An Overview of the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briggs, J. Blair; Gulliford, Jim

2014-01-01

Interest in high-quality integral benchmark data is increasing as efforts to quantify and reduce calculational uncertainties associated with advanced modeling and simulation accelerate to meet the demands of next generation reactor and advanced fuel cycle concepts. Two Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) activities, the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP), initiated in 1992, and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP), initiated in 2003, have been identifying existing integral experiment data, evaluating those data, and providing integral benchmark specifications for methods and data validation for nearly two decades. Data provided by those two projects will be of use to the international reactor physics, criticality safety, and nuclear data communities for future decades. An overview of the IRPhEP and a brief update of the ICSBEP are provided in this paper.

Project ATTACK and Project VISTA: Benchmark studies on the road to NATO's early TNF policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrity, P.J.

1994-01-01

This paper is concerned with those studies and analyses that affected early NATO nuclear policy and force structure. The discussion focuses specifically on two open-quotes benchmarkclose quotes activities. Project VISTA and Project ATTACK. These two studies were chosen less because one can document their direct impact on NATO nuclear policy and more because they capture the state of thinking about tactical nuclear weapons at a particular point of time. Project VISTA offers an especially important benchmark in this respect. Project ATTACK is a rather different kind of benchmark. It is not a pathbreaking study. It is much narrower and more technical than VISTA. It appears to have received no public attention. Project ATTACK is interesting because it seems to capture a open-quotes nuts-and-boltsclose quotes feel for how U.S. (and thereby NATO) theater nuclear policy was evolving prior to MC 48. The background and context for Project VISTA and Project ATTACK are presented and discussed

Introduction to 'International Handbook of Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komuro, Yuichi

1998-01-01

The Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (CSBEP) was initiated in 1992 by the United States Department of Energy. The project quickly became an international effort as scientists from other interested countries became involved. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) is now an official activity of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA). 'International Handbook of Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments' was prepared and is updated year by year by the working group of the project. This handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various nuclear critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality safety engineers to validate calculation techniques used. The author briefly introduces the informative handbook and would like to encourage Japanese engineers who are in charge of nuclear criticality safety to use the handbook. (author)

Benchmark Evaluation of HTR-PROTEUS Pebble Bed Experimental Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bess, John D.; Montierth, Leland; Köberl, Oliver

2014-01-01

Benchmark models were developed to evaluate 11 critical core configurations of the HTR-PROTEUS pebble bed experimental program. Various additional reactor physics measurements were performed as part of this program; currently only a total of 37 absorber rod worth measurements have been evaluated as acceptable benchmark experiments for Cores 4, 9, and 10. Dominant uncertainties in the experimental keff for all core configurations come from uncertainties in the 235 U enrichment of the fuel, impurities in the moderator pebbles, and the density and impurity content of the radial reflector. Calculations of k eff with MCNP5 and ENDF/B-VII.0 neutron nuclear data are greater than the benchmark values but within 1% and also within the 3σ uncertainty, except for Core 4, which is the only randomly packed pebble configuration. Repeated calculations of k eff with MCNP6.1 and ENDF/B-VII.1 are lower than the benchmark values and within 1% (~3σ) except for Cores 5 and 9, which calculate lower than the benchmark eigenvalues within 4σ. The primary difference between the two nuclear data libraries is the adjustment of the absorption cross section of graphite. Simulations of the absorber rod worth measurements are within 3σ of the benchmark experiment values. The complete benchmark evaluation details are available in the 2014 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments

GROWTH OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICALITY SAFETY AND REACTOR PHYSICS EXPERIMENT EVALUATION PROJECTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. Blair Briggs; John D. Bess; Jim Gulliford

2011-09-01

Since the International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC) 2007, the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) have continued to expand their efforts and broaden their scope. Eighteen countries participated on the ICSBEP in 2007. Now, there are 20, with recent contributions from Sweden and Argentina. The IRPhEP has also expanded from eight contributing countries in 2007 to 16 in 2011. Since ICNC 2007, the contents of the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments1' have increased from 442 evaluations (38000 pages), containing benchmark specifications for 3955 critical or subcritical configurations to 516 evaluations (nearly 55000 pages), containing benchmark specifications for 4405 critical or subcritical configurations in the 2010 Edition of the ICSBEP Handbook. The contents of the Handbook have also increased from 21 to 24 criticality-alarm-placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and from 20 to 200 configurations categorized as fundamental physics measurements relevant to criticality safety applications. Approximately 25 new evaluations and 150 additional configurations are expected to be added to the 2011 edition of the Handbook. Since ICNC 2007, the contents of the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments2' have increased from 16 different experimental series that were performed at 12 different reactor facilities to 53 experimental series that were performed at 30 different reactor facilities in the 2011 edition of the Handbook. Considerable effort has also been made to improve the functionality of the searchable database, DICE (Database for the International Criticality Benchmark Evaluation Project) and verify the accuracy of the data contained therein. DICE will be discussed in separate papers at ICNC 2011. The status of the

IAEA coordinated research project on 'analytical and experimental benchmark analyses of accelerator driven systems'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ait-Abderrahim, H.; Stanculescu, A.

2006-01-01

This paper provides the general background and the main specifications of the benchmark exercises performed within the framework of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Analytical and Experimental Benchmark Analyses of Accelerator Driven Systems. The overall objective of the CRP, performed within the framework of the Technical Working Group on Fast Reactors (TWG-FR) of IAEA's Nuclear Energy Dept., is to contribute to the generic R and D efforts in various fields common to innovative fast neutron system development, i.e. heavy liquid metal thermal hydraulics, dedicated transmutation fuels and associated core designs, theoretical nuclear reaction models, measurement and evaluation of nuclear data for transmutation, and development and validation of calculational methods and codes. (authors)

OECD/NEA Sandia Fuel Project phase I: Benchmark of the ignition testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adorni, Martina, E-mail: martina_adorni@hotmail.it [UNIPI (Italy); Herranz, Luis E. [CIEMAT (Spain); Hollands, Thorsten [GRS (Germany); Ahn, Kwang-II [KAERI (Korea, Republic of); Bals, Christine [GRS (Germany); D' Auria, Francesco [UNIPI (Italy); Horvath, Gabor L. [NUBIKI (Hungary); Jaeckel, Bernd S. [PSI (Switzerland); Kim, Han-Chul; Lee, Jung-Jae [KINS (Korea, Republic of); Ogino, Masao [JNES (Japan); Techy, Zsolt [NUBIKI (Hungary); Velazquez-Lozad, Alexander; Zigh, Abdelghani [USNRC (United States); Rehacek, Radomir [OECD/NEA (France)

2016-10-15

Highlights: • A unique PWR spent fuel pool experimental project is analytically investigated. • Predictability of fuel clad ignition in case of a complete loss of coolant in SFPs is assessed. • Computer codes reasonably estimate peak cladding temperature and time of ignition. - Abstract: The OECD/NEA Sandia Fuel Project provided unique thermal-hydraulic experimental data associated with Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) complete drain down. The study conducted at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was successfully completed (July 2009 to February 2013). The accident conditions of interest for the SFP were simulated in a full scale prototypic fashion (electrically heated, prototypic assemblies in a prototypic SFP rack) so that the experimental results closely represent actual fuel assembly responses. A major impetus for this work was to facilitate severe accident code validation and to reduce modeling uncertainties within the codes. Phase I focused on axial heating and burn propagation in a single PWR 17 × 17 assembly (i.e. “hot neighbors” configuration). Phase II addressed axial and radial heating and zirconium fire propagation including effects of fuel rod ballooning in a 1 × 4 assembly configuration (i.e. single, hot center assembly and four, “cooler neighbors”). This paper summarizes the comparative analysis regarding the final destructive ignition test of the phase I of the project. The objective of the benchmark is to evaluate and compare the predictive capabilities of computer codes concerning the ignition testing of PWR fuel assemblies. Nine institutions from eight different countries were involved in the benchmark calculations. The time to ignition and the maximum temperature are adequately captured by the calculations. It is believed that the benchmark constitutes an enlargement of the validation range for the codes to the conditions tested, thus enhancing the code applicability to other fuel assembly designs and configurations. The comparison of

International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

The International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project aims to provide the nuclear community with qualified benchmark data sets by collecting reactor physics experimental data from nuclear facilities, worldwide. More specifically the objectives of the expert group are as follows: - maintaining an inventory of the experiments that have been carried out and documented; - archiving the primary documents and data released in computer-readable form; - promoting the use of the format and methods developed and seek to have them adopted as a standard. For those experiments where interest and priority is expressed by member countries or working parties and executive groups within the NEA provide guidance or co-ordination in: - compiling experiments into a standard international agreed format; - verifying the data, to the extent possible, by reviewing original and subsequently revised documentation, and by consulting with the experimenters or individuals who are familiar with the experimenters or the experimental facility; - analysing and interpreting the experiments with current state-of-the-art methods; - publishing electronically the benchmark evaluations. The expert group will: - identify gaps in data and provide guidance on priorities for future experiments; - involve the young generation (Masters and PhD students and young researchers) to find an effective way of transferring know-how in experimental techniques and analysis methods; - provide a tool for improved exploitation of completed experiments for Generation IV reactors; - coordinate closely its work with other NSC experimental work groups in particular the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP), the Shielding Integral Benchmark Experiment Data Base (SINBAD) and others, e.g. knowledge preservation in fast reactors of the IAEA, the ANS Joint Benchmark Activities; - keep a close link with the working parties on scientific issues of reactor systems (WPRS), the expert

Quality in E-Learning--A Conceptual Framework Based on Experiences from Three International Benchmarking Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Ossiannilsson, E.; Landgren, L.

2012-01-01

Between 2008 and 2010, Lund University took part in three international benchmarking projects, "E-xcellence+," the "eLearning Benchmarking Exercise 2009," and the "First Dual-Mode Distance Learning Benchmarking Club." A comparison of these models revealed a rather high level of correspondence. From this finding and…

Using Web-Based Peer Benchmarking to Manage the Client-Based Project

Science.gov (United States)

Raska, David; Keller, Eileen Weisenbach; Shaw, Doris

2013-01-01

The complexities of integrating client-based projects into marketing courses provide challenges for the instructor but produce richness of context and active learning for the student. This paper explains the integration of Web-based peer benchmarking as a means of improving student performance on client-based projects within a single semester in…

OWL2 benchmarking for the evaluation of knowledge based systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sher Afgun Khan

Full Text Available OWL2 semantics are becoming increasingly popular for the real domain applications like Gene engineering and health MIS. The present work identifies the research gap that negligible attention has been paid to the performance evaluation of Knowledge Base Systems (KBS using OWL2 semantics. To fulfil this identified research gap, an OWL2 benchmark for the evaluation of KBS is proposed. The proposed benchmark addresses the foundational blocks of an ontology benchmark i.e. data schema, workload and performance metrics. The proposed benchmark is tested on memory based, file based, relational database and graph based KBS for performance and scalability measures. The results show that the proposed benchmark is able to evaluate the behaviour of different state of the art KBS on OWL2 semantics. On the basis of the results, the end users (i.e. domain expert would be able to select a suitable KBS appropriate for his domain.

Evaluation of the HTR-10 Reactor as a Benchmark for Physics Code QA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

William K. Terry; Soon Sam Kim; Leland M. Montierth; Joshua J. Cogliati; Abderrafi M. Ougouag

2006-01-01

The HTR-10 is a small (10 MWt) pebble-bed research reactor intended to develop pebble-bed reactor (PBR) technology in China. It will be used to test and develop fuel, verify PBR safety features, demonstrate combined electricity production and co-generation of heat, and provide experience in PBR design, operation, and construction. As the only currently operating PBR in the world, the HTR-10 can provide data of great interest to everyone involved in PBR technology. In particular, if it yields data of sufficient quality, it can be used as a benchmark for assessing the accuracy of computer codes proposed for use in PBR analysis. This paper summarizes the evaluation for the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) of data obtained in measurements of the HTR-10's initial criticality experiment for use as benchmarks for reactor physics codes

Benchmarking in Mobarakeh Steel Company

OpenAIRE

Sasan Ghasemi; Mohammad Nazemi; Mehran Nejati

2008-01-01

Benchmarking is considered as one of the most effective ways of improving performance in companies. Although benchmarking in business organizations is a relatively new concept and practice, it has rapidly gained acceptance worldwide. This paper introduces the benchmarking project conducted in Esfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company, as the first systematic benchmarking project conducted in Iran. It aims to share the process deployed for the benchmarking project in this company and illustrate how th...

Monitoring Based Commissioning: Benchmarking Analysis of 24 UC/CSU/IOU Projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mills, Evan; Mathew, Paul

2009-04-01

Buildings rarely perform as intended, resulting in energy use that is higher than anticipated. Building commissioning has emerged as a strategy for remedying this problem in non-residential buildings. Complementing traditional hardware-based energy savings strategies, commissioning is a 'soft' process of verifying performance and design intent and correcting deficiencies. Through an evaluation of a series of field projects, this report explores the efficacy of an emerging refinement of this practice, known as monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx). MBCx can also be thought of as monitoring-enhanced building operation that incorporates three components: (1) Permanent energy information systems (EIS) and diagnostic tools at the whole-building and sub-system level; (2) Retro-commissioning based on the information from these tools and savings accounting emphasizing measurement as opposed to estimation or assumptions; and (3) On-going commissioning to ensure efficient building operations and measurement-based savings accounting. MBCx is thus a measurement-based paradigm which affords improved risk-management by identifying problems and opportunities that are missed with periodic commissioning. The analysis presented in this report is based on in-depth benchmarking of a portfolio of MBCx energy savings for 24 buildings located throughout the University of California and California State University systems. In the course of the analysis, we developed a quality-control/quality-assurance process for gathering and evaluating raw data from project sites and then selected a number of metrics to use for project benchmarking and evaluation, including appropriate normalizations for weather and climate, accounting for variations in central plant performance, and consideration of differences in building types. We performed a cost-benefit analysis of the resulting dataset, and provided comparisons to projects from a larger commissioning 'Meta-analysis' database. A

The ACCENT-protocol: a framework for benchmarking and model evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Grewe

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We summarise results from a workshop on "Model Benchmarking and Quality Assurance" of the EU-Network of Excellence ACCENT, including results from other activities (e.g. COST Action 732 and publications. A formalised evaluation protocol is presented, i.e. a generic formalism describing the procedure of how to perform a model evaluation. This includes eight steps and examples from global model applications which are given for illustration. The first and important step is concerning the purpose of the model application, i.e. the addressed underlying scientific or political question. We give examples to demonstrate that there is no model evaluation per se, i.e. without a focused purpose. Model evaluation is testing, whether a model is fit for its purpose. The following steps are deduced from the purpose and include model requirements, input data, key processes and quantities, benchmark data, quality indicators, sensitivities, as well as benchmarking and grading. We define "benchmarking" as the process of comparing the model output against either observational data or high fidelity model data, i.e. benchmark data. Special focus is given to the uncertainties, e.g. in observational data, which have the potential to lead to wrong conclusions in the model evaluation if not considered carefully.

The ACCENT-protocol: a framework for benchmarking and model evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Grewe, V.; Moussiopoulos, N.; Builtjes, P.; Borrego, C.; Isaksen, I. S. A.; Volz-Thomas, A.

2012-05-01

We summarise results from a workshop on "Model Benchmarking and Quality Assurance" of the EU-Network of Excellence ACCENT, including results from other activities (e.g. COST Action 732) and publications. A formalised evaluation protocol is presented, i.e. a generic formalism describing the procedure of how to perform a model evaluation. This includes eight steps and examples from global model applications which are given for illustration. The first and important step is concerning the purpose of the model application, i.e. the addressed underlying scientific or political question. We give examples to demonstrate that there is no model evaluation per se, i.e. without a focused purpose. Model evaluation is testing, whether a model is fit for its purpose. The following steps are deduced from the purpose and include model requirements, input data, key processes and quantities, benchmark data, quality indicators, sensitivities, as well as benchmarking and grading. We define "benchmarking" as the process of comparing the model output against either observational data or high fidelity model data, i.e. benchmark data. Special focus is given to the uncertainties, e.g. in observational data, which have the potential to lead to wrong conclusions in the model evaluation if not considered carefully.

Benchmarking in Mobarakeh Steel Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sasan Ghasemi

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Benchmarking is considered as one of the most effective ways of improving performance incompanies. Although benchmarking in business organizations is a relatively new concept and practice, ithas rapidly gained acceptance worldwide. This paper introduces the benchmarking project conducted in Esfahan’s Mobarakeh Steel Company, as the first systematic benchmarking project conducted in Iran. It aimsto share the process deployed for the benchmarking project in this company and illustrate how the projectsystematic implementation led to succes.

RB reactor benchmark cores

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pesic, M.

1998-01-01

A selected set of the RB reactor benchmark cores is presented in this paper. The first results of validation of the well-known Monte Carlo MCNP TM code and adjoining neutron cross section libraries are given. They confirm the idea for the proposal of the new U-D 2 O criticality benchmark system and support the intention to include this system in the next edition of the recent OECD/NEA Project: International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Experiment, in near future. (author)

Electricity consumption in school buildings - benchmark and web tools; Elforbrug i skoler - benchmark og webvaerktoej

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-07-01

The aim of this project has been to produce benchmarks for electricity consumption in Danish schools in order to encourage electricity conservation. An internet programme has been developed with the aim of facilitating schools' access to benchmarks and to evaluate energy consumption. The overall purpose is to create increased attention to the electricity consumption of each separate school by publishing benchmarks which take the schools' age and number of pupils as well as after school activities into account. Benchmarks can be used to make green accounts and work as markers in e.g. energy conservation campaigns, energy management and for educational purposes. The internet tool can be found on www.energiguiden.dk. (BA)

Performance Evaluation of Supercomputers using HPCC and IMB Benchmarks

Science.gov (United States)

Saini, Subhash; Ciotti, Robert; Gunney, Brian T. N.; Spelce, Thomas E.; Koniges, Alice; Dossa, Don; Adamidis, Panagiotis; Rabenseifner, Rolf; Tiyyagura, Sunil R.; Mueller, Matthias;

Benchmarking Evaluation Results for Prototype Extravehicular Activity Gloves

Science.gov (United States)

Aitchison, Lindsay; McFarland, Shane

2012-01-01

The Space Suit Assembly (SSA) Development Team at NASA Johnson Space Center has invested heavily in the advancement of rear-entry planetary exploration suit design but largely deferred development of extravehicular activity (EVA) glove designs, and accepted the risk of using the current flight gloves, Phase VI, for unique mission scenarios outside the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) Program realm of experience. However, as design reference missions mature, the risks of using heritage hardware have highlighted the need for developing robust new glove technologies. To address the technology gap, the NASA Game-Changing Technology group provided start-up funding for the High Performance EVA Glove (HPEG) Project in the spring of 2012. The overarching goal of the HPEG Project is to develop a robust glove design that increases human performance during EVA and creates pathway for future implementation of emergent technologies, with specific aims of increasing pressurized mobility to 60% of barehanded capability, increasing the durability by 100%, and decreasing the potential of gloves to cause injury during use. The HPEG Project focused initial efforts on identifying potential new technologies and benchmarking the performance of current state of the art gloves to identify trends in design and fit leading to establish standards and metrics against which emerging technologies can be assessed at both the component and assembly levels. The first of the benchmarking tests evaluated the quantitative mobility performance and subjective fit of four prototype gloves developed by Flagsuit LLC, Final Frontier Designs, LLC Dover, and David Clark Company as compared to the Phase VI. All of the companies were asked to design and fabricate gloves to the same set of NASA provided hand measurements (which corresponded to a single size of Phase Vi glove) and focus their efforts on improving mobility in the metacarpal phalangeal and carpometacarpal joints. Four test

Benchmarking in University Toolbox

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Kuźmicz

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In the face of global competition and rising challenges that higher education institutions (HEIs meet, it is imperative to increase innovativeness and efficiency of their management. Benchmarking can be the appropriate tool to search for a point of reference necessary to assess institution’s competitive position and learn from the best in order to improve. The primary purpose of the paper is to present in-depth analysis of benchmarking application in HEIs worldwide. The study involves indicating premises of using benchmarking in HEIs. It also contains detailed examination of types, approaches and scope of benchmarking initiatives. The thorough insight of benchmarking applications enabled developing classification of benchmarking undertakings in HEIs. The paper includes review of the most recent benchmarking projects and relating them to the classification according to the elaborated criteria (geographical range, scope, type of data, subject, support and continuity. The presented examples were chosen in order to exemplify different approaches to benchmarking in higher education setting. The study was performed on the basis of the published reports from benchmarking projects, scientific literature and the experience of the author from the active participation in benchmarking projects. The paper concludes with recommendations for university managers undertaking benchmarking, derived on the basis of the conducted analysis.

Current Reactor Physics Benchmark Activities at the Idaho National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bess, John D.; Marshall, Margaret A.; Gorham, Mackenzie L.; Christensen, Joseph; Turnbull, James C.; Clark, Kim

2011-01-01

The International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) (1) and the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) (2) were established to preserve integral reactor physics and criticality experiment data for present and future research. These valuable assets provide the basis for recording, developing, and validating our integral nuclear data, and experimental and computational methods. These projects are managed through the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA). Staff and students at the Department of Energy - Idaho (DOE-ID) and INL are engaged in the development of benchmarks to support ongoing research activities. These benchmarks include reactors or assemblies that support Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) research, space nuclear Fission Surface Power System (FSPS) design validation, and currently operational facilities in Southeastern Idaho.

International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project. IRPhE Handbook - 2015 edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bess, John D.; Gullifor, Jim

2015-03-01

The purpose of the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project is to provide an extensively peer-reviewed set of reactor physics-related integral data that can be used by reactor designers and safety analysts to validate the analytical tools used to design next-generation reactors and establish the safety basis for operation of these reactors. This work of the IRPhE Project is formally documented in the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments', a single source of verified and extensively peer-reviewed reactor physics benchmark measurements data. The evaluation process entails the following steps: Identify a comprehensive set of reactor physics experimental measurements data, Evaluate the data and quantify overall uncertainties through various types of sensitivity analysis to the extent possible, verify the data by reviewing original and subsequently revised documentation, and by talking with the experimenters or individuals who are familiar with the experimental facility, Compile the data into a standardized format, Perform calculations of each experiment with standard reactor physics codes where it would add information, Formally document the work into a single source of verified and peer reviewed reactor physics benchmark measurements data. The International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments contains reactor physics benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at nuclear facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by reactor designers, safety analysts and nuclear data evaluators to validate calculation techniques and data. Example calculations are presented; these do not constitute a validation or endorsement of the codes or cross-section data. The 2015 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments contains data from 143 experimental series that were

EBR-II Reactor Physics Benchmark Evaluation Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pope, Chad L. [Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States); Lum, Edward S [Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States); Stewart, Ryan [Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States); Byambadorj, Bilguun [Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States); Beaulieu, Quinton [Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States)

2017-12-28

This report provides a reactor physics benchmark evaluation with associated uncertainty quantification for the critical configuration of the April 1986 Experimental Breeder Reactor II Run 138B core configuration.

Tourism Destination Benchmarking: Evaluation and Selection of the Benchmarking Partners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luštický Martin

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Tourism development has an irreplaceable role in regional policy of almost all countries. This is due to its undeniable benefits for the local population with regards to the economic, social and environmental sphere. Tourist destinations compete for visitors at tourism market and subsequently get into a relatively sharp competitive struggle. The main goal of regional governments and destination management institutions is to succeed in this struggle by increasing the competitiveness of their destination. The quality of strategic planning and final strategies is a key factor of competitiveness. Even though the tourism sector is not the typical field where the benchmarking methods are widely used, such approaches could be successfully applied. The paper focuses on key phases of the benchmarking process which lies in the search for suitable referencing partners. The partners are consequently selected to meet general requirements to ensure the quality if strategies. Following from this, some specific characteristics are developed according to the SMART approach. The paper tests this procedure with an expert evaluation of eight selected regional tourism strategies of regions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Great Britain. In this way it validates the selected criteria in the frame of the international environment. Hence, it makes it possible to find strengths and weaknesses of selected strategies and at the same time facilitates the discovery of suitable benchmarking partners.

International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project. IRPhE Handbook - 2017 edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-01-01

The International Reactor Physics Evaluation (IRPhE) Project was initiated as a pilot in 1999 by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Nuclear Science Committee (NSC). The project was endorsed as an official activity of the NSC in June 2003. While the NEA co-ordinates and administers the IRPhE Project at the international level, each participating country is responsible for the administration, technical direction and priorities of the project within their respective countries. The information and data included in this handbook are available to NEA member countries, to all contributing countries and to others on a case-by-case basis. The IRPhE Project is patterned after the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP). It closely co-ordinates with the ICSBEP to avoid duplication of efforts and publication of conflicting information. Some benchmark data are applicable to both nuclear criticality safety and reactor physics technology. Some have already been evaluated and published by the ICSBEP, but have been extended to include other types of measurements in addition to the critical configuration. Through this effort, the IRPhE Project will be able to 1) consolidate and preserve the existing worldwide information base; 2) retrieve lost data; 3) identify areas where more data are needed; 4) draw upon the resources of the international reactor physics community to help fill knowledge gaps; 5) identify discrepancies between calculations and experiments due to deficiencies in reported experimental data, cross-section data, cross-section processing codes and neutronics codes; 6) eliminate a large amount of redundant research and processing of reactor physics experiment data, and 7) improve future experimental planning, execution and reporting. This handbook contains reactor physics benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments performed at nuclear facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by

Benchmarking and Performance Measurement.

Science.gov (United States)

Town, J. Stephen

This paper defines benchmarking and its relationship to quality management, describes a project which applied the technique in a library context, and explores the relationship between performance measurement and benchmarking. Numerous benchmarking methods contain similar elements: deciding what to benchmark; identifying partners; gathering…

ICSBEP-2007, International Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiment Handbook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blair Briggs, J.

2007-01-01

1 - Description: The Critically Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (CSBEP) was initiated in October of 1992 by the United Sates Department of Energy. The project quickly became an international effort as scientist from other interested countries became involved. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) is now an official activity of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development - Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA). This handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various nuclear critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality safety engineers to validate calculational techniques used to establish minimum subcritical margins for operations with fissile material. The example calculations presented do not constitute a validation of the codes or cross section data. The work of the ICSBEP is documented as an International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. Currently, the handbook spans over 42,000 pages and contains 464 evaluations representing 4,092 critical, near-critical, or subcritical configurations and 21 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each and 46 configurations that have been categorized as fundamental physics measurements that are relevant to criticality safety applications. The handbook is intended for use by criticality safety analysts to perform necessary validations of their calculational techniques and is expected to be a valuable tool for decades to come. The ICSBEP Handbook is available on DVD. You may request a DVD by completing the DVD Request Form on the internet. Access to the Handbook on the Internet requires a password. You may request a password by completing the Password Request Form. The Web address is: http://icsbep.inel.gov/handbook.shtml 2 - Method of solution: Experiments that are found

Benchmark Evaluation of Plutonium Nitrate Solution Arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, M.A.; Bess, J.D.

2011-01-01

In October and November of 1981 thirteen approach-to-critical experiments were performed on a remote split table machine (RSTM) in the Critical Mass Laboratory of Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) in Richland, Washington, using planar arrays of polyethylene bottles filled with plutonium (Pu) nitrate solution. Arrays of up to sixteen bottles were used to measure the critical number of bottles and critical array spacing with a tight fitting Plexiglas(reg s ign) reflector on all sides of the arrays except the top. Some experiments used Plexiglas shells fitted around each bottles to determine the effect of moderation on criticality. Each bottle contained approximately 2.4 L of Pu(NO3)4 solution with a Pu content of 105 g Pu/L and a free acid molarity H+ of 5.1. The plutonium was of low 240Pu (2.9 wt.%) content. These experiments were performed to fill a gap in experimental data regarding criticality limits for storing and handling arrays of Pu solution in reprocessing facilities. Of the thirteen approach-to-critical experiments eleven resulted in extrapolations to critical configurations. Four of the approaches were extrapolated to the critical number of bottles; these were not evaluated further due to the large uncertainty associated with the modeling of a fraction of a bottle. The remaining seven approaches were extrapolated to critical array spacing of 3-4 and 4-4 arrays; these seven critical configurations were evaluation for inclusion as acceptable benchmark experiments in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook. Detailed and simple models of these configurations were created and the associated bias of these simplifications was determined to range from 0.00116 and 0.00162 ± 0.00006 ?keff. Monte Carlo analysis of all models was completed using MCNP5 with ENDF/BVII.0 neutron cross section libraries. A thorough uncertainty analysis of all critical, geometric, and material parameters was performed using parameter

Evaluation of PWR and BWR pin cell benchmark results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pijlgroms, B.J.; Gruppelaar, H.; Janssen, A.J.; Hoogenboom, J.E.; Leege, P.F.A. de; Voet, J. van der; Verhagen, F.C.M.

1991-12-01

Benchmark results of the Dutch PINK working group on PWR and BWR pin cell calculational benchmark as defined by EPRI are presented and evaluated. The observed discrepancies are problem dependent: a part of the results is satisfactory, some other results require further analysis. A brief overview is given of the different code packages used in this analysis. (author). 14 refs., 9 figs., 30 tabs

Evaluation of PWR and BWR pin cell benchmark results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pijlgroms, B.J.; Gruppelaar, H.; Janssen, A.J. (Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN), Petten (Netherlands)); Hoogenboom, J.E.; Leege, P.F.A. de (Interuniversitair Reactor Inst., Delft (Netherlands)); Voet, J. van der (Gemeenschappelijke Kernenergiecentrale Nederland NV, Dodewaard (Netherlands)); Verhagen, F.C.M. (Keuring van Electrotechnische Materialen NV, Arnhem (Netherlands))

1991-12-01

Benchmark results of the Dutch PINK working group on PWR and BWR pin cell calculational benchmark as defined by EPRI are presented and evaluated. The observed discrepancies are problem dependent: a part of the results is satisfactory, some other results require further analysis. A brief overview is given of the different code packages used in this analysis. (author). 14 refs., 9 figs., 30 tabs.

Evaluation of PWR and BWR pin cell benchmark results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pilgroms, B.J.; Gruppelaar, H.; Janssen, A.J. (Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN), Petten (Netherlands)); Hoogenboom, J.E.; Leege, P.F.A. de (Interuniversitair Reactor Inst., Delft (Netherlands)); Voet, J. van der (Gemeenschappelijke Kernenergiecentrale Nederland NV, Dodewaard (Netherlands)); Verhagen, F.C.M. (Keuring van Electrotechnische Materialen NV, Arnhem (Netherlands))

1991-12-01

Benchmark results of the Dutch PINK working group on the PWR and BWR pin cell calculational benchmark as defined by EPRI are presented and evaluated. The observed discrepancies are problem dependent: a part of the results is satisfactory, some other results require further analysis. A brief overview is given of the different code packages used in this analysis. (author). 14 refs.; 9 figs.; 30 tabs.

INTEGRAL BENCHMARK DATA FOR NUCLEAR DATA TESTING THROUGH THE ICSBEP AND THE NEWLY ORGANIZED IRPHEP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. Blair Briggs; Lori Scott; Yolanda Rugama; Enrico Satori

2007-04-01

The status of the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) was last reported in a nuclear data conference at the International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology, ND-2004, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since that time the number and type of integral benchmarks have increased significantly. Included in the ICSBEP Handbook are criticality-alarm / shielding and fundamental physic benchmarks in addition to the traditional critical / subcritical benchmark data. Since ND 2004, a reactor physics counterpart to the ICSBEP, the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) was initiated. The IRPhEP is patterned after the ICSBEP, but focuses on other integral measurements, such as buckling, spectral characteristics, reactivity effects, reactivity coefficients, kinetics measurements, reaction-rate and power distributions, nuclide compositions, and other miscellaneous-type measurements in addition to the critical configuration. The status of these two projects is discussed and selected benchmarks highlighted in this paper.

Ready to Retrofit: The Process of Project Team Selection, Building Benchmarking, and Financing Commercial Building Energy Retrofit Projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanders, Mark D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Parrish, Kristen [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Mathew, Paul [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2012-05-01

This guide presents a process for three key activities for the building owner in preparing to retrofit existing commercial buildings: selecting project teams, benchmarking the existing building, and financing the retrofit work. Although there are other essential steps in the retrofit process, the three activities presented in this guide are the critical elements where the building owner has the greatest influence on the outcome of the project.

Development of an ICSBEP Benchmark Evaluation, Nearly 20 Years of Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briggs, J. Blair; Bess, John D.

2011-01-01

The basic structure of all ICSBEP benchmark evaluations is essentially the same and includes (1) a detailed description of the experiment; (2) an evaluation of the experiment, including an exhaustive effort to quantify the effects of uncertainties on measured quantities; (3) a concise presentation of benchmark-model specifications; (4) sample calculation results; and (5) a summary of experimental references. Computer code input listings and other relevant information are generally preserved in appendixes. Details of an ICSBEP evaluation is presented.

SCWEB, Scientific Workstation Evaluation Benchmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raffenetti, R C [Computing Services-Support Services Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

1988-06-16

1 - Description of program or function: The SCWEB (Scientific Workstation Evaluation Benchmark) software includes 16 programs which are executed in a well-defined scenario to measure the following performance capabilities of a scientific workstation: implementation of FORTRAN77, processor speed, memory management, disk I/O, monitor (or display) output, scheduling of processing (multiprocessing), and scheduling of print tasks (spooling). 2 - Method of solution: The benchmark programs are: DK1, DK2, and DK3, which do Fourier series fitting based on spline techniques; JC1, which checks the FORTRAN function routines which produce numerical results; JD1 and JD2, which solve dense systems of linear equations in double- and single-precision, respectively; JD3 and JD4, which perform matrix multiplication in single- and double-precision, respectively; RB1, RB2, and RB3, which perform substantial amounts of I/O processing on files other than the input and output files; RR1, which does intense single-precision floating-point multiplication in a tight loop, RR2, which initializes a 512x512 integer matrix in a manner which skips around in the address space rather than initializing each consecutive memory cell in turn; RR3, which writes alternating text buffers to the output file; RR4, which evaluates the timer routines and demonstrates that they conform to the specification; and RR5, which determines whether the workstation is capable of executing a 4-megabyte program

Benchmarking specialty hospitals, a scoping review on theory and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wind, A; van Harten, W H

2017-04-04

Although benchmarking may improve hospital processes, research on this subject is limited. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of publications on benchmarking in specialty hospitals and a description of study characteristics. We searched PubMed and EMBASE for articles published in English in the last 10 years. Eligible articles described a project stating benchmarking as its objective and involving a specialty hospital or specific patient category; or those dealing with the methodology or evaluation of benchmarking. Of 1,817 articles identified in total, 24 were included in the study. Articles were categorized into: pathway benchmarking, institutional benchmarking, articles on benchmark methodology or -evaluation and benchmarking using a patient registry. There was a large degree of variability:(1) study designs were mostly descriptive and retrospective; (2) not all studies generated and showed data in sufficient detail; and (3) there was variety in whether a benchmarking model was just described or if quality improvement as a consequence of the benchmark was reported upon. Most of the studies that described a benchmark model described the use of benchmarking partners from the same industry category, sometimes from all over the world. Benchmarking seems to be more developed in eye hospitals, emergency departments and oncology specialty hospitals. Some studies showed promising improvement effects. However, the majority of the articles lacked a structured design, and did not report on benchmark outcomes. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of benchmarking to improve quality in specialty hospitals, robust and structured designs are needed including a follow up to check whether the benchmark study has led to improvements.

Benchmarking Data Sets for the Evaluation of Virtual Ligand Screening Methods: Review and Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Lagarde, Nathalie; Zagury, Jean-François; Montes, Matthieu

2015-07-27

Virtual screening methods are commonly used nowadays in drug discovery processes. However, to ensure their reliability, they have to be carefully evaluated. The evaluation of these methods is often realized in a retrospective way, notably by studying the enrichment of benchmarking data sets. To this purpose, numerous benchmarking data sets were developed over the years, and the resulting improvements led to the availability of high quality benchmarking data sets. However, some points still have to be considered in the selection of the active compounds, decoys, and protein structures to obtain optimal benchmarking data sets.

NRC-BNL Benchmark Program on Evaluation of Methods for Seismic Analysis of Coupled Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chokshi, N.; DeGrassi, G.; Xu, J.

1999-01-01

A NRC-BNL benchmark program for evaluation of state-of-the-art analysis methods and computer programs for seismic analysis of coupled structures with non-classical damping is described. The program includes a series of benchmarking problems designed to investigate various aspects of complexities, applications and limitations associated with methods for analysis of non-classically damped structures. Discussions are provided on the benchmarking process, benchmark structural models, and the evaluation approach, as well as benchmarking ground rules. It is expected that the findings and insights, as well as recommendations from this program will be useful in developing new acceptance criteria and providing guidance for future regulatory activities involving licensing applications of these alternate methods to coupled systems

Hospital benchmarking: are U.S. eye hospitals ready?

Science.gov (United States)

de Korne, Dirk F; van Wijngaarden, Jeroen D H; Sol, Kees J C A; Betz, Robert; Thomas, Richard C; Schein, Oliver D; Klazinga, Niek S

2012-01-01

Benchmarking is increasingly considered a useful management instrument to improve quality in health care, but little is known about its applicability in hospital settings. The aims of this study were to assess the applicability of a benchmarking project in U.S. eye hospitals and compare the results with an international initiative. We evaluated multiple cases by applying an evaluation frame abstracted from the literature to five U.S. eye hospitals that used a set of 10 indicators for efficiency benchmarking. Qualitative analysis entailed 46 semistructured face-to-face interviews with stakeholders, document analyses, and questionnaires. The case studies only partially met the conditions of the evaluation frame. Although learning and quality improvement were stated as overall purposes, the benchmarking initiative was at first focused on efficiency only. No ophthalmic outcomes were included, and clinicians were skeptical about their reporting relevance and disclosure. However, in contrast with earlier findings in international eye hospitals, all U.S. hospitals worked with internal indicators that were integrated in their performance management systems and supported benchmarking. Benchmarking can support performance management in individual hospitals. Having a certain number of comparable institutes provide similar services in a noncompetitive milieu seems to lay fertile ground for benchmarking. International benchmarking is useful only when these conditions are not met nationally. Although the literature focuses on static conditions for effective benchmarking, our case studies show that it is a highly iterative and learning process. The journey of benchmarking seems to be more important than the destination. Improving patient value (health outcomes per unit of cost) requires, however, an integrative perspective where clinicians and administrators closely cooperate on both quality and efficiency issues. If these worlds do not share such a relationship, the added

Evaluating the Joint Theater Trauma Registry as a data source to benchmark casualty care.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connell, Karen M; Littleton-Kearney, Marguerite T; Bridges, Elizabeth; Bibb, Sandra C

2012-05-01

Just as data from civilian trauma registries have been used to benchmark and evaluate civilian trauma care, data contained within the Joint Theater Trauma Registry (JTTR) present a unique opportunity to benchmark combat care. Using the iterative steps of the benchmarking process, we evaluated data in the JTTR for suitability and established benchmarks for 24-hour mortality in casualties with polytrauma and a moderate or severe blunt traumatic brain injury (TBI). Mortality at 24 hours was greatest in those with polytrauma and a severe blunt TBI. No mortality was seen in casualties with polytrauma and a moderate blunt TBI. Secondary insults after TBI, especially hypothermia and hypoxemia, increased the odds of 24-hour mortality. Data contained in the JTTR were found to be suitable for establishing benchmarks. JTTR data may be useful in establishing benchmarks for other outcomes and types of combat injuries.

Towards a benchmark simulation model for plant-wide control strategy performance evaluation of WWTPs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeppsson, Ulf; Rosen, Christian; Alex, Jens

2006-01-01

The COST/IWA benchmark simulation model has been available for seven years. Its primary purpose has been to create a platform for control strategy benchmarking of activated sludge processes. The fact that the benchmark has resulted in more than 100 publications, not only in Europe but also...... worldwide, demonstrates the interest in such a tool within the research community In this paper, an extension of the benchmark simulation model no 1 (BSM1) is proposed. This extension aims at facilitating control strategy development and performance evaluation at a plant-wide level and, consequently...... the changes, the evaluation period has been extended to one year. A prolonged evaluation period allows for long-term control strategies to be assessed and enables the use of control handles that cannot be evaluated in a realistic fashion in the one-week BSM1 evaluation period. In the paper, the extended plant...

Benchmark Evaluation of Start-Up and Zero-Power Measurements at the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bess, John D.; Fujimoto, Nozomu

2014-01-01

Benchmark models were developed to evaluate six cold-critical and two warm-critical, zero-power measurements of the HTTR. Additional measurements of a fully-loaded subcritical configuration, core excess reactivity, shutdown margins, six isothermal temperature coefficients, and axial reaction-rate distributions were also evaluated as acceptable benchmark experiments. Insufficient information is publicly available to develop finely-detailed models of the HTTR as much of the design information is still proprietary. However, the uncertainties in the benchmark models are judged to be of sufficient magnitude to encompass any biases and bias uncertainties incurred through the simplification process used to develop the benchmark models. Dominant uncertainties in the experimental keff for all core configurations come from uncertainties in the impurity content of the various graphite blocks that comprise the HTTR. Monte Carlo calculations of keff are between approximately 0.9 % and 2.7 % greater than the benchmark values. Reevaluation of the HTTR models as additional information becomes available could improve the quality of this benchmark and possibly reduce the computational biases. High-quality characterization of graphite impurities would significantly improve the quality of the HTTR benchmark assessment. Simulation of the other reactor physics measurements are in good agreement with the benchmark experiment values. The complete benchmark evaluation details are available in the 2014 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments

The ORSphere Benchmark Evaluation and Its Potential Impact on Nuclear Criticality Safety

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John D. Bess; Margaret A. Marshall; J. Blair Briggs

2013-10-01

In the early 1970’s, critical experiments using an unreflected metal sphere of highly enriched uranium (HEU) were performed with the focus to provide a “very accurate description…as an ideal benchmark for calculational methods and cross-section data files.” Two near-critical configurations of the Oak Ridge Sphere (ORSphere) were evaluated as acceptable benchmark experiments for inclusion in the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP Handbook). The results from those benchmark experiments were then compared with additional unmoderated and unreflected HEU metal benchmark experiment configurations currently found in the ICSBEP Handbook. For basic geometries (spheres, cylinders, and slabs) the eigenvalues calculated using MCNP5 and ENDF/B-VII.0 were within 3 of their respective benchmark values. There appears to be generally a good agreement between calculated and benchmark values for spherical and slab geometry systems. Cylindrical geometry configurations tended to calculate low, including more complex bare HEU metal systems containing cylinders. The ORSphere experiments do not calculate within their 1s uncertainty and there is a possibility that the effect of the measured uncertainties for the GODIVA I benchmark may need reevaluated. There is significant scatter in the calculations for the highly-correlated ORCEF cylinder experiments, which are constructed from close-fitting HEU discs and annuli. Selection of a nuclear data library can have a larger impact on calculated eigenvalue results than the variation found within calculations of a given experimental series, such as the ORCEF cylinders, using a single nuclear data set.

Project W-320 thermal hydraulic model benchmarking and baselining

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sathyanarayana, K.

1998-01-01

Project W-320 will be retrieving waste from Tank 241-C-106 and transferring the waste to Tank 241-AY-102. Waste in both tanks must be maintained below applicable thermal limits during and following the waste transfer. Thermal hydraulic process control models will be used for process control of the thermal limits. This report documents the process control models and presents a benchmarking of the models with data from Tanks 241-C-106 and 241-AY-102. Revision 1 of this report will provide a baselining of the models in preparation for the initiation of sluicing

Second benchmark problem for WIPP structural computations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krieg, R.D.; Morgan, H.S.; Hunter, T.O.

1980-12-01

This report describes the second benchmark problem for comparison of the structural codes used in the WIPP project. The first benchmark problem consisted of heated and unheated drifts at a depth of 790 m, whereas this problem considers a shallower level (650 m) more typical of the repository horizon. But more important, the first problem considered a homogeneous salt configuration, whereas this problem considers a configuration with 27 distinct geologic layers, including 10 clay layers - 4 of which are to be modeled as possible slip planes. The inclusion of layering introduces complications in structural and thermal calculations that were not present in the first benchmark problem. These additional complications will be handled differently by the various codes used to compute drift closure rates. This second benchmark problem will assess these codes by evaluating the treatment of these complications

Importance Performance Analysis as a Trade Show Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking Tool

OpenAIRE

Tafesse, Wondwesen; Skallerud, Kåre; Korneliussen, Tor

2010-01-01

Author's accepted version (post-print). The purpose of this study is to introduce importance performance analysis as a trade show performance evaluation and benchmarking tool. Importance performance analysis considers exhibitors’ performance expectation and perceived performance in unison to evaluate and benchmark trade show performance. The present study uses data obtained from exhibitors of an international trade show to demonstrate how importance performance analysis can be used to eval...

Benchmarking Danish Industries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gammelgaard, Britta; Bentzen, Eric; Aagaard Andreassen, Mette

2003-01-01

compatible survey. The International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) doesbring up the question of supply chain management, but unfortunately, we did not have access to thedatabase. Data from the members of the SCOR-model, in the form of benchmarked performance data,may exist, but are nonetheless...... not public. The survey is a cooperative project "Benchmarking DanishIndustries" with CIP/Aalborg University, the Danish Technological University, the DanishTechnological Institute and Copenhagen Business School as consortia partners. The project has beenfunded by the Danish Agency for Trade and Industry...

A biosegmentation benchmark for evaluation of bioimage analysis methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kvilekval Kristian

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We present a biosegmentation benchmark that includes infrastructure, datasets with associated ground truth, and validation methods for biological image analysis. The primary motivation for creating this resource comes from the fact that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for an end-user to choose from a wide range of segmentation methods available in the literature for a particular bioimaging problem. No single algorithm is likely to be equally effective on diverse set of images and each method has its own strengths and limitations. We hope that our benchmark resource would be of considerable help to both the bioimaging researchers looking for novel image processing methods and image processing researchers exploring application of their methods to biology. Results Our benchmark consists of different classes of images and ground truth data, ranging in scale from subcellular, cellular to tissue level, each of which pose their own set of challenges to image analysis. The associated ground truth data can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods, to improve methods and to compare results. Standard evaluation methods and some analysis tools are integrated into a database framework that is available online at http://bioimage.ucsb.edu/biosegmentation/. Conclusion This online benchmark will facilitate integration and comparison of image analysis methods for bioimages. While the primary focus is on biological images, we believe that the dataset and infrastructure will be of interest to researchers and developers working with biological image analysis, image segmentation and object tracking in general.

Benchmarking on the management of radioactive waste; Benchmarking sobre la gestion de los residuos radiactivos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodriguez Gomez, M. a.; Gonzalez Gandal, R.; Gomez Castano, N.

2013-09-01

In this project, an evaluation of the practices carried out in the waste management field at the Spanish nuclear power plants has been done following the Benchmarking methodology. This process has allowed the identification of aspects to improve waste treatment processes; to reduce the volume of waste; to reduce management costs and to establish ways of management for the waste stream which do not have. (Author)

WLUP benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leszczynski, Francisco

2002-01-01

The IAEA-WIMS Library Update Project (WLUP) is on the end stage. The final library will be released on 2002. It is a result of research and development made by more than ten investigators during 10 years. The organization of benchmarks for testing and choosing the best set of data has been coordinated by the author of this paper. It is presented the organization, name conventions, contents and documentation of WLUP benchmarks, and an updated list of the main parameters for all cases. First, the benchmarks objectives and types are given. Then, comparisons of results from different WIMSD libraries are included. Finally it is described the program QVALUE for analysis and plot of results. Some examples are given. The set of benchmarks implemented on this work is a fundamental tool for testing new multigroup libraries. (author)

Processing and benchmarking of evaluated nuclear data file/b-viii.0β4 cross-section library by analysis of a series of critical experimental benchmark using the monte carlo code MCNP(X and NJOY2016

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kabach Ouadie

2017-12-01

Full Text Available To validate the new Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B-VIII.0β4 library, 31 different critical cores were selected and used for a benchmark test of the important parameter keff. The four utilized libraries are processed using Nuclear Data Processing Code (NJOY2016. The results obtained with the ENDF/B-VIII.0β4 library were compared against those calculated with ENDF/B-VI.8, ENDF/B-VII.0, and ENDF/B-VII.1 libraries using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP(X code. All the MCNP(X calculations of keff values with these four libraries were compared with the experimentally measured results, which are available in the International Critically Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project. The obtained results are discussed and analyzed in this paper.

