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At least 1,675 records · Page 93
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Summary of the Optics, IR, Injection, Operations, Reliability and Instrumentation Working Group

The facilities reported on are all in a fairly mature state of operation, as evidenced by the very detailed studies and correction schemes that all groups are working on. First- and higher-order aberrations are diagnosed and planned to be corrected. Very detailed beam measurements are done to get a global picture of the beam dynamics. More than other facilities the high-luminosity colliders are struggling with experimental background issues, mitigation of which is a permanent challenge. The working group dealt with a very wide rage of practical issues which limit performance of the machines and compared their techniques of operations and their performance. We anticipate this to be a first attempt. In a future workshop in this series, we propose to attempt more fundamental comparisons of each machine, including design parameters. For example, DAΦNE and KEKB employ a finite crossing angle. The minimum value of β* y attainable at KEKB seems to relate to this scheme. Effectiveness of compensation solenoids and turn-by-turn BPMs etc. should be examined in more detail. In the near future, CESR-C and VEPP-2000 will start their operation. We expect to hear important new experiences from these machines; in particular VEPP-2000 will be the first machine to have adopted round beams. At SLAC and KEK, next generation B Factories are being considered. It will be worthwhile to discuss the design issues of these machines based on the experiences of the existing factory machines.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

The Contribution of Tissue Level Organization to Genomic Stability Following Low Dose/Low Dose Rate Gamma and Proton Irradiation

The formation of functional tissue units is necessary in maintaining homeostasis within living systems, with individual cells contributing to these functional units through their three-dimensional organization with integrin and adhesion proteins to form a complex extra-cellular matrix (ECM). This is of particular importance in those tissues susceptible to radiation-induced tumor formation, such as epithelial glands. The assembly of epithelial cells of the thyroid is critical to their normal receipt of, and response to, incoming signals. Traditional tissue culture and live animals present significant challenges to radiation exposure and continuous sampling, however, the production of bioreactor-engineered tissues aims to bridge this gap by improve capabilities in continuous sampling from the same functional tissue, thereby increasing the ability to extrapolate changes induced by radiation to animals and humans in vivo. Our study proposes that the level of tissue organization will affect the induction and persistence of low dose radiation-induced genomic instability. Rat thyroid cells, grown in vitro as 3D tissue analogs in bioreactors and as 2D flask grown cultures were exposed to acute low dose (1, 5, 10 and 200 cGy) gamma rays. To assess immediate (6 hours) and delayed (up to 30 days) responses post-irradiation, various biological endpoints were studied including cytogenetic analyses, apoptosis analysis and cell viability/cytotoxicity analyses. Data assessing caspase 3/7 activity levels show that, this activity varies with time post radiation and that, overall, 3D cultures display more genomic instability (as shown by the lower levels of apoptosis over time) when compared to the 2D cultures. Variation in cell viability levels were only observed at the intermediate and late time points post radiation. Extensive analysis of chromosomal aberrations will give further insight on the whether the level of tissue organization influences genomic instability patterns after low dose radiation exposure. Cells viability/cytotoxicity analysis data are currently being analyzed to determine how these endpoints are affected under our experimental conditions. The results from this study will be translatable to risk assessment for assigning limits to radiation workers, pre-dosing for more effective radiotherapy and the consequences of long duration space flight. The data from this study has been presented a various scientific meetings/workshops and a manuscript, containing the findings, is currently being prepared for publication. Due to unforeseen challenges in collecting the data and standardizing experimental procedures, the second and third aims have not been completed. However, attempts will be made, based on the availability of funds, to continue this project so that these aims can be satisfied.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Optical Design of a Broadband Infrared Spectrometer for Bunch Length Measurement at the Linac Coherent Light Source

