Abundance gradients in disc galaxies and chemical evolution models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diaz, A.I.

1989-01-01

The present state of abundance gradients and chemical evolution models of spiral galaxies is reviewed. An up to date compilation of abundance data in the literature concerning HII regions over galactic discs is presented. From these data Oxygen and Nitrogen radial gradients are computed. The slope of the Oxygen gradient is shown to have a break at a radius between 1.5 and 1.75 times the value of the effective radius of the disc, i.e. the radius containing half of the light of the disc. The gradient is steeper in the central parts of the disc and becomes flatter in the outer parts. N/O gradients are shown to be rather different from galaxy to galaxy and only a weak trend of N/O with O/H is found. The existing chemical evolution models for spiral galaxies are reviewed with special emphasis in the interpretation of numerical models having a large number of parameters. (author)

Genetic and Psychosocial Predictors of Aggression: Variable Selection and Model Building With Component-Wise Gradient Boosting.

Science.gov (United States)

Suchting, Robert; Gowin, Joshua L; Green, Charles E; Walss-Bass, Consuelo; Lane, Scott D

2018-01-01

Rationale : Given datasets with a large or diverse set of predictors of aggression, machine learning (ML) provides efficient tools for identifying the most salient variables and building a parsimonious statistical model. ML techniques permit efficient exploration of data, have not been widely used in aggression research, and may have utility for those seeking prediction of aggressive behavior. Objectives : The present study examined predictors of aggression and constructed an optimized model using ML techniques. Predictors were derived from a dataset that included demographic, psychometric and genetic predictors, specifically FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) polymorphisms, which have been shown to alter response to threatening stimuli, but have not been tested as predictors of aggressive behavior in adults. Methods : The data analysis approach utilized component-wise gradient boosting and model reduction via backward elimination to: (a) select variables from an initial set of 20 to build a model of trait aggression; and then (b) reduce that model to maximize parsimony and generalizability. Results : From a dataset of N = 47 participants, component-wise gradient boosting selected 8 of 20 possible predictors to model Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) total score, with R 2 = 0.66. This model was simplified using backward elimination, retaining six predictors: smoking status, psychopathy (interpersonal manipulation and callous affect), childhood trauma (physical abuse and neglect), and the FKBP5_13 gene (rs1360780). The six-factor model approximated the initial eight-factor model at 99.4% of R 2 . Conclusions : Using an inductive data science approach, the gradient boosting model identified predictors consistent with previous experimental work in aggression; specifically psychopathy and trauma exposure. Additionally, allelic variants in FKBP5 were identified for the first time, but the relatively small sample size limits generality of results and calls for

Modeling biological gradient formation: combining partial differential equations and Petri nets.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertens, Laura M F; Kleijn, Jetty; Hille, Sander C; Heiner, Monika; Koutny, Maciej; Verbeek, Fons J

2016-01-01

Both Petri nets and differential equations are important modeling tools for biological processes. In this paper we demonstrate how these two modeling techniques can be combined to describe biological gradient formation. Parameters derived from partial differential equation describing the process of gradient formation are incorporated in an abstract Petri net model. The quantitative aspects of the resulting model are validated through a case study of gradient formation in the fruit fly.

Discrete gradient methods for solving variational image regularisation models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimm, V; McLachlan, Robert I; McLaren, David I; Quispel, G R W; Schönlieb, C-B

2017-01-01

Discrete gradient methods are well-known methods of geometric numerical integration, which preserve the dissipation of gradient systems. In this paper we show that this property of discrete gradient methods can be interesting in the context of variational models for image processing, that is where the processed image is computed as a minimiser of an energy functional. Numerical schemes for computing minimisers of such energies are desired to inherit the dissipative property of the gradient system associated to the energy and consequently guarantee a monotonic decrease of the energy along iterations, avoiding situations in which more computational work might lead to less optimal solutions. Under appropriate smoothness assumptions on the energy functional we prove that discrete gradient methods guarantee a monotonic decrease of the energy towards stationary states, and we promote their use in image processing by exhibiting experiments with convex and non-convex variational models for image deblurring, denoising, and inpainting. (paper)

Conditioning the full-waveform inversion gradient to welcome anisotropy

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2015-04-23

Multiparameter full-waveform inversion (FWI) suffers from complex nonlinearity in the objective function, compounded by the eventual trade-off between the model parameters. A hierarchical approach based on frequency and arrival time data decimation to maneuver the complex nonlinearity associated with this problem usually falls short in anisotropic media. In place of data decimation, I use a model gradient filter approach to access the parts of the gradient more suitable to combat the potential nonlinearity and parameter trade-off. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain, in which small scattering-angles of the gradient update are initially muted out. The model update hierarchical filtering strategy include applying varying degrees of filtering to the different anisotropic parameter updates, a feature not easily accessible to simple data decimation. Using FWI and reflection-based FWI, when the modeled data are obtained with the single-scattering theory, allows access to additional low model wavenumber components. Combining such access to wavenumbers with scattering-angle filters applied to the individual parameter gradients allows for multiple strategies to avoid complex FWI nonlinearity as well as the parameter trade-off.

3D correlation imaging of the vertical gradient of gravity data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Lianghui; Meng, Xiaohong; Shi, Lei

2011-01-01

We present a new 3D correlation imaging approach for vertical gradient of gravity data for deriving a 3D equivalent mass distribution in the subsurface. In this approach, we divide the subsurface space into a 3D regular grid, and then at each grid node calculate a cross correlation between the vertical gradient of the observed gravity data and the theoretical gravity vertical gradient due to a point mass source. The resultant correlation coefficients are used to describe the equivalent mass distribution in a probability sense. We simulate a geological syncline model intruded by a dike and later broken by two vertical faults. The vertical gradient of gravity anomaly of the model is calculated and used to test the approach. The results demonstrate that the equivalent mass distribution derived by the approach reflects the basic geological structures of the model. We also test the approach on the transformed vertical gradient of real Bouguer gravity data from a geothermal survey area in Northern China. The thermal reservoirs are located in the lower portion of the sedimentary basin. From the resultant equivalent mass distribution, we produce the depth distribution of the bottom interface of the basin and predict possible hidden faults present in the basin

On the gradient plasticity approach to size effects. Pt. 1: reviews

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malmberg, T.; Tsagrakis, I.; Eleftheriadis, I.; Aifantis, E.C.; Michigan Technol. Univ., Houghton, MI

2001-03-01

The influence of specimen size on the plastic deformation and failure behaviour of some metals and steels is considered. This size dependence issue relates to the question of the transferability of mechanical test results of geometrically similar scaled-down structural models to the full scale structures using similitude laws; but it concerns also the validity of small scale laboratory type test results and their use as a basis for the computational modelling of large scale components. In part I ''reviews'' of this report a restricted review of scaled experiments at room temperature of geometrically similar specimens is given. This refers to the initiation of yielding under non-uniform states of deformation and also to the plastic deformation and fracture of smooth tensile specimens. Among others, non-classical continuum mechanics theories have become a means to interpret size effects. Especially gradient concepts are of interest which enrich the classical plasticity theories by higher order spatial strain gradients. These model extensions implicate additional material parameters which can be associated with internal length scales characteristic for the material. In part I a brief review of several gradient theories of plasticity is also given, including both deformation and flow theories and a comparison of the original ''symmetric stress'' theory with the more recent ''asymmetric stress'' theory is provided. The forthcoming part II ''applications'' exemplifies to what extend strain gradient models can describe the size influence on the deformation behaviour. (orig.) [de

Genetic and Psychosocial Predictors of Aggression: Variable Selection and Model Building With Component-Wise Gradient Boosting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Suchting

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Rationale: Given datasets with a large or diverse set of predictors of aggression, machine learning (ML provides efficient tools for identifying the most salient variables and building a parsimonious statistical model. ML techniques permit efficient exploration of data, have not been widely used in aggression research, and may have utility for those seeking prediction of aggressive behavior.Objectives: The present study examined predictors of aggression and constructed an optimized model using ML techniques. Predictors were derived from a dataset that included demographic, psychometric and genetic predictors, specifically FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5 polymorphisms, which have been shown to alter response to threatening stimuli, but have not been tested as predictors of aggressive behavior in adults.Methods: The data analysis approach utilized component-wise gradient boosting and model reduction via backward elimination to: (a select variables from an initial set of 20 to build a model of trait aggression; and then (b reduce that model to maximize parsimony and generalizability.Results: From a dataset of N = 47 participants, component-wise gradient boosting selected 8 of 20 possible predictors to model Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ total score, with R2 = 0.66. This model was simplified using backward elimination, retaining six predictors: smoking status, psychopathy (interpersonal manipulation and callous affect, childhood trauma (physical abuse and neglect, and the FKBP5_13 gene (rs1360780. The six-factor model approximated the initial eight-factor model at 99.4% of R2.Conclusions: Using an inductive data science approach, the gradient boosting model identified predictors consistent with previous experimental work in aggression; specifically psychopathy and trauma exposure. Additionally, allelic variants in FKBP5 were identified for the first time, but the relatively small sample size limits generality of results and calls for

Modulation of monocytic leukemia cell function and survival by high gradient magnetic fields and mathematical modeling studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Zablotskii, Vitalii; Syrovets, Tatiana; Schmidt, Zoe W; Dejneka, Alexandr; Simmet, Thomas

2014-03-01

The influence of spatially modulated high gradient magnetic fields on cellular functions of human THP-1 leukemia cells is studied. We demonstrate that arrays of high-gradient micrometer-sized magnets induce i) cell swelling, ii) prolonged increased ROS production, and iii) inhibit cell proliferation, and iv) elicit apoptosis of THP-1 monocytic leukemia cells in the absence of chemical or biological agents. Mathematical modeling indicates that mechanical stress exerted on the cells by high magnetic gradient forces is responsible for triggering cell swelling and formation of reactive oxygen species followed by apoptosis. We discuss physical aspects of controlling cell functions by focused magnetic gradient forces, i.e. by a noninvasive and nondestructive physical approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conditioning the full waveform inversion gradient to welcome anisotropy

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2014-01-01

Multi-parameter full waveform inversion (FWI) suffers from the complex nonlinearity in the objective function, compounded by the eventual tradeoff between the model parameters. A hierarchical approach based on frequency and arrival time data decimation to maneuver the complex nonlinearity associated with this problem usually falls short in anisotropic media. In place of data decimation, I use a model gradient filter approach to access the parts of the gradient more suitable to combat the potential nonlinearity and parameter trade off. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain in which the small scattering angles of the gradient update is initially muted out. A model update hierarchical filtering strategy includes applying varying degree of filtering to the different parameter updates. A feature not easily accessible to simple data decimation. Using both FWI and reection based FWI (RFWI), two strategies to combat the tradeoff between anisotropic parameters are outlined.

Conditioning the full waveform inversion gradient to welcome anisotropy

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2014-08-05

Multi-parameter full waveform inversion (FWI) suffers from the complex nonlinearity in the objective function, compounded by the eventual tradeoff between the model parameters. A hierarchical approach based on frequency and arrival time data decimation to maneuver the complex nonlinearity associated with this problem usually falls short in anisotropic media. In place of data decimation, I use a model gradient filter approach to access the parts of the gradient more suitable to combat the potential nonlinearity and parameter trade off. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain in which the small scattering angles of the gradient update is initially muted out. A model update hierarchical filtering strategy includes applying varying degree of filtering to the different parameter updates. A feature not easily accessible to simple data decimation. Using both FWI and reection based FWI (RFWI), two strategies to combat the tradeoff between anisotropic parameters are outlined.

Scattering angle base filtering of the inversion gradients

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2014-01-01

Full waveform inversion (FWI) requires a hierarchical approach based on the availability of low frequencies to maneuver the complex nonlinearity associated with the problem of velocity inversion. I develop a model gradient filter to help us access the parts of the gradient more suitable to combat this potential nonlinearity. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain, in which low scattering angles of the gradient update are initially muted. The result are long-wavelength updates controlled by the ray component of the wavefield. In this case, even 10 Hz data can produce near zero wavelength updates suitable for a background correction of the model. Allowing smaller scattering angle to contribute provides higher resolution information to the model.

Mathematical modelling of digit specification by a sonic hedgehog gradient

KAUST Repository

Woolley, Thomas E.

2013-11-26

Background: The three chick wing digits represent a classical example of a pattern specified by a morphogen gradient. Here we have investigated whether a mathematical model of a Shh gradient can describe the specification of the identities of the three chick wing digits and if it can be applied to limbs with more digits. Results: We have produced a mathematical model for specification of chick wing digit identities by a Shh gradient that can be extended to the four digits of the chick leg with Shh-producing cells forming a digit. This model cannot be extended to specify the five digits of the mouse limb. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the parameters of a classical-type morphogen gradient are sufficient to specify the identities of three different digits. However, to specify more digit identities, this core mechanism has to be coupled to alternative processes, one being that in the chick leg and mouse limb, Shh-producing cells give rise to digits; another that in the mouse limb, the cellular response to the Shh gradient adapts over time so that digit specification does not depend simply on Shh concentration. Developmental Dynamics 243:290-298, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Mathematical modelling of digit specification by a sonic hedgehog gradient

KAUST Repository

Woolley, Thomas E.; Baker, Ruth E.; Tickle, Cheryll; Maini, Philip K.; Towers, Matthew

2013-01-01

Background: The three chick wing digits represent a classical example of a pattern specified by a morphogen gradient. Here we have investigated whether a mathematical model of a Shh gradient can describe the specification of the identities of the three chick wing digits and if it can be applied to limbs with more digits. Results: We have produced a mathematical model for specification of chick wing digit identities by a Shh gradient that can be extended to the four digits of the chick leg with Shh-producing cells forming a digit. This model cannot be extended to specify the five digits of the mouse limb. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the parameters of a classical-type morphogen gradient are sufficient to specify the identities of three different digits. However, to specify more digit identities, this core mechanism has to be coupled to alternative processes, one being that in the chick leg and mouse limb, Shh-producing cells give rise to digits; another that in the mouse limb, the cellular response to the Shh gradient adapts over time so that digit specification does not depend simply on Shh concentration. Developmental Dynamics 243:290-298, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Predictive Model for Yeast Cell Polarization in Pheromone Gradients.

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Nicolas; Piel, Matthieu; Calvez, Vincent; Voituriez, Raphaël; Gonçalves-Sá, Joana; Guo, Chin-Lin; Jiang, Xingyu; Murray, Andrew; Meunier, Nicolas

2016-04-01

Budding yeast cells exist in two mating types, a and α, which use peptide pheromones to communicate with each other during mating. Mating depends on the ability of cells to polarize up pheromone gradients, but cells also respond to spatially uniform fields of pheromone by polarizing along a single axis. We used quantitative measurements of the response of a cells to α-factor to produce a predictive model of yeast polarization towards a pheromone gradient. We found that cells make a sharp transition between budding cycles and mating induced polarization and that they detect pheromone gradients accurately only over a narrow range of pheromone concentrations corresponding to this transition. We fit all the parameters of the mathematical model by using quantitative data on spontaneous polarization in uniform pheromone concentration. Once these parameters have been computed, and without any further fit, our model quantitatively predicts the yeast cell response to pheromone gradient providing an important step toward understanding how cells communicate with each other.

Phase-field modelling of ductile fracture: a variational gradient-extended plasticity-damage theory and its micromorphic regularization.

Science.gov (United States)

Miehe, C; Teichtmeister, S; Aldakheel, F

2016-04-28

This work outlines a novel variational-based theory for the phase-field modelling of ductile fracture in elastic-plastic solids undergoing large strains. The phase-field approach regularizes sharp crack surfaces within a pure continuum setting by a specific gradient damage modelling. It is linked to a formulation of gradient plasticity at finite strains. The framework includes two independent length scales which regularize both the plastic response as well as the crack discontinuities. This ensures that the damage zones of ductile fracture are inside of plastic zones, and guarantees on the computational side a mesh objectivity in post-critical ranges. © 2016 The Author(s).

Estimating Soil Hydraulic Parameters using Gradient Based Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Rai, P. K.; Tripathi, S.

2017-12-01

The conventional way of estimating parameters of a differential equation is to minimize the error between the observations and their estimates. The estimates are produced from forward solution (numerical or analytical) of differential equation assuming a set of parameters. Parameter estimation using the conventional approach requires high computational cost, setting-up of initial and boundary conditions, and formation of difference equations in case the forward solution is obtained numerically. Gaussian process based approaches like Gaussian Process Ordinary Differential Equation (GPODE) and Adaptive Gradient Matching (AGM) have been developed to estimate the parameters of Ordinary Differential Equations without explicitly solving them. Claims have been made that these approaches can straightforwardly be extended to Partial Differential Equations; however, it has been never demonstrated. This study extends AGM approach to PDEs and applies it for estimating parameters of Richards equation. Unlike the conventional approach, the AGM approach does not require setting-up of initial and boundary conditions explicitly, which is often difficult in real world application of Richards equation. The developed methodology was applied to synthetic soil moisture data. It was seen that the proposed methodology can estimate the soil hydraulic parameters correctly and can be a potential alternative to the conventional method.

Development of lichen response indexes using a regional gradient modeling approach for large-scale monitoring of forests

Science.gov (United States)

Susan Will-Wolf; Peter Neitlich

2010-01-01

Development of a regional lichen gradient model from community data is a powerful tool to derive lichen indexes of response to environmental factors for large-scale and long-term monitoring of forest ecosystems. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service includes lichens in its national inventory of forests of...

Nonnegative least-squares image deblurring: improved gradient projection approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Benvenuto, F.; Zanella, R.; Zanni, L.; Bertero, M.

2010-02-01

The least-squares approach to image deblurring leads to an ill-posed problem. The addition of the nonnegativity constraint, when appropriate, does not provide regularization, even if, as far as we know, a thorough investigation of the ill-posedness of the resulting constrained least-squares problem has still to be done. Iterative methods, converging to nonnegative least-squares solutions, have been proposed. Some of them have the 'semi-convergence' property, i.e. early stopping of the iteration provides 'regularized' solutions. In this paper we consider two of these methods: the projected Landweber (PL) method and the iterative image space reconstruction algorithm (ISRA). Even if they work well in many instances, they are not frequently used in practice because, in general, they require a large number of iterations before providing a sensible solution. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to refresh these methods by increasing their efficiency. Starting from the remark that PL and ISRA require only the computation of the gradient of the functional, we propose the application to these algorithms of special acceleration techniques that have been recently developed in the area of the gradient methods. In particular, we propose the application of efficient step-length selection rules and line-search strategies. Moreover, remarking that ISRA is a scaled gradient algorithm, we evaluate its behaviour in comparison with a recent scaled gradient projection (SGP) method for image deblurring. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the accelerated methods still exhibit the semi-convergence property, with a considerable gain both in the number of iterations and in the computational time; in particular, SGP appears definitely the most efficient one.

Gradient pre-emphasis to counteract first-order concomitant fields on asymmetric MRI gradient systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Shengzhen; Weavers, Paul T; Trzasko, Joshua D; Shu, Yunhong; Huston, John; Lee, Seung-Kyun; Frigo, Louis M; Bernstein, Matt A

2017-06-01

To develop a gradient pre-emphasis scheme that prospectively counteracts the effects of the first-order concomitant fields for any arbitrary gradient waveform played on asymmetric gradient systems, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach using a real-time implementation on a compact gradient system. After reviewing the first-order concomitant fields that are present on asymmetric gradients, we developed a generalized gradient pre-emphasis model assuming arbitrary gradient waveforms to counteract their effects. A numerically straightforward, easily implemented approximate solution to this pre-emphasis problem was derived that was compatible with the current hardware infrastructure of conventional MRI scanners for eddy current compensation. The proposed method was implemented on the gradient driver subsystem, and its real-time use was tested using a series of phantom and in vivo data acquired from two-dimensional Cartesian phase-difference, echo-planar imaging, and spiral acquisitions. The phantom and in vivo results demonstrated that unless accounted for, first-order concomitant fields introduce considerable phase estimation error into the measured data and result in images with spatially dependent blurring/distortion. The resulting artifacts were effectively prevented using the proposed gradient pre-emphasis. We have developed an efficient and effective gradient pre-emphasis framework to counteract the effects of first-order concomitant fields of asymmetric gradient systems. Magn Reson Med 77:2250-2262, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

High-gradient operators in the psl(2|2 Gross–Neveu model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra Cagnazzo

2015-03-01

Full Text Available It has been observed more than 25 years ago that sigma model perturbation theory suffers from strongly RG-relevant high-gradient operators. The phenomenon was first seen in 1-loop calculations for the O(N vector model and it is known to persist at least to two loops. More recently, Ryu et al. suggested that a certain deformation of the psl(N|N WZNW-model at level k=1, or equivalently the psl(N|N  Gross–Neveu model, could be free of RG-relevant high-gradient operators and they tested their suggestion to leading order in perturbation theory. In this note we establish the absence of strongly RG-relevant high-gradient operators in the psl(2|2 Gross–Neveu model to all loops. In addition, we determine the spectrum for a large subsector of the model at infinite coupling and observe that all scaling weights become half-integer. Evidence for a conjectured relation with the CP1|2 sigma model is not found.

Application of the conjugate-gradient method to ground-water models

Science.gov (United States)

Manteuffel, T.A.; Grove, D.B.; Konikow, Leonard F.

1984-01-01

The conjugate-gradient method can solve efficiently and accurately finite-difference approximations to the ground-water flow equation. An aquifer-simulation model using the conjugate-gradient method was applied to a problem of ground-water flow in an alluvial aquifer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Denver, Colorado. For this application, the accuracy and efficiency of the conjugate-gradient method compared favorably with other available methods for steady-state flow. However, its efficiency relative to other available methods depends on the nature of the specific problem. The main advantage of the conjugate-gradient method is that it does not require the use of iteration parameters, thereby eliminating this partly subjective procedure. (USGS)

Travelling waves of density for a fourth-gradient model of fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Gouin, Henri; Saccomandi, Giuseppe

2016-09-01

In mean-field theory, the non-local state of fluid molecules can be taken into account using a statistical method. The molecular model combined with a density expansion in Taylor series of the fourth order yields an internal energy value relevant to the fourth-gradient model, and the equation of isothermal motions takes then density's spatial derivatives into account for waves travelling in both liquid and vapour phases. At equilibrium, the equation of the density profile across interfaces is more precise than the Cahn and Hilliard equation, and near the fluid's critical point, the density profile verifies an Extended Fisher-Kolmogorov equation, allowing kinks, which converges towards the Cahn-Hillard equation when approaching the critical point. Nonetheless, we also get pulse waves oscillating and generating critical opalescence.

Impedance Characterization and Modeling of Lithium-Ion Batteries Considering the Internal Temperature Gradient

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haifeng Dai

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Battery impedance is essential to the management of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs, and impedance characterization can help to monitor and predict the battery states. Many studies have been undertaken to investigate impedance characterization and the factors that influence impedance. However, few studies regarding the influence of the internal temperature gradient, which is caused by heat generation during operation, have been presented. We have comprehensively studied the influence of the internal temperature gradient on impedance characterization and the modeling of battery impedance, and have proposed a discretization model to capture battery impedance characterization considering the temperature gradient. Several experiments, including experiments with artificial temperature gradients, are designed and implemented to study the influence of the internal temperature gradient on battery impedance. Based on the experimental results, the parameters of the non-linear impedance model are obtained, and the relationship between the parameters and temperature is further established. The experimental results show that the temperature gradient will influence battery impedance and the temperature distribution can be considered to be approximately linear. The verification results indicate that the proposed discretization model has a good performance and can be used to describe the actual characterization of the battery with an internal temperature gradient.

Gradient based filtering of digital elevation models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Thomas; Andersen, Rune Carbuhn

We present a filtering method for digital terrain models (DTMs). The method is based on mathematical morphological filtering within gradient (slope) defined domains. The intention with the filtering procedure is to improbé the cartographic quality of height contours generated from a DTM based...

On combined gravity gradient components modelling for applied geophysics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veryaskin, Alexey; McRae, Wayne

2008-01-01

Gravity gradiometry research and development has intensified in recent years to the extent that technologies providing a resolution of about 1 eotvos per 1 second average shall likely soon be available for multiple critical applications such as natural resources exploration, oil reservoir monitoring and defence establishment. Much of the content of this paper was composed a decade ago, and only minor modifications were required for the conclusions to be just as applicable today. In this paper we demonstrate how gravity gradient data can be modelled, and show some examples of how gravity gradient data can be combined in order to extract valuable information. In particular, this study demonstrates the importance of two gravity gradient components, Txz and Tyz, which, when processed together, can provide more information on subsurface density contrasts than that derived solely from the vertical gravity gradient (Tzz)

Retention modeling under organic modifier gradient conditions in ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography. Application to the separation of a set of underivatized amino acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Pappa-Louisi, A; Agrafiotou, P; Papachristos, K

2010-07-01

The combined effect of the ion-pairing reagent concentration, C(ipr), and organic modifier content, phi, on the retention under phi-gradient conditions at different constant C(ipr) was treated in this study by using two approaches. In the first approach, the prediction of the retention time of a sample solute is based on a direct fitting procedure of a proper retention model to 3-D phi-gradient retention data obtained under the same phi-linear variation but with different slope and time duration of the initial isocratic part and in the presence of various constant C(ipr) values in the eluent. The second approach is based on a retention model describing the combined effect of C(ipr) and phi on the retention of solutes in isocratic mode and consequently analyzes isocratic data obtained in mobile phases containing different C(ipr) values. The effectiveness of the above approaches was tested in the retention prediction of a mixture of 16 underivatized amino acids using mobile phases containing acetonitrile as organic modifier and sodium dodecyl sulfate as ion-pairing reagent. From these approaches, only the first one gives satisfactory predictions and can be successfully used in optimization of ion-pair chromatographic separations under gradient conditions. The failure of the second approach to predict the retention of solutes in the gradient elution mode in the presence of different C(ipr) values was attributed to slow changes in the distribution equilibrium of ion-pairing reagents caused by phi-variation.

Assessing sandy beach macrofaunal patterns along large-scale environmental gradients: A Fuzzy Naïve Bayes approach

Science.gov (United States)

Bozzeda, Fabio; Zangrilli, Maria Paola; Defeo, Omar

2016-06-01

A Fuzzy Naïve Bayes (FNB) classifier was developed to assess large-scale variations in abundance, species richness and diversity of the macrofauna inhabiting fifteen Uruguayan sandy beaches affected by the effects of beach morphodynamics and the estuarine gradient generated by Rio de la Plata. Information from six beaches was used to estimate FNB parameters, while abiotic data of the remaining nine beaches were used to forecast abundance, species richness and diversity. FNB simulations reproduced the general increasing trend of target variables from inner estuarine reflective beaches to marine dissipative ones. The FNB model also identified a threshold value of salinity range beyond which diversity markedly increased towards marine beaches. Salinity range is suggested as an ecological master factor governing distributional patterns in sandy beach macrofauna. However, the model: 1) underestimated abundance and species richness at the innermost estuarine beach, with the lowest salinity, and 2) overestimated species richness in marine beaches with a reflective morphodynamic state, which is strongly linked to low abundance, species richness and diversity. Therefore, future modeling efforts should be refined by giving a dissimilar weigh to the gradients defined by estuarine (estuarine beaches) and morphodynamic (marine beaches) variables, which could improve predictions of target variables. Our modeling approach could be applied to a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from basic ecology to social-ecological systems. This approach seems relevant, given the current challenge to develop predictive methodologies to assess the simultaneous and nonlinear effects of anthropogenic and natural impacts in coastal ecosystems.

Hydraulic gradients in rock aquifers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlblom, P.

1992-05-01

This report deals with fractured rock as a host for deposits of hazardous waste. In this context the rock, with its fractures containing moving groundwater, is called the geological barrier. The desired properties of the geological barrier are low permeability to water, low hydraulic gradients and ability to retain matter dissolved in the water. The hydraulic gradient together with the permeability and the porosity determines the migration velocity. Mathematical modelling of the migration involves calculation of the water flow and the hydrodynamic dispersion of the contaminant. The porous medium approach can be used to calculate mean flow velocities and hydrodynamic dispersion of a large number of fractures are connected, which means that a large volume have to be considered. It is assumed that the porous medium approach can be applied, and a number of idealized examples are shown. It is assumed that the groundwater table is replenished by percolation at a constant rate. One-dimensional analytical calculations show that zero hydraulic gradients may exist at relatively large distance from the coast. Two-dimensional numerical calculations show that it may be possible to find areas with low hydraulic gradients and flow velocities within blocks surrounded by areas with high hydraulic conductivity. (au)

Groundwater Flow and Thermal Modeling to Support a Preferred Conceptual Model for the Large Hydraulic Gradient North of Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGraw, D.; Oberlander, P.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study is to report on the results of a preliminary modeling framework to investigate the causes of the large hydraulic gradient north of Yucca Mountain. This study builds on the Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow and Transport Model (referenced herein as the Site-scale model (Zyvoloski, 2004a)), which is a three-dimensional saturated zone model of the Yucca Mountain area. Groundwater flow was simulated under natural conditions. The model framework and grid design describe the geologic layering and the calibration parameters describe the hydrogeology. The Site-scale model is calibrated to hydraulic heads, fluid temperature, and groundwater flowpaths. One area of interest in the Site-scale model represents the large hydraulic gradient north of Yucca Mountain. Nearby water levels suggest over 200 meters of hydraulic head difference in less than 1,000 meters horizontal distance. Given the geologic conceptual models defined by various hydrogeologic reports (Faunt, 2000, 2001; Zyvoloski, 2004b), no definitive explanation has been found for the cause of the large hydraulic gradient. Luckey et al. (1996) presents several possible explanations for the large hydraulic gradient as provided below: The gradient is simply the result of flow through the upper volcanic confining unit, which is nearly 300 meters thick near the large gradient. The gradient represents a semi-perched system in which flow in the upper and lower aquifers is predominantly horizontal, whereas flow in the upper confining unit would be predominantly vertical. The gradient represents a drain down a buried fault from the volcanic aquifers to the lower Carbonate Aquifer. The gradient represents a spillway in which a fault marks the effective northern limit of the lower volcanic aquifer. The large gradient results from the presence at depth of the Eleana Formation, a part of the Paleozoic upper confining unit, which overlies the lower Carbonate Aquifer in much of the Death Valley region. The

Gradient Dynamics and Entropy Production Maximization

Science.gov (United States)

Janečka, Adam; Pavelka, Michal

2018-01-01

We compare two methods for modeling dissipative processes, namely gradient dynamics and entropy production maximization. Both methods require similar physical inputs-how energy (or entropy) is stored and how it is dissipated. Gradient dynamics describes irreversible evolution by means of dissipation potential and entropy, it automatically satisfies Onsager reciprocal relations as well as their nonlinear generalization (Maxwell-Onsager relations), and it has statistical interpretation. Entropy production maximization is based on knowledge of free energy (or another thermodynamic potential) and entropy production. It also leads to the linear Onsager reciprocal relations and it has proven successful in thermodynamics of complex materials. Both methods are thermodynamically sound as they ensure approach to equilibrium, and we compare them and discuss their advantages and shortcomings. In particular, conditions under which the two approaches coincide and are capable of providing the same constitutive relations are identified. Besides, a commonly used but not often mentioned step in the entropy production maximization is pinpointed and the condition of incompressibility is incorporated into gradient dynamics.

On the Complete Integrability of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems on Discrete Manifolds within the Gradient-Holonomic Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prykarpatsky, Yarema A.; Bogolubov, Nikolai N. Jr.; Prykarpatsky, Anatoliy K.; Samoylenko, Valeriy H.

2010-12-01

A gradient-holonomic approach for the Lax type integrability analysis of differential-discrete dynamical systems is devised. The asymptotical solutions to the related Lax equation are studied and the related gradient identity is stated. The integrability of a discrete nonlinear Schroedinger type dynamical system is treated in detail. The integrability of a generalized Riemann type discrete hydrodynamical system is discussed. (author)

Strain gradient crystal plasticity: A continuum mechanics approach to modeling micro-structural evolution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

El-Naaman, Salim Abdallah; Nielsen, Kim Lau; Niordson, Christian Frithiof

2015-01-01

In agreement with dislocation theory, recent experiments show, both quantitatively and qualitatively, how geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) distribute in dislocation wall and cell structures. Hence, GND density fields are highly localized with large gradients and discontinuities occurring...

Analyses of Lattice Traffic Flow Model on a Gradient Highway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta Arvind Kumar; Redhu Poonam; Sharma Sapna

2014-01-01

The optimal current difference lattice hydrodynamic model is extended to investigate the traffic flow dynamics on a unidirectional single lane gradient highway. The effect of slope on uphill/downhill highway is examined through linear stability analysis and shown that the slope significantly affects the stability region on the phase diagram. Using nonlinear stability analysis, the Burgers, Korteweg-deVries (KdV) and modified Korteweg-deVries (mKdV) equations are derived in stable, metastable and unstable region, respectively. The effect of reaction coefficient is examined and concluded that it plays an important role in suppressing the traffic jams on a gradient highway. The theoretical findings have been verified through numerical simulation which confirm that the slope on a gradient highway significantly influence the traffic dynamics and traffic jam can be suppressed efficiently by considering the optimal current difference effect in the new lattice model. (nuclear physics)

Scattering-angle based filtering of the waveform inversion gradients

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2014-01-01

Full waveform inversion (FWI) requires a hierarchical approach to maneuver the complex non-linearity associated with the problem of velocity update. In anisotropic media, the non-linearity becomes far more complex with the potential trade-off between the multiparameter description of the model. A gradient filter helps us in accessing the parts of the gradient that are suitable to combat the potential non-linearity and parameter trade-off. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain, in which the low scattering angle of the gradient update is initially muted out in the FWI implementation, in what we may refer to as a scattering angle continuation process. The result is a low wavelength update dominated by the transmission part of the update gradient. In this case, even 10 Hz data can produce vertically near-zero wavenumber updates suitable for a background correction of the model. Relaxing the filtering at a later stage in the FWI implementation allows for smaller scattering angles to contribute higher-resolution information to the model. The benefits of the extended domain based filtering of the gradient is not only it's ability in providing low wavenumber gradients guided by the scattering angle, but also in its potential to provide gradients free of unphysical energy that may correspond to unrealistic scattering angles.

Scattering-angle based filtering of the waveform inversion gradients

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2014-11-22

Full waveform inversion (FWI) requires a hierarchical approach to maneuver the complex non-linearity associated with the problem of velocity update. In anisotropic media, the non-linearity becomes far more complex with the potential trade-off between the multiparameter description of the model. A gradient filter helps us in accessing the parts of the gradient that are suitable to combat the potential non-linearity and parameter trade-off. The filter is based on representing the gradient in the time-lag normalized domain, in which the low scattering angle of the gradient update is initially muted out in the FWI implementation, in what we may refer to as a scattering angle continuation process. The result is a low wavelength update dominated by the transmission part of the update gradient. In this case, even 10 Hz data can produce vertically near-zero wavenumber updates suitable for a background correction of the model. Relaxing the filtering at a later stage in the FWI implementation allows for smaller scattering angles to contribute higher-resolution information to the model. The benefits of the extended domain based filtering of the gradient is not only it\\'s ability in providing low wavenumber gradients guided by the scattering angle, but also in its potential to provide gradients free of unphysical energy that may correspond to unrealistic scattering angles.

Time-Varying Hydraulic Gradient Model of Paste-Like Tailings in Long-Distance Pipeline Transportation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Yang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Paste-like tailings slurry (PTLS is always simplified as a Bingham plastic fluid, leading to excessive computational errors in the calculation of the hydraulic gradient. In the case of paste-like tailings in long-distance pipeline transportation, to explore a high-precision and reliable hydraulic gradient formula, the rheological behavior of paste-like tailings slurry was analyzed, a time-varying hydraulic gradient model was constructed, and a series of laboratory shear tests were conducted. The results indicate that the PTLS shows noticeable shear-thinning characteristics in constant shear tests; the calculated hydraulic gradient declined by about 56%, from 4.44 MPa·km−1 to 1.95 MPa·km−1 within 253 s, and remained constant for the next four hours during the pipeline transportation. Comparing with the balance hydraulic gradient obtained in a semi-industrial loop test, the computational errors of those calculated by using the time-varying hydraulic gradient model, Jinchuan formula, and Shanxi formula are 15%, 78%, and 130%, respectively. Therefore, our model is a feasible and high-precision solution for the calculation of the hydraulic gradient of paste-like tailings in long-distance pipeline transportation.

One Dimension Analytical Model of Normal Ballistic Impact on Ceramic/Metal Gradient Armor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Lisheng; Zhang Qingjie; Zhai Pengcheng; Cao Dongfeng

2008-01-01

An analytical model of normal ballistic impact on the ceramic/metal gradient armor, which is based on modified Alekseevskii-Tate equations, has been developed. The process of gradient armour impacted by the long rod can be divided into four stages in this model. First stage is projectile's mass erosion or flowing phase, mushrooming phase and rigid phase; second one is the formation of comminuted ceramic conoid; third one is the penetration of gradient layer and last one is the penetration of metal back-up plate. The equations of third stage have been advanced by assuming the behavior of gradient layer as rigid-plastic and considering the effect of strain rate on the dynamic yield strength

One Dimension Analytical Model of Normal Ballistic Impact on Ceramic/Metal Gradient Armor

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lisheng; Zhang, Qingjie; Zhai, Pengcheng; Cao, Dongfeng

2008-02-01

An analytical model of normal ballistic impact on the ceramic/metal gradient armor, which is based on modified Alekseevskii-Tate equations, has been developed. The process of gradient armour impacted by the long rod can be divided into four stages in this model. First stage is projectile's mass erosion or flowing phase, mushrooming phase and rigid phase; second one is the formation of comminuted ceramic conoid; third one is the penetration of gradient layer and last one is the penetration of metal back-up plate. The equations of third stage have been advanced by assuming the behavior of gradient layer as rigid-plastic and considering the effect of strain rate on the dynamic yield strength.

The Potential of Tropospheric Gradients for Regional Precipitation Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Boisits, Janina; Möller, Gregor; Wittmann, Christoph; Weber, Robert

2017-04-01

of an approaching weather front. Additionally our investigations have shown that gradients are able to capture the characteristics of an approaching weather front twenty to thirty hours before the precipitation event, which allows a first indication well in advance. Thus in conclusion, the utilization of GNSS tropospheric parameters, in particular tropospheric gradients, has the potential to contribute substantially to weather forecasting models.

Collective gradient sensing and chemotaxis: modeling and recent developments

Science.gov (United States)

Camley, Brian A.

2018-06-01

Cells measure a vast variety of signals, from their environment’s stiffness to chemical concentrations and gradients; physical principles strongly limit how accurately they can do this. However, when many cells work together, they can cooperate to exceed the accuracy of any single cell. In this topical review, I will discuss the experimental evidence showing that cells collectively sense gradients of many signal types, and the models and physical principles involved. I also propose new routes by which experiments and theory can expand our understanding of these problems.

Solving large mixed linear models using preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration.

Science.gov (United States)

Strandén, I; Lidauer, M

1999-12-01

Continuous evaluation of dairy cattle with a random regression test-day model requires a fast solving method and algorithm. A new computing technique feasible in Jacobi and conjugate gradient based iterative methods using iteration on data is presented. In the new computing technique, the calculations in multiplication of a vector by a matrix were recorded to three steps instead of the commonly used two steps. The three-step method was implemented in a general mixed linear model program that used preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration. Performance of this program in comparison to other general solving programs was assessed via estimation of breeding values using univariate, multivariate, and random regression test-day models. Central processing unit time per iteration with the new three-step technique was, at best, one-third that needed with the old technique. Performance was best with the test-day model, which was the largest and most complex model used. The new program did well in comparison to other general software. Programs keeping the mixed model equations in random access memory required at least 20 and 435% more time to solve the univariate and multivariate animal models, respectively. Computations of the second best iteration on data took approximately three and five times longer for the animal and test-day models, respectively, than did the new program. Good performance was due to fast computing time per iteration and quick convergence to the final solutions. Use of preconditioned conjugate gradient based methods in solving large breeding value problems is supported by our findings.

The biophysical model for accuracy of cellular sensing spatial gradients of multiple chemoattractants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Qiang; Zuo, Li

2013-01-01

Spatial gradients of surrounding chemoattractants are the key factors in determining the directionality of eukaryotic cell movement. Thus, it is important for cells to accurately measure the spatial gradients of surrounding chemoattractants. Here, we study the precision of sensing the spatial gradients of multiple chemoattractants using cooperative receptor clusters. Cooperative receptors on cells are modeled as an Ising chain of Monod–Wyman–Changeux clusters subject to multiple chemical-gradient fields to study the physical limits of multiple chemoattractants spatial gradients sensing. We found that eukaryotic cells cannot sense each chemoattractant gradient individually. Instead, cells can only sense a weighted sum of surrounding chemical gradients. Moreover, the precision of sensing one chemical gradient is signicantly affected by coexisting chemoattractant concentrations. These findings can provide a further insight into the role of chemoattractants in immune response and help develop novel treatments for inflammatory diseases. (paper)

Analysis and Model Based Assessment of Water Quality in European Mesoscale Forest Catchments with Different Management Strategies (a Climatic Gradient Approach)

Science.gov (United States)

Tavares, Filipa; Schwaerzel, Kai; Nunes, João. Pedro; Feger, Karl-Heinz

2010-05-01

Forestry activities affect the environmental conditions of river basins by modifying soil properties and vegetation cover, leading to changes in e.g. runoff generation and routing, water yield or the trophic status of water bodies. Climate change is directly linked to forestry, since site-adapted sustainable forest management can buffer negative climate change impacts in river basins, while practices leading to over-harvesting or increasing wildfires can exacerbate these impacts. While studies relating hydrological processes with forestry practices or climate change have already been conducted, the combined impacts of both are rarely discussed. The main objective of the proposed work is to study the interactions between forest management and climate change and the effects of these upon water fluxes and water quality at the catchment scale, over medium to long-term periods and following an East-West climate gradient. Additional objectives are to increase knowledge about the relations between forest, water quality and soil conservation/degradation; and to improve the modelling of hydrological and matter transport processes in managed forests. The present poster shows a conceptual approach to understand this combined interaction by analysing an East-West climatic gradient (Ukraine-Germany-Portugal), with contrasting forestry practices and climate vulnerabilities. The activities within this workplan, to take place during the period 2010 - 2014, will be developed in close collaboration with several ongoing research projects in the host institution at the Dresden University of Technology (TUD) and in the University of Aveiro (UA). The Institute of Soil Science and Site-Ecology (ISSE) at TUD has an internationally renowned research tradition in forest hydrological topics using methods and findings from various (sub)disciplines in a multidisplinary approach. The measurement and simulation of forest catchments has also been a point of research at the Centre for

Optimizing sampling approaches along ecological gradients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schweiger, Andreas; Irl, Severin D. H.; Steinbauer, Manuel

2016-01-01

1. Natural scientists and especially ecologists use manipulative experiments or field observations along gradients to differentiate patterns driven by processes from those caused by random noise. A well-conceived sampling design is essential for identifying, analysing and reporting underlying...... patterns in a statistically solid and reproducible manner, given the normal restrictions in labour, time and money. However, a technical guideline about an adequate sampling design to maximize prediction success under restricted resources is lacking. This study aims at developing such a solid...... and reproducible guideline for sampling along gradients in all fields of ecology and science in general. 2. We conducted simulations with artificial data for five common response types known in ecology, each represented by a simple function (no response, linear, exponential, symmetric unimodal and asymmetric...

Micro-Structural Evolution and Size-Effects in Plastically Deformed Single Crystals: Strain Gradient Continuum Modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

El-Naaman, Salim Abdallah

the macroscopic effects related to strain gradients, most predict smooth micro-structures. The evolution of dislocation micro-structures, during plastic straining of ductile crystalline materials, is highly complex and nonuniform. Published experimental measurements on deformed metal crystals show distinct......An extensive amount of research has been devoted to the development of micro-mechanics based gradient plasticity continuum theories, which are necessary for modeling micron-scale plasticity when large spatial gradients of plastic strain appear. While many models have proven successful in capturing...... strain. It is clear that many challenges are associated with modeling dislocation structures, within a framework based on continuum fields, however, since the strain gradient effects are attributed to the dislocation micro-structure, it is a natural step, in the further development of gradient theories...

A study of gradient strengthening based on a finite-deformation gradient crystal-plasticity model

Science.gov (United States)

Pouriayevali, Habib; Xu, Bai-Xiang

2017-11-01

A comprehensive study on a finite-deformation gradient crystal-plasticity model which has been derived based on Gurtin's framework (Int J Plast 24:702-725, 2008) is carried out here. This systematic investigation on the different roles of governing components of the model represents the strength of this framework in the prediction of a wide range of hardening behaviors as well as rate-dependent and scale-variation responses in a single crystal. The model is represented in the reference configuration for the purpose of numerical implementation and then implemented in the FEM software ABAQUS via a user-defined subroutine (UEL). Furthermore, a function of accumulation rates of dislocations is employed and viewed as a measure of formation of short-range interactions. Our simulation results reveal that the dissipative gradient strengthening can be identified as a source of isotropic-hardening behavior, which may represent the effect of irrecoverable work introduced by Gurtin and Ohno (J Mech Phys Solids 59:320-343, 2011). Here, the variation of size dependency at different magnitude of a rate-sensitivity parameter is also discussed. Moreover, an observation of effect of a distinctive feature in the model which explains the effect of distortion of crystal lattice in the reference configuration is reported in this study for the first time. In addition, plastic flows in predefined slip systems and expansion of accumulation of GNDs are distinctly observed in varying scales and under different loading conditions.

Solving Optimal Control Problem of Monodomain Model Using Hybrid Conjugate Gradient Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kin Wei Ng

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We present the numerical solutions for the PDE-constrained optimization problem arising in cardiac electrophysiology, that is, the optimal control problem of monodomain model. The optimal control problem of monodomain model is a nonlinear optimization problem that is constrained by the monodomain model. The monodomain model consists of a parabolic partial differential equation coupled to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which has been widely used for simulating cardiac electrical activity. Our control objective is to dampen the excitation wavefront using optimal applied extracellular current. Two hybrid conjugate gradient methods are employed for computing the optimal applied extracellular current, namely, the Hestenes-Stiefel-Dai-Yuan (HS-DY method and the Liu-Storey-Conjugate-Descent (LS-CD method. Our experiment results show that the excitation wavefronts are successfully dampened out when these methods are used. Our experiment results also show that the hybrid conjugate gradient methods are superior to the classical conjugate gradient methods when Armijo line search is used.

Solving large test-day models by iteration on data and preconditioned conjugate gradient.

Science.gov (United States)

Lidauer, M; Strandén, I; Mäntysaari, E A; Pösö, J; Kettunen, A

1999-12-01

A preconditioned conjugate gradient method was implemented into an iteration on a program for data estimation of breeding values, and its convergence characteristics were studied. An algorithm was used as a reference in which one fixed effect was solved by Gauss-Seidel method, and other effects were solved by a second-order Jacobi method. Implementation of the preconditioned conjugate gradient required storing four vectors (size equal to number of unknowns in the mixed model equations) in random access memory and reading the data at each round of iteration. The preconditioner comprised diagonal blocks of the coefficient matrix. Comparison of algorithms was based on solutions of mixed model equations obtained by a single-trait animal model and a single-trait, random regression test-day model. Data sets for both models used milk yield records of primiparous Finnish dairy cows. Animal model data comprised 665,629 lactation milk yields and random regression test-day model data of 6,732,765 test-day milk yields. Both models included pedigree information of 1,099,622 animals. The animal model ¿random regression test-day model¿ required 122 ¿305¿ rounds of iteration to converge with the reference algorithm, but only 88 ¿149¿ were required with the preconditioned conjugate gradient. To solve the random regression test-day model with the preconditioned conjugate gradient required 237 megabytes of random access memory and took 14% of the computation time needed by the reference algorithm.

Adaptive filtering of GOCE-derived gravity gradients of the disturbing potential in the context of the space-wise approach

Science.gov (United States)

Piretzidis, Dimitrios; Sideris, Michael G.

2017-09-01

Filtering and signal processing techniques have been widely used in the processing of satellite gravity observations to reduce measurement noise and correlation errors. The parameters and types of filters used depend on the statistical and spectral properties of the signal under investigation. Filtering is usually applied in a non-real-time environment. The present work focuses on the implementation of an adaptive filtering technique to process satellite gravity gradiometry data for gravity field modeling. Adaptive filtering algorithms are commonly used in communication systems, noise and echo cancellation, and biomedical applications. Two independent studies have been performed to introduce adaptive signal processing techniques and test the performance of the least mean-squared (LMS) adaptive algorithm for filtering satellite measurements obtained by the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) mission. In the first study, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed in order to gain insights about the implementation of the LMS algorithm on data with spectral behavior close to that of real GOCE data. In the second study, the LMS algorithm is implemented on real GOCE data. Experiments are also performed to determine suitable filtering parameters. Only the four accurate components of the full GOCE gravity gradient tensor of the disturbing potential are used. The characteristics of the filtered gravity gradients are examined in the time and spectral domain. The obtained filtered GOCE gravity gradients show an agreement of 63-84 mEötvös (depending on the gravity gradient component), in terms of RMS error, when compared to the gravity gradients derived from the EGM2008 geopotential model. Spectral-domain analysis of the filtered gradients shows that the adaptive filters slightly suppress frequencies in the bandwidth of approximately 10-30 mHz. The limitations of the adaptive LMS algorithm are also discussed. The tested filtering algorithm can be

Slab Geometry and Segmentation on Seismogenic Subduction Zone; Insight from gravity gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Saraswati, A. T.; Mazzotti, S.; Cattin, R.; Cadio, C.

2017-12-01

Slab geometry is a key parameter to improve seismic hazard assessment in subduction zones. In many cases, information about structures beneath subduction are obtained from geophysical dedicated studies, including geodetic and seismic measurements. However, due to the lack of global information, both geometry and segmentation in seismogenic zone of many subductions remain badly-constrained. Here we propose an alternative approach based on satellite gravity observations. The GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) mission enables to probe Earth deep mass structures from gravity gradients, which are more sensitive to spatial structure geometry and directional properties than classical gravitational data. Gravity gradients forward modeling of modeled slab is performed by using horizontal and vertical gravity gradient components to better determine slab geophysical model rather than vertical gradient only. Using polyhedron method, topography correction on gravity gradient signal is undertaken to enhance the anomaly signal of lithospheric structures. Afterward, we compare residual gravity gradients with the calculated signals associated with slab geometry. In this preliminary study, straightforward models are used to better understand the characteristic of gravity gradient signals due to deep mass sources. We pay a special attention to the delineation of slab borders and dip angle variations.

Forest gradient response in Sierran landscapes: the physical template

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, Dean L.; Miller, Carol; Halpin, Patrick N.; Stephenson, Nathan L.

