purpose: Successful clinical treatment in prostate brachytherapy is largely dependent on the effectiveness of pre-surgery dose planning. Conventional dose planning method could hardly arrive at a satisfy result. In this abstract, a three-dimensional conformal localized dose planning method is put forward to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of pre-implantation dose planning. Methods: Using Monte Carlo method, the pre-calculated 3-D dose map for single source is obtained. As for multiple seeds dose distribution, the maps are combined linearly to acquire the 3-D distribution. The 3-D dose distribution is exhibited in the form of isodose surface together with reconstructed 3-D organs group real-timely. Then it is possible to observe the dose exposure to target volume and normal tissues intuitively, thus achieving maximum dose irradiation to treatment target and minimum healthy tissues damage. In addition, the exfoliation display of different isodose surfaces can be realized applying multi-values contour extraction algorithm based on voxels. The needles could be displayed in the system by tracking the position of the implanted seeds in real time to conduct block research in optimizing insertion trajectory. Results: This study extends dose planning from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, realizing the three-dimensional conformal irradiation, which could eliminate the limitations of 2-D images and two-dimensional dose planning. A software platform is developed using VC++ and Visualization Toolkit (VTK) to perform dose planning. The 3-D model reconstruction time is within three seconds (on a Intel Core i5 PC). Block research could be conducted to avoid inaccurate insertion into sensitive organs or internal obstructions. Experiments on eight prostate cancer cases prove that this study could make the dose planning results more reasonable. Conclusion: The three-dimensional conformal dose planning method could improve the rationality of dose planning by safely reducing the large target margin and avoiding dose dead zones for prostate cancer treatment. 1) National Natural Science Foundation of People's Republic of China (No. 51175373); 2) New Century Educational Talents Plan of Chinese Education Ministry (NCET-10-0625); 3) Scientific and Technological Major Project, Tianjin (No. 12ZCDZSY10600)

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Sandia Optical Fringe Analysis Slope Tool (SOFAST) v. 2018.11.20

SOFAST is used to characterize the surface slope of reflective mirrors for solar applications. SOFAST uses a large monitor or projection screen to display fringe patterns, and a machine vision camera to image the reflection of these patterns in the subject mirror. From these images, a detailed map of surface normals can be generated and compared to design or fitted mirror shapes. SOFAST uses standard Fringe Reflection (Deflectometry) approaches to measure the mirror surface normals. SOFAST uses an extrinsic analysis of key points on the facet to locate the camera and monitor relative to the facet coordinate system. It then refines this position based on the measured surface slope and integrated shape of the mirror facet. The facet is placed into a reference frame such that key points on the facet match the design facet in orientation and position. This is key to evaluating a facet as suitable for a specific solar application. SOFAST reports the measurements of the facet as detailed surface normal location in a format suitable for ray tracing optical analysis codes. SOFAST also reports summary information as to the facet fitted shape (monomial) and error parameters. Useful plots of the error distribution are also presented.