Benchmark Evaluation of Dounreay Prototype Fast Reactor Minor Actinide Depletion Measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hess, J. D.; Gauld, I. C.; Gulliford, J.; Hill, I.; Okajima, S.

2017-01-01

Historic measurements of actinide samples in the Dounreay Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) are of interest for modern nuclear data and simulation validation. Samples of various higher-actinide isotopes were irradiated for 492 effective full-power days and radiochemically assayed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). Limited data were available regarding the PFR irradiation; a six-group neutron spectra was available with some power history data to support a burnup depletion analysis validation study. Under the guidance of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD NEA), the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) and Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition (SFCOMPO) Project are collaborating to recover all measurement data pertaining to these measurements, including collaboration with the United Kingdom to obtain pertinent reactor physics design and operational history data. These activities will produce internationally peer-reviewed benchmark data to support validation of minor actinide cross section data and modern neutronic simulation of fast reactors with accompanying fuel cycle activities such as transportation, recycling, storage, and criticality safety.

Shielding Benchmark Computational Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, H.T.; Slater, C.O.; Holland, L.B.; Tracz, G.; Marshall, W.J.; Parsons, J.L.

2000-01-01

Over the past several decades, nuclear science has relied on experimental research to verify and validate information about shielding nuclear radiation for a variety of applications. These benchmarks are compared with results from computer code models and are useful for the development of more accurate cross-section libraries, computer code development of radiation transport modeling, and building accurate tests for miniature shielding mockups of new nuclear facilities. When documenting measurements, one must describe many parts of the experimental results to allow a complete computational analysis. Both old and new benchmark experiments, by any definition, must provide a sound basis for modeling more complex geometries required for quality assurance and cost savings in nuclear project development. Benchmarks may involve one or many materials and thicknesses, types of sources, and measurement techniques. In this paper the benchmark experiments of varying complexity are chosen to study the transport properties of some popular materials and thicknesses. These were analyzed using three-dimensional (3-D) models and continuous energy libraries of MCNP4B2, a Monte Carlo code developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. A shielding benchmark library provided the experimental data and allowed a wide range of choices for source, geometry, and measurement data. The experimental data had often been used in previous analyses by reputable groups such as the Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency Nuclear Science Committee (OECD/NEANSC)

Review of recent benchmark experiments on integral test for high energy nuclear data evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakashima, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Susumu; Konno, Chikara; Fukahori, Tokio; Hayashi, Katsumi [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1998-11-01

A survey work of recent benchmark experiments on an integral test for high energy nuclear data evaluation was carried out as one of the work of the Task Force on JENDL High Energy File Integral Evaluation (JHEFIE). In this paper the results are compiled and the status of recent benchmark experiments is described. (author)

A Benchmark for Evaluating Moving Object Indexes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Su; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard; Lin, Dan

2008-01-01

that targets techniques for the indexing of the current and near-future positions of moving objects. This benchmark enables the comparison of existing and future indexing techniques. It covers important aspects of such indexes that have not previously been covered by any benchmark. Notable aspects covered......Progress in science and engineering relies on the ability to measure, reliably and in detail, pertinent properties of artifacts under design. Progress in the area of database-index design thus relies on empirical studies based on prototype implementations of indexes. This paper proposes a benchmark...... include update efficiency, query efficiency, concurrency control, and storage requirements. Next, the paper applies the benchmark to half a dozen notable moving-object indexes, thus demonstrating the viability of the benchmark and offering new insight into the performance properties of the indexes....

Construction of a Benchmark for the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Schrepp

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Questionnaires are a cheap and highly efficient tool for achieving a quantitative measure of a product’s user experience (UX. However, it is not always easy to decide, if a questionnaire result can really show whether a product satisfies this quality aspect. So a benchmark is useful. It allows comparing the results of one product to a large set of other products. In this paper we describe a benchmark for the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ, a widely used evaluation tool for interactive products. We also describe how the benchmark can be applied to the quality assurance process for concrete projects.

IAEA coordinated research project (CRP) on 'Analytical and experimental benchmark analyses of accelerator driven systems'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abanades, Alberto; Aliberti, Gerardo; Gohar, Yousry; Talamo, Alberto; Bornos, Victor; Kiyavitskaya, Anna; Carta, Mario; Janczyszyn, Jerzy; Maiorino, Jose; Pyeon, Cheolho; Stanculescu, Alexander; Titarenko, Yury; Westmeier, Wolfram

2008-01-01

In December 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on 'Analytical and Experimental Benchmark Analyses of Accelerator Driven Systems'. The overall objective of the CRP, performed within the framework of the Technical Working Group on Fast Reactors (TWGFR) of IAEA's Nuclear Energy Department, is to increase the capability of interested Member States in developing and applying advanced reactor technologies in the area of long-lived radioactive waste utilization and transmutation. The specific objective of the CRP is to improve the present understanding of the coupling of an external neutron source (e.g. spallation source) with a multiplicative sub-critical core. The participants are performing computational and experimental benchmark analyses using integrated calculation schemes and simulation methods. The CRP aims at integrating some of the planned experimental demonstration projects of the coupling between a sub-critical core and an external neutron source (e.g. YALINA Booster in Belarus, and Kyoto University's Critical Assembly (KUCA)). The objective of these experimental programs is to validate computational methods, obtain high energy nuclear data, characterize the performance of sub-critical assemblies driven by external sources, and to develop and improve techniques for sub-criticality monitoring. The paper summarizes preliminary results obtained to-date for some of the CRP benchmarks. (authors)

Overview of the 2014 Edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPhEP Handbook)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John D. Bess; J. Blair Briggs; Jim Gulliford; Ian Hill

2014-10-01

The International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) is a widely recognized world class program. The work of the IRPhEP is documented in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPhEP Handbook). Integral data from the IRPhEP Handbook is used by reactor safety and design, nuclear data, criticality safety, and analytical methods development specialists, worldwide, to perform necessary validations of their calculational techniques. The IRPhEP Handbook is among the most frequently quoted reference in the nuclear industry and is expected to be a valuable resource for future decades.

Benchmark Imagery FY11 Technical Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberts, R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Pope, P. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2011-06-14

This report details the work performed in FY11 under project LL11-GS-PD06, “Benchmark Imagery for Assessing Geospatial Semantic Extraction Algorithms.” The original LCP for the Benchmark Imagery project called for creating a set of benchmark imagery for verifying and validating algorithms that extract semantic content from imagery. More specifically, the first year was slated to deliver real imagery that had been annotated, the second year to deliver real imagery that had composited features, and the final year was to deliver synthetic imagery modeled after the real imagery.

RUNE benchmarks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peña, Alfredo

This report contains the description of a number of benchmarks with the purpose of evaluating flow models for near-shore wind resource estimation. The benchmarks are designed based on the comprehensive database of observations that the RUNE coastal experiment established from onshore lidar...

Benchmark comparisons of evaluated nuclear data files

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Resler, D.A.; Howerton, R.J.; White, R.M.

1994-05-01

With the availability and maturity of several evaluated nuclear data files, it is timely to compare the results of integral tests with calculations using these different files. We discuss here our progress in making integral benchmark tests of the following nuclear data files: ENDL-94, ENDF/B-V and -VI, JENDL-3, JEF-2, and BROND-2. The methods used to process these evaluated libraries in a consistent way into applications files for use in Monte Carlo calculations is presented. Using these libraries, we are calculating and comparing to experiment k eff for 68 fast critical assemblies of 233,235 U and 239 Pu with reflectors of various material and thickness

Benchmarking for the Effective Use of Student Evaluation Data

Science.gov (United States)

Smithson, John; Birks, Melanie; Harrison, Glenn; Nair, Chenicheri Sid; Hitchins, Marnie

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine current approaches to interpretation of student evaluation data and present an innovative approach to developing benchmark targets for the effective and efficient use of these data. Design/Methodology/Approach: This article discusses traditional approaches to gathering and using student feedback…

Benchmarking Benchmarks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

D.C. Blitz (David)

2011-01-01

textabstractBenchmarking benchmarks is a bundle of six studies that are inspired by the prevalence of benchmarking in academic finance research as well as in investment practice. Three studies examine if current benchmark asset pricing models adequately describe the cross-section of stock returns.

Benchmark test of evaluated nuclear data files for fast reactor neutronics application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiba, Go; Hazama, Taira; Iwai, Takehiko; Numata, Kazuyuki

2007-07-01

A benchmark test of the latest evaluated nuclear data files, JENDL-3.3, JEFF-3.1 and ENDF/B-VII.0, has been carried out for fast reactor neutronics application. For this benchmark test, experimental data obtained at fast critical assemblies and fast power reactors are utilized. In addition to comparing of numerical solutions with the experimental data, we have extracted several cross sections, in which differences between three nuclear data files affect significantly numerical solutions, by virtue of sensitivity analyses. This benchmark test concludes that ENDF/B-VII.0 predicts well the neutronics characteristics of fast neutron systems rather than the other nuclear data files. (author)

FENDL neutronics benchmark: Specifications for the calculational neutronics and shielding benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawan, M.E.

1994-12-01

During the IAEA Advisory Group Meeting on ''Improved Evaluations and Integral Data Testing for FENDL'' held in Garching near Munich, Germany in the period 12-16 September 1994, the Working Group II on ''Experimental and Calculational Benchmarks on Fusion Neutronics for ITER'' recommended that a calculational benchmark representative of the ITER design should be developed. This report describes the neutronics and shielding calculational benchmark available for scientists interested in performing analysis for this benchmark. (author)

Benchmarking of wind farm scale wake models in the EERA - DTOC project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Réthoré, Pierre-Elouan; Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Barthelmie, R.J.

2013-01-01

-flow to combine wind farm (micro) and cluster (meso) scale wake models. For this purpose, a benchmark campaign is organized on the existing wind farm wake models available within the project, in order to identify which model would be the most appropriate for this coupling. A number of standardized wake cases......Designing offshore wind farms next to existing or planned wind farm clusters has recently become a common practice in the North Sea. These types of projects face unprecedented challenges in term of wind energy siting. The currently ongoing European project FP7 EERA - DTOC (Design Tool for Offshore...... wind farm Clusters) is aiming at providing a new type of model work-flow to address this issue. The wake modeling part of the EERA - DTOC project is to improve the fundamental understanding of wind turbine wakes and modeling. One of these challenges is to create a new kind of wake modeling work...

Pre-evaluation of fusion shielding benchmark experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, K.; Handa, H.; Konno, C.

1994-01-01

Shielding benchmark experiment is very useful to test the design code and nuclear data for fusion devices. There are many types of benchmark experiments that should be done in fusion shielding problems, but time and budget are limited. Therefore it will be important to select and determine the effective experimental configurations by precalculation before the experiment. The authors did three types of pre-evaluation to determine the experimental assembly configurations of shielding benchmark experiments planned in FNS, JAERI. (1) Void Effect Experiment - The purpose of this experiment is to measure the local increase of dose and nuclear heating behind small void(s) in shield material. Dimension of the voids and its arrangements were decided as follows. Dose and nuclear heating were calculated both for with and without void(s). Minimum size of the void was determined so that the ratio of these two results may be larger than error of the measurement system. (2) Auxiliary Shield Experiment - The purpose of this experiment is to measure shielding properties of B 4 C, Pb, W, and dose around superconducting magnet (SCM). Thickness of B 4 C, Pb, W and their arrangement including multilayer configuration were determined. (3) SCM Nuclear Heating Experiment - The purpose of this experiment is to measure nuclear heating and dose distribution in SCM material. Because it is difficult to use liquid helium as a part of SCM mock up material, material composition of SCM mock up are surveyed to have similar nuclear heating property of real SCM composition

Regression Benchmarking: An Approach to Quality Assurance in Performance

OpenAIRE

Bulej, Lubomír

2005-01-01

The paper presents a short summary of our work in the area of regression benchmarking and its application to software development. Specially, we explain the concept of regression benchmarking, the requirements for employing regression testing in a software project, and methods used for analyzing the vast amounts of data resulting from repeated benchmarking. We present the application of regression benchmarking on a real software project and conclude with a glimpse at the challenges for the fu...

Availability of Neutronics Benchmarks in the ICSBEP and IRPhEP Handbooks for Computational Tools Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bess, John D.; Briggs, J. Blair; Ivanova, Tatiana; Hill, Ian; Gulliford, Jim

2017-02-01

In the past several decades, numerous experiments have been performed worldwide to support reactor operations, measurements, design, and nuclear safety. Those experiments represent an extensive international investment in infrastructure, expertise, and cost, representing significantly valuable resources of data supporting past, current, and future research activities. Those valuable assets represent the basis for recording, development, and validation of our nuclear methods and integral nuclear data [1]. The loss of these experimental data, which has occurred all too much in the recent years, is tragic. The high cost to repeat many of these measurements can be prohibitive, if not impossible, to surmount. Two international projects were developed, and are under the direction of the Organisation for Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD NEA) to address the challenges of not just data preservation, but evaluation of the data to determine its merit for modern and future use. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) was established to identify and verify comprehensive critical benchmark data sets; evaluate the data, including quantification of biases and uncertainties; compile the data and calculations in a standardized format; and formally document the effort into a single source of verified benchmark data [2]. Similarly, the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) was established to preserve integral reactor physics experimental data, including separate or special effects data for nuclear energy and technology applications [3]. Annually, contributors from around the world continue to collaborate in the evaluation and review of select benchmark experiments for preservation and dissemination. The extensively peer-reviewed integral benchmark data can then be utilized to support nuclear design and safety analysts to validate the analytical tools, methods, and data needed for next

EGS4 benchmark program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasu, Y.; Hirayama, H.; Namito, Y.; Yashiro, S.

1995-01-01

This paper proposes EGS4 Benchmark Suite which consists of three programs called UCSAMPL4, UCSAMPL4I and XYZDOS. This paper also evaluates optimization methods of recent RISC/UNIX systems, such as IBM, HP, DEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu, for the benchmark suite. When particular compiler option and math library were included in the evaluation process, system performed significantly better. Observed performance of some of the RISC/UNIX systems were beyond some so-called Mainframes of IBM, Hitachi or Fujitsu. The computer performance of EGS4 Code System on an HP9000/735 (99MHz) was defined to be the unit of EGS4 Unit. The EGS4 Benchmark Suite also run on various PCs such as Pentiums, i486 and DEC alpha and so forth. The performance of recent fast PCs reaches that of recent RISC/UNIX systems. The benchmark programs have been evaluated with correlation of industry benchmark programs, namely, SPECmark. (author)

Evaluation of mobile phone camera benchmarking using objective camera speed and image quality metrics

Science.gov (United States)

Peltoketo, Veli-Tapani

2014-11-01

When a mobile phone camera is tested and benchmarked, the significance of image quality metrics is widely acknowledged. There are also existing methods to evaluate the camera speed. However, the speed or rapidity metrics of the mobile phone's camera system has not been used with the quality metrics even if the camera speed has become a more and more important camera performance feature. There are several tasks in this work. First, the most important image quality and speed-related metrics of a mobile phone's camera system are collected from the standards and papers and, also, novel speed metrics are identified. Second, combinations of the quality and speed metrics are validated using mobile phones on the market. The measurements are done toward application programming interface of different operating systems. Finally, the results are evaluated and conclusions are made. The paper defines a solution to combine different image quality and speed metrics to a single benchmarking score. A proposal of the combined benchmarking metric is evaluated using measurements of 25 mobile phone cameras on the market. The paper is a continuation of a previous benchmarking work expanded with visual noise measurement and updates of the latest mobile phone versions.

Self-benchmarking Guide for Cleanrooms: Metrics, Benchmarks, Actions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mathew, Paul; Sartor, Dale; Tschudi, William

2009-07-13

This guide describes energy efficiency metrics and benchmarks that can be used to track the performance of and identify potential opportunities to reduce energy use in laboratory buildings. This guide is primarily intended for personnel who have responsibility for managing energy use in existing laboratory facilities - including facilities managers, energy managers, and their engineering consultants. Additionally, laboratory planners and designers may also use the metrics and benchmarks described in this guide for goal-setting in new construction or major renovation. This guide provides the following information: (1) A step-by-step outline of the benchmarking process. (2) A set of performance metrics for the whole building as well as individual systems. For each metric, the guide provides a definition, performance benchmarks, and potential actions that can be inferred from evaluating this metric. (3) A list and descriptions of the data required for computing the metrics. This guide is complemented by spreadsheet templates for data collection and for computing the benchmarking metrics. This guide builds on prior research supported by the national Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) program, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Much of the benchmarking data are drawn from the Labs21 benchmarking database and technical guides. Additional benchmark data were obtained from engineering experts including laboratory designers and energy managers.

Benchmarking facilities providing care: An international overview of initiatives

Science.gov (United States)

Thonon, Frédérique; Watson, Jonathan; Saghatchian, Mahasti

2015-01-01

We performed a literature review of existing benchmarking projects of health facilities to explore (1) the rationales for those projects, (2) the motivation for health facilities to participate, (3) the indicators used and (4) the success and threat factors linked to those projects. We studied both peer-reviewed and grey literature. We examined 23 benchmarking projects of different medical specialities. The majority of projects used a mix of structure, process and outcome indicators. For some projects, participants had a direct or indirect financial incentive to participate (such as reimbursement by Medicaid/Medicare or litigation costs related to quality of care). A positive impact was reported for most projects, mainly in terms of improvement of practice and adoption of guidelines and, to a lesser extent, improvement in communication. Only 1 project reported positive impact in terms of clinical outcomes. Success factors and threats are linked to both the benchmarking process (such as organisation of meetings, link with existing projects) and indicators used (such as adjustment for diagnostic-related groups). The results of this review will help coordinators of a benchmarking project to set it up successfully. PMID:26770800

How benchmarking can improve patient nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Jane

Benchmarking is a tool that originated in business to enable organisations to compare their services with industry-wide best practice. Early last year the Department of Health published The Essence of Care, a benchmarking toolkit adapted for use in health care. It focuses on eight elements of care that are crucial to patients' experiences. Nurses and other health care professionals at a London NHS trust have begun a trust-wide benchmarking project. The aim is to improve patients' experiences of health care by sharing and comparing information, and by identifying examples of good practice and areas for improvement. The project began with two of the eight elements of The Essence of Care, with the intention of covering the rest later. This article describes the benchmarking process for nutrition and some of the consequent improvements in care.

Interactive benchmarking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lawson, Lartey; Nielsen, Kurt

2005-01-01

We discuss individual learning by interactive benchmarking using stochastic frontier models. The interactions allow the user to tailor the performance evaluation to preferences and explore alternative improvement strategies by selecting and searching the different frontiers using directional...... in the suggested benchmarking tool. The study investigates how different characteristics on dairy farms influences the technical efficiency....

The Isprs Benchmark on Indoor Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Khoshelham, K.; Díaz Vilariño, L.; Peter, M.; Kang, Z.; Acharya, D.

2017-09-01

Automated generation of 3D indoor models from point cloud data has been a topic of intensive research in recent years. While results on various datasets have been reported in literature, a comparison of the performance of different methods has not been possible due to the lack of benchmark datasets and a common evaluation framework. The ISPRS benchmark on indoor modelling aims to address this issue by providing a public benchmark dataset and an evaluation framework for performance comparison of indoor modelling methods. In this paper, we present the benchmark dataset comprising several point clouds of indoor environments captured by different sensors. We also discuss the evaluation and comparison of indoor modelling methods based on manually created reference models and appropriate quality evaluation criteria. The benchmark dataset is available for download at: html"target="_blank">http://www2.isprs.org/commissions/comm4/wg5/benchmark-on-indoor-modelling.html.

The Accent-protocol: a framework for benchmarking and model evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Builtjes, P.J.H.; Grewe, V.; Moussiopoulos, N.; Borrego, C.; Isaksen, I.S.A.; Volz-Thomas, A.

2011-01-01

We summarise results from a workshop on “Model Benchmarking and Quality Assurance” of the EU-Network of Excellence ACCENT, including results from other activities (e.g. COST Action 732) and publications. A formalised evaluation protocol is presented, i.e. a generic formalism describing the procedure

Benchmarking the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendiratta, O.P.; Ploetz, D.K.

2000-01-01

ABSTRACT Facility decontamination activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), the site of a former commercial nuclear spent fuel reprocessing facility near Buffalo, New York, have resulted in the removal of radioactive waste. Due to high dose and/or high contamination levels of this waste, it needs to be handled remotely for processing and repackaging into transport/disposal-ready containers. An initial conceptual design for a Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RHWF), completed in June 1998, was estimated to cost $55 million and take 11 years to process the waste. Benchmarking the RHWF with other facilities around the world, completed in November 1998, identified unique facility design features and innovative waste processing methods. Incorporation of the benchmarking effort has led to a smaller yet fully functional, $31 million facility. To distinguish it from the June 1998 version, the revised design is called the Rescoped Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RRHWF) in this topical report. The conceptual design for the RRHWF was completed in June 1999. A design-build contract was approved by the Department of Energy in September 1999

Benchmarking the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

O. P. Mendiratta; D. K. Ploetz

2000-02-29

ABSTRACT Facility decontamination activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), the site of a former commercial nuclear spent fuel reprocessing facility near Buffalo, New York, have resulted in the removal of radioactive waste. Due to high dose and/or high contamination levels of this waste, it needs to be handled remotely for processing and repackaging into transport/disposal-ready containers. An initial conceptual design for a Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RHWF), completed in June 1998, was estimated to cost $55 million and take 11 years to process the waste. Benchmarking the RHWF with other facilities around the world, completed in November 1998, identified unique facility design features and innovative waste pro-cessing methods. Incorporation of the benchmarking effort has led to a smaller yet fully functional, $31 million facility. To distinguish it from the June 1998 version, the revised design is called the Rescoped Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RRHWF) in this topical report. The conceptual design for the RRHWF was completed in June 1999. A design-build contract was approved by the Department of Energy in September 1999.

Benchmarking and Evaluating Unified Memory for OpenMP GPU Offloading

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mishra, Alok [Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States); Li, Lingda [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Kong, Martin [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Finkel, Hal [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Chapman, Barbara [Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2017-01-01

Here, the latest OpenMP standard offers automatic device offloading capabilities which facilitate GPU programming. Despite this, there remain many challenges. One of these is the unified memory feature introduced in recent GPUs. GPUs in current and future HPC systems have enhanced support for unified memory space. In such systems, CPU and GPU can access each other's memory transparently, that is, the data movement is managed automatically by the underlying system software and hardware. Memory over subscription is also possible in these systems. However, there is a significant lack of knowledge about how this mechanism will perform, and how programmers should use it. We have modified several benchmarks codes, in the Rodinia benchmark suite, to study the behavior of OpenMP accelerator extensions and have used them to explore the impact of unified memory in an OpenMP context. We moreover modified the open source LLVM compiler to allow OpenMP programs to exploit unified memory. The results of our evaluation reveal that, while the performance of unified memory is comparable with that of normal GPU offloading for benchmarks with little data reuse, it suffers from significant overhead when GPU memory is over subcribed for benchmarks with large amount of data reuse. Based on these results, we provide several guidelines for programmers to achieve better performance with unified memory.

Benchmarking Analysis of Institutional University Autonomy in Denmark, Lithuania, Romania, Scotland, and Sweden

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book presents a benchmark, comparative analysis of institutional university autonomy in Denmark, Lithuania, Romania, Scotland and Sweden. These countries are partners in a EU TEMPUS funded project 'Enhancing University Autonomy in Moldova' (EUniAM). This benchmark analysis was conducted...... by the EUniAM Lead Task Force team that collected and analysed secondary and primary data in each of these countries and produced four benchmark reports that are part of this book. For each dimension and interface of institutional university autonomy, the members of the Lead Task Force team identified...... respective evaluation criteria and searched for similarities and differences in approaches to higher education sectors and respective autonomy regimes in these countries. The consolidated report that precedes the benchmark reports summarises the process and key findings from the four benchmark reports...

A benchmarking tool to evaluate computer tomography perfusion infarct core predictions against a DWI standard.

Science.gov (United States)

Cereda, Carlo W; Christensen, Søren; Campbell, Bruce Cv; Mishra, Nishant K; Mlynash, Michael; Levi, Christopher; Straka, Matus; Wintermark, Max; Bammer, Roland; Albers, Gregory W; Parsons, Mark W; Lansberg, Maarten G

2016-10-01

Differences in research methodology have hampered the optimization of Computer Tomography Perfusion (CTP) for identification of the ischemic core. We aim to optimize CTP core identification using a novel benchmarking tool. The benchmarking tool consists of an imaging library and a statistical analysis algorithm to evaluate the performance of CTP. The tool was used to optimize and evaluate an in-house developed CTP-software algorithm. Imaging data of 103 acute stroke patients were included in the benchmarking tool. Median time from stroke onset to CT was 185 min (IQR 180-238), and the median time between completion of CT and start of MRI was 36 min (IQR 25-79). Volumetric accuracy of the CTP-ROIs was optimal at an rCBF threshold of benchmarking tool can play an important role in optimizing CTP software as it provides investigators with a novel method to directly compare the performance of alternative CTP software packages. © The Author(s) 2015.

Self-benchmarking Guide for Laboratory Buildings: Metrics, Benchmarks, Actions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mathew, Paul; Greenberg, Steve; Sartor, Dale

2009-07-13

This guide describes energy efficiency metrics and benchmarks that can be used to track the performance of and identify potential opportunities to reduce energy use in laboratory buildings. This guide is primarily intended for personnel who have responsibility for managing energy use in existing laboratory facilities - including facilities managers, energy managers, and their engineering consultants. Additionally, laboratory planners and designers may also use the metrics and benchmarks described in this guide for goal-setting in new construction or major renovation. This guide provides the following information: (1) A step-by-step outline of the benchmarking process. (2) A set of performance metrics for the whole building as well as individual systems. For each metric, the guide provides a definition, performance benchmarks, and potential actions that can be inferred from evaluating this metric. (3) A list and descriptions of the data required for computing the metrics. This guide is complemented by spreadsheet templates for data collection and for computing the benchmarking metrics. This guide builds on prior research supported by the national Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) program, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Much of the benchmarking data are drawn from the Labs21 benchmarking database and technical guides. Additional benchmark data were obtained from engineering experts including laboratory designers and energy managers.

Benchmarking and Its Relevance to the Library and Information Sector. Interim Findings of "Best Practice Benchmarking in the Library and Information Sector," a British Library Research and Development Department Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinnell, Margaret; Garrod, Penny

This British Library Research and Development Department study assesses current activities and attitudes toward quality management in library and information services (LIS) in the academic sector as well as the commercial/industrial sector. Definitions and types of benchmarking are described, and the relevance of benchmarking to LIS is evaluated.…

Benchmarking Swiss electricity grids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walti, N.O.; Weber, Ch.

2001-01-01

This extensive article describes a pilot benchmarking project initiated by the Swiss Association of Electricity Enterprises that assessed 37 Swiss utilities. The data collected from these utilities on a voluntary basis included data on technical infrastructure, investments and operating costs. These various factors are listed and discussed in detail. The assessment methods and rating mechanisms that provided the benchmarks are discussed and the results of the pilot study are presented that are to form the basis of benchmarking procedures for the grid regulation authorities under the planned Switzerland's electricity market law. Examples of the practical use of the benchmarking methods are given and cost-efficiency questions still open in the area of investment and operating costs are listed. Prefaces by the Swiss Association of Electricity Enterprises and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy complete the article

Thermal lattice benchmarks for testing basic evaluated data files, developed with MCNP4B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maucec, M.; Glumac, B.

1996-01-01

The development of unit cell and full reactor core models of DIMPLE S01A and TRX-1 and TRX-2 benchmark experiments, using Monte Carlo computer code MCNP4B is presented. Nuclear data from ENDF/B-V and VI version of cross-section library were used in the calculations. In addition, a comparison to results obtained with the similar models and cross-section data from the EJ2-MCNPlib library (which is based upon the JEF-2.2 evaluation) developed in IRC Petten, Netherlands is presented. The results of the criticality calculation with ENDF/B-VI data library, and a comparison to results obtained using JEF-2.2 evaluation, confirm the MCNP4B full core model of a DIMPLE reactor as a good benchmark for testing basic evaluated data files. On the other hand, the criticality calculations results obtained using the TRX full core models show less agreement with experiment. It is obvious that without additional data about the TRX geometry, our TRX models are not suitable as Monte Carlo benchmarks. (author)

IAEA coordinated research project (CRP) on 'Analytical and experimental benchmark analyses of accelerator driven systems'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abanades, Alberto [Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain); Aliberti, Gerardo; Gohar, Yousry; Talamo, Alberto [ANL, Argonne (United States); Bornos, Victor; Kiyavitskaya, Anna [Joint Institute of Power Eng. and Nucl. Research ' Sosny' , Minsk (Belarus); Carta, Mario [ENEA, Casaccia (Italy); Janczyszyn, Jerzy [AGH-University of Science and Technology, Krakow (Poland); Maiorino, Jose [IPEN, Sao Paulo (Brazil); Pyeon, Cheolho [Kyoto University (Japan); Stanculescu, Alexander [IAEA, Vienna (Austria); Titarenko, Yury [ITEP, Moscow (Russian Federation); Westmeier, Wolfram [Wolfram Westmeier GmbH, Ebsdorfergrund (Germany)

2008-07-01

In December 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on 'Analytical and Experimental Benchmark Analyses of Accelerator Driven Systems'. The overall objective of the CRP, performed within the framework of the Technical Working Group on Fast Reactors (TWGFR) of IAEA's Nuclear Energy Department, is to increase the capability of interested Member States in developing and applying advanced reactor technologies in the area of long-lived radioactive waste utilization and transmutation. The specific objective of the CRP is to improve the present understanding of the coupling of an external neutron source (e.g. spallation source) with a multiplicative sub-critical core. The participants are performing computational and experimental benchmark analyses using integrated calculation schemes and simulation methods. The CRP aims at integrating some of the planned experimental demonstration projects of the coupling between a sub-critical core and an external neutron source (e.g. YALINA Booster in Belarus, and Kyoto University's Critical Assembly (KUCA)). The objective of these experimental programs is to validate computational methods, obtain high energy nuclear data, characterize the performance of sub-critical assemblies driven by external sources, and to develop and improve techniques for sub-criticality monitoring. The paper summarizes preliminary results obtained to-date for some of the CRP benchmarks. (authors)

Benchmarks: The Development of a New Approach to Student Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Larter, Sylvia

The Toronto Board of Education Benchmarks are libraries of reference materials that demonstrate student achievement at various levels. Each library contains video benchmarks, print benchmarks, a staff handbook, and summary and introductory documents. This book is about the development and the history of the benchmark program. It has taken over 3…

Evaluation of PWR and BWR assembly benchmark calculations. Status report of EPRI computational benchmark results, performed in the framework of the Netherlands` PINK programme (Joint project of ECN, IRI, KEMA and GKN)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gruppelaar, H. [Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN), Petten (Netherlands); Klippel, H.T. [Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN), Petten (Netherlands); Kloosterman, J.L. [Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN), Petten (Netherlands); Hoogenboom, J.E. [Technische Univ. Delft (Netherlands). Interfacultair Reactor Instituut; Leege, P.F.A. de [Technische Univ. Delft (Netherlands). Interfacultair Reactor Instituut; Verhagen, F.C.M. [Keuring van Electrotechnische Materialen NV, Arnhem (Netherlands); Bruggink, J.C. [Gemeenschappelijke Kernenergiecentrale Nederland N.V., Dodewaard (Netherlands)

1993-11-01

Benchmark results of the Dutch PINK working group on calculational benchmarks on single pin cell and multipin assemblies as defined by EPRI are presented and evaluated. First a short update of methods used by the various institutes involved is given as well as an update of the status with respect to previous performed pin-cell calculations. Problems detected in previous pin-cell calculations are inspected more closely. Detailed discussion of results of multipin assembly calculations is given. The assembly consists of 9 pins in a multicell square lattice in which the central pin is filled differently, i.e. a Gd pin for the BWR assembly and a control rod/guide tube for the PWR assembly. The results for pin cells showed a rather good overall agreement between the four participants although BWR pins with high void fraction turned out to be difficult to calculate. With respect to burnup calculations good overall agreement for the reactivity swing was obtained, provided that a fine time grid is used. (orig.)

Evaluation of PWR and BWR assembly benchmark calculations. Status report of EPRI computational benchmark results, performed in the framework of the Netherlands' PINK programme (Joint project of ECN, IRI, KEMA and GKN)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruppelaar, H.; Klippel, H.T.; Kloosterman, J.L.; Hoogenboom, J.E.; Bruggink, J.C.

1993-11-01

Benchmark results of the Dutch PINK working group on calculational benchmarks on single pin cell and multipin assemblies as defined by EPRI are presented and evaluated. First a short update of methods used by the various institutes involved is given as well as an update of the status with respect to previous performed pin-cell calculations. Problems detected in previous pin-cell calculations are inspected more closely. Detailed discussion of results of multipin assembly calculations is given. The assembly consists of 9 pins in a multicell square lattice in which the central pin is filled differently, i.e. a Gd pin for the BWR assembly and a control rod/guide tube for the PWR assembly. The results for pin cells showed a rather good overall agreement between the four participants although BWR pins with high void fraction turned out to be difficult to calculate. With respect to burnup calculations good overall agreement for the reactivity swing was obtained, provided that a fine time grid is used. (orig.)

QFD Based Benchmarking Logic Using TOPSIS and Suitability Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaeho Cho

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Users’ satisfaction on quality is a key that leads successful completion of the project in relation to decision-making issues in building design solutions. This study proposed QFD (quality function deployment based benchmarking logic of market products for building envelope solutions. Benchmarking logic is composed of QFD-TOPSIS and QFD-SI. QFD-TOPSIS assessment model is able to evaluate users’ preferences on building envelope solutions that are distributed in the market and may allow quick achievement of knowledge. TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution provides performance improvement criteria that help defining users’ target performance criteria. SI (Suitability Index allows analysis on suitability of the building envelope solution based on users’ required performance criteria. In Stage 1 of the case study, QFD-TOPSIS was used to benchmark the performance criteria of market envelope products. In Stage 2, a QFD-SI assessment was performed after setting user performance targets. The results of this study contribute to confirming the feasibility of QFD based benchmarking in the field of Building Envelope Performance Assessment (BEPA.

Shielding benchmark problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Shun-ichi; Sasamoto, Nobuo; Oka, Yoshiaki; Kawai, Masayoshi; Nakazawa, Masaharu.

1978-09-01

Shielding benchmark problems were prepared by the Working Group of Assessment of Shielding Experiments in the Research Comittee on Shielding Design of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, and compiled by the Shielding Laboratory of Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Twenty-one kinds of shielding benchmark problems are presented for evaluating the calculational algorithm and the accuracy of computer codes based on the discrete ordinates method and the Monte Carlo method and for evaluating the nuclear data used in the codes. (author)

ANN-Benchmarks: A Benchmarking Tool for Approximate Nearest Neighbor Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aumüller, Martin; Bernhardsson, Erik; Faithfull, Alexander

2017-01-01

This paper describes ANN-Benchmarks, a tool for evaluating the performance of in-memory approximate nearest neighbor algorithms. It provides a standard interface for measuring the performance and quality achieved by nearest neighbor algorithms on different standard data sets. It supports several...... visualise these as images, Open image in new window plots, and websites with interactive plots. ANN-Benchmarks aims to provide a constantly updated overview of the current state of the art of k-NN algorithms. In the short term, this overview allows users to choose the correct k-NN algorithm and parameters...... for their similarity search task; in the longer term, algorithm designers will be able to use this overview to test and refine automatic parameter tuning. The paper gives an overview of the system, evaluates the results of the benchmark, and points out directions for future work. Interestingly, very different...

Cloud-Based Evaluation of Anatomical Structure Segmentation and Landmark Detection Algorithms : VISCERAL Anatomy Benchmarks

OpenAIRE

Jimenez-del-Toro, Oscar; Muller, Henning; Krenn, Markus; Gruenberg, Katharina; Taha, Abdel Aziz; Winterstein, Marianne; Eggel, Ivan; Foncubierta-Rodriguez, Antonio; Goksel, Orcun; Jakab, Andres; Kontokotsios, Georgios; Langs, Georg; Menze, Bjoern H.; Fernandez, Tomas Salas; Schaer, Roger

2016-01-01

Variations in the shape and appearance of anatomical structures in medical images are often relevant radiological signs of disease. Automatic tools can help automate parts of this manual process. A cloud-based evaluation framework is presented in this paper including results of benchmarking current state-of-the-art medical imaging algorithms for anatomical structure segmentation and landmark detection: the VISCERAL Anatomy benchmarks. The algorithms are implemented in virtual machines in the ...

Benchmarking

OpenAIRE

Meylianti S., Brigita

1999-01-01

Benchmarking has different meaning to different people. There are five types of benchmarking, namely internal benchmarking, competitive benchmarking, industry / functional benchmarking, process / generic benchmarking and collaborative benchmarking. Each type of benchmarking has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. Therefore it is important to know what kind of benchmarking is suitable to a specific application. This paper will discuss those five types of benchmarking in detail, includ...

A framework for benchmarking land models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Q. Luo

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Land models, which have been developed by the modeling community in the past few decades to predict future states of ecosystems and climate, have to be critically evaluated for their performance skills of simulating ecosystem responses and feedback to climate change. Benchmarking is an emerging procedure to measure performance of models against a set of defined standards. This paper proposes a benchmarking framework for evaluation of land model performances and, meanwhile, highlights major challenges at this infant stage of benchmark analysis. The framework includes (1 targeted aspects of model performance to be evaluated, (2 a set of benchmarks as defined references to test model performance, (3 metrics to measure and compare performance skills among models so as to identify model strengths and deficiencies, and (4 model improvement. Land models are required to simulate exchange of water, energy, carbon and sometimes other trace gases between the atmosphere and land surface, and should be evaluated for their simulations of biophysical processes, biogeochemical cycles, and vegetation dynamics in response to climate change across broad temporal and spatial scales. Thus, one major challenge is to select and define a limited number of benchmarks to effectively evaluate land model performance. The second challenge is to develop metrics of measuring mismatches between models and benchmarks. The metrics may include (1 a priori thresholds of acceptable model performance and (2 a scoring system to combine data–model mismatches for various processes at different temporal and spatial scales. The benchmark analyses should identify clues of weak model performance to guide future development, thus enabling improved predictions of future states of ecosystems and climate. The near-future research effort should be on development of a set of widely acceptable benchmarks that can be used to objectively, effectively, and reliably evaluate fundamental properties

Shielding benchmark problems, (2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Shun-ichi; Sasamoto, Nobuo; Oka, Yoshiaki; Shin, Kazuo; Tada, Keiko.

1980-02-01

Shielding benchmark problems prepared by Working Group of Assessment of Shielding Experiments in the Research Committee on Shielding Design in the Atomic Energy Society of Japan were compiled by Shielding Laboratory in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Fourteen shielding benchmark problems are presented newly in addition to twenty-one problems proposed already, for evaluating the calculational algorithm and accuracy of computer codes based on discrete ordinates method and Monte Carlo method and for evaluating the nuclear data used in codes. The present benchmark problems are principally for investigating the backscattering and the streaming of neutrons and gamma rays in two- and three-dimensional configurations. (author)

Evaluation of the computer code system RADHEAT-V4 by analysing benchmark problems on radiation shielding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakamoto, Yukio; Naito, Yoshitaka

1990-11-01

A computer code system RADHEAT-V4 has been developed for safety evaluation on radiation shielding of nuclear fuel facilities. To evaluate the performance of the code system, 18 benchmark problem were selected and analysed. Evaluated radiations are neutron and gamma-ray. Benchmark problems consist of penetration, streaming and skyshine. The computed results show more accurate than those by the Sn codes ANISN and DOT3.5 or the Monte Carlo code MORSE. Big core memory and many times I/O are, however, required for RADHEAT-V4. (author)

Outpatient echocardiography in the evaluation of innocent murmurs in children: utilisation benchmarking.

Science.gov (United States)

Frias, Patricio A; Oster, Matthew; Daley, Patricia A; Boris, Jeffrey R

2016-03-01

We sought to benchmark the utilisation of echocardiography in the outpatient evaluation of heart murmurs by evaluating two large paediatric cardiology centres. Although criteria exist for appropriate use of echocardiography, there are no benchmarking data demonstrating its utilisation. We performed a retrospective cohort study of outpatients aged between 0 and 18 years at the Sibley Heart Center Cardiology and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology, given a sole diagnosis of "innocent murmur" from 1 July, 2007 to 31 October, 2010. Using internal claims data, we compared the utilisation of echocardiography according to centre, patient age, and physician years of service. Of 23,114 eligible patients (Sibley Heart Center Cardiology: 12,815, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology: 10,299), 43.1% (Sibley Heart Center Cardiology: 45.2%, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology: 40.4%; p1-5 years had the lowest utilisation (32.7%). In two large paediatric cardiology practices, the overall utilisation of echocardiography by physicians with a sole diagnosis of innocent murmur was similar. There was significant and similar variability in utilisation by provider at both centres. Although these data serve as initial benchmarking, the variability in utilisation highlights the importance of appropriate use criteria.

Benchmarking electricity distribution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watts, K. [Department of Justice and Attorney-General, QLD (Australia)

1995-12-31

Benchmarking has been described as a method of continuous improvement that involves an ongoing and systematic evaluation and incorporation of external products, services and processes recognised as representing best practice. It is a management tool similar to total quality management (TQM) and business process re-engineering (BPR), and is best used as part of a total package. This paper discusses benchmarking models and approaches and suggests a few key performance indicators that could be applied to benchmarking electricity distribution utilities. Some recent benchmarking studies are used as examples and briefly discussed. It is concluded that benchmarking is a strong tool to be added to the range of techniques that can be used by electricity distribution utilities and other organizations in search of continuous improvement, and that there is now a high level of interest in Australia. Benchmarking represents an opportunity for organizations to approach learning from others in a disciplined and highly productive way, which will complement the other micro-economic reforms being implemented in Australia. (author). 26 refs.

Netherlands contribution to the EC project: Benchmark exercise on dose estimation in a regulatory context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stolk, D.J.

1987-04-01

On request of the Netherlands government FEL-TNO is developing a decision support system with the acronym RAMBOS for the assessment of the off-site consequences of an accident with hazardous materials. This is a user friendly interactive computer program, which uses very sophisticated graphical means. RAMBOS supports the emergency planning organization in two ways. Firstly, the risk to the residents in the surroundings of the accident is quantified in terms of severity and magnitude (number of casualties, etc.). Secondly, the consequences of countermeasures, such as sheltering and evacuation, are predicted. By evaluating several countermeasures the user can determine an optimum policy to reduce the impact of the accident. Within the framework of the EC project 'Benchmark exercise on dose estimation in a regulatory context' on request of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment calculations were carried out with the RAMBOS system. This report contains the results of these calculations. 3 refs.; 2 figs.; 10 tabs

Repeated Results Analysis for Middleware Regression Benchmarking

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bulej, Lubomír; Kalibera, T.; Tůma, P.

2005-01-01

Roč. 60, - (2005), s. 345-358 ISSN 0166-5316 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA102/03/0672 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : middleware benchmarking * regression benchmarking * regression testing Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robotics Impact factor: 0.756, year: 2005

The Drill Down Benchmark

NARCIS (Netherlands)

P.A. Boncz (Peter); T. Rühl (Tim); F. Kwakkel

1998-01-01

textabstractData Mining places specific requirements on DBMS query performance that cannot be evaluated satisfactorily using existing OLAP benchmarks. The DD Benchmark - defined here - provides a practical case and yardstick to explore how well a DBMS is able to support Data Mining applications. It

Review of Seismic Evaluation Methodologies for Nuclear Power Plants Based on a Benchmark Exercise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-11-01

Niigataken-chuetsu-oki (NCO) earthquake (Mw = 6.6) occurred on 16 July 2007 and affected the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (K-K) NPP in Japan. Although there was significant loss of main shock data due to transmission problems, a significant number of instruments were still able to measure the acceleration at different locations in soil (boreholes) and in structures at the K-K NPP during the main shock and the aftershocks. The availability of all these instrumental data provided an excellent background for initiating a benchmarking exercise known as the KAshiwazaki-Kariwa Research Initiative for Seismic Margin Assessment (KARISMA). The main objective of the KARISMA benchmark exercise is to study a comparison between analytical seismic response versus real response of selected structure, system and components (SSCs) of K-K NPP Unit 7. The KARISMA benchmark exercise includes benchmarking the analytical tools and numerical simulation techniques used for predicting seismic response of NPP structures (in linear and non-linear ranges), site response, soil-structure interaction phenomena, seismic response of piping systems, 'sloshing' in the spent fuel pool and buckling of tanks. The benchmark is primarily based on data provided by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). It is not linked to the seismic re-evaluation of K-K NPP carried out by TEPCO. Twenty-one organizations, comprising researchers, operating organizations, regulatory authorities, vendors and technical support organizations from 14 countries, participated in the benchmarking exercises. This publication, including a CD-ROM, summarizes the analyses of the main results of the benchmarking exercise for the K-K NPP reactor building (including static and modal analyses of the fixed base model, soil column analyses, analyses of the soil-structure models and margin assessment of the K-K NPP reactor building), the analyses of the main results of the benchmarking exercise for the residual heat removal piping system (including

Validation of new evaluations for the main fuel nuclides using the ICSBEP handbook benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koscheev, V.; Manturov, G.; Rozhikhin, Y.; Tsibulya, A.

2008-01-01

The newest evaluations, adopted for Endf/B-VII.0, JEFF-3.1, JENDL-3.3 and the Russian library RUSFOND nuclear data files, for the most important fissile isotopes 235 U, 238 U, and 239 Pu are compared between each other and tested through a set of integral experiments, among them removal cross section under fission threshold of 238 U, critical infinite media Scherzo-556, and ICSBEP Handbook criticality safety benchmarks. Globally our benchmarking shows that these evaluations are in many cases very close. However, essential differences are observed through the analysis of critical systems with big enough content of 238 U. Large diversity still exists in inelastic scattering cross sections. We have to note that the divergence in the 238 U capture cross-section that existed in previous evaluations, has practically disappeared

PMLB: a large benchmark suite for machine learning evaluation and comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Randal S; La Cava, William; Orzechowski, Patryk; Urbanowicz, Ryan J; Moore, Jason H

2017-01-01

The selection, development, or comparison of machine learning methods in data mining can be a difficult task based on the target problem and goals of a particular study. Numerous publicly available real-world and simulated benchmark datasets have emerged from different sources, but their organization and adoption as standards have been inconsistent. As such, selecting and curating specific benchmarks remains an unnecessary burden on machine learning practitioners and data scientists. The present study introduces an accessible, curated, and developing public benchmark resource to facilitate identification of the strengths and weaknesses of different machine learning methodologies. We compare meta-features among the current set of benchmark datasets in this resource to characterize the diversity of available data. Finally, we apply a number of established machine learning methods to the entire benchmark suite and analyze how datasets and algorithms cluster in terms of performance. From this study, we find that existing benchmarks lack the diversity to properly benchmark machine learning algorithms, and there are several gaps in benchmarking problems that still need to be considered. This work represents another important step towards understanding the limitations of popular benchmarking suites and developing a resource that connects existing benchmarking standards to more diverse and efficient standards in the future.

MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF GUYANA’S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY USING A SET OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKING METRICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher J. Willis

2011-10-01

Full Text Available A study measuring the performance of Guyana’s construction industry using a set of project performance benchmarking metrics was recently completed. The underlying premise of the study was that the aggregated performance of construction projects provides a realistic assessment of the performance of the construction industry, on the basis that construction projects are the mechanism through which the construction industry creates its tangible products. The fact that an influential government agency acted as owner of the study was critical to the data collection phase. The best approach for collecting project performance data in Guyana involves the utilisation of a researcher or team of researchers mining electronic and hard copy project documents. This study analysed approximately 270 construction projects to obtain an indication of the performance of guyana’s construction industry. It was found that sea defence projects performed the worst, whereas health facility projects performed the best. The main implication of this is that sea defence projects are likely to be the least efficient and, given their critical nature, there is an argument for urgent performance improvement interventions.