The electron pulses generated by the Linac Coherent Light Source at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory occur on the order of tens of femtoseconds and cannot be directly measured by conventional means. The length of the pulses can instead be reconstructed by measuring the spectrum of optical transition radiation emitted by the electrons as they move toward a conducting foil. Because the emitted radiation occurs in the mid-infrared from 0.6 to 30 microns a novel optical layout is required. Using a helium-neon laser with wavelength 633 nm, a series of gold-coated off-axis parabolic mirrors were positioned to direct a beam through a zinc selenide prism and to a focus at a CCD camera for imaging. Constructing this layout revealed a number of novel techniques for reducing the aberrations introduced into the system by the off—axis parabolic mirrors. The beam had a recorded radius of less than a millimeter at its final focus on the CCD imager. This preliminary setup serves as a model for the spectrometer that will ultimately measure the LCLS electron pulse duration.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Phase diversity for advanced systems

Phase diversity (PD) is an image processing technique that operates on a collection of defocused images of a scene. The ensemble of defocused images and known defocus values are used to reconstruct the un-aberrated scene and the wavefront of the imaging system. PD has successfully been applied to imaging systems with limited fields of view (FOV) over narrow spectral bands.

Shields, Eric A.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Criticality Safety Validation of SCALE 6.1 (Revised)

The computational bias of criticality safety computer codes must be established through the validation of the codes to critical experiments. A large collection of suitable experiments has been vetted by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiment Program (ICSBEP) and made available in the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (IHECSBE). A total of more than 350 cases from this reference have been prepared and reviewed within the Verified, Archived Library of Inputs and Data (VALID) maintained by the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The performance of the KENO V.a and KENO-VI Monte Carlo codes within the SCALE 6.1 code system with ENDF/B-VII.0 cross-section data in 238-group and continuous energy is assessed using the VALID models of benchmark experiments. The TSUNAMI tools for sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are utilized to examine some systems further in an attempt to identify potential causes of unexpected results. The critical experiments available for validation of the KENO V.a code cover eight different broad categories of systems. These systems use a range of fissile materials including a range of uranium enrichments, various plutonium isotopic vectors, and mixed uranium/plutonium oxides. The physical form of the fissile material also varies and is represented as metal, solutions, or arrays of rods or plates in a water moderator. The neutron energy spectra of the systems also vary and cover both fast and thermal spectra. Over 300 of the total cases used utilize the KENO V.a code. The critical experiments available for the validation of the KENO-VI code cover three broad categories of systems. The fissile materials in the systems vary and include high- and intermediate-enrichment uranium and mixed uranium/plutonium oxides. The physical form of the fissile material is either metal or rod arrays in water. As with KENO V.a, both fast and thermal neutron energy spectra are represented in the systems considered. The results indicate generally good performance of both the KENO V.a and KENO-VI codes across the range of systems analyzed. The bias of calculated k eff from expected values is less than 0.9% Δk in all cases. All eight categories of experiments show biases of less than 0.5% Δk in KENO V.a with the exception of intermediate enrichment metal systems using the 238-group library. The continuous energy library generally manifests lower biases than the multigroup data. The KENO-VI results show slightly larger biases, though this may primarily be the result of modeling systems with more geometric complexity, which are more difficult to describe accurately, even with a generalized geometry code like KENO-VI. Several additional conclusions can be drawn from the results of this validation effort. These conclusions include that the TSUNAMI tools can be used successfully to explain the cause of aberrant results, that some evaluations in the IHECSBE should be updated to provide more rigorous expected k eff values and uncertainties, and that potential cross-section errors can be identified by detailed review of the results of this validation. It also appears that the overall cross-section uncertainty as quantified through the SCALE covariance library is overestimated. Overall, the KENO V.a and KENO-VI codes are shown to provide consistent, low-bias results for a wide range of physical systems of potential interest in criticality safety applications.