2000-01-01

Vegetation pattern on landscapes is the manifestation of physical gradients, biotic response to these gradients, and disturbances. Here we focus on the physical template as it governs the distribution of mixed-conifer forests in California's Sierra Nevada. We extended a forest simulation model to examine montane environmental gradients, emphasizing factors affecting the water balance in these summer-dry landscapes. The model simulates the soil moisture regime in terms of the interaction of water supply and demand: supply depends on precipitation and water storage, while evapotranspirational demand varies with solar radiation and temperature. The forest cover itself can affect the water balance via canopy interception and evapotranspiration. We simulated Sierran forests as slope facets, defined as gridded stands of homogeneous topographic exposure, and verified simulated gradient response against sample quadrats distributed across Sequoia National Park. We then performed a modified sensitivity analysis of abiotic factors governing the physical gradient. Importantly, the model's sensitivity to temperature, precipitation, and soil depth varies considerably over the physical template, particularly relative to elevation. The physical drivers of the water balance have characteristic spatial scales that differ by orders of magnitude. Across large spatial extents, temperature and precipitation as defined by elevation primarily govern the location of the mixed conifer zone. If the analysis is constrained to elevations within the mixed-conifer zone, local topography comes into play as it influences drainage. Soil depth varies considerably at all measured scales, and is especially dominant at fine (within-stand) scales. Physical site variables can influence soil moisture deficit either by affecting water supply or water demand; these effects have qualitatively different implications for forest response. These results have clear implications about purely inferential approaches

Spatial Resolution Effect on Forest Road Gradient Calculation and Erosion Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, L.; Elliot, W.

2017-12-01

Road erosion is one of the main sediment sources in a forest watershed and should be properly evaluated. With the help of GIS technology, road topography can be determined and soil loss can be predicted at a watershed scale. As a vector geographical feature, the road gradient should be calculated following road direction rather than hillslope direction. This calculation might be difficult with a coarse (30-m) DEM which only provides the underlying topography information. This study was designed to explore the effect of road segmentation and DEM resolution on the road gradient calculation and erosion prediction at a watershed scale. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model was run on road segments of 9 lengths ranging from 40m to 200m. Road gradient was calculated from three DEM data sets: 1m LiDAR, and 10m and 30m USGS DEMs. The 1m LiDAR DEM calculated gradients were very close to the field observed road gradients, so we assumed the 1m LiDAR DEM predicted the true road gradient. The results revealed that longer road segments skipped detail topographical undulations and resulted in lower road gradients. Coarser DEMs computed steeper road gradients as larger grid cells covered more adjacent areas outside road resulting in larger elevation differences. Field surveyed results also revealed that coarser DEM might result in more gradient deviation in a curved road segment when it passes through a convex or concave slope. As road segment length increased, the gradient difference between three DEMs was reduced. There were no significant differences between road gradients of different segment lengths and DEM resolution when segments were longer than 100m. For long segments, the 10m DEM calculated road gradient was similar to the 1m LiDAR gradient. When evaluating the effects of road segment length, the predicted erosion rate decreased with increasing length when road gradient was less than 3%. In cases where the road gradients exceed 3% and rill erosion dominates

A servo controlled gradient loading triaxial model test system for deep-buried cavern

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Xu-guang [College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100 (China); Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Qingdao 266100 (China); Research Center of Geotechnical and Structural Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Zhang, Qiang-yong; Li, Shu-cai [Research Center of Geotechnical and Structural Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)

2015-10-15

A servo controlled gradient loading model test system is developed to simulate the gradient geostress in deep-buried cavern. This system consists of the gradient loading apparatus, the digital servo control device, and the measurement system. Among them, the gradient loading apparatus is the main component which is used for exerting load onto the model. This loading apparatus is placed inside the counterforce wall/beam and is divided to several different loading zones, with each loading zone independently controlled. This design enables the gradient loading. Hence, the “real” geostress field surrounding the deep-buried cavern can be simulated. The loading or unloading process can be controlled by the human-computer interaction machines, i.e., the digital servo control system. It realizes the automation and visualization of model loading/unloading. In addition, this digital servo could control and regulate hydraulic loading instantaneously, which stabilizes the geostress onto the model over a long term. During the loading procedure, the collision between two adjacent loading platens is also eliminated by developing a guide frame. This collision phenomenon is induced by the volume shrinkage of the model when compressed in true 3D state. In addition, several accurate measurements, including the optical and grating-based method, are adopted to monitor the small deformation of the model. Hence, the distortion of the model could be accurately measured. In order to validate the performance of this innovative model test system, a 3D geomechanical test was conducted on a simulated deep-buried underground reservoir. The result shows that the radial convergence increases rapidly with the release of the stress in the reservoir. Moreover, the deformation increases with the increase of the gas production rate. This observation is consistence with field observation in petroleum engineering. The system is therefore capable of testing deep-buried engineering structures.

A servo controlled gradient loading triaxial model test system for deep-buried cavern.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xu-guang; Zhang, Qiang-yong; Li, Shu-cai

2015-10-01

A servo controlled gradient loading model test system is developed to simulate the gradient geostress in deep-buried cavern. This system consists of the gradient loading apparatus, the digital servo control device, and the measurement system. Among them, the gradient loading apparatus is the main component which is used for exerting load onto the model. This loading apparatus is placed inside the counterforce wall/beam and is divided to several different loading zones, with each loading zone independently controlled. This design enables the gradient loading. Hence, the "real" geostress field surrounding the deep-buried cavern can be simulated. The loading or unloading process can be controlled by the human-computer interaction machines, i.e., the digital servo control system. It realizes the automation and visualization of model loading/unloading. In addition, this digital servo could control and regulate hydraulic loading instantaneously, which stabilizes the geostress onto the model over a long term. During the loading procedure, the collision between two adjacent loading platens is also eliminated by developing a guide frame. This collision phenomenon is induced by the volume shrinkage of the model when compressed in true 3D state. In addition, several accurate measurements, including the optical and grating-based method, are adopted to monitor the small deformation of the model. Hence, the distortion of the model could be accurately measured. In order to validate the performance of this innovative model test system, a 3D geomechanical test was conducted on a simulated deep-buried underground reservoir. The result shows that the radial convergence increases rapidly with the release of the stress in the reservoir. Moreover, the deformation increases with the increase of the gas production rate. This observation is consistence with field observation in petroleum engineering. The system is therefore capable of testing deep-buried engineering structures.

A servo controlled gradient loading triaxial model test system for deep-buried cavern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xu-guang; Zhang, Qiang-yong; Li, Shu-cai

2015-01-01

A servo controlled gradient loading model test system is developed to simulate the gradient geostress in deep-buried cavern. This system consists of the gradient loading apparatus, the digital servo control device, and the measurement system. Among them, the gradient loading apparatus is the main component which is used for exerting load onto the model. This loading apparatus is placed inside the counterforce wall/beam and is divided to several different loading zones, with each loading zone independently controlled. This design enables the gradient loading. Hence, the “real” geostress field surrounding the deep-buried cavern can be simulated. The loading or unloading process can be controlled by the human-computer interaction machines, i.e., the digital servo control system. It realizes the automation and visualization of model loading/unloading. In addition, this digital servo could control and regulate hydraulic loading instantaneously, which stabilizes the geostress onto the model over a long term. During the loading procedure, the collision between two adjacent loading platens is also eliminated by developing a guide frame. This collision phenomenon is induced by the volume shrinkage of the model when compressed in true 3D state. In addition, several accurate measurements, including the optical and grating-based method, are adopted to monitor the small deformation of the model. Hence, the distortion of the model could be accurately measured. In order to validate the performance of this innovative model test system, a 3D geomechanical test was conducted on a simulated deep-buried underground reservoir. The result shows that the radial convergence increases rapidly with the release of the stress in the reservoir. Moreover, the deformation increases with the increase of the gas production rate. This observation is consistence with field observation in petroleum engineering. The system is therefore capable of testing deep-buried engineering structures

The influence of ALN-Al gradient material gradient index on ballistic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Youcong; Liu Qiwen; Li Yao; Shen Qiang

2013-01-01

Ballistic performance of the gradient material is superior to laminated material, and gradient materials have different gradient types. Using ls-dyna to simulate the ballistic performance of ALN-AL gradient target plates which contain three gradient index (b = 1, b = 0.5, b = 2). Through Hopkinson bar numerical simulation to the target plate materials, we obtained the reflection stress wave and transmission stress wave state of gradient material to get the best gradient index. The internal stress state of gradient material is simulated by amplification processing of the target plate model. When the gradient index b is equal to 1, the gradient target plate is best of all.

Pressure gradients fail to predict diffusio-osmosis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yawei; Ganti, Raman; Frenkel, Daan

2018-05-01

We present numerical simulations of diffusio-osmotic flow, i.e. the fluid flow generated by a concentration gradient along a solid-fluid interface. In our study, we compare a number of distinct approaches that have been proposed for computing such flows and compare them with a reference calculation based on direct, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. As alternatives, we consider schemes that compute diffusio-osmotic flow from the gradient of the chemical potentials of the constituent species and from the gradient of the component of the pressure tensor parallel to the interface. We find that the approach based on treating chemical potential gradients as external forces acting on various species agrees with the direct simulations, thereby supporting the approach of Marbach et al (2017 J. Chem. Phys. 146 194701). In contrast, an approach based on computing the gradients of the microscopic pressure tensor does not reproduce the direct non-equilibrium results.

High-gradient operators in the psl(2 vertical stroke 2) Gross-Neveu model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cagnazzo, Alessandra; Schomerus, Volker; Tlapak, Vaclav

2014-10-01

It has been observed more than 25 years ago that sigma model perturbation theory suffers from strongly RG-relevant high-gradient operators. The phenomenon was first seen in 1-loop calculations for the O(N) vector model and it is known to persist at least to two loops. More recently, Ryu et al. suggested that a certain deformation of the psl(N vertical stroke N) WZNW-model at level k=1, or equivalently the psl(N vertical stroke N) Gross-Neveu model, could be free of RG-relevant high-gradient operators and they tested their suggestion to leading order in perturbation theory. In this note we establish the absence of strongly RG-relevant high-gradient operators in the psl(2 vertical stroke 2) Gross-Neveu model to all loops. In addition, we determine the spectrum for a large subsector of the model at infinite coupling and observe that all scaling weights become half-integer. Evidence for a conjectured relation with the CP 1 vertical stroke 2 sigma model is not found.

Modelling CO2-Brine Interfacial Tension using Density Gradient Theory

KAUST Repository

Ruslan, Mohd Fuad Anwari Che

2018-03-01

Knowledge regarding carbon dioxide (CO2)-brine interfacial tension (IFT) is important for petroleum industry and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) strategies. In petroleum industry, CO2-brine IFT is especially importance for CO2 – based enhanced oil recovery strategy as it affects phase behavior and fluid transport in porous media. CCS which involves storing CO2 in geological storage sites also requires understanding regarding CO2-brine IFT as this parameter affects CO2 quantity that could be securely stored in the storage site. Several methods have been used to compute CO2-brine interfacial tension. One of the methods employed is by using Density Gradient Theory (DGT) approach. In DGT model, IFT is computed based on the component density distribution across the interface. However, current model is only applicable for modelling low to medium ionic strength solution. This limitation is due to the model only considers the increase of IFT due to the changes of bulk phases properties and does not account for ion distribution at interface. In this study, a new modelling strategy to compute CO2-brine IFT based on DGT was proposed. In the proposed model, ion distribution across interface was accounted for by separating the interface to two sections. The saddle point of tangent plane distance where ( ) was defined as the boundary separating the two sections of the interface. Electrolyte is assumed to be present only in the second section which is connected to the bulk liquid phase side. Numerical simulations were performed using the proposed approach for single and mixed salt solutions for three salts (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl2), for temperature (298 K to 443 K), pressure (2 MPa to 70 MPa), and ionic strength (0.085 mol·kg-1 to 15 mol·kg-1). The simulation result shows that the tuned model was able to predict with good accuracy CO2-brine IFT for all studied cases. Comparison with current DGT model showed that the proposed approach yields better match with the experiment data

Fluid simulation of tokamak ion temperature gradient turbulence with zonal flow closure model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamagishi, Osamu, E-mail: yamagisi@nifs.ac.jp; Sugama, Hideo [National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki, Gifu 509-5292 (Japan)

2016-03-15

Nonlinear fluid simulation of turbulence driven by ion temperature gradient modes in the tokamak fluxtube configuration is performed by combining two different closure models. One model is a gyrofluid model by Beer and Hammett [Phys. Plasmas 3, 4046 (1996)], and the other is a closure model to reproduce the kinetic zonal flow response [Sugama et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 022502 (2007)]. By including the zonal flow closure, generation of zonal flows, significant reduction in energy transport, reproduction of the gyrokinetic transport level, and nonlinear upshift on the critical value of gradient scale length are observed.

Fluid simulation of tokamak ion temperature gradient turbulence with zonal flow closure model

Science.gov (United States)

Yamagishi, Osamu; Sugama, Hideo

2016-03-01

Nonlinear fluid simulation of turbulence driven by ion temperature gradient modes in the tokamak fluxtube configuration is performed by combining two different closure models. One model is a gyrofluid model by Beer and Hammett [Phys. Plasmas 3, 4046 (1996)], and the other is a closure model to reproduce the kinetic zonal flow response [Sugama et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 022502 (2007)]. By including the zonal flow closure, generation of zonal flows, significant reduction in energy transport, reproduction of the gyrokinetic transport level, and nonlinear upshift on the critical value of gradient scale length are observed.

A Continuum Damage Mechanics Model to Predict Kink-Band Propagation Using Deformation Gradient Tensor Decomposition

Science.gov (United States)

Bergan, Andrew C.; Leone, Frank A., Jr.

2016-01-01

A new model is proposed that represents the kinematics of kink-band formation and propagation within the framework of a mesoscale continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model. The model uses the recently proposed deformation gradient decomposition approach to represent a kink band as a displacement jump via a cohesive interface that is embedded in an elastic bulk material. The model is capable of representing the combination of matrix failure in the frame of a misaligned fiber and instability due to shear nonlinearity. In contrast to conventional linear or bilinear strain softening laws used in most mesoscale CDM models for longitudinal compression, the constitutive response of the proposed model includes features predicted by detailed micromechanical models. These features include: 1) the rotational kinematics of the kink band, 2) an instability when the peak load is reached, and 3) a nonzero plateau stress under large strains.

Constraining fault interpretation through tomographic velocity gradients: application to northern Cascadia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Ramachandran

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Spatial gradients of tomographic velocities are seldom used in interpretation of subsurface fault structures. This study shows that spatial velocity gradients can be used effectively in identifying subsurface discontinuities in the horizontal and vertical directions. Three-dimensional velocity models constructed through tomographic inversion of active source and/or earthquake traveltime data are generally built from an initial 1-D velocity model that varies only with depth. Regularized tomographic inversion algorithms impose constraints on the roughness of the model that help to stabilize the inversion process. Final velocity models obtained from regularized tomographic inversions have smooth three-dimensional structures that are required by the data. Final velocity models are usually analyzed and interpreted either as a perturbation velocity model or as an absolute velocity model. Compared to perturbation velocity model, absolute velocity models have an advantage of providing constraints on lithology. Both velocity models lack the ability to provide sharp constraints on subsurface faults. An interpretational approach utilizing spatial velocity gradients applied to northern Cascadia shows that subsurface faults that are not clearly interpretable from velocity model plots can be identified by sharp contrasts in velocity gradient plots. This interpretation resulted in inferring the locations of the Tacoma, Seattle, Southern Whidbey Island, and Darrington Devil's Mountain faults much more clearly. The Coast Range Boundary fault, previously hypothesized on the basis of sedimentological and tectonic observations, is inferred clearly from the gradient plots. Many of the fault locations imaged from gradient data correlate with earthquake hypocenters, indicating their seismogenic nature.

Gradient descent learning algorithm overview: a general dynamical systems perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldi, P

1995-01-01

Gives a unified treatment of gradient descent learning algorithms for neural networks using a general framework of dynamical systems. This general approach organizes and simplifies all the known algorithms and results which have been originally derived for different problems (fixed point/trajectory learning), for different models (discrete/continuous), for different architectures (forward/recurrent), and using different techniques (backpropagation, variational calculus, adjoint methods, etc.). The general approach can also be applied to derive new algorithms. The author then briefly examines some of the complexity issues and limitations intrinsic to gradient descent learning. Throughout the paper, the author focuses on the problem of trajectory learning.

Full waveform inversion based on the optimized gradient and its spectral implementation

KAUST Repository

Wu, Zedong

2014-01-01

Full waveform inversion (FWI) despite it\\'s potential suffers from the ability to converge to the desired solution due to the high nonlinearity of the objective function at conventional seismic frequencies. Even if frequencies necessary for the convergence are available, the high number of iterations required to approach a solution renders FWI as very expensive (especially in 3D). A spectral implementation in which the wavefields are extrapolated and gradients are calculated in the wavenumber domain allows for a cleaner more efficient implementation (no finite difference dispersion errors). In addition, we use not only an up and down going wavefield decomposition of the gradient to access the smooth background update, but also a right and left propagation decomposition to allow us to do that for large dips. To insure that the extracted smooth component of the gradient has the right decent direction, we solve an optimization problem to search for the smoothest component that provides a negative (decent) gradient. Application to the Marmousi model shows that this approach works well with linear increasing initial velocity model and data with frequencies above 2Hz.

3-D cross-gradient joint inversion of seismic refraction and DC resistivity data

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Zhanjie; Hobbs, Richard W.; Moorkamp, Max; Tian, Gang; Jiang, Lu

2017-06-01

We present a 3-D cross-gradient joint inversion algorithm for seismic refraction and DC resistivity data. The structural similarity between seismic slowness and resistivity models is enforced by a cross-gradient term in the objective function that also includes misfit and regularization terms. A limited memory quasi-Newton approach is used to perform the optimization of the objective function. To validate the proposed methodology and its implementation, tests were performed on a typical archaeological geophysical synthetic model. The results show that the inversion model and physical parameters estimated by our joint inversion method are more consistent with the true model than those from single inversion algorithm. Moreover, our approach appears to be more robust in conditions of noise. Finally, the 3-D cross-gradient joint inversion algorithm was applied to the field data from Lin_an ancient city site in Hangzhou of China. The 3-D cross-gradient joint inversion models are consistent with the archaeological excavation results of the ancient city wall remains. However, by single inversion, seismic slowness model does not show the anomaly of city wall remains and resistivity model does not fit well with the archaeological excavation results. Through these comparisons, we conclude that the proposed algorithm can be used to jointly invert 3-D seismic refraction and DC resistivity data to reduce the uncertainty brought by single inversion scheme.

Multi-Dimensional Quantum Effect Simulation Using a Density-Gradient Model and Script-Level Programming Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Rafferty, Connor S.; Biegel, Bryan A.; Yu, Zhi-Ping; Ancona, Mario G.; Bude, J.; Dutton, Robert W.; Saini, Subhash (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

A density-gradient (DG) model is used to calculate quantum-mechanical corrections to classical carrier transport in MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) inversion/accumulation layers. The model is compared to measured data and to a fully self-consistent coupled Schrodinger and Poisson equation (SCSP) solver. Good agreement is demonstrated for MOS capacitors with gate oxide as thin as 21 A. It is then applied to study carrier distribution in ultra short MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) with surface roughness. This work represents the first implementation of the DG formulation on multidimensional unstructured meshes. It was enabled by a powerful scripting approach which provides an easy-to-use and flexible framework for solving the fourth-order PDEs (Partial Differential Equation) of the DG model.

On fracture in finite strain gradient plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martínez Pañeda, Emilio; Niordson, Christian Frithiof

2016-01-01

In this work a general framework for damage and fracture assessment including the effect of strain gradients is provided. Both mechanism-based and phenomenological strain gradient plasticity (SGP) theories are implemented numerically using finite deformation theory and crack tip fields are invest......In this work a general framework for damage and fracture assessment including the effect of strain gradients is provided. Both mechanism-based and phenomenological strain gradient plasticity (SGP) theories are implemented numerically using finite deformation theory and crack tip fields...... are investigated. Differences and similarities between the two approaches within continuum SGP modeling are highlighted and discussed. Local strain hardening promoted by geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) in the vicinity of the crack leads to much higher stresses, relative to classical plasticity...... in the multiple parameter version of the phenomenological SGP theory. Since this also dominates the mechanics of indentation testing, results suggest that length parameters characteristic of mode I fracture should be inferred from nanoindentation....

Dynamic gradient descent learning algorithms for enhanced empirical modeling of power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parlos, A.G.; Atiya, Amir; Chong, K.T.

1991-01-01

A newly developed dynamic gradient descent-based learning algorithm is used to train a recurrent multilayer perceptron network for use in empirical modeling of power plants. The two main advantages of the proposed learning algorithm are its ability to consider past error gradient information for future use and the two forward passes associated with its implementation, instead of one forward and one backward pass of the backpropagation algorithm. The latter advantage results in computational time saving because both passes can be performed simultaneously. The dynamic learning algorithm is used to train a hybrid feedforward/feedback neural network, a recurrent multilayer perceptron, which was previously found to exhibit good interpolation and extrapolation capabilities in modeling nonlinear dynamic systems. One of the drawbacks, however, of the previously reported work has been the long training times associated with accurate empirical models. The enhanced learning capabilities provided by the dynamic gradient descent-based learning algorithm are demonstrated by a case study of a steam power plant. The number of iterations required for accurate empirical modeling has been reduced from tens of thousands to hundreds, thus significantly expediting the learning process

A new approach for developing adjoint models

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, P. E.; Funke, S. W.

2011-12-01

Many data assimilation algorithms rely on the availability of gradients of misfit functionals, which can be efficiently computed with adjoint models. However, the development of an adjoint model for a complex geophysical code is generally very difficult. Algorithmic differentiation (AD, also called automatic differentiation) offers one strategy for simplifying this task: it takes the abstraction that a model is a sequence of primitive instructions, each of which may be differentiated in turn. While extremely successful, this low-level abstraction runs into time-consuming difficulties when applied to the whole codebase of a model, such as differentiating through linear solves, model I/O, calls to external libraries, language features that are unsupported by the AD tool, and the use of multiple programming languages. While these difficulties can be overcome, it requires a large amount of technical expertise and an intimate familiarity with both the AD tool and the model. An alternative to applying the AD tool to the whole codebase is to assemble the discrete adjoint equations and use these to compute the necessary gradients. With this approach, the AD tool must be applied to the nonlinear assembly operators, which are typically small, self-contained units of the codebase. The disadvantage of this approach is that the assembly of the discrete adjoint equations is still very difficult to perform correctly, especially for complex multiphysics models that perform temporal integration; as it stands, this approach is as difficult and time-consuming as applying AD to the whole model. In this work, we have developed a library which greatly simplifies and automates the alternate approach of assembling the discrete adjoint equations. We propose a complementary, higher-level abstraction to that of AD: that a model is a sequence of linear solves. The developer annotates model source code with library calls that build a 'tape' of the operators involved and their dependencies, and

A New Approach for Identifying Ionospheric Gradients in the Context of the Gagan System

Science.gov (United States)

Kudala, Ravi Chandra

The Indian Space Research Organization and the Airports Authority of India are jointly implementing the Global Positioning System (GPS) aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system in order to meet the following required navigation performance (RNP) parameters: integrity, continuity, accuracy, and availability (for aircraft operations). Such a system provides the user with orbit, clock, and ionospheric corrections in addition to ranging signals via the geostationary earth orbit satellite (GEOSAT). The equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA), due to rapid non-uniform electron-ion recombination that persists on the Indian subcontinent, causes ionospheric gradients. Ionospheric gradients represent the most severe threat to high-integrity differential GNSS systems such as GAGAN. In order to ensure integrity under conditions of an ionospheric storm, the following three objectives must be met: careful monitoring, error bounding, and sophisticated storm-front modeling. The first objective is met by continuously tracking data due to storms, and, on quiet days, determining precise estimates of the threat parameters from reference monitoring stations. The second objective is met by quantifying the above estimates of threat parameters due to storms through maximum and minimum typical thresholds. In the context GAGAN, this work proposes a new method for identifying ionospheric gradients, in addition to determining an appropriate upper bound, in order to sufficiently understand error during storm days. Initially, carrier phase data of the GAGAN network from Indian TEC stations for both storm and quiet days was used for estimating ionospheric spatial and temporal gradients (the vertical ionospheric gradient (σVIG) and the rate of the TEC index (ROTI), respectively) in multiple viewing directions. Along similar lines, using the carrier to noise ratio (C/N0) for the same data, the carrier to noise ratio index (σCNRI) was derived. Subsequently, the one-toone relationship between �

An Overview of the Topological Gradient Approach in Image Processing: Advantages and Inconveniences

OpenAIRE

Jaafar Belaid, Lamia

2010-01-01

Image analysis by topological gradient approach is a technique based upon the historic application of the topological asymptotic expansion to crack localization problem from boundary measurements. This paper aims at reviewing this methodology through various applications in image processing; in particular image restoration with edge detection, classification and segmentation problems for both grey level and color images is presented in this work. The numerical experiments show the efficiency ...

Transition to Collisionless Ion-Temperature-Gradient-Driven Plasma Turbulence: A Dynamical Systems Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolesnikov, R.A.; Krommes, J.A.

2005-01-01

The transition to collisionless ion-temperature-gradient-driven plasma turbulence is considered by applying dynamical systems theory to a model with 10 degrees of freedom. The study of a four-dimensional center manifold predicts a 'Dimits shift' of the threshold for turbulence due to the excitation of zonal flows and establishes (for the model) the exact value of that shift

Resolving terrestrial ecosystem processes along a subgrid topographic gradient for an earth-system model

Science.gov (United States)

Subin, Z M; Milly, Paul C.D.; Sulman, B N; Malyshev, Sergey; Shevliakova, E

2014-01-01

Soil moisture is a crucial control on surface water and energy fluxes, vegetation, and soil carbon cycling. Earth-system models (ESMs) generally represent an areal-average soil-moisture state in gridcells at scales of 50–200 km and as a result are not able to capture the nonlinear effects of topographically-controlled subgrid heterogeneity in soil moisture, in particular where wetlands are present. We addressed this deficiency by building a subgrid representation of hillslope-scale topographic gradients, TiHy (Tiled-hillslope Hydrology), into the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) land model (LM3). LM3-TiHy models one or more representative hillslope geometries for each gridcell by discretizing them into land model tiles hydrologically coupled along an upland-to-lowland gradient. Each tile has its own surface fluxes, vegetation, and vertically-resolved state variables for soil physics and biogeochemistry. LM3-TiHy simulates a gradient in soil moisture and water-table depth between uplands and lowlands in each gridcell. Three hillslope hydrological regimes appear in non-permafrost regions in the model: wet and poorly-drained, wet and well-drained, and dry; with large, small, and zero wetland area predicted, respectively. Compared to the untiled LM3 in stand-alone experiments, LM3-TiHy simulates similar surface energy and water fluxes in the gridcell-mean. However, in marginally wet regions around the globe, LM3-TiHy simulates shallow groundwater in lowlands, leading to higher evapotranspiration, lower surface temperature, and higher leaf area compared to uplands in the same gridcells. Moreover, more than four-fold larger soil carbon concentrations are simulated globally in lowlands as compared with uplands. We compared water-table depths to those simulated by a recent global model-observational synthesis, and we compared wetland and inundated areas diagnosed from the model to observational datasets. The comparisons demonstrate that LM3-TiHy has the

The evolving approach to the evaluation of low-gradient aortic stenosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutting, William B; Bavry, Anthony A

2018-04-07

Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is typically identified by a low valve area (≤1.0 cm 2 ) and high mean gradient (≥40 mm Hg). A subset of patients are found to have a less than severe mean gradient (gradient AS (stage D2) or normal ejection fraction with low-gradient AS (stage D3). Determining the true severity of disease within these categories has proved difficult. In this review we illustrate both traditional and novel techniques that can be used for further valvular assessment. We also propose a simple algorithm that can be used to evaluate low-gradient AS. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Combining Step Gradients and Linear Gradients in Density.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Ashok A; Walz, Jenna A; Gonidec, Mathieu; Mace, Charles R; Whitesides, George M

2015-06-16

Combining aqueous multiphase systems (AMPS) and magnetic levitation (MagLev) provides a method to produce hybrid gradients in apparent density. AMPS—solutions of different polymers, salts, or surfactants that spontaneously separate into immiscible but predominantly aqueous phases—offer thermodynamically stable steps in density that can be tuned by the concentration of solutes. MagLev—the levitation of diamagnetic objects in a paramagnetic fluid within a magnetic field gradient—can be arranged to provide a near-linear gradient in effective density where the height of a levitating object above the surface of the magnet corresponds to its density; the strength of the gradient in effective density can be tuned by the choice of paramagnetic salt and its concentrations and by the strength and gradient in the magnetic field. Including paramagnetic salts (e.g., MnSO4 or MnCl2) in AMPS, and placing them in a magnetic field gradient, enables their use as media for MagLev. The potential to create large steps in density with AMPS allows separations of objects across a range of densities. The gradients produced by MagLev provide resolution over a continuous range of densities. By combining these approaches, mixtures of objects with large differences in density can be separated and analyzed simultaneously. Using MagLev to add an effective gradient in density also enables tuning the range of densities captured at an interface of an AMPS by simply changing the position of the container in the magnetic field. Further, by creating AMPS in which phases have different concentrations of paramagnetic ions, the phases can provide different resolutions in density. These results suggest that combining steps in density with gradients in density can enable new classes of separations based on density.

Wetting of flat gradient surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Bormashenko, Edward

2018-04-01

Gradient, chemically modified, flat surfaces enable directed transport of droplets. Calculation of apparent contact angles inherent for gradient surfaces is challenging even for atomically flat ones. Wetting of gradient, flat solid surfaces is treated within the variational approach, under which the contact line is free to move along the substrate. Transversality conditions of the variational problem give rise to the generalized Young equation valid for gradient solid surfaces. The apparent (equilibrium) contact angle of a droplet, placed on a gradient surface depends on the radius of the contact line and the values of derivatives of interfacial tensions. The linear approximation of the problem is considered. It is demonstrated that the contact angle hysteresis is inevitable on gradient surfaces. Electrowetting of gradient surfaces is discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Time-domain full waveform inversion using the gradient preconditioning based on transmitted waves energy

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Xiao-bo

2017-06-01

The gradient preconditioning approach based on seismic wave energy can effectively avoid the huge storage consumption in the gradient preconditioning algorithms based on Hessian matrices in time-domain full waveform inversion (FWI), but the accuracy is affected by the energy of reflected waves when strong reflectors are present in velocity model. To address this problem, we propose a gradient preconditioning method, which scales the gradient based on the energy of the “approximated transmitted wavefield” simulated by the nonreflecting acoustic wave equation. The method does not require computing or storing the Hessian matrix or its inverse. Furthermore, it can effectively eliminate the effects caused by geometric diffusion and non-uniformity illumination on gradient. The results of model experiments confirm that the time-domain FWI using the gradient preconditioning based on transmitted waves energy can achieve higher inversion precision for high-velocity body and the deep strata below when compared with using the gradient preconditioning based on seismic waves energy.

Statistical properties of the coarse-grained velocity gradient tensor in turbulence: Monte-Carlo simulations of the tetrad model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pumir, Alain; Naso, Aurore

2010-01-01

A proper description of the velocity gradient tensor is crucial for understanding the dynamics of turbulent flows, in particular the energy transfer from large to small scales. Insight into the statistical properties of the velocity gradient tensor and into its coarse-grained generalization can be obtained with the help of a stochastic 'tetrad model' that describes the coarse-grained velocity gradient tensor based on the evolution of four points. Although the solution of the stochastic model can be formally expressed in terms of path integrals, its numerical determination in terms of the Monte-Carlo method is very challenging, as very few configurations contribute effectively to the statistical weight. Here, we discuss a strategy that allows us to solve the tetrad model numerically. The algorithm is based on the importance sampling method, which consists here of identifying and sampling preferentially the configurations that are likely to correspond to a large statistical weight, and selectively rejecting configurations with a small statistical weight. The algorithm leads to an efficient numerical determination of the solutions of the model and allows us to determine their qualitative behavior as a function of scale. We find that the moments of order n≤4 of the solutions of the model scale with the coarse-graining scale and that the scaling exponents are very close to the predictions of the Kolmogorov theory. The model qualitatively reproduces quite well the statistics concerning the local structure of the flow. However, we find that the model generally tends to predict an excess of strain compared to vorticity. Thus, our results show that while some physical aspects are not fully captured by the model, our approach leads to a very good description of several important qualitative properties of real turbulent flows.

A different approach to estimate nonlinear regression model using numerical methods

Science.gov (United States)

Mahaboob, B.; Venkateswarlu, B.; Mokeshrayalu, G.; Balasiddamuni, P.

2017-11-01

This research paper concerns with the computational methods namely the Gauss-Newton method, Gradient algorithm methods (Newton-Raphson method, Steepest Descent or Steepest Ascent algorithm method, the Method of Scoring, the Method of Quadratic Hill-Climbing) based on numerical analysis to estimate parameters of nonlinear regression model in a very different way. Principles of matrix calculus have been used to discuss the Gradient-Algorithm methods. Yonathan Bard [1] discussed a comparison of gradient methods for the solution of nonlinear parameter estimation problems. However this article discusses an analytical approach to the gradient algorithm methods in a different way. This paper describes a new iterative technique namely Gauss-Newton method which differs from the iterative technique proposed by Gorden K. Smyth [2]. Hans Georg Bock et.al [10] proposed numerical methods for parameter estimation in DAE’s (Differential algebraic equation). Isabel Reis Dos Santos et al [11], Introduced weighted least squares procedure for estimating the unknown parameters of a nonlinear regression metamodel. For large-scale non smooth convex minimization the Hager and Zhang (HZ) conjugate gradient Method and the modified HZ (MHZ) method were presented by Gonglin Yuan et al [12].

Global correlation imaging of magnetic total field gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Lianghui; Meng, Xiaohong; Shi, Lei

2012-01-01

Firstly we introduce the correlation imaging approach for the x-, y- and z-gradients of a magnetic total field anomaly for deriving the distribution of equivalent magnetic sources of the subsurface. In this approach, the subsurface space is divided into a regular grid, and then a correlation coefficient function is computed at each grid node, based on the cross-correlation between the x-gradient (or y-gradient or z-gradient) of the observed magnetic total field anomaly and the x-gradient (or y-gradient or z-gradient) of the theoretical magnetic total field anomaly due to a magnetic dipole. The resultant correlation coefficient is used to describe the probability of a magnetic dipole occurring at the node. We then define a global correlation coefficient function for comprehensively delineating the probability of an occurrence of a magnetic dipole, which takes, at each node, the maximum positive value of the corresponding correlation coefficient function of the three gradients. We finally test the approach both on synthetic data and real data from a metallic deposit area in the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China. (paper)

The Generalized Hill Model: A Kinematic Approach Towards Active Muscle Contraction

Science.gov (United States)

Menzel, Andreas; Kuhl, Ellen

2014-01-01

Excitation-contraction coupling is the physiological process of converting an electrical stimulus into a mechanical response. In muscle, the electrical stimulus is an action potential and the mechanical response is active contraction. The classical Hill model characterizes muscle contraction though one contractile element, activated by electrical excitation, and two non-linear springs, one in series and one in parallel. This rheology translates into an additive decomposition of the total stress into a passive and an active part. Here we supplement this additive decomposition of the stress by a multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into a passive and an active part. We generalize the one-dimensional Hill model to the three-dimensional setting and constitutively define the passive stress as a function of the total deformation gradient and the active stress as a function of both the total deformation gradient and its active part. We show that this novel approach combines the features of both the classical stress-based Hill model and the recent active-strain models. While the notion of active stress is rather phenomenological in nature, active strain is micro-structurally motivated, physically measurable, and straightforward to calibrate. We demonstrate that our model is capable of simulating excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac muscle with its characteristic features of wall thickening, apical lift, and ventricular torsion. PMID:25221354

Direct reconstruction of cardiac PET kinetic parametric images using a preconditioned conjugate gradient approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Rakvongthai, Yothin; Ouyang, Jinsong; Guerin, Bastien; Li, Quanzheng; Alpert, Nathaniel M; El Fakhri, Georges

2013-10-01

Our research goal is to develop an algorithm to reconstruct cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) kinetic parametric images directly from sinograms and compare its performance with the conventional indirect approach. Time activity curves of a NCAT phantom were computed according to a one-tissue compartmental kinetic model with realistic kinetic parameters. The sinograms at each time frame were simulated using the activity distribution for the time frame. The authors reconstructed the parametric images directly from the sinograms by optimizing a cost function, which included the Poisson log-likelihood and a spatial regularization terms, using the preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) algorithm with the proposed preconditioner. The proposed preconditioner is a diagonal matrix whose diagonal entries are the ratio of the parameter and the sensitivity of the radioactivity associated with parameter. The authors compared the reconstructed parametric images using the direct approach with those reconstructed using the conventional indirect approach. At the same bias, the direct approach yielded significant relative reduction in standard deviation by 12%-29% and 32%-70% for 50 × 10(6) and 10 × 10(6) detected coincidences counts, respectively. Also, the PCG method effectively reached a constant value after only 10 iterations (with numerical convergence achieved after 40-50 iterations), while more than 500 iterations were needed for CG. The authors have developed a novel approach based on the PCG algorithm to directly reconstruct cardiac PET parametric images from sinograms, and yield better estimation of kinetic parameters than the conventional indirect approach, i.e., curve fitting of reconstructed images. The PCG method increases the convergence rate of reconstruction significantly as compared to the conventional CG method.

Correlations for modeling transitional boundary layers under influences of freestream turbulence and pressure gradient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suluksna, Keerati; Dechaumphai, Pramote; Juntasaro, Ekachai

2009-01-01

This paper presents mathematical expressions for two significant parameters which control the onset location and length of transition in the γ-Re θ transition model of Menter et al. [Menter, F.R., Langtry, R.B., Volker, S., Huang, P.G., 2005. Transition modelling for general purpose CFD codes. In: ERCOFTAC International Symposium on Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Measurements]. The expressions are formulated and calibrated by means of numerical experiments for predicting transitional boundary layers under the influences of freestream turbulence and pressure gradient. It was also found that the correlation for transition momentum thickness Reynolds number needs only to be expressed in terms of local turbulence intensity, so that the more complex form that includes pressure gradient effects is unnecessary. Transitional boundary layers on a flat plate both with and without pressure gradients are employed to assess the performance of these two expressions for predicting the transition. The results show that the proposed expressions can work well with the model of Menter et al. (2005)

Evaluation of differences between dual salt-pH gradient elution and mono gradient elution using a thermodynamic model: Simultaneous separation of six monoclonal antibody charge and size variants on preparative-scale ion exchange chromatographic resin.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yi Feng; Jöhnck, Matthias; Frech, Christian

2018-02-21

The efficiencies of mono gradient elution and dual salt-pH gradient elution for separation of six mAb charge and size variants on a preparative-scale ion exchange chromatographic resin are compared in this study. Results showed that opposite dual salt-pH gradient elution with increasing pH gradient and simultaneously decreasing salt gradient is best suited for the separation of these mAb charge and size variants on Eshmuno ® CPX. Besides giving high binding capacity, this type of opposite dual salt-pH gradient also provides better resolved mAb variant peaks and lower conductivity in the elution pools compared to single pH or salt gradients. To have a mechanistic understanding of the differences in mAb variants retention behaviors of mono pH gradient, parallel dual salt-pH gradient, and opposite dual salt-pH gradient, a linear gradient elution model was used. After determining the model parameters using the linear gradient elution model, 2D plots were used to show the pH and salt dependencies of the reciprocals of distribution coefficient, equilibrium constant, and effective ionic capacity of the mAb variants in these gradient elution systems. Comparison of the 2D plots indicated that the advantage of opposite dual salt-pH gradient system with increasing pH gradient and simultaneously decreasing salt gradient is the noncontinuous increased acceleration of protein migration. Furthermore, the fitted model parameters can be used for the prediction and optimization of mAb variants separation in dual salt-pH gradient and step elution. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2018. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

New Models for Velocity/Pressure-Gradient Correlations in Turbulent Boundary Layers

Science.gov (United States)

Poroseva, Svetlana; Murman, Scott

2014-11-01

To improve the performance of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models, one has to improve the accuracy of models for three physical processes: turbulent diffusion, interaction of turbulent pressure and velocity fluctuation fields, and dissipative processes. The accuracy of modeling the turbulent diffusion depends on the order of a statistical closure chosen as a basis for a RANS model. When the Gram-Charlier series expansions for the velocity correlations are used to close the set of RANS equations, no assumption on Gaussian turbulence is invoked and no unknown model coefficients are introduced into the modeled equations. In such a way, this closure procedure reduces the modeling uncertainty of fourth-order RANS (FORANS) closures. Experimental and direct numerical simulation data confirmed the validity of using the Gram-Charlier series expansions in various flows including boundary layers. We will address modeling the velocity/pressure-gradient correlations. New linear models will be introduced for the second- and higher-order correlations applicable to two-dimensional incompressible wall-bounded flows. Results of models' validation with DNS data in a channel flow and in a zero-pressure gradient boundary layer over a flat plate will be demonstrated. A part of the material is based upon work supported by NASA under award NNX12AJ61A.

Calculation of pressure gradients from MR velocity data in a laminar flow model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adler, R.S.; Chenevert, T.L.; Fowlkes, J.B.; Pipe, J.G.; Rubin, J.M.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on the ability of current imaging modalities to provide velocity-distribution data that offers the possibility of noninvasive pressure-gradient determination from an appropriate rheologic model of flow. A simple laminar flow model is considered at low Reynolds number, RE calc = 0.59 + (1.13 x (dp/dz) meas ), R 2 = .994, in units of dyne/cm 2 /cm for the range of flows considered. The authors' results indicate the potential usefulness of noninvasive pressure-gradient determinations from quantitative analysis of imaging-derived velocity data

Numerical modeling of solute transport in a sand tank physical model under varying hydraulic gradient and hydrological stresses

Science.gov (United States)

Atlabachew, Abunu; Shu, Longcang; Wu, Peipeng; Zhang, Yongjie; Xu, Yang

2018-03-01

This laboratory study improves the understanding of the impacts of horizontal hydraulic gradient, artificial recharge, and groundwater pumping on solute transport through aquifers. Nine experiments and numerical simulations were carried out using a sand tank. The variable-density groundwater flow and sodium chloride transport were simulated using the three-dimensional numerical model SEAWAT. Numerical modelling results successfully reproduced heads and concentrations observed in the sand tank. A higher horizontal hydraulic gradient enhanced the migration of sodium chloride, particularly in the groundwater flow direction. The application of constant artificial recharge increased the spread of the sodium chloride plume in both the longitudinal and lateral directions. In addition, groundwater pumping accelerated spreading of the sodium chloride plume towards the pumping well. Both higher hydraulic gradient and pumping rate generated oval-shaped plumes in the horizontal plane. However, the artificial recharge process produced stretched plumes. These effects of artificial recharge and groundwater pumping were greater under higher hydraulic gradient. The concentration breakthrough curves indicated that emerging solutions never attained the concentration of the originally injected solution. This is probably because of sorption of sodium chloride onto the silica sand and/or the exchange of sodium chloride between the mobile and immobile liquid domains. The fingering and protruding plume shapes in the numerical models constitute instability zones produced by buoyancy-driven flow. Overall, the results have substantiated the influences of hydraulic gradient, boundary condition, artificial recharge, pumping rate and density differences on solute transport through a homogeneous unconfined aquifer. The implications of these findings are important for managing liquid wastes.

Use of the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm as a generic solver for mixed-model equations in animal breeding applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuruta, S; Misztal, I; Strandén, I

2001-05-01

Utility of the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm with a diagonal preconditioner for solving mixed-model equations in animal breeding applications was evaluated with 16 test problems. The problems included single- and multiple-trait analyses, with data on beef, dairy, and swine ranging from small examples to national data sets. Multiple-trait models considered low and high genetic correlations. Convergence was based on relative differences between left- and right-hand sides. The ordering of equations was fixed effects followed by random effects, with no special ordering within random effects. The preconditioned conjugate gradient program implemented with double precision converged for all models. However, when implemented in single precision, the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm did not converge for seven large models. The preconditioned conjugate gradient and successive overrelaxation algorithms were subsequently compared for 13 of the test problems. The preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm was easy to implement with the iteration on data for general models. However, successive overrelaxation requires specific programming for each set of models. On average, the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm converged in three times fewer rounds of iteration than successive overrelaxation. With straightforward implementations, programs using the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm may be two or more times faster than those using successive overrelaxation. However, programs using the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm would use more memory than would comparable implementations using successive overrelaxation. Extensive optimization of either algorithm can influence rankings. The preconditioned conjugate gradient implemented with iteration on data, a diagonal preconditioner, and in double precision may be the algorithm of choice for solving mixed-model equations when sufficient memory is available and ease of implementation is

Resource contrast in patterned peatlands increases along a climatic gradient

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eppinga, M.B.; Rietkerk, M.; Belyea, L.R.; Nilsson, M.B.; Ruiter, de P.C.; Wassen, M.J.

2010-01-01

Spatial patterning of ecosystems can be explained by several mechanisms. One approach to disentangling the influence of these mechanisms is to study a patterned ecosystem along a gradient of environmental conditions. This study focused on hummock–hollow patterning of peatlands. Previous models

Assessing public health policy approaches to level-up the gradient in health inequalities: the Gradient Evaluation Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, J K; Sherriff, N S

2014-03-01

This paper seeks to introduce and analyse the development of the Gradient Evaluation Framework (GEF) to facilitate evaluation of policy actions for their current or future use in terms of their 'gradient friendliness'. In particular, this means their potential to level-up the gradient in health inequalities by addressing the social determinants of health and thereby reducing decision-makers' chances of error when developing such policy actions. A qualitative developmental study to produce a policy-based evaluation framework. The scientific basis of GEF was developed using a comprehensive consensus-building process. This process followed an initial narrative review, based on realist review principles, which highlighted the need for production of a dedicated evaluation framework. The consensus-building process included expert workshops, a pretesting phase, and external peer review, together with support from the Gradient project Scientific Advisory Group and all Gradient project partners, including its Project Steering Committee. GEF is presented as a flexible policy tool resulting from a consensus-building process involving experts from 13 European countries. The theoretical foundations which underpin GEF are discussed, together with a range of practical challenges. The importance of systematic evaluation at each stage of the policy development and implementation cycle is highlighted, as well as the socio-political context in which policy actions are located. GEF offers potentially a major contribution to the public health field in the form of a practical, policy-relevant and common frame of reference for the evaluation of public health interventions that aim to level-up the social gradient in health inequalities. Further research, including the need for practical field testing of GEF and the exploration of alternative presentational formats, is recommended. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validity of the toposequence approach along a rainfall gradient at a desert fringe

Science.gov (United States)

Yair, Aaron

2017-04-01

According to the "classic" toposequence approach soil's properties are closely related to the position of a soil along a slope. The positional differences in soil properties are usually attributed to spatial differences in runoff; erosion and deposition processes. These processes reflect long term effects of the spatial redistribution of water, solids and soluble materials, which are of great importance in respect of nutrient cycling on the landscape scale, and the structuring of natural ecosystems. The "classic" toposequence approach has been seriously questioned by Sommer and Schlichting (1997). They were followed by many scientists of various disciplines (hydrology, ecology, paleopedology, paleoclimate etc). The present study covers three topo-sequences, located in southern Israel, along an average annual rainfall gradient of 90-300 mm. The classic toposequence approach does not apply to none of them, and the controlling factors vary from one site to another.

Gradient approach to quantify the gradation smoothness for output media

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youn Jin; Bang, Yousun; Choh, Heui-Keun

2010-01-01

We aim to quantify the perception of color gradation smoothness using objectively measurable properties. We propose a model to compute the smoothness of hardcopy color-to-color gradations. It is a gradient-based method that can be determined as a function of the 95th percentile of second derivative for the tone-jump estimator and the fifth percentile of first derivative for the tone-clipping estimator. Performance of the model and a previously suggested method were psychophysically appreciated, and their prediction accuracies were compared to each other. Our model showed a stronger Pearson correlation to the corresponding visual data, and the magnitude of the Pearson correlation reached up to 0.87. Its statistical significance was verified through analysis of variance. Color variations of the representative memory colors-blue sky, green grass and Caucasian skin-were rendered as gradational scales and utilized as the test stimuli.

Environmental and historical imprints on beta diversity: insights from variation in rates of species turnover along gradients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fitzpatrick, Matthew C Fitzpatrick; Sanders, Nathan J.; Normand, Signe

2013-01-01

A common approach for analysing geographical variation in biodiversity involves using linear models to determine the rate at which species similarity declines with geographical or environmental distance and comparing this rate among regions, taxa or communities. Implicit in this approach are weakly...... justified assumptions that the rate of species turnover remains constant along gradients and that this rate can therefore serve as a means to compare ecological systems. We use generalized dissimilarity modelling, a novel method that accommodates variation in rates of species turnover along gradients...... in rates of species turnover is persistent across regions, taxa and different gradients. Such variation may represent an important but often overlooked component of biodiversity that complicates comparisons of distance–decay relationships and underscores the importance of using methods that accommodate...

Modeling of the Dorsal Gradient across Species Reveals Interaction between Embryo Morphology and Toll Signaling Pathway during Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Koslen, Hannah R.; Chiel, Hillel J.; Mizutani, Claudia Mieko

2014-01-01

Morphogenetic gradients are essential to allocate cell fates in embryos of varying sizes within and across closely related species. We previously showed that the maternal NF-κB/Dorsal (Dl) gradient has acquired different shapes in Drosophila species, which result in unequally scaled germ layers along the dorso-ventral axis and the repositioning of the neuroectodermal borders. Here we combined experimentation and mathematical modeling to investigate which factors might have contributed to the fast evolutionary changes of this gradient. To this end, we modified a previously developed model that employs differential equations of the main biochemical interactions of the Toll (Tl) signaling pathway, which regulates Dl nuclear transport. The original model simulations fit well the D. melanogaster wild type, but not mutant conditions. To broaden the applicability of this model and probe evolutionary changes in gradient distributions, we adjusted a set of 19 independent parameters to reproduce three quantified experimental conditions (i.e. Dl levels lowered, nuclear size and density increased or decreased). We next searched for the most relevant parameters that reproduce the species-specific Dl gradients. We show that adjusting parameters relative to morphological traits (i.e. embryo diameter, nuclear size and density) alone is not sufficient to reproduce the species Dl gradients. Since components of the Tl pathway simulated by the model are fast-evolving, we next asked which parameters related to Tl would most effectively reproduce these gradients and identified a particular subset. A sensitivity analysis reveals the existence of nonlinear interactions between the two fast-evolving traits tested above, namely the embryonic morphological changes and Tl pathway components. Our modeling further suggests that distinct Dl gradient shapes observed in closely related melanogaster sub-group lineages may be caused by similar sequence modifications in Tl pathway components, which

Gradient Boosting Machines, A Tutorial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexey eNatekin

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Gradient boosting machines are a family of powerful machine-learning techniques that have shown considerable success in a wide range of practical applications. They are highly customizable to the particular needs of the application, like being learned with respect to different loss functions. This article gives a tutorial introduction into the methodology of gradient boosting methods. A theoretical information is complemented with many descriptive examples and illustrations which cover all the stages of the gradient boosting model design. Considerations on handling the model complexity are discussed. A set of practical examples of gradient boosting applications are presented and comprehensively analyzed.

Gradient waveform pre-emphasis based on the gradient system transfer function.