The Benchmarking of Integrated Business Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nifatova Olena M.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to study the role of the benchmarking in the process of integration of business structures in the aspect of knowledge sharing. The results of studying the essential content of the concept “integrated business structure” and its semantic analysis made it possible to form our own understanding of this category with an emphasis on the need to consider it in the plane of three projections — legal, economic and organizational one. The economic projection of the essential content of integration associations of business units is supported by the organizational projection, which is expressed through such essential aspects as existence of a single center that makes key decisions; understanding integration as knowledge sharing; using the benchmarking as exchange of experience on key business processes. Understanding the process of integration of business units in the aspect of knowledge sharing involves obtaining certain information benefits. Using the benchmarking as exchange of experience on key business processes in integrated business structures will help improve the basic production processes, increase the efficiency of activity of both the individual business unit and the IBS as a whole.

Authentic e-Learning in a Multicultural Context: Virtual Benchmarking Cases from Five Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Leppisaari, Irja; Herrington, Jan; Vainio, Leena; Im, Yeonwook

2013-01-01

The implementation of authentic learning elements at education institutions in five countries, eight online courses in total, is examined in this paper. The International Virtual Benchmarking Project (2009-2010) applied the elements of authentic learning developed by Herrington and Oliver (2000) as criteria to evaluate authenticity. Twelve…

Benchmarking reference services: an introduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, J G; Buchanan, H S

1995-01-01

Benchmarking is based on the common sense idea that someone else, either inside or outside of libraries, has found a better way of doing certain things and that your own library's performance can be improved by finding out how others do things and adopting the best practices you find. Benchmarking is one of the tools used for achieving continuous improvement in Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. Although benchmarking can be done on an informal basis, TQM puts considerable emphasis on formal data collection and performance measurement. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to evaluate process performance. This article introduces the general concept of benchmarking, linking it whenever possible to reference services in health sciences libraries. Data collection instruments that have potential application in benchmarking studies are discussed and the need to develop common measurement tools to facilitate benchmarking is emphasized.

Benchmark analysis of MCNP trademark ENDF/B-VI iron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Court, J.D.; Hendricks, J.S.

1994-12-01

The MCNP ENDF/B-VI iron cross-section data was subjected to four benchmark studies as part of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki dose re-evaluation for the National Academy of Science and the Defense Nuclear Agency. The four benchmark studies were: (1) the iron sphere benchmarks from the Lawrence Livermore Pulsed Spheres; (2) the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Fusion Reactor Shielding Benchmark; (3) a 76-cm diameter iron sphere benchmark done at the University of Illinois; (4) the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Benchmark for Neutron Transport through Iron. MCNP4A was used to model each benchmark and computational results from the ENDF/B-VI iron evaluations were compared to ENDF/B-IV, ENDF/B-V, the MCNP Recommended Data Set (which includes Los Alamos National Laboratory Group T-2 evaluations), and experimental data. The results show that the ENDF/B-VI iron evaluations are as good as, or better than, previous data sets

Summary Report of Consultants' Meeting on Accuracy of Experimental and Theoretical Nuclear Cross-Section Data for Ion Beam Analysis and Benchmarking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abriola, Daniel; Dimitriou, Paraskevi; Gurbich, Alexander F.

2013-11-01

A summary is given of a Consultants' Meeting assembled to assess the accuracy of experimental and theoretical nuclear cross-section data for Ion Beam Analysis and the role of benchmarking experiments. The participants discussed the different approaches to assigning uncertainties to evaluated data, and presented results of benchmark experiments performed in their laboratories. They concluded that priority should be given to the validation of cross- section data by benchmark experiments, and recommended that an experts meeting be held to prepare the guidelines, methodology and work program of a future coordinated project on benchmarking.

Does Your Terrestrial Model Capture Key Arctic-Boreal Relationships?: Functional Benchmarks in the ABoVE Model Benchmarking System

Science.gov (United States)

Stofferahn, E.; Fisher, J. B.; Hayes, D. J.; Schwalm, C. R.; Huntzinger, D. N.; Hantson, W.

2017-12-01

The Arctic-Boreal Region (ABR) is a major source of uncertainties for terrestrial biosphere model (TBM) simulations. These uncertainties are precipitated by a lack of observational data from the region, affecting the parameterizations of cold environment processes in the models. Addressing these uncertainties requires a coordinated effort of data collection and integration of the following key indicators of the ABR ecosystem: disturbance, vegetation / ecosystem structure and function, carbon pools and biogeochemistry, permafrost, and hydrology. We are continuing to develop the model-data integration framework for NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), wherein data collection is driven by matching observations and model outputs to the ABoVE indicators via the ABoVE Grid and Projection. The data are used as reference datasets for a benchmarking system which evaluates TBM performance with respect to ABR processes. The benchmarking system utilizes two types of performance metrics to identify model strengths and weaknesses: standard metrics, based on the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILaMB) system, which relate a single observed variable to a single model output variable, and functional benchmarks, wherein the relationship of one variable to one or more variables (e.g. the dependence of vegetation structure on snow cover, the dependence of active layer thickness (ALT) on air temperature and snow cover) is ascertained in both observations and model outputs. This in turn provides guidance to model development teams for reducing uncertainties in TBM simulations of the ABR.

The extent of benchmarking in the South African financial sector

OpenAIRE

W Vermeulen

2014-01-01

Benchmarking is the process of identifying, understanding and adapting outstanding practices from within the organisation or from other businesses, to help improve performance. The importance of benchmarking as an enabler of business excellence has necessitated an in-depth investigation into the current state of benchmarking in South Africa. This research project highlights the fact that respondents realise the importance of benchmarking, but that various problems hinder the effective impleme...

Benchmarking foreign electronics technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bostian, C.W.; Hodges, D.A.; Leachman, R.C.; Sheridan, T.B.; Tsang, W.T.; White, R.M.

1994-12-01

This report has been drafted in response to a request from the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center`s (JTEC) Panel on Benchmarking Select Technologies. Since April 1991, the Competitive Semiconductor Manufacturing (CSM) Program at the University of California at Berkeley has been engaged in a detailed study of quality, productivity, and competitiveness in semiconductor manufacturing worldwide. The program is a joint activity of the College of Engineering, the Haas School of Business, and the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, under sponsorship of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and with the cooperation of semiconductor producers from Asia, Europe and the United States. Professors David A. Hodges and Robert C. Leachman are the project`s Co-Directors. The present report for JTEC is primarily based on data and analysis drawn from that continuing program. The CSM program is being conducted by faculty, graduate students and research staff from UC Berkeley`s Schools of Engineering and Business, and Department of Economics. Many of the participating firms are represented on the program`s Industry Advisory Board. The Board played an important role in defining the research agenda. A pilot study was conducted in 1991 with the cooperation of three semiconductor plants. The research plan and survey documents were thereby refined. The main phase of the CSM benchmarking study began in mid-1992 and will continue at least through 1997. reports are presented on the manufacture of integrated circuits; data storage; wireless technology; human-machine interfaces; and optoelectronics. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

An Evaluation of Fault Tolerant Wind Turbine Control Schemes applied to a Benchmark Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Odgaard, Peter Fogh; Stoustrup, Jakob

2014-01-01

Reliability and availability of modern wind turbines increases in importance as the ratio in the world's power supply increases. This is important in order to increase the energy generated per unit and their lowering cost of energy and as well to ensure availability of generated power, which helps...... on this benchmark and is especially good accommodating sensors faults. The two other evaluated solutions do also well accommodating sensors faults, but have some issues which should be worked on, before they can be considered as a full solution to the benchmark problem....

The extent of benchmarking in the South African financial sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W Vermeulen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Benchmarking is the process of identifying, understanding and adapting outstanding practices from within the organisation or from other businesses, to help improve performance. The importance of benchmarking as an enabler of business excellence has necessitated an in-depth investigation into the current state of benchmarking in South Africa. This research project highlights the fact that respondents realise the importance of benchmarking, but that various problems hinder the effective implementation of benchmarking. Based on the research findings, recommendations for achieving success are suggested.

BONFIRE: benchmarking computers and computer networks

OpenAIRE

Bouckaert, Stefan; Vanhie-Van Gerwen, Jono; Moerman, Ingrid; Phillips, Stephen; Wilander, Jerker

2011-01-01

The benchmarking concept is not new in the field of computing or computer networking. With “benchmarking tools”, one usually refers to a program or set of programs, used to evaluate the performance of a solution under certain reference conditions, relative to the performance of another solution. Since the 1970s, benchmarking techniques have been used to measure the performance of computers and computer networks. Benchmarking of applications and virtual machines in an Infrastructure-as-a-Servi...

IAEA sodium void reactivity benchmark calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, R.N.; Finck, P.J.

1992-01-01

In this paper, the IAEA-1 992 ''Benchmark Calculation of Sodium Void Reactivity Effect in Fast Reactor Core'' problem is evaluated. The proposed design is a large axially heterogeneous oxide-fueled fast reactor as described in Section 2; the core utilizes a sodium plenum above the core to enhance leakage effects. The calculation methods used in this benchmark evaluation are described in Section 3. In Section 4, the calculated core performance results for the benchmark reactor model are presented; and in Section 5, the influence of steel and interstitial sodium heterogeneity effects is estimated

Numisheet2005 Benchmark Analysis on Forming of an Automotive Underbody Cross Member: Benchmark 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buranathiti, Thaweepat; Cao Jian

2005-01-01

This report presents an international cooperation benchmark effort focusing on simulations of a sheet metal stamping process. A forming process of an automotive underbody cross member using steel and aluminum blanks is used as a benchmark. Simulation predictions from each submission are analyzed via comparison with the experimental results. A brief summary of various models submitted for this benchmark study is discussed. Prediction accuracy of each parameter of interest is discussed through the evaluation of cumulative errors from each submission

OXBench: A benchmark for evaluation of protein multiple sequence alignment accuracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Searle Stephen MJ

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The alignment of two or more protein sequences provides a powerful guide in the prediction of the protein structure and in identifying key functional residues, however, the utility of any prediction is completely dependent on the accuracy of the alignment. In this paper we describe a suite of reference alignments derived from the comparison of protein three-dimensional structures together with evaluation measures and software that allow automatically generated alignments to be benchmarked. We test the OXBench benchmark suite on alignments generated by the AMPS multiple alignment method, then apply the suite to compare eight different multiple alignment algorithms. The benchmark shows the current state-of-the art for alignment accuracy and provides a baseline against which new alignment algorithms may be judged. Results The simple hierarchical multiple alignment algorithm, AMPS, performed as well as or better than more modern methods such as CLUSTALW once the PAM250 pair-score matrix was replaced by a BLOSUM series matrix. AMPS gave an accuracy in Structurally Conserved Regions (SCRs of 89.9% over a set of 672 alignments. The T-COFFEE method on a data set of families with http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk. Conclusions The OXBench suite of reference alignments, evaluation software and results database provide a convenient method to assess progress in sequence alignment techniques. Evaluation measures that were dependent on comparison to a reference alignment were found to give good discrimination between methods. The STAMP Sc Score which is independent of a reference alignment also gave good discrimination. Application of OXBench in this paper shows that with the exception of T-COFFEE, the majority of the improvement in alignment accuracy seen since 1985 stems from improved pair-score matrices rather than algorithmic refinements. The maximum theoretical alignment accuracy obtained by pooling results over all methods was 94

Benchmarking NNWSI flow and transport codes: COVE 1 results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayden, N.K.

1985-06-01

The code verification (COVE) activity of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project is the first step in certification of flow and transport codes used for NNWSI performance assessments of a geologic repository for disposing of high-level radioactive wastes. The goals of the COVE activity are (1) to demonstrate and compare the numerical accuracy and sensitivity of certain codes, (2) to identify and resolve problems in running typical NNWSI performance assessment calculations, and (3) to evaluate computer requirements for running the codes. This report describes the work done for COVE 1, the first step in benchmarking some of the codes. Isothermal calculations for the COVE 1 benchmarking have been completed using the hydrologic flow codes SAGUARO, TRUST, and GWVIP; the radionuclide transport codes FEMTRAN and TRUMP; and the coupled flow and transport code TRACR3D. This report presents the results of three cases of the benchmarking problem solved for COVE 1, a comparison of the results, questions raised regarding sensitivities to modeling techniques, and conclusions drawn regarding the status and numerical sensitivities of the codes. 30 refs

Yucca Mountain Project thermal and mechanical codes first benchmark exercise: Part 3, Jointed rock mass analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costin, L.S.; Bauer, S.J.

1991-10-01

Thermal and mechanical models for intact and jointed rock mass behavior are being developed, verified, and validated at Sandia National Laboratories for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. Benchmarking is an essential part of this effort and is one of the tools used to demonstrate verification of engineering software used to solve thermomechanical problems. This report presents the results of the third (and final) phase of the first thermomechanical benchmark exercise. In the first phase of this exercise, nonlinear heat conduction code were used to solve the thermal portion of the benchmark problem. The results from the thermal analysis were then used as input to the second and third phases of the exercise, which consisted of solving the structural portion of the benchmark problem. In the second phase of the exercise, a linear elastic rock mass model was used. In the third phase of the exercise, two different nonlinear jointed rock mass models were used to solve the thermostructural problem. Both models, the Sandia compliant joint model and the RE/SPEC joint empirical model, explicitly incorporate the effect of the joints on the response of the continuum. Three different structural codes, JAC, SANCHO, and SPECTROM-31, were used with the above models in the third phase of the study. Each model was implemented in two different codes so that direct comparisons of results from each model could be made. The results submitted by the participants showed that the finite element solutions using each model were in reasonable agreement. Some consistent differences between the solutions using the two different models were noted but are not considered important to verification of the codes. 9 refs., 18 figs., 8 tabs

Evaluation of CHO Benchmarks on the Arria 10 FPGA using Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Zheming [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Yoshii, Kazutomo [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Finkel, Hal [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Cappello, Franck [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2017-05-23

The OpenCL standard is an open programming model for accelerating algorithms on heterogeneous computing system. OpenCL extends the C-based programming language for developing portable codes on different platforms such as CPU, Graphics processing units (GPUs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL is a suite of tools that allows developers to abstract away the complex FPGA-based development flow for a high-level software development flow. Users can focus on the design of hardware-accelerated kernel functions in OpenCL and then direct the tools to generate the low-level FPGA implementations. The approach makes the FPGA-based development more accessible to software users as the needs for hybrid computing using CPUs and FPGAs are increasing. It can also significantly reduce the hardware development time as users can evaluate different ideas with high-level language without deep FPGA domain knowledge. Benchmarking of OpenCL-based framework is an effective way for analyzing the performance of system by studying the execution of the benchmark applications. CHO is a suite of benchmark applications that provides support for OpenCL [1]. The authors presented CHO as an OpenCL port of the CHStone benchmark. Using Altera OpenCL (AOCL) compiler to synthesize the benchmark applications, they listed the resource usage and performance of each kernel that can be successfully synthesized by the compiler. In this report, we evaluate the resource usage and performance of the CHO benchmark applications using the Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL and Nallatech 385A FPGA board that features an Arria 10 FPGA device. The focus of the report is to have a better understanding of the resource usage and performance of the kernel implementations using Arria-10 FPGA devices compared to Stratix-5 FPGA devices. In addition, we also gain knowledge about the limitations of the current compiler when it fails to synthesize a benchmark

A European benchmarking system to evaluate in-hospital mortality rates in acute coronary syndrome: the EURHOBOP project.

Science.gov (United States)

Dégano, Irene R; Subirana, Isaac; Torre, Marina; Grau, María; Vila, Joan; Fusco, Danilo; Kirchberger, Inge; Ferrières, Jean; Malmivaara, Antti; Azevedo, Ana; Meisinger, Christa; Bongard, Vanina; Farmakis, Dimitros; Davoli, Marina; Häkkinen, Unto; Araújo, Carla; Lekakis, John; Elosua, Roberto; Marrugat, Jaume

2015-03-01

Hospital performance models in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are useful to assess patient management. While models are available for individual countries, mainly US, cross-European performance models are lacking. Thus, we aimed to develop a system to benchmark European hospitals in AMI and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), based on predicted in-hospital mortality. We used the EURopean HOspital Benchmarking by Outcomes in ACS Processes (EURHOBOP) cohort to develop the models, which included 11,631 AMI patients and 8276 acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients who underwent PCI. Models were validated with a cohort of 55,955 European ACS patients. Multilevel logistic regression was used to predict in-hospital mortality in European hospitals for AMI and PCI. Administrative and clinical models were constructed with patient- and hospital-level covariates, as well as hospital- and country-based random effects. Internal cross-validation and external validation showed good discrimination at the patient level and good calibration at the hospital level, based on the C-index (0.736-0.819) and the concordance correlation coefficient (55.4%-80.3%). Mortality ratios (MRs) showed excellent concordance between administrative and clinical models (97.5% for AMI and 91.6% for PCI). Exclusion of transfers and hospital stays ≤1day did not affect in-hospital mortality prediction in sensitivity analyses, as shown by MR concordance (80.9%-85.4%). Models were used to develop a benchmarking system to compare in-hospital mortality rates of European hospitals with similar characteristics. The developed system, based on the EURHOBOP models, is a simple and reliable tool to compare in-hospital mortality rates between European hospitals in AMI and PCI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integral benchmarks with reference to thorium fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ganesan, S.

2003-01-01

This is a power point presentation about the Indian participation in the CRP 'Evaluated Data for the Thorium-Uranium fuel cycle'. The plans and scope of the Indian participation are to provide selected integral experimental benchmarks for nuclear data validation, including Indian Thorium burn up benchmarks, post-irradiation examination studies, comparison of basic evaluated data files and analysis of selected benchmarks for Th-U fuel cycle

Benchmarking Using Basic DBMS Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Crolotte, Alain; Ghazal, Ahmad

The TPC-H benchmark proved to be successful in the decision support area. Many commercial database vendors and their related hardware vendors used these benchmarks to show the superiority and competitive edge of their products. However, over time, the TPC-H became less representative of industry trends as vendors keep tuning their database to this benchmark-specific workload. In this paper, we present XMarq, a simple benchmark framework that can be used to compare various software/hardware combinations. Our benchmark model is currently composed of 25 queries that measure the performance of basic operations such as scans, aggregations, joins and index access. This benchmark model is based on the TPC-H data model due to its maturity and well-understood data generation capability. We also propose metrics to evaluate single-system performance and compare two systems. Finally we illustrate the effectiveness of this model by showing experimental results comparing two systems under different conditions.

Accelerator shielding benchmark problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirayama, H.; Ban, S.; Nakamura, T.

1993-01-01

Accelerator shielding benchmark problems prepared by Working Group of Accelerator Shielding in the Research Committee on Radiation Behavior in the Atomic Energy Society of Japan were compiled by Radiation Safety Control Center of National Laboratory for High Energy Physics. Twenty-five accelerator shielding benchmark problems are presented for evaluating the calculational algorithm, the accuracy of computer codes and the nuclear data used in codes. (author)

International benchmarking of specialty hospitals. A series of case studies on comprehensive cancer centres

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Background Benchmarking is one of the methods used in business that is applied to hospitals to improve the management of their operations. International comparison between hospitals can explain performance differences. As there is a trend towards specialization of hospitals, this study examines the benchmarking process and the success factors of benchmarking in international specialized cancer centres. Methods Three independent international benchmarking studies on operations management in cancer centres were conducted. The first study included three comprehensive cancer centres (CCC), three chemotherapy day units (CDU) were involved in the second study and four radiotherapy departments were included in the final study. Per multiple case study a research protocol was used to structure the benchmarking process. After reviewing the multiple case studies, the resulting description was used to study the research objectives. Results We adapted and evaluated existing benchmarking processes through formalizing stakeholder involvement and verifying the comparability of the partners. We also devised a framework to structure the indicators to produce a coherent indicator set and better improvement suggestions. Evaluating the feasibility of benchmarking as a tool to improve hospital processes led to mixed results. Case study 1 resulted in general recommendations for the organizations involved. In case study 2, the combination of benchmarking and lean management led in one CDU to a 24% increase in bed utilization and a 12% increase in productivity. Three radiotherapy departments of case study 3, were considering implementing the recommendations. Additionally, success factors, such as a well-defined and small project scope, partner selection based on clear criteria, stakeholder involvement, simple and well-structured indicators, analysis of both the process and its results and, adapt the identified better working methods to the own setting, were found. Conclusions The improved

Analysis of the impact of correlated benchmark experiments on the validation of codes for criticality safety analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bock, M.; Stuke, M.; Behler, M.

2013-01-01

The validation of a code for criticality safety analysis requires the recalculation of benchmark experiments. The selected benchmark experiments are chosen such that they have properties similar to the application case that has to be assessed. A common source of benchmark experiments is the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments' (ICSBEP Handbook) compiled by the 'International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project' (ICSBEP). In order to take full advantage of the information provided by the individual benchmark descriptions for the application case, the recommended procedure is to perform an uncertainty analysis. The latter is based on the uncertainties of experimental results included in most of the benchmark descriptions. They can be performed by means of the Monte Carlo sampling technique. The consideration of uncertainties is also being introduced in the supplementary sheet of DIN 25478 'Application of computer codes in the assessment of criticality safety'. However, for a correct treatment of uncertainties taking into account the individual uncertainties of the benchmark experiments is insufficient. In addition, correlations between benchmark experiments have to be handled correctly. For example, these correlations can arise due to different cases of a benchmark experiment sharing the same components like fuel pins or fissile solutions. Thus, manufacturing tolerances of these components (e.g. diameter of the fuel pellets) have to be considered in a consistent manner in all cases of the benchmark experiment. At the 2012 meeting of the Expert Group on 'Uncertainty Analysis for Criticality Safety Assessment' (UACSA) of the OECD/NEA a benchmark proposal was outlined that aimed for the determination of the impact on benchmark correlations on the estimation of the computational bias of the neutron multiplication factor (k eff ). The analysis presented here is based on this proposal. (orig.)

Sieve of Eratosthenes benchmarks for the Z8 FORTH microcontroller

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Edwards, R.

1989-02-01

This report presents benchmarks for the Z8 FORTH microcontroller system that ORNL uses extensively in proving concepts and developing prototype test equipment for the Smart House Project. The results are based on the sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm, a calculation used extensively to rate computer systems and programming languages. Three benchmark refinements are presented,each showing how the execution speed of a FORTH program can be improved by use of a particular optimization technique. The last version of the FORTH benchmark shows that optimization is worth the effort: It executes 20 times faster than the Gilbreaths' widely-published FORTH benchmark program. The National Association of Home Builders Smart House Project is a cooperative research and development effort being undertaken by American home builders and a number of major corporations serving the home building industry. The major goal of the project is to help the participating organizations incorporate advanced technology in communications,energy distribution, and appliance control products for American homes. This information is provided to help project participants use the Z8 FORTH prototyping microcontroller in developing Smart House concepts and equipment. The discussion is technical in nature and assumes some experience with microcontroller devices and the techniques used to develop software for them. 7 refs., 5 tabs.

Consultants' Meeting on Review Benchmarking of Nuclear Data for the Th/U Fuel Cycle. Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Capote Noy, R.

2011-02-01

A summary is given of the Consultants' Meeting (CM) on Review and Benchmarking of Nuclear Data for the Th/U Fuel Cycle. An IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on 'Nuclear Data for Th/U Fuel Cycle' was concluded in 2005. The CRP activities resulted in new evaluated nuclear data files for 232 Th, 231 , 233 Pa (later adopted for the ENDF/B-VII.0 library) and improvements to existing evaluations for 232 , 233 , 234 , 236 U. Available nuclear data evaluations for 230 - 232 Th, 231,233 Pa and 232 , 233 , 234 U were reviewed including ROSFOND2010, CENDL-3.1, JENDL-4, JEFF-3.1.1, MINSKACT, and ENDF/B-VII.0 libraries. Benchmark results of available evaluations for 232 Th and 233 U were also discussed. (author)

COVE 2A Benchmarking calculations using NORIA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carrigan, C.R.; Bixler, N.E.; Hopkins, P.L.; Eaton, R.R.

1991-10-01

Six steady-state and six transient benchmarking calculations have been performed, using the finite element code NORIA, to simulate one-dimensional infiltration into Yucca Mountain. These calculations were made to support the code verification (COVE 2A) activity for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. COVE 2A evaluates the usefulness of numerical codes for analyzing the hydrology of the potential Yucca Mountain site. Numerical solutions for all cases were found to be stable. As expected, the difficulties and computer-time requirements associated with obtaining solutions increased with infiltration rate. 10 refs., 128 figs., 5 tabs

WWER-1000 Burnup Credit Benchmark (CB5)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manolova, M.A.

2002-01-01

In the paper the specification of WWER-1000 Burnup Credit Benchmark first phase (depletion calculations), given. The second phase - criticality calculations for the WWER-1000 fuel pin cell, will be given after the evaluation of the results, obtained at the first phase. The proposed benchmark is a continuation of the WWER benchmark activities in this field (Author)

Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database

Science.gov (United States)

SRD 101 NIST Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database (Web, free access)   The NIST Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database is a collection of experimental and ab initio thermochemical properties for a selected set of molecules. The goals are to provide a benchmark set of molecules for the evaluation of ab initio computational methods and allow the comparison between different ab initio computational methods for the prediction of thermochemical properties.

Benchmarking a geostatistical procedure for the homogenisation of annual precipitation series

Science.gov (United States)

Caineta, Júlio; Ribeiro, Sara; Henriques, Roberto; Soares, Amílcar; Costa, Ana Cristina

2014-05-01

The European project COST Action ES0601, Advances in homogenisation methods of climate series: an integrated approach (HOME), has brought to attention the importance of establishing reliable homogenisation methods for climate data. In order to achieve that, a benchmark data set, containing monthly and daily temperature and precipitation data, was created to be used as a comparison basis for the effectiveness of those methods. Several contributions were submitted and evaluated by a number of performance metrics, validating the results against realistic inhomogeneous data. HOME also led to the development of new homogenisation software packages, which included feedback and lessons learned during the project. Preliminary studies have suggested a geostatistical stochastic approach, which uses Direct Sequential Simulation (DSS), as a promising methodology for the homogenisation of precipitation data series. Based on the spatial and temporal correlation between the neighbouring stations, DSS calculates local probability density functions at a candidate station to detect inhomogeneities. The purpose of the current study is to test and compare this geostatistical approach with the methods previously presented in the HOME project, using surrogate precipitation series from the HOME benchmark data set. The benchmark data set contains monthly precipitation surrogate series, from which annual precipitation data series were derived. These annual precipitation series were subject to exploratory analysis and to a thorough variography study. The geostatistical approach was then applied to the data set, based on different scenarios for the spatial continuity. Implementing this procedure also promoted the development of a computer program that aims to assist on the homogenisation of climate data, while minimising user interaction. Finally, in order to compare the effectiveness of this methodology with the homogenisation methods submitted during the HOME project, the obtained results

Benchmarking in digital circuit design automation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jozwiak, L.; Gawlowski, D.M.; Slusarczyk, A.S.

2008-01-01

This paper focuses on benchmarking, which is the main experimental approach to the design method and EDA-tool analysis, characterization and evaluation. We discuss the importance and difficulties of benchmarking, as well as the recent research effort related to it. To resolve several serious

Benchmark for evaluation and validation of reactor simulations (BEAVRS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horelik, N.; Herman, B.; Forget, B.; Smith, K. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2013-07-01

Advances in parallel computing have made possible the development of high-fidelity tools for the design and analysis of nuclear reactor cores, and such tools require extensive verification and validation. This paper introduces BEAVRS, a new multi-cycle full-core Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) depletion benchmark based on two operational cycles of a commercial nuclear power plant that provides a detailed description of fuel assemblies, burnable absorbers, in-core fission detectors, core loading patterns, and numerous in-vessel components. This benchmark enables analysts to develop extremely detailed reactor core models that can be used for testing and validation of coupled neutron transport, thermal-hydraulics, and fuel isotopic depletion. The benchmark also provides measured reactor data for Hot Zero Power (HZP) physics tests, boron letdown curves, and three-dimensional in-core flux maps from fifty-eight instrumented assemblies. Initial comparisons between calculations performed with MIT's OpenMC Monte Carlo neutron transport code and measured cycle 1 HZP test data are presented, and these results display an average deviation of approximately 100 pcm for the various critical configurations and control rod worth measurements. Computed HZP radial fission detector flux maps also agree reasonably well with the available measured data. All results indicate that this benchmark will be extremely useful in validation of coupled-physics codes and uncertainty quantification of in-core physics computational predictions. The detailed BEAVRS specification and its associated data package is hosted online at the MIT Computational Reactor Physics Group web site (http://crpg.mit.edu/), where future revisions and refinements to the benchmark specification will be made publicly available. (authors)

Pescara benchmark: overview of modelling, testing and identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellino, A; Garibaldi, L; Marchesiello, S; Brancaleoni, F; Gabriele, S; Spina, D; Bregant, L; Carminelli, A; Catania, G; Sorrentino, S; Di Evangelista, A; Valente, C; Zuccarino, L

2011-01-01

The 'Pescara benchmark' is part of the national research project 'BriViDi' (BRIdge VIbrations and DIagnosis) supported by the Italian Ministero dell'Universita e Ricerca. The project is aimed at developing an integrated methodology for the structural health evaluation of railway r/c, p/c bridges. The methodology should provide for applicability in operating conditions, easy data acquisition through common industrial instrumentation, robustness and reliability against structural and environmental uncertainties. The Pescara benchmark consisted in lab tests to get a consistent and large experimental data base and subsequent data processing. Special tests were devised to simulate the train transit effects in actual field conditions. Prestressed concrete beams of current industrial production both sound and damaged at various severity corrosion levels were tested. The results were collected either in a deterministic setting and in a form suitable to deal with experimental uncertainties. Damage identification was split in two approaches: with or without a reference model. In the first case f.e. models were used in conjunction with non conventional updating techniques. In the second case, specialized output-only identification techniques capable to deal with time-variant and possibly non linear systems were developed. The lab tests allowed validating the above approaches and the performances of classical modal based damage indicators.

How to achieve and prove performance improvement - 15 years of experience in German wastewater benchmarking.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertzbach, F; Franz, T; Möller, K

2012-01-01

This paper shows the results of performance improvement, which have been achieved in benchmarking projects in the wastewater industry in Germany over the last 15 years. A huge number of changes in operational practice and also in achieved annual savings can be shown, induced in particular by benchmarking at process level. Investigation of this question produces some general findings for the inclusion of performance improvement in a benchmarking project and for the communication of its results. Thus, we elaborate on the concept of benchmarking at both utility and process level, which is still a necessary distinction for the integration of performance improvement into our benchmarking approach. To achieve performance improvement via benchmarking it should be made quite clear that this outcome depends, on one hand, on a well conducted benchmarking programme and, on the other, on the individual situation within each participating utility.

The level 1 and 2 specification for parallel benchmark and a benchmark test of scalar-parallel computer SP2 based on the specifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orii, Shigeo

1998-06-01

A benchmark specification for performance evaluation of parallel computers for numerical analysis is proposed. Level 1 benchmark, which is a conventional type benchmark using processing time, measures performance of computers running a code. Level 2 benchmark proposed in this report is to give the reason of the performance. As an example, scalar-parallel computer SP2 is evaluated with this benchmark specification in case of a molecular dynamics code. As a result, the main causes to suppress the parallel performance are maximum band width and start-up time of communication between nodes. Especially the start-up time is proportional not only to the number of processors but also to the number of particles. (author)

MoMaS reactive transport benchmark using PFLOTRAN

Science.gov (United States)

Park, H.

2017-12-01

MoMaS benchmark was developed to enhance numerical simulation capability for reactive transport modeling in porous media. The benchmark was published in late September of 2009; it is not taken from a real chemical system, but realistic and numerically challenging tests. PFLOTRAN is a state-of-art massively parallel subsurface flow and reactive transport code that is being used in multiple nuclear waste repository projects at Sandia National Laboratories including Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and Used Fuel Disposition. MoMaS benchmark has three independent tests with easy, medium, and hard chemical complexity. This paper demonstrates how PFLOTRAN is applied to this benchmark exercise and shows results of the easy benchmark test case which includes mixing of aqueous components and surface complexation. Surface complexations consist of monodentate and bidentate reactions which introduces difficulty in defining selectivity coefficient if the reaction applies to a bulk reference volume. The selectivity coefficient becomes porosity dependent for bidentate reaction in heterogeneous porous media. The benchmark is solved by PFLOTRAN with minimal modification to address the issue and unit conversions were made properly to suit PFLOTRAN.

A new algorithm for benchmarking in integer data envelopment analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Omran

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of integer data in data envelopment analysis (DEA. The inputs and outputs in different types of DEA are considered to be continuous. In most application-oriented problems, some or all data are integers; and subsequently, the continuous condition of the values is omitted. For example, situations in which the inputs/outputs are representatives of the number of cars, people, etc. In fact, the benchmark unit is artificial and does not contain integer inputs/outputs after projection on the efficiency frontier. By rounding off the projection point, we may lose the feasibility or end up having inefficient DMU. In such cases, it is required to provide a benchmark unit such that the considered unit reaches the efficiency. In the present short communication, by proposing a novel algorithm, the projecting of an inefficient DMU is carried out in such a way that produced benchmarking takes values with fully integer inputs/outputs.

Conceptual Soundness, Metric Development, Benchmarking, and Targeting for PATH Subprogram Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mosey. G.; Doris, E.; Coggeshall, C.; Antes, M.; Ruch, J.; Mortensen, J.

2009-01-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the conceptual soundness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) program's revised goals and establish and apply a framework to identify and recommend metrics that are the most useful for measuring PATH's progress. This report provides an evaluative review of PATH's revised goals, outlines a structured method for identifying and selecting metrics, proposes metrics and benchmarks for a sampling of individual PATH programs, and discusses other metrics that potentially could be developed that may add value to the evaluation process. The framework and individual program metrics can be used for ongoing management improvement efforts and to inform broader program-level metrics for government reporting requirements.

Three-dimensional RAMA fluence methodology benchmarking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, S. P.; Carter, R. G.; Watkins, K. E.; Jones, D. B.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the benchmarking of the RAMA Fluence Methodology software, that has been performed in accordance with U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide 1.190. The RAMA Fluence Methodology has been developed by TransWare Enterprises Inc. through funding provided by the Electric Power Research Inst., Inc. (EPRI) and the Boiling Water Reactor Vessel and Internals Project (BWRVIP). The purpose of the software is to provide an accurate method for calculating neutron fluence in BWR pressure vessels and internal components. The Methodology incorporates a three-dimensional deterministic transport solution with flexible arbitrary geometry representation of reactor system components, previously available only with Monte Carlo solution techniques. Benchmarking was performed on measurements obtained from three standard benchmark problems which include the Pool Criticality Assembly (PCA), VENUS-3, and H. B. Robinson Unit 2 benchmarks, and on flux wire measurements obtained from two BWR nuclear plants. The calculated to measured (C/M) ratios range from 0.93 to 1.04 demonstrating the accuracy of the RAMA Fluence Methodology in predicting neutron flux, fluence, and dosimetry activation. (authors)

Benchmarking Analysis between CONTEMPT and COPATTA Containment Codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, Kwi Hyun; Song, Wan Jung [ENERGEO Inc. Sungnam, (Korea, Republic of); Song, Dong Soo; Byun, Choong Sup [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

2006-07-01

The containment is the requirement that the releases of radioactive materials subsequent to an accident do not result in doses in excess of the values specified in 10 CFR 100. The containment must withstand the pressure and temperature of the DBA(Design Basis Accident) including margin without exceeding the design leakage rate. COPATTA as Bechtel's vendor code is used for the containment pressure and temperature prediction in power uprating project for Kori 3,4 and Yonggwang 1,2 nuclear power plants(NPPs). However, CONTEMPTLT/ 028 is used for calculating the containment pressure and temperatures in equipment qualification project for the same NPPs. During benchmarking analysis between two codes, it is known two codes have model differences. This paper show the performance evaluation results because of the main model differences.

Benchmarking Analysis between CONTEMPT and COPATTA Containment Codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Kwi Hyun; Song, Wan Jung; Song, Dong Soo; Byun, Choong Sup

2006-01-01

The containment is the requirement that the releases of radioactive materials subsequent to an accident do not result in doses in excess of the values specified in 10 CFR 100. The containment must withstand the pressure and temperature of the DBA(Design Basis Accident) including margin without exceeding the design leakage rate. COPATTA as Bechtel's vendor code is used for the containment pressure and temperature prediction in power uprating project for Kori 3,4 and Yonggwang 1,2 nuclear power plants(NPPs). However, CONTEMPTLT/ 028 is used for calculating the containment pressure and temperatures in equipment qualification project for the same NPPs. During benchmarking analysis between two codes, it is known two codes have model differences. This paper show the performance evaluation results because of the main model differences

THE MODEL OF FORMATION A PORTFOLIO OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES PROJECTS OF HEI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Сергей Васильевич РУДЕНКО

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses an approach to assessing the project's value of the university international activities, based on the method of expert assessments and fuzzy-multiple method. Evaluating the effectiveness of the university-based project approach is a key factor in its competitiveness. The necessity substantiated of projects valuation of the university international activities. The concept is based on the matrices evaluation value product, process, international activities and development. For integral evaluation value of the university international activities project, we propose viewed from the standpoint of efficiency of all its results. These results can be roughly characterized by the following benchmarks: educational, scientific, technical, political, economic and social. In turn, key benchmarks characterized by its parameters, which estimate conducted by experts. Rating value of the university international activities project is to define the integral indicator of the value of the project. The proposed approach to determining the value of the international activities university projects, based on expert assessments and methods of fuzzy set theory will evaluate the effectiveness of these projects and implement the optimal choice.

Benchmark simulation models, quo vadis?

Science.gov (United States)

Jeppsson, U; Alex, J; Batstone, D J; Benedetti, L; Comas, J; Copp, J B; Corominas, L; Flores-Alsina, X; Gernaey, K V; Nopens, I; Pons, M-N; Rodríguez-Roda, I; Rosen, C; Steyer, J-P; Vanrolleghem, P A; Volcke, E I P; Vrecko, D

2013-01-01

As the work of the IWA Task Group on Benchmarking of Control Strategies for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is coming to an end, it is essential to disseminate the knowledge gained. For this reason, all authors of the IWA Scientific and Technical Report on benchmarking have come together to provide their insights, highlighting areas where knowledge may still be deficient and where new opportunities are emerging, and to propose potential avenues for future development and application of the general benchmarking framework and its associated tools. The paper focuses on the topics of temporal and spatial extension, process modifications within the WWTP, the realism of models, control strategy extensions and the potential for new evaluation tools within the existing benchmark system. We find that there are major opportunities for application within all of these areas, either from existing work already being done within the context of the benchmarking simulation models (BSMs) or applicable work in the wider literature. Of key importance is increasing capability, usability and transparency of the BSM package while avoiding unnecessary complexity.

Benchmarking of nuclear economics tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, Megan; Korinny, Andriy; Shropshire, David; Sadhankar, Ramesh

2017-01-01

Highlights: • INPRO and GIF economic tools exhibited good alignment in total capital cost estimation. • Subtle discrepancies in the cost result from differences in financing and the fuel cycle assumptions. • A common set of assumptions was found to reduce the discrepancies to 1% or less. • Opportunities for harmonisation of economic tools exists. - Abstract: Benchmarking of the economics methodologies developed by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), was performed for three Generation IV nuclear energy systems. The Economic Modeling Working Group of GIF developed an Excel based spreadsheet package, G4ECONS (Generation 4 Excel-based Calculation Of Nuclear Systems), to calculate the total capital investment cost (TCIC) and the levelised unit energy cost (LUEC). G4ECONS is sufficiently generic in the sense that it can accept the types of projected input, performance and cost data that are expected to become available for Generation IV systems through various development phases and that it can model both open and closed fuel cycles. The Nuclear Energy System Assessment (NESA) Economic Support Tool (NEST) was developed to enable an economic analysis using the INPRO methodology to easily calculate outputs including the TCIC, LUEC and other financial figures of merit including internal rate of return, return of investment and net present value. NEST is also Excel based and can be used to evaluate nuclear reactor systems using the open fuel cycle, MOX (mixed oxide) fuel recycling and closed cycles. A Super Critical Water-cooled Reactor system with an open fuel cycle and two Fast Reactor systems, one with a break-even fuel cycle and another with a burner fuel cycle, were selected for the benchmarking exercise. Published data on capital and operating costs were used for economics analyses using G4ECONS and NEST tools. Both G4ECONS and

Analysis and evaluation of critical experiments for validation of neutron transport calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bazzana, S.; Blaumann, H; Marquez Damian, J.I

2009-01-01

The calculation schemes, computational codes and nuclear data used in neutronic design require validation to obtain reliable results. In the nuclear criticality safety field this reliability also translates into a higher level of safety in procedures involving fissile material. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project is an OECD/NEA activity led by the United States, in which participants from over 20 countries evaluate and publish criticality safety benchmarks. The product of this project is a set of benchmark experiment evaluations that are published annually in the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. With the recent participation of Argentina, this information is now available for use by the neutron calculation and criticality safety groups in Argentina. This work presents the methodology used for the evaluation of experimental data, some results obtained by the application of these methods, and some examples of the data available in the Handbook. [es

Criteria of benchmark selection for efficient flexible multibody system formalisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valášek M.

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the selection process of benchmarks for testing and comparing efficient flexible multibody formalisms. The existing benchmarks are briefly summarized. The purposes for benchmark selection are investigated. The result of this analysis is the formulation of the criteria of benchmark selection for flexible multibody formalisms. Based on them the initial set of suitable benchmarks is described. Besides that the evaluation measures are revised and extended.

Radiation Detection Computational Benchmark Scenarios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shaver, Mark W.; Casella, Andrew M.; Wittman, Richard S.; McDonald, Ben S.

2013-09-24

Modeling forms an important component of radiation detection development, allowing for testing of new detector designs, evaluation of existing equipment against a wide variety of potential threat sources, and assessing operation performance of radiation detection systems. This can, however, result in large and complex scenarios which are time consuming to model. A variety of approaches to radiation transport modeling exist with complementary strengths and weaknesses for different problems. This variety of approaches, and the development of promising new tools (such as ORNL’s ADVANTG) which combine benefits of multiple approaches, illustrates the need for a means of evaluating or comparing different techniques for radiation detection problems. This report presents a set of 9 benchmark problems for comparing different types of radiation transport calculations, identifying appropriate tools for classes of problems, and testing and guiding the development of new methods. The benchmarks were drawn primarily from existing or previous calculations with a preference for scenarios which include experimental data, or otherwise have results with a high level of confidence, are non-sensitive, and represent problem sets of interest to NA-22. From a technical perspective, the benchmarks were chosen to span a range of difficulty and to include gamma transport, neutron transport, or both and represent different important physical processes and a range of sensitivity to angular or energy fidelity. Following benchmark identification, existing information about geometry, measurements, and previous calculations were assembled. Monte Carlo results (MCNP decks) were reviewed or created and re-run in order to attain accurate computational times and to verify agreement with experimental data, when present. Benchmark information was then conveyed to ORNL in order to guide testing and development of hybrid calculations. The results of those ADVANTG calculations were then sent to PNNL for

Criticality Benchmark Results Using Various MCNP Data Libraries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frankle, Stephanie C.

1999-01-01

A suite of 86 criticality benchmarks has been recently implemented in MCNPtrademark as part of the nuclear data validation effort. These benchmarks have been run using two sets of MCNP continuous-energy neutron data: ENDF/B-VI based data through Release 2 (ENDF60) and the ENDF/B-V based data. New evaluations were completed for ENDF/B-VI for a number of the important nuclides such as the isotopes of H, Be, C, N, O, Fe, Ni, 235,238 U, 237 Np, and 239,240 Pu. When examining the results of these calculations for the five manor categories of 233 U, intermediate-enriched 235 U (IEU), highly enriched 235 U (HEU), 239 Pu, and mixed metal assembles, we find the following: (1) The new evaluations for 9 Be, 12 C, and 14 N show no net effect on k eff ; (2) There is a consistent decrease in k eff for all of the solution assemblies for ENDF/B-VI due to 1 H and 16 O, moving k eff further from the benchmark value for uranium solutions and closer to the benchmark value for plutonium solutions; (3) k eff decreased for the ENDF/B-VI Fe isotopic data, moving the calculated k eff further from the benchmark value; (4) k eff decreased for the ENDF/B-VI Ni isotopic data, moving the calculated k eff closer to the benchmark value; (5) The W data remained unchanged and tended to calculate slightly higher than the benchmark values; (6) For metal uranium systems, the ENDF/B-VI data for 235 U tends to decrease k eff while the 238 U data tends to increase k eff . The net result depends on the energy spectrum and material specifications for the particular assembly; (7) For more intermediate-energy systems, the changes in the 235,238 U evaluations tend to increase k eff . For the mixed graphite and normal uranium-reflected assembly, a large increase in k eff due to changes in the 238 U evaluation moved the calculated k eff much closer to the benchmark value. (8) There is little change in k eff for the uranium solutions due to the new 235,238 U evaluations; and (9) There is little change in k eff

Toxicological Benchmarks for Wildlife

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sample, B.E. Opresko, D.M. Suter, G.W.

1993-01-01

Ecological risks of environmental contaminants are evaluated by using a two-tiered process. In the first tier, a screening assessment is performed where concentrations of contaminants in the environment are compared to no observed adverse effects level (NOAEL)-based toxicological benchmarks. These benchmarks represent concentrations of chemicals (i.e., concentrations presumed to be nonhazardous to the biota) in environmental media (water, sediment, soil, food, etc.). While exceedance of these benchmarks does not indicate any particular level or type of risk, concentrations below the benchmarks should not result in significant effects. In practice, when contaminant concentrations in food or water resources are less than these toxicological benchmarks, the contaminants may be excluded from further consideration. However, if the concentration of a contaminant exceeds a benchmark, that contaminant should be retained as a contaminant of potential concern (COPC) and investigated further. The second tier in ecological risk assessment, the baseline ecological risk assessment, may use toxicological benchmarks as part of a weight-of-evidence approach (Suter 1993). Under this approach, based toxicological benchmarks are one of several lines of evidence used to support or refute the presence of ecological effects. Other sources of evidence include media toxicity tests, surveys of biota (abundance and diversity), measures of contaminant body burdens, and biomarkers. This report presents NOAEL- and lowest observed adverse effects level (LOAEL)-based toxicological benchmarks for assessment of effects of 85 chemicals on 9 representative mammalian wildlife species (short-tailed shrew, little brown bat, meadow vole, white-footed mouse, cottontail rabbit, mink, red fox, and whitetail deer) or 11 avian wildlife species (American robin, rough-winged swallow, American woodcock, wild turkey, belted kingfisher, great blue heron, barred owl, barn owl, Cooper's hawk, and red

Medical school benchmarking - from tools to programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Tim J; Hudson, Judith N; Mccoll, Geoffrey J; Hu, Wendy C Y; Jolly, Brian C; Schuwirth, Lambert W T

2015-02-01

Benchmarking among medical schools is essential, but may result in unwanted effects. To apply a conceptual framework to selected benchmarking activities of medical schools. We present an analogy between the effects of assessment on student learning and the effects of benchmarking on medical school educational activities. A framework by which benchmarking can be evaluated was developed and applied to key current benchmarking activities in Australia and New Zealand. The analogy generated a conceptual framework that tested five questions to be considered in relation to benchmarking: what is the purpose? what are the attributes of value? what are the best tools to assess the attributes of value? what happens to the results? and, what is the likely "institutional impact" of the results? If the activities were compared against a blueprint of desirable medical graduate outcomes, notable omissions would emerge. Medical schools should benchmark their performance on a range of educational activities to ensure quality improvement and to assure stakeholders that standards are being met. Although benchmarking potentially has positive benefits, it could also result in perverse incentives with unforeseen and detrimental effects on learning if it is undertaken using only a few selected assessment tools.