Yellowhair, Julius↗
DOE OSTI2012

DOE 2012 Occupational Radiation Exposure October 2013

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Analysis within the Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS) publishes the annual DOE Occupational Radiation Exposure Report to provide an overview of the status of radiation protection practices at DOE (including the National Nuclear Security Administration [NNSA]). The DOE 2012 Occupational Radiation Exposure Report provides an evaluation of DOE-wide performance regarding compliance with Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), Part 835, Occupational Radiation Protection dose limits and as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) process requirements. In addition, the report provides data to DOE organizations responsible for developing policies for protection of individuals from the adverse health effects of radiation. The report provides a summary and an analysis of occupational radiation exposure information from the monitoring of individuals involved in DOE activities. Over the past 5-year period, the occupational radiation exposure information is analyzed in terms of aggregate data, dose to individuals, and dose by site. As an indicator of the overall amount of radiation dose received during the conduct of operations at DOE, the report includes information on collective total effective dose (TED). The TED is comprised of the effective dose (ED) from external sources, which includes neutron and photon radiation, and the internal committed effective dose (CED), which results from the intake of radioactive material into the body. The collective ED from photon exposure decreased by 23% between 2011 and 2012, while the neutron dose increased by 5%. The internal dose components of the collective TED decreased by 7%. Over the past 5-year period, 99.99% of the individuals receiving measurable TED have received doses below the 2 roentgen equivalent in man (rems) (20 millisievert [mSv]) TED administrative control level (ACL), which is well below the DOE regulatory limit of 5 rems (50 mSv) TED annually. The occupational radiation exposure records show that in 2012, DOE facilities continued to comply with DOE dose limits and ACLs and worked to minimize exposure to individuals. The DOE collective TED decreased 17.1% from 2011 to 2012. The collective TED decreased at three of the five sites with the largest collective TED. u Idaho Site – Collective dose reductions were achieved as a result of continuing improvements at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) through the planning of drum movements that reduced the number of times a container is handled; placement of waste containers that created highradiation areas in a centralized location; and increased worker awareness of high-dose rate areas. In addition, Idaho had the largest decrease in the total number of workers with measurable TED (1,143 fewer workers). u Hanford Site (Hanford) – An overall reduction of decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) activities at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) and Transuranic (TRU) retrieval activities resulted in collective dose reductions. u Savannah River Site (SRS) – Reductions were achieved through ALARA initiatives employed site wide. The Solid Waste Management Facility used extended specialty tools, cameras and lead shield walls to facilitate removal of drums. These tools and techniques reduce exposure time through improved efficiency, increase distance from the source of radiation by remote monitoring, shield the workers to lower the dose rate, and reduce the potential for contamination and release of material through repacking of waste. Overall, from 2011 to 2012, there was a 19% decrease in the number of workers with measurable dose. Furthermore, due to a slight decrease in both the DOE workforce (7%) and monitored workers (10%), the ratio of workers with measurable doses to monitored workers decreased to 13%. Another primary indicator of the level of radiation exposure covered in this report is the average measurable dose, which normalizes the collective dose over the population of workers who actually received a measurable dose. The average measurable TED increased by 3% from 2011 to 2012. Additional analyses show that the dose distribution in 2012 was similar to the distribution in 2011. In 2012, 13% of the monitored workers received a measurable TED and the average measurable TED, 0.069 rem, was less than 2% of the DOE limit. From 2011 to 2012, the collective TED and the number of individuals with measurable TED decreased 17.1% and 19%, respectively. These decreases were mainly due to an overall reduction of D&D activities at the PFP and TRU retrieval activities at Hanford; a 78% decrease in the number of targeted waste drums that were processed at the Idaho Site’s Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) from 5,566 drums in 2011 to a total of 1,211 drums processed in 2012; and ALARA initiatives employed site wide at SRS. In addition, the decreases were the result of decreased American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) activities and continuing D&D, particularly at the DOE sites that comprise the majority of DOE collective dose. Over the past 5 years, the size of the monitored workforce has remained at a fairly stable level (within 12%), while the collective dose has varied up to 37%. No reported doses exceeded the DOE occupational limit of 5 rems TED in 2012 and no reported doses exceeded the DOE ACL of 2 rems TED.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Semi-supervised Hybrid Machine Learning Framework for the Qualification of Resistance Spot Welds

• Industries requiring high structural integrity, including automotive, aerospace, and construction, place considerable significance on weld quality classification. • The inspection normally involves human expertise through predefined quality metrics that are subjective, error-prone, and time-intensive • The challenge to classification model development is the scarcity of labeled data and imbalanced distributions in the data that are labeled. • This work develops a new hybrid methodology that achieves clustering using KMeans++ together with supervised classification to overcome these challenges. • The ensemble-based classifiers were identified as optimal, with accuracy enhancements of up to 8% using the pseudo-labeled dataset. • The work provides practical insight into feature engineering and machine learning integration in industrial quality assurance applications.

Rogers, Jeremy K. [Savannah River National Laborat↗
DOE OSTI2019

Hydrocarbon Fuel Effects on Non-premixed Rotating Detonation Engine Performance

Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) are gaining significant interest as a practical approach to increasing the operating efficiency of propulsion systems through pressure gain combustion. To use RDEs in practical gas turbines, their stability and performance with regard to hydrocarbon fuels need to be tested. Prior experimental work has shown that ethylene/air systems exhibit suppressed wave propagation, with speeds that are nearly half the ideal wave speeds. The purpose of this study is to simulate realistic RDE configurations that have been experimentally studied to gain insight into this wave suppression. Detailed numerical simulations using a reduced 8-species 2-step and a 21-species 38-step chemistry model are conducted. When ethylene is diluted with hydrogen, the system reaches a stable mode comparable to detonation propagation after unsteady transition period between a weak deflagrative and a stronger detonation mode. It is further shown that pure ethylene cases stay in the weak regime with weak pressure propagation aided by deflagration along the wave path. Species, temperature, and pressure profiles normal to the wave front show a weak pressure rise followed by a broad reaction zone. As a result, heat release is not confined to the near-shock region but is distributed across the detonation chamber.