Science.gov (United States)

Stich, Manuel; Wech, Tobias; Slawig, Anne; Ringler, Ralf; Dewdney, Andrew; Greiser, Andreas; Ruyters, Gudrun; Bley, Thorsten A; Köstler, Herbert

2018-02-25

The gradient system transfer function (GSTF) has been used to describe the distorted k-space trajectory for image reconstruction. The purpose of this work was to use the GSTF to determine the pre-emphasis for an undistorted gradient output and intended k-space trajectory. The GSTF of the MR system was determined using only standard MR hardware without special equipment such as field probes or a field camera. The GSTF was used for trajectory prediction in image reconstruction and for a gradient waveform pre-emphasis. As test sequences, a gradient-echo sequence with phase-encoding gradient modulation and a gradient-echo sequence with a spiral read-out trajectory were implemented and subsequently applied on a structural phantom and in vivo head measurements. Image artifacts were successfully suppressed by applying the GSTF-based pre-emphasis. Equivalent results are achieved with images acquired using GSTF-based post-correction of the trajectory as a part of image reconstruction. In contrast, the pre-emphasis approach allows reconstruction using the initially intended trajectory. The artifact suppression shown for two sequences demonstrates that the GSTF can serve for a novel pre-emphasis. A pre-emphasis based on the GSTF information can be applied to any arbitrary sequence type. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Dynamics of Reactive Microbial Hotspots in Concentration Gradient.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubert, A.; Farasin, J.; Tabuteau, H.; Dufresne, A.; Meheust, Y.; Le Borgne, T.

2017-12-01

In subsurface environments, bacteria play a major role in controlling the kinetics of a broad range of biogeochemical reactions. In such environments, nutrients fluxes and solute concentrations needed for bacteria metabolism may be highly variable in space and intermittent in time. This can lead to the formation of reactive hotspots where and when conditions are favorable to particular microorganisms, hence inducing biogeochemical reaction kinetics that differ significantly from those measured in homogeneous model environments. To investigate the impact of chemical gradients on the spatial structure and temporal dynamics of subsurface microorganism populations, we develop microfluidic cells allowing for a precise control of flow and chemical gradient conditions, as well as quantitative monitoring of the bacteria's spatial distribution and biofilm development. Using the non-motile Escherichia coli JW1908-1 strain and Gallionella capsiferriformans ES-2 as model organisms, we investigate the behavior and development of bacteria over a range of single and double concentration gradients in the concentrations of nutrients, electron donors and electron acceptors. We measure bacterial activity and population growth locally in precisely known hydrodynamic and chemical environments. This approach allows time-resolved monitoring of the location and intensity of reactive hotspots in micromodels as a function of the flow and chemical gradient conditions. We compare reactive microbial hotspot dynamics in our micromodels to classic growth laws and well-known growth parameters for the laboratory model bacteria Escherichia coli.We also discuss consequences for the formation and temporal dynamics of biofilms in the subsurface.

Resource competition model predicts zonation and increasing nutrient use efficiency along a wetland salinity gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Schoolmaster, Donald; Stagg, Camille L.

2018-01-01

A trade-off between competitive ability and stress tolerance has been hypothesized and empirically supported to explain the zonation of species across stress gradients for a number of systems. Since stress often reduces plant productivity, one might expect a pattern of decreasing productivity across the zones of the stress gradient. However, this pattern is often not observed in coastal wetlands that show patterns of zonation along a salinity gradient. To address the potentially complex relationship between stress, zonation, and productivity in coastal wetlands, we developed a model of plant biomass as a function of resource competition and salinity stress. Analysis of the model confirms the conventional wisdom that a trade-off between competitive ability and stress tolerance is a necessary condition for zonation. It also suggests that a negative relationship between salinity and production can be overcome if (1) the supply of the limiting resource increases with greater salinity stress or (2) nutrient use efficiency increases with increasing salinity. We fit the equilibrium solution of the dynamic model to data from Louisiana coastal wetlands to test its ability to explain patterns of production across the landscape gradient and derive predictions that could be tested with independent data. We found support for a number of the model predictions, including patterns of decreasing competitive ability and increasing nutrient use efficiency across a gradient from freshwater to saline wetlands. In addition to providing a quantitative framework to support the mechanistic hypotheses of zonation, these results suggest that this simple model is a useful platform to further build upon, simulate and test mechanistic hypotheses of more complex patterns and phenomena in coastal wetlands.

Travelling gradient thermocouple calibration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broomfield, G.H.

1975-01-01

A short discussion of the origins of the thermocouple EMF is used to re-introduce the idea that the Peltier and Thompson effects are indistinguishable from one another. Thermocouples may be viewed as devices which generate an EMF at junctions or as integrators of EMF's developed in thermal gradients. The thermal gradient view is considered the more appropriate, because of its better accord with theory and behaviour, the correct approach to calibration, and investigation of service effects is immediately obvious. Inhomogeneities arise in thermocouples during manufacture and in service. The results of travelling gradient measurements are used to show that such effects are revealed with a resolution which depends on the length of the gradient although they may be masked during simple immersion calibration. Proposed tests on thermocouples irradiated in a nuclear reactor are discussed

A modified gradient approach for the growth of low-density InAs quantum dot molecules by molecular beam epitaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Nandlal; Reuter, Dirk

2017-11-01

Two vertically stacked quantum dots that are electronically coupled, so called quantum dot molecules, are of great interest for the realization of solid state building blocks for quantum communication networks. We present a modified gradient approach to realize InAs quantum dot molecules with a low areal density so that single quantum dot molecules can be optically addressed. The individual quantum dot layers were prepared by solid source molecular beam epitaxy depositing InAs on GaAs(100). The bottom quantum dot layer has been grown without substrate rotation resulting in an In-gradient across the surface, which translated into a density gradient with low quantum dot density in a certain region of the wafer. For the top quantum dot layer, separated from the bottom quantum dot layer by a 6 nm thick GaAs barrier, various InAs amounts were deposited without an In-gradient. In spite of the absence of an In-gradient, a pronounced density gradient is observed for the top quantum dots. Even for an In-amount slightly below the critical thickness for a single dot layer, a density gradient in the top quantum dot layer, which seems to reproduce the density gradient in the bottom layer, is observed. For more or less In, respectively, deviations from this behavior occur. We suggest that the obvious influence of the bottom quantum dot layer on the growth of the top quantum dots is due to the strain field induced by the buried dots.

Non-Conventional Thermodynamics and Models of Gradient Elasticity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans-Dieter Alber

2018-03-01

Full Text Available We consider material bodies exhibiting a response function for free energy, which depends on both the strain and its gradient. Toupin–Mindlin’s gradient elasticity is characterized by Cauchy stress tensors, which are given by space-like Euler–Lagrange derivative of the free energy with respect to the strain. The present paper aims at developing a first version of gradient elasticity of non-Toupin–Mindlin’s type, i.e., a theory employing Cauchy stress tensors, which are not necessarily expressed as Euler–Lagrange derivatives. This is accomplished in the framework of non-conventional thermodynamics. A one-dimensional boundary value problem is solved in detail in order to illustrate the differences of the present theory with Toupin–Mindlin’s gradient elasticity theory.

Fire Regime Characteristics along Environmental Gradients in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Vanesa Moreno

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Concern regarding global change has increased the need to understand the relationship between fire regime characteristics and the environment. Pyrogeographical theory suggests that fire regimes are constrained by climate, vegetation and fire ignition processes, but it is not obvious how fire regime characteristics are related to those factors. We used a three-matrix approach with a multivariate statistical methodology that combined an ordination method and fourth-corner analysis for hypothesis testing to investigate the relationship between fire regime characteristics and environmental gradients across Spain. Our results suggest that fire regime characteristics (i.e., density and seasonality of fire activity are constrained primarily by direct gradients based on climate, population, and resource gradients based on forest potential productivity. Our results can be used to establish a predictive model for how fire regimes emerge in order to support fire management, particularly as global environmental changes impact fire regime characteristics.

Reduced density gradient as a novel approach for estimating QSAR descriptors, and its application to 1, 4-dihydropyridine derivatives with potential antihypertensive effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Jardínez, Christiaan; Vela, Alberto; Cruz-Borbolla, Julián; Alvarez-Mendez, Rodrigo J; Alvarado-Rodríguez, José G

2016-12-01

The relationship between the chemical structure and biological activity (log IC 50 ) of 40 derivatives of 1,4-dihydropyridines (DHPs) was studied using density functional theory (DFT) and multiple linear regression analysis methods. With the aim of improving the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model, the reduced density gradient s( r) of the optimized equilibrium geometries was used as a descriptor to include weak non-covalent interactions. The QSAR model highlights the correlation between the log IC 50 with highest molecular orbital energy (E HOMO ), molecular volume (V), partition coefficient (log P), non-covalent interactions NCI(H4-G) and the dual descriptor [Δf(r)]. The model yielded values of R 2 =79.57 and Q 2 =69.67 that were validated with the next four internal analytical validations DK=0.076, DQ=-0.006, R P =0.056, and R N =0.000, and the external validation Q 2 boot =64.26. The QSAR model found can be used to estimate biological activity with high reliability in new compounds based on a DHP series. Graphical abstract The good correlation between the log IC 50 with the NCI (H4-G) estimated by the reduced density gradient approach of the DHP derivatives.

Modeling and control of a gravity gradient stabilised satellite

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aage Skullestad

1999-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes attitude control, i.e., 3-axes stabilisation and pointing, of a proposed Norwegian small gravity gradient stabilized satellite to be launched into low earth orbit. Generally, a gravity gradient stabilised system has limited stability and pointing capabilities, and wheels and/or magnetic coils are added in order to improve the attitude control. The best attitude accuracy is achieved using wheels, which can give accuracies down to less than one degree, but wheels increase the complexity and cost of the satellite. Magnetic coils allow cheaper satellites, and are an attractive solution to small, inexpensive satellites in low earth orbits and may provide an attitude control accuracy of a few degrees. Scientific measurements often require accurate attitude control in one or two axes only. Combining wheel and coil control may, in these cases, provide the best solutions. The simulation results are based on a linearised mathematical model of the satellite.

Droplet and bubble nucleation modeled by density gradient theory – cubic equation of state versus saft model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hrubý Jan

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The study presents some preliminary results of the density gradient theory (GT combined with two different equations of state (EoS: the classical cubic equation by van der Waals and a recent approach based on the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT, namely its perturbed-chain (PC modification. The results showed that the cubic EoS predicted for a given surface tension the density profile with a noticeable defect. Bulk densities predicted by the cubic EoS differed as much as by 100 % from the reference data. On the other hand, the PC-SAFT EoS provided accurate results for density profile and both bulk densities in the large range of temperatures. It has been shown that PC-SAFT is a promising tool for accurate modeling of nucleation using the GT. Besides the basic case of a planar phase interface, the spherical interface was analyzed to model a critical cluster occurring either for nucleation of droplets (condensation or bubbles (boiling, cavitation. However, the general solution for the spherical interface will require some more attention due to its numerical difficulty.

Reference-shaping adaptive control by using gradient descent optimizers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baris Baykant Alagoz

Full Text Available This study presents a model reference adaptive control scheme based on reference-shaping approach. The proposed adaptive control structure includes two optimizer processes that perform gradient descent optimization. The first process is the control optimizer that generates appropriate control signal for tracking of the controlled system output to a reference model output. The second process is the adaptation optimizer that performs for estimation of a time-varying adaptation gain, and it contributes to improvement of control signal generation. Numerical update equations derived for adaptation gain and control signal perform gradient descent optimization in order to decrease the model mismatch errors. To reduce noise sensitivity of the system, a dead zone rule is applied to the adaptation process. Simulation examples show the performance of the proposed Reference-Shaping Adaptive Control (RSAC method for several test scenarios. An experimental study demonstrates application of method for rotor control.

Gradient Material Strategies for Hydrogel Optimization in Tissue Engineering Applications

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Although a number of combinatorial/high-throughput approaches have been developed for biomaterial hydrogel optimization, a gradient sample approach is particularly well suited to identify hydrogel property thresholds that alter cellular behavior in response to interacting with the hydrogel due to reduced variation in material preparation and the ability to screen biological response over a range instead of discrete samples each containing only one condition. This review highlights recent work on cell–hydrogel interactions using a gradient material sample approach. Fabrication strategies for composition, material and mechanical property, and bioactive signaling gradient hydrogels that can be used to examine cell–hydrogel interactions will be discussed. The effects of gradients in hydrogel samples on cellular adhesion, migration, proliferation, and differentiation will then be examined, providing an assessment of the current state of the field and the potential of wider use of the gradient sample approach to accelerate our understanding of matrices on cellular behavior. PMID:29485612

Switching neuronal state: optimal stimuli revealed using a stochastically-seeded gradient algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Joshua; Paydarfar, David

2014-12-01

Inducing a switch in neuronal state using energy optimal stimuli is relevant to a variety of problems in neuroscience. Analytical techniques from optimal control theory can identify such stimuli; however, solutions to the optimization problem using indirect variational approaches can be elusive in models that describe neuronal behavior. Here we develop and apply a direct gradient-based optimization algorithm to find stimulus waveforms that elicit a change in neuronal state while minimizing energy usage. We analyze standard models of neuronal behavior, the Hodgkin-Huxley and FitzHugh-Nagumo models, to show that the gradient-based algorithm: (1) enables automated exploration of a wide solution space, using stochastically generated initial waveforms that converge to multiple locally optimal solutions; and (2) finds optimal stimulus waveforms that achieve a physiological outcome condition, without a priori knowledge of the optimal terminal condition of all state variables. Analysis of biological systems using stochastically-seeded gradient methods can reveal salient dynamical mechanisms underlying the optimal control of system behavior. The gradient algorithm may also have practical applications in future work, for example, finding energy optimal waveforms for therapeutic neural stimulation that minimizes power usage and diminishes off-target effects and damage to neighboring tissue.

Bateman gradients in hermaphrodites: An extended approach to quantify sexual selection.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anthes, N.; David, P.; Auld, J.R.; Hoffer, J.N.A.; Jarne, P.; Koene, J.M.; Kokko, H.; Lorenzi, M.C.; Pélissié, B.; Sprenger, D.; Staikou, A.; Schärer, L.

2011-01-01

Sexual selection is often quantified using Bateman gradients, which represent sex-specific regression slopes of reproductive success on mating success and thus describe the expected fitness returns from mating more often. Although the analytical framework for Bateman gradients aimed at covering all

A nonlinear model for fluid flow in a multiple-zone composite reservoir including the quadratic gradient term

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Xiao-Lu; Fan, Xiang-Yu; Nie, Ren-Shi; Huang, Quan-Hua; He, Yong-Ming

2013-01-01

Based on material balance and Darcy's law, the governing equation with the quadratic pressure gradient term was deduced. Then the nonlinear model for fluid flow in a multiple-zone composite reservoir including the quadratic gradient term was established and solved using a Laplace transform. A series of standard log–log type curves of 1-zone (homogeneous), 2-zone and 3-zone reservoirs were plotted and nonlinear flow characteristics were analysed. The type curves governed by the coefficient of the quadratic gradient term (β) gradually deviate from those of a linear model with time elapsing. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were implemented to compare the solutions of the linear and nonlinear models. The results showed that differences of pressure transients between the linear and nonlinear models increase with elapsed time and β. At the end, a successful application of the theoretical model data against the field data shows that the nonlinear model will be a good tool to evaluate formation parameters more accurately. (paper)

Modelling non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems from the speed-gradient principle.

Science.gov (United States)

Khantuleva, Tatiana A; Shalymov, Dmitry S

2017-03-06

The application of the speed-gradient (SG) principle to the non-equilibrium distribution systems far away from thermodynamic equilibrium is investigated. The options for applying the SG principle to describe the non-equilibrium transport processes in real-world environments are discussed. Investigation of a non-equilibrium system's evolution at different scale levels via the SG principle allows for a fresh look at the thermodynamics problems associated with the behaviour of the system entropy. Generalized dynamic equations for finite and infinite number of constraints are proposed. It is shown that the stationary solution to the equations, resulting from the SG principle, entirely coincides with the locally equilibrium distribution function obtained by Zubarev. A new approach to describe time evolution of systems far from equilibrium is proposed based on application of the SG principle at the intermediate scale level of the system's internal structure. The problem of the high-rate shear flow of viscous fluid near the rigid plane plate is discussed. It is shown that the SG principle allows closed mathematical models of non-equilibrium processes to be constructed.This article is part of the themed issue 'Horizons of cybernetical physics'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Anisotropic failure and size effects in periodic honeycomb materials: A gradient-elasticity approach

Science.gov (United States)

Réthoré, Julien; Dang, Thi Bach Tuyet; Kaltenbrunner, Christine

2017-02-01

This paper proposes a fracture mechanics model for the analysis of crack propagation in periodic honeycomb materials. The model is based on gradient-elasticity which enables us to account for the effect of the material structure at the macroscopic scale. For simulating the propagation of cracks along an arbitrary path, the numerical implementation is elaborated based on an extended finite element method with the required level of continuity. The two main features captured by the model are directionality and size effect. The numerical predictions are consistent with experimental results on honeycomb materials but also with results reported in the literature for microstructurally short cracks in metals.

Community and ecosystem responses to elevational gradients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sundqvist, Maja K.; Sanders, Nate; Wardle, David A.

2013-01-01

Community structure and ecosystem processes often vary along elevational gradients. Their responses to elevation are commonly driven by changes in temperature, and many community- and ecosystem-level variables therefore frequently respond similarly to elevation across contrasting gradients...... elevational gradients for understanding community and ecosystem responses to global climate change at much larger spatial and temporal scales than is possible through conventional ecological experiments. However, future studies that integrate elevational gradient approaches with experimental manipulations...... will provide powerful information that can improve predictions of climate change impacts within and across ecosystems....

A novel technique for real-time estimation of edge pedestal density gradients via reflectometer time delay data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zeng, L., E-mail: zeng@fusion.gat.com; Doyle, E. J.; Rhodes, T. L.; Wang, G.; Sung, C.; Peebles, W. A. [Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States); Bobrek, M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6006 (United States)

2016-11-15

A new model-based technique for fast estimation of the pedestal electron density gradient has been developed. The technique uses ordinary mode polarization profile reflectometer time delay data and does not require direct profile inversion. Because of its simple data processing, the technique can be readily implemented via a Field-Programmable Gate Array, so as to provide a real-time density gradient estimate, suitable for use in plasma control systems such as envisioned for ITER, and possibly for DIII-D and Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak. The method is based on a simple edge plasma model with a linear pedestal density gradient and low scrape-off-layer density. By measuring reflectometer time delays for three adjacent frequencies, the pedestal density gradient can be estimated analytically via the new approach. Using existing DIII-D profile reflectometer data, the estimated density gradients obtained from the new technique are found to be in good agreement with the actual density gradients for a number of dynamic DIII-D plasma conditions.

On wake modeling, wind-farm gradients and AEP predictions at the Anholt wind farm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pena Diaz, Alfredo; Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Ott, Søren

2017-01-01

of the mesoscale simulations and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), we show that for westerly flow in particular, there is a clear horizontal wind-speed gradient over the wind farm. We also use the mesoscale simulations to derive the undisturbed inflow conditions that are coupled with three commonly....... When looking at westerly flow wake cases, where the impact of the horizontal wind-speed gradient on the power of the undisturbed turbines is largest, the wake models agree with the SCADA fairly well; when looking at a southerly flow case, where the wake losses are highest, the wake models tend...... to underestimate the wake loss. With the mesoscale-wake model setup, we are also able to estimate the capacity factor of the wind farm rather well when compared to that derived from the SCADA. Finally, we estimate the uncertainty of the wake models by bootstrapping the SCADA. The models tend to underestimate...

Gradient retention prediction of acid-base analytes in reversed phase liquid chromatography: a simplified approach for acetonitrile-water mobile phases.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrés, Axel; Rosés, Martí; Bosch, Elisabeth

2014-11-28

In previous work, a two-parameter model to predict chromatographic retention of ionizable analytes in gradient mode was proposed. However, the procedure required some previous experimental work to get a suitable description of the pKa change with the mobile phase composition. In the present study this previous experimental work has been simplified. The analyte pKa values have been calculated through equations whose coefficients vary depending on their functional group. Forced by this new approach, other simplifications regarding the retention of the totally neutral and totally ionized species also had to be performed. After the simplifications were applied, new prediction values were obtained and compared with the previously acquired experimental data. The simplified model gave pretty good predictions while saving a significant amount of time and resources. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling SST gradient changes, the hydrological cycle response, and deep water formation in the North Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Burls, N.; Ford, H. L.; Fedorov, A. V.; Jahn, A.; Jacobs, P.

2017-12-01

The absence of deep-water formation and a deep meridional overturning cell in the modern North Pacific has been attributed to the relatively fresh surface conditions in the subarctic. These conditions are, in turn, best explained by the local excess of precipitation over evaporation in the northern Pacific due to net moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific and/or moisture transport associated with the Asian monsoon. Some studies link the lack of deep-water formation in the Pacific directly to its occurrence in the Atlantic via the Atlantic-Pacific seesaw effect and idealized experiments indicate that the smaller width of the Atlantic predisposes it to higher salinity and deep-water formation. We have conducted a series of coupled model experiments across which global mean temperatures and large-scale meridional SST gradients are varied. We perturb either atmospheric CO2 concentrations or the meridional gradient in cloud radiative forcing and run each experiment out to 3000 years so that the deep ocean has equilibrated. As the strength of the meridional temperature gradient decreases across our experiments, a Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation develops. The strength of this Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation generally increases as the gradient weakens. In one of these experiments where the meridional SST gradient most closely resembles Pliocene reconstructions, a PMOC exists of comparable in strength to the modern AMOC. We will describe how the hydrological cycle response to reduced meridional SST gradients acts to increase the strength of the PMOC across our sensitivity experiments. Additionally, we will discuss our effort to include carbon isotopes in our Pliocene-like simulation for data-model comparisons. Calcium carbonate accumulation data from Subarctic North Pacific Site 882 and new and previously published carbon isotope records from the Pacific appear to support our modelling results suggesting that weaker meridonal SST gradients

Refined discrete and empirical horizontal gradients in VLBI analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Landskron, Daniel; Böhm, Johannes

2018-02-01

Missing or incorrect consideration of azimuthal asymmetry of troposphere delays is a considerable error source in space geodetic techniques such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) or Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). So-called horizontal troposphere gradients are generally utilized for modeling such azimuthal variations and are particularly required for observations at low elevation angles. Apart from estimating the gradients within the data analysis, which has become common practice in space geodetic techniques, there is also the possibility to determine the gradients beforehand from different data sources than the actual observations. Using ray-tracing through Numerical Weather Models (NWMs), we determined discrete gradient values referred to as GRAD for VLBI observations, based on the standard gradient model by Chen and Herring (J Geophys Res 102(B9):20489-20502, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1029/97JB01739) and also for new, higher-order gradient models. These gradients are produced on the same data basis as the Vienna Mapping Functions 3 (VMF3) (Landskron and Böhm in J Geod, 2017.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-017-1066-2), so they can also be regarded as the VMF3 gradients as they are fully consistent with each other. From VLBI analyses of the Vienna VLBI and Satellite Software (VieVS), it becomes evident that baseline length repeatabilities (BLRs) are improved on average by 5% when using a priori gradients GRAD instead of estimating the gradients. The reason for this improvement is that the gradient estimation yields poor results for VLBI sessions with a small number of observations, while the GRAD a priori gradients are unaffected from this. We also developed a new empirical gradient model applicable for any time and location on Earth, which is included in the Global Pressure and Temperature 3 (GPT3) model. Although being able to describe only the systematic component of azimuthal asymmetry and no short-term variations at all, even these

Numerical modelling of micro-machining of f.c.c. single crystal: Influence of strain gradients

KAUST Repository

Demiral, Murat

2014-11-01

A micro-machining process becomes increasingly important with the continuous miniaturization of components used in various fields from military to civilian applications. To characterise underlying micromechanics, a 3D finite-element model of orthogonal micro-machining of f.c.c. single crystal copper was developed. The model was implemented in a commercial software ABAQUS/Explicit employing a user-defined subroutine VUMAT. Strain-gradient crystal-plasticity and conventional crystal-plasticity theories were used to demonstrate the influence of pre-existing and evolved strain gradients on the cutting process for different combinations of crystal orientations and cutting directions. Crown Copyright © 2014.

Calibration of a rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer using centrifugal gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Mingbiao; Cai, Tijing

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study is to calibrate scale factors and equivalent zero biases of a rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer (RAGG). We calibrate scale factors by determining the relationship between the centrifugal gradient excitation and RAGG response. Compared with calibration by changing the gravitational gradient excitation, this method does not need test masses and is easier to implement. The equivalent zero biases are superpositions of self-gradients and the intrinsic zero biases of the RAGG. A self-gradient is the gravitational gradient produced by surrounding masses, and it correlates well with the RAGG attitude angle. We propose a self-gradient model that includes self-gradients and the intrinsic zero biases of the RAGG. The self-gradient model is a function of the RAGG attitude, and it includes parameters related to surrounding masses. The calibration of equivalent zero biases determines the parameters of the self-gradient model. We provide detailed procedures and mathematical formulations for calibrating scale factors and parameters in the self-gradient model. A RAGG physical simulation system substitutes for the actual RAGG in the calibration and validation experiments. Four point masses simulate four types of surrounding masses producing self-gradients. Validation experiments show that the self-gradients predicted by the self-gradient model are consistent with those from the outputs of the RAGG physical simulation system, suggesting that the presented calibration method is valid.

An investigation into the reduction of log-layer mismatch in wall-modeled LES with a hybrid RANS/LES approach

Science.gov (United States)

Balin, Riccardo; Spalart, Philippe R.; Jansen, Kenneth E.

2017-11-01

Hybrid RANS/LES modeling approaches used in the context of wall-modeled LES (WMLES) of channel flows and boundary layers often suffer from a mismatch in the RANS and LES log-layer intercepts of the mean velocity profile. In the vicinity of the interface between the RANS and LES regions, the mean velocity gradient is too steep causing a departure from the log-law, an over-prediction of the velocity in the outer layer and an under-prediction of the skin-friction. This steep gradient is attributed to inadequate modeled Reynolds stresses in the upper portion of the RANS layer and at the interface. Channel flow computations were carried out with the IDDES approach of Shur et al. in WMLES mode based on the Spalart-Allmaras RANS model. This talk investigates the robustness of this approach for unstructured grids and explores changes required for grids where insufficient elevation of the Reynolds stresses is observed. Awards of computer time were provided by Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) and Early Science programs. Resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, were used.

Quantifying the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Urbanization along Urban-Rural Gradient with a Roadscape Transect Approach: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhonghao Zhang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Quantifying the landscape pattern change can effectively demonstrate the ecological progresses and the consequences of urbanization. Based on remotely sensed land cover data in 1994, 2000, 2006 and a gradient analysis with landscape metrics at landscape- and class- level, we attempted to characterize the individual and entire landscape patterns of Shanghai metropolitan during the rapid urbanization. We highlighted that a roadscape transect approach that combined the buffer zone method and the transect-based approach was introduced to describe the urban-rural patterns of agricultural, residential, green, industrial, and public facilities land along the railway route. Our results of landscape metrics showed significant spatiotemporal patterns and gradient variations along the transect. The urban growth pattern in two time spans conform to the hypothesis for diffusion–coalescence processes, implying that the railway is adaptive as a gradient element to analyze the landscape patterns with urbanization. As the natural landscape was replaced by urban landscape gradually, the desakota region expanded its extent widely. Suburb areas witnessed the continual transformation from the predominantly rural landscape to peri-urban landscape. Furthermore, the gap between urban and rural areas remained large especially in public service. More reasonable urban plans and land use policies should push to make more efforts to transition from the urban-rural separation to coordinated urban-rural development. This study is a meaningful trial in demonstrating a new form of urban–rural transects to study the landscape change of large cities. By combining gradient analysis with landscape metrics, we addressed the process of urbanization both spatially and temporally, and provided a more quantitative approach to urban studies.

Convergence in gradient systems with branching of equilibria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galaktionov, V A; Pohozaev, Stanislav I; Shishkov, A E

2007-01-01

The basic model is a semilinear elliptic equation with coercive C 1 non-linearity: Δψ+f(ψ)=0 in Ω, ψ=0 on ∂Ω, where Ω subset of R N is a bounded smooth domain. The main hypothesis (H R ) about resonance branching is as follows: if a branching of equilibria occurs at a point ψ with k-dimensional kernel of the linearized operator Δ+f'(ψ)I, then the branching subset S k at ψ is a locally smooth k-dimensional manifold. For N=1 the first result on the stabilization to a single equilibrium is due to Zelenyak (1968). It is shown that Zelenyak's approach, which is based on the analysis of Lyapunov functions, can be extended to general gradient systems in Hilbert spaces with smooth resonance branching. The case of asymptotically small non-autonomous perturbations of such systems is also considered. The approach developed here represents an alternative to Hale's stabilization method (1992) and other similar techniques in the theory of gradient systems. Bibliography: 32 titles.

Hydrodynamic fabrication of structurally gradient ZnO nanorods.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyung Min; Youn, Jae Ryoun; Song, Young Seok

2016-02-26

We studied a new approach where structurally gradient nanostructures were fabricated by means of hydrodynamics. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were synthesized in a drag-driven rotational flow in a controlled manner. The structural characteristics of nanorods such as orientation and diameter were determined by momentum and mass transfer at the substrate surface. The nucleation of ZnO was induced by shear stress which plays a key role in determining the orientation of ZnO nanorods. The nucleation and growth of such nanostructures were modeled theoretically and analyzed numerically to understand the underlying physics of the fabrication of nanostructures controlled by hydrodynamics. The findings demonstrated that the precise control of momentum and mass transfer enabled the formation of ZnO nanorods with a structural gradient in diameter and orientation.

Dynamic properties of polydisperse colloidal particles in the presence of thermal gradient studied by a modified Brownian dynamic model

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Dongxing; Jin, Hui; Jing, Dengwei; Wang, Xin

2018-03-01

Aggregation and migration of colloidal particles under the thermal gradient widely exists in nature and many industrial processes. In this study, dynamic properties of polydisperse colloidal particles in the presence of thermal gradient were studied by a modified Brownian dynamic model. Other than the traditional forces on colloidal particles, including Brownian force, hydrodynamic force, and electrostatic force from other particles, the electrostatic force from the asymmetric ionic diffusion layer under a thermal gradient has been considered and introduced into the Brownian dynamic model. The aggregation ratio of particles (R A), the balance time (t B) indicating the time threshold when {{R}A} becomes constant, the porosity ({{P}BA} ), fractal dimension (D f) and distributions of concentration (DISC) and aggregation (DISA) for the aggregated particles were discussed based on this model. The aggregated structures formed by polydisperse particles are less dense and the particles therein are loosely bonded. Also it showed a quite large compressibility as the increases of concentration and interparticle potential can significantly increase the fractal dimension. The thermal gradient can induce two competitive factors leading to a two-stage migration of particles. When t{{t}B} , the thermophoresis becomes dominant thus the migrations of particles are against the thermal gradient. The effect of thermophoresis on the aggregate structures was found to be similar to the effect of increasing particle concentration. This study demonstrates how the thermal gradient affects the aggregation of monodisperse and polydisperse particles and can be a guide for the biomimetics and precise control of colloid system under the thermal gradient. Moreover, our model can be easily extended to other more complex colloidal systems considering shear, temperature fluctuation, surfactant, etc.

Wide-field schematic eye models with gradient-index lens.

Science.gov (United States)

Goncharov, Alexander V; Dainty, Chris

2007-08-01

We propose a wide-field schematic eye model, which provides a more realistic description of the optical system of the eye in relation to its anatomical structure. The wide-field model incorporates a gradient-index (GRIN) lens, which enables it to fulfill properties of two well-known schematic eye models, namely, Navarro's model for off-axis aberrations and Thibos's chromatic on-axis model (the Indiana eye). These two models are based on extensive experimental data, which makes the derived wide-field eye model also consistent with that data. A mathematical method to construct a GRIN lens with its iso-indicial contours following the optical surfaces of given asphericity is presented. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated with three variants related to different age groups. The role of the GRIN structure in relation to the lens paradox is analyzed. The wide-field model with a GRIN lens can be used as a starting design for the eye inverse problem, i.e., reconstructing the optical structure of the eye from off-axis wavefront measurements. Anatomically more accurate age-dependent optical models of the eye could ultimately help an optical designer to improve wide-field retinal imaging.

Reflectance analysis of porosity gradient in nanostructured silicon layers

Science.gov (United States)

Jurečka, Stanislav; Imamura, Kentaro; Matsumoto, Taketoshi; Kobayashi, Hikaru

2017-12-01

In this work we study optical properties of nanostructured layers formed on silicon surface. Nanostructured layers on Si are formed in order to reach high suppression of the light reflectance. Low spectral reflectance is important for improvement of the conversion efficiency of solar cells and for other optoelectronic applications. Effective method of forming nanostructured layers with ultralow reflectance in a broad interval of wavelengths is in our approach based on metal assisted etching of Si. Si surface immersed in HF and H2O2 solution is etched in contact with the Pt mesh roller and the structure of the mesh is transferred on the etched surface. During this etching procedure the layer density evolves gradually and the spectral reflectance decreases exponentially with the depth in porous layer. We analyzed properties of the layer porosity by incorporating the porosity gradient into construction of the layer spectral reflectance theoretical model. Analyzed layer is splitted into 20 sublayers in our approach. Complex dielectric function in each sublayer is computed by using Bruggeman effective media theory and the theoretical spectral reflectance of modelled multilayer system is computed by using Abeles matrix formalism. Porosity gradient is extracted from the theoretical reflectance model optimized in comparison to the experimental values. Resulting values of the structure porosity development provide important information for optimization of the technological treatment operations.

Gradient-type methods in inverse parabolic problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kabanikhin, Sergey; Penenko, Aleksey

2008-01-01

This article is devoted to gradient-based methods for inverse parabolic problems. In the first part, we present a priori convergence theorems based on the conditional stability estimates for linear inverse problems. These theorems are applied to backwards parabolic problem and sideways parabolic problem. The convergence conditions obtained coincide with sourcewise representability in the self-adjoint backwards parabolic case but they differ in the sideways case. In the second part, a variational approach is formulated for a coefficient identification problem. Using adjoint equations, a formal gradient of an objective functional is constructed. A numerical test illustrates the performance of conjugate gradient algorithm with the formal gradient.

A Motor-Gradient and Clustering Model of the Centripetal Motility of MTOCs in Meiosis I of Mouse Oocytes

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Asters nucleated by Microtubule (MT) organizing centers (MTOCs) converge on chromosomes during spindle assembly in mouse oocytes undergoing meiosis I. Time-lapse imaging suggests that this centripetal motion is driven by a biased ‘search-and-capture’ mechanism. Here, we develop a model of a random walk in a drift field to test the nature of the bias and the spatio-temporal dynamics of the search process. The model is used to optimize the spatial field of drift in simulations, by comparison to experimental motility statistics. In a second step, this optimized gradient is used to determine the location of immobilized dynein motors and MT polymerization parameters, since these are hypothesized to generate the gradient of forces needed to move MTOCs. We compare these scenarios to self-organized mechanisms by which asters have been hypothesized to find the cell-center- MT pushing at the cell-boundary and clustering motor complexes. By minimizing the error between simulation outputs and experiments, we find a model of “pulling” by a gradient of dynein motors alone can drive the centripetal motility. Interestingly, models of passive MT based “pushing” at the cortex, clustering by cross-linking motors and MT-dynamic instability gradients alone, by themselves do not result in the observed motility. The model predicts the sensitivity of the results to motor density and stall force, but not MTs per aster. A hybrid model combining a chromatin-centered immobilized dynein gradient, diffusible minus-end directed clustering motors and pushing at the cell cortex, is required to comprehensively explain the available data. The model makes experimentally testable predictions of a spatial bias and self-organized mechanisms by which MT asters can find the center of a large cell. PMID:27706163

Rethinking plant functional types in Earth System Models: pan-tropical analysis of tree survival across environmental gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, D. J.; Needham, J.; Xu, C.; Davies, S. J.; Bunyavejchewin, S.; Giardina, C. P.; Condit, R.; Cordell, S.; Litton, C. M.; Hubbell, S.; Kassim, A. R. B.; Shawn, L. K. Y.; Nasardin, M. B.; Ong, P.; Ostertag, R.; Sack, L.; Tan, S. K. S.; Yap, S.; McDowell, N. G.; McMahon, S.

2016-12-01

Terrestrial carbon cycling is a function of the growth and survival of trees. Current model representations of tree growth and survival at a global scale rely on coarse plant functional traits that are parameterized very generally. In view of the large biodiversity in the tropical forests, it is important that we account for the functional diversity in order to better predict tropical forest responses to future climate changes. Several next generation Earth System Models are moving towards a size-structured, trait-based approach to modelling vegetation globally, but the challenge of which and how many traits are necessary to capture forest complexity remains. Additionally, the challenge of collecting sufficient trait data to describe the vast species richness of tropical forests is enormous. We propose a more fundamental approach to these problems by characterizing forests by their patterns of survival. We expect our approach to distill real-world tree survival into a reasonable number of functional types. Using 10 large-area tropical forest plots that span geographic, edaphic and climatic gradients, we model tree survival as a function of tree size for hundreds of species. We found surprisingly few categories of size-survival functions emerge. This indicates some fundamental strategies at play across diverse forests to constrain the range of possible size-survival functions. Initial cluster analysis indicates that four to eight functional forms are necessary to describe variation in size-survival relations. Temporal variation in size-survival functions can be related to local environmental variation, allowing us to parameterize how demographically similar groups of species respond to perturbations in the ecosystem. We believe this methodology will yield a synthetic approach to classifying forest systems that will greatly reduce uncertainty and complexity in global vegetation models.

Efficient Sensor Placement Optimization Using Gradient Descent and Probabilistic Coverage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vahab Akbarzadeh

2014-08-01

Full Text Available We are proposing an adaptation of the gradient descent method to optimize the position and orientation of sensors for the sensor placement problem. The novelty of the proposed method lies in the combination of gradient descent optimization with a realistic model, which considers both the topography of the environment and a set of sensors with directional probabilistic sensing. The performance of this approach is compared with two other black box optimization methods over area coverage and processing time. Results show that our proposed method produces competitive results on smaller maps and superior results on larger maps, while requiring much less computation than the other optimization methods to which it has been compared.

An analytical model of SAGD process considering the effect of threshold pressure gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Morozov, P.; Abdullin, A.; Khairullin, M.

2018-05-01

An analytical model is proposed for the development of super-viscous oil deposits by the method of steam-assisted gravity drainage, taking into account the nonlinear filtration law with the limiting gradient. The influence of non-Newtonian properties of oil on the productivity of a horizontal well and the cumulative steam-oil ratio are studied. Verification of the proposed model based on the results of physical modeling of the SAGD process was carried out.

On the development and benchmarking of an approach to model gas transport in fractured media with immobile water storage

Science.gov (United States)

Harp, D. R.; Ortiz, J. P.; Pandey, S.; Karra, S.; Viswanathan, H. S.; Stauffer, P. H.; Anderson, D. N.; Bradley, C. R.

2017-12-01

In unsaturated fractured media, the rate of gas transport is much greater than liquid transport in many applications (e.g., soil vapor extraction operations, methane leaks from hydraulic fracking, shallow CO2 transport from geologic sequestration operations, and later-time radionuclide gas transport from underground nuclear explosions). However, the relatively immobile pore water can inhibit or promote gas transport for soluble constituents by providing storage. In scenarios with constant pressure gradients, the gas transport will be retarded. In scenarios with reversing pressure gradients (i.e. barometric pressure variations) pore water storage can enhance gas transport by providing a ratcheting mechanism. Recognizing the computational efficiency that can be gained using a single-phase model and the necessity of considering pore water storage, we develop a Richard's solution approach that includes kinetic dissolution/volatilization of constituents. Henry's Law governs the equilibrium gaseous/aqueous phase partitioning in the approach. The approach is implemented in a development branch of the PFLOTRAN simulator. We verify the approach with analytical solutions of: (1) 1D gas diffusion, (2) 1D gas advection, (3) sinusoidal barometric pumping of a fracture, and (4) gas transport along a fracture with uniform flow and diffusive walls. We demonstrate the retardation of gas transport in cases with constant pressure gradients and the enhancement of gas transport with reversing pressure gradients. The figure presents the verification of our approach to the analytical solution of barometric pumping of a fracture from Nilson et al (1991) where the x-axis "Horizontal axis" is the distance into the matrix block from the fracture.

Simulated Design Strategies for SPECT Collimators to Reduce the Eddy Currents Induced by MRI Gradient Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Samoudi, Amine M.; Van Audenhaege, Karen; Vermeeren, Günter; Verhoyen, Gregory; Martens, Luc; Van Holen, Roel; Joseph, Wout

2015-10-01

Combining single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) requires the insertion of highly conductive SPECT collimators inside the MRI scanner, resulting in an induced eddy current disturbing the combined system. We reduced the eddy currents due to the insert of a novel tungsten collimator inside transverse and longitudinal gradient coils. The collimator was produced with metal additive manufacturing, that is part of a microSPECT insert for a preclinical SPECT/MRI scanner. We characterized the induced magnetic field due to the gradient field and adapted the collimators to reduce the induced eddy currents. We modeled the x-, y-, and z-gradient coil and the different collimator designs and simulated them with FEKO, a three-dimensional method of moments / finite element methods (MoM/FEM) full-wave simulation tool. We used a time analysis approach to generate the pulsed magnetic field gradient. Simulation results show that the maximum induced field can be reduced by 50.82% in the final design bringing the maximum induced magnetic field to less than 2% of the applied gradient for all the gradient coils. The numerical model was validated with measurements and was proposed as a tool for studying the effect of a SPECT collimator within the MRI gradient coils.

Color Gradients Within Globular Clusters: Restricted Numerical Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young-Jong Sohn

1997-06-01

Full Text Available The results of a restricted numerical simulation for the color gradients within globular clusters have been presented. The standard luminosity function of M3 and Salpeter's initial mass functions were used to generate model clusters as a fundamental population. Color gradients with the sample clusters for both King and power law cusp models of surface brightness distributions are discussed in the case of using the standard luminosity function. The dependence of color gradients on several parameters for the simulations with Salpeter's initial mass functions, such as slope of initial mass functions, cluster ages, metallicities, concentration parameters of King model, and slopes of power law, are also discussed. No significant radial color gradients are shown to the sample clusters which are regenerated by a random number generation technique with various parameters in both of King and power law cusp models of surface brightness distributions. Dynamical mass segregation and stellar evolution of horizontal branch stars and blue stragglers should be included for the general case of model simulations to show the observed radial color gradients within globular clusters.

Graph approach to the gradient expansion of density functionals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozlowski, P.M.; Nalewajski, R.F.

1986-01-01

A graph representation of terms in the gradient expansion of the kinetic energy density functional is presented. They briefly discuss the implications of the virial theorem for the graph structure and relations between possible graphs at a given order of expansion

Entropy Generation in Steady Laminar Boundary Layers with Pressure Gradients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donald M. McEligot

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In an earlier paper in Entropy [1] we hypothesized that the entropy generation rate is the driving force for boundary layer transition from laminar to turbulent flow. Subsequently, with our colleagues we have examined the prediction of entropy generation during such transitions [2,3]. We found that reasonable predictions for engineering purposes could be obtained for flows with negligible streamwise pressure gradients by adapting the linear combination model of Emmons [4]. A question then arises—will the Emmons approach be useful for boundary layer transition with significant streamwise pressure gradients as by Nolan and Zaki [5]. In our implementation the intermittency is calculated by comparison to skin friction correlations for laminar and turbulent boundary layers and is then applied with comparable correlations for the energy dissipation coefficient (i.e., non-dimensional integral entropy generation rate. In the case of negligible pressure gradients the Blasius theory provides the necessary laminar correlations.

Systems biology derived source-sink mechanism of BMP gradient formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zinski, Joseph; Bu, Ye; Wang, Xu; Dou, Wei; Umulis, David; Mullins, Mary C

2017-08-09

A morphogen gradient of Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling patterns the dorsoventral embryonic axis of vertebrates and invertebrates. The prevailing view in vertebrates for BMP gradient formation is through a counter-gradient of BMP antagonists, often along with ligand shuttling to generate peak signaling levels. To delineate the mechanism in zebrafish, we precisely quantified the BMP activity gradient in wild-type and mutant embryos and combined these data with a mathematical model-based computational screen to test hypotheses for gradient formation. Our analysis ruled out a BMP shuttling mechanism and a bmp transcriptionally-informed gradient mechanism. Surprisingly, rather than supporting a counter-gradient mechanism, our analyses support a fourth model, a source-sink mechanism, which relies on a restricted BMP antagonist distribution acting as a sink that drives BMP flux dorsally and gradient formation. We measured Bmp2 diffusion and found that it supports the source-sink model, suggesting a new mechanism to shape BMP gradients during development.

Dynamic Maternal Gradients Control Timing and Shift-Rates for Drosophila Gap Gene Expression

Science.gov (United States)

Verd, Berta; Crombach, Anton

2017-01-01

Pattern formation during development is a highly dynamic process. In spite of this, few experimental and modelling approaches take into account the explicit time-dependence of the rules governing regulatory systems. We address this problem by studying dynamic morphogen interpretation by the gap gene network in Drosophila melanogaster. Gap genes are involved in segment determination during early embryogenesis. They are activated by maternal morphogen gradients encoded by bicoid (bcd) and caudal (cad). These gradients decay at the same time-scale as the establishment of the antero-posterior gap gene pattern. We use a reverse-engineering approach, based on data-driven regulatory models called gene circuits, to isolate and characterise the explicitly time-dependent effects of changing morphogen concentrations on gap gene regulation. To achieve this, we simulate the system in the presence and absence of dynamic gradient decay. Comparison between these simulations reveals that maternal morphogen decay controls the timing and limits the rate of gap gene expression. In the anterior of the embyro, it affects peak expression and leads to the establishment of smooth spatial boundaries between gap domains. In the posterior of the embryo, it causes a progressive slow-down in the rate of gap domain shifts, which is necessary to correctly position domain boundaries and to stabilise the spatial gap gene expression pattern. We use a newly developed method for the analysis of transient dynamics in non-autonomous (time-variable) systems to understand the regulatory causes of these effects. By providing a rigorous mechanistic explanation for the role of maternal gradient decay in gap gene regulation, our study demonstrates that such analyses are feasible and reveal important aspects of dynamic gene regulation which would have been missed by a traditional steady-state approach. More generally, it highlights the importance of transient dynamics for understanding complex regulatory

A Modulated-Gradient Parametrization for the Large-Eddy Simulation of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model

Science.gov (United States)

Khani, Sina; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2017-12-01

The performance of the modulated-gradient subgrid-scale (SGS) model is investigated using large-eddy simulation (LES) of the neutral atmospheric boundary layer within the weather research and forecasting model. Since the model includes a finite-difference scheme for spatial derivatives, the discretization errors may affect the simulation results. We focus here on understanding the effects of finite-difference schemes on the momentum balance and the mean velocity distribution, and the requirement (or not) of the ad hoc canopy model. We find that, unlike the Smagorinsky and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) models, the calculated mean velocity and vertical shear using the modulated-gradient model, are in good agreement with Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, without the need for an extra near-wall canopy model. The structure of the near-wall turbulent eddies is better resolved using the modulated-gradient model in comparison with the classical Smagorinsky and TKE models, which are too dissipative and yield unrealistic smoothing of the smallest resolved scales. Moreover, the SGS fluxes obtained from the modulated-gradient model are much smaller near the wall in comparison with those obtained from the regular Smagorinsky and TKE models. The apparent inability of the LES model in reproducing the mean streamwise component of the momentum balance using the total (resolved plus SGS) stress near the surface is probably due to the effect of the discretization errors, which can be calculated a posteriori using the Taylor-series expansion of the resolved velocity field. Overall, we demonstrate that the modulated-gradient model is less dissipative and yields more accurate results in comparison with the classical Smagorinsky model, with similar computational costs.

A diatom-based biological condition gradient (BCG) approach for assessing impairment and developing nutrient criteria for streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, Sonja; Charles, Donald F; Gerritsen, Jeroen; Belton, Thomas J

2016-08-15

Over-enrichment leading to excess algal growth is a major problem in rivers and streams. Regulations to protect streams typically incorporate nutrient criteria, concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen that should not be exceeded in order to protect biological communities. A major challenge has been to develop an approach for both categorizing streams based on their biological conditions and determining scientifically defensible nutrient criteria to protect the biotic integrity of streams in those categories. To address this challenge, we applied the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) approach to stream diatom assemblages to develop a system for categorizing sites by level of impairment, and then examined the related nutrient concentrations to identify potential nutrient criteria. The six levels of the BCG represent a range of ecological conditions from natural (1) to highly disturbed (6). A group of diatom experts developed a set of rules and a model to assign sites to these levels based on their diatom assemblages. To identify potential numeric nutrient criteria, we explored the relation of assigned BCG levels to nutrient concentrations, other anthropogenic stressors, and possible confounding variables using data for stream sites in New Jersey (n=42) and in surrounding Mid-Atlantic states, USA (n=1443). In both data sets, BCG levels correlated most strongly with total phosphorus and the percentage of forest in the watershed, but were independent of pH. We applied Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN) to determine change-points in the diatom assemblages along the BCG gradient. In both data sets, statistically significant diatom changes occurred between BCG levels 3 and 4. Sites with BCG levels 1 to 3 were dominated by species that grow attached to surfaces, while sites with BCG scores of 4 and above were characterized by motile diatoms. The diatom change-point corresponded with a total phosphorus concentration of about 50μg/L. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B

Dual fuel gradients in uranium silicide plates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pace, B.W. [Babock and Wilcox, Lynchburg, VA (United States)

1997-08-01

Babcock & Wilcox has been able to achieve dual gradient plates with good repeatability in small lots of U{sub 3}Si{sub 2} plates. Improvements in homogeneity and other processing parameters and techniques have allowed the development of contoured fuel within the cladding. The most difficult obstacles to overcome have been the ability to evaluate the bidirectional fuel loadings in comparison to the perfect loading model and the different methods of instilling the gradients in the early compact stage. The overriding conclusion is that to control the contour of the fuel, a known relationship between the compact, the frames and final core gradient must exist. Therefore, further development in the creation and control of dual gradients in fuel plates will involve arriving at a plausible gradient requirement and building the correct model between the compact configuration and the final contoured loading requirements.