Reevaluation of the Jezebel Benchmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Favorite, Jeffrey A. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2014-03-10

Every nuclear engineering student is familiar with Jezebel, the homogeneous bare sphere of plutonium first assembled at Los Alamos in 1954-1955. The actual Jezebel assembly was neither homogeneous, nor bare, nor spherical; nor was it singular – there were hundreds of Jezebel configurations assembled. The Jezebel benchmark has been reevaluated for the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook. Logbooks, original drawings, mass accountability statements, internal reports, and published reports have been used to model four actual three-dimensional Jezebel assemblies with high fidelity. Because the documentation available today is often inconsistent, three major assumptions were made regarding plutonium part masses and dimensions. The first was that the assembly masses given in Los Alamos report LA-4208 (1969) were correct, and the second was that the original drawing dimension for the polar height of a certain major part was correct. The third assumption was that a change notice indicated on the original drawing was not actually implemented. This talk will describe these assumptions, the alternatives, and the implications. Since the publication of the 2013 ICSBEP Handbook, the actual masses of the major components have turned up. Our assumption regarding the assembly masses was proven correct, but we had the mass distribution incorrect. Work to incorporate the new information is ongoing, and this talk will describe the latest assessment.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BENCHMARKING IN MAKING MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana-Mihaela IONESCU

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Launching a new business or project leads managers to make decisions and choose strategies that will then apply in their company. Most often, they take decisions only on instinct, but there are also companies that use benchmarking studies. Benchmarking is a highly effective management tool and is useful in the new competitive environment that has emerged from the need of organizations to constantly improve their performance in order to be competitive. Using this benchmarking process, organizations try to find the best practices applied in a business, learn from famous leaders and identify ways to increase their performance and competitiveness. Thus, managers gather information about market trends and about competitors, especially about the leaders in the field, and use these information in finding ideas and setting of guidelines for development. Benchmarking studies are often used in businesses of commerce, real estate, and industry and high-tech software.

Benchmarking the internal combustion engine and hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallace, J.S.

2006-01-01

The internal combustion engine is a cost-effective and highly reliable energy conversion technology. Exhaust emission regulations introduced in the 1970's triggered extensive research and development that has significantly improved in-use fuel efficiency and dramatically reduced exhaust emissions. The current level of gasoline vehicle engine development is highlighted and representative emissions and efficiency data are presented as benchmarks. The use of hydrogen fueling for IC engines has been investigated over many decades and the benefits and challenges arising are well-known. The current state of hydrogen-fueled engine development will be reviewed and evaluated against gasoline-fueled benchmarks. The prospects for further improvements to hydrogen-fueled IC engines will be examined. While fuel cells are projected to offer greater energy efficiency than IC engines and zero emissions, the availability of fuel cells in quantity at reasonable cost is a barrier to their widespread adaptation for the near future. In their current state of development, hydrogen fueled IC engines are an effective technology to create demand for hydrogen fueling infrastructure until fuel cells become available in commercial quantities. During this transition period, hydrogen fueled IC engines can achieve PZEV/ULSLEV emissions. (author)

Implementation of a multi-lingual, Internet-supported benchmarking system for compressed-air installations; Umsetzung eines mehrsprachigen internetgestuetzten Benchmarking von Druckluftanlagen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radgen, P.

2005-07-01

This final report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) discusses how know-how can be improved and how optimisation activities can be stimulated in the area of compressed-air generation. The authors estimate that potential energy-savings of 20 to 40% are possible. The aim of the project - to introduce a benchmarking system already in use in Germany to the Swiss market - is discussed. This benchmarking is to help companies identify weak points in their compressed-air systems. An Internet-based information platform is introduced which was realised in 2004 and is being continually extended. The use of the benchmarking process is illustrated with a comprehensive flow-diagram and 'screen-shots' of the relevant Internet pages.

Benchmarking of human resources management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David M. Akinnusi

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the role of human resource management (HRM which, today, plays a strategic partnership role in management. The focus of the paper is on HRM in the public sector, where much hope rests on HRM as a means of transforming the public service and achieving much needed service delivery. However, a critical evaluation of HRM practices in the public sector reveals that these services leave much to be desired. The paper suggests the adoption of benchmarking as a process to revamp HRM in the public sector so that it is able to deliver on its promises. It describes the nature and process of benchmarking and highlights the inherent difficulties in applying benchmarking in HRM. It concludes with some suggestions for a plan of action. The process of identifying “best” practices in HRM requires the best collaborative efforts of HRM practitioners and academicians. If used creatively, benchmarking has the potential to bring about radical and positive changes in HRM in the public sector. The adoption of the benchmarking process is, in itself, a litmus test of the extent to which HRM in the public sector has grown professionally.

Handbook of critical experiments benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durst, B.M.; Bierman, S.R.; Clayton, E.D.

1978-03-01

Data from critical experiments have been collected together for use as benchmarks in evaluating calculational techniques and nuclear data. These benchmarks have been selected from the numerous experiments performed on homogeneous plutonium systems. No attempt has been made to reproduce all of the data that exists. The primary objective in the collection of these data is to present representative experimental data defined in a concise, standardized format that can easily be translated into computer code input

Results of the benchmark for blade structural models, part A

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lekou, D.J.; Chortis, D.; Belen Fariñas, A.

2013-01-01

A benchmark on structural design methods for blades was performed within the InnWind.Eu project under WP2 “Lightweight Rotor” Task 2.2 “Lightweight structural design”. The present document is describes the results of the comparison simulation runs that were performed by the partners involved within...... Task 2.2 of the InnWind.Eu project. The benchmark is based on the reference wind turbine and the reference blade provided by DTU [1]. "Structural Concept developers/modelers" of WP2 were provided with the necessary input for a comparison numerical simulation run, upon definition of the reference blade...

Single pin BWR benchmark problem for coupled Monte Carlo - Thermal hydraulics analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, A.; Sanchez, V.; Hoogenboom, J. E.

2012-01-01

As part of the European NURISP research project, a single pin BWR benchmark problem was defined. The aim of this initiative is to test the coupling strategies between Monte Carlo and subchannel codes developed by different project participants. In this paper the results obtained by the Delft Univ. of Technology and Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology will be presented. The benchmark problem was simulated with the following coupled codes: TRIPOLI-SUBCHANFLOW, MCNP-FLICA, MCNP-SUBCHANFLOW, and KENO-SUBCHANFLOW. (authors)

Single pin BWR benchmark problem for coupled Monte Carlo - Thermal hydraulics analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ivanov, A.; Sanchez, V. [Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology, Inst. for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology, Herman-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Hoogenboom, J. E. [Delft Univ. of Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB Delft (Netherlands)

2012-07-01

As part of the European NURISP research project, a single pin BWR benchmark problem was defined. The aim of this initiative is to test the coupling strategies between Monte Carlo and subchannel codes developed by different project participants. In this paper the results obtained by the Delft Univ. of Technology and Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology will be presented. The benchmark problem was simulated with the following coupled codes: TRIPOLI-SUBCHANFLOW, MCNP-FLICA, MCNP-SUBCHANFLOW, and KENO-SUBCHANFLOW. (authors)

SP2Bench: A SPARQL Performance Benchmark

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Michael; Hornung, Thomas; Meier, Michael; Pinkel, Christoph; Lausen, Georg

A meaningful analysis and comparison of both existing storage schemes for RDF data and evaluation approaches for SPARQL queries necessitates a comprehensive and universal benchmark platform. We present SP2Bench, a publicly available, language-specific performance benchmark for the SPARQL query language. SP2Bench is settled in the DBLP scenario and comprises a data generator for creating arbitrarily large DBLP-like documents and a set of carefully designed benchmark queries. The generated documents mirror vital key characteristics and social-world distributions encountered in the original DBLP data set, while the queries implement meaningful requests on top of this data, covering a variety of SPARQL operator constellations and RDF access patterns. In this chapter, we discuss requirements and desiderata for SPARQL benchmarks and present the SP2Bench framework, including its data generator, benchmark queries and performance metrics.

Four Approaches to Project Evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Markus; Svejvig, Per; Rode, Anna Le Gerstrøm

. Each of the framework’s four approaches provides a distinct evaluation that sheds light on some issues while leaving others unattended. Following these lines, the paper calls for more multi-faceted project evaluations. Introducing a framework that can help analyze existing evaluations and structure......There are many theoretical and practical reasons for evaluating projects – including explorative arguments focusing on expanding descriptive knowledge on project work as well as normative arguments focusing on improving prescriptive models of project performance. Despite the need for project...... management methodologies that work and combat project failure, and research methods that can assess effective project management and methodologies, as well as empirical research on the actuality of projects as practice, evaluation research on projects including project management and methodologies is scarce...

Benchmark analysis and evaluations of materials for shielding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benton, E.R.; Gersey, B.B.; Uchihori, Y.; Yasuda, N.; Kitamura, H.; Shavers, M.R.

2005-01-01

The goal of this project is to provide a benchmark set of heavy ion beam measurements behind ''standard'' targets made using radiation detectors routinely used for astronaut dosimetry and to test the radiation shielding properties of candidate multifunctional spacecraft materials. These measurements are used in testing and validating space radiation transport codes currently being developed by NASA and in selecting promising materials for further development. The radiation dosimetry instruments being used include CR-39 plastic nuclear track detector (PNTD), Tissue-Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC), the Liulin Mobile Dosimetry Unit (MDU) and thermoluminescent detector (TLD). Each set of measurements include LET/y spectra, and dose and dose equivalent as functions of shield thickness. Measurements are being conducted at the NIRS HIMAC, using heavy-ion beams of energy commonly encountered in the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment and that have been identified as being of particular concern to the radiation protection of space crews. Measurements are being made behind a set of standard'' targets including Al, Cu, polyethylene (HDPE) and graphite that vary in thickness from 0.5 to > 30 g/cm 2 . In addition, we are measuring the shielding properties of novel shielding materials being developed by and for NASA, including carbon and polymer composites. (author)

Use of integral experiments for the assessment of the 235U capture cross section within the CIELO Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ichou Raphaelle

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A new 235U capture cross-section evaluation, evaluated by ORNL and the CEA Bruyères-le-Châtel (BRC has been proposed within the CIELO project. IRSN, who participates in the CIELO project, contributes with data testing and has carried out benchmark calculations using few benchmarks, extracted from the ICSBEP database, for testing the new 235U evaluation. The benchmarks have been selected by privileging the experiments showing small experimental uncertainties and a significant sensitivity to 235U capture cross-section. The keff calculations were performed with both the MCNP 6 code and the 5.C.1 release of the MORET 5 code, using the ENDF/B-VII.1 library for all isotopes except 235U, for which both the ENDF/B-VII.1 and the new 235U evaluation was used. The benchmark selection allowed highlighting a significant effect on keff of the new 235U capture cross-section. The results of this data testing, provided as input for the evaluators, are presented here.

Benchmarking local healthcare-associated infections: Available benchmarks and interpretation challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aiman El-Saed

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Summary: Growing numbers of healthcare facilities are routinely collecting standardized data on healthcare-associated infection (HAI, which can be used not only to track internal performance but also to compare local data to national and international benchmarks. Benchmarking overall (crude HAI surveillance metrics without accounting or adjusting for potential confounders can result in misleading conclusions. Methods commonly used to provide risk-adjusted metrics include multivariate logistic regression analysis, stratification, indirect standardization, and restrictions. The characteristics of recognized benchmarks worldwide, including the advantages and limitations are described. The choice of the right benchmark for the data from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC states is challenging. The chosen benchmark should have similar data collection and presentation methods. Additionally, differences in surveillance environments including regulations should be taken into consideration when considering such a benchmark. The GCC center for infection control took some steps to unify HAI surveillance systems in the region. GCC hospitals still need to overcome legislative and logistic difficulties in sharing data to create their own benchmark. The availability of a regional GCC benchmark may better enable health care workers and researchers to obtain more accurate and realistic comparisons. Keywords: Benchmarking, Comparison, Surveillance, Healthcare-associated infections

Research Project Evaluation-Learnings from the PATHWAYS Project Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Galas, Aleksander; Pilat, Aleksandra; Leonardi, Matilde; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata

2018-05-25

Every research project faces challenges regarding how to achieve its goals in a timely and effective manner. The purpose of this paper is to present a project evaluation methodology gathered during the implementation of the Participation to Healthy Workplaces and Inclusive Strategies in the Work Sector (the EU PATHWAYS Project). The PATHWAYS project involved multiple countries and multi-cultural aspects of re/integrating chronically ill patients into labor markets in different countries. This paper describes key project's evaluation issues including: (1) purposes, (2) advisability, (3) tools, (4) implementation, and (5) possible benefits and presents the advantages of a continuous monitoring. Project evaluation tool to assess structure and resources, process, management and communication, achievements, and outcomes. The project used a mixed evaluation approach and included Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and Threats (SWOT) analysis. A methodology for longitudinal EU projects' evaluation is described. The evaluation process allowed to highlight strengths and weaknesses and highlighted good coordination and communication between project partners as well as some key issues such as: the need for a shared glossary covering areas investigated by the project, problematic issues related to the involvement of stakeholders from outside the project, and issues with timing. Numerical SWOT analysis showed improvement in project performance over time. The proportion of participating project partners in the evaluation varied from 100% to 83.3%. There is a need for the implementation of a structured evaluation process in multidisciplinary projects involving different stakeholders in diverse socio-environmental and political conditions. Based on the PATHWAYS experience, a clear monitoring methodology is suggested as essential in every multidisciplinary research projects.

A Benchmark and Simulator for UAV Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photorealistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the first evaluation of many state-of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. The simulator can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV “in the field”, as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with automatic ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator are made publicly available to the vision community on our website to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. (https://ivul.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/pub-benchmark-simulator-uav.aspx.). © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

A Benchmark and Simulator for UAV Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-09-16

In this paper, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photorealistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the first evaluation of many state-of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. The simulator can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV “in the field”, as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with automatic ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator are made publicly available to the vision community on our website to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. (https://ivul.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/pub-benchmark-simulator-uav.aspx.). © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

Middleware Evaluation and Benchmarking for Use in Mission Operations Centers

Science.gov (United States)

Antonucci, Rob; Waktola, Waka

2005-01-01

Middleware technologies have been promoted as timesaving, cost-cutting alternatives to the point-to-point communication used in traditional mission operations systems. However, missions have been slow to adopt the new technology. The lack of existing middleware-based missions has given rise to uncertainty about middleware's ability to perform in an operational setting. Most mission architects are also unfamiliar with the technology and do not know the benefits and detriments to architectural choices - or even what choices are available. We will present the findings of a study that evaluated several middleware options specifically for use in a mission operations system. We will address some common misconceptions regarding the applicability of middleware-based architectures, and we will identify the design decisions and tradeoffs that must be made when choosing a middleware solution. The Middleware Comparison and Benchmark Study was conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to comprehensively evaluate candidate middleware products, compare and contrast the performance of middleware solutions with the traditional point- to-point socket approach, and assess data delivery and reliability strategies. The study focused on requirements of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, validating the potential use of middleware in the GPM mission ground system. The study was jointly funded by GPM and the Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC), a virtual organization for providing mission enabling solutions and promoting the use of appropriate new technologies for mission support. The study was broken into two phases. To perform the generic middleware benchmarking and performance analysis, a network was created with data producers and consumers passing data between themselves. The benchmark monitored the delay, throughput, and reliability of the data as the characteristics were changed. Measurements were taken under a variety of topologies, data demands

Quality management benchmarking: FDA compliance in pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Jochem, Roland; Landgraf, Katja

2010-01-01

By analyzing and comparing industry and business best practice, processes can be optimized and become more successful mainly because efficiency and competitiveness increase. This paper aims to focus on some examples. Case studies are used to show knowledge exchange in the pharmaceutical industry. Best practice solutions were identified in two companies using a benchmarking method and five-stage model. Despite large administrations, there is much potential regarding business process organization. This project makes it possible for participants to fully understand their business processes. The benchmarking method gives an opportunity to critically analyze value chains (a string of companies or players working together to satisfy market demands for a special product). Knowledge exchange is interesting for companies that like to be global players. Benchmarking supports information exchange and improves competitive ability between different enterprises. Findings suggest that the five-stage model improves efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, the model increases the chances for reaching targets. The method gives security to partners that did not have benchmarking experience. The study identifies new quality management procedures. Process management and especially benchmarking is shown to support pharmaceutical industry improvements.

Benchmarking of numerical codes describing the dispersion of radionuclides in the Arctic Seas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, E.M.; Gurbutt, P.; Harms, I.

1995-01-01

As part of the International Arctic Seas Assessment Project (IASAP) of IAEA a working group has been created to model the dispersal and transfer of radionuclides released from the radioactive waste disposed of in the Kara Sea. The aim of the benchmarking work is to quantitatively assess the reliability of the models, which would lead ultimately to the evaluation of consensus/best estimates of the concentration fields to be used in the radiological assessment. The results from the benchmarking have been compared and the results of the comparison are summarised in terms of agreement in maximum concentrations and when the maximum concentrations occurred. This has been carried out for both water and sediment, at each of the defined locations and for each of the radionuclides. The paper presents a full description of the benchmarking results and discusses the similarities and differences. The role of the exercise within the modelling programme of IASAP is also discussed and the planning for the next stage of the work is presented. 4 refs

Storage-Intensive Supercomputing Benchmark Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cohen, J; Dossa, D; Gokhale, M; Hysom, D; May, J; Pearce, R; Yoo, A

2007-10-30

Critical data science applications requiring frequent access to storage perform poorly on today's computing architectures. This project addresses efficient computation of data-intensive problems in national security and basic science by exploring, advancing, and applying a new form of computing called storage-intensive supercomputing (SISC). Our goal is to enable applications that simply cannot run on current systems, and, for a broad range of data-intensive problems, to deliver an order of magnitude improvement in price/performance over today's data-intensive architectures. This technical report documents much of the work done under LDRD 07-ERD-063 Storage Intensive Supercomputing during the period 05/07-09/07. The following chapters describe: (1) a new file I/O monitoring tool iotrace developed to capture the dynamic I/O profiles of Linux processes; (2) an out-of-core graph benchmark for level-set expansion of scale-free graphs; (3) an entity extraction benchmark consisting of a pipeline of eight components; and (4) an image resampling benchmark drawn from the SWarp program in the LSST data processing pipeline. The performance of the graph and entity extraction benchmarks was measured in three different scenarios: data sets residing on the NFS file server and accessed over the network; data sets stored on local disk; and data sets stored on the Fusion I/O parallel NAND Flash array. The image resampling benchmark compared performance of software-only to GPU-accelerated. In addition to the work reported here, an additional text processing application was developed that used an FPGA to accelerate n-gram profiling for language classification. The n-gram application will be presented at SC07 at the High Performance Reconfigurable Computing Technologies and Applications Workshop. The graph and entity extraction benchmarks were run on a Supermicro server housing the NAND Flash 40GB parallel disk array, the Fusion-io. The Fusion system specs are as follows

Benchmark calculation for GT-MHR using HELIOS/MASTER code package and MCNP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kyung Hoon; Kim, Kang Seog; Noh, Jae Man; Song, Jae Seung; Zee, Sung Quun

2005-01-01

The latest research associated with the very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR) is focused on the verification of a system performance and safety under operating conditions for the VHTRs. As a part of those, an international gas-cooled reactor program initiated by IAEA is going on. The key objectives of this program are the validation of analytical computer codes and the evaluation of benchmark models for the projected and actual VHTRs. New reactor physics analysis procedure for the prismatic VHTR is under development by adopting the conventional two-step procedure. In this procedure, a few group constants are generated through the transport lattice calculations using the HELIOS code, and the core physics analysis is performed by the 3-dimensional nodal diffusion code MASTER. We evaluated the performance of the HELIOS/MASTER code package through the benchmark calculations related to the GT-MHR (Gas Turbine-Modular Helium Reactor) to dispose weapon plutonium. In parallel, MCNP is employed as a reference code to verify the results of the HELIOS/MASTER procedure

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the National Benchmarking ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ABSTRACT. Water shortages, public demonstrations and lack of service delivery have plagued many South African water services authorities (WSAs) for a number of years. From 2004–2007 the National Benchmarking Initiative (NBI) was implemented to improve the performance, efficiency and sustainability of WSAs.

Benchmarking routine psychological services: a discussion of challenges and methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Delgadillo, Jaime; McMillan, Dean; Leach, Chris; Lucock, Mike; Gilbody, Simon; Wood, Nick

2014-01-01

Policy developments in recent years have led to important changes in the level of access to evidence-based psychological treatments. Several methods have been used to investigate the effectiveness of these treatments in routine care, with different approaches to outcome definition and data analysis. To present a review of challenges and methods for the evaluation of evidence-based treatments delivered in routine mental healthcare. This is followed by a case example of a benchmarking method applied in primary care. High, average and poor performance benchmarks were calculated through a meta-analysis of published data from services working under the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Programme in England. Pre-post treatment effect sizes (ES) and confidence intervals were estimated to illustrate a benchmarking method enabling services to evaluate routine clinical outcomes. High, average and poor performance ES for routine IAPT services were estimated to be 0.91, 0.73 and 0.46 for depression (using PHQ-9) and 1.02, 0.78 and 0.52 for anxiety (using GAD-7). Data from one specific IAPT service exemplify how to evaluate and contextualize routine clinical performance against these benchmarks. The main contribution of this report is to summarize key recommendations for the selection of an adequate set of psychometric measures, the operational definition of outcomes, and the statistical evaluation of clinical performance. A benchmarking method is also presented, which may enable a robust evaluation of clinical performance against national benchmarks. Some limitations concerned significant heterogeneity among data sources, and wide variations in ES and data completeness.

Benchmark calculations for VENUS-2 MOX -fueled reactor dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jong Kung; Kim, Hong Chul; Shin, Chang Ho; Han, Chi Young; Na, Byung Chan

2004-01-01

As a part of a Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Project, it was pursued the benchmark for dosimetry calculation of the VENUS-2 MOX-fueled reactor. In this benchmark, the goal is to test the current state-of-the-art computational methods of calculating neutron flux to reactor components against the measured data of the VENUS-2 MOX-fuelled critical experiments. The measured data to be used for this benchmark are the equivalent fission fluxes which are the reaction rates divided by the U 235 fission spectrum averaged cross-section of the corresponding dosimeter. The present benchmark is, therefore, defined to calculate reaction rates and corresponding equivalent fission fluxes measured on the core-mid plane at specific positions outside the core of the VENUS-2 MOX-fuelled reactor. This is a follow-up exercise to the previously completed UO 2 -fuelled VENUS-1 two-dimensional and VENUS-3 three-dimensional exercises. The use of MOX fuel in LWRs presents different neutron characteristics and this is the main interest of the current benchmark compared to the previous ones

The benchmark testing of 9Be of CENDL-3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Ping

2002-01-01

CENDL-3, the latest version of China Evaluated Nuclear Data Library was finished. The data of 9 Be were updated, and distributed for benchmark analysis recently. The calculated results were presented, and compared with the experimental data and the results based on other evaluated nuclear data libraries. The results show that CENDL-3 is better than others for most benchmarks

BigDataBench: a Big Data Benchmark Suite from Internet Services

OpenAIRE

Wang, Lei; Zhan, Jianfeng; Luo, Chunjie; Zhu, Yuqing; Yang, Qiang; He, Yongqiang; Gao, Wanling; Jia, Zhen; Shi, Yingjie; Zhang, Shujie; Zheng, Chen; Lu, Gang; Zhan, Kent; Li, Xiaona; Qiu, Bizhu

2014-01-01

As architecture, systems, and data management communities pay greater attention to innovative big data systems and architectures, the pressure of benchmarking and evaluating these systems rises. Considering the broad use of big data systems, big data benchmarks must include diversity of data and workloads. Most of the state-of-the-art big data benchmarking efforts target evaluating specific types of applications or system software stacks, and hence they are not qualified for serving the purpo...

Parallel Ada benchmarks for the SVMS

Science.gov (United States)

Collard, Philippe E.

1990-01-01

The use of parallel processing paradigm to design and develop faster and more reliable computers appear to clearly mark the future of information processing. NASA started the development of such an architecture: the Spaceborne VHSIC Multi-processor System (SVMS). Ada will be one of the languages used to program the SVMS. One of the unique characteristics of Ada is that it supports parallel processing at the language level through the tasking constructs. It is important for the SVMS project team to assess how efficiently the SVMS architecture will be implemented, as well as how efficiently Ada environment will be ported to the SVMS. AUTOCLASS II, a Bayesian classifier written in Common Lisp, was selected as one of the benchmarks for SVMS configurations. The purpose of the R and D effort was to provide the SVMS project team with the version of AUTOCLASS II, written in Ada, that would make use of Ada tasking constructs as much as possible so as to constitute a suitable benchmark. Additionally, a set of programs was developed that would measure Ada tasking efficiency on parallel architectures as well as determine the critical parameters influencing tasking efficiency. All this was designed to provide the SVMS project team with a set of suitable tools in the development of the SVMS architecture.

Development of a Computer-based Benchmarking and Analytical Tool. Benchmarking and Energy & Water Savings Tool in Dairy Plants (BEST-Dairy)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Tengfang [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Flapper, Joris [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Ke, Jing [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Kramer, Klaas [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Sathaye, Jayant [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2012-02-01

The overall goal of the project is to develop a computer-based benchmarking and energy and water savings tool (BEST-Dairy) for use in the California dairy industry – including four dairy processes – cheese, fluid milk, butter, and milk powder.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the National Benchmarking ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Water shortages, public demonstrations and lack of service delivery have plagued many South African water services authorities (WSAs) for a number of years. From 2004–2007 the National Benchmarking Initiative (NBI) was implemented to improve the performance, efficiency and sustainability of WSAs. The current study ...

Benchmarking U.S. Small Wind Costs with the Distributed Wind Taxonomy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Orrell, Alice C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Poehlman, Eric A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2017-10-04

The objective of this report is to benchmark costs for small wind projects installed in the United States using a distributed wind taxonomy. Consequently, this report is a starting point to help expand the U.S. distributed wind market by informing potential areas for small wind cost-reduction opportunities and providing a benchmark to track future small wind cost-reduction progress.

Proposal of a benchmark for core burnup calculations for a VVER-1000 reactor core

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loetsch, T.; Khalimonchuk, V.; Kuchin, A.

2009-01-01

In the framework of a project supported by the German BMU the code DYN3D should be further validated and verified. During the work a lack of a benchmark on core burnup calculations for VVER-1000 reactors was noticed. Such a benchmark is useful for validating and verifying the whole package of codes and data libraries for reactor physics calculations including fuel assembly modelling, fuel assembly data preparation, few group data parametrisation and reactor core modelling. The benchmark proposed specifies the core loading patterns of burnup cycles for a VVER-1000 reactor core as well as a set of operational data such as load follow, boron concentration in the coolant, cycle length, measured reactivity coefficients and power density distributions. The reactor core characteristics chosen for comparison and the first results obtained during the work with the reactor physics code DYN3D are presented. This work presents the continuation of efforts of the projects mentioned to estimate the accuracy of calculated characteristics of VVER-1000 reactor cores. In addition, the codes used for reactor physics calculations of safety related reactor core characteristics should be validated and verified for the cases in which they are to be used. This is significant for safety related evaluations and assessments carried out in the framework of licensing and supervision procedures in the field of reactor physics. (authors)

BENCHMARK DOSES FOR CHEMICAL MIXTURES: EVALUATION OF A MIXTURE OF 18 PHAHS.

Science.gov (United States)

Benchmark doses (BMDs), defined as doses of a substance that are expected to result in a pre-specified level of "benchmark" response (BMR), have been used for quantifying the risk associated with exposure to environmental hazards. The lower confidence limit of the BMD is used as...

The numerical benchmark CB2-S, final evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chrapciak, V.

2002-01-01

In this paper are final results of numerical benchmark CB2-S compared (activity, gamma and neutron sources, concentration of important nuclides and decay heat). The participants are: Vladimir Chrapciak (SCALE), Ludmila Markova (SCALE), Svetlana Zabrodskaja (SCALA), Pavel Mikolas (WIMS). Eva Tinkova (HELIOS) and Maria Manolova (SCALE) (Authors)

Benchmarking: A tool for conducting self-assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perkey, D.N.

1992-01-01

There is more information on nuclear plant performance available than can reasonably be assimilated and used effectively by plant management or personnel responsible for self-assessment. Also, it is becoming increasingly more important that an effective self-assessment program uses internal parameters not only to evaluate performance, but to incorporate lessons learned from other plants. Because of the quantity of information available, it is important to focus efforts and resources in areas where safety or performance is a concern and where the most improvement can be realized. One of the techniques that is being used to effectively accomplish this is benchmarking. Benchmarking involves the use of various sources of information to self-identify a plant's strengths and weaknesses, identify which plants are strong performers in specific areas, evaluate what makes a top performer, and incorporate the success factors into existing programs. The formality with which benchmarking is being implemented varies widely depending on the objective. It can be as simple as looking at a single indicator, such as systematic assessment of licensee performance (SALP) in engineering and technical support, then surveying the top performers with specific questions. However, a more comprehensive approach may include the performance of a detailed benchmarking study. Both operational and economic indicators may be used in this type of evaluation. Some of the indicators that may be considered and the limitations of each are discussed

SU-E-J-30: Benchmark Image-Based TCP Calculation for Evaluation of PTV Margins for Lung SBRT Patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, M [Wayne State Univeristy, Detroit, MI (United States); Chetty, I [Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Zhong, H [Henry Ford Hospital System, Detroit, MI (United States)

2014-06-01

Purpose: Tumor control probability (TCP) calculated with accumulated radiation doses may help design appropriate treatment margins. Image registration errors, however, may compromise the calculated TCP. The purpose of this study is to develop benchmark CT images to quantify registration-induced errors in the accumulated doses and their corresponding TCP. Methods: 4DCT images were registered from end-inhale (EI) to end-exhale (EE) using a “demons” algorithm. The demons DVFs were corrected by an FEM model to get realistic deformation fields. The FEM DVFs were used to warp the EI images to create the FEM-simulated images. The two images combined with the FEM DVF formed a benchmark model. Maximum intensity projection (MIP) images, created from the EI and simulated images, were used to develop IMRT plans. Two plans with 3 and 5 mm margins were developed for each patient. With these plans, radiation doses were recalculated on the simulated images and warped back to the EI images using the FEM DVFs to get the accumulated doses. The Elastix software was used to register the FEM-simulated images to the EI images. TCPs calculated with the Elastix-accumulated doses were compared with those generated by the FEM to get the TCP error of the Elastix registrations. Results: For six lung patients, the mean Elastix registration error ranged from 0.93 to 1.98 mm. Their relative dose errors in PTV were between 0.28% and 6.8% for 3mm margin plans, and between 0.29% and 6.3% for 5mm-margin plans. As the PTV margin reduced from 5 to 3 mm, the mean TCP error of the Elastix-reconstructed doses increased from 2.0% to 2.9%, and the mean NTCP errors decreased from 1.2% to 1.1%. Conclusion: Patient-specific benchmark images can be used to evaluate the impact of registration errors on the computed TCPs, and may help select appropriate PTV margins for lung SBRT patients.

SU-E-J-30: Benchmark Image-Based TCP Calculation for Evaluation of PTV Margins for Lung SBRT Patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, M; Chetty, I; Zhong, H

2014-01-01

Purpose: Tumor control probability (TCP) calculated with accumulated radiation doses may help design appropriate treatment margins. Image registration errors, however, may compromise the calculated TCP. The purpose of this study is to develop benchmark CT images to quantify registration-induced errors in the accumulated doses and their corresponding TCP. Methods: 4DCT images were registered from end-inhale (EI) to end-exhale (EE) using a “demons” algorithm. The demons DVFs were corrected by an FEM model to get realistic deformation fields. The FEM DVFs were used to warp the EI images to create the FEM-simulated images. The two images combined with the FEM DVF formed a benchmark model. Maximum intensity projection (MIP) images, created from the EI and simulated images, were used to develop IMRT plans. Two plans with 3 and 5 mm margins were developed for each patient. With these plans, radiation doses were recalculated on the simulated images and warped back to the EI images using the FEM DVFs to get the accumulated doses. The Elastix software was used to register the FEM-simulated images to the EI images. TCPs calculated with the Elastix-accumulated doses were compared with those generated by the FEM to get the TCP error of the Elastix registrations. Results: For six lung patients, the mean Elastix registration error ranged from 0.93 to 1.98 mm. Their relative dose errors in PTV were between 0.28% and 6.8% for 3mm margin plans, and between 0.29% and 6.3% for 5mm-margin plans. As the PTV margin reduced from 5 to 3 mm, the mean TCP error of the Elastix-reconstructed doses increased from 2.0% to 2.9%, and the mean NTCP errors decreased from 1.2% to 1.1%. Conclusion: Patient-specific benchmark images can be used to evaluate the impact of registration errors on the computed TCPs, and may help select appropriate PTV margins for lung SBRT patients

Benchmarking the cost efficiency of community care in Australian child and adolescent mental health services: implications for future benchmarking.

Science.gov (United States)

Furber, Gareth; Brann, Peter; Skene, Clive; Allison, Stephen

2011-06-01

The purpose of this study was to benchmark the cost efficiency of community care across six child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) drawn from different Australian states. Organizational, contact and outcome data from the National Mental Health Benchmarking Project (NMHBP) data-sets were used to calculate cost per "treatment hour" and cost per episode for the six participating organizations. We also explored the relationship between intake severity as measured by the Health of the Nations Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) and cost per episode. The average cost per treatment hour was $223, with cost differences across the six services ranging from a mean of $156 to $273 per treatment hour. The average cost per episode was $3349 (median $1577) and there were significant differences in the CAMHS organizational medians ranging from $388 to $7076 per episode. HoNOSCA scores explained at best 6% of the cost variance per episode. These large cost differences indicate that community CAMHS have the potential to make substantial gains in cost efficiency through collaborative benchmarking. Benchmarking forums need considerable financial and business expertise for detailed comparison of business models for service provision.

The benchmark experiment on slab beryllium with D–T neutrons for validation of evaluated nuclear data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nie, Y., E-mail: nieyb@ciae.ac.cn [Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Ren, J.; Ruan, X.; Bao, J. [Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Han, R. [Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Zhang, S. [Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities, Inner Mongolia, Tongliao 028000 (China); Huang, H.; Li, X. [Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Ding, Y. [Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Wu, H.; Liu, P.; Zhou, Z. [Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China)

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Evaluated data for beryllium are validated by a high precision benchmark experiment. • Leakage neutron spectra from pure beryllium slab are measured at 61° and 121° using time-of-flight method. • The experimental results are compared with the MCNP-4B calculations with the evaluated data from different libraries. - Abstract: Beryllium is the most favored neutron multiplier candidate for solid breeder blankets of future fusion power reactors. However, beryllium nuclear data are differently presented in modern nuclear data evaluations. In order to validate the evaluated nuclear data on beryllium, in the present study, a benchmark experiment has been performed at China Institution of Atomic Energy (CIAE). Neutron leakage spectra from pure beryllium slab samples were measured at 61° and 121° using time-of-flight method. The experimental results were compared with the calculated ones by MCNP-4B simulation, using the evaluated data of beryllium from the CENDL-3.1, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0 libraries. From the comparison between the measured and the calculated spectra, it was found that the calculation results based on CENDL-3.1 caused overestimation in the energy range from about 3–12 MeV at 61°, while at 121°, all the libraries led to underestimation below 3 MeV.

The benchmark experiment on slab beryllium with D–T neutrons for validation of evaluated nuclear data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nie, Y.; Ren, J.; Ruan, X.; Bao, J.; Han, R.; Zhang, S.; Huang, H.; Li, X.; Ding, Y.; Wu, H.; Liu, P.; Zhou, Z.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Evaluated data for beryllium are validated by a high precision benchmark experiment. • Leakage neutron spectra from pure beryllium slab are measured at 61° and 121° using time-of-flight method. • The experimental results are compared with the MCNP-4B calculations with the evaluated data from different libraries. - Abstract: Beryllium is the most favored neutron multiplier candidate for solid breeder blankets of future fusion power reactors. However, beryllium nuclear data are differently presented in modern nuclear data evaluations. In order to validate the evaluated nuclear data on beryllium, in the present study, a benchmark experiment has been performed at China Institution of Atomic Energy (CIAE). Neutron leakage spectra from pure beryllium slab samples were measured at 61° and 121° using time-of-flight method. The experimental results were compared with the calculated ones by MCNP-4B simulation, using the evaluated data of beryllium from the CENDL-3.1, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0 libraries. From the comparison between the measured and the calculated spectra, it was found that the calculation results based on CENDL-3.1 caused overestimation in the energy range from about 3–12 MeV at 61°, while at 121°, all the libraries led to underestimation below 3 MeV.

Preparation of a criticality benchmark based on experiments performed at the RA-6 reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bazzana, S.; Blaumann, H; Marquez Damian, J.I

2009-01-01

The operation and fuel management of a reactor uses neutronic modeling to predict its behavior in operational and accidental conditions. This modeling uses computational tools and nuclear data that must be contrasted against benchmark experiments to ensure its accuracy. These benchmarks have to be simple enough to be possible to model with the desired computer code and have quantified and bound uncertainties. The start-up of the RA-6 reactor, final stage of the conversion and renewal project, allowed us to obtain experimental results with fresh fuel. In this condition the material composition of the fuel elements is precisely known, which contributes to a more precise modeling of the critical condition. These experimental results are useful to evaluate the precision of the models used to design the core, based on U 3 Si 2 and cadmium wires as burnable poisons, for which no data was previously available. The analysis of this information can be used to validate models for the analysis of similar configurations, which is necessary to follow the operational history of the reactor and perform fuel management. The analysis of the results and the generation of the model were done following the methodology established by International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project, which gathers and analyzes experimental data for critical systems. The results were very satisfactory resulting on a value for the multiplication factor of the model of 1.0000 ± 0.0044, and a calculated value of 0.9980 ± 0.0001 using MCNP 5 and ENDF/B-VI. The utilization of as-built dimensions and compositions, and the sensitivity analysis allowed us to review the design calculations and analyze their precision, accuracy and error compensation. [es

Benchmarking of Remote Sensing Segmentation Methods

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mikeš, Stanislav; Haindl, Michal; Scarpa, G.; Gaetano, R.

2015-01-01

Roč. 8, č. 5 (2015), s. 2240-2248 ISSN 1939-1404 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-10911S Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : benchmark * remote sensing segmentation * unsupervised segmentation * supervised segmentation Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information Impact factor: 2.145, year: 2015 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2015/RO/haindl-0445995.pdf

Developing integrated benchmarks for DOE performance measurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barancik, J.I.; Kramer, C.F.; Thode, Jr. H.C.

1992-09-30

The objectives of this task were to describe and evaluate selected existing sources of information on occupational safety and health with emphasis on hazard and exposure assessment, abatement, training, reporting, and control identifying for exposure and outcome in preparation for developing DOE performance benchmarks. Existing resources and methodologies were assessed for their potential use as practical performance benchmarks. Strengths and limitations of current data resources were identified. Guidelines were outlined for developing new or improved performance factors, which then could become the basis for selecting performance benchmarks. Data bases for non-DOE comparison populations were identified so that DOE performance could be assessed relative to non-DOE occupational and industrial groups. Systems approaches were described which can be used to link hazards and exposure, event occurrence, and adverse outcome factors, as needed to generate valid, reliable, and predictive performance benchmarks. Data bases were identified which contain information relevant to one or more performance assessment categories . A list of 72 potential performance benchmarks was prepared to illustrate the kinds of information that can be produced through a benchmark development program. Current information resources which may be used to develop potential performance benchmarks are limited. There is need to develop an occupational safety and health information and data system in DOE, which is capable of incorporating demonstrated and documented performance benchmarks prior to, or concurrent with the development of hardware and software. A key to the success of this systems approach is rigorous development and demonstration of performance benchmark equivalents to users of such data before system hardware and software commitments are institutionalized.

Analysis of an OECD/NEA high-temperature reactor benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosking, J. G.; Newton, T. D.; Koeberl, O.; Morris, P.; Goluoglu, S.; Tombakoglu, T.; Colak, U.; Sartori, E.

2006-01-01

This paper describes analyses of the OECD/NEA HTR benchmark organized by the 'Working Party on the Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems (WPRS)', formerly the 'Working Party on the Physics of Plutonium Fuels and Innovative Fuel Cycles'. The benchmark was specifically designed to provide inter-comparisons for plutonium and thorium fuels when used in HTR systems. Calculations considering uranium fuel have also been included in the benchmark, in order to identify any increased uncertainties when using plutonium or thorium fuels. The benchmark consists of five phases, which include cell and whole-core calculations. Analysis of the benchmark has been performed by a number of international participants, who have used a range of deterministic and Monte Carlo code schemes. For each of the benchmark phases, neutronics parameters have been evaluated. Comparisons are made between the results of the benchmark participants, as well as comparisons between the predictions of the deterministic calculations and those from detailed Monte Carlo calculations. (authors)

JENDL-4.0 benchmarking for fission reactor applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiba, Go; Okumura, Keisuke; Sugino, Kazuteru; Nagaya, Yasunobu; Yokoyama, Kenji; Kugo, Teruhiko; Ishikawa, Makoto; Okajima, Shigeaki

2011-01-01

Benchmark testing for the newly developed Japanese evaluated nuclear data library JENDL-4.0 is carried out by using a huge amount of integral data. Benchmark calculations are performed with a continuous-energy Monte Carlo code and with the deterministic procedure, which has been developed for fast reactor analyses in Japan. Through the present benchmark testing using a wide range of benchmark data, significant improvement in the performance of JENDL-4.0 for fission reactor applications is clearly demonstrated in comparison with the former library JENDL-3.3. Much more accurate and reliable prediction for neutronic parameters for both thermal and fast reactors becomes possible by using the library JENDL-4.0. (author)

Benchmarking infrastructure for mutation text mining.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Artjom; Riazanov, Alexandre; Hindle, Matthew M; Baker, Christopher Jo

2014-02-25

Experimental research on the automatic extraction of information about mutations from texts is greatly hindered by the lack of consensus evaluation infrastructure for the testing and benchmarking of mutation text mining systems. We propose a community-oriented annotation and benchmarking infrastructure to support development, testing, benchmarking, and comparison of mutation text mining systems. The design is based on semantic standards, where RDF is used to represent annotations, an OWL ontology provides an extensible schema for the data and SPARQL is used to compute various performance metrics, so that in many cases no programming is needed to analyze results from a text mining system. While large benchmark corpora for biological entity and relation extraction are focused mostly on genes, proteins, diseases, and species, our benchmarking infrastructure fills the gap for mutation information. The core infrastructure comprises (1) an ontology for modelling annotations, (2) SPARQL queries for computing performance metrics, and (3) a sizeable collection of manually curated documents, that can support mutation grounding and mutation impact extraction experiments. We have developed the principal infrastructure for the benchmarking of mutation text mining tasks. The use of RDF and OWL as the representation for corpora ensures extensibility. The infrastructure is suitable for out-of-the-box use in several important scenarios and is ready, in its current state, for initial community adoption.

Benchmarking infrastructure for mutation text mining

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Experimental research on the automatic extraction of information about mutations from texts is greatly hindered by the lack of consensus evaluation infrastructure for the testing and benchmarking of mutation text mining systems. Results We propose a community-oriented annotation and benchmarking infrastructure to support development, testing, benchmarking, and comparison of mutation text mining systems. The design is based on semantic standards, where RDF is used to represent annotations, an OWL ontology provides an extensible schema for the data and SPARQL is used to compute various performance metrics, so that in many cases no programming is needed to analyze results from a text mining system. While large benchmark corpora for biological entity and relation extraction are focused mostly on genes, proteins, diseases, and species, our benchmarking infrastructure fills the gap for mutation information. The core infrastructure comprises (1) an ontology for modelling annotations, (2) SPARQL queries for computing performance metrics, and (3) a sizeable collection of manually curated documents, that can support mutation grounding and mutation impact extraction experiments. Conclusion We have developed the principal infrastructure for the benchmarking of mutation text mining tasks. The use of RDF and OWL as the representation for corpora ensures extensibility. The infrastructure is suitable for out-of-the-box use in several important scenarios and is ready, in its current state, for initial community adoption. PMID:24568600

Evaluating the scope for energy-efficiency improvements in the public sector: Benchmarking NHSScotland's smaller health buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murray, Joe; Pahl, O.; Burek, S.

2008-01-01

The National Health Service in Scotland (NHSScotland) has, in recent years, done much to reduce energy consumption in its major healthcare buildings (hospitals). On average, a reduction of 2% per year has been achieved since 2000, based on hospital buildings. However, there had been little or no attention paid to smaller premises such as health centres, clinics, dentists, etc. Such smaller healthcare buildings in Scotland constitute 29% of the total treated floor area of all NHSScotland buildings and, therefore, may contribute a similar percentage of carbon and other emissions to the environment. By concentrating on a sample of local health centres in Scotland, this paper outlines the creation of an energy benchmark target, which is part of a wider research project to investigate the environmental impacts of small healthcare buildings in Scotland and the scope for improvements. It was found that energy consumption varied widely between different centres but this variation could not be linked to building style, floor area or volume. Overall, it was found that a benchmark of 0.2 GJ/m 3 would be challenging, but realistic

Decoys Selection in Benchmarking Datasets: Overview and Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Réau, Manon; Langenfeld, Florent; Zagury, Jean-François; Lagarde, Nathalie; Montes, Matthieu

2018-01-01

Virtual Screening (VS) is designed to prospectively help identifying potential hits, i.e., compounds capable of interacting with a given target and potentially modulate its activity, out of large compound collections. Among the variety of methodologies, it is crucial to select the protocol that is the most adapted to the query/target system under study and that yields the most reliable output. To this aim, the performance of VS methods is commonly evaluated and compared by computing their ability to retrieve active compounds in benchmarking datasets. The benchmarking datasets contain a subset of known active compounds together with a subset of decoys, i.e., assumed non-active molecules. The composition of both the active and the decoy compounds subsets is critical to limit the biases in the evaluation of the VS methods. In this review, we focus on the selection of decoy compounds that has considerably changed over the years, from randomly selected compounds to highly customized or experimentally validated negative compounds. We first outline the evolution of decoys selection in benchmarking databases as well as current benchmarking databases that tend to minimize the introduction of biases, and secondly, we propose recommendations for the selection and the design of benchmarking datasets. PMID:29416509

Developing a benchmark for emotional analysis of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Aljanaki, Anna; Yang, Yi-Hsuan; Soleymani, Mohammad

2017-01-01

Music emotion recognition (MER) field rapidly expanded in the last decade. Many new methods and new audio features are developed to improve the performance of MER algorithms. However, it is very difficult to compare the performance of the new methods because of the data representation diversity and scarcity of publicly available data. In this paper, we address these problems by creating a data set and a benchmark for MER. The data set that we release, a MediaEval Database for Emotional Analysis in Music (DEAM), is the largest available data set of dynamic annotations (valence and arousal annotations for 1,802 songs and song excerpts licensed under Creative Commons with 2Hz time resolution). Using DEAM, we organized the 'Emotion in Music' task at MediaEval Multimedia Evaluation Campaign from 2013 to 2015. The benchmark attracted, in total, 21 active teams to participate in the challenge. We analyze the results of the benchmark: the winning algorithms and feature-sets. We also describe the design of the benchmark, the evaluation procedures and the data cleaning and transformations that we suggest. The results from the benchmark suggest that the recurrent neural network based approaches combined with large feature-sets work best for dynamic MER.

Prismatic Core Coupled Transient Benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ortensi, J.; Pope, M.A.; Strydom, G.; Sen, R.S.; DeHart, M.D.; Gougar, H.D.; Ellis, C.; Baxter, A.; Seker, V.; Downar, T.J.; Vierow, K.; Ivanov, K.