Sato, Takuma↗
DOE OSTI2016

STAR FORMATION SUPPRESSION DUE TO JET FEEDBACK IN RADIO GALAXIES WITH SHOCKED WARM MOLECULAR GAS

We present Herschel observations of 22 radio galaxies, selected for the presence of shocked, warm molecular hydrogen emission. We measured and modeled spectral energy distributions in 33 bands from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared to investigate the impact of jet feedback on star formation activity. These galaxies are massive, early-type galaxies with normal gas-to-dust ratios, covering a range of optical and infrared colors. We find that the star formation rate (SFR) is suppressed by a factor of ∼3–6, depending on how molecular gas mass is estimated. We suggest that this suppression is due to the shocks driven by the radio jets injecting turbulence into the interstellar medium (ISM), which also powers the luminous warm H{sub 2} line emission. Approximately 25% of the sample shows suppression by more than a factor of 10. However, the degree of SFR suppression does not correlate with indicators of jet feedback including jet power, diffuse X-ray emission, or intensity of warm molecular H{sub 2} emission, suggesting that while injected turbulence likely impacts star formation, the process is not purely parameterized by the amount of mechanical energy dissipated into the ISM. Radio galaxies with shocked warm molecular gas cover a wide range in SFR–stellar mass space, indicating that these galaxies are in a variety of evolutionary states, from actively star-forming and gas-rich to quiescent and gas-poor. SFR suppression appears to have the largest impact on the evolution of galaxies that are moderately gas-rich.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

SOFAST: Sandia Optical Fringe Analysis Slope Tool

SOFAST is used to characterize the surface slope of reflective mirrors for solar applications. SOFAST uses a large monitor or projections screen to display fringe patterns, and a machine vision camera to image the reflection of these patterns in the subject mirror. From these images, a detailed map of surface normals can be generated and compared to design or fitted mirror shapes. SOFAST uses standard Fringe Reflection (Deflectometry) approaches to measure the mirror surface normals. SOFAST uses an extrinsic analysis of key points on the facet to locate the camera and monitor relative to the facet coordinate system. It then refines this position based on the measured surface slope and integrated shape of the mirror facet. The facet is placed into a reference frame such that key points on the facet match the design facet in orientation and position. This is key to evaluating a facet as suitable for a specific solar application. SOFAST reports the measurements of the facet as detailed surface normal location in a format suitable for ray tracing optical analysis codes. SOFAST also reports summary information as to the facet fitted shape (monomial) and error parameters. Useful plots of the error distribution are also presented.

Andraka, Charles E.↗
DOE OSTI2014

FRIB Fragment Pre-separator Radiation Environment Studies - Paper 133

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a project supported by the US DOE Office of Science, is under construction at Michigan State University. The project will use projectile fragmentation and induced in-flight fission of heavy ion beams at energies of 200 MeV/u and higher, and at a beam power of 400 kW, to produce rare isotope beams for nuclear physics experiments. The production of rare isotope beams during FRIB operations creates a high radiation environment in the fragment pre-separator area where the production target is located. Adequate shielding must be placed around the beam line components to ensure personnel protection during and after the operations. Detailed radiation transport studies in the fragment pre-separator area are necessary and have been performed for proper shielding choices. We calculate neutron and photon fluxes and their energy distributions, and evaluate prompt and residual dose equivalent rates in the hot cell and prompt dose equivalent rates in the MSM gallery outside of the cell where people might be present during normal operations. We also calculate dose equivalent rates in the MSM gallery when the activated components are placed in front of the MSM lead glass window on the hot cell side. We show that the resulting dose equivalent rates are conservative even for the most neutron-rich energetic beams. These calculations guide local shielding design and support operations. (authors)