Gradient-based methods for production optimization of oil reservoirs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suwartadi, Eka

2012-07-01

Production optimization for water flooding in the secondary phase of oil recovery is the main topic in this thesis. The emphasis has been on numerical optimization algorithms, tested on case examples using simple hypothetical oil reservoirs. Gradientbased optimization, which utilizes adjoint-based gradient computation, is used to solve the optimization problems. The first contribution of this thesis is to address output constraint problems. These kinds of constraints are natural in production optimization. Limiting total water production and water cut at producer wells are examples of such constraints. To maintain the feasibility of an optimization solution, a Lagrangian barrier method is proposed to handle the output constraints. This method incorporates the output constraints into the objective function, thus avoiding additional computations for the constraints gradient (Jacobian) which may be detrimental to the efficiency of the adjoint method. The second contribution is the study of the use of second-order adjoint-gradient information for production optimization. In order to speedup convergence rate in the optimization, one usually uses quasi-Newton approaches such as BFGS and SR1 methods. These methods compute an approximation of the inverse of the Hessian matrix given the first-order gradient from the adjoint method. The methods may not give significant speedup if the Hessian is ill-conditioned. We have developed and implemented the Hessian matrix computation using the adjoint method. Due to high computational cost of the Newton method itself, we instead compute the Hessian-timesvector product which is used in a conjugate gradient algorithm. Finally, the last contribution of this thesis is on surrogate optimization for water flooding in the presence of the output constraints. Two kinds of model order reduction techniques are applied to build surrogate models. These are proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and the discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM

A physics-based model for maintenance of the pH gradient in the gastric mucus layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Owen L; Keener, James P; Fogelson, Aaron L

2017-12-01

It is generally accepted that the gastric mucus layer provides a protective barrier between the lumen and the mucosa, shielding the mucosa from acid and digestive enzymes and preventing autodigestion of the stomach epithelium. However, the precise mechanisms that contribute to this protective function are still up for debate. In particular, it is not clear what physical processes are responsible for transporting hydrogen protons, secreted within the gastric pits, across the mucus layer to the lumen without acidifying the environment adjacent to the epithelium. One hypothesis is that hydrogen may be bound to the mucin polymers themselves as they are convected away from the mucosal surface and eventually degraded in the stomach lumen. It is also not clear what mechanisms prevent hydrogen from diffusing back toward the mucosal surface, thereby lowering the local pH. In this work we investigate a physics-based model of ion transport within the mucosal layer based on a Nernst-Planck-like equation. Analysis of this model shows that the mechanism of transporting protons bound to the mucus gel is capable of reproducing the trans-mucus pH gradients reported in the literature. Furthermore, when coupled with ion exchange at the epithelial surface, our analysis shows that bicarbonate secretion alone is capable of neutralizing the epithelial pH, even in the face of enormous diffusive gradients of hydrogen. Maintenance of the pH gradient is found to be robust to a wide array of perturbations in both physiological and phenomenological model parameters, suggesting a robust physiological control mechanism. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This work combines modeling techniques based on physical principles, as well as novel numerical simulations to test the plausibility of one hypothesized mechanism for proton transport across the gastric mucus layer. Results show that this mechanism is able to maintain the extreme pH gradient seen in in vivo experiments and suggests a highly robust regulation

The optimized gradient method for full waveform inversion and its spectral implementation

KAUST Repository

Wu, Zedong; Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2016-01-01

At the heart of the full waveform inversion (FWI) implementation is wavefield extrapolation, and specifically its accuracy and cost. To obtain accurate, dispersion free wavefields, the extrapolation for modelling is often expensive. Combining an efficient extrapolation with a novel gradient preconditioning can render an FWI implementation that efficiently converges to an accurate model. We, specifically, recast the extrapolation part of the inversion in terms of its spectral components for both data and gradient calculation. This admits dispersion free wavefields even at large extrapolation time steps, which improves the efficiency of the inversion. An alternative spectral representation of the depth axis in terms of sine functions allows us to impose a free surface boundary condition, which reflects our medium boundaries more accurately. Using a newly derived perfectly matched layer formulation for this spectral implementation, we can define a finite model with absorbing boundaries. In order to reduce the nonlinearity in FWI, we propose a multiscale conditioning of the objective function through combining the different directional components of the gradient to optimally update the velocity. Through solving a simple optimization problem, it specifically admits the smoothest approximate update while guaranteeing its ascending direction. An application to the Marmousi model demonstrates the capability of the proposed approach and justifies our assertions with respect to cost and convergence.

The optimized gradient method for full waveform inversion and its spectral implementation

KAUST Repository

Wu, Zedong

2016-03-28

At the heart of the full waveform inversion (FWI) implementation is wavefield extrapolation, and specifically its accuracy and cost. To obtain accurate, dispersion free wavefields, the extrapolation for modelling is often expensive. Combining an efficient extrapolation with a novel gradient preconditioning can render an FWI implementation that efficiently converges to an accurate model. We, specifically, recast the extrapolation part of the inversion in terms of its spectral components for both data and gradient calculation. This admits dispersion free wavefields even at large extrapolation time steps, which improves the efficiency of the inversion. An alternative spectral representation of the depth axis in terms of sine functions allows us to impose a free surface boundary condition, which reflects our medium boundaries more accurately. Using a newly derived perfectly matched layer formulation for this spectral implementation, we can define a finite model with absorbing boundaries. In order to reduce the nonlinearity in FWI, we propose a multiscale conditioning of the objective function through combining the different directional components of the gradient to optimally update the velocity. Through solving a simple optimization problem, it specifically admits the smoothest approximate update while guaranteeing its ascending direction. An application to the Marmousi model demonstrates the capability of the proposed approach and justifies our assertions with respect to cost and convergence.

Modeling chemical gradients in sediments under losing and gaining flow conditions: The GRADIENT code

Science.gov (United States)

Boano, Fulvio; De Falco, Natalie; Arnon, Shai

2018-02-01

Interfaces between sediments and water bodies often represent biochemical hotspots for nutrient reactions and are characterized by steep concentration gradients of different reactive solutes. Vertical profiles of these concentrations are routinely collected to obtain information on nutrient dynamics, and simple codes have been developed to analyze these profiles and determine the magnitude and distribution of reaction rates within sediments. However, existing publicly available codes do not consider the potential contribution of water flow in the sediments to nutrient transport, and their applications to field sites with significant water-borne nutrient fluxes may lead to large errors in the estimated reaction rates. To fill this gap, the present work presents GRADIENT, a novel algorithm to evaluate distributions of reaction rates from observed concentration profiles. GRADIENT is a Matlab code that extends a previously published framework to include the role of nutrient advection, and provides robust estimates of reaction rates in sediments with significant water flow. This work discusses the theoretical basis of the method and shows its performance by comparing the results to a series of synthetic data and to laboratory experiments. The results clearly show that in systems with losing or gaining fluxes, the inclusion of such fluxes is critical for estimating local and overall reaction rates in sediments.

Proper orthogonal decomposition-based estimations of the flow field from particle image velocimetry wall-gradient measurements in the backward-facing step flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Thien Duy; Wells, John Craig; Mokhasi, Paritosh; Rempfer, Dietmar

2010-01-01

In this paper, particle image velocimetry (PIV) results from the recirculation zone of a backward-facing step flow, of which the Reynolds number is 2800 based on bulk velocity upstream of the step and step height (h = 16.5 mm), are used to demonstrate the capability of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)-based measurement models. Three-component PIV velocity fields are decomposed by POD into a set of spatial basis functions and a set of temporal coefficients. The measurement models are built to relate the low-order POD coefficients, determined from an ensemble of 1050 PIV fields by the 'snapshot' method, to the time-resolved wall gradients, measured by a near-wall measurement technique called stereo interfacial PIV. These models are evaluated in terms of reconstruction and prediction of the low-order temporal POD coefficients of the velocity fields. In order to determine the estimation coefficients of the measurement models, linear stochastic estimation (LSE), quadratic stochastic estimation (QSE), principal component regression (PCR) and kernel ridge regression (KRR) are applied. We denote such approaches as LSE-POD, QSE-POD, PCR-POD and KRR-POD. In addition to comparing the accuracy of measurement models, we introduce multi-time POD-based estimations in which past and future information of the wall-gradient events is used separately or combined. The results show that the multi-time estimation approaches can improve the prediction process. Among these approaches, the proposed multi-time KRR-POD estimation with an optimized window of past wall-gradient information yields the best prediction. Such a multi-time KRR-POD approach offers a useful tool for real-time flow estimation of the velocity field based on wall-gradient data

New generalized conjugate gradient methods for the non-quadratic model in unconstrained optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Bayati, A.

2001-01-01

This paper present two new conjugate gradient algorithms which use the non-quadratic model in unconstrained optimization. The first is a new generalized self-scaling variable metric algorithm based on the sloboda generalized conjugate gradient method which is invariant to a nonlinear scaling of a stricity convex quadratic function; the second is an interleaving between the generalized sloboda method and the first algorithm; all these algorithm use exact line searches. Numerical comparisons over twenty test functions show that the interleaving algorithm is best overall and requires only about half the function evaluations of the Sloboda method: interleaving algorithms are likely to be preferred when the dimensionality of the problem is increased. (author). 29 refs., 1 tab

SDSS-IV MaNGA: modelling the metallicity gradients of gas and stars - radially dependent metal outflow versus IMF

Science.gov (United States)

Lian, Jianhui; Thomas, Daniel; Maraston, Claudia; Goddard, Daniel; Parikh, Taniya; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Rong, Yu; Tang, Baitian; Yan, Renbin

2018-05-01

In our previous work, we found that only two scenarios are capable of reproducing the observed integrated mass-metallicity relations for the gas and stellar components of local star-forming galaxies simultaneously. One scenario invokes a time-dependent metal outflow loading factor with stronger outflows at early times. The other scenario uses a time-dependent initial mass function (IMF) slope with a steeper IMF at early times. In this work, we extend our study to investigate the radial profile of gas and stellar metallicity in local star-forming galaxies using spatially resolved spectroscopic data from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. We find that most galaxies show negative gradients in both gas and stellar metallicity with steeper gradients in stellar metallicity. The stellar metallicity gradients tend to be mass dependent with steeper gradients in more massive galaxies while no clear mass dependence is found for the gas metallicity gradient. Then we compare the observations with the predictions from a chemical evolution model of the radial profiles of gas and stellar metallicities. We confirm that the two scenarios proposed in our previous work are also required to explain the metallicity gradients. Based on these two scenarios, we successfully reproduce the radial profiles of gas metallicity, stellar metallicity, stellar mass surface density, and star formation rate surface density simultaneously. The origin of the negative gradient in stellar metallicity turns out to be driven by either radially dependent metal outflow or IMF slope. In contrast, the radial dependence of the gas metallicity is less constrained because of the degeneracy in model parameters.

Development of New Loan Payment Models with Piecewise Geometric Gradient Series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erdal Aydemir

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Engineering economics plays an important role in decision making. Also, the cash flows, time value of money and interest rates are the most important research fields in mathematical finance. Generalized formulae obtained from a variety of models with the time value of money and cash flows are inadequate to solve some problems. In this study, a new generalized formulae is considered for the first time and derived from a loan payment model which is a certain number of payment amount determined by customer at the beginning of payment period and the other repayments with piecewise linear gradient series. As a result, some numerical examples with solutions are given for the developed models. 

Variational approach to coarse-graining of generalized gradient flows

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duong, M.H.; Lamacz, A.; Peletier, M.A.; Sharma, U.

2017-01-01

In this paper we present a variational technique that handles coarse-graining and passing to a limit in a unified manner. The technique is based on a duality structure, which is present in many gradient flows and other variational evolutions, and which often arises from a large-deviations principle.

The Transition to Collisionless Ion-temperature-gradient-driven Plasma Turbulence: A Dynamical Systems Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolesnikov, R.A.; Krommes, J.A.

2004-01-01

The transition to collisionless ion-temperature-gradient-driven plasma turbulence is considered by applying dynamical systems theory to a model with ten degrees of freedom. Study of a four-dimensional center manifold predicts a ''Dimits shift'' of the threshold for turbulence due to the excitation of zonal flows and establishes the exact value of that shift in terms of physical parameters. For insight into fundamental physical mechanisms, the method provides a viable alternative to large simulations

The Origins of UV-optical Color Gradients in Star-forming Galaxies at z ˜ 2: Predominant Dust Gradients but Negligible sSFR Gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, F. S.; Jiang, Dongfei; Faber, S. M.; Koo, David C.; Yesuf, Hassen M.; Tacchella, Sandro; Mao, Shude; Wang, Weichen; Guo, Yicheng; Fang, Jerome J.; Barro, Guillermo; Zheng, Xianzhong; Jia, Meng; Tong, Wei; Liu, Lu; Meng, Xianmin

2017-07-01

The rest-frame UV-optical (I.e., NUV - B) color is sensitive to both low-level recent star formation (specific star formation rate—sSFR) and dust. In this Letter, we extend our previous work on the origins of NUV - B color gradients in star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z˜ 1 to those at z˜ 2. We use a sample of 1335 large (semimajor axis radius {R}{SMA}> 0\\buildrel{\\prime\\prime}\\over{.} 18) SFGs with extended UV emission out to 2{R}{SMA} in the mass range {M}* ={10}9{--}{10}11 {M}⊙ at 1.5negative NUV - B color gradients (redder centers), and their color gradients strongly increase with galaxy mass. We also show that the global rest-frame FUV - NUV color is approximately linear with {A}{{V}}, which is derived by modeling the observed integrated FUV to NIR spectral energy distributions of the galaxies. Applying this integrated calibration to our spatially resolved data, we find a negative dust gradient (more dust extinguished in the centers), which steadily becomes steeper with galaxy mass. We further find that the NUV - B color gradients become nearly zero after correcting for dust gradients regardless of galaxy mass. This indicates that the sSFR gradients are negligible and dust reddening is likely the principal cause of negative UV-optical color gradients in these SFGs. Our findings support that the buildup of the stellar mass in SFGs at Cosmic Noon is self-similar inside 2{R}{SMA}.

A Lattice Model for Bidirectional Pedestrian Flow on Gradient Road

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ge Hong-Xia; Cheng Rong-Jun; Lo Siu-Ming

2014-01-01

Ramps and sloping roads appear everywhere in the built environment. It is obvious that the movement pattern of people in the sloping path may be different as compared with the pattern on level roads. Previously, most of the studies, especially the mathematical and simulation models, on pedestrian movement consider the flow at level routes. This study proposes a new lattice model for bidirectional pedestrian flow on gradient road. The stability condition is obtained by using linear stability theory. The nonlinear analysis method is employed to derive the modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation, and the space of pedestrian flow is divided into three regions: the stable region, the metastable region, and the unstable region respectively. Furthermore, the time-dependent Ginzburg—Landan (TDGL) equation is deduced and solved through the reductive perturbation method. Finally, we present detailed results obtained from the model, and it is found that the stability of the model is enhanced in uphill situation while reduced in downhill situation with increasing slope. (general)

Role of spatial averaging in multicellular gradient sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tyler; Fancher, Sean; Levchenko, Andre; Nemenman, Ilya; Mugler, Andrew

2016-05-20

Gradient sensing underlies important biological processes including morphogenesis, polarization, and cell migration. The precision of gradient sensing increases with the length of a detector (a cell or group of cells) in the gradient direction, since a longer detector spans a larger range of concentration values. Intuition from studies of concentration sensing suggests that precision should also increase with detector length in the direction transverse to the gradient, since then spatial averaging should reduce the noise. However, here we show that, unlike for concentration sensing, the precision of gradient sensing decreases with transverse length for the simplest gradient sensing model, local excitation-global inhibition. The reason is that gradient sensing ultimately relies on a subtraction of measured concentration values. While spatial averaging indeed reduces the noise in these measurements, which increases precision, it also reduces the covariance between the measurements, which results in the net decrease in precision. We demonstrate how a recently introduced gradient sensing mechanism, regional excitation-global inhibition (REGI), overcomes this effect and recovers the benefit of transverse averaging. Using a REGI-based model, we compute the optimal two- and three-dimensional detector shapes, and argue that they are consistent with the shapes of naturally occurring gradient-sensing cell populations.

Instabilities in power law gradient hardening materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Tvergaard, Viggo

2005-01-01

Tension and compression instabilities are investigated for specimens with dimensions in the micron range. A finite strain generalization of a higher order strain gradient plasticity theory is implemented in a finite element scheme capable of modeling power law hardening materials. Effects...... of gradient hardening are found to delay the onset of localization under plane strain tension, and significantly reduce strain gradients in the localized zone. For plane strain compression gradient hardening is found to increase the load-carrying capacity significantly....

Debonding analyses in anisotropic materials with strain- gradient effects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Legarth, Brian Nyvang

2012-01-01

A unit cell approach is adopted to numerically analyze the effect of plastic anisotropy on damage evolution in a micro-reinforced composite. The matrix material exhibit size effects and a visco-plastic anisotropic strain gradient plasticity model accounting for such size effects is adopted....... A conventional cohesive law is extended such that both the average as well as the jump in plastic strain across the fiber-matrix interface are accounted for. Results are shown for both conventional isotropic and anisotropic materials as well as for higher order isotropic and anisotropic materials...... with and without debonding. Generally, the strain gradient enhanced material exhibits higher load carry capacity compared to the corresponding conventional material. A sudden stress drop occurs in the macroscopic stress-strain response curve due to fiber-matrix debonding and the results show that a change in yield...

Coreless Concept for High Gradient Induction Cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krasnykh, Anatoly

2008-01-01

An induction linac cell for a high gradient is discussed. The proposed solid state coreless approach for the induction linac topology (SLIM(reg s ign)) is based on nanosecond mode operation. This mode may have an acceleration gradient comparable with gradients of rf- accelerator structures. The discussed induction system has the high electric efficiency. The key elements are a solid state semiconductor switch and a high electric density dielectric with a thin section length. The energy in the induction system is storied in the magnetic field. The nanosecond current break-up produces the high voltage. The induced voltage is used for acceleration. This manner of an operation allows the use of low voltage elements in the booster part and achieves a high accelerating gradient. The proposed topology was tested in POP (proof of principle) experiments

Conjugate gradient minimisation approach to generating holographic traps for ultracold atoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Harte, Tiffany; Bruce, Graham D; Keeling, Jonathan; Cassettari, Donatella

2014-11-03

Direct minimisation of a cost function can in principle provide a versatile and highly controllable route to computational hologram generation. Here we show that the careful design of cost functions, combined with numerically efficient conjugate gradient minimisation, establishes a practical method for the generation of holograms for a wide range of target light distributions. This results in a guided optimisation process, with a crucial advantage illustrated by the ability to circumvent optical vortex formation during hologram calculation. We demonstrate the implementation of the conjugate gradient method for both discrete and continuous intensity distributions and discuss its applicability to optical trapping of ultracold atoms.

Gravity gradient preprocessing at the GOCE HPF

Science.gov (United States)

Bouman, J.; Rispens, S.; Gruber, T.; Schrama, E.; Visser, P.; Tscherning, C. C.; Veicherts, M.

2009-04-01

One of the products derived from the GOCE observations are the gravity gradients. These gravity gradients are provided in the Gradiometer Reference Frame (GRF) and are calibrated in-flight using satellite shaking and star sensor data. In order to use these gravity gradients for application in Earth sciences and gravity field analysis, additional pre-processing needs to be done, including corrections for temporal gravity field signals to isolate the static gravity field part, screening for outliers, calibration by comparison with existing external gravity field information and error assessment. The temporal gravity gradient corrections consist of tidal and non-tidal corrections. These are all generally below the gravity gradient error level, which is predicted to show a 1/f behaviour for low frequencies. In the outlier detection the 1/f error is compensated for by subtracting a local median from the data, while the data error is assessed using the median absolute deviation. The local median acts as a high-pass filter and it is robust as is the median absolute deviation. Three different methods have been implemented for the calibration of the gravity gradients. All three methods use a high-pass filter to compensate for the 1/f gravity gradient error. The baseline method uses state-of-the-art global gravity field models and the most accurate results are obtained if star sensor misalignments are estimated along with the calibration parameters. A second calibration method uses GOCE GPS data to estimate a low degree gravity field model as well as gravity gradient scale factors. Both methods allow to estimate gravity gradient scale factors down to the 10-3 level. The third calibration method uses high accurate terrestrial gravity data in selected regions to validate the gravity gradient scale factors, focussing on the measurement band. Gravity gradient scale factors may be estimated down to the 10-2 level with this method.

Gas-Foamed Scaffold Gradients for Combinatorial Screening in 3D

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Kohn

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Current methods for screening cell-material interactions typically utilize a two-dimensional (2D culture format where cells are cultured on flat surfaces. However, there is a need for combinatorial and high-throughput screening methods to systematically screen cell-biomaterial interactions in three-dimensional (3D tissue scaffolds for tissue engineering. Previously, we developed a two-syringe pump approach for making 3D scaffold gradients for use in combinatorial screening of salt-leached scaffolds. Herein, we demonstrate that the two-syringe pump approach can also be used to create scaffold gradients using a gas-foaming approach. Macroporous foams prepared by a gas-foaming technique are commonly used for fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds due to their high interconnectivity and good mechanical properties. Gas-foamed scaffold gradient libraries were fabricated from two biodegradable tyrosine-derived polycarbonates: poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine ethyl ester carbonate (pDTEc and poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine octyl ester carbonate (pDTOc. The composition of the libraries was assessed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR and showed that pDTEc/pDTOc gas-foamed scaffold gradients could be repeatably fabricated. Scanning electron microscopy showed that scaffold morphology was similar between the pDTEc-rich ends and the pDTOc-rich ends of the gradient. These results introduce a method for fabricating gas-foamed polymer scaffold gradients that can be used for combinatorial screening of cell-material interactions in 3D.

Communication: An efficient approach to compute state-specific nuclear gradients for a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Granovsky, Alexander A., E-mail: alex.granovsky@gmail.com [Firefly project, Moscow, 117593 Moscow (Russian Federation)

2015-12-21

We present a new, very efficient semi-numerical approach for the computation of state-specific nuclear gradients of a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction. Our approach eliminates the costly coupled-perturbed multi-configuration Hartree-Fock step as well as the associated integral transformation stage. The details of the implementation within the Firefly quantum chemistry package are discussed and several sample applications are given. The new approach is routinely applicable to geometry optimization of molecular systems with 1000+ basis functions using a standalone multi-core workstation.

Communication: An efficient approach to compute state-specific nuclear gradients for a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Granovsky, Alexander A.

2015-01-01

We present a new, very efficient semi-numerical approach for the computation of state-specific nuclear gradients of a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction. Our approach eliminates the costly coupled-perturbed multi-configuration Hartree-Fock step as well as the associated integral transformation stage. The details of the implementation within the Firefly quantum chemistry package are discussed and several sample applications are given. The new approach is routinely applicable to geometry optimization of molecular systems with 1000+ basis functions using a standalone multi-core workstation

Communication: An efficient approach to compute state-specific nuclear gradients for a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Granovsky, Alexander A

2015-12-21

We present a new, very efficient semi-numerical approach for the computation of state-specific nuclear gradients of a generic state-averaged multi-configuration self consistent field wavefunction. Our approach eliminates the costly coupled-perturbed multi-configuration Hartree-Fock step as well as the associated integral transformation stage. The details of the implementation within the Firefly quantum chemistry package are discussed and several sample applications are given. The new approach is routinely applicable to geometry optimization of molecular systems with 1000+ basis functions using a standalone multi-core workstation.

Time-domain full waveform inversion using the gradient preconditioning based on seismic wave energy: Application to the South China Sea

KAUST Repository

Mengxuan, Zhong

2017-06-01

The gradient preconditioning algorithms based on Hessian matrices in time-domain full waveform inversion (FWI) are widely used now, but consume a lot of memory and do not fit the FWI of large models or actual seismic data well. To avoid the huge storage consumption, the gradient preconditioning approach based on seismic wave energy has been proposed it simulates the “approximated wave field” with the acoustic wave equation and uses the energy of the simulated wavefield to precondition the gradient. The method does not require computing and storing the Hessian matrix or its inverse and can effectively eliminate the effect caused by geometric diffusion and uneven illumination on gradient. The result of experiments in this article with field data from South China Sea confirms that the time-domain FWI using the gradient preconditioning based on seismic wave energy (GPWE) can achieve higher inversion accuracy for the deep high-velocity model and its underlying strata.

Model predictive control for wind power gradients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovgaard, Tobias Gybel; Boyd, Stephen; Jørgensen, John Bagterp

2015-01-01

We consider the operation of a wind turbine and a connected local battery or other electrical storage device, taking into account varying wind speed, with the goal of maximizing the total energy generated while respecting limits on the time derivative (gradient) of power delivered to the grid. We...... ranges. The system dynamics are quite non-linear, and the constraints and objectives are not convex functions of the control inputs, so the resulting optimal control problem is difficult to solve globally. In this paper, we show that by a novel change of variables, which focuses on power flows, we can...... wind data and modern wind forecasting methods. The simulation results using real wind data demonstrate the ability to reject the disturbances from fast changes in wind speed, ensuring certain power gradients, with an insignificant loss in energy production....

General approach for solving the density gradient theory in the interfacial tension calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liang, Xiaodong; Michelsen, Michael Locht

2017-01-01

Within the framework of the density gradient theory, the interfacial tension can be calculated by finding the density profiles that minimize an integral of two terms over the system of infinite width. It is found that the two integrands exhibit a constant difference along the interface for a finite...... property evaluations compared to other methods. The performance of the algorithm with recommended parameters is analyzed for various systems, and the efficiency is further compared with the geometric-mean density gradient theory, which only needs to solve nonlinear algebraic equations. The results show...... that the algorithm is only 5-10 times less efficient than solving the geometric-mean density gradient theory....

Numerical modelling of micro-machining of f.c.c. single crystal: Influence of strain gradients

KAUST Repository

Demiral, Murat; Roy, Anish; El Sayed, Tamer S.; Silberschmidt, Vadim V.

2014-01-01

of orthogonal micro-machining of f.c.c. single crystal copper was developed. The model was implemented in a commercial software ABAQUS/Explicit employing a user-defined subroutine VUMAT. Strain-gradient crystal-plasticity and conventional crystal

Modeling of microstructure evolution in direct metal laser sintering: A phase field approach

Science.gov (United States)

Nandy, Jyotirmoy; Sarangi, Hrushikesh; Sahoo, Seshadev

2017-02-01

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) is a new technology in the field of additive manufacturing, which builds metal parts in a layer by layer fashion directly from the powder bed. The process occurs within a very short time period with rapid solidification rate. Slight variations in the process parameters may cause enormous change in the final build parts. The physical and mechanical properties of the final build parts are dependent on the solidification rate which directly affects the microstructure of the material. Thus, the evolving of microstructure plays a vital role in the process parameters optimization. Nowadays, the increase in computational power allows for direct simulations of microstructures during materials processing for specific manufacturing conditions. In this study, modeling of microstructure evolution of Al-Si-10Mg powder in DMLS process was carried out by using a phase field approach. A MATLAB code was developed to solve the set of phase field equations, where simulation parameters include temperature gradient, laser scan speed and laser power. The effects of temperature gradient on microstructure evolution were studied and found that with increase in temperature gradient, the dendritic tip grows at a faster rate.

Energetic constraints, size gradients, and size limits in benthic marine invertebrates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebens, Kenneth P

2002-08-01

Populations of marine benthic organisms occupy habitats with a range of physical and biological characteristics. In the intertidal zone, energetic costs increase with temperature and aerial exposure, and prey intake increases with immersion time, generating size gradients with small individuals often found at upper limits of distribution. Wave action can have similar effects, limiting feeding time or success, although certain species benefit from wave dislodgment of their prey; this also results in gradients of size and morphology. The difference between energy intake and metabolic (and/or behavioral) costs can be used to determine an energetic optimal size for individuals in such populations. Comparisons of the energetic optimal size to the maximum predicted size based on mechanical constraints, and the ensuing mortality schedule, provides a mechanism to study and explain organism size gradients in intertidal and subtidal habitats. For species where the energetic optimal size is well below the maximum size that could persist under a certain set of wave/flow conditions, it is probable that energetic constraints dominate. When the opposite is true, populations of small individuals can dominate habitats with strong dislodgment or damage probability. When the maximum size of individuals is far below either energetic optima or mechanical limits, other sources of mortality (e.g., predation) may favor energy allocation to early reproduction rather than to continued growth. Predictions based on optimal size models have been tested for a variety of intertidal and subtidal invertebrates including sea anemones, corals, and octocorals. This paper provides a review of the optimal size concept, and employs a combination of the optimal energetic size model and life history modeling approach to explore energy allocation to growth or reproduction as the optimal size is approached.

Testing the limits of gradient sensing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinal Lakhani

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The ability to detect a chemical gradient is fundamental to many cellular processes. In multicellular organisms gradient sensing plays an important role in many physiological processes such as wound healing and development. Unicellular organisms use gradient sensing to move (chemotaxis or grow (chemotropism towards a favorable environment. Some cells are capable of detecting extremely shallow gradients, even in the presence of significant molecular-level noise. For example, yeast have been reported to detect pheromone gradients as shallow as 0.1 nM/μm. Noise reduction mechanisms, such as time-averaging and the internalization of pheromone molecules, have been proposed to explain how yeast cells filter fluctuations and detect shallow gradients. Here, we use a Particle-Based Reaction-Diffusion model of ligand-receptor dynamics to test the effectiveness of these mechanisms and to determine the limits of gradient sensing. In particular, we develop novel simulation methods for establishing chemical gradients that not only allow us to study gradient sensing under steady-state conditions, but also take into account transient effects as the gradient forms. Based on reported measurements of reaction rates, our results indicate neither time-averaging nor receptor endocytosis significantly improves the cell's accuracy in detecting gradients over time scales associated with the initiation of polarized growth. Additionally, our results demonstrate the physical barrier of the cell membrane sharpens chemical gradients across the cell. While our studies are motivated by the mating response of yeast, we believe our results and simulation methods will find applications in many different contexts.

Gradient effects in a new class of electro-elastic bodies

Science.gov (United States)

Arvanitakis, Antonios

2018-06-01

Continuum theories for electro-elastic solids suggest the development of electric field or polarization-based models. Advanced versions of these models are the so-called gradient models, i.e., polarization gradient and electric field gradient models, which prove to be more than capable of explaining the behavior of a continuum in a wider range of length scales. In this work, implicit constitutive relations for electro-elastic bodies are considered with the introduction of polarization and electric field gradient effects. In this sense, the new class of electro-elastic bodies extends even further to account for nonlocality in constitutive equations, besides strain-limiting behavior and polarization saturation for large values of stresses and electric field, respectively. Nonlocality in constitutive equations is essential in modeling various phenomena.

Strain gradient plasticity-based modeling of hydrogen environment assisted cracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martínez Pañeda, Emilio; Niordson, Christian Frithiof; P. Gangloff, Richard

2016-01-01

Finite element analysis of stress about a blunt crack tip, emphasizing finite strain and phenomenologicaland mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity (SGP) formulations, is integrated with electrochemical assessment of occluded-crack tip hydrogen (H) solubility and two H-decohesion models...... to predict hydrogen environment assisted crack growth properties. SGP elevates crack tip geometrically necessary dislocation density and flow stress, with enhancement declining with increasing alloy strength. Elevated hydrostatic stress promotes high-trapped H concentration for crack tip damage......; it is imperative to account for SGP in H cracking models. Predictions of the threshold stress intensity factor and H-diffusion limited Stage II crack growth rate agree with experimental data for a high strength austenitic Ni-Cusuperalloy (Monel®K-500) and two modern ultra-high strength martensitic steels (Aer...

Embedding SAS approach into conjugate gradient algorithms for asymmetric 3D elasticity problems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Hsin-Chu; Warsi, N.A. [Clark Atlanta Univ., GA (United States); Sameh, A. [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

1996-12-31

In this paper, we present two strategies to embed the SAS (symmetric-and-antisymmetric) scheme into conjugate gradient (CG) algorithms to make solving 3D elasticity problems, with or without global reflexive symmetry, more efficient. The SAS approach is physically a domain decomposition scheme that takes advantage of reflexive symmetry of discretized physical problems, and algebraically a matrix transformation method that exploits special reflexivity properties of the matrix resulting from discretization. In addition to offering large-grain parallelism, which is valuable in a multiprocessing environment, the SAS scheme also has the potential for reducing arithmetic operations in the numerical solution of a reasonably wide class of scientific and engineering problems. This approach can be applied directly to problems that have global reflexive symmetry, yielding smaller and independent subproblems to solve, or indirectly to problems with partial symmetry, resulting in loosely coupled subproblems. The decomposition is achieved by separating the reflexive subspace from the antireflexive one, possessed by a special class of matrices A, A {element_of} C{sup n x n} that satisfy the relation A = PAP where P is a reflection matrix (symmetric signed permutation matrix).

Evaluating the SWAT model for a low-gradient forested watershed in coastal South Carolina

Science.gov (United States)

D.M. Amatya; M.K. Jha.

2011-01-01

Modeling the hydrology of low�]gradient forested watersheds on shallow, poorly drained soils of the coastal plain is a challenging task due to complexities in watershed delineation, microtopography, evapotranspiration, runoff generation processes and pathways including flooding and submergence caused by tropical storms, and complexity of vegetation species....

Two dimensional dynamic analysis of sandwich plates with gradient foam cores

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mu, Lin; Xiao, Deng Bao; Zhao, Guiping [State Key Laboratory for Mechanical structure Strength and Vibration, School of AerospaceXi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an (China); Cho, Chong Du [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Inchon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-09-15

Present investigation is concerned about dynamic response of composite sandwich plates with the functionally gradient foam cores under time-dependent impulse. The analysis is based on a model of the gradient sandwich plate, in which the face sheets and the core adopt the Kirchhoff theory and a [2, 1]-order theory, respectively. The material properties of the gradient foam core vary continuously along the thickness direction. The gradient plate model is validated with the finite element code ABAQUS®. And the results show that the proposed model can predict well the free vibration of composite sandwich plates with gradient foam cores. The influences of gradient foam cores on the natural frequency, deflection and energy absorbing of the sandwich plates are also investigated.

Dialysate sodium and sodium gradient in maintenance hemodialysis: a neglected sodium restriction approach?

OpenAIRE

Munoz Mendoza, Jair; Sun, Sumi; Chertow, Glenn M.; Moran, John; Doss, Sheila; Schiller, Brigitte

2011-01-01

Background. A higher sodium gradient (dialysate sodium minus pre-dialysis plasma sodium) during hemodialysis (HD) has been associated with sodium loading; however, its role is not well studied. We hypothesized that a sodium dialysate prescription resulting in a higher sodium gradient is associated with increases in interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), blood pressure (BP) and thirst.

On the usefulness of non-gradient approaches in topology optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sigmund, Ole

2011-01-01

Topology optimization is a highly developed tool for structural design and is by now being extensively used in mechanical, automotive and aerospace industries throughout the world. Gradient-based topology optimization algorithms may efficiently solve fine-resolution problems with thousands and up...

Gradient Learning Algorithms for Ontology Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wei; Zhu, Linli

2014-01-01

The gradient learning model has been raising great attention in view of its promising perspectives for applications in statistics, data dimensionality reducing, and other specific fields. In this paper, we raise a new gradient learning model for ontology similarity measuring and ontology mapping in multidividing setting. The sample error in this setting is given by virtue of the hypothesis space and the trick of ontology dividing operator. Finally, two experiments presented on plant and humanoid robotics field verify the efficiency of the new computation model for ontology similarity measure and ontology mapping applications in multidividing setting. PMID:25530752

Gradient Learning Algorithms for Ontology Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Gao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The gradient learning model has been raising great attention in view of its promising perspectives for applications in statistics, data dimensionality reducing, and other specific fields. In this paper, we raise a new gradient learning model for ontology similarity measuring and ontology mapping in multidividing setting. The sample error in this setting is given by virtue of the hypothesis space and the trick of ontology dividing operator. Finally, two experiments presented on plant and humanoid robotics field verify the efficiency of the new computation model for ontology similarity measure and ontology mapping applications in multidividing setting.

An incremental flow theory for crystal plasticity incorporating strain gradient effects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nellemann, Christopher; Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Nielsen, Kim Lau

2017-01-01

The present work investigates a new approach to formulating a rate-independent strain gradient theory for crystal plasticity. The approach takes as offset recent discussions published in the literature for isotropic plasticity, and a key ingredient of the present work is the manner in which...... a gradient enhanced effective slip measure governs hardening evolution. The effect of both plastic strains and plastic strain gradients are combined into this scalar effective slip quantity, the energy associated with plastic strain is dissipative (unrecoverable), while the energy from plastic strain...... gradients is recoverable (free). The framework developed forms the basis of a finite element implementation and is demonstrated on benchmark problems designed to bring out effects such as strengthening and hardening. Monotonic loading and plane strain deformation is assumed throughout, but despite this, non...

Identification techniques for phenomenological models of hysteresis based on the conjugate gradient method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrei, Petru; Oniciuc, Liviu; Stancu, Alexandru; Stoleriu, Laurentiu

2007-01-01

An identification technique for the parameters of phenomenological models of hysteresis is presented. The basic idea of our technique is to set up a system of equations for the parameters of the model as a function of known quantities on the major or minor hysteresis loops (e.g. coercive force, susceptibilities at various points, remanence), or other magnetization curves. This system of equations can be either over or underspecified and is solved by using the conjugate gradient method. Numerical results related to the identification of parameters in the Energetic, Jiles-Atherton, and Preisach models are presented

Retention prediction and separation optimization under multilinear gradient elution in liquid chromatography with Microsoft Excel macros.

Science.gov (United States)

Fasoula, S; Zisi, Ch; Gika, H; Pappa-Louisi, A; Nikitas, P

2015-05-22

A package of Excel VBA macros have been developed for modeling multilinear gradient retention data obtained in single or double gradient elution mode by changing organic modifier(s) content and/or eluent pH. For this purpose, ten chromatographic models were used and four methods were adopted for their application. The methods were based on (a) the analytical expression of the retention time, provided that this expression is available, (b) the retention times estimated using the Nikitas-Pappa approach, (c) the stepwise approximation, and (d) a simple numerical approximation involving the trapezoid rule for integration of the fundamental equation for gradient elution. For all these methods, Excel VBA macros have been written and implemented using two different platforms; the fitting and the optimization platform. The fitting platform calculates not only the adjustable parameters of the chromatographic models, but also the significance of these parameters and furthermore predicts the analyte elution times. The optimization platform determines the gradient conditions that lead to the optimum separation of a mixture of analytes by using the Solver evolutionary mode, provided that proper constraints are set in order to obtain the optimum gradient profile in the minimum gradient time. The performance of the two platforms was tested using experimental and artificial data. It was found that using the proposed spreadsheets, fitting, prediction, and optimization can be performed easily and effectively under all conditions. Overall, the best performance is exhibited by the analytical and Nikitas-Pappa's methods, although the former cannot be used under all circumstances. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diffusion-assisted selective dynamical recoupling: A new approach to measure background gradients in magnetic resonance

Science.gov (United States)

Álvarez, Gonzalo A.; Shemesh, Noam; Frydman, Lucio

2014-02-01

Dynamical decoupling, a generalization of the original NMR spin-echo sequence, is becoming increasingly relevant as a tool for reducing decoherence in quantum systems. Such sequences apply non-equidistant refocusing pulses for optimizing the coupling between systems, and environmental fluctuations characterized by a given noise spectrum. One such sequence, dubbed Selective Dynamical Recoupling (SDR) [P. E. S. Smith, G. Bensky, G. A. Álvarez, G. Kurizki, and L. Frydman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109, 5958 (2012)], allows one to coherently reintroduce diffusion decoherence effects driven by fluctuations arising from restricted molecular diffusion [G. A. Álvarez, N. Shemesh, and L. Frydman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 080404 (2013)]. The fully-refocused, constant-time, and constant-number-of-pulses nature of SDR also allows one to filter out "intrinsic" T1 and T2 weightings, as well as pulse errors acting as additional sources of decoherence. This article explores such features when the fluctuations are now driven by unrestricted molecular diffusion. In particular, we show that diffusion-driven SDR can be exploited to investigate the decoherence arising from the frequency fluctuations imposed by internal gradients. As a result, SDR presents a unique way of probing and characterizing these internal magnetic fields, given an a priori known free diffusion coefficient. This has important implications in studies of structured systems, including porous media and live tissues, where the internal gradients may serve as fingerprints for the system's composition or structure. The principles of this method, along with full analytical solutions for the unrestricted diffusion-driven modulation of the SDR signal, are presented. The potential of this approach is demonstrated with the generation of a novel source of MRI contrast, based on the background gradients active in an ex vivo mouse brain. Additional features and limitations of this new method are discussed.

Diffusion-assisted selective dynamical recoupling: A new approach to measure background gradients in magnetic resonance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Álvarez, Gonzalo A.; Shemesh, Noam; Frydman, Lucio

2014-01-01

Dynamical decoupling, a generalization of the original NMR spin-echo sequence, is becoming increasingly relevant as a tool for reducing decoherence in quantum systems. Such sequences apply non-equidistant refocusing pulses for optimizing the coupling between systems, and environmental fluctuations characterized by a given noise spectrum. One such sequence, dubbed Selective Dynamical Recoupling (SDR) [P. E. S. Smith, G. Bensky, G. A. Álvarez, G. Kurizki, and L. Frydman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109, 5958 (2012)], allows one to coherently reintroduce diffusion decoherence effects driven by fluctuations arising from restricted molecular diffusion [G. A. Álvarez, N. Shemesh, and L. Frydman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 080404 (2013)]. The fully-refocused, constant-time, and constant-number-of-pulses nature of SDR also allows one to filter out “intrinsic” T 1 and T 2 weightings, as well as pulse errors acting as additional sources of decoherence. This article explores such features when the fluctuations are now driven by unrestricted molecular diffusion. In particular, we show that diffusion-driven SDR can be exploited to investigate the decoherence arising from the frequency fluctuations imposed by internal gradients. As a result, SDR presents a unique way of probing and characterizing these internal magnetic fields, given an a priori known free diffusion coefficient. This has important implications in studies of structured systems, including porous media and live tissues, where the internal gradients may serve as fingerprints for the system's composition or structure. The principles of this method, along with full analytical solutions for the unrestricted diffusion-driven modulation of the SDR signal, are presented. The potential of this approach is demonstrated with the generation of a novel source of MRI contrast, based on the background gradients active in an ex vivo mouse brain. Additional features and limitations of this new method are discussed

Large-N limit of the gradient flow in the 2D O(N) nonlinear sigma model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makino, Hiroki; Sugino, Fumihiko; Suzuki, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

The gradient flow equation in the 2D O(N) nonlinear sigma model with lattice regularization is solved in the leading order of the 1/N expansion. By using this solution, we analytically compute the thermal expectation value of a lattice energy–momentum tensor defined through the gradient flow. The expectation value reproduces thermodynamic quantities obtained by the standard large-N method. This analysis confirms that the above lattice energy–momentum tensor restores the correct normalization automatically in the continuum limit, in a system with a non-perturbative mass gap

Substrate-Bound Protein Gradients to Study Haptotaxis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastien G. Ricoult

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Cells navigate in response to inhomogeneous distributions of extracellular guidance cues. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying migration in response to gradients of chemical cues have been investigated for over a century. Following the introduction of micropipettes and more recently microfluidics for gradient generation, much attention and effort was devoted to study cellular chemotaxis, which is defined as guidance by gradients of chemical cues in solution. Haptotaxis, directional migration in response to gradients of substrate-bound cues, has received comparatively less attention; however it is increasingly clear that in vivo many physiologically relevant guidance proteins – including many secreted cues – are bound to cellular surfaces or incorporated into extracellular matrix and likely function via a haptotactic mechanism. Here, we review the history of haptotaxis. We examine the importance of the reference surface, the surface in contact with the cell that is not covered by the cue, which forms a gradient opposing the gradient of the protein cue and must be considered in experimental designs and interpretation of results. We review and compare microfluidics, contact-printing, light patterning and 3D fabrication to pattern substrate-bound protein gradients in vitro, and focus on their application to study axon guidance. The range of methods to create substrate-bound gradients discussed herein make possible systematic analyses of haptotactic mechanisms. Furthermore, understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying cell motility will inform bioengineering approaches to program cell navigation and recover lost function.

A multi-model approach to X-ray pulsars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schönherr G.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The emission characteristics of X-ray pulsars are governed by magnetospheric accretion within the Alfvén radius, leading to a direct coupling of accretion column properties and interactions at the magnetosphere. The complexity of the physical processes governing the formation of radiation within the accreted, strongly magnetized plasma has led to several sophisticated theoretical modelling efforts over the last decade, dedicated to either the formation of the broad band continuum, the formation of cyclotron resonance scattering features (CRSFs or the formation of pulse profiles. While these individual approaches are powerful in themselves, they quickly reach their limits when aiming at a quantitative comparison to observational data. Too many fundamental parameters, describing the formation of the accretion columns and the systems’ overall geometry are unconstrained and different models are often based on different fundamental assumptions, while everything is intertwined in the observed, highly phase-dependent spectra and energy-dependent pulse profiles. To name just one example: the (phase variable line width of the CRSFs is highly dependent on the plasma temperature, the existence of B-field gradients (geometry and observation angle, parameters which, in turn, drive the continuum radiation and are driven by the overall two-pole geometry for the light bending model respectively. This renders a parallel assessment of all available spectral and timing information by a compatible across-models-approach indispensable. In a collaboration of theoreticians and observers, we have been working on a model unification project over the last years, bringing together theoretical calculations of the Comptonized continuum, Monte Carlo simulations and Radiation Transfer calculations of CRSFs as well as a General Relativity (GR light bending model for ray tracing of the incident emission pattern from both magnetic poles. The ultimate goal is to implement a

Optimizing gradient conditions in online comprehensive two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography by use of the linear solvent strength model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Græsbøll, Rune; Janssen, Hans-Gerd; Christensen, Jan H.

2017-01-01

The linear solvent strength model was used to predict coverage in online comprehensive two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The prediction model uses a parallelogram to describe the separation space covered with peaks in a system with limited orthogonality. The corners of the par......The linear solvent strength model was used to predict coverage in online comprehensive two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The prediction model uses a parallelogram to describe the separation space covered with peaks in a system with limited orthogonality. The corners...... of the parallelogram are assumed to behave like chromatographic peaks and the position of these pseudo-compounds was predicted. A mix of 25 polycyclic aromatic compounds were used as a test. The precision of the prediction, span 0-25, was tested by varying input parameters, and was found to be acceptable with root...... factors were low, or when gradient conditions affected parameters not included in the model, e.g. second dimension gradient time affects the second dimension equilibration time. The concept shows promise as a tool for gradient optimization in online comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography...

Spectral edge: gradient-preserving spectral mapping for image fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Connah, David; Drew, Mark S; Finlayson, Graham D

2015-12-01

This paper describes a novel approach to image fusion for color display. Our goal is to generate an output image whose gradient matches that of the input as closely as possible. We achieve this using a constrained contrast mapping paradigm in the gradient domain, where the structure tensor of a high-dimensional gradient representation is mapped exactly to that of a low-dimensional gradient field which is then reintegrated to form an output. Constraints on output colors are provided by an initial RGB rendering. Initially, we motivate our solution with a simple "ansatz" (educated guess) for projecting higher-D contrast onto color gradients, which we expand to a more rigorous theorem to incorporate color constraints. The solution to these constrained optimizations is closed-form, allowing for simple and hence fast and efficient algorithms. The approach can map any N-D image data to any M-D output and can be used in a variety of applications using the same basic algorithm. In this paper, we focus on the problem of mapping N-D inputs to 3D color outputs. We present results in five applications: hyperspectral remote sensing, fusion of color and near-infrared or clear-filter images, multilighting imaging, dark flash, and color visualization of magnetic resonance imaging diffusion-tensor imaging.

Approximate Solution of Nonlinear Klein-Gordon Equation Using Sobolev Gradients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nauman Raza

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation (KGE models many nonlinear phenomena. In this paper, we propose a scheme for numerical approximation of solutions of the one-dimensional nonlinear KGE. A common approach to find a solution of a nonlinear system is to first linearize the equations by successive substitution or the Newton iteration method and then solve a linear least squares problem. Here, we show that it can be advantageous to form a sum of squared residuals of the nonlinear problem and then find a zero of the gradient. Our scheme is based on the Sobolev gradient method for solving a nonlinear least square problem directly. The numerical results are compared with Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM. The L2, L∞, and Root-Mean-Square (RMS values indicate better accuracy of the proposed method with less computational effort.

Predicting Short-Term Subway Ridership and Prioritizing Its Influential Factors Using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuan Ding

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Understanding the relationship between short-term subway ridership and its influential factors is crucial to improving the accuracy of short-term subway ridership prediction. Although there has been a growing body of studies on short-term ridership prediction approaches, limited effort is made to investigate the short-term subway ridership prediction considering bus transfer activities and temporal features. To fill this gap, a relatively recent data mining approach called gradient boosting decision trees (GBDT is applied to short-term subway ridership prediction and used to capture the associations with the independent variables. Taking three subway stations in Beijing as the cases, the short-term subway ridership and alighting passengers from its adjacent bus stops are obtained based on transit smart card data. To optimize the model performance with different combinations of regularization parameters, a series of GBDT models are built with various learning rates and tree complexities by fitting a maximum of trees. The optimal model performance confirms that the gradient boosting approach can incorporate different types of predictors, fit complex nonlinear relationships, and automatically handle the multicollinearity effect with high accuracy. In contrast to other machine learning methods—or “black-box” procedures—the GBDT model can identify and rank the relative influences of bus transfer activities and temporal features on short-term subway ridership. These findings suggest that the GBDT model has considerable advantages in improving short-term subway ridership prediction in a multimodal public transportation system.

Degraded character recognition based on gradient pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Babu, D. R. Ramesh; Ravishankar, M.; Kumar, Manish; Wadera, Kevin; Raj, Aakash

2010-02-01

Degraded character recognition is a challenging problem in the field of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The performance of an optical character recognition depends upon printed quality of the input documents. Many OCRs have been designed which correctly identifies the fine printed documents. But, very few reported work has been found on the recognition of the degraded documents. The efficiency of the OCRs system decreases if the input image is degraded. In this paper, a novel approach based on gradient pattern for recognizing degraded printed character is proposed. The approach makes use of gradient pattern of an individual character for recognition. Experiments were conducted on character image that is either digitally written or a degraded character extracted from historical documents and the results are found to be satisfactory.

SU-E-T-262: Planning for Proton Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS): Applications of Gradient Optimization for Field Matching

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, H; Kirk, M; Zhai, H; Ding, X; Liu, H; Hill-Kayser, C; Lustig, R; Tochner, Z; Deville, C; Vapiwala, N; McDonough, J; Both, S [University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

2014-06-01

Purpose: To propose the gradient optimization(GO) approach in planning for matching proton PBS fields and present two commonly used applications in our institution. Methods: GO is employed for PBS field matching in the scenarios that when the size of the target is beyond the field size limit of the beam delivery system or matching is required for beams from different angles to either improve the sparing of important organs or to pass through a short and simple beam path. Overlap is designed between adjacent fields and in the overlapped junction, the dose was optimized such that it gradually decreases in one field and the decrease is compensated by increase from another field. Clinical applications of this approach on craniospinal irradiation(CSI) and whole pelvis treatment were presented. Mathematical model was developed to study the relationships between dose errors, setup errors and junction lengths. Results: Uniform and conformal dose coverage to the entire target volumes was achieved for both applications using GO approach. For CSI, the gradient matching (6.7cm junction) between fields overcame the complexity of planning associated with feathering match lines. A slow dose gradient in the junction area significantly reduced the sensitivity of the treatment to setup errors. For whole pelvis, gradient matching (4cm junction) between posterior fields for superior target and bilateral fields for inferior target provided dose sparing to organs such as bowel, bladder and rectum. For a setup error of 3 mm in longitudinal direction from one field, mathematical model predicted dose errors of 10%, 6% and 4.3% for junction length of 3, 5 and 7cm. Conclusion: This GO approach improves the quality of the PBS treatment plan with matching fields while maintaining the safety of treatment delivery relative to potential misalignments.