Marshall, William (BJ) J.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Heritable Genetic Changes in Cells Recovered from Irradiated 3D Tissue Contracts (Final report)

Combining contemporary cytogenetic methods with DNA CGH microarray technology and chromosome flow-sorting increases substantially the ability to resolve exchange breakpoints associated with interstitial deletions and translocations, allowing the consequences of radiation damage to be directly measured at low doses, while also providing valuable insights into molecular mechanisms of misrepair processes that, in turn, identify appropriate biophysical models of risk at low doses. The aims of this work apply to cells recovered from 3D tissue constructs of human skin and, for the purpose of comparison, the same cells irradiated in traditional 2D cultures. These aims are: to analyze by multi-flour fluorescence in situ hybridization (mFISH) the chromosomes in clonal descendents of individual human fibroblasts that were previously irradiated; to examine irradiated clones from Aim 1 for submicroscopic deletions by subjecting their DNA to comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) microarray analysis; and to flow-sort aberrant chromosomes from clones containing stable radiation-induced translocations and map the breakpoints to within an average resolution of 100 kb using the technique of 'array painting'.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2013

Identification and Characterization of Soluble Factors Involved in Delayed Effects of Low Dose Radiation (Final Report)

This is a 'glue grant' that was part of a DOE Low Dose project entitled 'Identification and Characterization of Soluble Factors Involved in Delayed Effects of Low Dose Radiation'. This collaborative program has involved Drs. David L. Springer from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), John H. Miller from Washington State University, Tri-cities (WSU) and William F. Morgan then from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). In July 2008, Dr. Morgan moved to PNNL and Dr. Janet E. Baulch became PI for this project at University of Maryland. In November of 2008, a one year extension with no new funds was requested to complete the proteomic analyses. The project stemmed from studies in the Morgan laboratory demonstrating that genomically unstable cells secret a soluble factor or factors into the culture medium, that cause cytogenetic aberrations and apoptosis in normal parental GM10115 cells. The purpose of this project was to identify the death inducing effect (DIE) factor or factors, estimate their relative abundance, identify the cell signaling pathways involved and finally recapitulate DIE in normal cells by exogenous manipulation of putative DIE factors in culture medium. As reported in detail in the previous progress report, analysis of culture medium from the parental cell line, and stable and unstable clones demonstrated inconsistent proteomic profiles as relate to candidate DIE factors. While the proposed proteomic analyses did not provide information that would allow DIE factors to be identified, the analyses provided another important set of observations. Proteomic analysis suggested that proteins associated with the cellular response to oxidative stress and mitochondrial function were elevated in the medium from unstable clones in a manner consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction. These findings correlate with previous studies of these clones that demonstrated functional differences between the mitochondria of stable and unstable clones. These mitochondrial abnormalities in the unstable clones contributes to oxidative stress.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2013

Effects of Low-Dose Alpha-Particle Irradiation in Human Cells: The Role of Induced Genes and the Bystander Effect [Final Technical Report] (9/15/1998-5/31/2005)

This grant was designed to examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms for the bystander effect of radiation (initially described in this laboratory) whereby damage signals are passed from irradiated to non-irradiated cells in a population. These signals induce genetic effects including DNA damage, mutations and chromosomal aberrations in the nonirradiated cells. Experiments were carried out in cultured mammalian cells, primarily human diploid cells, irradiated with alpha particles. This research resulted in 17 publications in the refereed literature and is described in the Progress Report where it is keyed to the publication list. This project was initiated at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and continued in collaboration with students/fellows at Colorado State University (CSU) and the New Jersey Medical School (NJMS).

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2013

Nanocrystals Research for Energy Efficient and Clean Energy Technologies

Efforts centered on: nanocrystal photovoltaic fabrication, ultrafast dynamics and aberration-corrected STEM characterization of II-VI core, core/shell and alloyed nanocrystals, and fundamental investigation and applications of ultrasmall white light-emitting CdSe nanocrystal.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Genetic Factors Affecting Susceptibility to Low Dose & Low Dose-Rate Radiation