2011-01-01

The Prismatic Modular Reactor (PMR) is one of the High Temperature Reactor (HTR) design concepts that have existed for some time. Several prismatic units have operated in the world (DRAGON, Fort St. Vrain, Peach Bottom) and one unit is still in operation (HTTR). The deterministic neutronics and thermal-fluids transient analysis tools and methods currently available for the design and analysis of PMRs have lagged behind the state of the art compared to LWR reactor technologies. This has motivated the development of more accurate and efficient tools for the design and safety evaluations of the PMR. In addition to the work invested in new methods, it is essential to develop appropriate benchmarks to verify and validate the new methods in computer codes. The purpose of this benchmark is to establish a well-defined problem, based on a common given set of data, to compare methods and tools in core simulation and thermal hydraulics analysis with a specific focus on transient events. The benchmark-working group is currently seeking OECD/NEA sponsorship. This benchmark is being pursued and is heavily based on the success of the PBMR-400 exercise.

Strategies for energy benchmarking in cleanrooms and laboratory-type facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sartor, Dale; Piette, Mary Ann; Tschudi, William; Fok, Stephen

2000-01-01

Buildings with cleanrooms and laboratories are growing in terms of total floor area and energy intensity. This building type is common in institutions such as universities and in many industries such as microelectronics and biotechnology. These buildings, with high ventilation rates and special environmental considerations, consume from 4 to 100 times more energy per square foot than conventional commercial buildings. Owners and operators of such facilities know they are expensive to operate, but have little way of knowing if their facilities are efficient or inefficient. A simple comparison of energy consumption per square foot is of little value. A growing interest in benchmarking is also fueled by: A new U.S. Executive Order removing the exemption of federal laboratories from energy efficiency goals, setting a 25% savings target, and calling for baseline guidance to measure progress; A new U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE initiative, Laboratories for the 21st Century, establishing voluntary performance goals and criteria for recognition; and A new PG and E market transformation program to improve energy efficiency in high tech facilities, including a cleanroom energy use benchmarking project. This paper identifies the unique issues associated with benchmarking energy use in high-tech facilities. Specific options discussed include statistical comparisons, point-based rating systems, model-based techniques, and hierarchical end-use and performance-metrics evaluations

A benchmarking program to reduce red blood cell outdating: implementation, evaluation, and a conceptual framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Barty, Rebecca L; Gagliardi, Kathleen; Owens, Wendy; Lauzon, Deborah; Scheuermann, Sheena; Liu, Yang; Wang, Grace; Pai, Menaka; Heddle, Nancy M

2015-07-01

Benchmarking is a quality improvement tool that compares an organization's performance to that of its peers for selected indicators, to improve practice. Processes to develop evidence-based benchmarks for red blood cell (RBC) outdating in Ontario hospitals, based on RBC hospital disposition data from Canadian Blood Services, have been previously reported. These benchmarks were implemented in 160 hospitals provincewide with a multifaceted approach, which included hospital education, inventory management tools and resources, summaries of best practice recommendations, recognition of high-performing sites, and audit tools on the Transfusion Ontario website (http://transfusionontario.org). In this study we describe the implementation process and the impact of the benchmarking program on RBC outdating. A conceptual framework for continuous quality improvement of a benchmarking program was also developed. The RBC outdating rate for all hospitals trended downward continuously from April 2006 to February 2012, irrespective of hospitals' transfusion rates or their distance from the blood supplier. The highest annual outdating rate was 2.82%, at the beginning of the observation period. Each year brought further reductions, with a nadir outdating rate of 1.02% achieved in 2011. The key elements of the successful benchmarking strategy included dynamic targets, a comprehensive and evidence-based implementation strategy, ongoing information sharing, and a robust data system to track information. The Ontario benchmarking program for RBC outdating resulted in continuous and sustained quality improvement. Our conceptual iterative framework for benchmarking provides a guide for institutions implementing a benchmarking program. © 2015 AABB.

Project evaluation: one framework - four approaches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rode, Anna Le Gerstrøm; Svejvig, Per

. Introducing a framework that can help structure such evaluations, the aim of this paper is to contribute to project theory and practice by inspiring project researchers and aiding project workers in their efforts to open up the black box of projects and deliver relevant and valuable results......There are many theoretical and practical reasons for evaluating projects – including explorative arguments focusing on expanding descriptive knowledge on projects as well as normative arguments focusing on developing prescriptive knowledge of project management. Despite the need for effective...... project management and research methods that can assess effective project management methodologies, extant literature on evaluation procedures or guidelines on how to evaluate projects and/or project management is scarce. To address this challenge, this paper introduces an evaluation framework consisting...

DEVELOPING A MODEL TO ENHANCE LABOR PRODUCTIVITY USING BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION BENCHMARK DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seonghoon Kim

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The Labor Working Status Monitoring (LWSM Model that incorporates the WRITE and the industry benchmark data was developed through the five steps to enhance labor producitivty in bridge construction operations. The first step of the development process was to conduct a literature review, followed by the second step which was to develop the WRITE. During the development, the authors identified the necessary hardware and software for the WRITE and outlined a schematic to show the connection of major hardware components. The third step was to develop the LWSM Model for monitoring the on-site construction labor working status by comparing data from the WRITE with the industry benchmark data. A survey methodology was used to acquire industry benchmark data from bridge construction experts. The fourth step was to demonstrate the implementation of the LWSM Model at a bridge construction site. During this phase, labor working status data collected using the WRITE was compared with the benchmark data to form the basis for the project managers and engineers to make efficiency improvement decisions. Finally, research findings and recommendations for future research were outlined. The success of this research made several contributions to the advancement of bridge construction. First, it advances the application of wireless technology in construction management. Second, it provides an advanced technology for project managers and engineers to share labor working status information among project participants. Finally, using the developed technology, project managers and engineers can quickly identify labor efficiency problems and take action to address these problems.

Benchmarking and energy management schemes in SMEs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huenges Wajer, Boudewijn [SenterNovem (Netherlands); Helgerud, Hans Even [New Energy Performance AS (Norway); Lackner, Petra [Austrian Energy Agency (Austria)

2007-07-01

Many companies are reluctant to focus on energy management or to invest in energy efficiency measures. Nevertheless, there are many good examples proving that the right approach to implementing energy efficiency can very well be combined with the business-priorities of most companies. SMEs in particular can benefit from a facilitated European approach because they normally have a lack of resources and time to invest in energy efficiency. In the EU supported pilot project BESS, 60 SMEs from 11 European countries of the food and drink industries successfully tested a package of interactive instruments which offers such a facilitated approach. A number of pilot companies show a profit increase of 3 up to 10 %. The package includes a user-friendly and web based E-learning scheme for implementing energy management as well as a benchmarking module for company specific comparison of energy performance indicators. Moreover, it has several practical and tested tools to support the cycle of continuous improvement of energy efficiency in the company such as checklists, sector specific measure lists, templates for auditing and energy conservation plans. An important feature and also a key trigger for companies is the possibility for SMEs to benchmark anonymously their energy situation against others of the same sector. SMEs can participate in a unique web based benchmarking system to interactively benchmark in a way which fully guarantees confidentiality and safety of company data. Furthermore, the available data can contribute to a bottom-up approach to support the objectives of (national) monitoring and targeting and thereby also contributing to the EU Energy Efficiency and Energy Services Directive. A follow up project to expand the number of participating SMEs of various sectors is currently being developed.

Model-Based Engineering and Manufacturing CAD/CAM Benchmark.; FINAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domm, T.C.; Underwood, R.S.

1999-01-01

The Benchmark Project was created from a desire to identify best practices and improve the overall efficiency and performance of the Y-12 Plant's systems and personnel supporting the manufacturing mission. The mission of the benchmark team was to search out industry leaders in manufacturing and evaluate their engineering practices and processes to determine direction and focus for Y-12 modernization efforts. The companies visited included several large established companies and a new, small, high-tech machining firm. As a result of this effort, changes are recommended that will enable Y-12 to become a more modern, responsive, cost-effective manufacturing facility capable of supporting the needs of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (NWC) into the 21st century. The benchmark team identified key areas of interest, both focused and general. The focus areas included Human Resources, Information Management, Manufacturing Software Tools, and Standards/Policies and Practices. Areas of general interest included Infrastructure, Computer Platforms and Networking, and Organizational Structure. The results of this benchmark showed that all companies are moving in the direction of model-based engineering and manufacturing. There was evidence that many companies are trying to grasp how to manage current and legacy data. In terms of engineering design software tools, the companies contacted were somewhere between 3-D solid modeling and surfaced wire-frame models. The manufacturing computer tools were varied, with most companies using more than one software product to generate machining data and none currently performing model-based manufacturing (MBM) from a common model. The majority of companies were closer to identifying or using a single computer-aided design (CAD) system than a single computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system. The Internet was a technology that all companies were looking to either transport information more easily throughout the corporation or as a conduit for

Performance evaluation of tile-based Fisher Ratio analysis using a benchmark yeast metabolome dataset.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Nathanial E; Parsons, Brendon A; Synovec, Robert E

2016-08-12

Performance of tile-based Fisher Ratio (F-ratio) data analysis, recently developed for discovery-based studies using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS), is evaluated with a metabolomics dataset that had been previously analyzed in great detail, but while taking a brute force approach. The previously analyzed data (referred to herein as the benchmark dataset) were intracellular extracts from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), either metabolizing glucose (repressed) or ethanol (derepressed), which define the two classes in the discovery-based analysis to find metabolites that are statistically different in concentration between the two classes. Beneficially, this previously analyzed dataset provides a concrete means to validate the tile-based F-ratio software. Herein, we demonstrate and validate the significant benefits of applying tile-based F-ratio analysis. The yeast metabolomics data are analyzed more rapidly in about one week versus one year for the prior studies with this dataset. Furthermore, a null distribution analysis is implemented to statistically determine an adequate F-ratio threshold, whereby the variables with F-ratio values below the threshold can be ignored as not class distinguishing, which provides the analyst with confidence when analyzing the hit table. Forty-six of the fifty-four benchmarked changing metabolites were discovered by the new methodology while consistently excluding all but one of the benchmarked nineteen false positive metabolites previously identified. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design and Evaluation of Energy Management using Map-Based ECMS for the PHEV Benchmark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sivertsson Martin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV provide a promising way of achieving the benefits of the electric vehicle without being limited by the electric range, but they increase the importance of the supervisory control to fully utilize the potential of the powertrain. The winning contribution in the PHEV Benchmark organized by IFP Energies nouvelles is described and evaluated. The control is an adaptive strategy based on a map-based Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS approach, developed and implemented in the simulator provided for the PHEV Benchmark. The implemented control strives to be as blended as possible, whilst still ensuring that all electric energy is used in the driving mission. The controller is adaptive to reduce the importance of correct initial values, but since the initial values affect the consumption, a method is developed to estimate the optimal initial value for the controller based on driving cycle information. This works well for most driving cycles with promising consumption results. The controller performs well in the benchmark; however, the driving cycles used show potential for improvement. A robustness built into the controller affects the consumption more than necessary, and in the case of altitude variations the control does not make use of all the energy available. The control is therefore extended to also make use of topography information that could be provided by a GPS which shows a potential further decrease in fuel consumption.

Toxicological benchmarks for wildlife: 1994 Revision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Opresko, D.M.; Sample, B.E.; Suter, G.W. II.

1994-09-01

The process by which ecological risks of environmental contaminants are evaluated is two-tiered. The first tier is a screening assessment where concentrations of contaminants in the environment are compared to toxicological benchmarks which represent concentrations of chemicals in environmental media (water, sediment, soil, food, etc.) that are presumed to be nonhazardous to the surrounding biota. The second tier is a baseline ecological risk assessment where toxicological benchmarks are one of several lines of evidence used to support or refute the presence of ecological effects. The report presents toxicological benchmarks for assessment of effects of 76 chemicals on 8 representative mammalian wildlife species and 31 chemicals on 9 avian wildlife species. The chemicals are some of those that occur at United States Department of Energy waste sites; the wildlife species were chosen because they are widely distributed and provide a representative range of body sizes and diets. Further descriptions of the chosen wildlife species and chemicals are provided in the report. The benchmarks presented in this report represent values believed to be nonhazardous for the listed wildlife species. These benchmarks only consider contaminant exposure through oral ingestion of contaminated media; exposure through inhalation or direct dermal exposure are not considered in this report

Toxicological benchmarks for wildlife: 1994 Revision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Opresko, D.M.; Sample, B.E.; Suter, G.W. II

1994-09-01

The process by which ecological risks of environmental contaminants are evaluated is two-tiered. The first tier is a screening assessment where concentrations of contaminants in the environment are compared to toxicological benchmarks which represent concentrations of chemicals in environmental media (water, sediment, soil, food, etc.) that are presumed to be nonhazardous to the surrounding biota. The second tier is a baseline ecological risk assessment where toxicological benchmarks are one of several lines of evidence used to support or refute the presence of ecological effects. The report presents toxicological benchmarks for assessment of effects of 76 chemicals on 8 representative mammalian wildlife species and 31 chemicals on 9 avian wildlife species. The chemicals are some of those that occur at United States Department of Energy waste sites; the wildlife species were chosen because they are widely distributed and provide a representative range of body sizes and diets. Further descriptions of the chosen wildlife species and chemicals are provided in the report. The benchmarks presented in this report represent values believed to be nonhazardous for the listed wildlife species. These benchmarks only consider contaminant exposure through oral ingestion of contaminated media; exposure through inhalation or direct dermal exposure are not considered in this report.

In response to an open invitation for comments on AAAS project 2061's Benchmark books on science. Part 1: documentation of serious errors in cell biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Gilbert

2006-01-01

Project 2061 was founded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to improve secondary school science education. An in-depth study of ten 9 to 12th grade biology textbooks led to the verdict that none conveyed "Big Ideas" that would give coherence and meaning to the profusion of lavishly illustrated isolated details. However, neither the Project report itself nor the Benchmark books put out earlier by the Project carries what deserves the designation of "Big Ideas." Worse, in the two earliest-published Benchmark books, the basic unit of all life forms--the living cell--is described as a soup enclosed by a cell membrane, that determines what can enter or leave the cell. This is astonishing since extensive experimental evidence has unequivocally disproved this idea 60 years ago. A "new" version of the membrane theory brought in to replace the discredited (sieve) version is the pump model--currently taught as established truth in all high-school and college biology textbooks--was also unequivocally disproved 40 years ago. This comment is written partly in response to Bechmark's gracious open invitation for ideas to improve the books and through them, to improve US secondary school science education.

Guideline for benchmarking thermal treatment systems for low-level mixed waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, D.P.; Gibson, L.V. Jr.; Hermes, W.H.; Bastian, R.E.; Davis, W.T.

1994-01-01

A process for benchmarking low-level mixed waste (LLMW) treatment technologies has been developed. When used in conjunction with the identification and preparation of surrogate waste mixtures, and with defined quality assurance and quality control procedures, the benchmarking process will effectively streamline the selection of treatment technologies being considered by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for LLMW cleanup and management. Following the quantitative template provided in the benchmarking process will greatly increase the technical information available for the decision-making process. The additional technical information will remove a large part of the uncertainty in the selection of treatment technologies. It is anticipated that the use of the benchmarking process will minimize technology development costs and overall treatment costs. In addition, the benchmarking process will enhance development of the most promising LLMW treatment processes and aid in transferring the technology to the private sector. To instill inherent quality, the benchmarking process is based on defined criteria and a structured evaluation format, which are independent of any specific conventional treatment or emerging process technology. Five categories of benchmarking criteria have been developed for the evaluation: operation/design; personnel health and safety; economics; product quality; and environmental quality. This benchmarking document gives specific guidance on what information should be included and how it should be presented. A standard format for reporting is included in Appendix A and B of this document. Special considerations for LLMW are presented and included in each of the benchmarking categories

Library Benchmarking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wiji Suwarno

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The term benchmarking has been encountered in the implementation of total quality (TQM or in Indonesian termed holistic quality management because benchmarking is a tool to look for ideas or learn from the library. Benchmarking is a processof measuring and comparing for continuous business process of systematic and continuous measurement, the process of measuring and comparing for continuous business process of an organization to get information that can help these organization improve their performance efforts.

Evaluation of piping fracture analysis method by benchmark study, 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Yukio; Kashima, Koichi; Kuwabara, Kazuo

1987-01-01

Importance of strength evaluation methods for cracked piping is growing with the progress of the rationalization of the nuclear piping system based on the leak-before-break concept. As an analytical tool, finite element method is principally used. To obtain the reliable solutions by the finite element programs, it is important to grasp the influences of various factors on the solutions. In this study, benchmark analysis is carried out for a stainless steel pipe with a circumferential through-wall crack subjected to four-point bending loading. Eight solutions obtained by using five finite element programs are compared with each other. Good agreement is obtained between the solutions on the deformation characteristics as well as fracture mechanics parameters. It is found through this study that the influence of the difference in the solution technique is generally small. (author)

Benchmark Calculations of Noncovalent Interactions of Halogenated Molecules

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Řezáč, Jan; Riley, Kevin Eugene; Hobza, Pavel

2012-01-01

Roč. 8, č. 11 (2012), s. 4285-4292 ISSN 1549-9618 R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP208/12/G016 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : halogenated molecules * noncovalent interactions * benchmark calculations Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 5.389, year: 2012

Nutrient cycle benchmarks for earth system land model

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Q.; Riley, W. J.; Tang, J.; Zhao, L.

2017-12-01

Projecting future biosphere-climate feedbacks using Earth system models (ESMs) relies heavily on robust modeling of land surface carbon dynamics. More importantly, soil nutrient (particularly, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) dynamics strongly modulate carbon dynamics, such as plant sequestration of atmospheric CO2. Prevailing ESM land models all consider nitrogen as a potentially limiting nutrient, and several consider phosphorus. However, including nutrient cycle processes in ESM land models potentially introduces large uncertainties that could be identified and addressed by improved observational constraints. We describe the development of two nutrient cycle benchmarks for ESM land models: (1) nutrient partitioning between plants and soil microbes inferred from 15N and 33P tracers studies and (2) nutrient limitation effects on carbon cycle informed by long-term fertilization experiments. We used these benchmarks to evaluate critical hypotheses regarding nutrient cycling and their representation in ESMs. We found that a mechanistic representation of plant-microbe nutrient competition based on relevant functional traits best reproduced observed plant-microbe nutrient partitioning. We also found that for multiple-nutrient models (i.e., N and P), application of Liebig's law of the minimum is often inaccurate. Rather, the Multiple Nutrient Limitation (MNL) concept better reproduces observed carbon-nutrient interactions.

U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2017

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Ran [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Feldman, David [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Margolis, Robert [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Woodhouse, Mike [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ardani, Kristen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-01

This report benchmarks U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed costs as of the first quarter of 2017 (Q1 2017). We use a bottom-up methodology, accounting for all system and projectdevelopment costs incurred during the installation to model the costs for residential, commercial, and utility-scale systems. In general, we attempt to model the typical installation techniques and business operations from an installed-cost perspective. Costs are represented from the perspective of the developer/installer; thus, all hardware costs represent the price at which components are purchased by the developer/installer, not accounting for preexisting supply agreements or other contracts. Importantly, the benchmark also represents the sales price paid to the installer; therefore, it includes profit in the cost of the hardware, 1 along with the profit the installer/developer receives, as a separate cost category. However, it does not include any additional net profit, such as a developer fee or price gross-up, which is common in the marketplace. We adopt this approach owing to the wide variation in developer profits in all three sectors, where project pricing is highly dependent on region and project specifics such as local retail electricity rate structures, local rebate and incentive structures, competitive environment, and overall project or deal structures. Finally, our benchmarks are national averages weighted by state installed capacities.

Reactor group constants and benchmark test

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takano, Hideki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

2001-08-01

The evaluated nuclear data files such as JENDL, ENDF/B-VI and JEF-2 are validated by analyzing critical mock-up experiments for various type reactors and assessing applicability for nuclear characteristics such as criticality, reaction rates, reactivities, etc. This is called Benchmark Testing. In the nuclear calculations, the diffusion and transport codes use the group constant library which is generated by processing the nuclear data files. In this paper, the calculation methods of the reactor group constants and benchmark test are described. Finally, a new group constants scheme is proposed. (author)

Benchmarking in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

In two articles an overview is given of the activities in the Dutch industry and energy sector with respect to benchmarking. In benchmarking operational processes of different competitive businesses are compared to improve your own performance. Benchmark covenants for energy efficiency between the Dutch government and industrial sectors contribute to a growth of the number of benchmark surveys in the energy intensive industry in the Netherlands. However, some doubt the effectiveness of the benchmark studies

Prague texture segmentation data generator and benchmark

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mikeš, Stanislav; Haindl, Michal

2006-01-01

Roč. 2006, č. 64 (2006), s. 67-68 ISSN 0926-4981 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0572; GA AV ČR(CZ) 1ET400750407; GA AV ČR IAA2075302 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : image segmentation * texture * benchmark * web Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information

Three-dimensional coupled kinetics/thermal- hydraulic benchmark TRIGA experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feltus, Madeline Anne; Miller, William Scott

2000-01-01

This research project provides separate effects tests in order to benchmark neutron kinetics models coupled with thermal-hydraulic (T/H) models used in best-estimate codes such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) RELAP and TRAC code series and industrial codes such as RETRAN. Before this research project was initiated, no adequate experimental data existed for reactivity initiated transients that could be used to assess coupled three-dimensional (3D) kinetics and 3D T/H codes which have been, or are being developed around the world. Using various Test Reactor Isotope General Atomic (TRIGA) reactor core configurations at the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR), it is possible to determine the level of neutronics modeling required to describe kinetics and T/H feedback interactions. This research demonstrates that the small compact PSBR TRIGA core does not necessarily behave as a point kinetics reactor, but that this TRIGA can provide actual test results for 3D kinetics code benchmark efforts. This research focused on developing in-reactor tests that exhibited 3D neutronics effects coupled with 3D T/H feedback. A variety of pulses were used to evaluate the level of kinetics modeling needed for prompt temperature feedback in the fuel. Ramps and square waves were used to evaluate the detail of modeling needed for the delayed T/H feedback of the coolant. A stepped ramp was performed to evaluate and verify the derived thermal constants for the specific PSBR TRIGA core loading pattern. As part of the analytical benchmark research, the STAR 3D kinetics code (, STAR: Space and time analysis of reactors, Version 5, Level 3, Users Guide, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, YEAC 1758, Bolton, MA) was used to model the transient experiments. The STAR models were coupled with the one-dimensional (1D) WIGL and LRA and 3D COBRA (, COBRA IIIC: A digital computer program for steady-state and transient thermal-hydraulic analysis of rod bundle nuclear fuel elements, Battelle

Sensitivity Analysis of OECD Benchmark Tests in BISON

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swiler, Laura Painton [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gamble, Kyle [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Schmidt, Rodney C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Williamson, Richard [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-09-01

This report summarizes a NEAMS (Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation) project focused on sensitivity analysis of a fuels performance benchmark problem. The benchmark problem was defined by the Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling working group of the Nuclear Science Committee, part of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ). The benchmark problem involv ed steady - state behavior of a fuel pin in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The problem was created in the BISON Fuels Performance code. Dakota was used to generate and analyze 300 samples of 17 input parameters defining core boundary conditions, manuf acturing tolerances , and fuel properties. There were 24 responses of interest, including fuel centerline temperatures at a variety of locations and burnup levels, fission gas released, axial elongation of the fuel pin, etc. Pearson and Spearman correlatio n coefficients and Sobol' variance - based indices were used to perform the sensitivity analysis. This report summarizes the process and presents results from this study.

Impact evaluation in multicultural educational projects : case: ADAPTYKES project

OpenAIRE

Kuusisto, Miika

2014-01-01

The objective of this thesis was to examine the common evaluation concepts of the European Union’s funded projects. Such concepts inter alia are effectiveness, impacts and sustainability. The aim was to study how these are realized in multicultural educational case–project in a context, where the project is funded by the European Commission’s Leonardo DaVinci Programme. Thesis introduces two evaluation approaches, which are Logical Framework Approach and Realistic evaluation model. The fi...

Present status and benchmark tests of JENDL-2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikuchi, Y.

1983-01-01

The second version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-2) consists of the evaluated data from 10 -5 eV to 20 MeV for 176 nuclides including 99 fission product nuclei. Complete reevaluation has been made to heavy actinide, fission product and main structural material nuclides. Benchmark tests have been made on JENDL-2 for fast reactor application. Various characteristics in core center have been tested with one-dimensional model for total of 27 assemblies, and more sophisticated problems have been examined for MOZART and ZPPR-3. Furthermore analyses of JUPITER project give useful information. Satisfactory results have been obtained as a whole. However, the spectrum is a little underestimated above a few hundred keV and below a few keV. The positive sodium void reactivity worth is much overestimated. As to the latter, the sensitivity analysis with the generalized perturbation method suggests that the fission cross section of 239 Pu below a few keV has an important role. (Auth.)

A review on the benchmarking concept in Malaysian construction safety performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ishak, Nurfadzillah; Azizan, Muhammad Azizi

2018-02-01

Construction industry is one of the major industries that propels Malaysia's economy in highly contributes to our nation's GDP growth, yet the high fatality rates on construction sites have caused concern among safety practitioners and the stakeholders. Hence, there is a need of benchmarking in performance of Malaysia's construction industry especially in terms of safety. This concept can create a fertile ground for ideas, but only in a receptive environment, organization that share good practices and compare their safety performance against other benefit most to establish improvement in safety culture. This research was conducted to study the awareness important, evaluate current practice and improvement, and also identify the constraint in implement of benchmarking on safety performance in our industry. Additionally, interviews with construction professionals were come out with different views on this concept. Comparison has been done to show the different understanding of benchmarking approach and how safety performance can be benchmarked. But, it's viewed as one mission, which to evaluate objectives identified through benchmarking that will improve the organization's safety performance. Finally, the expected result from this research is to help Malaysia's construction industry implement best practice in safety performance management through the concept of benchmarking.

Benchmarking the evaluated proton differential cross sections suitable for the EBS analysis of natSi and 16O

Science.gov (United States)

Kokkoris, M.; Dede, S.; Kantre, K.; Lagoyannis, A.; Ntemou, E.; Paneta, V.; Preketes-Sigalas, K.; Provatas, G.; Vlastou, R.; Bogdanović-Radović, I.; Siketić, Z.; Obajdin, N.

2017-08-01

The evaluated proton differential cross sections suitable for the Elastic Backscattering Spectroscopy (EBS) analysis of natSi and 16O, as obtained from SigmaCalc 2.0, have been benchmarked over a wide energy and angular range at two different accelerator laboratories, namely at N.C.S.R. 'Demokritos', Athens, Greece and at Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), Zagreb, Croatia, using a variety of high-purity thick targets of known stoichiometry. The results are presented in graphical and tabular forms, while the observed discrepancies, as well as, the limits in accuracy of the benchmarking procedure, along with target related effects, are thoroughly discussed and analysed. In the case of oxygen the agreement between simulated and experimental spectra was generally good, while for silicon serious discrepancies were observed above Ep,lab = 2.5 MeV, suggesting that a further tuning of the appropriate nuclear model parameters in the evaluated differential cross-section datasets is required.

Benchmarking high performance computing architectures with CMS’ skeleton framework

Science.gov (United States)

Sexton-Kennedy, E.; Gartung, P.; Jones, C. D.

2017-10-01

In 2012 CMS evaluated which underlying concurrency technology would be the best to use for its multi-threaded framework. The available technologies were evaluated on the high throughput computing systems dominating the resources in use at that time. A skeleton framework benchmarking suite that emulates the tasks performed within a CMSSW application was used to select Intel’s Thread Building Block library, based on the measured overheads in both memory and CPU on the different technologies benchmarked. In 2016 CMS will get access to high performance computing resources that use new many core architectures; machines such as Cori Phase 1&2, Theta, Mira. Because of this we have revived the 2012 benchmark to test it’s performance and conclusions on these new architectures. This talk will discuss the results of this exercise.

Newly Available Reactor Physics Benchmark data in the March 2011 Edition of the IRPhEP Handbook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bess, John D.; Briggs, J. Blair; Gulliford, Jim

2011-01-01

The International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) was established to preserve integral reactor physics experimental data, including separate or special effects data for nuclear energy and technology applications. Numerous experiments that have been performed worldwide, represent a large investment of infrastructure, expertise, and cost, and are valuable resources of data for present and future research. These valuable assets provide the basis for recording, development, and validation of methods. If the data are compromised, it is unlikely that any of these measurements would be repeated in the future. The purpose of the IRPhEP is to provide an extensively peer-reviewed set of reactor physics-related integral data that can be used by reactor designers and safety analysts to validate the analytical tools used to design next-generation reactors and establish the safety basis for operation of these reactors. Contributors from around the world collaborate in the evaluation and review of selected benchmark experiments for inclusion in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPhEP Handbook). Several new evaluations have been prepared for inclusion in the March 2011 edition of the IRPhEP Handbook.

Benchmarking: a method for continuous quality improvement in health.

Science.gov (United States)

Ettorchi-Tardy, Amina; Levif, Marie; Michel, Philippe

2012-05-01

Benchmarking, a management approach for implementing best practices at best cost, is a recent concept in the healthcare system. The objectives of this paper are to better understand the concept and its evolution in the healthcare sector, to propose an operational definition, and to describe some French and international experiences of benchmarking in the healthcare sector. To this end, we reviewed the literature on this approach's emergence in the industrial sector, its evolution, its fields of application and examples of how it has been used in the healthcare sector. Benchmarking is often thought to consist simply of comparing indicators and is not perceived in its entirety, that is, as a tool based on voluntary and active collaboration among several organizations to create a spirit of competition and to apply best practices. The key feature of benchmarking is its integration within a comprehensive and participatory policy of continuous quality improvement (CQI). Conditions for successful benchmarking focus essentially on careful preparation of the process, monitoring of the relevant indicators, staff involvement and inter-organizational visits. Compared to methods previously implemented in France (CQI and collaborative projects), benchmarking has specific features that set it apart as a healthcare innovation. This is especially true for healthcare or medical-social organizations, as the principle of inter-organizational visiting is not part of their culture. Thus, this approach will need to be assessed for feasibility and acceptability before it is more widely promoted.

The DLESE Evaluation Toolkit Project

Science.gov (United States)

Buhr, S. M.; Barker, L. J.; Marlino, M.

2002-12-01

The Evaluation Toolkit and Community project is a new Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) collection designed to raise awareness of project evaluation within the geoscience education community, and to enable principal investigators, teachers, and evaluators to implement project evaluation more readily. This new resource is grounded in the needs of geoscience educators, and will provide a virtual home for a geoscience education evaluation community. The goals of the project are to 1) provide a robust collection of evaluation resources useful for Earth systems educators, 2) establish a forum and community for evaluation dialogue within DLESE, and 3) disseminate the resources through the DLESE infrastructure and through professional society workshops and proceedings. Collaboration and expertise in education, geoscience and evaluation are necessary if we are to conduct the best possible geoscience education. The Toolkit allows users to engage in evaluation at whichever level best suits their needs, get more evaluation professional development if desired, and access the expertise of other segments of the community. To date, a test web site has been built and populated, initial community feedback from the DLESE and broader community is being garnered, and we have begun to heighten awareness of geoscience education evaluation within our community. The web site contains features that allow users to access professional development about evaluation, search and find evaluation resources, submit resources, find or offer evaluation services, sign up for upcoming workshops, take the user survey, and submit calendar items. The evaluation resource matrix currently contains resources that have met our initial review. The resources are currently organized by type; they will become searchable on multiple dimensions of project type, audience, objectives and evaluation resource type as efforts to develop a collection-specific search engine mature. The peer review

Three anisotropic benchmark problems for adaptive finite element methods

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šolín, Pavel; Čertík, O.; Korous, L.

2013-01-01

Roč. 219, č. 13 (2013), s. 7286-7295 ISSN 0096-3003 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA100760702 Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : benchmark problem * anisotropic solution * boundary layer Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.600, year: 2013

ComprehensiveBench: a Benchmark for the Extensive Evaluation of Global Scheduling Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Pilla, Laércio L.; Bozzetti, Tiago C.; Castro, Márcio; Navaux, Philippe O. A.; Méhaut, Jean-François

2015-10-01

Parallel applications that present tasks with imbalanced loads or complex communication behavior usually do not exploit the underlying resources of parallel platforms to their full potential. In order to mitigate this issue, global scheduling algorithms are employed. As finding the optimal task distribution is an NP-Hard problem, identifying the most suitable algorithm for a specific scenario and comparing algorithms are not trivial tasks. In this context, this paper presents ComprehensiveBench, a benchmark for global scheduling algorithms that enables the variation of a vast range of parameters that affect performance. ComprehensiveBench can be used to assist in the development and evaluation of new scheduling algorithms, to help choose a specific algorithm for an arbitrary application, to emulate other applications, and to enable statistical tests. We illustrate its use in this paper with an evaluation of Charm++ periodic load balancers that stresses their characteristics.

NASA Software Engineering Benchmarking Study

Science.gov (United States)

Rarick, Heather L.; Godfrey, Sara H.; Kelly, John C.; Crumbley, Robert T.; Wifl, Joel M.

2013-01-01

To identify best practices for the improvement of software engineering on projects, NASA's Offices of Chief Engineer (OCE) and Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) formed a team led by Heather Rarick and Sally Godfrey to conduct this benchmarking study. The primary goals of the study are to identify best practices that: Improve the management and technical development of software intensive systems; Have a track record of successful deployment by aerospace industries, universities [including research and development (R&D) laboratories], and defense services, as well as NASA's own component Centers; and Identify candidate solutions for NASA's software issues. Beginning in the late fall of 2010, focus topics were chosen and interview questions were developed, based on the NASA top software challenges. Between February 2011 and November 2011, the Benchmark Team interviewed a total of 18 organizations, consisting of five NASA Centers, five industry organizations, four defense services organizations, and four university or university R and D laboratory organizations. A software assurance representative also participated in each of the interviews to focus on assurance and software safety best practices. Interviewees provided a wealth of information on each topic area that included: software policy, software acquisition, software assurance, testing, training, maintaining rigor in small projects, metrics, and use of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework, as well as a number of special topics that came up in the discussions. NASA's software engineering practices compared favorably with the external organizations in most benchmark areas, but in every topic, there were ways in which NASA could improve its practices. Compared to defense services organizations and some of the industry organizations, one of NASA's notable weaknesses involved communication with contractors regarding its policies and requirements for acquired software. One of NASA's strengths

Status on benchmark testing of CENDL-3

CERN Document Server

Liu Ping

2002-01-01

CENDL-3, the newest version of China Evaluated Nuclear Data Library has been finished, and distributed for some benchmarks analysis recently. The processing was carried out using the NJOY nuclear data processing code system. The calculations and analysis of benchmarks were done with Monte Carlo code MCNP and reactor lattice code WIMSD5A. The calculated results were compared with the experimental results based on ENDF/B6. In most thermal and fast uranium criticality benchmarks, the calculated k sub e sub f sub f values with CENDL-3 were in good agreements with experimental results. In the plutonium fast cores, the k sub e sub f sub f values were improved significantly with CENDL-3. This is duo to reevaluation of the fission spectrum and elastic angular distributions of sup 2 sup 3 sup 9 Pu and sup 2 sup 4 sup 0 Pu. CENDL-3 underestimated the k sub e sub f sub f values compared with other evaluated data libraries for most spherical or cylindrical assemblies of plutonium or uranium with beryllium

Energy saving in WWTP: Daily benchmarking under uncertainty and data availability limitations.

Science.gov (United States)

Torregrossa, D; Schutz, G; Cornelissen, A; Hernández-Sancho, F; Hansen, J

2016-07-01

Efficient management of Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) can produce significant environmental and economic benefits. Energy benchmarking can be used to compare WWTPs, identify targets and use these to improve their performance. Different authors have performed benchmark analysis on monthly or yearly basis but their approaches suffer from a time lag between an event, its detection, interpretation and potential actions. The availability of on-line measurement data on many WWTPs should theoretically enable the decrease of the management response time by daily benchmarking. Unfortunately this approach is often impossible because of limited data availability. This paper proposes a methodology to perform a daily benchmark analysis under database limitations. The methodology has been applied to the Energy Online System (EOS) developed in the framework of the project "INNERS" (INNovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle). EOS calculates a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the evaluation of energy and process performances. In EOS, the energy KPIs take in consideration the pollutant load in order to enable the comparison between different plants. For example, EOS does not analyse the energy consumption but the energy consumption on pollutant load. This approach enables the comparison of performances for plants with different loads or for a single plant under different load conditions. The energy consumption is measured by on-line sensors, while the pollutant load is measured in the laboratory approximately every 14 days. Consequently, the unavailability of the water quality parameters is the limiting factor in calculating energy KPIs. In this paper, in order to overcome this limitation, the authors have developed a methodology to estimate the required parameters and manage the uncertainty in the estimation. By coupling the parameter estimation with an interval based benchmark approach, the authors propose an effective, fast and reproducible

Benchmark calculation for the steady-state temperature distribution of the HTR-10 under full-power operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Fubing; Dong Yujie; Zheng Yanhua; Shi Lei; Zhang Zuoyi

2009-01-01

Within the framework of a Coordinated Research Project on Evaluation of High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Performance (CRP-5) initiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the calculation of steady-state temperature distribution of the 10 MW High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Test Module (HTR-10) under its initial full power experimental operation has been defined as one of the benchmark problems. This paper gives the investigation results obtained by different countries who participate in solving this benchmark problem. The validation works of the THERMIX code used by the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET) are also presented. For the benchmark items defined in this CRP, various calculation results correspond well with each other and basically agree the experimental results. Discrepancies existing among various code results are preliminarily attributed to different methods, models, material properties, and so on used in the computations. Temperatures calculated by THERMIX for the measuring points in the reactor internals agree well with the experimental values. The maximum fuel center temperatures calculated by the participants are much lower than the limited value of 1,230degC. According to the comparison results of code-to-code as well as code-to-experiment, THERMIX is considered to reproduce relatively satisfactory results for the CRP-5 benchmark problem. (author)

International benchmark tests of the FENDL-1 Nuclear Data Library

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, U.

1997-01-01

An international benchmark validation task has been conducted to validate the fusion evaluated nuclear data library FENDL-1 through data tests against integral 14 MeV neutron experiments. The main objective of this task was to qualify the FENDL-1 working libraries for fusion applications and to elaborate recommendations for further data improvements. Several laboratories and institutions from the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation and US have contributed to the benchmark task. A large variety of existing integral 14 MeV benchmark experiments was analysed with the FENDL-1 working libraries for continuous energy Monte Carlo and multigroup discrete ordinate calculations. Results of the benchmark analyses have been collected, discussed and evaluated. The major findings, conclusions and recommendations are presented in this paper. With regard to the data quality, it is summarised that fusion nuclear data have reached a high confidence level with the available FENDL-1 data library. With few exceptions this holds for the materials of highest importance for fusion reactor applications. As a result of the performed benchmark analyses, some existing deficiencies and discrepancies have been identified that are recommended for removal in theforthcoming FENDL-2 data file. (orig.)

X447 EBR-II Experiment Benchmark for Verification of Audit Code of SFR Metal Fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Yong Won; Bae, Moo-Hoon; Shin, Andong; Suh, Namduk [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

In KINS (Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety), to prepare audit calculation of PGSFR licensing review, the project has been started to develop the regulatory technology for SFR system including a fuel area. To evaluate the fuel integrity and safety during an irradiation, the fuel performance code must be used for audit calculation. In this study, to verify the new code system, the benchmark analysis is performed. In the benchmark, X447 EBR-II experiment data are used. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis according to mass flux change of coolant is performed. In case of LWR fuel performance modeling, various and advanced models have been proposed and validated based on sufficient in-reactor test results. However, due to the lack of experience of SFR operation, the current understanding of SFR fuel behavior is limited. In this study, X447 EBR-II Experiment data are used for benchmark. The fuel composition of X447 assembly is U-10Zr and PGSFR also uses this composition in initial phase. So we select X447 EBR-II experiment for benchmark analysis. Due to the lack of experience of SFR operation and data, the current understanding of SFR fuel behavior is limited. However, in order to prepare the licensing of PGSFR, regulatory audit technologies of SFR must be secured. So, in this study, to verify the new audit fuel performance analysis code, the benchmark analysis is performed using X447 EBR-II experiment data. Also, the sensitivity analysis with mass flux change of coolant is performed. In terms of verification, it is considered that the results of benchmark and sensitivity analysis are reasonable.

X447 EBR-II Experiment Benchmark for Verification of Audit Code of SFR Metal Fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Yong Won; Bae, Moo-Hoon; Shin, Andong; Suh, Namduk

2016-01-01

In KINS (Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety), to prepare audit calculation of PGSFR licensing review, the project has been started to develop the regulatory technology for SFR system including a fuel area. To evaluate the fuel integrity and safety during an irradiation, the fuel performance code must be used for audit calculation. In this study, to verify the new code system, the benchmark analysis is performed. In the benchmark, X447 EBR-II experiment data are used. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis according to mass flux change of coolant is performed. In case of LWR fuel performance modeling, various and advanced models have been proposed and validated based on sufficient in-reactor test results. However, due to the lack of experience of SFR operation, the current understanding of SFR fuel behavior is limited. In this study, X447 EBR-II Experiment data are used for benchmark. The fuel composition of X447 assembly is U-10Zr and PGSFR also uses this composition in initial phase. So we select X447 EBR-II experiment for benchmark analysis. Due to the lack of experience of SFR operation and data, the current understanding of SFR fuel behavior is limited. However, in order to prepare the licensing of PGSFR, regulatory audit technologies of SFR must be secured. So, in this study, to verify the new audit fuel performance analysis code, the benchmark analysis is performed using X447 EBR-II experiment data. Also, the sensitivity analysis with mass flux change of coolant is performed. In terms of verification, it is considered that the results of benchmark and sensitivity analysis are reasonable

Benchmarking semantic web technology

CERN Document Server

García-Castro, R

2009-01-01

This book addresses the problem of benchmarking Semantic Web Technologies; first, from a methodological point of view, proposing a general methodology to follow in benchmarking activities over Semantic Web Technologies and, second, from a practical point of view, presenting two international benchmarking activities that involved benchmarking the interoperability of Semantic Web technologies using RDF(S) as the interchange language in one activity and OWL in the other.The book presents in detail how the different resources needed for these interoperability benchmarking activities were defined:

Development and application of freshwater sediment-toxicity benchmarks for currently used pesticides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nowell, Lisa H., E-mail: lhnowell@usgs.gov [U.S. Geological Survey, California Water Science Center, Placer Hall, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 (United States); Norman, Julia E., E-mail: jnorman@usgs.gov [U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon Water Science Center, 2130 SW 5" t" h Avenue, Portland, OR 97201 (United States); Ingersoll, Christopher G., E-mail: cingersoll@usgs.gov [U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, 4200 New Haven Road, Columbia, MO 65021 (United States); Moran, Patrick W., E-mail: pwmoran@usgs.gov [U.S. Geological Survey, Washington Water Science Center, 934 Broadway, Suite 300, Tacoma, WA 98402 (United States)

2016-04-15

Sediment-toxicity benchmarks are needed to interpret the biological significance of currently used pesticides detected in whole sediments. Two types of freshwater sediment benchmarks for pesticides were developed using spiked-sediment bioassay (SSB) data from the literature. These benchmarks can be used to interpret sediment-toxicity data or to assess the potential toxicity of pesticides in whole sediment. The Likely Effect Benchmark (LEB) defines a pesticide concentration in whole sediment above which there is a high probability of adverse effects on benthic invertebrates, and the Threshold Effect Benchmark (TEB) defines a concentration below which adverse effects are unlikely. For compounds without available SSBs, benchmarks were estimated using equilibrium partitioning (EqP). When a sediment sample contains a pesticide mixture, benchmark quotients can be summed for all detected pesticides to produce an indicator of potential toxicity for that mixture. Benchmarks were developed for 48 pesticide compounds using SSB data and 81 compounds using the EqP approach. In an example application, data for pesticides measured in sediment from 197 streams across the United States were evaluated using these benchmarks, and compared to measured toxicity from whole-sediment toxicity tests conducted with the amphipod Hyalella azteca (28-d exposures) and the midge Chironomus dilutus (10-d exposures). Amphipod survival, weight, and biomass were significantly and inversely related to summed benchmark quotients, whereas midge survival, weight, and biomass showed no relationship to benchmarks. Samples with LEB exceedances were rare (n = 3), but all were toxic to amphipods (i.e., significantly different from control). Significant toxicity to amphipods was observed for 72% of samples exceeding one or more TEBs, compared to 18% of samples below all TEBs. Factors affecting toxicity below TEBs may include the presence of contaminants other than pesticides, physical/chemical characteristics

Development and application of freshwater sediment-toxicity benchmarks for currently used pesticides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowell, Lisa H.; Norman, Julia E.; Ingersoll, Christopher G.; Moran, Patrick W.

2016-01-01

Sediment-toxicity benchmarks are needed to interpret the biological significance of currently used pesticides detected in whole sediments. Two types of freshwater sediment benchmarks for pesticides were developed using spiked-sediment bioassay (SSB) data from the literature. These benchmarks can be used to interpret sediment-toxicity data or to assess the potential toxicity of pesticides in whole sediment. The Likely Effect Benchmark (LEB) defines a pesticide concentration in whole sediment above which there is a high probability of adverse effects on benthic invertebrates, and the Threshold Effect Benchmark (TEB) defines a concentration below which adverse effects are unlikely. For compounds without available SSBs, benchmarks were estimated using equilibrium partitioning (EqP). When a sediment sample contains a pesticide mixture, benchmark quotients can be summed for all detected pesticides to produce an indicator of potential toxicity for that mixture. Benchmarks were developed for 48 pesticide compounds using SSB data and 81 compounds using the EqP approach. In an example application, data for pesticides measured in sediment from 197 streams across the United States were evaluated using these benchmarks, and compared to measured toxicity from whole-sediment toxicity tests conducted with the amphipod Hyalella azteca (28-d exposures) and the midge Chironomus dilutus (10-d exposures). Amphipod survival, weight, and biomass were significantly and inversely related to summed benchmark quotients, whereas midge survival, weight, and biomass showed no relationship to benchmarks. Samples with LEB exceedances were rare (n = 3), but all were toxic to amphipods (i.e., significantly different from control). Significant toxicity to amphipods was observed for 72% of samples exceeding one or more TEBs, compared to 18% of samples below all TEBs. Factors affecting toxicity below TEBs may include the presence of contaminants other than pesticides, physical/chemical characteristics

Development of an integrated energy benchmark for a multi-family housing complex using district heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Jaewook; Hong, Taehoon; Ji, Changyoon; Kim, Jimin; Lee, Minhyun; Jeong, Kwangbok

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The energy benchmarks for MFHC using district heating were developed. • We consider heating, hot water, electricity, and water energy consumption. • The benchmarks cover the site EUI, source EUI, and CO_2 emission intensity. • The benchmarks were developed through data mining and statistical methodologies. • The developed benchmarks provide fair criteria to evaluate energy efficiency. - Abstract: The reliable benchmarks are required to evaluate building energy efficiency fairly. This study aims to develop the energy benchmarks and relevant process for a multi-family housing complex (MFHC), which is responsible for huge CO_2 emissions in South Korea. A database, including the information on building attributes and energy consumption of 503 MFHCs, was established. The database was classified into three groups based on average enclosed area per household (AEA) through data mining techniques. The benchmarks of site energy use intensity (EUI), source EUI, and CO_2 emission intensity (CEI) were developed from Groups 1, 2, and 3. Representatively, the developed benchmarks of CEI for Groups 1, 2, and 3 were 28.17, 24.16, and 20.96 kg-CO_2/m"2 y, respectively. A comparative analysis using the operational rating identified that the developed benchmarks could solve the irrationality of the original benchmarks from overall database. In the case of the original benchmarks, 93% of small-AEA-groups and 16% of large-AEA-groups received lower grades. In the case of the developed benchmark, the upper and lower grades in Groups 1–3 were both adjusted to 50%. The proposed process for developing energy benchmark is applicable to evaluate the energy efficiency of other buildings, in other regions.

MCNP neutron benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendricks, J.S.; Whalen, D.J.; Cardon, D.A.; Uhle, J.L.