SU-E-T-262: Planning for Proton Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS): Applications of Gradient Optimization for Field Matching

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, H; Kirk, M; Zhai, H; Ding, X; Liu, H; Hill-Kayser, C; Lustig, R; Tochner, Z; Deville, C; Vapiwala, N; McDonough, J; Both, S

2014-01-01

Purpose: To propose the gradient optimization(GO) approach in planning for matching proton PBS fields and present two commonly used applications in our institution. Methods: GO is employed for PBS field matching in the scenarios that when the size of the target is beyond the field size limit of the beam delivery system or matching is required for beams from different angles to either improve the sparing of important organs or to pass through a short and simple beam path. Overlap is designed between adjacent fields and in the overlapped junction, the dose was optimized such that it gradually decreases in one field and the decrease is compensated by increase from another field. Clinical applications of this approach on craniospinal irradiation(CSI) and whole pelvis treatment were presented. Mathematical model was developed to study the relationships between dose errors, setup errors and junction lengths. Results: Uniform and conformal dose coverage to the entire target volumes was achieved for both applications using GO approach. For CSI, the gradient matching (6.7cm junction) between fields overcame the complexity of planning associated with feathering match lines. A slow dose gradient in the junction area significantly reduced the sensitivity of the treatment to setup errors. For whole pelvis, gradient matching (4cm junction) between posterior fields for superior target and bilateral fields for inferior target provided dose sparing to organs such as bowel, bladder and rectum. For a setup error of 3 mm in longitudinal direction from one field, mathematical model predicted dose errors of 10%, 6% and 4.3% for junction length of 3, 5 and 7cm. Conclusion: This GO approach improves the quality of the PBS treatment plan with matching fields while maintaining the safety of treatment delivery relative to potential misalignments

Fractional-order gradient descent learning of BP neural networks with Caputo derivative.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jian; Wen, Yanqing; Gou, Yida; Ye, Zhenyun; Chen, Hua

2017-05-01

Fractional calculus has been found to be a promising area of research for information processing and modeling of some physical systems. In this paper, we propose a fractional gradient descent method for the backpropagation (BP) training of neural networks. In particular, the Caputo derivative is employed to evaluate the fractional-order gradient of the error defined as the traditional quadratic energy function. The monotonicity and weak (strong) convergence of the proposed approach are proved in detail. Two simulations have been implemented to illustrate the performance of presented fractional-order BP algorithm on three small datasets and one large dataset. The numerical simulations effectively verify the theoretical observations of this paper as well. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bidirectional composition on lie groups for gradient-based image alignment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mégret, Rémi; Authesserre, Jean-Baptiste; Berthoumieu, Yannick

2010-09-01

In this paper, a new formulation based on bidirectional composition on Lie groups (BCL) for parametric gradient-based image alignment is presented. Contrary to the conventional approaches, the BCL method takes advantage of the gradients of both template and current image without combining them a priori. Based on this bidirectional formulation, two methods are proposed and their relationship with state-of-the-art gradient based approaches is fully discussed. The first one, i.e., the BCL method, relies on the compositional framework to provide the minimization of the compensated error with respect to an augmented parameter vector. The second one, the projected BCL (PBCL), corresponds to a close approximation of the BCL approach. A comparative study is carried out dealing with computational complexity, convergence rate and frequence of convergence. Numerical experiments using a conventional benchmark show the performance improvement especially for asymmetric levels of noise, which is also discussed from a theoretical point of view.

Full Gradient Solution to Adaptive Hybrid Control

Science.gov (United States)

Bean, Jacob; Schiller, Noah H.; Fuller, Chris

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the adaptation mechanisms in adaptive hybrid controllers. Most adaptive hybrid controllers update two filters individually according to the filtered reference least mean squares (FxLMS) algorithm. Because this algorithm was derived for feedforward control, it does not take into account the presence of a feedback loop in the gradient calculation. This paper provides a derivation of the proper weight vector gradient for hybrid (or feedback) controllers that takes into account the presence of feedback. In this formulation, a single weight vector is updated rather than two individually. An internal model structure is assumed for the feedback part of the controller. The full gradient is equivalent to that used in the standard FxLMS algorithm with the addition of a recursive term that is a function of the modeling error. Some simulations are provided to highlight the advantages of using the full gradient in the weight vector update rather than the approximation.

Imaging disturbance zones ahead of a tunnel by elastic full-waveform inversion: Adjoint gradient based inversion vs. parameter space reduction using a level-set method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre Lamert

2018-03-01

Full Text Available We present and compare two flexible and effective methodologies to predict disturbance zones ahead of underground tunnels by using elastic full-waveform inversion. One methodology uses a linearized, iterative approach based on misfit gradients computed with the adjoint method while the other uses iterative, gradient-free unscented Kalman filtering in conjunction with a level-set representation. Whereas the former does not involve a priori assumptions on the distribution of elastic properties ahead of the tunnel, the latter introduces a massive reduction in the number of explicit model parameters to be inverted for by focusing on the geometric form of potential disturbances and their average elastic properties. Both imaging methodologies are validated through successful reconstructions of simple disturbances. As an application, we consider an elastic multiple disturbance scenario. By using identical synthetic time-domain seismograms as test data, we obtain satisfactory, albeit different, reconstruction results from the two inversion methodologies. The computational costs of both approaches are of the same order of magnitude, with the gradient-based approach showing a slight advantage. The model parameter space reduction approach compensates for this by additionally providing a posteriori estimates of model parameter uncertainty. Keywords: Tunnel seismics, Full waveform inversion, Seismic waves, Level-set method, Adjoint method, Kalman filter

Jupiter's evolution with primordial composition gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Vazan, Allona; Helled, Ravit; Guillot, Tristan

2018-02-01

Recent formation and structure models of Jupiter suggest that the planet can have composition gradients and not be fully convective (adiabatic). This possibility directly affects our understanding of Jupiter's bulk composition and origin. In this Letter we present Jupiter's evolution with a primordial structure consisting of a relatively steep heavy-element gradient of 40 M⊕. We show that for a primordial structure with composition gradients, most of the mixing occurs in the outer part of the gradient during the early evolution (several 107 yr), leading to an adiabatic outer envelope (60% of Jupiter's mass). We find that the composition gradient in the deep interior persists, suggesting that 40% of Jupiter's mass can be non-adiabatic with a higher temperature than the one derived from Jupiter's atmospheric properties. The region that can potentially develop layered convection in Jupiter today is estimated to be limited to 10% of the mass. Movies associated to Figs. 1-3 are available at http://https://www.aanda.org

Analysis of magnetic gradients to study gravitropism.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasenstein, Karl H; John, Susan; Scherp, Peter; Povinelli, Daniel; Mopper, Susan

2013-01-01

Gravitropism typically is generated by dense particles that respond to gravity. Experimental stimulation by high-gradient magnetic fields provides a new approach to selectively manipulate the gravisensing system. The movement of corn, wheat, and potato starch grains in suspension was examined with videomicroscopy during parabolic flights that generated 20 to 25 s of weightlessness. During weightlessness, a magnetic gradient was generated by inserting a wedge into a uniform, external magnetic field that caused repulsion of starch grains. The resultant velocity of movement was compared with the velocity of sedimentation under 1 g conditions. The high-gradient magnetic fields repelled the starch grains and generated a force of at least 0.6 g. Different wedge shapes significantly affected starch velocity and directionality of movement. Magnetic gradients are able to move diamagnetic compounds under weightless or microgravity conditions and serve as directional stimulus during seed germination in low-gravity environments. Further work can determine whether gravity sensing is based on force or contact between amyloplasts and statocyte membrane system.

Bayesian Multi-Energy Computed Tomography reconstruction approaches based on decomposition models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, Caifang

2013-01-01

Multi-Energy Computed Tomography (MECT) makes it possible to get multiple fractions of basis materials without segmentation. In medical application, one is the soft-tissue equivalent water fraction and the other is the hard-matter equivalent bone fraction. Practical MECT measurements are usually obtained with polychromatic X-ray beams. Existing reconstruction approaches based on linear forward models without counting the beam poly-chromaticity fail to estimate the correct decomposition fractions and result in Beam-Hardening Artifacts (BHA). The existing BHA correction approaches either need to refer to calibration measurements or suffer from the noise amplification caused by the negative-log pre-processing and the water and bone separation problem. To overcome these problems, statistical DECT reconstruction approaches based on non-linear forward models counting the beam poly-chromaticity show great potential for giving accurate fraction images.This work proposes a full-spectral Bayesian reconstruction approach which allows the reconstruction of high quality fraction images from ordinary polychromatic measurements. This approach is based on a Gaussian noise model with unknown variance assigned directly to the projections without taking negative-log. Referring to Bayesian inferences, the decomposition fractions and observation variance are estimated by using the joint Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) estimation method. Subject to an adaptive prior model assigned to the variance, the joint estimation problem is then simplified into a single estimation problem. It transforms the joint MAP estimation problem into a minimization problem with a non-quadratic cost function. To solve it, the use of a monotone Conjugate Gradient (CG) algorithm with suboptimal descent steps is proposed.The performances of the proposed approach are analyzed with both simulated and experimental data. The results show that the proposed Bayesian approach is robust to noise and materials. It is also

Pore-scale modelling of the effect of viscous pressure gradients during heavy oil depletion experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bondino, I. [Total E and P UK Ltd., London (United Kingdom); McDougall, S.R. [Heriot-Watt Univ., Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Hamon, G. [Total E and P Canada Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2009-07-01

In solution gas drive, when the reservoir pressure is lowered below the bubble point, bubbles nucleate and grow within saturated oil. A period of internal gas-phase expansion maintains reservoir pressure, driving oil to the wellbore region. Continued pressure reduction eventually leads to the formation of a connected gas phase that is capable of being produced along with the oleic phase. As a result, the total produced gas-oil ratio in the well begins to increase. Once the connected gas phase develops, oil production begins to decrease. This general description can be inadequate in the context of heavy oils where additional characteristics, such as foamy oil, and atypically high recoveries are observed. In order to improve the simulation of solution gas drive for heavy oil in the framework of a pre-existing pore-scale network simulator, a dynamic gas-oil interface tracking algorithm was used to determine the mobilization of bubbles under intense pressure gradients. The model was used to characterize both the stationary capillary controlled growth of bubbles characteristic of slow depletion rates in the far wellbore region and the flow phenomena in the near wellbore region. A rationale for interpreting a range of flow mechanism, their associated gas relative permeabilities and critical gas saturations was also proposed. The paper first presented a description of the dynamic pore network model in terms of its' ability to model the porous space; and mobilize gas under viscous pressure gradients and unsteady-state gas relative permeabilities. The dynamic network modelling of heavy oil depletion experiments at different rates and the prediction of the experimental gas saturations were then presented along with a discussion on critical gas saturations. It was concluded that foamy oil behaviour can be observed in situations where capillary pressures are overcome by viscous pressure gradients. 47 refs., 5 tabs., 17 figs.

A comparison of two closely-related approaches to aerodynamic design optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Shubin, G. R.; Frank, P. D.

1991-01-01

Two related methods for aerodynamic design optimization are compared. The methods, called the implicit gradient approach and the variational (or optimal control) approach, both attempt to obtain gradients necessary for numerical optimization at a cost significantly less than that of the usual black-box approach that employs finite difference gradients. While the two methods are seemingly quite different, they are shown to differ (essentially) in that the order of discretizing the continuous problem, and of applying calculus, is interchanged. Under certain circumstances, the two methods turn out to be identical. We explore the relationship between these methods by applying them to a model problem for duct flow that has many features in common with transonic flow over an airfoil. We find that the gradients computed by the variational method can sometimes be sufficiently inaccurate to cause the optimization to fail.

Behaviours of reinforced concrete containment models under thermal gradient and internal pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoyagi, Y.; Ohnuma, H.; Yoshioka, Y.; Okada, K.; Ueda, M.

1979-01-01

The provisions for design concepts in Japanese Technical Standard of Concrete Containments for Nuclear Power Plants require to take account of thermal effects into design. The provisions also propose that the thermal effects could be relieved according to the degree of crack formation and creep of concrete, and may be neglected in estimating the ultimate strength capacity in extreme environmental loading conditions. This experimental study was carried out to clarify the above provisions by investigating the crack and deformation behaviours of two identical reinforced cylindrical models with dome and basement (wall outer diameter 160 cm, and wall thickness 10 cm). One of these models was hydraulically pressurized up to failure at room temperature and the other was subjected to similar internal pressure combined with the thermal gradient of approximately 40 to 50 0 C across the wall. Initial visual cracks were recognized when the stress induced by the thermal gradient reached at about 85% of bending strength of concrete used. The thermal stress of reinforcement calculated with the methods proposed by the authors using an average flexural rigidity considering the contribution of concrete showed good agreement with test results. The method based on the fully cracked section, however, was recognized to underestimate the measured stress. These cracks considerably reduced the initial deformation caused by subsequent internal pressure. (orig.)

A reduced model for ion temperature gradient turbulent transport in helical plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nunami, M.; Watanabe, T.-H.; Sugama, H.

2013-07-01

A novel reduced model for ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulent transport in helical plasmas is presented. The model enables one to predict nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation results from linear gyrokinetic analyses. It is shown from nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of the ITG turbulence in helical plasmas that the transport coefficient can be expressed as a function of the turbulent fluctuation level and the averaged zonal flow amplitude. Then, the reduced model for the turbulent ion heat diffusivity is derived by representing the nonlinear turbulent fluctuations and zonal flow amplitude in terms of the linear growth rate of the ITG instability and the linear response of the zonal flow potentials. It is confirmed that the reduced transport model results are in good agreement with those from nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations for high ion temperature plasmas in the Large Helical Device. (author)

Effect of diffraction and film-thickness gradients on wafer-curvature measurements of thin-film stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breiland, W.G.; Lee, S.R.; Koleske, D.D.

2004-01-01

When optical measurements of wafer curvature are used to determine thin-film stress, the laser beams that probe the sample are usually assumed to reflect specularly from the curved surface of the film and substrate. Yet, real films are not uniformly thick, and unintended thickness gradients produce optical diffraction effects that steer the laser away from the ideal specular condition. As a result, the deflection of the laser in wafer-curvature measurements is actually sensitive to both the film stress and the film-thickness gradient. We present a Fresnel-Kirchhoff optical diffraction model of wafer-curvature measurements that provides a unified description of these combined effects. The model accurately simulates real-time wafer-curvature measurements of nonuniform GaN films grown on sapphire substrates by vapor-phase epitaxy. During thin-film growth, thickness gradients cause the reflected beam to oscillate asymmetrically about the ideal position defined by the stress-induced wafer curvature. This oscillating deflection has the same periodicity as the reflectance of the growing film, and the deflection amplitude is a function of the film-thickness gradient, the mean film thickness, the wavelength distribution of the light source, the illuminated spot size, and the refractive indices of the film and substrate. For typical GaN films grown on sapphire, misinterpretation of these gradient-induced oscillations can cause stress-measurement errors that approach 10% of the stress-thickness product; much greater errors occur in highly nonuniform films. Only transparent films can exhibit substantial gradient-induced deflections; strongly absorbing films are immune

A refined model of sedimentary rock cover in the southeastern part of the Congo basin from GOCE gravity and vertical gravity gradient observations

Science.gov (United States)

Martinec, Zdeněk; Fullea, Javier

2015-03-01

We aim to interpret the vertical gravity and vertical gravity gradient of the GOCE-GRACE combined gravity model over the southeastern part of the Congo basin to refine the published model of sedimentary rock cover. We use the GOCO03S gravity model and evaluate its spherical harmonic representation at or near the Earth's surface. In this case, the gradiometry signals are enhanced as compared to the original measured GOCE gradients at satellite height and better emphasize the spatial pattern of sedimentary geology. To avoid aliasing, the omission error of the modelled gravity induced by the sedimentary rocks is adjusted to that of the GOCO03S gravity model. The mass-density Green's functions derived for the a priori structure of the sediments show a slightly greater sensitivity to the GOCO03S vertical gravity gradient than to the vertical gravity. Hence, the refinement of the sedimentary model is carried out for the vertical gravity gradient over the basin, such that a few anomalous values of the GOCO03S-derived vertical gravity gradient are adjusted by refining the model. We apply the 5-parameter Helmert's transformation, defined by 2 translations, 1 rotation and 2 scale parameters that are searched for by the steepest descent method. The refined sedimentary model is only slightly changed with respect to the original map, but it significantly improves the fit of the vertical gravity and vertical gravity gradient over the basin. However, there are still spatial features in the gravity and gradiometric data that remain unfitted by the refined model. These may be due to lateral density variation that is not contained in the model, a density contrast at the Moho discontinuity, lithospheric density stratifications or mantle convection. In a second step, the refined sedimentary model is used to find the vertical density stratification of sedimentary rocks. Although the gravity data can be interpreted by a constant sedimentary density, such a model does not correspond to

Color-gradient lattice Boltzmann model for simulating droplet motion with contact-angle hysteresis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ba, Yan; Liu, Haihu; Sun, Jinju; Zheng, Rongye

2013-10-01

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is an effective tool for simulating the contact-line motion due to the nature of its microscopic dynamics. In contact-line motion, contact-angle hysteresis is an inherent phenomenon, but it is neglected in most existing color-gradient based LBMs. In this paper, a color-gradient based multiphase LBM is developed to simulate the contact-line motion, particularly with the hysteresis of contact angle involved. In this model, the perturbation operator based on the continuum surface force concept is introduced to model the interfacial tension, and the recoloring operator proposed by Latva-Kokko and Rothman is used to produce phase segregation and resolve the lattice pinning problem. At the solid surface, the color-conserving wetting boundary condition [Hollis et al., IMA J. Appl. Math. 76, 726 (2011)] is applied to improve the accuracy of simulations and suppress spurious currents at the contact line. In particular, we present a numerical algorithm to allow for the effect of the contact-angle hysteresis, in which an iterative procedure is used to determine the dynamic contact angle. Numerical simulations are conducted to verify the developed model, including the droplet partial wetting process and droplet dynamical behavior in a simple shear flow. The obtained results are compared with theoretical solutions and experimental data, indicating that the model is able to predict the equilibrium droplet shape as well as the dynamic process of partial wetting and thus permits accurate prediction of contact-line motion with the consideration of contact-angle hysteresis.

A nonlocal strain gradient model for dynamic deformation of orthotropic viscoelastic graphene sheets under time harmonic thermal load

Science.gov (United States)

Radwan, Ahmed F.; Sobhy, Mohammed

2018-06-01

This work presents a nonlocal strain gradient theory for the dynamic deformation response of a single-layered graphene sheet (SLGS) on a viscoelastic foundation and subjected to a time harmonic thermal load for various boundary conditions. Material of graphene sheets is presumed to be orthotropic and viscoelastic. The viscoelastic foundation is modeled as Kelvin-Voigt's pattern. Based on the two-unknown plate theory, the motion equations are obtained from the dynamic version of the virtual work principle. The nonlocal strain gradient theory is established from Eringen nonlocal and strain gradient theories, therefore, it contains two material scale parameters, which are nonlocal parameter and gradient coefficient. These scale parameters have two different effects on the graphene sheets. The obtained deflection is compared with that predicted in the literature. Additional numerical examples are introduced to illustrate the influences of the two length scale coefficients and other parameters on the dynamic deformation of the viscoelastic graphene sheets.

Modeling and Analysis of Size-Dependent Structural Problems by Using Low- Order Finite Elements with Strain Gradient Plasticity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Moon Shik; Suh, Yeong Sung; Song, Seung

2011-01-01

An elasto-plastic finite element method using the theory of strain gradient plasticity is proposed to evaluate the size dependency of structural plasticity that occurs when the configuration size decreases to micron scale. For this method, we suggest a low-order plane and three-dimensional displacement-based elements, eliminating the need for a high order, many degrees of freedom, a mixed element, or super elements, which have been considered necessary in previous researches. The proposed method can be performed in the framework of nonlinear incremental analysis in which plastic strains are calculated and averaged at nodes. These strains are then interpolated and differentiated for gradient calculation. We adopted a strain-gradient-hardening constitutive equation from the Taylor dislocation model, which requires the plastic strain gradient. The developed finite elements are tested numerically on the basis of typical size-effect problems such as micro-bending, micro-torsion, and micro-voids. With respect to the strain gradient plasticity, i.e., the size effects, the results obtained by using the proposed method, which are simple in their calculation, are in good agreement with the experimental results cited in previously published papers

Coupling of hydraulic and electric gradients in sandy soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gregolec, G.; Zorn, R.; Kurzbach, A.; Roehl, K.E.; Czurda, K. [Dept. of Applied Geology, Univ. Karlsruhe (Germany)

2001-07-01

Laboratory studies were conducted to investigate the influence of hydraulic gradient on the migration of ions caused by an applied dc electric field. The model soil used was a uniform sand which was placed into an electrokinetic cell and saturated with sodium chloride solution. Applying only an electric gradient, steady state conditions are reached where the concentration distribution of sodium and chloride coincides with a theoretical model. The combination of electric and hydraulic gradients shows that it is possible to hinder ions from moving with the groundwater flow by applying an electric field. (orig.)

A parsimonious approach to modeling animal movement data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yann Tremblay

Full Text Available Animal tracking is a growing field in ecology and previous work has shown that simple speed filtering of tracking data is not sufficient and that improvement of tracking location estimates are possible. To date, this has required methods that are complicated and often time-consuming (state-space models, resulting in limited application of this technique and the potential for analysis errors due to poor understanding of the fundamental framework behind the approach. We describe and test an alternative and intuitive approach consisting of bootstrapping random walks biased by forward particles. The model uses recorded data accuracy estimates, and can assimilate other sources of data such as sea-surface temperature, bathymetry and/or physical boundaries. We tested our model using ARGOS and geolocation tracks of elephant seals that also carried GPS tags in addition to PTTs, enabling true validation. Among pinnipeds, elephant seals are extreme divers that spend little time at the surface, which considerably impact the quality of both ARGOS and light-based geolocation tracks. Despite such low overall quality tracks, our model provided location estimates within 4.0, 5.5 and 12.0 km of true location 50% of the time, and within 9, 10.5 and 20.0 km 90% of the time, for above, equal or below average elephant seal ARGOS track qualities, respectively. With geolocation data, 50% of errors were less than 104.8 km (<0.94 degrees, and 90% were less than 199.8 km (<1.80 degrees. Larger errors were due to lack of sea-surface temperature gradients. In addition we show that our model is flexible enough to solve the obstacle avoidance problem by assimilating high resolution coastline data. This reduced the number of invalid on-land location by almost an order of magnitude. The method is intuitive, flexible and efficient, promising extensive utilization in future research.

Representing Matrix Cracks Through Decomposition of the Deformation Gradient Tensor in Continuum Damage Mechanics Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Leone, Frank A., Jr.

2015-01-01

A method is presented to represent the large-deformation kinematics of intraply matrix cracks and delaminations in continuum damage mechanics (CDM) constitutive material models. The method involves the additive decomposition of the deformation gradient tensor into 'crack' and 'bulk material' components. The response of the intact bulk material is represented by a reduced deformation gradient tensor, and the opening of an embedded cohesive interface is represented by a normalized cohesive displacement-jump vector. The rotation of the embedded interface is tracked as the material deforms and as the crack opens. The distribution of the total local deformation between the bulk material and the cohesive interface components is determined by minimizing the difference between the cohesive stress and the bulk material stress projected onto the cohesive interface. The improvements to the accuracy of CDM models that incorporate the presented method over existing approaches are demonstrated for a single element subjected to simple shear deformation and for a finite element model of a unidirectional open-hole tension specimen. The material model is implemented as a VUMAT user subroutine for the Abaqus/Explicit finite element software. The presented deformation gradient decomposition method reduces the artificial load transfer across matrix cracks subjected to large shearing deformations, and avoids the spurious secondary failure modes that often occur in analyses based on conventional progressive damage models.

The Uncertainty of Biomass Estimates from Modeled ICESat-2 Returns Across a Boreal Forest Gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Montesano, P. M.; Rosette, J.; Sun, G.; North, P.; Nelson, R. F.; Dubayah, R. O.; Ranson, K. J.; Kharuk, V.

2014-01-01

The Forest Light (FLIGHT) radiative transfer model was used to examine the uncertainty of vegetation structure measurements from NASA's planned ICESat-2 photon counting light detection and ranging (LiDAR) instrument across a synthetic Larix forest gradient in the taiga-tundra ecotone. The simulations demonstrate how measurements from the planned spaceborne mission, which differ from those of previous LiDAR systems, may perform across a boreal forest to non-forest structure gradient in globally important ecological region of northern Siberia. We used a modified version of FLIGHT to simulate the acquisition parameters of ICESat-2. Modeled returns were analyzed from collections of sequential footprints along LiDAR tracks (link-scales) of lengths ranging from 20 m-90 m. These link-scales traversed synthetic forest stands that were initialized with parameters drawn from field surveys in Siberian Larix forests. LiDAR returns from vegetation were compiled for 100 simulated LiDAR collections for each 10 Mg · ha(exp -1) interval in the 0-100 Mg · ha(exp -1) above-ground biomass density (AGB) forest gradient. Canopy height metrics were computed and AGB was inferred from empirical models. The root mean square error (RMSE) and RMSE uncertainty associated with the distribution of inferred AGB within each AGB interval across the gradient was examined. Simulation results of the bright daylight and low vegetation reflectivity conditions for collecting photon counting LiDAR with no topographic relief show that 1-2 photons are returned for 79%-88% of LiDAR shots. Signal photons account for approximately 67% of all LiDAR returns, while approximately 50% of shots result in 1 signal photon returned. The proportion of these signal photon returns do not differ significantly (p greater than 0.05) for AGB intervals greater than 20 Mg · ha(exp -1). The 50m link-scale approximates the finest horizontal resolution (length) at which photon counting LiDAR collection provides strong model

Particle capture efficiency in a multi-wire model for high gradient magnetic separation

KAUST Repository

Eisenträger, Almut

2014-07-21

High gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) is an efficient way to remove magnetic and paramagnetic particles, such as heavy metals, from waste water. As the suspension flows through a magnetized filter mesh, high magnetic gradients around the wires attract and capture the particles removing them from the fluid. We model such a system by considering the motion of a paramagnetic tracer particle through a periodic array of magnetized cylinders. We show that there is a critical Mason number (ratio of viscous to magnetic forces) below which the particle is captured irrespective of its initial position in the array. Above this threshold, particle capture is only partially successful and depends on the particle\\'s entry position. We determine the relationship between the critical Mason number and the system geometry using numerical and asymptotic calculations. If a capture efficiency below 100% is sufficient, our results demonstrate how operating the HGMS system above the critical Mason number but with multiple separation cycles may increase efficiency. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Joining of Tungsten Armor Using Functional Gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

John Scott O'Dell

2006-01-01

The joining of low thermal expansion armor materials such as tungsten to high thermal expansion heat sink materials has been a major problem in plasma facing component (PFC) development. Conventional planar bonding techniques have been unable to withstand the high thermal induced stresses resulting from fabrication and high heat flux testing. During this investigation, innovative functional gradient joints produced using vacuum plasma spray forming techniques have been developed for joining tungsten armor to copper alloy heat sinks. A model was developed to select the optimum gradient architecture. Based on the modeling effort, a 2mm copper rich gradient was selected. Vacuum plasma pray parameters and procedures were then developed to produce the functional gradient joint. Using these techniques, dual cooling channel, medium scale mockups (32mm wide x 400mm length) were produced with vacuum plasma spray formed tungsten armor. The thickness of the tungsten armor was up to 5mm thick. No evidence of debonding at the interface between the heat sink and the vacuum plasma sprayed material was observed.

Gradient waveform synthesis for magnetic propulsion using MRI gradient coils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, B H; Lee, S Y; Park, S

2008-01-01

Navigating an untethered micro device in a living subject is of great interest for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Magnetic propulsion of an untethered device carrying a magnetic core in it is one of the promising methods to navigate the device. MRI gradients coils are thought to be suitable for navigating the device since they are capable of magnetic propulsion in any direction while providing magnetic resonance images. For precise navigation of the device, especially in the peripheral region of the gradient coils, the concomitant gradient fields, as well as the linear gradient fields in the main magnetic field direction, should be considered in driving the gradient coils. For simple gradient coil configurations, the Maxwell coil in the z-direction and the Golay coil in the x- and y-directions, we have calculated the magnetic force fields, which are not necessarily the same as the conventional linear gradient fields of MRI. Using the calculated magnetic force fields, we have synthesized gradient waveforms to navigate the device along a desired path

Comparison of genetic algorithms with conjugate gradient methods

Science.gov (United States)

Bosworth, J. L.; Foo, N. Y.; Zeigler, B. P.

1972-01-01

Genetic algorithms for mathematical function optimization are modeled on search strategies employed in natural adaptation. Comparisons of genetic algorithms with conjugate gradient methods, which were made on an IBM 1800 digital computer, show that genetic algorithms display superior performance over gradient methods for functions which are poorly behaved mathematically, for multimodal functions, and for functions obscured by additive random noise. Genetic methods offer performance comparable to gradient methods for many of the standard functions.

An efficient implementation of maximum likelihood identification of LTI state-space models by local gradient search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bergboer, N.H.; Verdult, V.; Verhaegen, M.H.G.

2002-01-01

We present a numerically efficient implementation of the nonlinear least squares and maximum likelihood identification of multivariable linear time-invariant (LTI) state-space models. This implementation is based on a local parameterization of the system and a gradient search in the resulting

Application of linear pH gradients for the modeling of ion exchange chromatography: Separation of monoclonal antibody monomer from aggregates.

Science.gov (United States)

Kluters, Simon; Wittkopp, Felix; Jöhnck, Matthias; Frech, Christian

2016-02-01

The mobile phase pH is a key parameter of every ion exchange chromatography process. However, mechanistic insights into the pH influence on the ion exchange chromatography equilibrium are rare. This work describes a mechanistic model capturing salt and pH influence in ion exchange chromatography. The pH dependence of the characteristic protein charge and the equilibrium constant is introduced to the steric mass action model based on a protein net charge model considering the number of amino acids interacting with the stationary phase. This allows the description of the adsorption equilibrium of the chromatographed proteins as a function of pH. The model parameters were determined for a monoclonal antibody monomer, dimer, and a higher aggregated species based on a manageable set of pH gradient experiments. Without further modification of the model parameters the transfer to salt gradient elution at fixed pH is demonstrated. A lumped rate model was used to predict the separation of the monoclonal antibody monomer/aggregate mixture in pH gradient elution and for a pH step elution procedure-also at increased protein loadings up to 48 g/L packed resin. The presented model combines both salt and pH influence and may be useful for the development and deeper understanding of an ion exchange chromatography separation. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Gradient-based estimation of Manning's friction coefficient from noisy data

KAUST Repository

Calo, Victor M.

2013-01-01

We study the numerical recovery of Manning\\'s roughness coefficient for the diffusive wave approximation of the shallow water equation. We describe a conjugate gradient method for the numerical inversion. Numerical results for one-dimensional models are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the approach. Also we provide a proof of the differentiability of the weak form with respect to the coefficient as well as the continuity and boundedness of the linearized operator under reasonable assumptions using the maximal parabolic regularity theory. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gradient-based estimation of Manning's friction coefficient from noisy data

KAUST Repository

Calo, Victor M.; Collier, Nathan; Gehre, Matthias; Jin, Bangti; Radwan, Hany G.; Santillana, Mauricio

2013-01-01

We study the numerical recovery of Manning's roughness coefficient for the diffusive wave approximation of the shallow water equation. We describe a conjugate gradient method for the numerical inversion. Numerical results for one-dimensional models are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the approach. Also we provide a proof of the differentiability of the weak form with respect to the coefficient as well as the continuity and boundedness of the linearized operator under reasonable assumptions using the maximal parabolic regularity theory. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling Pore-Scale Oil-Gas Systems Using Gradient Theory with Peng-Robinson Equation of State

KAUST Repository

Fan, Xiaolin

2016-06-01

This research addresses a sequential convex splitting method for numerical simulation of multicomponent two-phase fluids mixture in a single-pore at constant temperature, which is modeled by the gradient theory with Peng-Robinson equation of state. The gradient theory of thermodynamics and variational calculus are utilized to obtain a system of chemical equilibrium equations which are transformed into a transient system as a numerical strategy on which the numerical scheme is based. The proposed numerical algorithm avoids computing Hessian matrix arising from the second-order derivative of homogeneous contribution of free energy; it is also quite robust. This scheme is proved to be unconditionally component-wise energy stable. The Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element method is applied to spatial discretization.

Modeling Pore-Scale Oil-Gas Systems Using Gradient Theory with Peng-Robinson Equation of State

KAUST Repository

Fan, Xiaolin; Kou, Jisheng; Qiao, Zhonghua; Sun, Shuyu

2016-01-01

This research addresses a sequential convex splitting method for numerical simulation of multicomponent two-phase fluids mixture in a single-pore at constant temperature, which is modeled by the gradient theory with Peng-Robinson equation of state. The gradient theory of thermodynamics and variational calculus are utilized to obtain a system of chemical equilibrium equations which are transformed into a transient system as a numerical strategy on which the numerical scheme is based. The proposed numerical algorithm avoids computing Hessian matrix arising from the second-order derivative of homogeneous contribution of free energy; it is also quite robust. This scheme is proved to be unconditionally component-wise energy stable. The Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element method is applied to spatial discretization.

Spheroidal Integral Equations for Geodetic Inversion of Geopotential Gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Novák, Pavel; Šprlák, Michal

2018-03-01

The static Earth's gravitational field has traditionally been described in geodesy and geophysics by the gravitational potential (geopotential for short), a scalar function of 3-D position. Although not directly observable, geopotential functionals such as its first- and second-order gradients are routinely measured by ground, airborne and/or satellite sensors. In geodesy, these observables are often used for recovery of the static geopotential at some simple reference surface approximating the actual Earth's surface. A generalized mathematical model is represented by a surface integral equation which originates in solving Dirichlet's boundary-value problem of the potential theory defined for the harmonic geopotential, spheroidal boundary and globally distributed gradient data. The mathematical model can be used for combining various geopotential gradients without necessity of their re-sampling or prior continuation in space. The model extends the apparatus of integral equations which results from solving boundary-value problems of the potential theory to all geopotential gradients observed by current ground, airborne and satellite sensors. Differences between spherical and spheroidal formulations of integral kernel functions of Green's kind are investigated. Estimated differences reach relative values at the level of 3% which demonstrates the significance of spheroidal approximation for flattened bodies such as the Earth. The observation model can be used for combined inversion of currently available geopotential gradients while exploring their spectral and stochastic characteristics. The model would be even more relevant to gravitational field modelling of other bodies in space with more pronounced spheroidal geometry than that of the Earth.

Modified whole effluent toxicity test to assess and decouple wastewater effects from environmental gradients.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastián Sauco

Full Text Available Environmental gradients and wastewater discharges produce aggregated effects on marine populations, obscuring the detection of human impact. Classical assessment methods do not include environmental effects in toxicity tests designs, which could lead to incorrect conclusions. We proposed a modified Whole Effluent Toxicity test (mWET that includes environmental gradients in addition to effluent dilutions, together with the application of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM to assess and decouple those effects. We tested this approach, analyzing the lethal effects of wastewater on a marine sandy beach bivalve affected by an artificial canal freshwater discharge used for rice crops irrigation. To this end, we compared bivalve mortality between canal water dilutions (CWd and salinity controls (SC: without canal water. CWd were prepared by diluting the water effluent (sampled during the pesticide application period with artificial marine water. The salinity gradient was included in the design by achieving the same final salinities in both CWd and SC, allowing us to account for the effects of salinity by including this variable as a random factor in the GLMM. Our approach detected significantly higher mortalities in CWd, indicating potential toxic effects of the effluent discharge. mWET represents an improvement over the internationally standardized WET tests, since it considers environmental variability and uses appropriate statistical analyses.

Development and kinetic analysis of cobalt gradient formation in WC-Co composites

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Jun

2011-12-01

Functionally graded cemented tungsten carbide (FG WC-Co) is one of the main research directions in the field of WC-Co over decades. Although it has long been recognized that FG WC-Co could outperform conventional homogeneous WC-Co owing to its potentially superior combinations of mechanical properties, until recently there has been a lack of effective and economical methods to make such materials. The lack of the technology has prevented the manufacturing and industrial applications of FG WC-Co from becoming a reality. This dissertation is a comprehensive study of an innovative atmosphere heat treatment process for producing FG WC-Co with a surface cobalt compositional gradient. The process exploited a triple phase field in W-C-Co phase diagram among three phases (solid WC, solid Co, and liquid Co) and the dependence of the migration of liquid Co on temperature and carbon content. WC-Co with a graded surface cobalt composition can be achieved by controlling the diffusion of carbon transported from atmosphere during sintering or during postsintering heat treatment. The feasibility of the process was validated by the successful preparations of FG WC-Co via both carburization and decarburization process following conventional liquid phase sintering. A study of the carburization process was undertaken to further understand and quantitatively modeled this process. The effects of key processing parameters (including heat treating temperature, atmosphere, and time) and key materials variables (involving Co content, WC grain size, and addition of grain growth inhibitors) on the formation of Co gradients were examined. Moreover, a carbon-diffusion controlled kinetic model was developed for simulating the formation of the gradient during the process. The parameters involved in this model were determined by thermodynamic calculations and regression-fit of simulation results with experimental data. In summary, this research first demonstrated the principle of the approach

The plastic rotation effect in an isotropic gradient plasticity model for applications at the meso scale

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poh, Leong Hien; Peerlings, R.H.J.

2016-01-01

Although formulated to represent a large system of polycrystals at the macroscopic level, isotropic gradient plasticity models have routinely been adopted at the meso scale. For such purposes, it is crucial to incorporate the plastic rotation effect in order to obtain a reasonable approximation of

Fast gradient-based methods for Bayesian reconstruction of transmission and emission PET images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mumcuglu, E.U.; Leahy, R.; Zhou, Z.; Cherry, S.R.

1994-01-01

The authors describe conjugate gradient algorithms for reconstruction of transmission and emission PET images. The reconstructions are based on a Bayesian formulation, where the data are modeled as a collection of independent Poisson random variables and the image is modeled using a Markov random field. A conjugate gradient algorithm is used to compute a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the image by maximizing over the posterior density. To ensure nonnegativity of the solution, a penalty function is used to convert the problem to one of unconstrained optimization. Preconditioners are used to enhance convergence rates. These methods generally achieve effective convergence in 15--25 iterations. Reconstructions are presented of an 18 FDG whole body scan from data collected using a Siemens/CTI ECAT931 whole body system. These results indicate significant improvements in emission image quality using the Bayesian approach, in comparison to filtered backprojection, particularly when reprojections of the MAP transmission image are used in place of the standard attenuation correction factors

Use of GOCE L2 Gravity Gradients for full resolution Geoid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herceg, Matija; Tscherning, Carl Christian; Knudsen, Per

The objective of this study is to develop methodology to use GOCE gravity gradients for enhanced geoid modelling and ocean circulation modelling. In specific regions with a rough gravity field, the resolution of the geoid may be enhanced substantially if GOCE gradiometer data are used in addition...... of the GOCE spherical harmonic coefficient model (EGMs) since in such areas the GOCE gradients contain more information than the EGM itself. Hence, the use of gradients may lead to improve the resolution of e.g. the marine geoid which in turn will improve the estimation of the ocean circulation....... This is tested using GOCE gravity gradient data, the GEOCOL program (GRAVSOFT) and Reduced Point Mass (RPM) program. Tests are carried out in the GOCINA region and in the Mediterranean basin. Furthermore, the effect of the decreasing height of the GOCE satellite on gravity gradients and associated MDT...

arXiv Topology in the 2d Heisenberg Model under Gradient Flow

CERN Document Server

Sandoval, Ilya O.; de Forcrand, Philippe; Gerber, Urs; Mejía-Díaz, Héctor

2017-10-28

The 2d Heisenberg model — or 2d O(3) model — is popular in condensed matter physics, and in particle physics as a toy model for QCD. Along with other analogies, it shares with 4d Yang-Mills theories, and with QCD, the property that the configurations are divided in topological sectors. In the lattice regularisation the topological charge Q can still be defined such that $Q\\in \\mathbb{Z}$. It has generally been observed, however, that the topological susceptibility ${{\\chi }_{t}}=\\langle {{Q}^{2}}\\rangle /V$ does not scale properly in the continuum limit, i.e. that the quantity ${{\\chi }_{t}}{{\\xi }^{2}}$ diverges for ξ → ∞ (where ξ is the correlation length in lattice units). Here we address the question whether or not this divergence persists after the application of the Gradient Flow.

Calculation of Vertical Temperature Gradients in Heated Rooms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Overby, H.; Steen-Thøde, Mogens

This paper deals with a simple model which predicts the vertical temperature gradient in a heated room. The gradient is calculated from a dimensionless temperature profile which is determined by two room air temperatures only, the mean temperature in the occupied zone and the mean temperature...

The KdV—Burgers equation in a modified speed gradient continuum model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai Ling-Ling; Ge Hong-Xia; Cheng Rong-Jun; Li Zhi-Peng

2013-01-01

Based on the full velocity difference model, Jiang et al. put forward the speed gradient model through the micro-macro linkage (Jiang R, Wu Q S and Zhu Z J 2001 Chin. Sci. Bull. 46 345 and Jiang R, Wu Q S and Zhu Z J 2002 Trans. Res. B 36 405). In this paper, the Taylor expansion is adopted to modify the model. The backward travel problem is overcome by our model, which exists in many higher-order continuum models. The neutral stability condition of the model is obtained through the linear stability analysis. Nonlinear analysis shows clearly that the density fluctuation in traffic flow leads to a variety of density waves. Moreover, the Korteweg-de Vries—Burgers (KdV—Burgers) equation is derived to describe the traffic flow near the neutral stability line and the corresponding solution for traffic density wave is derived. The numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the local cluster effects. The results are consistent with the realistic traffic flow and also further verify the results of nonlinear analysis

Characterization of a texture gradient in tantalum plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, S.I.; Gray, G.T. III.

1994-01-01

Clark et al. have shown that significant texture gradients can be produced in rolled tantalum plate and that the strength of the gradient is dependent on the processing path. Texture gradients are often ignored because they are time consuming to characterize and add significant complexity to materials modeling. The variation in texture through the thickness of rolled materials is most commonly measured by sectioning samples to different depths through the thickness of the plate and then measuring the texture from these section planes by X-ray diffraction. A new technique based on automatic indexing of electron backscatter diffraction patterns in the scanning electron microscope enables spatially specific orientations to be measured in a practical manner. This technique allows spatial variations in texture to be measured directly enabling gradients in texture to be investigated in more detail than previously possible. This data can be used directly in coupled finite-element/polycrystal-plasticity models to simulate the effects of variations in texture on the plastic behavior of polycrystals. This work examines the variation in texture through the thickness of a tantalum plate and its resultant effect on the compressive deformation of samples prepared from the plate. The characterization of the texture gradient using the automatic point-by-point measurement technique mentioned above is described in detail. The effect of the gradient on the plastic response of through-thickness compression tests is also discussed

Hydro-mechanical modelling of an excavation in an underground research laboratory with an elasto-viscoplastic behaviour law and regularization by second gradient of dilation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plassart, Roland; Giraud, Albert; Hoxha, Dashnor; Laigle, Francois

2013-01-01

In the context of nuclear waste disposals, this paper deals with hydro-mechanical modelling in saturated conditions in deep geological formation, using a specific elasto-viscoplastic model hereafter called the L and K model. While classical Biot's framework is followed for the hydro-mechanical coupling, the mechanical L and K model offers a coupling between instantaneous and delayed behaviour and a variation of dilation of ten related to softening. These volumetric strains are especially highlighted in coupled hydro-mechanical conditions. In order to avoid mesh dependency and numerical localized solutions, this type of modelling needs the use of a regularization method which is here referred to as the second gradient dilation model. After describing the numeric tools, we use them for simulating a gallery of the underground research laboratory of Bure. The approach is validated by the good general agreement found between numeric results and in situ measures for both hydraulic pressure and displacement. (authors)

Momentum-weighted conjugate gradient descent algorithm for gradient coil optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hanbing; Jesmanowicz, Andrzej; Li, Shi-Jiang; Hyde, James S

2004-01-01

MRI gradient coil design is a type of nonlinear constrained optimization. A practical problem in transverse gradient coil design using the conjugate gradient descent (CGD) method is that wire elements move at different rates along orthogonal directions (r, phi, z), and tend to cross, breaking the constraints. A momentum-weighted conjugate gradient descent (MW-CGD) method is presented to overcome this problem. This method takes advantage of the efficiency of the CGD method combined with momentum weighting, which is also an intrinsic property of the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, to adjust step sizes along the three orthogonal directions. A water-cooled, 12.8 cm inner diameter, three axis torque-balanced gradient coil for rat imaging was developed based on this method, with an efficiency of 2.13, 2.08, and 4.12 mT.m(-1).A(-1) along X, Y, and Z, respectively. Experimental data demonstrate that this method can improve efficiency by 40% and field uniformity by 27%. This method has also been applied to the design of a gradient coil for the human brain, employing remote current return paths. The benefits of this design include improved gradient field uniformity and efficiency, with a shorter length than gradient coil designs using coaxial return paths. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Strategies and applications for incorporating physical and chemical signal gradients in tissue engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Milind; Berkland, Cory; Detamore, Michael S

2008-12-01

From embryonic development to wound repair, concentration gradients of bioactive signaling molecules guide tissue formation and regeneration. Moreover, gradients in cellular and extracellular architecture as well as in mechanical properties are readily apparent in native tissues. Perhaps tissue engineers can take a cue from nature in attempting to regenerate tissues by incorporating gradients into engineering design strategies. Indeed, gradient-based approaches are an emerging trend in tissue engineering, standing in contrast to traditional approaches of homogeneous delivery of cells and/or growth factors using isotropic scaffolds. Gradients in tissue engineering lie at the intersection of three major paradigms in the field-biomimetic, interfacial, and functional tissue engineering-by combining physical (via biomaterial design) and chemical (with growth/differentiation factors and cell adhesion molecules) signal delivery to achieve a continuous transition in both structure and function. This review consolidates several key methodologies to generate gradients, some of which have never been employed in a tissue engineering application, and discusses strategies for incorporating these methods into tissue engineering and implant design. A key finding of this review was that two-dimensional physicochemical gradient substrates, which serve as excellent high-throughput screening tools for optimizing desired biomaterial properties, can be enhanced in the future by transitioning from two dimensions to three dimensions, which would enable studies of cell-protein-biomaterial interactions in a more native tissue-like environment. In addition, biomimetic tissue regeneration via combined delivery of graded physical and chemical signals appears to be a promising strategy for the regeneration of heterogeneous tissues and tissue interfaces. In the future, in vivo applications will shed more light on the performance of gradient-based mechanical integrity and signal delivery

Computational Strain Gradient Crystal Plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Kysar, Jeffrey W.

2011-01-01

A model for strain gradient crystal visco-plasticity is formulated along the lines proposed by Fleck andWillis (2009) for isotropic plasticity. Size-effects are included in the model due to the addition of gradient terms in both the free energy as well as through a dissipation potential. A finite...... element solution method is presented, which delivers the slip-rate field and the velocity-field based on two minimum principles. Some plane deformation problems relevant for certain specific orientations of a face centered cubic crystal under plane loading conditions are studied, and effective in......-plane parameters are developed based on the crystallographic properties of the material. The problem of cyclic shear of a single crystal between rigid platens is studied as well as void growth of a cylindrical void....

Reconstructing plateau icefields: Evaluating empirical and modelled approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Danni; Rea, Brice; Barr, Iestyn

2013-04-01

Glacial landforms are widely utilised to reconstruct former glacier geometries with a common aim to estimate the Equilibrium Line Altitudes (ELAs) and from these, infer palaeoclimatic conditions. Such inferences may be studied on a regional scale and used to correlate climatic gradients across large distances (e.g., Europe). In Britain, the traditional approach uses geomorphological mapping with hand contouring to derive the palaeo-ice surface. Recently, ice surface modelling enables an equilibrium profile reconstruction tuned using the geomorphology. Both methods permit derivation of palaeo-climate but no study has compared the two methods for the same ice-mass. This is important because either approach may result in differences in glacier limits, ELAs and palaeo-climate. This research uses both methods to reconstruct a plateau icefield and quantifies the results from a cartographic and geometrical aspect. Detailed geomorphological mapping of the Tweedsmuir Hills in the Southern Uplands, Scotland (c. 320 km2) was conducted to examine the extent of Younger Dryas (YD; 12.9 -11.7 cal. ka BP) glaciation. Landform evidence indicates a plateau icefield configuration of two separate ice-masses during the YD covering an area c. 45 km2 and 25 km2. The interpreted age is supported by new radiocarbon dating of basal stratigraphies and Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclide Analysis (TCNA) of in situ boulders. Both techniques produce similar configurations however; the model results in a coarser resolution requiring further processing if a cartographic map is required. When landforms are absent or fragmentary (e.g., trimlines and lateral moraines), like in many accumulation zones on plateau icefields, the geomorphological approach increasingly relies on extrapolation between lines of evidence and on the individual's perception of how the ice-mass ought to look. In some locations this results in an underestimation of the ice surface compared to the modelled surface most likely due to

Oxygen gradients in tissue-engineered PEGT/PBT cartilaginous constructs: Measurement and modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Malda, J.; Rouwkema, Jeroen; Martens, D.E.; le Comte, EP; Kooy, F.K.; Tramper, J.; van Blitterswijk, Clemens; Riesle, J.U.

2004-01-01

The supply of oxygen within three-dimensional tissue-engineered (TE) cartilage polymer constructs is mainly by diffusion. Oxygen consumption by cells results in gradients in the oxygen concentration. The aims of this study were, firstly, to identify the gradients within TE cartilage polymer

Oxygen gradients in tissue-engineered PEGT/PBT cartilaginous constructs: measurement and modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Malda, J.; Rouwkema, J.; Martens, D.E.; Paul le Comte, E.; Kooy, F.K.; Tramper, J.; Blitterswijk, van C.A.; Riesle, J.

2004-01-01

The supply of oxygen within three-dimensional tissue-engineered (TE) cartilage polymer constructs is mainly by diffusion. Oxygen consumption by cells results in gradients in the oxygen concentration. The aims of this study were, firstly, to identify the gradients within TE: cartilage polymer

On Scalable Deep Learning and Parallelizing Gradient Descent

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2129036; Möckel, Rico; Baranowski, Zbigniew; Canali, Luca

Speeding up gradient based methods has been a subject of interest over the past years with many practical applications, especially with respect to Deep Learning. Despite the fact that many optimizations have been done on a hardware level, the convergence rate of very large models remains problematic. Therefore, data parallel methods next to mini-batch parallelism have been suggested to further decrease the training time of parameterized models using gradient based methods. Nevertheless, asynchronous optimization was considered too unstable for practical purposes due to a lacking understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Recently, a theoretical contribution has been made which defines asynchronous optimization in terms of (implicit) momentum due to the presence of a queuing model of gradients based on past parameterizations. This thesis mainly builds upon this work to construct a better understanding why asynchronous optimization shows proportionally more divergent behavior when the number of parallel worker...

Pressure Gradients in the Inner Surf and Outer Swash Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Kidwell, A.; Puleo, J. A.; Torres-Freyermuth, A.