Our laboratory has, among other things, developed and used the gamma H2AX focus assay and other chromosomal and cell killing assays to show that differences in this DNA double strand break (dsb) related response can be clearly and distinctly demonstrated for cells which are mildly hyper-radiosensitive such as those associated with A-T heterozygosity. We have found this level of mild hypersensitivity for cells from some 20 to 30 % of apparently normal individuals and from apparently normal parents of Retinoblastoma patients. We found significant differences in gene expression in somatic cells from unaffected parents of Rb patients as compared with normal controls, suggesting that these parents may harbor some as yet unidentified genetic abnormality. In other experiments we sought to determine the extent of differences in normal human cellular reaponses to radiation depending on their irradiation in 2D monolayer vs 3D organized acinar growth conditions. We exmined cell reproductive death, chromosomal aberration induction, and the levels of γ-H2AX foci in cells after single acute gamma-ray doses and immediately after 20 hours of irradiation at a dose rate of 0.0017 Gy/min. We found no significant differences in the dose-responses of these cells under the 2D or 3D growth conditions. While this does not mean such differences cannot occur in other situations, it does mean that they do not generally or necessarily occur. In another series of studies in collaboration with Dr Chuan Li, with supprt from this current grant. We reported a role for apoptotic cell death in promoting wound healing and tissue regeneration in mice. Apoptotic cells released growth signals that stimulated the proliferation of progenitor or stem cells. In yet another collaboration with Dr, B. Chen with funds from this grant, the relative radiosensitivity to cell killing as well as chromosomal instability of 13 DNA-PKcs site-directed mutant cell lines (defective at phosphorylation sites or kinase activity) were examined after exposure of synchronized G1 cells to 137Cs c rays. DNA-PKcs mutant cells defective in phosphorylation at multiple sites withinthe T2609 cluster or within the PI3K domain displayed extreme radiosensitivity. Cells defective at the S2056 cluster or T2609 single site alone were only mildly radiosensitive, but cells defective at even one site in both the S2056 and T2609 clusters were maximally radiosensitive. Thus a synergism between the capacity for phosphorylation at the S2056 and T2609 clusterswas found to be critical for induction of radiosensitivity.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2014

Systems Biology Model of Interactions Between Tissue Growth Factors and DNA Damage Pathways: Low Dose Response and Cross-Talk in TGFbeta and ATM Signaling

The etiology of radiation carcinogenesis has been described in terms of aberrant changes that span several levels of biological organization. Growth factors regulate many important cellular and tissue functions including apoptosis, differentiation and proliferation. A variety of genetic and epigenetic changes of growth factors have been shown to contribute to cancer initiation and progression. It is known that cellular and tissue damage to ionizing radiation is in part initiated by the production of reactive oxygen species, which can activate cytokine signaling, and the DNA damage response pathways, most notably the ATM signaling pathway. Recently the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) pathway has been shown to regulate or directly interact with the ATM pathway in the response to radiation. The relevance of this interaction with the ATM pathway is not known although p53 becomes phosphorylated and DNA damage responses are involved. However, growth factor interactions with DNA damage responses have not been elucidated particularly at low doses and further characterization of their relationship to cancer processes is warranted. Our goal will be to use a systems biology approach to mathematically and experimentally describe the low dose responses and cross-talk between the ATM and TGFβ pathways initiated by low and high LET radiation. We will characterize ATM and TGFβ signaling in epithelial and fibroblast cells using 2D models and ultimately extending to 3D organotypic cell culture models to begin to elucidate possible differences that may occur for different cell types and/or inter-cellular communication. We will investigate the roles of the Smad and Activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) proteins as the potential major contributors to cross- talk between the TGFβ and ATM pathways, and links to cell cycle control and/or the DNA damage response, and potential differences in their responses at low and high doses. We have developed various experimental approaches to apply to these problems using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry to detail changes at low dose/dose-rate in order to understand individual cell responses, and will establish our mathematical models based on the experimental findings resulting from changes in DNA repair, apoptosis and proliferation.

O'Neill, Peter↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quantitative Electron Nanodiffraction.