1991-01-01

Over 50 neutron benchmark calculations have recently been completed as part of an ongoing program to validate the MCNP Monte Carlo radiation transport code. The new and significant aspects of this work are as follows: These calculations are the first attempt at a validation program for MCNP and the first official benchmarking of version 4 of the code. We believe the chosen set of benchmarks is a comprehensive set that may be useful for benchmarking other radiation transport codes and data libraries. These calculations provide insight into how well neutron transport calculations can be expected to model a wide variety of problems

The global unified parallel file system (GUPFS) project: FY 2002 activities and results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Butler, Gregory F.; Lee, Rei Chi; Welcome, Michael L.

2003-04-07

The Global Unified Parallel File System (GUPFS) project is a multiple-phase, five-year project at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Center to provide a scalable, high performance, high bandwidth, shared file system for all the NERSC production computing and support systems. The primary purpose of the GUPFS project is to make it easier to conduct advanced scientific research using the NERSC systems. This is to be accomplished through the use of a shared file system providing a unified file namespace, operating on consolidated shared storage that is directly accessed by all the NERSC production computing and support systems. During its first year, FY 2002, the GUPFS project focused on identifying, testing, and evaluating existing and emerging shared/cluster file system, SAN fabric, and storage technologies; identifying NERSC user input/output (I/O) requirements, methods, and mechanisms; and developing appropriate benchmarking methodologies and benchmark codes for a parallel environment. This report presents the activities and progress of the GUPFS project during its first year, the results of the evaluations conducted, and plans for near-term and longer-term investigations.

Criticality benchmark comparisons leading to cross-section upgrades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alesso, H.P.; Annese, C.E.; Heinrichs, D.P.; Lloyd, W.R.; Lent, E.M.

1993-01-01

For several years criticality benchmark calculations with COG. COG is a point-wise Monte Carlo code developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It solves the Boltzmann equation for the transport of neutrons and photons. The principle consideration in developing COG was that the resulting calculation would be as accurate as the point-wise cross-sectional data, since no physics computational approximations were used. The objective of this paper is to report on COG results for criticality benchmark experiments in concert with MCNP comparisons which are resulting in corrections an upgrades to the point-wise ENDL cross-section data libraries. Benchmarking discrepancies reported here indicated difficulties in the Evaluated Nuclear Data Livermore (ENDL) cross-sections for U-238 at thermal neutron energy levels. This led to a re-evaluation and selection of the appropriate cross-section values from several cross-section sets available (ENDL, ENDF/B-V). Further cross-section upgrades anticipated

Benchmark Simulation Model No 2 – finalisation of plant layout and default control strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nopens, I.; Benedetti, L.; Jeppsson, U.

2010-01-01

The COST/IWA Benchmark Simulation Model No 1 (BSM1) has been available for almost a decade. Its primary purpose has been to create a platform for control strategy benchmarking of activated sludge processes. The fact that the research work related to the benchmark simulation models has resulted...... in more than 300 publications worldwide demonstrates the interest in and need of such tools within the research community. Recent efforts within the IWA Task Group on “Benchmarking of control strategies for WWTPs” have focused on an extension of the benchmark simulation model. This extension aims...... be evaluated in a realistic fashion in the one week BSM1 evaluation period. In this paper, the finalised plant layout is summarised and, as was done for BSM1, a default control strategy is proposed. A demonstration of how BSM2 can be used to evaluate control strategies is also given....

COSA II Further benchmark exercises to compare geomechanical computer codes for salt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowe, M.J.S.; Knowles, N.C.

1989-01-01

Project COSA (COmputer COdes COmparison for SAlt) was a benchmarking exercise involving the numerical modelling of the geomechanical behaviour of heated rock salt. Its main objective was to assess the current European capability to predict the geomechanical behaviour of salt, in the context of the disposal of heat-producing radioactive waste in salt formations. Twelve organisations participated in the exercise in which their solutions to a number of benchmark problems were compared. The project was organised in two distinct phases: The first, from 1984-1986, concentrated on the verification of the computer codes. The second, from 1986-1988 progressed to validation, using three in-situ experiments at the Asse research facility in West Germany as a basis for comparison. This document reports the activities of the second phase of the project and presents the results, assessments and conclusions

Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organisation Pilot Project. CIELO meeting, NEA Headquarters, 18-20 May 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattoon, Caleb; Brown, David; Trkov, Andrej; Plompen, Arjan; Hawari, Ayman I.; Roubtsov, Danila; Kim, Do Heon; Bauge, Eric; Palmiotti, Giuseppe; Kessedjian, Gregoire; Conlin, Jeremy Lloyd; Qian, Jing; Leal, Luiz Carlos; Chadwick, Mark; Herman, Michal Wladyslaw; White, Morgan C.; Cabellos, Oscar; Romain, Pascal; Schillebeeckx, Peter; Ichou, Raphaelle; Jacqmin, Robert; Hilaire, Stephane; Danon, Yaron; Ge, Zhigang; Malvagi, Fausto; Kahler, Albert C. Skip; Morillon, Benjamin; Mcnabb, Dennis P.; Oleynik, Dmitry S.; Wu, Haicheng; Marquez Damian, Jose Ignacio; Yokoyama, Kenji; Dunn, Michael; Cho, Young-Sik; Pignet, Sophie; Ignatyuk, Anatoly V.; Leeb, Helmut; Wang, Wenming; Ruan, Xichao

2015-05-01

WPEC subgroup 40-CIELO (Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organization) provides a new working paradigm to facilitate evaluated nuclear reaction data advances. It brings together experts from across the international nuclear reaction data community to identify and document discrepancies among existing evaluated data libraries, measured data, and model calculation interpretations, and aims to make progress in reconciling these discrepancies to create more accurate ENDF-formatted files. SG40-CIELO focusses on 6 important isotopes: "1H, "1"6O, "5"6Fe, "2"3"5","2"3"8U, "2"3"9Pu. This document is the proceedings of the CIELO meeting, held at the NEA Headquarters on 18-20 May 2015. It comprises all the available presentations (slides) given by the participants: A - CIELO project: - 1: Status of Cross Section Progress (M. Chadwick); - 2: Update on CIELO Related Measurements at RPI (Y. Danon); - 3: IAEA-NDS and the CIELO Project (A. Trkov); - 4: LANL Criticality Data Testing using CIELO Candidate Evaluations (S. Kahler); - 5: ENDF/B-VII.1 vs. CIELO (R. Cullen); B - O"1"6: - 6: n+"1"6O (A. Plompen); - 7: Resonance Evaluations for "1"6O for the CIELO Project (L. Leal); - 8: Validation of Leal and Hale O-16 Evaluations against FNS/JAEA Liquid Oxygen ToF Benchmark (I. Kodeli); - 9: Cierjacks 1968, Cierjacks 1980 and RPI 2015 (C.R. Lubitz); - 10: O"1"6 Items (C.R. Lubitz); C - Fe"5"6: - 11: Iron in fast neutron range, beta-0 evaluation for "5"6Fe (M. Herman); - 12: Data Evaluation at ORNL (L. Leal); - 13: IAEA-NDS and the CIELO Project Fe-56 (A. Trkov); - 14: The evaluation of experimental data in fast range for "5"6Fe (Z. Ge); D - H1 - 15: Reactivity effect of New Light and Heavy Water TSL on Critical Systems (J.I. Marquez); E - Big3: - 16: Resonance Evaluations of "2"3"5U for the CIELO Project (L. Leal); - 17: IAEA-NDS and the CIELO Project U-235 (A. Trkov); - 18: Status of "2"3"5U CIELO evaluation (B. Morillon); - 19: U"2"3"5 Items (C.R. Lubitz); - 20: Fission

The impact and applicability of critical experiment evaluations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brewer, R. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

1997-06-01

This paper very briefly describes a project to evaluate previously performed critical experiments. The evaluation is intended for use by criticality safety engineers to verify calculations, and may also be used to identify data which need further investigation. The evaluation process is briefly outlined; the accepted benchmark critical experiments will be used as a standard for verification and validation. The end result of the project will be a comprehensive reference document.

Probabilistic fracture mechanics applied for lbb case study: international benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radu, V.

2015-01-01

An application of probabilistic fracture mechanics to evaluate the structural integrity for a case study chosen from experimental Mock-ups of FP7 STYLE project is described. The reliability model for probabilistic structural integrity, focused on the assessment of TWC in the pipe weld under complex loading (bending moment and residual stress) has been setup. The basic model is the model of fracture for through-wall cracked pipe under elastic-plastic conditions. The corresponding structural reliability approach is developed with the probabilities of failure associated with maximum load for crack initiation, net-section collapse but also the evaluation the instability loads. The probabilities of failure for a through-wall crack in a pipe subject to pure bending are evaluated by using crude Monte Carlo simulations. The results from the international benchmark are presented for the mentioned case in the context of ageing and lifetime management of pressure boundary/pressure circuit component. (authors)

Refining multi-model projections of temperature extremes by evaluation against land-atmosphere coupling diagnostics

Science.gov (United States)

Sippel, Sebastian; Zscheischler, Jakob; Mahecha, Miguel D.; Orth, Rene; Reichstein, Markus; Vogel, Martha; Seneviratne, Sonia I.

2017-05-01

The Earth's land surface and the atmosphere are strongly interlinked through the exchange of energy and matter. This coupled behaviour causes various land-atmosphere feedbacks, and an insufficient understanding of these feedbacks contributes to uncertain global climate model projections. For example, a crucial role of the land surface in exacerbating summer heat waves in midlatitude regions has been identified empirically for high-impact heat waves, but individual climate models differ widely in their respective representation of land-atmosphere coupling. Here, we compile an ensemble of 54 combinations of observations-based temperature (T) and evapotranspiration (ET) benchmarking datasets and investigate coincidences of T anomalies with ET anomalies as a proxy for land-atmosphere interactions during periods of anomalously warm temperatures. First, we demonstrate that a large fraction of state-of-the-art climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) archive produces systematically too frequent coincidences of high T anomalies with negative ET anomalies in midlatitude regions during the warm season and in several tropical regions year-round. These coincidences (high T, low ET) are closely related to the representation of temperature variability and extremes across the multi-model ensemble. Second, we derive a land-coupling constraint based on the spread of the T-ET datasets and consequently retain only a subset of CMIP5 models that produce a land-coupling behaviour that is compatible with these benchmark estimates. The constrained multi-model simulations exhibit more realistic temperature extremes of reduced magnitude in present climate in regions where models show substantial spread in T-ET coupling, i.e. biases in the model ensemble are consistently reduced. Also the multi-model simulations for the coming decades display decreased absolute temperature extremes in the constrained ensemble. On the other hand, the differences between projected

Benchmark selection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Tvede, Mich

2002-01-01

Within a production theoretic framework, this paper considers an axiomatic approach to benchmark selection. It is shown that two simple and weak axioms; efficiency and comprehensive monotonicity characterize a natural family of benchmarks which typically becomes unique. Further axioms are added...... in order to obtain a unique selection...

Academic library benchmarking in The Netherlands: a comparative study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voorbij, H.

2009-01-01

Purpose - This paper aims to describe some of the unique features of the Dutch academic library benchmarking system. Design/methodology/approach - The Dutch system is compared with similar projects in the USA, the UK and Germany. Findings - One of the most distinguishing features of the Dutch system

Using Benchmarking To Strengthen the Assessment of Persistence.

Science.gov (United States)

McLachlan, Michael S; Zou, Hongyan; Gouin, Todd

2017-01-03

Chemical persistence is a key property for assessing chemical risk and chemical hazard. Current methods for evaluating persistence are based on laboratory tests. The relationship between the laboratory based estimates and persistence in the environment is often unclear, in which case the current methods for evaluating persistence can be questioned. Chemical benchmarking opens new possibilities to measure persistence in the field. In this paper we explore how the benchmarking approach can be applied in both the laboratory and the field to deepen our understanding of chemical persistence in the environment and create a firmer scientific basis for laboratory to field extrapolation of persistence test results.

Benchmarking school nursing practice: the North West Regional Benchmarking Group

OpenAIRE

Littler, Nadine; Mullen, Margaret; Beckett, Helen; Freshney, Alice; Pinder, Lynn

2016-01-01

It is essential that the quality of care is reviewed regularly through robust processes such as benchmarking to ensure all outcomes and resources are evidence-based so that children and young people’s needs are met effectively. This article provides an example of the use of benchmarking in school nursing practice. Benchmarking has been defined as a process for finding, adapting and applying best practices (Camp, 1994). This concept was first adopted in the 1970s ‘from industry where it was us...

Compilation of benchmark results for fusion related Nuclear Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maekawa, Fujio; Wada, Masayuki; Oyama, Yukio; Ichihara, Chihiro; Makita, Yo; Takahashi, Akito

1998-11-01

This report compiles results of benchmark tests for validation of evaluated nuclear data to be used in nuclear designs of fusion reactors. Parts of results were obtained under activities of the Fusion Neutronics Integral Test Working Group organized by the members of both Japan Nuclear Data Committee and the Reactor Physics Committee. The following three benchmark experiments were employed used for the tests: (i) the leakage neutron spectrum measurement experiments from slab assemblies at the D-T neutron source at FNS/JAERI, (ii) in-situ neutron and gamma-ray measurement experiments (so-called clean benchmark experiments) also at FNS, and (iii) the pulsed sphere experiments for leakage neutron and gamma-ray spectra at the D-T neutron source facility of Osaka University, OKTAVIAN. Evaluated nuclear data tested were JENDL-3.2, JENDL Fusion File, FENDL/E-1.0 and newly selected data for FENDL/E-2.0. Comparisons of benchmark calculations with the experiments for twenty-one elements, i.e., Li, Be, C, N, O, F, Al, Si, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zr, Nb, Mo, W and Pb, are summarized. (author). 65 refs

Benchmarking Diagnostic Algorithms on an Electrical Power System Testbed

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtoglu, Tolga; Narasimhan, Sriram; Poll, Scott; Garcia, David; Wright, Stephanie

2009-01-01

Diagnostic algorithms (DAs) are key to enabling automated health management. These algorithms are designed to detect and isolate anomalies of either a component or the whole system based on observations received from sensors. In recent years a wide range of algorithms, both model-based and data-driven, have been developed to increase autonomy and improve system reliability and affordability. However, the lack of support to perform systematic benchmarking of these algorithms continues to create barriers for effective development and deployment of diagnostic technologies. In this paper, we present our efforts to benchmark a set of DAs on a common platform using a framework that was developed to evaluate and compare various performance metrics for diagnostic technologies. The diagnosed system is an electrical power system, namely the Advanced Diagnostics and Prognostics Testbed (ADAPT) developed and located at the NASA Ames Research Center. The paper presents the fundamentals of the benchmarking framework, the ADAPT system, description of faults and data sets, the metrics used for evaluation, and an in-depth analysis of benchmarking results obtained from testing ten diagnostic algorithms on the ADAPT electrical power system testbed.

An automated protocol for performance benchmarking a widefield fluorescence microscope.

Science.gov (United States)

Halter, Michael; Bier, Elianna; DeRose, Paul C; Cooksey, Gregory A; Choquette, Steven J; Plant, Anne L; Elliott, John T

2014-11-01

Widefield fluorescence microscopy is a highly used tool for visually assessing biological samples and for quantifying cell responses. Despite its widespread use in high content analysis and other imaging applications, few published methods exist for evaluating and benchmarking the analytical performance of a microscope. Easy-to-use benchmarking methods would facilitate the use of fluorescence imaging as a quantitative analytical tool in research applications, and would aid the determination of instrumental method validation for commercial product development applications. We describe and evaluate an automated method to characterize a fluorescence imaging system's performance by benchmarking the detection threshold, saturation, and linear dynamic range to a reference material. The benchmarking procedure is demonstrated using two different materials as the reference material, uranyl-ion-doped glass and Schott 475 GG filter glass. Both are suitable candidate reference materials that are homogeneously fluorescent and highly photostable, and the Schott 475 GG filter glass is currently commercially available. In addition to benchmarking the analytical performance, we also demonstrate that the reference materials provide for accurate day to day intensity calibration. Published 2014 Wiley Periodicals Inc. Published 2014 Wiley Periodicals Inc. This article is a US government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Towards benchmarking an in-stream water quality model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A method of model evaluation is presented which utilises a comparison with a benchmark model. The proposed benchmarking concept is one that can be applied to many hydrological models but, in this instance, is implemented in the context of an in-stream water quality model. The benchmark model is defined in such a way that it is easily implemented within the framework of the test model, i.e. the approach relies on two applications of the same model code rather than the application of two separate model codes. This is illustrated using two case studies from the UK, the Rivers Aire and Ouse, with the objective of simulating a water quality classification, general quality assessment (GQA, which is based on dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand and ammonium. Comparisons between the benchmark and test models are made based on GQA, as well as a step-wise assessment against the components required in its derivation. The benchmarking process yields a great deal of important information about the performance of the test model and raises issues about a priori definition of the assessment criteria.

Benchmark problems for numerical implementations of phase field models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jokisaari, A. M.; Voorhees, P. W.; Guyer, J. E.; Warren, J.; Heinonen, O. G.

2016-01-01

Here, we present the first set of benchmark problems for phase field models that are being developed by the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). While many scientific research areas use a limited set of well-established software, the growing phase field community continues to develop a wide variety of codes and lacks benchmark problems to consistently evaluate the numerical performance of new implementations. Phase field modeling has become significantly more popular as computational power has increased and is now becoming mainstream, driving the need for benchmark problems to validate and verify new implementations. We follow the example set by the micromagnetics community to develop an evolving set of benchmark problems that test the usability, computational resources, numerical capabilities and physical scope of phase field simulation codes. In this paper, we propose two benchmark problems that cover the physics of solute diffusion and growth and coarsening of a second phase via a simple spinodal decomposition model and a more complex Ostwald ripening model. We demonstrate the utility of benchmark problems by comparing the results of simulations performed with two different adaptive time stepping techniques, and we discuss the needs of future benchmark problems. The development of benchmark problems will enable the results of quantitative phase field models to be confidently incorporated into integrated computational materials science and engineering (ICME), an important goal of the Materials Genome Initiative.

Toxicological benchmarks for wildlife: 1996 Revision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sample, B.E.; Opresko, D.M.; Suter, G.W., II.

1996-06-01

The purpose of this report is to present toxicological benchmarks for assessment of effects of certain chemicals on mammalian and avian wildlife species. Publication of this document meets a milestone for the Environmental Restoration (ER) Risk Assessment Program. This document provides the ER Program with toxicological benchmarks that may be used as comparative tools in screening assessments as well as lines of evidence to support or refute the presence of ecological effects in ecological risk assessments. The chemicals considered in this report are some that occur at US DOE waste sites, and the wildlife species evaluated herein were chosen because they represent a range of body sizes and diets

Toxicological benchmarks for wildlife: 1996 Revision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sample, B.E.; Opresko, D.M.; Suter, G.W., II

1996-06-01

The purpose of this report is to present toxicological benchmarks for assessment of effects of certain chemicals on mammalian and avian wildlife species. Publication of this document meets a milestone for the Environmental Restoration (ER) Risk Assessment Program. This document provides the ER Program with toxicological benchmarks that may be used as comparative tools in screening assessments as well as lines of evidence to support or refute the presence of ecological effects in ecological risk assessments. The chemicals considered in this report are some that occur at US DOE waste sites, and the wildlife species evaluated herein were chosen because they represent a range of body sizes and diets.

Aircraft Engine Gas Path Diagnostic Methods: Public Benchmarking Results

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Donald L.; Borguet, Sebastien; Leonard, Olivier; Zhang, Xiaodong (Frank)

2013-01-01

Recent technology reviews have identified the need for objective assessments of aircraft engine health management (EHM) technologies. To help address this issue, a gas path diagnostic benchmark problem has been created and made publicly available. This software tool, referred to as the Propulsion Diagnostic Method Evaluation Strategy (ProDiMES), has been constructed based on feedback provided by the aircraft EHM community. It provides a standard benchmark problem enabling users to develop, evaluate and compare diagnostic methods. This paper will present an overview of ProDiMES along with a description of four gas path diagnostic methods developed and applied to the problem. These methods, which include analytical and empirical diagnostic techniques, will be described and associated blind-test-case metric results will be presented and compared. Lessons learned along with recommendations for improving the public benchmarking processes will also be presented and discussed.

Shear Strength Measurement Benchmarking Tests for K Basin Sludge Simulants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burns, Carolyn A.; Daniel, Richard C.; Enderlin, Carl W.; Luna, Maria; Schmidt, Andrew J.

2009-06-10

Equipment development and demonstration testing for sludge retrieval is being conducted by the K Basin Sludge Treatment Project (STP) at the MASF (Maintenance and Storage Facility) using sludge simulants. In testing performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (under contract with the CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company), the performance of the Geovane instrument was successfully benchmarked against the M5 Haake rheometer using a series of simulants with shear strengths (τ) ranging from about 700 to 22,000 Pa (shaft corrected). Operating steps for obtaining consistent shear strength measurements with the Geovane instrument during the benchmark testing were refined and documented.

Benchmark Report on Key Outage Attributes: An Analysis of Outage Improvement Opportunities and Priorities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Germain, Shawn St. [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Farris, Ronald [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-09-01

Advanced Outage Control Center (AOCC), is a multi-year pilot project targeted at Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) outage improvement. The purpose of this pilot project is to improve management of NPP outages through the development of an AOCC that is specifically designed to maximize the usefulness of communication and collaboration technologies for outage coordination and problem resolution activities. This report documents the results of a benchmarking effort to evaluate the transferability of technologies demonstrated at Idaho National Laboratory and the primary pilot project partner, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The initial assumption for this pilot project was that NPPs generally do not take advantage of advanced technology to support outage management activities. Several researchers involved in this pilot project have commercial NPP experience and believed that very little technology has been applied towards outage communication and collaboration. To verify that the technology options researched and demonstrated through this pilot project would in fact have broad application for the US commercial nuclear fleet, and to look for additional outage management best practices, LWRS program researchers visited several additional nuclear facilities.

Verification and validation benchmarks.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oberkampf, William Louis; Trucano, Timothy Guy

2007-02-01

Verification and validation (V&V) are the primary means to assess the accuracy and reliability of computational simulations. V&V methods and procedures have fundamentally improved the credibility of simulations in several high-consequence fields, such as nuclear reactor safety, underground nuclear waste storage, and nuclear weapon safety. Although the terminology is not uniform across engineering disciplines, code verification deals with assessing the reliability of the software coding, and solution verification deals with assessing the numerical accuracy of the solution to a computational model. Validation addresses the physics modeling accuracy of a computational simulation by comparing the computational results with experimental data. Code verification benchmarks and validation benchmarks have been constructed for a number of years in every field of computational simulation. However, no comprehensive guidelines have been proposed for the construction and use of V&V benchmarks. For example, the field of nuclear reactor safety has not focused on code verification benchmarks, but it has placed great emphasis on developing validation benchmarks. Many of these validation benchmarks are closely related to the operations of actual reactors at near-safety-critical conditions, as opposed to being more fundamental-physics benchmarks. This paper presents recommendations for the effective design and use of code verification benchmarks based on manufactured solutions, classical analytical solutions, and highly accurate numerical solutions. In addition, this paper presents recommendations for the design and use of validation benchmarks, highlighting the careful design of building-block experiments, the estimation of experimental measurement uncertainty for both inputs and outputs to the code, validation metrics, and the role of model calibration in validation. It is argued that the understanding of predictive capability of a computational model is built on the level of

Development and application of freshwater sediment-toxicity benchmarks for currently used pesticides

Science.gov (United States)

Nowell, Lisa H.; Norman, Julia E.; Ingersoll, Christopher G.; Moran, Patrick W.

2016-01-01

Sediment-toxicity benchmarks are needed to interpret the biological significance of currently used pesticides detected in whole sediments. Two types of freshwater sediment benchmarks for pesticides were developed using spiked-sediment bioassay (SSB) data from the literature. These benchmarks can be used to interpret sediment-toxicity data or to assess the potential toxicity of pesticides in whole sediment. The Likely Effect Benchmark (LEB) defines a pesticide concentration in whole sediment above which there is a high probability of adverse effects on benthic invertebrates, and the Threshold Effect Benchmark (TEB) defines a concentration below which adverse effects are unlikely. For compounds without available SSBs, benchmarks were estimated using equilibrium partitioning (EqP). When a sediment sample contains a pesticide mixture, benchmark quotients can be summed for all detected pesticides to produce an indicator of potential toxicity for that mixture. Benchmarks were developed for 48 pesticide compounds using SSB data and 81 compounds using the EqP approach. In an example application, data for pesticides measured in sediment from 197 streams across the United States were evaluated using these benchmarks, and compared to measured toxicity from whole-sediment toxicity tests conducted with the amphipod Hyalella azteca (28-d exposures) and the midge Chironomus dilutus (10-d exposures). Amphipod survival, weight, and biomass were significantly and inversely related to summed benchmark quotients, whereas midge survival, weight, and biomass showed no relationship to benchmarks. Samples with LEB exceedances were rare (n = 3), but all were toxic to amphipods (i.e., significantly different from control). Significant toxicity to amphipods was observed for 72% of samples exceeding one or more TEBs, compared to 18% of samples below all TEBs. Factors affecting toxicity below TEBs may include the presence of contaminants other than pesticides, physical

Evaluation of Saxton critical experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joo, Hyung Kook; Noh, Jae Man; Jung, Hyung Guk; Kim, Young Il; Kim, Young Jin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1998-12-31

As a part of International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP), SAXTON critical experiments were reevaluated. The effects of k{sub eff} of the uncertainties in experiment parameters, fuel rod characterization, soluble boron, critical water level, core structure, {sup 241}Am and {sup 241}Pu isotope number densities, random pitch error, duplicated experiment, axial fuel position, model simplification, etc., were evaluated and added in benchmark-model k{sub eff}. In addition to detailed model, the simplified model for Saxton critical experiments was constructed by omitting the top, middle, and bottom grids and ignoring the fuel above water. 6 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs. (Author)

Evaluation of Saxton critical experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joo, Hyung Kook; Noh, Jae Man; Jung, Hyung Guk; Kim, Young Il; Kim, Young Jin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1997-12-31

As a part of International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP), SAXTON critical experiments were reevaluated. The effects of k{sub eff} of the uncertainties in experiment parameters, fuel rod characterization, soluble boron, critical water level, core structure, {sup 241}Am and {sup 241}Pu isotope number densities, random pitch error, duplicated experiment, axial fuel position, model simplification, etc., were evaluated and added in benchmark-model k{sub eff}. In addition to detailed model, the simplified model for Saxton critical experiments was constructed by omitting the top, middle, and bottom grids and ignoring the fuel above water. 6 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs. (Author)

HEP specific benchmarks of virtual machines on multi-core CPU architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alef, M; Gable, I

2010-01-01

Virtualization technologies such as Xen can be used in order to satisfy the disparate and often incompatible system requirements of different user groups in shared-use computing facilities. This capability is particularly important for HEP applications, which often have restrictive requirements. The use of virtualization adds flexibility, however, it is essential that the virtualization technology place little overhead on the HEP application. We present an evaluation of the practicality of running HEP applications in multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) on a single multi-core Linux system. We use the benchmark suite used by the HEPiX CPU Benchmarking Working Group to give a quantitative evaluation relevant to the HEP community. Benchmarks are packaged inside VMs and then the VMs are booted onto a single multi-core system. Benchmarks are then simultaneously executed on each VM to simulate highly loaded VMs running HEP applications. These techniques are applied to a variety of multi-core CPU architectures and VM configurations.

The KMAT: Benchmarking Knowledge Management.

Science.gov (United States)

de Jager, Martha

Provides an overview of knowledge management and benchmarking, including the benefits and methods of benchmarking (e.g., competitive, cooperative, collaborative, and internal benchmarking). Arthur Andersen's KMAT (Knowledge Management Assessment Tool) is described. The KMAT is a collaborative benchmarking tool, designed to help organizations make…

Benchmark validation of statistical models: Application to mediation analysis of imagery and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKinnon, David P; Valente, Matthew J; Wurpts, Ingrid C

2018-03-29

This article describes benchmark validation, an approach to validating a statistical model. According to benchmark validation, a valid model generates estimates and research conclusions consistent with a known substantive effect. Three types of benchmark validation-(a) benchmark value, (b) benchmark estimate, and (c) benchmark effect-are described and illustrated with examples. Benchmark validation methods are especially useful for statistical models with assumptions that are untestable or very difficult to test. Benchmark effect validation methods were applied to evaluate statistical mediation analysis in eight studies using the established effect that increasing mental imagery improves recall of words. Statistical mediation analysis led to conclusions about mediation that were consistent with established theory that increased imagery leads to increased word recall. Benchmark validation based on established substantive theory is discussed as a general way to investigate characteristics of statistical models and a complement to mathematical proof and statistical simulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Transport Project Evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leleur, Steen

1996-01-01

Two main project evaluation approaches exist: cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA). Related to a European road evaluation method (EURET 1.1) and the MCA-method, WARP, the paper proposes a set of so-called segregated investment return rates (SIRR) to integrate advantages...

ENDF/B-VII.1 Neutron Cross Section Data Testing with Critical Assembly Benchmarks and Reactor Experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kahler, A. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Macfarlane, R E [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Mosteller, R D [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Kiedrowski, B C [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Frankle, S C [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Chadwick, M. B. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Mcknight, R D [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Lell, R M [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Palmiotti, G [Idaho National Laboratory (INL); Hiruta, h [Idaho National Laboratory (INL); Herman, Micheal W [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Arcilla, r [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Mughabghab, S F [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Sublet, J C [Culham Science Center, Abington, UK; Trkov, A. [Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia; Trumbull, T H [Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory; Dunn, Michael E [ORNL

2011-01-01

The ENDF/B-VII.1 library is the latest revision to the United States' Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF). The ENDF library is currently in its seventh generation, with ENDF/B-VII.0 being released in 2006. This revision expands upon that library, including the addition of new evaluated files (was 393 neutron files previously, now 423 including replacement of elemental vanadium and zinc evaluations with isotopic evaluations) and extension or updating of many existing neutron data files. Complete details are provided in the companion paper [1]. This paper focuses on how accurately application libraries may be expected to perform in criticality calculations with these data. Continuous energy cross section libraries, suitable for use with the MCNP Monte Carlo transport code, have been generated and applied to a suite of nearly one thousand critical benchmark assemblies defined in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project's International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. This suite covers uranium and plutonium fuel systems in a variety of forms such as metallic, oxide or solution, and under a variety of spectral conditions, including unmoderated (i.e., bare), metal reflected and water or other light element reflected. Assembly eigenvalues that were accurately predicted with ENDF/B-VII.0 cross sections such as unrnoderated and uranium reflected (235)U and (239)Pu assemblies, HEU solution systems and LEU oxide lattice systems that mimic commercial PWR configurations continue to be accurately calculated with ENDF/B-VII.1 cross sections, and deficiencies in predicted eigenvalues for assemblies containing selected materials, including titanium, manganese, cadmium and tungsten are greatly reduced. Improvements are also confirmed for selected actinide reaction rates such as (236)U; (238,242)Pu and (241,243)Am capture in fast systems. Other deficiencies, such as the overprediction of Pu solution system critical

Development and benchmark analysis of the hybrid evaluated nuclear data library HENDL1.0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Dezheng; Wu Yican; Gao Chunjing; Zheng Shanliang; Li Jingjing; Zhu Xiaoxiang; Liu Haibo

2004-01-01

To meet the requirements of fusion-fission sub-critical hybrid reactor design and the other related studies, the evaluate nuclear data library named HENDL1.0/E has been constituted based on the several main national evaluated data libraries. The relevant working libraries including transport sub-libraries HENDL1.0/MG in groupwise form, HENDL1.0/MC in pointwise form, and the burnup sub-library HENDL1.0/BU and response function sub-library HENDL1.0/RF are generated using the nuclear data processing codes NJOY97 and TRANSX2. The simulating calculation and comparative analysis are carried out against a series of existing benchmark test experiments with popular neutron transport codes, in order to validate the correctness and availability of the HENDL1.0. (authors)

How Activists Use Benchmarks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2015-01-01

Non-governmental organisations use benchmarks as a form of symbolic violence to place political pressure on firms, states, and international organisations. The development of benchmarks requires three elements: (1) salience, that the community of concern is aware of the issue and views...... are put to the test. The first is a reformist benchmarking cycle where organisations defer to experts to create a benchmark that conforms with the broader system of politico-economic norms. The second is a revolutionary benchmarking cycle driven by expert-activists that seek to contest strong vested...... interests and challenge established politico-economic norms. Differentiating these cycles provides insights into how activists work through organisations and with expert networks, as well as how campaigns on complex economic issues can be mounted and sustained....

Project evaluation: main characteristics

OpenAIRE

Moutinho, Nuno

2010-01-01

— The evaluation process of real investment projects must consider not only the traditional financial approach, but also non-financial aspects. Non financial analysis can provide additional relevant information about projects. We investigate financial and non-financial areas most relevant in project appraisal. We present main critical success factors and areas of analysis that lead to the perception of project success. Finally, companies are segmented to verify its financial and non-financial...

Assessment of the monitoring and evaluation system for integrated community case management (ICCM) in Ethiopia: a comparison against global benchmark indicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Mamo, Dereje; Hazel, Elizabeth; Lemma, Israel; Guenther, Tanya; Bekele, Abeba; Demeke, Berhanu

2014-10-01

Program managers require feasible, timely, reliable, and valid measures of iCCM implementation to identify problems and assess progress. The global iCCM Task Force developed benchmark indicators to guide implementers to develop or improve monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. To assesses Ethiopia's iCCM M&E system by determining the availability and feasibility of the iCCM benchmark indicators. We conducted a desk review of iCCM policy documents, monitoring tools, survey reports, and other rele- vant documents; and key informant interviews with government and implementing partners involved in iCCM scale-up and M&E. Currently, Ethiopia collects data to inform most (70% [33/47]) iCCM benchmark indicators, and modest extra effort could boost this to 83% (39/47). Eight (17%) are not available given the current system. Most benchmark indicators that track coordination and policy, human resources, service delivery and referral, supervision, and quality assurance are available through the routine monitoring systems or periodic surveys. Indicators for supply chain management are less available due to limited consumption data and a weak link with treatment data. Little information is available on iCCM costs. Benchmark indicators can detail the status of iCCM implementation; however, some indicators may not fit country priorities, and others may be difficult to collect. The government of Ethiopia and partners should review and prioritize the benchmark indicators to determine which should be included in the routine M&E system, especially since iCCMdata are being reviewed for addition to the HMIS. Moreover, the Health Extension Worker's reporting burden can be minimized by an integrated reporting approach.

Aquatic Life Benchmarks

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Aquatic Life Benchmarks is an EPA-developed set of criteria for freshwater species. These benchmarks are based on toxicity values reviewed by EPA and used in the...

Automated benchmarking of peptide-MHC class I binding predictions

Science.gov (United States)

Trolle, Thomas; Metushi, Imir G.; Greenbaum, Jason A.; Kim, Yohan; Sidney, John; Lund, Ole; Sette, Alessandro; Peters, Bjoern; Nielsen, Morten

2015-01-01

Motivation: Numerous in silico methods predicting peptide binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules have been developed over the last decades. However, the multitude of available prediction tools makes it non-trivial for the end-user to select which tool to use for a given task. To provide a solid basis on which to compare different prediction tools, we here describe a framework for the automated benchmarking of peptide-MHC class I binding prediction tools. The framework runs weekly benchmarks on data that are newly entered into the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), giving the public access to frequent, up-to-date performance evaluations of all participating tools. To overcome potential selection bias in the data included in the IEDB, a strategy was implemented that suggests a set of peptides for which different prediction methods give divergent predictions as to their binding capability. Upon experimental binding validation, these peptides entered the benchmark study. Results: The benchmark has run for 15 weeks and includes evaluation of 44 datasets covering 17 MHC alleles and more than 4000 peptide-MHC binding measurements. Inspection of the results allows the end-user to make educated selections between participating tools. Of the four participating servers, NetMHCpan performed the best, followed by ANN, SMM and finally ARB. Availability and implementation: Up-to-date performance evaluations of each server can be found online at http://tools.iedb.org/auto_bench/mhci/weekly. All prediction tool developers are invited to participate in the benchmark. Sign-up instructions are available at http://tools.iedb.org/auto_bench/mhci/join. Contact: mniel@cbs.dtu.dk or bpeters@liai.org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25717196

Evaluation of High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Performance: Benchmark Analysis Related to the PBMR-400, PBMM, GT-MHR, HTR-10 and the ASTRA Critical Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-04-15

The IAEA has facilitated an extensive programme that addresses the technical development of advanced gas cooled reactor technology. Included in this programme is the coordinated research project (CRP) on Evaluation of High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR) Performance, which is the focus of this TECDOC. This CRP was established to foster the sharing of research and associated technical information among participating Member States in the ongoing development of the HTGR as a future source of nuclear energy. Within it, computer codes and models were verified through actual test results from operating reactor facilities. The work carried out in the CRP involved both computational and experimental analysis at various facilities in IAEA Member States with a view to verifying computer codes and methods in particular, and to evaluating the performance of HTGRs in general. The IAEA is grateful to China, the Russian Federation and South Africa for providing their facilities and benchmark programmes in support of this CRP.

Evaluation of High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Performance: Benchmark Analysis Related to the PBMR-400, PBMM, GT-MHR, HTR-10 and the ASTRA Critical Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-04-01

The IAEA has facilitated an extensive programme that addresses the technical development of advanced gas cooled reactor technology. Included in this programme is the coordinated research project (CRP) on Evaluation of High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR) Performance, which is the focus of this TECDOC. This CRP was established to foster the sharing of research and associated technical information among participating Member States in the ongoing development of the HTGR as a future source of nuclear energy. Within it, computer codes and models were verified through actual test results from operating reactor facilities. The work carried out in the CRP involved both computational and experimental analysis at various facilities in IAEA Member States with a view to verifying computer codes and methods in particular, and to evaluating the performance of HTGRs in general. The IAEA is grateful to China, the Russian Federation and South Africa for providing their facilities and benchmark programmes in support of this CRP.

Quantitative Performance Analysis of the SPEC OMPM2001 Benchmarks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vishal Aslot

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The state of modern computer systems has evolved to allow easy access to multiprocessor systems by supporting multiple processors on a single physical package. As the multiprocessor hardware evolves, new ways of programming it are also developed. Some inventions may merely be adopting and standardizing the older paradigms. One such evolving standard for programming shared-memory parallel computers is the OpenMP API. The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC has created a suite of parallel programs called SPEC OMP to compare and evaluate modern shared-memory multiprocessor systems using the OpenMP standard. We have studied these benchmarks in detail to understand their performance on a modern architecture. In this paper, we present detailed measurements of the benchmarks. We organize, summarize, and display our measurements using a Quantitative Model. We present a detailed discussion and derivation of the model. Also, we discuss the important loops in the SPEC OMPM2001 benchmarks and the reasons for less than ideal speedup on our platform.

Regulatory Benchmarking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agrell, Per J.; Bogetoft, Peter

2017-01-01

Benchmarking methods, and in particular Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), have become well-established and informative tools for economic regulation. DEA is now routinely used by European regulators to set reasonable revenue caps for energy transmission and distribution system operators. The appli......Benchmarking methods, and in particular Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), have become well-established and informative tools for economic regulation. DEA is now routinely used by European regulators to set reasonable revenue caps for energy transmission and distribution system operators....... The application of bench-marking in regulation, however, requires specific steps in terms of data validation, model specification and outlier detection that are not systematically documented in open publications, leading to discussions about regulatory stability and economic feasibility of these techniques...

Regulatory Benchmarking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agrell, Per J.; Bogetoft, Peter

2017-01-01

Benchmarking methods, and in particular Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), have become well-established and informative tools for economic regulation. DEA is now routinely used by European regulators to set reasonable revenue caps for energy transmission and distribution system operators. The appli......Benchmarking methods, and in particular Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), have become well-established and informative tools for economic regulation. DEA is now routinely used by European regulators to set reasonable revenue caps for energy transmission and distribution system operators....... The application of benchmarking in regulation, however, requires specific steps in terms of data validation, model specification and outlier detection that are not systematically documented in open publications, leading to discussions about regulatory stability and economic feasibility of these techniques...

Energy Efficiency Evaluation and Benchmarking of AFRL’s Condor High Performance Computer

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-01

PlayStation 3 nodes executing the HPL benchmark. When idle, the two PS3s consume 188.49 W on average. At peak HPL performance, the nodes draw an average of...AUG 2011 2. REPORT TYPE CONFERENCE PAPER (Post Print) 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) JAN 2011 – JUN 2011 4 . TITLE AND SUBTITLE ENERGY EFFICIENCY...the High Performance LINPACK (HPL) benchmark while also measuring the energy consumed to achieve such performance. Supercomputers are ranked by

Benchmarking and the laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, M; Nadin, L

2001-01-01

This article describes how benchmarking can be used to assess laboratory performance. Two benchmarking schemes are reviewed, the Clinical Benchmarking Company's Pathology Report and the College of American Pathologists' Q-Probes scheme. The Clinical Benchmarking Company's Pathology Report is undertaken by staff based in the clinical management unit, Keele University with appropriate input from the professional organisations within pathology. Five annual reports have now been completed. Each report is a detailed analysis of 10 areas of laboratory performance. In this review, particular attention is focused on the areas of quality, productivity, variation in clinical practice, skill mix, and working hours. The Q-Probes scheme is part of the College of American Pathologists programme in studies of quality assurance. The Q-Probes scheme and its applicability to pathology in the UK is illustrated by reviewing two recent Q-Probe studies: routine outpatient test turnaround time and outpatient test order accuracy. The Q-Probes scheme is somewhat limited by the small number of UK laboratories that have participated. In conclusion, as a result of the government's policy in the UK, benchmarking is here to stay. Benchmarking schemes described in this article are one way in which pathologists can demonstrate that they are providing a cost effective and high quality service. Key Words: benchmarking • pathology PMID:11477112

Benchmarking for Higher Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Norman, Ed.; Lund, Helen, Ed.

The chapters in this collection explore the concept of benchmarking as it is being used and developed in higher education (HE). Case studies and reviews show how universities in the United Kingdom are using benchmarking to aid in self-regulation and self-improvement. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction to Benchmarking" (Norman Jackson…

Verification and validation benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oberkampf, William Louis; Trucano, Timothy Guy

2007-01-01

Verification and validation (V and V) are the primary means to assess the accuracy and reliability of computational simulations. V and V methods and procedures have fundamentally improved the credibility of simulations in several high-consequence fields, such as nuclear reactor safety, underground nuclear waste storage, and nuclear weapon safety. Although the terminology is not uniform across engineering disciplines, code verification deals with assessing the reliability of the software coding, and solution verification deals with assessing the numerical accuracy of the solution to a computational model. Validation addresses the physics modeling accuracy of a computational simulation by comparing the computational results with experimental data. Code verification benchmarks and validation benchmarks have been constructed for a number of years in every field of computational simulation. However, no comprehensive guidelines have been proposed for the construction and use of V and V benchmarks. For example, the field of nuclear reactor safety has not focused on code verification benchmarks, but it has placed great emphasis on developing validation benchmarks. Many of these validation benchmarks are closely related to the operations of actual reactors at near-safety-critical conditions, as opposed to being more fundamental-physics benchmarks. This paper presents recommendations for the effective design and use of code verification benchmarks based on manufactured solutions, classical analytical solutions, and highly accurate numerical solutions. In addition, this paper presents recommendations for the design and use of validation benchmarks, highlighting the careful design of building-block experiments, the estimation of experimental measurement uncertainty for both inputs and outputs to the code, validation metrics, and the role of model calibration in validation. It is argued that the understanding of predictive capability of a computational model is built on the

Verification and validation benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oberkampf, William L.; Trucano, Timothy G.

2008-01-01

Verification and validation (V and V) are the primary means to assess the accuracy and reliability of computational simulations. V and V methods and procedures have fundamentally improved the credibility of simulations in several high-consequence fields, such as nuclear reactor safety, underground nuclear waste storage, and nuclear weapon safety. Although the terminology is not uniform across engineering disciplines, code verification deals with assessing the reliability of the software coding, and solution verification deals with assessing the numerical accuracy of the solution to a computational model. Validation addresses the physics modeling accuracy of a computational simulation by comparing the computational results with experimental data. Code verification benchmarks and validation benchmarks have been constructed for a number of years in every field of computational simulation. However, no comprehensive guidelines have been proposed for the construction and use of V and V benchmarks. For example, the field of nuclear reactor safety has not focused on code verification benchmarks, but it has placed great emphasis on developing validation benchmarks. Many of these validation benchmarks are closely related to the operations of actual reactors at near-safety-critical conditions, as opposed to being more fundamental-physics benchmarks. This paper presents recommendations for the effective design and use of code verification benchmarks based on manufactured solutions, classical analytical solutions, and highly accurate numerical solutions. In addition, this paper presents recommendations for the design and use of validation benchmarks, highlighting the careful design of building-block experiments, the estimation of experimental measurement uncertainty for both inputs and outputs to the code, validation metrics, and the role of model calibration in validation. It is argued that the understanding of predictive capability of a computational model is built on the

Benchmarking and Learning in Public Healthcare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buckmaster, Natalie; Mouritsen, Jan

2017-01-01

This research investigates the effects of learning-oriented benchmarking in public healthcare settings. Benchmarking is a widely adopted yet little explored accounting practice that is part of the paradigm of New Public Management. Extant studies are directed towards mandated coercive benchmarking...... applications. The present study analyses voluntary benchmarking in a public setting that is oriented towards learning. The study contributes by showing how benchmarking can be mobilised for learning and offers evidence of the effects of such benchmarking for performance outcomes. It concludes that benchmarking...... can enable learning in public settings but that this requires actors to invest in ensuring that benchmark data are directed towards improvement....

KENO-IV code benchmark calculation, (6)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nomura, Yasushi; Naito, Yoshitaka; Yamakawa, Yasuhiro.

1980-11-01

A series of benchmark tests has been undertaken in JAERI in order to examine the capability of JAERI's criticality safety evaluation system consisting of the Monte Carlo calculation code KENO-IV and the newly developed multigroup constants library MGCL. The present report describes the results of a benchmark test using criticality experiments about Plutonium fuel in various shape. In all, 33 cases of experiments have been calculated for Pu(NO 3 ) 4 aqueous solution, Pu metal or PuO 2 -polystyrene compact in various shape (sphere, cylinder, rectangular parallelepiped). The effective multiplication factors calculated for the 33 cases distribute widely between 0.955 and 1.045 due to wide range of system variables. (author)

Benchmark job – Watch out!

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2017-01-01

On 12 December 2016, in Echo No. 259, we already discussed at length the MERIT and benchmark jobs. Still, we find that a couple of issues warrant further discussion. Benchmark job – administrative decision on 1 July 2017 On 12 January 2017, the HR Department informed all staff members of a change to the effective date of the administrative decision regarding benchmark jobs. The benchmark job title of each staff member will be confirmed on 1 July 2017, instead of 1 May 2017 as originally announced in HR’s letter on 18 August 2016. Postponing the administrative decision by two months will leave a little more time to address the issues related to incorrect placement in a benchmark job. Benchmark job – discuss with your supervisor, at the latest during the MERIT interview In order to rectify an incorrect placement in a benchmark job, it is essential that the supervisor and the supervisee go over the assigned benchmark job together. In most cases, this placement has been done autom...

Research Planning and Evaluation Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Seunghyun; Kim, Doyang; Ryu, Byunghoon; Lim, Chaeyoung; Song, Leeyoung; Lee, Youngchul; Han, Changsun; Kim, Hackchoon

2011-12-01

- To activate R and D through a systematic and impartial evaluation by using information on efficient distribution of research resource, setting project priorities, and measuring achievement against goals produced after research on planning and evaluation system for the government-funded project for KAERI was conducted. - Nuclear R and D project is the representative national R and D project which has been implemented in Korea. For the sustainable development of nuclear energy which supplies about 40% of total electricity generation and the enhancement of it innovative ability in the future, a systematic and efficient strategy in the planning stage is required

Project Management Personnel Competencies Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul POCATILU

2006-01-01

Full Text Available An important factor for the success management of IT projects is the human resource. People involved in the project management process have to be evaluated. In order to do that, same criteria has to be specified. This paper describes some aspects regarding the personnel evaluation.