2010-12-01

The swash zone is a highly dynamic region of the beach profile. Although there has been significant progression in understanding the complex hydrodynamics of the swash zone, an improvement in the understanding of the sediment transport mechanisms deserves further investigation. Prior studies have demonstrated that the existing formulations derived from the energetics-type formulation do not accurately and consistently predict sediment transport. Thus, measurements and numerical modeling can contribute in the improvement of the current predictive capability of sediment transport. A potential enhancement to nearshore sediment transport is the horizontal pressure gradient. However, measuring the dynamic pressure gradient in nearshore flows is a difficult task. For instance, standard pressure sensors are generally ill-suited for this type of measurement in shallow swash flows due to the obstructing size of the sensor and the potential for flow interference. With improved measurement apparati and techniques, it is possible to obtain measurements of the horizontal pressure gradient. Our current research includes laboratory and numerical model investigation of the horizontal pressure gradient in the inner surf and outer swash zone. An inexpensive differential pressure gauge is employed allowing for a pressure port on the order of 2 mm diameter. Four pressure sensor pairs are installed 1 cm above the bed with a cross-shore spacing of 8 cm. The sensors are deployed just outside of and at various locations within the outer swash zone to determine spatio-temporal pressure variations. The measurement of total pressure coupled with the corresponding free surface measurements from co-located capacitance wave gauges yields time series of the hydrostatic and dynamic pressure and pressure gradients. A VOF-type RANS model is employed in this investigation. Firstly, the numerical model is validated with swash measurements. Then, model simulations will be performed in order to

Heat and water mass transfer in unsaturated swelling clay based buffer: discussion on the effect of the thermal gradient and on the diffusion of water vapour

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robinet, J.O. [Euro-Geomat-Consulting (France)]|[Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA), 35 - Rennes (France); Plas, F. [Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Dechets Radioactifs (ANDRA), 92 - Chatenay Malabry (France)

2005-07-01

The modelling of heat, mass transfer and the behaviour coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical in swelling clay require the development of appropriate constitutive laws as well as experimental data. This former approach, allows the quantitative validation of the theoretical models. In general modelling approaches consider dominant mechanisms, (i) Fourier law for diffusion of heat, (ii) generalized Darcy law for convection of liquid water, (iii) Flick law for diffusion of water vapour, and elastic-plastic models wit h hydric hardening and thermal damage/expansion for strain-stress behaviour. Transfer of dry air and water under thermal gradient and capillary (e.g. suction) gradient in unsaturated compacted swelling clays consider evaporation, migration and condensation. These transfers take into account the capillary effect. This effect is an evaporation of liquid water in the hot part for temperature higher than 100 C associated with a, diffusion of water vapor towards cold part then condensation, and convection of liquid water with gradient of suction in the opposite direction of the water vapour diffusion. High values of the diffusion coefficient of the vapour water are considered about 10{sup -7}m{sup 2}/s. Some thermal experiments related (i) low values of the water vapour diffusion coefficient in compacted swelling clays, 2004) and (ii) a significant drying associated with a water transfer even for temperature lower than 100 C. Other enhancement phenomena are used to explain these data and observations: the vaporization is a continuous process. At short term the mechanism of drying at short term is the thermal effect on the capillary pressure (e.g. surface tension depending of temperature); the thermal gradient is a driving force. When a temperature gradient is applied, diffusion occurs in order to reach equilibrium, e.g. to make the chemical potential (m) of each component uniform throughout. This mechanism is called thermal diffusion. This paper proposes a discussion

A Comprehensive Quality Evaluation System for Complex Herbal Medicine Using PacBio Sequencing, PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, and Several Chemical Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiasheng Zheng

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Herbal medicine is a major component of complementary and alternative medicine, contributing significantly to the health of many people and communities. Quality control of herbal medicine is crucial to ensure that it is safe and sound for use. Here, we investigated a comprehensive quality evaluation system for a classic herbal medicine, Danggui Buxue Formula, by applying genetic-based and analytical chemistry approaches to authenticate and evaluate the quality of its samples. For authenticity, we successfully applied two novel technologies, third-generation sequencing and PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, to analyze the ingredient composition of the tested samples. For quality evaluation, we used high performance liquid chromatography assays to determine the content of chemical markers to help estimate the dosage relationship between its two raw materials, plant roots of Huangqi and Danggui. A series of surveys were then conducted against several exogenous contaminations, aiming to further access the efficacy and safety of the samples. In conclusion, the quality evaluation system demonstrated here can potentially address the authenticity, quality, and safety of herbal medicines, thus providing novel insight for enhancing their overall quality control.Highlight: We established a comprehensive quality evaluation system for herbal medicine, by combining two genetic-based approaches third-generation sequencing and DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis with analytical chemistry approaches to achieve the authentication and quality connotation of the samples.

A Comprehensive Quality Evaluation System for Complex Herbal Medicine Using PacBio Sequencing, PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, and Several Chemical Approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xiasheng; Zhang, Peng; Liao, Baosheng; Li, Jing; Liu, Xingyun; Shi, Yuhua; Cheng, Jinle; Lai, Zhitian; Xu, Jiang; Chen, Shilin

2017-01-01

Herbal medicine is a major component of complementary and alternative medicine, contributing significantly to the health of many people and communities. Quality control of herbal medicine is crucial to ensure that it is safe and sound for use. Here, we investigated a comprehensive quality evaluation system for a classic herbal medicine, Danggui Buxue Formula, by applying genetic-based and analytical chemistry approaches to authenticate and evaluate the quality of its samples. For authenticity, we successfully applied two novel technologies, third-generation sequencing and PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis), to analyze the ingredient composition of the tested samples. For quality evaluation, we used high performance liquid chromatography assays to determine the content of chemical markers to help estimate the dosage relationship between its two raw materials, plant roots of Huangqi and Danggui. A series of surveys were then conducted against several exogenous contaminations, aiming to further access the efficacy and safety of the samples. In conclusion, the quality evaluation system demonstrated here can potentially address the authenticity, quality, and safety of herbal medicines, thus providing novel insight for enhancing their overall quality control. Highlight : We established a comprehensive quality evaluation system for herbal medicine, by combining two genetic-based approaches third-generation sequencing and DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) with analytical chemistry approaches to achieve the authentication and quality connotation of the samples.

A Comprehensive Quality Evaluation System for Complex Herbal Medicine Using PacBio Sequencing, PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, and Several Chemical Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xiasheng; Zhang, Peng; Liao, Baosheng; Li, Jing; Liu, Xingyun; Shi, Yuhua; Cheng, Jinle; Lai, Zhitian; Xu, Jiang; Chen, Shilin

2017-01-01

Herbal medicine is a major component of complementary and alternative medicine, contributing significantly to the health of many people and communities. Quality control of herbal medicine is crucial to ensure that it is safe and sound for use. Here, we investigated a comprehensive quality evaluation system for a classic herbal medicine, Danggui Buxue Formula, by applying genetic-based and analytical chemistry approaches to authenticate and evaluate the quality of its samples. For authenticity, we successfully applied two novel technologies, third-generation sequencing and PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis), to analyze the ingredient composition of the tested samples. For quality evaluation, we used high performance liquid chromatography assays to determine the content of chemical markers to help estimate the dosage relationship between its two raw materials, plant roots of Huangqi and Danggui. A series of surveys were then conducted against several exogenous contaminations, aiming to further access the efficacy and safety of the samples. In conclusion, the quality evaluation system demonstrated here can potentially address the authenticity, quality, and safety of herbal medicines, thus providing novel insight for enhancing their overall quality control. Highlight: We established a comprehensive quality evaluation system for herbal medicine, by combining two genetic-based approaches third-generation sequencing and DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) with analytical chemistry approaches to achieve the authentication and quality connotation of the samples. PMID:28955365

Motion of Drops on Surfaces with Wettability Gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Subramanian, R. Shankar; McLaughlin, John B.; Moumen, Nadjoua; Qian, Dongying

2002-11-01

desiccator. This is done using an approximate line source of the vapor in the form of a string soaked in the alkylchlorosilane. Ordinarily, many fluids, including water, wet the surface of silicon quite well. This means that the contact angle is small. But the silanized surface resists wetting, with contact angles that are as large as 100 degs. Therefore, a gradient of wettability is formed on the silicon surface. The region near the string is highly hydrophobic, and the contact angle decreases gradually toward a small value at the hydrophilic end away from this region. The change in wettability occurs over a distance of several mm. The strip is placed on a platform within a Plexiglas cell. Drops of a suitable liquid are introduced on top of the strip near the hydrophobic end. An optical system attached to a video camera is trained on the drop so that images of the moving drop can be captured on videotape for subsequent analysis. We have performed preliminary experiments with water as well as ethylene glycol drops. Results from these experiments will be presented in the poster. Future plans include the refinement of the experimental system so as to permit images to be recorded from the side as well as the top, and the conduct of a systematic study in which the drop size is varied over a good range. Experiments will be conducted with different fluids so as to obtain the largest possible range of suitably defined Reynolds and Capillary numbers. Also, an effort will be initiated on theoretical modeling of this motion. The challenges in the development of the theoretical description lie in the proper analysis of the region in the vicinity of the contact line, as well as in the free boundary nature of the problem. It is known that continuum models assuming the no slip condition all the way to the contact line fail by predicting that the stress on the solid surface becomes singular as the contact line is approached. One approach for dealing with this issue has been to relax the no

Ionospheric forecasting model using fuzzy logic-based gradient descent method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Venkata Ratnam

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Space weather phenomena cause satellite to ground or satellite to aircraft transmission outages over the VHF to L-band frequency range, particularly in the low latitude region. Global Positioning System (GPS is primarily susceptible to this form of space weather. Faulty GPS signals are attributed to ionospheric error, which is a function of Total Electron Content (TEC. Importantly, precise forecasts of space weather conditions and appropriate hazard observant cautions required for ionospheric space weather observations are limited. In this paper, a fuzzy logic-based gradient descent method has been proposed to forecast the ionospheric TEC values. In this technique, membership functions have been tuned based on the gradient descent estimated values. The proposed algorithm has been tested with the TEC data of two geomagnetic storms in the low latitude station of KL University, Guntur, India (16.44°N, 80.62°E. It has been found that the gradient descent method performs well and the predicted TEC values are close to the original TEC measurements.

Spiral Gradient Coil Design for Use in Cylindrical MRI Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yaohui; Xin, Xuegang; Liu, Feng; Crozier, Stuart

2018-04-01

In magnetic resonance imaging, the stream function based method is commonly used in the design of gradient coils. However, this method can be prone to errors associated with the discretization of continuous current density and wire connections. In this paper, we propose a novel gradient coil design scheme that works directly in the wire space, avoiding the system errors that may appear in the stream function approaches. Specifically, the gradient coil pattern is described with dedicated spiral functions adjusted to allow the coil to produce the required field gradients in the imaging area, minimal stray field, and other engineering terms. The performance of a designed spiral gradient coil was compared with its stream-function counterpart. The numerical evaluation shows that when compared with the conventional solution, the inductance and resistance was reduced by 20.9 and 10.5%, respectively. The overall coil performance (evaluated by the figure of merit (FoM)) was improved up to 26.5% for the x -gradient coil design; for the z-gradient coil design, the inductance and resistance were reduced by 15.1 and 6.7% respectively, and the FoM was increased by 17.7%. In addition, by directly controlling the wire distributions, the spiral gradient coil design was much sparser than conventional coils.

Dynamics of gradient formation by intracellular shuttling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berezhkovskii, Alexander M. [Mathematical and Statistical Computing Laboratory, Division of Computational Bioscience, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 (United States); Shvartsman, Stanislav Y. [Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)

2015-08-21

A number of important cellular functions rely on the formation of intracellular protein concentration gradients. Experimental studies discovered a number of mechanisms for the formation of such gradients. One of the mechanisms relies on the intracellular shuttling of a protein that interconverts between the two states with different diffusivities, under the action of two enzymes, one of which is localized to the plasma membrane, whereas the second is uniformly distributed in the cytoplasm. Recent work reported an analytical solution for the steady state gradient in this mechanism, obtained in the framework of a one-dimensional reaction-diffusion model. Here, we study the dynamics in this model and derive analytical expressions for the Laplace transforms of the time-dependent concentration profiles in terms of elementary transcendental functions. Inverting these transforms numerically, one can obtain time-dependent concentration profiles of the two forms of the protein.

Revisiting fracture gradient: Comments on “A new approaching method to estimate fracture gradient by correcting Matthew–Kelly and Eaton's stress ratio”

KAUST Repository

Hakiki, Farizal

2017-07-25

A study performed by Marbun et al. [1] claimed that “A new methodology to predict fracture pressure from former calculations, Matthew–Kelly and Eaton are proposed.” Also, Marbun et al.\\'s paper stated that “A new value of Poisson\\'s and a stress ratio of the formation were generated and the accuracy of fracture gradient was improved.” We found those all statements are incorrect and some misleading concepts are revealed. An attempt to expose the method of fracture gradient determination from industry practice also appears to solidify that our arguments are acceptable to against improper Marbun et al.\\'s claims.

On the accurate analysis of vibroacoustics in head insert gradient coils.

Science.gov (United States)

Winkler, Simone A; Alejski, Andrew; Wade, Trevor; McKenzie, Charles A; Rutt, Brian K

2017-10-01

To accurately analyze vibroacoustics in MR head gradient coils. A detailed theoretical model for gradient coil vibroacoustics, including the first description and modeling of Lorentz damping, is introduced and implemented in a multiphysics software package. Numerical finite-element method simulations were used to establish a highly accurate vibroacoustic model in head gradient coils in detail, including the newly introduced Lorentz damping effect. Vibroacoustic coupling was examined through an additional modal analysis. Thorough experimental studies were used to validate simulations. Average experimental sound pressure levels (SPLs) and accelerations over the 0-3000 Hz frequency range were 97.6 dB, 98.7 dB, and 95.4 dB, as well as 20.6 g, 8.7 g, and 15.6 g for the X-, Y-, and Z-gradients, respectively. A reasonable agreement between simulations and measurements was achieved. Vibroacoustic coupling showed a coupled resonance at 2300 Hz for the Z-gradient that is responsible for a sharp peak and the highest SPL value in the acoustic spectrum. We have developed and used more realistic multiphysics simulation methods to gain novel insights into the underlying concepts for vibroacoustics in head gradient coils, which will permit improved analyses of existing gradient coils and novel SPL reduction strategies for future gradient coil designs. Magn Reson Med 78:1635-1645, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Study of homogeneous bubble nucleation in liquid carbon dioxide by a hybrid approach combining molecular dynamics simulation and density gradient theory

Science.gov (United States)

Langenbach, K.; Heilig, M.; Horsch, M.; Hasse, H.

2018-03-01

A new method for predicting homogeneous bubble nucleation rates of pure compounds from vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data is presented. It combines molecular dynamics simulation on the one side with density gradient theory using an equation of state (EOS) on the other. The new method is applied here to predict bubble nucleation rates in metastable liquid carbon dioxide (CO2). The molecular model of CO2 is taken from previous work of our group. PC-SAFT is used as an EOS. The consistency between the molecular model and the EOS is achieved by adjusting the PC-SAFT parameters to VLE data obtained from the molecular model. The influence parameter of density gradient theory is fitted to the surface tension of the molecular model. Massively parallel molecular dynamics simulations are performed close to the spinodal to compute bubble nucleation rates. From these simulations, the kinetic prefactor of the hybrid nucleation theory is estimated, whereas the nucleation barrier is calculated from density gradient theory. This enables the extrapolation of molecular simulation data to the whole metastable range including technically relevant densities. The results are tested against available experimental data and found to be in good agreement. The new method does not suffer from typical deficiencies of classical nucleation theory concerning the thermodynamic barrier at the spinodal and the bubble size dependence of surface tension, which is typically neglected in classical nucleation theory. In addition, the density in the center of critical bubbles and their surface tension is determined as a function of their radius. The usual linear Tolman correction to the capillarity approximation is found to be invalid.

Study of homogeneous bubble nucleation in liquid carbon dioxide by a hybrid approach combining molecular dynamics simulation and density gradient theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Langenbach, K; Heilig, M; Horsch, M; Hasse, H

2018-03-28

A new method for predicting homogeneous bubble nucleation rates of pure compounds from vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data is presented. It combines molecular dynamics simulation on the one side with density gradient theory using an equation of state (EOS) on the other. The new method is applied here to predict bubble nucleation rates in metastable liquid carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The molecular model of CO 2 is taken from previous work of our group. PC-SAFT is used as an EOS. The consistency between the molecular model and the EOS is achieved by adjusting the PC-SAFT parameters to VLE data obtained from the molecular model. The influence parameter of density gradient theory is fitted to the surface tension of the molecular model. Massively parallel molecular dynamics simulations are performed close to the spinodal to compute bubble nucleation rates. From these simulations, the kinetic prefactor of the hybrid nucleation theory is estimated, whereas the nucleation barrier is calculated from density gradient theory. This enables the extrapolation of molecular simulation data to the whole metastable range including technically relevant densities. The results are tested against available experimental data and found to be in good agreement. The new method does not suffer from typical deficiencies of classical nucleation theory concerning the thermodynamic barrier at the spinodal and the bubble size dependence of surface tension, which is typically neglected in classical nucleation theory. In addition, the density in the center of critical bubbles and their surface tension is determined as a function of their radius. The usual linear Tolman correction to the capillarity approximation is found to be invalid.

Gradient-free determination of isoelectric points of proteins on chip.

Science.gov (United States)

Łapińska, Urszula; Saar, Kadi L; Yates, Emma V; Herling, Therese W; Müller, Thomas; Challa, Pavan K; Dobson, Christopher M; Knowles, Tuomas P J

2017-08-30

The isoelectric point (pI) of a protein is a key characteristic that influences its overall electrostatic behaviour. The majority of conventional methods for the determination of the isoelectric point of a molecule rely on the use of spatial gradients in pH, although significant practical challenges are associated with such techniques, notably the difficulty in generating a stable and well controlled pH gradient. Here, we introduce a gradient-free approach, exploiting a microfluidic platform which allows us to perform rapid pH change on chip and probe the electrophoretic mobility of species in a controlled field. In particular, in this approach, the pH of the electrolyte solution is modulated in time rather than in space, as in the case for conventional determinations of the isoelectric point. To demonstrate the general approachability of this platform, we have measured the isoelectric points of representative set of seven proteins, bovine serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin, ribonuclease A, ovalbumin, human transferrin, ubiquitin and myoglobin in microlitre sample volumes. The ability to conduct measurements in free solution thus provides the basis for the rapid determination of isoelectric points of proteins under a wide variety of solution conditions and in small volumes.

Geomorphic controls on elevational gradients of species richness.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertuzzo, Enrico; Carrara, Francesco; Mari, Lorenzo; Altermatt, Florian; Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio; Rinaldo, Andrea

2016-02-16

Elevational gradients of biodiversity have been widely investigated, and yet a clear interpretation of the biotic and abiotic factors that determine how species richness varies with elevation is still elusive. In mountainous landscapes, habitats at different elevations are characterized by different areal extent and connectivity properties, key drivers of biodiversity, as predicted by metacommunity theory. However, most previous studies directly correlated species richness to elevational gradients of potential drivers, thus neglecting the interplay between such gradients and the environmental matrix. Here, we investigate the role of geomorphology in shaping patterns of species richness. We develop a spatially explicit zero-sum metacommunity model where species have an elevation-dependent fitness and otherwise neutral traits. Results show that ecological dynamics over complex terrains lead to the null expectation of a hump-shaped elevational gradient of species richness, a pattern widely observed empirically. Local species richness is found to be related to the landscape elevational connectivity, as quantified by a newly proposed metric that applies tools of complex network theory to measure the closeness of a site to others with similar habitat. Our theoretical results suggest clear geomorphic controls on elevational gradients of species richness and support the use of the landscape elevational connectivity as a null model for the analysis of the distribution of biodiversity.

Destabilization of drift waves due to nonuniform density gradient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirose, A.; Ishihara, O.

1985-01-01

It is shown that the conventional mode differential equation for low frequency electrostatic waves in a tokamak does not contain full ion dynamics. Both electrons and ions contribute to the ballooning term, which is subject to finite ion Larmor radius effects. Also, both fluid ion approximation and kinetic ion model yield the same correction. Reexamined are the density gradient universal mode and ion temperature gradient instability employing the lowest order Pearlstein-Berk type radial eigenfunctions. No unstable, bounded, energy outgoing eigenfunctions have been found. In particular, a large ion temperature gradient (eta/sub i/) tends to further stabilize the temperature gradient driven mode

Modeling the influence of a reduced equator-to-pole sea surface temperature gradient on the distribution of water isotopes in the Eocene

Science.gov (United States)

Speelman, E. N.; Sewall, J. O.; Noone, D. C.; Huber, M.; Sinninghe Damsté, J. S.; Reichart, G.

2009-12-01

Proxy-based climate reconstructions suggest the existence of a strongly reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradient during most of the Early Eocene. With the realization that the Eocene Arctic Ocean was covered with enormous quantities of the free floating freshwater fern Azolla, new questions related to Eocene (global) hydrological cycling facilitating these blooms arose. Changes in hydrological cycling, as a consequence of a reduced temperature gradient, are expected to be most clearly reflected in the isotopic composition (D, 18O) of precipitation. The interpretation of water isotopic records to quantitatively estimate past precipitation patterns is, however, hampered by the lack of detailed information on changes in their spatial and temporal distribution. Using the isotope-enabled global circulation model, Community Atmosphere Model v.3 (isoCAM3), relationships between water isotopes and past climates can be simulated. Here we examine the influence of a reduced meridional sea surface temperature gradient on the spatial distribution of precipitation and its isotopic composition in an Eocene setting. Overall, our combination of Eocene climate forcings, with superimposed TEX86-derived SST estimates and elevated pCO2 concentrations, produces a climate that agrees well with proxy data in locations around the globe. It shows the presence of an intensified hydrological cycle with precipitation exceeding evaporation in the Arctic region. The Eocene model runs with a significantly reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradient in a warmer more humid world predict occurrence of less depleted precipitation, with δD values ranging only between 0 and -140‰ (as opposed to the present-day range of 0 to -300‰). Combining new results obtained from compound specific isotope analyses on terrestrially derived n-alkanes extracted from Eocene sediments, and model calculations, shows that the model not only captures the main features, but reproduces isotopic values

Avoiding vacuum arcs in high gradient normal conducting RF structures

CERN Document Server

Sjøbæk, Kyrre Ness; Adli, Erik; Grudiev, Alexej; Wuensch, Walter

In order to build the Compact LInear Collider (CLIC), accelerating structures reaching extremely high accelerating gradients are needed. Such structures have been built and tested using normal-conducting copper, powered by X-band RF power and reaching gradients of 100 MV/m and above. One phenomenon that must be avoided in order to reliably reach such gradients, is vacuum arcs or “breakdowns”. This can be accomplished by carefully designing the structure geometry such that high surface fields and large local power flows are avoided. The research presented in this thesis presents a method for optimizing the geometry of accelerating structures so that these breakdowns are made less likely, allowing the structure to operate reliably at high gradients. This was done primarily based on a phenomenological scaling model, which predicted the maximum gradient as a function of the break down rate, pulse length, and field distribution in the structure. The model is written in such a way that it allows direct comparis...

Assembly of multiple cell gradients directed by three-dimensional microfluidic channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yiwei; Feng, Xiaojun; Wang, Yachao; Du, Wei; Chen, Peng; Liu, Chao; Liu, Bi-Feng

2015-08-07

Active control over the cell gradient is essential for understanding biological systems and the reconstitution of the functionality of many types of tissues, particularly for organ-on-a-chip. Here, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) microfluidic strategy for generating controllable cell gradients. In this approach, a homogeneous cell suspension is loaded into a 3D stair-shaped PDMS microchannel to generate a cell gradient within 10 min by sedimentation. We demonstrate that cell gradients of various profiles (exponential and piecewise linear) can be achieved by precisely controlling the height of each layer during the fabrication. With sequential seeding, we further demonstrate the generation of two overlapping cell gradients on the same glass substrate with pre-defined designs. The cell gradient-based QD cytotoxicity assay also demonstrated that cell behaviors and resistances were regulated by the changes in cell density. These results reveal that the proposed 3D microfluidic strategy provides a simple and versatile means for establishing controllable gradients in cell density, opening up a new avenue for reconstructing functional tissues.

Time-domain full waveform inversion using the gradient preconditioning based on transmitted waves energy

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Xiao-bo; Tan, Jun; Song, Peng; Li, Jin-shan; Xia, Dong-ming; Liu, Zhao-lun

2017-01-01

The gradient preconditioning approach based on seismic wave energy can effectively avoid the huge storage consumption in the gradient preconditioning algorithms based on Hessian matrices in time-domain full waveform inversion (FWI), but the accuracy

Effect of Crustal Density Structures on GOCE Gravity Gradient Observables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Tenzer Pavel Novák

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We investigate the gravity gradient components corrected for major known anomalous density structures within the Earth¡¦s crust. Heterogeneous mantle density structures are disregarded. The gravimetric forward modeling technique is utilized to compute the gravity gradients based on methods for a spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis of a gravity field. The Earth¡¦s gravity gradient components are generated using the global geopotential model GOCO-03s. The topographic and stripping gravity corrections due to the density contrasts of the ocean and ice are computed from the global topographic/bathymetric model DTM2006.0 (which also includes the ice-thickness dataset. The discrete data of sediments and crust layers taken from the CRUST2.0 global crustal model are then used to apply the additional stripping corrections for sediments and remaining anomalous crustal density structures. All computations are realized globally on a one arc-deg geographical grid at a mean satellite elevation of 255 km. The global map of the consolidated crust-stripped gravity gradients reveals distinctive features which are attributed to global tectonics, lithospheric plate configuration, lithosphere structure and mantle dynamics (e.g., glacial isostatic adjustment, mantle convection. The Moho signature, which is the most pronounced signal in these refined gravity gradients, is superimposed over a weaker gravity signal of the lithospheric mantle. An interpretational quality of the computed (refined gravity gradient components is mainly limited by a low accuracy and resolution of the CRUST2.0 sediment and crustal layer data and unmodeled mantle structures.

Modeling and simulation of protein elution in linear pH and salt gradients on weak, strong and mixed cation exchange resins applying an extended Donnan ion exchange model.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittkopp, Felix; Peeck, Lars; Hafner, Mathias; Frech, Christian

2018-04-13

Process development and characterization based on mathematic modeling provides several advantages and has been applied more frequently over the last few years. In this work, a Donnan equilibrium ion exchange (DIX) model is applied for modelling and simulation of ion exchange chromatography of a monoclonal antibody in linear chromatography. Four different cation exchange resin prototypes consisting of weak, strong and mixed ligands are characterized using pH and salt gradient elution experiments applying the extended DIX model. The modelling results are compared with the results using a classic stoichiometric displacement model. The Donnan equilibrium model is able to describe all four prototype resins while the stoichiometric displacement model fails for the weak and mixed weak/strong ligands. Finally, in silico chromatogram simulations of pH and pH/salt dual gradients are performed to verify the results and to show the consistency of the developed model. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

LES of the adverse-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, M.; Pullin, D.I.; Harun, Z.; Marusic, I.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • The adverse-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer at high Re is studied. • Wall-model LES works well for nonequilibrium turbulent boundary layer. • Relationship of skin-friction to Re and Clauser pressure parameter is explored. • Self-similarity is observed in the velocity statistics over a wide range of Re. -- Abstract: We describe large-eddy simulations (LES) of the flat-plate turbulent boundary layer in the presence of an adverse pressure gradient. The stretched-vortex subgrid-scale model is used in the domain of the flow coupled to a wall model that explicitly accounts for the presence of a finite pressure gradient. The LES are designed to match recent experiments conducted at the University of Melbourne wind tunnel where a plate section with zero pressure gradient is followed by section with constant adverse pressure gradient. First, LES are described at Reynolds numbers based on the local free-stream velocity and the local momentum thickness in the range 6560–13,900 chosen to match the experimental conditions. This is followed by a discussion of further LES at Reynolds numbers at approximately 10 times and 100 times these values, which are well out of range of present day direct numerical simulation and wall-resolved LES. For the lower Reynolds number runs, mean velocity profiles, one-point turbulent statistics of the velocity fluctuations, skin friction and the Clauser and acceleration parameters along the streamwise, adverse pressure-gradient domain are compared to the experimental measurements. For the full range of LES, the relationship of the skin-friction coefficient, in the form of the ratio of the local free-stream velocity to the local friction velocity, to both Reynolds number and the Clauser parameter is explored. At large Reynolds numbers, a region of collapse is found that is well described by a simple log-like empirical relationship over two orders of magnitude. This is expected to be useful for constant adverse

A model to describe the surface gradient-nanograin formation and property of friction stir processed laser Co-Cr-Ni-Mo alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ruidi; Yuan, Tiechui; Qiu, Zili

2014-07-01

A gradient-nanograin surface layer of Co-base alloy was prepared by friction stir processing (FSP) of laser-clad coating in this work. However, it is lack of a quantitatively function relationship between grain refinement and FSP conditions. Based on this, an analytic model is derived for the correlations between carbide size, hardness and rotary speed, layer depth during in-situ FSP of laser-clad Co-Cr-Ni-Mo alloy. The model is based on the principle of typical plastic flow in friction welding and dynamic recrystallization. The FSP experiment for modification of laser-clad Co-based alloy was conducted and its gradient nanograin and hardness were characterized. It shows that the model is consistent with experimental results.

Development and experimental evaluation of models for low capillary number two-phase flows in rough walled fractures relevant to natural gradient conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glass, R.J.; Yarrington, L.; Nicholl, M.J.

1997-09-01

The major results from SNL's Conceptual Model Development and Validation Task (WBS 1.2.5.4.6) as developed through exploration of small scale processes were synthesized in Glass et al. to give guidance to Performance Assessment on improving conceptual models for isothermal flow in unsaturated, fractured rock. There, pressure saturation and relative permeability curves for single fractures were proposed to be a function of both fracture orientation within the gravity field and initial conditions. We refer the reader to Glass et al. for a discussion of the implications of this behavior for Performance Assessment. The scientific research we report here substantiates this proposed behavior. We address the modeling of phase structure within fractures under natural gradient conditions relevant to unsaturated flow through fractures. This phase structure underlies the calculation of effective properties for individual fractures and hence fracture networks as required for Performance Assessment. Standard Percolation (SP) and Invasion Percolation (IP) approaches have been recently proposed to model the underlying phase saturation structures within the individual fractures during conditions of two-phase flow. Subsequent analysis of these structures yields effective two-phase pressure-saturation and relative permeability relations for the fracture. However, both of these approaches yield structures that are at odds with physical reality as we see in experiments and thus effective properties calculated from these structures are in error. Here we develop and evaluate a Modified Invasion Percolation (MIP) approach to better model quasi-static immiscible displacement in fractures. The effects of gravity, contact angle, local aperature field geometry, and local in-plane interfacial curvature between phases are included in the calculation of invasion pressure for individual sites in a discretized aperture field

Nonstationary porosity evolution in mixing zone in coastal carbonate aquifer using an alternative modeling approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Laabidi, Ezzeddine; Bouhlila, Rachida

2015-07-01

In the last few decades, hydrogeochemical problems have benefited from the strong interest in numerical modeling. One of the most recognized hydrogeochemical problems is the dissolution of the calcite in the mixing zone below limestone coastal aquifer. In many works, this problem has been modeled using a coupling algorithm between a density-dependent flow model and a geochemical model. A related difficulty is that, because of the high nonlinearity of the coupled set of equations, high computational effort is needed. During calcite dissolution, an increase in permeability can be identified, which can induce an increase in the penetration of the seawater into the aquifer. The majority of the previous studies used a fully coupled reactive transport model in order to model such problem. Romanov and Dreybrodt (J Hydrol 329:661-673, 2006) have used an alternative approach to quantify the porosity evolution in mixing zone below coastal carbonate aquifer at steady state. This approach is based on the analytic solution presented by Phillips (1991) in his book Flow and Reactions in Permeable Rock, which shows that it is possible to decouple the complex set of equation. This equation is proportional to the square of the salinity gradient, which can be calculated using a density driven flow code and to the reaction rate that can be calculated using a geochemical code. In this work, this equation is used in nonstationary step-by-step regime. At each time step, the quantity of the dissolved calcite is quantified, the change of porosity is calculated, and the permeability is updated. The reaction rate, which is the second derivate of the calcium equilibrium concentration in the equation, is calculated using the PHREEQC code (Parkhurst and Apello 1999). This result is used in GEODENS (Bouhlila 1999; Bouhlila and Laabidi 2008) to calculate change of the porosity after calculating the salinity gradient. For the next time step, the same protocol is used but using the updated porosity

Learning Unknown Structure in CRFs via Adaptive Gradient Projection Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Xue

2016-08-01

Full Text Available We study the problem of fitting probabilistic graphical models to the given data when the structure is not known. More specifically, we focus on learning unknown structure in conditional random fields, especially learning both the structure and parameters of a conditional random field model simultaneously. To do this, we first formulate the learning problem as a convex minimization problem by adding an l_2-regularization to the node parameters and a group l_1-regularization to the edge parameters, and then a gradient-based projection method is proposed to solve it which combines an adaptive stepsize selection strategy with a nonmonotone line search. Extensive simulation experiments are presented to show the performance of our approach in solving unknown structure learning problems.

Estimating a planetary magnetic field with time-dependent global MHD simulations using an adjoint approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Nabert

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The interaction of the solar wind with a planetary magnetic field causes electrical currents that modify the magnetic field distribution around the planet. We present an approach to estimating the planetary magnetic field from in situ spacecraft data using a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD simulation approach. The method is developed with respect to the upcoming BepiColombo mission to planet Mercury aimed at determining the planet's magnetic field and its interior electrical conductivity distribution. In contrast to the widely used empirical models, global MHD simulations allow the calculation of the strongly time-dependent interaction process of the solar wind with the planet. As a first approach, we use a simple MHD simulation code that includes time-dependent solar wind and magnetic field parameters. The planetary parameters are estimated by minimizing the misfit of spacecraft data and simulation results with a gradient-based optimization. As the calculation of gradients with respect to many parameters is usually very time-consuming, we investigate the application of an adjoint MHD model. This adjoint MHD model is generated by an automatic differentiation tool to compute the gradients efficiently. The computational cost for determining the gradient with an adjoint approach is nearly independent of the number of parameters. Our method is validated by application to THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms magnetosheath data to estimate Earth's dipole moment.

THE SCENARIOS APPROACH TO ATTENUATION-BASED REMEDIES FOR INORGANIC AND RADIONUCLIDE CONTAMINANTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vangelas, K.; Rysz, M.; Truex, M.; Brady, P.; Newell, C.; Denham, M.

2011-08-04

Guidance materials based on use of conceptual model scenarios were developed to assist evaluation and implementation of attenuation-based remedies for groundwater and vadose zones contaminated with inorganic and radionuclide contaminants. The Scenarios approach is intended to complement the comprehensive information provided in the US EPA's Technical Protocol for Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA) of Inorganic Contaminants by providing additional information on site conceptual models and extending the evaluation to consideration of Enhanced Attenuation approaches. The conceptual models incorporate the notion of reactive facies, defined as units with hydrogeochemical properties that are different from surrounding units and that react with contaminants in distinct ways. The conceptual models also incorporate consideration of biogeochemical gradients, defined as boundaries between different geochemical conditions that have been induced by waste disposal or other natural phenomena. Gradients can change over time when geochemical conditions from one area migrate into another, potentially affecting contaminant mobility. A recognition of gradients allows the attenuation-affecting conditions of a site to be projected into the future. The Scenarios approach provides a stepwise process to identify an appropriate category of conceptual model and refine it for a specific site. Scenario materials provide links to pertinent sections in the EPA technical protocol and present information about contaminant mobility and important controlling mechanism for attenuation-based remedies based on the categories of conceptual models.

Magnetic field of longitudinal gradient bend

Science.gov (United States)

Aiba, Masamitsu; Böge, Michael; Ehrlichman, Michael; Streun, Andreas

2018-06-01

The longitudinal gradient bend is an effective method for reducing the natural emittance in light sources. It is, however, not a common element. We have analyzed its magnetic field and derived a set of formulae. Based on the derivation, we discuss how to model the longitudinal gradient bend in accelerator codes that are used for designing electron storage rings. Strengths of multipole components can also be evaluated from the formulae, and we investigate the impact of higher order multipole components in a very low emittance lattice.

Imaging the Buried Chicxulub Crater with Gravity Gradients and Cenotes

Science.gov (United States)

Hildebrand, A. R.; Pilkington, M.; Halpenny, J. F.; Ortiz-Aleman, C.; Chavez, R. E.; Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J.; Connors, M.; Graniel-Castro, E.; Camara-Zi, A.; Vasquez, J.

1995-09-01

Differing interpretations of the Bouguer gravity anomaly over the Chicxulub crater, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, have yielded diameter estimates of 170 to 320 km. Knowing the crater's size is necessary to quantify the lethal perturbations to the Cretaceous environment associated with its formation. The crater's size (and internal structure) is revealed by the horizontal gradient of the Bouguer gravity anomaly over the structure, and by mapping the karst features of the Yucatan region. To improve our resolution of the crater's gravity signature we collected additional gravity measurements primarily along radial profiles, but also to fill in previously unsurveyed areas. Horizontal gradient analysis of Bouguer gravity data objectively highlights the lateral density contrasts of the impact lithologies and suppresses regional anomalies which may obscure the gravity signature of the Chicxulub crater lithologies. This gradient technique yields a striking circular structure with at least 6 concentric gradient features between 25 and 85 km radius. These features are most distinct in the southwest probably because of denser sampling of the gravity field. Our detailed profiles detected an additional feature and steeper gradients (up to 5 mGal/km) than the original survey. We interpret the outer four gradient maxima to represent concentric faults in the crater's zone of slumping as is also revealed by seismic reflection data. The inner two probably represent the margin of the central uplift and the peak ring and or collapsed transient cavity. Radial gradients in the SW quadrant over the inferred ~40 km-diameter central uplift (4) may represent structural "puckering" as revealed at eroded terrestrial craters. Gradient features related to regional gravity highs and lows are visible outside the crater, but no concentric gradient features are apparent at distances > 90 km radius. The marginal gradient features may be modelled by slump faults as observed in large complex craters on

A dynamic response model for pressure sensors in continuum and high Knudsen number flows with large temperature gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Whitmore, Stephen A.; Petersen, Brian J.; Scott, David D.

1996-01-01

This paper develops a dynamic model for pressure sensors in continuum and rarefied flows with longitudinal temperature gradients. The model was developed from the unsteady Navier-Stokes momentum, energy, and continuity equations and was linearized using small perturbations. The energy equation was decoupled from momentum and continuity assuming a polytropic flow process. Rarefied flow conditions were accounted for using a slip flow boundary condition at the tubing wall. The equations were radially averaged and solved assuming gas properties remain constant along a small tubing element. This fundamental solution was used as a building block for arbitrary geometries where fluid properties may also vary longitudinally in the tube. The problem was solved recursively starting at the transducer and working upstream in the tube. Dynamic frequency response tests were performed for continuum flow conditions in the presence of temperature gradients. These tests validated the recursive formulation of the model. Model steady-state behavior was analyzed using the final value theorem. Tests were performed for rarefied flow conditions and compared to the model steady-state response to evaluate the regime of applicability. Model comparisons were excellent for Knudsen numbers up to 0.6. Beyond this point, molecular affects caused model analyses to become inaccurate.

Full magnetic gradient tensor from triaxial aeromagnetic gradient measurements: Calculation and application

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yao; Wu, Mei-Ping; Wang, Ping; Duan, Shu-Ling; Liu, Hao-Jun; Wang, Jin-Long; An, Zhan-Feng

2015-09-01

The full magnetic gradient tensor (MGT) refers to the spatial change rate of the three field components of the geomagnetic field vector along three mutually orthogonal axes. The tensor is of use to geological mapping, resources exploration, magnetic navigation, and others. However, it is very difficult to measure the full magnetic tensor gradient using existing engineering technology. We present a method to use triaxial aeromagnetic gradient measurements for deriving the full MGT. The method uses the triaxial gradient data and makes full use of the variation of the magnetic anomaly modulus in three dimensions to obtain a self-consistent magnetic tensor gradient. Numerical simulations show that the full MGT data obtained with the proposed method are of high precision and satisfy the requirements of data processing. We selected triaxial aeromagnetic gradient data from the Hebei Province for calculating the full MGT. Data processing shows that using triaxial tensor gradient data allows to take advantage of the spatial rate of change of the total field in three dimensions and suppresses part of the independent noise in the aeromagnetic gradient. The calculated tensor components have improved resolution, and the transformed full tensor gradient satisfies the requirement of geological mapping and interpretation.

Competitive ability, stress tolerance and plant interactions along stress gradients.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Man; Sun, Tao; Xue, SuFeng; Yang, Wei; Shao, DongDong; Martínez-López, Javier

2018-04-01

Exceptions to the generality of the stress-gradient hypothesis (SGH) may be reconciled by considering species-specific traits and stress tolerance strategies. Studies have tested stress tolerance and competitive ability in mediating interaction outcomes, but few have incorporated this to predict how species interactions shift between competition and facilitation along stress gradients. We used field surveys, salt tolerance and competition experiments to develop a predictive model interspecific interaction shifts across salinity stress gradients. Field survey and greenhouse tolerance tests revealed tradeoffs between stress tolerance and competitive ability. Modeling showed that along salinity gradients, (1) plant interactions shifted from competition to facilitation at high salinities within the physiological limits of salt-intolerant plants, (2) facilitation collapsed when salinity stress exceeded the physiological tolerance of salt-intolerant plants, and (3) neighbor removal experiments overestimate interspecific facilitation by including intraspecific effects. A community-level field experiment, suggested that (1) species interactions are competitive in benign and, facilitative in harsh condition, but fuzzy under medium environmental stress due to niche differences of species and weak stress amelioration, and (2) the SGH works on strong but not weak stress gradients, so SGH confusion arises when it is applied across questionable stress gradients. Our study clarifies how species interactions vary along stress gradients. Moving forward, focusing on SGH applications rather than exceptions on weak or nonexistent gradients would be most productive. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

Influence of permittivity on gradient force exerted on Mie spheres.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun; Li, Kaikai; Li, Xiao

2018-04-01

In optical trapping, whether a particle could be stably trapped into the focus region greatly depends on the strength of the gradient force. Individual theoretical study on gradient force exerted on a Mie particle is rare because the mathematical separation of the gradient force and the scattering force in the Mie regime is difficult. Based on the recent forces separation work by Du et al. [Sci. Rep.7, 18042 (2017)SRCEC32045-232210.1038/s41598-017-17874-1], we investigate the influence of permittivity (an important macroscopic physical quantity) on the gradient force exerted on a Mie particle by cooperating numerical calculation using fast Fourier transform and analytical analysis using multipole expansion. It is revealed that gradient forces exerted on small spheres are mainly determined by the electric dipole moment except for certain permittivity with which the real part of polarizability of the electric dipole approaches zero, and gradient forces exerted on larger spheres are complex because of the superposition of the multipole moments. The classification of permittivity corresponding to different varying tendencies of gradient forces exerted on small spheres or larger Mie particles are illustrated. Absorption of particles favors the trapping of small spheres by gradient force, while it is bad for the trapping of larger particles. Moreover, the absolute values of the maximal gradient forces exerted on larger Mie particles decline greatly versus the varied imaginary part of permittivity. This work provides elaborate investigation on the different varying tendencies of gradient forces versus permittivity, which favors more accurate and free optical trapping.

EDQNM model of a passive scalar with a uniform mean gradient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herr, S.; Wang, L.; Collins, L.R.

1996-01-01

Dynamic equations for the scalar autocorrelation and scalar-velocity cross correlation spectra have been derived for a passive scalar with a uniform mean gradient using the Eddy Damped Quasi Normal Markovian (EDQNM) theory. The presence of a mean gradient in the scalar field makes all correlations involving the scalar axisymmetric with respect to the axis pointing in the direction of the mean gradient. Equivalently, all scalar spectra will be functions of the wave number k and the cosine of the azimuthal angle designated as μ. In spite of this complication, it is shown that the cross correlation vector can be completely characterized by a single scalar function Q(k). The scalar autocorrelation spectrum, in contrast, has an unknown dependence on μ. However, this dependency can be expressed as an infinite sum of Legendre polynomials of μ, as first suggested by Herring [Phys. Fluids 17, 859 (1974)]. Furthermore, since the scalar field is initially zero, terms beyond the second order of the Legendre expansion are shown to be exactly zero. The energy, scalar autocorrelation, and scalar-velocity cross correlation were solved numerically from the EDQNM equations and compared to results from direct numerical simulations. The results show that the EDQNM theory is effective in describing single-point and spectral statistics of a passive scalar in the presence of a mean gradient. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Space-time symmetries and the Yang-Mills gradient flow

CERN Document Server

Del Debbio, Luigi; Rago, Antonio

2013-01-01

The recent introduction of the gradient flow has provided a new tool to probe the dynamics of quantum field theories. The latest developments have shown how to use the gradient flow for the exploration of symmetries, and the definition of the corresponding renormalized Noether currents. In this paper we introduce infinitesimal translations along the gradient flow for gauge theories, and study the corresponding Ward identities. This approach is readily generalized to the case of gauge theories defined on a lattice, where the regulator breaks translation invariance. The Ward identities in this case lead to a nonperturbative renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor. We discuss an application of this method to the study of dilatations and scale invariance on the lattice.

Plasticity dependent damage evolution in composites with strain-gradient effects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Legarth, Brian Nyvang

2015-01-01

. (2013). In this study the reinforcement is assumed perfectly stiff and consequently only one new cohesive material parameter is introduced. Results are shown for both conventional isotropy as well as plastic anisotropy with higher-order material behavior. Due to fiber-matrix decohesion a sudden stress......A unit cell approach is adopted to numerically analyze the effect of reinforcement size on fracture evolution in metal matrix composites. The matrix material shows plastic size-effects and is modeled by an anisotropic version of the single parameter strain-gradient (higher-order) plasticity model...... by Fleck and Hutchinson (2001). The fracture process along the fiber-matrix interface is modeled using a recently proposed cohesive law extension, where plasticity affects the fracture process as both the average as well as the jump in plastic strain across the interface are accounted for Tvergaard et al...

Combined Yamamoto approach for simultaneous estimation of adsorption isotherm and kinetic parameters in ion-exchange chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Rüdt, Matthias; Gillet, Florian; Heege, Stefanie; Hitzler, Julian; Kalbfuss, Bernd; Guélat, Bertrand

2015-09-25

Application of model-based design is appealing to support the development of protein chromatography in the biopharmaceutical industry. However, the required efforts for parameter estimation are frequently perceived as time-consuming and expensive. In order to speed-up this work, a new parameter estimation approach for modelling ion-exchange chromatography in linear conditions was developed. It aims at reducing the time and protein demand for the model calibration. The method combines the estimation of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters based on the simultaneous variation of the gradient slope and the residence time in a set of five linear gradient elutions. The parameters are estimated from a Yamamoto plot and a gradient-adjusted Van Deemter plot. The combined approach increases the information extracted per experiment compared to the individual methods. As a proof of concept, the combined approach was successfully applied for a monoclonal antibody on a cation-exchanger and for a Fc-fusion protein on an anion-exchange resin. The individual parameter estimations for the mAb confirmed that the new approach maintained the accuracy of the usual Yamamoto and Van Deemter plots. In the second case, offline size-exclusion chromatography was performed in order to estimate the thermodynamic parameters of an impurity (high molecular weight species) simultaneously with the main product. Finally, the parameters obtained from the combined approach were used in a lumped kinetic model to simulate the chromatography runs. The simulated chromatograms obtained for a wide range of gradient lengths and residence times showed only small deviations compared to the experimental data. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative Studies of High-Gradient Rf and Dc Breakdowns

CERN Document Server

Kovermann, Jan Wilhelm; Wuensch, Walter

2010-01-01

The CLIC project is based on normal-conducting high-gradient accelerating structures with an average accelerating gradient of 100 MV/m. The maximum achievable gradient in these structures is limited by the breakdown phenomenon. The physics of breakdowns is not yet fully understood quantitatively. A full knowledge could have strong impact on the design, material choice and construction of rf structures. Therefore, understanding breakdowns has great importance to reaching a gradient of 100MV/m with an acceptable breakdown probability. This thesis addresses the physics underlying the breakdown effect, focusing on a comparison of breakdowns in rf structures and in a dc spark setup. The dc system is simpler, easier to benchmark against simulations, with a faster turnaround time, but the relationship to rf breakdown must be established. To do so, an experimental approach based on optical diagnostics and electrical measurements methods was made. Following an introduction into the CLIC project, a general theoretical ...

Stochastic Spectral Descent for Discrete Graphical Models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, David; Hsieh, Ya-Ping; Collins, Edo; Carin, Lawrence; Cevher, Volkan

2015-01-01

Interest in deep probabilistic graphical models has in-creased in recent years, due to their state-of-the-art performance on many machine learning applications. Such models are typically trained with the stochastic gradient method, which can take a significant number of iterations to converge. Since the computational cost of gradient estimation is prohibitive even for modestly sized models, training becomes slow and practically usable models are kept small. In this paper we propose a new, largely tuning-free algorithm to address this problem. Our approach derives novel majorization bounds based on the Schatten- norm. Intriguingly, the minimizers of these bounds can be interpreted as gradient methods in a non-Euclidean space. We thus propose using a stochastic gradient method in non-Euclidean space. We both provide simple conditions under which our algorithm is guaranteed to converge, and demonstrate empirically that our algorithm leads to dramatically faster training and improved predictive ability compared to stochastic gradient descent for both directed and undirected graphical models.

Strain gradient crystal plasticity effects on flow localization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borg, Ulrik

2007-01-01

for metals described by the reformulated Fleck-Hutchinson strain gradient plasticity theory. The theory is implemented numerically within a finite element framework using slip rate increments and displacement increments as state variables. The formulation reduces to the classical crystal plasticity theory...... in the absence of strain gradients. The model is used to study the effect of an internal material length scale on the localization of plastic flow in shear bands in a single crystal under plane strain tension. It is shown that the mesh sensitivity is removed when using the nonlocal material model considered...

Strain gradient plasticity effects in whisker-reinforced metals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niordson, Christian Frithiof

2002-01-01

A metal reinforced by fibers in the micron range is studied using the strain gradient plasticity theory of Fleck and Hutchinson (2001). Cell-model analyzes are used to study the influence of the material length parameters numerically. Different higher order boundary conditions are considered...... at the fiber-matrix interface. The results are presented as overall stress-strain curves for the whisker-reinforced metal, and also contour plots of effective plastic strain are shown. The strain gradient plasticity theory predicts a significant stiffening effect when compared to conventional models...

Particle capture efficiency in a multi-wire model for high gradient magnetic separation

KAUST Repository

Eisenträ ger, Almut; Vella, Dominic; Griffiths, Ian M.

2014-01-01

High gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) is an efficient way to remove magnetic and paramagnetic particles, such as heavy metals, from waste water. As the suspension flows through a magnetized filter mesh, high magnetic gradients around the wires

Strain gradient plasticity modeling of hydrogen diffusion to the crack tip

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martínez Pañeda, Emilio; del Busto, S.; Niordson, Christian Frithiof

2016-01-01

to characterize the gradient-enhanced stress elevation and subsequent diffusion of hydrogen towards the crack tip. Results reveal that GNDs, absent in conventional plasticity predictions, play a fundamental role on hydrogen transport ahead of a crack. SGP estimations provide a good agreement with experimental......In this work hydrogen diffusion towards the fracture process zone is examined accounting for local hardening due to geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) by means of strain gradient plasticity (SGP). Finite element computations are performed within the finite deformation theory...