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) Field Campaign Report

Cumulus convection is an important component in the atmospheric radiation budget and hydrologic cycle over the southern Great Plains and over many regions of the world, particularly during the summertime growing season when intense turbulence induced by surface radiation couples the land surface to clouds. Current convective cloud parameterizations contain uncertainties resulting in part from insufficient coincident data that couples cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to inhomogeneities in land surface, boundary layer, and aerosol properties. The Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) campaign was designed to provide a detailed set of measurements that are needed to obtain a more complete understanding of the lifecycle of shallow clouds by coupling cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to land surface properties, ecosystems, and aerosols. Some of the land-atmosphere-cloud interactions that can be studied using HI-SCALE data are shown in Figure 1. HI-SCALE consisted of two 4-week intensive operation periods (IOPs), one in the spring (April 24-May 21) and the other in the late summer (August 28-September 24) of 2016, to take advantage of different stages of the plant lifecycle, the distribution of “greenness” for various types of vegetation in the vicinity of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, and aerosol properties that vary during the growing season. As expected, satellite measurements indicated that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was much “greener” in the vicinity of the SGP site during the spring IOP than the late summer IOP as a result of winter wheat maturing in the spring and being harvested in the early summer. As shown in Figure 2, temperatures were cooler than average and soil moisture was high during the spring IOP, while temperatures were warmer than average and soil moisture was low during the late summer IOP. These factors likely influence the occurrence and lifecycle of shallow clouds. Most of the instrumentation was deployed on the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream 1 (G-1) aircraft, including those that measure atmospheric turbulence, cloud water content and drop size distributions, aerosol precursor gases, aerosol chemical composition and size distributions, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. The specific instrumentation is listed in Table 1. The team of scientists participating in the G-1 flights were from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and the University of Washington. Routine ARM aerosol measurements made at the surface were supplemented with aerosol microphysical properties measurements, with support from the DOE Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) User Facility and the Atmospheric System Radiation (ASR) program. This included deploying a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) to measure aerosol size distribution, a proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) to measure volatile organic compounds, an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) to measure bulk aerosol composition, and the single-particle laser ablation time-of-flight mass spectrometer (SPLAT II) to measure single-particle aerosol composition at the SGP site Guest Instrumentation Facility. In this way, characterization of aerosol properties at the surface and on the G-1 were consistent. In addition, the HI-SCALE: Nanoparticle Composition and Precursors add-on campaign was conducted during the second IOP in which several state-of-the-science chemical ionization mass spectrometers were deployed to measure nanoparticle composition and precursors. Scientists participating in the surface measurements were from PNNL, BNL, University California–Irvine, Augsberg College, Colorado University, Aerodyne Inc., and Aerosol Dynamics Inc.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

MPC-based double-layer real-time conditional cSelf-restoration for interconnected microgrids

In this report, we propose a novel model predictive control(MPC)-based real-time conditional self-restoration energy management system (CSR-EMS) for interconnected microgrids (IMGs) integrated with renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage systems (ESSs). Superior to the existing IMG self-restoration methods, the “conditionality” of the proposed CSR-EMS can economically realize self-restoration and grid-assisted restoration during energy deficiency or faults, in both islanded and grid-connected modes. Cost minimization is implemented as the objective function to judge in real-time which restoration mode is economically preferred. The proposed CSR-EMS comprises two layers–the lower layer operates locally to eliminate electricity fluctuations created by RESs and ensure economic effectiveness within an MG, whereas the upper layer oversees the real-time operational status of the IMG system and determines power exchange among microgrids (MGs) during abnormalities. In detail, when a microgrid inside the IMG system experiences an energy deficiency, the CSR-EMS, on an MPC basis, intelligently optimizes power production from each dispatchable distributed generator (DG), ESS, power imported from the main grid, and power exchange among the IMGs to maintain the demand–supply balance, while considering system recovery cost, state of charge (SoC) of ESSs and operation modes of the IMGs (i.e., grid-connected or islanded mode). Simulation results and comparisons with existing IMG self-healing EMSs demonstrate the economic efficacy of the proposed CSR-EMS strategy during normal and abnormal operations, which can be used as an energy control framework for modern power systems with multiple interconnected microgrids.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Generalized Graph Laplacian Based Anomaly Detection for Spatiotemporal MicroPMU Data

This letter develops a novel anomaly detection method using the generalized graph Laplacian (GGL) matrix to visualize the spatiotemporal relationship of distribution-level phasor measurement unit (uPMU) data. The uPMU data in a specific time horizon is segregated into multiple segments. An optimization problem formulated as a Lagrangian function is utilized to estimate the GGL matrix. During the iterative process, an optimal update is constituted as a quadratic program (QP) problem. To perform the uPMU-based spatiotemporal analysis, normalized diagonal elements of GGL matrix are proposed as a quantitative metric. The effectiveness of the developed method is demonstrated through real-world uPMU measurements gathered from test feeders in Riverside, CA.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Cumulative dose of radiation therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma patients and its deterministic relation to radiation-induced liver disease