IT Project Evaluation and Investment Decision

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

黄东兵; 张世英

2004-01-01

There are many kinds of real options,which are valuable,in each phase of the lifetime of an information technology(IT)project.However,in the current IT investment decision theory,real options that embedded in IT projects are not considered. In this paper, the process of IT project decision and implementation is fully analyzed, the real options that may be embedded in an IT project are identified, and a real option analysis (ROA) method is proposed for evaluation of an IT project under uncertain business environment. ROA employs Black-Scholes expansion model and cancels the assumption that the cost of project is certain. The numerical example manifests that the ROA can better evaluate IT project and select the IT investment alternative. Finally, a road map is provided to help selecting the suitable evaluation method to make IT investment decision.

Issues in benchmarking human reliability analysis methods: A literature review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boring, Ronald L.; Hendrickson, Stacey M.L.; Forester, John A.; Tran, Tuan Q.; Lois, Erasmia

2010-01-01

There is a diversity of human reliability analysis (HRA) methods available for use in assessing human performance within probabilistic risk assessments (PRA). Due to the significant differences in the methods, including the scope, approach, and underlying models, there is a need for an empirical comparison investigating the validity and reliability of the methods. To accomplish this empirical comparison, a benchmarking study comparing and evaluating HRA methods in assessing operator performance in simulator experiments is currently underway. In order to account for as many effects as possible in the construction of this benchmarking study, a literature review was conducted, reviewing past benchmarking studies in the areas of psychology and risk assessment. A number of lessons learned through these studies is presented in order to aid in the design of future HRA benchmarking endeavors.

U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2017

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Ran [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Feldman, David J. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Margolis, Robert M. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Woodhouse, Michael A. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ardani, Kristen B. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-11

NREL has been modeling U.S. photovoltaic (PV) system costs since 2009. This year, our report benchmarks costs of U.S. solar PV for residential, commercial, and utility-scale systems built in the first quarter of 2017 (Q1 2017). Costs are represented from the perspective of the developer/installer, thus all hardware costs represent the price at which components are purchased by the developer/installer, not accounting for preexisting supply agreements or other contracts. Importantly, the benchmark this year (2017) also represents the sales price paid to the installer; therefore, it includes profit in the cost of the hardware, along with the profit the installer/developer receives, as a separate cost category. However, it does not include any additional net profit, such as a developer fee or price gross-up, which are common in the marketplace. We adopt this approach owing to the wide variation in developer profits in all three sectors, where project pricing is highly dependent on region and project specifics such as local retail electricity rate structures, local rebate and incentive structures, competitive environment, and overall project or deal structures.

INL Results for Phases I and III of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 Benchmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gerhard Strydom; Javier Ortensi; Sonat Sen; Hans Hammer

2013-09-01

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Technology Development Office (TDO) Methods Core Simulation group led the construction of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Modular High Temperature Reactor (MHTGR) 350 MW benchmark for comparing and evaluating prismatic VHTR analysis codes. The benchmark is sponsored by the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), and the project will yield a set of reference steady-state, transient, and lattice depletion problems that can be used by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and vendors to assess their code suits. The Methods group is responsible for defining the benchmark specifications, leading the data collection and comparison activities, and chairing the annual technical workshops. This report summarizes the latest INL results for Phase I (steady state) and Phase III (lattice depletion) of the benchmark. The INSTANT, Pronghorn and RattleSnake codes were used for the standalone core neutronics modeling of Exercise 1, and the results obtained from these codes are compared in Section 4. Exercise 2 of Phase I requires the standalone steady-state thermal fluids modeling of the MHTGR-350 design, and the results for the systems code RELAP5-3D are discussed in Section 5. The coupled neutronics and thermal fluids steady-state solution for Exercise 3 are reported in Section 6, utilizing the newly developed Parallel and Highly Innovative Simulation for INL Code System (PHISICS)/RELAP5-3D code suit. Finally, the lattice depletion models and results obtained for Phase III are compared in Section 7. The MHTGR-350 benchmark proved to be a challenging simulation set of problems to model accurately, and even with the simplifications introduced in the benchmark specification this activity is an important step in the code-to-code verification of modern prismatic VHTR codes. A final OECD/NEA comparison report will compare the Phase I and III

Internet based benchmarking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogetoft, Peter; Nielsen, Kurt

2005-01-01

We discuss the design of interactive, internet based benchmarking using parametric (statistical) as well as nonparametric (DEA) models. The user receives benchmarks and improvement potentials. The user is also given the possibility to search different efficiency frontiers and hereby to explore...

Research coordination meeting of the coordinated research project on analytical and experimental benchmark analyses of accelerator driven systems. Working material

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-07-01

The Technical Meeting hosted at the Belarus National Academy of Sciences in Minsk by the Joint Institute of Power Engineering and Nuclear Research 'SOSNY' from 5-9 December 2005 was the kick-off Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on 'Analytical and Experimental Benchmark Analyses of Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS)'. The CRP had received proposals for research agreements and contracts from scientists representing the following 25 institutions: Centro Atomico Bariloche, SCK CEN Mol, Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares Sao Paulo, Joint Institute of Power Engineering and Nuclear Research SOSNY Minsk, China Institute of Atomic Energy, CEA Cadarache, CNRS Paris, FZ Rossendorf, FZ Karlsruhe, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Politecnico di Torino, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) Petten, Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, AGH-University of Science and Technology Krakow, Institute of Atomic Energy Otwock/Swierk, ITEP Moscow, MEPHI Moscow, Kurchatov Institute, JINR Dubna, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, CIEMAT Madrid, Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, National Science Center 'Kharkov Institute and Technology', and Argonne National Laboratory). These institutions represent 18 IAEA Member States (i.e., Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, USA), and one International Organization (JINR Dubna). The overall objective of the CRP is contributing to the generic R and D efforts in various fields common to innovative fast neutron system development, i.e., heavy liquid metal thermal hydraulics, dedicated transmutation fuels and associated core designs, theoretical nuclear reaction models, measurement and evaluation of nuclear data for transmutation, and development and validation of calculational methods and codes. Ultimately, the CRP

Benchmarking Multilayer-HySEA model for landslide generated tsunami. HTHMP validation process.

Science.gov (United States)

Macias, J.; Escalante, C.; Castro, M. J.

2017-12-01

Landslide tsunami hazard may be dominant along significant parts of the coastline around the world, in particular in the USA, as compared to hazards from other tsunamigenic sources. This fact motivated NTHMP about the need of benchmarking models for landslide generated tsunamis, following the same methodology already used for standard tsunami models when the source is seismic. To perform the above-mentioned validation process, a set of candidate benchmarks were proposed. These benchmarks are based on a subset of available laboratory data sets for solid slide experiments and deformable slide experiments, and include both submarine and subaerial slides. A benchmark based on a historic field event (Valdez, AK, 1964) close the list of proposed benchmarks. A total of 7 benchmarks. The Multilayer-HySEA model including non-hydrostatic effects has been used to perform all the benchmarking problems dealing with laboratory experiments proposed in the workshop that was organized at Texas A&M University - Galveston, on January 9-11, 2017 by NTHMP. The aim of this presentation is to show some of the latest numerical results obtained with the Multilayer-HySEA (non-hydrostatic) model in the framework of this validation effort.Acknowledgements. This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Government Research project SIMURISK (MTM2015-70490-C02-01-R) and University of Malaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. The GPU computations were performed at the Unit of Numerical Methods (University of Malaga).

Integral Full Core Multi-Physics PWR Benchmark with Measured Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Forget, Benoit; Smith, Kord; Kumar, Shikhar; Rathbun, Miriam; Liang, Jingang

2018-04-11

In recent years, the importance of modeling and simulation has been highlighted extensively in the DOE research portfolio with concrete examples in nuclear engineering with the CASL and NEAMS programs. These research efforts and similar efforts worldwide aim at the development of high-fidelity multi-physics analysis tools for the simulation of current and next-generation nuclear power reactors. Like all analysis tools, verification and validation is essential to guarantee proper functioning of the software and methods employed. The current approach relies mainly on the validation of single physic phenomena (e.g. critical experiment, flow loops, etc.) and there is a lack of relevant multiphysics benchmark measurements that are necessary to validate high-fidelity methods being developed today. This work introduces a new multi-cycle full-core Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) depletion benchmark based on two operational cycles of a commercial nuclear power plant that provides a detailed description of fuel assemblies, burnable absorbers, in-core fission detectors, core loading and re-loading patterns. This benchmark enables analysts to develop extremely detailed reactor core models that can be used for testing and validation of coupled neutron transport, thermal-hydraulics, and fuel isotopic depletion. The benchmark also provides measured reactor data for Hot Zero Power (HZP) physics tests, boron letdown curves, and three-dimensional in-core flux maps from 58 instrumented assemblies. The benchmark description is now available online and has been used by many groups. However, much work remains to be done on the quantification of uncertainties and modeling sensitivities. This work aims to address these deficiencies and make this benchmark a true non-proprietary international benchmark for the validation of high-fidelity tools. This report details the BEAVRS uncertainty quantification for the first two cycle of operations and serves as the final report of the project.

Benchmarking in academic pharmacy departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosso, John A; Chisholm-Burns, Marie; Nappi, Jean; Gubbins, Paul O; Ross, Leigh Ann

2010-10-11

Benchmarking in academic pharmacy, and recommendations for the potential uses of benchmarking in academic pharmacy departments are discussed in this paper. Benchmarking is the process by which practices, procedures, and performance metrics are compared to an established standard or best practice. Many businesses and industries use benchmarking to compare processes and outcomes, and ultimately plan for improvement. Institutions of higher learning have embraced benchmarking practices to facilitate measuring the quality of their educational and research programs. Benchmarking is used internally as well to justify the allocation of institutional resources or to mediate among competing demands for additional program staff or space. Surveying all chairs of academic pharmacy departments to explore benchmarking issues such as department size and composition, as well as faculty teaching, scholarly, and service productivity, could provide valuable information. To date, attempts to gather this data have had limited success. We believe this information is potentially important, urge that efforts to gather it should be continued, and offer suggestions to achieve full participation.

Benchmarking strategies for measuring the quality of healthcare: problems and prospects.

Science.gov (United States)

Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio

2012-01-01

Over the last few years, increasing attention has been directed toward the problems inherent to measuring the quality of healthcare and implementing benchmarking strategies. Besides offering accreditation and certification processes, recent approaches measure the performance of healthcare institutions in order to evaluate their effectiveness, defined as the capacity to provide treatment that modifies and improves the patient's state of health. This paper, dealing with hospital effectiveness, focuses on research methods for effectiveness analyses within a strategy comparing different healthcare institutions. The paper, after having introduced readers to the principle debates on benchmarking strategies, which depend on the perspective and type of indicators used, focuses on the methodological problems related to performing consistent benchmarking analyses. Particularly, statistical methods suitable for controlling case-mix, analyzing aggregate data, rare events, and continuous outcomes measured with error are examined. Specific challenges of benchmarking strategies, such as the risk of risk adjustment (case-mix fallacy, underreporting, risk of comparing noncomparable hospitals), selection bias, and possible strategies for the development of consistent benchmarking analyses, are discussed. Finally, to demonstrate the feasibility of the illustrated benchmarking strategies, an application focused on determining regional benchmarks for patient satisfaction (using 2009 Lombardy Region Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire) is proposed.

Creating Robust Evaluation of ATE Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Eddy, Pamela L.

2017-01-01

Funded grant projects all involve some form of evaluation, and Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants are no exception. Program evaluation serves as a critical component not only for evaluating if a project has met its intended and desired outcomes, but the evaluation process is also a central feature of the grant application itself.…

Species management benchmarking: outcomes over outputs in a changing operating environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogg, Carolyn J; Hibbard, Chris; Ford, Claire; Embury, Amanda

2013-03-01

Species management has been utilized by the zoo and aquarium industry, since the mid-1990s, to ensure the ongoing genetic and demographic viability of populations, which can be difficult to maintain in the ever-changing operating environments of zoos. In 2009, the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia reviewed their species management services, focusing on addressing issues that had arisen as a result of the managed programs maturing and operating environments evolving. In summary, the project examined resourcing, policies, processes, and species to be managed. As a result, a benchmarking tool was developed (Health Check Report, HCR), which evaluated the programs against a set of broad criteria. A comparison of managed programs (n = 98), between 2008 and 2011, was undertaken to ascertain the tool's effectiveness. There was a marked decrease in programs that were designated as weak (37 down to 13); and an increase in excellent programs (24 up to 49) between the 2 years. Further, there were significant improvements in the administration benchmarking area (submission of reports, captive management plan development) across a number of taxon advisory groups. This HCR comparison showed that a benchmarking tool enables a program's performance to be quickly assessed and any remedial measures applied. The increases observed in program health were mainly due to increased management goals being attained. The HCR will be an ongoing program, as the management of the programs increases and goals are achieved, criteria will be refined to better highlight ongoing issues and ways in which these can be resolved. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Validation of the Continuous-Energy Monte Carlo Criticality-Safety Analysis System MVP and JENDL-3.2 Using the Internationally Evaluated Criticality Benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitake, Susumu

2003-01-01

Validation of the continuous-energy Monte Carlo criticality-safety analysis system, comprising the MVP code and neutron cross sections based on JENDL-3.2, was examined using benchmarks evaluated in the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments'. Eight experiments (116 configurations) for the plutonium solution and plutonium-uranium mixture systems performed at Valduc, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, and other facilities were selected and used in the studies. The averaged multiplication factors calculated with MVP and MCNP-4B using the same neutron cross-section libraries based on JENDL-3.2 were in good agreement. Based on methods provided in the Japanese nuclear criticality-safety handbook, the estimated criticality lower-limit multiplication factors to be used as a subcriticality criterion for the criticality-safety evaluation of nuclear facilities were obtained. The analysis proved the applicability of the MVP code to the criticality-safety analysis of nuclear fuel facilities, particularly to the analysis of systems fueled with plutonium and in homogeneous and thermal-energy conditions

Energy benchmarking for shopping centers in Gulf Coast region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juaidi, Adel; AlFaris, Fadi; Montoya, Francisco G.; Manzano-Agugliaro, Francisco

2016-01-01

Building sector consumes a significant amount of energy worldwide (up to 40% of the total global energy); moreover, by the year 2030 the consumption is expected to increase by 50%. One of the reasons is that the performance of buildings and its components degrade over the years. In recent years, energy benchmarking for government office buildings, large scale public buildings and large commercial buildings is one of the key energy saving projects for promoting the development of building energy efficiency and sustainable energy savings in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Benchmarking would increase the purchase of energy efficient equipment, reducing energy bills, CO_2 emissions and conventional air pollution. This paper focuses on energy benchmarking for shopping centers in Gulf Coast Region. In addition, this paper will analyze a sample of shopping centers data in Gulf Coast Region (Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Oman and Bahrain). It aims to develop a benchmark for these shopping centers by highlighting the status of energy consumption performance. This research will support the sustainability movement in Gulf area through classifying the shopping centers into: Poor, Usual and Best Practices in terms of energy efficiency. According to the benchmarking analysis in this paper, the shopping centers best energy management practices in the Gulf Coast Region are the buildings that consume less than 810 kW h/m"2/yr, whereas the poor building practices are the centers that consume greater than 1439 kW h/m"2/yr. The conclusions of this work can be used as a reference for shopping centres benchmarking with similar climate. - Highlights: •The energy consumption data of shopping centers in Gulf Coast Region were gathered. •A benchmarking of energy consumption for the public areas for the shopping centers in the Gulf Coast Region was developed. •The shopping centers have the usual practice in the region between 810 kW h/m"2/yr and 1439 kW h/m"2/yr.

Benchmarking: applications to transfusion medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Apelseth, Torunn Oveland; Molnar, Laura; Arnold, Emmy; Heddle, Nancy M

2012-10-01

Benchmarking is as a structured continuous collaborative process in which comparisons for selected indicators are used to identify factors that, when implemented, will improve transfusion practices. This study aimed to identify transfusion medicine studies reporting on benchmarking, summarize the benchmarking approaches used, and identify important considerations to move the concept of benchmarking forward in the field of transfusion medicine. A systematic review of published literature was performed to identify transfusion medicine-related studies that compared at least 2 separate institutions or regions with the intention of benchmarking focusing on 4 areas: blood utilization, safety, operational aspects, and blood donation. Forty-five studies were included: blood utilization (n = 35), safety (n = 5), operational aspects of transfusion medicine (n = 5), and blood donation (n = 0). Based on predefined criteria, 7 publications were classified as benchmarking, 2 as trending, and 36 as single-event studies. Three models of benchmarking are described: (1) a regional benchmarking program that collects and links relevant data from existing electronic sources, (2) a sentinel site model where data from a limited number of sites are collected, and (3) an institutional-initiated model where a site identifies indicators of interest and approaches other institutions. Benchmarking approaches are needed in the field of transfusion medicine. Major challenges include defining best practices and developing cost-effective methods of data collection. For those interested in initiating a benchmarking program, the sentinel site model may be most effective and sustainable as a starting point, although the regional model would be the ideal goal. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A PWR Thorium Pin Cell Burnup Benchmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weaver, Kevan Dean; Zhao, X.; Pilat, E. E; Hejzlar, P.

2000-05-01

As part of work to evaluate the potential benefits of using thorium in LWR fuel, a thorium fueled benchmark comparison was made in this study between state-of-the-art codes, MOCUP (MCNP4B + ORIGEN2), and CASMO-4 for burnup calculations. The MOCUP runs were done individually at MIT and INEEL, using the same model but with some differences in techniques and cross section libraries. Eigenvalue and isotope concentrations were compared on a PWR pin cell model up to high burnup. The eigenvalue comparison as a function of burnup is good: the maximum difference is within 2% and the average absolute difference less than 1%. The isotope concentration comparisons are better than a set of MOX fuel benchmarks and comparable to a set of uranium fuel benchmarks reported in the literature. The actinide and fission product data sources used in the MOCUP burnup calculations for a typical thorium fuel are documented. Reasons for code vs code differences are analyzed and discussed.

Nuclear data evaluation and group constant generation for reactor analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jung Do; Lee, Jong Tae; Min, Byung Joo; Gil, Choong Sup [Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst., Daeduk (Korea, Republic of)

1991-01-01

In nuclear or shielding design analysis for reactors or other facilities, nuclear data are one of the primary importances. Research project for nuclear data evaluation and their effective applications has been continuously performed. The objectives of this project are (1) to compile the latest evaluated nuclear data files, (2) to establish their processing code systems, and (3) to evaluate the multi- group constant library using the newly compiled data files and the code systems. As the results of this project, ENDF/B-VI Supplementary File including important nuclides, JENDL-3.1 and JEF-1 were compiled, and ENDF-6 international computer file format for evaluated nuclear data and its processing system NJOY89.31 were tested with ENDF/B-VI data. In order to test an applicability of the newly released data to thermal reactor problems, a number of benchmark calculations were performed, and the results were analyzed. Since preliminary benchmark testing of thermal reactor problems have been made the newly compiled data are expected to be positively used to develop advanced reactors. (Author).

Nuclear data evaluation and group constant generation for reactor analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jung Do; Lee, Jong Tae; Min, Byung Joo; Gil, Choong Sup

1991-01-01

In nuclear or shielding design analysis for reactors or other facilities, nuclear data are one of the primary importances. Research project for nuclear data evaluation and their effective applications has been continuously performed. The objectives of this project are (1) to compile the latest evaluated nuclear data files, (2) to establish their processing code systems, and (3) to evaluate the multi- group constant library using the newly compiled data files and the code systems. As the results of this project, ENDF/B-VI Supplementary File including important nuclides, JENDL-3.1 and JEF-1 were compiled, and ENDF-6 international computer file format for evaluated nuclear data and its processing system NJOY89.31 were tested with ENDF/B-VI data. In order to test an applicability of the newly released data to thermal reactor problems, a number of benchmark calculations were performed, and the results were analyzed. Since preliminary benchmark testing of thermal reactor problems have been made the newly compiled data are expected to be positively used to develop advanced reactors. (Author)

Fast burner reactor benchmark results from the NEA working party on physics of plutonium recycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, R.N.; Wade, D.C.; Palmiotti, G.

1995-01-01

As part of a program proposed by the OECD/NEA Working Party on Physics of Plutonium Recycling (WPPR) to evaluate different scenarios for the use of plutonium, fast reactor physics benchmarks were developed; fuel cycle scenarios using either PUREX/TRUEX (oxide fuel) or pyrometallurgical (metal fuel) separation technologies were specified. These benchmarks were designed to evaluate the nuclear performance and radiotoxicity impact of a transuranic-burning fast reactor system. International benchmark results are summarized in this paper; and key conclusions are highlighted

BSMBench: a flexible and scalable supercomputer benchmark from computational particle physics

CERN Document Server

Bennett, Ed; Del Debbio, Luigi; Jordan, Kirk; Patella, Agostino; Pica, Claudio; Rago, Antonio

2016-01-01

Benchmarking plays a central role in the evaluation of High Performance Computing architectures. Several benchmarks have been designed that allow users to stress various components of supercomputers. In order for the figures they provide to be useful, benchmarks need to be representative of the most common real-world scenarios. In this work, we introduce BSMBench, a benchmarking suite derived from Monte Carlo code used in computational particle physics. The advantage of this suite (which can be freely downloaded from http://www.bsmbench.org/) over others is the capacity to vary the relative importance of computation and communication. This enables the tests to simulate various practical situations. To showcase BSMBench, we perform a wide range of tests on various architectures, from desktop computers to state-of-the-art supercomputers, and discuss the corresponding results. Possible future directions of development of the benchmark are also outlined.

Refining multi-model projections of temperature extremes by evaluation against land–atmosphere coupling diagnostics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Sippel

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The Earth's land surface and the atmosphere are strongly interlinked through the exchange of energy and matter. This coupled behaviour causes various land–atmosphere feedbacks, and an insufficient understanding of these feedbacks contributes to uncertain global climate model projections. For example, a crucial role of the land surface in exacerbating summer heat waves in midlatitude regions has been identified empirically for high-impact heat waves, but individual climate models differ widely in their respective representation of land–atmosphere coupling. Here, we compile an ensemble of 54 combinations of observations-based temperature (T and evapotranspiration (ET benchmarking datasets and investigate coincidences of T anomalies with ET anomalies as a proxy for land–atmosphere interactions during periods of anomalously warm temperatures. First, we demonstrate that a large fraction of state-of-the-art climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 archive produces systematically too frequent coincidences of high T anomalies with negative ET anomalies in midlatitude regions during the warm season and in several tropical regions year-round. These coincidences (high T, low ET are closely related to the representation of temperature variability and extremes across the multi-model ensemble. Second, we derive a land-coupling constraint based on the spread of the T–ET datasets and consequently retain only a subset of CMIP5 models that produce a land-coupling behaviour that is compatible with these benchmark estimates. The constrained multi-model simulations exhibit more realistic temperature extremes of reduced magnitude in present climate in regions where models show substantial spread in T–ET coupling, i.e. biases in the model ensemble are consistently reduced. Also the multi-model simulations for the coming decades display decreased absolute temperature extremes in the constrained ensemble. On the other hand

Analytical benchmarks for nuclear engineering applications. Case studies in neutron transport theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The developers of computer codes involving neutron transport theory for nuclear engineering applications seldom apply analytical benchmarking strategies to ensure the quality of their programs. A major reason for this is the lack of analytical benchmarks and their documentation in the literature. The few such benchmarks that do exist are difficult to locate, as they are scattered throughout the neutron transport and radiative transfer literature. The motivation for this benchmark compendium, therefore, is to gather several analytical benchmarks appropriate for nuclear engineering applications under one cover. We consider the following three subject areas: neutron slowing down and thermalization without spatial dependence, one-dimensional neutron transport in infinite and finite media, and multidimensional neutron transport in a half-space and an infinite medium. Each benchmark is briefly described, followed by a detailed derivation of the analytical solution representation. Finally, a demonstration of the evaluation of the solution representation includes qualified numerical benchmark results. All accompanying computer codes are suitable for the PC computational environment and can serve as educational tools for courses in nuclear engineering. While this benchmark compilation does not contain all possible benchmarks, by any means, it does include some of the most prominent ones and should serve as a valuable reference. (author)

Benchmarking novel approaches for modelling species range dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Zurell, Damaris; Thuiller, Wilfried; Pagel, Jörn; Cabral, Juliano S; Münkemüller, Tamara; Gravel, Dominique; Dullinger, Stefan; Normand, Signe; Schiffers, Katja H; Moore, Kara A; Zimmermann, Niklaus E

2016-08-01

Increasing biodiversity loss due to climate change is one of the most vital challenges of the 21st century. To anticipate and mitigate biodiversity loss, models are needed that reliably project species' range dynamics and extinction risks. Recently, several new approaches to model range dynamics have been developed to supplement correlative species distribution models (SDMs), but applications clearly lag behind model development. Indeed, no comparative analysis has been performed to evaluate their performance. Here, we build on process-based, simulated data for benchmarking five range (dynamic) models of varying complexity including classical SDMs, SDMs coupled with simple dispersal or more complex population dynamic models (SDM hybrids), and a hierarchical Bayesian process-based dynamic range model (DRM). We specifically test the effects of demographic and community processes on model predictive performance. Under current climate, DRMs performed best, although only marginally. Under climate change, predictive performance varied considerably, with no clear winners. Yet, all range dynamic models improved predictions under climate change substantially compared to purely correlative SDMs, and the population dynamic models also predicted reasonable extinction risks for most scenarios. When benchmarking data were simulated with more complex demographic and community processes, simple SDM hybrids including only dispersal often proved most reliable. Finally, we found that structural decisions during model building can have great impact on model accuracy, but prior system knowledge on important processes can reduce these uncertainties considerably. Our results reassure the clear merit in using dynamic approaches for modelling species' response to climate change but also emphasize several needs for further model and data improvement. We propose and discuss perspectives for improving range projections through combination of multiple models and for making these approaches

Evaluation of microfinance projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, S

1999-08-01

This paper criticizes the quick system proposed by Henk Moll for evaluating microfinance projects in the article ¿How to Pre-Evaluate Credit Projects in Ten Minutes¿. The author contended that there is a need to emphasize the objectives of the project. The procedure used by Moll, he contended, is applicable only to projects that have only two key objectives, such as credit operations, and the provision of services. Arguments are presented on the three specific questions proposed by Moll, ranging from the availability of externally audited financial reports, the performance of interest rate on loans vis-a-vis the inflation rate, and the provision of loans according to the individual requirements of the borrowers. Lastly, the author emphasizes that the overall approach is not useful and suggests that careful considerations should be observed in the use or abuse of a simple scoring system or checklist such as the one proposed by Moll.

Benchmarking motion planning algorithms for bin-picking applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Thomas Fridolin; Ellekilde, Lars-Peter

2017-01-01

Purpose For robot motion planning there exists a large number of different algorithms, each appropriate for a certain domain, and the right choice of planner depends on the specific use case. The purpose of this paper is to consider the application of bin picking and benchmark a set of motion...... planning algorithms to identify which are most suited in the given context. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a selection of motion planning algorithms and defines benchmarks based on three different bin-picking scenarios. The evaluation is done based on a fixed set of tasks, which are planned...... and executed on a real and a simulated robot. Findings The benchmarking shows a clear difference between the planners and generally indicates that algorithms integrating optimization, despite longer planning time, perform better due to a faster execution. Originality/value The originality of this work lies...

Ultracool dwarf benchmarks with Gaia primaries

Science.gov (United States)

Marocco, F.; Pinfield, D. J.; Cook, N. J.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Montes, D.; Caballero, J. A.; Gálvez-Ortiz, M. C.; Gromadzki, M.; Jones, H. R. A.; Kurtev, R.; Smart, R. L.; Zhang, Z.; Cabrera Lavers, A. L.; García Álvarez, D.; Qi, Z. X.; Rickard, M. J.; Dover, L.

2017-10-01

We explore the potential of Gaia for the field of benchmark ultracool/brown dwarf companions, and present the results of an initial search for metal-rich/metal-poor systems. A simulated population of resolved ultracool dwarf companions to Gaia primary stars is generated and assessed. Of the order of ˜24 000 companions should be identifiable outside of the Galactic plane (|b| > 10 deg) with large-scale ground- and space-based surveys including late M, L, T and Y types. Our simulated companion parameter space covers 0.02 ≤ M/M⊙ ≤ 0.1, 0.1 ≤ age/Gyr ≤ 14 and -2.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0.5, with systems required to have a false alarm probability methodology and simulations, our initial search uses UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey to select secondaries, with the parameters of primaries taken from Tycho-2, Radial Velocity Experiment, Large sky Area Multi-Object fibre Spectroscopic Telescope and Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution. We identify and follow up 13 new benchmarks. These include M8-L2 companions, with metallicity constraints ranging in quality, but robust in the range -0.39 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ +0.36, and with projected physical separation in the range 0.6 < s/kau < 76. Going forward, Gaia offers a very high yield of benchmark systems, from which diverse subsamples may be able to calibrate a range of foundational ultracool/sub-stellar theory and observation.

The joint evaluated file: a new nuclear library for reactor calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowlands, J.L.; Tubbs, N.

1986-01-01

The Joint Evaluated File Project (JEF) was set up in 1982 to decide on the selection of evaluations and to plan the benchmark testing and future evaluation programme. A library, called JEF-1, has now been assembled and tested and is available to scientists in NEA Data Bank Member countries. It uses the ENDF/B-V format. Neutron interaction data are provided for some 300 nuclides. The ENDF/B-V Standards file has been adopted. For the remaining nuclides the data have been selected from recent American, Japanese and European evaluations, with only limited re-evaluations. New evaluations have been adopted for thermal scattering, fission product yields and radioactive decay data. The results of the benchmark testing of JEF-1 are considered satisfactory. The programme of re-evaluation work to develop an improved library, JEF-2, is now in progress. This also involves more sophisticated benchmark testing, concentrating on data for the primary actinides and structural materials. (author)

Impact testing and analysis for structural code benchmarking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glass, R.E.

1989-01-01

Sandia National Laboratories, in cooperation with industry and other national laboratories, has been benchmarking computer codes (''Structural Code Benchmarking for the Analysis of Impact Response of Nuclear Material Shipping Cask,'' R.E. Glass, Sandia National Laboratories, 1985; ''Sample Problem Manual for Benchmarking of Cask Analysis Codes,'' R.E. Glass, Sandia National Laboratories, 1988; ''Standard Thermal Problem Set for the Evaluation of Heat Transfer Codes Used in the Assessment of Transportation Packages, R.E. Glass, et al., Sandia National Laboratories, 1988) used to predict the structural, thermal, criticality, and shielding behavior of radioactive materials packages. The first step in the benchmarking of the codes was to develop standard problem sets and to compare the results from several codes and users. This step for structural analysis codes has been completed as described in ''Structural Code Benchmarking for the Analysis of Impact Response of Nuclear Material Shipping Casks,'' R.E. Glass, Sandia National Laboratories, 1985. The problem set is shown in Fig. 1. This problem set exercised the ability of the codes to predict the response to end (axisymmetric) and side (plane strain) impacts with both elastic and elastic/plastic materials. The results from these problems showed that there is good agreement in predicting elastic response. Significant differences occurred in predicting strains for the elastic/plastic models. An example of the variation in predicting plastic behavior is given, which shows the hoop strain as a function of time at the impacting end of Model B. These differences in predicting plastic strains demonstrated a need for benchmark data for a cask-like problem. 6 refs., 5 figs

Benchmarking ENDF/B-VII.0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marck, Steven C. van der

2006-01-01

The new major release VII.0 of the ENDF/B nuclear data library has been tested extensively using benchmark calculations. These were based upon MCNP-4C3 continuous-energy Monte Carlo neutronics simulations, together with nuclear data processed using the code NJOY. Three types of benchmarks were used, viz., criticality safety benchmarks (fusion) shielding benchmarks, and reference systems for which the effective delayed neutron fraction is reported. For criticality safety, more than 700 benchmarks from the International Handbook of Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments were used. Benchmarks from all categories were used, ranging from low-enriched uranium, compound fuel, thermal spectrum ones (LEU-COMP-THERM), to mixed uranium-plutonium, metallic fuel, fast spectrum ones (MIX-MET-FAST). For fusion shielding many benchmarks were based on IAEA specifications for the Oktavian experiments (for Al, Co, Cr, Cu, LiF, Mn, Mo, Si, Ti, W, Zr), Fusion Neutronics Source in Japan (for Be, C, N, O, Fe, Pb), and Pulsed Sphere experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (for 6 Li, 7 Li, Be, C, N, O, Mg, Al, Ti, Fe, Pb, D 2 O, H 2 O, concrete, polyethylene and teflon). For testing delayed neutron data more than thirty measurements in widely varying systems were used. Among these were measurements in the Tank Critical Assembly (TCA in Japan) and IPEN/MB-01 (Brazil), both with a thermal spectrum, and two cores in Masurca (France) and three cores in the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA, Japan), all with fast spectra. In criticality safety, many benchmarks were chosen from the category with a thermal spectrum, low-enriched uranium, compound fuel (LEU-COMP-THERM), because this is typical of most current-day reactors, and because these benchmarks were previously underpredicted by as much as 0.5% by most nuclear data libraries (such as ENDF/B-VI.8, JEFF-3.0). The calculated results presented here show that this underprediction is no longer there for ENDF/B-VII.0. The average over 257

Uranium resource evaluation project quality assurance evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimes, J.G.

1981-01-01

This evaluation was conducted over an eight-month period from February 4 through October 1, 1980. During this time, field sampling was suspended for an indefinite time period while the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Program underwent restructuring. In addition, the Uranium Resource Evaluation (URE) Project archives are being restructured. Since it is difficult to evaluate quality assurance needs of a program that is undergoing drastic change and because sections of the evaluation were well along before these changes were announced, this evaluation reflects the situation as it was during February 1980. The following quality assurance related programs are continuing to date: (1) periodic checks of field sampling procedures by the Supervising Field Geologist and the Director of Field Operations; (2) verification of field form information and laboratory analytical data verification for all geochemical surveys; (3) URE Project laboratory quality control program (all elements routinely analyzed); and (4) Ames interlaboratory quality control program (uranium only). UCC-ND was given the responsibility of conducting a Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) survey in the Central United States (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). During 1979 and 1980, 13 detailed surveys were conducted by the URE Project in the Central and Western United States to characterize the hydrogeochemistry, stream sediment geochemistry, and/or radiometric patterns of known or potential uranium occurrences. Beginning in 1980, the HSSR surveys were modified to the Regional Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment (RHSS) surveys

California commercial building energy benchmarking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kinney, Satkartar; Piette, Mary Ann

2003-07-01

Building energy benchmarking is the comparison of whole-building energy use relative to a set of similar buildings. It provides a useful starting point for individual energy audits and for targeting buildings for energy-saving measures in multiple-site audits. Benchmarking is of interest and practical use to a number of groups. Energy service companies and performance contractors communicate energy savings potential with ''typical'' and ''best-practice'' benchmarks while control companies and utilities can provide direct tracking of energy use and combine data from multiple buildings. Benchmarking is also useful in the design stage of a new building or retrofit to determine if a design is relatively efficient. Energy managers and building owners have an ongoing interest in comparing energy performance to others. Large corporations, schools, and government agencies with numerous facilities also use benchmarking methods to compare their buildings to each other. The primary goal of Task 2.1.1 Web-based Benchmarking was the development of a web-based benchmarking tool, dubbed Cal-Arch, for benchmarking energy use in California commercial buildings. While there were several other benchmarking tools available to California consumers prior to the development of Cal-Arch, there were none that were based solely on California data. Most available benchmarking information, including the Energy Star performance rating, were developed using DOE's Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which does not provide state-level data. Each database and tool has advantages as well as limitations, such as the number of buildings and the coverage by type, climate regions and end uses. There is considerable commercial interest in benchmarking because it provides an inexpensive method of screening buildings for tune-ups and retrofits. However, private companies who collect and manage consumption data are concerned that the

Benchmarking in Foodservice Operations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Johnson, Bonnie

1998-01-01

The objective of this study was to identify usage of foodservice performance measures, important activities in foodservice benchmarking, and benchmarking attitudes, beliefs, and practices by foodservice directors...

The NEA benchmark study of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koganeya, Toshiyuki

2015-01-01

In November 2012, the NEA, under the aegis of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI), initiated a joint research project called the Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF). Objectives of this project include supporting Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning by analysing accident progression and the current status of the reactors, such as fuel debris distribution in the reactor pressure vessels and primary containment vessels in preparation for fuel debris removal. A second objective of the project is to improve SA (severe analysis) codes through comparisons with data from the Fukushima reactors. So as to enhance communication between analysts and those involved in decommissioning activities, participants in the project have been discussing the remaining uncertainties in relation to understanding the accident and the data needs from the viewpoint of the analysts. Since the accident sequences at the Fukushima Daiichi site include a wide range of phenomena, a phased approach is being applied in this benchmark exercise while awaiting more detailed information on debris examination and other factors. This article provides an overview of the project (scope, input data and boundary conditions, participants (from eight countries), analytical approach - common case and best estimate case) as well as an outline of the project's next phase (BASF phase 2) that begins in June 2015

Benchmarking, benchmarks, or best practices? Applying quality improvement principles to decrease surgical turnaround time.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, L

1996-01-01

The processes of benchmarking, benchmark data comparative analysis, and study of best practices are distinctly different. The study of best practices is explained with an example based on the Arthur Andersen & Co. 1992 "Study of Best Practices in Ambulatory Surgery". The results of a national best practices study in ambulatory surgery were used to provide our quality improvement team with the goal of improving the turnaround time between surgical cases. The team used a seven-step quality improvement problem-solving process to improve the surgical turnaround time. The national benchmark for turnaround times between surgical cases in 1992 was 13.5 minutes. The initial turnaround time at St. Joseph's Medical Center was 19.9 minutes. After the team implemented solutions, the time was reduced to an average of 16.3 minutes, an 18% improvement. Cost-benefit analysis showed a potential enhanced revenue of approximately $300,000, or a potential savings of $10,119. Applying quality improvement principles to benchmarking, benchmarks, or best practices can improve process performance. Understanding which form of benchmarking the institution wishes to embark on will help focus a team and use appropriate resources. Communicating with professional organizations that have experience in benchmarking will save time and money and help achieve the desired results.

Links among available integral benchmarks and differential date evaluations, computational biases and uncertainties, and nuclear criticality safety biases on potential MOX production throughput

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goluoglu, S.; Hopper, C.M.

2004-01-01

Through the use of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's recently developed and applied sensitivity and uncertainty computational analysis techniques, this paper presents the relevance and importance of available and needed integral benchmarks and differential data evaluations impacting potential MOX production throughput determinations relative to low-moderated MOX fuel blending operations. The relevance and importance in the availability of or need for critical experiment benchmarks and data evaluations are presented in terms of computational biases as influenced by computational and experimental sensitivities and uncertainties relative to selected MOX production powder blending processes. Recent developments for estimating the safe margins of subcriticality for assuring nuclear criticality safety for process approval are presented. In addition, the impact of the safe margins (due to computational biases and uncertainties) on potential MOX production throughput will also be presented. (author)

Benchmarking Strategies for Measuring the Quality of Healthcare: Problems and Prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio

2012-01-01

Over the last few years, increasing attention has been directed toward the problems inherent to measuring the quality of healthcare and implementing benchmarking strategies. Besides offering accreditation and certification processes, recent approaches measure the performance of healthcare institutions in order to evaluate their effectiveness, defined as the capacity to provide treatment that modifies and improves the patient's state of health. This paper, dealing with hospital effectiveness, focuses on research methods for effectiveness analyses within a strategy comparing different healthcare institutions. The paper, after having introduced readers to the principle debates on benchmarking strategies, which depend on the perspective and type of indicators used, focuses on the methodological problems related to performing consistent benchmarking analyses. Particularly, statistical methods suitable for controlling case-mix, analyzing aggregate data, rare events, and continuous outcomes measured with error are examined. Specific challenges of benchmarking strategies, such as the risk of risk adjustment (case-mix fallacy, underreporting, risk of comparing noncomparable hospitals), selection bias, and possible strategies for the development of consistent benchmarking analyses, are discussed. Finally, to demonstrate the feasibility of the illustrated benchmarking strategies, an application focused on determining regional benchmarks for patient satisfaction (using 2009 Lombardy Region Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire) is proposed. PMID:22666140

Project management in practice : Evaluating a case project through project management theories

OpenAIRE

Uusitalo, Jenni

2013-01-01

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate a case project and to study whether it was carried out in a correct manner; meaning that did the case project follow the project management models. In addition, part of the study was to determine what could have been improved in the management of the case project. The case project was about creating and launching a communication channel based on a social media service, on a blog platform called Tumblr, for Team Finland in Spain network. The network p...

Attila calculations for the 3-D C5G7 benchmark extension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wareing, T.A.; McGhee, J.M.; Barnett, D.A.; Failla, G.A.

2005-01-01

The performance of the Attila radiation transport software was evaluated for the 3-D C5G7 MOX benchmark extension, a follow-on study to the MOX benchmark developed by the 'OECD/NEA Expert Group on 3-D Radiation Transport Benchmarks'. These benchmarks were designed to test the ability of modern deterministic transport methods to model reactor problems without spatial homogenization. Attila is a general purpose radiation transport software package with an integrated graphical user interface (GUI) for analysis, set-up and postprocessing. Attila provides solutions to the discrete-ordinates form of the linear Boltzmann transport equation on a fully unstructured, tetrahedral mesh using linear discontinuous finite-element spatial differencing in conjunction with diffusion synthetic acceleration of inner iterations. The results obtained indicate that Attila can accurately solve the benchmark problem without spatial homogenization. (authors)

Benchmarking of HEU mental annuli critical assemblies with internally reflected graphite cylinder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaobo Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Three experimental configurations of critical assemblies, performed in 1963 at the Oak Ridge Critical Experiment Facility, which are assembled using three different diameter HEU annuli (15-9 inches, 15-7 inches and 13-7 inches metal annuli with internally reflected graphite cylinder are evaluated and benchmarked. The experimental uncertainties which are 0.00057, 0.00058 and 0.00057 respectively, and biases to the benchmark models which are − 0.00286, − 0.00242 and − 0.00168 respectively, were determined, and the experimental benchmark keff results were obtained for both detailed and simplified models. The calculation results for both detailed and simplified models using MCNP6-1.0 and ENDF/B-VII.1 agree well to the benchmark experimental results within difference less than 0.2%. The benchmarking results were accepted for the inclusion of ICSBEP Handbook.

Benchmarking i den offentlige sektor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bukh, Per Nikolaj; Dietrichson, Lars; Sandalgaard, Niels

2008-01-01

I artiklen vil vi kort diskutere behovet for benchmarking i fraværet af traditionelle markedsmekanismer. Herefter vil vi nærmere redegøre for, hvad benchmarking er med udgangspunkt i fire forskellige anvendelser af benchmarking. Regulering af forsyningsvirksomheder vil blive behandlet, hvorefter...

MoleculeNet: a benchmark for molecular machine learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhenqin; Ramsundar, Bharath; Feinberg, Evan N; Gomes, Joseph; Geniesse, Caleb; Pappu, Aneesh S; Leswing, Karl; Pande, Vijay

2018-01-14

Molecular machine learning has been maturing rapidly over the last few years. Improved methods and the presence of larger datasets have enabled machine learning algorithms to make increasingly accurate predictions about molecular properties. However, algorithmic progress has been limited due to the lack of a standard benchmark to compare the efficacy of proposed methods; most new algorithms are benchmarked on different datasets making it challenging to gauge the quality of proposed methods. This work introduces MoleculeNet, a large scale benchmark for molecular machine learning. MoleculeNet curates multiple public datasets, establishes metrics for evaluation, and offers high quality open-source implementations of multiple previously proposed molecular featurization and learning algorithms (released as part of the DeepChem open source library). MoleculeNet benchmarks demonstrate that learnable representations are powerful tools for molecular machine learning and broadly offer the best performance. However, this result comes with caveats. Learnable representations still struggle to deal with complex tasks under data scarcity and highly imbalanced classification. For quantum mechanical and biophysical datasets, the use of physics-aware featurizations can be more important than choice of particular learning algorithm.

Regional Competitive Intelligence: Benchmarking and Policymaking

OpenAIRE

Huggins , Robert

2010-01-01

Benchmarking exercises have become increasingly popular within the sphere of regional policymaking in recent years. The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of regional benchmarking and its links with regional policymaking processes. It develops a typology of regional benchmarking exercises and regional benchmarkers, and critically reviews the literature, both academic and policy oriented. It is argued that critics who suggest regional benchmarking is a flawed concept and technique fai...

Model-Based Engineering and Manufacturing CAD/CAM Benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domm, T.D.; Underwood, R.S.

1999-01-01

The Benehmark Project was created from a desire to identify best practices and improve the overall efficiency and performance of the Y-12 Plant's systems and personnel supporting the manufacturing mission. The mission of the benchmark team was to search out industry leaders in manufacturing and evaluate their engineering practices and processes to determine direction and focus fm Y-12 modmizadon efforts. The companies visited included several large established companies and anew, small, high-tech machining firm. As a result of this effort changes are recommended that will enable Y-12 to become a more responsive cost-effective manufacturing facility capable of suppording the needs of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (NW at sign) and Work Fw Others into the 21' century. The benchmark team identified key areas of interest, both focused and gencml. The focus arm included Human Resources, Information Management, Manufacturing Software Tools, and Standarda/ Policies and Practices. Areas of general interest included Inhstructure, Computer Platforms and Networking, and Organizational Structure. The method for obtaining the desired information in these areas centered on the creation of a benchmark questionnaire. The questionnaire was used throughout each of the visits as the basis for information gathering. The results of this benchmark showed that all companies are moving in the direction of model-based engineering and manufacturing. There was evidence that many companies are trying to grasp how to manage current and legacy data. In terms of engineering design software tools, the companies contacted were using both 3-D solid modeling and surfaced Wire-frame models. The manufacturing computer tools were varie4 with most companies using more than one software product to generate machining data and none currently performing model-based manufacturing (MBM) ftom a common medel. The majority of companies were closer to identifying or using a single computer-aided design (CAD) system

Scintilla: A New International Platform for the Development, Evaluation and Benchmarking of Technologies to Detect Radioactive and Nuclear Material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sannie, G.; Normand, S.; Peerani, P.; Tagziria, H.; Friedrich, H.; Chmel, S.; De Vita, R.; Pavan, M.; Grattarola, M.; Botta, E.; Kovacs, A.S.; Lakosi, L.; Baumhauer, C.; Equios, M.; Petrossian, G.; Picard, J.M.; Dermody, G.; Crossingham, G.