People detection in crowded scenes using active contour models

Science.gov (United States)

Sidla, Oliver

2009-01-01

The detection of pedestrians in real-world scenes is a daunting task, especially in crowded situations. Our experience over the last years has shown that active shape models (ASM) can contribute significantly to a robust pedestrian detection system. The paper starts with an overview of shape model approaches, it then explains our approach which builds on top of Eigenshape models which have been trained using real-world data. These models are placed over candidate regions and matched to image gradients using a scoring function which integrates i) point distribution, ii) local gradient orientations iii) local image gradient strengths. A matching and shape model update process is iteratively applied in order to fit the flexible models to the local image content. The weights of the scoring function have a significant impact on the ASM performance. We analyze different settings of scoring weights for gradient magnitude, relative orientation differences, distance between model and gradient in an experiment which uses real-world data. Although for only one pedestrian model in an image computation time is low, the number of necessary processing cycles which is needed to track many people in crowded scenes can become the bottleneck in a real-time application. We describe the measures which have been taken in order to improve the speed of the ASM implementation and make it real-time capable.

Soil Carbon Dynamics Along an Elevation Gradient in the Southern Appalachian Mountains

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garten Jr., C.T.

2004-04-13

The role of soil C dynamics in the exchange of CO{sub 2} between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is at the center of many science questions related to global climate change. The purpose of this report is to summarize measured trends in environmental factors and ecosystem processes that affect soil C balance along elevation gradients in the southern Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, USA. Three environmental factors that have potentially significant effects on soil C dynamics (temperature, precipitation, and soil N availability) vary in a predictable manner with altitude. Forest soil C stocks and calculated turnover times of labile soil C increase with elevation, and there is an apparent inverse relationship between soil C storage and mean annual temperature. Relationships between climate variables and soil C dynamics along elevation gradients must be interpreted with caution because litter chemistry, soil moisture, N availability, and temperature are confounded; all potentially interact in complex ways to regulate soil C storage through effects on decomposition. Some recommendations are presented for untangling these complexities. It is concluded that past studies along elevation gradients have contributed to a better but not complete understanding of environmental factors and processes that potentially affect soil C balance. Furthermore, there are advantages linked to the use of elevation gradients as an approach to climate change research when hypotheses are placed in a strong theoretical or mechanistic framework. Climate change research along elevation gradients can be both convenient and economical. More importantly, ecosystem processes and attributes affecting soil C dynamics along elevation gradients are usually the product of the long-term interactions between climate, vegetation, and soil type. Investigations along elevation gradients are a useful approach to the study of environmental change, and its effect

A density gradient theory based method for surface tension calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liang, Xiaodong; Michelsen, Michael Locht; Kontogeorgis, Georgios

2016-01-01

The density gradient theory has been becoming a widely used framework for calculating surface tension, within which the same equation of state is used for the interface and bulk phases, because it is a theoretically sound, consistent and computationally affordable approach. Based on the observation...... that the optimal density path from the geometric mean density gradient theory passes the saddle point of the tangent plane distance to the bulk phases, we propose to estimate surface tension with an approximate density path profile that goes through this saddle point. The linear density gradient theory, which...... assumes linearly distributed densities between the two bulk phases, has also been investigated. Numerical problems do not occur with these density path profiles. These two approximation methods together with the full density gradient theory have been used to calculate the surface tension of various...

Polyhedral shape model for terrain correction of gravity and gravity gradient data based on an adaptive mesh

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Zhikui; Chen, Chao; Tao, Chunhui

2016-04-01

Since 2007, there are four China Da yang cruises (CDCs), which have been carried out to investigate polymetallic sulfides in the southwest Indian ridge (SWIR) and have acquired both gravity data and bathymetry data on the corresponding survey lines(Tao et al., 2014). Sandwell et al. (2014) published a new global marine gravity model including the free air gravity data and its first order vertical gradient (Vzz). Gravity data and its gradient can be used to extract unknown density structure information(e.g. crust thickness) under surface of the earth, but they contain all the mass effect under the observation point. Therefore, how to get accurate gravity and its gradient effect of the existing density structure (e.g. terrain) has been a key issue. Using the bathymetry data or ETOPO1 (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.html) model at a full resolution to calculate the terrain effect could spend too much computation time. We expect to develop an effective method that takes less time but can still yield the desired accuracy. In this study, a constant-density polyhedral model is used to calculate the gravity field and its vertical gradient, which is based on the work of Tsoulis (2012). According to gravity field attenuation with distance and variance of bathymetry, we present an adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening strategies to merge both global topography data and multi-beam bathymetry data. The local coarsening or size of mesh depends on user-defined accuracy and terrain variation (Davis et al., 2011). To depict terrain better, triangular surface element and rectangular surface element are used in fine and coarse mesh respectively. This strategy can also be applied to spherical coordinate in large region and global scale. Finally, we applied this method to calculate Bouguer gravity anomaly (BGA), mantle Bouguer anomaly(MBA) and their vertical gradient in SWIR. Further, we compared the result with previous results in the literature. Both synthetic model

Three-dimensional Gravity Inversion with a New Gradient Scheme on Unstructured Grids

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, S.; Yin, C.; Gao, X.; Liu, Y.; Zhang, B.

2017-12-01

Stabilized gradient-based methods have been proved to be efficient for inverse problems. Based on these methods, setting gradient close to zero can effectively minimize the objective function. Thus the gradient of objective function determines the inversion results. By analyzing the cause of poor resolution on depth in gradient-based gravity inversion methods, we find that imposing depth weighting functional in conventional gradient can improve the depth resolution to some extent. However, the improvement is affected by the regularization parameter and the effect of the regularization term becomes smaller with increasing depth (shown as Figure 1 (a)). In this paper, we propose a new gradient scheme for gravity inversion by introducing a weighted model vector. The new gradient can improve the depth resolution more efficiently, which is independent of the regularization parameter, and the effect of regularization term will not be weakened when depth increases. Besides, fuzzy c-means clustering method and smooth operator are both used as regularization terms to yield an internal consecutive inverse model with sharp boundaries (Sun and Li, 2015). We have tested our new gradient scheme with unstructured grids on synthetic data to illustrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. Gravity forward modeling with unstructured grids is based on the algorithm proposed by Okbe (1979). We use a linear conjugate gradient inversion scheme to solve the inversion problem. The numerical experiments show a great improvement in depth resolution compared with regular gradient scheme, and the inverse model is compact at all depths (shown as Figure 1 (b)). AcknowledgeThis research is supported by Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41530320), China Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists (41404093), and Key National Research Project of China (2016YFC0303100, 2017YFC0601900). ReferencesSun J, Li Y. 2015. Multidomain petrophysically constrained inversion and

An Investigation into the Effects of Temperature Gradient on the Soil Water–Salt Transfer with Evaporation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rong Ren

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Temperature gradients exist in the field under brackish water irrigation conditions, especially in northern semi–arid areas of China. Although there are many investigators dedicated to studying the mechanism of brackish water irrigation and the effect of brackish water irrigation on crops, there are fewer investigations of the effects of temperature gradient on the water–salt transport. Based on the combination of a physical experiment and a mathematical model, this study was conducted to: (a build a physical model and observe the redistribution of soil water–heat–salt transfer; (b develop a mathematical model focused on the influence of a temperature gradient on soil water and salt redistribution based on the physical model and validate the proposed model using the measured data; and (c analyze the effects of the temperature gradient on the soil water–salt transport by comparing the proposed model with the traditional water–salt model in which the effects of temperature gradient on the soil water–salt transfer are neglected. Results show that the soil temperature gradient has a definite influence on the soil water–salt migration. Moreover, the effect of temperature gradient on salt migration was greater than that of water movement.

Frequency-domain beamformers using conjugate gradient techniques for speech enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shengkui; Jones, Douglas L; Khoo, Suiyang; Man, Zhihong

2014-09-01

A multiple-iteration constrained conjugate gradient (MICCG) algorithm and a single-iteration constrained conjugate gradient (SICCG) algorithm are proposed to realize the widely used frequency-domain minimum-variance-distortionless-response (MVDR) beamformers and the resulting algorithms are applied to speech enhancement. The algorithms are derived based on the Lagrange method and the conjugate gradient techniques. The implementations of the algorithms avoid any form of explicit or implicit autocorrelation matrix inversion. Theoretical analysis establishes formal convergence of the algorithms. Specifically, the MICCG algorithm is developed based on a block adaptation approach and it generates a finite sequence of estimates that converge to the MVDR solution. For limited data records, the estimates of the MICCG algorithm are better than the conventional estimators and equivalent to the auxiliary vector algorithms. The SICCG algorithm is developed based on a continuous adaptation approach with a sample-by-sample updating procedure and the estimates asymptotically converge to the MVDR solution. An illustrative example using synthetic data from a uniform linear array is studied and an evaluation on real data recorded by an acoustic vector sensor array is demonstrated. Performance of the MICCG algorithm and the SICCG algorithm are compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.

An extended discrete gradient formula for oscillatory Hamiltonian systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Kai; Shi Wei; Wu Xinyuan

2013-01-01

In this paper, incorporating the idea of the discrete gradient method into the extended Runge–Kutta–Nyström integrator, we derive and analyze an extended discrete gradient formula for the oscillatory Hamiltonian system with the Hamiltonian H(p,q)= 1/2 p T p+ 1/2 q T Mq+U(q), where q:R→R d represents generalized positions, p:R→R d represents generalized momenta and M is an element of R dxd is a symmetric and positive semi-definite matrix. The solution of this system is a nonlinear oscillator. Basically, many nonlinear oscillatory mechanical systems with a partitioned Hamiltonian function lend themselves to this approach. The extended discrete gradient formula presented in this paper exactly preserves the energy H(p, q). We derive some properties of the new formula. The convergence is analyzed for the implicit schemes based on the discrete gradient formula, and it turns out that the convergence of the implicit schemes based on the extended discrete gradient formula is independent of ‖M‖, which is a significant property for the oscillatory Hamiltonian system. Thus, it transpires that a larger step size can be chosen for the new energy-preserving schemes than that for the traditional discrete gradient methods when applied to the oscillatory Hamiltonian system. Illustrative examples show the competence and efficiency of the new schemes in comparison with the traditional discrete gradient methods in the scientific literature. (paper)

X-ray analysis of residual stress gradients in TiN coatings by a Laplace space approach and cross-sectional nanodiffraction: a critical comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefenelli, Mario; Todt, Juraj; Riedl, Angelika; Ecker, Werner; Müller, Thomas; Daniel, Rostislav; Burghammer, Manfred; Keckes, Jozef

2013-10-01

Novel scanning synchrotron cross-sectional nanobeam and conventional laboratory as well as synchrotron Laplace X-ray diffraction methods are used to characterize residual stresses in exemplary 11.5 µm-thick TiN coatings. Both real and Laplace space approaches reveal a homogeneous tensile stress state and a very pronounced compressive stress gradient in as-deposited and blasted coatings, respectively. The unique capabilities of the cross-sectional approach operating with a beam size of 100 nm in diameter allow the analysis of stress variation with sub-micrometre resolution at arbitrary depths and the correlation of the stress evolution with the local coating microstructure. Finally, advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are extensively discussed.

A general strategy for performing temperature-programming in high performance liquid chromatography--prediction of segmented temperature gradients.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiese, Steffen; Teutenberg, Thorsten; Schmidt, Torsten C

2011-09-28

In the present work it is shown that the linear elution strength (LES) model which was adapted from temperature-programming gas chromatography (GC) can also be employed to predict retention times for segmented-temperature gradients based on temperature-gradient input data in liquid chromatography (LC) with high accuracy. The LES model assumes that retention times for isothermal separations can be predicted based on two temperature gradients and is employed to calculate the retention factor of an analyte when changing the start temperature of the temperature gradient. In this study it was investigated whether this approach can also be employed in LC. It was shown that this approximation cannot be transferred to temperature-programmed LC where a temperature range from 60°C up to 180°C is investigated. Major relative errors up to 169.6% were observed for isothermal retention factor predictions. In order to predict retention times for temperature gradients with different start temperatures in LC, another relationship is required to describe the influence of temperature on retention. Therefore, retention times for isothermal separations based on isothermal input runs were predicted using a plot of the natural logarithm of the retention factor vs. the inverse temperature and a plot of the natural logarithm of the retention factor vs. temperature. It could be shown that a plot of lnk vs. T yields more reliable isothermal/isocratic retention time predictions than a plot of lnk vs. 1/T which is usually employed. Hence, in order to predict retention times for temperature-gradients with different start temperatures in LC, two temperature gradient and two isothermal measurements have been employed. In this case, retention times can be predicted with a maximal relative error of 5.5% (average relative error: 2.9%). In comparison, if the start temperature of the simulated temperature gradient is equal to the start temperature of the input data, only two temperature-gradient

Rank gradient and p-gradient of amalgamated free products and HNN extensions

OpenAIRE

Pappas, Nathaniel

2013-01-01

We calculate the rank gradient and p-gradient of free products, free products with amalgamation over an amenable subgroup, and HNN extensions with an amenable associated subgroup. The notion of cost is used to compute the rank gradient of amalgamated free products and HNN extensions. For the p-gradient the Kurosh subgroup theorems for amalgamated free products and HNN extensions will be used.

Interrelationship between flexoelectricity and strain gradient elasticity in ferroelectric nanofilms: A phase field study

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Limei; Xu, Xiaofei; Zhou, Yichun

2016-12-01

With the development of the integrated circuit technology and decreasing of the device size, ferroelectric films used in nano ferroelectric devices become thinner and thinner. Along with the downscaling of the ferroelectric film, there is an increasing influence of two strain gradient related terms. One is the strain gradient elasticity and the other one is flexoelectricity. To investigate the interrelationship between flexoelectricity and strain gradient elasticity and their combined effect on the domain structure in ferroelectric nanofilms, a phase field model of flexoelectricity and strain gradient elasticity on the ferroelectric domain evolution is developed based on Mindlin's theory of strain-gradient elasticity. Weak form is derived and implemented in finite element formulations for numerically solving the model equations. The simulation results show that upper bounds for flexoelectric coefficients can be enhanced by increasing strain gradient elasticity coefficients. While a large flexoelectricity that exceeds the upper bound can induce a transition from a ferroelectric state to a modulated/incommensurate state, a large enough strain gradient elasticity may lead to a conversion from an incommensurate state to a ferroelectric state. Strain gradient elasticity and the flexoelectricity have entirely opposite effects on polarization. The observed interrelationship between the strain gradient elasticity and flexoelectricity is rationalized by an analytical solution of the proposed theoretical model. The model proposed in this paper could help us understand the mechanism of phenomena observed in ferroelectric nanofilms under complex electromechanical loads and provide some guides on the practical application of ferroelectric nanofilms.

Alternative sample-introduction technique to avoid breakthrough in gradient-elution liquid chromatography of polymers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reingruber, E.; Bedani, F.; Buchberger, W.; Schoenmakers, P.

2010-01-01

Gradient-elution liquid chromatography (GELC) is a powerful tool for the characterization of synthetic polymers. However, gradient-elution chromatograms often suffer from breakthrough phenomena. Breakthrough can be averted by using a sample solvent as weak as the mobile phase. However, this approach

Income inequality and socioeconomic gradients in mortality.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Richard G; Pickett, Kate E

2008-04-01

We investigated whether the processes underlying the association between income inequality and population health are related to those responsible for the socioeconomic gradient in health and whether health disparities are smaller when income differences are narrower. We used multilevel models in a regression analysis of 10 age- and cause-specific US county mortality rates on county median household incomes and on state income inequality. We assessed whether mortality rates more closely related to county income were also more closely related to state income inequality. We also compared mortality gradients in more- and less-equal states. Mortality rates more strongly associated with county income were more strongly associated with state income inequality: across all mortality rates, r= -0.81; P=.004. The effect of state income inequality on the socioeconomic gradient in health varied by cause of death, but greater equality usually benefited both wealthier and poorer counties. Although mortality rates with steep socioeconomic gradients were more sensitive to income distribution than were rates with flatter gradients, narrower income differences benefit people in both wealthy and poor areas and may, paradoxically, do little to reduce health disparities.

Gradient algorithm applied to laboratory quantum control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roslund, Jonathan; Rabitz, Herschel

2009-01-01

The exploration of a quantum control landscape, which is the physical observable as a function of the control variables, is fundamental for understanding the ability to perform observable optimization in the laboratory. For high control variable dimensions, trajectory-based methods provide a means for performing such systematic explorations by exploiting the measured gradient of the observable with respect to the control variables. This paper presents a practical, robust, easily implemented statistical method for obtaining the gradient on a general quantum control landscape in the presence of noise. In order to demonstrate the method's utility, the experimentally measured gradient is utilized as input in steepest-ascent trajectories on the landscapes of three model quantum control problems: spectrally filtered and integrated second harmonic generation as well as excitation of atomic rubidium. The gradient algorithm achieves efficiency gains of up to approximately three times that of the standard genetic algorithm and, as such, is a promising tool for meeting quantum control optimization goals as well as landscape analyses. The landscape trajectories directed by the gradient should aid in the continued investigation and understanding of controlled quantum phenomena.

Penalty Algorithm Based on Conjugate Gradient Method for Solving Portfolio Management Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang YaLin

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A new approach was proposed to reformulate the biobjectives optimization model of portfolio management into an unconstrained minimization problem, where the objective function is a piecewise quadratic polynomial. We presented some properties of such an objective function. Then, a class of penalty algorithms based on the well-known conjugate gradient methods was developed to find the solution of portfolio management problem. By implementing the proposed algorithm to solve the real problems from the stock market in China, it was shown that this algorithm is promising.

Hardening and strengthening behavior in rate-independent strain gradient crystal plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nellemann, C.; Niordson, C. F.; Nielsen, K.L.

2018-01-01

Two rate-independent strain gradient crystal plasticity models, one new and one previously published, are compared and a numerical framework that encompasses both is developed. The model previously published is briefly outlined, while an in-depth description is given for the new, yet somewhat...... related,model. The difference between the two models is found in the definitions of the plastic work expended in the material and their relation to spatial gradients of plastic strains. The model predictions are highly relevant to the ongoing discussion in the literature, concerning 1) what governs...... the increase in the apparent yield stress due to strain gradients (also referred to as strengthening)? And 2), what is the implication of such strengthening in relation to crystalline material behavior at the micron scale? The present work characterizes material behavior, and the corresponding plastic slip...

Combinatorial MAPLE gradient thin film assemblies signalling to human osteoblasts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Axente, Emanuel; Sima, Felix; Elena Sima, Livia; Serban, Natalia; Ristoscu, Carmen; Mihailescu, Ion N; Erginer, Merve; Toksoy Oner, Ebru; Eroglu, Mehmet S; Petrescu, Stefana M

2014-01-01

There is increased interest in smart bioactive materials to control tissue regeneration for the engineering of cell instructive scaffolds. We introduced combinatorial matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (C-MAPLE) as a new method for the fabrication of organic thin films with a compositional gradient. Synchronized C-MAPLE of levan and oxidized levan was employed to assemble a two-compound biopolymer film structure. The gradient of the film composition was validated by fluorescence microscopy. In this study, we investigated the cell response induced by the compositional gradient using imaging of early osteoblast attachment and analysis of signalling phosphoprotein expression. Cells attached along the gradient in direct proportion to oxidized levan concentration. During this process distinct areas of the binary gradient have been shown to modulate the osteoblasts’ extracellular signal-regulated kinase signalling with different propensity. The proposed fabrication method results in the preparation of a new bioactive material, which could control the cell signalling response. This approach can be extended to screen new bioactive interfaces for tissue regeneration. (papers)

Testing thermal gradient driving force for grain boundary migration using molecular dynamics simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, Xian-Ming; Zhang, Yongfeng; Tonks, Michael R.

2015-01-01

Strong thermal gradients in low-thermal-conductivity ceramics may drive extended defects, such as grain boundaries and voids, to migrate in preferential directions. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to study thermal gradient driven grain boundary migration and to verify a previously proposed thermal gradient driving force equation, using uranium dioxide as a model system. It is found that a thermal gradient drives grain boundaries to migrate up the gradient and the migration velocity increases under a constant gradient owing to the increase in mobility with temperature. Different grain boundaries migrate at very different rates due to their different intrinsic mobilities. The extracted mobilities from the thermal gradient driven simulations are compared with those calculated from two other well-established methods and good agreement between the three different methods is found, demonstrating that the theoretical equation of the thermal gradient driving force is valid, although a correction of one input parameter should be made. The discrepancy in the grain boundary mobilities between modeling and experiments is also discussed.

Using geometric morphometric visualizations of directional selection gradients to investigate morphological differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Weaver, Timothy D; Gunz, Philipp

2018-04-01

Researchers studying extant and extinct taxa are often interested in identifying the evolutionary processes that have lead to the morphological differences among the taxa. Ideally, one could distinguish the influences of neutral evolutionary processes (genetic drift, mutation) from natural selection, and in situations for which selection is implicated, identify the targets of selection. The directional selection gradient is an effective tool for investigating evolutionary process, because it can relate form (size and shape) differences between taxa to the variation and covariation found within taxa. However, although most modern morphometric analyses use the tools of geometric morphometrics (GM) to analyze landmark data, to date, selection gradients have mainly been calculated from linear measurements. To address this methodological gap, here we present a GM approach for visualizing and comparing between-taxon selection gradients with each other, associated difference vectors, and "selection" gradients from neutral simulations. To exemplify our approach, we use a dataset of 347 three-dimensional landmarks and semilandmarks recorded on the crania of 260 primate specimens (112 humans, 67 common chimpanzees, 36 bonobos, 45 gorillas). Results on this example dataset show how incorporating geometric information can provide important insights into the evolution of the human braincase, and serve to demonstrate the utility of our approach for understanding morphological evolution. © 2018 The Author(s). Evolution © 2018 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Detection of thermal gradients through fiber-optic Chirped Fiber Bragg Grating (CFBG): Medical thermal ablation scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Korganbayev, Sanzhar; Orazayev, Yerzhan; Sovetov, Sultan; Bazyl, Ali; Schena, Emiliano; Massaroni, Carlo; Gassino, Riccardo; Vallan, Alberto; Perrone, Guido; Saccomandi, Paola; Arturo Caponero, Michele; Palumbo, Giovanna; Campopiano, Stefania; Iadicicco, Agostino; Tosi, Daniele

2018-03-01

In this paper, we describe a novel method for spatially distributed temperature measurement with Chirped Fiber Bragg Grating (CFBG) fiber-optic sensors. The proposed method determines the thermal profile in the CFBG region from demodulation of the CFBG optical spectrum. The method is based on an iterative optimization that aims at minimizing the mismatch between the measured CFBG spectrum and a CFBG model based on coupled-mode theory (CMT), perturbed by a temperature gradient. In the demodulation part, we simulate different temperature distribution patterns with Monte-Carlo approach on simulated CFBG spectra. Afterwards, we obtain cost function that minimizes difference between measured and simulated spectra, and results in final temperature profile. Experiments and simulations have been carried out first with a linear gradient, demonstrating a correct operation (error 2.9 °C); then, a setup has been arranged to measure the temperature pattern on a 5-cm long section exposed to medical laser thermal ablation. Overall, the proposed method can operate as a real-time detection technique for thermal gradients over 1.5-5 cm regions, and turns as a key asset for the estimation of thermal gradients at the micro-scale in biomedical applications.

Validation of measured poleward TEC gradient using multi-station GPS with Artificial Neural Network based TEC model in low latitude region for developing predictive capability of ionospheric scintillation

Science.gov (United States)

Sur, D.; Paul, A.

2017-12-01

The equatorial ionosphere shows sharp diurnal and latitudinal Total Electron Content (TEC) variations over a major part of the day. Equatorial ionosphere also exhibits intense post-sunset ionospheric irregularities. Accurate prediction of TEC in these low latitudes is not possible from standard ionospheric models. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based Vertical TEC (VTEC) model has been designed using TEC data in low latitude Indian longitude sector for accurate prediction of VTEC. GPS TEC data from the stations Calcutta (22.58°N, 88.38°E geographic, magnetic dip 32°), Baharampore (24.09°N, 88.25°E geographic, magnetic dip 35°) and Siliguri (26.72°N, 88.39°E geographic; magnetic dip 40°) are used as training dataset for the duration of January 2007-September 2011. Poleward VTEC gradients from northern EIA crest to region beyond EIA crest have been calculated from measured VTEC and compared with that obtained from ANN based VTEC model. TEC data from Calcutta and Siliguri are used to compute VTEC gradients during April 2013 and August-September 2013. It has been observed that poleward VTEC gradient computed from ANN based TEC model has shown good correlation with measured values during vernal and autumnal equinoxes of high solar activity periods of 2013. Possible correlation between measured poleward TEC gradients and post-sunset scintillations (S4 ≥ 0.4) from northern crest of EIA has been observed in this paper. From the observation, a suitable threshold poleward VTEC gradient has been proposed for possible occurrence of post-sunset scintillations at northern crest of EIA along 88°E longitude. Poleward VTEC gradients obtained from ANN based VTEC model are used to forecast possible ionospheric scintillation after post-sunset period using the threshold value. It has been observed that these predicted VTEC gradients obtained from ANN based VTEC model can forecast post-sunset L-band scintillation with an accuracy of 67% to 82% in this dynamic low latitude

Mini-batch optimized full waveform inversion with geological constrained gradient filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Jia, Junxiong; Wu, Bangyu; Gao, Jinghuai

2018-05-01

High computation cost and generating solutions without geological sense have hindered the wide application of Full Waveform Inversion (FWI). Source encoding technique is a way to dramatically reduce the cost of FWI but subject to fix-spread acquisition setup requirement and slow convergence for the suppression of cross-talk. Traditionally, gradient regularization or preconditioning is applied to mitigate the ill-posedness. An isotropic smoothing filter applied on gradients generally gives non-geological inversion results, and could also introduce artifacts. In this work, we propose to address both the efficiency and ill-posedness of FWI by a geological constrained mini-batch gradient optimization method. The mini-batch gradient descent optimization is adopted to reduce the computation time by choosing a subset of entire shots for each iteration. By jointly applying the structure-oriented smoothing to the mini-batch gradient, the inversion converges faster and gives results with more geological meaning. Stylized Marmousi model is used to show the performance of the proposed method on realistic synthetic model.

Fourier domain preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm for atmospheric tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qiang; Vogel, Curtis R; Ellerbroek, Brent L

2006-07-20

By 'atmospheric tomography' we mean the estimation of a layered atmospheric turbulence profile from measurements of the pupil-plane phase (or phase gradients) corresponding to several different guide star directions. We introduce what we believe to be a new Fourier domain preconditioned conjugate gradient (FD-PCG) algorithm for atmospheric tomography, and we compare its performance against an existing multigrid preconditioned conjugate gradient (MG-PCG) approach. Numerical results indicate that on conventional serial computers, FD-PCG is as accurate and robust as MG-PCG, but it is from one to two orders of magnitude faster for atmospheric tomography on 30 m class telescopes. Simulations are carried out for both natural guide stars and for a combination of finite-altitude laser guide stars and natural guide stars to resolve tip-tilt uncertainty.

Magnesium diboride coated bulk niobium: a new approach to higher acceleration gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Civale, Leonardo; Tan, Teng; Wolak, M.; Xi, Xiaoxing; Tajima, Tsuyoshi

Bulk niobium Superconducting Radio-Frequency cavities are a leading accelerator technology. Their performance is limited by the cavity loss and maximum acceleration gradient, which are negatively affected by vortex penetration into the superconductor when the peak magnetic field at the cavity wall surface exceeds the vortex penetration field (Hvp). It has been proposed that coating the inner wall of an SRF cavity with superconducting thin films increases Hvp. In this work, we utilized Nb ellipsoids to simulate an inverse SRF cavity and investigate the effect of coating it with magnesium diboride layer on the vortex penetration field. A significant enhancement of Hvp was observed. At 2.8 K, Hvp increased from 2100 Oe for an uncoated Nb ellipsoid to 2700 Oe for a Nb ellipsoid coated with 200 nm thick MgB2 thin film. This finding creates a new route towards achieving higher acceleration gradient in SRF cavity accelerator beyond the theoretical limit of bulk Nb.

A signal-flow-graph approach to on-line gradient calculation.

Science.gov (United States)

Campolucci, P; Uncini, A; Piazza, F

2000-08-01

A large class of nonlinear dynamic adaptive systems such as dynamic recurrent neural networks can be effectively represented by signal flow graphs (SFGs). By this method, complex systems are described as a general connection of many simple components, each of them implementing a simple one-input, one-output transformation, as in an electrical circuit. Even if graph representations are popular in the neural network community, they are often used for qualitative description rather than for rigorous representation and computational purposes. In this article, a method for both on-line and batch-backward gradient computation of a system output or cost function with respect to system parameters is derived by the SFG representation theory and its known properties. The system can be any causal, in general nonlinear and time-variant, dynamic system represented by an SFG, in particular any feedforward, time-delay, or recurrent neural network. In this work, we use discrete-time notation, but the same theory holds for the continuous-time case. The gradient is obtained in a straightforward way by the analysis of two SFGs, the original one and its adjoint (obtained from the first by simple transformations), without the complex chain rule expansions of derivatives usually employed. This method can be used for sensitivity analysis and for learning both off-line and on-line. On-line learning is particularly important since it is required by many real applications, such as digital signal processing, system identification and control, channel equalization, and predistortion.

A computationally efficient P_1 radiation model for modern combustion systems utilizing pre-conditioned conjugate gradient methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnamoorthy, Gautham

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The P_1 radiation model was interfaced with high performance linear solvers. • Pre-conditioned conjugate gradient (PC CG) method improved convergence by 50% • PC CG was more than 30 times faster than classical iterative methods. • The time to solution scaled linearly with increase in problem size employing PC CG. • Employing WSGGM with P_1 model compared reasonably well against benchmark data. - Abstract: The iterative convergence of the P_1 radiation model can be slow in optically thin scenarios when employing classical iterative methods. In order to remedy this shortcoming, an in-house P_1 radiation model was interfaced with high performance, scalable, linear solver libraries. Next, the accuracies of P_1 radiation model calculations was assessed by comparing its predictions against discrete ordinates (DO) model calculations for prototypical problems representative of modern combustion systems. Corresponding benchmark results were also included for comparison. Utilizing Pre-Conditioners (PC) to the Conjugate Gradients (CG) method, the convergence time of the P_1 radiation model reduced by a factor of 30 for modest problem sizes and a factor of 70 for larger sized problems when compared against classical Gauss Seidel sweeps. Further, PC provided 50% computational savings compared to employing CG in a standalone mode. The P_1 model calculation times were about 25–30% of the DO model calculation time. The time to solution also scaled linearly with an increase in problem size. The weighted sum of gray gases model employed in this study in conjunction with the P_1 model provided good agreement against benchmark data with L_2 error norms (defined relative to corresponding DO calculations) improving when isotropic intensities were prevalent.

Regularized image denoising based on spectral gradient optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lukić, Tibor; Lindblad, Joakim; Sladoje, Nataša

2011-01-01

Image restoration methods, such as denoising, deblurring, inpainting, etc, are often based on the minimization of an appropriately defined energy function. We consider energy functions for image denoising which combine a quadratic data-fidelity term and a regularization term, where the properties of the latter are determined by a used potential function. Many potential functions are suggested for different purposes in the literature. We compare the denoising performance achieved by ten different potential functions. Several methods for efficient minimization of regularized energy functions exist. Most are only applicable to particular choices of potential functions, however. To enable a comparison of all the observed potential functions, we propose to minimize the objective function using a spectral gradient approach; spectral gradient methods put very weak restrictions on the used potential function. We present and evaluate the performance of one spectral conjugate gradient and one cyclic spectral gradient algorithm, and conclude from experiments that both are well suited for the task. We compare the performance with three total variation-based state-of-the-art methods for image denoising. From the empirical evaluation, we conclude that denoising using the Huber potential (for images degraded by higher levels of noise; signal-to-noise ratio below 10 dB) and the Geman and McClure potential (for less noisy images), in combination with the spectral conjugate gradient minimization algorithm, shows the overall best performance

TEK twisted gradient flow running coupling

CERN Document Server

Pérez, Margarita García; Keegan, Liam; Okawa, Masanori

2014-01-01

We measure the running of the twisted gradient flow coupling in the Twisted Eguchi-Kawai (TEK) model, the SU(N) gauge theory on a single site lattice with twisted boundary conditions in the large N limit.

Ability of multiaxial fatigue criteria accounting for stress gradient effect for surface defective material

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Niamchaona Wichian

2018-01-01

Full Text Available New high strength steels are widely used nowadays in many industrial areas as in automotive industry. These steels are more resistant and provide higher fatigue limits than latter ones but they are also more sensible to small defects. Natural defects that outcome from metallurgy (as shrinkage, inclusion, void are not considered in this study. We focus on small manufacturing defects such as cutting edge defects generated by punching or other surface defects due to stamping. These defects are harmful on the material fatigue behaviour due to high stress concentration at defects root. They also generate stress gradient that is beneficial from the fatigue strength point of view. This study focusses on the stress gradient (it does not account for the size effect from cylindrical defect on specimen edge. Practically a normal stress gradient is added in multiaxial fatigue criteria formulation. Both critical plane approach and integral approach are involved in the present study. This gradient is calculated from stress states at defects root by using FEM. Criteria fatigue function at N cycles is used to assess the material fatigue strength. Obviously multiaxial fatigue criteria accounting for stress gradient give more precise fatigue functions than criteria that do not consider the gradient influence.

Computational modeling applied to stress gradient analysis for metallic alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iglesias, Susana M.; Assis, Joaquim T. de; Monine, Vladimir I.

2009-01-01

Nowadays composite materials including materials reinforced by particles are the center of the researcher's attention. There are problems with the stress measurements in these materials, connected with the superficial stress gradient caused by the difference of the stress state of particles on the surface and in the matrix of the composite material. Computer simulation of diffraction profile formed by superficial layers of material allows simulate the diffraction experiment and gives the possibility to resolve the problem of stress measurements when the stress state is characterized by strong gradient. The aim of this paper is the application of computer simulation technique, initially developed for homogeneous materials, for diffraction line simulation of composite materials and alloys. Specifically we applied this technique for siluminum fabricated by powder metallurgy. (author)

Identifying socio-ecological networks in rural-urban gradients: Diagnosis of a changing cultural landscape.

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Arnaiz-Schmitz, C; Schmitz, M F; Herrero-Jáuregui, C; Gutiérrez-Angonese, J; Pineda, F D; Montes, C

2018-01-15

Socio-ecological systems maintain reciprocal interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic structures. As a result of these interactions key essential services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of land change and cause serious shifts in socio-ecological relationships and the associated lifestyles. The framework of rural-urban gradients has proved to be a powerful tool for ecological research about urban influences on ecosystems and on sociological issues related to social welfare. However, to date there has not been an attempt to achieve a classification of municipalities in rural-urban gradients based on socio-ecological interactions. In this paper, we developed a methodological approach that allows identifying and classifying a set of socio-ecological network configurations in the Region of Madrid, a highly dynamic cultural landscape considered one of the European hotspots in urban development. According to their socio-ecological links, the integrated model detects four groups of municipalities, ordered along a rural-urban gradient, characterized by their degree of biophysical and socioeconomic coupling and different indicators of landscape structure and social welfare. We propose the developed model as a useful tool to improve environmental management schemes and land planning from a socio-ecological perspective, especially in territories subject to intense urban transformations and loss of rurality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Review of new shapes for higher gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geng, R.L.

2006-01-01

High-gradient superconducting RF (SRF) cavities are needed for energy frontier superconducting accelerators. Progress has been made over the past decades and the accelerating gradient E acc has been increased from a few MV/m to ∼42 MV/m in SRF niobium cavities. The corresponding peak RF magnetic field H pk on the niobium cavity surface is approaching the intrinsic RF critical magnetic field H crit,RF , a hard physical limit at which superconductivity breaks down. Pushing the gradient envelope further by adopting new cavity shapes with a lower ratio of H pk /E acc has been recently proposed. For a reduced H pk /E acc , a higher ultimate E acc is sustained when H pk finally strikes H crit,RF . The new cavity geometry include the re-entrant shape conceived at Cornell University and the so-called 'Low-loss' shape proposed by a DESY/JLAB/KEK collaboration. Experimental work is being pursued at Cornell, KEK and JLAB. Results of single-cell cavities are encouraging. A record gradient of 47 MV/m was first demonstrated in a 1.3 GHz re-entrant niobium cavity at Cornell University. At the time of writing, a new record of 52 MV/m has been realized with another 1.3 GHz re-entrant cavity, designed and built at Cornell and processed and tested at KEK. Single-cell low-loss cavities have reached equally high gradients in the range of 45-51 MV/m at KEK and JLAB. Owing to their higher gradient potential and the encouraging single-cell cavity results, the new cavity shapes are becoming attractive for their possible use in the international linear collider (ILC). Experimental work on multi-cell niobium cavities of new shapes is currently under active exploration

Review of new shapes for higher gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Geng, R. L.

2006-07-01

High-gradient superconducting RF (SRF) cavities are needed for energy frontier superconducting accelerators. Progress has been made over the past decades and the accelerating gradient Eacc has been increased from a few MV/m to ∼42 MV/m in SRF niobium cavities. The corresponding peak RF magnetic field Hpk on the niobium cavity surface is approaching the intrinsic RF critical magnetic field Hcrit,RF, a hard physical limit at which superconductivity breaks down. Pushing the gradient envelope further by adopting new cavity shapes with a lower ratio of Hpk/ Eacc has been recently proposed. For a reduced Hpk/ Eacc, a higher ultimate Eacc is sustained when Hpk finally strikes Hcrit,RF. The new cavity geometry include the re-entrant shape conceived at Cornell University and the so-called “Low-loss” shape proposed by a DESY/JLAB/KEK collaboration. Experimental work is being pursued at Cornell, KEK and JLAB. Results of single-cell cavities are encouraging. A record gradient of 47 MV/m was first demonstrated in a 1.3 GHz re-entrant niobium cavity at Cornell University. At the time of writing, a new record of 52 MV/m has been realized with another 1.3 GHz re-entrant cavity, designed and built at Cornell and processed and tested at KEK. Single-cell low-loss cavities have reached equally high gradients in the range of 45-51 MV/m at KEK and JLAB. Owing to their higher gradient potential and the encouraging single-cell cavity results, the new cavity shapes are becoming attractive for their possible use in the international linear collider (ILC). Experimental work on multi-cell niobium cavities of new shapes is currently under active exploration.

Efficient implementation of one- and two-component analytical energy gradients in exact two-component theory

Science.gov (United States)

Franzke, Yannick J.; Middendorf, Nils; Weigend, Florian

2018-03-01

We present an efficient algorithm for one- and two-component analytical energy gradients with respect to nuclear displacements in the exact two-component decoupling approach to the one-electron Dirac equation (X2C). Our approach is a generalization of the spin-free ansatz by Cheng and Gauss [J. Chem. Phys. 135, 084114 (2011)], where the perturbed one-electron Hamiltonian is calculated by solving a first-order response equation. Computational costs are drastically reduced by applying the diagonal local approximation to the unitary decoupling transformation (DLU) [D. Peng and M. Reiher, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 244108 (2012)] to the X2C Hamiltonian. The introduced error is found to be almost negligible as the mean absolute error of the optimized structures amounts to only 0.01 pm. Our implementation in TURBOMOLE is also available within the finite nucleus model based on a Gaussian charge distribution. For a X2C/DLU gradient calculation, computational effort scales cubically with the molecular size, while storage increases quadratically. The efficiency is demonstrated in calculations of large silver clusters and organometallic iridium complexes.

Strain gradient drives shear banding in metallic glasses

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Zhi-Li; Wang, Yun-Jiang; Chen, Yan; Dai, Lan-Hong

2017-09-01

Shear banding is a nucleation-controlled process in metallic glasses (MGs) involving multiple temporal-spatial scales, which hinders a concrete understanding of its structural origin down to the atomic scale. Here, inspired by the morphology of composite materials, we propose a different perspective of MGs as a hard particle-reinforced material based on atomic-scale structural heterogeneity. The local stable structures indicated by a high level of local fivefold symmetry (L5FS) act as hard "particles" which are embedded in the relatively soft matrix. We demonstrate this concept by performing atomistic simulations of shear banding in CuZr MG. A shear band is prone to form in a sample with a high degree of L5FS which is slowly quenched from the liquid. An atomic-scale analysis on strain and the structural evolution reveals that it is the strain gradient effect that has originated from structural heterogeneity that facilitates shear transformation zones (STZs) to mature shear bands. An artificial composite model with a high degree of strain gradient, generated by inserting hard MG strips into a soft MG matrix, demonstrates a great propensity for shear banding. It therefore confirms the critical role strain gradient plays in shear banding. The strain gradient effect on shear banding is further quantified with a continuum model and a mechanical instability analysis. These physical insights might highlight the strain gradient as the hidden driving force in transforming STZs into shear bands in MGs.

Socioeconomic inequalities in smoking in low and mid income countries: positive gradients among women?

Science.gov (United States)

Bosdriesz, Jizzo R; Mehmedovic, Selma; Witvliet, Margot I; Kunst, Anton E

2014-02-06

In Southern Europe, smoking among older women was more prevalent among the high educated than the lower educated, we call this a positive gradient. This is dominant in the early stages of the smoking epidemic model, later replaced by a negative gradient. The aim of this study is to assess if a positive gradient in smoking can also be observed in low and middle income countries in other regions of the world. We used data of the World Health Survey from 49 countries and a total of 233,917 respondents. Multilevel logistic regression was used to model associations between individual level smoking and both individual level and country level determinants. We stratified results by education, occupation, sex and generation (younger vs. older than 45). Countries were grouped based on GDP and region. In Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, we observed a positive gradient in smoking among older women and a negative gradient among younger women. In Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America no clear gradient was observed: inequalities were relatively small. In South-East Asia and East Asia a strong negative gradient was observed. Among men, no positive gradients were observed, and like women the strongest negative gradients were seen in South-East Asia and East Asia. A positive socio-economic gradient in smoking was found among older women in two regions, but not among younger women. But contrary to predictions derived from the smoking epidemic model, from a worldwide perspective the positive gradients are the exception rather than the rule.

Prototyping high-gradient mm-wave accelerating structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nanni, Emilio A.; Dolgashev, Valery A.; Haase, Andrew; Neilson, Jeffrey; Tantawi, Sami

2017-01-01

We present single-cell accelerating structures designed for high-gradient testing at 110 GHz. The purpose of this work is to study the basic physics of ultrahigh vacuum RF breakdown in high-gradient RF accelerators. The accelerating structures are π-mode standing-wave cavities fed with a TM 01 circular waveguide. The structures are fabricated using precision milling out of two metal blocks, and the blocks are joined with diffusion bonding and brazing. The impact of fabrication and joining techniques on the cell geometry and RF performance will be discussed. First prototypes had a measured Q 0 of 2800, approaching the theoretical design value of 3300. The geometry of these accelerating structures are as close as practical to singlecell standing-wave X-band accelerating structures more than 40 of which were tested at SLAC. This wealth of X-band data will serve as a baseline for these 110 GHz tests. Furthermore, the structures will be powered with short pulses from a MW gyrotron oscillator. RF power of 1 MW may allow an accelerating gradient of 400 MeV/m to be reached.

Gradient descent learning in and out of equilibrium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caticha, Nestor; Araujo de Oliveira, Evaldo

2001-01-01

Relations between the off thermal equilibrium dynamical process of on-line learning and the thermally equilibrated off-line learning are studied for potential gradient descent learning. The approach of Opper to study on-line Bayesian algorithms is used for potential based or maximum likelihood learning. We look at the on-line learning algorithm that best approximates the off-line algorithm in the sense of least Kullback-Leibler information loss. The closest on-line algorithm works by updating the weights along the gradient of an effective potential, which is different from the parent off-line potential. A few examples are analyzed and the origin of the potential annealing is discussed

Refining geoid and vertical gradient of gravity anomaly

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Zhang Chijun

2011-11-01

Full Text Available We have derived and tested several relations between geoid (N and quasi-geoid (ζ with model validation. The elevation correction consists of the first-term (Bouguer anomaly and second-term (vertical gradient of gravity anomaly. The vertical gradient was obtained from direct measurement and terrain calculation. The test results demonstrated that the precision of geoid can reach centimeter-level in mountains less than 5000 meters high.

Conjugate gradient type methods for linear systems with complex symmetric coefficient matrices

Science.gov (United States)

Freund, Roland

1989-01-01

We consider conjugate gradient type methods for the solution of large sparse linear system Ax equals b with complex symmetric coefficient matrices A equals A(T). Such linear systems arise in important applications, such as the numerical solution of the complex Helmholtz equation. Furthermore, most complex non-Hermitian linear systems which occur in practice are actually complex symmetric. We investigate conjugate gradient type iterations which are based on a variant of the nonsymmetric Lanczos algorithm for complex symmetric matrices. We propose a new approach with iterates defined by a quasi-minimal residual property. The resulting algorithm presents several advantages over the standard biconjugate gradient method. We also include some remarks on the obvious approach to general complex linear systems by solving equivalent real linear systems for the real and imaginary parts of x. Finally, numerical experiments for linear systems arising from the complex Helmholtz equation are reported.

Gradient-driven flux-tube simulations of ion temperature gradient turbulence close to the non-linear threshold

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peeters, A. G.; Rath, F.; Buchholz, R.; Grosshauser, S. R.; Strintzi, D.; Weikl, A. [Physics Department, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, Bayreuth (Germany); Camenen, Y. [Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, PIIM, UMR 7345, Marseille (France); Candy, J. [General Atomics, PO Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-5608 (United States); Casson, F. J. [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, Oxon (United Kingdom); Hornsby, W. A. [Max Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstrasse 2 85748 Garching (Germany)

2016-08-15

It is shown that Ion Temperature Gradient turbulence close to the threshold exhibits a long time behaviour, with smaller heat fluxes at later times. This reduction is connected with the slow growth of long wave length zonal flows, and consequently, the numerical dissipation on these flows must be sufficiently small. Close to the nonlinear threshold for turbulence generation, a relatively small dissipation can maintain a turbulent state with a sizeable heat flux, through the damping of the zonal flow. Lowering the dissipation causes the turbulence, for temperature gradients close to the threshold, to be subdued. The heat flux then does not go smoothly to zero when the threshold is approached from above. Rather, a finite minimum heat flux is obtained below which no fully developed turbulent state exists. The threshold value of the temperature gradient length at which this finite heat flux is obtained is up to 30% larger compared with the threshold value obtained by extrapolating the heat flux to zero, and the cyclone base case is found to be nonlinearly stable. Transport is subdued when a fully developed staircase structure in the E × B shearing rate forms. Just above the threshold, an incomplete staircase develops, and transport is mediated by avalanche structures which propagate through the marginally stable regions.

Numerical Solutions of Singularly Perturbed Reaction Diffusion Equation with Sobolev Gradients

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Nauman Raza

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Critical points related to the singular perturbed reaction diffusion models are calculated using weighted Sobolev gradient method in finite element setting. Performance of different Sobolev gradients has been discussed for varying diffusion coefficient values. A comparison is shown between the weighted and unweighted Sobolev gradients in two and three dimensions. The superiority of the method is also demonstrated by showing comparison with Newton's method.

Dai-Kou type conjugate gradient methods with a line search only using gradient.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yuanyuan; Liu, Changhe

2017-01-01

In this paper, the Dai-Kou type conjugate gradient methods are developed to solve the optimality condition of an unconstrained optimization, they only utilize gradient information and have broader application scope. Under suitable conditions, the developed methods are globally convergent. Numerical tests and comparisons with the PRP+ conjugate gradient method only using gradient show that the methods are efficient.

Development and validation of a critical gradient energetic particle driven Alfven eigenmode transport model for DIII-D tilted neutral beam experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Waltz, R. E.; Bass, E. M.; Heidbrink, W. W.; VanZeeland, M. A.

2015-11-01

Recent experiments with the DIII-D tilted neutral beam injection (NBI) varying the beam energetic particle (EP) source profiles have provided strong evidence that unstable Alfven eigenmodes (AE) drive stiff EP transport at a critical EP density gradient [Heidbrink et al 2013 Nucl. Fusion 53 093006]. Here the critical gradient is identified by the local AE growth rate being equal to the local ITG/TEM growth rate at the same low toroidal mode number. The growth rates are taken from the gyrokinetic code GYRO. Simulation show that the slowing down beam-like EP distribution has a slightly lower critical gradient than the Maxwellian. The ALPHA EP density transport code [Waltz and Bass 2014 Nucl. Fusion 54 104006], used to validate the model, combines the low-n stiff EP critical density gradient AE mid-core transport with the Angioni et al (2009 Nucl. Fusion 49 055013) energy independent high-n ITG/TEM density transport model controling the central core EP density profile. For the on-axis NBI heated DIII-D shot 146102, while the net loss to the edge is small, about half the birth fast ions are transported from the central core r/a  <  0.5 and the central density is about half the slowing down density. These results are in good agreement with experimental fast ion pressure profiles inferred from MSE constrained EFIT equilibria.

MODIFIED ARMIJO RULE ON GRADIENT DESCENT AND CONJUGATE GRADIENT

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ZURAIDAH FITRIAH

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Armijo rule is an inexact line search method to determine step size in some descent method to solve unconstrained local optimization. Modified Armijo was introduced to increase the numerical performance of several descent algorithms that applying this method. The basic difference of Armijo and its modified are in existence of a parameter and estimating the parameter that is updated in every iteration. This article is comparing numerical solution and time of computation of gradient descent and conjugate gradient hybrid Gilbert-Nocedal (CGHGN that applying modified Armijo rule. From program implementation in Matlab 6, it's known that gradient descent was applying modified Armijo more effectively than CGHGN from one side: iteration needed to reach some norm of the gradient  (input by the user. The amount of iteration was representing how long the step size of each algorithm in each iteration. In another side, time of computation has the same conclusion.

Dose gradient curve: A new tool for evaluating dose gradient.

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, KiHoon; Choi, Young Eun

2018-01-01

Stereotactic radiotherapy, which delivers an ablative high radiation dose to a target volume for maximum local tumor control, requires a rapid dose fall-off outside the target volume to prevent extensive damage to nearby normal tissue. Currently, there is no tool to comprehensively evaluate the dose gradient near the target volume. We propose the dose gradient curve (DGC) as a new tool to evaluate the quality of a treatment plan with respect to the dose fall-off characteristics. The average distance between two isodose surfaces was represented by the dose gradient index (DGI) estimated by a simple equation using the volume and surface area of isodose levels. The surface area was calculated by mesh generation and surface triangulation. The DGC was defined as a plot of the DGI of each dose interval as a function of the dose. Two types of DGCs, differential and cumulative, were generated. The performance of the DGC was evaluated using stereotactic radiosurgery plans for virtual targets. Over the range of dose distributions, the dose gradient of each dose interval was well-characterized by the DGC in an easily understandable graph format. Significant changes in the DGC were observed reflecting the differences in planning situations and various prescription doses. The DGC is a rational method for visualizing the dose gradient as the average distance between two isodose surfaces; the shorter the distance, the steeper the dose gradient. By combining the DGC with the dose-volume histogram (DVH) in a single plot, the DGC can be utilized to evaluate not only the dose gradient but also the target coverage in routine clinical practice.