This Final report summarizes progress under this award for the final reporting period 2002 - 2013 in our development of quantitive electron nanodiffraction to materials problems, especially devoted to atomistic processes in semiconductors and electronic oxides such as the new artificial oxide multilayers, where our microdiffraction is complemented with energy-loss spectroscopy (ELNES) and aberration-corrected STEM imaging (9). The method has also been used to map out the chemical bonds in the important GaN semiconductor (1) used for solid state lighting, and to understand the effects of stacking sequence variations and interfaces in digital oxide superlattices (8). Other projects include the development of a laser-beam Zernike phase plate for cryo-electron microscopy (5) (based on the Kapitza-Dirac effect), work on reconstruction of molecular images using the scattering from many identical molecules lying in random orientations (4), a review article on space-group determination for the International Tables on Crystallography (10), the observation of energy-loss spectra with millivolt energy resolution and sub-nanometer spatial resolution from individual point defects in an alkali halide, a review article for the Centenary of X-ray Diffration (17) and the development of a new method of electron-beam lithography (12). We briefly summarize here the work on GaN, on oxide superlattice ELNES, and on lithography by STEM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structure and Dynamics of Domains in Ferroelectric Nanostructures. In-situ TEM Studies

The goal of this project was to explore the structure and dynamic behaviors of ferroelectric domains in ferroelectric thin films and nanostructures by advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques in close collaboration with phase field modeling. The experimental techniques used include aberration-corrected sub-Å resolution TEM and in-situ TEM using a novel scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) - TEM holder that allows the direct observation of nucleation and dynamic evolution of ferroelectric domains under applied electric field. Specifically, this project was aimed to (1) to study the roles of static electrical boundary conditions and electrical charge in controlling the equilibrium domain structures of BiFeO 3 thin films with controlled substrate constraints, (2) to explore the fundamental mechanisms of ferroelectric domain nucleation, growth, and switching under an applied electric field in both uniform thin films and nanostructures, and to understand the roles of crystal defects such as dislocations and interfaces in these processes, (3) to understand the physics of ferroelectric domain walls and the influence of defects on the electrical switching of ferroelectric domains.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Epicyclic helical channels for parametric resonance ionization cooling

Proposed next-generation muon colliders will require major technical advances to achieve rapid muon beam cooling requirements. Parametric-resonance Ionization Cooling (PIC) is proposed as the final 6D cooling stage of a high-luminosity muon collider. In PIC, a half-integer parametric resonance causes strong focusing of a muon beam at appropriately placed energy absorbers while ionization cooling limits the beam’s angular spread. Combining muon ionization cooling with parametric resonant dynamics in this way should then allow much smaller final transverse muon beam sizes than conventional ionization cooling alone. One of the PIC challenges is compensation of beam aberrations over a sufficiently wide parameter range while maintaining the dynamical stability with correlated behavior of the horizontal and vertical betatron motion and dispersion. We explore use of a coupling resonance to reduce the dimensionality of the problem and to shift the dynamics away from non-linear resonances. PIC simulations are presented.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Wide Area Persistent Surveillance Technologies

Sandia National Laboratories and L2 Communications Corporation Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) - SSG (L3 IOS SSG) collaborated on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), which allowed the two organizations to address the U.S. Government's need to extend the maturity of current Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors. Specific and complementary technologies that were demonstrated under this CRADA include: Adaptive Optical Zoom, using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Mirrors (CFRP)(SNL), and Wavefront Encoded Correction of Aberrations from the same (L3 IOS SSG).