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between dose and radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Twenty-three patients with HCC who received conventional fractionated 3DCRT, including 7 who were diagnosed with classic RILD, were enrolled in this retrospective investigation. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans were acquired at the time of treatment for each patient. The beams from each patient's treatment plan were applied to each pretreatment CBCT (the modified CBCT or mCBCT) to construct the delivered dose distribution of the day considering inter-treatment anatomy changes. The daily doses were summed together with the help of deformable image registration (DIR) to obtain the adjusted cumulative dose (D{sub adjusted}). The dose changes to the normal liver between the original planned dose (D{sub plan}) and D{sub adjusted} were evaluated by V20, V30, V40, and the mean dose to normal liver (MDTNL). Univariate analysis was performed to identify the significant dose changes. Among the 23 patients, the liver V20, V30, V40, and MDTNL showed significant differences between D{sub plan} and D{sub adjusted}, with average values of these parameters increased by 4.1%, 4.7%, 4.5%, and 3.9 Gy, respectively (p adjusted . Determination of a reconstructed D{sub adjusted} using the mCBCT scans are more accurate in predicting RILD and has the potential to reduce the risk of RILD.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

WE-H-BRA-01: BEST IN PHYSICS (THERAPY): Nano-Dosimetric Kinetic Model for Variable Relative Biological Effectiveness of Proton and Ion Beams

Purpose: Recent clonogenic cell survival and γH2AX studies suggest proton relative biological effectiveness (RBE) may be a non-linear function of linear energy transfer (LET) in the distal edge of the Bragg peak and beyond. We sought to develop a multiscale model to account for non-linear response phenomena to aid in the optimization of intensity-modulated proton therapy. Methods: The model is based on first-principle simulations of proton track structures, including secondary ions, and an analytical derivation of the dependence on particle LET of the linear-quadratic (LQ) model parameters α and β. The derived formulas are an extension of the microdosimetric kinetic (MK) model that captures dissipative track structures and non-Poissonian distribution of DNA damage at the distal edge of the Bragg peak and beyond. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to confirm the non-linear dose-response characteristics arising from the non-Poisson distribution of initial DNA damage. Results: In contrast to low LET segments of the proton depth dose, from the beam entrance to the Bragg peak, strong deviations from non-dissipative track structures and Poisson distribution in the ionization events in the Bragg peak distal edge govern the non-linear cell response and result in the transformation α=(1+c-1 L) α-x+2(c-0 L+c-2 L^2 )(1+c-1 L) β-x and β=(1+c-1 L)^2 β-x. Here L is the charged particle LET, and c-0,c-1, and c-2 are functions of microscopic parameters and can be served as fitting parameters to the cell-survival data. In the low LET limit c-1, and c-2 are negligible hence the linear model proposed and used by Wilkins-Oelfke for the proton treatment planning system can be retrieved. The present model fits well the recent clonogenic survival data measured recently in our group in MDACC. Conclusion: The present hybrid method provides higher accuracy in calculating the RBE-weighted dose in the target and normal tissues.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamics of Confined Flexible and Unentangled Polymer Melts in Highly Adsorbing Cylindrical Pores

Inspired by the recent neutron spin echo experiments (NSE) designed to address the dynamic phenomena in polymer melts that are induced by interactions with a confining surface, we performedcoarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to replicate the experimental results in order to provide new molecular insight for the observations. The results show excellent agreement in the values obtained for the normalized coherent single chain dynamic structure factor, S(Q;Dt)/S(Q;0) , between experiments and simulations. The simulations indicate that using different chain molecular weights that are used to achieve scattering contrast results in the uneven distribution of scatterers in the radial direction because lower molecular weight chains prefer to adsorb in the confining surface. In the bulk configuration, both simulations and experiments confirm that the polymer chains follow Rouse dynamics. However, under confinement, the Rouse modes are suppressed. The mean-squared radius of gyration, R2g, and the average relative shape anisotropy k2 of the conformation of the polymer chains indicate a pancake-like conformation near the surface and a bulk-like conformation near the center of the confining cylinder. Direct visualization of the polymers in the simulation confirm the pancake-like conformation of the adsorbed chains and the presence of trains, loops and tails in the region between the adsorbed chains and the chains not in contact with the surface. Despite the presence of these different conformations, the average form factor of the confined chains still follows the Debye function which describes linear ideal chains, which is in agreement with small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments. The experimentally inaccessible mean squared displacement of the confined monomers, calculated as a function of radial distance from the pore surface, was obtained in the simulations. The simulation shows a gradual increase of the MSD from the adsorbed, but mobile layer, to that similar to the bulk far away from the surface.

Carrillo, Jan-Michael Y.↗