Fracture gradient: a new methodology that allows for more safety and economy; Gradiente de fratura: nova metodologia proporciona seguranca e economia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, Helio M.R. dos [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas. Setor de Tecnologia de Perfuracao; Foutoura, Sergio A.B. da [Pontificia Univ. Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

1990-12-31

The purpose of this paper is to show the influence of in-situ stresses and well geometry (direction and inclinational) on the fracture gradient. The results that are presented, obtained through computer simulation using an analytical model of the stresses around the well, show that in some cases it may be very dangerous to use fracture gradient data from vertical wells when dealing with non vertical wells. Likewise, it may also be unsafe to use results from absorption tests as the fracture gradient for the complete phase. The paper also indicates that, depending on the in-situ stresses and on the geometry of the well, the fracture gradient of a non-vertical well may be larger or smaller than that of vertical wells. Another aspects emphasized is that, through the use of more accurate calculations of the fracture gradient, it is possible to obtain great cost reduction, due to the fact that the casing strings will be designed in a more appropriate manner. (author) 12 refs., 4 figs.

Salt-body Inversion with Minimum Gradient Support and Sobolev Space Norm Regularizations

KAUST Repository

Kazei, Vladimir

2017-05-26

Full-waveform inversion (FWI) is a technique which solves the ill-posed seismic inversion problem of fitting our model data to the measured ones from the field. FWI is capable of providing high-resolution estimates of the model, and of handling wave propagation of arbitrary complexity (visco-elastic, anisotropic); yet, it often fails to retrieve high-contrast geological structures, such as salt. One of the reasons for the FWI failure is that the updates at earlier iterations are too smooth to capture the sharp edges of the salt boundary. We compare several regularization approaches, which promote sharpness of the edges. Minimum gradient support (MGS) regularization focuses the inversion on blocky models, even more than the total variation (TV) does. However, both approaches try to invert undesirable high wavenumbers in the model too early for a model of complex structure. Therefore, we apply the Sobolev space norm as a regularizing term in order to maintain a balance between sharp and smooth updates in FWI. We demonstrate the application of these regularizations on a Marmousi model, enriched by a chunk of salt. The model turns out to be too complex in some parts to retrieve its full velocity distribution, yet the salt shape and contrast are retrieved.

Beta-gradient isochron dating of thin tooth enamel layers using ESR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marsh, R.E.Rebeccah E.; Rink, W.J.W. Jack

2000-01-01

The theoretical and experimental basis for the development of a new dating technique using beta-gradient isochrons and ESR is presented. For uranium-free portions of enamel adjacent to sediment, we can determine a beta-dose gradient due to sources in the nearest 2 mm layer of the sediment. If the equivalent dose to successive layers of enamel is plotted against the beta dose rate to each layer, an estimate of the age (equal to the slope of the line) that depends only on the environmental beta dose rate can be determined. Experimental methods and results for four teeth are discussed. The significance of this approach lies in its ability to isolate an age estimate that is independent of the uranium uptake model, since only portions of the enamel which are far away enough from internal sources of uranium, such as dentine, are used. In addition, this technique provides a time-averaged estimate of the actual gamma plus cosmic dose rate provided that a reasonable estimate of the average moisture content is used to calculate the environmental beta dose rate

Determination of accelerated factors in gradient descent iterations based on Taylor's series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Milena

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper the efficiency of accelerated gradient descent methods regarding the way of determination of accelerated factor is considered. Due to the previous researches we assert that the use of Taylor's series of posed gradient descent iteration in calculation of accelerated parameter gives better final results than some other choices. We give a comparative analysis of efficiency of several methods with different approaches in obtaining accelerated parameter. According to the achieved results of numerical experiments we make a conclusion about the one of the most optimal way in defining accelerated parameter in accelerated gradient descent schemes.

Thermal gradient brine inclusion migration in salt study: gas-liquid inclusions, preliminary model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olander, D.R.; Machiels, A.J.

1979-10-01

Natural salt deposits contain small cubical inclusions of brine distributed through the salt. Temperature gradients, resulting from storing heat-generating wastes in the salt, can cause the inclusions to move through the salt. Prediction of the rate and amount of brine-inclusion migration is necessary for the evaluation of bedded or domed salts as possible media for waste repositories. Inclusions filled exclusively with liquid migrate up the temperature gradient towards the heat source. The solubility of salt in the brine inclusion increases with temperature. Consequently, salt dissolves into the inclusion across the hot surface and crystallizes out at the cold surface. Diffusion of salt within the liquid phase from the hot to the cold faces causes the inclusions to move in the opposite direction. In so doing, they change shape and eventually become rectangular parallelipipeds with a width (dimension perpendicular to the thermal gradient) much larger than the thickness (dimension in the direction of the thermal gradient). The inclusions may also contain a gas phase predominantly consisting of water vapor. These entities are termed two-phase or gas-liquid inclusions. The two-phase inclusions usually migrate down the temperature gradient away from the heat source remaining more-or-less cubical. A two-phase inclusion also forms when an all-liquid inclusion reaches the waste package; upon opening up at the salt-package interface, the brine partially evaporates and the inclusion reseals with some insoluble gas trapped inside. These gas-liquid inclusions proceed to move down the temperature gradient, in the opposite sense of the all-liquid inclusions. The gas-liquid inclusions phenomenon provides a pathway by which radionuclides leached from the wasteform by the brine can be transported away from the waste package and thus might have greater access to the biosphere

Ternary gradient metal-organic frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chong; Rosi, Nathaniel L

2017-09-08

Gradient MOFs contain directional gradients of either structure or functionality. We have successfully prepared two ternary gradient MOFs based on bMOF-100 analogues, namely bMOF-100/102/106 and bMOF-110/100/102, via cascade ligand exchange reactions. The cubic unit cell parameter discrepancy within an individual ternary gradient MOF crystal is as large as ∼1 nm, demonstrating the impressive compatibility and flexibility of the component MOF materials. Because of the presence of a continuum of unit cells, the pore diameters within individual crystals also change in a gradient fashion from ∼2.5 nm to ∼3.0 nm for bMOF-100/102/106, and from ∼2.2 nm to ∼2.7 nm for bMOF-110/100/102, indicating significant porosity gradients. Like previously reported binary gradient MOFs, the composition of the ternary gradient MOFs can be easily controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions. Finally, X-ray diffraction and microspectrophotometry were used to analyse fractured gradient MOF crystals by comparing unit cell parameters and absorbance spectra at different locations, thus revealing the profile of heterogeneity (i.e. gradient distribution of properties) and further confirming the formation of ternary gradient MOFs.

Redox systematics of a magma ocean with variable pressure-temperature gradients and composition.

Science.gov (United States)

Righter, K; Ghiorso, M S

2012-07-24

Oxygen fugacity in metal-bearing systems controls some fundamental aspects of the geochemistry of the early Earth, such as the FeO and siderophile trace element content of the mantle, volatile species that influence atmospheric composition, and conditions for organic compounds synthesis. Redox and metal-silicate equilibria in the early Earth are sensitive to oxygen fugacity (fO(2)), yet are poorly constrained in modeling and experimentation. High pressure and temperature experimentation and modeling in metal-silicate systems usually employs an approximation approach for estimating fO(2) that is based on the ratio of Fe and FeO [called "ΔIW (ratio)" hereafter]. We present a new approach that utilizes free energy and activity modeling of the equilibrium: Fe + SiO(2) + O(2) = Fe(2)SiO(4) to calculate absolute fO(2) and relative to the iron-wüstite (IW) buffer at pressure and temperature [ΔIW (P,T)]. This equilibrium is considered across a wide range of pressures and temperatures, including up to the liquidus temperature of peridotite (4,000 K at 50 GPa). Application of ΔIW (ratio) to metal-silicate experiments can be three or four orders of magnitude different from ΔIW (P,T) values calculated using free energy and activity modeling. We will also use this approach to consider the variation in oxygen fugacity in a magma ocean scenario for various thermal structures for the early Earth: hot liquidus gradient, 100 °C below the liquidus, hot and cool adiabatic gradients, and a cool subsolidus adiabat. The results are used to assess the effect of increasing P and T, changing silicate composition during accretion, and related to current models for accretion and core formation in the Earth. The fO(2) in a deep magma ocean scenario may become lower relative to the IW buffer at hotter and deeper conditions, which could include metal entrainment scenarios. Therefore, fO(2) may evolve from high to low fO(2) during Earth (and other differentiated bodies) accretion. Any

A forward model and conjugate gradient inversion technique for low-frequency ultrasonic imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

van Dongen, Koen W A; Wright, William M D

2006-10-01

Emerging methods of hyperthermia cancer treatment require noninvasive temperature monitoring, and ultrasonic techniques show promise in this regard. Various tomographic algorithms are available that reconstruct sound speed or contrast profiles, which can be related to temperature distribution. The requirement of a high enough frequency for adequate spatial resolution and a low enough frequency for adequate tissue penetration is a difficult compromise. In this study, the feasibility of using low frequency ultrasound for imaging and temperature monitoring was investigated. The transient probing wave field had a bandwidth spanning the frequency range 2.5-320.5 kHz. The results from a forward model which computed the propagation and scattering of low-frequency acoustic pressure and velocity wave fields were used to compare three imaging methods formulated within the Born approximation, representing two main types of reconstruction. The first uses Fourier techniques to reconstruct sound-speed profiles from projection or Radon data based on optical ray theory, seen as an asymptotical limit for comparison. The second uses backpropagation and conjugate gradient inversion methods based on acoustical wave theory. The results show that the accuracy in localization was 2.5 mm or better when using low frequencies and the conjugate gradient inversion scheme, which could be used for temperature monitoring.

Spatial Analytic Hierarchy Process Model for Flood Forecasting: An Integrated Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matori, Abd Nasir; Yusof, Khamaruzaman Wan; Hashim, Mustafa Ahmad; Lawal, Dano Umar; Balogun, Abdul-Lateef

2014-01-01

Various flood influencing factors such as rainfall, geology, slope gradient, land use, soil type, drainage density, temperature etc. are generally considered for flood hazard assessment. However, lack of appropriate handling/integration of data from different sources is a challenge that can make any spatial forecasting difficult and inaccurate. Availability of accurate flood maps and thorough understanding of the subsurface conditions can adequately enhance flood disasters management. This study presents an approach that attempts to provide a solution to this drawback by combining Geographic Information System (GIS)-based Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model as spatial forecasting tools. In achieving the set objectives, spatial forecasting of flood susceptible zones in the study area was made. A total number of five set of criteria/factors believed to be influencing flood generation in the study area were selected. Priority weights were assigned to each criterion/factor based on Saaty's nine point scale of preference and weights were further normalized through the AHP. The model was integrated into a GIS system in order to produce a flood forecasting map

Considerations of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowley, S.C.; Kulsrud, R.M.

1991-02-01

The ion temperature gradient driven instability is considered in this paper. Physical pictures are presented to clarify the nature of the instability. The saturation of a single eddy is modeled by a simple nonlinear equation. We show that eddies which are elongated in the direction of the temperature gradient are the most unstable and have the highest saturation amplitudes. In a sheared magnetic field, such elongated eddies twist with the field lines. This structure is shown to be alternative to the usual Fourier mode picture in which the mode is localized around the surface where k parallel = 0. We show how these elongated twisting eddies, which are an integral part of the ''ballooning mode'' structure, could survive in a torus. The elongated eddies are shown to be unstable to secondary instabilities that are driven by the large gradients in the long eddy. We argue that this mechanism isotropizes ion temperature gradient turbulence. We further argue that the ''mixing length'' is set by this nonlinear process, not by a linear eigenmode width. 17 refs., 6 figs

Design Studies of Nb3Sn High-Gradient Quadrupole Models for LARP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreev, Nikolai; Caspi, Shlomo; Dietderich, Daniel; Ferracin, Paolo; Ghosh, Arup; Kashikhin, Vadim; Lietzke, Al; Novitski, Igor; Zlobin, Alexander; McInturff, Alfred; Sabbi, GianLuca

2007-01-01

Insertion quadrupoles with large aperture and high gradient are required to achieve the luminosity upgrade goal of 10 35 cm -2 s -1 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In 2004, the US Department of Energy established the LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) to develop a technology base for the upgrade. Nb 3 Sn conductor is required in order to operate at high field and with sufficient temperature margin. We report here on the conceptual design studies of a series of 1 m long 'High-gradient Quadrupoles' (HQ) that will explore the magnet performance limits in terms of peak fields, forces and stresses. The HQ design is expected to provide coil peak fields of more than 15 T, corresponding to gradients above 300 T/m in a 90 mm bore. Conductor requirements, magnetic, mechanical and quench protection issues for candidate HQ designs will be presented and discussed

Ultimate Gradient Limitation in Niobium Superconducting Accelerating Cavities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Checchin, Mattia [Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Grassellino, Anna [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Martinello, Martina [Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Posen, Sam [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Romanenko, Alexander [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Zasadzinski, John [Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)

2016-06-01

The present study is addressed to the theoretical description of the ultimate gradient limitation in SRF cavities. Our intent is to exploit experimental data to confirm models which provide feed-backs on how to improve the current state-of-art. New theoretical insight on the cavities limiting factor can be suitable to improve the quench field of N-doped cavities, and therefore to take advantage of high Q₀ at high gradients.

Vorticity, backscatter and counter-gradient transport predictions using two-level simulation of turbulent flows

Science.gov (United States)

Ranjan, R.; Menon, S.

2018-04-01

The two-level simulation (TLS) method evolves both the large-and the small-scale fields in a two-scale approach and has shown good predictive capabilities in both isotropic and wall-bounded high Reynolds number (Re) turbulent flows in the past. Sensitivity and ability of this modelling approach to predict fundamental features (such as backscatter, counter-gradient turbulent transport, small-scale vorticity, etc.) seen in high Re turbulent flows is assessed here by using two direct numerical simulation (DNS) datasets corresponding to a forced isotropic turbulence at Taylor's microscale-based Reynolds number Reλ ≈ 433 and a fully developed turbulent flow in a periodic channel at friction Reynolds number Reτ ≈ 1000. It is shown that TLS captures the dynamics of local co-/counter-gradient transport and backscatter at the requisite scales of interest. These observations are further confirmed through a posteriori investigation of the flow in a periodic channel at Reτ = 2000. The results reveal that the TLS method can capture both the large- and the small-scale flow physics in a consistent manner, and at a reduced overall cost when compared to the estimated DNS or wall-resolved LES cost.

$L_{0}$ Gradient Projection.

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Shunsuke

2017-04-01

Minimizing L 0 gradient, the number of the non-zero gradients of an image, together with a quadratic data-fidelity to an input image has been recognized as a powerful edge-preserving filtering method. However, the L 0 gradient minimization has an inherent difficulty: a user-given parameter controlling the degree of flatness does not have a physical meaning since the parameter just balances the relative importance of the L 0 gradient term to the quadratic data-fidelity term. As a result, the setting of the parameter is a troublesome work in the L 0 gradient minimization. To circumvent the difficulty, we propose a new edge-preserving filtering method with a novel use of the L 0 gradient. Our method is formulated as the minimization of the quadratic data-fidelity subject to the hard constraint that the L 0 gradient is less than a user-given parameter α . This strategy is much more intuitive than the L 0 gradient minimization because the parameter α has a clear meaning: the L 0 gradient value of the output image itself, so that one can directly impose a desired degree of flatness by α . We also provide an efficient algorithm based on the so-called alternating direction method of multipliers for computing an approximate solution of the nonconvex problem, where we decompose it into two subproblems and derive closed-form solutions to them. The advantages of our method are demonstrated through extensive experiments.

Evolution of a Planar Wake in Adverse Pressure Gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Driver, David M.; Mateer, George G.

2016-01-01

In the interest of improving the predictability of high-lift systems at maximum lift conditions, a series of fundamental experiments were conducted to study the effects of adverse pressure gradient on a wake flow. Mean and fluctuating velocities were measured with a two-component laser-Doppler velocimeter. Data were obtained for several cases of adverse pressure gradient, producing flows ranging from no reversed flow to massively reversed flow. While the turbulent Reynolds stresses increase with increasing size of the reversed flow region, the gradient of Reynolds stress does not. Computations using various turbulence models were unable to reproduce the reversed flow.

Directed transport by surface chemical potential gradients for enhancing analyte collection in nanoscale sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Sitt, Amit; Hess, Henry

2015-05-13

Nanoscale detectors hold great promise for single molecule detection and the analysis of small volumes of dilute samples. However, the probability of an analyte reaching the nanosensor in a dilute solution is extremely low due to the sensor's small size. Here, we examine the use of a chemical potential gradient along a surface to accelerate analyte capture by nanoscale sensors. Utilizing a simple model for transport induced by surface binding energy gradients, we study the effect of the gradient on the efficiency of collecting nanoparticles and single and double stranded DNA. The results indicate that chemical potential gradients along a surface can lead to an acceleration of analyte capture by several orders of magnitude compared to direct collection from the solution. The improvement in collection is limited to a relatively narrow window of gradient slopes, and its extent strongly depends on the size of the gradient patch. Our model allows the optimization of gradient layouts and sheds light on the fundamental characteristics of chemical potential gradient induced transport.

Inflammatory markers as predictors of depression and anxiety in adolescents: Statistical model building with component-wise gradient boosting.

Science.gov (United States)

Walss-Bass, Consuelo; Suchting, Robert; Olvera, Rene L; Williamson, Douglas E

2018-07-01

Immune system abnormalities have been repeatedly observed in several psychiatric disorders, including severe depression and anxiety. However, whether specific immune mediators play an early role in the etiopathogenesis of these disorders remains unknown. In a longitudinal design, component-wise gradient boosting was used to build models of depression, assessed by the Mood-Feelings Questionnaire-Child (MFQC), and anxiety, assessed by the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in 254 adolescents from a large set of candidate predictors, including sex, race, 39 inflammatory proteins, and the interactions between those proteins and time. Each model was reduced via backward elimination to maximize parsimony and generalizability. Component-wise gradient boosting and model reduction found that female sex, growth- regulated oncogene (GRO), and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) predicted depression, while female sex predicted anxiety. Differential onset of puberty as well as a lack of control for menstrual cycle may also have been responsible for differences between males and females in the present study. In addition, investigation of all possible nonlinear relationships between the predictors and the outcomes was beyond the computational capacity and scope of the present research. This study highlights the need for novel statistical modeling to identify reliable biological predictors of aberrant psychological behavior. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A self-organizing state-space-model approach for parameter estimation in hodgkin-huxley-type models of single neurons.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios V Vavoulis

Full Text Available Traditional approaches to the problem of parameter estimation in biophysical models of neurons and neural networks usually adopt a global search algorithm (for example, an evolutionary algorithm, often in combination with a local search method (such as gradient descent in order to minimize the value of a cost function, which measures the discrepancy between various features of the available experimental data and model output. In this study, we approach the problem of parameter estimation in conductance-based models of single neurons from a different perspective. By adopting a hidden-dynamical-systems formalism, we expressed parameter estimation as an inference problem in these systems, which can then be tackled using a range of well-established statistical inference methods. The particular method we used was Kitagawa's self-organizing state-space model, which was applied on a number of Hodgkin-Huxley-type models using simulated or actual electrophysiological data. We showed that the algorithm can be used to estimate a large number of parameters, including maximal conductances, reversal potentials, kinetics of ionic currents, measurement and intrinsic noise, based on low-dimensional experimental data and sufficiently informative priors in the form of pre-defined constraints imposed on model parameters. The algorithm remained operational even when very noisy experimental data were used. Importantly, by combining the self-organizing state-space model with an adaptive sampling algorithm akin to the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy, we achieved a significant reduction in the variance of parameter estimates. The algorithm did not require the explicit formulation of a cost function and it was straightforward to apply on compartmental models and multiple data sets. Overall, the proposed methodology is particularly suitable for resolving high-dimensional inference problems based on noisy electrophysiological data and, therefore, a

Measurement of gradient index profiles by Babinet fringe analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandya, T P; Saxena, A K

1979-03-01

A theory for determining one-dimensional ray deflections with the help of distorted Babinet fringes has been developed. An approach for investigating two-dimensional ray deflections has been presented. Applications of the techniques for the study of gradient index glass have been described.

“Measure Your Gradient”: A New Way to Measure Gradients in High Performance Liquid Chromatography by Mass Spectrometric or Absorbance Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Magee, Megan H.; Manulik, Joseph C.; Barnes, Brian B.; Abate-Pella, Daniel; Hewitt, Joshua T.; Boswell, Paul G.

2014-01-01

The gradient produced by an HPLC is never the same as the one it is programmed to produce, but non-idealities in the gradient can be taken into account if they are measured. Such measurements are routine, yet only one general approach has been described to make them: both HPLC solvents are replaced with water, solvent B is spiked with 0.1% acetone, and the gradient is measured by UV absorbance. Despite the widespread use of this procedure, we found a number of problems and complications with it, mostly stemming from the fact that it measures the gradient under abnormal conditions (e.g. both solvents are water). It is also generally not amenable to MS detection, leaving those with only an MS detector no way to accurately measure their gradients. We describe a new approach called “Measure Your Gradient” that potentially solves these problems. One runs a test mixture containing 20 standards on a standard stationary phase and enters their gradient retention times into open-source software available at www.measureyourgradient.org. The software uses the retention times to back-calculate the gradient that was truly produced by the HPLC. Here we present a preliminary investigation of the new approach. We found that gradients measured this way are comparable to those measured by a more accurate, albeit impractical, version of the conventional approach. The new procedure worked with different gradients, flow rates, column lengths, inner diameters, on two different HPLCs, and with six different batches of the standard stationary phase. PMID:25441073

CERN/KEK: Very high accelerating gradients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1993-01-15

Full text: A world-wide effort is under way to develop linear electron-positron colliders so that physics experiments can be extended into a range of energies where circular machines (necessarily much larger than CERN's 27-kilometre LEP machine) would be crippled by synchrotron radiation. CERN is studying the feasibility of building a 2 TeV machine called CLIC powered not by individual klystrons, but by a high intensity electron 'drive' linac running parallel to the main linac (November 1990, page 7). This drive linac will itself be powered by similar superconducting cavities to those developed for LEP. A high gradient is an obvious design aim for any future high energy linear collider because it makes it shorter and therefore cheaper - the design figure for the CLIC machine is 80 MV/m. The CLIC study group has taken a significant step forward in demonstrating the technical feasibility of their machine by achieving peak and average accelerating gradients of 137 MV/m and 84 MV/m respectively in a short section of accelerating structure during high gradient tests at the Japanese KEK Laboratory last year. This result obtained within the framework of a CERN/KEK collaboration on linear colliders was obtained using a 20-cell accelerating section built at CERN using state-of the- art technology which served both as a model for CLIC studies as well as a prototype for the Japanese Linear Collider studies. The operating frequency of the model accelerating section is 2.6 times lower than the CLIC frequency but was chosen because a high power r.f. source and pulse compression scheme has been developed for this frequency at KEK. Testing CLIC models at 11.4 GHz is however more stringent than at 30 GHz because the chance of electrical breakdown increases as the frequency is lowered. This recent result clearly demonstrates that a gradient of 80 MV/m is feasible.

CERN/KEK: Very high accelerating gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Full text: A world-wide effort is under way to develop linear electron-positron colliders so that physics experiments can be extended into a range of energies where circular machines (necessarily much larger than CERN's 27-kilometre LEP machine) would be crippled by synchrotron radiation. CERN is studying the feasibility of building a 2 TeV machine called CLIC powered not by individual klystrons, but by a high intensity electron 'drive' linac running parallel to the main linac (November 1990, page 7). This drive linac will itself be powered by similar superconducting cavities to those developed for LEP. A high gradient is an obvious design aim for any future high energy linear collider because it makes it shorter and therefore cheaper - the design figure for the CLIC machine is 80 MV/m. The CLIC study group has taken a significant step forward in demonstrating the technical feasibility of their machine by achieving peak and average accelerating gradients of 137 MV/m and 84 MV/m respectively in a short section of accelerating structure during high gradient tests at the Japanese KEK Laboratory last year. This result obtained within the framework of a CERN/KEK collaboration on linear colliders was obtained using a 20-cell accelerating section built at CERN using state-of the- art technology which served both as a model for CLIC studies as well as a prototype for the Japanese Linear Collider studies. The operating frequency of the model accelerating section is 2.6 times lower than the CLIC frequency but was chosen because a high power r.f. source and pulse compression scheme has been developed for this frequency at KEK. Testing CLIC models at 11.4 GHz is however more stringent than at 30 GHz because the chance of electrical breakdown increases as the frequency is lowered. This recent result clearly demonstrates that a gradient of 80 MV/m is feasible

Discrete gradients in discrete classical mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renna, L.

1987-01-01

A simple model of discrete classical mechanics is given where, starting from the continuous Hamilton equations, discrete equations of motion are established together with a proper discrete gradient definition. The conservation laws of the total discrete momentum, angular momentum, and energy are demonstrated

The role of the meridional sea surface temperature gradient in controlling the Caribbean low-level jet

Science.gov (United States)

Maldonado, Tito; Rutgersson, Anna; Caballero, Rodrigo; Pausata, Francesco S. R.; Alfaro, Eric; Amador, Jorge

2017-06-01

The Caribbean low-level jet (CLLJ) is an important modulator of regional climate, especially precipitation, in the Caribbean and Central America. Previous work has inferred, due to their semiannual cycle, an association between CLLJ strength and meridional sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in the Caribbean Sea, suggesting that the SST gradients may control the intensity and vertical shear of the CLLJ. In addition, both the horizontal and vertical structure of the jet have been related to topographic effects via interaction with the mountains in Northern South America (NSA), including funneling effects and changes in the meridional geopotential gradient. Here we test these hypotheses, using an atmospheric general circulation model to perform a set of sensitivity experiments to examine the impact of both SST gradients and topography on the CLLJ. In one sensitivity experiment, we remove the meridional SST gradient over the Caribbean Sea and in the other, we flatten the mountains over NSA. Our results show that the SST gradient and topography have little or no impact on the jet intensity, vertical, and horizontal wind shears, contrary to previous works. However, our findings do not discount a possible one-way coupling between the SST and the wind over the Caribbean Sea through friction force. We also examined an alternative approach based on barotropic instability to understand the CLLJ intensity, vertical, and horizontal wind shears. Our results show that the current hypothesis about the CLLJ must be reviewed in order to fully understand the atmospheric dynamics governing the Caribbean region.

On the homogenization of metal matrix composites using strain gradient plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Azizi, Reza; Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Legarth, Brian Nyvang

2014-01-01

The homogenized response of metal matrix composites (MMC) is studied using strain gradient plasticity. The material model employed is a rate independent formulation of energetic strain gradient plasticity at the micro scale and conventional rate independent plasticity at the macro scale. Free...

Preprocessing of gravity gradients at the GOCE high-level processing facility

Science.gov (United States)

Bouman, Johannes; Rispens, Sietse; Gruber, Thomas; Koop, Radboud; Schrama, Ernst; Visser, Pieter; Tscherning, Carl Christian; Veicherts, Martin

2009-07-01

One of the products derived from the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) observations are the gravity gradients. These gravity gradients are provided in the gradiometer reference frame (GRF) and are calibrated in-flight using satellite shaking and star sensor data. To use these gravity gradients for application in Earth scienes and gravity field analysis, additional preprocessing needs to be done, including corrections for temporal gravity field signals to isolate the static gravity field part, screening for outliers, calibration by comparison with existing external gravity field information and error assessment. The temporal gravity gradient corrections consist of tidal and nontidal corrections. These are all generally below the gravity gradient error level, which is predicted to show a 1/ f behaviour for low frequencies. In the outlier detection, the 1/ f error is compensated for by subtracting a local median from the data, while the data error is assessed using the median absolute deviation. The local median acts as a high-pass filter and it is robust as is the median absolute deviation. Three different methods have been implemented for the calibration of the gravity gradients. All three methods use a high-pass filter to compensate for the 1/ f gravity gradient error. The baseline method uses state-of-the-art global gravity field models and the most accurate results are obtained if star sensor misalignments are estimated along with the calibration parameters. A second calibration method uses GOCE GPS data to estimate a low-degree gravity field model as well as gravity gradient scale factors. Both methods allow to estimate gravity gradient scale factors down to the 10-3 level. The third calibration method uses high accurate terrestrial gravity data in selected regions to validate the gravity gradient scale factors, focussing on the measurement band. Gravity gradient scale factors may be estimated down to the 10-2 level with this

Precision bounds for gradient magnetometry with atomic ensembles

Science.gov (United States)

Apellaniz, Iagoba; Urizar-Lanz, Iñigo; Zimborás, Zoltán; Hyllus, Philipp; Tóth, Géza

2018-05-01

We study gradient magnetometry with an ensemble of atoms with arbitrary spin. We calculate precision bounds for estimating the gradient of the magnetic field based on the quantum Fisher information. For quantum states that are invariant under homogeneous magnetic fields, we need to measure a single observable to estimate the gradient. On the other hand, for states that are sensitive to homogeneous fields, a simultaneous measurement is needed, as the homogeneous field must also be estimated. We prove that for the cases studied in this paper, such a measurement is feasible. We present a method to calculate precision bounds for gradient estimation with a chain of atoms or with two spatially separated atomic ensembles. We also consider a single atomic ensemble with an arbitrary density profile, where the atoms cannot be addressed individually, and which is a very relevant case for experiments. Our model can take into account even correlations between particle positions. While in most of the discussion we consider an ensemble of localized particles that are classical with respect to their spatial degree of freedom, we also discuss the case of gradient metrology with a single Bose-Einstein condensate.

Accelerating deep neural network training with inconsistent stochastic gradient descent.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Linnan; Yang, Yi; Min, Renqiang; Chakradhar, Srimat

2017-09-01

Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) updates Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with a noisy gradient computed from a random batch, and each batch evenly updates the network once in an epoch. This model applies the same training effort to each batch, but it overlooks the fact that the gradient variance, induced by Sampling Bias and Intrinsic Image Difference, renders different training dynamics on batches. In this paper, we develop a new training strategy for SGD, referred to as Inconsistent Stochastic Gradient Descent (ISGD) to address this problem. The core concept of ISGD is the inconsistent training, which dynamically adjusts the training effort w.r.t the loss. ISGD models the training as a stochastic process that gradually reduces down the mean of batch's loss, and it utilizes a dynamic upper control limit to identify a large loss batch on the fly. ISGD stays on the identified batch to accelerate the training with additional gradient updates, and it also has a constraint to penalize drastic parameter changes. ISGD is straightforward, computationally efficient and without requiring auxiliary memories. A series of empirical evaluations on real world datasets and networks demonstrate the promising performance of inconsistent training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An inter-comparison of model-simulated east–west climate gradients ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2010-04-11

Apr 11, 2010 ... This study examines how the east–west gradient of climate over South Africa is represented in terms of ... ate troughs that induce NW-oriented cloud bands across the ..... To reduce the influence of product resolution on the.

An analysis of the gradient-induced electric fields and current densities in human models when situated in a hybrid MRI-LINAC system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Limei; Trakic, Adnan; Sanchez-Lopez, Hector; Liu, Feng; Crozier, Stuart

2014-01-01

MRI-LINAC is a new image-guided radiotherapy treatment system that combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a linear accelerator (LINAC) in a single unit. One drawback is that the pulsing of the split gradient coils of the system induces an electric field and currents in the patient which need to be predicted and evaluated for patient safety. In this novel numerical study the in situ electric fields and associated current densities were evaluated inside tissue-accurate male and female human voxel models when a number of different split-geometry gradient coils were operated. The body models were located in the MRI-LINAC system along the axial and radial directions in three different body positions. Each model had a region of interest (ROI) suitable for image-guided radiotherapy. The simulation results show that the amplitudes and distributions of the field and current density induced by different split x-gradient coils were similar with one another in the ROI of the body model, but varied outside of the region. The fields and current densities induced by a split classic coil with the surface unconnected showed the largest deviation from those given by the conventional non-split coils. Another finding indicated that the distributions of the peak current densities varied when the body position, orientation or gender changed, while the peak electric fields mainly occurred in the skin and fat tissues. (paper)

Improved incorporation of strain gradient elasticity in the flexoelectricity based energy harvesting from nanobeams

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yarong; Yang, Xu; Pan, Dongmei; Wang, Binglei

2018-04-01

Flexoelectricity, the coupling of strain gradient and polarization, exists in all the dielectric materials and numerous models have been proposed to study this mechanism. However, the contribution of strain gradient elasticity has typically been underestimated. In this work, inspired by the one-length scale parameter model developed by Deng et al. [19], we incorporate three length-scale parameters to carefully capture the contribution of the purely mechanical strain gradients on flexoelectricity. This three-parameter model is more flexible and could be applied to investigate the flexoelectricity in a wide range of complicated deformations. Accordingly, we carry out our analysis by studying a dielectric nanobeam under different boundary conditions. We show that the strain gradient elasticity and flexoelectricity have apparent size effects and significant influence on the electromechanical response. In particular, the strain gradient effects could significantly reduce the energy efficiency, indicating their importance and necessity. This work may be helpful in understanding the mechanism of flexoelectricity at the nanoscale and sheds light on the flexoelectricity energy harvesting.

Modelling of Spring Constant and Pull-down Voltage of Non-uniform RF MEMS Cantilever Incorporating Stress Gradient

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shimul Chandra SAHA

2008-11-01

Full Text Available We have presented a model for spring constant and pull-down voltage of a non-uniform radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS cantilever that works on electrostatic actuation. The residual stress gradient in the beam material that may arise during the fabrication process is also considered in the model. Using basic force deflection calculation of the suspended beam, a stand-alone model for the spring constant and pull-down voltage of the non-uniform cantilever is developed. To compare the model, simulation is performed using standard Finite Element Method (FEM analysis tolls from CoventorWare. The model matches very well with the FEM simulation results. The model will offer an efficient means of design, analysis, and optimization of RF MEMS cantilever switches.

The phenotypic variance gradient - a novel concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Pertoldi, Cino; Bundgaard, Jørgen; Loeschcke, Volker; Barker, James Stuart Flinton

2014-11-01

Evolutionary ecologists commonly use reaction norms, which show the range of phenotypes produced by a set of genotypes exposed to different environments, to quantify the degree of phenotypic variance and the magnitude of plasticity of morphometric and life-history traits. Significant differences among the values of the slopes of the reaction norms are interpreted as significant differences in phenotypic plasticity, whereas significant differences among phenotypic variances (variance or coefficient of variation) are interpreted as differences in the degree of developmental instability or canalization. We highlight some potential problems with this approach to quantifying phenotypic variance and suggest a novel and more informative way to plot reaction norms: namely "a plot of log (variance) on the y-axis versus log (mean) on the x-axis, with a reference line added". This approach gives an immediate impression of how the degree of phenotypic variance varies across an environmental gradient, taking into account the consequences of the scaling effect of the variance with the mean. The evolutionary implications of the variation in the degree of phenotypic variance, which we call a "phenotypic variance gradient", are discussed together with its potential interactions with variation in the degree of phenotypic plasticity and canalization.

Magnetoelectric Transverse Gradient Sensor with High Detection Sensitivity and Low Gradient Noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Mingji; Or, Siu Wing

2017-10-25

We report, theoretically and experimentally, the realization of a high detection performance in a novel magnetoelectric (ME) transverse gradient sensor based on the large ME effect and the magnetic field gradient (MFG) technique in a pair of magnetically-biased, electrically-shielded, and mechanically-enclosed ME composites having a transverse orientation and an axial separation. The output voltage of the gradient sensor is directly obtained from the transverse MFG-induced difference in ME voltage between the two ME composites and is calibrated against transverse MFGs to give a high detection sensitivity of 0.4-30.6 V/(T/m), a strong common-mode magnetic field noise rejection rate of gradient noise of 0.16-620 nT/m/ Hz in a broad frequency range of 1 Hz-170 kHz under a small baseline of 35 mm. An analysis of experimental gradient noise spectra obtained in a magnetically-unshielded laboratory environment reveals the domination of the pink (1/ f ) noise, dielectric loss noise, and power-frequency noise below 3 kHz, in addition to the circuit noise above 3 kHz, in the gradient sensor. The high detection performance, together with the added merit of passive and direct ME conversion by the large ME effect in the ME composites, makes the gradient sensor suitable for the passive, direct, and broadband detection of transverse MFGs.

Tuning the Voices of a Choir: Detecting Ecological Gradients in Time-Series Populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allan Buras

Full Text Available This paper introduces a new approach-the Principal Component Gradient Analysis (PCGA-to detect ecological gradients in time-series populations, i.e. several time-series originating from different individuals of a population. Detection of ecological gradients is of particular importance when dealing with time-series from heterogeneous populations which express differing trends. PCGA makes use of polar coordinates of loadings from the first two axes obtained by principal component analysis (PCA to define groups of similar trends. Based on the mean inter-series correlation (rbar the gain of increasing a common underlying signal by PCGA groups is quantified using Monte Carlo Simulations. In terms of validation PCGA is compared to three other existing approaches. Focusing on dendrochronological examples, PCGA is shown to correctly determine population gradients and in particular cases to be advantageous over other considered methods. Furthermore, PCGA groups in each example allowed for enhancing the strength of a common underlying signal and comparably well as hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results indicate that PCGA potentially allows for a better understanding of mechanisms causing time-series population gradients as well as objectively enhancing the performance of climate transfer functions in dendroclimatology. While our examples highlight the relevance of PCGA to the field of dendrochronology, we believe that also other disciplines working with data of comparable structure may benefit from PCGA.

Tuning the Voices of a Choir: Detecting Ecological Gradients in Time-Series Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Buras, Allan; van der Maaten-Theunissen, Marieke; van der Maaten, Ernst; Ahlgrimm, Svenja; Hermann, Philipp; Simard, Sonia; Heinrich, Ingo; Helle, Gerd; Unterseher, Martin; Schnittler, Martin; Eusemann, Pascal; Wilmking, Martin

2016-01-01

This paper introduces a new approach-the Principal Component Gradient Analysis (PCGA)-to detect ecological gradients in time-series populations, i.e. several time-series originating from different individuals of a population. Detection of ecological gradients is of particular importance when dealing with time-series from heterogeneous populations which express differing trends. PCGA makes use of polar coordinates of loadings from the first two axes obtained by principal component analysis (PCA) to define groups of similar trends. Based on the mean inter-series correlation (rbar) the gain of increasing a common underlying signal by PCGA groups is quantified using Monte Carlo Simulations. In terms of validation PCGA is compared to three other existing approaches. Focusing on dendrochronological examples, PCGA is shown to correctly determine population gradients and in particular cases to be advantageous over other considered methods. Furthermore, PCGA groups in each example allowed for enhancing the strength of a common underlying signal and comparably well as hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results indicate that PCGA potentially allows for a better understanding of mechanisms causing time-series population gradients as well as objectively enhancing the performance of climate transfer functions in dendroclimatology. While our examples highlight the relevance of PCGA to the field of dendrochronology, we believe that also other disciplines working with data of comparable structure may benefit from PCGA.

Gradient networks on uncorrelated random scale-free networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan Guijun; Yan Xiaoqing; Huang Zhongbing; Ma Weichuan

2011-01-01

Uncorrelated random scale-free (URSF) networks are useful null models for checking the effects of scale-free topology on network-based dynamical processes. Here, we present a comparative study of the jamming level of gradient networks based on URSF networks and Erdos-Renyi (ER) random networks. We find that the URSF networks are less congested than ER random networks for the average degree (k)>k c (k c ∼ 2 denotes a critical connectivity). In addition, by investigating the topological properties of the two kinds of gradient networks, we discuss the relations between the topological structure and the transport efficiency of the gradient networks. These findings show that the uncorrelated scale-free structure might allow more efficient transport than the random structure.

Microsphere-based gradient implants for osteochondral regeneration: a long-term study in sheep

Science.gov (United States)

Mohan, Neethu; Gupta, Vineet; Sridharan, Banu Priya; Mellott, Adam J; Easley, Jeremiah T; Palmer, Ross H; Galbraith, Richard A; Key, Vincent H; Berkland, Cory J; Detamore, Michael S

2015-01-01

Background: The microfracture technique for cartilage repair has limited ability to regenerate hyaline cartilage. Aim: The current study made a direct comparison between microfracture and an osteochondral approach with microsphere-based gradient plugs. Materials & methods: The PLGA-based scaffolds had opposing gradients of chondroitin sulfate and β-tricalcium phosphate. A 1-year repair study in sheep was conducted. Results: The repair tissues in the microfracture were mostly fibrous and had scattered fissures with degenerative changes. Cartilage regenerated with the gradient plugs had equal or superior mechanical properties; had lacunated cells and stable matrix as in hyaline cartilage. Conclusion: This first report of gradient scaffolds in a long-term, large animal, osteochondral defect demonstrated potential for equal or better cartilage repair than microfracture. PMID:26418471

Two New PRP Conjugate Gradient Algorithms for Minimization Optimization Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Gonglin; Duan, Xiabin; Liu, Wenjie; Wang, Xiaoliang; Cui, Zengru; Sheng, Zhou

2015-01-01

Two new PRP conjugate Algorithms are proposed in this paper based on two modified PRP conjugate gradient methods: the first algorithm is proposed for solving unconstrained optimization problems, and the second algorithm is proposed for solving nonlinear equations. The first method contains two aspects of information: function value and gradient value. The two methods both possess some good properties, as follows: 1) βk ≥ 0 2) the search direction has the trust region property without the use of any line search method 3) the search direction has sufficient descent property without the use of any line search method. Under some suitable conditions, we establish the global convergence of the two algorithms. We conduct numerical experiments to evaluate our algorithms. The numerical results indicate that the first algorithm is effective and competitive for solving unconstrained optimization problems and that the second algorithm is effective for solving large-scale nonlinear equations.

Bigravity from gradient expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamashita, Yasuho; Tanaka, Takahiro

2016-01-01

We discuss how the ghost-free bigravity coupled with a single scalar field can be derived from a braneworld setup. We consider DGP two-brane model without radion stabilization. The bulk configuration is solved for given boundary metrics, and it is substituted back into the action to obtain the effective four-dimensional action. In order to obtain the ghost-free bigravity, we consider the gradient expansion in which the brane separation is supposed to be sufficiently small so that two boundary metrics are almost identical. The obtained effective theory is shown to be ghost free as expected, however, the interaction between two gravitons takes the Fierz-Pauli form at the leading order of the gradient expansion, even though we do not use the approximation of linear perturbation. We also find that the radion remains as a scalar field in the four-dimensional effective theory, but its coupling to the metrics is non-trivial.

Effect of property gradients on enamel fracture in human molar teeth.

Science.gov (United States)

Barani, Amir; Bush, Mark B; Lawn, Brian R

2012-11-01

A model for the fracture of tooth enamel with graded elastic modulus and toughness is constructed using an extended finite element modeling (XFEM) package. The property gradients are taken from literature data on human molars, with maximum in modulus at the outer enamel surface and in toughness at the inner surface. The tooth is modeled as a brittle shell (enamel) and a compliant interior (dentin), with occlusal loading from a hard, flat contact at the cusp. Longitudinal radial (R) and margin (M) cracks are allowed to extend piecewise along the enamel walls under the action of an incrementally increasing applied load. A simple stratagem is deployed in which fictitious temperature profiles generate the requisite property gradients. The resulting XFEM simulations demonstrate that the crack fronts become more segmented as the property gradients become more pronounced, with enhanced propagation at the outer surface and inhibited propagation at the inner. Whereas the growth history of the cracks is profoundly influenced by the gradients, the ultimate critical loads required to attain full fractures are relatively unaffected. Some implications concerning dentistry are considered. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Entanglement-Gradient Routing for Quantum Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Gyongyosi, Laszlo; Imre, Sandor

2017-10-27

We define the entanglement-gradient routing scheme for quantum repeater networks. The routing framework fuses the fundamentals of swarm intelligence and quantum Shannon theory. Swarm intelligence provides nature-inspired solutions for problem solving. Motivated by models of social insect behavior, the routing is performed using parallel threads to determine the shortest path via the entanglement gradient coefficient, which describes the feasibility of the entangled links and paths of the network. The routing metrics are derived from the characteristics of entanglement transmission and relevant measures of entanglement distribution in quantum networks. The method allows a moderate complexity decentralized routing in quantum repeater networks. The results can be applied in experimental quantum networking, future quantum Internet, and long-distance quantum communications.

Application of a Gradient Descent Continuous Actor-Critic Algorithm for Double-Side Day-Ahead Electricity Market Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiru Zhao

2016-09-01

Full Text Available An important goal of China’s electric power system reform is to create a double-side day-ahead wholesale electricity market in the future, where the suppliers (represented by GenCOs and demanders (represented by DisCOs compete simultaneously with each other in one market. Therefore, modeling and simulating the dynamic bidding process and the equilibrium in the double-side day-ahead electricity market scientifically is not only important to some developed countries, but also to China to provide a bidding decision-making tool to help GenCOs and DisCOs obtain more profits in market competition. Meanwhile, it can also provide an economic analysis tool to help government officials design the proper market mechanisms and policies. The traditional dynamic game model and table-based reinforcement learning algorithm have already been employed in the day-ahead electricity market modeling. However, those models are based on some assumptions, such as taking the probability distribution function of market clearing price (MCP and each rival’s bidding strategy as common knowledge (in dynamic game market models, and assuming the discrete state and action sets of every agent (in table-based reinforcement learning market models, which are no longer applicable in a realistic situation. In this paper, a modified reinforcement learning method, called gradient descent continuous Actor-Critic (GDCAC algorithm was employed in the double-side day-ahead electricity market modeling and simulation. This algorithm can not only get rid of the abovementioned unrealistic assumptions, but also cope with the Markov decision-making process with continuous state and action sets just like the real electricity market. Meanwhile, the time complexity of our proposed model is only O(n. The simulation result of employing the proposed model in the double-side day-ahead electricity market shows the superiority of our approach in terms of participant’s profit or social welfare

Strain gradient effects on steady state crack growth in rate-sensitive materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Kim Lau; Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Hutchinson, John W.

2012-01-01

, a characteristic velocity, at which the toughness becomes independent of the rate-sensitivity, has been observed. It is the aim to bring forward a similar characteristic velocity for the current strain gradient visco-plastic model, as-well as to signify its use in future visco-plastic material modeling.......Steady state crack propagation produce substantial plastic strain gradients near the tip, which are accompanied by a high density of geometrically necessary dislocations and additional local strain hardening. Here, the objective is to study these gradient effects on Mode I toughness...... of a homogeneous rate-sensitive metal, using a higher order plasticity theory. Throughout, emphasis is on the toughness rate-sensitivity, as a recent numerical study of a conventional material (no gradient effects) has indicated a significant influence of both strain rate hardening and crack tip velocity. Moreover...

An inverse problem strategy based on forward model evaluations: Gradient-based optimization without adjoint solves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguilo Valentin, Miguel Alejandro [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-07-01

This study presents a new nonlinear programming formulation for the solution of inverse problems. First, a general inverse problem formulation based on the compliance error functional is presented. The proposed error functional enables the computation of the Lagrange multipliers, and thus the first order derivative information, at the expense of just one model evaluation. Therefore, the calculation of the Lagrange multipliers does not require the solution of the computationally intensive adjoint problem. This leads to significant speedups for large-scale, gradient-based inverse problems.

Microfluidic Adaptation of Density-Gradient Centrifugation for Isolation of Particles and Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuxi Sun

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Density-gradient centrifugation is a label-free approach that has been extensively used for cell separations. Though elegant, this process is time-consuming (>30 min, subjects cells to high levels of stress (>350 g and relies on user skill to enable fractionation of cells that layer as a narrow band between the density-gradient medium and platelet-rich plasma. We hypothesized that microfluidic adaptation of this technique could transform this process into a rapid fractionation approach where samples are separated in a continuous fashion while being exposed to lower levels of stress (<100 g for shorter durations of time (<3 min. To demonstrate proof-of-concept, we designed a microfluidic density-gradient centrifugation device and constructed a setup to introduce samples and medium like Ficoll in a continuous, pump-less fashion where cells and particles can be exposed to centrifugal force and separated via different outlets. Proof-of-concept studies using binary mixtures of low-density polystyrene beads (1.02 g/cm3 and high-density silicon dioxide beads (2.2 g/cm3 with Ficoll–Paque (1.06 g/cm3 show that separation is indeed feasible with >99% separation efficiency suggesting that this approach can be further adapted for separation of cells.

Diffusiophoresis in one-dimensional solute gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ault, Jesse T.; Warren, Patrick B.; Shin, Sangwoo; Stone, Howard A.

2017-01-01

Here, the diffusiophoretic motion of suspended colloidal particles under one-dimensional solute gradients is solved using numerical and analytical techniques. Similarity solutions are developed for the injection and withdrawal dynamics of particles into semi-infinite pores. Furthermore, a method of characteristics formulation of the diffusion-free particle transport model is presented and integrated to realize particle trajectories. Analytical solutions are presented for the limit of small particle diffusiophoretic mobility Γ p relative to the solute diffusivity D s for particle motions in both semi-infinite and finite domains. Results confirm the build up of local maxima and minima in the propagating particle front dynamics. The method of characteristics is shown to successfully predict particle motions and the position of the particle front, although it fails to accurately predict suspended particle concentrations in the vicinity of sharp gradients, such as at the particle front peak seen in some injection cases, where particle diffusion inevitably plays an important role. Results inform the design of applications in which the use of applied solute gradients can greatly enhance particle injection into and withdrawal from pores.

Coupling carbon allocation with leaf and root phenology predicts tree-grass partitioning along a savanna rainfall gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Haverd, V.; Smith, B.; Raupach, M.; Briggs, P.; Nieradzik, L.; Beringer, J.; Hutley, L.; Trudinger, C. M.; Cleverly, J.

2016-02-01

The relative complexity of the mechanisms underlying savanna ecosystem dynamics, in comparison to other biomes such as temperate and tropical forests, challenges the representation of such dynamics in ecosystem and Earth system models. A realistic representation of processes governing carbon allocation and phenology for the two defining elements of savanna vegetation (namely trees and grasses) may be a key to understanding variations in tree-grass partitioning in time and space across the savanna biome worldwide. Here we present a new approach for modelling coupled phenology and carbon allocation, applied to competing tree and grass plant functional types. The approach accounts for a temporal shift between assimilation and growth, mediated by a labile carbohydrate store. This is combined with a method to maximize long-term net primary production (NPP) by optimally partitioning plant growth between fine roots and (leaves + stem). The computational efficiency of the analytic method used here allows it to be uniquely and readily applied at regional scale, as required, for example, within the framework of a global biogeochemical model.We demonstrate the approach by encoding it in a new simple carbon-water cycle model that we call HAVANA (Hydrology and Vegetation-dynamics Algorithm for Northern Australia), coupled to the existing POP (Population Orders Physiology) model for tree demography and disturbance-mediated heterogeneity. HAVANA-POP is calibrated using monthly remotely sensed fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fPAR) and eddy-covariance-based estimates of carbon and water fluxes at five tower sites along the North Australian Tropical Transect (NATT), which is characterized by large gradients in rainfall and wildfire disturbance. The calibrated model replicates observed gradients of fPAR, tree leaf area index, basal area, and foliage projective cover along the NATT. The model behaviour emerges from complex feedbacks between the plant