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2016

Role of Defects in Swelling and Creep of Irradiated SiC

Silicon carbide is a promising cladding material because of its high strength and relatively good corrosion resistance. However, SiC is brittle and therefore SiC-based components need to be carefully designed to avoid cracking and failure by fracture. In design of SiC-based composites for nuclear reactor applications it is essential to take into account how mechanical properties are affected by radiation and temperature, or in other words, what strains and stresses develop in this material due to environmental conditions. While thermal strains in SiC can be predicted using classical theories, radiation-induced strains are much less understood. In particular, it is critical to correctly account for radiation swelling and radiation creep, which contribute significantly to dimensional instability of SiC under radiation. Swelling typically increases logarithmically with radiation dose and saturates at relatively low doses (damage levels of a few dpa). Consequently, swelling-induced stresses are likely to develop within a few months of operation of a reactor. Radiation-induced volume swelling in SiC can be as high as 2%, which is significantly higher than the cracking strain of 0.1% in SiC. Swelling-induced strains will lead to enormous stresses and fracture, unless these stresses can be relaxed via some other mechanism. An effective way to achieve stress relaxation is via radiation creep. Although it has been hypothesized that both radiation swelling and radiation creep are driven by formation of defect clusters, existing models for swelling and creep in SiC are limited by the lack of understanding of specific defects that form due to radiation in the range of temperatures relevant to fuel cladding in light water reactors (LWRs) (<1000°C). For example, defects that can be detected with traditional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques account only for 10-45% of the swelling measured in irradiated SiC. Here, we have undertaken an integrated experimental and modeling effort to discover the previously invisible defects in irradiated SiC and to determine the contributions of these defects to radiation swelling. Knowledge of the most stable defect structures and the rate controlling processes during defect evolution is essential for development of predictive models for swelling and creep as a function of temperature and radiation dose. This research has been enabled by state-of-the-art imaging techniques, such as the aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) (FEI TITAN) closely coupled with multi-scale models of stable defect clusters and their evolution.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Systems Biology Model of Interactions between Tissue Growth Factors and DNA Damage Pathways: Low Dose Response and Cross-Talk in TGFβ and ATM Signaling

The etiology of radiation carcinogenesis has been described in terms of aberrant changes that span several levels of biological organization. Growth factors regulate many important cellular and tissue functions including apoptosis, differentiation and proliferation. A variety of genetic and epigenetic changes of growth factors have been shown to contribute to cancer initiation and progression. It is known that cellular and tissue damage to ionizing radiation is in part initiated by the production of reactive oxygen species, which can activate cytokine signaling, and the DNA damage response pathways, most notably the ATM signaling pathway. Recently, the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) pathway has been shown to regulate or directly interact with the ATM pathway in the response to radiation. The relevance of this interaction with the ATM pathway is not known although p53 becomes phosphorylated and DNA damage responses are involved. However, growth factor interactions with DNA damage responses have not been elucidated particularly at low doses, and further characterization of their relationship to cancer processes is warranted. Our goal will be to use a systems biology approach to mathematically and experimentally describe the low-dose responses and cross-talk between the ATM and TGFβ pathways initiated by low- and high-LET radiation. We will characterize ATM and TGFβ signaling in epithelial and fibroblast cells using 2D models and ultimately extending to 3D organotypic cell culture models to begin to elucidate possible differences that may occur for different cell types and/or inter-cellular communication. We will investigate the roles of the Smad and Activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) proteins as the potential major contributors to crosstalk between the TGFβ and ATM pathways, and links to cell cycle control and/or the DNA damage response, and potential differences in their responses at low and high doses. We have developed various experimental approaches to apply to these problems using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry to detail changes at low dose/dose-rate in order to understand individual cell responses, and will establish our mathematical models based on the experimental findings resulting from changes in DNA repair, apoptosis and proliferation.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2017

SAChES: Scalable Adaptive Chain-Ensemble Sampling.

We present the development of a parallel Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method called SAChES, Scalable Adaptive Chain-Ensemble Sampling. This capability is targed to Bayesian calibration of com- putationally expensive simulation models. SAChES involves a hybrid of two methods: Differential Evo- lution Monte Carlo followed by Adaptive Metropolis. Both methods involve parallel chains. Differential evolution allows one to explore high-dimensional parameter spaces using loosely coupled (i.e., largely asynchronous) chains. Loose coupling allows the use of large chain ensembles, with far more chains than the number of parameters to explore. This reduces per-chain sampling burden, enables high-dimensional inversions and the use of computationally expensive forward models. The large number of chains can also ameliorate the impact of silent-errors, which may affect only a few chains. The chain ensemble can also be sampled to provide an initial condition when an aberrant chain is re-spawned. Adaptive Metropolis takes the best points from the differential evolution and efficiently hones in on the poste- rior density. The multitude of chains in SAChES is leveraged to (1) enable efficient exploration of the parameter space; and (2) ensure robustness to silent errors which may be unavoidable in extreme-scale computational platforms of the future. This report outlines SAChES, describes four papers that are the result of the project, and discusses some additional results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