2013-06-01

For Homeland Security, enhanced detection and identification of radioactive sources and nuclear material has become of increasing importance. The scintilla project aims at minimizing the risk of radioactive sources dissemination especially with masked and shielded material. SCINTILLA offers the capacity to finding a reliable alternative to Helium-3 based detection systems since the gas which is predominantly used in nuclear safeguards and security applications has now become very expensive, rare and nearly unavailable. SCINTILLA benchmarks will be based on international standards. Radiation Portal testing being carried out at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy). (authors)

Development of common user data model for APOLLO3 and MARBLE and application to benchmark problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokoyama, Kenji

2009-07-01

A Common User Data Model, CUDM, has been developed for the purpose of benchmark calculations between APOLLO3 and MARBLE code systems. The current version of CUDM was designed for core calculation benchmark problems with 3-dimensional Cartesian, 3-D XYZ, geometry. CUDM is able to manage all input/output data such as 3-D XYZ geometry, effective macroscopic cross section, effective multiplication factor and neutron flux. In addition, visualization tools for geometry and neutron flux were included. CUDM was designed by the object-oriented technique and implemented using Python programming language. Based on the CUDM, a prototype system for a benchmark calculation, CUDM-benchmark, was also developed. The CUDM-benchmark supports input/output data conversion for IDT solver in APOLLO3, and TRITAC and SNT solvers in MARBLE. In order to evaluate pertinence of CUDM, the CUDM-benchmark was applied to benchmark problems proposed by T. Takeda, G. Chiba and I. Zmijarevic. It was verified that the CUDM-benchmark successfully reproduced the results calculated with reference input data files, and provided consistent results among all the solvers by using one common input data defined by CUDM. In addition, a detailed benchmark calculation for Chiba benchmark was performed by using the CUDM-benchmark. Chiba benchmark is a neutron transport benchmark problem for fast criticality assembly without homogenization. This benchmark problem consists of 4 core configurations which have different sodium void regions, and each core configuration is defined by more than 5,000 fuel/material cells. In this application, it was found that the results by IDT and SNT solvers agreed well with the reference results by Monte-Carlo code. In addition, model effects such as quadrature set effect, S n order effect and mesh size effect were systematically evaluated and summarized in this report. (author)

ENDF/B-VII.1 Neutron Cross Section Data Testing with Critical Assembly Benchmarks and Reactor Experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kahler, A.C.; Herman, M.; Kahler,A.C.; MacFarlane,R.E.; Mosteller,R.D.; Kiedrowski,B.C.; Frankle,S.C.; Chadwick,M.B.; McKnight,R.D.; Lell,R.M.; Palmiotti,G.; Hiruta,H.; Herman,M.; Arcilla,R.; Mughabghab,S.F.; Sublet,J.C.; Trkov,A.; Trumbull,T.H.; Dunn,M.

2011-12-01

The ENDF/B-VII.1 library is the latest revision to the United States Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF). The ENDF library is currently in its seventh generation, with ENDF/B-VII.0 being released in 2006. This revision expands upon that library, including the addition of new evaluated files (was 393 neutron files previously, now 423 including replacement of elemental vanadium and zinc evaluations with isotopic evaluations) and extension or updating of many existing neutron data files. Complete details are provided in the companion paper [M. B. Chadwick et al., 'ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data,' Nuclear Data Sheets, 112, 2887 (2011)]. This paper focuses on how accurately application libraries may be expected to perform in criticality calculations with these data. Continuous energy cross section libraries, suitable for use with the MCNP Monte Carlo transport code, have been generated and applied to a suite of nearly one thousand critical benchmark assemblies defined in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project's International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. This suite covers uranium and plutonium fuel systems in a variety of forms such as metallic, oxide or solution, and under a variety of spectral conditions, including unmoderated (i.e., bare), metal reflected and water or other light element reflected. Assembly eigenvalues that were accurately predicted with ENDF/B-VII.0 cross sections such as unmoderated and uranium reflected {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu assemblies, HEU solution systems and LEU oxide lattice systems that mimic commercial PWR configurations continue to be accurately calculated with ENDF/B-VII.1 cross sections, and deficiencies in predicted eigenvalues for assemblies containing selected materials, including titanium, manganese, cadmium and tungsten are greatly reduced. Improvements are also

Preliminary Results for the OECD/NEA Time Dependent Benchmark using Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake-IQS and TDKENO

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeHart, Mark D. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Mausolff, Zander [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Weems, Zach [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Popp, Dustin [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Smith, Kristin [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Shriver, Forrest [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Goluoglu, Sedat [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Prince, Zachary [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); Ragusa, Jean [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

2016-08-01

One goal of the MAMMOTH M&S project is to validate the analysis capabilities within MAMMOTH. Historical data has shown limited value for validation of full three-dimensional (3D) multi-physics methods. Initial analysis considered the TREAT startup minimum critical core and one of the startup transient tests. At present, validation is focusing on measurements taken during the M8CAL test calibration series. These exercises will valuable in preliminary assessment of the ability of MAMMOTH to perform coupled multi-physics calculations; calculations performed to date are being used to validate the neutron transport solver Rattlesnake\\cite{Rattlesnake} and the fuels performance code BISON. Other validation projects outside of TREAT are available for single-physics benchmarking. Because the transient solution capability of Rattlesnake is one of the key attributes that makes it unique for TREAT transient simulations, validation of the transient solution of Rattlesnake using other time dependent kinetics benchmarks has considerable value. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently developed a computational benchmark for transient simulations. This benchmark considered both two-dimensional (2D) and 3D configurations for a total number of 26 different transients. All are negative reactivity insertions, typically returning to the critical state after some time.

Preliminary Results for the OECD/NEA Time Dependent Benchmark using Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake-IQS and TDKENO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeHart, Mark D.; Mausolff, Zander; Weems, Zach; Popp, Dustin; Smith, Kristin; Shriver, Forrest; Goluoglu, Sedat; Prince, Zachary; Ragusa, Jean

2016-01-01

One goal of the MAMMOTH M&S project is to validate the analysis capabilities within MAMMOTH. Historical data has shown limited value for validation of full three-dimensional (3D) multi-physics methods. Initial analysis considered the TREAT startup minimum critical core and one of the startup transient tests. At present, validation is focusing on measurements taken during the M8CAL test calibration series. These exercises will valuable in preliminary assessment of the ability of MAMMOTH to perform coupled multi-physics calculations; calculations performed to date are being used to validate the neutron transport solver Rattlesnake\\citelesnake) and the fuels performance code BISON. Other validation projects outside of TREAT are available for single-physics benchmarking. Because the transient solution capability of Rattlesnake is one of the key attributes that makes it unique for TREAT transient simulations, validation of the transient solution of Rattlesnake using other time dependent kinetics benchmarks has considerable value. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently developed a computational benchmark for transient simulations. This benchmark considered both two-dimensional (2D) and 3D configurations for a total number of 26 different transients. All are negative reactivity insertions, typically returning to the critical state after some time.

High Energy Physics (HEP) benchmark program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasu, Yoshiji; Ichii, Shingo; Yashiro, Shigeo; Hirayama, Hideo; Kokufuda, Akihiro; Suzuki, Eishin.

1993-01-01

High Energy Physics (HEP) benchmark programs are indispensable tools to select suitable computer for HEP application system. Industry standard benchmark programs can not be used for this kind of particular selection. The CERN and the SSC benchmark suite are famous HEP benchmark programs for this purpose. The CERN suite includes event reconstruction and event generator programs, while the SSC one includes event generators. In this paper, we found that the results from these two suites are not consistent. And, the result from the industry benchmark does not agree with either of these two. Besides, we describe comparison of benchmark results using EGS4 Monte Carlo simulation program with ones from two HEP benchmark suites. Then, we found that the result from EGS4 in not consistent with the two ones. The industry standard of SPECmark values on various computer systems are not consistent with the EGS4 results either. Because of these inconsistencies, we point out the necessity of a standardization of HEP benchmark suites. Also, EGS4 benchmark suite should be developed for users of applications such as medical science, nuclear power plant, nuclear physics and high energy physics. (author)

SU-E-T-148: Benchmarks and Pre-Treatment Reviews: A Study of Quality Assurance Effectiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowenstein, J; Nguyen, H; Roll, J; Walsh, A; Tailor, A; Followill, D

2015-01-01

Purpose: To determine the impact benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews have on improving the quality of submitted clinical trial data. Methods: Benchmarks are used to evaluate a site’s ability to develop a treatment that meets a specific protocol’s treatment guidelines prior to placing their first patient on the protocol. A pre-treatment review is an actual patient placed on the protocol in which the dosimetry and contour volumes are evaluated to be per protocol guidelines prior to allowing the beginning of the treatment. A key component of these QA mechanisms is that sites are provided timely feedback to educate them on how to plan per the protocol and prevent protocol deviations on patients accrued to a protocol. For both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews a dose volume analysis (DVA) was performed using MIM softwareTM. For pre-treatment reviews a volume contour evaluation was also performed. Results: IROC Houston performed a QA effectiveness analysis of a protocol which required both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews. In 70 percent of the patient cases submitted, the benchmark played an effective role in assuring that the pre-treatment review of the cases met protocol requirements. The 35 percent of sites failing the benchmark subsequently modified there planning technique to pass the benchmark before being allowed to submit a patient for pre-treatment review. However, in 30 percent of the submitted cases the pre-treatment review failed where the majority (71 percent) failed the DVA. 20 percent of sites submitting patients failed to correct their dose volume discrepancies indicated by the benchmark case. Conclusion: Benchmark cases and pre-treatment reviews can be an effective QA tool to educate sites on protocol guidelines and to minimize deviations. Without the benchmark cases it is possible that 65 percent of the cases undergoing a pre-treatment review would have failed to meet the protocols requirements.Support: U24-CA-180803

Benchmarking Tool Kit.

Science.gov (United States)

Canadian Health Libraries Association.

Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

RECENT ADDITIONS OF CRITICALITY SAFETY RELATED INTEGRAL BENCHMARK DATA TO THE ICSBEP AND IRPHEP HANDBOOKS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. Blair Briggs; Lori Scott; Yolanda Rugama; Enrico Sartori

2009-09-01

High-quality integral benchmark experiments have always been a priority for criticality safety. However, interest in integral benchmark data is increasing as efforts to quantify and reduce calculational uncertainties accelerate to meet the demands of future criticality safety needs to support next generation reactor and advanced fuel cycle concepts. The importance of drawing upon existing benchmark data is becoming more apparent because of dwindling availability of critical facilities worldwide and the high cost of performing new experiments. Integral benchmark data from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments and the International Handbook of Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments are widely used. Benchmark data have been added to these two handbooks since the last Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Topical Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee (September 2005). This paper highlights these additions.

Recent additions of criticality safety related integral benchmark data to the ICSBEP and IRPHEP handbooks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briggs, J. B.; Scott, L.; Rugama, Y.; Sartori, E.

2009-01-01

High-quality integral benchmark experiments have always been a priority for criticality safety. However, interest in integral benchmark data is increasing as efforts to quantify and reduce calculational uncertainties accelerate to meet the demands of future criticality safety needs to support next generation reactor and advanced fuel cycle concepts. The importance of drawing upon existing benchmark data is becoming more apparent because of dwindling availability of critical facilities worldwide and the high cost of performing new experiments. Integral benchmark data from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments and the International Handbook of Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments are widely used. Benchmark data have been added to these two handbooks since the last Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Topical Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee (September 2005). This paper highlights these additions. (authors)

REcent Additions Of Criticality Safety Related Integral Benchmark Data To The Icsbep And Irphep Handbooks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briggs, J. Blair; Scott, Lori; Rugama, Yolanda; Sartori, Enrico

2009-01-01

High-quality integral benchmark experiments have always been a priority for criticality safety. However, interest in integral benchmark data is increasing as efforts to quantify and reduce calculational uncertainties accelerate to meet the demands of future criticality safety needs to support next generation reactor and advanced fuel cycle concepts. The importance of drawing upon existing benchmark data is becoming more apparent because of dwindling availability of critical facilities worldwide and the high cost of performing new experiments. Integral benchmark data from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments and the International Handbook of Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments are widely used. Benchmark data have been added to these two handbooks since the last Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Topical Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee (September 2005). This paper highlights these additions.

Implementing a benchmarking and feedback concept decreases postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty: A prospective study including 256 patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Benditz, A; Drescher, J; Greimel, F; Zeman, F; Grifka, J; Meißner, W; Völlner, F

2016-12-05

Perioperative pain reduction, particularly during the first two days, is highly important for patients after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Problems are not only caused by medical issues but by organization and hospital structure. The present study shows how the quality of pain management can be increased by implementing a standardized pain concept and simple, consistent benchmarking. All patients included into the study had undergone total knee arthroplasty. Outcome parameters were analyzed by means of a questionnaire on the first postoperative day. A multidisciplinary team implemented a regular procedure of data analyzes and external benchmarking by participating in a nationwide quality improvement project. At the beginning of the study, our hospital ranked 16 th in terms of activity-related pain and 9 th in patient satisfaction among 47 anonymized hospitals participating in the benchmarking project. At the end of the study, we had improved to 1 st activity-related pain and to 2 nd in patient satisfaction. Although benchmarking started and finished with the same standardized pain management concept, results were initially pure. Beside pharmacological treatment, interdisciplinary teamwork and benchmarking with direct feedback mechanisms are also very important for decreasing postoperative pain and for increasing patient satisfaction after TKA.

Benchmark calculations on residue production within the EURISOL DS project; Part I: thin targets

CERN Document Server

David, J.C; Boudard, A; Doré, D; Leray, S; Rapp, B; Ridikas, D; Thiollière, N

Report on benchmark calculations on residue production in thin targets. Calculations were performed using MCNPX 2.5.0 coupled to a selection of reaction models. The results were compared to nuclide production cross-sections measured in GSI in inverse kinematics

Benchmark calculations on residue production within the EURISOL DS project; Part II: thick targets

CERN Document Server

David, J.-C; Boudard, A; Doré, D; Leray, S; Rapp, B; Ridikas, D; Thiollière, N

Benchmark calculations on residue production using MCNPX 2.5.0. Calculations were compared to mass-distribution data for 5 different elements measured at ISOLDE, and to specific activities of 28 radionuclides in different places along the thick target measured in Dubna.

A Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Model for Sustainability Risk Evaluation of PPP Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Libiao Bai

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Evaluating the sustainability risk level of public–private partnership (PPP projects can reduce project risk incidents and achieve the sustainable development of the organization. However, the existing studies about PPP projects risk management mainly focus on exploring the impact of financial and revenue risks but ignore the sustainability risks, causing the concept of “sustainability” to be missing while evaluating the risk level of PPP projects. To evaluate the sustainability risk level and achieve the most important objective of providing a reference for the public and private sectors when making decisions on PPP project management, this paper constructs a factor system of sustainability risk of PPP projects based on an extensive literature review and develops a mathematical model based on the methods of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model (FCEM and failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA for evaluating the sustainability risk level of PPP projects. In addition, this paper conducts computational experiment based on a questionnaire survey to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of this proposed model. The results suggest that this model is reasonable for evaluating the sustainability risk level of PPP projects. To our knowledge, this paper is the first study to evaluate the sustainability risk of PPP projects, which would not only enrich the theories of project risk management, but also serve as a reference for the public and private sectors for the sustainable planning and development. Keywords: sustainability risk eva

A Global Vision over Benchmarking Process: Benchmarking Based Enterprises

OpenAIRE

Sitnikov, Catalina; Giurca Vasilescu, Laura

2008-01-01

Benchmarking uses the knowledge and the experience of others to improve the enterprise. Starting from the analysis of the performance and underlying the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise it should be assessed what must be done in order to improve its activity. Using benchmarking techniques, an enterprise looks at how processes in the value chain are performed. The approach based on the vision “from the whole towards the parts” (a fragmented image of the enterprise’s value chain) redu...

Benchmarking Severe Accident Computer Codes for Heavy Water Reactor Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-12-01

Requests for severe accident investigations and assurance of mitigation measures have increased for operating nuclear power plants and the design of advanced nuclear power plants. Severe accident analysis investigations necessitate the analysis of the very complex physical phenomena that occur sequentially during various stages of accident progression. Computer codes are essential tools for understanding how the reactor and its containment might respond under severe accident conditions. The IAEA organizes coordinated research projects (CRPs) to facilitate technology development through international collaboration among Member States. The CRP on Benchmarking Severe Accident Computer Codes for HWR Applications was planned on the advice and with the support of the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department's Technical Working Group on Advanced Technologies for HWRs (the TWG-HWR). This publication summarizes the results from the CRP participants. The CRP promoted international collaboration among Member States to improve the phenomenological understanding of severe core damage accidents and the capability to analyse them. The CRP scope included the identification and selection of a severe accident sequence, selection of appropriate geometrical and boundary conditions, conduct of benchmark analyses, comparison of the results of all code outputs, evaluation of the capabilities of computer codes to predict important severe accident phenomena, and the proposal of necessary code improvements and/or new experiments to reduce uncertainties. Seven institutes from five countries with HWRs participated in this CRP

Benchmarking severe accident computer codes for heavy water reactor applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, J.H. [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

2010-07-01

Consideration of severe accidents at a nuclear power plant (NPP) is an essential component of the defence in depth approach used in nuclear safety. Severe accident analysis involves very complex physical phenomena that occur sequentially during various stages of accident progression. Computer codes are essential tools for understanding how the reactor and its containment might respond under severe accident conditions. International cooperative research programmes are established by the IAEA in areas that are of common interest to a number of Member States. These co-operative efforts are carried out through coordinated research projects (CRPs), typically 3 to 6 years in duration, and often involving experimental activities. Such CRPs allow a sharing of efforts on an international basis, foster team-building and benefit from the experience and expertise of researchers from all participating institutes. The IAEA is organizing a CRP on benchmarking severe accident computer codes for heavy water reactor (HWR) applications. The CRP scope includes defining the severe accident sequence and conducting benchmark analyses for HWRs, evaluating the capabilities of existing computer codes to predict important severe accident phenomena, and suggesting necessary code improvements and/or new experiments to reduce uncertainties. The CRP has been planned on the advice and with the support of the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department's Technical Working Groups on Advanced Technologies for HWRs. (author)

CBLIB 2014: a benchmark library for conic mixed-integer and continuous optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friberg, Henrik Alsing

2016-01-01

The Conic Benchmark Library is an ongoing community-driven project aiming to challenge commercial and open source solvers on mainstream cone support. In this paper, 121 mixed-integer and continuous second-order cone problem instances have been selected from 11 categories as representative...

Benchmarking and Self-Assessment in the Wine Industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galitsky, Christina; Radspieler, Anthony; Worrell, Ernst; Healy,Patrick; Zechiel, Susanne

2005-12-01

Not all industrial facilities have the staff or theopportunity to perform a detailed audit of their operations. The lack ofknowledge of energy efficiency opportunities provides an importantbarrier to improving efficiency. Benchmarking programs in the U.S. andabroad have shown to improve knowledge of the energy performance ofindustrial facilities and buildings and to fuel energy managementpractices. Benchmarking provides a fair way to compare the energyintensity of plants, while accounting for structural differences (e.g.,the mix of products produced, climate conditions) between differentfacilities. In California, the winemaking industry is not only one of theeconomic pillars of the economy; it is also a large energy consumer, witha considerable potential for energy-efficiency improvement. LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory and Fetzer Vineyards developed the firstbenchmarking tool for the California wine industry called "BEST(Benchmarking and Energy and water Savings Tool) Winery". BEST Wineryenables a winery to compare its energy efficiency to a best practicereference winery. Besides overall performance, the tool enables the userto evaluate the impact of implementing efficiency measures. The toolfacilitates strategic planning of efficiency measures, based on theestimated impact of the measures, their costs and savings. The tool willraise awareness of current energy intensities and offer an efficient wayto evaluate the impact of future efficiency measures.

Benchmarking multimedia performance

Science.gov (United States)

Zandi, Ahmad; Sudharsanan, Subramania I.

1998-03-01

With the introduction of faster processors and special instruction sets tailored to multimedia, a number of exciting applications are now feasible on the desktops. Among these is the DVD playback consisting, among other things, of MPEG-2 video and Dolby digital audio or MPEG-2 audio. Other multimedia applications such as video conferencing and speech recognition are also becoming popular on computer systems. In view of this tremendous interest in multimedia, a group of major computer companies have formed, Multimedia Benchmarks Committee as part of Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. to address the performance issues of multimedia applications. The approach is multi-tiered with three tiers of fidelity from minimal to full compliant. In each case the fidelity of the bitstream reconstruction as well as quality of the video or audio output are measured and the system is classified accordingly. At the next step the performance of the system is measured. In many multimedia applications such as the DVD playback the application needs to be run at a specific rate. In this case the measurement of the excess processing power, makes all the difference. All these make a system level, application based, multimedia benchmark very challenging. Several ideas and methodologies for each aspect of the problems will be presented and analyzed.

Argonne Code Center: Benchmark problem book.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

1977-06-01

This book is an outgrowth of activities of the Computational Benchmark Problems Committee of the Mathematics and Computation Division of the American Nuclear Society. This is the second supplement of the original benchmark book which was first published in February, 1968 and contained computational benchmark problems in four different areas. Supplement No. 1, which was published in December, 1972, contained corrections to the original benchmark book plus additional problems in three new areas. The current supplement. Supplement No. 2, contains problems in eight additional new areas. The objectives of computational benchmark work and the procedures used by the committee in pursuing the objectives are outlined in the original edition of the benchmark book (ANL-7416, February, 1968). The members of the committee who have made contributions to Supplement No. 2 are listed below followed by the contributors to the earlier editions of the benchmark book.

Sustaining knowledge in the neutron generator community and benchmarking study. Phase II.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huff, Tameka B.; Stubblefield, William Anthony; Cole, Benjamin Holland, II; Baldonado, Esther

2010-08-01

This report documents the second phase of work under the Sustainable Knowledge Management (SKM) project for the Neutron Generator organization at Sandia National Laboratories. Previous work under this project is documented in SAND2008-1777, Sustaining Knowledge in the Neutron Generator Community and Benchmarking Study. Knowledge management (KM) systems are necessary to preserve critical knowledge within organizations. A successful KM program should focus on people and the process for sharing, capturing, and applying knowledge. The Neutron Generator organization is developing KM systems to ensure knowledge is not lost. A benchmarking study involving site visits to outside industry plus additional resource research was conducted during this phase of the SKM project. The findings presented in this report are recommendations for making an SKM program successful. The recommendations are activities that promote sharing, capturing, and applying knowledge. The benchmarking effort, including the site visits to Toyota and Halliburton, provided valuable information on how the SEA KM team could incorporate a KM solution for not just the neutron generators (NG) community but the entire laboratory. The laboratory needs a KM program that allows members of the workforce to access, share, analyze, manage, and apply knowledge. KM activities, such as communities of practice (COP) and sharing best practices, provide a solution towards creating an enabling environment for KM. As more and more people leave organizations through retirement and job transfer, the need to preserve knowledge is essential. Creating an environment for the effective use of knowledge is vital to achieving the laboratory's mission.

Sustaining knowledge in the neutron generator community and benchmarking study. Phase II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huff, Tameka B.; Stubblefield, William Anthony; Cole, Benjamin Holland II; Baldonado, Esther

2010-01-01

This report documents the second phase of work under the Sustainable Knowledge Management (SKM) project for the Neutron Generator organization at Sandia National Laboratories. Previous work under this project is documented in SAND2008-1777, Sustaining Knowledge in the Neutron Generator Community and Benchmarking Study. Knowledge management (KM) systems are necessary to preserve critical knowledge within organizations. A successful KM program should focus on people and the process for sharing, capturing, and applying knowledge. The Neutron Generator organization is developing KM systems to ensure knowledge is not lost. A benchmarking study involving site visits to outside industry plus additional resource research was conducted during this phase of the SKM project. The findings presented in this report are recommendations for making an SKM program successful. The recommendations are activities that promote sharing, capturing, and applying knowledge. The benchmarking effort, including the site visits to Toyota and Halliburton, provided valuable information on how the SEA KM team could incorporate a KM solution for not just the neutron generators (NG) community but the entire laboratory. The laboratory needs a KM program that allows members of the workforce to access, share, analyze, manage, and apply knowledge. KM activities, such as communities of practice (COP) and sharing best practices, provide a solution towards creating an enabling environment for KM. As more and more people leave organizations through retirement and job transfer, the need to preserve knowledge is essential. Creating an environment for the effective use of knowledge is vital to achieving the laboratory's mission.

Benchmarks for GADRAS performance validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattingly, John K.; Mitchell, Dean James; Rhykerd, Charles L. Jr.

2009-01-01

The performance of the Gamma Detector Response and Analysis Software (GADRAS) was validated by comparing GADRAS model results to experimental measurements for a series of benchmark sources. Sources for the benchmark include a plutonium metal sphere, bare and shielded in polyethylene, plutonium oxide in cans, a highly enriched uranium sphere, bare and shielded in polyethylene, a depleted uranium shell and spheres, and a natural uranium sphere. The benchmark experimental data were previously acquired and consist of careful collection of background and calibration source spectra along with the source spectra. The calibration data were fit with GADRAS to determine response functions for the detector in each experiment. A one-dimensional model (pie chart) was constructed for each source based on the dimensions of the benchmark source. The GADRAS code made a forward calculation from each model to predict the radiation spectrum for the detector used in the benchmark experiment. The comparisons between the GADRAS calculation and the experimental measurements are excellent, validating that GADRAS can correctly predict the radiation spectra for these well-defined benchmark sources.

Benchmarking in Czech Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Plaček Michal

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The first part of this article surveys the current experience with the use of benchmarking at Czech universities specializing in economics and management. The results indicate that collaborative benchmarking is not used on this level today, but most actors show some interest in its introduction. The expression of the need for it and the importance of benchmarking as a very suitable performance-management tool in less developed countries are the impetus for the second part of our article. Based on an analysis of the current situation and existing needs in the Czech Republic, as well as on a comparison with international experience, recommendations for public policy are made, which lie in the design of a model of a collaborative benchmarking for Czech economics and management in higher-education programs. Because the fully complex model cannot be implemented immediately – which is also confirmed by structured interviews with academics who have practical experience with benchmarking –, the final model is designed as a multi-stage model. This approach helps eliminate major barriers to the implementation of benchmarking.

Benchmarking HIV health care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Podlekareva, Daria; Reekie, Joanne; Mocroft, Amanda

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: State-of-the-art care involving the utilisation of multiple health care interventions is the basis for an optimal long-term clinical prognosis for HIV-patients. We evaluated health care for HIV-patients based on four key indicators. METHODS: Four indicators of health care we...... document pronounced regional differences in adherence to guidelines and can help to identify gaps and direct target interventions. It may serve as a tool for assessment and benchmarking the clinical management of HIV-patients in any setting worldwide....

Benchmark Applications of Variations of Multireference Equation of Motion Coupled-Cluster Theory

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Huntington, L. M.; Demel, Ondřej; Nooijen, M.

2016-01-01

Roč. 12, č. 1 (2016), s. 114-132 ISSN 1549-9618 R&D Projects: GA ČR GJ15-00058Y Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : MR-EOM * Benchmark applications * variations Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 5.245, year: 2016

Benchmarking and performance enhancement framework for multi-staging object-oriented languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed H. Yousef

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on verifying the readiness, feasibility, generality and usefulness of multi-staging programming in software applications. We present a benchmark designed to evaluate the performance gain of different multi-staging programming (MSP languages implementations of object oriented languages. The benchmarks in this suite cover different tests that range from classic simple examples (like matrix algebra to advanced examples (like encryption and image processing. The benchmark is applied to compare the performance gain of two different MSP implementations (Mint and Metaphor that are built on object oriented languages (Java and C# respectively. The results concerning the application of this benchmark on these languages are presented and analysed. The measurement technique used in benchmarking leads to the development of a language independent performance enhancement framework that allows the programmer to select which code segments need staging. The framework also enables the programmer to verify the effectiveness of staging on the application performance. The framework is applied to a real case study. The case study results showed the effectiveness of the framework to achieve significant performance enhancement.

NetBenchmark: a bioconductor package for reproducible benchmarks of gene regulatory network inference.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellot, Pau; Olsen, Catharina; Salembier, Philippe; Oliveras-Vergés, Albert; Meyer, Patrick E

2015-09-29

In the last decade, a great number of methods for reconstructing gene regulatory networks from expression data have been proposed. However, very few tools and datasets allow to evaluate accurately and reproducibly those methods. Hence, we propose here a new tool, able to perform a systematic, yet fully reproducible, evaluation of transcriptional network inference methods. Our open-source and freely available Bioconductor package aggregates a large set of tools to assess the robustness of network inference algorithms against different simulators, topologies, sample sizes and noise intensities. The benchmarking framework that uses various datasets highlights the specialization of some methods toward network types and data. As a result, it is possible to identify the techniques that have broad overall performances.

WIPP Benchmark calculations with the large strain SPECTROM codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Callahan, G.D.; DeVries, K.L.

1995-08-01

This report provides calculational results from the updated Lagrangian structural finite-element programs SPECTROM-32 and SPECTROM-333 for the purpose of qualifying these codes to perform analyses of structural situations in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Results are presented for the Second WIPP Benchmark (Benchmark II) Problems and for a simplified heated room problem used in a parallel design calculation study. The Benchmark II problems consist of an isothermal room problem and a heated room problem. The stratigraphy involves 27 distinct geologic layers including ten clay seams of which four are modeled as frictionless sliding interfaces. The analyses of the Benchmark II problems consider a 10-year simulation period. The evaluation of nine structural codes used in the Benchmark II problems shows that inclusion of finite-strain effects is not as significant as observed for the simplified heated room problem, and a variety of finite-strain and small-strain formulations produced similar results. The simplified heated room problem provides stratigraphic complexity equivalent to the Benchmark II problems but neglects sliding along the clay seams. The simplified heated problem does, however, provide a calculational check case where the small strain-formulation produced room closures about 20 percent greater than those obtained using finite-strain formulations. A discussion is given of each of the solved problems, and the computational results are compared with available published results. In general, the results of the two SPECTROM large strain codes compare favorably with results from other codes used to solve the problems

Monte Carlo burnup simulation of the TAKAHAMA-3 benchmark experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalle, Hugo M.

2009-01-01

High burnup PWR fuel is currently being studied at CDTN/CNEN-MG. Monte Carlo burnup code system MONTEBURNS is used to characterize the neutronic behavior of the fuel. In order to validate the code system and calculation methodology to be used in this study the Japanese Takahama-3 Benchmark was chosen, as it is the single burnup benchmark experimental data set freely available that partially reproduces the conditions of the fuel under evaluation. The burnup of the three PWR fuel rods of the Takahama-3 burnup benchmark was calculated by MONTEBURNS using the simplest infinite fuel pin cell model and also a more complex representation of an infinite heterogeneous fuel pin cells lattice. Calculations results for the mass of most isotopes of Uranium, Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, Curium and some fission products, commonly used as burnup monitors, were compared with the Post Irradiation Examinations (PIE) values for all the three fuel rods. Results have shown some sensitivity to the MCNP neutron cross-section data libraries, particularly affected by the temperature in which the evaluated nuclear data files were processed. (author)

Benchmark testing of Canadol-2.1 for heavy water reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Ping

1999-01-01

The new version evaluated nuclear data library of ENDF-B 6.5 has been released recently. In order to compare the quality of evaluated nuclear data CENDL-2.1 with ENDF-B 6.5, it is necessary to do benchmarks testing for them. In this work, CENDL-2.1 and ENDF-B 6.5 were used to generated the WIMS-69 group library respectively, and benchmarks testing was done for the heavy water reactor, using WIMS5A code. It is obvious that data files of CENDL-2.1 is better than that of old WIMS library for the heavy water reactors calculations, and is in good agreement with those of ENDF-B 6.5

NASA Indexing Benchmarks: Evaluating Text Search Engines

Science.gov (United States)

Esler, Sandra L.; Nelson, Michael L.

1997-01-01

The current proliferation of on-line information resources underscores the requirement for the ability to index collections of information and search and retrieve them in a convenient manner. This study develops criteria for analytically comparing the index and search engines and presents results for a number of freely available search engines. A product of this research is a toolkit capable of automatically indexing, searching, and extracting performance statistics from each of the focused search engines. This toolkit is highly configurable and has the ability to run these benchmark tests against other engines as well. Results demonstrate that the tested search engines can be grouped into two levels. Level one engines are efficient on small to medium sized data collections, but show weaknesses when used for collections 100MB or larger. Level two search engines are recommended for data collections up to and beyond 100MB.

Benchmarking in European Higher Education: A Step beyond Current Quality Models

Science.gov (United States)

Burquel, Nadine; van Vught, Frans

2010-01-01

This paper presents the findings of a two-year EU-funded project (DG Education and Culture) "Benchmarking in European Higher Education", carried out from 2006 to 2008 by a consortium led by the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU), with the Centre for Higher Education Development, UNESCO-CEPES, and the…

Benchmarking af kommunernes sagsbehandling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amilon, Anna

Fra 2007 skal Ankestyrelsen gennemføre benchmarking af kommuernes sagsbehandlingskvalitet. Formålet med benchmarkingen er at udvikle praksisundersøgelsernes design med henblik på en bedre opfølgning og at forbedre kommunernes sagsbehandling. Dette arbejdspapir diskuterer metoder for benchmarking...

A cross-benchmark comparison of 87 learning to rank methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tax, N.; Bockting, S.; Hiemstra, D.

2015-01-01

Learning to rank is an increasingly important scientific field that comprises the use of machine learning for the ranking task. New learning to rank methods are generally evaluated on benchmark test collections. However, comparison of learning to rank methods based on evaluation results is hindered

Concepts for benchmark problem development for fracture mechanics application in safety evaluation of nuclear piping in subcreep service

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reich, M.; Esztergar, E.P.; Erdogan, F.; Gray, T.G.F.; Spence, J.

1979-01-01

This report provides basic concepts and a review of the problem areas associated with the development of analytical and experimental programs for a systematic evaluation and comparison of the currently available fracture mechanics theories. The basis for such an evaluation is conceived as a series of benchmark problems which are accurately specified examples of geometry, loading, and environmental conditions, characteristic of large diameter thin wall piping systems in nuclear service. Starting from the simplest test coupons for cracked plate specimens, the program is to be designed in such a way that the range of validity and relative merit of the competing assessment methods can be evaluated and the results applied to increasingly more complex test configurations and ultimately to real piping systems. (Auth.)

Qinshan CANDU NPP outage performance improvement through benchmarking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Fuming

2005-01-01

With the increasingly fierce competition in the deregulated Energy Market, the optimization of outage duration has become one of the focal points for the Nuclear Power Plant owners around the world. People are seeking various ways to shorten the outage duration of NPP. Great efforts have been made in the Light Water Reactor (LWR) family with the concept of benchmarking and evaluation, which great reduced the outage duration and improved outage performance. The average capacity factor of LWRs has been greatly improved over the last three decades, which now is close to 90%. CANDU (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) stations, with its unique feature of on power refueling, of nuclear fuel remaining in the reactor all through the planned outage, have given raise to more stringent safety requirements during planned outage. In addition, the above feature gives more variations to the critical path of planned outage in different station. In order to benchmarking again the best practices in the CANDU stations, Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company (TQNPC) have initiated the benchmarking program among the CANDU stations aiming to standardize the outage maintenance windows and optimize the outage duration. The initial benchmarking has resulted the optimization of outage duration in Qinshan CANDU NPP and the formulation of its first long-term outage plan. This paper describes the benchmarking works that have been proven to be useful for optimizing outage duration in Qinshan CANDU NPP, and the vision of further optimize the duration with joint effort from the CANDU community. (authors)

Mobile phone camera benchmarking: combination of camera speed and image quality

Science.gov (United States)

Peltoketo, Veli-Tapani

2014-01-01

When a mobile phone camera is tested and benchmarked, the significance of quality metrics is widely acknowledged. There are also existing methods to evaluate the camera speed. For example, ISO 15781 defines several measurements to evaluate various camera system delays. However, the speed or rapidity metrics of the mobile phone's camera system have not been used with the quality metrics even if the camera speed has become more and more important camera performance feature. There are several tasks in this work. Firstly, the most important image quality metrics are collected from the standards and papers. Secondly, the speed related metrics of a mobile phone's camera system are collected from the standards and papers and also novel speed metrics are identified. Thirdly, combinations of the quality and speed metrics are validated using mobile phones in the market. The measurements are done towards application programming interface of different operating system. Finally, the results are evaluated and conclusions are made. The result of this work gives detailed benchmarking results of mobile phone camera systems in the market. The paper defines also a proposal of combined benchmarking metrics, which includes both quality and speed parameters.

MFTF TOTAL benchmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choy, J.H.

1979-06-01

A benchmark of the TOTAL data base management system as applied to the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) data base was implemented and run in February and March of 1979. The benchmark was run on an Interdata 8/32 and involved the following tasks: (1) data base design, (2) data base generation, (3) data base load, and (4) develop and implement programs to simulate MFTF usage of the data base

2010 Criticality Accident Alarm System Benchmark Experiments At The CEA Valduc SILENE Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, Thomas Martin; Dunn, Michael E.; Wagner, John C.; McMahan, Kimberly L.; Authier, Nicolas; Jacquet, Xavier; Rousseau, Guillaume; Wolff, Herve; Piot, Jerome; Savanier, Laurence; Baclet, Nathalie; Lee, Yi-kang; Masse, Veronique; Trama, Jean-Christophe; Gagnier, Emmanuel; Naury, Sylvie; Lenain, Richard; Hunter, Richard; Kim, Soon; Dulik, George Michael; Reynolds, Kevin H.

2011-01-01

Several experiments were performed at the CEA Valduc SILENE reactor facility, which are intended to be published as evaluated benchmark experiments in the ICSBEP Handbook. These evaluated benchmarks will be useful for the verification and validation of radiation transport codes and evaluated nuclear data, particularly those that are used in the analysis of CAASs. During these experiments SILENE was operated in pulsed mode in order to be representative of a criticality accident, which is rare among shielding benchmarks. Measurements of the neutron flux were made with neutron activation foils and measurements of photon doses were made with TLDs. Also unique to these experiments was the presence of several detectors used in actual CAASs, which allowed for the observation of their behavior during an actual critical pulse. This paper presents the preliminary measurement data currently available from these experiments. Also presented are comparisons of preliminary computational results with Scale and TRIPOLI-4 to the preliminary measurement data.

Project CAREER/CAN. Final Evaluation Report.

Science.gov (United States)

National Educational Evaluation Services, Inc., Chestnut Hill, MA.

A description and evaluation of (1) the development of the 4-column process which completes the behavioral objective data base, (2) the development of the computer retrieval capability, and (3) the pilot testing of the product in high school classrooms are included in this summative evaluation of Project CAREER/CAN. (Goals of Project CAREER/CAN,…

Benchmarking and Learning in Public Healthcare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buckmaster, Natalie; Mouritsen, Jan

2017-01-01

This research investigates the effects of learning-oriented benchmarking in public healthcare settings. Benchmarking is a widely adopted yet little explored accounting practice that is part of the paradigm of New Public Management. Extant studies are directed towards mandated coercive benchmarking...

The impacts of the 1995 financial institution environmental guidelines on power projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weaver, K.L.; Schott, G.A.

1996-01-01

In 1995, two of the most influential international financial institutions, The World Bank and The US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) issued new environmental guidelines. These guidelines, particularly the World Bank guidelines, are used as a benchmark for evaluating the environmental acceptability of a project by many financial institutions, project developers, private investors, the public, and many developing countries. The impact of these guidelines must be well understood by developers of power projects in order to obtain the necessary financing, in addition to attracting investors, and obtaining national approvals and general public acceptance

A NRC-BNL benchmark evaluation of seismic analysis methods for non-classically damped coupled systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, J.; DeGrassi, G.; Chokshi, N.

2004-01-01

Under the auspices of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) developed a comprehensive program to evaluate state-of-the-art methods and computer programs for seismic analysis of typical coupled nuclear power plant (NPP) systems with non-classical damping. In this program, four benchmark models of coupled building-piping/equipment systems with different damping characteristics were developed and analyzed by BNL for a suite of earthquakes. The BNL analysis was carried out by the Wilson-θ time domain integration method with the system-damping matrix computed using a synthesis formulation as presented in a companion paper [Nucl. Eng. Des. (2002)]. These benchmark problems were subsequently distributed to and analyzed by program participants applying their uniquely developed methods and computer programs. This paper is intended to offer a glimpse at the program, and provide a summary of major findings and principle conclusions with some representative results. The participant's analysis results established using complex modal time history methods showed good comparison with the BNL solutions, while the analyses produced with either complex-mode response spectrum methods or classical normal-mode response spectrum method, in general, produced more conservative results, when averaged over a suite of earthquakes. However, when coupling due to damping is significant, complex-mode response spectrum methods performed better than the classical normal-mode response spectrum method. Furthermore, as part of the program objectives, a parametric assessment is also presented in this paper, aimed at evaluation of the applicability of various analysis methods to problems with different dynamic characteristics unique to coupled NPP systems. It is believed that the findings and insights learned from this program will be useful in developing new acceptance criteria and providing guidance for future regulatory activities involving license

Building America Research Benchmark Definition: Updated December 20, 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hendron, R.

2008-01-01

To track progress toward aggressive multi-year whole-house energy savings goals of 40-70% and onsite power production of up to 30%, DOE's Residential Buildings Program and NREL developed the Building America Research Benchmark in consultation with the Building America industry teams. The Benchmark is generally consistent with mid-1990s standard practice, as reflected in the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Technical Guidelines (RESNET 2002), with additional definitions that allow the analyst to evaluate all residential end-uses, an extension of the traditional HERS rating approach that focuses on space conditioning and hot water. Unlike the reference homes used for HERS, EnergyStar, and most energy codes, the Benchmark represents typical construction at a fixed point in time so it can be used as the basis for Building America's multi-year energy savings goals without the complication of chasing a 'moving target'.

Building America Research Benchmark Definition: Updated August 15, 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hendron, R.

2007-09-01

To track progress toward aggressive multi-year whole-house energy savings goals of 40-70% and onsite power production of up to 30%, DOE's Residential Buildings Program and NREL developed the Building America Research Benchmark in consultation with the Building America industry teams. The Benchmark is generally consistent with mid-1990s standard practice, as reflected in the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Technical Guidelines (RESNET 2002), with additional definitions that allow the analyst to evaluate all residential end-uses, an extension of the traditional HERS rating approach that focuses on space conditioning and hot water. Unlike the reference homes used for HERS, EnergyStar, and most energy codes, the Benchmark represents typical construction at a fixed point in time so it can be used as the basis for Building America's multi-year energy savings goals without the complication of chasing a 'moving target'.

Benchmarking & European Sustainable Transport Policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, H.

2003-01-01

, Benchmarking is one of the management tools that have recently been introduced in the transport sector. It is rapidly being applied to a wide range of transport operations, services and policies. This paper is a contribution to the discussion of the role of benchmarking in the future efforts to...... contribution to the discussions within the Eusponsored BEST Thematic Network (Benchmarking European Sustainable Transport) which ran from 2000 to 2003....

Benchmarking – A tool for judgment or improvement?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Grane Mikael Gregaard

2010-01-01

perceptions of benchmarking will be presented; public benchmarking and best practice benchmarking. These two types of benchmarking are used to characterize and discuss the Danish benchmarking system and to enhance which effects, possibilities and challenges that follow in the wake of using this kind......Change in construction is high on the agenda for the Danish government and a comprehensive effort is done in improving quality and efficiency. This has led to an initiated governmental effort in bringing benchmarking into the Danish construction sector. This paper is an appraisal of benchmarking...... as it is presently carried out in the Danish construction sector. Many different perceptions of benchmarking and the nature of the construction sector, lead to an uncertainty in how to perceive and use benchmarking, hence, generating an uncertainty in understanding the effects of benchmarking. This paper addresses...

5 CFR 470.317 - Project evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... law and/or regulation should be considered or proposed. Where the project plan provides for agency... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Project evaluation. 470.317 Section 470... MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECTS Regulatory Requirements Pertaining to Demonstration...

Benchmark results in radiative transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, R.D.M.; Siewert, C.E.

1986-02-01

Several aspects of the F N method are reported, and the method is used to solve accurately some benchmark problems in radiative transfer in the field of atmospheric physics. The method was modified to solve cases of pure scattering and an improved process was developed for computing the radiation intensity. An algorithms for computing several quantities used in the F N method was done. An improved scheme to evaluate certain integrals relevant to the method is done, and a two-term recursion relation that has proved useful for the numerical evaluation of matrix elements, basic for the method, is given. The methods used to solve the encountered linear algebric equations are discussed, and the numerical results are evaluated. (M.C.K.) [pt

Benchmarking the energy efficiency of commercial buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, William; Hui, Y.V.; Lam, Y. Miu

2006-01-01

Benchmarking energy-efficiency is an important tool to promote the efficient use of energy in commercial buildings. Benchmarking models are mostly constructed in a simple benchmark table (percentile table) of energy use, which is normalized with floor area and temperature. This paper describes a benchmarking process for energy efficiency by means of multiple regression analysis, where the relationship between energy-use intensities (EUIs) and the explanatory factors (e.g., operating hours) is developed. Using the resulting regression model, these EUIs are then normalized by removing the effect of deviance in the significant explanatory factors. The empirical cumulative distribution of the normalized EUI gives a benchmark table (or percentile table of EUI) for benchmarking an observed EUI. The advantage of this approach is that the benchmark table represents a normalized distribution of EUI, taking into account all the significant explanatory factors that affect energy consumption. An application to supermarkets is presented to illustrate the development and the use of the benchmarking method

SKaMPI: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Public Benchmarking of MPI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ralf Reussner

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of the MPI communication library is to enable portable parallel programming with high performance within the message-passing paradigm. Since the MPI standard has no associated performance model, and makes no performance guarantees, comprehensive, detailed and accurate performance figures for different hardware platforms and MPI implementations are important for the application programmer, both for understanding and possibly improving the behavior of a given program on a given platform, as well as for assuring a degree of predictable behavior when switching to another hardware platform and/or MPI implementation. We term this latter goal performance portability, and address the problem of attaining performance portability by benchmarking. We describe the SKaMPI benchmark which covers a large fraction of MPI, and incorporates well-accepted mechanisms for ensuring accuracy and reliability. SKaMPI is distinguished among other MPI benchmarks by an effort to maintain a public performance database with performance data from different hardware platforms and MPI implementations.

Validation of neutron-transport calculations in benchmark facilities for improved damage-fluence predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, M.L.; Stallmann, F.W.; Maerker, R.E.; Kam, F.B.K.

1983-01-01

An accurate determination of damage fluence accumulated by reactor pressure vessels (RPV) as a function of time is essential in order to evaluate the vessel integrity for both pressurized thermal shock (PTS) transients and end-of-life considerations. The desired accuracy for neutron exposure parameters such as displacements per atom or fluence (E > 1 MeV) is of the order of 20 to 30%. However, these types of accuracies can only be obtained realistically by validation of nuclear data and calculational methods in benchmark facilities. The purposes of this paper are to review the needs and requirements for benchmark experiments, to discuss the status of current benchmark experiments, to summarize results and conclusions obtained so far, and to suggest areas where further benchmarking is needed

Evaluation of fire models for nuclear power plant applications. Benchmark exercise no. 4: Fuel pool fire inside a compartment - International panel report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein-Hessling, W.; Roewekamp, M.; Riese, O.

2006-11-01

Fire simulations as well as their analytical validation procedures have gained more and more significance, particularly in the context of the fire safety analysis for operating nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, fire simulation models have been adapted as analytical tools for a risk oriented fire safety assessment. Calculated predictions can be used, on the one hand, for the improvements and upgrades of fire protection in nuclear power plants by the licensees and, on the other hand, as a tool for reproducible and clearly understandable estimations in assessing the available and/or foreseen fire protection measures by the authorities and their experts. For consideration of such aspects in the context of implementing new nuclear fire protection standards or of updating existing ones, an 'International Collaborative Project to Evaluate Fire Models for Nuclear Power Plant Applications' also known as the 'International Collaborative Fire Model Project' (ICFMP) was started in 1999. It has made use of the experience and knowledge of a variety of worldwide expert institutions in this field to assess and improve, if necessary, the state-of-the-art with respect to modeling fires in nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations. This document contains the results of the ICFMP Benchmark Exercise No. 4, where two fuel pool fire experiments in an enclosure with two different natural vent sizes have been considered. Analyzing the results of different fire simulation codes and code types provides some indications with respect to the uncertainty of the results. This information is especially important in setting uncertainty parameters in probabilistic risk studies and to provide general insights concerning the applicability and limitations in the application of different types of fire simulation codes for this type of fire scenario and boundary conditions. During the benchmark procedure the participants performed different types of calculations. These included totally blind

Entropy-based benchmarking methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Temurshoev, Umed

2012-01-01

We argue that benchmarking sign-volatile series should be based on the principle of movement and sign preservation, which states that a bench-marked series should reproduce the movement and signs in the original series. We show that the widely used variants of Denton (1971) method and the growth

svclassify: a method to establish benchmark structural variant calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Parikh, Hemang; Mohiyuddin, Marghoob; Lam, Hugo Y K; Iyer, Hariharan; Chen, Desu; Pratt, Mark; Bartha, Gabor; Spies, Noah; Losert, Wolfgang; Zook, Justin M; Salit, Marc